I have now played a full campaign of descent as an OL, and only won 2 quests. This was mainly due to us not knowing the rules and doing some major screwups that overpowered either the OL or the heroes (ex. letting the heroes rest and recover while it was their turn).

In the end Leoric got a rune that could immobilize a unit and due to his AoE skills got "upgraded" to an AoE immobilize. The heroes used this to their advandtage. By using a crossbow and "knock back" (move unit 1 space) the units they clustered the mobs and immobilized them. Then from afar they slowly killed them..

This was particulary painfull in encounters where I as the OL had to move of the map since they used the hero Stun ability and immobilize to make it extremly hard to win, as well as the last quest where they just immobilized the dragon and took him out without him being able to do much.

Were we just doing something wrong or is this a flaw in the rules?

No flaw. If you are referring to the "Break The Rune" skill and the Act 2 shop item "Ice Storm" (Act 1 has a Stun version known as "Sunburst") its pretty potent. I suppose as the OL you would want to maximize ranged units and burn down Leoric ASAP whenever possible. But I'm curious how the final Boss suffered as poorly when it has Fire Breath at a range of 4. Even if Leoric imobilizes and burns his last fatigue he's in range… Or did he have some trinket that added stamina? Maybe he would forfeit a surge for 1 more move? Even so, it's a tricky business being OL. Plan, plan, plan and stack your deck as best you can. And to all the Runemasters out there - make a note of this tactic.

On a side note: were you sure to imobilize and damage any heros within the three spaces? Just curious.

Edit: perhaps Leoric was using "Exploding Rune" instead? Please clarify which skill/item combo you are discussing.

Rico said:

Based on a literal reading of the rules, I think that would boil down to whether or not you think the space you occupy is within line of sight of yourself.

Logically, of course, it makes sense that your own space would be in line of sight. Mechanically, adjacent spaces are explicitly defined as being within line of sight because "they always share an edge or a corner with your space." Well, your space shares ALL edges and corners with itself, so that should mean it's in LoS too. So there's certainly a strong arguement to be made that it should also affect him.

However, I somehow get the feeling that wasn't intended. I mean, EVERY attack he uses with this skill is going to hit himself as well, which seems kind of harsh. Especially when it costs 4 fatigue to use (Leoric only has 5 to work with.) Break the Rune is a 3XP skill, so we expect it to be pretty cool. Hurting yourself every time just because you techncially have to be "within 3 spaces" of yourself somehow just doesn't sit right with me.

As far as countering the combo goes, as OL, I would focus any and all effects within my power to make Leoric suffer fatigue and prevent him from having enough to use the skill, as much as possible. (Killing him a lot also works, though.)

Can't remember the exact way it went but.

Leoric used a ranged attack and applied the immobilize as far as I remember. I as an overlord tried to be smart and stunned him with an overlord card when he moved, but then the stunhero (forgot name) used her crossbow to move the dragon using knock back (and used the same movement rules as normally for the large monsters knocking it far back.

Basically it got knocked all the way into the corner and locked there..