I played two more solitaire games of AH! Yesterday. This was mainly to say I'd played or seen played all the investigators and against all the ancient ones.
I lost both games, but I had 5 seals on the board, so pretty close to winning the game on oth counts. Gloria, the author investigator is pretty awesome despite looking ho-hum, while the flashy Drake the magician is nowhere near as cool as he looks.
I want to give some general ratings to these idiots who delve too deep and the creatures they strive to prevent eating reality. I'm going to break them down into some categories:
Bruisers:
All of these characters start the game with good stamina scores and guns. They kill cultists and zombies like nothing else, but struggle against top-end otherworld squiggle-heads because their maximum sanity and will aren't as good. They're min-maxed fighters. They are all lots of fun to play, with good starting equipment and money to burn.
Mike McGlen, the Gangster starts with a Tommy Gun and rarely loses stamina. He's a lot of fun to play because he gets to bully low-level mooks, but his game isn't too deep. Points for having the best Fight skill in the game. Rating 3.0.
Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist has a strong stamina, is good at finding relics, and begins the game with a .38 and a bullwhip. Awesome. One of my favorite games was with Monterey. Low sanity can be crippling. Rating 3.5.
Joe Diamond, the Private Eye begins with a .45 and a lot of clues, which is good. Joe's also got the best speed skill in the game which can be terribly important for evading monsters or getting to the right gate to close it. My game with Joe was short but he seems pretty strong. He also has the best maximum sanity of any of the Bruisers. Rating 3.0.
Explorers:
The explorer characters are good at choosing their fights more carefully than others, and when the stakes are as high as they are in Arkham and worlds beyond, choosing fights is way good. They tend to have some money, which is necessary at times for sanity and stamina regeneration, or for picking up a useful item. They're all fun to play.
Darrell Simmons, the Photographer doesn't start with much, but he has a steady if unstable income that can go a long way. He gets to draw two encounters at locations in town and choose the one he likes, which is amazing. Other than that he's a bit blah. Robb actually played him in a game we won, so I haven't had the pleasure but he looks good if not great. Rating 2.5.
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist actually possesses most of the tools to be a great spellcaster: starts with spells, a decent Lore skill, and a good maximum sanity. Gates can't open on a space she is at either, which can be an amazing ability in the late game. She starts the game off with a wide variety of items, some decent cash and 2 clues as well, so she's got a leg up on some. It's also nice that she can't be jumped by gates or monsters, which is a concern many investigators have to deal with. Rating 3.0.
Gloria Goldberg, the Author also has the tools to be a great spellcaster, but her Lore skill isn't as good as Kate's. She gets to draw two other world encounter cards while adventuring on other planes and choose her encounter, which is huge. H U G E. The other world encounters run the gamut from pointless to game-breaking (in a good or bad way), and getting a pick of two is nuts. In my game with her all my other world adventures had positive or nil outcomes, which is awesome when the possibilities include being Lose in Time and Space, Devoured, or Cursed. She's way good. Maybe the best in the game. Rating 4.0.
Wizards:
The three wizard characters excel at spellcasting in one or more ways, though I'm not too big on one of them. They all have some cash at the beginning of the game, and either start with lots of spells or have ways around the sanity loss good spells incur. They're fun to play, but spells are actually a bit random in their usefulness, so it can be challenging.
Dexter Drake, the Magician is a bit of a trap. He starts the game with a powerful attack spell, two random spells, and a good Lore skill. However, his maximum sanity is only 5. Unless he can mitigate the sanity loss of casting his awesome spells he's going to have trouble. Find a healing stone or some whiskey and you might be all right, but it's an uphill climb. And hope you get good spells or you're in trouble. Rating 1.5.
Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist doesn't seem to be a spellcaster on the surface: she doesn't start with any spells. However, she has an amazing sanity-restoring special ability and a Lore skill as good as Dexter's. Buy her some spells with her $7 and get 'casting. She's terribly slow, so try to get her a map or something ASAP as well. Rating 2.5.
Harvey Walters, The Professor has the best Lore skill in the game. He reduces all sanity loss by one. He starts with two random spells. If you want to play a wizard character, play Harvey. He's really good at it. He might be one of the best characters in the game, but for the randomness of bad spell draws. Rating 3.5.
Materialists:
These three characters all either manipulate items decks or have tons of cash to throw around, or both. All of them are fun to play because of how well equipped they can be, but being subject to the randomness of the items decks can sometimes suck.
Bob Jenkins the Salesman is pretty straightforward. He's got money and starts with a bunch of stuff. Depending on what he gets he can be pretty amazing, and since he starts in the store, with money and a common item special he can dial in some more goodies. Robb played as Bob and bought a gun straight away in one game, and it paid dividends. Points for having the highest possible Will skill in the game. Rating 3.5.
Jenny Barnes the Dilettante starts with the most money and gets more every turn. She also has a little of everything from the items decks, but aside from raw materials she's a bit bland. She can get a lot done with her cash but she's a bit slow and doesn't have a specialty. Rating 2.0.
Ashcan Pete the Drifter only has a dollar at the start, but he's the only investigator to start with an Ally, his dog Duke. Pete has a lot of clue tokens. He has a special that allows him to look at the bottom of several items decks and draw from them when he would draw. That's pretty amazing. He's got the best Sneak skill in the game. He's slow, and being poor isn't great in this game, but he's got some chops. Rating 3.0.
Jacks of All Trades/Support Characters:
The next two characters don't do much particularly well themselves but instead support awesome characters well. This can be important. These characters are great in a support role but aren't super great by themselves.
Vincent Lee, the Doctor regenerates his own or another character's stamina each turn. That's good but his own fight stat is so terrible that he's not a great combatant despite this advantage. He has some spellcaster traits with spells and a decent Lore, but his will is low and his maximum sanity is only average. He's rich, which is sweet. But overall he supports other characters better than running solo. Rating 2.0.
Mandy Thompson, the Researcher is an average investigator with middling skills who has an amazing special. Once per turn she can allow a reroll of all failed dice for a particular roll, whether her own or an ally's. That's nuts good. Aside from that she's not inspiring or particularly adept, though her basic stats allow her to succeed at many things. She is good, but not great. Rating 3.0.
The Masters of None:
These last two characters don't really have awesome special abilities, and in my experience they struggle a bit because of it. They aren't terrible, but they aren't particularly good either. One of their worst traits is that they are both poor, starting with $1 or $0, which can make sanity and stamina recovery difficult.
Amanda Sharpe, the Student is a skill monkey. She starts with 2 skills, which is more than many characters. Skills tend to give flat buffs to whole skill areas. They're good. In addition she draws extra skills when drawing from the skill deck (which rarely happens in-game unless you have the money for classes, which Amanda doesn't). Overall her special doesn't come into play often, and she's not particularly good at any skill trees without skill buffs. Rating 1.5.
Sister Mary, the Nun is an anomaly. She plays differently than all other characters. She can't get lost in time and space. She starts with a cross and holy water (the cross is best against undead and not great versus anything else). She has the best Luck skill in the game. She starts the game blessed. She has two spells, a decent Lore, and a high sanity.
Yet, she doesn't quite gel in my experience. Her awful will and fight stats hurt her abilities to thwart monsters. She's not fast or sneaky. And she's broke. So when things go south she can't pick herself up. Rating 1.5.
The mythos entities at work in the game range from tough to ridiculous, as any good CoC antagonist should be.
I'm going to rate them based on how tough they are to beat in AH!
Nyarlathotep is actually easy to deal with if you game for the final battle. A single investigator with a tommy gun and a dozen clue tokens practically can't lose in the final battle with him. He's flavorful and fun but he's a bit of a pushover. On the upside, playing against him allows for a lot of expiration not allowed against more stressful ancient ones. Rating 2.0.
Cthulhu is ridiculous. He makes cultists more difficult. He reduces all investigator sanity and stamina maximums by 1. He regenerates doom tokens during the final battle, meaning single investigators can't win. He's nuts. Rating 4.0.
Shub-niggurath is pretty nuts. All monsters are tougher. In the final battle investigators without monster trophies die. Not many investigators will have enough monsters to fight her for her 12 turns of doom tokens. Rating 3.5.
Yig is one of the lowest-doom ancient ones. Cultists are fierce. The final battle comes quicker but it's easier. Rating 2.0.
Ithaqua is middling. Cultists are tougher, and investigators need to be wary of their movement. High stamina investigators should win the final battle without much planning. Rating 2.0.
Yog-Sothoth makes gates harder to close and seal. Further, Yog eats gate trophies which are hard to accumulate in mass. It's an uphill battle for the good guys. Rating 3.5.
Azathoth is pretty straightforward. Not a lot of specials here. If the final battle begins the investigators simply lose. Nothing to game for there, but Azathoth sleeps deeper than the rest. Rating 2.5.
Hastur is off the chain. While the antagonist gates cost 8 clues to seal (which is A W F U L). During the final battle the difficulty of combat against him is equal to the terror level, which is bad. Cultists become harder to fight. He eats sanity during the final battle, so maybe Harvey could hang, but most everyone else is boned. Rating 4.0.
Arkham Horror is a fun game. I'm still enjoying it. Probably done with recaps. Maybe some house rules to follow. . .
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Showing posts with label ratings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ratings. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Elder Sign: Omens for iPhone
I have to admit, the setup for this game is significantly less time-consuming than that of its forebear. As an iPhone game, I can use this app to get my Lovecraftian horror on from just about anywhere. The game features many of the same characters and much of the artwork from Arkham Horror.
Gameplay-wise, the player controls a group of investigators maneuvering through a museum which has many breaches into various other terrible dimensions. There is an ancient one (always Azathoth for simplicity) who awakes and destroys the world if the doom track fills. The investigators must acquire 14 elder signs before Azathoth awakens.
As the game begins, there are 6 randomly chosen adventures scattered through the museum. The investigator who is active chooses one to do, or spends their turn doing some bureaucracy at the museum entrance (buying or selling items, etc.). After choosing an adventure, the investigator enters the adventure screen.
On the adventure screen, the investigator conjures various random runes necessary for completing adventures. With luck, special abilities to manipulate runes, or items to change them around, the investigator can complete the adventure and gain the rewards, which can be items, spells, or even elder signs if the adventure is challenging enough.
Failing to complete the adventure will have consequences that range from stamina or sanity loss to spawning monsters and adding to the doom track. Most adventures are set up with risks and rewards that are reflective of the adventure's difficulty. Tough adventures yield elder signs and lots of items, whereas simpler adventures will give an item or a clue.
Each investigator has a sanity and stamina level that will deteriorate as they complete and fail tasks. If either trait goes to zero the investigator is deceased of insane and no longer helps the team against the mythos.
Adding to the "race against the clock" feel of the game, there is a literal clock on the screen which advances with each investigator's turn. It periodically strikes midnight, and a random bad thing happens then, usually more doom and monsters.
It's a fun little game. I lost my first few games while learning how to play, but since then I rarely lose. Managing the investigators' sanity, stamina, items, and skills and matching those to appropriately difficult adventures is easy enough. As long as the team is completing adventures I seem to do well.
I think it's pretty good, though it suffers from a grind-y vibe as there is always more adventures spawning to complete. I quite like the art style and general mood of the game, but I'm not sure how often I'll come back to it. Few iPhone games have captured my long-term attention span. We'll see if this one holds up. Overall a 3.0.
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz
Gameplay-wise, the player controls a group of investigators maneuvering through a museum which has many breaches into various other terrible dimensions. There is an ancient one (always Azathoth for simplicity) who awakes and destroys the world if the doom track fills. The investigators must acquire 14 elder signs before Azathoth awakens.
As the game begins, there are 6 randomly chosen adventures scattered through the museum. The investigator who is active chooses one to do, or spends their turn doing some bureaucracy at the museum entrance (buying or selling items, etc.). After choosing an adventure, the investigator enters the adventure screen.
On the adventure screen, the investigator conjures various random runes necessary for completing adventures. With luck, special abilities to manipulate runes, or items to change them around, the investigator can complete the adventure and gain the rewards, which can be items, spells, or even elder signs if the adventure is challenging enough.
Failing to complete the adventure will have consequences that range from stamina or sanity loss to spawning monsters and adding to the doom track. Most adventures are set up with risks and rewards that are reflective of the adventure's difficulty. Tough adventures yield elder signs and lots of items, whereas simpler adventures will give an item or a clue.
Each investigator has a sanity and stamina level that will deteriorate as they complete and fail tasks. If either trait goes to zero the investigator is deceased of insane and no longer helps the team against the mythos.
Adding to the "race against the clock" feel of the game, there is a literal clock on the screen which advances with each investigator's turn. It periodically strikes midnight, and a random bad thing happens then, usually more doom and monsters.
It's a fun little game. I lost my first few games while learning how to play, but since then I rarely lose. Managing the investigators' sanity, stamina, items, and skills and matching those to appropriately difficult adventures is easy enough. As long as the team is completing adventures I seem to do well.
I think it's pretty good, though it suffers from a grind-y vibe as there is always more adventures spawning to complete. I quite like the art style and general mood of the game, but I'm not sure how often I'll come back to it. Few iPhone games have captured my long-term attention span. We'll see if this one holds up. Overall a 3.0.
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Warcaster Focus: The Knight of Facestabbing
The latest Cygnar ally warcaster is Constance Blaize, the Knight of the Prophet. She's different from most Cygnar warcasters in a number of ways, but the most significant difference is her ally status. This allows her to be played as a mercenary or a Cygnar 'caster, and while her choice of forces is significantly limited as a mercenary 'caster, her faction-specific feat and spells make it a viable, and perhaps even a better option.
Stats: Blaize has generally unremarkable stats. She's average speed, decent melee attack, meh ranged attack, alright defense and armor for a warcaster (though for the ginormous shield the model has, you'd think it would be even better, armor-wise), and a good command. She's got 6 focus. Not great but not terrible.
She does have the flank ability, which improves her ability to stab fools if there is another friendly Morrowan model within melee range of her target. She also inspires Morrowan friendlies nearby to be fearless. That's about it. Nothing to write home about.
Spells: Blaize's spell list is totally different from other Cygnar 'casters'. She supports melee troops well, with Crusader's Call, a 3-cost spell that gives all friendly models +2 inches on charge attacks. That's awesome, but expensive. She also has Transference, an upkeepable spell that allows her faction warrior pals (this is why whether she's counted as merc or Cygnar is significant) to spend her focus to boost attack or damage rolls. So all of her troops are potentially dangerous, even to enemy warcasters, who normally have such high defense and armor they can ignore average mooks.
Her other spells include Banishing Ward, an upkeep that keeps a unit safe from spell attacks (and removes any on the unit when cast, incidentally), Flashing Blade, which allows her to stab every enemy in melee range for the dirt-cheap price of one focus, and Sunburst, which is her attack spell. Sunburst is a 3" AOE spell, but it's cool in that the blast damage doesn't harm friendly models, so it's intended to help clear her troops out of melee. However, with the -4 penalty for casting spells into melee and her mediocre focus, she's gonna have to boost to try and stick it, and even then she'll need to roll better than average to hit the average defense of 13 while engaged. Meh. This spell does not generally impress me. I'm actually always disappointed when a 'caster's only attack spell costs 3 focus. That's expensive, and even moreso on 6 focus 'casters. It also removes models when boxed, circumventing some of the after-death shenanigans that can happen in-game, but these situations are cornercase.
Weapons: Constance has a single weapon, the Sun Spear. It's not a great name for a weapon. However, it's good at stabbing things. In fact, Constance ends a lot of my games with the Sun Spear. The Spear is Blessed, so it ignores defensive buffs from enemy spells, and with Constance's flank ability and Flashing Blade, I've actually wrecked enemy heavies with it before. That's substantial. It is, of course, a magical weapon, and it also has reach, so she, herself, under Crusader's Call, can charge 11" and engage 2" more with reach. That's pretty good.
Feat: Constance is very much a feat-intensive 'caster, and hers is a little wonky. For each faction warrior model that dies during her feat round in her control range(her turn and the enemy's next), she gains a soul token. For each token on her, all faction warrior models in her control range gain +1 armor. During her next turn, Constance gains extra focus equal to the number of soul tokens on her.
So she wants lots of troops. Warrior models are expensive in Cygnar, so playing her in mercs is a better option at low-points levels, and even at higher levels mercs choices can be better than Cygnar. Which is odd, because she can only take merc units and models that would work for Cygnar anyway, but with the feat and Transference working only for faction models, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
I've gotten up to a 13-focus turn once with her feat. That's 7 souls. I've only played her in small points games with a few exceptions, but at 15 points, losing 7 models is crushing. She's a better large-game 'caster because of this. Playing her at 15 points is just painful, and her feat does absolutely nothing in a Mangled Metal ('jacks only) game.
That being said, while her feat isn't totally awesome (and a plethora of game mechanics ruin it, such as remove-from-play effects, or closer soul-taking models, who get the delicious souls before Constance can) she generally gets two turns of hyper armor from the feat and camping focus. I play her midfield because of the feat. My opponent will have to kill a bunch of dudes to get at her, and then she's sitting at 20+ armor (much more if you can squeeze a Journeyman Warcaster into your list; he's a must at 35 in my opinion) due to feat, and then has 10+ focus to work with the next turn. That enables her to retaliate and still camp 5+ focus, making her tough to deal with. So at least she can be survivable.
I generally wait until my troops are up in my opponent's grill before I pop the feat. Savvy opponents will ignore the army entirely if they can on feat turn, and deny Constance her one trick. So make sure to Crusader's Call and charge a bunch of long-threat fodder into the enemy force on the feat turn. I like Nyss Hunters in both mercs and Cygnar, though in Cygnar they require the Jonas Murdoch unit attachment to make them faction. Keep him safe. Other long-threat units are Precursor Knights, Stormguard, and Sword Knights.
Overall: Constance is a lot of fun to play, but she plays in a different style than most Cygnar 'casters. I love the Nyss Hunters with her, if only because they have a ranged attack and a nice melee assault (literally they have the Assault order with Murdoch) as well. I've found that if she only takes melee troops they can get chopped up easily.
I tend to play Constance in the midfield, camping a bit of focus and/or souls, and using Sugar Ray's Arcane Shield to shore up her defenses. And when my opponent is within 12" of her (something I can check with my control range), I try to get Constance and another Morrowan over there to seal the deal. It works well, since I've won several games with her, and she tends to be the one ending them.
Melee Power: B, she's not able to take down heavies easily like the Butcher or eStryker, but with a flanker and a few focus she makes a good go of it. That's pretty awesome. As this is her strength, she needs to be played more forward, which can be dangerous. Bring lots of troops and watch out for Soul Takers.
Ranged Power: F, She has no gun (which is weird in Cygnar) at all. Nothing to see here.
Magic Power: D, Sunburst is underwhelming. I have managed to use it to clear a charge lane so she could skate across a board and stab someone, but it's not even terribly efficient for that (cost 3 focus plus 1 to boost the attack).
Melee Support: B again, maybe B+. Transference and the feat help offense and defense, respectively. However, the feat only does this by letting some troops die. Constance very much needs a 6-point, 10-man unit of mooks to shove out into the enemy and die. It sucks to spend 6 points on troops whose role is simply to feed her feat. Still, with Crusader's Call helping get the threat out, she's good.
Ranged Support: D. Largely none. It should be noted that any models with assault can increase the threat of their ranged attacks by charging an additional two inches. So Stormblades, normally charging 8 inches and can Assault to shoot during the charge another 6", gain another 2" with CC. So there's some support there. . .but it's not optimal use of either CC or Assault. The Nyss threat is outlandish with Assault, as they have Hunter to ignore forests and can move 12" under CC, and they have 12" range bows. The shot is only power 10, so I guess that mitigates the 24" threat they have . . .
Magic Support: B-. Blaize herself doesn't Synergize with magic-users, but Banishing Ward is huge against magic-loving foes, and can rip enemy debuff spells off of crippled units. Also, several of her best Morrowan pals have spell ward or sacred ward inherently, and so some of her preferred troops are already protected.
Tricksiness: B-. Blaize, for the most part, does what she says on the tin. However, opponents who don't give her Blessed flanking spear enough respect will probably end up dead. Also, while she doesn't buff ranged troops at all she has answers to spell- and magic-heavy lists with Banishing Ward, Harlan, and Precusor Knights.
Overall Rating: 2.5 She's not awesome, but she isn't terrible either.
List Elements: Constance wants some hard-hitting melee troops to benefit from Transference. Reach is a plus. I don't own Horgehold Forgeguard (Or "Hyurgendurg Fyurgnerg" since all things about warmachine dwarves sound like the Swedish chef is speaking, imo), but as a mercenary they rock it out for her. For Cygnar Stormguard are the only reach troops, and while they are good they are a bit expensive. I like Precursor Knights with her, since they require little support to be delivered, and with their UA they get a one-turn wrecking ball feat. I also like Stormblades with her, since they hit like trains, but Stormblades die like gnats to gunlines, so be advised.
Constance also likes Morrowans around to enable flank, so take either her warjack Gallant, Harlan Versh, the merc solo, or her Precusor Knights. Any of the three will do, though Harlan is the least survivable, and he only benefits from her goodness if she's mercenary instead of Cygnar.
I like a ranged element with Constance, despite the fact that her feat and spells say "melee troop jam lolz!". The Stormblades bring a devastating if inaccurate ranged attack and the Black 13th are always good for Cygnar. However, my favorite troops with her thus far are Cylena Ryfell and the Nyss Hunters. They work for mercs or for Cygnar, but can only benefit from Constance's feat and Transference if she's a merc or if they also have the Cygnar mercenary attachment to make the faction. That's Murdoch. If you take Murdoch you have to protect the hell out of him or the Nyss suddenly are mercs again and not benefiting from Blaize's faction-only buffs. Nyss are great because with Banishing Ward they are tough to get rid of, and they also have a nice bow for a combined arms approach. And pathfinder. And hunter. And 7 speed. Nyss are awesome.
She also likes a heavy for countering enemy heavies. The PKs and SBs can pull some of this duty, but having a nice heavy to pound shit into the dirt is welcome. I may purchase Rorsche and Brine to run them with her in mercenaries, but that's down the road.
Most times I want a target for Banishing Ward. The Nyss Hunters and Stormblades are my favs, but it depends on what the other warcaster's spells are and what support they have available to them.
Lists I've either played or seen played that I like:
At 15 points,
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Min PKS and UA (7), Black 13th (4), Stormcaller (1)
Constance Cygnar, with Stormclad (10), Stormblades with UA and 1 WA (9), and Harlan Versh (2)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant(9), Nyss Hunters(10), and Harlan Versh (or Gorman di Wulfe) (2)
At 25 points,
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Min PKs and UA (7), Nyss Hunters w Murdoch (12), Journeyman Warcaster (3)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant (9), Nyss Hunters (10), Harlan Versh (2), Max PKs + UA (10) [or Aiyanna and Holt (4) + Ogrun Bokur (3) + Epic Eiryss (3)]
At 35:
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Max PKs + UA (10), Archduke Runewood (3), max Stormguard (9), Black 13th (4), Journeyman Warcaster (3) , Squire (2), Stormcaller (1)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant (9), Max PKs + UA (10), Piper (2), Nyss Hunters (10), Aiyana and Holt (4), Epic Eiryss (3), Harlan or Gorman (2), Reinholdt (1)
At 50 I'd add in some combination of melee infantry and 'jacks, like max Sword Knights marshalling a Centurion or a min of Stormblades with a Stormclad nearby. For mercs at 50 I'd probably try to shoehorn in a bunch of steelheads. Max halbardiers and min Cav could go a long way.
I've been told by the wise PP forums that Constance needs a kajillion cheap reach infantry for her feat, but I think she actually needs good infantry (which tends to be more expensive), with some cheap infantry in front for the feat turn, or just be prepared to lose a bunch of guys. When it's my Stormblades or PKS the 3 or 4 that live counterstrike like wrecking balls. So it's all good. Steelhead halbardiers don't look terribly accurate to me, and I don't actually like spending all her focus so that her infantry can counterattack after feat turn and just level the playing field. I prefer to charge her into the enemy with some flanking going on and take out a 'caster or at least a heavy.
I haven't gotten the chance to play her with with kitted out Trenchers or Trencher Commandoes. Hell, even Rangers look interesting with her, as they make Stormblades into a serious ranged threat with Crusader's Call and Assault. I'm of the opinion that she actually helps a lot of Cygnar out, but she does it in such a way that she's difficult to use.
-Merlin out
 |
| I stab faces for my righteous deity. |
Stats: Blaize has generally unremarkable stats. She's average speed, decent melee attack, meh ranged attack, alright defense and armor for a warcaster (though for the ginormous shield the model has, you'd think it would be even better, armor-wise), and a good command. She's got 6 focus. Not great but not terrible.
She does have the flank ability, which improves her ability to stab fools if there is another friendly Morrowan model within melee range of her target. She also inspires Morrowan friendlies nearby to be fearless. That's about it. Nothing to write home about.
Spells: Blaize's spell list is totally different from other Cygnar 'casters'. She supports melee troops well, with Crusader's Call, a 3-cost spell that gives all friendly models +2 inches on charge attacks. That's awesome, but expensive. She also has Transference, an upkeepable spell that allows her faction warrior pals (this is why whether she's counted as merc or Cygnar is significant) to spend her focus to boost attack or damage rolls. So all of her troops are potentially dangerous, even to enemy warcasters, who normally have such high defense and armor they can ignore average mooks.
Her other spells include Banishing Ward, an upkeep that keeps a unit safe from spell attacks (and removes any on the unit when cast, incidentally), Flashing Blade, which allows her to stab every enemy in melee range for the dirt-cheap price of one focus, and Sunburst, which is her attack spell. Sunburst is a 3" AOE spell, but it's cool in that the blast damage doesn't harm friendly models, so it's intended to help clear her troops out of melee. However, with the -4 penalty for casting spells into melee and her mediocre focus, she's gonna have to boost to try and stick it, and even then she'll need to roll better than average to hit the average defense of 13 while engaged. Meh. This spell does not generally impress me. I'm actually always disappointed when a 'caster's only attack spell costs 3 focus. That's expensive, and even moreso on 6 focus 'casters. It also removes models when boxed, circumventing some of the after-death shenanigans that can happen in-game, but these situations are cornercase.
Weapons: Constance has a single weapon, the Sun Spear. It's not a great name for a weapon. However, it's good at stabbing things. In fact, Constance ends a lot of my games with the Sun Spear. The Spear is Blessed, so it ignores defensive buffs from enemy spells, and with Constance's flank ability and Flashing Blade, I've actually wrecked enemy heavies with it before. That's substantial. It is, of course, a magical weapon, and it also has reach, so she, herself, under Crusader's Call, can charge 11" and engage 2" more with reach. That's pretty good.
Feat: Constance is very much a feat-intensive 'caster, and hers is a little wonky. For each faction warrior model that dies during her feat round in her control range(her turn and the enemy's next), she gains a soul token. For each token on her, all faction warrior models in her control range gain +1 armor. During her next turn, Constance gains extra focus equal to the number of soul tokens on her.
So she wants lots of troops. Warrior models are expensive in Cygnar, so playing her in mercs is a better option at low-points levels, and even at higher levels mercs choices can be better than Cygnar. Which is odd, because she can only take merc units and models that would work for Cygnar anyway, but with the feat and Transference working only for faction models, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
I've gotten up to a 13-focus turn once with her feat. That's 7 souls. I've only played her in small points games with a few exceptions, but at 15 points, losing 7 models is crushing. She's a better large-game 'caster because of this. Playing her at 15 points is just painful, and her feat does absolutely nothing in a Mangled Metal ('jacks only) game.
That being said, while her feat isn't totally awesome (and a plethora of game mechanics ruin it, such as remove-from-play effects, or closer soul-taking models, who get the delicious souls before Constance can) she generally gets two turns of hyper armor from the feat and camping focus. I play her midfield because of the feat. My opponent will have to kill a bunch of dudes to get at her, and then she's sitting at 20+ armor (much more if you can squeeze a Journeyman Warcaster into your list; he's a must at 35 in my opinion) due to feat, and then has 10+ focus to work with the next turn. That enables her to retaliate and still camp 5+ focus, making her tough to deal with. So at least she can be survivable.
I generally wait until my troops are up in my opponent's grill before I pop the feat. Savvy opponents will ignore the army entirely if they can on feat turn, and deny Constance her one trick. So make sure to Crusader's Call and charge a bunch of long-threat fodder into the enemy force on the feat turn. I like Nyss Hunters in both mercs and Cygnar, though in Cygnar they require the Jonas Murdoch unit attachment to make them faction. Keep him safe. Other long-threat units are Precursor Knights, Stormguard, and Sword Knights.
Overall: Constance is a lot of fun to play, but she plays in a different style than most Cygnar 'casters. I love the Nyss Hunters with her, if only because they have a ranged attack and a nice melee assault (literally they have the Assault order with Murdoch) as well. I've found that if she only takes melee troops they can get chopped up easily.
I tend to play Constance in the midfield, camping a bit of focus and/or souls, and using Sugar Ray's Arcane Shield to shore up her defenses. And when my opponent is within 12" of her (something I can check with my control range), I try to get Constance and another Morrowan over there to seal the deal. It works well, since I've won several games with her, and she tends to be the one ending them.
Melee Power: B, she's not able to take down heavies easily like the Butcher or eStryker, but with a flanker and a few focus she makes a good go of it. That's pretty awesome. As this is her strength, she needs to be played more forward, which can be dangerous. Bring lots of troops and watch out for Soul Takers.
Ranged Power: F, She has no gun (which is weird in Cygnar) at all. Nothing to see here.
Magic Power: D, Sunburst is underwhelming. I have managed to use it to clear a charge lane so she could skate across a board and stab someone, but it's not even terribly efficient for that (cost 3 focus plus 1 to boost the attack).
Melee Support: B again, maybe B+. Transference and the feat help offense and defense, respectively. However, the feat only does this by letting some troops die. Constance very much needs a 6-point, 10-man unit of mooks to shove out into the enemy and die. It sucks to spend 6 points on troops whose role is simply to feed her feat. Still, with Crusader's Call helping get the threat out, she's good.
Ranged Support: D. Largely none. It should be noted that any models with assault can increase the threat of their ranged attacks by charging an additional two inches. So Stormblades, normally charging 8 inches and can Assault to shoot during the charge another 6", gain another 2" with CC. So there's some support there. . .but it's not optimal use of either CC or Assault. The Nyss threat is outlandish with Assault, as they have Hunter to ignore forests and can move 12" under CC, and they have 12" range bows. The shot is only power 10, so I guess that mitigates the 24" threat they have . . .
Magic Support: B-. Blaize herself doesn't Synergize with magic-users, but Banishing Ward is huge against magic-loving foes, and can rip enemy debuff spells off of crippled units. Also, several of her best Morrowan pals have spell ward or sacred ward inherently, and so some of her preferred troops are already protected.
Tricksiness: B-. Blaize, for the most part, does what she says on the tin. However, opponents who don't give her Blessed flanking spear enough respect will probably end up dead. Also, while she doesn't buff ranged troops at all she has answers to spell- and magic-heavy lists with Banishing Ward, Harlan, and Precusor Knights.
Overall Rating: 2.5 She's not awesome, but she isn't terrible either.
List Elements: Constance wants some hard-hitting melee troops to benefit from Transference. Reach is a plus. I don't own Horgehold Forgeguard (Or "Hyurgendurg Fyurgnerg" since all things about warmachine dwarves sound like the Swedish chef is speaking, imo), but as a mercenary they rock it out for her. For Cygnar Stormguard are the only reach troops, and while they are good they are a bit expensive. I like Precursor Knights with her, since they require little support to be delivered, and with their UA they get a one-turn wrecking ball feat. I also like Stormblades with her, since they hit like trains, but Stormblades die like gnats to gunlines, so be advised.
Constance also likes Morrowans around to enable flank, so take either her warjack Gallant, Harlan Versh, the merc solo, or her Precusor Knights. Any of the three will do, though Harlan is the least survivable, and he only benefits from her goodness if she's mercenary instead of Cygnar.
I like a ranged element with Constance, despite the fact that her feat and spells say "melee troop jam lolz!". The Stormblades bring a devastating if inaccurate ranged attack and the Black 13th are always good for Cygnar. However, my favorite troops with her thus far are Cylena Ryfell and the Nyss Hunters. They work for mercs or for Cygnar, but can only benefit from Constance's feat and Transference if she's a merc or if they also have the Cygnar mercenary attachment to make the faction. That's Murdoch. If you take Murdoch you have to protect the hell out of him or the Nyss suddenly are mercs again and not benefiting from Blaize's faction-only buffs. Nyss are great because with Banishing Ward they are tough to get rid of, and they also have a nice bow for a combined arms approach. And pathfinder. And hunter. And 7 speed. Nyss are awesome.
She also likes a heavy for countering enemy heavies. The PKs and SBs can pull some of this duty, but having a nice heavy to pound shit into the dirt is welcome. I may purchase Rorsche and Brine to run them with her in mercenaries, but that's down the road.
Most times I want a target for Banishing Ward. The Nyss Hunters and Stormblades are my favs, but it depends on what the other warcaster's spells are and what support they have available to them.
Lists I've either played or seen played that I like:
At 15 points,
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Min PKS and UA (7), Black 13th (4), Stormcaller (1)
Constance Cygnar, with Stormclad (10), Stormblades with UA and 1 WA (9), and Harlan Versh (2)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant(9), Nyss Hunters(10), and Harlan Versh (or Gorman di Wulfe) (2)
At 25 points,
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Min PKs and UA (7), Nyss Hunters w Murdoch (12), Journeyman Warcaster (3)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant (9), Nyss Hunters (10), Harlan Versh (2), Max PKs + UA (10) [or Aiyanna and Holt (4) + Ogrun Bokur (3) + Epic Eiryss (3)]
At 35:
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Max PKs + UA (10), Archduke Runewood (3), max Stormguard (9), Black 13th (4), Journeyman Warcaster (3) , Squire (2), Stormcaller (1)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant (9), Max PKs + UA (10), Piper (2), Nyss Hunters (10), Aiyana and Holt (4), Epic Eiryss (3), Harlan or Gorman (2), Reinholdt (1)
At 50 I'd add in some combination of melee infantry and 'jacks, like max Sword Knights marshalling a Centurion or a min of Stormblades with a Stormclad nearby. For mercs at 50 I'd probably try to shoehorn in a bunch of steelheads. Max halbardiers and min Cav could go a long way.
I've been told by the wise PP forums that Constance needs a kajillion cheap reach infantry for her feat, but I think she actually needs good infantry (which tends to be more expensive), with some cheap infantry in front for the feat turn, or just be prepared to lose a bunch of guys. When it's my Stormblades or PKS the 3 or 4 that live counterstrike like wrecking balls. So it's all good. Steelhead halbardiers don't look terribly accurate to me, and I don't actually like spending all her focus so that her infantry can counterattack after feat turn and just level the playing field. I prefer to charge her into the enemy with some flanking going on and take out a 'caster or at least a heavy.
I haven't gotten the chance to play her with with kitted out Trenchers or Trencher Commandoes. Hell, even Rangers look interesting with her, as they make Stormblades into a serious ranged threat with Crusader's Call and Assault. I'm of the opinion that she actually helps a lot of Cygnar out, but she does it in such a way that she's difficult to use.
-Merlin out
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Late Bloomers
I'm already a confessed electronic RPG fan, but I've also got an eye for nostalgia and 16-bit gaming systems. The Nintendo Wii has cornered the market on that. This is most fascinating to me because I bought the Wii to play the silly motion control physics type games. Then I figured out that those physics weren't all that versatile. However, there's a deep back catalogue of excellent RPG and adventure-RPG games on the Virtual Console service, and I've enjoyed several over the last few years.
Chrono Trigger: This is my latest download, and I'm really enjoying just about every aspect of it. The music is excellent, the story is deep and engaging, and the combat (the bread and butter of any RPG experience, though it is sometimes a grind) is fun. The combat system actually changes and grows differently depending on which characters the player decides to use from the roster, as there are dual and triple techniques that require more party members to execute.
This one threw me for a loop when my main character and virtual proxy was slain in a cutscene, and was gone for like 3 hours of gameplay while I completed an optional(?) sidequest to resurrect him. Most JPRGs tend to allow the player to focus all advances and powerups on that single character, without worrying for his safety. I foolishly did this, and I missed him while he was gone. 3.5
Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: I'll lump these two together, as they're practically the same game. I was skeptical at first, as the art style of both games is, well, Mario-cartoon. They're "kid-friendly" titles as well, and while that tends to turn some people off, I've always been able to enjoy games in an objective space.
Quite simply, if a player can get past the art style and occasionally childish storyline, these games are fucking stellar. I couldn't put them down at some points. The music is amazing, the combat is engaging and awesome, and the writing is great. While all RPG stories are a bit contrived, the Mario RPGs spend a lot of time winking at those conventions, so a savvy player feels like they're always in on the in-joke. Kids won't get that, but since the games are kid-friendly they don't need to; they're still fun. 4.0
Dungeon Explorer: This is a bit of nostalgia for me, as a good friend had a Turbo-Graphix 16 when I was wee, and we played this game then. I played it a lot. However, I never beat it, as I never had the stretch of time at a friend's house necessary to play through a one-player game (it's rude?).
I picked it up to see how it holds up, and I was again pleasantly surprised. Most of the TG16 games I've bought aren't so good in retrospect, but Dungeon Explorer is a blast. It plays like Gauntlet II, but there's two types of magic which have specific effects for each of the dozen character classes. The Fighter and the Thief can beat the game straight through, with no continues, utilizing some strategy. The other classes have a rougher go of it, but it's a lot of fun all around. Good music to boot. 3.0
Final Fantasy whatever: it's the first game for the old Nintendo Entertainment System in the FF series. I guess it's actually like the third release in Japan but the first in the US? Whatever.
I've already given away the pun blind here in that I didn't enjoy this game much. The final fantasy games have, with a few exceptions, always been a mystery to me. I've never been particularly engaged by their story, and the gameplay feels more like a grind than a fun romp.
Final Fantasy Tactics breaks this mold, and I loved it. Final Fantasy Legend II for the Game Boy is another wonderful game (one of my all-time rags actually). But Final Fantasy for the NES is blah. I'm not down on the characters, the music, the combat. . .I just put it down one day and haven't returned. 1.5
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: this is often heralded as one of the best RPGs and one of the best console games in history. Nintendo even plans to release it again (and again, and again in all likelihood) on their 3D handheld. However, I didn't dig it all that much.
There's a difference between party-based RPGs and single-dude adventure RPGs, and for me that gap is huge. I want a deep roster of fantasy character tropes to work with in any game, and as fun as it was running Link all over the countryside, OOT just didn't do it for me in the long run. I was still just one guy all the time.
It didn't feed my fractured psyche at all.
The music was good, the chicken rescue missions were fine, and the story seemed good, but the insipid side quests and childish storyline were too much for me. It amazes me that Zelda games are too childish for me, but Paper Mario was not. Go figure. 2.0
Baby's room: painted.
Baby Furniture
: assembled.
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages: painted, based, and arced.
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One: painted, arced.
Precursor Knights painted (of 12):2
Number of VPs the Flint crew got at the NAC at origins this year: 1
-Merlin out
Chrono Trigger: This is my latest download, and I'm really enjoying just about every aspect of it. The music is excellent, the story is deep and engaging, and the combat (the bread and butter of any RPG experience, though it is sometimes a grind) is fun. The combat system actually changes and grows differently depending on which characters the player decides to use from the roster, as there are dual and triple techniques that require more party members to execute.
This one threw me for a loop when my main character and virtual proxy was slain in a cutscene, and was gone for like 3 hours of gameplay while I completed an optional(?) sidequest to resurrect him. Most JPRGs tend to allow the player to focus all advances and powerups on that single character, without worrying for his safety. I foolishly did this, and I missed him while he was gone. 3.5
Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: I'll lump these two together, as they're practically the same game. I was skeptical at first, as the art style of both games is, well, Mario-cartoon. They're "kid-friendly" titles as well, and while that tends to turn some people off, I've always been able to enjoy games in an objective space.
Quite simply, if a player can get past the art style and occasionally childish storyline, these games are fucking stellar. I couldn't put them down at some points. The music is amazing, the combat is engaging and awesome, and the writing is great. While all RPG stories are a bit contrived, the Mario RPGs spend a lot of time winking at those conventions, so a savvy player feels like they're always in on the in-joke. Kids won't get that, but since the games are kid-friendly they don't need to; they're still fun. 4.0
Dungeon Explorer: This is a bit of nostalgia for me, as a good friend had a Turbo-Graphix 16 when I was wee, and we played this game then. I played it a lot. However, I never beat it, as I never had the stretch of time at a friend's house necessary to play through a one-player game (it's rude?).
I picked it up to see how it holds up, and I was again pleasantly surprised. Most of the TG16 games I've bought aren't so good in retrospect, but Dungeon Explorer is a blast. It plays like Gauntlet II, but there's two types of magic which have specific effects for each of the dozen character classes. The Fighter and the Thief can beat the game straight through, with no continues, utilizing some strategy. The other classes have a rougher go of it, but it's a lot of fun all around. Good music to boot. 3.0
Final Fantasy whatever: it's the first game for the old Nintendo Entertainment System in the FF series. I guess it's actually like the third release in Japan but the first in the US? Whatever.
I've already given away the pun blind here in that I didn't enjoy this game much. The final fantasy games have, with a few exceptions, always been a mystery to me. I've never been particularly engaged by their story, and the gameplay feels more like a grind than a fun romp.
Final Fantasy Tactics breaks this mold, and I loved it. Final Fantasy Legend II for the Game Boy is another wonderful game (one of my all-time rags actually). But Final Fantasy for the NES is blah. I'm not down on the characters, the music, the combat. . .I just put it down one day and haven't returned. 1.5
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: this is often heralded as one of the best RPGs and one of the best console games in history. Nintendo even plans to release it again (and again, and again in all likelihood) on their 3D handheld. However, I didn't dig it all that much.
There's a difference between party-based RPGs and single-dude adventure RPGs, and for me that gap is huge. I want a deep roster of fantasy character tropes to work with in any game, and as fun as it was running Link all over the countryside, OOT just didn't do it for me in the long run. I was still just one guy all the time.
It didn't feed my fractured psyche at all.
The music was good, the chicken rescue missions were fine, and the story seemed good, but the insipid side quests and childish storyline were too much for me. It amazes me that Zelda games are too childish for me, but Paper Mario was not. Go figure. 2.0
Baby's room: painted.
Baby Furniture
: assembled.
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages: painted, based, and arced.
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One: painted, arced.
Precursor Knights painted (of 12):2
Number of VPs the Flint crew got at the NAC at origins this year: 1
-Merlin out
Location:The Hizzle
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Warcaster Focus: John Woo (Anti-)Hero
I wanted to call him a "John Woo Film Protagonist" but everybody in a John Woo film has the same basic flavor.
Lieutenant Alister Caine is a two-pistol slingin', moody, insubordinate jackass of a warcaster. I decided to buy him because he was cheap, and he looked like a lot of fun. He is a lot of fun.
Stats:
Caine has some extraordinary stats. His speed is incredible at 7, making him one of the fastest warcasters in the game. His melee attack and strength are abnormally low, but this is offset by his awesome ranged attack score of 8. Caine hits even the fastest light infantry on average rolls, and he can hit other fast warcasters (16 defense is common on quicker 'casters) if he aims (forfeits his movement to get a +2 bonus to ranged attack rolls) most of the time. His armor stat is ridiculously low, and he doesn't have a lot of damage boxes, so any hits are going to hurt and even blast damage can get to him. His defense is unusually high at 17, which can make the difference against non-area attacks. His focus is the low end of average at 6, and because of this deciding how to use Caine's focus each turn can be tough.
Caine has a special ability called Range Amplifier. If he's the point if origin for a spell he casts (so any spell not cast through an arc node like the Lancer) it gains +5 range. That's awesome.
Spells:
Caine has two awesome upkeeps in Blur and Snipe, both of which I talked about in my Stryker post. Blur adds defense against ranged attacks for a unit, and Snipe adds range to a unit's guns. Caine can of course use them on himself as well. Blur would give him a whopping Defense 20 against ranged attacks (great against ranged armies), and Snipe makes his guns even more effective.
Caine also has the Deadeye spell, which gives a model or unit an additional d6 on their first ranged attack roll that turn. This isn't an upkeep, so it can be cast on multiple units per turn and will stack with an upkeep spell on the unit. So Caine can give an extra attack die to every shot the Black 13th make, for instance, and all while under the influence of Snipe.
Offensively, Caine has a spell called Thunder Strike. It costs 4 of his 6 focus, but it's an impressive attack. It hits a model with a power 14 attack and it slams that model d6 inches directly away from Caine. Models that are slammed and models hit by models during a slam are all knocked down, so Caine can get an accuracy buff to his troops to hit the slammed model or whatever was hiding behind it (warcasters should be wary of hiding behind their 'jacks with Caine lurking around).
Lastly, and most irritating for opponents, Caine has a spell called Teleport. Teleport moved Caine to a spot within 8 inches of his position and ends his activation. So Caine can hit and run like crazy, walking his 7 inch speed and then teleporting back to safety behind a screening unit after making some pistol attacks. This particular spell irritates the hell out of some players.
Weapons:
Caine has a sword, but he's terrible with it and should never ever use it willingly. His real bread and butter are his twin spellstorm pistols, a couple magical-weapon hand cannons with 12 inch range, power 12, rate-of-fire 2 stats. Using his focus and impressive 8 RAT, Caine can fire 4 reasonably accurate and decently damaging shots each turn. That clears out a lot of infantry. If he gets a bead on an enemy caster he actually has enough focus to boost 4 damage rolls as well, and "boosted power 12s kill 'casters" is an idiom that experienced players often chant to newer players.
So Caine himself can be a decent assassin.
He's like MAT 4 with a power 8 sword, so if the enemy can engage him, chances are he's in some serious trouble.
Feat:
Caine's feat is called maelstrom. His front arc extends to 360 degrees and he makes one normal spellstorm pistol attack against every enemy model that he can see within his control area (focus stat x 2 or 12 inches). He ignores intervening models, so squishy units hiding behind tough units are getting shot as well. All of these attacks are boostable.
It's a lot of infantry hate, really, though I have seen Caine wreck a light warjack with decent damage rolls on his pistols. He's a one-man show during the feat, and it can gain accuracy bonuses just like other shots: he can forfeit his movement before the feat to get a +2 aiming bonus. It also suffers normal penalties, so shooting into melee will be at the usual -4 penalty (represented in game as a +4 defense buff for units engaged).
Normally the feat gets popped early, so Caine's troops can focus on other problems. Also,Caine will hit more than half of most enemy forces on his feat turn, so he's good at attrition battles. If the forces have already clashed then he loses some accuracy, which could make it fougher to win the attrition war.
Overall:
Caine's kind of a dick. There's a couple irritating strategies that Caine has available to him that can seriously frustrate opponents. Using his high speed and teleport spell, Caine can "kite", moving forward to take a couple shots and then teleporting away. He's great at hit and run for this reason.
He can also support a ranged army quite well with spells. Any unit that has some kind of critical effect (roll two of the same number on an attack roll to crit) on their guns will love his Deadeye spell, and he can "hotswap" Snipe in addition. Hotswapping is when a 'caster puts an upkeep buff like Snipe on a unit on turn one during the advance. Then the next turn Caine pays to upkeep the spell on that unit during his maintenance phase.
During activation, the unit with Snipe takes their go early. They benefit from the enhanced range. Then Caine activates and puts snipe on another unit who could use some range. This removes Snipe from the first unit. However, through careful turn ordering two units can gain the benefits of a single upkeep spell.
I haven't had much success with Caine, but he's still lots of fun to play.
Melee Power: F, None to speak of. If Caine is stabbing something with his pathetic sword, something has gone terribly, horribly wrong, and you are losing.
Ranged Power: B+. I'm tempted to go higher here, since Caine can quite easily get 5 accurate power-12 shots per turn, and many more than that on his feat turn. However, there are a few Cygnar 'casters that simply have more stopping power than Caine. He's got a lot of shots, but against a warcaster camping several focus or a heavy they won't do much.
Magic Power: C. Caine has a tough go of his focus each turn. He's either shooting the crap out of enemy models himself and using focus to help, or he's supporting his army with Snipe and Deadeye all over the place, or he's casting one ThunderStrike. It costs 4 of his 6, and he nearly always wants to boost, so we're talking 5 focus minimum most of the time. That can be a tough choice. If Thunderstrike slams Caine's target to oblivion or knocks down the enemy 'caster for ranged assassination, then it's bananas. If something goes wrong, Caine is boned and his army isn't feeling the love either.
Melee Support: C-, Caine's Blur spell helps deliver a low-defense unit like Stormblades or Stormguard forward. With Snipe and Deadeye Stormblades can Assault across 14", which is butch. It's ranged support for a melee troop, however.
Ranged Support: A, Caine has Snipe _and_ Deadeye, which are two of the best ranged buffs in the game. Only 'casters with Guided Fire and eHaley do ranged support this well for Cygnar.
Magic Support: D, Caine's Blur can again be used defensively against magic-heavy opponents, but Caine doesn't support his own spellcasters well.
Tricksiness: B-. Caine has a few modes, and his startling speed and pile of magical gunshots give him a lot of threat vectors. Thunderstrike can keep his opponents away from screening warjacks, lest he slam one into the caster and fill them full of spellstorm shots. Even when he's cowering in the back, his buffs are likely making a huge difference on the battlefield.
Rating: 3.0
Lists with pCaine:
15 points:
pCaine Ol' Rowdy (9), Stormblades + UA (8), Black 13th(4)
Caine + Defender (9), Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + UA (8), Reinholdt (1), Gorman di Wulfe or Squire(2), Stormcaller (1)
25 points:
Caine + Rowdy (9), ATGM + UA (8) + Hunter or Arlan +Charger (6), Rangers (5), Reinholdt (1), Squire (2)
Caine + Hunter + Hunter (12), Stormblades +UA + WA (11), Archduke Runewood (3), Black 13th (4), Reinholdt (1)
35 points:
Caine + Rowdy (9), ATGM +UA + 2 Hunters (20), Archduke Runewood (3), Stormblades + UA + 1 WA (9)
Caine + Defender (9), Squire (2), Stormblades +UA+ 3 WA (11), Reinholdt (1), Stormclad (10), Arlan Strangewayes (2), Black 13th (4), Gorman di Wulfe (2)
50 points:
Tiered, Caine +Stormclad (10), ATGM+UA (7) w Hunter and Defender (15), ATGM +UA (5) w Hunter and Defender (15), Black 13th (4)
Caine + Rowdy (9), Squire(2), Reinholdt (1), Stormblades + UA + WA (11) + Stormclad (10), Arlan (2), Rangers (5), Black 13th (4), Journeyman (3), Runewood (3), Gorman (2), Harlan (2), GMCA (2)
-Merlin
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Lieutenant Alister Caine is a two-pistol slingin', moody, insubordinate jackass of a warcaster. I decided to buy him because he was cheap, and he looked like a lot of fun. He is a lot of fun.
Stats:
Caine has some extraordinary stats. His speed is incredible at 7, making him one of the fastest warcasters in the game. His melee attack and strength are abnormally low, but this is offset by his awesome ranged attack score of 8. Caine hits even the fastest light infantry on average rolls, and he can hit other fast warcasters (16 defense is common on quicker 'casters) if he aims (forfeits his movement to get a +2 bonus to ranged attack rolls) most of the time. His armor stat is ridiculously low, and he doesn't have a lot of damage boxes, so any hits are going to hurt and even blast damage can get to him. His defense is unusually high at 17, which can make the difference against non-area attacks. His focus is the low end of average at 6, and because of this deciding how to use Caine's focus each turn can be tough.
Caine has a special ability called Range Amplifier. If he's the point if origin for a spell he casts (so any spell not cast through an arc node like the Lancer) it gains +5 range. That's awesome.
Spells:
Caine has two awesome upkeeps in Blur and Snipe, both of which I talked about in my Stryker post. Blur adds defense against ranged attacks for a unit, and Snipe adds range to a unit's guns. Caine can of course use them on himself as well. Blur would give him a whopping Defense 20 against ranged attacks (great against ranged armies), and Snipe makes his guns even more effective.
Caine also has the Deadeye spell, which gives a model or unit an additional d6 on their first ranged attack roll that turn. This isn't an upkeep, so it can be cast on multiple units per turn and will stack with an upkeep spell on the unit. So Caine can give an extra attack die to every shot the Black 13th make, for instance, and all while under the influence of Snipe.
Offensively, Caine has a spell called Thunder Strike. It costs 4 of his 6 focus, but it's an impressive attack. It hits a model with a power 14 attack and it slams that model d6 inches directly away from Caine. Models that are slammed and models hit by models during a slam are all knocked down, so Caine can get an accuracy buff to his troops to hit the slammed model or whatever was hiding behind it (warcasters should be wary of hiding behind their 'jacks with Caine lurking around).
Lastly, and most irritating for opponents, Caine has a spell called Teleport. Teleport moved Caine to a spot within 8 inches of his position and ends his activation. So Caine can hit and run like crazy, walking his 7 inch speed and then teleporting back to safety behind a screening unit after making some pistol attacks. This particular spell irritates the hell out of some players.
Weapons:
Caine has a sword, but he's terrible with it and should never ever use it willingly. His real bread and butter are his twin spellstorm pistols, a couple magical-weapon hand cannons with 12 inch range, power 12, rate-of-fire 2 stats. Using his focus and impressive 8 RAT, Caine can fire 4 reasonably accurate and decently damaging shots each turn. That clears out a lot of infantry. If he gets a bead on an enemy caster he actually has enough focus to boost 4 damage rolls as well, and "boosted power 12s kill 'casters" is an idiom that experienced players often chant to newer players.
So Caine himself can be a decent assassin.
He's like MAT 4 with a power 8 sword, so if the enemy can engage him, chances are he's in some serious trouble.
Feat:
Caine's feat is called maelstrom. His front arc extends to 360 degrees and he makes one normal spellstorm pistol attack against every enemy model that he can see within his control area (focus stat x 2 or 12 inches). He ignores intervening models, so squishy units hiding behind tough units are getting shot as well. All of these attacks are boostable.
It's a lot of infantry hate, really, though I have seen Caine wreck a light warjack with decent damage rolls on his pistols. He's a one-man show during the feat, and it can gain accuracy bonuses just like other shots: he can forfeit his movement before the feat to get a +2 aiming bonus. It also suffers normal penalties, so shooting into melee will be at the usual -4 penalty (represented in game as a +4 defense buff for units engaged).
Normally the feat gets popped early, so Caine's troops can focus on other problems. Also,Caine will hit more than half of most enemy forces on his feat turn, so he's good at attrition battles. If the forces have already clashed then he loses some accuracy, which could make it fougher to win the attrition war.
Overall:
Caine's kind of a dick. There's a couple irritating strategies that Caine has available to him that can seriously frustrate opponents. Using his high speed and teleport spell, Caine can "kite", moving forward to take a couple shots and then teleporting away. He's great at hit and run for this reason.
He can also support a ranged army quite well with spells. Any unit that has some kind of critical effect (roll two of the same number on an attack roll to crit) on their guns will love his Deadeye spell, and he can "hotswap" Snipe in addition. Hotswapping is when a 'caster puts an upkeep buff like Snipe on a unit on turn one during the advance. Then the next turn Caine pays to upkeep the spell on that unit during his maintenance phase.
During activation, the unit with Snipe takes their go early. They benefit from the enhanced range. Then Caine activates and puts snipe on another unit who could use some range. This removes Snipe from the first unit. However, through careful turn ordering two units can gain the benefits of a single upkeep spell.
I haven't had much success with Caine, but he's still lots of fun to play.
Melee Power: F, None to speak of. If Caine is stabbing something with his pathetic sword, something has gone terribly, horribly wrong, and you are losing.
Ranged Power: B+. I'm tempted to go higher here, since Caine can quite easily get 5 accurate power-12 shots per turn, and many more than that on his feat turn. However, there are a few Cygnar 'casters that simply have more stopping power than Caine. He's got a lot of shots, but against a warcaster camping several focus or a heavy they won't do much.
Magic Power: C. Caine has a tough go of his focus each turn. He's either shooting the crap out of enemy models himself and using focus to help, or he's supporting his army with Snipe and Deadeye all over the place, or he's casting one ThunderStrike. It costs 4 of his 6, and he nearly always wants to boost, so we're talking 5 focus minimum most of the time. That can be a tough choice. If Thunderstrike slams Caine's target to oblivion or knocks down the enemy 'caster for ranged assassination, then it's bananas. If something goes wrong, Caine is boned and his army isn't feeling the love either.
Melee Support: C-, Caine's Blur spell helps deliver a low-defense unit like Stormblades or Stormguard forward. With Snipe and Deadeye Stormblades can Assault across 14", which is butch. It's ranged support for a melee troop, however.
Ranged Support: A, Caine has Snipe _and_ Deadeye, which are two of the best ranged buffs in the game. Only 'casters with Guided Fire and eHaley do ranged support this well for Cygnar.
Magic Support: D, Caine's Blur can again be used defensively against magic-heavy opponents, but Caine doesn't support his own spellcasters well.
Tricksiness: B-. Caine has a few modes, and his startling speed and pile of magical gunshots give him a lot of threat vectors. Thunderstrike can keep his opponents away from screening warjacks, lest he slam one into the caster and fill them full of spellstorm shots. Even when he's cowering in the back, his buffs are likely making a huge difference on the battlefield.
Rating: 3.0
Lists with pCaine:
15 points:
pCaine Ol' Rowdy (9), Stormblades + UA (8), Black 13th(4)
Caine + Defender (9), Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + UA (8), Reinholdt (1), Gorman di Wulfe or Squire(2), Stormcaller (1)
25 points:
Caine + Rowdy (9), ATGM + UA (8) + Hunter or Arlan +Charger (6), Rangers (5), Reinholdt (1), Squire (2)
Caine + Hunter + Hunter (12), Stormblades +UA + WA (11), Archduke Runewood (3), Black 13th (4), Reinholdt (1)
35 points:
Caine + Rowdy (9), ATGM +UA + 2 Hunters (20), Archduke Runewood (3), Stormblades + UA + 1 WA (9)
Caine + Defender (9), Squire (2), Stormblades +UA+ 3 WA (11), Reinholdt (1), Stormclad (10), Arlan Strangewayes (2), Black 13th (4), Gorman di Wulfe (2)
50 points:
Tiered, Caine +Stormclad (10), ATGM+UA (7) w Hunter and Defender (15), ATGM +UA (5) w Hunter and Defender (15), Black 13th (4)
Caine + Rowdy (9), Squire(2), Reinholdt (1), Stormblades + UA + WA (11) + Stormclad (10), Arlan (2), Rangers (5), Black 13th (4), Journeyman (3), Runewood (3), Gorman (2), Harlan (2), GMCA (2)
-Merlin
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, April 29, 2011
Classics from the Daze of My Youth: RPGS
It's a cheap pun, but I quite like cheap puns.
I wrote this at Christmas, while between classes. I did not publish it, so that I could keep the ol' blog going in case the semester got anxious.
It got anxious. And I never posted it. Silly of me, really.
So here it is anyway:
I wrote this at Christmas, while between classes. I did not publish it, so that I could keep the ol' blog going in case the semester got anxious.
It got anxious. And I never posted it. Silly of me, really.
So here it is anyway:
RPGS
Might and Magic II: This game was absolutely immense for the time. There was something like 100 hours of gameplay, with many optional sidequests and specific character-driven storylines. I remember liking the randomized encounter and treasure systems, and the character options. Not a lot of fantasy games allow the party to have a ninja. Ninjas are awesome, and they’re exponentially more awesome to pre-teen boys. Still, the game lacked a certain something. Maybe it was the music or the graphics, both of which were good but not great. 2.5
The Bard’s Tale: This game was one of the first party-based rpgs I ever played, and it’s incredibly cool. The graphics and music on the Amiga were immersive, and I can still recall some of the songs for which the game was known. The fact that the bard had a series of instruments he could play, and each tune would change for the instrument was incredible for the time. The game’s puzzles were awesome and at times difficult, and there was at least 30 or 40 hours of gameplay. Great stuff. 3.5
Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony: This game was weird. The player takes the role of a disciple of “Moebius” and then must work their way through the four elemental planes (earth, wind, etc) to reclaim the world from whatever evil has taken control. It was something like a combination action-RPG, as “combat” was a separate side-scrolling almost street-fighter-esque mini-game. I remember that the game was incredibly difficult, and that it had a spiritual component. In order to ascend from one plane to the next, the player had to complete a “meditation” mini-game in which they kept a randomly spinning yin-yang within a certain area of the screen. Moebius gets special mention because it was so unique and because the melodies that Mobius gave to the Amiga platform haunt me to this day. 3.0
Ultima IV: I’ve skipped Ultima III because I didn’t play it as much as IV and I have even less good things to say about it. And I don't really want to talk about Ultima after IV either. Fock that noise. IV had some really cool things going for it, in that the player actually did a strange virtue-based character creation process to get their character set up. After that, the player had to wander the world and collect a party of characters which all represented virtues and use them in combination to complete a divine quest. There was a lot to like about the game, but I didn’t really enjoy playing it that much. The combat system was lame, the magic system was whack, requiring the purchase and mixing of reagents to cast spells, and the music in the game was forgettable. Apparently I was quite affected by the music of RPGS on the computer. 1.5
Defender of the Crown: I’m not sure how to characterize this game. Is it a Simulation? An RPG? A strategy game? The player takes the role of a Saxon noble in middle-ages Norman-dominated England and tries to become powerful by conquering or allying with the other nobles on the map. It’s incredibly difficult, as the Norman antagonists are all much better at everything in the game than the Saxons are, and there isn’t any progression in the game. So the player can’t eventually become a better swordfighter or jouster through gameplay. The player has to either lead troops to battle or siege, joust at tournaments, or lead daring personal raids in the night to gain fame, a lady, recognition, and more land. I could only win as the sword-fighter Saxon (Geoffrey of Flapjack?), as that was the part of the game I didn’t suck at. Plus, the sword-fighter guy got more chicks than the jousty guy or the jack-of-all-trades type guy. It was an odd game, but I managed to while away a few hours with it. 2.0
Heroes of the Lance: This was a side-scrolling “adventure”-RPG where the player got to take control of one of the characters from the iconic dragonlance books to complete their first quest in Xak Tsaroth. It was a weird game. When the character that the player was using died, they were replaced with the next Hero of the Lance in line. There were 8 or 10 in all. The wizard Raistlin was a great choice, and Riverwind the barbarian was one of the best jumpers in the game. It was important to be able to jump because the game had a lot of platforming sections where the heroes had to traverse caverns filled with holes or traps. The sad thing about this game is that there was only one way to win it: kill the black dragon at the end. And there was only one way to kill the black dragon: throw the priestesses’ blue crystal staff at it. So after figuring out the maze of the game and condensing it to a list of 20 or so caverns to traverse, the game became incredibly easy to beat, and therefore not fun. Not that it was much fun to begin with: the jumping bits were frustrating and controls not always responsive. The music was awesome for about five minutes and then it became grating. The theme song was a little too energetic. And the game’s replayability after winning was pretty much nil. 1.0
Nethack: I’m going to condense all modern roguelikes (Angband, Moria, etc.) into a single header here as Nethack. I was always terrible at this game, but nonetheless I played the hell out of it. To this day I have never completed it, though now I have access to piles of spoilers which I could use to learn the ropes better. The learning curve on nethack is quite simply astounding. It’s a game where you must replay and work with contexts to learn just how to succeed, and even then there is a possibility of death. And death is permanent, so after dying the player must restart from the beginning. It’s terribly frustrating, and yet I still find it fascinating and I occasionally play through a game, only to lose of course. 3.0
For roguelike sampler goodness, check out the Desktop Dungeons freeware game.
-Merlin out
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Warcaster Focus: Captain SloMo says "No!"
I played Stryker a few times before thinking about picking another warcaster. Captain Victoria Haley actually sort of fell into my lap. I was browsing at a hobby shop during my travels and found her at a ridiculously cheap price.
So I bought her and painted her up before I knew how to even play her or build an army around her. Turns out she's a solid warcaster with a spell list that annoys opponents.
I decided to paint her a little different from Stryker, as I don't actually like the idea of painting 40-plus models in the same exact color scheme. So while my army palette is "traditional" Cygnar-blue, yellow, white, with gold, silver, and black trim- , the various units and models might have blue or yellow or whatever as their primary color. To this end, I refer to Haley as "The Yellow Ranger". Stryker is mostly blue, though I'm not sure he's the "Blue Ranger".
Stats:
Haley's stat line does not impress. If Stryker is the high side of average, Haley is the low side. She's not incredibly accurate with her weapons, she's got light armor, and she doesn't have a ton of wounds.
Haley has a special ability called Arcane Vortex that allows her to cancel an enemy spell that targets her or a model near her. It costs her a focus each time she does it, but countermagic in warmachine isn't common.
She does have an impressive focus stat at 7, but her most awesome spell is also quite expensive, so she almost needs that extra focus to get anywhere.
Spells:
That awesome spell is called Temporal Barrier. Haley has a time manipulation theme going for her. It's an amazing spell. Any enemy unit that starts its activation within 14 inches of Haley (her "control area", defined by 'caster focus x 2 in inches) cannot run or charge. Also, those same units have a reduced defense due to slowness. So the spell protects Haley and her army from charges (one of the stronger attacks in the game), limits enemy movement, and gives a serious accuracy boost to her army. Sure, it costs 4 focus, but it's actually hard not to cast it every turn. It's that good.
Haley has other spells too! She's got the Arcane Shield upkeep, a Cygnar mainstay. She also has a non-upkeep unit buff called Deadeye that adds a die to ranged attack rolls.
For offensive magic she has a basic magic-missile type spell that hits about as hard as her pistol but costs focus, a weird warjack-affecting spell called Scramble, and an amazing infantry-killer spell called Chain Lightning.
Scramble forces an enemy warjack to move its normal speed in a random direction. It knocks down any smaller troops it walks through, and if it hits larger stuff-other jacks or bigger solos- it falls down as well. It's an expensive spell for what amounts to a 50/50 chance for the 'jack to move back into enemy troops. If it moves forward then I'm actually helping my opponent move a dangerous bit of machinery toward my army. I better have a pretty good idea of how to capitalize on that if I lose the coin toss.
Chain Lightning is awesome. It does some damage to the target of the spell and then lightning arcs to d6 more models near the original target. Those arcs autohit, so it's a great spell to fire at warjacks screening infantry. It's also expensive at 3 focus. Unless Haley has some other focus boosts she can't do much to power her 'jacks, counter enemy spells, and such if she casts both CL and TB in the same turn.
Weapons: Haley has a basic gun called a Hand Cannon. Lots of warcasters and solos have Hand Cannons. It's a gun that does decent damage with decent range, but it can only be fired once per round. She's not a good shot with it and will have to spend focus or use defense reducing shenanigans like Temporal Barrier to hit with it.
Haley also has an absurdly large spear called the Vortex Spear. She's not particularly accurate with this, and it does less damage than the Hand Cannon, so. . .meh.
It does have Reach to extend her melee threat, so she can engage non-reach units that don't want to be in melee (like Arcane Tempest Gun Mages) and piss them off, I guess. That's alright. The spear also has Set Defense, which gives Haley a defense bonus against charges. If Haley's getting charged, it means that she didn't cast TB last turn. Why?
Feat:
Haley's feat is called Blitz. Every Cygnar model or unit within 14 inches of Haley gets to make an additional attack during their activation. It's a great feat that speaks to Haley's time manipulation theme. I most often use it at long range, to get additional harassment shots in during an advance. It can also be used on the clash turn to make sure melee troops wreck the enemy frontline.
I tend to take units which hit hard with both melee and ranged attacks with Haley, such as Stormblades. That way if they rush into close combat and destroy the front line, they can use their additional attack to fire into the next enemy unit.
Edit: I've just been made aware of the rules of WM, which state that if a model uses it's initial attacks to make melee attacks, then any additional attacks it gains are melee attacks. So I guess that means if my Stormblades rock the front line with melee attacks then they aren't gaining ranged lightning blasts from Blitz.
Overall:
Haley is a control warcaster. She denies movement and spell assassinations quite well, which means that some enemies will have to work overtime against her. She tends to slow the game down, which is anathema to some of my friends' playstyles. Warmachine tends to favor aggressive play; the player who gets in the "alpha strike" usually wrecks the other army. Haley doesn't allow opponents to get that strike in.
One friend in particular hates Haley. Every time I set her down he sighs a little. It's amusing to me because he has an entire "denial" Protectorate of Menoth army which denies me many of my options. I guess it's always shitty when the other guy's doing it.
Melee Power: D. Haley's spear does woeful damage and she barely knows how to use it. Avoid up front confrontation when possible.
Ranged Power: C. The Hand Cannon is average, and Haley can always boost or cast TB to increase her chance of shooting. Reinholdt can grant her an additional shot as well. Not bad, but not great.
Magic Power: B+. Chain Lightning is awesome, and Temporal Barrier helps with just about everything.
Melee Support: B. Her feat helps melee troops mow through foes, and she has Arcane Shield for buffing up her troops. Temporal Barrier makes her whole force more accurate.
Ranged Support: A. Deadeye and TB are fantastic for ranged troops. The fact that TB also prevents charging the next turn helps her ranged troops stay out of retaliation range.
Magic Support: C. She doesn't have many magic attacks to support. . .so she doesn't need a high score here. Temporal Barrier still reduces the defense of enemies in her control area against magic attacks, though.
Tricksiness: B-. She's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve, but she honestly can't do them all at once, and the opponent will probably know it. She's tricky, but in a way that's straightforward and that telegraphs its punches. So. . .good, but not really sneaky.
Lists:
Haley supports all her troops well. I'd suggest the Black 13th and/or Arcane Tempest Gun Mages in every Haley list. She also likes a Defender for long range shots, and she loves the new Storm Strider battle engine for protection on the approach (the base on that thing is huge, and she can cast Arcane Shield on it).
Haley + Defender or Ol' Rowdy (9), Arlan Strangewayes(2), Storm Strider (9)
Haley + Defender (9), ATGM + UA (8) + Hunter (6), Stormblades (5), Squire (2)
Haley + Ol' Rowdy (9), ATGM + UA (8) + 2 Hunters (12), Squire (2), Stormblades + UA (8), Arlan Strangewayes (2)
I like Arlan with her because he's terribly inaccurate with his spray, but her Temporal Barrier helps him hit multiple targets when he uses it. Oh, and his other abilities are solid as well.
Rating: 3.0
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
So I bought her and painted her up before I knew how to even play her or build an army around her. Turns out she's a solid warcaster with a spell list that annoys opponents.
I decided to paint her a little different from Stryker, as I don't actually like the idea of painting 40-plus models in the same exact color scheme. So while my army palette is "traditional" Cygnar-blue, yellow, white, with gold, silver, and black trim- , the various units and models might have blue or yellow or whatever as their primary color. To this end, I refer to Haley as "The Yellow Ranger". Stryker is mostly blue, though I'm not sure he's the "Blue Ranger".
Stats:
Haley's stat line does not impress. If Stryker is the high side of average, Haley is the low side. She's not incredibly accurate with her weapons, she's got light armor, and she doesn't have a ton of wounds.
Haley has a special ability called Arcane Vortex that allows her to cancel an enemy spell that targets her or a model near her. It costs her a focus each time she does it, but countermagic in warmachine isn't common.
She does have an impressive focus stat at 7, but her most awesome spell is also quite expensive, so she almost needs that extra focus to get anywhere.
Spells:
That awesome spell is called Temporal Barrier. Haley has a time manipulation theme going for her. It's an amazing spell. Any enemy unit that starts its activation within 14 inches of Haley (her "control area", defined by 'caster focus x 2 in inches) cannot run or charge. Also, those same units have a reduced defense due to slowness. So the spell protects Haley and her army from charges (one of the stronger attacks in the game), limits enemy movement, and gives a serious accuracy boost to her army. Sure, it costs 4 focus, but it's actually hard not to cast it every turn. It's that good.
Haley has other spells too! She's got the Arcane Shield upkeep, a Cygnar mainstay. She also has a non-upkeep unit buff called Deadeye that adds a die to ranged attack rolls.
For offensive magic she has a basic magic-missile type spell that hits about as hard as her pistol but costs focus, a weird warjack-affecting spell called Scramble, and an amazing infantry-killer spell called Chain Lightning.
Scramble forces an enemy warjack to move its normal speed in a random direction. It knocks down any smaller troops it walks through, and if it hits larger stuff-other jacks or bigger solos- it falls down as well. It's an expensive spell for what amounts to a 50/50 chance for the 'jack to move back into enemy troops. If it moves forward then I'm actually helping my opponent move a dangerous bit of machinery toward my army. I better have a pretty good idea of how to capitalize on that if I lose the coin toss.
Chain Lightning is awesome. It does some damage to the target of the spell and then lightning arcs to d6 more models near the original target. Those arcs autohit, so it's a great spell to fire at warjacks screening infantry. It's also expensive at 3 focus. Unless Haley has some other focus boosts she can't do much to power her 'jacks, counter enemy spells, and such if she casts both CL and TB in the same turn.
Weapons: Haley has a basic gun called a Hand Cannon. Lots of warcasters and solos have Hand Cannons. It's a gun that does decent damage with decent range, but it can only be fired once per round. She's not a good shot with it and will have to spend focus or use defense reducing shenanigans like Temporal Barrier to hit with it.
Haley also has an absurdly large spear called the Vortex Spear. She's not particularly accurate with this, and it does less damage than the Hand Cannon, so. . .meh.
It does have Reach to extend her melee threat, so she can engage non-reach units that don't want to be in melee (like Arcane Tempest Gun Mages) and piss them off, I guess. That's alright. The spear also has Set Defense, which gives Haley a defense bonus against charges. If Haley's getting charged, it means that she didn't cast TB last turn. Why?
Feat:
Haley's feat is called Blitz. Every Cygnar model or unit within 14 inches of Haley gets to make an additional attack during their activation. It's a great feat that speaks to Haley's time manipulation theme. I most often use it at long range, to get additional harassment shots in during an advance. It can also be used on the clash turn to make sure melee troops wreck the enemy frontline.
I tend to take units which hit hard with both melee and ranged attacks with Haley, such as Stormblades. That way if they rush into close combat and destroy the front line, they can use their additional attack to fire into the next enemy unit.
Edit: I've just been made aware of the rules of WM, which state that if a model uses it's initial attacks to make melee attacks, then any additional attacks it gains are melee attacks. So I guess that means if my Stormblades rock the front line with melee attacks then they aren't gaining ranged lightning blasts from Blitz.
Overall:
Haley is a control warcaster. She denies movement and spell assassinations quite well, which means that some enemies will have to work overtime against her. She tends to slow the game down, which is anathema to some of my friends' playstyles. Warmachine tends to favor aggressive play; the player who gets in the "alpha strike" usually wrecks the other army. Haley doesn't allow opponents to get that strike in.
One friend in particular hates Haley. Every time I set her down he sighs a little. It's amusing to me because he has an entire "denial" Protectorate of Menoth army which denies me many of my options. I guess it's always shitty when the other guy's doing it.
Melee Power: D. Haley's spear does woeful damage and she barely knows how to use it. Avoid up front confrontation when possible.
Ranged Power: C. The Hand Cannon is average, and Haley can always boost or cast TB to increase her chance of shooting. Reinholdt can grant her an additional shot as well. Not bad, but not great.
Magic Power: B+. Chain Lightning is awesome, and Temporal Barrier helps with just about everything.
Melee Support: B. Her feat helps melee troops mow through foes, and she has Arcane Shield for buffing up her troops. Temporal Barrier makes her whole force more accurate.
Ranged Support: A. Deadeye and TB are fantastic for ranged troops. The fact that TB also prevents charging the next turn helps her ranged troops stay out of retaliation range.
Magic Support: C. She doesn't have many magic attacks to support. . .so she doesn't need a high score here. Temporal Barrier still reduces the defense of enemies in her control area against magic attacks, though.
Tricksiness: B-. She's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve, but she honestly can't do them all at once, and the opponent will probably know it. She's tricky, but in a way that's straightforward and that telegraphs its punches. So. . .good, but not really sneaky.
Lists:
Haley supports all her troops well. I'd suggest the Black 13th and/or Arcane Tempest Gun Mages in every Haley list. She also likes a Defender for long range shots, and she loves the new Storm Strider battle engine for protection on the approach (the base on that thing is huge, and she can cast Arcane Shield on it).
Haley + Defender or Ol' Rowdy (9), Arlan Strangewayes(2), Storm Strider (9)
Haley + Defender (9), ATGM + UA (8) + Hunter (6), Stormblades (5), Squire (2)
Haley + Ol' Rowdy (9), ATGM + UA (8) + 2 Hunters (12), Squire (2), Stormblades + UA (8), Arlan Strangewayes (2)
I like Arlan with her because he's terribly inaccurate with his spray, but her Temporal Barrier helps him hit multiple targets when he uses it. Oh, and his other abilities are solid as well.
Rating: 3.0
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Warcaster Focus: Commander Douchebag McWeen
I started with Stryker from the Battlebox, but as I've already said I am the sort of guy who likes options. As of today I have played with four different warcasters, and each one has a different playstyle. I've got another two I have yet to try. I'll give them each their own post.
Commander Douchebag McWeen:
Stats:
Coleman Stryker is, as I have said before, a pretty basic warcaster. His stats are actually impressive; the high side of average. He has a reasonable ranged attack rating, and his melee attack is above average. His defense and armor are also pretty good for a warcaster. He probably won't get getting killed by average enemy troops.
But nobody takes average troops. Everybody takes exceptional troops.
Stryker's most damning averageness is his average focus stat. This limits his ability to support lots of 'jacks and cast his full spell list. Playing Stryker involves a lot of tough choices as to which 'jacks and units to support.
Spells:
I say units because Stryker has three unit-buffing spells: Snipe adds some range to a model or unit's guns, Arcane Shield is an armor buff for same, and Blur is a defensive buff against ranged and magic attacks. If Stryker casts all these spells in a turn, he's used all his focus on buffs and can't give focus to his 'jacks or cast his offensive spells.
All three of those spells are "upkeeps", so if Stryker wants to leave them on a unit turn after turn he can spend a single focus to keep the spell going. So they don't need to be recast at total cost each turn. That's good. It also allows some ranged-buff shenanigans like upkeeping Snipe on one unit, shooting with them at the enhanced range, and then activating Stryker and casting Snipe on a different unit. This will end the effect of Snipe on the first unit, but it supports long range strategy well.
Aside from his upkeep spells, Stryker has three offensive spells. He's got a basic Arcane Bolt spell, which essentially shoots a model with a magic missile. He's got an Arcane Blast spell, which is similar but also generates a little cloud (called area of effect) of blast damage in a 3-inch diameter centered on the target. These two spells see little use. They don't have great damage and Stryker will normally rather buff his ten-man gun units and power his 'jacks.
He might also want to cast Earthquake. It's an expensive spell for him, but he gets to fire a 5-inch diameter template centered on a target. Anything under the template falls down, meaning melee attacks hit automatically and ranged attacks hit unless the attacker rolls snake eyes on 2d6.
Earthquake is essentially, then, an accuracy buff for Stryker's army. That's good, because Stryker doesn't have the power to end many games by himself.
Weapons:
Against most enemy 'casters, Stryker will have trouble performing a personal assassination run. His gun is low power and his sword is only average, and even if Stryker saves his focus to boost his own strikes or buy more sword attacks he'll have trouble with a fresh, unbruised enemy warcaster.
I should point out that both of Stryker's weapons have disruption, which means if he hits a warjack personally it will lose any focus it has on it, and can't be allocated any focus for a turn. Shooting enemy warjacks with Stryker is still a good strategy to keep enemy 'casters from powering that jack, even though the low power on the gun won't penetrate most heavy warjack armor.
Feat:
Stryker's once-per-game special feat is called Invincibility. Cygnar units close enough to Stryker receive a substantial armor boost for one turn. In combination with Arcane Shield it gives an insane armor boost for a turn. The feat has some utility in that it can be used on the advance to keep the troops alive, or after engagement to help weather an enemy counterstrike.
Overall:
Stryker relies on his army to do the dirty work, and he really likes a combined-arms approach. Most games will see him moving Snipe around during the first two turns to get more ranged attacks in before the armies meet, and then using the feat to survive the inevitable melee clash. With any luck Stryker can either win an attrition war or clear a lane for an Earthquake assassination to be performed by one of his 'jacks.
I like Stryker's versatility. I don't like his personal attacks, because they aren't much of a threat to enemy heavies or 'casters. I also don't like how predictable he is. Most players know what to expect, because Stryker just does what it says on the tin.
I find that if the dice go my way I do well with Stryker. If they don't I'm in trouble. There's a certain amount of luck inherent to any game with a randomized element, but of course some of the strategy in the game is reducing the chances that the dice can ruin a game. That can be tough for Stryker.
Melee Power: C. Stryker has an average-strength sword and a mediocre melee attack rating. He's got Disruption on his blade, so warjacks he hits with it are not getting focus the next turn, but if Stryker's standing next to a warjack something has probably gone terribly wrong. Quicksilver is just powerful enough that Stryker can sometimes get the job done himself.
Ranged Power: D. Stryker's gun and ranged attack rating are pillowfisted and meh. Again, he can disrupt warjacks with it, and in fact I often do, but he's not doing it for damage, and since disruption only affects like 20% of the models you may face. . .meh.
Magic Power: C+. Stryker has 3 attack spells. Unfortunately, two of them are terrible. Earthquake is the star here, and while it does put a 5" circle of knockdown on the table, it does no damage itself. His other two spells cost too much for their effects, and he's got better uses for his focus, even if he's just sitting on it for extra armor.
Melee Support: B+. Stryker's feat, Arcane Shield, and Blur are great for delivering troops to the front lines. He doesn't improve threat range or accuracy, but he's helping his guys get there, which can sometimes be a struggle.
Ranged Support: A. Blur and Snipe, combined with Stryker's feat for survivability, are awesome for ranged forces. Stryker loves having long-ranged elements in his army, and Earthquake is even an accuracy buff for ranged attacks (stuff that's knocked down is easy to hit, doesn't block line of sight to stuff behind, can be targeted by Combined Ranged Attacks, and so on. He's really good at bringing the guns.
Magic Support: D. The feat and Blur offer some protection from magic, but Cygnar is sorely lacking in non-warcaster spell support, and Stryker is indicative of the faction as a whole.
Lists:
Stryker supports everything well. I'd suggest some heavy infantry, like Stormblades or Stormguard. He also loves his pet warjack, Ol' Rowdy, who is simply amazing.
Stryker + Rowdy (9) + max Stormguard (9) + Alain Runewood (3)
Stryker + Rowdy(9) + Max Long Gunners (10) + Gun Mage Captain Adept or Harlan Versh or Gorman di Wulfe(2)
Stryker + Defender (9) + Max Long Gunners (10) + Max Stormguard (9) + Alain Runewood (3)
Stryker + Hunter (6) + Hunter (6) + Squire (2) + Arlan Strangeways (2) + Black 13th (4) + Full Stormblades Unit with attachments (11)
Stryker supports just about everything Cygnar (and mercs) have to offer. He plays pretty well with everything, but he's ultimately a bit mediocre because of his versatility.
Rating: 2.5.
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Commander Douchebag McWeen:
Stats:
Coleman Stryker is, as I have said before, a pretty basic warcaster. His stats are actually impressive; the high side of average. He has a reasonable ranged attack rating, and his melee attack is above average. His defense and armor are also pretty good for a warcaster. He probably won't get getting killed by average enemy troops.
But nobody takes average troops. Everybody takes exceptional troops.
Stryker's most damning averageness is his average focus stat. This limits his ability to support lots of 'jacks and cast his full spell list. Playing Stryker involves a lot of tough choices as to which 'jacks and units to support.
Spells:
I say units because Stryker has three unit-buffing spells: Snipe adds some range to a model or unit's guns, Arcane Shield is an armor buff for same, and Blur is a defensive buff against ranged and magic attacks. If Stryker casts all these spells in a turn, he's used all his focus on buffs and can't give focus to his 'jacks or cast his offensive spells.
All three of those spells are "upkeeps", so if Stryker wants to leave them on a unit turn after turn he can spend a single focus to keep the spell going. So they don't need to be recast at total cost each turn. That's good. It also allows some ranged-buff shenanigans like upkeeping Snipe on one unit, shooting with them at the enhanced range, and then activating Stryker and casting Snipe on a different unit. This will end the effect of Snipe on the first unit, but it supports long range strategy well.
Aside from his upkeep spells, Stryker has three offensive spells. He's got a basic Arcane Bolt spell, which essentially shoots a model with a magic missile. He's got an Arcane Blast spell, which is similar but also generates a little cloud (called area of effect) of blast damage in a 3-inch diameter centered on the target. These two spells see little use. They don't have great damage and Stryker will normally rather buff his ten-man gun units and power his 'jacks.
He might also want to cast Earthquake. It's an expensive spell for him, but he gets to fire a 5-inch diameter template centered on a target. Anything under the template falls down, meaning melee attacks hit automatically and ranged attacks hit unless the attacker rolls snake eyes on 2d6.
Earthquake is essentially, then, an accuracy buff for Stryker's army. That's good, because Stryker doesn't have the power to end many games by himself.
Weapons:
Against most enemy 'casters, Stryker will have trouble performing a personal assassination run. His gun is low power and his sword is only average, and even if Stryker saves his focus to boost his own strikes or buy more sword attacks he'll have trouble with a fresh, unbruised enemy warcaster.
I should point out that both of Stryker's weapons have disruption, which means if he hits a warjack personally it will lose any focus it has on it, and can't be allocated any focus for a turn. Shooting enemy warjacks with Stryker is still a good strategy to keep enemy 'casters from powering that jack, even though the low power on the gun won't penetrate most heavy warjack armor.
Feat:
Stryker's once-per-game special feat is called Invincibility. Cygnar units close enough to Stryker receive a substantial armor boost for one turn. In combination with Arcane Shield it gives an insane armor boost for a turn. The feat has some utility in that it can be used on the advance to keep the troops alive, or after engagement to help weather an enemy counterstrike.
Overall:
Stryker relies on his army to do the dirty work, and he really likes a combined-arms approach. Most games will see him moving Snipe around during the first two turns to get more ranged attacks in before the armies meet, and then using the feat to survive the inevitable melee clash. With any luck Stryker can either win an attrition war or clear a lane for an Earthquake assassination to be performed by one of his 'jacks.
I like Stryker's versatility. I don't like his personal attacks, because they aren't much of a threat to enemy heavies or 'casters. I also don't like how predictable he is. Most players know what to expect, because Stryker just does what it says on the tin.
I find that if the dice go my way I do well with Stryker. If they don't I'm in trouble. There's a certain amount of luck inherent to any game with a randomized element, but of course some of the strategy in the game is reducing the chances that the dice can ruin a game. That can be tough for Stryker.
Melee Power: C. Stryker has an average-strength sword and a mediocre melee attack rating. He's got Disruption on his blade, so warjacks he hits with it are not getting focus the next turn, but if Stryker's standing next to a warjack something has probably gone terribly wrong. Quicksilver is just powerful enough that Stryker can sometimes get the job done himself.
Ranged Power: D. Stryker's gun and ranged attack rating are pillowfisted and meh. Again, he can disrupt warjacks with it, and in fact I often do, but he's not doing it for damage, and since disruption only affects like 20% of the models you may face. . .meh.
Magic Power: C+. Stryker has 3 attack spells. Unfortunately, two of them are terrible. Earthquake is the star here, and while it does put a 5" circle of knockdown on the table, it does no damage itself. His other two spells cost too much for their effects, and he's got better uses for his focus, even if he's just sitting on it for extra armor.
Melee Support: B+. Stryker's feat, Arcane Shield, and Blur are great for delivering troops to the front lines. He doesn't improve threat range or accuracy, but he's helping his guys get there, which can sometimes be a struggle.
Ranged Support: A. Blur and Snipe, combined with Stryker's feat for survivability, are awesome for ranged forces. Stryker loves having long-ranged elements in his army, and Earthquake is even an accuracy buff for ranged attacks (stuff that's knocked down is easy to hit, doesn't block line of sight to stuff behind, can be targeted by Combined Ranged Attacks, and so on. He's really good at bringing the guns.
Magic Support: D. The feat and Blur offer some protection from magic, but Cygnar is sorely lacking in non-warcaster spell support, and Stryker is indicative of the faction as a whole.
Lists:
Stryker supports everything well. I'd suggest some heavy infantry, like Stormblades or Stormguard. He also loves his pet warjack, Ol' Rowdy, who is simply amazing.
Stryker + Rowdy (9) + max Stormguard (9) + Alain Runewood (3)
Stryker + Rowdy(9) + Max Long Gunners (10) + Gun Mage Captain Adept or Harlan Versh or Gorman di Wulfe(2)
Stryker + Defender (9) + Max Long Gunners (10) + Max Stormguard (9) + Alain Runewood (3)
Stryker + Hunter (6) + Hunter (6) + Squire (2) + Arlan Strangeways (2) + Black 13th (4) + Full Stormblades Unit with attachments (11)
Stryker supports just about everything Cygnar (and mercs) have to offer. He plays pretty well with everything, but he's ultimately a bit mediocre because of his versatility.
Rating: 2.5.
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, December 9, 2010
A Digression in Praise of Digressions!
With apologies to Jonathan Swift.
Desktop Dungeons is a (currently) freeware "adventure" game that essentially combines the brutality of nethack with the casual fun of minesweeper. Give it a shot. There's a lot of math involved, so you've been warned.
To win one must simply kill the level 10 monster on the map. The map is always a 25x25 grid randomly generated and populated with various monsters. The easiest monsters to kill are the character's level or below. However, the lower the monster level the fewer experience points the kill is worth. Killing high-level monsters will advance a character quicker, allowing them to keep more low-level critters around for power-leveling later.
Here's the math: the grid is largely hidden at the start of any game, and the character only regenerates health and mana (magic points, whatever. . .) when exploring. So the player must balance exploration to find low-enough level monsters to level up, while only revealing as much is necessary to win. Sometimes a game is lost because there isn't anywhere left to explore, ending regeneration before the player is ready to solo the "boss".
It's easier the first time. The game keeps the math in the player's favor until they win a game. Then things get more difficult.
The game has at first four basic character classes, the iconic fighter, thief, priest, and wizard. Winning the game with any of the classes will unlock a "tier 2" class related to the primary class. For instance, winning the game with a fighter unlocks the berserker. Similarly, winning with the berserker unlocks the warlord, a "tier 3" related class. There are also several extra classes to unlock through advanced play.
There are five races available at the start of the game, with two more available for unlock. The various races can consume spell runes (or glyphs as the game calls them) for bonuses. Humans consume runes for attack power, dwarves for health, elves for mana points, halflings for health potions, and gnomes for mana potions. The hidden races for player are the goblin, who eats spells for cashmonies, and the orc, who eats spells for experience points.
The races are pretty well balanced, but the various classes play better with certain races, and sometimes in certain challenge dungeons.
I really just want to talk about the 18 available classes today.
Fighter: The basic warrior class. The fighter's special benefits include an extra experience point per kill, a monster-sense which shows all monsters of the character's level and lower, and protection from the first killing blow. So the fighter gets the most mileage out of the lower-level monsters because of his extra experience, and his protection from killing blow gives him essentially one free attack on a monster who would kill him. I often use it on the final boss, saving it for the last. I like playing as the fighter, but it can be a little frustrating at times. Sometimes I try to ignore my monster sense and kill higher-level monsters, but I often find myself exploring toward weaker prey. The great thing about the fighter is that there's no reason not to use magic, it's just that he doesn't use it especially well. He can still toss fireballs around providing he can find the fireball spell in the dungeon early enough (more on that later). For all the good stuff here, the fighter is still ultimately boring to play.
Best races: Orcs combo with bonus experience, but I prefer dwarves and halflings for either bonus health or bonus health potions, which always seem to come in handy.
Overall rating: 2.5
Thief: The thief is awesome. His benefits include a 30% bonus to his first time attacking any given beastie, bonus gold and shops in the dungeon, and the mother of all benefits: when the thief uses a mana or health potion, he gets some regeneration to both health and mana. So his potions do double-duty. This is absolutely huge. To maximize the bonus, make sure to use spells and physical attacks both before drinking them potions, so that the double-regen effects help. In a world with limited regeneration, the thief rocks the house.
Best races: Gnomes and halflings both get extra potions, which are dope in this scenario. Goblins thieves have some serious cashmonies to play with.
Overall rating: 4.0
Priest: The priest kind of rocks the house. He gets some sweet benefits in the form of a 100% heal rate from health potions (most classes get 40% back from either potion), double damage to undead, and a bonus 2 health per level. The priest is a healthy, jolly fat monster. His bonus undead damage can really help when leveling: seek out the zombies and such, and crush them when two levels below them for an experience boost. Save the health potions for full regeneration during the final confrontation, and whoop ass.
Best races: Halflings and their bonus health potions are just goddamn huge here.
Overall rating: 3.5
Wizard: The wizard, as usual, gets kicked in the balls. Repeatedly. Spells are generated in random locations of the dungeon, and the player (with some exceptions) starts with no spells. The wizard can sense the presence of spell runes, so he knows where all of them are, though they are represented by ? symbols and therefore he has to guess at which one is which. This wouldn't be a huge deal, but the wizard, more than any other class, needs him some fireballs. He can carry an extra spell (most classes have 3 spell slots for runes, the wizard has 4), he has rune-sense, and his spells all cost a mana less than other classes' spells do. The problem? The wizard's basic attack is nerfed 25%, meaning he has trouble killing monsters of his own damn level sometimes without magical assistance. Not cool.
Best races: Elf for mana, gnome for mana potions.
Overall rating: 1.0
Berserker: The tier two fighter character. This guy is a blast to play. He's a brute who just wants to smash. He does bonus damage to higher-level monsters, has 50% magic resistance (warlock-type monsters and whatnot have a "magical attack"), has a 30% damage bonus to begin with, and has a hard time reading spell runes (+2 mana cost to any spell cast). There's something awesome about blasting through the dungeon with the berserker after carefully managing both mana and health to win the game as a fighter or thief. Sure, he can still cast some spells, but not many, and he's great at just laying into the bad guys with his hammer. Nice 'n' simple.
Best races: Human for even more damage (smash!), halfling for more health potions.
Overall rating: 3.5
Rogue: The rogue is an interesting dude. He has first strike all the time, which means he gets a slap in before the bad guys know what's what. He has a 20% chance to dodge, which is alright. But here's the kicker: he's got a 50% damage bonus and half health. So managing your fights as the rogue is that much more difficult. The level 10 boss monster can almost always kill the rogue in a single strike (the average level 10 critter damage is 75), so some kind of backup plan needs to be in place to survive. Although, truth be told, I've won with the rogue by dodging the killing blow on that 1/5 chance, and there's something great about that.
Best races:Dwarf for health bonus, human for even more damage (smash again!).
Overall rating: 2.5
Monk: The monk is another crazy character type. He starts with a bigger fisticuffs nerf than the wizard, only inflicting 50% damage, but he's also got 50% resistance to both magic and physical attacks to compensate. He also regenerates health much more rapidly than other characters. The monk is a lot of fun to play. He's a challenge, forcing me to rethink the math that I've got worked out already. However, I find the challenge often rewarding, though I often play human monks, possibly the best of all.
Best races: Human to negate the damage penalties, elf to go for a more magical route.
Overall rating: 3.5
Sorcerer: The sorcerer is a weirdo. He needs to use both physical and magical attacks to the fullest to use all of his benefits: He has an additional 5 mana (a bonus 50% on normal starting mana), he regains 2 health every time he spends a mana, and every time he physically attacks a critter, the critter takes a magic damage per level of the sorcerer. That's a lot of goos stuff, but as I said, it requires a balanced approach to the game. Going with a purely magical or brute-force style of game (several of the gods in the game support these approaches) is difficult with the sorcerer. Still, he's a lot of fun to play, though he's a bit lame if he can't find a useful magic rune early. A lot of his benes don't truly activate until he finds BURNDEYRAZ (fireball) or BYCEPS (the attack bonus spell).
Best races: Any do pretty well, but Humans combine well with the magic attack bonus, and elves give the sorcerer a huge mana boost on his already huge mana boost.
Overall rating: 3.0
Warlord: The third-tier classes all begin the game sitting on a special spell-rune. Each of them interact on the main with their rune to change gameplay. After winning the game with any of these classes, the spell-rune becomes available for random generation in any game. The warlord's special rune is CYDSTEPP, which is incredibly expensive to cast, but grants the character death protection (protection from the next killing strike). Using this rune, the warlord is able to fight and kill many monsters above his level. He's a powerful class. His other benefits interact with this bonus: +30% damage when his health is below half and +30% damage (stacking w/ previous) after drinking a mana potion. When death-protection kicks in, the character is left with 1 health, so the warlord, while CYDSTEPP is in place, usually has at least the first damage bonus, and since it can be pre-cast, the character gets the equivalent of two extra attacks on critters which would otherwise kill the warlord. He's super strong, really.
Best races: Any, though the human is great for the damage bonus, and the gnome is good for more mana potions.
Overall rating: 4.0
Assassin: The third-tier thief is a poisoner. The assassin starts with the APHEELSIK spell-rune, which when cast prevents the affected monster from regenerating until the character attacks any monster. So the assassin can stab a critter, then poison it when death is immanent, then go explore to regenerate, then go finish the job. On top of that, if the assassin has explored all around a creature he gets first strike against it, and he instantly kills all creatures below his level in one strike. He's awesome. He sucks against undead, however, because they're immune to poison. So watch out for zombies.
Best races: Orc for the experience bonus (higher level assassins kill things easier), human for the damage bonus.
Overall rating: 3.5
Paladin: The third-tier classes all sort of break the game in a way. I find the paladin to be an extremely strong class. He starts with HALPMEH, the healing spell-rune. This will cure a portion of his health and cure poison for a paltry sum of mana, allowing the paladin to take on higher-level monsters with relative ease. But he gets more! He's got 25% physical resistance so he takes three-quarters damage from most beasties (awesome) and he gets a health boost from killing undead (cornercase). Starting with the spell is everything, though. He can even beat the standard regeneration math of many standard critters 2 levels higher than he is, because he's getting hit for less, and he regenerates mana (which = health for him) at the same time as health, so he's double-dipping. Strong.
Best races: For even stronger regen-breakage, the humans for damage bonuses or elves for extra mana (and therefore extra healing) are where it's at. Elf paladins?
Overall rating: 4.0
Bloodmage: The bloodmage, or Santa as I like to call him because his little sprite/icon looks like St. Nick, is the least awesome of the third-tier classes. He's still pretty cool. He begins with a glyph that converts health regeneration to mana regeneration, called BLUDTUPOWA. That's pretty strong if he can find BURNDAYRAZ early. If not it can be a waste. He also gets 100% mana regen from mana potions, but they also harm him to the tune of 6 health per level, which is a lot. So he can't even drink a mana potion if he's too badly hurt. That's a pain. However, to mitigate this somewhat, he regains some health from the blood pools left behind by slain monsters, so a tricksy blood mage player will explore as much as possible without stepping on dead critter squares to maximize late game regen-without-exploration. That way the player is regaining health but his prey is not (monsters only regen during player exploration). So he's an interesting class to play, but he can also be really frustrating.
Best races: If he can find a useful spell early, elf and gnome bloodmages are pretty awesome. Humans are a good choice as well, because bonus physical attack never seems to be bad to me.
Overall rating: 2.5
Transmuter: There are three "weird" classes and three "racial" classes in addition to the tiered classes. The three "racial" classes can't be chosen with a race, they are a class and a race at once. The transmuter is the first of the "weird" classes, which means the player still gets to choose a race. The transmuter is whack as hell, however.
All of the "weird" and "racial" classes once again turn the math of the game on the ear. The transmuter, I find, is actually incredibly strong. He begins the game with a spell rune called ENDISWALL, which allows him to destroy a section of wall. Normally this is an expensive spell in mana to cast, but the transmuter gets it for a single mana point. Further, he regenerates 2 health per level whenever he eats a section of wall. However, the price he pays is that he doesn't regenerate health during exploration as normal.
In theory this is difficult. In practice it's actually awesome. Since the transmuter doesn't regenrate health during exploration, he can instead explore enough map to expose a higher-level beastie who can't kill him in one hit, then crush it while carefully casting his spell to regenerate health while never actually exploring (so never allowing the beast to regenerate). Careful play yields serious results here, and I've found the transmuter to be an absolute badass. The downside is that it's actually really onerus to play this way.
Best races: Humans for that kung fu bonus. Gnomes or elves for mana potion or mana bonuses.
Overall rating: 3.0
Crusader: The crusader is truly whack. He gets a cumulative 10% damage bonus each time he kills a monster, so if he can chain killing strikes he gets more and more deadly. Any time he strikes without killing the bonus resets to zero. He also is immune to poison and mana burn (both conditions that prevent regeneration of whichever), which is huge. And last but not least, if he is killed, he does a triple-damage death blow to whatever kills him, so he is the only class that can win while dying.
That's alright.
I find the crusader boring to play. He's pretty strong overall, and moreso if he can get himself some death protection via CYDSTEPP or whatnot, and if he can get a nice level up and keep a bunch of low-level beasties around to kill-chain into a monster smash on the final boss he's awesome. But that doesn't always pan outt. Still good.
Best races: Humans are great all around for the attack bonus. Orcs can get a crusader a level up early on for kill-chaining later.
Overall rating: 3.0
Tinker: The tinker is all about items. Tinkers get gold for killing foes, they get a discount at shops, and they get bonus shops in the dungeon. Given that items can make or break a game (the fine sword item is shit hot) sometimes, this is a big plus. But then, it's random. sometimes there just won't be an awesome item at hand when the tinker needs it, and that can be a pain. The class is a bit of a toss-up, but ultimately fun to play.
Best races: Goblins for yet more gold, any other grants some decent bonuses on an otherwise "blank" class.
Overall rating: 2.5
Gorgon: The first "racial" class, the Gorgon is a petrification machine. She starts with the ENDISWAL spell-rune, and she needs it, because her kill strikes replace monsters with stone blocks of impenetrable wall. She does half damage at start, she has 50% physical resist (see the monk), she has a poison attack, she's immune to death gaze (which other Gorgons have), she regens mana on monster kill, and she has a 10% chance to instantly kill any foe at start. This can be increased by converting/eating spell runes. That's a lot of nonsense.
The gorgon is difficult to play. The ENDISWAL spell-rune costs a whopping 8 mana of the character's starting 10, so casting it in quick succession without regeneration requires potion use. The player must balance regeneration of mana with the gorgon's slaying of enemies and the subsequent wall-destruction that must often occur. For this reason, if I'm not careful, I sometimes find myself trapped without a way to regenerate mana in a stone corridor. That sucks. The whole half damage thing is also a pain in the ass, and since the gorgon only has 50% physical resist and not both physical and magical resist like the monk, magical creatures like dragons really hurt the gorgon. If the final boss is the dragon or warlock (or worse, both, as in the library challenge dungeon), the gorgon has a tough climb ahead of her.
Overall rating: 1.5
Half-Dragon: The half dragon is a strange class, but it can be a lot of fun. It's got double health, has a magical attack that gets through physical resistance (watch out for magical resistance, though), has increased scouting capacity, can't cast fireball at all, and starts with +20 knockback damage. The last is cool: when the half-dragon hits an enemy, the enemy is blasted back a square directly behind the assault (including diagonally). If the enemy hits a wall or another enemy, it takes the knockback damage. If it hits a wall, the wall is destroyed while the enemy gets blasted back. If it hits an enemy, both foes take the knockback damage. The half-dragon can eat spells for bonus knockback damage (20% per).
This can be a bitch to get right at first. If the dragon blasts an enemy into unexplored territory without killing it, the creature will regenerate (as will the dragon) as the dragon approaches to finish it, lengthening the process. The player has to carefully circumscribe the foe to make sure the baddie isn't just going to get healthy again before the next blow falls. Better yet, the player should blast beasties into their friends. It takes some practice, but when it all works it's a lot of good times.
Overall rating: 3.0
Vampire: Ah, the finale. The vampire completely revamps the game. He's got 30 health at the start, begins with 3 health potions instead of one, gets extra damage per level, and LOSES health while exploring instead of regenerating. He's got first strike, poison immunity, he can sense monsters/juice bags, he has ZERO mana and can cast spells with his health, and he regenerates health from blood pools left by kills. he starts with a 25% life steal, and can get more by eating spells at 5% per glyph eaten.
That's nuts. The vampire is great because while completely changing the game, he also makes it quicker. The player generally knows whether a game is winnable with the vampire in the first few minutes. Either the vampire has found enough easy prey nearby to cull, or he's going to die from exhaustion too early. Of special note is the vampire who find the BURNDAYRAZ spell early on: since he casts spells with health instead of mana, and his health is immense, the vampire actually makes the best spellcaster in the game. He can cast five fireballs at level 1 and full health, which is 3 more than a level 1 wizard who starts close to the fireball glpyh. At high levels the vampire can cast absurd amounts of fire, and since he loses little physical brawn while doing so this is a lot of fun to do.
The downside is that he feels like an all-or-nothing coin toss at the beginning of a game. Never tell me the odds.
Overall rating: 4.0
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