Face to Face feedback on the Untold War (5v5) Game.
Kevin O’Keefe: “Thanks for the FtF last week, it was fun and enjoyable and I like the new ‘Untold War’ 5v5 variant, if you plan on releasing this as a module to play via email rather than just at a FtF, then let me know and I’ll sign up for a game.”
Rob Glass: “Really enjoyed the weekend and would be up for another, maybe playing the dark servants this time.”
Mike Sankey: “I had a great weekend. Pass on my thanks to Sam and Ed as well.”
Chris Courtiour (Gunboat designer): “I did enjoy the mini game which has more elements of the stuff that I like without the unbalancing rubbish in 1650 and I don’t have to e-mail 7,000 people.”
Face to Face report, by Clint, Free People.
Last weekend we had our FTF event and, as usual, it was a mixture of panic and madness, yet also allowed some quiet reflection. With the module being totally new to all the players (they got to see it 2 days before the event) and new to the designers, both teams spent a couple of hours discussing the game and strategy as soon as teams were announced. For the FP the overall plan was to hold the North of Mirkwood and attack into the heartland of the South of Mirkwood and keep the pressure on there; hold off any attack on Imladris (2209) for as long as possible and keep the Riders alive. A tall order in the end but one that was to prove interesting.
Turn 1 saw the FPs move to consolidate their agent items onto one killer squad. The Noldo @2209 vacated to take 2108 and the camp @ 2210. Down south, bad news - the might of the WW was sent to 2120 against some forces of the Riders (both starting armies in the area). Theoden went north to 2617 to threaten the Dragon Lord PC there and after dumping the 2720 army’s food attempted to block any troops from the Dog Lord coming towards the Riders, nothing appeared though. Dwarves sent one army south to 3109 and the Northmen defended 3112 ready to aggress in that area. FK’s 2409 force went towards the Northmen but failed to get past the blocks there… Duran turned up to take up the Noldo forces at the capital. Bad news was that the DS bought out all the mounts. WK up north moved towards 2405 ready to threaten next turn… overall honours pretty much even.
Turn 2 Map see below
Turn 2-4; Block 2 @2120 - this would continue for the rest of the game, the WW not able to move his forces off (the question later was who blocked whom!) FP threats @2617, 2210, 2108 all succeeded and the FK troops @ Imladris moved into the fray in the West. The first of the hordes of WK troops came south and blocked by the Dwarves @ 2506, this would be a continuing battle for the rest of the game as the FPs desperately tried to keep them from hitting the pcs @2508 and 2608. The battle for Sarn Gorwing was also an interesting side battle, with the archers from the Silvan capital being obliterated by the infantry from the Dragon Lord, although there were no following recruitments from the DrL to stop the hordes descending. A cunning move to take 3104 from the Dog Lord backfired slightly with the Doggie blocking.
Noldo lost 2617 and 2513 to DS forces over turn 3, Riders its capital to WW cavalry and an excellent Sabotage Fortifications (ditto the FP @ 2715 for future aggression). Gothmog’s threaten of 2617 was followed by taking 2419. The DS went for a quick Sickness squad that caused no end of trouble against the Riders, DS having decided to go for a Curse squad. With worries that 2514 would fall Riders turned up to assist there, if 2514 falls the game is pretty much over in favour of the DS IF 2715 is not taken so those two locations were key for many turns. Slowly the FP horde in Mirkwood took MT, City and left only 2715 for later attack, the DS not countering in that area but forcing the Riders into deeper and deeper trouble.
Throughout the game the Divine Nation Forces and Scry area were used to good effect by both teams, in a restricted area map they get a lot of information.
Mid-Game Turn 5-8
Imladris gets revealed, just as a Tower turned up on it, the next turn FK turned up with more forces, only to find a Fort there, eventually the place falls to FK aggression, backed up by WW. However, lucky Eagles (the FP were blessed throughout the game with lucky encounters in this manner), helped take out the main WW force around Imladris and a sneak attempt to take 1910 failed in much the same manner as the remnants of the Silvan capital force failed to take 2809 at its first attempt. Turn 5 saw the first dragon for the DS, causing no end of mayhem as the FP attempted to hold it off in the North West Mirkwood arena. 2321 falls, quickly followed by 2419, 2220, 2320, leaving the Riders desperate for a back-up (the NM kindly offering 2711, later to cost the FP a MT) but there the rots stops as the FP killer agent supported by the, now active Curse squad, meant that the FP Sick and Killer moved northwards wreaking havoc in that area.
Turn 7 saw the main DS attack on 2514 just fail to take the PC, a fluffed 925 and inept play by the Noldo meant that his main army was away blocking attacks onto 2711, but earlier intel caused a Sick to be misplaced, lucky for the Noldo. 4800 troops aside was probably the biggest battle of the game, with honours even 279 HC on the DS side remained after the battle (the Dog Lord’s forces had arrived!)
Turn 5 map see below
Turn 9-13 and the demise of the DS…
Saw the FP push their advantage. The DS had managed to gain some early War points, and turn 9 saw 2609 taken by them (they kept it to the end of the game in one form or another). WW however got unlucky with more Eagles and saw the Riders move through 1918 with a threaten to take the prize of a WW MT @2017 the following turn. 2409 also fell to the Dwarves, so that meant that the DS had lost 4 MTs, the FPs only 2 so way ahead. Agents and Curse/Sick continue to wreak havoc throughout the game and a sneaky attempt by the WK to create camps off map and attack the weak underbelly of the Northmen’s capital region was spotted and dealt with. Silvan had attempted to both draw off attention by forcing his way into the WK’s homeland but soon got defeated. At this point the Dragon Lord managed to bring off a nasty surprise with Duran moving from off map to hit 2904 - the FP unable to defend that location and in deep fear that 2608 (Silvan) would fall as well bringing the DS back into parity.
At one point the FP almost took out a key component of the DS Sick squad only to find it had several back-up mages ready to take up the mantel! The strength of that DS squad was shown on turn 11/12 when it turned up @2711, killed the army and infed the PC - 250 War points to the DS, along with 2904 the very next turn. However, all this aggression meant that the Dragon Lord capital was left without enough resources to defend it and the horde of Silvan, Noldo and Dwarves descended to take it on turn 11, the turn before having cleared it of fortifications and armies. The last few turns were a mad rush for War points, making the last few turns very competitive as hard choices to be made - some War points weren’t able to be achieved (the DS pulled off some excellent ones towards the end, the FP floundered slightly behind) but with 4 MTs per side taken/destroyed (WK and Silvan kept theirs) the key loss of 2715 to the FPs cost the DS the game.
Final turn map see below
Overall it was enormously competitive, with strong economies, stronger armies and even stronger characters (relative kills per side were higher than normal). Eagles (and 1 Ent) clearly helped the FP, 3/4 times they gave an advantage and once a key advantage to taking out a rampaging WK army and another in annoying the WW. Agents were used primarily to remove the fortifications of the enemy but kills were important as well. The game could have gone either way at LEAST 3 times during the 13 turns run, Riders on the ropes at several points as well as the Dragon Lord in a similar situation, defence of North Mirkwood just holding off the WK, Imladris slowing down FK assistance in that area, battle Royale after battle Royale around 2514/2715 and to finish off Emissary Squads taking key PCs. Whew…
Clint