"They don't call me 'Karl' for nothing."

[n107]

Today I finally got to play my first competitive game of AToE. Since I've been doing nothing but co-op, I asked my friend if he'd play competitive with me so I could see what that was like. He's not a boardgamer at all so I was pleased that he agreed to give it a shot. After a brief explanation of the rules, we delved into the game. My friend drew Katarina as his hero. I, of course, drew Karl, as there is some universal law which states that anytime I randomly pick a hero it will invariably be Karl.

The game moved along quite well, for the most part, and my friend gradually got the hang of it that he no longer needed to question the text on his events and he could handle things by himself. It took a surprisingly long time before the Shadow Track began moving downward, so the game was becoming far longer than I expected it to be. I investigated a few of the townsfolk, discovering the best two we both agents of evil and my third choice was a coward. Two more elders died, so they were no use to me for a showdown, and the final elder, Sophie, I didn't get the chance to investigate. Well, finally the Shadow Track began to plummet rapidly and we knew it was time to start a showdown. Even location I got had horrible text that I couldn't risk using. Fortunately, Katarina must've sprained an ankle because she would only move one or two spaces for the longest time, struggling to get back to town.

At last I got a decent Lair card, which also happened to be the location I was at. I started my showdown and picked my hunting party. I took the coward and Sophie. She couldn't possibly be evil, too, since so many others were. To quote Lex Luthor, "WRONG!" That jerk was evil, too. Right to the vampire she scurried. Then the coward took off without even saying a goodbye and, after being rightfully accused of evil, Lord Hanbrook also joined the bad guy.

So the first round, I tried to pulverize the vampire but only managed to scratch him while he did two points of damage to me. I healed the two points and wished I brought more healing supplies when the next round started. This time I remembered to attack the evil elders. Killed the Lord, missed Sophie, and surprisingly did three more points of damage to the vamp. The next time, I took out Sophie and missed the vampire altogether while he did brought me to three points of damage. My nice, thick jacket I found was the only thing keeping me standing. The final round, with all his help gone, I used my last event to get a +2 attack on the vampire for my final chance. The vampire missed Karl and his snazzy jacket. With the Shadow Track on 1 and only one wound remaining, the evil was vanquished.

The biggest surprise of all wasn't the fact that I actually rolled lucky enough to win for a change, but my friend actually said he enjoyed the game. And I, too, had the most fun I've ever had with AToE. It really is the group that makes the game. He said he'd play it again someday and he'll even try LNoE with me when we have a chance. I know he won't become a hardcore fan, but at least our first attempt at the game showed him that it can be fun and he's willing to have another go at it. Oh, and he didn't play any cards to hinder me against the vampire because he wanted someone to kill the villain and, with the Shadow Track so low he figured the game would end before he had a chance.