by Astaroz
Hi!I asked for advice and opinion on this other thread, regarding how easier is to play OL and less 'punish' on mistakes than heroes: [thread=https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2730425/too-difficult-heroe...]https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2730425/too-difficult-heroe... thread link[/thread]
However, I wanted more specific advice regarding this one. How can heroes beat the OL in Acolyte of Saradyn (first map of the campaign). As a not very experienced OL, I always go for this strategy:
-Try to position goblins so at least one of them get to the Caravan tile each turn with 2 move actions (10 spaces). This makes a normal 1 fatigue in OL zone every turn, finishing the map on turn 7/8. If the heroes don't kill that goblin / goblins before the OL's turn, this adds anothe fatigue which ends the map even faster.
-Barghests will remain in a defensive state. If a lonely hero appears near them, maybe just destroy him (using cards, whatever). In case of more heroes nearby, just use the 'large monster movement' - expanding when the move action ends. If you move two times, you also expand two times (I guess?) with the Barghest. How is this even 'reachable' if they just kite heroes. Plus, Dash card to make an extra movement just in case or to also attack before escaping).
All in all, seems pretty solid. How to counter this as heroes? In my case, 3 heroes (2 melee + 1 ranged) did not have a chance. This scenario seems to favor 4 heroes, since +2 actions per turn for just 1 goblin + 1 Barghest more, seems better at least. And you can split 2/2 to surround and ambush Barghests. Maybe this is the problem with the encounter? reducing reinforcements for the OL depending on Hero count? Well, any advice is welcome.
Back to the main point, what's your plan as heroes? It would be nice some tips for 2, 3 and 4 heroes.
Top priority for heroes should be, as I read it in other threads:
1-Getting all Search tokens
2-Objective of the encounter
3-Messing around killing things
For this encounter, this means:
1-Search as you are able to.
2-Take at least one 'Villager' token with the Hero carrying the Acolyte, which grants heroes +25 gold even if they lose. If they spend more time saving the rest and end up losing the map, they only get to save 1 villager for 25 gold.
3-Try to go directly for the Barghests? With less than 4 heroes, you cannot surroud them because if you split and someone dies too far from the rest, it's game over. If you can't surround them, they just kite you while goblings keep sneaking the caravan (in other words, some heroes must defend the caravan too).
There is so much 'to do' for the heroes and a heavy countdown to manage it. As I mentioned, if you split as < 4 heroes, it's very dangerous for the lonely guy. Maybe another strategy would be killing the goblins AND 'somehow', killing also the '2 reinforced' on the OL's end turn, to avoid their activation. If you manage to do that, no more fatigue tokens added to the OL's zone, preventing him from winning. But again, how do you do that, specially with so many variables that could go wrong (since killing all the goblins on the caravan + the respawn point on the same turn, means splitting heroes again).
It looks like I found a 'posible' and 'high risk' strategy at 4 heroes count (split 2/2). But how to approach this map anyway with less good guys? Do you houserule anything?
I really like this game, I just feel the OL role is easier and less punishing. Do you guys feel the same way? How do you approach this?
Thanks in advance!