KoW: Vanguard – Meet The Holy Forces of Basilea
The Basileans are a people watched over by gods. Holy crusaders that strike fear into the evildoers across Mantica as they march from their golden city. Their power in battle is as strong as their faith – pious Sisters and Paladin scholars charge the battlefield along with men at arms and palace guard.
Basilea still has some of the ancient glories of Primovantor. Their cities are large, and their royals have coffers to match. Basilean mages are the most powerful of those in all the kingdoms. The wealth and power shows on the battlefield – even their lowest foot soldiers are dressed in shining plate armor, and carry the best weapons available. They have great pride in their society, and claim that they are the only true protectors of Primovantor’s legacy. Both things they are ready to fight for.
Before we jump in to some of the units you’ll be able to add to your Abyssal warband – you can check out the rules for free here, and Mantic has a very special half price rulebook offer right now! You can pre-order the book and warbands here.
The Sisterhood are some of the cheapest Warriors that the Basileans have access to. Their stats are comparable to Men-At Arms, but they trade a downgrade in defense with an upgrade in combat ability (4+ rather than 5+) and 2 wounds, which combines with the rules for warriors being knocked down in combat to make then much more survivable than the grunts. Just keep them in cover until you can get close – otherwise you’ll be shot to pieces, or take advantage of the Basileans’ Warband ability, which allows you to roll your armour at 3+, instead of their normal stat.
if you’re looking at building an all-sisterhood force, or want to invest in some more ranged combat, then the sisterhood scout is a good investment. They re-roll 1’s on their 2 dice ranged attacks and have the Sharp Shooter ability – which can grant them Piercing (1) for a shoot action at the cost of 1 Power.
Finally, there is the support option of a Veteran Sister. Not only does she bring 3 dice to melee combat (and an extra wound, too), but she’ll also grant you a red power dice – great to use for the scout’s ability.
Paladin Defenders are more expensive Warriors than the Sisterhood, but get a major upgrade in Armour and a slew of abilities. As their name suggests, they are good in defence, with the Parry and Defender abilities giving them a good chance of weathering attacks once you have them in place. The Parry ability is especially useful, as this makes the Brace action short instead of long, so you can move up and brace, or even fatigue to brace your model if you’ve already used your full action this turn. Use them as the bulwark in you battleline – holding crucial objectives or paths through terrain.
An alternative build to the Paladins is the Support option of a Chaplain. This is basically an armoured spellcaster. they have the same abilities as Defenders, but can also cast one of 3 spells – Heal, Stun or Shield. These are all short actions, so you can brace, cast and move in one turn if you fatigue. These spells support the Paladin Defenders in their role, so we would suggest tag-teaming them with those warriors. Alternatively, you could use them to shore up a few softer units, like your men-at-arms or sisterhood.
Gur Panthers are lightning quick and deadly. With a speed of 8, Vicious (re-roll 1’s in Melee) and a free bonus dice in melee when they retaliate, they’re great for making first contact with the enemy. They’re sturdier than they look, too, so you could have them hold up enemy warriors in combat until other troops can make it into the combat.
The Abbess is the most expensive Command model in the Basilean faction. She brings 2 white power dice, hits in melee on 3+ with 3 dice and has Vicious, Crushing Strength (1) and Inspiring to boot – a lot packed into one unit. Her ability is very powerful, allowing you to remove activation counters from up to 3 nearby models, enabling them to act again this round, for a nominal cost of 2 power. This can allow what would normally be an outnumbered, elite faction to run rings around their opponents. It Fatigues and activates her, but it is well worth it.
Try Vanguard for free – download the rules here!
