Relicblade Gladiator Arena

“TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MA—err… three pigmen, an ogre, two soldiers, a barbarian, a sabretooth cat, a lizardman, a samurai, and another barbarian… <double checks> ENTER, … <counting> FOUR OF THEM LEAVE!”

The local Lord of Darkness and his Aug-Suul henchtrolls have captured several parties of adventurers and thrown them into the arena to battle for their freedom! Also, the visiting ~~̶G̶a̶n̶d̶a̶l̶f̶~~ err ~~̶F̶i̶z̶b̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶F̶a̶b̶u̶l̶o̶u̶s̶~~ err White Wizard Numero Uno is horrified yet intrigued to discover the evening’s entertainment is NOT simply a skeleton cabaret as he had let himself be led to believe.

A scenario made up on the fly to utilize this ~~̶a̶w̶e̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶P̶l̶a̶y̶m̶o̶b̶i̶l̶ ̶c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶r̶e̶n̶’̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶y̶~~ very serious historical wargaming terrain. A rack of powerful relic weapons is at arena center. Captured adventurers start chained to rocks, with one party member waiting in the entrance tunnel to be permitted in as reinforcements. Monsters appear every turn from underground entrances around the circle. Disabling a monster grants a favor thrown from the crowd (small items, potions, etc). Killing a monster is one point, destroying a character two points, and the party with most points at game end earns the appreciation of the Lord of Darkness and is granted their freedom.

Mechanically we could maybe tweak this a little. Two of the three players (Jesse and I) just wound up in a huge scrum in the middle. Though, to be fair, the other player (Jake) simply walked carefully around avoiding the scrum to kill monsters, gain points, and win the scenario. So maybe the mechanics worked great and the two scrummers are just stubborn and dumb?

Thematically it was pretty cool. To paraphrase Jesse: “Time for all those Latin classes to shine! <starts discoursing at length on the layout and construction of the Colliseum>”

In any event: <SPOILER ALERT> The Lord of Darkness lied (!!!) and at the end sent all the warriors down into the pits anyway because THEY ARE THE MONSTERS NOW.

Relicblade 2-on-1

Tried something a little different in our Relicblade game last night, a large 2-on-1: 200pts of Lone Guard against 2x100pts of Wretched Hive. Seven beacons placed around a 2×4 board. Activate for a round & score a point on a 5+. Deployment within 4″ of table corners and the long edge midpoints.

This worked pretty well, but we over-thought the activation rules. Of course a sequence like Lizard player A, Lizard player B, Guard player wouldn’t work well. So we went back and forth between the three players, i.e., Lizard player A, Guard player, Lizard player B, Guard player, Lizard player A, and repeat. This is ok, and ensures every human gets to do something in a reasonable amount of time. But it gives the solitary player a tactical advantage to sequencing activations in multi-character fights, e.g., to hit Lizard player A’s character twice while they can’t respond because it’s Lizard player B’s turn. So it’d be better to just play Lizards, Guard, Lizards, Guard, etc, and let the team activate in whatever order they want.

Separately, Pigs and Aug-Suul had a flash mob dance party on the temple steps…

Redcap’s Relicblade Winter Campaign: Day 3

Round 3!

For some the campaign’s toll is beginning to mount…

While others continue to reap glory and treasure.

With the frontier in flames, the Adversary’s forces seek to consolidate their victories. Heaping piles of stolen supplies, weapons, and treasure are strapped to pack yaks and send to the rear for safety. The Advocate though directs those remnants of its splintered forces trapped behind enemy lines to make the best of their situation and ambush the yak trains. Neither side though knows what may be lurking among the trees and canyons along their routes…

This past week’s mission was a simple variation on the pack yak mission. Adversaries were given a yak to escort and deployed at the center of a table edge. Advocates deployed in the opposing corners. Moving the yak in the monster phase creates some weird dynamics. So instead we played:

  • If no one is engaged with the yak at the start of a round, it immediately runs in a random direction.
  • Otherwise, the player with the most models engaged with the yak at the start of a round may activate it along with one of those models, like a companion. The yak gets 1 AD, MOV 5, and no one can attack them because even amidst the apocalypse there are limits, people, and yaks are sacred.

Adversaries win if they get the yak across the board. Advocates win if they control the yak at game end.

Additionally, each board had treasure markers yielding surprises…

Despite the urgency of her Iguan allies’ escort mission, the notorious thief and brigand La’ra could not resist scaling an ice covered spire to ransack a lonely crypt set high above long ago. For her troubles not only was she beset by a graveling leaping from inside, but the sole treasure found was a Crown of Madness. Suddenly beset by horrors only she could see, La’Ra ran off the cliffs to grievous injury and continued desperately, manically crawling away from the crypt as best her broken body could. Abandoned by their mercenary, the Iguan escorts were overwhelmed by a team of Moldorf who reclaimed the yak and its looted treasures.

In warmer climes, the Warlord Karthor amiably lead his newfound yak friend through sun baked canyons. Their philosophical ponderings though were disrupted by the despicable Pirate Council attempting to waylay the innocent bovine. The enraged pig boss leapt to the defense of his friend alongside his legendary warriors Bei’Khan, Hamlet, Slappy, and Big Pink. Even thrown back and surrounded, the Pirate Council could not set aside their baser instincts. Heedless of their dire situation, they could not resist pocketing for safekeeping some shiny baubles carelessly left out in the weather on the ruins of a dark altar. For their selfless civics the remnants of their group that might have survived the pig onslaught were shattered by the shrieking howls of ghosts stirred by the pirates’ disrespect. As the blood haze settled in their eyes, the pigs were heartened by the zen calm of their yak companion who had quietly taken all of these goings-on in stride.

As they continue their journey through the canyons, …

… the legend of Karthor and his warriors only grows …

… and is writ forever into The Chronicle of the Pigs.