Got around to trying a proxy build of Darnati with my Latari playing Church and his locust horde. I built a fairly safe list without doing anything too daring, Church tried something weird, focusing heavily on zerker damage output.

Here's the lists:

199/200

Maegan Cyndewin [36] 1x1
Reaping Blade [4]
Martial Magic [3]
Total Unit Cost: 43

Darnati Warriors [43] 3x2
Avenger of Latariana [5]
Shield Wall [5]
Herald of the Twisting Gale [4]
Moment of Inspiration [5]
Total Unit Cost: 62

Deepwood Archers [30] 2x2
Dispatch Runner [7]
Wind Rune [6]
Rallying Starling [4]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 49

Aymhelin Scions [42] 2x2
Tempered Steel [3]
Total Unit Cost: 45

Church will have to post his list, I thought I could find it in the latest lists, but he didn't build it with TA, curse you Church for keeping your list secret!

My list focused on seeing what a well supported Darnati 3×2 can do. Running a derpwood utility battery nearby would likely bring success with all the tech on the Darnati.

I only got 3 pics of the battle, here we go,

Church reforms and rallies on turn 1, lining up for the long charge, I almost successfully unpack to match his angle but get Meagan stuck behind the darnati. Both forces come in close on turn 2, and on turn 3 church's leading zerkers play the initiative game with my Darnati, will they charge at 3 or deny me a melee by charging at 4.

Fortunately, I don't have to choose, due to avenger of latariana, and I dial a charge. Church dials a charge and hits me for 8 damage which I shield wall to 4. The Darnati hit back with 10 damage thanks to MoI.

The derpwoods moved with wind rune after dropping the zerkers to one tray, but I made an error here, I used rallying starling to pull a stun off the Darnati instead of readying shield wall, it cost me my back rank when the next zerkers hit them.

An interesting part of this attack by the zerkers is that they wiffed the shot, but using abilities and upgrades church got 8 damage out of a blanked out attack, impressive!

The zerkers went down fast, my dice were also very hot. We called the game after the scions flank charged the rippers, followed by the Darnati, derpwoods, and dispatched Darnati again.

Thoughts, deepwood utility batteries are really good when supporting a teched out Darnatistar. If you can keep them out of the frontlines they will feed deadly combos very easily.

Darnati are really something else, and I've only scratched the surface. There's so much technical play to look into and so many positions in army building they can fill. I want to try a full 3x3 next time and really throw them in the fight. I didn't get a chance today to try it, but turning shift charges are going to be awesome. Darnati definitely are a solid brawling unit.

I have no pictures but church obliterated me in a second game with a more practical list, however the Darnati still performed well. I look forward to seeing Ravos faced down by a solid block of Darnati.

Thanks for reading, not sure if pics work, trying to learn imgur on android...

That Bannerscamp is another conduit. I had to proxy even in TA. I played the first game poorly. I should have held back to try and get my Rippers into combat simultaneously. I think I’m okay admitting that I don’t have the hang of 2x2 infantry blocks in either Waiqar or Uthuk. Still figuring that out.

It was fun watching one Berserker unit roll blanks, reroll to blanks, and then still do 9 damage

Second game, your deployment let me split your army and get to Maegan too easily.

Curious, are you guys playing the Darnati as having to discard one die even if they don't re-roll? My group is still unsure on this rule and have been playing it that, if you don't re-roll, you don't have to discard the die.

@QuickWhit
You have to remove the die either way. The removal takes place after the rerolls step regardless of whether you actually rerolled or not.

6 minutes ago, Willange said:

@QuickWhit
You have to remove the die either way. The removal takes place after the rerolls step regardless of whether you actually rerolled or not.

I have seen this interpretation of the text before. Others seem as sure as you are. But I don't see how you guys can be so sure.

From the rule book:

Step 4—Reroll For Extra Ranks: The attacker rerolls dice
based on the number of full and partial ranks he has behind
his front rank.
• If the attacker has a full rank behind his front rank, he
can choose and reroll any number of his dice. A unit can
perform this reroll one time for each full rank it has behind
its front rank.
• If the attacker has a partial rank, he can choose and reroll a
single die after performing rerolls for full ranks.Step 4—Reroll For Extra Ranks: The attacker rerolls dice
based on the number of full and partial ranks he has behind
his front rank.
• If the attacker has a full rank behind his front rank, he
can choose and reroll any number of his dice. A unit can
perform this reroll one time for each full rank it has behind
its front rank.
• If the attacker has a partial rank, he can choose and reroll a
single die after performing rerolls for full ranks.

I don't see the connection here. The card doesn't say "after Step 4" or "after the reroll phase", it just says "after rerolls". If I don't perform any rerolls, why would this trigger?

Not saying everyone reading it this way is wrong. I'm willing to allow that the intent is that Darnati should always discard one die... but I don't see where the confidence in this interpretation comes from. The way I read it could go either way.

By habit, we take the least powerful interpretation of a card. That’s about the extent of our justification. I imagine that question will be forcibly answered at Gencon.

I see your point. They really should have either written "If you rerolled any of your dice..." or "After the rerolls step" just to remove any possible ambiguity.

However if you assume the intended meaning is what you say, then we have to interpret a new meaning for "After rerolls" since the phrase would refer to specific rerolls as opposed to a step. Does that mean if I only perform 1 reroll, or only reroll exactly 1 die, that I don't have to remove a die? That's the way it would appear to be written (since they didn't say "reroll(s)") especially given that we essentially can have multiple rerolls with multiple ranks. That interpretation, to me, raises more questions.

Then again, you could be correct as well because FFG does occasionally word things terribly on their cards. The "After the rerolls step" interpretation just seems far more likely to me and doesn't penalize the Darnati for bothering to reroll, which also would seem silly to me.

25 minutes ago, Willange said:

Then again, you could be correct as well because FFG does occasionally word things terribly on their cards. The "After the rerolls step" interpretation just seems far more likely to me and doesn't penalize   the Darnati for bothering to reroll, which also would seem silly to me.

Didn’t part of the reveal article talk about the swords and how the Darnati did fire quickly swinging them?

From their reveal:

The swordsmen may then choose to spend this surge to gain the Lethal 1 keyword for the duration of the melee. However, this high striking power comes with its own cost; the Darnatis’ blades slow after each strike. After rerolls, a player controlling the Darna ti warriors must remove one blue die.

8 minutes ago, Church14 said:

Didn’t part of the reveal article talk about the swords and how the Darnati did fire quickly swinging them?

From their reveal:

The swordsmen may then choose to spend this surge to gain the Lethal 1 keyword for the duration of the melee. However, this high striking power comes with its own cost; the Darnatis’ blades slow after each strike. After rerolls, a player controlling the Darna ti warriors must remove one blue die.

Yup. If you use the surge too often, then your rerolls make you tired! Ignoring the odd link to the surges here, the way this is worded does make it seem more likely that you only remove if you reroll. However, I would never base a ruling on a preview article

Jukey and I were discussing some use cases for Darnati that showed up here or that we thought of while playing.

Darnati Warriors [60] 3x3
Blackthorn Assassin [7]
Frontline Aymhelin Scion [6]
Total Unit Cost: 73

Darnati Warriors [43] 3x2
Avenger of Latariana [5]
Herald of the Twisting Gale [4]
Total Unit Cost: 52

So, 1st is a way to run them as a tar pit. Applying stun and blight seems a good way to take the edge off of an engaged enemy. Small side note: We also ran into a rules moment that we hadn’t before. Berserkers (and any unit with a 2nd dial rally) can have their rally stunned off before it triggers.

2nd is the “Let’s kill those flanking heroes” approach. Yeah, you have to eat the first damage, but you’ll reform so they don’t get the flank bonus and then counterpunch. Seems like potential for hunting Ravos. With some of the upgrades to make Darnati extraordinarily shifty, they have a better chance at forcing engagement with a hero than the Executioner Reanimates.

Is there any reason why you don't throw the Warsong Herald into that tarpit configuration? It's not super expensive and it synergizes well with deepwood archer and flanking leonx (especially the column tactics kind since they would get a reroll out of it). Really it just seems to synergize with most latari units in one way or another.

If you can't tell, I'm super excited to finally use Warsong Herald with Darnati.

53 minutes ago, Willange said:

Is there any reason why you don't throw the Warsong Herald into that tarpit configuration? It's not super expensive and it synergizes well with deepwood archer and flanking leonx (especially the column tactics kind since they would get a reroll out of it). Really it just seems to synergize with most latari units in one way or another.

If you can't tell, I'm super excited to finally use Warsong Herald with Darnati.

No reason you can’t. I didn’t as I was just highlighting two particular combos.

Not 100%, but the wording of the Darnati and the wording of the wraiths applies the same.

Darnati: After rerolls, remove 1 die

Wraiths: while defending, before the attacker rerolls you may reroll (stable) dice

If Darnati did not automatically discard a die rerolls or not, then wraiths could reroll before every reroll the attacker does.

Have you tried the File Leader with the twisting gale? Being able to turn and attack first on a flanker seems really fun. Not sure how the initiative plays out though, especially vs uthick.

3 hours ago, Xquer said:

Have you tried the File Leader with the twisting gale? Being able to turn and attack first on a flanker seems really fun. Not sure how the initiative plays out though, especially vs uthick.

That could be interesting, although current meta seems to be if you can't flip file leader at 3 it won't do much. I'm also curious to try some combos with firstblade of lord anoth, to see how often I can force units into bad situations.

In theory you could use a 2x2 with file leader as a long charge deterence to protect flank. Add fire or corruption time to give them an attack while standing ready with file leader.