Critical Plays - Descent Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition - Part 3 + 4

[@garathiel84]

you remove fatigue "at end of turn" when you rest! :)

[@CritsHappen]

That's correct. A blue "X" will completely negate the attack. For only being on one side of that sucker, you'd be surprised how often it happens. The Overlord has opportunities to make heroes re-roll dies and that happens a lot in our games. Thanks for watching and commenting, hope you are enjoying the videos!

[@CritsHappen]

So as I mentioned on BGG.com, it's a good thing I didn't make any mistakes on this one filming at midnight :) Sorry for the issues on this one, there were several rules I broke. Will correct in turn 5 for sure! Thanks for catching them all and thanks for watching!

[@CritsHappen]

You're right and you're not being nit picky at all. No worries! It was mentioned earlier in discussion, but spot on. Thanks for watching and commenting, hope you like the whole thing.

[@TalesinBatBat]

02:45 - Archers can still move diagonally past Grisbane by moving south one, then SE one to be adjacent to a crop (top left), even if they didn't have Scamper. 03:20 - Didn't pay the Fatigue cost for using Exploding Rune (and couldn't, as Stamina was maxed) 04:30 - Blast also affects friendlies who are adjacent. 10:20 - Diagonal movement again is allowed over the corners (page 9, example 3) Also, diagonal squares are adjacent, even around corners (page 10), no need to move an extra square south.

[@CurtisNelson]

Great video. Easy to see how playing both sides by yourself introduces some rule errors and missed opportunities. Nothing that would detract from enjoying the game. In turn, playing with more people makes it easier to focus on your specific mission and strategy as well as have another player checking the rules with you. Again, great job.

[@CritsHappen]

When activating is the right play. Playing and filming this solo, I tend to forget a few timing issues, but you're right on that one. Hope you like your first few games, and many more. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@CritsHappen]

It's been mentioned a few times in the comments, but that's right. Fatigue is removed at the end of a turn when choosing to rest. Doing this solo is a challenge, so I hope the random mistakes didn't take away from enjoying the videos. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@funnysoraia]

You can only remove fatige at the end of your turn!!!

[@CritsHappen]

Thanks Curtis, glad you liked it! Yes, it's a big task taking it on by itself. If you liked this, may I recommend Watch It Played's channel, they are doing a Descent walk through as well, and Rodney and family are awesome! Agreed too, this game is a blast with multiple people. We've enjoyed it best with 3 to 4 players total (OL included). Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@avemex]

Thanks, just finished watching it, and I would love to see you play more of Descent. I just bought this game, and I am pumped to play with my play group. Also, you can use one unused surge, per attack, to remove a fatigue token from a hero.

[@CritsHappen]

Right on both this and your comment on the rest. We're uploading part V right now and have comments in there on those fro ma discussion on BGG. Thanks for watching, hope you like them!

[@ionas82]

After waking up (I fell asleep to the lovely OL voice… nothing personal - I was damn tired, I saw at 16:24 that you did not attack, inconsistency of evil is the beginning of the end!)

[@CritsHappen]

yes, that was mentioned somewhere along the way in comments below. Doing everything solo tends to lead to forgetting some things here and there.

[@CritsHappen]

That may be the funniest comment we've gotten on one of these videos! Well done! Thanks, I hope you enjoyed the series.

[@CritsHappen]

Awesome to hear, thanks! I'm looking forward to more Descent when the expamsion, Lair of the Wyrm comes out!

[@lawrenceb4954]

*had to add, What I mean, is on the first turn, having paths which are blocked. It seems like the monsters tend to start on larger tiles, which lead to hallways. So, with 1 large, you can't block off access to the hall. Also, with only 3 normal monsters you can't block off access to that hall, without being in the hall.

[@CritsHappen]

Agreed on the 2 hero vs overlord blocking thing you mentioned. We normally play with 4 or 5 players (so 3 or 4 heros) so I'll have to do more OL vs 2 heroes playing to see.

[@CritsHappen]

No worries, thanks for watching!

[@CritsHappen]

Thanks, glad you like them. We're working on a Lair of the Wyrm walk through as well.

[@CritsHappen]

I agree with Phil, although admittedly, it's not "THE" game for everyone, I do know several people that don't like Descent. I tend to think it's one of the better games on the market actually, especially if you are into dungeon crawlers. Phil's spot on too on the customization piece. You can house rule almost anything, and the new Fantasy Flight custom quest creator is amazing!

[@EmperorVideogames]

nice videos, I really like them. I´m learning english and I understand absolutly all of your explanation, you speak clearly and simple, that´ s great ^^ So I can practice my listening while watching one of the best rol game board ;D Keep doing this good stuff!

[@CaryHawkins]

I may be rehashing this...not going to read all the comments...BUT I think about 8:15 minutes in, you had the white goblin archer move twice then attack without using an overlord card to do so, which is illegal. Also, did he jump past the corner on his move? I noticed that you didn't do that at any other point in the game. Technically, I think he was supposed to be one space back, just above the master goblin archer. Hardest part of this game is remembering all the rules and doing them all perfectly. The first time I played with my friend who bought this, he didn't read the part about NOT attacking twice with minions and monsters, so I got screwed. Then the 2nd time we played while I was overlord, I thought the dragon couldn't be hit unless a surge was produced...oops, it was only for adjacent characters only. Ferp! Then the next match, my buddy told me villagers have only 3 hp, (supposed to be 6hp). Yikes! This game is sooo fun, but it takes some getting used to before it runs smoothly.

[@CritsHappen]

Yes, we made a we play mistakes that were discussed below. There's a lot to the game, but if you play it consistently, it becomes muscle memory.

[@henrythe9th377]

Crits Happen I'm new to descent so I'm a bit confused. At the beginning, you said that grisban has bought a shield at the purchase shop, but that card you showed, has no gold value. Isn't this shield part of his starting gear??

[@fitz33]

Never mind I guess! I just re-watched the first video in the series again and saw where you've read "at the start of the OL's turn..."). I actually like that the spawning order for reinforcements is different depending ont he quest; although temporarily confusing, it makes it interesting...

[@CritsHappen]

Yes, "Arrow" abilities are a full action, so it may have been a play mistake by me. Our next series od plays with Lair of the Wyrm will not be me solo, so hopefully won't make those mistakes.

[@CritsHappen]

Thanks! Correct. I'll be making mention of that in the next video as well.

[@falconforgefantasy9496]

Previous Videos; you remembered the additional health from the armor ; but DID not remember to roll two defense die. One Grey and One Brown.

[@Cletus912]

Hey Tox, first off these videos convinced me to pick up the game myself. Just waiting for it to arrive (still on pre-order in my country). So thanks! Couple of things I noticed though. The minion goblin attacks after moving twice, but I didn't see a Dash or Frenzy card come into play. Also, the way I understood the rules (though I've only read them once online) you can "clip" the corners of tiles while moving diagonally, which I've seen you do in these videos a couple of times...

[@CritsHappen]

If you are at full fatigue, right, you can't use any ability to push you over the maximum until you rest or remove fatifue in some other fashion. I'll have to go back and check, but it is possible we made that mistake, we've had a few minor one's along the way.

[@avemex]

Sorry to nit pick, and if someone already mentioned it, but don't you remove fatigue at the end of your characters turn when you rest. I believe the rule says when you rest, place a hero token on your character, then at the end of your turn remove token and fatigue counters. I'm not sure if you could discard the immobilized, but you definitely shouldn't have been able to use more fatigue to move more. great video though.

[@CritsHappen]

Yes, this has been discussed in several of the other comments. Good catch.

[@lawrenceb4954]

I could be wrong, but there does seem like a point where the overlord will have enough of the small, or large mobs to block any path for at least a good turn. While he moves without challenge to the objective.

[@Cletus912]

...but much more often you seem to skirt around the corners (and a hero in one case with that master goblin (before you remembered Scamper) paying more movement points than is necessary - I was just wondering why that was. Thanks again!

[@boros55]

Good videos, don't worry too much about mistakes it happens in almost every new board game play. Keep up good work.

[@Philanderson1129]

The quest creator's sweet. I've been impressed with many of the dungeon tile games out on the market. I'm a sucker for maps, tiles and minis. You're paying for quality with Decent. Even if you strip away the core mechanics of the game, you get quality tiles you could use in other RPGs, a great set of monsters and characters you could paint (if you're into that kind of thing). The game seems like it would be a great gateway into the more complex RPGs or longer campaigns.

[@CritsHappen]

Thanks Tony, glad you liked them!

[@Malgamus]

I'd like to point out the rest action was preformed incorrectly as well. When you rest as an action, fatigue is removed at the end if the heroes turn after any other actions are preformed. See page 9 in the rulebook.

[@CritsHappen]

Yup, that was brought up in an earlier comment discussion I believe, but that is correct.

[@CritsHappen]

You can't mix them, which I don't think I did, but when you choose one of the player characters at the start, say in this case, with the red icon, my understanding is you can then choose to be the Berserker or the Knight as a class. From there, when you upgrade you upgrade using those cards only... did I make a mistake possibly and mix the two cards on Grisbane? I'll go back and look but I didn't think I did...

[@lawrenceb4954]

I'm just using some of the DnD ones myself. Gets about the same effect, and, considering their scaled slightly larger, it makes the lieutenants bigger than the normal type of mob.

[@CritsHappen]

Yes, blast hits everything, friend or foe.

[@CritsHappen]

There's quite a bit to it for sure. That said, I love Descent, I think it was one of the best games of last year and it offers a lot of customization, so if there are rules you don't like, they are easily "house ruled" as well.

[@Y0uWinY]

I believe when you rest, you do not instantly remove all the fatigue. You only remove the fatigue at the end of your turn. This mean that you are not allow to use fatigue to move on the same turn because your fatigue hits your stamina already

[@RenoSmash]

I tried to read all the comments but there are 126, i have never played but it seems to me like at 03:36 when exploding rune was used your character needed to take a fatigue or, in this case, a wound since fatigue was full. Is this correct?

[@CritsHappen]

Correct.

[@markwalter6519]

Technically you can't even do the move since you are at fatigue cap. Characters can not spend fatigue to move or use skills when they are at max. Any other game effects applying fatigue are dealt as damage instead when at fatigue cap :) hope thats helpful

[@Prophallus88]

How the hell does the minion goblin move two times and attack at 8:18? Thats 3 actions in one turn.

[@TracheaArk]

Hang on, in the hero turn summary cards it says that a hero can perform 2 actions, so, didn't Widow Tarha use up both her action points when she 1) used her skill (rune explode) and 2) attacked the minion? I was led to believe that using an "arrow" skill/ability was an action, along with an attack action, which makes it 2 actions. So why or how did Widow Tarha also do a rest action at 05:13 following the attack on the minions?

[@CritsHappen]

I think you're right :) Yup, chatted about that in another discussion. Whenever you knock out a hero, you get a card. Good catch!

[@zyxxhig]

Love the videos, keep up the great work!

[@Ceahorse]

at 8:25. the overlord cheated twice. 1st he cut a corner that is not connected.. 2nd he took a thrid action to attack

[@CritsHappen]

Thanks, appreciate the kind words!

[@lightninlad]

Love the vids. One question, you used the pierce 2 because you had one surge---then you used blast(skill cards adds the blast effect for one attack), which also requires one surge. Since you only had one surge, how could you use blast AND pierce 2, which would incur a 2-surge cost?

[@ionas82]

I am not sure if you can play Frenzy after attacking. It says "when you activate a monster". Hard to say if you have to play it immediately after activating and before declaring your action (move or advance) - to me I'd say you can only play it directly after.

[@Darthchi717171]

Just ordered the game after watching these videos. ive been looking for a good table top rpg-ish game for my fiance to get into.. i cant wait to get it and get some games going!

[@Ceahorse]

I believe "Frenzy" is supposed to be play BEFORE the monster takes any actions. "When activating"

[@lawrenceb4954]

One thing I have noticed, with 2 heroes, it is harder for the Overlord to tie up paths. If you were to move to 3 or more, the overlord would than have enough Mobs to block paths more effectively. I'm wondering if this isn't maybe a "Glitch" in the system. I'm starting to think they did a lot of the play testing like I'm doing. 1 person, controlling overlord and 2 heroes. It just seems like the game is more balanced for this type of play. What do you think?

[@Philanderson1129]

I would think before passing this one up. Decent is a pretty awesome game and allows for customization, campaign building and in general, it's a fun time. This set is has a great aestistic to it and the rules incorporate more of a role-play feel as opposed to the Dungeon and Dragons game series Drizzt (which is awesome in it self). Great game play--there's always room for house rules.

[@AerithRana]

at about 4mins into the vid widow tarah used her abilty to blast the archers. But wasn't she already at 4 fatigue making her unable to use the blast ability?

[@Blackhand9791]

Thanks for making these videos. I've just recently bought the game and hope to get my first play within the next couple of days. One question,when playing frenzy, I noticed you played it last a couple of times in this series. Is that okay, or should it be initially played when "activating" your monster?

[@MikeInSandy]

Lots of comments so this may have been discussed. But at around 9:52 the minion archer moved twice then attacked. Is this a legal move. I thought if they moved twice they could not attack.

[@k10john]

If you use a surge ability (like the pierce on widow's attack) should it count against both/all monsters that you hit with the 'blast', or just against one of your choosing?

[@Y0uWinY]

Not a problem, I just mentioned it because I didn't see it on any caption or uploader comments. Anyway thanks for the video =)

[@Sofakapitaene]

Hi, nice Vid, but one Question. If I've seen right, then there ist a brown dice on the Leather Armor. Doens'nt that mean, the Dwarven Hero would add a brown dice to his normal grey one and has then two?

[@lawrenceb4954]

I'm the 2nd part of this quest, and thinking of using heroes other then the ones I used in the first part. I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules, but, considering I used the 2 fastest, not sure I'd have hope for the heroes any other way. Really, I'm not seeing a point in playing this mission if I'm about 80% sure the heroes will have no hope otherwise. Loving this game, even though I'm still playing solo.

[@Bewnnit]

i think the timing of frenzy is wrong, but im not sure. i think it has to be played before the first action of the monster it's cast upon.

[@aliashun]

02:14 This move is not possible. When resting, you may remove your fatigue tokens at the end of your turn, after flipping your activation card (rulebook, p.9.). You can, however, use Grisban's hero ability to remove your immobilize token because of resting (errata, p.1.: Grisban may immediately discard one condition effect on resting). I know it's a tiny detail, but it can really turn the tables in some cases ;)

[@CritsHappen]

I think it has been discussed, but right, two actions, but they can't both be attack, and in this case, moving twice should have ended the minion monster's turn. I guess it wouldn't be an evil OverLord if they didn't try and cheat right? :)

[@aasever]

Sorry if this comment has been (2:30) Rules pg.7 Rest: The hero will recover all fatigue at the END of this turn. and Rules pg.9 Rest When a hero performs a rest action, he will recover all fatigue at the end of his turn. As a reminder that he has rested during his turn, he places a hero token on his Activation card. At the end of his turn, after the hero flips his Activation card, he discards the hero token and all fatigue from his Hero sheet.

[@ithinkitsaurus]

Its good to see what happens when a hero is taken out.

[@ionas82]

Does Explosion/Blast still damage friendly units (in your example Widow would take damage from Surge->Blast/Explosion in Descent 1.0)?

[@egrutt]

Wouldn't the blast attack hit your hero standing next to the goblin as well?

[@kingpinda2]

good playthrough though. I am reading and watching everything about this game right now as we are gonna start our fullfledged campaign real soon. Only have been playtesting with a mate so we know "most" of the rules and tricky bussiness. Without your vids we would be playing defence dice the wrong way. We normally throw attack dice and then guess what surges and abilities and such should be used before defender rolls its dice. Your way is the correct way and will play much easier :)

[@ionas82]

Reasoning is following: Basically Frenzy is a special card that is "like" the attack action of heroes which they have to claim before moving (I wanna do two attacks, I pay fatigue to move one)… what's your take? do the rules clarify this?

[@CritsHappen]

No you're right, anything that says "when you activate" should be played when the OL declares the monster group is being used/activated.

[@TomPolkampSound]

When you perform a blast action, and you've rolled a surge. Can you use the surge multiple times on all the affected targets?

[@rubendacosta8015]

Tom Polkamp no because you only rolle.once, it counts for all the monsters. So all have 2 shilds pirced. But you cant change for.example.from.pirce.to rang.or so

[@CritsHappen]

Solo play is hard, as a lot of this game comes down to critical (pardon the pun) choices the overlord makes when heroes move and heroes strategizing together. I believe it's mentioned in the rules that you can change out heroes, but the new ones start fresh, which could make it challenging if playing the campaign.

[@MikeInSandy]

Hey thanks for the response. We all make mistakes. Keep up the great videos. Love the complete play through.

[@CritsHappen]

Yes, when activating a monster, that's when you should cast the card.

[@sanguine111]

the "pivot" move is kinda weird, but the large dudes need a size advantage, ukno?

[@lukassolanko9537]

Hi. I would like to put in your mind that on Frenzy card you can find annotation: "Play this card when activating a monster..." not when the monster is active. From my perspective should like this: choose the monster to be activate, play the Frenzy card, set the action. Please correct me, if I am wrong.

[@CritsHappen]

That is correct and has been discussed in previous comments as well. Good catch.

[@frizzleybear]

you don't get the stamina back when you take a rest action you, it occurs at the end of you turn.

[@littlerunninggag8808]

Doesn´t affect "blast" friend and foe? Then the dwarf should get the same amount of damage like each goblin archer at 5:00 because he is adjacent to the attacked one.

[@CritsHappen]

Yes, there should be an annotation in the video for that though, as it's been discussed in comments several times. I'll double check, but if you don't see one, you may have annotations turned off.

[@Malgamus]

Also, the blast attack should have hit the dwarf as well since he was adjacent to the original target. It affects all adjacent spaces no just enemies. Page 13 in the rulebook.

[@boros55]

I think you couldnt use blast with Widow Thara on her first action cause blast cost fatigue and she already had four.

[@robwustyle]

When Widow Tara attached with her rune and you chose to use the blast card Grisbane should have also been affected by it since it was blast and he was adjacent to the monster that was attached...

[@mAcCoLo666]

So a blue miss automatically voids any other attack die?

[@CritsHappen]

Awesome! My wife plays with us and has grown into an effective, and evil, OverLord! Hope you and your fiancee enjoy! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@matherss]

grisban has leather armour shouldn't he be rolling the brown die and the grey die for his defence?

[@CritsHappen]

It's more that I am doing everything solo and trying to keep track of everything at once, film, wrangle kids interrupting the filming, and all the chaos otherwise known as life :)

[@lawrenceb4954]

Ah cool, yea, even with the large monsters, I don't think you get two until 3 players correct? Or is it 4? Still, it requires 2 large monsters to block a path. Once again, path blocking isn't a issue in my games, but, I could see it being extremely frustrating.

[@CritsHappen]

Thanks Nicholas, I'll do my best, but that is the plan :)

[@Younion]

I honestly thought a Berserker couldn't use the Knight's cards. In this video you did so I ask, who is correct here? :P

[@EmperorSmith]

3 misses: "Miriad flails around hopelessly"

[@fitz33]

Warmest thanks for posting this playthrough. It's been rather enjoyable to watch this and the one at Black Belt Gaming simultaneously. I've noticed one discrepancy, but I don't own the game, so I don't know what the rules say. You've been spawning your reinforcements at the beginning of your Overlord phase, but the first quest in the game (the one that Robert is playing at BlackBelt) requires this to happen at the "end of each overlord turn." Is it different based on the scenario that you play?

[@CritsHappen]

"Who wants to die in 2 turns and watch everyone play anyway?" - Amen!

[@lawrenceb4954]

I've been having tons of fun with this game playing solo. Though, I have to admit, I quit using the overlord cards to keep things simple (less to keep track of). Not that I remembered them until after they were useful anyway. Ummm... playing with a group, I'd use them sob's. Lol, only reason I'm not playing atm, is the fact my dog has to be in my gaming room with me, which pretty much means I get no dang peace. Not sure I'd of stopped playing this since getting it otherwise. 10/10

[@lawrenceb4954]

The stand up works because the quest are all goal focused. Who wants to die in 2 turns and watch everyone play anyway? Also, the Overlord gets reinforcements. I like the move past rules, or lack of myself. With the way the game is set up, not being able to do it would give the overlord too much of and advantage. Ummm... you don't have to keep your tokens on the map if you want to keep track of them some other way. The mini thing sucks, but, use other minis.

[@NinjatheJoe]

love this channel keep it up

[@mAcCoLo666]

As a matter of fact, I am :D Great work indeed, glad you shared it with us!

[@cchopman]

I think you did a wrong thing at 2:09 for resting... Rulebook P9 says:"When a hero performs a rest action, he will recover all fatigue at the end of his turn. As a reminder that he has rested during his turn, he places a hero token on his Activation card. At the end of his turn, after the hero flips his Activation card, he discards the hero token and all fatigue from his Hero sheet." So, you cannot discard the fatigue tokens from the hero sheet between two action chances during his turn.

[@jenius00]

Glad I'm not going insane and wasn't the only one who noticed. Not that these errors detract from my appreciation of the play through in any way. #rulemongers