Rangers of Shadow Deep Playthrough | The Deserted Village Battle Report

Always Board Never Boring puts his new team through their paces in a brand new Rangers of Shadow Deep campaign. In this video, Tsubasa the ronin and his panther Guinevere venture into a deserted village in search of a missing ranger. They're bringing along two students from the College of Magic who have no experience in combat and just want to learn more about the strange events, plus their burly bodyguard Johan. They are ill equipped for the undead horrors that await them.
In this video, Always Board Never Boring completes a full playthrough of Mission 1, Scenario 1 from the core Rangers of Shadow Deep book and then runs through the campaign rules in preparation for Scenario 2.
#RangersofShadowDeep #soloboardgames #letsplay
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[@Trencher1375]

"Lets check out the locked mausoleum in this zombie infested village guys." Great playthrough and video.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Hansel is book smart, not street smart.

[@WhiskeyPatriot]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring starting to think Hansel got them in that mess with the witch to begin with 🤔

[@iawoodsman]

Great explanation of the game while playing it through. It really answered a lot of questions I had. Thanks

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. I'm glad the explanations were helpful.

[@maktb]

Never played this but looks awesome! Hopefully this comes a series, great video

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. Rangers is one of my favourite games. I definitely plan to run the second scenario in a video when I get the chance.

[@DestroyerHivePro]

I just finished playing this scenario yesterday! I'm using 40K models and adapting the fluff slightly to fit the theme. It was a truly hilarious experience: - The first 6 turns go extremely well - little damage received, and many enemies killed - 1 zombie is in combat with my conjurer (Harlequin modeled to look like Kefka from FF6) - I think, okay no problem, I will sprint my savage (Carnage symbiote) into combat with it, to get that extra +2 Fight bonus, then finish the job with my archer, Keen-Eye (Tau pathfinder) who will now get +6 fight - Keen-Eye the pathfinder rushes into combat with his dagger and rolls a 2, whereas the zombie rolled a 16. Okay, I lose the fight and take damage - Creature turn begins and the zombie attacks the character with the lowest health - guess who - Keen-Eye rolls an amazing 4 and the zombie rolls a humble 19 - Even with a harlequin and bloodthirsty symbiote harassing this zombie, the Tau still finds a way to get himself murdered in close combat (very typical of the Tau) - Scenario ends and I roll his injury roll - 1 - ...... - I replace two letters in his name - The mantle will now be passed on to his younger brother, Mean-Eye the pathfinder.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Ha. Sometimes those close combats can be brutal. And it always seems to happen when you think you have a nice advantage from assists.

[@tomlaud1321]

Yes! I've been looking forward to a RofS playthrough. Great work mate.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for checking out the video. Hoping to get scenario 2 on the channel at some point soonish.

[@5upfeelnopain243]

Just ordered my copy from Modiphius - looking forward to building a party and having a go. Also building some terrain to use. Great playthrough 👍

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for watching. Rangers of Shadow Deep is a fantastic game. I hope you have a lot of fun with it.

[@TomMurrath]

Great report video, it motivated me to dig out my rulebook and restart a campaign myself

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for watching.

[@DavidHargis]

Great video. I really enjoyed it. I am working on figures and buildings for first scenario

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Good luck with it. It's a great game and I'm sure you're going to have a good time. Thanks for watching!

[@Chopperkelly73]

Really nicely done, great pacing and explanation. Looking forward to your next adventures! I’m currently working on my RoSD project.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thank you for watching, and the kind words. Hoping to have the second installment up within the next few weeks. I also have some more terrain building stuff to publish as well. Good luck with your own adventures.

[@Chopperkelly73]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring thank you! I’ve looked at BGG and the minis list I need for the main book quests, I’m looking for some decent looking ogres, a terror wing and a ghoul snake. Any recommendations? I’ve looked at reaper, hassle free, North Star and others. Finding a good sculpt at a wallet friendly price is proving difficult. Might save up for the Atlantis minis Ogres, they look superb. So do the official RoSD ones though 👍

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@Chopperkelly73 Where possible I try to use what I have rather than buying more miniatures. For example, I was going to get some gnolls, but in the end I used my D&D orcs instead. I tend to rely on my D&D board games, Reaper and Nolzur's quite a lot. I got the Harry Potter troll which I showed in another video that I will use as an ogre - got that for £6. For the Terror Wing, one of the Dungeon Saga expansions had a nice demon, but I'm just using my HeroQuest gargoyle. There are snakes in the Wrath of Ashardalon game which are pretty nice.

[@matthewmccloud5257]

I just discovered this game, and then I found your channel. Your content is terrific! Now, I just need to find some reasonably affordable game mats and terrain/houses. I have loads of minis, but I never bought terrain before since I only played rpgs. If you have tips, I would love to hear them! Thanks for the great video!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thank you for the kind words. Rangers is an amazing game, and I was lucky to have been playing tabletop games for a long time so have quite an accumulation of miniatures and terrain. Despite that, I always seem to need something new. I've done quite a few videos on making and painting terrain for this game which might give you some ideas (look for my Tabletop Terrain playlist), and I have some more terrain videos on the way. I actually did a video on what you need to get started with the game, which might be useful for you. You can find that here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6e9hZVqpal0e7c A quick way to get started with a suitable play surface is just to throw some green fabric over a table. If you are buying a mat, none of the scenarios in the core book require more than a 3ft by 3ft area, but if you get a 4ft by 4ft one you're pretty much covered. The mat I use in my playthroughs is a 3x3 double-sided mat from Modiphius for Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms. It has an outside location on one side, and a cavern on the reverse. If you play RPGs on flipmats or using different tiles sets, you may be able to make some scenarios with those and play a 2D version of the game. For example, if you have some tiles from a city set, you could create the various houses for villages with those. You can cut out various shapes from cardboard to identify the position of forests, rivers, ponds and that sort of thing.

[@davidenania7386]

Love the story this game builds

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thank you for subscribing. Rangers does a great job of building the narrative. It very quickly became a favourite for me, and I'm Hoping to get some more plays on camera soon.

[@nickgraney2119]

Really enjoyed this upload, looks like a really good game that I should read up on. Covid aside, is this one you would play on your own or usually with other players? Look forward to seeing part 2 and future updates, will have to catch up on yout earlier content on creating the characters used in this outing. Good job! (Dodgy at dice rolls though 😩, some were a real disaster) your scenery pieces looked really good, would have been good to get a close up at the start of the play area. Enjoyed it, thanks for sharing

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for watching. Sorry about the lack of close ups - I tried to give a feel for the battlefield with the original tracking shot, but as the action was quite centralised I stuck to the single shot for the playthrough. I try to minimise camera movements as I don't have a very sophisticated setup for that sort of thing. I've only ever played Rangers solo - it's a really great solo experience. You can play with more people if you want to. In that case, each player gets their own ranger, and stricter limits are imposed on how many points you have to spend on companions and how many you can bring along. For example, once you have four rangers in play, they are only allowed one companion each, and it will probably be a very low-powered character. As I am playing solo I had 100 recruitment points to spend and could have had up to seven companions. I purposefully chose a small band of more powerful characters - Johan alone is worth 35 points, and the conjurors are 30 points each because I purchased extra spells for them.

[@bradp6452]

Nice play through. Looks like you did really well but almost had disaster. I have looked it this game a couple of times but not sure if I have the terrain to pull it off.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. Yeah, we had some rough patches. Johan did not pull his weight, and he cost one third of of my total warband points, so that was disappointing! Rangers is a great incentive to get more terrain sorted. Before I bought the game I didn't have the river, the trees, or any of the houses besides the GW one (which I hadn't painted). I'm now working on more scatter terrain - rough ground with boulders and the like. Of course, there are ways around the terrain situation. You can either change the map to suit what you do have, or you can just mark things out on card or scraps of paper. Room tiles from a game like Warhammer Quest or Advanced HeroQuest are useful as well, as you can sub them in for houses or rooms.

[@brianfrazee584]

This is great, I enjoy the narrative! Hope you will do more mission videos with your warband! Now that you have some gameplay under your belt, what are your thoughts of the Rangers of Shadowdeep system? Combat and misdions, etc.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for subscribing to the channel. Rangers is a firm favourite. I absolutely love it and I eventually intend to pick up some of the supplemental quests. I've mentioned elsewhere that the combat does have the potential to be swingy. This can be mitigated by abilities and items, but there will always be those situations where something that should be an easy fight becomes drawn out, or a tough fight ends surprisingly easily. The missions are very clever, and I love the sense of story that comes out of everything. I'm hoping to upload the next battle report next week.

[@roberttreble2690]

This was good got me sub

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thank you for subscribing. I’m hoping to have the second mission uploaded relatively soon.

[@davrosdavros7198]

Would love more closeups of board/gameplay

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for the feedback. I have to minimise camera movements as I don't have the setup to keep changing the view. I would have moved the camera around if the action had spread out more or gone behind buildings, but apart from a few zombies plodding around, everything was happening in the courtyard. There will probably be a few more camera angles in the next scenario as the nature of the terrain will make it more difficult to see what's going on.

[@davrosdavros7198]

Thanks. Always like to see terrain and miniatures used

[@ademade4392]

Time to crack open the book of shadow deep and begin my quest me thinks!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's a really fun game. You just have to accept that sometimes the dice will destroy you, because the combat can be a bit swingy at times. I find it's good to have at least one heroic ability that allows for a reroll or some kind of bonus when fighting. Some healing is also really important. Have fun!

[@deusnoctua138]

Great semi-tutorial video! If I’m not mistaken though, you calculated the first damage wrong. You take the total combat score plus damage bonus to subtract the enemy armor from, not the initial dice roll plus damage bonus. (so for example, you rolled 15+5 for the combat score. That would have been 20 + the two extra damage katana gives you to subtract the rat’s armor from once you determined you won combat. So, 16 damage would have been the damage dealt to that first rat instead. The result was the same, death, but don’t miss out on deserved damage. : ) Source: page 28 of the deluxe edition

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yeah, I do know how to work out the damage, and you can see that after making that mistake with Tsubasa's damage in the very first combat I do calculate the correct damage from then on as fight roll + fight modifiers + damage modifiers - armour. When you do these playthroughs and you're narrating everything you are doing sometimes you overlook a few things. Luckily, it didn't change the outcome of anything.

[@deusnoctua138]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Definitely. No worries.Either way, you’ve earned a new subscriber!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@deusnoctua138 Thanks for that, I really appreciate the support. There are a couple more Rangers playthroughs on the channel as well.

[@ClanCrowley]

Great video to help learn the system. I’ve recently got the standard edition book but not actually played yet. One question I had was about the use of playing cards - any idea why they suggest using playing cards for events but not for other elements - like clues? For example with clues you need to reroll if you have the same one twice - so cards would work well for that. I was thinking it was maybe because in some scenarios a 52 card deck might not be enough if used for events and other random things? However that sounds like a lot of random things!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I think it's just because clue table entries span several results for an uneven distribution. So, clue 1 might happen on a roll of 1-3, while clue 2 might only happen on a roll of a 4. That way certain results become more likely, and it's easier to manipulate the percentages using numbers up to 20 rather than fiddling with a deck of cards. It's also a bit cleaner to only have one deck of cards per game to worry about.

[@ClanCrowley]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring ah right, makes sense. Thanks for the reply!

[@stephenoshea3471]

Great video, I'm in the process of getting my stuff together for a play through. Where did you get the big building that was in the centre of the village? And did you make those river pieces? They're great! A tutorial on that would be super helpful

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for watching. The river-making tutorial is already on my channel, along with tutorials for other bits and pieces like spider-infested trees. Look for my Tabletop Terrain playlist, where you will also find a couple of videos about that big house, which is an old Games Workshop kit - the fortified manor. Hopefully there's some helpful stuff in there you can make use of.

[@stephenoshea3471]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Perfect thanks for the signpost, that's tonight's viewing sorted :)

[@richardsquire8600]

Excellent video. Gained a sub from me. Had my first playthrough yesterday. Let's just say it didn't go as well as yours..

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thank you for the sub. Sorry to hear your ranger fell foul of the lurking evils of the shadow deep. My second mission is being uploaded later today!

[@johnmiddleton4291]

Good play through. The swingy-ness of combat gets toned down as you gain gear and abilities, much like in Frostgrave. The downside is that it can make combats pretty predictable. Then again, this combat system is the same as the Fighting Fantasy books, with d20s over d6s and the damage worked into the roll, so it's mostly designed to be functional rather than deep.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. It's definitely easier to mitigate combat once you have some good equipment and other boosts. I find it can still be pretty darn swingy though. I always seem to end up bogged down in an "easy" fight that I thought I would breeze through at some point in each scenario. I really like the combat though. It's nice to resolve everything with (usually) a single dice roll, especially in a solo game where you have to deal with controlling the enemies too.

[@johnmiddleton4291]

The d20 combat system was one of the big sticking points for many people in Frostgrave too. In that game it often seems to be all or nothing, in that combat goes on too long or it's over almost instantly. Lots of people switched to 3d6 but, imo, all that does is cause ties or no damage too often. I think the 2nd edition may have some options, but I have not bought it and don't really plan too. A simple system is good, but I actually don't mind more complexity at the small skirmish level. I hate combats that drag on too long either through no damage rolls or endless spawns. The later is one of my big sticking points with Blackstone. The similarity between Joseph M. games makes them all somewhat compatible. Aside from Oathmark, which is apparently a love/hate type system from what I have observed.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@johnmiddleton4291 Was pretty sure I responded to this, but computer says, "No." I can see why some people don't like the combat system, but I think it's a good fit for Rangers which is pretty fast and breezy and wants to keep moving the game along. While you may get stuck in a fight for several turns, you don't get bogged down in too much dice rolling, which means you can immediately start thinking about your next step and how you are going to get to your next objective. I prefer simple systems, but more complicated stuff has it's place. Elder Scrolls was too over the top for me, but I could see why some people would enjoy it, and I did think the combat dice resolution was neat. I am going to try to do a showcase of Anima Tactics soon, which is the game I always end up referring back to as a solid combat system with some good baked-in strategy and resource management.

[@DestroyerHivePro]

Awesome video! o you know of a similar game, but in a sci-fi setting?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. The game that immediately springs to mind is Core Space, which is one I've been meaning to pick up for a while. It has a campaign mode and supports solo play. Comes with awesome terrain as well. Maybe look into that one. It currently has (or perhaps recently had) a kickstarter for a new core set, but the first set is still readily available too. Of course, the great thing about Rangers is you can easily adapt it to a sci-fi setting. Your village becomes a deserted space port, zombies become alien ghouls, giant rats are mutant rats, your ranger is a space adventurer. Just use all your sci-fi terrain and miniatures.

[@DestroyerHivePro]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Ohh so that's what core space is... Thanks! I will look into both options

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

No worries. Thanks for watching the video.

[@bluebird3281]

I hope you threw that blue D20 away !

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer...

[@bluebird3281]

Where is the teleport spell from ? one of the expansions ?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's in the rules book published by Modiphius, which incorporates extra character creation options from Temple of Madness.

[@bluebird3281]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Thanks, I only have the original and it isn't in there. I abuse teleport when ever I can in FrostGrave ! Great spell

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@bluebird3281 My character has the teleport spell, but also the transpose spell that lets you swap the position of two characters on the board. Both excellent spells that I always seem to find a good use for.

[@LaMOi1]

I was going to say (cannot remember if I have already asked) - have you done a video on Silver bayonet… that looks really good. And very similar to this. So is this a “skirmish game” is that what you called these types of games??

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Silver Bayonet is the same designer, but the game have some mechanical differences. Silver Bayonet is very much in my wheelhouse as I am a huge fan of gothic horror, but getting into it would require buying into more ranges of miniatures which I am trying to avoid as much as possible. I would call Rangers a tabletop skirmish game, but designations are quite loose, really, and Rangers doesn't play like other tabletop skirmish games I play like Moonstone or Burrows and Badgers.

[@LaMOi1]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Im Diggin it… No wonder they seem very similar… Silver Bayonet is right up my alley. I thought you can use any mini’s? I have some Perry’s Prussian infantry that I was trying to squeeze into my current board game, calling them imperial guard…. However, They are a tad late (period) for Warhammer Fantasy setting. But would be ideal for Silver Bayonet! Plus I have my eye on some warlord Colonial militia….

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yes, Silver Bayonet is miniatures agnostic, like Joseph's other games like Rangers and Frostgrave, but I don't have enough period-accurate Napoleonic and Gothic stuff to do it the way I would want to. For me, getting everything right on the table is part of the hobby. Heck, I won't even use miniatures for Advanced Heroquest unless they are genuine Oldhammer miniatures produced at the right time when the game was in distribution.

[@LaMOi1]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Ohh you are one of those! I’m new to the hobby…. But I don’t want to use old mini’s that look like out of proportion sculpting, compared with some of the new beautifully sculpted and in proportion sculpts! If the old still look good then fair enough! But I would much rather replace the old Heroquest mini’s with other better looking mini’s with dynamic poses - far more immersive! I have AoS Ardboys (the previous ones though that GW the repackaged for Old World as Black Orcs) I use them for my board game, they look great! Makes such a difference. And I use Oathmark Goblin Slaves for Goblins, they are excellent! I know for some I’ve probably just expressed blasphemy! I’m an old school ninja turtles fan, but I’ll be the 1st to admit that some of the old comics art is terrible. It’s like a 10 year old has drawn it. Someone would say it adds to the charm, not me. There too much great art out there, I want that! (Glenn Fabry!🙌) Ps. What I did, I bought Prussian infantry (skirmishing) single sprue on eBay for £3.60…. That’s a way to go! To get some period accurate mini’s!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I'm not sure what you mean by "one of those." Enjoy your hobby your own way.

[@joellechanu7789]

So Hansel teleport in a closed place he never goes before. Kurt (Nightcrawler) would advise him to not to. Never know if you will teleport in a wall, a fourniture. He should have lign of sight of the interior. And why forcing the lock of the door from the interior. He just have to turn the lock or teleport outside.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

The Teleport spell doesn't require line of sight. Spells can only be used once per scenario, so unless I gave Hansel the same spell twice (which I don't believe I did) he couldn't teleport again during this fight. I made this video a very long time ago, so I don't remember the exact circumstances of whatever the lock situation was, but if there is a situation like that you make a judgement call and move on. The rules even say there will be times where just use common sense to make a call and move on to keep the game fun. In real life, all the doors in my house lock with a key, and once they are locked they require a key to open them from either side, so I probably just went with that rather than the Dark Souls "this gate opens from the other side" routine.

[@joellechanu7789]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring it was just teasing. Sorry I should have make it clearer. Because I really like nigthcrawler.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I do like being able to bamf around the maps. Hansel managed to do some awesome stuff.