Part 1: Return to “The
Gathering”
So I opted to take out the
latest Seeker investigator Joe Diamond for my solo adventure. I really wanted
to play as Joe as I like the concept of his “Hunch” deck. This contains 11
“Insight” cards, one of which is my signature weakness card and one of these is
revealed each turn and can be played at a 2 cost reduction. Also Joe can play a
splash of Guardian class cards in his deck too, so we have some tools to fight
off enemies when they pop up, as they do.
I tried to keep the deck
focused on getting clues and being able to defend itself when needed. Sadly I
am low on tools to help with Evasion or Willpower checks. However I am hoping
that my clue gathering and monster fighting prowess will mitigate that.
So I got the game set up and
ready to go, using the set up instructions from the Return to The Gathering
instructions. My final post mulligan starting hand contained Perception,
Overpower, Deduction, Shortcut and Fingerprint Kit.
Turn 1
1. Revealed
“Logical Reasoning” from my Hunch deck
2. Action
1 I play “Fingerprint Kit” for 4 resources
3. Action
2 was to investigate the “Study”, I pulled a -1 from the chaos bag to succeed
the test and gain 1 clue
4. I
then played a Fast action “Shortcut” to move into the “Guest Hall”
5. My
3rd action saw me move into the “Bedroom”
Didn’t think to make a note of
the card I drew for my draw this game, so I will remember that for the next
game, so I added a doom to the agenda and continued from there.
Turn 2
1. Encounter
deck spawned “Disciple of the Devourer” into the “study” and due to its effect,
I moved a clue from my investigator back to the study.
2. Revealed
Logical Reasoning from the Hunch deck
3. Action
1 saw me investigate the “Bedroom”, the chaos bag gave me a -2 which luckily
saw me obtaining a clue
4. I
then used Action 2 to move to the “Guest Hall”
5. Quickly
using Action 3 to move to the “Bathroom”
Really need to make a note of
what I’m drawing each turn.
Turn 3
1. Encounter
deck threw an “Obscuring Fog” at me, which sadly was attached to the “Bathroom”
increasing its shroud by 2. L
2. The
Hunch deck revealed “No Stone Unturned”
3. I
use my 1st action to investigate the bathroom, increasing my
investigation sat by 1 by committing “Deduction” to the test. The chaos bag
once again gave me a -2 which was enough to successfully gain the clue
4. I
used my 2nd action to play the “No Stone Unturned” to look at the
top 6 cards of my deck, from the cards revealed I grabbed a copy of Dr. Milan
Christopher.
5. My
last action was used to move back to the “Guest Hall”
Really feeling the pressure
working on my own and not having any back up to assist me, every single move
matters and you can really waste an action. Movement feels like it’s taking up
all my action slots and poor Joe doesn’t have any ways of upping my action
numbers. In my current group campaign, I
am playing as Finn Edwards, between the free evade action he comes with, Leo De
Luca as my ally, Fence making my Illict cards Fast and other Fast cards in the
deck, I feel like I have loads of actions to use. This is a huge contrast in
comparison.
Turn 4
1. After
the doom is added, the Agenda advances. The result of this was to discard a
random card from my hand, which sadly saw me lose my “45 Automatic” L
2. My
hunch deck saw a “Preposterous Sketches” on top
3. Action
1 saw “Dr Milan Christopher” enter play, needed this turn one really, as my
resources were stretched enough
4. I
then moved to the “Study” for my second action to engage with the “Disciple of
the Devourer”
5. My
last action saw me fight the enemy, I committed my “Overpower” to give me a +2
boost, the chaos bag gave me a 0 token, allowing me to defeat the enemy and
draw a card
This lack of actions is
killing me, I mean I feel like I’ve done nothing so far as I only need 3 clues
and I’m on turn 4. As it took me so long to get the good Dr into play, I
haven’t had the extra resources that I would usually expect by now too.
Turn 5
1. The
encounter deck threw out a “Flesh Eater” enemy, which luckily spawns in the
attic. Now, thanks to the updated text on the “study” this meant I needed to
get the set aside “Attic” and put it into play, so the creature could spawn
there.
2. Hunch
deck shows me “Preposterous Sketches” yet again, giving me serious concerns
about my shuffling.
3. This
time though I decided to play it from the top of the Hunch deck as my 1st
action
4. Sadly
I drew the random basic weakness “Internal Injury” which goes into my threat
area until I spend 2 actions to get rid of it and will deal me 1 direct damage
at the end of each of my turns.
5. Action
2 saw me investigating, I pulled a -1 token which saw me bag that 3rd
clue
6. With
that done I moved into the “Guest Hall”
7. I
then advanced the Act deck at the end of the turn. This resulted in me moving
into the newly revealed “hallway” and forcing me to take a Willpower 4 test.
Sadly I drew the tablet token which in this scenario was a -2. Causing me to
lose all but 1 card from my hand due to my willpower only being 2.
8. I
also take 1 damage from the weakness I drew this turn
So that turn left me bare,
I’ve got bugger all resources and I’ve now got two cards in my hand thanks to
the upkeep step.
Turn 6
1. I
drew the “Mask of Umordhoth” encounter card, which respawned the “Disciple of
the Devourer” from the discard pile, spawning again in the “Study”. With no
clues to put a clue on the location, a Doom was added to the cultist.
2. The
Hunch deck threw out yet another “Preposterous Sketches”
3. Action
1 saw me move to the cellar
4. Played
the “Preposterous Sketches” from the top of the Hunch deck as action 2
5. A
Fast action saw me play my “Magnifying Glass”
6. My
3rd action was to investigate the “Cellar”, chaos bag netted me a +1
allowing me to get the clue.
7. Again,
another damage by the pesky weakness, I still haven’t got rid of....... L
Although this all seems to be
going well, I have little to no fighting power other than my standard 4 stat
and I only seem to be getting the Seeker stuff.
Turn 7
1. Encounter
card was the “Cryptic Chill”, making test 4 willpower, I nearly didn’t bother
drawing and just took the hit, but I figured I would give it a go. Chaos bag
drew a 0 token, which was of course a fail and I had to chose an asset to
discard, I opted to throw the “Fingerprint Kit” away.
2. My
Hunch deck gave me another Logical reasoning, L,
did not need that.
3. Decided
to start taking the offensive, so my 1st action was to play
“Fieldwork”
4. I
then moved into the “Ghoul Pits”, which forced me to do an Evasion skill test
of 3, in response to this, I tapped my “Fieldwork” to give my evasion a +2
boost, I then did the skill test and the chaos bag gave me a -1, which allowed
me to pass by the skin of my teeth
5. Due
to the sheer lack of resources I had, I gained a resource to end the turn
6. Thats
right.... another damage!!! Damn weakness!!
So, got 3 damage now, lost my
“Fingerprint Kit” not that I had even used it and I am feeling the burn. The
doom is stacking and I know the “Ghoul Priest” is getting closer.
Turn 8
1. Encounter
deck threw me the “Zealots Seal” making me test 2 willpower, chaos bag finally
hit me hard with a -5. Forcing me to discard 2 cards, don’t ask me what they
were, I didn’t note it down. Like an idiot.
2. Hunch
deck gave me “Working a Hunch”
3. Action
1 was to play “Scene of the Crime” to get a clue from the “Ghoul Pits” adding 1
to the victory display
4. I
used my last 2 actions to move to the “Cellar” and then onto the “Hallway”
5. 1
direct damage once again, still not got rid of that weakness
I made a HUGE mistake by not
playing “Working a Hunch” here, which would have been a 0 cost Fast action
which would have got me the clue on the “Ghoul Pits” and not wasted 1 action
and or resources when I didn’t need to with “Scene of the Crime”. Considering I
mentioned earlier how valuable actions were when playing solo, this was a
ROOKIE mistake.
Turn 9
1. “Rotting
Remains” was the encounter card this round, once again asking me to do a
willpower test of 3, drew a -1 token for this test and resulted in me taking 2
horror, I assigned one onto “Dr Milan Christopher” and took the hit for the
other.
2. “Working
a Hunch” makes it second appearance as the top card of the Hunch Deck
3. I
moved into the “Attic” as my 1st action, tapped “Fieldwork” to give
my evasion stat a +2 boost and engaged with the “Flesh Eater”.
4. Action
2 saw me evading the creature, puling the “Skull” token from the chaos bag,
which was a -1 in this instance, allowing me to successfully evade the monster
5. I
was smarter this round, I played the “Working a Hunch” from the top of my Hunch
deck for 0 cost as a Fast action allowing me to scoop up the clue on the
“Attic”.
6. My
3rd and final action had me moving back to the “Hallway”
7. With
enough clues on my side, I advanced the Act deck, to face my impending doom.
The “Ghoul Priest” spawned with me and engaged poor Joe. “Lita Chantler” stood
stoic in the “Parlour” not helping me the slightest
8. And
of course..... took 1 direct damage
Turn 10
1. The
agenda advanced once more as I reached the Doom threshold, spawning an “Icy
Ghoul” in the “Cellar”, luckily miles away from me
2. Action
1, fight time, I pitched “Bandolier” to the test to give me a +1, hoping for
the best here at this stage, I pulled a -1 from the chaos bag allowing me to
poke the “Ghoul Priest” for 1 Damage
3. Action
2, could lightning strike 2 times? Well it did, I pulled the 0 token from the
bag enabling me to do 1 more damage to the scenario’s Boss monster
4. Action
3, “Dynamite Blast” deals the killing blow to the “Ghoul Priest”, kills “Dr
Milan Christopher” and hit Joe for 2 damage, leaving Joe with 1 health point
left.
5. With
the “Ghoul Priest” dead and in bits, we are able to advance the act deck.
6. Two
choices are then offered to me, I could burn the house down to contain the evil
inside or simply run away leaving the house standing. Being the paranoid person
I am, I chose to burn the house down, leading me to Resolution 1.
Well, huge mistake made in
that turn, I forgot to draw an encounter card!! Could have sent the game either
way but what’s done is done! Really felt like the game kept me moving, I didn’t
have the freedom of wasting some actions
to get myself set up for next turn or to do something else and this
really impacted me. Feel the single player environment is cool, but having
partners to help shoulder the burdens gives you a lot of breathing space.
In the Campaign Log I have
noted that “The house was burned down”. I suffered 1 mental trauma due to
burning my own house down and I left with 5xp points in total, plus “Lita
Chantler” in my deck for the rest of the campaign.
The next chapter is the "Return to the Midnight Masks", I can imagine that will be as merciless times wise as this chapter was. Thanks for reading.
I'm Big Boss, I'm out..... Peace!!
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