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Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

Major F19 by Flash_19

I vote to review. Deltacron sticks out a bit for jandar and this wouldn't be the first time a mini's color scheme did not match the general (look at the gunslingers yellow shirts).

I'd like to see longer range on the rail gun and maybe more of a penalty for shooting through terrain, but neither are enough to detract my vote.

Annuhunhounds by Blue Trails

I vote to review. Oh man more unpainted snot figures. I suppose I can paint my own. I like the implementation of hunter synergy, a common squad and ullar love.

Kafnirra by Shadowking

I vote to review. I always felt the MacDirks were painted into a corner due to the KoW. I don't love the anti bonding power here, but the theme of a red headed female archer speaks to me.
 
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Kafnirra reminds me of the wilding that would always tell Jon Snow he knows nothing. Probably one of my favorite parts of the show.

Fantastic design, hopefully it passes in some iteration.
 
Jan Sobieski by Shadowking

I vote no to review. Evasive seems like a crutch here to let him get past range attacks, in a way that to me feels like babying the custome. Evasive is normally on slight or flying units. I understand the desire to show his swiftness but move 8 does that. Moreover with 6 life and 3 defense he will get tied down by commons effectively negating any suggestion of speed. Not sure a special attack is warranted as first strike already exists (lesser first strike for small/medium would work

I'm also not sure the knights need a fast hard hitting special attacker. Alistair is there if you want first strike after all.

I think there is potential with this mini and this design direction, especially beyond the limited space of knight bonding, and perhaps under a different general.
 
Personally, FWIW...I've always thought of that mini as an Einar Warlord...and his color scheme would naturally fit too imo. Sacred Band could always use a little more love.
 

Well met!

Cavalry units continue to be problematic. Given the previous comments, I suggest just giving Jan Sobieski, or any given cavalry unit, a defense of 4, and be done with it.

 
I've let this one sit for a while (3 years... life, uh, gets in the way), but I'd like to formally submit Necro-Mage Elbda for SoV consideration:

necro_mageelbda_934791.jpg


Bio (abridged): Cyprien discovering his brother Marcu had made a power-grabbing pact with cousin Nicholas caused Cyprien to curse his own brother. However, Marcu was already able to help Nicholas create Necro-Mage Elbda, whose assistance Nicholas continues to use to twist the souls that make up his own Thrall army that he may one day challenge Cyprien with.

Card Text:
Spoiler Alert!


Balance: Elbda's 50 points reflect his average stats and niche powers. His single ranged attack of 3 adds a bit more range to the Undead faction (only Ataraxis, Tomb Skeleton Archers, and Darkprowl Thralls so far). Mindless Pack Command (MPC) does bring much-needed improvement to the Thrall army, but doesn't elevate it to the top tier by any means. There is a trade-off between efficiency and quantity (since Elbda costs about 2 Thralls). Necromantic Nexus (NN) provides additional situational utility to a much larger portion of the Undead faction (Ataraxis, Rechets summoned by Iskra, Thralls revived by Nicholas, Skeletons of Alottaletters with their royalty of choice, and Zombies/Hulks can all benefit).

Playability: With Elbda, Thralls can activate an average of three (instead of two), allowing them to compete against a wider range of armies. They can more consistently combo their abilities (like a Darkprowl clearing a space with Pounce to allow a Bloodburst to engage and occupy key figures, or a Deathstrike badly wounding a Hero with its special allowing a Preyblood to rush in and quickly finish it off). Thralls are still well below top-tier armies, but they are more fun when they can actually leverage their unique abilities into 50/50 matchups. In my testing, they can do well against lower-ranked armies, though wins still just as often come down to Nicholas chaining together lots of kill/revives as it does rolling well for Thralls (both Mindless Pack and actual attack/defense rolls). They do feel like a much more complete/competent army, though, without having back-to-back sad one-Thrall turns. Positioning Elbda, if necessary, plus two Thrall turns still results in more activations (Elbda + 3 Thralls average + 3 Thralls) compared to Elbda-less armies with all-Thrall turns (2 Thralls average x 3 OMs).

NN and a ranged attack allow Elbda to be a filler for a variety of Undead armies that provides a little utility in addition to playing cleanup/wound soak. Elbda can even allow lower point-total Thrall armies, though without Nick you have to use their powers very wisely. By allowing summoning on non-empty spaces, positioning Elbda near a glyph can give his army more control over said glyph.

Creativity: Elbda improves the Thrall army via MPC without retreading a d20 buff (while leaving the door open for the future of the Undead faction). Since summoning the Undead is a big theme of the faction, NN ties into many Undead groups in a way unique to the faction. His bio also neatly fits into the Esenwein family drama.

Theme: Elbda is a magical Minion of Nicholas Esenwein, above the Thralls but nowhere near the power of a full vampire. His magic manifests as a decaying blast that helps Nicholas twist Thralls to his service and can also be turned on enemies, as well as a limited ability to raise the Undead nearby. As co-creator of them, he can also Command the Thralls. His magic powers extend 5 spaces, reflected in his blast (stats), influence (MPC), and revival (NN).

Accessibility: This figure is Deathlock from the D&D Miniatures Deathknell set. It's a little on the thin side, but it fits the Undead aesthetic well and doesn't exactly have stellar stats anyway. While not quite as numerous years later, there are still 38 available at TrollAndToad, 30 on Amazon, 29 at Auggie's, 12 on NobleKnight, 7 at GameHollow, plus dozens on eBay and plenty of other one-offs at other sites, including a few here and there at international sellers.

===============
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback way back when, and in advance to the judges for considering!
===============
 
I assume Elbda comes from Feylund, given the backstory.

I'm a little wary about Necromatic Nexus. Allowing Undead to freely respawn on top of glyphs anywhere near Elbda seems really good.
 
Scytale said:
I assume Elbda comes from Feylund, given the backstory.

I'm a little wary about Necromatic Nexus. Allowing Undead to freely respawn on top of glyphs anywhere near Elbda seems really good.
Click to expand...

Yes, Feylund is included in the Card Text spoiler.

Glyphs tend to be spread to symmetric corners of maps, so unless there is an unusual glyph setup leveraging that function requires moving Elbda at least once, is still dependent on other actual summoning powers triggering, and covers just a single glyph (without providing any protection for the figure on it, just potential redundancy).
 
I'm not so worried about glyph spawning from a competitive stand point since undead are not top teir, deathreavers exist and Elbda required OM investment to get the bonus. I worry there might be a mechanical reason, but I'm not sure.

I like the way you implemented thrall bonus, and I've always felt the could use an activation boon.

Up to review.
 
NecroBlade said:
Glyphs tend to be spread to symmetric corners of maps, so unless there is an unusual glyph setup leveraging that function requires moving Elbda at least once, is still dependent on other actual summoning powers triggering, and covers just a single glyph (without providing any protection for the figure on it, just potential redundancy).
Click to expand...
The argument that it's unlikely doesn't hold much water with me. I play all sorts of in-house scenarios and playstyles that don't follow the usual tournament competitive settings.

Is the ability to claim glyphs with Necromatic Nexus an intentional feature? Or could I convince to you to add an "empty" in there?
 
wriggz said:
I'm not so worried about glyph spawning from a competitive stand point since undead are not top teir, deathreavers exist and Elbda required OM investment to get the bonus. I worry there might be a mechanical reason, but I'm not sure.

I like the way you implemented thrall bonus, and I've always felt the could use an activation boon.

Up to review.
Click to expand...
Understandable about the mechanical uncertainty since many powers disallow it. But as you noted they're not top tier and it's not really the same category of power as most other (movement) powers that specify "empty" spaces. Glad you like the implementation of the Thrall bonus. :)

Scytale said:
NecroBlade said:
Glyphs tend to be spread to symmetric corners of maps, so unless there is an unusual glyph setup leveraging that function requires moving Elbda at least once, is still dependent on other actual summoning powers triggering, and covers just a single glyph (without providing any protection for the figure on it, just potential redundancy).
Click to expand...
The argument that it's unlikely doesn't hold much water with me. I play all sorts of in-house scenarios and playstyles that don't follow the usual tournament competitive settings.

Is the ability to claim glyphs with Necromatic Nexus an intentional feature? Or could I convince to you to add an "empty" in there?
Click to expand...
Fair enough. There are any number of ways to play Heroscape and it's impossible to satisfy all of them. That said, it is an intentional feature. "Empty" is a possibility, but IMO they haven't achieved results to make me think it's a necessary change.
 
I like Elbda overall. The powers are interesting and unique and there's value in good positioning. Simple yet strategic.

:up: to review Necro-mage Elbda
 
Figure used is -WZK77518 Wizkids Pathfinder Battles: Premium Painted Figure - W03 Female Human Bard
Jezabella is a human minstrel from earth who was recruited by Aquilla to keep her troops moral high.
This is my first time submitting one of these if I need something else let me know.

Kr9EWiX.jpg
[/IMG]
 
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ogblaha said:
Figure used is -WZK77518 Wizkids Pathfinder Battles: Premium Painted Figure - W03 Female Human Bard
Jezabella is a human minstrel from earth who was recruited by Aquilla to keep her troops moral high.
This is my first time submitting one of these if I need something else let me know.
Click to expand...
The prepainted Pathfinder line has 2 different "Human Female Bard" figures. Are you using this one
wzk77518_1.jpg
or this one
wzk77509.jpg
?
these are also both sold as unpainted, so that's nice for the long term.

Edit: You gave the product number "WZK77518", so I used my brain and figured out that it's the first one, that does not have a sword.
 
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Leaf_It said:
ogblaha said:
Figure used is -WZK77518 Wizkids Pathfinder Battles: Premium Painted Figure - W03 Female Human Bard
Jezabella is a human minstrel from earth who was recruited by Aquilla to keep her troops moral high.
This is my first time submitting one of these if I need something else let me know.
Click to expand...
The prepainted Pathfinder line has 2 different "Human Female Bard" figures. Are you using this one
wzk77518_1.jpg
or this one
wzk77509.jpg
?
these are also both sold as unpainted, so that's nice for the long term.

Edit: You gave the product number "WZK77518", so I used my brain and figured out that it's the first one, that does not have a sword.
Click to expand...

The top one
 
Not to be obtuse (we know Google exists), but it's helpful if you list the top sites and how many you can find at each.
 
I asked my rep out of curiosity, I could order over 100 of these from alliance right now if I wanted to. These prepainted blister packs are well stocked.
 
I do not believe that GamersRoll actually has 1000.

But to be helpful I did some looking (this is what an availability check should look like, in general):

GameNerdz: 16
MiniatureMarket: 7
Stone Valley Games: 2
ToyStreet [UK]: 126 (I checked, this is not an inventory artifact, other figures have lower limits)
NobleKnight: 5 (their eBay store lists 10+)

Atomic Empire: In Stock
GamersRoll: In Stock
GameOlogy: In Stock
Walmart: In Stock
Amazon: In Stock

------------------------

As to the design in question, I think it looks pretty solid. I'm afraid it might be overcosted, but there's some good restraint in the design (like the once per turn thing). Incognito will need some work to bring it into standard heroscape wording but that's a concern for later, if we get there.

:up: to review.
 
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