Calaban
The Gravewalker
So to kick things on my blog off I'll start with reviewing all the known Blindwater models, and as new models are released I will add them as I have time to play them.
First off on the review process is my personal favorite. Calaban the gravewalker.
Stats
Across the board his stats are average. his MAT is Sub-par, but he is a spellcaster mainly so that won't come into play as often as someone who actively seeks to munch face. His Fury and ARM are towards the higher end of things, even though for gators is ARM is a little on the low side. Needless to say he is solid on stats.
Weapons and Attacks
Heart Stopper
Heart stopper is a low(ish) range Attack with a ROF of 2, no AOE, Damage is lackluster and it has Magical weapon, It can pick off grunts and maybe hurt a solo here or there but other than that you will only use this occasionally to try and pull off its special ability.
Heart Stoppers special ability is called Grave Door. When a living enemy model is boxed by the attack it automatically heals for 1 point of damage and then becomes your own personal ARC Node for the turn. This enables Calabans Feat and spell slinging shenanigans but its not reliable. Always keep your eyes out for chances to use it but don't count on it.
Bite!
All gators have it! its the Long pointy teeth portion of our lovable gators. Decent Pow but when you take into account Calabans low(okay its average but not for biting things) strength its only 1 P+S better than Heart stopper. It does have sustained attack though which is pretty niffty.
Carcass
Magical Voodoo Staff. Same P+S as the Bite but it packs reach magical weapon. Its special Ability is called Life Trader, When an attack hits Calaban can take 1 point of damage to gain 1 dice on the damage roll.
Overall nothing phenomenal about his attacks but if you can guarantee you hit the bad guy he can out damage Barnabas and Maelock, so don't be afraid to dive in if the enemy caster is knocked down.
Special Abilities
Amphibious: Well he does live in a swamp, kinda comes with the territory
Gatorman Warlock : Standard with all our casters. Get used to it and learn to love it.
Spells
now the good stuff, Calaban is the bastard offspring of an Alligator and Cryx.
Bone Shaker: Average Cost spell, Low Range, Average power.
when you box an enemy warrior model you can have it make a full advance and then a normal melee attack, after that the model is removed from play. not bad for clearing out fodder but you will want to avoid the spell during feat turns for the most part unless you can get a kill with the model you killed with the spell.
Carnivore: Average cost, average range for a buff spell and its upkeepable.
it increases accuracy for our model/unit, and then after they kill something the model heals D3. not bad, the only downside is that it also removes from play the model killed, counter productive for feat turns.
Hex Blast: above average cost, not too bad with calabans high focus though and a good feat turn can see this slung around alot. Range is solid AOE is 3 and Damage is god. any model/unit hit by the spell loses upkeeps and Animi aswell. all in all a good spell.
Occulation: average cost, average range for a buff and its upkeepable.
the target model/unit gains stealth. Self Explanatory.
Parasite: Above average cost, lowish range upkeepable and offensive.
Target model/unit loses arm and calaban gains arm. This is how we break open heavy armor, or make squishy targets even more so.
Feat
Death Harvest
Each time a friendly model destroys an enemy model while the friendly model is with Calabans control area he gets 1 focus and then can cast one spell, he can boost the spells as well.
Needless to say, kill a few models, cast a spell. rinse and repeat. as I mentioned above with Bone Shaker and Carnivore, if the model is removed from play he will not gain the focus from it, which means cycling Parasite and Hex blast are your best bets. The downside is that because we have no dedicated ARC nodes Calaban needs to be pretty close to the enemy to pull this off, also because the enemy doesnt need to be in your control area for the triggering Ironbacks become your best friend because they can reach out and touch people.
Theme Force
Bad Religion
Limits Calaban to Gatorman non-character Warbeasts, Gatorman units and solos, Bog Trog Ambushers, Farrow Bonegrinders, Croak Hunters, Feralgeists,Wrongeye and Snapjaw.
All in all I feel Calaban should always take his them force. He loses out on Thrullgs and the Totem Hunter but he gains Farrow Bonegrinders which help get rid of the problems with his short ranged spells and Hex Blast can sub in for the Thrullgs ability in a pinch. Occulation helps with the lack of Swamp gobbers. The tier bonuses are army gains stealth, Feralgeists get an advance move, Wrong eye and snap jaw gain advance deploy and Warbeast in his battle group get decreased cost, and lastly he gains increased deployment zone.
Thoughts
Think Cryx only with a Voodoo Alligator feel.
While Heart Stopper doesn't have the range of Cryx's arc nodes, it can allow decently large threat angles if you get a good opportunity to use it. But it still is not something to rely on for any given game. Keep your eyes open for chances to use it because it could win you a game.
Other Thoughts on his spell list include the possibilities Carnivore give to the Gatorman Posse; suddenly any non-undead Warcaster/lock is eatable. Even insert DEF 16-17 Warnoun won't evade 5 MAT 9 w/ re-rolls charges. It can also be used to help Calaban regain losses after using life trader on Carcass to take out a beast or jack. Parasite also seems to mesh well with Bone Shaker. Both are RNG 8 and with Bone Shaker only being POW 12, it'll need the other to turn a shield walled unit into a pile of body parts, which it could very well do on Cabalan's feat turn all with just spells.
Be aware of the interaction of removed from play and Calaban's feat. By using Carnivore or Bone Shaker to a large extent you can deny yourself a lot of fury. Your go-to spells during his feat should be Hex Blast and Parasite. Calaban needs his army to do the killing, even in his Feat turn.
Bad Religion
Limits Calaban to Gatorman non-character Warbeasts, Gatorman units and solos, Bog Trog Ambushers, Farrow Bonegrinders, Croak Hunters, Feralgeists,Wrongeye and Snapjaw.
All in all I feel Calaban should always take his them force. He loses out on Thrullgs and the Totem Hunter but he gains Farrow Bonegrinders which help get rid of the problems with his short ranged spells and Hex Blast can sub in for the Thrullgs ability in a pinch. Occulation helps with the lack of Swamp gobbers. The tier bonuses are army gains stealth, Feralgeists get an advance move, Wrong eye and snap jaw gain advance deploy and Warbeast in his battle group get decreased cost, and lastly he gains increased deployment zone.
Thoughts
Think Cryx only with a Voodoo Alligator feel.
While Heart Stopper doesn't have the range of Cryx's arc nodes, it can allow decently large threat angles if you get a good opportunity to use it. But it still is not something to rely on for any given game. Keep your eyes open for chances to use it because it could win you a game.
Other Thoughts on his spell list include the possibilities Carnivore give to the Gatorman Posse; suddenly any non-undead Warcaster/lock is eatable. Even insert DEF 16-17 Warnoun won't evade 5 MAT 9 w/ re-rolls charges. It can also be used to help Calaban regain losses after using life trader on Carcass to take out a beast or jack. Parasite also seems to mesh well with Bone Shaker. Both are RNG 8 and with Bone Shaker only being POW 12, it'll need the other to turn a shield walled unit into a pile of body parts, which it could very well do on Cabalan's feat turn all with just spells.
Be aware of the interaction of removed from play and Calaban's feat. By using Carnivore or Bone Shaker to a large extent you can deny yourself a lot of fury. Your go-to spells during his feat should be Hex Blast and Parasite. Calaban needs his army to do the killing, even in his Feat turn.
