The Book of Crimson Widow

[Myriadite]

The Book of Crimson Widow

Age of Annihilation


Classic card made by @Anitar

Character Bio: TBA

CRIMSON WIDOW
Einar / Earth** / Human / Unique Hero / Captain / Bold / Medium 5
Life 5 / Move 5 / Range 1 / Attack 4 / Defense 3 / Points 150

PIRATE COMMANDER
If there is an Order Marker on Crimson Widow, all Pirate figures you control gain one additional attack die when attacking adjacent figures.

MIDNIGHT RAID
Before taking a turn with Crimson Widow, you may reveal the 'X' Order Marker on this Army Card to move up to two Pirate figures you control up to 3 spaces each. Any figures moved with Midnight Raid must be within 6 clear sight spaces of Crimson Widow prior to moving.

HIRE CREW
At the start of the game, you may choose a Unique Squad in your army. For this game the Squad's class is Pirates, regardless of what is listed on the card.

**Presumed Planet

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-Rulings and Clarifications-

N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

- ADMIRAL EJ-1M : Admiral's Orders:
As a Captain, Crimson Widow may benefit from Admiral EJ-1M's ADMIRAL'S ORDERS. (AoA)

- ADMIRAL EJ-1M : Boarding Party Special Attack:
As a Captain, Crimson Widow may be moved by Admiral EJ-1M's BOARDING PARTY. (AoA)

- DREADNAUTS OF NEW TORTUGA : Captain's Orders:
As a Unique Captain, Crimson Widow may benefit from Dreanauts of New Tortuga's CAPTAIN'S ORDERS activation synergy. (AoA)

- FIRST OFFICER BOK-BUR-NA : Intimidate:
As a Captain, Crimson Widow may benefit from First Officer Bok-Bur-Na's INTIMIDATE. (AoA)

- KNAVES OF THE SILVER SCIMITAR : Captain's Orders:
As a Unique Captain, Crimson Widow may benefit from Knaves of the Silver Scimitar's CAPTAIN'S ORDERS activation synergy. (AoA)

Synergy Benefits Offered

- PIRATE COMMANDER & MIDNIGHT RAID : Pirate figures:

• Cornelius Breech, the Derelict Prince
• Dorim, the Bulkhead Brawler
• Dreanauts of New Tortuga
• Exiles of the Sundered Sea
• Killian Vane III
• Knaves of the Silver Scimitar

- HIRE CREW : Any Unique Squad
One Unique Squad in your army may be selected for HIRE CREW, making them eligible for the following synergies:

Spoiler Alert!

• Benefitting from Admiral EJ-1M's ADMIRAL'S ORDERS. (AoA)
• Being moved by Admiral EJ-1M's BOARDING PARTY. (AoA)
• Benefitting from Crimson Widow's PIRATE COMMANDER attack enhancement. (AoA)
• Being moved by Crimson Widow's MIDNIGHT RAID. (AoA)
• Benefitting from First Officer Bok-Bur-Na's INTIMIDATE. (AoA)

- CORNELIUS BREECH THE BLACKGUARD PRINCE : Mutiny:
As a Unique Captain, if Crimson Widow is chosen by any or all Pirate Squads for The Captain's Way special power and receives a wound or is destroyed, Cornelius Breech the Blackguard Prince may become their chosen Captain for the rest of the game. (AoA)

- DREADNAUTS OF NEW TORTUGA / KNAVES OF THE SILVER SCIMITAR : The Captain's Way:
As a Unique Captain, Crimson Widow may be chosen to be Dreanauts of New Tortuga's and Knaves of the Silver Scimitar's chosen captain for THE CAPTAIN'S WAY. (AoA)

C3V and SoV Custom Synergies

Spoiler Alert!

Synergy Benefits Offered

Synergy Benefits Received

COUNT RAYMOND : MANEUVER 9
As a Human who follow Einar, Crimson Widow may benefit from Count Raymond's MANEUVER 9 ability.

EBON ARMOR : ANIMATED MATERIEL & ETERNAL WAR
As a Unique Human, a destroyed Ebon Armor you control may be placed on Crimson Widow's Army Card to replace Crimson Widow upon her own destruction.

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-Haslab Promotional Materials-

Spoiler Alert!

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Photograph courtesy of @Dartheyegouger

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-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Rankings

ryguy266: Crimson Widow: Hire Crew and Midnight Raid are what make the Admiral army top-tier. She doesn’t do much after that, but she doesn’t need to. Pirate Commander is the cherry on top of an incredible unit. A
(Subject to change)

Master Index
AoA Proxy Model Thread
Is this design finished?
Is this compatible with C3V/SoV?

Unit Strategy Review
- TBD

[Myriadite]

So which unique squads make good options for Hire Crew?

Looking at ryguy266's Age of Annihilation-Inclusive Tier List, we have the following:

Izumi Samurai: The classic unit with the biggest boost from AoA, Hire Crew brings the Izumi-led pirates into the top of the meta. A

Tarn Viking Warriors: The second-best Hire Crew squad, and decent filler if you’ve lost your Marro Warriors. A-

The intent is to use this hired crew as a screen, protecting the more vulnerable pirates (especially the admiral).

Originally Posted by ryguy266

The Izumi are by far the best Hire Crew squad for Widow, although I think Tarn might fare okay. Nothing else comes close to these two for Admiral purposes, with Izumi easily at the top. The Dreadnaughts are good simply because they are the most survivable of the unique pirate squads. Any of the other unique pirate squads fold like paper, and having an extra figure doesn't do much when ideally you're screening mainly with Izumi. Admiral is the key piece in all of this, especially with the added toolkit bonus of being able to flex OMs to the Dreadnaught hero killers/heavy hitters after seeing the initiative outcome, or possibly even Izumi if you really need some key repositioning. I think after all the rounds we played, I only ever put 1 OM on Izumi (first round 1st OM to get them developed) and 2 on dreadnaughts (first round 2nd OM to develop them and Izumi with Widow's Midnight Raid, 1 later hoping for some mortal blows on Marcus with a 4v3 from the single remaining dreadnaught, which failed). It's an amazing army, and has the potential to be competitive with some practice.

[Nukatha]

@Myriadite , and @ryguy266
Amusingly, if she hires the Izumi, Kozuke, or Tagawa Samurai, they retain their inability to counter-strike other Samurai, but being Pirates, opposing samurai CAN counter-strike them!
I'm curious how many of these class changes actually result in a boon for the hired squad, beyond gaining the new Pirate synergies, of course.

[Myriadite]

Very interesting! All this time associating with sea dogs has made them lazy.

Brute Gruts come to mind as another affected squad. To gain pirate synergies, these lose out on all the Grimnak / Tornak / Nerak / Ornak / Hrognak benefits.

[Nukatha]

Brutes are common.
Edit: Wait, I'm thinking of Heavies. Brutes are C3V
Edit 2: I just did a quick rundown all of the official common squads.
There are several, like Krav Maga, Nakita Agents, or Ninjas of the Northern Wind that don't lose anything, since they didn't have anything to lose in the first place. (Side note: Why aren't there any Ninja or Agent synergy bonuses? Both classes have a bunch of units).
None appear to positively benefit from becoming Pirates (again, beyond gaining new Pirate synergies in their place).
Samurai don't work with Kato anymore, Rechets lose the Devourer attack bonus from Dumutef (also, I find it amusing that the Rechets of Bogdan are valid crewmates), Elite Onyx Vipers lose Scout synergies.
But with abilities like this on the table, will we see perhaps units that can change a General of a unit? That could really shake things up.
We already Werewolf Lord, who messes up more than just a unit's class, also affecting species and personality (which could end up saving a unit's life, if it loses the Wild personality and Otonoshi loses her attack buff).

[ryguy266]

Assuming Widow’s design stays the same, the Brute Gruts would retain their synergies since those all come from their species, not their class. That counter strike nuance is very amusing though.

Browsing through the list of VC and Classic unique squads, there are a surprising number of units that are “affected” by a class change although all of these come from the synergy of another unit rather than the unit itself. I think these are the units that could be “penalized” by having their class change:

The Sentinels of Grax (losing Concan’s Knight and Sentinel Enhancement)
Any Varkaanan squad (losing Arktos’ Hunter Attack Enhancement)
Airborne Elite and Morgan’s Riflemen (losing soldier bonuses from Marcus and Gen. Simon Fraser)
Zettian Guards (losing Warden 816’s Guard Leadership)
Elite Onyx Vipers (losing Venoc Warlord’s Scout Leadership)
Ninjas of the Northern Wind (losing Kantono Daishi’s Dishonorable Leadership)
Rechets of Bogdan (losing Dumutef Guard’s Devourer Attack Enhancement)

The notable difference between these and the Izumi is that the “penalty” only matters if you had brought the accompanying unit. And I doubt anyone would have wanted to spend an extra 220 points on an EOV/Venoc Warlord combo just to get them that extra movement. Rechets losing their Dumutef synergy made me laugh though. It’s tragic. The price they pay for piracy.

[Nukatha]

I am irrationally pleased that Ninjas can be pirates.

[Myriadite]

Originally Posted by ryguy266

Assuming Widow’s design stays the same, the Brute Gruts would retain their synergies since those all come from their species, not their class. That counter strike nuance is very amusing though.

Oh right! It still remains half true, though: Grimnak, Tornak, and Ornak benefit Orc Warriors specifically.