Treasure Hunting

Today I ran another game of Song of Blades and Heroes, using One Monk miniatures from the "Dungeon Adventurers" and "Reptilian Monsters" sets. The stats were taken from the basic book and Song of Gold and Darkness with a few modifications.

The scenario was a variation of the Treasure Hunt. A group of evil reptilians is searching for an ancient artifact that is supposed to be in the wilderness. A group of brave adventurers learns of this and moves to stop them. Nobody knows for sure where the artifact is, but there are clues leading to its location.

Victory conditions: the reptilians must bring the artifact back to their starting edge of the battleground or remove the entire adventurer fighting force. The adventurers must remove at least 2/3 of the reptilian force. They are unable to pick up the treasure.

The report
Using the standard rules, terrain pieces and treasure markers were placed on the table, followed by model placement.

The reptilians won the initiative and the chamaeleon archer quickly rushed to the first treasure spot. It found nothing there but at least would be able to benefit from hiding in the ruins.

In the adventurers' turn, no model failed activation (although most were activated on a single die, anyway), leading to a good advance towards the other treasure spots.

On the following turn, the Troglodyte managed to reach the treasure spot on the lake but found nothing there too. It became clear, then, that the treasure must be on top of the hill. The reptilians started to converge to that spot.

The adventurers also moved towards the hill, with the elf hero bravely placing himself between the treasure and the approaching enemies. In a display of their famed constitution, the dwarf warrior managed to run around the hill, despite wearing heavy armor, to engage the reptilian monsters.

Seeing an opportunity, the chamaeleon archer attacked the elf hero. The arrow missed thanks to the elf's quick reflexes, but in the effort he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

After that, the lizardman warrior hurried to smash the fallen elf with its stone axe, but the hero managed to trip the monster and the two combatants were left laying on the grass. Taking the cue from the lizardman, the troglodyte jumped from the lake and ran towards the dwarf warrior, trying to stab him with its spear. The dwarf managed to parry the blow and, in a continued motion, hit back with his axe, defeating the unfortunate creature.

After first blood was spilled, the fight lulled for a moment [both warbands failed activation on two dice on their first model!] as if everybody felt what was to come. The ranger, who had been watching the combatants from the top of the hill, noticed the exposed fire newt (reptilian wizard) and sent an arrow flying. It hit the lizard in the head, causing it to take several steps back screaming before collapsing. That sight caused the other reptilians to panic, which was only increased when the elf hero took the opportunity to cut down the lizardman warrior, who was still on the ground.

The remaining reptilian forces ran away. Before leaving, the chamaeleon archer shoot one last arrow at the halfling thief, but only managed to make her tumble back while dodging the projectile.

Conclusion
Another fun battle, which happened very quickly (only five turns) thanks to the good Quality rating of the models. As it is often the case, the battle ended with cascading morale checks but that reflected the importance of tactical positioning rather than blind luck: in this case, exposing a low-combat rating model to ranged attacks without any "bodyguards" nearby.