This post will do the following things:
1. It will show where I got the inspiration for this build, accompanied by a declaration of my love for the Warlord.
2. It will present the actual spellbook.
3. It will explain the idea behind the spellbook, referring back to 1. while doing so.
4. It will ask for feedback.
Alright, let's do this!
1. Inspiration and DeclarationAh, the Warlord! I've loved him from the beginning. I've always loved orcs (due to my Games Workshop heritage), and the idea of a general commanding some fierce soldiers and putting pointy things in other creatures was extraordinarily appealing. As so many, I was close to abandon the Warlord after the first couple of games, though. I love him, but he is... *gulp* ... he is the weakest mage right now.
And yet, I wouldn't give up! I love the Warlord, and two threads in this here forum (
http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=13085.0 and
http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=12473.0) motivated me to come up with a spellbook that tries to come up with something specifically warlordish. A spellbook that tries to use what the Warlord has at his green-skinned disposal instead of imitating Beastmaster swarms or something like that.
So, what does the Warlord have at his disposal? For my build, the following things were most relevant:
- War school in general, and equipment, creatures, and command incantations in particular
- Battle Orders
- Veteran tokens
Here is the build. As you can see, it is based upon a promo creature: the Bloodcrag Minotaur. While relying on the Minotaur is on the one hand another confirmation that the Warlord is... staying behind people's expectations, it is still to be taken as an attempt to working with what is around these days. And yes, this build will undergo vast changes or silently vanish when "Forged in Fire" is out. Anyway, here is the build already!
2. The Chargeotaur SpellbookATTACK
Hurl Boulder
Hail of Stones
CONJURATION
Quicksand 2x
Battle Forge
Mana Flower 2x
Tanglevine
Wall of Stone
Garrison Post
Archer's Watchtower
CREATURE
Bloodcrag Minotaur 2x
Orc Butcher 2x
Dwarf Panzergarde
Goblin Slinger 2x
Dwarf Kriegsbiel
ENCHANTMENT
Healing Charm 2x
Nullify 2x
Stumble 2x
Rhino Hide
Poisoned Blood
Harmonize
EQUIPMENT
Helm of Command 2x
Horn of Gothos
Storm Drake Hide
Colossus Belt
Gauntlets of Strength
Leather Boots
Regrowth Belt
Veterans Belt
Wand of Healing
Ring of Command
INCANTATION
Dispel 2x
Minor Heal
Seeking Dispel
Dissolve 2x
Force Push 2x
Battle Fury 2x
Charge 2x
Evade 2x
Perfect Strike 2x
Piercing Strike 2x
Rouse the Beast
Teleport
Vampiric Strike
3. How to be a ChargeotaurThe beginning looks something like this: on your first turn, get out Battle Forge + Harmonize. On the second turn, deploy Ring of Command and summon the first Minotaur. On turn three, deploy Helm of Command with Charge and maybe a Nullify on your Minotaur. Use Charge with your Helm as QC and have the Minotaur rush forward with an impressive 7 dice charge!
That's the basic idea. I love the Minotaur. High health, high armour, good base attack. Charge +2 means that you want to move and attack anyway, so the Charge incantation is a good combo card (Fast & another Charge +1). Also, Tough -2 is nice because it helps your Chargeotaur against Stun etc.
Now, hopefully this looks kind of nice (as nice as a monster bristling with anger can look, anyway) - especially after your Minotaur has earned his Veteran token. However, even a Warlord/Orc knows that brute force is not always enough. Therefore, a general needs a handful of tricks up his sleeve.
- More synergy: to make the Minotaur even more of a charger (if that's an English word), you can also use your "To Battle!" Battle Order in order to give him yet another Charge +1 (that's 8 dice) for free (Ring of Command).
- More mana: Your equipment is rather cheap. Your incantations are rather cheap. The Battle Orders are rather cheap. Ideally, you always have some mana up your supply sleeve so you can support your Minotaur properly or bring out a second creature. How about a second Minotaur? Now your opponent might get hurt with as much as 15 dice a turn (2 Chargeotaurs + "To Battle!" + Charge incantation)! Without the Veteran token(s) from previous victims, that is...
- Charge, charge, charge: right, so you've charged once and your opponent decides to just stay in the same zone with your Minotaur so he can't charge the Mage again. Fine. Force Push him or your Minotaur. Or cast Evade in combination with Charge incantation so you can move out of his zone and in again in one turn. Or guard with your Minotaur and invite the enemy to punch your Minotaur. He can take it. Feel free to use your "On Guard!" Battle Order to make him even more of a (pun intended!) beast.
- Commands, commands, commands: that's why there are so many war incantations in this build. First, they are dead cheap. Second, they cannot be dispelled and therefore don't need that much protection. Second, they are unpredictable because you can always play them right before the next attack. Your opponent guards? Evade. Your opponent puts on some heavy armour? Piercing Strike. And so on...
- Helm
s of Command: in order to make use of all these war incantations, you need to be able to switch them quickly. That's what the second Helm of Command is for (also, as soon as your opponent gets the idea, he might want to dissolve it). If you need another command spell on your Helm but you don't want to spend an action for that, simply have your Battle Forge cast the second one with the new spell - and the first one goes back to your spellbook. Most people don't like Harmonize on a Battle Forge. In this case, here I think it makes sense because you need a lot of equipment throughout the game.
- Dispel? Dispel what?: Nullify and Dispel are present in pretty much every mage's book, and many people seem to run three and more copies each. That's a lot of spellbook points if you're not an Arcane mage. What if they cannot put them to use? This build tries to do without many enchantments and relies on incantations for boosting its own creatures instead. This way, people putting Nullify on their own creatures/mage do so in vain, they also don't have anything to dispel on both sides (curses on their own creatures or buffs on the Warlord's). That's 10 or more spellpoints which will not play a big role in the game.
So, all in all, I tried to use what the Warlord has available, looking for some nice combos and synergies, staying within the War school as much as possible.
4. FeedbackI haven't tested this build yet, so it will certainly change (Dispel Wand? Less wimpy creatures? Acid Ball?). It is, as I pointed out, probably far from being perfect or competitive. It's a love declaration stomping around the arena with unashamed brutality. Please let me know what you think.
As for my part: I love you, Warlord, and I always will...
