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Gameplay Knowledge | The Arch-Nemesis

With the Arch-Nemesis added to the game, there is a new phase at the end of Chapters 1-3, called (naturally) the Omens Phase. The first player rolls their hero dice to see how well they can interpret the signs in sky and sea. On 5 Skulls, or 2 Shields, or 2 Bolts, you may draw 2 Omens and choose one; if you fail, you draw one and must accept the outcome.

So what is on these Omens? All of them have an immediate effect related to Empire or Chaos. Some let you trade VP for beneficial effects; some remove hexes from the game; some just strengthen your enemies. Whatever Omen you get happens right away. Place the Omen on your last Chapter Event card.

The second part of the Omen shows a number and names one of the Arch Nemesis, with a number of 1, 2, 3 or 4. When it is the Events phase of your last Chapter, tally the numbers of all drawn Omens - whichever Arch-Nemesis has the highest total will be the one that arrives. This means the Arch-Nemesis appears before the Event is even read. It is also possible (and very unpleasant) to produce 2 Arch-Nemeses if their numbers are tied - but who doesn't want to see the Drakoliche and Kraken fight?

The Omens presage the coming of the biggest, baddest enemies we could think of without ruining your game. These Big Bads are called The Arch-Nemesis (Arch-Nemeses in the accepted plural, but we don't force anyone to pluralize that way on Azuhl). They arrive in the last chapter and they radically alter your objectives.

Each Arch-Nemesis has unique Immediate and Activation effects. On arrival, they will all activate at least once - they are a bit showy, after all, and would like you to recognize just what a problem they are. After they activate and annihilate parts of the map (not always a bad thing, if you know how to use it), they will await your best efforts to dislodge them. If you don't manage to destroy them... well, good luck on the Nemesis Phase.

An important note: an Arch-Nemesis is not a Legion or Horde. So Quests, Events, hexes, feats, and items that affect Hordes and Legions do not affect them. They don't gain Activation Tokens on the Events Phase, but they do activate after the other Nemeses on the Nemesis Phase. When they activate, their card will tell you what to do. If you manage to destroy one, you can distribute their VP to any player(s), so it's a great way to equal the score.

For these Arch-Nemesis Events, we want to add even more bang to the final chapter of the game! Let your imaginations go wild - we will gather your ideas for theme and effects and make 4 mega-Events that you can optionally add in:

Each Arch-Nemesis event card will consist of a theme and storyline - followed by any kind of wonderful/horrible ideas you come up with. Our design challenges here and on Kickstarter brought tons of cool new story into the game, given to us all by the excellent writers in our rebel community. You guys rock, thank you for contributing to the game.

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