Evil Wizard card rules that require no Evil Wizard cards

[Bareheaded Warrior]

You are totally at liberty to disagree. Having extensively played monsters regularly appearing behind the Heroes, I don't like it. It's 1 in 3 for the post you quoted and 1 in 6 for your amendment. I don't like either. There is no obligation for Zargon to rush his monsters in for the odd attack and get picked off. I would accumulate a horde and wait for the Heroes to get to a tough room and then rush in. I would do that every time without fail.

But if you like that system, go for it.

Whilst I too respect people right to agree to disagree, honestly but I don't think that we ARE actually disagreeing on most of this.

You are correct and I agree that a ruleset that allows Zargon to build up forces to the rear of the Heroes should certainly be used by any good Evil Wizard Player (not sure you can have a good evil wizard player, but you know what I mean, perhaps an 'effective' one would have been better wording!) to avoid wasting forces on odd attacks and getting picked off. They should instead do exactly as you suggest and accumulate a horde and rush the heroes en masse when they are otherwise compromised and vulnerable. In response to this Zargon tactic Heroes would soon realise the need to periodically sweep their rear and now we have got ourselves into exactly the situation that both you and I don't think improves the game.

The original rule from Games International Magazine allows this undesirable emergent behaviour which I too recognise as a flaw, so my modified rule, is explicitly modified so that the ruleset does not allow Zargon to build up forces at the rear, it forces a sporadic dribble of chance encounters with Wandering Monsters from various directions (including but not limited to attacks from behind), which keeps the Heroes on their toes, creates the impression that they are in a dungeon surrounded by danger, forces them to consider the tactical option of deploying a rear-guard, and considering their positioning as a group rather than just leaving the Wizard is the safe space at the rear, and creates a weak incentive to keep moving and not waste time.

Whilst I happy with the concept of my new rule I'm not 100% sure that the wording is spot on, but that aside, I think that the Wandering Monster placement aspect of this new rule (not the roll to produce one, but the placement once the roll has been made) could be used for placing Wandering Monsters in general whether they are sourced via a GMs role or via a Treasure Card.

In terms of the wording, the concept I'm trying to describe (and I don't think I'm doing it very well) is of representing Wandering Monsters moving from an area out of sight of the Heroes and INTO the square that is the first one, the closest, within sight of the Heroes.

So for example if the heroes were all in a room, perhaps gathered around an unopened door on one side waiting to burst through, with an opened door that they used to enter the room on the opposite side then the Wandering Monster would be placed in the square next to the doorway, outside of the room that the Heroes are currently occupying as that is the first square, the closest to the Heroes, that represents the monster moving from the unseen area into the 'light' / into the field of vision of the Heroes.

[The Admiral]

You literally said you didn't agree with me, but it doesn't matter. Your ideas all sound very plausible, and if they work for you and yours have at it. Apart from the odd special occasions written into quests where monsters appear behind the Heroes, I don't want any regular system. As there is no obligation to rush the monsters in, they will slowly build up behind the Heroes, as that is what I would/did do as the EW. The rear guard battles, in my opinion, get tedious and detract from the fun part of going forward.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

My point, granted badly made, was that we are agreeing that the build up of forces behind the heroes is a bad thing for the game, I was disagreeing with you when you stated that my amended rules allow that to happen. Any way I’ll continue to play test and report back as the proof is in the playing!

[The Admiral]

My point, granted badly made, was that we are agreeing that the build up of forces behind the heroes is a bad thing for the game, I was disagreeing with you when you stated that my amended rules allow that to happen. Any way I’ll continue to play test and report back as the proof is in the playing!

It certainly is, but in this instance it would really depend on how evil the EW is. Benevolent one's will commit the monsters as they arrive, and I think in that case it would work quite well. The Heroes know that every now and then a monster will appear and attack them. There is nothing much they can do about that except press on as quickly as possible to reduce the number of attacks. A henchman rear-guard, such as a cheap scout, would work well as even if he dies the wizard is still safe.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

I think that part of the issue here is how different EWPs (and the rules) handle monsters that are moved out of sight of the heroes.

Personally I'm of the opinion that as monsters are placed on the board when they appear within the field of vision of the heroes, opening doors, rounding corners and so on, then if they move out of the field of vision of all the heroes then they should, strictly speaking, be removed from the board.

I say "strictly speaking" as I don't rigorously enforce this myself, but I do bear this principle in mind, so as a EWP I think that "tactics" that deliberately breach this principle, like all the monsters running off round a corner so that they out of sight so that the Courage spell stops working, or running monsters away from the heroes and gathering them all around the exit for an ambush and similar are exploits that I don't use as I think they break the spirit if not the letter of the law.

If you take that principle in mind, then it becomes very difficult if not impossible for the EWP to build up any significant force of monsters behind the heroes, as the last hero turning a corner could mean many or all of the monsters would be removed from the board.