The Battle Enters a New Stage

The Everchanging Battleground

Every competitive game needs to evolve, else it will fall behind. There are only so many times you can fight against the same force and not get bored! In wave 3, we are introducing a batch of new characters and items that should encourage all players to rethink their strategies or invent a new one.

Seek and Destroy!

As in the first expansions, wave three introduces new types of special terrain pieces. Let's take a look at the first one - the Bomb Pack. Characters equipped with this item can remove other pieces of terrain from the battleground and do it with style, leaving behind a massive crater! 

But what if the blast caught one of the characters? No problem! All of our heroes and villains are super strong and agile. They will act instinctively, dodging an explosion and placing themselves on the crater's edge. A clever player may even capitalize on this and use it to their advantage.

A Smelly Problem

Now onto the other new card - the Gas Tank. Placing this card on the battleground leaves behind a truly interesting situation. All nearby characters can only be activated with cards with an initiative of 5 or lower (if cards of a higher initiative are played, the stats of their activation card are changed to 1 AP, 0 Mana, and no bonuses). A great tool for punishing players who put too many fast cards into their decks.

Craters and Gas Tanks in action

Ok, we revealed our new special terrain pieces, but what incredible feats can you achieve with them?  I’m glad you asked.

Rocket Jump

He-Man wants to engage Skeletor. Unfortunately, he only has two action points, and a wall is in the way. Even if he spends one action point to detonate it with a Bomb Pack, he won’t be able to reach his target. Is it all over? Will the forces of evil prevail?

Not so fast! He-Man knows what to do. He spends one action point to place a crater on top of the wall and himself. Now he can move his model to any hex adjacent to the crater.

He-Man uses his last remaining action point to reach Skeletor! The plans of the evil master of destruction are ruined!

Crater to the rescue!

Stratos is in trouble. Skeletor attacked him, and Tri-Klops is here to finish the job. Is there any hope left? If Stratos tries to move out, he will suffer an attack of opportunity and probably be knocked out. But what if…

Stratos places a crater on top of himself and moves to any hex adjacent to the crater. Now he is not only away from Skeletor, but Tri-Klops has no way of reaching him. Quick thinking, Stratos!

Change of Plans

Both players have picked their cards. The Evil Warriors choose a card with an initiative of 10 and Masters of the Universe card being two points slower. What a delightful opportunity to do some evil.

The Evil Warrior player knows that He-Man is the last ready character of his opponents and decides to use it to their advantage. Skeletor places a Gas Tank next to He-Man. Because He-Man will activate with a card of initiative higher than 5, he will only have 1 AP available. Furthermore, the Gas Tank works as a barrier between He-Man and Skeletor, so the strongest man in the universe won’t be able to reach his target during the next activation.

Buzz-Off, the hero in the sky!

Buzz-Off is the first character that can use two melee weapons which goes great with his iconic Short Axe, because this weapon’s attacks cost one AP less! But this isn’t the only reason why this guy is so dangerous. Whenever any of his allies gain focus, Buzz-Off jumps one hex (this movement cannot be interrupted). As a result, the newest Master of the Universe member tends to land behind his opponents and perform a series of devastating blows. To balance that, he is pretty fragile. However, all his focused tests receive an extra die so that he can survive quite a beating with proper equipment and support from the rest of his team.

Useful Cards:

Buzz-Off in Action

Tri-Klops is engaged with Buzz-Off. It doesn't look good for our heroic spy. However, the player controlling Masters of The Universe has a plan. He-Man activates first.

He-Man gained two focuses during his activation, so Buzz-Off moved twice, and placed himself behind Tri-Klops. Now that it's Buzz-Off turn, he attacks the target dealing massive damage.

It's not over just yet! Man-At-Arms joins the fray. Unfortunately, as long as Tri-Klops engages Buzz-Off, Man-At-Arms can’t make an effective ranged attack. He decides to perform a focus action. Buzz-Off moved out of engagement, and now the Man-At-Arms can attack without penalty.

Man-E-Faces arrives!

The more familiar faces, the better, so we added three more to the Masters of the Universe roster! Man-E-Faces is a very adaptive warrior that can adjust his stats to the current strategy. Need some ranged fire support? Change to the face of the robot. Does someone have to be smacked on the head? The face of the Monster works wonders for that. Do you expect strong enemy retaliation? The face of the human will help you withstand those attacks. Whatever you might need, Man-E-Faces is always ready to help.

Useful Cards:

Man-E-Faces in Action

Man-E-Faces plans to attack Tri-Klops.

He switches to the face of the robot, shoots and deals two wounds! But now, he will be vulnerable to Tri-Klops’s melee attacks (the face of the robot decreases his toughness). To prevent that, he uses overwatch and prepares a nasty surprise for his opponent.

Tri-Klops approaches Man-E-Faces, triggering his overwatch. Man-E-Faces uses this opportunity to change his face to the monster. Now, he no longer suffers a toughness penalty and the transformation allows him to perform a skill test that results in Tri-Klops receiving another wound.

The mighty Whiplash

Whiplash can really pack a punch. A punch? Maybe that’s not the correct word for describing a tail whip powerful enough to push away any character from hexes adjacent to Whiplash. His iconic Electro Shocker Spear can work as either melee or a ranged weapon making him very dangerous at any distance. There’s only one problem – Whiplash cannot perform the focus action. To counteract that, he receives a free focus whenever one of his allies suffers any wounds. Using this character isn’t easy, but he is a force to be reckoned with if his moves are planned carefully.

Useful Cards:

Whiplash in Action

Enemies surround Whiplash, but his teammate – Tri-Klops – is coming to help.

Tri-Klops ends his activation next to Whiplash and suffers one wound due to Man-At-Arms’s overwatch, which causes Whiplash to receive focus!

Now it's Whiplash's turn. He starts by spending a focus on throwing his spear and dealing a wound to Stratos. Secondly, he uses his Tail Thrashing to push Tri-Klops towards Man-At-Arms.

Whiplash still has two action points left, so he approaches Stratos and uses his last point to perform a melee attack against him. That was painful!

Stinkor, the evil master of odors!

Do you like debuffs? Stinkor does. Whenever someone receives a debuff, Stinkor gets one mana. What’s he going to do with it? Firstly his iconic gun gains extra dice the more mana Sitnkor has, however, there’s an additional effect. After all, Stinkor is famous for his specific stench, and our game will reflect this. At the end of his activation, Stinkor loses all mana and gives out debuffs of his choice to all nearby characters. It doesn’t smell good, but it helps keep his opponents in check.

Useful Cards:

Stinkor in action

Skeletor is in deep trouble. He is severely wounded, and there are three enemies nearby. All hope is in Stinkor’s help.

Stinkor uses his iconic gun to shoot Stratos, applying blind to him and receiving a Mana for his trouble. A blinded enemy won’t be nearly as dangerous to Skeletor. One down, two more to go.

Stinkor engages Man-At-Arms to prevent him from attacking Skeletor from a distance and ends the activation by spreading his odor to all nearby characters. Man-At-Arms receives a blind, while He-Man gains the Crippled debuff. Now he won’t be able to reach Skeletor so easily.

Wave 3 ahead!

As always, at the end of the blog post, we want to remind you that you can purchase the Wave 3 expansions from our webshop or from your FLGS. You can also contact our game designers through the BoardGameGeek website or our Facebook group.

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