New Rules: The Guild

The Dockworkers are on their way to the Arsenale, and they’re bringing their best new rules with them!

This Friday sees the release of Blood on the Water, the first campaign book for Carnevale. And with it we’re also releasing the free 2.2 edition of the rules, and doing a full balance pass on every single character in the game!

So, what does that mean for the hard working people, thieves, and – newest of all – dockworkers of the Guild? Well, today we’ll have a quick look.

We’re not going to go over every single character, because every one has had some tweaks!

Faction Command Ability

Every faction Command Ability in the game has been revisited and re-evaluated. Interestingly these abilities were some of the first rules designed for version 2.0, and since then the game has changed!

Mob Mentality is still here, but it works a little differently. Rather than rolling a Mind check (which often isn’t the Guild’s strength), you get a number a re-rolls equal to the number of friendly characters in line of sight. You don’t have to mob up together – you can get your Capo up high and use it from the rooftops where you can see your whole gang!

Union

Ahhhh, the Union special rule. A unique ability shared by many members of the Guild. A skill that truly defines the style of the faction: the more they have, the better they are. Working together for the good of each person.

Well, we got rid of it.

Listen, it was clunky and annoying, and encouraged people to move their gangs around the board in huge groups. It was rubbish.

Instead, any characters that had Union before now get Companion (Trade).

It might not look like much if you didn’t read the notes from yesterday, but Companion now not only helps characters share their MIND value, but also replenishes 1 Will Point every turn if they start with line of sight to another character with the Trade keyword.

While it’s not quite the same as +1 ATTACK, an extra Will Point each turn is incredibly versatile, and only requires 1 extra Citizen (or Arbalest, Gondolier, Butcher etc) in order to work.

Command

To get the most out of the Trade keyword, you’ll want a Capodecina.

The Capodecina has had a few changes. While they’re not quite as aggressive as before, they do give everyone with the Trade keyword Companion (Trade), which is a great trade off.

They’re no longer Acrobatic, but instead they have a strange new skill called Aerial Attack. What does it do? Well, let’s just say that fall damage becomes a bit of a non-issue.

The Great & Noble Cult of the End of Days

What about the crazy people in pyjamas? They have that amazing ability “Mob Rule” which adds extra attacks depending on how many of them are in base contact.

Sorry, did I say “have”? I meant “had”. Because that’s gone too.

Pulcinellas also have Companion, but theirs is for any character with the End of Days keyword. Which – you may have already guessed – is all the Pulcinellas.

Like the Citizens, this does mean they’re a little worse at attacking generally, but it means they that much more reliable at everything else. And if you’ve played with a Pulcinella gang, you’ll know that a little more reliability is always useful.

Oh and did I mention that they’re now only eight Ducats?! In fact, almost all the Pulcinellas have gone down in price significantly, so while they’re not as good at mobbing up, you’ll be able to take an actual mob into battle.

House of Virtue

What about the Harlots? They don’t have a special rule that we’re removing, don’t worry.

However, the Madame still gives them all Companion, which means they replenish Will Points as well! The Guild has entirely turned into a faction that replenishes Will Points every turn. They’re not necessarily the best fighters (the Madame has actually become a little worse), but they’re reliable through to the end of the game.

Oh and while the Madame gives out Parry (2) until the end of the game, the regular Harlots have lost it I’m afraid. Instead they all have Slippery which (if you read yesterday’s post) means they can run away from base contact without even having to roll, making them extremely mobile.

Dockworkers

Okay, enough of the existing stuff. If you want to know how the Butcher has Expert Grappler (2), or the Gondolier is 11 Ducats, you’ll have to wait until Friday to see the rest of the changes. Now we’re talking about new things!

The Dockworkers box is a complete gang in itself, and is the start of an expansion into the dockyards of the Arsenale. This sub-faction of the Guild has a focus on water and being defensive, and are equally good both in the canals and on the ground.

In no one is this role more apparent than the Harbourmaster. A heavy defensive Leader character, she has an Aquatic Sailor’s Knife (remember, Unarmed is no longer Aquatic, so this is very handy), and a very useful Clockwork Pistol.

Fast Swimmer (2) is a great skill, but that’s actually Fast Swimmer (3) thanks to her Born to Swim rule! This is a Leader you take if you don’t want to be afraid of the water. Although her pistol is Black Powder, so make sure you shoot it before diving in!

There are two Mariners in the box. These are the Guild’s answer to the Rashaar Hybrid. With Fast Swimmer (2) they’re equally comfortable in the canals as they are on the ground. And with an Aquatic Dive Knife, they can cut up fish monsters as much as they desire.

Mariners aren’t particularly outstanding in any other areas, but they do come with Boat Crew, which is an Ability we haven’t seen before. What does it do? Well, I’m not telling you today, so get your guesses in!

Finally the Dockworkers set contains a single Shipwright. This imposing character certainly brings a fair bit of pain to the table.

As one of the Guild’s only 40mm base models, he can block off whole streets on his own, and is better at grappling and drowning against 30mm base opponents. With +2 Damage on his Riveting Hammer and Expert Offence (2), he’s going to be putting out a lot of pain for a Henchman! Just look out, he’s not particularly fast in the water (since he’s more used to putting boats together on dry land).

So what do you think? There’s a lot to take in here! Everyone getting replenishing Will Points, Harbourmasters turning the Guild into some kind of a water-based gang, and Ostrich Riders gaining First Strike (2)! Wait, I didn’t mention that last bit before, did I?

The Guild’s new rules will all be available for free on Friday, and the Dockworkers will be up for pre-order then as well. We’ll be back all week with more rules, and all the new pre-orders will be on the TTCombat webstore in just a few short days!

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