Morphers!!!

Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base features an all-new type of monster, the metamorph! These new guys are going to be hot. Dang hot. This will be the most dramatic change to the Monsterpocalypse play environment since the release of the game.

Metamorphs are monsters that use four morphers as their alpha form. Morphers are small-based monsters that interact with terrain like a unit but use abilities like a monster. Further, they can be targeted with abilities and power attacks like a monster. During the game those four morphers come together to form their metamorph monster for some real destruction!

Playing with morphers has its advantages and its challenges. One advantage is that morphers are each allowed to move and attack independently, and they can make combined attacks together. This allows you to send a pair of morphers against the enemy monster to deliver some damage while the other two morphers focus their attention on pesky units or generate power dice by brawling a building or two. The challenge is the obvious dice burden that comes with moving and attacking with four different monsters in the same turn. When you add up all the boost dice among all the morphers, however, they usually outpace a normal alpha form’s total boost dice—but then again, a normal alpha form does not have to spend 4 action dice to use all his boost dice, either.

Since morphers do not have a power stat (and thus cannot make power attacks, though they can be power attacked by other monsters), each set of morphers was designed with at least one premium ability (Beat Back, Toss, Weapon Master, Crunch, and so on) as well as one mass–unit-killing ability (Radial Attack, Explosion, and so on). This allows them to put the hurt on the enemy monster while focusing some pain on the enemy units as well. But when it comes time for your morphers defend against an attack, they have some susceptibilities. Morphers are all little dudes, and while some have greater a defense than others, they all come in around the 4–5 range. Further, since morphers share the alpha damage track on the health tracker and they can all be hit with an ability like Explosion on the same attack, their damage can add up quickly unless you position them carefully on the map!

Playing with morphers allows you some other options as well. Because they interact with terrain like units, they can hold objectives and secure buildings. And rather than having to start the game in the monster starting locations, they also have the option of beginning adjacent to a spawn point. This allows you to place the morphers adjacent to a building you wish to secure; then on your first monster activation you can make a power up roll that will yield more power dice than a normal monster can usually provide. This head start in the power dice department can allow for quick damage or allow you to move into your metamorph form sooner.

The metamorph is the full-sized monster who uses the morphers as his alpha form. Once in play, a metamorph acts exactly the same as a normal monster hyper form.

When a metamorph enters play you place him on the map so that at least one of his spaces overlaps one of the spaces occupied by any one of your morphers. This allows you to keep your opponent guessing about where you might place your metamorph, am uncertainty you can use to your advantage. Some monsters prefer to keep some distance between them and the other monster, and others want to be aligned and ready for a power attack. Morphers give you the advantage to place that incoming metamorph right up on the opposing monster, or across the map. To cover every possible instance of putting those metamorphs into play, the Series 3 rules allow your monster to clear away units and buildings that may be in the way of his placement. If even that won’t give you a space for him, you can bring him into play along a map edge.

The metamorphs and their morphers posed some interesting design challenges, but with the help of a great crew and some awesome playtesters we were able to come up with a new way of playing Monsterpocalypse that is engaging and remains balanced. For every advantage to playing a morpher, there is also a disadvantage. When squaring off against morphers, you will find yourself changing gears in your plan of action. When fielding a force using morphers, you will find yourself approaching your strategies against the standard monsters in a whole new way—much like when you play a multi-monster game. The morphers were designed with both the player and his opponent in mind. Jason once mentioned that when playing against morphers he would first think, “Yes! I’m playing against morphers!” This would be followed by a second thought of “Darn. I’m playing against morphers.”

Monsterpocalypse: All Your Base introduces six metamorph monsters. Additionally, the set includes installations (a special type of building I will tell you about in the next post) and of course, awesome new units.

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