You definitely need to read the previous installments covering turn 1 and turn 2 for this to make any sense!
So Team Rodhri goes up 3-0. Team Morrigan has to pull out all the stops here. Fortunately, they are set up fairly well heading into turn 3 with all of their champions at full health and with Peet on death’s door. The board looks like this at the end of turn 2:
So Team Morrigan gets to shift the hexes again. Rolling 4 dice, they get - a big dice spike. For dice show six results. Six hexes. Yowza. Time to slide everything around. The entire center cluster moves back again. On the West flank, a hex travels toward Blackjaw. On the East flank, the hex closest to Morrigan swings down away form Luella.
Team Morrigan goes first. It’s do or die time. The Cold Bones recruit and move, sliding over to block Rodhri once again. Morrigan claims and uses Forward Minions to help them along. The Hexlings recruit and give themselves an Armor Boon. Rattlebone moves and claims. She rolls a blank on Roll the Bones, so the Hexlings gain an accuracy boon. The Reavers move to surround Peet. They attempt to intimidate the Stabbers and succeed this time.
Blackjaw unleashes his ultimate. He gets a 6/5 against each stabber, and the fist one has a dodge blight.The dice are very unkind, however, and he only KOs one Stabber. This is enough to trigger wildfire, at least, so Blackjaw claims and moves away in order to limit Peet’s retaliation. Team Morrigan maxes out the Battleladder. It looks like this:
Team Rodhri goes. They are in an interesting spot because they do not need to win this turn. How aggressive do they want to be? Let’s see how some things go.
First, the easy stuff. Peet Leaps onto Blackjaw’s banner and Backstabs a Reaver. The Shield Maidens Recruit and Empower themselves. They are Protective of Luella.
Now we find out what this turn will be about. Luella uses her ultimate. She only advances 1 hex and makes two crucial 3 dice damage rolls against the Cold Bones. She misses both. Damn. Those three dice rolls are not reliable at all. Still, Luella has a speed boon to hand out and some hope of getting to the banner. She Supercharges Rodhri again. That speed boon on Rodhri will potentially be the difference between him placing a banner or not in this phase.
Next, it’s time for a small follower to do some sneaky stabbing. The stabber closest to black jaw scampers between the big orc’s legs and over to the easternmost Cold Bone. His buddy moves up to Blackjaw. If the stabber can KO this Cold Bone, Rodhri can claim. With just one stabber it’s a 7/4. The stabber hits, but has only a 45% chance of getting this KO. It does not get there. The household guard move and march forward. Rodhri does… literally nothing.
At the end of plot phase 3, the board looks like this:
Clash phase time. This looks good for Team Morrigan because they are up nine steps and have a 2-0 banner advantage. Peet is still almost KOd, but there is no point in doing that now since the Battle Ladder is nearly maxed out. So, instead we’ll do some setup. The Hexlings finally unload all of their boons onto Morrigan who now seems extremely stacked. She’s now got accuracy, armor, and damage boons. She's... making a snowball. The Hexlings' next trick is to debuff Luella’s armor. A lone Hexling only rolls two dice, but Luella is on Dodge 1 thanks to the Brain Freeze. The Hexling hits, and Luella sheds both her dodge blight and her armor boon.
Speaking of Luella, it’s time for her to make hay while the sun shines. She uses Arc Lightning to target the Cold Bone that sits between Rodhri and Rattlebone’s banner. She hits and gets the KO. Two steps and a dodge blight for Luella. She also gets two free 3 die damage rolls against the adjacent Cold Bones. No joy. She’ll target the second Cold Bones that sits between her and Rodhri. She gets it. Two more steps.
Time for the Cold Bones to reinforce their line. They close ranks, blocking off Rodhri again, and give themselves a damage boon.
The board looks like this:
From here, Rodhri could go get that banner, but there’s no rush. He’s not in immediate danger. Better to let his minions try to clear a way for him first because he would then retain the option to potentially steal the turn with an ultimate. That’s in the future, however. Right now, it’s time to get steps. The Shield Maidens might get lucky again? They take a swing at Morrigan. They hit a spike again and show eight on their damage roll! Morrigan is at armor 5, though, so she only takes three wounds.
It’s Reaver time. The three stack next to Peet, lying in wait all this time, issues a war cry to boost its accuracy. It then rolls a 6/6 into Peet. And misses.
The Household Guard move up and strike at the Cold Bones which shuffled in between Rodhri and the flag. The get a step and dodge blight for their trouble.
Rattlebone must now get between Rodhri and that banner or else the dwarf can crush the banner and plant one of his own. Then again, who cares? Morrigan’s banner is safe, so team Rodhri would only net +1 steps in the End Phase. Team Morrigan is is still up by four steps. Does team Rodhri have a way to score four more steps this turn? Their best hope would be for Peet to somehow do 8 damage to Blackjaw, who is outside of Pounce range. Screw it, Rodhri can have the banner. One or two more steps ought to sew things up.
Morrigan therefore does not need to risk missing a Snowball. Sorry, folks, but the less ambitious move here is better. Morrigan Iceblades the Shield Maidens. It’s a 7/7. It kills one. Morrigan Icebolts another. It does not get the KO. Oh well. One step was all she needed. Now she’s up 5. If Peet had used backstab and his ultimate to take out two reavers, Rodhri had gained the net step form his banner fall, and the Shield Maidens had gotten a KO, team Rodhri might have scraped tougher 4 steps. 5? Not really likely.
Peet annoys Blackjaw and Backstabs him. He hits and shows a five on the damage roll, inflicting 4 wounds. Nice setup for the decisive round 4 headed our way.
Rodhri activates. He saves his ultimate for the final turn. Instead of ulting, he crushes the banner, staying on an objective hex, and Sword Slashes Rattlebone. Oh. Oh my. The damage roll shows a 9 on 6 dice. There was only a 2% chance of this. Rodhri one-shots Rattlebone! This still won’t win him the turn, though. Morrigan’s banner will score and Team Rodhri is still down 1 step on the ladder. Wow. That's Godtear.
Rattlebone rallies and throws a deadly curse Rodhri’s way. It does no damage, but does pin a damage blight on Rodhri and remove his armor boon.
The stabbers activate. They recruit and sneak to surround Blackjaw.
Blackjaw gets the final activation. It’s a bit tricky. Should he kill Peet now? He does not need the KO to win the turn, so normally this would be easy, but there is value in denying Peet an action in the plot phase. Peet still has that ultimate, and BJ is on only 4 health. Blackjaw decides to KO Peet in the hopes of surviving the next turn. It’s a tough risk to take because the four steps will be essentially wasted, but the hope is that by knocking Peet back, BJ can plant a safe flag and survive.
First, let’s kick a stabber! Miss. Ok, now the fireball onto Peet. Need a 5 on 5 dice here. Only a 41% chance. Miss again. Blackjaw, you had such a great plot phase! Why do this now?
At the end of turn 3, things look like this.
Team Morrigan wins turn 3 and we are now headed for a decisive turn 4.
Awesome play by play, can't wait for the conclusion!