The Book of Deathstrike Thrall

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

I wonder if there's a mathematical breakdown for when to use Deathstrike... In the game I played with them I pretty much always used it unless I had height.

My idea was that if they can go out and kill a squad and themselves, then that's better than missing and letting the squad kill the thrall next turn. Against heroes it's pretty much always worth it to Deathstrike.

It stinks to be in the end game with a few Deathstrikes, because they're either neutered or you have some difficult decisions to make. In the game we played I failed to kill my opponent's last Skeleton with a normal attack from the Deathstrike, and it went on to take the game. Wondering if I should have used Return to the Grave so the game would have been a draw instead of a loss...

These guys more or less outclass the Preybloods. Not really, but they get close. Deathstrike is always an asset, but I have yet to use Blood Hunger. Preybloods have their niche, but I'd rather spam Deathstrikes and not have to worry about setting up Blood Hunger.

I don't think one can say that one of the thralls is better than the other, since they're meant to be used together, in the same build. The whole idea here is that you can use Mindless pack to activate a couple of thralls (say, a DS and then a PB), use Return to the Grave to get a couple of wounds on a Hero, and then be able to use Blood Hunger against that Hero to bring it down. It's actually a very useful system.

[Arch-vile]

Deathstrikes have the nice 6 attack, but preyblood's longevity helps it a lot too. Nick has to do less when all your Thralls aren't digging their own graves and jumping in them. Don't the Preybloods get extra move for a wounded hero too? That's another small advantage.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Originally Posted by Arch-vile

Deathstrikes have the nice 6 attack, but preyblood's longevity helps it a lot too. Nick has to do less when all your Thralls aren't digging their own graves and jumping in them. Don't the Preybloods get extra move for a wounded hero too? That's another small advantage.

That's the point of the combo. The Deathstrike uses it powerful 6 dice attack to wound a hero, and then the Preyblood get bonus move and attack when moving towards a that wounded hero. Then Nick flies around to kill weak units to spawn more Thralls.

[Arch-vile]

Yes I was agreeing with that. That's why a mix of preybloods and deathstrikes is much better than all of one or the other- quite a nice design feat for customscape.

Saves everyone having to buy 6 of each when 3 DS + 3 PB work fine.

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by Arch-vile

Yes I was agreeing with that. That's why a mix of preybloods and deathstrikes is much better than all of one or the other- quite a nice design feat for customscape.

Saves everyone having to buy 6 of each when 3 DS + 3 PB work fine.

3 DS and 5PB. .

Actually, with the armies I've played, you want 1 more Preyblood than Deathstrikes if you're limited to 150 points, anything above that you should do 2 extra PB's. Dunno why, it just seems to work well.

[Sir Dendrik]

Valid points all around, but I will definitely always take more Deathstrikes than Preybloods. This is Squadscape, not Heroscape. The Preybloods are vanilla most of the time, whereas the Deathstrikes always have the option to Return to the Grave.

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

These guys more or less outclass the Preybloods. Not really, but they get close. Deathstrike is always an asset, but I have yet to use Blood Hunger. Preybloods have their niche, but I'd rather spam Deathstrikes and not have to worry about setting up Blood Hunger.

You often don't have to work that hard. In the last game I played with thralls, Nick flew over to Tul-Bak-Ra, who had a Marro squaddie beside him (teleported in as a reinforcement, natch). Instead of attacking Toolbox, Nick took out the squaddie, replacing him with a previously destroyed Deathstrike. My next turn is on thralls, I roll enough to move 2 thralls, first the Deathstrike kamikazes on TBR to put even more wounds on him, next my closest Preyblood is getting +3 attack, as long as he's close enough to reach TBR, which, with +3 move, he is. I didn't really set anything up, it just all worked out that way. (Toolbox died, of course. )

[1Mmirg]

Yeah, I'll agree that Deathstrikes are better in a lot of ways, but Xotli is right that getting Blood Hunger to work isn't too hard if you're playing against heroes at all. (Pure Squadscape is a beater for Preybloods, but that's just how it works--we have to price units based on their optimal values, not just their average use.)

Also, Preybloods do actually work as a swarm quite well without Nick. Don't try that with Deathstrikes!

[Heroscapeguy]

A question about MINDLESS PACK: can I take a turn with each thrall individually, (one thrall moves and attacks, the next thrall moves and attacks, and so on) or do I have to move with them all at once, then attack with them all at once?

I'm guessing it's the first one, but I want to make sure.

[awesomeunleashed]

Originally Posted by Heroscapeguy

A question about MINDLESS PACK: can I take a turn with each thrall individually, (one thrall moves and attacks, the next thrall moves and attacks, and so on) or do I have to move with them all at once, then attack with them all at once?

I'm guessing it's the first one, but I want to make sure.

You are correct. They are common heroes, not squads, so you take turns with each one individually (just like Elementals).

[Heroscapeguy]

Thanks, awsomeunleashed.

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by Heroscapeguy

A question about MINDLESS PACK: can I take a turn with each thrall individually, (one thrall moves and attacks, the next thrall moves and attacks, and so on) ...

Not only can you, you must. That's what the card says to do.