Filthy's Customs -Updated 2012-03-29

[dok]

Originally Posted by Filthy the Clown

The Slingers offer a ranged option for Valkrill, as well as another use for Khosumet (and, in turn, Death Knights and possibly Badru). Their special attack is almost verbatim from the Roman Archers' Arrow Volley, but without the need for all of the slingers to be on the same level.

If you take that line out, you have to add the Ashigaru Yari language about comparing the target to the lowest slinger to determine height advantage. (Or the highest, or the one in the middle, whatever... but you need to pick one.) Personally, I'd be inclined to get rid of the adjacent requirement as well, but that's just me.

Originally Posted by Filthy the Clown

More information is available on the first post of this thread. I am busy playtesting the guys and putting them through the ringer, but please share any feedback and suggestions.

Well, a quick comparison to stingers shows you're giving up a point of attack, 10 points, and stinger drain in return for a point of move, the special attack, and some synergy with Khosumet. All in all, that's a pretty bad deal, so we're not in overpowered territory here.

[Filthy the Clown]

Originally Posted by dok

If you take that line out, you have to add the Ashigaru Yari language about comparing the target to the lowest slinger to determine height advantage. (Or the highest, or the one in the middle, whatever... but you need to pick one.) Personally, I'd be inclined to get rid of the adjacent requirement as well, but that's just me.

Good point, thanks. The revised verbiage:

Rain of Stone Special Attack
Range 5. Attack 5.
Three unengaged Vakrian Slingers within 3 clear line of sight spaces of each other may combine their attacks and roll their attack dice as one attack. All Vakrian Slingers in the Rain of Stone attack must have clear line of sight on the one target. The defending figure compares height to the lowest Slinger to determine any height advantage.

Besides adjacency, it makes sense to have some sort of requirement in order to use the special attack, such as requiring the 3 slingers to be within 3 clear sight spaces of each other. Otherwise, you could have slingers spread out on the board and still use Rain of Stone, which does not make much logical sense to me (I know, it is HS, where certain logic does not apply, but surely they would need a communications channel to determine the target; bellowing out across the battlefield does not cut it to me. ). However, this might add a bit too much complexity to the matter. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by dok

Well, a quick comparison to stingers shows you're giving up a point of attack, 10 points, and stinger drain in return for a point of move, the special attack, and some synergy with Khosumet. All in all, that's a pretty bad deal, so we're not in overpowered territory here.

At 70 points, they are comparable to Mohicans and Aubrien Archers; one with bonding, and the other with Frenzy rolls. My reasoning for the Slingers' base attack of 2 is a result of the comparison between these two squads. I am tempted to raise their base attack to 3, but I have not tested this yet. Another option is to allow bonding with Khosumet, but the wording could be rather testy (before taking a turn with the Slingers, you may first take a turn with one medium Darklord...Ugh).

The sculpts should come in the mail today, which will motivate me to perform some more benchmarking.

[Filthy the Clown]

The Kobold sculpts are about the size of Goblin Cutters, so their stats need to be tweaked to take account of their small stature. Here is a size comparison.


That being said, the sculpts are cheap ($.69 each on Auggies) and plentiful, and they have a pretty cool pose (like throwing a cue ball from a towel = nod to Seagal ). They are perfect as a cheap, ranged squad with a conditional special attack. The name might also need to be changed to something more generic (Kobold Slingers), as Vakrian is naturally very similar to Valkrill (in that case, they could also be Valkrian Slingers).
New stats, pending my playtesting:

Valkrill
Kobold
Common Squad (3)
Slingers
Relentless
SMALL 3

Stats
MOVE 6
RANGE 5
ATTACK 2
DEFENSE 2
LIFE 1
POINTS 60

Rain of Stone Special Attack
Range 5. Attack 5.
Three unengaged Vakrian Slingers within 3 clear line of sight spaces of each other may combine their attacks and roll their attack dice as one attack. All Vakrian Slingers in the Rain of Stone attack must have clear line of sight on the one target. The defending figure compares height to the lowest Slinger to determine any height advantage.

When moving up or down levels of terrain, Vakrian Slingers may add 2 to their height.

The lower defense seems more befitting of their small size, and they also took a decrease in points (they might be worth even less than 60, though, perhaps 50-55; playtesting should iron this out).