The hobgoblin battle in this session was another serious combat, although I believe it was in fact 2 encounters combined into one. Notwithstanding that fact, we came through it ok largely because we were able to polish of the smaller group before the larger really engaged. Then we bottled up the larger group in a narrow corridor and took them out piecemeal.
Bottlenecking has worked well for us so far this campaign. It’s a very 3e tactic, and it’s interesting to note that despite its effectiveness, we always break out of the defensive bottleneck as soon as we can – even when it would be wiser not to. I think there’s just something about all the push and pull powers in 4e that subconsciously gets you more willing to move around, even if it’s not necessary.
The hobgoblin warchief gave us another “gotcha” moment, and I’m coming to love them more and more. Sooner or later we’ll lose a PC to one of them and I’m sure I’ll hate them then, but for now they are adding spice to combat, and I love them for it.
This particular “gotcha” was the warchief’s ability to shift his allies around. After disposing of the smaller group of hobgoblins, the party sheltered behind Dek in a 10’ wide corridor, expecting Dek’s Combat Superiority to stop the hobgoblins getting to the more vulnerable party members. The next thing we knew, 3 soldiers had shifted past Dek and each PC other than Shadow had their own personal soldier to fight. It shook the combat out of the drudgery it was threatening to become, and led to some very inspired power use.
The warchief also did a remarkably effective job of cutting up Dek. As I’ve previously mentioned, Dek has generally been almost untouchable in the campaign, but the warchief had relatively little trouble bloodying the dwarf and might (if Shadow hadn’t gotten involved) have been able to get him to unconsciousness. It was a little weird, but I felt happy for the DM that he’d finally been able to test Dek’s mettle. There had been an almost-invulnerable dwarven fighter* in the 3.5e campaign I DMed and I knew how annoying it was to be unable to harm a PC.
You will also have noticed by now that we tend to end our sessions on cliffhangers; at the start of combats rather than at the end of them. Partly that’s because we play online and can save our initiatives and positions for later reloading, but partly it’s because it’s more exciting to do it that way. Ending a session after a combat means there’s nothing imminent to look forward to the next session. Ending a session with a door slamming closed on Shadow and a huge statue swiping at Dek gives you something to think about in the time between sessions. Usually something along the lines of “just how much trouble are we in now?”
* Played by the person playing Robert in this campaign
Re: [4e] Campaign Journal - Stones & Shadow, Trees & Light
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