The Necromancers' dread curse A fan made scenario for the Mage Knight Board Game & Lost Legion Expansion. This is not an official release. Author: Ewaldus, Amsterdam, 16 - May - 2016, Rev. 4.
Rumors have reached the Council of the Void that powerful Necromancers have taken over neighboring territories of the Atlantean Kingdom and plan an invasion. You are ordered to navigate their lands and eliminate the Necromancers in their strongholds. Tread carefully though, it is said that the Necromancers fly out at night on their undead dragons casting dread curses on any mage knight that dares to enter their realm. The dread curses enable the Necromancers to resurrect enemy creatures slain by mage knights.
What to expect Rampaging enemies are in fact 'rampaging enemies': they move around the map assaulting villages, plundering monasteries and engaging mage knights in battle. Once defeated they are resurrected at night by the Necromancers to continue their rampage. To strengthen the undead army, the Necromancers also raise the dead that are buried at ancient graveyards.
Starting the game Setup the game according to the Blitz Conquest in the rulebook; play 2 days and 2 nights. Each city on the core city tiles is controlled by a Necromancer. Disregard city levels, place the dial on black. Place a Necromancer (white, non-catapult, non-legionnaire, creature token) and a red draconum creature token on each city card facedown without revealing them. Each mage knight that enters through the portal is cursed by one of the Necromancers. To indicate which Necromancer has cursed which mage knight : take 1 shield token of each mage knight and randomly place 1 of these shield tokens on each Necromancer creature token. Ensure that the dragons in the cities of the Necromancers carry the same shield token (dread curse) as their Necromancer.
Movement Tile: grab a facedown land tile that will not be used and place a different crystal at each outer hexagon. Black (moon) and yellow (sun) on opposing sides; red and green on both sides of the sun; white next to red; blue next to green. Connect the Movement Tile to the land tiles that are in use, but place it where it does not interfere with game play. Place an extra Mana-die (the Movement Mana-die) in the middle of the Movement Tile; it is not related to the source but used for determining rampaging enemy movement. The center hexagon of the Movement Tile will also function as 'The Pool of Forgotten Souls'.
Additional Rules & Alterations Scouting All enemies still to be defeated remain facedown during the entire game.
During a day round: If a mage knight is adjacent (1 space away) to an enemy, he can freely scout the enemy creature token. After looking at the creature token, the token is placed back on the board facedown. If the mage knight is 2 spaces away, he must pay 1 movement point to scout the enemy creature token.
During a night round: The mage knight can only scout an enemy creature token by paying 1 movement point when adjacent (1 space away) to the enemy creature token.
Spending 1 movement point in this way does not end the movement of the mage knight, nor does it count as an action he is taking for his turn. The mage knight is only obliged to turn the enemy creature token face-up (for all other mage knights to see) during combat. Outside of combat it is up to the mage knight to share information about the identity of enemy creatures.
Crystal Mines / Deep Mines Whenever a mage knight moves over or ends his turn on a crystal / deep mine he gains a corresponding crystal to his inventory (max. 1 crystal per mine per turn) and marks the mine with his shield token or replaces another mage knight's shield token on the mine with his own. Each shield token on a mine counts towards the victory condition The Greatest Loot. Gaining the crystal from the mine does not end the mage knight's movement nor does it count as an action taken during his turn.
Move & Attack When a mage knight plans to attack an enemy, it is optional to pay the move cost (to move onto the space of the enemy) before the attack takes place during the mage knight’s movement phase. Upon defeat of the enemy, the mage knight will then move onto the space of the just defeated enemy.
Keep A mage knight cannot assault or conquer a keep if a shield token of another mage knight is already on the space. However, all mage knights can move to a keep that is under control of a another mage knight and perform interactions there.
1 Villages Remove a mage knight's shield token from a village, if any mage knight plunders the village between turns.
Dread Curses Defeating a 'living' rampaging enemy When a mage knight defeats a 'living' rampaging enemy (as opposed to undead rampaging enemy), gain fame as normal and reputation +1 (for green, grey, purple, brown, creature tokens) +2 (for white, red, creature tokens). Turn the rampaging enemy token face-up, leaving it on the space where it was defeated, and place a shield token of the mage knight who defeated it on it. The shield token represents the effect of the dread curse that was cast on the mage knight by one of the Necromancers. The Necromancer will resurrect the creature at the beginning of the next night round. When this happens: flip the rampaging enemy token facedown (again) but leave the mage knight's shield token on it. The shield token represents that it has become an undead rampaging enemy resurrected by the dread curse that alters its stats and abilities as indicated in the table below:
Shield Token Dread Curse Attack* Armor Special Ability
Tovak Spectral body - 1 - 1 For each attack of this creature: one card (unit or hand card) used for blocking the attack is negated.
Goldyx Shadow clone - 1 - 1 In order to be able to see and successfully block attacks of this creature first pay a mana of any color.
The mage knight cannot use nor assign damage to level 1 or 2 units during combat against this creature as Norowas Horrifying Dismemberment - 1 - 1 they are horrified.
Arythea Rabies - 1 - 1 Take a wound to your discard pile when successfully blocking this creature.
Wolfhawk Feverish Haste - 1 - 1 For each attack of this creature: first pay 2 movement points to be able to successfully block the attack.
If this creature is not successfully blocked: the mage knight is shielded from the source during the Krang Source Disruptor - 1 - 1 remainder of the combat.
If this creature is not successfully blocked: the armor rating of the mage knight and / or units that take Braevalar Corrosive Breath - 1 - 1 damage from this creature is reduced (-1) during the assign damage phase of combat. * Modifier applies to each attack of an enemy creature token, and can reduce an attack to 0. Disintegrating A mage knight can prevent a defeated 'living' rampaging enemy from being resurrected at night by disintegrating the corpse. The mage knight must end his movement on the space where the enemy creature was defeated and blast away the remains by paying a mana of any color. Remove all enemy creature tokens and the shield tokens on them from the space and add a shield token of the mage knight who disintegrated it/them into the 'Pool of Forgotten Souls' (to be explained) for each creature token removed this way making it count towards the victory condition The Greatest Redeemer.
Defeating an undead rampaging enemy When a mage knight defeats an undead rampaging enemy, gain fame (X - 1) and reputation as per section defeating a 'living' rampaging enemy, but remove the enemy creature token and the shield token that is on it from the board. Now place a shield token of the mage knight who defeated the undead rampaging enemy in the 'Pool of Forgotten Souls'. Each defeated undead enemy counts towards the victory condition The Greatest Redeemer.
Defeating a Necromancer and lifting the dread curse All Necromancers (not their undead dragons) have the following abilities: arcane immunity, fire, ice, physical resistance, elusive (elusive armor rating = 2x armor rating displayed on the token) and corruptive coercion. The Necromancers (and their undead dragons) carry a dread curse that is indicated by the shield token on them. This also influences their stats and abilities as described in the table above.
Corruptive coercion: at the start of combat the Necromancer will try and corrupt the lowest level, unwounded unit that is commanded by the mage knight (break ties towards the unit with the highest base armor rating). Heroes can’t be corrupted, thugs can't be prevented from being corrupted. A mage knight can prevent the corruption by paying 4 minus the level of the unit in influence points at the start of combat. The mage knight’s reputation modifier applies and if it is high enough it does not require the mage knight to play cards to gain the required influence points.
A corrupted unit cannot be used by the mage knight during the attack. Instead the Necromancer will force the unit to defend the Necromancer so that the mage knight will first have to defeat his unit (i.e. it's armor rating) before he can attack the Necromancer. The unit will return to the ranks of the mage knight after combat. If the unit was wounded during battle, it will return to the ranks of the mage knight wounded. Defending a Necromancer does not activate a unit, not will a unit attack it's mage knight.
2 When a Necromancer is defeated, the dread curse the Necromancer is casting (indicated by the shield token on the Necromancer) is lifted at the end of combat. All undead (incl. still to be resurrected) creature tokens with that Necromancer's dread curse (shield token) on them disintegrate. Remove the creature tokens and the shield tokens on them from the board. Place a shield token of the mage knight that defeated the Necromancer in the 'Pool of Forgotten Souls' for each creature removed this way. The mage knight gains no fame or reputation for creatures removed from the board in this way. If with the disintegration of undead creatures any site becomes liberated (to be explained), then mark the space with a shield token of the mage knight that defeated the Necromancer. The mage knight gains reputation (+1) for each site liberated this way, but cannot claim any other rewards for those sites (to be explained). The mage knight gains 2x the amount of fame indicated on the Necromancer creature token for defeating it and becomes city leader when all other enemy creatures have been defeated in the enemy city.
The dread curse the Necromancer was casting on a mage knight (indicated by the shield token) is now lifted: when that mage knight now defeats a 'living' rampaging enemy, directly remove the creature token from the board. It will no longer be resurrected at night.
Example Norowas defeats a Necromancer in his stronghold that is casting a dread curse on Goldyx (the Necromancer has Goldyx' shield token on him). All undead (incl. still to be resurrected) enemies with Goldyx's shield token on them disintegrate. For each creature that disintegrates a shield token of Norowas (who defeated the Necromancer) is added to the 'Pool of Forgotten Souls'. The dread curse placed on Goldyx is lifted: when Goldyx now defeats a 'living' rampaging enemy it is directly removed from the game and will not be resurrected at night.
Rampaging enemy movement When do rampaging enemies move? Between turns of mage knights: after the moment a mage knight declares to end his turn, but before the next mage knight start his turn. Rampaging enemy movement and battles need to be completed before the next mage knight can start his turn.
Which rampaging enemy will move? The mage knight who just declared to end his turn will roll the 'Movement Mana-die' (located in the middle of the 'Movement Tile') to determine which unoccupied rampaging enemy will move and how many spaces it will move. A rampaging enemy is unoccupied if it is not occupied with assaulting a site or defending a conquered site (to be explained).
Color DAY NIGHT
Sun All living unoccupied rampaging enemies + 1 space (No movement)
Moon (No movement) All undead unoccupied rampaging enemies +1 space
Closest living unoccupied green, grey, purple, brown, rampaging enemy to the Closest undead unoccupied green, grey, purple, brown, rampaging enemy to the Green mage knight + 2 spaces mage knight +2 spaces
Closest living unoccupied white, red, rampaging enemy to the mage knight + 1 Red Closest undead unoccupied white, red, rampaging enemy to the mage knight + 1 space
White Closest undead unoccupied rampaging enemy to the mage knight +1 space Closest living unoccupied rampaging enemy to the mage knight +1
Blue Closest unoccupied horde to the mage knight + 1 space Closest unoccupied horde to the mage knight +1
Break ties randomly when more than one creature is closest to the mage knight using the Movement Mana-die and the Movement Tile.
Which direction do rampaging enemies move? Roll the Movement Mana-die for each space the rampaging enemy moves. Imagine the rampaging enemy being in the middle of the Movement Tile and moving to one of the outer hexagons with a crystal on it. The direction the rampaging enemy moves is determined by the color rolled e.g. if the Movement Mana-die shows a sun, move the rampaging enemy in the direction of the yellow crystal.
When multiple rampaging enemies move, determine the direction for each enemy separately and then move them all at the same time. Resolve battles per mage knight following the round order tokens.
Only dragons can fly onto mountain spaces and lakes. For all other rampaging enemies re-roll the Movement Mana-die until the rampaging enemy can move to an accessible space. Walls also hamper rampaging enemy movement (excl. dragons). If a rampaging enemy still has + 2 movement spaces it will climb over the wall and end its movement there. If a rampaging enemy has only + 1 movement space left, treat the space behind the wall as an inaccessible space and re-roll the Movement Mana-die to determine a different direction of movement.
3 What happens when rampaging enemies move? The following events trigger when a (living or undead) unoccupied rampaging enemy moves onto certain map locations.
1) Adventure sites: Treat these sites as ordinary spaces. The rampaging enemy will freely move on and over it without triggering events or actions.
2) Crystal / Deep Mines: Place a crystal produced by the mine on the rampaging enemy token and remove a mage knight's shield token from the mine if present. The rampaging enemy can carry max. 1 crystal of each color with him until it is defeated after which it is rewarded to the mage knight. Moving onto a crystal mine does not end the movement of the rampaging enemy.
3) Another Rampaging Enemy: 'Living' rampaging enemies and undead rampaging enemies see the mage knights as a common threat and join forces when either of them moves onto the space of the other. They then form a horde and will move as one. Ensure that when stacking multiple enemy creature tokens on one space to form a horde that it remains clear which rampaging enemy is 'living' and which is undead.
Example Suppose there is a horde of 3 rampaging enemies on one space: 1 living, 1 undead with dread curse A, 1 undead with dread curse B. First place undead rampaging enemy 1 on the space and add its shield token (dread curse) A on top, then stack undead rampaging enemy 2 on top of it and add its shield token (dread curse) B on top, and finally stack the 'living' rampaging enemy token on top.
4) Magical Glade: The Necromancers have tainted the magical glades in their realm to strengthen their forces. As soon as a rampaging enemy moves onto a magical glade it powers up. If the enemy token is green, replace it with grey. If grey, replace it with purple, etc. These power ups apply to all enemy creature tokens in case of a horde.
5) Attacking Mage knights: When a rampaging enemy moves onto the space of a mage knight it will directly engage combat. When ending his most recent turn the mage knight replenished his hand cards and reactivated his turn based skills. The mage knight can use these cards and skills when being attacked by rampaging enemies in between turns, but does not get to replenish or reactivate them before the end of his next turn. Additionally, during these battles the mage knight cannot use mana from the source (cannot use mana draw, can use mana steal) and therefore has to rely on crystals to power up his cards. Fighting enemies outside the normal turn sequence does not count as an action for any turn of the mage knight.
If, in these battles, a mage knight cannot defeat the enemy or if he does not wish to fight the enemy, then he must flee from battle. The mage knight can flee before the battle starts or at the end of the battle (after he might have eliminated some enemies from a horde). He takes a wound card into his hand (or onto one of his units), loses (-1) reputation and has to be able to pay the movement cost to move to an adjacent space. If by his movement he provokes another enemy, then commence a new battle. A mage knight can flee as far away from the enemy as long as he pays the required move cost; the mage knight can also discover new tiles when fleeing. If the mage knight has not enough move points in hand to flee to an adjacent space he can take additional wound cards into his hand (or to his units) to gain (+2) move points for each wound taken in this way. He also loses (-1) reputation for each wound taken in this way. If he takes an amount of wounds into his hand by this equal to or exceeding his hand limit, he can move to the desired space but is knocked out. A mage knight cannot flee to the space he is being attacked from, unless there is no safe space to move to (and takes an additional wound in doing so).
When a rampaging enemy moves onto a space on which there is no mage knight, but where there are mage knights adjacent to that space, it will randomly attack one mage knight that is adjacent to the space it just moved onto. A mage knight under attack in this case is not required to flee if he cannot defeat the enemy creature as the creature is not moving onto the space of the mage knight.
6) Attacking a site (village/monastery/keep/mage tower/refugee camp/city):
In case there are already rampaging enemies on the site, the rampaging enemy will join forces with the creatures on site and becomes occupied defending the stronghold. It will not move across the map anymore.
In case there are not already rampaging enemies on the site, the rampaging enemy will first attack any mage knight present on the space. In case the mage knight flees from battle it will then attack the site and will ignore any mage knights that might be adjacent to the site. When a rampaging enemy is attacking a site it also gains status occupied. It will not move across the map any longer but is occupied attacking the site. It can no longer by provoked.
4 As soon as a rampaging enemy attacks a site reputation is lost (unless the site is already under attack by another rampaging enemy). If the site carries a mage knight's shield token, then that mage knight will directly lose reputation (-1). If the site does not carry a shield token then all mage knights directly lose reputation (-1).
Villagers and monks are unable to defend themselves, so if a monastery (without a shield token on it) or village is attacked it is also directly conquered. Move the attacking rampaging enemy onto the space of the village or monastery, and remove a mage knight's shield token that might be present in case of a village. Monasteries that carry a mage knight's shield token are treated as an ordinary space, as it has already been burned and is of no interest. Leave the mage knight’s shield token on the monastery.
For all other sites mentioned above, place the rampaging enemy on the border of its originating space and the site it is attacking. It is now occupied attacking the site. If the rampaging enemy is not defeated by a mage knight before the start of the next round, the enemy will conquer the site. Thus at the start of each round, check which sites are still under attack and have therefore been conquered. Move all rampaging enemies attacking the site onto the space of the site. Remove any defenders from the space if present. When the site is conquered like this additional reputation is lost. If the site carries a mage knight's shield token, then that mage knight will lose reputation (-1) and loses his shield token from the space. If the site does not carry a shield token then all mage knights directly lose reputation (-1).
After rampaging enemies have conquered a site they keep status occupied as they are now occupied torching and plundering the site and defending the stronghold against any attacks from mage knights. They are no longer considered rampaging enemies, so they do not give mage knights a reputation bonus once defeated. Whenever a site is under attack or conquered by enemy creatures, no interactions can take place on the space.
6a) Involvement of mage knights when a site is under attack by a rampaging enemy:
In order to prevent rampaging enemies from conquering a site at the beginning of the next round, a mage knight can attack them during his turn.
I) The mage knight can attack a rampaging enemy that is attacking a site when the mage knight is adjacent to the originating space the rampaging enemy is attacking the site from.
II) If there are no defenders present on the site the rampaging enemy is attacking (no actual token on the space), then the mage knight can pay the move cost to move to the site and engage in battle with all rampaging enemies that are attacking the site.
III) If there are defenders present on the site (there is an actual creature token on the space), the mage knight can pay the move cost required to move to the site and engage in battle with the defenders of the site and all rampaging enemies attacking the site.
The mage knight who defeats the last rampaging enemy that is attacking a site gains reputation (+1). If, in fending off the attacks, the defenders were also defeated (III), then mark the site with the mage knight's shield token. If, no defenders were present in the first place and the site was 'owned' by another mage knight (II), then remove that mage knight's shield token from the space and replace it with the mage knight's shield token who just fended off the attack.
6b) Liberating a site that has been conquered by enemy creatures:
A mage knight does not suffer the reputation penalty when attacking a site that has been conquered by rampaging enemies or is under control of the Necromancers. Enemy creatures that are defending a site cannot be provoked. Once a mage knight eliminates the last enemy from the site, that mage knight gets reputation (+2) for liberating the site. Additionally, use the following rewards table when a mage knights clears an enemy stronghold. The reward (and the shield token on the space) is offered to the mage knight who gained the most fame when defeating enemies that were on the site. Break ties to the mage knight who first defeated an enemy that was on the site.
Site Reward Village 1 crystal for each enemy. Keep Select card from the Advanced Action Offer. Refugee Camp Select card from the Advanced Action Offer. Mage Tower Select card from the Spell Card Offer. Monastery Draw 1 artifact card (once rampaging enemies have conquered a monastery it is considered burned. When you defeat the rampaging enemies on the monastery you are rewarded with the artifact they have pillaged; mark the space with the mage knight's shield token). City Draw 3 artifact cards and select 2.
When a mage knight liberates or conquers a site from ‘living’ enemies or defenders, the people of the site will ensure the slain bodies will be disintegrated so that they can't be resurrected at the beginning of the next night round. Instead of turning the tokens face up and placing a shield token on them, remove them from the board.
Whenever at mage knight interacts at any site he receives +1 influence for the amount of sites (of that type) that carry his shield token.
5 7) Unknown Territory: If a rampaging enemy moves onto a space on a tile that has not yet been discovered by a mage knight, then place and connect a tile facedown to the board and move the enemy onto the space on the backside of the tile. If a mage knight discovers the tile and flips it: place the rampaging enemy on the same space it was (if accessible to the rampaging enemy) and execute events that this might trigger. If the space is a site (village/keep/monastery/mage tower/refugee camp/city), then this indicates that the rampaging enemy has already conquered the site and is now occupied defending the stronghold; mage knights lose no reputation for this.
If, when flipping the tile, the space of the rampaging enemy is inaccessible (e.g. mountain) to the rampaging enemy then move it and execute events that this might trigger (e.g. an assault on a mage knight, or site).
A mage knight cannot attack an enemy on an undiscovered tile, but can provoke an attack by a rampaging enemy on an undiscovered tile.
Starting a night round Prepare a new round as you would as usual. In this scenario that also means that rampaging enemies that are attacking a site now conquer it and need to be moved onto the sites (this happens at the start of any round). After that determine which sites are conquered and occupied by rampaging enemies. The Necromancers will resurrect the defenders and people on those sites which have been slain: take a creature token and place it on the site facedown; village (green), keep (grey), refugee camp (grey), mage tower (purple), monastery (purple), and city (white). The dread curse in effect is determined by the shield token of the closest mage knight that carries a dread curse. When multiple mage knights are equidistant: break the tie to the mage knight with the highest fame. Place the shield token on the creature token to indicate it has been resurrected.
For each face-up rampaging enemy on the board with a shield token on it (indicating that it once was a living rampaging enemy that was slain by a mage knight): flip the rampaging enemy token facedown (again) but leave the mage knight's shield token on it. The shield token represents that it is now an undead rampaging enemy resurrected by a dread curse which alters the stats and abilities of the rampaging enemy. When a creature is resurrected like this at the beginning of a night round, it only engages a mage knight in battle when both are on the same space. These battles commence just before the first turn of the mage knight starting the round.
Ancient Graveyard: the ancient ruin tile is used to represent an ancient graveyard. At the start of each night round all unconquered ancient graveyards will spawn an undead rampaging enemy token on its space as the people of the closest village/keep/mage tower/monastery/refugee camp/city are buried there and are being resurrected by the Necromancers. An undead rampaging enemy token also spawns directly when an ancient graveyard is revealed during a night round. The color of the undead rampaging enemy token is determined by which the ancient graveyard is closest to: village (green), keep (grey), refugee camp (grey), mage tower (purple), monastery (purple), and city (white). In case two sites are equidistant the Necromancer will resurrect the stronger of two creatures. The dread curse in effect is determined by the shield token of the closest mage knight. When multiple mage knights are equidistant: break the tie to the mage knight with the highest fame.
Victory conditions The Greatest Loot In addition to the normal scoring: shield tokens on crystal mines count +1 Fame towards the Greatest Loot.
The Greatest Conqueror In addition to the normal scoring: Shield tokens on villages count +2 Fame towards the Greatest Conqueror. Each city a mage knight has become its leader he counts +2 Fame towards the Greatest Conqueror. Each refugee camp that carries a mage knight's shield token counts +2 Fame towards the Greatest Conqueror.
The Greatest Redeemer For each undead rampaging enemy a mage knight defeats or disintegrates a shield token of the mage knight is placed in the 'Pool of Forgotten Souls'. The de facto place for this is the middle of the 'Movement tile' with the six crystals on it. At the end of the game count +1 fame for each shield token. The player who scored the most Fame in this way gets +3 extra Fame for achieving the Greatest Redeemer (+1 if tied).
'Ceterum censeo Necromantīam esse delendam' ~ Ewaldus
6