Today, I got my hands on Shards of Everdark.

As many of you know, I am the originator and maintain the thread Index of Useful Links that can be found at the top of the forum.

Part of this effort includes maintaining several key documents that I created for the benefit of myself as well as the players within whom I play.

When I updated several documents with the Shards of Everdark information, I was shocked with the whole sale changes that were made to the Shade monsters. Not only in what was changed when compared to the Conversion Kit version, but the complete abandonment by FFG of patterns that they have maintained for virtually every other monster in this game.

I realize that some things have changed with many of the Conversion Kit monsters and heroes for balance issues, but these were fairly extreme. And then, they implement some interesting features with the Shade monsters that have never really been done before.

For example, the speed of the monsters from Act I to Act II changes. In addition the attack dice change as well (not just adding dice, but literally changing those used between Act I and Act II).

The Dark Minotaur monsters have the same speed and health for both minion and master monster, with only their defense changing (brown for minion, black for master). This is true for both Act I and Act II monsters.

I must say, I find the special abilities of the Dark Minotaurs to be interesting, and kind of funny.

Anyway, I thought I would just share my surprise. It will be interesting to see how this plays ...

EDIT: Additional observation and a rant.

First, the observation. The minis, especially for the heroes, are effing huge compared to many other heroes. Not necessarily bad, but it is a large difference.

Second, the rant. FFG ... why in g-d's name did you send my Ice Wyrms in like 5 pieces, requiring me to put the **** thing together, tearing my fingers in the process. Are you serious? And I don't even want to hear about how they may break, etc. It wasn't necessary with any of your other large and/or huge monsters, so why now? In addition, I have many, many minis from many games, and have never had to do this before. And I really didn't want to have to use the needle nose pliers that I did to get the various pieces to seat properly. At least I remembered to put tissues between the jaws so as to not leave marks on the mini. FFG, please do NOT do this anymore.

Rant understood. However, I must urge you to give the shades a chance- yes, they're different- but oh boy, they're fun. Flicker is finally a monster answer to the knight's "oath of honor", and soul shackle is to die for. I'd also like to offer a friendly reminder that shades are not the first to do this- razorwings have varied speed between the master and minions.

The dark minotaurs are a little silly- but they have fantastic synergy with any cards or decks which rely on conditions (especially disease, of course).

The scale of the heroes minis in some packs (and the last lieutenants) are really a mess.

Like Zaltyre said, its not the first time that speed/dice change on monsters between acts. (If I ever manage to release the d2etracker update, you'll have a good overview of that). I don't rember the skills exactly (and dont have the cards with me atm) so cant comment on that. But I think the Ice Wyrms were sent like that because otherwise they wouldn't have fit in the standard H&M box, and I think this was easier than starting up a new factory line to produce boxes for one single expansion?

Not sure on the problem you had with the Wyrms that required pliers and your fingers being "torn to shreds". Mine just all slotted together, pushed in nicely, and feel really firm.

I may take them apart again before painting, then glue them once finished, but that's fairly standard with large models in other games I have played (Pathfinder, Reaper Minis, Game Workshop games, Rebellion etc)

I must say, Shades losing Fly feels odd, considering their immaterial nature. Flicker feels infinitely more appropriate than Leech, though.

Having shades taking damage from falling, from lava, and moving slower in water just feels.. wrong.

I must say, Shades losing Fly feels odd, considering their immaterial nature. Flicker feels infinitely more appropriate than Leech, though.

Having shades taking damage from falling, from lava, and moving slower in water just feels.. wrong.

Not sure on the problem you had with the Wyrms that required pliers and your fingers being "torn to shreds". Mine just all slotted together, pushed in nicely, and feel really firm.

I may take them apart again before painting, then glue them once finished, but that's fairly standard with large models in other games I have played (Pathfinder, Reaper Minis, Game Workshop games, Rebellion etc)

LOL ... I guess I have to blame it on age. I am a great deal older than the average gamer on this forum. This results in certain dexterity issues. Nevertheless, I still stand by my statements. It was very difficult to put the model together, as mine most certainly did not slot together nicely. Further, since I did have difficulty, I had to grip the ridges of the spines of the Ice Wyrms and those are what cut into the fingers. At 75 years of age, skin just doesn't bounce back the way it use to ...

FFG has been able to create Giants, Golems, Dragons, and the like for previous games without having to have them come in pieces ... many of which are far larger than the Ice Wyrms included. Having said that, to be fair, the H&M expansion box is not all that large, so I guess I need to make allowances for that ...

Still, I think it would have been possible for it to come in perhaps two pieces (the body and the base) without much issue ...