Rendezvous - Turn 4

[Joshua]

The dice were super finicky this turn, most rolls were either a failure or a critical success!

Vikings - Bragallot



Viking Hero: "That's it! I've had it!"


He grabs the Wraith and lifts him up into the air!


And then slams him down onto the necromancer! Both of them lose an HP.


Then he kills another skeleton.


The Viking fighting the skeleton swings wildly and misses!


The skeleton does not, and down goes another Viking.


Two more Vikings charge into the fray, yet somehow manage to not kill a thing! (Sorry Brag, the dice really didn't like the Vikings this round)


And one of them is even killed in a counter!


The last Viking dashes up the ramp.

Undead - Cracjaw


The Wraith stands up off the necromancer, and lets out a terrible screech, terrifying all the mortals in the battle.


Next, he impales a Viking on his sword.


And finally, murders the last Black knight.


The Necromancer attempts to revive a fallen skeleton.


So, remember that the necromancer gets to try to raise another skeleton if he rolls a 6+, and here's what I rolled:
8, 8, 7, 8, 5!

And no, I didn't re-roll the die or anything.


Which means one,


Two, three,


Four,


Five skeletons get raised back from the dead!!!


And if the good guys weren't screwed already, the double-Viking slayer skeleton runs up and chucks his spear...


And despite the negative penalties for throwing objects, manages to kill the archer!


Although he fights bravely, the swordsman in eventually overpowered.


And slain.


The Elite Knight takes down one of his attackers...


But is immediately set upon by two more skeletons! He loses another HP.


The last Viking defends himself valiantly, slaying another armored skeleton.

Overwatch:

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With only three men left standing on the field, and 7 skeletons, the necromancer and the Wraith still alive, I think we can call this a resounding Undead Victory!

Faction stats:

Undead:
Hero HP: 1/3
Necromancer HP: 1/3
KIA: 10
Kills: 11

Black Knights:
Hero HP: 1/3
KIA: 6
Kills: 6

Vikings:
Hero HP: 2/3
KIA: 5
Kills: 5

Thanks you all for playing, and I hope you enjoyed this battle!

[Cracjaw]

Let’s go! That necromancer is extremely lucky! Good game everyone. Thanks Joshua for hosting!

[Bragallot]

It's a bit hard when my feat does -1 hp only and their feat essentially doubles their numbers and gives extra damage. With those kinds of feats I could've still killed them all the next round by having pinpoint axe-strikes rain in from the sky, lmao.

[Joshua]

It's a bit hard when my feat does -1 hp only and their feat essentially doubles their numbers and gives extra damage.

Well, technically the necromancer can't do feats, even though he's a 'hero', so that was just extremely lucky dice rolling on my part. Which, again, I will stress, I didn't re-roll or cheat at. And secondly, I kinda need the wraith alive for story reasons, so yeah. Sorry this turn seemed rather one-sided and cutscene-y.

Because the Undead were losing the battle, my original plan was to have the necromancer and wraith retreat once they got down to 1HP apiece, leaving all (if any) surviving skeletons to keep attacking, so their foes can't immediately pursue them.

[Bragallot]

If you need them alive for story reasons, there's a great part in the guide about heroes never being killed off permanently.

I meant the feat where he buffed - everyone - with +1 HP (which essentially doubles their numbers) and gave them extra damage as well. There has to be some balance in the impact of feats, I think.

As for the necromancer... I guess that's just undead things, but there have to be more interesting / fun ways of including dark magic into your battles than just having them raise minifigs each turn. The chapter about SN dice might inspire you.

[Cracjaw]

As for the necromancer... I guess that's just undead things, but there have to be more interesting / fun ways of including dark magic into your battles than just having them raise minifigs each turn. The chapter about SN dice might inspire you.

I tried experimenting with the wraith by using some feats that applied to souls of the enemy, like trying to find weaknesses and whatnot. I think a good way to use dark magic would be to focus on soul stuff, idk how that would work tho.

[Bragallot]

Warhead usually had some cool ideas on how to use the forces of evuuuul in Zahru's battles (and mine, though in mine he usually played the Bulls who weren't necessarily evil).

[Cracjaw]

Warhead has done many cool things. He has a certain battle that entirely envelops the spirit of Brikwars lol. Where is he anyways?

[Joshua]

If you need them alive for story reasons, there's a great part in the guide about heroes never being killed off permanently.

You mean the part where heroes get more battle-damaged each time they 'die'? i.e. have a peg leg, then an eye patch, etc.
Yeah, I guess I could have done something like that, so I'll keep it in mind for future battles.

As for the necromancer... I guess that's just undead things, but there have to be more interesting / fun ways of including dark magic into your battles than just having them raise minifigs each turn. The chapter about SN dice might inspire you.

I read through the Dice chapter and couldn't find anything specific. Unless I'm just blind? Then again, I'm open to suggestions.

My original intention was for the necromancers to be medics for the Undead. I've read through all of Zahru II's Battle Index, and the only other things I can find that his necrolyte's did was either buff their own troops or harm an enemy squad. Since I'm not using squads, having the necromancer buff a single skeleton is rather pointless.

And yes, I know I don't have any medic equivalent for the good guys, but that's part of the story, that the Black Monarch outlawed all magik in the realm. This is sort of evened out since the Black Knights field better soldiers overall, plus the fact that they usually have more heroes on the field as well.

I meant the feat where he buffed - everyone - with +1 HP (which essentially doubles their numbers) and gave them extra damage as well. There has to be some balance in the impact of feats, I think.

Yeah, you are right. Maybe it should have just lasted for that turn.

Where is he anyways?

I'm pretty sure Scotland or England.

[Bragallot]

Battle damage is fine, but heroes can escape without damage all they want as well. Like get teleported away, just get knocked out, whatever you need really. So long as gameplay and 'cutscene' are separated.

It's generally fun to let the dice determine a character's fate to a degree rather than giving them plot armour, but it's really just up to what you want to do.

There's nothing specific about necromancers. The system is designed so that it can fit basically any supernatural characters. When you give a character SN dice you can interpret how they use them in a lot of ways.

Mediks are a different story... they are generally limited by a number of factors, but when they get range, ignore Ker-Triage effect of potentially losing limbs on the wounded minifig, can raise other necromancers who can then immediately take an action and raise stuff as well, have multiple HP and d8's of skill and exploding dice, things can get out of hand.

It's a cool and fitting aspect of an undead army it's just a bit boring when it's just 'raise raise raise' every turn and you're basically forced to try and snipe them ASAP or lose.

[Joshua]

Mediks are a different story... they are generally limited by a number of factors, but when they get range, ignore Ker-Triage effect of potentially losing limbs on the wounded minifig, can raise other necromancers who can then immediately take an action and raise stuff as well, have multiple HP and d8's of skill and exploding dice, things can get out of hand.

You have a point. Not allowing the newly-raised Undead to immediately take an action, plus making them have a higher skill roll bar (like 6+) to raise another necromancer should help.

On raising another necromancer I do have a rule in place that the necromancer being raised must be mostly intact (not having lost major limbs or their head) to be raised. So, if you brutally chop a necromancer's head off or they get blown up in an explosion they are permanently dead.

d8's of exploding dice

Exploding dice?

it's just a bit boring when it's just 'raise raise raise' every turn and you're basically forced to try and snipe them ASAP or lose.

Maybe for smaller battles, that is a concern, but for a larger battle, i.e. The Battle of the West Emnet Plains, the ratio of losses the Black Knights were inflicting on the Undead was much higher then the reverse. Thus it seemed the necros were needed to ensure the Undead didn't get completely steam-rolled and obliterated.

[Bragallot]

Exploding dice is what occurs when you can keep rolling dice so long as you are getting high rolls, because this can happen with explosions. Though chances are extremely small of this happening, there is a theoretical chance that a random grenade will envelop the entire battlefield.

[Cracjaw]

I had that happen in my forum battle recently. A hero’s lightsaber exploded and killed everything within 10”

[Joshua]

Exploding dice is what occurs when you can keep rolling dice so long as you are getting high rolls, because this can happen with explosions.

Ah, ok. Thanks for clarifying.

I had that happen in my forum battle recently. A hero’s lightsaber exploded and killed everything within 10”

Oh yeah, I think I remember seeing that.