The Pre-SoV Workshop

[Dad_Scaper]

I like a somewhat more fragile survivability for this design. The whole package has a whiff of whimsy and gimmick-y, which is fine and consistent with Heroscape. But I don't think you want a unit that is borderline comical with its presentation to unseat the traditional (both in Heroscape and in overall seriousness) great heavy hitters, like Nilfheim.

[Arrow Grut]

I think this design is perfect. I've lurked through the whole process and I was wondering what you'd do with the shock rifle.

Only thing is I really liked the 8 range, but that's splitting hairs. I think the lifense is good and is on theme with Nilf

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

Could you elaborate on why? In my playtests with the earlier submissions of Nordlung (two 3-dice attacks) he felt fairly underwhelming and never killed his points worth (not that that is the be-all-end-all of testing). With two 3-dice attacks he has a max output of 6 dice, fewer than Othkurik (12) or Moltenclaw's (20) dice maximums. Even assuming those two typically would affect two targets per attack, that would still be 8 attack dice for them, and neither of them are particularly meta. I'm not opposed to two attacks of 3 dice for Nordlung, but I suspect his value would end up less than 160 points.

Because if someone is playing Nordlung for Hoarfrost they're playing him wrong. He should not make his points worth when using that, because he's an excellent bonding sniper. Hoarfrost and the melee attack are potent backup options against armies that get by the screen, but neither should be good enough on their own. Versatility has value, and Nordlung is a flying bonder with a long-range strong special attack and a solid melee attack. He should not also have a potent mid-range multi-attack.

[Shiftrex]

As a unit that gets a long range special and then a more mid-range special with two attacks he feels a lot like a bonding Kaemon Awa type for me. I think that's a nice feeling for a 'step down' from the big dragons in theme.

Is it possible that he just hasn't found the correct build/tactic yet to be really effective?

[Sherman Davies]

Originally Posted by Scytale

Hoarfrost and the melee attack are potent backup options against armies that get by the screen, but neither should be good enough on their own. Versatility has value, and Nordlung is a flying bonder with a long-range strong special attack and a solid melee attack. He should not also have a potent mid-range multi-attack.

That's fair. It seems you had much better results with the previous Nordlung in your playtests than we did in ours, but as Shiftrex points out, maybe we created poor matchups or hadn't found a good build for him.

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

That's fair. It seems you had much better results with the previous Nordlung in your playtests than we did in ours, but as Shiftrex points out, maybe we created poor matchups or hadn't found a good build for him.

It's not a question of results. Stat and point cost changes can balance that with or without the change. It's an overall design issue. No unit should be good at everything; that just isn't interesting or fun. Nordlung is pretty good at a bunch of things. Arguably too many, but the saving grace is that he isn't amazing at any of them.

[Myriadite]

I have just ordered both Brigdhe and Nordlung; whether or not they officially make it into SoV, they will be customs we use in our house. Really good to see so much progress!

[Shiftrex]

That's awesome. the community support is really important. Often designers are going through the SoV for several years so it's really a boost to know that someone else is out there putting the unit in their collection too.

[ryguy266]

Hey folks,
As some of you may remember, I withdrew a unit from the SoV judging process a while back. Thanks to some great feedback from the community, the unit has been tuned to create more interesting games, while still maintaining essentially the same feel. He's got quite a few playtest games under his belt, and I feel he is balanced and engaging. I added him to my customs thread but it was pretty quiet. This is the next thread up, so I would love to receive more feedback about this newest version of the Diorite Defender!



Notable changes: Rock Pillars now only works if there is a revealed OM on an Elementar card. He is functionally identical to the first version with Granite Guardians, but now he is much more difficult to use with ranged pods. In most cases, he is actually not worth it to bring, but has some interesting uses still with certain squads like Microcorp or Glad/Blasts played at a high skill level. His points haven't changed, because he's still at his best and playing the same with the Granites.

Heavy Stone has also been added as a penalty and a power. It's a penalty if you want Brunak to carry him somewhere. It's a power if your opponent's Heracles is trying to chuck him into lava.

And here is a photo of him on a casual map with (3d printed and painted) Granite Guardians:

Spoiler Alert!

[nyys]

Really like what this guy does for the GGs. They still slog along, but not quite so sloggy.

What is the figure? Me thinks I might go eBay hunting.

[Vydar_XLIII]

Two points:

What is the thematic reason that the Rock Pillars OM works with any Elementar and not just on Diorite Defender?

I think Heavy Stone should say "special power on an Army Card or Glyph."

[Shiftrex]

I'm guessing it's because all the current elementars from the game are made of rock or rocky in nature