Festive Ice Fortress

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Sub-zero temperatures have turned this field into a frosty icescape, and an army of icy mice are using it as a staging ground for an invasion of Gnawnia! Build your Ice Fortress, wage snowball fights, and try to catch special bonus mice during this winter hunt season!

Description and Requirements

Hunters ranked Recruit and up can enter this location. Mice will not steal gold or points, but they have been known to steal cheese! The news item describing this event location dubbed it the Great Winter Ice Brawl.

Much of the gameplay in this area is focused around the Heads-up Display, where hunters track progress in a snowball fight against the event mice to collect Ice Bricks to upgrade their Ice Fortress, and Tower Slabs to upgrade their Ice Tower; the two projects are independent (either project can be built first). There is also a mini-game called the Snowball Showdown.

On the right side of the HUD, the hunter sees a current inventory count of Arctic Asiago (with the hint "Hunt with Arctic Asiago to catch mice that drop Tower Slabs and Ice Bricks!"), Ice Coins (with the hint "Gather Ice Coins to buy cool items from the shops!"), and Ice Bricks (with the hint "Use Ice Bricks to built and expand your Ice Fortress! Ice Fortress expansions will give you some sweet hunting upgrades!"), and a Build button for the Ice Fortress. There is also an indicator at the top right of the HUD showing X/13 Fort Upgrades or Fort Complete. If a hunter is not using Arctic Asiago, there is also a box with a message "Hunt with Arctic Asiago to progress!" and a button to arm it. This portion of the gameplay resembles the Snow Fort of the Great Winter Hunt 2013.

Along the bottom of the Heads-up Display is a progress meter for each week's goal towards an Ice Tower. During Week One (9-14 December 2014), the hint was "This wave is assaulting your fortress! Build an Ice Tower and defeat Glacia Ice Fist!", with instructions "Collect Tower Slabs with Arctic Asiago to build your Ice Tower!". The remaining two weeks give a pop-up hint of "This wave hasn't been released yet. Stock up on Arctic Asiago while you can!". At the bottom left is a progress meter towards 20 Tower Slabs, obtained from Frigid Foreman mice, and an Upgrade button. After collecting the parts for the week, the hint changes to "Defeat Glacia Ice Fist and their minions!", with a progress meter for 40 hunts. The message changed for Week Two (15-21 December), with 25 Tower Slabs then 50 hunts to catch Tundra Huntress; and for Week Three (22-?? December), with 30 Tower Slabs then 60 hunts to catch Borean Commander. Each week also includes a Bonus button, with an initial hint of "Unlock the Bonus Zone by defeating the wave general before the next wave arrives!" If a hunter defeats the boss within the week it is released, they have an opportunity to work towards a bonus, where the progress meter changes to a count of Stuck Snowball mice caught ("Catch the Stuck Snowball Mouse as often as you can before the next wave hits!"), and 20 hunts. If a hunter has not cleared earlier weeks, the message for the current week states "You'll have to defeat the previous wave before you can proceed!"

On the top left of the Heads-up Display is a count of Throwable Snowballs, and a "Throw 'em!" link to the Snowball Showdown mini-game.

Shops

These are the shops that can be found in the Festive Ice Fortress:

• Cheese Shoppe
• General Store
• Trapsmith
• Charm Shoppe

Festive Ice Fortress Mice

Mouse	Points	Gold	Standard Cheese	SUPER|brie+	Gingerbread or Seasoned Gouda	Festive Feta or Snowball Bocconcini	Arctic Asiago	2014 Loot
Abominable Snow	1,750	1,750	X		X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Builder 1	3,000	2,000	Charm Required 1	Charm Required 1	Charm Required 1	Charm Required 1	Charm Required 1	Ice Brick
Candy Cane	600	600	X				Requires Ice Tower 2
Christmas Tree	2,600	1,200			X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Confused Courier	650	325			X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Destructoy	1,000	400	X		X	X
Diamond	1,200	600	X		X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Dwarf	225	450	X					Arctic Asiago Cheese
Elf	900	750	X	X	X	X	X	Winter Hunt Gift Box
Frigid Foreman 3	1,500	850					X 3	Ice Brick Ice Coin Tower Slab
Frozen	300	300	X					Arctic Asiago Cheese
Gingerbread	1,200	750	X		X
Glacia Ice Fist 4	4,500	2,000					Ice Tower Boss 4	Advent Chocolate Arctic Asiago Cheese Crystal Ice Tower Skin Ice Brick Ice Coin Sealed 2014 Naughty List Winter Helper's Perch
Gold	600	1,200	X		X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Greedy Al	2,500	750					X	Ice Brick Ice Coin
Hoarder 5	2,500	1,000	Charm Required 5	Charm Required 5	Charm Required 5	Charm Required 5	Charm Required 5	Arctic Asiago Cheese
Hydra	9,640	5,760	X	X	X	X		Bolt of Cloth Rope Scrap Metal Simple Orb Splintered Wood
Mad Elf	9,000	1,800		X			X	Throwable Snowball
Missile Toe	1,600	900		X		X		Arctic Asiago Cheese Ice Coin
Monster	9,100	9,100	X		X	X		Brie Cheese Cheddar Cheese Living Shard Marble Cheese Swiss Cheese
Mouse of Winter Future 6	4,000	3,000	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Festive Feta Gingerbread Cheese Seasoned Gouda Snowball Bocconcini
Mouse of Winter Past 6	4,000	3,000	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Festive Feta Gingerbread Cheese Seasoned Gouda Snowball Bocconcini
Mouse of Winter Present 6	4,000	3,000	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Avoids Charms 6	Festive Feta Gingerbread Cheese Seasoned Gouda Snowball Bocconcini
Nutcracker	3,000	300			X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Ornament	900	2,600		X		X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Present	900	900	X	X	X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Reinbo	4,000	500					X	Ice Brick
Ribbon	600	750	X				Requires Ice Tower 2	Ice Coin
Ridiculous Sweater	1,500	750			X	X		Ice Coin
S.N.O.W. Golem	10,000	1,200					X	Ice Brick
Scrooge	70	3,000		X			X	Throwable Snowball
Slay Ride	8,000	4,000		X			X	Throwable Snowball
Snow Boulder	3,000	600					X	Ice Brick
Snow Fort	3,400	1,200		X		X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Snow Scavenger	2,500	900		X		X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Snow Sorceress	5,000	400					X	Ice Brick
Snowball Hoarder	2,000	900			X	X		Arctic Asiago Cheese
Snowblower	1,800	750		X	X	X		Ice Coin
Snowflake 7	1,800	900	Charm Required 7	Charm Required 7	Charm Required 7	Charm Required 7	Charm Required 7	Advent Chocolate Arctic Asiago Cheese Ice Brick Sinister Winter Wreath Portal
Snowglobe	900	750	X				Requires Ice Tower 2
Squeaker Claws	10,000	1,400					X	Ice Brick Ice Coin
Steel	270	500	X					Arctic Asiago Cheese
Stocking	900	300		X	X			Arctic Asiago Cheese Ice Coin
Stuck Snowball 8	2,000 8	650 8	X	X	X	X	X	Advent Chocolate Arctic Asiago Cheese Ice Coin Satchel of Gold 8 SUPER|brie+ Winter Charm
Tiny	200	450	X					Arctic Asiago Cheese
Toy	500	500	X				Requires Ice Tower 2	Ice Coin
Toy Tinkerer	900	1,200	X		X			Arctic Asiago Cheese Ice Coin
Triple Lutz	300	750	X				Requires Ice Tower 2
White	70	100	X					Arctic Asiago Cheese
Wreath Thief	2,200	700	X	X				Arctic Asiago Cheese Winter Charm

• ¹ The Builder Mouse is only available when Winter Builder Charms are armed.
• ² These mice require a completed Week 1 Ice Tower to be attracted with Arctic Asiago Cheese.
• ³ The Frigid Foreman Mouse is not present once the number of Tower Slabs required to build the Ice Tower has been reached.
• ⁴ Glacia Ice Fist is unlocked after building the Week 1 Ice Tower and then catching 40 mice with Arctic Asiago Cheese. It is a guaranteed attraction with Arctic Asiago at that point, and then randomly available for the rest of the week.
• ⁵ The Hoarder Mouse is only available when Winter Hoarder Charms are armed.
• ⁶ The Mice of Winter Past, Present, and Future avoid traps armed with Winter Charms, Winter Hoarder Charms or Winter Builder Charms.
• ⁷ The Snowflake Mouse is only available when Winter Charms, Winter Hoarder Charms or Winter Builder Charms are armed.
• ⁸ The Stuck Snowball Mouse has a base point value of 2000 which increases by 500 with each additional catch and a base gold value of 650 which increases by 350 with each additional catch. After the 5th catch, it also drops a Satchel of Gold that increases by 250 Gold after every 5 catches. It is a guaranteed attraction once every 21 catches with Arctic Asiago after catching Glacia Ice Fist, but can be randomly encountered at any other time as well. Catching the Stuck Snowball Mouse generates a Journal entry:

I just caught a Stuck Snowball Mouse for the X time! Poor guy keeps rolling though, getting bigger and bigger, and amassing more and more loot.
I look forward to the next time I catch him!

On each multiple of ten catches, the message changes slightly:

I just caught a Stuck Snowball Mouse for the 10th time! He's definitely much bigger now. The next time I catch him, I should be able to get more stuff!

Ice Fortress

To construct the Ice Fortress, Hunters must collect Ice Bricks from the various mice in the Festive Ice Fortress, when hunting with Arctic Asiago Cheese or with Winter or Winter Hoarder charms. Ice Bricks are consumed when building the Ice Fortress.

Framework

The first step is building the Framework.
Build a Mighty Ice Fortress!
Ice Fortress Framework

• Build your Ice Fortress and upgrade it with expansions to give bonuses to your trap, your rewards, and your friends!
• Requires 80 Ice Bricks.
• Completing this step creates a Hunter's Journal entry:

I used 80 Ice Bricks to build a mighty Ice Fortress!

Now I can begin building useful additions and expansions to help me fight the icy mice!

Upgrades

Once the Framework has been completed Hunters can move on to upgrading their Fortress. There are 4 upgrades available, each with three levels: Ice Cannon, Ice Armoury, Winter Walls, and Festive Tavern. They can be constructed in any order, but the levels within each upgrade must be completed in order. Level 1 costs 75 Ice Bricks, while the Level 2 and Level 3 upgrades each cost 50 Ice Bricks and require previous levels. Each upgrade earns the hunter 2-4 Ice Coins, and leaves a message in the Hunter's Journal.

Ice Cannon

• Level 1

• Your trap receives a +15% Power Bonus while at the Festive Ice Fortress!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I built a a Ice Cannon with 75 Ice Bricks!

My trap now receives a +15% Power Bonus while at the Festive Ice Fortress!

I earned 2 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 2

• Your trap receives +1,000 Power while at the Festive Ice Fortress!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Ice Cannon to Level 2 with 50 Ice Bricks!

My trap now receives +1,000 Power while at the Festive Ice Fortress!

I earned 3 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 3

• Your trap receives +3 Luck while at the Festive Ice Fortress!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Ice Cannon to Level 3 with 50 Ice Bricks!

My trap now receives +3 Luck while at the Festive Ice Fortress!>

I earned 4 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

Ice Armoury

• Level 1

• Your trap receives +3 Luck while in Winter Hunt Tournaments!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I built a an Ice Armoury with 75 Ice Bricks!

My trap now receives +3 Luck while in Winter Hunt Tournaments!

I earned 2 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 2

• Increase Tournament Tokens received during Winter Hunt Tournaments!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Ice Armoury to Level 2 with 50 Ice Bricks!

I'll now earn more Tournament Tokens during Winter Hunt Tournaments!

I earned 3 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 3

• Receive Ice Coins as a special reward from Winter Hunt Tournaments!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Ice Armoury to Level 3 with 50 Ice Bricks!

I'll now earn Ice Coins as a special reward from Winter Hunt Tournaments!

I earned 4 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

Winter Walls

• Level 1

• Your trap receives a bonus to cheese freshness and a +5% Attraction Bonus!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I built a a Winter Walls with 75 Ice Bricks!

My trap now receives a bonus to cheese freshness and a +5% Attraction Bonus! Mmm, winterfresh!

I earned 2 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 2

• Mice carrying Arctic Asiago will drop an extra piece!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Winter Walls to Level 2 with 50 Ice Bricks!

When I catch a mouse carrying Arctic Asiago, I'll now earn an extra piece!

I earned 3 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

After this upgrade, catching any mouse with Arctic Asiago loot leaves an extra message in the journal:

The XX Mouse also dropped 1 Arctic Asiago while scaling the wall!

• Level 3

• Mice carrying Ice Coins will drop an extra coin!
• Completing this level creates a Hunter's Journal entry:

I upgraded my Winter Walls to Level 3 with 50 Ice Bricks!

When I catch a mouse carrying Ice Coins, I'll now earn an extra coin!

I earned 4 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

After this upgrade, catching any mouse with Ice Coin loot leaves an extra message in the journal:

The XX Mouse also dropped 1 Ice Coin while scaling the wall!

Festive Tavern

• Level 1

• Doubles some of the rewards in Naughty and Nice List Treasure Chests!

• This effect only applies to the 2014 Treasure Chests.

• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I built a Festive Tavern with 75 Ice Bricks!

When I complete a Naughty or Nice Treasure Map, I'll now receive double the festive cheese, festive charms and Ice Coins rewarded!

If I use Rare Map Dust, some of the rewards will now be QUADRUPLED!

I earned 2 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 2

• Your Winter Hunt Profile will now give both Festive Feta and Snowball Bocconcini!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Festive Tavern to Level 2 with 50 Ice Bricks!

My Winter Hunt Profile now gives away both Festive Feta and Snowball Bocconcini!

I earned 3 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

• Level 3

• Claim 15 daily gifts from friends each day instead of only 10!
• Completing this level creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I upgraded my Festive Tavern to Level 3 with 50 Ice Bricks!

I can now claim 15 daily gifts each day instead of only 10!

I earned 4 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Fortress!

Completion

Building the complete Ice Fortress requires the framework and all 12 upgrades, for a total of 780 Ice Bricks. Upon completion, hunters would receive 1 Advent Chocolate and 1 Iceball Brawl Theme Scrap II, with the following entry in the Hunter's Journal:

Now that's what I call an Ice Fortess!

Mighty cannons and soaring towers, surrounded by an impenetrable moat! The Crystal Citadel stands no chance against the fruits of my labour!

While putting the finishing touches on, I found 1 Iceball Brawl Theme Scrap II!

I also earned 1 Advent Chocolate for completing my Ice Fortress!

Hunters would also be awarded with the Ice Fortress Completed special item required for purchase of a Festive Gauntlet Crusher weapon at the Trapsmith.

Ice Tower

To construct the Ice Tower, Hunters must hunt with Arctic Asiago to collect Tower Slabs from the Frigid Foreman Mouse. Tower Slabs are consumed when building the Ice Tower. The Frigid Foreman can only be attracted as long as the hunter has not met the current week's goal of slabs, so that it is not possible to save up slabs for a future week. If a hunter is behind on progress from an earlier week, it is still possible to progress towards the earlier general, but no longer possible to participate in that week's bonus catches for Stuck Snowball mice.

Week One

20 Tower Slabs are required to construct the Ice Tower.
Collecting enough Tower Slabs creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I have enough Tower Slabs to build the next level of my Ice Tower, so I can begin a snowball fight!

Completing the Ice Tower creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I used 20 Tower Slabs to build a level of my Ice Tower! Now I'm ready to face the wave of mice and their nefarious leader!
I earned 2 Ice Coins for upgrading my Ice Tower!

Once the Ice Tower is complete, Hunters must catch 40 mice using Arctic Asiago before Glacia Ice Fist will be released. Catching the 40th mouse creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I must take care, Glacia Ice Fist approaches! I must defeat her to complete the first stage of the icy invasion!

Catching Glacia Ice Fist unlocks the Week 1 Bonus Zone and creates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I caught Glacia Ice Fist and chased her out of the Crystal Citadel! The next icy general has yet to show their face, so I have some time to spend catching the Stuck Snowball Mouse for prizes and loot!

The Week 1 Bonus Zone allows Hunters to chase the Stuck Snowball Mouse.

• Hunters need to catch 20 mice within the zone using Arctic Asiago. Once this is done, the Stuck Snowball Mouse is a guaranteed attraction. A Failure To Catch of the Stuck Snowball Mouse will not reset the Bonus Zone.
• Both the Stuck Snowball Mouse and Glacia Ice Fist are part of the mouse population in the Bonus Zone and can be encountered while filling the 20 pips.
• Once a Hunter has successfully captured the Stuck Snowball Mouse as the final mouse, the Bonus Zone resets and can be played through again.
• Catches for the Stuck Snowball Mouse are cumulative and carry over when the Bonus Zone resets, including any catches made outside the Bonus Zone.

Week Two

25 Tower Slabs are required to upgrade the Ice Tower to level 2.
Once the upgrade is complete, Hunters must catch 50 mice using Arctic Asiago before Tundra Huntress will be released. After catching Tundra Huntress during the week, the hunter again participates in 20-hunt Stuck Snowball rounds.

Week Three

30 Tower Slabs are required to upgrade the Ice Tower to level 3.
Once the upgrade is complete, Hunters must catch 60 mice using Arctic Asiago before Borean Commander will be released. After catching Borean Commander during the week, the hunter again participates in 20-hunt Stuck Snowball rounds.

Capturing the Borean Commander will award the hunter with the Borean Commander Caught requirement necessary to purchase the Hothouse Base at the Trapsmith.

Snowball Showdown

The Snowball Showdown mini-game is similar to the Battleship game, and is accessed from the Heads-up Display as a pop-up window. For each Throwable Snowball a hunter collects, they have a chance to throw at one of 66 squares (6 rows of 11 columns) that have not yet been revealed. The top of the pop-up window gives various hints as the game progresses:

Throw snowballs to reveal hidden shapes and earn prizes!

I've hit something!

Grrr.

Argh! A miss.

That's a miss.

Nothin'!

Not a thing!

The top right also has a link to Get More! by donating for a Throwable Snowball Booster Pack. If a hunter runs out of snowballs, the center changes to a message:

You've run out of Snowballs!

You can get more Snowballs:

• in your Daily Rewards!
  
• as loot from Ice Fortress Mice!
  
• or Buy more!
  

Cool.

Along the bottom is a message "Hidden somewhere in this board are:" and a picture of four shapes with their reward:

• Candy Cane — 6 squares, worth 5 Winter Charms
• Holiday Tree — 7 squares, worth 3 Ice Coins
• Large Gift — 6 squares, worth 5 Arctic Asiago Cheese
• Small Gift — 4 squares, worth 5 Snowball Bocconcini

Each snowball thrown at an uncovered square will reveal either "MISS" or "HIT"; if a hit is made, some nearby squares will also be hits until the outline of one of the shapes is uncovered. The shapes in the board can be rotated any multiple of 90 degrees from the orientation shown at the bottom. When the last square of a shape is hit, those hits will change to the image of the item uncovered, and a message is added to the Hunter's Journal:

I've revealed a XXX in the Snowball Showdown and received XXX as a prize!

Completing the Snowball Showdown earns 5 SUPER|brie+ with a pop-up message in the game:

Nice work!

Wow, you've found all the hidden gifts!

You've earned some bonus SUPER|brie+! for clearing the board!

Play again

It also generates an entry in the Hunter's Journal:

I completed a Snowball Showdown board and earned 5 SUPER|brie+!

The board then resets and Hunters can play again.

Hunting Strategy

Hunting tips by Larry

Welcome to the site of your Festive Ice Fortress!

Sub-zero temperatures have turned this field into a frosty icescape. An army of icy mice have taken advantage of the circumstances and are creating a Crystal Citadel to oppose the hunters of Gnawnia. You'll need to steal their supplies and build a Festive Ice Fortress of your own to challenge them!

First, collect Arctic Asiago using any cheese (good), previous years' festive cheeses (better), or SUPER|brie+ (BEST). Next, arm that Arctic Asiago and use it to hunt festive mice! They'll drop Ice Bricks which you can use to build your Festive Ice Fortress and obtain special bonuses! More importantly though, you'll attract the Frigid Foreman mouse, who carries special Tower Slabs. Use these to build stages of your Ice Tower, which you'll need to challenge the leaders of the icy mice.

Each week, a new icy leader will face you, and you'll need to build your Ice Tower higher to challenge them. Once you've built that week's stage of the Ice Tower, you can wage a snowball fight against icy mice until you finally draw out the leader and defeat them!

If you manage to defeat the week's leader early, you'll have an opportunity for some bonus-hunting: The Stuck Snowball Mouse is stuck in an ever-growing snowball and zipping around collecting loot and weight. Normally, you'll encounter him rarely, but every time you do encounter him, he'll weigh more and eventually begin dropping better and better loot! But if you defeat the week's leader early, you can repeatedly wage a snowball fight against the Stuck Snowball Mouse directly for that week. Try to be the one hunter who catches the biggest Stuck Snowball Mouse in all the land!

Get to it - go collect that Arctic Asiago, build your Ice Fortress, challenge those leaders, and capture that Stuck Snowball Mouse!

Links

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