Round 3!

For some the campaign’s toll is beginning to mount…

While others continue to reap glory and treasure.

With the frontier in flames, the Adversary’s forces seek to consolidate their victories. Heaping piles of stolen supplies, weapons, and treasure are strapped to pack yaks and send to the rear for safety. The Advocate though directs those remnants of its splintered forces trapped behind enemy lines to make the best of their situation and ambush the yak trains. Neither side though knows what may be lurking among the trees and canyons along their routes…

This past week’s mission was a simple variation on the pack yak mission. Adversaries were given a yak to escort and deployed at the center of a table edge. Advocates deployed in the opposing corners. Moving the yak in the monster phase creates some weird dynamics. So instead we played:

• If no one is engaged with the yak at the start of a round, it immediately runs in a random direction.
• Otherwise, the player with the most models engaged with the yak at the start of a round may activate it along with one of those models, like a companion. The yak gets 1 AD, MOV 5, and no one can attack them because even amidst the apocalypse there are limits, people, and yaks are sacred.

Adversaries win if they get the yak across the board. Advocates win if they control the yak at game end.

Additionally, each board had treasure markers yielding surprises…

Despite the urgency of her Iguan allies’ escort mission, the notorious thief and brigand La’ra could not resist scaling an ice covered spire to ransack a lonely crypt set high above long ago. For her troubles not only was she beset by a graveling leaping from inside, but the sole treasure found was a Crown of Madness. Suddenly beset by horrors only she could see, La’Ra ran off the cliffs to grievous injury and continued desperately, manically crawling away from the crypt as best her broken body could. Abandoned by their mercenary, the Iguan escorts were overwhelmed by a team of Moldorf who reclaimed the yak and its looted treasures.

In warmer climes, the Warlord Karthor amiably lead his newfound yak friend through sun baked canyons. Their philosophical ponderings though were disrupted by the despicable Pirate Council attempting to waylay the innocent bovine. The enraged pig boss leapt to the defense of his friend alongside his legendary warriors Bei’Khan, Hamlet, Slappy, and Big Pink. Even thrown back and surrounded, the Pirate Council could not set aside their baser instincts. Heedless of their dire situation, they could not resist pocketing for safekeeping some shiny baubles carelessly left out in the weather on the ruins of a dark altar. For their selfless civics the remnants of their group that might have survived the pig onslaught were shattered by the shrieking howls of ghosts stirred by the pirates’ disrespect. As the blood haze settled in their eyes, the pigs were heartened by the zen calm of their yak companion who had quietly taken all of these goings-on in stride.

As they continue their journey through the canyons, …

… the legend of Karthor and his warriors only grows …

… and is writ forever into The Chronicle of the Pigs.

Well, well, well, we meet again…

As dark forces march in the shadows, guesses at their ill intent susurrate across the wilderness. They’ve come for a legend, a power they believe to be within their grasp. But the full path to it remains lost in time, and what is known is daunting. What need be done to capture their ambition can no longer execute in secret. So they have come, in fire and in blood, to take secrets by force and gather tools by might. Already the frontier keens with the opening strikes of their campaign—barrows overturned, springs spoiled with offal, and villages ravaged as the Adversary gathers the implements of their quest…

La’ra has an argument with the local Dark Watcher pig commander.

Pigs and Moldorf go at it in a mountain spring.

Lady Aurelia fights a Shimerae (playing as a Basilisk).

Five players on hand for the second round of our mini-campaign, with seven engaged so far. Although the Advocates picked up a win in a first round catch-up game over the weekend, on Monday the Adversary continued to build momentum. The mission was a search for a magical weapon deemed necessary toward the Adversary’s greater agenda. Three markers were placed in each game, which then revealed as either a trap, treasure, or the desired demi-relic. Despite some infighting between pigs and lizards at the barrows—how we dealt w/ the odd number of players—the Adversaries walked away with the prize across the board.

“Why, why are we Adversary fighting amongst ourselves?!”

“This pig smashes that dwarf.”

Mountain spring rife with hidden treasure.

Village square.

For my part, the Lone Guard fought to defend a small village from being ransacked. Unfortunately the Iguan attackers were only a shield for the legendary thief and rogue La’ra to do her work. With the Lone Guard mostly embattled with a Basilisk in the village square, she managed to find the item and then flee wildly across the rooftops, despite being harried by a Ranger from below and his Sabertooth companion above. As she receded into the distance and the Iguan slipped away, the Lone Guard turned grimly to assess their casualties.

Entrance to the long abandoned funeral grounds.

An Iguan Witch and Lone Guard Infiltrator throw mindbolts and daggers back and forth at each other down an alley.

A Pig Warlord smashes an Iguan Witch atop a barrow.

Pigs and lizards mix it up.

The Lone Guard’s cat buddy catches up to La’ra but isn’t able to bring her to ground.

The Dark Watcher stands triumphant.

Alas, poor Raider Pig, whose injuries proved too grievous and his value not worth the Adversary’s influence…

Gang’s all here!

Battle Pigs poured forth from their stronghold in multitudes, advised by a Dark Watcher and rallying a Wretched Hive encampment to their mischief. The darkness spreading over the land alerted outposts of the Lone Guard and Pirate Council, as well as a detachment of the Moldorf Expedition. Valiant Lone Guard staunchly held a creaky bridge long enough to light a signal fire emplaced among nearby ruins. But the hopes of the Advocates to alert the whole valley were dashed, literally, by a Battle Pig—no less nimble than bold—majestically leaping across a chasm, smashing and scattering a signal fire and its defenders the very moment the beacon was about to be lit. Meanwhile, the Dark Watcher strode forth calmly behind a wall of Pig bodyguards, simply ignoring the forest of arrows piercing it, and lit its own ominous beacon of dark energies…

A Lone Guard Infiltrator sneaks past the Battle Pigs bodyguards to attack the Dark Watcher!

Our debut Relicblade campaign launched last night with six players:

• Advocate
  Brett – Pirate Council (Pathfinder minis playing as a mix of characters)
  Joe – Lone Guard
  Tom – Moldorf Expedition
• Adversary
  Jake – Wretched Hive
  Jesse – Battle Pigs + Bones & Darkness
  Mike – Battle Pigs

After working out initial campaign rosters we each got in two games, switching opponents. All games used the Signal Fire scenario with some extra treasure available. Advocates attempted to light beacons in the first set of games and Adversary in the second. Adversary went 2-1-0 in the first set of three games and 1-0-2 in the second set (the draws were called for time), solidly claiming the night.

Double checking roster tabulations.

For my part, after defending the bridge to a beacon long enough for it to be lit, Lady Aurelia was severely disheartened by the Adversary’s successes and visibly diminished in spirit (loses Heroic Recovery trait). Her Lone Guard compatriots’ sabertooth companion also came out of the night’s action with a severely wounded paw (-1 damage on strongest attack).

Lady Aurelia and cat buddy block a bridge against a Basilisk and Iguan Witch.

The Pirate Council asks for some rules assistance in its fight against the Wretched Hive…

Wretched Hive and Pirate Council dance around each other among some ruins.

An Iguan Poacher slinks among the exposed foundations.

Battle Pigs deploy to fight the Moldorf Expedition.

Steadfast to the last, a Lone Guard Warrior is overwhelmed within grasp of an unlit signal fire.