Beakface Archer and
Beakface Rogue by Sir Heroscape
The Raptorian faction was started in the SoV with the Sneaks and continued in the C3V with the Warwitch. This common hero tandem seeks to join that budding fanscape faction.
Balance
Both of these common heroes sit at the common hero “sweet spot” of 25 points. They certainly don’t have the raw stats of a Drow Chainfighter or Dumutef Guard, and they’re not auto-include cheerleaders like a Swog Rider. What they do have is a flexible synergistic bonding arrangement and the ability to get multiple attacks per turn. The worst that can be said here is that a Beakface Rogue outclasses a Sahuagin Raider (they have the same stats, and the Rogue’s defense bonus and attack bonus come into play more often). But FishSticks was already low on the Common Hero totem pole, and still proves to be better in a watery-dungeon-crawl-type battle.
Theme
These guys hit some of the same notes thematically as the Sneaks, which works pretty well. They don’t have big stats, they have Glide, one has a Flocking power, one has Evasive. The Improved Flocking power works a bit different thematically, since it often looks more like an Archer directing the battle from a relatively safe vantage point, rather than a Sneak inspiring other Raptorians to join it in combat. This works intuitively for me, since the Archer’s Flocking has more options and nuance to it.
Creativity
Again, this design does a good job of building off of the existing Raptorian faction. Reusing Sneak Attack here plays into the Rogue’s roguishness, but is a nice touch of restraint to not add too much flair. Improved Flocking is the main draw here on the Archer, and I have to admit that I struggled with whether I liked the power or not. I wasn’t sure I liked calling it Improved Flocking when the power had a different trigger and more options. But as I played it more, I appreciated that it had one of the same mechanics as flocking (move 2 Raptorians 6 spaces), which helped me remember how it played.
I also very much appreciated that the stats of the two cards are the same (except for the range). It felt natural that they had the same move and defense and attack, and that was a nice touch.
Playability
Sir H suggested an army in his submission post, and I tried that one out several times (Quorik Warwitch, Beakface Sneaks x6, Beakface Archers x4, Beakface Rogues x4). I ended up being frustrated with the Archers after these games. The Sneaks wanted OMs at the beginning of the game, and I never felt like Archers really got their chance to shine. You’d never want to use the move 2 Raptorians part of Improved Flocking if you could use the Sneaks, get 2 attacks of 3 instead of a single attack of 2, and still get the same movement power.
In theory, you could engage your opponent with Sneaks, and then put OMs on the Archer, to take turns with the Rogue who had been moving up the whole time. But Sneaks die really fast when they’re engaged, and the timing gets really tricky. After trying this type of army composition, I decided I needed to try some other way to play the Beakfaces. Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many OM sinks mean no card plays up to its potential.
So I began experimenting with a different army core, one without Sneaks. I like having more Archers than Rogues, and adding the Warwitch is a must. I’d often run 6x Archers, 4x Rogues, and Miss Q for a 360 point army core. It could be slimmed down to 5x/3x for 310 points, or expanded to 8x/5x for 435.
This was my favorite way to play the Beakfaces. In some ways, it felt like a hybrid between playing Sneaks and playing Hoplitrons. Archers and Rogues work well together, because Archers can engage an opponent to set up Sneak Attack. On turns where a Sneak Attack can’t be set up, the Archers opt for the movement power instead, and move up 2 other heroes. The Warwitch can be used as a lockdown defender while Rogues get Sneak Attacks, or fire off Orb of Pain when that doesn’t work.
In prime position, an OM on an Archer lets you choose either an attack of 2 and an attack of 5 (with Sneak Attack) or 4 attacks of 2 (with Orb of Pain).
The Rogues live in an odd space where they hate to be engaged because of Evasive, but need somebody to be engaged for them to get their Sneak Attacks. You hate for that to be Archers, since they’re a limited commodity, but sometimes that becomes the best play. You also hate for it to be Rogues since they might die before getting a chance at their own Sneak Attack, but it often works decently well against single-attacking heroes. That leaves Miss Q, who also likes to be unengaged so she can use her special attack.
None of your options there are great, (and Sneak Attack is often very important for cracking through your opponent’s Big Guys), but the versatility of the Archer’s Improved Flocking makes it easy to choose which works best for the current situation.
A final note: the Rogue bonds with the Nottingham Brigand, but isn’t a great choice there. Brigands have a decent attack of their own, and their bonding takes place before their own turn, so it’s hard to set up the Sneak Attacks.
Summary
The Beakfaces work well together, but not super well with the Sneaks. Luckily, the three-card army core of Archers, Rogues, and the Q is a tight and fun army, if a bit complicated to use at times.
I vote 
to induct the Beakface Archer and the Beakface Rogue into the Soldiers of Valhalla.