Shiftrex Customs (06/04/22... New Wulfing Hunters)

[Shiftrex]

Wow, some rep for Bill there. That is some big brain wordsmithing.

Thankyou for compiling that piece of knowledge for me. I'll make edits accordingly and see how he fares against the hoardes of cathar spearmen ^^

[Just_a_Bill]

Thanks for your kind words, and I'm glad you find it helpful. This is one of the things I used to do many years ago when I worked in the industry. I still kinda miss it.

[Just_a_Bill]

Whoops ... sorry for the double post, but here's something I missed. Uzog has already laid claim to Skull Markers for his TROPHY SKULLS power, so you'll probably need to pick another name. As far as I know, here's the full list of what's "taken":

Berserker Marker — Brute Gruts
Exoskeleton Marker — Mezzodemon Warmongers
Experience Marker — Tagawa Samurai
Grenade Marker — Airborne Elite
Growing Heat Marker — Brimstone
Lycanthropy Marker — Werewolf Lord
Negation Marker — Morsbane; Glyph of Nilrend
Palm Marker — Chen Tang
Redundant Systems Marker — Vulcanmech Incendiborgs
Skull Marker — Uzog
Soul Marker — Akumaken
Upgrade Marker — Beorn Boltcutter

[Shiftrex]

- - - - - - -

MYCELIUM WARRIOR
FUNGAL FOOTSOLDIER



The figure used is Myconid #??? from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

CHARACTER BIO:

Spoiler Alert!

-TBD-

CARD TEXT:

Spoiler Alert!

GENERAL = AQUILLA
PLANET = EBBERON
SPECIES = MYCONID
UNIQUENESS = COMMON HERO
CLASS = WARRIOR
PERSONALITY = WILD
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 1

MOVE = 4
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 2
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 25

SPORE COMMUNICATION
After revealing an Order Marker on a Mycelium Warrior, instead of taking that turn with a Mycelium Warrior you may take a turn with up to three Myconid Heroes that you control.

PACIFICATION SPORES
After moving, a Mycelium warrior may choose a small or medium figure that they were not engaged to at the start of this turn. Roll the 20-sided die, if you roll a 14 or higher that figure cannot roll defense dice this turn.

DESIGN NOTES:

Spoiler Alert!

Another addition for my destructible object faction, the Myconids! These guys are meant to be the crux of the Army and handle the OM management. This is based on the idea that the Communication Spores are some of the first that Myconids learn to use as a species, pacification spores are also a rather common type and find a place in more than a few adventures. These guys will cause the Army of Heroes to move as 3 and currently work with their Sovereign, Lepiota, in order to make Fungal Growths which will buff their stats and build upon the spore theme.

Considering making these guys an uncommon army just to separate them a bit from other common hero armies and make them more "substantial" which is a weird word but that's what I think of when I think of mushroom. Substantial, hearty, meaty, definitely more than 1 life on a common hero.

-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• n/a

Synergy Benefits Offered
Lepiota: As a Myconid Hero, Lepiota may be activated using SPORE COMMUNICATION.

Comments and ideas welcome! Mycelium Warrior is not quite a pun name but it does communicate the idea well enough with the minature. I didn't go for a named hero with this one because it is just non-descript enough for me to be a category of unit instead of a specific one. I do love the pose though, can't wait for the miniature to come out.

[Taeblewalker]

Overall, I like the design. You might want the first power to be like Mindless Pack for the Thralls, but other than that I wouldn't change anything. Pacification Spores can be powerful, even with only 2 Attack. You might want to call it something besides Pacification, but I'm not sure what that would be. Perhaps Disarming? I'm just brainstorming here.

[SchismaticSounds]

I dig the concept here. Always thought Heroscape could use some Shroom people.
The name didn't roll well for me at first. I don't associate mycelium with the mushroom itself, unless the custom is a defender of the mycelium.. hmm. Mycelium warrior, born of the mycelium.
Fungal Warrior or Fungal "something" could be more recognizable for others.
The model is very cool too.

I'd stay away from using the same word in 2 abilities, like "spore" is used here. Between the 2 though, I'd keep its use in pacifying spores, maybe changing "pacifying" to something else. I can't comprehend mushrooms communicating through spores though. That's where I'd use something like "Mycelium Network", or "Mycelium Communication".
Other words: "Invisible", "Tether".

[Shiftrex]

That's a good point, probably don't need to recycle the word spore on two abilities. Might just reference it as Mind Meld instead, both are correct terms in the Forgotten Realms.

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by Shiftrex

Point Total: 520 points
Map: Fire Isles
Glyphs: Valda, Lodin

Player 1 - Army: 10th Regiment x3, XUe SHeN, Raelin, Emperor Andask,
Player 2 - Army: Dreadgul Raiders x5, Guilty McCreech, Pel the Hill Giant, Marro Warriors, Marcu Esenwein

Which units survived?
2 Dreadgul Raiders
1 Marro Warrior
Marcu Esenwein


General Battle Report/Flow of game

Round 1
10th Regiment vs. Marro Warriors. 3 Regiment died and 3 Marro Warriors died (although cloned back to 2)

Round 2
Raelin advances and 10th Regiment fire into the oncoming Hill Giant and Dreadguls. Raelin takes 3 wounds and another Regiment is killed (4 total), while 3 Dreads are shot down and 1 wound on Pel

Round 3
-Turn 1
Taking a chance, Xue Shen gets OM1 and hits 2/3 skulls on Pel. He rerolls the missed die with Andask but it misses. So close to an instant-kill. The attack does 1 wound to Pel (2) Pel and the Dreads kill Raelin and do 1 wound to Xue.

-Turn 2
10th Reg kill a Dreadgul. Pel does a wound to Xue (2nd), Dreads kill 1 Regiment (7 left)

-Turn 3
10th Regiment kill a Dread, 1w on Pel (3). Pel puts a 3rd wound on Xue

Round 4
-Xue tries again put only gets 1 skull and the reroll gives him another 1, it does 2 wounds to Pel (5 total), Pel kills Xue on the counterattack, dreads kill 1 Regiment (6 left)
-Regiment wtf Pel and the Dreads. Guilty moves up
-5 Regiment, Andask vs. 8 Dreads, Guilty, 2 MW, Marcu
-10th move, and Guilty kills one

Matchup: 3 Regiment, Andask vs. 6 Dreads, Guilty, 2 MW, Marcu

Round 5
10th kill Guilty and 3 Dreads before getting caught and killed

Matchup: Andask vs. 3 Dreads, 2 MW, Marcu

Andask pops a Marro before, and the single clone misses, but his attack on a Dreadgul fails allowing him to be surrounded and hit for 4 wounds by the 4 attack Raiders. He kills one on his next attack but is then killed. Victory for the Dreadguls.


How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
-Infernal Spirit reduced 3 attacks by Pel and 2 attacks by Dreadgul Raiders.

-Xue Shen got 2 normal attacks that did 3 wounds to Pel. Both attacks were on a large hero (2/3 skulls with 0/1 reroll) and (1/3 skulls for ½ reroll). So Forbidden Death Touch did not activate.


Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

My comments are going to specifically and solely in a non-monk army since that’s what I tested.

XUe SHeN brought to mind a melee version of Deadeye Dan in that if you are activating him you are doing it solely on the hope he gets all skulls for the insta-kill. Since he is a single attack hero. His insta-kill is 1/8 or 12.5% (on even ground) so certainly high reward if you can pull it off against a high value target, but if you don’t (and you probably won’t), your not getting much output and all and very probably losing out on board position or attack exchanges. Certainly there are a lot of high hopes high damage output figures in scape, but that puts him as probably a C- unit as a single attack melee figure (in a NON bonding army) He’s almost certainly outclassed by other single heroes in the 70-90 point range from a damage output perspective, but again if you’re using him you are hoping for that big pop. Although I think that would be tough to achieve even in that situation because he is easy to screen off.

Infernal Spirit is fine, and probably is effective against some ranged, but without a multiattack ability he is still only getting off one attack even if he is advancing on range.

Here are some general comments

-Infernal Spirit is the same power as Dreadful Prescence on C3V’s Corvor the Tainted One. I even think you could re-use the power name, but definitely use the same wording. I’ll grant that Infernal Spirit sounds more monk-ish (not monkey-ish…that would be Tough)

-I’d consider adding Stealth Leap. (maybe even 25 to copy the advanced Stealth of Win Chiu) That leans into the hybrid angle somewhat more with advanced physical prowess. And it helps him avoid screens to get to a nice target to try for that kill strike

-Alternatively, instead of Stealth Leap, I’d give him something to help with swarms, like whirlwind assault. In fact, another powerset modification might be to add whirlwind assault and make Forbidden Death Touch give Xue a wound upon being successful (after all it is FORBIDDEN). Also leans into the demon theme.

-I like Arrogant. The mini doesn’t scream heroscape hybrid to me, but I don’t think it’s way off base. Certainly not baaaaaaad. Nothing I’d reject if for.

Overall, (again not looking at the figure from a Monk/Hybrid synergy perspective), it’s a very low utility figure with a niche high variance power that may be fun when it goes off, but usually will be a disappointment. I’d say probably a 70 point figure with stealth leap, and maybe a 90 point figure with Whirlwind Assault + FDT auto wound on success.

All that being said, I could see some fun utility as-is with a WWL army (which is a C level army anyway), where you get free turns with Xue that leads to an instant kill (still like it with Leap), and I could see him potentially being potent flanked by Shaolins in a monk build. But that’s just theoreyscaping from me. Just an army where an order marker isn’t solely giving you a turn with Xue.

[kevindola]

Point Total: 500 points
Map: Percolator (Wannok, Dagmar)

Player 1 - Army: 10th Regiment x4, Heracles
Player 2 - Army: Greenscales x3, Qildryn, Major Q9



General Battle Report/Flow of game

Round 1
10th-Herc x2-10th and GS-Q9-GS to set up. Dragon and Herc behind the wall protected from the ranged attacks

Round 2
-10th continue to advance and hit a Greenscale
-Qildryn flies out from behind the ruin and can tail whip a Regiment while retreating back to the level 4 perch on the middle of the map. (6v3 kill)
-Wait then fire kills a Greenscale and gets two attacks up on Qildryn both attacks are 2 skulls and Qildryn rolls ¼ twice so 0 wounds due to invisibility.
-There’s an opening (see image) to get a couple of solid dual attacks especially if the normal attack kills a Reigiment so Qildryn takes off from her perch. Tail Whip does 2 wounds to Heracles, but the normal attack on the Regiment is blocked.
-10th Wait then Fire and do 2 wounds to Qildryn (1 from height and range, and one from an adjacent attack so no invisilibty). They also kill another Scale (3 dead, 6 alive)
-Qil disengages (hit, 3rd wound) and Tail whips a 10th Regiment and Greenscales kill another (3 dead, 13 alive)

IMAGE

Spoiler Alert!

I think image context on the map is necessary to see some of what I'm talking about. Qil spent a lot of time on that level 4 just outside his ruin. It was a nice spot, but some opportunities just called

Round 3
-Heracles wins a big initiative and gets around the greenscale screen by jumping into the water, but misses a throw and only rolls 2/7 and 3/7 attacks do only manage 1 wound on the heightened dragon. (4 total)
-Qil disengages from Heracles (miss) and returns the favor by blanking on a tail whip, but does kill a Regiment. The scales surround Herc but can’t damage him (they are outside of Qil’s aura). They do kill a Regiment
-Heracles can’t get to the dragon being surrounded. He does kill a Greenscale
-Seeing the last OM is on 10th Regiment, Qil flies back and does double attacks on Heracles for 3 wounds and Greenscales do another (6 total)
-10th move up killing a Greenscale (4 left)
-Q9 tries to finish off the Legend but all 3 attacks are blocked

Round 4
-Q9 gets another 3 attacks, but only gets 1 wound (7 total)
-Heracles kill Qildyn
-Q9 kills Heracles and and a Regiment

I’ll summarize the rest since Qil is out:

Q9 wins out over the 10th Regiment (good matchup), but just hard for them to do wounds with Jungle backed Q9.

Survivors: 3 Greenscales, Major Q9 (2 life)

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
Tail Whip
6v3 kill on 10th Reg (x2)
6v5 does 2 wounds to Heracles
6v5 is blocked by Herc
6v5 does 2 wounds to Herc

Invisibility
3 times – saved 3 wounds

Normal Attacks
5v3 on Regiment blocked
6v3 kill Regiment
5v5 1 wound Heracles

Damage: (144 points)
10th Regiment x3
5 wounds on Heracles

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

-This was a really fun dragon to play. The interplay between wanting to keep her out of melee engagement, but wanting to maximize both attacks was really tricky. I was able to retreat with a high level of confidence against the 10th getting an autoshield (although it was cracked a few times), but still wanted to screen against bayonet or especially Heracles. (which I ultimately failed, because I left a low ground water spot open)

-I spoke with Shiftrex about this, but the wording of tail whip is problematic as written. As its current intention of being a special power doesn’t mention the target rolling defense dice or what happens to the target’s defensive abilities for Tail Whip. After speaking with him I played it as another attack so defense dice were rolled and Heracles got +1 defense against it. Some additional comments from me

** I really like the concept and mechanics of Tail Whip however thematically, 6 attack dice seems like a stretch to me. I think the normal attack should be higher than Tail Whip. Either 5/6 normal attack and 3 or 4 attack on the Tail Whip. If we want to keep it as a special power I would recommend changing it to a d20 power. You could have a range for the 20 like cyprien does for differing the amount of wounds it does….. or a novel concept would be to subtract the number of defense the figure has listed on its card from the d20 roll to simulate defense.
**If you want to make it an attack, there may be some form of verbiage you could take from Sam Brown to achieve a double attack simulation like this. I’m not sure what that would look like but he has an attack-move-attack special attack.

-I think Invisibility worked fine in this game. Obviously an auto-shield is strong. If it proves too strong, one nerf would be that he gets the auto shield only when unengaged. So if he is engaged he loses the bonus to ranged attack. Again based on this single game, it played fine, but I could see it being frustrating in other matchups.

[Shiftrex]

- - - - - - -

QILDRIN
Mystical Dragon

Frontal Assault - Heroes from Far and Wide (2/4)



The figure used is Otto, Fairie Dragon #026 from Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

CHARACTER BIO:

Spoiler Alert!

Deep in the reaches of the Feywild there are creatures that embody an existence between magic and nature. Their whim becomes reality, living on the edge of life and death is an amusement to them. In this wilderness there is danger, beauty and even an allies in the most unlikely of places. Aquilla's gaze roams deep in the enchanted forests, scanning the myriad of melting colors in a landscape that shifts with emotion rather than physics.

Massive butterflies, the likes of which could sail away as a flying steed, scatter and envelope the sky in color. Among them a cunning, mischievous creature lurks and nudges them into a panicked frenzy. Instead of acting the position of a dragon, regal and commanding, this creature amuses itself under the veil of invisibility magic and makes the giant insects think that she is a predator.

She knows that a scolding is in order later when she returns amongst the more serious of her kin but she lives in the moment and enjoys her prank.

CARD TEXT:

Spoiler Alert!

GENERAL = AQUILLA
PLANET = EBERRON
SPECIES = DRAGON
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = PRINCESS
PERSONALITY = TRICKY
SIZE/HEIGHT = LARGE 8

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 130

[B]

HOOK TAIL SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack 4.
After moving, choose a figure that Qildryn flew over this turn to be affected by Hook Tail Special Attack. Roll 4 attack dice against the affected figure. No figures are considered to have height advantage. Figures under overhangs are not affected by Hook Tail Special Attack.

STEALTH FLYING
When counting spaces for Qildryn's movement, ignore elevations. Qildryn may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When Qildryn starts to fly, if she is engaged she will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

DESIGN NOTES:

Spoiler Alert!

A fun dragon unit for a different kind of player.

My wife has recently pointed out to me that Heroscape is severely lacking in anything that looks cute or appealing to girls in general. There are lots of monsters, robots, samurai, even some historical units but if she wants to play fey creatures or things that have a different visual appeal there is nothing.

This unit satisfies that desire and hits on some fun themes. Fairie dragons are generally small creatures in DnD, it is very rare to have one that is massive in stature and it implies quite a bit of power or age. Generally these creatures are tricksters but at this point i've opted to design around the gnarly tail weapon that this miniature has in an action pose.

I retain the tricky personality with some stealth flying and make this one of the cheapest dragons around, might be worth popping into a 300 point army to see play in the burn out format. The special attack steals from the latest c3v dragon that made some verbiage and mechanisms available that previously were not.

-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• GREENSCALE WARRIORS : LOYALTY TO THE LIZARD KING
  As a large, unique dragon Qildryn may be chosen as the Lizard King for this ability.
  

Synergy Benefits Offered

• n/a

Comments and ideas welcome! Qildryn has undergone massive changes and now stabs things with a tail and overall but is pretty evasive. She won't do as well in a ranged fight as the other dragons but she likes to mop ups things as a melee fighter that can't be pinned down.

[SchismaticSounds]

Playtest Report with Qildryn

Point Total 400
Map: Armament by Flash_19
Glyphs: Random - Ended up being Treasures Atk +1 and Bracers of TP. And Purple glyphs being Glyph of summoning and move +2

Player 1 - Army: Qildryn, x3 GS warriors, x2 Deathreavers
Player 2 - Army: Talingul, Breach, Augamo

Which units survived? x2 GS's, x7 DR's

General Battle Report/Flow of game
Round 1 - Both teams move toward the middle. Aug kills 1 DR

Round 2 - Qildryn attempts hook tail on Augamo, rolls 0 skulls. Then normal attacks with heigh rolling 3 skulls. Aug rolls 3 shields. GS attacks dont go through. 2 attacks within 2 spaces of Qil.
Augamo kills 1 GS with Special Attack. Breach fails Sword Sweep.
Turn 2 - Qildryn has enough move to hook adjacent Augamo and fly to Talingul for a height attack. Another 0 skull hook. 5/6 skulls on Talingul. TG takes 3 wounds. Greenscale puts 1 wound on Breach.
Breach moves through gs warriors then rolls 4 skulls with Special attack on Qildryn and 2 GSW. Qildryn takes 3 wounds with 1/4 defense roll. Both GS die unable to block 4 skulls. Augamo pushes reaver and kills a warrior.
Turn 3 - Qildryn flys over adjacent Talingul and goes back where she was. Deals 1 wound with 2 skull hook. Rolls 3/6 with normal attack killing Talingul and preventing his 3rd order marker.

Round 3 - Breach rolls 3/6 with normal attack and Qildryn rolls 0/4 shields, killing Qildryn.

Rest of match - Breach gains atk +1 treasure. And the remaining greenscales remarkably widdle the two golems down with height attacks winning the game.

Qildryn Synopsys
At first in theory, I thought Qildryn was a bit too strong. A stealth flying unit with essentially a double attack of 4 and 5-6 +. One of such along its movement.
For this matchup though, things didn't go the best for her. Though her 2 SA's on Augamo missed, it was very unlikely it would have made difference on him with his +3 def against Special attacks. But having a "swoop" attack is useful in a lot of situations and I'd like to see her against a squad horiented team. I first imagined this team locking up the enemy with rats, etc and using Hook tail mainly while staying out of reach from attacks, but with her 5 attack (which at first I thought should be 4), it was just too tempting to engage her for that attack which for me resulted in a gambling move to kill Talingul, which debatably was a game changing move to the remainder of the match.

I wasn't fully present to always using Augomo's shove during this match but don't think it skewed any results. The similarity of Qildryns special attack denying height defense is something I gained no results for this game, but it makes sense in her Kalagrith comparison.

I think this dragon does find a niche place for itself among the other dragons. She's not like the Aoe SA dragons or as general as Charos, however with the inclusion of 2 dragons soon to come, Altais and Kalagrith, I feel it could be a far cry for the Judges if you are planning to submit Qildryn. I do support the look of the model though with the theme you've given her. Faerie dragon, but not so much a "magical one" as something more frightening whizzing overhead.

[Shiftrex]

- - - - - - -

Xuè Shén
HELLSPAWN MONK



The figure used is Hellspawn Monk #008 from Darklands Rising.

CHARACTER BIO:

Spoiler Alert!

-TBD-

CARD TEXT:

Spoiler Alert!

GENERAL = VALKRILL
PLANET = FEYLUND
SPECIES = CURSED
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = MONK
PERSONALITY = ARROGANT
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 90

SIPHON SOUL
When Xue Shen destroys a figure place a Soul Marker on this Army Card.

HELLFIRE PRESSURE POINT
Choose an adjacent figure and roll the 20-sided die. On a roll of 19 or higher, destroy that figure. Add 1 to Xue Shen's roll for every Soul Maker on this Army Card.

IMMORTAL AGONY
If Xue Shen would take any number of wounds you may remove 3 Soul Makers to ignore them.

DESIGN NOTES:

Spoiler Alert!

A fun custom that I've had sitting around for a while. I've tweaked her a couple of times and am definitely a fan of the miniature, there couldn't have been a more ideal sculpt for a demon monk. Brings out the 1990s mortal kombat fan in me for sure.

I tied her first ability in with her personality, essentially it is her demon aura that we seen done with Valkrill a lot. Reducing the stats of all those around her without care once she is wounded enough to turn up the heat and fight for real. I imagine this character engaging in death matches with other demons and things from Valkrill as well so she doesn't discriminate on who she affects.

The second ability is the defining martial art style ability, at base stats she is comparable to some of the other human monks but when she is willing to push through and wound herself she embodies a very aggressive style of combat that disregards her body. This helps feed into her other ability and her personality as well, the answer for her isn't skill but just more power.

Whirlwind attack is a given on a powerful monk to let them stand their ground and is pretty staple in the faction so she can destroy a crowd of mooks. I also find it fun that while she does have the standard synergy that all monks have with the Ullar master, she can also be summoned by the Acolytes and if her thirst for blood isn't sated she spills the blood of her summoners. Really fun and thematic tie back to her name which is a basic Chinese translation of "blood god." Not to say that she is divine but she likely considers herself divine in the old kung fu movie or mortal kombat sense.

NOTES: Revision to hone in more on her infernal looks and the idea of being a cursed warrior. Who knows, maybe this was once a human that stumbled into something that they should have avoided in the ancient texts or mythos that the monks study. Or perhaps they dabbled in rituals that they should not have. Regardless, we have something that fits in with my idea of a Mortal Kombat inspired monk pretty well now with a dash of Fist of the North Star.

I think Cursed has potential as a species because it allows a miniature to be something else that has been warped significantly so that they can no longer fit in with their own species. Also open to some other ideas that friends have given though to include: Hellspawn, Darkspawn, or Kulthul which would make her a type of alien species that just came out from c3v but that is probably a more faint note to try and hit with the other themes I have that are more eastern fantasy oriented.

-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• SKULL DEMON : Valkrill Attack Aura 1
  As a Valkrill follower with a Range of 1, Xuè Shén may benefit from the Skull Demon's VALKRILL ATTACK AURA 1 ability
• MORGOLOTH : Demon Leadership
  As a Demon, Xuè Shén gains one additional move if you also control Morgoloth
• - MASTER LAO XIN : Sifu
  As a monk hero, Xuè Shén may benefit from Master Lao Xin's SIFU activation bonus.
• -MASTER WIN CHIU WOO : Master's Influence[/B]
  As Monk, Xuè Shén may benefit from Master Win Chiu Woo's MASTER'S INFLUENCE attack, and defense bonuses.

Synergy Benefits Offered
n/a

Comments and ideas welcome! Xuè Shén is in the later stages of design but I like her a lot from where I have come to the current direction, and I think that she is fun to have on the board because she hits that mortal kombat flavor that I think is synonymous with the monk faction. Also fills in the final spot for a monk hero if we were going for the completionist achievement in that class.