Customs by Alexandros - Horror-inspired customs and more

[Alexandros]

Howdy, all.

I'm currently working on a batch of customs inspired by horror and silver-screen tropes. The approach to design taken by Wizards of the Coast when developing Innistrad was a huge inspiration here- these designs are top down customs, meaning I focused on the flavor and went from there. I'll sort these into better categories as I move forward.

Abner Crow
Unique Hero

Originally Posted by tumblr user lilyachtyismyfriend

Rootin’, tootin’, toil n’ shootin’
Fire burn and cowboy bootin’
Eye of newt and spicy beans,
Toe of frog and denim jeans,
Whiskey, grits, n’ demon spittle
tossed into my iron griddle
With the tannin’ of our hides,
Somethin’ wicked this way rides

Spoiler Alert!

Abner Crow is a vile, masochistic outlaw, cursed by the fae to walk the earth much longer than any normal man should.

King Yeren
Unique Hero

Originally Posted by SCP-6666 by djkaktus

I remember the first time we laid eyes on them. It was on a summer night, and there was a dune that rose high above our citadel to the west. You could see them from all that distance - they were these massive things, taller by far than any man, covered in matted hair, all over their body. They were like… like if someone described a man to you, but they had never really seen a man themselves.

Spoiler Alert!

King Yeren is the reclusive king of the Quasatch. His cryptid-like presence confuses and terrifies outsiders who dare enter the Ticalla Jungle. (This is actually an older custom, but the concept was pretty strong and he has played well in initial tests, so I'm reposting him.)

Other, more recent Customs

Coming soon.

Older Customs

These customs were made a long time ago and may not be the most balanced. These were very useful as a learning exercise in custom development, but I'm not as eager to finish these projects now as I once was. I will likely reuse a number of these ideas in other customs going forward.

Spoiler Alert!

My playgroup has recently pushed through most of Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower and is looking to get back into some games of HeroScape. It occurred to me, however, that the miniatures in this game are downright gorgeous, and it would be an absolute shame to leave them to gather dust in a box.

In the interest of expanding our options, I set out to make a series of designs reminiscent of a HeroScape master set. Unfortunately, HeroScape syntax is a pretty tricky thing and I don't fully understand it. As such, some of these things aren't worded just like official HeroScape minis would be. I would greatly appreciate feedback on a more appropriate way to word these powers. Huge shoutout to HeroScaperGuy and Shiftrex on the Heroscapers discord for helping me thus far.

I'll be updating this as I adapt everything in Silver Tower. I also own Crypt Hunters, Gorechosen, Shadows Over Hammerhal and Blackstone Fortress, with plans to purchase Cursed City, so I'll eventually adapt those as well.

If any of you would like to try these customs for yourself, I'll mention some of these minis are MUCH easier to get a hold of now than you would imagine... I had thought that the Warhammer games would be much more expensive than they are, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Master Set One: Trials of the Silver Tower
Throughout the mortal realms the legends of the Silver Tower are recounted with awe and admiration. Tales of disparate champions good and evil, brought together by naught more than fate, battling against sanity-shredding horrors in the ever-shifting domain of the Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch. Tales of bravery, heroism, treachery and betrayal. Tales of teamwork, success, and glory-hunting failure.

Some who tackle the Silver Tower seek a boon from the Gaunt Summoner, others wish to learn his true name, that they might destroy him. All must face foul, writhing monsters, bizarre, labyrinthine corridors bristling with traps and strange, maddening riddles before they even gain the chance to stand before his fell sorcery. The greatest champions, those who grow in strength over time as they solve the Silver Tower’s secrets, even they may fall at this hurdle – yet the riches, power and freedom they could gain drive them ever forward. But for every tale that ends in glory, another falls short, bringing only madness and despair…

Spoiler Alert!

Champions

Spoiler Alert!

Knight Questor

Spoiler Alert!

Knight Questor can be found in Silver Tower, as well as as an individual hero miniature.

Mistweaver Saih

Spoiler Alert!

Mistweaver Saih can be found in Silver Tower, as well as as an individual hero miniature.

Excelsior Warpriest

Spoiler Alert!

Excelsior Warpriest can be found in Silver Tower.

Tenebrael Shard

Spoiler Alert!

Tenebrael Shard can be found in Silver Tower.

Fyreslayer Doomseeker

Spoiler Alert!

Fyreslayer Doomseeker can be found in Silver Tower, as well as as an individual hero miniature.

Slaughter Priest

Spoiler Alert!

Slaughterpriest can be found in Gorechosen, as well as as an individual hero miniature.

Gryphhound

Spoiler Alert!

Gryphhounds can be found in Silver Tower, Crypt Hunters, Shadows Over Hammerhal, and the Gryphhounds kit.

Adversaries

Spoiler Alert!

Horrors of Tzeentch

Spoiler Alert!

Horrors can be found in Silver Tower, as well as the Horrors of Tzeentch kits or the Start Collecting! Daemons of Tzeentch kit.

Skaven Deathrunner

Spoiler Alert!

The Skaven Deathrunner can be found in Silver Tower.

Skaven Deathrunner

Spoiler Alert!

The Skaven Deathrunner can be found in Silver Tower.

Tzaangors

Spoiler Alert!

Tzaangors can be found in Silver Tower.

Grot Scutlings

Spoiler Alert!

Grot Scutlings can be found in Silver Tower.

Gaunt Summoner

Spoiler Alert!

The Gaunt Summoner can be found in Silver Tower.

Glyphs

Spoiler Alert!

Slop, Chaos Familiar

Spoiler Alert!

Master Set Two: Shadows Over Hammerhal (coming soon)

Master Set Three: The Blackstone Fortress

Spoiler Alert!

The Archivist

Spoiler Alert!

The Archivist can be found in Blackstone Fortress: Deadly Alliance.

Expansion Units

Spoiler Alert!

Stormcast Crypt Hunters

Spoiler Alert!

The Stormcast Crypt Hunters use "Stormcast Eternals" models which can be found in Crypt Hunters.

Chainrasp Horde

Spoiler Alert!

The Chainrasp Horde can be found in Crypt Hunters. One copy of the game will give you three squads, as well as the Stormcast Crypt Hunters and Kreth Soulvoid.

Cairn Wraith

Spoiler Alert!

Cairn Wraiths can be found as an individual hero.

Kreth Soulvoid

Spoiler Alert!

Kreth Soulvoid can be found in Crypt Hunters. One copy of the game will give you three squads of the Chainrasp Horde, as well as the Stormcast Crypt Hunters and Kreth Soulvoid.

HeroClix Customs

Spoiler Alert!

King Yowie

Spoiler Alert!

King Yowie uses Sasquatch #G008 from Marvel HeroClix: The Dark Phoenix Saga.

Fallout Wasteland Warfare Customs

Spoiler Alert!

Enclave Hellfire Team

Spoiler Alert!

Enclave Hellfire Team uses the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare - Enclave: Hellfire Set.

Enclave Hellfire Team uses our marker based house rules. When a marker is placed under a figure, it stays under that figure until the figure moves or is destroyed. Unless a card specifically states otherwise, markers travel with a marked figure. Multiple markers may be placed under the same figure.

[TheAverageFan]

These are some excellent-looking figures and I'm surprised no one has commented thus far, so now that I've got some time I'll give you my , both in regard to the unit and the wording as you requested:

Knight Questor: Solid figure, and I'm glad his aura clashes with Raelin's. For the wording, I would remove "Would become the target of an attack" and change it to just "is attacked", since the power doesn't cause the target to change like Mistweaver's Glimmermist power does. Otherwise the wording checks out

Mistweaver Saih: Goes without saying for Warhammer, but that is a killer sculpt. Illusory Assault is insanely strong against swarms; probably demands a limit of attacks or a price hike. For Glimmermist I would say "If you roll a 15 or higher" instead of "On a result of 15 or higher."

Excelsior Warpriest: Odd that he is unique while the gryphhound is not, especially with the generic title name. Otherwise he is a solid figure. Despite the pointlessness of it, if we're gunning for syntax I would specify that Sigmar's Boon does nothing on a failure: "If you roll a 1-11, nothing happens."

Tenebrael Shard: This one may be my favorite: gives off a great "dancing through battle" theme with the multiple attacks while moving. There may be some redundancies in the power wordings, but if you ask me it's better safe than sorry to avoid confusing people. So I'd keep it as written.

Slaughter Priest: He's actually quite nice, healing friends while he dishes out punishment . I'd recommend using "an opponent's figure" over "an opposing figure" if we're gunning for Official-sounding syntax. For Thirst For Battle, I'd also swap it so it reads "As long as a figure an opponent controls was destroyed this Round, Slaughter Priest rolls two additional attack dice."

Gryphhound: I'd recommend the following wording: "Whenever a friendly Unique Hero adjacent to this Gryphhound attacks, they roll one additional attack die. No more than one die can be added from the Loyal Companion Special Power." Or something like that.

Horrors of Tzeentch: Extremely cool idea with the splitting units, though the wording does confuse me. Do the non-Pink horrors start the game on their Army Card? Can destroyed non-Pink horrors be spawned with the power? There's no reference to them starting the game off the battlefield a la Rechets of Bogdan so I am not sure. Also note that the Brimstone Horrors have the Blue Horrors hit zones in their Army Card.

Skaven Deathrunner: Illusory Twin is a cool power to be sure, but since you don't get to take a turn with both copies it seems a bit redundant other than giving him more options of who to attack across the board (though it gives the enemy more chances to attack him as well since both copies share Life Total). Wording on the power checks out despite its complexity, so that is good.

Grots: Pretty nifty little swarming squads. 30 Points for a 4-man Squad is super cheap, making them very cost-effective. Wording on the power checks out

The Guant Summoner: Quite powerful and fitting for a boss character. I like 'im. Flying is usually listed as the last power a unit has. For Warptongue Blade I would have the "add 2 to your roll for every wound marker on that figure's Army Card" as a separate sentence, then "If you roll a 15 or higher, add 2 additional wounds." Lastly the text in Book of Profane Secrets says Shadow Cast Special Attack instead of the correct SA name (a mistake I've made more times than I can count).

The Archivist: Areotech Expert is pretty cool, though I am uncertain if it works when the Archivist is taking a turn or any unit you control. Atomic Disassembler is also pretty nifty at blocking Raelin. As there is no official precedent on a power like this I'd say the wording is fair, though you could also say "the defending figure may only roll a number of dice equal to their defense value when defending against Atomic Disassembler Special Attack." I myself used "Figures attacked by X may not add extra shields or roll extra dice by any special power on an Army Card or Glyph" as the wording for a similar power.

Overall, very well done. It would indeed be a shame to let such gorgeous figures go to waste

~TAF

[Alexandros]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

These are some excellent-looking figures and I'm surprised no one has commented thus far, so now that I've got some time I'll give you my , both in regard to the unit and the wording as you requested:

Knight Questor: Solid figure, and I'm glad his aura clashes with Raelin's. For the wording, I would remove "Would become the target of an attack" and change it to just "is attacked", since the power doesn't cause the target to change like Mistweaver's Glimmermist power does. Otherwise the wording checks out

Great feedback, and sensible changes. I've changed the card.

Mistweaver Saih: Goes without saying for Warhammer, but that is a killer sculpt. Illusory Assault is insanely strong against swarms; probably demands a limit of attacks or a price hike. For Glimmermist I would say "If you roll a 15 or higher" instead of "On a result of 15 or higher."

This makes sense. My intent was to allow Mistweaver to attack twice, but different targets. I've changed the card to read: "When Mistweaver attacks with Illusory Assault Special Attack for the first time each turn, it may attack with Illusory Assault Special Attack one additional time if it attacks a different figure."

Excelsior Warpriest: Odd that he is unique while the gryphhound is not, especially with the generic title name. Otherwise he is a solid figure. Despite the pointlessness of it, if we're gunning for syntax I would specify that Sigmar's Boon does nothing on a failure: "If you roll a 1-11, nothing happens."

I totally get that. My intention was to make it unique for selfish reasons because I'm not buying and painting more- LOL. That said, I could see making it an uncommon hero. Worth noting that I intend for multiple different unique units to bond with Gryphhounds, as many characters in the AoS universe choose Gryphhounds as companions.

Tenebrael Shard: This one may be my favorite: gives off a great "dancing through battle" theme with the multiple attacks while moving. There may be some redundancies in the power wordings, but if you ask me it's better safe than sorry to avoid confusing people. So I'd keep it as written.

Thank you! This was one of my favorites as well. I appreciate that you made me revisit the card, as one of his power names wasn't bolded.

Slaughter Priest: He's actually quite nice, healing friends while he dishes out punishment . I'd recommend using "an opponent's figure" over "an opposing figure" if we're gunning for Official-sounding syntax. For Thirst For Battle, I'd also swap it so it reads "As long as a figure an opponent controls was destroyed this Round, Slaughter Priest rolls two additional attack dice."

Thanks! Suggestion noted and card changed accordingly.

Gryphhound: I'd recommend the following wording: "Whenever a friendly Unique Hero adjacent to this Gryphhound attacks, they roll one additional attack die. No more than one die can be added from the Loyal Companion Special Power." Or something like that.

Do you think there's a power issue with multiple Gryphhounds banding together? I had intended for this to be possible.

Horrors of Tzeentch: Extremely cool idea with the splitting units, though the wording does confuse me. Do the non-Pink horrors start the game on their Army Card? Can destroyed non-Pink horrors be spawned with the power? There's no reference to them starting the game off the battlefield a la Rechets of Bogdan so I am not sure. Also note that the Brimstone Horrors have the Blue Horrors hit zones in their Army Card.

I'm not sure how to workshop these. But I would say yes, and yes. Whichever horrors don't start included in your force are put on their army card. Thank you for the note with the horror hit zone- I'll fix it if I can find an updated wording.

Skaven Deathrunner: Illusory Twin is a cool power to be sure, but since you don't get to take a turn with both copies it seems a bit redundant other than giving him more options of who to attack across the board (though it gives the enemy more chances to attack him as well since both copies share Life Total). Wording on the power checks out despite its complexity, so that is good.

There might be a more sensible way to justify the Deathrunners splitting, but I thought the wound removal clause would help reward you when your opponent fails the roll.

The Gaunt Summoner: Quite powerful and fitting for a boss character. I like 'im. Flying is usually listed as the last power a unit has. For Warptongue Blade I would have the "add 2 to your roll for every wound marker on that figure's Army Card" as a separate sentence, then "If you roll a 15 or higher, add 2 additional wounds." Lastly the text in Book of Profane Secrets says Shadow Cast Special Attack instead of the correct SA name (a mistake I've made more times than I can count).

Reasonable changes, and I've made them.

The Archivist: Areotech Expert is pretty cool, though I am uncertain if it works when the Archivist is taking a turn or any unit you control. Atomic Disassembler is also pretty nifty at blocking Raelin. As there is no official precedent on a power like this I'd say the wording is fair, though you could also say "the defending figure may only roll a number of dice equal to their defense value when defending against Atomic Disassembler Special Attack." I myself used "Figures attacked by X may not add extra shields or roll extra dice by any special power on an Army Card or Glyph" as the wording for a similar power.

Again, great feedback! I'm considering changing Archeotech Expert to the following: "When taking a turn with The Arcivist, before moving, you may look at one face down glyph on the map or unrevealed order marker on an army card an opponent controls, then put it back."

Thank you so much for your time. I'll be updating this with some additional cards I've designed in the last few days.

[Alexandros]

OP updated with the following new units:
Stormcast Crypt Hunters (Expansion Unit)
Tzaangors (Silver Tower Adversary)
Slop, Chaos Familiar (Silver Tower Glyph)

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Amarant

Do you think there's a power issue with multiple Gryphhounds banding together? I had intended for this to be possible.

Ah I see. The power specifies (Max 1) to the Attack boost, so I figured that meant that the intent was not to allow multiple Gryphhounds to boost a single figure. In that case you could simply borrow the wording on Finn's power: "All friendly Unique Heroes adjacent to this Gryphhound add 1 die to their Attack."

~TAF

[Alexandros]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Ah I see. The power specifies (Max 1) to the Attack boost, so I figured that meant that the intent was not to allow multiple Gryphhounds to boost a single figure. In that case you could simply borrow the wording on Finn's power: "All friendly Unique Heroes adjacent to this Gryphhound add 1 die to their Attack."

~TAF

That's so strange. I have no recollection of putting (max 1) there. 💀 I'll have to edit that tomorrow. Thank you again much for the feedback.

[Alexandros]

OP updated with the following new units:
Chainrasp Horde (Expansion Unit)
Cairn Wraith (Expansion Unit)
Kreth Soulvoid (Expansion Unit)
Fyreslayer Doomseeker (Silver Tower Champion)

[Astroking112]

The figures you're using look fantastic, and I like quite a few of the designs. I assume that the minis are unpainted?

Knight Questor
I would recommend reusing Combat Challenge rather than creating a new power. As it is, if a figure is engaged with both Knight Questor and Tandros Kreel, they wouldn't be able to attack at all since the powers directly contradict each other. You can fix this by saying:

COMBAT CHALLENGE
If an opponent's figure that is adjacent to Knight Questor attacks with a normal or special attack, it must attack a figure with the Combat Challenge power.

That's modified wording from an official power, but it's necessary wording to fix conflicts (the figure would simply have to attack Tandros if engaged to both figures) and can safely be used on other units as well.

I'm not a big fan of Protect the Weak. I get the desire to prevent stacking with Raelin, but it also feels weird that he'll only protect friends who aren't standing next to bushes or when you don't have the Glyph of Gerda, for example. It's probably better from a metagame perspective, but it feels a bit clunky to me. It is worth noting that if there isn't any Knight synergy planned, the requirement to take a turn with him each round to activate the bonus is pretty restrictive (I've experimented with similar styles of aura powers before that are limited to revealed OMs, and they're not as big of a problem with Raelin-stacking as you would expect).

My only other note here is that Death Knight Bonding (from the Relentless personality) feels odd, but that onus is on the DKs themselves. It still feels weird and at odds with a Jandar Knight who wants to protect the weak, though.

Mistweaver Saih
She feels tough for a HeroScape Elf Wizard (they typically have higher life and low defense), but that's fine since I presume she comes from a different planet than Feylund anyway. I like the changed Illusory Assault now that she can only attack twice per turn. I would recommend replacing the "it" pronouns with "she/her," though, since the bio refers to her as such.

I do have some suggestions for wording Glimmermist, taking inspiration from the Nakita Agents:

GLIMMERMIST
Whenever Mistweaver Saih is targeted for a normal or special attack, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 15 or higher, Mistweaver Saih may not be targeted for that attack.

You could take further inspiration from the Nakita Agents (mostly by removing hitzones for the remainder of that turn) depending on the intended theme, but I think that the first sentence better evokes standard "targeting" in HeroScape.

Excelsior Warpriest
Sigmar's Boon is a fun power, but it seems very powerful for just 70 points on a figure with those stats. 6 spaces is a pretty generous range, and even if the odds are a little under half, bonding ensures that his turns won't be a waste anyway. I'd suggest either a slight points bump, a decrease in stats, or a smaller range for the heal.

In terms of wording, I would suggest capitalizing "Gryphhound" in the bonding power. It is also worth noting that since the species and card name are the same, there's some ambiguity here if you ever wanted to make a different type of Gryphhound. If that's the case, I would suggest renaming the Gryphhound itself to "Gryphhound Guard" or something and leave the bonding open to any Gryphhound Hero.

Gryphhound
Other than the notes above, I do have a quick suggestion for wording, since I see that the intent was to allow the power to stack:

LOYAL COMPANION
Whenever a friendly Unique Hero adjacent to this Gryphhound attacks a figure engaged to this Gryphhound with a normal attack, it rolls one additional die.

Tenebrael Shard
Just as a quick heads-up, the Imgur image here seems to be broken.

Fyreslayer Doomseeker
Even if the Throwing Axe SA doesn't have any remarkable conditions, I think that it should have some text underneath it still. You could fix this by just changing "Attack 3" to "Attack 3 + Special." and then add in a line like "When attacking with Throwing Axe Special Attack, Fyreslayer Doomseeker rolls an additional attack die if there is a Rune Marker on this card."

I'm not a fan of needing to remember whether he has killed a figure this round or not. IMO, it'd be simpler and more straightforward to just remove the Rune Marker from his Army Card at the end of each round, and then let him place it on the card whenever he kills a figure.

It's also worth noting that as a Dwarf, he bonds with Axegrinders. A 4 attack SA on a bonding hero has the potential to get pretty nasty, even if he has to consistently get kills to maintain it.

Slaughter Priest
I'd recommend a similar marker mechanic to the Fyreslayer Doomseeker to avoid having to remember whether a figure was destroyed each round. For example:

THIRST FOR BATTLE
Slaughter Priest starts the game with one Slaughter Marker. When an opponent's figure is destroyed, you may place the Slaughter Marker on this Army Card. While the Slaughter Marker is on this card, Slaughter Priest adds 2 to his Attack value. At the end of each round, remove the Slaughter Marker from this card.

I also have some wording suggestions for Sacrificial Rite:

SACRIFICIAL RITE
Whenever Slaughter Priest inflicts one or more wounds on an opponent's figure, you may remove up to one wound marker from the Army Card of a friendly Unique Hero within four clear sight spaces.

That's all that I have time for now, but I'll try to make another pass sometime to see the rest of the designs. Nice work!

[Alexandros]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I don't have a lot of time today to make a lot of the edits I should, but I have fixed the broken link for Tenabrael Shard. I'll come back later and make a pass on some of the others.

[Shiftrex]

Dreadwarden Inspiration is a really fun ability, I was wondering how the chainrasp faction was going to be tied together until I got to that point. The common squad will probably still struggle as much as things like Phantom Knights would given their attack but I appreciate that all the Chainrasps have stealth flying.

I'm curious to see how they play and where you envision them winding up as a small faction, they definitely have a lot of emphasis on defense with their stats across the board with the heroes having abilities that bring up their offensive considerably. I almost wish they had a ranged attacker or rather I would play them with one because I think the common squad would make an effective screen.

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Shiftrex

Dreadwarden Inspiration is a really fun ability, I was wondering how the chainrasp faction was going to be tied together until I got to that point. The common squad will probably still struggle as much as things like Phantom Knights would given their attack but I appreciate that all the Chainrasps have stealth flying.

I agree that this is a cool faction, though I don't see the squad struggling at all compared to the Heroes. Their first ability fixes their Defense at 5 which means that they suffer none of the penalties Dreadwarden Inspiration grants. Couple that with their numbers and you're looking at a buff of +6/-0 compared to the +2/-2 of any of the Heroes using DI. A three man 4/5 squad with 6 Move and Stealth Flying is pretty strong, though they fortunately are expensive and don't get any defense bonuses from Raelin or Height. I'd have a hard time justifying drafting the Cairn Wraith in a Chainrasp army--if I really needed to swing at someone for 6 I'd just have Kreth Inspire himself.

The Chainrasp Horde is balanced by their price tag (and needing a 130-point Hero to be more than discount Shades of Bleakwoode), though I'd recommend a buff to the Cairn Wraith (who'd be super-deadly if he got to reroll just dice that didn't show Skulls) and a nerf to Kreth (who could use a Range limit on his Inspiration so he isn't just sitting in the Start Zone all game).

Lastly it is odd that Chainrasp is their choice of Race instead of Class, given that this makes them technically not Undead. I remember having to make Spirit a Class just to avoid this very issue. Much like Soulborgs there are just so many powers and abilities specific to Undead that it's hard not to have.

~TAF, always approves of more spooky units

[Alexandros]

Sat down the other night to play a game with some friends and to my surprise, some of them actually reached for these customs in addition to some C3V groups we didn't previously own. One player chose to draft the Knight-Questor alongside some Cathar Spearmen, and the other drafted a couple squads of the Horde with Kreth and Mistweaver. After I read the cards, it immediately became obvious that the Horde doesn't get the debuff it's supposed to get- I changed the wording of their power and hopefully fixed that. I added a range to Kreth's inspiration as suggested above, and changed their race and class.

Additionally, I realized that the Gryphhound are kind of a nonbo with the Stormcast Crypt Hunters. I've changed the Gryphhound's power to affect unique figures and slightly adjusted it's cost. I'll upload new images shortly.

I've also fixed Knight-Questor to have Combat Challenge, and removed the X Marker requirement from Protect the Weak.

EDIT: Images should all be updated now. I will probably rebalance Cairn Wraith as he doesn't currently seem to be worth drafting.