The end game, AD1666 with cultists, demon, definite turn ugly.

Nooooo! The garden was strewn with our lads to no avail.  All three Dragoons were down, along with Zagloba.  The enemy players were split, one pleased with the win and the other horrified of the results.

I have not done a blow by blow of the encounter,  the deck mechanisms were explained in earlier posts....and frankly my notes were not complete.  Rather, I will hit the highlights to our continuing saga.

 

Out fought in melee and hopelessly bad when shooting,  even the plan was flawed...

Scenario details and special rules.

Campaign notes and set up

Once more in the beautiful garden. The hedges proved annoying to both sides in the play. The red squares show the Poles set up, blue the French and Order of the Broken Cross. The yellow squares indicate cultists on their foul endeavor. 

In order to ensure use of the Esther figure, I decided she would serve as emissary as the notes showing who I had picked as Emissary were not to be found. She was placed in the top red square, marked E on the map. In the background of the campaign Esther is 'turned' to evil and becomes a problem for the faction,factions loyal to the Hapsburg cause. The scenario rules include the turning in of  story points for specific outcomes.  The blue player opted to turn Esther's allegiance. Actually the character did not have a great effect on the game's outcome. 

The blue players, selected from the Four Musketeers a musketeer and Aramis.  The  Order of the Broken Cross sent a knechte and Iron  Hans.  Fabris flanked Esther,  who had turned to the blue side.

I stayed with the Polish company,  which allowed me to fit in three of the early heroes from the Deluge and a couple Dragoons into the set up.  

I used cultists from another game, the Mansions of Madness,  which let the gathering be even more sinister. 

The forces set up revealed the main problem with my set up.... too much vegetation for clear shots, nor was moving quickly easy to manage. 

Game highlights

Dragoons shooting poorly.

 Early on, you can see cultists around the ritual, Zagloba being an' uncle.'

Thibault and the Polish swordsmen are obviously poorly placed to intervene quickly.

 The Dragoons missed, were defeated, ran off.

 

 Just before the ritual completed.

 

 

The six cultists needed to perform 18 ritual steps, each making one a turn, if not interrupted by being unconscious, in melee, or being dead.

 

  So close, but  for an arrival a turn or two earlier things might have shifted. Amazingly, the two swordsman, Thibault and Fabris, had no effect as they never closed. With anyone! For that matter the two Polish heroic swordsmen just missed action as well.

Hell, and the demon, break through.

 

Polish heroes stop short, next move is retrograde.

 

So ended the attempt to stop the ritual. The cultists disappeared, as did the demon ! 

 

The scenario did not play out as planned, we were all surprised on the twists that occurred.  

The campaign is not actually over...the next scenario is coming and promises to be very different.