From Sword Maiden to War Princess

A Sword Maiden who survives combat and learns defense as well as offense can expect to be promoted to War Princess.

War Princess

A War Princess is not a true princess though, and obviously doesn’t carry the same firepower or battle prowess as, for example, a Princess of Air.

She is still a formidable opponent, and not just because her ability scores are much more balanced.

More dangerous is her ability to Call other creatures into combat, and bolster her army with other monsters — some as powerful as her.

In fact, a wise commander will use a War Princess as a kind of gate to draw in units to battle, while other creatures maintain an offense.

The counterpoint to that is, a wise opponent will target a War Princess early in the game and remove that threat.

This is possible in part because a War Princess lacks one of the signature abilities of true princesses — Commander Defense.

So while the Maid of Machines, for example, can avoid damage while building up her army, a War Princess, as a considerably weaker unit, can only hope to dodge and parry as she draws in a full complement of warriors.

Sixteen more fresh faces

It’s time for some more revisions.

New versions

A few months ago we revised 16 of the female leads of the game, and the response was positive.

So now, we’ve come up with another 16 portraits, this time of some males as well as females … and some that we’re not sure which gender they are.

The reason, of course, was that a lot of the earliest monsters were rushed — plain and simple.

And now that we’re coming up on our first anniversary, it’s time to look back at the original creatures, and give them facelifts.

Like before, take care to note that some of the artwork deviates a little from the original wiki pages.

That might be strange at first, but the wiki descriptions are written after the card is created, and not vice versa. We don’t draw to match the description. We write to match the image.

And of course, all the statistics are the same. 😉

Unpredictable, unreliable, unremarkable

There are units in Battle Monsters which simply don’t fit into any army.

Which isn’t to say that they lack a particular Group, or fit a particular theme. They just don’t fit in any army.

Ninja Punk

Ninja Punks, for example, have a track record for abandoning armies and battles at a whim. Some have even gone so far as to switch sides, in the middle of combat.

As a result most commanders are reluctant to include them. And they would be wise not to.

Aside from that checkered history, Ninja Punks are only slightly better than a rank-and-file soldier.

Their Attack scores are their only strong point, coupled with the fact that they can usually move quickly enough to squeeze an extra attack in to a round.

The average Ninja Punk might wield a curved sword or scimitar, carry a pair of polarized goggles and wear a breathing filter.

And all of this might make sense when you understand that Ninja Punks are really only thrill-seekers and mercenaries, and not trained or disciplined warriors.

Most are really only looking for a quick adrenaline rush, and flee when confronted by a considerable force.

A few may have other motives, judging by a few interviews with more eloquent Ninja Punks — and it could be that they are employed to tip odds or disrupt tournament predictions.

Which does, in a way, go along with their reputation.

Toge Monsters: Regrowing over time

Toge Monsters, or thorn monsters as they are sometimes called, are vaguely human and vaguely catlike.

Toge Monster

They seem to have the face of a cat or feline, but heavy curved and twisted thorns protrude from its face, head and back.

Toge Monsters are heavy beasts, with wide, flat feet that end in sharp nails. Their meaty palms likewise end in short, thick nails.

In battle they run with their backs arched, which extends and flares the thorns across their backs.

The thorns are heavy and thick enough to deflect most concussion blows, but are not indestructible.

Excessive force can snap or break a thorn, either from the root or along the shank.

This is when the Toge Monster’s best asset comes to the forefront.

A broken or damaged thorn will, in a matter of days and sometimes hours, regrow to a natural length.

That ability to Regenerate makes it a strong contender in battle.

Toge Monsters are talented warriors, and will spin or flex to present a thorn, and possibly do damage on offense or defense.

They also can claim a small Hardness bonus, owing to their natural instinct to catch or deflect a blow with their thorns.

While not particularly intelligent, they can communicate not only with their own race but with others as well, and will follow orders when given.

They hunt in packs and will set ambushes or tactical maneuvers, as the situation allows.

A balanced creature: ガタガタ女

ガタガタ女

We’ve come to something of a watershed moment, with the arrival of the ガタガタ女.

At some point next month (the exact date is something of a mystery), Battle Monsters will be one year old.

Our best count puts the monster census at over 220 creatures, created over the course of a year, and with an easy “monster bank” of about 50 or so that probably deserve fine-tuning and addition.

We easily pick up about four new monsters a week, sometimes more if the developers offer a “happy bag” sale, and trade at a rate of four-to-one or five-to-one.

However, the start of this blog and the start of the game itself were easily six months apart, which means for the life of this site there has been a backlog.

But today — with the release of the ガタガタ女 — we achieve parity, so to speak.

We now have no cache of monsters that need to be added, except for the weekly newcomers and whatever we glean from the “bank.”

It’s a good feeling, knowing that we’re caught up.

And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer monster. ガタガタ女 is a good example of how a middle/high level monsters should be designed.

First, with 24 points to spare, there’s space to balance the monster out.

The ガタガタ女 has an equal number of Hit Points and Attack points. That means we can be reasonably sure she will dish out as much as she takes.

Technically her Guard is a little low, but she reclaims two points with the Hardness bonus, and even bolsters that with the ability to Regenerate.

Add to that a smidgin of Earth Damage, and this is possibly one of the most well balanced creatures we’ve offered.

And the original designer was … Kurumi, 6.

Next up is a slew of monsters timed for 2012. 😉

Another hothead: Chimera 2

Chimera 2

There’s much that sets the second Chimera apart from others in its species, not the least of which being that it spends much of its time upright.

Traditionally, or perhaps just generally, Chimeras walk on all fours like an animal.

Chimera 2 however, prefers, or perhaps is designed, to walk on hind legs like a human, and use its forearms much like a biped would.

The creature seems more comfortable this way, and its skeletal system seems angled such that this is appropriate.

However, it does create a few problems.

First, the Chimera 2 has three heads — a goat, a lion and a serpent at the tail. This meets the minimal definition for a Chimera, even if the dragon’s head is missing.

However, the Chimera 2 has two of those heads stacked atop its torso. This makes the creature somewhat top-heavy.

So despite the impressive antlers and the luxurious mane, and despite the fact that its physical balance is aligned toward walking upright, it’s ungainly and not at all graceful.

In battle, the creature bounds forward on all fours, then stand upright to expel its breath weapon — an impressive blast of Fire Damage.

At that point, the creature can do little to defend itself well, and for that reason, scholars have to assign it a rather weak Guard rating.

On the other hand, for a 17-point monster, it has more than enough Hit Points and Attack points to keep it in business.

In fact, most Chimera armies (which are not as uncommon as you might think) usually include at least a pair of Chimera 2s.

Reason being, with such a high Attack score and with the ability to at least withstand damage, if not avoid it, they are quite likely to deliver at least one fiery blast, before withdrawing.

Rinka, 11, created the Chimera 2.

Clever and quick: Jack Rat

Jack Rat

His dress and appearance suggest Jack Rat changed careers at one time, becoming an effective low-level warrior at some point later in life.

The heavy boots and trousers are a clue that he may have worked in a construction field at some time or another.

And of course, the power assist gloves he wears are an even stronger suggestion; they are identical to those worn by building crews everywhere.

Beyond that though, Jack wears no armor and no insignia, making his past — and his purpose — a little foggy.

Jack is definitely limited in combat. His Guard rating is terribly low, owing to the fact that he shuns armor and has little more than his skin to protect him.

He knows this though, and supposedly prefers no armor all the same, because it might interfere with the one asset he does have — speed.

Jack moves quicker than most other monsters at his point level, and has a strong Attack rating to boot.

What that means is, Jack relies on his speed to win the first attack of the round, and hope that he can survive the remainder of the battle.

He does have the wherewithal to survive a hit or two, but if confronted by a group of monsters, he’s more likely to withdraw than stick through a battle.

Jack is part of a small and silent contingent of rodent creatures, whose ranks include Mouse, Pink Mouse and others, up to the Rat King.

While they occasionally operate in groups, the rodents are not well organized and seem to prefer a low profile.

A natural, crunchy diet

Rock Eaters require a large amount of earthen material — stone, rock or even dirt will do — as part of their everyday diet.

Rock Eater

The reason for this is obvious to even the lay person, since with every movement they shed large clumps of stonelike scales.

A few experiments have been conducted, to test the biology of these dinosaur-like creatures.

In situations where Rock Eaters were given the choice of nonliving matter (granite cubes, to be exact) or organic material, they invariably chose the stone.

When given only organic material to choose from, they seemed to have an even preference for plant or animal matter.

When held on that diet for a few days, they quickly lost their stony scales, revealing a bony creature underneath, with gray-pink flesh.

They also became sickly, agitated and dull. Their eyesight weakened, and they seemed to flinch at sudden movements.

The researchers quickly resumed its normal feeding patterns when it became clear the animal was suffering a nutrition deficit.

Rock Eaters are not particularly intelligent, but can communicate with one another through a series of dull rumbles and grating squawks.

They stand a little over 2 meters tall, with bony horns, jutting elbows and a heavy tail — all coated in rocklike scales.

They lumber in a heavy run, dropping off scales and chips as they move.

In battle they are excellent opponents, mostly because their terrific defensive rating is accented by the hard quality of the scales, and their natural propensity to fall off at any impact.

Rock Eaters are sometimes seen in the company of other earth-themed creatures, including the Earthquaker.

As they are not particularly smart though, they aren’t well suited to armies or tactical subtleties.

A teeny bit better than Cat

Neko-chan, meaning roughly “little cat,” is best described as an offshoot of Cat. She has some of the same strengths, but with a small improvement in one or two statistics.

Neko-chan

To see Neko-chan in action, it becomes clear that she prefers stealth tactics. Cat, on the other hand, apparently prefers to confront her enemies directly.

Quite possibly, stealth is a wise decision, because it seems to serve her well.

Neko-chan picks up an extra point of Guard over Cat, which scholars ascribe to her ability to avoid detection and escape notice.

And while she also inflicts wounds that cause Pain damage at the end of a round, Neko-chan’s attacks are slightly more painful than Cat’s.

To every other untrained eye, they are nearly the same monster.

They even prefer the same gear in combat — stout jacket, tough boots and gloves, and trousers that allow a tail to poke through.

It may be worth mentioning that Neko-chan is often seen wearing a dun-colored coarse cloak, possibly to assist in her surreptitious movements.

Aira, 10, designed Neko-chan first as the “Cat Monster.”

Solving the human problem

A day or two ago we mentioned that a hypothetical “normal human” is among the possible monsters listed here.

The problem is that a truly “normal” human would have much weaker statistics than the ones shown there.

Mobility Armor

To address that issue, Mobility Armor is sometimes used.

Designed as a power-assist combat suit, Mobility Armor enhances some of the weak points of a “normal” human, and gives them a better chance of survival in combat.

There are some things it doesn’t do though, and it can prove to be problematic in itself, if things go wrong.

Probably most important, Mobility Armor greatly improves human speed — so much so that a normal human is rated as Fast.

That, in itself, can be the difference between life and death for a normal human.

It also provides effective shielding against physical attacks, concussions, projectiles and some environmental damage — in other words, Hardness.

When properly employed with full headgear, cuirass and joint shielding, it can keep a human alive in sub-par conditions for quite some time.

There are some shortcomings. First, the suit is powered, but still requires a measure of physical ability to operate it. In fact, at times it can be quite taxing.

Not just any overweight, out-of-shape human can thrown on a suit of Mobility Armor and suddenly become a battlefield demon.

It also has no weaponry; the suit is strictly armor and has no mounts or power source for weapons.

And unfortunately one in four suits will suffer a failure of some type in the first 24 hours of use; this is translated to a lower Hit Point rating, to represent the chance of suddenly coming to a locked halt in the middle of a battle.

But most of all, it is bulky and requires some training to learn to use efficiently. Without fail, the first time a person uses the armor, they fall on their backside and helplessly flail their limbs.

And so it just shows again, that the “normal human” principle is a doubtful one.