The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Sve o Rackhamovim fantazijskim igrama (Confrontation, Hybrid, Rag'narok i Cadwallon)

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Koja je vasa omiljena armija iz Puteva Svetlosti?

Lavovi Alahana
2
10%
Grifini Akilanije
8
38%
Sinval vilenjaci
6
29%
Kelt Sesari
2
10%
Sfinge
0
No votes
Ne volim dobrice
3
14%
 
Total votes: 21

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novot
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The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Post by novot »

Na ovoj temi ce biti detaljno objasnjavane razlicite armije koje pripadaju Putevima Svetlosti: Alahanski Lavovi, Grifoni Akvilanije, Sinval Vilenjaci, Seserski Varvari i, kada se pojave, misticne Sfinge.
Buduci da ima i anketa u sklopu ove teme, najljubaznije vas molim da ne komentarisete svoje glasanje, jer cu u protivnom morati da brisem postove sa takvim komentarima. Ova tema je prevashodno namenjena objasnjavanju odredjenih armija i njihovih specificnosti, a anketa ima za cilj samo da da pribliznu sliku rasprostranjenosti odnosno popularnosti pojedinih vojski.
Last edited by novot on Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Pendargon »

A sada za vas do-goodies paladins thin cans( bljak) , enjoy!

here for another installment of AotW is our friends the alahan lions. due to cut offs from the last one, i'm going to separate the post into multiple posts (i think it'd be easier to navigate also). any comments are welcome on the discussion thread.

STRENGTHS:
- high level of magic and a couple of the best mages in the game.
- above average discipline, only truly beaten by dwarves and griffins.
- best heavy cavalry model in the game.
- high courage and an army ability that doesn't allow them to fail a courage test on the roll of a one.
- great mix of low, mid, and high cost models and characters.
- sacred weapons/armor- allows instant kills or ignoring of wounds respectively when doubles are rolled for damage.


WEAKNESSES:
- lack of high combat offense outside characters, sacred weapons, and mounted knights.

we'll start w/ some run down on some basic troops:

GRUNTS

pretty similar in stats. the guards and kaiber veterans both have modular weapons to increase either initiative +1, defense +1, or strength +2. for the guards i've never bothered with anything but the +2 strength as i tend to treat them as expendable models- they take a charge and will generally go all out attack and try to soften models up before their death.

the kaiber vets are more useful overall and can actually get a good defense 4 w/ a lance or mace option though i'll admit normally going w/ the str bonus w/ these guys also. the only thing i don't see as being worth it in comparison to the others is the init+1. generally i'd always rather have a higher str or def- you can always team these guys up w/ other models to get a higher initiative total (just use the other models and get the +1 bonus for having extra models in the same combat).

swordsmen are more rounded guards- they have +1 init, +1 str, +1 def, and +1 dis for +2ap. they are a little more expensive, but more well rounded for different roles. they can be used in the same fashion as the +2str guards to soften enemies up, but their higher init and def can make them more effective to tie other models up for a couple turns while you whittle away models around that combat.

valkyrie are the big standout of my grunt list- they aren't much on their own w/ a meager resilience 4, but get quite nasty when used w/ a pythia which gives them 'fierce' while they stay w/in her 10cm aura of faith (more on their synergy later). these ladies come w/ a couple profiles- one w/ fencer and a new one w/ master strike/3....TAKE THE MASTER STRIKE VERSION! str10 hits vs assigning a combat die should be a no brainer imo.


ROLEPLAYERS

archer are pretty weak in shooting strength and have a fairly average aim and range (though unless you play wolves, snakes, drunes, or griffins you're getting an average shooter for the game). what makes this model stand out is its ability to be upgraded to an archer of iquour which allows it to shoot twice but w/ a +1 difficulty to both its shots. mainly used to harass the enemy and disrupt their approach (you never know when that lucky damage roll is gonna come...) it's a model that tends to cause more worry than it will actually cause in the course of a game.

reapers are the only scouting rank and file troops available to a lion player. unfortunately their combat stats are atrocious, so scouting too close to enemy lines is suicide for these guys. laying them in the middle of the field to disrupt an enemy’s advance is the best bet w/ these guys unless there is a target too juicy to pass up- a mage/faithful hiding in the back ranks of their deployment and you not having these guys down would tempt me to try an assassination run depending on the circumstances. just note you're gonna be lucky if they survive to see round 2...

falconers are the epitome of the role player and support model. for 22ap you have a model that prevents scouts from deploying w/in 25cm of him (unless they're in their deployment area), and can either give a friendly model consciousness or give an enemy model a -1 penalty on att, def, pow, and divination rolls until end of round. add to that a short ranged weapon and harassment and you have a very versatile model that can give that little push in the right place to help you win the day.

sparklings are technically elementals not bound to any one faction, but as they come w/ the baron of allmoon i see them as a lion model. these little guys could belong in the grunt section, but flight plants them here for me. they take off on round one and try to harass the enemy ranks from above. being immune to fear they are great to tie up large models for a turn right as combat is beginning (dirz super clones, wolfen predators, dev tyrants, etc)- the armies higher dis should make winning tactical not too difficult. tie them up and work around them for a turn or attack weaker models hiding in back. also great for objective holding in scenarios.


ELITES

paladins are borderline between grunt and elite and the cheapest model to come w/ everyone’s favorite item- sacred weapons! for a moderate cost you have a model that can kill everything of large size or less 1/6 of the time who has quite respectable combat stats aside from it's weapon. one of the best models in the game for it's cost, and it even got an upgrade recently to include a higher defense and the choice of reolution/1 or cure/5 for a moderate ap increase.

paladins of doriman have +1str, +1 init, and masterstrike/2 for +6ap. it can be good when you get sick of not rolling doubles w/ the regular paladins as they can master their way to a nice str12 hit.

avengers are a more combatant form of reapers. while they don't scout, they benefit a higher attack and strength and get the assassin ability. while they are just as fragile as their counterparts, they are best suited to charge in at the end of a round and support a grunt w/ their offensive power while using the grunt to take some of an opponent's dice away from them.

royal guardsmen are the granddaddies of the foot soldiers. res10 and hardboiled along w/ sacred armor means alot of all out attack combats . add the fact they have more sacred weapons and these guys are truly worth their points as anchors of a force that can kill anything. alternate profile comes in the baronies pack that's a bit more offensive minded (and my personal favorite of the 2).

and then the big guns come out. the mounted knight is truly the beast of the army. charge of 40cm w/ a str of 15 and getting 3 dice for combat more often than not (only time you won't is pursuits after a charge). add masterstrike for turns you get bogged down and a healthy res13 and this guy is a monster to take down and the single biggest combat threat in the army (150+ap characters aside).


WARRIOR MAGES/FAITHFUL

previously mentioned, the pythia is a nice warrior monk that is best used in conjunction w/ valkyries. this model has the ability to take points of str and res from the surrounding ladies so can turn into a brute herself in no time. while practical miracles for her can be hard to come by, azel's revenge can get a last damage roll in on an enemy as a friendly model dies and weapon of the angels can give a valk a healthy master strike/6!

bards are one of the best warrior mages in the game, though unfortunately don't have much in the way of staying power so their warrior part must be used w/ caution. a healthy pow4 lets them cast higher difficulty spells, unfortunately they don't have hermetisism path like most lion mages to benefit from some of the better lion spells. but given their aim, ability to masterstrike a ranged attack once per game, and ability to give characters a reroll once per round they are great support mages to keep around.

the agent of the chimera is another warrior mage that's more focused on combat. having higher overall combat stats at the sacrifice of -1pow, these ladies also have the option to spend 2 gems of light to acquire either sacred weapons or armor, making them quite suited to combat. giving them a spell like aura of authority is a good way to keep them casting spells and still getting charges in where they can.
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Post by Pendargon »

CHARACTERS

*just a note- a character or multiple characters totaling 60-200ap are required for official 400ap GDR games and this is what i'm basing most of my views on. this isn't the only way to play but tends to be the standard in terms of tournaments and other competetive play (and alot of casual play also). there is NO character requirement in casual gaming.

also check the con3 rulebook for erreta on cards that are linked here. off the top of my head i know that alahel's artifacts are there along w/ dragan's lance.

COMBATANTS

agnonn is the basic warrior character. moderate stats for a moderate cost, he works well in small games or can be incorporated in larger games as the leader of a war staff (generally if running w/ another character that doesn't have the leadership ability). his second incarnation is an upgrade in both stats and ap, but can now fall into the range of a GDR legal character by himself to lead a force w/ the addition of an artifact (i'd recommend a supreme rune of healing to make him a total of 80ap).

note that he comes w/ an additional card, the officer of the lion, that can give him a bonus to his leadership range and can give any friendly model w/in it's range a bonus to str when he is part of a complete war staff.

telima demanilla is a valkyrie character from the rag'narok box set. a cheap character, she is mainly designed to lead a unit of ladies in the larger scale game, but can be used in confrontation. quite comparable to agnonn, she is a cheap character w/ leadership but lacks agnonn's strength and resilience but benefits from a better defence. to be honest she doesn't have much placing in a conf game as agnonn is better, but can still be used in a fluff army or one centering around the use of pythias and valkyries.

alahel the mesenger can be a fearsome warrior when properly equiped w/ his reserved artifacts. for 23ap, deliverence allows alahel to hit an opponent in the chest unless he rolls a double for damage and makes the opponent lose a combat die, and for 15ap sacrament gives him sacred weapons in both hand to hand attacks and shooting. combining the 2 makes him quite deadly in cambat, but it is tempered by his rather dismal res5.

note that he can also get leadership and authority ability through the officer of the lion. in my view it makes him much more of a strategic leader of a force.

aldenyss is a falconer character w/ more combat ability (ie, won't die quickly in combat...). along w/ his falcon he is a perfect 80ap for GDR purposes and you get the 2 in 1 of a respectable combat character and a falconer at the same time (though his str5 and res5 mean you must be cautious in his choice of battles).

the red lioness is an interesting choice for 128ap. a scouting character w/ very respectable stats and a sacred weapon, she can be devistating behind enemy lines accompanied by a couple reapers (though once again, a little bad luck or a crafty opponent can make short work of her in that placement). courage/9, leadership/15, and bane/acheron make her truely feared by the undead but she's a well rounded character that should be given a serious look. she also comes in a mounted version that takes away scout but adds alot of speed, resilience, and another combat die to her. her artifacts include a breastplate that gives her sacred armour, immunity to masterstrikes (!?!) and hardboiled to make her even tougher to wound (though unfortunately can't be used in a 400ap game w/ her mounted version as she becomes over the 50% character allowance), and a sword that makes her untargetable my spells and miracles of darkness and makes her truely monsterous against the meanders of darkness.

dragan of orianthe is the epidome of the mounted troopers- at a whooping 192ap he better be! w/ brutish charge, charging str/15, att8, and master strike/4 he has a good chance to kill any model in the first hit of combat and a res13 gives him a great chance of getting there in one piece. his artifact is a lance that allows him to counterspell enemy magic, give gems to a friendly mage, and increase his str for an attack.

and finally, valdenar, baron of doriman is the living legend of the force. he is a monster of a character for a mere 336ap before artifacts and is obviously not intended for confrontation (though can be fun to break out now and then in large scale games, scenerios, or in a friendly game for a change of pace). there's not much to say about him that his stats don't say aside from him also having artifacts that give him sacred armour, another wound level, sacred weapons, more combat dice, and can teleport him to a friendly mage on the battlefield.


DIVINERS

misan the clairvoyant is the only faithful character in the force. his moderate aspects and the fact he's a devout in both his first and second incarnations mean he isn't getting a ton of temporary faith (TF). he has a crappy artifact that only works 1/6 the time and his miracles are pretty vanilla.

that being said he can be pretty good in a force w/ pythias and valkyries that will benefit from giving consecration (an upgrade that makes a believer count as 2 models in a faithful's arua of faith) to multiple models. note that the officer of the lion gives him leadership and if he forms a war staff, the musician and standard bearer both get loyalty/1 ability (each of them will give 1TF to a faithful who'd aura of faith they are in).


MAGES

starting small, migail the selenite is a cheap but very effective mage. pow5 mage that masters hermetisism just begs to be played w/ chimeric glaive (i know that's to be said about any lion mage, but the variable difficulty makes it especially good for migail). he can also work well as a sparkling summoner, authority token machine, or just about anything else you need that a light spell w/ diffuculty 9 or less can get you.

sardar the sage is next in line. a healthy pow6 along w/ leadership/10 and res7 makes him the perfect mage leader of a force as he gives you survivability, ability to make a war staff, and you keep the power of having a lion mage. i'll run him more often than not, just make sure to surround him a bodyguard as he's still a mage and not designed for combat. note the mastery of earth and shamanism for some diversity in spells- he has a 2nd element and path over migail and masters different things than the next mage in line:

meliador the celestrial is a different mage all together. a scouting mage that masters light and air, he can be deployed more creatively (remembering the concept of bad luck and good opponents though), he can target a part of the battlefield and then use one of a couple air spells minor teleportation [pg85] or carrier wind) to retreat to 'safe' ground.

and then the daddy of mages is mirvilis, baron of allmoon. a pow9 master at 167ap, you're not gonna see him in many casual 400ap games and won't see him at all in standard sized GDR games (too high a rank). he comes in his normal version and also as the knight of light, an upgraded version of him riding a light elemental! his artifacts include a sword that gives him more combat prowress and an orb that weakens his enemies stats. his reserved spell lets him set a few designated points on the battlefield he may cast spells through. he also comes w/ the nice chimeric glaive spell (already mentioned) and celestrial scourge [pg174].


SPELLS-

celestrial scourge [pg174]- nice direct damage spell w/ a better range than chimeric glaive, thogh it takes more gems to get a high strength hit. is an elemental spell of light, so anyone that masters light may take it. comes w/ mirvilis.

chimeric glaive - another great damage spell. has the potential to hit more than one model and has a variable difficulty so can be easier to cast. is a hermetisism spell so is mainly only available to lion mages. comes w/ mirvilis.

primal attack of light is the same as all the primal attacks. difficulty 7 and gives you a 50% cance to do a light wound that ignore res. very short range of 10cm makes it alittle dangerous, but at 5ap you can't go wrong. also comes in the mirvilis box set (along w/ the light elemental).

the same goes for primal atack of air for meliador and primal attack of earth for sardar- each of them can take one of thier element and the primal attack of light.

sparkling summoning is a basic summoning spell for (obviously) sparklings (see thier enter in troops section). a respectable spell to boost numbers, unfortunately it isn't effective in later rounds as they sparklings can't moce the turn they're summoned and aren't very effective w/out a dive (though they can still help in fray splitting and ganging up on tougher models).

warrior of alphax can be a nice support spell for sardar (as he's the only on who normally masters earth). this will give +2str and +2res to any model it's cast on... now imagine the royal guards w/ those upgrades!

carrier wind is a good spell for movement, only available to meliador and happens to come w/ him. reprintd in the book [175].

the strange art is another meliador only spell (need air for it)- basically does a str0 hit to a model and ignore it's res! great for taking down beatsticks and high res annoyances. reprinted in book [193].
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Post by Shunka »

I, za vas ljubitelje malih maskiranih "veselih" elfova :

--=- Army Overview -=--

Strengths:
- High resistance to fear
- Good discipline
- Versatile
- Good spell buffs
- Good initiative
- Above average speed (12.5)
- Highly synergistic

Weaknesses:
- Highly synergistic
- Strictly average combat stats
- Expensive units
- Glass-jawed characters (some exceptions apply)
- Lack of serious ‘beat-stick’ types short of the dragon (unless you have caster support)

--=- Basic Troops -=--

Selsym – Selsym are nothing to shout about, but aren’t terrible, either. With average stats, Concentration / 1 (INI, ATT) and priced at 17 AP, they can fill the role of cannon fodder about as well as anything in the Cynwall army is able to. Unless you are in dire need of the extra models, it is usually worth it to upgrade to the Veteran profile.

Selsym Veterans – It’s almost always worth it to choose the lance (+1 INI, which gives you an initiative of 5 if you also invest your Concentration point into it) over the saber (+1 ATT) here, but either way, the Selsym Veteran is a good, solid unit. They start with nearly the same stats as your basic Selsym (+1 DIS, +1 DEF), and then add Concentration / 1 (INI, ATT, STR), Bravery, and Feint at the cost of an additional 7 AP. If they have any real drawback, it is their average combat statistics. Unless you are facing goblins, you are not going to win any slugfests with the Veterans; they are best used in support of the more powerful units.

--=- Ranged Support -=--

Azure Hunters – These are your basic Cynwall ranged unit. And when I say ‘basic,’ I mean ‘elite.’ With an aim of four plus sharpshooter, they are free to shoot and move at short range without the possibility of missing. Even at medium range, they will hit their target at least 50% of the time even if they move. As an added bonus, their helianthic crossbows (STR 6, 20-40-60) can be enhanced with spells that target helianthic equipment.

--=- Generalists -=--

Akhamials – As the cheapest of the Cynwall constructs, the Akhamial is an interesting unit. They are slightly slower than the rest of the Cynwall army, and with an aim of three, a modest ranged weapon (STR 4, 10-15-20), below average combat stats, Construct, Small Size, and Devotion / 2, they can do a little bit of everything, but not very well. Still, they are often worth having, especially if you are bringing magicians along for the ride. Akhamials also come equipped with helianthic mechanisms, which can be enhanced by spells that target helianthic equipment. Properly utilized, these little mechanical mana-bugs can pull some surprising tricks, and at 14 points each, you can afford to bring along a goodly number of them; unless you bring a caster along, though, you are limited to a maximum of three in an army. Note: Cynwall constructs are immune to banishment spells.

Costing a hefty (for their stats) 25 AP each, Kestrels are a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. Like the Akhamials, they can do a little bit of everything. Also like the Akhamials, they aren’t as good at what they do as the more specialized units are. Stat-wise, Kestrels could be generously described as strictly average (save for their decent initiative, good aim, and good courage). Ability-wise, Kestrels are better described as sheer awesome.

Concentration / 1 starts the list, which can be placed in INI, ATT, or AIM. This bears some emphasis: they can increase their AIM with concentration, bringing it up to a total of AIM 5. Next, they bring Assault Fire to the table, with a ranged weapon that is STR 6, with a range of 15-20-25. This ranged weapon is a helianthic pistol, and can be enhanced by spells that affect helianthic equipment. Finally, they have the ability to feint, giving them a degree of control over whatever melees they involve themselves in.

--=- Elites -=--

Construct Warriors are the middle-ground Cynwall Construct, and a solid, reliable figure at that. For 35 AP, you get MOV 10, INI 3, 5-7 ATT/STR and 4-8 DEF/RES. As a construct, it is immune to both toxic and the effects of fear. Ambidextrous gives you a chance to counter-attack every time you defend, and Sequence tops it off with the possibility of gaining an extra combat die. The Construct Warrior is equipped with helianthic mechanisms, which can be enhanced by spells that affect helianthic equipment. Note: Cynwall constructs are immune to banishment spells.

For 39 points, Asadars have combat stats almost identical to Construct Warriors, save that they have +1 INI, +2.5 MOV, -1 ATT. They are also not constructs. These elites are almost always worth taking on account of their combination of Concentration / 2 (ATT, STR, DEF), Feint, and Sequence. This combination is particularly effective against any army that does not have an easy way of getting extra combat dice, less effective against armies with Born Killer, and least effective against units that consistently use the War Fury ability, though still pretty darn good. They also benefit from Righteous, which renders them immune to fear and gives them +1 to the result of their ATT checks when they place all their dice in attack. The Asadar’s weapons and armor are both helianthic, and can be enhanced with spells that affect helianthic equipment.

The Khidarym starts with stats slightly better than the Asadar’s, exchanges Feint for Steadfast, and then adds a Helianthic Pistol to the mix (AIM 3, STR 6, range 15-20-25). Although their AIM 3 means that their pistols are the most inaccurate ranged weapon in the Cynwall army, they are still accurate enough that they will hit on anything but a roll of a 1 at short range. Their Concentration / 2 can be assigned to ATT, DEF, or STR. Thanks to Steadfast, Khidaryms do not take charge penalties, ever, so don’t be afraid to let them be charged if it will help your position overall. Like the Asadar, Khidaryms too are Righteous. All of the Khidarym’s weapons and armor are helianthic, and thus can benefit from spells that enhance helianthic equipment. Khidaryms benefit from a special capacity: no matter how many dice they place in attack, they can always perform sustained defense as long as they have at least one die in defense. The downside? At 45 AP, they are not cheap figures.

--=- Specialized Troops -=--

Varsyms, despite their lack of the ability in question, are effectively 29 point assassins. With INI 4, ATT 3, STR 8, Scout and Master Strike / 0, they are very, very good at putting the hurt on the likes of artillery, the war staff, and various support units. Although their resilience is a bit lacking with a rating of 5, their Concentration / 2 can be applied to RES (or COU, or ATT) to compensate. While they can inflict wounds on harder targets, they lack the resilience to last very long against elites. They benefit from a special capacity that allows them to move double their movement after disengaging, or their full movement as a part of a pursuit move.

--=- Heavies -=--

The most costly of the Constructs currently released, the Novas are the closest thing that Cynwall have to a beat-stick short of the Dragon. With 12.5 MOV, they are faster than any of the other constructs, have a decent INI (3), hit hard, have high armor, and are one of the only Cynwall units to possess FEAR. In addition to being Constructs and thus immune to fear and toxic, they benefit from Ambidextrous, Additional limb, and Sequence / 1. Finally, their helianthic weapons and armor can be enhanced by spells that affect helianthic equipment, giving them the capacity to be boosted to truly fearsome levels of power. Note: Cynwall constructs are immune to banishment spells.

Dragons are at last a true Cynwall beat-stick and more. With a STR 13, RES 13, a movement rate of 15/20, good initiative (4), good aim (4), a fear of 9, enormous, Implacable / 1, Born killer, Flight, and a STR 10 range 20-30-40 heavy zone artillery breath weapon, the Dragon earns his high point cost. It comes with two special capacities: First, in addition to not counting in the quota of a Cynwall army’s artillery, you can use the dragon’s breath weapon while you are in hand to hand combat (and it is immune to its own breath weapon). Second, every Cynwall fighter (except for dragons) within 20 cm of the dragon gets +1 to both STR and RES. 175 AP is the grand total, and you can only field one of these per five hundred AP, rendering him impractical for use in a 400 point Confrontation game.

--=- Casters -=--

Synchronimes are the Cynwall non-hero caster with decent combat abilities, good courage, Concentration / 1 (INI, ATT, DEF), and some very cool spells and special abilities. First, once per round he can choose to either lend his concentration dot out to any friendly Cynwall within 10 cm (which reduces his own Concentration to 0, and gives +1 to the friendly Cynwall’s concentration ability, to a max of 3), or he can choose to use his concentration point to give himself one additional gem of light (added to his reserve within capacity limits). He comes with some good spells as well – one that increases his movement by 2.5 cm per gem spent (to a max of a 20 cm movement rate) until the end of the round, the other which lets you increase either initiative or resilience at the expense of the other at a rate of 2 resilience per 1 initiative, to a max of +6 RES and –3 initiative, or +3 initiative and –6 RES, and not below the base initiative or resilience of the figure in question.

Equanimous Warriors are 3 points more expensive than the Synchronimes sans spells at 35 AP each. Their stats are fairly equivalent to the Synchronime. They’re warrior-monks (0, 1, 1), so are able to counter-attack, but it’s rarely worth it to risk it with their mediocre resilience unless the enemy fig is already wounded. With two different equanime models and an equanime hero, they have a number of unique spells, almost all of which are very useful.

The Equanimous Warrior benefits from a special capacity that allows them to give Sequence to any friendly Cynwall present even partially within his aura of faith, including himself, but excluding Constructs.

Lastly, Equanimes have good discipline (5), and can enhance their discipline with Concentration to a 6, making them good backup commanders if your character should fall.

--=- Heroes -=--

Maelyn – Maelyn is the cheapest Cynwall hero at 44 points. She is an initiate of Solaris with POW 4, and comes with some very useful spells and a very useful artifact. Her combat ability is abysmal, and with a resilience of 6, her RES is about average for Cynwall heroes. She has Concentration / 1, and she can place it in INI and DEF (which are a 4 and a 4, respectively). She has the lowest DIS of any Cynwall hero at a rating of 4, but what she lacks in leadership ability, she makes up for in sheer awesome.

Her artifact, the Orb of Resonance, grants Regeneration / 5 to any construct within 15 cm of her. You may have more than one Orb of Resonance in an army, but they can only be given to Cynwall characters with POW on their reference card. Her spells are both of the Solaris path, neither of which are reserved to her. The first, Helianthic Masterpiece, enhances units with helianthic equipment. The second, Solar Power, gives whoever you cast it on a 75% chance to inflict a wound every time he rolls the dice (reading the higher number as the location and the lower as the damage rolled). All in all, a very solid, cheap caster.

Menaran is to heroes as Selsym are to the rest of the army: cheap and disposable. At 60 AP and with an artifact that does not bring him above the 80 AP minimum for GDR games, he is best played in games wherein the AP limit is less than 400, unless you really really want a Warstaff. He has good discipline (6), has the leadership / 10 ability, and possesses a helianthic weapon. His artifact is considered helianthic armor.

Galhyan is the best caster the Cynwall can field presently. He is an adept of light/water and Solaris/Chronomancy. He’s no slouch in combat either (though you should not put him into melee if you can avoid it, him being too valuable to waste), with combat stats comparable to Menaran’s, and good initiative (5). He also makes a good leader, having excellent courage (7), a discipline of 6, and Leadership / 15. He has Concentration / 2 (MOV, INI, DEF), and comes with three spells: one that blocks LoS with an AoE flash of light, another that enhances anything with Helianthic Mechanisms, and another, Forge of the Heliasts, that can boost the RES of figures with helianthic armor and the STR of figures with helianthic weaponry. His artifacts are also useful, one of which extends the range of his spell casting (Solaris school only) by 10 cm, and the other of which lets him put his two points of concentration into practically any stat he wants.

Nelphaell is best described as a ‘finesse’ hero, and by ‘finesse’ I mean glass-jawed and more trouble than she’s worth. On the plus side, she has a helianthic crossbow with a great AIM score and STR 6. On the minus side, her range is somewhere in between a Kestrel’s and an Azure Hunter’s. She is an assassin, and her stats are about equal to an Eclipsante, including the resilience. She can be effective in melee, but is more often a 103 point one-shot wonder who dies far too easily.

Syd de Kaiber is yet another Cynwall glassjaw, though with his RES of 6 he is not as frail as Nelphaell. He has an excellent ATT, and can do some serious damage if he puts all his concentration points into STR (his special capacity then boosts the total by 3, giving him a total of 12 STR), but he just does not have the RES to back it up. If you fail a defense test, expect to take a minimum of a serious wound. He is an interesting figure to field against Acheron, as he possesses Bane/Acheron and gives Bane/Acheron to every friendly figure within 10 cm. He has a good DIS and possesses Leadership/15, but Sylann is a better choice for leader, and isn’t that much more expensive.

Soim is the third of the trihedron of Kaiber, all of whom probably work a great deal better in Rag’Narok than they do in C3. He is effectively a scaled up version of an equanimous warrior with better stats and more aspects, and is more durable than either Syd or Nelphaell. Of the three, he is the easiest to field and requires the least amount of ‘finesse’ to make worth his points. Despite his lack of leadership, he can put concentration into discipline, bringing his total up to an 8. He has good combat stats, and is capable of bringing some solid divine support to the table. Like equanimous warriors, he can give sequence to any friendly within his aura of faith, and his artifacts allow him to surpass his limitations as a warrior-monk.

Sylann, Khidarym Champion – Point for point, the best Cynwall warrior hero available. He is both a formidable fighter, able to slug it out with the best of them, and a formidable commander, possessing the highest discipline of any Cynwall hero (, excellent courage (, and Leadership / 15. Like all Khidaryms, he possesses helianthic weapons and armor, but the likelihood of being able to bring both Sylann and a caster capable of enhancing such to the table in a 400 point game is slim to none. His AIM isn’t any better than your basic Khidarym’s, and needs to be fired at short range if you want to hit with any kind of reliability. Thanks to his immunity to charge penalties, this is not much of a problem. His artifacts are particularly interesting. One of them, particularly useful when combined with the Khidarym’s special capacity to perform a sustained defense even if they have more dice in attack than in defense, allows you to convert any unused defense dice back into attack dice. The other gives Sylann Target +2 and Insensitive / 5, and gives Target + 2 to every friendly within 15 cm of him. All in all he is an excellent, excellent hero, though very pricey; he clocks in at 135 AP, and that’s before you give him artifacts.
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Post by novot »

Sramota! Najvise ima Grifona, bar sudeci po anketi, a niko do dana danasnjeg da se oglasi sa pregledom armije :evil: Bilo bi lepo da neko opise i Sesare.
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Post by slayer king »

Pa ti starce imas Grifone, sram te bilo :twisted:
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Post by Shunka »

Bane je dao ovaj lep linak vezan za fanaticne kantoglavce - http://en-forum.confrontation.fr/viewtopic.php?t=20727

Nazalost, postovao je na pogresnom threadu, pa sam morao to da regulisem. Sorry.
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Re: The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Post by novot »

Sessairs Clan



Advantages

Sessairs have a great advantage known as versatility(different races), ranging from decent range troops(Centaurs and archers), Lots of numbers, some meat Cleavers(Giants and Minotaurs), and even some high speed troops (Centaurs, Minotaurs, and Giants).

On standard there is a high initiative, and decent strength. So generally sessairs hit hard, and hit first.

MAGIC, Sessairs have some of the best casters, decent power mixed with mastering no less then 4 elements means much versatility with spells, so magic could always make up whats missing, or enhance whats already there with a Sessairs force.

WARFURY, although it has it's faults, when used with a swarm effect, good STR and high INI means more attacks then an opponent can hope to block. Also warfury is one of the cheaper faction abilities, allowing decent stat-per-cost ratio of cheap figs (5-15AP range)

Disadvantages

Resilience, Sessairs have the lowers adverage resilience of any faction. Even the biggest of heavy hitters only get around 8-9 RES.

WARFURY, with the big change from C2 to C3, warfury has lost a lot of it's edge, having no defence dice means even though you hit first, many models can hit back un-defended, and with little res, most Sessairs can't take the hit.

-----

Now i'm gonna use Kain's ranking system, viewable in the Wolfen AotW section, only since i'm far superior to Cain.and he knows it I'll note if there's a difference between on paper and in play. (Cause sometimes figs look great, yet don't perform for some reason)

The Boys and Gals

Warriors (9-10AP)

These guys are the backbone of the Sessairs swarm, the 9AP models see more play as mercs for other factions, but the 10AP is first for any real sessairs player, that 1AP gets +1 STR and +! Courage, at a loss of 1 DIS that'll never be used anyway.

Personal Ranking: 3
*Note this is assumed that the player takes +2 STR over +1 ATK

Sessairs Veteran (14AP)

Maybe not as great for the Cost as the 10AP warriors, the veterans are a fine replacement to them if you have the AP to spare. Also They will have the long run advantage in Dogs of War with the higher rank.

Personal Ranking: 2.9 (Just behind the Warriors
*Note again this is assuming the player takes +2STR over +1 INI



Kelt Fianna(12AP)

Ah, nothing like gravity defying armor to distract your opponent. With just a slight difference in stats over the 10AP warriors, these fiannas are surely higher up on my list. Though mostly because they look so great. But they are hands down a first choice when mixed with Virae (See characters later).

Personal Ranking: 4

Warstaffs

There are 3 different sets of warstaffs for Sessairs, the Sessair Warriors (14AP), Mercs (13AP), and Fianna(17AP)

Between the Sessair and the Mercs, the Difference is almost invisable, My personal choice would be the Merc musition and the sessair standard bearer, but this is assuming you have a character with leadership.

As for the Fianna warstaff, though more pricey, they are Fiannas to go along with Virae, and the Standard that comes with the standard bearer, though expensive, could be usefull in a pinch.

Personal ranking;
Warriors: 3.5
Fiannas: 4

Guardian of the Moor (12AP)

In my opinion these guys should probably be avoided, Low Physical stats, mixed with a rang attack that is slightly stronger then the archers (STR 4) does not compair to the range.

Sessair and Kelt Archers(14-15AP)

There are two archers for Sessairs, the real Sessairs archer at 15AP, and the merc version for 14AP

Now since the merc version comes in the dogs of war card pack, you'll probably buy the sessairs acher anyway (since they make the perfect proxy).

In Reality the merc version is far superior, at 1 less AP you lose 1 point in STR, Courage, and INI. Gain 1 point in Courage. But then you exchange Warfury for reorientation, which is the preferable skill for a range unit, especially with the new C3.5 rules allowing it to change facing to make a bulls eye.

Personaly ranking;
Sessair(15AP): 4
Merc(14AP): 5

Special and Elites on Infantry Bases

Furry Warrior(15AP)

Definatly a step up from the 14AP warriors, these guys are very worth their points, with a speed boost and raise in attack stats these guys hit a little harder and faster, and for a still very low overall cost. Plus the addition of warcry/5, though not big, forces your opponent to roll a die if he doesn't himself have fear, which is always a plus.

Personal Ranking: 4.5 (On Paper as i haven't been able to order them yet)



Kelt Hunters(32AP)

When choosing between Kelt Hunter 1 and 2, the only difference is in abilities, 1 has Instinctive fire and 2 has Harassment.

With only 2 AIM the Instinctive Fire version definately comes out on top, not having a penalty to hit after moving means a slightly higher chance of hitting opponents. Then adding scout to the ordeal means possibly taking out a spell caster early, means though pricey, these guys will often earn their points.

Personal Ranking;
Instinctive Fire: 4
Harrassment: 3



Horned Hunter(37AP)

For 5 points above the Kelt Hunters, these guys replace Range for slightly higher stats and Survival Instict.
Though Maybe not worth the extra 5 AP, if played well tehse guys can definatly do some damage.

Personal Ranking: 3

Spasm/Danu Warriors(24AP)

Ah these Pretty Pretty things, At 24AP the Danu Warriors don't seem all that, but once tranformed they really start earning their points. With the alternate transforming condition found in the Tribes pack, these models can use the original in a swarm style army, or the newer in a fatty style army, and always meet the best requirments to transform.

Personal Ranking: 4

Barbarians(32AP)

Alright there are 4 different giants(6 but 2 are just resculpts), Each one with a slight difference.

Barbarians 1(with swords) and 6 - Masterstrike/0:
Asside from the advantage of an extra +1 STR over most of the other versions, Masterstrike/0 makes these quite probably the best, and THE best in my opinion, with a decent RES (7+hard boiled) means these guys can Warfury with glee, as they get 1 big hit, then follow it up with a finishing blow.

Personal Ranking: 5

Barbarian 2(with swords) - Implacable/1
The other version with +1 STR, these guys carry the ability to eliminate an extra guy each round, provided it's possible. Especially usefull if you often fight swarm armies, as they generally have lower res, allowing these guys to walk through more of then. I rank these guys 3rd out of the 4.

Personal Ranking: 4

Barbarians 4(with halberd) and 5 - Fierce
Allthough 1 less STR then 2 of the other 3 versions, Fierce allows you to go all attack with little fear of not getting all your attacks in. Even with the changes in C3.5 their Fierce remains a threat, making opponents either try to block some of their attacks, allowing them to servive a round more, or go all attack, assuring your attacks don't get stopped by defence rolls.

Personal Ranking: 5

Barbarian 1(with halberd) - Brutal
The lowest on the list of barbarians, with the -1STR over 2 of the 3 other models, and an ability that is fine on it's own, but fails to compair to the other options available.

Personal Ranking: 1 (On Paper, i've honestly never seen a reason to purchase these as there are better to choose from.)

Elites and Creatures, the big'ol fatties

Sons of Ogmos(55AP)

These bad boys are my personal favorite among the big boys, comming in at a wopping 55AP these guys can take out a lot for their points, they also look great, with a definate ability to hurt your opponents moral.

Frankly 2 things should and can be done with these bad boys...
1- Team them up with a druid(comming later) thus giving a gesa like masterstrike or mutagenic/-1, then casting breastplat of earth on them, making them the ultimate tank.
2- Team them up with several warriors, when everyone warfuries on 1 enemy, your opponent won't know rather to try to get rid of the big boy, or kill the pile'o'plinkers around him.

Personaly Ranking: 5

Centaurs

There are several different centaurs, and unlike giants or minotaurs(later) they are all very different and fill different roles in the army. What they do all have in common is high speed, high initiative, and advantages when charging the enemy. but for their cost they do have compairably lower defence stats then other models in that price range.

Kelt Centaur 1, 2, 3, and 4(30AP):

Being the cheapest in AP among the centaurs, these guys are the most multi role among them. This is teh reason I rank them highest among all the centaurs, They can Assault fire from long range, with a 50-50% chance to hit, plus get the additional die for Brutish Charge.

Personal Rank: 4.5

Kelt Centaur 2(34AP):

1 of the 2 all melee versions of the centaurs, they mix High Speed with good attack stats, and the Brutish Charge advantage at that long range. Unfortunatly for that higher cost, the lower defence stats without a chance to damage them before starting the melee, these guys rank towards the bottom.

Personal Rank: 2.5

Sessairs Centaur(35AP):

Almost exactly the same as the Kelt Centaur 2, these guys cost 1AP more for +1STR, but with the Morgan Tribe in their rank, they are limited to armies they can be played in. Personally 'll only take them over the Kelt Centaur 2 if i have a point to spare.

Personal Rank: 2.6 (Just slightly above Kelt Centaur 2 when they're legal in the army.)

Centaur Archer(38AP):

The most expensive out of the group, they have excellent range, and a slightly better dmg on the bow then the regular Kelt Archers. With the same attack stats and better defences then the Kelt Centaur 1 they can definatly hold their own in combat, plus having Assault Fire means they only fail it own a 1. The loss of Brutish charge and the higher cost will be noticed however.

Personal Rank: 4

Minotaurs

Although only 1 Minotaur is actually sessairs clan, the merc ones fit pleasantly into a sessairs force.

The minotaurs are truely the meat of the meat, and by far the heaviest hitters sessairs have to offer.

Sessairs Minotaur(60AP):

The least expensive of the 3, and the only true sessair centaur, this guys the worst of the 3 in my opinion. When compaired to a Sons of Ogmos at 5AP less, the Minotaur gets -2.5MOV, -1 ATK, +1 RES(with the loss of hardboiled making the equivelent of -1RES), and a 7 fear in place of a 5 Courage. There's also the change of Brutish Charge in place of Brave, which allows them to hold their own, but not at the difference in AP.

Personal Rank: 3

Minotaur of the Plains(73AP):

These guys gain quite a bit for the extra 13AP over the Sessairs Minotaur. Among the gains +2.5 MOV(mov is an expensive stat generally), +1 STR, +1 DEF and RES, but a loss of Implacable means less potential of killing multiple guys in 1 round. But with the ability to take out other big enemies in his price range, this guy definately gets my vote.

Personal Rank: 4.5

Kelt Minotaur(84AP):

The Biggest and most expensive of these bad boys, the Kelt Minotaur sees an overall increas in stats over the 73AP version, but the loss of 1 INI is a noticable drawback, and although he's bigger, you might not get as much bang for your buck. Plus he weighs more, which means more weight to carry, and generally more expensive to order.

Personal Rank: 4 (On Paper, i've played against him, but never picked him up myself cause of the price tag, plus i had the 73AP card, which filled the roll of heavy hitter nicely)

Shinshera

Though not a character, this kitten will be talked about with Virae, as they need to be fielded together.

Faithfull

Oracle of Danu(31AP)

Although i don't yet own these guys, they look worth every point. Mixing decent stats with the ability to call miracles is nice, but onlly having 2 Aspects comes at a bit of a downfall. However even with the minimum of miracles, they have a nice ability to use the TF they generate (Cause pumping a friendly die roll should never be overlooked). Mixed with Conciousness means they always have line of sight to their target.

They also come with some nice miracles, that are good for any Kelt Faithfull.

Personal ranking: 4 (On Paper as i don't yet own them.)

Mages

Kelt Druid 1 and 2(28AP)

These guys are great, and often the staple of any kelt force i make. Decent stats mixed with a power 3 warrior mage, though more expensive then the Kelt Shaman(see below) the addition of Warrior Mage and Gesas allow these guys to greatly help out any larger point sinks in your force.

The only difference between the 2 models is swaping 1 point between ATK and DEF. I Generally side with defence if only taking 1, since that allows for a higher chance of counter attacking, and putting more dice in defence helps assure the longer life spam most people are looking for.

Personal Rank;
Kelt Druid 1: 5
Kelt Druid 2: 4.5

Kelt Shaman(24AP)

Though technically a Merc Kelt, this little lady makes a fine addition to any Sessair army. At only 24AP this Power 4 mage like most kelts, masters all 4 basic elements, allowing her to either support the other troops with buff spells, or do some damage on her own. Plus now with the C3.5 changes, 8 intensity of spells allows a little of both, depending on the situation.

Personal Rank: 4.5

Finally the big time has arrived.

Characters



Crôn l’Insoumis(49AP)
Markhan the Wild(50AP)
Gwenlaen the Ever-Proud(66AP)

I put these together cause they're very simular, they all play the same effective role, a cheap warstaff.

Crôn l’Insoumis (I couldn't find any card in english, but it translates to Crôn the Insubordinate): Is the slightly cheapest of the 3, and also is the Merc version. Though he's worth his points, for a sessairs player, at 1AP mor you could take Markhan with a slightly better advantage.

Markhan the Wild: The second cheapest, and the second best in my opinion, hold the advantage of +1 ATK and a Personal Enemy over Crôn.

Gwenlaen the Ever-Proud: A noticable difference in price over Markhan, she gains +1 INI and Def but -2STR. More importantly then that, is the +1 COU and +1 DIS, which makes for a generally better warstaff. Add to that Vivacity, means in combat she'll more then likely hit first.

Personal Ranking;
(All three are on paper, as i have yet to own any of them, but i do plan on getting Gwenlaen soon)

Crôn l’Insoumis: 1 (Ok as a merc, but not really for a Sessair player.)

Markhan the Wild: 2.5 (Very inexpensive for what he does, but there is better.)
Gwenlaen the Ever-Proud: 3.5 (A good inexpensive character to serve in a warstaff.)

Malek the Bloodthirsty(60-82AP)

Either version of Malek is good, he's cheap, fast, and hits hard for his cost. The 1st inc. is better for the cost, but there's a few cases where I'll take his second in place, usually if FEAR will have a better effect on the game. (Especially in the Guardians of Scâth tribe where fear and ethereal are combined.)

Personal Rank;
1st inc.: 4
2nd inc: 3

Thorgrim, Minotaur(140)

Ahh, out of the Sessairs Tribe pack, this boy is a beast. Though expensive, he has a very good RES for Sessairs (10 + Hardboiled). With the right back up this guy can do a lot of damage, and even though he's bound to a Tribe, he has no reserved artifacts, so he can be taken into any tribe with a name change.

On a personal note, I have fond memories of this guy single handedly taking out 300AP of Acheron all on his own.

Personal Rank: 4.5

Tanath the Young Horned One(98)

This guy needs no introduction, quite possibly the best Sessairs character out there, unfortunatly the hardest to get LE in the game. Seriously folks, if you wanna play sessairs, find him. Best investment in this game.
He's really inexpensive for his cost. Good melee stats for that AP range, plus some decent range skills. The true value of this bad boy is his Spear, the Gae Bolga, a 10AP artifact that always earns it's points, especially in C3.5 now he can Assault fire, only fail on a 1, get a STR 6 hit off, and if it does at least a light wound, a STR 12 hit in the same allocation immediatly.

Personal Rank: 5

Bragh An Scâthar(95AP)

Ah Bragh, essentially a character version of a Giant Barbarian, he's fairly priced for his stats, and what he does. Though there are generally better characters in his price range he still earns his place. His Artifact however is generally not worth taking.

It should be noted, that he is perfectly priced in a 400AP game to take full advantage of The Guardians of Scâth Tribe. He's also one of teh better characters to be used, with his high RES and suddenly becoming Ethereal makes him a pain to kill.

Personal Rank: 3.5

Manraidh, Horned Hunter(108AP)

Though he comes in the Sessairs Tribes pack, I would generally avoid this guy. Everything he does is done better by a guy cheaper then him, rather it's a Hard hitting scout, a part of a warstaff, of a mid range character... I've put him on the field a few times outta curiosity, but he's never earned his points, save once when i rolled a 6 on his survival instinct 3 times in a row. (Which is not something to be counted on, see Virea later.)

Personal Rank: 1

Koren the Chosen One(135AP)

At first glance he looks great, high stats and Born Killer. One of the few heavy hitting characters in Sessairs, when compaired to another fig around his point cost(Thorgrim) I'd say even with born killer he loses out.

Personal Rank: 2.5 (On paper, I haven't found reason to pick him up yet.)

Baal the Conquerer(137-145AP)

Both incarnations of this meany are solid. Considering their costs they're both worth every penny. But the 2nd inc. win's when compaired. +7AP to gain +1 ATK and DEF, plus Authority. The second Incarnation is the one to spend your money on, especially as teh artifact that comes with the first, is also included in the 2nd inc. with the errata for C3.

He is a bit of a point sink, but i've played him adorned with gesas and his artifacts, and have killed entire armies with just him.

Personal Rank;
1st inc.: 3.5
2nd inc.: 4.5

Drac Mac Syrö

The merc living legend, this is sadly a fig i've never owned, nor do i have the intention (as the Sessair LL is rumored to be released soon).
ALso i rarely play games where any fig of this cost is legal, so unfortunatly I shall not risk a rank on this guy, sorry

Faithfull Characters

Orhain the Erudite(24AP)

Though i don't yet own him, Orhain seems like a good addition to an army. Being a cheap addition to any army, he definately seems to play a support role.
I'd say more, but i haven't played him, and can't really comment.

Personal Rank: 3 (on paper)

Viraë, Fianna Priestess(125AP)

Despite her high cost, Viraë often earns her points, being a warrior monk, she can buff herself up and still perform in combat. Her ability to gain Survival Instinct/3 is really fun, and though risky, you can use it to warfury and add a large sum of dice to attack the enemy.

Personally i like fielding her with the fianna warstaff and the Kel-An-Tiraidh Tribe, thus making her warstaff warrior monks as well. Mind you, even with Survival Instict/3 I've lost many a game using this set up to rolling 2 on the survival roll repeadidly in 1 round. But thats what makes her a fun character, taking the chance, and if you're lucky, seeing it pay off

Personal Rank: 3.5 (Expensive and risky to use, but still great fun. Recomended to be purchased.)

Sinshera(52AP)

Though not a Faithfull, Sinshera requires Viraë to be on the table to be fielded. Now that being said, she should always be taken with Viraë. When within 10cm of Viraë they share Survival Instinct, and with Leap, Sinshera can run around the enemies troops and double team with Viraë.

Personal Rank: 5 (When fielded with Viraë)

Character Mages

*Note of the 3 spell castors i'm speaking of, only 1 is actually Sessairs, but i find them all usefull additions to the force, mostly due to the fact that Drune have a special skill on their spell casters, and have several that are the equivelents of tghe neutral versions.

Kyran the Hunter(39-55AP)

Although a merc, Kyran makes a fine addition to any sessairs force, with version is a cheap spellcasting character, with a very good power for his cost.

There is little difference between incarnations of Kyran, for 16AP you're getting +1 POW and the rank of Adept. Uncharacteristically of an Adebt, his 2nd inc. only has 1 path mastered, Shamanism. Still payiong 55AP for an adebt with 5 power is still very nice. Especially with the new C3.5 rules, he's the cheapest viable way to summon an elemental, and he can summon all 3 elements(4 when water comes out).

Personal Rank;
1st inc.: 3.5
2nd inc.: 4

Enoch the Elementalist(80AP)

Enoch is unique, in the sense that he's a neutral Kelt (Can be either Sessair or Drune), but he is not a mercenary. Currently the highest POW mage for Sessairs, he makes a great focus for an army. Shamanism and Sorcery along with the 4 prime elements allow him to be very multi rolled. From an offensive mage, a support mage, or buffing himself and using his spear to great resolve in combat himself.

Thats another great gain with Enoch, his Lance of Malachite, though expensive allows every hit of his to act as an advanced Master Strike.

Personal Rank: 5 (Definite buy for a new sessairs player)

Kelen the 13th Voice(96AP)

Kelen is the only Sessairs only mage, and even though he is a Warrior Mage, he stands out well.
More expensive then Enoch and with less power, his stat gains allow him to be takin into combat more often, plus being a druid means he gives someone in the army an extra gesa, thus again improving an armies capability.
Kelen is also the only Sessairs mage how masters Light in addition to the 4 prime elements, and though he cannot summon the light elemental, the additional spells could never the less still prove usefull.

Personal Rank: 4.5
Samo ono što činimo iz ljubavi, činimo slobodno, pa ma koliko patnje iz toga proizašlo.

Istina rađa mržnju. Ko govori istinu, često se zamera drugima.
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Re: The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Post by novot »

Akkylannie Griffons v3.5

am going to cover first each and every model. Strategies will be listed if it’s a generic strategy. Strategies for using models in themes will be covered under the theme discussion which will follow.

Also these are my opinions, which will be bound to differ from someone.

Advantages : High Res, Good Magic, Good Faithful, Good Shooting, pretty good at mitigating fear.

Disadvantages: Average Strength. Average Initiative, Average Attack, Terrible Living Legend

Ability Highlights – the overall ability found on all griffin is Fanaticism. This allows you to re-roll a fear test if it would make you flee. You instead use your discipline instead of courage and if successful you don’t flee but remain effected by the other effects of rout. Not bad. More importantly if you go all attack you get a +1 bonus to your damage rolls in hand to hand.

There are 3 main fluff factions, Hod, Temple and the Inquisition. One thing to notice is that the Temple and Hod almost always have Bravery. Combined with fanaticism you have +1 ATT and damage. The Temple units quite often have war fury or some way to generate an additional attack dice such as sequence. Combined with high RES it isn’t uncommon to go all attack and overwhelm your opponent with dice. Inquisition has its own strategies talked about later.

And lastly because of their close ties to Merin, Griffin faithful have Illuminated.

My rating system is simple

* = marginal usage. Either its underpowered, or there is something better for the cost
** = useable but must be thought about to be useful requires strategy
*** = solid troop
**** = probably could be fit into any army

Warrior Troops

Griffin Spearman – here is the cheap of the cheap. 13 AP. 2 INI and 2 ATT and a low STR is pretty bad. I’ve never seen the use for these.

Rating *

Griffin Conscripts (Veteran of the Crusades) – You have your modular troops here. The come in 15 and 18 AP choices. I usually use maces for the +2 strength, now with the new rules if using two cards they have to have different weapons so adding in swords for +1INI or spears for +1ATT. Is up too you. You either take INI bonus and pair it with a mace conscript for an INI 4 fray or settle for INI 3 and try and get a hit in easier with ATT 3. Veteran of the Crusades are great for tying up models because they have fierce. There strength is also naturally 1 higher. In other words for +3 points you get fierce and a bonus in strength. Why not take the Veterans.

Rating ** (***)


Griffin War Staff (Temple War Staff) – The war staff especially the temple version (which is prebound to Temple) looks very nice. The regular WS is cheap and useful for widening your leader’s courage bonus to your troops. However they have RES 5 which is low for a non Hod selection. The advantage the Temple War Staff has is the War Fury, Bravery abilities and at least a +1 bonus in every stat. So unless you need a war staff that isn’t bound to the temple I wouldn’t take the normal war staff aside for point shaving purposes. 17/18 AP versus 23 AP . One other thing to note is both versions come in box sets. However there are older harder to get normal war staff models that are very slightly different in blisters still available on special from the rackham store.

Rating **(***)


Legionary of Repentance – No model for this card. It’s a 15 AP Hard Boiled non-modular conscript with slightly different stats. It is slightly more offensive but 'suffers from' RES 5. Still better then Spearmen though. Also it is the only griffin model that doesn’t have Fanaticism.

Rating *


Sister of the Inquisition – This is the Griffin version of the Lion Valkyrie model. For 17 points you get a STR 10 Master Strike. However they have low RES and are bound to the Inquisition. They have marginal usage considering what you can get for less then 10 more AP, especially when they don’t have a model. There is a spell I discuss later that makes them more useful.

Rating **

Griffin Duelists – For 19 points you have a Defense 4 Ambidexterous model. Not bad for tying models up especially if you can boost there defense further because there RES is only 5. And there strength is very low at 3 as well.

Rating **



Fusilier – Here we have a very nice 19 point shooter. Aim 3, Strength 6 and excellent range increments. Hand to hand combat stats are pretty abysmal aside from their strength 6. These guys are great sitting there shooting by themselves but can also be enhanced with a Magistrate. They also come in a 23 point veteran version with sharpshooter.

Rating ***


Griffin Executioner (Executioner of the Inquisition) For 20 AP this is a very nice role filling model. With a 12.5 movement and INI 4 this assassin troop is very nice. You can hold them back a little bit behind your normal 10 movement troops and then charge in to get a nice strength 7 assassin hit. Not to mention there ATT 5 so its going to hit quite often with charge penalties. However with RES 3 they don’t take hits very well. The 25 point inquisition version has 1 higher RES and are fierce even with the 3.5 changes to fierce I think the 5 points are still worth it for the upgrade.

Rating ***


Griffin Templar (22AP) and Templar of Hod (23AP) – Here is where we start getting into some good stuff. Both these models have Bravery and War Fury, so with Fanaticism and going all attack you have ATT4 STR 5. With a RES 9 (Griffin) RES 8 (HOD) you can rely on your RES to stay up and swarm away with dice.

Rating ** (the 25 point ones are better)


Temple Purifier – This is another Hod pariah unit. As with all Hod units their RES is lower then average for griffin. These are best used for their feint ability. With attack 4 or 5 you have a good shot of getting rid of your opponents dice. This isn’t a troop really to leave on its own. They also have pistols and aim 3 so they are nice 23 point role filling models with good chance of being able to assault fire.

Rating **


Templar Brother – This is a little bonus to the Templar’s spoken about before. They are bound to the Temple and have the same abilities, but they have base ATT 4 STR 6 so 5/7 when war furying. Not bad for 25 AP, and unless you are doing a list that prohibits them (Hod) I’d have at least a card of these in almost any army.

Rating ***



Griffin Thallions – These are your best scout choices for the Griffin army. It’s a shame they don’t release a full on thallion faction, I love them. They have a 4 INI standard griffin attack stats and a slightly below average RES of 7 (in comparison to most of the other elites in the army). However they have pistols and AIM 3 so they make excellent assault firing scouts. Or if you are fielding a faithful you can use them as invisible body guards because they also have the Loyal/1 ability. All for 28 points.

Rating ****


Templar of the Inquisition – This is hardest to kill normal troop with a nice RES 11. Typical of Temple units (even though they are unbound) they have war fury and bravery to make up for there low STR 5. They also have a free special capacity that when fielded with Warrior Mage Inquisitors they can be used as a relay for any spell cast by an Inquisitor from the Redemption path. The only problem is they still have to be 5cm from each other. However it does allow you to cast around corners or use spells that you need to be in hand to hand to cast. Only a 4 point increase from a 25 AP Templar Brother makes these guys pretty nice if you can afford the trade in STR for RES.

Rating ***


Griffin Minelayer – Almost forgot about these guys, probably because they aren’t used often. They have a 12.5 movement but pretty bad combat stats, they are scouts and pariahs. There special capacity allows them to place 1 trap and 3 decoy counters face down after the approach roll. After the approach the decoy counters are removed and 3 more trap counters are placed near the original trap counter to form a line of mines with 3cm spacing. It is annoying to note that these can’t be placed in the opponent’s deployment zone even though the minelayers are scouts. In any case once per round a minelayer within 15cm of a trap counter can try and make it explode. On a roll of 2+ it explodes roll 1d6 for each mine within 3 cm and on a 4 or more it explodes as well. All fighters within 3cm of an exploding mine takes a STR 6 damage roll.

Rating *


Praetorian Guard - Probably the most used troop choice in the army. Especially prior to 3.5. These guys are beast. Think of these as a beefed up Templar of the Inquisition. They have the same RES 11, but have ATT 5, STR 8. They also have Master Strike /2 allowing for STR 16 hits. Instead of Bravery they have Righteous which makes them immune to fear and still gives them the stat bonus to ATT. And on top of that they are brutal so they can re-roll 5’s on ATT and put charge counters on wolfen etc. Then you get into their special abilities. When master striking there attacks is considered sacred so doubles count as killed outright. Also any troop in the presence (within 10cm) of a praetorian guard automatically succeeds on their fanaticism tests.

Rating ****


Griffin Exorcist – These guys are severely underused probably because they are the same cost as a Praetorian and don’t really bring the same power to the table. However with the changes to sequence they are a bit more useable if you don’t always want to use PG’s. They are also righteous like PG’s. The main reason to use them is for their special capacity which allows them to choose a mage or faithful (friendly or enemy) within 20cm and in the exorcist’s line of sight. They then loose a mana gem or 1 T.F. and the exorcist or any friendly fighter within 20cm and line of sight can increase their INI, ATT, STR, DEF or RES by 1. This can only be done once per exorcist. With the new increase of mages and faithful in the game this can be useful for hosing a mage that gets a low mana recovery or is trying to control an elemental.

Rating ** maybe ***


Guardian of the Temple – I like to think of these guys as the PG’s of the Temple faction. For 4 extra AP you get War Fury and Sequence and Bravery. So you trade in the Master strike power for the ability to get 4 dice on 1 guy. With RES 10 they have good survivability even when going all attack. Before the 2007 selection rules I used to have 2 of these guys and 2 PG’s since at the time you couldn’t have 4 PG’s. With sequence being better these guys should be used more often.

Rating ****


Knight Templar of Hod – These guys come with the Nemesis expansion of the Hybrid game. With reasonable stats of 4 – 5/7 – 5/7, 42 AP may be a bit expensive. They do have war fury and a nice special capacity. When a knight of the Lodge of Hod uses War fury, his ATT and his STR are increased by 1 point each until the end of the round. This aura also affects all of his brothers-in-arms. All friendly fighters bound to the Lodge of Hod standing 10 cm or less of a knight of the Temple (in Confrontation) or in the same Unit as him (in Rag'Narok) also see their ATT and STR increase 1 point until the end of the round if they use War Fury. 38 AP

Rating **

Templar of Hod Seneshal – With 1 less STR and RES then the Knight Templar these guys are even more of a question for point effectiveness. They do have a pistol and sequence so they aren’t a complete loss. Also their special gun blade capacity allows them to roll a D6 before any hand to hand damage roll. On a 1 you don’t get a damage roll, on a 2-3-4 you get a normal damage roll and on a 5-6 you get two damage rolls one using the STR of the sword and one using the STR 6 pistol. Not bad but risky. Combine with an assault fire, and you have some potential. Still a bit unreliable for 42 points.

Rating * maybe **


Thallion Rider – There are 3 different profiles for the mounted Thallion. They have MOV 20 and typical thallion stats. However each one has a different ability you get to choose from three different pairs of abilities: Sequence/Implacble/1 ; Instinctive Firing/Harrassment ; and Instinctive Firing/Scout. With MOV 20 and a pistol these guys are pretty good to use for holding objectives and making assault firing charges.

Rating *** (at least until heavy cavalry come along)


Griffin Culverin/Veuglaire – Almost never used in confrontation (prior to 3.5) this has been talked about a lot more as being viable for 400 point games. You basically have the choice of a STR 20 Heavy Artillery and STR 10 Heavy Artillery with Zone. Remember Heavy Artillery means there is no deduction of strength for targets beyond the initial. For 42 AP and only having to take 2 16 point servants that has either Minelayer or Sapper/5 you have to think about how much you are going to be able to take down with the few rounds of shooting you have. You also have to think about defending it from scouts. However for an all shooting force its perfectly viable since everything will be staying near each other and firing at the enemy. There is also a 21 point mechanic you can take as a servant it has AIM 4 instead of AIM 3.

Rating **


Caster Troops

Darkness Hunter – A weaker choice for a warrior mage is the Darkness Hunter. They are designed to be mage killers but they suffer from RES 3. They get a bonus to their stats when fighting figurines with a POW rating. They also can make two shots when they shoot. They do have two different profiles and one of them does have AIM 4 with a STR 6 musket, albeit with short ranges. They are also POW 2 and have spell access to the exorcism path which is mainly used to defend hamper opponents casting. If the RES 3 doesn’t bother you they have their uses. There are 2 spells included with each blister. Circle of Protection gives a 5cm aura that prevents anything with Fear less then 6 from entering it. If they are already within the circle they are stunned. This lasts as long as the darkness hunter doesn’t move or make a mana recovery roll. Sanction is cast right before an Aim test targeting a figure with a POW if it hits the STR is multiplied by 2. Merin’s Edict allows a DH to spend Mana gems to force the enemy magician to sacrifice an equal amount of gems. And finally Excommunication is cast prior to movement anyone charging or engaging the target of the spell (except for character which can’t be targeted) can do so without needing to make a courage roll.

Rating **


Inquisitor – Here is the 2nd choice for non character warrior mages. They have pretty good stats and start at POW 2 most important is their RES 8. For every other inquisitor within 5cm he gets a bonus to all POW rolls up to a maximum of 5. Which makes spells difficulties based on POW really easy to cast. Even with POW 2 they still have a couple good spells. As with the Darkness hunters these come with 4 spells, 2 for each blister. Merin’s Justice allows the Inquisitor to share his current wound level with an enemy model. So if the inquisitor is at critical or serious so is the target. The inquisitor is then healed by 1 level. Wave of Fervour can be cast after moving but not charging and if succesful stuns everything within 5cm, Incandescent Chastiment allows the Inquisitor to roll 3 dice when making damage rolls like an assassin but if you roll triples its considered a killed outright (even to models with sacred armor). Enflammation forces the target to make a DIS roll difficulty 7. If it passes it takes a STR 0 damage roll, if it fails the DIS roll it takes two STR 2 damage rolls. It can’t target a Faithful, Living Dead, Righteous or Construct model.

Rating ***


Magistrate of the Griffin – This is a nifty little faithful. Its primary role is supporting ranged troops. They can take either 1 miracle or two sentences (which are magistrate reserved miracles) They can also roll a die at the beginning of a game round and put it aside. At any point in the turn a friendly miniature in the magistrates aura of faith can use that die roll to in place of the natural result of a INI, ATT, DEF, AIM, COU, DIS, POW, or DIV test. The most important Sentence they have is one that effects ranges by adding +10/+15/+20cm’s to the respective short/medium/long ranges. The other miracle works on buffing troops armed with judgment blades and blessed armor. He can either give a +2 STR (judgement blade) or +2 RES (blessed armor) if successfully cast. If it fails they get a respective 1 point penalty to the stat.

Rating ****

Character Ratings are a little different.

* = might be overpriced marginal usage in 400 AP games
** = overpriced but useable
*** = nicely priced and can be useful
**** = nicely priced and can be a huge impact


Warrior Characters

Abel the Ill-Tempered – This guy comes with the Griffin War Staff box set. He’s a nice little 51 point character with leadership. His 2nd Incarnation gives his leadership range a boost, he gets loyal/1 and a bonus +1 ATT +1 DEF +2 RES and +1 COU and DIS all for 12 points. He has a reserved artifact which is a special 15AP Judgment blade that makes him a warrior monk and gives him Creation 1/ Alteration 1 for his aspects. It also makes him fierce.

Rating ***

Arkhos Templar Commander – The first of a few characters that are over 100 points. Clocking in at 120 AP this guy has a pretty good stat line. With ATT 6 and DEF 7 he can sequence pretty easily without suffering. INI 6 is pretty good too. He has Leadership and DIS 9 so he’s going to win you most tacticals. He has War Fury and Fencer which to me always seems like a silly combination. With RES 10 war furying is safe or you can sequence and try and utilize fencer and counter attack. Being a master of the temple when he takes a war staff it gives a +3 bonus instead of +2. His 5 artifact allows you to reduce the cost of Griffin Templar or Templar Brother’s by 2 AP as long as it isn’t a character. This artifact can be taken by any Templar Commander, the only other one out is Sered

Rating *


Deacon Tiberius – The Praetorian Guard character. Who is probably too expensive for a viable 400 point army, especially with his artifacts which make him pretty nasty. One of the few Hyperians in the game he is Brutal can Masterstrike for strength 21 shots. He is Loyal/2 (mainly utilized in Rag I imagine). His RES 12 is the highest RES in the army. ATT 8 is also the highest aside from the living legend. He benefits from all the benefits of a PG and has a few artifacts that make him even better. Supreme Armor of the Griffin forces anyone rolling damage rolls to roll 3 dice and the player of Deacon gets to choose which 2 dice to use (unless they have something that lets the enemy choose which dice to use like assassin). For 39 points it can be expensive but really good. His other 25 point artifact gives him Fine Blade and he gets to roll a die before each damage roll. On a 5 or a 6 the Strength of the damage roll increases by a number of points equal to the targets RES. In other words they probably die.

Rating * (brutal in big games and rag though)


Garrell the Redeemer – One of many marksmen character in the griffin army this is the Minelayer champion and therefore benefits from their free capacity to lay mines. He has a slight boost to typical minelayer stats. He does have their low RES 5 but he’s a marksmen so its not like you are going to be diving into combat with him. He boasts an very nice AIM 5, leadership, harassment and Scout. Unfortunately he’s a Pariah like the minelayers. He has both a pistol and a rifle, and he can choose which to fire on his activation. One is a rifle with 25/50/75 range STR 6 shot which he gets Sharp Shooter for, definitely the choice for taking advantage of bullseye with. His pistol is STR 6, 15/25/30 and he gets instinctive firing, good for assault firing into a fray with since he’ll only miss on a 1 and will only hit your man on a 1. He’s not a bad choice for 88 points.

Rating ***




Klayne – Klayne comes out of the Griffin card pack, and is a more expensive version of Arkhos. He is bound to the Inquisition, although with no reserved artifacts you can rename him and put him in any army if you choose to use him. He clocks in at a fat 145 AP. Comparing to the 120 Arkhos he gets +1 ATT, +1 RES and instead of Fencer he has Loyal 1. His leadership range is also 15 instead of 10. Still seems too expensive to use. He is also a Templar of the Inquisition so you can relay redemption spells through him via Armed Hand of the Inquistion. He also has a choice of taking a Sacred Weapon or a Judgement Blade which gives him +2 STR. This is not considered and artifact and its considered to be on his card so it goes with him should you rename him.

Rating **




Kyrus the Somber – This is the special edition sculpt from a contest winner. He has a PG similar stat line, with a 4 INI and a 7 STR. He also adds War Cry /6, Sequence and War Fury and loses Righteous and the on the card master strike from the PG abilities. He’s not bad, but he’s not great for 98 points. Change of pace character.

Rating *


Mira the Reckless – For 70 points Mira is a nice little character. Her stats aren’t average 5/7 – 5/7 but she does have INI 5. Her DIS is a low for Griffin at 5. But she does get a STR 6 pistol and AIM 4 for ‘only fail on a 1’ assault firing. She’s also immune to fire. I’ve always wanted to know if that means she ignores hits from a fire elemental… Her reserved 12 point artifact sword Hauteclaire gives her a +2 STR bonus and gives her the Bane/Possessed ability. It also has special abilities for Incarnation the defunct 1st attempt at Dogs of War.

Rating ***


Phidias of Basarac – Another special edition model this guy has a 2nd Incarnation coming out sometime this year. He is a cheap little 62 point Champion from the lodge of Hod. But he isn’t that good. His abilities aren’t great, Survival Instinct, Scout and Bravery. He’s got midrange stats 4, 6-7, 5-6 and his aim for his pistol is only 3. He’s just not worth using when Mira is only 8 points more.

Rating *



Severian, Templar Champion – This guy is the temple version of Abel 2nd and is almost identical stat wise. His 10 point reserved artificat gives him +1 INI and ATT. He can also choose (before the tactical) to gain Survival Instinct until the end of the round, but it forces him to use his War Fury ability.

Rating **


Shanys the Shadow – This is a long out of print model that despite being silly looking, in my opinion, is highly sought out when it comes up on EBAY. She basically to me comes out as the Executioner character (the living legend not withstanding). She has 12.5 movement and INI 6. With ATT 7 and STR 8 you’ll enjoy her assassin ability pretty often. She also has consciousness which allows you to hide her and charge without line of sight. With fencer you can decide to hold a die in reserve to maybe finish someone off after a nice assassin roll. Unfortunately with RES 5 she’s not going to take the return hit very well. She also has Bravery. She has a reserverd 16 point artifact that gives her a choice every round on how to enhance her weapon. She can turn stuns into light wounds, roll two dice and choose which to keep for her INI, or she can give a 1 point penalty in RES to her opponent every time they receive a wound from her. If the penalties she gives ever exceeds the victim’s RES then its killed outright.

Rating ***


The Executioner – This is the living legend of the Griffin Army and its not that great compared to other LL although I’ve never used him. At 267 points he’s a 1 hit wonder designed to kill something in one hit. With his 15 movement, 12 INI and vivacity/rapidity and 13 ATT his assassin ability is hard to avoid. He has STR 9 (or 10 if you go all attack with Bravery) he can give a STR 22 master strike with assassin. But with RES 7 and DEF 7 he’s probably going to die especially if she’s fighting another LL. Her other disadvantage is that he’s on a cavalry base so that means he can be swarmed. His 3 artifacts don’t exactly save him either. As the Pope’s personal assassin he can take a 12 point artifact called Mortuary Alliance which allows him to choose an enemy character and gain Bane against it and ignores its FEAR if it has one. The Mask of the Executioner a 10 point artifact making it impossible to use consciousness to detect him and he can’t be charged or engaged by anyone who didn’t have him in their field of vision. The ring of redemption is an overpriced 40 point artifact that allows him to roll a 4th dice on assassin rolls. Personally I think all 3 artifacts should have been part of his abilities. Then he’d be worth his cost. And then give him some artifacts that allows him to rescout or something. Either that or release General Octavius as a new Living Legend!

Rating * (in rag too, I’d use Aerth or Deacon every time)


Venerable Ambrosius – The better choice of leaders for a Lodge of Hod army. Unfortunately he comes in the Hybrid box set. He has leadership and can even use it to benefit non-pariah’s as long as they are bound to the Lodge of Hod. He is also righteous not that you want him in combat as he’s pretty weak. His best aspect is his artifact and his aura ability. His long rifle is STR 6 with ranges of 20-50-75 and is a Sacred Weapon so exceptional wounds count as killed outright. You can ‘upgrade’ this by 13 AP which moves it to STR 7 and increases its ranges to 30-55-80. It also gave him something similar to bullseye and until the item gets an errata I believe its unusable. He also has the ability to choose a new aura every turn from 3 choices. Aura of Luck: allows a 1 per turn re-roll for anyone within 15cm (INI, ATT, DEF, AIM, COU or DIS). Aura of Protection: gives all Hod members within 15cm of him Parade. Bloody Aura: gives all Hod members that start the round within 10cm of Ambrosius the Implacable/1 ability.

Rating **



Mage Characters

Cairn the Apostle – This is the most economical caster choice for the army. His 1st incarnation is just an initiate of fire. His 2nd Incarnation which is 56 points instead of 41 makes him an Adept of Fire and Air and gives him +1 DIS, which is still a low 4. It also gives him the Redemption path along with the Theurgy path which his 1st incarnation has. He also has a judgment blade which can be used along with the magistrate’s ability to give him a reasonable strength 7 should he get into combat. He comes with a decent artifact that anyone can take for 20 AP. Anyone with 10cm of the artifacts bearer gets a -1 INI, ATT, DEF, and AIM as long as they aren’t Living-dead, Fanatic, Righteous or a Construct. He comes with 3 spells. Immolation is cast on any model friend or foe and gives a 1 point bonus in ATT and STR. If the spell fails (DIFF 6) then the magician takes a STR 0 wound. The best thing about this spell is frequency unlimited and it can be cast as many times as you want on the same target. And the bonuses don’t go away until the target takes a damage roll. (great in combination with inquisition’s grace) Auto-Da-Fe’ targets an enemy model with a STR 5 damage roll, if the target was under the effects of Immolation then the wound is STR 10 and all models in base contact with the target is STR 2. Anyone killed with this spell is removed from the game and can’t be reinforced. It can’t be used on constructs.

Rating * and *** for 2nd Inc


Eschelius the Ardent – This is Klayne but in caster form. He has 1 less INI, STR and RES. But he gains Authority, and he’s a Adept of Fire Warrior Mage with POW 5. He benefits from all the Inquisitor benefits so fielded near 2 other Inquisitor’s he’s rolling as if he had POW 7 (which is his limit instead of the inquisitors +3). He has a judgement blade and access to the theurgy and redemption paths of magic and his artifacts make him even nastier. The blade of last judgement is a 21 point artifact that increases the Intensity limitation of spells he can take by 2. It also allows him to roll a d6 every time he succeeds in an Incantation roll (frequency special or unlimited ignore this affect). The natural result of the dice roll divided by 2 and rounded up is the number of gems he recovers immediately and is added to his mana reserve. This artifact can also be taken by the Grand Exorcist if they ever release him. The helmet of Ardour is a 17 point artifact reserved to him that gives him Righteous and Rallying Cry, and it also increases his COU by +1. The best spell he comes with is Inquisitions Grace it allows him for 2 gems (and a Diff 6 Power roll) to roll a d6 whenever an inquisitor darkness hunter or templar of the inquisition is about to take a damage roll if the spell is cast successfully the damage roll is ignored. With frequency 2 it can basically keep him alive from just about everything. His other spell Witches Stake allows him to give a STR 10 damage roll to an enemy caster after countering or absorbing a spell. And since its Intensity 0 there is no reason not to take it. He is expensive at 149 AP but he is vastly better in my opinion then Klayne or Arkhos now that spells are free.

Rating ****


Melkion the Flaming – This is the premier Adept caster in the army at only 78 points he has POW 5. With Res 11 he has excellent survivability, and his INI 6 ATT 4 STR 6 allows him to fight off scouts with some degree of success. He has access to the Theurgy, Hermeticism, Fire, and Light paths. He comes with a pair of artifacts one, the Phoenix, that allows him to take unlimited intensity of fire spells for 20 AP and a set of Griffin Armor that any griffin character can take that subtracts two from their opponents ATT rolls and gives him counterattack at 33AP. He has 4 spells the first of which Angel of Fire requires fire and light gems but it gives all griffin within 10cm an additional combat die, however they must inflict at least a light wound or automatically suffer one during the maintenance phase. Spiritual Burn is cast upon an enemy (non-living dead, construct, elemental) its defense drops by 2 but its strength goes up by 2. Flash of Lahn is a Intensity 5 spell costing 4 fire and 5 light gems that stuns everything within 50cm that isn’t a follower of the Path’s of Light, anything that has a ranged weapon can only fire at short range until the end of the game. This spell is probably best for ragnarok. Ardent Blast is his final (and banned in 3.5) spell once you’ve chosen a difficulty you divide it by 3 and place that many card sized markers on the battlefield touching each other and starting at the casters front base. Everything caught in the blast or walking into during that round suffers an automatic light wound. At intensity 5 there are better choices unless you’ve taken the Phoenix.

Rating ****


Inquisitor Taetrius – This is a 79 AP Inquisitor character with leadership that comes in the Ragnarok box. It has a slight boost in stats, +1 INI, ATT, and DEF. He isn’t a bad choice, especially if you want to field three inquisitors and don’t want to spend twice as much on Eschelius. He still gets you leadership and DIS 7 and with the inquisitors special all three are still going to be getting +3 on POW rolls. He can be an interesting change of pace instead of using Melkion all the time if you’re looking for a different strategy.

Rating **


Faithful Characters

Misericord – This is Mira’s 2nd Incarnation and she is now a warrior monk bound to the Lodge of Hod with total aspects of 3 for 92 AP. She gets a minimal change in stats, +1 ATT, DEF, and COU, however her RES drops by 1. She’s also righteous now. She has a rifle this time around at STR 6 but it has 20-40-60 for ranges. Hauteclaire gets a substantial upgrade and is now a 28 point weapon, it still gives her +2 STR and Bane/Possessed, but now she can choose 2 of 3 abilities from the following. Halo of Strength gives all Temple or Hod fighters +1 strength if they are within her Aura of Faith. Justice of Fire allows her once per game to give all fighters (friend and foe) a STR 5 wound if they are within 10cm, even if obstacles are in the way. Mercy of the Virtuous allows her once per game to heal herself by two wound levels. She can choose 1 miracle and additionally acquire one of the two miracles reserved to her. The first Prophetic Clairvoyance allows you to choose a fervor before casting and if the call is heard roll 2d6 if the total is higher then or equal to 8 she gains faith equal to the chosen fervor, if it is less then she loses that much faith. The fervor chosen must be less then the faith she has at the time of casting. Sword of the Vengeful Angel allows her to get Brutal and Master Strike/ X. Master Strike/ X depends on the difficulty chosen, difficulty 6 gets you MS/2, 8 gets you MS/5 and 10 gets you MS/8. She’s a nifty little character, but Saphon brings a little more to the table for his costs.

Rating *


Priestess of Steel – This is one of the best Pure Faithful in the game I think. At only 43 points for her first incarnation she has 3 aspects, she has mediocre combat stats but has a spell that makes her offensive stats unimportant. Her RES 8 allows her to survive pretty well. Her 63 AP 2nd Incarnation gets a bonus to STR and Courage, and gives her Leadership and Sacred Armor. She also has 4 total aspects. She comes with the Ardent Icon a 19 AP artifact for any griffin faithful that gives anyone within 10cm of the bearer Immunity/Fear and any fleeing griffin rallies as soon as they enter the area of effect. Burning of the Infidels requires a lot of planning to make work. It allows you to give a wound equal to the amount of T.F. on the caster at the time of casting. This can be devastating if you plan correctly with a lot of loyal troops and some other tactics otherwise it comes out being just an average range 20 attack that you could have gotten from a fusilier probably. Merin’s Aegis cancels all shots passing through leaving or hitting anything within a 7.5cm circle around the caster. Incarnation of Justice is your end of casting spell or your spell when she gets into combat. It removes her Aura of Faith and any remaining T.F. but any wound she takes is reduced to a light wound, and any wound she gives is automatically a serious. She can maintain this for free and turn it off at any point in time.

Rating ****


Saphon the Preacher – Saphon’s 1st incarnation is a 72 AP warrior monk. He only has 2 aspects and below average stats. His best stat is his STR 6 Long Rifle, this allows you to keep him out of combat since he has RES 5. He has a nifty 10 point artifact that transforms his courage into fear, and he gets a bonus to his Fear of +1 for every griffin within 10cm. So you can easily get him up to Fear 10 which is where it’s limited. He comes with a few spells Merin’s Inspiration allows him to get and maintain. Leadership/10. Merin’s Hand increases his AIM 4 to AIM 5 and makes his range shots Sacred against anything that isn’t Immortal, Righteous or a faithful of Merin. Psalm of Heroes gives him a T.F. for every Griffin fighter that died within 5cm from him. The first two miracles are reserved to him the 3rd one isn’t. Unless you have point issues and are determined to field Saphon his 2nd incarnation is much better. Although I like this sculpt better then the pilgrim hat sculpt. *note he can take Absolution the artifact from his 2nd Incarnation*

Rating *


Saphon the Purifier – At 95 AP Saphon’s 2nd incarnation is bound to the Inquisition, his INI, ATT, DEF, RES, AIM all increase by 1, his DIS and COU increase by 2, and his STR drops by 1. That right there is probably worth the 23 point increase. He has a 25-50-75 STR 6 rifle as usual which can be upgraded. He has Authority, Harassment, and Sharpshooter, and his faith range increases to 12.5. Absolution the upgrade to his rifle makes it STR 10 and increases its ranges to 30-60-90. Since he’s a character he has the improved bulls eye making him amazingly good at shooting things at medium range, couple him with a magistrate and start shooting people to death he can shoot those big nasty models your opponent fields and put a hurtin’ on them. Remember you can take any of his 1st incarnation stuff so with Merin’s hand he’s got AIM 6 and a sacred rifle. He does come with 2 new spells. Summary execution can be cast on multiple troops to allow there shots to be treated with bulls eye even if they’ve moved or assault fired. Holy Terror gives a friendly model a Fear value equal to his DIS. Neither miracle is reserved to him. He also comes with a Relic for 12 AP that gives him a bonus aspect and allows him to exchange T.F. for mana (or vice versa) with any mage within is Aura. He can also spend 1 T.F. to nullify a fierce for a fierce fighter who has been killed outright. You still aren’t going to want to be in combat with this guy but he’s an amazing character marksman.

Rating ****


Sered, Templar Commander – This is faithful on the scale of Eschelius at 151 points. He has Praetorian Guard Stats, but with +2 INI and +1 ATT, STR and DEF. He’s exalted, has leadership, and Bravery and War Fury. So he’s obviously a warrior monk. Don’t forget he’s a Temple Commander. His Emblem of Felicity allows him to take up to 3 miracles and before the tactical roll he can acquire iconoclast until the end of the round definitely worth 12 AP. The 11 AP Pillar of Severity gives him +2 STR it also gives him a bonus +1 STR after each damage roll to the same opponent. He also comes with 4 spells. Divine Messenger allows the caster to choose a fervor and give the target that many T.F. this T.F. can then be given to a faithful within 5cm. So it makes someone a moveable T.F. battery, probably best for Ragnarok. Celestial Promise gives the target a -1 INI ATT and DEF until the end of the round and can be called more then once a round. Oath of the Condemned the first miracle reserved to Sered can be called every time he is wounded. Choosing a fervor between 1 and 6 the difficulty is equal to 3x the fervor, once cast each enemy model must make a discipline roll equal to the difficulty of the spell if it fails it takes a damage roll equal to the 3x the Fervor. Vengeance of the Temple is a very important spell to keep in mind. It gives all models already bound (on the card) to the temple Master Strike/1. This includes any fighter that has templar or of the temple on its card as well as Arkhos, Sered, and Mira 1st. He is a pretty expensive character but just as feasible to use Eschelius.

Rating ****


Themes – (reminder any fighter with temple on his card doesn’t have to pay any of the east, west, north, south temple costs to join, only for the solo’s)

Imperial Army – Led by Cardinal Aerth for 1AP per model for the crusade cost a 1 is not considered a failure on discipline rolls, including tactical and approach. Honorary Distinction is a special solo it gives them a bonus of +1 in INI, ATT, DEF, COU or DIS. The cost of the solo is equal to the original value of the attribute. The other solo, outstanding marksman, costing 5 (or 8 for characters) can re-roll any failed aim roll as long as they didn’t move. The other important part of this allows you to form the Army of Djaran which allows you to field 33% Cynwall, 33% Lions, and 33% Griffin. These don’t count as allies so makes it legal for all tournament play. The best aspect I think of this theme is the honorary distinction, upgrading the INI of grunts from 2 to 3 isn’t bad. However the Crusade cost seems a bit pricey since a lot of the characters have leadership you aren’t going to roll double 1’s that often in a 6 turn game. I would use this to pair Cynwall and Griffin and give out some outstanding marksman solos.

Temple of the East – Led by Arkhos this Crusade allows any non character griffin to aquire reinforcement if they eliminated an enemy character or opponent over 60AP. If the character is over 60AP the resulting reinforcement roll is increased by 1 point. The first solo, Quest for Arcavius, costs 3AP and allows any faithful to transmit 3T.F to another faithful in his camp within 30cm. Pure Heart costs the troops ATT in AP and can be used one per game to replace the fighter’s ATT with their DIS. There is another Crusade from the Temple of the East called the Alliance of Sarkai that is free and allows you to field 15% of your army as Orc’s as long as they aren’t characters, or bound to Behemoth or Tracker clans. They are not considered to be Allies.

Temple of the North – The temple of the north isn’t bad for confrontation it’s even better for Ragnarok. It allows you to sacrifice up to two (three for Rag) reserves (refusals for Rag) and designate a card (or a unit for Rag) and the troops for that card (or unit) get +2 strength and resilience. So if you don’t have any problems playing without reserves then this is a less cheesy way to beef your troops then the Temple of the South. There are two solo’s that are pretty decent but kind of costly. For 4 AP you can make a character, warrior mage or warrior monk a keeper of the faith which allows them to get Concentration/x (INI, ATT, DEF) where X is equal to the number of friendly griffin models endowed with the loyal/x ability within 10/cm up to a limit of concentration/3. This is obviously best in a Temple of the North army that employ’s one or two cards of thallions/riders. The Unyielding solo costs 5AP and can be given to a character, all friendly griffin within 10CM get +1 COU and DIS and it stacks with warstaff and leadership bonuses.

Temple of the South – A lot of people consider this the most broken crusade. It has no real crusade cost. The crusade cost allows you to buy counters at 5AP apiece that give you re-rolls for most ability rolls. The broken part is the Solo/Pledge of Kylae. For 1 AP it gives any griffin model +3 STR when charging. The other solo gives bane/mutagenic for 3AP. The Pledge can be used to make up for the average to low strength in a lot of the griffin models. All of a sudden the swarm of STR 4 or STR 6 war furying guys is now STR 7 or 10.

The Inquisition – This is another slightly broken theme however it’s not as cheap as temple of the south AP wise since it costs 2AP per trooper. Before each tactical you are allowed to give 1 troop (per 100 AP) the benefit of Sacred Weapons. You can use this one of two ways. You can use it to make people scared of your grunts the one time I’ve played against this it was in a 13+ model army and the sacred weapons were given to guys that probably wouldn’t be blocked normally. All of a sudden you have to worry about that spearman because he could roll doubles. I prefer instead to put it in a list that has 9-10 strong units probably with war fury and a high RES like the Templars of the Inquisition. The first solo Exorcist costs 4AP and can be given to any fighter with a POW rating, it allows them to get the exorcism path or if they have it +1 POW. Dogmatic is a 5AP solo for a fighter with aspects. Once per round he can counter or absorb enemy spells by spending T.F. instead of mana gems, still can’t be used to counter instinctive magic. Solo/Tormentor works the opposite way and allows a fighter with POW to censure an enemy faithful.

The Lodge of Hod – The main cost of the Temple of Hod costs 1 AP. It then gives you 1 counter for every FULL 50 AP of eliminated fighters. These can be distributed before the tactical roll. One characteristic (INI ATT DEF and AIM) is selected for each fighter with a counter until the end of the round you can spend the counter to re-roll a test bound to the selected characteristic. Solo/Vanguard (3AP) gives any non-character griffin Hod the scout ability. It can only be given to a troop with RES 6 or less. Solo/Close Fires costs 3AP and can be given to templar seneschal or temple purifier and it gives them the instinctive fire ability. Not a bad theme but I tend to find the already bound Hod members a little expensive with their low RES so making them 1 or 4AP more makes them less cost effective. However I did alright the one time I fielded an all Hod all scouting army.


Army List

Saphon 2nd [95AP]
- Absolution [10 AP]
- Summary Execution

Magistrate of the Griffin [31AP]
- Sentence of the Just
- Sentence of the Condemned

Fusilier x 3 [57AP]

Griffin Thallion x 3 [84AP]

Templar Purifier x 2 [46AP]

Praetorian Guard x2 [76AP]


The purpose of this list is to use the Magistrate to buff your shooters and bulls eye anything you have line of sight too, moving back when you need too. The Purifiers are there for the ability to feint away dice from anyone that gets into combat with your marksmen. The Thallions can be used to scout and take out casters or shooters or they can stay with your main force and assault fire when the approaching enemy gets close enough. The Praetorian Guard is your last line of defense.

Decided to add 1 more list that is a little more balanced and too me seems like a nice stable choice for 1st timer's.

Melkion [78]
-Martial Devotion
-Fire Elemental Summoning
-Primal of Fire
-Wall of Fire
-Immolation
-Burn of Steel
-Elemental Chains

3x Templar Brothers [75]

Griffin Inquisitor [32]
-Incandescent Chastisment

2x Praetorian [76]

3x Conscripts [45]
-Maces

2x Fusiliers [38]

2x Thallions [56]

14 Models 400AP

This list is pretty balanced it features the best caster for the army with a large array of spells. You aren't going to be able to cast them all. You can choose to try and maintain the Fire Elemental, but i usually put summoning spells in only to counter an opponents. You have a couple all out shooting models in the fusiliers that can sit back the first couple of rounds and soften up some bigger targets or try and take down some little guys. The thallions are in there as scouts for any undefended mages or marksmen or can approach next to your Hth fighters for some assault firing from scout. Then you have a nice balance of 3 cheap decent fighters (conscripts) mid ranged fighters (inquisitor and brothers) and then your two big hitter's in the PG's. 14 Models is very nice number too the only weakness might be the card count. But come to think of it I don't think i've ever fielded this balanced of a list :)
Samo ono što činimo iz ljubavi, činimo slobodno, pa ma koliko patnje iz toga proizašlo.

Istina rađa mržnju. Ko govori istinu, često se zamera drugima.
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novot
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Re: The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Post by novot »

Akkylannie Griffons- Crusades

CRUSADE: IMPERIAL ARMY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crusade/Discipline of Steel (1 AP) - "1" is not Automatic Failure on DIS tests.

Griffins are known for their high DIS, but "1" is still a failure for them. This is not a huge problem during your Tactical rolls if you have a Character with Leadership that allows you to roll two dice, but this may be very bad against a FEAR-inspiring army, especially Living-Dead. Come Acheron, the Imperial Army laughs at your attempts to frighten its troops! This ability isn't completely useless as some of the other Crusades, since you can encounter FEAR quite often. When you're trying to go with a Character having high DIS but no Leadership (such as Saphon or Melkion), Discipline of Steel becomes much more important, since it really CAN help you to win a Tactical roll after rolling "1"!
The most important thing here is: there are no Templar Brothers who doesn't have to pay the cost, so you will pay 1 AP for each fighter. The advantage you will get will rarely be worth the points. It's recommended to avoid hordes of cheap soldiers like Conscripts unless you really need them - which is strange enough for a theme called "Imperial Army". A small band of elite troops is more suitable for some Temple, while Imperial Army should consist of a numerous low-level troops.

Solo/ Honorary Distinction (X AP): get +1 in INI, ATT, DEF, COU or DIS, X = printed value of the stat (minimum 1)

Once again, this Solo leads to a small pack of elite fighters. The most interesting is pumping DIS of your commander, if you really need to win tactical rolls (especially if you are trying to go without war-staff). The bonus will NOT be transmitted via Leadership, but it's still much cheaper way to get bonus for your tactical rolls than war-staff. The war-staff will cost you 37 points for +2 bonus and two extra fighters, but the fighters are rather weak, so you can easily lose the bonus. Honorary Distinction provides you +1 bonus for just 7-9 points, and your commander should not fall too quickly.
Raising INI, ATT or DEF is also very useful, since even +1 boost may be crucial for these stats. Getting +1 INI for Praetorian Guardsmen just for 3 AP looks good enough: if they hit first, Master Striking with their sacred weapons, enemy may fail to survive long enough to respond. 3 AP is just a 7.7% increase for Praetorians, and, generally, the more expensive your fighter, the better is this Solo for him. As long as Saphon the Purifier relies on his DEF to survive his melee fights, raising his DEF is a no-brainer (same for Garell the Redeemer), since the +1 bonus may be a difference between a parried blow (with a counter-strike) and a missed blow.
If you really want to pump INI, ATT or DEF, you can combine this Solo with Prayer of the Warrior or Celestial Inspiration. Get Honorary Destinction (+1 DEF) for your Saphon for 6 AP, add +1 DEF/+1 ATT from Celestial Inspiration, and your Saphon has DEF 8, so against normal troops he can counter-attack, use sustained defense and so on. Add Avenging Arm to get extra die for each counter-attack attempt, and this will be enough to give some lessons to enemies trying to charge Saphon. Unfortunately, he is bound to Inquisition, so you will be forced to rename him and you cannot take his wonderful rifle, Absolution.

Solo/ Outstanding Marksman (5 AP/8 AP for characters): may reroll failed AIM rolls for ranged weapons, if he didn't move.

This one is clear: again, use Saphon, Garell or Venerable Ambrosius - any warrior character with a rifle, who can shoot two times per turn using Rapid Reloading. If your format allows Cardinal Aerth, he's also going to have this Solo, though he doesn't have Rapid Reloading: +8 AP is almost nothing for him, and you wouldn't like to miss from his sacred rifle.
This Solo looks simply wonderful and often serves as a primary reason of choosing Imperial Army. For just 8 AP (8.3% of his cost) Saphon becomes much, much more effective: most of the time he will be shooting at medium range with some obstacles (Diff 8), so he can miss at 1 or 2 (1/3 chance). With this Solo, chance of missing drops to 1/9!
Unfortunately, all Griffin marksmen Characters are rather vulnerable in melee, and hand-to-hand combat is inevitable. Outstanding Marksman makes the weak shooters much more expensive, so you're going to lose more points when they get killed. Saphon can defend himself in melee (especially when pumped), but his final configuration is going to cost more than 100 AP, and he still provides you just two shots with Rapid Reloading. You could get more than FIVE Fusiliers for these AP!

Crusade/ Army of Djaran (0 AP, but all must buy Discipline of Steel) - can use up to 33% Lions and 33% Cynwalls.

This is the most important advantage of Imperial Army, but it's somewhat hard to use. There are Leadership problems (people are willing to follow only the leaders of their race), faith problems, spells/miracles problems (some of them affect only own troops) and so on. But still, you have a lot of options, while others have almost none, as allies are prohibited by Tournament Rules. Unfortunately, I don't know much about Cynwall and Lions tactics, but they surely have some tricks that can form powerful combos with our own abilities. I will list only the most obvious choices here:

1). Mounted Knights of the Lion. This is the Griffin's dream: a fast and ultra-effective cavalry that can quickly capture objectives, charge important minis and kill them. We still don't have any cavalry besides Mounted Thallions, and they are just scouts/harassers, not the real hard-hitting troops. Mounted Knights have wonderful protection even by Griffin standards (RES 13!) and they hit really hard, especially when charging (STR 15 + Brutish Charge!) You can get this just for 65 AP - with Discipline of Steel included. Yes, Discipline of Steel isn't very useful here, especially considering Righteous.
You can take two Knights that form a great charge/countercharge threat, which makes wonders in combination with shooting characters enforced by this theme. Your Praetorians are quite good - but they are not so fast. Putting all eggs into one basket can be quite beneficial in Confrontation, if that basket is well-protected, because there are lot of spells/miracles that pump only one fighter, and pumping a 65AP Knight is much better than pumping a 39AP Praetorian.
2). Falconer of Alahan. Spending 23AP to protect yourself against Scouts may be too expensive, but Falconer can also weaken one enemy model per round and shoot from his pistol. Unfortunately, he is extremely weak and isn't going to survive for a long time, but he makes enemy Scouts much less effective at the beginning of the game, which is very important for a shooting army.
3). Brilliant Lion mages. You can recruit Meliador the Celestial, with his POW 7 for 73 AP, and his Storm of Light will be a great tool for a shooting army. Unfortunately, we cannot use him with Saphon, since GDR Tournament Rules allow "total mystical ranks of Characters" of not more than 3 for a 400AP game, and Saphon is a Zealot (rank 2). The only resort is Migail the Selenite, who, "fortunately", is only Initiate, not Adept. All Lion mages can be a great addition for a shooting army, providing the ranged weapons superiority with Celestial Scourge and, probably, Chimerical Glaive.
4). Selsym Kestrels. They can shoot only at short range (15-20-25 cm), but they have AIM 4 that can be raised to 5 via Concentration. If you take Magistrate, his Sentence of the Condemned will increase Kestrel's range to (25-35-45) that is good enough to hit a lot of enemies. As long as Kestrels will need only 2+ to hit at medium range (3+ with some obstacles), they are going to be slightly less effective than Fusiliers (more effective up to 25 cm, less effective at larger distances).
What are the reasons for using the expensive Kestrels (26 AP) instead of cheap Fusiliers (20 AP)? There are a lot of them. Kestrels are much, much less vulnerable in melee - they have RES 5 and DEF 4. Actually, they can even charge with Assault Fire that is printed on their card, so the Difficulty will be only 4, and their high MOV allows them to charge up to 25 cm! They don't hit hard, but they have ATT 4 that can be Concentrated to 5 and Feint - great to remove that defense die your opponent hoped to use against Praetorian's Master Strike. Plus, they can also pump INI to get you the tactical advantage.
Finally, you can use some support Cynwall mage (Maelyn) to get access to the powerful spells like Helianthic Masterpiece and Solar Power.
5). Cynwall Pulsar. This is a brilliant harasser, much weaker than Mounted Knight but cheaper, easier to "pump" (Solar Power, Forge of the Heliasts) and having Implacable/2 to win several combats in one round. Solar Power makes Pulsar extremely dangerous, especially in the first combat, where charged victim suffers STR 12 hit. Forge can be used to increase his STR by 5 or to decrease enemy STR against him by 5 (the same as increasing RES) for 4 Light Gems. Unfortunately, 400 AP format isn't very good for Pulsars: two of them cost 112 AP, and you cannot take a Cynwall mage to pump them, while keeping a mage for the single Pulsar is too fragile.
5). Maelyn (to support other Cynwalls). She can be useful on her own and has the same cost as Migail. Her POW is less than Migail's, but she moves faster and has much better protection (5/6 DEF/RES compared to 4/4). More importantly, she can pump other Cynwalls. She can cast Helianthic Masterpiece on 3 Kestrels which is the same effect as Outstanding Marksman, and you save 15 AP She can also cast Solar Power and Forge of the Heliasts on Pulsar. Finally, she can cast Solar Favour on any fighter (Griffins too) to give him Luck, which is considered to be one of the most precious abilities (Ring of Fortune costs 20 AP), and she can cast it twice per turn!

****** ARMY IA-1: The Holy Shooters (Saphon the Purifier clone + Priestess of Steel)

Saphon the Purifier doesn't shine in 400AP format, especially without his Absolution. Even if you take only Outstanding Marksman for him, he will cost 104 AP, and for these points you will get just two shots per turn with Rapid Reloading or one shot with miracles and moving. Yes, yes, you also get high DIS and Authority, but you will struggle very hard to make him worth his AP. The worst thing is Saphon's faith: he is Zealot, so you cannot take any Adepts with him, but his Faith is just 3, so he will have problems ever with the average Diff 7 miracles. Besides, most miracles cost 2 Fervor, so you can take just one of them. In order to get another miracle, you will need some artifact - you cannot even take Inspiration, since warrior-monks can't have Theogonal Virtues!
In order to justify using Saphon, you have to enhance his melee abilities to make him a real fighter. He is relying on DEF and counter-attacks, so you should improve these abilities. The best thing here is Avenging Arm miracle - Saphon will get +1 defense die on each counter-attack attempt, which will be enough to parry most attacks. Solo/Honorary Distinction(DEF) also helps a lot.

Saphon the Purifier Clone/DoS [96+8+6=110]
+ Solo/Outstanding Marksman [8]
+ Solo/Honorary Distinction (DEF)[6]
-----------
Avenging Arm (2) Diff 7, +1 d6 on counter-attacks

Priestess of Steel/DoS [44+12=56]
+ Inspiration/Creation [12]
------------
Angel of Light Summoning (2) Diff 6
Summary Execution (?) Diff 7
Celestial Inspiration (2) Target's COU (6)
Avenging Arm of Merin (2) Diff 5

Thallion Riders (Judge)*2/DoS [43 * 2 = 86]
Praetorian Guardsman * 2/DoS [39*2=78]
Fusilier * 2/DoS [20*2 = 40]
Griffin Thallion/DoS [29]
---
399 AP for 9 minis/6 cards

This army tries to use faith to pump Saphon and other fighters, and to reduce the support cost to the absolute minimum. Saphon has just 14 AP of enhancements (both are well worth their cost), and Priestess is just 56 AP - not very much for 4 good miracles. Even if you lose The Priestess, Saphon will still remain a good melee fighter with DEF 7 and Avenging Arm. Priestess grants him +1 ATT/DEF, and sacred melee weapon, so his counterattacks become extremely deadly.
Note that Saphon doesn't have his reserved Merin's Hand, because Priestess has Summary Execution, so shooting two times per turn with rerolls and Bull's Eye is often better IMHO than shooting only once with +1 AIM and sacred bullets, but without Bull's Eye. Anyway, Saphon can take just 1-2 miracles with combined Fervour 3 or less, if we aren't going to give him artifacts, and having additional d6 for every counterattack is much more important than +1 AIM and sacred bullets, if you want to throw your Saphon into a fray.
The faith base clearly demonstrates that allies aren't so powerful as one could think: you need a lot of Griffins to power your Priestess. Thus, we have 3 Loyal Thallions (2 mounted), and Priestess can generate up to 7 TF each turn. She will almost never need to perform all 4 miracles: at long range she just summons an Angel and performs Summary Execution, while in the melee you probably don't need Summary Execution.
Thallion Riders aren't very good, yes, but with Summary Execution they're much better, even without Outstanding Marksman. Using Harassment to ride, shoot and ride back enables shooting at short range (15 cm) with Diff 5, so with Bull's Eye they can shoot with STR 10 or even larger. They also have Instinctive Firing, so they will shoot even into melee. Plus, you have some fast troops to capture objectives, if needed. You may rebuild the army to replace Thallion Riders with Mounted Knights, but Riders provide 1TF each, while Knights will provide no TF for your faithful.

****** ARMY IA-2: The Death At Range (Meliador the Celestial)

Meliador the Celestial/DoS [73+15 = 88]
+ Arcanum I: The Magician [15]
---------------
Storm of Light (0) Diff 11, 4 Light + 3 Air, Freq unique
Celestial Scourge (4) Diff 10, 1-2 Light + X, Freq 2
Summoning of Air (3), No Diff, 5 Air, Freq unique
Source of Light (2) Diff 11, 5 Light, Freq unique (get Light gems back!)
Forced March (2) Diff 7, 2 any, Freq 2, walks immediately
Calming Glow (3) Diff 8-11, 2/5 Light, Freq 1, healing
-OR-
Force of Virtue (2) Diff 6, 2 Light, Freq 1. Add COU to STR
Mystical Galvanization (1) Diff 7, 3 any, Freq 2 +1 INI/ATT/DEF/AIM/POW/Faith tests

Praetorian Guardsman/DoS [39+8=47]
+ Solo/Honorary Distinction (DIS) [8]

Praetorian Guardsman/DoS * 2 [39*2=78]
Magistrate/DoS/Sentence of the Condemned [32]
Inquisitor/DoS/Incandescent Chastiment [33]
Selsym Kestrel/DoS * 2 [26*2=52]
Fusilier/DoS * 2 [20*2=40]
Templar of the Inquisition/DoS [30]
---
400 AP for 11 minis/8 cards

This army is rather complicated and every mistake may mean a loss, but it's still very powerful. Besides, I did my best to demonstrate the advantages of Army of Djaran - hope it worked. Meliador is the key figure here, and I believe that Griffins can protect him much better than Lions: Praetorians are much better counter-chargers than Royal Guardsmen, though they aren't that protected, Templar of the Inquisition is just a great "wall" for his points. More importantly, Griffins and Cynwall have better archers to support Meliador - this army is going to inflict a lot of damage at range. Magistrate increases threat range of all shooters, including Kestrels and Air Elemental. BTW, the Elemental can provide Target/+1 for the whole army, which may be crucial against other shooting army like Azure Hunters. His other trick, Ethereal, may be wonderful against low-DIS troops trying to reach your positions without a leader (if they move a leader in range, they will lose him very quickly!) FEAR 7 is quite serious, if you can force a DIS test on several enemies at once.
To win, you must activate Meliador last - he is very weak, but, fortunately, he's a Scout. Trying to uncover Meliador with a single Scout is suicidal; opponent will need at least two cards of Scouts to assault him, and this doesn't happen very often. On the first turn, call Source of Light with two extra dice to have 7/8 chance of getting it. Use Magistrate's die to avoid losing the Source due to "1" at mana recovery roll. With Arcanum I and the Source, you will have enough mana to power Storm of Light/Scourge and Air Elemental. Besides, you're supposed to stay during the Storm anyway - so why not use Source?
Celestial Scourge is much more powerful than Storm of Light, but it doesn't work at such distance. 50 cm is a LOT. Almost nothing can reliably it you from such distance. So, you should start damaging your enemies with lightning bolts, and switch to the Scourge when they come close enough. Don't summon Elemental until they come into Scourge range if you don't need his Target/+1, since lightning bolts are very mana-intensive. Magistrate increases your threat range to 35 cm: this range is "close" for your Fusiliers (2+) and "meduim" to your Kestrels (2+ or 3+ with obstacles).
What happens when enemies reach your positions? You have 3 Praetorians, Inquisitor and Templar to meet them, so they'd better come en masse Kestrels are also quite capable in melee, and Air Elemental has great INI of 7, so he can at least help your Praetorians to strike first. You should try to protect Meliador who will heal your troops and damage enemies - he must run away and hope that enemies will have no troops to detecting and charging him. BTW, if you prefer buffing to healing, replace Calming Glow with Force of Virtue and Mystical Galvanization. Praetorians already hit very good with their Master Strike, but Force of Virtue will provide +6 more STR! Mystical Galvanization is expensive, but Praetorians really need +1 INI and ATT.
Please note that this army has no leader character (as well as two others), but it still has great chances of winning Tactical rolls thanks to a specially promoted Praetorian and DoS. Our tactical roll will never be less than 10, since "1" is not a failure for Imperial Army!

****** ARMY IA-3: The Strange Alliance (Saphon the Preacher + Meliador the Celestial)

Saphon the Preacher is much worse than Purifier: for 23 AP difference he is much worse in melee (lower INI, DEF and RES), has bad COU and DIS, lower AIM, no Sharp-Shooter and Authority. Moreover, he has no Creation aspect, so he cannot even perform Avenging Arm. But he has two advantages, too: he isn't bound to Inquisition so he can take Absolution, and he is only Devout, so you can have Adept in the same army.
The best possible mage here is Meliador the Celestial. He can cast Guardian Angel on Saphon to give him the utterly needed +2 DEF (and Regeneration/5, but that isn't very important). Meliador also summons Elemental, shoots at enemies and buffs friends with Mystical Galvanization. Saphon can have +3 DEF each round, if needed, but you should try to avoid melee as long as possible.

Saphon the Preacher/DoS [73+10+8=91]
+ Absolution [10]
+ Solo: Outstanding Marksman [8]
-------------------------------
Avenging Arm of Merin (5) Makes HtH weapon sacred

Meliador the Celestial/DoS [73+15 = 88]
+ Arcanum I: The Magician [15]
---------------
Storm of Light (0) Diff 11, 4 Light + 3 Air, Freq unique
Celestial Scourge (4) Diff 10, 1-2 Light + X, Freq 2
Summoning of Air (3), No Diff, 5 Air, Freq unique
Source of Light (2) Diff 11, 5 Light, Freq unique (get Light gems back!)
Guardian Angel (4) Diff 10, 3 Light, Freq 1
Mystical Galvanization (1) Diff 7, 3 any, Freq 2 +1 INI/ATT/DEF/AIM/POW/Faith tests

Praetorian Guardsman/DoS [39+8=47]
+ Solo/Honorary Distinction (DIS) [8]

Praetorian Guardsman/DoS * 2 [39*2=78]
Fusilier/DoS * 3 [20*3 = 60]
Inquisitor/Incandescent Chastiment/DoS [33+3 = 36]
+ Solo: Honorary Distinction (INI) [3]
--
400AP for 9 minis/6 cards

Most tricks are the same, but here you have a "piece of artillery": Saphon, who will deliver two STR 10 shots per turn with Rapid Reloading, rerolling each miss once. Using Absolution's range, he will be very dangerous even at 60 cm distance: with Diff 8 he needs just 4+ to hit, and with the reroll his chance to hit is 75%. Saphon was made as cheap as possible to free space for the other troops. Note that this army is rather weak in melee: it has just 3 Praetorians and Inquisitor (plus Saphon), but Incandescent Chastiment with sacred weapon is a trump than can be crucial.
It's completely clear that Saphon/Meliador list will be much better in 600AP tournament than in 400AP. You will be able to take Saphon the Purifier and Meliador, for less than 200 AP - thus, in 600AP format you will have enough space for the regular troops after that, but not in 400AP.

****** ARMY IA-4: Best of three worlds (Melkion, Maelyn, Lion Knight & Pulsar)

Melkion the Flaming/DoS [79+15+16=110]
+ Arcanum I - the Magician [15]
+ Supreme Rune of Healing [16]
----
Summoning of Fire (3), No Diff, 5 Fire, Freq unique
Celestial Scourge (4) Diff 10, 1-2 Light + X, Freq 2
Martial Devotion (1) Diff=STR, 2 Fire, Freq 2 +1 attack die in every combat
Force of Virtue (2) Diff=6, 2 Light, Freq 1, STR=STR+COU

Maelyn/DoS [45]
----
Solar Power (3) Diff 8, 3 Light, swaps low & high results on damage rolls
Solar Favour (2) Diff INI+2, 2 Light, Freq 2, gives Luck
Forced March (2) Diff 7, Freq 2, moves immediately
Mystical Galvanization (1) Diff 7, 3 any, Freq 2 +1 INI/ATT/DEF/AIM/POW/Faith test

Mounted Knight of the Lion/DoS [65]
Cynwall Pulsar/DoS [56]
Praetorian Guardsman * 2/DoS [42*2=84]
+ Solo: Honorary Distinction (INI)
Fusiliers/DoS * 2[20*2 = 40]
-----
400 AP for 8 minis/6 cards

This army probably isn't very stable, but it isn't very bad too. Besides, it's really funny, and it demonstrates usage of all Army of Djaran nations in a single 400AP army. Faithful aren't very good in such armies, since they need a lot of believers, but mages are even better, as long as Griffins have just one good mage, Melkion. Even factions with a lot of mages (Lions) rarely field several mages, since GDR restrictions prohibit using the same spell twice, and the selection of good spells is limited - but as long as you can use mages from three nations, you gain access to their best spells, which is a serious advantage.
Melkion is a leader of this army (DIS 8), the primary battle mage (Elemental of Fire and Scourge), enchanter and healer. Maelyn serves just as a "pump mage" as she's too weak to posess serious destructive spells.
The "pumping plan" is casting Force of Virtue on Mounted Knight (+7 STR!) and Solar Power on Pulsar. When Melkion doesn't have to cast Scourges and has some free mana, he can cast Martial Devotion on both speedsticks. If Maelyn has free mana, she can cast Galvanization or Solar Favour. Note that Solar Power is the only spell that restricted to Cynwalls here: you can cast Force of Virtue on Praetorian (+6 STR is very good), while Solar Favour is good for Melkion himself
This army should start at long range to have some advantage from Scourge and Fusiliers, forcing the enemy to approach. Maelyn should help Melkion with casting Scourges and summoning Fire Elemental, using Galvanization (+1 POW test) and Solar Favour (can reroll failed POW test). This way, Melkion can avoid wasting extra gems on Scourge (to ensure success) and summon an obedient Elemental.
All primary melee threats (Pulsar, Knight and Elemental) are very fast and dangerous, which is extremely rare for Griffins and may win you the objective-capturing and assassination scenarios. At least your opponents are going to be surprised and they're likely to do some mistakes against this bizarre army! If thing will go badly and you lose the primary threats, you can always pump two Praetorians that are also powerful enough, especially with +1 INI and your spells.

--------------------- OVERALL:
Very interesting theme with unique possibilities, though it's hard to use effectively. Both Solo are expensive, and Crusade ability isn't that useful. Most difficulties are caused by Tournament Rules and lack of really great shooting Characters, though. This theme doesn't have cheap Solo where you could spend free APs, which can be rather inconvenient.
Imperial Army should be much better in larger formats, where you are going to have much more options for Army of Djaran and Outstanding Marksman. It would be great to field Galhyan with two Pulsars, but they will cost more than 200 AP. It would be great to field two Mounted Knights, but they are 130 AP, and if you add some character, you will get just few fighters for the remaining points.
If your format allows Cardinal Aerth, the prelate general of Imperial Army (usually 1000 AP or more), you should play him. He is the only Dean in the game, his Faith is 7, and he gains 1 TF for each believer - so he can perform Burning of the Infidels with STR 30 or more (thanks to Demilisz for pointing it)! Add Kelgar's Ashes to get high Piety and, probably, Perseverance on Burning to perform it twice per turn. Only Imperial Army can field Aerth with his empowered sacred rifle, Aerth's Judgement, and, believe me, you will happily buy Outstanding Marksman for him If that wasn't enough, Aerth can cast a powerful miracle, Eye of Merin, which allows one fighter to reroll not only "6", but "4" and "5" too!
Fluff-wise, I'm rather disappointed, since I have a completely different image of Imperial Army. It should have a lot of cheap and not-quite-trained troops like Veterans and Conscripts, so they at least wouldn't have to pay the crusade cost. It would be great to have something like Seal of the Temple to reduce their cost at least by 1 AP.
Besides, what else should be the most common in Imperial Army? Cannons. Griffins have very good cannons, and Imperial Army should have some support for them. Unfortunately, it doesn't, so the best places for cannons are Temple of the South and Lodge of Hod. Strange? For sure.

CRUSADE: THE LODGE OF HOD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Griffin fighters bound to the Lodge of Hod acquire the <Pariah> ability. (Pariah commanders work normally)

Crusade/ Brotherhood of Hod (1 A.P.): One counter is acquired for every FULL 50 A.P. of eliminated fighters of Hod. Before Tactical roll, player can give these counters to Lodge of Hod fighters and select INI, ATT, DEF or AIM for each counter. Until the end of the round the chosen fighters can re-roll once EVERY test bound to the selected characteristic.

This is a very powerful effect - probably, even the most powerful, if you count just Crusade effects, excluding Solo. The effect is ALWAYS useful, and you can build your army to get the maximum benefit from it. Give a DEF counter to a Character with high DEF (Misericord, Phidias) and throw him/her into melee - and (s)he will get reroll for each DEF test this round, including sustained defense and counterattacks, probably 3-4 times per turn or even more. You'd have to pay an impossible amount of AP for Temple of the South treasure counters to get the same result! But that's not all: you can give more than one counter, so (s)he can reroll all ATT and DEF tests for a crucial turn.
AIM tests are rarely used more than 2 times per round (with Rapid reloading), but sometimes even one such test is well worth a counter - if you fire from Griffin Culverin. When shooting, Artillery Officer performs an AIM test, and he needs just 2+ to hit at medium range (50 cm). Rolling "1" will be a disaster - but you can give him a counter to minimize the chance.
In addition to the fact that Crusade ability is good and well worth its cost, you have a good chance to avoid paying this cost. Lodge of Hod has a lot of bound Characters and troops that don't pay the cost, though most of them aren't very good:

Characters: Venerable Ambrosius, Misericord, Garell the Redeemer, Phidias de Basarac (both incarnations).
Troops: Temple Purifiers, Senechal, Minelayers, Templar of Hod, Knight Templar of Hod.

The primary drawback of this Crusade is timing: you don't get any counters at the start of the game. It's rather sadistic: sometimes you WANT to sacrifice your troops to get some counters. Fortunately (?), most Lodge of Hod fighters are quite weak, and they die easily. You just need to ensure that they will finish their tasks before dying, which almost always leads to harassment or assasinations performed by scouts.

Solo/Vanguard (3 A.P.): This capacity can be given to any non-Character Griffin bound to the Lodge of Hod. The RES printed on his reference card must be of 6 or less. He acquires the <Scout> ability.

Griffins already have Scouts: Magistrate, Thallions, Thallion Riders (Vigilante) and Minelayers, and some of them are quite playable (Thallions and Magistrate in shooting armies). Now you can make Scouts from the following troops: Temple Purifiers, Seneschals of Hod, Darkness Hunters, Duelists, Executioners, Fusiliers, war-staff, Cannon Servants & Artillery Officers. Theoretically, you can build a whole army of Scouts, expecially with Garell the Redeemer, who is Lodge of Hod Scout-Leader!

Unfortunately, in practice paying 3 AP for each fighter is very expensive, and building a whole army of RES 6 or lower troops also isn't very wise. You'll have to select your scouts wisely. Seneshals are greatly overcosted and have to be avoided, Duelists are useless, and scouting war-staff is too expensive for its benefits. The only purpose of Purifier Scouts is assisting other Scouts by Feinting away the defense dice - their pistols and swords are too weak to inflict serious harm, unless you take Solo/Close Fire as well (see below).
Executioners are probably the best to become Scouts: they need to charge and to hit the enemy to activate Assassin ability. Scout Executioner is more likely to avoid being charged himself, and if he charges, he can inflict charge penalties to INI and DEF, making assassination much easier. To complete the combo, you need to make his sabre sacred with Avenging Arm of Merin miracle. If you roll 3 dice for damage and choose any two, chances of getting a double is really high (44.4%), and each double Kills Outright the target! The perfect assassination team is Executioner/Scout + Magistrate, who can perform the miracle quite easily (Diff 5). Depending on the situation, you can also use Magistrate's die to ensure that Executioner's attack hits, so avoiding assasination will be extremely difficult even for a high-DEF minis. The team costs 24+32=56 AP, so you will get a Crusade counter when it gets killed
Fusilier Scouts may be effective enough if you deploy them in close range (25 cm) and win the first Tactical roll, especially if you place them scattered so your enemy will be forced to waste time hunting for them, and you can benefit from that time. Each Fusilier Scout costs 23 AP, so this tactics is a risky gambit, since you'll get just one Bull's Eyed shot most of the time, but three such shots are almost guaranteed to kill or at least severely wound the most important enemy fighter and foil his battle plans. Darkness Hunter 1/Scout with Sanction is a wonderful mage-assassin, having AIM 5 against mages and shooting twice with STR 12, but you cannot be sure that enemy will have a mage.
If you field a Culverin, making Scouts from its servants is a no-brainer. Griffin Culverin, Officer and Servant cost 79 AP, and servants are the only vulnerable part of this team (the cannon has RES 13/5 SP, and its effectiveness doesn't decrease with wounds). If you spend 6 AP to make both servants "scouts", enemies will be unable to shoot at them until they will be revealed - a crucial advantage against enemy shooters, spellcasters and even Perforating Artillery! If you win Tactical Rolls and activate the Culverine last (which is most advantageous anyway), enemy will spend extra 1-2 turns to reveal your cannon servants, and you will get some extra cannon shots.
Don't forget that some scenarios greatly increase value of Scouts, especially when you need to capture objectives or treasure.

Solo/Close fire (3 A.P.): This capacity can be given to any Templar of Hod Seneschal or Temple Purifier. The fighter acquires the <Instinctive fire> ability.

Seneshals are overcosted, so it would be better to forget about them. Purifiers are OK, though their pistols are short-ranged. As long as Purifiers usually serve as support fighters, this Solo fits them nicely.
Instinctive Fire is a powerful ability: your Purifier can move and shoot without penalty, and, more importantly, he can shoot into melee with a minimal chance of hitting friends. That would definitely worth 3 AP (or even more) for Fusiliers, who could just sit at 25cm range and shoot at enemies. Purifiers can move and shoot, but moving at 10 cm distance is very risky. They can stand just behind the more powerful troops and shoot and/or help them in melee using Feint.
Purifiers with Close fire have a good synergy with Magistrate/Sentence of the Condemned. Deploy a "firebase" of Magistrate and some Purifiers behind your army, then choose an enemy and shoot from 20 cm range with Bull's Eye. This probably works best with Scouting Purifiers, since you can form "a harassment group" that will be very painful to the enemy. Magistrate and two Purifiers costs 90 AP and deliver 3 Pistol shots per round. Thallion costs the same 29 AP as Purifier with both Solo, and you may add some Thallions if you want really large scouting force.

****** ARMY LH-1: Fury of Hod (Phidias, Seneshal of Hod OR Misericord)

Phidias, Seneshal of Hod [115+10=125]
+ The Sword of Basaracs [10] (sacred)
Praetorian Guard/BoH [39]
Templar of Hod *3 [66]
Temple Purifier [23+3=26]
+ Solo/Close Fire [3]
--- (Assassination team=56 AP)
Executioner/BoH [21+3=24]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
Magistrate/BoH [32]
+ Avenging Arm of Merin (2) Diff 5, fighter's melee weapons are sacred
--- (Cannon team=87 AP)
Griffin Culverin [42]
Griffin Artillery Officer/BoH [22+3=25]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
Griffin Cannon Servant (Sapper)/BoH [17+3=20]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
----
399AP for 11 minis/7 cards

This is a mixed army with a focus on a strong melee character to utilize the Hod counters for DEF and, possibly, ATT (or AIM for cannon in special cases). There are assassination team, cannon team and the some melee fighters. Hopefully cannon is good enough threat to force the enemy to assault your positions It would not be enough against the dedicated shooting army, but not in this list, as our cannon servants are protected by Scout ability. Against mages it's even better, as almost nothing works at 50cm range, where Culverin is deadly.
You may use Phidias or Misericord as your primary fighting character. Misericord is cheaper, has better rifle and can cast some miracles - but Phidias is a real beast. Having ATT 8 and Master Strike/4, he will add +12 to STR of his master strikes, and his sword is sacred! Misericord can get Master Strike with her Sword of Vengeful Angel, but she will never get Ambidexterity that's a LOT better than Counterstrike. And her War Fury is rather pointless, as she will quickly die without defense. Phidias has so high ATT and DEF that he can safely use Sequence/2 (especially with reroll counters). He is a seneshal, so he can use double-hit once per round. Even his Bane/Aberration prime is good, since that beast is quite popular. Nevertheless, Misericord is much cheaper, and this allows you to buy more troops. Here's the melee module with Misericord:

Misericord [92+3=95]
----
Avenging Arm (2) Diff 7, get additional d6 for each counterattack
+ <Some Minor Potion> [3]
------
Praetorian Guard/BoH *2 [78]
Templar of Hod *2 [44]
Fusiliers/BoH * 2 [40]

Note that both fighter Characters have no Leadership, so you will use Praetorians for the DIS tests.

****** ARMY LH-2: Scouts Only! (Garell the Redeemer)

Garell the Redeemer [88]
Magistrate/BoH [32]
+ Sentence of the Condemned (2) Diff 7 Shooting distance +10/+15/+20 against one enemy
--- (Assassination team=80 AP)
Executioner/BoH *2 [(21+3)*2=48]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
Magistrate/BoH [32]
+ Avenging Arm of Merin (2) Diff 5, fighter's melee weapons are sacred
---
Griffin Thallions/BoH *2 [29*2=58]
Temple Purifiers *2 [29*2=58]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3], Solo/Close Fire [3]
Fusiliers/BoH * 2 [23*2=46]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
Darkness Hunter 1/BoH [38]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
+ Mark of Infamy (1) Diff 5, 2 Fire, Freq 2 - one enemy gets Target/-1
------------
400 AP for 11 minis/7 cards

This army was built mostly for fun, to demonstrate the flexibility of Griffins. Who else can field an army of Scouts with a Scout leader? Probably Wolven or Orcs, but that's all. The army is very fragile, but it can win a lot of assassination and object-capturing scenarios. Almost all minis here are shooters, and shooting scouts are always a headache for your opponent, who needs uncover each of them prior to charging. Using the support from Magistrate and Darkness Hunter, even short-ranged pistols can inflict serious damage, especially considering Instinctive Firing of Garell and Purifiers.
Garell is a decent commander for his cost and a good shooter with AIM 5 (at close range you may even select pistol with Instinctive Firing to avoid hitting friends!). As a bonus, he can set some mines to block the important passage. Unfortunately, he's too weak: DEF 4 and RES 5 make him easy prey both for shooters and melee fighters, if you give enemy a chance. Try to activate Garell last to fully utilize Scout cover; use Harassment for "move, shoot and move back" maneuver, which is going to be performed with unusual for Griffins MOV=12.5.
While playing this army, your task is inflicting more wounds to the enemy than you suffer yourself for the specified number of turns. If you let the enemy engage your army en masse, you're going to lose. So select the best possible positions, start from a sufficient range to shoot with Garell and Fusiliers, and place mines and Executioners wisely. Your army excels in assassination: Executioners, Darkness Hunter, and with Sentence of the Condemned and Mark of Infamy you can pulverize any single target to death. Never allow enemies to engage Garell and Purifiers: they can shoot at melee with Instinctive Firing.

****** ARMY LH-3: The Inquisition of Hod (Venerable Ambrosius + Inquisition troops)

The best Lodge of Hod commander is Venerable Ambrosius. What do we want of a commander? High DIS rating, high Leadership, and, probably, high COU. Ambrosius has DIS 8, COU 6 and Leadership/15 - all for 65 AP! Obviously, for such price he cannot be a combat monster, and, actually, he is very fragile, but he has standard rifle and decent AIM, so he's going to inflict some wounds while enemy is approaching your positions. Add Culverin with scout servants and other troops to your taste, and you'll get a very powerful army in the traditional Griffin style: shoot at enemies to make them come to you and hope to inflict enough damage to overcome in melee.

Venerable Ambrosius [65]
Fusiliers/BoH * 2 [46]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
---
Praetorian Guard/BoH * 2 [39*2=78]
Griffin Inquisitor/BoH [33]
+ Inquisition's Grace (1) Diff 6, Freq 2, cancel one damage roll
Griffin Inquisitor/BoH [33]
+ Incandescent Chastiment (2) Diff 6, Freq 1, roll 3 die for damage & select any two
Templar of the Inquisition/BoH *2 [60]
--- (Cannon team=84 AP)
Griffin Culverin [42]
Griffin Artillery Officer/BoH [22+3=25]
+ Solo/Vanguard[3]
Griffin Cannon Servant (Sapper)/BoH [17]
---
399 AP for 12 minis/7 cards

The idea of this army is maximizing your Culverine - you can shoot even risking to hit your own Inquisitor or Templar, as long as you can cancel the damage roll with Inquisition's Grace. Enemies that fail to recognize this trick in time will be fiercely punished: one cannonball can kill several soldiers. You should try to keep the Inquisitor with Grace in 5-cm radius from another Inquisitor (to make them help each other in casting), but out of combat, at least for a couple of rounds, to fully utilize his protection. Praetorians are traditional beatsticks that work even without any pumping.
The cannon servant is vulnerable here, since I needed the points for Fusiliers, but losing him will just prevent you from moving your cannon - for shooting, you can "substitute" him with a Fusilier, of just not bother about it, as Artillery Officer will have only -1 to AIM test after losing the servant. If you have Hod counters, you can reroll the failed AIM test.
This army looks like a traditional Griffin army, not a Lodge of Hod army - there is high RES and no assassination. It uses just few of the crusade powers (making scouts and, occasionally, using counters), but it takes advantage of a very good commander. Killing your melee team will be a difficult task, considering its 204 points of pure melee fighters, Inquisition's Grace and wounds inflicted by your shooters.
This army has good chances of out-shooting the dreaded Azure Hunters, especially if your enemy will have no Scouts. Kill Galhyan with a cannonball, then you can metodically kill Hunters or take out their melee support and charge with your melee fighters. Enjoy!

****** ARMY LH-4 (IDEA): The Vengeance of Hod (Priestess of Steel 2nd + Templars)

Vengeance of the Temple, the premuim Griffin miracle, works on Lodge of Hod fighters and Characters too. You can take Priestess of Steel (2nd incarnation), a lot of Templars of Hod and, probably, even Misericord to use Master Strike/1 provided by Vengeance. You can also use the most popular miracles like Angel of Light Summoning, Celestial Inspiration or Renouncement.
Why there is no army list here? Because you can use this idea with Templars Brothers in any Temple list, and Brothers are much better than Templars of Hod. So you're going to use some Temple instead of the Lodge.
Feel free to use the idea if you need some Lodge advantages and they are worth downgrading your Templars in your eyes.

--------------------- OVERALL:
Lodge of Hod is difficult to play effectively, if you're really playing in their style: scouting and assassination performed by low-RES troops. A competent player can do wonders with such troops, however. Still, I believe that the best results can be achieved by the "traditional" approach, like in my last army: just take the crusade advantages you need and select the best available minis. The Lodge has brilliant commander (Venerable Ambrosius) and greatly improves your Culverin, providing Solo to "scoutize" cannon servants and counters to reroll the failed AIM rolls. Lodge is the best crusade for cannons; if you are their fan, you're going to love it. In larger formats you will be able to field several cannons and quickly dispatch the overpriced things your opponents are going to field
Fluff-wise, this crusade is one of the richest. There are lot of well-known Characters and some special troops. I really doubt that Hod heroes were big fans of cannons, but they would use one should they have it, i guess
Samo ono što činimo iz ljubavi, činimo slobodno, pa ma koliko patnje iz toga proizašlo.

Istina rađa mržnju. Ko govori istinu, često se zamera drugima.
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novot
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Re: The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Post by novot »

CRUSADE: THE INQUISITION
----------------------------------------------
Crusade/Holy warriors (2 A.P.): Before every Tactical Roll one Griffin can be chosen for every even incomplete 100 A.P. of Griffins still present on the battlefield. Until the end of the round their hand-to-hand weapons are sacred.
This Crusade is the most expensive: paying extra 2AP for each non-Inquisition fighter is a huge disadvantage for the low-cost troops. Fighters that don't pay these 2AP are Sisters of the Inquisition, Klayne and Saphon the Purifier, but Sisters are too fragile, and Klayne is inferior to Eschelius the Ardent that has slightly lower INI, STR and RES, but more than compensates for it with his magic.
Saphon the Purifier with Absolution is very, very good - he's probably the best shooter in the whole game. For 105 AP you get two STR 10 shots per turn at range up to 60 cm that needs only 2+/3+ to hit, and at close range "1" is not a failure - even a Culverin cannot provide such results! Saphon costs more than a Culverin with its crew, though, but he's a good leader (DIS 8 and Authority), his mobility is much better, and he can perform some miracles.
One relic is reserved to Inquisition Characters: Phylactery of Cremation (found in Saphon blister). Your faithful gets +1 Alteration aspect - extremely useful for Saphon who has no Alteration and needs +1 to learn a second Fervor 2 miracle. The Phylactery allows you to exchange T.F. of the faithful to gems of Fire for the magician within aura of faith and vice versa. This enables some very interesting possibilities: give Melkion tons of mana to launch a lot of spells, or give Priestess of Steel a lot of T.F. to perform Burning of the Infidels. Unfortunately, you cannot have Saphon and Melkion in 400AP army!
How good is the Crusade capacity? At the beginning of the game you get 4 fighters with sacred weapons per round. Sacred weapons mean 1/6 chance of killing outright (instead of just 1/36), so it works best for minis with high INI and ATT, but low STR: with low INI/ATT it's going to miss or be attacked first and lose some efficiency; and with high STR do you need sacred weapons against most typical enemies? According to xysing, sacred weapon has a psychological effect on your enemy, because even a weakest Spearman has a decent chance to kill a mighty warrior with it. I don't think that sacred weapons are going to scare the competent opponent or force him to make mistakes, though.
Sacred weapons are very good, but you'll have to pay for them, and, more importantly, they work only in melee, so your advantage will be minimal or nonexistant until you engage in hand-to-hand combat involving multiple fighters. This may be difficult to achieve, if your enemy tries to avoid melee, since Griffins aren't very fast, and this may be too dangerous against melee armies who can be stronger than you. Taking losses, you will lose the number of sacred weapons, but the weapons aren't attached to certain minis, as are artifacts, and your opponent cannot just get rid of several minis to disable the sacred weapons.
The most advantageous candidates for sacred weapons are assassins (Executioners/Shanys the Shadow), Inquisitors with Incandescent Chastiment and scouts (Thallions). If you roll three dice for Damage roll and select any two of them, your chance of Kill Outright is 44.44%, which is pretty high. You still need to hit, but in case of Incandescent Chastiment EACH blow has the same properties, which assures almost inevitable slaughter - unless your enemy has sacred armor, of course. If you give sacred weapon to a scout, you can assassinate some weak, but important target - and Thallions have decent INI and ATT to succeed.
Note that Inquisitors and Templar of the Inquisition are NOT bound to Inquisition, so you will have to pay 2AP for each of them. Though this fact is probably good (It would be impossible to use them in other themes otherwise), it doesn't make these troops "default" for the Inquisition, as Templar Brothers are "default" for all Temples. The only good combo here is sacred weapons + Incandescent Chastiment, but Chastiment has Frequency 1, so I don't think that you HAVE to use Inquisitors here. On the other hand, Praetorians already have sacred weapons when Master-Striking, so I guess you have to use Inquisitors just due to the lack of other good melee troops

Solo/Exorcist (4 A.P.): A fighter with POW acquires the magical path of exorcism. If he already has it on his card, then he gets a +1 in POW.
I have absolutely nothing to add to xysing's analysis here, though my conclusion is much less enthusiastic. Exorcism has just few good spells to spend 4AP for gaining access to them. One of these spells is Inquisition's Grace, but it affects only Inquisitors, Darkness Hunters and Templars of the Inquisition, so there is little sense of giving this spell to Melkion or other mages outside this list.
The only mage having Exorcism so far is Darkness Hunter, and getting +1 POW for 4AP is outstanding. Unfortunately, the Hunter costs 34 AP, and if you add crusade cost and this Solo, you will get 40 AP. Who is going to waste 40 AP for a mage with DEF 4 and RES 3 with very limited spell selection, even if he has POW 3?
Sadly, we have absolutely useless Solo here. With a few extra good Exorcism spells and even one extra decent mage with Exorcism, it could be very popular

Solo/Dogmatic (5 A.P.): A faithful can absorb enemy spell once per round. To do so, he spends T.F. points instead of mana gems. These points can neutralize any category of gem except those used to cast instinctive magic spells.
This ability is often overlooked, though it's actually very powerful and can easily make a difference between victory and loss. Griffins have several good faithful with a lot of T.F. and without any good ways to spend it - especially Warrior-Monks that simply cannot learn enough miracles to spend all T.F.
Saphon is the best example here: being a Zealot, he gains 2 T.F + one T.F. for each even incomplete group of two believers each round. He can learn just one miracle - so, he almost always has unused T.F. to absorb enemy spells. He needs to see the caster and be within the spell range, but there are lot of long-ranged spells, and your ability to counter one of them each round may force your opponent to abandon his plan of killing Saphon with magic, providing immense advantage. You can absorb Tower of Destruction, Fireball, Chimerical Glaive - virtually any damage-dealing spell, and if the spell has Frequency 1, enemy mage will be unable to cast it again. Saphon with Absolution already costs 105 AP, so extra 5 AP won't be too meaningful. With a bit of luck, your Saphon can even absorb Elemental Summoning - will you refuse to pay 5AP for this?

Solo/Tormentor (5 A.P.): A mage can censure an enemy faithful once per round. To do so, he spends gems of Fire instead of T.F. points.
This effect is much less likely to be useful than Dogmatic for three reasons: faithful aren't as popular as mages; many popular miracles are short-ranged, and your mage has to be in miracle's range to censure; mages almost never have "unused" gems, and if they have some surplus, you may wish to keep it as an insurance from a bad recovery roll.
On the other hand, censuring miracles is much simpler than countering or absorbing spells. Each gem will lower the result of Divination roll, and in most cases 2-3 gems will be enough to foil any miracle. For instance, Sentence of the Condemned has Difficulty 6, and Magistrate needs to roll 4+ to succeed. Spend two gems, and he will need 6+, which is very unlikely (though he's Illuminated and rerolls 5, so his chances with several dice are still pretty high).
I don't expect this Solo to be very popular. Casting your own spells is almost always better than spending gems on censure and paying 5 AP for that privilege.

****** ARMY INQ-1: The Celestial Inquisition (Saphon the Purifier+Priestess of Steel)

Currently most common Inquisition armies are build without Saphon, but, IMHO, this is a huge mistake. Without the ranged threats your army will easily lose to the shooters/casters, and what ranged threat can be better than Saphon with Absolution? Inquisition can't afford a lot of Fusiliers (paying 2 AP for each is very painful), while one Culverin is less effective than a well-buffed Saphon, and its crew is more fragile.

Saphon the Purifier [95+10+5=110]
+ Absolution [10]
+ Solo/Dogmatic [5]
----
Avenging Arm (2) Diff 7, +1 d6 on counter-attacks

Priestess of Steel 2nd Inc/HW [65+13=78]
+ Aegis of Lahn [13]
------------
Angel of Light Summoning (2) Diff 6
Summary Execution (?) Diff 7
Celestial Inspiration (2) Target's COU (6)
Miraculous Reprieve (2-4) Diff 7
Celestial Promise (2) Diff 7 -1 INI/ATT/DEF, range 30 cm, can perform several times!

Griffin Inquisitor/HW [34]
+ Inquisition's Grace (1) Diff 6, Freq 2, to Inquisitor/Templar of Inq/Darkness Hunter
Griffin Inquisitor/HW [34]
+ Incandescent Chastiment (2) Diff 6, Freq 1, roll 3 die for damage & select any two
Templar of the Inquisition/HW *2 [62]
Griffin Executioner/HW [22]
Griffin Thallions/HW * 2 [60]
--------
400 AP for 9 minis/7 cards

This army uses the traditional Griffin "firebase" approach: use Saphon to force enemies to engage you, then use your sacred weapons to overcome in melee. The only non-melee miniature here is Priestess of Steel: Saphon is quite able to kill average troops in melee, especially with sacred weapon, so you have 322 AP of melee fighters that should easily cut any "melee monsters" into pieces. Besides Saphon, you have two sets of "assassination combo" - Executioner and Inquisitor with Incandescent Chastiment, two charges of Inquisition's Grace per round and very serious divination support.
As usual, Saphon uses Avenging Arm to get additional dice for counterattacks. Weapon of Angels is just the best miracle for 1 Fervor - though I'm not sure whether you need Master Strike if you already have sacred weapons. Celestial Inspiration is a very good buff, and Saphon should have enough T.F to power it. You'll probably get the best results from pumping the Inquisitor with Incandescent Chastiment, not Saphon, since Saphon cannot roll 3 dice for damage. You have some decent healing (Angels of Light + Miraculous Reprieve), and, finally, you have Aegis of Lahn that can provide additional Defence die to Saphon. The Aegis also allows Priestess to perform Celestial Promise - a very effective miracle against super-monsters like Aberration Prime, Wolves, Drunes and so on.
Is one Saphon enough to represent a serious ranged threat? Definitely. Using Rapid Reloading, you get two STR 10 shots per round - if needed, with Bull's Eye provided by Summary Execution. That's enough to kill any mage in 1-2 turns, or eliminate cannon servants, and so on. As long as Saphon has Harassment and his Medium range is 60 cm, he can easily overcome even Azure Hunters: run, shoot and move back. One hit is enough to turn a Hunter into a sitting duck in this duel, even if he survives.

****** ARMY INQ-2: Judging with Blades (Eschelius the Ardent)

You don't have to play Inquisition to use Escheluis. But as long as he is alive, you will have at least two sacred weapons, and in the following army one extra Inquisitor is enough to have more than 200 AP and at least three sacred weapons. I must admit that this army differs from the traditional Eschelius armies (with Guardian Angel), but I simply don't believe in armies with MOV 10 and without any serious ranged threats. That's why my Eschelius launches Fireballs!

Eschelius the Ardent/HW [151+21=172]
+ Blade of Last Judgement [21]
----
Witches' Stake (0) 1 Fire Diff=POW, Freq 1, after countering/absorbing spell inflict STR 10 dmg to caster
Inquisition's Grace (1) 2 Fire Diff=6, Freq 2, cancel one dmg roll to Inquisitor/Templar of Inq/Darkness Hunter
Merin's Justice (2) 2 Fire Diff=8, Freq 1, set victim's wounds = inquisitor's, reduces own wounds 1 level.
Fireball (4) 3+(1-3) Fire Diff 11, Freq 1, range 25 cm, STR 11-15 hit

Griffin Inquisitor/HW [34]
+ Incandescent Chastiment (2) Diff 6, Freq 1, roll 3 die for damage & select any two
Griffin Inquisitor/HW [34]
+ Forced March (2) Diff 7, Freq 2, target makes additional move
Templar of the Inquisition/HW *2 [62]
Templar of the Inquisition/HW *2 [62]
Darkness Hunter 1/HW [36]
+ Immolation (2) 1 Fire, Diff 6, Freq unlimited, +1 ATT or STR until target suffers a wound.
----
400 AP for 8 minis/6 cards

You need two other Inquisitors to give Eschelius +2 to POW rolls that he really needs for his Fireballs. Why Fireball? Because Scourge is not a "spell of Fire", and Blade will not return any gems for it, as well as for Ball of Flames or Arrows of Hecate that have Unlimited frequency, and, unfortunately, Eschelius cannot cast Chimerical Glaive. Why the mana is so important? Because you will need to cast Grace two times per turn, and that's 4 mana. If you're getting 2 mana back from each Fireball, it becomes the cheapest destruction spell!
Inquisition's Grace should belong to Eschelius, since you cannot afford losing it with another Inquisitor. In this army, you can fight and win even without both Inquisitors. Besides, a POW 2 Inquisitor will have problems with casting it twice per turn. Witches' Stake is free, so you should take it "just in case"; Eschelius really can counter opposing spells and STR 10 hit for 1 mana is very cool!
Merin's Justice, IMHO, is a spell that should belong to every Eschelius build. Who else is mighty enough to cast such spells in contact with the enemy? Oh, and who else is able to cast a Redemption/Exorcism spell with Diff 8? Merin's Justice is incredibly powerful, it inflicts wounds regardless to the enemy DEF or RES, so you can easily turn a mighty monster into a wounded weakling. When the victim's INI, ATT and DEF are lowered, inflicting 1-2 final wounds should be easy enough.
The rest of the army is pretty clear: two Inquisitors, a lot of resilient Templars and Darkness Hunter - just because he fit into the remaining points Nevertheless, Immolation is a good spell, especially if you have sacred weapons and need only high ATT to deliver the blow. Forced March is a wonderful trick here: your Eschelius can walk 10 cm, then activate, cast Fireball and charge the selected target up to 20 cm away.

****** ARMY INQ-3: Melkion's Spell Storm (Melkion + Priestess)

This army was created by tiger and discussed here:http://en-forum.confrontation.fr/viewtopic.php?t=30926. As described by the creator, the idea of this army is simple: Melkion casts damaging spells, and when he needs more mana, he just takes T.F. from the Priestess. I've replaced one Thallion and Tower of Destruction with two Consecrated Fusiliers that should enforce the long-range capabilities and provide more T.F. I've also reworked spells and miracles lists: if you have Melkion, you should want Fire Elemental, especially in the "bizarre" army that lacks really good melee fighters.

Melkion the Flaming/HW [80+15=95]
+ The Magician 15
-----------
Summoning of Fire (3), No Diff, 5 Fire, Freq unique
Celestial Scourge (4) Diff 10, 1-2 Light + X, Freq 2
Mystical Galvanization (1) 3 Diff 7, Freq 2, INI/ATT/DEF/AIM/POW/DIV rolls+1 until end of round
Forced March (2) 2 Diff 7, Freq 2, target makes additional move

Priestess of Steel/HW [45+14+12=71]
+ Phylactery of cremation 14
+ Inspiration (+1 creation) 12
------
+ Angel summoning (2)
+ Miraculous reprieve (2-4)
+ Celestial Inspiration (2)
+ Renouncement (3)
+ Weapon of Angels (1)

Griffin Inquisitor/HW [34]
+ Incandescent Chastiment Diff 6, Freq 1, roll 3 die for damage & select any two

Thallions/HW * 3 [90]
Thallions/HW * 2 [60]
Fusilier/HW/Consecrated * 2 [48]
----
398 AP for 10 minis/6 cards

Don't expect tournament victories from this army: after all, it was inteded just to demonstrate the power of Arcanum I and Phylactery. But it's rather flexible, and your ranged support may be good enough to diminish the enemies while they're dealing with the elemental. Renouncement should help against giant and fast beasties like Aberration Prime. Mystical Galvanization is good for Fusiliers while enemies are outside Scourge's range, for Melkion himself to help casting Scourge and to fight (with a sacred weapon, Melkion suddenly becomes quite dangerous in melee!), and for Inquisitor to deliver his judgement strike.
And don't forget that you have 5 good scouts that can assassinate AND you can give these scouts sacred weapons! Another trick is "launching" the Inquisitor or Thallions towards the important target with Forced March. This is probably the strongest possible assassination Griffin army except for the dedicated Lodge of Hod armies.

--------------------- OVERALL:
Surpringly, during writing this review I realized that I don't like Inquisition, though it's considered one of the best Griffin themes. The major weakness is lack of ranged support: this theme has absolutely nothing for Fusiliers and Culverins, the most popular Griffin shooters. Moreover, it's even negative for them, since you have to pay extra 2AP for each, which is very much for Fusiliers, and these troops don't need sacred weapons. Without the ranged support, Griffins are sluggish ironclads with MOV 10, and you will be very limited in tactics despite any melee advantages. You can compensate for this with Saphon or Melkion, but one miniature won't replace a good squad of Fusiliers, and you spend too much AP on non-melee minis. Yes, sacred weapons are good - but there are other ways to get them. Praetorians have sacred weapons during their Master Strikes, and there is a miracle with a very low Difficulty 5, Avenging Arm of Merin, that makes melee weapon sacred.
In larger formats, Inquisition becomes even worse, since you still have one Incandescent Chastiment with Freq 1 and one Inquisition's Grace with Freq 2, but you have much more troops. You also have one Saphon and one Melkion, though adding them together enables really good ranged support. In 1000 AP, Inquisition will definitely be much weaker than Imperial Army with Aerth or than Lodge of Hod with a battery of Culverins, or than Temple of the South led by Sered.




ADVANTAGES OF THE TEMPLES
Some of the best Griffin tricks are reserved to the "Temple" troops or Templars. Fluff-wise, there is no surprise: Griffins are extremely religious, and Temples represent their best elite troops. Some of them are so good that almost every Temple army uses them as a "core fighters", so I decided to discuss them prior to moving to advantages and tactics of different Temples - to avoid repeating the same things over and over again. As long as you can't use the "Temple" troops outside the Temple, their availability is alone a huge advantage of the Temples that's often overlooked. You also don't have to pay Crusade costs for the "Temple" troops, which makes them even more attractive for all Temples (except Temple of the South that has no crusade cost).

Templar Brother (25 AP). MOV 10, INI 3, ATT/STR 4/6, DEF/RES 4/9, COU 4, DIS 5.
Fanaticism. Bravery. War Fury. Temple.
This is the most popular Griffin fighter. Open any Temple list, and you will find some Templar Brothers (TB). They aren't "amazing" or "overpowered", but Griffins simply don't have better troops in this point range. TBs have average Griffin's MOV and low INI which is compensated by high RES and decent DIS.
Templar Brothers have a good punch (4/6) which is quite rare for such points: even the low-end Griffin Warrior Characters (Abel and Severian) have only 4/7! But the actual performance of TBs is much higher, since all its abilities have the great synergy in "berserking" (placing all dice to attack). Use War Fury to get +1 die, and all dice would be automatically placed to attack. Bravery will provide +1 ATT, Fanaticism - +1 to Damage rolls. Finally, you will get 5/7 "berserker" with an extra attack die, but without any defense. 25 AP is a very good price for this beastie, and most Temples even add some additional powers for free!
Things aren't that great, though. Templar Brothers are NOT "broken" by any means, and, actually, they are even difficult to use properly. They aren't good harassers due to the low MOV, and they are poor "blockers" due to the "berserker" stance - if you try to defend, you will lose all TB's advantages. Opponent knows that you are going to place all dice to attack, so his strikes will hit unless he would roll "1". RES 9 is very good for a 25AP soldier, but it alone wouldn't keep TB alive for long. The worst thing is the tactical disanvantage: Griffins have low INI, and they are more likely to be charged than to charge themselves (due to low MOV) that's going to incur charge penalties to INI/ATT/DEF. With lower INI your TB is going to strike last, and each suffered wound will lower his INI/ATT/DEF even further, so the enemy will be able to defend against his attacks.
Comparing Templar Brother to the "pure assault" troops like Drune Karnagh (28AP) is very interesting. Karnagh has MOV 12.5, INI 4, ATT/STR 4/8, DEF/RES 4/5, COU 5 and DIS 3, he is Brutal and Possessed. In one-to-one battle Drune is going to charge due to higher MOV, so he's going to win Initiative roll and strike first. Yes, he will have only two dice against Brother's three, but his STR 8 is quite enough to inflict at least light wound against RES 9. Your TB is going to hit in return, and his STR will also be enough against RES 5, even with wound penalties, but Karnagh is Possessed, so he treats wounds as they were one level lower. If your TB would survive the second blow, he will hit two times more and is likely to get an advantage in this fight, though he is cheaper and was charged! Note, however, the word "if"... unfortunately, in the real life Drunes will pump their troops much better than you will be able to pump yours. Karnagh is a "light cavalry" - it's good for fast and deadly strikes at the weak points, but completely unsuitable for the defense. Following this analogy, Templar Brothers is an "armored maceman": it can hit more frequently with a good strength, but it is going to strike last, and it also isn't suitable for parrying. If I had a choice, I would prefer "swordsman": balanced soldiers that could attack and defend. Unlike light cavalry, armored macemen were never considered good troops for the war, and Karnagh can perform important missions like harassing weak mages/faithful that are impossible for TB.
Another interesting comparison is Cynwall Truth Warrior (TW) for 20 AP. He has same INI and MOV, ATT/STR 4/8, DEF/RES 3/7, Concentration/1 and Ruthless (always incurs charge penalties to the enemy). The lower DEF doesn't matter, as they both aren't going to defend, while the lower RES is compensated by higher STR. This is a focused "kamikaze", and you may be surprised to see that against TB he isn't going to perform much worse than Karnagh. The difference between 20 and 25 AP is huge: for 100AP you will have 5 TWs, but only 4 TBs. In a battle between these two forces, though, Elves are going to have 10 combat dice, while Griffins will have 13 (+1 for the lower numbers), and if they found a way to use these dice effectively, they are going to win.
Are Templar Brothers good or bad, then? The answer is: this depends on your playing skill and luck. TBs cannot harass enemy mages/commanders/shooters and cannot protect yours from shooting and spells. They can screen your troops against slow chargers, but faster ones will find a way unless the map is filled with obstacles. Thus, in the traditional "firebase" armies your TBs have just one task: counter-charging. They serve as a threat (come in range and I'll charge you) and "avengers" for the weaker troops (come charge my Fusilier and I'll charge you). [Yes, I know about the "pure melee" armies (something like Sered + a lot of TBs), but I don't like them for their slowness and lack of tactical options. You will easily lose most missions with such army: opponent will capture objectives and inflict you wounds at range.]
To get the most from your TBs, you should do your best to avoid charge penalties (charge yourself if you can!) and to win Initiative. Here are some examples of such tactics:

1). Renouncement is a *great* miracle for Griffins not only since it saves your fighter, but due to the fact that your Templar Brothers (and other slow troops) can charge the renounced enemy. Ideally, your Fusiliers will also shoot at the enemy prior to charging
2). All troops with high INI make a good support for Templar Brothers (or vice versa). Thallion is a good example: if opponent charged your TB, Thallion can counter-charge (even with Assault Fire!) and help you to win the tactical roll. This really makes a huge difference: your TB was charged by Karnagh and had INI 2 against 4, but after Thallion's charge Karnagh will have INI 3, and your base INI will be 5 (Thallion's 4 + 1 for the second fighter), even if Thallion's shot will miss. Sometimes you have an important character with high INI that is guarded by Templars who make a well use of that INI. Melkion has INI 6, and even if somebody charges him, you will still have great chances to win the Iniative roll after you counter-charge with the TBs.
3). If you have a way to use attack dice of your TBs faster than one per round, you should consider these possibilities, since your TBs can be killed before they will have a chance of using the last die. TBs have an additional attack die that can be easily sacrificed to inflict more serious wounds in the first round of combat rather than waiting for the third one. Vengeance of the Temple provides Master Strike that can "eat" the extra die to provide you somewhat better chances. If you're splitting the fray, you can make two enemy fighters to fight with a single TB and attack both enemies twice.

You should remember that Templar Brothers are very bad against well-defended monsters with Ambidexterity: they simply cannot penetrate the defense and cannot survive the resulting attacks. I remember the horrible battle of my Templars against Cynwall Quasar (ATT/STR 6/11, DEF/RES 5/11, Add.Limb, Ambidexterity, Born Killer, Master Strike/0): my opponent simply put all his dice to Defense and parried all attacks, then wounded/killed my TBs. Quasar costs as three TBs, but if you try to engage it with three TBs, you are likely to suffer much more wounds than you will inflict. Use magic, shooting or your own monster against such beasts.
What to do with the beast if you have only TBs as the melee troops? Sometimes you have to sacrifice some fighters to win, and this is such case. Try to defend with a single TB and hope that your martyr will survive for a turn. Yes, you can try to defend with TB, even losing advantages of Fanaticism, Bravery and War Fury. Sometimes you simply cannot win the combat and should just struggle to avoid the pursuit movement of the beast. Sometimes you have to shoot into the fray, even risking to kill your wounded TB, since 4-5 Fusiliers really can stun Quasar and even inflict a Light Wound - such serious penalties are going to allow your TBs to charge and kill the beast.

Templar War-Staff (23 AP*2). MOV 10, INI 3, ATT/STR 3/4, DEF/RES 4/7, COU 4, DIS 5.
Fanaticism. Bravery. War Fury. Leadership/10. Temple.
This is the best war-staff Griffins have, and it's much better than war-staffs of most other factions, since it's quite durable and can inflict some damage if needed. Both Musician and Standard-Bearer are the downgraded versions of Temple Brother: -1 ATT, -2 STR and RES. Unfortunately, all these stats are the most important for TBs, so you can't expect great combat performance of them. Still, they will get +1 ATT/STR and extra attack dice when War Furying, so they can easily kill a cheap fighter or archer if needed.
If you're using the war-staff, then you should direly need to win the Tactical roll without a commander or with a low-DIS commander: you don't need it if you have Arkhos. Winning the Tactical roll is the most important for the "firebase" armies that need to shoot after enemy movement or charge prior to the movement. You always risk to lose the war-staff if your opponent decide to deny the +2 DIS bonus, but the Templar war-staff can defend no worse than TB, though its RES is lower, so it's going to perform its job.
War-staff is ideal for Consecration, if you need extra Faith. It isn't meant to engage in serious fight, so it can both guard your Priestess of Steel and provide Faith to her.


Chaplain of the Temple (35 AP). Templar Brother + Warrior-Monk (Devout) 1/0/1 and Faithful of Merin/10.
Provides Implacable/1 to himself and all Templars/Templar Brothers in aura of faith
If you need a cheap supporting warrior-monk that could do something in melee, Chaplain is the only choice. He isn't very cheap, but he is strictly better than TB, and that's outstanding. He can take only one miracle, but his T.F. reserve isn't limited and can be quite high, so he's going to have spare T.F that can be used to pump Celestial Inspiration or for other purposes. The miracle can also require a lot of T.F. - for instance, Summary Execution takes 1 T.F. for each affected marksman.
Implacable/1 is good only if you have a LOT of TBs, since one TB will rarely manage to kill two enemies in one turn to use Implacable. But if you have 5-6 TBs, then your squads can metodically kill even the stronger enemies one by one.
You have to pay 10 AP over the regular Templar Brother for the additional abilities: one miracle, accumulating T.F. for other purposes and Implacable/1 for all TBs. If you really need all this, it will be well worth 10 AP. The most obvious miracles for Chaplain are the mentioned Summary Execution or Celestial Inspiration: both "eat" a lot of T.F. and provide the great results, so 10 AP is a good price for them, especially if you have no other Faithful in your army. You may also need Chaplains to accumulate T.F. in Temple of the East... but we'll talk about that later. Chaplain can also summon Angels of Light (even one Angel is worth extra 10 AP) and perform other interesting things. If you have 10 AP, converting one of your TBs to Chaplain can be a very good idea.


Vengeance of the Temple (Miracle, 1/1/1, Fervour 3, Diff 7) All friendly Templars (and fighters "of the Temple" except for Templars of the Inquisition) have Master Strike/1 as long as they are in the aura of faith.
This miracle is very powerful, since it can pump half of your army or even more. Master Strike/1 is very good for TBs, since they have an additional attack die that can be happily traded to deal more damage in the first round of combat. At maximum, Master Strike will provide +5 STR, which is very solid. When such boon affects a lot of fighters at once, it can make a difference between a victory and a loss.
Vengeance doesn't grant "sure victory", though: your TBs still need to hit, and their ATT isn't very high. If you suspect that enemy is likely to defend against the attack, it would probably better to avoid Master Strikes and hope to outnumber the enemy with your dice. My greatest mistake was an attempt to use Master Strike against Quasar: I just lost the dice, since all attacks were parried. Vengeance highlights the major rule of TBs: try to win Initiative and attack first. With Master Strike you will have base STR 11 (12 with Fanaticism bonus), so you can hope to inflict at least serious wound against average enemies. If you can increase ATT of your TBs (or decrease DEF of your enemies), do it!
Vengeance is hard to use: only Sered and Priestess of Steel (2nd Inc.) can perform it. It's probably the second greatest trump in the Griffin divination arsenal after Renouncement.
Samo ono što činimo iz ljubavi, činimo slobodno, pa ma koliko patnje iz toga proizašlo.

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novot
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Re: The Ways of Light- pregled armija

Post by novot »

Ovim je upotpunjena lista armija Ways of Light.
Samo ono što činimo iz ljubavi, činimo slobodno, pa ma koliko patnje iz toga proizašlo.

Istina rađa mržnju. Ko govori istinu, često se zamera drugima.
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