Dalmar Stonewall by
@
Leaf_It
I've always liked dwarves in fantasy, and I was thrilled with the release of the Axegrinders in Heroscape. Another Dwarf Hero? Sounds good to me.
Balance
Dalmar is sort of like Thorgrim in that he's a bonding hero that grants adjacent(ish) defense bonuses. An added point of Defense makes up for the Dwarf's lower Life, leaving a 20-point difference that can easily be accounted for with the lack of a Spirit power. In terms of power level I don't have any obvious concerns.
Theme
I like the overall thematic package, with one painful exception. Everything from personality to class to unit and power names and even the stats give the image of a stalwart protector. It's a straightforward theme that comes through well.
The exception is a sticking point, though. It didn't really bother me looking at the card, but playtesting made it stand out. I will discuss it in the Playability section.
Creativity
Protector of Ironstone is a new power, but a fairly straightforward one that lends itself to the overall goal of the design. I am fond of the name Stonewall which fits the design and feels Heroscape Dwarf-y. The choice of class and personality also work to reinforce the overall design.
Playability
Dalmar Stonewall is a pretty solid addition to an Axegrinder army. He doesn't have the attacking power of some other Dwarf Heroes, but he has solid defenses for the price. The real nice thing about using him is that opponents almost have to attack him first, despite his toughness, due to his Protector of Ironstone ability. That frees up some Axegrinders to continue their offensive on the front lines.
Using him outside of an Axegrinder build, however, is disappointing. A single melee attack of three is too weak to give the Protector order markers, which means his values is in Protector of Ironstone. That requires at least a turn of positioning, more if trying to support melee. Those are turns that could be spent elsewhere, such as gaining positioning and getting in attacks with the figures Dalmar is supposed to be protecting. This works ok if Dalmar is already on the front lines, but that usually means the Axegrinders got him there. Really, outside of Axegrinders the only semi-valueable use I found was as a defender for range units like Krav with Raelin backing them. That's mostly just annoying to deal with, and less efficient than Deathreavers anyway.
This is where theme started to break down for me. Mr. Stonewall has a very dwarf-sounding "Protector of Ironstone" power. It works great with Axegrinders, as it should, but is underwhelming at best otherwise. So why does it work with many, many units if it's not useful with them? While it's a good thing that it's at least theoretically useful for Great Axes and Shieldsmiths, as it's thematic that Dalmar is all about protecting other dwarves--the name "Protector of Ironstone" drives that home. But then why doesn't he care about other Dwarf Heroes? I became irritated that the Protector was slacking off when enemy figures were going after Darrak or Mogrimm.
The look, feel, and play of the unit is a stalwart protector of his fellow dwarves. He's great when he's doing that. But when he doesn't protect dwarves (heroes), or when he struggles to be helpful protecting non-dwarves, it feels like something is wrong.
Summary
It feels like this design is trying to be too much (helping many units) without success while also not doing what it felt like it should be doing (protecting dwarves). Everything else about the unit is solid, and I had no balance concerns. It is a good custom, to be sure, but with repeated plays the dissonance in theme and mechanics became increasingly apparent.
I vote
Nay to induct
Dalmar Stonewall into the SoV.