Cormin the Dark by Maklar the Silver Prince
Apparently Utgar has a new-found affinity for elves. After recruiting Elaria the Pale earlier, he turns to Cormin the Dark, another shifty rogue that is hard to pin down, time after time slipping away from your figures’ grasps.
Balance
Cormin’s powerset and stat block are relatively unique. Because of his low life and defense, and his high attack, he tends towards playing like a shark. But he can stay alive significantly longer if the Facade rolls are working. The best comparison I could come up with was Darrak Ambershard. They have the same life and defense, a relatively high attack (Darrak’s can be 4 or 6, Cormin’s is 5), and a d20-based defensive power. Cormin’s is significantly more reliable, but can only be used once per turn. Cormin can also use his to avoid further attacks, and even to maneuver to a better position, or force an opponent to attack the “wrong” figure. All in all, Cormin has a bigger upside, and it seems like enough to put him 15 points above his fellow rogue. Stab in the Back doesn’t come into play very often, and so it doesn’t do a whole lot to his point cost.
Theme
An elf rogue that swings a big sword and is often hiding in plain sight where you least expect him? That works for me.
Facade is a really great power. I can just imagine Cormin vanishing at the last second, and the opponent is instead attacking a completely different figure. I’m glad it was kept to just once per turn, though. Otherwise, it seems too much, or overly difficult to fool multiple people on the same turn.
Creativity
Stab in the Back is a nice reuse. it never really seemed like it should only be on one card, and it fits nicely here. Facade is an elegant combination of Tactical Switch, Shifting Sands, and Vanish, which all flows together into a power that is simple enough to understand on first reading and remember by the second one.
Playability
Cormin is interesting to play. In general, HeroScape is most fun when you have high attack figures that can do damage. While there are some figures with high defense, and even some splashy defensive powers, they often don’t get as much play, because they draw out the game and make it less interesting. I’m not going to rush my Romans at a squad of Tagawa Samurai if I can sit back and have MBS pick off a couple risk-free. So that’s where Cormin comes in.
Cormin the Dark is a shark. (that rhymes). He only has 2D/4L, which isn’t all that much. But if he’s in the right army, attacking him can be dangerous. When he’s paired with counterstriking squads (add Raelin if you’d like), it’s much harder for your opponent to attack him. But due to his sharkiness, you can’t leave him alone, because he has too much damage potential with a base attack of 5. The roll for Facade is an 11, which means the odds are exactly even. That’s a smart design choice. You never can count on getting the roll you want, and you can never discount it, either.
Cormin was really fun to play in my Samurai games, and he also fits nicely with the Drow and Elaria, if you’re feeling up to playing a Tricky evil Elves d20-dependent game. He can switch out with a Deepwyrm Drow who can then Hide in Darkness if you keep yourself bunched up enough (and if you get all the rolls you want).
The one thing I was worried about was pairing Cormin with Deathreavers. He has the potential to be very annoying to play against, causing Scatter headaches across the board by switching rats to be the target of your opponents attacks. Luckily, he’s not especially good at it. If I was running rats in my army, I’d much rather have 2 extra squads than Cormin. If I was low on space, I might take him, but he definitely doesn’t improve a rat screen in most games you’ll play.
Summary
Cormin the Dark is a smart design that is fun to play, works in a variety of army builds without direct synergy, and brings back underused figures to the table. He’s not the strongest figure you’ll ever play, but he definitely adds to every army he’s a part of.
I vote
to induct Cormin the Dark into the Soldiers of Valhalla