Duel of Meloch: Solo Teach and Playthrough Part 1-Automa as Expeditions
Transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to the mill today. Today it is my first of two solo games for the new duel of Melo. So what it is I played two solo games and I've actually already filmed those. The first one that you're going to see I am playing as the new scythe faction Constantinople. I will warn you that there I do have a correction oh a little bit in there where I explain a very small thing that I did wrong during the playthrough but doesn't really affect too much gameplay at all. So it should not confuse you when I'm done editing everything together. I have that little piece in there. So that's just a heads up for this first one. But this way you will get to see how the scythe faction works in Duel of Melik and you'll get to see how the Automa playing as the expedition player known as the explorer Automa works in it as well. So that is this video that you are about to see. And then if you are interested in seeing the other way where I play as the expeditions player, the new one that's in the box, then I will have another video coming out not too long after probably that shows that side. But without further ado, I will let you see how to play Duel of Melo solo as the scythe player.
All right, so welcome to Duel of Melo. So, I have pretty much the entire thing set up. What I'm going to do for this one, I am playing Scythe as the new one, Constantinople, and the Automa is playing as expedition. So, it doesn't really matter what mech they're using, but I just use the new one there just because I have it. It's only the only like plastic one I have. My I have all the metal mechs for expeditions and actually also for scythe. So, I pretty much have the whole thing set up. For this one, I'm going to use the jungle mat. And I am using side B of the triumph track, which means I did have to put on this tile over the combat cards for a tomo play. All right.
So, what I will do then, I'm my plan is to do another playthrough, flip to the desert side, and I will play expeditions so you can see them because in solo play with the automa being expeditions, you will not see the discovery cards at all or really anything with expeditions really. The only thing I even need its mat for is tracking its power, which is why I kind of have it way over to the side where you can't see much cuz that's all that matters. um these tracks here will matter because this is how they're going to be trying to gain stars. And yeah, here are the mulok cards and I'm going to kind of go over the basics here. Just a note on the jungle side, this has been kind of a little point of I don't quite want to say contention, but what people notice if you look if you are playing as expeditions, there is no gain a blue worker spot. All right, there are two green ones. So essentially what Jamie has said is you can play it like that. It's just kind of different and actually thematically works for the jungles. The green is supposed to be more the explorer or you can say that one of them is the blue. If you look on the other side of the mat, this one with the red is actually the blue on the other side. But up to you. I think if I play on here, what I would do is I would declare one of these green guys to be blue. Some people were talking about putting like the a blue mele like over it just as a reminder.
So I think if I was doing that in normal play, that's kind of how I would do it. Um, some other things to note. All right, we have our lakes. We have a river here. The expedition's mech cannot go on the lakes, nor can my guy because I don't have something that does that. But the other part of this, other things to note on the map, it tells you where to put the map tokens, which for me as the scythe player, just get me an encounter card. Everything I'm playing with minus I'm probably going to use my metal coins that I just have. We always leave our scythe metal coins out. Uh I will probably use those, but besides that, all of this is what comes with the duel for Meloc game. Okay, so these are not the upgraded tokens either cuz they're slightly different on the back.
But this is where they are out. Notice there is six. There's only six. There are three more that are in the box. So you don't quite know what's there. As the size player in a solo game, they don't matter to me because I don't need the back. I just get my encounter. Other part to note, there is a factory right here. So I do have a factory tile I can go. And [clears throat] there are a few factory cards I could potentially get. Um my first solo game when I was practicing and kind of learning the rules, I didn't actually go to the factory. So maybe I'll try to do that this game. And then we can learn how factory cards work together because I actually not sure if I'd get to pull all three. I'm guessing it's three. I'll look it up if we get to that point. Um, but normal kind of scythe setup. My character is here. Here is our new character. He is a little bit lighter than the other ones. All right. And then his two light gray people. And then the expedition guy has the brown. Okay. So if you don't know, dual for meloc is a race to four stars. So once one is on here, that spot is taken. And you can see they are slightly different over here depending upon if you are playing as scythe or expeditions.
And I'm using the site that actually has two combat ones. My first try at this I actually lost by the second combat. the Toma initiated it and I lost the combat by one point and that was the game ender. So, it was really close, kind of crazy, super fun. Um, just some notes on the scythe one. I think what I'm going to I did this last time and I liked it, but I think I'm going use a different strategy with it. You can kind of see his power here is once per turn you may discard an unplayed star to gain any resource or pay one to gain a discarded one.
[snorts]
So he's actually pretty nice in dual formal cuz the most stars you're going to need is four. So you definitely have like two spare resources you can conveniently get which is nice. I think I really like I like this warp mech which is move from a territory to any territory the same terrain type but the it has to be unoccupied by the opponent. So, if I can I'm kind of wondering if cuz the factory has the wood one. So, I'm like, oh, maybe that'll be my play is to get that mech out and maybe try to warp over here to get the factory card just cuz I didn't do it last time. Um, so I have started with these. There are no objectives for me in this. Start at two power. I do need two combat cards. I was waiting for this so you could see them. So, here's their base power. And then just a reminder, these are coins. I could discard these at any time just to get what's in that corner. If I play them as combat cards, they also give me these. Uh for the Autotomo, when they play combat cards, they are just looking at the power. They're not looking at these. But I have planned retreat, so I must retreat after combat. But it is a five. This one is survey the battlefield. Increase the value of this card by plus one per each other combat card played. So that's kind of nice.
Well, it can be kind of nice, especially as the scythe player. All right, so yeah, those are my two combat cards I have. All right, I just need to grab my coins. Totally forgot to grab them off my shelf, but luckily they're always just right on my shelf. So, I start with five coins per my mat. Just going to put those to the side. You don't need to see them. All right. The only real resources the Automa will get are power and combat cards, which is why they have a different way of measuring this. This little graph chart tracks over here will be easier to explain once I show a Toma cards, but otherwise this is normal scythe setup uh for moolok. We do start with a mulok card up.
All right, this is a refresh. So, it' be a refresh for expeditions. For me, it would mean I get to take my pawn off and move it to a different spot. So, I potentially could take two turns in a row. So, I'm just going to put that there. We each will get one of those when one of us gets the star, the other one gets the moak bullet bonuses. So, I'll leave those up there. All right. It looks like I hit my camera a little bit. Let's fix that for you. Okay. And then we have these. So, I am playing kind of on the normal mode. You can do one through five. I'm playing at two. These are the phase cards. So phase one card, I'm going to flip this over. And this is reminding me that in phase one, the and this is what will apply to my eye. The expedition's mech can move up to three spots. The scythe mech or character can only move one. As we get to different phases, the size one will increase just like if you were playing in scythe, you might get faster. All right, so set up. We're playing level two and the Automa is the expedition's player. So at level two, as the expeditions player, they just start with one power. So I'm just going to give them one power and they don't have any combat cards.
That's just their setup. Now, these, as you can see, they're support cards. So I'm going to shuffle these up. All right. Actually, I'm going to put phase one up here because I'm limited space. So, all of this setup is on and I'm just going to show you page five of the atma rule book. All right. So, right now I am building the atonement deck. All right. So, difficulty two. They're going to need five action cards. So, I shuffle these. They're already kind of shuffled. I have one, two, three, four, five. So, what'll happen is I put the action side up. So, they're going to be the action cards.
They go on top of the face cards. So, they enter phase two after five turns. Now, the support cards are going to go next to it. Okay? And you'll see how that works. Since they are the expeditions player, they are going to end up taking the first turn. So, I think that is my setup. Just to kind of show you, there is a threat variant that complicates things. I am not using that cuz that is just a little much. And then this the next pages go over the action and support their turn the atone movement. So I'll kind of bring this through because it is their turn first. So you draw the topmost card of the action deck. Okay. And this is going to tell us what actions they take. So they take the top and the bottom here. And then it you just keep going until they can do one.
And then you need a support card. Okay. So what we need to do is this is first going to go with this symbol. This symbol means they are going to be moving up one of those tracks. Okay. So the way you know which track they're moving is starting with here. Okay. So I will show you how that works. So if we're on these tracks, it's the middle track. They're going to want to start on now. Future cow going to very briefly interrupt this play because there is one thing that I'm about to do that is slightly wrong. It will not overall hurt gameplay at all. Like honestly, you could play without this if you really wanted to, but I am going to point it out. When you look at the support part of the Atoma action cards, you'll notice some of them have this symbol here and some don't. It's aboutif It's 50/50. I counted there are 20 of these cards. 10 of them have this symbol. 10 of them don't. When I first played, most of them were missing that.
So, didn't even occur to me. I just kind of assumed it was part of like the more difficult threat variant. However, when I was going to prep for my second play, I was rereading to look at the size stuff and realized oopsies on page eight. It clearly pulls out this symbol. And I had I made a I might make a slight rules goof. I don't know how many times that symbol appeared on a card. So I'm just going to go over what that symbol means and I'll pop up a clearer picture of it. But when a support card has this symbol and when you are doing the action where you are doing progress and you're kind of looking for viable options over here on the track.
Okay. First remember you look for where this is and your action cube. Okay. So right now these would look viable. What this symbol means is you don't only just look at this. If a guy is in a viable spot and he's closer to the star, you move one of those. So this symbol is making it so the ones closer to the stars get there faster, which is why it's only on half of them and you never know when you're going to get them. So it's kind of an act of chance. So I said, I'm put going to put this in right before I make this mistake for the first time where I just miss that and it might actually end up being the right one that goes up. So it probably doesn't change much in my gameplay whatsoever. And I don't know how many times it'll pop up, but I'll kind of put a note every time that I miss it as I'm editing, but just kind of that initial FYI, this symbol, you look on page eight of the Atoma book and it will tell you that just in case you end up in a similar situation than me where you don't see it for a while and then you just completely start ignoring it because you shouldn't. But that is what that symbol means on the support. And I'm actually about to film a second solo play where, as you can see, it's kind of already set up where I'm playing as the other player. And so I'll make sure to
get it right in that one if you want to see that in play. Making sure that I'm doing it. All right. And back to the playthrough. Hope you're enjoying me as Scythe and the Automa as the expeditions player. Now, the way you determine if they can if that's eligible is I am going to put their action cube here. And this is kind of making sure they don't go up the same track two times in a row. So, next time if this popped up, they wouldn't be able to go up this one cuz they will not go up these tracks if the action cube is there or if a star is here. But since it was the first turn, they could go up the middle one. And now I put the action cube here. Once they Oh, I have these backwards. One sec. Just notice that because they should probably go in the start space and go up to the star. All right.
So, once they get to that star position, they take that star and it's gone. And that's how they do that cuz they're not going to gain any of these resources. If you notice, there are no corruption tokens on here because they don't deal with corruption tokens. Okay. So the support card kind of helps you with anything that the automa might be doing. All right. [snorts] So for instance, now they're going to take a map token. Okay. So this one if you go here and it's really convenient here. It had goes through like all the actions in the rule book. All right. I will say this one does take a little bit more to wrap your brains around. It takes a little bit of time. I will not get through this whole playthrough. I do want to at least show you hopefully one of us gain a star so you can see how the moolok cards work. All right, so maps.
If there's no map tokens left, you skip it. There are map tokens. All right, so all locations that the explorers might can move to are valid destinations. So remember, they have a range of three and if they go on a map token, they have to stop. So both of these are valid locations. We're not using the threat variant, so we're going to skip over that. All right. If there are multiple valid destinations, only those that are the shortest distance from a location are there. They're the same distance. All right. So, it's one, two, or one, two. Okay. So, we move them to the selected location. All right. It stops there and they immediately gain the map token. All right. So now we need to figure out which one they're going to kind of the tie for anything is looking at we have the locations or it's the higher and lower I bet is what we're doing actually.
So eight's way over here which they're not getting over there. Then you look if it's higher or lower. Okay. So that's based on the number. So, they're going to go to the higher number location. They'll go over to four and take away my map token. And that's all they do for that. So, their actions done. Now, it's my turn. Okay. So, I'm always torn whether I want to move or if I want to kind of just like already produce. What I think I'm gonna do, I think I'm gonna start with moving just because if I want to get over this factory and honestly, I wouldn't mind doing a quick battle. So, I really want to get that mech going for me. I need three metal to get a mech. So, if I and I can move two people. So, if I move him here and move this worker over here, then if I produce next time, I will have the metal I need to make a mech on my next movement action. That's still going to mess me up because I have to move him before I get the mech.
Still think it's the best move for right now. So, then I can start getting that medal. All right, so we're going to go with that. Sad part is he won't have the power for the movement. I'll figure it out. It's fine. You know what? I might just get a coin because I only need 12 coins. And that's one of my things, too. So, instead of moving for that one, I might just get the coin. We're just going to make it work. We're going to see. Okay. So, that's it on my turn. All I'm doing is moving. All right. Back to the expeditions player. And what you're gonna see, they do a lot with this, moving on their tracks because that's how they're going to get their stars. And we flip the support card. Okay. So, once again, they're doing this. And they want to start at this one. There is no action cube or star here. So, then this guy will move up one. And we will move the action cube.
All right. And once again, they want a map token. They have two of them right here. So, seven's way over here. Doesn't really matter, but they want to go with the higher number. Of course, they want to go to the higher number. So, they're going to take my factory encounter token. That stinks. Can see the frustrations already with this mech. Okay, so that's their turn. Now, it is my turn. So, as I said, next time I was planning on producing mainly because I want that medal. And just like in Scythe, I produced on here. These go here. And I am going to use this ability where I discard a star. So, I can get one more.
All right. So, that means next time I will be able when I move I'll be able to make that mech that I really want. Okay. That's my turn. Said the really quick scythe turns. All right. So, we have a new action item there. And this is where they gain materials. So, let's see where that is in the rule book. Okay, here you go. Page eight. This is the symbol we see. If combat cards is a triumph category, which it is in the game and it does not have a star, they gain a combat card. So, it doesn't matter what they I don't actually get to look at those. I'll put it over there.
[sighs] So, they have a combat card now. I don't like that. Okay. So, they have a combat card. And then, oh, this could be bad. That symbol that means they might be coming at me and we might already be having a combat. which actually could be good for me. I have some power and I do have two cards. So, here we are attacking. You might get to see attacking right away and a star. All right. Skip this action if none of the AutoMA's units are on or can move to location with one of your combat. They can though. There is a map token here. So, I'm not sure if they would have to stop. Otherwise, follow these procedures.
H I'm gonna pause for a second and I'm gonna figure that out. Okay, so my initial reaction obviously when I saw this was, oh, battle, and we have the battle stars, then you know, oh, we're like three spaces away. However, I did go and I double checked and because when we look here, one of the big rules of this is when they hit a map token, they have to stop. So technically when this says skip this action if none of Atoma's unit units are on or can move to a location with one of your combat units. This is a case where none of Toma's units can get to me because if Atoma moves, they would have to stop on the map token. So there is no battle here. I got excited at first. I like, "Oh my gosh, are we battling early?" No, it's kind of built that way with these map tokens to not do that too early. So, we actually skip this step and all they get for that one is a power.
All right. And so, that's one of those important pieces. So, that's their two actions. Now, for me, what I think I want to do is I now have the metal to make that mech. And [snorts] I still think it would be advantageous for me to go over there. And honestly, if I put the mech with me and [clears throat] I have that warp, I could when I move move both over there. As an expeditions player, they'll never be able to play more than one combat card because they never have more than one combat unit. And I started with two. If I get myself and my mech over there, I can use two. So, I think an early battle could be super helpful. [snorts] All right. So, but to make that mech, I do have to do the move. And I can't I don't want to move right now. So, I'm just going to take that single coin. I know it might seem silly, but over here, if I get 12 coins, that's another star. So, having six coins isn't bad. Plus, now I do have the three metal to make that warp mech. I am going to put it here so I can move them together.
And then I mean my other option. Oh, wait. I could have moved him. Oh, actually I could have moved him here. Got in the Oh, no. I can't. There's a little river there. So, I could not have moved there. I was like, "Oh, that'd be nice." Nope. Nope. The jungle kind of has like these extra rivers, which makes traversing a little bit harder. So, glad to get this warp mech that's special to Constantinople. The other part that can often be forgotten in a scythe game because I did the mech, remember, I also get those two other coins. So, I'm already up to eight of the 12 coins I need for that victory point. So, it's not a bad thing. I feel like I'm prepped for a battle. So, I feel like we're in a good spot. Okay, back to our Toma action and support.
Once again, they are going to be moving up on their piece. They want to I feel like it's easier if I go like this. All right, they want to move up this one. There is no action cube or star there. So, they will move that one. You can kind of see there's an arrow of the order they would do. Now the action cube moves there. So that was that. And of course they're going to go for the map token. All right. So now we need to map token. They want to go looks like towards nine which is way down there. They can't get to it. All right. Um and they will go for the higher number or what's closer. So they're actually going to go to six. They are just cleaning up all these map tokens. They get to ignore rivers, but they can't move on lakes. So now if a battle happens, they very much can get to me. Now the big question is, what am I going to do on my turn?
H I feel like a battle is coming. So I could pay a coin to bolster a little bit or I could pay a coin just to get a couple resources. So, I could [snorts] maybe start getting some of these buildings out to get more. Or part of me wants to I want to be able to upgrading is kind of nice. And then [sighs and gasps] let's look at what gets me stars. stars will be three of the recruits, which for Constantinople is a little difficult because you need four food, four upgrades, which isn't bad. That is one of my easier ones.
So, I also like the seven space square. Okay, it's also seven combat cards, but I feel like I'm going to be using those. So, I can either produce and get two metal. I can pay a coin and get two of whatever [clears throat] I or pay a coin, get two of whatever I want. Choices, choices. All right. I feel like what I might do is I am going to go here, pay one of my precious coins. I think I'm going to go with two oil just cuz I'm not on oil. And then when I do produce, I'll be able to use that. I think that'll be good to go. I'm pretty sure on my next turn, although if I get the metal now that on my next turn I'll be able to get another mech. Yeah, never mind. Sorry, changed my mind. I'm going to produce just so I can get those two metal because I can get rid of one of my stars again on my next turn to get the other metal to get that going. I think that's what we're going to do.
Okay, change of plans. We're doing that. Okay, back to Toma. They're once again going on their track here. This time they want to do this one first. So, move that guy up. Move the cube over. And they're going to get two power. So, this is kind of scary because now they're getting ready to be able to beat me in an attack. All right. So now I definitely want to move. I'm do I want to attack him right now or do I want to go and get that factory card? Part of me really wants to go for that attack because if I move them both. I have two combat cards. They only have one.
They have four power and I have two. Oh, but if I attack this card, it's going to make me retreat, [sighs] which would really hurt my plans of gain to the factory. All right, maybe I can hope that they'll come and attack me because I really think I want to get that factory. So, I'm going to go over here with both my moves to get my factory card. Okay. And I'm also gonna pay my star to get my other medal so I can get another mech. Okay. So now, all right.
So before I make my next mech, my movement is over. I now do my factory cards. So Duel of Melo comes with three of them. [snorts] For Duel of Melock, you only put two in the game. And you can use one from your scythe game. So, actually, I'm gonna I should only have two of these out. So, one's going away. And now I can look at these two. All right. Pay my precious coins. That would hurt. Oh, but that's interesting. Pay the coins to get an encounter card or pay a map token and return a worker to the mat to do any of those things. These are both really, really interesting. See, they're very different. I hate to pay those two coins when one of my goals is to get coins, but to get encounter tokens could be really interesting. Not to mention gain this movement down here would be really important.
Oh, and there's also a kitty cat on that one.
[sighs and gasps]
Don't know how much I'll use it. I don't even have map tokens to really use. So, I think I got to take this one. All right. And so, there one I'm just going getting rid of now. Usually, I would put those at the end. Let's see. Can I get this in here? There we go. We're making it work. I said it's a two-player game, but it does take up a decent amount of space to get even just all the solo stuff here. All right. So, that is my factory card. And now I am going to do the bottom action and pay those. And I'm going to get another mech. So, oh yeah, I had to actually go there as I couldn't cross the river. All right. So, do I want to be able to cross the river?
Sorry, that was the warp mech if I misspoke earlier. The ver one. After combat, you may refresh your action token. I don't know if I really want that or the typical speed. Speed might be nice because I feel like I need to get moving here. So, I would also really like that riverwalk to be able to get there. You know, I'm going to go speed. And with that speed, I'm actually going to put this one over here so I can start moving my workers around a little bit more easy. And yeah, I'm Oh, and I need to get my two coins. Almost forgot that. Told you easy to forget. So I am now at nine coins. Part of me really wants to go for that 12 coiner though. First I feel like I'm going to need to try to maybe he'll trigger the battle. But yeah, I feel like I'm going to try to go for those coins soon too.
That'll be an easier one. And kind of something that I noticed it's interesting is it makes you think different than in Scythe since it's a race. Because if I upgrade and start getting these hearts or build this and start getting these hearts, getting to the 10 popularity when I start at three isn't a bad plan. Or upgrading this so I can start getting more cards to get to that goal. The goals really make you think just that little bit different. It's cool. Oh, and this is a good thing. So now we are, if you notice, this is not a normal action card. It is a new phase card. So this is kind of a big transition point. So phase card one is gone. So now in phase two, you can see since we are playing with the autotos the explorer, their movement's the same.
However, if they were playing the scythe faction, they would be able to move two hex's now. So we are playing at level two. So oh no, they're getting another combat card. So they're at two combat cards. even though they're playing the expeditions player, as soon as they meet one of these triumph markers, they are going to get it. They don't have to boast or anything. And then levels two through five, which we're playing two, we're going to draw a support card and they're going to make an additional progress. So, support card. They're going to move up this one. And then we rebuild the atma card deck, which means we're going to take these and the action cards we used and the support cards we used and we are going to reshuffle them and rebuild the deck.
Since we're playing on level two, I'm going to put five new action cards on top of that phase. card and then once it gets to three, it does it again. Also notice the last piece on this face card is they're going to take another turn. So they got essentially a free progress on the face card and they're going to get a whole another turn. So this ramps up real quick. All right, call this good. So I need five action cards. One, two, three, four, five. And those are going to go here. These are now the support cards and they take a turn and there's their support. All right.
So, power is not one of our stars here. So, and I am pretty sure that means we skip it. So, just let me double check if power is a triumph category in the game with a star at home games. It is not one of ours. So, it's going to skip this one because combat cards are one. So, they're going to get another combat card. Yeah, I think they're just going to kick my butt on that. And then they are going to want to battle. So, hopefully I can do this. Maybe I'll get a star out of it. All right. Oh. Oh, no. Except Oh, I messed that up. I should have put the other guy over here. All right. Now there is a whole system to figuring out where they go for battle. You have to look at the power. So I am going to show you where this is and we are going to have fun calculating it together. So we have to determine the power balance which is very important which is not going to bode well probably for me. So power balance. So, we are definitely doing it because they technically can get to two different spots that have combat.
All right. Determine power bounds for all locations where you have a combat unit, which is Mech and my dude. An Autotoma also has a unit there. [gasps] Um, or could move her units there, which she can. Calculate the power bounds described in the box below, assuming all her units that can move. All right. So, power balance. Estimate Atoma's power. Multiply the number of combat cards Atoma can commit to the combat, which since they're playing expeditions is only one. Multiply it by seven. All right, so they have seven for that. Estimate your power. Multiply the number of combat cards you could commit to combat by seven. Then add the amount of power you can spend. All right. So for them there was was seven plus they have four power. So they have their combat power is 11. For here I do have two combat cards. So that would be 2 * 7 is 14. I only have two power. So for this spot it's 16. As I said theirs is 11.
And then mine over here only has the one. So I can commit one. So it'll be 7 + 2 which is 9. So 9 11 I believe I said 16. It was pretty high. All right. So we did that power bl balance her estimated power minus your estimated power. All right. So this one would give her a negative number. This one gives her the positive of what I say 9 and 11. So that is two. Okay. Take the public information into account but ignore hidden information. All right. So we determine power balance. So now we just select the destination. The locations with the highest power balance are valid destinations.
So since this one is a negative number, this one was a positive. This one this one gives her two. This one can be considered. All right. Destinations with power balances lower than the requirements shown on the left column of the current support card become invalid. All right. The current support card is less than zero. So they might not even do this. All right. So this becomes our only viable one because the power balance is greater. All right. Because the power balance is two here. In other words, they have they would tip the scales. Now, looking at the support card, our power balance is greater than zero.
So, they are going to initiate combat. So, they're going to come over here. All right. Now, the next part we look at is here. And this is how much they're going to commit. So there is not a star on both the combat pieces yet. So they are going to commit everything. So they're going to commit all their power and up to one card. So I know they are committing four plus whatever this is to there. They could commit up to five, but they only have one unit. And sadly I only have one unit right now. So I know they have at least four. All right. And then plus one card.
I feel like this this one I'm gonna want to keep for later. I think I'm fine if my guys have to retreat. All right. So, I think I'm going to play this one. And well, I do have combat dials. It just I don't always feel that I need to use the combat dials with this because I there's no one to hide it from. So, and my combat dial. I'm just going to go for all of it. All right. And so are they. So I know they have four plus that and I have seven. I'm doing my best. Now they're going to flip theirs. They actually ignore these parts here. Of course they have one with the six.
So they are going to spend all this and this. They have 10. [gasps] I am losing everything. All right, which is lovely. All right, so they are going to get a combat star. I'm going to lose all my stuff. I do get my So, these are both discarded. I do get my pity combat card since I spent something. Interesting. After revealing my painted dish, that would have been nice to have. I do love these like kind of new combat cards. That would have been nice to have for the last one. All right, my guys are going to retreat.
And I do get a melo card. So, you're going to get to see a melock card. And actually, what is really nice here is that see I have this this is the way pointing towards me. I have this point towards expedition. Normally, you would have these kind of pointing towards each other. So, oh, this is an interesting choice. So, this is pointing towards me, which that's going to let me refresh my pawn to somewhere else, which means I could move right away again. I have no power, but I do have other things. So, that's interesting. So, I also just noticed I have a river here blocking, so I can't even go over there.
Oh, this is interesting. So, technically, I could just move this guy right back on there and fight another battle. I might be able to do that. I think I kind of want to just cuz I'm mad that he uh got my battle star. And then this could potentially get me a coin or another worker, which would be really helpful right now. Yeah, I think I'm going to go for the worker. All right. So, I'm gonna go and I get these. Notice these are pointing like what would be pointing towards me. So, with this I get my worker. Now, I think I can actually put this I am pretty sure I can put this anywhere. One sec.
I mean, has to be a territory I control or on my home base. So, part of me wants to keep it with these guys because I'm thinking I'm going to refresh, move here, move all of those there so that when I produce, I will be able to produce all the metal. So, I think I'm just going to put him here. And that lets me refresh and move this somewhere else. So, I said I think I'm just going to go straight up because if I go and fight him because I don't think I'm going to win the combat cards, but if I go and fight him, I play this and it's an ambush. So, after I reveal, I can play an additional one with a different value. And this one increases per combat card played. So, this is actually So, this is a five. This is an three.
So, they have eight. They have no power right now. They could get some. All right. Oh, no. Cuz they're the ones who moved to me. So, I think Yeah, I think that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to So, I'm just putting this guy over here. I refreshed them. So, that was the Melo part because they just fought me and they got their star. All right. So, I got my Melo bonuses. The whole mythos is that Melik is there kind of like a Loki trickster prankster kind of thing. So kind of helping those to who just got essentially beat. Okay. So yeah, I'm going to do that. And that was their turn. They got their combat card and they got did the battle. Now I'm going to come right back at them because I can. So these guys are going to move one. Come right back to them.
And then what do I want to do? I partially feel like these guys are kind of stuck over here because of the river. And there's no more map tokens here. I only can move one of them. I think I am going to actually they can move two. I don't feel like I need to bring both of them into this combat. I'm already going to get to play both of these combat cards. So, but two, but I am going to I want him to start moving down here so I can get some of these tokens to maybe get me some encounters so you can see an encounter because they are new encounter cards in here and they're pretty cool. So, I think that's my move. So, I'm going to use the warp to go from this wood spot to this wood spot. And since I have the speed mech, I'm going to have him move one more. So, he's technically in this battle, but not really. All right. So, that's the end of my movement. And now I'm initiating the battle this time.
Balance of power. Well, they didn't choose it. I'm choosing it. So, they can only move. They can. And I'm choosing battle. Technically, I don't have to, but I'm going to. All right, so they don't have any power. They can only play one combat card. Okay, I have two in here. I could play both of them. Actually, it really doesn't matter. I can just play them both now cuz either way they're going to. Okay, so this one's increased by one because I've played one more card. So, I actually have eight. I have no power to put in. They will put in their one power card. At least I'm 99% sure. Let me check. I will go through this just so you can see it. So, this is the combat part. If you attacked, which I did, they would move everybody they could since they're expeditions. Their one guy is there. All right. The rest of the process is the same no matter what. Um, so I actually draw a new support card probably. Oh no, that would have been the same. Okay, so we're using this scale. Okay. Um, all combat triumph categories have a star. That is not true. All right. This is not what we have. So they are going to try to do the most. They have no power to give. They only can give one combat card, which I've already put here. Combat resolution. randomly reveal
the number of atoneless combat cards determined in the previous section. So, they have a three and they don't even look at those. Why couldn't they have that last time? Sheesh. All right. And then for each of these combat cards that has a power value equal to or lower than the difficulty level. So, I'm playing at difficulty level two. So, if this had been a two or lower, they would have gotten to add a combat card from the supply. Okay. So, since it's not, they just have the three. Their power total is from both of those. So, they have three. They don't resolve that text. I have my eight. So, I win. Yay. So, I get the other combat star. So, that's no longer a thing. So these are all going to get discarded.
All right. So a lot of combat early. Put that down there. Okay. All right. Already did that. So now resolve combat as normal. So that would be in the regular rule book. All right. Just so you see set power reveal. Resolve. The player with the higher total wins. That's me. Discard all the combat cards and pay the power. Winner places the star on the triumph track, which I did. All right. Um, if I were playing as expeditions, this is the one time they win. Have to boast as the normal player. The loser retreats all units in that location to their home base. So, they're going right back there.
Okay. If the retreating player spent at least one power or their card, they're going to get another power card. They're down to two. All right. And then they also get to do Melo. Okay. So they are going to draw a Melo card. All right. So now with the Melo card. All right. When she gains benefits from a melo card, she gains power and combat cards as normal. and all other icons on the cards are ignored. If at least two icons are ignored, draw and discard a support card and resolve that. All right, she places it with a random orientation covering your half. So, we're going to do this and it's going to be random. They're obviously going to go this way. So, I'll just flip it like this.
All right. So, those are the two. Now, when she gains benefits from the melo card, she gains power in combat. Neither of those are power and combat, but all other icons on the card are ignored. If at least two icons are ignored, two are being ignored. Draw and discard support card. So, they are going to make progress sadly instead from the support card, which is the middle one. So, this guy's going to move up. This guy's going to move over. All right. So, that was nice. We're tied one to one. I've done my movement. Let's see. I definitely feel like I can get the coin one. They're not far on that. And I have nine. I need three more. How else am I going to get two stars? Like this one.
And maybe I can spread gain control of seven spaces. That might be a good one. So maybe I will also start spread like kind of spreading my dudes so I can get that one. I think that's it. I think it's coins. spreading my dudes out and maybe trying to get this. So, now you have seen combat, you've seen the melo cards, you haven't seen the map tokens. Um, that's going to take me a couple turns to that. All right. Um, I'll bring you through another one of there. You've also seen the face cards. So, you've seen most of the big automa spots here. Let's do one more turn for them. So, they are going to first. So notice they actually can't. This is the first time this has happened. There's an action cube blocking this one. So we're going to follow our arrow.
So then it goes to the next one there. So they're actually going to go up here. So they're probably going to get this one before I do. That's for sure. And then once again, they're going to go this map token. They're really collecting those map tokens on me. All right, my turn. I really don't want to pay my coins for these yet, but I would also really like to move so I can get over to get more encounters. Okay, so I think you know I'm just going to go here. I'm going to go to my factory. I'm going to regret paying these coins right now, but I do want to get this encounter card just so I can show it to you. All right, so here's a new one. I can win a staring contest against a statue and the creature that's in here. Oh, that gains me $2 in a popularity. If you now have more popularity than money, gain anyone resource. That won't happen, but that would have been nice. Pay $2 to an opponent, you may then deploy a mech or frighten the creature into a frenzy. Pay two popularity to return any mech to its home base. Wow, those are interesting.
Okay, I think I'm just going to win the scaring contest because I get my two coins back that I just played and I get a popularity. Both of those are helping me with my goals over here. So, that's from this top part. And what's great now is I have the two move. So, I'm just going to move here and grab this map token to get me another one. See what I can do this time. Let your team mingle with the merchants. Gain two oil. [gasps] That's amazing. I won't. I don't have any recruits, though. That stinks because I would gain popularity. I could pay $2 to enlist a recruit. The player to your right gains a power or spread ugly rumors about your fellow travelers. I don't want to pay popularity. And I definitely want this oil so I can go to this production. When I produce next time, I'll get all the metal here that I'll need. And this is going to give me the oil to do the upgrade so I can start messing with that stuff. Yeah. So, I'm totally doing the oil as it normally does. This oil has to go where the encounter happened. So, that was here. Unfortunately, I don't have any recruits to gain popularity, but that is still wonderful. Um, notice there are some of these where somebody else gains something. That is actually also in the melo um sorry not in the melo in the automo rule book where if they're supposed to gain something and you believe they just
gain a power but I will double check. I know it's in here. Um, it definitely says somewhere whenever you would give something to them, what they do, what they get. So, I'm pretty sure they just gain a power. Um, like no matter what, cuz that's like the only resource that they're using. It's on here somewhere. But, as I said, I am 99% sure it is. They just gain I think it's in this first part. Oh, yeah. I think it's in here. Um, when a toma gains combat cards, their main categories, there's this general rules. This is a very important page. Um, let's see.
When the Toma gains combat cards, place on face on stack. The blank icon not power. Oh, here it is. It's a whole page. Cards that benefit the automa. When you play a card that would make a Toma gain or do something instead, she gains one power for each thing. Okay. So, if I would have chosen something different on this card here, the Automo would have gained a power, but she's not. So, that actually worked out really well. That was well worth my two coins. Okay, so now I do think you have seen all the essentials. You've seen me come out. You've seen the encounters. You've seen two battles. You've seen some of the new mechs come into play. You've seen me use the new Constantinople ability, the new factory cards, the new combat cards. So, I feel like you have seen what happens. You've seen how the phases change. There are six phase cards. So, each time those will kind of do change it up. And there's that difficulty chart on how many go in. So, I will finish my game and I will let you know if I actually beat them this time. Um, I'm feeling much better with kind of what I'm doing here. So, this is great. And yeah, that is Duel of Melo for the plane at Scythe against the Explorer, the Expeditions faction. I will try to do another one where I, as I said, where I flip the mat, show you the desert, show you the other side of the triumph track, and show you how to fight the scythe player.
All right, I hope everyone has a wonderful time playing D of Melo. See you next time. Bye.