Wyndar called the desert home and was a home for a number of Mage Knight figures that we were customizing for Heroscape play. We were including figures like pirates, assassins, and various other sorts of creatures.
On Labor Day this year, I had some friends over to play an arena game. The arena I build was called the Athasien Arena. It's an arena that belongs to Wyndar. Here's what the board looked like:
The arena board concept originally came from a post on the original Heroscape website operated by Hasbro (which has since been taken down, of course). It was called "Taelord's Coliseum" though I modified it somewhat, of course. It's a good basic scenario that doesn't take that long to play when you need a nice solid game that doesn't last too long.
We had a great game and a great afternoon of fun, fellowship, and combat in the arena.
Here was the setup for the game and the special rules of play:
The Valkyrie Wyndar, Scourge of the Wastelands, Lord of
Jutangaard, Master of the Noatun, and Archkyrie of Elswin, is a cruel and
insatiable general. Wyndar has an
unquenchable thirst for blood, sweat, and tears, and he encourages his subjects
and his armies to savor the same.
Wyndar has ordered his armies to wound and capture enemy combatants when they can, and to return these prisoners across the desert to the Athasien Arena. There, their wounds will be treated and they will be prepared by the trainers to be gladiators…to fight and suffer…to kill and be killed on the sands of the arena. Occasionally, Wyndar will even compel one of his own soldiers to fight in the arena, ether to punish him or to punish the others who are placed in the arena with him.
A fight in the Athasien Arena is a tiresome and bloody ordeal. Beasts are released into the arena with the gladiators to add an element of unpredictability , and the crowds which gather to watch the games reflect their master’s unquenchable thirst for bloody combat. If a gladiator displeases the crowd they will turn on him, possibly even attacking him from the stands, and if the crowd feels that a gladiator has become too badly wounded to be entertaining, they may decide to execute him immediately.
The game begins with eighteen heroes and ends when only six remain. Wyndar keeps the gladiators fighting by promising them freedom if they perform well in the arena…and if they survive it. The better you are at killing, the sooner you can earn your freedom from the Athasien Arena. There are ways for gladiators to gain advantages in the games, however, provided you can provide enough incentive for others to help you, and even the favor of raucous crowd can be swayed…for the right price.
The Athasien Arena is a hostile and suffocating place. Death in the arena will bring release from captivity and the games, but it is an excruciatingly painful path.
In the Athasien Arena, it is never a good day to die.
Special Rules of Play:
Wyndar has ordered his armies to wound and capture enemy combatants when they can, and to return these prisoners across the desert to the Athasien Arena. There, their wounds will be treated and they will be prepared by the trainers to be gladiators…to fight and suffer…to kill and be killed on the sands of the arena. Occasionally, Wyndar will even compel one of his own soldiers to fight in the arena, ether to punish him or to punish the others who are placed in the arena with him.
A fight in the Athasien Arena is a tiresome and bloody ordeal. Beasts are released into the arena with the gladiators to add an element of unpredictability , and the crowds which gather to watch the games reflect their master’s unquenchable thirst for bloody combat. If a gladiator displeases the crowd they will turn on him, possibly even attacking him from the stands, and if the crowd feels that a gladiator has become too badly wounded to be entertaining, they may decide to execute him immediately.
The game begins with eighteen heroes and ends when only six remain. Wyndar keeps the gladiators fighting by promising them freedom if they perform well in the arena…and if they survive it. The better you are at killing, the sooner you can earn your freedom from the Athasien Arena. There are ways for gladiators to gain advantages in the games, however, provided you can provide enough incentive for others to help you, and even the favor of raucous crowd can be swayed…for the right price.
The Athasien Arena is a hostile and suffocating place. Death in the arena will bring release from captivity and the games, but it is an excruciatingly painful path.
In the Athasien Arena, it is never a good day to die.
Special Rules of Play:
Piles of Corpses.
When a figure is destroyed, replace it with a hexagonal Corpse
Marker. Spaces with a Corpse Marker on
them add one level of elevation for each Corpse Marker on it.
Wyndar’s Ruling.
If a hero figure receives wounds and has only one life remaining, the
crowd will vote to see if that hero may continue in the game. The host rolls 10 Wyndar Valkyrie Dice. If you roll four or less skulls, the figure
remains on the board. If five or more
skulls are rolled, the hero is destroyed.
If three or more Wyndar symbols are rolled, the figure remains no matter
how many skulls are rolled.
Crowd Attack.
When a player moves his or her figure moves into the Crowd area, he or
she must immediately roll a 20-sided. If
the player rolls a 15 or higher, the crowd does nothing. If the player rolls a 1-14, the host attacks
that figure with a nearby Squad. When a
player moves a figure already in the Crowd area, if the figure ends its move in
the Crowd area, that player must also roll the 20-sided die for Crowd
Attack. The player who successfully
bribes the Crowd is never attacked by the Crowd (see below).
Crowd Approval Rating.
At the end of each round, each player except the player who successfully
bribed the Crowd (see below) must
roll the 20-sided die. The player who
rolls the lowest will receive sniper shots.
Sniper shots are taken one at a time for each of that player’s
heroes. The host rolls the 20-sided die. If he or she rolls a 19 or higher, that hero
is destroyed.
Releasing the Animals.
At the end of the first round, after sniping shots have been taken, a
squad of animals is released into the arena.
Control of squad of animals is determined by Player Bribes (see below). When a player takes control of a squad of
animals, he or she may immediately take a turn with them. At the end of the second round, after sniping
shots have been taken, and the first squad of animals released has taken a turn
(if possible), another squad of animals is released. A third squad of animals is released after
the third round in the same manner (first squad, second squad,
then third squad). After the
fourth round, continue taken turns with the squads of animals in the
appropriate order (if possible). Order
Markers can never be placed on the animal’s Army Card, but they can defend
themselves if attacked.
Player Bribes. Before drafting begins, each player
fills out a “Gold Distribution Sheet.”
Players may distribute 100 gold pieces in any amounts to any and all of
the following individuals or group:
- Gladiator Trainer
- High Priest of Dagmar
- Crowd
- Animal Trainer
Players may not distribute more than
100 gold pieces in total. Here's a copy of the sheet I gave out:
When all players have returned their
distribution sheets to the host, the host will declare which player has
successfully earned the favor of each individual or group. (The player who successfully
earns the favor of an individual or group is the player who offers them the
most gold.)
The Gladiator Trainer.
The player who successfully earns the favor of the Gladiator Trainer begins
the draft. Other players draft in
descending order the bribe amount offered.
Each player must draft three heroes according to the following maximum
point schedule:
- 400 points: to the player who successfully bribes the Gladiator Trainer.
- 380 points: to the player with the second highest bribe.
- 360 points: to the player with the third highest bribe.
- 340 points: to the player with the fourth highest bribe.
- 320 points: to the player with the fifth highest bribe.
- 300 points: to the player with the lowest bribe.
The High Priest of Dagmar. The player who successfully earns the favor of the High Priest of Dagmar adds 10 to his or her initiative roll. All other players add 1 to their initiative roll for each 10 pieces of gold they offered to the High Priest.
Throwing Money to the Crowd.
The player who successfully earns the favor of the Crowd is never attacked
by the crowd and is never sniped. All
other players add 1 to their Crowd rolls (Crowd
Approval Rating and Crowd Attack) for each 10 pieces of gold they offered
to the Crowd.
The Animal Trainer.
The player who successfully earns the favor of the animal trainer will
receive control of the squad of animals released into the arena after the first
round. The player who offers the second
highest amount of gold to the Animal Trainer will receive control of the squad
released after the second round. The
player who offered the third highest amount of gold will receive control of the
squad released after the third round.
Game’s End: The game ends immediately when there are only six remaining
heroes.
Winning the Game: The player who has the most points and has at least one hero
remaining at the end of the game wins the game.
Points: Points are earned in the following
manner:
- Each player receives points equal to the point value of each hero he or she destroys during the game, including heroes destroyed by animals that player controlled. (For figures destroyed by Wyndar’s Ruling, the player whose attack activated Wyndar’s Ruling receives the points for that hero. No player receives points for heroes destroyed by the Crowd.)
- Each player receives points equal to the point value of each hero he or she has remaining at the end of the game.
- Each player receives 100 points for each hero he or she has remaining at the end of the game.
Before the game began, I left the players with the follow blessing I attributed to Anna Karithon: “May
your steps ever fall beyond the watch of Wyndar.”
As I said, it was a great afternoon,and a great game. Next up for us is our fifth annual Halloween Heroscape event, a continuation of the story we began two years ago in the search for the Deathly Hallows at Grim's Hollow.
Until then, happy Heroscaping...
