Cultists v. Fauns

I had three main objectives when I approached this one:

1. Play with some of my painted models and write up a report. Although I’ve played a lot of games on TTS recently, I’ve not had any IRL sessions where I’ve been able to stop and take photos.

2. Play-test and refine some solo rules I’ve been working on (previously posted on Discord and in the Facebook group). I was trying out some of the wider rules I haven’t posted yet and generally wanting to see if I could simplify things. I failed miserably in this, as I got a bit too carried away in the game.

3. Try to win with Fauns. Up until this point, I have a 0% success record with Fauns. I figured that the only way to guarantee a win was to play against myself with Fauns on both sides! (In retrospect, this was an error for a battle report, as it will be easy to lose track of who’s on what side, so I’ve italicised references to characters from the opposing troupe).

My troupe:
Klaus
Raegen
Jayda
Wendigo
Kalista (Gloom wasn’t painted yet!)

Opposing troupe:
Hoff
Chubs
Boris the Bunny Summoner
Mr Toodles
Jackalope

In line with the solo rules, I gave the opposing troupe the initiative and the advantageous side of the table – with four moonstones closer to them, and slightly shallower. Given the Fauns’ speed, this was going to be a challenge!

 
Turn 1

Chubs, rather predictably, Rouses Boris, who proceeds to summon two bunnies. Jackalope harvests.

Meanwhile Raegan harvests a moonstone and Klaus digs one up from a 4 to a 3. Jayda shoots her bow at Boris, dealing 2 damage.

Hoff responds my using his Hunting Horn to move Mr Toodles closer to Boris. Toodles then heals Boris with Lullaby, before jogging towards the nearest depth 1 moonstone and harvesting it.

Kalista harvests a moonstone and moves forward. Wendigo advances, too 

A rather standard turn 1 end with the Fauns holding 2 moonstones (Toodles and Jackalope) to 2 (Raegan and Kallista)

Turn 2

Jackalope harvests another two moonstones – bringing his total to three! He’s a definite target for Wendigo, now. He moves in to attack and a murder bunny moves to support the Jackalope. I’m not sure how much that bunny affected the combat, but it certainly didn’t go as well for Wendigo as I’d hoped. He deals 3 damage to the Jackalope, but suffers 4 and is pushed back by Jackalope’s signature move.

 

 

Wendigo follows up by mind-controlling Jackalope to attack Chubs. They deal a little damage to each other, but nothing to write home about.

Hoff advances to attack Wendigo before he can be healed. He dispatches the spirit after two exchanges and uses his last energy to blow his hunting horn and move Jackalope further away from the rest of my troupe.

Mr Toodles, who holds the fauns’ fourth moonstone, is now my only realistic target. Jayda moves to get a clear shot but a bunny steps in the way. Still, she shoots and kills Chubs, before dealing two damage to Boris, thanks to an incorrect call of bluff. 

Toodles heals up Boris with a Blighted Elixir and starts to run for it. I have to stop him, and the only way I can think to do so is to advance Klaus. He doesn’t have enough energy to attack this turn, but at least he engages Boris and Toodles, making it harder for Toodles to get away.

Boris responds by summoning a third bunny to get in the way and they all gang up to attack Klaus. Klaus manages to kills one bunny, but he loses his protection from Raegan in the process. He’s then forced to deal 2 damage to himself with a low guard (I had no other cards!) but luckily that counters the bunny’s rising attack and he’s able to follow up with his signature and kill it – but Klaus is now down to only 3 wounds!

 

Fortunately, Kalista has been charged up to 5 energy from all that bunny-slaying. She harvests a moonstone and cast Leshavit’s Caress on Klaus, healing him 3 and giving him back protection. This show is back on the road! Raegan finishes by growing a wooded patch to block Hoff from getting to Kalista and Raegan.

Fauns lead 4 moonstones (3 Jackalope, 1 Toodles) to 2 (Raegan and Kallista)

Turn 3

Cultists win the roll-off. Now’s Klaus’ chance to hunt down Mr Toodles – but first, he’ll have to get through Boris and his remaining murder bunny. Three rounds of combat later, they’re all knocked down, but Klaus gets back up again, with one wound! I might be playing as him this time but I still hate Klaus!

Hoff charges Klaus but draws a terrible hand so chances a High Guard. It’s a good guess, as Klaus has two Falling Swings. Hoff follows up with two sweeping cuts, slaying Klaus. 

x

Now things are looking really bad. Jayda moves in to attack Mr Toodles, but he backs out of melee so she shoots him. It does little good, as he immediately heals himself.

Raegan harvests a second moonstone and boosts Kalista with energy. An unsuccessful call of bluff sees 5 energy transferred to the priestess who, with all the slaying that’s been going on, it now up to 11!

Jackalope, with his 3 moonstones, hops away as fast as he can.

Even with all her energy, Kalista is too far to catch Mr Toodles (and certainly not Jackalope!), so she targets Hoff. She does some melee damage but not as much as hoped before she’s down to 2 wounds – so she follows up with Paroxism, reducing Hoff to two wounds. 

Fauns lead 4 (3 Jackalope, 1 Toodles) to 3 (Kalista, 2 Raegan)


Turn 4

Cultists win the roll-off and Jayda moves in to attack Mr Toodles. Hoff steps to engage her and deny her a card (and the ability to harvest, should she kill Toodles) but this doesn’t stop her slaying Toodles in one strike with two falling swings (her signature) versus a sweeping cut. She follows up by attacking Hoff, relieving him of his two remaining wounds, and then she uses her final energy to harvest the moonstone and win the game. Go, Jayda!

 

The other side of the hill, Jackalope flees with his 3 moonstones.

Culitists win 4 (Kalista, Jayda, 2 Raegan), to 3 (Jackalope).


Analysis

This one was a classic of ‘a game of moonstone isn’t over until the end’. After Jackalope harvested his third moonstone and Wendigo was slain, it really looked like I’d lost. And when Klaus fell, even worse. But who was betting on the melee prowess of Jayda?! She finished 3 of the opposing troupe’s models and clinched the game.

At last, I’ve won with fauns (and Kalista)!