Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Dysole]

Yeah the picture definitely helps a lot. I'm really just at the stage of figuring out if my intake record scratch reaction is just a foible of mine or indicative of something I think is a problem.

~Dysole, appreciatively

[Grey Waves]

I’m not SoV or anything, but I just wanted to point out that at 4/4, Nordlung has some of the worst survivability in the entire game for his points. I already think that 150 points is a pretty tall order for Major Q10 at 4/5, and to be paying 15 points extra for a figure that has 1 less base defence… Not saying that he isn’t powerful or anything but he’s hardly the most consistent figure, which is not ideal when he’s probably going to be eating up at least 1/3 of your available points (and that’s even without factoring in the cost of greenscales too).

[Scytale]

Nordlung is weird, but then Heroscape embraced the weird from time to time (like a viking from Earth with a lizardman arm). For the most part I like the design. Both special attacks are useful and interesting and the stats are mostly solid. Grey Waves throws up a notable flag with the poor survivability, but this is on a Move 6 Flying figure with a strong Range 8 special attack and a multi-target Range 5 special attack. That's pretty amazing. If you're getting Nordlung into the fray, you're playing him wrong.

Which is why Ferocious feels so wrong to the design. Playing him as Ferocious is the opposite of optimal play. Besides which, why would a dragon with a breath weapon pick up a sniper rifle? (Let's be real, it's a long-range single-target gun.) Not because he's ferocious.

I'm also not in love with the name Omnicron Pulse Rifle. It's just so on-the-nose, like instead of Thorian Speed it's named Magic Sword of Valhalla. But that's just a minor complaint, and the name gets the theme across (not that Drake or Valguard cared about that).

I'm still waffling if the personality alone is enough for me to downvote.

[Vydar_XLIII]

The figure is Amazing! I love the anachronistic figures like Drake, Valguard and Arashara that are uniquely HeroScape and I'm glad to see more.

I'm not hating 'Ferocious', but I think there might be better options. Personally, I'd propose 'Prepared' or something that similarly describes why a dragon is supplementing his already formidable natural power with an arsenal of weapons.

I'd also like to touch on 'Prince'. This dragon is very unlike all the other dragons we have and I think there could be an opportunity here to purposely place him outside the royal classes that are the norm for dragons.

I am concerned with how well he can kite. 8 range on a 6 move flyer is really good by itself. It might be held in check by his lower survivability, I don't know yet. But I can see endgame scenarios where Nordlung is nigh unbeatable because he can't be caught.

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These are just my first thoughts about him. I'm excited to test some iteration of Nordlung, but I'm not sure if this is the one yet.

[vegietarian18]

I love the sculpt personally. Very Heroscape. I would need to see a photo of the mini on a peanut base before I could vote yes.

I will say I was very caught off guard by the sculpt being so big. When reading the card at first I thought he was a medium Lizard like Zogross. I think it's way cooler this way, but the design doesn't scream big dragon.

Also from a balance perspective a 6 move 8 range flyer is a very tough challenge. All other ranged flyers have slow move and short range. On some boards he can just brutalize melee in cleanup.

I'm going to vote because I really want to see this one come back with revisions.

[Captain Stupendous]

Originally Posted by vegietarian18

Also from a balance perspective a 6 move 8 range flyer is a very tough challenge. All other ranged flyers have slow move and short range. On some boards he can just brutalize melee in cleanup.

Almost all ranged flyers; Mimring would be a notable (and comparable) exception. That being said, 8R 4A on any Flyer is potentially problematic. I'd be curious to know how he's performed as a cleanup hero in testing.

[vegietarian18]

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

Almost all ranged flyers; Mimring would be a notable (and comparable) exception. That being said, 8R 4A on any Flyer is potentially problematic. I'd be curious to know how he's performed as a cleanup hero in testing.

Mimring's 8 range being limited to a straight line is a significant limitation for kiting melee. It's a fair point to bring up, but I think true 8 range is meaningfully better kiting potential.

[Vydar_XLIII]

Originally Posted by vegietarian18

Mimring's 8 range being limited to a straight line is a significant limitation for kiting melee. It's a fair point to bring up, but I think true 8 range is meaningfully better kiting potential.

Yeah, I see Nordlung as a Q10 with flying rather than a Nilf/Mimring hybrid. When comparing a Line 8 to Range 8, the latter has significantly less counterplay as you can force a Line 8 figure into a poor position in order to hit its optimal target and you can't do that against Range 8.

[Leaf_It]

Zelrig has 7 range, with 6 move.

[Captain Stupendous]

I agree that the straight line restriction makes Mimring worse for cleanup than Nordlung, I was just responding to the idea that all other ranged flyers have slow move and short range, which isn't quite true in Mimring's case.

[Dysole]

I think the kiting potential is possible, but 4 life and 4 defense goes down a lot faster than you think. I'd need to test it to determine how concerned I was. Ferocious is okay as a personality type, but I see much of Scy's concerns. I'm fine with the text of the two SAs but I don't love the name of either. As is, I feel like whether I vote up or down, I'm very easily going to have gone the other direction.

~Dysole, probably voting tonight

[bmon]

I'm obviously not a judge or anything, but I like to comment once in a while. Though my comment is more like a question...

Is there any concern with the X Order Marker usage? I thought I remember this being brought up with previous designs that classic Heroscape seemed to keep that game mechanism in Vydar's ranks. It's already been extended by figures like Ranjit Sing (Einar), so perhaps it isn't an issue in anyone's mind, but it jumped out at me as unusual (as did Ranjit's use of it.) I may also be forgetting others.