Barbarian expansion - the frozen horror with family

[alyndavies]

Today we attempted the barbarian expansion with our new characters. i printed out the quest book from this site amd decided to substitute the monsters i didnt have. ice gremlins got changed too zombies, polar warbears too chaos warriors, and yetis to firmirs. i also made minor changes to rooms so greenskins are never mixed with undeads.

I also decided to make some general rule changes:

1 i changed the dice skulls still mean attacks, white shields for everyone's defense, and black shields count as critical's so if your attacking a black shields counts as 2 skulls and when defending a black shield is 2 white shields. it gives Morcar a fighting chance, and makes the game fairer.

secondly i used rules like space crusade where everyone takes 1 treasure card at the end of the their turn, i also used 100 treasure cards, 25 each of potions, wandering monsters, coins and, traps so you have a 50/50 chance of a positive or negative result. So searching for treasure is now replaced by simply search, meaning secret doors and traps, or if there is something in the room like a treasure chest or weapons rack.

finally if anyone rolls a double on the movement dice they are alowed to select 1 artifact card to help them gear them up quickly.

we completed the first 4 quests today, 2 barbarians for the first 2 quests and then joined by an elf and vampire for the third and fourth quests.

[GimmeYerGold]

I'm interested in how your dice roll rule change worked out, both for the heroes and the monsters! That's a cool change up

[Anderas]

Yeah me too! Also i would like to hear how your treasure system worked out. It is quite rewarding, but also quite dangerous in the long run!

[alyndavies]

It actually worked incredibly well. It made the dice rolls much more even and it gives me a fighting chance of actually defending. It's always annoyed me that the barbarian starts with 3 attack dice and has a 50/50 chance of getting a skull off each dice based on there being 3 skulls, 2 white shields, and 1 black shield on a dice. Or in other words for every 1 dice a hero attacks with, Morcar / Zargon needs 3 dices to defend with to have an equal mathematical chance of defending. No monster in the game stars with 9 defence dice so the heroes always kill you easily. This new system makes it equal all round, and is much, much more fun. the kids enjoyed it more also and were much keener to play with the new rules.


We made significant changes to the game in general. We also now use the off hand of the hero a lot more, basically a hero can wield a weapon and a shield or a weapon AND the Orcs bane. So basically our heroes are wielding the Spirit Blade and an Orcs bane, giving them 5 attack dice or 6 against undead. While in defense their wearing Borins Armor, a Helmet, and the Thunder gods belt, from the custom cards.

The Orcs bane is basically useless, how many people have ever really used it? the Barbarian already has 3 attack dice at the start, while the Elf and Dwarf start with 2 attack dice anyway? So making it a off hand weapon has worked brilliantly. My kids basically worked out if they go into a room always attack a normal monster first, then target an Orc with their second attack, it makes it more fun. Orcs Bane is now a much loved card in our household.

Additionally with a 25% chance or either a wandering monster, trap, potion or treasure off the treasure card deck as I'd adjusted the numbers, so basically I always have a massive stock of wandering monsters on the board which always means I have something to do on my turn. How often does the evil wizard player skip his turn because he has no men left? Well not this time I always got plenty of attacks in and did lots of damage. In the Barbarian Quests it's often 2 chaos warriors, 2 mummies or 2 Firmirs as wandering monsters so I got 2 attacks in off the card, then another 2 on my actual turn. As the players were forced to take a card every turn as per our new rules there was no way for them to play safe.

We did have one minor drama on quest 6 or 7 where I spent the best part of 10 minutes looking everywhere for the spell book plastic scenery thing (Alter piece), and the damn thing was already on the bloody board, for some reason there are 2 of them on the quest which totally confused me. One in the center room and one in the top left quarter of the map.

We have also had some minor fun as I have been experimenting with a Vampire Hero and she uses the Necromancer spells from Wizards of Morcar, she basically has a raise dead skill where she can kill a mob then raise it back as a Skeleton, the problem is my partner had the bone wand artifact card (it lets you control all skeletons in the room once per quest) and commanded the skeleton the attack our daughter, I had to ask my partner several times if she wanted to do this and she was adamant. As the skeleton took a body point off my daughter, my daughter shot a Death bolt back at her mum and they were fighting all the way round the dungeon! The Vampire also has the Clairvoyance spell meaning on her go she can reveal one undiscovered room, and the Escape spell meaning she can teleport herself to any square on the board, basically she goes round by herself then sneaky into a room at some point to steal someones treasure chest, or just port to the exit if someone finds it first! she loves her Vampire now and thinks nothing of sacrificing her Mummy or Skeleton to save herself or to leave them behind in the shít while she escapes somewhere a bit safer.

Heres my Heroes that the girls are playing at the moment we have 2 Barbarians. Valeria is played by our 13 year old daughter, and Sonja by my partner, while Isabella Van Carstein is played by our 15 year old daughter.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3140
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3135

Were sometimes joined by our 10 year old who likes to play Tyrande but she tends to become bored and disruptive to the game.

Were on Quest 8 now so rock on next weekend.

[Anderas]

Wow that sounds like a lot of fun! Also thar your partner insisted attacking her daughter!:D

Did you try the American Monster Stats? Or was it still with the European Monster stats?

If you like, take a look at the various evil wizard player decks the people were developing here in the forum. Basically, they'ré a deck full of nasty surprises and the evil wizard may take a card each time it is his turn and there are no monsters on the board. So it is the same what you did with the treasure deck.

[alyndavies]

Wow that sounds like a lot of fun! Also thar your partner insisted attacking her daughter!:D

Did you try the American Monster Stats? Or was it still with the European Monster stats?

If you like, take a look at the various evil wizard player decks the people were developing here in the forum. Basically, they'ré a deck full of nasty surprises and the evil wizard may take a card each time it is his turn and there are no monsters on the board. So it is the same what you did with the treasure deck.

I mix and match, I have both sets of USA and EU cards and tend to go with the strongest monsters from each area, so I use the USA Gargoyle, Zombie and Chaos Warrior cards as t their stronger than their EU counterparts, but all monsters have 1 body point as standard, because I have so many monsters on the board that its hard to keep up. I do have multiple body points for bosses though.

I have had a nose at the decks around, but I've found that having an equal balance of wandering monster, traps, potions and gold cards is the best way to go. I did consider adding Artifact cards into the pile as well, but decided the heroes would get one if they rolled a double on the movement dice they could pick one.

We dont actually use Men at arms in the games we play anymore, as they clutter up the board. On balance having a hero attack with 5 dice (6 against undead), and defend with 6 dice is the best way to balance the game out.

The Vampire actually has spells all from Wizards of Morcar expansion. While both Barbarians are alchemists and start each quest so they have 1 healing potion, 1 heroic brew and 1 strength potion as standard, though I'm considering dropping the strength potion for a second heroic brew as the strength potion has not got used yet. Then for each mind point gained they get an extra potion, they actually gained 4 additional mind points, 2 from the Wand of Galimatas and 2 from the talisman of lore (Eu version is 2 extra mind points not 1). To make up these potions I allow them 4 extra Holy Waters. Though they are limited to using 1 holy Water each turn and then attacking. So in a room full of undeads they can walk in throw a holy water killing one, then attack another. Or in a room full of green skins they can walk in attack one mob, then target a Orc as a bonus from using the Orcs bane in their off hand.

The only massive draw back I have found is when the Vampire uses the Clairvoyance

http://english.yeoldeinn.com/downloads/ ... ection.pdf

spell from the wizards of Morcar spell deck, on a full dungeon I am struggling for closed doors, sometimes even short of monsters, I did get close to running out of Firmirs the other day as they were also the wandering monster. but just about had enough. It can sometimes take the momentum out of the game while my daughter decides which room to explore. Then again in this expansion the quests do have a lot of blind alleys and it can takes ages for a hero to fight their way through a load of rooms only to find a treasure chest with gold in it. The girls have realised to complete the quests all they need to do stick to the outer corridor to find the exit.


The 4 heroes we use.

[alyndavies]

Mecanics of the Vampire hero.

Initially the Vampire starts off the same of the Elf, with 6 body points and 4 mind points (1 spell set). As the girls have a tendency to skip over quests or get killed it has led them to starting new characters and simply being to weak to compete after the initial quests and return of the witch lord. During Kellers Keep I found them dying regularly. So decided to give them additional starting gear.

The Vampire starts with a Magister's Hood, giving it 2 extra body and 1 extra mind point. So starting with 8 body and 5 mind points. For each additional mind point gained the Vampire may take an additional spell set.
The Vampire has now added the Wand of Galimatas and a Talisman of Lore to her inventory meaning she now has 8 body and 9 mind points.
9 mind points gives her 6 spell sets to use, I have been adjusting the mecanics of those spells. I printed out the Wizards of Morcar spells and changed the backs of the cards to make them all necromancer spells.

3 x summon mummy - necromancer spell, summon 1 mummy. Only one can be summoned at a time, so one must be killed before she uses another one.

3 x raise dead - necromancer spell, I did use summon skeletons at first but having 2 skeletons and a mummy and her vampire turned into a 1 woman wrecking machine so I nerfed her a bit. She now has to kill 1 monster before raising her skeleton.

4 x death bolt - necromancer spell, instantly take 1 body point off any target.

1 x escape - high mage spell - teleport to any discovered square on the board. Vampires in warhammer Dark Omen can teleport so I saw no problem with this spell.

3 spirit of vengeance - orc shaman spells, more like a necromancer sell, send a ghost to attack anyone, anywhere on the board with 4 attack dice.

1 treasure horde - pick 3 treasure cards instead of one on your next turn, she hasnt used this yet and i will probably drop it.

1 x clairvoyance - spells of detection, view 1 room on the game board, can be used until you pick an unused room, at which point you lose the ability. It's not a bad spell for a Vampire really. Bats do use sonic noises to navigate themselves, when their screech reaches and object the sound stops so they know there is a object there, it's how they identify their prey.

1 earthquake, 1 lightening bolt- storm master spells - both spells hit 6 squares in front, earthquake loses everyone 1 body point, the other gives 3 skulls of attack to defend against. I will probably drop one of these.

18 spells in total.

She isn't allowed to wear armor from the equipment deck, but can use weapons. However on the EU rules anyone can wear the quest treasures (artifact cards) so she uses Borins Armor, a cloak of protection, and the bracers (6 dice).

I am thinking about adjusting the spells again to balance them out a bit more. It's all trial and error really.

[Anderas]

Enough of a balance if the artifacts are unique, really.

[alyndavies]

Enough of a balance if the artifacts are unique, really.

Thankfully I have got hundreds of cards!

[alyndavies]

We've now completed the Barbarian quest series, and plan on starting the Elf quest in the near future (next weekend).

I have made adjustments to our game as we went along. If a hero rolls a double on the movement dice she now gets an artifact card, the ones that were available in the starting quests Orcs bane etc. Pretty soon double rolls became meaningless as there was no items the girls needed from the pile, so I had the idea of adding a genie card to the deck (as we have 9 genie air spell cards). In other words they got a magic lamp and when rubbed the genie appears. The genie could be used additionally to an attack, it can do everything it says on the cards or heal the hero 4 body points, it worked quite well, and the girls seemed to have fun with it.

I used the Manticore figure from the Dark World board game as the Frozen Horror as the final boss. I did manage to kill several of the girls in the last 3 quests, however they were saved each time by an elixir of life, sadly the person I killed each time just happened to have the card or was standing in the same room as someone who had the card. I managed to get my partner down to 2 body points at the very end on the last boss, but she cheated and wandered through the treasure deck for a potion of healing, I kind of objected but she scowled at me and was adamant she wasn't dying at the end so I let her have that one.

Having experimented with the Vampire character we have now found the optimal set up for it's spells. We settled on:
3 x summon mummy - max one mummy up at a time
3 x raise dead (can raise a dead monster as a skeleton after killing it) - max one skeleton up at a time
6 x death bolt
3 x spirit of vengeance
1 x earthquake
1 x clairvoyance
1 x escape
(18 spells)

The character starts off with the stats of the elf, 6 body and 4 mind, it also has the magisters hood (2 body), talisman of lore (2 mind), wand of galiatas (2 mind). For a total of 8 body and 9 mid points.

Our Barbarians have 10 body and 5 mind points. standard stats of 8 body and 2 mind, with an amulet of the north, 10 body and 3 mind, then with talisman of lore and wand of galimatas, 10 body, and 7 mind. The Barbarians start off with a potion of healing, heroic brew and potion of speed, with their 4 additional mind points their allowed 4 addition potions of holy water. They can use up to 1 additional holy water, as well as attacking each turn to help them clear rooms.

All characters when at optimal strength attack with 5 dice or 6 against undead, and defend with 6 dice. All have the spirit blade and an orcs bane (duel wielded), with borins armor and either a thunder gods belt and helmet, or bracers and wizards cloak. We don't allow men at arms, although the Vampire can summon 1 skeleton and 1 mummy to help, though with normal monster stats and body points their often cannon fodder.

Anyway were very pleased with the Barbarian quest pack, I admit I was a bit worried about it as it wasnt British made and seemed to break a few rules in the British game though everything was adapted easily to the British game and the replacement monsters used worked well. It's an excellent expansion and worth playing if possible.