Team Planning – Murtair

This article stems from a few conversations that I have been having with people regarding Murtair. Looking at him in comparison to most damage-dealing Aristos, he doesn’t really compete.

Whilst his Bite is strong if he is able to spend extra action points, he often will want to move into position unless he has a target adjacent, which they will try and avoid. He has below average defence and extremely low initiative. Whilst he can act faster when he is injured, it seems an little risky to hope for some chip damage to help him go faster.

So why am I writing an article about him? First of all, as mentioned in this fine podcast he is basically a werewolf who is also in a thrash metal band. Secondly, it is his mobility that interests me. He has the ability to move 10 hexes if unengaged, and his super jump can potentially allow him to leap into zones that others can’t.

And his bite…I think an idea is to make people have to engage him. An idea for this is to use his mobility to get into a zone – ideally the middle of a zone – and at the beginning of the turn use all your action points to bite a key scoring opponent in the face. A fully powered up bite is a very scary prospect. If he gets into a zone himself, he can use Claw swipe to knock someone out of it.

So, my main aim is to treat Murtair as a scorer first and a damage dealer second, and pick a team that helps with that.

Oh…his card. I knew I had forgotten something.

So, I think he still has real problems with mobility sometimes, especially if he wants to get in a zone each turn to control it. Plus his health pool will be an issue, and so could do with some management. Finally, I want some strong ranged support and some more scoring potential.

Mendoza has a decent ranged threat. Whist he is never going to one-shot anyone his switch is easy to access to the burning tokens can really add up. The main problem with these burning tokens is that if he shoots a model after they have activated for the turn it might be a fair while before they take damage.

He is the best healer in the game, and he will help Murtair use his health pool as a resource to give him more mobility. As you will see below, I think Mendoza’s cards are also superb for this job.

I know she isn’t out yet, so sue me. In this list she will help with tanking, and her initiative buffs / debuffs will really help the team. It will help Murtair have an initiative that isn’t the lowest in the game. It will also help Mendoza act before someone so they can burn to death faster. It will also help….

Gaia!

Gaia will help my team reposition after a scoring turn (if the zone has moved). She will also help seperate and isolate targets for Murtair to go and eat. Her Gorgoneions will help control the scoring game and lock down opponents.

She has a very low initiative but Hippolyta will help with that. Also, all of Gaia’s obstacle placement will help control the hexadome, giving us the advantage as Murtair can just leap over them.

An alternative for this space would be hEXx3r. She is rarely, if ever, a poor choice for the team, and in this team she would be able to guarantee Murtair is not engaged if he doesn’t want to be. In the end I went for Gaia, partially for her cards, and also due to the fact that her powers have more potential ranged threat and mobility. Plus Hippolyta seems to combo well with Gaia and her low initiative.

Unbridled fury and Track gives Murtair the mobility I want in this team. Mendoza should help with managing Murtair’s health so he doesn’t put himself at risk by displacing too much, or if he is unable to displace many hexes as he is already injured.

Earth’s Fury will hopefully help with Track, placing damage on targets early on. Obliteration will also allow Murtair to use his super jump more often, giving him the edge on mobility. Hicet Nunc will allow anyone from the team to reappear on full action points. This seems super important in this list, as everyone in this list has 3 action point cost attacks.

Tabula Rasa and Athena’s Blessing is the only real state removal I have in this list, which is a weakness it has. There are some potential timing issues with both of these cards, as one pretty much cancels the other out. That said, some states, such as immobalise, really hurt this list and so it might be needed to cancel out everyone’s state to win a turn.

Amazon Wedge is a superb card. Giving out the stun state to a lot of the opponent’s team at once is a very potent ability, and it can really give the team the speed it needs.

This list is pretty much the slowest team you can build – the total initiative it starts with is a rock-bottom 14. This could potentially shoot to 22 the turn after – unlikely but possible – and even higher if Murtair is injured. This team also has a lot of ‘selfish’ action cards which need particular characters to use them. Then again, I think it has a lot of suprise mobility, damage and control power.

As is often the case when I write these articles at 7am in my pants, this list is at the moment untested. So, why not give it a go and let me know how it went?

Thanks!

Bye!