Saiyin

Race: Elf
Class: Soulgazer
Survivability: Med
Damage Output: Low
Threat Range: Low (though she moves 5" she has a 1" melee range and cannot charge).

Profile: Saiyin has high MOV, high AGI and low health (Standard Elf stats). Her MAG is high but she prefers to avoid using it.

What does she do?: Saiyin wants to soul gaze and use her support abilities. Though she can attack quite well against enemy models with souls she generally prefers to stay back and avoid the fight using Augury and Holy Shield and gazing/stripping souls then banking them. Her healing Aura is very useful and something that is important to remember when playing her. Augury is a great ability particularly for models that roll multiple d6 rather than combat dice since the change in outcome can be much higher and of course she herself benefits greatly when using Augury to aid her soulgazing.

Saiyin is very strong in one soul pit maps when you can go first. She is able to use Augury on herself and soul gaze until she hits level 3 and can bank two souls. On double soul pit maps she levels up more slowly and is at a greater risk of dying before she can bank, she also will not or at least generally should not do a great deal when the soul is on the other side of the map as you do not generally want to throw her forwards into melee. Though she lacks ranged attacks you are often better off holding her back and not getting much out of her early activations rather than throwing her into melee especially is she is holding souls. This may mean that she doesn't do a lot early on which shouldn't concern you too much.

Her strip soul ability is in general not as good as Kruuls but it has certain advantages. As she is performing a soul harvest she gains an advantage from having models engaging the target whereas this robs Kruul of attack dice, also she doesn't need an action to use her Soul Beckon ability (Kruul needs to use his after an attack which means using an action) which means she can Beckon, Soulgaze then bank using her level 3 ability or back off to a safer location. Be careful if you are sending models forwards to engage the model she is using Soul Beckon on that you leave a place for the soul to spawn otherwise it may be out of range for Saiyin to Soulgaze.

Fate Appetite: Med. Soul Beckon and Soul Bank are great abilities to use late in the game but not generally used early.

Level Appetite: Med. She really wants to get to level 3 so she can bank her souls without moving. Her level 2 ability (which increases her healing) is also nice. That said she doesn't want to go after a monster and she will level up quickly by soul gazing.

Magic Items: Boots of Agility (Low), other defensive items (low). Saiyin in general does not want aggressive items, I quite like the Boots of Agility on her but often they have a more pressing place to be in your warband.

Combinations: Saiyin's healing works very well with the minotaurs as does her ability to stop fire turning off their healing. Augury is really nice with Rakkir, Brok or Zhonja when they use their fate abilities and Holy Shield is a great counter to Rakkir and to Istariel.

Ban Targets: Saiyin like a lot of the elves doesn't like automatic damage or knock downs. They have low health and rely on their agility to live. She is much more likely to be a ban target for your opponent if they have a model like Rakkir than to dictate who you want to ban.

Judy's Judgement:

Rakkir

Race: Orc
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Med
Damage Output: Med (up to Very High with Toxin his fate ability)
Threat Range: Med (to Very High with Shadow Orbs)

Profile: He is MOV 4, AGI 4, MEL 7 and 15 boxes. Pretty much average across the board except for his aggressor MEL of 7. He has the Cloak of Darkness giving him extra AGI against ranged and magic attacks. His melee range is only 1" which can be a problem.

What does he do?: Rakkir is one of the more specialist aggressors, his base damage output is low for a melee aggressor, his 1" melee range is constricting and can make him vulnerable to models like Doenrakkar and his base threat range on a charge is only 8" (including his 1" melee range). That said his abilities are incredibly strong. Toxin his fate ability does not require an action and is allows him to do an extra 2d6 damage ignoring RES which is extremely strong. From level 1 his able to teleport to and from shadow orbs makes him extremely mobile and adds to his survivability, also he has Invisibility (at level 3) and Cloak of Darkness to add to his hit and run style and make him difficult to kill from range.

What Rakkir wants to do is generally charge in, use the extra dice to apply poison to a target, use his toxin ability then place a shadow orb and teleport out (either using his base ability or by getting to level 2 and triggering Escape from an attack). In the early turns of the game you want to make sure there are shadow orbs allowing you to target important areas of the board, look to see if you can teleport near soul spawning pits to target soulgazers, near shrines to push out or kill contesting models (Rakkir's Toxin ability ignores RES which means he can often finish off wounded defenders) or get charge range to your opponents effigy.

Fate Appetite: High. If Rakkir can't use his Toxin ability then his damage output is much lower than the other aggressors.

Level Appetite: Med. Rakkir really needs to pull back after charging in if he wants to live, he can do that without levelling up by dropping a shadow orb and using an action to teleport away but it is advantageous to be able to do that with an attack. Invisibility his level 3 ability is extremely strong combined with his ability to teleport back after attacking.

Magic Items: Vorpal Blade (High). Rakkir really wants the vorpal blade. I'm going to do something I haven't done previously and put up some dice math.

This is the chance of getting at least a glancing hit and two manoeuvre symbols. The chances are probably lower than most people would guess they are. The odds are broadly similar to what you would have to roll for a crit. What this means in game terms is that if Rakkir charges an elf with no assistance you only have a 38% chance of getting poison off and being able to use Toxin and with your second attack the chance goes down to a very low 8%. You are not generally going to get poison off on an elf without assistance, even against a human or an orc the odds only go up to 50-50. Taking a Vorpal Blade takes those odds up to 64% (closer to 2/3) and sending in a defender to engage the model first and you are up to 73% (closer to 3/4). Rakkir needs dice fixing if you want to use his kit and the Vorpal Blade is often an important part of that. 

Combinations: Zaffen and Kvarto are both able to apply poison to a target independently of Rakkir so can be very useful, Kvarto is also able to use his telekinesis ability to have Ashtooth or Vujasha apply poison. The knockdown defenders (Marcus, Thrommel and to a lesser extent Skoll) are able to knock down targets before Rakkir charges then use their defender abilities to make it hard to get to Rakkir. Bastian is a great source of extra dice to make the poison ability stick and Thorgar is a useful aggressor partner because he doesn't need the Vorpal Blade as badly as Rakkir as well as also having access to knockdowns.

Ban Targets: Ban Saiyin. She can prevent you from using toxin on one target. Kvarto at level 2 is also immune to poison. Skye is also someone who is a high priority on the ban list. After we just finished looking at how important each die is for Rakkir having someone who can both add 5 health to the model you are going after as well as reduce the dice pool is not what Rakkir wants to see.

Judy's Judgement:

Piper

Race: Elf
Class: Supporter
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Medium
Threat Range: High (12" on the charge with Mystic Step & Enhance Self, or two magic attacks at a target 14" away when he starts his activation).

Profile: Piper has an elf stat line, low boxes high MOV, high AGI no RES as well as MEL 6 and MAG 6 and he has a fate ability "enhance self" which adds one to all of those (except RES). His movement is further increased by an innate ability allowing him to gain a 2" place at the start of his activation. Though he only has a 1" melee attack range he has a magical attack at range 6" which allows you to push a model like a melee attack (this is a lot more useful than it seems on face value).

What does he do?: Piper is one of the most versatile models in the game. His ability Duplicate Self allows him to ignore the first attack he would suffer, Enhance Self takes him to AGI 6, and at level 3 he gains Taunt which allows him to force an enemy aggressor to target him rather than a squishier target. Added together that makes him a good pseudo-defender.

On the other hand and again using Enhance Self (although he can do both these things without the ability just not quite as well) he becomes MEL 7, attacks a model already engaged to add another dice to the pool and uses Backstab to do 3|4|5 (glance|solid|crit) damage which makes him a decent pseudo-aggressor.

Lastly with his huge threat he can move models around in the back line and disrupt your opponents abilities and things that contest shrines as well as move models quite far away into monsters to cause your opponent difficulties. He also has a Soul Harvest of 4 which makes him a decent back up Soulgazer especially given his survivability.

Fate Appetite: High. He wants to cast Enhance Self every round if he can, you will always get some use from that ability. That said he can live without it, it will reduce his effectiveness but it won't cripple him.

Level Appetite: Med. Viper Venom (the ability to trigger enhance self of a melee attack) is incredibly useful and Taunt is a fantastic ability that can turn games. That said he can use the bulk of his toolkit without levelling up.

Magic Items: Glyph of Warding (Med). Makes him an even stronger pseudo-defender, the Boots of Agility also do this for one less cost but often your opponent will be looking to knock down Piper or apply automatic damage which makes it less effective (automatic damage will also often bypass the Glyph of Warding). If you are looking to get him an aggressive item to increase his output he gets more out of the Vorpal Blade or if you are up against a lot of models with RES the Armour shredder rather than the Ring of Power.

Combinations: Piper likes melee defenders, particularly Doenrakkar as they can help trigger his Back Stab rule and I quite like the Piper + Lvl2 Zaron combination as you only risk a skeleton and killing it generally does some damage to your opponent anyway. Generally though you take piper for his versatility. He can be a ghetto soul gazer, he can be a pseudo-defender or a psuedo-aggressor and he brings a long threat on his ranged attack that can move models around. He makes a good pick to round out a 5 or a 7 model roster to fill in for an important position that gets banned or in a warband where versatility is important. He also fits nicely into high AGI warbands which are useful for making it hard for your opponent to trigger their abilities.

Ban Targets: He doesn't like being knocked down and automatic damage, this means models like Thorgar, Xyvera and Styx are good ban targets. Thrommel also has the knockdown ability as well as his level 2 ability that prevents piper from pushing him but he really doesn't like duplicate self.

Judy's Judgement:

Kruul

Race: Orc
Class: Soulgazer
Survivability: Low
Damage Output: Low
Threat Range: Med-High (move and shoot 10” charge 9”)

Profile: Standard stats MOV 4, AGI 4, as well as MEL 6 and MAG 7. Average boxes (15). He does more damage in melee but has a higher MAG score so rolls more dice at range. His magic attack increases in damage for every soul bound to him.

What does he do?: Kruul is a more combat oriented Soulgazer than for example Saiyin and is strong on single soul pit maps but still quite useful on maps with multiple soul pits. In single soul pit maps he is able to take a soul then stay near the soul pit safe in the knowledge that if he dies the soul will pass to a nearby model (his Transference ability) and then use his level 2 ability Soul Distortion to make it harder for enemy Soulgazers as well as the extra damage on his Bewitched magic attack. On multiple soul pit maps he can use Bewitched to add some damage without getting bogged down in melee. It is important to note that you can use Transference to send a soul to the effigy provided Kruul dies in range.

Like most Soulgazers he wants to sit in behind the melee and move to take souls. His Extract Soul ability is a very strong ability that can quite reliably take a soul off an enemy model. Null Magic is situationally quite useful and the presence of the ability can often be enough to make your opponent thing twice about buying a magical item.

Fate Appetite: Low. Extract Soul and Frenzy are his two fate abilities. Extract Soul is very strong in the late game when fate is easier to come by and Frenzy requires a lot of effort to get value, I would not build a warband around it but it's nice to have when you need it. Either way he is able to his job in general without fate.

Level Appetite: Low. His level 2 ability is useful especially in single soul pit maps but it isn't necessary for his game plan and as a Soulgazer he levels fairly easily. Nor do you need to worry about getting to his level 3 ability.

Magic Items: Defensive Items (low). Ring of Power (low).

Combinations: Kruul works well with defenders, his Null Magic ability can make it even harder to take them down and when he dies he likes to hand off the soul he is carrying to a model that is hard to kill. Having defenders around can also allow you to push forwards safely to get more use out of Extract Soul. You can also take multiple orcs and get value out of Frenzy late game or you can take models like Nephene and Skoll that take away your opponents options and make it hard to get anything done

Ban Targets: Kruul is at his strongest when he is the only soulgazer on the board. Soul Distortion is good against another soulgazer taking them from needing a 6 to a 7 or an 8 but it can stop your opponent from even trying to soulgaze if they are relying on using non-Soulgazers with a soulgaze of 4. It also really turns on his Extract Soul ability as non-Soulgazers have to be further up the board in general to collect souls. If you can't stop your opponent from taking a Soulgazer getting rid of the defenders who can make it much harder to use Extract Soul are the next best ban options.

Judy's Judgement:

Marcus

Race: Human
Class: Defender
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Low (max 12)
Threat Range: Medium (9" Charge, 8" with shield)

Profile: Marcus has high AGI for a defender (4), and MOV 4, MEL 6, RES 2 which are average stats. He has 16 boxes which is low for a defender but not low in general. His Soul Harvest of 4 is pretty good.

What does he do?: The main thing Marcus does in charge and knock things down. Though his damage on the shield is quite low and it only has a range of 1" he only needs 1 manoeuvre  symbol to knock a model down (plus damage). His protective stance is one of the better defender abilities too, he is able to add a RES to any non-defender model and this can stack with the native RES on the model, abilities on the model, and the Glyph of Warding. Lastly his fate abilities can be pretty useful, the wall in particular can make it very hard to attack a model in melee particularly in conjunction with Marcus' positioning and other models and can provide cover. His level up abilities are situational but can be very strong.

Fate Appetite: Low. He needs fate to drop a wall and to use a blizzard token at level 3. Though these are situationally very strong most turns you can get a very high return from Marcus by using his shield to knock down a model and occasionally using protective stance. The fact that protective stance doesn't use a fate allows you to much more reliably build a synergies around it without worrying about low fate maps or needing rerolls. The wall in my opinion is the stronger of his fate abilities and learning to use it correctly especially in the late game is what make a good Marcus player.

Level Appetite: Low. Winter's bite is one of those abilities that is occasionally clutch but mostly not useful. Blizzard is another one, on rare occassions it is quite useful but often you'll get better use from Marcus just using his base abilities and of course the knock down.

Magic Items: Boots of Agility (Medium). The boots of agility on Marcus really take his survivability up to the next level. He can live without them if you really need another magical item or if he has to use all his movement to get forwards to contest a shrine but they do make a massive difference to his game. He doesn't get a lot of use out of the other items.

Combinations: I like Marcus in a lot of warbands because he doesn't need fate or levels. He works particularly well with Gendris who can use Root on him. He also likes models that can heal. Models that need crits or abilities that require 2S + damage really make good use of his knock down ability. Models with 1 RES or the ability to increase their RES make good use of his Defensive Stance ability, Svetlana really makes excellent use of that ability.

Ban Targets: Bastian. Marcus is really able to get a roll on if he activates after an enemy aggressor has activated, knocks them down and lets your aggressors get in to attack. Bastian gives your opponent a second chance to stand up the model so needs to go. He has trouble knocking down defenders but generally they have low AGI anyway.

Judy's Judgement:

Istariel

Race: Elf
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Med (relying on distance and high agility)
Damage Output: Med. Her damage is low for an aggressor but by attacking from range she is more likely to be able to make all three attacks. She does up to 15 damage or 18 at level 3 and ignores 1 RES.
Threat Range: High. She can make all three attacks on models within 8 and 2 attacks on models within 13". She is able to place herself within 5" too which ignores terrain and intervening models.

Profile: Her boxes are low and she has no RES but her AGI is high and her MAG is high. She is MOV 5 in addition to having a 5" place which makes her very mobile when she needs to be.

What does she do?: Istariel wants to hit an opposing model with 3 flame blasts and possibly use her fate ability to do 3 more damage. She doesn't like to move if she can avoid it and she doesn't like to get forwards and she doesn't really have any other abilities other than making magic attacks.

Fate Appetite: Low. She does 3 damage with a fate if she sets you on fire and that's it. It's very useful for finishing off models but she generally allows you to save fate for other models.

Level Appetite: Med. Going up a level prevents her fire from expiring naturally which is really useful given her fate ability and her level 3 ability where she is able to increase damage on models on fire. However she still does good ranged damage without going up levels.

Magic Items: Ring of Power (High). If Istariel has a weakness it's that she requires two symbols and damage to set you on fire. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that she often gets three hits on you but she can't charge and engaged models become really hard to hit. Also the fact that her damage per attack is low takes into account that you are often going to be making 3 attacks with her without having to survive a turn on the front line. The Boots of Agility are also nice for her taking her up to AGI 6 and the Armour Shredder can be a big help against low AGI defenders.

Combinations: Istariel likes to stay away from the fight so having defenders in front of her is important, the knock down defenders (Marcus, Thrommel and Skoll) can help to mitigate the DEF bonus from front line models being engaged as well as prevent aggressors from getting to her. Skye with his ability to teleport to her when she is attacked is also useful.

Ban Targets: Saiyin. She's annoying for a low level Istariel but when Istariel gets to level 3 Saiyin is effectively able to reduce her damage against a single target by 6 by making it immune to fire. Istariel struggles against the elves in general due to their high AGI but really enjoys going up against the Minotaurs where her fire ability can turn off regeneration. That said you also want to avoid heroes that can pull her up to the front line and knock her down like Thorgar or do a lot of damage ignoring AGI like Styx.

Judy's Judgement:

Judge Judy and Executioner

Hello Judgement fans. I decided it might be good to have a new player guide to the judgement models. Although I am by no means the world champion I have touched both current ones and that has to mean something right? This blog represents my opinions only and as such is 100% correct and beyond reproach.

Format

Race:
Class:
Survivability:
Damage Output:
Threat Range:
Profile: Here will be a description of the main attributes of the hero.
What does it do?: I will go through the main abilities of the hero and the reasons you take him/her in your warband.
Fate Appetite: Low to High. How badly does this hero need fate. Some heroes are reliant on their fate abilities to distinguish them from other heroes in the same class. Others are able to do their job well without fate.
Level Appetite: Low to High. Just like their fate abilities some heroes rely on their level up abilities to distinguish themselves from other heroes in their class.
Magic Items: What magic items does this hero want and how important are those magic items.

I have found that both level increases and fate are resources that are very scarce in the early game. First turn you can generally kill a monster to get 2 fate to spend total and one level. In addition to getting the level increase you need most it also lets you get out the magic items you need most. Though these will change from game to game you don't want to have multiple heroes who really need their high level abilities to function or need the same magical item or all really want to use fate abilities.
Combinations: What kinds of warbands does this model work well in and any particular models you should look to include with them.
Ban Targets: Who is this model afraid of.
Judy's Judgement: My final judgement on the model. (Judge Judy's judgements are unadjustable).

Though I reserve the right to change the format should I or anyone else come up with a good idea.

I want to keep it simple and provide basic advice on how to start using the model.