So I was playing with ideas for Waiqar and was struggling to get more blight once the units got engaged. Sure I can just keep shooting but even with steadfast I have seen some horrible things happen due to self inflicted panic tests.

So for fun I was thinking about what cool upgrades could happen to give more blight options for Waiqar.

First off a Relic that on Melee you gain a unique surge ability to give the defender a blight.

This gives deathknights and more importantly Ankaur a blight mechanic. Since its a single blight, I figure the cost could be 4 points? You could also use it on fallen hero so that would be nice.

The second thought was a banner that mimics the elves assasin card where you place three blight tokens and the text reads: after defending against a melee attack, remove one token from this card and assign one blight token to the attacker.

This gives the reanimates another option and competes with a lot of other upgrades. My only concern is deathknights get even more defense with this so maybe make this a music upgrade or a figure/infantry upgrade? Not sure on cost either.

Last idea was a a new unit that as an action that assigns blight to ALL units in range 1 which would include itself maybe?

Anyways thoughts, fun ideas?

I like the idea of the artifact. It could be called the Virulent Blade or similar. 4 points seems reasonable. It's going to compete for Ardus' other artifact options, however.

With respect to the banner, yes, but Waiqar already have a blight-producing banner.

You raise a new question though, mentioning the Death Knights--will FF release a cavalry command pack for each faction? I'd like to see a cavalry character (a mirror of the Deathcaller) running around with some DK or wraiths shooting blight. He could be 'pestilence' out of the four horsemen of the apocalypse

1 hour ago, escutcheon said:

I like the idea of the artifact. It could be called the Virulent Blade or similar. 4 points seems reasonable. It's going to compete for Ardus' other artifact options, however.

With respect to the banner, yes, but Waiqar already have a blight-producing banner.

You raise a new question though, mentioning the Death Knights--will FF release a cavalry command pack for each faction? I'd like to see a cavalry character (a mirror of the Deathcaller) running around with some DK or wraiths shooting blight. He could be 'pestilence' out of the four horsemen of the apocalypse

Why settle for less? Just have four figures in the command pack. All for horsemen if the apocalypse in everything but name.

War: Basically, a superior file leader as a figure, unique.

Pestilence: Add blight tokens in some form. Possibly without distinction between friend and foe

Death: Deathcaller type of champion upgrade.

Famine: Stripping banes off of units? Again, maybe without distinction between enemy and ally?

As for the original topic: I would like a reliable one-blight-per-turn upgrade or figure similar to Profane Banner Bearer.

The blight mechanic seems like it's not at it's full potential yet. I suppose if you build and MSU type list you could get a lot out before getting engaged, but I feel we need more ways to do it once engaged.

1 hour ago, darkjawa103 said:

The blight mechanic seems like it's not at it's full potential yet. I suppose if you build and MSU type list you could get a lot out before getting engaged, but I feel we need more ways to do it once engaged.

Maybe... But if you were really good at dealing blight while engaged, it could quickly turn sour for your opponent. Before you know it, Waiqar would only run those power blight cards upgrades, and Moment of Inspiration and other dice-adding upgrades would become auto-include to temper the impact of blight.

I think blight is in a good spot right now. The designers (and playtesters!) have to be extra careful not to let blight get out of hand, or the opponent will never roll dice, and that's no fun at all.

Blight in melee? Easy. Ardus stealing the surge ability from Reanimate Archers.

25 minutes ago, rebellightworks said:

Blight in melee? Easy. Ardus stealing the surge ability from Reanimate Archers.

The archers' blight ability is during ranged attacks only.

7 minutes ago, Xelto said:

The archers' blight ability is during ranged attacks only.

Yes, but Ardus's ability is Melee Attack

Ardus' ability specifically states that he uses both ranged and melee blight abilities as his own.

1 hour ago, Xelto said:

The archers' blight ability is during ranged attacks only.

When on the Archers, yes, but Ardus can explicitly use any surge ability for any type of attack during his melee attack.

57 minutes ago, Tvayumat said:

When on the Archers, yes, but Ardus can explicitly use any surge ability for any type of attack during his melee attack.

Ah, right. Guess who never faces Ardus? My regular opponent prefers Daqan, and will play Uthuk, but avoids Waiqar.

On 3/31/2018 at 9:31 AM, darkjawa103 said:

The blight mechanic seems like it's not at it's full potential yet. I suppose if you build and MSU type list you could get a lot out before getting engaged, but I feel we need more ways to do it once engaged.

This would be crazy good. You'd have a faction that can prevent the opponent from rolling dice, potentially indefinitely during a melee, while regenerating trays. If that doesn't have the distinct potential to get out of hand, I don't know what does.

57 minutes ago, kaffis said:

This would be crazy good. You'd have a faction that can prevent the opponent from rolling dice, potentially indefinitely during a melee, while regenerating trays. If that doesn't have the distinct potential to get out of hand, I don't know what does.

It still might be possible. Say, for instance:

Plague Bearers Infantry that comes in 2x1, 2x2, and 2x3 configurations, with some limited upgrades possible. The upgrade possibilities do not include training, and its command tool does not include any bonus surges.
Combat dice: red, blue
Abilities: [Melee] [2 unique surges]: If [unstable runes] is 2 or higher, remove [unstable runes] figures from this unit and give 1 engaged enemy 1 blight token.
At the end of the turn, if this unit is engaged with an enemy unit, remove [natural runes] figures from this unit.

The theory is that this unit, since it loses figures to use its ability, can't go doing it forever. Also, since its ability requires unstable runes, plus 2 naturally-rolled surges (it can't get combat ingenuity or bonus surges), it's not guaranteed to be able to blight its opponent each turn, but it will still happen often enough that it has to be taken into consideration when engaging this enemy.

Give waiqar an heavy infantry unit with a thresher style blight mechanic, but max 3x2 and no regen so it can only get boosted by maro trays.

17 hours ago, Jukey said:

Give waiqar an heavy infantry unit with a thresher style blight mechanic, but max 3x2 and no regen so it can only get boosted by maro trays.

The “if they do not already have one” limit would be critical to me to keep a unit like that from breaking the game. So something like “After your activation, all enemy units at distance 1-[Natural] receive one blight token if they do not already have one.”

Max out at 6 trays, slow as or slower than Reanimates but more able to turn on a dime. Blue-Blue or Blue-Red melee and a Surge-Surge ability that says apply a blight token to the defender. No training slot. Damage output is generally garbage, but an interesting potential counter to MSUs and Stars.

Then have ave somebody go ahead and try to balance all that

A Training slot upgrade for Waiqar that as a Special action allows the unit to deal 1 blight to an engaged enemy. As a father, I can relate to it as the "kindergarden cough", though in-game perhaps it should be called Breath of Death or something like that.

That would increase theme as lancers stops being picky (currently only unengaged targets), would make Death knights have their pestilence rider, Reanimate archers could stab with their blighted arrow (Legolas style) and blobs of Reanimates are probably increasingly low on hygiene.