Arthadan

@FlorentinSorry if my choice of words wasn't the most fortunate. Of course this is a collaborative effort and I see myself as another team member and  perhaps coordinator, nothing more.

But as a team member I have the right to chose to work on whatever parts of the project I'm more interested.

Simply put, I wasn't banishing the possibility of advanced rules (nor do I feel myself entitled to take any kind of unilateral decisions like that), just saying I prefer to devote my time to work on another parts. If another team member is interested in exploring that possibility, go ahead and share!

@Xaltotun you are part of the team!  Your comments are most helpful and your help providing graphic reference invaluable!

So, pending right now:

-Comments on the last version of the Mounted Combat rules (in the previous page).

- rules for the standard. I think having to check line of Sight to the standard with all every OL's characters will be too slow. Perhaps something quicker and easier?

ARROWS

Since missile weapons will be a great advantage in board bigger than the official size and you lot prefer the limited arrow approach, I'll go that way. Throwing weapons like javelins will have a limited range (probably as many areas as symbols obtained in the attack roll) ,  and missile weapons will have no range limitation.

@Florentin the scenario will be released using the template to make it as close as possible to the official material. So, yes, all the rules will be compiled in a single document.

DIFFERENT SCENARIO VERSIONS

I'd rather make a single scenario, trying to find balance between playability and fidelity to the film. Different versions would mean separated playtesting and more work polishing balance for each, which I'm not willing to assume. Of course once released, feel free to play around with it changing things, but I won't be involved, as I prefer to focus on the campaign.

1 minute ago, Xaltotun said:

 

So, you see the standard like 'rally card' (some of you remind Dixie) to /rally armies in his areas?

I see it as a moral boost which is more or less what  the Leadership skill represent.

2 minutes ago, Xaltotun said:

Maybe I could help with my recent quite experience with the movie...

 

The standard bearer rides besides Doom and arrives in battle always beside him. After Rexor dies, we watch at Doom alone.... where is he?

If you rewind you can see that he passing gallopping behond thorgrim, spied by conan, before the is banged on his poor head

 

So, why dont use it to increase some value or the units inside some areas?

 

Or to give bonus to all the units who could look directly to him (same way to throw arrows)

 

Whay do you think?

 To keep things easy, it will grantthe Leadership skill to a Fang, but it needs a downside as well when he's killed. Maybe rolling  and that would be the number of Fanfgs retreating?

3 minutes ago, Xaltotun said:

 

I think the easiest way should be change the OL object in: Kill Conan & Subotai; if Thorgrim and Rexor die, kill Yasmina.

 

This is the best way to keep on focusing on the movie. Many Doom riders arrove on the battlefield from the mound where the princess is tied, but never stop or dismount to free her: it seems that their primar order is to kill the two 'hosts'...

And what's Doom attack? I guess it's a punish expedition. 'He'll see the smoke and come to kill you', cried Yasmina...

 

Could it be working?

 

So, I'd change the OL first Object, but I'll keep the traps... like @Arthadan purpose: no remote control for the heroes: please, don't ask what I was thinking of 😰

 

I'll do that, but I want to introduce the standard somehow. 

Ideas? Extend Rexor Leadership skill to adjacente areas?

2 minutes ago, Florentin said:

I would add an option for those who would like to live the same scene than in conan !

Subotai had not infinite arrows and no more quiver because he ran a lot!

Easy rules: 10 arrows tokens are put on the map in different area. Ex.: 3 in the same area. Thus, Subotai could shot but only 3 times in the area with a bow...

That could be a variation, once the scenario is released, but I think I'll stick to the standard rules here because we have already too many special rules.

New version of the Mounted Combat rules:

Quote

In this campaign the Overlord will command mounted warriors. They are fast and powerful, but a good blow will put them to the ground, leaving them at disadvantage.
The benefits of being mounted are many: Movement Value between 4 and 5, Armour Value increased by 1 point, improved Melee Attack dice and a new skill called Trample. Mounted tiles are represented by their own tile, and they are distinguished by the illustration and the movement icon of a mounted warrior.

Trample Skill
- The Trample attack is a new Movement skill available only to Mounted models.
- It cost is 2 Movement points. 
- The attack can be Defended but not Parried.
- If the attack is succesful, the defender is Knocked Out (see below).

 

Mounted units
They have two tiles: Mounted tile and Infantry (Dismounted). They must be of different color as they represent different profiles.
Horse and rider are considered a single miniature. When the character takes damage, is killed as normal.

 

Liutenants
They are represented by two tiles, one Mounted and Dismounted. They are Dismounted when they suffer at least the loss of
2 life points in a single melee attack. When this happens, replace his Mounted tile in the River with his Dismounted tiles if he has survived the attack. To determine if the character has
been lucky enough to land on his feet, roll a with a result of 2 symbols no further consequences will happen, otherwise the character is Knocked Out (see below).

 

Dismounting
A Liutenant may Dismount as a movement action costing 1 Movement point. Replace his Mounted tile with his Dismounted tile in the River. Further movement after dismounting is not allowed unless the Overlord uses Movement benefits. He cannot mount back because his horse is assumed to run away.
 

Knocked out warriors
Place the miniature lying down on the board. Being Knocked Out has the following consequences:
- The character cannot attack.
- The character can defend normally.
- Any melee attack against the character has an elevation bonus dice .
- The character will need to spend 1 movement point to stand up.

- Mounted miniatures cannot perform Melee Attacks against the Knocked Out character, but they can Trample him.
- Once dismounted cannot mount again (the horse is assumed to run away).

Here there are the Trap and Standard of Set campaing cards plus new back sides for the campaings cards, one for the heroes and one for the Overlord.

And the standard token:

1 hour ago, Florentin said:

And what about the arrows? It would be interesting to use them as specific items like in the movie in specific spots!

Well, in this game arrows are not separated items, bows are supposed to come with infinite arrows. I rather respect the standard rule than add unnecesary complexity with optional rules for limited arrows.

And another campaign card idea:

The Standard of Set

At the start of the furst OL turn, when miniatures are already deployed, the OL chooses any miniature from the Fangs of Set tile and places the Standard token (I have to make it) with it.

If the standard bearer dies, the OL cannot get reinforcement points for the rest of the game.

This and the traps should prevent the Overlord from making an all out charge for the Princess tin the first turn.

Thoughts?

 All the tokens are placed by the heroes team before the beginning of the game.

That's right.

ITEMS

The Asset Deck will only have javelins and potions. I think there is no need to further specify the exact item in the area. They work as chests (the OL cannot interact with them), only that a simple manipulation is enough to pick the item because the heroes know where it is and there is no lock.

TRAPS

They all work the same, first OL character entering the area suffers the trap damage. I think is fair the heroes chose where to place them, but these are not explosive charges with a detonator they can activate when they want. These are pits with stakes at the bottom and such. I'll keep the first entering miniature gets the damage rather than allowing the heroes to pick which one they want to harm.

A little surprise, another campaing card:

And this is the text:

Quote

The first time an Overlord character enters this area, the trap is sprung. The characters suffers  points of damage and cannot apply his Armor value against this attack.

 

The idea is that there will be 10 areas marked with skeletons miniatures and before the game starts the Heroes will chose what to place in each. The options will be:

- Item (5 areas out of 10): when a hero is in one of these areas, he can draw a card from the Asset Deck with a simple manipulation. When the item is picked, the skeleton is removed.

- Trap (3 areas out of 10): with the effect described above. When the trap comes into play, the skeleton is removed. 

- Nothing (2 areas out of 10): this areas act as a decoy, because the OL need to approach them catiously because they could be traps. The skeleton is removed after the first Ol character enters the area.

Thoughts?

Said and done!

Skill removed and illustration size increased.

My next challenge is mounted Thorgrim, and I'm not sure about the illustration of mounted Rexor. Which one do you like best, the last one or the previous one?

And another question, all Liutenants have lost one skill in their Mounted version, should the Fangs lose the as well?

I think so because they are though (Defense 4) and if they protect Rexor and Thorgrim who are heavy hitters, the heroes are doomed.

And last question. Minion Mounted tiles are Dismounted when they suffer 1+ Defense points of damage. For the Fangs it means they'll be Dismounted only when they suffer exactly 5 points of damage. Needless to say, this would seldom happen. I think this adds an unnecessary complexity and it would be better if only Liutenants could be Dismounted. What do you think?

And one more:

Great job @Florentin

I finally got some job done.

I give you the Trampling Doom and the Galloping Fang!

1 hour ago, Xaltotun said:

 

Yes, I know. I was just giving my idea about balancing the play between heroes and mounted ol army.

 

 

I uploaded many images to help you with the tiles. Let me know what can do for you now. 

Or I can start with images for other scenarios (doom cultists, priests, first battle... etc...)

Thanks man! But for now I prefer to keep the focus on the first scenario. I have all the graphic reference material I need thanks to you, just need some spare time. Hopefully I'll get some more tiles done tomorrow.

I've been thinking about the map as well. Let me share an anecdote, playing the Death Star mission in a computer game I decided to try another approach. I flew far above the surface, parallel to the trench and only got into the deadly trench when I was close to the exhaust port. Mission was a success and far easier.

What I mean with this is that a clever OL will avoid the monolith field, surrounding it with the fast moving cavalry. Then taking the princess, thus winning, will be a piece ok cake. It's not "cinematic" but it is the clever way.

Now we have to think how to fix this without altering the layout of the map.

My first thought was to include the heroes death in the OL victory conditions, and this may work. As long as Thorgrim and Rexor are alive, OL victory conditions would be:

- Take the Princess out of the board.

- Kill Conan and Subotai.

Once Rexor and Thorgrim are dead, the OL victory conditions would be simply killing the Princess, or an automatic win of she's out of the table.

I'm thinking about adding more traps for the heroes to set outside the monolith field, making less attractive for the OL to grab the Princess right from the start and make some areas impassable for mounted miniatures (palisades). Also, some areas inside the monolith field will be too small for a horse base to fit in, meaning they're impassable for them. But definitely, I want horses inside some other areas of the monolith field because that's what we see in the film.

When I start working on the map, I'll try to release a printer-friendly map without zones. Just blank space, with circles for hills and a rectangle for the monolith field (all this respecting the layout from Florentin 's map) , with some other important features represented in an equally schematic way. And then we all can print it and play around with good old pen and paper, trying different zones division after setting the guidelines for designing them.

But we're not there yet...

35 minutes ago, Florentin said:

I'm afraid that riders become to powerfull with trample ! Do not forget that they are 14 riders in the movie!  And only 2 + 1/2 heroes on this version to fight! 

I think new skills should be offered to the heroes to get rid of the riders before they be too many on the map!

i.e.: Trample stop

Capability to be hidden, ....

Well, we have skills like Counterattack (Riposte, in French) which grants a free attack of a every time you're attacked.

This is just costing 2 movements points out of 4 for a Mounted tile. Heroes will have armor, meaning they'll ignore the attack without even spending gems most of the time and the OL may need to spend gems on movement benefit. Also, Mounted units have big bases, meaning zones will get saturated pretty easily.

Anyway, this is a late campaign scenario. Heroes are supposed to have leveled up now. At level 1 they will lose one skill from their hero sheet, at level 2 they'll be as they come in the hero sheets and at level 3 they'll get a new skill. So, yes in this scenario they'll be more powerful. I want it to be epic!

5 minutes ago, Xaltotun said:

 

Very nice!

 

And putting a rider on horse?...

 

 

about costs. Could be an acceptable idea making it cost 1 movement and 1 attack too?

I think a rider on the horse would be too distracting, this will be a tiny image on the tiles.

About cost, I like the idea the horse can trample an enemy itself, while the rider can make his own attack. Tiles have just one attack per activation so making it cost 1 attack means you sacrifice the rider's attack plus spend 1 movement point to trample. I think that's too much.

And here you are the Trample skill pictogram!

@Xaltotun

Looking at Conan's tabletops, it seems that a single area is too large to allow a miniature to move this way, while dodging an attack. What do you think?

Agreed. No free movement to an adjacent area for the defender.

Still not sure about how much it must cost in movement points.

I'm thinking it should be 2, same as Wall breaker.

So for the trampling attack do I have to spend only movement points? Then can I spend melee points to attack normally too?

Yes, trampling only spends Movement points.

I'm thinking if the defender goes prone after the trample, he couldn't be attacked in melee by mounted miniatures. Thoughts?

I'm also thinking about giving the option for raiders to dismount. This would spend all movement points. Horse would be lost permanently (no possibility to mount it again), but the raider gets to attack (and can be moved spending gems on a movement benefit).