199 points

Kari Wraithstalker, Latari Training, 34 pts.

6 Trays of Spearmen, LCpl., Aggressive Crn., Shield Wall, 55 pts.

2 Trays of Spearmen, Fire Rune, 25

2 Oathsworn, Fire Rune, 27 pts.

2 Oathsworn, Rank Discipline, 24 pts.

2 Rune Golems, Wind Rune, 34

This army gives me 6 units for grabbing, holding, and playing hot-potato with objectives, along with pretty decent mobility from the 2 Oathsworn Cavalry and a decent amount of ranged attacks from Kari and the two Fire Runes. My primary combat detachments are obviously the big block of spearmen and Rune Golems. Although the Rune Golems are a little too small to consider a front line battle unit, I think if they can get melee help from flankers in the form of Kari, Oathsworn, or the small unit of Spearmen, they should do alright. In terms of offense, the Rune Golems and big unit of Spearmen advancing together, with Kari and Oathsworn advancing on the flanks should be pretty effective and mobile with additional help from Wind Rune and Aggressive Cornicen. All of these units are small enough that they should be able to take advantage of cover as they advance. My little unit of spearmen is intended to plop into a small defensive position in the backfield and throw out ranged threat. If an enemy makes an objective grab in my deployment zone, hopefully the enemy unit will be depleted enough by the time they arrive that my mini unit of spearmen can give them at least some cause for concern.

But for the upgrade cards, I should be able to build this out of 2 core sets and a command expansion, making this super cheap $$ wise. With split core, that makes this army come out to $125.

Thoughts, criticism, complaints?

7 minutes ago, Elliphino said:

But for the upgrade cards, I should be able to build this out of 2 core sets and a command expansion, making this super cheap $$ wise.

This is my first concern, though I know it's not the focus of your post. Even if you trade your undead for Daqan forces from the core, you'll need the following products to get all of these cards if buying solely in Daqan:

$100 - Core Set (for the units)
$35 - Rune Golems (for Wind Rune)
$50 - 2x Daqan Infantry Command (for 2x Fire Rune)
TOTAL: $185.

Since you're getting 2 Rune Golems from trading core units, you could save $10 by buying a Reanimate Archers unit for Wind Rune instead of the Rune Golems expansion, but that does not seem like a good option for long-term investment.

Okay, enough about money! Let's talk tactics!

I find it odd to put Fire Rune on the Oathsworm Cavalry. To activate it, you have to use a Skill action and the Skill on the Oathsworn dial is blue, meaning you'll only be using it when you March. It seems better to use Oathsworn Cavalry to charge, since they'll be doing blue moves anyway. Plus, that lets them take advantage of Impact 1. By using Fire Rune, you let the enemy come to you, losing out on the Impact 1 ability (unless you're lucky or a tactical genius when it comes to range control). But I do like the idea of Fire Rune on the Spearmen, especially if they're hiding in some terrain.

Lance Corporal + Aggressive Cornicen on the Spearmen is a solid combination. I like it a lot. I'm not sure about Shield Wall. I suppose it's a meta call. If you expect to see lots of little units similar to what you put together, it'll be worth it, I think. The other problem with Shield Wall is that both it and Lance Corporal will need to be readied with Rally actions or Inspiration tokens. You'll have to choose which is more important to ready after the first use, so one of them may only get one use the whole game. Maybe that's okay. You only get 8 commands in a game, so 5 points for a 1-time defense buff could be worth it.

16 minutes ago, Budgernaut said:

The other problem with Shield Wall is that both it and Lance Corporal will need to be readied with Rally actions or Inspiration tokens. You'll have to choose which is more important to ready after the first use, so one of them may only get one use the whole game.

When you perform a Rally action, all of your exhausted upgrades get readied again! Plus, you can also burn an inspiration to ready a single upgrade card, so lord Hawthorne might be a better fit that Kari, depending on his points.

1 minute ago, MysteriousRacerX said:

When you perform a Rally action, all of your exhausted upgrades get readied again! Plus, you can also burn an inspiration to ready a single upgrade card, so lord Hawthorne might be a better fit that Kari, depending on his points.

Wow! Missed that by a mile! Thanks for the catch! This is actually a great combo, then. One Rally nets you a greater overall effect for your unit. Very nice.

This definitely looks like a fun list! Let one unit of spearmen hang tight in terrain and drop fire runes on everyone, while the other one comes in as a hammer. Like Badgernaut said, I'd probably lose the second set of Fire Runes on the Oathsworn. With just one rank, and a ton of dice, Rank Discipline seems close to an autoinclude on them.

If you swap the runes for Rank Discipline, it gives you 4 more total points to play with. Maybe add in Tempered steel on one of the Oathsworn units?

Thanks for the feedback, gang!

I included Shield Wall more as a way to add some flexibility than with a specific tactic in mind. I reasoned that without knowing what my opponent might bring, or what the scenario would be, I can't say for sure whether I'd be on offense or defense with these guys. I'm looking at Shield Wall as more of a 5 point insurance policy for my most expensive unit than having anything specifically in mind. This is definitely a top item to reconsider as I get some games in and get a better understanding of the meta.

The other controversial pick seems to be the Fire Rune on the Oathsworn Cavalry. This is another top item for reconsideration as I get to understand the game better, but here's my rationale for including it: If I'm facing an opponent who's hanging back and being really cagey, I'd like to be able to put more pressure on him to come out of his hole. Kari is a great shot, but vulnerable running off on her own as she is. The spearmen with Fire Rune are going to be a bit slow, so it will take them some time to get in range, maybe too long if I have a high priority target I want to deal with when the enemy is holding back. I realize that I sacrifice some offensive power by giving them the Rune, but on the flip side, even if I beefed up their melee offense, I don't see risking them in combat until the infantry reinforcements arrive. So what I gain is having a harassing unit that can distract my opponent from more valuable targets like my main spearmen block or Rune Golems, but who could still effectively charge a small unit of archers or support an infantry attack with a flank charge. I'm trading off pure points efficiency for tactical flexibility with this choice.

I also thought about Lord Hawthorne! I hope he is the battle beast I think he is. If I ran him though, I would build the list a lot differently and probably field Hawthorne on a horse and go cavalry heavy. At the moment I have a terrible fear of being out-shot, which is why I liked the idea of Kari to help balance that. However, I don't mind giving up one turn of shooting if my army is fast enough to engage before my opponent can do real damage. In which case I would definitely consider Hawthorne.

Thanks so much for the dialogue on refreshing cards... that was way off my radar in both cases.

And yep, on the $$ @Budgernaut. Thanks for that breakdown. I figure for casual games my pals will let me use whichever cards we would like without having to have a physical copy of them like we do for X-Wing. When I get into competitive and organized play, I'll have to think more carefully about how to spend my $$ and my points in the game. I still don't know for certain what my purchase plan is. Definitely a core box where I keep each faction, and then maybe I'll split a second box with my pal and pick up 2x Command Expansions. That should keep me just at my $200 initial target while giving me a bit of flexibility in list building until the meta develops a bit and we see what's in store for future expansions and what I might need for countering Uthuk and Latari.

I think with this many Fire Runes I would want to add a Greyhaven Channeler somewhere for 6 pts.

It moves your chances from 50% for 2 red runes / 25% for 4 red runes to 50% for 2 red runes and 57.25% for 4 red runes. Totally worth it with this many fire runes for you big spearmen squad.

Edit: In fact, i'm never taking fire runes without him!

4 hours ago, Elliphino said:

The other controversial pick seems to be the Fire Rune on the Oathsworn Cavalry. This is another top item for reconsideration as I get to understand the game better, but here's my rationale for including it: If I'm facing an opponent who's hanging back and being really cagey, I'd like to be able to put more pressure on him to come out of his hole. Kari is a great shot, but vulnerable running off on her own as she is. The spearmen with Fire Rune are going to be a bit slow, so it will take them some time to get in range, maybe too long if I have a high priority target I want to deal with when the enemy is holding back. I realize that I sacrifice some offensive power by giving them the Rune, but on the flip side, even if I beefed up their melee offense, I don't see risking them in combat until the infantry reinforcements arrive. So what I gain is having a harassing unit that can distract my opponent from more valuable targets like my main spearmen block or Rune Golems, but who could still effectively charge a small unit of archers or support an infantry attack with a flank charge. I'm trading off pure points efficiency for tactical flexibility with this choice.

And yep, on the $$ @Budgernaut. Thanks for that breakdown. I figure for casual games my pals will let me use whichever cards we would like without having to have a physical copy of them like we do for X-Wing. When I get into competitive and organized play, I'll have to think more carefully about how to spend my $$ and my points in the game. I still don't know for certain what my purchase plan is. Definitely a core box where I keep each faction, and then maybe I'll split a second box with my pal and pick up 2x Command Expansions. That should keep me just at my $200 initial target while giving me a bit of flexibility in list building until the meta develops a bit and we see what's in store for future expansions and what I might need for countering Uthuk and Latari.

On the cavalry pick, It can be a bit mixed. They are the fastest unit in the game but the Marching Conicen does make the spearmen the most flexible with maneuvering. You literally get the ability to increase your revealed maneuver from one set maneuver to three, adds turning modifiers to your 4 March, and even frees up your modifier! All of this is only 2 points and is available for every tier of spearmen.

If you want to punish cagey opponents, you can always go for one of the three deployment cards that feature more dangerous terrain than defensive terrain. Then just plant the two terrain in such a way that hampers their army. Choosing certain deployment cards may also make it easier for your spearmen to get to the opponent more quickly, although the problem unit with "getting there" are the Golem units.

With determining what to get, if you're really getting 2x Command Expansions, you should probably spilt a third core box or getting the spearmen expansion and some other expansion (probably Hawthrone). This would give you either a bunch of extra units for the spearmen, cavalry, and golems or help to increase your existing spearmen with more guys and upgrades. There's also the possibility that the command upgrade may help future Daqan Infantry.

On Kari, if you are really fearful for her, just give her the Heartseeker and have her go behind friendly units or terrain.