by Stewi
Below is my attempt at a Bene Tleilax variant faction. I'd appreciate any feedback folks have to offer. This variant hasn't been play-tested at all, and to be honest I'm more concerned with theme than balance. I think I actually enjoy reading/brainstorming these variant faction ideas more than playing them.
Some ideas are recycled from other variants I've seen here on the Geek. I remember someone suggesting once that the BT should be sleezy allies - ie: that forming an alliance with them is desirable but carries an obvious stigma. That's was one of the primary motivations for the usurping power.
I have other variant factions to share too, but I figured I'd start small to avoid a wall of text.
"*" marks character powers, "~" marks powers that can be cancelled by Karama.
Bene Tleilax
At Start: 20 units in reserve off-planet, 5 spice.
Free Revivals: 0
Leaders: None.
Main Leader: Scytale (5)
You are an independent sect within the empire, much like the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. You claim no affiliation to any of the Great Houses, but you have dealings with all of them. Your people are reknown for their skills in genetic engineering, having provided the universe at large with mentats, face dancers, and the gift of ressurection via ghola clones.
Basic Powers
Axlotl Tanks: All Spice paid by other players to revive army units and/or leaders is paid directly and immediately to you instead of the spice bank. You must still pay for your own revivals to the spice bank, however, you pay half price (rounded up) for all such revivals. If you revive no units and no leaders during the Revival Round, you collect 2 Spice from the spice bank instead.
* Shifting Sands: Once per turn during the Bidding Round, you may pay 2 Spice to draw a new Traitor card from the traitor deck. You may never have more than four traitor cards at a time. You may voluntarily discard a traitor card (face down, to the bottom of the traitor deck) at any time.
Reviving the Ghola: You may revive any leader except main leaders currently in the tanks instead of just your own. If you revive another player's leader in this fashion, he/she becomes a ghola leader under your control. You may not have more than four ghola leaders at any one time. You may retain these leaders and use them in battles for as long as you like, or you may return them to the tanks (at any time) in order to revive a different leader instead. You may offer to return a ghola leader to its original owner as part of a deal. You may not offer a ghola leader to any player other than its original owner in this way.
If you use a ghola leader against the original owner in battle, the owner may always choose to declare that leader a traitor. If all of a given player's leaders are either in the tanks, held captive by Harkonnen, or ghola leaders under your control, that player may begin reviving his own leaders from the tanks.
~ Mentat Collective: Whenever you play a leader in battle, it counts as having +3 Strength.
(A Karama card played in combat negates this bonus.)
Advanced Powers
* Face Dancers: Unlike other factions who employ platoons of liveried soldiers or gangs of armed guerillas, the Tleilaxu armies are composed of solitary operatives with incredible genetic abilities. Shape-shifters who can look like anyone in order to infiltrate enemy ranks and cause maximum damage with minimum manpower.
Half of your army units are blank on the reverse side. These units are decoys, representing where your adversaries suspect your forces of being. Although you must ship and move your units openly like other factions, no one will ever really be sure if there's an enemy in their midst, or if it's just their paranoia getting the better of them. You place these units with the blank side face down and do not reveal them to other players.
As long as a decoy is not revealed, it counts as being a regular unit on the board for all rules purposes. Once a decoy is revealed, it is immediately returned to your reserves. If a decoy unit is subject to any game effect that would send a regular army unit to the tanks, you must reveal it as a decoy immediately. If required to reveal a decoy, you must reveal it openly to all players.
When engaged in a battle, you must reveal all of your decoys in the contested territory (before constructing battle plans); the battle only proceeds if there are real units remaining.
Shell Game: Every time you have the option of making a regular unit move, you may instead nominate two territories in which you have units and swap any number of those units back and forth. The number of units in each territory must remain the same when you are done, but you can switch around decoys and real units freely.
* The Head of the Snake (Karama): At the end of the Bidding Round, you may play a Karama card in order to usurp a target faction for the remainder of the game turn. You must have at least 2 traitor cards belonging to the target faction, which you reveal and discard. Both of the leaders pictured must currently be alive and under their owner's control.
When you usurp a faction, you control all of that faction's actions on the planet. You may revive his units during the Revival Round (they go into his reserves), ship and move his units during the Movement Round, fight battles for his faction using his available leaders, etc. You may use all of his faction powers and any of his allies' shared powers as if you were that faction.
Any Spice costs incurred by your actions while usurping a faction must be paid from your reserves. Any Spice collected by the usurped faction is added to your reserves. Any treachery cards you play must come from your hand. Both you and the usurped player may declare an opponent in battle to be a traitor, revealing the appropriate Traitor card from your respective reserves. You may not force the usurped player to use his Traitor cards in this manner, however.
While you are usurping another faction, you may not use any of your own faction powers, except Axlotl Tanks. You may not use any ally shared powers belonging to your allies, unless of course you have usurped your own ally. If any Tleilaxu units become engaged in battle while you are usurping another faction, those units are immediately destroyed without any battle taking place.
If the faction that you have usurped ends up winning the game by conquest, either alone or as part of an alliance, on the turn that you have usurped them, then you win the game alone instead, by subterfuge. Neither your allies nor his will win with you. Because this is a victory by subterfuge, the Bene Gesserit prediction will not supercede this victory.
Alliance: Allies of the Tleilaxu pay only half price for revivals, rounded up. These abilities may be used whether or not Scytale is in the tanks. Additionally, Tleilaxu may usurp an allied faction without using a Karama card.