by JYoder
Played our first games last night. It went well, with most liking it well enough and only 1 not caring for it, though no one was blown away.
We played "First Blood" with me as OL against 4 heroes / players. Their first turn, they took out 3 of my 5 goblins via 2 of their heroic feats. At that point, it wasn't looking good -- my 1 reinforcement each turn couldn't keep up as they continually picked them off while hitting my ettin, even though I knocked out heroes multiples times. Nor did it help on turn 2, where 1 hero spent lots of fatigue to move, then used his heroic feat to attack Mauler 3 times, putting 9 wounds on him, and leaving only 7 to go. Near the end, they simply kept Mauler alive by not attacking him so they could get all the search items, while ignoring goblins -- I got 2 through. Very anti-climactic, as it seemed the heroes had it from the start.
So we setup the first encounter for the "Castle D" quest, but this time with 3 heroes. With my open monster choices, I selected the shadow dragon and barghests. But this time (with me still as the OL) I completely dominated, taking out distant villagers they couldn't protect with fire breath (easier with 2 attacks via OL card) and quick-moving barghests, on 1 of whom I played double movement. They understood that killing my dragon wasn't key, especially since the quest would let me bring him right back in. Anyway, it was a very quick game -- only about 4-5 turns. We didn't bother with the second encounter as people had to leave.
I like the eye candy and choices, but each of our 2 quests felt very much in the hands of one side or the other within the first 1 or 2 turns. It was our first session, so I get that we may not have been using the best strategies, but we've played these types of tactical games over the years, so we're not idiots.
I guess I'm wondering if, in general, a lot of the quests have this feel to them where it's lop-sided. Players like some nail-biting by the end, wondering who's gonna pull it off, but there was none of that in our games, as one side felt very much in control from the start, while the other scrambled to gain a foothold. As a result, there seemed a lack of anticipation and excitement.
Thoughts?