Wanderers Shadespire Warband

[Joeggrenaut]

To placate a good friend who has been a long time, die-hard Wood Elf/Wanderer fanatic, I decided to attempt to create a customized warband for Shadespire. I'm still early into playing the game, and therefore development is a bit premature, but I thought it'd be good to reach out to the community and get some valuable feedback that could help the process. Any thoughts on the brainstorming below is much appreciated.

Theory behind the warband:  I noticed that the warbands thus far have focused on the basic rank-and-file rather than elite troops and heroes (e.g. Liberators, Bloodreavers, Ard Boyz, Skeleton Warriors). To me, it seems the Wanderers have two basic level troops in the Glade Guard and Eternal Guard. Eternal Guard just seem to fit much better. The Glade Guard with their long-range bows wouldn't work well with the scope of small arena skirmishes in my opinion.

Like most Elves, the Wanderers should have good movement and be fairly skilled.  Their weakness would be a relatively low damage output and toughness. The nice thing about the Eternal Guard is that they have some resilence and decent defensive capabilities which would could be represented quite well in Shadespire (e.g. Fortress of Boughs). 4 fighters seemed appropriate for this warband, as they would be more elite than Blood Reavers but less so than Stormcasts, a comparable level to Ironjaw Ard Boyz (though their stat layout is quite different). Even though Eternal Guard is a melee unit, they have spears which would give them access to range 2 attacks in Shadespire. This would result in a warband that likes to evade and engage from a distance, to chip away at the enemy in order mitigate losing its low-wound fighters to heavy hand-to-hand melee. I have attempted to design their warband specific deck to allow for tactical flexibility, allowing the Wanderers to either accentuate their movement, attacks, or defensive capabilities.

With these things in mind, I designed 2 fighters armed with the eternal guard spear-staves. They have comparable stats but one has a shield and is more defensive, while the other has forgone the extra protection of a shield to allow for more fluidity in his attack. Since the Eternal Guard spear-staves are double-ended they would allow the one unburdened by a shield to spin the spear around in both hands which I have represented with an "all adjacent enemy fighters" attack. This dichotomy of defender and aggressor can be accentuated more depending on the upgrades you choose.

The third fighter has either lost or forsaken his spear for the use of aelven daggers. This fighter has a range of 4 if he throws his daggers, but mediocre chances of hitting and does not cause more than 1 damage even when inspired. His attack is a little more reliable but still weak if he attacks up-close with his daggers in hand, which is a bit of a risk with him because he only has 2 wounds. He is the most acrobatic of the bunch and his upgrades play to his ability to move and position himself.

The leader of the group is armed with a sword and shield. He has a very reliable attack (3 Hammers), and does more damage than the others in his warband (2 base, and 3 inspired). He however has to get in close to deal that damage, so you probably want to pick away at the enemy with the other aelves and use him to close in for the kill, or have him act as support for your other fighters when there is little chance of reprisal (use aelves' superior movement to isolate enemies or go after enemies that have already charged). He is definitely an important fighter but there is a risk in using him too aggressively as he is your only fighter that has no ranged attack and can therefore be easily left open to attack if he is always on the frontline. He probably beneifts the most from defensive upgrades. There are also a couple of cards in the deck I designed that make him a good support character for the rest of the warband (e.g. Fortress of Boughs, For the Everqueen!).

Currently, every fighter levels up from rolling a CRITICAL during an Attack action, as a nod to their aelven finesse.

Fighters: (Improvements are in bold under Inspired stats)

1A.) Orthos (Leader); armed w/sword and shield

Mv5, 1Shield, 3Wnds; Attack: Rng1, Hm3, Dmg2; Action: May move up to 2 hexes and go on guard in same activation. This counts as a Move action (i.e. may not charge or move for the remainder of this action phase).

1B.) Orthos Inspired

Mv5, 1 Shield, 3 Wnds; Attack: Rng1, Hm3, Dmg3; Action: May move up to 2 hexes and go on guard in same activation. This counts as a Move action (i.e. may not charge or move for the remainder of this action phase).

 

2A.) Maethon; armed w/spear-stave and shield

Mv5, 1Shield, 3Wnds; Attack: Rng2, Hm1, Dmg1

2B.) Maethon Inspired

 Mv 5, 1 Shield, 3 Wnds; Attack: Rng2, Hm2, Dmg2; Action: May move up to 2 hexes and go on guard in same activation. This counts as a Move action (i.e. may not charge or move for the remainder of this action phase).

 

3A.) Fainor; armed w/spear-stave (bladed on both ends)

Mv5,  1Dodge, 3Wnds; Attack 1: Rng2, Hm1, Dmg1; Attack 2: Rng1, Swrd2, Dmg1 (targets all adjacent enemy fighters)

3B.) Fainor Inspired

Mv5,  1Dodge, 3Wnds; Attack 1: Rng2, Hm2, Dmg2; Attack 2: Rng1, Swrd3, Dmg1 (targets all adjacent enemy fighters)

 

4A.) Caleth; armed with throwing daggers

Mv5, 1 Dodge, 2Wnds; Attack 1: Rng4, Swrd2, Dmg1; Attack 2: Rng1, Swrd3, Dmg1

4B.) Caleth Inspired

Mv5, 2 Dodge, 2Wnds; Attack 1: Rng4, Swrd2, Dmg1 (cleaves on crit.); Attack 2: Rng1, Swrd3, Dmg2

 

Cards: 

Sound the Horn	Objective	1 Glory-Score this immediately if 2 or more fighters become Inspired in the same action phase.
Steel and Smoke	Objective	1 Glory-Score this immediately if 2 or more fighters successfully defend enemy attacks in the same action phase.
The Glorious Hunt	Objective	1 Glory-Score this immediately if your warband has taken two or more fighters out of action in this phase.
Shadow War	Objective	1 Glory-Score this in an end phase if none of your survivng fighters are adjacent to an enemy fighter.
Blades from the Dark	Objective	2 Glory-Score this immediately if 2 or more enemy fighters have been taken out by attacks with a range of 2 or greater in the same action phase.
Assailants	Objective	2 Glory-Score this in an end phase if all of your surviving fighters are in your opponent's territory. (3/4P: in any of your enemies' territories)
Valiant Command	Objective	2 Glory-Score this in the third end phase if your leader has not been taken out of action.
Dominate the Field	Objective	3 Glory-Score this in an end phase if you hold 3 or more objectives.
Ageless Guardians	Objective	5 Glory-Score this in the third end phase if none of your fighters are out of action.
Distraction	Ploy	Attacks in the next activation cannot be supported.
For the Everqueen!	Ploy	Choose a friendly fighter adjacent to your leader and roll three dice. If at least one results in a CRITICAL the selected fighter becomes Inspired.
Go to Cover	Ploy	During the next Attack activation, add 1 Support to the target's Defence roll for each adjacent blocked hex.
Ensnare	Ploy	In the next Attack activation, any friendly fighters within 2 hexes of the target count as support.
Flip	Ploy	One friendly fighter adjacent to an enemy fighter may be placed on an unoccupied hex adjacent to that same enemy fighter.
Calculated Attack	Ploy	Re-roll 1 attack die during the next activation.
Hit and Run	Ploy	Reaction: Play this after a friendly fighter performs an attack that is not part of a Charge action. You can push that fighter up to three hexes.
Deflect Momentum	Ploy	Reaction: When a friendly fighter would normally be knocked back, this fighter may instead push to any adjacent hex.
Unrelenting Pursuit	Ploy	Reaction: When an enemy fighter ends a Move or Charge action further away from an adjacent friendly fighter than it started, the same friendly fighter may immediately move up to 2 hexes along the same path as the departing enemy fighter.
Between the Chinks	Ploy	The first Attack action in the next activation gains Cleave.
Fatal Blow	Upgrade	+1 Damage to successful critical Attacks.
Flock of Blades	Upgrade (Caleth)	Rng3, Swrd1, Dmg1 (may attack 3 visble enemies).
Evade	Upgrade (Caleth)	When this fighter successfully defends an enemy attack, they may push to any adjacent hex of their choice.
Leap	Upgrade (Fainor, Caleth)	During a move or charge action, this fighter may pass through one occupied hex.
Conviction	Upgrade (Fainor)	+1 Attack
Whirlwind of Death	Upgrade (Fainor)	During a Charge action, this fighter may perform an Attack action in one of the hexes it moves through rather than the hex it finishes its Charge action on.
Full Thrust	Upgrade (Maethon)	When this fighter Charges an adjacent enemy fighter that was not adjacent at the start of the Charge activation, they may add 1 Damage to their attack.
Shields Forward!	Upgrade (Orthos, Maethon)	+1 Defence
Fortress of Boughs	Upgrade (Orthos, Maethon)	If this fighter enters Guard, all adjacent friendly fighters may also go on Guard.
Parry	Upgrade (Orthos)	Rng1, Hm2, Dmg1 (Reaction: This fighter can make this Attack action against an adjacent enemy fighter who just failed an attack against it.)

 

[CyderPirate]

Really cool idea, and it looks like you've gone to lengths to make sure their pretty balanced. Let us know how you get on playing the warband, and any changes you'd make.  I was going to say that the range 4 attack might be a bit too strong, but swords and only 1 damage should go a long way towards keeping that under control. 

I love the level of detail that's gone into the cards/upgrades, too. All seem pretty reasonable and fluffy, too!

And show us some pics of your mate's warband when he converts/paints them up!

 

[ReynakZhen]

I like it! I feel that the ageless guardians objective should be a 5 glory as that one will be very difficult to pull off.

[Joeggrenaut]

Thanks for the feedback. ReynakZhen, I think you are probably correct about the Ageless Guardians. I will update.

[Joeggrenaut]

One thing I think I need to add for clarification is that the extra action available to Orthos, Orthos Inspired, and Maethon Inspired should read "May move up to 2 hexes and go on guard in the same activation unless this fighter has already performed a Move or Charge action during the current Action Phase."

I'd like to edit my original post to reflect any updates/revisions, but can't figure out how to. Does anybody know?

[ReynakZhen]

There isn't an edit option next to quote at the bottom of your post?

[Joeggrenaut]

Maybe I'm going crazy...I swear that edit button wasn't there earlier today.