AAR: Rangers of Shadow Deep - Scenario 1

The Beginning

This was the first time my gaming group played Rangers of Shadow Deep, so we were all new to the system. We had a full complement: Ken, Terry, Tim, and me. 

We went about polishing off creating our rangers and selecting companions for the mission. Terry chose a raptor. Ken chose a war hound, while Tim had a blood hound. I had a human recruit. The adventurers were as follows: 

Terry: Ranger J'herry Re'eed and his raven, Commander Reginald

Tim: Ranger Aksel Klein and his bloodhound, Gypsy

Ken: Ranger Stanley Barret and his war hound (wolf), Bluedog

Ted: Ranger Gregarin Testrell and is rather wild Northern recruit, Yelena Umsgärt

Notes: Yes, I know ravens aren't truly raptors. Deal with it. Terry wanted a rather irate goose as his bird companion. Compromises were made. Also, the dogs aren't painted. I didn't anticipate a run on non-human companions. Finally, I don't own any raptor miniatures, other than the dinosaur variety. I made some easy tokens for the birds.

Raptor tokens

The Hook

Rangers of Shadow Deep is a wargame wrapped around RPG-style gameplay. The core book has several missions included. This is the first one. Mission: The Missing. Scenario 1: The Deserted Village.

An unnamed village

In essence, our party goes to find a missing ranger, leading to this village. What happens next is our story.

The Set-Up

I bought a set of 3D printed buildings off Amazon and also made a building from a craft store model. Tree are typical hobby stuff and the rocks are from Pirates of the Caribbean: Life board game. The tokens are flat glass beads with icons Mod-Podged to the bottoms.

The Game

The unnamed village, nestled several hours from anywhere, is deserted. Careful perusal reveals evidence of violence. The group is in the center of town when fell zombies and giant rats start making their way toward our brave adventurers. 

Bow fire kept most of the vermin and undead at bay and out of the way, but one rat got the jump on Yelena and almost dropped her with one bite. She was not diseased, though. Silver lining?

Gregarin ran for the nearest building - locked. He tried a few times to unlock it before he was successful. In the meantime, Yelena found a terrified survivor and helped him along for the rest of the scenario. Much to Gregarin's surprise, there was a wayward zombie in the building! He cast Magic Bolt at the undead creature, blasting it into true eternal rest. He found tracks in the dust and rightly deduced that giant spiders are afoot.

Gregarin on overwatch while Yelena protects the villager

J'herry and Reginald killed several baddies and uncovered multiple clues, including finding the missing ranger as well as treasure. In the process, Commander Reginald was knocked out of action by a particularly nasty rat and was diseased in the process. J'herry almost succumbed to the same rodent before dispatching it. 

J'herry and Gypsy fight a rat after discovering a body

Stanley and Bluedog, like everyone else, dispatched several enemies and uncovered clues as to what happened in the village. Bluedog was seriously injured (1 remaining Health point) and stayed close to Stanley for most of the game. 

Stanley and Bluedog checking out a building while Aksel provides cover

Aksel and Gypsy were the unsung heroes of the tale. They cleared up dangerous fights by jumping in and finishing off foes as well as uncovering clues of their own. 

Those who remain...

Wrap-Up

The gang discovered the dead ranger, his magic sword, treasure, a potion, and most importantly, that it appears that giant spiders are to blame for the undead infestation. Following the tracks, the party headed deeper into the woods to clean the forest of the abominable arachnids - or die trying.

All the rangers leveled up to level 1. Commander Reginald is out for the second scenario, which we didn't have time to start.

All in all, we liked the game and look forward to continuing the adventure!