Sandy's Design Corner
Defeating the Tcho-Tchos
Some players worry that the Tcho-Tchos are too strong. But you have to look at things from the viewpoint of the Tcho-Tchos. They have weaknesses to exploit.
The Tcho-Tchos pretty much have to recruit a high priest in Turn 1. This means he can't build and guard a second Gate with a monster. He MUST move two cultists to do the job - one to man the gate, the other to be captured. If you are a faction with a 1-cost monster within range, go capture one!
The Tcho-Tchos get Ubbo for free just before turn two, plus a spellbook. But how does he get his second spellbook? He’s probably not going to sack his home gate (if he does, that's 3 Power and two actions to essentially do nothing). He’s not able to do a Ritual yet without wrecking himselves, so can’t get that Elder Sign. His only recourse is to kill a Great Old One - namely Ubbo. So he’ll want to send Ubbo into combat against Cthulhu or Shub or whoever awakened their Great Old One in turn 2.
From Turn Three and beyond, he is often Ritualing for Elder Signs. While this means he gets pretty decent Doom points, it also means he goes into each round with 5+ less Power than other players!
Think on this - It's really hard for the Tcho-Tchos to guard more than 3 gates. He only has 6 monsters, which are fairly pricy and only average in power. With Terror, they can roll 2 dice and cost 2. Even Black Goat can do that well. Other factions have from 7-10 monsters for garrison purposes.
Ubbo-Sathla is a pretty lame GOO - all its ability does is accrue more dice over time. That sucks compared to Avatar, Desecration, or Key and the Gate. Sure Ubbo has a fat combat by turn four, and will win fights in its area, but it can't be everywhere.
A faction with decent battle potential can easily overwhelm the Tcho-Tchos. Windwalker, Cthulhu, and even Crawling Chaos simply roll enough dice to force their way through the proto-shoggoth defenses, and can soak up (or avoid) enough damage not to fear Ubbo-Sathla. Even if the Tcho-Tchos can use Martyrdom to save themselves, that’s a lost priest, and the rest of their army is pained away, costing them the gate in question.
Tsathoggua and a pair of Formless Spawn probably roll 14+ dice early in the turn which is more than enough to demolish any defense the Tcho-Tchos can put up, and Sleeper is hardly a “combat” faction. Plus, Sleeper can also use Capture Monster to denude the Tcho-Tchos of their Proto-Shoggoth defenders – Soulless doesn’t help against this.
Opener may not be able to manhandle the Tcho-Tchos with combat dice, but Death from Above and Beyond One are highly-effective counters.
The Ancients can add Yothans to the mix to give them enough battle power, and with Unholy Ground, Ubbo-Sathla himself is at risk.
How would I beat the Tcho-Tchos with a non-combat faction such as Yellow Sign? Well obviously you can't necessarily devastate them in battle, not easily vs. Martyrdom and Terror. But the Tcho-Tchos are vulnerable to cultist-killers – as Yellow Sign, you can Zingaya them away, or you can Shriek your Byakhee to a vulnerable High Priest, forcing him to sack prematurely. Black Goat can Ghroth the Tcho-Tchos to the moon, while the other factions cheer. Avatar is pretty good against the Tcho-Tchos, too, since usually their gates have only 1-2 cultists and a weak monster.
Obviously the Tcho-Tchos have strengths. A free GOO is not to be sneered at, plus all those free HPs. But you can't beat them by aiming at their strengths - aim at their weak points.
Preview
Ancients: Un-Man
 Reading how to defeat the Tcho-Tchos, you may be wondering what The Ancients are. Well, on July 17th, we're launching the Cthulhu Wars Onslaught Three Kickstarter and it'll include a new faction... The Ancients. Above is a preview of one of the models: The Un-Man.
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Onslaught Three
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Origins Game Fair
 We went to the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. You can see some photos on our Facebook page. If you were there, and snapped some photos as well, please email them to marketing@petersengames.com and we'll add them to the photo album!
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