The Book of Swog Rider

[dnutt99]

The Book of Swog Rider

Utgar's Rage - Collection 2 - "Knights and Swog Rider"

If you cannot see the Army Card graphic, check Hasbro's Unit Page for stats and special powers, plus "character biography" and other non-game unit info.

Character Bio: Gruts that show great poise and leadership are recruited early to become fearsome Swog Riders. The Grut and Swog are bonded together and undergo years of training until they move, fight, and think as one savage beast. The Swog Riders are held in great esteem by other Gruts, especially the archers, and Swog Riders become leaders of archer squads. Even one Swog Rider can instill acts of greatness in an otherwise average archer corps. When several Riders rally around the archers, the Arrow Gruts become capable of deadly attacks that become the stuff of legend. (Hasbro)
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• - ORC ARCHER ENHANCEMENT : Multiple Enhancements for Arrow Gruts
  If I have multiple Swog Riders around an Orc Archer, does that Archer receive multiple enhancements from the Orc Archer Enhancement special power?
  Yes, Orc Archer enhancement would stack for each Swog Rider you have adjacent to an Orc Archer. (Hasbro FAQ)

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• - ARROW GRUTS : Beast Bonding
  As a Beast, Swog Rider may benefit from Arrow Gruts’ BEAST BONDING activation bonus.
  
  - NERAK THE GLACIAN SWOG RIDER : Orc Defensive Aura 1
  As an Orc, Swog Rider may benefit from Nerak the Glacian Swog Rider’s ORC DEFENSIVE AURA 1.
  
  Death Chasers of Thesk: Taskmaster Bonding
  As a Large Wild Hero, Swog Rider may benefit from Death Chasers of Thesk's TASKMASTER BONDING activation synergy.

Synergy Benefits Offered

• - ORC ARCHER ENHANCEMENT : Orc Archer Units
  * Arrow Gruts

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• - TBA

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-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Ranking and Master Index

Originally Posted by MKSentinel

Power Ranking
Swog Rider- Bonding, potential for higher attacks, cheap cost. The Arrows w/Swog can deliver some serious
damage, and another grut is always there to take over the death of his brethren. A

Swog Rider
Bonuses Stack? http://heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=5687
Overall Strategy http://www.heroscapers.com/community...ad.php?t=10730

Unit Strategy Review

• 
  Unit Strategy Review: Swog Rider

Note: This sculpt is used for Nerak.

[Cleon]

If you have more than one, with some arrow gruts, can be a powerful force. And 8 move for only 25pt. can help the gruts swarm with bonding. The only thing I would change is that I would give him 2 life (no more than that) because it's two things - a grut + a tiger, and not just one thing. It would effect the cost though, and I like the swog rider being only 25pt.

[DingoDarkly]

The swog rider is good for just 25 points. With it's arrow grut bonding and 8 moves you can't go wrong. The only problem i have with the swogs is if you go into battle with a squad (or 2) of the arrow gruts and 1 swog rider and he gets destroyed your AG's are left open for onslaught!

[killercactus]

Ahhh, but luckily, the Arrow Gruts can bond with other beasts. Bigger, badder ones that strike much more fear into your opponent. I've found the trick is to get the big bad beastie out into the fray first and deal some damage, and hopefully draw the fire away from the gruts. the Swoggy with 8 move, can catch up once you give the first beast a few turns.

[Eclipse]

Originally Posted by Cleon

If you have more than one, with some arrow gruts, can be a powerful force. And 8 move for only 25pt. can help the gruts swarm with bonding. The only thing I would change is that I would give him 2 life (no more than that) because it's two things - a grut + a tiger, and not just one thing. It would effect the cost though, and I like the swog rider being only 25pt.

Common Heroes will never have more than 1 Life. Doing so would require you to track figures to cards in a way that's not really supported by the current game mechanics. The only situation where this is currently required is when two armies use the same unique and one is Mindshackled, which is a situation I believe Hasbro has filed under "yeah it can happen but I'm sure you can manage for the 3 games in your entire life that it actually does".

But we can all hope for a multi-life common hero, if only for the instant YouTube classic that will be Nether eating a stir fried Mimring

Back on topic, I've found the Swog/Arrow Gruts to be extremely effective against the Glad/Blast combo. What you do is get your Gruts in range behind a wall of Swogs, and fire at the front line of Gladiatrons with their boosted attack. The idea is to thin their ranks and make gaps more than anything else. Once the Gladiatrons get you cornered, the Swogs get to play their unique trick. Large figures with Disengage can run right through the Gladiatrons and engage and attack the Blastatrons easily.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Back on topic, I've found the Swog/Arrow Gruts to be extremely effective against the Glad/Blast combo. What you do is get your Gruts in range behind a wall of Swogs, and fire at the front line of Gladiatrons with their boosted attack. The idea is to thin their ranks and make gaps more than anything else. Once the Gladiatrons get you cornered, the Swogs get to play their unique trick. Large figures with Disengage can run right through the Gladiatrons and engage and attack the Blastatrons easily.

Interesting!
Is this purely a Blasts/Glads vs Swogs/Arrow Gruts situation?*
If not, where is Krug or Mimring when this is happening?
I don't want my Swogs leaving my Arrow Gruts to chase common, ranged figures who, when engaged with the Swog, allow other Blasts the opportunity to Homing Device on the Swog Rider. I suppose it depends how many Swogs I've drafted (or have remaining), but a 25-points hero trading blows with a 15-points, common figure seems dicey or desparate.


*It's an interesting 500 point match-up:
Blasts x3 180
Glads x4 320

Arrow Gruts x7 280
Swogs x8 200

I'd bet on the Orcs what with the insane amount of Swogs and the attack-less movement bonding of the Gladiatrons.
Sounds like it could be a turtling strategy for the Orcs to allow the Soulborgs a stroll up death's green hills and thin their numbers with enhanced arrow barrages.





I could play this battle and proxy in a Wulinsu and Nerak for my shortage of two Swogs.

[Eclipse]

We through this big 4 way "horde" battle. Greco/Roman vs Elves vs Vydar Soulborgs vs Orcs. The Soulborgs sent Q9 after the Elves and the Orcs sent their Blades against the Romans, so we ended up with Archer/Swogs vs the Glad/Blast combo, which we really expected to be an easy with for the Soulborgs, which is why we were so surprised when the Gruts came out on top.

Its not desperate at all. A Swog Rider is never going to trade blows with a single Blastatron, he's going to outright kill him barring some terrible luck. (3 attack vs 2 defense). If you can engage all the remaining Blastatrons, then there's no fear of their Homing Bonus, if not, then make sure you keep your distance from the others and take out one on the edge.

Of course, the best part of this is killing the Blastatron is mainly about splitting the combo up. Now that you have a unit behind their main line, they can't afford (or easily maneuver) to attack the Archers with their full assault of Glad/Blasts. After the Swog moves, your Archer turn is important. I keep at least two more Swogs back to support the Archers, and if you play it smart, you can probably take out a couple Glads that might threaten the Swog, forcing them to move in a couple Blasts to stand a chance.

Really, its simply a matter of that Swog breaking up the rhythm of the combo. The Glad/Blast combo is great, but not very flexible. By getting a unit in the Blastatron side of things, you're essentially buying yourself a turn where the entire combo has to deal with your Swog, or risk him slowly destroying it from the inside. That turn is usually all you need to take out 4-6 Gladiatrons with a set of Swog-enhanced Archers. A 25 point sacrifice (maybe) to take out an easy 80-120 points and more importantly, greatly hinder the damage potential of the Blastatrons.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

so we ended up with Archer/Swogs vs the Glad/Blast combo, which we really expected to be an easy with for the Soulborgs, which is why we were so surprised when the Gruts came out on top.

The Glads/Blasts seem to do better against a hero or unique squads.
The commons can wreck havoc pretty good.

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Its not desperate at all. A Swog Rider is never going to trade blows with a single Blastatron, he's going to outright kill him barring some terrible luck.

Waitaminute. We are talking about Heroscape?
The game where terrible luck is as frequent as amazing gifts from the dice gods?

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Of course, the best part of this is killing the Blastatron is mainly about splitting the combo up. Now that you have a unit behind their main line, they can't afford (or easily maneuver) to attack the Archers with their full assault of Glad/Blasts.

Again I'm wondering what size armies are these? Other Blasts can get to fire at a Swog with Homing Device kicking in.
If the bonuses are enough, one Blast could put down the Swog and free up the other three to fire towards the front line.

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Really, its simply a matter of that Swog breaking up the rhythm of the combo. The Glad/Blast combo is great, but not very flexible.

I think Flexibility if very evident when the Soulborg numbers are signficant. Granted, the bonding is without attack, but the options are there. For instance, if I've enough Swogless Blastatrons, I'm going to want to fire at the enhancing Swogs rather than the Swog deep in my line.

Originally Posted by Eclipse

That turn is usually all you need to take out 4-6 Gladiatrons with a set of Swog-enhanced Archers. A 25 point sacrifice (maybe) to take out an easy 80-120 points and more importantly, greatly hinder the damage potential of the Blastatrons.

4-6 Gladiatrons with 3 archers? You counting the Swog's attack as well?



I'm intrigued by this Kamikaze Swog as I've tried sending out a Swog to do deal with the opposition in the same manner.
But its staying power never seems enough to do the job.
As well, I'm a fan of the Arrow Grut/Beast army and I'm definitely going to give this match-up a try as I've not faced the Glads/Blasts combo.
As well, I think the Orc army would dominate most of the time, especially if the Swog numbers are great enough and they can continually rain down on the Blasts.

* Your strategy is growning on me and the more I think about it, the more I like the situation. Nice to share.

[Eclipse]

4-6 Gladiatrons with 3 archers? You counting the Swog's attack as well?

No, I'm saying if the Swog buys you a turn where they have to focus on the unit behind their ranks, you'll get a second round of attacks with your archers before they have to deal with the Glads. In each turn you have a pretty good chance of taking out 2-3 Gladiatrons a couple more Swogs. Hence the 4-6 total.

Again I'm wondering what size armies are these? Other Blasts can get to fire at a Swog with Homing Device kicking in.
If the bonuses are enough, one Blast could put down the Swog and free up the other three to fire towards the front line.

But you're forgetting that the Soulborgs always cost more, and you'll have more archers to spare no matter how large the game gets. A single squad of Glads buys you two sets of Archers, and Blastatrons cost 2:3. Swog Riders are a little pricier per figure than the Archers, but you can still afford to draft more than one per Archer squad for every Gladiatron squad you face (only 10 points more). You're going to lose Swogs, and you're going to lose Archers, but its pretty easy to ensure your opponent loses more.

I think Flexibility if very evident when the Soulborg numbers are signficant. Granted, the bonding is without attack, but the options are there. For instance, if I've enough Swogless Blastatrons, I'm going to want to fire at the enhancing Swogs rather than the Swog deep in my line.

I think the misunderstanding here is the idea the Swog is doing the majority of the damage. What you're really trying to do here is divide up the combo and make sure the Orcs are protected so they can open up as many holes in the Glad ranks as possible. The Archers are going to do your damage. With 2 Swogs, they're very likely to take out at least 2 Gladiatrons per turn, and with their range, they can usually get a couple turns of attacks before the Claw even becomes a concern. As long as you take care of the most immediate threats first, you can tear holes in the line that stall the Gladiatron advance even farther.

And by Flexibility, I'm definitely referring to your numbers comment. The Soulborg horde is slow because it really relies on multiple copies of the entire horde sticking together to do the most damage. Otherwise, each casualty greatly weakens you down as you need more reinforcements to get your Homing boost, and the deeper down field you get, the longer that will take. On the other hand, the Archers can operate as individual cells, and attack the horde one group at a time. 3 Archers and 2 Swogs can easily move together without losing ground (the Swogs alternate their superior movement to keep pace). These individual cells punch as far into the horde as they can and eventually lose, but then you start the process over again with a new cell.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Very good stuff, Eclipse.
I've definitely been convinced the Swog can geterdone.
Actually when I proposed those two 'pure' 500 point armies, I kept staring at the 8 Swogs draft. The creeping realization that Soulborgs are not going to have a fun battle began to dawn.
I'm definitely going to try that match-up someday.

[Hero Hot Hatch]

This is easily one of my favorite orcs. It looks cool. Actually, it looks great like in LotR. Three of them are worth 75 points and you can keep them around the archers to boost their attack and defense. Exactly what the Arrow Gruts need, but I don't know how feasible that would be. With three defense and three attack is almost like one templar. It's is too bad that you can only move one at a time, but what else can I expect from 25 points. Should Ornak impact Common Heroes as well, it would be sweet to move two of these guys in one turn, but that's wishful thinking. A common squad of these heroes would be worth more than the 75 points of three separate ones should one be able to move and attack with up to three in one turn. Easily more than 100 (the templars are 120 with powers). I would not mind if Hasbro issues just cards (or even an updated figure) in the future to give additional power to existing units it did with like Sgt. DA and Raelin (who also got updated alternative cards and figures in SoTM). I guess that we have to wait for the Marro cavalry in wave 8 to get a real cavalry for Utgar. I can't wait to see what power those will have.

[The Silver Surfer]

I'm curious, does anybody think that this guy could be useful without the Arrow Gruts? The reason I ask is because I have 1 Swog Rider and 1 squad of arrow gruts, which I've found to be pretty worthless. However, I'm hoping to get another knights/swog set soon, and I was thinking maybe 2 swog riders alone could be a decent skirmisher team. Has anybody tried something like this before?