Deep in the Goblin Lair - WHL AAR

"They kidnapped my sister, I'm going and that's it," Greta yelled. "And I'm leaving now. Are you going or not?"
Guntar shook his head. "We should wait for help, the three of us are  not enough to go into that place".
"Then we'll go without you," Helm replied." I've seen what Goblins can do and I'm going with her...now."
The female Warrior and the Healer began to leave.
"I'll go," replied Guntar. "But I think it's a mistake."

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This is a AAR for Warrior Heroes - Legends concentrating on the Dungeon rules. I'll cover the storyline and the mechanics, hopefully in a brief but informative way.

The three adventurers are from Mirholme. There's two Warriors, Greta and Guntar and a Healer, Helm. All are Rep 4 and Grunts. The Big Bad, the owner of the Dungeon is Granlok, a Rep 4 Black Moon Goblin.

This was a Dungeon Encounter. Greta's sister had been kidnapped in a raid so the goal was to rescue her and gain some treasure for the trouble. To do so the adventurers must reach the Treasure Room, the last card in the Dungeon Deck.

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Down and down the dungeon went. When they first entered the Dungeon the drop was deep down to a third level. After fifteen minutes they were on a the sixth level and had not met anything.

"This is too deep for Goblins," Guntar said.

"Maybe it belonged to something else before but it's Goblins now. Look!"

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The two Goblins attacked from the shadows, winning the In Sight. The archer fired and missed while the other Gobbo charged. But Rep 3s in AC 2 were no match for Rep 4s and AC 4. The party searched the bodies and found 3 Gold Talos and 1 Food.

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After a short time the party was confronted by six Gobbos. Granlock led the charge as the archer fired...and missed. Granlock and another Gobbo were locked in melee with Greta and Guntar but Helm was a Goblin slayer, splitting the skull of one of the foul creatures with his iron reinforced oaken staff.

 The melee lasted two turns and the Goblins ran away. Two Goblins died but at a great price. Greta the Shield Maiden was dead, killed by a blow from Granlock. The two adventurers took the Man Down Test and decided to go on. They had joined Greta in her quest and would not stop until it was done. They went deeper into the Dungeon.

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Guntar carried Greta's body as they headed deeper into the Dungeon. They were now on the eighth level, deeper than any man had gone before. Then they heard them. Granlok was back with  more Goblins.

The battle lasted three turns. Granlok paid the ultimate price, struck down by Helm. As three of the Gobbos ran away the adventurers pursued, slaying two more. There were only two cards left in the Dungeon Deck.

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Guntar rounded the corner and saw her. Helga, Greta's sister and many wooden chests. As Helm went to untie Helga Guntar began to bust open the chests. Then the roof began to crumble...

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The last card drawn matched the Encounter Rating of the Dungeon signifying a Random Event. 2d6 roll and it was the ceiling beginning to collapse. Being eight levels below ground meant almost a guaranteed death. Helm was hit and went Out of the Fight while Helga miraculously was untouched.,
Guntar was crushed to death.
Luckily the exit wasn't collapsed but Helga was in dire straights with Helm being OOF.  I decided to have her end the Encounter so Helm could take the After the Battle Recovery Test. He recovered.

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 When you decide to leave the Dungeon you have to go back to the surface. Movement is from card to card and each time you enter a card you draw another to see if you have run into anything.

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The Ghoul charged from the shadows at Helga. The combat was brief with the Ghoul going down and Helm finishing it off.

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Helga recovered a magical sword allowing the user to add 1 success in melee. That saved her in the first round and was the difference in the second stunning the Ghoul. Helm applied the killing blow.

Epilogue - Helm and Helga made it back with only one Orc blocking the way. Again the magical sword helped, saving Helga once by causing an Evenly Matched result. The final results were Helga and Helm gaining 12 Gold Talos and the magic sword.

Greta and Guntar died and many enemies were slain.

I kept the layout of the Dungeon for future use.

Helga increased in Rep to 5.

Step - by Step - WHL - Dungeon!

Bren moved past the downed knights and into the clearing. There was a small stone ruin with what appeared to be stairs leading downward. Drawing her sword she started inside.

 Dungeons are treated in WHL in a bit of a different way than in WHAA. I'll post a detailed Dungeon adventure at another time. For now just know that it's card driven, easy to play and takes little setting up.

As Bren moved deeper into the Dungeon she was confronted by another Feral Vampire. He attacked first..

 But he's no match for the Warrior Princess. Going down Stunned then Obviously Dead.

 As Bren moves along a trap is triggered! Lucky for her quick reflexes save her from being hit.

Which card you draw provides a variety of possibilities. Draw a black 2 - 10 and you run into a PEF. Pass 2d6 with doubles and trigger a trap.

 

 Bren smelled the Troll before she saw him. As he got closer the Princess shouted her battle cry and charged.

Boom! Down she went!
The Troll has the Massive Attribute, just one of eight Attributes that makes it unique. Bren lost the melee with a Stunned result but as a  Star she had Star Power. Looking at the picture we see she scored three successes so reduced damage to Carry On. The two sixes meant she lost those Star Power dice.

 Bren Stuns the Troll sending him backwards. With a shake of his head the Troll moves forward.

 Bren won the next round of melee by 1 success and scored a Stunned result. But the Troll had the Stout Attribute and was able to shake off the effects of the Stun. The battle continued.

 Bam! Bam! Bam! The Troll  rained heavy blows onto the shield of Bren who tried to fight back. But one blow got through and sent the Princess down.

In retrospect I should have tried to flee in stead of going tot to toe with the Rep 6 Troll. Like they say, pride goes before a fall and fall she did. Losing the melee with an Out of the Fight result Bren rolled her three remaining Star Power dice. Zippo! No successes, Bren was Out of the Fight and at the mercy of the Troll. Okay, so no pride here.
Bren used the Cheating Death rule so escaped but at the cost of a reduction in Rep by one level and losing all her Items that she had. At least she was alive and hopefully a bit smarter.

Step by Step - WHL Part 3

Part One

Part Two

Just to recap this is a Wandering Encounter with the Star being Angus a Feral Vampire. Angus and his companion Eveleen came across a Mirholme Healer who was on the way to a village. They quickly dispatched him when a party of Goblins (PEF # 2) , who were tracking the Healer. This resulted in a bloody slaughter, the Goblins not having the courage or Rep to oppose the two Vampires. But the last PEF (#3) would prove to be a bit different as it was a Rep 6 AC 4 Mirholme Princess.

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Bren was furious. The Healer had sold her a Healing Potion and it was worthless. She figured that she wasn't the only one who had been swindled as his neighbors said that the Healer had left in a hurry. She wanted her gold back and a bit of revenge as well.

But things changed when she picked up the trail of four others appearing to be following him as well. It wouldn't matter, some one was going to pay. That's when she heard the screams...

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The PEF activated and was resolved as Bren. Angus and Eveleen passed the In Sight. All three figures took the In Sight and Bren charged ahead.

 

Bren attacked Eveleen first. Bren was subject to Fear of the Vampires so would count 1d6 less but it didn't matter.  Bren scored 3 more successes than Eveleen which was reduced by 1 due to the natural toughness of the Vampire.

But Bren has the Swordsman Attribute so can roll twice for damage. Eveleen fell down Out of the Fight.

Activation Dice are now rolled and Bren goes first with Angus rolling higher than his Rep of 4. No Charge into Melee test needed to be taken as this was a continuous melee between the two same groups. Bren went to the attack and...

And scored two successes more. Once she had damaged a Vampire, Eveleen, she lost her Fear of them. Bren rolled for damage, twice...

And scored an Obviously Dead. But Angus as a Feral Vampire has the Hard as Nails Attribute that turned the OD result into a knock down and recover From Knock Down Test.

Rolling 2d6 on the test Angus becomes Stunned instead.

 

But Angus is a Star (remember in WHL you can play any character or race) so rolls Star Power. He scores two successes and stays on his feet, Carrying On.

Bren ctivates first and goes to the attack. Angus is no match for Bren as she scores four more successes.

Bren cuts down Angus with a Obviously Dead result. The Hard as Nails Attribute only works once per Encounter. Star Power is rolled and the OD is changed to OOF.

Unable to move Angus is at the mercy of the Mirholme Princess. She walks over to him when activate finishes him off.

Angus is dead but being a Star he can Cheat Death. he does and is whisked away but at a loss of 1 to his Rep. Angus is now a Rep Feral Vampire, lower than a fledgling and doomed to wander alone until he can raise his Rep.

So now I switch to Bren. The Encounter with the Feral Vampires counts as her first PEF. Two  more to go. This has now become a wandering Encounter for the Princess. She decides to seek out the Dungeon rumored to be nearby.

Look for Part Four next week.

Step by Step WHL - Part Two

Part One  

The small band of Goblin Brigands were on the trail of the Healer. They had been raiding the Mirholme countryside for the past months and now it was getting colder and almost time to head east. They had picked up the trail a few hours ago and were hurrying to catch him before he could reach the safety of the next village. They caught up to him...right after the Feral Vampires had killed him.

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The second PEF was resolved as a  band of four Goblins.  Eveleen acted as the group Leader for the Vampires as Angus had his back turned. Rolling In Sight the Feral Vampires went first. This was important  because in WHL In Sights are handled by the group and in a specific order. First would be missile fire. But since the Goblins didn't go first the archer had to wait to fire.

  The Vampires charged! Both sides took the Charge into Melee Test and the melee was on.

Below the two Feral Vampires square off with the Goblins.

Angus scores more successes...

And scores a kill. Meanwhile...

Eveleen scores more successes as well.

Stunning the Goblin Leader. This ends the Vampire portion of the In Sight actions.

The Goblins now act and the archer fires at Eveleen but misses. As this is part of the In Sight process no Reaction Tests are taken.  The remaining Goblin charges Angus.

But is butchered with an Obviously Dead result. This ends the Goblin side of the In Sight and necessary Reaction Tests are taken.

Eveleen takes the Received Fire Test from the Goblin and passes 2d6. She is in charge reach so charges. But as the In Sight is complete figures in a melee can attack other figures in the original target group without another Charge into Melee test being necessary. But the Goblin archer took the Man Down test and passed 0d6 resulting in him running away. End of the fight.

As the final Goblin runs for it the Vampires finish their active move, killing the stunned Goblin.

But the third PEF had yet to activate and it now does. Moving into sight it is resolved as a Mirholme Princess. A real BA Princess with a Rep of 6!

I had loaded the PEFs at the start of the game. I had rolled up six different possible PEF results using the tables found in WHL. In WHL we concentrate on the following four nations, Altengard, Capalan, Mirholme and Tereken. Each nation has their own table of possible creatures that can be met when in the nation. I used the Mirholme table to load the PEFs saving much time during the actual game.

Look for the third installment later this week.

Step by Step - Warrior Heroes - Legends - Feral Vampires

Warrior Heroes - Legends is the fantasy immersion game from THW coming out next month. WHL is compatible with Warrior Heroes - Armies and Adventures and tied into Rally Round the King, our big battle set of rules. All three share the same setting, the world of Talomir. Characters can be easily imported between the different rules.

 

One feature of WHL is players can choose to be one of over twenty character and race types. In this step by step AAR I will start as a Feral Vampire. Here's my Feral Vampire Star and his fledgling female partner. I set up a Wandering Encounter.

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Eveleen was hungry and it showed. Angus and her had been wandering for days and had entered Mirholme land from their native Tereken. It was getting colder and that meant less travelers on the road, which meant less food for the pair. Angus knew that the coast would offer more food so they headed westward towards the sea. 

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The game starts in the Mirholme province of Land's End a predominantly wooded area. The Encounter Rating of the Province is 3 and I start with 3 PEFs, Possible Enemy Force markers.

The Feral Vampires setup in ambush in a wooded area. They would wait for unsuspecting travelers and gain the advantage. They didn't have long to wait. The first PEF moved into sight and was resolved as a Mirholme Healer in search of herbs for making potions.

Both sides rolled their In Sight and the Vampires won, see the yellow d6. In WHL only the Leader of each group rolls In Sight, different than other THW games. If desired, the option is there to have individual figures roll but as melee is the primary form of attack, this works better.

The Vampires charge at the same time and we go to the Charge into Melee table. The Vampires scored more successes so charge. This is at the same time, regardless of Rep.

Angus, the Star, decides to let his fledgling, Eveleen go first. I do this for two reasons. In WHL you can improve your Rep if you have a successful Encounter. You have to take an active part to count a success so Eveleen can go first. The Healer is subject to Fear and should be easy prey.

Eveleen scores four successes while the Healer scores one. This is bad news for the Healer is two ways. First he has lost the melee and is at risk. But having won by three or more successes the Feral Vampire may have poisoned the Healer. If he survives he must test to see if he has become a Feral Vampire. But Eveleen has no intent on him surviving.

Rolling for damage (1d6 against the number of successes more scored) Eveleen scores a "6". This is a new feature with WHL. When rolling a "6" the loser retires 2", the winner follows, and another round of melee is immediately rolled with the winner getting a +1d6 bonus. This represents those heroic combats where the combatants go back and forth, like in the movie Princess Bride.

The next round of melee is fought and Eveleen wins again, this time by two successes.

 

Damage is rolled and the Healer is knocked to the ground. Taking the Recover From Knock Down Test the Healer goes to the ground stunned.

But Angus has not acted. He charged the Healer but it wasn't resolved so he is allowed to follow the retiring Healer and when he goes down Angus is on him.

The Healer is defenseless. Angus goes in for the kill. The Vampires will eat well.

But the next PEF now activates and comes into view and must be resolved. Goblins!