Lord Hawthorne

By playnwin, in Runewars Tactics

So, now that Lord Hawthorne's been out for a little while, what do you think of him?

How does he do personally?

What do you think of Lessons of Seragart?

Any luck with using him as an upgrade?

For me, I've been enjoying him a lot. His inpiration spread is pretty good, and I've flanked many an archer with Hawthorne alone. Being faster than an Oathsworn is really good, particularly if you're willing to take a panic to engage from outside range or before init 5. Once in combat, he's sorta uninspiring (see what I did there?), like most units without rerolls. Doing four or six damage is cool and all, but he's not exactly slaying Ardus or the like. That is, until you tank him up, upgrading his defense with Might of Daqan and giving him the Shield of Margath. After that, he becomes a beast, tanking to defense 5 and nearly doubling his damage with a single shield slam.

Lessons of Seragart is really cool. I've been doing a lot of 4x1 Oathsworn, which combined with Tempered Steel and Rank Discipline is a sight to behold. So much damage for such a cheap unit. I've also got ideas for 4x1 Spearmen and 4x1 Rune Golems, both of which seem fun (Two red dice, threat 6!).

One thing I intend to try is a 1x2 Rune Golem with Fire Rune. Seems like it could be alright, and Rune Golems have historically failed me because of the lack of reroll, rather than the difference in threat 3 and threat 4.

As for the upgrade version, I must admit I haven't played with it. Extra white dice is cool, but I so rarely fight multiple units that I wonder why I'd really need to take it. I do want to eventually put it on a Oathsworn unit, go flank with it, and have Moment of Inspiration so I can toss two dice of every color. That's just achievement hunting, though...

How does he do personally?

I find him inspiring!

hes hard on his troops but mostly because he cares, although he may drink too much.

I can't wait to pick him up and give him a try. The alternative formations seems really interesting. And I just like a mounted hero.

The Shield and Might combo is awesome in solo fights but if you another of your units in the fight, your opponent's gonna focus everything on them. Lord Haw-Haw's damage output is then pretty unimpressive. An alternative I'm trying is the cheaper Reaping Blade. Eliminating misses when he has no re-roll is pretty handy and gives you two mortal strike chances per die - making an almost 1:2 chance of getting one. Not as much fun as the Shield of course!

Hawthorne himself doesnt do much more than usual for a hero. He has 3 attack dice, but one of them is a blue (which unless you have the upgrade to basically trade surge for hits is a bad die for him to roll). However he is EASILY the tankiest mofo we got atm...
Unique upgrade to 4 armor, init 2-3 actions with a white shield mod to 5. Ive only had 1 game with him so far, but the amount of times my opponent only did 4 damage to him was hilarious.

Also he enables the 2x1 Golem formation to actually be pretty lethal. Reform them to a 1x2, trading 1 threat (ooo im threat 2-3 instead of 3-4....) for rerolls and an easier to charge with formation (capable of diving in narrow pathways easier). That was actually really dang good since i almost always need a reroll with those guys. The ability to reliably do 4-6 damage with a max of 12 to me is far more important than a damage max of 16 and having higher odds of doing 0 damage. The amount of times the 2x1 formation rolled blank/panic/surges for me have been rather irritating, and until now there was no way to get a reroll on them.

Edited by Vineheart01