Hall of the Dwarven Kings (image heavy)

[drathe]

Some time toward the end of January, I played a great quest. In fact, it's been my favourite quest thus far. I always get a kick out of the Heroes running from a horde of continuous monsters. Especially when one stands heroically as a meat shield, ever dying as the other Heroes scramble to complete the goal and find the exit.

Here are some shots of that game:








I played the same quest again with a second group. No pictures for that game. My digital camera is dead. But It was great fun as well. Amazingly, the Barbarian continuously beat back the hordes all they way back until only 14 of the hordes remained on the board, pinned between the the Barbarian's blood covered sword and the great iron door from whence they came. Clonk the Barbarian fearlessly stepped up each time, preventing any new monsters from passing into the Hall of the Dwarven Kings. His comrades ventured through the rest of the quest, found the second piece of Grin's Stone Map and escaped into the Great Citadel. The Barbarian made a hasty retreat, stopping where necessary to catch a breath and chop a head. With the Talisman of Lore sparkling across his blood spattered chest, he was intelligent enough to know which stops to make, ensure he was never surrounded, or took more than one set of beatings per turn. In the end, he made it safely through the wooden exit door to rejoin his companions. Truly a great quest for all!

[AerynB]

Oh My Goodness!!! Dave won't be able to complain about this quest (as he just loves hacking monsters to bits *giggles*). I should show him these pics after we finish. Mwa ha ha!

[drathe]

Or take pics of your own.

[Daedalus]

Loads of monsters surely make for dramatic moments! Easy to see why you like this one.

Looking at the Dwarf holding back such a huge throng of flesh, I gotta think some kind of pushing opposed-roll is in order to move a figure one or more squares back in place of a regular attack. Maybe use a Monster's attack dice combined with attack dice equal to its current Body Points plus any Body Points of the monsters in a line behind the pushing figure. Set that against a Hero's attack dice and current Body Points plus any Body Points of any allies in a line behind the resisting figure. The pushing figure(s) move the resisting figure (or figures in a line) back a number of squares equal to the hits scored minus the number of hits scored by the resisting figure(s), with negative movement being ignored. The pusher may then move in the vacated square(s) if a move hasn't already been taken. If backward movement isn't possible, then the front figure is instead moved to a side square. If side movement also isn't possible, then no push is made. Movement from being pushed doesn't count as a move for a figure, as it didn't happen on the figure's turn.

In the situation depicted in your photo, the Chaos Knight (if unwounded) with the aid of the 3 Fimirs and 2 Orcs behind would roll 11 attack dice against the Dwarf. The Dwarf (if unwounded) could roll 9-11 dice (depending on his weapon) to resist and hold the door. That would make for an epic stand as the Dwarf struggled to hold his ground. The Barbarian would surely be wanted in such a scrum. [That's a lot of dice. Maybe limit to 6 dice maximum, so subtract 5 from both sides. -edit]

I know there's added complication with this tactic, but it cures a big problem that stagnates the action of the game- namely door-defending. In my opinion, the game would benefit from a more dynamic flow of combat at choke points.

[Daedalus]

One man's Heroic stand is another's egregious failure of the rules. Still being of the latter opinion, I feel this extreme bit of door-guarding could use a simpler solution to break it up. This old post, inspired by ghan, then knightkrawler and some fans at the German HQ Cooperation site, adds a bit of realism to this unbalanced fight without adding any extra dice-rolling:

Push Back
When a figure loses one or more Body Points during a melee fight, an attacker may choose to use the momentum of the attack to push that opponent back or to the side one square. If there's a wall or other immovable object behind or next to the opponent, pushing back in that direction is not possible.  Figures also count as immovable objects if their number, including the defending opponent, exceeds the Body Points lost from the attack.  If instead the total number of figures is less than or equal to the Body Points lost, then they may all be pushed in the same direction. Push Back isn't possible if the defending opponent is killed.

Example:
A Barbarian, flanked by the Dwarf, Elf, and Wizard guards a doorway against a group of 3 Fimiri who want to get to the Elf and Wizard.  A Fimir facing the Barbarian hits for 1 BP of damage.  As the Dwarf and Barbarian together (2) is greater than 1 BP, the Barbarian can't be moved (the Dwarf kindly pushes him back into the doorway).  Zargon moves the Fimir to the side, allowing a second Fimir to attack. It pastes the Barbarian for 2 BP of damage.  That's equal to or greater than 2 figures, so the Fimir pushes back the Barbarian and the Dwarf to the left.  A third Fimir enthusiastically jumps forward next to the Elf to attack.  
             
Notes:
A lucky attack may push back an opponent and up to 3 figures with a Battle Axe, possibly more if a Potion of Strength is used.  Awesome power and luck can change the direction of a battle in truly heroic ways with this modification.

I'm in favor of requiring normal movement to advance into an emptied square.  That means it may take more than one turn to advance into a room or corroidor as a Hero moves back into the vacated square to attack on his turn.  I don't see this as a problem, as extra monsters can advance to the vacated square on Morcar's/Zargon's turn before this happens.

Basically, if the Dwarf wants to try to hold back the throng of monsters in this Quest by himself, he will be backed up each time he suffers 1 or more Body Points damage. Chances are the monsters will push him back into the central chamber and spill in. It would be wise for at least one other Hero to back him up and prevent this.

Here's a size option that may or may not be worth the extra complication:

Bigger-than-Hero figures like Ogres count as 2 figures for purposes of being immovable objects. They also ignore 1 supporting figure when pushing back a defender. Conversly, less bulky figures like Goblins and Skeletons count as 1/2 a figure when presented as immovable objects. These smaller monsters must also score 2 Body Points of damage to move a single defending Hero.

[WiseOne]

So my wife and I did this quest over the weekend and she is playing the druid (from my Dungeon! and Warhammer post). She has the ability to once per quest move or remove a piece of furniture (Twist Wood and Bend Metal). She used it to move a book case in the way of a door so the monsters could no longer pass the zombie corridor. I thought it was genius. Rest of the adventure then went casually.

[Daedalus]

Smart move. Big Bene's rules for destroying furniture might have played well with this. Kinda like the Chicago Fire Department being delayed but not stopped when they encountered the Blues Brothers' makeshift barricade at the Daley Center. A Wall of Stone spell can be broken down, after all.

Rewarding the intelligent use of the spell works if you don't mind losing the pressure this Quest offers. It's also simpler. Evil Wizard player's call.

[j_dean80]

We just played through this Quest. It has potential to be a lot of fun. I think the Quest is too short though. Should have added a few more hallways where the Heroes can get trapped and have to fight their way out.

[wallydubbs]

Some time toward the end of January, I played a great quest. In fact, it's been my favourite quest thus far. I always get a kick out of the Heroes running from a horde of continuous monsters. Especially when one stands heroically as a meat shield, ever dying as the other Heroes scramble to complete the goal and find the exit.

I played the same quest again with a second group. It was great fun as well. Amazingly, the Barbarian continuously beat back the hordes all they way back until only 14 of the hordes remained on the board, pinned between the the Barbarian's blood covered sword and the great iron door from whence they came. Clonk the Barbarian fearlessly stepped up each time, preventing any new monsters from passing into the Hall of the Dwarven Kings. His comrades ventured through the rest of the quest, found the second piece of Grin's Stone Map and escaped into the Great Citadel. The Barbarian made a hasty retreat, stopping where necessary to catch a breath and chop a head. With the Talisman of Lore sparkling across his blood spattered chest, he was intelligent enough to know which stops to make, ensure he was never surrounded, or took more than one set of beatings per turn. In the end, he made it safely through the wooden exit door to rejoin his companions. Truly a great quest for all!

Ha! I love it! Did it not occur to the Dwarf to back into the hall? He wouldn't have had to deal with 2 attacks from Choas warriors, but only one with the bottleneck strategy.
As for the 2nd time you played it, somehow I doubt the Barbarian would've been able to beat them back without Courage and Plate Mail.

I played this once before, as my cousin and I both like Game of Thrones, so as the hoard ran to the main Hall and the Barbarian stood guard I yelled out "Hold the door! Hold the door!" At least my cousin got the joke, I hope the other people reading this do as well.

[Jalapenotrellis]

Lol! Hodor! (I have seen all of GoT twice in 2 years).

We will be playing this quest soon--was reading through. I noticed you could just bring out 4 chaos warriors immediately followed by any other heavy hitting monster. The downside is the heavy hitters move slower. Has anyone thought through optimizing which monsters to bring out first and what order?