WARNING: This blog post contains shameless spoilers for Pandemic Legacy Season 2. Reading this blog post if you have not yet played the game will impair your enjoyment should you decide to play it in the future.
Previously, on Pandemic Legacy…
- We tried (and failed) to unlock the plan to enter Utopia
- We added all of the existing cities into the grid
- We lost both attempts at November
December (First Attempt)
It wasn’t long since our previous session, and we were all eager to get this ordeal over with, and skipped the usual bit where we review the report from the previous session. This meant that we completely forgot about the “turning point” card which would have granted us an extra 10 supply cubes per game. Ah well.
We couldn’t complete the plan ourselves, and needed a bit of help
The legacy deck instructed us to open the final package, number 8. Utopia is now a location in the grid, but we miss out on a rationed event card because we did not manage to get there without the help of a Deus ex Machina.
Utopia is now in the grid
We also have our new objective for the month – to pick up a sample from the lab in Lake Baikal, and transport it to the lab in Johannesburg, where we will need to have built a supply centre in order to process. Sounds easy, we thought.
Our new objective. It’s just one teeny tiny sample.
The initial infections for this game are awful, not helped by some oversights when placing initial supplies. We are up to 3 plague cubes already.
Cubey.
More cube
We crack out our usual characters:
- Karen – Ophelia (Instructor)
- Pete – Peron Peron (Immunologist)
- Susan – Lucius (Administrator)
- Gammidgy – Maggot (Farmer)
First Turn
So we know that Susan is going to be the key player in getting the supply centre set up in Johannesburg. Someone will need to travel to Lake Baikal to pick up the McGuffin, but then Susan will be able to use her ability to teleport them to her, and we’re done. Bosh. It’s Karen’s turn to go first. Gammidgy plays an out-of-turn event card to manifest some new supplies, which Karen places in London and Antananananarivo to mitigate the disasters there. Oh look, a plague cube in Sao Paulo.
The rationed event that Gammidgy used to get us some extra supplies
Pete is able to reach Utopia on his turn, but does not have the actions to do anything, so will have to wait for a bit.
Susan also travels to Utopia and establishes a supply line to Lake Baikal so that Pete can get there on his next turn.
A new supply line to link Lake Baikal in to the rest of the world
We discover that this mission is going to be harder than originally thought, as the carrier of the McGuffin will have to make the journey back the slow way, will have to spend a bunch of city cards along the way, and will also inevitably die as a result. Cheery. More plague cubes come out in Sao Paulo and Lagos. This game is going to be over very soon, at this rate.
The rules have changed, and oh shitty shit
Shitty shitty shit shit shit
Gammidgy moves to London, where he can use the satellite tower to send a blue city card to Susan. While this whole game is feeling a bit hopeless already, we need to at least make some effort to build that supply centre. He’s also able to make supplies and resupply Lagos.
Second Turn
Karen starts her turn in Antananananananarivo with some plague cubes, so needs to roll for exposure. Her luck is good. She uses her turn to build a supply route that will reduce the McGuffin carrier’s journey by one step. We can’t improve it any further than that. We have our first epidemic of the game, which results in a plague cube in Ho Chi Minh City.
A new supply line, for what it’s worth
Pete then travels to Lake Baikal and optimistically self-infects. He is able to make it back to Shanghai before a plague cube plops into Jacksonville. The game is over, and Peron Peron is also over.
This is how it ends for Peron Peron. Not with a bang, but with an experimental vaccine that dissolved him from the inside out
End of Game
A bunch of cities lose population. We’re not feeling optimistic about our chances at a second attempt. We don’t even bother spending all of our production units, though we do nominate a poor victim whose job it will be to carry the McGuffin on the next attempt, and give them an ability that might potentially help.
Meet Redshirt. Redshirt is already fucked.
December (Second Attempt)
We get initial plague cubes in Dar es Salaam and Delhi. We play the same characters as before, though the noble but pointless sacrifice of Peron Peron does mean that Pete is now playing as Redshirt.
First Turn
It’s Gammidgy’s turn to start this time. He travels to London, sends a couple of blue cards to Susan, then resupplies Dar es Salaam from the nearby haven of Ripley’s Hole.
Karen heads to Finch Reef and passes a black city card to Pete, who will need a couple of them for his journey from Lake Baikal to Johannesburg.
Pete is able to make it to Lake Baikal on this turn, but again will have to wait for the next turn to do anything else. We get another plague cube in Antananarivo – that city has been problematic for us today.
Susan resupplies Lagos and then uses her ability to move Gammidgy to Pete’s location so that he’s in a good position to offer support during the long slow trudge.
Second Turn
Gammidgy moves to Shanghai and resupplies there, before ending his turn in Hong Kong. An epidemic comes up, as anticipated, resulting in a plague cube in Seoul.
Karen resupplies Antanananarivo and finishes her turn in Turtloise Rock, braced to fast travel to wherever she might be needed next. Another plague cube, this time in St Petersburg. We’re doing much better than the previous game, but it’s still not great.
Pete is able to self-infect in Lake Baikal, and the journey back begins. He’s got the actions and the city cards to make it to Shanghai again, and innoculates Utopia on the way through, and makes some supplies to use up his final action.
Oh Redshirt, how briefly we knew you
Susan travels to London to resupply there. The presence of the hollow men means that she has to scratch for exposure on leaving, and she picks up a small scar. She finishes in Shanghai. We acquire new plague cubes in Delhi and Ho Chi Minh City – the next plague cube will be game over, and it’s going to take at least another two turns for our McGuffin carrier to make it home.
Another scar for Lucius
Third Turn
Gammidgy travels to Jakarta, where he can use the satellite tower to send some red city cards to Pete, who will need them for continuing his journey.
Karen does similarly, heading to Lima to send a yellow city card over.
With the red city cards from Gammidgy, Pete makes it as far as Kolkata. With his final action he builds a shelter so that he won’t have to roll for exposure at the start of the next turn. We get an epidemic, but no resultant plague cubes.
On Susan’s turn, we realise we’ve miscalculated. She’s too far from Johannesburg to be able to get there and build a supply centre on this turn, which throws away any chance of winning the game on Pete’s next turn. But it’s moot anyway, because we get a plague cube in Ho Chi Minh City and it’s all over.
End of Game
We throw the game away in disgust. We’ve performed terribly, as badly as is possible. Our disappointment is immeasurable, and our day is ruined.
Terribly
Terribly
Shitty shitty shit shit shit