As a reminder, here were the rules of the June match:
Spoiler Alert!
"Eck tel le sendar, ret kal len condaaaaar!"
The Curse of Morindan
Four armies have converged on the shadowy graveyard near the caverns of Morindan. Rumor has it that the secret to reanimating the dead lies buried with the shaman there, and all four are determined to win the prize and tilt the balance of power in their favor. But a curse lies over the ground here.... the Curse of Morindan!
Rules:
When any non-Undead small or medium figure is destroyed, the defender rolls a d20. On a 1-10, that figure is replaced by a Zombie of Morindan from the reserve pool of Zombies.
After taking a turn, any player may utter the word "Braaaaaains" and reveal the X Order Marker on a card they control. They may then take a turn with the Zombies of Morindan.
Map:
Spelunk-O-Rama by Dignan. Slightly modified (glyphs to be replaced with shadow, "gravestones" added for flavor).
Armies:
560 points. Start zone is 17 spaces. Minimum 12 figures, only small or medium allowed, no Undead because of the Curse or something.
Victory:
Points on the battlefield. If only Zombies are left, everyone loses.
We decided to go 10 rounds, full card scoring.
Here’s the board, midway through the game:
Since we only had three players, we decided to seed the center of the board with Zombies, rising from the shadows:
This was a good idea, as the three of us could try to move the swarm of Zombies right away. We did 5 squads instead of 3 for the second game.
Here’s the army of Chas:
And Sherman:
Syvarris, Kumiko, Eltahale, and a whole lot of Wolves. Aaaahooo!
And me:
Unkillables
260 Mezzodemon Warmongers x4
140 Azazel the Kyrie Warrior
130 Emperor Andask
10 Isamu
10 Bol
550, 12 hexes
My thought was that between Exoskeletons and Rejected by Death, my figures would stay on the battlefield and not be Zombiefied.
You may note that Bol has been replaced by an evil Leprechaun as a proxy.
How did it go? The scenario was a lot of fun. Deciding when to take a Zombie turn (Braaaaains!) was key, and when to attack Zombies (vs reducing the enemy forces.) The “will the Zombies rise” roll didn’t produce as many Zombies in the first game (I think Sherman failed to raise a Zombie 7 times in a row), but lots of Zombies in the second game. Were I to do this again, I’d probably make the odds more like 75%, as there were times when there was only 1 or 2 Zombies left on the board.
This hill between me and Chas saw a lot of action. Here a Protector fends off a Zombie attack!
Here comes Atlaga trying the Bolt of the Witherwood (against the Emperor, I think?). He was determined to eliminate my Valkrill Kyrie. Fortunately for me, Azazel came back. Twice.
Syvarris posing dramatically with a wolf.
Azazel vs. Eltahale!
Game Two:
Same rules (and same seats) as the first game, only with more Zombies in the middle to start. Sherman played my Mezzodemon army, while I switched to:
Undead are our Speciality
110 Sharwin Wildborn
100 Ana Karithon
105 Van Nessing
80 Kumiko
50 Tarn Viking Warriors
100 Krav Maga Agents
10 Otonashi
555, 12 hexes
Why not bring the Cleric with Turn Undead and Protection from Evil to deal with pesky Zombies? And Sharwin to take out a whole bunch at once with Arcane Bolt? And Van Nessing to… well use the X order marker if there were no Zombies left, I suppose.
As Chas outlined above, my start zone was quickly over-run with his forces:
The Circus comes to town!
And turn my Vikings and Kravs into Zombies!
In a Jandar-horned-hat-face-off, this last Viking just would not die! He is now Sven.
A battle of Kyrie and Zombies rages on Sherman’s side of the board.
We had a shorter game (7 rounds) so it quickly became clear that Sherman would win again unless Chas and I both attacked him. We could get to each other easily but had to cross the catacombs to get to him. Chas made his oath of safe passage so I could get my dungeon crawlers over to attack the Mezzodemons. Then it became clear that I had more points and was going to win. I released him from his oath, but he insisted on his personal word, even after I attacked Concan. But Sharwin had crossed over, and the Zombies weren’t technically in his army… In the end, Ana and Sharwin were wiped out, and Van Nessing made the final attack on Concan, securing my victory (and denying Sherman the chance to use Isamu’s Dishonorable Attack! Sorry Sherman!)