Ice Fortress HUD

During the Great Winter Hunt 2014, hunters built an Ice Fortress to defend the kingdom against invading mice, by using Ice Bricks obtained as loot while hunting with Arctic Asiago cheese. The fort is built in stages by clicking on the Build button of the Heads-up Display at the Festive Ice Fortress. The gameplay resembles the Snow Fort of the Great Winter Hunt 2013.

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.

Along the bottom of the Heads-up Display is a progress meter for each week's goal towards an Ice Tower. During Week One (9-15 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.

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.

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.

Along the way through the event, additional messages are placed in the Hunter's Journal:

1st Stuck Snowball

I just caught a Stuck Snowball Mouse for the 1st 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!

Ice Fortress

The initial fortress has the following description:

Ice Fortress Framework

Built your Ice Fortress and upgrade it with expansions to give bonuses to your trap, your rewards, and your friends!

It is built for a cost of 80 bricks

Snowball Showdown

The Snowball Showdown mini-game is similar to the Battleship game, and is accessed from the Heads-up Display at the Festive Ice Fortress 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.

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 some from the shop!
  

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. At that point, the hits will change to 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!

Throwable Snowball

This perfectly-packed, beautifully-rounded snowball is perfect for throwing and allows a hunter to make a guess in the 2014 Snowball Showdown. Toss one at the playing field and see what sticks!

Play the Snowball Showdown now!

A Throwable Snowball could be obtained from the daily Loyalty Chest, as loot from mice in the Festive Ice Fortress when hunting with Arctic Asiago, and from Donations for a Throwable Snowball Booster Pack. Each snowball gives a chance to uncover another square in the Snowball Showdown mini-game.