The journey into new units and derpy meta begins.
Game 1
First we did Gorgemaws deployment and objective. Church got the bid.
He took the center, hoping to split my forces.
My list
'Faolans Inspiring Speech'
199/200
Prince Faolan [36] 1x1
The Spirit Sword [6]
Valor of the Fallen [3]
Total Unit Cost: 45
Darnati Warriors [43] 3x2
Maegan Cyndewin [10]
Wind Rune [6]
Greenwatch Herald [3]
Hedge Shroud [2]
Total Unit Cost: 64
Ventala Skirmishers [30] 2x2
Tempered Steel [3]
Hedge Shroud [2]
Total Unit Cost: 35
Deepwood Archers [42] 3x2
Verdant Sorceress [3]
Tempered Steel [3]
Rallying Starling [4]
Close Quarters Targeting [3]
Total Unit Cost: 55
Church's list
'Panic'
195/200
Beastmaster ThuUk Tar [36] 1x1
Dragonjaw Focus [5]
Total Unit Cost: 41
Viper Legion Archers [33] 2x2
Psychosis Siren [7]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 42
Viper Legion Archers [33] 2x2
Psychosis Siren [7]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 42
Spined Threshers [18] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 18
Spined Threshers [18] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 18
Obscenes [17] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 17
Obscenes [17] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 17
Setup: Church deploys a large chunk of his army before my units start going in. I stack on the right side. Church sets aside a viper block and I choose my deepwoods as reinforcements.
Turn 1: Church activates nearly all his units while mine wait for i6. Beastmaster follows a threshershield while the vipers and obscenes set up defensive postures.
The Darnati use wind rune to slide into a good position, while the cowtaurs occupy the charge assist terrain. Faolan zig zags his way in behind the darnati.
Church's vipers deploy by his thresher, while my deepwoods bravely take on a flank.
Turn 2: The Ventala pop out of the terrain and use its ability to charge the thresher. A good roll and puts up 3 wounds on it. The Darnati move up and armor, while faolan shouts inspiring things at them. The Deepwoods finish off the thresher.
Church fires a shot at the darnati with vipers. They put a wound on Meagan but can't kill the armored monks. The unpainted obscene moves close but doesn't engage. Beastmaster engages the cowtaurs and tries to do some fancy panic tricks.
Turn 3:
The Darnati hit the obscene hard, putting 3 damage up after the obscene armored itself. Viper shifts into terrain, while the other obscene kills 1 darnati due to hedge shroud.
Meanwhile, with a little boost from beastmaster, the Thresher begins clearing the Deepwoods, but suffers heavy damage from CQT. Beastmaster finds hedge shroud difficult to whip through, but heaps a mountain of panic on the cowtaurs. They give him 3 wounds with the help of tempered steel.
Faolan shifts into terrain.
Turn 4:
The cowtaurs dispatch Beastmaster, suffering the loss of 2 cows. The Thresher and Viper tear apart the Deepwoods and reform them with a morale test.
The Darnati roll a heavy surge attack, meagan spikes 3 damage over 3 units, killing an obscene and nearly dropping a tray of vipers.
This is where things got weird. Correct me if we played it wrong.
Faolan does an i6 3 speed march, and his card text allows him to break the march into 3 1 speed marches, at the cost of his modifier. So, he marches out with 1 march, marches distance 1, and then charges the last bit to engage the vipers.
Turn 5: This turn I rolled the lower flank and we called it.
Afterthoughts:
Everything new is very fun and adds a lot to the game. Exciting!
Church spread his army too far apart in this game, which when fortressing, goes badly. The deployment and objective really hurt his build.
I cannot overstate how awesome hedge shroud is. Sure, its situational, but when it works, it works really good.
Meagan in darnati is odd, but actually pretty great. It's easier to surge fish when you can see 3 results and pick 2. This infantry build worked beyond my expectations.
Ventala love tempered steel. All those surges and nowhere to spend them...
Inspiring Faolan is more useful than I thought he would be. He is not as much of a frontline hero as he looks, and his dial is pretty bad for dueling another hero. I think he works best holding back until he sees an opening to slip into and wreck a flank.
Beastmaster was interesting, but didn't stay on the table long enough to get any kind of feel for him.
Obscenes are relatively harmless, and a serious roadblock. They sit just inside the 'hard to kill in one shot' range and do a good job of providing board control.
Vipers have a lot of potential, and will give uthuk many new options. They do about equal damage to a tempered deepwood on good rolls, but lack rerolls. Their technical side is strong and will be interesting to see more.
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Game 2
Next we played Faolans objective and deployment. Church had initiative again.
My list
'Tripllle'
200/200
Darnati Warriors [43] 3x2
Maegan Cyndewin [10]
Wind Rune [6]
Greenwatch Herald [3]
Hedge Shroud [2]
Total Unit Cost: 64
Ventala Skirmishers [30] 2x2
Wind Rune [6]
Lay of the Land [4]
Total Unit Cost: 40
Leonx Riders [30] 2x2
Aliana of Summersong [12]
Raven Tabards [2]
Moment of Inspiration [5]
Total Unit Cost: 49
Prince Faolan [36] 1x1
The Spirit Sword [6]
Etharyon of the Ailatar [5]
Total Unit Cost: 47
Church's list
'Viper Command'
Viper Legion Archers [46] 3x2
Cacophony Reaver [6]
Fire Rune [7]
Bannerscamp [4]
Rallying Shrieker [4]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 69
Obscenes [27] 2x1
Dispatch Runner [7]
Total Unit Cost: 34
Spined Threshers [18] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 18
Flesh Rippers [63] 3x2
File Leader [6]
Moment of Inspiration [5]
Feeding Frenzy [5]
Total Unit Cost: 79
Setup
Church goofed his deployment, resulting in fortress jamming. My list is about to test latari mobility.
The pocket deployment is a cool feature for speedy cav units.
Turn 1: Church makes the best of his deployment jam, setting up a strong defensive wall for viper command.
My Latari forces close in from 3 points, using wind rune and LotL to gain positioning.
Faolan roosts and builds insiration.
Turn 2:
The cats pile into the Thresher, and tear it to pieces with the help of MoI and Allianas leadership. The Vipers unleash a volley at the cats and kill over half the unit.
The cowtaurs step forward and throw their javelins at the vipers, only to miss.
The darnati lie in wait for the overeager rippers to come stampeding out of safety.
Turn 3: I think the pictures are missing.
The cats flank charge the vipers, and inflict heavy losses. The cowtaurs engage the obscenes, but have difficulty inflicting damage. The darnati and rippers line up to engage next turn.
Turn 4:
The Darnati hit the rippers good, but get hit back hard, and don't have enough runes to shroud.
Faolan tears into a flank of the rippers.
The obscenes and cowtaurs trade blows, and the vipers lose more trays to cats, but shift away and dispatch the rippers.
The darnati take heavy casualties.
Turn 5: No more pictures, oops.
The cats drop the vipers to 1 tray, the cows lose a few figures to obscenes while wounding them back. Faolan and the Darnati bring the rippers down to 2 trays. The vipers shift and dispatch the rippers again.
Turn 6:
The cats flank the obscenes, while the cows continue to press them from the front. The darnati fall to the last viper. Faolan puts an end to the rippers.
We called the game here.
Afterthoughts:
Viper command is a powerful unit, it puts out a lot of damage and can dispatch a fellow unit, I'll need to try a full size deepwood version.
Obscenes are great walls.
Wind rune on darnati=cool, wind rune on ventala=meh.
Faolan on a flank rolls a lot of damage, need to find an artifact that fits him well, spirit sword is fine, but...
Rippers are tough, even when every bit of damage goes on them, 3 hp a piece is a lot of meat to chew through.
Leonx were very useful this game, I'll be looking into them more in future builds.
Thanks for reading!