Part 6 – Calandra in Vengeance of Dhunia
I have a Band of Heroes Calandra 1 list that has two units of Champions in it, a bunch of Kriel Warriors, and it does okay. It tends to win on clock, with the occasional scenario win. Pushing that concept into into Vengeance of Dhunia gives me the following list. I apologize to nobody.
Missing you…
I am sad for the absence of the Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew in this theme, because their high DEF, Statcrossed, and their smoke made them hard to remove. The Runebearer absence is also significant, because Calandra wants the extra control range, free spell, or extra fury.
Champions
The start of this list is easy, with Calandra 1 and two units of Champions (who are DEF 14 in melee). People hate trying to remove these guys in melee under Starcrossed with Sanguine Bond.
Champion Support
Double Champions demand at least one Champion Hero. Sanguine Bond makes the free attack possible. The Krielstone seals the deal. Its armor bump plus the damage transfer make the free attack inevitable.
Skaldi gets in on a technicality. He’s not going to be the countercharging reaching tactician that he’s been in the past, but he’s a good Sanguine Bond guy and grants Practiced Maneuvers to his unit. Overtake is good too, but I don’t often find it helpful with a 1″ axe.
The Archons heal the Champions if something bites it. They get the free slots.
23 points left
So far, I’ve spent 32 points for the two Champion units, 10 points for a Krielstone, and another 10 for Skaldi and his Hero. That’s 52 points spent already. The difference between Band of Heroes and Vengeance of Dhunia is the free models being taken. In BoH, Skaldi and the Hero would be free. Here, I’m paying 10 points. We’ve got 23 points remaining. Let’s look at some spending options:
- Boomhowler 3: At 8 points, he’s an expensive piece. He combines support and output. As a Champion, he meshes well with the Champions, and their hero. I rather like that kind of synergy. I think Boomhowler 3 would be a good target for Bullet Dodger.
- Gudrun the Wasted: At DEF 13, he seems like another good Bullet Dodger target. At POW 18, under the stone with the Elder, a good MAT, and a 40mm+3” anti-shooting bubble, I’m really digging this guy to run with the Champions.
- Valkyries are great. Good shield guards. Good damage output, and they’ll happily take Calandra’s feat.
- Dhunian Knot for free? Wow, okay. Buffing Calandra seems legit, and Puppetmaster messes with the dice even more. Thematically appropriate.
Moving on to the other solos:
- I don’t need the Gunnery Sergeant, because I’ve left out weapon crews.
- Whelps aren’t in theme, nor are the Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew. I could add in some cheap gobber solos, like two River Raiders and the Chef, but Calandra doesn’t really need help with fury management.
I think the best bet here is to spend the extra points on warbeasts.
- Pyre Troll is the most obvious choice. It buffs all of the solos.
- Earthborn isn’t as obvious. Sometimes, it can get a DEF buff. Sometimes, it can get an armor buff. Sometimes, it can get a speed buff. With the Pyre, it can hit hard, but mostly it’s a stand around and be hard to get rid of piece. The EBDT hangs with Calacdra most times, so why make this list the exception.
If I take the Earthborn and Pyre, I can take another light warbeast. This would be a 7 pointer.
- Troll Basher has a lot of good things going on. It’s really useful, with a critical that basically ends the usefulness of battle engines, and temporarily cripples warjacks. Beatback helps push heavies out of zones if they’re silly enough to stand close enough for me to push out. Icy Breath has been super useful for me with fighting the high defense archons. But with Calandra, I don’t really need the DEF bonus, and Befuddle often solves things standing in zones.
- Night Troll: The change to the Night Troll was a small one, but important. The Night Troll gets three initials to the Basher’s one. Its animus can pull something out of a zone, but only if they sit on the edge. Calandra doesn’t need paralysis to make things easier to hit. The other effect of it is that things can’t double time it. I’m not worried about Trample, and I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen things charging or slamming off one of my warbeasts.
- Battle Boar: Again, more attacks than the Basher. Not as many as the Night Troll. The Basher hits harder though. I’m not sure that Adrenalize is good with 0.5 inch claws. Primal is situationally good, but do I want to have a warbeast frenzy every few turns? I can rely on a boost, or Calandra’s Fate-Blessed or Puppet Masters to help hit things, and the Pyre Troll already has a buff to damage.
- Razor Boar: Two POW 10s? Maybe POW 12s? Maybe POW 14s? It seems like a lot of effort for low output.
At the end of the day, I like the two Trollbloods better than the two Farrow. They both have 1 inch range attacks, and a tricky little move element. The Basher only wins because it can push something further, and hits harder. Stagger is still stronger than Paralysis, and the DEF debuf doesn’t require a hit. Actually, that’s a lot of reasons.
| Vengeance of Dhunia (CID week 2) Calandra 1 +27 -Pyre Troll (8) -Earthborn Dire Troll (14) – Troll Basher (7) Trollkin Champion (16) Trollkin Champion (16) -Skaldi Bonehammer (5) Trollkin Champion Hero (5) Boomhowler 3 (8) Gudrun 2 (5) Dhunian Archon (6 – free) Dhunian Archon (6 – free) Dhunian Knot (6 – free) Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (7) -Stone Scribe Elder (3) Farrow Valkyrie (8) |
That’s the list. It’s a little different than my Kriel Company, Storm of the North, Power of Dhunia and Band of Heroes Lists. Champions appear in every list they can. Gudrun is new. I like the look of his card. He seems to fit in well with the Champions. There aren’t a lot of healing dudes available to the Dhunian Archons. However, they’ll certainly help keep things alive (more likely a solo than a Champion), and hit hard when a nearby warrior dies.