Monday 8 March 2021

FEAR OF THE DARK AAR BATTLE REPORT 1

This is going to be the first scenario that I play and show as a battle report. This kind of scenarios are a bit difficult to show as an After Action Report (AAR in advance) because it´s dificult not to spoil the story.

As the scenarios are highly narrative, they are intended to surprise or at least not to tell the player all the story that is going on, but when you make an AAR it´s easy to say something that will be an spoiler and that will make people who hasn´t played the scenario know things that they shouldn´t know till they played that scenario.

So, I´m going to make a battle report but in some moments I won´t tell you some of the things that are happening, ok? 

You´ll see that I don´t say anything clear about what they find in the Points of Interest, that because I don´t want to spoil your games...

So, let´s play this scenario...


Our characters go to a cabin in the woods to search for some clues that help them understand what has happened with a person that was killed two days ago.


These are our characters, a Hero (Roger Barney) and two Allies (Carl Smith and lady Madeleine), our Hero has a pistol, the Ally in the middle has a rifle and the Ally that is in the right hand side has no weapons at all:



As there are no enemies, their activation is easy, we don´t care about activation decks or anything, just move them around the table in the order we want.

Turn 1:

The characters move towards the Points of Interest in order to check them as soon as possible.

Our hero moves towards one of them but has no actions enough as to check it (maybe next turn).

The two allies get closer to the Points of Interest but can´t check them.


Turn 2:

Our hero checks the Point of Interest with his first action, revealing some clues about the death oh the man that used to live in that cabin. With his two actions left he moves towards the next Point of Interest.




The ally moves towards the Point of Interest with his first action, and with the second he checks  it, finding some clues that reveal how the man died.




The other Ally (Lady Madeleine) moves towards the third Point of Interest with her first action, and uses the second action to check it, finding some clues that are quite relevant to the case that they are trying to solve...




Turn 3:

We move our hero to the nearest Point of Interest with the first action, and with the second action he checks it... And then... three people armed with axes appear from the shadows as they were hiding.

We place one of those persons as we are told in the scenario, and in the end, we have one next to our hero and the other two close to the two allies.







We are told in the scenario that we have to atart a new turn, making an activation deck with one card of each side for every character that we have of each warband and we have to add one random event card...



I know... that´s rubbish, but I forgot the cards in another place, my bad, please forgive me.

Ok, let´s assign the opportunity and danger tokens to the enemies we have in the table.


This one has an opportunity and danger token as he is in melee combat with the hero:


This one has a danger token as the ally that is close to him has a rifle (the distance between them is closer thn the distance between Lady Madeleine and the other bad guy) :


And the last one has an opportunity token as he is close to an ally that is not armed.


So we shuffle three cards of each warband and a random event card.
We draw a card and it´s an enemy character that activates, following the activation order, we find that activates the figure that is close to our hero.


Following the flowchart, that figure attacks our hero with an axe and he shoots his gun in melee combat, both roll their dice, the guy with the axe fails his attack and our hero is succesful:


The difference is more than 5, so when rolling in the injury table, our hero has a +2.
6!! and with a +2 bonus... that´s an 8. The hero makes an injury on the guy with the axe, that falls on the ground bleeding...




We draw another card from the activation deck and we get a player´s warband card, and I decide that I want to activate the Ally that has the rifle, and try to shot down one of those guys.
Unfortunately, he rolls an 8 and misses the shot, so, with his second action he decides to move away from that guy with an axe so that he can´t be attacked by him next turn.




We draw another card an it´s a player´s warband card, so I decide to move Lady Madeleine towards one of those armed guys and hit him, unfortunately they roll their dice trying to hit eacj other but fail with their dice rolls.




We draw another card and this time it´s an enemy´s warband card, so following the AI activation order I activate the guy that has the opportunity token, he moves towards Lady Madeleine with his two action and though he his next to her, he is unable to attack her.



We draw another card and this time it´s an event card. Trapped. the next character activating won´t be able to move at all!! I draw another card and it´s a player´s warband card... as the only character that I hadn´t activated was our hero, he is grounded and can´t move, staying away and not been able to help lady Madeleine.


I draw another card and it´s an enemy´s warband card, following thwe AI activation order, I activate the guy with the Danger token, and checking the flowchart, he attacks Lady Madeleine.


Both roll their dice on a Characteristic test trying to score the same or less that is on their Melee Combat Characteristic, and the two of them are succesful (the guy on the left had a +2 bonus, +1 for attacking with an axe and +1 for attacking helped by another bad guy)


They roll a die on the Injury table, and Lady Madeleine doesn´t make any injury while the guy with the axe makes an injury on our Ally.



Ok, this turn is over...
Turn 5:

We make an activation deck shuffling two enemy´s warband cards, three player´s warband cards and a random event card.


I place the Opportunity and Danger tokens on the bad guys, and though both are in a similar situation, I decide that the guy on the left has a Danger token just because the Ally with the rifle is close enough as to be a danger...


So, let´s stat with turn 5. I draw a card, and it´s an enemy´s warband card, according to the AI actoiivation order, I activate the guy on the right of Lady Madeleine, and after having a look at the flowchart, he attacks our Ally with his axe.


Both of them roll their dice, the bad guy has a +2 bonus (+1 because he has an axe and anoter +1 because there are two of the bad guy attacking Lady Madeleine), and our Ally has a -1 (beacuse she is injured, and every injure gives a -1 to EVERY die roll) and after rolling their dice, the result is that she is succesful (3) with her hit and the bad guy fails his blow (0)...


She rolls a die in the Injury table, and as the difference between both die rolls is more than 5, she has a +2 bonus in the Injury table die roll. She rolls her die and scores a 3, but we have to add +2 because the difference betweeen both die rolls was equal or more than 5, som she makes it a 5, making an injury on the bad guy and killing him...


We draw another card from the activation deck and a Player´s warband card comes out, and as Lady Madeleine is making her day I decide to activate her to hit the other bad guy.



She attacks him, he has a +1 bonus because he is attacking with an axe, and she has a -1 modifier because she is injured (I´m starting to think that maybe I should have done another thing). 
Both roll their dice in a Melee Weapon test, and the results are 1 for him and a 9 for Lady Madeleine.


She fails the attack, and the bad guy is succesful, but not only he hits Lady Madeleine, but he rolls in the injury table with a +4 modifier (+2 beacuse the difference between bot h die rolls is 5 or more, and +2 because the bad guy scored a natural 1 on the dice)...
thnigs are getting though to Lady Madeleine...
The bad guy rolls a die on the Injury table with a +4 modifier, and he rolls a 6, that would become a 10 with the +4 modifier...
So, Lady Madeline is KO...


I draw another card from the activation deck and a player´s warband card comes out, so I decide to activate the Ally with the rifle that is close to the only one bad guy still standing.
He moves closer with his first action, and with the second one he tris to shoot the bad guy down with the rifle, but he rolls an 8, missing the shot.




I draw another card from the activation deck and I draw a trapped event card. The next character activating won´t be able to move this turn... And I only have twp characters left to activate , ouir hero and the last bad guy standing...
I draw another card from the activation deck and it´s an enemy´s warband card!!!!!


So I draw the last card in the activation deck, and it´s the last player´s warband card, I activate the last character left (our hero) who with two actions moves closer to the enemy (remenber that last turn he was grounded, not being able to move) and uses his last action to shoot the only bad guy standing...

He has a 7 Ranged Combat characteristic with a -2 mdifier as the bad guy is in cover with the car...



He rolls a die and the result is a 2, he hits the bad guy!!!
I roll a die on the Injury table and the result s a 7, so , the hero makes an injury on the last bad guy standing, killing him...



Our Hero and the Ally come out alive of this scene, with some important clues about the man that was killed that guide them to another place...

Will they find out who killed that man? 
Will they make it alive?



I hope that this battle report helps you to understand how the game system works, if you have any doubt do not hesitate to ask!!!

2 comments:

  1. I read the report as it sounds like a good game with the AI part. I don’t quite understand the AI or the success rolls. It seems like lower is “better” based on the write up e.g a 2 beats a 9. Is that the case? Is the AI different per scenario?

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  2. Yes, lower is better, in fact when you roll a 1 in a die roll that's a critical hit.

    There is a general AI, for enemies in general, but every scenario may have its own guide lines for the enemy's behavior.

    For example, in the scenario provided with the free demo the enemies act in a given way (they run towards the closer character and engage in Melee combat)

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