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The Lion army is a difficult army to learn to play. Point for point their fighting
skills normally leave a lot to be desired. Instead of impressive stats several of
their troops are blessed will skills that will only be useful in particular
situations. The Dwarves’ toughness ability, the Wolfen’s natural born killer,
and the Alchemist’s mutagen dice are skills that are used quite often in the
game. Let’s take a look at some of the strengths of the Lions and then examine
each troop individually to try and understand how they should play on the
battlefield.
Strengths of the Lions:
1. Cheap troops: The Lions currently have four troop choices under fifteen
points. While not as numerous as the Goblins or the Undead, the Lions
can still pack them deep and sell them cheap. Using cheap troops as a
delaying tactic or a support for your elite troops or characters is highly
effective.
2. The Bravery Skill: Against fear causing armies the bravery skill is
wonderful. It is against these armies that the Lion truly shine. The ability
of the Lions not to count a 1 as a failure on fear rolls means that with a
full command staff most of the time you will not even need to roll. A
courage of 7 with the roll of a 1 still beats a fear of 7. Any other living
army will fail 16.67% of the time. Even the great Wolfen can be forced
to flee in terror from a single Morbid Puppet.
3. Magic: With two affordable magicians with a power of 5 and their
Warrior Mages with a power of 4, the Lions have a definite edge in the
magic field. Their mages are cheap compared to other armies (The
Wolfen have to pay 129 points for a power 5 to the Lion 35.). Light
magic is very subtle, and if you want to play aggressive damage deal
spells, you may have to choose from the Primagie spells.
4. Sacred Weapons: The Lion army has several troops that have access to
weapons blessed by the light. These weapons will kill outright on any
critical hit. The roll of a double one to wound is normally no effect, but
when caused by a sacred weapon even the great Killyox will fall to snake
eyes.
5. Combos: The Lion army is one that is interconnected. Their tactics rely
on timing and interconnected troops. A Bard running behind a character
allows it to re-roll one die per turn. The Vision Prémonitoire allows you
place the card you need in reserve before cards get drawn. The Banner of
Urland magic item turns one model per turn into a character, allowing
anybody in your army with some preplanning to utilize the bard and her
spells.
Troops of the Lions:
Spearmen: For ten points you get what you pay for. These guys are the bottom
of the barrel when it comes to Lion troops. Their weakness is their defense and
initiative of 2. Looking simply at fighting stats these guys are inferior to most
other 10-point troops in the game. Do not expect these guys to do a whole lot
other than slowing down the enemy. Even three of these guys surrounding a
character will probably not drag him down. When a spearman gets charged
leave him be. It’s ten points, if it dies no big loss. Use your other troops to
attack and gang up on the rest of you opponent’s army.
Guards of Alahan: These guys are two points more than the Spearmen and have
+1 courage to the lowly spearmen prior to selecting their weapons. This blister
includes 3 different ways to arm you
Guardsmen, and each weapon has a different
effect on their stats. I recommend either the
spear or the sword as these effect single die
rolls (Initiative and Defense) rather than the
double dice roll of the to wound chart. I prefer
to arm them with spears as the initiative roll
continues to dominate the games in our area.
Just as important as the +1 initiative and
courage, is the fact that these models look
great. I would pay the two points to keep the
spearmen sculpts off the board.
Sword Players of Alahan: Complete
averageness for 14 points. No major strong
points to these guys. A toughness of 6 and
74
courage of 5 is a little above average, but 3’s for their fighting skills (Ini, Ata,
and Def) means they remain mediocre. It is important to note that they have no
drawback. In fact these sculpts are so good that many of my opponents will be
wary of them by looks alone. Charge these guys when needed, but they really
come into their own when combined with Paladins. They have the same Def,
so the Sword Players can defend while the Paladins attack. Always bring at
least 3 of these guys.
Valkyries: These beautiful models are blessed with a high Ata and Def ability
of 4. They have the Duelist ability, but with a higher Ata than usual I find this
ability hard to use. I really fear they did not do these troops justice in the
current edition. The only two uses for these warrior women is to run them with
Paladin and defend them (Like the above mentioned Sword Players) or to
combine them with the Banner of Urland to turn them into characters and take
advantage of their Duelist ability. Please note my discussion on Agonn the
Flame’s 2 nd incarnation for more on this used. Honestly, these stay in my
miniature case since Confrontation 2 has come out.
Archers: Well, for a ranged combat unit they are rather cheap. Their range is
respectable (up to 60 cm), but when compared to the Griffon fusiliers they are
woefully inadequate. They do a meager 3 damage so take advantage of their
cheap costs to bring at least 3 or of them. You get four archers for the cost of
three fusiliers.
Alahan Reapers: For 20 points a pop these guys are truly finesse troops. They
have the scout ability allowing them to set up outside of the deployment zone.
Reapers are armed with pistols that pack quite a punch with a very short range.
They really come into their element if you have their card in reserve when they
are charged. With their shooting ability of 4 they hit any charging unit on a 2
or better. Combine these troops with the use of the Vision Prémonitoire spell
to ensure this occurrence. They also have an above average initiative that
allows them t disengage if they survive their first turn of combat. Their major
weakness is their defense of 2. I wish Rackham had inverted the Ata and Def
stats. They improved on the Reaper for the Griffons and gave them the
Thallions.
Paladins: The wielders of the Sacred Blades. These guys truly bother my
opponents when I line them up against their expensive troops. Their ability to
cleave a trooper in two 16.67% of the time makes Wolfen and Mounted troops
think twice about not defending versus a Paladin, whereas Goblins and cheap
Undead laugh at the use of these weapons. They always have more where
those guys came from. One note of caution, their stats are not spectacular.
Without the critical kill they only do 5 damage. With their Def of 3 they are
not blocking a whole lot. The best way of thinking of the Paladins is to
consider them average troops with spectacular weapons.
Royal Guardsmen: The cream of the foot
troops. These guys are brick walls. Not only
do these guys have a Sacred Halberd, but they
are also armored in Sacred Armor that ignores
critical hits. This means that statistically
16.67% of the time they are hit, it does no
damage. Combine this awesome ability with a
toughness of 10 with the Tough ability and
these guys are going nowhere fast, you need to
hit them with a damage 25 point attack to the
head to kill them in one shot. They have a
respectable Def stat of a 4 so they can block
shots with some confidence. To top it all off
they have the fanatic ability to make sure they
do not run away. These guys are rather cheap considering their plethora of
abilities, coming in at a mere 40 points.
Alahan Knights on Horseback: Mounted troops extraordinaire! These guys
charge 40 cm, and hit for 15 with bestial charge. Toss in the ability of
masterstroke and if you want something dead, it is going to die. (Well not
exactly, it is a d6-based system.) These guys have great stats, are immune to
fear, and have the Warhorse ability allowing them to dodge while approaching.
The only drawback to these mounted beauties is their points. Although I
believe the are well worth their 64 points be aware that bringing these will cut
in on your numbers. When souped up with a Guardian Angel spell these guys