Last night we played the first evening of a trial campaign. We started with the Silver Start rules from Pg 9 except (House Rules);
1. We allowed the OL to choose a single city to sack (he chose Riverwatch to kill the market there) after the heroes chose their first one to train from (before they choose their second.
- First, it is rare for an OL not to have sacked any cities by the end of Bronze.
- Second, the OL needs the extra weekly CT as the heroes start to go through dungeons faster.
- Third, this limits (though not much) some of the combos that can be easily formed by the heroes through the Silver start rules.
2. We allowed to spend all (no saving) of his 100CT (+15 starting, +5 sacked city) before play started.
- First, its just plain ridiculous that the heroes can spend their loot and the OL can't!
- Second, its heavily unbalancing for the OL not to be able to spend, especially as the heroes have already skipped the supposedly hardest level. A week to upgrade one category to SIlver (heroes run through an entire dungeon). A second week to upgrade that category to Gold (Heroes run through most of an entire dungeon unless they are very unlucky). A third, fourth, fifth weeks to get started with some Lts on the mapboard, while the heroes have free rein to train with all that loot the got... etc etc.
- Third, allowing the OL to 'save' some of his CT would see the heroes with a (limited) selection of bronze treasures go up against Gold critters in their first move. And Treachery/Silver critters. Starting bronze heroes might get in 2-3 dungeons worth before they have to face an upgrade.

House-rules for Feats are also being tested:
1. The Heroes get 1 feat each at the beginning of each dungeon (not level) and each time a glyph is activated the activator gets a single feat card.
- Keeps feats in the game without being dominating. The one at the start counters the lack of 'saving' in #4 below.
- Because we play one on one the hero player has to play all four heroes. Too many feats for each hero makes it tough. One apiece and an odd extra one keeps things simple to remember, and even simple to check if you can't remember. Too many options could actually cause problems here.
2. Any time a hero plays a feat card the OL draws a card.
- This is the 'price' of playing a feat. Simple to administer and of uncertain value (before and after playing the eat!), it also increases the OLs options to counter the increased options of the heroes.
3. No Feats in encounters
- Too tricky to work out and probably too unbalancing anyway. Not worth the hassle we decided.
4. No feats kept at the end of a dungeon.
- Prevents 'saving up the good ones', keeps the book keeping clean and easy.

The heroes have an advantage over normal bronze-start in the dungeons - because although the OL starts with some Silver monsters and a significant whack of treachery, the heroes are powered up with bronze upgrades and 1-2 extra skills each (and a few good bronze items). OTOH the OL has a kickstart on the map, starting with 3 Lts and Seige Engines - on week 4 Thadd (80 wounds and 8 armour or something similarly ridiculous) will be rolling to destroy Greyhaven while seige markers will be placed on Nerekhal and Forge.

Setup

OL
Avatar = Titan
Starting upgrade: Seige Engines
105 starting CT:Silver Humanoids (25CT), 3x Event Treachery (45CT), 1x Spawn Treachery (10CT), 1x Thadd (15CT), 1x Farrow brother (5CT), 1x Focused (5CT)
Riverwatch sacked.

Heroes
Trained at Vynevale and Frostgate (and Tamalir if needed)

Silhouette 12 7 1 5 3xB Range (+2F Bronze)
Spend 2 Fat to change a readied order to a different order, Rapid Fire, Precision, Blessing
Ripper, Leather, Shield, Gauntlets of Power, Fatigue Pot
7xp left

Okaluk and Rakash 16 5 0 7 2xB Melee, 1xB Range (+2F Bronze)
Stealth, Ox Tattoo, Tiger Tattoo
Hammer, Shield, Heavy Leather
37 xp left

Karnon (yeti) 22 4 1 4 5xB Melee (+4W Bronze)
Tread Ice, immune to fear and frost, Bear Tattoo, Leadership, Weapon Mastery
Chainmail, Axe, Power pot, Fatigue Pot
7 xp left

Rune Witch Astarra 12 7 0 5 3xB Magic (+2F Bronze)
Glyphs activate within 6 (3RTL), Telekinesis, Wild Talent
Mage Robes, Staff of Punishment, Bag of Holding, Fatigue Pot, Mana Weave
37 xp left

Cathedral, Bazaar, Great Bazaar, Bigger Walls (names changed to protect the innocent)
25gp

A very fast party, with some cool combos, but also very fragile. Not a single proper tank was available, Astarra was the only Mage. Okalak and Rakush's other options were real 'old' rubbish - Lyssa and Aurim IIRC, so there was no choice but to go with the light and fast multi-runner option.

We wanted to play with some of the new heroes from ToI so the rule we used was each hero slot must have one ToI character in it to choose from. If it did not, then the third option was continually discarded until a ToI hero was drawn. I watched Tahlia and Nanok slip through my fingers this way...

Week 1
OL gains 2CT [2/107]
Thadd and one of the Farrow bros move to Greyhaven, the other Farrow heads south towards Forge.

Heroes move to Starfall Forest, avoiding any encounter (1CT) {101}

Level 1 is the one with the moving Pits.
Okalak runs a lot, clearing the loot and preventing spawning, while Karnon uses leadership to put dodges on him.
Silhouette slaughters everything she can see effortlessly.
Astarra uses Telekinesis to move monsters off treasures and glyphs before Okalak collects them.
Heroes take three turns to clear the level of all loot and monsters. There is no Treasure in the chest.
OL uses a Danger, Hordes of the Things and Brilliant Commander to help pay for the first card he plays, which is Evil Genius (3 cards per turn).
The dodges on Okalak have no effect as the stealth die comes up X repeatedly anyway. OL hates Stealth.
No Feat cards are used.
OL's second card played is Crushing Blow, getting rid of Silhouettes Gauntlets of Power (oh, well, it was fun for the 20 min it lasted!) Hero player is not surprised.
The Tamalir market has two shortages, a rubbish Range/Daze item and a Sheath of Might (+2 Damage Melee). Karnon buys the Sheath and Ring of Protection.
Here endeth the level. OL 0 [2/107], Heroes 6 (3 glyph, 2 leader, 1 no treasure) {107}.

Level 2 is the one with the bone-pitting Skeleton boss who must be dumped in the Sarcophagi.
Okalak runs to prevent/limit spawning on the Boss' side of the dungeon, Karnon Readies, moving forward and giving Okalak a dodge.
Astarra Teke's (Telekinesis') Karnon and Silhouette further forward, then moves forward herself, Guarding.
Silhouette advances to prevent/limit spawning on the other side of the very large dungeon, using some fatigue, and dodges.
Massed skeletons and some spawned shades ignore the dodging heroes and focus on Astarra, killing her [2CT] despite losing the first to her guard order. They include the boss who moves to a central location to avoid being easily sarcophogied.
Okalak Advances, uses the hammer to kill the skeleton on the glyph, activates the Glyph (3CT) and moves back towards the main action. Karnon does a leadership special Ready and moves up to the boss, hits him and places a Guard order. Silhouette, (whose dodge became a Rest) shoots a shade and a skeleton and advances toward the Treasure, again, limiting spawning. Astarra comes out of the newly activated glyph and shoots the other shade and gets some in on the boss as well, making him easily killable by Karnon.
Karnon interrupts before the OL can draw any cards and kills the boss, who becomes a bone pile. The remaining skeletons and some spawned Dark Priests focus on Karnon who takes 12 damage leaving him on 10.
Karnon moves onto the bone pile, picks it up and carries it out of the mess of skeletons to a clear spot where he drops it for Okalak. Astarra Teke's Okalak onto the bone pile and then Teke's Karnon away from the skeletons (more importantly, away from the priests who will struggle to get to him when she is done). Unfortunately a pit opens up under Karnon and drops him out of Astarra's sight so she gives up on him - with 8 wounds left and 4 armour and only adjacent spaces able to see him (and then be grappled), he should surviive 3 skeleton attacks and then break for the opened door (in theory). Okalak seizes the bonepile, runs it too the Sarcophagi and permanently removes the boss. He sloppily forgets to use fatigue to get far enough back into the middle to prevent spawns entirely though (now that Karnon is in the pit). Silhouette loots the treasure chest and returns to her anti-spawn spot with a dodge. The Chest contains a Flute of Repose. Heroes celebrations are... muted.
A Beastman war party spawns nearby the main group of heroes, and Karnon braces himself Yeti-fuly. The Skeletons group around his pit and bombard him with arrows. One of the Beastmen moves in and tries to finish him off but Karnon uses a Fend (feat, +4 armour vs a single attack before the dice are rolled) to just barely stay alive. A final skeleton finishes him off though [4CT]. The second beastman attacks Astarra and smashes her down for 10 damage (max hit) so she has 2 left. The Beastman Master then moves in for the kill and she plays Invisible (feat, gain stealth vs one attack) and the stealth die rolls an X so she escapes. OL is unhappy, having drawn two rubbish cards (or so he says) for the heroes playing the Feats. To rub salt into the wound the Master Dark Priest, unable to get to the main action, shoots at Silhouette. A maximum damage hit is rerolled into another maximum Damage hit but Silhouette Evades (Feat, play when a successful Magic or Ranged attack hits you, it misses unless you roll a surge) leaving the OL cursing. She would have taken 8 (of 11 left) damage leaving her run to the door fraught with danger.
Karnon goes to the apothecary, Okalak runs to the portal, as does Silhouette, and Astarra arrives at the temple bleeding profusedly.
Here endeth the Level. OL 6 (Astarra 2, Karnon 4) [8/113] Heroes 5 (glyph 3, Boss 2) {112}

The third level is the one with the two fountains - the heroes have to drink at the furthest to be able to hurt the Master Beastman and then drink at the second soon after to avoid dying.
With 2 extra Master Beastmen in the possible setup and tricky access to the loot (not to mention Evil Genius in play since level 1) the heroes ran straight back to Tamalir. 3 Silver Master Beastman, protected by 4 Skeletons, 8 cards in hand and 3 cards/turn is past heroic and into stupid AFAIAC, especially with no AoE weapons and no easy access to the bad guys.

End of the Week
OL [8/113], Heroes {112}

Early Analysis

OL is not impressed with Feats so far.
Heroes have been lucky with the feats they have used. A 1/3 chance and a 2/3 chance have both come off. OL claims to have drawn crap cards in response (still, saved him drawing them later). Probably more significantly, OL has had Evil Genius in play from Level 1, turn 2, so extra cards are perhaps not as important as they might more commonly be.
Having only 1 or 2 feats available per hero is not too overburdening for one player to keep track of.
Only 3 Feats were used in 2 levels.

Silver starting heroes get a very good start. The silver start can avoid the 'drag' of the painful, grinding mid-bronze period. OTOH, the OL started with CB! Ouch! And, there is already heat coming on the Mapboard. Possibly the OL should have been able to 'keep' the 5CT from razing one city at the start of the campaign, slightly reducing the amount of time before he can get Gold upgrade.

Week 2
OL gains 2 CT [10/115]
Thudd and Farrow move on to Greyhaven and the other Farrow between Tamalir and Forge.

Hero Party move to Thelsvan Highway but on the way are attacked by a horde (12 + Boss with Command 2 and +24 wounds) of Kobolds in a marshy area.
Karnon blocks off one entrance and slowly finishes of the Kobolds there. Silhouette clears the front Kobalds out and enables Okalak to stand beside the stream with a dodge, preventing more Kobalds getting through to swarm the party. The marshy ground and slow speed of Kobolds make it very difficult for them to press forward. Many extra Kobolds are swarmed and as three heroes slowly grind their way toward the Boss Kobold they eventually have to leave the stream's flank covering capabilities. Okalak gets hit a few times despite the stealthy dodging and starts to lose wounds. Eventually the three of them press the boss to the very edge and prevent reinforcments from arriving. Karnon is now slowly making his way back toward them. Some good hits from the boss, boosted by threat kill Astarra [2CT] and hurt Okalak badly and both flee the board with 1-2 wounds left Silhouette finishes off the boss {2CT} and the battered heroes continue.
OL 2 [12/117] Heroes 2+1 when they arrive {115}

Level 1 is the Alchemist (?) - the Sorcerer who can choose between Blast1/Regen6/PierceX each turn.
First turn the heroes advance fairly cautiously, Okalak healing in the temple. The OL positions his monsters. Second turn Okalak is still healing, Astarra Teke's Karnon and Silhoette forward then rests and prevents rear spawning. Silhouette and Karnon get some loot and guard.
The Sorcerer tries a long range shot against Karnon and takes off his guard. Two beastmen rush him and get one good hit in and some minor damage. Karnon is down to 15 wounds. The remaining monsters skulk about on top of chest, coin piles and glyphs.
Turn three Astarra moves Silhouette closer to Karnon in order to bless him. And stays in the rear to keep rear spawns away.
Karnon battles, killing both Beastman. Silhouette advances forward onto a tabletop and shoots at the Sorcerer. Three shots at RGGBBB Pierce 2 +2 range and +2 Damage vs Armour 5 do 6 damage total (which can be regened away if he chooses). Okalak gets forgotten it seems.
The OL spawns an Enraged Master Troll and it charges past the Sorceror to hit both Silhouette and Karnon. Silhouette goes down [3CT] and Karnon is badly hurt, but still alive. The Sorcerer tries to finish him off and misses.
Astarra advances towards the Glyph, moving a Beastman of a treasure chest and the spider of the now activated {3CT} glyph that she ends beside (just out of reach of the troll). Silhouette battles out from the glyph killing the spider, the Beastman and finishing the Sorcerer {2CT} (who chose pierce instead of regen). Okalak runs for the chest but there is no treasure {1CT} and finishes in a location to prevent spawning. Karnon runs back towards the starting glyph and uses his fatigue to get into a position to prevent spawning as well. The troll lumbers towards the heroes but cannot reach.
Astarra glyphs back to Tamalir and finds 4 decent treasures in the Market. She buys the Breath Rune and Wizards (Elvish?) Robes for herself and picks up a new 2H sword from ToI for Karnon (RGG, s=damage, gain one wound if you kill a damage a monster) and the Mace/Hammer of Kellos for Okalak. She also buys the Staff of the Wilderness. Silhouette and Okalak make it through the portal and Karnon stands on the starting glyph. A last spawn of Beastman can only reach Karnon with two, and one misses, so he escapes with a single wound left (to the temple, Bat-yeti!).
Here endeth the Level.
OL 3 {15/120] Heroes 6 {121}

Level 2 is actually the level I described for week one that they fled, I can't remember what the level was for week 1 but it had lots of silver nasties as well. Heroes glyph straight back to town healing and getting potions.
No Feats used at all in this dungeon.

Week 3
OL gains 2CT {17/122]
Two seige tokens go onto Greyhaven. With Seige Engines, and Thudd's personal seige engines, Thudd will start rolling to raze Greyhaven next week! Farrow moves on to Nerekhall, his brother on to Forge. OL's flying start on the Mapboard starts to get painfully obvious...

Heroes utilise the Staff to move two trails to the Gardens of Tarn. On the way they are Ambushed by Silence (a Master Dark Elf with +20odd wounds and +3 damage). The ambush is in a location where melee attacks are -2.

Not having paid attention to this, the Hero on watch is Karnon. Silence duly attacks him doing 5 damage and a frost token. Karnon battles back with a miss and 7 damage while his compatriots sleep on.
Silence slips another frosted blade deep into Karnon for 10 damage. Another attack like that will kill him. Karnon roars, shatttering both frost tokens and battles on alone. His compatriots turn restlessly in their sleep. Another 6-7 damage and Karnon drinks a Power pot and spends all 4 fatigue to give himself 4 Gold and a Silver to add to his RGG. Everything hits and Silence is torn in half {2CT}. Both halves literally melt away into small puddles, leaving no evidence save the gaping wounds in Karnon's torso.
In the morning his compatriots silently wonder at the strange self-mutilation rituals of Yeti-kind.

The heroes arrive at the Gardens of Tarn {1CT} and enter the first level.

Here endeth the first session (4.5hrs?)
3 Dungeon levels + 2 encounters
From the start of week 1 into week 3
Session Total CT: OL 17, Heroes 24
Campaign Total CT: OL [17/122], Heroes {124}

BTW, all comments, questions etc are welcome.

So far not much chance to assess the method of using Feats.

The hero player has enjoyed the fast-start the (modified) Silver start rules give and the score ratio is similar to the bronze scores we have had (until the OL gets his first upgrade). OL is still dubious but may change his tune quickly if the cities start falling. The purpose of the trial is to see...

So far the only thing I'd change would be to let the OL keep ('save') the CT from the city he initially razed, just to give the heroes a little less space at the start. Possibly a second razed city could be given to the OL, though I'd probably let the heroes choose that one in order to not overly screw with the skills available. OTOH the fast start on the mapboard looks particularly scary for the Titan (and he could have had the Farrow sister as well!) given his location and Thadd.

Interesting.

One question: are you playing with any other house rules? If not, I don't know why Karnon didn't just kick the other heroes awake on his first turn in the battle with Silence.

One comment: Allowing the Overlord to pick and choose cities to be razed during the imaginary Copper phase is pretty powerful; in the 'real' game, most likely it is the city closest to the Overlord's Keep that is going to fall first (note that in some sense, Riverwatch is "closer" to the Beastman Lord's Keep than Vynelvale, because of its much lower defense). Burning a far-away city early is almost certainly going to require the use of the Transport Gem.

I'm not really sure how to incorporate this into the 'fast start,' (other than the very-restrictive "Overlord MUST raze the closest city to his Keep") but it's something to think about.

The_Immortal said:

No House Rules that impacted that situation. We treat pit LOS as the same both ways (ie can't see in unless adjacent) and one or two other minor things like that that have come up occasionally when discussing things here.

Brain fart would be the best explanation. It was the end of the night, after 3 full levels, 2 partial levels (well, we didn't actually set them up) and another (long, over 20 Silver Kobolds killed, without a single AoE weapon or Silver weapon) encounter completed .
Karnon has Bear Tattoo so he was protecting the others from Silence where he was. Foolish assumption that one of the others would wake up within the first two rounds also contributed. He also has 22 wounds (bear tattoo and bronze wound upgrade) so despite lacking armour (Silver Master Dark Elf has Pierce 6 IIRC, so Armour gets shucked to avoid it shattering from Frost) I figured he had a reasonable chance of slugging it out with Silence on his own anyway. I was right, but thanks to a miss and good rolling by Silence it was closer than I expected.
The -2 melee damage made it perfect for waking others as well, as even the worst roll would be a maximum 2 damage and any other non-miss could have been manipulated into a 1 damage result.

While allowing the OL choice of cities to raze is powerful, so is allowing the Heroes choice of cities/secretmasters to train (any 2 + Tamalir). Heroes can do combos somewhat more easily than if they were training under 'real' mapboard-pressure conditions.
Giving the OL 1 city of choice is reasonable I think - if only to reduce the heroes opportunities to get all the best skills or combos. If we thought another free raze was warranted it would have to be heroes choice though, definitely.

Ironically, the OL's first choice would have been Vynevale, despite not getting any extra weekly CT for it. I was lucky enough to start with both Telekinesis and Rapid Fire (especially Telekinesis) so killing the chance to start with Leadership was the OL's priority. However Vynevale was my heroes first choice - Leadership, Weapon Mastery, Blessing, Precision were all chosen from there, so he changed it to Riverwatch to kill the excellent market there.

Corbon said:

Not to add insult to injury, but...

Karnon is immune to Frost.

The_Immortal said:

end of the night...

Corbon said:

Played another session last night, more detailed reports will (eventually) follow.

In view of the recent FAQ, even though it was aborted, we decided to swap out the possibly now-banned skills (Telekinesis and Bear tattoo) for a new draw, and the OL played without using CrBlw or Poltergeist (leaving him with not so many useful options for his 3 event Treachery). Losing Telekinesis really hurt the hero play style.

Of course, without Telekinesis Astarra would have probably done much better with a Wounds upgrade than a fatigue upgrade (even though QC costs 2F to use), but thems the breaks.

The Feats were again interesting. Unfortunately, since the heroes only play them if the timing is good, and don't play the crap ones, the OL is still (even more) of the opinion that even at the cost of 1 OL card draw per played feat, they are an amazing power boost for the heroes.

Feats played this session were;
Melee - give sweep to one attack. Meant a big attack on a Boss also hit a skeleton and a Master Dark Priest (killing them both, though not the boss). Probably kept that hero alive for one extra turn, enough to take out the boss before he died.
Ranger - cause a trap to fail unless a blank is rolled (succeeded). Blocked a Mimic (silver beastman who would have got to a 1 wound left 2 Armour dodging hero next to a glyph, probably therefore saving 3 CT on a 5/6 chance). OL very unhappy that he still had to pay for the trap too!
Magic - one that gave the mage stealth for a single attack. The stealth die X-ed and the Mage survived the turn when that attack would have killed it. Saved 2CT on a 1/3 chance.
- One that gave the mage +2 Move and Fly for a turn. Allowed me to get to a glyph across a vast Ice sheet (#44 Ice tunnels from ToI). Unfortunately the Attack + Quick casting on the blocking monster sitting on the glyph both missed, so the rest of my heroes could not boil out from town the same turn (well, one of them). Still, tactically, broke wide open a tricky situation, especially since the ice was ending at least 75% of moves immediately. Would have been an amazing coup move if not for the double-miss which followed (Hero in town was Rapid firer with 7 Fatigue and potions, so probably a 7-shot battle would have ensued, clearing the room including the Boss.

Not played were 2x +8 range to a ranged attack and something else Magic that was pretty impotent.
Every time a feat was played the OL thought a single card draw was vastly underpriced for what he lost.

Great campaign log, just the right amount of detail for my taste.

Nice to see some competent heroes for a change (not perfect, but nobody plays perfect for a full 4 hour session). Might even convince me to break out RtL again some day.

I look forward to reading about your LT battles without telekinesis and grapple.

Enjoying the read Corbon and am looking forward to how your modifications pan out. One aspect of the Sliver Start that bothered me, is that most of the dungeons near Tamalir should "already" have been explored in Copper. Maybe think about marked 4-5 dungones as "explored" next time around?

Continuing Week 3 at the Gardens of Tarn

Ist level The one with the Demon stuck in a Summoning circle...

We had a keen novice watching this game and I was explaining quite few things to him before we started and during the game. Towards the end, he actually caught an error I was about to make, but, possibly slightly distracted, I started the night with an almighty screwup.
All the heroes get 1 feat card for entering the dungeon (under our trial rules for feats - note that no feat cards are held at the end of a dungeon, use em or lose em)
First turn and Karnon goes back to town to get his 'self mutilation' fixed up a bit. Okalak and Rakash (O&K) advance (ready) with a dodge token on, Silhouette advanced behind him/them, also with a dodge (2 fatigue to turn it into a Guard and shoot through O&K with Precision if needed against something important) and Astarra advances with a Guard so she is close enough to run through to open the glyph for Karnon to return next turn. The last was the mistake, a bad one, as Astarra was supposed to stay back and prevent spawning in the start area but I forgot whiel I was explaining something else and moved her up absent-mindedly.
In reply, the OL plays a (silver) Beastman War Party. 2 Beastmen in the rear and the Master ahead where the Demon, Skeletons, Master Dark Priest, Master Dark Elf and Demon-spawned Razorwing could take advantage of the command. Also a mistake because with the Command, White and yellow dice, and Sorcery, the Demon was very likely to be able to hit Astarra from inside the circle at range 5-6 even though she would probably fail to hit the demon from there. Duh!
As predicted, the demon comfortably hit Astarra for a few points of damage, removing her guard (well, seeing the inevitable she fired off at the demon anyway but couldn't penetrate its armour at longe range after paying for Fear). Most of the skeletons pot-shotted Astarra further, except one staying well back on the glyph. The Master Dark Priest did the same and then the Razorwing did its and hit and run but missed. Now the Master Beastman came forward, but at point blank range Silhouette dropped her dodge for a guard and despite missing twice (Rapid Fire) blew the Master away expending her last fatigue on an extra dice needed to kill it after a succession of poor rolls (she is using the Ripper from ToI, so can reroll one dice each attack - the misses are Xs rerolled as Xs and both attacks that hit rerolled 1 heart on the green dice to get the same result. Both of us were having a terrible night with the dice). Now the master Dark Elf runs forward and slips a frost knife into Silhouette's gut for heavy damage and a frost token. Finally the two rear Beastmen attacked, one finishing off Astarra [2CT]and the other possibly missing Silhouette, I can't remember. See the comment above about terrible dice!
O&K advanced as planned, ducking through gaps in the monster formation and taking out the skelton on the glyph with his big Mace of Aver. Fatigue expenditure got him onto the Glyph, activating it {3CT, and a feat card}. Astarra returns through the glyph, Astarra collecting loot (cash and 1 potion from the chest, no treasure {1CT}). Silhouette sprints (ready, using all fatigue) for the glyph, ending beside it, with a dodge, partially shielded by O&K. Karnon comes out, advancing, spends fatigue to get into the midst of the monsters and then plays his Feat card to give his attack Sweep. He takes out the Master Dark Pries (a curse token), a skeleton, possibly a razorwing, and damages the Boss demon (yay, immune to Fear, though not to the Aura). He uses his last fatigue to have a Cleaving attack on the demon, but misses.
Most of the monsters attack Karnon, who survives, though the Dark Elf did some more serious damage and Karnon is looking sick, down to 4 health, only 4 armour, no fatigue and worth 5CT due to the curse. Some of the monsters who could reach try to get to Silhouette but one attack does minimum damage which is just blocked by armour + shield and the other misses. OL is gutted. See above about bad dice!
Karnon battles the demon, having decided discretion may be the better part of valour but is just not possible in this circumstance, just killing it {2CT}. O&K cleans up some more of the Loot, Silhouette escaps to town for healing and Astarra moves into position to prevent spawning while killing off the the monsters that went after Silhouette.
Karnon goes down to the last of the monsters [5CT] but the level is almost over. Astarra wipes the monsters out with the Breath rune and makes it through the door that O&K opened and exited. Karnon Shops, getting a Beastman Fetish (so he won't miss as often) and picking up the Fire staff (not breath) for Astarra. the other two items are ranged weapons, but frankly not much better than Ripper (especially with its reroll dice) and the money is saved for now.
There endeth the level.
OL 7CT [24/129] Heroes 6CT {130} No point in running now, OL can upgrade his humanoids to Gold next turn, so as expected, we will do this entire dungeon now. Despite several attempts to melt it, Silhouette is still carrying the Frost token.

falke said:

Oboewan said:

That might be more appropriate against another Avatar, though I'm not sure.

One thing to remember is that the OL is also on to a 'fast start', able to start with multiple Lts, Treachery, Seige engines etc. The heroes can get some nice training to start with but can't really afford to buy things like the staff of the wild etc with their starting cash - 10,000 is 1000 cash per 10 CT, much less than they will get normally. They are also likely to have fewer bronze treasures than normal (though they will be good ones) - 4-6 is the max affordable really.

This means that the heroes are really at something of a disadvantage on the mapboard already. They just can't afford an overly slow start (which would be the case if most of the close dungeons were already 'played out').

It also means that the start of silver operates similarly to the normal start of bronze in that the OL is not immediately vastly more powerful - the heroes get a few turns and dungeons to get some decent equipment before they have to face Gold creatures, much the same way as they get a few turns and dugeons worth before they have to face silver creatures in Bronze level. The gold switch will operate the same as the normnal silver swith, where the OL saves enough to upgrade his monsters on the first turn in a new campaign level and the heroes have to have several dungeons with monsters two levels higher than their equipment.

Which altogether is not directly to the point, but I feel happy so far with the test results not having marked any dungeons as explored.

Indeed, I'm feeling, as the heroes, under immense mapboard pressure already as you will see when I finish the current crop of reports. By the end of OL turn 4 the OL has already razed 2 dungeons (one for free, one during game play and has seige tokens on 2 more. On turn six he will be rolling to raze a third city! meanwhile I have collected a total of 2 Silver treasures from Chests, and seen 12 maximum through the market (some of which were shortages, and any of which I want must be paid for with cash - the limiting resource for heroes).

Week 3 continued...
2nd level The Gauntlet

For those not familiar with this level, there are two large double rooms, with two runelocked doors between them. There is a longish corridor doing a u-turn between the rooms. The Rune locked doors have no method of opening available to the heroes at all (though of course the Level Boss can open them). Traps cost three less threat in this level and the OL get three free cards. Basically, the heroes have to run the 'gauntlet' (hopefully of nice traps) from one large room to the other to get at the Boss. Whereupon, the boss opens the runelocked doors and steps through, forcing the heroes to run all the way back... Of course, holding back a defender or two is a smart move for the heroes, and there is a glyph in each room, so once they activate the far glyph a hero returning from town can come in either room.

The OL sets up with a spider out of sight but blocking the corridor for a fast run through and all other monsters (ferrox and hellhounds) hard up against the runelocked doors ready for the Boss Beastman to open them. The three bonus cards the OL gets for this level means he has a hand of 12 or 13 to choose his first turn discards from - ouch!
O&K pushes forward fast with a dodge, Karnon and Astarra slightly further back in support. Silhouette covers the rear with a dodge (still frosted), staying far enough away from the door that the ferroxes at least can't reach her if the boss opens up, and prevents spawning.
The Boss opens the door, letting the horde through. A Hellhound tries to fry Silhouette but is ineffective. The other hellhound stands on the far glyph. Some Sorcerers are spawned (IIRC) and manage to hurt Silhouette significantly, without triggering the frost. The ferroxes advance threateningly. At the last minute Silhouette drops her dodge for a guard and shoots up a Sorcerer. Her Ripper does not shatter, luckily.
The frost finally melts on Silhouette and she battles away, blowing a hole in the monster formation that O&K can use to get at the boss. O&K advances back to the starting Glyph (which is in the doorway) and knockbacks the boss into the midst of the heroes. Karnon finishes him off {2CT} and Astarra uses the Breath rune to clear out most of the remaining beasties that poured through the doorway.
There is one ferrox left, as well as the spider still blocking the corridor and the hellhound standing on the unactivated glyph. However now is just the time for a Kobold swarm and the little buggers surround O&K desperate to pick on someone their own size for a change. The ferrox misses though, as do several of the Kobolds, and although O&K takes some damage he is still in relatively good health.
O&K ducks his way through a gap in the Kobolds to the chest (nothing but cash, {1CT}), opening the portal door on the way. Silhouette tries to make it to the starting glyph but is pit trapped to death [3CT] in successive pits. Astarra uses the Breath rune to clear the Kobolds (2 shots, including Quick Casting) and advances through the open door, spending fatigue to get close enough to activate the other glyph {3CT}. Karnon relaxes while preventing spawning, using his Leadership to put a Guard order on Astarra.
The spider moves over a coin pile in the corridor, the hellhound dies to Astarra's guard and the OL mutters something about where are all the good cards.
The heroes run for the portal, while Silhouette splurges at the Alchemist in town.

Here endeth the Level.
OL 3CT [27/132], Heroes 6CT {136}

Edit: Somewhere I've messed up something as I distinctly recall a hero dying after having 1 life left but 2 bleed counters. I think maybe there was an Enraged Ferrox here that charged Silhouette when she came back and wasted her (instead of missing O&E perhaps?), which would make it OL 6CT [30/135], Heroes 6CT {136} at the end of this level.

Week 3 continued…
3rd level #44 Ice tunnels

This level is from ToI and consists of 6 of the new ‘offset’ 4x4s from ToI (the connectors are not in the middle) set in a staggered V formation like a flight of geese. There is an extensive sheet of ice blocking a large portion of the 3rd-5th 4x4s and a few extra bits of ice in the last section as well as completely blocking off the exit door. The final rune key is not held by the Boss but is instead sealed in a block of ice with 30 wounds and 5 armour. The Boss is a Master Wendigo and the loadout chosen was 2 more wendigos and a troll. The OL started the level with a full hand of cards and a fair amount of threat but fortunately still no power cards (though several had been discarded for threat).

The Feat drawn by Astarra in the last level (when she triggered the Glyph) was a Flight spell that gave her +2Mv and Flying for one turn. Since the ice ends a turn (ends the figure's whole turn, not just the movement!) on a surge every time an ice space is entered the flight would be the best way to get past the mass of ice and then the heroes could then come through the far glyph past the ice already.

So first turn Astarra advances close to the ice with a guard, just out of reach of the troll (who would have had to cross the ice anyway. O&R Readied (dodging) and moved forward onto the ice, hoping to cross just the one ice space needed to then get into a clear area containing a coin stash. The wolf’s paws just slid out from under him on the ice though and he ended his move in an undignified sprawl (still dodging and just out of reach of the troll). Karnon advanced, safe in the knowledge that ice was his natural terrain. Silhouette went back to town, shopping to pick up a ‘backup weapon’ (the silver disk thing) and hire a boat in order to allay suspicion. It would be better if the OL thought the heroes still had to grind through the ice rather than flit past it and quickly use the glyph on the other side.
The OL remained cautious though and though the troll advanced towards the heroes (possibly with the intent of blocking the route through) anyway it also found balance precarious on the ice sheet and halted its move early. One wendigo tried to get to Astarra (wendigos have Tread Ice, Reach and Stealth) but was taken out by her guard order. The other, and the Boss, skulked at the rear, sitting on the glyph and treasure chest.
Astarra played her Feat card and advanced past the monsters and over the ice ending beside the glyph {3CT}. She then attacked the wendigo on the glyph but missed due to stealth. She used her quick casting for another go but again missed due to stealth. That meant Silhouette could not return through the glyph this turn! O&R again readied (dodging) collected the coin stash then tried to skip past the troll over the ice but once again Rakush’s paws went out from under him immediately. Tricky stuff this ice! Karnon ready-advanced on the ice again (dodging), now in a position to go after the beasties next turn but still preventing too close rear-spawning.
A Beastman war party boiled out of the furthest forward corner, determined to wipe out Astarra. Only able to approach along a narrow ice-free path, each in turn attacked then moved onto the ice. Only another Invisibilty (stealth on one attack) Feat, as well as poor damage rolls for the first two attacks kept her alive (once again, the feat does the job on a 1/3 chance and the OL hates it). The wendigo on the glyph also had a go at her before the last beastman but missed as well and Astarra survives with a single wound. The Master Wendigo mauls Karnon, before retreating and the troll advances (successfully for a change!) onto the ice and swings at Karnon, before retreating back to stand on a coin stash. Unfortunately one of the two black dice used comes up blank and Karnon sniggers.
O&R finally finds his ice-feet and slips through the mass of bodies in an advance to take out the final beastman and open the treasure chest (cash and 1 potion {1CT} - yes, no treasures in the entire dungeon ). The chest was actually a Mimic, but O&R countered the Mimic with a Feat that caused a Trap to fail within 3 spaces of him unless it rolled a blank. The OL was most disgusted to find that the feat insisted he still had to pay the threat for the trap. Also disgusted because Astarra was within reach of the Mimic (should have moved her to town first perhaps, but wanted the chest contents before doing all the attacks and Astarra could have been used as a backup should there be a last critical attack (or three) needed after Silhouette and Karnon had gone). Silhouette comes out, Ripper blazing, in a battle. She takes out 2 of the Beastmen and the Wendigo in a hail of arrows, although even the Ripper’s reroll can’t prevent a miss on the wendigo. Karnon cuts down the Boss in one mighty slash {4CT} (the Beastman fetish countering the Stealth) and spends his second attack licking the blood off his Lifestealer sword. Astarra returns to town for healing.
The troll (Enraged) has another go at Karnon and the first attack takes him down to just 4 life. The second however, is a miss (another blank) and Karnon escapes.
Astarra returns to slaughter the troll, Karnon heads to the glyph to get healed, O&R starts bashing the iced over runekey with his mace while Silhouette positions for anti-spawning and tries some potshots at the ice with Ripper, to little effect. At this stage the heroes could just have escaped to Tamalir but I was too focused on the dungeon to think properly about the mapboard.
Eventually the runekey is broken free of the ice, the last coin stash is recovered and the heroes leap the ice in front of the portal (O&R risked the ice to open the door first) to escape the dungeon having cleared it completely (an unusual event) bar for one coins stash and a spider.

Here endeth the level.
OL 0CT [27/132] Heroes 8CT {144}
The heroes look at the map and decide there is no point in remaining at the Gardens of Tarn and return to Tamalir.

For those wondering interested in the deck cycling debate(s), the heroes went through an entire 3 level dungeon in approximately 15 turns, which means just 12 OL turns. And that without telekinesis! Despite the OL drawing 7 extra cards (3 for the Gauntlet, 4 for feats played) the OL was still only 3/4 through his deck.

Week 4
Ol gains 2CT [29/134]
Thudd razes Greyhaven at the first attempt [5CT].
The OL upgrades Humanoids to Gold [9/139].
Thudd joins Merrick at Nerekhal where Merrick has begun the siege. Alric moves to Frost.

The Heroes decide that Thudd is still too tough, and even Alric is still a bit scary, and move to the dungeon between Tamalir and Frost {1CT, 145} without an encounter. They draw a dungeon level which is recorded ready for our next session.
Here endeth the session.

As previously noted, the Feats are proving a significant boon to the heroes and the OL is still firmly of the opinion that a single card draw is insufficient payment for their value.
The silver start rules mods seem to be working well, with the heroes already feeling the map board heat in just week 4. The heroes feel that there is unlikely to be time for any training beyond special training (and they’ll be struggling for that) before they are forced to take on Thadd, and they may have to take on Alric before that as well. With eth OL well equipped with Treachery, doing the Legendary dungeon in order to get wind pact (not to mention some other nice skills or upgrades) might be critical. Although the heroes stayed ahead in CT on this dungeon, going through another one complete is likely to put them behind in CT, as well as speed up the game, reducing some of the mapboard pressure perhaps. It may be necessary to sacrifice a CT ‘edge’ in order to maximise treasure and cash and minimize number of OL turns.

Definitely the map balancing game remains (and in fact arrives quicker) with the fast-start.

Heroes can't use CT for much if they don't have cash, so I agree completely that the sacrifice you mention should be worth it.

I'd definitely wait with engaging any LT's, since you don't have Telekinesis, Grapple or Wind Pact.

As for the speed with which you clear the dungeons, nothing less should be expected with a party that fast. As was the case in Djitd, in RtL speed is still king for the heroes. Sure, emphasis has shifted sligthly. But I'd take 4 fast heroes over 4 hard hitters any day.

falke said:

Yeah, I agree. But there's been a few posters who don't understand how fast things can and should go. So it was a reminder if any of them were reading to go back and read again with an eye on speed.

This is a faaast party too. Tank is 4/4, Mage 5/7, Archer 5/7 and Runner 7/5 (Mv/Fat). Lightweight though...

Corbon said:

1. At the start of each dungeon, and each time a glyph is triggered, the heroes may choose up to 1 feat draw per hero. Each Feat card drawn is matched by an OL card drawn.

2. There is no price for playing Feats.

3. No feats kept at end of dungeon.

The changes were intended to make all feats equal so that there would not be a 'playable' and 'unplayable' divide due to cost/value. Since the 'cost' is paid before the feat is drawn, once you have it you might as well use it.
We also changed it to up to one Feat per hero, rather than just the hero activating the glyph. In theory this would get more feats in the game, but at a considerable benefit to the OL.

Due to the circumstances of the campaign I don't think this session (or probably the next) will be a fair test of this system. The reasons will be more evident once the session reports are written, but in this session there were even fewer feats played than before. Possibly the cost is too high, but I think not, to be fair.

Corbon said:

Week 4
The plan is to go right through the dungeon. There are three reasons. 1 – cash and treasure* needs maximizing. 2 – time is precious on the mapboard. 3 – retreating to Tamalir will mean an extra week to get to the Legendary dungeon, necessary in order to get Wind Pact (and probably Acrobat and Boggs**, not sure yet about the last upgrade).
*Due to appalling luck with Treasure draws and chests, Silhouette is still running around in shop Leathers. Yes, shop Leathers. And although the weaponry is decent, there is only 1 Silver ‘other’ in use – the Beastman Fetish (maybe 2, the Sheath of Might?). No combat bonuses, no extra movement, only 1 Armour (Elven Robes) and no shields. The party is terribly weak in equipment, other than actual weapons.
**Most of the OL’s Dungeon CT comes from spawning, and mostly from spawning Humanoids. Boggs can make a HUGE difference here.

Level 1 #37 The one with the Spiders and prisoners (4x worth 1CT each to heroes if carried out, 2 CT each to OL if left behind). This level is slow, since the prisoners must be fetched and carried out and are a long way from the glyphs and take 2 MP to pick up (each) and one hand to carry (think the web bound Frodo that Sam rescues).
Dungeon loadout chosen included a Master Beastman (Gold, Command 2!) who was around the corner in the final room with the Boss Spider. The OL starts with Doom thanks to Alric besieging Forge one trail away. Only 2 Feats were drawn to limit the OL’s fast-start capability (giving the OL 3+2+2 cards and 4 Threat for his first turn – its gonna be bad…).

O&R ran first, opening both doors and getting into the side area where the prisoners are to prevent spawning. He’ll rely on stealth and high wounds to survive the two spiders and skeleton there pretty comfortably. Astarra advances and uses the Breathe Rune and her Quickshot to take out the Master Beastman and 2 skeletons on the other side of the door. Silhouette runs to a good position to limit spawning, but can’t get into the final room. Karnon brings up the rear, covering rear spawning and placing a guard on Silhouette.
Unfortunately there are two spaces in the corners of the last room that can’t be seen. The OL starts with a Beastman War Party (short one beastman, since there are only 2 spawn spots, but there is another Beastman from the loadout). The Beastmen, swarm out of the end room and cut down Astarra [2CT] (they can do it in a single hit!) after a spider triggers Silhouette’s guard. The Boss spider stick her head out temporarily and helps as well and Silhouette goes down too [3CT]. Not a great start for the heroes, but nothing that could be done about it.
O&R advances to the Glyph (even with fatigue he doesn’t have enough move to get to the glyph himself, just beside it) and knockbacks the Beastman standing on it into the opposite corner. Astarra advances and uses fatigue from the starting glyph to get into position to trigger the second glyph {3CT}. Heroes decline Feats as the OL has too many resources at the moment. She tries to take out a Beastman but misses. Karnon takes out the Beastman Master (that’s two this level) but misses with the first shot, despite his fetish, and has no fatigue left so can’t take out any other Beastmen. Silhouette battles out of the forward glyph and with 7 shots and a few odd fatigue for extra dice is just able to take out the Boss Spider {2CT}. The bad news is there are nearby spawning locations as the heroes were stretched this turn. The good news is the OL has lots of cards but no threat and the spawn marker is flipped.
Bad news wins, as the OL discards Curse of the Monkey God and a bunch of other cards to flip the marker and spawn… the other Beastman war party. Oh well, after turns 1 & 2 we won’t be seeing them again for the rest of this dungeon!
The Beastman (4 of them, and a Master) slaughter Astarra [2CT] in one hit and batter Karnon and Silhouette. Only one could reach Silhouette but a poor damage role leaves her just barely still alive (standing on the glyph). Karnon is down to 6 wounds and the OL starts to drop a Ferrox Tribe and whatsit Trap (chest turns into a gold beastman) to ENRAGE the Master then thinks better of hit and just attacks Karnon, only for an X to come up. Immediate multitudinous regrets are expressed. A spider has a long range shot at Karnon but can only do 2 damage, putting him on 4 wounds, and the skeleton comes in for a final shot with an X. So 5 Gold Beastmen, 1 of them a 2 Command master, a skeleton and a spider attack and the OL has only 2 CT to show for it.
O&R advances, opening the Runelocked door to the portal and knockbacking a beastman into the pile of others. Karnon slashes one of the outer Beastmen down on the way to stand beside the glyph and Silhouette escapes to town for healing. Everything has set up perfectly for Astarra to advance out of town, drink a power pot and Breath over all the remaining Beastmen. (and the skeleton for good measure. This absolutely must hit – but no aiming as Karnon is out of Fatigue (and has to go first in order to get out of the breath area) and Astarra needs her fatigue for a quick casting as one shot will definitely not be enough for the master (even boosted), and might not be enough for the normal beastmen. It does, well, enough to scrape of everything except the Master once an extra fatigue is spent. The Quick Casting goes off, does not miss and is enough to take out the Master. There is plenty of spawning places available, but OL is down to 5 cards and 0 threat, so fingers crossed…
The OL can do little but gather threat and cards. Phew!
The heroes spend a couple of turns cleaning up the goodies in the dungeon, with one or two on guard orders in antispawning positions. The mimic does not get played as a readied dodge order on stealthy O&R makes it not worthwhile. The chest has cash, 1 potion and a treasure. Yay! It’s the wonderful, glorious... Bottle Imp. Oh. Sighing the Heroes collect all 4 prisoners {4CT} and escape the level on turn 7.
On turn 5 OL played Evil Genius.
On turn 6 a guarding Astarra was charmed into attacking herself (we forgot the extra dice to counter the trap from Wild Talent) but rolled an X.

At some stage the market was visited. 2 shortages, the Eyes of Thara and the Mirror Shield. Well, out of the cards left in the deck something like 10 are 'desperately want/ moderately useful', 5-6 are 'please don't draw this' and 8ish are 'will take, but probably not pay for'. Say 10/8/6 in order of value. The draw is 1/0/3, and the chest is 0/0/1. Great. Not.

Here Endeth the Level
OL 7CT [16/146] Heroes 9CT {154}

Feats didn’t feature as the ones drawn were not particularly useful and the heroes chose to limit their draws anyway not wanting to give the OL a flying start. OL took a flying start anyway but bombed it with Xs or minimal damage hits costing him at least 7CT.

Week 4 continues

Level 2 #41 Snake Pit
This is another level from ToI, with the really big open room (only just fits in the box, takes up an entire sheet of card, 10x10?). There is a broken row of rubble near the front of the room which makes it difficult to prevent spawning and two T intersections on the sides of the main room (one with treasure, one with glyph). The Boss is a Master Naga (grapple and command, and as always extra wounds and armour) who can do 2 damage ignoring armour to anyone she has grappled. Heroes that don’t move at least 1 space in their turn suffer 2x poison damage from the snakelets slithering all over the floor. Keep those feet dancing…
The loadout included 2 ferrox and some skeletons, with the ferrox hiding in the side rooms on the glyph and treasure.
With Evil Genius and Doom in play, a large number of cards and 20 odd threat, the OL was ready for action.

O&R ran forward into the main room to mess with the Boss and limit her movement forward, as well as prevent a lot of spawning. Astarra advanced toward the chest side, spending fatigue and a potion to get far enough forward to take out the Ferrox on the chest (with 2 fatigue for a quick casting and then be able to get around the corner to prevent spawning in that area entirely. A Pit trap that would have seen her having to choose between not killing the ferrox or not preventing spawning was luckily avoided and she fried the ferrox with her staff. Silhouette ran around collecting the coin stashes and finished in a corner minimizing spawn opportunities. Karnon bought up the rear, putting a dodge on O&R.
The OL spawned a Dark Order in the limited spawning space available to him and the priests advanced towards Karnon chanting at him for a reasonable amount of damage (and threat). The Boss Naga moved towards Astarra and was just able to get into a position to shoot Silhouette from a rear space. A couple of skeletons then advanced on Silhouette’s corner and finished her off [3CT].
Silhouette ran back to the same spot she died so she could give her blessings to the others. O&R (Ox Tattoo finally in use) advance knockbacked the Naga Boss so she could be flamed along with the skeletons then moved to a protective and anti-spawning position. Astarra looted the Treasure (Cash, 1 potion and {1CT}) in an advance action and flamed the skeletons and Naga (not really hurting the Boss much, but every little helps). Her last fatigue dropped her back into the T to prevent spawning. Karnon battled, taking out both the Priests and using the last of his fatigue to get to the corner and prevent another spawn too close. However he couldn’t prevent spawning everywhere.
The OL finally spawned the Ferrox Tribe he been holding since turn 2 on the first level. One was able to reach Karnon and with an Enraged attack from the other Karnon was soon down to 4 wounds and 3 bleed tokens. A last skeleton knocked off another wound from Karnon and the Boss missed her attack on Silhouette.
Karnon went down to the bleeds [5CT] but Silhouette was able to battle and take down the Boss {2CT} with multiple attacks. Astarra ran past the ferrox clustered around the bloodsmeared corner where Karnon had been and triggered the glyph {3CT} and draw another feat. O&R advanced on the ferrox, using his Knockback mace to smash the nearest out of reach of Astarra and then retreating back to prevent the bulk of spawning. The ferroxes may have used a charge to get one attack on but only knocked her down to 4 wounds and the bleed token could not kill her.
The heroes then escaped this level, Astarra healing, Karnon visiting the Alchemist for some much needed fatigue potions and the others getting out through the portal.

Here Endeth the Level
OL 3CT [19/149] Heroes 6CT {160}

Not a feat played yet in two levels (although I can only remember 2 of the 3 and I am sure I played them all), and only 3 drawn so far. Evil genius is making it unaffordable to give the OL extra resources, and there is also the deck cycle to think about.

Week 4 continues,
level 3 #42 (oh crap) the Secret Garden ( or some such)

This level is a nightmare (for the heroes). Another from ToI, with one of the giant rooms, this giant room has a long corridor and 6x4 room to traverse before you can even get to the big room. Then in the big room there is an old fashioned garden maze. Yep, rows of trees, with the odd gap blocked with rubble. These trees though, are spikey and nasty and moving into a tree space (for a hero) not only costs the usual 2 MP but also causes 2 wounds and immediately ends the hero's turn. The forward glyph is deep in the rear of the room, as is the treasure. The Boss is a Shade (Ghost, Stealth, Undying) and the loadout includes several shades and some (Gold) Kobolds. At the start of the Boss’ turn, all heroes within 4 spaces must also take a wound.
A tough level, and the slowest we’ve ever played, for both players in two different campaigns. It is also impossible to prevent spawning as the hedge maze blocks LOS all over the place.

The heroes mostly run forward, Silhouette at the back resting and covering rear spawns. O&R is up front, blocking the view of any attackers and has a dodge – being faster and using some fatigue he can stay in front despite Readying.
The OL spawns a Lone Medusa (nice, a Gold Humanoid with good ranged damage, very similar to Naga but slightly less tough and slightly less damage, but Quickshot) which snipes at O&R to no effect and then withdraws behind the hedgerows. Kobolds squat on anything worth picking up and the Shades lurk menacingly behind the hedgerows. The calm before the storm.
Girding her loins (or whatever women do instead) Astarra runs forward into the first hedgerow. Karnon ready-advanced into the hedgerow as well, placing a Guard on Astarra. O&R Ready-advanced, dodging first then joining the hedge. Silhouette covered rear spawning and guarding, also covered any monsters coning through the hedge on the flank (not that they were likely too).
Astarra interrupts the OL’s draw phase and shoots the Boss, quick shotting for a second shot. With neither shot missing, despite stealth, the boss goes down leaving a quick run-through possibility, but alas, critically, Undying kicks in and the way forward is blocked again.
The OL spawns some shades. Only Eldritch (bronze) but with ghost, stealth and fly they can flit through the hedgerows and block things very effectively as well as being difficult to kill. Since the front three heroes have already taken 2 damage just getting into the hedge, and will take another damage from the Boss automatically, things are grim. Between the Medusa, the Shades and the Boss, Astarra goes down [2CT] and even a dodging O&R is taken out [3CT] with the help of a Kobold or two (OL is most embarrassed to have previously discarded the Kobold spawns when he discovers that the Kobolds are rolling R+G+Doom+Swarm each!). One of the Shades ends in front of Karnon, immune to his attacks and blocking his only route forward out of the hedgerow.
There is nothing for it but to try again. This time Astarra and O&R both run full speed, Astarra using some fatigue (and possibly a potion), and can just get into the hedgerow. Silhouette dodge-advances into the hedgerow as well (passing O&R her Ripper and switching to the Flying Disk thing) and Karnon retires to prevent rear spawning while again putting a guard order on Astarra. This time Astarra’s guard/quick casting is using the breathe run and is able to clean out a couple of kobolds and some shades as they are mostly in the gaps between hedges blocking things.
The OL spawns a Master Troll, but due to the trees is only able to hit Astarra with it. Despite ignoring the bash ability the Troll cleans out Astarra with one attack [2CT]. The Medusa, Boss and a Kobold take down Silhouette as well [3CT].
However, O&R survives the front line, and only a single Shade blocks a route through to the glyph… Advancing forward in an all or nothing attempt, O&R quaffs a Power pot and shoves the Ripper in the Shades face and pulls the trigger. No Xs, not even on the stealth die, and, thanks to the power pot’s extra dice (spread out as much as possible as only enhancements count and fatigue will be needed in reserve to get to the glyph despite any pits), just enough damage is achieved to slay the shade and clear the pathway. O&R reaches the glyph {3CT}, and then pushes exhaustedly past it to get out of reach/LOS of where the Troll and Medusa can get to.
Astarra battles out from town and takes down the Boss {4CT} from behind – this time no undying, then retreats away from the Troll. Silhouette also boils out of town and loots the treasure, actually getting two treasures (though neither was an armour or a useful ‘other’ – I think the pierce rune and the reach melee weapon). Karnon I think retreats back towards the starting glyph.
The OL goes through his deck [3CT] and Enrages the Troll so it can reach Astarra [2CT] despite the hedgerows. She goes down in a heap and the Troll has enough MP left to retreat and block the pathway to the portal. Heroes can escape this turn if O&R can roll at least one surge on a RGGBB attack and he spends all his fatigue. They aren’t all next to the glyphs so otherwise can not escape. O&R goes for it and rolls the required surge to push the Troll back but a crushing block/pit trap combo means he cannot make it through the doorway and is badly hurt to boot. Silhouette jogs past him using a Feat to gain 2 extra movement, saving her from having to use a fatigue potion. Karnon retires to town to heal and Astarra goes to the market to pick up the Mirror shield for Silhouette.
The Troll is about to smash O&R but he pulls out a backstab and burning his remaining fatigue on extra dice smashes the Troll all the way along the hedgerow and out of range. Non of the other monsters can get to O&R so he escapes through the portal.

Here Endeth the Dungeon
OL 15CT [34/164] Heroes 7CT {167}

Heroes remain in place on the OL map.

This level is really brutal on the heroes. Without Telekinesis (to get heroes into the hedgerows before they have a turn, so not ending their turn) or Spiritwalker (allowing the Mage to safely battle from behind the hedge, covering multiple LOSs, while the tanks push forward to take the punishment, the heroes have few options but to take their licks and hope to survive and be able to go forward. The Shades mean that Melee heroes are easily prevented in advancing through the hedgerows too. And the starting glyph is a long way from the action – around a dozen spaces at least, so anyone who dies will be out of action for a while getting back (luckily my party is fast).

Due to the Evil Genius in play the heroes didn’t feel that they could afford many feats – as it was the feats they did take were almost useless (only the Backstab being significant) and as well as giving more options to the OL only, were one turn away from being the difference between clearing the deck and not.

Corbon said:

Week 5

OL gains 3CT [37/167]
Thudd finishes preparations for the siege at Nerekhall.
Merrick heads east to Greyhaven.
Alric begins seiging Forge.
OL upgrades Eldritch to Silver [7/167]

Heroes move to the mountains east of Forge, avoiding any encounter, {1CT, 168} but do not enter the dungeon.

Week 6

OL gains 3 CT [10/170]
Thudd razes Nerekhall at the first opportunity [5CT] (suck, 2 from 2!)
Merrick heads north/east toward Frostgate
Alric continues seiging Greyhaven.
OL Buys a second Monster Treachery [5/175]

Heroes move to the Fools Rapids, avoiding any encounter {1CT, 169} and a level is drawn in preparation for our next session (it is the one with the Masked Beastman - first three hits have no effect but the 3rd shatters the mask losing most of the specials (Sounds like a job for Rapid Fire).

The heroes will need to go through an entire Legendary dungeon with a total combined score of less than 40, probably much less, or they will not have any opportunity to train in the entire campaign level. Thudd's 2 from 2 razing record has really, really, hurt.