IshMEL's Customs: Updated 7/11/2018

[Ixe]

Nerull's Champion
This hero is interesting and I really like the idea of the last power providing an interesting downside. While his defense is pretty good for his points, his life is low enough to leave him quite vulnerable for a melee figure. The fact that he effectively bonds with Sevestra and the bonus range she provides does mean you can probably get some use out of him.

This is all ignoring the Terrible Visage power. On many maps and with many army configurations, it could just function as a nuisance. You'd move some figures away and they'd just move right back on their turn, not even inconvenienced. Moving heroes could be a little more bothersome to correct, particularly for a unit like Raelin who receives few Order Markers and you can move her into a less convenient position to extend her bonus. He could also always set up a unit on lower ground to be attacked by Sevestra or set up your army in a way that he can march important figures away from him and right into a low ground surrounded by your army. The latter seems good to set up around an initiative switch. In the right armies, you could be marching enemies right into engagement strikes or force them away only to have them risk it again on their turn. The power soars to absurd levels once you factor in unusual terrain like significant height or lava. Forcing squads on lava field tiles could be bad enough but having figures run like lemmings over cliffs or into molten lava could be absurd. Your opponent may have little opportunity to play around it or be put in compromising positions trying to play around it too much. I think the unit and power idea is cool, but I fear the power may be a bit too reliable and potent than you realize and is not factored in with the cost.

Skeletal Archers and Skeletal Hunter
March of the Legion is an interesting means of movement bonding with their "swog rider" (as well as being pretty versatile), but it is going to be difficult justifying giving them order markers as a two figure squad. They won't make much of a dent point wise at the very least. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit as a cheap means of mounting a little ranged army to support your undead commons out there, although many of the undead commons are pretty parasitic (just want to play with more of their own) and will fight for points and start zone space.

[IshMEL]

Thanks for the help @Ixe . I haven't tested Nerull's Champion yet, and you're probably right that Terrible Visage is more powerful than I've counted on. I could dial it back with the d20 odds, certainly, and/or reduce its range to figures adjacent to the Champion, which would make it easier to play around (as well as being a bit more thematic).

On the Skeletal Archers, I'm curious what the VC will do with a 2-man common squad. I had multiple ideas for them:
a) Resurrection (adjacent to Cleric / Sorcerer / Warwitch perhaps)
b) Horde (move any 3, attack with any 3)
c) Tactical Undead Hero Bonding (bond w/ any Undead Hero, or if not, then move / attack with 4 instead of 2.

I wasn't particularly happy with any of these options, so I went for cheap and expendable. We shall see what the official version turns out to be!

[IshMEL]

OK so here's an updated version of the Skeletal Archers, using option C:

Upped by 10 points due to their increased versatility.

Here are a couple of others of my Infernal Faction that I've recently put into octadecagonal format:



and



Both are there to bridge the Demons and Undead in your army.

[IshMEL]

Well, it looks like I won't have to wait long for the actual Skeletal Archers (or Bramcephys! Yay!) so I can stop theoryscaping my own versions!

A couple of more Infernal cards for your Sunday viewing:



The Spectre has been changed slightly because of wording space issues -- the "Coward's Reward" only triggers when a figure is running away because of Horror.



I had originally had it with this power:

Unnoticed
If an opponent's figure can target any other figure you control for an attack, it cannot target the Vornsk Demon.

But I think the lack of target zone does pretty much the same thing. (Not quite, but I think it's more elegant.)

[IshMEL]

Zalindreh



Zalindreh
General: Ullar
Species: Dragon
Unique Hero
Class: Familiar
Personality: Loyal
Small 2
Life: 1
Move: 5
Range: 1
Attack: 2
Defense: 4

Points: 20

Base: Single
Planet: Feylund

Familiar Bonding
At the beginning of the game, choose a Unique Wizard or Archmage Hero you control to be Zalindreh's chosen Master. After taking a turn with its Master, you may take a turn with Zalindreh.

Dragon Magic
Instead of attacking normally, you may choose a figure within 4 clear sight spaces and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 15 or higher, you may use Dragon Magic on that figure. If you control the figure, remove one wound marker from its Army Card. If an opponent controls the figure, it takes one wound.

Flying
When counting spaces for the Zalindreh's movement, ignore elevations. Zalindreh may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When Zalindreh starts to fly, if it is engaged it will take any leaving engagement attacks.

Figure: Pseudodragon, D&D Elemental Evil

I knew as soon as I saw this little guy that I had to get him. I always liked Sonlen and his pet dragon (blame it on Pern) so now the other Wizards can get a dragon too! Or Sonlen can have two. The figure is a little smaller than Sonlen's dragon -- maybe about 80% of the size. I never quite liked the thematic implications of it being able to do both Dragon Healing and Dragon Swoop on the same turn, so Zalindreh can do one or the other. Defense is high to represent its ability to fly evasively, and being a small target. The cost is really a guess.

As always, your suggestions and comments are welcome!

[TheAverageFan]

A neat little mini-Sonlen power for 20 extra points. Seems like he could be a bit potent with Sonlen himself, but I digress. Other than that, he's not so bad and 20 seems fair (especially since Marcu has twice the attack and six times the life for the same price). Speaking of which, he might not be a bad choice for Kyntela Gwyn. Good thing Greenscales say it has to be Large or Huge for Dragon Bonding to work.

~TAF

[IshMEL]

Thanks for the feedback on Zalindreh @TheAverageFan ! Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I haven't tried him out yet but hope to soon! I have a similar Flying Familiar in the works which I will post soon.

I got a test game in with Jandar's Counterintelligence recently with Z-Man. I think they will need some major tinkering. Part of the problem was that I got the glyphs of +1 Attack and +1 Defense early on, so that meant with all the OMs on Agent Moore, I could easily get in 4 ranged attacks of 4 each round. With the added defense, and Z-Man's bad rolling that game, I just stomped all over him.

But, crushing result aside, his main critique of the units is that they lack character. "With the Specialists, they all felt different. These pretty much feel the same." I think he's right, especially for my ranged units. Agent Moore doesn't feel like a "commander," more like, well, just an OM manager. It's more "bureaucratic" than "inspiring". Agents Zilar, Moore, and Carter all have a kind of double attack, and there doesn't seem to be much reason to use one over the other. Mostly, it's their passive powers that make them stand out.

Agent Moore



I'm thinking of replacing her powers with these:

Agents of Jandar
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, instead of taking a turn with Agent Moore you may move up to 3 Agents you control who follow Jandar up to 4 spaces each. Agent Moore may be moved by Agents of Jandar. A figure moved by Agents of Jandar does not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Coordinated Agent Special Attack
Range 5 Attack 2+Special
If Agent Moore is unengaged, she may use Coordinated Agent Special Attack. When attacking with Coordinated Agent Special Attack, add 2 attack dice for each other Agent you control who is in clear sight of Agent Moore and who is also in range of the target, up to a maximum of +4.

Plan B
If a Unique Agent Hero you control is destroyed within clear sight of Agent Moore, you may move all unrevealed Order Markers from that Agent's card to this one.

That gives you a good set of choices:
1) She commands a group of Jandar Agents to move with disengage.
2) She takes a turn and does a "Coordinated Agent" attack (kudos to @Just_a_Bill for this idea, although my version is quite different than his.)
3) She takes a turn and makes a normal attack.
4) Instead of an OM manager, she's an OM insurance policy.

Agent Liu



I like her power set, and think she hangs together as a "Trickier" ninja type. I do think "Whirling Katana" needs to be a SA. At 4 dice, against a defense of 4, it should statistically cause the same damage as 6 attack (slightly better, actually). At 5, it gets really ugly. I think I priced her at the 4 dice level, so I'm going to keep it like that with the SA:

Whirling Katana Special Attack
Range 1, Attack Special.
Roll 4 attack dice. If at least one skull is rolled, she may attack again with Whirling Katana Special Attack, rolling 1 fewer die. She may continue to attack with Whirling Katana Special Attack, rolling 1 fewer attack die for each subsequent attack, until you fail to roll a skull.

Of course, this raises the issue of "when would she ever use a normal attack?" So I'll raise her a base attack to 5. Same level as Kozuke Samurai and one less than Drake I, so it's conceivable to do that with a katana. It won't affect her cost, since I calculated it on the equivalent of 6A.

Shadow Dodge needs tweaking on wording, perhaps odds:

Shadow Dodge 14
If Agent Liu is attacked and at least 1 skull is rolled, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 1-13, roll defense dice normally. If you roll a 14 or higher, Agent Liu takes no damage and may immediately move up to 4 spaces. Agent Liu can Shadow Dodge only if she ends her move not adjacent to any enemy figures. When moving with Shadow Dodge, Agent Liu does not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Agent Walker



I think I will drop "Take Cover." It doesn't really fit her theme and it's fussy. With a limited defense of 3, Counter Strike could be a good replacement, which would fit the fencer theme... or I could get radical and just have two powers! Crazy!


Agent Zilar:
I'm going to limit Stealth Initiative as follows:

Stealth Initiative
At the beginning of the round, if an opponent won initiative, before that opponent reveals an Order Marker you may immediately move one Agent figure you control up to 5 spaces. When moving with Stealth Initiative, an Agent does not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Z-Man says she looks like she should be able to Leap into a group of enemies and do some kind of Whirlwind assault. A ranged Master Woo? I'll have to think on that. I'm not so sure about giving her an "extra-human" type of power -- theme-wise, the JA are just human -- but it's hard to say no to a 12-year-old's ideas.

Agent Carter



I'm going to change the name, at least, so it's not the same as the comic. Other than that, I'm leaving her as is.

Agent Rigg

So I have one more figure to fit in with Jandar's Counterintelligence. It's the Heroclix Colleen Wing:



Here's what I'm thinking:
4 L / 6 M / 1 R / 4 A / 3 D / 80 pts

Phantom Walk
Agent Rigg can move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an enagagement.

Phantom Strike
After moving normally, you may choose a figure that Agent Rigg moved through this turn and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll an 11 or higher, the chosen figure takes one wound.

I'm sure someone has done Phantom Strike, or something like it, before but I don't know if I've seen it before.

This leaves me with some leftover "flavor powers" that I may or may not use:

Counterintelligence Training
Agent X, and all Agents you control who follow Jandar, roll 1 additional die when defending against a normal or special attack from an Agent, Specialist, or Ninja.

This one might go to Agent Walker to replace Take Cover. So much for two powers...

Intelligence Dossier
Agent X adds 1 to her defense when defending against an attack from a Unique figure.

Could stay with Agent Zilar, depending on her final version, or go to Agent Rigg perhaps.

As always, your feedback is welcome. Thanks for taking a look at my Works In Progress.

More to come!

[IshMEL]

I updated the Infernal Horde faction page with cards for the Skullwarden, Lord Azon, The Spectre of Laur, Vornsk Demon, Sevestra Thune, Nerull's Champion. Tinkering with wording and stats on the Hound of Tindalos. Skeletal Captain (was the Skeletal Hunter) still a WIP now that the Tomb Skeletal Archers are out.

I promised another Wizard Familiar, so here it is!

Corvus
Ullar
Bird
Familiar
Tricky
Life 1
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 1
Defense 4
Points 20



Wizard's Familiar
For purposes of special powers on any Army Card you control, Corvus may be considered an Elf Wizard in addition to its normal species and class.

Through The Eye of the Raven
When Corvus is within 3 clear sight spaces of an opponent's figure, a Wizard Hero you control with a Range of 4 or higher who follows Ullar may add 3 to its Range when targeting that figure for an attack. If Corvus has line of sight on that figure, that Wizard may target it for an attack.

Flying

Figure: Pathfinder Reign of Winter Raven.

Synergy:
Through The Eye of the Raven: Haduc, Arkmer, Ulginesh
Wizard's Familiar: Ulginesh, Emirroon, Acolarh, Arkmer, Chardris, Johrdawn, Kyntela Gwyn, Haduc

Like Zalindreh, its defense of 4 represents its ability to fly evasively, and being a small target. It's all theoryscape right now, but there would seem to be 2 ways to play it: as a part of your Elf Wizard pod, or as a range extender for Haduc, Arkmer, and Ulginesh.

I hesitated to buy this, as it's a relatively pricey figure (~$4) for a filler unit. Fortunately, it arrived broken (bad packaging on a delicate figure, guys!) so I ended up getting it for free. Some Loctite and Sugru for the base fixed it right up.

If you're interested in the earlier version of this, it's here:

Spoiler Alert!

The Raven. Range-extender filler for Ullar, 20 pts.


The Raven
General: Ullar
Species: Bird
Unique Hero
Class: Familiar
Personality: Loyal
Small 2
Life: 1
Move: 7
Range: 1
Attack: 1
Defense: 3

Points: 20

Base: Single
Planet: Feylund

Familiar Movement Bonding
After revealing an Order Marker on the Army Card of a Ranger or Wizard Hero you control who follows Ullar, you may immediately move The Raven up to 4 spaces.

Through The Eye Of The Raven
When The Raven is within 3 clear sight spaces of an opponent's figure, a Ranger or Wizard figure you control with a Range of 4 or higher who follows Ullar may add 2 to its Range when targeting that figure for a normal attack.

Evasive Flight
When defending against a normal attack from a figure with a Range of 1, The Raven adds 1 shield to whatever is rolled.

Stealth Flying
When counting spaces for the Raven's movement, ignore elevations. The Raven may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When the Raven starts to fly, if it is engaged it will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Figure: Omens Raven

Synergy: Haduc, Arkmer, Ulginesh, and Brandis (who needed a boost).

I like the new version, but I am kind of sad that Brandis no longer gets his Raven Pal. Poor Brandis.

[IshMEL]

OK, so a few more units for your viewing pleasure: a Spider Predator, a Scarab Swarm, and an Uncursed Marcu Esenwein! As always, these are drafts, and your input is appreciated.

Props to @Not_User_Name for the idea to make an "uncursed" Marcu. I floated this idea about him "changing back" there as the counter-spell wears off, and recently acquired a pretty good figure for him for relatively cheap, so I put together my first draft of the unit. Math on costing is included in the notes.

Marcu Esenwein Uncursed. 45 pts.

Spoiler Alert!

Marcu Esenwein Uncursed
General: Utgar
Species: Undead
Unique Hero
Class: Duke
Personality: Tormented
Medium 5
Life: 6
Move: 7
Range: 1
Attack: 4
Defense: 4

Points: 45


Base: Single
Planet: Toril

The Esenwein Curse
If you control Marcu Esenwein Uncursed, you must also have Marcu Esenwein in your Army. At the beginning of the game, do not place Marcu Esenwein on the battlefield. Instead, at the beginning of every round, after placing Order Markers, you must roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 1-3, you must destroy Marcu Esenwein Uncursed and replace him with Marcu Esenwein. Move all wound markers and Order Markers from this card to the Army Card of Marcu Esenwein.

Life Drain
Each time Marcu Esenwein Uncursed destroys a figure, you may remove a wound marker from this Army Card. Marcu Esenwein Uncursed cannot Life Drain destructible objects.

Flying
When counting spaces for Marcu Esenwein Uncursed's movement, ignore elevations. He may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When Marcu Esenwein Uncursed starts to fly, if he is engaged he will take any leaving engagement attacks.

Figure: Vampire Enforcer #040 Horrorclix Base Set

The basic idea is, Cyprien's curse has been lifted (Wellspring? Kee-Mo-Shi? Utgar?) but that the effect is unstable. If the curse returns, he reverts back to his old twisted form.

So here's how I priced him.

His base cost is 140. Compared with Cyp, he has an additional attack, one less move, and lacks Stealth and Chilling Touch. 10 points less feels about right, although it could arguably be less. In the first round, you have an 85% chance of getting the ME Uncursed (MEU) and 15% chance of getting ME Cursed (MEC). 85% of 140 is 119 points, and 15% of MEC's 20 points is 3 points, so on average your first round you'll have 122 points worth of Marcu in one form or another. Since the effect is permanent, your second round chance of having MEU is 72.25% (85% chance in the first round x 85% chance in the second round). So in Round 2, you have an average of 101 points for MEU and 6 points of MEC. Continuing down the series, over 10 rounds the combined value of the two figures is 75 points (74.6, actually.) Since you must draft 20 points of MEC, the remaining 55 points is assigned to MEU. Because of the gamble, I knocked 10 points off to make him a better bet. Plus he's the same as Sonya now, and I like the symmetry.

Like his Cursed version, Marcu Esenwein Uncursed is cheap for his stats, and if you're lucky with the d20 you'll get more than 45 points worth out of him. But if the curse returns...

My first idea for one of the minis that I found on the street:

Scarab Swarm. 20 pts.

Spoiler Alert!

Scarab Swarm
General: Vydar
Species: Insect
Unique Hero
Class: Swarm
Personality: Relentless
Small 1
Life: 4
Move: 4
Range: 1
Attack: 4
Defense: 0

Points: 20


Base: Single
Planet: Feylund

The Queen's Revenge
The Scarab Swarm does not start the game on the battlefield. Instead, place it on the Army Card of an Undead Queen you control. If that hero is destroyed, you may immediately place the Scarab Swarm on the space it previously occupied. Move all unrevealed Order Markers from that card to this card.

Climb x3
When moving up or down levels of terrain, the Scarab Swarm may triple its height.

Creeping Flesh-Eaters
When attacked by the Scarab Swarm, small and medium figures reduce their Defense number by X, where X is the remaining Life of this card. Soulborgs and Constructs are not affected by Creeping Flesh-Eaters.

Insect Swarm
For each wound marker on this card, the Scarab Swarm reduces its Attack by 1.

Figure: D&D Rot Scarab Swarm

So, you know that scene in all the mummy movies, where the hero destroys the mummy, only to have it explode into a mass of crawling scarabs? That's this. They are easy to squash (and less deadly when you do, because there are fewer of them) but you'd better take care of that bug problem quick!

And another Spider-booster:

Fyorlag Predator Spider. 60 pts.

Spoiler Alert!

Fyorlag Predator Spider
General: Aquilla
Species: Arachnid
Uncommon Hero
Class: Predator
Personality: Tricky
Small 2
Life: 3
Move: 7
Range: 1
Attack: 3
Defense: 3

Points: 60

Base: Single
Planet: Valhalla

Climb X3
When moving up or down levels of terrain, this Fyorlag Predator Spider may triple its height.

Enhanced Web
When rolling for the Entangling Web special power on an Army Card you control, if you control at least one Fyorlag Predator Spider, add 1 to the result. This Fyorlag Predator Spider may be considered to be a Fyorlag Spider when using Entangling Web.

Ambush
When making a normal attack on a figure without an Order Marker on its Army Card, this Fyorlag Predator Spider rolls 2 additional dice.

Figure: D&D Wolf Spider

I'm not terribly enthused about the miniature -- I got a pack of the Elemental Evil figures, and they *all* seem like they're too small. Anyway, something that works with the Fyorlags seemed like a natural fit. Ambush and Enhanced Web are designed to work together.

[TheAverageFan]

That's a great mini for uncursed Marcu. I'm not sure how or why, but it looks just like him to me.

~TAF, intrigued

[Not User Name]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

That's a great mini for uncursed Marcu. I'm not sure how or why, but it looks just like him to me.

~TAF, intrigued

The only thing it is lacking is a sweet cape. Other than that, it is a pretty dang good mini for Marc.

[IshMEL]

Originally Posted by Not User Name

The only thing it is lacking is a sweet cape. Other than that, it is a pretty dang good mini for Marc.