SDE Monsters 06 - Dust Mages, Rattle Bones and Skullbats

This will be the first of my reviews of the undead in Super Dungeon Explore. I'm looking at three types of skeletons - Dust Mages, Rattle Bones and Skullbats.

The death of a Dust Coven Necromancer does not mean an end to them entirely. The dark magic of necromancy clings to their bones like bitter frost. They are reborn as the cruel Dust Mages, cursed to be bound to another necromancer's evil desires.

Dust Mages are Undead Skeleton Minions. They are very weak opponents with a poor set of stats. Their Armour stat of 0 and only 1 wound makes them very easy to kill. It only costs 1 Skull to spawn one of them.

Dust Mages have three abilities - Bind, Bone Pile and Magic:8. Bind prevents the target model from using any Special Actions. Bone Pile is interesting. When a model with this ability is destroyed leave a Bone Pile counter in the same square it occupied. This counter is ignored for purposes of Movement and Line of Sight. A model may spend two points of Movement to stomp on a Bone Pile counter in their square to remove it from play.

The Dust Mage has one Special Ability - Mend Bones. This has a range of 6 squares and uses the Raise ability. This allows the Mage to replace a target Bone Pile with a model with the Risen ability (see Rattle Bones below). The counter is then removed from play. If a model is in the same square as a target counter Raise has no effect.

Rattle Bones are the plague of the moorlands and the favourite trick of up-and-coming necromancers. Easy to raise, easy to destroy and easy to raise again. They are an unceasing nuisance to even the most powerful of Heroes. The only true way to keep them down is to stomp their bones to dust.

A Rattle Bone is an Undead Skeleton Minion. These are also incredibly weak with an Armour stat of 0 and only 1 Wound. Rattle Bones cannot be spawned. They must be Raised from a Bone Pile.

Rattle Bones have three abilities - Bone Pile, Mob and Risen. Bone Pile is described above. Mob adds +1 blue die to this model's melee attacks for every other model with Mob ability in melee with the same target up to +3 blue dice. Kobolds have this ability and seeing as Rattle Bones have an Attack stat of 3 blue dice, this can potentially add up to 6 blue dice. Nasty! Finally, Risen allows the model to enter play as a result of the Raise ability.

Rattle Bones have no Special Abilities or Special Attacks.

When one dies in the moorlands it is customary to bury them head first. Failing that, it is practical to secure a good solid helmet on the deceased's head. One wouldn't want it to sprout wings and fly away after all!

Skull Bats are Undead Bat Denizens and are by far the weakest of all the Undead creatures. They have a pitiful Attack stat of 1 blue die, an Armour stat of 0 and only 1 wound. Their Will stat is 2 blue dice and seeing as they are Magic Users this is the stat they will use for most (all?) attacks.

They have 4 abilities - Host, Fly, Magic:4 and Insignificant. Fly and Magic:4 are self explanatory. Host is used when this model is spawned (from the Pumpkin Patch). The Consul may immediately place an additional model with Host in an empty adjacent square. You may activate two models with Host for every Skull value. Each model must complete its activation before the second is activated. As for Insignificant, when a model with this ability suffers a Wound in melee, the model that inflicted the Wound may immediately make a free melee attack. Inflicting a Wound on an insignificant model does not advance the Power Gauge but the Loot-o-meter will advance as normal.

Skullbats have one Special Ability called Juxtapose. This uses Will vs Will. If successful, the target model suffers Vulnerable to Magic. The Skullbat is destroyed after using this ability, even if the action was  unsuccessful.
These three types of Skeletons are very easy to kill and at first glance they appear to be of little threat to the Heroes. But as I learnt the hard way, they are very good at slowing down Heroes. Kill a Dust Mage or a Rattle Bone and it becomes a Bone Pile. But here's the dilemma if you're the Hero. Do you  take time to stomp on the Bone Pile to destroy it? Do this and you are slowed down. Or do you just ignore the Bone Pile and carry on? This option is also good and bad. Good in that you can advance into the dungeon but bad in that someone with Raise ability can create a Rattle Bone from that Bone Pile counter. In my first game with the Von Drakk Manor figures, I took the time to stomp out every Bone Pile counter that was created. This slowed me down so much that by the time Von Drakk appeared there were till two of three Spawning Points left. Suffice to say, Von Drakk slaughtered the Heroes. The quote from the Rattle Bones' background "easy to raise, easy to destroy and easy to raise again" is so true. Skeletons make great speed bumps. Oh, and before I go, I must tell you that in that game I mentioned above, a group of Rattle Bones ganged up on Von Wilder the werewolf and killed him. Ignore them at your peril!