I've been feeling bad for the mountain gorilla lately. He's not a bad creature - with 2 armor and 16 health he's hard to kill, and and the rage ability gives him good damage potential. Climbing is a little weird, but not useless. Unfortunately, for the same number of book points and only 1 more SP you can have a steelclaw grizzly instead. More survivable, rolls more damage dice, great full attack option, the grizzly definitely makes the gorilla look like the poor cousin. So I want to make the gorilla work. Regenaration nerfs the gorilla unnecessarily because he'll lose his rage tokens during the upkeep phase. Vampirism is better, but I suspect that only active healing or no healing is worthwhile for the angry ape. He works best with walls, so maybe in combination with flyers? Has anyone else had success with the gorilla?

This is my first serious try at a Priestess book. I've playtested it once, and things went well, so now I'm turning to the forum for help fine-tuning.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname][/spellbookname]
[mage]Priestess[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA04]2 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a01]1 x  Blinding Flash[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c06]1 x  Brogan Bloodstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x  Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]1 x  Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c22]1 x  Knight of Westlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c28]2 x  Royal Archer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e10]2 x  Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x  Divine Might[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x  Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e12]2 x  Divine Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]2 x  Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e37]1 x  Sacred Ground[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE01]1 x  Armor Ward[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]2 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q24]1 x  Ring of Asyra[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ10]1 x  Storm Drake Hide[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i13]1 x  Group Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x  Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i16]1 x  Lay Hands[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]2 x  Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i25]2 x  Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

The meat of this book is the synergy between Brogan Bloodstone and Cervere. Neither rolls a ton of attack dice, but armor and defenses are ineffective against Brogan and kiting is ineffective against Cervere, so most enemy mages will only be able to mount an appropriate defense against one of them (once I figure out which one, I can cast Bear Strength on the other). Plus, they cost 15 mana apiece, so a 10-channeling mage can cost them on turns 1 and 2.

I have two potential openings for this book. The first is the medium-speed opening, which is turn 1 Brogan, turn 2 Cervere, turn 3 chestpiece, turn 4 royal archer, knight of westlock, or guardian angel depending on what my opponent brings out. The second is a faster opening to kill spawnpoints or other strong openings that need to be dealt with right then. That's turn 1 Brogan, turn 2 DI Brogan across the field and have him kill stuff, then follow up with the mage to keep him alive and summon support.

Since this book doesn't depend on that many spells, there's room left over for 2 mage wands, 2 teleports, 3 dissolves, and 3 dispels, so I can play with the big boys if it comes down to it.

Since this game contains a melding of different magic and wizard archetypes, I think this would be an obvious choice. And if a Lovecraftian horror's attack added a hypothetical "madness" condition, that would be even better. Here's hoping that the Siren will at least come with some horrifying fish people.

We've had several FM books go up lately, so I thought I'd add one that's a little bit different. Awhile ago I made a build whose goal was to win using the FM's board control and enchantments rather than melee. After multiple playtests and tweaks I eventually decided that the build was never going to be as good as my solo melee FM because playing the extended enchantment/counter enchantment game takes such a long time that the other player can end up with a huge action advantage via creatures. Anyway, here's the list.

Equipment

Galvitar
Dancing scimitar
Force ring
Psi-orb
Moonglow amulet

Conjurations

Mana crystal x 2
Mordok’s obelisk
Suppression orb
Corrosive orchid

Incantations

Dispel x 3
Teleport x 2
Dissolve x 2
Force push x 2
Force wave
Repulse
Seeking dispel x 2

Enchantments

Force hold x 3
Regrowth
Bear strength
Falcon precision
Mongoose agility
Cheetah speed
Force crush x 4
Forcefield x 2
Stumble x 2
Rhino hide
Magebane
Nullify x2
Decoy x 2
Ghoul rot x 2
Poisoned blood x 2
Charm
Harmonize
Enchantment transfusion

Attacks

Force hammer x 2

I broke my own rule with this list and didn't include any armor, but since I wasn't planning on meleeing, anyway, it didn't seem to matter (at some point I might have had a different version with some armor on board, but I never got to cast it because I was so busy with enchantments). The obvious endgame for this build would be to draw out all of my opponent's dispels and then pin him down with some combination of force crush/hold and ghoul rot, then move 3 squares away and kite/kill creatures while the mage slowly bled out. Mage wands with dispel would obviously be a game ender for this build, so I have 1 corrosive orchid just in case his wand defense is good enough that some combination of seeking dispel/decoy and dispel won't do the job. I found that the build worked really well against other solo builds or big-few builds, but those are the sort of builds that the FM doesn't have trouble with, anyway. When I made the list I was worried that mana starvation would be a problem with all of the upkeep costs, but it really wasn't, and I don't think I ever played all of my mana boost cards. Anyway, I've retired this list for now, at least, as being inferior to a more standard FM build, but I still think it's interesting and if anyone has any ideas on how to improve it I'd be happy to hear them.

I was so gratified by SC grizzly’s what-I-learned-about-MW-from-Hclix post under a different topic, I decided to do the same thing. After all, the more different lessons we have from different games the better. My resume consists largely of 6th and 7th edition Warhammer Fantasy, so I feel like I might have some insights that differ slightly from those offered by the card gamers and squad-level minis gamers in the group.

1. The player that dictates the terms of engagement will probably win the match. In a wargame this mostly means ganging up on enemy units with multiple units of your own, getting flanking bonuses, and tying down your opponent’s heavy hitters with chaff. This applies to MW as well (taunts, force holds, quicksand, tanglevines can tie up big nasties so the rest of your creatures can take apart supporting creatures), but in MW there’s also a tempo element that WH has less of . If one player is running an aggro book and the other is planning for a long game, the winner will probably be the one that ends up dictating the tempo.

2.  Mobile troops are key, but not everyone needs to be super mobile. Fast, elusive, and flying are great abilities and most books should include some or all of these traits (teleport-heavy wizard builds possibly being the exception), but not every creature needs them. Those traits aren’t free in terms of either books points or casting cost, and a fast-themed or elusive-themed build will often find that once it gets where it’s going it doesn’t have the staying power or damage potential it might have had if only one or two creatures had been super mobile.

3. On a related note, you’re paying some sort of premium (book cost, casting cost, actions) for every spell and creature you have. If your opponent can tie down your bear strength, fast, unavoidable steelclaw grizzly with a quick sleep spell, he’s winning the resource game. If you’re investing a lot of resources in a particular strategy, make sure you’re also taking steps to ensure that strategy stays effective given your opponent’s likely counters (and, conversely, if your opponent is highly invested in a particular strategy, keep an eye out for efficient ways of disabling it).

4. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Having a plan and sticking to it is important, but once your enemy figures out what that is he’s definitely going to try to disrupt it, and a successful player will be prepared for that.

5. Unless you invest very heavily in your defenses and your opponent invests very little, you’re not going to dispel/nullify your opponent’s entire enchantment/incantation game. Learning which spells must be dealt with and which to ignore is a big part of the game and may vary based on your build. A forcemaster probably can’t allow Agony on himself long term.  A wizard might be able to roll with it.

6. Learn to lose gracefully. I’m always surprised at the percentage of adult humans who can’t lose a game without getting visibly angry. This hurts the fun for everyone, is bad for the culture, and is a barrier to entry for potential new players. Get it together, people.

So how good is corrosive orchid? Is there any way to defend against its dissolve effect?

So I played a game tonight as the Beastmaster against the Necromancer (and I'll say here the my default mage is the Forcemaster, so I'm not totally fluent with all of the BM's tricks). I was using a harmonized lair and a dog pack + Redclaw. He was using libro mortuos with zombies and he dropped an idol of pestilence on turn 1. I got beat pretty good and I'm not entirely sure where to go from here. Resilient makes the Necro's creatures harder to kill than the BM's and idol of pestilence put me on a timer. Any suggestions?

If I have the "elusive" trait due to Mongoose Agility, my scimitar does not also gain the elusive trait because it isn't affected by my traits, correct?

If my opponent is Marked for Death, I typically only get the bonus once per turn. However, if I make a normal attack followed by a dancing scimitar attack, does the scimitar also get the bonus (since the attack originates from the scimitar rather than from my mage)?