Lictor in Space Crusade

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Here is the 3rd (and potentially most deadly) of the 3 Tyranid 'boss monsters' I've been working on the rules for recently


The Tyranid creatures known as Lictors are opportunistic hunters that stalk their prey from the shadows. They stand far taller than a Space Marine but despite their large size, Lictors are very agile and fast. It is with this speed, coupled with their strength that Lictors strike from hiding with a brutally efficient arsenal of bio-weaponry; their victims surprised and unable to react in time.

Revealing the Lictor
Concealed by a chameleonic carapace that renders it all but invisible to the naked eye, a Lictor remains hidden and motionless until it chooses to strike, leaping out of nowhere onto it's unsuspecting victim. The Lictor has no Blip token and is only placed on the board when the 'Lictor!' Alien Event Card is drawn. Further more the Lictor' s Movement and Attack must be carried out at the beginning of the Alien Player's turn before any other Aliens and Blips are used.

Loosing Line of sight
A Lictor will often pick off it's prey in ones and twos while they are separated from their squad and then as quickly as it appeared, vanish again into the shadows. If the Alien player moves the Lictor into a square that none of the Marine Players can draw a Line-of-sight to the Alien Player may remove the Lictor from the board and shuffle the 'Lictor!' Alien Event Card back into the deck. No points are awarded to anyone for the leaving the board in this way.

Example:

 ^ The Lictor makes it's attack on a Marine, killing him and the moves out of the other Marine's Line-of-sight, the Alien Player may then choose to remove the Lictor from play and shuffle the even card back into the deck.

Re-Roll
The Lictor is a lethal opponent in close combat and may re-roll up to 2 of it's hand-to-hand dice .

Life Points
The Lictor has 2 Life points. Once the Lictor is reduced to 0 Life Points it is permanently removed for the board and the 'Lictor!' Alien Event Card is discarded

Design Notes:
Potentially the Lictor is the most deadly creature in Space Crusade - it's ability to appear, kill a Marine and then leave the board again before the rest of Marines can shoot at it means it can prove to be un-killable (and thus unstoppable) in some cases. This is some what balanced by the fact the Alien Player can't rely on the Lictor appearing at the right moment and every time the Lictor is removed and placed back into the event deck there is the risk it won't show up again before the end of the game (depending on the mission). The Lictor should only be used in games with experienced players and/or well equipped Squads, even Terminator Squads will struggle against a Lictor.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

To use the Lictor in your games you'll need the 'Lictor!' Alien Event Card.

You can find an easy to print version of the 'Lictor!' Alien Event Card and many other's I've made Here.

 

[Captin Kabeered]

Thanks again Mortis for another superbly done and profetionly made I will add.  Addions to Space Crusade. Keep up the great work. YAY now I will have even more ways to go to a sticky end.

Mmmm Rollos and Wagon weels, sorry my mind drifted there for a moment.  Great work

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[MortiS-the-Lost]

Lumberjack wrote

I like the way you have reflected its hit and run style with the cards ability to go back into the deck. (gives it the nice chance of it appearing more often if several cards in the deck are replaced with lictor cards).

Only 1 Lictor card is placed in the deck - and believe me that is enough, if you thought the 'Genestealers' card was bad news ... you ain't seen nothing yet!

Lumberjack wrote

Be interesting to see if it turns what appears to be an easy win for someone.

"Crap! A Lictor just ran out of our drop pod hatch!"

Look foward to getting dragged away screaming by it soon.

Often you don't get a chance to scream!  (and besides your in space, so what's the point in screaming?) Muh hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahaaahahaha!

[General Biakal]

i look forward to seeing these again a year down the line changed slightly

[MortiS-the-Lost]

General Biakal wrote

i look forward to seeing these again a year down the line changed slightly

eh? why? what?

explain yourself Mr Biakal

[Devilkraken]

Hi MortiS-the-Lost, first thing is that your works are coolest! Second, if I like to convert this lictor stats for space hulk rules only, how could be? can you help? Trying make the marines players gains a little more trauma and corruption points.

[The Skald]

I'm sure Mortis will be along shortly to answer your question - it might seem quiet on here, but that's just to lure you into a false sense of security  

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Which edition of Space Hulk?

[Devilkraken]

3rd-4rd edition.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

I think the best starting place for a Lictor Space Hulk is perhaps the Brood Lord

Lictors are of course very powerful in close combat so up the Assault Dice to 3D6 +2 and give it the Mighty Blow special rule too.

The Brood Lord's 'Hard To Kill' seems appropriate for a Lictor too.

Ignore the 'Immune To Psychic Storm' rule, the Lictor doesn’t need that.

Movement: I'd suggest allowing the rather stealthy and agile Lictor to move backward 1 square at a cost of 1 Action Point rather than the normal 2 that Genestealers get.

Now all you need to do is figure out a way of getting the Lictor to characteristically appear out of thin air.

1st edition Space Hulk in the Deathwing expansion has rules for Ambush Counters which I think could be suitably utilised here.

Here are the rules for them in 1st edition Space Hulk (text grabbed from The Space Hulk Bible PDF)


Ambush Counters are used by the Genestealer player
to represent two things: Stealers who have remained
hidden while the Marines have passed them by, and
things that are picked up by the Marines' movement
sensors that might be Stealers. Ambush counters can
only be used if both players agree upon it before the
game starts.
Place the ambush result counters in a cup at the start of
the game if you decide to use them, and put the
ambush counters themselves to one side. The Stealer
player can take an ambush counter instead of one of
his reinforcement Blips for the turn. He may never use
more than one ambush counter per turn and must place
it at the end of his turn. It can be placed in any empty
square on the board, as long as the square is at least
six squares away from the nearest Marine, and not in a
Marine's LOS. In addition, the Stealer player is never
allowed to have more than two ambush counters in play
at any time.
Ambush counters have 6 APs, and move in the same
way as Blips. An unconverted ambush counter can
enter the LOS of a Marine, in which case, the
Genestealer player must immediately draw an ambush
result counter from the mug at random. Ambush
counters can only be converted when they enter a
Marine's LOS or a square that is adjacent to a Marine
(even if no Marine is able to see them).
If an ambush result counter is revealed to be a
Genestealer, replace the ambush counter with a
Genestealer model. It may carry on moving, using any
APs that were not used prior to its conversion. If the
ambush result counter turns out to be anything else, the
ambush counter is removed from play immediately,
unless it is in the LOS and arc of fire of any Marine(s)
on overwatch. Return any ambush result counters to
their mug after they have been revealed. Attacks on
revealed Genestealers are handled normally. Those on
anything else must be rolled for anyway, as the
Marine's gun will jam if he rolls a double. The fired upon
ambush counter is then removed from play.


Of course you'll need to make your own set of Ambush Counters, don't worry too much about them matching your blips, they're not mixed in with the basic blip set so it doesn't matter what  they look like. There was originally 6 Ambush Counters in Deathwing; 4 blanks and 2 with Genestealers. I'd suggest a set of 9 for your purposes; 6 blanks, 2 Genestealers and 1 for the deadly Lictor

[Devilkraken]

thank you very much  MortiS, i guess this will make him a true pain for the gamers.