Clearly I'm doing something horrifyingly wrong as the Overlord in my game, and I'm reaching out to you guys for any help or suggestions.

We're playing the Shadow Rune campaign. and I'm currently using the Belthir Plot deck with Basic I, and I have purchased 2x Web Trap.

The heroes are:

Logan Lashley - Treasure Hunter, general nuisance

Pathfinder Durik - Beastmaster, slayer of all my monsters

Avric Albright - Apothecary

Dezra the Vile - Hexer

Avric and Dezra haven't been causing me much grief, as currently all Avric is doing is throwing potions around, and all Dezra is doing is generating threat tokens and Overlord cards as I flatten her with my monsters once I realise the encounter is a wash.

Logan is dancing all over the place, picking up all the search tokens and getting free movement and attacks out of it. Durik, meanwhile, is either poking my creatures with a spear, or more likely, carving up the lightly wounded monsters with his Skinning Knife in a single stroke.

So far we've played First Blood (which I understand is heavily weighted towards the heroes) and Masquerade Ball, which according to the forums is supposed to be in the Overlord's favour.

My biggest mistake in that quest was worrying that the heroes would get restless while I read the quest to understand what was going on and what I needed to do, so I skimmed the beginning and just picked some monsters and placed them haphazardly. I then found out I needed to try and get the guests of the map, and my Volucrix Reavers were too slow to do so before the heroes realised all they needed to do was block the door and slaughter anything that came near while Logan picked up all the search tokens.

The other mistake I know I made was wasting some of my cards in Encounter 1, particularly one of my Dark Fortunes, which I later learned would have been very useful at the start of Encounter 2. I did a very effective job of keeping the heroes away, with them barely getting through the door on Turn 2, and nobody getting through my barghests to Eliza until Turn 4. Unfortunately, when Eliza failed the Knowledge roll to get through the first door three times in a row, Dezra got close enough to immobilise her and Durik proceeded to slice her up. I never even got to put the Shadow Dragons on the map...

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Can anyone tell me what I should be doing from this point on, in trying to salvage this campaign before the heroes run away with it?

What I know:

-I believe Logan now has a Crossbow, which I feel is going to end up being problematic.

-I just got hold of the Conversion Kit (although I don't have any of the monster figures), and we're using Trollfens and Labyrinth of Ruin (my copy of Lair of the Wyrm is yet to arrive)

-Their weakest stat appears to be either Might (2, 2, 3, 3) or Willpower (2, 2, 2, and Avric's 4).

-Their strongest stat appears to be Awareness (2, 3, 4, 4)

-They almost never use Fatigue movement, opting instead to only double-attack a creature if they start the turn next to it, and spending a movement action otherwise.

Any recommendations for monsters, plot cards, Overlord cards? Any quest strategies or general tactics? I don't mind losing, but I want to be able to put up a decent fight, and so far I feel like I'm just there to be a punching bag for Durik, and a piñata for Logan.

I'm assuming you own the game? My best advice to you is while you guys aren't playing grab the scenario you think you guys are gonna play next, read it and strategize about what you want to do before you even play. You are all by yourself, so fore planning is the only weapon you have at your disposal.

If you find that your monsters are dying, or that the heroes are able to do insane dps like Logan with the pierce 1 crossbow and that pierce 2 ability for a total of pierce 3, in our game, consider getting low health monsters that can crap damage, like harpies or pierce 2 volucrixes, remember that all volucrixes can move 3 spaces before an attack, and those spaces ignore things like water, and any other terrain that hinders movement.. hide harpies behind a corner with some 5 or 4 monster group, and then when a hero gets within a certain amount of spaces, dark charm him, walk him right next to your harpy master, and hopefully adjacent to 4 or 5 monsters from your other group, use flock to move nearby harpies adjacent to that hero, and then wail on that hero for 8 or 9 damage per attack from your harpies. Then make use of your web traps and trip wires to stop them from reviving him. In our game Logan went ahead to try and get some pots shots in with his crossbow, and I dark charmed him around a corner, 5 spaces away from his friends sense he moved within 3 spaces of treasure, moved him next to my harpy master and 4 goblin witchers, and ended u doing 8 damage per attack on him, killed him after 3 harpy attacks. Every time he stood up, I would curse him and move him 3 spaces with my witcher, and do the same thing.

High damage heroes like logan and durik aren't very tanky, so devote all your resources to an all out attack, your monsters will be wasted and die if they are not able to carry out an attack. If Durik and Logan go down, the only think you'll be left with is a blue and yellow attack die, which is not too scary.

but all in all it sounds like your biggest problem is not planning. i personally read over the scenario and ruminate on what I want to do for an entire week. The heroes do the same thing before they leave by reading the scenario before we next play.

also remember that you always wanna keep your overlord deck down to 15 cards for the most part and tailor your deck to what you want to accomplish. For instance I'm trying to counter Logan who is doing the most damage, so I removed the pit trap card sense it tests awareness which logan can usually pass, and I removed the word of pain card that makes heroes lose 1 stamina each time they take damage, because our prophet gives logan stamina, and he gets extra surges from his attacks so frequently that even if he is down to zero stamina he is so mobile and can get so much stamina back that it doesn't seem that helpful.

also be sure to pick up wicked laughter to help make sure ppl fail tests.

You have missed out a little as masquerade ball encounter 1 can be a doddle with the conversion kit (golem's are wtf op early in the campaign immunity to pierce and cannot be moved by effects with good hp and black defense you say?).

Logan is a character you just need to punch, hard and often, to stop him speeding forward. Durik is reasonably tanky but not super hard to knock around as he is more offense focused, lay into him with ettins for some high burst damage perhaps?

If they are not stamina moving a lot then loo for quests where speed is the most important element, the heroes will be decidedly disadvantaged with move actions only.

Previous advice is excellent on dark charm control, might be worth getting saboteur level 3 card for hilarious insta gib on logan as well if he is pushing ahead really fast.

It sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on what went wrong. Take the time to actually read things, out loud if it helps (since it's all public knowledge anyway, and everyone should have a chance to read everything.)

Also, technically with the Conversion Kit, since you've already started a game, you're not allowed to suddenly start using it. Your heroes didn't have the opportunity to pick from Conversion Kit heroes at the beginning, so you shouldn't be able to bring in monsters in the middle. This is entirely up to your group, and you may want to offer them the ability to switch out heroes in exchange. But make it clear to everyone that whatever you decide to do, you do as a group and that if you suddenly start doing well with CK monsters that there aren't going to be hard feelings. Personally, I would just save the CK for when you start a new campaign.

I did a lenghty post in ths thread which might help: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/98760-logan-lashley-is-balling-out-of-control/

Other tip is read the quest rules, then read them again.... then again... Then refer to them several times during the quest to make sure things are being played correctly. Getting 1 thing wrong can cost you the campaign.

CK sounds broken, i choose not to play with it personally as much of a completist as i am. I also kick enough hero butt without it, so dont feel you need it to win. Everytime i play, everyone seems to whine, its getting a bit old actually.

"-They almost never use Fatigue movement, opting instead to only double-attack a creature if they start the turn next to it, and spending a movement action otherwise.". Use this to your advantage, move monster a couple spaces in, attack, move a couple away.

Bily says he removes 'word of pain' i disagree though, when your hitting the heroes hard with alot of monsters in a single round all that fatigue adds up, the fatigue is also coverted to hp if they are out of fatigue which also adds up. Each to their own though.

Picking the right monster for the right encounter is crutial!

Take your time

I did a lenghty post in ths thread which might help: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/98760-logan-lashley-is-balling-out-of-control/

Other tip is read the quest rules, then read them again.... then again... Then refer to them several times during the quest to make sure things are being played correctly. Getting 1 thing wrong can cost you the campaign.

CK sounds broken, i choose not to play with it personally as much of a completist as i am. I also kick enough hero butt without it, so dont feel you need it to win. Everytime i play, everyone seems to whine, its getting a bit old actually.

"-They almost never use Fatigue movement, opting instead to only double-attack a creature if they start the turn next to it, and spending a movement action otherwise.". Use this to your advantage, move monster a couple spaces in, attack, move a couple away.

Bily says he removes 'word of pain' i disagree though, when your hitting the heroes hard with alot of monsters in a single round all that fatigue adds up, the fatigue is also coverted to hp if they are out of fatigue which also adds up. Each to their own though.

Picking the right monster for the right encounter is crutial!

Take your time

just out of curiosity, what card would you remove from that line up in lieu of Word of Pain? My experience is that a hero either dies on that turn without the use of word of pain after 4 attacks, or they will lose one or 2 stamina and get it all back.

Some useful information in here. Just so you all know, after the wash that was Encounter 1 of Masquerade Ball (we ran out of time, so we took a snapshot of the board state and came back later to do Encounter 2), I went and read through all the quests in the book so I know what's going on in each of them, so that shouldn't be an issue now.

I've since had the opportunity to go through their cards and equipment:

-Logan does not have the Crossbow as I incorrectly remembered, he has the exotic Trident (Reach, Surge: +2, Surge: 2 movement), and has not yet taken the passive Pierce 2...but I think it's next on the list. Right now he has Gold Rush (free movement on Search) and Dungeoneer (free attack on Search for a Fatigue)

-Durik seems to be saving up for his 3-cost Changing Skins, letting him do super attacks through his Wolf

-Dezra has a Belt of Waterwalking, buffing her Willpower to 3, meaning Might is their weakest stat, and is currently the bearer of Fortuna's Dice.

I think I have the idea of my in-game strategy down. What would be helpful would be any suggestions for cards, if you have them, particularly with regards to the Belthir Plot deck. I'm thinking there may be a merit in getting the 2-cost/2-cost card that lets me double Dark Charm them, being able to hit Logan and Durik right in the Willpower in a single stroke.

With the Overlord deck, other than the two Web Traps I've bought, I'm not sure if I should try and dig any deeper into those cards, and just stick with Basic 1, focussing on the Plot cards. If I were to get more Overlord cards, I'm guessing diving deeper into Saboteur may be the way to go (Wicked Laughter looking especially delicious). Alternatively, I could dig down into Magus and fling spells at them.

For the Conversion Kit, I would of course ask them if they're okay with me using monsters from it. My players tend to be of the mind that "more is better", and don't really care whether we're using every expansion from the very start of the game, as we're only one quest in.

I am a big fan of the Monkey and Uthuk Demon Traps in Saboteur. Since your heroes are weak in Might it will make the Webs work really well.

Monkey is also an awesome way to kill off Logan, since his Knowledge skill is only a 2. Fail the test and he has no defense (at all) and he cannot attack until the end of his next turn. Being unable to attack eliminates that extra action (search a treasure and make an attack) which makes him so outrageously powerful. Having no defense means you drop him like a hot rock. It's all good.

Uthuk Demon Trap is just fun, because either he makes the check (taking four health in damage) or he fails and just outright dies. Either way you're pretty happy.