Adventures in shadows deep
So, I've been hard at work writing Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss (look out for another quick post coming tomorrow about that). But I took some time out the other day to try out Rangers of Shadow Deep, a solo/cooperative war game from the designer of Frostgrave. I managed to pick up the the deluxe rule book from Modiphius shortly before the lock down in the UK started. It was an inspiration to get a lot of unfinished war game scenery projects finished off, which has taken up a lot of time over the past few weeks, but has been well worth it! I've had a huge amount of fun building houses out of foam, wasting a whole bag of Plaster of Paris in an attempt to create homemade Sculptamold, and having various successes with Vallejo still water. Plus, I've put my hand to painting up a bunch of miniatures from North Star's Frostgrave soldiers set and some other minis to act as the monsters. Anyhoo, having put the effort into creating all of this stuff, it was time to put it to good use. I decided to play through the first mission, "The Deserted Village".
And I have to say that really enjoyed playing through the Rangers of Shadow Deep! It's very simple at its core - you activate your Ranger (and depending on the number of players, a number of companion figures), then the monsters actives, then you active the rest of your companions. Your heroes can do much more than just fight too - there are a range of skills, allowing you to do a whole host of actions from climbing buildings to picking locks. Skills rolls will be very familiar to anyone experienced with D&D - roll a d20 plus your skill modifier against a target number (TN). Combat is based on a contested skill rolls - you roll a d20 for your hero and the enemy figure, adding relevant modifiers. Whoever comes out highest deals damage equal to their rolls minus the armour of their opponent.
Despite quite a few references back to the rules while I got used to things (especially how the enemy AI works, which is based on a pretty intuitive flowchart), I found the first mission to be a good introduction to the game. At first I was a bit worried that it was too easy, given as I managed to discover all the clues placed on the board that form the objectives of the mission fairly quickly. However, it is in the event phase that concludes each turn that the difficulty ratchets up. Drawing from a pre-constructed deck of cards that you put together at the beginning of the game, events can inflict terror on your heroes, freezing them in place, add new enemy creatures to the board, and so on. By the end of the game, the growing hoard of enemies had managed to cut down three of my heroes and I barely managed to keep the survivor that we had rescued alive! Fortunately, your heroes get to make a test at the end of each mission to see whether they succumb to their injuries. Fortunately all mine survived, though there is a range in recovery, from permanent injuries to fully healed. While all my heroes will be ready for their next mission, my thief is now missing some toes (and will thus be a little slower...)
I'm looking forward to playing more Rangers of Shadow Deep in the future. As a solo experience, which is how I played it, it worked well and definitely scratches the war gaming itch. Plus, the range of miniatures and scenery that it calls for will keep me in modelling and painting projects for a long time to come. So, Rangers of Shadow Deep gets a definite thumbs up from me!
Here's some piccies...
