Day 4, or rather, Round 4 into the open waters with my Viking crew.
The first three rounds have been pretty fruitful, if you ask me. I went full-on recruitment mode and rounded up all my crew members, then spent the next couple of rounds building settlements on one big island.
A Farm, Market, Workshop, Camp, even a Temple.
The island is shaping up well, but I have to expand my reach before it’s too late. I’ve got my King’s Orders to follow as well. And there’s a raid coming up along the way... I can almost feel it.
Cause it’s indicated on the sheet. :P
Folks, watch me play through Round 4 of Iron Quest: The First Ember, my first-ever 3D roll-and-write!
How things stand after 3 rounds
Okay then, it all starts with the roll of 3 dice. Here we go.
Dice roll: 4, 6 and 6.
This is good, really good. One of the cool aspects of this game is that you can combine dice values together. I think I can combine the 6 and 4 to create 10, which is exactly what I need to light the Beacon...
There are 3 Beacons in the game that you’ve got to light up, and you need a total value of 10 and 1 Sunstone to set one up. Looks like I’ve got both. So why wait?
So in the words of Aragorn, the beacons are lit!
And that has its perks, cause it gives me a Rune Power, which can come in super handy. I get to choose one of the 2 powers, and I’ll happily choose changing any die result twice. Sweet!
Now, I’ve got another die in hand, a 6. Where do I put it?
I already have a decent number of crew members ready: the Merchant, Builder, and Warrior. So I think it’s best if I focus on building a settlement. With a die value of 6, I can build any one of the 3 settlements: Market, Workshop, or Camp.
Focusing more on Workshop and Camp. Building a Workshop gives me the opportunity to build another settlement for free, while building a Camp activates a Shield on my Defence Track. And I might need it, next round being a Raider round and all...
Okay, made up my mind. Camp it is.
That too, on the neighboring island. It’s in the King’s Orders to have at least one settlement on 4 islands, so I’ve got to prioritize that. Also, getting that Shield on my Defence Track keeps me on the safer side.
Since I’m crossing the sea to a new island, I need to spend 1 Sunstone for that. Thankfully, I have just the one!
Alright then, round ends. Onto the 5th round, and it starts with a damn Raider attack!
How the Raider works here is simple: I roll a die to see which settlement type gets attacked. If I already have the matching Shield ready, I’m safe. If not, that settlement gets invaded and its ability is disabled until I deal with the Raider.
Rolling the die... please be 3 or 4!
And it’s a 2. Damn it!
That means my Market gets invaded. Since I don’t have a Shield on 2, the Market ability is disabled for now. To clear this Raider, I’ll need to build a Camp later and activate the Market Shield.
Well well... that’s the end of Round 4 and the start of a rather challenging Round 5.
One round may not fully showcase it, but Iron Quest is constantly throwing options at you, and you have to sort of dissect through them and pick stuff that not only helps you play better, but also triggers those chain reactions to build more settlements, obtain Sunstones, recruit crew, etc.
A sequencer is what I’ll call it.
FYKI, the 3D tokens are optional for this game. You can also draw the settlements. But aren’t they adorable?
I’m a big fan of roll-and-writes, and while I can totally play Iron Quest: The First Ember with a pen, I simply won’t. I’m in love with these 3D tokens!
You've less than 2 days left to back this 3D roll-and-write on Gamefound, so now’s a good time to set sail.
- Tas.
PS: Remember I got a Rune Power that can help increase or decrease ANY die result? Now that I’m writing up this issue, I realized I could have used it to change the Raider die value and prevent the invasion. Whoopsies. :(
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