The Book of Frostclaw Paladins

[Myriadite]

The Book of Frostclaw Paladins​

Master Set IV - Age of Annihilation

Basic Side:

Spoiler Alert!

If you cannot see the Army Card graphic, check Renegade's Story Page for stats and special powers, plus "character biography" and other non-game unit info.

Character Bio: On the winter-blasted arctic reaches of their home world, Noxdorma, the Frostclaws endured endless attempts by the neighboring Gnarlfur Clan to conquer their land and subjugate their people. The day their defenses finally shattered, the Frostclaw Paladins chose to go down fighting alongside the champions and heroes of their people. In that moment of certain death, the eye of Jandar fell upon them, and their eyes opened not to defeat– but to a new life, on Valhalla.

Layered with thick steel and armed with the iron will to survive, the Frostclaw Paladins employ the tactics of their homeland with efficiency and valor. Stand together. Repel all invaders. And when the time is right: CHARGE!

FROSTCLAW PALADINS
Jandar / Noxdorma / Ursine / Unique Squad / Knight / Dauntless / Large 6
Life 2 / Move 3 / Range 1 / Attack 3 / Defense 4 / Points 120


RUN 3
Before Moving a Frostclaw Paladin, you may add 3 to that figure's Move value this turn. If you do, subtract 2 from that figure's Attack Value this turn.

JANDAR CHAMPION BONDING
Before taking a turn with the Frostclaw Paladins, you may take a turn with any Champion you control who follows Jandar.

_________________________________________________________________
-Rulings and Clarifications-

- TWO LIFE SQUADS :
How do two-life squads work?
Some Squad figures have more than 1 Life each! When these figures
take one or more wounds, place the Wound Marker(s) next to their
figure on the battlefield to keep track. (Age of Annihilation Rulebook)​

_________________________________________________________________
-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

- CONCAN THE KYRIE WARRIOR : Knight and Sentinel Enhancement:
As Knights, Frostclaw Paladins may benefit from Concan the Kyrie Warrior’s KNIGHT AND SENTINEL ENHANCEMENT attack and defense bonus.

- CRIMSON WIDOW : Hire Crew:
As a Unique Squad, Frostclaw Paladins may have their class changed to Pirates by Crimson Widow's HIRE CREW.

- SIR GILBERT : Jandar’s Dispatch:
As a Squad that follows Jandar, Frostclaw Paladins may benefit from Sir Gilbert's JANDAR'S DISPATCH movement bonus.​

Synergy Benefits Offered

- JANDAR CHAMPION BONDING : Jandar Champions:

• Alastair MacDirk
• Eldgrim the Viking Champion
• Finn the Viking Champion
• Knight Irene
• Knight Primus Adelbern
• Sir Denrick
• Sir Gilbert
• Thorgrim the Viking Champion

- THE AXEGRINDERS OF THE BURNING FORGE : Fearless Advantage:
As large figures, Frostclaw Paladins grant the Axegrinders an additional die when attacking and defending against them.

- ISAMU : Dishonorable Attack:
As figures who follow Jandar, Frostclaw Paladins grant Isamu additional attack dice when he attacks them.

- SIR DUPUIS : Knight's Courage:
As Knights, the Frostclaw Paladins may aid Sir Dupuis with his KNIGHT'S COURAGE attack bonus.​

C3V and SoV Custom Synergies

Spoiler Alert!

Synergy Benefits Offered

- NOBLE CHAMPION BONDING : Jandar Champions:

• Sir Orrick

Synergy Benefits Received

​

_________________________________________________________________
-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Rankings

ryguy266: Frostclaw Paladins: The best unique squad to come out of AoA. With good stats, two lives each, and a whopping twelve bonding options, the ‘Claws are prepared for anything. A+
(Subject to change)

OEAO: B+
(Subject to change)

Matthias Maccabeus (Melee Perspective): B-
(Subject to change)

Master Index
AoA Proxy Model Thread
Is this design finished?
Is this compatible with C3V/SoV?
NGC Version with 3D-printable Proxies

Unit Strategy Review
- TBD

​

_________________________________________________________________
-2022 Haslab Campaign Version-

Spoiler Alert!

“THERE IS A BEAST IN EVERYONE AND IT STIRS WHEN YOU PUT A SWORD IN THEIR HAND.” Not all that rally to the banners of the Clockwork Combine were unprepared for battle when it came. While the Vorid peacefully tended their fields in ignorance of pending doom, others sharpened steel and forged armor. They trained for a war they hoped would never arrive and organized into the knightly orders that became the immovable shield-wall of the Combine. Each Ordo specialized in different techniques of combat, training their aspirants to leverage their natural instincts into martial disciplines of warfare. When the first attack happened on Noxdorma, it was the Frostclaw Paladins that first stood in defiance of the onslaught. With teeth and claws they protected the Vorid, and in return the Vorid offered the Frostclaw their technology to augment their strength, their speed, and their skill. Now, on Valhalla, standing shoulder to shoulder with the mightiest heroes of Jandar’s legion, the Frostclaw Paladins stand in opposition to new enemies, but with the same courage and virtue that made them worthy to call themselves present in the Battle Of All Time.

 

[ThrasherDarkrai]

These amazing bears don't have any posts in their Book yet? How criminal! Let's fix that.

Besides being amazing conceptually - "Anthropomorphic Polar Bear Knights" is one of the few unreservedly amazing unit ideas to come out of AoA - the Frostclaws truthfully have kind of a boring left side of the card. Run 3 does give them some much-needed mobility even without Gilbert, which is appreciated, but they're mostly just two squads of Knights in a Unique squad package. Knights are excellent, though, so that's far from a bad thing to be, and Knight Primus Adelbern will give them a very useful bonding option upon her (his?) release.

But let's be honest. You're mostly using them because they're Polar Bear Knights. That's just a really hard concept to dislike.

 

[Nukatha]

I just realized they are a Unique squad that bonds with the Viking champions.
This means they can relatively easy get +1 move, atk, and def.
Then you have a melee squad with 4 figures, 2 HP per figure, 4 move, 4 atk, and 5 def, for 310 total points.
Or, drop Eldgrim and bring Sir Gilbert, Finn, and Thorgrim for 385, making use of Gilbert for the added mobility instead of Eldgrim.

 

[Tornado]

Being Large they are also immune to a lot of powers but still get jungle and shadow.
Large single hex is where it is at.

 

[Nukatha]

A vey important rule to note: Wounded bears are quite difficult to heal.
Consider Kelda's Healing Touch:

Choose a wounded Hero figure

while her glyph states

Only figures with one or more Wound Markers may stop on this Glyph. When one of your figures stops here, remove all Wound Markers from its Army Card.

so that DOES work.

Sonlen, Ana Karithon Rhogar Dragonspine, don't work either. (Well, Ana also can only heal small/medium, so the bears are DOUBLE excluded from her). They each specify

wounded hero figure

Neither can they drink Wellspring water:

At the beginning of a round, each Hero on a Wellspring water tile may roll the 20-sided die. If the result is 12 or higher, that Hero may remove 1 Wound Marker from its Army Card. If the result is a 1 or 2, that Hero becomes confused by visions and suffers 2 wounds. Wellspring water tiles are a type of water. Figures must stop their movement when entering Wellspring water tiles.

But the new Haukeland healing glyph DOES work:

When one of your figures stops here, you may remove up to 3 Wound Markers from across any of your Army Cards.

Since Squad figures cannot carry Treasure Glyphs, the Potion of Healing is also not permitted.
Unless I'm missing something, the two normal Healing glyphs are the only ways to recover damage to multi-Life squad figures.

To alleviate confusion with the Glyph of Kelda:

Glyph of Kelda (Healer) Only figures with one or more Wound Markers may stop on this Glyph. When one of your figures stops here, remove all Wound Markers from its Army Card. This glyph cannot be placed symbol-side up in any scenario you may create.

If one Frostclaw steps on it, is only that one healed, or are all damaged Frostclaws healed?

The Glyph of Kelda would (of course) only heal the one wounded Frostclaw that steps on it.
From the AoA Rulebook for multi-life squad figures:

Some Squad figures have more than 1 Life each! When these figures
take one or more wounds, place the Wound Marker(s) next to their
figure on the battlefield to keep track. Make sure to move them along
with the figure if it moves! Like Heroes, a multi-life Squad figure is
destroyed when it has Wound Markers next to it equal to or greater
than its Life Value. If a Special Power refers to the number of Wound
Markers on a figure’s Army Card, a single figure in a multi-life Squad
counts the Wound Markers next to it on the battlefield; and only its
OWN Wound Markers (not the Wound Markers of its squadmates!)

Edit: The newly announced Mielki the Kyrie Warrior can heal wounded squads, but only small/medium. I think this will work on the Dreadnaughts of New Tortuga, but the Frostclaws remain only healable via glyphs so far.

 

[Robotech Master]

Ah, I had missed that from the old AoA preview that the wounds on the figures also counted for rules referencing wounds on Army Card; good to know for them.

Bears looks like a fun unit. You can use Gilbert to speed them up and raise attack, and use Viking heroes spirits to buff them since they are unique. They also take buffs from Concan as Knights. Lots of old stuff you can try out with them.

 

[Nukatha]

One more curiosity:
Chana hasn't officially been announced by Renegade, but the Haslab version of its healing ability states

If Chana is within 5 clear sight spaces of a Wizard that you control, instead of attacking, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 12 or higher, you may remove one wound marker from a friendly Wizard or Beast figure adjacent to Chana.

This wording allows for a potential Beast or Wizard multi-lufe squad figure to be healed. Of course, a Beast squad shouldn't be a thing given that Beast Bonding exists, but I think a Wizard squad would not break anything, as long as it is not a squad of elves.

 

[Owlman]

And Jandar gets one of the best squads...Again. As if Jandar Champions really needed any extra bonding squads... :cheeky: but regardless, easily the best squad of AoA. These suckers are tanks. Roll them up the battlefield as part of the 1st/2nd wave units, and watch them maul the opposition. Not a big fan of squads having multiple health points, would rather have seen the 'ol "remove a marker from your card instead of a wound" schpeel personally, but we shall see how this goes in August... Owl rankings: Solid A.

 

[Robotech Master]

I think multiple wound squads is ultimately more elegant for having future multi wound squads compared to giving us more and more colored markers to organize.

I wish Heroscape had incorporated some kind of base rule for something like "power tokens," which would be identified as not having any rules independently and the figure's army card would state what a power token on that card does/means and how they are spent/accrued. Would be a way to turn all of these special powers from specific markers to a marker that we'd have plenty of common access to like we do wound markers.

 

[FIRE_LORD510]

I think these guys are going to be really fun. Being unique, I don't think they take over the knights spot. However, these guys will be used with a Jandar champion as clean up/late game. I hope the low move doesn't feel too slow.

 

[Mythic]

I hate these wound marker rules...

place the Wound Marker(s) next to their figure on the battlefield to keep track. Make sure to move them along with the figure if it moves!"

Just so fiddly and prone to issues.

I wish they had stuck with the "tiny wound markers" from the Haslab and had rules to put them on the base like the AotP rules:

Place a wound marker on the base of the figure (if a squad) or on the army card otherwise.

 

[Robotech Master]

Yeah, I plan to either magnetize some wound markers and put a magnet in their base, or mark their bases 1, 2, 3, 4 and have something near their army card with the same numbers that can be used as the space for the wound markers.

With only two wounds, it will only really come up when someone does exactly one wound and then fails to kill that Paladin/Wraithrider anytime soon, but I think those options will work best for me in those cases.

 

[Scott]

I think this is a bad design that is not in the spirit of HeroScape. Play is supposed to be fast and simple. Tracking wounds on squads is such a poor solution to making tough squads, but the other part that is violating the design philosophy is the "Run 3" ability. You have to remember which of the four used the ability. Other squad abilities (like Powder Markers) apply to all figs in the squad for the whole turn. Tracking something from the movement phase to the attack phase is prone to error.

To make them tough, give them a power like "Tough Hide: Frostclaw Paladins ignore the first wound received in any attack." That would be more powerful than two life, so increase the cost and/or make other adjustments.

I'd like to see the community come up with an alternate Army Card for the Frostclaws. And if you agree with me, I think we should voice these complaints. I don't want to see any more squads like this (at least the mechanics, the look and concept are both awesome).

 

[MegaSilver]

I think this is a bad design that is not in the spirit of HeroScape. Play is supposed to be fast and simple. Tracking wounds on squads is such a poor solution to making tough squads, but the other part that is violating the design philosophy is the "Run 3" ability. You have to remember which of the four used the ability. Other squad abilities (like Powder Markers) apply to all figs in the squad for the whole turn. Tracking something from the movement phase to the attack phase is prone to error.

To make them tough, give them a power like "Tough Hide: Frostclaw Paladins ignore the first wound received in any attack." That would be more powerful than two wounds, so increase the cost and/or make other adjustments.

I'd like to see the community come up with an alternate Army Card for the Frostclaws. And if you agree with me, I think we should voice these complaints. I don't want to see any more squads like this (at least the mechanics, the look and concept are both awesome).

These are designs from the Avalon Hill days, from the War Council, with unique squads getting extra life as a way to help mitigate against common squads. We have more AH/WC designs of unique squads with multiple life incoming. And I do like unique squads with extra life, myself.

 

[Scott]

Ugh. Not happy to hear that, but thanks for letting me know.

 

[Owlman]

I think this is a bad design that is not in the spirit of HeroScape. Play is supposed to be fast and simple. Tracking wounds on squads is such a poor solution to making tough squads, but the other part that is violating the design philosophy is the "Run 3" ability. You have to remember which of the four used the ability. Other squad abilities (like Powder Markers) apply to all figs in the squad for the whole turn. Tracking something from the movement phase to the attack phase is prone to error.

To make them tough, give them a power like "Tough Hide: Frostclaw Paladins ignore the first wound received in any attack." That would be more powerful than two life, so increase the cost and/or make other adjustments.

I'd like to see the community come up with an alternate Army Card for the Frostclaws. And if you agree with me, I think we should voice these complaints. I don't want to see any more squads like this (at least the mechanics, the look and concept are both awesome).

I see where you're coming from, I was against 2 life squads too at first, but tbh they've grown on me. I think 2 life should be the absolute max any Squad should have though.

 

[caps]

I have played the Bears probably a dozen times now and I didn't find the wounds or Run difficult to track. You can either set the wound markers on the bases of the bears (most of them can hold a wound marker between their feet) or if you don't want to pick them up and put them down again, you can put the wounds on top of them somewhere (several of them can wear a wound marker like a hat).

 

[Scott]

...(several of them can wear a wound marker like a hat).

Yes, we figured out which ones could do that too. Maybe that's the real solution - if Renegade wants to do more squads with 2 Life each figure needs to be able to wear/carry a wound marker.

 

[Grungebob]

We were never allowed to design 2 wound squad units. There was a strict guideline that the battlefield was not to have any additional clutter.

 

[Sherman Davies]

We were never allowed to design 2 wound squad units. There was a strict guideline that the battlefield was not to have any additional clutter.

That was a wise guideline but alas, the Rubicon has been crossed.

 

[manger]

I'm thinking of adding numbers to the bases to help keep track of which ones have taken damage.

 

[Hahnarama]

I'm thinking of adding numbers to the bases to help keep track of which ones have taken damage.

Or you can get some super glue and a set of 4 mm or 5 mm magnets and do some customization like I did.

 

[Tai-Pan]

Or you can get some super glue and a set of 4 mm or 5 mm magnets and do some customization like I did.

Please tell me you cut off their limbs, installed magnets and now they have removable arms (think Wampa in Empire) to show when they're wounded!

 

[Hahnarama]

Please tell me you cut off their limbs, installed magnets and now they have removable arms (think Wampa in Empire) to show when they're wounded!

Oh my young Padawan, you're thinking Fen Hydra surgery. I'm taking magnets under the base and under the order markers.

 

[SIEGE]

These amazing bears don't have any posts in their Book yet? How criminal! Let's fix that.

Besides being amazing conceptually - "Anthropomorphic Polar Bear Knights" is one of the few unreservedly amazing unit ideas to come out of AoA - the Frostclaws truthfully have kind of a boring left side of the card. Run 3 does give them some much-needed mobility even without Gilbert, which is appreciated, but they're mostly just two squads of Knights in a Unique squad package. Knights are excellent, though, so that's far from a bad thing to be, and Knight Primus Adelbern will give them a very useful bonding option upon her (his?) release.

But let's be honest. You're mostly using them because they're Polar Bear Knights. That's just a really hard concept to dislike.

My friend likes anything snow/ice themed, especially if it is animal related and/or fantasy/adventure related, so he is a huge fan of the "Anthropomorphic Polar Bear Knights" concept too. He gave them the nickname "Frosty Paws", which I am going to adopt as my nickname for them too.