Boss Fights Update!

Hello, Trailblazers of the Unknown, here we are with a new update! Today we want to talk about a topic that was not properly explored during the campaign: the boss fights. In Sheol, there are powerful Outer Lords that the scouts will have to face during missions dedicated to them. A part of the rulebook is also reserved for the Outer Lords, describing their behavior in depth. In this update we do not want to copy/paste the rulebook, because it would be boring, and we decided to focus only on the fundamental aspects.

The AI

Each Outer Lord during its phase reveals an action card that summarizes its AI for that turn. The card specifies the attack pattern, its movement, special effects, the armor for that turn, the damage dealt to the scouts and any passive effects on players. The behavior of the Outer Lord follows the AI ​​of his action cards, but it does not only take the blows of the players, in fact it is able to perform powerful reactions.

Reactions

Whenever a boss is attacked and hit, it reveals a specific reaction card. These reactions are divided into 3 levels, corresponding to 3 different effects, depending on the illumination level of the boss. Reactions can move the Outer Lord, or the scouts, or even change certain areas of the map. Basically, a reaction is stronger the more the boss is illuminated, while it is weaker if the boss is in the shade, but, remember, in that case it is more difficult to hit. In addition, each reaction changes the Outer Lord’s illumination level, and loads a “revenge” bar that allows the boss to take an extra action when fully charged. It is up to the players to keep the boss at the right brightness to not be severely punished by its reactions.

Illumination level

As you will remember from the updates during the KS campaign, each enemy in Sheol can change its own illumination level, which determines the hit chance of the scouts. During testing over the past few months, we have streamlined these levels better by defining them from zero (enemy in shadow) to 4 (enemy fully illuminated). The base shadows go from zero to 4, with no intermediate states; heralds have levels 0, 2 and 4; while bosses can have a illumination level of 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. The granularity of the brightness changes in relation to the complexity of the enemy. While the illumination of Heralds and Outer Lords drops based on the reaction (how many points it drops depends on the type of reaction) to make it rise it is necessary to reveal them. With a normal revelation action, an Outer Lord increases its brightness by 2 levels, while with an overload revelation action with the lantern (thus risking damaging it), the illumination level rises by 4 levels, i.e. the maximum. To manage this multi level illumination system, we revamped the scout attack die. In each face you can find the minimum illumination level to hit and the damage modifiers. The ! is the critical hit, that changes for each scout. Scout attack die – graphic design could change

Berserk state

To defeat an Outer Lord, Scouts must deal enough damage to it to destroy a life bar. When this happens, the Outer Lord discards the active action card and usually also triggers a mission card that moves the plot forward. However, the Outer Lord has other action cards (usually 3 to 5 in total) that the scouts will have to discard to defeat him. When the last action card is discarded, the Outer Lord enters the berserk state, and has a new action card, the last, particularly strong, to eliminate. Correctly position the lightpaths, understand your weapons and lantern effects and move in the right spots to hit the Outer Lord is fundamental to defeat it.

The miniatures of the Outer Lords

A few days ago the factory sent us the red waxes of the boss miniatures. The quality of these miniatures is close to that of the final miniatures, even though they are 4% larger than the final ones. As you can see, we have managed to maintain the filaments and aspects that characterized them from the beginning.

How the works are progressing

Some ask if we will be able to deliver in October as promised. For now we can say: yes! It is clear that given the current year and the problems with transport and containers from China, there are always many variables on the horizon, but for our part, at the production level, we are in the right time for now. In general, we are moving forward on all fronts, and we have further refined the rulebook. We will publish the new version as soon as it is ready. As mentioned in the last update, we also intend to play a tabletop simulator game with you, when we feel ready.

Pledge manager (again!)

Many have written to us if we can extend the PM closing because they need more time to buy Sheol. We are evaluating this, but it is possible that we will decide to keep it open a little longer. However, we recommend to all those who have not yet given their shipping details to do so. If we do not have your data by the closing of the PM we will not be able to send you the game! We will send all those who have not yet completed the PM some emails to remind you to do so in the coming weeks.

Votes on BGG of the most anticipated game of 2021

There is one thing we particularly want to say in this update: with Sheol we didn’t want to make a game with beautiful miniatures and little substance, but first of all a rewarding and unique game, with solid gameplay. That’s why we’ve been doing all these tests lately, and we’re continuing to refine the rules and history. Furthermore, we want each mission to be unique, and have its own character, and not be a repetition and a useless grinding to get stronger objects. It will be up to you to say if we have succeeded. For now, if you like, vote for sheol on the BGG page: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/282115/20-most-anticipated-board-games-2021-4500-votes-fi You find the rules here: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/282115/20-most-anticipated-board-games-2021-6800-votes-fi Preserve the Light!