Hell is Other People

Welcome back. When we left off, we were taking a detailed look at the Demons starter box, in preparation for the demo battle we’re going to have shortly. If you don’t remember what that looked like, take a look back HERE.

The Saracens!

All caught up? Good. Now let’s take a look at what we’re getting in the Saracens starter box, and what we can do with them.

Nazir ibn Hamid ibn Hajjad, Emir

Your officer and a solid support piece. While he’s not helpless in combat – thanks chiefly to the man he’s riding, named Youssef – he’s much more of a buffer for the rest of your force than a powerhouse in his own right. Emir Nazir (for short) brings some nifty enhancements to your troops with his abilities:

Charisma: Grants all units within 4” of Emir Nazir +1 to their Combat ability stat.
Expertise: Allows him to perform Exhausting abilities as if they were only Concentrate abilities, which really benefits his next ability
Healer 5: Allows Emir Nazir to heal 5 Life Points of a single model in base contact with him. This is normally an exhausting ability, and therefore a big liability in combat, but thanks to Expertise, Emir Nazir can perform healing AND still fight as normal – although really this has a lot more to do with Youssef, who can clearly fight while Emir Nazir is working miracles.
Leader: Allows Emir Nazir to lead 10 Troopers – not likely to be a factor in smaller games, but this is a factor in larger games.
Tenacious: Grants +1 Combat to Emir Nazir if he is attacked before his own activation in a turn.

His order In Cha’Allah gives all Muslims (which will comprise the majority of your forces when playing Saracens) except himself +2 DEFENSE for all combats for the next turn. This does eat 3 of your permanent Command, but if used at the exact right moment it could keep your forces intact while you deliver telling blows to your enemies.

Next comes our Djinn.

Chams al Majid, Djinn

Chams al Majid is a Djinn who has heard the word of God and joined the Saracens. He has sworn to protect the troops of Allah for 7777 days. Like Emir Nazir, while he isn’t helpless in a fight, his real contribution to your force is his choice of three Auras.

One of his Auras is up all of the time:

Aura of Protection: All Muslims within 4” of Chams Al Majid cannot be the target of a ranged attack. This does not protect you from damage by blast weapons, but, those weapons can’t target any Muslim model affected by the Aura. This is a great defense against Westerner armies. The other two Auras must be chosen at the start of Chams Al Majid’s activation.
Aura of Inspiration: All Muslims within 4” of Chams Al Majid gain +1 Combat. This is very straightforward in application!
Aura of Speed: Muslim models activating within 4” of Chams Al Majid get a free bonus move of 3” that round.

Now we get to our fighters!

Pillar of the Faith – Daggers

There are two different Pillars of the Faith – one with Daggers, and one with a Halberd. The starter set comes with the Daggers variety. He’s going to be some of your strongest offense in the starters battles. He’s got three abilities and one order:

Attraction 3: This ability forces any models that come within 3” of the Pillar of the Faith to either halt, or move into combat with him. This really enables you to control the board near him, and protect other models. This pairs well with his next ability.
Bodyguard: Grants a +1 Protection to up to three models in base contact with the Pillar of Faith.
Fierce: If enemy models gain support (think: gang-up) bonuses against the Pillar of Faith, he gains +1 Combat.
Divine Strength: At the cost of 1 Permanent Command, the Pillar of Faith gains +1 to his Shooting, Combat and Faith until the end of the game. This should probably be executed on the first turn of the game to get maximum effect.

Blessed Warriors

Blessed Warriors are your front line grunts. They are your cheapest option, and, while fragile, through their synergy with the rest of your force, they can punch at a much higher weight class. They have only two abilities:

Combined Attack: When benefiting from a Supporting attack, you gain an additional +1 Combat.
Natural Talent: You may automatically re-roll one Combat die.

The Scenario

Finally, let’s roll up a scenario to use. The main Hell Dorado rulebook has 4 primary scenarios to choose from, and four “special” ones which are built on top of those. For the purposes of our demo, we are just going to roll up a standard scenario to play.

It’s a 3. So we’re going to play Scavenging. In this mission there are seven Treasure tokens placed within 2” of the center line of the table. The force that can grab more of those tokens and return them to their deployment zone within 6 turns wins.

This is a complex mission for both sides. The Demons are really slowed down by the Damned Ones of Sloth – being Move 2 and Slow, they are really going to struggle to contribute to this mission. But on the other side of the table, the Saracens really like to stay very close together, and that is going to be a liability for them. But nothing is fair in Hell!

Next episode: we get into the meat of the game, and see how the starter forces perform – or fail – in this scenario.

Robert Allen

Co-Host of the Combat Phase

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