Let’s take a look at the cards for Steelheart’s Champions from the Shadespire core set and what tactics to use for this warband.
To view the Universal cards tips click here, or Garrek’s Reavers cards tips click here. Starting with the objectives, this will determine your play style and how to build out your other cards.
Steelheart’s Champions Only Objectives:
- Awe-Inspiring (1 Glory): Score this immediately if you have taken two or more fighters out in this phase.
- Cleanse (3 Glory): Score this in an end phase if you hold all the objectives in enemy territory
- Consecrated Area (1 Glory): Score this in end phase if no enemy fighters are adjacent to your fighters
- Eternals (3 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if none of your fighters were taken out of action
- Immovable Object (1 Glory): Score this in end phase if same friendly fighter has held same objective for two consecutive action phases.
- Lightning Strikes (1 Glory): Score this immediately if you take an enemy out on a charge action.
- Seize Ground (1 Glory): Score this in end phase if you control an objective In an enemy territory
- Sigmars Bulwark (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if none of your fighters suffered any damage in the preceding action phase
- Slayer of Tyrants (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if you took out the enemy leader in the preceding action phase
With Steelheart’s Champions, you are limited to model count, as well as, low movement which causes you to play defensively for most of the game. You can easily one shot Garrek’s Reavers or the Sepulchral Guard, so I like putting Awe-Inspiring, Concentrated Area, and Lightning Strikes to get easy glory.
Adding in some hold objective cards works well with Immovable Object and Denial so you can hunker down to make the enemy come to you. You could also slip in some higher glory cards like Denial, Supremacy, or Eternals. However, be ready to discard them if you lose a model or two.
Steelheart’s Champions Only Ploys:
- Heroic Guard: Choose a friendly fighter and put them on guard
- Peal of Thunder: Choose an enemy fighter and push them one hex in any direction
- Righteous Zeal: +1 damage to the first attack action in the next activation
- Sigmarite Wall: Choose two adjacent friendly fighters and put them on guard
- Stormforged Resistance: Friendly fighters cannot be driven back by first attack in next activation
- Stormforged Tactics: In the next activation you can make the following reaction. Reaction: After enemy attack action fails, choose two friendly fighters and push them one hex
- Tireless Assault (Reaction): Play after friendly fighter’s attack action fails, that fighter can make another attack action that targets the same fighter
- Undaunted: Reaction: Play when an attack action kills a friendly fighter leaving only one surviving fighters. Remove all wounds from the surviving fighter.
- Unstoppable Strike: First attack gains cleave
- Valiant Attack: Enemy fighters cannot support the target in the first attack action next activation
With this band being a defensive small model count force, your goal is to stop your opponents from getting support dice against you. Confusion, Peal of thunder, Stormforged Tactics, and Valiant Attack are all great ploys to help keep your models where you want them. Put in Potion of Healing and sidestep for sure to add some survivability in wound healing and avoiding being outnumbered. Finally throw in a couple of offensive cards with Righteous Zeal and Tireless Assault and you will be ready to handle most opponents. Your goal is to stay alive, while getting inspired (by rolling a shield or critical on defense), then upgrading so that you can one shot your opponent’s weaker models.
Steelheart’s Champions Only Upgrades:
- Blessed by Sigmar: +1 Wound
- Block (Brightshield): Action: This fighter and all adjacent friendly fighters go on guard
- Brave Strike (Obryn): Range 1, 2 dice (hammers), 2 damage. If there are no adjacent friendly models roll an extra attack dice.
- Fatal Riposte (Steelheart): Reaction: On failed attack action that targets this fighter, roll an attack dice. One a hammer or crit they cannot be pushed back and can make an attack action back.
- Heroic Might (Steelheart, Obryn): Attacks gain cleave
- Heroic Stride (Steelheart): Reaction: After enemy fighter ends their activation within two hexes of this fighter, you can push this fighter one hex
- Lightning Blade (Steelheart): Range 2, 2 dice (hammers), 1 damage. On a crit this attack does +1 damage
- Lightning Blast (Obryn): On a critical hit, adjacent enemy fighters take one damage
- Righteous Strike (Brightshield): Range 1, 3 dice (hammers), 2 damage, Reaction: If this attack is against enemy leader and fails, make this attack again
- Shield Bash (Brightshield): Reaction: During an adjacent fighters attack action that targets this fighter and fails, this fighter cannot be driven back and instead can push there attacker one hex
- Total Offence: You can roll two addition dice when this fighter takes an attack action, though not on charges. If you do so this fighter cannot be activated again this phase
Upgrades are how you generate offense with this force, so things like Total Offence, Brave Strike, and Lightning Blade are all good things to equip. You should consider the Great Fortitude, Blessed by Sigmar, and Great Strength as general upgrades to add survivability as well as some extra damage output. Remember, chances are you are going to be outnumbered so your goal is to get inspired and play defensively. That means not charging in recklessly but rather thinking how you can isolate your models to be in one on one fights with your opponent. If you can do that, then these upgrades will help you dispatch them with one or two attacks.
Well, there is a pretty defensive Steelheart’s Champions deck, focusing on not allowing your opponent get support in on your models. If you can isolate your opponent’s models to one on one matches with yours, you will be in fine shape to win those battles with the superior stats. Remember to score your objectives as well, because the low movement doesn’t allow these guys to move around the board quickly. An army like Sepulchral Guard could pin you back with massive amounts of skeletons while they can freely move about.
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