Encounter 1 seems like an auto win for the Overlord. Because of this:

[x] [x] [h] [h] [x]

[x] [x] [h] [h] [x]

[x] [ ] [D] [D] [D]

[x] [V] [D] [D] [D]

[d] [d] [d] [ ] [ ]

[d] [d] [d] [ ] [ ]

x = non map tile

D = big red shadow dragon

d = minion shadow dragon

V = Villager

h = hero in entrance tiles

So, the heroes cannot even get out before (with big amounts of luck, especially if it's one of their first missions) they kill a red dragon, because it's blocking their path.

And the only 2 squares they can move are the ones to the left, and one of those squares is blocked by a villager.

You can't believe how mad my game group got when I did this, but nothing is illegal (I assume) as you place the monsters from the open group anywhere on the tile adjacent to the entrance.

Then on the other side of the map you have your other minions fully surrounding one villager so it can't go anywhere but out the door, opening the door for your other group of monsters.

That villager most likely go down first turn, then the monsters have it easy reaching the cabin where the rest of the villagers are, especially barghests as they can move 10 steps in one activation (4 move, when they finish their first move and run out of movement points, they expand one square ahead of themselves. Then do the same on their second move activation).

My group miraculously killed the red dragon with a lot of luck very quick, only to be blocked one more as when their turn was over, and my turn was over as overlord, I get to spawn that red dragon again, and since there were still heroes/villager on the starting tile, I place the monster as close as I can near the entrance tile (this case, as many squares next to that square that blocks as many of them as possible.

The fun part tho, even tho I massacred the villagers very fast, just before they started to get past the first door, they still won very easily the second encounter.

Yeah, the part where you kill the guy with 25 health and 2 gray dice for defence.

This encounter 2 seem to be pretty set on one thing... rush your giant forward and throw the guy backwards (towards your Lieutenant, then close him in so he can't escape and let your Lieutenant use his overpower ability to effectively deal 6 damage per round by moving him around and hope he die before the heroes get their 5 fatigue (which is super easy and they rarely fail once on the rolls).

The extra 4 zombies die like paper dolls anyways and the open group able to pick isn't anything but other stuff the heroes most likely one shot on their first turn (since everything seem to have to spawn on the very tile next to the heroes spawning most the time)

I only really got to destroy the heroes the times they picked odd hero combinations, like 2 healers and a thief leaving little damage capabilities.

Oh, anyone else have this experience with this quest in particular? Any other quests in advance that are very one sided one should know about in advance?

I need to go back and read the rules (haven't played this quest in awhile) but are you sure villagers block movement here?

It's stated they are treated as heroes and block los and movement.

Even if they didn't, the heroes would only have 2 squares to move from spawn

And I assume, if the scenario looked like this for example:

[ ] [e] [h] [ ] [ ]

[ ] [e] [e] [ ] [ ]

[ ] [d] [d] [d] [ ]

[ ] [d] [d] [d] [ ]

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[h] [ ] [ ] [ ] [h]

(e = entrance tile / h = hero / d = dragon)

and I were to place another shadow dragon on the entrance (as indicated by my reinfocement permissions) it will result in a placement like this:

[ ] [e] [h] [ ] [ ]

[ ] [e] [e] [ ] [ ]

[ ] [d] [d] [d] [ ]

[ ] [d] [d] [d] [ ]

[ ] [D] [D] [D] [ ]

[h] [D] [D] [D] [h]

Several of the quests in the original campaign are really easy for the OL with this basic strategy. Take the biggest and toughest monsters for all open groups, block the heroes, rush the objective, win. Now you have to decide if you want to win or have friends to play with. It depends on your group, of course, but it's generally not good when 4/5 players aren't enjoying the game.

As I understand it, the newer campaigns are more balanced, which is why they replaced that campaign in the base game with a new one.

Unless I'm interpreting this wrong, you did something illegal. Two squares of the second (minion) shadow dragon extend from the "River's Edge" tile into the tile connecting to the "Gatehouse" tile. Unless I am mistaken, all parts of a monster needs to be deployed in such a way that all parts of it is on the assigned tile.

This is preventing the villager from moving diagonally into the connecting tile, interrupt it's movement, open the door, and take two steps into the Gatehouse tile.

Would this have made a tremendous difference? I don't know, but it would at least have given them room to maneuver. It's my personal belief that the placement of the Cabin Peasant and the River's Edge Peasant is made so as to prevent them from being completely boxed in.

Depending on the Overlord's choices, assuming that the Overlord isn't dumb, the best choice for the heroes is to sacrifice the peasant in the "Cabin" tile by not opening the door and trying to run into the "Ruins" tile, since that peasant is likely doomed anyway, not opening the door, since then the monsters will have to spend one action to do so. Not much of a difference, but it's there.

Right. Luckman, youre right. They would be able to move through the villager to move through the door.

It would make a big difference indeed.

But then the second encounter will be even more of a cake walk for the heroes.

Funny how I thought of this almost foul proof tactic and it pretty much all boils down to hitting a throw or not.

If you cant throw palamon back, block his escape with ettins, then finish him with the lieutenant ability (overpower?) its a free win for heroes

Right. Luckman, youre right. They would be able to move through the villager to move through the door.

It would make a big difference indeed.

But then the second encounter will be even more of a cake walk for the heroes.

Funny how I thought of this almost foul proof tactic and it pretty much all boils down to hitting a throw or not.

If you cant throw palamon back, block his escape with ettins, then finish him with the lieutenant ability (overpower?) its a free win for heroes

I don't disagree. I don't remember how it played out for us, I only have a vague recollection of playing it, but the stats paint a very clear picture: Out of almost 200 games, heroes have won nearly 75% of them. It's not divided up by encounter, though, so it's not saying much about Encounter 1 - but whomever wins Encounter 2 wins the quest, anyway. Most quests are not this bad in this (and it's clearly possible for the overlord to win), but there are worse ones (I'd ignore the Prologue quest though, since there's no rewards involved, it's just an introductionary quest).

Overall it's pretty balanced, but there are notable exceptions. Luckily that swings both ways.

It's also worth noting that the blocking strategy starts to fall apart when you have expansion heroes like Durik, Astarra, or Zyla. Any knight can hop monsters with "oath of honor" if he is careful, but that takes some work.

It's also worth noting that the blocking strategy starts to fall apart when you have expansion heroes like Durik, Astarra, or Zyla. Any knight can hop monsters with "oath of honor" if he is careful, but that takes some work.

Tomble would also be hard to block, although his act would have to be premeditated differently. And a Thief with Tumble (2xp, though, so it's entirely possible he could not have had it by Castle Daerion) could easily move through all enemies, if the Overlord was trying to be a jerk. Further, Treasure Hunters start with the Leather Whip , which would force monsters to move out of the way.

To this we should also add character/class combos that'd carve through the shadow dragons like a hot knife through butter by using their heroic feat(s). All it'd take would be 1-2 heroes killing the first shadow dragon, to remove the blockade for the other 2.

The problem here is that it's hard to foresee these things, and class choices and character choices may just make it very hard to deal with things like this, but if an Overlord tries to cheese, he's going to be met with counter-cheese. And there's a lot of cheese in this game. Clever tricks that will make your opponent go "Oh that's BS!" , but this goes both ways. This so goes both ways. It's part of why I love the game.

Yeah. Well you guys probably have finished tons of campaigns. What are your thoughts on the balance/joy/build up of the final, deciding quest(s)?

Does it feel balanced?

Are all precious outcomes heavily weighted in?

Do they last long?

I have played "The Man Who Would Be King" a couple more times than I have played "Gryvorn Unleashed", though I do think the former is a better quest in general. While Gryvorn is a high health boss, he's got a melee attack and he's subject to conditions, which makes it too easy for the right hero party to keep him disabled while chipping away at his health.

The length of the finale quests is comparable to any other. In the Shadow Rune, the finales do take into account the outcomes of the earlier quests (lieutenants appear or don't based on who won earlier quests).

As an OL, I've won and lost "The Man Who Would Be King." As an OL, I've only ever lost "Gryvorn Unleashed". If you're looking for more detailed stats, check out Atom's d2etracker .

<double post, oops>

Just want to report the most hilarious turn of events happened today on the quest Death on the wing, second encounter.

I amassed a ton of cards during encounter 1, because heroes kept getting seperated and threwn behind ettins that made their progress veeeeeery slow.... and when new ettins were to spawn they spawned so far ahead because the spawn tiles were littered with heroes and/or ettins and other monsters.

It was hilarious but very boring at the same time since it took so loooong, I think I got 8 stones out before they started clearing them at a rampart speed.

BUT! HERE IS THE FUN PART!

I won as overlord on the second act in the very first turn xD The guards are super weak! And placing my merriods close to the first group of guards made me once shot them both with my red merriod! Only to play a dash and frenzy on my other merriod to move over and take out the other two afterwards, with a red elemental doing the last work.

Heroes had one single turn and to my huge frustration and anger, immobilized my lieutenant and hit all his HP in one go (almost) **** conditions are like, super duper strong against monsters and especially bigger ones. I know for sure I hope I don't get the end mission where you have one big dragon, seems very easy to stack conditions on that poor thing and watch him wither away xD