Rangers of Shadow Deep: The Infected Trees

"Scenario 2: The Infected Trees

Examining the bodies of the zombies, along with the other clues from the village, left little doubt.

The village had been attacked by some horrific species of giant spider, whose venom reanimated the dead. Thankfully, such creatures move slowly. Likely, they will have retreated to the nearest shelter to slowly feast upon the missing villagers.

Your duty is clear. Taking just enough time to patch up your wounds, and make a quick pyre for the dead, you set off after the spiders, following their faint, but unique tracks. 

After nearly a day’s pursuit, the tracks lead into a small forest. Chances are the spiders are not too deep in the woods. You must find them, destroy them and any nests they might have made, and, if you are

lucky, rescue any survivors."

The MEGAforce finally got around to playing the second scenario in the first mission. 

All four of us were available, so we each chose one of our Rangers from our previous play-throughs of the first scenario and took either a Recruit or a Warhound from a previous game. The rationale was that all the earlier games had happened and the various Rangers met up on the way to the Trees. Four then took a Companion each to investigate, while the rest returned to base escorting the rescued Survivors.

L to R: Omoranti, Bostol,  Portus Fell,  Gendrin,  Ranger Bob, Wuffles, Valdar and Haflas

L to R: Omoranti, Bostol,  Portus Fell,  Gendrin,  Ranger Bob, Wuffles, Valdar and Haflas

The Infected Grove

I set the game up ahead of time, using my Nest Trees and pretty much all the rest of my tree collection. Sadly I didn't really have any other suitable terrain to provide cover and make the going difficult.

The Infected Trees with lurking spiders

We'd not got together for a while, so there was a lot of chat and too few pictures.  Here's a brief account of the action.

Opening Moves 

The Heroes advanced, already sighting Giant Spiders ahead. Early shots took out a couple, and Valdar was able to target one of the Nest Trees with a Fireball, burning both it and the Spider hiding in it.

The only setback was both Omoranti and Bostol being Poisoned by a Spider (Grim couldn't roll less than a 17 in the first half of the game, great when it was for his Heroes, less good when he rolled for the Spiders).

The first couple of Cocoons held corpses, but in the third was an elderly woman. At 87 she wasn't going to let mere spiders stop her!

The Heroes investigate, meeting venomous spiders and Nest Trees, and destroying them all

The End Phase 

The Rangers continued their mission. Wuffles was attacked by a Spider, but a rare shaft of light through the canopy drove it off. Sadly the noble hound then fell to a Zombie after sniffing one of the remaining cocoons.

The final cocoon held another villager, but it seemed the danger wasn't over. Two more trees were Infected, but Valdar dealt with one with a Recalled Fireball and as set fire to the other.

With no more cocoons to investigate, and any remaining Spiders hidden away, the Heroes returned to base, stopping only to help Valdar and Gendrin, who had managed to get themselves caught up in sticky spider webs.

All clear!

Aftermath 

Everyone gained a level. Portius Fell was already level 1 from the first game, so now she's improved her shooting (all that practice on poor helpless spiders).

The rest of us are now level 1 and have honed our Skills ready for Tor Varden.

And Wuffles survived his encounter with the zombie.

Summary 

Well that was a lot of fun. 

The Mission wasn't as difficult as I anticipated, and I set up for the Challenge Level after reading suggestions in the Rangers of Shadow Deep Facebook group.

Initially, everyone kept their Ranger and Companion together, but we soon got into the swing of things and had folk helping out where they were most useful.

My experience was, perhaps, jaded slightly by having both my Heroes Poisoned, so down to one Action a turn. I felt I added little to the game from that point onwards, it's a good job the rest of the company were up to the task.

Mistakes Were Made 

Although the system is an easy one to learn, I still got some things wrong. 

Despite using a Fast Play Sheet, I messed up the second move. This meant that we were moving far too fast (especially Ranger Bob and Valdar, with their base move of 7). We got to the Nest Trees too soon, and took the initial four out of the game relatively early (Fireballing a tree and spider was nicely cinematic though).

I was also rushing through the Event Card results, not reading them properly, so I missed placing the spider and treasure tokens along with the new Nest Trees. Doh! This would have delayed setting fire to them.

But the real reason the scenario seemed relatively easy was the 'spider shooting gallery'. This was down to my not placing any low cover. Bushes and such would have helped the spiders survive until they could contact the company.

If that sounds a bit negative, it's not meant to. Everyone commented on how fun it was, and the ease of learning the rules (excepting mistakes) helps the story to stand out.

Looking Forward 

T'Other One had to use the Barbarian for Bob, as I have surprisingly few male Rangers painted. I'll correct that soon.

I must also make more low cover, bushes, rocks etc; I'm sure they will add to the next scenario. 

I also need to start assembling the minis for Mission Two.

"Only hours after you arrived back from destroying the nest of spiders, you received a message from your commanding officer. Contact has been lost with the beacon tower of Tor Varden, and it is presumed to have been overrun.

You are commanded to round up what men you can and proceed with all swiftness to Tor Varden to ascertain the truth. If the tower has fallen, learn what enemy forces now occupy it and harass or eliminate them as opportunity presents."