My take on the next BattleLore army box; Elves.

A word about these units.
All Elven units are battle savvy. In addition all Elven foot units are Bold against Goblinoid units.

Elven War Council presence.

If a Wizard or a Rogue is chosen in a War Council, and the army has at least one Elven unit then the Wizard or the Rogue – not both – may upgrade one level at no cost to the war council limit. (e.g. The scenario calls for a War Council of six and you choose a level one Wizard, Rogue, Warrior, Cleric and a level two Commander. You may now upgrade the Wizard or Rogue to a level two while the other characters remain the same.)

Elven Spearmen

· Are blue banner.
· Can never have more than 3 figures per unit.
· May move 1 or 2 and battle.

Elven Calvary

· Are green banner.
· Are armed with reflex bows – can move and shoot with out penalty -.

Elven Bolt Throwers

· Are blue banner.
· Must have LOS.
· Range of 3,3,2,2,1,1.
· Hit on shields at a range of 2 hexes or greater.
· Can never have more than two figures.
· Can fire or move 1 or 2 hexes.
 

BabeDad said:

Hi there, 
good ideas there.

Elven war council
This is quite a big bonus and would need balancing perhaps deploy the same way as Dwarves but do not have the auto bold

Elven spearmen seems ok to me

Elven Calvary this feels like a specialist card, they are more powerful than cav and or archers but not massively do making them something you have to choose in place of another upgrade seems fair.

Bolt throwers seem like a candidate for being a 'creature', range of six and can move.  put it on a flank with a unit of elven calvary and that would be a very tough nut to crack.

Chris

 I agree with Chris.

These are really good ideas though...what about Elven Archers? 3 figures, blue banner, hit on SoS at point blank?

I've also wondered about including some sort of "magic user" troop in an army, and elves might be the perfect way to do it...maybe make it an embedded unit for elven troops only, and can do something like hide the unit in shadows, or have it hit on lore rolled, or something...like a hero, but slightly less powerful and stuck inside a single unit.

I can see a new box set clarify Battle Savvy, stating that green banner units are NOT battle savvy.

Green Banner elves would be though. They would also get the Evade tactic (like in C&C:A) and have Long Bows as default ranged troops.

They would probably ignore terrain limitations within woods as well.

Some announcements on what is next would be greatly appreciated! FFG, please give us some direction here.

Cheers,
Ben.

I was imagining the Elves as being good troops but fragile; similar to Dwarves being good but slow. Elven archers are OK but I would want something more unique than archers. Evade would be an excellent addition to the cavalry. The War Council presence might give the opportunity to be eligible for a Rogue or Wizard Landmark that normally does not come into play without great expense to your council. As far as play balance, one of the systems great strengths is the playing of both sides of a scenario to judge a winner. If your only playing Call to Arms as a one round game then play balance would definitely have a bigger impact.

 I would love to see some magical element as well.  Embedded magic users would be great - activating a special ranged/fire/ice attack or something on a Lore rolled to hit.  Lore units with Special Abilities like creatures would be fun.  More creatures like Ogres, more creatures full stop.   Just more!

Another idea would be to make most elf units only three figures strong.  With elves gaining double the normal amount of Lore for each Lore symbol rolled (also gaining 1 lore per lore symbol rolled in ranged combat).  Special Elf Lore cards could be added to the lore or command deck, or could be played like creature special powers from any full strength unit (or special magic units).

Any army also fielding an Elf Guest Lore Councilor may increase the number of Lore Cards that may be held in hand by 1 or 2 (and/or change the end of round action -> take 3 Lore; take 2 lore and 1 lore card; or draw 3 lore cards - keep 1 and return the other two to the bottom of the lore deck.)

The could also add a special landmark tile to the board (perhaps).

Either way - it would be nice to see an army that really pushed the lore element of the game in slightly new directions - probably difficult to balance properly, but has the potential to a lot of fun!

Cheers,

Giles.