Post by illrede on Jun 24, 2018 15:10:08 GMT
Jun 24, 2018 9:00:42 GMT zich said:
Any one of these makes the theme more viable. Zaal1 gets a longer stick to cast spells on the end of than the ten-foot pole you ought to have been using, Zaal2 gets another assassination solo prospect, passive defenses get increased all around.
Sure, I'll take a weapon master solo. Not sure why we're getting Hakaar 2.0, but I'll take it. It's probably a cool model. A channeller is neat, but not really a game changer. It helps Zaal1 a bit for sure, but his problem isn't being unable to get his upkeeps out safely, especially onto units with a CA that wants to stay somewhat back. His problem (in addition to the problems of the theme) is that Immortals dying to Last Stand feels really bad. Not sure about the BE, but anything that reduces the amount of Immortals I can take has to be extra good (since you need a LOT of Immortals for some of them to make it across the board). And I am just not sure Arcane Vortex is what we need here. It won't protect the Immortals unless you cram them all to within 3". It'll stop spell assassinations, but was that really an issue before? But maybe it is amazing. Really looking forward to a third theme that has us pushing two battle engines across the table.
Maybe they redesign some of these things until the CID. Maybe they'll have the BE grant Immortals some buff against ranged attacks (similar to what the Wraith Engine does). Maybe there are more models we haven't seen yet. Maybe the models out now will change in a significant way. But right now I'm just not seeing a complete picture that makes sense into most matchups.
Zaal2's ability to use caster fury (augmented through collected souls) to boost warrior model attacks and damage means that a non-linear threating solo with extraordinary MAT and decent POW with the ability to purchase multiple attacks is an assassination prospect. However he only really has access to the one (that isn't himself), Haakar. Having access to two expands his capabilities.
A channeller is a game changer, specifically because our Exalted-specialist casters did not have access to spell-casting on a stick before and in Zaal1's case there is a very great use for it. Losing the ability to use Marketh to place Last Stand on assassination prospects well afield of where Zaal1 was hiding on the board weakened Zaal1's game noticably- Zaal1's problem of getting his upkeeps out safely is but one half of a problem that includes Zaal1's problem of getting his upkeeps out where he wants them to be (The Kovaas is first and foremost, an Ancestral Guardian that has died. To put Last Stand on the Kovass Zaal has to be at least 6-inches bird-flight pathing (that's important) from an Ancestral Guardian that died at most 12 inches from him), in a section of table where something can kill Ancestral Guardians. It is not something that can be safely ignored and getting Zaal1 killed is among his two easiest way to lose.
Running out of an Army being the second easiest way for Zaal1 to lose, Immortals dying to Last Stand isn't his problem- it is an intractable feature of Last Stand and should be dealt with by good target selection (and having a plan/other list for trolls and the like; if you can't do something about a Steady/Tough mechanism somehow, be very careful when using Zaal1 but don't neccessarily shy away if you think you can take the problem on straight-forward anyway). His problem was well-above the curve in cost, melee ability and armor warjacks which meant the the appropriate use of Last Stand to eliminate those is a losing propposition by mathmatical likelyhood. That is being dealt with elsewhere. (And it needs to be all three at once; armor enough so that 10 or so boosted 13 don't deal 30 or so points of damage on average, melee ability so that effectively 17 or 19 armor is still cracked as a certainty and DEF13 is not missed with across a full focus attack buying process as a likelyhood, and cost so that a list's worth of these warjacks if encountering a list's worth of immortals will still have warjacks left if each and every immortal expires making Last Stand attacks against Warjacks. It is a freakish and seldom achieved problem, but it actually does exist in Khador)
Immortals respond well to defensive buffs if you obtain them.
3-inch haloing a huge base on approach is not cramming and covers a large area of the board. The largest swings of value against a list that uses Immortals that I have seen comes from two types of spells (or magic attack sprays/templates); spells/spell abilities that cause mass auto-damage mechanisms (such as Affliction) and spells/spell abilities that cause mass stationary-like or other action-limiting effects (such as Freezing Grip). Orrin can't protect units; this can, our toolbox has increased by a tool that has a use. (The new Solo's no sleeping On the Job should synergize with this defensively, mitigating preventative knockdown which is a smaller but still present problem- post action knockdown being a larger one)
Resolving to put an army-supporting utility piece on the table to the maximum extent that it can be put on the table is unwise. I'd recommend trying just the one Battle Engine at first if using it to improve the Theme's performance.
Please do not be insulted when I say that I hope the CID takes your input on the Extalted in Skorne with a grain of salt.
