Some Action in the Faction Section

[IAmBatman]

Charos will be part of an upcoming left handed "Valiant" faction as well.

edit: I'll also be giving him some love when I discuss "advanced Faction criteria."

[Eclipse]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Thanks. Is the Sudema thing a reference to her being in Vydar, or a reference to something from the journals (which I don't read, so you'll have to enlighten me).

Sudema's bio actually:

Only Feylund's mighiest warriors survived her deadly stare. She was last seen over twenty years ago, when Khosumet the Darklord and Marhana, a mighty female Elf Banisher, formed an unlikely alliance to exile Sudema from Feylund.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

That's sad news about Vydar's Kyrie, but that doesn't stop the majority of us from at least wanting them, so they're worth keeping up there. After all, this list isn't just for what I'm hoping WotC will look at, but for after they're done as well.

I don't demand nor even suggest taking them down, I just think you might want to mention the story considerations when they apply as an aside comment. While Heroscape certainly isn't a story driven product, you can often gleam hints at what the developers are imagining for figures from the lore.

[Chimpy]

IAmBatman-

This took a lot of work, and I am quite impressed with it all. Indeed, you have written so much that I am afraid my response will miss many of the thoughts that were prompted by your words.

Like you, I have long thought of this game in terms of factions. I generally play thematic armies, and a large part of my hatred for the Deathreavers sources from their ability to screw up thematic builds with their presence. Curiously, I find that my factions are organized a bit differently than yours.

My first concern when developing factions (or themes as I always called them) is whether or not they look good together. If the units on the board look like they belong in army with the rest, then I put them in. This means that some of my themes are a bit smaller or a bit larger than your factions. For example, I always place the Sentinels in with the Knights. The Sentinels are not humans, but they look like the belong next to those warriors from Weston. When you throw Concan in a synergistic link between the Kyrie and the rest is formed.

In contrast, I have always split the Primadons and most of the agents into two different categories. The Nakitas, Laglor, and the G'nators form one group, while the KMA and Carr form another. (I feel free to throw the Microcorp into either.) My reasoning here is quite silly, really -- I just do not feel that the KMA and Laglor look like they belong with each other.

//SIDE NOTE: I have been an avid supporter of Chimps With Jetpacks! for a couple of years now. If we are going to give the Primadons cavalry, this is how I think it should be done. End Side Note.//

In terms of the actual structure of these factions, I agree largely with you, particularly when it comes down to squads. However, I was a bit more expansive with the types of heroes needed to fully complete a theme. The way I saw it, there are four primary types of heroes each theme should have have:

• A General --
  My Generals are exactly the same as your generals, the only difference being that I did not consider a unit a General unless they looked like they would be the guy in command if the entire theme did happen to assemble for battle. To use the two themes that I think are complete, kato Katsuro and the Marro Hive are both excellent General units.
  
• A Cheerleader --
  My Cheerleaders correspond roughly with your flag-bearers. (or at least, I would place most of the flag bearers in this group.) The key to being a proper themed Cheerleader is twofold: the Cheerleader must look like he/she belongs to a theme, and he/she must have a supporting power that works particularly well with the other members of the theme. Using the Samurai and Marro armies as my examples, I find Taro and Su-Bak-Na fair examples of such.
  
• A Champion --
  The Champion must be a unique hero who generally has synergy with fellow squadies, but the Champion's primary role is not that of a support unit. These folks are usually sharks or clean-sweepers; only rarely do they possess enough life or defense to play the role of a tank. They tend to dwell in the 75-120 point range (although there are numerous exception, such as Brave Arrow and Cyprien), and almost always have a squad who mirrors them thematically. Kaemon Awa is the Champion of the Samurai forces; Ne Gok Sa, Kee Mo Shi, and Tul-Bak-Ra are all Champions of the Marro Swarm.
• A Brute --
  Brutes are tanks. They are expensive, they are big, and they are hard to take down. They also tend to scare the bejeebus out of any opponent you may be facing, and always seem to draw heavy fire. Gurei Oni is the Samurai's tank, while Tor-Kul-Na is the Marro Swarm's brute.

Of course, these categories are not perfect, and there are many figures who blur the borders and could be placed in multiple categories. Likewise, there are armies (e.g. Gladiators) who complete themselves without every single one of these types. However, I tend to think that the most "complete" forces are those that have all four in their ranks.

[Killometer]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Norse Mythology
Comments: Basically this combines Viking warriors, Dwarves, and Giants, all directly from Norse Mythology. This one was suggested by a poster (I forget whom, sorry! Remind me and I’ll give credit, though) and I liked it a lot.

Glad you like it so much.

I like your new catagories-I have time to read this new version in depth yet, but just glancing at it I really like the Japanese Dynasty Faction and the Horror Fusion Faction.

Also, a couple weeks ago we had a dialogue about where the wolves fit in relation to the undead-I was one of the people who liked the idea of a Horror Faction, but now that I own Khosumet I was able to really look at him, and I realized that I don't think that the Wolves should join the Undead, but that Sudema should be moved to the Wolves as part of an Ancient Egyptian Faction. Sudema is a mummy, so she's obvious. Khosemet's name is Egyptian-ish and his jewelry is clearly Egyptian in style and with all that gold and jade (even thought he's holding his khopesh backwards ) The Anubian Wolves name is taken, I presume, from Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian Judge of the Dead. When I put all this together I did a little research on the name Badru and found that it is a name of either African or Arabic descent (both would fit, considering Egypt's location on the border between those two cultures) that means either "full moon" of "born on the full moon". When you compare that to the strongly Eastern European flavor of the Esenweins, Sudema the mummy doesn't seem like a very good fit, to me at least. Just something to consider, now that you've already done all that work to update your original post.

[Disposable Hero]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Deathborgs
General: None
Flagbearer: Warden 816 (His Guard Leadership gives him the Faction synergy to qualify, but he’s not a great example of this)
Minimum of three unique heroes: Deathwalker 7000, Deathwalker 8000, Deathwalker 9000
A minimum of one unique squad: Zettian Guards
A minimum of one ranged “bread and butter” type common squad: None
A minimum of one front line “lockdown” type melee squad: Deathreavers (and they’re darn good at it)
Shocktroops: Deathstalkers (Now that I’ve re-envisioned this group, the Deathstalkers are a perfect fit).
Comments: Surprisingly, Utgar’s Soulborgs seem to be only a General (I’m thinking a Central Death Processing Unit – CDPU) and a common ranged squad away from being a pretty complete faction. The latter’s still quite the gaping hole, though, especially when it comes to being competitive.

Thanks for all the attention/buzz/excitement/feedback. I’m really pumped this little “project” has gone over better than I could’ve imagined.
Until the next update, what do you guys think?

-“Bruce”

I've got a quite limited collection, but I have to say, the Deathborgs are my favorites. I unfortunately don't have Dethstalkers and Deathreavers, but no I need a few. I often implement Marrden Nagrubs in my army, because they're guards and are therefore affected by the Warden's speed boost. One of my favorite armies is this:

Deathborg Guard Army

Warden 816
Deathwalker 9K
Zettian Guards
2x Marrden Nagrubs

[White Noise]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Comments: Basically this combines Viking warriors, Dwarves, and Giants, all directly from Norse Mythology.

I'm fairly certain that trolls, elves, and dragons (at least the European versions: winged, fire-breathing lizards. Obviously myths of wingless Asian dragons originated in Asia) are all from Norse Mythology as well. Valkyries are too, but the Heroscape definition of Valkyrie is vastly different than the traditional concept.

[IAmBatman]

Great thoughts, guys! I'm paying attention to all of these wonderful ideas for my next update.

[Toad Rocket]

I have not looked on this thread for awhile now. I must say I like how you have updated and cleaned up some factions. Looks pretty darn good.

Only a few small notes, mostly aesthetics.

First some of the faction names...

The names Cronborgs and Tronborgs make me cringe. Especially inlight of the cool sounding Deathborg Faction. I do not have a great solution for the Tronborgs yet, but i think Omni Borgs sounds WAY better and makes more distinction between them and the Vydar borgs. I know Zetacron doesnt have the word 'omni' in his name, but we all know he is an 'omni' class borg.
I think VydarBorgs sounds better than tronborgs any day of the week also. Granted Vydar is a Valhallian name but its not like any of the Majors have the word 'tron' in them. (yes, i know i agrued the opposite with zetacron ). To bad there was not some sort of hint of a faction name in any of the bios for those guys.

"Orcs and Beasts" doesnt sound bad, but doesnt exactly roll of the tongue either. Howabout something along the lines of 'The Orcish Horde' or 'The Orcish Legion" with the 'ish' and the horde/legion preludes that it may not be a pure orc army. Plus it sounds a little scarier than "The Orc Buddies"

How exactly does "Warriors of the Wild West" get into the "Developing Faction" group? With only four unique heroes should they not be a "Faction Bud"? Even how you describe the Faction Bud section fits these guys perfectly. Plus they feel alot more 'buddish' then the mohicans, romans and dwarves already in the Faction Bud group.

Other than those few things I am not sure if I have anything else worth mentioning. BTW, I really like the Japanese Dynasty faction now. Whoever thought of that idea should really get some +rep

[IAmBatman]

You're probably right about the Warriors of the Wild West group not really belonging as a Developing Faction yet. Maybe that was wishful thinking on my part? But I think you're right about bumping it down to bud territory.
I'm thinking with the next update I'll change Orcs and Beasts simply to "Gruts" as that word seems to sum up the group fairly well, IMO.
I don't disagree with you about the Jandar and Vydar Soulborgs either. I could go back with Omniborgs (I believe it was that way originall) if people think that's the way to go. I was just thinking "Cronborgs" was more consistent, but both the Snipers and Repulsors are Omnicrons, so I think it's still a representative title.
I'm not really sure what to do with Vydar's Soulborgs yet either. Neither Vydarborgs or Tronborgs really feels right at all. Vyborgs maybe?

[Toad Rocket]

Vyborgs sounds pretty good. I would think anyone hearing that name would automatically associate it with the trons, the Q brothers and cousin X.

Putting the name Gruts in for the Orc faction is also a pretty good idea. Maybe the "Grut Horde" or something like that. They are hordish afterall.

On a side note, I always wished Guri-Oni was a Beast and could bond with the arrow gruts also. I know its cross general, but being an ogre he just seems to belong with orcs and trolls. That would actually maybe the ogre useful. Going a bit further, why the heck is he an ogre? should he not be a cyclops?

[The B.I.V.]

How 'bout Omnicrons and Majortrons?

Brandon

[Killometer]

Originally Posted by Killometer

[lot's of reasons to group Sudema+Khosumet+Anubian Wolves+Wolves of Badru as an Egyptian Faction instead of having Sudema with the Eastern European Esenweins as an Undead Faction]

I just did some research on the Dumutef Guard (forgot about him!), and it pretty definitively seems to be based on Duamutef-one of Horus' sons in Egyptian mythology.

The only problem that I see with moving Sudema is that I had forgotten that Sudema is Vyder, while the Wolves are all Utgar. Of course she is currently with the all Utgar Esenweins, so maybe that doesn't matter.