Ixe's Custom Units

[Scytale]

Nice. It is both cleverly humorous and honestly interesting. I'd say the points are in the ballpark too; while their stats aren't amazing, they have the unusual advantage of not getting weaker when they lose figures.

[DanieLoche]

I really like the concept too !! It seems to be a very good solution for unique squads ! I'll probably use it when I find the good figure...

*must spread some rep...*

[Ixe]

Thank you all for commenting on the ninjas (and so positively at that). I wouldn't mind seeing a more serious take on that power with another squad, either.

Unique squads have an inherent weakness their common brethren since losing their numbers translates instantly into loss of efficacy. When facing against a unique squad, it can actually benefit you to not even fully wipe them out and focus your attacks against other parts of your opponent's army that aren't crippled. I'm a bit of a sucker for any power that plays off of a unit's inherent weakness, like this or C3V's B-11 Resistance Corps.

[Ixe]

Thanks again to everyone who posted on the ninjas. Here's another squad to look at:


This is Damiel, Iconic Alchemist from Pathfinder Reaper Miniatures. It is an unpainted miniature.


This is Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist from Warmachine: Mercenaries.


Lastly, this is Arcanist Solo from Warmachine: Retribution.

NAME = Breland Artificers
GENERAL = Vydar
PLANET = Eberron
SPECIES = Elves
CLASS = Artificers
PERSONALITY = Tricky
SIZE = Medium 5
COMMON SQUAD

Life = 1
Move = 5
Range = 1
Attack = 1
Defense = 2
Points = 75 (?)

ARTIFICE BONDING
Before taking a turn with Breland Artificers, you may first take with any Warforged or Golem Hero you control. Before moving the chosen Hero, if there is at least one Breland Artificer that you control that is adjacent to the chosen Hero, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll an 11 or higher, remove 1 wound maker from the chosen Hero's Army Card.

ACID FLASK SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Lob 12. Attack 2.
A Breland Artificer that moved but did not attack normally may use Acid Flask Special Attack. Choose a figure to attack. No clear line of sight is needed. Any figures adjacent to the chosen figure are also affected by the Acid Flask Special Attack. Roll 2 attack dice once for all affected figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.


These guys are artificers giving some support for golems and the warforged heroes. Thematically, they are able to tinker around and heal the constructs up if they are adjacent to their hero when they start to go. Beyond that, they can hurl acid flasks which explode on contact.

Point-wise, I'm not too sure where they'd fall. Having a lob area attack, even a weak one, is not to be overlooked on a 3 man common squad. Throw bonding and healing on that and it doesn't look that bad despite their fragility.

[Scytale]

I quite like the idea of a squad of alchemists/artificers. The theme comes through well in their powers too. I probably wouldn't call it "Life Bonding" with the Nagrub quick meal precedent, but I don't have a better suggestion.

A squad like this is really difficult to nail down the point cost. The Golem and Warforged heroes are already pretty good and known for being tough to bring down. Giving them both bonding and heals is pretty huge. Not to mention Acid Flask is pretty useful; not particularly strong but versatile and capable of attacking many figures each turn. On the other hand, their stats are terrible for a 3-man melee squad. Fortunately for them they have Acid Flasks to toss, but even those are pretty close range and far from guaranteed to get kills. These guys will get mowed down by most anything. 75pts is a good guess, but I really don't know.

[Ixe]

Originally Posted by Scytale

I quite like the idea of a squad of alchemists/artificers. The theme comes through well in their powers too. I probably wouldn't call it "Life Bonding" with the Nagrub quick meal precedent, but I don't have a better suggestion.

A squad like this is really difficult to nail down the point cost. The Golem and Warforged heroes are already pretty good and known for being tough to bring down. Giving them both bonding and heals is pretty huge. Not to mention Acid Flask is pretty useful; not particularly strong but versatile and capable of attacking many figures each turn. On the other hand, their stats are terrible for a 3-man melee squad. Fortunately for them they have Acid Flasks to toss, but even those are pretty close range and far from guaranteed to get kills. These guys will get mowed down by most anything. 75pts is a good guess, but I really don't know.

Thanks for commenting. I certainly hesitated over calling it Life Bonding since the Nagrubs do indeed get eaten in the process, but I wasn't positive of which way to go with it. I am certainly open to changing it.

These guys succeed at nothing if not theme. I'm actually tempted to beat their pathetic stats down even further and drop them to 1 attack die. This way there is increased tension on whether or not to run the risk of catching yourself with an acid flask than using an equally viable, if not better with height, normal attack.

I have yet to give them a go since I've been a little busy with other playtests (check out this issue of the Codex to see my article series on playtesting), but I'm imagining they are pretty high-risk, high-reward. Their flasks have the potential to devastate low defense, clustered armies but they are likely to fall just as quickly. I am very curious about how this pairs with the much hardier and dependable golems and warforged heroes that they work with and if it compliments nicely or falls flat.

[flameslayer93]

Would Regenerative Bonding be better? Reforge might also work...

[johnny139]

"Warforged or Golem [Blank] Bonding" is pretty clunky in general. Might be better to just come up with something brief and catchier - "Alchemical Bonding" or something along those lines.

[Ixe]

I have to agree that the name is no good. Seeing things like Unholy Bonding and Taskmaster Bonding, it does not need to have such an explicit naming scheme. I'll go with Artifice Bonding instead.

Thanks for commenting, everyone.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Huh, not sure how I've missed your thread here.

Nice job on the artificers

The end of Artifice Bonding should probably be "remove 1 wound maker from the chosen Hero's Army Card" to match Life Bonding's wording.

I think Acid Flask needs either something along the lines of the Wolves of Badru's 'that moved but did not attack normally' wording, or the Microcorp Troopers 'that was activated' wording at the beginning. As currently written, one could argue that you could have every Artificer you control attack with the Flasks each turn (as they didn't attack normally that turn).

Other than that, everything looks good wording wise.

I actually have that first figure (well, the bones version of it), it's a pretty nice one. The other two look good, particularly the gas-mask guy, it's a shame Warmachine stuff is so crazy expensive though.

[Ixe]

Edited accordingly. Thanks for the corrections, Soundwarp SG-1. I had based the flask wording off of the Airborn Elite, but they are Unique so it's not the best scheme for a Common.

I have to admit that I don't have any of these. Sometimes I just want to take a stab at a design idea and pick whatever miniatures I want, even if I don't have them. I did the same for the Ninjas of the Southern Wind, though I at least own all my other units so far.

[Ixe]

Here is a complicated, thematic, and hopefully fun card:


This is Aldern Foxglove from Pathfinder Miniatures Rise of the Runelords. I am uncertain as to his availability.


And this is Skinsaw Man from Pathfinder Miniatures Rise of the Runelords. Again, I am uncertain as to how many are available.

NAME = Doctor Leljyk
GENERAL = Vydar
PLANET = Earth
SPECIES = Human
CLASS = Doctor
PERSONALITY = Tricky
SIZE = Medium 5
UNIQUE HERO

Life = 6
Move = 5
Range = 1
Attack = 2
Defense = 3
Points = 45

MUTATING POTION
When revealing a numbered order marker on Dr. Leljyk's Army Card, after taking a turn with Dr. Leljyk, you may reveal an unrevealed "X" order marker that is on Dr. Leljyk's Army Card to mutate Dr. Leljyk into Dhye if Dhye is in your army. Move all markers and figures from Dr. Leljyk's Army Card and place them onto Dhye's Army Card. Place Dr. Leljyk on his Army Card and place Dhye on Dr. Leljyk's previously occupied space. When Dr. Leljyk mutates into Dhye, you may immediately take a turn with Dhye.

DOCTOR'S HEALING
After moving and before attacking, you may choose a wounded Human adjacent to Doctor Leljyk. Roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 13 or higher, remove up to 2 wound markers from the chosen figure's Army Card.


NAME = Dhye
GENERAL = Vydar
PLANET = Earth
SPECIES = Human
CLASS = Beast
PERSONALITY = Wild
SIZE = Medium 5
UNIQUE HERO

Life = 6
Move = 5
Range = 1
Attack = 3
Defense = 2
Points = 45

DOCTOR LELJYK'S BETTER HALF
Dhye does not start the game on the battlefield. He must be mutated from Doctor Leljyk.

DOUBLE ATTACK
When Dhye attacks, he may attack an additional time.

REVERT MUTATION
After revealing a numbered order marker on Dhye's Army Card, after taking a turn with Dhye, you may reveal an unrevealed "X" order marker on Dhye's Army Card to revert Dhye back to Doctor Leljyk. Move all figures and markers from Dhye's Army Card to Doctor Leljyk's Army Card. Place Dhye on his Army Card and place Doctor Leljyk on Dhye's previously occupied space. When Dhye reverts into Doctor Leljyk, you may immediately take a turn with Doctor Leljyk.

As promised, this is a pretty crazy build that is thematically playing off of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (with some very obvious anagrams). The two are able and even somewhat encouraged to transform back and forth, netting an extra action in the process. They are otherwise near inversions of each other, Dr. Leljyk able to heal and more defensive while Dhye is much more offensive.

As always, I'm interested to hear what people think and appreciated any and all comments.