I finally broke out the Nikolai Dante faction in Helter Skelter tonight – the only team I’d yet to play with. In game 1 I managed to pull out a win from a bad starting position, while in game 2 I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (and the jaws of victory had to be really patient about it too – I was lingering in there for ages!)
In game 1 the Dark Judges had a strong starting position, and I didn’t think that combat would pan out in my favour, so I focused on grabbing fragments, hoping that I could get three and then still be in a position to take out one of the judges, which is exactly what happened. Having gone on the assault in so many games, this was a reminder that running from the Dark Judges can be a good tactic.
I’m sure we can resolve this amicably…
Game 2 started with four of my characters surrounding two of the Dark Judges, so I immediately hit them with everything I had, dropping Judge Fear before the judges even got a turn! Judge Mortis followed quickly afterwards. My plan had been to start grabbing fragments from that point, but Judge Fire came quickly into range pushing me back into combat, and soon Fire was also defeated. This left only Judge Death – who from the outset had been threatening Viktor Romanov in a corner of the map far away from all the other characters.
I still had all five of my characters alive (albeit in varying states of health), with only Judge Death left to take care of.
Judge Death then proceeded to murder my entire team.
At the end, it was Nikolai Dante himself vs Judge Death. Nikolai had three health, while Judge Death was down to just one health. I was irked to have lost everyone else, but I still had no concerns about my assured victory – all I needed to do was draw a few attack cards, and I was surely home free. I then proceeded to churn through what seemed like the entire deck (an intervening shuffle included) without ever producing a hand which was useful to the one character I still had. There was no point to grabbing any fragments – the only way I could win now was by defeating Judge Death – but at one point I spent cards to pick a fragment up simply because my hand was continually useless for any other purpose. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t attack – I couldn’t even run away… All I could do was defend and hope that I would finally draw the cards I needed, and in the end it was too much.
Looking at my deck in exasperation after the game, I found Dante’s two strongest attack cards at the very top, waiting to be drawn…