Intro
Welcome back to another Path to Glory Deck review. In this article, I’ll be covering the Strike archetype deck from the Embergard box, Blazing Assault! As defined by GW, the Strike archetype is all about bold, aggressive plays, encouraging your warband to get stuck into combat with Charges and Attacks. Appropriately, lets get stuck in!
Objectives
Strike the Head
Normally we are quite low on kill surges that require you to kill the enemy leader as they may already have been slain by the time you draw the objective. However, in this case, there is also an alternate condition for slaying an enemy of equal or greater wounds than your fighter, which depending on your warband might be almost every kill you make.
Power: 2
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Branching Fate
An old favorite returns to us, with a bonus – the underdog can complete this objective with attacks that have only 2 dice! For a brief math interlude, you have roughly a 50% chance to score this with every 3 dice attack you make. On a 2 dice attack, if you are the underdog, that chance goes up to approximately 78%! If you will be taking lots of exactly 3 dice attacks (and have some 2 dice attacks to leverage those moments when you are the underdog) this surge will be very reliable.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Perfect Strike
This surge thankfully doesn’t require that the attack you made to score it is successful! So, with that noted, this will score most easily from 2 dice attacks. For common reference, every 2 hammer attack will score this 25% of the time. If you flanked the target, you will score this 44% of the time (with a 2 dice attack), and if you surrounded the target you will score this 69.4% of the time. As we can see, its not the most reliable surge, but if you are making enough 2 hammer attacks this will come around eventually, and if you have ways to add flanked/surrounded results as successes or reliably flank or surround the target it gets substantially better. Of course, if you somehow were to have access to a 1 dice attack, you’d succeed 50% or better with hammers.
Power: 2
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Critical Effort
Another surge that asks us to make attacks but doesn’t care if they are successful, I love it. For some quick mathhammer, common attacks of 2, 3, or 4 dice respectively have 30.5%, 42.1%, and 51.7% chance to contain any crits. So as long as you keep those attacks coming, you will almost certainly score this.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Get Stuck In
Continuing the trend of “make attacks, profit” we have one of the easiest surges I’ve ever seen, only requiring us to attack an enemy in enemy territory. Given that this is the whole purpose of this deck and if you are an aggressive warband this will be a certainty for at least some of your activations for the beginning or all of a game, I’m going to go ahead and say you won’t leave home without this.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Strong Start
A classic from the good old days returned to us, this surge obviously synergizes a bit better with elite aggro warbands than hordes that may wish to trade fighters, but in general its a solid surge that doesn’t ask a lot of you although at times it will be a little clunky if you draw into it after that first kill of the round.
Power: 2
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Keep Choppin’
A bit downsized from its namesake, this end phase requires only 3 attacks and rewards only a single glory, but given all the rewards we have already seen loaded into making attack actions in the surges for this deck, I think this end phase is also going to frequently be a must-take, as you will already be planning to take 3+ charges or attacks each round whenever possible.
Power: 1
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Fields of Blood
This end phase might be a bit trickier to score early, but because it counts all fighters, not just enemy, it will become almost inevitable in most matchups. Again, an end phase that is completely aligned with the playstyle favored in the surges but doesn’t make demands on you for how you go about achieving it.
Power: 1
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Go All Out
Much like the previous objective, for this one you can usually count on your opponent to help you out a little bit by taking moves or charges. Unlike the previous objective, as the game goes on and less fighters are left this one becomes harder, not easier; add on that you may end up killing the enemy fighters who do take moves or charges and this one becomes further less appealing, although still not impossible.
Power: 1
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
On the Edge
Normally I feel that objectives which reward you for leaving enemy fighters vulnerable are a bit of a trap, but in the new environment where damage is a bit lower, wounds are a bit higher, and attack accuracy is a bit lower, I think this is workable. There will still be times where you have to choose to deliberately leave an enemy alive to score this rather and that bites you, but not every objective is meant to make it into your deck once we start deckbuilding.
Power: 1
Consistency: 1
Universality: 2
Denial
The payoff is a bit low here, especially now that we don’t have any ability to severely restrict enemy access to our territory via longboard or an offset, but it should still be doable if we can bottle the enemy up in their own territory as we charge in. Still, like the previous objective, this is one that is more likely to get left in my binder.
Power: 1
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Annihilation
A classic card with a classic name, its sadly an objective you aren’t very likely to score. Very often a game where you score this was won without the glory you’d earn from scoring it, and with most warbands getting a pretty significant bump to the bounty they give up for being slain, I don’t find this card appealing. You’ll need a combination of strong cards and very high raw fighter stats, as well as some luck, to pull this one off.
Power: 3
Consistency: 1
Universality: 1
Ploys
Determined Effort
Another classic card, now with an extra boost for the underdog. One-use accuracy is often important to smooth out the luck factor for aggro-centric decks, and the extra boost this gets when you fall behind can help keep you back in the game and ensure an important kill, especially now that attacks are stronger at high dice (4+) and slightly weaker at 2-3 dice.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Twist the Knife
A sidegrade on the classic, this will not combo with Great Strength or any fighter who already has the Grievous runemark, but since it is a surge ploy can still catch an opponent off guard and give you a surprise kill. Its a shame that you have to use this before you roll the dice for the attack, as well, but it is a powerful effect.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Lure of Battle
Pushes are strong, always; pushes that can move enemy fighters are stronger still. This can bring 2 friendly fighters together or pull an enemy fighter into range for an attack or just to grant you flanked on your attack rolls. Sidestep it is not, but I think you will be just as glad to have this.
Power: 3
Consistency: 2
Universality: 3
Sidestep
Everything I said above goes for sidestep as well – if you aren’t sick of me saying it! Pushes are love, pushes are life.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Commanding Stride
Everything that I said about sidestep goes (almost) triple for this card, as long as the fighter you want to push is your leader. 3 hexes is an absolutely massive distance, a full move action for most fighters, and can open up surprising charges, get your leader to safety, or simply set you up to repeatedly attack without charging, with the fighter who is typically the strongest in the warband. Of course, some warbands’ leaders are not quite the workhorse that others are, but by no means is that a mark against this card.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Illusory Fighter
Getting a friendly fighter to safety after charging, positioning them to hit an enemy who has run away to the seeming-safety of your territory after you have left it, the possibilities are endless.
Power: 3
Consistency: 2
Universality: 3
Wings of War
Aggro decks have a grand tradition of including one-use movement boosts to get to grips with the enemy. The typical drawback of such cards is that you telegraph your intention to the opponent by choosing which fighter is getting the bonus move, or at least showing that you will have bonus move, allowing them to use pushes or other cards to keep a fighter out of reach. This card, however, doesn’t let your opponent know they are about to be hit until your fighter is flying into their face.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Shields Up!
I do have to gripe about the fact that it is the aggro deck which has the least-restrictive iteration of “play card, give guard token” but functionally they will all often work out similarly. The lack of any restriction here makes it far and away the best option, however.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Scream of Anger
I would happily take 2 damage to get to double charge with certain fighters; the fact that this card is not restricted to being played only in my own power step takes it to the next level. 2 damage is a hefty price but the potential reward is well worth the risk. That said, warbands with squishier fighters may find it more difficult or costly to use this card.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Healing Potion
Healing once is good, healing twice is better. I think you’ll often be able to hold this until you are the underdog to get it off for peak value, and while I’m a little sad that I can no longer heal 2 damage from my fighter while I am ahead, the lack of a dice roll making it predictable for both players has me very satisfied.
Power: 2
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Upgrades
Brawler
This card is certainly a bit situational but I think it can be good, especially because it will often function similarly to the Brutal weapon ability without actually blocking you from using another weapon ability like cleave or grievous.
Power: 2
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Hidden Aid
In a mirror match this card might get countered, but free added accuracy is nothing to scoff at, especially if we think about elite warbands that may struggle to get flanked targets otherwise. The limitation that the target must be adjacent is only a slight drawback as many of the strongest attacks are only range 1 anyway.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Accurate
Just like the previous upgrade, this provides a hefty boost to your fighters’ accuracy and therefore enhances your whole gameplan. Aggro warbands live and die (and kill) by getting successful attacks off and anything that can keep their dice hot is a significant threat. This works on any attack, ranged or melee, and is something every single warband in the game would be happy to see.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Great Strength
We’ve talked about how important it is to have tools to help your attacks hit, now we have a tool to help those attacks hit hard. As we’ve said in other deck reviews, some warbands may find this less appealing than previously because they have Grievous baseline on their fighter cards or rely more on ranged weapons, but I think this will still be a staple.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 2
Deadly Aim
Ensnare alone is a bit of a disappointing benefit from an upgrade, especially when using ensnare is competing with Grievous or other weapon abilities. Attacks have gotten less accurate so I may come around on this, but I think that unless the meta is heavily dodge warbands I’m skipping this, and even then, there’s plenty of accuracy support in the deck that doesn’t compete with grievous.
Power: 1
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Sharpened Points
Everything I said above goes here as well, with the note that because shields are more likely to be rolled than dodge, cleave is slightly more valuable in the cases where it is useful.
Power: 2
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Duellist
Pushing after any attack you make is an incredibly powerful surge ability, letting you attack multiple enemies without charging, step in and out of threat range, secure tokens, or open up more space between yourself and a dangerous enemy.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Tough
For those warbands with tankier fighters, or in decks with substantial healing, this card can be a real pain, keeping your fighters swinging even against the most juice-up enemy attacks. For fighters with 3 Health or less, this is rather pointless. That said, even many horde warbands have key fighters with 4 wounds that the safety net of knowing they won’t go away in one attack is well worth the 2-glory premium.
Power: 2
Consistency: 2
Universality: 2
Great Fortitude
Complementing the previous card nicely, additional wounds are always nice, especially now that they can’t increase your fighter’s bounty.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Keen Eye
Yet another source of accuracy for melee weapons, I don’t think you’ll ever skip this card. There’s not a lot to say except that more dice are better than less.
Power: 3
Consistency: 3
Universality: 3
Conclusion
This deck promised an in-your-face style and I think it certainly delivers. With some exceptional surges, ploys, and upgrades, the only weak point of the deck is its end phase objectives. While some of them are quite consistent to score, 5 of the decks 16 glory is bound up in a night-impossible end phase. In any deckbuilding format, this weakness can be easily ameliorated, and with a number of potent staples in the ploys and upgrades, there’s a lot of juice here to squeeze.
Until next time, we wish you the best of luck on YOUR Path to Glory!
