Ghost Archipelago: Blood Totems

What follows here is an account (from a hazy memory) of the first game in a Ghost Archipelago campaign. We've been having the Ghost Archipelago rules since it was released. But there's so many games and so little time.

We've been making a lot of terrain for GA and various objectives, so we're always rolling for scenarios we have the needed stuff for. We won't be delving into the written campaigns at first, but play some of the core book scenarios.

You can check out step-by-steps for most terrain pieces here.

Setup
We set up an island map with this scenario. Playing 'Blood Totems' we used my Easter Island heads as the totems and scattered them through the dense jungle. We stuck a few Ulterior Motives objectives into the mix as well.

Report
It's actually quite hard writing a decent report for this game, as the actions is all in the dense jungle. But the overall lines were that both groups tried getting to the central totem first - getting the best loot. My opponent had much better luck with his Warden than I did.

In the end my warband had to pull out, retreat with a good amount of loot. My opponent had better control of the board - but his Heritor was wounded.

But I'll try and put some words to the photos.

My opponents Heritor flanked by different elite warriors.

My own Heritor Hector Fernandez getting ready to enter the jungle.

On one flank, a few crewmen and a savage is making their way towards a Drichean weapon depot (my Ulterior Motive), needed some brute strength to get it open.

A man-at-arms rushing towards the center of the board, to get to a totem first.

On one side of the map were some smaller islands with shipwrecks. These were dangerous areas, close to table edges (wandering and summoned monsters) and bad cover caused by the water. My opponent had his Warden and some crew for security taking control over these.

Sneaking through the jungle, staying in cover from the enemies archers, who took position on a hill fro

Getting close to the first blood totem.

There was a single swamp zombie on the board at the start. My men quickly put it down, turned out to be a red herring.

My Warden wasted the first many turns trying to summon an animal - that could attack my opponent in the flank. He failed - the first four turns.

I had a couple of guys on the small islands as well. There was also a blood totem for them. Trying to keep in cover, my archer started to shoot to the other small island. He managed to hurt a few enemy crewmen with arrows.

My enemy got on top of a hill from the start. Keeping his two archers in cover in the jungle, he then started firing arrows left and right. I was especially worried for my Warden and Heritor, having to keep them hidden and in cover.

The enemy Heritor making his way towards an small statue, his Ulterior Motive. But he had no gold to sacrifice at the alter (as it's our first game), he did get some extra XP though.

Treasure! After a few tried, the blood totem gives up the treasure hidden inside it.

We rolled poorly on the wandering monsters table. Always hoping to get some nice big monsters in, the first many treasure didn't summon any creatures. But a snapping turtle did enter the board, placed by my opponent - it's close to my Wardens group.

The enemy's savage - straight out of He-Man!

Welcome to the jungle! A nice shot of my Heritor.

A crew member from my ship got a treasure, started to run towards the board edge right away. It's a long way with all that difficult terrain and half movement.

My savage jumped right in to fight the snapping turtle. A good fight. My savage was wounded in the battle, but he did manage to take out the giant beast.

Disaster! A giant spider is summoned to the battlefield by the enemy Warden. My crew member was a tough guy though and killed it. He was however poisoned and had an even longer trip off the table.

My infantryman taking the fight to the enemy savage - the savage turned out to be a lot stronger and my infantryman went down. In the aftermath of the game he was declared dead - killed. In out next game he would count as a crewman.

Running away with a treasure, covered by an archer. The spear fighter is pushing forward - preventing me from making trouble and getting to attack the enemy warden.

The enemy warden had a great game. Pulling off spells nearly every turn. Making venemos weapons and summoning creatures.

The two savages tried to find out who the stronger one - I guess it was my enemy's. My savage was already wounded from taking down the snapping turtle, and after a round of combat - my savage had to withdraw. Unfortunately I never got to the Drichean weapon cash - as the enemy savage was guarding it.

In the end of the game my warden finally got off a few spells, didn't really impact the game at all. He just made some bark skin and strength spells - for the XP.

The annoying snipers - hurting my guys through the entire game.

End game
This was out first time playing Ghost Archipelago and we really liked it. The game changes a lot with hedge wizard Wardens and the fighter Heritors. Completly different to the way the frozen version plays out.

I lost my infantryman and found some nice items (that can be sold for good cash). Nothing very useful was found. My opponent got a men-at-arms missing his next game, but no deaths. He also got some items that's mostly junk - but they'll be good cash.

I found a quiver of arrows, they don't have much of an effect - but the are magical. Magical arrows would be good if we come across some ethereal creatures.