Hi all,

First I must say we (my gaming group - all of us older than 40 years old) have many years in experience with boardgames and usually we dont have any problems in getting into the rules of a game (as long as theyre clear of course - FAQs solve the rest...).

Last Sunday we played 4 times this scenario (changing the overlord player in 2 of them) to get the rules right in preparation for our first campaign of Descent. That said we came to the conclusion that its an impossible scenario for the heroes to win due (mainly) to the Scamper ability the goblins have giving the overlord a full house of victories even though I read here (the forum) many saying its a easy one for the heroes...

Assuming no rules were missed (thats why we played several times on both sides) are we missing something else?

Our hero party is Avric (Disciple), Jain (Wildlander), Leoric (Runemaster) and Syndrael (Berserker).

Some tactics tried were going for the elite Ettin ignoring the Goblins (losing fast), killing all the goblins and only going for the Ettins in the goblin flood breaks (losing smashed by the Ettins) and we also tried a middle ground by splitting the party among the Ettins (Avric and Syndrael) and Goblins (Jain and Leoric)... which gave us a less shameful defeat...

Maybe anyone here which won that scenario can give some ideas... Thx

It's odd (especially with 4 heroes) that there is a full flush of OL wins. Approximately how much damage is being dealt to the ettin each attack (you're using Act 1 monsters, right?) Are the heroes utilizing fatigue movement?

It's odd (especially with 4 heroes) that there is a full flush of OL wins. Approximately how much damage is being dealt to the ettin each attack (you're using Act 1 monsters, right?) Are the heroes utilizing fatigue movement?

Yes to both questions. And i must say that while some hero rolls are misses it falls under the expected range. Cant say how much damage was dealt to the Elite Ettin each turn but the close we got the Ettin was around a third of total health. We always loose because of goblins (except when we ignored the Ettins of course).

Did any of the heroes use their feats? Jain's ans Syndrael's could be incredibly helpful.

Did any of the heroes use their feats? Jain's ans Syndrael's could be incredibly helpful.

Sure. Its a shame they can be only used once per quest.

I think you did something wrong, because this encounter is nearly unwinnable for the OL. Here are a few rules that make this practically a cakewalk for the heroes.

The OL can reinforce only one goblin per turn.

All heroes get their turn before the OL can activate the monsters.

Monsters can only attack once each turn (heroes can attack twice).

The OL has to finish the activation of the monster before activating another monster; the OL has to finish the activation of a monstergroup before activating a different monstergroup.

Monsters can't move through heroes (except the goblin archers)

The goblin archers need to be near a master monster to spend surges.

the top section of the monstercard shows stats for normal monsters, the bottom part shows stats for master monsters.

If the heroes concentrate on the goblin archers in the first turn, while positioning in a way that the ettins can't block the crossroad piece, they will kill most of the goblins in the first turn and have to kill only one goblin each turn after this. Then they only have to deal with 2 attacks each turn from both of the ettins.

I was somewhat stunned to read this post. I thought I was going to read that you were only playing with 2 heroes.

With 4 heroes, I as the OL, have only ever won First Blood once (out of about 50+ times), and that was only because of the fluke of all 4 heroes rolling an X for both of their initial attacks on turn 1. That means they rolled 8 consecutive X's (misses) for their entire first turn.

Even then, I barely won.

Assuming you are following all of the rules correctly, I can't even imagine how the OL is winning for you time and again. There seems to be some form a disconnect somewhere.

Ok... Reading DAMaz topics I believe there was a mess up made by the games owner (i dindt read the scenario) because Im sure we played that all killed/exited goblins reinforced at the end of OL turn... grrrr... what a wasted sunday.

To make First Blood lose by the heroes is only possible if the gang of heroes goes for the search tokens and just don't bother the Ettin.

And even then...

Ok... Reading DAMaz topics I believe there was a mess up made by the games owner (i dindt read the scenario) because Im sure we played that all killed/exited goblins reinforced at the end of OL turn... grrrr... what a wasted sunday.

Gaming is NEVER a wasted day ...

Been playing FFG games forever ... many, many rules, and some of them not as well written as they could be. Add in the fact that they often have extensive FAQs, and it is VERY easy, even for experienced gamers to play something wrong. Don't beat yourself up over it.

I would make two suggestions going forward ...

1) As you proceed, make sure that you have read the latest version of the FAQ, as there are quest specific rule changes. In addition, find Zaltyre's Glossary of Terms, as it is an excellent reference which defines key terms ... it helps to avoid mistakes while playing. There are links to both documents in the stickied post at the top of the forum called Index of Useful Links.

2) Prior to even playing the next quest, perhaps the night before, both sides should read the entire quest (both encounters). In general, all of this information is public knowledge. Then, discuss it. Should you have even the slightest question/issues with the rules, search for them here, or post the questions.

This forum is made up of some really good people ... if you have questions, feel free to post them ... they will be answered quickly !

Ok... Reading DAMaz topics I believe there was a mess up made by the games owner (i dindt read the scenario) because Im sure we played that all killed/exited goblins reinforced at the end of OL turn... grrrr... what a wasted sunday.

Gaming is NEVER a wasted day ...

Yes it is. We could play a couple of scenarios instead of playing 4 times the same because a begginers mistake.

Been playing FFG games forever ... many, many rules, and some of them not as well written as they could be. Add in the fact that they often have extensive FAQs, and it is VERY easy, even for experienced gamers to play something wrong. Don't beat yourself up over it.

I would make two suggestions going forward ...

1) As you proceed, make sure that you have read the latest version of the FAQ, as there are quest specific rule changes. In addition, find Zaltyre's Glossary of Terms, as it is an excellent reference which defines key terms ... it helps to avoid mistakes while playing. There are links to both documents in the stickied post at the top of the forum called Index of Useful Links.

We do that. We always have one laptop with FAQ open at our side so we can read while we play if something goes bad or funny and Zaltyre was kind enough to PM a link for his Glossary which have my thanks.

2) Prior to even playing the next quest, perhaps the night before, both sides should read the entire quest (both encounters). In general, all of this information is public knowledge. Then, discuss it. Should you have even the slightest question/issues with the rules, search for them here, or post the questions.

That we dont do it. We like (as hero players) to be surprised and improvise on the spot. Half the fun for us is in that.

2) Prior to even playing the next quest, perhaps the night before, both sides should read the entire quest (both encounters). In general, all of this information is public knowledge. Then, discuss it. Should you have even the slightest question/issues with the rules, search for them here, or post the questions.

That we dont do it. We like (as hero players) to be surprised and improvise on the spot. Half the fun for us is in that.

That's fine. In fact, when my group started, that is precisely what we did.

Just understand that the game really was developed in such a way that everything in the quest guide is public knowledge. In fact, there are many that read the entire thing, since one of the rewards of winning a quest is the ability of selecting the next quest.

With foreknowledge of the quests, as the winner of the previous quest, you can make decisions as to what kind of quest to select next (race, kill things, etc.) based on your skills, abilities, cards, etc., as well as to decide which quest to do based on the rewards provided.

By having the option to make those choices, you may increase the likelyhood of your side having an advantage in the next quest.

Having said that, you can actually lose every quest until the finale, win the finale, and be the overall winner. It's just harder to do, especially if you are choosing quests randomly.

As a quick heads up seeing as the reinforcement issue was what was causing this, most quests in Descent allow only 1 monster to be reinforced from a group (a scenario might say, at start/end of turn reinforce 1 goblin and 1 open group monster).

The scenario will always tell you which groups are allowed to reinforce and to what extent. Also look out for WHEN they reinforce, getting a monster at the stat of the OL turn and having it activate is a huge difference to it reinforcing at the end of the turn and being forced to wait a a turn to activate it.