We changed our minds at the last minute and decided to do a faction review episode instead. Definitely still send us your Store Champs info, but we are going to record that next time. For Episode 6, we review the Kari Wraithstalker faction (and we probably talk about some other Daqan units as well). It's a look at units, upgrades, common builds, and a few new ideas we had while discussing. We also speculate on the Outland Scouts and what they might do once we get them.

Let us know what you think - what do you play as Daqan, have you tried anything we mentioned, and what do you like about the faction? We hear some of you think Rune Golems need a fix - what's up with that?

Enjoy the episode!

http://initiativeone.libsyn.com/website/episode-6-the-kari-wraithstalker-faction-review

Facebook: @InitiativeOne

Email: [email protected]

Nice episode! I didn't realize Kari still had so many fans.

Thanks for the episode. I'm just getting into Runewars (have bought a couple of core sets and 8 expansion boxes so far) but actually made my first Daqan list a week or so ago which included a 2x3 Oathsworn with Wind Rune and Raven Tabards

I also added Moment of Inspiration but, having listened to you, I'll take it out so I've got space for Fortunas Dice on Kari

http://tabletopadmiral.com/runewars/human/p023uEMu28u2fu24p053uEMu07uEMuEMp0f1u0ep0e1uEMu31p061uEMu06

Great rundown!

Something I've been trying to make work on Spearmen is the Eagle Banner Bearer. I play against a lot of Carrion Lancers, and those can tie up Spearmen all day, so the ability to bank 2-3 Inspiration and instantly blow one up is VERY appealing. Even against Death Knights, I'm happy to trade two tokens for a Knight. Of course it's a figure upgrade with 1 Defense so that's a glaring hole in the strategy, and you can't take it until the 6-tray unit so you'd better have another plan for the unit. Feels like a card that doesn't quite work yet, but worth keeping an eye on.

Another very interesting thing to do with Scouts is Unstable Geomancer. They deploy last, so you can pick the juiciest target, then advance and (runes permitting) start unleashing earthquakes as early as turn one! It's a suicide bomb, but has the tools to apply pretty surgically.

I really like Forged in Battle on 3x2 Oathsworn. There's very little competition for that Champion slot, and the timing tends to kick in as they take casualties to keep them relevant. My experience is once they get stuck in they die pretty quick, so keeping their offensive power up really extends their usefulness.

Great episode, pretty spot on with most of your assessments. Surprised no one had seen the Wind Rune Cav before down there, definitely adds some flexibility if you have the points.

I was kind of shocked no mention of Lance Corporal? Maybe it’s just not in the NC Meta but we have a similar Daqan discussion ironically going on concurrently over in Tactics https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/269151-daquan-troop-comfigurationscombos/

but the versatility Lance corporal offers Spearmen is huge, and he’s even slightly less fragile than CWM. I would certainly argue my 6 points is better spent there for its utility on spearmen (provided you have a way to ready it) than wind Rune on my Cav.

On 2/7/2018 at 11:42 PM, Budgernaut said:

Nice episode! I didn't realize Kari still had so many fans.

She's hands down the better of the 2

6 hours ago, Darthain said:

She's hands down the better of the 2

I think I agree with you on that, but out of the 4 Daqan lists I played against during store championships, all of them had Hawthorne and only one had Kari.

On 2/8/2018 at 8:55 AM, Suhawk75 said:

Thanks for the episode. I'm just getting into Runewars (have bought a couple of core sets and 8 expansion boxes so far) but actually made my first Daqan list a week or so ago which included a 2x3 Oathsworn with Wind Rune and Raven Tabards

I also added Moment of Inspiration but, having listened to you, I'll take it out so I've got space for Fortunas Dice on Kari

http://tabletopadmiral.com/runewars/human/p023uEMu28u2fu24p053uEMu07uEMuEMp0f1u0ep0e1uEMu31p061uEMu06

Glad to see another newer player getting in, and thanks for the listen! How are you liking the Daqan so far?

Cool that you figured out the Wind Rune - I am going to try it out over the next couple weeks when I can get some games in.

Moment is great, no doubt, but see how you like the Fortuna's - like we said, it makes Kari just fantastic.

On 2/8/2018 at 2:28 PM, Bhelliom said:

Great rundown!

Something I've been trying to make work on Spearmen is the Eagle Banner Bearer. I play against a lot of Carrion Lancers, and those can tie up Spearmen all day, so the ability to bank 2-3 Inspiration and instantly blow one up is VERY appealing. Even against Death Knights, I'm happy to trade two tokens for a Knight. Of course it's a figure upgrade with 1 Defense so that's a glaring hole in the strategy, and you can't take it until the 6-tray unit so you'd better have another plan for the unit. Feels like a card that doesn't quite work yet, but worth keeping an eye on.

Another very interesting thing to do with Scouts is Unstable Geomancer. They deploy last, so you can pick the juiciest target, then advance and (runes permitting) start unleashing earthquakes as early as turn one! It's a suicide bomb, but has the tools to apply pretty surgically.

I really like Forged in Battle on 3x2 Oathsworn. There's very little competition for that Champion slot, and the timing tends to kick in as they take casualties to keep them relevant. My experience is once they get stuck in they die pretty quick, so keeping their offensive power up really extends their usefulness.

I like both those ideas - Eagle Banner seems like it has the potential to be really strong if you can leverage it well. I have never found cause for any of the Daqan wizards yet, but there is definitely some unexplored territory there that the scouts might make for some interesting strategy with.

Forged in Battle looks like it's going to be super good on cav, I can't wait!

On 2/8/2018 at 7:39 PM, jcshep19 said:

Great episode, pretty spot on with most of your assessments. Surprised no one had seen the Wind Rune Cav before down there, definitely adds some flexibility if you have the points.

I was kind of shocked no mention of Lance Corporal? Maybe it’s just not in the NC Meta but we have a similar Daqan discussion ironically going on concurrently over in Tactics https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/269151-daquan-troop-comfigurationscombos/

but the versatility Lance corporal offers Spearmen is huge, and he’s even slightly less fragile than CWM. I would certainly argue my 6 points is better spent there for its utility on spearmen (provided you have a way to ready it) than wind Rune on my Cav.

Thanks - and yeah, we haven't seen really any Wind Rune locally except on Reanimate and Deepwood Archers.

Lance Corporal is cool for sure, not sure why we didn't think of that during the episode. I haven't put it on the table, but I have several lists with the Lance Corporal that I drew up as ideas. I have just gotten away from Spearmen in general. I think the only thing that kept me from using it was that I was thinking of it in a Spearstar, and I wanted to limit the number of cards that I had to exhaust, but I guess you can use it sparingly enough that it isn't a problem?

6 hours ago, FranquesEnbiens said:

I like both those ideas - Eagle Banner seems like it has the potential to be really strong if you can leverage it well. I have never found cause for any of the Daqan wizards yet, but there is definitely some unexplored territory there that the scouts might make for some interesting strategy with.

I had a game with @Govrek where he was using Greyhaven Channeler to fuel Fire Rune on his 3x2 Heavy Crossbowmen. I was running Bloodfire Witch and 2 Fire Runes myself, so it turned out to be a very firey game with more rune re-casting than I'd ever seen. So that's one use for the Daqan wizards. And it really did help turn the red runes in those games.

20 hours ago, FranquesEnbiens said:

Glad to see another newer player getting in, and thanks for the listen! How are you liking the Daqan so far?

Cool that you figured out the Wind Rune - I am going to try it out over the next couple weeks when I can get some games in.

Moment is great, no doubt, but see how you like the Fortuna's - like we said, it makes Kari just fantastic.

I’ve only played one game. Spent loads of time reading, watching and thinking about Runewars but only a couple actually playing ?