Aventuria Card Preview – Bandit Thief

Aventuria Card Preview – Bandit Thief

Aventuria has two modes – a Duel Mode in which heroes face off against each other, and an Adventure Mode in which heroes team up to face challenges and defeat villains in combat. Henchmen make up a large part of the combat in Adventure Mode, so let’s take a look at a typical henchman card, the Bandit Thief.

banditthiefsample

Henchman cards, unlike other cards in Aventuria, are arranged in landscape format. At the beginning of combat, players draw a number of henchmen and line them up in a row facing the heroes. The number of henchmen is determined by the threat value listed in the adventure. You can see this henchman’s threat number (4) at the top right after her name.

Each henchman has a number of keywords – in this case Human, Bandit, and Thief – and the adventure will indicate which keywords will be used for that combat. So, for instance, you might have a group of Bandits, or you might just have Humans of any type.

On the villain turn, each leader and henchman will take turns rolling their action dice. For each action die a henchman rolls, players consult the card and see what the henchman does. In Aventuria (as in The Dark Eye) low rolls are better, so the first abilities are always the most devastating. The Bandit Thief can actually steal weapons from the heroes, which is fairly nasty. This henchman also has two separate damaging abilities, one that attacks the starting player and one that attacks the hero with the most life points (that little teardrop symbol). And finally, many henchman have a chance to flee if their leader has been defeated. This is helpful, because many adventures require you to defeat or put to flight all enemies.

The circles down the right side of a henchman card provide the essential information about that villain. The big red circle under the threat value is the henchman’s life points, how much damage the henchman can take. Below that in the yellow circle is the henchman’s dodge value. Most henchman do not have a dodge value, but most leaders do. Dodging an attack cuts damage in half, so any henchman that has this is harder to defeat. Below that in the blue circle is the henchman’s armor value. This is the number by which all incoming damage is reduced. One point of armor is fairly common, though some tougher henchmen may have as many as three. And finally, the black circle with the D20 symbol indicates how many action dice are rolled. Most leaders roll multiple action dice, and a few very challenging henchmen do as well. Also, some leaders have the ability to give more actions to their minions.

The henchman card is just one piece of all the things that happen in an Aventurian adventure, but it is an important one. I hope this gives you a better sense of how this piece interacts.

The Aventuria Card Game is Kickstarting now!