The Book of Valguard

[rednax]

I've only played a few games with Valguard, but my general issue with him has been the fact that he's mostly useless once he becomes engaged. Five attack is great when you can get it, but when it's just two attack he's pretty weak. Sure, he can take a leaving engagement attack as he has plenty of life, but you don't want him to do it too often. And if he's tied down by multiple figures, you can't risk multiple wounds.

I would say he deserves no more than a C+, maybe a B-.

[Sir Heroscape]

I've played Valguard a lot actually because the Sacred Band are one of my favorite squads (and in my opinion/experience they are more versatile than the Legos), and he is one of those units you really have to play carefully and with vigor. Bottom line with Valguard is to only get him engaged with 1 or 2 figures at a time and ALWAYS disengage. There is no other way to play him. He fills his points off of running around like a wild man and disengages are only a 50/50 shot at a wound as it is. Disengaging him around the board will always have your opponent guessing. It was my Sacred Band X4, Parmenio, Valguard, Marcus build that went undefeated at GenCon this year for the Assassination tournament and I took 1st. There was a time I disengaged from 3 figures with Valguard just to get a height attack on Q9. Valguard is so fun to play because even if someone does expend effort to get him in 3-4 engagements, if you're bonding with Marcus, then that's a whole other problem they have to consider as well...speedy soldiers who get attack buffed. Usually opponents opt for Marcus before Valguard...and that's good for Valguard

[NecroBlade]

He could probably be a C+. He is very tough for his cost, making him great for tying down key figures/spaces. I really like him with the Dreadguls, as obviously they get additional benefit from him versus the Romans or Sacred Band. In addition to helping Berserker Charge, one neat thing to do is First Assault something with 5 dice, then next turn use Strategic Bonding to increase the Raiders to 3 attacks of 4 and finish off whatever Valguard was engaged to so you can do it all again. Disengaging back and forth between two heroes and repeatedly smacking them with 5 dice was fun, too.

[dok]

I have him at B-. Beefy is good, and he has the life to disengage freely to get the boost a lot.

[NecroBlade]

Ha! I was about to check the VC rankings after I posted that, but got busy.

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by dok

I have him at B-. Beefy is good, and he has the life to disengage freely to get the boost a lot.

Is the B- without dreadguls? I think the conversation around C -> C+ is his place in classic.

[dok]

B- is on the high side anyway, but I'm unconvinced that he's much better with Dreadguls than Romans. Romans are just so darn efficient.

[DoomCarrot]

I honestly feel like the dreadguls are almost better without a leader, although it isn't a bad idea to have a leader around in casemopportunity presents itself.

I was playing a game against an army of dreadguls and guilty, and I killed guilty first only to find myself wishing I hadn't done so. 3 attacks of 4 with berserker rush (and consequently height) gets scary.

[flameslayer93]

+1 to Berzerker Charge rolls helps every now and then, and sometimes they won’t all attack for reason xYz. I’d rather get another figure into the battlefield then not. Also, sometimes numbers are key. 4 attacks against a bunch of Vipers (defense 0) beats 3 attacks against those vipers.

[Astroking112]

Does anyone have a high quality scan of the basic side of Valguard's Army Card? I can't find a digital counterpart to the scan in the main post, and the best scan that I can find online isn't very clear.

[superfrog]

This is the best one I know of.

[Astroking112]

That works great for me. Thanks!