The Woods Girl is the elusive mistress of the wooded lands, an expert tracker who is deadly with the bow against Light, Medium or Heavy opponents. When facing heavier opponents or overwhelming numbers, she is fleet enough to run away.

Chits

Stats

Weight/Vulnerability: Light

Spells: One Spell (Type VII)

Equipment: Light Bow

Starting Gold Value: 16

Special: Tracking Skills (roll one die for Hide, Meeting and Search rolls in woods tiles), Archer (roll one die for Bow and Crossbow missile rolls)

Start: Inn, House

Ally: Woodfolk

Friendly: Lancers

Unfriendly: Soldiers, Warlock

Enemy: Bashkars

Strategy

Can't make colour magic or enchant tiles at all, and must therefore rely on other characters or enchanted treasures for colour (like the White Knight, but without the benefit of the Chapel). 3 of 5 Type VII spells require Gold magic, one requires Purple, and the other can be activated by any colour. Of the available spells, Peace With Nature and Protection From Magic are probably going to be the most useful, although a good case can be made for Control Bats.

But with her fast Move and Fight chits it is quite probable that she will not need any magic at all. With her Light Bow and Archer advantage, she is likely to be able to take out even Tremendous monsters. She cannot carry the Medium Bow, since she has no M Move chits.

The best plan is to stay hidden, try to Locate and Loot at least one treasure site (keep an eye out for the Glowing Gem), then go look for the Woodfolk (6 Gold base price to Hire). To this end, you could put VPs into Treasures, Gold and Notoriety. Say 1 Treasure, 2 Notoriety, 2 Gold. You should be able to Hire the Woodfolk for Price x1 or Price x2, but you can always use more Gold. Searching for treasure sites is the first priority. Head for the Deep Woods first (where you get your Hide and Search bonus). Start at the dwelling (Inn or house) that is nearest to the Deep Woods. If you can, set up the board so that the Deep Woods borders several Valley tiles to make this easier. Then if there is a treasure site in the Deep Woods, you can get to it quickly and easily. If there is no treasure site there, it will be a bit harder, as you will not get your Hide and Search bonuses.

The Woodfolk will appear at the House or the Small Campfire. The Soldiers are always at the House (unfriendly) and the Bashkars may arrive at the Campfire (enemy), so both locations are risky to hang around. At least at the Campfire, the Woods Girl gets her bonus to Hide and Meeting table rolls, so this is probably going to be the best location to wait for the Woodfolk. She may be able to snipe at some Bashkars using the Ambush rule, but B5's horse has a speed of 2 when alerted - so that would be the first target. If her Hide roll fails then, no other Bashkar can stop her from running away. No Soldier can stop her from running away if she misses a Hide roll. If the Ambush rule is being used, the Woods Girl has a good chance of shooting all four of the Soldiers, and if she does fail the Hide roll, she can run away using her Move L3* chit. Once she hires the Woodfolk, the Solders can all be eliminated in one round, with good Missile Table rolls. The Woodfolk Archers roll only one die.

Sources of spells: Good Book, Glowing Gem, Statue.

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