M2E+Waldgeist


 * Waldgeist, Neverborn Minion**

=__Overview__= Waldgeists are a peculiar, but incredibly useful, addition to the Neverborn. They're a tough melee model that are best used to protect softer models by laying down soft cover markers, blocking off charging lanes, and tying up enemies with their huge engagement range. Because of their unique abilities Waldgeists can be an amazing addition to almost any crew.toc

=__Mobility__= These are trees; they are not fast. Pretty much everything in Neverborn is quicker than a Waldgeist, but they're also not completely immobile. Having **Wk** 4 and being **Unimpeded** can usually allow them to move directly towards where you want them to be. If you're not careful they can be easily outpaced by the rest of their crew. So if you are depending on them as a defensive line, consider just double moving them 8" to be in a good position to **Germinate** or just engage specific targets.

=__Offense__= Waldgeists only have one Attack, but it's good at what it does. **Tangling Roots** has an average **Ml** **5** score and respectable damage. The 2" engagement range is good enough to start with, but when they're in base contact with severe terrain it jumps up to 4". Which, in case you didn't know, is ridiculous.

Their attack also has two Triggers, both of which help Waldgeists do what they do best, tie up your enemies:
 * //Entangle// on a Mask gives the target **Slow.**
 * // Entrench // on a Tome gives the target **Rooted,** which prevents the target from walking or charging and causes damage if they are pushed

So hitting something with either of these Triggers can prevent them from being able to do anything useful on their activation when you've engaged them from 4" away. Cheating for a Trigger might be worth it, but for the most part consider these an added bonus to bogging down an already engaged enemy.

=__Resilience__= Waldgeists have great resilience for a 6 Soulstone model. They're not that hard to hit, but with **Wd** 7 and **Armor +2** they can take quite a number of hits before going down. **Germinate** allows them to make their own soft cover from guns and increase the range of **Tangling Roots**. **Perfect Camouflage** further protects them against **Sh** attacks and **Charges** by giving enemies a negative flip. Remember that those two stack, so if your opponent is shooting them through cover and they haven't activated they'll be taking a double negative flip.

= = =__Tips and Tricks__= Their massive engagement range is great for many Schemes and Strategies since most models can't take ** Interact ** actions while engaged and one Waldgeist can cover a huge area. They can also sneakily change their engagement range from 4" to 2", giving them a chance to ** Interact ** themselves before they ** Germinate ** a tree in base contanct and go back to engaging things.

Remember that **Perfect Camouflage** relies on the Waldgeist not activating, while you might want to **Germinate** early in the turn to defend your other models. A bit of forward planning when it comes to activating your Waldgeists can help maintain the defensive edge they provide. you can get a lot more use of **Perfect Camouflage** after moving your Walgeist into a good position because they won't have to attack to be useful. If you're gumming up melee opponents and have a well placed **Germinate** then you can leave off activating your Waldgeist until late in the turn. At which point, if you've got low card left you can drop a **Defensive Stance** and let them keep it through most of the next turn.

Both the Waldgeist's Triggers can be excellent but //Entrench// is only useful against a model that hasn't Activated yet, while //Entangle// will stick around between turns to waste their AP. Don't fall into the trap of trying too hard to get either Trigger off on **Entangling Roots**, though. The card required could often be spent better elsewhere and models engaged with a Waldgeist have a hard enough time getting away as it is. Take the triggers when they come up, but don't plan your game around them.

=__Master Specific Tips__= Zoraida is the most obvious master to lead a Waldgeist or two. They're Swampfiends so you can deploy them up-field with the **Hexed Among You** upgrade, which greatly improves their mobility. If you take Bad Juju with **Eternal Fiend** then they can also be used to unbury him when they die. The look on your opponents face when you replace one sandtrap with an even bigger sandtrap is one worth posting on Instagram. It's more likely that they just won't work to hard to kill either target, which is fine good for you if they're still bogging down enemy models. They can also get bonus +2 **Cg** from Spawn Mother and +2 damage from Gupps **Protect the Young**, but neither are worth working too hard for. The biggest benefit you'll get from Mama Z is buffs from a Nurse. Once they and **Germinate** are in place, you can drop a +2 damage bonus on them and their weak damage becomes 4 (which is amazing).

Lilith and the Nephilim get a lot of use out of the defensive line that Waldgeist can provide. Between their **Germinate** and her **Illusionary Forrest**, you can block off most of the board and pretty much guarantee that your opponent won't be able to get a clean shot off on any of your models. And with all the pushes Nephilim can put out, you can more easily get some direct damage out of //Entrench//.

=__Minion Specific Tips__= (Any synergies/tricks with other minions worth mentioning, possibly also alternatives and why they're better/worse)

=__Playing Against Waldgeist__= There's not a lot you can do about **Germinate**, though the cover will disappear if you can move the Waldgeists (or force your opponent to do so). Depending on how many Waldgeists your opponent is using, though, they may group up around the terrain Markers meaning they could be vulnerable to blasts. Don't let the tree Markers deter you too much regardless. They'll cost you a couple of inches of movement to wade through and a **Focused** shot can easily get around the cover they provide, so they're more of a nuisance than a barrier.

Models that ignore **Armor** do well in taking them down as this is their most impressive defensive ability. Failing that you can try to avoid them or **Focus** with a high-damage model. Chipping away with a little bits of damage can bring them down, but most Crews don't have the spare AP for that.

Don't **Charge** or shoot at them if they haven't Activated yet unless you have a built-in positive flip to hit, it's embarrassing.

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