What color order tokens do you prefer (vs. investing in Gold cards, certain level units, etc)?

Although I like many silver unit options, I find the one-two punch combination of a silver order to be my favorite. I would rather invest gold in powerul units or command cards. I find bronze useful for both fodder units as well as single orders to help units temporarily escape or reposition before the next round. Gold are, of course, fun all the way around, but for me Silver is where the bulk of my orders seem to pool from.

Order token strategy, as you called it, is one of the most important aspect of the game. I agree that silver orders are the most useful all-around, for move and shoot activations. Bronze orders are useful for sentry units, guarding for multiple rounds, for coordinated attacks, and for simply moving units early in the game. Some of the easiest to use command cards get bronze order buybacks (like Beastial speed). Gold orders can be used in the beginning of the most important rounds (though you don't use them a lot early in the game) to add guard to your first activated units (after a move and shoot combo), and are necessary for most units with "action" type special abilities. You have also to take into account Command cards you choose and their buybacks...

But different factions don't make the same use of order tokens : Bauhaus get many abilities to turn bronze orders to silver orders (see the Dragoon sergeant or the Venusian Ranger Commander), and noble poise can help them taking advantage of guard orders, while brotherhood get more special actions which makes gold orders very important for them...

With Algeroth I found myself leaning towards more gold units and more silver orders. Using the Cap's lately though I have a new appreciation for gold orders and always leaving my units on guard after a move and attack. Their excellent accuracy and bonuses play well with guard actions to keep the enemy at range. There is not much better than having a buffed ranger elite use a gold order and fire at will either.

I try to keep an even blend, because each rank is important in its own right.

Gold -- These are always for getting my long-range defensive units into position with a move/shoot/guard, which may take one or two rounds, depending on where the cover is. After that they only get silvers. From there I save my golds for anything that has a special action, like Alakhai or any of Karak's crazy special moves (golem tossing, anyone?).

Silver -- A general catch-all. I use these for units already in-position, or melee-based units that don't have much of a use for guard attacks anyway. Plus, if Karak gets Dark Discipline out, this is a gold equivalent anyway.

Bronze -- Typically for buybacks. I try to use cards with cheap bronze buybacks because it's easiest to manage, and I'm not gimping the rest of my army.

So, for a 6/6/6 game I might have 7 units (8 including Karak's command tent) and 9 tokens (3/3/3). Since the bronze tokens go mostly for buybacks (Bestial Speed/Summon Golem/Ice Storm), almost every unit is going to get at least two actions on activation. It seems to work out pretty well.

And what do you think of Ilian extension ? Is Karak not overpowered with the Command Tent option ? I've translated the Ilian unit and card rules but I don't know its statistics (dice combo, command icons and health).

According to people who got their hands on Karak, he has three blue dice with a reroll (!!), 4 health, +2 Accuracy, three Ilian command Icon, plus Dark Symmetry and the Art. Yes, he's a beast. Though it'll be fun to run after him with a Vulkan Prototype (immune to blue dice)... Overall, he's a great fig, but if you use his tent, and use all his personal command cards, losing him will mean losing the battle for the Ilian player. And without his command cards (and we all know the Brotherhood can prevent you playing commands...), he doesn't have a lot to save him. Soul Possession allows him to come back to the field as long as you have Brotherhood turncoats in your army, but since every time you kill him, all his Brotherhood troops take one wound (and most Brotherhood figs don't have that much health)... And taking Karak with his best command cards cost a LOT durint army building... I'd rather take him with a single "personal" command card than building my whole army around this single fig. To summarize : I don't think he'll be overpowered, though he brings some new possibilities in army building (since he can potentially become a one man army).

I don't know the full rules for the tent, only that it gives you one more bronze, silver, and gold slot, but you lose them if the tent is destroyed. It'd have been better if the tent was a neutral option for any army, IMHO...

Here are the caras for the Ice Golem : 6 health, 2 yellow dice, 1 Ilian command Icon (plus his freezing special action, allowing him to put an ice token under his target. He also regains health when standing on an ice token).

Actually Paptimus, just a minor correction -- the Golem of Ice does have an action that puts an ice token on anyone he had accuracy to, but it's the icy terrain that heals him, which is from another command card (thankfully with a bronze buyback ). The ice tokens are the ones that reduce a unit's movement and damage by 1, cumulatively.

But you're absolutely right about the dangers of running Karak. He's a gamble, and you have to make sure he can stay alive, ESPECIALLY if you're running Brotherhood units with him. When he dies, he deals 1 point of damage to all Brotherhood units under his control, if I recall correctly. That's why if you're playing Karak, the best strategy is to get out his +4 health card as early as possible. I made this mistake in the championship game at GenCon and got too excited about golem tossing, and I believe this is the main reason I lost. When my opponent took out Karak, my army was crippled.

However, the play style is fun, and I'm willing to take the risk due to this. Having Brotherhood "traitors" in your army is a neat twist.

EDIT: To better answer Coral Beach's question, I don't see it as overpowered right now, especially since the tent can also be destroyed (and has 5 health). Like I said, running Karak is a huge gamble, and doing it safely seems to require more strategy than an Algeroth army would.

Thanks for the argumented answers !

The tent is not overpowered. What it lets you do is run karak with all his command cards effectivily without ruining your army build (stick the CCs in the tent and not your army list)

Thanks for the correction, nullstate... I don't have Karak or the golem myself, so I was basing my report on infos collected on the net...

I tend to agree with you, unless you have some special abilities to pay for. Silver tokens give the mots bang for the buck.

Interesting to see the practice of different preferences per faction. I knew this would be the case, but now thankfully have some feedback to branch out a bit with my builds.