Darkness Rising

[Werebiscuit]

We need to have 2 plans. One possibility is that Trogdor will be content to stay in the back of the room, firing burninates at us. The other is that he takes a more proactive approach and decides to try his hand at directly attacking us. We need to worry about each.

OOC Rather than 2 plans I think we need one plan that either deals with both options or forces him into one . The zerg rush will take time to get to him and we will lose skeletons along the way which is why I would like to plan for replacements. The defence against burninate is a skirmish line ( or chorus line). Having 2 spaces between each skel means the burninate can only target 1 skel. Yuri and Rolf must provide the bait by joining the line and taking out the bone warriors. Once the burninate has fired the line can bunch on the 3rd. If Yuri and Rolf have taken a body then whoever gets fried can use the body as an immmediate bone puppeteer target replacing the 2AP skeleton with a stronger 3AP version
I'm not sure animating 16 skellies right off is a good plan. I'd go for about 10-12 and give Bill juice and bodies to animate more (theres already a body in there so Yuri & Rolf carrying would make 3) I'd focus on trying to keep one max stack of dance fighters with a few ready replacements. As we won't be able to keep 2 max stacks no matter what we do. We're just going to have to deal with the 'Combat+X' (where X<3) 'hit' of having only a few extra skeletons in the other stack. I figure we can get 9 skeletons in the room in the 1st turn in a pattern of 3 skirmish lines with 2 spaces between each. Rolf, Yuri and Tod should also go along to provide bait. That gives us a nice 7x7 box to keep out the bone warriors. Will too if he feels up to it. Each party member entering the room should have a renew potion. Unless we are risking Triage 1st turn.
Bill should not go 1st turn whether we are risking T.Coil and Triage or not.
By entering on the diagonal I think we can have skeletons in K10, 7 & 4 with another 3 in H10, 7 & 4 and a final 3 in E10, 7 & 4. Entering in diagonal the other way means we can place 3 other characters in the B-line on 10 7 & 4. Preferably T.coil Will and Cupid, if they'll go. Yuri Rolf and Tod should be able to get to the L lines and can occupy positions 9, 6 &3 or similar for the K -line.
Our worry is then what we do about the structures. /OOC

[MarbitChow]

So, anybody ready to head through the portal, or has the Bone Dagron intimidated you all into silence?

[The Colonel]

Here's a pic of my basic plan. The black marks are where skellies should stand.

[MarbitChow]

The Colonel, please note that no units will be able to reach the squares you've marked out on the first turn. The K row is the absolute right-most any units other than Cupid could reach on the first round.

[The Colonel]

But is the back row a good set up formation?

[Swodaems]

A plan I don't agree with.

I think you're trying too hard to avoid burninate damage to the minor uncroaked with that plan. They start with 14 hits, meaning that burninate needs to hit 4 of them before the chance of dusting even one rises above 50%. The PCs will have wards which will soak up most of the likely damage from a burninate.

I also think leading the charge with the uncroaked is going to be a waste of them. The enemy heavies will have a round in which to wound the front units in the dance stack. This allows them to use their higher combat on the second round to eliminate members of the dance stack before the dance stack can act (MarbitChow told us earlier that dance-fighting does not affect combat order, so the dance stack moves at combat =5). If Trogdor pitches in, we could lose 3-4 members of the dance-stack in short order, dropping their dance bonus by 2 until we can bring in more on the next turn. (I'm pretty sure that we can't restack units mid round.) The PCs (in particular Tod, Rolf, and Yuri, who are extremely durable by virtue of their high defs (I've decided to take +1 to def this level, so including the def ring, our melee characters should have 14, 15, and 16 def.)) should be protecting the zerg from the Dagron's defenders instead of having the zerg try to protect us. In its own special way, the dance zerg is a glass cannon. They'll be our lowest def/hits melee units and will do crap damage each, but getting all of them to Trogdor as a single massive group is our best shot at downing him in a reasonable timeframe. 350 hits is simply too many to deal with otherwise.

As for the idea of carrying corpses into the room instead of having ones capable of walking themselves in on hand, I'm just going to say that this seems like a waste of Bill's use as potential scroll caster and of battle time. I have the same opinion of keeping some of the dance zerg in reserve in the marbit room. While we do need those units on site, not a round of movement behind the rest of the group, we shouldn't be needlessly sacrificing Bill's battle actions to achieve that.

(Also, if we can get him to use a Burninate, then any party members that stayed behind should have conditional orders to pile into the room on the turn that happens. They all, (well, maybe not Cupid,) will be able to contribute to the battle and will have time to spread out before Burninate can be reused.)

In short, I think the PCs should be used to deal with Trogdor's minions and the portals while the uncroaked zerg simply rushes Trogdor in groups of 3 per 3X3 in order to reach him ASAP. Sure, the zerg clumping does mean that they will take more damage from Burninate should it be used on them, but trying to dance around with them results in Trogdor being able to spead more rounds using his strike to 1 shot dust dance zombies instead of merely melting off a bit of useless decaying flesh here and there. The first round should have Tod, Yuri, and Rolf facing off against the skele heavies with possible back up from Will and the Casters. So long as we arrange things so that Trogdor can't bypass the first row on the second round, we should be fine.

Here's a pic of my basic plan. The black marks are where skellies should stand.

I'm seeing marks for far more than 16 minor uncroaked.

[The Colonel]

Yeah, just cut out the back rows.

[Werebiscuit]

A plan I don't agree with.

.

OOc I'm not sure you understand my plan. Yuri, Rolf and Tod ARE on the front line protecting the zerg by taking on the bone warriors. The front line will be the K-line. Rolf Yuri & Tod should be at K3, K7 & K9 (or if my theory below is right L4, L7 & L10) The zerg is protecting Will, Cupid & T.Coil who are behind it. Neither the bone warriors nor the bonedrake can get past the skeleton zerg because of adjacency. The bonedrake can circle around, sure, but unless his movement is very high he cannot reach the back line at B# ( where #= 4 ~10). He will still encounter a skeleton first. ( which he very well may destroy but it will have stopped him).

My worry for the plan is that we do not know what will come through the "structures". We may have to use Rolf, Yuri & Tod to deal with that which means they cannot be dealing with the bonedrake.
/OOC

[Werebiscuit]

The K row is the absolute right-most any units other than Cupid could reach on the first round.

OOC If we enter on the diagonal from V-10 in the Marbit room we should appear at E10 and thus be able to reach L10 (not K10). Thats partly what I was testing with the marbit body. Had it not come through the side of the portal it should have flown through the skeleton, since it entered same time, not by him as described. From the layout it would also seem we could enter the portal in lines of 3 and should thus arrive in C10, D10 & E10 /OOC

[Swodaems]

MarbitChow, how does moving thru the portal effect our movement? Do we all count as starting in the square the skele is standing in?

No, you'll need to line yourselves up on the Marbit-tunnel side of the portal, and go through. Moving through the portal costs 1 square. Cupid's a bit funky, since he could have ground & flight move, but if you keep it simple, he'll use up 2 squares to enter, and still have 9 squares of flight remaining. (I didn't go through the effort prior to this because it didn't matter for the 1st two fights.)

Every unit has to pass through one of the squares in Marbit room U10, V10, or W10, and will 'appear' in Trogdor room C10, D10, or E10. You only have 8 squares to move. So, someone who starts in Marbit-V10 has moved 2 squares already when they appear at E10, and can move 6 more squares. Trogdor K4 is the farthest you can venture forward. If you want to make sure every unit is at least 3 squares apart, so that only 1 unit can be hit by Burninate, you can only move at most 12 units into the room in one turn.

MarbitChow, please clarify a couple things, starting with the cost for moving thru the portal. The first statement read as if it would only take one move to get from one square adjacent to the portal to a square on the other side and the second said two.

Also, the way I read your statement, units have to stand on U10, V10, or W10 before spending move to get thru the portal and recieve a choice to appear in either C10, D10, or E10 upon arrival in Trogdor's room regardless of which of the 3 starting squares they were starting in. Someone in W10 could get right to E10 in spite of the apparent L shape formed by flipping the image of the marbit room and posing the portals over each other. Is this accurate?

[MarbitChow]

OOC If we enter on the diagonal from V-10 in the Marbit room we should appear at E10 and thus be able to reach L10 (not K10). Thats partly what I was testing with the marbit body. Had it not come through the side of the portal it should have flown through the skeleton, since it entered same time, not by him as described. From the layout it would also seem we could enter the portal in lines of 3 and should thus arrive in C10, D10 & E10 /OOC

Allied units can move through squares occupied by other allied units (they just can't both occupy the same square). The flavor text is that one just 'goes around' the other, although they are both in the same square, however briefly. I did not realize that you were testing that; I thought you were just confirming that 2 distinct entrance portals both exit in the same place. In addition, corpses don't really take up much space, game-wise (they can't restrict access to a square, for example), so I didn't worry about collisions.

No, you'll need to line yourselves up on the Marbit-tunnel side of the portal, and go through. Moving through the portal costs 1 square. Cupid's a bit funky, since he could have ground & flight move, but if you keep it simple, he'll use up 2 squares to enter, and still have 9 squares of flight remaining. (I didn't go through the effort prior to this because it didn't matter for the 1st two fights.) ... Every unit has to pass through one of the squares in Marbit room U10, V10, or W10, and will 'appear' in Trogdor room C10, D10, or E10. You only have 8 squares to move. So, someone who starts in Marbit-V10 has moved 2 squares already when they appear at E10, and can move 6 more squares. Trogdor K4 is the farthest you can venture forward. If you want to make sure every unit is at least 3 squares apart, so that only 1 unit can be hit by Burninate, you can only move at most 12 units into the room in one turn.

MarbitChow, please clarify a couple things, starting with the cost for moving thru the portal. The first statement read as if it would only take one move to get from one square adjacent to the portal to a square on the other side and the second said two. ... Also, the way I read your statement, units have to stand on U10, V10, or W10 before spending move to get thru the portal and recieve a choice to appear in either C10, D10, or E10 upon arrival in Trogdor's room regardless of which of the 3 starting squares they were starting in. Someone in W10 could get right to E10 in spite of the apparent L shape formed by flipping the image of the marbit room and posing the portals over each other. Is this accurate?

The actual portal occupies both the Marbit V11 and Bone Dagron E11 squares. V11 & E11 are treated as the same square for movement purposes. So you could start in U10, V10, or W10, and move to V11/E11, and from V11/E11, move to C10, D10, or E10. When I said "Moving through the portal costs 1 square", I should have clarified that it only counts as 1 square (the V11/E11 square), and there is no additional cost to pass through the portal other than the cost of moving through that square. I apologize for over-complicating the issue.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I'm also of the opinion that sending ready-made churglings is better than spawning them on-site.

So yeah. Let's DO THIS!!1123

[Swodaems]

The actual portal occupies both the Marbit V11 and Bone Dagron E11 squares.

Thanks for the information. Now I know how we can arrange ourselves on the marbit side of the portal before going in. (Did you mean D11?)

Alright, for all intents and purposes, a unit can consider itself as being in one of 4 ranks of starting positions with rank being determined as distance from square V11. Each rank has a different number of units that can fit in it and also a different max distance from D11 that it can travel on the first round. (Note: As a flyer, Cupid will have different distances than anyone else for each rank.) We have to find a way to arrange all 24 (25 with bone puppeteer scroll) units that allows them to get where they need to be.
Rank 1: (3 slots) the 3 spaces directly next to V11. Me, Rolf and Yuri get first dibs on these due to us being melee. Only these 3 units can reach columns as distant as K and Rows as distant as 4. (+1 if we do something weird like have Bill raise a skeleton in a recently vacated spot.)
Rank 2: (7 slots) the 7 spaces 2 move away from V11. Can reach columns as distant as J and Rows as distant as 5.
Rank 3: (11 slots) the 11 spaces 3 move away from V11. Can reach columns as distant as I and Rows as distant as 6.
Rank 4: (7 slots, but we'll only need 3 or 4) the 7 spaces 4 move away from V11. Can reach columns as distant as H and Rows as distant as 7.
Try to keep these limitations in mind when devising your first move strategy.

My plan in simple form:
(Note: I think it is acceptable for about 3 of our zergling units to get by a single burninate, but that it is unacceptable for more than one pc to be hit.)
Rolf, Yuri and myself draw straws to see who places themselves in K10, K7, and K4. (No more units can be placed in K or 4)
The 16 minor uncroaked dancers place themselves on B7,C6,D5,B10,C9,D8,E7,F6,G5,E10,F9,G8,H9,I10,H6,I7 (2 units in 5 row means 2 of 7 rank 2 spots taken. 3 units in 6 row and 2 in column I means 5 of 11 rank 3 spots taken. The rest could be shuffled to 2,3, or 4.) The formation looks like odd tire track arrows pointing down. Might be safer to point arrows towards dagron, but I have already typed out all those positions.
William and 3 casters move to positions A10,A7,D10, and D7. They have RLOS abilities and just need to get in the room to use them. Try to get in after the Burninate hits if possible. (All those spaces can be reached from Rank 2,3, or 4.)
If he wants to, Cupid comes in and takes to air.

[MarbitChow]

(Did you mean D11?)

Yes, I meant D11. If there are no objections to the plan as you've stated, I'll start the turn this evening.

[Werebiscuit]

I'm also of the opinion that sending ready-made churglings is better than spawning them on-site.

So yeah. Let's DO THIS!!1123

OOC For the most part I agree but it will take at least 2 turns to get to the bonedrake, in which time skeletons can be damaged by burninate or other bonewarriors (and we still have to be wary of adjacency- which can stop our zerg rush in it's tracks) However if we take a body it arrives as an undamaged skeleton whenever Bill can cast ( he does not have many attacking options 1-hoboken scroll and I'd save the cure scrolls for when we need double cures and I'm sure there's times we will). I'm not suggesting we'll need many bodies 3-4 should be enough. It gives Bill another tactical option besides reading a hoboken or revitalize/renew scroll. /OOC

[Werebiscuit]

Rank :1 (+1 if we do something weird like have Bill raise a skeleton in a recently vacated spot.)
(No more units can be placed in K or 4)

OOC These 2 statements are somewhat contradictory , If Yuri, Rolf & Tod leave from U10, V10 & W10 we can raise 2 skeletons in those spots ( 1 from Bill & the other by scroll) allowing them to also reach the K column or 4th row. If Yuri, Tod and Rolf can carry a body each we potentially have 8 attackers (3 of them untouchable by attacks OR burninate) that can be on the K column or 4th row...allowing for Bills casting.


Just pointing out possible options for maximizing attacks on the frontline/ bonedrake /OOC

[Swodaems]

Rank :1 (+1 if we do something weird like have Bill raise a skeleton in a recently vacated spot.)
(No more units can be placed in K or 4)

OOC These 2 statements are somewhat contradictory , If Yuri, Rolf & Tod leave from U10, V10 & W10 we can raise 2 skeletons in those spots ( 1 from Bill & the other by scroll) allowing them to also reach the K column or 4th row. If Yuri, Tod and Rolf can carry a body each we potentially have 8 attackers (3 of them untouchable by attacks OR burninate) that can be on the K column or 4th row...allowing for Bills casting.


Just pointing out possible options for maximizing attacks on the frontline/ bonedrake /OOC

Can we actually attack and use our full move if we're carrying corpses? I've been assuming it would have as bad an effect in combat as carrying a living unit. (I forget the other effects, but I think our move would be reduced to about 5.)

[Werebiscuit]

Can we actually attack and use our full move if we're carrying corpses? I've been assuming it would have as bad an effect in combat as carrying a living unit. (I forget the other effects, but I think our move would be reduced to about 5.)

OOC You may have a point...I was convinced we had done it before in one of the scenarios but can't seem to find it. BTW the reduction to 5 move was for carrying the ram.
It may reduce movement for tod...not being a heavy. As asked earlier we can dump the corpse anywhere along our route i.e before combat if it is a problem /OCC

[Werebiscuit]

This gives me a question. We established in the earlier battle that fliers could carry troops, but both rider and flier would be too consumed by the tasks of moving/holding on for dear life to do anything else. Would a heavy flier be stable enough to be able to carry another unit without penalty?

Without penalty, no. Being able to fire from another unit requires that the unit has the Mount ability. I'll rule that a Heavy Flier could carry another unit (since we've already established that Heavy units can carry a body), but the Heavy Flier would not be able to attack and the other unit would suffer a -2 Combat / -4 Defense penalty, The Heavy Flier would get a +4 Cover bonus for holding the other unit, however.

OOC No stated movement penalty /OOC

[Swodaems]

This was said on Page 29.

Can the heavies carry a living unit?

Picking up a unit is an action, and ends the lifter's move, but yes, a heavy unit can carry a non-heavy unit. A non-heavy unit can drag another unit as well (at 1/2 speed); a dragged unit has a 0 defense and cannot act. I think applying a 1/3rd movement penalty to heavy units carrying other units (much like the rams) is also appropriate, so move would be 5 for non-fliers and 8 for heavy flying units (as long as they can actually fly).