Hello, all:

I'm a somewhat experienced gamer but new Descent player. I'm playing my first Descent game now, a RtL campaign with three other heroes who are perhaps best termed casual gamers (Descent is by far the most advanced board game any of them have ever played, with Arkham Horror probably being the second-most so).

Our party, in early copper campaign mode:

• Trenloe the Strong with Knight, +1 melee training, plate mail, and a sword and crystal shield.
• Karnon with Cleaving, chainmail, and an axe.
• Red Scorpion with Born to the Bow, +1 ranged training, chainmail, and Backbiter.
• Andira Runehand with Spiritwalker, +1 magic training, a wizard's cloak, Mana Weave, and Staff of the Grave.

Red Scorpion has struggled in combat even with Backbiter (the player playing her also had the option of taking Laurel of Bloodwood, who looked like a better ranged shooter and runner to my novice's eye, but she liked RS' picture better). On the flip side, I can't complain too much about our initial skill draws--Spiritwalking Andira has been all kinds of fun to play, at the very least.

OL is the Sorcerer King and has upgraded eldritch monsters to silver.

Alric Farrow has just reached Riverwatch. We're in Tamalir with the Staff of the Wild. We're considering moving to Riverwatch and fighting him.

(1) Are we suicidal?

(2) If not, can any of the more experienced hero players offer some advice for lieutenant encounters? Do they often end in TPK's? (The OL is already leading the experience-point race by 4 after one dungeon.) How do you usually begin the first turn or two?

Gramarye said:

(1) Not entirely, but you may well struggle. OTOH Andira with Spiritwalker, Mana Weave and Staff of the Grave is a sweet hitter and entirely capable of taking out the Razorwings and silver Sorcerers. Alric is very tough, but without Treachery and with Eldritch upgrade rather than beasts he is quite defeatable. You probably have almost no chance of killing him though.

(2) You will need to be well equipped with potions (power pots especially, and a fatigue pot or two and healing pot or two will go down well as well).
You need to get a decent location draw, and use the Trees well.
You need to plan some heavy hitting surprise turns. Feats can help in this, but the key is probably potion use and making the most of your skills. I'd be tempted to swap weapons for Karnon and Trenloe and use Trenloe as the hero that 'goes after' Alric - Cleaving is a skill best used for taking out the minion monsters while Knight can give Trenloe 3 attacks in a turn against Alric. And with a power pot he can really use his natural reroll ability on a gold or green dice to be worth +2 or +3 damage often.
First turn is usually moving into the trees, often with a guard or two - the OL will rarely give you free hits on monsters. Then its all about timing...

TPKs can happen quite easily in Lt encounters, when heroes commit hard to fighting. However Red Scorpion is pretty close to useless once the weakest monsters have gone, so might as well flee relatively early.

Also remember to protect Andira at all costs (though it is not easy against flying monsters): once she is gone, the OL can block your way to Alric with soaring Razorwings that are immune to your warriors and too tough for Red Scorpion.