This first preview we got of Wave D2 was a doozy (doozie? dusy? duesie?). I'm more excited about the Wyrmlings than I have been about a preview for a long time. However, I'm thinking these little dudes are going to be tougher to play than most players (including me) think.
First of all, I'll post each of the cards so we have a point of reference:
Now, many players have noted that the Wyrmlings work like a 2-person squad due to their Wyrmling Bonding power. Many others have noted that, since the Wyrmlings all do different things well and seem to be close in strength, that some variety in your choice of Wyrmling is probably the best way to play them. I'm beginning to disagree.
I started touching on this in another thread, but due to the nature of Wyrmling Bonding, the Wyrmlings (when varied within an army), are a lot tougher to play than a regular common squad is. If you vary your choice of Wyrmling, you can't just pile Order Markers onto any Wyrmling Army Card and activate any two you want. Here's the Wyrmling Bonding power:
Wyrmling Bonding -
After revealing an Order Marker on a _____ Wyrmling Army Card, before taking that _____ Wyrmling's turn, you may take a turn with one other Wyrmling you control.
At first glance, I thought "cool - I can activate 2 Wyrmlings per turn!" and that was the end of it. But it's not. That might have seemed obvious to some, but it went completely over my head until I really thought about it. For example, take this army that I posted in the Wyrmlings - What's Your Army Idea? thread:
Red Wyrmling x3 - 90
White Wyrmling x3 - 180
Black Wyrmling x3 - 270
Blue Wyrmling x3 - 375
Deathreavers x3 - 495, 24 hexes
When I posted that army, I thought to myself "That's a sick army, and I'm playing it in the first tournament I can." However, I think that army is probably the toughest, most mentally taxing army I've ever constructed. Remember, because of the way Wyrmling Bonding is worded, if I place an Order Marker on a Red, that Red must be my second turn, and my first turn must be something other than the Red I plan on using for my second turn. Also, I need to make sure that at least 1 of my 3, 3 defense Red Wyrmlings are alive when I reveal that Order Marker, or I'm not getting a turn at all.
At 3 of each Wyrmling, I have lots of options, sure, but here's some things I need to think about
and anticipate before the beginning of each round:
- Which Wyrmlings are the best to activate this round, based on what my opponent has?
- Are there enough, or will there be enough Wyrmlings of this color in position to make attacks when I reveal this Order Marker?
- Are there enough other Wyrmlings other than this one that will be in position to attack when I reveal this Order Marker?
- Am I sure at least one of these color Wyrmlings will be alive when I reveal this Order Marker?
- Are the color of Wyrmlings I need to use to beat my opponent protected?
There are probably more questions that will come up if I ever play this army, and that's before (or after) I consider all of the questions that Deathreavers and Scatter bring to the table. I think the first question though is the toughest - there are invariably going to be times when you wished your Order Marker was on a different color Wyrmling, and now your turn is only half as efficient as you'd like it to be. You can't activate 2 Red Wyrmlings to kill those Deathreavers your opponent just moved to engage you when you have an Order Marker on a White. You can't activate 2 Blacks to kill the Krav Maga your opponent just deployed when you had your OM on Blue to try and assassinate Raelin. And on top of all of that, if you only have 3 or so Wyrmlings of each color, you'd better make sure your opponent doesn't kill those 3 before you take a turn.
I think Deathreavers will help mitigate these choices by drawing fire away from the Wyrmlings and giving you time to set this army up, and I believe are a must (or, at least some type of screen is) for an army featuring multiple varieties of Wyrmling. However, if you're using Wyrmlings to fill in 120-150 Points of an army, I think that I strongly suggest sticking to one color. Splitting it up 2/3 or 2/2 makes it very easy for your opponent to target your Order Markers and deny you turns unless you have them extremely well-protected. I'd suggest you find the hole your army needs filled, and pick the Wyrmling that best fills that role.
If you want a rat-eraser, I suggest going all Red.
If you want Raelin or Krav assassins, I suggest going all Black.
If you want a solid squad-killing option or map control, I suggest going all White.
I don't see the Blues being used in this role very often, as I believe there are better role players out there than them and they have a weird Point cost. I think their worth comes into play with other Wyrmlings (namely Red and Black) that either have trouble with tough heroes or are in need of a multiple attack.
Beyond using 4 or 5 Wyrmlings, I really think it's going to be best to keep to 2 colors at most, or 3 colors with a majority invested in one color to protect your Order Markers. This way, you can pick a color that you're going to use your OM's on and make sure you leave one of those in the back until needed to protect your turns. White probably makes the most sense to use for an OM sink for multiple Wyrmlings as it has the best defense.
Just some things to think about - I can't wait til these guys hit shelves!