The Siege of Dulhammer Crag - Custom Campaign - FINISHED!

[Velenne]

The Siege of Dulhammer Crag

Throne Room

At long last the gilded doors admit you to a room basked in wealth and power. The Monarch's gaudy display simultaneously sickens and inspires you. A long, red carpet leads to a central dias flanked by pillars and the Monarch's elite guard. Your prize is before you, will you seize it?

Build notes: This map uses 2 Master sets, 2 castles, 1 RttFF, and 2 VW's worth of tiles and objects.

Glyphs Used: None.

Setup: Attackers field a 450 point army in the Red Starting zone. Dulhammer Defenders field 200 point army in the Blue Starting Zone and place their Monarch in the Green Starting zone. Any remaining defenders from the Barracks scenario deploy in the Yellow Starting zone.

Special Rules:
Dulhammer Crag's Throne of Immortality - If the Monarch resides in the Green starting zone at the end of the current round, remove 1 wound marker from the Monarch to a minimum of zero wound markers.
Molten Lava and Water Tiles - These tiles are purely for decoration and do not serve their normal function for this scenario.

Victory Conditions:
Attackers - Slay the Monarch
Dulhammer Defenders - Defend your Monarch all costs! Destroy all opponents.

Overview


Dais View


Red Carpet

[Teamski]

OK, I gotta ask....What program are you using for the visuals??

-Ski

[netherspirit]

Looks like VirtualScape.

Edit - Yep, definately VirualScape
http://www.heroscapers.com/community...t=1145&start=0

[Velenne]

That's correct; it's VirtualScape.

[LilNewbie]

Again, nice maps and scenarios.

Newb.

[Velenne]

Over 80 downloads but no feedback!???

Before I can claim this as 100% finished, I would definately value some constructive criticism.

[HuckmanT]

We're getting ready to start the campaign tomorrow. I will take notes and give you feedback, but you will need to wait a little bit longer. Thanks for what looks like an awesome experience!

[Velenne]

I'm glad I caught this before I hit the hay.

I've played the 1st half of the campaign twice now. The first time the Attacker's got wiped out quickly by poor strategy decisions. This time they're doing, much better, but here's what I've learned so far.

Planning:

The great thing about a campaign is that you can't just throw all your heavy hitters into every map. The attackers losing Charos on Approach was a huge blow.

The healing power-up in Courtyard shouldn't necessarily go on your most powerful hero.

If you don't know what's coming in the next few maps, you're at a huge disadvantage. Both players should have looked over the campaign.

Secondary Goals:

-are huge!! It's almost worth your while to sacrifice a few more points for them.

Modifications:

Attackers may need 1600 points.

It may be necessary to allow the Attacker's their full army for the Gate scenario.

Other than avoiding the Defender's reinforcements, the Attacker has no incentive to stick around long enough to defeat the full complement of Defenders during Courtyard. Once a door is open, he can take it and automatically finish the map. I need to fix this.

[HuckmanT]

Velenne-

Wow, thanks! We're just about ready to start the campaign (in about an hour), and I will go over your thoughts with my opponent. We have both read through the campaign carefully, but I have a few questions:

1) I am the attacker... should I propose a 1400-point army instead of 1200? I'm going with Jandar/Vydar by the way.

2) Does the defender need to select their armies for all scenarios before the whole campaign begins, or before each individual scenario. Same question for the Monarch character.

3) Any suggestions for a quick fix to the Courtyard scenario? We're gonna try this one today as well since we'll have time to go through quite a few.

Thanks and I hope you read this soon!

[Velenne]

1 - 1400 sounds like a good compromise.

2 - Select all the Defender's armies up front. Common squads can be used across any number of maps but Uniques must be drafted and counted seperately. If the Defender loses Braxas on Approach, he may not use him again.

3 - Instead of having the Glyph of Kelda conveniently outside of the Attacker's starting zone, you might conceal it upside-down on one of your army cards. You could then put other glyphs upside-down as decoys. When the Attacker slays all the units on that card, he can turn over the glyph and see if it's the Healing glyph. As play continues, he may find himself forced to scurry off and run before getting it.

Good luck! I'm very interested in your feedback!

[HuckmanT]

Velenne-

First of all, fantastic job on these scenarios. The VirtualScape files are easy to build and went off without (many) problem(s). We played through the first three scenarios, and wrote comments as we went which I will share with you now. This might take a while, so please feel free to comment back to me at my email address (huckmanTatcomcastdotnet) instead of here on this fourm.

General Comments (positive):

- Very well balanced at Attackers with 1400-points and selecting from a single General (with Vydar support). I chose a Jandar army at 1385 points and the scenarios were all fun and VERY close.

- Interesting maps with well thought out distances and height placements. This was true for all 3 maps (Approach, Gate, Courtyard)

- Alternate Victory Conditions are a neat touch and really drove the action forward. I like playing on a clock, especially when it's not for "win or lose" but rather for "bonus or no bonus".

General Questions/Comments:

- It needs to made more clear that the Defender must choose ALL of his armies before playing, with common duplicates allowed.

- Must the Defender choose all armies from a single General? Without repeating Uniques, that really limits the selection to Jandar and Utgar in order to get variety over 7 different scenarios. We played it with the Defender selecting his troops before each individual scenario, all within a single General (Vydar as booster OK), and that worked pretty well.
Defender's Armies were:
Approach: (Jandar)
- 2 x Dzu-Teh (tough on this map)
- 2 x Omicron Snipers
- 1 x Tarn Viking Warrior

Gate: (Ullar)
- 2 x Anubian Archers
- 1 x Syvarris
- 1 x Deadeye Dan
- 2 x Warriors of Ashara

Courtyard: (Vydar)
- 2 x Gorillinators
- 1 x Nakita Agents
- 1 x Microcorp Agents (placed in the sniper roosts)

- On all scenarios, you describe the snow and ice rules, but you don't mention them for the Approach (which is mostly snow/ice). Also, you list "light snow", but give the rules for "heavy snow" on all scenarios. If it costs 2 Move Points per snow hex, that's Heavy Snow, not Light Snow.

Scenario-Specific Questions/Comments:

- The Approach was interesting and extremely well balanced. Even with the Defending Dzu-Teh, the attackers were able to meet their Special Victory Condition. Most excitingly, it happened on the last order marker of the 4th turn, and came down to one die roll. (Nilfheim on the raised central rock platform with Raelin backup is very dangerous)

- The attackers didn't end up using the Sally Port on the Gate scenario even though they earned it. In discussing the layout of this one, it seemed too long of a trek across dangerous ice to make it worthwhile. Perhaps the Sally Port could be a bit closer to the front? Maybe with some Vipers it could be useful, but otherwise nope. Maybe it's fine as is, but I didn't feel tempted and I don't think many other Attackers will either.

- We used the rules as written for the Gate scenario, and it was actually a decided victory for the attackers. The Attackers busted down the front door with Major Q9 after "softening up" the elves on the front wall. We don't think that the squad values need to be adjusted for this scenario. By the way, a good attacking squad for this one is:
1 x Raelin
1 x Kelda
1 x Major Q9
1 x Thorgrim
1 x Sir Denrick
with Nilfheim and Gladiatrons bringing up the reinforcements. The attackers did roll well, but they took the Gate with only the loss of Thorgrim on Turn 6.

- Even with the Attackers succeeding overwhelmingly, the Special Victory Condition of Turn 4 seems nearly impossible without the defenders just opening the door and saying "come on in!". We think that Turn 5 would be more fair. The attackers didn't even try to rush this one since it seemed pretty unlikely to attain.

- There is a problem with the VirtualScape build on the Gate. As is, the doors cannot be opened since the terrain inside the castle is one level higher than the door bottom. To fix this, we bumped up all of the castle walls by one level of foundation. Worked fine.

The Courtyard:

- On the Courtyard, does the defender have to select and announce his 300 points of reinforcements before the scenario begins? We thought it would be only fair that way, since cherry-picking 300 more points on Round 6 once you know which attacking units you still have to deal with is kind of unfair for the Attackers.

- The Scenario rules and objectives, as written, are vague. Here's what we need to know:

1) If the Defenders succeed at the Secondary Victory on the Gate such that they receive "a single ranged squad or hero in the Green Starting Area", are these unit(s) part of the Defender's 400 points? If not intended to be, they certainly should be. We were 99% certain this was the intention, but the wording did not specify.

2) If the Defender has the advantage here and the Red/Blue doors are locked, how does the Attacker succeed at the scenario other than elimination of the Defenders? If the Defenders kill all of the attacking flyers and leave their ranged units up in the towers, the attacker can't win, right? We were pretty sure that the intention was to get to the Glyph of Brandar which forces you to the Barracks, which is fine and makes sense. Does only 1 Attacking figure have to make it? All of them?

3) Why no reinforcements for the attacker? It felt weird to have taken the Gate with 900 points of forces and then only having 400 total fighting in the Courtyard. What happened to the other 500? On a smoke break? Some suggestions:
- Have the attacker come in small waves of max 200 points until all remaining non-eliminated figures have arrived, perhaps a wave arriving every other turn.
- Keep the Defender at 400 initially with 300 arriving later.
- An Alternate method for getting to the Dungeon and Throne Room if the doors are locked: Place a Blue Glyph on the single Ice hex farthest from the Blue Door and a Red Glyph on the single Ice hex farthest from the Red Door (there are only 2 ice hexes on the whole map, and they seem to serve no other purpose). If a team has a character standing on one of these glyphs, the corresponding door is considered unlocked and open. Units may enter the doorway with regular movement when the door is open and are then placed to the side and considered "finished". The Secondary Victory Condition for the Attackers could then be to get all Attackers "finished". Once there is only one Army Card worth of attackers remaining "unfinished", the scenario is completed and that Army Card is consdered eliminated as if it had been killed. (basically a selfless "I've got the door, you go on without me!" move). If we're way off here on the concept behind the Courtyard scenario, let us know because we didn't "get it" from what we read.

- What happens after the Barracks? Do you go back to the Courtyard and replay the whole thing again with the same rules and set up? Does anyone get the Green Staring Areas? Are there other times you go back? This one really confused us.

- If the Defender wins any of the scenarios (especially the Gate and Courtyard) by elimnating all Attackers present, is the campaign over? Do you just go on to the "next" (whatever that is) scenario and play with what you've got left? Again, this is not clearly stated.

- Basically, the FLOW of the campaign needs to be better detailed, perhaps in a flow chart of some sort. The only way to find out the "overall rules" to the campaign was to read them here on the boards, and it would be nice to have them at the front of the Approach PDF.

The Results:
Approach: Attacker wins on the last order marker of Turn 4. Loses 190 points of casualties (Airborne Elite, 1 x Blastatrons).

Gate: Attacker wins on Round 7. Loses only Thorgrim (80 points), with Kelda healing Q9 and Raelin a few times. A thorough attacker victory.

Courtyard: Defender wins on Round 6. The Microcorp Agents on the towers were deadly and picked the Attackers apart, even with Aura support from Raelin on the center roof. Attackers lose 2 x Gladiatrons, 1 x Tarn Vikings, 1 x Finn, 1 x Raelin. Defenders lose 1 x Gorillinators, 1 x Nakita Agents, clean up with 300 points of reinforcements. As stated above, we weren't sure how this one was supposed to end and the Attackers simply didn't have the numbers to get everyone back to the far Brandar Glyph in time. This is where it felt VERY weird to not get the reinforcements as the attacker. Where was Nilfheim? Where was Q9? What about Alastair McDirk? Did they get lost between the Gate and the Courtyard?

Final Comment:

Great job on this campaign, Velenne. You knocked it out of the park. Please respond to us in as much detail as you can spare, and we will make the adjustments to the scenarios we have printed out. We're planning on playing through the whole thing again soon, and I might have a go with it solo this week once I have your feedback. You can count on me for good playtesting.


Happy HSing!

Tim aka HuckmanT
HuckmanT at BGG

[Velenne]

Hot Dog HuckmanT! Now that was exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for!! I can't thank you enough for such a thorough and excited recounting. Like you, I've only playtested up to Courtyard so far. Dungeon is next. Now to address your points...
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Attacker's Points: Definately adjusting to 1400.

Defender's Points: I still like the idea of drafting the Defender's army from a single general with Vydar support. IIRC Ullar, Einar and Vydar have around 7 heroes each so that's around 14 options.

Drafting: One advantage to laying seige is knowing generally (nyuk nyuk) what you're up against. For that reason, I feel the Defenders should draft first. This would satisfy my previous statement while also giving them the most options of Vydar heroes to choose from.

Victory: Should the Defender ever win an all-out victory, the campaign is over and the Attackers have been repelled. This is because it would be extremely difficult for the attackers to achieve overall victory at this point with its remnants.
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Tundra Rules: My intention was to make these tiles more interesting, but the rolling for every space is just tedious and people forget ("forget") they have to do it. I'll nix this part.

Gate: With the above in mind, I don't know that the Sally Port needs to be moved. Instead I'll add a line of 4 rock tiles just outside the walls along that side of the castle. I'm also going to alter it so that there's a 2-hex road tile bridging the top of the Sally port (when open, as pictured in the default map file) so that that ladder is still useful. I think I will set the special victory condition to 5 rounds. There are ways a clever player can quickly satisfy the conditions without knocking the doors down, but that shouldn't be the only way it's possible.

Courtyard: There were questions here when we played it to. Here's what we decided on.
- The map is only played once. Once the attackers win here, there's no need to play it again. The Attacker's player decides what order he wants to do the final maps: Barracks, Dungeon, or Furnace Room.
- I really like the idea of starting with very few points and getting steadily reinforced. This simulates having to bottleneck your army through the outer gates into the courtyard. Deployment may read: "Attackers deploy in the Red starting zone with any two army cards of their choice. At the start of each of the attacker's turns, deploy up to 4 units or 1 Huge unit in the Red starting zone. This continues until the Attackers have fielded their entire army." So while you'd have more units by the end of the 1st round, you couldn't use them until the 2nd round because you'dve already placed your order markers.
- You are correct, the unit you select to deploy in the Green starting zone is part of the Defender's 400 point army.
- The Attackers may end the scenario at any time by having a hero duck into one of the doors or step on the Glyph of Brandar. (If 1 or both of the doors are locked, they'll have to destroy it as normal.) I like my modification in the above post for the Glyph of Kelda. I think this would make an interesting special victory condition while giving more incentive to the Attackers to not end the scenario quickly. That Glyph could be a dealbreaker.
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