Minions and Ambushes

Welcome again to the devblog!  Last time we looked into the first of our most recent changes to how Students can use their mind dice on Spells and Enchantments.  Today, we want to focus on two very different types of cards: Minions, which are a physical manifestation of your Homunculus’ body dice, and Ambushes, which draw upon Soul dice to be played.  

Minion Cards are summoned to the battlefield using the Body Dice of the Homunculus. These cards create sentient beings in the Afterlife. Think of playing these cards as your Homunculus extending its own physical presence into the new minion.  As such, the transmutation of its Body into the new being can only occur on an adjacent hex.  

We are looking into having other conditions that need to be considered for specific Minion cards to be played. Certain cards would need to have access to the mystic energy provided by the terrain tiles to even be summoned.  This helps to make terrain a more vital asset for the Student, and brings a new element of strategy to placement of such tiles.  Since these Minions draw additional power from their environments, they would tend to be more powerful.

However, Terrain Cards are not the only way to change the environment around you in the Afterlife.  We have taken a look at Ambushes and made some changes to make them a much more effective boon to the Student who excels in strategy.

Ambush cards use Soul dice to be played, and while they require some of the most concentration and skill to perform, even Students without a streak of Machiavelli in them can learn to wield these reworked cards to their advantage. The Homunculus can only place Ambush cards up to three tiles away.  They activate based on changes in their immediate vicinity, which means cards placed underneath the enemy will not trigger until another physical being enters that hex.  Some Ambush Cards can be triggered by events within a certain radius, while others rely on your still of anticipating your target’s moving into a specific hex.  From a mystical standpoint, the Essences that provide Soul dice to your Homunculus imbue them with the collected energies of some of the greatests strategists from history, so you can rely on their guidance while you fight in the Afterlife.