Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Tornado]

[Myriadite]

Exciting stuff!

[Blue Trails]

Cool designs! Good luck to their creators.

[Good Pig]

They all look pretty cool. I'm most excited for The Shards. I love Marro armies and think they'd be a blast with Drones. The Shared Mind power feels a bit like a riddle the way it's written. Perhaps there's a way to make it more clear in editing. Might just be me struggling.

[Knox]

Shards are awesome. Can't wait to run them with Stingers or Havech Eradicators

[Dysole]

Somebody once told me I'm kind of a troll. So I guess I should be one of the more qualified people to judge Rujin. We've seen a few iterations of trolls each doing something a little bit different. Time to see what Rujin has up his nonexistent sleeves. Let's get our game on and go play.

Balance

Rujin at 115 points and a single attack is not going to be an all star. The stats are all fairly average except life is high and defense is low. Fairly standard for a troll. Bonds with Ravagers but Ravagers don't have guaranteed bonding which means Rujin could be in a great place and can't make an attack because the Ravagers had a bad turn. Thick Skin gives him a bit of an edge against swarms of commons and standard heroes but he's still pretty vulnerable to the best of the best. Devour allows him to regain life less efficiently than a number of other healers but a high life, low defense figure with healing has potential. Territorial is situational, but can help with getting the needed kill or putting the big hurt on a hero. All in all, a pretty balanced package. I wouldn't be surprised to see his Delta cost be something like 100 but he's a figure I think it's better to price for his best situation, so I'm fine with him being a hair overcosted.

Theme

At first I didn't love how sometimes Territorial meant Rujin would be standing on not swamp and attacking someone on swamp but now I'm a believer as I realized it can be seen as he's kicking them out of the swamp. Tying Devour to healing fits very well thematically. Tough Skin requiring special weaponry fits with what I expected from the power name. Being from Valhalla and being a natural fit in the Ravager army also blends together. He doesn't break the mold, but the abilities do feel very troll like and paint an image of a larger than life troll who just wants to be left alone, but if interlopers come he'll join up with the other local swamp people to eat the trespassers until they're gone.

Creativity

Once again, I'm loving how much is done with so little. Does this ability work like the other trolls we've seen? No. But they're from different planets. Does it evoke classic troll tropes? Yep, trolls caring about territory, eating people, and being hard to kill with conventional weaponry all fit and the powers aren't complex while still offering interesting gameplay. Tough Skin felt a bit weird at first but it's clean, simple, and easy to remember.

Playability

He's very much a run up and hit kind of figure. There's not a ton of strategy to the choices but there is a little bit especially on swamp maps. You want to hit the ground running and keep him from getting too swarmed, but you still want a solid supply of squaddies. Devour you pretty much always use first chance you can get to stay fresh for the fight because there's no benefit to waiting once you get the kill. There is some choices though in target selection. You might be holding out for a hero on swamp to get a big 6 attack rather than a 4 attack on an easier to kill squaddie, especially if the squaddie isn't going to be as much of an issue.

Your opponent does have to play a bit differently on swamp maps (or when you have RTS) and consider how okay they are with Rujin getting 6 dice attacks on any given figure. Sometimes the best play is a more suboptimal attack while staying off the swamp. Sometimes it's not, but Rujin does make it so you have to at least make a call. And if you don't think about it or forget about the power, all you get is pain.

The biggest strategic questions are when you have multiple Ravager heroes in the mix. Olog is cheap enough to be included in most Ravager builds and while Rujin is much better than him, sometimes using his first assault ties up figures you didn't want attacking more valuable Ravagers or Rujin or Uzog. Uzog plays a bit differently and depending on the army it might be better to lead Uzog and have Rujin come in for backup after Uzog has a few trophy skulls. Rujin does sort of outclass Uzog a bit in my mind since if you only have room for one of them, Rujin isn't going to sit on the field uselessly for a couple turns but it's not such an outclass that I'd never consider Uzog. For example, you can still get 4 squads and both of them for under 500. It's not going to be a world class army but it's an army I had a lot of fun playing. While it's not a high finesse build and it is incredibly weak to special attacks or non swamp terrain, it's still a solid midtier build to fight the rising odds.

Rujin slots in to the rest of the Durgeth synergy web nicely and for that I vote YEA to induct Rujin into the SoV.


~Dysole, who had fun with this one

[Scytale]

Rujin by @Sir Heroscape has received 4 Yea votes to induct (Scytale, Vydar_XLIII, superfrog, and Dysole) and moves forward in the process.

[Knox]

This calls for a celebration!!!

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Excellent! This has been a long time coming. Congrats to Sir Heroscape, finally!

[Sir Heroscape]

My little (big?) boy is all grown up...

My thanks have to go out to @Tiranx who back in the day (7yrs ago?) helped me brainstorm this design and begin the long process.

[wriggz]

Jim Whitecloud by @Pumpkin_King (submitted by @Leaf_It )
Jim’s a man of two worlds. On the one side he is loyal to his people leading them into battle with his six-shooter and providing support with his tomahawk and lasso. On the other side he is bound to his oath to uphold the law, working with a posse to roundup outlaws on Earth and perhaps even as far away as Valhalla.

Balance
The prospect of adding another Lawman into Clayton’s posse instantly invites comparison to the existing Lawmen. Looking at Jim’s Aquilla brother, Louis “Mad Dog” Malone who has identical base stats for 10 points less. Mad Dog rolls one fewer attack die when engaged but has more staying power with an extra defense die (even from non-adjacent attackers). Additionally, Malone can attack twice which is slightly more likely to destroy squad figures (6-8%) and apply more wounds to heroes (0.14 to 0.35 wounds per turn). Comparing attack output to James Murphy, Shotgun Blast is a ranged special attack that can impact multiple figures, which can be enhanced by his whip, causing significant damage. Finally, for the price of Jim you can get both Kate Crawford and Guilt McCreech both of which are more dangerous from range. In a Lawman build it is only Jim’s Lasso that differentiates him, and even then, it is a bit of a wild card. Only triggering 50% of the time, Lasso 11 is difficult to price as it can pull a key figure out of position or allow Jim to engage a figure that would have otherwise remained out of range. Occasionally, Lasso can be the play of the game, while often is comes off as more of a novelty, and in some cases has a negative effect of limiting Jims movements on subsequent turns.

Of course, Jim has a dual role after all, able to slot into Mohican River Tribe and Teeth of the Makwa builds as well. As a Mohican, Brave Arrow is a superior melee choice, whereas 2 Makwa Tribesmen provide superior Range support for the same price. The same holds true for the Makwa, except they can also pull from the various Scout heroes available. All this is not to say that Jim is completely outclassed as a Tribesman. While not stellar as range support and not the strongest melee option, he is able to provide both, along with the bonus of his Lasso allowing him to be a fine addition to either army.

In the armies mentioned above or as a solo hero, Jim is a jack of all trades, which normally results in a weak Heroscape unit. However, Jim can do a bit of everything which can augment both Lawmen and Tribesman builds in ways not offered by other options. Due to the low hero point totals that the Lawmen and Tribesmen occupy it is easy for Jim to complement rather than compete in these armies.

Theme:
Firstly, I wanted to discuss “Law of the Land”. As written in the current meta this power functions identical to “Jim has the class of Lawman as well as what is listed on the card”. While the wording could be simpler there is a theme being expressed here that has value. Instead of Lawman being intrinsic to Jim, it is conditional in a way being a Tribesman is not. This subtle but important distinction shows how Jim is dedicated to his people first and foremost. While Heroscape is only a game, every representation can fortify stereotypes. As a Canadian, we are a country coming to terms with a dark part of our past (See Residential Schools), where those in charge literally tried to “take the Indian our of the child”. This is a recent trauma, but each positive representation brings us all closer to healing.

Aside from that, the card does a great job representing a man walking the line between his tribe and the law he is trying to uphold. All 3 of the weapons the miniature is sporting are well represented cribbing off existing powers, making the unit feel familiar. Nothing seems out of place when looking at the stat box, as he is in alignment with other Lawmen and Outlaws. I love when a personality is reflected in game play, with Jim’s fearlessness coming out when he Lassos a murderous Robot, Alien, or Bugbear only to hit them with his Tomahawk.

Creativity:
As a consequence of his 3 weapons, Jim can do a lot of different things on a map, but nothing particularly outstanding. While I’m not particularly fond of Jack of all Trades, in play Jim can be hard for an opponent to predict. When running with Clayton or the Mohicans, Jim can sit back and take potshots with his revolver, or he can run in fearlessly and take a big swing at a troublesome hero. Lasso, like Chain Grab, is hard to protect against, forcing opponents to pay special attention to cheerleaders and or a key figure’s position since nothing is worse than having Raelin pulled off her perch. Targeting a mid to low point total works in Jims’s favor, since a higher price would likely result in him outclassing other Tribesman and Lawmen, while lowering points by lowering his life or attack would have made him far less effective in his role.

Playability:
Running Jim with Clayton and the gang offered some interesting tricks that were not available to the other Lawmen. I took the liberty of playing the Lawmen against the new Pirate faction and in one game Jim was able to use Lasso an Exile negating his Stealthy 13 power while taking a turn with Shootout. Jim’s 4 attack Tomahawk fits in nicely with the Lawmen potentially cracking bulletproof armor. In another game Jim was able to use a lucky initiative win to use Sheriff’s Posse and his own move to engage Q10 and while Jim would end up as Swiss cheese from Q10’s machine gun, he did serve 2 wounds to the Soulborg. Jim may not be the first choice to run with Clayton, but he I didn’t find myself regretting his inclusion at the expense of another hero.

As a Tribesman Jim normally took second place to the existing units. The Teeth of Makwa work well with the Makwa tribesman who can gain the benefit of a second attack, but moving Jim up to threaten a key figure or potentially remove a figure from a Glyph was a neat trick. With the Mohicans, Brave Arrow’s Concealment and superior move mean you will likely want to lead with him, leaving Jim for more of a clean up role. I did enjoy mixing Clayton, Guilty and Jim with the Teeth of Makwa since you can gain impressive board control and the second wave of Lawmen could already be in position after the Makwa fell.

Without any synergy Jim is a middling cleanup standalone figure as is common with low to mid costed heroes. You are almost always better off spending your points on another squad or a couple of Wyrmling’s since Jim is not going to cover any obvious hole in your army due his jack of all trade’s nature. I did enjoy running Jim in a Battle for the Underdark like campaign, where range and a deeper life pool benefits your heroes.

Summary:
When playtesting a unit I pay attention if I’m “wishing” for a change like an extra defense dice or a lower D-20 threshold. When playing with Jim, I felt the card was correctly balanced and he preformed as expected for the price. Jim was interesting to play and his Lasso and Tomahawk combo lead to some play of the game moments. In the end I found that Jim was like a good Swiss army knife, not particularly good at any thing particular but his blade is sharp enough to cut down stronger units.

I vote Yea to induct Jim Whitecloud into the SoV.

[Scytale]

Necro-Mage Elbda by @NecroBlade

Not a necromancer, I guess. Or a lich.

Balance

Necro-Mage Elbda is hard to nail down easily with point costs, as he (she? it?) has an unusual powerset. Compared to most cheerleaders Elbda is very cheap, and has some decent stats for the point cost on top of that. Not the best combat figure at 50 points, though; even as range filler Me-Burq-Sa is better. So the question lies in the value of the two powers. That's too hard to judge well with just theoryscape, so I'll leave that up to the playability section.

Theme

Some sort of undead spellcaster minion? Yeah, I can dig it. The cheap cost design is a good thematic fit here, as the Minion class would be in question if the figure cost more, at least in comparison to other Undead Heroes. Mindless Pack Command as a power additionally places the unit higher in the hierarchy than the lowly thralls, putting him in sort of a subcommander role. That matches the playstyle, so that's good. I have no idea what the theme of Necromatic Nexus is, but "it's magic," so sure, whatever.

I don't like the mini much, though. It's thin by D&D Minis standards, which means it's practically a stick figure next to classic Heroscape units. It's not enough for a downvote, but bleh.

Creativity

The design captures the feel of an undead subcommander well, as I noted above in Theme. Not costly enough or important enough to consider to be a linchpin, but a useful commander in the field.

I have to admit, Necromatic Nexus is not something I would have come up with for a power, but it works well for a Heroscape Undead cheerleader. It has more uses than you'd expect and makes the unit interesting to play.

Playability

The design appears to be that of a Thrall leader, and was probably designed as such; Mindless Pack Command stands out as the key power. While it is certainly good to get to activate an additional Thrall each turn, it takes some effort to be able to make good use of it due to the 5 clear sight restriction. Even on a smaller map, you have to position Elbda to make good use of it, and he doesn't have the staying power if the opponent is annoyed enough with him to try to take him down. And this is also while trying to use Nicholas to get kills and make more Thralls. It ends up being a lot of management and is fragile.

Though there's something to be said for leaving Elbda in the starting zone just to move up a back-row Thrall each turn. Elbda makes for a solid cleanup figure in that case too.

But the Necro-Mage isn't only good for Thralls. While units like Zombies of Morindan and Skeletons of Annellinta can't make use of Mindless Pack Command, the Necromatic Nexus works for them. It's not usually great with Zombies since they usually spawn up where you want them anyway. But an Annellinta army appreciates Elbda quite a bit. Instead of having to risk your Lord, Lady, Duke, or Duchess up near the front lines as a spawn point, you can have them sit in relative safety while Elbda stands behind the front lines and spawns Skeletons right into battle. Not just next to Elbda either, but right up front in the battle, even on top of a hill or wall. That really helps a Skeleton army with board control and pressure.

Necromatic Nexus has some other neat tricks too, like popping up a Bloodburst next to some annoying range units on a hill, or blocking a route to Eldba or another key figure with a spawning Undead. It can be a real annoyance to the opponent and a useful boon to you. It really became the key power on the unit for me.

Summary

While not doing a lot for classic Undead, Necro-Mage Elbda is a nice addition to both Thrall armies and a Skeletons of Annellinta armies. While he doesn't make Thralls good enough to compete with strong armies, he is worth his points in that build. His value to Skeletons armies is even better and makes an Elbda + cheap vampire build a viable way to play them.

I vote Yea to induct Necro-Mage Elbda into the SoV.