Meet Z’akke – Our Newest Champion!

Today I have the pleasure of handing you over to the marvellous Rob Burman (or Crazy Bobby as he is more affectionately known) and for something that for once is not Goblin related!

Z’AKKE

For those of you familiar with the work of Mark Barber, you’ll be familiar with the salamander mage, Z’akke, after he appeared in the novels Steps to Deliverance and Hero Falling. It was a real honour to bring Z’akke to life on the tabletop and Mark was initially consulted about the sort of rules Z’akke might have in Champions.

Of course, he’s a Mage Priest, so he had to be a magic user - which means he’s got Fireball as his standard ranged attack. However, to represent the fact that Z’akke is prone to outbursts of anger - particularly when protecting those close to him - he has a random amount of attacks (D3+4). This means he can surge to 7 attacks (the mostof any Champion) but will always have at least five. You’ve got to hope the dice gods are in your favour when you’re hoping for a vital attack.

Perhaps Z’akke’s most interesting ability though is his Champion Rule: Flame On! Now that people are getting more accustomed to playing Champions, we felt this was a good opportunity to start introducing some different mechanics that mix up the existing gameplay. Flame On! sees you placing a Fire token on a friendly unit in the Champion Phase. During the game a Fire token can be removed to give that unit +1 Attack. This felt quite thematic with the salamander’s fiery background. It also means that you can build up your Attacks ready for an all-important strike during the final stages of a game. Just try not to get routed first!

Overall, Z’akke is a good supporting Champion that should be kept out of trouble so he can dish out some Fireballs and keep providing those Fire tokens.

FACTION ORDERS

Talking of Fire tokens, one of the Faction orders uses them as well. Feed the Fire allows you to discard a Fire token to heal D3 points of damage - which could be very useful towards the end of a match. However, it does mean you’re sacrificing an additional attack, so you’ve got a choice to make. Do you play it safe or go on the offensive? Our Flame and Ice Markers are perfect for this!

Elsewhere Ancient Rage represents the potentially vicious nature of the salamanders by letting them re-roll 1s when rolling to damage in Melee. Meanwhile, Tip the Scales basically gives a unit the Inspiring rule, even if they’re not within 6” of Z’akke. This is useful because it allows some of the faster units to go on scouting missions, while Z’akke remains safely out of combat. This is particularly useful for the Kaisenor Lancers because they are Speed 6+ and can potentially shoot off on their own little side quest away from the rest of the Company.

PLAY STYLE

The salamanders are definitely a Company that gives you some choices to make. This is encapsulated by the Jungle Fighters rule, which represents the fact that the salamanders are used to training in the jungles of the Three Kings and can take advantage of the environment around them.

With Jungle Fighters, if a unit’s base is in contact with a piece of terrain (very easy to check with the cardboard terrain included with the game), it can re-roll all dice that score a natural, unmodified 1 during Melee attacks. Sounds great, right? Well, you’ve got to remember that the attack is likely to be Hindered by the terrain, so you’ll be at -1 to hit… but at least you’ll be able to re-roll 1s. This does mean you can use the terrain to your advantage by hiding behind it until you’re ready to strike.

That said, the Ghekkotah scouts have Pathfinder, which means they’re not Hindered when moving through terrain and can take full advantage of the Jungle Fighters rule. In fact, while you’re at it, why not upgrade them with the Ancient Rage faction order? Then you’ll be rolling 10 dice to hit on a 4+ and can re-roll 1s to hit and to damage. Tasty!

Going back to the fact that salamanders improve over time - like a fine wine or particularly stinky cheese - we’re introducing a totally new unit: Haelthorn salamanders. These are introduced in the lore for Kings of War: Fourth Edition (again written by Mark Barber) and we thought it would be cool to have them as a unit in Champions. Here’s the brief background:

“A glimpse at another world - both physically and culturally - the salamanders discovered at Haelthorn were volunteers to be magically frozen in stasis to face threats in the future. Having escaped the events after Winter's War, the Haelthorn salamanders are smoother of skin and lack the fire that burns within their present day cousins.”

Cool, right? We wanted the Haelthorn salamanders to feel a little groggy after all that time sleeping - similar to a student going to an early lecture. This is demonstrated by the Slow Burn special rule, which sees their Nerve increase over the course of the game. In round one they have a Nerve of 12+ but by Round Six that increases to 17+! To take advantage of this rule, you need to keep them safe in the early stages of a game before unleashing their mighty 3+ Melee attacks. Also, don’t forget that you can upgrade their Att stat by giving them Fire tokens too - potentially increasing them to 11 Attacks.

Overall then, Salamanders are a Company that potentially excel in the later stages when they can take advantage of any Fire tokens and the Haelthorn salamanders can shrug off most attacks, thanks to their increased Nerve.

These amazing miniatures are all currently available on the Mantic Vault, including their rules in a PDF for you to print and play at home.  Shortly they'll hit our webstore as a print on demand pre-order too - so if you do not have a print do not worry - we will print you a set and send them to you along with any other items you may want to grab from the Mantic Webstore!