When Rangers of Shadow Deep came out in 2018, we, that is David, Dan and myself, were already deep into Frostgrave. Hence a solo/co-op fantasy game by the same author and with nearly identical rules, peaked our interest. To no surprise, we went all in on Rangers of Shadow Deep. We built bespoke terrain and painted our warbands. I fondly remember my old-school (metal) gnome ranger and his companions! We played the 2 campaigns in the main rule book, plus some expansions that came out later as separate PDFs. Even though it’s probably one of our most played games of all time, besides Frostgrave, we never featured it on this blog.
That’s going to change now.
As mentioned above, we used to play Rangers of Shadow Deep mainly in co-op mode and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I did try once to start playing it solo by myself and for one reason or another I didn’t enjoy it that much.
Now, in 2025, I’ll give it a go again. This year, I neglected my hobby time way too much. After a conversation with Dan on our weekly hobby hangout on Discord, about just starting some hobby related activity in the evening (even for 1 hour) to get going again, I decided to paint some miniatures and craft terrain again. But, in order to do that, I needed a purpose for new terrain and minis. A motivation if you will. And since I’ve got less free time for 2+ player games, I decided to try my hand at solo wargaming (again). I hope, this way, I can hype myself for PvP games again.
So, where to start, but at the beginning: Mission 1 in the intro campaign included in the main rulebook of Rangers of Shadow Deep.
Introduction to the narrative.
Mission 1: The Missing
Since the destruction of Lorenthia and the appearance of the Shadow Deep, the world has descended into chaos. The kingdom is overwhelmed with reports of strange creatures and robed men along its new border. When veteran ranger Aventine went missing while investigating an attack on a nearby village, Egbert III and his companions set out on the difficult eight-hour hike to find him.
A sense of unease fell over them as they approached the silent village. The only movement was the swaying trees, and the only scent was death. Bodies littered the ground. Despite the grim scene, they pressed on, determined to find answers, and Aventine. As they reached the village center, a terrible moaning echoed from all directions.
The Ranger and his companions
Egberd III, the Ranger: Young heir to the Throne of Fairhaven.
Kor, Savage: Outcast from the tribe of Ash Al Zet. Is really into Bodybuilding.
Nellwyn, Conjurer: Halfelf Apprentice at Elderroot College of Arcane Arts.
Globi, Knight: Hill Dwarf at the service of his Highness Sir Egberd III, rightful heir to the Throne of Fairhaven.
Stanley, Recruit: His father sent him here, to finally become a real man.
Delorian, Archer: Lone Elven hunter from the Great Forest of Nar on a quest for his spiritual ancestors.
Round 1
During the 1st round everyone moved to strategic positions. Especially the Conjuror and the Archer.
Zombies and giant rats circle in on our heroes.
Round 2
The party is under attack! Egberd III used his Heroic ability “Halt Undead” to slow down 3 approaching zombies. Delorian the Archer and Nellwyn the Conjuror were less successful in their ranged attacks though
Round 3
Early on, in the 3rd round, Kor the Savage, while entering an abandoned farm house was attacked by a giant rat, reducing him to 4 Health. Egberd III healed him to 9 Health. The next giant took Kor by surprise and rolled a 20! Kor, the Savage went down with -1 Health!
1st Blood!
Next, during that same round, it was Delorian’s turn to bite the dust. He couldn’t defend himself against an approaching zombie. 2nd Blood!
Globi the knight took some substantial damage as well. Too many zombies were closing in on them.
On top of that, 4 more zombies appeared during the event phase!
All in all, the Dice Gods were not in favor of Egbert III and his companions during round 3…
Round 4
In round 3 Egberd III cast “Burning Light” at 3 zombies killing 1 and wounding another.
Nellwyn, on the other hand, met a wounded survivor, which she escorted to safety.
Round 5
Stanley tries breaking the tavern door with no success. Imagine, trying to break open a heavy wooden door as a noob, all the while being attacked by a brain eating zombie!
But, Stanley, who wanted to prove himself, gathered all his might, and smashed the zombie to pieces!
Globi saw the mess and (slowly) rushed to the tavern door to finally break it open with his +4 Strength.
Then, during the event phase Stanley was caught by a sudden “Terror” and had to skip his next activation phase.
Round 6
Globi discovered a mutilated body with strange bite marks on it. He’s pretty sure he knows what caused these bites…
Nellwyn found a similar victim in the pigpen.
Meanwhile, Egberd III was bitten by a zombie and got infected by “Disease”: penalty for the next game.
Round 7
Nellwyn quickly became the new target of a new wave of zombies. She tried to lure the undead walkers to her position in order to cast “Magic Bolt” on them. She failed again…
Egberd III found something useful: a potion of health.
Stanley found the last clue, but having been struck by terror before, he knew something was terribly wrong here. When he finally shook off his fear, a zombie (from that last clue marker) suddenly sprang at him and wounded him! Suddenly the randomly generated events started to make perfect sense!
Final round
Nellwyn took a final chance at casting “Magic Bolt” and was successful this time! She badly damaged an approaching zombie.
Globi killed another zombie and everyone fled off the table.
As a final event, the tavern collapsed. Fortunately I moved Globi and Stanley to safety first. Otherwise they would have suffered further damage.
Outcome
I got 85XP, which isn’t enough for a level-up. I rolled a 2 for Kor on the injury and death table: 2, meaning death! Fortunately, my Ranger has the Heroic ability “Hand of Fate”, which I haven’t used during the game and which lets you re-roll 1 die. I rolled a 3! He barely survived with a permanent injury: “Never quite as strong”.
Probably you can’t use this Heroic ability in between games, but I decided, I can use it “once per game”. That’s the thing about solo gaming and house rules.
In the end, I found all the 6 clues, but at what price. Kor, the Savage, will never be the strong body builder I wanted him to be. Plus, Egberd III, Kor and the Elven archer Delorian, will head into the next mission with a disease and hence lower stats.
My personal take on solo gaming.
This will need another article, another day.
My thoughts on Rangers of Shadow Deep
Even though, those 8 rounds took me long time to play, I enjoyed it way more than at my last solo attempt at the game.
Also, the game mechanics with clue tables and an event deck drive a narrative play that is well thought out. For example, Stanley, the recruit, was desperately trying to knock down that tavern door. After 2 attempts, Globi, the knight, came to his aid, and knocked down the door with brute force. He managed to get to the clue, while mowing down a wave of zombies. At the same time Stanley, the recruit, managed to secure the next clue, but was suddenly struck by terror, only to skip a round and to be attacked by a zombie on the clue roll table. On top of that, the tavern building collapsed at the end of the final round! What an ending to a game.
The rules, being so close to Frostgrave, were comfortable and familiar enough to me to feel right at home.
Let’s see where this first scenario of Rangers of Shadow Deep will take me. I’m probably delving into the next scenario: The Infected Trees. I’ll be crafting a dedicated gaming board for the game, as well as some gnarly wire trees (on my to-do list for quite a while now).
The Shadow Deep creeps in!
To be continued.
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