http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1203

Thank you Marius for another fine Friday article.

So, the serpent subtype is here. Marius indicates that his ability will be similar to serpents to come, and that more powerful serpents may be less restricted in similar ability. And more deep ones are coming. Perhaps the Esoteric Order of Dagon is due, seeing as it is mentioned.

Again, the collector numbering is a mystery. Cthulhu at F4? What's the pack gonna look like?

Cthulhu may be back on the charge. This is the part of the game where cthulhu needs help, the bridge to the big guns. I like the terror as compliment to deep ones' lack thereof.

The H.P. Zealia partnership is back on. Makes me miss Yig. Doubt MU feels the same way. Walker's Oklahoma wife kills a brood of rattle snakes and Yig is not happy.

Ortiz' illustration (Laboring Gug his best) is a bit of a mystery to me. I like it but it sure is colorful and hard to nail down.

(copied from another thread)

this card should easily force the opponent to over commit to stories. also could be a very handy defense character.

maybe we will see another yig soon.........

Can you pay one twice and change both terrors to combat. Seems so, but some may parse the language.

and more time if you give terror bonus to the Brood and of course each time drain a domain to pay 1.

Whereas CCG had some amazing synergy, LCG has ratcheted up the stats and put out some powerful characters for the cost. They seem to surpass any CCG "equivalent" with the added strength of their ability.

As example, the four other two cost two terror characters were classic Keeper of the Golder Path 3 skill, cool promo Profane Messenger , and defense only old Cannibal Ghast 1 cost 4 skill. None of those cats had a cool ability. None have a versatile ability like Baby Yig . New Dreamlands Dream Parasite helps make the same point. It performs a powerful copy forced response.

I like the mechanic behind this. In theory it has the potential to force your opponent to be more defensive. It depends on what the other Serpent Men have as their ability swaps.

The hardest part of the game is the commit, anticipating story struggle results and surveying the playing area for the possibilities. Baby Yig's new trickeration may make me almost throw the chess board out the window. My brain can only handle so many parameters before I say, what the heck, and commit what looks right. It's one thing to be thrown by good tactics. It's frustrating to watch a tactical error because you just didn't catch it with all the factors you're considering.

johnny shoes said:

Well, you can't worry too much about what's not on the table. Though you shouldn't be surprised by a DOA or Power Drain or the like, there are lots of secret set-ups to keep in mind. Brood of Yig is right there for the computing, true. A whole brood of snake characters, if similarly constructed, to me, will be mind bending.

johnny shoes said:

No matter what, Cthulhu still stays relatively slow. With just a few struggles that matter towards removal (namely Terror and Combat) - if the board is so snake-filled that it becomes confusing, it will rarely matter since it's easy just to have a few characters being sacrificial lambs towards your final run.

If 2 broods are committed to the same story, it rarely matters which snake gets the combat. They'll spend theird domains, probably spread the combat evenly, then you bring out shotgun.

This faction has a huge lake of tiny coasted characters and the Brood is something that will help the faction to start it's game not loosing two story before starting to play !

The Brood is strong, but you'd better consider the character has a versatile and "medium" character. He can't have a lot of Terror if you give him Combat and vice-versa. It's draw back is that he actually has decent stats but might leads you to doom if you don't play your domains well. Bad tactical choices may happens !!

PRODIGEE makes the point. And it supports Marius argument. Brood of Yig takes some game skill to play correctly. But, in the late game when CT rolls, being down two stories to rush is obviously a weaker position to be in.

And, great snakes...tomorrow's Friday!

johnny shoes said:

And what a friday it is!