I have a question about Friedrich Hemmler which is the new card featured on the card of the week article:

Friedrich Hemmler 5EE
5/5
Hero. Mage.
Forced: When this unit is opposed in combat, deal 1 uncancellable damage to all attacking and defending units.

From what I understand, the card effect triggers whenever the unit is opposed when attacking or defending, right ?

this mechanic is poping up alot now.. its in march also with some of the lizard men.. i think opposed means you have to be attacking.. defending is not being opposed to me.. thats just how i read it..

it should read something like:

If this card is blocked while attacking ...... bla bla bla

I think he is intended to be triggered as an attacker and as a defender, because of what they say on the website - "He is the bane of low cost attackers"

Berning22

An attacking unti is opposed by defenders. A defending unit is opposed by attackers. If he is either attacking or defending, his forced action triggers as he is opposed in both cases.

His ability works in combat, attacking and defending.

That's a amiazing unit, one of the best in the Empire deck. I got a place for him in my deck.

I doubt he gonna find place inside any empire decks, willelhm is much more stronger then this red-head guy. Imho he will be used in realm to boost the resourse production or with lizards/high elfsin the damange-heal decks.

a 5p 5hp for 5? why wouldnt you run him? and the damage cant be stopped.. its like your counter to those Fing dwarfs and there tough.. SUCK IT STUMPY! FFG needs to take care with there use of this new damage type though.. too much of it will break this game even more..

rush and agro typos died on the previus cycle with the ending of skavens, do you still think you gonna win rushing your opponent? dwarfs/high elfs/chaos/dark elves and even empire got undreads of way to prevent him from attacking and dealing damage.

I'd like to see what you gonna do with a 5P 5HP with , for exemple, a perma-corruption on it.

I strongly belive that control >> rush-agro and for an empire control (or a future empire knights deck) Willhelm is the best one.

Could always threaten with him on Protect the Empire Quest, able to defend any zone (with Derricksburg Forges, etc. you can get him out turn 2 no prob). And even if you prefer Wilhelm for BZ, FH is still 5P in KZ or QZ for resources or cards.

dam is right, is not needed to put him in the battlefield. he works fine even on the defending quest.

hes not game winning, but those number.. for that price.. with that effect.. its just a nasty card all around..

as for rush being dead.. i dont think it is.. its just not being done correctly.. i dont see most decks running mob up.. its stops most of the problems they have.. i see orcs / skaven all the time.. that still wreck and they do it fast.. try to fog it.. suck to be you.. if you dont have you H.E.D. to counter mob.. then its over.. watch a board get cleared.. with there new pinger.. they got even better imo.. but w/e.

Kragg said:

He mills you out pretty fast, that's granted.

Dwarwes : Any 5 cost unit who dies to Rune of Spite is welcome. single attackers are very easily dealt with by kamikaze non-slayer slayers.

Empire : Wilhelm easily get rid of him (or a Forced march), but above that there are 2 different kind of units to prevent blocking. many-many control effects overall (but the same in your deck), but a 5 cost unit is not cost effective if you want to play tactics too.

Chaos : they are happy if the have to corrupt only a single unit to lower the damage output by 5. Wilhelm could make some headache with his ability, even if he is dealt with in the next turn (GUO to quest... happened more than once) Blood for the blood god ?

DE : if you are lucky he won't use him against you, but otherwise a simple 0 cost slave + Call the Blood kills him outright, before dealing damage to the enemy capital.

Lizardmen : since he's damages himself Spawn of Itzl likes him very much.

So only orcs and high elves could have a hard time with him. Against most races many times he is not much more than an Empire WAAGH, which doesn't fit in any known Empire deck yet.

Also note that you may use him with lizards, but pretty much with nothing else.

@zephe : What about talking rush if the rush deck only replace weenies by big guy :-).

What seems strange with this out of limit power/price units it is that the counter part for having a lot of power at low cost, is not really a counter part. (as for temple of vaul, or thyrus or even Bloodthirster).

By the way at the moment rush deck based on weenies like orc / skaven are just not competitive at all. They are too many possibility in both order and destruction to make hard counter on theim. (and lastest tournament results just make the evidence on it).

Edit @Cain : most of time players won't use him in battlefield as your example with the chaos/dwarf or even whilelm. that's just limit the possibility and you get the opportunity turn 3 to get 5 more ressources or 5 more cards which is at this moment not so "dangerous". Against a lizardmen, why a 5 power icon supply in realm or quest zone would take damage by himself?

(as at this moment your opponent has not yet drawn many cards, so his probability to get counter to this card is low).

I agree with Cain this card is not that good. I really don't think you play this guy and just plop him in a side zone. By the time you can (or want to) cast him is when you want to be committing to your battlefield. But that's Wilhelm's zone!! And Thyrus gives a more cost-friendly boost to the sides. There's just no room for a 3rd hero.

Honestly, I'd agree that wilhelm is better overall due to being a control element. But this guy is great as an early game beatstick. Granted he has a giant target painted on his back, but putting your opponent on the defensive from the get go is never bad. Or hell, go ahead and draw yourself an extra FIVE cards. All in all though I think the card's playability comes down to the consitency of a turn two drop.

He's as good as where and how you use him - getting stuck in a mindset that a specific Zone simply HAS to belong to a specific Unit is a bit silly and unproductive. If you're not running a Control-style deck, any Zone is fair game for this monster beat-down stick. Very useful card all around.

You guys are being really shortsighted discounting Friedrich IMO. He's a freaking BEATER. He's good enough to build around, far moreso than Wilhelm.

TBH I've always thought Wilhelm sucked in the current card pool, and in all the games we've played vs. empire I've pretty much been proven right... too often he forces you to make bad attacks on zones you wouldnt naturally go after. That's pretty much terribad for an aggro deck (the only way to be competitive w/ Empire right now). He's a trap, and decks built around him are highly likely to be awful until Empire card base can support a non-aggro deck.

Friedrich OTOH is exactly what Empire wants. He doesn't make Empire good enough yet, IMO, but he is a card. Dismissing him is a mistake.

For once we agree on something. What's the world coming to? LOL

Personally I'm more excited for Knights Panther (1 resource for 1 hammer twice a turn) than Hemmler but he is still interesting and there will be some good combos.

Corruption and some destruction tactics can get rid of him quite cheap and a lot of destruction decks now have Wight Lord but if there are Churches of Sigmar or Intervention involved, Hemmler can be one hell of a threat.

It the 1 uncancellable damage is enough to kill a unit, would it immediately "die", or would that damage not be applied until after combat?

comicthoughts said:

It is a Forced, so the damage is applied as soon as the ability triggers. Which is before you get around to assigning combat damage. So you kill off 1HP attackers before they get to contribute their P into the damage pool.

Dam said:

In this case he would be awesome with some warrior priests.

I really like Fredrich. He is a definite asset to Empire.

The ability is interesting, but the important part is that he's a 3+ power card.

His power isn't contingent on characters like the banner, or developments in your battlefield or any such nonsense. You just buy him, and he cleans up for you. That's really what Empire needed.