Preview the New Scenarios of Hernfar Guardians and Warband of Scorn

Poisoned arrows darkened the skies but the horses were galloping too fast to be hit. They charged straight into the midst of the half-demon archers: some fell beneath the horses’ trampling hooves, others simply fled. Then the horses stopped cold. Standing between the Citadel Lancers and their goal was a tall, bloodied barricade of spears, sharpened wood staves, and bones. The men exchanged determined glances, and prepared their horses for the perilous jump…

Charge forward with Hernfar Guardians and Warband of Scorn, the new Army Pack expansions for BattleLore Second Edition. In Hernfar Guardians you’ll find thirty-four sculpted plastic figures: four new Daqan units adept at breaking enemy lines and defending prized positions, along with the Citadel Guards to support them. Warband of Scorn contains thirty-seven Uthuk Y’llan figures: three units of Blood Harvesters and four new units certain to make your opponent’s army bleed in every fight.

Earlier previews have provided in-depth introductions to the units of Hernfar Guardians and those of Warband of Scorn. We also previewed the Army cards of each expansion, which suggest battle-ready offensive and defensive armies made from only the units included in the Army Pack. Today’s preview will look at some of the new scenario cards, which not only transform your battlefield into a fresh and treacherous landscape, but also offer new strategic challenges to overcome.

Spires and Lore

In Hernfar Guardians, the Daqan army must not only protect the homes and fields of the people of Terrinoth, but also prevent the realm’s powerful magic runes and crystals from falling into the wrong hands. One new scenario card, The Ruins of Lore, charges you specifically with keeping the attacking Uthuk Y’llan army away from two powerful crystal spires embedded in the landscape. For every turn you can keep the spires safe, you gain a victory point.

Crystal spire hexes are introduced to BattleLore for the first time in Hernfar Guardians. When one of your units occupies a crystal spire at the beginning of their Move Step, you can roll an additional die for that unit during combat that turn. In The Ruins of Lore, Crystal Spires also provide you with one lore if you occupy them at the end of your turn. That lore may then be spent to move a unit at the end of the round, allowing you to pursue the Uthuk Y’llan during combat and then pull back, or move a friendly unit that was forced to retreat back into position. You may want to occupy one crystal spire with a Siege Golem, whose artillery can eradicate enemy forces long before they enter your territory.

In the Behind the Lines scenario, however, your goal is to penetrate deep into territory occupied by the enemy. In setup, you’ll place a Daqan faction banner marker behind enemy lines, which grants your Daqan units an additional victory point for occupying that spot. Regardless of your opponents’ goals, you must focus on attaining that position and holding it at all costs. To do so, you’ll need strong, swift units like the Citadel Lancers, who can either rupture or skirt the enemy lines. Citadel Guards or Greyhaven Battlemages can then follow the cavalry, claim the faction banner marker, and defend it until your victory is complete.

A Bloodied Battlefield

What the Daqan seek to defend, the vicious and fearless Uthuk Y’llan seek to raid, ravage, and destroy – and the more Daqan soldiers they slaughter in the process, the better. Two of the five scenarios in Warband of Scorn give you victory points for the enemy units you slay. In The Blood-Stained Forest, you earn a victory point whenever a friendly unit in a forest hex eliminates an enemy unit. Since your Caster units ignore the combat restrictions of forests in this scenario, you might send your Blood Sisters into the trees to unleash their dark magic against the enemy.

As The Blood-Stained Forest focuses on Caster units, Bleeding Skies rewards your Ranged units for every enemy unit they destroy. You might, therefore, muster your Blood Sisters together with Viper Legion units from the core set, so they can fill the skies with demonic magic and poisoned arrows. Bleeding Skies also encourages you to turn the terrain itself into a weapon, giving you extra incentive to use the new barricade hexes featured in both Warband of Scorn and Hernfar Guardians. These hexes impede movement, block retreats, and deal a point of damage to any unit that moves through them. When an enemy unit stops on a barricade hex in Bleeding Skies, moreover, you may roll one die to see if the barricade deals any additional damage. 

Barricade hexes make your territory difficult and dangerous for enemy units to enter, but they may also hinder the movement of your own forces. Fortunately, the ravenous Doombringer can burrow beneath barricades, hills, buildings, forests, and even other units, only to surface in the middle of the enemy’s troops and greedily devour them, freeing the rest of the Uthuk Y’llan army to lacerate any attackers.

Defend or Destroy?

Will you protect the rich fields and noble people of Terrinoth, or delight in ravaging their land and drawing Daqan blood? Will you fortify your position with barricades and rain destruction from the skies, or charge foward in the hope of breaking through enemy lines? Whichever you prefer, these Army Pack expansions offer new ways to achieve victory and fresh battlefield challenges for you to overcome.

Pre-order Warband of Scorn and Hernfar Guardians from your local retailer today!

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