Let me continue this new series of articles, in which I am analyzing most prominent opponents and enemies in the world of Frosthaven. How do I do it? First of all, I am presenting all the Monster Mats and Monster Ability Cards. Having them in one place really speeds up the process of analyzing particular creatures.
Then, I am creating set of statistics, which will focus on monsters health, initiative, attack potential as well as some unique features and capabilities of them. Last but not least, I am preparing the opponent evaluation and share some tips and tricks how to deal with them.
GLOOMHAVEN:
FROSTHAVEN:
All of this for you guys to be better prepared when you face them. And believe me, you will need that knowledge as scenarios in Frosthaven are much more difficult and complicated to what you were used to in Gloomhaven.
Now, most prominent enemies in this game are of course Lurkers, Unfettered and Algoxes. For the first group we already created article which you can check here: Frosthaven Monsters Analysis & Strategies – Lurkers.
Today I am going to continue with mysterious Unfettered – these are completely new creatures, not similar to anything we faced before. There is also some dark secret behind their creation which the campaign will try to unfold. Among that class we have:
- Robotic Boltshooter
- Ruined Machine
- Steel Automaton
- Flaming Bladespinner
As mentioned above, you will have all the stats and ability cards presented, with plenty of numbers, evaluations and some information how to tackle them. Feel free to add your own observations and experiences with them in the comments section!
Robotic Boltshooter
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 16 |
| => maximum | 91 |
| => average | ~55 (slow) |
| => variation | From 16 to 91 = 75 (huge) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 1-4 Elite: 1-4 |
| Hit points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 4-13 Elite: 7-23 |
| Weapon type | Ranged |
| Specials | Multiple Targets; Immune to Wound & Disarm |
Evaluation:
Unlike Lurkers, the Unfettered monsters will be very distinct one from another. Let us have a look at Robotic Boltshooter – a triangle pyramid with legs, which shoots with piercing arrows in all directions. It is pretty slow – look at movement range and initiative – but can be unpredictable with high variance of when in turn it will act. As a machine, it is immune to the Wound and Disarm. Do not underestimate it! It can attack multiple targets, and if on high level and well positioned it can inflict up to sixteen damage points per turn!
How to deal with them:
- These are range enemies, so approaching them and forcing to shoot at you from the disadvantage is always a good idea.
- Do not waste an immobilize on them, as due to great range that will rarely help.
- Try to avoid having too many characters within its range. Look how many it can target!
- It also can be poisoned (most other robots not) so why not use it here?
- Do not underestimate it – we had scenarios when three of such monsters easily shot to death some of our colleagues.
Ruined Machine
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 29 |
| => maximum | 93 |
| => average | ~55 (slow) |
| => variation | From 29 to 93 = 64 (large) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 1-3 Elite: 2-4 |
| Hit points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 3-15 Elite: 5-22 |
| Weapon type | Melee |
| Specials | Immune to Poison & Immobilize; Explodes |
Evaluation:
As the name goes, those old and rusty robots are definitely not in their prime. Slow or very slow, with average damage potential and average hit points. Still, as robots they are fully immune to Poison and on higher levels to Immobilize. What is more, they can explode and damage neighboring adventurers – and as they usually travel in packs, that can be a very nasty experience. Still, their low initiative should be enough for your team to act before them and prepare for whatever they planned.
How to deal with them:
- Due to it very limited move range, simply avoid it – in many of our scenarios we managed to move past through those creatures and they were never able to catch up.
- Immobilizing and shooting from distance should give you impunity from some of the more nasty actions it can do when adjacent to characters.
- Make sure you are not caught in the Explosion bast. At least, not as a group. Although, if your team is high on HPs, that can be a way to get rid of machine!
Steel Automaton
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 10 |
| => maximum | 95 |
| => average | ~54 (average) |
| => variation | From 10 to 95 = 85 (extremely large) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 3-5 Elite: 4-7 |
| Hit Points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 9-27 Elite: 10-36 |
| Weapon type | Melee |
| Specials | Immune to Poison & Disarm; Shield; can Stun |
Evaluation:
As we see, each Unfettered is completely different from their other colleagues. Steel Automaton is probably most sturdy, bulky and intimidating from them. Not necessary most dangerous though.
What should draw your attention is enormous variety in its initiative – from 10 to 95. Honestly, you never knew not cannot predict when they will act. With significant Hit Points value, Shield and big punch they are a nasty melee enemies. If you add to this that as robots they are immune to Poison and Disarm then things are getting really complicated. Fortunately, they do not have too large movement range so you might try to avoid them.
How to deal with them:
- It has shield but no immunity to wound – so definitely go for wounding it!
- It has small movement range – so attacks from distance are good.
- Alternatively act late in one turn, approach, hit and then be very fast in next turn, hit and escape.
- Last but not least, a heavy attack – a brute force approach – should also do the trick. Not so quickly due to shield unfortunately, but inevitably.
Flaming Bladespinner
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 12 |
| => maximum | 78 |
| => average | ~43 (average) |
| => variation | From 12 to 78 = 66 (large) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 2-4 Elite: 3-5 |
| Hit Points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 6-22 Elite: 8-32 |
| Weapon type | Melee |
| Specials | Retaliate; Multiple Targets; Immune to Wound |
Evaluation:
For the dessert we left probably the most dangerous, deadly and incredibly strong Unfettered. Namely Flaming Bladespinner! Imagine a a spinner with attached blades which additionally is all in flames and spins around all the time! You do not want to cross paths with it!
As you can see above, it hits multiple targets, has very decent number of hit points, very strong retaliate plus immunity to Wound. That one really caused us a lot of problems and if you additionally allow it to consume the fire – well, then you are doomed.
How to deal with them:
- Immobilize / stun / disarm – you will get enormous pay-off from those conditions on this particular enemy as it will buy you time to deal with smaller / less dangerous ones.
- Hit him hard – he will take all the damage having no shield; preferably in range, but do not hesitate also in melee if you can inflict a lot of damage – in essence, you want to kill it as soon as possible.
- Poison will help here significantly as the smaller number of attacks you need to perform, the less retaliate damage you will get.
- It can attack multiple targets, so please stay dispersed.
Summary
As we can see, Unfettered are very varied and specialized type of monsters. They are robotic machines and as such, have many immunities – in the end, they are from metal so it is hard to wound, poison or even disarm them. For me, they brought a lot of freshness to the world of Gloomhaven / Frosthaven with their special abilities fighting tactics but also mystery laying behind their creation. In the end we learned how to deal with them but not without some hiccups. Have fun with them!
More analysis to come!
The Boardgames Chronicle 
We’re a few scenarios in on the Unfettered thread. I won’t read your play reports on what we’ve not played yet but this analysis will come in handy, thanks!
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