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Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Dungeon Saga Invisible Overlord Test: See My Shame


So I am going to use Adventure 2 from the Core game as an example of the expanded IO orders I have been working on.  The basics of the same that you draw an IO card between hero actions checking for interrupts and then two cards in succession during the overlord turn.  Spoilers after the Jump.




Hero Turn 1:
Rordin Moves up and fights the first zombie but does nothing.
Orlaf moves up and frenzys the second zombie to pieces.
Madriga Moves Up and does not hurt first zombie with a Shoot attack.
Danor Moves up and casts break ward on the second door and generates a power crystal 1 with his other minor spell.



Overlord Turn 1 First Card:  
2 (From Mission) Surround:  Armored, Weakest (Rordin +3).
So for Surround I want to block path of the heroes. The primary activation is the model who best blocks the path but there are no models who can move since the Zombie is in Rordin's Front Arc and IO models do not move to generate free strikes.  The next level is moving a model closest to the highest Threat Hero (Rordin) as possible.  Raising a pile of bones counts as moving a model for this and is preferred to actually moving a model to the same position so the IO raises the pile of bones as a Skeleton Archer since it is the highest level minion in the Overlord Pool.  No other models can move or be raised so the remaining command goes to Attack.
The only option is for the zombie to attack Rordin but he does not beat Rordin's armor. 

Overlord Turn 1 Second Card:
No models to activate so does nothing.



Hero Turn 2:
Orlaf Moves and destroys zombie.
Rodrin smashs Skeleton Archer to Dust.
Danor Cast Crystalize and gets a power 3 crystal
Madriga chills since no targets and the Heroes do not want to open the door next.




Overlord Turn 2: 
First  and second cards do not matter since their are no models or PIB in the active zone.


Hero Turn 3:
Danor: Casts Break Ward Opening Door and Corrodes the Zombie Troll.
Orlaf: Moves in and fights the Zombie troll but does nothing.
Rordin uses a battle potion to attack the zombie troll and gets 2 wounds which troll fails regenerate roll on.




IO Interrupt:
1 Gang Up: Marksman, Wounded.  (Madriga +3 Threat)
The goal of gang up is to attack the highest threat hero, but Madriga is not reachable so another hero will be attacked.  Looking at the models who can attack we have the Zombie Troll who can attack either Orlaf or Rordin, the Armored Zombie who can attack Orlaf, or the Zombie who can attack Rordin or Orlaf.  The next level of decision is based on how far models have to move to attack with the preference going to models moving farther.  This eliminates the Zombie Troll since he is not moving, but both the Armored and Normal Zombies need to move 2 squares to attack so they are still tied.  The next level is Attack dice.  In either case they both can attack with 3 dice so they are tied through all three levels and induce the character trait which says both Zombies get to activate.  

I decide to start with the regular Zombie.  Now who to attack has to be determined.  Both targets are out numbered, but Orlaf can be attacked from behind so both targets have 3 defense dice but the rear attack is a preferred move so that is the one taken and modeled attacked wounding Orlaf.  Wounding him, second attacks him from front and wounds him.


The Armored Zombie moves down and attacks Orlaf doing another point of damage.


Remainder Hero Turn 3:
Madriga thinks the Heroes are in a bad spot so uses Hail of Arrows.  Removes nearest zombie but the second two shots bounce off armored zombie.



Overlord Turn 3 Card 1:  
2 Attack: Spellcaster Wounded:
Orlaf is wounded so his Threat matches Danor but Danor is not very accessable for attacks.  Attack calls for hitting with the strongest Dice.  This is pretty straight forward in this case as the Zombie Troll is at 4 dice compared to the Armored Zombie at 3.  No other models are in range to attack so Zombie Troll Attacks Orlaf as he is higher Threat than Rordin.  The Orlaf who is hit again and now wounded.  
Armored Zombie is a three dice attack and the only model still able to attack so he does against Orlaf. Hit again.  Single heart left for Orlaf.

Overlord Turn 3 Card 2:
2 Attack Armored:
No unactiviated models in range to attack.  Goes to Support.  Support now first looks for models which are trailing behind the heroes compared to their goal.  There are no models that fit that so the secondary level to check is piles of bones closest to the Highest Threat Hero (Rordin +3).  The two closest piles of bones are in the narrow hall way past the armored Zombie.  The IO raises two skeleton archers. Troll fails to regenerate.



Hero Turn 4:
Shit Fan Time for the Heroes.  
Danor uses Feat: Burn Troll with Energy Crystal 2.  Does 2 damage and troll again fails regenerate and is destroyed.  Feet of Stones the Armored Zombie and Corrodes it.



IO Interrupt:
1 Pin Unarmored Weakest.  
Orlaf is both the Weakest and Unarmored.  So is the highest threat hero.  Pin wants you to move models from the furthest away to attack the hero that are not based.  Both of the skeleton archers are able to move closer and attack so a Skeleton Archer moves Up and takes his shot. And takes down Orlaf.  I notice I made a mistake here since Orlaf was in a front arc so the Archer should have targeted a different model which would should have been Rordin but this probably falls into the discretion type of rule since it is a small change to the order(Pin to Attack would activate the same model as it is a 3D attack just target Orlaf) that can result in the win for the IO.


IO wins with a little help from my discretion in only 4 turns.  Clearly moving Orlaf out in front of Rordin was an additional mistake.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing the steps of your adventure. We just finished our first uncharted solo play and used your rules. Our heroic efforts ended almost as quickly as yours on this one :D Thank you for your time sharing the improved rules!

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    1. If it plays to tough then the first modification I would do is that on a turn where the IO got an interrupt it would not draw the second IO card in the overlord section of the turn.

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  2. Thanks for the tip. However I can't help but feel pretty disappointed about this game after playing a couple new sessions. My main reason buying this game was exactly these two features, uncharted dungeons combined with solo/coop play and they both seem to be broken.

    I will certainly give it more tries, probably will play at least the quest book adventures through as coop.

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    1. Back when the kickstarter dropped I described trying to combine those two sections are written just horible ideas. My FAQ has a couple of suggestions about the coupling of them like limiting max level of an individual monsters and such but they were certainly never tested together.

      Ofcourse I would also venture to guess this stuff was never tested by any who was not Jake or specifically instructed by Jake or the various holes in the first printing would have been noticed.

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