In our journey through the world of Frosthaven we ventured pretty deep into one of the Lurkers campaign sub-branches. Very difficult one, full of Fiend Shrieks, collapsing bridges and peculiarly dangerous enemies. Still, we are getting to the end of the story and final clash with the source of the evil in the Radiant Forest.
Our Frosthaven Campaign in chronological order: #1 Town in Flames #2 Algox Scouting #4 Heart of Ice #7 Edge of the World #13 Frozen Fjord Some interesting materials about Frosthaven World: Frosthaven – first look – starting characters (1/2) Frosthaven – first look – starting characters (2/2) Frosthaven – monsters analysis & strategies – Lurkers Frosthaven – monsters analysis & strategies – Unfettered
Again, our merry company gathered for this exciting engagement in following set-up – note we have everybody on Level 2 already and more promotions are to come:
- Blinkblade (me) – level 2
- Banner Spear (Kuba J) – level 2
- Geminate (Kuba G) – level 2
- Drifter (Konrad) – level 2
Session report
With our team ready and steady we approached Scenario #32:
Another pretty tricky scenario with interesting special rules. First and foremost, we need to get rid of Fiend Shrieks nest. But in the first room we have group of Zombie-Algox monsters; not particularly powerful or quick. So where is the trick? Well, if you do not deal at least 1 damage per turn to such creature, it will transform into Elite Fiend Shriek with full health. And believe me, this is not something you would like to face. Especially on Hard Difficulty!
PS. Feel free to click on below images for full details.
That was some achievement – we pushed so quickly forward and played so aggressively that it took us no more than 90 minutes to conclude. But honestly, there were moments of doubt if we can make it.
Outpost Phase
Now, to the Outpost Phase, to resolve event (we got random scenario!), update the Campaign Diagram, enhance the Settlement and maybe buy some materials. Let us see main developments:
On top of all the goodies mentioned so far, we received also access to two, very interesting side scenarios – we will not follow-up on them immediately, as they evidently seem like a tough ones and not providing resources we need right now for outpost upgrades; still that will be good place for future experience and gold collecting .
Summary
We concluded the first sub-branch of Lurkers campaign path. That was not an easy feat to achieve, especially since the difficulty and complexity of scenarios were gradually increasing. Still, we had a great satisfaction – and my Blinkblade another promotion – so it was definitely worth it. Stay tuned for another report from fascinating world of Frosthaven!
The Boardgames Chronicle 
Interestig scenario, difficult, barely won, just as we like it. Sadly we couldn’t kill all enemies and grab all the loot we could, but Shriek Fiends and Elite harrowers are one of the most challenging enemies in game and we didn’t risk. The first room went quick, i belive all enemies were dead after round 3. The 1st round by Michał made it very easy, if not his skill to deal damage to all within range 2, we would have huge difficulties to hit all of the frozen zombies, and even one elite shriek fiend could make a huge change and hurt us bad. I started the game and for the time used a banner early, which allowed my allies to remove their wounds, with which we’ve started this scenario. In consecutive rounds the banner kept healing us, as we took some hits from the zombies. After round 1 there was a good game for the Drifter who picked retaliation and placem himself close to 3 enemies , which secured 2 rounds of hits for 2-3 zombies, the rest of us could singleout enemies and kill them easy. After we entered the 2nd room and saw we face 3 elite harrowers and a tree spawning horrible fiends, we quickly decided there is no point in hitting the harrowers, we have to run to the tree and kill it ASAP, before spawned fiends shred us into pieces. With my bannerspear i stayed behind, with main purpose to act as a target for as many Harrowers as possible(2 went after me, good result), and healed all allies (awesome card “At all cost” that doesn’t mention range , just heal all allies by 3HP- i only had to pay 1 HP for each healed ) twice ot three times, as they were getting retaliation damage from the tree and smaller hits from enemies(Geminate often struggled with just 1 HP before my heals). I hoped that i’ll be able to keep my banner alive till the end, which would grant me a mastery, but a Harrower killed it. Since my banner/ally was dead and harrowers were slow i rushed to the tree, where i managed to use my lvl 2 card – the Meatrgrinder, which killed the tree and a neighbouring shriek fiend. If we didn’t rush for the tree, we would have to face at 3-4 shriek fiends at the end , in such situation, weakend by tree’s retaliation(at this level still just 1, if we were little higher lvl, the retaliation would increase to 2, and we would have huge difficulties to win it at all), we would get killed by fiend’s nasty abilities.
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Sounds like a close one for your group, enjoyable summary as always. Close to achieving the banner mastery! We played this scenario with our usual two players (trap and snowflake party) and so room one wasn’t quite so challenging as for you guys. Then similarly we ran for the tree to take it out quickly, we had some excellent mobility that helped with that. Interesting how powerful those ‘all enemies…’ cards are for the blinkblade for your party (although sounds like discovering the stamina potion would be very handy!). In our experience in two player that was a good card but not always super impactful with less enemies per room. Always interesting to see how party composition and size can influence the optimum play style for each character. Good luck for the next mission!
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Thanks! And I fully agree that “all enemies” cards seems more impactful in four players games, as simply number and strength of opponents is scaled up 🙂
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that “All enemies in range” ability in 4-character game is made 12 points of pure damage in the first room, in 2-character game, with maybe 2 enemies it would be just 4 points, probably weaker than a basic attack. 12 points of damage with a single card is about what 3 solid attacks could do witha a single target attack card, and it avoids any shields/retaliation. Michał often plays that card in crowded areas , when entering new room with fresh rivals, and then goes invisible to avoid taking hits, and waits for the rest of the team to join him in later round. Team composition makes a huge difference, 2/3/4/ man games differ a lot. 🙂
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How is your Drifter player tending to use his abilities in your 4 player? Is it +2 melee, +2 move most of the time or are they trying out a variety of options?
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Drifter sits in the oppostie side of a table and it’s hard to follow, he usually uses many boosts and usually exhausts or is on the vergeof exhaustion, but despite playing 1 game less earned probably most exp of us all and i think after scenario 32 is , as our blinkblade, lvl 3 rank. Often uses his tank abilites, so retaliation, move and attack, but possibly more (i belive he had 4 or maybe even 5 launched during most games)
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