Blood Harvesters :

Abilities:

Rage is just a terrific ability of this 4-point unit. Your enemy will not want to attack them with his elite or cavallry units fearing a huge counter.

Frenzy also is more then nice to have. You decide if you want the additional damage. And if you do, you get the bonus dice of rage.

strategic use:

Blood Harvesters are never ever wrong and in many ways utiles. They are good attackers but they will also be decent protecting a hex, if they have to. With rage, they have a huge damage-potencial. They compete in the slot with Berzerks, which are the best choice if they can barricade in a forest. In my opinion the Blood Harvesters may be the unit with the best value for the costs of all Uthuk units. All command and lore cards that support weak units are just made for a weak unit of Harvesters...

Of course, the issue is that they can't be used to hold down strategic locations. They are more of a "charge and smash" unit to weaken the enemy.

Of course, the issue is that they can't be used to hold down strategic locations. They are more of a "charge and smash" unit to weaken the enemy.

I agree with you. But the only only units of Uthuk with a defensiv ablitity are the Demon Lord and Obscenes, If any of this ones is on my VP-hex, I would consider BH to do this Job. They have some arguments:

- they do the Job cheap as they are a 4 point unit

- if attacked, they may have a strong counter if wounded

- I do not like very much to attack them with my elite or cavalry, because are able to cause huge damage even weakend (thanks to frenzy)

Sure, I prefer Obscenes or the Lord on the VP and I prefer any unit with a defensiv ability to do that Job. But like Uthuk hasn't... BH are an alternative

Even though I always end up including them on my red team, Blood Harvesters are one of my least favorite units. I just don't like their heroic ability. It's useful in some instances, but the fact you have to sacrifice one figure makes it too costly most of the time.

Even though I always end up including them on my red team, Blood Harvesters are one of my least favorite units. I just don't like their heroic ability. It's useful in some instances, but the fact you have to sacrifice one figure makes it too costly most of the time.

Frenzy is quite amazing, u have several advantages:

1) You even have the choice to use it or not

2) u can often trade a 4-point Harvester unit against elite or cavalry model

3) If not eliminated, you get +1 dice for the trade

4) They do good damage also if they are weak thanks to frenzy (still 5+ damage with 5 dices!)

I think it's just a perfect ability in combination with rage... don't forget it's a Basic 4-point melee unit. If an enemy doesnt like to attack them with his strongest units (and I feel so playing against Uthuk) they seem to be really worth their points.

I just find it funny that a Blood Harvesters unit with a single figure, so a single Blood Harvester, rolls more dice in combat (5), without lore card or command card modifiers, than any other unit from any faction or expansion in the game.

I'm just picturing a lone Blood Harvester with his scythe next to the Chaos Lord, with his giant claws, teeth, and all manner of tools of destruction. Somehow, the one Blood Harvester is more powerful than the Chaos Lord.

Well, remember that at that point the Blood Harvester is now weak, so his odds per die of scoring hits are lower than at 2 figures.

Harvesters at full HP: 3*1/3, thats 1,0 damage per attack.

Weak Harvesters: 5* 1/6, thats 0,83 damage per attack.

Chaos Lord or Harvesters at 2 HP: 4*1/3, thats 1,33 damage.

Quite a difference.

Don't forget that in rolling more dice there's also more chances to roll retreats, lore for abilities and cards, and heroic results to trigger his special ability.

Harvesters at full HP: 3*1/3, thats 1,0 damage per attack.

Weak Harvesters: 5* 1/6, thats 0,83 damage per attack.

Chaos Lord or Harvesters at 2 HP: 4*1/3, thats 1,33 damage.

Quite a difference.

As Daverman mentioned, you can't forget the heroic ability. If you count their Frenzy ability, a full-health Blood Harvester should have 50% chance to deal a damage with each die, meaning they deal 1.5 damage on average.

Weak harvesters have 1/3 chance to deal damage with each die, so the average damage dealt with 5 dice is 1.66667.

This means that a 2-health Blood Harvester has a greater chance of dealing damage than a Chaos Lord, dealing 2.0 damage on average, compared to the Chaos Lord's 1.333. Of course, pinning a unit can change any of these odds, but it is especially significant for the Chaos Lord since it means a single result could deal 2 damage. Ignoring the 2 damage from Terrify and treating it as a single damage, you still have 4 faces that deal damage if the target cannot resolve a retreat effect, meaning the Chaos Lord has a whopping 2.66667 average damage! I believe that when you factor in that the heroic ability deals 2 damage instead of 1, the average is about 3 damage from the Chaos Lord, though I'm not exactly sure how to calculate that.

So I completely see your point, bottercot. It's very funny that a weak Blood Harvester unit can deal more damage than a Chaos Lord. I usually think of each figure as representing more than one individual though, so to me it's not like a single guy is dealing all that damage. With the legend units, I do imagine them as being a single individual.