Last time: The Explorers overcame their first challenge, fending off a quartet of deadly Ur-Ghuls! Then they came across more in a combat, along with some exotic looking Spindle Drones, a deadly firefight ensued....
Taddeus calls members of his group foul heretics and mutants! Janus Draik shows off and preens his moustache! The Eldar shoots things from a distance and runs a lot, and the Navigator Espern Locarno forgets he has a psychic shield and almost gets killed by enemy reinforcements!
Now join us for the latest installment of:
Into the Blackstone Fortress!
Back at Precipice the Explorers got to relax and recuperate. All wounds, even grievous ones are healed as soon as you get to Precipice. After that each Explorer picks a ship to visit to use the facilities of and trade at. (The Ship tiles are flipped from the 'Support' to 'Facilities' side at Precipice) Explorers get bonuses for visiting their own ship but are not limited otherwise. Locarno opted to visit Draik’s ship The Vanguard, as his own vessel The Traveller was largely only good for resurrecting fallen comrades (though that would likely come in handy later!)
On The Vanguard you can gamble the Archeotech that you have on a D20 roll: a 1 sees you lose the Archeotech, 2-15 nothing happens, and if you can roll a 16+ you can take another Discovery card. Draik gets a re-roll as it's his ship. Locarno didn’t win but didn’t lose his Archeotech either so it could have been a lot worse. Had he been on The Traveller he would have gained an additional Trading Point but as he wasn’t and his Archeotech was only worth one, he couldn’t afford anything worthwhile from The Vanguard’s resource cards. (Each Ship has its own Resource deck)
Taddeus visited his own ship The Clarion, hoping to gain insight from the Emperor, he succeeded with his re-roll and gained another Clue! Only two more required to find the first Stronghold! No trading was done by any of the Explorers so it was back out into the Blackstone Fortress….
First Exploration Card: Combat!
Turn 1:
Straight into the fire; With a big map and three hostile groups this would be a much more testing combat than the last. This time it was Negavolt Cultists and two lots of Traitor Guard. With 4 Cultists and one group of 6 and one group of 4 Guard it was more than double the amount of foes we had faced last time. I was leader again by now and used Janus to make sure that ALL the Explorers would go ahead of the hostiles by using his Gambit ability.
Espern Locarno was first up and vaporised one of the closest Traitor Guard with an Eye Blast, he wounded another but couldn’t finish him off. Considering the attack used the blue D12 damage die at mid range I really was not rolling well. Still, my rolls got even worse as Janus charged to the front of the group and promptly fluffed all his attacks!
Taddeus took the right hand side and stove in the cranium of one Traitor Guard before wounding another. The group of 4 was now 2 and they were both wounded. Amallyn Shadowguide was robbed of a shooting target by the pillars that dominated the map and chose to dash into the middle to slay BOTH the Guard left with her blades. Her arrogance was her undoing as Lee missed with all his attacks leaving her woefully exposed.
First, the Negavolt cultists activated, charging the Eldar Ranger and dealing her a grievous wound with their Taser Goads (which allow for no defence roll against their attacks). The Guard group behind probably would have finished her off but couldn’t get to her as the Cultists were in the way.
But her respite was short lived as I rolled a 1 on the Blackstone die for the first group's reinforcements. Another SIX guard appeared and made a beeline straight for the Explorers. The Eldar took another two wounds from the hostiles and likely would have fallen there but for the Flamer failing to wound and the Sgt inexplicably choosing to retreat, running away from a certain kill. Tad
Taddeus got an inspiration point from his kill and the event die result allowed another to be given out so I gave it to Locarno as Janus and Amallyn definitely didn't deserve it.
Turn 2:
All of our Gambits fail but Lee, as leader, uses The Vanguard’s support ability to move Locarno from the back end of the track. as all the other Explorers are in an We need a good turn here or the expedition is doomed. The Eldar only rolls one die as three spaces are taken up by wound counters but it is a six which will allow her to retreat supposing she lives long enough to use her Phase Crystal.
Taddeus leads by example, bellowing rhetoric and smashing two Traitor Guard to a bloody pulp. Screaming pious obscenities. Locarno only manages to kill one with his Third Eye and this time I do actually pick up the die to make sure that it DOES have four critical facings (it does - I just clearly suck at rolling it)
The Ranger manages to fend off the attacks of the Traitor Guard and then uses her 6 on a Phase Crystal to retreat, allowing her to escape the Guard AND move through a pillar to relative safety. Her standard move of three hexes is proving to be useful and she easily outpaces the enemy. Lee then uses a destiny die to allow her to roll her Vitality die and heal a wound.
Janus cuts down the flamer toting Traitor Guard nonchalantly but is unwilling to wade into the middle having seen how close the Eldar came to being struck down. He is holding up the left gap between pillars and Taddeus the right. Espern Locarno is standing a bit further back lending support and the Eldar Ranger is licking her wounds out of sight.
The Traitor Guard get a wound on Taddeus with a Lasgun but the Priest grits his teeth and fights on. Negavolt Cultist stream into the space vacated by the Ranger, only their large bases size stops them from getting to the explorers (there is a limit on how many can fit in each hex) The restricted line of sight on the map is the only thing stopping the Explorers from being cut down like chaff.
Ok I must confess around about this point in the game I got SO involved that I stopped making detailed notes. I was having too much fun, sue me!
The Event phase bought back one of the Guardsmen we had killed but Locarno gained another Inspiration point (my crappy dice rolls might have been producing enemy reinforcements left and right but they were also good for Inspiration rolls! Locarno immediately used the three points and flipped his card to the Inspired side. His Third Eye blast changed from 1D12 to 2D8, becoming a lot more reliable (in theory). In addition his vitality improved and his powers became a bit easier to use.
Turn 3:
Taddeus held the tide here, the Ministorum Priest weathering attack after attack. Nonetheless he suffered two grievous wounds as well as one normal wound. He used a Destiny dice (6+) to heal his own wound and also benefit the Eldar by healing one of hers too as she was in an adjacent hex. Grievous wounds were too serious to heal though. It would be back to Precipice for sure after this fight, we had better make it count.
The Eldar took another wound from enemy fire, it was a good thing the Priest had healed her. Thankfully no hostile groups reinforced, so it was just a matter of killing what was left. Locarno made use of his improved powers, blasting Traitor Guard left and right and heading down the nearest corridor to the Discovery Point. With the middle of the field now cleared a little, the opportunistic Eldar saw a chance to Search the Discovery point and did so, drawing a Clue with a 4+ Destiny dice. Taddeus headed to the point on the right hand side of the map/ Janus Draik was in far better shape than the Eldar or Priest and deftly slew another two Traitor Guard.
The last turn saw little action and thankfully no reinforcements. Locarno grabbed another Clue and summoned the Mag Lev to escape. Spotting an escape route the wounded Eldar headed straight for the chamber, her fast movement ensuring she would get there. We now had enough clues to assault the Stronghold. Taddeus searched the last Discovery point and found some Archeotech.
There were few enough enemy left now that we could avoid them, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, another reinforcement group could have undone us but eventually with Janus Draik brining up the rear we all got on the Mag-Lev and escaped.
Where we had a decision to make; we now had enough clues to take on the first Stronghold, however, two of our party were grievously wounded and to do so would likely be suicide. Taddeus and The Eldar would be unlikely to survive another encounter. Locarno did have a wound but thanks to his increased vitality managed to heal it. Strongholds are a series of small encounters followed by a large map full of tough enemies. Best left for another day. Grievous wounds could not be healed till we went back to Precipice so it was time to add another legacy card to the game and return to lick our wounds.
this time it was the 'No Escape Route' Card. This would mean that in future if we decided to end an expedition we would have to roll a dice. On a 1, 10 or 20 we would be forced to draw another Exploration card to face before we could return to the safety of Precipice. Future explorations would be a lot more perilous...…
Gameplay Review:
I really like Blackstone Fortress. It takes the Silver Tower formula, adds the improvements made in Hammerhal and a dash of Shadespire and comes up with something nice and involved and challenging. There's always something going on and the game is constantly changing, almost like a Legacy game. Games Workshop have already committed to expanding upon the game so it will be supported to make you feel like you are getting great value. Even just the core game though, represents a lot of gameplay.
The presentation is also sensational, with high quality components and a real attention to detail, from the miniatures to the tiles to the various components like the initiative track. It's excellent design. A particular note must be made of the stasis vaults which are custom bags to store your characters progress in between games. The only slight faults that I could possibly direct at the game are the tightness of the rules (expect plenty of FAQs over the next few months) and the slightly awkward card sizes as I would certainly suggest sleeving at least some of the cards. Still these are minor gripes and I highly recommend Blackstone Fortress, I have already played more of it than most other GW standalone games!
And of course, our Explorers adventurers will continue...….
I really like Blackstone Fortress. It takes the Silver Tower formula, adds the improvements made in Hammerhal and a dash of Shadespire and comes up with something nice and involved and challenging. There's always something going on and the game is constantly changing, almost like a Legacy game. Games Workshop have already committed to expanding upon the game so it will be supported to make you feel like you are getting great value. Even just the core game though, represents a lot of gameplay.
The presentation is also sensational, with high quality components and a real attention to detail, from the miniatures to the tiles to the various components like the initiative track. It's excellent design. A particular note must be made of the stasis vaults which are custom bags to store your characters progress in between games. The only slight faults that I could possibly direct at the game are the tightness of the rules (expect plenty of FAQs over the next few months) and the slightly awkward card sizes as I would certainly suggest sleeving at least some of the cards. Still these are minor gripes and I highly recommend Blackstone Fortress, I have already played more of it than most other GW standalone games!
And of course, our Explorers adventurers will continue...….
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