You are here: Home / Archives for Strategy

Ulfgar Utility

Posted by on May 2, 2015 ·

Let’s talk about Ulfgar Ironfist.

This little figure packs a mean punch.  Ulfgar-statsUlfgar has pretty good stats and is the first Creature with three Equipment slots in the game, which gives him a lot more options when gearing up.

However, before picking out gear, we should take a look at Ulfgar’s unique ability:

Whenever Ulfgar attacks a target at Range 1, he may convert 1 of his Hit results into 1 Critical Hit result.

That’s very nice, especially when you realize it’s on ranged or melee attacks.What many may not realize is the variety of builds Ulfgar has available. You can build on his ability by stacking his melee power, or mix and match them for many options, or surprise targets with several ranged options.

Unbridled Ulfgar.

Power Attack, Focused, Frost Brand, Guenhwyvar, and Sacred Plate Mail.
At range 1, he can roll 6 dice with melee attacks, converting 2 Hits into Crits, can make an extra attack with Guenhwyvar, also converting 1 Hit to a Crit at range 1, and converts 1 Crit to a Hit when defending against Primary Weapons.  Focused lets him change his facing, once, if someone moves through him.

Utility Uflgar.

Holy Warhammer, Power Attack, Taulmaril, Dwarven Precision, and Elixir of Healing.
Is the enemy close and low?  Hammertime!  Use Target + Holy Warhammer + Power Attack and Ulfgar has a bonus attack die and 2 Hit to Crit conversions.
Is the enemy at range? Use Concentrate + Taulmaril + Dwarven Precision for heavy critical damage. Taulmaril converts 1 Hit to a Crit, being at Range 1 would convert another, and the Concentrate token plus Dwarven Precision converts all your concentrates to critical hits.
Took some damage? Take a swig from your Elixir of Healing.

Unconventional Ulfgar.

Point Blank Shot, Dwarven Precision, Flying Greatsword, Hammer of Thunderbolts, and Taulmaril, and Ring of the Ram.
At range 1, the ranged attacks get a bonus attack die, convert a Hit to Critical Hit (2 if using Taulmaril), and can be used in combination with Concentrate and Dwarven Precision. The Hammer of Thunderbolts gets a follow-up attack against the same Creature and everyone in range 1 from that Creature (and more Hit to Crit conversions if those new targets are in range 1 from Ulfgar).
While making those ranged attacks, the Flying Greatsword can do some damage, still converting a Hit to a Crit at Range 1.

Oops, I should have realized you cannot equip a two-handed weapon AND a one-handed weapon at the same time (that’s really unconventional), so let’s replace the Hammer with the Ring of the Ram, which will let him ground creatures to make them easier for his allies to hit.

Still Upright Ulfgar.

Power Attack, Twinkle and Icingdeath, Sacred Plate Mail, Stone Bracers, and a Giant Toad make Ulfgar fast and hard to put down. Twinkle and Icingdeath let him penetrate armor, plus add a defense die, Stone Bracers gives his bonus defense against area attacks, and Sacred Plate Mail converts a Crit to a Hit. Finally, the Giant Toad lets him quickly get to his targets!

There are a lot more options and with Wave 7’s Earth Cult Warrior, Wave 8’s Air Cult Warrior, Wave 9’s Fire Cult Warrior, Wave 10’s Goblin Fighter Troop, and more humanoid Creature’s heading our way, the options will only keep growing.

Have you tried Ulfgar out yet?

Filed Under: Strategy, Tips Tagged With: , ,

Heeeere’s Vakka!

Posted by on January 21, 2015 ·

The last of Wave 3, the Silver Dragon Expansion, has now been seen in the wild!

Beating out Lord Maximillian for title of the most expensive, as well as becoming the highest level Creature so far, is Vakka, the Ancient Silver Dragon. Vakka is a team player, with a special ability that really helps out, but at 57 points, there’s not a lot of room for the rest of the team!

Here is her unique ability:

After Vakka moves, she may choose 1 friendly Creature within Range 1 – 2. That Creature may immediately perform an Action on its Action Bar as a free Action.

At level 17, she’ll be one of the last to move each turn (if not the last), then she can let a friendly Creature perform a bonus Action from their Action Bar (though, remember it cannot be one they already used this turn).

This big lady doesn’t just help lead the team though, she is full on ready to anchor it with her PMV of 5! She can take the hits too, with 9 Health and 3 Armor. She might not notice you’re even in combat with her for a few rounds.

Hey, what’s that on her back? A Human Paladin? Hmm, she looks like she’s going to sneeze. Oh, it wasn’t a sneeze, it was Cold Breath! And the Human Paladin is right there two, ready to wipe your nose (off your face)!

Vakka is fun at parties too, with a bunch of party tricks!

Vakka_grin

Look at that grin! Vakka loves parties!

Now you see her, now you don’t!
You still don’t!
You still don’t!

She’s over there now! Wow! And her breath weapon is ready again. Ow! So cold! You can’t move! Wait, not cold, you’re suffering from Paralysis, the effect of a Silver Dragon’s Paralyzing Breath! I hope you weren’t flying because you’re about to come tumbling down (and rolling two attack dice that ignore both defense dice and Armor!)

She’s gone again! She’s over there, just behind you! First there was Time Stop and now a Dimension Door! Amazing!

Her kid brother, a Level 7 Ancient Silver Dragon at “only” 37 points, has a trick or two himself! You think you’ve sneaked up along side of him (we’ve got our eye on you Umberlis), but his Wing Attack allows him to strike out to the left or right without warning! While not as impressive as his big sister, he’s no slouch either, with 7 Health and 2 Armor of his own!

Looks like the Silvers have one more trick up their sleeve. With a wink and the Monocle of the Twitching Tail (that is, by the way, the largest monocle I have ever seen), they can prevent flying creatures from making hard turns while in the air or making any Tail attacks.

… and now I know why the Harpy came with a poop token.

(links and Legion Builder will be active as soon as possible)

Filed Under: Announcement, Humor, Release News, Strategy, Tips

Happy Harpy Hitters!

Posted by on January 21, 2015 ·

Wiz Kids continues releasing more information, for the Harpy this time, only short days after giving us the Wyvern’s cards. Again, no Ground Maneuver card (probably because it is on the backside of the Flight Maneuver card).

Sycorax is her name, and multi-claw attacks are her game.

If Sycorax inflicts at least 1 damage against a Creature with her first Claw attack, she may immediately make a second Claw attack against the same Creature.

We can also talk about some of the very interesting Upgrades that come with the Harpy expansion, like:

Captivating Song:

Action: Place 1 DT on this Upgrade.
Continuous Effect: You cannot make any attacks except the attacks that are triggered by this Effect. Whenever any non-Harpy Creature declares an attack within Range 1 – 2 of you in any direction (ground and air), use your Primary Weapon Value to make an immediate Ranged Thunder attack against that Creature. This attack penetrates armor. If you inflict at least 1 damage against the Creature, it sustains no damage but cannot attack this round. When this Effect ends for any reason, discard this card.
Must be a Harpy to equip.

So, a Harpy can take an action that lets her make an attempt to shutdown all attempts to attack, except from other Harpy Creatures withing 6 inches of her in all directions.  That’s more than 12 inches in diameter, or more than a third of the playing area! That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Wicked Tongue:

Action: Disable this Upgrade and then place 1 DT on it to force 1 Creature at Range 1 – 2 in your forward arc to receive the Continuous Effect below.
Continuous Effect: The affected Creature cannot roll more than 3 dice each time that it attacks or defends. This does not affect the number of dice that the Creature can re-roll.
Must be a Harpy to equip

 Ok, these harpies are pretty impressive. She stares you down and you just don’t get to roll more than 3 dice. Sorry Lord Maximillian, you only get three defense dice. Sorry Balagos, I know you’re angry, but Harpy’s just not impressed.

Harpy hears you. Harpy doesn’t care.

There’s more, but again, discovery is fun, so I leave it up to you. Here are the rest of the cards:

… but what I really want to know is what is in the scenario that comes with the Harpy Expansion:

Harpy-stuff… what has Manny O’Donnell cooked up that requires this:

poopMr. O’Donnell, why is there a pooping token?

I’m tempted to ask the audience to come up with their best guesses, but perhaps we should just wait for an official answer this time.

Instead, let’s talk about which of the cards above is the most exciting. For me, it has to be Wicked Tongue. It can change the entire way the game is being played and shut down a one-hit-wonder style Legion.

What are you looking forward to in this expansion?

Filed Under: Announcement, Preview, Release News, Strategy

Wild Worrisome Wyverns

Posted by on January 21, 2015 ·

So WizKids revealed everything about the Wyvern Expansion set except for the Ground Manuevers.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at what’s coming in this Expansion.

BlackthornFirst, the unique named Creature is “Blackthorn.” That’s already pretty awesome! Let’s compare him to the generic version of a Wyvern.

Blackthorn is 3 levels higher, has 1 Agility compared to the generic’s 0, 2 additional Monster Upgrade slots, and finally a pretty nice unique ability:

Instead of attacking normally, Blackthorn may make 1 Bite attack and 1 Tail attack; neither attack can be initiated from the “Attack:” text on an Upgrade.

So if you’re good at maneuvering, you can position yourself to be between two enemy units (or fly so you overlap a ground unit, then glide past them to get a front arc attack on another unit and a rear attack on the unit you just passed!

All those differences for only 6 points!

What do we get to give the Wyverns? We’ll take a quick look at a few highlights!

Stinger:

Disable this Upgrade to make a Primary Weapon Tail Attack against a Creature at Range 1 – 2 in your rear arc. Roll +2 attack dice during this attack. This attack is considered a Poison attack.

A 6 die attack, even from the generic version of the Wyvern, with the possibility of a Target for re-rolls or a Charge to position yourself behind a ground Creature (no +1 for rear arc attacks after a Charge, but you still get 6 dice). Pretty good for 5 points!

Deadly Venom:

During the Combat Phase, you may target 1 non-Poison Creature that was just damaged by your Poison attack. That Creature receives the Continuous Effect below. Place 2 DT on this Upgrade.

Continuous Effect: At the start of the End Phase, the affected Creature must flip one of its face down Damage Cards face up; the affected Creature chooses the card at random and immediately suffers its effects. If the Creature does not have any face down Damage Cards, it receives 1 face down Damage Card instead.

The obvious follow-up to the Stinger attack, this Upgrade will convert Damage a creature has already sustained into a Critical Effect! That’s incredibly strong. If the Creature has removed all Damage Cards, through healing for example, then Deadly Venom does another damage! Additionally, this ignores all armor!

Ferocious:

During a Primary Weapon Melee attack against a Creature at Range 1, you may convert 1 of your blank results into 1 Hit result.

Another good card. For 3 points, you can convert a blank result against a Creature at Range 1 to a Hit! Also a nice card for any other Monster Creature type, such as Lord Max, Jarl Horn, or the Aarakocra!

Or give it to the generic Wraith, who can only attack at Range 1, and take a Concentrate maneuver. Now, as long as you can get in close, you are guaranteed at least 1 hit that penetrates armor because Hit count, Critical Hits count, Concentrates can convert to a Hit, and 1 blank converts to a Hit. Suddenly that little Wraith is a little scary.

There’s more of course, but I think part of the fun is discovering the combinations yourself, so pop over to the Legion Builder, select Wyvern from the Set dropdown menu, and check out what’s available!

Filed Under: Preview, Release News, Strategy, Tips

Let’s All Do the Bump

Posted by on November 19, 2014 ·

(How can you go wrong with a shameless MC Hammer reference to start a post?)

In Dungeons and Dragons: Attack Wing, bumping is different than in either the Star Wars: X-Wing or Star Trek: Attack Wing games.

In DNDAW, bumps do not cause you to lose actions (bolded because it is really important to remember) and, if the Creature that is currently moving is a flying Creature and the Creature they overlap (bump into) is a ground Creature, the flying Creature can choose to continue flying forward over the ground Creature.

This is explained on page 27 of the Starter Set Rulebook but, based on questions I saw over the weekend, some people are still a little confused about how it works.

So here goes:

If your movement ends with your base overlapping the base of another Creature, what happens depends on what kind of Creature you are and what kind of Creature you overlap.

  • If you are a ground Creature, you move your Creature back along the maneuver template until your base no longer overlaps any other Creature’s base.
  • If you are a flying Creature and your base overlaps with another flying Creature’s base (that has not landed) you move your Creature back along the maneuver template until your base no longer overlaps any other Creature’s base.
  • If you are a flying Creature and your base overlaps with a ground Creature’s base (or the base of a flying Creature that has landed) you have two choices.
    • You may choose to move your Creature back along the maneuver template until your base no longer overlaps any other Creatures.
    • You may also choose to continue, in a straight path, until you clear the ground (or landed flying) Creature’s base. If this causes you to overlap your base with a flying Creature’s base, you will have to move your Creature back along the maneuver template until your base no longer overlaps any other Creatures, but if this causes your base to overlap another ground Creature’s base, you will continue forward. You will continue forward until:
      • you find a spot your Creature fits in (with no base overlapping)
      • you bump into a flying Creature (which would require you to move all the way back until you fit)
      • you reach the edge of the game area, which would be considered Fleeing the Battlefield (see page 26 of the rulebook).

I have seen a dragon fly over an entire Troop and the frost giant behind them, moving across almost half the play area.

Once you’ve chosen to have your flying Creature fly over the ground (or grounded) Creature, you have committed to that movement. It is easy to eliminate your own Creature if you are not careful.

If your flying Creature was executing a wingover/roundable/u-turn maneuver when they bump a ground Creature, they still get to complete it (to turn around) regardless of if they stop in front of the ground Creature or fly over it.

Just to be clear, when you’re using a straight maneuver to fly over a ground creature you overlapped, you move just far enough to clear the overlapped creature. You would not grab the Straight 6 and go zooming off!

You can use this to sneakily move your Flying Creatures across the map by having them fly over your own landed/grounded Creatures!

Troops have special rules for if the point man fits  but other soldiers do not fit. See the “Pressed Soldiers section on page 31 in the rulebook for more on this. The very short version is that it is bad to have pressed soldiers in a Troop.

Overrun Checks will be the subject of a future post and should not be mistaken for bumping. See page 26 of the rulebook for the Overrun Check rules.

TL:DR version: Flying Creatures can fly over/past ground or landed Creatures, continuing forward using a Straight template until they either A) no longer overlap another creature’s base, B) bump into a Flying Creature, or C) are eliminated from leaving the play area.

See you in the skies!

Filed Under: Strategy, Tips Tagged With: , ,

Adding Up Your Dice

Posted by on November 11, 2014 ·

Don’t forget to check for all your dice bonuses and penalties. Your opponent might not be nice enough to remind you that you forgot to roll a die you were eligible to roll.

For example, let’s say you are using Balagos, you’ve taken a few damage, and you’re attacking an undamaged enemy creature.

Did you charge? +1 attack die.

Did you opponent pivot? +1 attack die.

Balagos has taken more damage than his target? +1 attack die.

So, if you charged, and your opponent pivoted, and Balagos has taken more damage, he gets to roll 8 attack dice!

Did you cast Haste this turn? -1 attack die.

If Balagos used Haste instead of Charge, he gets to choose if he wants to make a single 5 die attack, or two 4 dice attacks.

If his opponent has pivoted, add +1 attack die to each of those attacks. If he’s taken more damage than his target, add another +1 attack die. Now Balagos can decide to make a single 7 die attack or two 5 dice attacks.

Note, however, if you damage the opponent on the first attack so that Balagos no longer has more damage cards, you would not get the +1 attack die on the second roll.

How about equipping Haste and Close Quarters? This means that Balagos bites for 4 dice, then get two Claw attacks at 3 dice (base of 5 -2 attack dice), then another Bite for 4 dice followed by two more Claw attacks at 3 dice.

Again, all of those attacks would be increased if your opponent had pivoted or if Balagos had taken more damage than his target.

But wait, there’s more!

If Balagos teams up with someone with Leadership, he could cast Haste on himself, and then use Charge as a free action when Leadership is used on him, giving him yet another +1 attack die on those six attacks.

Spread the Love

While Close Quarters requires you to make the additional attacks against the same creature, Haste does not! This means you can Bite-Claw-Claw one creature, and assuming you’re in range, Bite-Claw-Claw a second creature.

Balagos tells me this is his favorite combination of upgrades, as it makes it easier to eat troops!

Filed Under: Strategy, Tips Tagged With:

Landing and Pivoting

Posted by on October 30, 2014 ·

Now that the game has finally landed in stores, let’s talk about landing in the game!

“I’m a dragon! The sky is my domain! Why would I ever land?”

That’s a valid point, oh great and wise dragon, but there are a few cases where you might want to land.

You’re out of room to maneuver.

The most obvious use of landing is when, after you’ve moved, you realize you are getting closer to the edge than you like. You can elect to land, which means you’ll be able to pivot on the following turn, and you’ll be able to avoid an embarrassing death.

Pivoting is fairly powerful, especially if the creature pivoting is a higher level, as it lets you choose your facing after lower level creatures have moved.

However, it also prevents you from taking an action that turn and makes you easier to hit, so if your opponent(s) are paying attention, they can position themselves to they’ll be able to take advantage of the bonus attack die they get against you.

For example, if I know your only real choice is to pivot on this turn, I might decide it’s the right time to use my Haste upgrade, because Haste’s -1 attack die will be cancelled out by the +1 I gain because you pivoted, allowing me two attacks at full value.

Alternatively, if I have a Frost Giant out, I could use the Poison Blade or Frost Battle Axe to gain a +1 attack die in addition to the +1 attack die I will get for attacking a creature that just pivoted, for a total roll of 6 attack dice.

So while pivoting might be a great move, as it allows you to choose your facing, it can hurt if your opponent can maneuver two or three creatures into attack range.

You want to force your opponent to make a choice.

Your opponent has positioned Balagos so that both of your dragons are going to be in range of his Fire Breath, letting him roll a five die attack, that penetrates armor, against each of your dragons (six if you’ve wounded Balagos!).

If you land one of your dragons, you will force your opponent to have to choose which of your dragons to hit, as most area affect upgrades are either ground or air, but not both. By landing, you immediately cause Balagos to lose five (or six) attack dice (he can only attack one of you, not both), and you force the opponent to have to decide which of your dragons to attack.

You’ll want to try to make sure the dragon you’re landing will still get an attack. If Balagos is flying and your dragon has landed, you won’t be able to attack Balagos with a melee attack.

You want to dodge an attack.

If your opponents attackers do not have any ready ranged attacks, landing may prevent them from attacking you at all! They may have forgotten to swoop and might not be able to reach you if you land.

Ok, you’ve landed, what now?

Don’t forget to switch to the ground maneuver dial!

 

See you in the skies!

Filed Under: Strategy, Tips Tagged With: , ,

Swooping

Posted by on October 24, 2014 ·

Hello folks!

The game will be out …

soon
While we’re waiting, I thought I’d talk to you about some of the mistakes you’re likely to make the first few times you play. This is part one of a series; if people seem to enjoy the article, I’ll write some more (about landing, pivoting, spending concentrate and target to cast spells, and more).

You’re going to forget to swoop.

This probably won’t matter much with the starter set, but once you play with ground troops, it will be much more important.

Let’s look at the rules for swooping.

When can you swoop? The choice to swoop, stop swooping, land, and take off all happen during the Change Altitude step of the Activation Phase (page 12-13 of the rulebook). Basically, after a flying creature moves, they may decide to land, swoop, or if on the ground, to take off. You place the appropriate token down next to the creature.

Added: If you do not choose to change your altitude at the end of your movement, you remain at the same altitude. If you were grounded, swooping, or flying, you remain grounded. swooping, or flying.

When should you swoop?

If you have a flying creature and you want to make a melee attack against a non-flying creature, be that a bite, tail swipe, touch attack (hello Lord Max!), you need to be swooping or on the ground to do so.

So if Balagos wants to chew on a ballista, he will have to land or be swooping in order to reach him.

Why not always swoop?

Swooping not only puts you in melee range so you can attack ground units, it lets them, if they have a melee attack, attack you! In many cases, there may not be a significant difference in their attacks, but in some cases, they may have Upgrades that will make their melee attacks more effective.

For example, Jarl Horn has a 4 die ranged and melee attack, but if he is also equipping the Frost Axe, his melee attacks will get +1 die, so you may not want to swoop or land.

If all your enemies have a ranged attack or are also flying, it may make sense to declare you are swooping early, as it means you won’t forget to swoop when you need to later.

That’s all for this post.

See you in the skies!

(Edit: added additional information about altitude changes)

Filed Under: Strategy, Tips Tagged With: , ,