Preview the Uthuk Y’llan Army and Lore Powers in BattleLore: Command

Rage was in his demon-tainted blood. It coursed hot through his veins, fueling his thirst for more blood, for destruction, for death. It made him fearless, sharpened his senses, quickened his movements. He laughed at the nervous soldiers he could see across the field, imagined his scythe slicing their heads off, blood spattering on the ground, on their armor, on his skin. He could almost taste it. Soon the battle would begin. Soon he would litter the field with mutilated, dismembered corpses. Soon the nearby village would burn while he feasted upon slaughtered livestock and listened to the screams of the dying. He was Uthuk Y’llan. He lived for war.

In BattleLore: Command, a digital application for iOS, Android, and PC, the Daqan lords and determined villagers of Terrinoth take on the most vicious enemy they have ever encountered: the Uthuk Y’llan, barbarians from the eastern steppes, eager to ravage the land and massacre its people. Take charge of either army in skirmishes against a friend on the same wireless network or against the CPU, or command the Daqan army in a single-player campaign to save your homeland from the bloodthirsty hordes that threaten it.

Our last preview looked at the various units and tactical strengths of the Daqan army, as well as looking at how combat works in the app. Today’s preview focuses on the Uthuk Y’llan army, a force of humans corrupted and deformed by demon blood fighting alongside malicious and hellish creatures. Whether defending Terrinoth against the invading Uthuk Y’llan army in the campaign mode, or deploying their demonic units against your opponent in the skirmish mode, you will need to understand their capabilities in order to triumph in battle. We will also look at lore powers in BattleLore: Command, which are specific and sudden advantages in battle, from increasing a unit’s combat value to infesting the battlefield with swarms of poisonous insects. Used at the right moment, lore can put victory in your hands or save you from fast and bitter defeat.

Demon Blood and the Viper’s Bite

The core of any Uthuk Y’llan army are the Blood Harvesters, humans drawing extraordinary strength and terrible bloodlust from the demon blood they consume. These infantry units match the Citadel Guard with a movement value of two, and combat value and health of three, but surpass them in anger: the Rage ability increases the combat value of a Blood Harvester unit if it is weakened, their ferocity increasing with every blow they take. Blood Harvesters also value the enemy’s death over their own lives: their Frenzy ability allows them to deal a blow to an enemy unit by sacrificing themselves.

The ranged counterpart to the Blood Harvesters are the Viper Legion, archers whose arrows can poison the enemy in addition to slaying them outright. A poisoned unit can be harmed not only by a hit result in combat, but also by a lore result, doubling your odds of dealing damage to it. The poison doesn’t wear off either, but endures until the enemy commander spends two lore points to dispel it.

Nasty, Brutish, and Massive

Where other armies might have cavalry and elite forces, the Uthuk Y’llan have demons bred for war, their viciousness and hatred cultivated for centuries. The most revolting of these demons are the Obscene, ravenous, bulging creatures who can only move one space at a time – unless they smell the enemy nearby. Then, their craving for blood draws them adjacent to the enemy unit. Although slow, the Obscene are nevertheless deadly: they have a combat value of four, enough to wipe out a unit of Rune Golems or Citadel Guard.

The Uthuk Y’llan can also deploy packs of fiendish Flesh Ripper Brutes to tear down enemy cavalry. What these beasts lack in size, they make up for in speed and ferocity. With a movement value of three, these charging, chomping hunters can rise towards unsuspecting enemy units. Their sharp senses can smell the fresh blood of a wounded soldier, luring them to prey upon the weak: their Bloodthirst combat result deals a point of damage to an already weakened unit. Moreover, their Pursue ability is more effective than that of the Citadel Guards, allowing them to chase an enemy two spaces instead of one, or destroy one unit and then move two spaces towards new prey. 

The most fearsome of all Uthuk Y’llan units is the Chaos Lord, a horned, clawed monster that towers over the battlefield. The moment that enemy troops catch sight of him, they struggle to control their terror. With a combat value of four and a health value of six, he can survive more blows than any other unit in the game. Being Immoveable, he can ignore one retreat result in combat, remaining in place in order to counterattack. With a single, earthshaking roar he can chase enemy units away: his Terrifying ability allows him to force enemies to retreat twice, wrecking your opponent’s strategies and wreaking havoc among his troops.

Combat Spells and Sudden Strikes

Battle is more than just a test of a army’s capabilities, however. A commander may have a new tactical insight, or find an unforeseen opportunity to exploit the enemy’s weakness. In Terrinoth, moreover, magic is used in battle: to paralyze the enemy, guide arrows around obstacles, or bring a weakened unit back to life, for example. The lore powers in BattleLore: Command represent these various combat advantages, from sudden bravery to blood sacrifice. Playing a lore power costs a certain amount of lore points, which you accumulate both through combat results and at the start of each turn, when you also gain a new lore power. Use them during your combat turn for an offensive boost that the enemy can’t anticipate, or play them defensively to shield your units against the enemy’s onslaught.

Each army possesses a different and unique set of lore powers. The Uthuk Y’llan derive their lore powers from dark, demonic magics and from their insatiable rage. Blood Sacrifice allows you to steal the health of one unit in order to give that health to another. Chaos of Battle undoes the enemy’s movement phase by magically compelling the ordered units to move randomly, possibly sending a weakened unit straight into a group of ravenous Flesh Ripper Brutes, or moving a group of Rune Golems away from the unit that they intended to attack. A unit filled with the Fury of Y’llan has their combat value increased by three, as the unmitigated rage in their blood drives them to new levels of savagery.

Many of the Daqan lore powers come from the determination of the troops. Valor and Vengeance, for example, enhances the combat value of a single unit, as if it were suddenly spurred on to achieve greater glory than its fellows. Assault makes it almost certain that your units will do terrible damage to the enemy that turn, indicating the commander’s decision to throw his army unreservedly into an attack. Portal, one of the magical Daqan lore powers, can transport a unit to a strategically significant location against the rules of movement, or pull back a surrounded unit so that it can survive to fight again.

Command and Fight

Use demonic magic to thwart your opponents efforts or inspire your brave troops to do noble deeds on the battlefield. Channel the unquenchable rage and fury of the Uthuk Y’llan into the destruction of Terrinoth’s defenders or lead the Daqan army in a battle to save their homeland from a cruel and ruthless invading force. Each army has its own particular tactical strengths and weaknesses and each needs a shrewd commander to guide it to victory.

Check the BattleLore: Command minisite for future previews and more details. The game will be available soon in the App store, Amazon Marketplace, and on Google Play.

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