Kate Crawford by
@
Pumpkin_King
We all know and respect the gunslingers as having the fastest hands in the West, but guns weren't all they were good at. They were also excellent at washing their hands. So be cool like the gunslingers and wash your hands too, kids.
Balance
Kate Crawford is a sort of jack of all trades and master of none type of unit. This means that with all the tools in her arsenal, there are several comparisons that can be drawn across other figures, but none of those comparisons solidly define Kate’s balance without further context.
The first comparison to draw is Guilty, a fellow Lawman with a multi-attack who costs 10 points less than Kate. While Kate’s survivability is better with 4 life and Tenacity, Guilty has stronger offensive power with a 7 range double attack, whereas Kate only gets one attack at 7 range and 3 attacks at 5 range at one figure unbooosted by height (lots of conditions making Guilty’s simple Double Attack more desirable). Kate is more likely to survive, but Guilty is more likely to deal damage.
Another similar Wild West figure is Josie Whistlestop, who also sports 3 attacks at 5 range. Again, Josie’s offensive output is much higher than Kate’s, as she can be boosted by height and target multiple figures. However, Kate’s triple attack is a Special Attack, which can ignore some powers, and their survivability is pretty close. Balance here is a close call especially since Josie is 30 points more than Kate, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that while Kate’s 7 range normal and Special Attack give her more tricks, Josie is more likely to actually do a decent amount of damage while she’s around.
There’s also a comparison to be made with Patrick Ferguson, who has the same range, slightly better survivability, and is limited to targeting one figure per turn. Patrick can hit harder with Deadly Shot, but is missing the Special Attack that Kate has. Again, Kate’s toolkit keeps a straight comparison from being entirely fruitful, but the comparison to Patrick of only being able to attack one figure at a time seems to be close, though she trades survivability for the option to utilize a Special Attack.
Honestly, I could go on for a while with comparisons, since she’s also similar to Seleena (same range, more fragile but has 1 shield blocks all, and gets +1 attack against adjacent figures instead of the Special Attack), Kira Jax (same range, more attack, lower survivability, able to negate powers like a Special Attack can), Wyrmlings (bonding common heroes again makes it difficult, but they also have a Special Attack that is usually stronger offensively), and even Siiv (melee, lower life/higher defense, but also a Special Attack that’s stronger than Kate’s). In the end, though, these comparisons seem to be putting Kate in the arena of the balanced — she usually has more tricks than the other figures, but is worse at each one overall.
Theme
Probably the best thing about Kate Crawford is how much theme is squeezed into such a simple card. She clearly portrays the Wild West gunslinger that she’s meant to portray. She’s got the basic stats common to a gunslinger, but Fan the Hammer Special Attack brings in an element of desperately trying to gun down an enemy that enhances her character. Tenacity also does well in bringing out her character, helping her fit the trope of a gunslinger who powers on after taking a hit or two, hanging in there long enough to get off another round and (hopefully!) win the day. The Bold personality is just icing on the cake here.
Even the mini does a good job of carrying the theme on the card. I was dubious about the mini during the nomination process and wasn’t really sold on it until I got it in person. The ready-to-fight pose that Kate has helps to sell the theme of a gunslinger ready to do what it takes to win, fitting her special powers. I was really surprised at how well the mini looks and works with this theme on the battlefield.
Creativity
The creativity of Kate Crawford is the toughest hurdle for her, in my opinion. The powers are certainly new and creative, but her role in an army gave me hesitation. Though there is merit in the jack of all trades/master of none trope, I don’t find it particularly inspiring and was concerned by just how many figures are doing a similar job as Kate (or, rather, that Kate is doing the same job as). This was compounded by the fact that all of these figures are filler, which means that when drafting an army you’re usually looking for something to cover your weaknesses. If trying to do a theme-based army, Guilty is a Lawman at the same point range who you can easily slide into a cowboy army. There’s merit to the mindset of “but I want allllll of them,” but that mindset alone won’t pass a figure into SoV canon.
This made me worried that even if Kate was thematic and balanced, she would get lost at the bottom of the bin as other figures were chosen over her. This is particularly a concern for me in the increasingly crowded design space of filler units. On the bright side, in my early brainstorming I was able to theoryscape armies her toolkit
could fit into, but whether she would be dynamic enough on the battlefield to warrant that inclusion would be seen later in our favorite section:
Playability
Kate Crawford does a few things really well on the battlefield. First off, I have to throw back to the theme section to reiterate just how great she is thematically. She takes long shots when needed, fans the hammer when cornered, and after taking a hit or two grits her teeth and pushes through the pain to keep with the fight. Games I played with her were akin to telling a story in addition to the tactical implications, which is something I love to experience with Heroscape.
Next, Kate takes her jack of all trades role and really owns it. She adds a lot of versatility to an army and allows for a good amount of decision-making. 7 range allows her to be used to kite figures and pull them out of hiding spots without too much chance for counterattack, and her Special Attack, while only able to target one figure per turn, allows her a decent chance of wounding a hero or killing a squad figure that you need a Special Attack to really hurt. While she’s naturally more suited to endgame cleanup, her survivability also makes her decent to use at almost any point of the game — she won’t win any early- or mid-game skirmishes, but has enough range and toughness to be able to get a first strike and interrupt the development of your opponent’s figures.
With the versatility that Kate brings to an army, she ends up having a lot to offer as a filler unit, despite my reservations of there being more specialized units. Her firepower is definitely lacking compared to other units, but the arsenal of tricks up her sleeve never had me thinking “if only I had [insert other figure name here] instead,” but rather “how can I use her abilities to my advantage this game?” Each game was a different experience in trying to maximize the various ways to get value out of Kate. This, coupled with her excellent theme, ended up with Kate adding more to general gameplay than the usual filler, even when she didn’t always carry out a job as well as another figure might have.
Summary
Despite my concern about fitting into the design space, Kate turns out to be an excellent addition to an army that she’s drafted in. She offers dynamic and interactive gameplay, with a strong theme that really knocks it out of the park.
I vote
Yea to induct Kate Crawford into the Soldiers of Valhalla.