March 19, 2024

Fortune & Glory: An AAR – Part 4

Michael Eckenfels, 5 January 2018

PART 4: TURN 1 ADVENTURE PHASE (ZHUKOV); TURN 1 VILLAIN PHASE

When we last left off, our Soviet Hero Doctor Zhukov was about to partake of the dangers of the Mine of Lost Souls, an 8 Fortune Temple located in Greece. He’s just finished off the last Nazi Henchman, though the evil Herr Teufel has disappeared into the ruins, spitting Teutonic witticisms in his wake. Zhukov has little choice but to proceed, as leaving the Mine to Herr Teufel is out of the question!

Doctor Zhukov has to pass a Danger, and for each Danger, he gets one Fortune – that means there’s eight Dangers to pass to clear the Temple. If he draws the last Fortune, he gets the Temple piece, which counts as a 3 Fortune Artifact in and of itself. There’s a lot of moolah to be made here, but a lot of Danger to overcome. And oh yes, did I not mention that Temples can collapse, too? Fun!

FANG4 001First, Zhukov follows some Nazi goons down to the docks, intent on seeing what kind of operation they’re planning on unloading, here. He can choose to be sneaky (and pass an Agility and Cunning test as a result), or choose to Fight. Though Agility isn’t his strongest suit (2), I’m going to opt for a sneaky Zhukov. After all, the man is a thinker, not one to opt for a rumble first.

dice dice

Disaster strikes! I try to roll his two Agility dice and the result is a 1 and 2, both completely under the target of 5+. We have to flip this over to its Cliffhanger side and resolve that in the next Turn. This means the Nazis will have free reign in the Villain Phase to try to clear out the treasure here!

FANG4 002So Doctor Zhukov is going to enjoy the company of another Villain (a Nazi one; though this card says Mob, we’re playing with Nazis, so no Mob enters into this). He’s gonna have a bad time…

 

TURN ONE VILLAIN PHASE

Now, it’s the dirty Nazis’ turn. The first thing to do is draw a Villain Event card; we get SANDSTORM. Any Hero in a Desert space immediately takes D6 Hits, but we’re all in non-Desert spaces, thankfully, so this Event goes away without effect. Whew!

dice

Next is the Villain Outpost/Zeppelin Step. For the Nazi Outpost portion, a d6 is rolled; the result is 4. On a 4-6, a Nazi Soldier is placed in a random location.

FANG4 003

This one appears in the Congo Jungle space.

Now, it’s the War Zeppelin’s turn to move. I draw a Location card and find it wants to go…

…to San Francisco?

FANG4 004

diceThe d6 movement roll for the War Zeppelin is a 2, so it gets just enough to move there, and drops off a Nazi Soldier. The spread of Fascism has begun in earnest.

Finally, the Villains take action. Herr Teufel is going to Adventure in the Mine of Lost Souls; Tresa is going to deploy to the board; and Colonel Stahl is going to be in a ‘Ready’ state (meaning he can move to the board whenever a card or this part of the Turn calls for him).

First, I ready Stahl, then find where Tresa is moved. She is moved to the Artifact with the highest Fortune that does not already have a Villain, so that makes it the Amazon Jungle space…right where Grant Jackson was headed! If not for his terrible move roll previously he might have made it and cleared it out; now, he’ll be in for a fight!

FANG4 005Let’s see how Herr Teufel does. Resolving an Adventure for a Villain is a lot different than for a Hero. Herr Teufel will roll a number of d6 equal to his Search skill (4), but takes one away due to the presence of Doctor Zhukov.

Herr Teufel shows his expertise at Temple-delving; he rolls well, though takes three Wounds in the process. This really isn’t that important as he’ll recover his health, though he’ll not be available to return for a couple of turns (whether he’s wounded or not). He manages to recover all 8 Fortune (!) from the Temple. This spells doom for the Heroes, for it means six of that Fortune is immediately discarded to advance the Villain Track by two spaces. There’s still a ways to go but it’s always best if this stays put!

FANG4 006That spells the end of Turn 1. The Nazis are already on the board (Villain Track) with +2 towards their goal of 15. Meanwhile the Heroes are struggling, with no Artifacts, very little Glory, and few opportunities to gain any purchase to actually move places!

What will Grant Jackson do when he reaches the Amazon Jungle? (One guess.) Where will Doctor Zhukov go now that the Mine of Lost Souls is cleared? Li Mei is the only one with an Artifact and needs to hurry along to sell it so she can go on more adventures…and the Nazi shadow is starting to blanket North America. Tune in next time to find out where the story goes!


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