With my next installment in the series I am going to go over The Union. The Union is the guild I started investing a lot of time in near the end of season three and had a tonne of fun with them. Losing access to vFangers, sSpigot, and Pride is going to change the way I was playing Union as they were integral members of my Blackheart team but they got some new tools which slot into any union line up nicely. The strength of the guild lies in its flexibility due to having a larger bench of models that are all really solid at what they do. The challenge of playing union is making a line up that each model compliments each other well, creating a unique line up to suit your playstyle.
BLACKHEART
Blackheart has secretly been the best captain in the game resulting in him seeing no buffs or nerfs in the season change. Looking at Blackheart most people have no idea what he does which is a reasonable response. He is slow but one of if not the most maneuverable model in the game, with a 4/6 move, shadow like, and a momentous one damage double dodge on two. Well this makes him look like he wants to score goals, which he does very well if he has the ball, but a tackle on three isn't the greatest if he needs to tackle and score in one activation. Now looking at his character plays he has butchery which is a damage buff for the team, so Blackheart is now wanting to play a takeout game. But he also has On my Mark which can be used to extend threat ranges of his team using the ball which has good uses for football teams as well as a fighting team. The last play is misdirection, which is a control play to mess with the opponents influence. His legendary play either gives everyone within 6'' +1 def or everyone can dodge 2''. It is a very strong legendary by extending the threat ranges of your team in a standoff, forming a scrum on a model for Blackheart to takeout himself, or using the +1 defense with the right line up can be back breaking (def 6 Mist, Hemlocke, and Snakeskin seems rather annoying to attack).
All of these things combine to make Blackheart a well rounded captain that fits really well with the flexibility of the union roster. In game with a good Blackheart list he can play any path to victory, a 3-0 4-1 or 2-2, by switching up the playstyle from fighting to football and vice versa. Most Blackheart teams will focus more towards the fighting side of the triangle due to union having more options that are good at fighting. I think Blackheart is the more consistent captain and will be played as the primary captain, and is complimented by vRage in certain match ups.
VRAGE
VRage didn't see much change other than his tackle becoming worse. To contrast the complicated mess that is Blackheart, vRage is very straight forward in that he wants to do damage. He has furious for efficiency, and a damage buff via his heroic and legendary play. More importantly vRage can make other models make attacks with red fury. So if Gutter or Fangtooth were engaging a model when vRage activates, one of those fantastic damage dealers can make attacks with red fury. Combined with either the heroic or legendary play a vRage team can use 7-8 influence through a damage buff. A vRage led team will want to scrum up with Harry the Hat and/or Benediction to control the scrum with good pushes so beaters like gutter and Fangtooth or vRage himself can get into position to deal large amounts of damage.
COIN
Union have two really strong options for mascots in coin and strongbox. Coin has a two inch melee with follow up and is decently durable for a mascot. Where he earns his spot is with his charter trait bag of coffers to give any non-captain model an influence and a free bonus time. Having an extra influence for the team is amazing, but this one influence gets to allocated mid turn so it can catch unsuspecting opponents off guard. It can be used for a bonus timed blind from Hemlocke for free
that the opponent didn't think was on the table, a pass with a model when the ball looked like it was dead, or even just an extra attack for the team.
STRONGBOX
The turtle is the other mascot the union can take. He is super slow being a turtle carrying a chest of coins. Strongbox brings a character trait, shelling out, which gives friendly guild models +1 TAC as well as an extra momentum for a take out against enemy models within a 4'' aura. This aura works really well with vRage teams as they tend to scrum more than a Blackheart team, but Blackheart doesn't mind being TAC 7. Unlike coin, Strongbox can deal damage if set up, having momentous 1 on one (or a knockdown on 1) and 2 damage on two. With a charge rolling 7+ dice (depending on crowd outs) Strongbox can chip in some damage. If the turtle is affected by vRage's legendary play, he is a monster on the charge.
AVARISSE & GREEDE
The duo has the ability to pump out some serious damage. If Greede is engaged with the model Avarisse is attacking he gets +1 damage and a knockdown added to every attack thanks to thuggery. And Greede has singled out as a TAC buff for the team, but Avarisse is going to be the main benefactor from this singled out. For the cost of 5 influence (3 to the big man and 2 to the little rascal) they will ideally takeout a model if it is within 6 inches of Avarisse. the sequence goes; Averisse jogs to melee with a model, drops off Greede who makes an attack to single out the target, Averisse makes 3 attacks with thuggery rolling 8 dice (TAC 5 +2 for singled out +1 for Greede) hopping to wrap to do momentous 3 up to 4 and momentous 1 up to 2 on the wrap which would net 18 damage taking out most squaddies, and finally Greede spends his last influence to be picked up to not give up an easy take out in return. Well this sounds good but is easily avoided if the opponent doesn't have a model within 6'' of Averise, if Averisse has to sprint that significantly reduces the damage he does. Or any amount of control can limit him. In my experiences A&G get dropped from my 12 man roster because for 5 influence most union players or a combination of them exceed what A&G do and are harder to control. But if you are looking for pure fighting teams A&G will be for you.
DECIMATE
Decimate is the definition of consistent. Decimate is 6/9 move so she is decently quick and has dodges all over her playbook making her a decent goal threat. If you give her 4 influence to do damage decimate will do momentous 2 damage four times and no more because her playbook damage doesn't scale well but she has TAC 6 and anatomical precision so reaching the second column is quite easy. Second wind is a welcome character play for stand off situations. There isn't much to say about Decimate, she does average damage, average kick, and is quite fast.
FANGTOOTH
My boy Fangtooth is so much better then in season 3. No longer is Fangtooth a detriment to the team with foul odour now only affecting enemy models, and his heroic only damaging himself rather than any models from your team within a pulse. When Fangtooth uses his heroic he gains +1 damage and +2/+2 move in exchange for 4 damage. This is what makes Fangtooth so deadly, his 2 damage becomes 3 early in his playbook but this also works on the unmasking. If Fangtooth can tag multiple models with the unmasking he dishes out ridiculous amounts of damage. Fangers playbook also comes with a momentous knockdown one one and momentous double push on three to help take over a scrum. Defensively he is pretty solid being 3/1 with 22 health and resilience. All in all Fangtooth is a really solid player.
GUTTER
Gutter is a deceptively hard to take out model. She is 4/1 with 14 health which is among the average defensive stats, but Gutter has life drinker. So she can attack four times doing momentous damage and health, then spend a momentum to heal 8 damage in her activation, and can also be targeted by encourage to heal 4 more health. This could be combined with Red Fury to have Gutter do 4 more momentous damage results to be healed a whopping 16 damage in a turn if need be. However most people take gutter for her character plays, and as reliable source of damage. The first play Gutter has is chain grab, which is triggered on the third column of the playbook. This pushes a model within 6'' directly towards Gutter, which is great for getting slippery models into the scrum. Lastly Gutter has scything blow with a 2'' melee to do 3 damage to everyone in her melee. This is on the fifth column of her playbook, but is still the money play that teams with gutter are looking to set up. In a vet rage team, Gutter can use her activation to chain grab in a few models and maybe hit a scything blow if she has enough gang ups. Then vRage can red fury gutter to do 4 more scything blows dealing lots of damage to all the models gutter brought in. Gutters best case scenarios are all with vRage, and rarely seen with Blackheart.
HEMLOCKE
Hemlocke is a good supporting model. She is a serviceable psuedostriker having a momentous tackle on one and decently fast and 3/6'' kick. But the reason to bring Hemlocke is for her character plays. First off she has blind which is a strong control play, and can shut down opponents goal runs or a key activation. This play energizes best with coin because bag of coffers give Hemlocke the one influence needed for blind, and allows Hemlocke to use blind for free. Hemlocke's second character play is noxious blast which is great for chipping in damage. If the only condition being applied is poison, people will rarely clear their conditions with momentum and opt to heal instead. So poison can chip away at players bringing them to the perfect health level to be one rounded by Unions beaters. For example if a 4/1 14 health model took poison damage from last turn taking them to twelve health, oRage can do 8 damage very reliably as the last activation and apply bleed. The bleed and poison combine to take out that model. Lastly Hemlocke has smelling salts which clears conditions from all friendlies within an AoE. This is a silver bullet in the alchemists match up, and is great to have in a scrum to clear random knockdowns to restore gang ups and to still allow that model to move and heal as normal during their activation.
MINX
Minx is Unions best battery. She brings 2 influence for the team and has furious so she does something for nothing. What makes this even better is Minx applies the snared condition to any model she damages and has back to the shadows so Minx gets to dodge 4'' to a safe spot. Like most models I've covered, Minx can be used to score goals pretty well. Since she has damaged target she can charge 2'' extra if that model has taken damage, so Minx can charge 11'' with the ball netting at minimum a momentous dodge on one giving her a 18'' goal threat with that one dodge. If these low influence investment plays are not your thing, then Minx doing set the set up is another way she can be played. The first character play that does this is marked target which extends the threat ranges against a model. The last character play minx has is Screeching Banshee which is a net -2 defense from the play and applying snare to that target. Combine this with a union beater, lets say Avarisse and Greede for example will skyrocket there damage output as it makes wrapping easier for the duo that wants to wrap to gain the most out of the thuggery damage buff.
oRAGE
oRage is an efficient model. He brings one influence to the team, and can only have one influence on him. But that influence will always be well spent. Rage is the guilds source of tooled up, which is a welcome damage buff as it turns some of unions consistently average damage dealers into real threats. A turn one Blackheart goal run is silly with tooled up as the 4-5 momentous 1 damage double dodges turn into momentous 2 damage double dodge, which would leave a model easily taken out by Blackheart at the start of turn 2. That one influence is better spent on an attack, because if Rage does damage on an attack he applies the bleed condition and gets to make another attack for free due to berserk. Combined with having furious, Rage can make 4 attacks for the low investment of one influence. This efficiency comes with some downsides however, as Rage is a squishy model with 4/0 and 16 health for defensive stats and if her gets engaged he misses out on two attack since he doesn't have a single push or dodge result to disengage. Harry the Hat shores up the latter weakness that Rage has because he is a reliable source for double pushes to disengage Rage. Harry can also single out a target which makes Rage reliable one round a model. The four attacks should net four hits on the playbook every time to do momentous 3 damage four times for 12 damage and bleed which will finish off the target. The Charge attack should also roll higher for damage since Rage will roll 13 dice for that attack. Coin also can fully clip Rage with Bag of Coffers, however Rage should always be allocated his one influence since it can always be spent effectively.
SNAKESKIN
Snakeskin is a solid tech piece for certain match ups. When kicking into Hunters, Engineers, and Obulus Morticians, Snakeskin is a solid pick. She has beautiful which reduces the range of character plays that target her by 5'', so those ranged focus teams can't take advantage of Snakeskin if she is the kickoff model. She is also very hard to kill having charmed male putting her up to a solid def 5 against males, and has nimble so for 1 influence she gets another +1 def but against everything. All of this defensive tech makes Snakeskin good at controlling the ball, and she is fast enough to go score the goal when needed. With a 6/8'' move and where'd they go, Snakeskin has an 18'' goal threat before playbook dodges.
BENEDICTION
Benediction is a beefy scrum control piece. Being Tac 6 with a 2'' melee zone, Benediction can hit the early playbook results to push and double push momentously. This allows for the Union to rearrange the scrum in their favour. The beefiness comes from being 3/2 with 19 health and a great counter attack. This superb statline is aided by the suite of defensive character plays and traits Benediction has. At the end phase Benediction heals 2 health for free. For the low cost of 1 influence (or momentously on the third column) Benny can get +2 arm for the next attack. The last one can be put on any model, but Benny has stand firm to allow a friendly model to ignore the next knockdown they suffer. This play is great when doing a pressure kickoff as it takes away the knockdown counter attack from preventing the goal run. The last, but most important, character trait Benny has is Impart Wisdom. This allows friendly models to use benediction as the origin for character plays that target friendly models. vRage makes the most out of this ability by allowing him to extend the range of Red Fury so Rage can influence the fight from a further distance away, but can enable so yolo-jank plays. Blackheart can trigger on my mark from his playbook and have a model within 6'' of benediction pass the ball to benediction (or another model), then trigger on my mark again and have Benny (or that other model to make a pass). Using this ability Blackheart can move the ball from 12'' + Benediction's base size with On My Mark from a different area code (Bonus style points if you snapshot with a model other then Blackheart using benedictions extension). However Benediction should exclusively by vRage as he uses what Benediction brings the the table the best.
GRACE
Grace is an interesting model to have in the union. She has an influence cap of 5, but only brings 1 influence for the team, so she has the potential for a big activation, but has a pretty bad playbook to take advantage of. However, Grace allocates herself two influence at the start of her activation for free. Even though a team that includes Grace is a 11-12 influence team, its actually a 13-14 influence team where 2 of those influence must be used by Grace. She is packing two character plays that both cost two influence, so essentially free. The first one is Healing light which heals 3 damage from friendlies within an AoE which can be a nice source of healing in a scrum or against condition heavy teams. Secondly, Grace has quick foot to extend the threat ranges of friendly models by 2. Like Benediction, Grace can manipulate that point of origin of Character plays with Impart Faith. This allows Grace to use other friendly models within 6'' to be the point of orgin for her character plays. Grace has a solid goal threat range with an 8'' kick and an 8'' sprint. Grace can quick foot herself making her have a 18'' goal threat before playbook dodges. I don't think Grace brings enough to the table to make most Union rosters.
HARRY THE HAT
Harry the Hat is another scrum control model. Harry has momentous pushes and a knockdown on the front half of his playbook, and has a 2'' melee. Harry is slightly less tanky then Benediction being 3/1 with 19 health, but Harry has rising anger so you get 2 momentum after he takes damage for the first time. The other character trait has is Inspiring Hat, which reduces the cost of pass and moves and snapshots by 1. This enables using the ball for threat ranges while banking the momentum which is amazing for Union. Blackheart can double dip on this ability using On My Mark to pass the ball around the team and get dodges for free. For character plays Harry has molotov to apply the burning condition, or by controlling where the opponent can threat, but even better Harry has singled out on his second column. Singled out is extremely powerful as it makes the money results on models like Fangtooth, Gutter, and Blackheart easier to achieve, or just giving Union that slight damage increase to take out models in one activation. The Hat brings so much to the table, that he will be a stable model in the guild.
MIST
Good ole Mist is in contention for best striker in the game. Mist has a base move of 6/8, but gets +2 move when she starts an advance in cover, then has acrobatics for a 2'' dodge, and has a 3/8'' kick. Putting this all together Mist has a 20'' goal threat. What truly makes Mist great is having a 2'' melee and a momentous tackle on one. Having 2'' melee allows mist to get the ball off of 1'' melee without threat of a counter attack, and makes it easier to play around counter charges, unpredictable movement, and other 2 inch melees. The rest of Mist play book is momentous dodges and a push dodge. If the model Mist attacks is in cover Mist gets +2 Tac thanks to skilled with the shadows. Mist is an amazing striker that will be a stable in union line ups due to her abilities to win games by scoring goals and strength as a pressure kick off piece.
Blackheart and vRage both have good and bad match ups and compliment each other well. The go to line up that I would use in Union would be Blackheart, Coin, Fangtooth, Rage, Harry the Hat, and Mist. This line up has the flexibility to play goal focused or fighting focused which plays to the strength of the guild, flexibility. The big change would be switching out Mist for Hemlocke. Adding Hemlocke shifts the team from having a secondary goal threat to have overall more damage output and flexibility. This team is strong into teams that can't threaten to one round blackheart, or have access to easy ranged plays. Thankfully, vRage is decent into these match ups because rising anger helps alleviate the issue that union has on closing the gap to these teams. Once the gap is closed vRage can start taking over the game with red fury on Harry or Benediction to push a model into our team. The team I would use with vRage is strongbox, mist, Harry, Benediction, Gutter. Playing with vFangooth and Benediction in season 3 with vRage really made me enjoy having two hard to dislodge models anchoring a scrum with vRage, so it forces more models to commit to the scrum if the opponent want to win the fight which creates space for Mist to do Mist's thing. Fangtooth could easily replace Benediction in the line up and fulfill the same role that I am after.
For the tournament roster, both mascots and captains make it, while Harry, oRage, Mist, Fangtooth, and Gutter all make the cut which brings the roster up to 9 models. The finally three can be used for personal preferences, Mine being Benediction, Minx, and Decimate. Benediction as a crutch in my Rage line up, and Minx and Decimate are all around solid models and never a bad choice in a game as they bring a football element and extra damage that can be contributed. Union is chalk full of solid models, which makes Union full of possible line ups which will perform well for different people.
Riley
Monday, November 19, 2018
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Hunters Primer
I’ve been playing Hunter’s competitively since the season 3 FAQ and as soon as that FAQ came out, I knew Hunters were going to become a force to be reckoned with. After the additions of the Falconers, and vMinx, I thought they were easily one of the top teams in the game. With that being said I did not expect to receive so many buffs to models that really needed no changes, or get so many changes that they go over the top.
So let’s start with Theron, he did not need to be changed in anyway after the season 3 faq, but he got a minor buff and minor nerf. He lost 2hp, and the forest can now be placed anywhere that isn’t touching other terrain (let’s just call Snipe turning back to non-opt Arrow to the Knee, a wash).
This is why I love Theron so much, he has good defensive stats at 4/1 16 boxes, he brings access to cover for himself or other players on the team, he hands out snare like candy, has control character plays, and has a great counter attack against 1” melee models. Yes, that is pretty much saying I like everything on his card.. Because I do! Theron is extremely versatile because he can be an absolute beat stick in combat, and can also be a pseudo striker because of his double dodge on 2 hit. He can shut down super solo captain/players and just be an overall pain from debuffing the enemy.
Hunters now have a second captain instead of a cheerleader! Skatha is so over the top now, and the changes to her card leave me speechless. Her biggest issue in Season 3 was the fact that her movement was 5”/7” for a “striker”. All she needed to be actually playable was to increase her movement, and they did. She is now 7”/9”, with placeable fast ground to possibly make her 9”/11”. They didn’t stop there on making her quicker, they made Blessing of the Moon Goddess a 1 cost buyable << from a <. WOW! It didn’t stop there either, they changed her legendary to go from a pulse that gave models a possible < on an attack to, a < on every attack while within 6” of Skatha! She still has Snowball so she can dodge herself or teammates forward, so her team or herself are fast!
She is crazy good at chasing the ball down and scoring, or just going to score if she has the ball to start her activation. She also has 2 dmg on 3 hits like Theron, but she is Tac 5, though Hunters have access to Singled Out, and Eye Spy for a possible +4 Tac, and access to Harrier. She can mix it up in a fight if set up well, but she would much prefer other players to fight while she goes and scores goals.
The Hunter captains compliment each other so well, and ask very different questions when it comes to the pregame draft part of the game. They feel very similar to how Shark/Corsair felt in Seasons 2 and 3. Very flexible, able to ask questions, and able to answer questions.
Let’s talk squaddies next. I’m going to start off talking with Seenah. He no longer hugs players, but it now rips players faces off without breaking a sweat. He brings an influence to the team now, lost Furious, but gained Feral. The part where he becomes bonkers good is his playbook coupled with Isolated Target. Seenah has access to a possible +4 tac and +2 dmg against a model. He is tac 7 with a 6 long book where each success is another dmg. He doesn’t even need the buffs besides Isolated Target to take another player out. He also became a 3/0 defensively which makes him a lot harder to take out. Don’t get me wrong, he will still go down in a scrum, but he is such a great late turn beater.
Vet Minx is the next squaddie I want to talk about. She is my favourite squaddie in the game. She is 7”/9” with a 2” melee so she gets to where she wants to go. It is very hard to hide from Minx. She gets +1 defence against damaged targets, and she places traps which hand out 1 dmg and snare, so she should almost always be 5/1 unless your opponent can heal away the damage, but then they aren’t clearing the snare which is fine. If they charged and are damaged she is a 6/1 when you Defensive Stance! Ok, now her playbook. It is amazing! Her money result is 2 successes where she has Mom 2 dmg, and a Non-Mom Tackle. This is what makes her the Swiss army knife of the hunters team. With the beat down buffs of Singled Out, Eye Spy, and Harrier she can put out some serious hurt. She could also threaten the ball extremely well. She has scored me a ton of goals, stolen the ball off of players who are nowhere near her and gotten the ball back to my team so I can be in control of it and deny the opponent the chance of scoring. She generates momentum quite easily, and needs to be played like a yo-yo to be effective. She may be tough to take out 1 on 1 but don’t let her sit in the other teams lines for too long to have a scrum formed around her.
Time for Minerva. Another 2” melee model for Hunters, woo! She is incredibly squishy being 4/0 with a pretty bad counter attack. I’ve learned the hard way, do not initiate a scrum with her. That is asking for her to get taken out. She sets up the scrum in combat AFTER the opponent puts a model onto your side. Otherwise she gets 2 influence and a blessing to put out Eye Spy and Harrier from as far back as possible. Eye Spy and Harrier are both triggerable on the playbook for 1 success, and she has a KD on 2 successes! What more could you ask in a model who wants to set up a scrum? She lets you use Encourage for free when you take out an opposing player within 6” of her. I initially didn’t like playing her, but with playing her a little but I have a hard time not playing her. She enables Hunters players to win fights, easy as that. 2” melee is also a rule that makes any player in my eyes attractive.
Zarola is so good, that everytime I leave her off the pitch I regret it. Midnight Offering is too good not to take. It is usually free because of a Blessing of the Sun Father, and free repositioning/threat extension are always welcome. Unpredictable Movement and Linked with Fahad shouldn’t be forgotten about and Linked can have some janky/game winning interactions. With Midnight Offering, a sprint, and her 6” kick she has a 19” goal threat. This is is just 1” shorter than Ulfr’s goal threat with Where’d They Go.
Let’s use that as an opportunity to transition the animal himself, Ulfr. He got some needed changes, but he will continue to sit on the shelf for me. He is a 4/0 with 16 health and a straight up bad counter attack (if he has already used Where’d They Go). Lone Hunter was up there with Deteriorate in Season 3 as the worst rules in the game in my mind. Deteriorate is gone and we are left with Lone Hunter… Sure it got reduced to 4” but it is still a 9” bubble on the pitch where you can’t put players. Why would I want to restrict an already small play space like that? There is so many things wrong with him still that I don’t know where he falls in a Hunters team. We have access to better overall models who nearly threaten as far as he does to score who can meaningfully contribute to other aspects of the game and don’t get worse being close to teammates. But if you do want to play with him, because come on he's an animial, Ulfr can operate on a wing alright with a Skatha football line up.
I’m going to lump the Hearne’s together. Personally I think vHearne is just better than oHearne. He has a mom Tackle and KD on 2 hits. That is what you want. He is also deceptively quick, and has a janky jumping goal run. oHearne makes you do dumb plays by flinging him forward with Theron. Sure you can teleport him next turn to get away, but every team has a way of taking out a 3/1 with no Tough Hide and a bad counter attack. vHearne is great operating on minimal influence, and helps control a scrum with KD.
Jaecar is a sad boy now with the change to his trap, and Gut n String changing. I haven’t gotten to play him in Season 4 yet but I think Seenah just took his place as the team damage dealer.
Chaska is an interesting choice. I’ve played him in a really strange team to little success but don’t boombox, it is great. He is just incredibly squishy and if you move up to boombox he is going to have a rough time, even if that boombox is free.
Egret got so much better and I have been enjoying putting her on the table for once. Against teams that bunch up I will try to find a spot to take her otherwise I think loses effectiveness. Giving her two influence to threaten a flurry and 6” dodge back to where she started is really good, and she is a serviceable striker in a pinch.
I’ve put off Mataagi till the end for a reason. In theory he is great. Ranged attack, puts out bleed, has harrier, all great things to have. Here is where practice has got me to not like him. 10 health is not what you want, it leads to him accidentally getting taken out. He has even been one shotted by a vCinder when the dice exploded. Here is where everyone tells me, but he is 6” away from models. 6” is not far enough!! He also has a flawed playbook to compensate for his ranged attack so if a model gets into him, he will highly unlikely be able to get away. Also he is not that great of a striker with a 2/8” kick. He needs to Bonus Time (usually to just get back to 2 dice because odds are he will be obscured in some way when shooting) and I don’t like giving the ball up on 75% goal runs.
Overall I think the Hunters will be everywhere, much as they were at the end of Season 3. They are clearly the best team at this point and if you don’t get to practice against them a lot, find someone who does and play against them.
So let’s start with Theron, he did not need to be changed in anyway after the season 3 faq, but he got a minor buff and minor nerf. He lost 2hp, and the forest can now be placed anywhere that isn’t touching other terrain (let’s just call Snipe turning back to non-opt Arrow to the Knee, a wash).
This is why I love Theron so much, he has good defensive stats at 4/1 16 boxes, he brings access to cover for himself or other players on the team, he hands out snare like candy, has control character plays, and has a great counter attack against 1” melee models. Yes, that is pretty much saying I like everything on his card.. Because I do! Theron is extremely versatile because he can be an absolute beat stick in combat, and can also be a pseudo striker because of his double dodge on 2 hit. He can shut down super solo captain/players and just be an overall pain from debuffing the enemy.
Hunters now have a second captain instead of a cheerleader! Skatha is so over the top now, and the changes to her card leave me speechless. Her biggest issue in Season 3 was the fact that her movement was 5”/7” for a “striker”. All she needed to be actually playable was to increase her movement, and they did. She is now 7”/9”, with placeable fast ground to possibly make her 9”/11”. They didn’t stop there on making her quicker, they made Blessing of the Moon Goddess a 1 cost buyable << from a <. WOW! It didn’t stop there either, they changed her legendary to go from a pulse that gave models a possible < on an attack to, a < on every attack while within 6” of Skatha! She still has Snowball so she can dodge herself or teammates forward, so her team or herself are fast!
She is crazy good at chasing the ball down and scoring, or just going to score if she has the ball to start her activation. She also has 2 dmg on 3 hits like Theron, but she is Tac 5, though Hunters have access to Singled Out, and Eye Spy for a possible +4 Tac, and access to Harrier. She can mix it up in a fight if set up well, but she would much prefer other players to fight while she goes and scores goals.
The Hunter captains compliment each other so well, and ask very different questions when it comes to the pregame draft part of the game. They feel very similar to how Shark/Corsair felt in Seasons 2 and 3. Very flexible, able to ask questions, and able to answer questions.
Let’s talk squaddies next. I’m going to start off talking with Seenah. He no longer hugs players, but it now rips players faces off without breaking a sweat. He brings an influence to the team now, lost Furious, but gained Feral. The part where he becomes bonkers good is his playbook coupled with Isolated Target. Seenah has access to a possible +4 tac and +2 dmg against a model. He is tac 7 with a 6 long book where each success is another dmg. He doesn’t even need the buffs besides Isolated Target to take another player out. He also became a 3/0 defensively which makes him a lot harder to take out. Don’t get me wrong, he will still go down in a scrum, but he is such a great late turn beater.
Vet Minx is the next squaddie I want to talk about. She is my favourite squaddie in the game. She is 7”/9” with a 2” melee so she gets to where she wants to go. It is very hard to hide from Minx. She gets +1 defence against damaged targets, and she places traps which hand out 1 dmg and snare, so she should almost always be 5/1 unless your opponent can heal away the damage, but then they aren’t clearing the snare which is fine. If they charged and are damaged she is a 6/1 when you Defensive Stance! Ok, now her playbook. It is amazing! Her money result is 2 successes where she has Mom 2 dmg, and a Non-Mom Tackle. This is what makes her the Swiss army knife of the hunters team. With the beat down buffs of Singled Out, Eye Spy, and Harrier she can put out some serious hurt. She could also threaten the ball extremely well. She has scored me a ton of goals, stolen the ball off of players who are nowhere near her and gotten the ball back to my team so I can be in control of it and deny the opponent the chance of scoring. She generates momentum quite easily, and needs to be played like a yo-yo to be effective. She may be tough to take out 1 on 1 but don’t let her sit in the other teams lines for too long to have a scrum formed around her.
Time for Minerva. Another 2” melee model for Hunters, woo! She is incredibly squishy being 4/0 with a pretty bad counter attack. I’ve learned the hard way, do not initiate a scrum with her. That is asking for her to get taken out. She sets up the scrum in combat AFTER the opponent puts a model onto your side. Otherwise she gets 2 influence and a blessing to put out Eye Spy and Harrier from as far back as possible. Eye Spy and Harrier are both triggerable on the playbook for 1 success, and she has a KD on 2 successes! What more could you ask in a model who wants to set up a scrum? She lets you use Encourage for free when you take out an opposing player within 6” of her. I initially didn’t like playing her, but with playing her a little but I have a hard time not playing her. She enables Hunters players to win fights, easy as that. 2” melee is also a rule that makes any player in my eyes attractive.
Zarola is so good, that everytime I leave her off the pitch I regret it. Midnight Offering is too good not to take. It is usually free because of a Blessing of the Sun Father, and free repositioning/threat extension are always welcome. Unpredictable Movement and Linked with Fahad shouldn’t be forgotten about and Linked can have some janky/game winning interactions. With Midnight Offering, a sprint, and her 6” kick she has a 19” goal threat. This is is just 1” shorter than Ulfr’s goal threat with Where’d They Go.
Let’s use that as an opportunity to transition the animal himself, Ulfr. He got some needed changes, but he will continue to sit on the shelf for me. He is a 4/0 with 16 health and a straight up bad counter attack (if he has already used Where’d They Go). Lone Hunter was up there with Deteriorate in Season 3 as the worst rules in the game in my mind. Deteriorate is gone and we are left with Lone Hunter… Sure it got reduced to 4” but it is still a 9” bubble on the pitch where you can’t put players. Why would I want to restrict an already small play space like that? There is so many things wrong with him still that I don’t know where he falls in a Hunters team. We have access to better overall models who nearly threaten as far as he does to score who can meaningfully contribute to other aspects of the game and don’t get worse being close to teammates. But if you do want to play with him, because come on he's an animial, Ulfr can operate on a wing alright with a Skatha football line up.
I’m going to lump the Hearne’s together. Personally I think vHearne is just better than oHearne. He has a mom Tackle and KD on 2 hits. That is what you want. He is also deceptively quick, and has a janky jumping goal run. oHearne makes you do dumb plays by flinging him forward with Theron. Sure you can teleport him next turn to get away, but every team has a way of taking out a 3/1 with no Tough Hide and a bad counter attack. vHearne is great operating on minimal influence, and helps control a scrum with KD.
Jaecar is a sad boy now with the change to his trap, and Gut n String changing. I haven’t gotten to play him in Season 4 yet but I think Seenah just took his place as the team damage dealer.
Chaska is an interesting choice. I’ve played him in a really strange team to little success but don’t boombox, it is great. He is just incredibly squishy and if you move up to boombox he is going to have a rough time, even if that boombox is free.
Egret got so much better and I have been enjoying putting her on the table for once. Against teams that bunch up I will try to find a spot to take her otherwise I think loses effectiveness. Giving her two influence to threaten a flurry and 6” dodge back to where she started is really good, and she is a serviceable striker in a pinch.
I’ve put off Mataagi till the end for a reason. In theory he is great. Ranged attack, puts out bleed, has harrier, all great things to have. Here is where practice has got me to not like him. 10 health is not what you want, it leads to him accidentally getting taken out. He has even been one shotted by a vCinder when the dice exploded. Here is where everyone tells me, but he is 6” away from models. 6” is not far enough!! He also has a flawed playbook to compensate for his ranged attack so if a model gets into him, he will highly unlikely be able to get away. Also he is not that great of a striker with a 2/8” kick. He needs to Bonus Time (usually to just get back to 2 dice because odds are he will be obscured in some way when shooting) and I don’t like giving the ball up on 75% goal runs.
Overall I think the Hunters will be everywhere, much as they were at the end of Season 3. They are clearly the best team at this point and if you don’t get to practice against them a lot, find someone who does and play against them.
Rhett T
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Blacksmiths Primer
Hey Internet world, this is the first installment of the season 4 Guild primers. I'm starting with the smiths because they are they guild I have been jamming in the most games with. The smiths are a scorey team that has the ability to brawl with the best of them, and have great armour scores across the board which further bolsters their scrum game. Lets start with the Captain erm I mean Masters.
The Smiths rosters is a relation of having an equal number of masters and apprentices on the pitch. Because of this they have the potential to have a captain level of ability impact the pitch three times a turn. When choosing the three masters, one of which should have the sentinel ability which gives apprentices within an inch an extra point of armour. This brings most of the apprentices up to a hearty 4/2 defensive statline which is flipping amazing.
ANVIL
Anvil is the anchor of a brawling smith line up. He extends the threat of the entire team with his character play 'While the Iron is Hot', which is a key play in having an aggressive kick off play. When the scrum develops, Anvil is the set up piece with momentous knockdown on one and momentous guild ball on 2. The guild ball can be used for the 2 inch dodge of almost an entire smiths team 2 inch towards a goal post with 'While the Irons is Hot' to shift the scrum in your favour, or for 'Singled out'. Singled out is incredibly powerful for apprentices to utilize, it makes the top end of the playbook accessible which is where smiths start to really turn out the damage (who doesn't love saying momentous 8 with sledge). Anvil is a great choice to be the Captain because his Legendary as the Captain is backbreaking for the other team. Anvil's legendary is a 6'' Aura where all models gain tough hide and Stoic. This makes fighting the blacksmith scrum insanely difficult because apprentices are 4/2 tough hide and stoic, masters have 2 or 3 armour, a metric crapload of health boxes, and now tough hide! Layering this legendary in the scrum with cover and/or crowd outs even the fightiest of teams will struggle to take out any player.
BURNISH
If you like playing with Fire, Burnish is your guy. Although his playbook is not the greatest, Burnish makes up for this with an AoE character play to damage and set the other team on fire. Burnish even can set your own team on fire to clear every condition they were suffering previous. Most importantly Burnish brings an ability to stop any character play that hits a model within 1'' of him. This is great in any guild but smiths love this ability because across the board have garbage defense which makes them weak to character plays. I never play Burnish as my captain because he doesn't make good use out of the 5 influence cap, or have a great legendary play, but he Burnish is a solid tech piece for the hunters, engineers, and alchemist match up. Being able to stop key plays like deadbolt, pinned, and boombox can through a wrench into the opponents plans.
FARRIS
Unlike Mr. Bueller, Farris doesn't take days off. For just a single influence, the horse has a 20' goal threat with her legendary. Her legendary is very efficient granting herself +1/+2 kick and a free kick, but if she is the captain that becomes a 6'' aura. It is rather hard to use the legendary twice in a turn for goal runs but it is a nifty aura if you are going for a pure footballing Smith's team, and free reliable passes aren't really that bad either because those passes lead to an extra 4'' of threat that your players have. Farris is also a nice big and mobile sentinel aura for the team and brings a 2'' stick to crowd things out with.
FERRITE
Ferrite is the go to striker captain of the team. With a base 4/8 kick and a buyable dodge she is a reliable striker. Her legendary play as the captain is easy to use and shores up a weak spot of the smiths which is there speed giving everyone within 6" +2/+2 move. Don't doubt her ability to scrum, disarm is extremely frusterating for the other team to play against. If they have a super solo model that takes all of the buffs, Ferrite can get into melee with them and use get over here iron to move iron to engage that model then apply another -2 tac through disarm. That model is at -3 dice to any of there attacks against either Ferrite or iron, both of which have 2 armor. Against most captains who have Tac 6 or 7 this makes it so only the first or second column of the playbook can reliably chosen which usually isn't enough to do anything meaningful. All in all Ferrite is a solid master to pick as a captain because she has the ability to use all 5 of the influence cap meaningfully and has a good legendary play that the entire team benefits from. If you are just starting out with Blacksmiths, Ferrite is the easiest master to play as the Captain.
FURNACE
In case burnish wasn't fire enough for you, Furnace brings even more. Whenever Furnace deals damage to a model that model suffers the burning condition and loses a point of armour. Furnace, is a more damage focused captain having momentous 1 on 1 which a shorter playbook than his Tac. He also brings 'tooled up' to the team, and with 'one at a time lads' can essentially make Blacksmith players rowdy which can help turn an unfavourable scrum around. Furnace is one of the masters with the sentinal ability to bump up apprentices armour and brings a 2" melee to provide crowd outs easier. He isn't a slouch at football sporting a 3/8 kick which is good at passing the ball out to a striker on the wing, or even slotting in a crackback goal himself. Furnace brings so much to any six man line up the blacksmiths can make, so much so that I find it hard to not take him. He is a decent Captain because he can use the 5 influence to takeout a moderately healthy model to start a turn, but I find that an apprentice can do the same thing but better in the same situations. His legendary play is decent giving everyone the same ability furnace has to burn models and gain a tac.
HEARTH
This Grandma doesn't have hard candies in her purse, she is packing lots of big weapons. Hearth is great at setting up apprentices, being able to get 2 net hits with 'instruction', or by giving any guild model a 2" melee zone with 'use this'. That is any model, Anvil can get the big hammer he always dreamed of, Cast can bridge huge gaps with swift strikes dodges and a 2'' melee, and generally having a 2'' melee is always better then a one inch melee. Hearth herself has a 2'' melee with a momentous knockdown on 1. She is going to engage and knockdown multiple models for the apprentices to come pick on. Although she isn't the most invincible model so she doesn't want to be the first one into the fight, rather a secondary model to complete the set up. Hearth brings some efficiency with the ball allowing the smiths to double dip on pass and moves with 'Match Experience" trait. I don't recommend using Hearth as the captain unless you want a challenge, or have a specific game plan in mind that utilizes her legendary to make everything on your team 2'' melee. In my experience I am bring 1 or 2 models that do not have a 2'' melee already making the legendary less valuable.
There is plenty of flexibility in choosing between 6 models to be a captain. This adds a lot of options to find the best Captain to compliment your playstyle. The Masters tend to have captain level survivability when looking at there defensive stats and health pools, but have weak counter attacks. Contrasting this are the apprentices who have below average health pools, but make up for it with better counter attacks. Now that the Masters are concluded, and we are starting to get a view of the team as a whole, lets get into the Apprentices.
ALLOY
One of the better strikers in the game, Alloy is a flexible player but geared towards goal scoring. If he is taken with his master Hearth (which he should be), Alloy gets to either have +1/+0 kick or anatomical precision if he begins his activation within 6''. He is also packing back to the shadows to dodge back to hearth after his activation so he can gain one of his buffs. On his goal runs Alloy can damage a model on the way and use run the length to dodge 8" after he scores!! But also being a blacksmith apprentice alloy has ridiculous top end damage so with a little set up alloy can help contribute to the takeout game.
BOLT
Bolt is a striker who has Stamina so he can jog at the beginning of his activation for free. Combined with all of the movement buffs available in the guild bolt can go extremely far. If he starts within 6'' of his master Farris, Bolt gets to use a free character play. This can be 'Im Open' so bolt's threat range can be upped by 8'', by passing to a model then using im open, if you make both the passes to use pass and move, and this could dodge another model as well 8'' when combined with Hearth's match experience. Or Bolt can use 'Shoemerang' this can knockdown a model, potentially freeing the ball for bolt to go score. Unlike Alloy bolt isn't quite as flexible in his game plan, Bolt isn't the greatest at doing damage but he isn't the worst.
CAST
Cast is a fiery devil. If she attacks a model suffering the burning condition, her attacks do +1 damage. This turns Cast's momentous 2 on 2 into momentous 3, and her momentous 3 on 4 into 4 on 4. Cast is also a 7/9 movement with a 4/6 kick so she is decent at football. While it turns out cast is better then we think, She has swift strike so she dodges 2'' every time cast does damage. While having a long goal threat range and a 4 dice kick isn't all the football tech cast is bringing, she has a character play 'shield throw' which knocks the ball off of the ball holder, and does damage so Cast can dodge 2'' afterwards. However, Cast is limited by having tac 5 so she needs to have a decent amount of set up to get into her magical Christmas zone of amazing.
CINDER
Original Cinder is an anomaly compared to the rest of the apprentices. Cinder doesn't do a whole lot when she is fully loaded and set up, rather she shines in taking an influence or two. Cinder just wants to shoot from 6'' with far strike once every turn to tackle the ball or get a momentum and apply the burning condition if She started within 6'' of furnace to get searing strike. Cinder has unpredictable movement and a character play 'Kill Ball' which allows a free ball to be removed from the pitch and resolve a goal kick. This makes cinder good at controlling the ball, keeping the ball on her safe from 1'' melee strikers then dropping the ball to use kill ball to either get the ball as far away from the enemy strikers bearing down on Cinder as possible or to get the ball to your team to try and score a goal.
vCINDER
Veteran Cinder is amazing. She has 2'' melee, searing strike, is fast, and has a solid playbook. The best thing about her is whenever vCinder inflicts the taken out condition, she can dodge 2'', make another attack, or perform a kick for free! Have I gushed enough about how good vCinder is?! Well im not done, Cinder has sweeping charge. So if vCinder does damage on a charge every model in her melee suffers 3 damage. Thanks to searing strikes this also inflicts the burning condition and strips an armour from every model in her melee. While this could be bad if you clip some of your own models in the scrum, you don't trigger searing strikes on friendlies, but the upside of this ability is so great that doing some damage to a master isn't actually that bad. This model should be in every single six man lineup, however oCinder does have an edge in an aggressive football line up as a tool to get the ball back.
IRON
This guy is a beast. Iron has battering ram so he can push models, like his own team on turn 1, 2''. Iron is also has close control so he is a decent option to sit the ball on, and has 'tryhard' so he reduces the TN on a goal attempt within 2'' of the goal by 1, so Iron needs a 2 to score if you can get him there. Iron also has the best counter attack on the team with a double push on 1 with Tac 6, and is no slouch at pumping out damage. Im not done yet with Iron, he is a 3/2 defensive stat apprentice. That becomes 3/3 with sentinel. This makes iron one of the best ways to kill the ball in blacksmiths, and if not killing the ball Iron is the most annoying model to try and deal with.
SLEDGE
Sledge, Sledge, Sledge, the most polarizing blacksmith model. If played smart he can be the momentous 8 damage wrecking ball everyone ever wanted, the most reliable finisher to be found by being able to do momentous 4 twice without having to roll dice. Sledge has tutelage so he can use a free character play if he starts within 6'' of his master, Anvil. This can be a free 'piledriver' for 3 net hits. With 2 on 1, 4 on 3, 6 on 5, and 8 on 7 in his playbook, Sledge's damage output can get ridiculous real quickly. If there isn't anything to hit immediately, 'piledriver' can be used on a counter attack making sledge's counter attack very scary. Alternatively, Sledge can use 'longbomb' to pass the ball across the pitch. Sledge like to charge as well, when he does a playbook result on the charge Sledge also inflicts the knockdown condition. So with Tac 5, +4 dice for charging, +3 net hits from a free piledriver, a momentous 8 damage isn't that out of the ordinary. With a good roll, or extra set up this could be a wrap for double momentous 10 or 12 and a knockdown, if it is against some poor defensive stats or an incredible spike Sledge might do double momentous 14 or 16 damage! Sledge doesn't really have a downside to him but has a tremendous upside making him a great apprentice who should always be taken if you have anvil on the pitch. At the end of the day Sledge is one of the two natural 2'' melee apprentices and appreciates all the support Blacksmiths have to offer.
The blacksmiths have a lot of synergies. It will take a fair amount of games with them before the team truly starts to click. They are very well rounded and versatile, but also are insanely defensive. Some guilds will struggle to do a whole lot against the armour that blacksmith have which is even more punishing if you get enough of the two inch melee zones starting to dominate a scrum. The traits burnish brings neutralizes the benefits control/character play centric teams have on the smiths. Some guild will struggle to just keep up with the damage that the Smiths can put out.
Six man lineups that I have been playing with them are Anvil(c), Furnace, Farris, Sledge, vCinder, Iron. This line up is my go to with great scrum control and Farris is an option for an opportunistic goal. My secondary line up swaps Burnish in for Farris if I am against alchemists, hunters, and engineers. Other line ups I have played around with are: Ferrite(c), Hearth, Furnace, Alloy, oCinder, Iron. This line up has well balanced football and scrum allowing for a 2-2 game, and is great against teams were they hinge on a particular models activation being good like brewers, fillet butchers, hammer masons. And the last team that has potential is the Fire Force. This has Furnace, Burnish, vCinder, Cast and your choice of a master and apprentice. This team has a lot of synergy around the burning condition is is quite rounded, and then is tailored to choice depending on the last pair of models chosen.
I hope this little write up was useful. Next up Rhett is going to breaking down the Hunters Guild.
Riley
The Smiths rosters is a relation of having an equal number of masters and apprentices on the pitch. Because of this they have the potential to have a captain level of ability impact the pitch three times a turn. When choosing the three masters, one of which should have the sentinel ability which gives apprentices within an inch an extra point of armour. This brings most of the apprentices up to a hearty 4/2 defensive statline which is flipping amazing.
ANVIL
Anvil is the anchor of a brawling smith line up. He extends the threat of the entire team with his character play 'While the Iron is Hot', which is a key play in having an aggressive kick off play. When the scrum develops, Anvil is the set up piece with momentous knockdown on one and momentous guild ball on 2. The guild ball can be used for the 2 inch dodge of almost an entire smiths team 2 inch towards a goal post with 'While the Irons is Hot' to shift the scrum in your favour, or for 'Singled out'. Singled out is incredibly powerful for apprentices to utilize, it makes the top end of the playbook accessible which is where smiths start to really turn out the damage (who doesn't love saying momentous 8 with sledge). Anvil is a great choice to be the Captain because his Legendary as the Captain is backbreaking for the other team. Anvil's legendary is a 6'' Aura where all models gain tough hide and Stoic. This makes fighting the blacksmith scrum insanely difficult because apprentices are 4/2 tough hide and stoic, masters have 2 or 3 armour, a metric crapload of health boxes, and now tough hide! Layering this legendary in the scrum with cover and/or crowd outs even the fightiest of teams will struggle to take out any player.
BURNISH
If you like playing with Fire, Burnish is your guy. Although his playbook is not the greatest, Burnish makes up for this with an AoE character play to damage and set the other team on fire. Burnish even can set your own team on fire to clear every condition they were suffering previous. Most importantly Burnish brings an ability to stop any character play that hits a model within 1'' of him. This is great in any guild but smiths love this ability because across the board have garbage defense which makes them weak to character plays. I never play Burnish as my captain because he doesn't make good use out of the 5 influence cap, or have a great legendary play, but he Burnish is a solid tech piece for the hunters, engineers, and alchemist match up. Being able to stop key plays like deadbolt, pinned, and boombox can through a wrench into the opponents plans.
FARRIS
Unlike Mr. Bueller, Farris doesn't take days off. For just a single influence, the horse has a 20' goal threat with her legendary. Her legendary is very efficient granting herself +1/+2 kick and a free kick, but if she is the captain that becomes a 6'' aura. It is rather hard to use the legendary twice in a turn for goal runs but it is a nifty aura if you are going for a pure footballing Smith's team, and free reliable passes aren't really that bad either because those passes lead to an extra 4'' of threat that your players have. Farris is also a nice big and mobile sentinel aura for the team and brings a 2'' stick to crowd things out with.
FERRITE
Ferrite is the go to striker captain of the team. With a base 4/8 kick and a buyable dodge she is a reliable striker. Her legendary play as the captain is easy to use and shores up a weak spot of the smiths which is there speed giving everyone within 6" +2/+2 move. Don't doubt her ability to scrum, disarm is extremely frusterating for the other team to play against. If they have a super solo model that takes all of the buffs, Ferrite can get into melee with them and use get over here iron to move iron to engage that model then apply another -2 tac through disarm. That model is at -3 dice to any of there attacks against either Ferrite or iron, both of which have 2 armor. Against most captains who have Tac 6 or 7 this makes it so only the first or second column of the playbook can reliably chosen which usually isn't enough to do anything meaningful. All in all Ferrite is a solid master to pick as a captain because she has the ability to use all 5 of the influence cap meaningfully and has a good legendary play that the entire team benefits from. If you are just starting out with Blacksmiths, Ferrite is the easiest master to play as the Captain.
FURNACE
In case burnish wasn't fire enough for you, Furnace brings even more. Whenever Furnace deals damage to a model that model suffers the burning condition and loses a point of armour. Furnace, is a more damage focused captain having momentous 1 on 1 which a shorter playbook than his Tac. He also brings 'tooled up' to the team, and with 'one at a time lads' can essentially make Blacksmith players rowdy which can help turn an unfavourable scrum around. Furnace is one of the masters with the sentinal ability to bump up apprentices armour and brings a 2" melee to provide crowd outs easier. He isn't a slouch at football sporting a 3/8 kick which is good at passing the ball out to a striker on the wing, or even slotting in a crackback goal himself. Furnace brings so much to any six man line up the blacksmiths can make, so much so that I find it hard to not take him. He is a decent Captain because he can use the 5 influence to takeout a moderately healthy model to start a turn, but I find that an apprentice can do the same thing but better in the same situations. His legendary play is decent giving everyone the same ability furnace has to burn models and gain a tac.
HEARTH
This Grandma doesn't have hard candies in her purse, she is packing lots of big weapons. Hearth is great at setting up apprentices, being able to get 2 net hits with 'instruction', or by giving any guild model a 2" melee zone with 'use this'. That is any model, Anvil can get the big hammer he always dreamed of, Cast can bridge huge gaps with swift strikes dodges and a 2'' melee, and generally having a 2'' melee is always better then a one inch melee. Hearth herself has a 2'' melee with a momentous knockdown on 1. She is going to engage and knockdown multiple models for the apprentices to come pick on. Although she isn't the most invincible model so she doesn't want to be the first one into the fight, rather a secondary model to complete the set up. Hearth brings some efficiency with the ball allowing the smiths to double dip on pass and moves with 'Match Experience" trait. I don't recommend using Hearth as the captain unless you want a challenge, or have a specific game plan in mind that utilizes her legendary to make everything on your team 2'' melee. In my experience I am bring 1 or 2 models that do not have a 2'' melee already making the legendary less valuable.
There is plenty of flexibility in choosing between 6 models to be a captain. This adds a lot of options to find the best Captain to compliment your playstyle. The Masters tend to have captain level survivability when looking at there defensive stats and health pools, but have weak counter attacks. Contrasting this are the apprentices who have below average health pools, but make up for it with better counter attacks. Now that the Masters are concluded, and we are starting to get a view of the team as a whole, lets get into the Apprentices.
ALLOY
One of the better strikers in the game, Alloy is a flexible player but geared towards goal scoring. If he is taken with his master Hearth (which he should be), Alloy gets to either have +1/+0 kick or anatomical precision if he begins his activation within 6''. He is also packing back to the shadows to dodge back to hearth after his activation so he can gain one of his buffs. On his goal runs Alloy can damage a model on the way and use run the length to dodge 8" after he scores!! But also being a blacksmith apprentice alloy has ridiculous top end damage so with a little set up alloy can help contribute to the takeout game.
BOLT
Bolt is a striker who has Stamina so he can jog at the beginning of his activation for free. Combined with all of the movement buffs available in the guild bolt can go extremely far. If he starts within 6'' of his master Farris, Bolt gets to use a free character play. This can be 'Im Open' so bolt's threat range can be upped by 8'', by passing to a model then using im open, if you make both the passes to use pass and move, and this could dodge another model as well 8'' when combined with Hearth's match experience. Or Bolt can use 'Shoemerang' this can knockdown a model, potentially freeing the ball for bolt to go score. Unlike Alloy bolt isn't quite as flexible in his game plan, Bolt isn't the greatest at doing damage but he isn't the worst.
CAST
Cast is a fiery devil. If she attacks a model suffering the burning condition, her attacks do +1 damage. This turns Cast's momentous 2 on 2 into momentous 3, and her momentous 3 on 4 into 4 on 4. Cast is also a 7/9 movement with a 4/6 kick so she is decent at football. While it turns out cast is better then we think, She has swift strike so she dodges 2'' every time cast does damage. While having a long goal threat range and a 4 dice kick isn't all the football tech cast is bringing, she has a character play 'shield throw' which knocks the ball off of the ball holder, and does damage so Cast can dodge 2'' afterwards. However, Cast is limited by having tac 5 so she needs to have a decent amount of set up to get into her magical Christmas zone of amazing.
CINDER
Original Cinder is an anomaly compared to the rest of the apprentices. Cinder doesn't do a whole lot when she is fully loaded and set up, rather she shines in taking an influence or two. Cinder just wants to shoot from 6'' with far strike once every turn to tackle the ball or get a momentum and apply the burning condition if She started within 6'' of furnace to get searing strike. Cinder has unpredictable movement and a character play 'Kill Ball' which allows a free ball to be removed from the pitch and resolve a goal kick. This makes cinder good at controlling the ball, keeping the ball on her safe from 1'' melee strikers then dropping the ball to use kill ball to either get the ball as far away from the enemy strikers bearing down on Cinder as possible or to get the ball to your team to try and score a goal.
vCINDER
Veteran Cinder is amazing. She has 2'' melee, searing strike, is fast, and has a solid playbook. The best thing about her is whenever vCinder inflicts the taken out condition, she can dodge 2'', make another attack, or perform a kick for free! Have I gushed enough about how good vCinder is?! Well im not done, Cinder has sweeping charge. So if vCinder does damage on a charge every model in her melee suffers 3 damage. Thanks to searing strikes this also inflicts the burning condition and strips an armour from every model in her melee. While this could be bad if you clip some of your own models in the scrum, you don't trigger searing strikes on friendlies, but the upside of this ability is so great that doing some damage to a master isn't actually that bad. This model should be in every single six man lineup, however oCinder does have an edge in an aggressive football line up as a tool to get the ball back.
IRON
This guy is a beast. Iron has battering ram so he can push models, like his own team on turn 1, 2''. Iron is also has close control so he is a decent option to sit the ball on, and has 'tryhard' so he reduces the TN on a goal attempt within 2'' of the goal by 1, so Iron needs a 2 to score if you can get him there. Iron also has the best counter attack on the team with a double push on 1 with Tac 6, and is no slouch at pumping out damage. Im not done yet with Iron, he is a 3/2 defensive stat apprentice. That becomes 3/3 with sentinel. This makes iron one of the best ways to kill the ball in blacksmiths, and if not killing the ball Iron is the most annoying model to try and deal with.
SLEDGE
Sledge, Sledge, Sledge, the most polarizing blacksmith model. If played smart he can be the momentous 8 damage wrecking ball everyone ever wanted, the most reliable finisher to be found by being able to do momentous 4 twice without having to roll dice. Sledge has tutelage so he can use a free character play if he starts within 6'' of his master, Anvil. This can be a free 'piledriver' for 3 net hits. With 2 on 1, 4 on 3, 6 on 5, and 8 on 7 in his playbook, Sledge's damage output can get ridiculous real quickly. If there isn't anything to hit immediately, 'piledriver' can be used on a counter attack making sledge's counter attack very scary. Alternatively, Sledge can use 'longbomb' to pass the ball across the pitch. Sledge like to charge as well, when he does a playbook result on the charge Sledge also inflicts the knockdown condition. So with Tac 5, +4 dice for charging, +3 net hits from a free piledriver, a momentous 8 damage isn't that out of the ordinary. With a good roll, or extra set up this could be a wrap for double momentous 10 or 12 and a knockdown, if it is against some poor defensive stats or an incredible spike Sledge might do double momentous 14 or 16 damage! Sledge doesn't really have a downside to him but has a tremendous upside making him a great apprentice who should always be taken if you have anvil on the pitch. At the end of the day Sledge is one of the two natural 2'' melee apprentices and appreciates all the support Blacksmiths have to offer.
The blacksmiths have a lot of synergies. It will take a fair amount of games with them before the team truly starts to click. They are very well rounded and versatile, but also are insanely defensive. Some guilds will struggle to do a whole lot against the armour that blacksmith have which is even more punishing if you get enough of the two inch melee zones starting to dominate a scrum. The traits burnish brings neutralizes the benefits control/character play centric teams have on the smiths. Some guild will struggle to just keep up with the damage that the Smiths can put out.
Six man lineups that I have been playing with them are Anvil(c), Furnace, Farris, Sledge, vCinder, Iron. This line up is my go to with great scrum control and Farris is an option for an opportunistic goal. My secondary line up swaps Burnish in for Farris if I am against alchemists, hunters, and engineers. Other line ups I have played around with are: Ferrite(c), Hearth, Furnace, Alloy, oCinder, Iron. This line up has well balanced football and scrum allowing for a 2-2 game, and is great against teams were they hinge on a particular models activation being good like brewers, fillet butchers, hammer masons. And the last team that has potential is the Fire Force. This has Furnace, Burnish, vCinder, Cast and your choice of a master and apprentice. This team has a lot of synergy around the burning condition is is quite rounded, and then is tailored to choice depending on the last pair of models chosen.
I hope this little write up was useful. Next up Rhett is going to breaking down the Hunters Guild.
Riley
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