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Re: [Pod 0] Honored Soul-Guides (Lantern Geists) - Playtesti
Map: custom
Glyphs: Heroic Rune, Whetstone of Venom
Army 1: Honored Soul Guides 50, Cyprien Esenwein 150, Sonya Esenwein 45, Deathwalker 7000 100, Krav Maga Agents 100 (445 points)
Army 2: Van Nessing 105, Rhogar 110, Major Q10 150, Marro Warriors 50, Eldgrim 30 (445 points)
Version used
Spoiler Alert!
JANDAR 
HONORED SOUL-GUIDES
Species Undead
Unique Squad
Class Psychopomps
Personality Stoic
SIZE HEIGHT Medium 5
LIFE 1 (2 figures)
MOVE 5 / BASIC 6
RANGE 1 / BASIC 1
ATTACK 2 / BASIC 3
DEFENSE 5 / BASIC 5
50 POINTS
LAST WILL
At the start of any round, before placing Order Markers, you may choose one of your previously destroyed small or medium Unique Heroes. Place or remove wounds from that Hero's Army Card so that it has 1 Life remaining, then destroy an Honored Soul Guide you control and replace it with the chosen Hero. At the end of the round, negate that Hero's powers for the entire game and destroy that Hero.
STEALTH FLYING
When counting spaces for an Honored Soul-Guide's movement, ignore elevations. An Honored Soul-Guide may fly over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and fly over obstacles such as ruins. If an Honored Soul-Guide is engaged when it starts to fly, it will not take any leaving engagement attacks.
Survivors: 1 Marro Warrior
Round by round:
Spoiler Alert!
Round 1
Eldgrim overextends to go around the nearest building and grab the treasure glyph: Heroic Rune. DW7000 runs onto the high ground next to the nearest pillar. Major Q10 moves in front of the building nearest his spawn and takes a shot at DW7000, which is dodged. DW7000 steps back a bit out of fear of Van Nessing. Van Nessing moves around the building and stays near Eldgrim, with the help of his Divine Mission. Cyprien claims the other treasure glyph: Whetstone of Venom.
Round 2
Eldgrim overextends to engage DW7000, but fails to kill. DW7000 retaliates and kills Eldgrim. Spirit on Van Nessing and Heroic Rune dropped. Van Nessing moves back around and adjacent to Major Q10. Cyprien moves to grab the Heroic Rune. Major Q10 moves forward and shoots Cyprien with his Machine Pistol, dealing 1 wound. Cyprien moves behind the ruins.
Round 3
Krav Maga move forward and shoot Major Q10, failing to wound. Major Q10 engages two Krav and Wrist Rockets, destroying one of them. Last two Krav shoot Q10 again, dealing 1 wound. Major Q10 wrist rockets again but fails to wound. DW7000 engages Major Q10 and detonates. A 20 is rolled, obliterating Q10. Van Nessing engages a Krav and kills them. With his Divine Mission he steps away and out of Cyprien’s range.
Round 4
Cyprien moves closer to Van Nessing. Van Nessing tries to Silver Bolt Cyprien but fails. He activates Divine Mission and engages Cyprien, but fails to wound again. Cyprien fails his touch but activates the whetstone, dealing 3 wounds to Van Nessing. Van Nessing retaliates with 3 wounds to Cyprien. Cyprien fails both a Chilling Touch and an attack. Van Nessing kills Cyprien, who drops his Heroic Rune. Sonya receives 2 wounds.
Round 5
Honored Soul-Guide’s Last Will brings back Cyprien. Cyprien starts the round by claiming the rune again, dealing 1 wound on Van Nessing with his Chilling Touch, and kills with an attack, removing a wound. OM 1 and 2 on Van Nessing. Cyprien flies over to a Marro Warrior and kills it. Then takes his third turn to engage Rhogar, rolling an 18 to kill Rhogar instantly. Cyprien then swings at a Marro Warrior, killing that too. OM3 on Rhogar. Cyprien is then destroyed by Last Will, and with him so is Sonya.
Round 6
The last Krav Maga moves to attack a MW, but fails to wound. Last two MW engage but fail to kill. KMA again fails to wound. MW fail to wound. KMA kills a MW, and the last MW kills in return.
Round 7
Last Soul-Guide Last Will’s Deathwalker 7000, making this the final round. DW7000 starts and runs in. Marro Warrior runs to the corner of the map and clones. DW7000 moves further in, now cornering the MWs. MWs split up. DW7000 engages 1 and detonates, killing both himself and a MW.
Thoughts:
Spoiler Alert!
One of the closest games I’ve ever played. Honored Soul-Guides are another very fun and flavourful unit. The ability to bring a unit back can be huge, and as seen with Cyprien can allow him to wreck havoc on the board. Their revivals brought back Cyprien and DW7000. This allowed Cyprien to secure a kill on Van Nessing, 2 Marro Warriors, and Rhogar via a lucky 20 overall (with Sonya’s help). With Cyprien dying twice it did actually kill Sonya as well, which was an interesting interaction. The DW did not amount to much as ultimately by then the Marro Warriors had already won, but in a different scenario that roll could of wiped out some commons or dealt a couple of wounds to a hero, which could of been game changing.
Cyprien might be one of the strongest figures alongside the Soul-Guides because of his mobility, damage potential, and ability to heal himself. However without having used Sonya first this does also secure her death. Cyprien’s round after his revival was a lucky one, as it tore a huge chunk into the opposing army. Without this that army would of had a much stronger victory. The limit of only being able to revive a hero once does dampen their power level significantly, and their best usage is likely in a master set scenario, or an army that utilises more heroes like Romans, Ornak, Gladiators, or Elf Wizards.
It’s hard to tell if they need a slight point increase honestly. I think their power set and stats are perfect, and this was just one game that even then didn’t lead to a victory, but the potential someone like Cyprien brought to this game was quite strong if he’s an OM dump, and I think in a bonding army it could be just as strong. However you are forced to dump OM for that units activation to make anything from this ability. As swingy as it can be, it’s incredibly risky and very predictable once it starts. I can see faster units being the best units by far for this ability, as you aren’t likely to take a turn with the Soul Guides unless you have a screen or several sight line blockers.
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