Villain Profile: Black-Heart

This week we continue our series exploring the villains of the Realm of Runes Card Game.

Jericho "Black-Heart" Baines

Jericho "Black-Heart" Baines is a notorious pirate, and it's your job to bring an end to his reign of terror. Unlike other villains, though, in order to fight this dastardly foe, you first have to catch him. This means taking to the seas yourself for an intense naval duel. The stakes are high, and the waves are higher!

A Tale of Two Ships

Black-Heart does not assign henchmen like standard villains. Instead, he displays two of his cards to represent ships. The remaining cards are shuffled and set aside to become a hazard deck, which we'll talk more about later. One of Black-Heart's displayed cards represents his own ship, Wave Dancer. Wave Dancer is a group henchman, assigned to all heroes. For much of the game it's the only henchman, and it uses its big guns to relentlessly barrage your ship.

The other displayed card is your own ship. It has its own pool of Hit Points, and the heroes lose the game if your ship runs out of Hit Points. This presents an alternate failure condition, since Black-Heart doesn't have to reduce all of the heroes to zero Hit Points if he can sink you first. Your ship offers player characters a set of special actions that can be used in this encounter, which are critical to your success. Each action can be performed with two different types of cards, and all three card types are useful for two of them. This means that all characters are able to contribute effectively to the naval combat stage, regardless of their particular card draw set.

Fire the Cannons!

One of the actions available on the heroes' ship is cannonade. When using this action, you discard any number of Equipment and/or Tactics cards from your hand to deal an equal amount of ranged damage to Wave Dancer. This is the only way to deal damage to Wave Dancer, which is impervious to other weapons and spells. Once Wave Dancer is defeated, you can board her and take the fight to Black-Heart himself!

Repair Your Ship!

Another of the actions available on the heroes' ship is repair. When using this action, you discard any number of Equipment and/or Magic cards to restore Hit Points to your ship. Your ship recovers 2 HP per card discarded this way. This is the only way to restore HP to your ship, which does not count as a hero and thus cannot be healed like heroes can. You'll be using this action a lot to keep up with the damage being dished out by Wave Dancer and calamities from the hazard deck!

Chart Your Course!

The third action available on the heroes' ship is navigate. When using this action, you discard one Magic or Tactics card to scout the hazard deck, looking at the top card of the deck and either putting it back on top or sending it to be bottom of the deck instead. Spotting and avoiding a nasty hazard can possibly make the difference between victory and untimely defeat!

Hazards

The majority of Black-Heart's henchman cards comprise his hazard deck. Until Wave Dancer has been defeated and boarded, Black-Heart draws a card from this deck with his start of round ability. The cards in this deck fall into one of three categories: crew, environments, and events. Almost none of these cards are good for the heroes, and you'll have to navigate around them, or else think quick!

Crew

Some of the cards in the hazard deck represent Black-Heart's crew. These might be snipers from Wave Dancer's topsails, or even his own thuggish boarding parties. Crew hazards become group henchmen, assigned to all heroes. They do damage to the heroes every turn, rather than to your ship. It's not a lot of damage at once, but it can stack up quickly if ignored, especially if all of them are out together. Defeating these crew hazards shuffle them back into the hazard deck to be possibly encountered again later. Black-Heart's got a lot of crew!

Environments

Some of the cards in the hazard deck represent environmental conditions. These might be fog, making it harder for both ships to hurt each other, or shoals which require tactics to avoid taking even more damage to your ship. Each environment hazard stays in play until another environment hazard replaces it. You might spend many turns in a row with the same environment, or you might cycle through several different ones frequently. Taking advantage of your environment is key to victory, for both you and Black-Heart, so keep a weather eye on the horizon!

Events

The rest of the cards in the hazard deck represent sudden events. These might be rogue waves that require tactics to avoid, or devastating broadsides that see both ships pummel each other for massive damage. Each event has an instantaneous effect and then is shuffled back into the hazard deck. Depending on the luck of the shuffle, you might even encounter the same event on back-to-back turns. Some of the events might even be helpful, like the crow's nest which lets the players examine the next two hazard cards and choose which one to encounter. It's like getting a free navigate action, but you can't always count on it!

Epic Initiative

Black-Heart has epic initiative. This means that his start of round effect is repeated after each hero's upkeep phase. Before Wave Dancer is boarded, this means that Black-Heart draws a new hazard card every single turn. This makes the naval combat stage of this encounter extremely dynamic, as conditions can change rapidly. After being boarded, epic initiative ensures that Black-Heart still packs a mean punch and won't go down easy!

The naval combat stage to encountering Black-Heart makes him one of the more unique villains in the Realm of Runes Card Game. The alternate loss condition also makes him one of the hardest. If Black-Heart has a weakness, it's patience. Spending some time building up your strategy while keeping your ship in good shape can help you wait for your moment to strike big, rather than blowing all your cards on the cannons prematurely. So... are you ready to set sail?

Next time we'll return to the Tome of Whispers to continue exploring more alternate rules, so stay tuned!