Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion - Page 657

Flash_19 · #**7873** December 3rd, 2022, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dysole

I don't like the every turn thing even if the opponent gets to choose. That said, if it's a once per round restriction, it feels like you really just use it the first opportunity there's a card with a at least one figure on it. This figure worries me because it feels way too easy to create a negative gameplay experience.

~Dysole, still not sure yet if she'd vote up a once per round restriction

Thanks for the feedback. If I could clarify a couple things - did you have any reservations about the special attack? And next, would a once per round restriction and dropping the lowest tier (move one order marker) make a difference for you when it comes to scrambled communications?

Dysole · #**7874** December 5th, 2022, 03:03 AM

No issues with the SA.

Once per round helps a lot, but a power like that is very potent and I'm hesitant to put it on a figure that's too good. I also worry that there's no real tension in when to use the power.

~Dysole, informationally

Flash_19 · #**7875** December 5th, 2022, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dysole

No issues with the SA.

Once per round helps a lot, but a power like that is very potent and I'm hesitant to put it on a figure that's too good. I also worry that there's no real tension in when to use the power.

~Dysole, informationally

Thanks for the clarification!

robbdaman · #**7876** December 5th, 2022, 02:30 PM

I feel like thematically a rail gun wouldn't ignore objects per say but I'd think more would have blast through effect as per your suggested "splashing" mention. While there aren't a lot of destructible objects in the game still those have defense and life points that you'd magically be ignoring too if we're talking theme. For a blast through effect maybe have it just be a line from it's original target. I suggest going through this more in the SOV workshop thread.

Scytale · #**7877** December 5th, 2022, 05:57 PM

With knowing how Scrambled Communications is supposed to work for single-card armies, I'm ready to review the unit.

The theme of Mag Rail Special Attack isn't obvious, and it's weird that shooting through the Marro Hive to hit something behind it wouldn't hurt the Hive (or Fortress Door, or whatever). But "game not simulation," so it's ok I suppose.

I'm not sure how I feel about Scrambled Communications. The idea of a once-per-round restriction on it isn't as impactful as it sounds. As it is, you're likely to knock of the 'X' in a turn or two (assuming your opponent places the 'X' intelligently to counter Scrambled Communications). After that, you're hoping to knock off the '3', as your opponent will either have used the '2' or will choose to lose the '3' instead to keep the '2'. Of course the chance of hitting order markers in one roll throws this off, but that's the expected result for a round--if you activate Major F19 every turn.

The thing is, Major F19 isn't worth an order marker in early or mid game except to gamble on knocking around multiple order markers early. A single attack of 3 or 4, even at range, isn't good enough. It's pretty good for cleanup, though, and the value of Scrambled Communications varies dramatically depending on the endgame state, at times making F19 the best cleanup unit in the game.

So I guess I'm willing to give it a shot, recognizing that early and mid game F19 won't be that good but there is good potential as a cleanup unit.

to review Major F19

Scytale · #**7878** December 7th, 2022, 06:57 PM

The High Dune Scorpions and Jim Whitecloud have both passed United Fanscape Review and move forward in the process.

Leaf_It · #**7879** December 28th, 2022, 03:14 AM

I would like to submit the Aldorn "faction" Expansion.

I would also like to preface this submission to say that I designed these with the intention of making sure that the Specters of Aldorn will not need them to be useful. They are augmentations to the Specters, that can affect how a Specter army is played, but they do not aim to make the specter army stronger necessarily, just more well rounded in certain matchups.

Master Aldorn and Lady Aldorn are separate submissions. The Visages of Aldorn are a secondary submission to Master Aldorn.

Master Aldorn

Card Text:

Spoiler Alert!

Visages of Aldorn

Card Text:

Spoiler Alert!

Lady Aldorn

Card Text:

Spoiler Alert!

List of Terrifying cards for refference:

Spoiler Alert!

Themes behind Master Aldorn, and the Aldorn designs: Master Aldorn is an Archmage that was the Lord of the land in which the People who would become the Specters of Aldorn lived. A Necromancer, intent on removing Aldorn from the area, caused a calamity, and attempted to bring everyone in the area back from the dead as his servants. Aldorn, being an Archmage, was able to prevent the necromancer from taking control of them, but He now roams as an undead specter along with the rest of the people whom he oversaw.

Gameplay: Aldorn and the Visages are themed after Aldorn splitting fragments his own soul, and sending them out to do his bidding. A skill he was able to use after becoming an undead specter. With the Visages, Aldorn can be a potent attacking force. This is kept in check because of the ease at which an opponent can dispose of the Visages. They are slow, can't block enemy movement in most situations, die easily, and unless you keep them close to Master Aldorn, they don't hit very hard, so there's a good amount of counter play to the potential they have.

Aldorn is also a damage buffing Cheerleader for the Specters. (and the Skeletons, Shades, Shadows, and Zombies) In certain matchups they really wish they had just 1 more attack die, even with the -1 defense debuff they can apply. Aldorn provides that, along with some short ranged firepower. He also buffs the other common Terrifying figures, but the Specters are his most consistent option. The Skeletons are his second best option. The ordermarker management is harsh, since they are already so slow, but they can make use of the extra attack die when it does work out. Zombies may be an option, but they honestly work better with more Zombies, and/or Zombie Hulks. Shades are another option that's not particularly appealing. They aren't really trying to rely on their own attacks kill stuff in most games, but on the occasion that they have to fight it out, if you can get Aldorn into position, they do appreciate the extra attack. Shadows are a bit more viable, but generally would prefer to have 3 more Shadows. When you do add him to the Shadow army, even wit the potential of +1 attack, it's tough to justify taking an order marker from Xundar, due to how flexible his options are.

Lady Aldorn is an answer to the really big/tough guys. When the Specters need a can opener, She's there to fill that role. In the beginning you can move out with order markers on her, since you still get to move 4 specters. This does keep her on 2 spaces of movement, but since you wouldn't be able to attack yet anyway, it's a good way to make sure she's set up for when you do want to make use of her special attack. Blade of Terror also works with all Terrifying figures, though this isn't particularly useful in most cases, since you loose out on the free army development that Scream of Terror provides to the Specters. Still, a special attack is nice to have for the Skeletons.

Figures used:
Master Aldorn is a Reaper minis figure called "Invisible Wizard 77450".
Since Reaper regularly reprints their unpainted minis, availability should not be an issue.

Visages of Aldorn are from the same line as the Specters of Aldorn. Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures. The set come from is called "Shadow". The Nolzur's line has consistently restocked their figures for the past several years, so I'm relatively confident in their availability, but here's some sites that sell them:

Quote:

https://www.dndmini.com/products/d-d-nolzurs-shadow
https://www.cmogames.com/wizkids-nol...atures-shadow/
https://www.amazon.com/NECA-Nolzurs-.../dp/B086BGZHYG
https://gnomishbazaar.com/products/d...s-shadow-90016

And of course you can find them on ebay, or at your Friendly Local Game store, which is where I bought mine.

Lady Aldorn is a D&D figure from the Icons of the realm: Rage of Demons line, called "Banshee #21"

Quote:

I found:
33 at MiniatureMarket.com
13 at RPGLocker.com
6 at GameHollow.com
2 at Amazon.com
and over 70 on ebay, with 3 different sellers listing 10+ available for purchase.

Vydar_XLIII · #**7880** December 28th, 2022, 04:16 PM

Major F19 Submission: Apologies for the delay in my response to this submission, life has been crazy.

I can see the issue that Dysole has with Scrambled Communications 8 power. For me, since there really isn't a great point of comparison for other powers that force your opponents to shuffle OMs (rather than you moving their OMs), I don't think I have a great mental grasp on how it could play out on the field. It is certainly a point that I'd need to look at very closely, and maybe play a few games intending to be an a*****e and create a negative gameplay experience in order to stress-test it.

I also don't think a once-per-round limitation would do anything to fix issues here, should they arise.

On to the Mag Rail SA, this just feels like a re-skinned psychic attack. Mechanically, it is fine, but it doesn't feel like a magnetic rail gun to me.

The biggest issue that I have with this design is that I don't see this miniature as a Vydar soulborg. The color scheme doesn't fit with the rest of his Majors and it sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

to review Major F19

I would love to see the same mechanics come back with a different theme. Aquilla or Ullar could have summoned a soulborg that uses psychic or sonic attacks to attack things it can't see and scramble communications. Now the two powers are thematically linked and focused on one concept or idea. That theme is then unique to that general and opens doors into that kind of design space for future units. I'm sure you'll be able to fit an F19 into whatever new naming convention you come up with for that general's soulborgs.

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Master Aldorn and the Visages of Aldorn Submission: Firstly, love the theme. Secondly, I have three questions.

1) Influence of Terror does not affect the Visages because they are unique. Is this correct? Your gameplay description seems to imply otherwise.

Quote:

They are slow, can't block enemy movement in most situations, die easily, and unless you keep them close to Master Aldorn, they don't hit very hard, so there's a good amount of counter play to the potential they have.

2) Does Summon Visages always let you take a turn with the Visages after Master Aldorn's turn or only on turns that you roll to summon previously destroyed Visages? If the former, it isn't clear.
3) Did you test these figures with Ataraxis? The combination of Master Aldorn's Influence of Terror, the Specter's Deathly Touch, and Ataraxis' defense reduction power against terrifying figures seems like a potent combo.

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Lady Aldorn Submission: I like the theme of the whole package except for the name "Scream of Terror," especially on the same card as "Blade of Terror." It doesn't really fit with what the power does for me. I'd like something like "Call to the Haunt" or "The Swiftness of Death." Something that references moving figures.

I don't find this design particularly interesting. It fills the role in the army that it is supposed to but there isn't much that I'm getting excited about.

Leaf_It · #**7881** December 28th, 2022, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vydar_XLIII

Master Aldorn and the Visages of Aldorn Submission: Firstly, love the theme. Secondly, I have three questions.

1) Influence of Terror does not affect the Visages because they are unique. Is this correct? Your gameplay description seems to imply otherwise.

Quote:

They are slow, can't block enemy movement in most situations, die easily, and unless you keep them close to Master Aldorn, they don't hit very hard, so there's a good amount of counter play to the potential they have.

2) Does Summon Visages always let you take a turn with the Visages after Master Aldorn's turn or only on turns that you roll to summon previously destroyed Visages? If the former, it isn't clear.
3) Did you test these figures with Ataraxis? The combination of Master Aldorn's Influence of Terror, the Specter's Deathly Touch, and Ataraxis' defense reduction power against terrifying figures seems like a potent combo.

1) Wow... I missed that somehow. I originally had Influence of Terror affecting only Terror class figures, but I thought that it would be more interesting, and fit the name better, if I expanded it to Terrifying figures in general. I then decided that this might be too good on a few of the Terrifying heros, and to be honest I wanted to limit how much testing I would need to do as result of this change, so I limited it to only affect Common Terrifying figures. An earlier version of the Visages had them as a common squad, and I overlooked the fact that this would exclude the now unique Visages. To address this, I would change the wording to this:

Quote:

Influence of Terror:
All friendly Terrors and common terrifying figures within 3 spaces of Master Aldorn roll an additional attack die.

2) Yes. You can always take a turn with the visages, even if you fail to summon one of them, unless neither of them are alive. Does this read better?

Quote:

Summon Visages:
After taking a turn with Master Aldorn, you may attempt to summon any previously destroyed Visages of Aldorn. Roll the 20-sided die once for each destroyed Visage. If you roll a 13 or higher, you may place that Visage within 3 spaces of Master Aldorn. After rolling for all destroyed Visages, if there is at least 1 Visage of Aldorn on the battlefield, you may immediately take a turn with the Visages of Aldorn.

3)Yes. The combination of an additional hero that not only takes points away from the squads you want to be affecting, but that you also need to move up on their own, and the limited range of the attack aura, makes it much easier to avoid coming within range of both auras simultaneously, unless you're attacking the Ataraxis/Aldorn player's startzone with a primarily melee army. In situations where you can set up a comfortable position for both of them at the same time, that your opponent feels they need to assault, is almost always game where you were already winning relatively convincingly. It's not so bad running one of them, because you only need to move them 2 or 3 times to get them into a useful position. But when you need to do that with 2 heros, and one of them (Aldorn) does not have Necrotizing Wormhole to make it easier to position, it often leads to turn where you loose more squad figures that it's worth try to set up the combo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vydar_XLIII

Lady Aldorn Submission: I like the theme of the whole package except for the name "Scream of Terror," especially on the same card as "Blade of Terror." It doesn't really fit with what the power does for me. I'd like something like "Call to the Haunt" or "The Swiftness of Death." Something that references moving figures.

I don't find this design particularly interesting. It fills the role in the army that it is supposed to but there isn't much that I'm getting excited about.

Scream of Terror was a name that I have changed several times. I've never been quite sure what to call it, I just knew what I wanted it to do. The Scream part came from an earlier version of Lady Aldorn where she had the class of Banshee. I'll list a few of the previous names I have used for it.
- Call of Aldorn/Terrors
- Command of Aldorn/Terrors
- Edict of Aldorn/Terrors
- Aldorn's Command
I feel it is worth noting that she only moves the Terror class figures, and not all terrifying figures. This has made me question the use of the word Terror in the name, because it could confuse players you don't read the ability thoroughly into thinking that it does affect terrifying figures. I decided to keep the "Terror" part of it because the class of the Specters of Aldorn and the Visages is literally "Terrors".

Vydar_XLIII · #**7882** December 29th, 2022, 02:17 AM

Master Aldorn and the Visages of Aldorn:

1) "Terrifying squad figures" seems cleaner than "Terrors and common terrifying figures." It would work the same except for swapping out the Bloodburst Thrall for the Ebon Armor. But that's your choice.

2) I would have written it like this, but its just semantics. Your update accomplishes the same thing.

Quote:

SUMMON VISAGES
After taking a turn with Master Aldorn, you may take a turn with the Visages of Aldorn. Before taking a turn with the Visages of Aldorn, you may attempt to summon any previously destroyed Visages of Aldorn. Roll the 20-sided die once for each destroyed Visage. If you roll a 13 or higher, you may place that Visage within 3 spaces of Master Aldorn.

3) Good. I just wanted to make sure it was looked at.

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Lady Aldorn: Of those previous names I like "Call of Aldorn" the most. I also did not realize that Lady Aldorn can move the Visages. That makes her slightly more interesting.

superfrog · #**7883** January 4th, 2023, 06:42 PM

I like the Aldorn designs. A few quibbles which I'll point out here (I apologize for not pointing these out to you before submission):

1. Can you have Visages in your army if you don't have Master Aldorn? I can't tell the intention.

2. I also agree with Vydar that "terrors and common terrifying figures" is way too awkward of a construction for what it does, and that "Terrifying Squad figures" is preferable without really changing the design outside of a few corner cases.

At the moment, I'll do

to review Lady Aldorn.

Scytale · #**7884** January 9th, 2023, 11:52 AM

@Leaf_It , is that a pictures of the old sculpts next to the new ones?