Warlord of Galahir rides again! And if you liked the starting mission, where the quest was to kill a Troll; you'll love this one, where we have to kill... two Trolls!
I don't know, it's just sticking with the classic rules of sequels. If it worked first time, do it again but more. Kraken here, boldly leading the hapless greenskins against the so-far unstoppable heroes.
Lured by the prospect of two whole doors, we all move to attack the left-hand Troll (except for Kapoka, who stays put and Roots the other Troll in place).
This is just making my job easier. With only one activation per turn anyway, now I don't even need to worry about which one to pick.
While the Elf sneaks around the back for some rear-attacks, the Dwarf and Salamander charge straight in there and knock off three wounds. Good start!
In the Overlord's turn, he chops a wound off the Salamander, but can do little else to buckle under the weight of numbers as Kapoka also flanks him, and the Salamander returns the favour and kills him. One down!
Zoicks. Trolls are pretty tough, but I guess expecting them to weather a four-hero onslaught for more than a turn or two is a taller order than I hoped. Trolls are large, so they always count as outnumbering their attackers. Even so, it's amazing how fast your dice vanish when the good guys start ganging up on you.
While the other Troll scurries backwards to guard his rear, we kick down one of the doors (which all lead to the same corridor, filled with Orclings and our final destination door. This mission would be a breeze, except we can't complete it until the other Troll is dead.
At this point, we learn that over half our allotted time has expired (that went fast!). Unlike Dwarf King's Quest, running out of time isn't an automatic fail, but we are ominously told that ... something will happen.
I've been ominously saying so for three levels so far. It's getting kind of annoying, I expect, although it still beats the fluff in terms of foreshadowing.
Since the Troll isn't going to meet us, we traipse over to the other side of the dungeon to confront him.
At which point, the Overlord manages to draw some extra cards and our time is up! We hear the sound of goblin horns, and learn that for every additional turn, an extra Orc or pair of Goblins will appear at the starting blocks. And so on until we are drowned in the Green Tide.
Yes, it's going to look like a London park pond in high summer down here. Might smell better, mind.
Unwilling to stay and get swamped by more greenskins, we elect to break from combat (taking more wounds in the process) and pile in on the last Troll.
After the Dwarf has dealt him a wound, the Salamander quaffs a healing potion and hacks away, using his Relentless ability to double his attacks and inflicts a whopping four wounds on the Troll.
He thereby personally slays both monsters, wins the secondary mission, earns the title 'Trollsbane' and douses in their blood, gains the Regeneration ability for the rest of the mission.
... or that would have happened, if the Troll hadn't regenerated his last wound. Damn.
In the subsequent turn, we do finish off that Troll, and so only need to open the final door to win. This is made more problematic by the appearance of two Goblin Spitters, and the gnawing sensation of a Greatax hacking away at the rear of the Salamander.
But before he can savour that victory, two Goblin Spitters creep up and fill him full of arrows. There are no more healing potions, and even expending one of his precious experience points won't help. Lizard down!
As the surviving three adventurers drag their wounded comrade to safety, we fail the mission.
I don't know, it's just sticking with the classic rules of sequels. If it worked first time, do it again but more. Kraken here, boldly leading the hapless greenskins against the so-far unstoppable heroes.
Mission 4: Bouncers
The map opens with two adjoining rooms, linked by a wide corridor where our heroes are stationed. In each room is a Troll. One Troll always tells the truth, one of them always lies. This has no bearing on the mission, but you have to add flavour where you can in this game
Lured by the prospect of two whole doors, we all move to attack the left-hand Troll (except for Kapoka, who stays put and Roots the other Troll in place).
This is just making my job easier. With only one activation per turn anyway, now I don't even need to worry about which one to pick.
While the Elf sneaks around the back for some rear-attacks, the Dwarf and Salamander charge straight in there and knock off three wounds. Good start!
In the Overlord's turn, he chops a wound off the Salamander, but can do little else to buckle under the weight of numbers as Kapoka also flanks him, and the Salamander returns the favour and kills him. One down!
Zoicks. Trolls are pretty tough, but I guess expecting them to weather a four-hero onslaught for more than a turn or two is a taller order than I hoped. Trolls are large, so they always count as outnumbering their attackers. Even so, it's amazing how fast your dice vanish when the good guys start ganging up on you.
While the other Troll scurries backwards to guard his rear, we kick down one of the doors (which all lead to the same corridor, filled with Orclings and our final destination door. This mission would be a breeze, except we can't complete it until the other Troll is dead.
At this point, we learn that over half our allotted time has expired (that went fast!). Unlike Dwarf King's Quest, running out of time isn't an automatic fail, but we are ominously told that ... something will happen.
I've been ominously saying so for three levels so far. It's getting kind of annoying, I expect, although it still beats the fluff in terms of foreshadowing.
Since the Troll isn't going to meet us, we traipse over to the other side of the dungeon to confront him.
At which point, the Overlord manages to draw some extra cards and our time is up! We hear the sound of goblin horns, and learn that for every additional turn, an extra Orc or pair of Goblins will appear at the starting blocks. And so on until we are drowned in the Green Tide.
Yes, it's going to look like a London park pond in high summer down here. Might smell better, mind.
The first to appear is an Orc Greatax (who is a tougher prospect when they're awake), who sneaks up to the Salamander's rear and starts chopping wounds off him.
 |
| Ominously, even the camera filter went a shade of green. |
Unwilling to stay and get swamped by more greenskins, we elect to break from combat (taking more wounds in the process) and pile in on the last Troll.
After the Dwarf has dealt him a wound, the Salamander quaffs a healing potion and hacks away, using his Relentless ability to double his attacks and inflicts a whopping four wounds on the Troll.
He thereby personally slays both monsters, wins the secondary mission, earns the title 'Trollsbane' and douses in their blood, gains the Regeneration ability for the rest of the mission.
... or that would have happened, if the Troll hadn't regenerated his last wound. Damn.
In the subsequent turn, we do finish off that Troll, and so only need to open the final door to win. This is made more problematic by the appearance of two Goblin Spitters, and the gnawing sensation of a Greatax hacking away at the rear of the Salamander.
While the Dwarf tries (and fails) to get the corridor door open, and the Elf and Gladewalker collectively try (and fail) to kill the Greatax, the Salamander turns and finishes off the foe who has accounted for almost all of his wounds.
But before he can savour that victory, two Goblin Spitters creep up and fill him full of arrows. There are no more healing potions, and even expending one of his precious experience points won't help. Lizard down!
As the surviving three adventurers drag their wounded comrade to safety, we fail the mission.
Back at the Tavern
Our first failure in the Warlord of Galahir campaign, and despite its simple layout, this seems like a pretty unforgiving level.
Yeah, it's a very short period of time to get a lot done. My deck is seven cards, three in hand to start with, so you're going to want to get it done in five turns flat. Not easy.
Both Trolls are killable by the party, but with so much of the action taking place by the entry point, and so little time available, the odds are good that you'll have to face at least some new greenskins steaming in towards you.
Interestingly, the only level that really stymied us on Dwarf King's Quest involved a room containing two Trolls, so maybe there's something in that.
And equally interestingly, there was a level midway through the Infernal Crypts campaign that Kasfunatu and myself found had a similar massive difficulty spike. So much so we skipped over it in the end, it got tired fast. The more I play this game, the more the balance seems skewed. Mostly in favour of the heroes, but with occasional shifts right back the other way.
Leofa is also finding his two heroes are a bit dull to play as. The dwarf, I guess, is a matter of opinion - he's solid and rather unimaginative, but a relatively effective tank-type fighter. Kapoka I agree, though, is not terribly exciting to play as.
He's got no good offensive options and his large range of defensive spells only work on himself. He seems designed to run up and let people hit him to be effective, which would be great if he could actually fight. But he can't, so he's not very rewarding to play as. Even with his spells up he's not resilient enough to last long on the front line, and he can't really buff the others effectively either. Lurking in the background adding little beyond weight of numbers isn't the most dynamic role for a hero. Might as well rename him Bardy the Bard.
As a result, these two might get written out and replaced with homebrew characters in the future. Obviously this is going to really spoil the fluff, so I'm very anxious about it.
For housekeeping, our diminished pool of points and potions are as follows:
Yeah, it's a very short period of time to get a lot done. My deck is seven cards, three in hand to start with, so you're going to want to get it done in five turns flat. Not easy.
Both Trolls are killable by the party, but with so much of the action taking place by the entry point, and so little time available, the odds are good that you'll have to face at least some new greenskins steaming in towards you.
Interestingly, the only level that really stymied us on Dwarf King's Quest involved a room containing two Trolls, so maybe there's something in that.
And equally interestingly, there was a level midway through the Infernal Crypts campaign that Kasfunatu and myself found had a similar massive difficulty spike. So much so we skipped over it in the end, it got tired fast. The more I play this game, the more the balance seems skewed. Mostly in favour of the heroes, but with occasional shifts right back the other way.
Leofa is also finding his two heroes are a bit dull to play as. The dwarf, I guess, is a matter of opinion - he's solid and rather unimaginative, but a relatively effective tank-type fighter. Kapoka I agree, though, is not terribly exciting to play as.
He's got no good offensive options and his large range of defensive spells only work on himself. He seems designed to run up and let people hit him to be effective, which would be great if he could actually fight. But he can't, so he's not very rewarding to play as. Even with his spells up he's not resilient enough to last long on the front line, and he can't really buff the others effectively either. Lurking in the background adding little beyond weight of numbers isn't the most dynamic role for a hero. Might as well rename him Bardy the Bard.
As a result, these two might get written out and replaced with homebrew characters in the future. Obviously this is going to really spoil the fluff, so I'm very anxious about it.
For housekeeping, our diminished pool of points and potions are as follows:
- Kapoka (Gladewalker): 2 kills + 0 exp
- Hrrath (Salamander): 3 kills + 1 exp + 1 Haste Potion
- Thessilar (Elf): 4 kills + 1 exp
- Guraf (Dwarf): 3 kills + 2 exp
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