Building your Team

[The Supreme Emissary]

So today we had our demo game and it was a LOT of fun!
We had 7 players so we smashed everything that got in our way and got a real good feel for the game. Looking forward to making it a regular thing.
Rob had all the App rules so i played an off-card character without any difficulty. Several character combos and power abilities became very apparent and i'm sure there are many more brutal ones available.

The box includes bits for 4 players and while adding more people didn't ruin anything, it did complicate a few matters. So let's talk about assembling your team. Of coarse its perfectly fine to just play whatever model you want and have at it! But I'd like to look at some elements that became apparent during play.

First, cuz we love labels, i'm going to split characters into several trope/genre common groups and compare.

Assassins: The 2 Dark Elf assassin heroes tear right through the enemy and can quickly get to their back lines. This has the advantage of dealing easy first strike damage as well as making room for other player models to get into the fight.
Shard - Can teleport anywhere and then do 2x damage. That alone is brutal!
Assassin - Can move through any model and deals double damage on 6s. He has some more versatility than Shard and is just as lethal.

Fighters: These guys are about getting free melee attacks and knocking down groups or the tougher enemies. Their rules may not read as interesting but the results quickly stack up. Tanking and drawing aggro isn't really a thing in this game. Having a better Save is always a plus but pouring on those hits is what it's about, especially with the horrors multiplying.
Knight-Questor - Has a cool ability that can force enemies to move towards him. In the right situation that can help set up a kill box for blast style attacks.

Shooters: Missile attacks that can shoot through doors and keep you out of the skirmish is ALWAYS a plus! You just have to watch out for chamber specific abilities.

Mages: Arcane characters have a variety of abilities and attacks. They can be versatile or specifically powerful so finding the right one is worth the effort. They do tend to be pretty flimsy though.
Tzeentch Sorcerer - Can affect your enemy behavior rolls giving him the potential to slow down all the enemies.
Sorceress - A versatile shooter mage that can trade life for re-rolls and buff her spell attack. Team her with a healer and she can probably shut down about anything.

Healers: Not necessarily mages but heroes that can restore wounds to themselves and others. Everyone has a limited ability to heal themselves but in a pinch of boss battle, you really want a buddy that can wipe those skulls off your card!
Warpriest - A very reliable healer! His hero dice cost allows him to regularly heal multiple characters and rack up those bonus renown. Having the Gryph-hound as a proxy fighter is just icing on the cake.
Slaughterpriest - More of a fighter type, he can heal but he has to activate the potential on a 4+ hero dice and THEN kill something. Fine in a pinch but not something to count on like with the Warpriest.
Lord-Relictor - This is the one i tried. He's more like a mage combo, his missile attack let's him safely stay at the back of the group where he belongs. He can only heal with a 6+ hero dice unfortunately, but he doesn't have the range limitation of the Warpriest. He does have the higher healing potential but is nowhere near as reliable.

Support: These guys hand out buffs and various special actions. That is why they exist.
Misty Shia - Cloaking the room so they can't get hit on a specific dice roll could be handy, but killing or stunning enemies so they can't attack in the first place is better.
Lord-Vexilor - I think this is going to be my go to guy. He has an area stun attack, can teleport himself or any other hero across the board and can give everyone in the room re-rolls on all their misses. DAMN!

These are just some examples of what we saw today. There are plenty of options but how many SURE THINGS are we looking at?
Well, just my opinion, but i think for SURE you want a fighter, gotta have a point man. Gotta have a healer, because a dead Hero ruins everything. Gotta have at least one guy with reliable shooting attacks because somebody has to be at the back of the bus. Finally whoever the last hero is they have to tie the team together. A support or mage or assassin that can feed the other Heroes' special abilities into a solid combo is what's going to give you that little synergy boost that gives you the edge.

[Fadril Adren]

Great synapses, James! I think once we can get some of the other characters in-play, we can get a better idea on party function... as some read cut-and-dried, others fall in the in between areas and could very much multi-function. It will also be interesting to see what all equipment will sync better with certain characters.. of which we hadn't got the chance nor renown levels high enough to get any.

And from what we've played today, I can attest to the very reliable healing of the Warpriest! And can't wait to get more of an actual campaign going for this too.

- Fadril

[The Supreme Emissary]

You're right.
After the game i sat down and went through all those treasure and skill cards.

I was hoping those treasure cards would be like permanent gear upgrades but not so much. Temporary throw away items you save for a special occasion.
Then seeing that certain Skills get bonuses for your character traits, that explains what those are for and with the app lets you plan a bit.
It also makes those extra app cards THAT MUCH more valuable!

But what you and i have to do is go through each hero card and write up a synopsis in the hero section that at the very least covers their signature move and go from there.

[Fadril Adren]

Ok. Sounds good. It will be valuable information for anyone interested in playing campaigns. Thanks for all the work and effort!

- Fadril

[The Supreme Emissary]

Example Team - Stormcast Eternals x2
Okay so with what we have here start with the obvious and look for the synergy. Grab the Knight-Vexillor cuz he's great for anybody and everybody. Then grab your Knight Questor to add some board control and run point. Then add a Lord-Relictor because while he is not uber he is pretty balanced and versatile. FInally add the Lord-Celestant because he has a lot of potential that can be brought out by the Vexillor. However he is now competing with the Questor for the job of point man, though with his missile attacks he doesn't need to get up close to do his thing, so the Questor might just be in the way now, or not? teleporting him behind the enemy mob and pulling them away while the other heroes safely blast away at them with re-rolls and move into position in the chamber and he can bump his save up to survive the melee back to his buddies.
What you have now is a tough but slow group that can go anywhere they want and will likely hit most everything they aim at, can dominate in the first round of combat and have a clear chain of priority to the Destiny Dice and doesn't have to jockey for spaces. 
An alternative look starts with both the angels together, Azyros boosting the Venator's shooting attacks. Then add a Heraldor to take advantage of their fast movement speed and pick off a weak enemy at a discount. Finally add the Lord Castellant to add more lanterns and heal your angels no matter how far away they get. 


Lord-Castellant 354 Healer (No Gryph-hound)
Halberd, 6+ Area Stun,
Healing Light 6+ at end of round remove a wound from ALL heroes in the Party,
Warding Lantern: the stun attack can potentially deal damage on a Hit6.
- His abilities are about hurting/healing everybody for 1 wound. Getting the super stun to go off will be a trick perhaps best saved for a Destiny dice. Heating all the chump horror at the same time may be worth the effort and a blanket stun never hurts. Healing everybody no matter where they are sounds cool as a passive healing ability.

Lord-Celestant 354 Fighter
Sigmarite Runeblade, Sigmarite Warcloak missile, Warhammer Hit2+
Inescapable Vengeance 6+ move then attack, a hit6 lets you attack again with your other combat weapon
Sigmarite Warcloak: Shoots a number of times equal to the Hero dice used to activate it 1-6
- He can pour on free hits up close or at range with any 6s. He doesn't need that destiny 6 for the extra melee, best save it for someone else.

Lord-Relictor 354 Healer
Lightning Storm missile, Relic Hammer
Storm hits adjacent targets on a hit6
Healing Storm 6+ a hero in the same chamber heals D3 wounds. if that roll was a 6 any adjacent heroes heal 1 wound
- Compared to the Calestant his specials focus on blasting his damage/heals on 6s. Throwing his missile is easy but giving extra damage against potentially up to 8 other enemies sounds great. But the blasts are highly situational needing coordination and alpha strike luck for maximum effect. At which point there are better and more reliable options for either.

Knight-Questor 354 Fighter
Thundercharged Strike 6+ Dam3, Warblade
Challenge 2+: Cause 1-3 adversaries to move towards you
Guard Stance 3+ increase your save to a 3+
- As close to an agro drawing tank style character as you could want. 

Knight-Heraldor 354 Support
Sigmarite Broadsword, Thunderblast 6+ Area stun
Call to Arms 2+: for 1 round all heroes in camber can use Onward to Glory
Onward to glory 5+: Move and use a combat weapon
- Another Area stun on a 6+ but he's really all about handing out Onward to glory. For a 2+ hero dice everyone else can spend a 5+ hero dice to move and attack, saving them one hero dice. Not a bad little feature for a group of fighter but you have to wonder what the could be doing with those 5s and 6s instead?

Knight-Vexillor 354 Support
Warhammer, Pennant of the Stormbringer 4+ Area Stun
Icon of War 6+: for 1 round heroes in the chamber can re-roll misses
Ride the Tempest 5+: Teleport himself or another hero in the chamber anywhere on the board
- Has a better area stun so his 6s can go to letting everybody around him re-roll their misses, ALL their misses! And teleportation is a power ability of the first order. 

Knight-Azyros 624 Support
Starblade, The Light of Sigmar 5+ Area Dam1
Illuminator of the Lost 4+: For 1 round players can re-roll misses with missile weapons in the same chamber
Leader of the Way: Can explore for free
- An area attack that does damage instead of stun for a 5+ is pretty cool. Re-rolling everybody's missile attacks for a 4+ could be great provided you have a team that can really swing with it, so situational. Free exploration is kinda meh really as i can't imagine you'd be in a position where you desperately need to explore and have all your dice doing other things. 

Knight-Venator 624 Shooter
Realmhunter's bow, Star-eagle's talons, Star-fated Arrow 6+ H2+ Dam5
Huntmaster: can use missile weapons in close combat
Star-fated arrow: can only use 1 arrow between respites
- He has potential to pour on some attacks but he's all about that star fated arrow. A power shot like that is incredible which is why it has the long/irregular cool down. Not being shut down in close combat isn't a boon so much as it is necessary given the the nature of the board. 

[The Supreme Emissary]

Example Team - Dark Elves
Since there are only 4 in the game currently this part is easy. Thus the trick becomes whether a full Dark Elf team is even worth playing. Unfortunately a lot of their solo models have been pulled, otherwise there would be another 2+ heroes to choose from.
These guys rely on getting in the first shot and handling one target at a time, meaning they need to focus on the biggest targets first and whittle the room down. The Assassin and Shard are handy line breakers but are probably looking for more like minded friends.

Assassin 526 Assassin
Concealed Throwing Stars, Poison-coated blades Hit2+ Dam2
Hit 6s deal double damage so that makes your 1 or 2 into 2 or 4. 
Once per turn you can use your agility 2+ instead of the 6+ save. And it can move through any models.
- He stays consistent wherever he is on the table in terms of lethality.

Black Ark Fleetmaster 445 Fighter
Black Ark Cutlass, Murder Hook
If you get a hit6 with the hook you can swing with the cutlass for free.
Can re-roll failed saves against missile attacks.
- A lack luster skirmisher with a situational defense bonus.

Sorceress 426 Mage
Bladewind DamD3, Witchstaff, Word of Pain 2+ Hit2+ missile stun
You can suffer a wound to re-roll a hero dice
Power of Darkness 4+: for 1 round Bladewind causes an additional damage making it D3+1
- A decent shooter that can stun or deal up to 4 damage to a single target. 

Tenebrael Shard 415 Assassin
Bladed Barbs Hit2+, Reaper Gauntlets DamD3
If you roll a hit6 you can immediately make another action (any) without spending a dice.
Shadowstrike 6+: He can teleport anywhere on the board and if his next action is a weapon action damage is doubled.
- Being able to self teleport makes him a brilliant first strike Hero with a potential 6 wound hit.