Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Scytale]

Masha Shingai by @Astroking112 has received 4 Yea votes to induct (Scytale, superfrog, and wriggz, and Vydar_XLIII) and moves forward in the process.

[superfrog]

Originally Posted by Vydar_XLIII

All good changes. This design has come far.

to review Brigdhe.

Agreed.

[nextguy]

I want to take a minute to give credit where credit is due.

Scytale has gone above and beyond in keeping the SoV thriving this year with *seven* reviews so far, on top of his consistent and timely involvement in new submissions. Your work is truly appreciated!

[Scytale]

Brigdhe has received 4 Yea votes to review (Scytale, wriggz, Vydar_XLIII, and superfrog) and moves forward in the process.

[wriggz]

I just realize I had written this a couple months ago, but never posted it. Appologise to @Leaf_It and the community for the delay.

Lee Jun by @Leaf_It

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind. - Bruce Lee

Balance
Over the years I have looked over a fair number of monk customs ever since the C3V dropped Master Lao and his posse. I was fortunate enough to be part of the monk playtesting before becoming a Judge and have created a couple of my own monk customs over the years, so I have a fair bit of experience with monks in general. Obviously, the key with creating a monk is not to outshine or be outshined by the rest of monks, while still brining something unique to the table. Len Jun walk the edge of the reed well, taking the defender role on the team. While there is some overlap with Yi Feng and his iron shirt Lee’s lower attack, defense boost and higher point total make him different enough to warrant drafting them in different situations. At 60-points Yi fits into more armies as a clean up figure, while Lee’s potential for multiple attack serves him well threating both squads and heroes as part of a Monk only build. Not to mention that with Master Lao around, you can always draft both. I would be remiss in not comparing Lee to Zhen Yuan who shares a point total. Zhen’s attack focused design results in his playstyle to be so different that he compliments Lees, rather than competes.

Outside a Monk build at 70 points, Lee is competing with Squads which you would normally draft in multiple and a smattering of lawmen, outlaws, and rogues. Normally if you have 70 points left you either want to include another squad or rethink your entire army, but if you must include another hero, Lee stands well with your other options. Lee’s strong maneuverability allows him to compete with the gunfighters and his defense focused design differentiates him from the more assassin like Rouges.

Theme:
Ever since the monk faction was fleshed out by C3V designers have been looking to fill the perceived Einar spot on the team. While it may seem odd putting a monk under the same general as Samuria, Zhen doesn’t seem to have a problem with fleshless Marro and Yi is rubbing shoulders with Q9. All the monks have flavorful power names, which is well represented here, and Lee’s stat box matches with the other monks as well. I appreciate the designer creating a novel way to focus on defense which is historically associated with Einar instead of just throwing on Counterstrike and calling it a day. The interaction between Bending Reed Stance and Melee Combat Expert invokes the classic martial arts trope of a Master using an enemy’s strength against them. I’m specifically reminded of the Legend of Drunken Master, which on its own should justify an up vote. My only quibble is the blond hair/blue eyes on the mini and the baggage it brings with it, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Creativity:
Monks can appear deceptively easy to create. Have a few powers that boost melee attacks or defense, throw some martial arts themed names, and maybe add Stealth leap and you got a Monk. The trick with creating a SOV custom, is that the monk must work well with the established monks while not over/under shadowing them. Most importantly a new monk should fit differentiate themselves from the pack, adding to the toolkit that is the monk army. While focusing on defense feels obvious, having Lee prefer multiple engagements encourages more aggressive play then most other defenders. I’ve already highlighted the interaction between powers which I found very cool in execution. Combining these factors, with a traditional Monk stat box, and you have a cohesive custom that I found fit nicely into a Monk army.

Playability:
As a part of a Lao led army monks (both hero only and squad heavy) I found Lee brings some interesting game play decisions. As a defender it is all to compelling to rush Lee a head of the pack and try to grab a choke point by dropping into a group of enemy figures. While your opponent can often spread-out figures to limit engagements, Stealth Leap, forces players to consider the Threat of Lee jumping in, which in and of itself can be worth including Lee in your army. Of course, if Lee does become engaged, 3 to 6 defense (depending on high ground and number of figures engaged) and 4 lives don’t last long, but hopefully long enough to move up the rest of your forces. When attacking Lee there is a trade off in taking pot shots and powering up Bending Reed and focused fire taking away from other greater threats. In one notable game, a charged Lee was able to take advantage of an initiative switch to get 4 attacks to on Raelin significantly weaking the opponent’s position. Played as a defender/assassin Lee had a way of annoying an opponent, but not in an unfun way due to is standard 3 attack dice.

I also had success pairing Lee with Woo, Lao, and a couple squads with Monks. In this build Woo starts earning his points cheerleading the Monks to 4/4 figures. Slow rolling Lee with Woo makes both Bending Reed and Combat Expertise much more threating. A smart opponent will focus on Woo, but Stealth Leap can make that difficult without risking disengagement Strikes, making a tough situation worse. In play this built felt surprising similar to a classic Gladiator steamroller build but requiring more finesse. Playing Lee this way highlights his strengths verses the existing monks, but I believe that is a function of filling the defender roll, rather than an out an out outclassing.

As far as a clean up or Glyph grabber Lee was serviceable but overshadowed by other figures. Spending 70 points for a standard 6 move or what is essentially a 4-move flyer is a high price, even against all melee armies who may struggle against Melee Combat Expertise. I had more success using Lee in a clean up roll, where you can choose your targets and engagements more carefully. Since Lee gets more threating with each defended attack, opponents can be reluctant to rush engagement until they are certain to have the upper hand. The lower move on Stealth Leap is also less of an issue when figures have already moved up the board. Lee is not the ideal choice as a stand-alone hero, but not useless either, which is about all you can ask for from a hero that slots so strongly into a bonding army.

Summary:
I’ve always enjoyed playing monk armies and going forward Lee will likely be among my first picks. This is due to how he impacts an opponent’s decisions rather than due either his staying power or attack output compared to his peers, which speaks to the strong design.

I vote to induct Lee Jan into the SoV.

[Scytale]

Lee Jun has received 4 Yea votes to induct (BiggaBullfrog, Scytale, Vydar_XLIII, and wriggz) and moves forward in the process.

[superfrog]

Agrith-Naar by Sir Heroscape

The ever-ravenous Mr. Naar is back for more pain, apparently. Is he enough of a tight little whirlwind package to make the cut?

Theme
Agrith-Naar doubles down on the acolytes’ boom or bust mechanic, which fits in with the faction nicely. The new Starved power encourages a thematic playstyle (see below) much more than the old version.

Balance
Wow, that’s a lot of dice. Kind of in Hydra territory, so nice to see the points similar there. Of course, 5 attack is more than 4, and 6 attacks is more than 4, but our demon candidate has less guaranteed attacks, less flexibility in attacks (no reach), and can’t double up on one figure when attacking. He does stay at peak power until dying, but the dying comes faster (3 defense gets chipped away fast and occasionally he self-wounds or takes some LEAs). Again, a reasonable starting point.

Creativity
Very nice interplay between powers.

Playability
Agrith-Naar is a menace, and immediately becomes one of the Acolytes army’s top bonders. He sits at a nice price point for the army, between the Skull Demons and Morgoloth, allowing you a nice 2-demon army where both demons are viable threats your opponent has to consider (no offense to the Skull Demon but he isn’t really instilling fear).

Playing A-N in this army is pretty straightforward, you just pick a spot where he’ll be able to reliable get 2+ attacks for a round or so and summon him then. Morgoloth is reserved (or summoned first) if there’s a spot where a big hero needs some repeated attacks, as A-N can’t do that without probably killing himself (and only gets one attack on that hero per turn).

Whirlwind puts out big damage, and against melee the best way to kill him is for the opponent to swarm him and set up more big killing turns. But I actually found Agrith-Naar to be as good or better against ranged squads, where their generally lower attack could struggle into 3 defense with bad variance, and he could catch some good whirlwinds into any sleeping clumps.

Really, though, I didn’t find the attack output game-breaking. Acolytes aren’t doing much apart from getting to choose the spot for Agrith and providing some wound-free development. Occasionally they can clear a spot for a good whirlwind, and occasionally I would place A-N so he could kill an acolyte as insurance as a last attack if needed. But the acolyte army was in need of a little octane, and (while swingy), Agrith-Naar provides that.

Starved makes it so Agrith is a bad option as a solo hero, which is smart. It doesn’t feel like an army-building restriction, and it doesn’t read like one either, but it certainly works like one which is needed.

I vote to induct Agrith-Naar into Soldiers of Valhalla.

[ryguy266]

I would like to resubmit the Diorite Defender for SoV consideration.



Mini:

Spoiler Alert!

Mini with classic figures on a casual map:

Spoiler Alert!

(The granite guardians in this photo are 3d printed and painted)

Notable changes from the last version are the addition of Heavy Stone as a minor power/penalty, and the change to the Rock Pillars mechanic, where an OM must be revealed on a card to activate Rock Pillars.

Balance:
Heavy stone has such specific use cases that it does not affect the balance of Granite Guardians. Because Rock Pillars remains effectively the same for Granites, which is a very strong build at the right point totals, especially into melee, his cost has stayed the same, even though he is now much less useful for ranged pods.

Playability:
Granite Guardian is no longer a catch-all Marcus, at least not for non-Elementars. His usefulness has been severely limited for most ranged pods. However, the tweaks mean more creative builds are necessary to make full use of his abilities. Additionally, there are chances for opposing melee to find the cracks in the Granite wall in-between rounds, as Rock Pillars must be activated by an Order Marker.

Creativity:
Diorite's card shares much symmetry with the Granite Guardians, while at the same time providing strong leadership bonuses in a unique way. His "universal synergy" that now takes skill and creativity to use efficiently make for off-the-wall armies that feel right at home in Heroscape.

Theme:
Diorite maintains the strong theme from his previous submission with both his stats and powers. The additional garnish of Heavy Stone adds an extra flavor to the card.

A big thanks to Vydar and Scytale for their feedback on the earlier submission and assistance in reworking the Rock Pillar mechanics, and og-blaha for putting up with the many playtest games this year.

[Scytale]

The revised Diorite Defender looks like it addresses my original concerns.

to review the Diorite Defender

[superfrog]

[Vydar_XLIII]

Yep, this is better.

[wriggz]

Up to review