Looks like Miah's first preview article for the Frankenstahl is up. Thanks Miah! Anyway, my thoughts… Interesting that it has to be on a team with an Obscura Korps hero and that you can field two of them. Not as big a fan of the names of its weapons. I preferred the Take On You "Hellfire Cannon" over the "Shoulder Cannon" that we got, but that's sort of a minor point.

On the other hand, Abomination is a nice ability. Miah already mentioned using Heizinger to force enemies to run towards the Frankenstahl. I can imagine another combo with the Hermetica Occulta and Eye of Horus. Abomination forces the opponent to duel the Frankenstahl. If the opponent fails, it loses its activation and has to move away. In order to move, it has to duel against Heizinger. If it fails that, it cannot move. It then receives two automatic wounds - one from Abomination because it could not move and one from Heizinger's Eye of Horus… a Reich team could practically sit on an objective and dare its opponents to enter its path!

Some other potential ideas:

Itami with Subdue could work with Abomination since that forces adjacent figures to duel Itami before they can move. Not as easy to use as Heizinger's Hermetica Occulta though.

Maybe less useful, but still a fun idea, Horbringer could use his Chronograph to dump figures on the same path as the Frankenstahl. If using Itami, this could be one way to get the enemy figure next to Itami…

Frankenstahl sounds great! Can't wait to get it - probably even getting two of them!

Thanks Miah! Your dedication and fanaticism to the game does you credit.

---bows

There are any new bonus tokens with Franky?

There are no bonus tokens.

Your second Frankenstahl preview is just as fascinating as the first one. I think I really have to get two of them. Maybe I should nickname them "Frank" and "Stahl"?

Now that I think of it, some of the Tannhäuser factions have quite a lot of options available for team building now (or are going to have them soon, considering Frankenstahl).

A Union player has several characters to choose from, can build specialized teams with members that support each other well (smoke-heavy team for example) and can build teams including different numbers of Heroes and Troopers because of Edison's special abilities.

A Reich player is able to choose between several characters as well, can build teams that play totally different (focusing on melee or focusing on out-of-path attacks) and will soon be able to build teams of different size because of a powerful Epic Hero that can be included in a team twice (!!!).

A Matriarchy player also has several characters and several strategies to choose from, as a team including Zor'ka plays absolutely different from a team centering around Oksana. Different main characters result in totally different strategies. On top of that, a Matriarchy player has the option to include a powerful Epic Hero and the option to choose between "normal" Troopers and Voivodes, which results not only in different team sizes but also in different skills, abilites, special rules and so on.

The only one that get's absolutely shafted is the Shogunate player who doesn't get even one additional character to have a minimum of variation in team building. This is just not fair.

We solved it by homeruling that Asteros and Wolf belong to the shogunate (no longer mercenaries) and that Hoss counts as both Reich and Shogunate (like Oksana counts both as Matriarchy and Union). This gave the shogunate more flexibility, badly needed shooting power and an epic of its own.

I have been working on re-skinning asteros as the Red Oni, keeping its rules intact but as we just dont use the Epics I kinda dropped the project.

Moebius said:

I similary solved that problem in the campaign I'm working on by including Wolf to the Shogunate, but use no Epic characters. And I also think about creating an additional Shogunate character by myself. That will be my next project after finishing the campaign.

While I'd dislike using Hoss with the Shogunate because he just screams out "Reich" to me, I think you are right about adding Wolf and probably Asteros to the characters available for the Shogunate, especially Wolf as he adds some ranged power to the Shogunate. I really like the idea about repainting Asteros into a red oni. In fact, some time ago I thought about getting a second Itami and repainting him. Maybe a mix of Asteros and Itami would make a great red oni - Itami's miniature plus a mixture of stats and tokens from Asteros and Itami. But will I ever find some time to spare for this project? Probably not.

??! said:

One of the best features of Tannhauser, in my opinion, is the way it gives you so many ways to build your team. It reminds me of a card game like Magic sometimes, and if they ever make a Second Edition, I'd love to see FFG continue this aspect of the game.

I also agree that the Shogunate needs more options. They're hardly a complete faction as it stands, and it is really a pity.

You are right of course, the team building options are one of the great aspects of Tannhäuser. I don't think it is coincidence that the last characters released (for some time at least) introduce lots of options to even build teams of variable size to the two central factions of Tannhäuser. Exploring all these options probably will take months of playing time. It's just too bad that the Shogunate is somehow left out of this. Not only do they lack options, the only team they have is not a match for the other factions.

??! said:

My approach (due to my dislike of epics) was to use "Asteros Hero Version" Meaning, Pick Asteros, Drop his top Row and Substract 1 to all stats. Drop all the special rules like epic penalties, unlimited bull rushing and so on and you are basically good to go. Also making his weapon count as Bonus Token (as his equipment is really good already)

This way you might keep the tokens and equipment cards and sont have to change the rules or prit your tokens, you just need to print the new character sheet and find a good mini.

I played 2 games with this setup these were my thoughts after the games:

1- He fits perfectly as shogunate hero, as he is h2h oriented.

2- Unfortunately he is still a tad overwpowered and Itami becomes a "Tala" like character, only good as cheerleader, you would never pick Itami over the Red oni. On the second game the setup was 2 Shin agents, Iroh, Wolf (aptly renamed as "Gaijin Agent"), and Red Oni.

On Hoss "screaming Reich" to you, I find this interesting as it is all the opposite to me:

My interpretation of his fluff is that he just uses the Reich to his own agenda and keeps no loyalty but to his own. He also naturally antagonizes Heizinger as they fight for the same resources (obscure objects) and has mixed artifacs from any kind of origin and pantheon to his use, to me he is the only Reich character that is not either brainwashed by the Reich polity or Hermann. He has been around for over a thousand years, the Reich is just a fade that will go away to him… He would just as well approach the Shogun for puntual collaboration without breaking treaty with the reich as the UMTOMA accords give him a pretext and he is too useful/dangerous to the reich to risk casting him out.

Gameplay wise he is THE balancing factor that gives the Shogunate a viable strategy other than the blind charge and hope for the best (very WW I thematic otherwise)

- Vs Union grants out of path attacks, with Command denies Edison extra CP and Reichdoktoring Iroh (having Iroh equipped with combat + elizabeth bathory to heal up) is the way to kill Union tough guys.

-Vs Reich, he is the one to break into "Hermann Turtle" with his out of path attack and mental 7

-Vs Matriarchy He is the one inmune to h2h and thus Zorka and the voivodes (due to prescience) and if facing oksana can swich places with her and kill her with the others

If you are playing something like a campaign or series of games the shogunate player needs him to be on equal terms with the others.

Moebius said:

Seems to be true of the figures we have, which is probably what you mean.

If we de-rail the subject a little though, the background implies multiple agendas within the Reich. One of the flavor pieces for the Frankenstahl implies that Von Karloff has his own agenda and keeps secrets from the rest of the Reich, just like Horbringer and Heizinger seem to do. I'm really quite curious how many people within the Reich know about the Kaiser, and how many are actually loyal to him…

Back to the discussion on hand, maybe the Shogunate could have a weaker, non-epic version of the Frankenstahl as well. One could imagine that their mutual interest in biology might lead to some trade in basic information between Von Karloff and the Shogunate, or perhaps the Shogunate captures a fallen Frankenstahl and uses it as a subject for the Han'ei project.

That could be an interesting character - the tortured mind(s) of the Frankenstahl vying for control with the template of the Emperor's consciousness… maybe the Shogunate could also modify the Shoulder Cannon to release smoke, which would fit in with their tactics. Imagine, the fear of a Union soldier who can hear the dull thud of the monster's footsteps, but can see neither the abomination nor the whisper quiet ninja that snuck in behind the monster! =)