by DsnowMan
First game with the expansion, played as Wolfhawk against Easy/Easy Volkare.The opening day/night was actually too easy, with countryside tiles 1,2,3,4,7 showing up in my path (not in the order). This would prove to be a problem soon enough, as I did not power up as much as I would have liked. I revealed 11 (with all the lakes and the mage tower in the middle) in an inconvenient corner of the map, and decided I couldn't waste the move getting in and out. An early beating at a different mage tower encouraged me to take the revised In Need, which was useful enough throughout the game.
Volkare started slowly, but by the end of the first night had revealed 1 countryside and was now standing on the non-city core tile. I realized as Day 2 dawned that I had to reveal the city immediately, or risk Volkare drawing a lucky spell and ruining my game. I had my Scouts reveal the city on the other side of the map (well... about 8 moves for Volkare), and the race was on. I'm not sure how I feel about the Scouts, but that move was pretty useful. Note the City was revealed early Day 2; I was a little surprised.
I was more surprised by the dragons guarding the Red City, particularly the new Summoner Dragon blocking my path. I had no elemental attack, so I needed 16 attack against arcane immunity to get through. I did a long loop, dispatching a fire dragon and then a keep (both lying in Volkare's path) as I tried to find a hand that would punch through the Summoner Dragon. I never did...
I snuck past the dragon, blocking his attacks (!) and landed on the ruins, trading in 3 blue for 7 fame. I ended Day 2 on the crystal mine behind the Red City, with the Summoner Dragon still taunting me, but out of the way now, and Volkare only 4 spots away.
Night 2 I drew a reasonably nice hand, threw away Tome of All Spells to use Possess, turning the Werewolf guarding the City against the Sorcerers. Mana Draw + Tornado destroyed the Werewolf after he devoured his prey, and 5 attack dispatched a Fire Mage (who wounded me first, sigh).
I then camped on the city, hiring 1 unit and the Book of Wisdom artifact, and killing a nearby Lava Dragon as I waited for Volkare to attack. Attack he did, near the end of Night 2. I threw away Book of Wisdom to learn Tremor/Earthquake, and combined this with lots of Ranged Attack to kill the 3 orcs/grey thugs leading the charge. I had to take the Ice Catapult and 2nd Summoner Dragon's attack, blocking one of the summoned attacks and Volkare's paralyzing attack. Wounds galore, 3 for me, 3 for units. The catapult only had 2 armor left due to Earthquake, and was easily destroyed. I Used healing skills to repair some damage, and prepared to declare end of round.
Volkare retreated, but had different plans. As I flipped my round token back over, he flipped a spell! Volkare charged again, and this time, I could not face the Summoner Dragon again. I am forced to let him sack the city, as I declare End of Round.
Day 3 dawns, and my refreshed deck is ready for another attack. I did not get to draw extra cards, because of the city sack. Of course, Volkare waits a turn or two, so I try to fine tune my hand in preparation for the attack. When he does attack, I block some of the Summoner Dragon's attack, assign the rest to units, and take Volkare's Swift attack. Then I counterattack! Using mostly ranged attack (sigh), I somehow manage to gather up the 16 attack I need to kill the Dragon. Volkare is vanquished! (but the Summoner Dragon outside the Red City lives. Damn him. Or her. Who knows?)
85 fame
20 city bonus
56 Volkare (+ 13 cards)
9 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 4 - 8 for the bonus categories
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178
early Day 3
The scenario played out much faster than I was expecting. The easy countryside tiles were not a blessing, as I was not as powerful as I hoped I would be when the City was revealed. I think I was level 5. The final confrontation was pretty awesome, I remember staring at the 5 enemies, trying to figure out where to begin.
Highly Recommended.