The New York City Gang Of Four

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Originally Posted by Taeblewalker

Happy birthday yesterday to @kolakoski and tomorrow to me!

Happy birthday, Taeblewalker! Also, a happy (belated) birthday to kolakoski!

[Sherman Davies]

Happy birthday, guys!

[chas]

THE CHAS ROAD RALLY HEROSCAPE SCENARIO
(Draft 5.0, 4/13/23)

This scenario is made up of two games played one after the other in a Free For All. Only the victor of Game Two wins the scenario.

Armies Each player fields one 500 Point Army with Classic, VC, or AOA cards (no Marvel). There is no space limitation.

Not Allowed: no Fliers (or Sergeant Drake II), Teleporters--all powers that allow a figure(s) to be removed from the board and replaced elsewhere--although Carry is still allowed--such as Tul-Bak-Ra, Mika Connour, Cal the Smuggler, etc., or characters with immobilizing powers such as Cyberclaw are allowed. Also no Droppers (Airborne Elite) or Gliders (AOA Glider Strikers and Wing Commander Tuck Harrington). This is a race game. If you are unsure about a card's eligibility, check with the Game Master before Game Day.

The Three Checkpoints Each army must “Register" at each of three numbered checkpoint in order, by coming adjacent to its Glyph Space. To Register, the figure must end its movement. Only one Checkpoint can be Registered by a particular army on each game round.

The first Unique Hero to reach each Checkpoint will draw a Treasure Glyph from a restricted Pool of them chosen by the GM. Normal Treasure Glyph rules apply—they can be dropped, picked up, transferred, etc. Other types may Register for their team, but get no Treasure Glyph.

The GM will keep track of all Checkpoint Registrations as they happen. Only a member of an army which has Registered at all three Checkpoints can land on the FINISH space.

START and FINISH Spaces All armies start off the board, and enter through the same START space. You must move off the space immediately. All Army Cards are considered to have the Phantom Walk power for Round One. There is no combat allowed in Round One. No powers that affect other players' characters may be used.
Characters who enter the board may not leave it again.

In Between Games: When any one figures reaches the FINISH space at the opposite end of the board, Game One immediately ends. Remove all remaining figures from the battlefield. These and any figures remaining offboard that have not entered the battlefield during Game One are now reset to the second "Pit Stop" offboard position to enter on the Game Two Start Space only. The player of the winning army draws a Treasure Glyph if that army has at least one Unique Hero in it, even if it was defeated/killed.

Healing Phase (Modified "Second Wind") Each player/army will roll for Healing between games for each figure in their army. This is a gentler "Second Wind." Roll for each of your figures, whether killed in the previous game or not.

For surviving figures, roll an amount of dice equal to the Wounds taken during the last game. For figures previously defeated/killed, Roll one Attack Die for each Life. Each figure starts the next game with one Wound for each Skull rolled. After rolling for a defeated/killed Unique Hero, it still gets a minimum of two lives back, so add any not recovered during rolling to reach this total. All Squad figures whether previously defeated/killed or not roll normally with 1 die each, and if they roll a Skull their figure is removed from the campaign (race) going forward.

Game Two will consist of a Second Lap run backwards. All competing armies will start off the board and come onto the Game One Finish space, which is now the Game Two START space. The old Game One Start space is now the Game Two FINISH space. Game One Entry Rules Apply: During Round One all figures have Phantom Walk, and there is no combat allowed.

Treasure Glyphs The winner of Game One also gets to choose a random Treasure Glyph from the pool and place it with any Unique Hero surviving. All Glyphs may be transferred between figures in the same army between games. Up to four Treasure Glyphs may therefore be awarded in/after Game One, and are kept for Game Two if still held by a living Unique Hero when the game ends (not if dropped and left on the board when Game One ends, in which case they are removed from the game)

Up to three Game Two Treasure Glyphs will be drawn from the diminishing pool during Game Two, and will therefore be different from previous glyphs awarded during or after Game One.

The army with a figure who reaches the Game Two FINISH Space first wins the race/scenario. (Or the last army on the board during wins automatically at any time).

The Map will be a custom build by the GM with a variety of terrain, but not particularly favoring terrain dependent cards. In line with my favorite type of "spectacle" map, it has large distinct zones, each with a dominant terrain type: Arctic, Desert, Forest, Rock, Plains, etc. There are two rivers, a bridge, ruins, a belt of volcanic lava field, pine and jungle trees and foliage, etc. The route between the Start, Checkpoints, and Finish across the map each lap is a big "W," to maximize the distances that need to be covered.

Since its a very large map, the idea is terrain variety without making passage too difficult at any particular point, so that the games will be of reasonable length. However, racing across it against fellow combatants should make it quite challenging.

Treasure Glyph Pool

Permanent
Heroic Rune +1 Attack
Talisman of Defense +1 Defense
Brooch of Shielding Disengage

Temporary
Potion of Healing -3 Wounds
Ring of Protection +3 Defense Dice
Whetstone of Venom If cause 1 Wound, +2 More
Belt of Giant Strength +2 Attack

Place Names

For those of you who like a little local color in your games, here are the names emerging as my freebuilt map comes together:

Start/Finish Hex: The Infinity Point

Area around The Infinity Point; Northwest Area: [I] The Plain

Southwest Area: The Hills

Checkpoint #1 (Southwest Area): The Hidden Grove

Checkpoint #2 North Central Area: Fort ZinderChas

Checkpoint #3 South Central Area: Hole In The Rock

Southeast Area: The Lake District

Finish/Start Halfway Hex and surrounding Northeast area): The Pit Stop

[redpriest]

Really like this scenario!

[chas]

redpriest,

I'm looking forward to trying it out. We had a private online discussion about the scenario before I posted it here. I tried to tie it down properly; so now I hope no one comes up with an army or tactic to nerf it. If you get a chance to play it, let us know here how it goes.

Many years ago I was in a Road Rally in real life. You had teams of two people in cars; one driving and one navigating (these were days before GPS, using paper maps). We had a good time, but no dangerous adventures. It was a combination drive and treasure hunt.

Much later on I read about many adventures the fictional heroes had in a manga where they participated in a road rally in Japan during a multi issue run, so I guess they are still running these events in some form--the author/artist was a car enthusiast. I always wanted to make some kind of game out of it. So finally I get my chance!

[chas]

Note that I've ruled that Sgt. Drake II is not eligible for this scenario. All monks however, are okay, as their leaping restricts their forward motion. With over 400 cards for VC and AOA, its hard to think of every possible exception.

The guys are starting to send their armies in, as we chat about who needs to borrow a figure and etc. I'm getting ready to build my own army too. We don't counter draft each other, unless we're doing a Drafting Scenario with limited cards, which we don't do much. I do try and not duplicate cards others are using, if I know what they are when I build my own.

I like to keep my army builds secret for their games to surprise the other players, so I usually post them here afterwards.

I have made a few minor edits in the scenario post, thanks to working on my own army, and some incisive questions from my fellows.

[chas]

SKULLS AND SHIELDS
A New Rule For Graduated Molten Lava Damage

By Chas

When any figure not immune to lava damage enters a Molten Lava hex, roll one combat die, performing the following action depending on the result:

Blank: Figure takes no damage; But remove any Order Markers on that card; the OMs removed are not revealed to other players.

Skull: Roll three combat dice, taking one unblockable wound for each skull rolled. This may result in no damage.

Shield: Roll three combat dice, taking a wound for each die with a Skull or Blank. If no Shields are rolled, the figure is defeated.


This is perhaps the most important of the many, many interesting game modifications we've come up with through the years, which are all over the site and this thread as well. Enjoy!

[chas]

THE CHAS ROAD RALLY ARMIES

There is a lot of creativity in specialty army building here for our big race extravaganza coming up on Saturday! Its a Free For All Battle of Five Armies. Three players have compact armies of only four cards total. Three cards are duplicated in two armies each. Two players have cards from Age of Annihilation. Two players have one Squad each. Two players are using Rogues, one of the newer and lesser used types, who can interact with Treasure Glyphs.

This "demolition derby" is inspired by one real and one fictional Road Rally, as noted above, and all those race movies where cars crash like crazy in unusual terrain. We won't have any cars, but we will have combat on many terrain types on a huge multilevel battlefield as players flash into Checkpoints, take a Healing Pit Stop between laps, and activate Treasure Glyphs, all the while clawing for First Place.

Viva Las Vegas!


Kolakoski Army
Z'Toth 140
Locksley 130
Bahadur 120
Rhogar Dragonspine 110
Total: 500

Taeblewalker Army
Tor-Kul-Na 220
Venoc Warlord 120
Agent Carr 100
Zetacron 60
Total: 500

Thrasher Darkrai Army
Queen Maladrix (Age Of Annihilation) 160
Festering Honor Guard (AOA) 60
The Varja 160
Venoc Warlord 120
Total: 500

Sherman Davies Army
Brunak 110
Ornak 100
Tornak 100
Alaisdair MacDirk 110
Me-Burq-Sa 50
Guilty McCreach 30
Total: 500

Chas Army: "Riders of the Purple Page"
Brunak 110
Shiori II (AOA: Chas Design) 110
Mindflayer Mastermind 100
Arthur of Sherwood 70
Me Burq Sa 50
Warriors of Ashra 50
Bol 10
Total: 500

***

This race is brought to you by:

The Chas Game Palace "Scaping Since 2004"

The New York City Gang of Four
Meeting Monthly For Over 15 Years

The Age of Annihilation Revival Project
(All Fan made AOA Army Cards and other rules available on site)

*For the complete scenario, see Post #1515 upthread.*

[kolakoski]

Well met!

My initial reaction to this scenario was that it was essentially a Dungeon scenario, given the use of Second Wind. That there are only two squads among the five armies presented supports this theory. I have filled the traditional roles while looking to maximize the Life and Move values of my army.

Bahadur: Thug
Locksley: Archer
Rhogar: Healer
Z'Toth: Wizard

It is interesting that I have the only Healer . . .

[chas]

Happy Belated Birthday to:

Taeblewalker,

You're not getting older, you're getting better.

Kolakoski, (just a month older than I am)

You're not getting better, you're getting older.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Thanks 🙏

Have you any idea what everyone might be thinking?

[chas]

Final Pregame comments on The Chas Road Rally Scenario

The Road Rally map is finally finished for tomorrow's game. I've been working on it on and off for three days now. Its one of the most challenging I've ever done in terms of preparing for a specialized scenario, in this case a Free For All Race Game, which is why I did a Freebuild. Since I don't take photos myself, I've asked everyone else to bring their cameras. If the scenario works, we can always run it again, probably with a different battlefield set up.

Kolokoski and I had a nice pregame phone conversation last night, in my response to his post above. Since we usually play on large boards with 4-5 players, my scenarios usually call for larger armies such as 600 Points or even more. This 500 point army build is more normal for Heroscape Tournaments, which we rarely attend. But since its a race game, massive forces are not necessary.

K. mentioned that he is the only person using a Healer (Rhogar Dragonspine) for tomorrow's game. I often use one. My favorite is Kelda, but as a flyer she's not eligible for this. For me, 500 Points is a stripped down army, so no Healer for me this time around.

Speaking of the hybrid creatures, there's the fairly new female VC centaur Swaysil who is very fast, and would have been a good bet in this race game. Dave and I both chose a Rogue, since they are both fast and/or interact with Treasure Glyphs! Swaysil is not a Rogue, but acts like one. I considered her, but took Arthur of Sherwood instead. As would Halushia, the AOA Centaur. After a brief search I found my Brunak in my AOA Dryan Lifeborn bag, proxying for him.

K. is the one who has used Rogues the most of our group, but he wanted to go with stronger figures this time. In fact, the first thing I thought about when building my own army were mounted figures, since they are fast! In fact I have three speedy mounted or centaur characters in my build this time around.

Hence my army name "Riders of the Purple Page," which is a play on the title of Zane Grey's most famous Western novel. Taeblewalker took me to the Zane Grey museum up in the Upper Delaware River scenic park, and I read a biography of him and some of his books too, as a little mini project.

This is a large map, with the Start and Finish hexes and the three Checkpoints at least 20 hexes apart. So I don't myself think of it as a D&D scenario, which used Second Wind after every small room. This Road Rally Map is as large as the entire 5 Room Official D&D campaign (which I've had up on my table in its entire glory in the old days), and only has one Healing moment at the Pit Stop (halfway point), and its a gentler version of Second Wind.

The Road Rally Rules, carefully edited by now and finalized with a number of tweaks in Post #1515 above, allow for some interesting alternate strategies. I hope everyone has read them. Either way, I think there will be lessons learned from Game One that players will use in Game Two, the return lap!