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Dice rolls have their pros and cons - obviously the random element makes for some exciting moves, but it can also detract from the strategy.

Another game that I've played a few times had an interesting take on this problem... they eliminated dice for cards. Malifaux is the game; if you're familiar, the way the game works (basically) is that instead of rolling dice you have a deck of cards (everyone has their own deck).  You draw a hand of cards, and each card has a number on it. This number substitutes for a dice roll - you can therefore manage the results of your dice by playing certain cards at different times.

In this game, you would probably draw a hand of say, 5 cards (or 7) and draw to replace each time you play a card. This system has some interesting effects:

1 - it allows you to prepare good 'rolls' for when they really need to count
2 - the more dice you roll in one turn, the more randomness that you incur.

Hardly expect this system to replace dice here, but what do people think of the idea?

Kast.

Since playing the last few days I've found a new combination that I really like. Under the current system, I find the selection of Fighter Mage, Warrior and Soul Reaver to be very effective. I've posted this thread to find out what other people use and why... I'll go first!

I like this group for a number of reasons.  Primarily though, these units all synergise really well with each other.  Firstly, both the Warrior and the Reaver benefit disproportionately from Augmentation spells for which the Fighter Mage has an affinity.

These units benefit more than others for each type of bonus.  For strength, these units can both attack twice per turn, thereby receiving a double benefit.  For HP, units with high defense will gain more out of health bonuses than would lower defense units.  Additionally, the Soul Reaver benefits greatly from extra defense - defense increases her offense.

Aside from that angle, the synergy between the Warrior and the Reaver is hard to overstate.  The Warrior can turn the Reaver into a very very dangerous unit with the protect ability. In general, I use the Reaver as my main attacker while I search for Augmentation spells to boost the warrior.

Also worth noting is how well the Reaver's taunt can overcome opponents. This is especially true of Warriors, who effectively lose one attack per round if taunted.

The biggest weaknesses of this setup are the Rogue and the Psionist.  Both of these units can mitigate some of the biggest strengths, especially if the Rogue is supported by a Bard. The Rogue can be taunted, but cannot be counterattacked and the Psionist can negate both high defense and melee if you can feed her cards.

Anyone else? What combinations of guardians do you use? Why?

Kast.

I've seen people suggest Assassination mode a few times, but I was thinking about other types that'd be fun.

One in particular would be a FFA mode requiring 3 or more players.  Essentially each player is assigned a target - whoever's target dies first wins.  The idea is that everyone would have one single kill to snatch victory, but it is in everyone else's interest to ensure they can't quite get there... but don't hurt someone too hard, because you might weaken them too much!

Thoughts?

Kast.

Hey all,

I've finally moved up to a better than even win/loss record, so I thought I'd jump on and post a few ideas and comments I had so far.

First up, for the most part, for such a simple idea there's a lot of tactical depth.  It is well balanced and fun to play.  The game plays well as both duels and multiplayer games.

There are a few things I'd like to add, and I'd like to see the endgame sped up - the game can grind to a virtual crawl when it comes down to an FM versus a Psion or something, despite the fact that the FM will eventually win.

I'd like to see a couple things, firstly, an Assassination mode, whereby the game ends upon the death of your heromage (like Privateer Press' Warmachine).   I can imagine that this would make for really exciting games and all or nothing pushes.

The other thing, for normal games, would be to stop card draw after your hero dies.  That would speed the end game up considerably, as you couldn't spam your guardian abilities - most importantly the Psion's Mind Control which slows things up a great deal.

Other things I'd like to see...

Private Messaging - a /tell or /whisper command to send messages to other players ingame.

Clans - not really important at the moment, but given that you have team play modes, it might be good to see down the track.  Clan ownership could be another feature for sale too. Each clan could have a logo, a guild chat channel and perhaps a forum?

Forums - why not build the forum into the client? There's space in that bar there; it'd encourage more postings, I'm sure.

Different Terrain - I'd love to see some different terrain features.  I had a couple ideas about that.

1 - Terrain that can be seen over, but not walked through.
2 - Terrain that can be both seen over and walked through, but deals damage to your units if they pass over it.
3 - Terrain that can be both seen and walked over, but you cannot end your turn on it.
4 - Terrain that phases in between walls and empty space randomly (or each turn); cannot end turn on it.
5 - Terrain (like smoke?) that cannot be seen through, but can be moved through.

Grid coordinates - we have a grid that the game uses.  There's no reason why those numbers shouldn't be visible on the margins - it makes it easier to coordinate teams "move rogue to 11, 1".

More clear teams, and staggered turns.  Teams should play one player at a time and should share a team colour between all players on the one team.

Other new units - I'm sure they're coming, but I had some ideas. Could be guardians, or expanded to heromages.

Ninja - a unit with 'stealth'.  I read somewhere on here that the goal is to have mechanics that might translate to a board game.  Here's my idea.  When you activate the ability, you place two tokens on the board, both representing the ninja.  One is real, one is false - only the player knows which is real.  You treat the Ninja tokens as normal - they block spaces and can be attacked - only the real one can attack.  If you attack a ninja, if it is not real, it is revealed.  If it is real, remove the fake and roll for damage as normal.

If you expand him to a heromage, he could also have a smokebomb ability - create a space of Smoke terrain (explained above).  If not, smokebombs could go on the ninja and stealth could go on something else (or however it best fits).

Pikeman - pretty much a standard fighter, but he'd have 2 spaces of range instead of the normal one.  He'd also have a skewer attack that'd let him strike two guys if they lined up.

Trapper - A unit that lays traps.  Here's how it might work - it takes zero cards to use, and places a single trap in a surrounding space.  There would be a limit to the number of traps you could place - probably three. Additional traps simply cannot be used rather than destroying existing ones (preventing you from just placing traps every turn - you'd need to think about placement). A trap would deal 1 die of damage, immobilise the victim and give -3 defense.

In a boardgame, it would work the same way, but you'd simply make note of the coordinates of the trap(s) (because coords should be visible). Not perfect, I'll agree, but I think it'd be very cool to implement.

Cleric - I was thinking a heromage which focused on healing abilities.  He'd have an innate ability that reduced the cost of recovery spells by 1.  His valor abilities would focus upon healing, bless-like abilities, etc.  Lv 15 would be revive.

Acrobat - a guardian.  He'd be melee and his main ability would be that he moves through units like the Air Elemental currently does.  I was thinking that he'd also be immune to Immobilise and Stun effects.  High defense, low hp.

Assassin - another unit that could be a good candidate for stealth.  My thinking would be only 1 die of damage, but Poison effect is applied on a successful hit.  A poisoned unit would take 1 die of damage every turn until healed and suffer a -def debuff.

"Null" - a guardian unit that would prevent heromages casting spells within 3 spaces (friendlies too).

Anyway, that was just some ideas.  I'm sure many of them have already been suggested, but I thought I'd post up a list anyway.  No doubt there's a couple things I've missed, but hopefully that captures most of them.

Cheers,

Kastenessen.