Gimli - Rough Draft

[TheAverageFan]

At what point does workshopping transition to playtesting? These designs have received less pushback than I was expecting and I may have some time to playtest later tonight. Though I'm not the most savvy playtester as far as using tournament maps or knowing the most up-to-date competitive armies.

~TAF

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

At what point does workshopping transition to playtesting? These designs have received less pushback than I was expecting and I may have some time to playtest later tonight. Though I'm not the most savvy playtester as far as using tournament maps or knowing the most up-to-date competitive armies.

~TAF

We had a more formal system before, but frankly I'm not sure it's super useful to try following it exactly. The current membership is, at best, off-and-on, and frankly we weren't successful before with the more formal structure.

My suggestion is, if you want to play-test the figure in it's current state, just do so and write up a summary on this thread. The worst that can happen is the card gets changed later and the play-test was just 'fun' instead of being necessarily 'on-point' with where the card ends up. Which isn't a bad thing.

[Shiftrex]

Fair enough. I mean it looks like a bunch of our drafts are in a spot to be experienced I'm down to play some lotr scape

[TheAverageFan]

GIMLI BATTLE REPORT

Spoiler Alert!

CURRENT CARD for these tests:

GIMLI
AQUILLA

5 LIFE
5 MOVE
1 RANGE
4 ATTACK
4 DEFENSE
160 POINTS

DWARF
UNIQUE HERO
FIGHTER
FEARLESS
MEDIUM 4

DWARVEN ASSAULT
When Gimli attacks, he may either attack any or all figures adjacent to him or attack the same figure one additional time. Roll each attack separately.

FEARLESS ADVANTAGE
Gimli rolls one additional die when attacking or defending against Large or Huge figures.

DURIN’S TACTICS 1
Add 1 to Gimli’s defense when he is engaged.


Map: Custom

Game Scenario
Glyph of Dagmar and Glyph of Wannok randomly distributed on two sides of the map

Game 1
Armies
Army 1 – Fully Armed and Filthy
Gimli – 160 Points
Mogrimm – 120 Points
Axegrinders x3 – 210 Points
Otonashi – 10 Points
500 Points

Army 2 – Marro Swarm
Su-Bak-Na – 160 Points
Marrden Nagrubs – 30 Points
Me-Burq-Sa – 50 Points
Marro Drones x5 – 250 Points
Isamu – 10 Points
500 Points

Round 1: Dwarves win initiative with the help of Mogrimm. Both forces move up their troops in a large mass rather than rushing.



Round 2: Marro win initiative. Me-Burq-Sa claims height but fails to inflict wounds. Dwarves rush in for 6 and get him. Next turn they finish him off as the Drones swarm in. 9-Drone activation leads to both glyphs grabbed and 2 dead axegrinders. Mogrimm’s Commander’s Strike and Axegrinders on height pay them back by 3.



Round 3: Dagmar nets Marro initiative. Drones gut the remaining Axegrinders on the hill. Gimli gathers Axegrinders and advances, killing one Marro. Drones retaliate but only inflict one wound. Gimli kills two more Drones while Axegrinders fail to kill any more.



Round 4: Tied initiative. Marro win again. Drones flop on swarm but still kill three Axegrinders. Trading leaves only 4 axegrinders left. Mogrimm advances to the Drone on the Wannok glyph but fails the Commander’s Strike. Drones similarly fail to injure Gimli. Gimli kills two more drones but Axegrinders again fail to win the Wannok glyph.

Round 5: Wound glyph kills Otonashi. Dwarves finally win initiative. Mogrimm kills Drone on Wannok. Dwarves claim height. Marro gather on base of hill. Gimli races down and kills one. Drones counterattack but fail to inflict wounds. Dwarves counterattack and kill all drones. Su-Bak-Na advances

Round 6: Marro win initiative. Wannok kills Isamu. Su-Bak-Na advances, only rolls 2 on attack and yet Gimli flubs defense and takes both hits. One dwarf killed by Nagrub. Gimli kills Su-Bak-Na in one turn. One nagrub killed. Two remaining Nagrubs kill other two dwarves. Gimli kills two remaining Nagrubs. Final Drone will be killed by Wannok. Player 2 surrenders.

Outcome: Dwarven victory. One Axegrinder, Mogrimm (2/6), and Gimli (3/5) remain (~145 Points)

Gimli performed excellently against this swarming melee army, with Mogrimm barely needing to participate. While he flubbed on the defense here and there, his attack consistently killed the 3/3s he was fighting. Whirlwind Attack combined with the 4-man bonding squad is pretty crazy, even though the Axegrinders were mostly trading poorly with the Drones. Although I will say he performed well against a melee army, just like X17 would, so let’s not call it too soon.



Game 2:

Army 1 – Very Dangerous Over a Short Distance
Gimli – 160 Points
Migol – 110 Points
Axegrinders x3 – 210 Points
Marcu – 20 Points
500 Points

Army 2 – Glads and the Lads
Blastitrons x4 – 240 Points
Gladitrons x2 – 160 Points
Major X17 – 100 Points
500 Points

Round 1: Dwarves win initiative, rush hill and grab Wannok. Bots advance, two Blasts shoot the glyph-bearer but fail to do damage.

Round 2: Dwarves win initiative. Wannok kills a blast. Dwarves claim height. Glads cluster around the hill. Blasts shoot the dwarf on Wannok but still fail to kill him.

Round 3: Bots win initiative. Wannok kills another blast. Blasts finally kill Wannok dwarf. Migol and reinforcements head to hill. X17 advances. Glads finally advance and Blasts kill another Dwarf but fail to wound Gimli. A glad claims Dagmar. Gimli kills two Glads and Axegrinders kill two more.



Round 4: Bots win initiative. X17 moves up and kills a dwarf. Gimli inflicts 1 wound on X17 but other dwarves fail to do damage. Blasts kill two more dwarves. Gimli and dwarves fail to injure X17 or adjacent glad. Dwarf claims Wannok but is killed the next turn. Gimli kills a glad and inflicts 2 more wounds on X17.

Round 5: Dwarves win initiative. Gimli and dwarves fail to injure X17 or any Glads. X17 grabs height but does not injure Gimli. Migol moves up and he and his dwaves kill 2 more Glads. Blasts advance and kill one dwarf. Migol kills the last Glad. Dwarves grab height, kill a blast, grab Wannok. Blasts kill one dwarf.

Round 6: Dwarves win initiative again. Wannok kills a blast. Migol fails to do damage. Dwarf kills the Blast on height. Blasts all blast a dwarf, fail to inflict damage. Migol inflicts a wound on X17. Another blast is killed. Blasts still fail to kill the dwarf. Migol finally swings a 4, kills X17. Two more blasts killed, including the one on Dagmar. The dwarf is finally killed.

Round 7: Dwarves win initiative. Dwarf grabs Initiative glyph. Gimli advances. Blasts attack from height, inflicting two wounds. Gimli catches up, kills one Blast. Return fire fails. Gimli kills the other.



Round 8: Dwarves win initiative. Gimli advances. Blasts attack, all fail. Gimli advances. One blast blocks while the other fire, all fail. Gimli takes a LEA (wounded) to get height, kills one blast. Blasts return fire, inflict one wound.

Round 9: Dwarves win initiative. Gimli kills two Blasts. Blasts grab height and finally kill Gimli. Migol advances while Axegrinder heads to Wannok. Migol sustains one wound. Migol engages but fails to do damage. He is punished with three more wounds.

Round 10: Bots win initiative. A second whiff has Migol killed. Last dwarf strategic runs in but fails to do damage. Blasts kill him. But the game isn’t over—Marcu advances.

Round 11: Dwarves win Initiative. Marcu rushes in but whiffs. He takes one wound in return fire but kills a blast and heals it. He fails to do more damage this round and takes three more wounds.

Round 12: Another initiative switch gives blasts lead. However they only inflict one wound. With one life remaining Marcu kills one blast, blocks the last hit, then kills the last one and secures the victory.

Outcome: Dwarven victory, Marcu (4/6) (~8 Points remaining)

Gimli still performed excellent, though he was momentarily bogged down by X17 who he had difficulty killing. Still he wiped out everyone else he was in contact with, until volley after volley of Blastitron fire finally brought him down. Mind you this was after all the axegrinders were dead or on glyphs and he was operating only on his lonesome. Durin’s tactics worked very well here, though still not a fair trade for Homing Device statistically. I should say though that the dice were very skewed this particular match, with axegrinders consistently blocking attacks of 2 or even 3 and doing well against the gladitrons in what I assumed would be a slaughter (save for Migol whose dice failed him badly all game long).



Game 3 (rematch)
Army 1 – Very Dangerous Over a Short Distance
Gimli – 160 Points
Migol – 110 Points
Axegrinders x3 – 210 Points
Marcu – 20 Points
500 Points

Army 2 – Gimli Must Die Mode
Blastitrons x3 – 180 Points
Gladitrons x3 – 240 Points
Raelin – 80 Points
500 Points

Round 1: Dwarves win initiative. Dwarves advance, two alone one with Gimli. One claims the Wannok glyph. Raelin advances, Glads and Blasts follow. The dwarf on the glyph is killed by a potshot.

Round 2: Dwarves win initiative, continue to climb hill. Blasts/Glads move up reinforcements. One glad claims the Dagmar glyph. Two dwarves race down and try to kill him but fail. Raelin moves to the hill.



Round 3: Bots win initiative. Glads form a shield around Raelin. Blasts grab height and kill both dwarves near the Dagmar glyph. Gimli throws himself into the Glads and kills both of them:



More glads take their place. Blasts take up position on sand hill and open fire. Two whiffs on his 5 defense leaves Gimli dead in a single turn. Migol and Axegrinder reinforcements move in. Both sides move in more troops. Dwarves survive Blast pot shots.

Round 4: Bots win initiative. Both sides continue gathering forces.



Dwarves mass on hill. Glads finally attack, Blasts kill one dwarf. Migol kills a glad. Two more killed by dwarves. One dwarf dies, then one glad.

Round 5: Bots win initiative. 3 Dwarves killed in opening volley. Migol fells another Glad. One dwarf killed as bots slowly overtake hill. Migol kills a blastitron. No other casualties. Another axegrinder shot. Migol continues killing steak, KOing another glad.

Round 6: Bots win initiative. Glads and Blasts finally overtake hill. Second-to-last axegrinder killed. Migol finally takes a wound. Ironwill falls yet another Glad. Bots overtake hill and surround Migol.



Last Axegrinder killed. Migol endures three shots for 5, 5, and 4 (thank God for One-Shield Defense!) He kills another Glad yet again but is sadly killed by more blasts. Marcu advances.

Round 7: Marcu wins initiative. Marcu ducks behind ruin. Raelin moves up. Marcu leaps behind Raelin, inflicts two wounds on her. Blast fire inflicts 5 wounds on Marcu. The demon attacks Raelin but fails to do damage. Marcu is killed.

Result: Blastitron victory. 11 Blasts, 2 Glads, Raelin (2/5) remain (~255 Points)
This demanded rematch went about as expected. Gimli still did as well as he could, killing two enemies with 6 defense handily. He simply missed a bunch of defense rolls in a row despite having Durin’s Tactics active, a fatal problem to experience against the Blastitrons. Because he died so fast he didn’t have a chance to make the most of his surround attack. Migol performed fantastically this time however, rolling 2 skulls on almost every single roll. Still it wasn’t enough to endure the robot horde.



Game 4:
Army 1 – Very Dangerous Over a Short Distance
Gimli – 160 Points
Migol – 110 Points
Axegrinders x3 – 210 Points
Marcu – 20 Points
500 Points

Army 2 – Romans + Brits
Roman Legionnaires x3 – 150 Points
10th Regiment x2 – 150 Points
Marcus – 100 Points
Ne-Gok-Sa – 90 Points
Isamu – 10 Points
500 Points

Round 1: Romans win initiative. Both sides rush the hill.

Round 2: Romans win initiative. Marcus and Romans claim the top of the hill. Gimli takes one wound. Gimli kills one Legionnaire while an Axegrinder kills another. A dwarf claims Dagmar. Marcus attacks with height and inflicts 3 wounds on Gimli. More Romans move up while the last one on the hill kills a dwarf. Gimli gets on equal footing as Marcus and deals 2 wounds to him. Marcus kills a dwarf with his height advantage and three Roman attacks kill Gimli. Axegrinders retaliate, killing one Roman and inflicting 2 wounds on Marcus.



Round 3: Romans still win Initiative. Dwarves weather their attacks, only losing one Axegrinder. Marcus receives one wound. One dwarf is killed as Ne-Gok-Sa and Roman reinforcements advance. Marcus survives another attack. Another dwarf killed by Marcus. Marcus is finally killed as the round ends, with Migol and more Axegrinders coming up the hill.



Round 4: Dwarves win initiative. Migol whiffs his attack but Axegrinders kill two Romans. Romans kill two dwarves in turn as NGK continues advancing. Migol claims height and kills a Legionnaire but Axegrinders fail to do more damage. Another dwarf killed. Migol again kills a Roman while Axegrinders fail to do more harm. NGS circles around and kills an Axegrinder, while Migol weathers Roman attacks.

Round 5: Dwarves win initiative. Migol kills a Roman while last dwarves advance on hill. Axegrinder on Dagmar is forced to abandon it to join the attack. Ne-Gok-Sa fails Mindshackle on Migol but inflicts 2 wounds on the leader with the help of the last Roman on the hill. Migol and dwarves kill two Romans. Romans fail to do damage. Dwarves kill one Roman. NGS and Roman kill two Axegrinders.

Round 6: Dwarves win initiative. Migol kills the last Legionnaire. NGS fails to Mindshackle or inflict damage, taking two wounds from Migol over the course of the round.

Round 7: Romans win initiative. NGS finally kills the last Axegrinder. Migol whiffs on his attack but inflicts one more wound before the round ends.

Round 8: Dwarves win initiative. Migol whiffs another attack. NGS whiffs in turn. Migol swings for 2 and kills Ne-Gok-Sa. 10th Reg begin moving up. Marcu begins his advance.

Round 9: Dwarves win initiative. Marcu moves toward the Wannok glyph. Regiment move up as well. Marucu claims the glyph. Reg move up one man to fire on him, inflicting a wound. Migol steps back, waiting for initiative before acting further. Marcu takes another wound.



Round 10: Romans win initiative, getting their 20 too late. Wannok kills Isamu. Wait Then Fire kills Marcu. Migol rushes in but whiffs. WTF from height inflicts two wounds on Migol. The dwarf kills one brit before he is shot to death, ending the game.

Outcome: British victory. 7 Regiment remain (~135 Points)
Sadly Gimli did not perform very well here. His forces traded very poorly with the less-expensive Romans and their less-expensive bonding heroes. His Dwarven Assault attacks failed to inflict as much damage as previous games and his 5 defense still didn’t save him from some serious injuries (3 wounds from Marcus in a single attack, oof). He was dead on Round 2. He got some bad luck this game overall, but nonetheless it meant that the Axegrinder army spent near the entirety of their force against the Romans, meaning that by the time the Regiment moved up there was almost nothing left.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Overall Gimli performed very well, save for the occasional whiff on his 5-defense. The Dwarves won 2 and lost 2 but Gimli himself almost always did well (and I self-admit that I'm not that good with the Axegrinders). Dwarven Assault is a terribly fearsome power when combined with his 4 Attack, and the fact that you can get more attacks that turn on top of it with Axegrinders just makes them a killing machine. It's like if the Monks could bond with Master Woo.

Additionally Durin’s Tactics is pretty easy to get and maintain, either against melee armies or against ranged armies’ screens. I didn’t play him against any snipers or kiters like Omicrons or Agents, so I don’t know if he’d fall apart against them (probably not because he still has solid defense without Durin’s Tactics).

Fearless Advantage didn’t come into play much, but I imagine it’d make him even more killer since it is a very strong power, and two attacks for 5 is nothing to sneeze at (as Su-Bak-Na learned the hard way).

I could see bumping him to 170 at minimum for changes, potentially dropping Fearless Advantage if it is a superfluous ability, but we’ll see. I will say that 160+ makes him a very expensive choice of bonding hero for the axegrinders (170 would be as much as Migol and Darrak combined), but it hardly matters at his power level.

~TAF

[Knox]

These abilities are great, but do you really want 5 attack/6 defense with double attack when engaged with large or huge figures? I would really think Fearless Advantage and Durin's Tactics should not both be on the same card.

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Knox

These abilities are great, but do you really want 5 attack/6 defense with double attack when engaged with large or huge figures? I would really think Fearless Advantage and Durin's Tactics should not both be on the same card.

I could easily be talked into dropping Fearless Advantage since Gimli is more than good as is and not every unit needs 3 powers.

~TAF

[Knox]

I think that's the move then.

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

I could easily be talked into dropping Fearless Advantage since Gimli is more than good as is and not every unit needs 3 powers.

~TAF