{"id":280,"date":"2015-02-13T20:13:29","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T20:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/?p=280"},"modified":"2015-02-16T16:18:36","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T16:18:36","slug":"sealed-warband-3-lightning-arms-blood-war-boosters-x-2-200-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Sealed Warband 4: Lightning Arms (Blood War Boosters x 2, 200 points)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"marilith\"<\/a>The tingle in the air was palpable as the demon and her warband stepped upon the field.\u00a0 A Marilith, an abomination, six arms protruding from her snakelike body.\u00a0 Each held a vicious-looking cutting instrument, and even the Drow Enforcer that gazed upon her had no desire to test his swordplay against the terrifying creature.\u00a0 Her lightning-wielding lieutenants were close behind.\u00a0 First, her bodyguard of a hundred years, and if demons could have them, what one might call a friend.\u00a0 It was a huge stormlizard, it’s head the size of boulder, and the ground shook at its advance.\u00a0 A vivid blue lightning halo arced across its great azure body.\u00a0 Next, a Red Hand Sorcerer, vicious master of the elements, though his preferred magic was that of storm and lightning.<\/em><\/p>\n

Behind came the demon’s thralls, two heroes caught up in the Blood War, their minds wiped by wicked magics.\u00a0 A Harmonium Guard, his shield still polished, looking tormented by his betrayal.\u00a0 Contrasting his shame was a Hero of Valhalla, who didn’t need much convincing to fight as long as he was able to sheathe his sword in blood.\u00a0 The Sorcerer noted their numbers were fewer than their enemy, and he knew the Shadow Dragon opposing them could shred the humanoids should they stray too far from their master.\u00a0 Still, he trusted the great demon that led them; they had won a hundred battles together and the numbers of their foes slain was countless.<\/em><\/p>\n

The boosters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Booster 1<\/td>\nPoints<\/td>\nRarity<\/td>\nBooster 2<\/td>\nPoints<\/td>\nRarity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marilith<\/td>\n73<\/td>\nR<\/td>\nChasme<\/td>\n49<\/td>\nR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bluespawn Stormlizard<\/td>\n39<\/td>\nU<\/td>\nLarge Water Elemental<\/td>\n36<\/td>\nU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Red Hand War Sorcerer<\/td>\n34<\/td>\nU<\/td>\nLiving Flaming Sphere<\/td>\n26<\/td>\nU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soulknife Infliltrator<\/td>\n24<\/td>\nU<\/td>\nSoulknife Inflitrator<\/td>\n24<\/td>\nU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Doomguard<\/td>\n26<\/td>\nC<\/td>\nHarmonium Guard<\/td>\n27<\/td>\nC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Blood of Vol Cultist<\/td>\n18<\/td>\nC<\/td>\nHammerer<\/td>\n16<\/td>\nC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soldier of Bytopia<\/td>\n12<\/td>\nC<\/td>\nHero of Valhalla<\/td>\n11<\/td>\nC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Greenspawn Sneak<\/td>\n6<\/td>\nC<\/td>\nGreenspawn Sneak<\/td>\n6<\/td>\nC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A lot of 20 and 30-something point creatures make figuring out the optimal build a bit of a challenge.\u00a0 It also means there are going to be at least a couple of good, playable minis that aren’t going to make the cut.\u00a0 In this case, I chose not to play with the Large Water Elemental, even though it it a great creature for the points.\u00a0 Solid AC, good damage line, and decent special abilities.\u00a0 However, I took the Bluespawn Stormlizard<\/strong> in its place.\u00a0 The Bluespawn has +3AC and double the movement speed of the LWE.\u00a0 With 2 large minis per team, maneuvering becomes very important; one of the reasons for the final fall of the Blood Golem<\/strong> was its difficulty getting into a good position.\u00a0 The Bluespawn doesn’t get any use out of its Electricity Link, but a high DC Lightning Bolt<\/strong> and a hefty 20-damage attack (30 when charging) give it some damage potential.<\/p>\n

The Marilith<\/strong> is a big beastie, not much to say other than that.\u00a0 Putting down a potential 60 damage on any creature within 4 squares makes her threat area enormous by most creature’s standards.\u00a0 Maneuvering her into a position to use her Enhanced Mobility 2 plus Melee Reach 2<\/strong> to eliminate a big creature ASAP will determine whether Lightning Arms gets a win.<\/p>\n

It’s sad the Chasme<\/strong> is pretty bad as far as rares go.\u00a0 Maybe not as bad as the Zombie Ogre<\/strong>, but still.\u00a0 It’s main problem is it’s very weak attack line…sure, a potential 30 damage is good, but a +7 attack isn’t.\u00a0 It’s biggest strength is its Drone ability, but that is mainly for putting to sleep grunts who probably aren’t much of a threat anyway.\u00a0 With a 17 AC he can be shred pretty easily in a round or 2, especially if Drone doesn’t put several creatures to sleep.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe I’m underestimating the Flight 10+Drone combo, I’m just not sold on it…maybe I’ll try the band again + Chasme.<\/p>\n

I keep looking at the 2 Soulkife Infiltrators<\/strong> as well.\u00a0 Working with a Chasme<\/strong>, they could take down any sleeping enemies very quickly with both a Smite +10 and Melee\/Ranged Sneak Attack +10.\u00a0 They are pretty fragile, so my worry is they would just trade 1 for 1.<\/p>\n

I like the Red Hand War Sorcerer<\/strong> a lot.\u00a0 However, his value will depend on whether he gets 1-shot by the Shadow Dragon.\u00a0 He has enough spells that he can reasonably use 1 every round there is a target.\u00a0 The trick will be ensuring he sticks close to the Marilith<\/strong>, as she will have to be there to punish the dragon if he does come close.\u00a0 It’s nice that both the Bluespawn and the Marilith are immune to Electricity (and Fire for the Marilith).\u00a0 While the Red Hand’s commander ability makes that moot if they are close together, if either of the large figures chases someone down, he can still use most of his spells without hurting his team.\u00a0 Enemies getting -2 save is not trivial either if they choose to engage him.<\/p>\n

The Harmonium Guard<\/strong> is in the build mainly for the additional AC bonus.\u00a0 If I wait to activate the Stormlizard until last, he’ll have an AC 26 for most of the round, which gives anyone in Team \"marilith<\/a>Underdark less than a 50% chance to hit him.\u00a0 The Marilith at AC 22 wouldn’t be shabby either.\u00a0 The choice for fodder was either the Hero of Valhalla or the Soldier of Bytopia<\/strong>.\u00a0 I took the Hero for his additonal move speed.\u00a0 The 2 Greenspawn Sneaks round out the weenie department.\u00a0 The ability to start on a VP area though is pretty good and should net at least 10 points for a 6 point creature.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/strong>:\u00a0 Tossup.\u00a0 I had initially predicted Team Underdark by 25, however as I was looking down at the Marilith<\/strong> card I noticed she has Blindsight<\/strong>.\u00a0 That means the Shadow Dragon<\/strong> can’t rely on his Conceal to prevent any damage and let him jump in and out like he did against Sune’s Goons<\/strong>.\u00a0 If the Marilith<\/strong> gets a go at the dragon, she’s likely to get a Morale roll out of him, if not a one-turn kill.<\/p>\n

Considering the number of medium-cost creatures available, I’m not convinced this is the best build, so anyone who thinks they’ve come up with a better one, please let me know!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tingle in the air was palpable as the demon and her warband stepped upon the field.\u00a0 A Marilith, an abomination, six arms protruding from her snakelike body.\u00a0 Each held a vicious-looking cutting instrument, and even the Drow Enforcer that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}