The Uthukl led by Ravos have arrived on the scene at the Runewars Battlecast in a grandiose fashion! Tune in to see what kind of new mechanics they bring and who is the scariest faction on the block.

I feel like Flesh Rippers should get a big penalty against any skeleton...

2 hours ago, Hepitude said:

I feel like Flesh Rippers should get a big penalty against any skeleton...

100% agree. Gain a panic token.

I am really a hypocrite for pointing this out, but I don't think the Flesh Rippers' activation during the first round went as it should have. As I understand it, even though revealing your command tool is typically the first part of activation, the Flesh Rippers' compulsory movement happens after the Flesh Rippers have started their activation, but before revealing the command tool. I mean, if they weren't already selected to be the activated unit, then you couldn't have them do their move, right?

81.2 reminds us that, "After the unit resolves all effects of entering the terrain, its activation immediately ends. If it had a bonus action or other game effects to perform, these are canceled." Now, this was written before Flesh Rippers were designed (I think), so they didn't consider that you could enter terrain but still have not performed your main action. However, I think this rule means that as soon as the Flesh Rippers entered the terrain with their pre-command-tool-reveal march, their turn should have ended.

If I'm interpreting this correctly, then the Flesh Rippers were THE WORST unit to choose to enter the Ransacked Manor. Why? Because their activation ends as soon as they enter it during round one, before they can even reveal their command tool, but that mandatory march means they will also leave the terrain before they can use their skill during round two!

We came to the same conclusion in the comments on YouTube.

12 hours ago, Budgernaut said:

I am really a hypocrite for pointing this out, but I don't think the Flesh Rippers' activation during the first round went as it should have. As I understand it, even though revealing your command tool is typically the first part of activation, the Flesh Rippers' compulsory movement happens after the Flesh Rippers have started their activation, but before revealing the command tool. I mean, if they weren't already selected to be the activated unit, then you couldn't have them do their move, right?

81.2 reminds us that, "After the unit resolves all effects of entering the terrain, its activation immediately ends. If it had a bonus action or other game effects to perform, these are canceled." Now, this was written before Flesh Rippers were designed (I think), so they didn't consider that you could enter terrain but still have not performed your main action. However, I think this rule means that as soon as the Flesh Rippers entered the terrain with their pre-command-tool-reveal march, their turn should have ended.

If I'm interpreting this correctly, then the Flesh Rippers were THE WORST unit to choose to enter the Ransacked Manor. Why? Because their activation ends as soon as they enter it during round one, before they can even reveal their command tool, but that mandatory march means they will also leave the terrain before they can use their skill during round two!

Right you are! I had another viewer bring this to my attention. Its ironic as their passive ability makes using the manor very hard, not very easy!

I really fear for the balance of the game with uthuk :/. But I am trying not to be reactionary.

7 hours ago, Tarliyn said:

I really fear for the balance of the game with uthuk :/. But I am trying not to be reactionary.

We all said or heard the same thing when the Latari arrived and took world championship weekend. I think people just need more time to get used to what the Uthuk can do.

1 hour ago, Budgernaut said:

We all said or heard the same thing when the Latari arrived and took world championship weekend. I think people just need more time to get used to what the Uthuk can do.

Difference is Latari don't have any melee infantry and even when the Darnati come out they aren't heavy hitters. The Uthuk literally do everything well. They move fast and hit hard. A lot of their stuff depends on panic but they have so much built into the army that auto gives panic you don't really need to do anything for it, its just there.

Again, I am hoping I am being reactionary but they don't have something they aren't good at. It will be interesting to see what the viper legions bring.

It's true, the Uthuk do appear to be strong. Thematically, I think they have always been a difficult faction to balance. Their main focus is "hurt myself to do smething worse to you." The trick is finding the sweet spot that hurts them enough to think twice about using the ability, but also hurts the opponent enough that you're not left with a dead ability. In BattleLore, they ended up being a little under the power curve.

In what ways do you think they hit harder than other factions? Looking at dice, the Flesh Rippers are on par with the Carrion Lancers. One can turn surges to mortal strikes while the other turns surges into damage. Each of those abilities can be better in certain situations. Spearmen and Berserkers have comparable hitting power, except that Spearmen can get defense boosts that Berserkers miss out on and Berserkers can inflict a lot of damage on themselves, so they hit about the same, but Spearmen win in longevity.

Ravos is a beast, though. Best hero, hands down.

3 hours ago, Tarliyn said:

Difference is Latari don't have any melee infantry and even when the Darnati come out they aren't heavy hitters. The Uthuk literally do everything well. They move fast and hit hard. A lot of their stuff depends on panic but they have so much built into the army that auto gives panic you don't really need to do anything for it, its just there.

Again, I am hoping I am being reactionary but they don't have something they aren't good at. It will be interesting to see what the viper legions bring.

They don't have range

2 hours ago, TheWiseGuy said:

They don't have range

When you get across tbe board by turn 2 you dont need ranged, lol. I haven't played against them though. You have (and documented it yet again very well ) so I will defer to you. But they very much appear to be an army that is more than the sum of their parts and that sum dtarts out really high, lol. My main opponent just bought into Uthuk so this week will give me a better sense of things.

On 1/6/2018 at 9:11 PM, Budgernaut said:

If I'm interpreting this correctly, then the Flesh Rippers were THE WORST unit to choose to enter the Ransacked Manor. Why? Because their activation ends as soon as they enter it during round one, before they can even reveal their command tool, but that mandatory march means they will also leave the terrain before they can use their skill during round two!

Well, they're called flesh rippers for a reason. Sit around digging through broken furniture and piles of stones? Not happening for them.

20 hours ago, Tarliyn said:

I really fear for the balance of the game with uthuk :/. But I am trying not to be reactionary.

I feel the same way, even though I have not played against them yet, but as @Budgernaut very acutely pointed out, the Uthuk only just came out, people haven't had the chance to really adapt their strategies and find counters. They look insanely strong in their resilience and formula 1 movement, as showcased in @TheWiseGuy 's battlecast, but they are still in their infancy stage, people will find ways to play against them over time, and in the end, they'll just end up being another contender in what is shaping up to be an awesome variety of factions, each with their own strengths, strategies, unique abilities, design, etc... (at least that's what I'm hoping for, they might also end up wrecking everyone )

PS: Ravos is overpowered as he** though, I think everyone can agree on that point. [slash] Joke [slash] still kind of serious though

Uthuk have a weakness in their maneuverability. Flesh rippers go forward fast, but have troubles turning, and have no turn-charge. Berserkers can turn a bit easier, but still only charge in straight lines. Spined threshers aren't quite so bad: they can get up to a speed 2 turn-charge, but all their movement is at initiative 5 or lower (not counting the shift-1), so they can't do late-turn surprises.

Ravos has normal maneuverability, though. And Kethra has a bit of Latari blood in her, given how she moves, but with 9 total health, she's a bit of a glass cannon.

Honestly I just want waiqar to get a little tune up. Take off the -1 charge on the reanimates. Give us rallying cornicen. I understand when it was waiqar vs daqan. But now that scions are a thing and the Uthuk give panic like crazy... We need a tune up. Daqan too probably. Make figure upgrades in units less vulnerable.

As strong as the Uthuk are, this game really comes down to predictions, and that means knowing your opponent's options. After everyone has a couple games getting caught off-guard by the Uthuk, I believe things will settle down.

I haven't had many games with them yet, but I can't imagine I would have an easy time against the Latari. And I was soundly defeated by Waiqar last game I played. We really need to see battles against players that are equally-skilled and have equal experience in order to see how powerful each army truly is.

That said, they do look powerful. The Spined Thresher, for example, is great! In my opinion, they surpass Rune Golems. But then, maybe that's more about Rune Golems needing a boost than Spined Threshers needing a nerf. Sure, they're tanky with that 7 damage threshold behind 2 defense, but that low defense means almost every attack is going to leave a mark. But they certainly maneuver better than Rune Golems.

Hopefully I'll make it to a store championship in the next month. Then I'll have some more experience to report on.

My experience with the Uthuk so far, they are hard to control and are squishy vs armor.