Light and Shadow

Please note that Valkalis is my only Solonavi unique and that I do not have an Orc unique with the Chaos Shaman subfaction.

Valkalis-170
w/Potion of Water Breathing-17
w/Cloak of the Dervish-37
Empire Veteran***-21
Magestone Golem*-48
Delphana Master***-46
Pain Wraith*-27
Blood Shaman*-34

Strategy and army development: I thought that the items would be more cost affective than a relic (However, if I had the Galeshi sundance sword I would use it). You may understand when you read of my strategy.

My basic strategy is to place water terrain as close as possible to my deployment area. I then move Valkalis into it, and on my next turn, Valkalis has a 15 speed with Charge! Though my opponent may have several figures with the 400 point build total, my 15 speed allows me to attack his strongest fig (perhaps a Chaos Shaman wielding a spellbook. I would protect Valkalis with my other figs (Magestone golem and Delphana Master). If there are some other figs in the front line that I wish to destroy, I would weaken them with the AE figs and Valkalis would finish them off. The cloak of the Dervish is a handy liitle item. Valkalis now has a 19 defense with dodge. If my opponent manages to get through the 19 defense and dodge,Valkalis has toughness as a last resort. And don't forget the defense bonus Valkalis would get while in the water.

Lastly, the Pain Wraith is to revenant and the orc is to heal and hex.

the 15'' charge is useless near the deploy area because the opponent can just ignore u or place a blocking terrian 3'' infront of u.

actually, that blocking terrain would do nothing. Valkalis has the wing type, so could ignore the blocking terrain for the 15 inch charge.

Just a question... how would you deal with the book of lightning? especially if wielded by a pierce fig (like lady rowan)?

I think the potion of water breathing is just too terrain dependent to be effective.

Second, if the opponent places a peanut shaped blocking terrain in front of you, the next piece of terrain you would be able to put would be so far away that you probably wont be able to get to your water terrain (because of the 3 inch between terrain as well as 3 inch from objectives). You would probably be out of position if you had to place your water terrain to the side.

First, what can anybody do about book of lighning! All my figs would have to be magic immune. If by some remote chance my opponent did have book of lightning, I would just keep healing Valkalis until he gets a chance to charge and weaken the wielder.

Second, opponent would have to be second player in order to place terrain first. Also, to get Valkalis in water by my second turn, I would just place a small water terrain piece within the 12 inches that Valkalis can move. There will relatively be no difficulty in doing so.

The potion of water breathing may be terrain dependant, but it is definately effective.

I mean no offense when I say that your theories are too provisional, ognib. The things you mentioned can take place in any game and some are easily overcome by the basic characteristics of Valkalis (namely his flight and high default movement.)

i think ognib has a point, in my opinon. You could switch Valkalis out for a cheaper Orc unique (maybe harrowblade, he's a pretty good at melee) and take out PoWB. Now you can put blade of shadows or shadowplate of the realms to give the orc ghostform(thats how you block BoL), but then u couldnt use cloak of the dervish. THen again, you could give the delphana master the kosian shieldtome to block BoL. Then again, if no one by you blays BoL then you might not want to change your army... but you might want complete protection from range instead of partial

My only Orc unique is Doombrother and I don't have any of the relics you mentioned. Please understnd that I have a limited collocetion. I have been in similar situations and I just play with what I have and most of the time I pull through. That being said, how is my army as it is, not as what it could be?

Given your limited collection, this army is quite fun. It will have a tough time with a finely tuned Orcish Light & Shadow army (that also gets the benefit of a free relic).

The key to using Valkalis' charge would be to tie up the opponents figures. :hspeed: -type figures would be extremely helpful for the free double time. If you have any Zombie Centaurs or Centaur Shamans consider using them as sacrifice basers (with auto break-away damage). I'd replace the Magestone Golem since he cannot be healed by your Shaman.

I'd also consider putting the water terrain 3 inches from the center token between it and your deployment area, centered toward the middle. This gives you an effective 30" circle of charge, covering two tokens at least.

As your second/third piece of terrain, consider a low wall. Valkalis can fly over it, but it slows down the Orcs (:boot: can cross but have to stop immediately on the other side), and doesn't provide that much cover for Lurk or Stealth.

Good luck and may the Dice Gods be with you!

Thanks for the help, joedj, but the magestone golem doesn't have to worry about sacrifice basers because he has toughness.

I think you may be right about the terrain- I would place the water terrain at least 12 inches from Valkalis (so he can move into it) and as close to the objective as a wise strategy would allow.

I would really like to put braces of the giant on Valkalis but I like the potion of water breathing better because it would give me enough speed to charge into a key opposing fig, like a sorcerer with low defense.

I like the magestoe golem and Delphana master for 2 reasons:
First, my favorite faction is AE.
Second, I like the range and damage they deliver (i.e. thunder blow and pierce) for their semi-inexpensive point cost. I though about putting a spellbook on the Dmaster, but it would weaken my army and the spells would not be worth the loss of the golem.