Vanguard: Seeking Sanctuary - Chapter 8: Sanctuary

End of the road. The small band approaches inn that marks the trail to safety, as one of Ivor's scouts has reported that a large army lies just beyond and over a rise. What they had not counted on was a horde of monsters lies between. Among the horde; the biggest of any monsters seen to date. Surely, such a discovery is rare. It seems to wield some form of magic. Perhaps this is a chance to deal the blow to stop the monster problem for good...

Another oddity the group had come across - a strange duo living in the forest. The first, a man named Byron, explained that he and a large wolf had been the subjects of a crazed wizard's experiment. He is human in every way but his appearance, his skin being covered in short reddish hair and having claws and beast-like fangs. The wolf had grown, as a result of the experiment, to the size of a person, though it hunched over as though it would just as easily take to all fours as it fancied. Unseen was a mental connection between the two, where Byron could issue a few basic commands and the man-wolf would obey, however Byron would also experience any physical sensations the man-wolf felt. (Having lost my Rogue last chapter, I'm trying out Beastmaster, a mercenary class Kai posted to the Vanguard facebook group).

Byron and his companion had been safe from the monsters thus far, staying hidden in the deep forest. He had also seen the destruction they left in their wake. It took very little to convince him to join with the mercenaries. He was most welcome as the band had lost seven citizen warriors at the monastery (I decided on two per monster that got out).

Setup:

Game set-up. Rolled a random 20 monsters: 1 boss, 6 elites, 13 grunts. Rolled random placement for all but what I'll call the megaboss.

The megaboss: I figured that he, as the commander, should be near the inn (though why would he care?).

Turn 1:

Wizard William managed to knock down on grunt. Byron sends the man-wolf in to finish it off, after which it moves on to knock down another grunt.

A grunt hidden in the bushes gets a bead on Ivor and knocks him down!

Ranged grunts fire enough times to overwhelm Tombstone and knock him down.

Turn 2:

Man-wolf continues to rage in charge mode, killing the boss in a rush of claws and fang!

Ivor recovers and issues commands to Katya and Red Hulk. Katya joins Tombstone and Val to meet the monsters on the right flank. Red hulk moves forward. Emeralda creates an armour buff for Byron.

Tombstone falls to the onslaught of two elites.

Turn 3:

Man-wolf strikes again at some approaching elites, ripping one to shreds.

Ivor joins Red Hulk in battling the approaching megaboss. In the background, William has conjured a fireball and drops a grunt. Emeralda casts an armour buff on Ivor.

Just another shot of facing off with the megaboss.

Megaboss kills Red Hulk and an elite kills Ivor (megaboss had cut through the magic defence)!

Turn 4:

Emeralda rushes to Ivor's side and takes Springblade. As she lifts the enchanted sword, magic swirls from it, reviving Ivor to full health. Red Hulk is less fortunate and will not rise again.

An elite successfully blocks the man-wolf and knocks it down while the grunt behind it kills Byron.

Val comes to help Ivor. Emeralda fails to cast any protection spells. William is killed by incoming projectiles from the right flank (image left). Elan manages to a hit on megaboss, as does Val.

Turn 5:

Emeralda takes Springblade back to William and he is revived. He stands up to cast a fireball at the megaboss, managing to kill the grunt beside it. With his connection killed, the man-wolf goes into "guard mode"; staying near Byron's body, but that megaboss happened to be just within the 5" radius of the guard attack circle. Megaboss revives one of his own.

After he and Val each manage to wound the megaboss, Ivor is knocked down again.

Turn 6:

Off in Katya's corner, her defence re-roll is keeping her on her feet and she kills a grunt finally.

The team-up of Val, Ivor, and man-wolf wears megaboss down to one action die.

But he's still got fight left in him, keeping Ivor busy. Some grunts manage to knock down the man-wolf.

Then William is shot again and killed. (Lucky that Springblade is still close-by.)

Turn 7:

William is (barely) revived by the Springblade and casts a fireball at megaboss, managing to knock down an elite. But the combined efforts of man-wolf, Ivor and Val wear down the megaboss. Val strikes the killing blow! The day is won!

Afterword:

Their leader killed, the monsters immediately burrow down into the earth. For many years they are not seen and this chapter of the Svartvalt passes into legend and then into myth. Could something like this ever happen again? Stories of the brave mercenaries and citizens of Ivor's Company grow more incredible through the ages.

William and Emeralda continue the work William was doing before the monsters came. They make a startling discovery linking the monsters to a large and strange device that appeared to have crashed into the ground from the sky. They also marry and raise three children.

Katya uses her share of the king's reward to buy the inn. Occasionally, she contributes her services to near-by sheriffs needing help to keep the peace.

Elan refuses her share of the reward, giving it to some citizens who had started an orphanage to take care of those children who survived the monster invasion, but lost their parents. Elan returns to her people and is never seen again.

Ivor retires from the life of a sword-for-hire, buys a mansion and vineyard near the capital and settles down with a local widow.

Immediately after the battle, man-wolf picks up the body of his "twin" and disappears back into the forest. For many years the locals claim to hear him howling in his grief to a full moon.

The incredibly lucky Val, having her whole life ahead of her, travels the continent in search of monsters. While she battles some terrible beasts - and uncovers some elaborate hoaxes - she never sees the likes of those she cut her teeth on. It is rumoured that she married a pirate and sailed to far off places in search of adventure.

Some other words:

A full disclosure here, this scenario was tough. I had to replay it as I lost badly the first play, then lost again. In those, I had forgotten about the Springblade from Chapter 7! As you can see, having it in this scenario made all the difference for me!

As I hang this one up to try out some other titles; this game has been a pleasure to play and fun to write up these reports for. Thanks to Kai for his help and input as he followed my reports, it was fun to tell people I was talking with the game's author!

I know my blog is not frequented by very many, but I'll still say thanks to any and all who read my reports from playing this game over the last few months! If you are a solo skirmish wargamer or would like to be, I encourage you to try out these rules (hey, they're free).  I found them easy to learn and to play and I found the story engaging as well.