Warhammer Quest: Cursed City

The second dose of Pfizer has had me feeling tired and sore for the last couple of days, but I still managed to do a full set of wooden tokens for Cursed City. The craft glue dries fairly quickly, but I didn't want to take any chances last night, so I might finally play today.

It's disappointing to hear that the game is too easy, but Silver Tower was also fairly easy and yet still good for some entertainment. Never got around to playing Hammerhal, but used the Hammerhal monsters in later Silver Tower plays, and they fit in overall. Some of the additional monster cards from that separate card pack were pretty tough, though. Blackstone Fortress was definitely harder. The hex maps often made for some wide-open fields of fire, and more than half the opponents in BSF had ranged attacks. The simulated AI in BSF was more nuanced, allowing for different situations like no enemies in sight or an adjacent enemy or firing from cover. But things occasionally got challenging in either game because grievous wounds were difficult to heal during a mission, potentially leading to a downward spiral of fewer actions and taking even more damage.

It appears that Cursed City could be the easiest of all. Except for one of the final bosses, none of the enemies seem to have ranged attacks, while nearly all the heroes do have ranged attacks. Grievous wounds are more easily healed than in either Silver Tower or Blackstone Fortress. The simulated AI has been dumbed back down to Silver Tower levels of simplicity. The one thing that I don't have a feel for yet is the leveling up of both characters and encounters. Depending on how both elements scale, Cursed City might get more challenging at higher levels of play. Or less challenging.

I really do like the appearance of Cursed City. The map tiles are lovely, and the overall art does a nice job of establishing the style of the setting: an eastern European city falling to death and decay, old glory covered in dust and dried blood. The Ulfengard have that grinning skull thing going on, while the Wolf seems like the kind of guy who is pounding down bottles of vodka in his spare time. Besides the obviously cool heroes like the vampire hunter and the fallen prince, there is a woman warrior in the mold of Brienne of Tarth, and a Dwarf who looks like a steampunk fire hydrant. If the game is too easy, I will go to the trouble of adapting it, mixing in a few new enemies with ranged attacks, like maybe some skeletal archers and necromancers. I feel like this game should have some ghosts or spectres, too, but I can see how that would harder to express in terms of miniatures.

Shellhead wrote: I really do like the appearance of Cursed City. The map tiles are lovely, and the overall art does a nice job of establishing the style of the setting: an eastern European city falling to death and decay, old glory covered in dust and dried blood. The Ulfengard have that grinning skull thing going on, while the Wolf seems like the kind of guy who is pounding down bottles of vodka in his spare time. Besides the obviously cool heroes like the vampire hunter and the fallen prince, there is a woman warrior in the mold of Brienne of Tarth, and a Dwarf who looks like a steampunk fire hydrant.

"Steampunk fire hydrant" oh my god lol.

Totally agree with you on the style and aesthetic execution of this game. In retrospect I also did appreciate some of the weird sci-fi stuff they had going on in Blackstone, but since I am at least slightly familiar with AoS lore this one hits harder for me. I really wish I could find that goddamn novel that they of course did not print enough of, because the world-building/lore on the website and rulebook is well-written.

I gotta let this go and I’ll even throw in the skeletons, bars and zombies...I’m stressed out about painting them so I’ll just stick to what I got already. $185 shipped. It’s punched, most of the models are assembled for your convenience. Surprise envelope is unopened.

I see Barnes is stepping to me. $184 shipped, Continental USA.

Mine features an UNOPENED a surprise envelope.

At the purchaser's request, I can apply special Board Gamer's Duct Tape to the envelope. It's Dice Tower Approved.

My copy offers maximum torque in its class.

Barnes drives a hard bargain, but I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Just don't tell my boss, okay? I'm going to throw in a special Board Gamer's Token Bowl. This highly detailed bowl is injection molded for maximum token carrying capacity. You will wonder how you ever got along without it!

I’ll throw in a stack of Gaming by Michael index cards that you can use to take notes on the rules. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to own a game once owned by a gaming celebrity.

www.warhammer-community.com/2021/12/20/cursed-city-resurrected/

It's back and with expansions. Maybe with the expanded product line this game can match the promise of its minis!

I've actually been thinking about Cursed City again lately. I have only played up through the first decapitation mission so far, but it looks like I will be stuck with solitaire gaming for at least a few more months. Actually, I will probably play some Magic Realm first, because I will have a few extra days off in the next two weeks and Magic Realm is so demanding.

I'm considering this, but I ignored buying it originally because I was bummed that it wasn't compatible with Silver Tower or Hammerhal. Are the mechanics really improved over those games to at least make it worth losing the compatibility?

Offhand, I think the only mechanic that is clearly better in Cursed City is the initiative cards. I don't think that Cursed City is completely incompatible with Silver Tower/Hammerhal, as the existing differences in minor enough that a few house rules could convert one to the other. Blackstone Fortress is the best of the whole product line, because it has the initiative cards plus a surprising range of variety within its limited set of opponents. Plus it has better AI for those opponents, with different results for a few different tactical situations. Some of the Blackstone Fortress opponents have decent ranged attacks while others are just brutal if they can get to HTH range.

I thought Blackstone Fortress and Cursed City use an entirely different dice system for combat?