Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of The Dragon Queen) Act 1 Scene 1 Part 2 - I...do...not...do...Lightning!

***SPOILERS AWARE FOR THOSE CONSIDERING PLAYING THIS ADVENTURE!!!***

We left our heroes inside the keep at Greenest, recovering from their rescue of the villagers in the Temple (well half of them). After a short rest they were ready to emerge to the news that it appeared the cultists were attempting to set fire tot he towns mill. As the towns primary food source it was imperative this was dealt with.

Despite having being hinted at that there were no dwarven cultists, Ulla continued to try to deceive kobold groups around the town that they were with them. This (surprisingly) didn't work and they were forced to fight. This unnecessary distraction delayed them so that reinforcements may have arrived at the mill!

They sneaked up towards the mill and took cover behind a fence. After a while of viewing the mill - it appeared as if the 4 cultists on guard were making a show of lighting the building - setting fire to hay and outbuildings. As such our party managed to isolate one of the cultists on his rounds and managed to defeat them fairly quickly. However they (thanks to an appalling stealth roll on my part) managed to notice that there were multiple occupants of the mill.

These 3 Guards and 3 Cultists attacked the party and it looked ominous. Ulla had take multiple hits, and Phanny was looking hurt. Fortunately at that moment, a monk who'd been hiding across the way decided to assist - launching his spear into a guard and following it up with a flurry of blows. This interjection was enough for the party to defeat their enemies and defend the mill until reinforcements arrived to relieve them.

Dawn was now approaching as our adventurers made a final climb up the keep's walls. The cultists gathered their caravan of loot up and Langdedrosa - a blue half-dragon approached a dragon with a band of cultists dragging a young family behind him. Offering to release the family as long as someone faced him, Ulla was persuaded to face him. After one strike of his axe simply bounced off the scales of his enemy - Ulla was knocked out with a blast of lightning which nearly killed him outright from Langdedrosa's breath attack.

With this the cultists left (releasing the family) and Ulla was restored by the town's healers and was given 2 potions of healing.

And with that they reached Level 2!

***SPOILERS OVER***

We also managed to get in a game of Ticket to Ride - bit rusty but as with all European games it was close and I really didn't know who was going to win especially not myself coming from behind to win on longest route!

Boardgames and How to Win Them

So last night, I played a couple of games with JT and her sister; 2 rounds of Ticket to Ride and a round of Lords of Waterdeep. And by luck and/or skill (mostly luck I think) I won all 3 - also NO DICE WERE INVOLVED!

As such I just wanted to share my tactics as they apply to these games (although many of the themes can apply to any game or scenario).

Ticket to Ride

1. Don't be afraid to get rid of a ticket. At the start of Ticket to Ride, you get 3 destination tickets. First of all work out how these routes could work together and if they don't get rid of one.
2. Have a clear plan. How are you going to complete (and connect your routes)? This gives you an idea of what colours you need to collect as well as what routes are vital to you (and which ones have multiple options).
3. Flexibility. Don't be afraid to change your route. You have an original plan but if your heading into traffic then go elsewhere if you can.
4. Keep them guessing. Start at one end of a route and go to the other end. This ties up one end of your route, stops you having to take detours if a gap you've left is filled, and hopefully makes your route more likely to be continuous (for longest route).
5. Zero points is sometimes the best place to be! Well for the early game anyway, the longer you can afford to just be collecting resources without playing the better - this ties into all the previous points and if you collect the right cards means you can then claim route after route and complete your tickets before anyway has opportunity to react.

Lords of Waterdeep

Lords of Waterdeep should be played in a similar way except for the following:

1. Play quests. Unlike ticket to ride, other players can interact with your resources so just stockpiling isn't as much of an option. Also quests have instant rewards (resources) as well as ongoing effects.
2. Only play your quest types. Unless there is a significant positive effect (ongoing effects etc) then don't play quests which aren't of your type. Our game was so close until we started counting up our "Lord" points. At this point I got 40 points and flew away!

So there's my short hints and tips section on these two games - any other advice from people would be appreciated.