The Book of Anubian Wolves

[RattyZ]

Originally Posted by Sujoah

It's just the fact that I lost to Anubian suicide that really sucks.

Well he WAS the last figure left alive in your army, can you really blame him?

My favorite part about the Anubian wolves is their unpredictability. Some opponents treat them like they don't matter, as they can be very weak and some opponents look at them like they're the meanest SoBs to ever walk the earth.

The reality is they can be both. Draft em, love em.

[Toad Rocket]

If you have the anubian wolves facing counterstrike I would not attack if you roll a weak attack. Especially vs the Izumi who have a weak attack themselves. I would rather trust my defense to hold him off an attack or two than a weak attack vs a counter strike at 5 die.

[Bogusoid]

Long time no bump, Anubian fans! I'm working on a from-scratch D&Dscape dungeon crawl that begins with a worn-out road through a foggy and shadowy forest. Using the River of Blood as a general guide, Player 1 gets a party of up to 500 points worth of Jandar, Ullar, Einar, Vydar, and Aquilla figures versus Player 2's 250-point army that must include at least one squad of Anubian Wolves. The map is small, hilly, and has one road set's worth of trees on it as well as two treasure glyphs, but they were no use as luck was on the side of the wolves!

I went for a predictable set up of 2x Anubians, Khosumet, and 1x Dumutef Guard for an even 250 and tested it against myself using Sonlen, Major Q10, Migol Ironwill, and Kumiko. Wouldn't you know it, the wolves scored a 16-19 about four times, a natural 20 twice, and only rolled 7-11 twice. My party of heroes was ripped to shreds until only Migol was left and his One Shield Defense could not preserve him as three wolves bore down on him with Khosumet adjacent to two of them.

Methinks these things can be an ace in the hole to any DM, but only a lot of personal testing will tell if it was purely luck or the construction of the board that spelled doom in Room 1.

[kolakoski]

Originally Posted by loborocket

I like living on the edge. I never take the Khosmet (sp?). Have I lost a couple of wolves along the way??? Of course. I just like taking my chances and drafting something else to compliment the wolves. KMA for cleanup after a wolf assult maybe?

I'd try Wyrmlings/Phantom Knights . . .

210 Red Wyrmlings x 7
150 Anubians x 2
140 Phantom Knights x 2
500

PKs screen, Wyrmlings take out commons, Anubians take out the rest.

[Acinonyx]

I have found Anubians tough to use in dungeon crawl situations. Either, they have poor rolls and are too easy to defeat, or there is a really good roll in there and they slaughter the adventuring party.

[kolakoski]

Originally Posted by Acinonyx

I have found Anubians tough to use in dungeon crawl situations. Either, they have poor rolls and are too easy to defeat, or there is a really good roll in there and they slaughter the adventuring party.

Isn't that the case for any high variance units. You might sat the same for Sudema or Runa or Braxas or . . .

[Acinonyx]

I think the difference comes from them being a squad instead of a hero. If people get fried trying to bring down Braxas, that can still be pretty epic and fun. If you are on the second turn in room 2 and a squad of wolves rolls a 20, I just feel like I need to apologize to the players, lol.

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by kolakoski

Isn't that the case for any high variance units. You might sat the same for Sudema or Runa or Braxas or . . .

I wouldn't continue that sentence. Too long of a list of D20 based characters.

The thing with high variance heroes is that they are not the core of your army. If they fall, then you might have to pull yourself back up; but with high variance squads, you better not have them as your main method of attacking or else you will be in a little trouble. And with the common thought of less is more(in terms of Army Cards anyways) on this site and in the competitive scene, having 2 routes of assault is not a great idea unless your using bonding somewhere. Of course there are ways to counter-act the high variance trap such as +1 boosts, skilled planning, and other good units to back them.

With the Anubiens anyways, the "+1 boost" usually equates to Khosumet. "Skilled planning" is often up to the user and "other good units" could be range.

Here's a thought for them, why not play with knights, 4th, and Finn? Lots of different units, but might be worth something.

How about:

Range as "other good units"

Anubiensx2
4thx2
Khosumet/////465(add filler to reach 500)
.................
Knights and Viking Champs to help fill in other good units

Knightsx2
Anubiensx2
Finn
Guilty(for range and Finn's spirit)

[kolakoski]

Originally Posted by flameslayer93

I wouldn't continue that sentence. Too long of a list of D20 based characters.

The thing with high variance heroes is that they are not the core of your army. If they fall, then you might have to pull yourself back up; but with high variance squads, you better not have them as your main method of attacking or else you will be in a little trouble. And with the common thought of less is more(in terms of Army Cards anyways) on this site and in the competitive scene, having 2 routes of assault is not a great idea unless your using bonding somewhere. Of course there are ways to counter-act the high variance trap such as +1 boosts, skilled planning, and other good units to back them.

With the Anubiens anyways, the "+1 boost" usually equates to Khosumet. "Skilled planning" is often up to the user and "other good units" could be range.

Messed up the "quote" .

2 squads of Anubians cost around the same amount as 1 hero, so you can "pull yourself back up" from their loss too. Plus, they have a decent defense and more lives than the other high-variance heroes mentioned above (except Braxas, who can be compared to 3 squads in the same way).

Also, suppose you knew what the 20-sider rolls would be for Braxas before she moved? How would that be? Yet, the Anubians get no respect compared to her. (I know it's not an exact analogy, but I'm just sayin' .)

[rednax]

I have a very hard time understanding how the Wolves are worth the points. With or without Khosumet they have a 50% chance of having an attack of three or lower, and a 25% chance of having an attack 2. With Khosumet they only have 50% chance of getting an attack of 4 or more. Doesn't sound too ferocious to me. The Wolves should be getting at least an attack of four 75% of the time or something like that for the price you pay.

~Rednax

[Aldin]

The 25% of the time you're rolling 5+ attack dice they are absolutely terrifying. Just getting a consistent attack of 4 costs you 75 points for the 3 defense Dzu-Teh. For the same 75 points you get the 4 defense AW that are faster and have a better attack 25% of the time. Underestimating the AW's speed and toughness is a bad idea

~Aldin, howling at the moon

[vertigosmooth]

Originally Posted by Aldin

The 25% of the time you're rolling 5+ attack dice they are absolutely terrifying. Just getting a consistent attack of 4 costs you 75 points for the 3 defense Dzu-Teh. For the same 75 points you get the 4 defense AW that are faster and have a better attack 25% of the time. Underestimating the AW's speed and toughness is a bad idea

~Aldin, howling at the moon

I agree with Aldin and Kolakoski completely on the wolves. The wolves are, in my opinion, an extremely underrated unit. They are fast, sturdy, and can have some of the most punishing attacks in the game. They are a bit tricky to learn how to play, but you would be surprised how well they can do if played correctly. They do, obviously, have a few weaknesses, but so do all units. If you can learn how to cover for their shortcomings you can win a lot of games with them. You don't fear heroes much with them, so you need to concentrate on helping them against 4 member squads, especially bonding ones. If you can even the numbers a bit before your wolves come into combat with them, they will do well. They will take height from most other melee units which will help them stay around longer. Another issue is them being tied down, all melee units have this issue but I think the wolves suffer the most from it. The reasons being that in order to take advantage of their huge attack when you roll it they need to have a clear path to their target(aim for the most powerful hero you can find) so a special attacker like Kaemon can really aid in rat or screen slaying. Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling, just my two cents.


Dustin
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