Basic tutorial for the 7th design iteration

[Groovy]

The only neutral unit able to attack faction units is the Animator. It attacks the Ghost, dealing 5-2=3 damage.

[Groovy]

The Sylvan player hurries to capture the lich dwelling before the Barbarian player does. He begins by moving the Panther Rider to shoot at the Animator. The Panther Rider is equipped with a Flexi Bow, which grants it +1 attack. So it does (4+1)-2=3 damage.


The other Panther Rider now advances and uses its panther attack to deal 5-2=3 damage, killing the Animator. The Panther Rider still has 1 action point left to capture the dwelling.


The Panther Rider captures the lich dwelling. It is now out of action points, but can still use its ranged attack that doesn’t need them. It shoots at the uninjured Ghost, dealing 4-1=3 damage. The Sylvan player then recruits an Animator from the newly captured dwelling with which to finish the Ghost off.


The Barbarian player now doesn’t have sufficient troops in the area to threaten the lich dwelling further. With both of the nearby enemy units injured, the Sylvan player decides to go on the offensive. He is determined to eliminate the Barbarian spirit-based units, and is willing to take some losses to accomplish this.

[Panda Tar]

Now I got the right time to read everything in a row.

I must say it's pretty interesting. Still having my time detaching my mind from Heroes and the likes when adapting my understanding here and there.

So, we hire a Hero and that hero is a special unit, but will not control an army, right? It's as if we are giving a name to a unit instead of calling it by its race instead. There's a similar mechanism in the game called Travian (free online one). You could have a Hero, which would level up (normal units didn't), and that hero would come from one of the units available for hiring.

Is there a LV UP mechanism for heroes in this tabletop format?

[Groovy]

The more I work on this tutorial, the more I see my chess background coming through.

So, we hire a Hero and that hero is a special unit, but will not control an army, right?

Right. Its most distinguishing feature is the influence that it has on other units.

Is there a LV UP mechanism for heroes in this tabletop format?

Not at the moment. I might add one later, but I first want to see how the game plays without it. I'm reluctant to add more complexity unless there's a clear benefit.

EDIT:
What really appeals to me about the game is that it can play completely differently on different playthroughs, even between the same factions on the same map. It all depends on what creatures one finds in dwellings and lairs.

[Groovy]

At the beginning of a turn, all units that belong to the player and are found in a dwelling (including town centre tile, which is the townsfolk dwelling) heal. They recover at most the same number of health points as their level. This means that the two Spider Riders recover 2 health points each.


The Barbarian player has two main ways of dealing with the Sylvan attack. She can either stand her ground and fight, or run for the relative safety of the spirit dwelling. Fleeing was the obvious course of action before the lich units advanced, but now it would lead to an unanswered loss of the Ghost. Of course, staying and fighting would be much more costly, but would also inflict some damage on the enemy.

The Barbarian player chooses to stay and fight. She splits her troops into two groups – the bottom one to delay the advancing Sylvan units, and the top one to capture the crocodile lair. She would then use the newly acquired crocodiles to defend the spirit dwelling.

She starts by zapping the Animator with the Ghost, and then with the spirit hero. The Animator dies. She then positions her units so as to delay the Sylvan advance as much as possible.


The remaining troops assault the crocodile lair. Each Spider Rider strikes twice, and does 4-3=1 damage with each strike. The Smashing Pumpkin deals 4-0=4 damage to the first Spider Rider in retaliation. After 3 Spider Riders and 6 strikes, the Smashing Pumpkin is dead.


The Spider Rider captures the crocodile lair. Crocodiles give the Barbarian player new options.


With 2 orcs still available in the countryside dwelling, the Barbarian player decides to recruit 2 Wagons, whose higher defence should make it easier to defend the spirit dwelling. She enhances one of them with Crocodile Scales. That one would be defending the dwelling. The other one would provide support while keeping an eye on the now-vacant orc dwelling. It could also be used to capture the cat lair should the Sylvan player let his guard down.

[Groovy]

The only neutral unit left is the Griffin. There are no faction units within its attack range.

[Groovy]

The Panther Rider moves forward and shoots the Ghost, dealing (4+1)-2=3 damage and killing it. The lich hero zaps the spirit hero, dealing 5-2=3 damage and killing it too. This makes space for other Sylvan units to advance.


While moving over the hill, the Panther Rider takes advantage of its increased range to shoot at the Spider Rider on the other hill. The spirit dwelling is now within the Panther Rider’s reach.

On the other side of the map, the Sylvan player prepares a diversionary attack. This is to tie down some of the Barbarian troops in the defence of the region so that they cannot be deployed against the main Sylvan attack.

[Groovy]

The uninjured Spider Rider and orc hero move into position to attack the lich hero. The Spider Rider deals 4-2=2 damage, followed by the lich hero’s retaliation of 5-1=4 damage, followed by the Spider Rider’s second strike, and then the wounded Spider Rider’s strike. This kills the lich hero.


The Barbarian troops then withdraw to their defensive positions.

[Groovy]

The Griffin spends another turn in contemplative solitude.

[Groovy]

This is the last day of the week. Dwellings and lairs make new creatures available at the beginning of each week. Because he went first, the Sylvan player can capture Barbarian map structures on day 1 of next week and still deny the Barbarian player the chance to use the new creatures. But he has to get his units into position to do that on this turn.

He starts by using the Animator to zap and kill the nearby Spider Rider.


Then he moves the stronger of the two Panther Riders to shoot and kill the orc hero.


Then he uses the other Panther Rider to shoot and kill the retreating Spider Rider.


This puts the upper Panther Rider within reach of the Barbarian town, and both Panther Riders within reach of the crocodile lair. All three Sylvan units are within reach of the spirit dwelling as well, but the Wagon defending it has such high defence (2 for the Wagon + 2 for the Crocodile Scales + 1 for the dwelling) that they cannot even damage it.

On the other side of the map, the diversionary attack is now in place. The Panther Rider there can run right past the Griffin and capture the orc dwelling on the next turn. It shoots at the Griffin while waiting, just to loosen up.

[Groovy]

The Spider Rider in the Barbarian town heals fully.

The Wagon moves into the orc dwelling to make sure that it is not captured by the Panther Rider.

The other Wagon attacks the other Panther Rider before retreating back to the spirit dwelling, where it’s safe.

The Barbarian player now shuffles her defences to enable the remaining wounded Spider Rider to heal, while still providing some protection for all her lairs and dwellings.

[Groovy]

The Griffin chooses not to attack the Panther Rider. Any damage inflicted on it would heal at the end of the turn, while the Griffin would suffer damage in retaliation.

[Groovy]

It is the beginning of week 2. All the dwellings and lairs replenish their population.


The Sylvan player now has a choice between attacking the crocodile lair and attacking the Barbarian town. Tired of the time-consuming nature of this mode of play, he decides to go for the town.

First, the more distant Panther Rider takes out the Grunt blocking the access to the town with its ranged attack.


Next, the other Panther Rider moves through the forest to take out the Spider Rider defending the town with its ranged attack used at close range.


The Panther Rider then captures the Barbarian town with its 1 remaining action point.


This ends the game. The Sylvan player wins.

[Groovy]

This concludes the tutorial. Please let me know if anything is unclear, or if I've missed anything.

[Panda Tar]

Something I might be a bit confused is the replenishing of troops: you have, say, 4 in a dwelling and 2 die. When the week starts, 2 will be replenished then? Not that 4 will be added? Just need to get a bit better how it works.

[Groovy]

They can only be replenished up to the dwelling's maximum capacity, which is 4 (for level 1 creatures).

[Panda Tar]

At the first part of the scenario, there was something I got curious about and forgot to ask. You said you could only have 1 hero each time, right? But then you had your hero, and when you conquered the faun lair, you had a faun hero too (who got killed by gargoyles). I didn't understand why you could have 2 heroes at that time.

[Groovy]

The elf hero can also be acquired. This is a unique unit that represents a particular elf individual rather than some generic elf. Only one elf hero can be in play at any given time, regardless of who is controlling it.

I hope that clears it up. Please let me know if I've contradicted it elsewhere.

It simply comes down to a hero, any hero, being a specific individual, and we can't have more than one of him/her/it in the game. It's In the same vein as in Heroes, where if Sandro is leading your army, he can't also be leading some other player's army. It will become more obvious once we give heroes names.

[Panda Tar]

Ah, yes, elf hero then. That part got lost in my understanding. I generalized.

And when you say: "regardless of who is controlling it", that means that once a player has an elf hero, the other player won't be able to do so? Another question: 2 players cannot play with the same faction?

[Groovy]

And when you say: "regardless of who is controlling it", that means that once a player has an elf hero, the other player won't be able to do so?

Correct. There is only one elf hero token in the game.

Another question: 2 players cannot play with the same faction?

Again correct, for the same reason - limited supply of physical tokens. I suppose it could be circumvented by buying two sets of tokens for the faction.