Rookie mistakes

Spent six or so of your Terran hours boardgaming with TC and LPO... "Descent: Journeys In The Dark" is a fairly typical but still fun dungeon delve in which one player reveals the encounters and controls the monsters and traps, while the rest pilot a band of adventurers. In only the second room of the scenario "Problems Of Life And Death", our fate was sealed by a low dice roll. Had my shaman-type character copped another point of damage, he would have exploded, killing every enemy on the map. Unfortunately, he survived (it's not often you say that) and we were outmanoeuvred and picked off from a distance. L. wrecked us almost as rapidly in the princess rescue "Spoiled Brat" - I blame T. for convincing this beginner to open what was ultimately a door too many. Next, we switched to "Cadwallon: City Of Thieves". (The "Cadwallon" part appears in a smaller, subtler font on the box and we reckon was added purely as a legal precaution due to the existence of Fighting Fantasy gamebook "C/O/T".) This one involves directing a quartet of robbers, each with their own special skill. Buildings are entered, then chests are lock-picked or bashed apart, and rare items and ducats absconded with. Rival gangs can be harried with city guards, foiled via arcane magic or biffo-ed head on, in order to steal what they've just stolen. The scenario we used was called "The Receivers' Market" (ooh-er!) and was based around trying to sell a specific commodity per turn, while demand was high. Learning as I went, I had no idea the endgame would be so brutal and had to watch my ill-gotten gains become losses as I was repeatedly mugged and shunted out of profitable patches. There really is no honour among thieves! :-)

Bit that didn't fit: "Descent" has a cool mechanic, reminiscent of overwatch mode in "Space Hulk", whereby you ready an action. It could be an aimed shot, retaliatory ranged/melee strike, dodge or - getting hazy here - energy recovery.