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[Mage Knight: Lost Legions] Volkare's Comin' for Ya
admanb
unionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered User regular
unionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered User regular
Intro Guide
Rules
Lost Legion Rules
Official FAQ
Enemy Tokens and Special Abilities
Sites
The Game
We're playing Mage Knight! Mage Knight is a killer adventure/RPG/deckbuilder/sociopath simulator. Our "heroes" will each play a mighty Mage Knight -- part wizard, part warrior, all rampaging murderhobo -- they'll travel the world, "visiting" (pillaging) towns, "recruiting" (forcing into servitude) allies, and "acquiring" (conquering) keeps. They'll also do some noble things like clearing dungeons and killing rampaging orcs and dragons, but mostly by accident. Our heroes our seeking to find and conquer the capital city of the region, but they're not the only ones. Volkare showed up at the same time and the Mage Knights will need to... rescue the city from them? Destroy it before Volkare does? Conquer it just because it's there? Who knows! Either way, they're going to come in conflict with him, and he came better prepared.
Technical notes for players:
- Volkare's Return at Daring/Fair difficulty, four players.
- Full Co-op.
- Houserule: If your first draw in a round has no Move, you may mulligan it until it does.
- Generous take-backs! Like in real life, if you make a move that doesn't cause any unknown information to be revealed you can freely undo it. Assuming no one else has taken their turn, of course.
Our Heroes:
Tovak!
Norowas!
Goldyx!
Arythea!
Krang!
Wolfhawk!
Give me two character choices (or random if you don't care) and we'll get started!
@Auralynx @Kirindal @ObiFett @jakobagger
admanb on
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Yeah, I'll follow the bg thread's recommendation and be a dragon guy. Or maybe a sword lady. It's cool.
Krang or Arythea
They both look like they have sharp pointy bits.
ObiFett as Krang
Kirindal as Wolfhawk
Auralynx as Goldyx
jakobagger as Norowas
If anyone wants to switch you have until Tuesday morning.
Krang (ObiFett) - 5 hand, 11 deck.
Wolfhawk (Kirindal) - 5 hand, 11 deck.
Norowas (jakobagger) - 5 hand, 11 deck.
Goldyx (Auralynx) - 5 hand, 11 deck.
Volkare - 38 deck.
Offer | Fame/Reputation Track
Actions
@ObiFett @Kirindal @Auralynx @jakobagger to pick their tactics. Since this is co-op you can pick in any order you want, but, you know, agree amongst yourselves. Volkare will pick after all of the players.
Volkare's Return is a cooperative game run in three stages. In the first, the heroes have to build up power as they and Volkare search for the city at the bottom of the tile stack. In the second, Volkare will make for the city as soon as it is encountered, heading for it at a bee-line. In the third, the heroes will have hopefully taken over the city and can use it as a base to fend Volkare's mighty army off.
General Details
The map is limited to four columns, with Volkare's camp as one of the starting tiles. In terms of the map, the players have a little more space to explore to the bottom-right.
Time limit is standard - three days, three nights.
12 countryside tiles, 2 placed at the start.
4 core tiles.
1 city tile, at level 10.
Volkare's army is at level 20.
Volkare has a deck of 38 cards - a standard 16 card deck, plus the four competitive spells, plus 18 wounds.
The first four unit offer slots are Indecisive, marked with a mana crystal. Units in these slots may join Volkare as the game goes on.
Players always pick Tactics first, then Volkare will choose a random one from those remaining.
General Co-op Rules
Players may not end their turn on the same space as another player. They may move into Volkare, but this is considered an attack on a site and their turn will end after the attack.
Players may move into keeps owned by another player, but they will only earn bonus hand size based on how many keeps they control. They may buy units as normal.
The city has no limit on the number of players allowed in it.
If a player attacks the city or Volkare - or if Volkare attacks a player - and there are other players also adjacent to the battle, they may give up their next turn to spend appropriate move points and join in the assault. This is treated as a full turn, including any levelups that occur, but players may only move into the battle. The source is not rerolled until everyone has had their turn in this way.
If fighting the city, players agree how many tokens they will take on, and they are distributed randomly. (e.g. 'I'll take three, you take two'.)
If fighting Volkare, players agree how many normal (green/grey) and how many elite (red/white) tokens they'll take on. Same deal, except you don't get to pick exact colours. Note that Volkare also adds his own attack - rolled randomly - to every player's battle.
All tokens must be accounted for.
First Phase - Exploration
Players take their turns in order, revealing tiles and taking actions as normal.
On Volkare's turn, he takes a card from his deck.
If it is a wound, he rests for the turn, and rolls one die. If he rolls a colour matching an indecisive Unit Offer, and the unit in that slot has not been bought, it is thrown away and Volkare gains an extra keep token.
If it is an action of a colour other than red, he moves in that direction as noted on his card. Volkare automatically reveals tiles and ignores all terrain or tokens. If he is up against the edge of the map, he moves as close as he can to the direction chosen. If Volkare moves into a player in this way, they are attacked.
If it is a spell of a colour other than red, he moves twice in that direction, using the same rules.
If it is a red action, he attacks a Mage Knight adjacent to him, prioritzing by highest Fame.
If it is a red spell, he attacks a Mage Knight within two spaces, again prioritizing by highest Fame.
In all cases, if he drew a colour and there is an appropriate die in the source, it is rerolled. This includes gold during the day.
If Volkare attacks a player, they may either stand and fight - against the entire army - or take a number of wounds based on the round number: 2 during the first day or night, 3 during the second, 4 during the third.
Second Phase - The Race for the City
Volkare now moves towards the city if he draws any colour whatsoever - he no longer looks for people to attack on a red. He always takes a path that brings him closer to the city, even if tiles in the way are unrevealed.
Third Phase - Battle for the City
When Volkare is next to the City and has to move (i.e. draws a non-wound card), he assaults the city.
If the city is not yet conquered by the players, the city grants him entrance. The players lose.
If the city has been conquered but no player is present, Volkare destroys the walls and begins to plunder the city. Interaction can no longer be performed there, and the city offers no bonus hand size. If he does this twice, the city is annihiliated and the players lose.
If there are players to defend it, they resolve a battle with Volkare's army.
If the players do not kill a combined total of four enemies, Volkare has not been fended off - the players lose.
If they do managed to kill a combined total of four enemies, Volkare moves one space away from the city.
If Volkare's army is completely destroyed, the players win.
Tips
Don't reveal the city too early, or Volkare will rush your shit.
But don't reveal it too late, either. You still have a three day, three night time limit - if you're not done with Volkare in this time, you lose. Allowing Volkare to roam randomly for too long will leave him with too few cards in his deck to reach you, and you'll have to burn away a lot of time letting him come to your position. You'd think this would be good, but it doesn't really work out that way - it means you're having to discard a lot of cards you'd rather keep.
Pay attention to tile placement - you know that the city is the last on the stack. Put it somewhere beneficial to your team.
Work together to facilitate your builds! Communicate and figure out what to take for yourself, what to leave behind for other people.
By the same token, consider buying contested units as a matter of priority so that Volkare can't get them. His army is already pretty big - you don't really want it to swell any further.
Option B is probably that I use the big pile of move in my hand to go exploring.
Also where the hell did my players go?
I think I understand this weird Volkare scenario. We should leave Early Bird for @Auralynx if he feels like he can take out that first Orc enemy.
I would like Rethink if no one else wants it
If you have a ton of move, I would suggest to head to either village so you can recruit some units. Or take Great Start and hope there is a white when its your turn.
@kirindal or @jakobagger are either of you able to get rid of either of the orcs with your current hand?
I am going to take Rethink unless anyone objects.
If I've got everything figured right I can do it and then get rid of most / all of the wounds fairly readily afterwards, I'm just hoping to work it out easier.
That said, I'll revisit the rules / my figuring after work. I also suspect I can find a way to kill those new guys next to the hags, again if left a white, if someone gets the hags out of the way.
Or I can move a long way with a blue, if there is one by then, after someone else clears a lane to move through, which'd be fine too.
Your call! If someone else has a better play at them before your turn, though, I see no reason to not let them take on those Hags.
Yeah, I agree. I'm trying to preserve at least some suspense and not nearly as adept at Mage Knight Math as you guys coming out of that first game are - I've never touched the game before - so I didn't want to just be like "okay I have this stuff wut do?"
Again, I'm fairly sure I can get rid of that other dude if the hags are gone, as well, but I didn't draw anything helpful to shop with so it's probably fight or move for me one way or the other.
Waiting on those two to choose their Tactic cards
If someone else can kill the hags, do, but I'll get them if not. Just have to get a look at those two extra cards to figure out exactly how to solo them intact. ;p
I have no idea how we are gonna beat him
Man, Underground Travel suddenly looks really attractive.
I'm really hoping kirindal can kill the Hags either way, though.
The bottom ones, with the poison.
I also need to randomize Volkare's tactic (and take his turn if he gets Early Bird) but I'll do that tomorrow.