For those of you unaware, Rangers of shadow deep is a single player or co-operative wargame created by the creator of Frostgrave. It came out last week, and is getting a good bit of buzz. It largely uses the same mechanics as frostgrave.
I am playing single player, which gives me a maximum of seven companions to recruit. For those curious, two player has a maximum of 3 companions total in addition to the two rangers.
The back story for Rangers of Shadow deep is a lovely framework that provides enough structure for a back story while at the same time creates an open ended story left to a players imagination to fill. Those familiar with Frostgrave will likely understand what I mean.
The story has something to do with the expansion of the shadow deep, a realm of evil and darkness. The shadow deep's expansion comes from the East and is heading West, engulfing all kingdoms and principalities in its way. The Kingdom of Alladore now finds itself on the fringe of the expanding shadow deep.
I am going for a Late Roman/Dark age flavor to my Rangers of Shadow Deep. When the Late Roman era and fantasy combine I instantly think Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings. For those not familiar with that reading of Tolkien, I suggest a full plunge into that research as it really is a fitting and marvelous lens for his work.
In MY lore, Alladore is a Kingdom that sprung out from the disintegration of the Aquillan Empire. Alladore sits on the former Northeastern border of the Aquillan Empire. It was an area of the Empire that saw constant war, with invasions of Northmen, Eastern Horse Tribes, and Orcs.
My ranger, Valerian, is a light armored fighter with sword and shield. I recruited a templar Rogvaldas, but he is more armored barbarian than religious knight; I recruited a tracker, Quintus Falco; a Rogue named Varus; an Arkanist named Cornelius Zenophon; a Man at arms named Gaius Severus; and most importantly the warhound Lukian.
Meet the Ranging party, left to right: Valerian the Ranger, Lukian the warhound, Rogvaldas the Northmen templar, Quintus Falco the tracker, Varus the rogue, Gaius Severus man at arms, and Cornelius Zenophon the Arkanist.
The Rangers had been hearing whispers about the expanding shadow deep for some months. In the past weeks, refugees had begun crossing into the borders of Alladore. As more and more refugees came, it became increasingly clear that the borders and frontier's of Alladore needed immediate attention.
Valerian and his ranging party have made their way to the Osterwald region so they can begin to assess the looming shadow.
Here is the starting points of the party and enemies
The zombies are headed full speed ahead towards the party
Here they come!
Tracker Quintus Falco steadies his aim and looses an arrow straight into the head of the zombie dropping the fell beast in its tracks.
The noble warhound Lukian makes way to a clue after exterminating two rats along with Rogvaldas. The hound finds a body but is unable to interpret the marks left on the corpse. Rogvaldas brings the fight to the nearest zombie.
Quintus Falco tracks down a clue and finds the body of aventine and uncovers aventine's worthy blade.
Varus makes way to a building with a clue. The clue turns out to be a formidable zombie. The Zombie attacks Varus and leaves him with one shred of health.
Valerian charges the backside of a zombie cleaving it with one masterful stroke.
Meanwhile, Cornelius Zenophon makes way to a building and breaks open the door. Inside he found a clue that turned out to be a handy potion.
As the evening progressed, Varus retreated to the middle of the village, and the eastern portion of the village square became heavy with combat. Quintus gets mauled by a zombie and leaves him with three health.
As the night began to wane, two zombies fled the scene as the early rays of the morning sun began.
The ranging party had protected the village and survived the night. It was not an easy evening as Varus and Cornelius were left with one health and Quintus had three health left. All Clues were picked up, but tracks were never found and the origination of the bites on the corpse were not deciphered.
