In Secrets of the Citadel, we have seen some old enemies forging new alliances. For as long as Heroscape has been around, Utgar and Jandar have been sworn enemies, but now we see them working together. But for how long can this “truce” endure?

Concan the Kyrie Warrior rejoins his Jandar allies. In his past iteration, he had one less life and boosted both Knights and Sentinels. Now, with Might of Bleakewoode, he not only boosts his Kyrie kin, but also all of his Jandar brethren. The twist being, he also boosts Utgar’s forces with Vigilance of Nastralund. However, both these abilities require forethought and set up, as in order to enhance Jandar units you must have a revealed Order Marker on an Utgar card, and vice versa. 

The good news is with the addition of the Gnarlfur Raiders, Concan has a way to both activate and reveal an Order Marker on an Utgar card. With Mighty Hero Bonding, the Gnarlfurs have (as of now) 27 Heroes to choose from to bond with in All-Time! There are so many fun and strategic choices to be made when building armies with the Gnarlfurs. They may very well be the most versatile bonding squad to date! If you are worried about ranged normal attacks, grab Sgt. Drake 3.0; if worried about high defense units, grab Raelin 3.0; if huge figures, grab Sir Denrick. And the list just keeps going! 

Brothers in Blood and 2 Life give the Gnarlfurs a lot of resilience, as the stats grow with each lost Gnarlfur, thus making them a bit safer to put Order Markers on in the late game. The Frostclaw Paladins also bond with Concan and give him the necessary revealed Order Marker to trigger Vigilance of Nastralund. The Ordo Borealis can also benefit from Concan, and this (mostly) all-bear army certainly has some potential. The trick is to decide when to put the Order Markers on whom. A base 4 Attack Ordo with 7 Range and 2 Life is nothing to scoff at, while the Gnarlfurs with 4 Defense screen for them; then the Frostclaws do Frostclaw things and make your opponent take their dice and go home. Will this bear-dominant army dominate Highlander events?

Depending on points, you may be able to add in Jeanne ‘d Arc. Jeanne brings a fantastic bonding option for not only the Gnarlfurs and Frostclaws, but also MacDirk Warriors and Knights of Weston (both soon to be in Contemporary!!). Eldgrim the Viking Champion has made it into many “Champion” armies over the years in All-Time, due to his low point cost and excellent utility.  Jeanne gives Contemporary a fantastic low-point-cost Champion to use in various different builds, as being only 40 points, you get a bonding Hero with 3 Attack and 4 Life and Reach, which will often give you just the range needed to force movement on the battlefield.  

A melee unit with 2 Defense may seem meager; however, Shield of Faith 13 changes the math on some attacks. There are some opportunities to look for when using Shield of Faith 13: if Jeanne is down to one Life and has 3 skulls incoming, time to roll the 20-sided die. But there are other times when you have to weigh whether you think the two dice you roll for defense are good enough to try and ignore any incoming wounds, or if you should roll the 20-sided die. With ping shots of one or two skulls, as a general rule, you’ll want to roll your defense dice (depending on your life total), but anything with 3 or more skulls, the 20-sided die becomes more and more appealing. You can also do some interesting stuff if your opponent targets Jeanne first, and if she dies, you then put her spirit on another unique card using Faithful Spirit, thus giving them a slightly altered Shield of Faith 13.  

Kha-Re-Ga is another bonding option for the Gnarlfur Raiders, and is also our second Hivelord in Contemporary, alongside the Thyraxis Dragoon. She boasts 7 Life and 5 Attack for 140 points. Whether she’s eating Nagrubs in All-Time, or tunneling in with her Gnarlfur companions, she’s a force to be reckoned with!  Hive Tunnel allows her to be fairly maneuverable and is similar to other movement abilities, like Decker the Burrowbreaker’s Underground Movement. However, Kha-Re-Ga can also inflict wounds on adjacent units when she bursts forth from below. The more wounded she is, the more likely she is to inflict wounds. However, you must remember that it is a mandatory trigger and it affects all units, even friendly ones. But the ability to do AOE damage followed by a 5 base attack and take a bonding squad turn could make risking some wounds on your own friendlies worthwhile. 

Everyone’s favorite Geylrie, Frizzt Galagan, straight from the OG Heroscape cartoon commercial, has finally joined Jandar’s ranks! Being a Geylrie, Frizzt benefits from the Vanguard’s Tidal Advance, which synergizes with Frizzt’s Fire When Ready. Advancing with Tidal Advance can let Frizzt get into position to take his “free” attack when revealing the X Order Marker because he cannot move and attack with Fire When Ready. He is also an excellent figure to bring with Concan, as Fire When Ready is an easy way to get a revealed Order Marker on a Jandar unit. Thus, you can reveal Order Marker 1 on Gnarlfurs, then reveal the X on Frizzt, and you have now fully activated Concan for the round, boosting both Utgar and Jandar units. 

Frizzt’s RA-1A Guided Cannon Special Attack rivals only Deadeye Dan’s range in the game, even outranging Syvarris. It does take some setup to accomplish, though, as the target of the attack has to be engaged with another figure you control. His 2 Attack may seem feeble, but for 35 points and the fact that enemies can never have height advantage, with 10 Range it starts to seem almost too good. Think about bringing him as your filler, especially in large figure limit games that will go for more rounds, to give yourself more chances to utilize this ability. 

Frizzt has several other synergies: Guilty’s Deputize, Duke’s Yo Joe! and Lead By Example, Greenshirts’ Wherever There’s Trouble, Scarlett’s Now You Know, (we already mentioned the Geylrie Vanguard’s Tidal Advance), and that’s just Contemporary. In All-Time, he benefits from Marcus’ Soldier Attack Enhancement and Soldier Leadership.  We can’t forget to mention his Swim ability, though, while it’s not usually relevant on tournament maps, it can come in handy to circumvent choke points, like on Highways and Dieways, to get out of the start zone.

Frizzt joins the COBRA Flight Pod and the Battle Copter for the 35-point spot in Contemporary. All three have uses for the X Order Marker.. Which one of these three will reign as the best of the 35-point “filler” units? They all have different strengths and weaknesses, so we will have to wait and see who swims to the front of the pack. 

Isamu has returned, somehow. Everyone’s “favorite” 10-point Ninja takes on a similar but different role.  We all have tales to tell of how Vanish 9 made Isamu almost impossible to kill and how Isamu came back and won a game he never should have won. Newsamu’s Eternal Servitude gives him a different, and more limited, form of survivability. Whether he’s bonding with the Gnarlfurs, Death Knights, or Jinx and Kamakura, you want to be fairly aggressive with him on Order Marker 1, as he can tie down figures and force awkward engagements because you know he won’t be removed until the end of the round. Paired with Phantom Walk and 4 Attack, Isamu can often get to a target and get an attack or two off before he falls. Your opponent also doesn’t want to waste attacks on Isamu, especially if it’s early in the round, as they know he’s not leaving yet. Fun fact: the wounds do stack, so if Durnipia is interested in healing Isamu, she has to heal all of the wounds he took. Isamu can still be a great clean-up figure, assuming he can kill everything before the end of the round. Once that end of the round triggers, though, Isamu (assuming he is wounded) is removed from the board. 

Isamu is not the only Undead unit to appear in Secrets of the Citadel: Sudema has also returned from her crypt, though she’s strayed quite a bit from her initial iteration. Petrifying Glare 9 is a variation of her Stone of Stare, but the fact that she can use it AND attack is a huge boon for her. While it doesn’t just destroy figures like it used to, the threshold is much lower than in the original version. Paired with Sudema’s ranged attack, her Queen Of The Crypt ability, and her 30-point cost reduction, this is by far the better version of Sudema.  

Sudema is a Queen, so she can be the liege for the Scions of Icaria’s Cleave To The Mighty, but the real power is teaming up with fellow Undead units. Queen Of The Crypt allows her to also take a turn with unique Esienek units or even the Vampires from All-Time.  

Corvynn the Rotbeak gives us another Familiar for the Dryans to manipulate, and since he’s Undead, Sudema can use him with Queen of the Crypt. When combined with Corvynn’s Eyes In The Sky, Sudema’s 5 range on her Petrifying Glare 9 just became much more unpredictable for your opponent. And with Stealth Flying, Corvynn can often get wherever he needs to go to benefit whatever Dryan, Wizard, or Undead hero he is working alongside. 

SI-4X is the latest Soulborg to join the ranks of Vydar. Obfuscation Matrix has lots of interesting applications, especially when paired with Phantom Protocols and Shadow Assassin. SI-4X giving himself and everyone adjacent to him the Shadow defense boost provides some fun utility to some All-Time units such as Mika Connor, Darrak Ambershard, Othkurik, and the Drow.  

The Crimson Twins are certainly interested in Bankrolling him so that he can buff both the COBRA Troopers attack and defense when he’s adjacent to them. The Necrotech Reavers, and the Necrotech Ghastblade in particular, like the Phantom Walk ability from Phantom Protocols, allowing them to walk into the middle of a pod and attack everything adjacent. It also extends the range of Sudema’s Queen of the Crypt, because it counts as starting on a Shadow space. 

The Shroudshrooms had a big impact at GenCon, and their abilities made a big difference on the maps. The size of the Shroom dictated the size of the unit impacted, but the text was the same: figures within one space of a Shroudshroom cannot determine Clear Sight and are not in Clear Sight of any figure. The big thing to take away from this is to use any ability or make an attack that is not adjacent; you need Clear Sight of that figure, and many units require Clear Sight for their abilities. This can cause lots of interesting interactions, and is something to always be on the lookout for. When making an adjacent attack, you do not need Clear Sight, and you can always “punch into the shadows”.  

With GenCon behind us and National HeroScape Day on the horizon, what Army builds will people take into their Store Championships?  Will Gimbal reign supreme again, or are the Gnarlfurs ready to take down the mechanical dragon? Will the Troopers fade into the sunset, or will  SI-4X inspire the Reavers?  We look forward to all the interesting armies that will show up at your local tournaments! Until next time, Happy Scaping!

Photos by Vecna