With so many new wrestlers out today, it’s worth having a look to see how they play, right? Strap in (oddly appropriate given the wrestlers), because it’s time to see the new rules!

We have an expansion team out today, known in the office as BDSM (Brutally Devious Shadow Mania). They’re weird and wonderful and have some crazy new rules.

But that’s not all! Continuing our ongoing project to update the old cards into the newer format, we’ve also got brand new Twisted Shadows cards for you to download absolutely free! Simply head over to the Resources section of the TTCombat webstore and download them yourself!

The Twisted Shadows – Mk2

We’ve updated the classic Twisted Shadows with some excellent looking new cards. They have bigger art, more space for special rules, and much more colour-blind friendly dice on there too, which is always nice. We’ve also gone a step further and changed over a bunch of writing into symbols and added some helpful arrows to tell you when there are more rules on the flip side of the card.

Oh, and we updated the rules as well, didn’t we mention that already? The Twisted Shadows had some very weird interactions that after playing a bunch of games with them, ending up feeling a little off, and interacted with other parts of the game in weird ways. And they just needed some overall tweaks!

So a quick bullet point list of the changes:

• The team now costs a flat 1 million Dosh! Not more scrabbling around for your opponents buying Endorsements or anything. However, that does mean a couple of nerfs along the way. The Twisted Shadows have long been one of the best teams in the game, so we’ve tried to balance them a little bit better the second time around.
• Both Shadowlings are 25K cheaper, but both have lost their unique Turnbuckle Abilities. Not a problem though, since the 2nd edition rules mean they can do mostly more powerful generic Turnbuckle attacks anyway. They’ve also lost 1MP, but below should make up for that…
• Shadowstep has been changed. It’s not much more likely to go off, needing a 1+ on a Gold dice. It also only costs 1AP now. However, it only goes 4 squares at a time. It’s a Shadowstep, not a Shadowleap, after all!
• The Shadowling Grappler’s Three-Fingered Death Grip now gets Dazed all the time! The Crowd Pleaser still bumps it up to 3 Damage.
• Shadowling Brawler’s Crowd Pleaser has a limit on how many friendlies get to Shadowstep – you have to roll 1 Gold and select that many wrestlers.
• While we’re on the subject of Crowd Pleasers: the Shadowlings and the Dark Elf Brawler have had their Crowd Pleasers reduced by 1AP each.
• Talking of the Dark Elf Brawler; she has swapped out her Passive Ability for the new Disarming one. This changes all opponents’ DEF dice to Copper when she makes a Brawl attack, making her a very hard hitter indeed, able to take down even the toughest superstars. Her Cobra Strike also got an extra Bounceback square!
• The Dark Elf Grappler also has a new Passive Ability: Multi-Talented. This skill gives her a +1 on any one dice roll each round, meaning you can save it for defending, or up her most powerful attack each round. Handy! Her Crowd Pleaser is also new, stealing 1AP from an opponent and giving it to a friendly wrestler.
• Both Dark Elves have had their off-stats changed from Silver+1 to Silver+Copper. That makes them overall much more powerful, but less reliable. Seems fitting for flighty Dark Elves! “Flighty” is a good word here, because their Turnbuckle Abilities also got an extra point of range, taking them to a massive 6 squares!
• Finally the Gorgon saw a few changes too. Her DEF has gone down to 2 Copper, and she’s lost her previous Rope Ability. Her Crowd Pleaser is mostly the same, but the target loses 1G worth of Stamina as she gives them a Petrifying Gaze. Finally the Gorgon’s Passive Ability has changed to Skitter, which is a little different to before. Now she gets 3 extra squares of movement at the end of the round, making her one of the fastest Weight 3s in the game!

BDSM

Brutally Devious Shadow Mania are also out today, and you want to know what they do, right?

This team has a lot to look at, and all on fancy cards with fancy new icons as well. Nice! Enough about the old characters, let’s see what’s new in Gomorrah.

Shadow Flayer

This little one is definitely not a powerhouse, but affects the match in much more subtle ways.

With loads of Copper on the stats and only 4 Stamina, you’re going to want to be careful. The Tentacle Grab is the Flayer’s special Grapple Ability and while it does no damage, it does cause Dazed, as the Flayer strips your mind away!

Void of Misery is the skill you’re taking this 150K wrestler for though. For 2AP you can steal an opponent’s Crowd Pleaser token! Literally take it from their card and put it on yours. Their Crowd Pleaser ceases to work, and the token allows the Shadow Flayer to roll 2 dice on its own Crowd Pleaser! Very useful for Heel wrestlers.

Speaking of which, if the Shadow Flayer activates its Crowd Pleaser, it can give that token it stored to any friendly wrestler, and they get their Crowd Pleaser for free! It’s the most trolly of actions, particularly if playing against a team like Deadly Divas or Lords of the Ring who rely on their Crowd Pleasers heavily.

Shadowling Hanger

The Hanger is a grumpy teenage Shadowling and enjoys nothing more than hanging out on turnbuckles. Stats-wise he’s pretty good for a Weight 1, with crazy high DEX you should be activating him first a lot to make the most of him and then fly away before anyone hits back. With 6MP, that shouldn’t be hard.

The Shadowling Hanger only has one offensive skill, and only really does one thing: Turnbuckle attacks. He can even use High Flyer to extend the range of the attacks, which is handy indeed since a well-placed Shadowling Hanger can hit literally anyone in the ring, no matter where they are.

His Diving Demon Drop is a relatively stable skill to use. It’s a massive 3 Silver on its ATT, doing 3 Damage. And if you used all your MP to extend the range, it has Bounceback 5, allowing you to safely exit the kill-zone afterwards. This little fella can take on the biggest enemies and still get away before they hit back.

Dark Elf Narcissist

Worth noting straight away: The Dark Elf Narcissist is the only non-Heel wrestler in this team! I mean… sort of. We’ll get to that.

The Narcissist’s stats aren’t anything amazing, but are pretty reliable. Which makes a change for the Dark Elves, who are often all or nothing.

His Running Facewash is a Rope Ability that has a pathetic ATT score. But what do you expect? The Narcissist is barely grazing the opponent’s face with the dirty sole of his boot, using dazzling Dark Elf acrobatics. The crowd love it though, giving him a free Crowd Pleaser.

Oh and the Crowd Pleaser is where the Narcissist really shines. First of all, his Crowd Pleaser (aptly titled I’m The Best) gives him +1 to all his stats. Turning those okay stats into insanely reliable ones to take down most Rookies without problem. Second of all, he just loves the attention! So whether the Crowd Cheers or Boos, the Crowd Pleaser is activated! The Narcissist hates being ignore though, so on a Blank he ends his activation and suffers -1 to all stats instead! Ouch.

But there’s no limit to how much he loves the attention. Thanks to the skill Everyone Loves Me you can see just how much! Whenever any wrestler gets a Crowd Pleaser, the Narcissist assumes they’re cheering or booing him, and he gains +1AP! Get a couple of Crowd Pleasers off (or if your opponent does), he’ll have a massive 6AP in his turn!

Dark Elf Sadist

The Dark Elf Sadist is cut from a slightly different cloth. They care more about pain than attention, and is happy to share that pain around. It’s a fine line between pain and pleasure when you’ve lived that long, I guess!

You’ll notice that they have no Copper dice on their stats, so the Sadist is very reliable. And you’ll also notice that every single special ability has Bleeding, which makes for a very deadly character! The Sadist suffers a little from low(ish) DEF and GRP, but they make up for it in attacking power.

Sneaky Stab is a cheeky way of getting some Bleeding counters out there. It doesn’t do damage, but is still handy. If you want damage, try the Running Needle Rake. It is Dirty, but has a big ATT, 3 Damage and of course – Bleeding!

What’s with all this Bleeding though? Well, their Crowd Pleaser gives them the total Bleeding counters back in Stamina, so the Sadist stays fresh. But more than that, at the end of each round, you add up all the Bleeding Counters, and give +1AP to that many friendly wrestlers! This is potentially one of the best ways to get extra AP throughout a whole team, and we all know that Elves can really make the most of that!

Throwing Shade

Lastly in BDSM we have the Throwing Shade, and she’s a bit of everything!

As a monster made up of shadows, she’s as solid or ethereal as required, meaning all her stats are fairly equal! It’s a weird ghost thing, trust me. Although not all-powerful, 2 Silver + 1 Copper is a solid dice roll, with pretty reliable results, especially as this shadow has no obvious weakness!

The Throwing Shade is all about shadows. Shadow Tendrils is her main ability. It’s a Grapple Ability that does one damage with a 3 square range (which is pretty unique already) as she throws out tendrils to grab an opponent. If successful, those tendrils drag the wrestler into the shadow realm before pushing them out 4 squares away!

That’s not the only thing she has in her arsenal though. Diving Darkness Axe Handle does Shove 3, which can get some decent rope bounces or smash opponents against the turnbuckle. Manage to get off the free Crowd Pleaser and any characters in base contact must perform a Shadowstep, and the Throwing Shade gets to decide where they go!

All this together paints a clear picture (ironically) of a wrestler who is best at getting stuck in (and she has Shadowstep to help with that) and being aggressive in order to provide excellent crowd control. Dark Elves are typically very fighty but can’t take much punishment, so being able to control the flow of the fight is an invaluable skill to help you stay in charge.

Arachne

Of course we have to talk about this new wrestler!

A brand new Superstar, and the first Weight 3 Superstar in all of Gomorrah, we had to make her something special.

This big ol’ spider queen not only brings the fight to your opponents, but also a whole load of web, and no shortage of baby spiders too.

Arachne is – like a lot of Gomorrah wrestlers – a lot more focused on hitting people than on being hit. Her low DEF isn’t ideal but she has a massive 12 Stamina, so who cares? Especially when you have 2 Gold+1 ATT and 1 Gold + 2 Silver GRP! She’s a powerhouse! That’s what happens when you have so many legs clad in spiky silver stabbers!

The thing you’ll find when using Arachne is that you don’t need to rush to activate her as she really does have something for all occassions, no matter how early or late in the round she gets to go.

Black Widow is a fantastic Grapple Ability. 2AP for 2 Damage is already good, but it also does Dazed and the Dazed roll uses 2 dice with Arachne’s player picking which! That’s a lot of -AP and -MPs floating around. Especially as she can do it twice per turn!

Although if you want something a little scarier – if not as damage-heavy – then try the Spider’s Web. This Active Ability isn’t quite as offensive as she shoots out a web to trap her opponent. Its got a 2 square range, and after she’s dragged them back in and tied them up, she also Lifts them as well! With 1AP left she can even attempt to throw them out the ring! I’ve been on the receiving end of this attack a few times now, and it is scary.

If you want something a little more tactical though, try the Web Shot. This Active Ability sees you draw a line from the centre of Arachne’s base all the way to any rope – she shoots a web down that line! Get a piece of string or something to show it. Until the end of the round, that line counts as a rope! Wrestlers can’t cross it and can bounce off it if they like. We spoke above about the Throwing Shade doing crowd contol; well how’s this for crowd control? Aim it just right and you can separate a single wrestler from the rest of their team!

That’s enough for this essay! These wrestlers are something really different, and are excellent additions to any Gomorrah team. Or in fact, any team since you can mix and match wrestlers as much as you like in RUMBLESLAM.

Can you think of any tricky combos with BDSM or Arachne? Are you looking forward to trying out the updated Twisted Shadows? Let us know! We love hearing your ideas for teams, and seeing painted RUMBLESLAM as well. If you have some, send your pictures to us for a future Monday Motivation, or if you have tactics ideas we’d love to share those too!

In the meantime, make sure to head over to the TTCombat webstore and pick up your Brutally Devious Shadow Mania and Arachne today! They’re out now, and I think you’ll agree that Twisted Shadows players are going to need to add them to their games!