Ugluk Rough Draft

[Shiftrex]

Version 1.1

NAME = Ugluk

GENERAL = UTGAR
UNIQUENESS = Unique Hero
CLASS = Leader
PERSONALITY = Merciless
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/5?

LIFE = 6
MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 4
POINTS = 120

(More definitive powers)

URUK OF THE WHITE HAND
When Ugluk rolls an attack against a human figure add 1 additional attack die.

SARUMAN'S COMMAND
All Orcs and Uruk-Hai you control may move an additional space. Ugluk is not affected by Sauroman's Command.

VIOLENT CHARGE
When Ugluk destroys a figure, you may immediately take a turn with any orc army card you control. Any figure activated during this turn must begin their turn within 4 clear sight spaces of Ugluk.

(Other possible powers)

GET IN LINE
When an Orc or Uruk-Kai rolls a 20-sided die and they are within 4 clear sight spaces of Ugluk you may add 1 to that roll. After the roll has been made you may place a wound marker on Ugluk and reroll the 20-sided die for that power but you must keep the new result.

KEEP MOVING
At the end of the round you may choose up to 4 Orcs or Uruk-hai that you control within clear sight of Ugluk and move them each 1 space. Any figures moved by Keep Moving will take any leaving engagement attacks.

ORDERS OF THE WHITE HAND
After taking a turn with Ugluk you may reveal the X order marker on him and if you do then take a turn with any friendly Orc or Uruk-Hai squad.

[Shiftrex]

[Reserved]

[Shiftrex]

Design Thoughts

Some of the stuff pulled from the initial design of this unit was that we wanted him to be a true leadership unit with themes of brutality. The power suggestions have generally revolved around him causing some damage and getting some reward because he is whipping the orcs into a frenzy. I like the idea of the third power that is currently on him but it creates a bonding chain if he interacts with the classic orcs so it is definitely a no go. Would like to see him assert some meaningful benefit with orcs and uruk-hai but Violent Charge doesn't hit the mark right now.

Get in line and Keep Moving don't really have the feel I'd hope for, and Orders of the White Hand causes the same bonding chain problem.

Feedback in the original thread mentions that we definitely want him to work really well in an Orc build and not really be a stand alone unit, that's going to be more of a role for Lurtz.

[TheAverageFan]

I had originally tried to make a card for Uglúk on my own thread but never got a design I was satisfied with, so I'm interested to see what we can conjure up here.

First we need to reach a universal agreement on if Uruk-Hai's race will just be Orc or not. I am of the opinion that when it comes to Tolkien goblins orcs and uruks are all Orcish as far as species (and any further differentiation will just be in the name: Moria Goblins, Uruk-Hai Scouts, etc.). It may also simplify synergy but could be a double-edged sword if we want powers that only affect Uruk-Hai.

Saruman's Command is pretty strong as is, since there are tons of Orcs in Heroscape already and more on the way with HoME. Any Leadership-type power tends to be, but orcs are already fast as is (which might make it stronger than Soldier or Kyrie Leadership). I'd argue more for an Ullar's Amulet-type power, letting orcs who start their turn adjacent to Uglúk move more spaces. I feel like that fits his taskmaster theme better. Thoughts?

Violent Charge also has bonding chain issues as you have mentioned. Move and Attack tends to be better than Take a Turn With for that, but it's still messy. How about this?

LOOKS LIKE MEAT'S BACK ON THE MENU BOYS
Whenever Uglúk destroys a figure with a normal attack, you may immediately move and attack with up to 4 Common Orcs you control who follow Utgar. The chosen Orcs must begin their move within 4 clear sight spaces of Uglúk.

~TAF

[Shiftrex]

That's a good discussion to bring up. Honestly, if we are going to be true to source material they are all a variation of Orc aren't they?

"Uruk-hai (for short, Uruks) were brutal warriors of Middle-earth, and the strongest Orcs, who dwelt in Isengard." - Lotr wiki

Throwing the question into google brings up a lot of stuff that says Uruk-hai are just a breed of orc. Stronger, faster, and better in basically every way. It is also worth noting that goblins and really similar to orcs in middle earth as well.

"'Goblins' are what Tolkien called the Orcs whom Thorin and Company encountered in The Hobbit." - lotr wiki

We wouldn't be wrong by any measure if we just called them all Orcs. Though scape does differentiate with goblins so it is really something good to discuss. I think for our purposes I would be fine with calling Uruks orcs over in the leftbox but that means we have to run any "Uruk" heroes through the wringer for Orc bonding if we call them Orcs. Pros and Cons to both. I'm pretty neutral on it leaning towards simplification.

[Chris Perkins]

Tolkien's goblins are identical to orcs; just a different name in The Hobbit v. The Lord of the Rings. They should be the same species for sure.

Uruk-hai were more of their own sub-species as far as I know. From TolkienGateway.net:
"They were faster than normal Orcs and could travel during the day without being weakened. They were not only faster but smarter, stronger and larger, though they were still shorter than Men."
Source: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Uruk-hai

The important distinction here is the lack of sunlight vulnerability. To me, that indicates a separate sub-species.

I'd prefer having Uruk-hai as it's own species listed on their cards.

Regarding Ugluk, I definitely agree one power should be solely about movement. I like Sauroman's Command best right now: I don't think +1 move for all orcs is too strong, as you're paying 120 points for it. I'd rather have Grimnak with blades or heavies than Ugluk even with that power. Also, for a non-bonding single-attacking hero that costs > 100 points, there needs to be something strong for squads to make the hero worth it.

I feel like "Violent Charge" is not going to get used much / if at all. It's just too big of a risk to not put the OM directly on the squad instead. A single attack of 4 is going to fail to kill something more often than you can afford to not move or attack with a full squad on that turn. I much prefer "Orders of the White Hand", as that lets you take exactly 1 turn per round with him without risk. I think that would get used and let him (mostly) keep up with the squad.

[TheAverageFan]

I checked the workbook of Uruk Scouts and they are indeed Uruk-Hai as the Species so there is precedent. I'd prefer all orcish species be orcs but both have their design advantages and I already have it as such in my own thread where I always get my way so I won't fuss about it too much. I do think Saruman's Command could probably work just boosting movement for Uruk-Hai only (as there'll be plenty of those throughout our designs).

If Violent Charge is too risky you could have it activate more figures to be more of a payoff, bump Uglúk's attack to make it more likely, or drop his price a bit lower. Or any combination of these. Plus if he needs it to trigger he can always kill one of those pesky friendly orcs for an easier activation.

Also I'm not sure how this would work, but there are a lot of bonding powers that limit the extra turn (such as "during this turn, the chosen Pathfinders may not move"). I wonder if a "during this turn, the chosen orcs may only move and attack" would prevent a bonding chain?

~TAF

[Shiftrex]

C3g has some verbiage they use to prevent bonding chains. I'll update the OP with some fixer wording for Orders of the White hand. Seems like a more relevant choice for gameplay to me and makes things less swingy.