We have some new Carnevale coming your way this week, and that means new rules!

For the first time in what seems like a long, dark winter, we have a glint of hope on the horizon in the form of Carnevale pre-orders coming to you!

Out of the mire of the canals we have two new boxes on their way this Friday: The Night Watch and the Flame That Burns Underwater. The Night Watch have a few new character classes for the Patricians, and the Flame has a fancy new model. Both of which deserve new rules, and that’s what we’re here to talk about today!

Now, before we get stuck in, we have a small caveat here: all characters in Carnevale are seeing an update when Blood on the Water comes out very soon (how soon? Well, it’s the next Carnevale release!). So while some of these rules may surprise you, just know that there are changes coming to all other characters soon!

The Night Watch

Patricians players have been waiting a long time for new miniatures, so let’s not keep them waiting any longer!

The Night Watch has five characters, with three brand new character classes. There’s a new Guard Marksman who works just the same as the others, a Guard Sentry, a Venetian Heavy Guard, and a Seven Years Veteran.

The Guard Sentry is a new Henchman character, and adds a whole lot of mobility to the Guard and to the Patricians as a whole! At 5 Movement and 5 Dexterity, this is a character who is most adept at climbing to the top of buildings. Add in Acrobatic 2 and they’re able to jump with the best of them!

This abrobatic ability comes at the cost of offensive and defensive power though, and the Sentries just generally aren’t as tough as other Guard characters with only 10 Life Points. Keep them out of trouble until the opportune moment to charge from above.

A Guard Sentry comes complete with 1 Command Point, which doesn’t seem like much, but it doesn’t actually cost anything to use an out of sequence action with them if they’re high enough up. So get climbing and bossing people around!

For something a little tougher, let’s turn our attention to the Venetian Heavy Guard. This lady is a Hero for the Patricians and is something they’ve never had before: a 40mm base! :O

With a big base an Attack 4, she’s going to be very handy for grappling and drowning. Finally some board control for the rich folks!

But that’s not all! She’s also extremely tough. With Protection 5 and Expert Protection 3, your opponents are going to be banging against that shield all game! And she’s not just defensive, her Spiked Warhammer can be used in two ways. Swinging it does Stun and extra damage, but Thrusting it is longer range, easier to hit, and ignores more Protection. Which one to pick? Well you can do both all game, so the choice is yours!

Our last new character is the Seven Years Veteran. No, he hasn’t been fighting for seven years. He’s a veteran of the Seven Years War. He’s getting on a bit now, but has been recruited to the City Guard to provide these young whippersnappers someone to look up to.

Armed with a pistol and a sabre, the Veteran has no obvious weaknesses. Tough clothing, a strong will, Brave and an obvious expert at fighting, he’s a really reliable damage dealer.

He may not relish his position as a role-model, since being in command doesn’t come naturally. But regardless, the recruits are going to be inspired! His Inspiring rule really makes up for one of the fundamental weaknesses of the City Guard: they only have 1 Will Point each. However, when they’re close to this awe-inspiring veteran, they’ll fight harder, making each WP worth 2WP when used to boost up rolls! Nice.

Between these three new characters, your Guard force will have loads of new options, and these soldiers are easily paid off, so you can use them to defend your fancy nobles too.

The Flame That Burns Underwater

This big lady has been hiding underwater for a while now. If you were lucky enough you could have picked her up during the Carnevale Kickstarter. But for the rest of you, the day is almost here! She’s had a crazy glow-up and is here with some brand new rules.

And what new rules they are!

First of all, the Flame has gone down to 30 Ducats, which makes her much more affordable. She’s still tied for the most expensive Leader in the game, but at least she’s easier to fit into your gangs now. Unfortunately she has lost a point of Attack, some Life Points, and 1 Command Point. She’s also not nearly as scary anymore, having lost Fear. I guess a giant octopus isn’t quite as scary in Venice anymore. We’re a while since the Rent opened, and people have seen it all! Oh but she’s gone up to 3AP. Did I not mention that? It’s kind of a big deal.

She’s a little faster in water now, thanks to Fast Swimmer 3, and she’s gained a new weapon too! Her Ornate Trident has a long range, extra point of damage and is Aquatic, making it a very valuable weapon for poking people who think they’re safe on the side of the canal. The Brawling Tentacles may not be Aquatic (she needs them to swim), but they come complete with their own rule allowing the Flame to hit everyone in base contact with a Stun attack. That’s potentially game-changing!

The Flame has also received two new special rules. Her Command Ability Hydra’s Gifts has become rather more gruesome. It causes nearby characters to sprout tentacles! You can give your friendly characters more Dexterity (something Rashaar players always need for climbing), or use it to do extra damage to enemies (well, it affects both so position her carefully). After a couple of rounds of Brawling Tentacles, Hydra’s Gifts can finish off some opponents!

Lastly, the Flame uses her tentacles well to drown her opponents. Dragging Down gives re-roll on all failed dice rolls when Drowning (although remember: you cannot re-roll the Destiny Dice). Those tentacles are dangerous!

Ooooof that’s a lot to unpack. Luckily I know someone with 12 limbs to help unpack things for you.

How are you going to use these characters? Are you a Patricians player just happy to have a 40mm base model? Are you keen to inspire the troops with the Seven Years Veteran? Or maybe you’re a Rashaar player thinking about trading your skinny Magi for someone with a bit more meat on her… do tentacles have bones? I’m going to go look that up.

In the meantime, you can head over to the TTCombat webstore to check out the rest of the Carnevale range. Head back here on Friday for all the information on pre-ordering these kits, and we’ll let you know whether tentacles do have bones or not. We might even have been saving an extra surprise for you!