Hello Global Gladiators!
We’re here today to focus on a new element being introduced to Street Masters in Tide of the Dragon (currently on Indiegogo): terrain!
Terrain is a way to add some new spice to your street brawls. It’s completely modular, of course, meaning you can use it only when you feel like it. Trust me, though: you'll want to use it all the time after you play a few games with it! It makes the stages even more lively and the added tactical possibilities definitely get you salivating!
To insert terrain into your game, you’ll replace any number of crate tokens on the stage tile during setup with any number of terrain features. When you enter a space occupied by terrain, you discard it like a crate to get an all-important Loot card, but you also have access to additional special effects related to the terrain feature itself.
These effects will help you come up with all sorts of new tactics and strategies! Let’s take a look at these new terrain features now and see how they work.
TNT Crate
These may look like classic crates, but watch out! They contain more than just loot! Fighters are going to have to be very careful when approaching these. They can either discard a grapple defense token to chuck that unstable crate of explosives at an enemy and deal it direct damage … or, if they’re in a jam, discard a punch defense token to set off the TNT immediately, dealing direct damage to all adjacent figures and themselves. Hey, sometimes you need to get hurt a little to get the job done, right?
Ladder
Ladders aren’t only great ways of accessing hard-to-reach areas, they’re also fantastic long-reach weapons! So, when a fighter enters a space with a ladder, they can either discard a kick defense token to climb it and jump to a space up to 3 spaces away (perfect for escaping the clutches of nearby enemies that affect movement), or discard a grapple defense token to wield it and spin it around to deal general damage to each enemy within 2 spaces!
Fire Hydrant
A staple of any city street, fire hydrants can make for some great improvised weaponry if you have the right tools … or fists of steel! When a fighter enters a space with a fire hydrant, they can either discard a kick defense token to kick the hydrant’s cap off and damage an enemy up to 4 spaces away with the ensuing stream ... or discard a grapple defense token to slowly unscrew it, letting the water leak out to create a puddle all around that will have adjacent minions slipping and exhausting themselves!
Oil Drum
Oil drums make good hiding spots for loot stashes, and also make for a great offensive weapon. When a fighter enters a space with an oil drum, they can discard a punch defense token to punch through its lid and discover an additional loot card ... or they can discard a kick defense token to kick the barrel so that it rolls across the floor to trip up and exhaust a minion along the way! -- As you can see, these can change up the situation on a stage when things are dire, but at the cost of some precious defense tokens. Also, this means that you might not have access to loot cards early on (why would you want to discard a terrain feature if it isn't an optimal moment to do so?), so you might have to rethink your instincts to run for crate spaces at the start of the game!
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Don't forget, Street Masters: Tide of the Dragon is currently on Indiegogo, and includes 52 highly detailed miniatures; 4 New Fighters with their own unique Fighter and Hero Story Decks; a New Double-Sided Map Tile with 2 New Stage Decks; 2 New Enemy Factions with unique Enemy and Showdown Decks; 4 Terrain Cards; a Tide of the Dragon Story Deck; 12 New Ally/Rival cards, and all the dice, tokens, dividers and base rings needed to play right out of the box! Classic Street Masters products are also available, as well as the brand-new New Challengers Pack and Rumble Pack!