27 points for a unit that can rally and perform a skill, with a champion slot.

That makes the 2 tray obscenes the best unit for Dispatch runner in the game. They're more durable than a similar points of infantry, hit harder, and can always choose to shift a unit out of combat if need be.

While the fighting ability of the Obscenes doesn't look as good as spined threshers, the support combo's might be better.

In an Ardus list, 2 tray Death Knights are better as they can still fight.

5 hours ago, Church14 said:

In an Ardus list, 2 tray Death Knights are better as they can still fight.

3 points cheaper, but needs ardus, who isn't cheap. Also, not nearly as durable (4 wounds with armor 3, vs 8 wounds with armor 2 and protect 1).

Can't fight, skill and rally, so if you're fighting you aren't untapping that dispatch runner.

If you are bringing Ardus, you might as well run a 4 block of reanimates, which in my experience is more durable than a 2 block of death knights.

If you do want to fight, Obscenes can do that as well, fight at 5 and skill on the modifier (white), rolling the same red-red-blue that the death knights are rolling.

Obscenes do have a hidden bonus as well. They have another skill. If you dial up a skill on say, deathknights, you must send out the dispatch rider, even if you rolled well earlier and no longer need it. Obscenes can choose to do the push/shift thing instead of needlessly exhausting the upgrade.

42 minutes ago, Darth Matthew said:

Obscenes do have a hidden bonus as well. They have another skill. If you dial up a skill on say, deathknights, you must send out the dispatch rider, even if you rolled well earlier and no longer need it. Obscenes can choose to do the push/shift thing instead of needlessly exhausting the upgrade.

This is HUGE. At regionals I dialed in the Dispatch Runner, but the only thing in range were my Reanimate Archers ? . Fortunately, or unfortunatlely, they were engaged, so at least they got to swing, even though it was only a single red die.

Total cost for them is 34 points when you add the dispatch runner. It's nice that they can rally and fire off the dispatch but it happens at init 6 (if you're rallying the card back). Great for the early game, bad in the late game. In the early game you're waiting for engagements to begin occurring around you before dispatching so a higher initiative is more desirable. Once engagements are established, it's nice to fire off dispatch at an early initiative to weaken or kill a potential threat that may strike before your entangled unit can. It definitely has potential and I'm willing to give it a try. I ran a 4 tray unit of beserkers with dispatch runner and raven tabards to great effect at Nationals that allowed me to fire off attacks at initiative 2. It was a 36 point unit (as described) and takes 16 wounds to remove from play. I always had to bank a couple inspiration tokens though in the early rounds.

You might be onto something.

4 hours ago, Steel82 said:

Total cost for them is 34 points when you add the dispatch runner. It's nice that they can rally and fire off the dispatch but it happens at init 6 (if you're rallying the card back). Great for the early game, bad in the late game. In the early game you're waiting for engagements to begin occurring around you before dispatching so a higher initiative is more desirable. Once engagements are established, it's nice to fire off dispatch at an early initiative to weaken or kill a potential threat that may strike before your entangled unit can. It definitely has potential and I'm willing to give it a try. I ran a 4 tray unit of beserkers with dispatch runner and raven tabards to great effect at Nationals that allowed me to fire off attacks at initiative 2. It was a 36 point unit (as described) and takes 16 wounds to remove from play. I always had to bank a couple inspiration tokens though in the early rounds.

You might be onto something.

Obscenes can reform at 3 and dispatch as well, if you need the quick one. I'd rally early in the game for an inspiration or two. Obscense have protect 1, making them take 17 damage minimum, and likely as high as 20, to get pulled off the table.

I think that would be my strategy using them. Similar to the beserker's, I'd rally turn one to pocket an inspiration which would give me at least two turns of dispatching at init 3. The benefit to the beserkers is dispatching at init 2 but they struggle in the late game with firing it off again. I typically rallied for two turns with them, dispatching by turn two or three and continued to fire it off until my inspiration tank was empty. Once that happened they became situational. Use them to augment a suffering area of the field or rally one more time to get it off in round 7 or 8. Like I said, I think you're on to something and I'll certainly be putting the concept to table for a couple games.