[AotV] Pre-Brainstorming Thread

[Astroking112]

It's a very thematic design, but I'm slightly concerned that it's more evocative of an undead squad than a shadow one. March of the Dead and Tough both feel very zombie-ish to me, but it's peculiar to associate toughness with an intangible object. Renames could of course help address this, if we're open to that (March of Dread personally works for me and still makes me think of Night of the Living Dead, if that's what you were going for). Since you mentioned other defensive options, that's always open, too, but we are already looking at removing hitzones for the Leyline Phantoms, so our options might be a little limited.

[betawolf36]

Hello all!

I don't necessarily have time to playtest, but I thought I would drop in and help brainstorm!

I do really like that March of Dead power, butI think it would be really cool to pay homage to the original zombies of Heroscape with the 4-man zombie squad. I'm not talking about the Zombies of Morindan, no, I'm talking about the Zombies of the Meat Grinder! The old scenario from way back at the start of the game. These zombies are runners.
Here's what I came up with using the right side stats provided in the scenario.

NAME: Grindermeet Shadowghouls
GENERAL: Valkrill
PLANET: Valhalla

SPECIES: Undead
UNIT TYPE: Unique Squad
CLASS: Savage
PERSONALITY: Relentless
SIZE: Medium 4

LIFE: 1
MOVE: 8
RANGE: 1
ATTACK: 4
DEFENSE: 1
POINT VALUE: ???

SPECIAL POWERS:

Zombies Rise Again
(See Zombies of Morindan. Could be changed so it only works when a unique figure is killed to make it less powerful and to match how the scenario ran out of unique squads to act as zombies.)

Eternal Hatred
(See Marcu Esenwein. In the original scenario the zombies acted independent of player control, and a power like this would tie into that.)

Relentless Aggression
While engaged to a figure your opponent controls a Grindermeet Shadowghoul cannot leave engagement with that figure.

The Eternal Hatred I toyed around with also having a chance to Berserker Charge once on a good roll, as they can move twice in the scenario if they are unengaged, but they are already plenty fast. Eternal Hatred would also hsve to change to a turn based condition, otherwise the Zombie Hulk could get around it. Or they could just not be Savages. The move of 8 might also be too much, but it's one of the stats provided.

Just thought I'd toss that idea out there.

Regardless of what you guys go with, I'm sure you'll make some excellent units that I'd like to see hit my gaming table. Wish you luck!

[lefton4ya]

Interesting suggestion @betawolf36 - nice to see you back here again. Forgot about The Meat Grinder (Knights of the Dinner Table Scenario)

Best of both worlds:

Life: 1
Move: 4
Range: 1
Attack: 3
Defense: 2
SPECIES: Undead
UNIT TYPE: Unique Squad
CLASS: Savage
PERSONALITY: Relentless
SIZE: Medium 4

March of the Dead
Before rolling for initiative each round, if there are no order markers on this army card, you may move (squad name) up to 4 spaces each.

Zombies Rise Again (See Zombies of Morindan)

Tough (See Gorrilinators, although we can add to allow for Special Attack as everyone wishes they did)

I think this keeps theme of Zombies and opponent has fear of approach. For player you would probably want no makers or 2+ on them starting mid-game.

[flameslayer93]

That’s a fascinating idea for a custom @betawolf36 !

Glad to have your interest too!

[Astroking112]

I'm surprisingly fond of referencing the Meat Grinder (considering that I've never played it ), but zombifying others or being Undead Savages makes me feel like it's just a zombie squad, when the sculpts clearly aren't.

As a quick musing for a shadowy ability:

Hidden Shadows
If a SHADOWY THING is adjacent to only one figure, it rolls an extra defense die.

I'm not suggesting that we put this on the shadow zombies, but something along these lines or otherwise playing with the fact that they're shadows (beyond a simple "Shadow" race on the left box) would go a long way towards making them more believably tied to the sculpt in my eyes.

[All Your Pie]

Since he’s been voted in to the next pod, I’ll throw my thoughts for Ob Nixilis here.

Atrixus
Valkrill

Life 5
Move 5
Range 1
Attack 4
Defense 4
Points: ???

Demon
Unique Hero
Darklord (maybe???)
Tormenting
Medium 5

Misfortune Aura
Whenever an opponent’s figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Atrixus rolls defense dice, you may force them to re-roll all dice once.

Flying

I like having this guy be some kind of cheerleader, especially since we aren’t going with a Kyrie Warrior for Avacyn.

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by All Your Pie

Atrixus
Valkrill

Life 5
Move 5
Range 1
Attack 4
Defense 4
Points: ???

Demon
Unique Hero
Darklord (maybe???)
Tormenting
Medium 5

Misfortune Aura
Whenever an opponent’s figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Atrixus rolls defense dice, you may force them to re-roll all dice once.

Flying

I like this. Some kind of "cheerleader" role makes sense, but this is a unique way of fulfilling that. Him replacing Taelord is less of a concern, too, because it requires the enemy to be within the aura rather than your attacker.

It does seem like it would be very potent for a bonding hero, though perhaps I'm overestimating the Wolves of Badru. A free second chance at Pounces sounds like something that they would appreciate very much, to the point that he would have to be priced around that and he might be a little disappointing alone in this set. There's also the potential for further Demon synergy that we're yet unaware of; neither of these things are unaddressable (the second in particular), but they're worth keeping in mind.

[All Your Pie]

Valid points on bonding. I personally think that the Wolves are pricey enough that they can absorb the cost of bonding decently well, but 5L 4A 4D might be pushing his stats a bit too much for that. That said, his closest competition is Morgoloth, who is a much better attacker with a comparably useful cheerleading ability, and I find it unlikely that we end up overshadowing him. I feel the same way about future demon synergy--some decently powerful Demon figures already exist, so as long as we don't outclass them we can trust reasonably well that the C3V isn't going to spring something deeply unbalancing on us.

[Astroking112]

Morgoloth is a better attacker for sure, but Flying and an ability to improve the success rate of Pounce do a lot to make up for that as well. So long as bonding doesn't increase his cost to the point that he feels unsatisfying without it, though, I'd be fine with it (some comparisons in my mind would be Finn and Thorgrim, who I enjoyed using as a kid long before I ever got knights).

I'm less concerned about releasing something along the power level of Morgoloth than I am about potential future interactions. For instance, if a C3V demon subtracts defense dice or something else along the lines of Gothlok, it might be a problem to design our own one that also forces enemies to reroll on defense, especially if they have other good synergies together. I don't think it's worth changing our plans over the fear of demon synergy (especially since it is all speculation), but it is worth keeping in mind that we might have to change the species later from a demon on if a problematic synergy is created.

[flameslayer93]

I suspect Protokyrie would help alleviate concerns.

I like Misfortune Aura as a power.

[Pumpkin_King]

My idea for the shrimps was something like “Thought Eater”, where they would get s buff or be able to come back if they destroy a unit with an Order Marker on its card.

[Pumpkin_King]

I also like demon/darklord, and I think we can make that synergy work.