C3V Strategy - June 2016
Posted June 14th, 2016 at 11:05 AM by HS Codex
How To Beat
Unit: Quahon
Author: vegietarian18
Quahon is one of the most powerful figures that fanscape has released. The legendary bath toy touts the only special attack of base 4 or more that can target multiple figures in the game. While that is quite a few caveats, it’s the reason she is so good. Most other explosion attackers only throw three dice, which is much harder to roll the critical two skulls on. Mimring can also drop 4 on multiple figures, but he’s limited by the linearity of his ability and how relatively easy it is to dodge. Jorhdawn can Rain of Flame four dice, but you have to build a whole army around that, and she also has to stay close to wizards. That makes it hard for her to push for startzone explosions like Quahon can. Simply put, Quahon has the potential to blow out an army in a single roll as no other figure can. It seems like every turn, she can find a way to hit a huge zap, kill three figures, and leave the opponent without enough resources to respond. So what’s the best way to beat her? Read on to find out.
Analyzed Statistics:
For the statistics section, we will take a look at the importance of getting Quahon off height and onto even ground. No matter what your army is packing, you will want to prioritize taking the dragon off the board. Getting her to three defense will greatly aid the chances of your squads being able to pile damage on her fast. We will look at average damage here, since Quahon’s high life makes that the most relevant statistic.
As you can see, getting Quahon off height can have big yields, especially at lower attack values. While the difference there is smaller, the difference is a bigger percentage of the total average damage. With figures throwing two dice, you will do 37.5% more damage to Quahon if you get her off height! That’s a lot more damage. This is especially important for squads; four attacks even to Quahon is a lot better than four attacks up to her. Getting Quahon heavily wounded after stepping to low ground will force the opponent into either a retreat or a final aggressive turn to take out as much as she can. Either way is good for you. Quahon needs to be the one initiating combat, so a retreat turn with a wounded dragon will make her mostly a cheerleader for her Greenscales, which is fine. A final aggressive turn is also fine (unless you get 3-or-4-skulled and can’t get enough guys there to kill her), since it means your opponent is likely conceding you the dragon, greatly weakening all future offensive turns.
In-depth Analysis:
So, how do exactly do you get Quahon off height and into a bad position? Your opponent isn’t stupid—he knew to pick Quahon. The key is Quahon’s short initial range. She has ridiculous effective range, but since she has to have a figure within 4 spaces to start a chain, she’s often restricted. You can attempt to abuse this by placing figures 10 spaces away from your opponent’s hypothetical Raelin (just out of Lightning Breath from Raelin’s aura range). If there’s no Raelin and your opponent is playing a more mobile Quahon style, temptation is another way to try and get Quahon poorly positioned. You can afford to lose two or three squad figures if it means potentially tying down Quahon and getting three wounds on her. This will not always work, since your opponent will not always take the bait, but it’s hard for your opponent to really punish you for whatever you gave them.
There are also lots of specific situations in which you can mess with Lightning Breath. All of these tips are situational though; they won’t come up every game, and trying to force the situations will often end with you just ruining your own positioning, and any single mistake would make the effort worthless. With that out of the way, let’s start. You can engage Quahon on her backside with a single figure, which prevents her from getting her chain going in the right direction. You can space your figures exactly three spaces apart, which only allows her to chain to two. If playing a ranged squad, you can engage Quahon with one member and fire with the rest of the squad from far away, making her lightning’s three-range first jump insufficient to reach anything from the figure you engaged with. There’s tons more that will come up if you play against Quahon enough, and almost every game you will have at least one opportunity to mess with her breath somehow.
What units are explicit counters to Quahon that you could break out in a draft? Well, there’s the obvious Nhah Scirh Cultists, who have a fantastic package of abilities for catching, surviving, and ending the dragon’s wrath. Big hitting melee squads like the Deathchasers can also damage her quickly enough to make the punishment of Lightning Breath irrelevant. Alastair MacDirk is a great hero, solo or bonding, to sneak up next to her and drop a couple of big hits. Glads and Blasts can put the hurt on her fast, and Quahon will struggle to touch the Blasts.
How can you play against Quahon with units like Romans and Orcs that are naturally forced to cluster? Quahon can find chains against even the most spread out armies, so how is it possible to beat her when you don’t want to spread out? This is obviously not a great matchup, but I think a lot of times people misplay it. Quahon is probably going to be able to find big chains on you regardless of how you attempt to spread out, just because of how the army you are playing works. However, her chains can only be three figures. Just play your army normally! Try to get as many attack and defense dice as you can and just accept that Quahon is going to hit three guys every turn. Use your auras to try and stay alive and bring her down.
To conclude, Quahon is a difficult to play against figure that can heavily punish you for easy-to-make mistakes. Do your best to avoid those, and try to get rid of her as fast as possible, and you can maximize your chances to take a victory home against her.
What to Avoid:
Having Quahon roll 3 or 4 skulls on Lightning Breath. Good luck with that.
Comments 5
Total Comments 5
Comments
|
We are very pleased to bring you the return of the C3V Strategy articles! After much searching, we have finally found a contributor who will be able to supply us with regular articles: vegietarian18. Please give him a big welcome.
|
Posted June 14th, 2016 at 11:06 AM by HS Codex
|
|
|
Well done!Well met!
Well written, lots of good advice. A good guide for fighting Nilfeim, too! |
Posted June 14th, 2016 at 08:28 PM by kolakoski
|
|
|
Interesting. I had no idea Quahon was considered so good (Nilfheim exists, after all). I wouldn't mind seeing more of these.
 ~TAF |
|
Posted June 15th, 2016 at 11:53 AM by TheAverageFan
|
|
|
Now, this is interesting. Instead of a How-To for an underused unit, a How-To-Kill for a regularly fielded unit.
|
|
Posted June 15th, 2016 at 12:42 PM by Son of Arathorn
|
|
|
Timely Too!Well met!
After an absence of some years, I'm going to Islandscape this year. 600 point General Wars, 75 point penalty to add a General (Jandar for Raelin, say). I'm fielding Aquilla. A wise Quahon opponent will be willing to accept an occasional Leaving Engagement Attack to continue Lighting you up. He'll also attempt to pin your attacking units the same way, so that they will have to take LEAs to get at Quahon. And, having read this fine article, he will be a lot more loathe to leave height for a moment's pleasure. |
|
Posted June 15th, 2016 at 01:14 PM by kolakoski
|
Recent Blog Entries by HS Codex
- C3G Interview - Dr. Jekyll (May 16th, 2021)
- Scaper of the Month - January 2021 (February 21st, 2021)
- C3G Interview - GamerHusband (February 19th, 2021)
- C3G Interview - LordVenoc & MrNobody (December 24th, 2020)
- Scaper of the Month - December 2020 (December 13th, 2020)
