Union Primer

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