Vanguard: Seeking Sanctuary - Chapter 3: Nightshift

The mercenary crew were saddened by the loss of Turok, barbarian warrior of the north lands, but we all know that a long life is not likely in this line of work.

At an ancient ruin in the trees, another group of refugees from a different town has broken camp. They welcome gladly the company of our tired band, and especially their escort of armed fighters. Turns out, they had an escort of their own. However, they sustained rather heavier casualties with only one of their fighters having survived, a hook master who is more than willing to join the crew (taking on the role of rogue).

The hook master, named Thorval, had chosen to have his group camp next to the ruin, thinking it to be a more defensible position, should the occasion require. Ivor agrees and they all set up camp, unhitching the horses from the carriage and getting bedding of tree boughs sorted out.

Night falls. Elan was on watch. Her elven ears pick up sounds unfamiliar to the forest floor. But she knows these sounds; the ones that have been pursuing them. All are awoken and made ready.

Turn 1

An elite to the south and grunts from three spawn points to the north. As it is dark, vision is limited for all involved and the mercenaries circle the citizens, Emeralda buffs Katya and Elan's armour. 

The elite senses prey, Thorval is closest. The grunts move in too.

Turn 2

This grunt thinks he has a chance. He doesn't know the kind of pain Katya can inflict.

Ivor inspires Thorval and Elan, who each move to better engage the approaching hostiles.

Thorval makes an attack and retreats back to the group before the monster can retaliate. Elan makes a good shot and kills a grunt. She turns...

...and knocks down the elite. It takes more than one well placed arrow to take out an elite.

Fenrir fires at Katya's grunt and knocks it down. He also fired at the one behind the big tree to the left, but missed. (The rules are unclear about whether or not two attacks or two movements can be played on the same character activation. More thoughts at the end.) Katya dispatches it on her activation.

Look out Elan! This one shoots back!

Katya now has bigger problems!

End of turn 2, three elites crawl out of the ground.

Turn 3

Elan fires on two targets, knocks both down, but just can't find a killing shot.

Thorval is on it. "Thanks Elan!" (The red 4 is an armour buff.)

Fenrir can knock 'em down, but can't seem to land a killing shot either! Blame it on the darkness!

Katya resists the repeated advances of two unwanted creeps, but can't land a blow of her own.

Ivor confidently walks out to meet two monsters at once!

Meanwhile, with two grunts shooting at her now, Elan is knocked down!

End of Turn 3. A boss is spawned!

Turn 4

Thorval rushes over to Ivor and together they slay the elite and the grunt.

Elan gets up and dispatches one of the grunts firing at her.

Fenrir and Katya fail to make any hits and both are knocked down by their foes.

Turn 5

Ivor and Thorval kill another elite, but a boss is headed their way! In the background, Fenrir has got up, but can't clear his head enough to hit anything.

Katya gets up and retreats to a narrower pass so as to avoid getting surrounded. Emeralda hasn't been mentioned much, but it's thanks to the armour buffs and protection spells that she's been casting throughout that our heroes' lives have been spared.

One grunt tries crawling over the ruined walls and ends up falling over to the other side. It's winded, but it's where it wants to be!

Turn 6

Ivor and Thorval take out a boss! And Elan manages to knock down the elite that came after her.

Fenrir had managed to knock down a grunt, but it jumped right back up and knocked him down. The elite/grunt team knocks down Katya again!

Turn 7

Fenrir and Katya back up to their feet, Elan is holding her own. But a grunt has made it into the crowd of unarmed civilians.

Thorval had knocked over that grunt, but it got up and knocked him down almost as fast.

Elan and Fenrir down again, but miraculously, Katya stays up. And we start losing civilians.

Turn 8

So, no pictures taken during turn 8 and it's been long enough between playing and writing that I don't remember the specifics of what happened except to say that I lost some more refugees before the monsters headed back to the underground depths, but all the mercenaries survived.

And now my thoughts on doubling up same actions in one activation. 

I really couldn't figure out from the rules if this was considered legal for play or not. I didn't run into this question before because everyone wanted to always be moving to get people to the carriage (or catch up to the people and carriage). This is the first that I really felt moving some characters wasn't necessary, so if they hadn't moved, a second attack seemed a logical choice, especially for the ranged units. I don't think there was any unfair advantage to this as I was consistent across both factions, allowing monsters to double up attacks on mercs/citizens if they didn't have to move or get up.

I suppose it doesn't matter that much since I was being consistent. But then the question was whether I could have a character do two moves in a single activation. I think I did play that in the first chapter, but didn't question myself about it as I did this time around. I suppose one could look at two moves in the same activation as running instead of walking/jogging; they get somewhere faster, but they can't make an attack because they're too focused on running perhaps.

Anyway, another enjoyable session of solo skirmishing!

*The Elven Ruined Sanctuary was free when I got it, DriveThruRPG lists it as pay-what-you-want.