Cthulhu: Death May Die - The King in Yellow

Invoking the name of elder beings isn't usually a good idea.

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

A sound stage is the site for the next ritual, and the rehearsing actors are unwitting participants as they read out loud the play entitled "The King in Yellow". The Kid (mom) and Arielle (wifey) clear the path by blowing away the regular guards as Mario (me) runs straight for the cult leader to destroy the first of his undead souls which causes him to flee. A dimension shambling brute gives chase and hurts Mario badly, but also triggers his co-dependency insanity which safely moves him back to Arielle.

He shows up in exactly one mission. :O

Father Luke (Juris) then catches up to the cult leader and destroys another of his souls - causing him to flee more, barely slipping past John's (DL) range as he uses more cultists as human shields. It is the Kid that reaches him with her flaming hands and when he flees again Arielle manages to stab him to death - summoning a weakened Hastur into her space! She manages to sneak away from the dimensional shambler but Hastur and an extra cultist give chase and hurt her badly even as Mario provides cover fire.

John and Luke, who managed to find a boy band to help them, charge the elder one and while the boy band is slain, Hastur teleports away to where the Kid is and nearly kills her too but makes the mistake of leaving her for dead. Meanwhile Arielle manages to get away from the mob as Mario's co-dependency triggers again when as he kills a cultist and the dimensional shambler, while the remaining horde chases Luke who charges Hastur once more, and absolutely kicks his ass - forcing the King in Yellow to flee again. Somehow, the mob of cultists surrounding him are unable to kill him thanks to his holy blessings (more like super good luck dicing).

John manages to punch Hastur in the face a few times before the Kid sends her fireballs down the hallway to finish the elder one off, once and for all! MISSION SUCCESS! Though really, do these elder ones ever die? Unlikely based on this quote from H.P. Lovecraft: "That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die."

Insight: Super lucky dicing made this mission easy for us, though in truth we had three people with one HP there in the end. As usual, speed is the key so take down that cult leader ASAP.

Cthulhu: Death May Die - Dig Deep

Shovels and rifles, a good combination.

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

Arielle (wifey), Mario (me), Father Luke (Juris), the Kid (mom), and John (DL) arrived at the excavation site where cultists had already begun their ritual. This time, the team needed to uncover an evil artifact and destroy it and quickly set about their work - removing cultists in the way and digging from midway on the map back to the start.

Even their monstrous Bokrug ally is laid low by Luke and his pick axe as the artifact is revealed. The squad then whacks it into pieces, breaking the ritual and summoning a weakened Hastur who quickly is sent fleeing behind his minions.

 

The Bokrug. Everything in this lore really has a tentacle theme.

Armed with a lasso (sneak three enemies) Mario nabs the elder one and drags him back to the team, away from his defenders for another sound walloping before the King in Yellow breaks free again and retreats down the quarry. This is to no avail though, as Arielle and the Kid both snipe him in the back and lay him low once more.

MISSION SUCCESS (first try thanks to good planning)!

Insight: Since the artifact moves toward the caves once revealed (and if its there you get a penalty), we opted to dig as close to the cave first as the earliest digs have a zero chance of finding it, then in spots closer to the start location so the artifact has a long way to move.

It only took one step in our game, but this was more because our team didn't have to walk too far to whack it. As always, positioning is everything.

Cthulhu: Death May Die - The Burning Woods

We don't need no water...

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

John (DL) led the newly formed team of policeman Mario (me), hunter Arielle (wifey), new priest Luke (Juris) and the recovered Kid (mom) into the Missouri woods for some cultist hunting with the team deciding that the fastest way to victory was simply to set each of the four cult campsites on fire.

It's the only way to be sure.

Splitting up, Luke burned his target first with the aid of a friendly pyromaniac while Mario torched his soon after - executing the panicked cultists that emerged from within. While Arielle hunted down her favored enemy (nightgaunts this round), the Kid roasted cultists on the way to the next campsite but still needed Luke's support to torch it fully.

Far to the North, John was meeting the most resistance reaching the farthest camp having to fight multiple flying polyps and eventually the FULL contigent of cultists from the box! Luckily Mario got there in time to assist, revealing an awesome combo power (as long as they are in the same space) which makes the pair and any other ally on the same tile nearly invulnerable to the cultist horde.

Still they managed to delay long enough for a fully powered and immortal Hastur to appear and attack Arielle,  but she dodged the majority of the attacks. The last camp was set alight soon after, weakening Hastur to a mortal state. Suddenly vulnerable the King in Yellow couldn't take the punishment dished out by the covering fire from the sneaky huntress and the kid (actually everyone was wonderfully placed as he he kept teleporting to vulnerable spots) and was finished off as Father Luke shoved a blessed crucifix down his throat.

MISSION SUCCESS (first try, but this will probably be way harder if fought against Cthulhu instead - Hastur's gate placement is a big advantage to the players)!

Insight: Season two comes with a lot of new monsters, ten new playable characters and six new missions but no new elder ones. It also needs components from season one to play so only get it if you really enjoyed the base game as my group did. :)

Cthulhu: Death May Die - Ritual Heist

Saving the world with armed robbery.

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

Apparently Hastur's yellow sign was much harder for Rasputin to recover from than the "usual death", so it was up to the Kid (mom) and John (DL) to head to Chicago to stop cultists performing a summoning inside a bank vault (props for creativity)!

Knowing they'd need help they also recruited an African amazon Adilah (wifey), timid little axe murderer Borden (me), and a well connected a priest (Juris) who manages to hire two mob bosses to assist in the job.  

Since John has psychotic tendencies he soloes the shorter path to the vault, taking on cultists and an elder thing en route while the others go the long way, fighting through tcho-tchos and a star spawn that Borden lures away while Adilah's special focus ability (which she chose Borden to pair) means when one rests so does the other (even out of turn) is great to counteract the multiple marked tokens the pair are receiving.

"Did you miss me?"

With the priest's gangsters, it is John breaks through the vault doors to interrupt the ritual summoning an angry Cthulhu upon himself and manages to fend off the attack which kills all the extra allied gangsters while the kid provides fire support from the next room before being swarmed by tcho-tchos.

This causes Cthulhu to flee right into the priest who badly wounds the elder one with his holy relics before a freshly summoned star spawn eliminates the man of god. John then charges the room and wounds Cthulhu enough to make him flee again.

This time, all alone on the dimly lit street, Cthulhu is ambushed by improvised explosives Borden had brought and is summarily chopped into pieces by the axe murderer - who gains so many extra free hits when there is only a single opponent sharing the space.

MISSION SUCCESS (first try though it was looking dire there for a bit. Recruiting gangsters at the start was quite annoying)!

Insight: Most mobsters demand payment before you can hire them, and if you can't you often get the "marked" condition which really sucks - think of it as random life draining so keeping your HP up is mandatory!

Cthulhu: Death May Die - Legend of the Moon

Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight...

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

Beth (wifey), Benchley (me), "the Kid" (mom), Rasputin (Juris) and new protector John (DL) could scarcely believe their eyes when they arrived at the observatory where the phases of the moon were changing every few minutes! "We need to get the lunar mirrors to the telescope room," muttered Rasputin. "Only that can thwart this evil science sorcery!"

You can tell you are insane if you see smiley faces on any of these.

Thanks to the compact layout of the building, this wasn't too difficult to do especially as the Kid found a spell to pull the mirrors an extra step right away. Rasputin and Benchley pulled the further ones to John in near the foyer, who passed it up to the stairs to the Beth in the telescope chamber. Beth too found a spell to quickly get the moon phases to their desired state to save time and summoning the King in Yellow!

The Kid then used the daggers of shadow and light (+3 dice in new moon/full moon) which she had been using to keep the halls clear of ghouls and cultists on the elder god, causing it to flee but not before the curse of the yellow sign on Rasputin triggered and killed him (which is a first, Hastur loves handing out yellow signs but this is the first death from one).

The team pursued the King in Yellow to the yellow gate and fired everything they had at him. Even John, who rescued a lady with a gun earlier, could finally attack from range. This enraged Hastur to advance at them but John was able to tank all his hits. Suddenly Beth emerged from the shadows and emptied all her bullets into the weakened elder god, killing it and once more saving the day.

MISSION SUCCESS (first try)!

Insight: It's a small map, but since you can't move mirrors if they are in shadow you can't delay when they are lit up - even if it means taking hits.

Cthulhu: Death May Die - A Night at the Museum

Even monsters can visit, just don't touch the displays!

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

It was the middle of the night when Rasputin (Juris), Adam (me), Miss Ives (wifey) broke into the museum with new members "the Kid" (mom) who has latent magical abilities and Jack (DL with same character, but afflicted with psychotic tendencies). It is handy that the artifacts needed to disrupt the gates here are just lying around - they just needed to be collected and placed by two of the three portals simultaneously.

The first hurdle is the massive shoggoth blocking the way which survived the opening salvo from the ranged team members so Jack took it upon himself to lure the creature and other cultists to the South hall to stay away from the team. Sure enough, his psychosis triggers multiple times and what initially looks like a Jack suicide turns out to be the annihilation of everything chasing him!

Meanwhile both Rasputin and the Kid are arrested by the night watchmen, still on patrol and somehow oblivious to the gates, monsters and cultists around. It doesn't take the pair long to get free  and by this time the others are already in position with the artifacts and disrupt the ritual, summoning a weakened Hastur into the museum right next to Jack!

An epic brawl erupts between them as a pistol wielding Rasputin and a random golden retriever he found joins the fray severely weakening the King in Yellow. Miss Ives and Adam wearing an ancient queen's tiara provide ranged support blasting holes in the abomination but this enrages him, and quickly impales both to death using his tentacled throne (at least we hope its a throne) in one hit. Hastur just diced amazingly well - even through rerolls, everything was a hit. Twice! >_<

The kid arrives immediately after this, wielding a shotgun in one hand and Excalibur in the other - laughing manically as she puts down what's left of this incarnation of Hastur in what amounts to be an epic curb-stomp finisher.

Side note: There is actually an "XCaliber" Shotgun.

MISSION SUCCESS (first try, though I did make an error with the order of Hastur's AI cards)!

Insight: We got lucky with Jack's ability here especially since fighting a shoggoth makes it really easy to trigger. Also while the guards are annoying, don't be afraid to get arrested if you can get the artifacts next to the gates.

Cthulhu: Death May Die - Dark Cata-Tomes

Reading books in the dark is bad for your eyes.

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

To make up for their lost members from the last outing, Rasputin (Juris) had sent Morgan (DL) to do some recruiting - collecting another gypsy named Safir (Mom) and two hired guns Miss Ives (wifey) and the narcoleptic Adam (me). Having tracked new cultists to some catacombs, they needed to loot the correct sigils from them to be able to collect two of the four tomes powering another summoning ritual.

Adam was quick to show off his skills, eliminating all the nearby guards with his rifle and promptly falling catatonic just as a confused Cthonian (giant alien type critter) arrived to investigate the noise (enemies don't attack catatonic people - LOL). Rasputin and Morgan beat this horror down and advanced with Safir deeper in the darkness while Miss Ives covered the entry way with her pistol.

These cultists were certainly better armed, bringing tommy guns and unstable grenades but it was relatively easy for the squad to find what they needed - even while fighting past ghouls that shambled ever closer. As Safira picked up the second tome a weakened Hastur was summoned into existence! While the King in Yellow managed to snap Rasputin's neck, he was no match for the firepower brought against him (including a grenade thrown by Safira and Adam's powerful rifle - when he was awake anyway). 

Hastur seems to have more tentacles than Cthulhu...

Hastur fled behind a contingent of ghouls and cultists but still couldn't take the punishment meted out against him. Rasputin even managed to land a few blows before being immolated and dying again (by now he had leveled up to revive again anyway) before Safira, having been patched up by Miss Ives' medical kit, back stabbed the King in Yellow, defeating him - causing the ghouls to crumble and die and the remaining cultists to flee. Rasputin would wake up later with a slight headache.

MISSION SUCCESS (first try)!

Insight: Our tactic of having a harvest squad and a ranged cover squad seemed to work well here, with the cover squad basically only holding either the start room or the central chamber.

Return of the King (in Yellow)

Just a quick post to say I'm back from my sojourn mostly in one piece. While away we managed to have two six player games of Arkham Horror, both victorious through different methods. Mainly what we did different this time was - shopping!

First up was Hastur, the King in Yellow who absolutely thrashed us last time we went against him since he woke up at maximum power (terror level 10). After gearing up this time one of our number got a spell that could summon the big bad before he's at full power , and that's exactly what we did. Combined with someone else's spell to remove one terror track token instantly Hastur didn't even last long enough to launch a second attack.

Defeated by discount deals. The shame.

Our next match was against Azathoth, who basically instantly wins by eating the world (no final combat) if he wakes up. We lucked out in being able to purchase two elder signs early and eventually won on both having more than 6 gate tokens collectively with no active gates on the board AND having 6 sealed locations at once. We shut him down good! 

I think the only ancient one we haven't yet played from the original pack is Cthulhu himself, so we'll have to challenge the tentacled one next time (still haven't won against some others though, I think Nyartlatholep and Shub-Niggurath). If you have no idea what I'm on abut, don't worry - the normal schedule of gaming posts will resume tomorrow. See you then!

One hot board game! :)

I got Operation Flashpoint: Fire Rescue around two weeks ago and have now played it almost as many times as my other cooperative game, Arkham Horror. It is a lot of fun, goes pretty quick (in comparison to Arkham) and obviously my playing group (which includes my grandparents!) really like it. The premise is simple: there's a house on fire and your team has to control the flame while getting people out. Sounds easy, and on the novice level it really is - especially with more people. The less players in this one the harder it is - that's what I've found anyway.

A typical game lasts from 30 minutes (2 players) to 2 hours (6 players) and it also is pretty quick (10 mins) to setup from the box (as opposed to Arkham's 25+ with all the cards and tokens). Veteran level starts seeing the fire being -very- annoying though and more so with heroic as the odds that the flame gets extra "turns" increases exponentially. If you like co-op dice rolling stuff then I highly recommend it! :)

Score after re-review: Two dangerous materials out of five.

As an aside we also did play another round of Arkham Horror, this time against the King in Yellow. We just couldn't seal the gates with his extra power and after 6 hours were not lucky enough to defeat Hastur in combat, even with a shotgun-wielding, blessed nun. :p