In other news, if all the overlord's cards were replaced by Beastman War Party, he would win everytime. God. 12 wounds and 4 armor isn't even that hard to kill, you're just being obnoxious.

The theory is like this : Eldritch rush is such an overdone starter, and siege engines are trash the first ten weeks or so. Since I'm the dragon and I can't upgrade any monstre dungeon besides what's available to everyone else (unstoppable dragons ? whoopedidoo), I'm going to change tactic, even if it means risking the heroes having an easier time in dungeons. Beast upgrade means stronger lieutenants, and treachery means even more dangerous lieutenants encounters. Blitzing heroes won't let you gain xp in the dungeons, that much is clear - so why not bring the pain to them with a beefed up Alric ? In middle copper, he could clober them severely if you play smart (even more so now that telekinesis is out of the way), and that's about 10-15 xp for you and none for them. So, early beast upgrade. Saddly nothing you can buy with starting xp to aid that strategy, but you can complement it with increased chance of random encounters (you're better of decreasing them before your first monster upgrade though - conquest denial, play smart). Focused x2 is an overlooked upgrade, mainly because it has no timing in your growing curve. There are always thing you'd rather be buying instead of this, and when you have the spare xp it's too late. So buying them as early as possible in the game grants this upgrade a chance to be usefull. If your dungeons are going to be short, you maximize the chances of picking a card that'd net you a kill. If your dungeons are long, you gain conquest earlier on, and your pool of card is always ideal. It's a win win, really. Seriously, siege engines is simply not what the dragon does. Harass heroes with beefed up lieutenants and chances are you can keep them at bay from the good places long enough.

I contemplated playing Great Wyrm for my next campaign, and I came to the conclusion that lawlessness and focused x2 were the best investment for him, in terms of starting xp. After that try to rush beast silver, and harass players with starting lieutenants - try to gain a single monster treachery, pick lone manticore, another farrow, and you're good for copper, start saving up for silver eldritch at silver campaign level.

I must ask, that list of answers state that leaping figures are damaged by aura, which triggers berzerk, when the most recent FAQ says that leaping figures are immune to Aura. So which is it ?

Oh, I see. Thank you very much.

Feanor said: If you have monster treachery, you can also play spawn cards. However, your spawns are placed outside the exit spaces on the board, just like they are reinforcements. Where did that come from ? I see no such thing in the rulebook or in the FAQ. It only says : "Cards in the Overlord's hand can be played normally." in the treachery section of the Lieutenant encounter chapter.

Thanks for the clarific, ation about Gate cards. About Kate : adding a doom token on the doom track happens before actually putting the gate in play. So I don't think she prevents that from happening. Besides, it would make her a tad more powerfull than she's supposed to be, if players know which locations are the most common gate spawn points (The Witch House, Independence Square, Hibb's Roadhouse...).

This whole thing with Kate seem to imply a lot of "I think it works this way". Hasn't there be any official ruling about her ? Some of my friends found weird that I thought even though a gate didn't appear on her location, you're supposed to put a doom token anyway. As for dragon card, I understand the whole "location card" thing (except I'm unsure if it works for Other Worlds encounters too), but what is a "gate card" ? Or "gate" ? Does that imply you can redraw a gate token if you don't like the dimension it's going to ?

As a new player I'm interested in the theory but I don't fully understand. How would Kate be able to "sit" on an open gate, exactly ? How would she go about not getting sucked in ? Also, what exactly is dragon's eye use in controlling the doom track ? I never really understood what this cart meant when it said "location or gates".