Settling Scores - Tales of Horror AAR

It was time for our third and final fight between Dr Ebenezer Hill and the Necromancer Grilam. This time a fight to the death as we tried out the Settling Scores scenario.

Both sides would be facing off across an old cemetery in the centre and woods in the corners.

The Cemetery.

Drawing a 'King', Grilam decided on a bold strategy, successfully casting 'Shadow Walk" and appearing on the tomb in the cemetery. The purpose of this was two fold -

• Firstly, from this elevated position, Grilam could see across the battlefield - useful for casting 'Death Bolt'.
• Secondly, it would tempt the Hunter group to focus all their energy on taking down the Necromancer.

"Here I am!"

Sure enough the advancing Hunter group moved forward and took aim at the Necromancer. Incredibly, the first 3 shots were all successful. Unfortunately, Grilam has 'Lightning Fast' which meant on an 8+ he can cancel out those shots - which he did!

The Zombies advance out of the woods.

On the left and right flanks, the Zombies started to stumble out of the woods. Woods were considered 'Difficult' terrain which meant half movement. Accordingly, it had taken the Zombies the first 2 turns to exit the woods,

Seeing that Grilam was still in the cemetery, the Hunter group decided to play a couple of 'Aces' as 'Kings' and used their first actions to move towards him and use their second action to fire.

"Take aim"

Again the Hunter group was successful in hitting Grilam and with 'Lightning Fast' failing him, Grilam took cover with a couple of Shock tokens.

With all the attention focused on Grilam, the Zombies advanced unhindered.

It's a rampage I tell you!

Activating last, Grilam moved out of cover and back on to the tomb.

"Here I am, again!"

It would all come down to the luck of the card draw in Turn 3. Playing a 'King', Dr Hill advanced and took aim with his trusty pistol at Grilam. Unfortunately, the shot missed.

Grilam then played the 'Queen of Spades'. This removed the Shock tokens and left Grilam with his two actions. Grilam then attempted to cast 'Death Bolt'. Rolling '11', the bolt hit with +2 on the Wound chart. Rolling a '9', Dr Hill was 'Out of Action'.

"Not again!"

This was where the game swung in favour of the Necromancer team. With all the attention focused on taking down Grilam, the Zombies had been able to advance unhindered across the battlefield for three turns.

"Take that foul beast!

The Acolyte led the march across the battlefield, homing in on the nearest Militia man. This time musket fire succeeded in wounding the Acolyte (not a Zombie!).

On the right flank, the Zombies advanced on the Militia men, suffering a hits in the process. Fortunately for the Zombies, Wounds and Shock simply knock them down.

"I got one!"

Moving on to Turn 4, Grilam tried to resurrect the body of Dr Hill as a Zombie, but failed. On the left flank, more Zombies advanced.

"Uh oh!"

On the right flank, one of the Militia men had been lost in close combat to the Zombies. His colleague took aim and dispatched a Zombie - a rare success for the Hunter group. However, this meant his musket was unloaded going into Turn 5.

"Help!"

With an unloaded musket, a brave Militia man engaged a Zombie in close combat, eventually achieving one of the few kills gained by the Hunter team in this game.

"Bugger off will you!"

More Zombies appeared as Grilam successfully cast "Corpse Call'. Former Militia men reanimated as Zombies turned their attention on their former comrades.

"Aargh!"

Finding that musket fire was pretty ineffectual against Zombies, the Militia men were set upon by the Zombies.

Down and out!

The last member of the Hunter group went down under the onslaught of the Zombies.

Conclusion

All 5 Renown Points going to the Necromancer team. The Hunter team taking solace in the fact that they had 'killed' three Zombies this game.

The moral of this game is if you ignore Zombies, they can overwhelm you! Also, rolling poorly on the dice doesn't help either and if only Grilam didn't have 'Lightning Fast"...