Monstrous Creatures
In BattleLore, monstrous Creatures are not just a figment of the imagination of frightened peasants. Fortunately, they are just as rare as they are dangerous.
On the battlefield, a Creature is represented by a single figure, and recognizable by its distinctive Banner shape. This single figure is considered a unit, for gameplay purposes, but it is neither a foot unit nor a mounted unit. Instead, Creatures are very special units, that share some common characteristics.
The Creatures banners
Critical Hits
Unlike troop units, Creatures are immune from the wear and tear of normal combat. Instead, they are eliminated only when they receive a Critical Hit.
When a Creature comes under attack, all the Battle Dice rolled against it that would normally have scored a hit are set aside and rerolled. If the Creature’s banner color does not come up on this second roll of dice, the Creature survives the attack; otherwise it dies and is immediately removed from the Battlefield.
In addition to receiving her Victory banner, the player who vanquishes the Creature also collects one Lore token from the common Lore pool.
Out-of-Section ordering
In addition to being more resistant to attacks in combat, Creatures can be ordered at the will of their master…
When playing a Section card, you may issue an order to a Creature that is in a different section from the one designated on the Command card you just played. To do so, you must immediately pay 3 Lore tokens from your reserve back into the common Lore pool, however. The Creature thus ordered still counts as one unit toward the total count of units ordered for the turn. It is simply said to be ordered Out-of-section.
While giving this costly unit added flexibility on the battlefield (remember - a single Creature costs a precious Lore Master level token to bring into play), the careless player will soon find himself running out of Lore tokens however, an unfortunate event given their role in fueling the play of Lore cards!
Morale, Support, Retreats and Trampling
Creatures are not easily routed. They are Bold. However, unlike other Bold units, they must always ignore one flag rolled against them in battle. They may never opt to retreat instead, even when a retreat seems preferable.
Creatures provide support to adjacent friendly units; but they never receive support from them, and they also do not benefit from the customary Morale boost to Bold when occupying a Landmark.
For each retreat flag a Creature ends up being forced to take, it must retreat 2 hexes, unless explicitly stated otherwise on the Creature’s summary card.
The Giant Spider
If it cannot, it risks receiving a Critical Hit, with its attacker rolling 1 die for each hex of retreat ground not covered. Each “hit” is then re-rolled; if the Creature’s banner color now appears, the Creature is killed.
An additional danger to surrounding units is the fact that during its retreat, a Creature whose retreat paths are blocked by units (friends or foes!) will automatically Trample those blocking her retreat, causing them to lose a figure for each hex of retreat ground not covered!
Special Powers and Power-ups
Above and beyond the powerful common Creature traits described above, what truly sets one Creature apart from another is its unique Special Powers.
The Creature’s summary cards list the Creature’s powers, along with their cost requirements for invoking them - a set number of Lore symbols the Creature must roll in Combat to trigger the corresponding power!
… and her Special Powers
Creatures have a unique ability with regard to their Battle dice results: They can opt to temporarily store any Lore rolled in combat, in a mechanism known as a Power-up.
This allows a Creature to for a higher-level Special Power later on, rather than a lesser one immediately, at the risk of getting killed by the enemy before getting a chance to use the Special Power it was saving its results for!
Web and Poison tokens await a Spider’s prey!
For example, the master of a Giant spider can opt to not cast a web on its enemy, in the hope of poisoning it in a later round instead!
Other Languages:
October 16th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Hey can the Giant Spider poison another Monsterous Creature? It seems unclear to me but would also be a good tactic I’m thinking.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
I would think that creatures can invoke their special powers on other creatures.
There is a lot going on with creatures, lots of questions. Looks similar to the Ancient’s Elephants to put it in perspective - it can give support but not be supported; it is bold and ignires the first flag; if it does retreat, it tramples those around it - including friendlies.
It looks that in order to “summon” a creature, you have to sacrfice a Lore Level token (whatever they are exactly called. If your creature dies quickly, you’ll be at a disadvantage the rest of the game being down one net level than your opponent.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
@Grungebob:
I’m going to say no, because the Poison Ability states “If the unit is also hit…” The only way creatures are “hit” are by critical hits, which kill them.
October 16th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
That is a good question.
October 16th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
I was thinking that it would give you a chance to roll for a crit…
October 16th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Wow, creatures look awesome.
but what if the two people playing want the creature? who wins?
October 16th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
How are the lore rolls that the creature has saved up marked?
I guess when the Creature rolls lore, lore tokens are not collected (the Battle Dice summary card shows a Lore symbol roll meaning you can collect Lore OR activate a Lore effect)…?
If a creature’s retreat is blocked by two units, does each of the units blocking the retreat lose figures equal to the retreat hexes not taken, or is the number of figures to be lost divided among the units blocking the retreat?
It doesn’t cost 3 lore to order a Creature if it’s not Out-of-Section, does it?
October 16th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
@ColtsFan amd @GrungeBob:
It is a good question. I would think Web would work against another Creature (since it requires a Lore roll)… the question is whether a normal (non-critical) hit counts as a “hit” against a creature.
Some clarifications, please.
(1) I’m assuming those weapons with Bonus Strike (or that hit on a Lore) also hit on the creature… so if you rolled a Bonus Strike and another Bonus Strike, it would count as a critical hit.
(2) If Creatures are naturally Bold, why would it matter if they can receive support from other units? Why would it matter that they can’t receive a Morale Boost from Landmarks… they are *already* Bold. Does the ability to be Bold stack (so one can ignore mutliple retreat flags)?
(3) If there are multiple units blocking a creature’s retreat path (a unit to the left and to the right), do BOTH lose a figure per hex or just one (making it the owner’s choice)?
Clearly, barricading a creature with units is a BAD idea, since (a) it tramples your units and (b) allows the attacker to get extra die rolls.
(4) Since Lore Rolls give access to the creatures powers AND allow the a side to gain a Lore Token, obviously you want to roll Lore when attacking with a creature. Is the Power-Up a simple matter of placing a Lore Token on the card to remember that you’ve “stored up” Lore for that Creature?
(5) For the Poison ability, does the “all future Lore Rolls count as a Hit” work just for the spider, or for any unit that is attacking the poisoned unit?
October 16th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
shadowTerp -
The way “trample” works in Ancients is that if a retreat is blocked, ALL units involved in the blocking lose 1 figure each per hex that cannot be taken. And that is regardless of the owner of the units. So your own Elephant (in Ancients) could hurt your own units.
IIRC, if the first retreat eliminates a unit (because the last figure was taken), then the retreat path is now clear for any additional hexes that are needed to retreat.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Sounds awesome. Even cooler then I thought they’d be.
Must. Buy. Game.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
You know some other thoughts,
If all creatures are bold, then it doesn’t seem like the different banners do much for them. Unless a “heavy” spider is more bold than a “green” spider.
Though we already figured this out for the “normal” units, the chances of hitting a green creature are the same as hitting a red spider. What are the percentages we are looking at to kill a creature? They seem easier to kill than a full-figure unit. I guess with each die rolled, you have less than a 3% chance to hit and kill it. With a “normal” unit you have a 16.67% chance of hitting it. It’s the multiple dice thing I can’t figure out when it comes to percentages.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
>(1) I’m assuming those weapons with Bonus Strike (or that hit on a Lore) also hit on the creature… so if you rolled a Bonus Strike and another Bonus Strike, it would count as a critical hit.
In the example it says the banner color has to come up at the reroll. That would make sense, otherwise it wouldn’t be too hard to kill the spider.
>(2) If Creatures are naturally Bold, why would it matter if they can receive support from other units? Why would it matter that they can’t receive a Morale Boost from Landmarks… they are *already* Bold. Does the ability to be Bold stack (so one can ignore mutliple retreat flags)?
Maybe some yet-to-be-revealed ability cancel one Bold, potentially leaving you with another.
>It doesn’t cost 3 lore to order a Creature if it’s not Out-of-Section, does it?
I assume not, otherwise you can forget about playing lore cards.
Of course now we want to know more about the Hill Giant and the Elemental. Does it cost more level tokens to get a blue creature instead of a green one?
October 16th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
>With a “normal” unit you have a 16.67% chance of hitting it. It’s the multiple dice thing I can’t figure out when it comes to percentages.
Assuming I was right on that you need the banner color to come up on the reroll, you have:
2.8% (1/36) per die if only banner hits on the first role, and
5.6% (1/18) per die if the bonus strikes hits as well.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
One last thing: creature banners do not match either the Lions banners or the Fleur-de-Lis banners, so you have to remember what creature is yours. That makes it unlikely we will see adventures with many creatures in the future, unless the banner design is changed.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
shadowTerp & al,
Sorry, little time left before the big con in Essen, so just a few quick answers.
1) No, on the re-roll for a Critical Hit you need to obtain the banner’s color. a bonus strike there wouldn’t do.
2) being Bold still matters because the number of flags you can ignore on any given dice roll against you stacks. So if you are naturally bold and in support you may choose to ignore up to two flags.
3) they BOTH lose a fig.
4) Actually, in combat you get a Lore token for each Lore rolled UNLESS that lore is used for something else (a creature’s power, a special effect on a Lore card just played, etc…). In the case of the Power up you do place a Lore token next to the creature (or on its summary card) as a reminder of the power-up in process (but you do not also collect another lore token separately in your goblet).
5) For all units attacking the poisoned unit.
6) the Out-of-section cost ONLY applies when you choose to activate the creature while playing a section card that doesn’t match the section in which your Creature is.
October 16th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
From the podcasts I have heard it sounds like you can have creatures on both sides. It is interesting to note that there is only one banner type. It must be the way the creatures are facing on the board that tells you who belongs to who (maybe?).
I do not know if the spider comes in three types (red, blue, and green). I think the spider is just a green creature. The Hill Giant and Earth Elemental look like blue creatures. I bet a dragon, etc. would be a red creature.
As a side note, in the primer it looks like the missle units only come in the green strength also.
October 16th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Eric, thanks for answering the questions. Bold DOES stack, interesting.
@Niels and @ColtsFan76:
I was kinda surprised that the creatures only have one banner type, as well. I’m guessing that this was done to avoid having to sell extra banners or have people switch the banners back and forth.
Also, I think that is safe to assume that each creature is the same price (one lore master token… which is somewhat expensive). I believe the Spider is green because he lines up tactically with the green units (4 hex movement and only 2 dice of damage). I’m guessing the HG and EE are less mobile and hit harder, to the equivalent of a blue unit.
October 16th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
^
I think you will be able to know who “owns” the creature based on if you have the Creatur Token in your War Council tent and if you have the summary card on your side of the board. Since there so far appears to be only one of each creature, there should be no confusion at the start. Maybe as time goes on, we will see a better way to distinguish between duplicate creatures on the board.
October 16th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Well the question still stands, if both want to have the creature. Who gets it?
October 16th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I imagine it will depend on the Adventure setup.
October 16th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
The above is in reply to CoffeeMan.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
shadowTerp, that is a good obeservation about the green strength spider. I wonder if Eric will post the Hill Giant stats after Essen.
BTW, if anyone is going to Essen and demos the game please give us an after action report.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
Do units with the “Short Sword” that roll a bonus strike against a creature on the first roll get to roll that dice again to go for the critical hit? They do not get to bonus strike against a mounted unit on the first bonus strike roll so I was wondering if this is the same against creatures?
October 17th, 2006 at 12:44 am
shadowTerp
ColtsFan76
amusdiv
Also don’t the green’s have more command cards for chance of being ordered [for movement ] in C&C Ancients?
So all goes along there.. that ‘lighter’ creatures- get more movement for being a green fig, more chances to move & lighter hitting power.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:47 am
Simple - buy two copies of the game, that way you both may have the creature - double the fun having just one game!
October 17th, 2006 at 2:48 am
^^ I would but the Nintendo Wii is coming out next month too, so my funds are kind of divided
October 17th, 2006 at 3:17 am
Grungebob
“Hey can the Giant Spider poison another Monsterous Creature? It seems unclear to me but would also be a good tactic I’m thinking.”
I think (?) it would go like-
(and for brevity lets say my spider has 1 token already= I’m ‘powered up’ ) 1/2 ‘powered up’ anyway.
I charge the [blue] giant. I roll a blue banner & a lore.
I take my token. I also roll for a critical hit off the blue banner, i miss.
{ i guess they are adding some high odds to get the spider to full ‘powered up’ ,,saying there has to be a hit w/ the 2nd lore dice ??? }
But….
Next round ( if i haven’t been smooshed ) I roll my 2 dice-
say a [whatever] & a lore are rolled,=one dead giant.
Or I roll a red banner & a blue [or bonus]-
Well @ least I get to roll for a critical.
Or say I roll a red & green that round - (my green level 2 dice odds are showing)
Don’t think my spider will last too much longer.
Maybe back after I got fully ‘powered up’ , I should of got away from the giant. And had a living ‘powered up’ spider.
@ least on his 2 die, Spiddy now hits on ‘color’ banner/retreatflag/bonus/lore= 4 out of 6 sides!
Maybe I should of got the spider ‘powered up’ fighting some weak green unit(s) -Then go take on a giant.
Maybe attacked some weaked units and [hopefully] got my lore rolls/tokens and then be ‘power-up’ and take on -whatever.
Of course this is just an example of of the million ways it could play…..
( (And,, if I’m even close to correct on power-up))
That “if the unit is also hit” line throws me.
Just thinking out loud..
October 17th, 2006 at 3:41 am
“if that unit is also hit”: Think of the Spider’s power-up as her loading up her poison, then spitting it out on her next hit.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:57 am
Here’s how I read it IF poison works against monsters:
Spider fully powered up trucks up to blue giant and rolls 2 dice to attack. He gets a blue banner and a nothing else. I roll one dice for crit and let’s say it did not cause a crit….
I can now place a poison marker on the Giant and remove the 2 stored lore?
If so, then the next time a unit of mine attacks the giant any lore results will count as a hit and be eligeable for a crit roll… Correct?
October 17th, 2006 at 4:06 am
Remember the important words Eric just reminded us of:
“IF THE UNIT IS ALSO HIT”
So, you need 2 lore stored up AND you need to hit the unit in question. These 2 lore can come at the same time as the hit too (although not in this case, unless you use some power that lets the spider roll an extra die)
Example:
The spider has 1 lore stored up already. He attacks the Hill giant. You roll 1 Lore and 1 Blue. You collect the extra lore, and the poison ability is now powered up. You now reroll the blue die.
If it’s another blue, you poison the target.
If you don’t, you’ve still charged up that poison, and next hit it will (or maybe can, not clear) go off.
Of course, this is mostly irrelevent since it only takes 1 hit to kill the giant. It just need sto be a critical hit.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:04 am
Shryke> so according to your interpretation Monsterous creatures cannot be poisoned?
October 17th, 2006 at 5:18 am
So it would appear.
To poison a target, you have to hit it. And Creatures only take 1 hit before they die. Can’t poison a dead unit, so …
October 17th, 2006 at 5:19 am
The other question is, if you web a creature, does it take hits on retreat flags?
October 17th, 2006 at 5:25 am
You total up all of your hits and this is the amount of dice you get to roll to try and get a crit. That’s the way I read it. So if you’re attacking a poisoned Blue Giant Monster and you roll a blue banner and a lore, you cause 2 hits (or chances to crit) You then roll 2 dice and hope to get at least one blue banner. Monsters simply shrug off regular hits.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:44 am
Hmmm. Since it looks like many of the banners can be removed from their bases and replaced with others, I wonder what the chances are we might see blue and red spiders? There don’t appear to be any pictures of anything but the green spider in the manual, though when packed away, it looks like the spider doesn’t have a banner attached.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
ok…..
…..what is the release date of the first dragon?
AND WHY ARE YOU GOING TO PUBLISH THIS 30 OF NOVEMBER???
WHY!!?? (when you said late november i had hopes for something like 20….)
October 17th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
If a unit is poisoned and the spider rolls a Lore to hit it, does the hit count as using the Lore, or does the spider get to use Web/Power Up?
October 17th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
It looks to me there is only one color for each creature. If you look at the promo figures on the website, it has three cards with each one. I think you have one card for stats, one for special abilities and one for location associated with the creature.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Monster-Banner-Color (translation from the french blog) If I read well, a green spider will have 2 dices to attack, a blue 3 and a red one 4. to have a green Monster in your army you pay 1 Lore master Level Token, blue is 2 LMLT and red is 3LMLT. So it seems you will have Monsters in all the three colors - if you think, they are worth the price.
Well if you can strike first - a red monster may be a good choice, but they have not more defensive power and a lucky strike killing your big babe in the first round of a battle wil be very very hard to come over…
Question: What about ranged attack on monsters? Do they deal the same way than close assaults?
October 17th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Shryke / Grungebob / all
I may still be off in some ways ,, But….
On the back side of the spider card (you didnt see) it says : Posion =
“All future {lore symbol on dice} rolled score a hit, killing 1 figure each ”
So I take it were talking about two different ways a spider can hit. He’s got his regular stats, 2 att. for a greeny, like any other unit. However creature have Special Powers” available.
[After the turn(s) he collects/rolls lore,he can use his power-ups]
So… I take it you better get your lore rolls/tokens collected fighting some weaker green units. Then!! you got one bad green spider unit! With one or two extra attacks modes to use
… If he isnt wasted first.
The more fights your in, the more chance you’ll roll/collect a lore and more chance you’ll also lose the spider! Will be some gambling fun!
I would think one way to collect might be to pick on green units. He does have ‘Bold’/retreat, bonus strike & his defence of having to be critically hit over his opponents green units.
If he get 2 lore for the ”posion’ he can fight Reds & blues with better chance of hits on them.
But if he collects Just the “web” attack, that sounds good. You buddy him with another unit. They attack an opponents unit. The spider attacks first. Hopefully rolls a lore so he can ‘web’ them [maybe a hit roll too]
He webs them, they cant ‘battleback’. And your other unit spanks them too with impunity …….. “Jolly Good Fun” !!
And if your opponent dosent have a command card to place a order or a lore token to release them ,, you can do it again, next turn !!! [ if U got a command card to order them a 2nd turn ]
October 18th, 2006 at 9:23 am
This question isn’t about Monstrous Creatures but about individual heroes. It seems any epic fantasy game at some point needs to also have individual, legendary heroes. Tolkien, after all, had Aragorn and Gandalf, Legolas and Frodo, and legendary quests that weren’t simply battles. And what about magical weapons and the like? Can we look forward to them? If so, it would seem that a “Legendary Hero” would be similar to a Monstrous Creature, a single bannered, very powerful figure.
Any thoughts or comments?
October 18th, 2006 at 10:39 am
well for now we talk about the base game
i suppose (hope) that what you suggest will follow in the expansions
October 18th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
@Starshamman
I mentioned this very thing on BattleloreMasters.com. After pondering it I’m almost certain they will do something along the lines of what you’re talking about. I am a BattleCry fan and that game put the leaders out on the board augmenting troops and providing leadership.
October 18th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
If you recruit a creature to be on your side, how do you determine which hex on the board it is to start on?
I have not seen any information on the terrain tiles yet. Will there be a benefit to being on a tile such as forrest where, for example, the attacker rolls 1 less die if a unit is on the forrest tile?
October 19th, 2006 at 12:10 am
I was thinking about the implications and reasons for having the Creature’s having their own unique banners style. As was mentioned, with one spider, it would be easy enough to remember who controled the spider. But then it occurred to me that it also facilitates the Creature changing sides — perhaps one of the lore masters has the ability to “turn” the loyalty of Creatures. I would guess it would have to be a fairly costly ability as you are not only denying your opponent a Lore Master level, but effectively gaining one yourself as well. But, such reversals of fortune are the stuff of Heroic Fantasy.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:54 am
Jason….
creatures/terrain tiles
The (adventures) sceneros will show you which hex.
Check out the BattleLore pamplet for pics of hexes.
starshaman/Grungebo
legendary heroes—
I hope they do too.
As cero said it one of those ‘in the future’ things next year.
I cant find the Eric quote ,but I believe thats all he said anyway.
And there is the “guest” spot on the War Council sheet ?
October 21st, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I personally think that if two people want the same creature the person who put the most law level tokens or whatever there called on the monterous creature thing gets it. If you both put the same amount on you will have to reach an agreement.
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:27 pm
I think it would be awesome if we got actual figs to represent each war council member and that these figs could join the fray providing a physical presence on the battlefield. Of course they would need heavy protection, especially the commander since I would think it natural that the enemy would get an aoto win if your commander was killed. Come to think of it wouldn’t it be great if we had a tile for the command tent on the hexboard.
October 24th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Can magic be used against creatures? The reason I ask is because it would be easy to kill a creature if you use the “fireball” card that the wizard has. That card states “any lore rolled kills the entire unit”. If you can use magic against a creature then this would mean that there is no second roll for a critical hit since the card states the unit is killed if lore is rolled.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
I’m guessing that magic can indeed be used against creatures. I don’t believe this is unbalancing as, if you look at the “fireball” card, it is rather expensive to cast.
October 24th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
True, because you could also use the fireball to take out a heavy infantry or cavalry group.
October 24th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
And it could be ‘counter-spelled’…