The Monster's Hoard question.

By Broncko, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Once again hey ! :)

The other night we played TMH and we got into a bit of a heated discussion which ended up in a die toss to let the game carry on :P

So the first thing we got stuck on (yes the game had not even started yet :P )

Its important to know we got :

- a necro with a familiar.

- OL has barghest and merriod

In the reinforcements it clearly says " The OL cannot place a monster that does not fit on the entrance"

So us 3 came with a great plan to screw the OL out of reinforcements.
If we put the familiar and Fredrick (the pve unit we got for that map) diagonal (/) on the entrance leaving only spots of 1 field open the OL would not be able to spawn his monsters considering they take 4 fields and 2 fields to enter. (We didnt end up playing it this way cause the OL didnt think it was fair.)

Thats the reinforces question.

Second question we have is about the second part of the map.

So after a hard struggle we barely managed to pull off a win so the glyphs of transport where now avaible to us.

We finished that second map in less then 30 seconds so I think something went a bit wrong here.

It states that nor enemy nor friendly block LOS of the glyphs, how ever no where it says that units standing on the GoT block the teleport. (Its only stated for the archer reinforcements).

Can the OL put his monsters on the GoT and block the transport or not?
We had the luck that the trueshot token was in the armory and had a fast mover with a lot of fatigue picking it up ending the map allmost instantly.

We are unsure if we played this wrong or not please advise us on this matter.

For part one, I (think) it has been clarified somewhere that the rule just means you cannot use a 6-space monster, but reinforcements are not blockable by putting heroes on the entrance.

Things on th glyphs do not block line of sight, but you still have to follow rules for empty spaces- you cannot interrupt or end your movement in a space containing a figure, or move into a space containing a monster. As I read that for this map, a monster on a middle token cannot stop a hero from going from the token on its left to the token on its right, but it can stop a hero from landing on its token and transporting again.

Thanks Zaltyre,

so that is a no teleporting from point A to point B if the GoT in point B has a unit/monster on it?

A hero could teleport to B if a hero was on B, and a monster could go to B if a monster were on it, so long as each then moved to another space. However, a hero couldnt go to B with a monster on it, and a monster without scamper couldnt go to B with a hero.

Could you say a little more about not blocking reinforcement spaces? What happens instead?

Could you say a little more about not blocking reinforcement spaces? What happens instead?

When you're supposed to place a figure somewhere and you can't (reinforcements, familiars, remove and place abilities) because the space is occupied, you usually put the figure in the closest legal space. So, if you're supposed to place an ettin on the entrance and there is a hero (or monster) already there, the OL places the ettin as close to the entrance as he is able. A clever OL can position his monsters in such a way as to "move his monsters free spaces" by doing this.

I've seen somewhere that when you have to place monsters on exit/entracnce you have to choose border spaces. I can't find it now, or maybe I'm wrong and you could spawn monster at any space of tile?

I don't recall there being any rule to that effect (except maybe some specific quests which specify it). You just have to place the monster on the Entrance/Exit tile.

I do think there is a ruling (I can find it tomorrow, I'm tired) that when placing monsters, you must place them fully on the tile if possible (ie, large monsters have to be places so they aren't overlapping the edge onto the next tile, unless they have to). I'll double-check.

I've seen somewhere that when you have to place monsters on exit/entracnce you have to choose border spaces. I can't find it now, or maybe I'm wrong and you could spawn monster at any space of tile?

I think you are confusing it with the rule for moving off the map. For that you need to be on one of the last 2 spaces (the spaces opposite of side of the map you connect it with to other tiles)

Edited by Atom4geVampire

Hi everyone,

first of all sorry for my bad english. With regard to te first question: I (OL) had the same problem with my players. Check p. 2 of the quest guide "if a reinforcing monster cannot be placed as indicated n this section because the tile is full, the monster is placed in the closest empty spaces instead".

I'm quite sure that in no way heroes can prevent the OL from reinforcing in this way.

According to the special rule for this quest, "the OL cannot place a monster that does not fit on the Entrance" and - in the "Monster" paragraph - it is specified that "because of the reinforcements rule, the OL cannot select a monster group that includes six-space large monsters".

That rule only apply to te selection of the monster group

For part one, I (think) it has been clarified somewhere that the rule just means you cannot use a 6-space monster, but reinforcements are not blockable by putting heroes on the entrance.a figure, or move into a space containing a monster. As I read that for this map, a monster on a middle token cannot stop a hero from going from the token on its left to the token on its right, but it can stop a hero from landing on its token and transporting again.

Do you mean clarified for this quest, specifically?

I agree that the general rule is that the OL simply places his reinforcements in the closest legal space, however, this particular quest has a rule that says the OL cannot place figures that don't fit on the entrance tile. Specific rules trump general rules, so I'd be inclined to say the blocking tactic actually would work on this specific encounter. The OL would therefore be well-advised to use as many small monsters as possible in order to mitigate the heroes' ability to do this.

Yeah, I had this similar question awhile back and It was given this same exact answer. If a monster's base won't fit on the entrance, it must choose the closest space available to the entrance to place it's base. This happened to me once when I was playing The Cardinal's Plight. I had chosen Shadow Dragons and when one spawned as a reinforcement, it had no legal place to go except in front of the heroes. Kinda messed the whole quest up.

It's a pretty legitimate question though. There have been many times I've wanted to use summon stones to wall up the entrance. But where you place those stones depends on which monsters are being used.

Yeah, I had this similar question awhile back and It was given this same exact answer. If a monster's base won't fit on the entrance, it must choose the closest space available to the entrance to place it's base. This happened to me once when I was playing The Cardinal's Plight. I had chosen Shadow Dragons and when one spawned as a reinforcement, it had no legal place to go except in front of the heroes. Kinda messed the whole quest up.

It's a pretty legitimate question though. There have been many times I've wanted to use summon stones to wall up the entrance. But where you place those stones depends on which monsters are being used.

While spawning a monster "forward" can mess up the hero strategy, that's not nearly as game breaking as if the heroes could block all reinforcements simply by occupying the entrance. Every map would become:

1) Leave a hero and a summoned stone blocking the entrance and have the other heroes kill monsters

2)Next round, put a second stone where the hero was ,finish all remaining monsters

3)Complete quest while OL has no monsters and no actions.

The rules about reinforcements are there to prevent this kind of abuse.

Edited by Zaltyre