With less than 2 weeks left to go before the second starter set for Dwarf King’s Hold is released, folk are getting excited. The buzz at the Mantic Open Day was really enthusiastic and after my talks and demos a lucky few went away eagerly clutching pre-release copies that we’d managed to assemble early. I’m already hearing back about the fun and mayhem that the Orcs and Elves are getting up to. Check out the comments on this post, for example 🙂
The chaps at Mantic are even now doing the final touches to the layout on the new scenario (14) that comes with the bundle deal and the special Green Menace offer. But wait a moment. Scenario 14? There’s 6 in Dead Rising and 6 more in Green Menace – what happened to 13? Well, I’m not superstitious enough to skip a number, so it’s not that. It’s actually in Mantic Journal 4, which is out at the same time.
Scenario 13 pits Dwarfs against Undead and can be played with the contents of Dwarf King’s Hold – Dead Rising alone. Scenario 14, on the other hand, is the first scenario specifically designed for the Orcs and Dwarfs to battle it out, and also features the Mantic Dwarf Driller model.You need both starter sets to play this, which is why it comes with the bundle deal. It could almost be a plan.
And that’s not all. With a little luck I should also get the (Not Very) FAQ on the Mantic site in the next few days, and next week I’ll be doing some pieces for Beasts of War for their Dwarf King’s Hold excitements. It’s all go here!
Quirkworthy 
I’m one of those lucky ones that picked up a copy! 🙂
It’s quite incredible really how much of a difference the Orc and Elf special rules make to DKH 1 – it’s almost a completely different game. Green Rage is really a gamble (As the Orc player you kind of want it to happen, but hope that it lasts long enough to capitalise on it) and Nimble makes those sneaky elves so hard to pin down!
Played Scenario 7 twice so far wt, swapping sides, and the elves won both times – they’re incredibly fast and more than a little sneaky (Did I already say that?). However, I think I may have been using the Orcs a little too offensively in the first games and should have gone for a more defensive start.
Of course, being sneaky (:p) with the elves afterwards throws up a whole new array of challenges, mainly trying to kill the Orcs without them getting a change to Rage properly. Looking forward to when we can get another couple of games in to give it another go.
Then there’s all the other scenarios to go through as well…
Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself there Grimmeth! You’ll have to pop back and let us know how you get on with the later scenarios too. See where the tactical learning curve takes you 🙂
Like you say, the races play very differently, but just to remind those unfortunates who don’t have a copy yet, the core rules are all the same.
Scenario 14 (that comes with the bundle deal from Mantic) pits Dwarfs against Orcs, and is a kind of foreshadowing of the way I want to go with the whole series: being able to mix and match all the races between games and between scenarios. That’s when the system gets really flexible.
Looking forward to Scenario 14, not least because I hope to try to ‘reverse engineer’ it a little and use it as a basis to bring in the other races to fight each other (Dwarves vs Elves does have some nice history in most Fantasy fiction, after all). I’ve been feeling somewhat inspired after our chat at the open day to tinker!
Excellent!
Please feel free to tinker away and let me know where you get to. I’m looking forward to playing scenarios I didn’t write 🙂
We’ve just played scenario 7 here at Peace HQ.
Read how it turned out at http://jonathanpeace.wordpress.com
*not good for the Orcs – grumble, rumble* – but a load of fun!
Cheers
JP
Got to watch the Elves JP, they’re fearsome quick when they feel like it. A weather eye on their escape route is to be managed at all times, lest they do just this. All part of the learning curve 🙂
I think it’s easy to just assume the Orcs can run in and beat the Elves senseless (which we all know they should be able to do, but for game balance of course that has to be toned down!).
You say that, but we also know that the Elves live long enough to spend the whole of an Orc’s lifetime just practicing a single type of parry, so they should have a trick or two up their (elegantly embroidered and gold-chased) sleeves.
I tend to start with the background as a guide, and the Elves have held their own so far. Or course, their tactics involve skipping out of the way and running off rather more than the Orcs, but it’s what makes them Elves.
Oh, and the Orcs could indeed run in and beat up the Elves, but only assuming that they can stop the Elves just running off first…
I’ve been revisiting all three DKH games since the start of the Dungeon Saga Kickstarter, and having a blast, the system is so perfect IMO. I am tinkering with custom scenarios (Orcs vs Dwarves) but its too bad that Scenarios 13-15 are not available on-line anywhere. Was this ever addressed?
Thanks Brian 🙂
I’m not aware of those scenarios being available online. I’ll mention it to the chaps at head office.