Legolas - Rough Draft

[TheAverageFan]

LEGOLAS BATTLE REPORT

Spoiler Alert!

CURRENT CARD for these tests:

LEGOLAS
ULLAR

5 LIFE
6 MOVE
6 RANGE
3 ATTACK
3 DEFENSE
150 POINTS

ELF
UNIQUE HERO
ARCHER
PRECISE
MEDIUM 5

DOUBLE ATTACK
When Legolas attacks, he may attack one additional time.

DEFENSIVE AGILITY
When defending against a normal attack from an adjacent opponent's figure, one shield will block all damage.

ELVEN SIGHT
If Legolas would have height advantage on an opponent's figure, he may add 2 to his Range when attacking that figure.


Map: Custom

Game Scenario
4 Glyphs dist at random: Common +1 , Unique +1, Wound, Intercept Order

Game 1:
ARMY 1: Elves: Legolas (150), Ulginesh (150), Jorhdawn (100), Emirroon (80), Kyntela Gwyn (20), Warriors of Ashra x2 (100) 600 Total


ARMY 2: Knights and Ruffians: Knights of Weston x4 (280), Gilbert (105), Alistair (110), Hawthorne (90), Isamu (10) 595 Total



Game 1
Round 1 – Knights win init. Gilbert advances, using Dispatch to move eight knights total. Mind Link has Emirroon and Jorhdawn advance. Emirroon summons Legolas and Kyntela to height. Alistair advances with more knights. Legolas moves up and uses Elven Sight to target Alistair, inflicting two wounds. Alistair uses Overextend to close the distance. He swings for 5 but Defensive Agility saves Lego from destruction. Emirroon grabs the height adjacent to Legolas, fails to summon, and then ****ing kills Alistair. End of round.

Round 2: Knights win init. Gilbert advances but rolls a 1 on Dispatch, failing to move Knights up onto Glyphs with it. Knights grab 2 Glyphs, flipping Wannok and Oreld (destroying OM 1). Knights advance but the only one that gets adjacent to Lego fails to wound him. Elves lose turn due to Oreld. Gilbert flops on Dispatch. Knights attack Kyntela and Lego but fail to inflict wounds. Emirroon flops on Summon again but kills a Knight. Jorhdawn grabs height but fails to kill an adjacent knight. Gilbert nears the elves and more knights advance. Kyntela receives one wound. Emirroon summons Ulginesh and kills another Knight. Jorhdawn meanwhile fails to kill a knight. End of Round.

Round 3: Elves win initiative. One WoA dies via Wannok. Emirron summons two WoA to the elves’ defensive position. Jorhdawn fails to kill the adjacent knight. Gilbert moves up to a good aura position but fails to kill the WoA. Knights kill Kyntela, fail to kill WoA, and inflict one wound on Ulginesh. Lego returns fire, killing one knight. Gilbert kills one WoA. 3-Symbol Dispatch brings up more knights. Knights inflict two wounds on Jorhdawn. Emirroon summons another WoA and kills another knight.

Round 4: Elves win init. Wannok inflicts a wound on Emirroon. WoA attack, killing one Knight and inflicting one wound on Gilbert. Hawthorne begins advancing. Knights fail to injure Ulginesh and Legolas. WoA kill another knight but fail to injure Gilbert. Hawthorne and reinforcements continue the advance. Emirroon takes two more wounds. Lego guns down another knight. Hawthorne finally gets to Legolas and uses his Blind Rage SA but fails to do damage. Emirroon meanwhile whiffs again and is killed by a KoW. End of Round.

Round 5: Knights win init. Ulginesh takes a wound from Wannok. Hawthorne and knights fail to do damage. Legolas’ double attack from height fails to do damage to Hawthorne. Hawthorne moves and kills a WoA with Blind Rage (but only with one skull so no additional attacks). Jorhdawn takes three more wounds from KoW attacks. Legolas kills a knight. Hawthorne finally rolls more than one skull on his SA but still fails to damage Legolas. Jorhdawn is killed. Lego finally wounds Hawthorne, inflicting two wounds. End of Round.

Round 6: Elves win initiative and Wannok backfires on knight (two 1s in a row but at least not on Hawthorne!). Lego inflicts one wound on Hawthorne and kills another knight. Gilbert claims height and Ulginesh takes two more wounds.

Legolas finishes Hawthorne off. Gilbert kills Ulginesh. Knight kills WoA. Legolas finally whiffs on defense, taking three wounds. Legolas pays them back by killing two knights. Gilbert strikes back. Legolas whiffs a second time and is killed.

Round 7: Elves win init. WoA fails to kill Gilbert. He fails to injure them in turn. 4 Symbols on Dispatch brings up more knights. KoW reclaim Wannok. Knights manage to kill both Warriors, ending the game.

Result: Knight victory. Gilbert (5/6 Life), KoW (4/12 left), Isamu remain (167.5 Points)

Thoughts: Legolas performed fairly well as a mean defensive unit this game as Emirroon was able to teleport him over onto Height where his Defensive Agility proved pretty brutal. Like Syvarris his Double Attack at range was pretty nasty against Alistair and the approaching knights. However he didn’t get to do much kiting as the elven block was kind of committed to the high ground they’d claimed. Additionally his double attack for 3 was lacking compared to Emirroon and Jorhdawn getting the same + a summon attempt, or the WoA getting three swings for 3 as well. After awhile, only his defense kept him alive until he was among the last standing. At that point, similar to Crixus alone against squads, he inevitably fell to the knights over time.



Game 2:
ARMY 1: Elf + Orcs – Legolas (150), Grimnak (120), Tornak (100), Heavy Gruts x2 (140) – 510 Total

ARMY 2: Ashigaru – Kato (200), Ashigaru Yari x3 (120), Ashigaru Harqubus x3 (240), Isamu – 510 Total

Round 1: Orcs win init. Legolas advances. Mass of Ashigaru move on opposite bank. Heavies and Grimnak move to meet them. Yari glaims a glyph, flipping Ulvania. Additional Ashigaru are moved up in a large mass. Grimanak and Heavies continue advance. Harqubus mass on height and open fire, killing one Heavy Grut. Even more Yari move up, one into a blocking position. End of round.

Round 2: Orcs win initiative. Legolas moves to opposite bank and kills one Harq at range. Harqs forfeit WTF in order to get a returning shot at Legolas for no damage. Another Heavy is killed by ranged fire. Last 4 Yari are moved up to give chase to Lego. The elf backs up and kites, whiffing one roll and killing another Harq. A third Heavy is killed. One Yari engages Grimnak. Tornak moves up with reinforcements. The last Heavy by Grimank kills the screening Yari. Harq claims height and kills another Grut while more Harqubus are brought up. Yari advance towards Lego. End of Round.

Round 3: Ashigaru win initiative switch. Yari catch up to Legolas and use Surround SA, inflicting one wound. Even more Harqubus are moved up. Last one w/ height on Grimnak attacks but fails to do damage. Tornak moves to bail out Legolas but whiffs. Heavy goes with him and kills one of the Yari. Other Heavies gather around Grimnak. Remaining three Yari attack Legolas again, inflicting another wound. Harqubus fail to inflict wounds. Grimnak finally launches his attack, circling around the Yari and Chomping him. Heavies move to Grimnak’s sides and kill two Harq with their enhanced attack. The Heavy by Tornak kills another Yari, preventing further Encriclement SAs for the time being. Harqs retaliate with Wait Then Fire with Height, killing one Heavy and Grimnak. Tornak and heavy clean up Yari by Lego. Last two Heavies on other bank kill a gunner. End of Round.

Round 4: Orcs win initiative flip. Tornak and Heavy advance. Two heavies grab height and kill two more Harquebus. Harqs form pod and attack Heavies but fail to kill any. Yari group up and kill them, however. Legolas grabs height and kills two more Harqs. Harquebus get into range and attack the elf back, inflicting one wound. Yari begin advancing toward the last enemies. One engages Tornak but fails to do damage. Lego backs up and kills two more Ashigaru. Harq use Wait Then Fire on the orcs, killing the last Heavy but failing to damage Tornak. Yari continue advancing. End of round.

Round 5: Orcs win initiative. Tornak grabs height, blocking Yari, kills one. Yari surround Tornak and Encircle SA him, inflicting one wound. Harquebus WTF him as well, killing Tornak on a whiffed 6-defense roll. Second shot is out of range of Lego and is wasted. Legolas kills a Yari and a Harq. Two remaining Yari attack. One inflicts a wound on Lego. Last remaining Harq misses. Yari blocks Lego’s first attack, second attack whiffs. Legolas blocks a WTF shot but is killed on a whiff against Yari.

Result: Ashigaru victory, Kato (6/6 Life Remaining), Isamu, Yari (3/12 Remaining), Harquebus (1/12 Remaining) ~255 Points remaining.

Thoughts: Legolas did a bit better here as a kiter, using 6 move/8 range to foil Harqubus counterattacks. His high move often ensures height, which helped protect him from the Encirclement SA getting past his Defensive Agility. Like before he was one of the last ones alive due to his durability, and although he racked up a lot of kills it didn’t seem to matter too much by the end. Using him as much as he was midgame was also probably a mistake as the Orcs suffered as a result—no matter how much harassment the elf could do at range Kato’s eight activations allowed easy fighting on both sides of the map without consequence.



Game 3:
ARMY 1: Undead: Legolas (150), Zombies x4 (240), Isamu (10) – 400 Total


ARMY 2: D&D Warriors: Othkurik (140), Eltahale (140), Greenscales x2 (120) – 400 Total



Round 1: Greenscales win init. Eltahale advances. Zombies advance. Othkurik and Greenscales advance. Zombies continue advancing, gaining high ground. Othkurik moves up and uses his SA on them, killing all three in one go. More zombies move up, one grabs the Ulvania Glyph. End of Round.

Round 2: Greenscales win init. Othkurik grabs height and uses his SA on another bunch of zombies, however this time they all block the attack. Greenscales flip Crevcor, kill another Zombie. Legolas moves to the opposite bank, kills one Greenscale with his enhanced attack. Othkurik roasts another three zombies. More Greenscales move up. Legolas backs up and kills one of the approaching Greenscales.

Othkurik flies to the other bank, killing two more Zombies with Acid Breath. Greenscales close in. Legolas backs up, killing another Greenscale but whiffing on Othkurik. End of Round.

Round 3: Zombies win initiative. Legolas double shots and kills Othkurik. Eltahale advances. Legolas snipes at her but she blocks both hits. Eltahale gets closer, gaining height. Legolas engages her so she can’t use Thunder Ram SA. He inflicts two wounds. She whiffs on her counterattack. End of Round.

Round 4: Legolas wins init. He inflicts an additional three wounds on her. Legolas blocks her attack with Defensive Agility and then kills Eltahale and another Greenscale. Greenscale fails to kill Zombie. Legolas cleans up the rest.

Result, Army 1 Victory, Legolas (5/5 Life remaining), Zombies (3/12 remaining), Isamu ~220 Points Remaining
Thoughts: Here Legolas basically singlehandedly swept the entire game. While his deadliness here was partially due to the Ulvania Glyph giving him +1 attack on both shots, he still proved devastating with the combined use of height, range, kiting, and Defensive Agility against Eltahale. While Othkurik probably could’ve done a lot of damage to Legolas via his SA, he didn’t get the chance due to Legolas’ sniping him as he approached. He completely obliterated the opposition.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Legolas was about as swingy as I expected, doing meh and then meh and then killing an entire army by himself on the third game. His biggest weaknesses right now are his high cost combined with the fact that he only gets two attacks for 3, which many squads can exceed in number and many heroes can exceed in dice. That being said his high move and high range make him a deadly kiter, and his Defensive Agility means that killing him takes a long long time (although he was never tested here against strong ranged opponents like Stingers, Krav, or Kaemon).

Defensive Agility: it did not save him against the normal-melee-only army in the first game, as his attacks failed to stop the knights from eventually encircling and killing him. The same occurred on the second game where the sheer number of Ashigaru attacks gradually wore him down. It did prove extremely effective against Alistair and Eltahale, where one measly shield could block hits of 4 or 5. And while that's not too bad for the WoA since only one hit needs to get through, with Legolas you need to pierce his defense and deal lots of wounds when you do in order to kill him. It was absolutely brutal on those two.

One of the main reasons why the Warriors of Ashra, despite the power of Defensive Agility, aren't considered all that great is their Move of 5. Emirroon helps with this some, but overall they are too slow to make the most of their agility. Legolas meanwhile has 6 Move and thus can boost his Defense to 4 with Height Advantage very easily. That and his Range makes him much more defensively viable than the WoA. I would even go so far as to make the ludicrous statement that Lego's high Move and Range benefit Defensive Agility more than the fact that he has more than 1 Life.

Legolas was not an insta-win against normal adjacent only armies, nor is he that great an offensive force early or mid game. He is however a devastating kiter and pretty damn good at cleanup when the enemy is spread out or not at full strength to launch an organized counterattack. Even when they do catch up his Defensive Agility means that taking him down is a slog. I would likely reduce his Defense to 2 like Syvarris in order to make Defensive Agility less likely (it'll still be 3 most of the time when he inevitably has height advantage). Alternatively he could have a weaker version of this power such as One-Shield Defense (with a different name obviously) that ensures at least one wound from enemy attacks. Or Legolas' Legolasisms could merely be represented by 4 Defense.

"Syvarris but better" is dangerous territory to begin with, and while Legolas wasn't as consistently crazy as Gimli he could use some nerfing. 5 Move on him would be silly, but something that makes taking him down less of a pain would do nicely. Perhaps he could have a defensive power limited to Squads like Asterios does.

~TAF

[Knox]

Awesome playtests! What I find interesting is that Lego won singlehandedly when the rest of the army provided mere screening - it seems like in the Zombie game, Legolas basically just took all the OMs himself.

Combine agility with Raelin and/or Rats and I think he'd be pretty unstoppable. I like the idea of changing it to a "One Shield Defense" rather than Defensive Agility. I also think his life could be lowered to 4 - seems like an Elven thing (cf. Syvarris). Tough to kill but not too hearty once you land a hit.

I benefitted a lot from reading through these playtest reports though

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Knox

Awesome playtests! What I find interesting is that Lego won singlehandedly when the rest of the army provided mere screening - it seems like in the Zombie game, Legolas basically just took all the OMs himself.

I wanted to open with the Zombies to do some damage but Othkurik and his Greenscales basically obliterated them (Bonding's always made it difficult for the ZoM to really make Horde Movement that advantageous). One zombie did stand on Ulvania though so that was a big impact.

Originally Posted by Knox

I also think his life could be lowered to 4 - seems like an Elven thing (cf. Syvarris). Tough to kill but not too hearty once you land a hit.

There is also Elven precedent for 6 Life with 2 Defense which could also work.

~TAF