July Scrum Rnd2 - Madrak2 Vs. Baldur1

Last night I got my round two of the July Scrum league in vs. Jordan and he was kind enough to allow me to pause the clock between rounds to take a picture to write a detailed report.  I am extremely excited to be writing this match up because it was one of the best kinds of game: it swung wildly back and forth, with the game ending on Turn 7 with me at 40 seconds and Jordan at 30 seconds.  I'm very grateful to Jordan for the match and look forward to other matches in the future.

Jordan's Lists

Baldur1 Bones of Orboros
-Megalith
-Wold Guardian
-Woldwarden
-Woldwatcher
-Woldwyrd
-Woldwyrd

Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikin
Shifting Stones
Celestial Fulcrum

Kaya2 - No Theme
-Laris
-Feral
-Gnarlhorn
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Argus
-Druid Wilder
Feralgeist
Lord fo the Feast
Reeves of Orboros (min)
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravagers (min) + Chieftain

Matchup Analysis

So it's a Bones list and Kaya2 out of theme, my initial thoughts are "look at the stones on this guy!".  Trolls have always been a bit of a bad matchup for Circle in the game and it seems immediately obvious my drop is going to be Madrak2 and Jordan will be forced into Baldur1.  Simply put both of my lists can run over Kaya's list without breaking a sweat, particularly Grim2.  Conversely out of the two I'm probably better off with Madrak into Baldur.  This is exactly what happened, Jordan didn't even bring his Kaya list with him when he arrived to play our game.

For reference my Madrak2 list is:

Trollblood - Madrak2 Toughallo

Theme: Band of Heroes
3 / 3 Free Cards     74 / 75 Army

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender - WB: +28
-    Trollkin Runebearer - PC: 0
-    Dire Troll Mauler - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 15)
-    Dire Troll Bomber - PC: 19 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)

Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist - PC: 5

Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
-    Stone Scribe Elder - PC: 3
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Kriel Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 11

Our Scenario was The Pit 2.

Deployment

I wont the roll off to go first and Jordan picked his table side. Since we both had an extra 2" of deployment we were starting off really close to each other.

My Turn 1

I respected the output of the Woldwyrds to murder Longriders with Blood Fury on them, so I simply dump all my Fury onto the stone and run forward, keeping everything except one Long Rider under the aura and sing for no continuous effects.

Jordan Turn 1

Since I had zero chill, Jordan was forced to feat turn 1.  This sees him kill a Longrider from my left flank with a Woldwyrd, Fulcrum, and Woldwatcher finally finishing it off and creating a forest out of its corpse. On the right flank Jordan takes some Geomancy shots at my Longriders doing minimal damage, but he makes a mistake by running the Manikins to jam before taking his shots with the Woldwyrd.  He misses my Longrider and kills his Manikin furthest to my right.

Of note - I forgot to deploy Eilish and Jordan was kind enough to allow me to put him at the back of my lines, so I had him hide in a trench.

My Turn 2

After some careful measurements, I am able to get one Longrider over the wall and into the Woldwyrd on my right flank and one Longrider can engage it over the wall - all without entering Baldur's control area.  Madrak puts Bloodfury on the right most Longriders and then fills the stone, sitting on 1 after a Harmonious Exaltation. I was careful to stay more than 2" from the forest, respecting Baldur's assassination.

The Fellcaller gets puppet master from Eilish and then activates (after the stone!) and sprays off one of the Manikins to clear my charge lane, and then sings Pathfinder on the Longriders (they were out of Baldurs feat). Luckily I do no damage to my Longrider.

I'm able to kill the right Woldwyrd with the Long Riders and while I am able to get a single rider to the Sentry stone, it leaves it on one box.

On the left flank I call pathfinder to allow the Longriders to shift left and I'm able to just toe my Bomber into Baldur's forest to see through to the other side to kill a Shifting stone. Jordan shield guards the first shot, but the second shot is able to kill a stone and take teleportation off the table.

Jordan's Turn 2

Jordan decided that murdering Trolls was his fucking job and it was time to go to work. The left Woldwyrd shifts right and shoots two Longriders off the table thanks to them having an upkeep on them. The Blackclad gets hunters mark on the unit and then Megalith and a Woldwarden decide to kill the other riders, with more than enough fury to Earth Spikes and knock down the right Fell Caller, then kill my Runbearer, with his crit knocking down Madrak, my left Fell Caller, and a Kriel Warrior.

Jordan uses his still alive Sentry Stone to make a Manikin who then sprays down part of my Krielstone. He then runs and Jams up my stuff with shifting stones and the Woldguardian has the +2STR/ARM spell on it (which I forget about).

To top it off he's also able to kill two more Longriders from my left flank with his Fulcrum and the Watcher, scoring 1 point.

Overall, I'm astonished I'm still able to sit comfortably as I write this after the ass beating Jordan laid down here. Suffice it to say I didn't at all expect to lose nearly that much. On the plus side, Jordan was not able to kill my objective and score more than 1 VP.

My Turn 3

My initial plan was to have the Longriders and Fell Caller kill the Woldwarden, the Mauler kills Megalith, and then the Bomber kills the Woldguardian. Simple, right? Turns out this was less simple and more of a "I'll try to do too much and as a result accomplish nothing for $500, Alex."

Since my Runebearer was dead, I should have noticed my plan was utterly doomed to failure since I couldn't upkeep Blood Fury and so would need to cast it and then two Rage's to properly achieve my goals. I similarly couldn't actually charge the Woldguardian and so would need Madrak's feat to et into him, burning 1 attack off the Bomber. I also forgot the Guardian had the +2 ARM spell.

Madrak stupidly goes first, sacrificed movement to stand, feats, then throws his axe to kill the Manikin in the Longriders way.  I put Bloodfury on the riders, and then Rage on the Bomber.

My left Fell Caller sacrificed action to stand and then walks 5" and calls to stand up the other Fell Caller.  Eilish gives that Fell Caller puppet master (another mistake, it should have gone on the Mauler). The Stone activates for +1 STR, and then the right Fell Caller charges into the Warden, doing decent damage and not even needing the Puppet Master.

The Longriders charge and impact attack and I kill it between two impact attacks and one charge attack, they Reposition out of the Maulers way.

The Mauler is dice off 2 from Megalith since he didn't have Rage and I decide the extra attacks are better.  I charge in, missing my second initial and losing the chain attack. I proceed to roll a bunch of 5's for damage and leave all of Megaliths systems up.  The Bomber similarly fails to do too much to the Woldguardian, though he kills two Stones for my trouble due to Feat.

On the bright side my Kriel Warriors with near zero buffs on them decide to charge in and utterly annihilate the Woldwatcher.

If I wasn't hell bent on making mistakes I would have Jammed up the Woldguardian with 2-3 Kriel Warriors and used the Bomber to possibly kill the objective and if I had enough Kriel Warriors left maybe I score a point by killing the Woldwatcher anyway.  Rage and Puppet Master goes on the Mauler who would then murder Megalith and then I'm way ahead on the piece trade and at least tying scenario.

Jordan Turn 3

If you remember Turn 2, you'll know that Fucking Murdering Trolls is Jordan's job description.  Megalith gets +2 STR from a Stonekeeper and walks to be able to kill the Mauler and hopefully kill the Objective.  Luckily for me he has to focus everything on killing the Mauler and isn't able to kill the Objective.  I pulled the 5 Fury off the Mauler when it dies.

The Sentry Stone spawns a new Manikin who then kills my right Fell Caller. The Woldguardian gets an additional +2 STR from another Stonekeeper and trivially murders my Bomber.

The Woldwyrd starts gunning down Longriders, but isn't able to kill them all. In fact he's only able to force a Tough on one rider, who gets charged and killed by a Blackclad who then Battle Wizards to kill some more of my Kriel Stone.

The only area where Jordan didn't completely meet his Troll Murder Quota was with the Fulcrum who only killed a few Kriel Warriors.  The other bit of good news is that no one scores anything on Scenario this turn, so I'm only down 0-1.

My Turn 4

This turn I finally decided that Sticks and Stones have broken enough of my bones and the best way to make them never hurt me again is to annihilate them.

Madrak upkeeps Bloodfury on the single Longrider.  The Fell Caller activates and puts +2 MAT on the Krielstone unit.  The Stone spends a fury for +1 STR and then declares a Charge/Run to kill the goddamn Blackclad who sprayed them down.

The Longrider has similarly had enough of the shit out of the Woldwyrd and Sentry Stone. I charge the Woldwyrd and am able to get impact attacks on both the Woldwyrd and the Sentry Stone. The Sentry Stone dies and I miss the Woldwyrd with my impact.  I roll like goddamn FIRE on the charge attack and leave it on like two boxes. Madrak activates, casts Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors.

The Kriel Warriors decide to continue to be bosses, two charge the Stonkeeper and CMA to get a hit and kill him.  The others charge into the Woldguardian, and then rip it to shreds. I'm able to redirect a charge attack into the Woldwyrd, I hit, and then take the last points off.  As such I score the center zone.  Score is now tied, 1-1.

Jordan's Turn 4

Here is where things start going bad for Jordan.  He's only able to kill a few of the Kriel Warriors, notably failing to clear the left zone and score due to dice keeping one contesting Warrior alive.

He is able to kill my objective and clear the right zone, scoring two VP's here. He also sacrifices a Stonekeeper to prevent me from scoring the center.  Score is now 3-1 for Jordan.

My Turn 5

Madrak gets his two free Fury from the dead beasts and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors.  The Stone activates and sings for +1 STR and I move the one model to contest the left zone. He misses the Stone Shaper.

Eilish gives Madrak Puppet Master.  Madrak activates, aims, and boosts to hit the Shaper, killing him and clearing the center zone.  The Kriel Warriors charge into the Fulcrum and carve off damage. The Fell Caller charges in, and fails to kill. The Long Rider has to charge in and is finally able to kill the Fulcrum.  I made a mistake in forgetting to reposition the Long Rider and turn him to face Jordan's models coming into the center zone.

Clock is getting low. Score is now 3-2, sill in favor of Jordan.

Jordan Turn 5

I forgot to take a picture here, though what occurred should be apparent in the next picture.

Megalith moves up and kills the contesting Stone model in melee, then Geomancies and kills my Stone Scribe Elder and the last grunt in the Stone unit, leaving only the Bearer itself. Jordan puts a forest up to block LOS to Megalith who is now contesting the center zone.  Jordan scores my left zone and the score is now 4-2 in favor of Jordan.

My Turn 6

Madrak gets his two fury and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors.  The Warriors and Fell Caller charge the objective and kill it, with the two Kriel Warriors who couldn't get in taking position to contest the center zone. Madrak and the Stone run to the right zone and I make a critical error, I leave Madrak within 2" of the forest, forgetting about Baldur's threat.

I position the Fell Caller just outside of Megalith's 9" threat.

Eilish decides to sacrifice himself for the cause and contests the left zone. 

I score two points, tying the game 4-4.

Jordan's Turn 6

Jordan decides to go for the assassination I dutifully gave him.  Megalith moves up and then misses Madrak with his Geomancy.  Baldur doesn't upkeep the forest, casts it on himself, then teleports to within 2" of Madrak.  He's got 4 Fury.

He boosts to hit Madrak (3 Fury left) and hits, but I sacrifice it to the Stone, who suffers the Weight of Stone effect, and then decides to pass his Tough check. Baldur buy's the attack on the stone and kills it (2 Fury left).  He buys on Madrak again (1 Fury left), misses, and then he decides to camp his last Fury.

I score on Jordan's turn, bringing the game 5-4 in favor of me.

My Turn 7

Given that I'm under two minutes on clock, I decided to avoid the assassination and just play it safe. Fell Caller gives +2 MAT to the Kriel Warriors who charge into Baldur, one hits doing 8 damage. More importantly they get within 3" of Madrak who runs away from Baldur, taking the free strike and then killing the Kriel Warrior because Grim Salvation lets you sacrifice even free strikes.  I run to the other corner of the zone thinking there's no way Baldur can get to me and that's game.

What I should have realized was that he could teleport to me again and that to cement the game I could just surround Madrak with Kriel Warriors to really make sure I can't die, but I just try to put them in the way.

Still, I score yet another VP for the left zone and bring the score to 6-4, thinking I've won the game. I clock back to Jordan with only 40 seconds left on my clock. I didn't even activate the Longrider.

Jordan's Turn 7

Jordan decides to pull yet another Surprise Motherfucker! He teleports Baldur to Madrak and I think I've lost the game. Baldur is down to 4 Fury for this assassination run.

He boosts to hit Madrak and hits (3 Fury left). He rolls a 5 for damage, Madrak takes 2.  Jordan proceeds to buy his next three attacks and after everything is said and done his damage rolls are so poor that Madrak is left with 10 health when Baldur is out of fury and only 30 seconds left on his clock.  Jordan does run to contest, leaving the score 6-4 and I win by scenario at the end of turn 7.

Conclusions

This game was insane! I managed to survive two assassination runs, and while that's normally not very surprising with Madrak2, in these situations it is very surprising.  Dice saved my ass when I made two mistakes that gave Jordan two assassination runs I didn't have to give him.  I also was able to recover from a critical set of mistakes on Turn 3 on my part and the late game idea of weapon master Kriel Warriors really came through.


Clock was extremely tight and was definitely forcing us to move very quickly so that's definitely a factor towards the end of the game where possibly better decisions could have been made. Still, I won this game through a series of critical dice rolls: Jordan failing to kill a contesting Kriel Warrior on Turn 4 was massive, and then my passing the tough check on my Stonebearer on  his Turn 6 assassination run ate through enough of his fury to keep me alive.

Overall it was an incredible game, the kind that really makes you appreciate Warmachine.  I look forward to playing Jordan again.

My conclusions going forward is to take notice of exactly how fucking good higher model count lists are in scenario. I remember that from the last Scrum in 2017 and it seems just as true today.  Looking forward and knowing that I want to play Convergence, primarily in Destruction Initiative, I'm going to start having the kinds of large attrition swings in my games if I can't mitigate my opponents.  The model count and unit buff on the late game Kriel Warriors really saved me here.  I'm going to need to keep that in mind as I move forward.

Curse Of Enchantia - Ice Rage: The Meltdown

Written by Alfred n the Fettuc

We should really make a list of the seven cardinal sins of adventure game design someday (even if the list would probably be closer to seventy) but I'm pretty sure two sins would make the list pretty easily.

1. You should never make a puzzle so obscure the only way to solve it is to stumble upon the solution by sheer luck or while trying something completely different.
2. When you know the solution to a puzzle, you should be able to solve it without having to spend one hour trying to make the game understand what you're trying to do.

What is interesting is that these two problems are directly related to the interface of the game. While the former is bound to happen again and again with the interface getting simpler with every game (for example I want to climb on a stool but my character ends up pushing it), the latter is bound to disappear for exactly the same reason. In ye olde text adventures you have to discover exactly the way the developer wants you to interact with the game, but with a one-click interface, you don't have to figure out the logic, you just have to click on the item and see what happens.

What's really great with Curse of Enchantia is that you have these two sins combined, which is something of a rarity. Add the fact maybe that "having only one music track for a ten-hour long game" might be one of the sins and you're in for an unforgettable experience.

After a nice long chat with my friend the yeti, it's time to get back to it…

When we left Brad, he was having some quality time with a yeti in the vast ice wasteland that's hidden in the costume shop changing room. The first thing you notice is that the yeti swallowed some kind of green frog when you enter the place. I then pick up the snowball on the left of the screen and throw it at the yeti. It becomes enraged and runs towards me… but trips over the edge of the lake and falls face down, spitting the frog in the process.

Brad's technique for dealing with any danger : let it trip over something.

The frog then jumps away and nothing seems to have been accomplished by this for now… Maybe I'll encounter the frog-like creature later in the game but considering the randomness of the whole thing, there is a distinct possibility I won't.

Searching for the vast area around me I find several things:

• I pick up a wood board and something that looks like an oxygen-tank or a thermos.
• There is a hole in the ice from which a fish jumps out regularly. I seem to be able to interact with the fish at a very precise moment but can't catch it or do anything with it.
• A nice little igloo with an eskimo guy is a bit farther on the east but approaching the eskimo gets him to fall on his face. Maybe he's scared of me or something.
• Some kind of shield seems to be trapped in ice in some place.
• There is a huge seal in one place that just waves at me and when I come back there, he's gone. Maybe he was a friend of the frog and was used as a roadblock.

May I interest you in some fine leather jackets?

I spend some time searching for every nook and cranny of the place but can't find anything else. This is where I stumble upon a solution by sheer luck. I've tried a lot of random things everywhere I could for quite a long time. The fainted/hiding eskimo is notably an area where I try everything on everything: give him money, give him meat, try to use the paperclip or the magnet on the fishing hole, entering the igloo… I realize that the eskimo drops down every time I approach him too much. Entering the screen from different places seem to allow me to get closer before he trips but it doesn't help me. This is when I try attacking the eskimo, then throwing the wood board at him.

Come on buddy, stop playing dead. I know you can hear me.

And it seems that throwing the plank was the solution, but not for the eskimo. When I do that, I get the thumbs up and Brad goes aaaaaaaaaall the way on the left (I'm talking four or five screens of scrolling) by himself and puts the wood board on the hole from where the fish is jumping.

Hmmmm… yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to do.

I honestly don't know what is worse: having a character walk for ten minutes by himself to do something you didn't plan at all with the command you just gave him or having to be in the exact place where something is supposed to happen (Future Wars or Beneath a Steel Sky style). Well, no use rambling about it… I pick up the fish!

And another example of fine puzzle design happens a few minutes after that. Trying to do something with the oxygen tank/thermos/whatever that might be, I try every command on it and WEARING it works. Turns out the thermos was a deodorant bottle and that the eskimo was not hiding but fainting from the apparently horrible smell that was coming from my armpits.

Once again, I wish I was kidding.

Not trying to make too much sense with this puzzle that would be more in its place with a Leisure Suit Larry game than a fantasy one, I manage to approach the eskimo to talk to him. He asks me for the fish and gives me his fishing pole in exchange.

I mean: the guy lives alone in the middle of nowhere with no bathroom,
eating fish and wearing a huge parka in the sun and I'm the smelly one?

I try once again to do several logical things with the fishing pole like attaching my magnet or my paperclip to it or trying to throw it in the different fishing holes that I see but it turns out you have to ATTACK the shield taken in ice with it. Brad then breaks the pole in two and uses it to make a fire.

Again: sheer luck

The fire makes the ice melt and it's revealed the shield was not a shield at all but some kind of green goblin (that I want to call Bob for some reason) frozen in ice. Maybe it was the frog-like creature that had been swallowed by the yeti but it doesn't look like it apart from the color green.

I am as surprised as you that it worked, little buddy.

Trying to interact with Bob, I can't seem to do anything except picking up the ashes from the fire, which I do. Exiting the screen and coming back again, I see that Bob has disappeared. I walk endlessly in the ice wasteland for a moment before realizing that a crevice that was in the northwestern section of the map is now occupied by what seems to be the seal from earlier.

He's not a very good "hide and seek" player

I cross the crevice and try to yell "Help" for him to react but it does something else entirely. A saw appears in the wall and carves a tunnel. It's my new friend Bob! He shows himself and tells me to follow him.

Kids, never follow strange frog-like creatures you don't know.

Okay, I'm sorry but I have to pause here. Nothing I've done since the beginning of this play session has been done on purpose. I stumbled upon every solution without really understanding everything. This area is very short when you know what you're doing but I spent the better part of an hour blindly stumbling from stupid puzzle solution to stupid puzzle solution. And even playing through it a second time doesn't really make more sense. What is the trigger of the seal for him to help me? Is he a friend of the frog? Why am I supposed to use the ATTACK command on the ice cube with the fishing pole? Was it really Bob inside the yeti's mouth? Was the whole ordeal only to grab some ashes for later? Is it still worth trying to make some sense out of this game?

Then again, all of this would have been made much easier and much more fulfilling with two very simple things: LESS COMMANDS (just having a "use" command would have made everything better than having to play "guess the verb" like it's an obtuse parser interface) and MORE DESCRIPTIONS (just have a way of telling me the air tank/thermos is a deodorant can and I will gladly try to wear it).

Anyway, I go through Bob's tunnel and arrive a beautiful shore.

This costume shop closet is definitely bigger on the inside.

I jump on the boat and start to cross the channel… but something hits it in the middle and the boat explodes, throwing my into the icy waters. Brad doesn't seem to be sensitive to cold because he just swims back. I then throw my ashes in the water (don't ask me why. At this point I try just everything on every item I have in my inventory before I try to think) and a huge sea dragon offers me a ride.

Is the sea dragon that eats ashes also an obscure UK reference?
Did Nessie eat exclusively roasted fishing poles?

The sea dragon then brings me to the entrance of a huge ice palace. It definitely looks like an endgame location but unfortunately, the completion percentage in the option screen is only at 54…

The penguin family lightens the mood of this place though.

The solution for opening the door is pretty straightforward for once. I pull the stalactites in order from the longer to the shorter (as shown by the penguins, or… you know… the first order I would have tried anyway) and the door opens. I enter the castle and I find a hall with a broom and a table with some dices on it.

Maybe I surprised the janitor while he was having a break playing dices?

I pocket the broom (as any adventure game protagonist with regular-sized pockets would do) but picking up the dices closes the door. I have to throw them again on the table (I see the result of the roll every time) for the door to open again, which makes me think that every throw leads to a different place.

Bim! Craps! Yahtzee! Okay you got me I don't know any dice game rules.

Entering the door with any combination still leads to the same corridor, though, but with different doors openings on the sides. In the beginning of the corridor I also see a weird jigsaw-like contraption which involves a gun holster as a counterweight.

Spooky

At the very end of the corridor there is a big window. I can look through it to see Bob waving at me. I guess I have to open the window somehow but nothing I try works.

Hey little buddy! Want a shot at sidekick of the year?

Searching in the rooms I opened with my natural 18 on the dices, I find a piece of stalactite I break by ATTACKING with my broom, a magnifying glass and a very accurately drawn gun on a shelf I manage to grab once again by ATTACKING with my broom…

Why don't you keep the gun for the final battle now, Brad?

Using the gun as a counterweight in the main corridor lowers the dish that was suspended out of my range (which, surprisingly enough, I don't reach by ATTACKING it with my broom) in which I find a glass piece and some kind of suntan lotion.

But I'm suspicious now. It might also be fire starter or yellow paint.

Despite the fact that the glass piece looks like it would perfectly work to complete the magnifying glass that seems broken, I can't do anything with it, nor can I wear or drink the suntan lotion. I go back to the dice room and try a few more times to roll the dices, which opens new doors apparently without a lot of coherence or reason. I'm sure there is some logic behind the rolls and the doors opening but I don't have the patience to try and look into the developers crazed minds.

For example, an 8 closes all the doors… makes perfect sense.

After at least fifteen dice rolls (I've never been a lucky dice player), I manage to open enough doors. I put my grubby hands on a megaphone, a big ice cube and a hydraulic jack, keeping the tradition for random items strewn across the game world. Going back in the main corridor, I stumble upon a whistle simply lying on the ground. I take it and I am a bit surprised to see I manage to despite the fact that my inventory was full five seconds ago… Looking through it I realize that my magnet on a string has simply disappeared… Maybe I did use it inadvertently? It seems I didn't and the game simply decided to get rid of it for no other reason that I won't need it later on. I can picture the game developers in their office:

-"Hey if we add an item here, the player inventory will be full".
-"Who gives a hoot? Just remove one of the randoms items we make him keep for the last five hours, nobody will mind"
-"Yeah, you're right. If they had the patience to reach this point of the game, their brain is probably already dead anyway. Let's do some more drugs and create more puzzles!"

At least the inventory is more colorful now than when it was full of rocks.

So I'm guessing now that the magically appearing whistle announces that I found every item I needed because I can't take the dices anymore to open/close any more doors. I'm pretty sure I'll have to use the megaphone somehow in order to talk to Bob outside. I try to break the window with the stalactite, the megaphone, try to open it with the jack, blow the whistle, etc… nothing works. The "Trying everything on everything" is much harder now that I have ten distinct inventory items in my pocket. Turns out the solution involves COMBINING the whistle and the megaphone and then ATTACKING the window with this combo.

Seems obvious in retrospect now but remember half a dozen other
commands could have worked for the same result.

This here is the example of cardinal sin I was talking about in the beginning of the post. I spent several minutes trying to make Brad understand I wanted to break the window somehow and several more minutes (okay let's be honest, not so much but it felt like a long time) trying to make him blow the whistle/megaphone thingy. I needed to use the ATTACK command but why couldn't I use the COMBINE command? The USE command? The UNLOCK command? Even the EAT command could have been considered a way to put the whistle in my mouth. If you have to use a dozen commands for your game, at least consider having two different solutions for a puzzle?

Anyway, jumping through the window unfortunately doesn't result in Brad plummeting to his death but allows entrance to another ice room. Which makes me ask: where is Bob? He really seemed like he was waving at me from far away, possibly from the exterior of the castle. And why are two rooms connected by a window and not a door? Every little detail like this really work against the coherence of the whole game and make it seem like a dream (or more accurately, a nightmare) to go through. But then again, the whole land is called Enchantia, so everything can be resumed by: you know, it's magic!

And now a magical raygun I'm guessing I'll have to absorb using my suntan lotion.

The solution to this room is straightforward enough (which is kind of a relief compared to the rest of the game). You have to put your reflective items in the holes to redirect the laser ray. A bit of trial and error is involved but you have to put in that order: the magnifying glass, the ice cube, the stalactite and the glass shard. The laser ray then goes back to its source and blows it up.

Magical explosion!

 I now can go use the jack on the hole in the door in order to open it. That seemed like a lot of work considering the laser didn't seem very dangerous in the first place (I didn't even have a nice "electrified Brad" animation going through it) but I won't complain: I did have something to blow up and that's always nice in my book.

The most discreet heist ever

In the next room I find myself in front of… the Enchantress herself! Could it be the final battle? The ultimate showdown? The war to end all wars?

What is your throne made of? The whale's tongue from KQ4?

The enchantress throws blue light balls at me that freeze me on the spot. I have to jump with the right timing in order to avoid them. It's simple enough and just when I'm in front of the enchantress, possibly with finally a chance to get rid of my nemesis and restore peace in the galaxy… Brad climbs the stairs, sits on the throne and he's ejected by a big cushion on a spring.

Boing

Well that was anticlimactic… I land in another nondescript room in the ice castle with only one door. I try to go towards the door. Suddenly, a huge hand appears from nowhere and grabs Brad!

Hand of Fate foretelling or Zelda's Wallmaster reference?

I had a rare moment of fun here because I suddenly understood what I had to do AND managed to make the interface do my bidding without ten tries. It seems like nothing but after a few hours in this piece of crap game, I was overwhelmed by a wave of relief. I WORE the suntan lotion (or cooking oil, or lubricant) and it worked! I became slippery and the hand let me go!

I'm afraid it might be the best puzzle in the whole game

I go through the door and arrive in front of two doors. Then I go through the left door and arrive in front of another door. Then another room with two doors… Oh no… Oh my goodness. Please tell me it's not true. Not… *shivers*... a MAZE?

Brad is hiding his tearful eyes away from the camera.

Turns out it looks like a maze alright but considering you can retrace your steps, I just went through and spent some time going through doors completely randomly, and it seemed to work. At some point I find a box of matches and finally arrive in a room that's unlike all the others.

Not the screenshot of the year, but it comes after twelve lookalike rooms so it's already something.

After this wannabe labyrinth, I find another place that looks more like an ice cave than an ice palace. There is a big rock sitting in a corner next to… a fire extinguisher! One of the items the giant parrot asked me to find (I'm pretty sure that the sentence "I need to find a fire extinguisher because the giant parrot asked me to" has been previously said by at least one serial killer in history).

There is also a pattern in this game regarding orcs wearing tutus.

I try to push the orc (or at least his foot, because it's the only interactive area I can find), scratch a match on the foot, prick it with my paperclip, give him money, but to no avail. Interestingly enough, when I try to go through the door behind him, the eyes of the orc follow me. I try hiding behind the ice pillar and it works! The orc falls asleep. However, going back near him to try something wakes him up everytime. I try throwing a match at him. I try a lot of other stuff. But the solution is : you have to wait for the orc to fall asleep then ATTACK him with the matchbox. Then Brad walks next to the orc and… I don't really know… scratch the foot with the scraper part of the matchbox? The result is that the orc yells and jumps through the ceiling.

I have no idea what's happening here.

My best guess is that Brad scratches a match on the matchbox and uses it to burn the foot. However the fact that you have two inventory items (a match and a matchbox) makes you want to use the match in some way. But no: you have to attack the foot with the matchbox for whatever reason. This is once again another example of the sin of knowing what you want to do but can't find a way to do it. I knew the solution would involve burning the orc's foot in one way or another, but I spent way more time than I should have trying to figure out once again the crazy logic in the developers' minds…

Anyway, I pick up the fire extinguisher and Mr Benn appears out of thin air to bring me back to the town.

If you can teleport like that, why didn't you send me in this fraking room directly?

And this is it for this play session. I'm back in the town center with a match and a fire extinguisher. At least I feel like I'm making some progress, but it's far from a smooth ride. The worst thing is that this whole part had a few interesting puzzles but everything is drowned into poor puzzle design and madcap logic. Let's meet in the same place next time to see if I can find a way to disguise into a pig in order to pass the beetle guard and find an electric fan for my friend the giant parrot!

Session time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total time: 6 hours 30 minutes

Inventory: Paperclip, Bag of money, Match, Fire Extinguisher
Score: 306
Percentage complete: 64%

Sticking With Star Realms!

What's going on everyone!?

Today for the #2019gameaday challenge I decided to redownload the Star Realms app and give it a shot since it's been a year or so since I last played it.

Even after so long away from the app. I'm reminded of the beginning versions that were in my opinion, superior to the newer version. 

The reason being that while the now version looks nice and has some awesome features, I felt that they could have left the background normal and not tried to make it require so much memory to run the game.

But anyway, I dont want to stray too far off path here, lol. The game is as amazing as the first time I played it and man do I love it!

Surprisingly even after so much time away I was able to jump right back in and even scored a win for myself! 

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)

2018 Epic Restrospective

Aside from 18 Falcon hulls, this is what I managed to paint this past year Epic-wise.

Not a ton, but I had to remodel a bathroom, build a few Christmas presents, and I also built/re-based an Epic Squat army as well. Finishing the 18 Falcon hulls and the Wild Riders are at the top of my list for this year. After that, not sure. I could start on my Guardians or Aspect Warriors, paint some landsknechte for the store, or some Aeronef or Monsterpocalypse that I just picked up. We'll see.

Overkill's The Walking Dead - Review

Overkill's The Walking Dead - Review

Overkill's The Walking Dead is a sincere endeavor to convey a helpful adventure set in the notable Walking Dead universe, yet that effort feels somewhat like it's very little past the point of no return, as Overkill's The Walking Dead frequently doesn't feel like a shooter by any stretch of the imagination. It takes the rules built up by Robert Kirkman's comic series and its consequent TV adaption to heart in the wrong ways, forcing uneven decides on its missions that intensely restrict how you're able to play. Combined with a confounding combination of survival mechanics covered in unintuitive menus, useless customization choices, and non-existent incentives to enhance your gear, The Walking Dead feels foul and unfocused. 


Quick Facts:

• Initial release date: 6 November 2018
• Engine: Unreal Engine
• Developer: Overkill Software
• Genre: First-person shooter
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

 Overkill's The Walking Dead is a game about apparently thoughtless butcher with not very many plot strings drawing an obvious conclusion. There is no drama, there are no characters created crosswise over missions, and there is no nuance to for what reason you're killing people as promptly as you do the walkers. It has next to no to do with what makes The Walking Dead so incredible.

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Overkill's the walking dead: Gameplay

The biggest enemy in The Walking Dead—besides, you know, the walking dead—is noise. Nothing floods the roads with zombies quicker than a noisy blast or a jukebox firing up a Queen track. most of the missions in The Walking Dead is a stealth mission. Basically, this makes the game fundamentally the same as Overkill's past co-op shooters, Payday and Payday 2. In those games, heists start out calmly until the point that an alarm gets activated and the best way to get out alive is to go loud.

Missions are diluted into more stealthy issues therefore, which can be somewhat engaging when you're working closely with teammates. As a major aspect of an efficient group you can keep noise to a minimum and dodge enemies completely, yet it generally just takes one player not sticking to the script to ruin a run. making the situation worse, there's no help for voice chat in-game nor some other approaches to communicate besides text talk, which is a huge bummer.

Check out this amazing gameplay from Polygon

Killing a couple of scattered zombies with baseball bats and blades is simple enough, however, in the end, somebody will make a noise calling for backup. Regardless of whether it's a gunshot, a blast, or a car alarm. If your group is messy, in the end the group will get too thick to battle at all, and the only wise thing left to do is run.

Even though fighting zombies is pretty simple, but you don't wanna get too close to them as they will grab you and will drain your health to a good amount as it takes some time to shove them off.

It's too awful that slaughtering zombies with melee weapons is so essential, though, because these weapons aren't much fun to use. There are machetes, baseball bats, and pickaxes, but they all feel clunky, and pretty much the same. And also fighting off thick crowds of zombies, again and again, becomes boring, but what satisfies me the most is the wooden tunk sound I get from smacking a zombie right in the skull.


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Overkill's The Walking Dead: Characters

In Overkill's The Walking Dead, you take control of one of four new characters, each with their own uninvolved weapon specializations and one of a kind aptitudes. For instance, Maya is the medic and her unique ability is tossing down a med bag that can heal up anybody in your group. Aiden, on the other hand, gets streak blasts that can daze human enemies and distract zombie crowds.

Each character is fun in their own particular manner and, in spite of their strengths, anybody can utilize any weapon you discover, giving them a helpful adaptability. The distinction, however, is that they won't have the capacity to apply any of their skill upgrades or passive rewards to upgrade a weapon outside their wheelhouse.

But beyond that, the difference between the characters are for the most part detail driven other than a solitary unique skill. 





From its restrictive mission structures, unbalanced difficulty and baffling methods of progression, The Walking Dead struggles to justify the time it requires from you. It's a collection gameplay diagrams stacked upon each other without insightful thought on how they may durably cooperate, wrapped with a dull presentation and ordinary combat that once in a while energizes. The Walking Dead is a wreck of scattered thoughts and an absence of direction, and there's no reason to make sense of it all.


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The Verdict:

It's fun when you cooperate with friends and escape the horde of zombies by sneaky ways. But, it's all wrapped with a package of various disappointments: Technical issues, unavoidable repetition, and dull shooting experience.

REAL TO SIMS #8 - COMFORTABLE BEDROOM + DOWNLOAD + TOUR + CC CREATORS | The Sims 4 |

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