So, amongst the kickstarter goodness that arrived this week was Lord of
the Dead, backed on a whim because it looked very much like the games I grew up
with, such as Survival and Barbarian Prince, it also looked colourful and
interesting.
And now it’s here, I can cheerfully report that it’s interesting, but
the villagers have really got a fight on their hands...
What we liked most about it was that the move and attack orders were
reversed for the two different sides, allowing the humans to close and attack
each round (and invite the possibility of a return strike), or they could stay
out of range and there was nothing that the shambling undead could do to catch
them.
With this in mind, you’d think that it would be an easy matter for the
humans to stay at range and pepper the undead with shots for the win...
Not So...
I played several games against my constant companion through adventure,
John Wilson, and found that while the Lords of the Dead themselves aren’t that
much of a threat in straight combat, their spells make them a particularly
troublesome foe.
For example
Most of the Lords have a range of one, meaning that they have to be in
contact with the base of the model being attacked, and so a lot of their attacks
are lessened because of this range issue.
Any human would do well to keep to range and keep firing, but many of
the spells have a range on them, and that range does well to counter the problems
that the Lord has in general.
When the Lord in question does have a ranged attack, the humans are in
real trouble, The pumpkin head is one of the most dangerous because it has a
range of two, equivalent to many of the humans and it hits far more often. Of the games played when I took this villain,
all ended in sure defeat for the humans.
Against the others, tactics and judicious use of propelled weapons won
the day.
Strategy?
For the player of the undead, the whole goal is to get to the graveyard
and there raise the army, for the humans, it’s to stop them getting in there,
so the undead strategy is to head at best speed for the graveyard and let
nothing stop them. Bonus points are
awarded for the humans to pick their forces if the undead start closer to the
graveyard at the beginning, and the points allocations are about right for the
advantage the range decrease gives.
For the humans, it’s all about having the right troops for the job, the
Paladin is really expensive, but can cancel spells and hit hard. The farmer on the other hand is there for
little more than cannon fodder, but that plays a part as well...
We played a good five or six games in less than fifteen minutes once we’d
got the rules down, it’s a good fast game with simple mechanics, good
production values, and excellent replay value, I’ll be looking for the next one
by Christopher Ferguson, this one’s a keeper...
