In Light of the Newer Waves- Khosumet re-do

[Taeblewalker]

Khosumet is a favorite love/hate guy. You want him to be draftable. His bio tells us how his shield can easily block any attack and that his scythe cuts a swathe through the enemy. So I figure we can give him Crixus' shield power (one shield blocks all skulls) and the Deathstalkers' Maul power (all skulls means no defense). Raise his cost to 125. What does everyone think?

[Taelord]

Sounds good

[yagyuninja]

That sounds cool, but I think 125 might be kinda high. With 3 life and 3 defense, even with one shield defense I don't know that I would pick him before grimnak, krug, alistair, drake, or even tornak.

I really feel that if a hero doesn't have a bonded squad, I don't want to move him all that much unless he has at least an attack of 4. And with 3 life...man.

Sorry, don't mean to rag on you beacuse I love seeing reinterpretations of this guy. He should have been cool from the beginning.

[Taeblewalker]

Actually, you make a good point. Give him movement bonding with the Anubians.

[jcb231]

I'm rarely a fan of changing figures by adding powers. I think if you feel he is undraftable as is, just house-rule his point value down to 65 and try that....if you still don't like him, go down in 5 point increments until you find the sweet spot.

Personally, I find him very draftable when fielding large numbers of Wolves. I think three to four squads of wolves make him worth the draft.

[reapersaurus]

It's not just his point value that makes him undraftable.

Without bonding, he is too difficult to bring into melee adjacency with the wolves - it makes it very difficult timing-wise and makes his adjacency ability almost worthless.

Give the Anubian Wolves Darklord Bonding and try him out - he works as intended then in my experience, and it's not overpowering since it brings him into combat, and we all know how fragile he is.

Try it, with the same points and that one small change - Khosumet works in a wolf army then, and there are interesting strategic decisions that you have to make (do i bring him in to melee this round, or keep him back?).

Changing Khosumet to match his bio can not happen easily, IMO.

[fejkl]

However, now with Ornak's power, you could move Khosumet adjacent to the wolves, then bring Krug up (he's relentless, isn't he?), thus giving that extra attack to Krug.

Then put number 2 on the wolves and let them do their work.

I know that's an ideal situation, but it may be doable in certain situations.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by fejkl

However, now with Ornak's power, you could move Khosumet adjacent to the wolves, then bring Krug up (he's relentless, isn't he?), thus giving that extra attack to Krug.

Then put number 2 on the wolves and let them do their work.

I know that's an ideal situation, but it may be doable in certain situations.

That may well be the ultimate fix for Khosumet. How many Utgar unique heroes are relentless? Well, I just looked after posing that question, and only Sir Hawthorne, Taelord and Krug are. The Dumuteff is common.

It would be best to use Taelord in Khosumet's place in the above example. Taelord and Khosumet are both good "crappy bonding #1" moves, to be followed up by another hero, like Krug, who does the dirty work. Of course, having Lodin is a must to use Sir Hawthorne.

On the other hand, moving Khosumet first, as long as he stays within 4 clear sight spaces of Taelord, allows him to attack 4, while bringng Taelord up next lets him attack 4 as well. This 1-2 punch might work for both, especially if Astrid or elevation (or both!) are involved.

See, UD? Taelord doesn't cost too much!

[aielman]

all we really need is some relentless archers and his value would jump drastically

[Thor]

The problem I have with simply giving Khosumet bonding is that the Anubian Wolves are already quite powerful. They can easily achieve some of the highest attack in the game for a squad. Giving them +1 to their Fury dice roll on top of bonding seems insane. That's up to 4 attacks, 3 of which can be for 10 dice without height advantage. It may not seem totally game altering at first, but I am sure bonding would make the Anubian Wolves and/or Khosumet worth much then they are currently priced.

[spacemonkeymafia]

Originally Posted by Taeblewalker

Of course, having Lodin is a must to use Sir Hawthorne.

I think people exaggerate how often that backstab comes up. I just watched hawthorne play a 2 and 1/2 hour game with nary a 1 rolled. Hawthorne is a beast and he cleans up. I feel the same about khosumet and the wolves. I don't use him with them for the "safety", I use him to eek out a little more power for my wolves.

500pts could net you a good gain with khosumet combined with Ornak and Hawthorne.

Ornak 100
Hawthorne 90
Khosumet 75
3xAnubian Wolves 225
=490pts

After looking at this again though, 100pts is pretty wasteful for just using khosumet and Hawthorne in one turn. The points might be better spent on marro warriors and MeBurqSa to give some range power to the heavy melee. Looks like the only fix to him is to change the Anubian wolves to bond or change K's stats (I would give him Warriors of Ashra's shield ability rather than Crixus' though)

[reapersaurus]

Originally Posted by Thor

The problem I have with simply giving Khosumet bonding is that the Anubian Wolves are already quite powerful. They can easily achieve some of the highest attack in the game for a squad. Giving them +1 to their Fury dice roll on top of bonding seems insane. That's up to 4 attacks, 3 of which can be for 10 dice without height advantage. It may not seem totally game altering at first, but I am sure bonding would make the Anubian Wolves and/or Khosumet worth much then they are currently priced.

Think deeper.

I was worried about this at first, too - but after playing it this way, I realized that it really isn't powering up the wolves per se, since it is Khosumet who is being "allowed" to be in melee combat now.

It makes it a strategic (and risky) proposition of whether to bring such a weak figure into melee range. Remember, the 75 points you had to spend on Khosumet is what is in play here - not the Anubians. For that 75 points, KHOSUMET is the one making the Wolves stronger - you aren't powering up the wolves at all. Without giving the Wolves bonding, you are simply relgating Khosumet to be a virtually unplayable figure (since he's not worth as much as a full squad of wolves).

With Darklord Bonding, Khosumet becomes playable, but not overpowered, since the second he becomes effective, he is targetted and usually taken out pretty quickly.
That seems perfect for a 75 point investment.