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C3V and SoV Customs A place for C3V and SoV customs |
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#5077
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
Done. Sorry, I was waiting for Cormin to have a Book before adding him to the thread and must've missed that one had been created for him.
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#5078
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
Hate to bug, but wondering how Ashi-Dhulu was doing. I heard that someone else is looking at him now?
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#5079
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
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I can assure you AshI has full priority right now, but as a great wizard once said: "A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to." |
#5080
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
I vote NAY for the Warforged Champion. The design and price do not work for an Uncommon Hero.
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#5081
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
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This figure is on sale at Miniature Market for $3.50 http://www.miniaturemarket.com/rkh-sclv02.html |
#5082
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
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I will say this guy doesn't seem all that Marro to me. The Gnids looked Marro, I get that one. This guy just seems too much of a stretch. I hope I'll change my mind once I have one in hand, because I otherwise really dig it. |
#5084
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
Quote:
Check out my ebay where you can find my custom dice trays and dicetowers: https://www.ebay.com/usr/captainamazing_jerdo |
#5085
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
I vote Nay to the Warforged Champion. The design choice of Uncommon Hero does not feel warranted. Though I respect the desire to add a conditional bonding hero to the Warforged Soldiers.
However, what is it about moving the enemy that causes the Champion to charge? Is he acting as an opportunists, in which case shouldn't he attack the moved figures. Is it that he is moving as part of a formation, in which case having him take a turn from the start zone when the soldiers are on the front line seems odd. Why is he loyal? That is a bit of an odd choice for a Vydar Unit. Why is he a soldier not a champion? Is it to benefit from Marcus or something else? The Warforged are ripe for some synergy, and I would love to see a design that is both thematic and synergetic. |
#5087
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
Ashi-Dhulu by
@MegaSilver
"Burt, it's under the ground! It's an underground monster!" – Kevin Bacon (Tremors) Balance – Ashi-Dhulu follows in the long tradition of un-synergistic hero figures. The Fen Hydra is the gold standard here and at only 5 more points does out-shine Ashi-Dhulu in many ways. The worm’s ability to auto-destroy common figures and faster movement over elevations make Ashi-Dhulu unique enough to warrant drafting over other similar costed options. On the flip side, Ashi-Dhulu’s weakness against Unique Heavy armies (looking at you Samurai) and low life for a melee unit, keep it from eking out units like Tyrian or Brunak. I found that there were some match ups where Ashi-Dhulu was a superstar with others where he fell flat. You would think that the worm evolved on Valhalla since Kyrie seem to be its natural prey, as it is able to make short work of these high priced squads. Swarmy melee squads with low attack or even short range squads also seemed to struggle, with the Goblin Cutters being a notable exception. I did considerable testing with Common Hero heavy builds, since this where I felt Devour could be most overpowered. I’m happy to say that in multiple runs I never found wyrmlings, elementals or other common heroes completely outclassed. There were a few times where Ashi-Dhulu did significant damage, but this was at the cost of losing all board control as the worm ate up order-markers as fast as it ate tiny dragons. Creativity – Ashi-Dhulu is one of those “why didn’t I think of that” designs, whose simplicity can mask the creativity. The combination of disengage, underground movement and auto destroying common figures come together to create a figure unlike anything else in Heroscape canon. I especially like when the figure’s class and personality aren’t just added to artificially enhance theme, but rather flow from the design, which seems to be the case for both Devourer and Menacing. The choice of going with high defense and low life is also worth noting as it makes Ashi-Dhulu more dangerous to low attack commons, while making him weak to high attack heroes. Theme – While there are some that will liken Ashi-Dhulu to the Worms of Dune, the purple worm will always pull me back to that horror classic, Tremors. One of the most satisfying aspects of playtesting is when a figure’s play matches its theme and in this case Ashi-Dhulu comes up in spades. The unstoppable underground monster popping up all over the map, striking terror into the hearts of commons, is exactly how I would expect a “Graboid’ to play. My only gripe was the inability to devour Unique Squads. In the era before Fanscape or even D&D, this would have been a deal breaker. However in light of Wyrmlings, Elementals, Thralls and a number of other Common Hero heavy armies, I applaud the decision to go with devouring common figures over squad figures. Playability – Figuring out how to get the most out of Ashi-Dhulu was a puzzle, which for me is a boon. Leading with Ashi-Dhulu results in giving up valuable board position leaving the rest of your army waiting in the start zone. Conversely, Ashi-Dhulu is not generally suited to clean up, since most common squads are broken at that point, and clean up heroes like Kaemon Awa, Tyrain and the Marro Warriors can pose significant challenges. This leaves Ashi-Dhulu as a second wave figure, used interspersed with Bread and Butter units or after earlier sharks have fallen. In this role, playing Ashi-Dhulu presents many choices from requiring clever (and sometimes lucky) order marker management to deciding how best to use Devour. It is interesting to note that on high ground Ashi-Dhulu’s normal attack has a 76.6% chance to destroy a common figure with 4 defenses and 84.6% for a 3 defense figure, meaning that Devouring and giving up high ground is not always the best choice. The constant consideration Devour demands made Ashi-Dhulu an interesting figure to play and play against. Speaking of playing against Ashi-Dhulu, this is where the figure really shines. A player that attempts to rush the purple worm without thought to position or follow up attacks will be quickly devoured. Excuse my age, but playing against Ashi-Dhulu really does remind me of the scene in Tremors where Kevin Bacon and his friends have to pole-vault across rocks to avoid being eaten. There were a few times where opponents had to give up high ground to keep Ashi-Dhulu from claiming that space on the following turn, jumped into a river to avoid being devoured, or spread figures out to avoid follow up attacks after a successful Devour. The most fun was trying to set up worm traps with stray figures on low ground, in order to destroy the purple menace on the following turn. Summary – Short of running the Elf wizards, maintaining the Roman’s shield wall or lining up Mimring’s Fireline Special Attack, there are few units that impact the strategic elements of a game the way Ashi-Dhulu does. By itself that would be enough to warrant giving Ashi-Dhulu a try, however when coupled with excellent thematic design both on the card and on the battlefield this is one worm I would recommend bringing to dinner. I vote to induct SoV |
#5088
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Re: Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion
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