I was reviewing the first encounter for Armed to the Teeth from the Wyrm expansion and I am having a little trouble understanding how this works with the signal flare lighting. If I understand the setup correctly, basically no signal flares will be even possible to light till Splig is active since all other monsters start with a 0 awareness and given Splig being only allowed to perform one move action while inactive.

I just find this odd given the placement of the signal flares (i.e. the cabin that the heroes will be converging on immediately that seems suicidal to try and light or the rock canyon flare extremely out of the way from the exit) and the limit of just four flares. If this is true it seems that there is almost no incentive to light the flares and that I should just keep marching Splig towards the exit.

Am I wrong here? Any strategy tips would also be appreciated.

-Thanks

Inactive monsters activate under certain circumstances mentioned in the Quest rules. Cabin group when the door is first opened, Burned Field group when the door between Cabin and BF is opened, Campsite when that tile is entered (or just move adjacent to a monster on it). So unless the heroes wipe out the Cabin turn 1, one monster from that group should be able to light SF in the Cabin. Similarly, Burned Field has Fire Imps, who, if not wiped out, can potentially light both BF and Campsite SFs the turn they activate. Rocky Canyon is really the only group that from what I've seen has to make the roll to activate itself.

I'd suggest to let Splig keep marching straight towards the exit, ignoring all signal flares. Dams strategy is the best way to play this scenario: So you should go sure that at least one monster in every area will survive the heroes assault.

So then what you are saying is then Dam is that once the monsters are activated they no longer suffer from the zero awareness. I was confused because the setup says they start with zero and only increase with each flare. I wasn't sure once activated they would still suffer from that.

Really appreciate the response. I am new to this game and an even newer overlord and the dam heroes have got me the last few rounds and I need to turn the tide.

Yes, the zero awareness is there to slow the OL in activating the monsters, but once that inactive token is removed from a monster card, they act like normal monsters with 2 actions. Only Splig is different in that he still gets one move action while inactive. It's all in the center column of the Quest's rules IIRC.

I am about to play this scenario with my group. Strategy wise, everything comes down to the second turn when the heroes open the door to the cabin (which activates the monster group in the cabin). OL should place the group adjacent to the door and signal fire, and place whatever group is most likely survive the hero turn (either lots of mobs spaced out, or large heavy armor monsters, depending on the heroes used). Heroes will be at -1 action since someone needs to open the door that round.

If the mob adjacent to the fire and door survives, the OL activates that group, opens the door to the burning pit (priority), and activates the signal fire. Opening the door activates the fire imps, which activate the burning pit and campsite signal fires. This gives the OL 3 monster groups (whatever is left in the cabin, the fire imps, and the open group on the campsite) to deal with the heroes on the next round. Splig is now guaranteed to activate next round (5 awareness), and the final open group can either be activated by the awareness roll, or by sprinting one of the fire imps to the fire on the next round.

The last open group (canyon) should be used specifically for 'not me' (since Splig can actually pass the test with 5 awareness), and should be able to cover him to the exit.

If the heroes DO manage to wipe the group in the cabin, well then I'm pretty sure they win.