The Lords of Cthul

Since Monsterpocalypse has gone public, the Lords of Cthul have received quite an enthusiastic response. While the other factions draw their background and inspiration from solidly within the kaiju genre, the Lords of Cthul arise from deep within the Cthulhu Mythos. These tales have a deep-seated foundation within the gaming community, and our tentacle-laden fiends received a good portion of the praise from those who demoed the game and saw sculpts at shows like GAMA and the New York Toy Fair. Cthulhu-based blogs have even taken notice.

In Monsterpocalypse’s story, the Lords of Cthul are drawn to the Earth to spread their corruption and evil. Fueled by the worship of their cultists, these fiends seek to draw life from the Earth as a starving man sucks the marrow from a bone. Theologians of every faith have declared the Lords of Cthul “Heralds of the End of Days”. Obviously they are evil and feed off of evil. If I learned anything from the Young Indian Jones Chronicles, it is “that which acts to sustain life is good and that which acts to destroy life is evil.” Based on that simple bit of Albert Switzer philosophy, these are evil dudes.

Jason sent me a picture of a volcano erupting lava and lightning. He said this is what the Lords of Cthul are made of. I tend to trust Jason on such matters. Regardless of what they are really made of, the real point is the Lords of Cthul are nothing man has known before. They come not from another place, but another dimension.

The Lords of Cthul play differently than the other factions. Most of the other factions allow you to run your monster forward and attack your opponent. Cthugrosh really wants you to approach the enemy monster surrounded by your minions. This allows him to EAT those units to replenish his health and requires some care when placing him. Yasheth is a little more forward in his approach. By focusing you units’ and Yasheth’s attacks on your opponent’s monster, Yasheth can theoretically replenish one to two points of health each turn using his Vampirism and Leach abilities. Neither of the Lords of Cthul monsters have the Double Damage capabilities of the other factions, but as long as the Lords can avoid big damage from colliding with buildings and hazards, their regeneration abilities can keep them in the game. They need their units, though, so you have to play carefully.

The Lords reward your careful service, however, since your units – while not necessarily the most flat-out powerful – have some of the most interesting abilities in the game. The Spitter unit has the Extinguish ability, the only effect in the game (besides a Stomp power attack) that can remove a hazard from play. The Meat Slave provides some resilience through his Incubator ability, which lets you replace him with another unit when the Meat Slave is hit by an attack. Pretty nice when you want to keep units adjacent to Cthugrosh.

Then there is the Task Master (pictured in black and white). He is quite the piece of work. His Fling ability allows him to pick up adjacent units and hurl them at other units, monsters, or buildings. He can push an enemy unit into a fire with Telekinesis or push a friendly unit that critical extra square. He costs a little more to bring into play, but he easily earns that cost.

If the summation of heroism is to sacrifice one’s self to save another, then the ultimate in villainy would be to sacrifice another to save yourself, and this definition fits the Lords of Cthul rather well. They require careful study to master, and they handsomely reward truly crafty players. They are the stuff of nightmares, not only for those monsters they cross paths with, but also for those opponents you unleash hell upon!

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