Gnome-mageddon - Part 3 - The Gnome-mageddoning!

Picture this - Halloween night, a basement full of nerds, and a table full of gnomes. 

We actually didn't get a picture of that, so I hope your imagination is up to the task.

Once that's rendered, imagine again, those same nerds picking gnomes to be their in-game avatars, and pulling up to the challenge of the evening; drive Gneil the Gnecromancer from Gnomeburg.

THE BAT-REP

For Gnomemageddon, we had four players who controlled two characters each, joining the cause gradually over the four hour playsession. We had the Gnomish Queen and Hedge Witch, Hornblower and Goose, Fox Rider and Artillerist, and Swordmaster and Illusionist for our initial champions.

A dynamic duo of tooting troublemakers. In the early turns, they secure the North flank and make it safe(r) for others to run up the middle.

This however does not save the Artillerist, who is almost immediately overrun in the deployment zone.

During the battle for Queen and County, gno gnome refused the call of duty. 

The Hedge Witch summoned flocks of crows, who murdled many a skellignome with their special move. This was made doubly effective when combined with Queen Statler, who could copy other heroes' moves if she was near enough to them, turning the pair into a gatling gun made out of birds.

The Fox Rider spent much of the game scouting ahead and destroying enemy spawnpoints, making the further boards safer for his comrades. though eventually stricken with a bad case of the death, his efforts were not in vain.

Ash, the trusty swordmaster also died valiantly, stomping tombstones and leading two swarms of Skellignomes and a pair of Ghosts away from the party. Rest in peace, you glorious idiot.

Myrtle the Goose and a unit of Pikegnomes take on Gneil's champion, Robert the Bone-Ogre. You could call him a Bogre, but likely his mum wouldn't approve.

He died as he lived, wrong answers only.

Whenever a player character died (up until the last hour) they could pick a new character to help in the fight. When the Swordmaster died, the player picked a giant to help win the day.

The Giant occupied a werewolf for a few turns, and then fastball specialed (chucked) the Hedge Witch across the river so that he could partake in the final battle.

A parade of Klatterheads blocks off the bridge, allowing for more Skellignomes for amass in the woods. The undead take the only crossing on the south end of the river!

"A goose is never late, nor is she early. A goose makes trouble precisely when she means to."

Any road can be the road to victory, as long as you're marching in the right direction.

Like a big, orange moon, Gneil's horrible Pumpking appears on the horizon. The end is nigh!

The remaining heroes swarm Gneil and begin their barrage of blows. After several tense rounds of combat and heroic sacrifices, the giant arrives in the nick of time and delivers the final bonk to the nasty Gnecromancer. Upon his deathrattle, the ghosts turn to mists, the skellignomes collapse, and the pumpkin rots instantaneously. The day is saved!

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IN REFLECTION

It was a fun night! There were a few holes in the rules, and some balance issues that we patched on the fly, but overall, folks had a good time. There were a lot of exciting narrative moments, and opportunities for combos, and I think with a little bit of polish, Gnomemageddon could be a game any shop could run. I might have said this in a previous post, but grave-crawls were one of my best memories from my youth growing up in a game store, and it was awesome to share that with the community at large. With how well this was recieved, I hope that maybe Gnomemageddon can become a yearly tradition in the shop, and bring joy to a bunch of nerds in Boston and maybe beyond.

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Thank you to the players, the wargaming community, and the friends who remembered to take photos during the game! Happy Halloween y'all and Happy Hobbying!