6 – The Ice Storm

After my victory in the Breeding Pit, the next encounter between our wizards occurred during a dangerous Ice Storm. For this scenario, both players get to choose a soldier at the end of each turn to suffer an attack as a result of the ice storm throwing dangerous ice chunks around. The central treasure for the scenario is also locked in place requiring a Move roll to unlock it before it can be carried off.

This time, both my wife’s spellcasters managed to cast Awareness before the battle which gave her a huge advantage on initiative throughout the battle. Meanwhile, I failed to brew even a single potion.

Early in the game, things felt like they were going poorly for my warband. Both my wizard and apprentice struggled to cast their spells, and my attempts to shoot with my archers failed. I did easily claim the closest treasure to my starting position though, and one of my wife’s thieves was the first victim of the ice storm.

Then things felt like they shifted as we started engaging in hand-to-hand combat over the three treasures closest to the middle of the battlefield. On one flank, my snow leopard managed to get into combat, but failed to stop my wife from claiming her second treasure. I got to claim the other two treasures though. For the central treasure, my bear and barbarian fought their way through a ranger and a thief, so that the barbarian could start working to pick the lock. Then my woman-at-arms put her spectral blade to good use against my wife’s knight so that my thief could claim that treasure.

With one treasure off the board for me and two others in the possession of my soldiers, things were looking pretty good. Unfortunately, my wife managed to cast Fool’s Gold on my thief forcing my tracker to start carrying that treasure instead. The ice storm then took out both my tracker and my thief leaving that treasure unclaimed. My snow leopard and bear both made attempts at taking out my wife’s spellcasters, but both were taken down instead.

In the end, it was my wizard and apprentice versus my wife’s wizard for the last treasure still on the board. She put up a good fight, but being outnumbered she eventually decided to ensure her wizard’s survival and retreat off the board edge to end the scenario.

After the battle ended, I had claimed 3 treasures to my wife’s 2, and we both had a lot of figures who needed to check for injuries. My wife had horrible luck on her rolls. Her apprentice lost an eye, her knight was badly wounded, and both her ranger and a thief died from their wounds. My luck was a little better, but my woman-at-arms died and the spectral blade she was wielding was lost.

For treasure, we sold a lot of what we found. My wife sold both potions she found, and I sold a staff that gave a bonus to fighting. I did keep my other treasure though – a pair of scrolls (Teleport and Suggestion) and a grimoire (Petrify). My wife used her gold coins to replace her dead ranger and upgrade one of her thugs to an assassin. I didn’t hire anyone knew to replace my woman-at-arms, and will just have my demon hunter back from her recovery at the inn for our next battle.

The Druid’s Warband

• Audric Silverbeard the Druid (+2 levels: +1 Health, improved Brew Potion)
• Roslin the Apprentice
• Jormund the Barbarian
• Nils the Tracker
• Dimitri the Archer
• Red the Demon Hunter
• Sansa the Woman-at-Arms (dead)
• Magnus the Man-at-Arms
• Rhane the Thief
• Jarl the Bear
• Jaeger the Snow Leopard

The Trickster’s Warband

• Freya the Trickster (+2 levels: +1 Fight, improved Strength)
• Ophelia the Apprentice (lost an eye)
• Kate the Knight (badly wounded)
• Archibald the Ranger (dead)
• Emilia the Ranger
• Jamie the Archer
• Draco the Man-at-Arms
• Scarlet the Assassin (upgraded from thug to an assassin)
• Moira the Thug (dead)
• Annabelle the Thief
• Ronald the Ranger (new hire)
• Eponine the Thief (new hire)