The+Thorn


 * The Thorn, Neverborn Minion**

=__Overview__= The Thorn is one of the three minions that comes in The Queen's Return boxed set, and she's got a set of abilities meant to combine with those of the other models in that box. Like her master, she's an Undead Fae, and is durable. This model, and the other two minions in the box set, are close combat models with some movement tricks, and two attack actions unique to just her. One a weapon, and the other challenge. The Thorn is unique in having a long ranged close combat attack that ignores armor. Her (0) Challenge attack pushes enemy models into contact with her, and then places a scheme marker in BtB with the pushed model. This alone makes her the most popular of Titania's knights for masters other than Titania.toc

=__Mobility__= Her mobility is about what one would consider average, and she has two built in boosts to mobility; both as (0) actions. One is the power to push an enemy model within 8" into BtB with her as a (0) attack action. So it's possible to get a 13" threat range on a single close combat attack with her Lashing Vines. The other is a (0) tactical action that lets The Thorn push into BtB contact with a scheme marker within 4". Note that the wording of that second option, called A Clear Path, does not say 'push this model 4"', it says 'push this model into BtB with a scheme marker within 4"'. In addition to working against either friendly or enemy scheme markers, this ability lets the The Thorn push up to 4" plus the base width of the target scheme marker and her own base width; a little over 6" when the stars align.

=__Offense__=
 * Lashing Vines:** This is an average attack value Ml attack with both a mask and book built in, so she always fulfills the requirements for both of this attack's triggers. It has the rather subpar 1/3/4 damage track, but it ignores armor, which can be nice when you get a moderate or severe damage flip. The built in mask grants you the **Brambles** trigger, which grants a positive flip to damage when the target is near a friendly scheme marker. This is an easy combo to pull off when her Challenge of Spring drops a scheme marker as a (0) attack action. On a book, which is also built in, you can choose **The Queen's Spies**, which gives you a card draw after dealing damage. This makes the Thorn popular with most of the masters, as she can do her challenge, drop a scheme, and then get you up to two additional card draws in the middle of the turn.


 * Challenge of Spring****:** One of the relatively rare (0) attack actions in the game, This is a short range cast action that has no range icon, so can ignore cover. It has a baked in mask, but no trigger. This attack pushes an enemy model into BtB with The Claw, and then you may place a scheme marker in BtB with the pushed model. This makes getting off combos with the other fea, or even non-fae models that rely on friendly scheme markers, relatively easy. At the very least, if your opponent is aware of the chain of combos that can occur if this attack succeeds, you can force them to cheat cards out of their hands to stop it.

=__Resilience__= The Thorn has pretty decent resilience, with slightly below average Df and Wp offset by Armor +1 and Hard to Wound +1. She also has a mask baked into her Df, which doesn't do anything unless you put the Taproot upgrade on one of your Fae models. If within 10" of the model with Taproot, win or lose the duel when attacked, The Claw can discard a friendly scheme marker within 3" of herself to push 3" in any direction. So long as there's a scheme marker to spend on Taproot, this is one of the most effective defensive boosts for a minion in the game. Like the other two Knights, The Thorn also has The Curse of Autumn on the front of her cards. Enemy models that begin their activation while engaged by The Thorn need to make a WP13 test, or suffer Slow. This means that if you've got an enemy model with moderate to low WP, that is going to charge her anyway, you can get into engagement range first, and hope for your opponent to fail the duel and lose options like Flurry to Slow.

=__Tactics and Tips__= On her own The Thorn is a respectable model, and isn't as reliant on triggers or complex interactions to create a friendly scheme marker, so she can show up in any crew. With Taproot and enough scheme markers, she should be incredibly difficult to bring down for a minion. Unlike the other two, she doesn't have a trigger on her weapon that can drop scheme markers, so while the other two knights can get up to two scheme markers, she's limited to one from Challenge of Spring.

=__Playing Against The Claw__=

Clear out her scheme markers. If she's in LOS and 10" of a model holding the Taproot upgrade, at best you're going to hit once if your attack goes against Df. You need to get the scheme marker out of there or push her away from it first.

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