Cyreni's Razors - Warband Review
Introduction
 |
| My Razors |
Cyreni of the Abyss [1], accompanied by her Spirit guardian, Cephanyr [2] and her two Namarti thralls, Renglaith [3] and Alathyrr [4] are searching for the souls need to save her race
Fighter Characteristics
Cyreni is the leader of the Razors. She has a Movement of 4, a Save of 1 Block, 4 Health and a Bounty of 2. She has two melee weapon attack profiles. The first is range 1, 2 Hammers for 2 damage. The second, is range 2, 2 Hammers for 1 damage. Upon inspiration, she gains Movement 5 and each of her attack profiles improves to 3 Hammers. Overall, a modest boost for her inspiration.
Cephanyr, Cyreni's Spirit Guardian, a creature of the deep ethersea. He has a Move of 3, a Save of 1 Dodge, 4 Health and a Bounty of 2. It has a single melee attack of range 1, 3 Swords, for 2 damage. In addition, Cephanyr can fly. Upon inspiration, Chephanyr gains a Move of 4, a Save of 2 Dodge and its attack improves to 4 Swords with Grapple.
Renglaith, a Namarti thrall, has a Move of 4, a Save of 1 Dodge, 4 Health and a Bounty of 2. He has two melee weapon attack profiles. The first is range 1, 3 Swords for 2 damage. The second, is range 2, 3 Swords for 1 damage. Upon inspiration, his Save improves to 1 Block and each of his attack profiles improves to 4 Swords. Overall, a modest boost for her inspiration.
Alathyrr, another Namarti thrall, has a Move of 4, a Save of 1 Dodge, 4 Health and a Bounty of 1. He has two melee weapon attack profiles. The first is range 1, 2 Hammers for 2 damage. The second, is range 2, 2 Hammers for 1 damage. Upon inspiration, his Save improves to 1 Block and his attack profiles combine to a very good, range 2, 3 Hammers for 2 damage with Brutal. With a Bounty of 1 and a solid inspired profile, Alathyrr is a solid candidate to be the main fighter to attack with early in the game.
How does the warband inspire?
Inspire a number of friendly fighters equal to the battle round at the beginning of each combat phase. At the start of the round Uninspire each friendly fighter.
Basically, at the start of round 1, inspire one fighter. At the start of round 2, inspire two fighters and at the start of round 3 inspire 3 fighters. A really simple inspire mechanic, which is guaranteed. The predictability of this inspire mechanic allows you to plan your game around it. In round 1, I would consider inspiring either Alathyrr, for an improved attack profile and a small defensive buff, or Cephanyr for an improved Save, extra movement and a minor improvement in the accuracy of the attack profile.
Warscroll abilities
Multi use abilities
Hammertide - Core ability - You can use this ability if a friendly leader with no Charge tokens is on the battlefield. Draw a straight line from the centre of your leaders hex that passes through the centre of an adjacent hex and goes all the way to edge of the battlefield. Inflict 1 damage on the first enemy fighter in a hex that line crosses and give that fighter a Stagger token. The line immediately ends if it crosses a blocked hex.
Firstly, this ability requires no dice roll. It just causes 1 damage, which your opponent cannot prevent! Secondly, the target also receives a Stagger token, making them easier to hit with standard attacks later in the round. Thirdly, the range is limited only be drawing a straight line. To get the most out of this ability, you will want some Push cards, to help to reposition Cyreni so that she is in a straight line to her target.
Having played a few games with the Razors I have not used this ability. Why is this? I have always found a more useful action to achieve an Objective.
Overall, a reliable Ping, 3 out of 5.
Deadly Riposte - Use immediately after an enemy fighters failed attack that targeted a friendly thrall (Alathyrr or Renglaith). That thrall's weapons have Cleave and Ensnare during the next turn while that enemy fighter is the target of an attack.
In order for you to use this ability your opponent has to aim at a friendly thrall and fail their attack. Then you have to be in range to attack. Ok, so assuming all that has been achieved, this ability provides Cleave and Ensnare, which is definitely useful. The interesting statement is to the Thrall's weapons, including any upgrade or ploy weapons. In addition, it is for the whole turn, including the Power step. So, if you can gain an additional attack with for example Improvised Weapon this would also have Cleave and Ensnare.
Having played a few games, this ability has become available more often than I expected. Even when it has become available, I have not always used it.
Overall, a nice ability that can be used multiple times, but its use is limited to unpredictable moments in the game, 3 out 5
Phantasmal Ink - Use this immediately after an enemy fighter's failed attack that targeted a friendly Cephanyr. Push Cephanyr a number of hexes equal to the battle round.
In order for you to use this ability your opponent has to aim at a friendly Cephanyr and fail their attack. How can I make this more likely? You could inspire Cephanyr and then put him on Guard. With a 2 Dodge Save on Guard, there is a very good chance an attack would fail. Cephanyr can then push around the board. One point to really notice is that the push is equal to the battle round number. So, in round 2 this is 2 hexes and round 3 three hexes. The wording of the rule does not say 'up to', so you need to do the full push. I like the idea of placing a Treasure token next to a starting hex. Cephanyr can then go on guard straight away before pushing onto the Treasure token.
Overall, 4 out of 5.
One Use abilities
Soul Harvest - Use this in the Power step. Pick an Inspired enemy fighter. Then your opponent must pick one of the following: Uninspire that fighter, or you can draw Power cards equal to the battle round.
Personally, I think this ability needs to be kept until at least round 2 to get the value. Firstly, your opponent is likely to have inspired a valuable fighter and secondly you may get to draw two Power cards. Either option, is likely to prove a boon during round two. Delaying this ability to round 3 could give you more cards, but you might not have the fighters to use them with. Equally, in round 1, the opponent is unlikely to uninspire a fighter to prevent you gaining 1 Power card, especially as this will be later in the round.
When playing the game, my opponent always lets me take the cards, no one has ever chosen to lose inspiration.
Overall, a useful ability but not necessarily game changing, 3 out 5.
Possible Pairings
Main Playstyle: Flex into Strike
Playing the Razors, you immediately notice their lack of Save, as most fighters have access to only 1 dice. On top of this Phantasmal Ink and Deadly Riposte activate on a failed attack, which is more likely to occur if you have a better Save. So, one aspect of a deck you are looking for is access to Upgrades that give a better Save. Objective-wise, the Razors are a four fighter warband (and as already mentioned poor Saves) so they can claim some Objectives but will struggle to hold them for much of the game. Equally, they have decent accurate attacks but find it difficult to put out raw damage to eliminate lots of enemy fighters. As such they play into Flex.
The main deck that appears to suit their playstyle is Countdown to Cataclysm (C2C). Here there is a good mix of Objectives with some looking for positioning (Nowhere to Run), others for causing damage (Wreckers), others for holding Treasure tokens (Uneven Contest, Set Explosives). There are, however, a large number of Upgrades and Ploys in this deck that are frankly useless.
You could try Emberstone Sentinels (ES). The Razors have three fighters that can attack at a two-hex range. This allows them to charge onto Treasure tokens and still attack. It is ES Ploys and Upgrades which are helpful to the Razors. Upgrades such as, Agile and Sharp Reflexes provided increased chances to Save. Duelist to run in attack and then duck back out of harm's way or onto a Treasure token. Ploys such as Sidestep and Confusion, along with the ever-useful Healing Potion.
Finally, you could try to build into Strike with Blazing Assault (BA). The Razors are an accurate warband, but they do need to increase their damage output, BA will give them access to Twist the Knife and Great Strength.
Conclusions
Comments
Post a Comment