The New York City Gang Of Four

[chas]

Group Status Update

We are now functioning in effect with Five Players in our group. Thrasher Darkrai joins us regularly, and is active in collecting and playing with some new AOA and VC figures, and other aspects of Heroscape gaming. The other two visitors have not been able to return, but of course are welcome to do so.

And anyone in or near NYC can join us as well. We have changed from Wednesdays to Saturdays for Scaping for now in consideration of TDs schedule. Games start at noon.

Kolakoski has moved into a smaller apartment and gotten rid of his Scape game components, and so uses mine. He continues to put lots of energy into his army building.

Taeblewalker is now actively gaming upstate where he moved, but still comes down regularly to our games here in Brooklyn and occasionally for other board games as well.

Sherman Davies is still designing, revising, and playtesting a few new custom figures for Marvelscape--which you can see on his Marvel and DC custom threads. He also continues to design new battlefield maps for them. While he is no longer an Inner Circle member of the C3V committee, he is still active, as we all are, here on the site.

Chas is still hosting Heroscape and many other board games, both on weekends and during the week, being retired. (In fact, Sherman Davies is the only one of us still working regularly). You can check out his board game collection for Chas59 at www.boardgamegeek.com to see what he has to offer. He is also still purchasing new games. In addition he has a very large collection of 54mm miniatures for wargaming.

[chas]

Great New Video Introducing Heroscape On BGG

Here's a great new video you might enjoy. Its perfect for introducing new players to Heroscape, and fun to watch itself. Its almost an hour long, but you can just watch the first ten minutes to get the gist:

https://boardgamegeek.com/video/4325...e-games-cellar

[chas]

Tweaked Shiori II

Here's the link to my new version of Shiori in the AOA site section. Her card is presented with the other SOTM Heroes which were promised but not delivered in the Haslab offering:

https://boardgamegeek.com/video/4325...e-games-cellar

This game was my first using her against live opponents. Mostly I just changed the cost and language, based on comments by my very qualified local pals here.

Anitar posted her own versions of the SOTM heroes around the same time, and you can see them in the same section on a different thread. Originally they were supposed to be the Stretch Goals for the old AOA Haslab offering, so we never got to see the official cards that were being prepared for them behind the scenes.

[chas]

THE INTERNATIONAL ROAD RALLY REPORT
By Correspondent Chas


"It worked better than I thought it would!"
--Sherman Davies

"I'm going to work on my own race scenario design now."
--Kolakoski

"I enjoyed shooting from atop the bridge with Zetacron!"
--Taeblewalker

"I took down Queen Maladrix The Conqueror by surrounding her as well as shooting at her back when we were first playtesting the AOA figures."
--Thrasher Darkrai

Well folks, after an exciting first Game/Lap of one hour and forty five minutes and a second of one hour and twenty minutes, the race is run! Several key figures who became front runners looked like winners at different times, but were cut down to size such as : SD's Alastair MacDirk with his extra turns by taking wounds was our first Front Runner registering at Checkpoint #1 (The Hidden Grove) in the forest, and crossing the bridge toward Checkpoint #2 (Fort ZinderChas) in the desert. He was finally defeated, and had to drop a couple of treasure glyphs, one of which had to be destroyed, which reminded us of the Treasure Glyph rules we hadn't used in quite a while. TD's Queen Maladrix with her five squad figures Festering Honor Guard was as just super dangerous! But it was another figure, who didn't even come out during Game One, who would eventually cross the Game Two finish line first!

Other speedsters included the two Venoc Warlords, and T.'s also boosted up his Zetacron, he being a Scout. In a race game, early decisions on using Order Markers was crucial for both games/laps, since slower characters could get left behind in the dust and be effectively out of the game.

Decisions about Order Marker play at start were particularly interesting. I'd started out with the Warriors of Ashra, although most of the figures they were trying to block could escape taking leaving engagements from them. Not only was the usual Order Marker placement particularly challenging, but I also plotted their order placement during this race so as to keep part of my intent hidden until later in the turn--for example when moving Me-Burq-Sa not into the crowded area in The Hills heading towards Checkpoint #1 where most figures were headed, but off toward the Arctic Zone to eventually head for the desert and Checkpoint #2.

Game One I had very lucky Initiative rolls in general, except at the end of Game Two. Twice I tied another opponent with a D20 roll of 20; both times I rolled a second 20 versus the other player's 19--Yikes! My initial strategy went well also. I put the Warriors of Ashra out there at start to block others and force some to take leaving engagements; TD did the same thing with his Festering Honor Guard (another AOA card). Then my speedy horse riders, Arthur of Sherwood with Disengage and Me Burq-Sa sped off in different directions immediately for both of the first two Checkpoints. My strategy of registering at one while already waiting at the next to register quickly worked out well.

Others tried the same thing, but I'd say I did it most consistently. SD and TD were in contention for registering, while K. and T. fought us, but were behind in this procedure. At start, one of my WOA squaddies was key in blocking K.'s Baradur, the only one who followed up on Me-Burq-Sa, heading off to the Arctic Zone, which held no checkpoints but made a nice path to other sectors. My own Brunak, intended to carry my Mindflayer Mastermind, never made an appearance in either Game, nor did Bol, my pint sized Acquilla Goblin Hero who had served me surprisingly well in the past.

Queen Maladrix, who always scares me, proved the most threatening with her Festering Honor Guard. One of these TD squaddies reached the FINISH Hex first, gaining another glyph. At one point she infected my Arthur of Sherwood with one of her Honor Guard, who eventually took him out, and even made him therefore drop his glyph. Oddly, none of three or four Treasure Glyphs earned influenced the games.

The Pit Stop Far on the other side of the battlefield/racecourse, the Halfway Hex was marked with a red poker chip, with a Stonehenge Arch behind it which was topped by a red stone. Now all five players removed their figures back to their own army cards. We'd come up with the convention of laying down the ones that had been killed, while those who never made it onto the board for Game One were still upright on their cards. The five multicolored giant D20s we use to show player turn order after each Initiative roll were standing by each player's card army for duty in Game Two.

During my modified Second Wind Healing, SD's army took the worst healing hits, while my Arthur of Sherwood ended up with 2 wounds of 4, and Me-Burq-Sa 1 of 3. Only one Warrior of Ashra survived. So I decided to sideline Arthur and the WOA. Once again I never got Brunak carrying the Mindflayer or Bol onto the field.

One thing the others had thought about that I hadn't, was that with two automatic lives returned minimum for killed figures for each Unique Hero using my revised Healing rules, characters with few total lives would come back at almost full strength. I had just been trying to keep everyone in the race for Game Two.

Game Two The first thing everyone noted, many of whom had not entered the Eastern area at all, was that instead of a nice open plain to begin Game One with, this Game Two start featured elevations and foliage. So I ignored the easily blocked center, and went for the two board edges. Once Again, my Me-Burq saw rode out at first down south to go for the first (originally third) Checkpoint. But now the Chas designed Age Of Annihilation Shiori II went far north to go for the second Checkpoint.

I had taken out one of the honor guard with Shiori, to help out K. But he was defending Fort ZinderChas (the reference is to Beau Geste's Fort Zinderneuf) with Locksley, and told me he'd attack her if I tried to register there at Checkpoint 2. Now in two Checkpoints during game one both of my fast characters--Me Burq Sa and Arthur of Sherwood, fast but relatively weak, had registered at their intended Checkpoints, but then been killed. But Shiori was my ace in the hole. Originally I meant for Brunak to carry her, but since she was as fast as he, I switched his intended passenger to the Mindflayer. Now she stormed over the castle battlement surounding the central hex, hit Locksley, and then registered.

Then she travelled across the Arctic sector alone, hiding behind an ice mountain against distance attackers. Finally she was able to register at Checkpoint 3 (the original Checkpoint 1, The Hidden Glade in the forest. Queen Maladrix followed. But TD knew he'd have a tough maneuvering his using his powerful but ungainly proxy figure of Queen Maladrix (closely resembling the original rendering from the AOA offering) through the pine trees, while I could use them against shooters.

On the only bridge, which was also the only place where there was a shortcut on the entire map, TW managed to register at his only Checkpoint for either game at Hole In The Rock. But shooting from height he rolled two skulls which doubled to four, taking out TD's Varja and his Queen Maladrix. As we'd all been combining against the front running Queen from Game One, we all cheered at that last hit! K. had I believe also only registered at one, having kept his army together so they could only go for one at a time. Now Zetacron was taken out, and both Venoc Warlords were finally on the board near each other, but too late to affect the game.

Victory! Victory! Shiori used Move Like the Wind to avoid attacks, which allowed her to disappear on the right die rolls and even get five extra movement hexes. My opponents had had chances to stop her, so they agreed that she was reasonable designed--this was the first time I'd played her against live opponents. (The next day I would change her just a bit, reword her card and cost her up, improving my draft working with excellent comments from my pals. See the link to her revised card upthread).

No one now was near Shiori, let alone in between her and the FINISH hex, so she had a clear final run. Once again I put all my Order Markers on her! The former weak "teenaged sidekick" type who was rarely used in our games, had now been transformed by me, following the intent of the AOA offering to improve all of the SOTM Heroes, into a Super Ninja. Now she headed through the Hills to the Plain and the FINISH hex of The Infinity Point, which was marked by a blue poker chip and a Stonehenge arch behind it with a blue plastic stone atop, for the win!

It was very gratifying to win a scenario I'd worked so hard on, and with the only custom I had in the race, which I'd designed myself. Nice.

***

Afterthoughts

TD took some photos during the games, and hopefully they will show up on this thread soon.

A Heroscape race scenario is very challenging to set up. With some race aspects of earlier scenarios we've played, some character or another literally runs away with the game! Setting up a properly competitive environment with all the 400+ characters now in the game is no easy task. The worst example I recall of this was a Marvelscape superhero game of mine we played where, after the player with Evil Flash let him be killed off, my Flash literally ran circles around the others for the win.

The NYCG4 Playing Environment is quite different from the standard two player tournament game that you usually see at Conventions. Since we are usually playing multiplayer games with 3-5 players on a single large board at our regular monthly gatherings, we don't use untweaked standard tournament rules often. You don't want to make scenario rules that are easily broken. Or ones which the players have to strain their brains to enjoy participating in.

I think I was also successful in freebuilding a pretty complicated battlefield map, which gave lots of varied terrain, including custom sand and snow 24 hexers another pal bought for us years ago online, without advantaging any possible terrain dependent units chosen for the game out of the 400 or so cards for Scape we have now (minus fliers and the other units disqualified in the scenario (see Post #1515 upthread). About the only type of terrain I own I didn't place was dungeon hexes, with the bridge being the only road, and castle walls.

My army, although I didn't end up using it all, worked well for this game. My strategy did also, even though the others tumbled on to the method of going for more than one Checkpoint at the same time. Both of my "speedsters," Me-Burk-Sa and Arthur of Sherwood, registered at different checkpoints during Game One and the former during Game Two, and then died soon after!

I was also happy that my version of the AOA Shiori II was not considered too overpowered, just under costed. Of course, since I didn't use three of my cards at all during the race, no one could argue that she had an unfair advantage with her points being too low in terms of using my army in the game. Since before this game I'd only done one playtest with this group, I look forward to getting the others out on the table against live opponents also: Sgt. Drake III, Sonlen II, Major Q11 (aka Q10 II) and Raelin The Kyrie Warrior III (Evil Raelin).

Sometimes a new Heroscape scenario works, and sometimes it doesn't. Every month one of us presents a new one for the group, and it is only "tested" when played. Occasionally one works so well that we repeat it on a future Game Day, usually with some variants. And I think The Chas Road Rally makes it into the latter category. With different armies, a different battlefield set up, and perhaps a rules tweak or two, it would be fun to run again!

Thanks to the participants for their strategic skill and all the fun we had at a memorable Monthly Game Day for the NYCG4.

[Taeblewalker]

Zetacron actually rolled three dice for six skulls, twice! The other figure he destroyed was Brunak.

[chas]

Thanks for the clarification, TW. That's Sherman Davies' Brunak he took out I guess, since mine never entered the game.

And TW will be GMing our May game next month. He's thinking about a D&D kind of thing so far. And we're working on a date for his game.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

I clearly missed the point. If I were to do it over again, I would just have raced, even with the army I had.

Congratulations to chas!

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Made significant changes to The Castle of Kulan Gath! (which can be found in Kolakoski's Scenarios in the Maps & Scenarios section).

1. Eliminated Hazardous Journey. No healers necessary.

2. Created Medallions that are required to control the demon. The wizard can be controlled by any adjacent figure, but the demon is another matter . . .

3. Armies may now include any kinds of figures, including squads.

[chas]

Miscellaneous


Thanks to Thrasher Darkrai for ordering me a dozen two space peanut bases to rebase some of my custom figures. We've offered him an opportunity to run his own custom scenarios for us in our Game Master rotation after Taeblewalker and Sherman Davies take their next turns.

***

Kolakoski continues to plot new scenario designs on his Secret Island Base. We NYC members all live on islands, but his is a more secret one! He loves to get comments on his Blogs, so write him if you are interested.

***

Here at The Game Palace, where we also play other board games each week, we will be trying out another fantasy skirmish game when its owner, a pal of Taeblewalker, can make it down from upstate with her copy. It will be a session of the new:

MASERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE BOARD GAME--WAR FOR ETERNIA
(CMON, 2022)

He-Man and Skeletor duke it out with many others.

***

Also next weekend, I'll be getting in a third play of my newest 4X Board Game:

SPRING AND AUTUMN: STORY OF CHINA (Mr. B Games, 2023)

This is the sequel to Hellenica: Story of Greece. Both are great games.

***

Meanwhile, I'll be checking out a new Mystery Scape Pod to play, with some of the newer and newest figures that haven't made it to the table yet. Who's in it?

***

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Apparently, no one is interested 😂

[chas]

Taeblewalker has ideas for a Medieval/Fantasy "Valhalla Society" (no guns) scenario--a format invented by Kolakoski--and will be posting this scenario for May here soon.

[Taeblewalker]

Map to be decided.

The premise of the scenario is that a pair of dragons has been capturing people to feed their brood. Victims are elves, dwarves and humans. The free peoples have put together an army and tracked the dragons to their lair. They hope to put an end to the dragon threat once and for all.

The game will be two teams, each consisting of three armies. The dragon armies are as follows:

Dragon army 1: Nilfheim, White Wyrmling x5 (335 points)
Dragon army 2: Braxas, Black Wyrmling x4 (330 points)
Dragon army 3: Othkurik, Greenscale Warriors x3 (320 points)

The free peoples armies will be as follows:
Free army 1: any Elves, Eladrin and Half-elves (360 points)
Free army 2: any Dwarves (360 points)
Free army 3: certain Humans (360 points)

The Dwarf army may not use Mok or Bjorn Boltcutter. The Human army may not use any units with guns. Medieval, fantasy, even Samurai are ok; whoever plays the Humans please tell me your army idea and I will approve or suggest changes. Again, the main restriction is that there are no guns.

I am toying with the idea of having characters that the dragons have captured and the need to free them in a certain number of rounds. But there's plenty of time to figure out the final details.
@chas already picked his army. I believe it is Elves. First come, first serve on the other armies. Note that if we have less than six players, I will play more than one army.