The Niphal have two special rules which provide the faction with unique defenses. The first rule is called Entropic Fields. These arcane fields erode directed electromagnetic energy and slow down kinetic projectiles. In game terms, every Niphal unit halves all incoming damage rounded up. Niphal were designed by their malicious alien masters to remain effective on cosmic time scales. So on the table it is fitting that your opponent will need to take this damage mitigation into account every time they attack.
Their other rule is called Adaptation Algorithms. Every Mind has experienced billions of years of existence. Some of this knowledge is accessible by every node within the Niphal force. This allows them to adapt to situations they encounter, becoming more difficult to destroy with every attack they survive. In game terms, after an enemy unit is done assigning damage to a Niphal unit they receive an Adaptation Token. A unit can have up to three of these tokens. Here is what the unit gets with each token.
1 Adaptation Token: Enemy units, when performing Shooting attacks
against this unit, must deduct 6″ from their projectile weapons’
range (a weapon’s range can never be reduced to shorter than 6″).
2 Adaptation Tokens: Enemy units subtract 1 from their hit rolls
against this unit.
3 Adaptation Tokens: The unit improves its Armor characteristic by 1.
The final survivors of a Niphal unit are often fully adapted to their enemies’ attacks and are extremely tough to finish off. While they do get stronger in a predictable way, your opponent must either work to destroy a unit in as few actions as possible, or be forced to deal with enemy units operating with crazy high durability. The choice is theirs and a clever Commander will know how to best leverage these tough choices to their advantage.
Ready to fulfill the Directive? All the nodes you need can be found in a Niphal Battle Force. This box will contain:
- A Niphal Mind
- A node of five Niphal Cleansers
- Two nodes of five Niphal Sterilizers
- A Niphal Obliterator
- Two Niphal Annihilators
This is a 34 point battle force in the game, granting you access to all three of the additional objective types. On the table it is a durable mechanical wave which washes over your enemies, leaving only extinction and silence in your wake. If all you want is big alien robots armed with death rays then we have you covered!
Assemble your nodes and become the Mind in May when our Kickstarter goes live!
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