Hydra : Swamp Thing [BG]

One of the four 4RP area attack monsters (Cerberus, Hydra, Ladon and Chimera).

8 8 0 2 10 Cerberus
7 7 1 1 10 Hydra
8 8 0 2 8 (fly) Chimera
8 8 1 2 9 Ladon

Where Cerberus is more of a fierce guardian with 2 attacks and the Chimera is a flying unit that doens't see a difference between friendly and enemy units, the Hydra is the survivable one. His 5 dice area attack isn't as expensive (although no doubt subject to change, probably will be 2 AoW) and "targets all enemy units within the Hydra's range". Which actually is a pretty large part of the map, as the Hydra has a 1 range. Compared to the rather mobile Chimera and Cerberus, the Hydra is slower but has a wider range. Ladon has the same skill as the Hydra and is very defensive with its 100 Bites. On top of that Ladon can climb - so can potentially do its area attack over a HUGE range 2 area.

Hydra's 7/7 may seem below the 8/8 the similar monsters but the Tormet talent (enemy's defense -1) makes more than up for it. And even if the hydra starts of with a solid 10 vitality, it recovers one point at the end of its activation.

Very sturdy monster.

That vitality recovery might get pretty strong when using few units, small deck. And he seems usefull enough to be part of a small deck.

I've used the Hydra in a few demo games and let me tell you... It's awesome! 5 dice may seem a little low on the aoe, but most of the time the entire opposing force will be within range, which means you'll be rolling a whole lot of dice. Mighty Throw and Block means you also have a chance of throwing a non-Block unit into the Hydra's zone to lock it down, which is super fun. This power will be even more devastating on Minos' Palace, since the elevated part extends range.

MaxC wrote:I've used the Hydra in a few demo games and let me tell you... It's awesome! 5 dice may seem a little low on the aoe, but most of the time the entire opposing force will be within range, which means you'll be rolling a whole lot of dice. Mighty Throw and Block means you also have a chance of throwing a non-Block unit into the Hydra's zone to lock it down, which is super fun. This power will be even more devastating on Minos' Palace, since the elevated part extends range.

Sounds great, thanks for the info from someone who has indeed already played the game!

I've played a few of the PnP games and let me tell you, once someone finds out how devastating the Hydras AoE attack is, you have to shut it down or spread your warband really thin to try and keep it from hitting more than 3 at a time.

BTW, I believe they confirmed that it is supposed to be aquatic.

caibre wrote:BTW, I believe they confirmed that it is supposed to be aquatic.

Yes, that was confirmed.

About the mini : the photo of the painted mini here seems awesome. I believe the mini will be massive on the board but we will unfortunately see mostly its back.
Very cool. I would love to be able to render it as nicely.

Teowulff wrote:His 5 dice area attack isn't as expensive (although no doubt subject to change, probably will be 2 AoW)

Really ? Was there a comment stating this ?
I am a bit surprised that one of the core unit (so one that should have been tested extensively) is going through a change now.
But it's true that looking at the Olympus map, you can see that from a central spot, you have six adjacent area so the attack can target enemies (only) in 7 areas

Stat analysis:

4 RPs, 4 AC, 7 att/def, move 1, 10 vit : so basically slower, and less defense than other 4RPs. Her 7-dice attack + torment is probably more powerful than 8-dice.

Mighty Throw & Block : cool combo as you can gather enemies in your area to block them.
10vit + Regenerate : I would say that you won't regenerate using the first 2 activations. But after that it's a potential 1vit/AC. So I would say 2 during first deck and approximately 4 after that. So the enemy is looking at a 16 damage unit ! It can really soak a lot of punishment !
Onslaught : it is really a great power for the cost. The damage will be limited with 5-dice (+Torment) but Mighty Throw means you are controlling a whole part of the board !

No subtility with this unit: send it to the middle of your opponent army and wreak havok ! It can survive pretty well the backlash and your opponent will have to spend a lot of efforts to get rid of it.

Telgar wrote:Stat analysis:

4 RPs, 4 AC, 7 att/def, move 1, 10 vit : so basically slower, and less defense than other 4RPs. Her 7-dice attack + torment is probably more powerful than 8-dice.

Mighty Throw & Block : cool combo as you can gather enemies in your area to block them.
10vit + Regenerate : I would say that you won't regenerate using the first 2 activations. But after that it's a potential 1vit/AC. So I would say 2 during first deck and approximately 4 after that. So the enemy is looking at a 16 damage unit ! It can really soak a lot of punishment !
Onslaught : it is really a great power for the cost. The damage will be limited with 5-dice (+Torment) but Mighty Throw means you are controlling a whole part of the board !

No subtility with this unit: send it to the middle of your opponent army and wreak havok ! It can survive pretty well the backlash and your opponent will have to spend a lot of efforts to get rid of it.

Haha yeah, that seems to indeed be the case!
No subtle considering how to play the Hydra cause it causes trouble and devastation as soon as it is near the enemy!