The Book of Tul-Bak-Ra

[spiteofthedice]

The Book of Tul-Bak-Ra

Wave 9 - Blackmoon's Seige - "Heroes of the Moon Tribe"

If you cannot see the Army Card graphic, check Hasbro's Unit Page for stats and special powers, plus "character biography" and other non-game unit info.

Character Bio: TBA
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

- TELEPORTATION: To a Glyph?
Q. Can I use Teleportation or Teleport Reinforcements to transport figures onto glyphs?
A. Nice try. Per the wording on the card, the spaces onto which figures teleport must be "empty." A space containing a glyph is not empty, and therefore Tul-Bak-Ra would not be able to transport himself or any other figures onto it. The space next to the glyph, on the other hand . . .

- TELEPORT REINFORCEMENTS: & Area-Attacks:
Q. If Tul-Bak-Ra receives one or more wounds from an area-attack (Such as Johnny "Shotgun" Sullivan's SHOTGUN BLAST SPECIAL ATTACK), and takes advantage of TELEPORT REINFORCEMENTS, are the teleported figures also then affected by the area-attack?
A. No. The teleported figure would not be affected by the attack.
Targetting is decided prior to actual die-rolling or anything that comes after, including the re-positioning of figures by a power like Teleport Reinforcements, which cannot change which figures are affected by the attack.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

- ORNAK : Red Flag of Fury
As a Unique Hero that follows Utgar, Tul-Bak-Ra may benefit from Ornak’s RED FLAG OF FURY activation synergy.

Synergy Benefits Offered: Marro Squads

* Grok Riders
* Marro Dividers
* Marro Drones
* Marro Drudge
* Marro Stingers
* Marro Warriors

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

TBA

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-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Tul Bak Ra - What's your army idea?

Tul-Bak-Ra and Dividers Preview Discussion thread

Tul-Bak-Ra: Marro Overlord

Power Ranking and Master Index

Although he has an interesting toolbox of abilities, TBR isn't all that well suited to standard tournament play. C+

Unit Strategy Review

TBA

[CheddarLimbo]

Thanks for getting the book up so quick spiteofthedice!

Important distinction - When T-B-R teleports himself, he must teleport onto a same-level space. However, when he teleports reinforcements, they just have to be adjacent to him, meaning he can position teleport targets onto nearby height.

[Tai-Pan]

I like the idea of using this guy in conjunction with Kelda. A slight modification in the traditional Saylind-Kelda field hospital, Tul-Bak-Ra can do the teleporting himself, and, if there is something within three spaces of Kelda, he can zap it while he's there.

An interesting question to pose would be, why isn't he a warlord? The only benefits coming from that would be bonding with the Groks, and a Grok attack enhancement. I think most here would agree, the Groks need a little help, so it must lay on Tul-Bak-Ra. I think perhaps it is that his base stats, combined with being extremely mobile, would make him too powerful as a warlord. Right now, there are only two marro warlords, Ne-Gok-Sa and Me-Burq-Sa. The one can't keep up with the Groks, but does have the staying power to help out once he gets there. The other can keep up with the Groks but isn't very good in a melee-heavy fight.

[The B.I.V.]

Just for the record, teleporting Groks, doesn't sound good to me unless TBR is also adjacent to an engaged Warlord. The Groks movement is already good (at 8. It's their cost that's prohibitive...

Brandon

[nyys]

Originally Posted by Tai-Pan

Are the Legionnaires still doing all right? I've never been to tournaments or anything and my only play experience comes from playing with people I introduced to the game. In our circles, the Romans don't see much play time, and could use a boost.

I think we'll see them a lot more with the re-release of Wave 1 (this week I think), but I do see them pretty regularly anyway. They're very good as is, though I find they need a good ranged squad backing them up since they're so slow (like the AE as along as they drop and also have synergy with Marcus). If TBR were a Warlord it would definitely buy the Romans some time to get to the front lines while the Marro teleporters hold the enemy line (in theory).

So basically you'd get to move/attack with the Romans (or any squad that bonds with a Marro Warlord), after Teleporting TBR in (and attacking), and then move some squaddies up when he's attacked to buy the Romans that time. Almost like a double bond.

[SymphonyScaper]

Tul-Bak-Ra is going to be awesome! I love his abilities!

Speaking of abilities, I thought he could just summon sqauds without having to do anything, similar to how he can use Teleportation on himself. Teleport Reinforcements is a cool twist on how he can teleport squads, and I can't wait to try him out with the Dividers.

His appearance is cool, but I think his face has too many similarities to that of a human face. That red dot in the middle of his face makes him look like a clown.

I think it's worthwhile to say that he can move ten spaces with disengage, and then attack from three spaces, with no restrictions of line of sight, all for a threat range of 13. That's pretty good! He's also the first Marro hero to not have any D20 powers or enhancements.

[Warlord Alpha]

Originally Posted by spiteofthedice

No. No they certainly are not.

Actually, they could use a hero to bond with. Then I would draft them. Unfortunately, their main thing is needing height advantage, and TBR is not so good at helping figures go up and down stairs (Teleport being a unilateral ability).

They need that and a lot of swamp water

And about TBR not helping figures onto height, technically the divider could be on a space 4 levels higher and still be adjacent to TBR. Its something, at least.

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And also, you should probably add to this...

- TELEPORTATION: To a Glyph?
Q. Can I use Tul-Bak-Ra's Teleportation ability to transport him onto a glyph if it is within 10 spaces?
A. Nice try. Per the wording on the card, you may choose any "empty space" within 10 spaces. A space containing a glyph is not empty, and therefore Tul-Bak-Ra would not be able to transport to it. The space next to the glyph, on the other hand . . .

...That when you teleport a divider, the space the divider ends up on must also be empty, which means no teleporting your divider friends onto glyphs either.

[SirGalahad]

Originally Posted by Warlord Alpha

And about TBR not helping figures onto height, technically the divider could be on a space 4 levels higher and still be adjacent to TBR. Its something, at least.

You could also teleport Stingers to that height.

[GromBloodboy]

One of Aldin's army ideas for this guy inspired me. This guy can actually be good alone. With 6 life, 4 attack and defense, he is a brute. Now he also gets to teleport, moving him around areas that were once impassable. It can only be said that both this guy and Brave Arrow can be used alone to great effect.

[Tai-Pan]

I find it interesting to see that if Tul-Bak-Ra is destroyed, he doesn't get to teleport reinforcements in. This could be an important point to consider when attacking him. Do you really want to hit him with Jotun when he's full health? That could easily end with 3-4 Marro squaddies being teleported up. Perhaps it would be better to use something a little less stronger to land one or two wounds, only allowing a couple Marro to be summoned, and then go for the kill when it looks like you can finish him off with a 3-4 wound hit.

Also, we must consider which units stand a (reasonable) chance of a one hit-one kill on this guy, totally avoiding activating his reinforcement ability:

Braxas
Cyprien
Deadeye Dan
Grimnak
Kee-Mo-Shi
Morsbane
Ne-Gok-Sa
Rechets of Bogdan
Runa
Shades of Bleakewoode
Sudema

This group may be divided into two categories, those who can kill him without activating his power, or those that may kill him or may just activate his power.

No Risk:
Braxas
Cyprien
Deadeye Dan
Grimnak
Kee-Mo-Shi
Morsbane
Ne-Gok-Sa
Runa
Shades of Bleakewoode
Sudema

This group relies on d20 special abilities to either kill or take your opponent's Tul-Bak-Ra without landing any wounds on him. Of them, only Deadeye Dan, Braxas, Morsbane, and Sudema can show no restraint, as the others have the option of normally attacking in addition to their killing special ability. The others on the list will be wasting a normal attack unless there is another enemy figure adjacent to them, which, considering Tul-Bak-Ra's teleport ability, is probably unlikely. Cyprien and Kee-Mo-Shi both have damage dealing abilities that avoid activating Tul-Bak-Ra's reinforcement ability (because they're not attacks) that should be used to land some 'free' wounds on the Marro Overlord.

Grimnak, however, gets a special mention here. Because of his ability to bond with either the blade or heavy Gruts, a turn with him is a turn commanding six hexes worth of figures, enough to completely surround Tul-Bak-Ra. If you can surroud Tul-Bak-Ra with the Gruts, feel free to pound on him, and remember the bonus two of your orcs get for being adjacent to Grimnak. Even if you don't kill him, all adjacent hexes are occupied so he would be unable to summon reinforcements. This will probably only work once, because of Tul-Bak-Ra's extremely high mobility.


Rechets of Bogdan:
The Rechets can kill Tul-Bak-Ra, but only if they get a skull on every die. If not, there's a chance he'll be bringing in back up. This is, however, a comparatively low-risk situation. If they're not on height and don't get skulls on every die, they rolled between 0-2 skulls, not to much too expect from Tul-Bak-Ra's defence to counter.

[Tai-Pan]

Sorry for the three posts in a row, but the first was a realization a while ago, the second was a well thought-out post, and this is just a question.

Toxic Skin- If Tul-Bak-Ra takes a wound due to Toxic Skin, and summons a Marro also adjacent to the figure rolling for Toxic Skin, does the figure rolling for Toxic Skin also get to roll for the newly summoned figure?

Similarly, if Tul-Bak-Ra takes a wound due to an explosion attack, and summons a Marro, does the attack also affect the summoned Marro?

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by Tai-Pan

Sorry for the three posts in a row, but the first was a realization a while ago, the second was a well thought-out post, and this is just a question.

Toxic Skin- If Tul-Bak-Ra takes a wound due to Toxic Skin, and summons a Marro also adjacent to the figure rolling for Toxic Skin, does the figure rolling for Toxic Skin also get to roll for the newly summoned figure?

Similarly, if Tul-Bak-Ra takes a wound due to an explosion attack, and summons a Marro, does the attack also affect the summoned Marro?

1) not sure, but I would think not
2) is a definate no ( confirmed this in the Rules Team thread).

Originally Posted by Grungebob

Any newly placed figures are not affected by the original attack.