STALKER7

The Towers of Blackmere campaign continues.

The Fateful Five

Leaning into the ‘bad guys fighting worse guys’ vibe, the Sturgis Crew embarked on their first mission to defend Blackmere Province with their “official” character minis.

Last session saw them secure the Abbey of St. Bridget and thus establish a central base of operations in Blackmere Village. After some consideration, our heroes chose The Weeping Stones as their next objective.

Once locations have been secured through victory on the tabletop, their Resources are available for either tactical or strategic use by our heroes. Resources are then tallied and distributed at the start of each session, prior to the mission.

The Five were Four

With Lucas absent, the Fateful Four approached the ancient rune stones from the east. With relatively open ground before them and fresh scars from their previous near-death experience at the abbey, the Nightwatch plan was to move fast and stay focused.

Two Dark Spawn were already defiling the sacred site with their vile presence. Tom W’s Gnoll Tracker fired the first shot and took out the more dangerous Tier II Horde creature. The rest of the party advanced, weapons up and wary.

Chris C’s Alchemist ran to recover supplies at the nearby POI while Chris A’s Blade and Matt F’s Mancer went directly to the stones. The Tracker hung back, ready to provide support.

On the Dark Spawn turn, the Vermin saw the scrawny Alchemist as a potential meal and charged. That forced Chris A’s Blade to leave the Mancer to the tricky task of reading and come the academic’s defense. Which was fortunate, seeing as additional Vermin arrived from a nearby spawn point.

They’re Everywhere!
Deciphering the runes was easy enough for our erudite spell slinger – one rune stone done – but suddenly there were loads of mouthy little b*stards squirming out of the woodwork, all with terrible halitosis and huge appetites.

Chris A’s Blade wades into the thick of it, cleaving as he goes. Despite his righteous fury, the diminutive dark spawn prove unnaturally tenacious. The Gnoll falls back, firing arrows and resorting to Arrowstorm to try and slow the tide. Both the Mancer and Alchemist move to new rune stones, working fast so as to not get overrun.

All about the spawning

In Nightwatch Raid and Ruin, new enemies appear each turn from random corners, from two corners turns 1-4, then three corners, turns 5-8. Sometimes the rolls favor the players. Sometimes not.

Three of four stones deciphered, the Alchemist lights a grenado and pays back the Blade for the earlier save. That left Matt’s Mancer to tackle the final stele.

Blue On Blue
There was an unfortunate ‘friendly fire’ incident somewhere in the chaos, when the Tracker tried to shoot a Vermin off the Mancer as he approached the fourth stone. A bit of blood and minor scarring – nothing to get all worked up over, right?

Turn 5 approaching, more Vermin squirming to cut off their exit, the Hunters decide it’s time to bail. “You got that last one, right?” they call over their shoulders.

Feeling guilty, Tom’s Gnoll hangs back to cover the Matt F’s Mancer as he scribbles the last translation and runs for the edge of the board. Three spawn points shimmer with incoming threats but the party leaves the area before the enemies can manifest.

The Weeping Stones are secure. Mission accomplished.

Aftermath
I’d say the lessons from the abbey fight have sunk in. At least a little. The Hunters stuck to their objective and even though the enemy body count was high, they didn’t fixate on clearing the board. Another site secured. A few more Resources gathered. This counts as a victory.

But the Darkness is advancing.

We’ll see how the Nightwatch fares next time.

Thank you for stopping by. Good hunting.

NIGHTWATCH RAID AND RUIN
Fast-play Solo and Cooperative Fantasy Battles.
Now Available
Print at Amazon
PDF at Wargame Vault