The Book of Sir Dupuis

[spiteofthedice]

Originally Posted by manger

That 3 defense is going to make all of you who love this character very frustrated. Breaking the knight/sentinal 4 defense trend was a mistake imo.

I've only tried him once, but this was my experience as well. He is unfortunately one of those figures that is threatening enough that he might as well have a bullseye on his forehead (SEE: Grimnak, Su-Bak-Na, et al.)
And with a 3 Defense, my experience is likewise that you don't get to do as much as you'd like with his attack power before he drops.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Last night, I took Dupuis with 2 sets of KoW and 4th Mass. As well, I brought along Thorgrim to assist the Knights as they were up against four sets of Drones. That extra defense was to help the Knights hopefully withstand the brunt of of a high Hive Swarm roll. The situation didn't come up as much as I thought (I had to run Thorgrim in to get on Zetacron and stop the Soulborg from blasting Dupuis). As planned, when Thorgrim died, Dupuis received the defensive bonus.

It's a roundabout way to shore up Dupuis's average defense, but it intergrated well with the Champion bonding and the Valiant bonus for the minutemen.

Maybe I'm running to defend Dupuis too much, but looking at the other fast, heavy hitters like the Kozuke, Templar, and (Mark of the Warlord permitting) Grok Riders, the defense of three is a constant. It's a good balance to keep costs down.


While I'm here:
Pre-wave 8 release, there was some comparison of Dupuis to Su-Bak-Na, but I keep seeing the Cyprien/Dupuis analogy.
Stats of 8/1/3/4 and 8/1/4/3, same price.
It's a shame Cyprien eeks a bit better with Stealth Flying and Life Drain, but these Utgarian advantages versus Jandar's valiant, but limiting abilities seem consistent with the history of the game.
I was up against the Vampire Lord last night in that Drone-based army and luckily won initiative to take him down. In previous games Cyp Chilling Touched Dupuis too much and took him down.
Don't know where I'm going with this comparison, but i believe the two heroes are well suited for the 150-points range.

[Matthias Maccabeus]

I love Dupuis, too. I think that the best comparison that I can come up with is Venom.

Attack - Venom has a higher base attack, but Dupuis' can be boosted with support.

Move / Range - Dupuis has higher move, but is a double based figure. Plus swing line may come in handy more often than not. They both have a range of 1.

Disengage - They both have a form of disengage, where as Venom's is a guaranteed 4, no matter the terrain, while Dupuis' can be 8, depending on terrain and the roll of the D20.

Survivability (Life / Defense ) - Dupuis has higher life but lower defense. Venom has an ability to ignore attacks all together dependent on the D20.

Cost - Equal!

Who is better? I think that's for each person to decide? Some people like Marvel, some don't. Some people like the whole knight theme , some don't. I think it's just your preference of play and fun!

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Ah, nice comparison of a Marvel and Classic Hero, Matthias.
Hadn't made the connection with the points bracket.

A thought on Tactical Disengagemet 7. It's more than justified for a hard-hitting hero of 8 movement. It both benefits him and keeps him in check for potency overload.

Another vote of praise - Dupuis incorporates nearly everything that makes HS so great and fun to me - fast & powerful melee to threaten the range, interaction with another unit (KoW), a D20-roll, improved stats as the figure is wounded (Krug and Alastair, here's looking at ya!) makes those blessed good rolls to keep the hero's heart pumping so memorable.
:giddy for dupuis:

[Snotwalker 8000]

I'm actually fine with his 3 Defense, but wish his Chalice of Fortitude kicked in at 2 or 3 wounds, instead of 4.. Thematically, I love the defense power, but when he's down to his last 1 or 2 wounds, it seems a little too late to matter much.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Snotwalker 8000

I'm actually fine with his 3 Defense, but wish his Chalice of Fortitude kicked in at 2 or 3 wounds, instead of 4.. Thematically, I love the defense power, but when he's down to his last 1 or 2 wounds, it seems a little too late to matter much.

Chalice kicking in at half-life rather than two-thirds?
I'd have no problem with that adjustment!

I too like the idea of the Chalice and it's a consistent nod 'Dismiss the Rabble'. Dupuis has hopefully knocked out the heavies, but is himself severely wounded. Yet with Fortitude he could manage to deal with the endgamers - common or otherwise. Though being severely wounded tied down with multiple engagements of the same common unit does not grant him a bright outlook.

[rdhight]

Originally Posted by Matthias Maccabeus

Move / Range - Dupuis has higher move, but is a double based figure. Plus swing line may come in handy more often than not. They both have a range of 1.

Hey hey hey, let's remember to give Venom credit for his Web Special Attack!

Re: the difference between the two figures (and Cyprien for that matter), I think Venom is the most independent and the easiest on the wallet. Cyprien is melee and wants Sonya, who is also melee, and Dupuis is melee and needs Knights, who are also melee. Venom both is range and does not require additional melee figures to operate at full strength. That indirect cost advantage makes him my favorite of the three in standard point games.

[Soul Shackle]

I discovered what could be a problem for Dupuis and any figure he goes well with (besides range ) - Isamu. Those heavy attacks do nothing if Isamu can Vanish, and with all that Knightly melee, he won't even have to Vanish often. All Dupuis' friends follow Jandar, which gives Isamu a ridiculously good chance at earning his points back 5 or 10 times.

Yech.

[Revdyer]

The other night I played, for the first serious time, this army:

Sir Dupuis
Templar Cavalry
2 x Knights of Weston
Airborne Elite

It was a fun army and Dupuis really shone. It's not what I'd take to a tournament, but for a fun game-night army with a good chance to win, it was great. Taking the Templars out with Dupuis early boosted him nicely, long enough for the Knights of Weston to arrive just about the time the Templars were dead.

The coolest part was that whenever we had a rules dispute I got to say, "I've got Sir Dupuis, so I get to make up the rules." <grin>

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Can't get enough of this hero! My all-time favorite.
I used him tonight in a Raelin/Eldgrim/2KoW/Gilbert army.

We were up against an Arrow Gruts/Swog/Mimring/Zelrig force.

The map was long in length (20 hexes I've found usually equals one full round just moving up the board for both armies) and it was tough to keep the knights advancing with Raelin and Dupuis in tow.

We lost horribly to a massive Fire Line attack of severely wounding Raelin, Dupuis, Gilbert and obliterating a KoW (yes, they were all bunched up in a single line. Shame on you, HEH! ).

But I had the time of my life trying to exact revenge on Mimring with Dupuis. The Chalice was maintaining life support and Tactical?
Holy guacamole was that fun. With a loss eminent, I took as many Tact. Disengages as I could to try and reach Mimsy to exact some sort of revenge.

I was smacking Swogs left and right and the Arrow Gruts couldn't bring down Dupuis with their glorified slivers of propelled wood. Yet the blueskins were also barring the attack avenue to get back at the Dragon Beast.
Dupuis never got a chance to exact some sweet payback, but I had fun trying! Truly, I so dig this Hero!

[Matthias Maccabeus]

Sounds like fun HEH.

I played him with Gilbert and a bunch of knights the other day against Marcus and the redcoats. He came charging in against Marcus. He had height, adjacency to Gilbert, and had 2 knights in range for 8 attack dice against the Roman leader. Let's just say Marcus didn't last very long.

He actually lasted quite a while, too, once his chalice kicked in. He ended up smacking a few more redcoats before he fell.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Aldin

Awsome report, HEH! Sir Dupuis has a seriously high "fun factor". Something about him wading into battle with throngs or smaller enemies swarming around that just oozes heroism

~Aldin, wondering if 'radiates' might have been a better choice than 'oozes'

I try to play at least one Jandar/Dupuis configuration each game night.
Whether I win or lose, it feels valiant, it feels right! And it's always a fun time 'motorin' around with Dupuis.

Originally Posted by Matthias Maccabeus

Sounds like fun HEH.

I played him with Gilbert and a bunch of knights the other day against Marcus and the redcoats. He came charging in against Marcus. He had height, adjacency to Gilbert, and had 2 knights in range for 8 attack dice against the Roman leader. Let's just say Marcus didn't last very long.

He actually lasted quite a while, too, once his chalice kicked in. He ended up smacking a few more redcoats before he fell.

Oof, that's some dagger Dupuis carries! What a Warlord smackdown!


Last night was a Raelin fixation. I wanted to use her in every game (she did really good for me in the first three games! Why have I not been utilizing her more lately?!).
Implementing her altered a 4th Mass configuration I usually use with the Dupuis and KoW army. I would've given up Gilbert and on that lengthy board, the problems probably would've been the same.