Arena Rex Forums

They still all seem kinda lack luster (not terrible or even bad but none of them made me say "wow".) Simple rules i guess? They do seem to have a lot of high numbers on their damage trees. I look forward to them proving their power.

I personally do not like the model design as much as I thought I would (though it grows on me the more I look at them...) Archidamos being the exception. I don't want them to all look the same but he is what I was really hoping for with the Greeks. Antaeus is also really a cool model. I like that we are getting a "historicly accurate" Olympian. Theophania also looks spartan(y) like Archidamos, I suppose. However, when you put them all together, Demittrios (and his mount) and Argos seem a little out of place.

Just looking over some of the predictions that were made on this first page of this thread, in 2016.

"We'll probably get a Spartan, although I have a suspicion it'll be a fully armored Hoplite rather than a Zack Snyder male stripper. I would think that some form of Amazon would be in order. Maybe a Hercules like figure with a lion skin?"

No lion-skinned Hercules yet, I think. But two Spartans, and one of them is also an amazon! Kind of.

"A wrestler would be interesting. Special ability on successful attack to exhaust himself and target instead of dealing damage. Target cannot remove fatigue while wrestler is engaged and exhausted.
A satyr gladiator would also be cool."

Yes to the wrestler! Great guess. No satyr, though I still really like that idea.

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

And Gonzo wrote:

"I would imagine though, with luck manipulation, it makes things more stable, perhaps centering on rerolls; forcing your opponent to do it, or giving your own models do-overs."

We do have a winner here in terms of focusing on re-rolls via the ekstasis ability. But I guess that a lot of people were thinking that.

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

Much like Leo made it relevant that you don't have to be in range of a model to declare it the target of an attack, the trigger to declare an assist doesn't actually require you to be in range of the attacking model, the effect simply only works if you're in range. I'm pretty sure she can essentially teleport anywhere on the board to help out a friendly model that's being attacked.

Random thoughts on the models in terms of first impressions:

Theo - Assuming she can teleport to those in need, she feels pretty powerful. Even without her abilities she's got a really solid statline and compares in a lot of ways to Viatrix in my mind. Viatrix is the better defender and contributes way more Favor, but Theo's strong minimum damage is a big benefit. Seems worthwhile outside of the Greeks.

Archie - What a beast. His low defense is really his only drawback and he seems to be in that all around powerful, but straightforward spot alongside the likes of Hroka and Aquila. He's Hellen's blunt object.

Antaeus - Very similar to Micon in a conception and execution. He's less all in on the push game though and trades some of Micon's extreme distance for better all around utility. Not a powerhouse, but on my radar for sure.

Argos - Interesting fighter. He can be the toughest brick in the game but like Ywain he's not really doing anything to force the opponent to prioritize him. On his own he's pretty sub par, but Phalanx has some good uses to explore.

Dimitros - He's fine but not inspiring. Feint is pretty powerful though making him a good tech piece and being the rider certainly gives that tech some interesting applications.

Telesto - A bit of a pure mount similar to Caho-Ta. Not a bad living hazard, but nothing special in that regard either. Good damage for a mounted beast but nothing about him stands out much. He's fine with some interesting interactions with his rider that might add up to more than the sum of their parts.

Agree with your take, more or less across the board. I'd say that they seem to have some pretty great synergies - Phalanx and Interdict allow a ton of non-activation movement, Hip Toss means you'll be able to really mess up opponent positioning, and Shield Wall with a few buddies is going to make Argos a pretty damn tough nut to crack.

I'll add that visually I'm really digging everything except for Dimitrios. The unicorn horn is just NOT working for me, and the net being underfoot on his unmounted model is a distraction - I'm usually pretty comfortable with minis being symbolic rather than literal representations of warriors, but man, I can't get past that. RRG has said they are going to be including helmetless head options going forward so I might be able to address the first issue. Antaeus, Archidamos, Theophania, and Argos though are a really cohesive group aesthetically. Can't wait to get them on my painting table.

I'm also extremely happy that RRG seem to have settled on Benoit Cauchies as their sculptor of choice. I sometimes wish he'd make his models have a little more melodramatic flair, but I think he has consistently produced the top AR models (MIKH's stuff is better IMO, but his inability to stick to a deadline got him cut from the team, I'm sure). Really happy that he did all of these models.

Good call - it does kind of seem that way.

But... does that seem like the intention? Nothing else in the game can actually teleport unlimited distances to my knowledge. I think that's worth checking.

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

I actually think his Divinity power seems impressive. People often seem to have no problem spending Favor - just look at how people like Anteus' Hip Toss, even though that costs a Favor to use each time.

As long as you are willing to spend Favor for Telesto in the same spirit, then it seems really strong to me that he can react every turn and never get fatigued from it. He can just move around using his free move action, and counterattack or assist or opportunity attack as necessary, never getting tired.

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

It seems to me that a lot of the rules and concepts of the Helleniki are reminiscent of models we already have in the game. I wonder if this is intentional?

Theophania = Frigge. Both have abilities that make them good at assisting, being able to move when they assist, and being able to punish enemies when they successfully rebuff attacks. They also both have DEF 3 ARM 2.

Dimitrios = Bjarrhvit. Both have a defining ability to deny their opponents their reactions. They both have Swift, but better, and nothing really else. At least they have different speeds and base sizes to differentiate them, and Dimi can ride.

Antaeus = Micon. Both 40mm based, DEF 3 ARM 0, both specialists at wrestling, pushing and throwing. Micon can Atlas Throw, Antaeus can Hip Toss. They do their concept differently, but the concept is the same. LunorSol pointed this out earlier.

It doesn't bother me per se - just interesting. Makes it easier to double up if there is a specific concept you want. If you like denying reactions, for example, you can load up on Bjarrhvit, Dimi, and guys with Swift.

I'm a little bit in two minds about Antaeus. I think the concept of a naked wrestler is really cool, so all in for that.

But his model is just small and compact, and sort of scrunched up. I'm sure it's realistic from a wrestling-technical perspective - but Micon is huge, has his arms raised over his head in a RARGH! pose, and looks fearsome. I like Micon better.

So my mission will be to mangle Antaeus up completely, and see if I can repose him to look more dynamic and bellicose. Philosophy be damned.

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

Also, I'm glad they have reworked Tactician a little. I argued in the rules forum some time ago that it bothered me that Sulla's Dictate allowed him to spend fatigue as a resource on tactics during a clear turn. It just feels awkward.

The deal is that Argos is also a Tactician, and with his Phalanx tactic, they have simplified Sulla's mechanic. In addition to granting new tactics to the whole cohort, they both have the ability to activate one or more tactics during their activation. It always costs Argos a fatigue if he does it in his activation, and a favor if he does it in his clear turn. But Sulla had a weird ruling made in the forum that he can choose to have it cost a fatigue also on his clear turn.

I hope that they go and re-clarify Sulla to follow the same pattern as Argos. It would just require specifying that Dictate is an action that can only be used during an activation (just like all the other special actions in the game).

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log