Skaldi Bonehammer Drinking Buddy - AKA Lil'Borka

Skaldi Bonehamer Drinking Buddy - A Tactical Breakdown for League Play
By Goris

If ever there was a partner in crime for Borka, Skaldi was it from the beginning.  Now, thematically, he fits it to a tee and makes Champions and Champ Heroes follow suit.  So here I will break down the key differences and what it will mean for the overall play style of Champs and Troll during the Sand Narrows league.


Breakdown  
Skaldi's new form does not boast a change in his stats, but a large switch in his rules.  Here are the Changes.

• Skaldi is now a Solo and what a Solo he is.  This means you can take him as a potent beat stick outside of a unit of champs putting him along side our other amazing 3pt solos.
• Skaldi now has an Elite Cadre rule that gives Champion Heroes Unyielding(+2 ARM while engaged) and Stumbling Drunk, Borka's signature ability granted by the Keg Carrier.  Holy crap we took the one real downside of Champ Heroes which was the survivability and turned it on it's ear.  They are now even tougher to kill, hit back with Retaliatory Strike and stumble away when you hit them.  All the while moving through each other or other champs if they can or want to.  Pair this with Skaldi having these abilities normally and you have quite the potent combo.  This makes me happy I own 2 Champion Heroes!
• Skaldi is now a Veteran Leader of Champion models and they gain +2 Mat while Skaldi is in their LOS.  Champs rarely had problems hitting before but Holy Crap if wintergaurd won't be crapping their pants now with MAT 11 Troops with crazy armor and 2 attacks heading for them.  

Skaldi did lose his Relentless Charge Tactic, the Granted Overtake and Defensive line abilities, but the changes I believe overall keeps his survivability in line while not tying him down to the unit of Champions or any champion for that matter.  

"What Does This Mean to Me?" You might ask.  Well, it means as I stated before that Skaldi is now a Super Solo.  He Turns our Champ Heroes into Super Duper Solos and is still potent when used with Champions.  What PP has effectively done here is give us a 9pt version of great bears wandering around the field at arm 18 engaged and 20 under the stone.  Holy crap.  That's kind of a Scary thought.    Pow 12 Weapon masters themselves are something to fear, but when you make them crazy accurate you are now an assassination threat in a 3pt solo.  In this application, you really have the ability to roam with these guys and be a threat anywhere on the field.

However, if you do plan on taking the Champs with all the trimmings, these changes certainly help our solos stay in the fray after the battle has started.  I have always had a hard time keeping my Champ heroes around after being engaged because my opponent simply skills them at a measly arm 16.  Now, at armor 20 you'll get to keep that tactician longer and keep those Heroes swing back more often on Retaliatory Strike.