I've been looking back over the previews in anticipation for new units (eventually) getting released. Lance Corporal seems like a really great option for the Outland Scouts. If they are engaged with an enemy they can attack at initiative 4 and disengage with Lance Corporal's ability to turn their green shift modifier white. "Know Your Enemy" works great as it give you inspiration to ready the Corporal next turn. Is there a faster disengage in the game? I'm really excited to try this out!

1 hour ago, Hepitude said:

I've been looking back over the previews in anticipation for new units (eventually) getting released. Lance Corporal seems like a really great option for the Outland Scouts. If they are engaged with an enemy they can attack at initiative 4 and disengage with Lance Corporal's ability to turn their green shift modifier white. "Know Your Enemy" works great as it give you inspiration to ready the Corporal next turn. Is there a faster disengage in the game? I'm really excited to try this out!

Other than the Leonx shift bounce at 2 with raven taberds, not really. I'm excited to see what Kari embedded will do

Spined threshers with scuttling horror can disengage from a flank. Before initiative 1

I'm most looking forward to Seasoned Pathfinder. Deploying mid-game, mid-field is pretty nuts, and should virtually guarantee a charge on either a vulnerable ranged unit or a flank/rear. They're not very impressive in a straight fight, but getting a pincer attack with Oathsworn will be oh so sweet.

Particularly in the more claustrophobic deployments, being able to enter mid game will really help alleviate congestion.

I'm considering running 2x2 scouts with an Uncontrolled Geomancer: deploying after the 'Deploy Units' step means they can pick their target; and the Scout ability allows them to rush forward, far away from the rest of my army.

Combined with a rapid response force (Cavalry, Hawthorne, etc.), this puts the opponent in a position of either spreading out their infantry and leaving the units vulnerable to be picked off one at a time or bunching up to support each other and taking lots of damage till they can clear out the scouts.

I can well imagine some games where the effect would never be triggered - the threat alone being enough to justify the cost of the card.

1 hour ago, tall thin climber said:

I'm considering running 2x2 scouts with an Uncontrolled Geomancer: deploying after the 'Deploy Units' step means they can pick their target; and the Scout ability allows them to rush forward, far away from the rest of my army.

Combined with a rapid response force (Cavalry, Hawthorne, etc.), this puts the opponent in a position of either spreading out their infantry and leaving the units vulnerable to be picked off one at a time or bunching up to support each other and taking lots of damage till they can clear out the scouts.

I can well imagine some games where the effect would never be triggered - the threat alone being enough to justify the cost of the card.

I am also excited for this option. Question I have is can you do the unctrolled geomancer on your free move. Below is sequence of ops and the card says after deployment, so token would not be cast yet. The threat of this if you can do it turn 0, and them again quickly on turn 1 (At the mercy of the unstable runes) sounds fun.

I also like the idea of Kari in there with maybe fortuna or the new skill card that is not fully spoiled about popping out of terrain, and a flank and kill Aliana or Ravos in one turn without being engaged with them. And the mind games that come with that power.

7.Deploy Units: Starting with the first player, the players take turns deploying a single unit from their army within their respective deployment area. Players continue taking turns until all units have been deployed.

8. Prepare Supply: Remove the deployment markers from the play area. Place the boon tokens, bane tokens, wound tokens, and objective tokens in separate piles near the play area to create the supply. Then, shuffle the morale deck and place it facedown near the play area along with the range ruler, movement templates, and dice.

9. Prepare Energy Tokens: The first player prepares the energy pool by casting the five energy tokens near the play area.

As Uthuk, I’m more worried about Seasoned Pathfinder than I am about Baron Z. Daqan players should be excited for the scouts.

As Waiqar, I’m dreading the first time I face someone who brings Kari embedded in scouts.

What about Forged in battle? I'm not shure about how good it is as it takes a bit of time too ramp up. But imagine it on oathsworn cavellery 3x2 and windrune, then you could get use of the brutal and the presise with a standard of three dice....

45 minutes ago, Datskor said:

What about Forged in battle? I'm not shure about how good it is as it takes a bit of time too ramp up. But imagine it on oathsworn cavellery 3x2 and windrune, then you could get use of the brutal and the presise with a standard of three dice....

I don’t like intentionally not engaging early with a unit. So, it needs to be on a unit that intends to be in combat and there on turn 8. 9 tray Oathsworn/Spearmen with Shield wall is my first instinct. Tank and tank and and near the end you either start gaining strength or supplementing the performance losses from damage

I like the idea. I’m not sure if Forged in Battle will be good or not

3x2 Oathsworn is exactly where I've tested it in the past. They really have very little competition for the Champion slot, and my experience was largely that the Precise kicked in just before I lost the back rank, and the Brutal would briefly give me threat 4. Even if you're down to a single knight, he fights like a 2x2, which ain't half bad!

I think a biggish block of Spearmen will want one of the figure upgrades (threat 6 IS pretty interesting, but...), Scouts will have a hard time stalling the engagement and probably prefer Seasoned Pathfinder or Kari, and Crossbows... well, if you're taking the 3x2 you could do worse, that's for sure.

Know your enemy looks like a decent upgrade that competes for the Training slot, so it will inevitably need to be compared to Rank Discipline. Would probably be great on Spearmen, but of course they can't take it!

2 hours ago, Bhelliom said:

3x2 Oathsworn is exactly where I've tested it in the past. They really have very little competition for the Champion slot, and my experience was largely that the Precise kicked in just before I lost the back rank, and the Brutal would briefly give me threat 4. Even if you're down to a single knight, he fights like a 2x2, which ain't half bad!

This is my experience as well. I've tried it twice on a 3x2 of Oathsworn re-formed with Hawthorne and got value out of it both times. In both games I lost the back rank around round 4-5, just when precise kicks in. In one of the games I was down to 2 trays in round 6 and was able to charge into something at the same combat efficiency that I started the game at (threat 3 with full reroll). That 2x1 was able to crush a 2x3 of Leonx riders.

This upgrade is good on units that will be in the fight early but can be reasonably expected to survive the whole game.

22 hours ago, Datskor said:

What about Forged in battle? I'm not shure about how good it is as it takes a bit of time too ramp up.

It can also be used as a card that forces the opponent to make a difficult decision: focus on the unit with the card in the early game; or ignore it and reap the consequences in the late game.

I'm tempted to try it on crossbowmen. Then the opponent has a choice to either push through the army to target the crossbowmen - which is likely to open up their flanks to counter-attack opportunities; or ignore the crossbowmen and accept a late-game threat-4 ranged unit with a red and blue dice.

Late game I often find that melee units will only make a few attacks - the other turns are spent chasing down the next opponent. Whereas late game ranged units can be much more efficient at generating attack opportunities: Crossbowmen with Wind Rune can do an attack+shift+reform combo that allows them to move from target to target; or a cheaper option is Crossbowmen with Marching Cornicen for an attack+1turn combo.