On the topic of the article, though:

Join us in our next preview for a closer look at the new monsters in this expansion, and pre-order your copy of The Chains That Rust at your local retailer today!

I would.

If I could.

No Swedish retailer so far has The Chains that Rust up for pre-order, and as far as I know, nobody knows when The Chains that Rust is even supposed to be available, apart from "Q3 2016". That's anywhere from July to August, assuming FFG even keeps on-schedule. Some more information along these lines would no doubt help.

Q3 anywhere from july to august ?

I would say july to september !

Q3 anywhere from july to august ?

I would say july to september !

Derp. I meant July to September, I have no idea why I ended up writing August.

I'm a bit surprised they did not announced next things.

And since at last 1 hero from the first edition was shown for Runebound and wasn't in any H&M pack, i'm almost sure more are comming, and I want to see it now !

Another news of Chains has been announced: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/7/6/the-undead-rise/

A preview to those new monsters. They look really nice.

It has also been upgraded to 'On the Boat'. Didn't notice that.

I´m confused by the use of the definite article on the monster name "The Dispossessed". It sounds like the name of one specific creature. But my guess is that it refers to the name of a mob, like "the Returned", "the Hive", "the Zombie Horde", but that doesn't make any sense to me in that context. Just a detail, I guess. Quite uninsipired as well? I mean, they could have made up a name for this creature?

I like Ethereal Hold as an ability, but the overall usefullness of this monster seems quite narrow. The optimal placement for these monsters is far away from the heroes, preferably at the end of a very long corridor to try to achieve LoS, so they can Fearbrand and teleport the next turn. As I see it the 2 move can be used to move away after gaining LoS and Fearbranding out, so other The Dispossessed (this is really weird - I know) can get LoS and perform the same shenaningans. But yeah, if you don't have LoS when you start the encounter, then the 2 move might not be enough to allow you to get it. Another way to look at it is that this monster is designed to waste its first turn to setup up the next one. And if you cannot get LoS then it gets worse, because you cannot do anything, as abysmal move of 2 won't make these monsters escape a hero attack. If they catch you before you can use Ethereal Hold then it's kind of a waste of open group.

But sure, let's say they can be setup and use Fearbrand.Then the cool stuff happens and your monsters just go woosh around the heroes, for those who could Fearbrand earlier. But then that's it, because the minions do virtually no damage, so it's basically just for the master to try and deal Terrify. Is it worth choosing these monsters as an open group? Do many quests feature maps that allow these types of monsters to get LoS from long range? What's sure is that the only strength these monsters have is that the Overlord can decide when to engage. The heroes know which hero tokens have been stacked on these monster bases, but it's going to be difficult to spread out the party so the weaker link stays more than 3 spaces away from any marked hero. But what they risk is just a Terrify condition. It's not the same as a Dark Minotaur or Ynfernael Hulk ambushing them.

The Marrow Priest card really looks cool and I´m looking forward to using these monsters against hero parties with lower average on Knowledge. The dream would be to do the same thing as Enchanter Unkindness's Envelop, e.g. just run away with the priests so the heroes get stuck and unable to heal. That would be hilarious indeed!

I´m confused by the use of the definite article on the monster name "The Dispossessed". It sounds like the name of one specific creature. But my guess is that it refers to the name of a mob, like "the Returned", "the Hive", "the Zombie Horde", but that doesn't make any sense to me in that context. Just a detail, I guess. Quite uninsipired as well? I mean, they could have made up a name for this creature?

I think that's exactly what it is, just like a "Rat Swarm". It looks like at least 3 heads in the picture, so I just assumed it was a group of spirits.

Also, yes, I think a long hallway could be great. They could also function well over elevation lines or other types of terrain (lava, pits, water). Hard to get to them, easy for them to get to the heroes.

I like the dispossessed, great sculpt and the ability to teleport in a couple of these to form an on demand wall could be great.

Very situational and will really only be used in a few quests.

At least with the app they will get buffs to make them a bit scarier.

The Marrow Priest card really looks cool and I´m looking forward to using these monsters against hero parties with lower average on Knowledge. The dream would be to do the same thing as Enchanter's Envelop, e.g. just run away with the priests so the heroes get stuck and unable to heal. That would be hilarious indeed!

I believe you are referring to the Unkindness Envelop card. It seems like a cool one, but I've never acquired it before - investing heavily in Unkindness is a pretty tall order considering how weak the other cards are in general.

Yeah sorry, it's a card from the Unkindness class, as you pointed out. But I like the cards in that class. Sudden Flurry, Imitation are decent level 2 cards. But it requires investing heavily into that tree, and I agree with you there are better choices out there. Globally speaking this class is completely tied to the use of the servant, which makes everything fall flat if you don't have the servant within operational range. Heroes learn to know better and try to get as much distance as possible from the servant or try to make it a priority for their attacks before it can do any of its nasty stuff on them.

Otherwise yes, it's almost impossible to justify paying for a Level 3 OL card in that game. The cumulative value and useability range of three level 1 cards is so vastly superior in comparison, so you would never consider purchasing a "maybe will be highly relevant in one encounter" card. I´ve tried them all, but none of them have the advertised wide impact on the game in a normal situation. Treacherous Shadows (Shdaowmancer) is probably the one I´ve been using the most, but you kind of have to try really hard. I´ve never been able to use Envelop as my servant always got killed the turn after.

Otherwise yes, it's almost impossible to justify paying for a Level 3 OL card in that game. The cumulative value and useability range of three level 1 cards is so vastly superior in comparison, so you would never consider purchasing a "maybe will be highly relevant in one encounter" card. I´ve tried them all, but none of them have the advertised wide impact on the game in a normal situation. Treacherous Shadows (Shdaowmancer) is probably the one I´ve been using the most, but you kind of have to try really hard. I´ve never been able to use Envelop as my servant always got killed the turn after.

Maybe this is true for some cards, but since downsizing the OL deck is extremely important, high powered cards are very valuable imo. Case in point I think the uthok demon trap from the saboteur deck is one of the most powerfull cards for the OL, especially in a small deck, where you may be able to play it 2 times in one quest.

Maybe this is true for some cards, but since downsizing the OL deck is extremely important, high powered cards are very valuable imo. Case in point I think the uthok demon trap from the saboteur deck is one of the most powerfull cards for the OL, especially in a small deck, where you may be able to play it 2 times in one quest.

The problem is, there are many relatively high power level 1 cards out there, which you get access to long before you can purchase a level 3. Deck size is not a problem since you should always trim it to 15 anyway, it's just you have to make an informed choice as for which cards will make it into it each quest. That's what I do all the time. But yeah, one Blood Rage, one Dark Resilience and one Solidarity. besides the class you´re investing in. That's a crazy good choice you have already there covering many types of quests. Generally speaking, of course.

Three level 1 cards give you a ton of flexibility. A level 3 is... just one card. I´ll pass you the eventuality that it gets countered by Marshal, Elder Mok, or some ugly travel card, because that's when things are getting disastrous. It's always the same discussion you know, some people think using one single über monster is better than several small ones. In a vacuum, I´m not going to talk about weapon type, blast or anything here. The problem is that failing your defense roll on the über monster is far more disastrous than failing a couple of the same roll on the small monsters. Since luck is in the party (and this quite heavily), putting all eggs into the same basket can prove catastrophic, and definitely something I´ve experienced in the past. Don't get me wrong here, I sincerely don't know what's right or wrong, the answer is likely to be "it depends" and a mix of these configurations. But my point is that you take a risk by going all in on a monster or card and leaving the rest unconsidered, stuff that might not be as powerful individually, but grant you flexibility and overall higher chance of adapting thus surviving and in the end winning an encounter.

I find that Uthuk Demon Trap is overrated. I mean no offense to the overlord players using it with great success, but barring the above considerations around the fact it's a level 3, I´ve found that the kill is rarely relevant at this stage of the campaign. My scout friends never dart away from the party, so that revival is what normally happens. Dying is just a delay, and sure it sometimes is all you need, but since you cannot dictate when to get that kill (searching is not something you see every turn, and then you need a good target for taking the attribute test), it often ends up being a small inconvenience. Plus the heroes would know it's coming anyway so it's not like you´ll have them panic over it or something. They'll heal the scout and carry on as if nothing happened. I would take Curse of the Monkey God over Uthuk to be honest.

I find Treacherous Shadow much more dangerous, for the hero parties that are low on Willpower ofc.

Another news of Chains has been announced: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/7/6/the-undead-rise/

A preview to those new monsters. They look really nice.

Man, I had to read the text for the Dispossessed a couple of times before I understood how it was supposed to work, but ****, that teleport thing they can do is potentially very powerful, especially since they don't enter any spaces when doing so - meaning they can avoid any pesky "when a monster moves into an adjacent space" and such.

They could just collect tokens for a turn or three, and then jump on the heroes when they least expect it.

Marrow Priests look interesting for some larger encounters with multiple monster groups or when the heroes must do something on a time limit. Just using Mortal Binding and then running away could be a good use of their abilities. Simply preventing the heroes from healing themselves until they waste time hunting down one of the priests. Could be mitigated by simply having one of the heroes be knocked out, though. Could vary between good and useless depending on player psychology.

Sad that we didn't get to see the Colossi, though.

Could be mitigated by simply having one of the heroes be knocked out, though. Could vary between good and useless depending on player psychology.

Not that easy if it means getting a Tainted Card

I still don't understand entirely how the ability works. Guess I'll wait for the release.

I think the Marrow Priests are scary, because of their Move 5 and their Shadow Step ability...

Want to kill them at range? Oh no! they move at you like a character out of Monty Python's Holy Grail.. move 5, move 5 move 5

And when they do attack, they stick you with Mortal Bindings, then when you attack them it`s "Run away! Run away!" move 5 move 5

Sad that we didn't get to see the Colossi, though.

Oh we did:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/5/11/the-chains-that-rust/

I like the punkture ability of the shampling colossus:

Puncture: Each of this monster's attacks ignores one shield for each defense die rolled by the target of the attack.

Very nice. If I understand that correctly, this is essentially piece(#defdice). So, having an additional brown defense dice is bad for the heroes since the brown die has on average 0.666 defense. If you roll a blank, then -1 should still apply. I.e. grey+brown with 2 shields +0 shields gives 0 defense. Rolling 2 shields with a single gray die would give 1 def.

This is bad for the heroes. A number of skills (beastmaster, deciple) give you a brown die.

I still don't understand entirely how the ability works. Guess I'll wait for the release.

As always with this game, you learn best about an ability after being obliterated to ashes by it.

Ability works this way: Trigger Fearbrand as an action to gain a hero token if that hero is in the monster's LoS. Just LoS, no range is necessary, and you always get the token, no attribute test or anything. Then at the start of the overlord turn (which means BEFORE your monster groups activate), for each The Dispossessed with one or more hero tokens on its base, you may decide to spend that token to remove the monster figure from the map and place it in any empty space within 3 spaces of that hero.

It's basically a "free" teleport. You can activate your monster group afterwards (not necessary as your first monster group though) and get 2 actions per monster.

So yeah, it requires you to setup that teleport by triggering Fearbrand once or twice and get these tokens,. That's why LoS is important.

You explained better than FFG this way. Thanks

Could be mitigated by simply having one of the heroes be knocked out, though. Could vary between good and useless depending on player psychology.

Not that easy if it means getting a Tainted Card

Not having played Mists of Bilehall, I did not think of that. That's a very good point.

Sad that we didn't get to see the Colossi, though.

Oh we did:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/5/11/the-chains-that-rust/

Good catch, I had completely forgotten.

I like the punkture ability of the shampling colossus:

Puncture: Each of this monster's attacks ignores one shield for each defense die rolled by the target of the attack.

Very nice. If I understand that correctly, this is essentially piece(#defdice). So, having an additional brown defense dice is bad for the heroes since the brown die has on average 0.666 defense. If you roll a blank, then -1 should still apply. I.e. grey+brown with 2 shields +0 shields gives 0 defense. Rolling 2 shields with a single gray die would give 1 def.

This is bad for the heroes. A number of skills (beastmaster, deciple) give you a brown die.

Do you have to roll all the dices in your defense/attack pool?

I believe yes. I don't know of any rule which would say otherwise.