DC: The Legion of Everblight is our last faction to cover for the release of HORDES High Command. Legion cards have several different sub-themes, ranging from their expert archers to their reactive abilities to their warbeast mastery to the pervasive blight of their draconic master.

The Blight Gift ability is one of my favorites, and it really shakes up gameplay for this unique faction. Blight Gift allows a player to use Command, War, or some combination of the two to purchase, deploy, or rush certain cards. Most of us have felt the sting of having the wrong resource cards in hand to accomplish what we want, but Blight Gift eases that burden substantially. Even better, Blight Gifted cards gain an infusion of Power whenever their controller plays a Blighted Mutation resource card, and Blighted Mutation provides that bonus even when it is used normally for resources, not only if it is discarded for this power-boosting effect.

While Blight Gift stands out as an iconic ability of the faction, to me it is only part of the overall theme prevalent throughout Legion of Everblight as a blitz-style army—one that works like a scalpel rather than a broadsword, and as such it has to be utilized with careful precision rather than sheer brute force. Arguably neck-and-neck with Circle in terms of rush potential, what separates Everblight’s minions from the enigmatic blackclads is mobility. Legion simply lacks the myriad movement abilities of Circle Orboros cards. Instead, their speed should be used to quickly strike at a location with such speed and power that its capture is all but assured for the next turn.

Will: In order to really emphasize this serpent-strike approach, I’ve chosen purple, yellow, and green for my detachments backed up by Thagrosh, the Prophet of Everblight, Vayl, Disciple of Everblight, and Saeryn, Omen of Everblight. While I may not have access to the powerful Carnivean or brutal Warmonger Horde, this deck does not suffer from lack of potential hitting power. Several of the cards within it have abilities that amplify their own power when working in conjunction with other friendly cards. The Strider Rangers Combined Fire ability and low rush cost makes them ideal response units. And their great Health stat ensures they require concerted effort for opponents to get rid of.

It’s the deck’s warbeasts, though, that really bring the deck’s rapid-assault strategy together. Both the Seraph and Angelius boast extremely low rush costs with solid Health stats. And best of all they are both worth VPs, making rushing them to battle that much sweeter. The Teraph is another excellent warbeast that boasts a respectable rush cost. Its Counter ability makes it the perfect vanguard as well, knocking its POW to 3 on opponents’ turns. In addition, the Teraph’s resource value of 2 WAR is perfect for this warbeast-heavy deck.

DC: I don’t think you can really go wrong with Legion’s warlock choices, but I’m going to go with Lylyth, Herald of Everblight, Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight, and Absylonia, Terror of Everblight, so that I can Blight Gift it up with orange and blue. Then I’ll tack on the red detachment for some self-sufficient support to the Blight Gift detachments. All of my warlocks hit really hard, and they’ve got some of that beast mastery subtheme to fall back on, even if my detachments don’t feature it as heavily as certain other colors.

The orange and red detachments also heavily feature the reactive abilities subtheme of the Legion of Everblight playing off of abilities like Vengeance and Counterblast from HORDES. The Counter and Spiny Growth abilities found in orange and red are a great incentive to take the battle to new locations, because these cards are at their best during opponents’ turns. I didn’t choose the right detachment colors to also gain Last Call from the Spawning Vessel, but that’s an even more powerful reactive ability. In fact, Last Call is the only ability in the base sets of WARMACHINE High Command and HORDES High Command that allows you to deploy a card during an opponent’s turn, potentially allowing you to capture or contest a location that would otherwise be lost.

Will: Unlike DC’s deck, mine makes full use of Last Call as well as the Shredder’s ability to overwhelm larger opponents thanks to Rabid. Between Last Call and a paltry rush cost of 3 WAR, it’s rarely a problem to ensure there are at least two (or more, if you plan it right) of these little gribbly beasts at an attack; however, while you’ll want to keep a couple Shredders in your deck to make use of the Spawning Vessel’s ability, don’t allow your horde of lesser dragonspawn to bog down your deck. Oftentimes players can be reluctant about moving cards they’ve purchased to their occupying forces pile. But with low-cost cards like Shredders, it’s often better to view them as one-shot missiles that rush to a location and then get tossed to make room for new ones.

DC: There are a lot of different directions a player can choose to go when building up their army deck for Legion of Everblight in High Command. Now that we’ve covered all of the factions in the base set, however, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming expansion content! Expansions allow a ton of flexibility when building the reinforcement deck before the game even begins. You can expect the factions and detachment colors to retain their original feel and flavor but for the options within each faction and color to really enhance the gameplay experience.

Will: There’s plenty of excitement on the horizon with the upcoming release of The Big Guns and Savage Guardians expansion packs for WARMACHINE High Command and HORDES High Command. From all new warcasters and warlocks to awesome new warrior and warbeasts cards, new challenges and strategies will put even veteran High Commanders to the test.

Personally, I can’t wait to watch my opponents writhe in frustration when I can compound the annoyance of Last Call with Kallus, Wrath of Everblight, and the Incubi!

Till Next Time!