For the second installment of my look at the cult chants we'll jump to War. War seems to be a little less popular in V2 but it still provides some valuable buffs and tools. At first glance it very much is the least glamorous of the choices. Unlike Famine or Death it isn't really about directly enabling big plays. The tools provided here aren't going to help you make long distances charges or sweep whole regiments off the table. War also suffers a little bit from the way defensive buffs function, the high lethality of the game in general and the typically limited defensive bulk of W'adrhun as a whole, but these are still valuable bonuses that a canny player can make great use.
Each tier of War provides two benefits. The first tier gives +1 defense to the regiment for the remainder of the round and more importantly removes the broken status. +1 defense isn't a bad bonus by any means but using it requires good timing. Too late in the round and your opponent may have already attacked the target regiment and too early may just allow them to shift focus if needed. W'adrhun also aren't often bringing high base defense to the table so most often this is more converting a mediocre score into a serviceable one. In my opinion the real winner in tier 1 and perhaps the whole of the cult of War is the ability to remove broken before using any of the regiment's actions enabling a normal turn and potentially shifting momentum. This is especially valuable on higher cost regiments and bigger blocks where all of broken's negative effects are futher amplified by cost.
Tier 2 keeps up the defensive theme by adding +1 resolve to the regiment until the end of the round but combines it with a more offensive buff in giving Cleave 1. Note that that is not +1 so regiments already having cleave will not receive the second benefit. +1 resolve is another not bad defensive buff. It has some of the same issues as the tier 1 defense bonus but the ability to shift from what is largely an army of mediocre resolve to good will certainly save some wounds and maybe keep an extra stand alive.
Adding Cleave can be a very significant buff depending on the regiment in question. Most of our mainstay regiments forgo cleave and instead have higher volumes of poorer quality attacks. Gaining cleave for a unit of Blooded or Raptor Riders very quickly elevates their threat to closer to the more elite hitters. Thunder Riders also benefit from war tier 2 with their clash attacks being typically much lower quality than their impacts. This is a unit that is already capable of dishing out a ton of wounds with the huge volumes of impacts, clash attacks, and trample hits so elevating the clash hits to merely good can create something of a terrifying hammer regiment.
The third tier benefits move away from stat bonuses to providing two otherwise unique in the faction special rules. The first is Counter-attack which inflicts a hit on your opponent for every "1" you roll on your defense rolls. This is an interesting benefit that can help shift an engagement to be just a little bit more in your favor especially against high volume opponents. It also combines extremely well with Blooded and the Aberration officer. The Aberration grants lethal demise which causes hits to opponents when the regiment is wounded in melee stacked with Counter-attack you can create some legitimate headaches when trying to engage with the regiment as your opponent will likely be taking a similar number of hits back. Unfortunately none of those hits benefit from special rules like cleave but with enough volume you will cause some wounds.
The second benefit from tier 3 War is frankly one of the best special rules in the game - Blessed. Blessed changed a little bit in V2. Before rolling dice during a Clash or Volley or before rolling defense dice you may opt to trigger Blessed granting you full rerolls on that action. Blessed can be a little bit hit or miss because you have to declare before you roll and might not really need it but full rerolls during an action are an incredible buff. Full rerolls are generally fantastic - They help reduce dice variance, aid in fishing for special ability triggers like Relentless Blows and Counter-attack and provide a reasonable increase to success chances. If you have blessed and need an action to be successful there is little reason not to just trigger it as insurance.
Now that we've looked at what is in the chant let's look at some units that really benefit from it. I've mentioned Blooded a couple of times already and they are an excellent candidate for War buffs as they benefit from every tier and have enough volume per stand to still be threatening if you have to use the chant to remove broken. They are a relatively cheap unit that can really punch above their weigh with a couple of tiers of Cult of War. Raptor Riders and Thunder Riders have also already been mentioned. They have enough volume to really benefit from cleave. Thunder Riders also start to have decent-ish bulk with a tier two chant pushing them to Defense 4/Resolve 4. Chosen of War also primarily benefit from the defensive buffs going to Defense 4 + shield and Resolve 5.
It's important to note that even with these buffs the lack of hardened means you still aren't going to shrug off the truly elite hitters in the game. Once you start getting into cleave 3 and line breaker you should still expect to lose stands. Be careful in how you engage with things like Dragonslayers or Varangian Guard even while fully buffed.
One of the interesting tactics with Cult of War is to use the defensive chant early when you are coming onto the table. While regiments entering the battlefield don't contribute a token they can still chant the battle cry. An early round entry from say Warbred can benefit from the little bit of extra defense against a lot of ranged options.
The cult of war isn't my favorite choice but it certainly has some strengths and provides a lot of utility. If you are a player that likes to use elite units or bigger blocks there is quite a bit of value to be had using Cult of War. When you've put a large chunk of your army points into one regiment saving a few wounds or keeping both your actions can keep a lot of points functioning on the table.
You can also use the tier 1 chant as a tool to avoid unwanted duels. The tier 1 benefit is also a very good reason to try to include a few conquest tokens in your list as removing broken can be an excellent use of those without necessarily having to commit to a Cult of War warband.
As always thank you for reading
-K
For my general review of chanting check HERE
For Part 1: the Cult of Death check HERE
Other notes - Even if you cannot pass a defense roll you do still attempt them allowing you to potentially trigger Counter-attack on a successful hit.
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