Everyone’s favourite beasts are back, and they’re bigger than ever!

Blood on the Water is coming this Friday, and with it are some crazy new models for the Rashaar. We’re getting a whole new sub-faction: the Feral Rashaar!

Emerging from the deep, these terrible beasts are laying claim to Malta, and they just seem to be evolving quicker and quicker to face their foes from the Knights Hospitaller.

But enough about the new ones! The Rashaar – like every faction in Carnevale – are getting a complete balance pass for all of their characters on Friday. With the release of Blood on the Water and the 2.2 rulebook, there’s some cool changes coming to Rashaar gangs.

Faction Command Ability

Like every other faction, the Rashaar are getting an update to their Command Ability. Although it’s actually very familiar…

The Rashaar’s Soul Drain Command Ability was always one of the best ones in the game. Steal Life Points (from friend or foe) and turn them into Will Points.

So their ability hasn’t really changed much, but you can no longer fail or fumble it (you can’t Crit either, but that’s not so bad). That means there’s no downside in attempting it. Taking Life Points from foes is one of the best things in the game, since they get no way to save it.

Combine this ability with the fact that casting magic while in base contact no longer gives your opponent an Attack of Opportunity, and you’re able to be much more aggressive with your characters.

Command

Who better to use this ability than a Leader?

The Magi-Rashaar has long been the premiere magic user in the game, and that’s not about to change!

However, with a Ducat decrease, the Magi has become a little more balanced, and more focused on magic. You wouldn’t expect this lithe fish-thing to be a great fighter, and so they have a lower Attack value now. They’re also a little less dextrous, but their Movement speed has increased, offering a much more balanced character between water and land.

Oh and like most Leaders, the Magi-Rashaar has gained a unique special rule, which lowers the Will Point cost of magic spells once per round. Very handy when you don’t have any Slaves to drain!

It’s not just the Magi that’s seen some changes. The Voice of Dagon has been reworked rather heavily! No longer a Mage, the Voice relies more on Command Abilities, and with some fancy new claws and upgraded Attack value and Life Points, the Voice has turned into a bit of a tank!

Add to that the ability to get free Commands on a 7+ and you’ve got a reliable character who will last all game.

Although not quite as varied a character as before, the Voice is also down to a paltry 21 Ducats, which is rather handy.

Slaves

I did mention draining Slaves earlier, so I think we should look at one of the most under-used models available to Rashaar previously. It’s no surprise: they’re really rubbish.

Well, what if they almost halved in cost? 4 Ducats for a Slave!

They’re no better than before, although with Dexterity 4 they’re more useful for climbing now. Don’t forget that although they’re Mindless you can still claim or carry Objectives, they just don’t score Victory Points at the end of the game. But by then your slave should be monster food.

Speaking of monsters…

Monsters

The Monster keyword in Rashaar is about to get a lot busier, but we’ve tried to make sure that all the current monsters have their place.

Take the humble Lesser Ugdru for example. They have had some subtle changes. Lower Protection value (almost everything in the game has had its Protection value lowered, so a 4 is now actually really good), lower Attack, but +1 Damage on its Claws means that the Ugdru is still putting out damage, even if it’s a little less survivable.

And for that change? How about 14 Ducats? A bargain!

The Raadru has also seen some changes. Not Berserk anymore, and slightly less scary (the people of Venice have seen a lot of scary stuff recently), and the Raadru also has had a Protection nerf.

However… it’s now Dexterity 4! That means it can jump properly (I mean, look at that pose, it looks like a giant frog) and is harder to hit in combat as well.

And for your trouble? How about 3 Ducats cheaper?

Feral Besiegers

There’s lots of new monsters on the horizon, starting with the Feral Besiegers boxed set.

This set is unique in this release in that it’s full of Henchmen. That’s right, they’re all Henchmen. Rashaar players are currently laughing, and everyone else should be getting worried.

We first saw the Bulbous Toad a few weeks ago, so let’s see what it does first!

First thing you’ll notice is that this toad is slow. Like, really slow. Like, the slowest character in the game. Luckily they swim faster than they waddle, although you still are going to be using them defensively.

The Bulbous Toad has a single weapon: its barbed Tongue Harpoon. Able to fire out vast distances, this tongue skewers enemies and drags them back towards the toad. As its Aquatic as well, that puts the Bulbous Toad in the perfect position to sit just under the water, shooting far off enemies and pulling them in. With a 12″ range, you could even pull characters off of rooftops, which is extremely handy for Rashaar!

Next up are the Hellhounds. These vicious creatures are not smart. They don’t even have eyes! That’s not what they’re really for. They’re designed to climb up walls and flail around to do the most damage possible.

While they’re not tough, First Strike (1) with +1 Damage Gaping Maws is more than enough to take a big bite out of your foe. And their Climber rule means that a Hellhound will never fail a Climb roll! Between these two characters, Rashaar players have some serious new options for dealing with rooftop enemies. Guild players be afraid!

Finally, the big beastie of the Feral Besiegers: the Cymothoan Crusher.

This is probably the largest Henchman available to any faction, and surprisingly cheap too! Lucky for your opponents, this (and both the other feral Rashaar above) has Mindless and Primitive, meaning you’re likely to be getting Stunned counters and can’t score points for objectives.

However, the Cymothoan Crusher isn’t really meant for hanging back and playing defensively! With an outrageous First Strike (3) and +1 Damage, the Crusher can deal huge amounts of pain to its foes!

Although much worse when not on the charge, that’s not a problem when you’re attacking with Knockback and Stun. The Crusher is the epitome of board control for the Rashaar, able to knock Stunned enemies back into the canal, causing them to automatically start drowning! And if they haven’t gone far enough, just charge again!

These new Rashaar are truly scary, although you’ll have to balance them out with some non-Mindless characters if you’re looking to win any Objectives in the game. Luckily enough, the Rashaar have seen Ducat decreases almost across the whole faction – all of which you’ll be able to see for yourself on Friday!

The changes will go live on the gang builder when Blood on the Water, the Feral Besiegers, and the rest of the goodies go live on the TTCombat webstore. We’ll have all the info, so keep stopping by for all this Carnevale!