The reprint of Swamp Stalkers Kick-Starter Campaign was incredibly successful. With it also came the reprinting of the Feral and Scalders. Saclders, AKA Faeli, are beings of Fires and Water that are as vicious on the attack as they are on defense. They are also FAST. All of their units have one Maneuver and one Save Face. That will be important later on.
Racials:
Scorching Touch:
When at a terrain that contains Fire (Red), Scalders making a Save roll against a Melee action inflict one point of damage on the attacking army for each save result rolled. Only save results generated by spells can reduce this damage. Scorching touch does not apply against a counter attack.
When in favorable terrain each imp and fairy has the equivalent of a Counter SAI on their basic Save result. This is especially good on a Charkin, who actually has counter. Which grants saves AND reflection. On a counter roll when the opposing player is attacking you get EIGHT damage reflected back at the player that can only be reduced by magical saves.
Intangibility:
When at a terrain that contains Water (Green), Scalders may count Maneuvers results as Saves against Missile Damage.
This gives Scalders a 50% chance to saves when moving into their favored attack position. Remember this works only against Missile attacks.
Tidal Wave: Scalders: Green: 5:
Target Any Terrain. Each army at that terrain takes Four (Stacking) Damage, and makes a combination Save and Maneuver Roll. The Terrain is reduced by one step unless an army generates at least Four (Stacking) Maneuver Results. A Terrain May not be reduced more than one step during a Players turn from the effects of Tidal Wave.
Don’t Like the terrain at Melee? Miss the Maneuver and your opponent kept it there? This spell can fix that. As well as stacking a monsters health-worth of damage this will get things back to missile range or remove the Eighth face from play. Remember that any racial ‘counts as’ makes the controlling player choose what the ‘counts as’ result will be. No double dipping.
Firestorm: Scalders: Red: 3:
Target any terrain. Inflict two (Stacking) points of damage to each army at that terrain.
If you are playing a multi-player game this can paint a target on your back quickly. The damage can ramp up fast and is also a good way to damage other armies from afar. This spell is best used on terrain that you don’t have forces at against units with few or no saves.
Heavy Melee:
Searer: (Rare: 3 Health: 4 Smight, 2 Maneuver, 3 Melee, 6 Melee, 2 Save
Scorcher (Uncommon: 2 Health: 1 Melee, 2 Maneuver, e Melee, 4 Melee, 2 Save)
Singeman: (Common: 1 Health: 1 Melee, 1 Maneuver, 1 Melee, 2 Melee, 1 Save)
Yes that’s right. That was a six melee of the Searer. Yes I said you should dare your opponent to attack you, and yes these guys should be attacking every single turn. This army likes to use mixed units so make sure to use Cavalry to supplement your Heavy Melee in instances where they have to cover a lot of ground fast to get to the melee fun.
Light Melee:
Charkin: (Rare: 3 health: 4 Counter, 2 Maneuver, 2 Melee, 4 Melee, 3 Maneuver)
Ignighter: (Uncommon: 2 Health: 1 Melee, 1 Maneuver, 3 Melee, 4 Melee, 3 Maneuver)
Kindler: (Common: 1 health: 1 Melee, 1 Maneuver, 1 Melee, 2 Melee, 1 Maneuver)
Another amazing Rare in the Charkin. With the counter Icon that is 4 saves in Melee, combined with Scorching touch that means 8 reflex damage that can only be negated by Magical saves.
Missile:
Blazer: (Rare: 3 Health: 4 Flaming Arrow, 3 Maneuver, 2 Maneuver, 6 Missile, 1 Missile)
Burner: (Uncommon: 2 Health: 2 Missile, 2 Maneuver, 1 Maneuver, 4 Missile, 2 Missile)
Glower: (Common: 1 Health: 1 Missile, 1 Maneuver, 1 maneuver, 2 Missile, 1 Missile)
Flame Arrow is an amazing ability to have in any missile army. If the unit doesn’t save against the damage they must save or be buried. Your missile units can also supplement your other armies to give a 50% save chance in Watery (Green) terrain at missile range.
Cavalry:
Dragonne Knight: (Rare: 3 Health: 4 Fly, 2 Save, 2 Melee, 6 Maneuver, 2 Maneuver)
Dragonne Rider: (Uncommon: 2 Health: 1 Melee, 2 Save, 2 Melee, 4 Maneuver, 3 Maneuver)
Dragonne Tender: (Common: 1 Health: 1 Melee, 1 Save, 1 Melee, 2 Maneuver, 1 Maneuver)
“Fast,” is the best word for these Cavalry. An army of 10 health-worth can out maneuver nearly any army in the game. They also boast a better than average save chance against missiles in Watery (Green) terrain.
Magic:
Inferno (Rare: 3 Health: 4 Cantrip, 2 Maneuver, 2 Save, 6 Magic, 2 Magic)
Smolderer (Uncommon: 2 Health: 2 Save, 1 Magic, 2 Maneuver, 4 Magic, 3 Magic)
Sparker: (Common: 1 Health: 1 Save, 1 Magic, 1 Maneuver, 2 Magic, 1 Magic)
The Magicians for the Scalders are somewhat reliable for Magic results. They can also be some of the most productive of casters in the game. That said, with both Fire (Red) and Water (Green) magic they have access to some of the most infuriating and frustrating spells in the game.
Monsters:
Ettercap: (4 health: Bullseye, Missile, Maneuver, Magic, Save, Missile, Maneuver, Save, Melee)
Ettercaps can be good Missile support with a Missile heavy focus. However, they do suffer from ‘Jack of All Trades’ Syndrome and are really average as far as consistency is concerned.
Quickling: (4 Health: Poison, Maneuver, Missile, Maneuver, Save, Maneuver, Missile, Save, Maneuver)
Another monster that has a great melee ability that is designed to be Missile support. The save chance at missile range is enough, like the Ettercap, to keep this one around though.
Unseelie Faerie: (4 health: Maneuver, Magic, Melee, Save, Magic, Magic, Cantrip, Maneuver, Save)
A consistent Magician, the Faerie is a rare sight on the table. It has a low pull from pack rate and even with its consistency for magic there are other things that do what it does better.
Web Birds: (4 Health: Fly, Web, Melee, Missile, Melee, Missile, Web, Fly, Melee)
Web birds offer some consistency in both Melee and Missile. They also have Fly which generate saves or Maneuvers depending on the roll. If you took any monster, this would be my recommended one.
Will O’ Wisp: (4 Health: Fly, Confuse, Dispel Magic, Magic, Missile, Melee, Dispel Magic, Fly, Magic)
Another Jack of All trades monster that tries to function at all ranges. This Monster has low chances for any result you are looking for.
Terrain:
Terrain choice is possibly the most important choice you will make next to what race(s) you chose to play in Dragon Dice. This choice determines if you have access to your passives or need to bring a Minor Terrain To access your Race(s) full potential. For scalders I suggest using Faelands for Both Terrains. The harder you are to hit in the Missile phase of a terrain the more you have to bring against your opponent in the Melee stage of the battle. The good news is that Faelands only have 1 Missile face. The bad news is that if you are running a Missile heavy army then you may need to look at another terrain like a Coastland, and if that is your plan then bring a tower to extend your reach to any army (including reserves with non-ID icon support).
Minor Terrain:
Choosing what minor terrains will govern your flexibility in dealing with adverse terrain conditions over the course of the game. I suggest bringing a number of varying terrains to deal with any match-up you may encounter, and based off your army composition to use id faces that support your type of force. As far as color is concerned, I suggest a Coastland, Swampland, Wasteland, and Highland. This way we you have a good way of getting the passive you want active at any time in the game.
Tactics:
With the Reliability of the monsters in question, I suggest using an infantry based, mixed unit, 2 front approach. The first army I suggest as Heavy Melee and Cavalry. This mix will give good maneuvers while in the magic and missile ranges, then Good Melee and staying power (in the form of keeping in melee range) once that range has been hit. This army’s main objective is to get to an eight face and secure it for the mages then redeploy and with magic support from the mages the melee army can attack and take another eighth face or charge into the opposition with overwhelming attack numbers. Remember to be aggressive. This army should be able to do about 12 melee hits during a round then you are relying on your saves and reflex damage to wind the day. If you loose a lot of your main army then resurrect them with the mages.
Tactical tip: use your first march to melee your opponent and then use mages to deluge or Tidal Wave to reduce the terrain back to missile range to give your armies more saving power, as long as they have green in the terrain.
