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Reinforcements Have Arrived!
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The Second Step
What is the most important step of any journey? The first one? No. The last one? Also no. The most important is the step you are about to take! At Archon Studio, we think of Masters of the Universe: Battleground as the long journey we've just started. Now it's time to take the next step of this voyage and introduce the first wave of expansions, including new heroes, equipment, and mechanics! In this blog post, we'll explain what's cool about the step we're going to take and why you should take it with us.
Manipulate the Battleground!
In the first wave of expansions, we are introducing the special terrain pieces - Teleporters and Force Fields. From now on, heroes equipped with these special new items will be able to place these pieces directly on the battleground. Changing the shape of the battlefield during the game? That sounds fun! And believe us, it really is. However, to make sure these abilities aren't too powerful, all special terrain pieces can be attacked and destroyed, but if used properly they can provide huge benefits.
Create Your Own Shortcuts
New card - Teleporter: Allows characters to place two teleporters on the battleground. Each teleporter piece becomes active at the start of the next round, and all hexes adjacent to any active teleporter also count as also being adjacent to each other. Characters can use teleporters to cover huge areas in a single move!
Block the Way
New card - Force Field Rod: Allows characters to place three force fields on the battleground. Each force field piece occupies 2 hexes and is treated as a high obstacle for the purposes of movement. However, force fields do not block line of sight and do not provide cover, so they are great tools for dealing with those pesky melee characters that always ruin my day!
Special terrain pieces and how to use them
We bet that you already have quite a few ideas on how to use those terrain pieces. We are very excited to share some of our own ideas:
Force Fields vs Teleporters
Let’s imagine the following situation. Skeletor has placed two teleporters; at the beginning of the next round, Tri-Klops should be able to engage Stratos easily. This cannot be! He-Man can move towards the teleport and destroy it, but then he won’t be able to engage Skeletor! Fortunately for He-Man, there is a better solution.
He-Man uses ‘Force Field Rod’ and completely surrounds one of the teleporters! Force fields are treated as high obstacles, now Tri-Klops will have a much more difficult time trying to reach Stratos!
Teleporters vs Force Fields
Imagine a different situation. Skeletor is not very happy to see He-Man and his friends, so he decides to put in some force fields to slow down the heroic warriors.
However, He-Man knows what to do. Since force fields do not block line of sight, he can place teleporters right behind them. Now he and his friends can easily overcome this barrier!
Force Field as a Roadblock
Let's assume that Skeletor has activated He-Man’s overwatch. Our hero can perform a move action, but all movement during interruption has to be made towards the interrupted character. What a loss! That means He-Man won’t be able to reach that objective token or does it?
He-Man uses the ‘Force Field Rod’ to place a barrier between him and Skeleton. Now the shortest path leads through the objective! Smart move, He-Man.
Teleporters vs Teleporters
Oh no, Skeletor has placed a teleporter next to the Stratos, and He-Man is too far to intervene!
Fortunately, He-Man can create teleporters of his own. All hexes adjacent to any active teleporter are adjacent to each other, therefore he can enter his teleporter and exit through the one placed by Skeletor!
Fear the Scareglow!
Scareglow is the powerful warrior who struck fear into the hearts of his opponents and allies, therefore any character that ends an activation or an interruption near him can receive a curse (a curse is a debuff that deals one wound when removed). But that's not all! Villains like Scareglow don't care about anyone but themselves, so he can use his dark powers to curse allies and perform a free move action. His weapon is almost equally unpleasant, it can remove a debuff from the target in exchange for an extra attack die.
Useful Cards:
Scareglow in Action
Scareglow is engaged with Man-At-Arms, unfortunately, his weapon isn’t very effective against targets that aren't debuffed, especially when attacking such a tough enemy. But the evil ghost has a plan.
Scareglow uses his skill to put a curse on Tri-Klops to perform a free move action. Man-At-Arms, of course, tries to interrupt the evil warrior, but by doing so, he brings a curse on himself (he ended an interruption next to Scareglow)! Now Scareglow will have increased scope (he is attacking from the flank) and extra attack dice (for the debuff on the Man-At-Arms)! This is going to hurt!
The Ferocious Beast Man!
Beast Man is an aggressive front-line fighter; the more wounds he suffers, the more effective he becomes (extra Mana and AP)! However, it doesn't mean that Beast Man is an easy target. Quite the opposite! Whenever Beast Man receives wounds, he can spend one Mana to receive one wound less (to a minimum of one). It won’t be easy to take him out. When it comes to attacking, Beast Man prefers quantity over quality. His whip allows him to spend two mana to perform an extra free attack!
Useful Cards:
Beast Man in Action
Man-At-Arms and Stratos are in overwatch. Skeletor doesn't want to walk into their trap himself, therefore he decides to send his henchman first. Beast Man can survive a beating from them.
Because of his abilities, Beast Man can be sure that he won’t receive more than one wound from Man-At-Arms and Stratos’s attacks and safely move into their overwatches. Moreover, during the next activation, he will receive additional bonuses for his wounds, and thanks to his "Havoc Staff," Skeletor gains mana for all these troubles.
Teela, the Warrior Goddess
Teela is a nimble warrior and respectable caster ready to punish foes who rely too heavily on melee fighters. She is more agile than an ordinary character, so she can perform a free 2 hex move action during any of her interruptions (this action can be made in any direction and cannot be interrupted)! Her sword also allows her to perform a free uninterruptible move action to give her even more mobility! When you combine her incredible mobility with the ability to support allies in skill tests, Teela becomes a real threat to unprepared enemies.
Useful Cards:
Teela in Action
Tri-Klops tries to engage Teela, but not so fast! She is in overwatch and will have something to say about this.
Teela uses her ability and performs a free move action and places herself behind the attacker.
Now she uses her sword to deal a wound to Tri-Klops and performs another free move action to escape from the range of her opponent.
Teela can be equipped with different weapons to make her even more dangerous! Imagine how much worse it could have been for Tri-Klops if Teela was equipped with ‘Terror Claws’ and a ‘Dagger’.
Sorceress, Guardian of Castle Grayskull
Sorceress is a powerful caster that can use her telepathic powers to see through space and time and check the top few fate cards of the fate deck. During interruptions, she can use her mana to allow an ally to interrupt the same enemy! Thanks to ‘Power Staff’, whenever Sorceress casts a spell during interruption, this action is treated as both - an attack and skill test, allowing her to benefit from all sorts of items and cards!
Useful Cards:
Sorceress in action
Trap Jaw moved to a position from which he could attack the Sorceress. However, she was in overwatch and interrupted his activation.
Sorceress attacks Trap Jaw with her magic and then uses a skill that allows He-Man to interrupt the same enemy. He-Man uses this opportunity to engage the opponent. Now Trap Jaw is in serious trouble!
See You on the Battleground!
Wave 1 introduces even more content than was mentioned in this post, but we can't reveal all the secrets, right?
If you like what you saw today, you can purchase the Wave 1 expansions from our webshop or from your FLGS. Remember that you can always contact our game designers through the BoardGameGeek website or on our Facebook group.
