efkelley

Her name is Khathan (the Desert Shadow). And she's one brutal babe.

A minor point of order: Ammat is actually female.

I make stuff up.

Generic cleric and mage elites for all your magic-wielding needs. They're not especially powerful, but they're cheap and the right spell at the right time can make all the difference.

Berserkers got axed, so to speak. They would be redundant next to Dervishes.

It'll be a solo or a summoned unit (which then moves when the caster moves).

You can also send them against archers with great effect.

You realize, of course, that simply MUST go in the next book.

Anwar is a mounted sergeant. The disciples are your generic elite clerics. At least, I think that's what they are. I've slept since I wrote them.

Bryan is truly the master of the vague tease. Alas, I'm pressed for time and not near drunk enough to shed less light on this topic, so I'll just tell you. Devourers are a new adept grunt. Think croc-headed golems. The Dust Devil is a dust devil (Shock!). A desert air elemental. I'd give an idea of their stats and such, but those are in playtest and subject to change.

There's a difference between Cavalry and Mounted. Cavalry are trained and equipped to go against archers. Mounted models have the benefits of riding an animal and fighting against people on foot. Most Cavalry units have Mounted, but some will not. In fact, some Cavalry units aren't even mounted. The 2 model adjustment is both to reduce the amount of cavalry on the table and gives a few points back on each Cavalry model.

Kill the musicians if at all possible and reduce their mobility. Use archers to whittle their numbers as much as possible before they engage in melee. Use magic to ding the big solo models like the Griffon and Clawhelm, then surround them with goons. Fireballs and firestorms are handy. Do not let him set up a defensive line in the middle of the table where Grimsteel can drop his falcon on people without fear of reprisal. Save a spell or two for this eventuality. And, above all else, play them before their book comes out. They'll be getting even more defensive tricks.

I fought the hideous Spar and his thousand-man archer free company this weekend. I lost, but it was reasonably close. Emmel Etch fought the same force and the game was even closer. A few changes to our opposing forces would have probably tipped the scales slightly against the archer company. And, of course, we weren't using any cavalry. Just one cavalry troop might've tipped the scale on its side.

Tack on a +2 magic weapon and some armor and he's reasonably nasty. His attacks don't degrade until the last track (of which he has 3) and he has several nice special abilities. So even wounded, he's a solid hitter.

If you can make it to the Asylum on Saturdays that's when most public playtesting takes place. Of course it would help if the new units were actually pointed up. But that's not my department, thank goodness.

Rapid assault is the Sokari way. Their weakness is their sustained ranged fire (or lack thereof). They won't get a lot of help for that in the book either. All things considered, I think folks will be pleased. I'm not much of a rules writer, but I've got the engineers behind RAGE looking over my shoulder the whole way. In fact, after the initial unit concepts I have very little to do with the actual construction of the new units.

Yep! I write stuff. Sometimes it's even coherent!

Look for a magic boost and a mobility boost without resorting to CDR. Heroes of all types. And a little more Evil Inside. Most of Sokar's followers aren't nice guys. You'll be able to make an all-undead force if you so choose, but it will limit you somewhat in the mobility and sustained ranged fire departments. You won't have camels as cavalry. They're easily smart enough to be trained for war, but they're incredibly stubborn and can't run for as long as horses can. In short, horses are much better overall as war mounts. No chariots either but for other reasons.

Dwarves don't let me down! The Forgewalk belongs to Aizen Krahl. Don't make me start adding artillery rules for battles fought near the Iron Mountain.

The opportunity for teases of epic proportion presents itself! <tease> Several ReaperCon attendees I spoke with have the full skinny on Dwarf and Nefsokar cavalry. </tease> Bwahahahaaa!!! Bryan, you're right, teasing is a HOOT!

<tease> All the factions will be getting cavalry of some kind. Although for some it may not be what you'd normally expect. </tease>

The simple answer is to play mercenaries. All archers! All the time! Veni, Vidi, Kablooikie.

What dwarven force would be complete without berserkers? Very dangerous over short distances...

Nefsokar would be more along the lines of Egyptian tombs. Meaning, a hole in the ground, likely covered over with natural stone. They don't advertise where the tombs are because of the very real danger of defilers and robbers.

Left to right: Ritterlich Terran Malvernis Adon Rach The sitting guy is an Adonese Templar.