Here we go again! Here's a character based on an idea I had some time ago and that has spent some time on my desk in one version or another. It's a mercenary again, not a powerful, flashy fighter this time but a support character who has several skills to accomplish missions and who gives every faction access to some important equipment tokens. And he's quite good at managing resources!

John Smith

Faction: Mercenary
Skills: Dexterity, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Mechanics, Strategy, Weaponry

AV: 5/4/4/3
SV: 5/4/4/3
MeV: 5/5/4/4
MoV: 7/6/6/5

Special object:
Superior Resource Management: Ability. Once per game, if you use a token from your inventory that has to be discarded or placed on the board, you may instead discard this token or place it on the board.

Combat pack:
Luger P-08 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. When you attack with this weapon, your target may not counterattack.
F1 Fragmentation grenade (disposable): Grenade.
AN-M11 (disposable): Smoke Grenade. This token follows all of the rules for Smoke Grenades. However, instead of placing Smoke tokens, this weapon places Fire tokens. Each time a character enters a circle on the same path as a Fire token, he suffers three Automatic Successes.

Stamina pack:
Luger P-08 (disposable): See Combat pack.
M15 (disposable): Smoke Grenade.
First Aid Kit (disposable): Hardware. As an action, discard this token to dial up your health indicator token or an adjacent character’s health indicator token by up to two rows.

Command pack:
Luger P-08 (disposable): See Combat pack.
Last-ditch effort: Ability. If you did not attack during your activation, you may discard this token at the end of your activation to get another complete activation after all other characters have been activated.
Support specialist: Ability. Add +2 to your side’s initiative rolls. Additionally, you may discard this token at the beginning of any turn to automatically win the initiative roll.

About your zombie Master idea...

I am just throwing these ideas out there to try and throw in my own suggestions for making the character unique.

1) The zombie master should be a decent character on his own. Just slightly weaker then any normal hero.

2) He should start with 2 zombies. He should be able to make more.

3) The zombies should bolster EACH OTHER. NOT the master. The master rasies them and the more of them there are the better they get.

So... lets see how you can do that. First the zombies...

-Zombies should have no packs. They should have their own innate abilities. Perhaps his character card will include the zombies base line stats below his own.

-The zombies should have a 3 in combat, stamina, a null mental value, and a 4 movement value. Slow but can still get around.

-Zombies have a single health level (like viovodes).

-Zombies get a +1 to both combat and stamina for every other zombie in play.

-The maximum number of zombies should be 5 (capping their combat and stamina at 7).

-The zombie master can have 12 two sided zombie tokens. One side depicts the zombie itself. The other depicts a corpse. When a hero or trooper dies you place a corpse token on the circle where he died.

-The zombie masters unique item should be a Raise Dead spell. As an action flip any one corpse token on your path over making it into a zombie minion. The minions each act on your activation, but can only move OR attack (This makes them slow, but with enough of them it is more about cornering a person and then all attacking then it is about moving and attacking). They cannot check crates, carry equipment, or interact with any other type of circle.

-Zombies are considered weapons themselves and thus make melee attacks with 4 dice.

Combat pack - Zombie Lord. Start the game with 2 zombie Minions.

Weapon, Pistol

Undead Might. Zombies 1 extra die on attack rolls.

Command Pack - Zombie Master. Start the game with 3 zombie minions.

Weapon, Pistol

Undead Horde. Zombies have +1 to movement.

Stamina Pack - Zombie Lord. Start the game with 2 zombie minions.

Weapon, Pistol

Undead Toughness. Zombies receive 1 extra die on shock rolls.

This, I think, makes the zombies a unique mechanic that separates them entirely from viovodes or anything else in Tannhauser. They now act as the primary equipment of the hero who is fairly weak without them. He boosts them, first with his pack, and second by making more. They protect him by acting as a buffer between him and enemies. But even when maxed out on stats they still only have a single health level making them easy enough to kill off.

The reason for the move OR attack is a single activation getting a potential 6 attacks is too much, IF they can move towards a target and then just murder the **** out of him. But if they have to move OR attack, it means all the characters who are faster then them have to run from them or risk being surrounded. The more of them there are the harder it is to run, and especially the harder it is to bull rush through them (emulating some very nice zombie movie cliches). 1 zombie is easy to deal with. 5 zombies is a mad dash while shooting behind you.

However, corner a character in the middle of a room where the zombies can actually surround him and 6 attacks becomes the reward for pulling off such a crazy feat with such slow moving characters.

Hi Lance, I really like your ideas concerning the Zombie master. Although I wanted the Zombies to be actual miniatures (mainly because I wanted to have cool Zombie figures lurking around on the board), I think your idea to represent the Zombies with the double-sided tokens is great: It's simple, elegant and certainly unique. And you can easily have a large group of Zombies to boot!

I'd really like to form a new Zombie master character including your ideas if I find the time. However, I'm still unsure of one thing: The Reich basically gets all these Zombies for free. Even if the number of Zombies is capped at 5, that could be 5 additional attacks! Even if you aren't able to max out the number, you can possibly count on having 1 or 2 extra attacks per turn. That's really powerful, maybe a bit too powerful!

Although I have to think again about this said point, your ideas are very cool, especially the one concerning the double-sided corpse/zombie tokens. Thanks a lot!

??! said:

Thanks. I agree the number of attacks is powerful. That is why I tried to balance it by...

1) Making it so they have to attack OR move. The number of potential attacks being a huge benefit decreases significantly when the other guy basically has to let you stand next to them to have them attack (Or manage to get them to surround him).

2) Making that attack not so effective unless you have a lot of zombies.. which means either your side has to be dieing (and resurrected as zombies) or their side has to be dieing (and resurrected as zombies) or some combination of both.

3) The zombie master himself is pretty crappy without them. They are basically his gun and occupy several slots of his equipment. 1 to make them, 2 to start with some, 3 to adjust them based on pack. Otherwise he just gets a pistol and yea, that can be upgraded when people die/crates but it's all hes got until then.

4) They only have 1 hit. Grenades would be super effective agaisnt them and then the only way to get more would be to make more, which means you dieing or killing some enemies. While 5 is as good as they get I don't see someone actually getting 5 very often.

5) I can think of combinations where using abilities of other heroes (such as Itami) you could force enemies to move to the zombies to make use of their attack, but there are precious few places on ANY board where you can have 5 characters surrounding a single adjacent circle. You would need a pretty exact set of circumstances to ever make use of all the zombies attacking.

Coupled with their slow movement it's more the FEAR that you could have 5 extra attacks a round then the truth that you will likely never actually get 5 extra attacks a round that makes the zombies a threat. You can force retreats, block corridors, and control the field with the number of units without ever actually dishing out the damage they could be dishing out if the enemy lets them. But they have to LET them or you have to get **** lucky.

Finally, I was thinking the zombies would be able to make use of command points. Both to counter attack people who got into melee range of them to kill them and to get at least one of them to move and attack in a single activation. But this would be limited by your number of command points (of course) and potentially a waste of those command points. Certainly other characters have stronger attacks using more dice with better special abilities? Surely shrugging off some damage is better spent on characters with more then one health level that can just be resurrected from another corpse? But it becomes and interesting tactical choice and interesting choices is the very definition of good game play mechanics.

Hi everybody! I didn't develop a new custom character myself this time, I merely put together Lance's great ideas concerning a Zombie master character. Both the Zombie master and his Zombies are completely different from those I suggested here, but I absolutely love them. As I said before, the game mechanic using Corpse/Zombie tokens is wonderful. Enjoy the character, and thanks again, Lance!

Lance’s Zombie master

Faction: Reich
Skills: Archaeology, Command, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Sangfroid, Strategy

AV: 5/4/4/3
SV: 5/5/4/3
MeV: 5/4/4/3
MoV: 6/6/5/4

Special object:
Raise the Dead: Ability, Occult. Whenever a character (except a mechanical being) dies, you may place a Corpse/Zombie token with the Corpse side up on the circle where the character died. If you share a path with a Corpse/Zombie token and there are less than five Zombies in play, you may spend your action to flip the token over so that the Zombie side is up.

Combat pack:
Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol.
Zombie Lord: Ability, Occult. At any time during your first activation, place two Corpse/Zombie tokens on your path with the Zombie side up.
Zombie frenzy: Ability, Occult. Each Zombie rolls one extra die when making attack rolls.

Stamina pack:
Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol.
Zombie Lord: Ability, Occult. At any time during your first activation, place two Corpse/Zombie tokens on your path with the Zombie side up.
Zombie toughness: Ability, Occult. Each Zombie receives one automatic success when making a shock roll.

Command pack:
Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol.
Zombie Overlord: Ability, Occult. At any time during your first activation, place three Corpse/Zombie tokens on your path with the Zombie side up.
Zombie charge: Ability, Occult. Each Zombie receives +1 to his Movement value.

Zombie

AV: 3 + X
SV: 3 + X
MeV: --
MoV: 4

X = Number of other Zombies in play

Zombie special rules:
Each Zombie (that is, each Corpse/Zombie token that has the Zombie side up) may either move or attack immediately after the Zombie master’s activation. Zombies may not perform other actions then attacking. Zombies are always equipped with a Hand-to-Hand weapon. Zombies may use Command points like normal characters.

While I didn’t have any time to think about interesting TH characters for some time now, I retrieved this one that had been collecting dust on my desk. It is actually one of the first characters I ever thought of. I wanted to create kind of an occult version of the Hound Dog, an extra character for the Reich that is controlled by another character or token. I thought of a genie (“Djinn” in German) that is trapped in an oil lamp and bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp, just like the genie in the tale of Aladdin and his enchanted lamp (“Aladins Wunderlampe” in German). Hope you like it.

Reich bonus token:
“Aladins Wunderlampe”(disposable): Hardware, Occult. You control Djinn. Djinn enters play when you spend an action to place him in a circle adjacent to you. Djinn activates immediately after your activation. Djinn moves like a normal character, but may only perform an action if you did not perform an action in your activation.
This token may only be given to a Reich-affiliated Hero.

Djinn

Faction: Reich
Skills: Athletics, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Sneak

AV: 6/6/4
SV: 4/4/2
MeV: -/-/-
MoV: 8/8/4

Djinn special rules:
Djinn is neither hero nor trooper and does not count as one of your five characters. Djinn does not have regular equipment packs. Instead, he is equipped with two equipment tokens chosen from the following list. Djinn may not be given bonus tokens. Djinn may not be healed.

Celerity: Ability. Add +2 to your current Movement value.
Limited Visibility: Ability. Add +2 to your current Stamina value.
Ethereal Scimitar: Weapon, Hand-to-Hand.
Bodyguard: Ability. If Djinn’s controller is declared the target of an attack, you may choose Djinn to be the target instead, if he is a legal target for the attack.
Spectral blast: Ability. As an action, inflict four automatic attack successes to every character other than Djinn’s controller adjacent to Djinn. Remove Djinn from play.
Flight: Ability. Djinn may move through enemy characters without needing to Bull Rush. Enemy characters may move through Djinn without needing to Bull Rush. Djinn may neither Bull Rush nor be Bull Rushed.

Überläufer (Defector)

Background: In times of war, it is not unheard of common soldiers or sometimes even high-ranking officers to flee their units, comrades and nations to join up with their former enemies, often taking both valuable equipment and valuable information with them. The motivation for those defectors ("Überläufer" in German) to shift affiliations can be diverse: Some soldiers are bribed, some want to barter their knowledge or equipment for a position of power, some were given orders they were unwilling or unable to follow, some seek a better life in a different nation.

Special rules: Although Überläufer counts as a Hero and so no player may control two Überläufers, two different players may include one Überläufer in each of their teams. In multiplayer games, every player may choose to play one Überläufer.

Faction: none
Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Sangfroid, Sneak, Strategy, Weaponry

AV: 5/5/4/3
SV: 5/4/4/3
MeV: 4/4/3/3
MoV: 7/7/6/6

Special object:
Loyalty shift: Ability. During setup when packs are chosen, the player controlling Überläufer selects two affiliation symbols already present in that player’s team. These affiliation symbols are added to Überläufer’s character sheet. After the affiliation symbols are chosen, Überläufer is associated only with these affiliations. He does not count as a Mercenary or being factionless.

“Corrupted Corporal” pack:
Union strategy revealed: Ability. All characters with any Union affiliation symbols subtract 1 from their Combat value.
Weapon theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for an equipment token with the Weapon trait that shows any Union trooper on the back side.
Equipment theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for any equipment token that shows disposable equipment on the front side and any Union trooper on the back side.

“Deserted Feldwebel” pack:
Reich strategy revealed: Ability. All characters with any Reich affiliation symbols subtract 1 from their Mental value.
Weapon theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for an equipment token with the Weapon trait that shows any Reich trooper on the back side.
Equipment theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for any equipment token that shows disposable equipment on the front side and any Reich trooper on the back side.

“Illoyal Efreitor” pack:
Matriarchy strategy revealed: Ability. All characters with any Matriarchy affiliation symbols subtract 1 from their Stamina value.
Weapon theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for an equipment token with the Weapon trait that shows any Matriarchy trooper on the back side.
Equipment theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for any equipment token that shows disposable equipment on the front side and any Matriarchy trooper on the back side.

“Dishonored Shujin” pack:
Shogunate strategy revealed: Ability. All characters with any Shogunate affiliation symbols subtract 1 from their Movement value.
Weapon theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for an equipment token with the Weapon trait that shows any Shogunate trooper on the back side.
Equipment theft: Ability. Before the start of the game, exchange this token for any equipment token that shows disposable equipment on the front side and any Shogunate trooper on the back side.

As you see, it’s a character that every player can use, but not a mercenary. Instead, Überläufer will get all advantages of belonging to a certain faction while putting an opposing faction at a disadvantage. Plus, Überläufer will have access to a diverse set of equipment tokens. On top of that, you won’t even need a new miniature to play Überläufer because you could just use a matching trooper figure.
Now that I think of it, an expansion pack for Überläufer could be produced quite cheap because there would be no need to include a miniature. One could of course go just the other way and release a rather expansive pack containing repainted miniatures of four different troopers – but at least, no one would have to design new miniatures because the troopers already exist. Just a thought …