I was playing Maskerade Ball yesterday and my Heroes found a pretty efficient way to prevent overlord from completing victory conditions.

Encounter 1: they rushed and blocked movement in the exit corridor with 2 heros, preventing monsters to escort any guess through the exit.

Encounter 2: they rushed and blocked movement in front of the locked door in the 3rd corridor, preventing Eliza Farrow from opening the door and complete the objective.

With just a few monsters left, It was impossible to kill any of the heros blocking movement.

Meanwhile, the heros just took their time and looted every chest, with 2 heros blocking the path, overlord could just watch and wait until game over.

I can see it coming and they'll try this on every map now

Is there any way for overlord to prevent or the beat this "exploit" ?

Bagdad said:

Play better ? Eliza has Seduce which can move a hero, ditto for Dark Charm OL card (might be others, have only played with the Basic cards so far).

In some encounters where we've tried to block the OL's minions so far, he's used Ettin's to throw heroes and Stig's knockback to create holes in the line. He also uses a lot of traps to slow movement when it's a race to a specific spot. All of our attempts to block corridors, so far, have lasted only one or two turns. It's never been a game breaker.

If in doubt, hit them with weapons. Knocking one or two of the heroes out would definitely make a hole in their line.

Sausageman said:

Yeah, they usually wait until i'm out of monster before doing this…So with only 1 or 2 monsters left, they block corridors and then, 1 or 2 heros goes and loot every chest , then they kill or finish the quest objective…

It's very hard to kill a hero with 2 weak monsters, and they use healer every turn.

Other suggestions are good, but you still need to have these particular monsters or card in your deck…

Haven't tought about Eliza Seduce though! Nice!

I think goblins can sneak past the heroes. So if you choose them to "escort" the guests there is no way of blocking them.

Yeah, Goblin Archers would work, so will Kobolds from 1st edition and you get 9(!) of them in a 4-hero game

Kobolds in the Library and Demon Lords near the entrance worked alright for me. (Both monsters from 1st edition though)