IshMEL's Customs: Updated 7/11/2018

[IshMEL]

Here are my customs! I've had a ton of fun making these and the community has been a great source of inspiration, collaboration, and constructive criticism. I am always open to suggestions and have learned much from comments on this thread.

I tend to design for story and theme rather than for tournament competitiveness, but hopefully my customs are fun to play and fun to play against. Few of these have been well and truly playtested, so use at your own risk. Heck, many of them haven't even hit the table yet! Even the ones with cards!

Another disclaimer: I use my own cost formula, which is pretty good (I think) at getting an estimate of a unit's price. But don't consider these customs to have tested and refined costs.

If you do get the chance to try any of them out, let me know how it goes.

I've put my customs into groups. Some of these groupings are playable factions, others are more thematic clusters. There's a Card Index with all of my current cards, organized alphabetically.

THEMES AND FACTIONS

A Voyage to Arctorus
Various species and cultures set on Arctorus, a conveniently blank alien world established by the VC.

Agents and Specialists
Agents of Utgar, Jandar and of course Vydar. Also "The Specialists," a faction of experts.

Archons, Elementals, Golems, and Warforged
Heck, my people invented the Golem, I had to make at least one. The Archons and Elementals are a playable faction, with the exception of the Greater Water Elemental.

Creatures of the Underdark
Straight from the Monster's Manual: Bugbears, Drow, Orcs, and more!

From Sylvan Shadows
A faction of Plant units, and the Druid who loves them.

Grut's Forest Creatures
I've taken the liberty of adding to the fauna of Grut, where Aquilla has found new allies among the Wharfang, the Kraal, and the Eyrians.

Heroes of the Underdark
More units inspired by D&D, of the Lawful and/or Good varieties.

In the Hall of the Mountain King
Dwarves! To me, my kinsmen! My first custom was a Dwarf, and I seem to keep making more of them.

The Infernal Horde
Undead, Demons, even the Grim Reaper itself!

Mariedian Rising
Smash the Soulborg State!

Ophidian Supremacy: Sssslitherers
A mini-faction of Serpents, Naga, and Lamia that will play well with Vipers.

Portal to Yarth: Clanks and Sparks
From the world of "Girl Genius," a steampunk / gaslamp webcomic.

Soldiers and Lawmen
Some 20th century Earth law and order types -- G.I.s, a cop, and a detective.

Soulborgs, Cyborgs, and Spacefarers
Summoned from... the future! Some more Marro Cyborgs, Utgar and Vydar Soulborgs, and a couple of Unique Squads of space soldiers.

Swords of the Alliance
My medieval, sword-wielding Royals, Knights, and Champions.

Tales Come To Life
Because "Heroes of Fiction" was taken. Doctor Who, Buffy, Agents of SHIELD, Lovecraft, and Ghostbusters.

Wizards and Magical Minions
Wizards, magical minions, and the "Wizards of Vong," a tyrannical faction of physics-bending mages.

OTHER CARDS

They Put The "Cape" in Heroscape!
Adaptations of superhero cards, assigned to Valkyrie generals.

General Customs
For those customs where I don't have enough units to group into a theme or faction. Organized by General.

CheapScape.
Inspired by mac122's Poor Man's "Official" figures, here are my own cards for cheap alternatives to the Overpriced Fantasy Squads, and my attempts to fill in my official and VC collection with proxy figures. Some are re-themed.

Thanks for taking a look, and for all your helpful comments! I've learned a lot from them, and from all the great customs work in this forum.

[William099]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

OK so this is my first attempt at making a custom, so please, be gentle

I was looking for dwarves at Auggie's to make some proxy Axegrinders sets when I espied the "Dread #33 Dwarf Shieldmaiden" and I thought she'd make a good addition to the dwarven army. Here she is:

-----------



SIGRID IRONWILL
Dwarf
Unique Hero
Warrior
Loyal
Medium 4
5 Life
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 4
90 Points

FOEHAMMER OF THE BURNING FORGE
You may attack two engaged figures if they are adjacent to both each other and to Sigrid Ironwill. Roll attack dice once for both figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

CHANNEL ANCESTRAL STRENGTH
Before moving, you may roll the 20-sided die.
* If you roll 1-3, Sigrid Ironwill takes one wound and cannot move or attack this turn.
* If you roll 4-10, nothing happens.
* If you roll 11-17, all friendly figures who follow Aquilla add 1 extra attack die for the remainder of the round.
* If you roll 18 or higher, all friendly figures who follow Aquilla add 1 extra attack die and 1 extra defense die for the remainder of the round.
Sigrid Ironwill is affected by Channel Ancestral Strength. You may only Channel Ancestral Strength once per round, unless you rolled 4-10.

Daughter of Migol, Sigrid Ironwill wields the Foehammer, which for a thousand years has protected the Burning Forge Clan. Her ferocity in battle (and her red hair) have earned her the name "Flame of the Forge" among her fellow dwarven warriors. With the Foehammer of the Burning Forge, she cleaves through enemies and can call on the spirits of the clan's ancestors to aid the armies of Aquilla. But channelling the dead might cost Sigrid her life...

----------

Your feedback is welcome, especially on the unit cost -- I suspect I've made it too low. Thanks for taking a look!

Thats an awesome one!!! I think it is great both thematically and power wise!! Love the bio!

[Bloody Bogle]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

OK so this is my first attempt at making a custom, so please, be gentle

I was looking for dwarves at Auggie's to make some proxy Axegrinders sets when I espied the "Dread #33 Dwarf Shieldmaiden" and I thought she'd make a good addition to the dwarven army. Here she is:

-----------



SIGRID IRONWILL
Dwarf
Unique Hero
Warrior
Loyal
Medium 4
5 Life
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 4
90 Points

FOEHAMMER OF THE BURNING FORGE
You may attack two engaged figures if they are adjacent to both each other and to Sigrid Ironwill. Roll attack dice once for both figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

CHANNEL ANCESTRAL STRENGTH
Before moving, you may roll the 20-sided die.
* If you roll 1-3, Sigrid Ironwill takes one wound and cannot move or attack this turn.
* If you roll 4-10, nothing happens.
* If you roll 11-17, all friendly figures who follow Aquilla add 1 extra attack die for the remainder of the round.
* If you roll 18 or higher, all friendly figures who follow Aquilla add 1 extra attack die and 1 extra defense die for the remainder of the round.
Sigrid Ironwill is affected by Channel Ancestral Strength. You may only Channel Ancestral Strength once per round, unless you rolled 4-10.

Daughter of Migol, Sigrid Ironwill wields the Foehammer, which for a thousand years has protected the Burning Forge Clan. Her ferocity in battle (and her red hair) have earned her the name "Flame of the Forge" among her fellow dwarven warriors. With the Foehammer of the Burning Forge, she cleaves through enemies and can call on the spirits of the clan's ancestors to aid the armies of Aquilla. But channelling the dead might cost Sigrid her life...

----------

Your feedback is welcome, especially on the unit cost -- I suspect I've made it too low. Thanks for taking a look!

SoV?

I think this is a great looking custom. I would maybe change the wording of Foehammer of the Burning Forge to make it sound more official, but honestly I don't know how you could change it. Other than that, a very solid looking custom, looks like a lot of fun.

[Arch-vile]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

SIGRID IRONWILL
Dwarf
Unique Hero
Warrior
Loyal
Medium 4
5 Life
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 4
90 Points

FOEHAMMER OF THE BURNING FORGE
When Sigrid Ironwill attacks with a normal attack, she may attack two engaged figures if they are adjacent to both each other and to Sigrid Ironwill. Roll attack dice once for both figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

CHANNEL ANCESTRAL STRENGTH
Before moving, you may roll the 20-sided die.
* If you roll 1-3, Sigrid Ironwill takes one wound and cannot move or attack this turn.
* If you roll 4-10, nothing happens.
* If you roll 11-17, all friendly figures who follow Aquilla add 1 extra attack die for the remainder of the round.
* If you roll 18 or higher, all friendly figures who follow Aquilla add 1 extra attack die and 1 extra defense die for the remainder of the round.
Sigrid Ironwill is affected by Channel Ancestral Strength. You may only Channel Ancestral Strength once per round, unless you rolled 4-10.

I would change the things I marked in REd to make it sound more "official". Sigrid is a really thematic figure for the dwarves, and I like how all the powers work. However, I think she is probably undercosted. With the ability to bond with axegrinders and therefore boost a 4-figure squad's attack by 1 (with no space or clear sight restriction) without an order marker, Sigrid is quite potent. She is no slacker in the attack and defense department either (especially with CAS). I'd try a price at 130 at least with all these benefits. I look forward to more units you create!

[Bloody Bogle]

Originally Posted by Arch-vile

I would change the things I marked in REd to make it sound more "official". Sigrid is a really thematic figure for the dwarves, and I like how all the powers work. However, I think she is probably undercosted. With the ability to bond with axegrinders and therefore boost a 4-figure squad's attack by 1 (with no space or clear sight restriction) without an order marker, Sigrid is quite potent. She is no slacker in the attack and defense department either (especially with CAS). I'd try a price at 130 at least with all these benefits. I look forward to more units you create!

I really don't think she's worth more than the AE. I'd try a 105-110 point value before a major 40 point increase.

[Arch-vile]

Originally Posted by Bloody Bogle

I really don't think she's worth more than the AE. I'd try a 105-110 point value before a major 40 point increase.

She's got a 50% chance to turn Axegrinders into 4A against non-huge. Think of Taelord, and Sigrid does more than just boost attack. She bonds, has a higher defense, and can attack twice occasionally; Taelord can do none of these things. Admittedly, she does not fly or boost all units (Mohicans might be good to boost as well though), but all of this can be done with no space restriction. This is all theoryscape though, you may be right.

I guess the only way to truly discover Sigrid's point cost is to playtest

[machinekng]

Very nice.

I would however, tweak Channel Ancestral Strength a bit.

A few things that you could do:

-Make the ability into an Aura, so only units within X spaces would be affected.
-Change the probabilities/bonuses (Maybe 4-12 nothing; 13-17 +1 Defense; 18-20 +1 Attack, +1 Defense.)

The one problem is that the way she is now, even with a changed point cost, she could have trouble qualfying for the SoV due to her ability to significantly and consistently boost Aquilla ranged units. And although thre are any now, there could be in the foreseeable future, due to C3V.

[IshMEL]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! This is really helpful.

A few questions:

1) I originally was going to make Channel Ancestral Strength apply only to "friendly dwarves," but that seemed too restrictive, so you'd only ever use her in a dwarven army. Perhaps changing it back would be both more thematic and less dangerously potent? I also think your suggestions of making it an aura and/or changing the odds make sense and will still fit the theme.

2) I was concerned that if CAS was successful once, you could do it a second time and it would stack, making it way too powerful. So I had the bit in there about only doing CAS once per round, unless it failed on your last attempt. Should I take it out? Or simplify it to say "You may only Channel Ancestral Strength once per round"?

Thanks again!

[William099]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! This is really helpful.

A few questions:

1) I originally was going to make Channel Ancestral Strength apply only to "friendly dwarves," but that seemed too restrictive, so you'd only ever use her in a dwarven army. Perhaps changing it back would be both more thematic and less dangerously potent? I also think your suggestions of making it an aura and/or changing the odds make sense and will still fit the theme.

2) I was concerned that if CAS was successful once, you could do it a second time and it would stack, making it way too powerful. So I had the bit in there about only doing CAS once per round, unless it failed on your last attempt. Should I take it out? Or simplify it to say "You may only Channel Ancestral Strength once per round"?

Thanks again!

I think the simplified only once per round is the best option personally... and as too limiting it to the dwarves I'd say yes... I mean her father is pretty much themed dwarf specific so it would make sense that the daughter would be as well... my .

[IshMEL]

Thanks all. Here's her revised stats. I lowered her defense to 3, upped the points to 110, changed the odds for Channel Ancestral Strength, and made CAS only affect dwarves within 6 spaces:

SIGRID IRONWILL
Dwarf
Unique Hero
Warrior
Loyal
Medium 4
5 Life
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 3
110 Points

FOEHAMMER OF THE BURNING FORGE
When Sigrid Ironwill attacks with a normal attack, she may attack two engaged figures if they are adjacent to both each other and to Sigrid Ironwill. Roll attack dice once for both figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

CHANNEL ANCESTRAL STRENGTH
Before moving, you may roll the 20-sided die.
* If you roll 1-3, Sigrid Ironwill takes one wound and cannot move or attack this turn.
* If you roll 4-12, nothing happens.
* If you roll 13-18, all friendly dwarves within 6 spaces add 1 extra attack die for the remainder of the round.
* If you roll 19 or higher, all friendly dwarves within 6 spaces add 1 extra attack die and 1 extra defense die for the remainder of the round.
Sigrid Ironwill is affected by Channel Ancestral Strength. You may only Channel Ancestral Strength once per round.

[IshMEL]

Well, I changed my mind on the stats. Rather than change four different things, I only changed two -- the odds on CAS and the target of CAS. Here's the next version, which I guess I'll submit to the 3FG and see what they have to say. Thanks again for your input!



SIGRID IRONWILL
Dwarf
Unique Hero
Warrior
Loyal
Medium 4
5 Life
Range 1
Attack 3
Defense 4
90 Points

FOEHAMMER OF THE BURNING FORGE
When Sigrid Ironwill attacks with a normal attack, she may attack two engaged figures if they are adjacent to both each other and to Sigrid Ironwill. Roll attack dice once for both figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

CHANNEL ANCESTRAL STRENGTH
Once per round, before moving, you may roll the 20-sided die.
* If you roll 1-3, Sigrid Ironwill takes one wound and cannot move or attack this turn.
* If you roll 4-12, nothing happens.
* If you roll 13-18, all friendly dwarves within 6 spaces add 1 extra attack die for the remainder of the round.
* If you roll 18 or higher, all friendly dwarves within 6 spaces add 1 extra attack die and 1 extra defense die for the remainder of the round.
Sigrid Ironwill is affected by Channel Ancestral Strength.

Synergy Benefits Received

Axegrinders of Burning Forge: Dwarven Strategic Bonding:
As a Dwarf Hero, Sigrid Ironwill may benefit from the Axegrinders' DWARVEN STRATEGIC BONDING activation synergy.

Synergy Benefits Offered

Channel Ancestral Strength can effect all Dwarves: Migol Ironwill, The Axegrinders of Burning Forge, Mogrimm Forgehammer, Darrak Ambershard

BIO
Daughter of Migol, Sigrid Ironwill wields the Foehammer, which for a thousand years has protected the Burning Forge Clan. Her ferocity in battle (and her red hair) have earned her the name "Flame of the Forge" among her fellow dwarven warriors. With the Foehammer of the Burning Forge, she cleaves through enemies and can call on the spirits of the clan's ancestors to aid her fellow dwarves. But channelling the dead might cost Sigrid her life...

FIGURE

"Dread #33 Dwarf Shieldmaiden", currently $2.29 at Auggie's.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Originally Posted by machinekng

The one problem is that the way she is now, even with a changed point cost, she could have trouble qualfying for the SoV due to her ability to significantly and consistently boost Aquilla ranged units. And although thre are any now, there could be in the foreseeable future, due to C3V.

:cough: :cough: Mohicans :cough: :cough: