Prerelease Proxy Play

[chas]

I don't know about you, but I'm setting up fake cards and grabbing figures --and even colored plastic stones--that can be used as the unreleased figures of Wave 11 as fast as I can. Last week Sherman Davies, Tablewalker, Kolakoski and I proxied the Greenscale Warriors only, because the board we used didn't favor the other figures previewed in the first Army Card ("Second" preview). But now I've changed the board to be more accessible, and now have cards for the Second and Third Previews (first and second with actual army cards). So I tried a solitaire game with them! Here are some light comments on the game, and possibly later ones I try out.

This will be neither a full Battle Report nor a lengthy Strategy Review, just some initial observations about first play on a non-tournament board. Hope you enjoy them. Feel free to share your own experiences in Prerelease Proxy Play if you like...

EDIT: This has now become a long, bloggish post, but if you don't have much reading time, you can scan down and pick out the new unit you want comments for after each game in which it is used.

FIRST MAJOR WAVE 11 PRERELEASE PROXY PLAY

The ideas was to get a first reading on the new pieces by throwing lots of them in. As I am thinking of buying two of each new set initially, I used pairs of elemental types, making for a good "unofficial playtest."

THE SIDES:

Kurrok the Elementalist and His Merry Men (Mostly Good Guys)
Kurrok (Estimated Proxy Values from Wave 12:
Life 4, Move 6, Range 5, Attack 3, Defense 4, Points 150 plus the two powers revealed prematurely)
GIE (Greater Ice Elemental)
FE (Fire Elemental) x2
EE (Earth Elemental) x2
AE (Air Elemental) x2
WE (Water Elemental) x2
Aubrien Archers
Warriors of Ashra
Total Points: 660

Pelloth and the Wyvern
Pelloth
Drow Chainfighter
Deepwyrm Drow x3
Wyvern
Fyorlag Spiders x2
Total Points: 515

THE BOARD
A modification of my previously posted "Castle Eldritch", with the castle battlement (room divider and central plateau) taken off. Now instead of four seperate dungeon rooms, there is one big board, with the water hexes augmented to playtest the Ice and Water Elementals. Its an 18x18 hexer with almost all of the ground being Dungeon tiles (4 MS3s). The theme of the board is new terrain combinations, and includes things like the infamous shadow next to jungle, water surrounded by shadow, a molten lava surrounded by ice, shadow on height, and even a custom terrain temple in the center.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

UnCommon Heroes In General: They are beasts, even if only used singly! But you knew that.

Common Heroes In General: They go down fast, like Dumutef Guards. But they can make an impact in the game if used in numbers.

The Wyvern: Yes, you can grab a Fire Elemental, plunge him into water, and kill him with your turn attack. But if nearby Water Elemetals shoot you down afterwards, you haven't recouped your point cost. So be selective in your grabs.

Greater Ice Elemental: Particularly good fighting while in water/ice, and removing its wounds as it goes along. But this requires order markers like a Troll does.

Drow Chainfighter: As with many new figures in their very first play, this one died before I had the chance to really try out his special abilities. But he took down the Greater Ice Elemental by himself, after the GIE had replenished its hits by doing nothing but sitting two turns in the water (now ice).

Kurrock: On a board with lots of terrain blockers, he can't handle too many elementals at once due to his sight requirement. And resurrection takes time. But Kurrock certainly triples the usefulness of using Elementals (except the GIE).

Non-"Greater" Elementals
Its just my playing style, but I think they work better in combination than taking many of the same type. See comments below.

Fire Elementals: Visions of destroying your enemy wholesale go out the window when you realize you need 14 plus for Searing. But its a big mistake to voluntarily come adjacent to an enemy FE (exit Drow Chainfighter, stage left)!

Air Elementals: Send them ahead as blockers, to set up attacks by the others.

Water Elementals: They rule when afloat. Also great in pairs for shooting attacks, which together took the dreaded Wyvern right out, and finished off the enemy late in the game. Work well behind the AEs.

Earth Elementals: My favorites, the "Ben Grimms" attack, attack, attack. But with a short range, the enemy can see them coming, so double up the order markers or place them on Kurrock and use them in a pair/trio.

Elemental/Non-elemental Combo Teams: Like any other Heroscape pieces, look for good combo play. In this case, The Warriors of Ashra worked well to fix the fast moving Drow/Spider enemy for the follow up Elemental attacks, and stopped the Drow from retreating. The Archers unfortunately got trashed by the spiders, zipping over the top of the huge 'hill-staircase' with the road movement bonus!

Retreat!
My play style is quite different from many others. I like to keep most of my army together, and gang up on the charging individual who is just trying to die while using up all his player's order markers--this last being a more normal play practice! I also like to retreat, er I mean...withdraw (yeah, that's it) when that makes sense. So Kurrock should move away when he sees the spiders zipping forward at him, if he's unprotected. He's too important to risk early on in an Elemental army.

POST GAME CONCLUSIONS
Its too early for 'final' thoughts on these brand new figures. Only after the game did I realized I should have given Pelloth another Wyvern (its always something) to equalize the point cost and test out the possibility of 'chain grabbing.' Ditto for another Chainfighter.

Using the Elementals in pair types really works well, as does mixing up their types together. But Kurrock can't handle 8 at once unless its totally a melee battle. In effect, I used them in two waves of 4. Lots more playing will reveal more tips with him. The GIE is totally independent of him, and needs its own order markers.

And now my fake card for Brandis Skyhunter is ready to go! Even if he's only half an Elf...

EDIT: AFTER GAME TWO

Just a few more observations after playing a second game, in which I gave Pelloth a second Wyvern, a second Chainfighter, and Marcu, to even up the points at 660. This time, instead of a major victory, the Good Guys won with only a Water Elemental, two Ashras, and an Archer still standing. Pelloth could taste victory at the end, but didn't make it!

Wyverns Grabbing Glyphs: They're good at it! And with Treasure Glyphs to buff up anyone, I smile when critics complain about a new character needing one more point for this and that. For example, a Wyvern with the Whetstone of
Venom (and you thought he was venomous before...) manages to go around a screen of Air Elementals and hit on Kurrock for 3 of his 4 (hypothetical!) lives. The Good Player had to be really careful with Kurrock after that, and this game he did go down!

Kurrock's Mastery Helping Out In Another Way: You can't use a power on a frontline Elemental's order marker, such as the spider's Entangling Web, if he has none, because he's being controlled by Kurrock, who has the OMs in the backfield instead!

Terrain Dependence: The GIE didn't dare leave the icefield until it picked up the Potion of Healing. But it died before it could swallow the potion! Water Elementals don't usually leave the water until the have to. And you don't want your GIE to turn a river to ice if your WE's are tunneling in it. Unless you want to combine their land move on ice with a later water tunnel!

Saturday Night's Alright For Chainfighting: A Drow Chainfighter got to use his power this time around! An unexpected move was for DCF to pull a pesky Warrior of Ashra out of adjacency with a Wyvern, therefore enabling it to fly off! Those Ashra's are usually so difficult to disengage from. So here's an example of a use for repositioning enemy figures.

EDIT: AFTER GAME THREE

Here are the sides for a 670 point game played on the Swamp Thing map, suggested by Kolakoski as a good board to proxy the new figures. Its a symmetrical tournament map by the talented Browncoat (Hey--go Firefly). Lots of points allowed lots of new units.

Good
Brandis Skyhunter
Water Elemental x2
Greater Ice Elemental
Charos
Green Scale Warriors x2

Evil
Tul-Bak-Ra
Othkurik
Wyvern x2
Marro Drudge x2
Marro Dividers x2

After four turns of careful maneuvering for position, the Good Guys struck, with Charos landing early with his GSWs to preempt Othkurik. Eventually Charos killed off Othkurik and both Wyverns, as the weaker figures killed each other off. Poor Brandis never got into the fight, waiting up on a hill for an attack which never came. The only observations from this game is that some times the much anticipated new units don't get to do their thing their first time on the table! So play again--see next section. Although the Good Guys kicked Utgar butt, the even newer previews mean a rematch with the Hydra, Sahaugen Raider, and Phantom Knights, looking for some Utgar revenge!

EDIT: AFTER GAME FOUR

This is more of a battle report than a conclusion section, but you can see how the new figures are used. Since I'm here in Brooklyn, "have some cawfee, and discuss among yourselves..." (SNL)

On the same Swamp Thing board, the newest units sought revenge for Evil. I placed a single new glyph in the middle of the central island, as recommended: the new Ring of Protection, with the trap being a wound. This map is basically a river of mixed water/swamp water, between two large hills.

Good
The same 670 points as in Game Three above.

Evil
Fen Hydra x2
Sahaugen Raider x2
Phantom Knights x2
Fire Elemental x2
Sir Dupuis
Marcu Eisenwien

Green Scales and Charos: Get in fast and do it. Keep your lizardfolk close and make maximum attacks quickly. They took down both Hydras, who had picked up the glyph and occupied most of the 7 hexer central island.

Hydra Head Happenings and the Ring of Protection: The dice varied wildly in parallel for both sides; two turns of great attack rolls followed by two turns of bad ones. The first Hydra took out a Water Elemental and an entire squad of Green Scales before succumbing. The second Hydra used up the Ring of Protection to defy a Charos roll of 4 skulls, just as its supposed to work!

Sir Dupuis and the Phantom Knights: After a squad of PK's took up position on a hill close by, SD got a great roll, putting a 3rd and 4th wound on Charos.
After Sir Dupuis and the Hydras died, Charos left the island to attack the knights on a hill from above, but they swirled up above it again with Stealth
Flying to counterattack.

Sahaugen Raiders: The PKs are great, but not the ones to take out Charos. But with 4 wounds on the dreaded dragon, the SRs looked like a good bet! Yet in practice, they didn't reach their targets, and one was taken out by a Green Scale from above.

Fire Elementals: The FEs had been sneaking up the far side of the hill, to combine with the SRs against Charos and his lizardfolk! But the Good Guys killed the PKs and then Charos flew away from the hill (a timely retreat is one of my favorite tactics; one GS left too)! The Evils would have been deadly in melee, but now could have not pursue quickly. One FE was taken out by a GS. Then the other got both remaining GSs, one with sear, one with an attack from above! The FE came down from the hill to put a wound on the GIE, who had come up to the battle area, but stayed in the water. The second WE took a shot at it from the water and missed (first Elemental vs. Elemental battle here at Chez Chas, since before they'd all been controlled on the same side by Kurrok, who was now not present).

Greater Ice and Water Elementals: Rollin' On The River Seeing two OMs on Marcu, the GIE decided to ambush him first as the old wacko waited on the riverbank, and put three wounds on him, Marcu only scoring one back. Then the WE put out the FE with a second shot, like a fireboat in action! Squirt and Sploosh!!!

Lizardman vs. Fishman Getting intiative and being adjacent, the GC took up height and took out the SR, before he could go after Charos, pretty much ending the game, with Marcu the only Utgardian left. We'll have to try the SRs out again, eh? And I think I'll want a couple more of them, to operate in a school (pack), like the pirhanas they are.

Marcu Still A Bad Sport: Marcu stayed loyal to Utgar, and put 3 of 4 hits on the GIE--which is almost impossible to defeat in the water if OMs are put on him for healing and there is only one attacker (like a Troll). The Dragon hit Marcu, and then the WE took him out. Cursing and spitting, the evil remnant of a once noble vampire expired yet again, turning to ashes under a blast of water ("All my beautiful wickeness! I'm melting. What a world; what a world.")

Elementals Get New Pokemon Nicknames: At my house, a Water Elemental is now "Squirdo" (as in Squirt-O). A Fire Elemental is now "Sparky" (Japanese: "Pickachu", even though an FE is fiery and not electric).

Brandis "Hangfire:" Although moved with one OM up the cliffside on one of the early turns in a good defensive position, the entire battle took place across the river. Once again, BSH was not activated. He was a low priorty unit in this type of game, which saw no flyers on the enemy side at all...

[spiteofthedice]

Wow. Thanks for the breakdown, chas. I haven't done any proxying yet, but I have done a lot of complaining. Does that count?

Sounds like the elementals are fun to play. I like that you "proxied" Kurrock without knowing anything about his stats. That is pure dedication.

+rep

[chas]

The Kurrock stats are from a merging of several other player's posts, plus my own intuition. I think I'm 90% correct; but we'll see...

You can hear about more people proxying in the Strategy section.

[NecroBlade]

Oh man, I talked about "chain grabbing" with the Chainfighters (probably because it's right there in the name), but didn't think about it with the Wyverns. That could be sick, especially since the Spiders make OM management easy!

[chas]

Pack Four of Wave 11 is out, and tonight I got a chance to proxy many of them over at Kolakoski's Lair, which is hidden away on a secret island. He went nuts for the Hydra, and won a close game with it at the very end.

I got to defend a bridge with Sharwin, whose mage bolt blazed past a friendly Brandis, burned down a Blade Grut, and continued on to put 2 out of 3 of Tornak's wounds on him! Nice.

Too bad I couldn't catch Mimring on the bridge with it. Brandis got a shot off at him, but missed. We kept him hopping, though.

We picked up a glyph which turned out to be the brand new one. Nerak got it finally after taking two of his three wounds through traps--and then, there were no Undead in the game. Oh, well...

[kolakoski]

Originally Posted by chas

Pack Four of Wave 11 is out, and tonight I got a chance to proxy many of them over at Kolakoski's Lair, which is hidden away on a secret island. He went nuts for the Hydra, and won a close game with it at the very end.

I got to defend a bridge with Sharwin, whose mage bolt blazed past a friendly Brandis, burned down a Blade Grut, and continued on to put 2 out of 3 of Tornak's wounds on him! Nice.

Too bad I couldn't catch Mimring on the bridge with it. Brandis got a shot off at him, but missed. We kept him hopping, though.

We picked up a glyph which turned out to be the brand new one. Nerak got it finally after taking two of his three wounds through traps--and then, there were no Undead in the game. Oh, well...

Of course, we only realized after the fact that I played half the game with a wounded Hydra without reducing the number of his attacks ! Further research is needed, but the Hydra is high on the list of units to consider for, or against, a competitive army. He's also a good reason to field Morgrimm, as if we needed any more . Let's see . . . 1 pack of Heroes of Faerun, 2 of Warriors of Ghostlight Fen, . . . must have 2 of Dwarves . . . must make do with Romans . . .

In our first game, I played Deathreavers x 2/Raelin/Kaemon/Thorgrim/Kozuke/Theracus against chas' Torin, Water Elemental, Drow army. Chas is currently walking around his Jay Street neighborhood carrying a Ban the Rats From Your Table placard (anyways, he needs the exercize ).

[chas]

Don't mind my pal Kolakoski, he's just trying to figure out his next set order for Sherman Davies, who will make our group order to save us money. Times running out, K!

Nutty New Yorkers...