Arena Rex Forums

Favour seems to be a significant factor in deciding who comes out on top in a fight. Problem is that a Favour light team should still be competetive, nor do we want the same models getting picked time and time again because of Favour, while others are left on the bench.

Playing Blood Brothers I always feel Favour starved, and at a disadvantage against Favour generators. While BB have their own strengths to compensate, I don't like the power gap that is created when you have Favoured versus Favourless. Even with the restriction of use, I can see Favour generators becoming far more common than other models (particularly in Ludus Magnus), and I don't like the idea that I have to take anti-Favour models like Otho.

The imbalance isn't as great as I might make it sound, but I certainly feel the sweet spot has been missed.

I've already had an idea regarding combat, which relates to providing alternative ways of achieving an edge other than Favour: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=19854

But I have another idea. Every player starts the game with 3 Favour. So why not have them recuperate that Favour in their Clear Turn (note: they don't add 3 in the Clear Turn, merely increase up to 3 if they have less than that). That way a team that has no means to generate Favour other than by bleeding for it can access a small, but consistent amount of Favour by having frequent Clear Turns (an option wth pros and cons), which ties into the idea of the crowd favouring those who push themselves to their limit.

Now BB aren't able to generate a lot of Favour, but like having Clear Turns. Legio XIII don't like Clear Turns as much but they have decent Favour generation, while LM has the best Favour generation and little reason to have frequent Clear Turns (Morituri remain a mystery to me). However, since having this idea I already thought of a set up that could break it, and funnily enough it involves BB =]

In a five model game:

Pick any three BB - Frigge, Sven, Vargr, Hroka, Bjarrhvit - to esnure you get the Ludus bonus.
Plus one other gladiator, perhaps a Favour generator - Hermes, Aquila, etc
Finish off with Leo (Stage 1)

Leo activates - Roars once (4 Favour)
Mars 1 activates (spend 1 Favour) - unfatigue Leo
Leo activates - Roars once (4 Favour)
Mars 2 activates (spend 1 Favour) - unfatigue Leo
Leo activates - Roars once (4 Favour)
Mars 3 activates (spend 1 Favour) - unfatigue Leo
Leo activates - Roars once (4 Favour)
Mars 4 activates (spend 1 Favour) - unfatigue Leo
Leo activates - Roars twice (5 Favour
All models are now Fatigued/Exhausted. In the Clear Turn they all become Ready (unless any Mars became Exhausted), then you may activate one model, which will most likely be Leo... Repeat.

You use the other four models to keep the enemy occupied, use Leo's free movement and terrain to ensure he stays our of harms way (bypassing a Roar if you have to). You can afford to spend a minimum of 1 Favour on every model, with 4 in reserve (plus other Favour generated) for defence, killing blows, etc.

Since I had the idea (and have the advantage of knowing the game better), this Wednesday I'm going to try and fight against someone implementing it, and see if it's as deadly in reality even when you know the plan (my plan = kill Leo). Anyone else is free to try it as well.

I'd also be interested to hear other people's oponion on the importance of generating Favour and how it influences their selections.

_________________
Bentley Hunter from the Kickstarter.

You need 75% of your force to be of a faction to gain the ludus bonus - as Leo is two cards, currently you can only have ludus bonus in 8-man games. At this point there's nothing indicating that you can take only one stage of a multiple stage model. Even if you could, your example is still missing a blood brother. 3/5 is only 60%, not 75%.

assuming you have Leo though, and want to use him just for favor, the more you have him sitting around generating favor, the less you're actually doing with that favor. It's not just that you're generating favor for other people to use, you're also dedicating every other turn entirely to generating a single favor.

He's also not hugely resilient in his first stage, so leaving him fatigued / exhausted generating favor will end up with you losing his first stage pretty quick. another big shot of favor (four laurels on his health track!) to be sure, but it does cap it off quickly.

_________________
Dum spiro, spero.

Well then there's two points that could use clarification from RRG.

I always thought you could be selective with Titans, so you could take Proximo 1 and 2, then select a gladiaor instead of Proximo 3, but you couldn't take Proximo 2 and 3 without 1. If this isn't the case, then it seems a significant downside purely in terms of regularly getting your favourite Titan on the table. I mean the number of cards does represent the number of fighters they are worth, but still... Though even if you're right, it would always be worth trying a Titan with only the first stage slelected, if only to see how it plays out.

The second point I believe you are correct on, regarding the 75%. I just remember reading somewhere that non-Ludus affiliated models didn't count towards the total, therefore there are 4 Ludus models and 75% of them belong to BB. Again, looking at the rules I believe you are correct. However, since the Ludus bonuses effect all models in your cohort, what's the point of having models without a Ludus affiliation?

As for your points regarding the strategy, you may well be right. However, the enemy only ever have one activation to try and get to Leo before he is Ready again, regardless whether he is Fatigued/Exhausted. Chances are the plan would be less systematic in reality, since you only need Leo's Roar when you run low on Favour. The main point was that, depending on the above questions, it can give BB Favour generation while maintaining their Ludus bonus.

Hopefully we can get some clarification on this before my game/s on Wednesday =]

_________________
Bentley Hunter from the Kickstarter.

"Certain models will have one or more of these qualities listed on their card(s). These models function slightly differently than normal gladiators, and tend to be larger and worth several gladiators in a fair fight. As the fight goes on, these models will progress through Stages. Each Stage has its own card, with its own damage tree, vitality, and traits. The model is treated as if that is their only card while it is active, and each Stage must be played in ascending numeric sequence. Each Stage lasts until that stage’s Vitality has been reduced to 0."

IMO it seems pretty clear that you play through each Stage of the Titans rather than picking and choosing... I'm with you regarding your Operation: Leo though - seems like an awesome Favor-making machine, and would be a perfect match for BB. Their capability around Fatigue and Clear Turns makes his "Roar, +Favor, get Ready again" routine even more useful as he really can be dedicated to just task that for a while.