Euripides: the Savage Keyword
tldr;
Strengths: Mobility, unresisted damage, shockwaves, high damage melee, Hard to Kill + healing
Weaknesses: Guns, anti-healing, terrifying
Ice pillars
O how I love the ice pillar. Its height 4, Destructible, Impassable terrain on a 30mm marker. They do so much work, but they take a lot of practice to utilize to the fullest. You can block off opponents from choke points and objectives, you can buff and enable your crew, and you need to get them out before your other models move to gain the full benefits.
Frozen vigor and Hard to Kill
Whenever a Savage model (not including Euripides, the Damned, or Bultungin) ends its activation within 2" of an ice pillar, they heal 1 and gain +1 shielded. This combined with Hard to Kill and the Old Ways can make your models a lot harder to take off the table reliably. Every time you trigger Frozen Vigor, you are potentially enabling free 2 uses of the Old Ways, ideally one for offense and one for defense.
Old Ways
This is really what the crew lives and dies on. When a Savage model performs a straight duel, it may suffer 1 damage to flip the card for that duel from its Discard Pile instead of its Fate Deck. Once the duel is resolved, the flipped card is placed on the bottom of this model's Discard Pile. This ability is truly bonkers. It means that almost any time you have a severe on the top of your discard, or you cheat in a severe for damage, you can use that same card again at the cost of 1 health. Defensively, you can use a card from the discard to dodge an attack or force your opponent to cheat first, or you can cheat a high card for potentially 2 dodges. Offensively, your best case scenario is using a severe from the discard for your first hit, cheating a severe for damage, and then using that cheated severe again for a second hit. That is what enables many of our models to do 10 damage in an activation. Another thing about Old Ways is that you can effectively prevent the black joker from affecting your important activations by not even flipping for those critical actions. When I'm really using it a ton, I'll go through only half of my deck, and will sometimes not even see the black joker.
Euripides
This guy is great. He's got intuition to know the top 3 cards when he activates. When a model within 8" is killed, he can turn them into an ice pillar, and that model does not drop ANY other markers. He's also got an amazing defensive trigger on a (not built-in) tome called Future Sight, where when he wins a duel, he names a suit. The attacking model reveals their hand and discards a card of the named suit. This can really discourage random pot shots, but the crew is VERY tome heavy, so I will rarely use this, and the time to do it is with a stone and cheating a severe near the top of the turn. He's defense 5 so your opponent can usually cheat it, or avoid it by being smart about their hand, but with willpower 6 it can sometimes be ok. Move 5 is fine but as I'll get into, he can teleport 8" to a pillar on his bonus. Size 4 means he can almost always see over everything else, but he's also very targetable as a result. 14 massive hit points and soulstones are how you keep him alive, but he will go down. He does NOT have Frozen Vigor, so your only in keyword healing for him are Cyclops bonus or the Damned killing with is melee.
He has a Huge Fist melee attack at 1", stat 6 against defense, doing 3/4/6 damage. Sweeping strike can be amazing, but usually cheating a tome is too expensive, so I'll stone for this when its worth it. Cheating a red joker on the damage and then hitting a model again with the trigger can be absolutely devastating. Rake the Eyes is situationally good, but its gone bad enough for me in the past that I usually won't even declare it.
The tactical actions are where Euripides really shines. His bread and butter is Rune-Etched Ice (I usually just say MAKE ICE PILLARS cause I always forget). 8" range, stat 6 (with a tome built in), and a TN of 12 and a tome. Create an ice pillar in range (you need LoS). Then, other models (not Euripides), within 2 pulse of any ice pillars created must pass a TN 14 move duel or take 2 damage. With a double tome, you can create a second ice pillar, also generating the pulse. Optionally you can use a mask to make models damaged by this action push 3" away from the marker. If your opponent groups up at all, you can hit a LOT of models with this, and put serious pressure on your opponent's hand, and if they die, they'll turn into another pillar often times. I most often will use this ability, cheating a tome or using one on the discard with Old Ways, 3 times a turn, dropping one in a prime location to damage or disrupt movement of enemies, and placing the other where my models are going to give them their Frozen Vigor. If the Damned is within 6" of the healed model, you splash damage around them on enemies. There have been many games where I put 20-30 ice pillars on the field. The dream is when you find a 6+ tome with intuition and/or have a 6+ tome in your hand, bc Old Ways can make that card count twice.
Glacial shove targets an ice pillar within 2". Stat 6, needing a 10 for the TN. Push the target 10" in any direction. If it hits something, other models in 1" must pass a TN X duel, where X is the action's final duel total or suffer 2 damage, and with a mask trigger, models damaged are pushed 3" away. I have tried this ability many times, and when its good, I'll cheat a high card and even stone for the mask, but my opponent has always just flipped a high card or cheated it to dodge. Now with the Kaltgeists, you can push them 10", which seems very clutch on a move 4 model.
Old One-Eye
First off, I've only played 1 game with him so far. His Hepatomancy is SO STRONG! Blood markings says whenever a friendly Savage in 10" and LoS takes damage (including Old Ways), OOE gets a rune token, max of 3. Hepatomancy (aka blood bending y'all) says before a friendly Savage model takes a duel within 10" and LoS, once per activation you may discard a rune token to reveal 2 cards from EITHER Fate Deck and discard any number of non-Jokers revealed. With Old Ways and your models taking damage in general, it is very easy (after turn 1) to be using this ability almost every activation involving a friendly and enemy model. On defense you can check their cards and discard severes, and you know when a joker is coming. This really forces your opponent to have to cheat a lot more on attacks when they really matter, which also gives you information on what your opponent is trying to score in a turn. On offense, it works as a pseudo intuition, dumping weaks before you attack and telling you if a joker is coming. You can really improve your chances to hit double moderate/severe damage too. This on top of Old Ways gives every model (within 10" of OOE) huge resource advantage. The key is making sure OOE stays in the right spot to keep most of his crew in the aura.
He also gains Frozen Vigor, which is a massively huge deal for him, as he uses Old Ways as much if not more so than the other crew models. He went down to 12 hit points as a result. He is now 6 def 6 willpower, which can be a big deal, but no more future sight trigger.
He definitely transitioned into more attack action heavy with 3 attacks now and only a bonus tactical. Bloody Fist has that glorious 2" reach, stat 6 against defense, doing 2/4/5, and if its an enemy, gain a rune token. It has Drink Blood on a ram to gain health equal to damage dealt, which can come in clutch, when somebody goes in hard on him. Aetheric Gaze has really high potential for devastation but I didn't manage to pull it off in my game. Its a 10" gun, stat 6 against defense with a mask built-in. Discard up to 2 runes, ignores cover, target suffers 2/3/5 damage and suffers a blast for every rune spent. Then the mask trigger Icy Refraction says take the action again, targeting a different model, drawing range and LoS from an ice pillar touching a blast marker dropped by the action. This means that he can shoot and blast a few enemies, hit a pillar with a blast, and then shoot another 10" out at a different model, potentially blasting again. Finally Avalanche is just a great utility action. 6" range against move, stat 6 with a ram built-in needing a 10. Push the target up to 5" in any direction, ignoring models and terrain, with the potential to do some ping pulse damage for each model/terrain piece moved through. The movement is the big deal, and I usually am doing this to my own models since you only need a 4 for it to go off. The built-in ram trigger is Ritual of Viscera, where you can discard runes to heal the same amount. Could be clutch in the right situation, but that situation didn't happen for me.
Absolute zero is MUCH stronger than my initial read let on. 10" range, stat 7 needing a 10 TN. Create an ice pillar, then remove any number of OTHER MARKERS within 2" pulse of the dropped marker to have Savage model within 4" of a dropped marker. The tome trigger Hoarfrost says when resolving, create an ice pillar in base contact with every marker removed. My understanding is that when the trigger is used, that 4" pulse of healing comes from EACH model dropped, not just the initial one, so that's potentially a huge range, and you're denying things from your enemy at the same time. You can use this to setup for Aetheric Gaze double up, as well as all the same things I said for original Euripides.
Primordial Magic
Everyone's favorite pukey snake. He's got that BEAUTIFUL Arcane Reservoir. He's also incorporeal on top of Old Ways and Frozen Vigor, which helps because he only has 3 health. Frozen Vigor is really critical for him, because I'll usually use Old Ways to make sure his bonus goes off when its super important.
Bite is his attack action, and while its mediocre, its pretty great for a 3 stone model. Stat 4 against defense, does 2/3/4 and on a tome, you get to draw a card. Rarely does this get used, but its alright.
His tacticals are really nuts. The bonus Form Given to Winter gives a friendly savage in 6" incorporeal for the turn, stat 5 needing a TN 10. This really can help with unpacking, allowing models to charge through stuff to get what they want to kill, and even soaking damage when somebody is about to take some focus fire. Sheer Cold is an ability that people will forget about, so GIVE THEM A LESSON. 8" range, stat 5 needing a TN 12 (7). Target an ice pillar, enemies in a 2" pulse take a damage, unresisted. With Old Ways, you can just do that twice. On a tome, it even removes all Scheme, Corpse, and Scrap markers within 2" of that ice pillar. I have killed so many models this way, and with original Euripides, you can even turn those dead models into more pillars. Great way around Hard to Kill or heavy armor models, even incorporeal cannot ignore this damage.
The Damned
This model is newer to the keyword, and is massively important for scoring points. Neverborn has almost no leap models available, and he's unimpeded on top of that, so its move 5 is plenty. He's got Old Ways and Hard to Wound to keep him up, but sadly no Hard to Kill. His ability Toss the Scraps is really strong, whenever he kills an enemy with his melee action, you can heal a friendly model in 6" and LoS 2 health. He is very hungry for focus.
Both his attack actions are amazing. Ferocious Claws is a 1" melee attack, stat 6 against defense, with critical strike and pouncing strike on ram and mask triggers respectively. It does 2/4/6 damage, and pushes the target up to 2" in any direction. This model is very hungry for focus because of this attack. Breath of Frost is a 6" non-gun action, stat 5 with a built-in tome against defense. Target suffers 2/3(blast)/4(blast)(blast), and models damaged gain staggered. The built-in tome trigger says you can drop ice pillars instead of blast markers. This might be obvious, but against a clump of enemies you won't usually declare the trigger, against a single enemy it can be worth it. Only stat 5 though, so enemies can cheat against it. His leap is stat 4 needing 10 TN with the mask built-in. He's even superior to other leapers in that he can Old Ways to guarantee no black joker.
Thoon
Thoon's very existence is a threat to your enemy. Whether you bring him or not, your opponent will have to think hard about their crew selection just from his one trigger. Frozen Vigor, Hard to Kill, and a new ability called Shifting Ice, where you can move a pillar in 4" up to 3", which is great utility for keeping things out of your crew's way for free. He also has intuition, so he's often not even requiring additional resources to do what he needs to do.
Chain-wrapped Fists are where the bread and butter is. 1" melee attack, stat 6 against defense, dealing 2/4/6 damage. That is nice and all, but the triggers are the real value here. Frozen trophy on a tome (once per turn) buries an enemy model in an ice pillar, and the only way out is if someone comes and destroys the ice pillar. Savage are already very strong into elite crews for reasons I'll get into later, but this forces your opponent to keep their models together to a degree, or an important model will disappear from the game permanently. Scheme runners, beaters, masters all can be eliminated using this trigger, and if they don't have ranged marker removal, you can make it very disadvantageous for the enemy to even try to break them out. Defensive reflexes on a ram gives you shielded +1, and crows gives you Drain Magic, so you can discard a card to draw a card AND your enemy has to discard a card.
His other abilities are all situational. Hooked Chain is an 8" gun attack with stat 7 against defense, doing 2/3/4 damage and pushing the target 3" closer, with a mask trigger to give them staggered if they were damaged. Freeze the corpse is his bonus to turn a corpse in 2" into a pillar.
Some secret sauce here is his Arctic Pull tactical action. It does require a little setup, but it can be a big deal. Range 8", stat 6 needing a TN 10. Target an ice pillar, push it 10" towards Thoon, if its interrupted you can force a TN on enemies in 1" equal to the final duel total, which you can make big if you need to. The mask trigger is key, Bump! Push any models in base contact with the target marker 8" towards this model and they get distracted +1. You don't need to damage the model, you just need to hit them with the ice pillar, AND it gives distracted, keeping Thoon even safer. This is an unresisted ~8" move on an enemy or friendly model, where Thoon can then Trophy them from the safety of where he is currently standing. You can even use Shifting Ice to set it up all by himself in some situations. I don't use this action every game, but sometimes it is massively clutch.
Geryon
Yum yum yum. These are probably the dirtiest model in the keyword, and they're just minions, so they can fully benefit from any of the Neverborn upgrades, of which all of them are strong situationally for them. They've got Old Ways, Hard to Kill, and Frozen Vigor. They also have Extended Reach, so enemies can't attack with charges within 2". Their bonus is what keeps them alive. 4" pulse, remove any number of ice pillars, heal 2 for each one removed. They have 8 hit points.
Boulder Fist is a 2" melee, stat 6 against defense, doing 3/4/6 damage, with 3 fantastic triggers. Rams is Heave, place the target anywhere within 3" of this model. Chill on tomes gives slow to models damaged by the attack. Swallow you Whole on a crew says after killing, the target doesn't drop any markers and they heal 1/2/3. These guys are devastating. Their tactical Shoulder Rush also does a lot of work. Stat 5 needing a TN 10, push this model 6" in any direction. If you hit a marker, you can push the marker how far the Geryon pushed, and enemies hit by that marker have to pass a TN X duel, X being the action's final duel total or they take 2 damage. Hitting markers is not really what you use this for, you get to push 6" on a move 5 model, getting you out of engagements or just moving you further up the board to an ice pillar. It also has Focused Attention, so if you happen to get a tome, they get focused +1, letting them focus twice in a turn effectively.
Cyclops
Cyclops have Old Ways, Hard to Kill, and Frozen Vigor. They also have Grit (Aggressive), so when they are half health, they get a positive to their attacks. They are only defense 4, with 8 hit points. They can be good at holding down objectives, but don't hold up in sustained fights.
Massive club is a 2" melee, stat 5 against defense, target suffers 3/4/5. Sweeping Strike is on a tome to do blasts, and on a mask is Knock Aside to push the target 4" in any direction.
Their tactical actions are what you bring them for. They can make ice pillars at a massive 12", stat 5 needing a TN 11 of tomes. That means they are competing with that same 6+ of tomes that original Euripides needs, and of course you can Old Ways to do it twice. Their bonus is Frozen Runes, range 6" stat 5 needing a TN 12. Target an ice pillar, pick one of the following: friendly models in 2" pulse heal 1, enemy models in 2" pulse take 1 damage, enemy models within 2" pulse gain staggered, or drop a scheme marker in base contact. This is very versatile, offering unresisted damage or staggered. Both these abilities need specific cards, so you are often fishing with your other models to get a tome on the discard.
Gigants
These guys do work for 6 stones. Old Ways, Frozen Vigor, and Hard to Kill as usual. Expert Shot means their attacks ignore friendly fire, and Arcing Shot lets you when using a gun action discard a card to ignore LoS and Cover, meaning their guns are strong.
Tree Trunk is their melee, 1" stat 5 against defense, target suffers 2/3/4. Pick the Bones on a crow is nice if you can pull it off, letting you interact after killing a model. Shattering Shove is why you use this action. For a tome, you push the target 2". If they hit an ice pillar, remove the pillar, then place the target into base contact with ANY ice pillar on the board. You can put your models almost anywhere you have ice pillars, but you can also take a problematic enemy and put them right back in their deployment zone. Think hard about where you put them though, as you can also help out your opponent doing this.
Their gun is fabulous. Thrown Boulder, 8" gun stat 6 against defense. Target suffers 2/3(blast)/5(blast), and you push them 2" away (sometimes annoying). On a ram you Burst Damage for blasts, and crow is Stunning Strike, the target (only) gains stunned. Ranged stun is dirty, and the damage is great considering you can ignore pretty much everything except the 8" range when shooting.
Cave Drawings is a pretty cool tactical. 8" stat 5 needing a TN 10. Target an ice pillar, until the end phase enemy models in 2" aura cannot interact or concentrate. I haven't used this part of the ability to great effect, but I've heard people with double Ancient Pacts will go early and do this to really hamper the opponent's scoring, they basically have to remove the pillar before they can do the thing so that 1 AP lost can make the difference. Mostly I use the ram trigger, Shattering Surprise, place this model in base contact with the target and remove it. 8" teleport for a 5 of rams is really strong for scoring points or staying alive.
Kaltgeists
These little guys are great for 5 stones. Only Frozen Vigor, but they do have Armor +1 to keep them up. Ice Form is great: other friendly models may treat this model as an ice pillar, if it would be removed this way, it instead suffers 2 irreducible damage. This really can enable your Gigant's Shattering Shove, or Frozen Vigor, or your various heals. Frostbite seems like its more for the December side of things, but it says when an enemy model in 4" aura with slow would gain slow again, it instead suffers 1 damage. Savage could maybe make that happen but it would be very corner case.
Hard Slam is their melee, 1" stat 5 against defense, doing 1/2/4 damage. It can reduce its shielded condition up to 2 to increase the damage by the same amount.
Their tacticals are pretty good. Jagged Ice is 8" stat 4 needing a TN 10. Target an ice pillar, enemy models in 1" pulse must pass a TN 13 move duel or take a damage and gain staggered. On a tome, models damaged get slow, and for a ram, Shattering Surprise, so the usual teleport. I think this will be their main action. Their bonus is Ice Winds, 2" pulse, stat 4 needing a TN 10. This action may draw range and LoS from any ice pillar in 8" in addition to drawing range and LoS from this model, so that means it can go pretty far out if it needs to. Friendly December or Savage models may push up to 3" in any direction. Extra move shenanigans are always good. On a ram you get Defensive Reflexes to gain a shielded.
Bultungin
Lyssa
To be honest I haven't used these models enough to comment on them. They are cheap squishy scheme runners that have always died when I brought them, that could definitely just be a failing on my part. If I have a big game with them, I'll come back and update this section.
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