Lord Kai Tue Apr 14, 2015 4:43 pm
I ran a play-test last night with the new stats:
Deathstorm ... 100
Obsidian Guards x3 ... 400
Fire Elemental x 3 ... 505
vs
Zaiken ... 100
Water Elemental x8 .. 340
Sahuagin Raider x3 .. 415
Malcor ... 495 (new custom I'm working on)
This version of the Fire Primordial (Deathstorm) had the either/or bonding condition (take a turn with Obsidians -or- Deathstorm) which was different to play. It basically meant that the OG's were doing most of the move/attack and Deathstorm did not move for several OM's. When he did in Game 1, he quickly took 4 wounds from Water Elemental ranged attacks. After that, I shifted OM's to the Obsidians and Deathstorm basically boosted their range. Since he was not moving up with the squad it was very limiting and not much Range Enhancement was happening. The Obsidians themselves were pretty potent (4 Attack, 4 Defense - with a few jungle trees and often height because Water Elementals were in water shooting upwards.
In Game 1, I was aggressive with Zaiken and moved him too close to the action. He failed a 5 attack roll on one OG (who had 5 defense with height), and then Zaiken was hit with three attacks of 5 (two in melee, one from a lava throw) and he was destroyed after Round 2. The Obsidians did some clean up which left Malcor, an Archer that I have posted yet. Basically Malcor ran around the board with Range 7, Attack 3 and picked off the slow moving Obsidians for an odd come back for Team H-2-O.
Game 2 I was more conservative with Zaiken and Deathstorm. Since the OM's for bonding go on those folks, it is risky to move them out too soon. There were some incredible defense rolls for Water Elementals (a 5 skull attack from an Obsidian blocked by a perfect 5/5 shield and a 4 shield block of 4 skulls). Deathstorm was eliminated by a sniper shot from Malcor (the Archer) when he whiffed on defense against an attack from height). That wasn't too bad, as it left me run the Obsidians to see how they worked without Primordial support. The Obsidians did well, cornering Zaiken again for multiple attacks of 5 from height (since Zaiken was in water). The Water Prime held up longer this time but they eventually got him. With one squad of Obsidians and three Fire Elementals, the rest of the clean up was fairly easy.
So Water vs Fire split 1-1.
Zaiken had more attacks per OM because he can take at turn, but he generally sat back until melee came for him. Deathstorm was much less effective in this build as using a turn to move him up just to give Obsidians +2 range wasn't worth the risk of losing OM's to sniper attacks from Water Elementals. I'd say overall that I liked being able to move Deathstorm up with the Obsidians to continue to maintain the +2 range Lava Throw (otherwise why are you spending 100 points for a hero instead of another squad of OG's).
I was surprised at the Obsidians without Deathstorm. They were tough! Maybe some of it had to do with Water Elementals giving up height most of the time, but in Game 2 I played the Water El's on even ground and a few times they skipped on going into water to just take normal height so the Obsidians. With as tough as the OG are, I was wondering why they are power-ranked so low (at D). I think it has to do with them being heavily "terrain-based" but also they have Water Weakness .. rolling 2 less defense on water. That could be harsh on swamp water maps, too. They also only have Move 4.
Here are the other comparable common squads that have at least Attack 4:
Horned Skull Brutes: 75 points, Move 5, Attack 4, Defense 4
Havech Eradicators: 90 points, Range 5, Move 6, Attack 4, Defense 4
Obsidian Guards: 100 points, Move 4, Attack 4, Defense 4
I think the Eradicators come close, since they *have* range but don't like to use it. They are 10 points less than the Obsidians but have +2 move greater and no water-weakness. Based on those numbers - even if the Obsidians had a Range 3 on their own, they are probably 80 points instead of 100.
If we don't want Deathstorm to have full bonding with Obsidians (or 2 Fire Elementals) then I suggest that we drop him to 80-points. His Range Enhancement only works for the Obsidians and not all Vydar like Laglor does .. so he's a very specific draft.
Anyway, it was fun playing a Water vs Fire battle! Thanks for reading.