SD's Customs - Sharro Warlord

[Sir Dendrik]

SHARRO WARLORD

(Not thoroughly playtested.)

When a Marro is born, it is born twice. Once from the hive, and once from the shadow. The Marro call these shadow beings the "Sharro", and they have come to honor them as counterparts of a common soul.

Most of the Sharro take up residence on the dark side of Daedalus, one of Marr's many moons. They live in pools of shadow, mingling with their fellow Sharro. But occasionally, the Sharro leak back to Marr to wage war on whatever species they may find.

Ne-Gok-Sa recognized his Sharro the second the Alusian Standoff began. He knew he was up for a fight. It is a rarity for a Marro to ever see their Sharro again, but on that fateful day, it happened. The Sharro Warlord was invigorated by seeing his Marro. It is said that when he saw Ne-Gok-Sa his body took on the stable characteristics of Marro flesh. With this new form the Sharro Warlord was able to defeat a legion of Marro, before retreating back to Daedalus, leaving a wounded legion of soldiers behind.

ONYX WARLORD

Spoiler Alert!

The Onyx Warlord has entered the fray, inspiring his loyal vipers to sharpen their senses and evade as the Onyx do.

KEE-MO-SHI

Spoiler Alert!

(Not thoroughly playtested.)

Kee-Mo-Shi strikes hearts into all who face her. After many years of perfecting her puppet master technique, she is ready to command hoarding of Mind Shackles fiends.

MEWTWO

Spoiler Alert!

(Not thoroughly playtested.)

"Breaking news--the young boy who has been terrorizing Kanto with the genetic abomination he caught in a dungeon, whereabouts unknown, has met his match! It's another boy who has done the exact same thing in another rift in space time which is identical to our own! Let's go to the feed...

"Yes, Aerodactyl, the extinct pokemon, has been rigged with a camera to give us every blow of this battle between two young boys, each of them with his own... Mewtwo? Is that it's name? Okay, fine.

"Oo--a glancing blow as one of them uses Psychic... not very effective. What's this? It's shooting stars at the other one! Up, recover... Back to square one."

30 minutes later, the PP for Recover has run out.

"Another weak Swift strike... Another returned... And finally, another Swift... Could this be it?! The Mewtwo that has been terrorizing the Kanto region has just--huh? Where did it go? Hm, weird. It was probably teleported to Valhalla as some sort of cross platform thing. Or maybe it just used Teleport.

"Next up, Professor Oak will tell us how he manages to echo his voice in all of our heads from miles away!

COMMANDER KWAZAR

Spoiler Alert!

Mini: Repainted Protector of Ullar, green turns purple, brown wings

Bio: "This is how it's done, boys!" Commander Kwazar jeered at the Imperium members in tow as he shot a bolt directly into the face of a nearby Marro. "Just keep your hands off the lady! She's mine!"

Empress Kiova ed and the Imperium members shook their heads in silent protest, though they would not allow their new Commander to see. He had a certain way about him which no one particularly liked, save Kiova.

"We could have easily done this mission ourselves..."

"Einar doesn't trust us anymore, not after the last screw up. That's why he assigned this idiot to lead us... He thinks this guy can help us restore our reputation..."

"...That's not an Einar Kyrie. That's clearly an Ullar Kyrie--Did he just get purple paint on the Empress's gown?!"

Commander Kwazar was now dancing with Empress Kiova, spinning in circles and shooting bolts at the Marro horde while the Imperium waited behind. "See how it's done, fellas! You could learn a thing or two!"

The Imperium sighed as a ray from a Marro Stinger hit Commander Kwazar square in the chest, sending him flying into an evergreen tree. "Whew! Enough lessons for today--your turn, boys. Let's see you paper dragons fly!"

Gameplay: Commander Kwazar makes for a nice compact 490 point army of him, Kiova, and 2x Einar Imperium. He gives order marker flexibility and lets you get a ranged shot of 3 (or 4) every time you move Kiova up to protect your Imperium. He makes it easy to stay adjacent to Kiova to pull off Heroic Rescues, effectively giving Kiova 4 more life, or the odd Imperium member that he happens to be next to. The entire army has Stealth Flying, which means you can kill bonding heroes and Raelin before anything else, and Rats are a complete non-factor. And you'll have your whole army into the fray by Round 2 while the opponent is still working to get mobilized. Eventuallly you'll switch Order Markers to the Imperium and Kwazar will die, having served his purpose.

Commander Kwazar ain't half bad in his own right--Stealth Flying + Range is nothing to sneeze at. He makes a nice clean up unit in non-Einar Kyrie armies, especially ones that happen to have Marcus Decimus Gallus or Atlaga in tow. The opponent will be scrambling to catch him with melee, but low defenses and 4 range keep him in check.

The Dancing Duo of Kiova and Kwazar is not half bad, either. They protect each other and Heroic Rescue allows them to die at the same time so they're operating at maximum efficiency. I'd grab these guys for a treasure quest scenario like Chaos in the Catacombs any day of the week.

Easily a B+ figure in the staple 2xImperium, Kiova, Kwazar army, bringing the other Einar Kyries up with him. The Einar Imperium just needed a little boost to get back in the game, and now they've got it. Just keep everyone in that dang aura!

Availability: If you've got Tyrian the Kyrie Warrior, odds are you have the extra mini to paint this unit up.

Overall: The Einar Imperium will be hitting the table a lot more with this guy around. I wouldn't hesitate to bring 2xImperium, Kiova, Kwazar to a more casual tournament.

TEST SQUIRRELS

Spoiler Alert!

Short Bio: An evil crime syndicate from the future has sent evil squirrels into the past to test their prototype time machine. Because of the gradual expansion of the universe, the squirrels are very large in size.

Long Bio:

TIME PATROL!

KREACH

Spoiler Alert!

Mini: Cave Troll (Reaper, Legendary Encounters)

Short Bio: He's a midget troll who was made fun of in high school by his larger brethren. He has gained a fervent rage against all things large.

Long Bio:Kreach arrived at school, renewed by summer vacation. His eyes darted to and fro, watching and waiting for Gugag to appear. Gugag had gotten the upper hand on Kreach in the past, but Kreach had been training all summer to show his fellow troll a thing or two.

"Oop!" Gugag snatched Kreach's lunch bag from his hand and held it high in the air. "Nah nah! Little bitty Kreach not tall enough! Little bitty Kreach a weak troll! Go cry to mommy, midget man!"

Kreach's classmates saw Gugag taunting Kreach, and they all began to laugh. Kreach felt a deep rage building inside of him. He hated Gugag and every other troll who had made fun of him for his stature... It was now or never. Everything he had been training for would have to be put into play.

Kreach's legs tensed, and he crouched down. Gugag was too busy laughing to notice.

Kreach sprung up, grabbed his lunch bag and flew over Gugag's head. Gugag turned, but Kreach ran to the other side of Gugag by the time his body swayed over.

Fueled by rage, Kreach slammed his fist into Gugag, sending him flying across down the hallway, where he crashed into a row of lockers.

Everyone stared at Kreach in silence. No one ever made fun of Kreach for his size again.

[Chardar]

Taelord already has his bonus from the DK's, so I don't think this should be centered around him. I'd drop devastating strike. These guys aren't going to be very offensive units, so it's kind of pointless. I'd replace it with a power that makes them unaffected by Helm of the Mitonsoul. That way they work well with both Runa and Taelord. The card and repaints are also very nice.

[Sir Dendrik]

Originally Posted by Chardar

Taelord already has his bonus from the DK's, so I don't think this should be centered around him. I'd drop devastating strike. These guys aren't going to be very offensive units, so it's kind of pointless. I'd replace it with a power that makes them unaffected by Helm of the Mitonsoul. That way they work well with both Runa and Taelord. The card and repaints are also very nice.

Points well taken, but I doubt the Death Knights will actually make Taelord more than "Okay". You'll get to activate the Death Knights while you position Taelord for Range, but it's still too little in my speculative opinion.

The idea here is that the Escorts will protect Taelord by giving him stealth dodge, making it optimal for the opponent to attack whatever range Taelord is boosting. They may attack the Escorts, but odds are that means they have to endure that many more shots from Snipers/10th.

After the range is dead, you then have a "Devastating" clean up force in the 3 devils.

As for Runa, I toyed with a "You may add 1 to your die roll for Helm of Mitonsoul while an Utgar Kyrie hero is within 3 clear sight spaces of the Escorts", but it was clumsy and wordy and didn't feel necessary. Runa can just stay away from the Escorts during her turn if you really want to use her.

But anyway, thanks for the feedback!

[Sir Dendrik]

Kreach added in OP!!!

[caps]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

[June 30, 2012] Overhauled the whole thread. The previous cards weren't playtested. These ones are.



Mini: Cave Troll (Reaper, Legendary Encounters)

Short Bio: He's a midget troll who was made fun of in high school by his larger brethren. He has gained a fervent rage against all things large.

Long Bio:Kreach arrived at school, renewed by summer vacation. His eyes darted to and fro, watching and waiting for Gugag to appear. Gugag had gotten the upper hand on Kreach in the past, but Kreach had been training all summer to show his fellow troll a thing or two.

"Oop!" Gugag snatched Kreach's lunch bag from his hand and held it high in the air. "Nah nah! Little bitty Kreach not tall enough! Little bitty Kreach a weak troll! Go cry to mommy, midget man!"

Kreach's classmates saw Gugag taunting Kreach, and they all began to laugh. Kreach felt a deep rage building inside of him. He hated Gugag and every other troll who had made fun of him for his stature... It was now or never. Everything he had been training for would have to be put into play.

Kreach's legs tensed, and he crouched down. Gugag was too busy laughing to notice.

Kreach sprung up, grabbed his lunch bag and flew over Gugag's head. Gugag turned, but Kreach ran to the other side of Gugag by the time his body swayed over.

Fueled by rage, Kreach slammed his fist into Gugag, sending him flying across down the hallway, where he crashed into a row of lockers.

Everyone stared at Kreach in silence. No one ever made fun of Kreach for his size again.

Gameplay: Kreach is a very fun unit. He's a mobile brute attack force, which is a niche not quite filled. I often draft him even if the opponent has no Large/Huge simply because it's fun to run and jump him around, attacking with that beefy 5 attack.

Against Large/Huge he is a monster, but his low defense keeps him in check. He will get some huge attacks in, but odds are the opponent will either kill him with their Large/Huge or play smart enough to kill Kreach with Small/Mediums. Stealth Leap means the opponent cannot become complacent about protecting their prized Large/Huge. His cost reflects his relative strengths and weaknesses in various situations.

The Death Knights get a nice boost from him, but Kreach can really take them or leave them. In a more competitive army I'd forgo the Death Knights for Braxas/something to take out screens. For casual play, the Death Knights and Kreach are a very fun army.

Kreach is rather competitive when properly supported. He's a compact and concentrated 2 squads of Axegrinders, though you'd probably do better with the grinders. As stated, Braxas is his best friend. His relatively low lifense is the check that balances him out.

Yes, I did have Q9 in mind when I started designing this unit. I just want one lousy unit that can hand him his a** on a platter. In the end Q9 with a rat screen still bests Kreach because of his low defense, but Kreach definitely puts some fear in the Major's heart.

Fun unit. He hits the game table a lot and inspires fear in opponents akin to Zelrig.

Theme: You have to give people a brief synopsis of his bio for the theme to come across, but once you do that he absolutely exudes theme. His mini is so much smaller than the other trolls, though ironically slightly larger than most mediums. You really feel like he's a short little guy with a chip on his shoulder, just waiting to rip a new one in the big guys who used to make fun of him.

Availability: Cave Troll (Reaper)
21 at auggies, 11 ebay sellers at the moment, available directly from Reaper website

Overall: Simple enough, but very fun unit. Regularly hits my gametable for fun reasons alone, never mind his competitiveness.

That's a great custom. I like it a lot.

[Arch-vile]

Kreach is very cool. The theme totally gets across and he looks like a great Q9 counter (if he hurries! Queglix could destroy him). It's nice that rats can't stop him, only slow him down. Awesome custom, Sir Dendrik.

[Sir Dendrik]

Test Squirrels? What the heck is going on with this one?

[Ninja Status]

Cool Customs Sir Dendrik my favorite has got to be Kreach. Keep it up +rep.

[Scytale]

Test Squirrels
Cute, but dark in a fun way with the backstory. This is the ultimate assassin squad; able to pick their drop point without the random drop time like the AE. Three attacks of 4 is enough to get the job done, and the +11 to initiative almost guarantees them first strike. After that, though, they'll die fairly quickly. But that's what assassin characters do, and these guys do it well.

Kreach
Another assassin unit of a different sort. Stealth Leap is a wonderful ability, but I can definitely see how an opponent can keep him from getting to his target with some careful play. 5 Life / 3 Defense just won't last too long in the front lines on his own, and the Death Knights only offer meager support. Still, Kreach is a force to be reckoned with, and definitely feared by the big boys.

[Sir Dendrik]

The bodacious Commander Kwazar enters the scene!

[Arch-vile]

Very cool, I like him. It's a good use of an extra Protector from the squad Tyrian broke. Quazar's Command is a good way to bring Einar's Kyrie to competitiveness.

A note of caution: a ranged stealth flier is extremely powerful in the endgame; sometimes melee won't be able to catch him at all. The Einar Imperium are so expensive it probably won't make much difference most of the time, but it's something to look out for; he may need a price increase.

Love the bio too.

[Sir Dendrik]

Originally Posted by Arch-vile

A note of caution: a ranged stealth flier is extremely powerful in the endgame; sometimes melee won't be able to catch him at all. The Einar Imperium are so expensive it probably won't make much difference most of the time, but it's something to look out for; he may need a price increase.

Thanks for the feedback! That's a good point--slow melee on uneven maps will have a hell of a time taking him down. In testing he never presented too much of a problem in this respect, but I never focused by efforts on trying to "break" him in this respect. I'll run a few more tests to see if I can't milk that Stealth Flying for all its worth.