Daemon Sultan

General Avatar Rules

  1. You must have a Larva of the desired Avatar in play, for instance a Larva Thesis if you wish to Awaken Avatar Thesis.
  2. Cost vary with the Avatar
  3. Once the cost is paid, replace the Larva with the correct Avatar.

Unique Ability

Psychosis (Action: Cost 0): You must have an Acolyte in your pool. Select an area that has no units from any faction. Place an acolyte from your pool there.
During each Doom phase, flip ALL your face-down faction spellbooks face-up again.

Setup

Start with 4 power and no units on the map. Your "start area" is the first spot in which you place an Acolyte. All your spellbooks get flipped face-down when activated – each Doom phase, flip them all face-up again

Please note that the Daemon Sultan High Priest, Dark Demon, and Brain Cylinder Tokens are included for your convenience if you are playing a game in which these are available to other players. The Daemon Sultan does not use these otherwise.

Unit(Tot)

Cost

Combat

Unit(Tot)

Cost

Combat

Notes

Acolyte(6)

Cultist

 1 0

Larva Thesis(2)

Monster

 1 0

Combat is 2 if Avatar Thesis is in play
Combat is 2 if Avatar Thesis is in play

Larva Antithesis(2)

Monster

 1 0

Combat is 2 if Avatar Antithesis is in play
Combat is 2 if Avatar Antithesis is in play

Larva Synthesis(2)

Monster

 1 0

Combat is 2 if Avatar Synthesis is in play
Combat is 2 if Avatar Synthesis is in play

Chaos Gate(3)

Building

 n/a n/a

The Chaos Gates can only be occupied by Daemon a Sultan Acolyte. Otherwise it is like a normal Gate except it can only be placed via the Chaos Gate Spellbook. During the Doom Phase, an Abandoned Chaos Gate is exchanged for a normal Gate.

Spellbooks: Chaos Gate, Animate Matter, Traitors

The Chaos Gates can only be occupied by Daemon a Sultan Acolyte. Otherwise it is like a normal Gate except it can only be placed via the Chaos Gate Spellbook. During the Doom Phase, an Abandoned Chaos Gate is exchanged for a normal Gate.

Spellbooks: Chaos Gate, Animate Matter, Traitors

Avatar Thesis

Great Old One

 ? ?

How to Awaken Avatar Thesis:

1) Set the Azathoth marker on the Doom track on any desired spot from 0 to 8.

2) Pay Power equal to the Azathoth marker's setting.

3) Each other player gains 1 Power OR choose an enemy player to gain 2 Power.

Combat: Equals the Azathoth marker's position.

Spellbook: Undirected Energy

How to Awaken Avatar Thesis:

1) Set the Azathoth marker on the Doom track on any desired spot from 0 to 8.

2) Pay Power equal to the Azathoth marker's setting.

3) Each other player gains 1 Power OR choose an enemy player to gain 2 Power.

Combat: Equals the Azathoth marker's position.

Spellbook: Undirected Energy

Avatar Antithesis

Great Old One

 ? ?

How to Awaken Avatar Antithesis:

1) Avatar Thesis must have been Awakened (it need not be in play).

2) Pay Power equal to 8 minus the Azathoth marker's setting.

3) Each other player gains 1 Doom OR choose an enemy player who gains an Elder Sign.

Combat: Equals 8 minus the Azathoth marker's position.

Spellbook: Fiendish Growth

How to Awaken Avatar Antithesis:

1) Avatar Thesis must have been Awakened (it need not be in play).

2) Pay Power equal to 8 minus the Azathoth marker's setting.

3) Each other player gains 1 Doom OR choose an enemy player who gains an Elder Sign.

Combat: Equals 8 minus the Azathoth marker's position.

Spellbook: Fiendish Growth

Avatar Synthesis

Great Old One

 ? ?

How to Awaken Avatar Synthesis:

1) Both Avatar Thesis and Antithesis must have been Awakened (they need not be in play).

2) Pay 8 Power.

3) Roll the Azathoth die. All enemies have 2 minutes to decide how to collectively lose that much Power and/or Doom, if they cannot agree then you win the game. In a 2-3 player game halve the die roll result (rounded up).

Combat: First roll the Azathoth die, then roll that many combat dice.

Cosmic Ruler (Post-Battle): When any Avatar is choosen to recieve a Kill or Elimination, instead you can Eliminate another Avatar in its stead, from anywhere on the map.

How to Awaken Avatar Synthesis:

1) Both Avatar Thesis and Antithesis must have been Awakened (they need not be in play).

2) Pay 8 Power.

3) Roll the Azathoth die. All enemies have 2 minutes to decide how to collectively lose that much Power and/or Doom, if they cannot agree then you win the game. In a 2-3 player game halve the die roll result (rounded up).

Combat: First roll the Azathoth die, then roll that many combat dice.

Cosmic Ruler (Post-Battle): When any Avatar is choosen to recieve a Kill or Elimination, instead you can Eliminate another Avatar in its stead, from anywhere on the map.

Spellbooks Requirements

You have one of each Larva type in play.

An abandoned Gate is on the Map during Gather Power Phase

Awaken Avatar Thesis.

During any Doom Phase, you declare that each other player chooses wether to recive 1 Power or 1 Doom. You gain everything they gain.

Awaken Avatar Antithesis.

Awaken Avatar Synthesis.

Animate Matter (Action: Cost 1)

Flip this Spellbook face down. Move a controlled Chaos Gate from its Area to an adjacent Area, taking its Cultist along. You cannot move the Gate to another player’s Start Area. If the new Area has an existing physical Gate, replace that Gate with the Chaos Gate.

Chaos Gate (Action: Cost 1)

Flip this Spellbook face down, then place a Chaos Gate in any area without a Gate.

Consummation (Action: Cost 1)

Flip this spellbook face-down. Then flip one of your face-down faction spellbooks face-up again, permitting its re-use this turn.

Fiendish Growth (Action: Cost 1)

Flip this spellbook face down if Avatar Antithesis is in play. Place 1 free Monster or Acolyte from your pool in Avatar Antithesis' Area per Faction with Units in that Area, including yours.

Traitors! (Action: Cost 1)

Flip this Spellbook face down. Replace your controlled Chaos Gate with a Normal Gate, and replace its Controlling Cultist with another player's Cultist from his Pool. Your cultist returns to your Pool. If you have no other Units in the Area, gain an Elder Sign.

Undirected Energy (Action: Cost 1)

Flip this spellbook face-down if Avatar Thesis is in play. Gain 1 Power per faction with units in Thesis’s area, including you.

Playing as Daemon Sultan

During the first turn, typically Daemon Sultan Summons free Cultists for a while. Near the end of the turn, build a Gate and either Move a second Cultist to it, or Summon a Larva. That’ll use up your 4 Power. Yes, someone may Capture one of your Cultists, but it’s cheaper to replace it (free) than to flee, unless you fear letting that player gain the Power next turn.

Your hardest Spellbook to achieve is the Abandoned Gate; often, you can’t accomplish it until you have a Chaos Gate available. However, in theory, you could get the “every other player chooses whether he receives 1 Power or 1 Doom” Spellbook, in your first Action Phase but it can be risky giving your foes that early boost.

In general, you needn’t suppress enemy players in the early- to mid-game (unless one pulls ahead drastically). Instead, you have several tools to use in boosting players who fall behind—let them pull down the leaders. You are, by and large, a Faction which thrives by keeping your enemies on an even playing field.

One of your big decisions is how much to pay for Avatar Thesis—you could, of course, pay nothing, but then you must pay it back later, when Avatar Antithesis costs 8! In general, a cheap Thesis makes sense, because Power is precious in the early game. But, it can be useful to get your second Great Old One out early, too. Some players like paying 4 apiece, which at least has the virtue that you know what your Avatars all cost. Don’t forget, however, that if you have a 0-cost Avatar, you can Sacrifice it cheaply to keep another, better Avatar alive via Synthesis’ Cosmic Ruler ability. Don’t forget to re-Awaken your cheap Avatar.

Your Spellbooks activate once per turn, so you need to position yourself properly to maximize their value. You’ll seem weak early, but later your three Great Old Ones help you surge ahead. Experienced enemies will figure this out; don’t fall into the trap of spending your entire turn managing Spellbooks and slacking off on essential tasks, such as building Gates. Eventually, you may have only your Chaos Gates, but if you can manage to perform Rituals, you can get up to 3 Elder Signs each time.

Consummation

A core Spellbook, but pointless to take as your first one.

Traitors

An excellent Spellbook, though it may not appear so at first glance. You get an Elder Sign, another player gets saddled with a hard-to-protect Gate in the middle of nowhere, and you get a new Cultist to place for free with Psychosis.

Chaos Gate

This gives you a comparatively safe Gate, and also sets you up for the Terror weapon of Animate Matter.

Animate Matter

Your signature move. As the click-bait ad goes, “Other Great Old Ones hate him!”

Undirected Energy

It requires you to put Thesis in harm’s way, but if he’s cheap, you shouldn’t care.

Fiendish Growth

Lets you set up for lots of stuff and, unlike Undirected Energy, since you get Units immediately, Antithesis is protected.

Thwarting Daemon Sultan

Daemon Sultan’s great strength is that he can destroy your infrastructure and help your rivals. His great weakness is that it takes him at least three turns and 19 Power to set up all his Great Old Ones, which means he has a long, slow buildup.

You can pre-emptively hamper him by checking which Larvae he has out. If he doesn’t have a relevant Larva, he can’t Awaken that Great Old One. You should also kick him off his Chaos Gates. An Abandoned Gate is still good for you, after all, and you’ll need the Power to rebuild your lost Gates.