1.5 panic tests : the Boltons approve

[Oakwolf]

I must raise my hat to the development team. They really did a good job with the revamp of panic tests.

It was simply too easy to protect against panic, and the Boltons suffered from that. This is encourageing.

They kind of killed 2 birds with the same shot.

1. Strong morale could avoid failure and damage at the same time.

2. Average morale troops could be wiped out randomly.

The panic token is stronger now, too as it can help provide more consistent results (can reroll that D3).

I wonder if the Guard captain will be seen as much as before (it was often seen as auto include).

This change is huge so there's lot to test out, but i honestly see a lot of good from it.

This will prevent Free Folk Raiders from disappearing instantly from a bad roll.

Ramsay's cruel methods will be much less costly to use.

 

[sacrilege83]

Lannister Guard Captain will ensure that the Guarsdmen will only ever lose one model, and the attacker suffers from Lannister supremacy. So nothing really changes there. Why open your Guarsdmen up to 3 extra wounds on failing a panic and skipping a free retaliation for auto passing a failed panic test?

 

[Oakwolf]

Lannister Guard Captain will ensure that the Guarsdmen will only ever lose one model, and the attacker suffers from Lannister supremacy. So nothing really changes there. Why open your Guarsdmen up to 3 extra wounds on failing a panic and skipping a free retaliation for auto passing a failed panic test?

Oh for guardsmen i'd say we'll see them a lot, due to the synergy with Lannister supremacy as you mention and the fact that panic-induced wounds bypasses a massive 3+ defense, but perhaps less across the army. Crossbowmen won't fear a crown-zone attack as much as before, for example. The captains are an insurance policy of sorts. 7+ morale will still succeed around 3/5 of the time without the captain (notwithstanding modifiers, of course). Who knows, the captains may change as well.

The threat of panic was streamlined and revised so weak morale troop will fear it less, while strong morale ones will fear it more.

 

[sacrilege83]

Well weak morale units will no longer be wiped clean off the table without getting out of the starting blocks. High morale elite units will now encounter more wounds per normal than before. Will they be targeted more often as compared to before because of this? We'll see, it's still easier to break the weaker units so why not continue to target them instead? Anyway Lannisters don't have to worry about any high morale units being targeted over weak or average morale units.

 

[Oakwolf]

Indeed, i think that the whole panic management will change. It's going to be interesting as Bolton players as we'll relearn some tactics. Also the Bastard Girls have entered the more useable range with exactly what we need: vicious.

As for target priority, now we can see panic as a weapon just like another attack, while before it was easier to predict where it'd be applied: to the weakest link. Now if you feel that the berserkers are an issue, you can try to make them fail for effect, while before if they failed, it wasn't for much. The 8+ morale units still scare easily, just like a defense 5+ unit fall quickly to physical attacks.

The panic token double in utility now as they will not just serve to attempt to get a failure, but will also be able to specifically alter the wound, so this is a buff to anything able to create the token.

No more fishing for snake eyes anymore to dish damage, we just wanted a fail by 1 now. Still doesn't mean that Horrific Visage will be that great, but before, without a modifier, it was poo. Now, if the enemy fails by 1 (which is the most likely fail), it'll take more damage for it.

 

[sacrilege83]

Girls are worth their points value now it's true with the addition. And really the panic token has triple the utility when considering Tactics cards and Roose as Commander.