Burning Ballista, Swooping Dragon
Dungeons & Dragons Attack Wing Tools and Info
WizKids has announced Bahamut, the King of the Good Dragons, as an available figure for Dungeons and Dragons: Attack Wing. Here he is:
He’s huge, with a 6″ by 6″ base. Even moving one forward means advancing 7.5 inches across the map!
He should be available in April 2015.
Will you be picking him up?
Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers!
We had a chance to show the game to our nephews on Thanksgiving and they loved it.
Balagos and Galaderos faced off against Jarl Horn and Eshaedra. Jarl Horn and Galaderos both took Upgrades that increased their armor to 2, which meant that all four Creatures had 2 armor.
Our nephews rolled quite well, but with 2 armor on everyone and some poor maneuvering choices, it was hard for them to get any damage through.
Eshaedra was the MVP of the game, getting 3 hits and 1 critical hit with her Lightning Breath on the previously uninjured Balagos. The critical effect was Stunned (prevents a Creature from attacking) leaving Balagos unable to retaliate that turn or the next!
The kids had a great time playing it and we had a great time showing them the game.
They liked it so much, we’ll be mentioning it to Santa.
(How can you go wrong with a shameless MC Hammer reference to start a post?)
In Dungeons and Dragons: Attack Wing, bumping is different than in either the Star Wars: X-Wing or Star Trek: Attack Wing games.
In DNDAW, bumps do not cause you to lose actions (bolded because it is really important to remember) and, if the Creature that is currently moving is a flying Creature and the Creature they overlap (bump into) is a ground Creature, the flying Creature can choose to continue flying forward over the ground Creature.
This is explained on page 27 of the Starter Set Rulebook but, based on questions I saw over the weekend, some people are still a little confused about how it works.
So here goes:
If your movement ends with your base overlapping the base of another Creature, what happens depends on what kind of Creature you are and what kind of Creature you overlap.
I have seen a dragon fly over an entire Troop and the frost giant behind them, moving across almost half the play area.
Once you’ve chosen to have your flying Creature fly over the ground (or grounded) Creature, you have committed to that movement. It is easy to eliminate your own Creature if you are not careful.
If your flying Creature was executing a wingover/roundable/u-turn maneuver when they bump a ground Creature, they still get to complete it (to turn around) regardless of if they stop in front of the ground Creature or fly over it.
Just to be clear, when you’re using a straight maneuver to fly over a ground creature you overlapped, you move just far enough to clear the overlapped creature. You would not grab the Straight 6 and go zooming off!
You can use this to sneakily move your Flying Creatures across the map by having them fly over your own landed/grounded Creatures!
Troops have special rules for if the point man fits but other soldiers do not fit. See the “Pressed Soldiers section on page 31 in the rulebook for more on this. The very short version is that it is bad to have pressed soldiers in a Troop.
Overrun Checks will be the subject of a future post and should not be mistaken for bumping. See page 26 of the rulebook for the Overrun Check rules.
TL:DR version: Flying Creatures can fly over/past ground or landed Creatures, continuing forward using a Straight template until they either A) no longer overlap another creature’s base, B) bump into a Flying Creature, or C) are eliminated from leaving the play area.
See you in the skies!
The first Organized Play events for Dungeons and Dragons: Attack Wing happened this weekend. Did you get a chance to play?
First, let’s talk about the Participation Prizes:
These are two versions of the same card. Here is the text from the Scales of Tiamat:
When you are defending, you may discard this Upgrade at the start of the Roll Defense Dice step of Combat to roll a number of extra defense dice equal to the number of Artifacts of Tiamat remaining in your Legion, including this one.
Cannot be equipped by a Good Creature.
Cost: Number of Artifacts of Tiamat in your Legion at the start of the game.
The Bahamut version of the card cannot be equipped by an Evil Creature.
The costs is equal to the amount of these artifacts in your Legion. So a single Artifact of Tiamat/Bahamut only costs 1 Legion Point, two cost 2 Legion Points each, and 5 would cost 5 Legion Points each, for a total of 25 Legion Points. Since these Artifacts are unique, it is safe to assume there will be more Artifacts of Tiamat/Bahamut.
These come with reference cards for the Adornments of TIamat and the Regalia of Bahamut. Here is the text from the Adornments if Tiamat card:
Again, the Bahamut version replaces the word “Tiamat” with “Bahamut.”
Since each Artifact of Tiamat/Bahamut must be equipped by a different Creature, this means that you will need 5 Creatures in order to equip 5 of these artifacts. These cards also introduce the “Universal Upgrade” for the first time.
Now let’s talk about the prize (which is why you came here, right?):
The unique Ancient White Dragon, Arveiaturace, clocks in at 48 Legion Points, with only Lord Maximillian higher (at 50). Her unique ability is to equip Close Quarters for free, plus she gets a +1 attack die with her Claw attacks.
Her Upgrades are:
Cold Breath – a range 3 cone
Frozen – after damaging a Creature with Cold Breath, you can prevent it from choosing a maneuver greater than “1 – I recommend singing “Let It Go” when you activate this
Tail Sweep – allows ancient dragons to turn their tail attack into an area attack
Wingstorm – allows a dragon with a large base to attack everyone within Range 1 at the cost of becoming exhausted
Primal Hunter – lets you convert an enemy’s dodge result into a blank result
Feeblemind – the only non-Dragon Upgrade, Feeblemind is a level 9 Arcane spell that prevents a Creature from activating any Spell Upgrades.
We have also added a Glossary of terms that are on reference cards, including the new Adornments of Tiamat and Regalia of Bahamut, as well as reference cards like Lord Maximilian’s Incorporeal.
More terms will be added as they are revealed.
View the Official Announcement:
Don’t forget to check for all your dice bonuses and penalties. Your opponent might not be nice enough to remind you that you forgot to roll a die you were eligible to roll.
For example, let’s say you are using Balagos, you’ve taken a few damage, and you’re attacking an undamaged enemy creature.
Did you charge? +1 attack die.
Did you opponent pivot? +1 attack die.
Balagos has taken more damage than his target? +1 attack die.
So, if you charged, and your opponent pivoted, and Balagos has taken more damage, he gets to roll 8 attack dice!
Did you cast Haste this turn? -1 attack die.
If Balagos used Haste instead of Charge, he gets to choose if he wants to make a single 5 die attack, or two 4 dice attacks.
If his opponent has pivoted, add +1 attack die to each of those attacks. If he’s taken more damage than his target, add another +1 attack die. Now Balagos can decide to make a single 7 die attack or two 5 dice attacks.
Note, however, if you damage the opponent on the first attack so that Balagos no longer has more damage cards, you would not get the +1 attack die on the second roll.
How about equipping Haste and Close Quarters? This means that Balagos bites for 4 dice, then get two Claw attacks at 3 dice (base of 5 -2 attack dice), then another Bite for 4 dice followed by two more Claw attacks at 3 dice.
Again, all of those attacks would be increased if your opponent had pivoted or if Balagos had taken more damage than his target.
If Balagos teams up with someone with Leadership, he could cast Haste on himself, and then use Charge as a free action when Leadership is used on him, giving him yet another +1 attack die on those six attacks.
While Close Quarters requires you to make the additional attacks against the same creature, Haste does not! This means you can Bite-Claw-Claw one creature, and assuming you’re in range, Bite-Claw-Claw a second creature.
Balagos tells me this is his favorite combination of upgrades, as it makes it easier to eat troops!
The game is out!
Sorry we have not posted anything recently, the game came out and, well, we got distracted for a bit!
So much AWESOME!
So, what did you all pick up?
We got one of everything. There was only one serious issue, the Dwarven Ballista’s level/release was broken off and loose in the package. I’ll contact WizKids and see about getting a replacement part, which you can also do by visiting:
http://wizkidsreplacementsystem.com/
There were also some minor issues, like Balagos’ wings, so I’ll be using the information Teri Litorco shared in her Dungeons & Dragons Attack Wing – Model Makeovers Video to help Balagos spread his wings a bit!
My favorite sculpt, at least so far, is the Frost Giant. He just looks amazing:
What’s your favorite sculpt?
That Teri Girl (https://www.youtube.com/user/thatterigirl) has put up a handful of un-boxing videos for the remainder of Wave 1:
Hobgoblin Troops:
Wraith:
Teri has a great channel and if you like Dungeons and Dragons Attack Wing, you’ll likely love many of the other videos she posts (including other unboxing videos, painting tips, and more)!
See you in the skies!
That Teri Girl (https://www.youtube.com/user/thatterigirl) has put up a handful of un-boxing videos for Wave 1:
See you in the skies!
Now that the game has finally landed in stores, let’s talk about landing in the game!
“I’m a dragon! The sky is my domain! Why would I ever land?”
That’s a valid point, oh great and wise dragon, but there are a few cases where you might want to land.
The most obvious use of landing is when, after you’ve moved, you realize you are getting closer to the edge than you like. You can elect to land, which means you’ll be able to pivot on the following turn, and you’ll be able to avoid an embarrassing death.
Pivoting is fairly powerful, especially if the creature pivoting is a higher level, as it lets you choose your facing after lower level creatures have moved.
However, it also prevents you from taking an action that turn and makes you easier to hit, so if your opponent(s) are paying attention, they can position themselves to they’ll be able to take advantage of the bonus attack die they get against you.
For example, if I know your only real choice is to pivot on this turn, I might decide it’s the right time to use my Haste upgrade, because Haste’s -1 attack die will be cancelled out by the +1 I gain because you pivoted, allowing me two attacks at full value.
Alternatively, if I have a Frost Giant out, I could use the Poison Blade or Frost Battle Axe to gain a +1 attack die in addition to the +1 attack die I will get for attacking a creature that just pivoted, for a total roll of 6 attack dice.
So while pivoting might be a great move, as it allows you to choose your facing, it can hurt if your opponent can maneuver two or three creatures into attack range.
Your opponent has positioned Balagos so that both of your dragons are going to be in range of his Fire Breath, letting him roll a five die attack, that penetrates armor, against each of your dragons (six if you’ve wounded Balagos!).
If you land one of your dragons, you will force your opponent to have to choose which of your dragons to hit, as most area affect upgrades are either ground or air, but not both. By landing, you immediately cause Balagos to lose five (or six) attack dice (he can only attack one of you, not both), and you force the opponent to have to decide which of your dragons to attack.
You’ll want to try to make sure the dragon you’re landing will still get an attack. If Balagos is flying and your dragon has landed, you won’t be able to attack Balagos with a melee attack.
If your opponents attackers do not have any ready ranged attacks, landing may prevent them from attacking you at all! They may have forgotten to swoop and might not be able to reach you if you land.
Don’t forget to switch to the ground maneuver dial!
See you in the skies!
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