Power Rankings (fantasy-themed only)

[Typhon2222]

Hi folks,

I'm curious how people think that Spider_Poison/Jexik's super-nifty Heroscape Power Rankings would change if only fantasy-themed units were included.

I ask because this is how our group plays Heroscape. Striving for a bit of thematic unity, we only play with figures/units that fit, very broadly, under the traditional rubric of fantasy. The kind of stuff that wouldn't feel out of place in a typical D&D game for instance. For us this means everything from waves D1-3 of course, but also oodles of stuff from earlier waves: from traditional fantasy-fare like Elves and Dwarves and Dragons and Vipers and Orcs, to the Kyrie, the Vikings, Knights, Templars, Wolves, Undead, Giants, etc., plus all the various terrain-specific animal/elemental units (Quasatch Hunters, Obsidian Guards, Granite Guardians, Dzu-Teh, etc.).

What's excluded? No aliens, no robots, no secret agents, no WW2 GIs, no Revolutionary War musketeers, no Native Americans, no Japanese, no Scots, and definitely absolutely no Cowboys.

You're probably thinking "Man, I bet this guy doesn't do too well at tournaments." And you're right. It's amazing how many of the top-ranked units are NOT fantasy-themed. Exclude units like Deathreavers, Q9, 4th Mass, Blasts Glads, KMA, Stingers, Warriors, 10th Reg, AE, and Q10 from the game, and you're dealing with a dramatically different beast. And it's not just that the fantasy-themed units, in aggregate, are disproportionately less powerful. It's that they're also disproportionately melee-heavy. Almost all of the heavy-hitting range units (4th Mass, Blasts, KMA, Stingers, 10th, Snipers) fall outside. If we want to play ranged squads there isn't a whole lot: Aubriens, Arrow Gruts, Mezzodemons, Protectors, Wyrmlings....

So I'm kinda curious to hear how you folks think the power rankings would look under such circumstances, with only fantasy-themed units, most of the top tier eliminated, no Q9 or Rats to worry about, and far fewer ranged options. Would the Knights of Weston become the only A+ unit? Or maybe the Aubriens would vault to the top? Greenscales and Moltenclaw become kings of the hill? Arrow Gruts become A material? Protectors fly to the peak?

Love to hear your thoughts!

[dok]

Actually, you could do quite well with a fantasy-themed army. Jexik went 5-0 on day 1 this year with an all-fantasy lineup (Nilf+Greenscales+Raelin), EternalThanos went 4-1 with the best SoS of the 4-1s (Zelrig+Greenscales+Raelin), and Scaper_Dude also went 4-1 (Grimnak+Heavy Gruts+Raelin). In the previous year, both Mantrainchoochoo and Matthias Maccabeus played that same Heavy Grut build into day 2. Knights+Nilfheim went 5-0 in general wars in 2009, too.

As for how the rankings would shift... I'm pretty confident Raelin is still an A+. The lack of rats and most range definitely elevates the knights. Orcs and Greenscales are very good, although I usually like the knights against them and their power against rats+range no longer matters. Nothing really skyrockets, though... things like Aubriens and Protectors struggle against the 5-activation bonding armies.

[Margloth]

I'm pretty sure Warriors of Ashra would take a letter grade bump, seeing as the range factor is a bit negated. They still lack offensive oomph though.

[Cleon]

Cyprian would see much more play without any worry of robots and their dang immunities. Without a lot of the multi-attacking range, the Vipers would make a huge break through. Arrow Gruts could find themselves as one of the few range armies to play......no Q9 and Krug for melee. Are Stingers more sci-fi or fantasy? I think Zelrig would see more play for two reasons - melee takes a little longer to catch him and without rats, unique pods won't be very common to be paired up with.

Rats, 10th Reg, and Gladiatrons are gone, on top of the fact that they are already one of the best units in Heroscape with everything included, so Knights would be most likely the best army to play. That is pretty much the same reasoning for Heavies, Dwarves, Greenscales, etc. You could make an arguement that Heavies won't see as much play with the absense of rats.

[MarroCloner164]

It seems like the whole metagame regresses back before the advent of Q9 and Rats. I could see the orcs making a serious comeback - especially heavy gruts, no longer fearing much range and a 5-person activation, fairly cheap cost, and bonding with a whole host of really good figures.

Also, I think that the Aubriens would take a jump, as they are one of very few long ranged squads still available.
...Actually, Syvaris just took a massive jump upward, being able to outrange everything fantasy (except aubriens) by a substantial amount, and having the attack to get through.

Similarly, Elf Pods might also be able to be better, not being tied up by rats and not fearing the 4-squad ranged barrages that they used to worry about.

Zombies might also see reanimation because of the lack of heavy-duty ranged squads.

-MarroCloner 164

[General Nilfy]

The Greenscales would definitely be one of the best if not the best bonding squad in the game then.

Nilfy

[rudyvalentine]

Originally Posted by General Nilfy

The Greenscales would definitely be one of the best if not the best bonding squad in the game then.

Nilfy

They'd get better for sure, but Knights and Orcs are stiff competition in the bonding squad category, and I think both are better than Greenscales in a competitive Power Ranking context.

[Looking East]

The ranged dragons would all be a lot nastier. Nifl with his 6 life and 4 defence would be tough to take down without many range units left that could actually really threaten him and the greenscales would keep most of the bonded melee squads at bay while he ice shards everything. He would pretty much replace Q9 as the big bad multi hit special attacker.

With the removal of the the 4 man range squads and the majors, the death chasers would be quite a bit more dangerous as well. All the low defence melee units would become more effective since half the problem with them is that they get gunned down before they can engage.

The cheerleaders all get something of a boost too since many of the best units to snipe units like Raelin, Kurok and Ornak are rangers, particularly the Airborn.

Hydras become a lot scarier when you don't have powerful range units to plink them down to size before they mow into your front lines. Pluss there are no rats to pin them.

[Jexik]

I'm not sure how different it would be overall.

The Ashra going up might be spot on, but they'd still not like Dragons. Aubriens and Arrow Gruts would probably be some of the best ranged squads, but they'd probably still get clobbered by Knights and Heavies.

[Arrow Grut]

Originally Posted by Jexik

I'm not sure how different it would be overall.

The Ashra going up might be spot on, but they'd still not like Dragons. Aubriens and Arrow Gruts would probably be some of the best ranged squads, but they'd probably still get clobbered by Knights and Heavies.

TAKE that 4th Mass!

[Typhon2222]

Great to hear your thoughts. Thanks folks, I'm enjoying it immensely.

[gorthan313]

Would Knights be fantasy or historical? I count them as fitting in with BOTH categories myself.

Melee squads also wouldn't have to worry about stinger swarms or Tor-Kul-Na.