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Akhenaten
Undead Commander

Frontal Assault - Strategic Field Commanders (1/3)



The figure used is Karrnathi Skeleton (swords) #002 from Eberron: Rising from the Last War.

CHARACTER BIO:

Spoiler Alert!

------------------------Under Construction--------------------------------.

CARD TEXT:

Spoiler Alert!

GENERAL = VALKRILL
PLANET = FEYLUND
SPECIES = UNDEAD
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = WARDEN
PERSONALITY = MILITARISTIC
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 4

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 90

CRIMSON BLADES
When Akhenaten rolls a normal attack against an enemy figure you may remove one of the die that rolled a skull from your roll and place it on this card to save it. After you roll a normal attack and before your opponent rolls defense, you may expend and move any number of saved skulls off this card to add them to your attack. Skulls that are moved off of Akhenaten's Army Card are expended, you can only have 2 Skulls saved on this Army Card at any one time.

GUARD MANEUVER 9
When Akhenaten or any Guard within 5 clear sight spaces Akhenaten, receives one or more wounds from a leaving engagement attack, immediately roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 9 or higher, ignore all wounds from that leaving engagement attack.

DESIGN NOTES:

Spoiler Alert!

Stepping up my design a bit with this one and taking my ideas from just fun design space to the actual board. I hope to do the same with my other ideas and designs soon.

Tatomb is meant to scoop up some really fun units that exist in the game and help them act as a more cohesive unit. The Tomb Skeletons and the Tomb Skeleton Archers are units that I really appreciate playing and I think they are a great fit summoned under Valkrill, however this Undead Commander is meant to make them into a more focused force. He stays towards the front of the fray and calls more and more units in to have a constant stream of offense or defense that reminds me of Diablo 3 rift pushing. Skeletons are easy to put down but they work effectively as a group with a large bruiser leading them but in the end he is just a large Tomb Skeleton that has the same strengths and weaknesses that they do.

His stat line is exactly that of a Tomb Skeleton +1 to everything but Range. The Double attack ability comes from the sculpt having two swords and giving him more of a "wrecking" ball affect. His Skeletal Form is identical to that of the Tomb Skeletons and Tomb Skeleton Archers while his command ability is inspired by Kato Katsuro with some changes. Kato is a Daimyo while Tatomb is a Captain, a field commander that would specialize in leading his troops on the front line. Tatomb is also a Guard, which means that he would specialize supervising defenses and being a part of them himself. This fits the theme I am going for of some forgotten Feylund commander.

I originally had him bonding with guard squads in general but I didn't want his focus to be wild and all over the place. I wanted to make him simple and a good option for someone that likes to play with the Skeletons to begin with. They present an organized, range resistant threat to most other armies but they go down easily when facing strong melee.

UPDATE(1/3/21):
Changed the figure to align under Valkrill because he is thematically a large tomb skeleton. Changed class to Warden to show that he has a rank higher than the guards that are under him and did away with the Double Attack.

Since Tatomb takes his turn along with the skeletons he is less of a true commander and more a part of a giant squad that has many facets so there is little need for him to have the extra power. Also solved some problems with his bonding power that would incur strange rule breaking instances by relying on future conditions that cannot be guaranteed. Point reduction to 130 to dial it down slowly, may turn this dial up or down when tests come in.

UPDATE 1/6/21: After doing more testing and finally getting the miniature in, I found that I was mistaken about Tatomb's size! He is only about as big as the other skeletons. That being said his points have been adjusted because he can not longer see over as many obstacles to assert his command and he doesn't have protection against grimnak or braxas anymore. Dropped to 120 points which helps substantially because now in a 500 point build you can afford to go 4 of each squad plus warden and isamu or plus raelin instead.

UPDATE 1/10/21: After receiving feedback about the sculpt and the name, I have decided to change the overall direction of the custom. Instead of being a very high ranking commander, the focus is on making an elite skeletal warrior instead. I am retaining the idea of him being a warden and giving synergy to guards so that he can have a connection to the Tomb Skeletons / Archers but he will be able to integrate with all guards and have an identity as a figure instead of just being an order marker hub.

The new focus is built around the interesting swords that he has and the ideas that came from the designers of his sculpt as a Karrnathi skeleton being a unit that is capable of tactics, thought, and defensive fighting above the level of a standard undead.

Skeletal Form was tossed out in favor of an extra defense die all the time to account for his armor. His attack stat is the same as a Tomb Skeleton now but he has the ability to save skulls that he doesn't want to use and make a larger attack later. This leads to interesting decisions in gameplay and a unique mechanic that no other figure in the game has. Hopefully this fits a better design direction and brings something fresh to the fields of Valhalla.

-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• ZOMBIE HULK : PARALYZING FEAR
  Figures attacked by any Undead subtract one from their defense for every Zombie Hulk they are engaged to.
  

Synergy Benefits Offered

• All Guards *Under Construction.*

Comments and ideas welcome! I've done two tests and gone through four revisions on this guy so far, definitely look forward to making him better as time goes on.

NOTES: SoV fail led to redesign of figure in accordance with feedback.