Up until recently, I had always assumed that a creature's color determined how many slots it was meant to take on the war council for a particular adventure. With the dragons and creatures expansions, however, that does not appear to be the case. The newer cards explicitly state a level which is in many cases not the same as the one suggested by the creature's color. In fact, the only two creatures with a stated level greater than one are the blue and red dragons (2 and 3 respectively).

So, I went back through the rules concerning war council and creatures (including new creatures rules on this web site) to find clarification of how exactly to handle creature levels on the council. To my surprise, I found no mention whatsoever of creatures always occupying levels on the council. In fact, the only mention at all I found was on the conditions stated for some official adventures where it specifically showed that a creature should occupy a slot on one side's council to even things up.

Is there an official rule stated anywhere that creatures must always be represented on the war council, or should it be assumed that a particular adventure without a note to the contrary has already been play balanced with the setup as shown, and war council choices need not reflect the creature's presence?

Ok, I found the reference to creature levels on the war council in section 4.5 of the Call to Arms rule book. So I will revise my question. Should creature level only be reflected on the war council when using CtA deploment decks or when explicitly stated in a battle's description? Otherwise we can assume that the sides of a scenario have been pre-balanced with the creatures on the board as shown?

I'd assume you have to pay for creatures out of your war council levels. It's spelled out in the base set scenarios with the spider so I'd do the same with other scenarios where the creature is already part of the set-up.

Creatures always take levels on the war council, and up until the Dragons expansion, all creatures were level 1. For a creature not to take a level on the War Council there would have to be special rules within the adventure.

Adventure 6, A Complex Web , is the only official adventure I can think of where the creature doesn't take a level on the War Council. That is the first adventure that uses creatures, so the fact that it doesn't take a level on the WC is what confuses many, I'm sure.

EDIT: nevermind - Adventure 6 does use a level for the creature - just has a level 2 council vs a level 1 council. Sorry, Nematode, I tried to come up with a reason for your question, but I failed The rule bending going on in that adventure is that even though there are no levels assigned to the Commanders of either side, each has a command of 5.

EDIT II: Now I am confusing myself - I haven't played Adventure 6 in awhile, but I thought it used the "backside" of the War Council card - only the Wizard with no room for the other Lore Masters (and thus, no explicit level for the creature). Eh, doesn't matter much. Creatures do, normally, take a level (or levels, depending on the creature) on the WC.

The battles that come with the base game show the creature occupying a slot on the war council. This does seem to suggest a rule. I have been playing under the assumption that this rule exists.

The reason for my question is that I went searching through the rules for a clarification on creature level on the war council and discovered that I couldn't actually find anything in black and white to support my previous assumption. The only place I found it explicitly stated that a creature should be placed on the war council was in the setup rules using Call to Arms deployment decks.

So, I may be overthinking this, but it occured to me that after seeing several instances of the creature on the council (in the base game and epic) that I had inferred there to be a broader rule that the creature should always be on the council. None of the adventures in the other expansions show the creature on the council, but rather just a number for council size. This is perfectly fine if there is a stated rule about the creature needing to be on the council. My problem is I cannot find this rule anywhere, so I was just wondering if anybody knew where it was stated.

If I am to be in the business of inferring rules, the information I would have to go on would be:

1) there are 5 adventures showing the creature on the council.

2) there are about 16 adventures which include creatures but make no mention of the creature on the council. (rough count from all the rule books I own)

Having just this information to go on, I may guess that the 5 adventures showing the creature on the council were using a special rule for just that adventure to help balance the sides. The opposite assumption that a general rule exists for the creature on the council based on only a few instances of the rule being used seems a bit shakey to me.

I am really not trying to argue against this rule in any way. It's just that without a black and white source to go on, I'm left playing the game based on assumptions and inferences. This gets to be kind of a big deal when you start having a level 3 dragon on one side and no creature on the opposite side.

If somebody could please point out the page that I blindly missed in the manual, it would be appreciated....

In all seriousness, I am not trying to start any kind of debate. I just want an authoritative source for this rule since I have failed to find one.

No worries, Nematode - I've got a vassal game of C&C:Ancients to play, and then nothing better to do than dig through the rulebook

It is the rule though, 1 token per level of creature used, up to 3 levels allowed (though rules are meant to be broken )

Nematode said:

You are right about the rulebook for the base game being vague about this. The rulebook is great for learning the game from scratch, but leaves something to be desired in the 'quick check resource' department.

The best authoritative source for a good description of how to deploy creatures is from the currently defunct Creatures Compendium (hopefully FFG will make the 'defunct' designation obsolete , but for now, it can be found on www.battleloremaster.com here on the downloads page about 1/3 of the way down ):

3. Deployment - How are creatures deployed in the game? (FAQ)
2007-01-09 17:58:51
For the time being, Creatures should be deployed as indicated on the battle map of the adventure being played; or, in the case of customizable War Councils, by placing the required number of level tokens for the Creature on the War Council's sheet , in exchange for the right to place any single Creature of the player's choice in his camp.
In the case of customizable War Councils, the Creature must be deployed in its lair, if it has one (or next to it, in the case of the Earth Elemental, once successfully summoned). This lair (or the creature, if it has no lair) must be placed, at the start of the game, on an empty hex located on the 3rd or 4th row of hexes on the controlling player's side.
In the case of customizable War Councils, if the two players have each chosen to place a Creature level token on their War Council Sheet, the player with the most goblins gets the first choice from among available Creatures. If no Creature remains available for the other player, that player may instead reassign his level token to another Lore Master on his War Council sheet. If neither player has any goblin units on his side, and both have chosen a Creature level token, the starting player gets first choice.

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The placement using Call to Arms is not mentioned here, but the rules (until they are updated for multiple leveled creatures) are that the green creature banner on any of the deployment cards can represent any level 1 creature, and it does cost a war council level to field. Having a creature on the deployment card is the only way to field a creature, unless neither player fields a creature from the deployment cards, in which case the normal creature placement rules as stated above apply.

Thank you very much for the extremely thorough answer. That was one resource I was unaware of.

You are welcome

Also, I meant to add my opinion in regards to the Call to Arms rules: Until (if?) FFG updates CtA through either new decks or just a rules adjustment, I see no reason that the green creature banner on the current CtA deployment cards cannot be used for any creature. The game will continue to have its intended balance if one allows any creature to be selected through the cards or through war council construction if no creatures have been selected through the cards. The balance is maintained through the level requirements and victory banner value of the creature selected.