Santa versus the Hooligans

 Introduction

Many times over the life of this blog, I have run a Christmas-themed game of Hordes of the Things.  All of these can be found using this link: https://colgar6.blogspot.com/search/label/Santa .

The annual holiday game didn't happen last year (global pandemic, don't ya know!), but we're back in 2021 with a new battle.  This time, Santa's home is under threat from tribes of goblins and their associated wolves & trolls.  He has allied with a barbarian tribe (probably through promises of extreme feasting and loot, I imagine!) to defend against this threat.

The Forces

Each of the 4 bands was an independent 24AP army for Hordes of the Things.  The forces of destruction (two goblin armies) were controlled by my friend Steve, whilst the bringers of light and happiness were led by myself and my son.  I took the barbarians, whilst my son took Santa.  He (my son, not Santa!) had just received a vaccine booster shot the day before and hadn't slept well overnight.  This might go part way towards explaining some of the outcomes in the game!

Santa's Army

Santa's force is a mixture of elves, toy soldiers, fierce ice bears and hordes of snowmen.  It is described in more detail here: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2013/12/hott-santas-army.html .

The Barbarians

My barbarians have a lot of foot warband elements (as might be expected), some archers, some hard-charging panther-mounted knights and a general mounted on a woolly rhino.

The Goblin Raiders

Facing the barbarians we had a goblin force consisting of 2 trolls, hordes of goblins and a large number of wolf riders.  Also, the woods are full of  (unridden) wolves.

[Side note: this force looks like more than 24AP to me.  Oh, well - mistakes may have been made, but if so then it didn't affect the end result, as you will see].

The Goblin Hooligans

The goblin force facing Santa also had two trolls.  It was lead by some greater goblin warbands and had huge numbers of lesser goblins.  Even when deployed, these vandals pushed over the signpost which led to the North Pole, thus earning the title "the hooligans".

The Battle

Most of Santa's army ran forwards as fast as they could.  The sleigh flew past the goblin lines and circled overhead, impervious to all.  On the other flank, the barbarians advanced cautiously, not wanting to fight in the wolf-infested forest.

In return, the goblin warbands and trolls charged off their hill.  They caught the elves before they could shoot and annihilated them.  On the far flank, the ice bears tore through hordes of lesser goblins - but there were always more of the nasty little creatures joining the back ranks.

Santa's snowmen had a minor moment of success when they flanked, outnumbered and swarmed a troll, but this didn't make up for the losses they were taking.

Finally, Santa in his sleigh descended and attacked some of the goblin warband.  Whilst he was very successful against a small part of the goblin host, their general and remaining troll made a run for Santa's cottage!  Desperately, the barbarians attempted to (a) prevent the other goblin army from interfering and (b) move some troops sideways to support Santa.  However, this level of coordination was just too much for their hairy, unwashed brains...

Santa overran his first opponents and flew towards the troll (which had just wiped out Santa's artillery with contemptuous ease).  Nearby, the goblin general eliminated all the snowmen who had been respawned in front of the cottage.

With a shout of triumph, the goblin hooligan's big boss broke into Santa's home.  They pushed over the signpost, cut down the trees, smashed the crockery and ransacked the place (opening all the presents and leaving torn wrappings everywhere).  Oh, dear!

Meanwhile, the ice bears continued to torment the goblin hordes, but just couldn't make headway against the ever-replenishing numbers.  The barbarian knights were cut off and destroyed, though their woolly rhino just kept ploughing forwards, pushing back whatever got in its way.  Finally, Santa was left arguing with a large, smelly troll about the proper meaning of Christmas.  Game over!

Conclusion

Well, that was an abrupt ending!

• The goblins timed their run for the cottage perfectly.  Santa simply couldn't catch all of them on his own and they breezed through the second echelon stuff that was left to guard the objective.
• Santa sacrificed some of his troops early in charging forwards; the shooters might have been better employed waiting for the enemy to come to them instead.
• The ice bears were bogged down fighting with vast hordes of goblins.  Even though they were generally winning each round of combat the bears had a long way to go before they could push the little monsters off the table.
• The barbarians were mesmerised by the wood full of wolves; fearful of a flank attack if they tried to skirt around it and not confident of their chances if they attacked the forest head on.
• When the barbarians eventually tried to redeploy, it was too complicated and too late.  All they did was sacrifice their mounted troops for no real gain.

So, a well-deserved victory to the goblin hooligans.  Let's hope that isn't an omen for Christmas 2021!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers!

The Battle of Santa's Farm!

Introduction

Even if I haven't done so in any of the previous 12 months, this is the time of year when I host a large-scale battle using the Hordes of the Things rules.  What's the occasion?  Why Christmas, of course - when I retrieve my Santa-themed army and put it on the table with various allies and enemies.  Let the best man/saint/troll/goblin/snowman win!

Last year, Santa routed the opposition.  Can he repeat that success this year?  Read on...

Setup

We had 6 armies facing each other across the table in this game.

For the good side (top to bottom):

• Tilean mercenaries:  Solid spearmen, some heavy cavalry, some crossbowmen, a cannon, a birdman/flying machine and a base of duelists/assassins (sneakers).
• Santa: ice bears, elves with sten guns (and mince pies), a toy cannon and hordes of snowmen.
• Kung Fu: heroes, a buddhist priest, swordsmen and hordes of peasants.

Evil (or at least, naughty, selfish and greedy):

• Goblins: wolf riders, trolls, green hordes.
• Barbarians (centre): rhino rider, archers, warbands.
• Barbarians (right wing): heroes, panther riders, warbands

In the Beginning

As one might expect, the evil side advanced across the board.  If they could just capture Santa's house then it would be "game over", so they had every incentive to play aggressively.

In the far north, the Tilean general rode forwards, perhaps a bit recklessly not waiting for the rest of his troops.  He was swiftly surrounded and cut off by goblins and trolls.

Santa flew his sleigh right over the enemy lines and circled behind them.  He was waiting for an opportunity to pounce on any unsuspecting element.

His first chance arrived almost immediately, as the (centre) barbarians ignored him in favour of continuing their advance.  Santa's sleigh swept down on their back ranks and destroyed one element before taking off again!

To the north, the Tilean general was cut down; this shook and demoralised the remainder of the mercenary force.  Many of them immediately turned and fled, though the spearmen and crossbows held their ground.  Demoralised enemy forces: Good (0), Naughty (1).

Interestingly, the Tilean duelists were engaged with massed goblins in the forest; the sneakers couldn't really be hurt by the hordes (or vice versa) - but they couldn't/wouldn't break off either.  The goblin hordes spent much of the game tied up in this useless fashion - hunting for assassins that they just couldn't pin down!

Near the fountain in the centre, the snowmen started to tear apart the advancing barbarian warbands in front of them.  The elf shooters, having disposed of their barbarian counterparts, joined in as well.  Before long (and completely against the odds), the barbarian (centre) force was decimated and demoralised, with only a few stray elements dispiritedly holding their ground.  Demoralised enemy forces: Good (1), Naughty (1).

At the other end of the battlefield, the Kung Fu swordsmen held off the barbarian cavalry and heroes.  Mostly...

After many turns in which the combat swayed too and fro, the barbarians (right wing) stepped up a gear and chewed through much of the Kung Fu army in just a single turn, whilst only taking a few losses.  Demoralised enemy forces: Good (1), Naughty (2).

In the middle of the game, Santa struck again!  This time he landed in a swamp in order to attack a troll that was involved in a complex fight involving the goblin general and some of his ice bears.  Let's just say that it didn't go very well for either element in the middle of this fight!

The loss of the Tileans had uncovered Santa's flank and the goblin general thought he saw an opportunity.  He led his wolf riders into a charge against Santa's toy cannon, which was then also attacked in the rear by a couple of barbarian heroes from the other flank.

This didn't look good at all.  However, I am reliably informed that the cannon was loaded with Christmas trees this time - not like earlier in the game, when we figured it must have been firing marshmallows, for all the damage it was doing.  The goblin general was well-and-truly skewered and with his demise the remaining goblins decided they wanted no further part in the fight.  Demoralised enemy forces: Good (2), Naughty (2).

So, it looked as if it was coming down the the wire now.  There remained just Santa's army (somewhat damaged) and the barely-touched barbarians (right wing).  The swift barbarian chieftain made an attempt to break into Santa's house, but was chased off by Mrs. Claus (I imagine a rolling pin was involved, possibly also with the threat of ... soap.  Or mistletoe).

Not fancying his army's chances - they were slightly outnumbered and somewhat scattered & out of position - Santa decided to finish this in single combat with the enemy general, "mano e mano".  Whoever lost this fight would probably lose the game, as the remainder of their army would almost certainly be demoralised and withdraw from the battle.  Santa charged his sleigh straight at the barbarian prince...

.who sidestepped nimbly at the last moment and overturned the man-in-red into the snow.  Thus ends the tale; Christmas is no more; victory to the barbarians!

Conclusion

This was a special game, especially as I managed to persuade several club members to play their first game of Hordes of the Things because of the occasion.  I believe that it was much enjoyed by the participants and I hope that the tale will be appreciated by all my other readers too!

Highlights:

• I loved seeing the goblin hordes playing hide-and-seek with the Tilean assassins in the forest.  The sneakers had something of a combat advantage, though this was swiftly reduced by outflanking and demoralisation to something like parity with the goblins.  However, these Tileans just couldn't roll low for almost all the game.
• Santa's cannon, elves and angry snowmen saw off pretty much all comers!  At least, until faced with overwhelming odds...
• One troll from the goblin force engaged a Kung Fu hero late in the game.  Even though both were demoralised, the troll just didn't know to give up and kept chasing the hero across the board [I don't think that Hordes of the Things elements cease to be impetuous once they are demoralised?].
• The barbarian leader's brazen attack on Santa's cottage could have ended the game immediately; it was a 50:50 chance.  However, he was chased off by the stronghold's defences.

Low Points:

• The Tilean flying machine ran away without engaging - again!  I don't think I've ever seen it do anything useful in any game...
• Santa's defeat at the hands of a barbarian has to be a depressing thought - but I'm sure he'll be back!

Santa: The Battle of 6 Armies

Introduction

It's that time of the year again!  Just before Christmas, I pull my Santa army from storage and arrange a big battle of Hordes of the Things.  This time, there were 6 armies involved (3 for Good/Jollity and 3 for Evil/Humbug) together with 3 objectives.  To find out what happened, read on...

Doesn't look much like the North Pole, does it?  I blame global warming...

The 6 Armies: forces of Good

1. Elves.  These are my son's figures and he hasn't painted up enough for a "proper" Hordes of the Things army.  To compensate for their inferior numbers, we lifted the "superior" status from DBMM and gave it to all of them.  In past games these elves have proved to be extremely tough...

Santa's army.  This is more fully described ==> here <==.

Kung Fu.  Again, this army is described in detail ==> here <==.

The 6 Armies: forces of Evil

Goblins.  Hordes and more hordes, some wolves, warband general.  Also, they have a troll...

Undead.  This is a difficult army to command as extra PiPs (initiative points) are needed for both the flyers and for the magician.

Barbarians: warband, shooters, panther riders (knights) and heroes.  Much of this army is impetuous...

 The Game

Wolves and a troll surged forwards towards Mrs. Claus' house.  It took the troll a while to work out how to enter, but eventually he (she? it?) did so and claimed the objective for the evil side.  I don't think Mrs Claus will ever get that smell out of the carpets...

The elves advanced to meet this assault; their archers rained arrows upon the wolf riders and destroyed one element.  Firsat blood to the forces of good!

Here's a little extra rule that we used on the day: one of my club mates had brought a large bag of chocolates to the meeting.  I ruled that each time an enemy element was destroyed, the victor could have one.  It certainly gave some real-world consequence to the fights.

On the other flank, the barbarians surged forwards enthusiastically.  In an unexpected turn of events, their hero general was repulsed; this defeat then affected all the other combats down the line and the barbarians didn't win a single fight.

The Kung Fu front line counterattacked and, with a spectacularly bad series of dice rolls, much of the barbarian army just disintegrated.

The barbarian commander fought on alone and even managed to slay one of the Kung Fu heroes, but the odds were heavily against him and he was surrounded.  Even though his attackers sportingly gave him a chance by rolling a '1' (!), the dispirited warrior couldn't fight on any more (he rolled a '1' himself.  Again!).

The centre was an almost totally defensive fight for the undead, as they never had enough PiPs to move more than a handful of troops.  Indeed, the giant bats were never activated during the entire game.

The necromancer general stayed at the back, casting ineffectual spells at Santa's army.  In return, the ice bears charged forwards and fought with zombies and skeletons.  There were losses on both sides, but when Santa joined in as well, the tide turned in favour of the forces of good.

Then, disaster struck the undead!  Firstly, the vampire knights were destroyed in combat with a horde of snowmen.  That's nearly (but not quite) impossible.

Then, Santa saw the necromancer standing alone behind the ranks of skeletal infantry.  A twitch on the reins was all he needed to guide his flying reindeer over the intervening enemies.  The sleigh landed directly on top of the undead general, squashing him into the dirt.

With the loss of their commander, the undead army crumbled to dust (it failed the "panic" roll on the turn after losing the general).  All that was left were a few ghosts (i.e. the sneaker element), drifting about the battlefield looking for something they could haunt.

Over near the cottage, the elf bowmen advanced slowly, slaughtering everything that stood in their way (by this time, the Good players were starting to refuse the chocolates they earned for every 'kill'; it was just too much for them).

The elf spearmen moved past the house in an attempt to engage the troll, but were ambushed from the side by the goblin general and his warband.  For many turns, these embattled elves threw the evil forces back (their 'superior' status helped here!), but the goblins just kept on coming until eventually they overran the first group of elven infantry.

The greater goblins pressed their advantage and pushed the remaining elf spearmen up the hill.  For a brief moment it looked as if the goblin army might be able to inflict some real hurt on the forces of good, but by this time Santa was free from crushing the necromancer.

The sleigh took to the skies once more and came barreling down the hill, into (and through) the troll without even slowing down.  That catastrophic loss was too much to bear and all of the goblin hordes fled the battlefield in terror, leaving just their demoralised general and his bodyguard.  There seemed little point in playing on after this, so we called the game.

Conclusion

That was a rout!  Of the 3 evil sides, only the goblins put up much of a fight. Their opponents (the elves) suffered the heaviest losses of any good army - and even that was only 2 elements.  The barbarians' collapse was unexpected but spectacular; I don't know if I've ever seen so many '1's rolled in a row.  The necromancer's command-heavy army never threw higher than a '3' on a d6 for PiPs (it might have been a '4' on one turn; my memory isn't perfect here) and was consequently paralysed & ineffectual.  It basically stood there and allowed Santa to attack wherever and whenever he desired.

I don't want to take anything away from the good side's victory, though: they played competently and came away with a massive win.  Sometimes what looks like an even fight just isn't.

So, make merry and enjoy yourselves this Christmas, in the knowledge that evil has been roundly defeated once again.  Have another chocolate, if you can face it 🙂...

DreadBall: Saturday Matinee game

 andIntroduction

Yesterday, my friend Steve came round and we spent the day gaming.  There was a bit of  talking and eating as well, but mostly it was gaming.

What did we play?  Well, we started with Congo, where the McCoy and Glover white men expeditions faced off across a crocodile-infested river.  Then we had our first two games of Paleo Diet.  All I'm going to say about this for now is that there were mammoths; more on this another time...

Finally, we filled the last part of the day with an introductory game of Dreadball (using the Version 2 rules).  This was introductory in the sense that Steve hadn't really encountered the game before, whereas I have played quite a few games.  This is what happened...

DreadBall

This isn't going to be a blow-by-blow account of the match, as that would take far to long to write (and would probably be quite tedious to read as well).  Instead, I'll mention some of the highlights and low points.

Starting positions: both teams are playing a zone defence.

Steve is playing the Orks and Goblins: the Mean Green Team.  They're in the red armour, at the far end.  For those who don't know DreadBall, the team consists of 2 types of player:

• Ork guards are strong and tough; they're very good at stomping things.
• Goblin jacks are fairly average ball carriers.  Being jacks, they are also quite fast and are theoretically capable of slamming an opponent (though in reality, I wouldn't generally advise it).

I chose the Judwan team who are dressed in dark green armour; I don't yet have my own team name for them.  The Judwan are humanoid aliens with exceptionally long limbs.  They are also notable for being pacifists and refusing to injure anyone deliberately.  The team consists entirely of:

• Judwan strikers: good ball handlers, but only wear light armour and are rather fragile.

The Plays

Early in the match, one of my strikers grabbed the ball, ran up the sideline, dodged around all the goblins and threw the ball on target for a 3-point strike.

Score: +3 to Judwan

One or two rushes later, an Ork guard decided to do some marauding.  He charged down a defender and hit the poor Judwan full on.  In the slam, the Ork scored 7 successes (rolls of '6' count as a success and grant a re-roll, thus allowing the possibility of extreme results on rare occasions).  The Judwan dodged poorly and came up with just 1 success.

7:1 isn't just a loss, it's a catastrophic loss.  The poor defender took 6 hits to armour, failed to make very many saves (unsurprisingly) and was consequently smeared across the neodurium and removed as a casualty (damage of 4 or more cannot be recovered during a match).

Following this removal of the Judwan, a goblin jack ran in to score 1 point in the now-undefended strike zone.

Score: +2 to Judwan

Right, my response had better be fairly decisive.  Shortly after this, my star player ran the ball from deep inside my half up to the centre line.  I don't normally do passing plays, but this time I felt lucky.  The striker threw the ball to a waiting Judwan player, who then ran down the pitch to score in the highest-value zone: a 4 point strike and multiple fan checks!

Score: +6 to Judwan.  Note that the game ends as a landslide victory if either side manages to move the score to 7 points in their favour.  I was very close to ending the game early in this manner, but not quite there yet.

Now for something that I hadn't thought through properly.  As soon as a strike is scored, a new ball is launched automatically along the centre line.  The ball is small, hard and fast - a bit like a cannonball, really.  I expect you can see where this is going...

My star striker was standing on the centreline and therefore took a 5-dice hit from the newly-launched ball.  Fortunately he didn't have his back to it, but unfortunately his dodge still wasn't quite good enough to avoid injury; he had to leave the pitch for treatment.  D'oh!

The goblins responded quickly, using Slippery Joe (their star player) to pick up the loose ball and run in an easy 1-point strike.

Score: +5 to Judwan

OK, let's end this.  The Mean Green Team have left their deep strike zone uncovered (their guards were busy trying to hurt a solitary Judwan striker, who kept managing - just! - to dodge out of the way.

A replacement striker ran on for the gangly aliens, thus freeing up one of the existing defenders to run the length of the field.  A careful combination of action cards and coaching dice allowed him a good shot at goal; his throw was spectacularly on target: 4 points!

Score: +9 to Judwan: game over with a landslide victory in rush 10 or 11 (I forget exactly which).

Conclusion

This was a decisive win for the Judwan, but remember that their coach (me) was considerably experienced, whereas the Mean Green Team were run by a novice.  I think that the difference came in two ways:

1. Steve played quite conservatively, frequently using 2 actions to achieve (safely) what might have taken only 1 if a little risk was accepted.  For example, for a player to Dash 1 hex if they are not quite in the desired position at the end of their move is not a huge risk, but it might take a few games before a coach understands the cost/benefit ratio of such a decision.
2. On a tactical level, a novice player may not recognise the best moves for their players, either to disrupt an opponent's attack or to facilitate their own.  DreadBall rewards those who think ahead at least one or two rushes and positions their models accordingly.

So, I'm feeling a bit guilty at administering such a drubbing to a new player, though in my defence I did try to advise on tactics as well as rule interpretations.

In any case, the Orks are probably quite happy, as they did manage to send one opposing player to the morgue!

Frostgrave: Death in the Snow

Introduction

My posts have been very slow and infrequent recently; it's been really hard to muster any enthusiasm for this lark.  Still, I'm hoping that this spell will pass soon and service will be restored to something approaching what I hoped for when I first set up this blog.

As a token of my renewed efforts, here's a description of the latest game in our Frostgrave series.  I'm finding that these games always break up into many small, disconnected incidents; I don't know whether this is always the way that Frostgrave plays out or whether it's the way we're doing it with 4 players.  Anyway, this report will be more like a series of vignettes rather than a coherent description of all the action.

Death in the Snow

The game started normally enough, with warbands advancing from all 4 table edges.  This time, the ruins contained 6 impassive statues, none of which showed the slightest wear or aging.  Very strange...

Clockwise, from the top:

• The Great and Magnificent Peltar.  This is a goblin warband led by a self-proclaimed Enchanter. Peltar has a considerable lack of success when attempting to cast spells, though his seemingly endless mob of archers and warriors are rightly feared.
• Malcolm Firestorm, the Elementalist.  Malcolm has a tendency to stride forwards, flinging dangerous fireballs at anything he can see which looks even remotely hostile.  Also, he has a slightly worrying fascination with demons.  These 2 behaviours make him considerably disliked!
• Mysterio the Soothsayer.  Mysterio likes to think of himself as in touch with the inner secrets of the universe, though in reality he is no more knowledgeable than any other wizard.  He's hiding an injury in this game, having been badly hurt in his last outing.
• Baryn the Timeless:  This chronomancer has appeared indecisive and timid in previous games.  Strangely, this has often led to him being the last man standing after all other warbands have fought each other to a standstill.  His occasional habit of using his own magic to assist other groups means that he is regarded as nobody's enemy.

And .... ACTION!

First blood: one of Mysterio's men accidentally activated the statue that was right beside Peltar's goblins.  The goblins shot at the construct and damaged it considerably, but it was finished off by an arrow from one of Baryn's archers (and consequently Baryn claimed the victory points for the "kill").  This pattern was repeated several times throughout the game; the goblins would hurt a statue, only to see it felled by someone else at the last moment.

Mysterio retired early from the game after catching one of Firestorm's more potent bolts of energy.  He was reduced to 1 hit point and decided that helping his thug to carry a treasure to safety was the most useful contribution he could make.

The first wandering monsters of the game: a pack of giant rats started to stalk Firestorm's apprentice, Ellie.  He was having none of that and swiftly incinerated the desperate rodents.  At least this gave the other players a respite from him for 1 turn.

Meanwhile, Firestorm's summoned demon was used as a porter to carry away some treasure, much to the relief of everyone else.

Mysterio's depleted followers were scattered and picking up treasure when Firestorm's crew started to move towards them en masse.  This was distinctly worrying, but Baryn decided to interfere by casting a Wall of Fog between the 2 parties.  At least it would prevent missiles and spells until one side or the other moved through the unnatural weather!

Meanwhile, Baryn's barbarian destroyed another animated statue.  Huh, they're not so tough...

Then, it happened.  Malcolm Firestorm moved forwards after exterminating the rat pack.  Carelessly (or maybe deliberately and somewhat arrogantly), he ignored Peltar's goblin horde to the north.  They weren't going to waste the opportunity, though: their archers filled him full of arrows and down the wizard went!

By this time (we were playing a 9 turn limit for the game), most of the easier treasures had been carried away.  However, Mysterio's band were still trying to retrieve a couple of slightly more remote chests and satchels.  His unengaged soldiers formed a screen to ward off Firestorm's larger band.  The latter attacked piecemeal, through the fog and an almighty melee ensued!

Both sides fed in whatever reinforcements they could scrape together and it seemed briefly as if Mysterio's men would hold off their assailants.  However, there were just too many of Firestorm's attackers and finally one of Mysterio's treasure carriers was mugged.  It didn't help that Baryn's archer kept firing indiscriminately into the melee, on the grounds that anything he hit was good!

In the dying turn of the game (heh, no pun intended), the last few survivors jostled for possession of the loose treasure.  Here's how it went, in order:

• Firestorm went first.  His archer picked the leather bag from the body of its former owner.
• Baryn's barbarian was second.  He came racing in on Fleet Feet (remember that Baryn is a chronomancer; this spell is becoming something of a signature for him) and pulverised the archer.  The treasure rolled loose, as the barbarian didn't have enough actions left to collect it.
• Finally, Mysterio went (and never have I been so pleased to lose an initiative roll!)  In the very last action of the game, my remaining soldier stepped forward and claimed the treasure from under the noses of all the other parties.

With that, the forecast snowstorm started in earnest and within mere moments none of the protagonists could see anything beyond a few feet away.  It was all they could do to stumble and feel their way back to their respective camps, towers, hotels or other bases.

Conclusion

So, who won?  I'm not really sure and it probably doesn't really matter.  All sides had various casualties amongst their followers and I won't try to enumerate these (can't remember anyway).  However, one thing is for certain: there was one big time loser!

• Peltar: 3 (?) treasures, no major injuries, still can't cast spells for toffee.  Some experience points for destroying statues and taking out an enemy wizard.
• Firestorm: 1 treasure.  In addition, when we rolled for recovery (the wizard had been taken out, remember?), he was dead.  Permanently.  R.I.P.  There were tears, I can tell you.
  Since the wizard was 11th level, it will be possible for his apprentice to take over and start out as a fully-fledged 1st level wizard in her own right.  Whether it's worth doing this hasn't yet been decided.
• Mysterio: 4 treasures, though pretty much all of this was due to his heroic soldiers rather than the rather feeble efforts at magic from the wizard and his apprentice.
• Baryn: 3 treasures plus several "kills" on the animated statues.  Also he's becoming quite the dab hand at the Fleet Feet spell.  By the end of the game, most of his warband were moving at an unnaturally accelerated pace!

Final thought: to start with, everyone was very wary of the statues.  However, after the first one had been activated and promptly destroyed, there was a distinct sense that this was an easy way of claiming experience points!  Thereafter, none of the statues lasted very long after becoming animated; I don't recall that any of them did any damage either!