This battle report covers the third of the three crystal-based scenarios, Dagger in my Mind. (The other two crystal scenarios were used in the Sandstorm Battle Report and the Blink of an Eye Battle Report). This time, the crystal allows you to take control of your opponent's units.
As in the Blink of an Eye scenario, in this one you get access to the powers of the crystal when a unit with a ready green-circle figure is on or adjacent to the crystal control terrain in the center. You issue a one-point special order to take control of an enemy unit within 6 steps (the line-of-sight distance for Fireburst and ranged combat). You can then spend additional order points to perform a single action with the target unit. While performing the action, the unit behaves as if it is a friendly unit under your control.
This is a scary power: if you're on the control point and someone is in range to shoot at you or throw a Fireburst, you own that unit. The only limit is that taking over is a special order, so each unit can only do it once per turn, and you have to have order points to spend.
There is an additional wrinkle: if one player has more commanders than the other, that player gets an additional order point per excess commander, up to a maximum of 12 order points per turn. The theory behind this rule is that commanders make units more powerful, and people will want to leave powerful units at home so they are less likely to be targets for enemy takeover. The commander rule encourages you to bring these units anyway.
Nate and I each started with 4 commanders, but this didn't last very long. He played a Han Army and I played Egyptians.
Nate's standard combination of the Immortal Steel and Nuwa's Irregulars was replaced in this army by alternate versions of the units that had green-circle figures. The Terror Division brings a fourth commander (Lord Muira) into the army. Four units-- Arcane Steel, Nuwa's Tigers, the Flame Runners, and the Flame Strikers-- have green-circle figures.
This army eschews ranged combat for units that operate at a closer range, limiting the damage they can do to each other if taken over by an opponent using the crystal. Four units-- Steel of Decidius, Masika's Spears, and the two Spears of Isis-- have green-circle figures.
The scenario has a single large Crystal Control Terrain in the center (which you can print from this page). Each player then places two terrain items of his or her choice, first player 1, then player 2, then player 1 again, and finally player 2 again. The restriction is that no two terrains can overlap, and each non-control terrain must be at least 2 steps away from all other non-control terrains.
We used a more or less standard arrangement for the player-placed terrain, with blocking terrain above and below the control point and hindering terrain to the sides.
As with the other crystal scenarios, the terrain setup and the single control point divided the battlefield into a left section and a right section. Nate placed a Kyudo Annihilator on his right with the Hustle-powered Flame Runners and the Terror Division. On his left, he placed the other Kyudo Annihilator, the Flame Strikers, and the Arcane Steel with Nuwa's Tigers to support it.
I put Masika's Spears, the Cyclopean Strikers, and a Spears of Isis on Nate's left. On his right, I had the Steel of Decidius with Steel of Savros for support, Amenhotep's Javelins, and the other Spears of Isis.
I won the dice-off and took the ambush turn.
The first two turns were spent moving our units forward. Unlike the situation in the Sandstorm Battle Report, the blocking terrain could not protect you from the powers of the crystal, since its effect is based on range (6 steps) instead of line of sight. I, of course, was using standard anti-Fireburst techniques, keeping my units from touching as they moved.
Nate was appalled to realize that he had the same problem. Though he did not have to worry about splash damage from Fireburst, if two units were adjacent, I'd be able to make one of them attack the other when I took over. So he, too, moved forward in anti-Fireburst mode.
On the fifth turn I made the first offensive move: I decided to use Masika's Death Touch Master ability to take out Zhongli Quan. I pushed Masika's Spears to get it to within 2 steps of the Arcane Steel (4 order points).
I rolled 5 for Death Touch Master, killing Zhongli Quan (1 order point) and gaining 1 victory point.
At this point, I had the option of using Thrown Weapon to inflict further damage, attacking with 6 range dice and consuming only a single order point; however, the Arcane Steel had 11 defense dice against range. I would have to do 2 damage to down a figure, a 16% chance, and it would automatically be healed by Artificer on the next turn. I decided, therefore, to spend my remaining order points to bring the Steel of Decidius and the Steel of Savros closer to the action on the other side of the board.
The loss of Zhongli Quan took a permanent movement point away from the Arcane Steel and deprived Nate of the Call the Iron Rain ability. This special ability was key to his strategy, since it allowed his Kyudo Annihilators to shoot from more than 6 steps away, with Way of the Bow active. Not only would he be applying the awesome excess damage from that powerful ability, but his archers would be out of range of a retaliatory crystal-powered takeover.
The price I paid, however, was high: Masika's Spears was now in range of a revenge attack from the Kyudo Annihilator on the left. The attack was 9 dice to 8, with Way of the Bow active. The expected damage was 7 hits, and Nate got 9.
To finish the unit off, Nate used another order point to launch a Fireburst attack from the nearby Flame Strikers.
The kill gave Nate 3 victory points to my 1. He had five order points left. He used the first two to move the Terror Division closer on the right.
The remaining three he used to move Nuwa's Tigers and the crippled Arcane Steel closer to the center.
During my next turn I made some consolidating moves. First, I brought the Steel of Decidius onto the control point (2 order points) and moved the Steel of Savros into position to support it (1 order point).
Next I pushed the right-side Spears of Isis onto the control point (2 order points). Because it had a green-circle figure ready, it was in range to control the nearby Flame Runners.
I had used 5 order points so far. I had the Spears of Isis issue a special order to control the Flame Runners with the power of the crystal, and then unleashed a Fireburst on the Terror Division for three damage. This consumed 2 more order points.
With my last order point, I used the Command Position ability of the Steel of Decidius to gain one more victory point, narrowing the score to 3 to 2 in Nate's favor.
When Nate and I do these play tests, we spend a lot of time discussing potential next moves, what we're planning, and the possible consequences, so that the report is a good demonstration of how the scenario works. As a result, there are few surprises. This was all about to change.
If you give a combat order to an enemy unit and it takes damage, your opponent gets to apply the damage, because the unit is back under his control once the order is complete. On the other hand, if you push the unit, you get to decide which figure to down, because the unit is still yours at this point. Nate therefore reasoned that with two qualifying units on the control point, he could force the Steel of Decidius to regroup twice, and down Decidius Saxa in order to effect the push.
The first task was to get both Arcane Steel and Nuwa's Tigers onto the control terrain. This consumed 3 order points.
Nate now issued a special order from the Arcane Steel to control the Steel of Decidius (1 order point) and regrouped it into a configuration with no movement (1 order point).
Next, he used the Nuwa's Tigers to push the Steel of Decidius for another regroup, flipping it 180 degrees, and incidentally downing Decidius Saxa.
It's worth noting that while Nate controlled the Steel of Decidius, it was a friendly unit to him. According to the technical rules, the victory points from damage caused by a push go to the nearest enemy unit, which in this case would be one of mine. So, Nate had just given me a victory point. This was, however, paltry compensation for the damage he'd done: the Steel had lost Command Position and two defense dice.
Nate had one order point left. Because the Spears of Isis had controlled the Flame Runners during the previous turn, the Spears were in range for a retaliatory Fireburst attack. Nate used his last order point to do that, dealing 3 damage to the Spears.
The obvious point of the crystal's power is to get your opponent to attack himself. Instead, Nate had used it to force me to do something really stupid. As a result of this out-of-the-box approach, I now had two commanders to Nate's three, meaning he would get 9 order points next turn. Worse, it was clear I had completely misplayed the last two turns, failing to take advantage of the forced-push capability, and failing to recognize that the single green-circle figure on the Arcane Steel was a far more dangerous threat than the paltry Call the Iron Rain powers of Zhongli Quan.
I needed to reduce Nate's commander count, and I needed to take one of his green-circle figures off the control point. Killing Nuwa's Tigers would accomplish both objectives.
This seemed to be an eminently possible task. After its automatic heal from Regeneration, the nearby Spears of Isis would be able to attack with 7 dice to 3 and had room to push. This gave it a 75% chance of killing the Tigers, and it could use Death Touch to finish the job if necessary.
To start, I used one order point to move the Spears into base contact with the Tigers.
The first attack was a dismal failure. I did 2 damage, but Nate did 2 back.
With two figures downed from the Spears of Isis, a second attack would only be able to bring 5 dice to bear, meaning I would do only 3 damage. I decided to use Death Touch from the Steel of Decidius to take out the major defensive figure on the Nuwa's Tigers, thus increasing the likely damage from a second attack. Unfortunately, I rolled a one and the Death Touch failed.
This was catastrophic. The Tigers had 6 hit points and full defense. I had only 5 order points left. The Spears of Isis, however, had a special order available, and could use it to take over the nearby Flame Runners. Using one order point for the takeover and one for the Fireburst, I did three damage to the Nuwa's Tigers, unfortunately also splashing the Spears for one damage.
I had three order points left and Nuwa's Tigers had 3 hit points distributed among three figures.
From here, I thought it was worth a try to push the Spears of Isis to attack again. I had an 82% chance of killing Nuwa and a 27% chance of killing the unit. It was better than nothing. I did 2 damage.
Nate downed Nuwa and the defensive figure, leaving the green-circle healer so he could make more mischief with it. The death of Nuwa gave me another victory point, so the score was 4 to 3 in my favor. In addition, we were now even in terms of commanders, so he would have only 8 order points next turn.
I had used 6 order points. With my last two, I regrouped the Steel of Decidius for defense and then brought up the Cyclopean Strikers so they could help me kill some of Nate's units more effectively.
Nate now decided to use his pushing technique to kill the Steel of Savros. First, he executed a takeover from the Arcane Steel and used it to move the Steel of Savros toward the right edge of the board. This consumed two order points.
A second takeover from the Nuwa's Tigers enabled Nate to move the Steel of Savros into range of the right Kyudo Annihilator, downing Savros for the push. This consumed two more order points.
The attack was 9 dice to 6, and since the Kyudo Annihilator had not moved to get into position, Way of the Bow applied. Nate did 9 damage, killing the Steel of Savros and increasing his score to 4 victory points against my 5.
Nate had two order points left. He used them to move the Terror Division into base contact with the nearly-dead Spears of Isis.
I had to do everything I could to reduce Nate's takeover capabilities. I felt confident I could kill the last figure standing on Nuwa's Tigers with a single order point, so my first priority was to take out the Arcane Steel. I executed a takeover from the Steel of Decidius to regroup the Arcane Steel for no defense (1 order point to take over, 1 for the regroup), then moved up the Cyclopean Strikers to base it (1 order point).
I regrouped the Cyclopean Strikers for maximum attack and defense, the attack was 7 dice to 0, and I did 5 damage (a one-hit bonus was added by Brutal).
This was not nearly enough, so I pushed the Cyclopes to attack again, this time doing 4 damage.
The Arcane Steel had survived my attack. It was down to the Wu Tou Gui and an injured Shield Golem. I had used 6 order points. There weren't enough left to finish the kill, so instead I attacked the almost-dead Nuwa's Tigers from the almost-dead Spears of Isis on the right. The attack was 3 dice to 0, and the result was sufficient for a kill.
This gave me one more victory point, and the score was now 6 to 4 in my favor.
With my last order point, I moved the second Spears of Isis closer to the control terrain. Next turn I would be able to get it into position and use it for takeovers.
Nate now had 2 commanders on the field and I had only one, so this gave him a bonus order point. He would now get 9 order points a turn until the situation changed.
The first thing to do was to kill the Cyclopean Strikers. Unfortunately, in order to get into base contact with the Arcane Steel, they came into range of the left side Kyudo Annihilator.
Since Way of the Bow would apply, Nate had a 93% chance of getting the required 6 hits. He got 7.
The additional victory point narrowed my lead, 6 to 5. He had used two order points, leaving him with 7 to go this turn.
Nate's next action was to order the Terror Division to attack the Spears of Isis. He considered using the Arcane Steel to take over the Spears and move them, triggering a breakaway (which would mean the Terror Division could attack again without pushing) but while you are giving orders to a takeover victim, it is considered a friendly unit, so the breakaway would not trigger.
The attack was 12 dice to 0 and he needed one hit. Nate had only 2 chances in one million of missing. He didn't miss.
Nate had 5 order points left. He used two to move the Terror Division next to the Steel of Decidius.
Pushing the Terror Division for a second attack, Nate did 8 damage. The Steel of Decidius was down to 3 hit points.
Nate had used 8 order points and he had one left. With his last order point, he made a Fireburst attack on the Steel of Decidius from the Flame Runners. This did splash damage to the Terror Division, but Lord Muira absorbed the hit point. The Fireburst was sufficient to kill the Steel, giving Nate 7 victory points to my 6.
The Flame Runners had just killed a unit, and they have Opportunist, so Nate now had two free order points to spend on the Runners. One order point would be enough to get the Runners onto the control terrain, but they couldn't execute a takeover from there because the Fireburst was the unit's only special order for this turn. My two remaining units were too far away for a close combat assault: it would take 2 movement orders to base either one, requiring him to forego the attack. Instead, he simply moved the Runners onto the control point.
I was down to only two units. While it was highly likely I would be able to kill the Arcane Steel next turn, Nate would still have two green-circle units he could use to control me, and he had two full-strength archers and a full-strength close-combat unit in play. The game was effectively over.
The obvious idea behind the takeover ability of the crystal in this scenario is to use your opponent's units against him. I was, therefore, taken completely by surprise when Nate came up with the idea of simply making my units do stupid things: regroup stupidly, down a commander when pushing, or move into range of Kyudo artillery. I never fully recovered from the first stupid thing he made me do. If you've read this far, I pity your opponents who haven't when you play this scenario.
This concludes the Crystal Trilogy. The next series of scenarios will involve the discovery of a gold mine.