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#1
November 12th, 2007, 03:42 AM
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Unit Strategy Review: How to Use Mimring
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 Unit Strategy Review Unit: Mimring Author: Taeblewalker (with thanks to my sewing circle) The first dragon ever in Heroscape, Mimring holds a special place in our hearts. And yet, his Fireline never seems to live up to its potential, only catching one or two figures at best. His Life of 5, once the highest in the game, is now average, and doesn’t help him much given his poor Defense of 3. Flying and Move 6 are common enough now that he no longer rules the skies over Valhalla as he once did. Aside from love and nostalgia, is there any way to redeem this once-great draconic villain among wyrmkind? Read on! We will begin with his stats. Vital Statistics Cost – 150 – Knight Size – Huge 9 – Highly Visible Life – 5 – Average Move – 6 – Good Range – 1 – Melee Attack – 4 – Good Defense – 3 – Poor Fireline – roll 4 Attack dice against all figures within an 8 hex long straight line – tactical advantage medium (would be high on a square grid) Flying – tactical advantage high Tournament Readiness: Medium In-Depth Analysis We shall now look carefully at Mimring’s statistics, and draw strategies from our conclusions. Let us start with cost. Below is an explanation of Agatagary's cost classification: Pawn class (expendable, units that can be useful, but are not worth enormous trouble to protect) Bishop class (more useful than a pawn, but still somewhat expendable) Knight class (units that are interestingly powerful and can have a significant impact on the game in of themselves. It is advisable that they be kept alive, but if absolutely necessary they may be sacrificed) Rook class (units that almost inevitably have a significant impact on the game, and whose death should be avoided as much as possible) Queen class (devastatingly powerful or important units that should be protected at all costs) Class Let us begin with an analysis of Mimring’s size and cost. At 150 points, Mimring is a Knight class unit. He works well with a host of other units, particularly other Beasts and the Arrow Gruts. He supports the rest of your army while flying around, strafing the enemy with Fireline. However, he is not so expensive or powerful that you would keep him alive at all costs. To examine Mimring’s core stats, we will break them up into two categories—offensive ability and survivability. Offense: Mimring’s Attack of 4 can be modified normally, and his height allows him to engage figures that are on fairly high ground. With a threat range of 14, his Fireline can do serious damage if he can line it up properly. Survivability: With a Defense of 3 and Life of 5, Mimring’s Survivability is low for such an expensive figure. His flying allows him to get away before melee units come too close, but you must keep him at the extreme of his Fireline Range of 8 to avoid most ranged attacks. Tournament Readiness: Since Mimring is reasonably priced, and bonds well with others, he is a decent draft choice. Nonetheless, his low survivability and poorer usefulness against spread out A+ squads such as the 10th Regiment of Foot and the Marro Stingers (when these units are not in optimal Fireline position) brings him down to medium. Using him with Ornak offsets this somewhat. General Strategy: Due to his relatively low Survivability, you don’t want Mimring to get caught up in melee. At the same time, even ranged units will take him out before long. In light of this, you might think it wise to have Mimring sit on a perch, staying back from his enemies and punishing them with Fireline. After all, even without bonuses from height, you still have an Attack of 4 with an almost unmatched Range of 8. However, with the small size of many boards and the inexorable advance of enemy units, you will only have a few turns at most to utilize this strategy, before the shooters and even melee units can reach you. Fireline is not a static power. Mimring is a ferocious winged beast who makes terrible passes at his enemies. Bear in mind, though, that with his decent but not stellar flying speed, he won’t be able to enact this plan unless his allies are sent out to hold the enemy down in place. Bonded Arrow Gruts are ideal for temporarily tying up other units. They move on the same order markers he does, they don’t cost too much, and they have a decent Move. They can also be sent out there with some Swog Riders, tying up the enemy with a decent Attack and Defense and setting up Mimring’s Fireline for the next turn with Disengage and superior mobility. If you are careful to leave a corridor for him, Mimring can choose a line of sight that catches few, if any Swogs or Arrow Gruts and gets one or more higher cost enemy units. With the enemy caught in this quagmire of inexpensive Pawn and Bishop units, Mimring’s Move of 6 and Flying will be sufficient to let him strafe the battlefield, making deadly flying passes at his enemies. What if your enemy is onto this plan and tries to maneuver his forces so that there are fewer decent Fireline options? The beauty of adding the Swog Riders to the combo is that you can take turns with them instead of Mimring on turns when Fireline is not the best option. Mimring needn’t spend every turn active for you to use him effectively. With Disengage, the Swog Riders and Arrow Gruts together can rearrange the battlefield to engineer more Fireline options in a few turns. Meanwhile, some of those same Orcs can be used to stand beside Mimring and protect him from units that may try to swarm him. The trick is to choose at least two Swog Riders and at least three Arrow Gruts squads if you can, so that you have a sizable army that works in tandem. If you also have Krug, throw the big lug out there among the enemies you wish to Fireline. If you have ever used Krug, you were doubtless frustrated at how easily he is hurt by ranged units; use that to your advantage! Send him out to smash your enemies on one order marker, then use Mimring the next to Fireline Krug along with your enemies. Blocked line of sight won’t help your enemies hide behind him, and when your third turn comes around, you may have just turned Krug into a more effective killing machine. All the while, of course, Beast Bonding means that your Arrow Gruts will get to act – and if your Swog Riders are stationed next to them, they can take up some of the slack that a poor Fireline roll can leave. Some units do not bond with Mimring but can still be useful to him. The Gladiatrons and Major X17 can reliably hold other figures in place, and if you deploy them correctly, they need not get caught in Fireline. The Deathreavers have already become a cheap, perennial favorite for tying other figures down. Any cheap units can fit the role, though not as well as the Arrow Gruts who actually bond with Mimring. Any other battlefield setup, in fact, can benefit from an opportunistic Fireline thrown in for good measure. While an Attack of 4 is decent enough to provide some level of threat to any figure, certain targets receive priority. Units like Sgt. Drake Alexander that are immune to normal ranged attacks will fear Mimring’s Fireline. Several of these heroes need softening up, and your support units should put a few wounds on them first. Any squad figure with a Defense of less than 6 will die on average in one turn. Heroes with a low Life and a low Defense such as Dead-eye Dan and Sonya Esenwein will also fall quickly, but beware those units with a high Range, such as Syvarris and the Omnicron Snipers. They can fight back most easily, so take them out before comparable melee units. Lastly, don't neglect the "sitting ducks:" cheap squads with a low Defense that tend to cluster like the Roman Archers or Arrow Gruts. Remember that Fireline only works in a straight line. That is sometimes difficult to work with on a hex grid. Helpfully, Mimring has two base hexes from which he may Fireline, giving him ten different lines of fiery death from which to choose! Units that clump together, such as Orc Champions with their Gruts or the Knights and Sentinels surrounding Concan the Kyrie Warrior, tend to be better targets for Explosion than Fireline, but they will still tend to give you at least two targets per attack. Don’t neglect the fact that Fireline can be used even on figures with which Mimring is engaged. If you are afraid of harming your own figures this way, use his normal Attack, which is just as high. On the occasion that Mimring gets stuck adjacent to an enemy who is on lower ground, take the extra attack die. With all this talk about straight lines, let's not forget that these lines go up and down as high as you'd like! Anyone in Mimring's line of sight is fair game, even if they are above and below one another on different levels. Figures under an overhang can be targeted at the same time as those right above them, giving you a total of sixteen hexes Mimring can threaten with that one line of effect! Certain map builds like Migol's Tomb in the Rise of the Valkyrie Master Set were made for this tactic. While many (if not most) maps will not have such overhangs, Mimring is a sure draft choice for one that does. Note, however, that if your opponent manages to get his ranged units on the overhang and you can't kill them fast enough, Mimring will have to be extremely careful. As long as their Range is less than 8, you can Fireline the figure in front, but if not, you will need to simply stay away. Certain units may “encourage” the enemy to line up single-file, even if your opponent is well aware that Mimring lurks nearby, waiting to use Fireline. Double-space figures like the Deathstalkers or the Marrden Hounds can create living walls on either side that prevent your opponent from being able to move his figures. Their Defense of 5 makes them difficult to remove. For the Marrden Hounds in particular, you can keep them just close enough that certain hexes are just outside of the threat range of their Marro Plague – a power many units will seek to avoid. Those “safe” hexes are, of course, exactly where you want the enemy to line up for Fireline. If your opponent does not fall for the trap, Marro Plague will endanger his forces instead. So far we have discussed the active use of support units. Now we will discuss the passive role of terrain. Several types of terrain can also slow units down, keeping Mimring from immediate engagement. Between water, slippery ice, heavy snow, molten lava, the fear of lava field, ruins, Road to the Forgotten Forest walls, and just plain old elevations, terrain can make it difficult for figures to catch up to Mimring while he skirts the edge of the battle, raining fire upon his enemies and moving on before they can catch him. Even swamp water, which does not hinder movement per se, requires a figure to spend a movement point to come up onto the shore. Remember that Mimring can see over ruins, so as long as his enemies are not adjacent to the other side of the ruins, he can Fireline them. Aside from using terrain to keep Mimring out of your enemy’s reach, you can use it to set up your targets. Narrow passes that follow a straight line are rare in Heroscape, but the 5-hex bridge is often a one-way tunnel of doom for those figures that dare to approach Mimring’s position. His decent flying speed can place him in one or two turns at either end of the bridge. Trees, placed thickly, can also force figures to move in single file. The same applies to ruins and castle walls. Woe to your opponent if she tries to send an entire squad of anything across even a single space-wide river! Your opponent might not expect Mimring to land in the river, but if he does, he can Fireline the whole squad attempting to ford, provided the river is straight and not zig-zag. The tops of castles are often also only one hex wide, so placing Mimring on the castle wall allows him to send fire down the entire length of the wall section at any defenders (or attackers, if the castle is in your possession). Mimring is particularly deadly using this tactic - he fits easily on a one-hex wide castle wall, and can roast enemies that lose their massive advantage over him. Your opponent will be sorry that she lined up the Omnicron Snipers or 4th Massachusetts Line on that wall! EDIT: The addition of the Mohican River Tribe and Brave Arrow apparently breathe new life into Mimring - the official ruling seems to be that Fireline does not technically target a figure, but simply targets the hexes. This is the one case where a special attack negates Concealment 19 and Concealment 10. Mimring takes the bite out of the Native American force. Optional Strategy: Dragon’s Hoard: For all his mobility, sometimes you simply need the big lizard to defend a key location, such as a castle or a glyph. You are now looking at a more static game. You still need to treat Fireline as a mobile power, but in this instance, you will keep Mimring within a smaller overall area. He can provide a great defense for a flag or for another unit holding a glyph. This flies in the face of regular strategy, as you are no longer making passes by flying around the board. You will need to take special care to keep enemy units from approaching him. Consider drafting the Knights of Weston. A turn or two is all that is needed to send out the Knights and their bonded Human Champion to tie up both enemies that want to get in close or take shots at Mimring from afar. Consider using Finn the Viking Champion or Thorgrim the Viking Champion, both of whom can boost the Knights while alive and then boost Mimring when they die. Remember that Mimring is a wily old wyrm; if your Viking is down to one Life and two enemy units have flanked him, use Mimring to Fireline all three figures, taking out your enemies while you have the chance and gaining the immediate boost to his Attack or Defense. Admittedly, Finn only helps if Mimring is trapped and needs to bite an adjacent enemy, but some figure is likely to get through eventually, making Finn’s placement worth it. Better yet, if you can, place Finn on another hero, like Krug! Eldgrim the Viking Champion is useful in the same way, though he does not directly benefit the Knights in any way while alive. Where he can shine is in his ability to Overextend, giving him another turn in which to disrupt the advance of enemy units trying to reach Mimring. Ornak: Mimring can provide a great one-two punch to soften up an enemy from afar as your other bonded hero (using Red Flag of Fury) moves in to finish the job. A well-placed Fireline in advance of Me-Burq-Sa's assault can maximize your Order Marker #1, as both of these units have a threat range of 14. Alternately, You can advance one hero, such as Brunak, to attack, while keeping Mimring back to Fireline advancing squad units who threaten the flagbearer. Units to Avoid: Heavy Melee Units: Don’t let Sgt. Drake Alexander, Agent Carr or the gladiators get too close. The same goes for Huge units like Jotun and Tor-Kul-Na. Mimring is meant to take out weaker figures from a distance. Don’t tackle these units until they are down to one or two Life and are far enough away that they will take at least two moves to get to Mimring. The Kyrie Squads: The Einar Imperium can make chop dragon out of Mimring if they get close. Their Move is high enough to catch up to him, especially if Marcus is in your opponent's army. Stealth Flying allows them to approach him, and their double attack is what makes them really dangerous. Steer clear! The Minions of Utgar and the Sentinels of Jandar have too high a Defense to fear Mimring, and each, especially the Minions, can take him out if they get close. Dünd and the Fiorlag Spiders: Mimring or his Arrow Gruts can both suffer the ignominy of losing their order markers to these units. Sujoah is often not far behind where the Spiders are concerned. Try to avoid their clutches, especially if your opponent has Venoc Warlord to improve their speed through Scout Leadership. If you cannot, spread your order markers around a bit with your other units. Cyprien Esenwein and other Stealth Fliers: Cyprien's Chilling Touch power can take out Mimring at full health in one shot on a lucky roll. Cyprien will be able to avoid your lines of Arrow Gruts and Deathreavers as well, ready to pounce for the final kill. The Einar Imperium were already mentioned, but don't forget Empress Kiova and the Shades of Bleakewood; they have high enough Defense that you cannot rely upon Fireline to get them all before they reach Mimring. If you don't have units that can take them out reliably, you might want to send one of your own assassin units, to threaten an important unit in your opponent's army; this will take some of the heat off Mimring. For additional information see the Book of Mimring 
Last edited by Taeblewalker; May 25th, 2009 at 06:27 PM. Reason: Changed contact info 
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#2
November 12th, 2007, 11:04 AM
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Good article!
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#3
November 12th, 2007, 12:23 PM
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Quote:
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#4
November 20th, 2007, 03:08 PM
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Good work, as usual, oh analytical one. I have to ask- have you made proxies of all the as yet unreleased figures, or are you projecting guesses? Just curius how that Su-Joah/spider combo plays out in the jungle.
One thing- I think you need to clarify to which army Marcus belong under Units To Aviod: Kyrie. ________________________ now playing: WYEP FM (public adult alt. radio) http://www.wyep.org
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#5
November 20th, 2007, 10:24 PM
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As for proxies, a few years ago I made up a tarantula squad that was a lot like the Fiorlag Spiders (fast, 3 figures, size 2). They did not have the same abilities (they had a leaping power), but when I used them, they were able to get around Mimring and similar figures pretty easily, forcing leaving engagement attacks (like the Deathreavers). I just extrapolated from there, with the understanding that A) they now have the order marker ability and B) Predator Bonding should work as well as any other type of bonding (i.e., it guarantees you a turn with the bonded unit if you have at least a few of the commons left).
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#6
November 25th, 2007, 07:12 PM
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If you only have a master set, I would keep Mimring back and use the two viking champions. They would increase his attack and defence by one. I never used this strategy before but I think it may help. It's like a good plan of an Utgar and Jandar alliance.
  
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#7
February 10th, 2008, 01:19 PM
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#8
February 18th, 2008, 10:26 AM
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Great post..!
I seldom use Mimring because of his point value and the big bullseye he has on him whenever I throw him in. I can spend the 150 points on something else that will do more damage or has better synergy with the army I'm using. When I have used him though I always keep him as my final wave.... I do this because as a front line figure he tends to get chipped away &or killed altogether and opponents will scatter armies making his Fire Line useless. But as a last resort he seems to make up for it...I wait until my opponent is engaged and hopefully not paying attention to where his army is grouped. Once I see a promising chance to get the best effect from his Fire Line I activate him and hope for the best. Hyper Better to reign in Hell, Than serve in Heaven - Paradise lost (1667) 
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#9
February 18th, 2008, 12:35 PM
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I always try to view Mimring just as a flying, ranged unit. I will play him defensively, trying to use his Flying to maintain height advantage while attacking my target from a distance. If I get another figure in the line, that's a bonus. Like battle reports? Click Tourney Reports (New 10/21/2012 - Cutters / Brutes!) KC's Maps Click KC's Customs Scaper of the Week #57
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#10
February 18th, 2008, 12:51 PM
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I'm going to try and use him like you described KillerC...Maybe use him to lure opponents into a cross fire situation. Better to reign in Hell, Than serve in Heaven - Paradise lost (1667)
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#11
February 18th, 2008, 02:09 PM
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I think he really shines the best when bonded with the Arrow Gruts. That way, if he does get ganged upon, you don't lose a turn and can still activate another beast (Krug or a Swoggie).
Like battle reports? Click Tourney Reports (New 10/21/2012 - Cutters / Brutes!) KC's Maps Click KC's Customs Scaper of the Week #57
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#12
February 18th, 2008, 02:41 PM
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Something I thought up but haven't tried yet is using Mimring along with 4 squads of Marro Stingers. The Stingers would move out first to tie people up wreak havoc with their high attacks, after a while you bring out Mimring and now that the enemy is occupied you can fly around hitting multiple targets at once or use his range of 8 to back up your Stinger horde.
Plus that would still leave you with 110 points to play with. ---- Let's all be honest here ----  ---- This is what you thought of when you saw my name wasn't it?
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