The Mad Lord Snapcase ventured north recently and we managed to cram in 7 games in effectively 3 days. One of these games was the Sacrifice of Promiskuous.
He’s gone overboard from the Argo after buying the new rules, Warriors of Athena, by Joe McCullough the guy who wrote the Frostgrave rules as well as some others.
We played a couple of games of Luke Warm Grave back in ’17 when the three of us first met. None of us had anything suitable for scenery in a winter wonderland and so we used this very temple as the centre piece of two games that Dougers created and umpired.
I remember them very fondly, partly because of the amount I had to drink and partly because I won both games, or at least that’s my vague memory of how it went.
I’ve since bought the Frostgrave rules and played 3 solo scenarios, all which I’ve posted somewhere on the blog. I didn’t enjoy the solo games and wasn’t happy about the use of D20’s to resolve combat and magic, it’s just too random for my taste, but I know that there’s a lot of people very happy with the rules.
Anyway to cut a long story short, as far as I can see these new rules use the same combat mechanisms and D20’s to resolve combat and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this game. This needs some thinking about but I’ll not be buying the rules because the basic set doesn’t include a Bestiary, so as far as I’m aware. to play a game you have to buy 2 books, total somewhere around £50.00.
If I’m wrong about this please let me know but on the basis of our game I’m going to have another shot at using the Frostgrave rules and see if they work for me this time, although I wonder if it’s a rule set best played in company.
The Mad Lords scenario gave us a cracking game, very nicely judged in terms of difficulty and lots of fun.
The books on the table are clue markers, we had to read all three of them to reveal the fair Promiskuous who would then appear, ready to either be sacrificed or rescued, it was to be a cooperative game so we obviously intended the latter.
Somewhere along the way there was a treasure token and the most deserving Hero would find it.
Unfortunately I can’t remember how I found it, only that I did.
These flying creatures are supposed to be bees, I don’t remember bees in the Odyssey but it’s a while since I read it and as neither of us had any we went with giant mosquitoes.
The chap in the green tunic is my companion Neoptolemos and a jolly brave sole he was, the bees aren’t particularly powerful but can give you a nasty sting. The white bull that we sacrificed before setting out on our quest must have been viewed favourably on Mount Olympus because Neoptolemos had very little trouble defeating this bee.
Similarly the Mad Lords companion in the blue tunic, Prothus killed this one as well.
The upright strong limbed fellow in the background leading the charge is me, Alitis. I had various attributes such as Creature Killer, Mystic Energy, Sprint, all of which we forgot to use in the game.
The slinger, trying to keep up is Lysimanchos one of the Mad Lords Companions but you don’t need to remember his name.
Because he was killed by a bee, well I did say they had a nasty sting.
In the far distance you can see I’ve already claimed one clue marker on the way to the temple and am hoping to get another in the centre of the temple.
You can probably just make out two of the bees about to dive in to attack me. With the first two falling so easily I’d got a little cocky so then when the slinger got killed I was wondering if I’d just made a huge mistake.
The Mad Lord had said we were Hero’s so I charged on like a hero but I noticed the chapess with the white hair and a black stripe, who is his Hero, or maybe Heroine, I don’t know if they have them anymore, was hanging back a little. She’s called Thrafsiperiptosi which is a bit of a mouthful; I preferred it when she was Xena Warrior Princess. Any how she and the Createn Archer who is my other companion Harpaios were both laying down a field of fire to keep the bees at bay.
That’s when my man in green saw them. Giant crabs and there’s no lotion or cure for them.
“Archers” he shouted, “over here” and pointed as if they might not notice Giant Crabs coming their way.
There’s a saying about discretion and valour.
“To me” I shouted and without further ado he ran forward, admittedly this was away from the greatest danger but we had bees to fight, I’d already claimed the second clue marker and the treasure token had been revealed as a gem stone in the skull of a dinosaur.
The very skull that’s just appeared, in case you missed it.
Snakes, why did it have to be snakes.
Various things happened on the turn of a card and I think the deck was stacked against us.
We were too busy fighting bees to worry about snakes and then they disappeared.
We killed the bees and the Cretan joined us, he’s probably extracting the jewel from the skull, I can’t remember. This is a fine shot of my command, me waving a huge sword and battle axe like a true Greek warrior on a Hero’s Quest and some cannon fodder.
You might wonder what is happening I’ve retreated halfway down the steps and am waving my weapons like a maniac. Xena has climbed a short column and is pretending to be a statue.
Her remaining companion has been told to guard the base of the column….with his life if necessary.
This is the explanation, monsters will go towards the nearest enemy (us) that are in sight so we’re drawing them to us. The snakes are climbing the far steps, we decided they couldn’t climb the walls of the temple but had to go up the steps.
The final book (clue) is on the far side of them.
I had a clever and cunning plan to get this.
Xena is armed with a bow and doesn’t like snakes. She reasoned that if they can’t climb the temple walls, then they can’t climb her column.
And here they come, my weapon waving has attracted them in our direction and if you look carefully to the left of the temple you can see my companion in the green tunic making his way along the left hand side.
If he keeps out of sight and we survive the snake attack he should get the book and we’re home free.
That’s when the Amazons turned up, two of them, they came in from the two corners, Green Tunic has a tricky decision to make, go for the book or retreat.
Retreat is the safe option but he’s a Companion to a Hero so naturally he ran to the book.
By this time we had disposed of the snakes and I’m moving forward to the centre of the temple to support Green Tunic, you know the thing…...’Come on man’, run faster, or ‘They’re all around you, throw the prize to me’. That sort of support.
Collecting the book created a distortion in the space time continuum and Promiskuous ported in from wherever she had been hanging out, right next to me, The Hero and my other Companion the Cretan.
Promiskuous was a sight for sore eyes and no mistake, we’d gone through hell to rescue her. All she said was “Cut these ropes quickly I have an appointment with my hairdresser and I can’t go in these clothes". So we cut the ropes holding her to the upright posts and started to make our way off the far end of the board, to safety and the Hairdresser.
Xena is still on her column, I’m sure she was doing something useful, probably shooting arrows, or is that firing arrows, anyway she’s still not moved forward to support her fellow Hero.
And I need a little support, one of the Amazons is climbing the stairs and the other is getting close. These gal’s ain’t no bees, and they have a very nasty sting.
Xena and her remaining Companion have finally move forward. I’ve sent my Cretan back to stiffen their resolve a little and they’re forming a defensive line.
Green tunic and I join them in time for the first Amazon to attack us.
It says in the rules, they’ll attack the nearest enemy, that would be you I hear the Mad Lord say.
Then it all got a little confused, dice were rolled, Amazons died, I survived. My Companions survived and by heck so did the Mad Lord.
That’s when the final danger arrived, a pair of Shades. I believe these are dead people and not sun glasses as I was hoping when he read the last card.
However it must have turned out alright because we killed them all and walked off the far end of the table to tumultuous applause.
In retrospect, I don't remember the fight with the Shades, so we might have just run away. Hummm.
As I said at the beginning, it was a great scenario, almost every turn something bad arrived but they were usually far enough away to give us time to react, plan and overcome. When the Slinger got killed, early on, in hand to bee combat, we realised that shooting is a much safer option and when the Mad Lord pointed out that I had a sling, something I’d overlooked, well then, my strategy changed completely.
It may sound as if all the glory, taking all the clues, finding the jewel and rescuing Promiskuous were done by the Hero Alitis but Xena aided in a support role, mainly from on top of her column and you shouldn’t overlook that. ;)
Should the Mad Lord read this, it was an outstanding game and if I might have taken a few liberties with the truth you have to realise, it’s because I’m a Hero and that’s my job.
Cheers
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