4 Corners Campaign - Batrep 4 - The Worm Hunt
- johnjsalango1
- 2 days ago
- 18 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
Following the mayhem of the Museum I thought this game might be a bit less... carnage, and so it was for most of the crews but for one crew it was not. In fact for one crew they left with just the Apprentice and one soldier left standing. The scenario is a standard scenario which for 4 players has 9 treasure tokens scattered around but with each treasure token being picked up the odds increase that a monster worm or snake will appear randomly by any of the treasures and presumably set about devouring the crews.
As 9 treasures is too many to squeeze on the standard board following the 6" rule I had to reduce the distance between treasures to 5" here and there. Additionally I decided to try corner deployments whereby a warband could deploy 3" in and within 6" of the corner in a sort of 'L' shape. Lastly because there were a couple of Grudges in place, ie Northlands against Orientals, and Occidentals against Southlands I decided that where a mini had the option between a totally rational action and fulfilling a grudge it was fine to fulfil the grudge. For example given 2 targets of roughly equal value the grudge would allow spite to prevail.
Turn 1
Wizard phase
The Southlands Wizard keen to make a good start after being useless in the initial turns of previous games went Telekinesis and pulled a treasure, which might have been considered an Occidental target ,closer to the Southlands and left it probably out of sight of the Occidentals for good measure. The Oriental Wizard then broke with tradition and instead of going Summon also pulled the Telekinesis trick to bring in a treasure. Unfortunately both the Northlands and Occidentals both failed with rolls low enough so as to be not worth empowering. The fact that the Southlands had snatched the easier of the inbetween treasures did though make Lamballe move into an exposed position to try (and fail) to Telekinesis the second treasure.
Apprentice phase
Both Southlands and Oriental Apprentices failed and then I think possibly a mistake was made. And then made again. Both the Occidental and Northlands Apprentices moved and Teleported to near the centre of the board next to the treasures thereat. To do this They both moved first to a position where they could see then successfully cast Teleport. The rulebook says "The spellcaster immediately moves to any location within line of sight but may take no other action after casting this spell". I took this to mean you could take actions before casting but I can also see that the word immediately suggests it must be the first and only action. Actually I have just checked the FAQ and it's all good!
Anyway both succeeded and rather daringly ended up adjacent to treasures in the central areas!
Soldier phase
Southlands - The notable moves for the Southlands were that Thief 2 double moved to contact the Treasure whilst the Treasure Hunter moved up to block any attacks on the Wizard. In a renewal of the grudge the Tracker took a shot at the exposed Occidental Wizard Lamballe but missed however the Archer having scrambled up the ruins also took a shot and pushed through 7 damage!
Orientals - everyone just double moved into position for Turn 2 with a Thief managing to contact the treasure closest.
Occidental - Again it was all movement into positions, with a Thief and a Thug running through the church-like doorway to try for the treasure within the building. The Tracker missed with a shot at the Southlands Tracker and the Apothecary moved up to the Wizard. Amusingly three of the random Thugs and Thieves who made up most of the Occidental crew due to losses created a congo line behind the pale fountain.
Northlands - Once again it was the Turn 1 shuffle as nobody did anything of interest or note!
End of Turn 1 / Start of Turn 2
Turn 2
Commentary - It was at this point I realised I may have played Teleport wrong and was riddled with doubt as to whether they could interact then Teleport. I know know they can but decided to play safe and say they could not which might have been a disastrous call but turns out it was not.
Wizard phase
A short and fail filled phase as only the Southlands Wizard succeeded casting a Telekinesis to move a second treasure to the other Southlands Thief
Apprentice phase
Both Northlands and Occidental Apprentices popped smoke to cover themselves under the belief they could not just grab the treasures and teleport away. Both also did grab their respective treasures! Notably the Northlands Apprentice who had to decide where to Fog first was not worried by the Occidental Apprentice as he knew the Occidentals have little Offensive magic whereas the Occidental would definitely have Fogged out the Northlands with their Elemental Ball!
The Southlands and Oriental Apprentices both failed their casts.
Soldier phase
Northlands - open up with shots from both the Archers and the Ranger all of which missed...Both Thieves moved into contact with Treasures with Stick Thief interacting to pick up. No random creature nor the Great Worm was activated. The Man at arms moved up behind the Stick armed Thief in case he was subsequently killed while the Thugs moved into blocking and support positions.
Occidental
Within the ruined building a Thief picked up the treasure and was shielded by a Thug. This activated a random Ghoul on the Eastern edge. The Apothecary bumped 5 hp onto the Wizard and immediately became surplus to requirements lifewise. The Tracker shot at the Southlands Wizard and put 8 damage on him which seriously modified his ongoing approach to the battle.
The conga thieves all double moved towards the Gateway the other side of which was the Southlands Thief about to pick up the treasure. One of the Thieves got to within an inch of said Thief who did not force combat but was now unable to pick up the Treasure until the Occidental Thief is neutralised
Oriental
Dramas - Thief 1 moved and picked up the further treasure while Thief 2 picked up the treasure at his feet and activated the Giant Worm! The Worm erupted not here though but by the treasure being contested by the Southlands and Occidental Thieves. The Tracker shot the Northlands Wizard for 5, continuing that tiff which the Tracker is definitely winning to date, while the rest either caged up the treasures or protected the mages. Additional to the Worm, the two interactions created a second Ghoul on the eastern edge and a Giant Toad on the northern edge.
Southlands - Their day has now been made less great by the appearance of a bloody great monster in their midst. On the other hand it is 50 XP if they kill it... They decided to go all in on killing it which would need some luck if they were not to leave it enfeebled for another warband to finish off. But firstly Thief 1 picked up the treasure at his feet and strolled off having activated another creature, a wolf on the Southern edge. Then the action began with the Archer taking 3 hp off the worm, followed up by the Tracker who contributed 5 more damage. Thug 1 moved in and attacked but took serious damage but Thug 2 moved in and battered the Worm for another 9. With the Infantryman now able to get an outnumbering bonus he attacked and did a comfortable 8 easily killing the Worm for 50 XP!! Even better this released the Treasure hunter to contact the Occidental Thief pinning Thief 2 and he did what was needed inflicting 3 damage and pushing the Occidental Thief away. Thief 2 then picked up the treasure and moved away. A turn which could have been a disaster ended up as a triumph.
Creature phase
Both Ghouls head for the Oriental Thug - looks grim!
The Wolf goes for the Southlands Tracker
The Giant Toad just hops out!
End of Turn 2 / Start turn 3
Turn 3
Wizard phase
The Northern Wizard Turi kicked off the turn by failing for a 3rd turn in a row and was joined in the failiverse by both the Oriental Wizard and the Southlands both of whom attempted Summons but failed by so much empowerment was not an option. Finally though Lamballe managed to dispel the winds of inadequacy and Transposed the Apprentice holding a treasure with an Apothecary holding nothing worthwhile. This was not a new experience for the Apothecary and it ended poorly last time. In fairness this was Lamballes view below
Commentary I now think this was not a legal spell as i realise the Fog would have been higher than the actual cotton wool Fog and probably would have blocked the LoS required...however it's spilt milk now. In any event the Apprentice could have just moved and teleported so probably no great effect long term
Apprentice phase
Northlands apprentice did exactly as just described walking 3 " then Teleporting to not that far away with the intention of offloading to a minion
Yuki the Oriental Apprentice went for a summon and got the big 20. This was enough with minor empowerment to summon the Major Demon back again. He then wandered back to Miko to gloat silently.
The Southlands Apprentice Shakey Stickey, who was doing well for a change, rolled 20 on Bone Dart against the Northlands Thug by the treasure central west and that was the end of the Thug as he apparently took a mammoth skull to the head.
Lastly Auclair just wanted to move just a bit but decided to Teleport - no further than he could have walked but XP are XP and Style points are a thing!
Soldier phase
Northlands - The Man at arms wandered over to the Apprentice to pick up the treasure next turn. Archer A shot at nothing again or might as well have done, and then moved. Archer B fired at the exposed Oriental tracker doing 5 damage which was nice. The Major demon was a target but seemed too tough. Stick Thief who has the Demon bearing down on him legged it as far as he could. The Ranger shot at the Southern Thug and did 6 which was useful as the other Northlands Thug could run a block for the Casual Thief to take the central west treasure. No creature was created. At this point Northlands were looking good for three treasures as can be seen below.
Orientals - possibly exhausted mentally from their so close exertions at the Museum the Orientals seem a bit subdued this game. The Tracker shot and missed while both Thieves headed off with Thief 2 actually exiting! Big Bad Demon move/moved into contact with Stick Thief but was unable to attack obviously. The rest just sort of caged around the mages/treasure unwilling to extend themselves at this point.
Southlands - with two treasures almost in the bag their attitude this game was the opposite of the Oriental warband. They felt a third was possible and wanted to wrest it from the Casual Thief. However before any dramas they moved both Thieves to spitting distance of the edge. The Treasure Hunter literally blocked the door with his body against the Occidental Thug/Thief front while the elevated Archer missed his shot at Northlands Thug. However the Infantryman who had done so much against the Worm now moved and attacked killing him straight away with another really high roll.
This left the Casual Thief vulnerable and Southlands Thug ran in and with a 19 also killed him! Things had gone from great to terrible in two activations for the Northlands. Lastly the Tracker beat off the Wolf taking it to one hp left. Another successful turn. This was going great!
Occidental - Thief with the treasure exited the ruined church (?) building leaving a Thug to block the doorway. The Tracker shot at the Southlands Wizard but again missed. The Apothecary tried to look inconspicuous as he move/moved back towards Lamballe for some serious words...
The green coloured Thief moved up to offer block support to the Apothecary and another of the Thugs went into contact with Auclair to pick up the Treasure he would drop next apprentice phase. Thug axe moved up to face off against the Southlands Treasure Hunter and words were passed! Finally the remaining Thug moved to body block Lamballe against naughty Bone Darts.
Creature phase
In an unexpected turn of events the Wolf returned to attack the Southlands Tracker and rolled a 20, killing him at a stroke (bite?). The Ghouls attacked the Oriental Thug left behind as dinner bait but only did 3 damage taking 7 in return. The Giant Toad now went for its nearest target - The Major demon and made it into contact.
End of Turn 3 / Start of Turn 4 - Everyone except Northlands reasonably happy at this point
Turn 4
Wizard phase.
Another lacklustre Wizard phase as all but the Oriental wizard failed. Lamballe failed to Heal, Turi to Elemental ball and Shakey Snakey to Bone Dart. Only Miko activating third after Occidental and Southern, had success summoning a second Major Demon for the Orientals in the form of a Jorogomu. To be honest she had no strategy in this but you cant have too many Demons.
Apprentice phase
Auclair dropped the treasure at the feet of his adjacent Thug and cast a quick Heal on Lamballe. Shakey Stickey failed to Bone Dart the Northlands Ranger and bravely moved into position to block his shot at the Southlands Wizard. The Northlands Apprentice dropped his treasure to the adjacent Man at arms and risked an Elemental ball at the onrushing Demon. The Demon took 7 damage and the Stick Thief escaped with a paltry 2.
The Demon was now killable. lastly the Oriental apprentice Yuki dropped some Fog between the Ghouls and the rest of the crew to shield from the Ghouls when they had disposed of the luckless Thug.
Commentary - at this point the Occidentals were happy to get the Apothecary home and call it a day, The Oriental warband were also pretty much done, If the Major Demon survived the Soldier phase and could take the treasure from Casual Thief they would reinforce with the second Demon but if not it was home for tea and biscuits.
The only real fighting seemed to be the Northlands and the Southlands over the contested central west treasure.
Soldier phase
Occidental - as described above the Thug picked up the dropped treasure and moved to the edge. The Tracker missed again at the Southlands Wizard and everyone else caged around the Apothecary and the other treasure as it edged off. No drama.
Southlands - The Thief killing Thug picked up the dropped treasure and moved away his back guarded by the Masai Infantryman. The Archer shot at the 1 hp wolf and missed. The Treasure Hunter stayed in position blocking the gateway to the Occidentals and the remaining Thief moved off with the second treasure.
Northlands - Archer A now had little choice but to shoot the Demon about 3 feet away and in a surprising turn of fate killed it after the Demon rolled a 1 in defence. The Elemental Ball damage which had been caused plus the archer's arrow sent the Demon back to Demonworld. This then freed up everybody else slated for Demon killing duties. archer A then moved out of Toad range!
The two treasure guys, Stick Thief and now Man at arms both moved away with treasures - the Man at arms had to pick it up first so moved slowly, but two were now secure. The Ranger and Archer B fired at the Blocking Southern Infantryman and the Ranger rolled a 20 killing him and avenging the Casual Thief. Sadly there was nobody to actually pick up the once again free treasure.
Oriental.
with Major Demon number one dead and no chance of getting that treasure the second Demon was despatched to kill Ghouls for points but instead took 10 damage itself which was not in the script. The embattled Thug did manage to kill one of the attacking Ghouls though. Weirdly everybody else just chilled where they were drinking Saki and composing Haiku.
Creature phase
The surviving Ghoul closed on the unfortunate Thug and rolled a 20 so it was Sayonara to the Thug. The Wolf scrambled up the ruins into contact with the Southlands Archer and the Giant toad hopped into force combat range of the Northlands Archer.
End Turn 4 / Start of Turn 5
Wizard phase
Miko gets the hate rolling and for no reason other than she can she moved up to within 16" of Turi the Northlands Wizard and Elemental Bolted him. That put him out for the second game in a row. Even to me that seemed low and I'm the one that did it.
Once again only one spell succeeded this phase and only moves happened for the failing Wizards. It was up to the Apprentices to show how it's done again!
Apprentice phase
Oriental Apprentice Yuki laid a Fog screen to stop the Northlands Archery team from targetting Miko which they absolutely would have done for revenge. Shakey Stickey Bone Darted the Northlands Archer closest for 5 damage and in return the Northlands Apprentice cast Elemental against the Southern Thug with the treasure and seeing the resulting high score empowered it to make survival almost impossible. It was and the Thug died dropping the treasure again.
Lamballe with literally nothing better to do healed the Tracker as there was the slight chance of a sneaky endgame on the horizon.
Soldier phase
Oriental - The Demon killed the remaining Ghoul for XP and everyone else just moved up to the safe side of the Fog. Essentially the Orientals were done and would spend the rest of the game doing pointless spells for XP and cleaning weapons.
Southlands - with only two soldiers left this was going to be quick. The Treasure Hunter ran and picked up the bloodstained treasure of doom and the Archer failed to beat the Wolf taking 2 damage.
Northlands - Stick Thief and Man at arms exited, or as good as exited, with the treasures while Archer A and the Ranger shot at the Treasure Hunter and the Southlands Wizard repectively. The Treasure Hunter was missed but the Wizard was killed! If he had not failed so many spells by so much he would have shrugged off these hits but the price of failure was, well serious failure.
Occidental - Seeing that the unpleasantness between the Southlands and the Northlands had left both sides crucially weakened the Occidentals decided there was no cost involved in throwing a few Thugs at the situaion (although the Apothecary was a risk!). Once the treasures had been safely exited everyone else headed towards the Southlands Treasure Hunter at top speed to hopefully pin, outnumber and kill. Unfortunately this was done in the wrong order as the Apothecary went first move/moving to within an inch with the intention of just pinning in place but the treasure Hunter took the challenge and rolled a 20 which was not the result the Occidentals were looking for. With the Apothecary down and out the Green Thief moved in and was also driven off with 5 damage. No pins and no outnumbering yet. In fact only the last activation here succeeded with Axe Thug moving in and doing 5 damage on the plucky bearded Treasure Hunter to hold him in combat. Lastly a Thug was moved to the board edge in preparation for a quick Transpose should the opportunity arise.
Creature phase
The Southlands Archer and Wolf remained locked in combat but with no damage. The Toad lost to the Northlands Archer who made his escape but did no damage.
Commentary
Things had gone downhill fast for the Southlands who had looked favourites to exit the contested 3rd treasure but were now down to an Apprentice, an Archer in combat with a Wolf and a Treasure Hunter engaged and surrounded by enemies. In contrast the Occidentals who had been whiling away the time trying just to exit the Apothecary now found themselves favourites to take the extra treasure (again). The Northlands would need lots of luck to stop them and the Orientals didnt care one way or the other!
End of Turn 5 / Start of Turn 6
Turn 6
Wizard phase - Nothing! The two living Wizards failed their spell rolls and of those, only Lamballe's Fool's Gold on the Southlands Treasure Hunter would have affected the game.
Apprentice phase - Not much better to be honest, Yuki healed Miko for XP and the Occidental Apprentice teleported into a useful position, the others failed. The Magic phases were a wash out.
Soldier phase
Orientals headed for the exits except Major Demon who headed towards the action just in case...
Northlands - The Archer freed from the Toad took the opportunity to shoot and kill it for XP and to stop the world's slowest high speed chase. The Other Archer and Ranger shot at the the final treasure melee and missed.
Southlands - The Archer finally killed the Wolf and the Treasure Hunter almost killed Axe Thug doing 8 damage but was still in trouble.
Occidental - The Green thief attacked the Treasure Hunter and finally killed him adding more blood to the cursed treasure. The Axe thug picked it up and moved through the doorway.
The Tracker shot the Southlands Archer on the ruins and the Thug with the shield (on the mini) moved up so as to block either of the Northern Archers from chasing the treasure. In concert with Green Thief this was now not an option. Lastly the Sword Thug at the Board edge moved to be in LoS of both Lamballe and Auclair
End Turn 6 / Start Turn 7
Endgame
The Occidentals won the roll to go first which meant they had two efforts to get the Transpose spell off and exit the final treasure. This could have been done by Lamballe but she failed the cast roll on a '1'. As the two Wizards who could respond were dead and the Oriental Wizard was busy doing nothing it fell to Auclair casting first in the Apprentice phase to succeed but only after empowering by 8 hp He then legged it in case he was killed by a Bone Dart. In fact the Southlands Apprentice cast elsewhere.
Axe Thug found himself at the board edge and in the soldier phase was the first to activate and exited. With that the game was over.
Aftermath
Occidental
OccidentalOnce again the Illusionist crew came out on top with Transpose once again being so useful. The Occidentals won two of their treasures with Transpose and the third just by getting there first! The revived Apprentice was the star and succeeded with all 7 spells in contrast to Lamballe who succeeded only once - though it was a vital Transpose. This was a crew who was working with just two soldiers, an Apothecary and a Tracker after the disastrous win in game 3. However the scenario did not need heavy hitters and the Thieves and Thugs filling the ranks did what was necessary as it became obvious the Southlands were there for the taking.
The treasure haul was 215gc after two rolls and the sale of a magic dagger. This pushed the gold total over 500 allowing a Grimoire of Control Demon to be purchased which went to the Vault. The third treasure was another Grimoire, this one with the spell Glow. As it was an illusionist spell giving +3 defence against Shooting this was quicly learned and as a second level increase Telekinesis was improved. The two levels of XP were gained through the 3 treasures and the efforts of the Apprentice!
By splashing the cash on a Grimoire the Illusionists will again be running a largely Thief / Thug warband as sadly Malherbe the Apothecary was again badly wounded and will miss the next game.
Northlands
A slow start but the Northlands got two treasures away including the central treasure and were competitive for a third until the Orientals once again took out Turi for a laugh.
XP through spellcasting was not impressive as the Wizard only managed 4 fails before being knocked out. By way of contrast the Apprentice racked up 65 points only failing once. Killing the major Demon and the toad provided 33 XP to add to the 120 for treasures and participation. In total 238 which added to the 85 in the bank boosted Turi three levels.
He did survive death again but carrying a leg wound which limits his speed to 4" and as there were no paid men casualties the Northlands will go into game 5 unchanged just a tad slower! Treasure rolls this time were really good after lacklustre previous results. In addition to 420gc(!) he rolled up a Grimoire of animal companion which he promptly learned as one action. He purchased a grimoire of Summon Demon for learning next time for 500gc leaving 250 in the treasury, improved control Demon to work against the Orientals and finally did some weights to improve his health to 18. All told a great post game phase even though nothing was found in the Library home base
Orientals
110 points of spellcasting Xp with a third being from mainly late game castings of Fog! However two treasures and some creature kills took Miko up to a respectable 258 XP. with only 25 banked from last game it was only a two level rise to level 8. The only loss was an unpaid thug so the tepid approach to the game has left the Oriental crew safe and sound.
Treasures were usefully rerolled thanks to passing the Reveal Secret spell pregame resulting in a fantastically useful Fatestone allowing one reroll per game, a grimoire containing the Bones of the Earth spell and lastly 80gc. . The 80gc was enough to get the Orientals into the grimoire market and they also bought Animal Companion. Miko used her two levels to boost health to 16 and to learn Bones of the Earth which she can cast on a 12.
Southlands
Finishing the game with 2 men was obviously not ideal but the Wizard Shakey Snakey did return unscathed, which was less than could be said for the rest of the crew. The Tracker and Treasure Hunter would be missing the next game while the Infantryman would be missing the rest of his life. Although they did shell out 75 gc to replace him as he had been effective. On the plus side killing the Worm boosted the XP to a respectable 218 which gave a 2 level increase with 48xp left in the XP bank. The treasures rolled up were less than impressive though with only 50gc and a grimoire of Awareness which went into the vault.
The Southlands had been in with a great chance of a third treasure but it all went wrong for them again so next time out the Wizard who is now getting the proper name Kifo will be learning Strike dead and improving his health so as to empower this spell when needed. Shakey Stick is now called Mzimu in an effort to boost his performance as well. In retrospect gatting the third treasure would still not have got the Southlands over the 300XP for a third level and they should have stayed safe at two preserving the warband and keeping the Infantryman alive.
Comments