Super Bogue's Customs: Odds and Ends

[Super Bogue]

As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, I have 3 D & D Scape waves nearly completed. Just so you know my process: First I search D&D miniatures gallery on WotC sites for figures that I think I would like to make customs of (actually I have saved copies of all the miniatures to my hard drive. I have them sorted by race and type...whatever). Then I look on Auggies site or eBay to see what the figure would cost me to see if it is feasible. For instance, I would really like to do a Dragonborn knight squad but the Dragonborn Defender figure is about $10, Dragonborn Warlord is around $10, and the Paladin of Bahamut is almost $20. I would rather not pay $40 for a custom squad. If the price is reasonable, then I start making the card. Once I am satisfied with that, then I go about purchasing the figure. Last I take some pictures of the figure on blue or red poster board and maybe a few "in action" pics to finish the card and use on the blog post.

Anyway, my first wave, D4 - Vydar's Treachery, will have 2 common squads, 1 uncommon hero, and 12 unique heroes. I have a dragon for Valkrill and Aquilla. There are three other heroes for Valkrill. So feel free to critique, comment, or whatever. I welcome any and all feedback!

D4 - Vydar's Treachery

Spoiler Alert!

Lurkers of the Underdark
Heroes of Steam Alley
Heroes of Feldspar Pass
Heroes of the Lost Paradise

D5 - Einar's Empire

Spoiler Alert!

Behemoths
Minotaurs
Githzerais
Archons

D6 - Ullar's Revival

Spoiler Alert!

Sneaks, Stalkers, and Wyrms
Rage of the Beasts
Heroes of Ostrivick
Heroes of Ekstrem

D7 - Seekers of the Wellsprings

Spoiler Alert!

Beasts of the Naturalists
Creatures Warped by Magic
Heroes of the Forgotten Lagoon
Heroes of Shaded Vale

D8 - Expedition to Haukeland

Spoiler Alert!

Fruit from the Garden of Destruction
Timeless Foes
Heroes of the Giant Canyon
Heroes of the Stormy Skies

D9 - Last Strife

Spoiler Alert!

Valkrill's Fury
Doom in the Jungle
Heroes Contending for the Underdark
Heroes of the Wailing Pass

Confrontation: Age of Rag'norak

Spoiler Alert!

Lions of Lahnars
Rams of Acheron
Griffins of Akklyannie
Wolfen of Yillia
Scorpions of Dirz

World of Warcraft

Spoiler Alert!

Aquilla
Einar
Jandar
Ullar
Vydar
Utgar
Valkrill

Lord of the Rings

Spoiler Alert!

The Fellowship
Thorin's Company
The Elves of Middle Earth
Rohan
Gondor
Moria
Mordor
Isengard

Dungeon Crawlers

Spoiler Alert!

Villagers

[Super Bogue]

D4 - Vydar's Treachery

Pack #1 - Lurkers of the Underdark
Hi-res pdf
This is the pack with the 2 common squads and 1 uncommon hero. I posted the squads in my blog yesterday, but here they are for easy reference.

The Crypy Guards

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to boost Sudema and a hero I have planned for Valkrill.

• The figures are Mummy from Harbinger which you may be able to find on Auggies. I bought 3 for almost $6 each. The other one is the Guardian Mummy from Desert of Desolation. I have had to get these guys from eBay. Usually around $4 or $5.
• I played around with a couple of powers for them. I always wanted to make sure they had Undead Queen Bonding, but the other powers have changed a couple of times. If you look up abilities for mummies in D&D the primary is rotting touch which basically makes someone flesh start to decay like he or she is dead. At one point I had the Rotting Touch power as an aura that would reduce the attack and defense of opponent figures within two clear sight spaces and it would boost to six if the CG were within four spaces of an undead queen. That seemed to be a little much. Plus I wanted to make sure that they were a fairly cheap squad and it would be hard to do that if they had a power like that one, so instead I decided on the power they have now.
• Stragetically I would use them as blockers to prevent the enemy from getting to their queen. They are not really fast enough to go out and grab a hero, hold him down until Sudema can come up and try to turn him to stone a couple times. I would move her to advantagous position and surround her with these guys. Your opponents wants to take her out, because of her high point value but with these guys around that might be easier said than done.

Lolth's Sting

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to provide a more cost effective ammo for Pelloth's Lolth Wrath Special Attack.

• The figures are Lolth's Sting from Underdark, Drow Fighter from Giants of Legend, and Drow Adventurer from Demonweb. Lolth's Sting you can find on Auggies for cheap. He has a bunch still. The Drow Fighter he might have or you may have to go to eBay or another seller, but it should still be about $2.50 or less for that figure. The Drow Adventurer might be harder to find, but should still be less than $4 a figure.
• Early today I still had Lurking Ambush as a power. Killometer has encouraged me away from that one which seems to be a really good idea. I was creating anothe power in MSE when Shadow Ambush popped up. I forgot about that one, but I think I like it best. 3 attack boost might be too high for a 40 point squad, so don't be surprised if they are bumped up to may 45 points but I don't think I would be them anyway than that. I still would want people to blow these guys up without hestitation. They have a kind of kazekami mentalilty. I gave them poisoned weapons since it seems like a good standard ability for Drow squads. I like to reused official abilities, but just mix and match them in different ways. I really like what the design team did with Migol Ironwill. Powers that had been in the game a long time, but put together on a new figure it gave those powers new life. I am trying to do that too.
• I see this squad being used with and without their Deepwyrm brethren, but I don't know why you would use Pelloth without them. I would meet the enemy with the Deepwyrm, and then move Lolth's Sting out of the shadows to takeout heroes and tough squad figures. If they fail to kill with the ambush, then Pelloth blows them up into unblockable spidery bits.

Iron Dragon Prowler

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be underlings of Ferron, the Iron Dragon leader.

• The figure is the Iron Dragon Prowler from Demonweb. You can find it at Auggies for about $6 and other online retailers for just a bit more. It has the same issues that Othkurik's figure does. Its wings get in the way of place ment. The right wing in particular cover most of the hex adjacent to its rear right flank. The good news is that the figure is really easy to remove from its base.
• The IDP is a small version of Ferron, so its stats and special attack are downgraded accordingly to its price. I did think about giving it some kind of Electric Shield power that would affect figures adjacent to it like Searing Intensity does with the added bonus of taking away an opponent's order marker.
• The IDP is a great dungeon crawl monster. I have a pair of them, so I would use the lurk behind obstacles and then jump out when I can step up my opponents figures in an advantagous way. I would target a figure with Sparks Special Attack that I think I could get the most damage on. I would not rely on the second attack to cause too much damage to hero.

Well what do you guys think about these guys? Good power combinations? Are the Crypt Guards bland? Still not enough to get Sudema out on the battlefield? Should I bump up the price on Lolth's Sting? How about classifying them as Stingers?

[Killometer]

I've seen a couple of your customs pop up in the gallery, and I really like them and want to discuss them. When are you going to share them here?

[Super Bogue]

I am putting together a blog post now.
I will have further info here following that post.
I really appreciate the interest. Thanks!

The blogs are done, but the infor is more detailed here. But the blogs have pretty picutes too.

[Killometer]

Cross-posted from your blog:

First, know that I haven't tested these guys, so all I've said and all I'm going to say is just based off Theoryscape.

[Changing Shadow Ambush] definitely drops their price down a bit, but I'm still concerned by their potential 5 attack (6 with height) plus Poison Weapons. Maybe if PW was reduced to 16+, instead of a 45% success rate, they'd be getting closer to the price you're looking at. I know that you're using 12 because its what the DwD's PW uses, but these guys feel like they're floating around 55 points the way they're presently statted.

Like I said earlier, I love Pelloth-fodder, so if in the near future I get a chance between work, school and SoV tests, I'll run these guys a few times and see if I can give you some fact-based opinions, instead of just spit-balling in your blog.


Cross-posted from the 3FG:

I really like these guys. The only suggestion I had I mentioned in your blog, and I see that you've already handled it. They seem pretty accurately priced at 40, and I like how Rotting Touch is kept in check by requiring adjacency. As Guards they benefit from Warden 816's Guard Leadership, so for 90 points you can bump their move up to 5-probably worth it, imo. With only 2 members they'll usually suffer in the standard metagame, but in any hero-heavy format they have the potential to thrive.

[Super Bogue]

Originally Posted by Killometer

Cross-posted from your blog:

First, know that I haven't tested these guys, so all I've said and all I'm going to say is just based off Theoryscape.

[Changing Shadow Ambush] definitely drops their price down a bit, but I'm still concerned by their potential 5 attack (6 with height) plus Poison Weapons. Maybe if PW was reduced to 16+, instead of a 45% success rate, they'd be getting closer to the price you're looking at. I know that you're using 12 because its what the DwD's PW uses, but these guys feel like they're floating around 55 points the way they're presently statted.

Like I said earlier, I love Pelloth-fodder, so if in the near future I get a chance between work, school and SoV tests, I'll run these guys a few times and see if I can give you some fact-based opinions, instead of just spit-balling in your blog.

I have altered Poison Weapons, so now it only affects small and medium figures and increased the 20-die roll from 12 to 16. In my mind of been comparing them to the Blade Gruts who are also 40 points. Since L'sS lacks bonding or any kind of boost, I will justified leaving them at 40. I fear if I bump their cost up them I am ruining their potential to be blown up.

[Killometer]

I think that with those limitations to PW you have gotten them down to about 40. Against squads the Blades will be more of a threat (4 members, plus bonding with heroes that boost them), but against heroes the LSs will be better (big attack after springing out from a shadow, then being exploded for unblockable wounds).

I'm still going to give them a whirl, and I'll let you know how they do.

[Super Bogue]

More for D4 - Vydar's Treachery

Pack #2 - Heroes of Steam Alley
Hi-res pdf

Gax Bolod'ken, the hobgoblin blademaster

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to work with Horned Skull Brutes.

• The figure is the Hobgoblin Bladebearer from Aberrations. You can get the non-promo version for $1.70ish from Auggies and around $2 from eBay sellers. It is just about the same size as Kurrok.
• Like I said in the blog post, when I first saw the HSB's Barge into Battle I thought of Parting Strike power. It is a tricky power to word. It need to have Disengage built into and I needed to make sure that you couldn't hit the same figure more than once. The general idea is that you roll a die for each figure that you are in engaged with and then choose which take a wound. However, none of that would work since Barge into Battle only works with squad figures. But he also got Double Attack to give him a little extra muscle.
• Gax works best complimenting a Goblinoid army. The Goblin Cutters scatter into place. The HSB position themselves to move. Gax flies into the enemy ranks and lands a couple of strikes. Then he is pulled back by HSB. He is also cheap enough to be used as a filler in other armies needing a quick striker type.

Regortar, the lizardfolk warlord

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be a bruiser to lead the Greenscale Warrior.

• The Blackscale Lizardfolk is a legitmate lagre figure (unlike the Ice Troll). This figure from Angelfire is about the size of the Deathwalker 8000/9000. I found him on eBay for about $4.50. Some day I would like to give him a paint job to match him up with the Greenscale Warriors, but right now he is pretty dark green.
• I wanted to make sure that he could stand in the front of a battle on and take a lot of damage. With that I figured that Wounded Smash would serve him well. He can reach a maximum of 9 attack right before he is about to be destroyed. The D&D skirmish card has this figure immune to all dragon breath attacks. I figued easy way to bring something like this across would be to give him a weaker version of Iron Tough, hence we have Tough Skin. Also he isn't just limited to bonding with the Greenscale Warriors. Since he is large and wild he can bonded with the Death Chasers of Thesk. He also can bond with the Armoc Vipers since he is an Ullar warlord.
• I would use him with a mix of GW and DCT. I would lead off with the DCT. He should be able to catch up shortly after they have made the first contact. After the DCT of are wiped out, he should still be standing. This is when you could bring of the GW. I would think that he would function pretty well with 2 or 3 wounds. I would definitely try to grab those first wounds with leaving engagements.

Marcu Esenwein uncursed

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be a quick and strong striker who relentlessly pursues his revenge.

• This figure is the Vampire Guildmaster from Savage Encounters. Auggies has about a hundred at $3 each. The figure looks pretty good next to the other Esenwein figures. Same height and the style is close.
• When I first thought about designing this card I knew Marcu needed to be close in value to Cyprien. Stealth Flying and Life Drain were easy abilities to select. The trick is giving him a good ability but something weaker than Chilling Touch. I decided to play on the revenge part of Marcu's character. Out for Vengance is strong but not too strong. Though it could be difficult to keep track of which figures caused wounds.I have gone back on reworked the revenge power. Now the player using Marcu can choose to place a Revenge Marker (I would use a red wound marker from Marvel: The Conflict Begins). It limits him to four targets for Out for Revenge, but that should still be good enough. The Werewolf Lord's are limited to three targets for Lycanopthry.
• I would use him with the Death Knights. He can fly up to long range attackers and put a hurt on them while the DKs move up and crush melee infantry with their Soul Weapons.

Ferron the leader of the Iron Dragons

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to give Valkrill a legitmate "King" class hero.

• This figure is the Elder Iron Dragon from Legendary Evils. You can find it from about $6.50 to $10 with online retailers. It has a couple advantage and one big disadvantage. First, it looks great! Second, it fits on a large single hex base. Third, it is fairly easy to remove from its base. Those are all its good points. The big disadvantage is the way its wings are spread it can make placement very tricky. Both wings are spread out very wide and low. A player could use this to a stragetic advantage by hiding figures behind these wings much like how you can hide a figure between Nilfheim's wings. What the figure really needs is a high single hex that it can use as a perch.
• Ferron is tough. At first glance you may think he is underpriced. Compared to Major Q9 he has one more Life and the same amount of move, attack, and defense plus flying. Certainly 10 additional points would make up for the difference especially since Q9 is considered an underpriced figure himself. The key difference is in the versality of their special attacks. The Queglix Gun Special Attack can be used to assault heroes or squad figures with great effectiveness. Burning Sparks Special Attack however is more powerful for a single attack, but it limited by the placement of the opponent's figures. Also Major Q9 has a range of 8 and Ferron's special attack only has range of 4.
• Fly Ferron to center of the battlefield on find a high perch for him. From here he can decimate your opponent with his Burning Sparks Special Attack. You opponent will try long and hard to dispose of Ferron while he rips his army part with his deadly breath.

[Killometer]

So I know this is a little preemptive, but I wanted to post it before I forgot. In my perusing of the Gallery I saw Vlaakith, and I noticed that Dark Ritual doen't specify when she can use it. I assume only on her turn, but as it's presently worded she can do it any time. If it is only on her turn, can she use it for free, or does it cost a move or attack action?

[Super Bogue]

Originally Posted by Killometer

So I know this is a little preemptive, but I wanted to post it before I forgot. In my perusing of the Gallery I saw Vlaakith, and I noticed that Dark Ritual doen't specify when she can use it. I assume only on her turn, but as it's presently worded she can do it any time. If it is only on her turn, can she use it for free, or does it cost a move or attack action?

Good point. I will change that add "after moving and before attacking" to it.

[Super Bogue]

D4 - Vydar's Treachery

Pack #3 - Heroes of Feldspar Pass
Hi-res pdf

Kalliroth the Githyanki Pirate

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be a quick and deadly hero who can bypass the toughest defenses.

• This figure is Kalliroth the githyanki pirate from Lords of Madness. I have to admit that with this figure and a few others I broke my normal rule of choosing figures. While I was on vacation, I visited a Book-a-Millions in Terra Haute, IN. There was a great variety of D&D manuals which do not interest me, but there was on Lords of Madness booster. I picked it up and got this figure, an Astral Giant, a Feymire Crocdile, Kenku Warrior, Orc Archer, and Water Shoal Reaver Archon. You can find this figure with various online retailers for anywhere from $8 to $12.
• It may be surprising to some, but I have never played a pen and paper RPG. Most of my D&D experience comes from games like Baldur's Gate and Eye of the Beholder, so I am not very familiar with certain D&D races like the Gith. The Gith use a variety of telekinetic abilities. But after a bit of online research I decided that I would use Mindslice as a power for Kalliroth. Since she is a pirate I decided that Double Attack would fit that class. I wanted to give a Vydar unit a form of movement bonding. Since Kalliroth is frail I thought that Guard Movement Bonding could help her hang around longer. She can move Gurei-Oni, Dumutef Guard, Drow Chainfighter, and Bulwark.
• To get the most of Guard Movement Bonding I would use Kalliroth with Bulwark. The key would be to make sure that you can position Bulwark in a place where Kalliroth can still reach her target. Preferably I would like to challenge high defense figures with her. She could take out quite a few samurai, Granite Guardians, the Majors, Iron Golems, etc.

Kalliroth's faithful bodyguard, Bulwark

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to primary support Kalliroth, but other fagile heroes could sure use a meatshield like Bulwark.

• This figure is the Warforged Bodyguard from War Drums. Auggies currently has a couple for $3 each. Other online retailers have it anywhere between $4 and $7. It is not terribly hard to find. I like the size too!
• Certainly I wanted to make sure that he had Warforged Resolve. But he also need some type of Bodyguard ability where he would just take the damage in place of another hero. The difficulty though is in the wording. I wanted to make sure that Bulwark would take the damage without any benefit from his own defensive abilities. Also I wanted to limit the power to one hero. Obvisouly I had to limit it by size (no reason to give Major Q9 six extra life), although that doesn't mean that the power is perfect. It could still use some fine tuning. I though but giving him Deadly Strike to give him some offensive power, but that would have pushed his cost too high.
• He is designed to work in compliment with Kalliroth. He takes the heat off her for awhile. He is not too expensive to where losing him could cost you victory, but he does have high enough expense that he simply won't be thrown away either. He can deliver a high strike with height.

Kalnak the Orc Archer

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be a cheap hero that gives the orcs a special attack.

• This figure is the Orc Archer from Lords of Madness. You should be able to find this figure with online retailers for about $1.50 to $3. Someday I might give it a little blue paint so he will better match the Grut Orcs. It does have the right kind of armor style to fit with the Gruts.
• I have always wanted the orcs to have a hero with a special attack. When I got this figure during my vacation, I knew I had a figure to fit my desire. Since he is an archer, I looked at all the special attacks that archer class figures have. Arrow Volley didn't make since since he is just a single figure. The other option was Quick Release which would work great. Now the challenge would be to adjust his stats so he could have Quick Release and still be relatively cheap, hence his utter lack of defense and life. I also gave him Disengage to fit in with the other Grut orcs.
• Kalnak does lack bonding, so that will limit his effectiveness in an Orc army. He could also work well as a filler character to cheaply pick up Quick Release.

Astral Giant Wizard, Humphrey

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be a versatile hero to assist and attack.

• This is the Astral Giant figure from Lords of Madness. If you pay more than $2 for this figure than you have paid too much. Auggies has a bunch right now for $0.89 each. The picture on the card has a red hue to it, because I had a red poster board behind the figure which has some translucent parts. With a good pair of utility shears, you should be able to cut off the excess part of its D&D base to accomodate Heroscape or just cut off all the black part and glue a Heroscape base beneath it like I did.
• Humphrey was the most difficult figure of this group to come up with powers for. At first I ddin't know if I wanted to make a unique or uncommon hero, but when I thought about the giants already in Heroscape I decided to go with a unique hero. Also I could only find one thing that gave me a description of what powers an astral giant could use. It was a D20 like profile which stated that astral giants preferred the wizard class and were usually peacable. So Humphrey became a Merciful Wizard. Astral Form gives him mobility to move around the battlefield so he can make the most of Astral Mist. Astral Mist is his cheerleading power that grants tactical disengagement to friendly figures. I tacked Astral Stomp Special Attack on to give him some power to squish low defense squad figures that would try to bog things down.
• Due to his mix of powers Humphrey can be used in a variety of ways, though his high cost does limit what else can be done with your army.

[Super Bogue]

D4 - Vydar's Treachery

Pack #4 - Heroes of the Lost Paradise
Hi-res pdf

The lich queen Vlaakith

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to fill some gaps in the undead faction.

• This figure is Vlaakith from Blood War. It is rather expensive. You can find it from $12 to $18 dollars with online retailers. It is a good looking figure though. Another figure that could be used for an undead queen is the Lady Vol figure from Night Below which is about $6 to $10, but that figure is ugly.
• Vlaakith is designed to fill gaps in the undead faction. She does this in a couple of ways. First, she has a cheerleader power: Undead Attack Enhancement. I thought about giving her Undead Leadership but I didn't want to buff of the Zombies of Moridan or the Phantom Knights too much. She also has a special attack that the undead need: Frost Blast Special Attack. It is should be a sure kill on common squad figures. Her last ability helps increase her survivability. Dark Ritual probably would work best with the ZoM since they can reproduce themselves, but any cheap squad figure will do as a sacrifice to restore her health.
• Vlaakith has a couple of bonding options. She can work with either the Death Knights of Valkrill or my Crypt Guards. The DKoV and ZoM would work well with her. Move her up to where she can hit someone with Frost Blast Special Attack, then the DKoV can move up and gain the advange of her Undead Attack Enhancement. With ZoM around she has cheap figures to sacrifice for Dark Ritual.

Lensonar, the drow blademaster

Spoiler Alert!

A hero intended to lead the front lines of the drows assaults.

• This is the Drow Blademaster from the Desert of Desolation. The figure is about $2 on Auggies when he has it. It shouldn't be much higher than that else where. I really like the look of the figure. The only drawback is that he is a little short. He is just a little shorter than the Deepwyrm Drow.
• I tried a couple of different ability combinations with him. First he had Double Attack and Lurk in Shadows. That combination was okay, but I thought I could do better. Then I tried Blade Hurricane Special Attack and Defensive Agility. I liked the BH, but giving him DA I would either have to drop his life and/or defense and I didn't like either of those options. Instead I created Duelist Agility. I think I got the wording right, but what is supposed to happen is if he is engaged with one opponent then one shield would block all hits from that opponent's attacks.
• I would use him with Pelloth and Lolth's Sting on a dungeon map. First, I would want to get Pelloth and LS setup for an ambush. Then I would send Lensonar out to engage your opponent's defender. When your opponent sneds someone else up to assist his defender. Then hammer him with LS. All the while Lensonar should be frustrating your oppenent's defender. He could also work well as a counter draft to melee heroes.

Zissren, the lizardfolk raider

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be the sneaky leader of the Greenscale Warriors.

• The Poison Dusk Lizardfolk is a small figure from War of the Dragon Queen. You could find it for around $3 on eBay. It is about the same height of Migol and the AotBF.
• I wanted to use abilities that would emphasis the different styles of attack between Regortar and Zissren. With range and Poison Weapons, Zissren can use the GW as a screen to safely shot from behind. Once the opportunity presents itself, then Zissren can rush in and finish off an opponent that is already engaged with GW with Sneak Attack. He does go against my normal rule of only giving a card one attack special power, but I couldn't decide on a good defensive or movement ability to give him instead.
• Zissren does not want to directly confront his prey. He would rather shot from height and then let the GW tie he target down. On the next turn he can rush up and finish it off. He needs to stay away from direct combat due to his low survivability.

Talruth the blue dragon minion

Spoiler Alert!

Intended to be Aquilla's blue dragon...until I got the figure and saw how small it is. Now he is a minion of future blue dragon.

• The figure is the Large Blue Dragon from Deathknell. You can find it for about $11 to $16. But honestly if I knew how small it would be I wouldn't have bothered. It is about as tall as a Minion of Utgar and that make it about half the size of Moltenclaw who is by far the smallest of the Heroscape dragons.
• Obiviously I used the Blue Wyrmling as a template for Talruth. He has a buffed up version of Fledging Lightning Breath Special Attack. Of course he flies like all dragons. He also has higher attack than defense like the Blue Wyrmling. I also kept his life low to help manage his cost. I was tempted to make him a Predator, but he will already be able to bond with the Greenscale Warriors and I don't think bonding with the spiders would have added anything.
• Right now he is the cheapest dragon bonding option for the Greenscale Warriors. With that in mind he could be used with a greater amount of GWs than any of the other dragons. He can zap enemies safely behind a screen of GWs with Electric Breath.

Once I take the in action pictures of Valkrills dragons and Humphrey, I will get this wave finished up. Until then, feedback please!