Kobold Hall Units

[ssnover95]

As much as I enjoy the idea behind roleplaying games and the D&D system, I've found that the time investment required from all players makes it rather difficult to get into.

The cynic in me, and from my understanding many others, saw the D&D waves as a way for Wizards of the Coast to funnel Heroscape fans into D&D. In a fit of revelation, I realized that with The Battle for the Underdark master set, the frame work for converting D&D adventures had been laid down. So what happens when its turned around? Well, a result of my foray into D&D was that I now own a copy of the 4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and about 20 adventures saved as PDFs (but those are for another time). In the DMG, I found a short little adventure that is perfect for conversion: Kobold Hall. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce the adventure or individual stat blocks for fear of incurring Wizards' legal wrath, but if you look around on the Internet you may find it.

The following units are based off of the monsters in that adventure with the intention of using them to recreate the D&D adventure in Heroscape format. I give my thanks ahead of time to any input and advice this great community can give!

For now, I'm afraid I'll be leaving these as text, but images of cards as well as figure information is soon to follow!

Note: I've always thought that the distinction between heroes and squads should be multiple lives, and so I do not use the uncommon hero classification. For your own use, any common hero with multiple lives should be considered an uncommon hero.

Kobold Slinger [D&D Miniatures: Lords of Madness / Kobold Slinger]

Spoiler Alert!

Kobold Slinger
Evil

Kobold
Common Hero
Scout
Tricky
Small 3

Life- 1
Move- 5
Range- 5
Attack- 1
Defense- 1
Points- 15

Glue Shot
Each Kobold Slinger starts the game with white Glue Shot marker on its card. Instead of attacking, Kobold Slinger may choose a hero within 4 clear sight spaces and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll an 11 or higher, place a Glue Shot marker on that figure's card. A figure with a Glue Shot marker on its card subtracts one from its Move number. Kobold Slinger is not affected by its own Glue Shot marker.

Disengage
Kobold Slinger is never attacked when leaving an engagement.

Kobold Skirmishers [D&D Miniatures: Harbinger / 48/80: Kobold Warrior]

Spoiler Alert!

Kobold Skirmishers
Evil

Kobold
Common Squad 3
Warriors
Skittish
Small 3

Life- 1
Move- 5
Range- 1
Attack- 2
Defense- 2
Points- 40

Mob Attack
When attacking with a Kobold Skirmisher you control, if the defending figure is engaged with at least 2 other Kobold Skirmisher you control, it subtracts 2 from its defense dice.

Disengage
Kobold Skirmishers are never attacked when leaving an engagement.

Guard Drake [D&D Miniatures: Demonweb / 48/60: Guard Drake]

Spoiler Alert!

Guard Drake
Unaligned

Drake
Common Hero
Guard
Loyal
Small 2

Life- 1
Move- 6
Range- 1
Attack- 4
Defense- 2
Points- 20

Trained Guards
After a figure you control rolls defense dice, you may immediately move any 2 Guard Drakes who are within clear sight of the attacking figure up to 4 spaces each.

Disengage
A Guard Drake is never attacked when leaving an engagement.

Kobold Minions [Reaper Miniatures: Legendary Encounters / 20032: Kobolds]

Spoiler Alert!

Kobold Minions
Evil

Kobold
Common Squad 4
Minions
Cowardly
Small 3

Life- 1
Move- 5
Range- 1
Attack- 2
Defense- 1
Points- 30

Scurry
When a Kobold Minion you control is destroyed by a normal attack from an opponent's figure, you may move 2 Kobold Minions you control up to 4 spaces each, and all Kobold Minions you control no longer have any visible Hit Zones for the duration of the attacking figure's turn while they remain unengaged. Kobold Minions will never take any leaving engagement attacks when using Scurry.

Disengage
Kobold Minions are never attacked when leaving an engagement.

Kobold Wyrmpriest [D&D Miniatures: Dangerous Delves / Kobold Wyrmpriest]

Spoiler Alert!

Kobold Wyrmpriest
Evil

Kobold
Common Hero
Priest
Tricky
Small 3

Life- 3
Move- 5
Range- 6
Attack- 2
Defense- 2
Points- 40

Dragon Breath Special Attack
Range Special. Attack 3.
Choose 3 spaces in a straight line from Kobold Wyrmpriest. All figures on those spaces that are in line of sight are affected by Dragon Breath Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

Incite Faith
If this Kobold Wyrmpriest’s Dragon Breath Special Attack inflicts at least one wound, at the end of its turn, you may take a turn with a Kobold squad you control.

Kobold Dragonshield [D&D Miniatures: Aberrations / 37/60: Kobold Champion]

Spoiler Alert!

Kobold Dragonshield
Evil

Kobold
Common Hero
Warrior
Disciplined
Small 3

Life- 1
Move- 5
Range- 1
Attack- 3
Defense- 4
Points- 20

Shield Push
When rolling defense dice against a normal attack from an adjacent small or medium attacking figure, if there are any excess shields, you may move the attacking figure one space away from this Kobold Dragonshield. The attacking figure does not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Spiretop Drake [D&D Miniatures: Demonweb / 35/60: Spiretop Drake]

Spoiler Alert!

Spiretop Drake
Unaligned

Drake
Common Hero
Marauder
Skittish
Small 2

Life- 2
Move- 7
Range- 1
Attack- 4
Defense- 2
Points- 20

Flyby Special Attack
Range Special. Attack 3.
After moving with this Spiretop Drake, you may attack any figure that was at least 2 clear sight spaces from this Spiretop Drake’s starting space that this Spiretop Drake moved adjacent to during its movement.

Evasive 2
When a Spiretop Drake rolls defense dice against an attacking figure who is not adjacent, add 2 defense dice to the defense roll.

Flying
When counting spaces for a Spiretop Drake's movement, ignore elevations. A Spiretop Drake may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When a Spiretop Drake starts to fly, if it is engaged it will take any leaving engagement attacks.

Szartharrax [HeroScape: Battle for the Underdark / Othkurik the Black Dragon (cut horns off, glue one on top of head, paint white)

Spoiler Alert!

Szartharrax
Evil

Dragon
Unique Hero
Beast
Tricky
Large 7

Life- 4
Move- 5
Range- 1
Attack- 4
Defense- 4
Points- 120

Ice Shard Breath Special Attack
Range 4. Attack 3.
When Szartharrax attacks with his Ice Shard Special Attack, he may attack two additional times.

Snow and Ice Enhanced Movement
Slippery Ice and Heavy Snow only count as one space when moving.

Flying
When counting spaces for Szartharrax's movement, ignore elevations. Szartharrax may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When Szartharrax starts to fly, if he is engaged he will take any leaving engagement attacks.

[Scytale]

I really like the idea of converting D&D adventures into Heroscape scenarios. A lot of interesting potential there.

The Kobold army is interesting, but Order Markers are going to be a real problem. You may want to create some sort of commander unit to make Order Marker management easier. Or do you have special rules for your scenario?

Kobold Slinger
Glue Shot is an interesting idea, if it affects the target figure for the rest of the game. Does it? If so, it really needs a marker to put on the target. Can multiple Slingers glue the same figure, decreasing its Move to zero? Actually, since this is a Common Hero (even by your 1 Life rule), the Glue Shot power affects all copies of your Kobold Slingers equally, so the line that limits them to "once per game" means that only one Kobold Slinger can use Glue Shot once and that's it. I recommend changing to a Glue Marker, one per Kobold Slinger (see the Mezzodemons for precedent), and also that other units with a Glue Marker on their card cannot have a second Glue Marker (though that is up to you). What happens if a squad is hit by Glue Shot? Heroscape does not distinguish figures within a squad, so anything that affects one should affect others. How about Commons? You can skirt around this by limiting it to Unique Heroes.

Kobold Skirmishers
Very similar to Goblin Cutters, but not as good. Mob Attack isn't going to come into play often, with only 3 figures per activation and only 2 defense.

Guard Drake
Trained Guards is a really fun power, good enough to make these little guys useful from time to time. It's a little tricky timing-wise with Scatter, but not a big deal. Technically a roll-off to see which one happens first, but probably not worth rolling for.

Kobold Minions
You may want to use the Goblin Cutter's Scurry here instead of Scatter, otherwise range is going to tear these little guys apart.

Kobold Wyrmpriest
You may want to watch out for the wording here; as a general rule it's bad to have one unit take a turn while another unit is still taking its turn. In this case, I suggest adding "after taking a turn with" to Incite Faith. Otherwise it's a decent little uncommon hero.

Kobold Dragonshield
Can he push a large/huge figure like a dragon? You may want to limit it to small/medium figures. Though I'm not sure what are trying to do with this unit. With low defense it won't live long, and won't be worth the time to move him into position. Other than the very rare opportunity of pushing an attacker off a cliff or into lava, Shield Push doesn't seem like it will have much of an affect.

Spiretop Drake
Flyback Special Attack is pretty neat. They won't survive against range attacker though; you may want to consider giving them a power like Evasive.

Szartharrax
I like the weakened version of Nilfheim. Though 120pts feels low. 5 Life/5 Defense is pretty solid, even if Ice Shards is weaker than Nilfheim's and his normal attack is weaker. At least 130pts like Othkurik, if not 140 or 150.

[ssnover95]

Thanks for giving this such a comprehensive look! I am honored to get advice from a customs designer I respect and revere!

I'll definitely take your advice into account. Many of the point values I ballparked as these were made with scenarios in mind. That's also the reason why some of the powers are situational like Shield Push.

Order Marker management has been something I've been struggling with. For the sake of the scenario I've been considering giving every individual card a turn in a round. This would make the figures difficult to play outside of the scenario however. In the context of D&D encounters in a dungeon though, some cards could get very cluttered if I gave them a catch-all synergy. Perhaps in the details of the scenario I could mention that such and such a figure has a synergy power with such and such figures...?

Anywho, thank you so much for your time and knowledge! These customs will be better because of it!