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Old October 2nd, 2012, 11:35 AM
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

Quote:
Originally Posted by Super Bogue View Post
Dashi Tokainto by Qt.bangerang




Balance : Statwise Dashi Tokainto compares best with Dünd. The Doggin has one more point of Attack than Dashi otherwise they are an exact match. That being said Dünd can be a troubling comparison. Powerwise Kato Katsuro would be a better comparison, since they have very similar powers (Kato Katsuro’s Command and Dishonorable Leadership). It is true that their powers are similar; however, the difference in effectiveness between the two is great. Dashi is not going to allow you to attack with 8 4 times at 6 range with 3 attack dice each time. He can get you 3 attacks of 4 attack dice, but that is the top end of the damage potential of Dishonorable Leadership. Is he balanced at 120 points? Yes, since he is definitely better than Dünd but not close to Kato Katsuro. Pass

Playability : Dashi Tokainto and the rest of the Heroscape ninjas make a nice 500 point army that covers 9 spaces. I enjoyed playing these figures as a group; however, it’s not an army that you are going to win a tournament with. They struggled against strong armies of various kinds. The Steamroller flattened them. Critical Mass blew them up. But against less competitive armies they held their own. One particular enjoyable moment was when Dashi Tokainto took out five Einar Imperium with Counter Strike. He does gives the best boost to Shiori, since he lets her used Concentrated Will all the time (he gets all the numbered order markers and she get the X). None of the other ninjas are particularly helped by his leadership other than the fact that they can attack in tandem. There were times where he seemed like a four wheel to the Ninjas of Northern Wind trio.
Amongst the other ninja, the League Assassin figure does look like a leader. His base attack of two fits since his only visible weapon is his little kunai. Another point of life would have been good, but none of the other ninja have more than 4 Life. Pass

Creativity : Dashi Tokainto plays in an entirely different way than any of the other ninjas. He is plays as lure. The other army rushes at him and attacks. He defends, maybe striking down a foe with Counter Strike, retreats, and orders other ninjas to move up and attack. The way Qt.bangerang design his interaction with the other ninjas is the strongest part of the design’s creativity. Pass

Theme : One thing that I want to mention in regards to his theme. He fights for Valkrill. Now, I agree that Valkrill is a better general for him than Aquilla (the only other general lacking a ninja). But Dashi Tokainto with a disciplined personality and leading a group of disciplined or tricky personalities doesn’t fit the mold of Valkrill’s evil chaos as the Mezzodemons or Horn Skull Brutes do. Perhaps he would fit better with Utgar or Vydar? Or maybe just a different personality could be used? Really this is just a minor quip. The theme of the design overall fits very well within Heroscape. Certainly if the game continued in production, we would have seen a ninja for Valkrill and/or a ninja to band the rest of the ninjas together as a fighting unit. Pass

Accessibility : I found 40 with a quick abprices.com search. That will work for a unique hero. Pass

Overall, Dashi Tokainto brings something that was missing from the Heroscape table: a leader the existing ninjas that bands them into a single fighting force. Other than a few minor complaints, I really like this design and was thrilled to test it. I vote YES to inducting Dashi Tokainto into the Soldiers of Valhalla.
First, I apologize for being gone for as long as I was. We had a remarkably exhausting, frustrating, and time-intensive series of issues. Nothing horrible, but all in all very expensive and leaving me with no time for Scapers, sadly.

Second, before I left I was set to vote on two units here. I had playtested the Beakface Sneaks excessively (perhaps more than any other unit I have tested). And I had played Dashi Tokainto quite a bit as well.

I am quite satisfied with each of them.

The Sneaks can be quite wicked (like the Cutters in a way)--in a swarm, and with some heavy-hitting back-up, they can really do damage. But they have plenty of bad match-ups as well. Dashi Tokainto is an excellent figure to bring the Scape ninjas together.

I had reservations on each of these units and kept testing and re-testing them. They have a strong place in Scape, each bringing a little something new, each with some nice options that can lead to fun army creation as you look for just the right units to pair them up with, each can win, but neither is over-powered.

I could say a lot more, but at this point there are a lot of great reviews already here for both of these units (I copied Super Bogue's above, for example).

Rather than belabor it any further let me say that I quite confidently vote YES to induct the Beakface Sneaks and Dashi Tokainto into the SoV.
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