The New York City Gang Of Four

[chas]

This game will be played on Sat. May 20. Yes, I picked Elves. Note that while the 3 Evil Armies are canned, the 3 Good armies must be constructed.

[Sherman Davies]

I'll take the Braxas army.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

I’ll take the Humans.

[ThrasherDarkrai]

So, first off, regarding Nickscape, I'll take the Dwarves.

Secondly, pictures of the Road Rally game! My apologies for not sending these earlier; the past few weeks have proved really busy on my end, so I lacked any opportunity to send them until now. I'll also offer some commentary, as per last time I did this. Without further adieu...



The first of two big establishing shots. Because of how the map was laid out, everyone had to funnel towards the east to grab the first checkpoint in the forest, causing a huge bottleneck. Nick's forces would get bogged down fighting Sherman Davies' Tornak for basically the entire game, taking him out of commission for most of the first round. He would come back with a vengeance during the return trip, though, courtesy of Zetacron.



A big establishing shot of the map, showcasing all the checkpoints. From the first checkpoint, players would have to either take the bridge or cross the river to the second checkpoint, nestled in the tiny fort. The third and final checkpoint was on the east side of the map, within the stalactites and shadow tiles. This layout prevented anyone from running away with the first leg until late, when my Queen Maladrix and her minions broke away from (or just killed) everyone else. Sherman Davies' Alistair got closest, but he was sniped by chas' Me-Burq-Sa before he could get the third checkpoint.



My Queen Maladrix stands ominously over the initial carnage, having just felled Nick's Zetacron. She quickly followed that up by fatally maiming Sherman Davies' Brunak before then trudging up the map with her Festering Honor Guard minions, who fanned out to the checkpoints so that the Queen and one of the Guard could cross the finish line. Tragically, Nick's Zetacron blasted the Queen before I could pull the same stunt on the return trip; I failed to kill Zetacron when I had the chance on Round 2, and it cost me big time.



Kolakoski may not have won, but his Bahadur lent himself to some cool shots, especially in the first leg of the Road Rally where he went on something of a rampage. Here, Bahadur is about to drive the finishing blow into Sherman Davies' Ornak.



Another cool Bahadur shot, wherein he ambushes - and kills - chas' Arthur of Sherwood in the forest, taking chas' chances of triumphing in the first leg of the Road Rally down with him.



Ironically, while the starting terrain for the return trip proved mountainous and difficult to navigate - see below - the presence of two separate checkpoints at two different ends of the area, combined with the lack of a river, paradoxically encouraged players to spread out more. Here, Tornak, Me-Burq-Sa, and a few Honor Guard fan out towards the right, hoping to claim the Shadow checkpoint so that their comrades can focus on the sand/road checkpoint on the other side of the map.



Despite the return trip's starting terrain encouraging figures to spread out, the area immediately outside the obelisk proved quite congested. Above, Queen Maladrix struggles to fit through the passage, while Zetacron ominously gazes at her atop lava. Sherman Davies' Ornak and Brunak are visible on the right, while Kolakoski is presently massing his heroes on the left.



The endgame, where Sherman Davies' Tornak desperately attempted to catch up to chas' Shiori, only to find himself a single space short. Nick's Zetacron also attempted to take a potshot at Shiori, only to find her one space out of range as well. Needless to say, Shiori - and, by extension, chas - quite literally ran away with the game!

[kolakoski]

Well met!

As the Evil Armies are set, . . .

The Dragonslayers

130 AoA (Anitar) Shiori
120 Kaemon
110 Mika Connour
360, 3 spaces

[chas]

My Elf Army "The Dragonslayers" 2.0

Sonlen 160
Brandis Sky Hunter 90
Haduc 100

Total 350, 6 Spaces

Thanks to Kolakoski for suggesting the change!

[chas]

A few comments on Thrasher Darkrai's photos of the Road Rally Game.

The blue chip is at the West edge of the map, and the red on eon the East edge. Arctic and Desert are at the north; Forest and Rock to the south.

The Poker chips that are numbered have the number of their checkpoint. The blue and red ones without numbers are the start and finish lines for Laps 1 and (Backwards) Lap 2.

The four large terrain squares are Forest, Arctic, Desert, and Rock. On the sides are grassy or swamp edges near the Start and Finish hexes.

I forgot that I was the one who took out Alastair MacDirk. He was the first front runner who looked like he was going to run away with the game, using his power of taking a wound for an extra turn. It was a big relief to all when I took him out; just as it was when TW took out Queen Maladrix! So while neither Lap finish was close or neck and neck as such, different players were ahead at different times. Which made it an exciting race game!

Note how close my custom AOA Shiori's finish was; only one hex out from being shot and/or stabbed on the second to last turn! So no one thought she was too overpowered. (Note that Kolakoski will be playing the other AOA Shiori by Anitar in our next TaeblewalkerScape game in May).

[Taeblewalker]

@ThrasherDarkrai I need to know which units you're taking. Remember that Bjorn Boltcutter and Mok are not allowed.

Also it looks like I'll be running the Nilfheim army and the Othkurik/Greenscales army, unless a sixth player joins us.

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Sure thing, Taeblewalker! Here's my army:

Gilden Stormstone (Sherman Davies' Aquilla Flagbearer Custom) 150 Points
Axegrinders of Burning Forge x3 210 Points
---------
360 Points Total

Sherman Davies has graciously volunteered to provide the figure for Gilden Stormstone, and I can bring the Axegrinders if needed.

[Taeblewalker]

Approved!

[chas]

Summary of Army Choices For May 20 TaeblewalkerScape:

Good
Humans: Kolakoski "Dragonslayers"
Elves: Chas "Dragonslayers"
Dwarves: Thrasher Darkrai

Evil
Braxas: Sherman Davies
Nilfheim: Taeblewalker
Othkurik: Taeblewalker

So we have an Evil army for a Sixth Player. If anyone else in or near NYC wants to bail in, let us know! We always invite our local gamer pals too through my Gaming Update Newsletter, which goes out to about 50 people with a schedule of the Scape and other board game sessions I run here at The Game Palace (aka my place) one game at a time.

You can view my entire board game collection on Board Game Geek as Chas59 (filter for Owned). You can be put on the mailing list for our monthly Heroscape Group and/or my Gaming Update Newsletter; PM me if interested with your regular email.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

So . . .

We have:

Dragon Armies:
[Taeblewalker:] Nilfheim, White Wyrmling x5 (335 points)
Sherman Davies: Braxas, Black Wyrmling x4 (330 points)
[Taeblewalker:] Othkurik, Greenscale Warriors x3 (320 points)

A sixth player would take one of those assigned to Taeblewalker.

The Free Peoples Armies ("Dragonslayers"):
kolakoski (Humans): Shiori (AoA, Anitar), Kaemon Awa, Mika Connour (360 points)
chas (2 Elves, 1 Half-Elf): Sonlen, Haduc, Brandis Skyhunter (350 points)
ThrasherDarkrai (Dwarves): Gilden Stormstone (Sherman Davies' Aquilla Flagbearer Custom), Axegrinders of Burning Forge x3 (360 points)

Much depends on the Map and/or Victory Conditions.

Thoughts?