Springtime Custom Competition Poll - Congrats Astroking112!

[Dr.Goomonkey]

Congratulations @Astroking112 ! Your entries never bore us and now you get the recognition you deserve.

Arboris

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

Ancient Elven legends tell of an older time on Feylund, one in which nature desperately battled against a still-forming planet in order to secure its foothold. Amongst these warriors of life were the Ents, mighty tree-like creatures that could spread the seed of life across the barren surface. According to the Elves, these Ents traversed the entire length of the planet shortly after its formation, growing and spreading life every step of the way. Unfortunately, no concrete proof has ever been found of the Ents' existence, leading many to believe them to be a mere fairy tale.

Intrigued by these legends, Ullar began to look to the distant past, to see if they were true. None of the other generals were privy to what he saw, but the sudden appearance of Arboris, a creature who grew to monstrous heights when left undisturbed, indicated that the general had indeed found something…

This contest brought forth many unique ideas, one idea that you will see over and over again, and a couple you'll see a couple of times. Thanks to everyone who entered, and good luck again. And good job getting exactly 15 entries in! And thanks again to Xotli for upping the polls' max to 15 options!

Here are the entries, in no particular order. I'll try to get more rulings and synergies posted in the next few days.

The Dewk's
Wood Elemental

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

Standing on a ridge with his coalition allies, surveying his newly summoned elemental force assembling for the first time, General Ullar turned as he heard Sergeant Drake Alexander recite, awestruck, “As I was standing on the hill, I looked toward Birnam, and I thought I saw the forest begin to move…” General Ullar smiled – he liked the human known as "Shake Spear" too. It was a shame he couldn’t justify his summoning, despite the seemingly ferocious name.

Taeblewalker's
Darkwood Treant Guardian


Ronin's
Wooden Revenant


OmegaPegasus's
Birch Sentry

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

Of all the races found in Valhalla, none are more solitary than the Woodkin. Tree-like beings of great fortitude and physical strength. They prefer to keep to themselves and protect the Great Forests they call home. But the War for the Wellsprings has been creeping ever closer to the tree line and the Woodkin are preparing to meet it if they need to. Aquilla has seen their passion for Nature and has decided to recruit these behemoths as much needed muscle for her army.
First among the troops are the Birch Sentries. The vanguards of the Woodkin. Armed with their thick shields and the uncanny ability to be connected to each other through and unseen root system and therefore strengthening their resolve. They are the epitome of ‘Strength in numbers’.

ollie's
Enchanted Tree

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

Legend has it that thousands of years ago Feylund was almost entirely covered with enchanted forest. However, as Feylundians discovered the various magical properties that the trees' wood gave objects manufactured from it (from flying battleships all the way down to plaque-repellent toothpicks) it was harvested past the point of its ability to regenerate.

As a lumberjack hoping to make a levitating bucket swung her axe to fell the last tree, Ullar reached into the wellspring to bring it to Valhalla. Ever since, enchanted forests have been spreading across battlefields, calling to the Feylundian souls of warriors all over Valhalla.

Rulings and Clarifications:

Spoiler Alert!

Which sculpt is it?
The one without feet, fifth image in the spoiler in the OP.聽

Can I place previously destroyed trees back on the board with Enchanted Forest?
Yes.

How do I know if a hero is from Feylund? I don't see the planet recorded.
Turn the card over. I know that you are far too sophisticated to play the basic game, but the information is there. If you can't countenance the thought of even looking at the basic side, here's a list of unique heroes from Feylund:

Spoiler Alert!

Acolarh, Arkmer, Brunak, Chardris, Cyprein Esenwein, D眉nd, Emirroon, Gurei-Oni, Iskra Esenwein, Jorhdawn, Jotun, Khosumet the Darklord, Krug, Kyntela Gwyn, Marcu Esenwein, Migol Ironwill, Morsbane, Sonlen, Sonya Esenwein, Sudema, Syvarris, Theracus, Ulginesh

C3V/SoV: Asterios, Bramcephys, Crypt Guardian, Grigor & Rogirg, Haduc, Nicholas Esenwein, Racheim, Van Nessing, Zombie Hulk.

If I bond with Ulginesh can I then use his Mind Link to activate two Elf Wizards?
Yes.

Cool. The Zombie Hulk and Crypt Guardian bonding powers too?
Afraid not. They require an order marker on the card to activate the power.

NecroBlade's
Timber Custodian

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

The general was furious. His enemies had fled into the woods as his troops pursued, but now instead of finishing off the stragglers, they found themselves attacked by the forest itself! He had no quarrel with these new treefolk, but if they insisted on defending themselves, interrupting his moment of triumph, so be it. The general ordered torches taken down into the wood; he would burn the whole grove, intending to send a message to any other trees his troops might find themselves fighting among.

Flames grew and spread. Bark crackled. The general smiled. But then the trees' screams were joined once more by those of his men. Putting his joy on hold, he tried to peer into the thicket to see what was happening, but smoke from the fires was darkening the already shaded undergrowth. The shouting finally stopped, and so did the creaking of branches.

While he waited impatiently for the smoke to clear, or someone to report, the general noted it wasn't just his troops and the treefolk that had grown quiet, it was the entire forest. In the back of his mind, he knew that was never a good sign and involuntarily took a step back. Just then, the wind picked up and the view started to clear.

As the shadows became revealed, so too did the sound of trees once more. Big trees. Moving trees. Out of the underbrush marched huge, slow treefolk, seemingly unscarred by the flames. They let out a collective long, low bellow as they pushed on out of their home and toward the general and his remaining men.

Retreating only made the general's anger grow, but it was a fury that would have to pick another fight.

Lazy Orang's
Jubokko

Alternate figure:

Spoiler Alert!

Glyph:

Spoiler Alert!

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

Bio: On the fields of war and sites of vicious massacres, where the blood of thousands of warriors has saturated the soil, a strange kind of tree can be found. From afar, jubokko appear to be ordinary trees, indistinguishable from the various species that dot the landscape. Outwardly, they look just like ordinary trees. It takes an observant eye to notice the slightly more fearsome features of its branches, or the piles of human bones buried in the undergrowth beneath the tree. In fact, they were once normal trees, but the vast amounts of the human blood absorbed through their roots causes them to transform into yokai. Thereafter the tree thirsts only for human blood.
Jubokko wait for unsuspecting humans to pass underneath their branches. When somebody gets close enough, they attack, snatching their prey up with long, jagged, finger-like branches, and hoisting it up into their boughs. These branches pierce the skin of their victims, sucking out all of the blood with special tube-like twigs. After the body is drained of everything the jubokko can take, the rest is consumed by birds, insects, and other animals, until only the dry bones fall back to earth. By the time most people are close enough to notice the heaps of bleached bones at the base of the tree, it is already too late to escape.
There is a glimmer of hope though - Jubokko can be cut down, and, as blood trickles from the cut bark, branches, dripping blood, can be harvested. These can be used to heal and decontaminate injuries by sucking away the impurities, much like a leech would, even in the midst of battle.

kolakoski's
Tsuri Oni


HEROSCAPERMTL's
Elder Oak

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

On the forest planet of Feylund, trees are vastly numerous and by no means a rare sight. Many creatures of Feylund call the forest their home, but it is the trees themselves who protect it.

Capable of lumbering movement and far reach, these massive trees patrol the forests of Feylund with one sole duty; to ensure peace and tranquillity. Friendly elves are often carried into battle atop one as an illustration of their alliance. Among these trees are the oldest and wisest of Feylund, known simply as Elder Oaks.

Heroscaper101's
Wise Oak

Defenders of Oak:

Spoiler Alert!

gatormustang's
Wood Golem


DewNoHarm's
Gnarl of Elder

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

Deep in the forest of Feylund, one of the lower Esenwein clan crouched in a tree, poised to take a squad of Aubrien Archers unaware. The Esenwein leaders had ordered the vampire on a scouting mission, hoping to find some elvish victims that could eventually be used in Nicholas Esenwein's experiments. Although tonight it looked like the hunt would favor the Esenweins, the vampire shuddered involuntarily - Nicholas' black magic frightened even him. Just as the Esenwein soldier was preparing to start his Chilling Touch spell and leap from the crux of the tree, a large branch next to him swung forcefully and hit him in the head. It was as if the tree which had been his ambush position had suddenly become his enemy! The vampire shakily rose to the skies trying to avoid the notice (and more importantly the arrows) of the Aubriens. A massive boulder crashed through the branches below and hit the vampire squarely, knocking him back down to the ground. The last thing the Esenwein minion saw was a giant tree man leering above him. The last thing he heard was, "You shouldn't have come this deep into the forest, bloodless one".

Confred's
Entrean the Elder


BiggaBullfrog's
Oakshadow

[ollie]

What's the etiquette with these competitions? Do we start trashing the opposing entries straight away, or do we pretend to be polite for a while?

[Serious question: how much discussion is allowed/encouraged pre-voting? If it's more than none at all, should contestants stay out of it?]

[Ronin]

I think you can trash talk right away, as long as you throw a little shade at your own entry to throw people off the scent.

[No idea on the serious bit]

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by Ronin

I think you can trash talk right away, as long as you throw a little shade at your own entry to throw people off the scent.

[No idea on the serious bit]

Personally, I've always held off commenting at all until the contest is over.

[The Dewk]

Originally Posted by ollie

What's the etiquette with these competitions? Do we start trashing the opposing entries straight away, or do we pretend to be polite for a while?

[Serious question: how much discussion is allowed/encouraged pre-voting? If it's more than none at all, should contestants stay out of it?]

The last bunch of contests have had a fair amount of discussion/comments/reviews. Check out December's.

[Dr.Goomonkey]

Originally Posted by Ronin

I think you can trash talk right away, as long as you throw a little shade at your own entry to throw people off the scent.

[No idea on the serious bit]

You hit it right on the head. I like to encourage as much discussion as you want, but try not to make it too obvious if you're talking about your own.

[There really isn't much seriousness when it comes to anything I run. Heck, if I wanted to make it too serious is have to change the names of the pictures on my computer before I upload them. Don't look into that too closely though]

[ollie]

Thanks all. I was going to wait until I'd seen some discussion before voting---there are a few here that I'm torn about. But leaving it late leads to the temptation of tactically voting based on the current state of the poll (or over-deliberately not doing so), which I don't like, so I put my vote in already.

As for the trash talk, I'd like to place on record that Necroblade's entry sucks. I don't know which one it is, but I'm sure it's dreadful. (NB did enter, right?)

[Astroking112]

I'm glad that we can choose three ent-trees! There are a lot of really unique ideas here, and it's a nice surprise that we didn't have to cut it down this time.

I didn't think of how neat it could be to make a character who moves Evergreen trees (I'm not a big fan of rearranging Jungle pieces, since they lock into the terrain) until after I submitted my custom, so I'm glad to see that someone else fleshed out that idea. It also turned out much more terrifying than I had ever envisioned, especially on forest-heavy maps like Highways and Dieways.

Literally building a forest to help many of Ullar's forces is also terrific, albeit it does seem to test my knowledge of which planets heroes came from. It's interesting that Cyprien and the vampires could also benefit from the spreading woods, instead of just the Elves.

Everyone did a great job, except for Ollie. The trash talk doesn't quite line up with my perception of an Ent.

[ollie]

Originally Posted by Astroking112

Everyone did a great job, except for Ollie.

So often the case.

[HEROSCAPERMTL]

Voted! Would love to hear some impartial critiques of the submissions from some more experienced customs creators. Anyone out there willing?

[gatormustang]

However mulch discussion or if it's just a small twig of discussion it won't matter. These ent-trees are great with fantastic concepts. The root of the matter is that I am going to need to really dig deep in order to see thru the forest to whittle down my decision. Thanks for allowing us to pick three. Regardless of who wins looks like I will be heading to the store to find some of these figures so I can use these cards.

[White Knight]

I didn't submit an entry, so I'll give my thoughts on the cards. All of these designs will suffer on maps without trees or brush (some of them severely), but I'm OK with that.

Wood Elemental
I like Entangling Roots and Flammable. Stats seem right. Brush Cover seems like it belongs on a large or huge figure. Also, I would think the Wood Elemental would take the damage instead of the defending figure.

Darkwood Treant Guardian
I really like Awaken the Forest. It really invokes a forest coming to life. Grass Roots Healing for a 6 Life, 4 Defense figure seems too much. The Feral Troll has Regeneration with 1 Defense and it’s pretty strong against heroes already.

Wooden Revenant
Interesting concept, and I like how the powers work together. The theme seems a little strange to me though (how/why does a plant replace a human body?). 5 Life with 6 Attack and 4 Defense seems a little high for a 75 point figure.

Birch Sentry
You would want to keep these guys in a group, so it would take a long time to get them across the battlefield. I don’t know what Range 0 would mean. I think it should be Range 1.

Enchanted Tree
I like the Enchanted Forest mechanism. I also like the Move 0. You basically build a forest to hide in. But like I said for the Wood Elements, Forest Cover seems like it belongs on a large or huge figure, and I would think the Enchanted Tree would take the damage instead of the defending figure.

Timber Custodian
Swat is kind of wordy and confusing, and I think it should probably be broken down into two separate abilities—one for when the Timber Custodian moves and one for when a figure moves adjacent to it. 4 Defense 4 Life (Q9 stats) with Regeneration is pretty powerful. These would be fun to playtest with 3 or 4 of them working together.

Jubokko
Really unique and interesting theme. The abilities all work together really well. It would be useless on a map without trees or brush, but that’s part of the theme. Instead of removing a Jungle Brush, I’d probably just mark it somehow as a Jubokko. I understand the gameplay of Murderous Tree, but after a Jubokko attacks it seems like in real life it would be open to non-adjacent attacks (especially if I shouted “Shoot the tree, it just attacked me!”)

Tsuri Oni
An army of these guys would be interesting. Demon/elemental seems a little strange. Splinter seems like it should be broken up into two separate powers—one for attacking and one for defending. A lot weaker on maps withoug evergreen trees.

Wise Oak
The Wise Oak itself seems like a solid design. The powers on the Defenders of the Oak don’t work well for me. They can be easily defeated by small and medium figures with normal attacks, but they are difficult (or in some cases impossible) to kill for large and huge figures. Does Ironbark Taunt mean that they don’t take leaving engagement attacks from large/huge figures? How about counterstrike damage?

Wood Golem
I like Bark Hide Armor and Root Entanglement (although it required memorization to remember which figures are entangled). Fury of the Forest doesn’t quite work for me on a slow moving animated wood creature.

Entrean the Elder
Shepherd Evergreens is a cool power that would be fun to play. Opposing players could try to clear out the forest as they move across a map while playing against Entrean the Elder. Root Crush is extremely powerful on maps with evergreen trees—rolling 3 skulls with 7 Attack should happen often, and since you can move an evergreen tree adjacent to a hero before attacking with Root Crush it would be an instant kill for small, medium, or huge figures.

Gnarl of Elder
I like Tree Ally Strike and Undead Hatred. And all three special abilities fit the playability of the card well. It just seems a little strange to me for a tree to be picking up rocks and throwing them.

Arboris
Interesting abilities that require strategy to use effectively. You probably want to wait until Round 3 to activate Arboris, so he would be useful mid-game or possibly end-game.

Oakshadow
Nature’s Wrath is a fun power and it’s range of 3 limitation works well with Barkskin Defense and it’s normal attack Range 1. You want this guy in the front lines surround by trees or jungle brush. With a Move 4, however, it will take some time to get him into position.