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One of my favorite units to discuss, simply because I believe they are both fully worth their point cost and rarely worth drafting.
The Obsidian Guards generally have a pretty poor reputation. They're slow, expensive, and arguably the most terrain specific unit in the game. With 4 move and a whopping cost of 33 points per figure, they're definitely not a unit you can afford to charge in wrecklessly. Much like the Zettians before them, they really work best as, well, Guards. They're much more powerful if you can get the enemy to come to you. People often overlook their greatest power, which is simply being a tank. With 4 defense a single guard can hold out for quite a while, and on lava, holding out is really all they need to do to win. Not that they can't do some damage of their own with 4 attack either.
Their greatest downfall is often the lack of good lava maps out there. The harsh truth is that lava is simply unpopular, and people have VERY little experience designing maps with it. A few things to keep in mind when using lava:
- People won't use lava if they can avoid it. Offset lava with some benefits to make it popular. Making it the highground often works as does making it a glyph region. Whatever you do, don't put a nice bridge over the lava. It's faster and higher and quickly becomes the only worthwhile path.
- Lava regions need LOS blockers too. People often forget this because glaciers and trees don't fit with it well, but without some ruins its too easy to use range and simply ignore the terrain.
- Molten lava doesn't need to be on the low ground. Making it even or higher makes it just as impassible as before, but allows the Obsidians to utilize it more effectively. An attack of 5 is a pretty terrifiying after all.
Anyway, I'll probably have more on these guys later, but I'm too tired to really think about it. They're Guards and should always be used as such. Probably not the best choice for a pre-made tournament with "kill all" maps, but a great unit under other circumstances.
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