The Elementals Strategy and Discussion

[Cleon]

What are some thoughts on these constructs?

There's a Greater Ice Elemental thread already, but he can be included here when talking about elementals as a whole.

They all look solid to me. I posted in another thread, one activation per OM hurts them outside the dungeon, but the soon-to-come Kurrok will bring out the shine of these dudes IMO. Combo armies, each figure at the level of a hero (good stats, ability heavy), and interchangable squads will be very competitive I think. Hopefully he will arrive in time for GenCon.

Sculpt wise, all of them are nice and the Peter Lee touch will be, like theGuru said, awesome in person. These, along with the Greater Elementals, will look so freaking amazing on GenCon-display-esq maps!

Added:

Kurrok the Elementalist-Wave 2 Preview:

Oh, caught your attention did we? Yes, we received the A-OK to do what we normally don’t do in Heroscape. We’re giving you an advanced preview of one of the Unique Heroes in Wave D2, due out later this year. Why now, you ask? Well look at his name. Kurrok commands the Elementals, much like Kato commanded the Ashigaru. Plus, it’s fun to be a wave ahead of things and be able to give some far off teases!

Sadly, you can’t proxy him yet because we can’t reveal the whole card. However, we can reveal his 2 special powers:

SUMMON ELEMENTAL
After moving and before attacking with Kurrok the Elementalist, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll an 11 or higher, you may, if possible, place one of your previously destroyed small or medium Elementals on an empty space within 3 clear sight spaces of Kurrok the Elementalist.

MASTER OF THE ELEMENTS
After revealing an order marker on Kurrok the Elementalist, instead of taking that turn with Kurrok, you may take a turn with up to three small or medium Elementals you control that are within 8 clear sight spaces of Kurrok the Elementalist

[gamjuven]

Agreed, I've been waiting for an army like this. I love the felxibility the army will have. Of course until Kurrok comes out the figures will be showcasing as light filters rather than in used armies, but still.

And of course you cannot use the ice elemental unfortunately, at least not with Kurrok since he's huge. But maybe we can expect some small elementals to show up since Kurrok's card does include them. Probably will be nothing but it's fun to think about.

[Cleon]

Yeah I just mentioned him for any talk about working together non-synergestically.

It would be pretty nice to come across a lake map with a Greater Ice Elemental/Water Elemental army. Working with swamp water, SotM maps make those two more playable.

I completely forgot about the Elemental Summoning Kurrok has. I think it's a good ability to perform on a turn where your away from any action, or waiting for the opponent to proceed. It's not so out of the way either, since your OM's will be on him anyway. You could play Raelin with your Elemental force, which I don't think is such a bad idea.

I'm digging (pun ) the Earth Elemental, his 1-6 attack SA and mobility (similar Quasatch Hunters, as posted elsewhere).

[RattyZ]

If only I had a video recorder on my face as I read the preview thread when it came to the elementals.

At first, I was dissapointed, as Common Heroes generally act is a filler. But then, something magical happened...you showed Kurrok.

If I didn't have TMJ before, I do now from the speed in which my jaw hit the table.

It's really impressive how far the game has come along. Build-a-Squad? There's really nothing bad about this, other than the cost (90 - 105 for a squad of 3 with Kurrok)

Strategy?

Resigned to Army Filler for now, as they don't have enough bang for their OM buck at the moment as single 3/3 - 4/4 common heroes, but many different Kurrok strategies are a-brewin.

These new figures are hot (pun-intended bitches)

[Onacara]

The key is going to be the cost of Kurrok...at 30-35 points per elemental you can put a whole bunch of them in an army with Kurrok and basically corral and pidgeon hole your opponents figures to be taken out like sitting ducks by a Q9 or Q10....if the points are right.

[Warlord Alpha]

Originally Posted by Onacara

The key is going to be the cost of Kurrok...at 30-35 points per elemental you can put a whole bunch of them in an army with Kurrok and basically corral and pidgeon hole your opponents figures to be taken out like sitting ducks by a Q9 or Q10....if the points are right.

Yeah, there needs to be a balance between his cost and his survivability. Because, if he is like 100 points, he probably isn't going to be particularly sturdy, which is bad because with 400 points to spend on elementals, he will likely go down before all of your elementals are gone. Of course, if he is a 250 point beast (for example purposes), you only have 250 points to spend on elementals and whatever else, and your elementals will all die off long before a real dent has been put into him. So it has to be somewhere in the middle, maybe like 180 points, kinda like 5 or so life and 4-5 defense. After all, he does have to be pretty close to the front lines.

Also, did anyone besides me laugh when they saw that the Fire Elemental was "Mindless"? That made me laugh for some reason.

[Yodaking]

The one thing that will keep Kurrok in check will be the 8 clear sight restriction on his bonding. I'd advise sheilding him with a couple of Air Elementals so you can keep him in the middle of things while preventing most non-flying figures from rushing him.

[Yodaking]

At 30 or 35 points per elemental, 1 'squad' will cost between 90-105 points. So 3 'squads' will be 270-315 points. Good chance the Elementalist will cost between 185-200 points.

[Trav11111]

If you place him right Khosumet can help the air elementals become a little more dangerous.

[Filthy the Clown]

Originally Posted by Trav11111

If you place him right Khosumet can help the air elementals become a little more dangerous.

Nice; another addition to the relentless assault group, and another great reason to include Khosumet and an air elemental or two in your dungeon crawling.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by Filthy the Clown

Nice; another addition to the relentless assault group, and another great reason to include Khosumet and an air elemental or two in your dungeon crawling.

Just had a thought after reading this post. The WOB can pounce through the Air Elemental screen.

[gamjuven]

I am also still debating on which elementals I would want to take. I mean I am going to assume that I will be able to fit roughly 6 elementals in any army with Kurrok (assuming he's no more than 200 pts). That being the case I'm not sure what all I will take. I have changed my mind several times.

Water - First didn't care very much about him but then noticed he is the only one with range. In water he has a 5 ranged attack of 4 dice and 5 defense. That's pretty sweet. His movement sucks but a lot of maps have water or swamp so he could be useful. I'm guessing he will best be used in swamp as swamp maps use a lot of swamp tiles, while most maps that use water don't use very much. I am noticing however that the water elemental can't move through water without stopping, which I think is kinda dumb theme-wise. base 3/4 stats isn't half bad though.

Fire - this was the first one I thought of when I thought "elemental army". Just a tn of these guys prancing about burning folks. One dies? Use Kurrok to get a new one and place it next to some troops. Very decent base stats and movement. Heaven forbid if you play on a swamp or water map though. I also find it funny that it is a Hero that is mindless. Kinda oxymoronish.

Air- this is the one that might actually see play outside an elemental army. They kind of perform the same function as deathreavers. They would work well with water. Put an air screen out there then shoot with water. Great against melee armies, probably will be outgunned by ranged armies. Stealth flying is always nice, 5 movement is average, 3/3 stats are average.

Earth - These guys I was not really excited about. Special abilities we have seen before. Earth slam attack isn't anything special (pun intended). Most armies can stay away from them or at least stay away from a multi figure attack. Their movement is atrocious (even with special ability) with no known way besides glyphs to boost it. At least they have decent stats at 4/4, but their pt cost is 35 pts a figure, which will make multiples of them hard to figure out. I also think they have the least synergy between the elementals.

So combinations? Air/ Water makes sense. Water/ Fire makes sense although on maps where one is awesome, the other will be horrible.

My inclination will be Fire/ Water as the best one to try. 3 of each let's say. Kurrok bringing them back will also be huge. And of course the other huge issue will be keep the army together, hopefully Kurrok has range so he doesn't have to move so much. I also hope he can defend himself because I don't really want to invest in a raelin if I can help it.

That's what I got so far.