Axe and Brimstone - Scenario 3 - The Stone of Power

A standing stone, once a tribute to the dwarven deity of Fari, has been desecrated by the Possessed.  Halflings have been tasked with restoring the stone to its former glory.  This time two dwarves have joined the Halflings to combat the demonic foe.

Possessed:  Possessed Champion (Q3+ C4, Combat Master, Demonic Armor, Short Move, Rune Sword), Hellglaive Assassin (Q3+ C2, Assassin, Backstab, Stealth), Veteran Hellchain Fanatic (Q3+ C4, Ball-and-Chain, Opportunistic, Steadfast), Screaming Face Axeman (Q3+ C4, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Vorpal Blade), Heavy Infantry (Q3+ C4, Heavily Armored, Short Move), Heavy Infantry with Paincarver (Q3+ C3, Heavily Armored, Paincarver, Short Move), Hellfire Fusilier (Q3+ C2, Hellfire Arquebus, Short Move), and Hell Hound (Q3+ C3, Danger Sense, Dashing Demon).

Halflings:  Hound Rider (Q3+ C3, Heavily Armored, Long Move, Mounted, Powerful Jaws), Dwarf Demonslayer (Q3+ C4, Axe and Sword Technique, Rare, Short Move, Demonslayer), Panther Pelter (Q3+ C4, Hammering Blow, Rare, Short Move, Gift of the Panther), Chieftain (Q3+ C3, Block, Elven Plate Armor), Assassin (Q3+ C2, Backstab, Stealth, Twin Dagger Technique), two Archers (Q4+ C2, Good Shot, Short Bow), two Militiamen (Q4+, C2, Block, Heavily Armored), and a Trapper (Q4+ C2, Free Disengage, Outdoor Specialist).

The Stone of Power surrounded by a circle of fallen stones.

The Halfling setup.

The Possessed setup.

And they're off.  The Hound Rider races to get to the Stone first.

But the Possessed advance, very determined to defend their new Stone of Power.

The Halflings continue to move forward.

The battle lines begin to form as warriors prepare their charges.

In a furious exchange of attacks and reactions, even as a Halfling Archer is able to complete one action of the eight action Task, the Stone of Power rolls through the Screaming Face Axeman.

The Panther Pelter and Halfling Assassin confront the Hellglaive Assassin as the battle continues in the center.

The Hellglaive Assassin is Gruesomely Slain, which caused the Paincarver to retreat briefly.  The Halfling Assassin uses the break in combat to attempt to restore the Stone... 

....but the Stone of Power awakens as a Dolmen Rock Thrower!  The Task has failed!  The Dolmen Rock Thrower has sided with the Possessed, the Halflings' only course of action is to escape with their lives.

The Paincarver knocks prone the Halfling Assassin.

The Halfling Assassin is slain and the remaining members of the Halfling band have no choice but to run away to fight another day.

Despite dismal success in restoring the Stone of Power, the Halflings were amazingly successful in running away.

The Possessed have earned a new ally, a Dolmen Rock Thrower.  The Hellglaive Assassin suffered a Gruesome Kill, so is permanently dead.  The Veteran Hellchain Fanatic is injured and will fight with a -1 Q next game.  The Hell Hound completely recovered.  The campaign advance upgraded the plain Heavy Infantry into a Screaming Face Axeman (essentially giving him a Vorpal Blade as well).

Only two casualties for the Halflings.  The Assassin recovered.  The Trapper was seriously injured and will miss the next game (though I think I might have a plan for him for the next scenario....)

Scenario 3 was fun, especially with the randomness of what could happen with the Stone.  The way things were looking I thought a massive dog pile was about to happen around the Stone of Power, as the Halflings tried to make a front line to hold back the Possessed to enable others to get close to perform actions on that Task.

But having the Stone roll, that changed the Halfling plans.  Then in a moment of pure horror, rolling a 6 on Awakening the Stone and ANOTHER 6 to awaken the Dolmen?!?  That was the end.  Since the only way the Halflings could win the scenario is by completing the Task and with awakening the Dolmen they could no longer work the Task, all they could do was save their skins.

Its almost as if the dice WANT the Possessed to win...I wonder if my dice are secretly evil....