We played already over 50 scenarios in the world of Gloomhaven. Some of them were longer, some shorter. Some more difficult, some easy. On that Monday evening we were facing one of the toughest adventures in the whole game, a “semi-final” before reaching the main boss – Scenario #48 Shadow Weald. Never before we were so much astonished how the session turned out. Make sure to check!

Our Gloomhaven Campaign in chronological order: 
#1 Black Barrow, #2 Barrow Lair, #3 Inox Encampment, #69 Well of the Unfortunate, #4 Crypt of the Damned, #5 Ruinous Crypt, #93 Sunken Vessel, #10 Plane of Elemental Power, #21 Infernal Throne, #14 Frozen Hollow, #19 Forgotten Crypt, #27 Ruinous Rift, #8 Gloomhaven Warehouse, #7 Vibrant Grotto, #20 Necromancer's Sanctum, #6 Decaying Crypt, #28 Outer Ritual Chamber, #94 Vermling Nest, #95 Payment Due, #13 Temple of the Seer, #16 Mountain Pass, #43 Drake's Nest, #18 Abandoned Sewers, #25 Icecrag Asent, #28 Outer Ritual Chamber (#3), #29 Sanctuary of Gloom, #55 Foggy Thicket, #56 Bandit's Wood, #72 Ozing Grove, #59 Forgotten Grove, #60 Alchemy Lab, #22 Temple of Elements, Solo Scenarios, #81 Temple of Eclipse, #24 Echo Chamber, #15 Shrine of Strength, #33 Savvas Armory, #32 Decrepit Wood, #43 Drake's Nest (#2), #23 Deep Ruins, #26 Ancient Cistern, #31 Plane of Night, #40 Ancient Defensive Network, #41 Timeworn Tomb, #38 Slave Pens, #39 Treacherous Divide, #19 Forgotten Crypt (#2), #48 Shadow Weald

As a reminder, our group was playing in below composition:

  • me – playing level 8 Sawbone
  • Kuba G – playing level 8 Berserker
  • Kuba J – playing level 7 Quartermaster
  • Dominik – playing level 6 Sunkeeper

So what is this scenario about? We have a boss to kill – simple, straightforward and direct. However, this is not some kind of usual boss, this is Dark Rider:

That guys is a very nasty specimen. It summons imps and charges at you – with us playing on level hard – Scenario level 5 – that means that he can hit with the strength of even 10! But the worst thing is that after Melee attack it disappears! And then in his turn charges again from the side of the map, hits, and runs away! So the only way is to get him somewhere on the map before he can reach any of character and hit him/her.

After this intro, let me invite you to picture-rich session report. Enjoy! (you can click on every picture to enlarge it).

Did I forget to say that to make things worse we fight in a one room, full of elements and imps, with us being muddled? Well, not the nicest start!
A close up on our enemies – the Earth Daemons can hit very hard, the Harrowers are incredibly dangerous, Imps will curse you… First turn was a very difficult with us being mercilessly beaten and immobilized (me).
And then we experienced the most crazy turn of any of our Gloomhaven games. What happened? First, the Dark Rider appeared on tile “A” and had a range attack – good, he will not disappear! Then, despite being immobilized, I used my long spear and drawing with advantage 2x, I inflicted 12 hits. But then Kuba G. came with his Berserker, charged with Glass Hammer, draw the bless (2x) and inflicted 51 damage! With the wound and Kuba J & Dominik turns still not played, it was formality to finish him..
Situation at the end of the scenario – one kill only, but the one we needed!

Summary

We killed Dark Rider in 1.5 turns. This is incredible – we never before finished the scenario so fast. True, we all had a lot of Blesses which made our decks stronger. True, we had me with long range and Berserker with fantastic, one off Glass Hammer card. Still, to do it so quickly, so decisively, so undeniably – that put us in total astonishment! THIS SCENARIO WILL BE LONG TIME REMEMBERED!

And now we moved to the next barrier before final boss… But this is story for another time.