Warlord Decks on the Duck

From Nick Simmonds

I've been playing around with the Yaw deck I posted before, and am realizing that I can actually make it an effective deck instead of just tooling around with it. Here is a revised version w/ commentary, for those who haven't managed to build an effective Yaw deck. I'm not really looking for advice; I'm trying to give an example.



--- Starters
Axe-Hammer-Axe
Guardian-Guardian
Gnorrow Yaw

-Standard Dwarf lineup, aside from Yaw. There's not much to say here. These are again the only level 1 and 2 characters in my deck (sort of), although far from the only level 5.

Characters

Lvl 3
Basalt Gargoyle - 3
Heart - 3
Strongarm - 3
Sky - 1
Toren Yscar - 2
Magheline (recruited as level 3) - 3
- Magheline and the Gargoyles are the core this deck revolves around. Gargoyles allow me to recruit the L5's consistently, and Magheline allows me to stun them forward and still use them the next turn. I deliberately make my ranks the same size and the stun Xod or Ironbone (or Kinslayer) into the second or third rank. Strongarm with his Rings of Vorn is my mobility, and he Shatters Tooths for me.

lvl 4
Duncan Kinslayer - 2
Kohn Peacehand - 1
-Yep, that's it

lvl 5
Rac Ironbone - 3
King Xod - 3
-And these are the bruisers. The other characters are there to actualize these two and keep Yaw out of the frontline until he is also uber.

Items

Holy Symbol
Horn of Fog
Blue Willow Staff
Ring of Vorn -2
Loyal Nag
War Horse - 2
Heavy Crossbow
Bruntor's Helm
Scale Mail
-These are the Items Xod can dip for. These are mobility and insurance items, a swiss army knife that can deal with range strikes, spells, characters that hang back and can allow Yaw to equip anything he can equip while in the third rank. They also make thousands of Julienne fries.

Tears of the Storm - 2
Hammer of Peronor
Mail of Virtue
-Which make Yaw scary enough to play on the front lines

King's Lady
Thunderhammer
Hember's Fist
-I always manage to get at least one of these on somebody. More than one is usually a game breaker, and all three out is ridiculous. Also, Ironbone with six hit points and three attacks is hilarious. I'd put it Havat-Lahn stances but there's nothing I'm willing to remove for them.

Actions
Courage from faith
-This is a placeholder until I get my last:

Holy Energy - 2
Banish the Wound - 3
- I will trade two of these out for Cure Lethal when I get them

Premonition - 2
- I do have more of this, but since my warlord is not a seer it's too much to put all three in.

Mass Blessing
- Which is of moderate use in this deck. I just _do not need_ the attack bonuses, and the AC is moderately useful. I'd rather have more high level healing, and may in fact keep Banish the Wound and drop this out when I get my last two CL.

Cure Lethal Wounds

The deck comes to 60 cards; if that's not the count on here it means I left some out. The trick to playing this is rank manipulation and stunning characters forward--one of the local players calls it the Stun Express. Holy energy will then ready a character immediately, but if I don't have it then Magheline will unstun them. I've matched this deck against:

Deverenians-Well, with the opinions people have about Deverenians I'm sure that's not too suprising.

Elves-Both Rathe and Behlial. Behlial is the only one who's had any sort of luck. Rathe/Tooth or even super-speed Rathe just can't lay wounds and recruit fast enough.

Nothrog-Nothrog Blitz is like a cool breeze across my brow. Taoth spell decks go about 1 out of 3 on good draws; I'm as likely to draw healing power as they are to draw Chain Lighting which is the only thing that really worries me. Killing my Axes and Hammer is at best a minor annoyance, and Meteor Swarm or Inferno don't lay enough wounds to worry my large number of 3 and 4 hp caracters. Single target spells like Turned to Stone or Prismatic spray are nothing when there's a Blue Willow Staff out. The BWS also allows someone to attack right through a Wall of Wire with no worries, if they're not already someone like Rac who can just take it.

Dwarf-This deck puts characters on the table significantly faster than Xod, and Ironbone as a warlord is just a novelty. And no one else on Earth seems to play a Yaw deck they feel is actually competitive.

Mercs-The same goes for Tom as does for Rathe, and Sorscha and Kerebrus just don't cut it.

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