by Emanuel Class

“It all happened so f-f-fast,” Neville stuttered as he sipped the warm cocoa from the Coast Guard mug someone had handed him. Though he looked like a giant tortoise in the Coast Guard jacket they’d bundled around him, it was warm, and that was all that mattered.

The old captain stood like an imposing statue against the coastal skyline. He squinted at Neville beneath thick, wild eyebrows, and his gaze made the young boy retreat deeper into the oversized coat. The captain coughed to cler his throat. “Tell me one more time, now that you’ve calmed down. What happened here?”

“Tur-turtle,” Neville finally spat. His pupils dilated as if he were seeing it again. “A giant turtle. I was on watch in the lighthouse while Pa slept. First, it was clear and sunny. Then it…it wasn’t. Everything got dark and stormy. It seemed like just rain at first, at least that’s what I thought. But it got heavier. Then it was—well, it was raining something else. Fish. It starting raining fish.”

The captain raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. Neville wondered if maybe he wasn’t clear enough. “Like jellyfish, you know? Starfish. All kinds of fish, like—”

The captain grunted and made a gesture with one hand.

“Okay, you get that. So, I was looking out at this from the window, not thinking anything. Just wondering what the—just wondering. Then I noticed a ship out in the storm. At first I thought it was, like, a ghost ship. Really. Like, the Flying Dutchman. But of course, I knew that couldn’t be right. Then it seemed like the ship had run ashore on an island or something….and then it happened. Lightning boomed and lit up the sky. I could see it all for a moment, far away. On the skyline it looked like a giant turtle.”

“Archipelagon,” the captain grunted.

“No, no. More like an island. Not an archipelago.” Neville’s eyes drifted for a moment, then he seemed to replay what he’d just heard. “Wait. What did you—?”

The captain’s gaze was no longer on him. “Misspoke. Never mind. Did you take a picture, call for help? Did you do anything, son?”

“Yes. Yes, I did. I lost sight of it for a second. But then these waves were suddely crashing against the glass, all the way at the top. And for just a instant it was right next to the lighthouse. I could see its nose and the water rising up to the glass. But that was when I saw Pa…”

The young man’s face contorted in misery. “he was out there in our tugboat. He rammed the turtle right in the nose, blasting the horn. I think maybe it scared the thing off or maybe it just annoyed it. Do things like that even get scared?” Neville stammered as he retreated into the coat’s depths. “I thought everything was going to be okay, but then there was a big whirlpool where the thing was. It sucked all the water back out into the deep. But the tug didn’t move fast enough. He could still get out of there, though, right?”

He looked at the captain with cautious hope.

The captain still didn’t meet his eye; instead, he surveyed the horizon as if hoping to see some sign of this giant turtle he’d seemingly named. “We’ll have the Coast Guard searching the whole shoreline. We’ll find your Pa’s boat, I’m sure of it. Now, did you see which way that kaiju was headed?”

“Due south, I think. I thought I saw the little boat on its back sailing that way.” Neville seemed about to ask a question—what’s a kaiju?—but then reconsidered. To catch himself, he finished the last of his hot cocoa and stared into the bottom the empty cup. “My dad always made this with little marshmallows, you know.”

“He will again, you bet on it.” The captain put a hand on Neville’s shoulder, squeezed, and then excused himself to radio the Coast Guard. As he turned, Neville rose to his feet.

“Hold up, don’t you want your coat back?”

The captain paused. “You just keep it, try to grow into it. You never know, you may make a good captain yourself one day. When we bring him back, your pa can teach you all about it.”

Neville watched the captain head up the small ladder, much as he had watched that terrifying thing from the deep swim down the coast before he’d radioed the Coast Guard. Sighing, he looked down at the patch on his new coat, a patch with two crossed anchors and a shield.

“Semper Paratus,” Neville read the insignia out loud. Pa had known it; it meant “Always Ready.”

“That’s gonna be me,” he whispered to no one. “The next one that crawls out of the ocean or falls out of the sky, I’m gonna be ready.”

Much later, he was surprised to find that he wasn’t.

***

Ahoy all, it’s your friendly neighborhood kaiju dev here, and I am overflowing with hype today. We had to dive deep into our bag of tricks to come up with what may be one of our most exiting Faction releases to day. And this release also caps off the Tritons, bringing them up to a full-sized Faction like most of the others. So, are you ready for this? Let’s take a little voyage under the sea, then, shall we?

At first glance, Archipelagon looks like it’s missing a few Health from its total, given what a massive beast it is. After all, 10 Health is typically reserved for monsters that have exceptionally powerful Alpha/Hyper forms or have some kind of special rule that helps them stay alive. Archipelagon has both!

In Alpha this terrifing turtle has Dreadnought. This new rule increases Archipelagon’s DEF by +2 if has taken damage this turn. This can make ganging up on Archipelagon more difficult than it is with other monsters. Further, this can be exceptionally punishing when paired with the Fort Ironwood building. The building has the rule that grants Durable to your monsters, which prevents abilites that reduce a monster’s defense. You can ratchet it up a notch by including monsters and units with Disruption to make hitting this dreadnought of a monster a real challenge.

Archipelagon’s rule Thick-Skinned helps make up for this monster’s low Health by making it immune to hazards when walking through them. A good benefit.

Once you get past Archipelagon’s defenses, look out, because this monster is not lacking for offenseive options. On its Brawl Attack, it has a new rule unique to the Tritons (at the moment) called Sever. A model with Sever does not trigger special rules of enemy models on its attack. When it’s not biting enemies with its massive jaws, it loves to blast them with a jet of water, made boiling hot by mixing it with volcanic glass made in its gullet. These blasts have enough pressure to cut a skyscraper in half! Its ability Collateral Damage makes it an outstanding monster for removing an enemy monster’s screening units, but that’s not all: its third new rule, Scald, helps set up the target for future attacks. When an attack with Scald hits, the next attack that targets the same model that turn—from any attacker—gains +2 Boost Dice.

When your opponent manages to deal enough damage to Archipelagon, pushing it into Hyper form, you trade Dreadnought for new perks: +1 Speed, extra Boost and Action Dice on its attacks, Sever on its power attacks, and most important, the Tides of War attack.

This last and final new rule on Archipelagon has two different stages to it. Tides of War grants an additional brawl or blast attack (like Swift Strike); however, if this ornery turtle is your last monster on the table, it gains two extra brawl and blast attacks. Crazy, I know, but Archipelagon is a monster you do not want to back into a corner. With its extra attacks from Tides of War, Archipelagon can blast an enemy and hit it with Scald, then blast that enemy again (benefitting from Scald), and then attack them yet again with a power attack that will also benefit from Scald…which also now has Sever on it, hopefully preventing the enemy from triggering those much-needed special rules. By now you should be able to see why Archipelagon “only” has 10 Health. And one thing is for sure: this monster may surf into game stores, but it’s going to fly off the shelves.

The Tritons’ newest and mightiest muscle is ready to brawl! The Orca Huntsman loves to form a hunting party with other units in your force. Using Scout, it helps find and take down enemies nearby while also buffing its own attacks on its prey. Additionally, once it connects with an enemy model, it can use Tag to slingshot a nearby ally into postion to do battle. This can be an exceptionally nasty combo when you have two Orca Hunstmen tag-team each other across the board and behind enemy lines.

The Kraken Hatchling is by far one of my favorite units that we’ve ever created. Keeping in theme with the Orca Huntsman’s Tag, the Kraken Hatchling has its Action: Catapult. The Kraken Hatchling can choose an adjacent unit and advance that model up to the Kraken Hatchling’s Speed. The only catch is that the Kraken Hatchling cannot make a full advance before or after it uses this action. Using the Orca Huntsman’s Tag ability is a great way to sneak the Kraken Hatchling onto a space that was previously occupied by an enemy model without using its advance. Between the Ketos Crab, The Orca Huntsman’s Tag, and the Kraken Hatchling’s Catapult, the seemingly slow Tritons can cross the board in terrifying ways with impressive movement.

This perfectly sets it up to use its ability Beachhead. If the Kraken Hatchling is holding an objective space, you can use it as a Spawn Point once per turn. And finally, this Cost 2 model has Spike Shield. While it has no attacking functionality, Spike Shield allows the Kraken Hatchling to damage an enemy that destroys it using a brawl or rampage power attack. All in all, this terrifying baby kraken is fun and can be used in so many neat ways.

Death from above…and below. This hybrid mix of dragon, stingray, and great white shark is going to tear its enemies to pieces. Its very accurate 2 Action and 3 Boost Dice brawl attack will find its target and Sever it limb from limb. (This is also a nod to this unit being part of Archipelagon’s biome and sharing an ability with it.) The extra Boost or “blue die” is also a theme developing across Tritons. What could be more fitting than flooding your attacks with blue Boost Dice? The Sea Dragon also has a new rule: Aegis, which makes it immune to actions your opponent controls. This helps keep it from getting eaten by abilities that remove units from play or move them around. This also helps protect it from buildings like the Reclamation Facility that can remove units from the game.

There is so much awesome new synergy to dive into that I can’t wait for everyone to come up for air, take a deep breath, and then let us know what you think. Don’t forget to tag Privateer Press in your Tweets, posts, or feedback!