In lieu of launching into the full campaign for a second time I decided to try out this challenge. It’s the first of I hope many monthly fan-made scenarios set in the Earthborne Rangers. You can find the BGG post here.

The basic premise of the challenge is that a big storm passes through the valley and you have to go check the Spiderline Stanchions on all the Mountain Pass terrain locations.

I played a hasty Ranger who opted for the Hard challenge in which I set out while the storm is still raging. The Weather was a combination of Howling Winds and Electric Fog, increasing the difficulty of play. Brave or stupid? Probably the latter. Calypsa was probably shaking her head as I bundled off into the storm.

Of note, I also played a fresh faced Ranger with a newly created deck. That means Personality cards instead of stronger Reward cards. I wanted to try out a new deck concept – Wandering Monk – that tried to be a tri-control deck with scouting abilities for the Ranger, Path, and Challenge deck. It is a 3 FOC – 1 FIT deck that featured the Meditation Pillow.

1 FIT heading into a storm with a task that emphasizes travel and traversing? Definitely stupid… but my hope was that my ability to scout all the decks will allow me to be more judicious, and therefore successful, in the tests I took.

I charted a route that will allow me to test all the stanchions in the minimal amount of travel. It did send me through the swamp, which I was not looking forward to, but it was shorter overall than taking the long way through Meadow.

Day 1: Lone Tree Station to Mt. Nim

Full of optimism, I travel to Atrox Mountain quickly but immediately get spotted by multiple Irixes and Umbra. I’m able to clear one with Sky Whip, but am harried and fatigued by the others as I stumble up to the Stanchion and barely make it to Mt. Nim before my deck runs out. I get my Meditation Pillow in play but am so completely overwhelmed by Fatigue and the urgency to find the Stanchion that I don’t even get to use it.

Day 2: Mt. Nim to Furrow

Determined to make good progress, I fail to draw my essential gear (Novice Lens and Meditation Pillow), get lost in the Cyclone, slip in Scree, and flee from Atroxes. I manage just a single travel and land in Furrow. This is going to be harder than I thought!

Day 3: Furrow to Sunken Outpost

I make quick work of the first travel today and land at the Mound of the Navigator and deal with my first non-Mountain terrain set since Lone Tree Station. Old Growth is no joke though. My Ranger doesn’t have much hope among the Bears, Bees, and rotting logs until Ben Amon flies out of Path deck. I don’t bother to ask him what he’s doing out in the Swift in the Howling Winds and charter a trip to the Sunken Outpost. Bye bye Bears! I also get to skip over a Swamp location to boot. Ben to the rescue!

Day 4: Sunken Outpost to Watcher’s Rock

Despite reshuffling the Valley set, Ben Amon decided to stick around in the Swamp. I find him by playing Seen Through Cycles on a Hydraworm! What luck. Ben took me all the way to Bowl of the Sun and out of the nasty Swamp. I make one more Travel down to Watcher’s Rock but get bogged down in Scree, Meadowlarks, and a gaping Arcology Sinkhole and have to call it a day.

Day 5: Watcher’s Rock to Plummet

What a day! I find the first Stanchion in Watcher’s Rock and travel to Alluvial Ruins. I land with good luck and have a very friendly Valley set draw with Ren Kobo, Oura Vos, and Sil Belai in play. With that buffer against predators, I work my way to find the Stanchion and travel to Concordant Ziggurats. Ren hangs around (he’s Persistent) and helps me place a bunch of progress through the Sun Challenge on the Ziggurats location. By scouting the Challenge deck I can play the challenge icons off each other to clear Grassland set cards effectively and travel to Plummet with no cards left in my Ranger deck. Right under the bar!

Day 6: Plummet to Lone Tree Station

If Day 5 was dramatic, Day 6 was easily its equal. The first leg of my journey (Plummet to Ancestor’s Grove) was relatively non-descript. I had a wonderful set-up turn before traveling from Plummet to Ancestor’s Grove to get all my gear in play, use Meditation Pillow to restock my Ranger Deck, and even get a little cocky.

But pride cometh before the fall or, in this case, Irixes. As I would tell my 2-year old son, one two Irixes and a big Umbra. I handled Umbra with Seen Through Cycles and carefully manage Challenge symbols and Agitated Meadowlarks to keep the Irixes exhausted and Along the Way. Ben Amon came along and tanked a hit for me.

It all came down to taking a blind test to get my Ranger token to the Spiderline Stanchion. I had enough progress on Ancestor’s Grove to travel, I just had to get to the Stanchion. If I drew a Crest, Ben would clear by harm and the day would end. If I drew a Mountain or a Sun, I would succeed and be able to travel. With a Sun, I would take 5 fatigue from one two Irixes and the Weather, but I had 5 cards left in my Ranger deck.

I drew a Sun, fatigued the rest of my Ranger deck, and zipped away from those Irixes back to Lone Tree Station to file my report that, yes, the Spiderline Stanchions were all still functioning and that, no, I would prefer never to see an Irix, Shale Scree, or Atrox ever again.

Reflections on the Challenge

It was fun! Major props to the creator of it for the creativity and effort. By the end, I was absolutely sick of the Mountain Pass terrain set, even if I did learn a lot about how to handle it. This Challenge also really highlights the importance of being about to Scout the Path deck. Without the ability to accelerate through it to find the Spiderline Stanchions, this challenge would be totally aggravating.

Reflections on my deck

As I mentioned, I was trying a new deck concept centered on scouting all three decks – Ranger, Path, and Challenge. I really liked it and was surprised at how Meditation Pillow and Rod of the Clouds changed my relationship to the Ranger deck, Discard, and Fatigue stack.

In my previous campaign I rarely performed the Remember test because it effectively shortens the day. With Meditation Pillow, however, that is much less of a concern because I can replenish the Ranger deck from the Fatigue stack. Also, with the Exhaust ability of Rod of the Clouds, I scouted my Ranger deck every turn so I could nearly guarantee that my next draw would help.

Put that with the ability to Scout one or two Challenge cards a turn, I really felt in control of my tests. I could maximize my energy and choose tests that would cause minimal harm through the Challenge icons. If I saw a Crest coming, I could exhaust the predator that would deal me an injury. Scouting the Challenge deck continues to impress me as the most powerful ability in the game.

My only way to scout the Path deck was Eagle Eye and this was the biggest struggle simply because it depended on luck of the draw. There aren’t many other options for scouting the Path deck since I didn’t want to include Riri as my Outside Interest. Although I might change that in the future.

It was a lot of fun! On to the next challenge!