And now we’ll have an overview of the units for a couple of our Dark Lord archetypes. Each player currently playing a minion rolls 3d6 in order and can qualify for certain character classes depending on which dark lord’s army they’re playing in at the moment and what stats they roll. Minion levels go from 1-5, and at level 5 minions can retire. Retiring gives bonus Fate points to to the player playing that minion, which they can then spend on their own dark lord. The reason why this is important is that less powerful minions get bigger prizes if they live to retirement, so while playing suicidally aggressive is a reasonable response to rolling up fodder, there’s a big reward for managing to keep that sucker alive clear to level 5.
Lich King
-Lich King (dark lord). Has debuffs and can raise mindless undead minions controlled directly by himself. Good against hero-type enemies (single, powerful enemy with high AC and low or no DR who can be buried under crit-seeking goons).
-Death Knight (lieutenant). Requires 16 CON, 14 STR, 12 CHA. Undead knight, hits hard, moves fast, good defenses, bad at swarms.
-Necromancer Acolyte (elite). Requires 16 INT, 11 WIS. Weaker version of Necromancer Lord.
-Vampire Duelist (elite). Requires 14 DEX, 12 CHA, 11 STR. Glass cannon, moves fast, hits hard, folds quickly under enemy damage, can ignore enemy AoOs. Good for bringing down a squishy but dangerous backline enemy, can hopefully survive what happens next.
-Vampire Blood Mage (elite). Requires 14 INT, 12 CHA, 11 WIS. Control and leech healing magic.
-Ghoul Bruiser (elite). Requires 14 CON, 12 STR. Slow but powerful, works well with a Blood Mage to keep evasive enemies close enough to nom on.
-Ghoul Assassin (elite). Requires 14 DEX, 12 CON, 11 WIS. Waits patiently, analyzing a foe with swift, move, or even full round actions before striking for massive damage. Moves slow, can take a beating.
-Skeleton Infantry (troop). Requires 12 CON, 10 STR. Congratulations on not being fodder. Mainly you are tough and are basically a bishop in chess, in that your main purpose is to make the battlefield harder for enemies to traverse by threatening lots of squares. You probably have a reach weapon and then a long sword or something as a backup.
-Skeleton Archer (troop). Requires 12 DEX, 12 CON. Reasonably accurate and hits harder than infantry or fodder, but not as hard as a bruiser, assassin, or duelist.
-Necromancer Cultist (troop). Requires 12 INT, 12 WIS. Has debuffs, but no minions.
-Vampire Thrall (troop). Requires 11 DEX, 11 INT, 11 CHA. Has some minor self-buffs that allow him to hit hard in melee and lifeleech to himself, but generally speaking not enough to keep up with incoming damage, especially since his defenses are kind of awful.
-Skeleton Fodder (fodder). No stat requirements. You’re probably fucked, but you get some kind of prize for reaching higher levels with one of these nobodies.
The skeleton archer is mostly identical to the orc or hobgoblin archer, and same with the vampire duelist and the erinyes and the skeleton infantry and the hobgoblin infantry.
Lord of the Damned
-The Lord of the Damned (dark lord) has powerful single shot and especially AoE damage spells. He can sacrifice minions for greater AoE and/or more damage.
-The balrog (lieutenant) requires 16 STR, 14 CON, 10 WIS, and 10 CHA. The balrog is extremely tough, hits hard, and has a pretty good reach, which means he can AoO like nobody’s business. His job is to stand next to the Lord of the Damned and stab the shit out of anyone who comes within fifteen feet. This particular balrog does have wings, and can fly.
-The erinyes (elite) requires 14 DEX, 12 STR, and 11 INT. She is a powerful, mobile, but fragile front line fighter whose job is to hit single targets for lots of damage and then not be there when they retaliate. She is especially effective against monster-type enemies (i.e. lots of DR, hit very hard, but not especially accurate and their most impressive attacks tend to be AoEs that do relatively little damage to individual targets). She’s far more powerful in melee than at range, so it’s a good thing she can fly.
-The succubus (elite) requires 16 CHA and 11 WIS. She is a debuff and control caster who makes enemies less able to avoid attacks (both by lowering defenses and by slowing or preventing movement such that they can’t spread out to avoid AoE) and take more damage from them, softening up enemies for her buddies to kill with extra death. Most of her abilities require line of sight (though some work through earshot), so it’s convenient that she can fly.
-The imp (elite) requires 14 INT, 12 CHA, and 11 DEX. He has mostly AoE attacks on a similar scale as the Lord of the Damned, except he can’t power them up through sacrifice (plus the Lord of the Damned is overwhelmingly more likely to live to see high levels). He is incredibly fragile, but he’s hard to hit and he can fly.
-The cernugon/horned devil (elite) requires 14 STR, 12 CON, and 11 CHA. He is big, tough, hard to get past, and has good reach, not unlike a miniature balrog. Also he can fly.
-The bloodletter (troop) requires 12 STR and 10 CON. He is a reasonably hard-hitting melee fighter but also on the squishy side, with a pretty good reach. His main job is to reach and kill weakened enemies (i.e. those softened up by the warlock, imp, or Lord of the Damned himself, or those debuffed by the succubus or cult priest) before they can recover or receive healing. His best defense is his good offense. If he gets within range of one enemy and then kills that enemy, he’s safe. He has some kind of pounce-like ability to help facilitate this strategy – he doesn’t have to care if he starts out of range of an enemy, but most opponents do have to care.
-The warlock (troop) requires 11 INT and 11 CHA. He has AoE attacks that can clear out weak enemies and single target attacks that do more damage than the bloodletter, but less than the erinyes. He can hit as hard as an imp or an erinyes if working with a succubus (of course, an imp or erinyes could hit harder still under the same circumstances, but if you don’t have an imp or erinyes and you do have a succubus and a warlock, you can make it work).
-The cult priest (troop) requires 11 CHA and 11 WIS. He makes minor sacrifices of his own health to debuff enemies, similar to the succubus but at a price (and unable to fly).
-The cultist fodder (fodder) has no prerequisites and is mainly there because a level 2 sacrifice is a level 2 sacrifice regardless of whether you’re sacrificing a rare and powerful erinyes or a slightly less worthless cultist. He’s also got a short sword (more of a particularly large ceremonial dagger).
The erinyes and the vampire duelist are basically the same person, and same with the bloodletter and the orc warrior and viking raider.
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