An turn based combat adventure RPG with a unique combat system with no dice rolling ⚔️.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Update #44 - Hero Deep Dive & Rulebook v2
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 12:40:49 AM
Hello all.
Welcome back to another update. In this update we will take a deep-dive into our final hero, the Assassin. Before we jump into the Assassin's kit and spell mastery, we've got a quick update on the game for you below.
If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find them all here.
We've made many small little updates to the game since our last update, to mention just a few, we've updated all the reference sheets with all of the new icons and fonts. We've made a few last minute balance changes to a few heroes, most notably the Runesmith, Alchemist and Dragon Knight to ensure kits are equal across all game modes. We've changed the action card icon on the exploration cards and we'll leave it there, as we've made lots of these little changes to improve the game. See the new icon below for action cards.
Now we've finished the second draft of the rulebook, we're moving onto the solo mode rulebook, which is only a few pages long and will be complete for the next update. Over the next few weeks we will be finalising all game components, getting them ready for print, sending documents off to be proof-read etc. Once this is complete and the files are with the manufacturer in China, we will begin prepping files for our Print & Play backers. The manufacturers have informed us that they are working fast through their backlog (Shanghai COVID which locked the city down for 3 months) and that we shouldn't see much delay with our project.
Rulebook Progress
We've finished our second draft of the 32 page rulebook. We'll work on cleaning it up over the next few weeks and adding in a components page on page 1. If you would like to cast your eyes across the rulebook and give us feedback you are welcome to. Please send feedback to [email protected]. Please use this email address if you would like to request a .DOC version of the rulebook for editing purposes. For those of you that are too busy to read the rulebook, please see some screenshots below. Link here to download the rulebook : HOTSRulebook_FinalDraft_v2.pdf. We kindly ask you not to share the rulebook amongst the community just yet as it's not 100% finished. Please allow us a few more weeks to finalise the rulebook fully.
Note : We are using UK English, not US English.
PvP Gameplay Videos
As requested by our Discord community, we posted a few more gameplay videos to our YouTube. We will create more Scenario and Solo mode videos soon. A 2vs2 Arena battle multi-handing game and a 1vs1 Arena battle using equipment boards and ally cards was uploaded to our YouTube, of which you can see below.
Assassin Deep-Dive
The Assassin focuses on covert methods of inflicting swift and immense damage on his opponents with his preferred weapons of poison and shadow. But, despite the high speed of his manoeuvres, he musttread carefully, as he can be vulnerable to attacks if not prepared.
Assassin Hero Ability
Poison Coating : During the Assassin's hero upkeep a D6 die must be rolled. The results of this die roll will decide which poison, if any, are coated to his attacks during combat.
If a #2 is rolled - Flesh Eating Poison is added to the weapon, which grants poison for 3 turns.
If a #4 is rolled - Crippling Poison is added to the weapon, which stuns the enemy for 2 turns.
If a #6 is rolled, Voodoo Poison is added to the weapon, which hexes the enemy for 2 turns.
All other die roll results end with the poison failing to be equipped in time.
SupportSpells
Splash Of Blood - All allies add Bleed to their next attack.
Poison Mix - During the Assassin's next hero upkeep, the D6 die is rolled 3 times instead of 1 with multiple poisons being added to the attack. Note the same poison can't be applied twice, only different poisons. If you are very lucky and a 2, 4 & 6 are rolled, all 3 poisons would be added to the next attack.
Vanish - One ally can't be targeted for 1 turn and that same ally receives advantage for 2 turns (50% more DMG).
Disfigure - After dealing damage to an enemy they get left with -1 STR & DEF for 2 turns. The Assassin may cast another spell.
GrapplingHook - The Assassin casts this spell when he becomes the target of an enemy attack, allowing him to escape all danger and receive 0 DMG until end of turn. Note spells that deal unpreventable DMG get around this, as that DMG can't be prevented.
Attack Spells
FlyingDagger - A ranged attack that deals 1 damage to a single enemy. This spell has a cooldown of 0 and grants a +STR attack modifier.
Slice& Dice - A melee AOE attack that deals 2 damage to all enemies. AOE attacks are a great way to spread poison from the Assassin's poison coating ability.
Execute - A melee attack that deals 2 damage to a single target. This attack deals an additional 3 DMG if the target is bleeding.
Mutilate - A melee attack spell that deals 1 DMG to a single target. This spell also bleeds and lacerates the target. Lacerate deals 6 DMG over 3 turns, while bleed deals 3 DMG over 3 turns. Mutilate is a nifty way to get around an enemies high DEF stat.
Slash - A melee attack that deals 7 DMG to a single target, whilst adding a STR attack modifier. Nothing fancy, just huge direct damage.
Assassin Spell Mastery
The Assassin has 3 paths to follow, each making his play style completely different. The path you chose will typically dictate how you interact with your player board. See Shadow Arts down the left, PoisonMaster in the middle and Dismember on the right. Should you follow the Dark Arts path, you'll grant yourself more evasion and benefits for evading attacks. Follow the Poison Master path and you'll be rewarded for coating your weapons in poison. Following the Dismember path will grant high single fire damage for those difficult battles.
Dark Arts
This path unlocks Invisibility, which is a way to cast Vanish during an enemies turn, the perfect combo for getting 50% more DMG from advantage when it comes back round to the Assassin's turn. This path also offers several ways to reduce the CD of the Assassins vanish spell. This path is frustrating to play against in the Arena, as the Assassin has not only 1 (Grappling Hook) but now 2 ways to avoid an enemies big combo, making him difficult to kill.
Poison Master
This path rewards the Assassin for poising himself, alongside granting him additional STR for successfully applying poison during his hero upkeep. Helpful infection is the spell that initiates these effects. If the poison starts to hurt the Assassin's team he can remove it in exchange for 10 HP. While this path can hold its own, it works fantastic in combination with another of our heroes we have already deep-dived a few months back.
Dismember
The path for those players out there that love competing for the highest damage output on the team! Opening up play on the Assassin's first turn with advantage can be a great opener, especially as he has the highest AGI value in the game (tied with the Huntress). Haste can add an additional +8 DMG to the Assassin's next attack, another powerful spell combined with Vanish. Haemorrhage is unlocked in this path, a strong attack spell that grants double bleed, the perfect recipe for the Butcher spell.
Assassin Reference Sheet
And that's a wrap for now guys!
Thank you very much for your patience as we turn Heroes of the Shire from a kitchen table dream into a refined and professional product. As always we'll be transparent about our project and keep everyone updated/informed along the way. We're not too far away now :)
We will be back soon with more updates and boss deep-dives. We'll be showcasing our Frost Minotaur boss next in a deep-dive. As always, a big thank you to each and everyone of you for being here and supporting us on this journey. Until we meet again in another update, have a great week and we look forward to sharing more progress with you.
- Heroes of the Shire
Update #43 - Boss Deep Dive & Rulebook Update
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 01:51:05 AM
Hello all.
Welcome back to another update. In this update we will take a deep-dive into our first boss within the earth scenario, the Acidic Hydra. Before we jump into the boss deep-dive, see a few minor samples of our rulebook pages and terrain hexes.
If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find them all here.
We're almost there with the final edition of the rulebook (first draft). We'll have it complete and ready for your eyes in the next update. In the meantime see some screenshots below of how we've changed the fonts to be clearer, alongside some layout adjustments to keep things easy and simple to understand.
Terrain Hexes
Here are a few samples of our scenario hexes that form the foundations of scenario mode.
Snow Giant Deep-Dive
Snow Giant Passive Ability
Giant's Rage : Anytime an enemy casts a spell you receive a buff.
- Support spells grant you +1 INT for 2 turns
- Attack spells grant you +1 STR for 2 turns.
Snow Giant Boss Abilities
You are immune to Frozen, Paralyze, Disarmed and Frightened.
Pre-battle : All enemies receive an Alpine Forest card which they add to their ability tab. When an enemy leaves the protection of the forest, punish them!
< 80 HP : Deep Breath - You gain 2 HP each time an enemy removes an Alpine Forest card from their ability tab.
< 50 HP : Hide & Seek - During your boss upkeep you may remove an Alpine Forest card from an enemy at random.
< 30 HP : Tree Fall - Remove all Alpine Forest cards from the game.
Snow Giant Support Spells
Snow Patrol - The next time you cast Avalanche it adds a +INT modifier.
Reflective Glare - Whilst you have a CD die on Reflective Glare any negative buffs or conditions you would receive, instead can be applied to an enemy of your choice.
No More Hiding - You may remove an Alpine Forest card from an enemies ability tab.
Snow Shield - Target ally receives an 8 HP shield and +2 frost DMG for 3 turns.
Snow Giant Attack Spells
Fist Of Fury - A powerful split spell melee attack that deals 0 DMG with the first half and 0 DMG with the second half. Of course it's a little more powerful than 0 DMG :) This spell adds a +STR modifier. In case you missed it, the Snow Giant has 11 STR and 11 INT base stats, he's an angry giant!
Snow Breath - A melee, frost elemental type attack that deals 6 DMG plus disarms a single enemy target.
Snow Cloud - A ranged, frost elemental type attack that deals 5 DMG to all enemies. This spell has a 33% chance to freeze all enemies.
Snow Fall - A ranged, frost elemental type attack that deals 7 DMG to all enemies, plus 3 un-defendable DMG if the Snow Giant has a shield. Any value on the shield token is classed as having a shield.
Avalanche - A ranged, frost elemental type attack that deals 8 DMG to all enemies and leaves them with -3 DEF for 3 turns. Combined with Snow Patrol this spell hits for 29 DMG without any buffs from the bosses Giant Rage ability.
And there we have it, our Snow Giant. The final boss in the ice scenario.
And that's a wrap for now!
We hope you enjoyed learning more about our Snow Giant boss that you'll be able to find in our Ice scenario. We will be back soon with our rulebook to share alongside a deep-dive into our final hero, the Assassin! Until next game, stay safe and have a great week.
- Heroes of the Shire
Update #42 - General Update - Hero Deep Dive
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 03:02:35 PM
Hello all.
Welcome back to another update. In today's update we'll give you a few general updates that we've made to the game alongside jumping into a hero deep-dive of our Huntress hero.
If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find them all here.
First up, we're now back and unpacked from the UK Games Expo, which is the third largest convention of its kind in the world. We had an amazing time demoing and showcasing Heroes of the Shire. We bumped into a handful of UK backers too which was awesome! We were also showing off our mini's which will be coming in 2023 as an addon, during our first expansion. Alongside that we also did an exclusive preview of 2 new heroes that would be joining the fray in a coming expansion, the Gypsy and Mercenary of which you can see their artwork on the pull-up banners in the above images from the expo. We also had the pleasure to meet our manufacturers in person at the convention alongside one of our fulfilment companies. Couple of things we learnt from speaking directly to both parties:
1. Our manufacturer is based in Shanghai China. If any of you have backed other games last year, you probably already know what's coming as you've no doubt already heard this by now. There has been 28 million people out of work in China for 3 months due to COVID-19. After speaking with the manufacturer they insured us that they are still taking on new projects, but they wanted to warn us that there is a 3 month backlog as their operations have only just returned back to normal last week. This information means that we will no doubt see a few months delay from this. Fingers crossed not much as we plan to put our order in with them soon to help get the ball rolling faster.
2. Our EU fulfilment company tell us that the large spike in fuel costs has increased their bills. They tell us that they are absorbing as much of the price increase as they can but are currently charging their clients like us a surcharge on top of what we've already been quoted. We are looking at a 10-15% increase in the costs. For you as a backer, this isn't something for you to worry about. It's us here at Senior Games who will see this loss. Heroes of the Shire is a passion project for us, that will not see us make a profit, but a break even and that is something we are happy with. These extra costs will now see us at a small loss from the project as we offered cost price on shipping to almost every backer for a 6kg parcel. We do not wish to ask anybody to pay more towards shipping because it's no doubt everybody's least favourite part about being a backer, but if anyone would like to add any play mats/sleeves to their orders that would be very helpful for us. We'll have a few hundred surplus of each of the addons so shifting these really helps our already small margins. To do this, please send us a DM and we can manually add these to your pledge since pledges have been locked. To help us offset these increased costs we will be increasing the MSRP, meaning that your Kickstarter pledge represents significant savings as well lots of extra content with the stretch goals and exclusive hero.
After the success we had at the UKGE, we're now looking to visit several more UK/EU conventions and will be looking for volunteers to help join us on our stand. If you're passionate about Heroes of the Shire and this is something of interest to you, please make sure to be following us on our social media channels where we will post such opportunities. Our backers who live in the country we're exhibiting in will get first dibs. Speaking of more exhibitions, we'll be exhibiting at the Tabletop Gaming Live event in Manchester UK on 17th & 18th September. Hopefully we'll have our master copy by then from the manufacturers and will be able to show off the final edition.
We have almost every component in the game finished now aside from the rulebook. Over the next few weeks we will be taking a dive into our rulebook to add in all the new stuff from the stretch goals, alongside adding the changes we made during the Kickstarter campaign. Also, we'll be working in general to make the rulebook clearer and easier to follow with a better layout. Once we've completed the rulebook we will grant all of our backers access where you'll be able to give us some feedback for a short window of time. Once we've made the feedback alterations, all game components will be having their final proofs and will be deemed ready for mass production. For our Print and Play backers, your wait is almost over, we're estimating a delivery in around 8-10 weeks. For our physical copy backers that will have to wait a little longer for manufacturing and shipping, we will be adding our scenario mode to Tabletopia in Q3 so you can play that edition in the meantime (solo mode will be included in that too). We're also in talks with TTS about adding it to their platform too.
Hero Board Update
We've made all the artwork on the back of our hero and boss boards full art. This is a move that our discord community approved of, so we hope everyone here likes it too.
New full art boards
Old Board
Older boards with black background
General updates
- We've made elite trash mobs slightly more difficult to kill by increasing most of their defence values by 1. This move was to help the immersive experience of battling an elite monster (gold frame) vs the regular ones (bronze frame).
- Our character bios have all been updated.
- We've added the term semi-permanent to the game. This is for things like the Druids animal forms and a Warriors stance that are permanent buffs but only while certain conditions are met making them semi-permanent. A definition of these will be added into the rulebook.
- Created new elemental icons to differentiate from conditions that used the same artwork. For example our paralyze condition was the same as our electricity elemental damage. The same is true for our fire damage and burn, poison damage and poison, frost damage and frozen. Whilst this was all clear in the rulebook what icons meant on the outside of a spell vs the inside of the spell, to avoid any confusion we've added in new artwork for these icons.
- We've numbered all of our cards with small numbers at the bottom as a reference to help us and you quickly identify cards, as we've around 400 cards in the game.
- We've added a capital letter C and S to a couple of AI deck cards. The C cards should be removed when playing solo as they are powerful and only for coop play. Whilst the S are a little weak for coop play and only for solo play. Most cards are universal but there are around 2-4 that come into the above category.
Pet Buffs
Previously our cards (pets, trash mobs & allies) were not able to receive buffs or status effects. This is because tracking them for each turn is difficult. Over the years we have implemented a few designs for this, but decided it was too fiddly, so we left them out of the final design. We have recently made a change to this.
Cards may now receive 1 buff or condition (token). This is represented by placing the token on the artwork of the card for a status effect or near the altered stat for a buff. A CD die is then placed on the buff or condition to represent how many turns it lasts for. For example turn 1 the Huntress casts Horn Of Agility granting all allies +3 AGI for 3 turns. You would grant yourself +3 AGI for 3 turns as per usual, you would now take a +3 buff and place it next to the AGI stat of your pet cards with a die value of 3. When it comes round to the pets turn, you would reduce the CD die from 3>2 to represent how many more turns is left of this increased stat, then moving into the pets main phase. If any ally was to grant +2 STR to all allies, the Huntress may choose to leave the +3 AGI buff there or change to the new buff of +2 STR. If she does so, the +3 AGI would be removed. Anytime a boss or an enemy grants a status effect you can't choose, and this new effect must be added with your old one removed.
An older design of this had us placing CD die on each tokens of a pet card, but when battling lots of trash mobs or playing vs the warlock/bard who can spam out a lot of tokens, things got messy with dice and tokens all over the cards. By having only the 1 token on a pet/ally/trash mob card, this still allows you to still get immersed into the scenario but not bored with all the fiddling. We've been in house testing this system for a few months and can confirm we're very happy with the changes and we're confident you will be too.
Quest Reward Items
These items were added during the KS campaign as a stretch goal. We've added x10 quests with x10 loot items for completing the quests. These loot items are very strong as the quests can take up to 4hrs to complete.
Huntress Deep Dive
With the grace and stealth of a stalking cat, the Huntress summons pets to aid her in battle. What she lacks in size she compensates for in speed and agility, resulting in her reputation as a deadly markswoman.
Huntress Hero Ability
During the Huntress' first hero upkeep she may summon either the Bear, Snake or Bird pet. To summon her pet she adds it to her ability tab. Once summoned she may not use the other 2 pets until her next battle where she has her first hero upkeep again. Each pet works well vs different enemies so there is no 1 pet that you'll always be picking.
Bear
Snake
Bird
SupportSpells
Horn Of Agility - All allies receive +3 agility for 3 turns. This spell has a cooldown of 3.
Feed The Pets - Remove all cooldown die from your pet cards with a cooldown of 4.
Inner Beast - One ally receives +3 strength for 3 turns with a cooldown of 4.
Summon Wolf - Summon a wolf to battle. Add the wolf card to your ability tab. There is no limit to the amount of pets you can have on your ability tab. If the wolf is still alive by the time you're cooldown finishes you may summon a second wolf to your ability tab. This spell has a cooldown of 5.
Marksmanship - Your next attack grants knockback and deals 50% more damage, you may cast an attack spell now. This is a very strong spell, as knockback is a condition that forces your enemy to skip their turn unless they pay 4 HP to get back up. 9 times out of 10 your opponent will pay the 4 HP, so on top of 50% more damage there is another 4 un-defendable from knockback. This spell has a cooldown of 6.
Wolf Pet
Attack Spells
LongShot - A ranged attack that deals 3 damage to a single enemy. This spell has a cooldown of 0.
Multishot - A ranged AOE attack that deals 1 damage to all enemies. Note this spell uses an AGI attack modifier not the typical STR for a physical DPS hero. This spell has a cooldown of 2.
Arrow Blade - A melee attack that deals 1 damage to a single target. This spell also grants x2 attack modifiers making it easier to buff when playing alongside other heroes. This spell has a cooldown of 3.
Piercing Shot - A ranged attack that deals un-defendable damage. A very strong attack to combine with your Marksmanship spell. This spell has a cooldown of 5.
Double Shot - This ranged split spell allows the huntress to attack for 2 damage plus her strength, followed by another 2 damage plus her strength. Another great spell to combine with Marksmanship due to the split targeting. This would allow you to place Knockback on 2 separate enemies if you attacked 2 different enemies with each half of the spell. This spell has a cooldown of 5.
Huntress Spell Mastery
The Huntress has 3 paths to follow, each making her play style completely different. The path you chose will typically dictate how you interact with your player board. See Swordsmanship down the left, ArrowSpecialist in the middle and Companionship on the right. Should you follow the Arrow Specialist path, you're less likely to be summoning your other pets and will be more focused on casting your ranged spells, whilst in the Companionship tree you're more likely to be summoning as many pets as possible and reducing their cooldowns over direct damage.
Swordsmanship
This path brings a large boost to the Huntresses melee attacks, so if you enjoy close quarter combat but still want pets in combat, this might be the hero for you. The swordmaster ability increase all melee damage by 1. With the addition of Cut Throat the final ability, all melee attacks also grant bleed. In this path you will unlock a new powerful melee attack called double edge which grants knockback. To further increase the damage output of your melee attacks you can unlock a new support spell called Sharpen Steel which grants +2 DMG on your next melee attack. The agile Huntress has also learnt to parry attacks, granting herself with a little evasion. This new spell Defensive Parry once unlocked allows the Huntress to become immune to damage for 1 turn when she is the target on an enemy attack, whilst then casting her Arrow Blade melee spell ignoring its cooldown die. This path helps the Huntress get around bosses and other other high defence heroes in arena mode with status effects like bleed and knockback which all grant un-defendable damage.
Arrow Specialist
One of my favourite paths to follow is the Arrow Specialist, as this is the path that allows you to sit back and fire arrow after arrow. You'll unlock 2 new ranged attacks. One called Poison Arrows which of course coats the tips of her arrows in a lethal poison, and a second spell called Tactical Shot which deals AOE damage plus strips the enemies defence. Target Practice is a new support ability that allows you to reduce the cooldown of a single spell by a value of 3. Helpful for getting back your Marksmanship ability or Summon Wolf. Towards the bottom of the path we have Sharpen Arrows, an ability that increase the damage of all the Huntresses ranged attacks. At the end of round 3 the Huntress lets off a flare granting her increased stats for the rest of the battle. This constant flow of high damage will be tough to defend.
Companionship
The path for boosting the power of your pets. Why send arrows and swords at your enemies when you can send in an army of pets. A new ability called Animal Sanctuary grants you 4 HP when a pet dies. Don't forget that our Blood Mage can make sacrifices should you need it. A new support spell called Leadership is unlocked in this path which allows the Huntress to skip her main phase action, in doing so all of her pets are allows to attack twice during their turn. A true friend to the animal kingdom! What's more scary than an onslaught of pets? More pets! In this path you are able to unlock a new pet called the Boar. This pet deals un-defendable damage and calls other pets to assist. Strength of the Wild grants an increase in damage to your starting pets, whilst Double Trouble allows you to have x2 starting pets instead of x1. This path proves to be fantastic in the Arena vs cloth wearing type heroes with low defence values. The constant flow of damage from the pets can be overwhelming if your enemy doesn't have a strategic plan in action.
Boar
And that's a wrap for now guys!
Thank you very much for your patience as we turn Heroes of the Shire from a kitchen table dream into a refined and professional product. As always we'll be transparent about our project and keep everyone updated/informed along the way. We will be back soon with more updates and deep-dives. We'll cover our Snow Giant boss next in a boss deep-dive, who can steamroll heroes if they are not hiding amongst the trees. As always, a big thank you to each and everyone of you for being here and supporting us on this journey. Until we meet again in another update, have a great week and we look forward to sharing more progress with you.
- Heroes of the Shire
Update #41 - General UI update & Boss Deep-Dive
over 2 years ago
– Fri, May 27, 2022 at 03:26:50 AM
Hello all.
Welcome back to another update. In this update we will take a deep-dive into our first boss within the earth scenario, the Acidic Hydra. Before we jump into the boss deep-dive, see a few minor updates we've made to help improve the quality of the game.
If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find them all here.
- We have changed the colour of the odd levels on each hero board as a subtle reminder that a hero gains a +1 buff of their choice at these levels.
- Several hero abilities have been reworded to make them clearer.
- Several spells have been adjusted to help overall balance.
- Knockback and Frozen have been reworded to make them clearer so you know exactly what phases the conditions skip.
- We have created a new elemental spell type called healing. This is to avoid any confusion on certain spells or abilities that increase the power of healing spells. They can now be easily identified with their own icon. See an example of the Cleric's spells below. Elemental type icons are in the top left corner of a spell.
- We've had a few token graphics updated to improve the overall feel of the game. Many of the symbols were ones I had created myself during the prototype stages and not got round to improving. I've squeezed in a few hours this morning to take a look at some of the ones I wasn't quite happy with. We have also removed the pierce icon from the game. The words un-defendable are now being used in its place as this is universal language that many of you will know from other games. It is also one less symbol to worry about, as we have lots more conditions coming in the future. Make sure to be following us on social media channels for a sneak peak of those new conditions coming next year. See below the graphic updates to the selected tokens.
Action Cards
Whilst we don't want to share many action cards with you, as that may spoil some of the adventure. We're happy to share the titles of our action cards to give you a peak into what's in store as you venture through the Shire regions. See below each scenario and their respective action cards.
Earth : Forgotten Forest, Trading Post, Treehouse, Base Camp, Foraging, Mountain Pass, Insatiable Hunger, Stone Circle, Grounding, Beckoning Roar, Travellers Arms, Waterfall, Cave Entrance, Earth Tremors & Swamplands.
Water : Pirates Ahead, Trading Harbour, Nightfall, Quench, Spot of Fishing, Ghost Pirates, Travellers On The Road, Thunderstorm, Heavy Rain, Ancient Temple, Coastal Path, Out At Sea, Rotten Bridge, Wandering Feline & Rock Pool.
Fire : Exhaustion, Volcanic Eruption, Rock Slide, Sneak Attack, Phoenix, House of Bones, Shadow Cave, Footprints in the Ash, Embarrassment, Intensity, It's Warm In Here, Dragon Arch, Mining, Treasure & Repairs.
Ice : Eyes in the Snow, Ice Cave, Artic Fox, High Altitude, Mountain Gully, Cold Feet, Frozen Weapons, Deep Snow, Blizzard, Green Boots, Alpine Forest, Frostbite, Aurora, Frozen Lake & Ice Huts.
Loot Items
We have had lots of positive feedback regarding the loot items, so here are the other half that we didn't show you.
UK Games Expo
We'll be at the UK Games Expo from Thursday-Sunday next week so please beware with us during this period if you have any questions or emails regarding the game. If anyone is visiting from the UK or Europe, please come and find us there, we'll be on stand 2-581 in hall 2. We will have a PvP Arena demonstration table alongside a PvE Scenario (solo) mode demonstration table. See below a banner from our PvP Arena demo station.
And with all of that out of the way, let's jump into our boss deep-dive.
Acidic Hydra Deep-Dive
This poisonous creature is a menace of the swamps. Some will say that the advantage the Acidic Hydra has over others is based on the old adage: two heads are better than one.
Acidic Hydra Passive Ability
Unlike our other bosses, the Acidic Hydra doesn't have a passive ability.
Acidic Hydra Boss Abilities
You are immune to Confused, Paralyze and Stun.
You have 2 separate life totals, one for each Hydra head. Each head starts with full HP. You may cast 2 spells per turn, one from each head only. The right head spells are on the top row and the left head spell on the bottom row. For single target spells your enemy must declare if they are attacking your right or left head. Multiple target spells deal DMG to both heads.
HydraHead Dies - SoloIntuition : You gain a permanent +4 AGI, +2 STR, INT & DEF. This effect stays even if a Hydra head respawns, making the rest of the battle significantly more difficult.
HydraHead Dies - Respawn : Place a CD die here with a value of 2. When this die is removed you revive your defeated Hydra head at full HP. Note that when the Hydra head dies, it will 9 times out of 10 be on a heroes turn. Meaning when it comes back round to the Hydra this die drops to 1 right away. Leaving you very little time before a respawn.
Right Head Spells
AcidSpray - A ranged poison type attack spell that deals 5 DMG to all enemies, plus another 4 un-defendable DMG if the target is poisoned.
Hydra'sGrowth - You gain +1 STR & INT for 2 turns for each time you've cast Hydra's Growth this battle.
JungleBite - A earth elemental type melee attack that deals 5 DMG plus hexes and enemy for 3 turns. This spell also has a 33.3% chance to add poison to the spell.
PoisonousHealth - Whilst you have a CD die on Poisonous Health both Hydra heads receive 2 HP when an enemy receives DMG from a poison condition.
PoisonousBreath - A ranged poison elemental type spell that deals 6 DMG to a single enemy whilst granting the right Hydra head HP equal to 100% of the DMG dealt.
Left Head Spells
Grapple - A melee attack that deals 2 DMG to a single target and increases all of their negative conditions by a duration of 1 turn. This spell also has a 33.3% chance to add Drenched to the attack.
Toxic Fog - A spell that poisons all of your enemies for 3 turns and grants them a can't be healed condition for 2 turns.
Inconspicuous - A spell that grants the left Hydra head 10 HP whilst reducing the right Hydra heads HP by 10. This keeps the heroes on their toes and allows the Hydra to make a self sacrifice in order to try and respawn the head.
PoisonScales - A melee poison elemental type attack that deals 1 DMG to all enemies whilst reducing the CD die of all your poison spells by a value of 1.
PoisonClaw - A melee poison elemental type attack that deals 5 DMG to a single target whilst poisoning and confusing them for 3 turns. This spell has a 33.3% chance to add knockback.
Boss Strategy
- This is a relatively straight forward strategy of bringing both Hydra heads down at the same time.
- Heroes that have AOE attacks will be superior in this battle than heroes like the Berserker and Warrior who mostly have single target attacks.
- If you take out the left Hydra head first, the inconspicuous spell is useless when the right head is playing alone. The other way around and you might see a head respawning.
- When playing as the boss you have an array of damage dealing spells, healing spells, damage over time spells and crowd control. Use these to your advantage in the current situation.
And that's a wrap for now!
We hope you enjoyed learning more about our Acidic Hydra boss that you'll be able to find in our Earth scenario. In fact, it's the first boss you will encounter there. We will be back after the UK games expo with a hero deep-dive, looking at our Huntress hero. Until then, have a great weekend.
- Heroes of the Shire
Update #40 - Boss Deep Dive
over 2 years ago
– Tue, May 17, 2022 at 11:09:16 PM
Hello fellow gamers!
Welcome back to another update. In this update we will take a deep-dive into another final boss. This time the Great Leviathan from our Water scenario. This boss doesn't mess around and really means business. Heed your warning fellow adventurers, be prepared for a gruelling battle.
If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find them all here.
A quick recap just in-case any of you have forgotten since our campaign. Our boss battles can all be modified to your player count, we recommend easy mode for 2 heroes, standard mode 3 heroes, hard mode 4 heroes and ultimate mode for 5 heroes. These modifications would be part of the boss setup. Our boss modifications were set to be in the back few pages of the rulebook. However we have since decided to pull them out and create them as cards instead. This makes for a smoother scenario experience as the cards can be kept nearby or even added to the ability tab to make visible all battle. This will add 6 new cards to the game, as they will be double sided with x3 being for the fire and ice scenario bosses and x3 for the earth and water scenario bosses. All of our boss boards by default are set to standard mode so no modifications are required, but see below a sample of our fire & ice boss modification cards which include solo mode, easy mode, hard mode and ultimate mode. Feel free to let us know in the comments below if you approve or dislike of this change.
Conditions Die Update
You'll notice on some boss spells a die icon followed by a symbol/condition. This allows the boss player to roll the conditions die to see if that condition would be applied to the spell. We have x2 conditions die, 1 for the Fire & Ice edition and 1 for the Earth & Water edition. Collectors edition contain both. Each die previously had 6 conditions on them, with a 16.6% chance of landing on the condition you wanted. This percentage was far to low and we found that the bosses very rarely added these effects to their spells. We have since removed 3 of the conditions from each die, so each conditions die now only contains 3 conditions, x2 of each on a D6 die. This increases the chance of adding the conditions from 16.6% to 33.3% making them feel more effective.
The Great Leviathan - Deep Dive
The dragon-like head of the Great Leviathan is a frightening sight as it rises out of the waters. He can thrash his serpent-like tail with such force and precision that his adversaries are stunned into defeat.
The Great Leviathan Passive Ability
WaterVortex : During your boss upkeep, trap an enemy at random inside a water vortex. This is a condition that deals 3 un-defendable DMG immediately and then 3 un-defendable DMG each token upkeep. This condition is also stackable.
The Great Leviathan Boss Abilities
You are immune to Frightened and Burn.
< 85 HP Soaked Through : All enemies receive a permanent drenched condition that can't be removed and you can target enemies with can't be targeted conditions.
< 70 HP Water Cleanse : Remove all negative buffs and conditions from yourself. One time effect.
< 50 HP Water Cleanse : Remove all negative buffs and conditions from yourself. One time effect.
< 30 HP - Unlock Tsunami Wave: This is a ranged water elemental type spell that deals 16 DMG to all enemies plus adds an intellect attack modifier.
SupportSpells
Ruthless - Whilst you have a cooldown die on Ruthless, damage you receive from any source grants you +1 INT for 3 turns. This spell is similar to the Berserkers Uncontrollable Rage hero ability, only slightly better that the buffs last for 3 turns.
Waterfall - You gain +1 DEF and +4 HP regen for 3 turns.
Thrash - Remove all buffs and conditions from yourself. During your next turn you may cast Tsunami Wave as if it were unlocked. Tsunami wave hits for 24 DMG on average, let's hope your enemies have a way of surviving such an onslaught of power.
Submerged In Time - You can only cast this spell on an enemies turn after their dice upkeep. END THEIR TURN. You also receive a bonus turn at the end of the round. This is a rather overpowered spell hence the cooldown value of 6.
Design Note : One of our upcoming heroes in our expansion has their own version of Submerged in Time.Make sure you're following us on social media as we broadcast live videos with kit reveals during the UK Games Expo,3-5th June.
Aqua Blast - A ranged water elemental type spell that deals 0 damage to one target enemy. This spell has both strength and intellect attack modifiers.
TidalWave - A melee water elemental type attack that deals 2 DMG to all enemies. This attack also has a chance to add knockback to the spell.
MindStomp - A ranged attack spell that deals 2 damage to a single enemy whilst leaving them paralyzed for 3 turns. Paralyze is a condition that stops your enemies casting attack spells.
RainStorm - A split spell that increases the damage output of our water elemental type spells by +2. The second half of this spell is a ranged water elemental type spell that deals 3 DMG to all enemies. This attack has a chance of adding poison to the spell.
Tsunami - A ranged water elemental type attack that deals 5 DMG to all enemies whilst trapping an enemy inside a water vortex.
Boss Strategy
- When playing as the boss you have unlimited power! Use it to your advantage. If your enemies try to keep you crowd controlled don't worry too much as your Water Vortexes will eventually take their toll. 9 un-defendable DMG over 3 turns is hard to deal with.
- When playing as the boss, if your enemies are attempting to play the crowd control game, save your Thrash spell for when you receive a condition that hinders you. Also save your Submerged In Time spell for when it's an enemies turn who might try to jeopardise your combos.
- Attacking heroes will want to try and paralyze the enemy after they have cast Thrash to stop a huge Tsunami Wave going off. Heroes such as the Engineer, Shaman or Paladin come in handy during this battle. Alternatively if the allied heroes have no way to paralyze the boss, mitigating the damage with some protection would come in handy. Heroes like the Paladin, Witch Doctor or Runesmith offer good protection.
- Sometimes attack is the best form of defence. Playing as the heroes you will want to try and cleanse off as many Water Vortex conditions as you can, alongside watching out for a huge Tsunami wave. But at the same time keeping a constant flow of damage heading towards the boss to end this battle quickly. Playing the long game here will not be wise as those Water Vortexes will burn through your allied healers spell pretty fast keeping your party alive.
And that's a wrap for now!
We hope you enjoyed learning more about our Great Leviathan boss that you'll be able to find in our Water scenario. We will be back soon with another boss deep-dive, but until then have a great week.
