A new miniature created by fusing three White Dragons.
It was much larger than the existing White Dragon, with three heads—a triple-headed dragon.
Especially the Ultimate White Dragon, created through Shisha’s Ice Vision, was overwhelming in size compared to other miniatures.
Its pure white body, strong arms, thick tail, and the white aura radiating from it—
It was such a visual spectacle that some in the audience nearly fainted from shock.
“What, what is that?!”
“Ultimate White Dragon…? Was there a special unit like that?”
“Dragons are the best, after all!!”
The audience, both stunned and wildly excited, reacted to the majestic appearance of what seemed like the ultimate weapon of the dragon race.
The fact that it was summoned by the Agni magician, who was at a disadvantage, made the reaction even more intense.
The side on the defensive had pulled out their last resort—a special unit no one had ever seen before.
It would’ve been weird if the audience *wasn’t* going crazy.
On Knight Roland’s side, there were still more than five units left. Compared to the Agni magician, who only had one special unit remaining, they were in a much better position.
However, the Ultimate White Dragon, floating in the air with its massive body and looking down at the game board, made everyone wonder…
Could this be… a dramatic comeback?
“Nope.”
…Never mind all that.
What *is* that miniature?
“A fusion of three White Dragons, you say?”
I don’t remember any special unit like that. In fact, fusion itself isn’t even a thing. Sure, the dwarves made the miniatures, but I designed all the units for *War’s Hammer*, so if I don’t remember it, it obviously doesn’t exist.
Still, just in case, I turned to Charlie, who was sitting behind me watching the game.
“Did you ever make a miniature like that?”
“…Not that I recall. Ask the others? They’re probably working on miniatures in the workshop right now.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Charlie is the most skilled miniature maker among the five dwarves. And dwarves remember everything they’ve ever made, so if even Charlie doesn’t know, it’s definitely not official.
That miniature isn’t an official product.
It was obvious what was going on.
‘It’s a custom miniature.’
Honestly, it’s not that unusual. Especially in the Glesia Territory, where there are many skilled ice manipulators. Carving new miniatures instead of using existing ones is pretty common.
But of course, miniatures made like that aren’t part of *War’s Hammer*. So, you’d need permission from your opponent beforehand or use them as replacements for existing miniatures.
In friendly matches, it’s no big deal. In fact, making custom miniatures can even increase interest in *War’s Hammer*.
But this is an official tournament hosted by Shisha, the Archmage and ruler of Glesia Territory, and me, the creator of *War’s Hammer*.
And someone’s using a custom miniature here?
‘Are they begging to be disqualified?’
The audience, unaware that it’s a custom miniature, was just enjoying the spectacle, wondering if such a unit had always existed.
But Charlie, the dwarf who made miniatures, and Shisha, sitting cross-legged and watching, knew better.
He made a somewhat ambiguous expression.
“The quality of the miniature itself is high, but they’re using it without permission. Humans, as expected.”
“I did set it up with Ice Vision, but… Chunsik, what do you think? Should we just get rid of that Ultimate whatever?”
Although Shisha was the one who suggested the tournament, I was the one managing and running it, so Shisha gave me a look, asking for my opinion.
If I nodded, Shisha would dismantle the Ice Vision, and a disqualification would be declared.
In principle, that would be the right thing to do.
──Waaaaah!!!!!
“…Madam, could you lend me your voice for a moment?”
“Huh? Sure, no problem.”
What would happen if we declared the disqualification of the mage Agni here?
Knight Roland would win outright, and the first match of the main event would be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
And the enthusiastic reactions and immersion of the audience would all go to waste.
Of course, no matter what, the mage Agni’s actions were a violation of the rules. If we handled this ambiguously, similar incidents might occur in future tournaments.
But.
What if we could ‘use’ this situation to our advantage?
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Kyle Byron. I originally planned to just watch as the creator, but I have something to say to you all.”
“Kyle Byron…!!”
“Could it be because of the Ultimate White Dragon? Could it be… cheating?”
“From the start, the White Dragon is a special unit, right? Does it make sense to have a special unit made by combining three special units? And what’s this about fusion?”
“Is it really cheating? Maybe it’s something else.”
“Let’s hear him out first. He’s the creator, after all.”
The audience buzzed. The endless excitement and cheers gradually subsided, and everyone whispered among themselves, focusing their attention on me and the Ultimate White Dragon.
Standing up and stepping in front of the audience, I could see the two board gamers more clearly.
Knight Roland was still quietly watching me, his face hidden.
…And the mage Agni was sweating bullets, looking like he’d done something wrong.
‘Did you just get carried away by the atmosphere and go for it?’
Maybe he didn’t plan to use that original miniature from the start, but just got too excited and pulled it out.
He seemed confident right after summoning the Ultimate White Dragon, but now that he’s cooled down a bit, he probably realized he was screwed.
Well, you probably didn’t expect your original miniature to suddenly materialize through Ice Vision either.
‘You were obsessed with the White Dragon miniature, so it makes sense that you’d create and carry around an original one like that.’
If I declare your mistake and disqualify you here, it’ll be hard for you to play War’s Hammer in the future.
Practically everyone in the Glesia Territory is here, and if you’re openly labeled as a rule-breaker, that tag will follow you around.
So.
Consider yourself lucky.
“That Ultimate White Dragon you see there…”
“………”
“………”
“…is actually a hidden miniature.”
“…Huh?”
The one who made the confused sound wasn’t the audience, but the mage Agni himself.
Before anyone could catch on to the awkwardness, I continued speaking.
“Hidden Miniature……?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s literally a hidden piece that can only be used under special conditions, one per race. You’ve managed to uncover the hidden miniature for the Dragon race, huh?”
“Huh? Uh, so…….”
“You… figured it out, right?”
“……Yes, yes! That’s right!”
Earlier, you were speaking rudely to Knight Roland, but now you’re using polite speech in this situation. Weird.
Well, at least you have some basic sense. That’s a relief.
“The basic unlock condition is to use a single-race army. Actually, I was planning to reveal it after this tournament, but I didn’t expect someone to find it already.”
“Oh, ohhh……!!”
“Hidden miniatures for each race……? That’s insane!”
“……Wait, hold on. Before we start, you need to have the special unit miniature you’re using, right? But how do you already have a hidden miniature? Does it just pop out of thin air when you meet certain conditions?”
“Anyway!! Let me explain the effect of the hidden Dragon miniature, the Ultimate White Dragon!”
Ahem, cutting off the unnecessarily rational guy in the audience.
Anyway, hidden, whatever, good things are good, right? Let’s keep the vibe going.
‘After the tournament, I’ll just make and sell the hidden miniatures. Easy.’
Besides, it’s not like anyone else is saying this—it’s me, the Creator.
If we stop here, it’s just helping the Magician Agni.
But of course, since the rules were broken, I had no intention of letting it slide.
“Existing Dragon units were incredibly powerful individually, but they required 2 turns to attack, unlike other units.”
That’s why the Dragon race was both niche and a fan favorite.
One Dragon costs as much as four units from other races, and while their individual performance is unmatched in strength…
In a game where every turn counts, taking 2 turns to attack is a huge penalty.
Sure, one attack is devastating, but the opponent has time to dodge or prepare defenses, so there’s a clear counter. Hence, it’s a race of dreams.
So, the Ultimate White Dragon…
“The Ultimate White Dragon’s attack ignores the opponent’s dice modifiers. Plus, it has the widest attack range of any unit.”
“What? Ignores modifiers?”
“So it basically kills the opponent no matter what they do, right?”
“That’s so broken……? Should I switch to Dragons now?”
“However, the Ultimate White Dragon takes 3 turns to attack.”
“………You were saying about playing Dragons?”
“I’ll just stick to what I was doing before.”
“You already knew, right?”
“Uh… of course I knew! Yes! Absolutely!”
This is the punishment for breaking the rules.
I won’t disqualify you, but—just lose.
‘3 turns to attack.’
The return is devastating enough to wipe out the opponent in one go, but the risk is equally huge.
It’s a performance that instantly silences the audience who were grumbling about hidden miniatures.
In a turn-based game, giving the opponent 3 consecutive turns is practically suicide.
“Let’s resume the game, then.”
“………….”
“……………”
The outcome of the game was pretty obvious without even looking.
It took 3 turns for the Ultimate White Dragon to attack, and with each turn, the unnecessarily amazing quality of Ice Vision showed the breath gathering in the mouths of the three-headed dragons, but…
Knight Roland easily took down the Ultimate White Dragon with his remaining units.
“Sally.”
“Y-yes!”
“Keep an eye on that Agni magician. After the tournament, I’ll go warn him right away.”
“L-leave it to me!”
With that, the follow-up was handled.
Anyway, thanks to the mention of the hidden miniature, which had no foreshadowing, the first match ended without any major issues.
You could say it was disappointing to lose without even attacking, but thanks to Shisha pushing the quality of Ice Vision to the limit, no one really complained.
And most importantly, the biggest gain from the hidden miniature was…
‘Now we have a way to balance the races.’
It was an opportunity to solve the inevitable balance issues between races.
Even though War’s Hammer had only been out for about a week, dragons were already being seen as a niche, non-mainstream class.
Making a board game and balancing it are two completely different things.
No matter how much I tried to balance it, perfection was impossible.
“Adela, the races of those who made it to the finals are…”
“1 dragon, 2 humans, 3 dwarves, 1 orc, and 1 elf.”
[If you just hear it like this, it seems balanced, right?]
“But looking at the overall distribution of participants we could survey, dwarves make up 50%, humans 20%, orcs 15%, elves 15%, and dragons less than 1%.”
[Hmm…]
Dragons were originally designed as a romantic race. From the basic setting where one dragon could replace four units, balancing was doomed from the start.
But it was unexpected that dwarves would dominate over half the field.
‘I’ll have to keep thinking about the hidden miniature.’
Simply put, maybe we could buff humans, orcs, and elves a bit, and nerf dwarves.
Anyway, the hidden miniature won’t appear again in the tournament. So I kept thinking about the hidden miniature to release after the tournament.
“I’ve made 5 special equipment pieces!!”
“…Why aren’t you equipping them?”
“This must be the condition for the hidden miniature! I collected 5 special equipment pieces without equipping them, so I win!”
“No, there’s no such rule.”
“At the pinnacle of board gaming, board gamers create the rules and even the miniatures!!”
Get outta here.
