So guys – here we are! Scenario #60 Uniting the Crown is the last available to us from the Frosthaven campaign – at least the so called “base game”. Would it finish the game? Maybe! Or at least push us to the final conclusion which we hope is just around the corner!
I believe we should jump to it right away as there will be a lot of explanation of special rules to this expedition. And in the end – who does not want to see the conclusion! Enjoy!
Our Frosthaven Campaign in scenario order:
#1 Town in Flames
#2 Algox Scouting
#4 Heart of Ice
#5 Frozen Crypt
#7 Edge of the World
#8 Crystal Trench
#9 Glowing Catacombs
#10 Crystal Enclosure
#13 Frozen Fjord
#14 Jagged Shoals
#15 Ancient Spire
#17 Haunted Vault
#16 Derelict Elevator
#18 Crystal Fields
#21 Realm of Endl. Frost
Some interesting materials about Frosthaven World:
Frosthaven – first look – starting characters (1/2)
Frosthaven – first look – starting characters (2/2)
Our super-flexible team grows in experience; recently my and Kuba’s G characters were promoted; after this scenario we had another two level-ups. That shows also the recent adventures are experience-rich and pretty demanding / long. Good for characters development! And now, quick overview of our team:
- Frozen Fist – level 7 (me) – a character with pretty unusual mechanics (losing health to recover cards), proves to be a decent damage dealer with incredible mobility.
- Infuser – level 6 (Kuba J) – crazy mechanics with infusion, possibility to send swords as summons, strong attacks with decent health. Great damage dealer capable of taking some beating.
- Snowdancer – level 7 (Kuba G) – crowd control and manipulation master, creates a lot of hazardous terrain and then pulls or pushes monsters. Also gained skill to move that hazardous terrain.
- Drifter – level 5 (Adam) – This is a super flexible character, who can heal, attack, take the beating and is no dependent on elements; very strong addition to our team.
Scenario Specifics
Below we analyze scenario, its set-up, win conditions and complexity levels:
The name of scenario is a bit pompous but reflects the situation – we have the six shards of the Lurkers crown and now, in a BOSS scenario, will face the Fracture of the Deep! We need to kill it – straightforward, yes?
Well, not so much. There is a ton of special rules here. First, the boss is immune until we kill all six of his Lieutenants. Then, each of those boss minions prevents one of the elements from being infused – only when we get rid of him, that one type of element will become permanently strong. What is more, each of Lieutenants adds one to its attack plus after its demise will drop a special token which characters can collect.
That is not all! Only once we killed all 6 Lieutenants we can hit the Boss. But this can be done only by one character, who gathered all 6 pieces which dropped from Lieutenants. The number of caveats and restrictions is so bit that they themselves can kill your group. Even before you actually start to fight wit super strong Fracture – which by this time will attack you with strength 11 and summon new enemeies EVERY turn!
PS. As always, feel free to click on below images for full details.
Session Report
Summary
Scenario Conclusion: by no means this was an easy scenario. One room, full of enemies, all of the elements unavailable at the beginning of the adventure and at least two characters – Frozen Fist and Drifter – who need to spend first turn buffing themselves up. Difficult moments when some of the Lurkers targeted multiple characters, potent attacks by the others, many summons appearing at the end plus limit of only one of us having the possibility to hit the boss. That was a lot. Still, we prevailed.
Frosthaven Campaign Conclusion: there was none. What? Yes, you heard me clearly – we finished the last, third sub-campaign track (reminder, these were: Algox, Unfettered, Lurkers) and with that all available to us base game scenarios. And still, no ending to the game. That came as a bit of puzzlement first and then as true disappointment. How to proceed?
PS. Then, after the game, we learned that in order to TRULLY finish the game we need to resolve the whole puzzle book – that way we shall unlock some more scenarios and get to the end. Not something we are very much fond of as it will require enormous effort and time to be accomplished.
I personally also think this is a bit too overcomplicated approach to otherwise an interesting and attractive adventure. In the end, the epic final battle with Gloom from Gloomhaven left me elated and with the feeling of fulfilment. After completing all the Frosthaven base game scenario I definitely did not have that feeling.
The Boardgames Chronicle 
The scenario itself could end up easily with quick defeat of any team. We skipped advanvcing to hard level and city hall challanges, even at normal it was a close game for our experienced group. It’s never easy when enemies often may attack 2-3 targets, and they are exceptionally strong (+1 base attack), and often with quick initative. If we got ganged up quickly, we wouldn’t be able to do much. For my infuser it was a rough game. Without elements i have low mobility and attacks are weak. We’ve decided to firstly attack ranged enemies and those with our elements (ice, green, night), so we could benefit from them. I went quick ahead to take out one target, but it didn’t end up perfectly as i got hit by the ranged mindsnipers and eels. We didn’t make a decision to leave Snowflake behind, it just happaned so, as we needed 3 to kill ranged enemies quick(to avoid their target 2 each turn) and Snowflake had to create hazardous terrains to slow down the remaining enemy forces (it often means sacrificing movement), we hoped to join him and save from dying, but we had no chance to do so. Enemies were too mobile, he was getting punded hard, but at least he greatly helped us to keep them away, killed few and weakend the rest for long enough so we could regroup and finish the job. Annoying ending when there is no chance to help out our attacker/Fist, i wanted to place brittle(on of few conditions allowed by scenario) on the boss, as usually , but only the First could place debuffs and attack the boss, we only could distract some enemies, loot tiles while Michal/Fist fights alone.
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