We have played a lot of Sellswords and Spellslingers over the last 1½years and we really enjoy the system. Its probably the first co-op tabletop game either of us has played and it certain brings a new dimension to gaming. The slightly chaotic and very tense games that SS&SS creates really keeps you engaged.
Our parties have about 10 games under their belts so we have moved onto some of the harder (Expert) scenarios. We'll play a couple more and then retire them and we want to try out some different builds. (I'll post another scenario soon)
The scenario we played is called
The Summoning of an Ancient Evil and fortunately I had the right figures for it. Most of the figures are Reaper Bones (including the stone circle) with GW figures for the Barbarians and Ratmen and a couple of characters.
The table setup with the stone circle in the middle and 16 Ratmen protecting it! The stone circle has a protective field and we played it that the field protects against shooting or magic attacks (although not stated in the scenario). A Warlock is summoning a demon and this will turn up after 15 failed activations by the parties.
Our partiesBoth our parties are similar with 2 fighters each armed with sword and shield, an archer with Strongbow and a Wizard.
First turnA few fireballs and bow shots killed some of the ratmen and opened up a space to get to the stone circle. However a horde of chaos barbarians turned up and move towards the other party. We Although the first party did well, only failing 1 activation, the other party failed 5!
In the second turn the first party advancing towards the stones, while loot markers litter the ground. They are reluctant to enter the circle alone and hope the other party gets their sh&t together!
The second party advances while they try to avoid a horde of barbarians who have appeared on their table edge. Again they fail more than their share of activations.
And the danger continues to grow, with the activation number up to 13 by the end of the second turn, and so the Demon will appear soon. Note we played that the Warlock would not attack the party until he has finished summoning the Demon even on a Monster frenzy card.
Uh-ohMeanwhile the second party is still having a tough day, stepping on scorpions and the leader who is a drunk, has lost his balance twice already (and he passed his drunken roll). This swordsmen has also fallen over and is being ambushed by a Ratmen.
The first member of the party breaks through the magical barrier protecting the stones, but then he begins to wonder if that was a good idea, as he is all alone with a Warlock and the Demon!
Help arrives in the form of a Wizard and an Archer. Probably not the best people to fight a demon with, but the others are unable to burst through the magical field protecting the stone circle. The archer is attacked by the demon and suffers 2 pts of damage so the situation is looking grim.
In the next turn the fighter and other Archer burst through, but they are not in time to save the Archer who has been killed by the Demon. While the fight is going one the remaining 2 fighters once again fail to get through the barrier and are pushed a long way back!
The Warlock also suffered 2 wounds but still survives and inflicts more damage on the Dwarf, who has lot 2pts of damage (out of 3).
In the next turn the Warlock of Larunn is killed, but none of the fighters can stop the Wizard being killed by the Demon.
The two fighters and the remaining Archer gang up on the Demon, and one of the other fighters finally breaks through the circle (perhaps because the power has weakened now the Warlock is dead). However a horde of wandering Chaos Barbarians arrive at the warriors backs causing some tense moments.
Fortunately the barbarians are dealt to rather quickly, and the Demon is slain by the fighter who had just burst through the barrier.
A tough day for our adventurers and one party had two members slain (fortunately both survived without lasting effects
AfterthoughtsAt first this seemed like a relatively easy scenario and we seemed to be cruising, but then like so many SS&SS games the intensity increased. Although there wasn’t a lot of photos showing all the wandering monsters, they tied up one party for a lot of the game. And the magical barrier really made it hard to get the parties in to kill the Demon and Warlock.