Tiamat Encounter

[Blatimus]

Originally Posted by quozl

This guy may give you some ideas if you want to go really epic....

So how much have you played with him?
Does it take 1600 point army to take him down?

Those are some powerful stats for sure!

[quozl]

Originally Posted by Blatimus

So how much have you played with him?
Does it take 1600 point army to take him down?

Those are some powerful stats for sure!

He's been played with quite a lot. He's a C3G design and he's been playtested thoroughly. He's definitely worth 1600 points in superhero battles.

[Ryougabot]

This is quite awesome. I love the map.

I want to make but I am not sure I have enough stuff. Is it possible to pur the requirements is sets as well as hexes for those of us who think that way.
I think it is
2 FOTA
1 DD

One thing I will try is a dragon lair scenario. Put one of the standard HS dragons on each pillar and keep the rules the same.

Love it, and great work.

[Blatimus]

Originally Posted by Ryougabot

This is quite awesome. I love the map.

I want to make but I am not sure I have enough stuff. Is it possible to pur the requirements is sets as well as hexes for those of us who think that way.
I think it is
2 FOTA
1 DD

One thing I will try is a dragon lair scenario. Put one of the standard HS dragons on each pillar and keep the rules the same.

Love it, and great work.

I was wondering that as well, I wasn't sure because all my sets are mixed up. I have the boxes so I can try and get the hex count off the backs. Plus I found hex counts listed on Virtualscape. Here is my Virtualscape Build File.

You can easily substitute other master sets for some of the pieces. Rock tile can work for the Dungeon tiles. But you have to have 2 FOTA because of the large column that Tiamat sets on. First thing I did was get two right after I got my master set. Good thing they are still available in most stores.

It is
2 FOTA
2 DD

plus you need these additional general tiles from other sets

Rock 3:3
Rock 7:2
Rock 24:3

Sand 3:6
Sand 7:1


Here's the list for the level:

Spoiler Alert!

Rock 2:2
Rock 3:7
Rock 7:8
Rock 24:3

Sand 1:1
Sand 2:5
Sand 3:6
Sand 7:7

Ground castle 1:37
Ground castle 7:2
Ground castle 9:2
Base corner :8
Base straight :1
Base end :10
Wall corner :20
Wall straight :2
Wall end :12
Door :2
Battlement :42
Ladder :56

Dungeon 1:3
Dungeon 2:3
Dungeon 3:4
Dungeon 7:6
Dungeon 24:4
Outcrop 1:6
Outcrop 3:2
Shadow 1:13
Water 1:27

[Blatimus]

The New Tiamat and Bases
Somehow I missed the release of this new adventure from D&D, http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabl...ts/rise-tiamat I think I was overly busy with school. Thankfully I found out before the prices went through the roof.

Below are some pics of the new Tiamat sculpt and some comparisons in the Heroscape environment. The last picture is of some new bases I made since it is a snap to re-base a flying figure.

Spoiler Alert!

Figure: Tiamat the Dragon Queen - Tyranny of Dragons - D&D Icons of the Realm




The black base in the back is the original. First I made the peanut base and thought it might not be stable enough so I made a couple triple bases. Once the peanut cured I realized that it will probably be fine. I'll decide once I get a chance to play and find out how many time Tiamat gets knocked over. This new figure on the new base should be a lot easier to maneuver than the old Aspect of Tiamat just because the new figure is higher up and will clear terrain better.

[Blatimus]

Battle Report

My son and I went a few rounds today to further test out Tiamat.

1 Tiamat Queen of Dragons 380 pts was teamed up with
2 Black Wyrmlings
1 Red Wyrmling
1 White Wyrmling

against

2 4th Massachusetts Line
1 Alastair MacDirk
1 MacDirk Warriors
1 Omnicron Snipers
1 Zettian Guards

Game 1
After about 5 minutes Tiamat got knocked over twice so I switched out the peanut-base with the triple-base. After I did that she was fine.

Spoiler Alert!

As expected the base limited spaces where Tiamat could land.

The rougher the terrain the more complicated the game.

As you can see, this level isn't Fate's Chasm, it is the standard level I built for my son and I to have quick battles on during the week.

This level has pretty rough terrain, but I need to see if I can come up with something better to restrict Tiamat's moves. That really reinforces the need to use Tiamat within a specific scenario to give opponents a fighting chance.

Basically all opponents were wiped out using Tiamat after 3 rounds.

Diverting moves to the Wyrmlings staved off Tiamat for a while, but once they were gone it was over when the wrath of Tiamat rained down with her 5 breath attacks. Let's face it, a full-on attack from Tiamat is hopeless doom for any opponent.

Game 2
We reset for a second game and worked out a bit better strategy...

The focus was on running in, grabbing a treasure glif, and exiting the way they entered.

We had runners...with Snipers and Guards to cover. Alastair with wounds made the MacDirk warriors much more formidable. Plus Alastair's Overextended Attack gave him a bit more range of movement.

Most everything was obliterated by Tiamat at round 4 and looked pretty hopeless so we hung it up.

Conclusions
Coming up with restrictions for Tiamat seems to be next on my agenda. My first thought is limiting her specials to once per round (almost like cool down or charging up). This would force Tiamat to use more variety instead of just using the most deadly attacks every turn.

I need to add some clarification when Tiamat uses the Crush Special Move when contending with groups/multiple adjacent figures. Maybe the rule should be to only crush/destroy one figure and all others are displaced to adjacent spaces.

The epic-ness of this figure demands that Tiamat be part of a scenario with a Character Sheet rather than having her own Army Card; Every time we play this encounter it reinforces that thought.

Let me know if any of you have ideas.

I am testing 500 pt armies.

Maybe someone has a dream team I should be using. I might try it out even if I have to use proxies.

As a dungeon crawl style of game Large Sized figures aren't practical for getting through doorways at the start of scenarios. A solution may be to have Large Sized figures as residents of a level.

Eventually I'd like to add levels that build up to a final encounter with Tiamat. This could introduce the risk of losing team members needed for the final...maybe the group will start out as a larger point army.

[TheAverageFan]

Perhaps my own epic dragon of doom might give some insight on restrictions:

Spoiler Alert!

The most obliterating attack I limited to once per round, and all powers do not affect Huge figures, enabling bigger guys like Jotun or Su-Bak-Na to duke it out a bit easier with such an opponent.

Anyway I think the dream team for this scenario would mostly consist of Atlaga, Sudema, Ne-Gok-Sa, Morsbane, Shades of Bleakwoode, Runa...

~TAF, unknowingly

[Blatimus]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

...Anyway I think the dream team for this scenario would mostly consist of Atlaga, Sudema, Ne-Gok-Sa, Morsbane, Shades of Bleakwoode, Runa...

Hi TAF! Thanks for bringing up that dream team! All those figures have a component to them that threaten to make any opponent's figure insubstantial. That just goes to show you that you shouldn't depend to heavily on any one figure in your army.

Of all those figures I only have Ne-Gok-Sa so I wasn't aware how nerfed some figures can be...and without much restriction in how they use their abilities (I probably should read through the figures I don't have a few times if I am going to designing anything )

Stare of Stone
Instead of attacking, choose any figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Sudema. Roll the 20-sided die. If the chosen figure is a Squad figure and you roll a 7 or higher, destroy it. If the chosen figure if a Hero figure and you roll a 17 or higher, destroy the chosen Hero. ~Sudema Card

That in itself with no restrictions makes me think I should just leave Tiamat the way she is. Those types of abilities actually balance the game out quite well. Tiamat may be Epic, but not invincible.

I was concerned because every time Tiamat uses her Corrosive Gas Attack, it obliterates squad figures with no defense. But after seeing these other figure's abilities I am more at ease.

Corrosive Gas Range 5. Attack 3. Tiamat inflicts at least 1 wound with Corrosive Gas Special Attack,... ~Tiamat Character Sheet

To be sure, she is a Killer, and average squads are fodder.

Looking at the figures I have tested against her so far, they aren't anything very special. It's going to take some formidable abilities to take on the Queen of Dragons.

[Blatimus]

Battle Report - Tiamat versus Tiamat

Recently my wife and I set up a game and tested Tiamat's abilities. It was an especially interesting game because since we got the new Tiamat figure we have two of them, so the top two combatants were Tiamat versus Tiamat.

Tiamat 380pts
Venom 150pts
10th Regiment of Foot 75pts
Blue Wyrmling 35pts

Versus

Tiamat 380pts
4th Massachusetts Line 70pts


The battle started out my wife attacking Tiamat with her Tiamat. She wasn't able to get adjacent so she had to use ranged Special Attacks. She achieved first blood using Corrosive Gas with 1 automatic wound targeting and knocking out my Tiamat's same Special. The remaining 4 attacks all fell short.

Then it was my move, I maneuvered my Tiamat around to higher ground adjacent and began 4 regular attacks which knocked out 3 of her Tiamat's Breath Weapons.

I don't remember all the details of our battle, but I did quickly realize that I hadn't specified what to do with any extra skulls rolled on Tiamat. I'd never encountered a powerful attack against Tiamat in testing before this. I will need to amend the rules so that opponents may make precise attacks against Tiamat targeting and rolling attack dice one at a time so all damage can be distributed to specific areas.

Actually, after reviewing personality types I will give the option to roll one die at a time targeting more than one specific area on Tiamat to figures with a Precise or Disciplined Personality. All other figures extra skulls will go to the body of Tiamat. That will be a nice twist to add to strategy of what figures can best take down Tiamat. There are enough figures with those personalities that should be a solid strategy.

Conclusions:
I have rarely broken out the Superscape, but my wife really enjoyed playing Venom...so perhaps if I want a regular sparring partner I'll have to break it out more and not just when my nephew comes over. I've only played my wife maybe 5 times over the years, so infrequently enough that she still accuses me of changing the rules.

Another thing I noticed the last couple times I've played is that the rules that mention round/turn aren't written as I intended either that or "what the heck was I thinking" four years ago. I just hope I can figure out where I hid the original files with the layers still in tact. That's the only reason I haven't edited the sheets and resubmitted them.

This scenario seems to be shaping up quite nicely. I'm considering adding a couple more levels and scenarios to further the whole DnD theme.

Last thing, I noticed when I was digging Venom out of the Box of Marvel, I still have two unopened master sets SOTM and DnD. I'm thinking "prizes" if I ever get some 'Scaping going on locally. Maybe even the DnD set for taking on the Tiamat Encounter after it gets ironed out.

UPDATE:
I found the original files so I was able to go back in and tweak the rules. All files now reflect the changes.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Awesome Stuff...thanks for sharing

[Scaperedude]

That is amazing!!! I'm glad I got to see this

[Beta464]

How much would a 3 piece stand EXACTLY like this one, the one made for this figure, cost?