Tiamat Encounter

[Blatimus]

Tiamat is an epic queen of evil chromatic dragons. My first encounter with Tiamat was on Saturday morning D&D the Animated Series from back in the 80's.

Since I started playing Heroscape I've looked around for ideas for custom armies and adventures. I came across a D&D mini of Tiamat on Ebay and picked it up for my collection.

So I thought it would be cool to make a custom card and my ambitions would be complete. My dilemma was how does a "Unique Hero" card come close to capturing the epic evil awesomeness of Tiamat? It's been tried and I have gone away in disappointment. Not to say the Cards aren't brilliant. I think there's some great Customs out there.

Over the last several months (more like a year now) I've been researching and planning out a Tiamat Encounter for Heroscape complete with scenario instructions for game play and battlefield.

There are some great resources here at Heroscapers. Thanks to everything everyone has gone before and done!

Scenario

Spoiler Alert!

CAMPAIGN MASTER GAME
Dungeon Adventure: Fate’s Chasm
Room: The Chasm
Wandering through the dungeons you come across a great wooden door not unlike any others you have encountered before. As you cautiously open the door, a rush of wind pushes passed you carrying the fragrance of cool night air. Through the door sheer cliffs shoot up miles high above on all sides. Along the walls of the chasm are several small towers some with battlements on top. In the center of the rooms a great column stretches up into a dark silhouette partially eclipsing the distant starlight of the sky above.

From far above on the column you hear a shrill shriek. You see a massive dark shadow plunge toward you. Five voices call out in resonant unison with a thick draconic accent, “You have trespassed upon my sanctuary!”

Tiamat’s Goal: Destroy all her opponent’s figures.
Player’s Goal: Destroy Tiamat and any other opponent’s figures.

Other Potential Objectives:

Survive long enough to break open the other door and escape.
Survive long enough to retrieve a treasure glyph and escape.
Survive attacks from Tiamat while destroying additional opponent’s figures and then escape.

Setup: Players choose or draft a 500-point army. Place Tiamat on top of the column. Place Tiamat’s additional figures in the red start zone. Place Tiamat’s opponent in the blue start zone area. Place additional player’s figures in defensive positions in and around castles and embattlements.

Special Rules: MOVEMENT: Tiamat may move 5 spaces + 5 additional spaces in accordance to the condition of her wings. With each wound she loses mobility of 1. With 5 wounds on her wings she is no longer able to fly and she may no longer use her Crush Special Move or Death From Above Special Ability. Also if all 5 heads have wounds she may no longer use her Death From Above Special Attack. Special provision may be given for her to remove wounds using a glyph or friendly figure's special abilities.

ATTACK: Tiamat is played using a character sheet instead of a card (see page 1). When Tiamat is attacked any of 5 heads or her wings may be targeted. Wound markers are placed on each head or wings accordingly. Each head that is wounded is considered incapacitated and she may no longer use it's specific attack. Tiamat is similar to a squad in that she may attack up to 5 times per turn unless her heads are incapacitated. Tiamat may use any combination of 5 attacks per turn (including special attacks). The number of attacks is reduced by 1 per each head that is wounded. If all of Tiamat's heads are incapacitated she may attacke once per turn using any of her Range 1 Regular Attacks. An ATTACK TRACK is at the bottom of this page to help keep track of how many attacks Tiamat has used each turn.

TARGETING: Opponents with Precise or Disciplined Personalities may roll one Attack Die at a time targeting each toward a specific area on Tiamat. Excess skulls from all other opponents go toward wounds on Tiamat's body.

Victory: When the other side has no figures left on the battlefield, you win. If the battle reaches the end of Round 10, then the game is over and the player or team with the most remaining points wins.

Details

Spoiler Alert!

General Tiamat She would probably fall under Valkrill, but in this instance I have her under her own emblem.


Identification
Species: DRAGON
Type: UNIQUE HERO
Class: HIGH QUEEN
Personality: FEARSOME
Size: MASSIVE
Height: 12


Figure/Silhouette


LIFE: 10
MOVE: 5 spaces
RANGE: 1 space
ATTACK: 5 dice
DEFENSE: 9 dice
380 Points

Regular Attacks Range 1. Attack 5. The number of attacks may be up to 5 per turn (see Multiple Heads). When in range Tiamat may use a very powerful Bite Attack, Slash Attack, and or Bash Attack.

Special Abilities

Multiple Heads Tiamat may use any combination up to 5 attacks per turn (including special attacks). Each individual breath weapon may only be used once per turn. The total number of attacks is reduced by 1 per each head that is wounded.

Corrosive Gas Range 5. Attack 3. Tiamat inflicts at least 1 wound with Corrosive Gas Special Attack, roll the 20-sided die for Corrosive Damage. If you roll a 1-9, the defending receives no additional wounds for Corrosive Damage. If you roll a 10-19, add 1 additional wound marker to the defending figure’s Army Card. If you roll a 20, destroy the defending figure.

Burning Breath Range 4 + Special. Attack 4. Choose a figure to attack. You may choose 4 spaces next to the targeted figure. All figures on those spaces are affected by Burning Breath Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. Tiamat is not affected by Burning Breath Special Attack.

Poisonous Acid Breath You may choose up to 3 different small or medium figures within 4 clear sight spaces of Tiamat. One at a time, roll the 20-sided die for each figure. If the chosen figure is a Squad figure and you roll an 8 or higher, destroy it. If the chosen figure is a Hero figure and you roll a 17 or higher, destroy the chosen Hero.

Lightning Breath Range 4 + Special. Attack 4. Choose a figure to attack. You may also choose one other figure within 3 clear sight spaces of the targeted figure to be affected by Lightning Breath Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for both figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. Lighting Breath does not affect destructible objects.

Ice Blast Breath Range 5. Attack 4. Choose a figure to attack. If this figure is a hero and receives 1 wound it is Frozen. Remove any remaining Order Markers from this figure's card.

Venomous Sting Range 1. Attack 4. When rolling attack dice, if Tiamat rolls a skull on every die, the defending figure cannot roll any defense dice. Venomous Sting does not affect destructible objects.

Flying When able to Fly, Tiamat may move up to 5 additional spaces for a total of 10 spaces. When counting spaces for Tiamat’s movement, ignore elevations. Tiamat may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. When Tiamat starts to fly if she is engaged she will take any leaving engagement attacks.

Loss of Flight Tiamat’s wings lose mobility when targeted. Move - 1 space per 1 wound. After 5 wounds Tiamat can no longer fly.


Crush Special Move (Once per turn) For Tiamat's move this turn, target 3 adjacent spaces within her range of movement. If Tiamat is able to fit on the terrain she may try and Crush any figures on those spaces. Roll a 20-sided die. If a figure is a Medium Size figure or smaller and you roll a 7 or higher, destroy the figure. If a figure is a Large Size figure and you roll a 16 or higher destroy the figure. Tiamat now occupies those spaces. If a figure is destroyed then remove the figure from the board. If a figure survives then move the figure to any space adjacent to Tiamat. This ability may not be used against figures bigger than a Large size. If Tiamat has a Loss of Flight then she may no longer use this Special Move.


Death From Above Special Attack Range 6 from the shadow. Attack Special. For Tiamat's MOVE and ATTACK phase of a turn use a black marker to indicate "Tiamat's Shadow" as she flys overhead. At any point mid move Tiamat fires a breath weapon. Target a figure within range of the shadow marker. Roll a 20-sided die. If the chosen figure is a Squad figure and you roll a 7 or higher destroy it. If the chosen figure is a Hero and you roll a 16 or higher, destroy the chosen figure. Tiamat continues the move for the remaining spaces (back to her starting position if you wish). Tiamat may only attack once for this turn. If Tiamat has a Loss of Flight or all 5 heads have wounds then she may no longer use this Special Attack.

Cover

Spoiler Alert!

Page 1

Spoiler Alert!

I've also put together a battlefield with building instructions. Now I'm working on the actual battle scenario. I've got some ideas that look like a lot of fun. My attempt at character "balance" (if there is such a thing for Tiamat) is the "380" in point value. That gives a bit of room to throw in a couple of minions into the mix to stir things up. I think that might be far too low because essentially I've set Tiamat as if she is 5 Unique Heroes in one. Personally I've never played with more than a couple heroes and a squad or two for my armies.

My kid only has patience enough to play Basic Scape so I don't know how much testing I'll get to do in the near future.

Ok, so here is Page 2. The rest of the pages are instructions on building the battlefield.

Page 2

Spoiler Alert!

Battlefield Pic 1

Spoiler Alert!

Battlefield Pic2

Spoiler Alert!

Battlefield Terrain List

Spoiler Alert!

Needed Sets
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

Complete Terrain List
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

Update:
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.

Here is a decent review of the new D&D Tiamat and Bahamut Dragons http://gravengames.co.uk/dd-miniatur...ragons-review/

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.

Tyranny of Dragons - Tiamat

Spoiler Alert!

Figure: Tiamat the Dragon Queen - Tyranny of Dragons - D&D Icons of the Realm
The new Tiamat has a base that covers 7 hexes, the old Aspect of Tiamat covers 3 hexes but has difficulty clearing surrounding terrain. If I wouldn't have re-based Tiamat it would seriously have limited her mobility.




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.

Download Links
Character & Battle Sheets 2 pages 4.5 MB
Fate's Chasm Battlefield Build 4 pages 10.9 MB

[gorthan313]

If you want 'epic evil awesomness' then I would increase the Life. A lot. If you increase the life, then lower the defense.

[Blatimus]

Originally Posted by gorthan313

If you want 'epic evil awesomness' then I would increase the Life. A lot. If you increase the life, then lower the defense.

I might just have to do that. I haven't tested it yet but I hope to some time today.

Thanks for the Input. Are there any figures with a life greater than 9? I thought 10 was pushing the limits.

[Robotunit197]

For 380 points, I wouldn't say it is pushing limits.

[gorthan313]

Originally Posted by Blatimus

I might just have to do that. I haven't tested it yet but I hope to some time today.

Thanks for the Input. Are there any figures with a life greater than 9? I thought 10 was pushing the limits.

No figures with more than nine life. 10 is pushing the OFFICIAL limits.

If you do increase the life, then increase the points and lower the defense.

[Blatimus]

I tested with a quick game last night.

I used
10th Regiment of Foot
Marcus
Roman Archers
Sonlen
Syvarris

vrs

Tiamat
Drow Chain Fighter
Greenscale Warriors

after about 6 rounds all that was left was 2 Roman Archers vrs Tiamat and all 5 heads of Tiamat were wounded so she couldn't attack but she could still fly away.

Very interesting is that Tiamat is so massive she can't always get adjacent to use her maximum attack of 5. She has to resort to whatever ranged breath weapon is left.

Over all I think the points are fairly balanced. Now if Tiamat had some way to recover from wounds that would make the game trickier. Maybe if she could use one of her rounds to recover instead of fight that might be more formidable.

Spoiler Alert!

This morning I used
Airborne Elite
Ana Karithon
Darrak Ambershard
Iron Golem
Tandros Kreel

vrs

Tiamat
Goblin Cutters
Black Wyrmling
Red Wyrmling

The cutters were fodder for the Airborne Elite and the Red Wyrmling got stomped by the Iron Golem. But after 5 rounds everyone was wiped away by Tiamat and she only had two wounded heads.

I haven't tested with the rules from the additional battle page but they look like they should be fun. Also I clarified on the new page that Tiamat can still attack using Range 1 attacks even if all heads are wounded.

[pjnormandin]

Hi,
The Tiamat encounter is excellent work. She is so iconic and awesome. I too first saw her on the Saturday morning cartoons. The figure seems smaller than I expected. Is it rebased? (+rep)
~P

[Blatimus]

Originally Posted by pjnormandin

Hi,
The Tiamat encounter is excellent work. She is so iconic and awesome. I too first saw her on the Saturday morning cartoons. The figure seems smaller than I expected. Is it rebased? (+rep)
~P

Tiamat is a bit small compared to what you see on the Animated Series. The figure is actually The D&D mini Aspect of Tiamat. She will just barely fit on a double base. But I didn't actually have the guts to do it. The image at the top of the first page is "shopped" from two pictures: one with Tiamat on the column and the other with the base on the column.

[Chardar]

The card says "for each that is wounded", but I don't see anything that explains how wounding individual heads works. Am I just blind or is that explained somewhere else?

[Blatimus]

Originally Posted by Chardar

The card says "for each that is wounded", but I don't see anything that explains how wounding individual heads works. Am I just blind or is that explained somewhere else?

Part of the strategy of taking down Tiamat if figuring out what you want to Target. Normally wound markers would go on a card and yet Tiamat has a character sheet.

"When Tiamat is attacked any of 5 heads or her wings may be targeted. Wound markers are placed on each head or wings accordingly. Each head that is wounded is considered incapacitated and she may no longer use it's specific attack."

also

"If all of Tiamat's heads are incapacitated then she may attack once per round using any of her Range 1 attacks."

The specific combat instructions are found on page 2 the Tiamat Battle Scenario under Special Rules. You really need both pages to play Tiamat. Plus I have added a Special Move and another Special Attack that I haven't tried out yet.

Spoiler Alert!

Once everything is ironed out with testing and such I'll get to making up a PDF with hi-rez printable pages.

[pjnormandin]

Originally Posted by Blatimus

Tiamat is a bit small compared to what you see on the Animated Series. The figure is actually The D&D mini Aspect of Tiamat. She will just barely fit on a double base. But I didn't actually have the guts to do it. The image at the top of the first page is "shopped" from two pictures: one with Tiamat on the column and the other with the base on the column.

Hi,
Yeah, I thought it might be because other pics had the d&d base still. I'd be skittish about rebasing her too, you probably paid a pretty penny.
~p

[quozl]

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