Undead Cunning

There was a time when the infamous Ardus Ix’Erebus frequented the front lines of Waiqar’s undead legions. Those few who survived his martial prowess soon fell to the swarm of skeletal minions under his command. A master tactician and daring warrior, Ardus was feared for his uncanny awareness and control of the tides of war. Battle after battle, he led his forces with elegant brutality, lulling seasoned commanders and veteran soldiers into error with his deadly ploys.

Yet for all his skills, Ardus Ix’Erebus is only one of many similar soldiers within the Deathborn Legion, the oldest and greatest army of Waiqar the Undying. Should Ardus fall, others stand ready to avenge him. The undead of the Deathborn Legion are the most experienced veterans the heroes of Terrinoth have ever opposed. The free races can pass their knowledge and wisdom across generations through mythic tales and treatises on war, but these undying warriors have experienced centuries of warfare for themselves. 

You can take the field of battle alongside this masterful undead general with the Ardus Ix’Erebus Lieutenant Pack. Like other Lieutenant Packs for Descent: Journeys in the Dark, this expansion offers far more than a detailed plastic figure to replace the token from Mists of Bilehall. You’ll also gain a ten-card Plot deck that lets you use the tactical prowess of Ardus Ix’Erebus in any Descent campaign. (For the full Lieutenant Pack rules, visit the Descent support section.) 

Lead Your Legion

When you choose Ardus Ix’Erebus as your agent for a campaign, you’ll also gain access to his First Legion Plot deck—ten devious Plot cards that you can use to command your monster groups with the utmost precision and control. 

For some commanders, a monster’s value is directly related to its bulk. The unfortunate side effect of this line of thought is that most of the largest monsters are incapable of understanding the advanced tactics used by Ardus Ix’Erebus. To that end, his Plot deck brings new focus to small monsters, beginning with Strength in Numbers . This Plot card reads, “Exhaust this card when a small monster performs an attack, before dice are rolled. This attack gains: Pierce X, where X is the number of monsters from that monster’s group adjacent to the target.” Essentially, this card rewards you for leading your small monsters to attack the heroes in large groups. Obviously this card works well with the reanimates from Mists of Bilehall, but you may also use it to deal massive damage in conjunction with the kobolds from the Bonds of the Wild Hero and Monster Collection!

One prominent downside of small monsters is that they tend to have less health than their larger counterparts. You can turn this “weakness” into a strength with the Rise to the Challenge Plot card. By exhausting this card when a small master monster is defeated, you can give every minion from that monster group the abilities of a master—including speed, health, defense, surge abilities, and attack dice! As your newly invigorated monsters lead the charge, any hero who dared to cut down your master monsters will quickly rue the day he decided to make such a foolish attack. 

Threatening Masses is another Plot card that punishes your opponent for foolishly charging into the massed ranks of your army. You may use Threatening Masses whenever a hero moves adjacent to a monster to force the hero to either end his turn or test his Might. If he tests and fails, you gain a threat token for every monster adjacent to the hero, fueling your other Plot cards and possibly giving you a crushing advantage. 

You might even occupy and establish your strength on an entire map tile with Defensive Position . This card allows you to choose any one tile on the map, and as long as Defensive Position is exhausted, a hero must spend an additional movement point to enter any space on the chosen tile. What’s more, Defensive Position doesn’t refresh like normal Plot cards—it refreshes whenever there are more heroes than monsters on the chosen tile. By massing your monsters on a key tile and fighting tooth and nail to protect it, you may significantly slow the heroes’ progress. 

Taking the Field

If you need to turn the tide of battle with a champion for your forces, you can summon Ardus Ix’Erebus himself to fight by your monsters and lead from the front. In personal combat, Ardus Ix’Erebus is just as dangerous as when commanding the movements of troops from afar. This undead warlord hits hard, and he can use his centuries of knowledge to pierce the weak points in his enemies’ armor. Ardus Ix’Erebus may also use Forceful Blow every time he declares an attack to force his target to test its Might. If your target fails, Ardus gains an additional surge to spend during his attack!

Ardus Ix’Erebus only has one surge ability of his own, but his keen grasp of tactics and the Flanking ability help you overcome this. Whenever you perform an attack with Ardus Ix’Erebus, you may choose a monster with the Cursed trait that’s adjacent to the target. During your attack with Ardus, you may use any of the chosen monster’s surge abilities, greatly expanding Ardus’s options in combat. Finally, you may call upon Ardus Ix’Erebus’s commanding presence to Rally the monsters closest to him. Ardus Ix’Erebus can spend an action to Rally his troops, allowing each monster within three spaces to discard a condition before they make their own attacks!

The Dead Are Marching

Lead the legions of Waiqar with the aid of Ardus Ix’Erebus or take his tactics and strategies into any Descent campaign with the Ardus Ix’Erebus Lieutenant Pack! Pre-order your copy of this expansion at your local retailer today.