Slaying Dusty Boxes

I was finally able to play a game of Slaine: Kiss My Axe!

I had a friend come over for a Saturday of hanging out, adult beverages, grilling some chicken, and playing Slaine.

Obviously we started out by hydrating and playing the first beginner scenario, Treasures of Crom. I set up the table ahead of time with the the trees I made, and used some foam blocks/walls I made for D&D to mark out the 3×3 play area on my map. My friend chose to play the Drune force. Slaine’s goal was to gather as much treasure as possible while Drune for attempted to stop Ukko and Slaine from escaping.

Slaine and Ukko were quickly placed in a tough spot after the Drune force deployed. I decided that Ukko would heroically double move away from the Drune forces. Slaine moved back and dropped the heavy idol he was carrying to prepare for a tough fight.

My friend was able to get his Skull Swords into combat with Slaine and we worked our way through close combat. I tried out some feats, and sadley Slaine didn’t get to Warp out on anyone. My friend didn’t care much for the Star Chips giving Slaine extra actions.

At this point Ukko had secured his treasure and ran off the board.

Slaine easily defeated the Drunes after a few rounds of combat. He then moved in to kill the priest and my friend decided to call the end of the first scenario.

We set up for the second beginner scenario, A God’s Favour, after I finished prepping the grill. I was able to use the three roundhouses I made and we scattered the trees and moved the fencing around to match the layout for the scenario. The scenario called for the Drune force to attempt to change the sacred markers while Slaine and Ukko attempt to prevent them from succeeding. This scenario also introduced the use of Cosmic Alignment and Blood Points.

I catapulted Slaine across the table with Ukko to stop the Slough Throt from being able to change any of the sacred markers over to his side.

The next turn, Slaine was attacked by the Skull Swords. He was able to defeat them after I successfully returned the Star Chip to the bag. Slough Throt tried to gain use of his feats and boons (the Drune force was Unfavored in the scenario). Slough Throt wasn’t able to take advantage of his Star Chip during this game.

After defeating the Skull Swords, Slaine moved in and quickly killed Slough Throt…and he still didn’t Warp out this game.

This scenario when pretty quick. Once again, my friend wasn’t very thrilled with the Star Chip mechanic, but we were having a fun time learning the game.

After a break and more hydrating, it was back to playing the third and final Slaine scenario, Rededicating the Stone. The goal was for each side to build a pool of Blood Points and attempt to control a sacred site in the center of board.

This game introduced Nest as a character for me to use. All the minis were on the table for this game. The only difference was I switched out the regular Slaine mini for the Slaine dressed in bondag…Slaine the King mini. I also pulled out some HeroQuest undead for my friend to use with the Weird Stone and Drune Priest as Half-Dead.

We decided to make a ring of trees around the sacred site, knowing it would be a Battle Royale. This game seemed more well balanced. I made some very bad moves in this game thinking I should separate all my heroes. I started by sending Ukko out on his own to try an sneak around to kill the Drune Priest. Slough Throt ended up getting his Star Chip about 4 times, consistently returning it to the bag, before any other minis took action. Finally, Slaine charged into the circle to fight and Slough Throt moved in to attack.

The initial clash between Slough Throt and Slaine was pretty epic. Slaine took multiple stun tokens, winded, and was poisoned. Luckily I was able to remove most of these effects with Nest and return the Star Chips to the bag for my force. At this point my friend had built up a sizeable pool of Blood Points and used them to summon Half-Dead.

Slough Throt spent some blood points to change the Cosmic Alignment to better favor his feats in combat.

Slaine was attacked by the Skull Swords and Nest moved up to support. My dice were not cooperating in this game and Slaine continued to take stun and damage. Also, I forgot to let Slaine give ground to prevent some additional damage. Slaine also kept ended up winded as I failed to return the Star Chip to the bag.

I realized too late that Ukko should always be near Slaine to help remove adverse effects with his special ability. This caused Slaine to loose dice in his combats from being winded.

Nest began to move away as the Half-Dead approached. After some additional combat, Slaine was slain. I never had the chance to have him Warp too.

Nest chose to attack the Half-Dead and was also killed. Ukko decided he needed to leave the battlefield and the Drune forces won the day!

We both had a great time and discussed the game while eating grilled chicken, watching the movie Gettysburg, and continuing to hydrate.

We both really like the idea of creating our own Heroes, Characters and forces for more balanced games against each other. My plan is to use a sizable Gaul/Celt force I have unfinished for this game. The Slaine minis are beautiful, but a bit expensive. My tendency to be cheap is telling me that I have a large amount of minis I purchased for SPQR that most likely won’t hit the table for that game and I can give them new life with this game. It also sounds like I have another future project thanks to Slaine being a fun game to play with my friend.

I’d still like to get a picture of my minis outside before I call this project done.