general - View From The Trenches

16
2. It is definitely advantageous with regard to finding
counters and to reading spells (no chance of a
curse and you only get spells you can use); it is
definitely inferior for finding hidden paths, secret
passages, and usually hidden enemies. One needs
a "3" or a "I" die roll to loot a treasure card, as
opposed to one through six (depending on how many
treasures are left) for the Loot Table-but with
Magic Sight you always draw the top treasure card,
making it the table ofchoice when three or less treasures
remain. Also remember, the treasures on top
of the piles are large treasures and are generally
more valuable than those four or five down. Trouble
is a lot of them are too heavy to use Broomstick
(see Movement below).
To conclude this section, we consider the Witch
King's relationships with each native group. First,
he's allied with the Bashkars, a rambunctious bunch
of riding raiders who appear at the Campfires. The
six of them range from L2* to M5* attacks. They
have a base price of 12 gold. More importantly, they
have six ponies for sale at a base price of 14 goldand
a pony is as good as MOVE counters outside
of caves.
He is friendly with the Company, whose specialty
is heavy destruction. Their attack values range from
L3* to T4*, including a H6/H1 Crossbowman. They
have some armor and arrive at either the Inn or the
Large Campfire. You can expect the Black Knight
to try to hire the seven of them for free, however.
The Woodfolk, Rogues, Patrols, Soldiers, Guard,
Shaman, Crone and Warlock are all neutral. The
Rogues are at the Inn, can be hired individually,
and own six slow horses. More on them later. The
Woodfolk appear at the House or the Small Campfire;
they control all the bows. The Patrol appears
at any ofthe fixed dwellings and owns some armor.
The Soldiers dwell at the House and the Guard at
the Guard House. Between them they control the
Light and Medium weapons respectively and some
armor. The Shaman has a Type II and a Type III
spell to sell and possibly some expended potions.
The Crone and Warlock have Type V and VIII and
Type IV and VI spells respectively for sale for a
base price of ten gold; an excess of gold can theoretically
be turned into "Usable Spells" by seeking
out these Visitors and dealing with them. In
practice, it's very tough.
The Witch King is unfriendly with the Lancers
and the Scholar. The former arrived at the Chapel
or either Campfire. The Scholar has three small
treasures. Ifhe acquires a spell book, you have only
a 2.78% chance per Trade phase to buy it for 200
Gold.
Finally, the Knights of the Order are his sworn
enemies. The four Knights are armored, mounted,
and deadly. They dwell at the Chapel and own all
the heavy weapons, war horses, and suits of armor
available. Avoid them like the proverbial plague.
BEGINNING THE GAME
Before you get to choose your character, the board
must be constructed and the first player without a
tile to play then chooses a character. During construction,
you should strive to make the board as
favorable to your intended abilities as possible. If
you intend to fly, try to put the Valleys on the
periphery of the board and to isolate them as much
as possible via hidden paths, secret passages, mountain
and cave clearings and, perhaps best of all,
"w" tiles (Woods, excluding Deep Woods) where
enchanting the tile would cut off whole sections of
the board. (Figures 1 & 2 show perhaps an ideal
case.) Your ability to fly (or ignore roadways) will
circumvent these obstacles and leave the rest of the
characters behind. Don't be surprised if you find
those intending to play the Witch, Druid, Dwarf,
Amazon, or Wizard also setting up such obstacles.
See "The Disappearing Road Trick" below for
further discussion.
All right, the board is set and you've now become
the Witch King. You get to choose your victory conditions
and your spells. Since the next few sections
deal with these topics exhaustively, nothing more
will be said about them here except to emphasize
that your choices of victory conditions and spells
are interrelated, one must complement the other.
The two of them will dictate your strategy of play.
One further consideration before play begins. Try
to get the Warlock and Crone counters on the Shrine
or the Bashkars where you're likely to spend some
time. You may be able to buy an extra spell. Don't
count on this too highly as the flip side of the
Warlock is the beer truck (Food and Ale) and this
often is placed fairly early. Then again, if you anticipate
a long game, it'll be available as the Warlock
next month.
MOVEMENT
The first major question to be answered during
spell selection is movement. It is so important a
question that we'll examine each possibility at
length. Remember, the Witch King has no MOVE
counters, so he must rely on other means of
locomotion.
HURRICANE WINDS (lV, Purple) Individual,
Move: allows the individual to FLY T1 in the next
round of combat (presuming he survives the first
one), but is only effective in a mountain clearing.
This may be a handy spell for later in the game,
but it is initially worthless since it can't be cast at
the Inn. It can be used later as a get-away spell if
you're hidden and don't care to hang around and
risk another Hide roll on the morrow.
ABSORB ESSENCE (V, Black) Monster, Pernument:
caster becomes the target monster and must
fly if winged when moving. Although a spiffy attack
spell that could be used to augment movement
later in the game, this spell is not really suitable
as an initial movement spell since no monsters
appear at the Inn except when Dragon Essence
happens to be one of the treasures held by a native
group there. The chances ofthat range from 4.44%
for only the Rogues to 20.00% for the unlikely combination
of the Rogues, Patrol, Company, and
Scholar. But then you'd draw a pair of Heavy Flying
Dragons (provided someone didn't activate them
elsewhere); should you absorb one, you'll end up
brawling with the other and there is a 43.78%
chance ofyour fatally losing this fight. Despite that,
this is an excellent spell for one-on-one encounters
with tremendous monsters. I especially recommend
using it on a Troll or, better yet, the Flying Dragon
when heads and clubs are in play. See "The Let's
Get Physical Ploy" later.
BROOMSTICK (V, Black) Individual, Move: allows
the individual to Fly L1 once, whenever he
wishes. This is an excellent spell for quick get-aways
or just to get ahead of the pack. Highly recommended.
It does have drawbacks though. The first
is that you don't know for sure exactly where you'll
land, so don't forget to Hide before take-off. Second,
it ties up a MAGIC V counter indefinitely.
Third, you can't use it to transport Medium or
heavier objects. But one fast escape when you need
it will make a believer out of you.
MELT INTO MIST (VI, Purple) Individual, Permanent:
individual has a MOVE T4 counter which
is the only counter he may play when the spell is
activated. It allows the use ofhidden paths and secret
passages without discovering them but precludes attacks
on or by the individual and any activity other
than Move. This is a very powerful spell for selfuse.
It allows you to stroll to your objective unhampered;
and since it is a Type VI, you'll be able to
cast it with your VI2* counter and avoid trouble
on the first turn. See "The Vanishing Act" below
for perhaps its most-used ploy-a great defense as
long as your Purple counters last! The spell's chief
drawback is that another character may be able to
deny you your objective merely by enchanting the
tile if it contains Purple magic, thus activating the
spell and preventing you from searching, brawling,
resting, or even casting magic until you leave the
tile and return to normal. One way around this
difficulty would be to take a Dissolve Spell and to
remove Melt upon reaching the place you want to
loiter. Beware ofthe Pilgrim with Exorcise! He can
burst your immunity bubble and place you at the
mercy of whatever is in your clearing. All in all,
teamed with Broomstick, perhaps the best movement
spell combination. It also has amusing offensive
potential. Consider when the Hoard is in a tile
with Purple magic. Enchanting the tile and then casting
Melt on the Flying Dragon renders it totally impotent
for the rest of the game.
TRANSFORM (VI, Purple) Individual, Permanent:
individual becomes the creature indicated by
rolling on the Transform Table, moving and fighting
with the creature's given values, and treating
himself as a hired native leader. You will either be
able to fly or to ignore roadways and you have a
25 % chance of improving your carrying capacity
and fighting strength. The drawbacks include the
worst features of Broomstick and Melt into Mist.
That is, if flying you have no control over where
in a tile you'll land, and someone can activate the
spell against your will. It also has a few of its own.
While it would be great to be a Flying Dragon, the
odds say a squirrel or frog is more likely-and a
frog can be caught by someone/thing with a move
time of two. The "ignore roadways" feature is
particularly tempting in light of the lousy chance
to find hidden paths and secret passages that the
Magic Sight Table provides. But a hired leader cannot
search, record Fame and Notoriety, glimpse
counters, etc. under these conditions (i.e., owner
not present) unless the Hired Captain optional rule
is in effect. It remains a decent attack spell and
should you take Unleash Power, acquire a Gloves
card somewhere along the way, or hire some
natives, you can indulge in the "Transform Trick"
(see below).
UNLEASH POWER (VI, Purple) Magic Chits,
Day: converts MAGIC counters into MOVE/
FIGHT counters which can be used for either movement
or attacking with the time number of the
counter determining both time and strength. This
is best used for moving short distances, ideal for
movement from where Broomstick landed you to
where you really want to go. Your two and three
time counters become Light and the fours become
Medium, so you still won't be able to haul Heavy
or Tremendous treasures. Warning: the spell expires
before the Combat portion ofthe day begins, so you
won't be able to use it to run away or fight until
it's recast; meaning, if not hidden, you can only
manuever during the first round of combat.
SLOW HORSE: Well, you might try to buy a
horse from the Rogues, but your chances are
dismal-one in 11,664 or less than 0.01 %. This
translates, at four phases a day with no Hides, into
once in 2,916 days (or eight game years). And if
the Cloven Hoof shows up (same chances as Dragon
Essence cited before), forget it-that + I DRM
makes it impossible. Notice that if someone kills
the Rogue leader, his treasures and horses will be
abandoned in the clearing; but since there is no provision
in the Magic Sight Table to loot a horse,
you're still out of luck unless another character will
loot one and then sell/give it to you. Don't hold your
breath. Also, horses die in caves, thus possibly cutting
you off from large portions of the board.
BOOTS: There is a 21. 12 % chance that one of
the five Boots cards will be held by the Rogues. Unfortunately,
three of the five offer the same chance
of purchases as did a slow horse. The other two,
the Elvin Slippers and the Seven League Boots, offer
a slim 0.33% chance to purchase. The Patrol, should
they arrive, offer similar prospects, but the Company
offers odds 36 times better since they're