New faction idea: Barbarians

[Quelmotz]

Whoa, look at those Chieftains!

The chiefs of the dwarven barbarians, these warriors are unmatched in fighting skills.

I'd say!

  Stop cracking jokes and get down to the review of the troops themselves

[Quelmotz]

Anyway, I've added in two other troops: Ancients and Savages. The giants have been removed so people would stop cracking dwarf jokes.     

What I think might be a problem is that the point costs of the troops are TOO close together. Most of them are clustered in the 200s region. I don't have the exact point costs, but it isn't too hard to estimate it based on the existing troops. The Dwarves of Runegard also have this problem (sort of anyway). I don't know whether this IS a real problem. Could someone advise me on this? 

[Quelmotz]

Any opinions at all? 

[Quelmotz]

Niko? Rush? Lazyj? Anyone?

[RushAss]

Hmmm, I see Savages but cannot find the Ancients.  The Savages look to be an interesting dynamic in that they would be a hurtful speed bump for large guys like Treants and Ogres.  Kinda like the Dwarven Miners. 

[lazyj]

It's hard for me to comment because they are similar to the faction I'm working on, so I tend to want to make them more like mine. And while yours are similar, I don't think they would play the same as my Celts.

So when you envision a standard 2000 pt army on the table, what does it look like? Are there Umenzi-like swarms of units? More like Lizardmen-style single line with a couple of heavies and no real backup? Closer to regular Dwarves, shorter line with some guys in the back row but hard to break guys in the front? How do you picture they handle a stand and shoot army on an open field? A cavalry heavy army? A highly maneuverable army? Lots of terrain?

Is there an alternative play style to "run straight ahead and hack away"? Like with the other dwarves you can choose to shoot, or the Umenzi can bring the elephant. I think all of the factions have some kind of multi-dimensional element, though obviously Lizards have to be more careful about it. But even there you can choose a supported big guy or a balanced approach. So are these guys different enough from the Lizards to warrant a whole faction? (Other than the story factor of course.)

I also think these guys would be pretty tough to price out. Almost everyone is better than 12 courage (which is unit average in the system), there are multiple "never break" units, and there are even faction abilities that limit routing (though I didn't see "persistent" listed anymore?). Routing is integral to the game mechanic - so if they don't run they probably need to be either expensive as hell or really limited defensively.

But I do like Dwarven Runecaster stuff. I think with some tweaking the area buff thing could be a great way to implement new magic into the game. And like I said your guys are close to the Celts I'm poking at, so these are the questions I've been making myself answer - probably makes me sound harsh. But that's because I'm trying to be very strict with myself, sorry if it bleeds into your faction comments. 

[Quelmotz]

The ancients are the last unit, after the berserkers. Don't know why you couldn't find them though...

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@Lazyj: You weren't really harsh. I mean, who can compare to Niko? 

Anyway, the theme for this faction would be kind of similar to the lizardmen and the dwarves. Tough and quite powerful front-line units, and with a few heavy guys thrown in. But I think the runecasters/ancients would add some spice, making it remind players of the Umenzi spellcasters. I don't know PRECISELY what theme they are, but in general, a brutal sort of army, with some spice and extra spellcasting units. I don't know whether they would be that different from the dwarves, but I did put quite some effort into thinking out innovative abilities and special effects for them.

About the persistent thingy - I decided to remove it after Niko's criticism. Cheap 100+ points units not routing must be quite painful and kind of overpowered.

Regarding the vengeful ability, I'm thinking about lowering the base courage to 11. 12 in the yellow isn't too overpowered, and 13 in the red isn't ridiculously high or anything, just above average. And with multiple courage checks while in the red (because of the high red health), the units stand a higher chance of routing.

[RushAss]

It has been a while since I looked into this thread and I was looking for the Ancients in the initial post on page 1.  I had totally forgotten that the Dwarven Barbarians appeared on page 4 

So yeah, about those Ancients!  My guess is that they will be costed pretty high because they are a combination of a reasonably effective combat unit and a spell caster.  As a combat unit they are decent.  Not too resilient with the 2/2 defense and that arrangement of hit boxes, but they have good courage and they will sure cause some damage on their own.  I'm thinking that most players love to engage spell casters to be rid of the pests, but this is one unit of spell casters that will make enemy units think twice about engaging then.  I like the Rune of Velocity ability the best.  The other 2 are also useful.

[Quelmotz]

Thanks for the positive feedback  .

Reminds me that I should ctrl c + ctrl v the whole dwarven barbarians thingy onto the front page.

[Quelmotz]

Updated with some approximate costs.

Feel free to comment or suggest more accurate ones.

[Quelmotz]

I came up with another revamp.

Faction Ability

Vengeful now just removes all negative penalties of a unit in the yellow or red, but doesn't give any other bonuses.

"Berserk" has now been changed to "Persistence".

You may spend a command action to empower a unit with "Persistence". When the unit fails a rout check, you may erase the mark to re-roll the rout check OR pass the rout check and take 2 damage for every unit engaged with the unit. Note that if additional rout checks are caused due to the damage, you will have to take them still.

** I'm not very sure about the "take 2 damage for every unit engaged with the unit to pass the rout check". A pinch would be far more devastating than 2 damage and a command action IMO.

However, this could be balanced by the fact that you might still have to take a rout check due to the damage. Most barbarian units have 2 yellow health, so if a unit passes a rout check by taking damage, it will have to take another rout check for going into the red.

Also, though powerful as it might seem, 2 damage is a lot more than 1 damage, AND you HAVE TO decide whether to use persistence before taking a rout check. If a unit has already failed a rout check then you may not use persistence.

***Anyway, this is still a WIP so please feel free to comment.

What I feel is that this ability is kind of weak, since you have to take another rout check most of the time anyway. So maybe we should do away with that "if the damage taken causes a rout check, your unit still has to take the rout check" thing.

Opinions?

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CORE UNITS:

Savages: A: (6) 4/6 D: 1/2 R: - C: 10* M: 5" HP: 4-2-3
~170 points
Vengeful.
The savage tribesmen living in the Aziba mountains are renowned for their viciousness and speed in combat.

The Obsessed: A: (4) 4/6 D: 0/3 R: - C: - M: 3.5" HP: 3-3-3
~110 points
Passes all courage checks.
Permanently on close and may not be given a standing order modifier or be directly controlled.
Such is their zeal that with bare hands they can rip people apart.

Battleaxemen: A: (5) 5/6 D: 1/3 R: - C: 11* M: 3.5" HP: 4-2-5
~260 points
Vengeful.
What's the point of bringing a shield when it'll get cut in half anyway?

Maulmen: A: (4) 5/7 D: 1/3 R: - C: 11* M: 3.5" HP: 4-2-5
~270 points
Vengeful.
(+0) +1/+0 vs cavalry/large units.
(-0) -0/-1 when charging.

Axe Throwers: A: (4) 5/6* D: 1*/2 R: 7" C: 11* M: 3.5" HP: 4-2-4
~240 points
Vengeful.
(-0) -0/-1 and +1/+0 when engaged.
Line-of-sight ranged attack.

STANDARD UNITS:

Runecasters: A: (3) 4/5 D: 0/2 R: - C: 13 M: 3.5" HP: 3-2-3
~115 points
May not be empowered with Persistence.
While unengaged, may cast a spell.
-Choose whether you want to save up the spell to use during the combat phase or use it during the Movement & Command phase.
M&C phase:
**Prediction - Look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck. You may spend a command action to put one of them at the bottom of the deck.
Combat Phase:
**Protection - When a friendly unit within 7" of Runecasters is attacked, you may change a die into a "5". You may only use this ability once on a unit, even if you have multiple Runecasters. This counts as playing a command card.
**Determination - When a friendly unit within 7" of Runecasters is attacking, you may re-roll two of its dice. You may only use this ability once on a unit, even if you have multiple Runecasters. This counts as playing a command card.

Flailers: A: (5) 6*/6 D: 1*/3 R: - C: 12* M: 3.5" HP: 5-2-4
Vengeful. Fearsome.
~330 points
(-0) -1/-0 and -1/-0 if Flailers is pinching or being pinched.
Flailers may not final rush a unit if it will result in the unit being pinched.
No one dares interfere with these fearsome warriors.

Zealots: A: (7*) 5/5 D: 0/3 R: - C: - M: 3.5" HP: 6-2-1
~180 points
Passes all courage checks.
May not be given a command order except Close, and may not be directly controlled. Must be given an objective unit. Zealots get (-2) -0/-0 if it is engaged with a unit other than the objective unit.
Zealots are so devoted to their goal that they might try to rush through obstructing enemies without fighting them.

Golem Miners: A: (4) 4/8 D: 0/4 R: - C: - M: 5" HP: 5-5-5
~280 points
Large. Stupid. Fearsome.
Passes all courage checks.
You must discard two command cards to play a command card on Golem Miners.
Rock beasts animated by the Ancients, they are incredibly strong but laughably predictable.

ELITE:

Gnasher Cavalry: A: (6) 5/7 D: 1*/3 R: - C: 12* M: 5" HP: 3-3-2
~360 points
Vengeful. Fearsome. Cavalry.
+1/+0 when charging (this is in addition to the normal charging bonuses).
Cavalry where the mounts fight alongside the riders are rare.

Berserkers: A: (7) 5/6 D: 0/3 R: - C: - M: 3.5" HP: 5-2-5
~300 points
Fearsome.
Permanently on close and may not be given a standing order modifier or be directly controlled.
Berserkers are so consumed by rage, vengeance and bloodthirst that they feel neither pain nor fear.

Chieftains: A: (6) 6/6 D: 2/3 R: - C: 13* M: 3.5" HP: 5-4-3
~430 points
Vengeful.
(+0) +1/+0 vs cavalry/large units. (+0) +0/+2 vs charging cavalry/large units. (-1) -0/-0 when charging.
What's more dangerous than elite units? Elite units with spears!

Ancients: A: (5) 6/6 D: 2/2 R: - C: 14 M: 3.5" HP: 3-3-3
~380 points
May not be empowered with Persistence.
While unengaged, may cast a spell.
-Choose whether you want to save up the spell to use during the combat phase or use it during the Movement & Command phase.
M&C phase:
**Prediction - Look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck. You may spend a command action to put one of them at the bottom of the deck.
**Velocity - Put a mark on a unit within 7" range of Ancients. The unit gains +1MC for the turn. You may not play any other command cards on the unit for the turn.
**Bloodthirst - Put a mark on a unit. The unit gains C+1 for every point of damage it causes during the turn. Erase the mark for this to take effect.
Combat Phase:
**Protection - When a friendly unit within 8.5" of Runecasters is attacked, you may change a die into a "5". You may only use this ability once on a unit, even if you have multiple Runecasters. This counts as playing a command card.
**Determination - When a friendly unit within 8.5" of Runecasters is attacking, you may re-roll two of its dice. You may only use this ability once on a unit, even if you have multiple Runecasters. This counts as playing a command card.