| Gentlemen!
Actually… This article is for Nemesis…es…Nemesi… …People who are going to play the Nemesis. Gentlemen, go hang around the Unicorn Club and do whatever it is you do, we’re talking villainy here.
As you’re probably aware, we’ve unlocked a lot of additional Agents for you guys to play with during the campaign, so today we’re going to take a brief look on incorporating those guys into your games and how best to utilize them.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
So by the base rules of the game, each Scenario has two methods in which it can be played: Campaign Mode or a One-Shot Adventure.
During Campaign Mode, which relays the full story of that particular campaign, each Chapter will list what Agents should be used, as they are set by the story. For example, Rise of Moloch: Chapter I you will use Tobias and Emmerson, Chapter II will see Tobias, Emmerson, and Ira Kodich. These specific Agents are listed by the Chapter because of the story elements they play for the overall campaign.
 Tobias, the first antagonist the Gents will face! During a One-Shot Adventure, however, you can freely swap out the Agents you’re using with any that belong to the same group- as not to say you couldn’t do this during Campaign play either, but our fantastic writer has crafted a specific narrative for each of the campaigns, and you really should enjoy that at least once before changing things around!
So what defines each group? Well, we’re working with graphics to get some icons or text to clarify that, but basically you have The Cult, The Circus, The Embassy, etc etc. When selecting your Agents you should choose Agents that belong to that specific group. This is done for both thematic and balancing purposes- The Embassy guys are not going to really jive well with Chapters that focus on The Cult, due to their unique play-mechanics and such. Of course, if you want to ignore this and just play what you feel there is nothing stopping you- be warned though that balance might be a bit skewed if you go this route, either in favor of the Nemesis or in favor of the Gents, depending on… Well, a number of variables.
Some Gents, such as Nemo, have their own special Chapter associated with them (The Reform Club in this case) but otherwise don’t really fit in with any Faction. In these cases we’ve worked to make it so these guys can be worked into most any other faction. We’ll most likely have a rules card for them somewhere in your pledge that explains this.
 Nemo does as he pleases. THE ROLE OF MINIONS
Now, as you know, we also have Minions. Unlike Agents, you really should not change the Minions listed in each Chapter- this will throw balance off more than most anything else you can do. The Chapter will list what specific Minion should be used and you should only use those Minions. If you put Zombies in a Chapter that is supposed to have Clowns, they might be too slow to achieve the objectives of the Nemesis. If you mix Clowns into your Zombie scenario they might be too fast compared to what was intended.
This is increased ten-fold if you include the other Campaigns. Infected Bobbies are an immensely important aspect of The Embassy and if you replace them with Zombies/Clowns then, well, we can’t promise it will work.
Of course you’re free to try it out and maybe you really like it, but for balancing sake we strongly recommend keeping the Minions as those listed.
 The Killer Clown Cyclers are an exception actually, just for you Kickstarter Backers. They can replace normal Clowns in any scenario!
CHOOSING YOUR AGENTS
Ok, so now that that has all been explained, let’s briefly talk about choosing your Agents for each Chapter during a One-Shot Adventure.
Let’s use Chapter I as an example. If you haven’t read the overview of it, then click the link there and read through it so you understand what we’re talking about.
I’ll wait.
Ok, now that you’re all caught up, you can see that you’ll have two Agents to pick in that Chapter, replacing Tobias and Emmerson. They’ll need to come from The Cult as well, but otherwise you’re free to pick whichever ones you’d like.
Just looking in the Core Box, you could choose to replace one of them with Ira Kodich, which would change the landscape of the Chapter by introducing her rampant Zombie-summoning. This means that the escape from the Police Station would be that much more difficult for the Gents, so perhaps they’re now going to be forced to wall themselves inside, turning the game into ZOMBIE SIEGE: VICTORIAN POLICE PRECINT EDITION. Maybe the Lamias are going to show up, giving you 4 (slightly weaker) Agents instead of the usual number- now you can spread out much faster, cutting off escape routes for the Gents.
Let’s say you truly want to change things around a bit: Instead of Tobias and Emmerson it’s now Lord Crowley and Ira Kodich who are assaulting the precinct:
The scenario just became the Gents vs. a Horde of respawning Zombies.
But, one thing you’ll need to consider is the Chapter you’re playing and the resources that will be available. While the combination listed above seems like it would be very potent (and it is) you’re also going to be extremely Ether starved through the Chapter, as both of your choice rely on it heavily and, at this point in the Campaign, the Gents will only be using so much of it.
This is part of the natural balancing of the game- earlier Chapters the Gents are going to have less Equipment, less Upgrades, and in general be less powerful. The Nemesis meanwhile is going to have less Powers as well, and (in turn, because of the weakened Gents) have less access to replenishing Ether supplies. So, going back to the Chapter I example, the late-game will play much more heavily into the Gents if they can hold out, as the Nemesis will probably suffer some Ether shortages unless they just go crazy.
These are things to consider when choosing your Agents- Are they going to be super strong in the early game? Can they support each other against Gents comboing their powers together, or did you just take a bunch of individually powerful choices?
Perhaps you want to go an entire Ranged route, keeping safe in the back. Maybe you’re like me, and you just like smashing them to pieces in melee. Or instead maybe you have Jaybee lead some sneaky choices to keep the Gents on their feet?
All these options can drastically change how each Chapter plays out, so even if you’re playing the same one over and over, your choice of Agents, as well as your specific Nemesis Powers, will fundamentally change the landscape of the game- and, of course, we haven’t even talked about how the Gent options change things as well (but who wants to talk about them anyway?)
CREATING YOUR OWN SCENARIOS
So just going to briefly touch on this, but we are working on some short rules for those of you out there who want to generate your own scenarios.
This will be more of a set of guidelines to follow, as you can make the scenarios as varied as you want. While we would suggest following the Faction guidelines listed above, if you want to make a super-mashup where The Embassy has teamed with The Pit to destroy London then we’ll give you the tools to help create that.
Again, will be mostly a set of guidelines, but we’re working to give you something to at least get you started crafting your own stories of daring adventure and horror.
And there you have it, Villains! A look into choosing your sacrificial pawns- I mean trusted Agents! What combinations are you looking forward to trying? Any manacle plans stirring in your head? |
