Fully Grounded #13: Ore Vein (Patreon)

This is part of the terrain series, other entries can be found at the contents page here.

Terrain from Emporium Miniatures.

Link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmporiumMiniatures

• Number: 2
• Size: 1x1
• Passive: No
• Activate: Yes
• Obstacle: No
• Classification: Resource

This terrain, which has two copies possible is a pure resource gaining experience. Iron is one of the major gates that block progression to the late game armor sets (Lantern, Phoenix, Dragon King, Warlord) and weapons. While you can gather Iron through the hunt phase's Mineral Gathering event, the Obsidian Tower terrain, random hunt events and most reliably by hunting the Dragon King (who spawns Lava Pools and turns them into Obsidian Towers). The easiest early game way to get some Iron stocked up with minimum cost is through this terrain card.

Without a pickaxe you have a simple 70% chance to get a piece of Iron, with no punishment for failure. With a pickaxe you get to roll 2d10, which changes the odds in an astronomical fashion. You switch from failing on a 1 - 3 to failing only when you roll a 1 + 1, 1 + 2 or 2 + 1. Which is just 3% of the possible results when rolling a 2d10. 

Yeah a pickaxe reduces your chances of failing by a whole magnitude. It's pretty crazy! But it also gives you the ability to roll a 13+ and score an additional Iron. This means for the slot cost of holding a pickaxe, your odds change to the following:

• 3% Nothing
• 61% Gain 1 Iron
• 36% Gain 2 Iron

That's a solid argument for making sure you have a pickaxe in your party. However, I think the best pickaxe to use for this is not the standard one, but this sweet weapon:

In addition to being an incredible weapon that scales to the late game when you calcify it. The Digging Claws are a pickaxe suitable for gathering from Ore Veins while also doing double duty during the Mineral Gathering story event. Even if you break your pickaxe while Mineral Gathering, you would be able to use the Digging Claw during the Showdown to score the bonus dice (unless you were foolish and risked the Digging Claws after losing your pickaxe). 

This is always a welcome piece of terrain to draw from the deck and as such you want to be positioned to take advantage of it as early as possible. So don't delay in making a pickaxe, get one crafted as soon as you have access to Leather.