spooky_squirrel

This is what I was getting at for Aby. Between our Allegiance ability and our Prototype Assets, we can potentially have three units in Glory on our first activation: Prince Unathi triggering Field Tests on two units, with at least one of his own Morale actions flipping/cheating a 10 in (fixed target, puts Unathi in Glory), and the units' use of the Prototype succeeding with a Tome. Don't worry about making it easy on us to get to Glory. If your local Aby player is having trouble getting into Glory, they're either having abysmally bad luck or not enough practice at the shenanigans available, causing them to focus on things like trying to get that 6 margin when a Tome will do. Instead, look at what it can do to support your effort for the Operation. Related: Tactics Tokens aren't an unlimited resource. Every Tactics Token spent for moving a unit out of engagement is a Tactics Token that is not available to work the Operation. If the only thing that your Alpha Crawler does is force me to spend a very limited resource on something other than scoring VP, then the Alpha Crawler is doing something important. If I don't have those Tactics Tokens available to purchase Stratagems, I don't get to do the things I'm planning or counting on, which is also a good thing for my opponent. It works because it either costs a Tactics Token or an action during another Unit's activation to get it out of engagement so that it can do what it was hired to do. Both of those things (TT, actions) are extremely limited and precious. So if you hired the Alpha Crawler to keep me from doing what I want as an Aby player, cramming it into the face(s) of things that are supposed to be moving around scoring or hanging back shooting, you're getting your hiring scrip's worth out of it. Remember: the game is five turns. Each Unit gets 5 Orders over the course of the game (barring Stratagems), non-commander getting 5 Actions from the Advance Order over the course of a game. With Stratagems and some abilities on the table, I can get more actions in one way or another, but I have to spend the Tactics Tokens to get those Stratagems or use an Action to grant an action to another unit. I can only generate so many Tactics Tokens per turn (6 base in two commander game, but the more I can get per turn, the less I end up being able to with them due to what I have on the table), which are planned to be used for Control Hand (as Aby not as vital), Stratagems, and interacting with Objectives. Every reflip or disengagement paid for with a Tactics Token is at the cost of interacting with Objective markers or paying for a Stratagem that will grant me additional actions. Every Action I'm spending on something other than scoring the Operation or denying you the ability to score is to your advantage.

One of the things to take into consideration is effects of terrain and anything out there that might provide better bonuses against magic than melee. If there's a lot of LOS-blocking terrain that interfere with targeting or movement choke points that limit ability to Lure two Units into pools (looking to maximize reward is a means of evaluation, but I also recommend evaluating risk and weaknesses), then she's going to have a tougher time hitting that level of output. Her ideal terrain and the sharks' ideal terrain are different.

Here's how I've seen her used against me (as Aby) by Cult: She's got snapping heads. Lots of them. Maybe she has one thing that's not snapping heads, but I swear the only thing that comes up is snapping heads regenerating. Portal marker near-ish to my deployment zone. Stalking Portals and other portal support in the Cult forces. Early on in Turn 1 Goryshche pops through the portal and places in such a way where she's already engaging things that really need to be moving or shooting. What this does is put a regenerating Distraction Carnifex right in my business before I can really start doing what I planned on. I can ignore her, sure, but she's going to cost me Tactics Tokens to walk away from if I'm not using various abilities to try and move (outside of the Advance Order move) or place away from her. If I try to kill her, that's going to cost me precious Activations and keep my units near my deployment zone instead of pushing the Operation, and that's assuming that it even works. This typically lets the Cult player either get an early edge on VP and board position or a resource advantage that starts to snowball around Turn 3, depending on Company composition and Operation. Remember: she's still in base contact with a Portal Marker, so if she's starting to get overwhelmed (but survives) or is no longer in as advantageous a position, she just pops through and comes out somewhere you can continue to use her as a blocking effort.

The only time you're limited on the number of times you can use an action per activation/turn is when the action itself says so (or, in the case of Assets that grant actions, wording on the Asset that provides a similar limitation, like Versatile). Commanders can use their free Morale action to take a given Morale action, and as part of the Advance or Focused Effort Order, use the same action again unless the action itself states a limit on number of times per activation or turn.

Where you might find use for the second item that Solkan mentions: On a Titan (Dreadnought) that doesn't yet have a Prototype Asset that has 2 or fewer Assets (for any reason, including an Asset being scrapped to keep the Titan alive). On a Unit of Basotho Cavalry or Crow Runners that was recently summoned using Behind Enemy Lines. Additionally, regarding its cost: if you have The Lord of Steel as one of your Commanders, it costs 1 Tactics Token to purchase to hand. For that one Token you get one extra action, discard a card each time and you can do this every turn without spending more Tactics Tokens. Need to use an Advance Order to claim an objective, but still want to make use of a Discus Grenade or Experimental Rocket? Use this card. Also: with how the card is worded: on either use of the Stratagem, you can discard a card to keep it in hand. This means that you can purchase it early to have both options available the entire game, and later when Behind Enemy Lines comes up or a Titan Asset goes down, use it to hand out a Prototype Asset instead of take an action on a Prototype Asset that's already in play, then discard a card to return it to hand for use in later turns. You get a lot of potential play out of a 1-2 Tactics Token cost Asset.

It's a KE strength, having flexibility in Stratagems. KC&CO with Kassa and her upgrades nets you a great deal of tactics tokens if you build your forces to contain more Titans (King's Hand and either Mechanized Infantry/Steel Legion), with potential card draw from this shenanigan, but also additional use of a Titan through her abilities. The flipping from Glory cost seems a bit more steep in KE than it would be in Aby (like, why bother in Aby, we'll be back in Glory on the next action if we're doing things right), except for Kassa with Bigger is Better (tbh, it's hard to not Envoy KE in order to use that Asset in Aby as well). If you're using this on Kassa, you're spending 2 up front to buy the Stratagem and then using 1 more to put her back in glory. If you have 2 Titans on the board, you'll get 4 Tactics tokens when she activates, netting you a total of 1 more Token than you spent.. and then you're using her repairs to ideally keep Titan Assets in play, drawing a card for the effort. So hopefully this is what you need it to do, instead of giving your Motor Scout an extra activation to place another Trap Marker or your Royal Rifle Corps the ability to finish off a threat, etc. KE might get that reactivation effectively for free (Tactics Tokens wise) for using it on a Commander or Champion (or for a net gain of 1-2 Tactics Tokens with Kassa), but they only get it once. This is a balancing thing that keeps it from being over the top, even if being used with Expert Training. Aby has card draw built into every action that can declare a trigger and can potentially get a fairly steep discount (-2 Tactics Tokens for a total cost of 2 Tactics Tokens, bringing it to the same cost for hiring the Lord of Steel and being down by as little as 1 VP), while being able to use it again. What we get out of additional activations with our Commanders is quite different. For instance: TLAtG with Lord of Steel lets me jet him over to claim an objective later in the turn, potentially when there's nothing my opponent can do to undo that. Or it lets him drive that spear into something that's just about dead anyway, if the Operation calls for it. His Tactics rating of 1 means that I don't miss out on much not being able to draw new Tactics tokens. More importantly: it means that I'm not getting a reusable reactivation of my Commander for free* when I use it with Kassa or Unathi instead of the Lord of Steel. Because it is narrower in focus, there's a lot less "okay, do I reactivate Kassa to get some Tactics Tokens back and maybe some card draw, or do I reactivate this other things to work the Operation"; we are limited to two units to choose from in a two Commander game. It means less overall flexibility from the Stratagem, but a much more focused intent that doesn't weaken us for using it. Something to think about (balance wise) is that if The Lion Among the Gazelles allowed for reactivating a unit without some additional cost like flipping from Glory, then things would get bonkers fast in Abyssinia, especially with Gloried Electrocutioners running around. Expert Training does this, once per game at a fairly steep cost if you aren't stacking discounts on it. We end up losing balancing effects if we open up that Tyrant's Box It's a different set of resource stresses. Aby ends up needing Tactics Tokens support. From what I see here, KE could use card draw support to maximize things on the table. It's also a different mode of play on the table, helping keep the characteristics of KE and Aby enough apart where they remain two distinct forces with distinct ways of playing them. This helps keep things more interesting, Aby isn't KE wearing heavy armor, KE isn't Aby on laundry day.

Appending to @Thisendup's bit about the sheer destructiveness of them: If you're throwing your commander squad into the front lines in this manner and leveraging their abilities, all the units you're actually paying scrip for can focus on the Operation itself. If the Frenzy comes charging into my main effort/front line, I can't ignore them to run objectives. I have to deal with them. If I focus fire on them and you're using hordes of gribblies to get other work done, those hordes are going to get ignored and you'll get an early edge on position/objectives. I'm spending resources and multiple activations to deal with the Frenzy, and you're just using their abilities during their activation. It's a form of attrition that complements your other approaches to attrition, both the luring control play that pulls people out of position and the killed units coming back for Tactics Tokens. It's forcing a disproportionate spending of Activations, Tactics Tokens, Stratagems, and Control Hand cards to deal with a single squad. When I'm playing against the Stormsiren, if I see my opponent caching Tactics Tokens, I'm ignoring her as much as possible and dealing with the units that are out trying to do work. She has some nasty tricks, but she doesn't force a response in the same way. Especially if I can get some LOS-blocking terrain between her and the units I don't want wandering off. Which means that whether or favor her or them depends on how you want to play the Operation and the terrain available. You might also factor in who you're facing, because different Allegiances pose different problems at the table.

What if the Empire contracted some French chefs to whip up something with the eels? I'm sure that an island nation can quickly get to business on a boiled whelk feast, it would be far from their first experiment with shellfish! Really though: King's Hand can do some serious damage, so keep on stomping, maybe use the big gun to punch holes in the whelks. Token control is a big deal, both yours and theirs. If the Operation calls for it, I'd also seriously consider jamming the eels up with something like the Borderers so that your Motor Scouts can go run objectives.

This is Onslaught, definitely one of the ones I'm concerned about if I'm not braced for close combat. With Court Of Two Champion and the Stormsiren, you can quickly make up spending 4 Tactics Tokens on it early if you want to put something nasty up the field, or hold off to do it later in the game (as Pergli mentions) to run objectives. Another one that looks bad for me as an Aby player is Cut Them Off. Stealing my Reinforcement Tokens to Glory off of Survival of the Fittest is a double strike--I'm counting on those tokens keeping my dudes on the table. It's really the only thing I have in an attrition fight since wiping a unit out doesn't stop Hordes. It's also a way to work around both Aby and KE picking off eggs before you can eat them, a contingency plan.

The abuse that I would be more concerned about is the last sentence of the same paragraph that sets the limit on the number of Assets a specific Unit type could have (page 12, pdf): That is a limit that's not defined or reinforced under the Limitations described in the Asset anatomy. When you're looking at Electrocutioners, the Allegiance Advanced Prototypes ability, and the Prototype Assets themselves, I could see grief coming up between someone who looks at that as part of the Asset attachment limit (since it's not described on the Asset card itself) and someone who sees a unit of Electrocutioners with 4 Flare Guns and Prince Unathi sitting across the table from them. If you're not tracking: first activation is Prince Unathi, who triggers two of the Flare guns (drawing two cards and having two nearly free chances of putting the Electrocutioners in Glory before they even activate, in addition to two attacks that ignore LOS and Terrain) using his free Morale Action and another Morale Action as part of the Advance Order. He then uses Coordinated Strike (for free, because he's a Commander) to the Electrocutioners, who then Declare an Advance Order, move into rifle range (if possible), then get to take that same Action four more times (once for each due to Versatile), giving them four LOS/Terrain ignoring attacks that can put them in glory on any Success with a Tome. If they go into Glory, then they use their special action to start causing chaos on the battlefield. If they don't go into Glory then they do a range check for their rifles, passing on normal Action if they're not in range. So while I don't disagree that maybe the wording could be tweaked to: Then the word limit appears in the same sentence as the counts, separate from the same name guidance, and is clearly different than the Asset-defined Limitations. This should help with dealing with Rules Lawyers, without cluttering up the rules with more keywords to track that make it harder to pick out keywords from regular text. I emphasize should because something I've learned as an engineer: building a system that's munchkin-proof only encourages the munchkins to try harder. That's where my push back is rooted in. This is the initial release, so there's no reason to call it perfect and ignore it... but if every query turned into an FAQ entry, then FAQ loses its defining feature (frequently). If every query turns into an Errata issuance, errata creep can become cumbersome and unwieldy to the point where the only people having fun are the Rules Lawyers. Remember: as a TO/Henchman, your guidance on the rules weighs more than a munchkin trying to Rules Lawyer a grey area into an advantage over their opponent. Apply lever as needed to ensure that the event is successful in both being fun for existing players and bringing more people to the game. Even if your guidance ends up being along the lines of "please don't be that guy". I know the Henchman at my FLGS likes to cover basic ground rules up front that aren't necessarily in the printed rules (such as "here's a cool marker I brought, it's this kind of Terrain and here's its Traits") and follow up with the players to make sure that people are cool with what he's put out. This brings the questions out before anyone's even partnered up for Round 1, thus limiting the disruption to games in progress. Adding "Abyssinia's ignoring Asset limits refers to the count, please don't attach multiple Flare Guns or Experimental Rockets to your Electrocutioners" to the ground rules discussion up front doesn't take much effort and opens the floor up to all players to discuss if they're okay with that at the tournament. If it turns out that your non-Abyssinian players are largely okay with that kind of shenanigan then roll forward with that. I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of the non-Abyssinian players would take exception to someone attaching the Active Defenses Armor to both of their Commanders and two other Units, or adding the Gramophone Amplifier to their Electrocutioners, but if there's any doubt, then simply add "It also doesn't refer to the Limitations described on the Asset itself" to the ground rules and listen for player feedback.

There's a difference between the Asset limit described (pg 12 of the PDF) prior to the anatomy of the Asset card and the Limitations described within the wording of the Asset. The limit on the number of Assets a unit can have is described in plain text and is set by the unit type (Titan, Champion, other). The Limitations described on Asset itself are restrictions specific to and defined by that Asset. If the wording on the Allegiance ability said "ignoring Asset Limitations" I could see that argument (but I would certainly not encourage having that argument during a game), but it's not using same keyword. Even "ignoring Asset limitations" might have some wiggle room, since we have some examples of keywords not always having the capitalized lead letter within the body of the rules. So as written, in a game where keywords are vital (and typically in bold font or capitalized in order to call attention to them as keywords), if something uses that explicit keyword, sure it applies to that keyword. If it does not use that explicit keyword, then no, it does not apply. RAW is built on explicit use of keywords.

Take the opportunity to head over to Wyrd and pull down their archive of the cards (same place you can find their online rulebook (pdf) link. It's a zip file/archive of all of the released cards, front and back, so that you can see the Scrap ability on the disabled side of the Asset as well as concrete Disabled values.

Where it's most likely to come up with the list that trikk provided is either: after using Behind Enemy Lines to summon in either the Bos. Cav. or another unit of Crow Runners. Use of Overclocked would then hand them a Prototype asset that they can put to use on the back table edge. OR: after the Dreadnought has had to scrap an asset to stay alive, use of Overclocked can get you a lovely Gramophone Amplifier that will help keep your squads topped up. OR: after an Asset like Toughness is disabled and scrapped to keep a Rail Gunner alive. You might then use the Overclocked Stratagem to attach a Prototype to the Rail Gunner so that it can change up what it is doing. Between these two, the most likely one you'll plan for is the first. Summon in some Crow Runners in Turn 2-3, get them some reinforcement tokens, and if they're still around in the next turn, give them a Prototype that lets them get some work done. If you're being really spending with Tactics Tokens, you might do both around the same time or earlier in--but you really want to make sure that the Crow Runners survive their first turn on the table before you sink too much into them. I mentioned the second and third one because planning is great and all, but sometimes stuff happens. That unit of Crow Runners was obliterated before it could really do anything, and you're about to activate your Dreadnought in the middle of three of your squads, and they're looking a little rough around the edges, or you've got a no-longer-tough Rail Gunner to activate who is all jammed up with a few too many problems to simply spend a Tactics Token and walk away, but wouldn't you know it? One of those problems is a Champion that has no Assets left either. Guess who is about to get some Shock Batons in a care package at the start of their activation!

For starters: the listed Prototypes are what trikk get at the start of the game and anticipates using. Because it is something that is determined during Scouting (and thus you know what your opponent is fielding) you can change up which Prototypes you take basically at the last minute. In a two Commander game, you start with 4 of them (see also: four in the list) that can be attached to any Abyssinia units ignoring Asset limits. So your concern about the attachment rules doesn't apply there. For reference, here's the relevant portion of the Allegiance card: Now onto Overclocked (relevant portion quoted here for reference) It defines an attachment restriction unique to it (because Prototype Assets do their own thing). The other two things to look at are the Allegiance card (above) and Asset base rules (below): This is the base Asset limit rule, which is what we refer to when there's no other rule about attachment limitations (like our ignoring them with the Advanced Prototypes Allegiance ability during Scouting phase). This combines with Overclocked in the case of a Titan or Champion that has less than their maximum number of Assets. If that Titan or Champion already has a Prototype Asset, then they may not attach another, even though they have less than the maximum described in the Asset attachment rule quoted above. The Allegiance card only applies to attaching the initial ones during the Scouting phase, so it does not change either the base limitation or the enhanced restriction from Overclocked. So later on in the game, when you might actually play Overclocked in order to gain a Prototype Asset, you can only attach it to a friendly Abyssinian unit that does not have a Prototype Asset already that is also not at their Asset limit (because the attachment to Allegiance part of the Asset rule still applies). That only comes up during a game in progress, when you have bought Overclocked and are attempting to play it to attach a Prototype Asset. It is not something that you worry about at the start of the game, nor do you already map out where the Asset might go, since you have no way of knowing when you will use it or for what asset/unit until the game is in progress.

Welcome to Abyssinia. We have an army-wide special rule during game set up that grants us Prototype Assets that we distribute in a manner that is described in detail on our Allegiance card. The only attachment limitation is that we cannot attach multiple copies of the same Prototype to the same unit. We also have a Stratagem that allows us to pull in another one during the game (Overclocked, included in the list above).

If it's the softer plastic, you can correct it with hot water rinse/bath to make it more flexible, reposing, then cold water rinse (while holding it in new pose) to cool it down. Some of my Aby models had a similar thing going on. If that doesn't seem to help enough, or comes undone over time, you can take the hobbyist/modeler route and put something on the base that sits at an angle and looks like a piece of debris that the legged shark is stepping on while it charges--pick something with a shape that will make the model seem correctly oriented to the base.

Thanks for the reminder @Clement -- I'll update my response to include your caveat.

Per the Asset Card description in the rules (page 12 of the online PDF), this is correct. The Action described on the Asset is granted to the whole unit. This is also correct, per the Versatile rule (quoted below for quick reference). Additionally, those actions do not have to target the same model/unit. It's an additional action, but only the specific action or actions granted by the Versatile Asset. Additionally, as @Clement mentions: Versatile actions must be taken in immediate succession with the fireteam's action during the Advance Order. This is covered under the Orders rules in the rule book (page 21 of the online PDF). Commanders get a special pass on this with their free Morale Action as covered under the Commander special unit rule (page 10 of online PDF).

This is something we've had to adjust to in M2e as well. Wording for similar effects is not always consistent. I do agree that if an FAQ/official ruling comes down that says: We'll adjust accordingly. I know that for me it would eliminate potential disruption-by-argument of a game in progress because it would be something easily referenced. Similarly, for people who are looking at the "[Squad] takes a" part and thinking that it means every fireteam can, I am hopeful that things would be clarified if a ruling came out that said: Either case would be clarifying and prevent the argument. I mainly bring up the avoiding the argument piece because the last time I participated in a GW tournament for the grimdark futuristic game, the whole experience turned sour for many of us because the people at the top table were arguing about minutiae during the game and millimeter differences when time was called, all while jostling the table (and thus moving models and terrain while arguing about placement). I'd like to avoid pedantic arguments at the table, especially when playing in an event and/or at the FLGS. We want events to run smoothly and people to be interested in joining in the hobby, not getting turned off by repellent behavior. That said: the main topic for this thread is dealing with King's Empire, with a specific scenario being the primary motivator. Perhaps any arguments about specific wording on the Guild Envoy champion should be in their own thread in the appropriate channel. That way someone seeing the "help me KE keeps shooting my face off" topic isn't getting sidetracked so much, yeah? (I'm guilty too, I know )

Follow up on @necroon's post: if you're referencing the online PDF (I don't always carry the rulebook with me, so it's a handy mobile reference) page 11 talks about Combined Arms units, and the bit about deployment is buried in the middle of the second paragraph

That's.. something I've been misplaying for a little while now Will make deployment a little less telegraphing of posture

I brought up the wording to support my assertion that Thrace can get extra shots out of the Mechanized Infantry Walker (Combined Arms Fireteam), with its 36" range gun (and its Bombardment trigger as well, to strip tokens that would normally help the targeted unit, like Reinforcement Tokens). I'd rather not disrupt an in-progress game to argue over whether it means the squad can take a single shoot action or every fireteam in the squad can take a shoot action, especially if I don't believe it myself in the first place. It says "Target Squad with at least one Fireteam in range takes a Action", which implies that it's a single shoot action for the squad. I assure you that if you try to play it as every Fireteam in the Squad gets to take a shot, you will end up arguing with someone who is going to point out that "[The Squad] takes a shoot action" is not the same thing as "[Every Fireteam in the Squad may] take a shoot action". This will disrupt the game and likely spoil the experience for at least one person. Let's be good gamers and work towards positive experiences, not just for the gamers involved (who may love arguing minutiae), but also passersby who might be interested in the game, audience in general, and the Henchmen who are organizing events and helping coordinate things. That ability sets her into her role as a support Champion within the Company I am hiring. She lets you get more work out of your elements that need to get work done. With Mehal Sefari that means you would get to attempt to shoot with them outside of their activation (with their Champion-related triggers, which is interesting), but in the list I provided for the scenario described, the Mehal Sefari are decidedly absent. In a more generalist Company, I typically will have a unit of these guys around for getting some work done, but at Single Commander games into known enemies/scenarios, I will tailor my Company to deal with the known situation. To whit: For the scenario described, vs. a KE player with a penchant for sniping Commanders with Accurate weapons, the Mehal Sefari aren't pulling the same load that they would be in a more generalist match up, so the demands on the field are a bit different. I went with the Mechanized Infantry because of the stacking effects of its shooting (Tracer Rounds), making the Adjunct shot (18" range, ignores cover) even more helpful for either killing the Motor Scout for coming within the 25" threat range of the Adjunct's fireteam, or projecting enough of a threat to keep the Motor Scout from attempting anything early on (forcing my opponent to activate other elements, which limits their counterattack threat when my faster-moving elements charge in). For the cost of a card, this also works with Prototype Assets like Experimental Rocket or Flare Gun, so you can get your Walker's cannon up to a high enough AV where cover doesn't matter and potentially getting your Margin value high enough (during the M.I. activation) to buy an additional attack ( trigger) with it. Then, at the end of their activation, your Adjunct lets you draw a card. I love using Expert Training with this unit (no, it doesn't stack across activations, but what's better than doing all this in the first place? Doing it twice). In different scenarios, I will likely incorporate different units. It took me several games to find a happy place with Mechanized Infantry, where my first game with Steel Legion sold me on using it, even with the 12 scrip price tag, wherever I can fit it. One of the other Aby players in my FLGS/Meta has had amazing success with Electrocutioners, which has led to my also evangelizing for them (in spite of my own lack of familiarity with them causing me to often make mistakes). With more practice and more time internalizing how the cogs of Aby work together, I will likely find more use for the Mehal Sefari than I currently do (they're a fairly expensive counter-charge element at 9 scrip, but they come in handy against Cult and Hordes). My primary hesitation at using Mechanized Infantry against KE is that you're trying to play the KE game against them. So generally speaking I would not do this, but the scenario and opposing force is known, so I have an idea of how I would go about it. If I were going in blind, I would likely use something different because KE typically out-ranges Aby and has more tools at their disposal for shooting with. By something different I mean Electrocutioners or Steel Legion, because my effort would be focused on getting them (1) into Glory and (2) up the table, ideally before they activate. That way, when they activate, they're already in position to get a lot of work done at a threat range that KE doesn't want to deal with against Aby.

Good catch, the grenading team would have to shoot before advancing, the others would advance and attack. It's still a lot of work out of a 6 scrip unit in a force of elite elements. I'm typically using the Commander's morale action or tinkering around with "what happens if I get Machinations off" scenarios (I don't typically put this Stratagem in my deck because of its cost, but I keep wondering if I'm being silly in overlooking it, especially when playing with the Lord of Steel), which taints impression of action orders. Electrocutioners also present a weirdness because their special morale action can trigger so many other things. Hello information overload I've edited the post to be more specific about making it work.

You're welcome. I had been stiffing her because ...okay, I'm an Arcanist/10T player in M2e, so I'm biased against Guild in the first place... I didn't really see a place for her in my Abyssinian ranks. Then things like timing of abilities came up, and playing against more numerous forces and wishing I had an extra activation or ability to use for reinforcing (my first game used Kassa and Lord of Steel, so I didn't even have Prince Unathi's Reinforcing ability on the table), and I started looking more closely at Thrace. The timing discussion that caught my eye was that when she activates, she can pitch two cards to go to Glory, then you draw two Tactics Tokens (instead of one), then a unit within 8 inches gets a Reinforcement Token. In Glory she becomes a card draw machine when stuck in. She gets additional combat abilities, but the big thing I was looking at was the aura effect to draw cards. She also grants you a bonus Tactics Token on activation, which ends up being really big and she'll pay for those two cards discarded within two activations of being in Glory, either due to the Tactics Token recovery in 2 activations, or drawing a card because a nearby friendly fireteam was crunched. If she's not doing anything that results in more card flips or discards, you can even Coordinated Strike to the friendly commander with the Hand Held Recording Device and retrieve the last of the two cards you had discarded, effectively giving you a discount across activations. So I started thinking more about how she can support my troops when my Commanders are too busy to. Lord of Steel is such a super-solo that he does next to nothing for the rest of the force directly (though cheaper Stratagems can be nice when you've got a good deck to pick from), and he can easily end up over-extended. Against things with Accurate, not having a bodyguard unit nearby to shunt wounds onto doesn't matter as much, and with Assets, Reinforcement Tokens, and timely use of Medic! he can become a real pain to deal with. This lends itself to him getting into trouble in places that he probably should not be at by himself because while he can be off killing the Motor Scout in turn 1, place a trap marker 21 (or more) inches away in turn 2, and blitz in from 18-30 inches away to pile some hurt on someone who thought they were safely tucked away in the back quarter, it also means he can find himself suddenly surrounded, and against a lone model, you don't need to worry about the Champion rule shunting wounds off onto something less dangerous or meaningful. So it'll be a good idea to make sure that he's not the only threat getting up there. Hence the Scout&Rush on the Crow Runners. It will get them 18 inches up the board, and if there's something from the KE forward enough, you can start handing out Shaken tokens in order to keep the opposing element under control when the Jetpack-wearing Black Panth.. erm.. Wrecking ball from Waka... erm.. Lord of Steel joins in the melee. If he's near the Crow Runners, the Champion rule will help him against the Royal Rifle Corps counter attack, and his own Assets and shenanigans will help keep Edmonton from being as effective as he wants to be. You can decide if you want to do a piece trade for Edmonton, but with everything that I'd want the Lord of Steel doing, I would try to make sure that he sticks around to run objectives. That's where the Marauder comes in handy as well, however. It too can run around absurdly fast, running objectives, which makes the commander piece-trade where the Lord of Steel dives in and kills Edmonton, then dies to the RRC counter attack less costly to your overall Operation. We don't have weight of numbers, so we have to rely on elven tricks and coordinated strikes (both special rule in game and use of units).

That's the part I was looking for, but the PDF available through the Wyrd site isn't keyword searchable (or if it is, it wasn't working right). That means no HHD for the card mill that is Samanthra Thrace, which is for the best.. I shouldn't be getting a discount on kicking her to glory just because I'm playing Aby.