Out of the Shadows…is a series of articles highlighting fun, helpful cards that aren’t getting a lot of attention. They may or may not be meta-worthy, but are definitely worth looking at for casual play.
Roboute Guilliman Global Ability
Today, I want to highlight a Global Ability, instead of a character or action. Roboute Guilliman comes from the Warhammer 40K Battle For Ultramar (BFU) Campaign Box. The Global Ability exists on two of his cards, both of which are 7 cost shield characters. The Global Ability reads: Pay Shield. The first character die you field this turn is free to field.
Why is this special?
I’ll be honest, this Global Ability was not initially on my radar, but fellow DM Norther, Reg, encouraged me to take a look, and I’m glad I did. There are lot of really cool dice in this game that have awesome abilities but horrendous fielding costs, especially on level 3. In fact, I think that there was a card recently spoiled that had a 4 fielding cost. FOUR ENERGY! To field one die. I don’t remember what it was or what it did, maybe someone can let me know in the comments. If you could field that awesome character for 1 shield instead of 2, 3 or even 4 energy, it seems like a good trade off. You might even be more likely to try and build a team around that character, instead of passing it by for something that fields for a more reasonable price.
I know that I am writing this article in a meta where someone is going to shout out: “Yawning Portal: Comfortable Inn solves that problem!” This card, in case you haven’t heard, is a 2 cost bolt action die from the Adventures in Waterdeep (AIW) Team Pack. It reads: Your character dice are free to field this turn. Until end of turn, each time you field a character dice, reduce the Purchase Cost of your dice by 1 (to a minimum of 1). Dice you purchase this turn are added to your bag. It’s sort of like Big Entrance, except it’s a personal action instead of a Basic Action, it costs one less (although you do need a bolt), and it adds the free fielding ability.
I’m not sold on the Yawning Portal, for a couple of reasons. First, my own Yawning Portal dice will. not. roll. This is a problem with Campaign Boxes – I can’t throw them away and use some of the other extras I have kicking around. (Right now, I have them sitting on the side I want them to roll on, in a corner, hoping they are learning their lesson). In all seriousness, though, I would have to line up this action in the same turn I want to field my expensive character and both would have to roll. I’m not an odds person, but anecdotally, no matter how well I plan my team and bag management, this is hard to do. There are certainly ways to make it happen, but you’ll need a couple of cards to do it and a some energy investment, that perhaps could be better used elsewhere. We all know how hard it can be to narrow a team to 8 cards. If I can use 1 card to give me the ability to essentially field any die for 1 shield, on demand, I think that is more useful than taking up 2 or 3 card slots and needing to roll an action die.
What else can our Roboute Guilliman do?
To me, the abilities on these cards, for the 7 cost character, are not really worth it. Essentially, thanks to his Global Ability, he’s a one man fielding machine, and that’s basically all I need! Thanks Reg for encouraging me to take another look at these cards.
If you have a cool team that actually uses one of these character cards for the ability, I’d love to hear about it. What do you think of this Global Ability? Have you used it on a team? Share with me in the comments!
Do you have a card that you think should be brought Out of the Shadows? Share with me in the comments, or send me an email at jbouwme@dm-north.com.
Until next time…
-jbouwme.