More minis - Beastmen

by Ed Rozmiarek
So I was able to squeeze in enough time before heading out on vacation to finish up my second set of Descent figures. I did the Beastmen this time. Three masters and 6 regulars. Links to the pictures are below. Enjoy.

Descent Beastmen

Beastmen ready to battle

A Beastmen squad

You can see all of the Descent miniatures I have painted in the picture gallery.

New Reviews

by Susan Rozmiarek

I've posted a review of Toledo here recently as well as Chicago Poker a while back. They are both also posted on Boardgamegeek so you may have already seen them if you care.

We are off to Gulf Games next week, a small, private gaming get-together we go to every summer. I have no particular agenda this time around as far as what games I'd like to play. I'm mostly looking forward to spending time with old friends. Hopefully, I'll have a lot to blog about when I get home. I actually have a backlog of things to write about, including a comparison between Descent: Road to Legend and D&D 4e as I've been playing a lot of both lately.

Lots of Runebound

by Susan Rozmiarek

And yet even more Wallace...........

Runebound is not a game that most people associate with Martin Wallace, including me, but his name is right there on the box as a co-designer (along with Darrell Hardy). I wonder how much of the design is his. My younger son, Shea (age 12) and I have been making our way through the expansions. So far, we have played two of the big box ones and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Mind you, Shea and I don't exactly play like the game is intended to be played. Rather than a competitive race, we play it more like a cooperative RPG. There is no PvP and we take our time leveling up until we are pretty much strolling across the board, crushing every challenge in our path. :-) This makes the game even more slow and plodding than it already is but we just leave it set up to be played over several evenings.

Sands of Al-Kalim

This expansion changes the base game quite a bit, all in good ways that contribute to a good narrative, something I'm always looking for in an adventure game. Your goal is to complete four different types of quests, each giving you a nice reward when completed that is often a powerful item or ally. Most of the quests involve going to specific locations and defeating challenges or succeeding at skill tests.

The terrain on this board is different and you now have to consider whether you are traveling during the day or night. Being mostly desert, traveling by day is tiring and costs fatigue, especially if you end up chasing mirages. Traveling by night is easier, but the monsters you encounter are often stronger at night. There's a big sandstorm that moves around the board, hindering movement and covering towns and adventure locations making them unavailable. There are three lost cities and one can suddenly appear at an adventurer's location. Later on, they may disappear again, but while on the board, each has a huge benefit that can be used by a visiting hero. One allows a player to discard all heart tokens from his hero and allies, another allows a hero to teleport to any space on the board, and the third allows a player to draw five cards from the market deck and choose the one to add to the market there.

The biggest new mechanism in this expansion and the one that drives many of the changes mentioned above is the addition of the story step. If you choose not to adventure, explore a market at a city, or choose a new quest (which is done at this time), you roll a "story die" which is simply a movement die. You look up the symbols rolled on a chart and resolve the effect(s) in any order you like. Some are simple ones like getting a gold or discarding a fatigue token, but others move the sandstorm, cause a lost city to appear (or all of them to disappear) or the hero is ambushed (only if traveling at night) and he has to then draw and resolve an adventure card. This story element creates some new decisions for heroes. As an example, you may not want to end your turn on a blank terrain tile because you will then have to roll the story die and might cause the lost city you are desperately trying to reach to disappear. Or you may not want to risk getting ambushed because you or traveling at night in order to avoid taking fatigue.

Besides an emphasis on fatigue, another thing that I noticed about this expansion is that it seems to place a lot of emphasis on skill checks. Many of the encounters and the quests require skill checks. Fortunately, there are some new items in the city markets available for purchase that help heroes out with the new challenges. Pack camels, assist in movement, water skins discard heart and fatigue counters as well as ignoring mirages, and adventuring kits give bonuses to skill checks. These are limited to the number of counters of each provided with the game, but are available at every city market.

In the base game, encounters are sorted based on difficulty from green being the easiest, then yellow, blue and finally red which includes the enemy players are trying to defeat to win the game. Heroes progress through the levels of encounters, as they increase their abilities with experience. In Sands of Al-Kalim, players are trying to complete four quests to win the game. However, the quests all seem roughly the same difficulty. But, you are still forced to level up and progress through th higher encounters as you are only allowed to hold as many quests as the highest level of encounter you have turned in as experience points. You will have to have defeated a red encounter in order to complete your fourth quest. I though this was a rather clever.

There are also six new characters for use with this expansion or the base game.

This expansion brings a lot to Runebound. The additions I've discussed above create more decisions for the heroes. The quests are fun and they weave a nice story. This is a fabulous addition to an already good game.

The following week, we played:

The Island of Dread

Playing this on the heels of Sands of Al-Kalim was a bit of a disappointment but it should not have been. This is a rather nice expansion as well. It just doesn't change the game quite as much as Sands.

The first big difference is a gorgeous, gorgeous new map with islands connected by sea routes between towns. The routes are interrupted with sea encounters that replace the blue encounters present in the base game. The green, yellow, and red encounters have new decks and occur on designated land locations, just as in the base game. In addition, there is a deck of silver encounters. These occur on the Island of Dread, for which there is a separate tile set off to the side of the main board. The goal of the game is to find this island and defeat the evil god there, drawing and defeating the silver challenges until you draw and defeat him.

The biggest change in this expansion by far is sea travel. There aren't enough encounters on a single island to keep everyone busy for long, so you'll soon be wanting to voyage on to greener pastures. There is now a new deck of captains. In order to travel by sea, you must hire a captain at the market of the town from which you are departing. Captains vary in cost and have special abilities. They act like an ally but don't count against your ally limit. However, if your captain dies in battle with a sea encounter (or the hero does) you will be shipwrecked and the player on your left will choose an adjacent land space. You'll lose your gold and most valuable item just as in the base game when you are knocked out. You don't roll movement dice to travel by sea; instead you just move to the next sea encounter space (or town), draw the encounter card and resolve it. When you do reach a town, your captain immediately goes back into the market stack. You can never have more than one captain and it you don't set out to sea on the next turn after hiring one, you lose him. Also, if you don't have the money, you can still get a captain and head out to sea, you just don't get any of the rewards or experience for defeating sea encounters for that voyage.

Another big addition to this game is the map tiles. Map tiles are used in matched sets of one green and one blue tile. You'll earn these by defeating sea encounters as well as in a few other places during the game. You'll draw them form a facedown pile, so you can't depend on always getting a set. Sets are discarded during your experience step while voyaging to do one of two things. You can discard a set to "discover" the Island of Dread" and take on the final challenge. I don't recommend this until you are leveled up and good and ready, however. :-) More often, you'll be discarding a set to find a legendary item. There are eight of these, all different, that you can choose from as long as they are still available. These each have a unique, powerful ability that you can use at the appropriate time by discarding the item and placing it back into the pool to be found again. These marvelous abilities include things like automatically winning combat rolls of certain types, starting the combat phase of an encounter in any phase you like, having fatigue dealt to you instead of health in a round, replenishing encounters on the board, etc. It is strongly advised to get a few of these items to help defeat some of the harder sea encounters before you have leveled up and before you take on the final challenge.

There is one final change in this expansion although it is not quite so dramatic. These are tiles that are placed on the board due to an event that is drawn. They include things such as turning sea encounter locations into regular sea channels, making it easier to travel, or causing several cities to sink into the sea and disappear.

Finally, there are eight new characters to use in the expansion or the base game.

While this expansion did not change the game as radically as the Sands the Al-Kalim, it still provides a nice change of pace from the base game and I really enjoyed it.

Into the mini painting black hole

by Ed Rozmiarek

We have playing a lot a Descent lately, three sessions in the last couple of months, one normal Descent game and the first two sessions of our Road to Legend campaign. But those three sessions total about 15 or 16 hours of game play. Spurred on by all this playing and the desire to do a non computer related project, I decided to dig out my paints and paint the Descent miniatures.

This is not a small undertaking. The base Descent game comes with 80 minis (60 monsters and 20 unique heroes). The two expansions add in another 60 monsters and 12 more heroes. So that's 120 monsters (20 different types) and 32 unique hero figures. And that's not counting the 25 or so new figures that will be coming with the Tomb of Ice expansion in (hopefully) a couple months. So, I figure I have started a 9 to 12 month project given my normal free time availability and if I can stick with it.

So, a couple weeks ago I dug out my mini paints and went through them to see which ones had dried out. Luckily, I only had to toss 4 or 5 of them. These were replaced and a few new colors were picked up at our FLGS.

I figured that painting the monsters in groups by type would be the most efficient. So I decided to start with the skeletons since they seem to get a lot of use and would see a lot of board time. These guys had a lot more detail on them than I first noticed. They may not have been the easiest to start with, but they were fun to work on.

The Descent figures come in two colors, red for "master" monsters and off white for regular ones. After looking at several samples online, I decided to keep the red motif for the masters via the clothing and/or markings. Since the skeletons have some uniform like clothing, the masters' clothing would be red and the regulars would be a mix of colors. Also, they tend to get spawned in groups of one master and two regulars, so I painted two of each color so I could have "squads".

For finishing the skeletons, I wanted to try "washing" them with the "magic dip" I had read about on a few web sites. What is the "magic dip"? It's Minwax Polyshades stain in a Tudor color. This is a very dark, nearly black, stain mixed with polyurethane. Basically you dip the painted mini in the stain, remove the excess and let it dry. The stain will settle into the groves and low spots and bring out the details. The polyurethane also gives the mini a protective shell.

It was a little scary at first as my newly painted figures came out covered in really black stain. But, shaking off the excess and using a brush to even out the drips, they emerged with nice detail. As they dried and the stain settled in the cracks, the figures looked more realistic. After the stain dried (about a day in a hot Texas garage), I gave the figures a shot of matte finish to dull the shine of the polyurethane. Add a little drying time and the skeletons were done.

Now, on to the beastmen.

(You can find more pictures in the photo gallery.)

I hate spammers

by Ed Rozmiarek

While adding some new pictures to our photo gallery I stumbled across some comment spam. After looking around a bit I found a bunch more in several of the gaming photos albums. I believe I have cleaned them all out, but if you see any, let me know.

Since I'm running a fairly old version of the Gallery software, the only way to fight the spammers is to turn off comments. Sigh. I guess I will have to look into upgrading to the latest version and see what kind of protection it has for comments. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do that right now, so photo comments will be disabled for a while.

Excerpts from the Diary of a Mad Overlord - Part 2

by Ed Rozmiarek

For the previous ramblings of the Mad Overlord see this post.

<Week 1. Starfall Forest dungeon, level 3, "Web of Lives">
Dear Diary,
I heard from my minions that these new adventurers from Tamalir have decided to push on in the Starfall Forest dungeon. Little do they know what lurks at the base of that dungeon. The Bane Spider Queen and her children are always looking for tasty treats to hang up in their cave and season for a while. I shall summon a goodly number of my minions there to see to these adventurers. I shall make sure they are discouraged from their new hobby. I must get back to my research.

Dear Diary,
I might as well make an update since Brum has interrupted my work with an update from Starfall Forest. The adventurers quickly removed the Queen's children guarding the northern part of her realm. However the two squads of Beastmen I sent down kept them from rescuing a couple of the villagers that were still alive.

The Runemaster was forced to drop the villagers to help deal with my Dark Priests blocking the transport glyph. This left the Kirga creature standing all alone by the door to the Queen's throne room. Kirga quickly found out this was a mistake as the Queen's guard, assisted by a couple of my Sorcerers, made mincemeat of Kirga.

With one of their party out and the others facing great odds, I expect them to flee to the safety of their home. I have instructed Brum to give me additional news when he gets it.

Dear Diary,
I see these adventurers did not take the hint. The final report from Starfall has arrived. It appears that the adventurers were eventually able to recover the captured villagers from the Queen, but it was not without great losses.

My razorwings arrived just after Kirga was killed. They quickly surrounded the dwarf Corbin and completed the task started by the dark priests. That stubborn Steelhorns creature did not learn from Kirga's death and tried to get close to the Queen's chamber. Again the guards flowed out of the room and sent Steelhorns packing.

Unfortunately the guards could not get the door closed again before the newly regenerated Kirga and Corbin were able to slay the spider guarding the door. A fierce battle ensued in the Queen's chamber. Additional beastmen and dark priest reinforcements were able to come up from behind the group and kill Runemaster Thorn while the Queen's guards were able to kill Corbin.

The adventurers were finally able to pick up the original two villagers after clearing out several kobolds who showed up late to the party. However, the little beasts were able to bring down Corbin again (who didn't have the decency to stay dead). The adventurers finally fled with several skeletons taking pot shots on the way.

(For those keeping score at home, conquest for this level: Overlord 27, Heroes 11).

Dear Diary,
This second week was much quieter than the first. I received my first report from Sir Alric in Nerekhall. The local populous does not seem to believe that the comet is coming. He has started to build siege engines to help them see the light.

My own magical research has proven profitable. I have been successful in developing stronger spells for creating my Eldritch creatures. They now glow with a silver luminescence. Very lovely.

And I heard that those pesky adventurers returned to Tamalir to lick their wounds. I suspect they have had enough of this adventuring.

All in all, a good week.

Dear Diary,
The third week of my Ascension and things are going smoothly. After much persuasion, I have convinced the Demon Prince to bring forth his personal lieutenant, Kar-Amag-Atoth. He is a fearsome beast. I have given him instructions and sent him south to confer with Sir Alric. Speaking of Alric, his siege of Nerekhall continues. He believes that it will be at least two more weeks before he has enough siege engines to take on the city walls.

No real word from Tamalir concerning those adventurers. Rumor has it they are running around town spending their ill gotten funds, buying drinks at the tavern and resting. I don't expect to hear from them again.

---

Box Score:
Avatar: Demon Prince
Scenario: Ascension
Week: 3
Nerekhall: Two siege engines
No cities razed.
Conquest: Overlord 43 / Heroes 27

The Descent Heroes

The heroes battle the queen spider and her guards

Tinners' Trail - first impressions

by Susan Rozmiarek

Continuing ever onward with our Wallace lovefest, we tried out Tinners' Trail at Mark's Thursday group. Tinners' Trail is about mining ore in Cornwall, England during the 1800s. You are bidding against the other players to place your mines in regions on the board so you can mine the tin and copper ore there. Apparently one of the biggest challenges miners faced was water filling the mines. Much of your energy in this game goes toward dealing with the ever annoying water that makes it pricier to mine the ore. Several developments are available in the game to deal with this in varying degrees - ports, adits (a new word for me!), trains and pumps. Adits also add additional ore to the mine and miners, trains and ports allow you mine more ore at once.

Money is tight in this game which is no surprise given its designer. You get a chance to buy victory points with the cash you earn each round but you'll have to decide how much to save in order to buy mines and extract ore in the following round. To make that decision even more agonizing, you get more VPs for your money in the earlier rounds, but that is also when you want the bidding power to grab the juicier regions on the board, particularly since it is advantageous to have your mines adjacent to each other for adits and on the coast for ports. Selling ore that you have extracted is the primary way to make money in the game but there is one more that gets you a tiny amount - selling pasties. This seems to be primarily a default action when you have nothing better to do or you are really short of cash.

An aspect about mining that you have to consider is that every time you take ore out of a mine, a water cube is added to it, making it more expensive to mine ore the next time. There is a limit to how much ore can be taken out with a single mining action, but you can increase this with a few of the developments, making it more efficient. Of course, you'll also want to add developments that take away the water added. Each mine can only hold one each of the various developments so you have to time their addition wisely.

There is some luck in the game which can have a big impact. This will give some people fits. You have to speculate how much each type of ore will be worth as you are required to sell any ore you've extracted at the end of a round. At the beginning of each round, the selling prices for each type will be determined with a die roll. So, if you say, leave the copper in your mines for the following round in the hopes that the price will go up and it goes down instead, you're hosed. There is a ceiling and floor for the prices, though, and a modifier applied if it is at the top or bottom. Another bit of luck is how much ore is available to be mined in each region. The amount of ore and water in a single, unexplored region will be determined at the end of each round with dice rolls. However, you can speculate and put up an unexplored region for auction. The winner pays and places his mine before the dice rolls to determine what's there. A bad roll and you've wasted your money on a mine full of water and little ore. These lucky elements fit well with the theme and I enjoy the uncertainty they bring to the game. But, some people are going to be quite bothered. You have been warned!

The turn order mechanism also makes for some tense decision making as well. It is very similar to the game Thebes. During a round, players take turns doing a single action that can be either building a mine, building one of the improvements listed above, mining ore from a single mine, or selling pasties. Each action costs a varying amount of time which is tracked on the board. After each player has taken a single action, a new turn order for the next series of actions is established starting with the player who has taken the least amount of time so far. In addition, you can drop out of the round entirely at any time and not do any more actions. Turn order for the start of next round will be in order from the player who passed first to the player who passed last. A limited number of improvements are put out for grabs each round, so if you really, really want something, you might have to pass early and forgo some precious actions in order to get first choice in the next round.

Tinners' Trail is another excellent game from Martin Wallace. It's a little leaner than many of his games, rule-wise, but the game play still has a lot of heft to it with a little luck thrown in to keep you guessing. It is very thematic with a unique, historical theme. I like Brass a little better, but I'm very fond of train/connection games so that isn't surprising. I'm looking forward to the next game in the Treefrog line although I'm not looking forward to the hefty price of a game that has to be ordered and shipped directly from the U. K. I'm happy that Tinners' Trail has been worth that price so far.