When you play as OL, do you

1: Prefer to group your monsters together or spread them out?

2: Prefer to put them as close to the player as possible to slow them down or put them far away to try and get the 'first strike' against the heroes?

3: Try to kill the heroes and complete the objective or just complete the objective?

I'm playing the OL in my group's first campaign. We just finished the interlude and I find that I generally 1: group monsters together, 2: put them close to the player, and 3: try to complete the objective.

I've been thinking I should spread out my monsters more and put them farther away to keep them alive longer and let them attack more; thereby allowing me to kill the heroes more. However, I've won 2 of the Act 1 quests and the interlude. What do you all think?

Concentrating on the objective is the priority.

Monster placement and strategies are dependant upon the objective - and may vary for each quest.

Yeah, as a persistent OL, my tactics vary from quest to quest, so it's hard to say. Although I do take some time to pick the open group monster(s) for the current encounter. Those groups heavily depend on the heroes you're trying to defend against.

-Heavy tank hero: I like go get a heavy piercing monster (deep elf is a good one) to put that player in his place, thinking he's super tanky, lol

-Heavy piercing hero: Golems or anything with double gray+ defense dice to make them work for it (in theory)

etc….