cleave29

I have a way to make weaker villains into something interesting and challenging. I went to Spiff’s page (http://www.spiffworld.com/sotm/printable.cfm) and printed out the Advanced setting cards, specifically Grand Warlord Voss’s card, and then put it next to Ambuscade’s character cards. I put the side that says “EV: Play top card of the villain deck” face up when Ambuscade is out in the open. Then I flipped it as I did the other character cards when instructed to do so. This made Ambuscade fast and deadly.
The first two games I put Spiff’s Trapmaster setting with Voss’s and Ambuscade’s Advanced setting. Ambuscade slaughtered everyone twice and then the third game I had some more powerful characters (Young Legacy [Lead From the Front and Next Evolution], Incapacitated Tempest [Immune], Dark Visionary [Telekinetic Cocoon], and Bunker) and we beat him after losing Tempest. It was intense.
I also tried a game without Spiff’s Trapmaster, but with Voss’s Advanced setting and that was fun too. I would have liked it if some traps exploded, but maybe I will try that again (no Trapmaster, Voss’s Advanced, Ambuscade’s Advanced). I also want to try Trapmaster and Voss’s Advanced with some weaker heroes and see how that is.
I also would like to try Voss’s card with Gloomweaver, Apostate, and Kismet. The great thing about Voss’s advanced card is that it helps the villain be more who it is by just playing more of its cards. If I play it I will update this house rule to let you know how it went. [Update 12/25/13: It went great!!! Gloomweaver won 2/3 times and it took a long time. Then Apostate won against me after a very close battle and then I beat him with some very strong heroes. Try it out!!!]
I copied some images of those villains onto a card so that they would be personalized, but I don’t know if I can post them because of copyright.

The suggested story for your first game is King of Londinium. This is a fairly long game and may scare off a few first-timers. Instead, while getting to know the game, start with the scenario: First time in the Captain’s Chair. It’s official, but doesn’t come with the game.
You only need $6000 to finish and you might won’t be doing as many illegal jobs, which makes for a much better intro.
Here’s the link:
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/95101/first-time-in-the-captains-chair-official-story?

My brother is working on a mod so that he can play with his blind friends. He played a game (no traitor, open hand) and everyone thought it was a blast. He’s continuing to work on more mods so that his friends can play independently of asking questions of sighted folk.
Read more:
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/159026/games-for-sighted-people-to-play-with-blind-people?

Most of Visionary’s abilities are deck manipulation, but if you’re lucky enough to be able to play Wrest the Mind followed by Cocoon, then you can redirect the villain’s damage to themselves, then deal 3 damage to the villain, then deal 3 damage to Visionary… to which she would be immune. If the villain target is dealing damage multiple times, that’s damage each time. Wow.
This strategy is not without its flaws: it takes two plays to set up followed by the hope that nobody destroys your ongoing cards. Still, I have new respect for Wrest the Mind.

In doing solo play, I often get lost keeping track of 6 different elements (4 heroes, 1 villain, 1 environment). I rely heavily on the cardboard reminders about increases in damage and conditions.
I frequently forget that I have nemeses playing. BUT I don’t like putting down a yellow +1 damage token, because I’m afraid I’ll confuse it to include it in all damage.
Therefore I took a sheet of paper, wrote ” ” on it and stuck it between the the two nemeses. Works great as a reminder and doesn’t get me handing out extra damage.

Tufnet of the Ennead has an Incapacitated ability to make each hero discard one card. This can debilitating if you don’t have someone like Tachyon-Team Leader who can help others draw new cards. If not, then save her for last. Find some other way to protect your weakest team members.

Growing up, What If…? were some of favorite Marvel comics. I loved What if the Punisher got the Venom suit? and the What If…? when Punisher got an Iron Man suit.
Playing Sentinels, it’s obvious that some heroes and villains are weaker and therefore don’t get to shine because they’re getting pummeled. Some of my buddies get frustrated and give up on that character. Other heroes and villains are too brutal to be fun and therefore feel like cheating / a waster of time.
So I amalgamated the weakest heroes with the strongest. (I got the idea from What If…? but you might think I got it from Smash-up.) I took Punisher – er, I mean, Expatriette and put her with Tachyon – Team Leader. I combined Legacy / Golem Unity, Absolute Zero – Wrath / Tempest, Mr. Fixer / Omnitron-X, Rook City / Final Wasteland, and Matriarch / Ambuscade.
I liked it: Expatachyon got to get a lot of guns out quickly, although she didn’t have a lot of speed (Bursts), Golem Legacy got to get a lot of bots out and protect herself, Absolute Tempest got to alternate between single- and multiple targets, which was useful for the villains, and Mr. X got to hit quite a bit and be armored in the process. Rook Wasteland didn’t feel like an impossible slog and some cool monsters attacked. Finally, and most importantly, Matriscade’s Mask accelerated the number of devices and weapons that she could bring out and Ambuscade got to feel like the stealthy merc that he secretly is. (I made a mistake in that Ambuscade shuffled the trash in the deck and I forgot that Matriarch flips when her trash is shuffled into her deck. I still ended up winning in 4-5 rounds. If you don’t know the characters well enough, you’ll make a mistake.)
Try it out. I haven’t played Iron Legacy or Gloomweaver yet, but I hear that they’re too hard/easy. After I get familiar with each villain, I will try them out.

I tried 6 times with teams of four to beat Matriarch in Rook City. This is probably the hardest combo.
I even tried to have a team of just Omnitron-X and Tempest, which I thought would work. It did for a while.
I also want to test out Wraith (Smoke Bombs), O-X, and Tempest.
But then I tried all 16 heroes against her. That kicked her butt. Sure, it’s cheating, but it felt good after having lost to her so many times.

Simple as that. Bold units aren’t nearly as powerful if you wait for them to attack. I’ve won with goblins against dwarves just by doing that.

OK, Battlelore is hard to introduce to new people, especially because the first battle is Agincourt! The actual Agincourt was a slaughter (I think), so slaughtering a first time player is a ticket to playing alone.
SO: for the first battle, have the two sides be exactly equal. Have archers vs. archers or horsemen vs. horsemen.
This game is a blast when the two sides are neck and neck. It’s a drag when one side dominates the other. I also kept track of the battle results, so if one side won each time (ahem, dwarves), I would let them add an extra general.

OK, the hardest thing to do with a game is to introduce it to new players, no? Especially those who have never played a cooperative game. And this is a good intro to co-op games.
So, here’s my spiel when explaining Camelot. My jokes are all bad, so be prepared. Here goes:
*I compare most of the quests to poker hands: Black Knight is two pair, Lancelot’s Quest is a full house, and Pict and Saxon Wars are straights.
*I tell first-timers, “If it’s your first time playing, do not go on the Grail Quest, because it’s a boring trench war. We want you to want to play again. The experienced players will take care of that. It’s a quest that we don’t need to win, just one we don’t want to lose.”
*First-timers will often be overwhelmed with all the quests, so I’ll say, “All you have to remember is that it goes ‘Evil Turn, Good Turn, Heroic Sacrifice.'”
*If I’ve got a crowd that wants to play with the traitor mechanic, but we’ve also got a first-timer, then I’ll give the first-timer a Loyal card and say that player can’t accuse.
*When explaining the sharing of hands at the beginning of the game, I either tell the new players to show me their hand or say, “Throw the card in that does not look like the others.”
*The more people at the table, the harder Lancelot’s armor is to get and the less good it does.
*If you want to remember which War figurines are which, remember that PIcts have PIercing weapons and sAXons have AXes.
*My girlfriend’s mother messed up a War because she didn’t see that one of the cards had been laid down already. So from then on, I’ve been turning the Pict and Saxon Fight Cards upside-down so that you can definitely see that there’s a card there instead of having it slip into the camouflage of the board.
*About posthumous wins, I say, “If you die and we win, we erect a statue in your honor.” This helps people unfamiliar with cooperative games.
*Sir Palamdes is a good knight for a first-timer, just because it’s a really easy power to keep track of. If someone gets Sir Palamedes for the first time, I tell them, “His name is Sir Pala-mooch-es and his job is to swoop in at the last moment and mooch off the rewards of the quest. So do so.” I had one new player who wasn’t familiar with cooperative games and she got really mad when someone else “took credit for my work”. I explained to her that it was a cooperative game and that Sir Palamedes is an immigrant and like most immigrants, though he uses resources of our country, he ultimately gives back more than he takes.
*When explaining ties, I tell people, “Evil wins all ties, just like in Florida (in 2000).” (Sorry if that offends you, but it helps people remember it.)

I often to forget to take a familiar after having defeated my first monster and that screws up the game a bit. So, to help me remember, I take one familiar for each player and place them face down under the Rank 1 monster. This way, I remember to grab a familiar when I defeat my first monster.