In a previous article we discussed an all-Passion warband, Battlelord’s Brigade. Passion’s propensity for dealing large amounts of damage makes a Passion-only band quite effective. But Passion can only grow more potent when combined with key miniatures from other aspects. When joined with certain elements of Fear, in particular, our mainstay Passion warriors such as the Blind Spikemauler and Boneblade Serpent become all the more able to devastate our opponent’s forces. To this end, we’ll mine the aspect of Fear for any creatures or locations that look like they might harmonize with a core Passion warband.

Our second goal will be to study the value of playtesting. It’s all very well and good to draw up a roster of miniatures and deem it worthy, but what looks good on paper often isn’t very effective when applied to the dreamscape in actual combat against a live opponent. As we spawn our minis, we’ll be aware of how they interact and stay on the lookout for any unforeseen synergies or weaknesses. We might end up removing a few of our initial selections and replacing them with more viable alternatives.

Culling the Ranks
Our criteria for selection must play to Passion’s strength. In other words, when we examine Fear’s roster, we’ll overlook those miniatures that bring little to the melee table. As we learned in a prior article, Passion contains only three pure utility creatures (Alluring Succubus, Greenlife Dryad, and Rainforest Shaman), while all other special abilities are combat-related, such as Crit, Ferocity, Bomb, and Assault. Though Passion’s miniatures are generally more easily disrupted than those of other aspects, they compensate for this with the highest average power. It is always to our advantage, then, to gain points by defeating enemy creatures rather than by trying to outmaneuver our opponent and claim uncontested scoring cells. With this in mind, we’ll comb through Fear and choose eight miniatures that compliment this strategy.

One creature that initially stands out is the Hive Pincer. Its Flanking 4 blade ability is congruent with our overall offensive philosophy, permitting us to deal extra damage if we outnumber our opponent’s miniatures in the cell in which the Hive Pincers are attacking. Since this is a low-cost creature, we can quickly spawn several and advance them toward the enemy.

The next two miniatures that catch our discriminating eye are the Treacherous Concubine and Skull Hill. Both of these lower our enemy’s defense, and their abilities stack with each other. Keep in mind that our goal is to disrupt and destroy the enemy to gain points, rather than focusing on the occupation of scoring cells. The Treacherous Concubine and Skull Hill will coordinate well with our multiple Passion creatures and their efforts to strike as often as possible. For now, we’ll include one of each in our warband.

Finally we come to the pièce de résistance. One of the more remarkable creatures in Fear is the Genteel Husk. Its Dominate ability reads as follows: This creature claims scoring cells even when they’re contested. At first glance, this seems as if it has gamebreaker potential. We’ll add it in multiples to our warband and see if it has any natural compatibility with our primary Passion pieces.

Now that we’ve successfully explored Fear for the best of what it has to offer, we’ll assemble our warband. Because of its many appearances of Crit and multiple Genteel Husks, we’ll call it Gentleman’s Aggression:

Gentleman's Aggression
Axemorph Demon
Blind Spikemauler
Boneblade Serpent (x2)
Boneclan Hunter
Genteel Husk (x3)
Heart Render
Hive Pincer (x3)
Raging Tusker
Savage Ogre
Skull Hill
Treacherous Concubine

Strategy
Our agenda can be broken down into four general objectives, the achievement of which will hopefully permit us to win six rounds and claim victory on the dreamscape. The exact order these objectives will be obtained depends on many factors, not the least of which is the amount of spawn points we receive every turn.

Objective #1: Use the Genteel Husk’s Dominate ability to claim contested cells.

Rigorous playtesting shows that quite often a cell is left contested after all combats there have finished. These cells grant points to neither side, no matter the number or power of the miniatures within. Thus a relatively weak group of defenders can prevent a superior local force from scoring points even if only a single one of them remains. This can throw a monkey wrench into the most well-oiled offensive machine.

Enter the Genteel Husk. If it remains standing in a scoring cell at the end of around, it scores points regardless of the presence of local enemies. If we can advance the Genteel Husk to a strategic position and prevent it from being disrupted or destroyed, we’ll greatly enhance our chances of coming out on top each round.

The Genteel Husk performs best when we lose initiative. As the second player, we’ll have the chance to shift the Genteel Husk into a scoring cell—contested or otherwise—and not be able to be removed from it before claiming it.

Objective #2: Weaken the enemy’s defenses with the Treacherous Concubine and Skull Hill.

We selected these two miniatures for their ability to weaken our opponent’s defenses and make them more susceptible to our high-powered attack. Protecting the Treacherous Concubine is paramount, however, as it is a relatively weak piece when forced to stand on its own legs. To obtain our objective with this miniature, we’ll shift it across the dreamscape under the aegis of more capable guardians.

Skull Hill is a fairly secure base of operations, as few of our opponents will have the resources to destroy it. It also has the advantage of being inexpensive, enabling us to spawn it early in the match. The absolutely best place to spawn Skull Hill is in the dreamscape’s very center cell. This permits its special ability to affect the maximum number of the opponent’s scoring cells, lowering every local and adjacent enemy creature’s defense by 1.

Objective #3: Spawn multiple Boneclan Hunters and advance toward the enemy.

Our front-line skirmishers will be the Boneclan Hunters. We’ll spawn them early and send them into the fray as part of a unit consisting of at least one Genteel Husk. Of course, the destruction of the Boneclan Hunters also permits us to spawn our higher-cost creatures more quickly.

Most Passion-heavy bands should include multiple Boneclan Hunters to help cover the aspect costs of our bigger guns. Of all the 3-point miniatures in the game, the Boneclan Hunter is the only one with a 3 power. As usual, Passion has the advantage when it comes to a comparison of raw power.

Objective #4: Apply pressure by constantly spawning creatures with Ferocity and Crit.

Six of our warband’s miniatures possesses either Ferocity or Crit. We want to maximize our damage potential, so it becomes crucial to group each cell’s combatants in such a way as to add these blade abilities to our mix with consistency. In fact, this objective should probably be included in almost all bands that favor Passion. Hoping for balance, we’ve included a wide range of spawn costs, from the Blind Spikemauler (4), to the heavy-duty Axemorph Demon (12). Again, this is good advice for every warband, as we’re never certain how many spawn points we’ll be allowed from round to round. One particular bit of wisdom should never be ignored: If we have the chance to spawn the Axemorph Demon, we almost must.

The Perfect Cell
In the best of all possible worlds, we’ll claim scoring cells and destroy enemy creatures every round. We must assume we’ll have the chance to do both, but we’ll focus our energy on the latter. If the former happens along the way, all the better. A few playtesting sessions with Gentleman’s Aggression reveals several possible permutations.

In one round, the “perfect cell” turned out to be two Genteel Husks and two Boneclan Hunters. In the next, the “perfect cell” was comprised of a Treacherous Concubine and a single Savage Ogre. In other words, the nature of the game prohibits us from ever knowing the best possible matchup for any given situation. But don’t let this uncertainty dissuade you from trying to establish a perfect cell. We can strive for this every round if we keep in mind several trends that became evident during playtests of Gentleman’s Aggression.

Trend 1: The Genteel Husk wins on lost initiative. Shifting the Genteel Husk as part of the second player’s final action often permits it to score points by claiming a contested cell. Because your opponent has no actions left to disrupt or destroy the Husk, he is forced to concede a contested cell to your Dominate ability. So unlike many other Dreamblade miniatures, the Genteel Husk works best as a reactive piece, rather than one that seeks always to seize the initiative.

Trend 2: Skull Hill is a pivotal beachhead. If you can establish Skull Hill in the very middle of the dreamscape, you will impact all combats adjacent to this cell. Because our ongoing Passion strategy involves striking rather than clever maneuvering, the fact that we can lower our opponent’s defense can prove devastating. Further, unless your opponent numbers Slaughter Bots in his ranks, your Skull Hill will stand strong, affecting the entire course of the match.

Trend 3: Treacherous Concubine is potent yet unsteady. More than once during playtesting, the Treacherous Concubine was disrupted before ever having the chance to bring Panic 2 into play. If we lose initiative, we are almost certain to forfeit the Concubine, as its 3 defense is too feeble to keep it in the cell. Your opponent will almost always choose to allocate damage to this creature first, so as to remove the threat of Panic. Seeing this, we must revise Gentleman’s Aggression to do away with the Treacherous Concubine and replace it with a second Blind Spikemauler.

Fresh Recruits
So far we’ve seen how a few elements of Fear can be added to Passion to bolster our chances of claiming victory on the dreamscape. Yet Fear is not the only aspect with creatures that combine successfully with those of Passion. In order to build the strongest band possible, it’s imperative that we carefully examine each and every piece from the remaining two aspects, keeping in mind our overall agenda of dealing damage rather than winning by position. We’ll bypass figures with abilities such as Advance, Fortunate, and Swap, as these are not directly damaging talents. After a thoughtful study, we find several possible additions to Gentleman’s Aggression in the aspect of Valor.

Ardent Zungar: One of the more unique blade abilities that deals damage, Stalwart permits us to use the enemy’s numbers against him. The Ardent Zungar is happiest when surrounded by foes, as any blades we roll can be used to increase Stalwart’s potency. This creature wants to be right in the middle of the melee, which makes him a welcome member of any Passion-oriented team.

Falcon Soldier: This doughty warrior fits perfectly with our theme. A mid-cost creature with a solid defense and life, the Falcon Soldier complements our ranks with its Crit 2, which is a multi-blade ability. We hope that every blade we roll can be used to augment the damage we deal to our enemies, with no blade “wasted” on an ability such as Skirmish, which—though very useful in its own right—doesn’t synch with our game plan. We can count on the Falcon Soldier to keep piling on the damage whenever we roll blades.

Savannah Dreamhunter: A skillful roamer of the dreamscape, the Savannah Dreamhunter may not boast a high power, but it possesses Valor’s usual steep defense and life, making it quite difficult to dislodge from a contested cell. Even better, we may use multiple blades to activate Crit 1. Seeing this, it’s no surprise that the Savannah Dreamhunter might earn a place in Gentleman’s Aggression.

Valor appears to offer a few viable options, but what about Madness? Are there any creatures within the howling halls of Madness that represent our aggressive strategy?

Book of Nothing: This odd creature’s Warpstrike 3 makes it look attractive at first, but its miserable 1 power is the opposite of our warband’s philosophy.

Doomsinger: The blade ability of Warpstrike 5 is certainly offensive and thus congruent with our strategy, but the Doomsinger’s high cost makes it prohibitive. We would be better off spending those 9 spawn points elsewhere.

Gun-Possessed Killer: Midway between Book of Nothing and Doomsinger in cost, the Gun-Possessed Killer also brings Warpstrike to the table. Gentleman’s Aggression could benefit from such a ranged attack, and the middle-of-the-road cost of the Gun-Possessed Killer might be our best choice for obtaining this ability. Still, we’ll have to make sure we have at least one other Madness miniature in our ranks in order to satisfy this creature’s aspect cost.

Misbegotten Mutant: Though this creature’s Crit 5 is enticing, we’ll have to pass due to the potentially crippling Fumble 5.

Unspeakable Freak: The devastating Warpstrike 7 could easily turn the tide of any match, but we simply can’t afford this miniature’s exorbitant cost.

After this piece-by-piece assessment, we find that the motifs of Passion and Madness aren’t really compatible; none of the miniatures of Madness seems capable of maintaining a powerful synthesis with Gentleman’s Aggression. Valor, on the other hand, offers a few possibilities. We’ll choose both the Ardent Zungar and the Savannah Dreamhunter, counting on their ability to deal additional damage to our foes.

When the dust finally settles, we’re left with this polished version of our warband:

Gentleman's Aggression
Ardent Zungar
Axemorph Demon
Blind Spikemauler
Boneblade Serpent
Boneclan Hunter (x2)
Genteel Husk (x3)
Heart Render
Hive Pincer (x2)
Raging Tusker
Savage Ogre
Savannah Dreamhunter
Skull Hill

Our four objectives remain the same. (1) Move Genteel Husks into contested cells, preferably as the second player’s final action. (2) Establish a base of operations with Skull Hill, using it to wear away at the enemy’s defense. (3) Spawn our Boneclan Hunters and Hive Pincers early, shifting them across the dreamscape to cover the aspect costs of other miniatures and provide additional spawn points if they are destroyed. (4) Pour on the damage with our multitude of Crit, Ferocity, and Stalwart.

Final Lesson
What we’ve learned is the true value of playtesting. Any warband we put down on paper must undergo a rigorous mix-and-match after we’ve played a few games, so that we can fill any obvious holes and discard pieces that fail to live up to their potential. Whether you’re constructing a variation of Gentleman’s Aggression or a completely different warband, you’ll find that playtesting reveals not only weaknesses of your built, but also unexpected strengths.