Strange Aeons

[kojibear]

Does it matter if there are more threshold than lurker teams? It seems a lot of us are going for threshold. I really don't mind going lurker. That would just mean choosing some meaner and sneakier looking minis, right?

[ennui]

I think everyone should have their own Threshold team, switching off between every game or so. If some people would rather just play Lurkers all the time, it'd be nice for those of us (me) who want to keep building up their Threshold team though!

[kojibear]

Run me through the differences in play style again Ennui, if you wouldn't mind? From our game the other day, it seemed as though they played out pretty much the same, except that lurkers had the big monster.

[Seb]

I have understood it like this;
The Lurker team don't become stronger between the games. When they die you change them to new monsters each game depending on the scenario. You don't choose wargear and skills for the lurkers either.

The threshold agents keep on getting stronger and stronger throughout the missions and you kinda keep the same characters unless they die.

I think this is correct?

[kojibear]

Righty ho. I see. Hmm...so that would mean that the lurkers are usually start with better abilities than threshold, however, threshold will eventually supercede this advantage once they play and win enough games? Like you said though, someone does need to play lurker in order for this to happen.

If the situation were that the threshold team became to strong for the lurker monsters, what would be the solution? Would the lurker team choose a tougher monster/give the current monster tougher stats?

[ennui]

The Threshold team changes, getting new skills and/or scars. They also have a chance to find map pieces that give them ways to hire temporary agents or choose special scenarios. Once a Threshold character is killed, they're killed for good.

Lurkers, on the other hand, are lists that are written once the scenario is chosen. The Monster Hunt scenario calls for the Lurker list to contain a single model. Most other scenarios call for Lurkers to have 1 more model than the Threshold team, forcing each model to be cheaper (weaker) on average than the Threshold team models. If a Lurker model is taken off the table with a major injury, it is never rolled because they don't carry over between games. So basically the Lurkers don't know what list they'll be using until the scenario is rolled, really.

I think that people will be interested in Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten. This is sort of the Hordes to SA's Warmachine, in that it uses the exact same rules. In this game, everyone has their own lurker Cult. Each player puts together their list with 40 points, built around a certain type of Cult. The players fight amongst each other to prove that they are the superior cult, and each cult grows or is massacred, with models gaining skills and weapons, etc. The beta can be found here:

http://www.unclemikesworldwide.com/dev/Kulten_Beta.pdf

[Edit] In SA, the Lurker team is ALWAYS built to the exact same points as the Threshold, so every game is balanced. You can add skills, weapons and sometimes spells to even out the points on the Lurker side.

[kojibear]

That makes things much clearer. Cheers!

I will have a look at a few evil, sneaky and monster-esque looking creatures from the reaper chronoscope range.

[Primarch]

That makes things much clearer. Cheers!

I will have a look at a few evil, sneaky and monster-esque looking creatures from the reaper chronoscope range.

If you're building lurkers then most of Reapers range will be fine. Its only the Threshold team which needs to look like they're from the 1920s.

[kojibear]

Thanks Prim. I'll bear that in mind. It's always nice to have more choices.

[ennui]

Of course, it's always nice to have creepy mad scientists, cultists and other such pulp icons...