Mongo and Marvin Episode 3: The Inox Encampment

This one time ... at Inox Camp ...

... I got my butt kicked.

"You really need to go on a diet, Mongo"

That photo pretty much sums up the episode: a frustrated Marvin, hauling an exhausted Mongo out of battle, with collateral damage in the background.

Sigh. Yes, our motley crew suffered their first scenario loss. The debacle was a combination of bad decision making, ill-timed 'null' cards, and a failure to take out the Shaman early on. The bugger kept healing himself and the surrounding guards. In addition, on the way to the camp, Marvin lost one of his hard-earned checkmarks, putting him in a foul mood from the get-go.

Mongo's 10 cards

Mongo started with a decent hand ... and the first few turns went as expected. Mongo wiped out one of the guards, while Marvin kicked open the closest door to reveal another guard. My initial plan was to send Marvin ahead as quickly as possible to the plot point  "1" ... but I was a little concerned about the Shaman and Archer double-teaming team him to death. And that's where the trouble began ...

One guard dead, 9 million to go

Mongo jumped ahead to tackle the Shaman, but by then, it was too late. More guards had spawned, and Mongo was quickly surrounded.

Uh-oh

With all three guards strengthened, Mongo was hit hard - dropping to 1 health, and losing a pile of cards in the process.

1 health and 1 turn left for Mongo 

Gee. This is not a great place to stand.

With 1 turn left, Mongo finally made it to the doorway of the final room - and had the opportunity to go down swinging - using the Attack 6 from Overwhelming Assault. As long as nothing worse than a -1 modifier appeared, he could effectively take out the middle guard who had 5 health remaining.

You're kidding, right? 

And with that, Mongo was toast. By this point, there were enough enemies killed and revealed for Marvin to win the scenario, but he was severely under-powered. I had already lost the Ink Bomb, Net Shooter and Toxic Bolt attacks ... and my next couple decisions would prove to be costly.

Don't worry .. it'll all be over quick 

First up, Marvin summoned some more unsuspecting victims. This time, it was a lady and her two annoying children, who had recently been kicking the back of Marvin's seat at a movie theatre. He plucked them from their quiet, countryside home, and plopped them between a couple of ticked-off Inox dudes. There was screaming and crying and mayhem, as the innocent trio took a serious beating.

As a token gesture, Marvin ran up beside the family to offer '1' heal, bringing them to 2 health total.  Then ... on the same turn, with the Shaman and a guard standing close by, he unleashed the Flame Thrower. Marvin's intentions were solid, of course, but by putting himself in harm's way, the outcome was predictable. The guards closed in and smacked Marvin for serious losses - namely 2 more of the cards in his hand.

Even with the Shaman and the adjacent guards finally succumbing to their wounds, Marvin was left with zero ammunition. He had 3 cards in his hand, and none in the discard pile. Enough for 2 turns to deal with 3 enemies. Success ... was not an option.

FAST FACTS

Scenario Time: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Experienced Gained: Mongo 9, Marvin 9

Gold Looted: Mongo 2, Marvin 4

Checkmarks Earned: Mongo 0, Marvin 0 

Stuff I learned:

- Marvin's lack of mobility is troubling. With nothing greater than move 4 available and not a single 'jump' in his hand, he is having trouble getting into prime position. Exploring/advancing the map is difficult as well, and that is a key component to Gloomhaven success. If/when I defeat this scenario, I'll be spending some gold to get proper footwear. 

- Mongo is too weak to be left alone. At level 1, and without proper control, Mongo is still too fragile to stand next to more than one hard-hitting enemy. Even with Marvin's potential healing close by, Mongo is a sitting duck more often than not.

- The Inox Camp really is a tough one.  The key is to eliminate the Shaman quickly, but getting to him is easier said than done.

Stay tuned for attempt #2 ...

Mongo and Marvin Episode 2: The Barrow Lair

**Before I launch into Episode 2, I suppose I should mention that map details and spoilers may exist in this post ... so proceed with caution.

(Deep breath). Okay. Here we go. The Barrow Lair.

For whatever reason, Isaac decided to make the second scenario in the entire book one of the most challenging of all.  Personally, I'm glad he did. If the game was too easy, it wouldn't be much fun.

I've played this particular dungeon a few times, in both solo mode and with friends and family, and I've failed more times than I've succeeded. However, on this particular night, the board game Gods were smiling fondly upon our beloved heroes.

Mongo and Marvin brought the same gear with them as Episode 1, and Marvin brought along the same 12-card hand from last round too. Mongo, of course, grabbed his ability cards on the way out the door, taking whatever 10 cards he could find from under the pile of underwear back at his apartment. Thankfully, most would come in handy. (The ability cards, not his underwear.)

And let me tell ya, the game couldn't have started any better.

With the archers acting late, Mongo tossed a dagger at one of their heads - splitting it wide open for an instant kill. Marvin, feeling jealous, nailed the second archer for a one-shot smack-down as well - earning his battle checkmark within 0.9 seconds of the game. Sweet!

From there ... it was time for Marvin's sneaky-nasty-proximity-death-package. He snuck into the main room, dropped a mine next to Door A ... then went invisible. Mongo, meanwhile, stayed behind in the first room in the hopes of coaxing the elite archer into Hook Gun range for Marvin. Surprisingly, it wasn't Marvin's hook-pull that did the trick ... it was Mongo's move-push a couple turns later. Wow. Mongo actually did something right. The archer had already absorbed one damage thanks to a weak shot from Marvin, so the trap finished her off.

As a side note, I figured placing the mine next to Door 'A' was a good decision, because if the assassination attempt on the archer failed, Marvin could potentially pull the Bandit Commander onto our little pipe bomb when a 'Boss Special 1' showed up.

From here, things continued to go smoothly, as a couple of big hits and a wound took the Commander down to 9 health, and the Living Bones hadn't made an appearance yet. Door B was revealed, along with the first Elite Living Corpse, but I felt like I had the situation under somewhat control.

A few turns later, Door C was revealed, and the other elite Living Corpse was set free.

Once that happened, it was time to unleash Marvin's secret weapon: his sister-in-law and her two stupid kids. They would prove to be the ultimate decoy.

The perfect summon: a tempting, tasty snack for any monster

Sure enough, Susan, Albert, and Tiny Tim sacrificed their lives for the greater adventuring good, keeping the Elite Corpse occupied while Marvin and Mongo hammered away at the Commander and the other wee beasties.

One moment, Susan and her kids were watching Dora the Explorer.
The next moment, they were summoned to a nightmare. 

After a couple Living Bones were spawned, the air was thick with the stench of impending doom. Turns out the smell was just Tiny Tim, who had crapped himself at the sight of four terrifying monsters within spitting distance.

Even though the room was crowded, Mongo and Marvin continued to pluck away at everything, and the Bandit Commander was wounded with 1 health left. He wouldn't survive long enough to move another inch or summon anything else. As a bonus, Susan and company were still breathing.

For another minute, at least ...

Oops. I suppose we could have given her a shield, or something 

Oh, man. Marvin has a lot of explaining to do when he gets home. His brother is going to be pissed. "Sorry about your wife and kids" ... no matter how many times Marvin practices the line, it just doesn't sound sincere.  Oh well. That's what happens when you stand next to an Elite Living Corpse for too long. Anyway, what mattered most was that the dungeon was nearly cleared, coins were scattered aplenty, and both of our heroes had a card or two left.

No treasure chest this time, but victory nonetheless

FAST FACTS

Scenario Time: 1 hour, 13 minutes

Experienced Gained: Mongo 9(+6), Marvin 8(+6)

Gold Looted: Mongo 2 (+10), Marvin 2 (+10)

Checkmarks Earned: Mongo 0, Marvin 1 

In this particular mission, here's what I learned:

- I was dang lucky. Of the 6 curse cards in play, only 2 were drawn - one by Mongo, one by Marvin. 

- Avoiding damage is good. Mongo only took one serious beating near the end of the scenario. He lost 2 cards from his discard pile, but still managed to survive. 

- Lost cards mean very little to the Tinkerer. I used Ink Bomb, Net Shooter, Proximity Mine, and Flame Thrower ... took 2 rests ...  leaving me with 6 cards for the final fight against two severely injured opponents. True, I got lucky more than once, but I say use the gifts you were given - namely, the powerful lost cards at your disposal. 

Mongo and Marvin have two choices for their next mission ... they're going to play beer pong to sort it out. Stay tuned. 

Mongo and Marvin Episode 1: The Black Barrow

Mongo and Marvin in the pre-game warmup

Welcome to my first blog post - ever - like, ever ever! I apologize if the format, spelling, grammar, images, and content suck. :P  I promise it will all get better. 

Alright so ... this blog series is all about the epic adventures of Mongo, our beloved, dimwitted Brute, and Marvin, the slick, trap-dealing Tinkerer. (Yes, Marvin was initially going to be a Craghart, but I changed my mind.)

In case you missed my overview on boardgamegeek, this is a solo Gloomhaven campaign, with a few twists and turns. In order to replicate Mongo's shall-we-say 'lack of brains', he'll be making a bunch of decisions on his own.  At the beginning of each scenario, I’ll be randomly selecting Mongo’s 10-card hand from his available deck. He might leave the perfect ability card back at home, or he might happen to bring it along. Who knows. Plus, at the beginning of each round, I’ll be randomly selecting the two cards Mongo intends to use on his turn … these two cards might be perfect for the situation at hand, or absolutely useless. Mongo doesn’t care about strategy … he just wants to kill monster, eat food, go home. Thankfully, Mongo will allow me to choose the initiative, as well as the specific top and bottom ability from the two cards he picks – and I’ll be deciding who and what Mongo tries to attack on his turn - so I can at least do the best I can with what’s in front of me. 

I will also decide how and when Mongo will use his items, rest, heal himself, and so on. But when Mongo rests, whether it’s a short OR a long rest, I’ll be randomly selecting a card from his discard pile to lose. 

Marvin, on the other hand, is under my complete control. He’s going to act selfishly, looting all the gold, grabbing the treasure chests, healing himself, and otherwise ignoring Mongo’s blatant disregard for cooperative adventuring. 

Mongo's starting hand

Marvin's starting hand

Alright - let's get into Episode 1, shall we? Ahhh, the Black Barrow ... a twisted, horrifying dungeon filled with danger and hexagons. Can our dynamic duo fight their way through? Well, yes. Yes they can. 

The start of the scenario went very smooth. Mongo jumped into the fray immediately, disarming the elite bandit guard. Then Marvin took the opportunity to ensnare a couple of his foes with the Webshooter. From there, Marvin plotted to unleash the first wave of his trap fetish. Sneaking around the far side of the first room, he opened the door with a Move 4, then stepped back to drop a Proximity Mine. :D 

Mongo continued to pound away at the guards, while the newly revealed guards started walking towards the door to their demise. Sure enough, guard #2 stepped in the doorway and BOOM! Toast. Meanwhile, Marvin continued to have some fun ... laying down a 2-Damage Poison trap next to the injured elite guard, then using the Hook Gun to lure him in and finish the job. Nice. 

Don't look down, boys. Just keeeep walking towards the door

Blah, blah, blah. More stuff happened. Elite archer died. Mongo ate something off the floor. Marvin looted a crap-ton of coins.

And then ... my favourite moment ...

Damn, I'm good. 

Once again, Marvin pulled a sneaky move-trap combo. Actually, first, I have to give credit where credit is due.  Mongo, bless his heart, took one for the team, stepping on the first existing trap in the hallway to clear a path for Marvin. With a high-five and a 'thank you', Marvin opened the door to the final room, stepped back, slapped down another poison trap, and then went invisible, posing as an obstacle to the stupid Living Bones. The map funnel worked to perfection, as the first Living Bones  moved forward to take a swipe at Mongo. Alas, he stepped on the 2-damage poison trap as well as the existing 3-damage trap. 5 damage total. Dead. Good times.

Look mom! All done

Anyway, when all was said and done, Marvin had grabbed the treasure, and together, our preposterous pair had cleared the dungeon with cards to spare.

Quick selfie with the loot

FAST FACTS

Scenario Time: 42 minutes

Experienced Gained: Mongo 8(+6), Marvin 4(+6)

Gold Looted: Mongo 4, Marvin 12

Checkmarks Earned: Mongo 0, Marvin 1 

I'm still relatively new at Gloomhaven, but with a few rounds of practice, I'm slowly figuring out how to play this game effectively. I made a few errors throughout the scenario, but overall, I was pleased with how things went. Here's what I learned ..

- Opening doors early is a good thing. Because card management is crucial in Gloomhaven, it often pays to let monsters come to YOU, instead of wasting cards to run to them. Plus, your foes will funnel through doorways one at a time, allowing you to set up different attacks as necessary - and keying on the nasties you want first. True, you may find yourself with more enemies to deal with in a hurry, but if you play your cards, right, so to speak, you won't have to travel far to kill them all.

- 3-4 lost cards is just fine for the Tinkerer. Maybe I just got lucky, but Marvin had a ton of cards available at the end of the scenario - even after using Weshooter, Proximity Mine, and the Ink Bomb.

-Mongo is dumb. He stood around a lot. But he did manage to kill both elite enemies all by himself.

-Traps are fun. REALLY fun. I can't wait until I get a few more at my disposal.

Next up ... the Barrow Lair ...


Thoughts? Comments?