Roland through Dunwich, play and analysis - Episode 6: 5

Continued from Roland through Dunwich, play and analysis - Episode 5:4

Undimensioned and Unseen. Scenario 5.

Introduction and upkeep:

I am a bit nervous about cluttering the deck with non-essential cards, but although Zebulon Whateley does not provide anything particularly unique, he is conditional card draw, a good sanity soak and at worst a 2x commit.

The same could be said of Powder of Ibn Ghazi. It is a gamble that could go either way. The ease of attaining the card could either mean that it is incredibly valuable or completely useless. My gut instinct is to forgo this card, Adding a basically blank card to the deck is questionable in and of itself, but even if the specific circumstances should arise where I encounter a Brood of Yog-Sothoth (intentionally not linked as I have not seen the card yet) with Powder of Ibn Ghazi in play, there is a good chance that I am simply better off trying to kill it instead of interacting with it or trying to control it somehow. Saying all that, I still take the card, mostly out of curiosity, but there is the chance that the brood are too tough or even invincible.

The deck:

Cro asked me which cards I am looking forward to. Not only am I happy to oblige, but with the end of the campaign in sight, it might actually be a good time to do some speculating and make some preliminary plans for the finale.

Some disclaimers to get out of the way first. I have played Night of the Zealot and the introductory scenarios to The Dunwich Legacy a few times so my thoughts and ideas are mostly theoretical. I expect the difficulty to ramp up at about the same pace as the previous scenarios with a possible spike at the very end. Victory points are even harder to estimate, but the only data I have to go by is my experience with Dunwich so far which averages out to 3 experience points per scenario, which means that, at most, I will have 10 experience points left to play with.

I see two main paths I can go down. I can go for incremental upgrades, smoothing out the rough edges while adding a little bit of value or I can go for the big haymakers which will not improve the consistency overall but will hopefully have a major impact when played.

Some of the big impact cards I am considering are: The Red-Gloved Man, Key of Ys and of course the weapons: Shotgun and Lightning Gun.

The other option is the more synergistic route, removing some of the lower value cards in exchange for cards that improve on what my deck is already doing. Cards I am considering for that route are: Deduction ••, Magnifying Glass •, .45 Automatic ••, Vicious Blow ••, "I've had worse..." to replace Laboratory Assistant, Calling in Favors or Preposterous Sketches.

In the end, I am going with "I've had worse..." replacing a Preposterous Sketches. If I had one more experience point I would likely go for Key of Ys as it seems not only incredibly strong by itself, but also fits the deck quite well in an uncontested slot. The only weapon I can afford is Shotgun and although it does seem powerful I feel like it is not ideal for a solo, blind run. It seems like a much more specialized tool for when you know what to expect.

I did consider going with Magnifying Glass • x2 and .45 Automatic •• over the "I've had worse...", and I am still not convinced that I made the correct choice. While I do much prefer "I've had worse...", it is a single card that I first have to draw, and then find a use for, so I could easily see an argument for going with the 3 upgrades instead.

Setup:

Roland warned the townsfolk.

Professor Warren Rice was sacrificed to Yog-Sothoth, 2 Brood of Yog-Sothoth start in play. 1 at Cold Spring Glen and 1 at Blasted Heath.

Powder of Ibn Ghazi is put into play with 4 clues (Dr. Henry Armitage, Dr. Francis Morgan, Zebulon Whateley, Earl Sawyer all survived The Dunwich Legacy).

Add Chronophobia to the deck.

Starting location: Dunwich Village

Opening hand initial draw (mulliganed all):

Laboratory Assistant, Calling in Favors, Unexpected Courage, Preposterous Sketches, Working a Hunch

Redraw:

Machete, Roland's .38 Special, Pathfinder, Guts, Evidence!

Thoughts:

I am going in blind so I am sticking to the basics, no weapon, no ally and the clue gathering is suboptimal, full mulligan.

Turn 1:

1. Play Pathfinder Move to Ten-Acre Meadow
2. Gain 1 resource
3. Play Roland's .38 Special

Enemy: Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Blasted Heath moves to Devil's Hop Yard, Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Cold Spring Glen moves to Ten-Acre Meadow

Upkeep: Gain 1 resource (1). Draw: Calling in Favors

Thoughts:

Moving away from Dunwich Village seems like the best choice, which makes playing Pathfinder a priority. I could gamble and commit Evidence! to an investigate action, but I prefer playing the weapon.

Turn 2:

Mythos: Doom +1 (1). Draw: Avian Thrall

1. Roland's .38 Special (3 ammo) Fight Avian Thrall (draw '' success). Avian Thrall takes 2 damage (2 damage total).
2. Roland's .38 Special (2 ammo) Fight Avian Thrall (draw '+1' success). Avian Thrall takes 2 damage, Avian Thrall dies. Gain 1 clue.
3. Move to Whateley Ruins. Brood of Yog-Sothoth makes an attack of opportunity, 2 damage and 2 horror on Roland (2 damage /2 horror total). Move to Cold Spring Glen

Enemy: Brood of Yog-Sothothat Devil's Hop Yard moves to Blasted Heath, Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Cold Spring Glen moves to Dunwich Village

Upkeep: Gain 1 resource (2). Draw: Calling in Favors

Thoughts:

I suppose I could try and evade Brood of Yog-Sothoth , but a test at +1 does not appeal to me. Again, ending at Cold Spring Glen seems like the best option but I am starting to get a bit worried about the slow pace.

Turn 3:

Mythos: Doom +1 (2). Draw: Lupine Thrall. Spawns at Blasted Heath.

1. Move to Whateley Ruins Investigate, commit Evidence! (draw '' failure)
2. Draw Dr. Francis Morgan
3. Investigate, commit Calling in Favors (draw '0' success) gain 1 clue (2 total). Saracenic Script advances. Put Esoteric Formula into play.

Enemy: Lupine Thrall moves to Devil's Hop Yard, Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Blasted Heath moves to Devil's Hop Yard, Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Dunwich Village moves to Ten-Acre Meadow

Upkeep: Gain 1 resource (3). Draw: Machete

Thoughts:

The makes me rethink my turn, but I decide that trying to advance this turn is the best option. I draw hoping to get a 2x to commit, I consider commiting Dr. Francis Morgan as well but I believe that even if I should fail the investigate, I can advance, move out of harms way and if I am lucky I might even get a shot at the Lupine Thrall next turn.

Turn 4:

Mythos: Doom +1 (3). Draw: Attracting Attention both Brood of Yog-Sothoth move to Whateley Ruins! Surge Dissonant Voices

1. Evade, commit Calling in Favors and Dr. Francis Morgan (draw '-1' success)
2. Evade (draw '-1' failure) move 4 clues from Powder of Ibn Ghazi to Brood of Yog-Sothoth
3. Move to Ten-Acre Meadow Brood of Yog-Sothoth makes an attack of opportunity, 2 damage and 2 horror on Roland (4 damage /4 horror total) Move to Dunwich Village

Enemy: Lupine Thrall moves to Blasted Heath, both Brood of Yog-Sothoth move to Devil's Hop Yard

Upkeep: Gain 1 resource (4). Draw: Chronophobia. Discard Dissonant Voices

Thoughts:

Ouch, I can not evade and attempt a kill as the 3 horror will drive me insane, so my only chance at surviving is evading and moving. I lose if I do not evade at least 1 of the broods, so commiting everything to the first test seems correct. After I fail the second evade I give up on trying to kill multiple broods and move all 4 clues on the same Brood of Yog-Sothoth. I might be able to steal a kill while I scramble for exit!

Turn 5:

Mythos: Doom +1 (4). Draw: Unhallowed Country

1. Chronophobia
2. Chronophobia. Discard Chronophobia. Move to Cold Spring Glen
3. Draw: Unexpected Courage

Test Unhallowed Country (draw '' success). Discard Unhallowed Country

Enemy: Lupine Thrall moves to Dunwich Village, both Brood of Yog-Sothoth move to Blasted Heath

Upkeep: Gain 1 resource (5). Draw: Beat Cop ••

Thoughts:

Chronophobia is of course unfortunate, but I am slowly starting to stabilize and I should be able to kill the Lupine Thrall next turn. I do not know what the Angenda advance will reveal, but as long as it is not catastrophic and I can avoid an unlucky Encounter card I should be in fairly good shape.

Turn 6:

Mythos: Doom +1 (5) Rampaging Creatures advances. Spawn Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Devil's Hop Yard. Draw: Whippoorwill

1. Play Beat Cop ••. Move to Dunwich Village
2. Roland's .38 Special (1 ammo) Fight Lupine Thrall (draw '' failure). Retaliate (1 damage and 1 horror on Beat Cop ••)
3. Roland's .38 Special (0 ammo) Fight Lupine Thrall (draw '-1' success). Lupine Thrall takes 2 damage (2 damage total), exhaust Beat Cop ••, Lupine Thrall takes 1 damage, dies, Gain 1 clue

Enemy: Whippoorwill moves to Dunwich Village, Brood of Yog-Sothoth with 4 clues moves Dunwich Village, Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Blasted Heath moves to Devil's Hop Yard. Brood of Yog-Sothoth at Devil's Hop Yard moves to Whateley Ruins

Upkeep: Gain 1 resource (2). Draw: Evidence!

Thoughts:

The hurts quite a bit, it is now very risky to move out of Dunwich Village as I can no longer survive a single hit from a Brood of Yog-Sothoth. My new, and final plan, is to stay at Dunwich Village, hope a single Brood of Yog-Sothoth wanders into my location and should anything else happen, resign.

Turn 7:

Mythos: Doom +1 (1). Draw: Frozen in Fear

1. Frozen in Fear
2. Esoteric Formula Fight Brood of Yog-Sothoth, commit Guts (draw '' failure)
3. Resign

Thoughts:

The Brood of Yog-Sothoth is moving exactly as I need it to, but Frozen in Fear means I only have 1 chance, and the chaos bag denies me even a single experience point!

Resolution:

5 Brood of Yog-Sothoth escaped into the wild

Powder of Ibn Ghazi is removed from the deck.

Final thoughts:

I really enjoyed this scenario although poor Roland had a tough time getting any momentum at all. Overall I think I played it fairly well, I avoided trauma and came close to killing at least 1 brood, if not more, had it not been for the final pair of tentacles. It seems like a common theme that a slow start spells almost certain doom, so I will remember to try to be as aggressive as possible in the early stages in the last 2 scenarios.

To be continued ...