The Summoner - a Single-Unit Army for Neuroshima Hex

Version: 2025-11-09.11:38 (original markdown-format copy)

The Summoner is an extra-planar being worthy of their name. They summon Warriors from other factions to fight for them, but can keep them only temporarily.

Summary: The Summoner (hereafter TS) is a fan-made army for Neuroshima Hex which can be easily assembled using only materials from any edition of the base game. It does not require any printing, cutting, or assembly.

Status: this army has been well-play-tested. It is a tad bit overpowerful. We're looking for ways to make it slightly less so without breaking it.

Setup

At the start of the game, compose TS's deck:

• Take all of the Instant Action tiles from any two of the base game's armies.
• Take all of the Warrior and Module tiles from the other two armies.
• Take the HQ tiles from all of those armies.

Set the HQs aside and shuffle the rest together. TS draws from a bowl or bag, rather than a stack, because of the mixed tile designs. Some of TS's features require the deck to be reshuffled. If some unforeseen game effect has forced the deck to have specific tiles at the top, place those tiles back on top of the deck after shuffling.

The mystic laws which enable TS to summon Warriors are not capable of forcing those Warriors to fight their comrades. Ergo, TS is strictly prohibited from fighting any army whose HQ, Warrior, or Module are in TS's deck (Instant Actions are unaffected). Don't even try it. It won't work. The Warriors and Modules would turn on TS when played, reverting to their original team as soon as they enter play. TS will not enter such a fight.

TS has more tiles than the standard 35. The game ends when TS's opponent runs out of tiles, at which point the TS does not get to draw again before the Final Battle. (If, via application of optional rules, TS is able to empty their deck first, their opponent does get a final draw in the normal manner.)

Rules Changes

TS is represented by their chosen HQs, only one of which is active at a time. The special effect of the active HQ applies normally.

The following rules changes apply to TS:

• At the start of play TS selects one of their HQs to place.
• Once during each turn, if TS is not netted, they may elect to transpose, replacing their HQ with another one. The inactive HQ is removed from the board and has no further effect on play. The newly-active HQ's ability applies as usual, effective immediately.
• TS's initiative is one higher than that printed on their HQ tile.
• If TS is not netted then their hand size is one higher than normal: they must draw one extra tile per turn (it is not optional). They must discard one, and only one, if they have three or more. If TS gets netted while they have three or more tiles in hand, they must immediately discard all but two tiles (and may not discard those two).
• TS may use the Unlucky Draw rule if they have at least three Instant Action effect in hand (regardless of their colors, e.g. Move actions from Borgo and Moloch are equivalent). When doing so, they must discard their whole hand, even if they have a fourth tile they'd prefer to keep.
• TS's Instant Actions which refer to that army's HQ (e.g. Borgo's Grenade) refer to TS instead.

New rules are explained in the following sections.

Summoning

TS gained their moniker through their ability to rapidly summon hordes from other factions and bind them to do TS's bidding. All of TS's non-Instant Action tiles are called "Summons". Summons are played normally, but keeping them around requires expending power which TS may not wish to expend.

At the end of each battle, all of TS's Summons are discarded. TS may pay one life point per Summon they would like to instead retain.

Abilities

TS has the following custom actions:

• Delay the Inevitable: Once per turn, TS may remove one of their Summons from the board and shuffle it back into their deck.

Tactical Suggestions

When playing TA...

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When playing against TA:

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Options: Changing How it Plays

An assortment of options to tweak play or to apply to other single-unit armies:

My Precious: when TS's Summons disappear at the end of battle, allow TS to optionally select one to keep in play for free (no life point cost).

Call in the Hordes: when TS's Summons are removed from the board, mix them back into the deck bag instead of discarding them. This will make Delay the Inevitable essentially useless.

Design Notes

Initiative: TS has a +1 initiative primarily so that they can benefit, however briefly, from modules which provide extra attacks, e.g. Moloch's Mother. When playing with an option for two HQs in play at once, it would also allow TS's non-Outpost HQ to benefit from their Outpost HQ.

HQs: there are several ways to do this. e.g. place both HQs and give them 10 HP each. Any HP costs can be played from either one. Once per turn TS may transpose them - swap their positions on the board. This would need to have some effect on the hand size and netting. e.g. there would need to be some penalty when only one HQ is netted, but not as high as when both are. Alternately, place them both at once in a single stack, applying both of their effects all of the time but otherwise treating them as a single HQ.

Authors: Cornella and Stephan Beal https://wanderinghorse.net/gaming/neuroshimahex