It's been a month, but we still exist, and it's time for some ACTION in this thread!
Rujin by Sir Heroscape
If you thought that the one thing Heroscape was missing was a big, nasty, ugly, mean, smelly swamp troll, then Rujin wants to be your answer. But how well does he fit in with ‘Scape’s existing trolls?
Balance
One of Rujin’s main roles is as a Savage hero for the Durgeth Ravagers. A natural comparison in that role is Pel the Hill Giant, who sits just 5 points cheaper. That’s about where the similarities stop, as their survivability is so different and their abilities don’t have much if any correlation.
A better comparison is the OG troll from Toril, the Feral Troll. They have the same stats save their attack, where Rujin holds a 4-3 advantage. Rujin has twice the regen potential (if only on swamp), and they both have attack bonuses.
This is a concerning comparison: Rujin looks like he outclasses the Feral Troll, and for only 10 additional points.
Theme
Swamp Regenerate is a good D&D troll ability, and Lurking Assault fills out his S W A M P theme rather nicely.
My only minor quibble is that he doesn’t look quite like the other D&D trolls, with an impressive underbite instead of a hook nose.
Creativity
Swamp Regenerate is a nice copy/retheme of Cold Regenerate. Lurking Assault splits the difference between First Assault and Lurking Ambush. I could complain about using shadow tiles in there, but Othkurik does it first.
Playability
A reminder of what you just read in the Balance section: we need evidence that Rujin doesn’t butt in on the Feral Troll’s niche.
So we’ll first consider him as a solo hero.
Rujin’s only really effective as a solo hero if he gets every OM. Throw multiple attacks per turn at him and you win easily, even on a swamp map. So his use as a solo hero is mostly relegated to cleanup, or in a uniques-heavy format like a dungeon crawl. But in these cases, if you’re playing on any non-swamp map, you’d rather have the Feral Troll. Sure, his base attack is lower than Rujin’s, but he can use his bonus wayyy more often. In my testing, I used Lurking Assault at most twice in a game. It’s just not worth it to set up once he’s already reached engagement. Since swamp water is so frequently on low ground, it just makes him all the more vulnerable if he’s anywhere near the action. And unlike the Feral Troll, using his bonus once makes it less useful for future turns. Since the Feral Troll can consistently throw more attack dice against heroes, you want him every time.
Now for those Troll/Ravager builds.
Rujin plays into the Durgeth Ravagers’ strengths. He’s got (decently) high attack and low defense like them. He also enjoys swampy maps, like they do. The way to beat a Durgeth army (alongside Pel or Zombie Hulks) is to rob them of their momentum. Kill a few front-line Ravagers, throw up a block the next turn, and then the bonding hero is robbed of turns. This momentum swing is particularly killer for Rujin. When he doesn’t take turns, he can’t regenerate, and without regeneration, he goes down fast. But when the army is working its best, Rujin can take a few turns per round and stay at decently high life. This presents a problem for the opposing player. In order to kill Rujin, they have to focus attacks on him. But it had better work, or the 4 attacks of 4 that Rujin and Ravagers can throw in a single turn are enough to eliminate the threat quickly and get Rujin back on the mend. The best strategy is to try to clear out a front line of Ravagers and then throw as many dice as you can at Rujin the next turn.
Rujin/Ravagers is a really fun and menacing swamp army. Outside of swamp, it’s just okay, although Rujin might be a slightly better option than Pel in a Ravagers army just by virtue of his maneuverability.
Summary
If you take the swamp monster out of the swamp, you also take the monster out of the swamp monster
. That said, Rujin is fun to play, amplifies the Durgeth playstyle, and doesn’t terribly overshadow the Feral Troll.
I vote
to induct Rujin into the Soldiers of Valhalla