Very interesting team set-up and game! I know I shouldn't have thrown Asteros' axe! Reading this really makes me want to experiment around with Asteros vs. Natalya set-ups again.

Moebius said: I was thinking of creating a custom using hoss rules but shogunate themed (red Oni?). This would complement the team greatly by giving them their own out of path capacity, a good mental character and more tactical possibilities which in the en adds more fun. I only used her so far with Stamina pack, the idea being that she can try to trigger overwatch and walk away or drop the happo. Her problem is that her weapon is crap (4 dice dont bring you anywhere), I try not to have her too far from Iroh, if he dies she goes for his sword, if she finds an automatic weapon thats good as well. On the troop side i give the Shing agent the NX5R bonus token and the Ashigaru weapon on the first game turn, she gets then to roll 7 dice rerrolling 2 of them wich is quite a punch. Iroh always with command, having the opponent roll 1 less shock dice is what gives him the edge. You are right, the Shogunate really needs a powerful characters that somehow breaks with their melee theme to get them to the same level as the other factions. While Mizu with her Stamina pack is great to dodge attacks, I'll try out her Combat pack the next time I play Shogunate. That way she'll roll one more die with her weapon and her attacks will be immune to smoke. I'll pair her with a beefed-up Shin that is not only powerful when equipped with an automatic weapon but also has a weapon that is unaffected by smoke. On Iroh I think you are only partially right. While having the enemies roll 1 less shock die is indeed great and the equipment I always play, it's part of his Combat pack, not Command.

I did a solitaire Deathmatch on the Gevaudan board using a Matriarchy team including Natalya (Sta), Zor'ka (Sta), Irishka (Sta) and 2 Voivodes (10 MP, repair) and a Union team including Asteros (Sta), MacNeal (Cmb), Ramirez (Cmb) and Alpha (Cmb) to answer the question concerning Asteros vs. Natalya. The Matriarchy team was (as everyone will see) about supporting and repairing Natalya and Zor'ka. The Union team was built to do as much damage as possible even to high stamina characters. Alpha could even throw a Smoke grenade to hinder the Matriarchy. The result: Asteros was brought down by Zor'ka and Natalya in a drawn-out and rather boring game. All 3 characters rolled lots of hits in their attack rolls that were immediately canceled by lots of successes in shock rolls. Both Natalya and Zor'ka were wounded by Asteros, but were repaired back to health by their support before Asteros killed Irishka and the Voivodes. In the end, Asteros as well as Zor'ka had grabbed Flash guns from fallen characters (MacNeal and Alpha of course) to have some good ranged combat option. I don't know if this outcome can be called typical because I made 2 grave mistakes while controlling "Team Asteros". First, I placed MacNeal and Ramirez too close to one another early in the game so Zor'ka could use Awakening, move in and do 2 attacks that killed both MacNeal and Ramirez who both had really, really bad shock rolls. Second, at one point in the game Asteros threw his axe to score some important wounds and was unable to retrieve it for several turns because Natalya blocked his way. I'll really think twice before throwing the axe again. Thinking again about the game, a different team to support Asteros would have been better, maybe a Reich team with Hoss, Zermann and a Schocktruppen. Hoss and Zermann can attack everyone who stays out of sight from Asteros, Hoss can give extra successes with Reichdoktor, Zermann and the Schock have First Aid Kits to heal Asteros if needed.

Artemus Maximus said: - any character on a smoked path rolls 2 fewer dice for attack rolls, shock rolls, duels, and tests This really is brutal! MacNeal and Ramirez will simply gun down everyone in one attack! Your suggestions concerning the Shogunate are great, I'll definitely try them. Move into melee as fast as possible and try to isolate characters while drawing the enemy's attention elsewhere sounds fitting. Additionally, I'll try to cover Mizu's and Shin's advance in smoke as both partially ignore its effect

Katsuyori said: But I would greatly embrace epic heroes like Natalya for all faction. She is not that unbeatable. Her stats are great, but at least drop as soon she is wounded. Her equipment is nice, but not over the top like Asteros. She even got a risky item. She´s got five rows of hp, but it´s bearable because the team looses a trooper-slot. I think she is hard, but ok. I´d l not fee like cheating when fielding her. By the way, anybody had a fight with an Asteros included team vs a Natalya included team? I would be interested if Asteros is such a beast that he even bests Natalya in short time. Or can she stand up to him? I wasn't lobbying for an Asteros clone for every faction, only for a powerful Epic for every faction, a character that somehow has a chance to go toe to toe with Asteros. The Matriarchy already has this character, it's Natalya. I still think the other factions should get their Epic too, so that we can play Epic vs. Epic with all factions. And while I never played Asteros vs. Natalya (mainly because Asteros is collecting dust at the bottom of my box of Tannhäuser figures), I'm quite curious about that battle and try it in the next days. Natalya's team will include Zor'ka, Irishka and 2 Voivodes. About Asteros I'm unsure - maybe Reich characters as support?

I finished the tournament yesterday. The Reich team won because it managed to destroy the Matriarchy team in the last game, overwhelming both Zor'ka and Natalya with powerful out-of-path attacks and Schocktruppen on overwatch. Harbinger's Reichdoktor ability proved very useful to bring in much needed extra successes. The Matriarchy came in second, the Union third and the Shogunate last without winning even a single game. I still don't know what to do with them.

First create powerful characters, later tone them down with erratas? I kind of dislike that. FFG should rather release powerful Epic Heroes for all the other factions to even things out. That way, Asteros wouldn't be a problem any more AND we would get new Tannhäuser figures!

Now that I think of it, what I'd really like to see soon is the Matriarchy trooper pack! Come on, FFG, we know you have it! Why don't you just release it?

4 of the 6 games in the Deathmatch tournament were already played using the following teams: Union: MacNeal (Cmb), Brown (Sta), Ramirez (Cmb), 2 Alpha (Cmb) Reich: Heizinger (Cmb), Hoss (Cmm), Zermann (Cmm), 2 Schocktruppen (Cmm) Matriarchy: Zor'ka (Sta), Natalya (Cmb), Irina (Sta), 2 Voivodes (10 MP, Repair) Shogunate: Iroh (Cmb), Itami (Sta), Mizu (Sta), Ashigaru (Sta), Shin (Cmb) In short, Union and Shogunate look like the big losers this time. The smoke-heavy Union team managed to completely destroy the Shogunate team, but was no match for either the Reich or the Matriarchy. Hoss and Zermann just moved out of the smoke to do their out-of-path attacks, Zor'ka moved through the smoke and went into melee when she was out of the smoke again, Natalya just stood in the smoke and blasted everyone adjacent to her. Smoke's really not what it used to be! The Shogunate team was obliterated twice. The melee-heavy characters often don't get near the enemies before they are gunned down or severely damaged by out-of-path attacks. I tried to cover their advance in smoke, but it seems like they hinder themselves more than their enemies with that tactic. Does anybody have a suggestion how to play them?

Okay, so Asteros can Bull Rush the same character several times, thus he is even more powerful than I thought he was. He really can kill an adjacent hero every turn. But who in his right mind will go near Asteros? And going one step further: Who even plays Asteros? He is so overpowered it's not even fun to use him.

I think the rule Miah quoted is clear for all characters except Asteros. One Bull Rush per activation means a given character can only attempt to bull rush one character once per activation. Bull rushing the same character twice would be two Bull Rushes. So I'd say the only question is if Asteros could possibly bull rush someone several times in one activation.

But how does that rule interact with this quote from the Asteros rules: "When Asteros makes a Bull Rush, he may move through as many characters as he has movement for." So he makes one Bull Rush through several characters. Why not one Bull Rush several times through the same character?

As English neither is my native language, I'll of course trust the native speaker and use Mizu's Happo from now on as follows: She may only use it if she is attacked but may then choose whether to use it or not. I still think the rule could be clearer - or FFG just could have answered my question. @Katsuyori: In another thread here on this forum, we discovered some months ago that we are both from Germany, but you live in Munich while I live in Braunschweig.

Katsuyori is right and quoted right of course. That same paragraph on page 10 further underlines his (and my) opion on that by stating that "players alternate activating their characters" and "if one player runs out of characters to activate, his opponent activates the rest of his characters one after the other". This last statement would be totally pointless if every player would activate all his characters at once.

Thanks for your notice and comment, Miah. I know about Oksana, but she rather is a former Archmandrite who turned rouge, collected technology and now kind of wants to turn on the government. So I thought it would be nice to have a "normal" Archmandrite too. I also thought about Vetchorka. As far as I understand, it was planned to install the Vetchorka "entity" into a Combat Armor controlled by Oksana. The project failed because Oksana didn't act as planned, so we don't have a Vetchorka combat armor. That's why I thought we could get kind of a "free" Vetchorka, a powerful enery being or ghost without any combat armor. But maybe that would be too powerful.

Mizu's Happo is dropped when she is the target of an attack so that Mizu is covered in smoke even before the attack resolves. Her attacker may resolve the attack even if he is not adjacent to Mizu, but he rolls 2 less dice in his attack roll. After that, Happo works just like a normal Smoke grenade. Two smoke tokens are put on it, and all further attacks suffer the normal limitations (only adjacent targets, 2 less dice) until the smoke tokens are removed. The tokens are removed like all other smoke tokens. Two points are unclear with Mizu's Happo: The rules don't state that it may be used like a normal Smoke grenade, that is: thrown as an action in Mizu's activation. The rules also don't say if Mizu has to use Happo if she is targeted by an attack, or if she may choose not to use Happo. I think Mizu may also throw Happo and use of Happo is optional, but the rules aren't clear on this. I sent both questions to FFG several weeks ago but never got an answer.

Once more, I had an idea for a character that I absolutely have to present here. I don't know if it's balanced, but it certainly is original - and it's not a Reich character this time! Mortimer Mortimer (a codename of course) is a Union secret agent who specializes in infiltrating the enemy’s military units or bases. Physically unassuming and of average built, he is adapt at blending in almost anywhere without gaining much attention. He has often infiltrated military facilities by acting as a civilian worker or even a collaborator giving the enemy vital information. His true claim to fame, though, is his unmatched ability to even play the role of an enemy soldier. He speaks fluent German, Russian and even Japanese. Masking himself properly and using either forged documents or those taken from fallen (or purposely killed) soldiers, Mortimer was able to join enemy units several times, posing as one of the countless soldiers fighting in the Great war. Part of his masquerade is his weapon of choice, an old trench gun that is untraceable because the model is in use in every army. While posing as a member of the enemy’s army, Mortimer of course has almost unlimited access in their military facilities. Needless to say, he is absolutely capable to gain access to any area forbidden to him as well. He then uses his powerful position to sabotage the enemy’s equipment, relay crucial information to other Union agents or military units present, hinder or undo the enemy’s mission progress or whatever his current mission calls for. While he is used to do almost everything to protect his cover, he is also able to take decisive action should the need arise. If only obvious destruction of relevant equipment or even the elimination of key personnel will stop the enemy from achieving crucial successes, Mortimer will act without thinking twice, sacrificing his life rather than failing in his mission. Faction: Union Skills: Dexterity, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Mechanics, Sangfroid, Sneak, Strategy AV: 5/5/4/4 SV: 5/5/4/4 MeV: 6/5/5/4 MoV: 7/7/6/5 Special object: Undercover: Ability. You enter the board through the opposing team’s entry point. Enemy characters may not attack you or target you with any effects that specifically target enemy characters. Discard this token immediately after you perform an action that wounds or kills an enemy character. Combat pack: Trench gun (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. See Revised rules, page 83. Eliminate threat: Ability. If you kill an enemy character while there are no other enemy characters on your path, you do not have to discard “Undercover”. Armor sabotage: Ability. As long as you have “Undercover” equipped, all enemy characters on your path roll one die less when making shock rolls. Stamina pack: Trench gun (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. See Revised rules, page 83. Weapon sabotage: Ability. As long as you have “Undercover” equipped, all enemy characters on your path roll one die less when making attack rolls. Diverted Attention: Ability. Once per turn, as an action, choose an enemy character on your path. That character may not perform an action this turn. Command pack: Trench gun (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. See Revised rules, page 83. Information leak: Ability. As long as you have “Undercover” equipped, the Union automatically has initiative. Negate Progress: Ability. If you have “Undercover” equipped, you may spend your action and discard this token to remove all of your opponent’s tokens from any objective token adjacent to you. Discard “Undercover” after using this ability.

Thanks for your input. I was thinking about using either Zor'ka + Natalya + Voivodes + X or Oksana + Natalya + Voivodes + X myself, but never about a Smoke-heavy Union team because Hoax is one of my favourites. But Smoke sounds great too, I think I'll skip Hoax this time. And if I lived anywhere near you, I'd definitely join your cool tournament, no matter how long the games would take. Great teams and great rules!

Balanced Tannhäuser characters? No way. That would clearly break the spirit of this game! However, here's an update on the characters. I just slowed the demon down so you basically have the choice between a very powerful melee attack (Combat pack), very powerful defense (Stamina pack) and a reasonable speed (Command pack). The Zombie master got a Combat pack that makes him stronger when there are Zombies on his path. Furthermore, the Zombies may stand in as targets of attacks targeting the Zombie master, weakening him of course if they get killed. Leutnant Heinrich Schmidt Faction: Reich Skills: Archaeology, Command, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Reasoning AV: 4/4/3/3 SV: 4/4/4/3 MeV: 6/5/5/4 MoV: 6/6/5/5 Special object: Word of Resurrection: Ability, Occult. Whenever a character (except a mechanical being) dies, you may place a Corpse token on the circle where the character died. If you share a path with a Corpse token, you may spend your action to replace the Corpse token with a Zombie if less than two Zombies are in play. The Zombie may be activated later the turn if no Zombies were activated before. Combat pack: Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. Word of Power: Ability, Occult. You receive +1 to each of your stats for every Zombie that shares a path with you. Word of Obedience: Ability, Occult. If you are declared the target of an attack, you may choose a Zombie to be the target instead, if he is a legal target for the attack. Stamina pack: Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. Attack order: Ability, Occult. You may spend your action to activate one Zombie or two Zombies anywhere on the board, even if these Zombies had already been activated this turn. If the Zombies were not activated before your action, they may be activated as normal later this turn. Word of Obedience: Ability, Occult. If you are declared the target of an attack, you may choose a Zombie to be the target instead, if he is a legal target for the attack. Command pack: Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. Attack order: Ability, Occult. You may spend your action to activate one Zombie or two Zombies anywhere on the board, even if these Zombies had already been activated this turn. If the Zombies were not activated before your action, they may be activated as normal later this turn. Charge order: Ability, Occult. Discard this token at the start of any turn before any character has been activated. The Zombies are activated first even if you lost the initiative roll. Korgonagoss Special rules: Korgonagoss is an Epic hero, so he takes the place of one hero and one trooper in your team. Korgonagoss may not make ranged combat attacks. Korgonagoss may only be chosen for your team if Heizinger and the Patmos amulet are also chosen. If Heizinger dies or loses the Patmos amulet, Korgonagoss is out of control. If he is out of control, he always activates first, moves towards the closest character (whether friend or foe) and attacks him if possible. If two or more characters are equally close, you decide which character Korgonagoss attacks. Faction: Reich Skills: Athletics, Hand-to-Hand Combat AV: 7/7/7/6/6 SV: 7/7/7/6/6 MeV: 6/6/5/5/4 MoV: 6/6/6/5/5 Special object: Horrible Apparition: Ability. Once per turn, choose one enemy character on your path. That character has to make a Mental test. If he generates less than 3 successes, he is paralyzed with fear and may not activate this turn. This ability may only be used on your activation but does not use your action. Combat pack: Demon Claws: Weapon, Hand-to-Hand. Add one additional die to your attack rolls. When attacking with this weapon, all enemy characters adjacent to you become targets of the attack. Apply the same attack roll to every target. Immunity to pain: Ability. Add one additional die to your shock rolls. Blood thirst: Ability. Add one additional die to your attack rolls. Each Natural 10 you roll on any attack roll causes an automatic wound for each target instead of a normal success. Stamina pack: Demon Claws: See Combat pack Immunity to pain: See Combat pack. Impenetrable skin: Ability. You may reroll any one die from each of your shock rolls. Each Natural 10 you roll on a shock roll cancels two wounds. Command pack: Demon Claws: See Combat pack Immunity to pain: See Combat pack. Celerity: Ability. Add +2 to your current Movement value.

I want to try the Research station board in a tournament of Deathmatch games next. Right now I'm thinking about the teams I'm going to use. The rules for team building are: Although tokens are refreshed between games, neither characters nor equipment packs may be changed. Neither mercenaries nor bonus tokens are allowed. I'll certainly play my favorite Reich team: Hezinger (Combat), Hoss (Command), Zermann (Command), 2 Schocktruppen (Command). The Shogunate team will of course include Iroh, Itami, Mizu and the two troopers because that's all they have, but I'm unsure about the equipment packs. I'm also still not sure who to pick from the Union and Matriarchy characters, although I really want to try Natalya. Anybody has an idea for a team that can possibly take on any faction?

I agree with the comment about the problems and possible advantages of a low Mental Value. I gave the demon a rather high MeV on purpose to avoid interaction with the Patmos Amulet and to give him a good chance to attack someone wearing the Helm of Diomedes or Mask of Samhain. Furthermore, Asteros also has a high MeV and he's in a way comparable. I'll think about the consequences of giving him a 0 MeV. What I'll defintiely do is reducing his Movement Value to tone him down a bit. Tanhks again for your comments. If you have any other suggestions, please keep them coming. I'll try to post improved versions of the characters during the weekend.

Good suggestions, especially when playing a campaign where Yula will return in the next game but the destroyed equipment won't. If you manage to set up that Crown of Cerunnos combo early in the campaign and of course roll well, you could get a big advantage!

You are right, just gun her down. I have played Yula several times and never managed to destroy a weapon with her. She just dies when she comes near the enemy.

There are teams that don't need bonus tokens to be very tough, Hoss / Heizinger / Zermann for example if the right packs are chosen. But there are other power teams you can use to beat them, for example a Matriarchy team including Zor'ka and / or Natalya to just move in and attack them. Or if you are beaten again and again by the same power team, just tell your opponent that you want to play this team in the next game and he has to play against it. I just don't like the solution of banning cool characters and only play the rest. But at least I admit that the main reason for my dislike is the fact that I want to play that cool Hoss / Heizinger / Zermann team and gun down everyone from out-of-path.

Thanks for your comments, MeisterH. I made up the demon rather quickly while using the information provided by Miah. In this text, the demon is described as very fast. His main weaknesses are of course the fact that he goes mad if Heizinger is killed and the fact that you have to play and protect Heizinger if you want to play the demon. Basically you have only one hero left to choose freely. In addition, the demon can't make ranged combat attacks. I thought he wasn't as powerful as Asteros or maybe even Natalya, who can target two enemies with ranged attacks while rolling 6 dice and repair herself. What's your opinion when comparing this demon with the existing epics? By the way, I'm still working on a Zombie master improved with your suggestions. Thanks again!