Lictor in Space Crusade

Posted by MortiS-the-Lost on Dec 06, 2011; 2:49pm
URL: http://the-lost-and-the-damned.71.s1.nabble.com/Lictor-in-Space-Crusade-tp7067025.html

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.