Let's Talk about Conan

First scenario skewed heavily in the OL's favour, halfway through I could already tell the heroes wouldn't be making it. Infallible OL strategy - hide the girl in the middle hut with the giant snake, which would have to be killed to escape, and keep the shaman in his hut waiting for the heroes to spend their energy to reach him. There just aren't enough turns in the game considering the energy that needs to be spent. Maybe the fourth hero would help the balance a bit?

Hadratus' lightning storm spell is of dubious use considering lack of line of sights on this map. He evidently starts in the corner with the fewest LOS, while Conan, the strongest hero, starts the farthest from any enemy.

The LOS rules - why did they have to draw the map so ambiguously? The lines of sight are always going just a hair's breadth through a wall corner or bush - is that supposed to block LOS? They could have made it totally unambiguous, but no, let's keep the players guessing.

We played that teleportation lets you go through walls, but this is not addressed either in the rules or even on the Monolith forums, despite being asked. We did however play it a bit wrong in the heroes' favor, but that was counterbalanced by our screwing up the use of Mitra's Halo, which is only dispelled if switching from cautious to active stance.

We'll try scenario 2 next week, wherein the pressure to succeed (assassinate Bêlit) rests on the OL's shoulders.

Squishy rules in a dudes on a corridor is no fun, IMHO. These games already struggle with the question of what the OP role really is...

It's also pretty incredible considering this is the first, basic scenario and the one that's been showcased and played to death at events, etc. The Monolith team said they've seen the heroes win plenty, but I'll bet they're probably always using 4, and the OL isn't always as crooked and evil as he can be.

The first time we tried it, three heroes won (barely). Granted, we didn't use exactly the suggested hero combination, but it was close. Which is really my main complaint about the game; the scenarios are far too fragile and are not set up to deal with different heroes / equipment combinations.

The first scenario is pretty fragile....but it mostly hinges on how fast the heroes find the correct hut. Only played twice, but they both went quite differently. I do think it is skewed generally in favor of the heroes. As it should be.

I played this tonight. Boy, I couldn't wait to fight through all of those skeletons on the box! HEy, there aren't any skeletons in the miniatures tray...Oh wait...they must have been Kickstarter bonuses.

Oh well. I'll just make do with the Pict Warriors that are in the first scenario...oh wait...there's not miniatures for them in the retail box...

OK, I'll deal with it. Substitute in some Pirates. The miniatures are pretty much garbage anyway.

Um...how do I actually set this up? The rules kind of don't really state a couple of things clearly. I'll look online for help...oh wait...all of these people are talking about things I don't even have! 21 heroes, a campaign book, Pict Archers, a scenario with Conan in a bar...was I supposed to get a second box here? Is mine marked "1 of 2"?

Finally got it going despite feeling like I am missing half of the game and it seems OK mechanically, albeit sort of clunky compared to Black Plague or the GW skirmish stuff. OL system is quite good, energy management is great, scenario was decent.

It seems like there is a good game here that might have been great had it been released without the impetus to make it another content-gated Kickstarter mega bundle...I don't know if Iike it enough to wait for expansions or whatever, and I don't feel like I am going to enjoy it as much as Black Plague, which feels cleaner and more violent...and didn't feel as incomplete to start with despite being just as bad about he KS BS.

I haven't even opened the kickstarter bonus box, literally still in shrink. The Pict Warriors are a different color than the regular Picts in that scenario so you just use regular Pict minis with a different color band attached to the base.

Except that there aren't enough of them!

It looks like the first scenario is the only one with the oversight, though. I am really looking forward to those boat ones, that's a fresh concept in this space.

There should be enough of them, are you sure you didn't miss any? At first I didn't see the other Picts as they're separate from the others in the plastic tray (they're near the top by some other figures I think).

They will hopefully turn Conan into a great game. The foundation is there. It's extremely cheeky of them to have already asked people to pledge for a similar kickstarter when Conan is not really "done".

About those Pict warriors - I was wondering if they'd included some SG in the retail version or if they'd edited some scenarios to account for them. Guess not!

Ooooooooook. I saw what happened. I got too many Pirates and not enough Picts. Looks like they fit in the same slots on the tray so who ever packed it in Xian Guangdong Factory or wherever probably just put some of the wrong figures in.

Tried the first scenario again, it was pretty good. Heroes barely won, mostly thanks to the teleport spell. There are a couple of things that set this game apart. The energy system is really good and adds a DIFFERENT set of decision points than is usual for this kind of game. You can go all out on a turn, but then you're on the back foot on the OL or hero turn. And then you've got to manage stance to either get more energy back or to press the momentum.

But I still want skeletons if it shows them on the box.

I really like the energy system, too, plus the ability to interleave the heroes' activities dynamically.

I played the fist two scenarios last week. First as the OL, then as the Heroes.
Heroes won both matches, barely.

I like the game a lot, but I don't love it.
~ The OL control panel (Book of Skelios) is pretty grand, which only upsets me that there's not something comparable for the heroes.
~ It's probably optimal at 2, or 3 players. 1 for OL, 1-2 for the Heroes. IMO, 4-5 players would be a drag.
~ It ain't a campaign. At least, not with the provided scenarios. Each game is like the climax of a Howard short story. That's pretty damn neat.
~ The rulebook is a hot fucking mess. I despise it, and Monolith for taking it to print. 3+ million dollar KS and 2+ years of development gives us this? What a crock of shit. The rulebook has harshed my mellow so much, I'm now stone cold sober.

Worse, I'm now a wanna-be-rapist for enjoying Conan. Or so thinks Cynthia Hornbeck:
doctacynthia.tumblr.com/post/15309786005...em-by-the-board-game

She makes some good points. They probably should have strayed more from the source material and made more empowered female characters. I do think they nailed the part of "Conan doing what Conan does."

I disagree that the rule book cover depicts a rape about to occur. I think it depicts Conan saving her from being sacrificed. That's it.