Cthulhu: Death May Die Board Game Round Two

With restrictions lifted to allow us to go to other people's homes again, both Mark and I were keen to play something and another scenario from Cthulhu: Death May Die seemed perfect, following on from our gaming session in June (has it been that long?!).

We played season 1, episode 6: "Unspeakable Hour" with the one himself, Cthulhu. I played Borden and Alex, while Mark played Sister Beth and Scarlett Hayes.

After last time of multiple long range weapons, we went for females that didn't mind getting their hands dirty with monsters.

Playing it safe, but more fearful of last time that were weren't going to complete the mission in time, we managed to win without losing anyone. That's a double win.

It feels good to be gaming again. Really good.

Cthulhu: Death May Die Board Game

Apart from the PBEM River Plate WWII naval game, I haven't wargamed or painted since working from home due to Covid-19 in March.

This would change when Mark R invited some of us over for a game of CMON's Cthulhu: Death May Die, a cooperative board game for 1 to 5 players where you take on the creatures of the Cthulhu mythos. The basic premise is that cultists are summoning one of the Elder Ones and it is up to a ragtag group of investigators to disrupt the ritual long enough to make the Elder One vulnerable allowing it to be killed.

Mark had painted the miniatures over the Christmas break and was keen to show off the game. For the first game we played the 'Tomes of Madness' episode with Hastur as the Elder One that needed to be sent back into the shadows. The Episode provides the map layout, the ritual you are trying to disrupt (and how to disrupt it), as well as the abilities of the monsters in the game. Each Elder One provides the big boss to be defeated, with its own challenges, along with its special minions.

Unfortunately David T and Jono T didn't make it (and I haven't heard from them since...) as David wasn't feeling well.

This meant only Ernest Hemingway (Mark) and Ariele Venturi (myself) were able to stop the cultists and disciples in the catacombs. Below is my character sheet that tracks my character's sanity, stress, health and skills (your skills increase as your insanity increases). During the game you turn over Mythos cards providing new challenges (and acting as tracker for the progression of the ritual) and Discovery cards (providing followers and equipment). Like many games in recent times, these details make a good game great (there's also a QRS on the left hand side).

Our mission was to find tokens (on the bodies of dead cultists) and match pairs up to find a tome. Initially Ernest and Ariele split up, but when the Cthonian passed me, I decided there was safety in numbers.

The whole time I was conscious of my 'Recurring Trauma' that would potentially be triggered as my sanity eroded away. But this was not time for weakness, Ernest was dealing with cultists, disciples and ghouls by himself. Defeating all with some ease, but all the time your balancing your Stress and Health levels - it got close at times.

It was inevitable that Hastur would join us. The tracker means that he jumps around the board. By this time Mark and I were working together and using our skills and equipment to would Hastur as much as possible. The grenades Ernest had helped too.

It's worth pointing out again how nice those miniatures are - absolutely gorgeous. This is however the moment I lost control of my Sanity management and Ariele went insane. Ernest would therefore have to take on Hastur alone in the last stage of the game.

It seemed easy though, and the grenade finished off the room he was in with an absolute plethora of followers.

We that was fun - so we had another game. The episode would be 'Danse Macabre' with The Goat of the Black Woods be the one the cultists were attempting to bring into this world. Following on from the skills I had with Ariele, I decided to take a character that had a slight variation (no Stealth, but Arcane Knowledge) to test what difference this would make - Walter was also a hunter that preferred to attack at range. Mark took Albert Einstein. Yes, that Albert - who apparently loved hunting the evils of the unknown.

Along with the cultists, the Black Goat would be accompanied by Dark Youngs, Hunting Horrors and Deep Ones. From the very beginning we were assaulted by the monsters, and Albert being a lot more skilled in both flipping over the ball goer tokens to find the four Cthulhu worshippers in the crowd and then prodding them to the wharf. Eventually (with the help of picking up the Stealth skill) Walter got into the action.

We picked up a lot of animal companions (Walter got a gorilla with three extra wounds and the apt description of "RAWR" on the card! Albert had a peacock... as you do). We also dealt with the monster and cultists that streamed from upstairs - this assisted in managing them and our Stress and Health.

This time team work was a lot smoother and we defeated the Black Goat, both alive and both sane.

I love this game - it looks beautiful, plays well and is a lot of fun. Definitely one to play again.

A Song of Ice and Fire and Rangers of Shadow Deep Introduction Games

After a few months hiatus I was back at the League and Mark had his beautifully painted A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) miniatures from Cool Mini or Not (CMON) that he was itching to get out on the table. He provided both sides and we spent the morning playing a brutal game (I got slaughtered to a man!).

First impressions? The mechanics are elegant, the miniatures beautiful, and just like the background there's an element of strategy happening off the battlefield that I like (the constant command decision pressure of deciding to move a unit and risk my opponent seizing an area of the tactics board which is also needed or vice versa). I can't see myself getting into the game (way too many projects!), but if you like Game of Thrones and all that then this is pretty good at recreating the world. Although it's marketed to some degree as a boardgame, it's very much a wargame.

The afternoon session had me stepping into Jack's character for a Rangers of Shadow Deep game, run by Mark with Dave T, his son Jonathan and Bruce. I was flying blind for most of it, but picked up the basic elements pretty quickly. There were three rooms our band had to fight through, the knolls giving us a hard time. I controlled a Wizard, Caitweazel (I assume a variation of Catweazle) and an unnamed red shirt companion.

I had to leave just as the third room was entered, so got the update from Mark. Both Bruce and David's characters fell in the final room (mercifully surviving their injuries when rolled for later) as did all of the remaining companions. This left Mark's Ranger and Caitweazel (played by Jonathan) to struggle through, which they did, if only just thanks to some lucky shots with Mark's crossbow. A staircase was found at the end, so the scenario was won but possibly with a deficit in the next scenario.