Shieldbearer


 * Shieldbearer, Resurrectionist Minion**

=__Overview__= Reva's personal soldiers, living and loyal to her. These men and women are so loyal they come back from the dead to serve her. toc

=__Mobility__= A standard Walk of 5 and Charge of 6 with no additional movement tricks leaves Shieldbearers decidedly middling in the mobility department.

Their easy access to Fast means that Wk 5 is usually good enough to be halfway up the board in a couple of Walk actions, which makes them fairly quick for our faction compared to many other Resser models ambling about at Wk 4.

=__Offense__= Take your pick - Sword or Shield.

Your sword offers a Ml5 attack with a 2/3/5 damage spread and two interesting triggers. - A crow lets you add a Corpse Marker into base contact with the target after damaging. Every Resser loves to see an extra Corpse show up. - A ram allows you to deal exactly 1 damage after **failing**. There are not many triggers in the game that work when you fail, and this one can be very useful for swatting annoying things like Somer's skeeters or ensuring that you finish off a model on 1 wound.

Your shield inflicts 1 damage, and pushes the target 2" in any direction. It has no triggers, but it's a but more accurate at Ml6. It's a great option if you care more about the position of the enemy model than how many wounds it has.

A Shieldbearer can also choose to boost their offense through their (0) **Sword and Board,** gaining the **To the Death** condition, which gives them a + to damage flips, making them more likely to get your sword's sweet severe 5. If you can finish off a model by spiking the damage to 5, it's worth considering, but if you want to shoo someone away with your shield or are just looking for the ram trigger on your sword, you should boost your defense instead.

=__Resilience__=
 * Armor +1,** and four wounds, plus mediocre Df and Wp don't seem to make a solid model but then you have to account for the fact that after the last wound on them while living they drop their meat suit (Corpse Marker) and go Spirit. When they hit Spirit form they also get an upgrade attached to them, each with its own perks. These guys will take no less than 2 AP to take out, even from the heaviest hitters in the game, possibly up to 8 if no serious effort is taken to remove them.

If they choose to boost their defense with their (0) **Sword and Board**, it gives them the **Not Today** condition, which provides +2 Df. This should be your default choice if you're not hacking away with the sword looking for severe damage, and it's not uncommon for Shieldbearers to use this every turn in a full game.

=__Tactics and Tips__= For such a simple looking and simple sounding model, Shieldbearers have quite a few special tricks.


 * Sword and Board**

As discussed above, their (0) is flexible - either pumping up their attacks or making them harder to attack. It's free to use and lasts until they activate again, so make sure you use it before you end your activation.


 * Soulstones**

Whenever a nearby friendly model spends or discards a Soulstone, the Shieldbearer automatically gain Fast. If you position them correctly, they can benefit from this multiple times per game. It's especially useful if you bring a big cache and when you have Masters or Henchman that summon or support. Using Soulstones this way also works more efficiently if you bring 2 or more Shieldbearers to benefit from this.

For example if Toshiro stones for the mask on his (0) War Fan on another Minion, then that Minion will get it's free 4" push and Fast, and all Shieldbearers within 6" of Toshiro also gain Fast.

Shieldbearers also have an option to give you a Soulstone when they die, so if you put these guys in places where they're likely to die, you can use your cache more often than you otherwise might.


 * "When I die, I don't?"**

When a Shieldbearer 'dies' the first time, you instead heal back to full wounds, attach your choice of a special upgrade to it, and get a Corpse Marker in base contact.

You have 3 upgrade choices, all of which change the Shieldbearer's characteristic from Living to Spirit, and apply an effect when the Shieldbearer dies for the second time:

- One upgrade gives you back a 1 Soulstone refund to your cache when the Shieldbearer finally goes down. Solid, simple, and always welcome, especially since you're more inclined to spend Soulstones aggressively since these guys get Fast when you do.

- Another one offers some spite damage to whoever kills it. When the Shieldbearer dies to an enemy attack action, they have to pass a decently high Df duel or suffer 2/3/4 damage flip that you make. You can't cheat this, but it's still free damage, and makes them a less appealing target to kill.

- The last option lets your Shieldbearer place a friendly Scheme Marker in base contact as they die their second death. This is obviously quite powerful when you want to place Scheme Markers in specific places, but it can also be really good for tricking the opponent into second guessing your scheme choices or making them avoid killing the Shieldbearer to try deny you your Scheme Marker.


 * Nurses and Rams**

If you have two or more low rams in your hand that you aren't sure what to do with, a Shieldbearer and a Nurse can convert them into a lot of unavoidable damage. The Nurse uses **Take your Meds** (use a ram to ensure the Hallucinogens trigger) on the Shieldbearer to buff their melee attacks with +2 damage, then Accomplices into it and you swing with the sword. If you're winning the duel, great, you're threatening a 4/5/7 damage flip, so wait to see if the opponent cheats. If you're losing the duel, cheat in the low ram. You now deal an automatic 3 damage even if you fail the attack.

=__Playing Against Shieldbearers__= Shieldbearers are not the biggest damaging threat your opponent has, and they also take a good long while to chew through. Try to focus your attention on the models that support them or the other big hitters in their crew.

Be aware of their sword's ram trigger - they can always force 1 damage through as long as they hit a ram - so high stats and cards won't save you if you're on 1 wound.

If you are going to try kill them, try bring something with decent accuracy and that ignores armour or has a big minimum damage output (or both), so that you aren't using 2 or 3 AP just to put them in the ground each time.

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