The Avignon Guard is boldly striding into Venice with some new rules, along with a couple of tweaks for Strigoi players.

Of course the talk of the town (city) is that the Avignon Guard has arrived. But before we get stuck into that, we have two rules tweaks for Strigoi.

Strigoi

We tend to look at character cards when models are released, and this week is no exception. With a new Thrall model hitting pre-order today, we decided to change a little on these underlings and also hopefully make some others a bit more attractive (as characters for your gang, not physically – that’s up to you).

• Thralls have lost the Bodyguard special rule, and have reduced to 10 Ducats.
• Newborn Strigoi have reduced to 11 Ducats.

Both poor person’s choices in a gang like Strigoi, Thralls and Newborns have been looked down on for too long! Players have been asking for cheaper Henchmen choices (at 13 Ducats for a Common Strigoi it’s not a cheap gang), so we reduced the price of these two. Thralls do lose the Bodyguard rule, but with the speed of the other Strigoi and the crossbows they often hold, we found they weren’t really using it much anyway, and it’s nice to drop a seldom used rule to see a Ducat decrease.

The Vatican

Of course, what everyone is really here for is the low down on the Avignon Guard’s stats. Well here’s the sheet!

At a glance, this boy is a bit of a beast!

Let’s start with defence, because – let’s face it – that’s his strong suit.

• 15 Life Points makes him even tougher than a Lesser Ugdru! He’s a big guy on a 40mm base, and has really thick armour.
• Speaking of armour, a massive 6 Protection puts him up with a Raadru! Add to that Expert Protection (3) and Universal Shielding (3) and he becomes extremely hard to take down.
• Although that Full Plate armour isn’t always handy in Venice. The Avignon Guard gains a Stunned counter any time he’s in water, which means he’ll move only 1″ in water and will lose 2 Life Points every turn he’s in there. It’s a really bad place to be. If you’re fighting one of these guys, try Grappling him into the water! Although on a 40mm base he isn’t the easiest to shift.

So you can stick him in the way and no one will be able to shift him easily, but what else does he bring to the table?

• Let’s talk offensive power for a second. With a great Attack value of 5 he’s already strong, but get him surrounded and Brawler kicks in knocking him up to 6.
• If that Attack value wasn’t enough, his Greatsword adds an extra 2 Damage to his attacks.
• So that’s a potential 8 Damage if he’s surrounded!

However, he’s not without his drawbacks.

• Mind value of 3 isn’t exactly stunning, even for the fanatical Vatican soldiers. With no Companion rule to lean on either, chances are he’ll fail Fear checks fairly often, which means he’ll get hit a lot.
• Speaking of getting hit a lot, Dexterity of 3 is a bit of a downer. He’s really easy to hit, and really doesn’t do well climbing or jumping. This guy is all ground game, and especially when the ground is so close to the water, it’s going to be tricky to position him well!
• Finally, let’s talk Greatswords. This thing is huge and does loads of Damage, but with +1 Evasion and Two-handed, that means your opponent gets +2 Dexterity if the Avignon Guard charges. With a low Dexterity that also means people will be able to disengage from him without much fear.
• Luckily enough, he comes with 3 Will Points to mitigate some of these issues – just make sure you save them for when you really need them. I recommend Grapple rolls!

So there we go!

The Avignon Guard is live on the Gang Builder right now, and his character card will be available to download from the Resources section early next week. If you fancy a really big beat-stick who won’t go down without a lot of effort, pick up the Vatican Armed Forces box today!