From: (Damien Sullivan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Buffy board game questions & mini-review

>> Ever seen a game where the Mark of the Annointed was used
>> effectively? I haven't yet. It just seems weak.

Actually it came up in my second game with my roommate, who was again Good to
my Evil.

This time I kept my vamps mostly indoors, and never got caught outdoors.  Of
course the sun only rose once, due to my actually using the Eclipse cards.
(And I went through my Evil deck at least twice.)  Buffy got a good weapon and
the Magik Sword *again*, so I had to deal with the Buffy+3 again.  Bleah!
Drusilla got the Glove, and used it to speed up Willow's death, before getting
whacked by Xander+Riley and then the Buffy+3.  No one bothered with the Glove
again.  I burned through all my original minions and then some, fortunately
getting lucky in drawing or holding cards.  But eventually I was down to the
Master, Veruca (whom I sneered at) and... Angelus!  Right after Harmony died,
too.  Hee hee.

Angelus whacked Xander (who'd found the Mark easily *again*) and picked it up
himself.  I think he healed at least 9 points of Master-damage, cumulatively.
Including a wise choice of whacking a wounded Oz shortly before the full moon
instead of trying for a chance of siring Buffy, because the full moon came
right after that, leaving Buffy All Awone while making Veruca useful for
something other than researching Evil in the high school.  In fact she rolled
a 9, bounded across the board (everyone else was in or around Giles's
apartment -- the Master and Angelus were both Invited) and chewed on Buffy a
couple of times, which ended that.  The Master ended up pretty healthy, so the
Mark probably didn't throw the game, but it sure made me happier and more
confident.

I suspect a lot of times it's Oz who does the hard work for Good, not Buffy;
funny that Veruca got the kill this time.

Good spent most of the game taking out minions; she realized on her own that
this wasn't so good, as I kept bringing out new ones.  Evil's strategy was of
taking out allies and keeping the Master safe, which I guess worked this time,
despite all my crappy die rolls.  (Lots of times I rolled 4 or 5 dice --
surprise attack -- and did no damage.  And Xander had garlic, and Oz is a
werewolf, so no siring.  Then one time I rolled two fangs on Buffy without
having played a card.)  So at least when I play the Judge or Mayor I'll have
the experience of killing everyone, even though I didn't have to.  Though I
suspect it'd be easier to go for Buffy first, then everyone else is a wimp.

My big fear was the Soul Restoration; Buffy had Jenny, so probably had a
decent chance of casting it.  (Giles was lost when Willow died.)  But she
never drew it.

>BTW, what should happen if Angelus is anointed, then has his soul
>restored?  Would his damage done still go to the Master?  This is not
>likely to come up, since I have never seen him anointed, and I have
>only seen his soul restored in one game.  But I have seen Vamp Willow

Gyah, I didn't think of that, and I wasn't that far from such a situation.

-xx- Damien X-)