Blood Throne: Warlord in Depth

Written By Reece Robbins

Hey everyone, Reecius here again with another in-depth article in the ongoing series. This time we will dive into the Skill Archetype classes, which are the third archetype of classes in Blood Throne in addition to Marital and Arcane. We have previously covered three of the Martial Characters:

And one of the Arcane Classes:

Skill classes are in between martial and arcane in regards to stats, being more durable and physical than Arcane Classes but less so than Martial. They do not have as many equipment options as Martial but more than Arcane. They are designed around a key ability or set of abilities that is unique to them and defines the class. Within the archetype, some Skill classes lean more into their abilities as offensive capabilities, such as the Alchemist who creates and throws potions, poisons and bombs and so they carry a tool in one hand to offset the power of their abilities. The Bard is another example of a Skill Class who must carry an instrument in their main-hand to balance out their ability to use powerful songs and shouts. Plus what would a Bard be without some type of instrument?! 

Some, like the Warlord whom we will be covering today, have less emphasis on their unique abilities and lean closer to a Martial Class, having more equipment options, HP, etc. and they function as a near-martial class that also has a suite of fun and unique abilities which defines them. Skill classes offer a wide breadth of opportunities to explore different themes and can mix in wacky and unique abilities, magic, unique weapons such as with the Artificer, etc. In the beginning of the development process they were the most challenging to conceive of but by the end were the most fun as they provided so much freedom in terms of coming up with unique ideas.

As a quick reminder, when you play Blood Throne you must always take 2 of each archetype. So, 2 Martial, 2 Skill, 2 Arcane out of your overall roster of 12 heroes which are subsequently broken down into 4 classes of each of the above archetypes. This means you will always be switching things up and coming up with new strategies on the fly as you cannot simply spam the same combos and heroes each game!

The Warlord was a fun class to work on as early in the development cycle I knew it would be an obvious inclusion. Not only is a leader/warrior type class common in RPGs and strategy games, for a party based game particularly it was just an obvious choice. The key was to not make a leader style character outshine the other classes in what they were meant to do while also having leadership oriented abilities, but to also not have them feel too weak or otherwise it would be underwhelming. For example, they shouldn’t be tankier than the tank class, or punchier than the melee DPS class as then those classes feel like a letdown. However, in fiction it is often the case where the leader may not be the most powerful warrior. They specialize in leading and often have a right hand man that is the real powerhouse when it comes to cracking heads. Think Tywin Lannister and Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones. Tywin was no pushover but he didn’t hold a candle to Jaime, even in his prime but despite his skill Jaime has no interest in being a leader. 

To this end, the Warlord is less effective in combat than a Martial Class but no slouch and easily better than any of the other classes. However, the meat and potatoes of their suite of abilities lies in their ability to issue commands!

Commands come in the form of Shout Actions. Mechanically, Shout Actions function very similarly to spells in that they typically use Metaphysics. However, unlike Casting Actions (spells) Shout Actions are almost always a Simple Action, meaning you can only use one per Activation, but they do not eat up your Standard Actions (move, attack, etc.), tend to be short ranged and you cannot use the Mobile Casting rule with them. This serves to differentiate between these types of actions so they feel unique and each have their own strengths and weaknesses. 

The Warlord breaks the above rule with their class ability which we will cover in that section, but as essentially a “shout specialist” much like the Bard, we wanted them to be able to use this core mechanic a bit differently to make them feel like a specialist in that realm. The end result is a class that is very versatile. They move, fight, and issue commands to bolster their allies, hinder their enemies and feel like a battlefield commander, as they should!

Equipment Restrictions

As mentioned, Skill Classes do not have access to the heaviest weapons and armor in commands to differentiate them from Martial Classes. Also as noted, some with more powerful skills will have a mandatory hand slot they use to offset this. The Warlord has no additional restrictions other than the standard set of Skill Class limitations to reflect the fact that they will typically be geared up to go into combat. You can opt to give them up to medium armor, a medium shield, and take any weapons apart from those limited to Martial Only which will be the heaviest versions of such. For example, instead of an Arbalest, a very heavy crossbow, a Skill Class may select a standard Crossbow or Light Crossbow, etc. Long story short, Skill Classes have a very wide variety of equipment combinations available to them allowing for a ton of customization. 

Class Ability

The Warlord’s Class Ability (which as a refresher is automatically included in your deck) is simply fantastic. Move With Haste is a Free Action, meaning they can always use it, once per Activation. This allows them to use it and issue another command each turn, making them very versatile. Move With Haste grants an ally within short range the Hasted Inspiration which grants them an additional Standard Action! So, as long as the Warlord is on the table and near allies you get an extra action per turn for free. In a game that boils down to using the actions available to you as efficiently as possible within the 6 turn limit, this is very powerful as it essentially gives you a nearly 10% increase in actions per game than your opponent. This is the core of what makes the Warlord such a good class.

You can upgrade this to Medium Range with the Reaching Commands Class Feat upgrade at level 4, and at level 6 you can further upgrade it with Blitzkrieg which allows you to use Move With Haste on two allies! However, to keep it from being overpowered, if you do so your Warlord becomes Stunned, losing an action. However, as you will see there are other ways for the Warlord to haste themselves as well!

Primary Skill Tree

The Warlords main focus is on manipulating action economy, as you can see with their Class Ability above. Much as with the crowd control abilities of the Dread Mage, the action manipulation skill set of the Warlord is powerful and so typically you will have limited access to it in a faction’s Classes to prevent it from becoming oppressive in play. Let’s see what other tricks they have up their sleeve!

At level 1 they also gain the very powerful Halt! Class Skill which is the inverse of Move With Haste. This allows you to Stun an enemy within Medium range. It also targets the Will defense which as stated in other articles, tends to be the lowest defense of many monsters and heroes. So in a turn you can not only increase your own number of actions for your Party but take one away from your opponent as well! At level 8 you can upgrade this skill to be able to target two opponents in range and line of sight but you make both Action Rolls with Disadvantage, increasing the odds of failure.

At level 6 you have the option to take Steal Momentum, a very powerful skill that allows you to Stun an opponent and give that action to an Allied Model in medium range! This ability can only be used once per game though so time it carefully.

At level 10 the Warlord’s ultimate ability, Art of War is simple but incredibly powerful. They use all of their cunning and leadership ability to grant all allies on the table the Hasted Inspiration! As with all Ultimate abilities it is once per game and as it should be as this is a game winning skill. To balance it out, it is a Full Round Action, meaning the Warlord will not be making any Standard Actions but they can still issue one more Simple Action command while their comrades rush off to battle.

Secondary Skill Tree

The Warlord also specializes in handing out buffs to party members via their commands! 

At level 1 you have access to Strike With Might, a powerful, short range, single turn buff. The allied model gains the Panoptic Inspiration, and +1 Advantage for their next Action Roll. We have covered Advantages in depth in a previous article but in short, they allow you to manipulate the dice to your advantage after you roll, and are very powerful. Panoptic gives the recipient 360 degree line of sight while they are Activated, allowing them to strike in any direction. 

This is deceptively powerful as it can basically be another way to gain an Action. In Blood Throne you can only act on models you can see, which is typically 180 degrees forward. If a model was behind you, you would have to use an action to turn to face them, then a second action to do anything to them. Panoptic allows you to act on any model that you can draw line of sight too, even if they are behind you without wasting an action (although you do still rotate to place the target model in your Arc of Action per normal). 

This command can be enhanced in range with Reaching Commands, or you can opt at level 4 to instead of taking the range upgrade have the ability to apply this buff to the target and the Warlord as well! Finally at level 6 you can further boost this ability to additionally grant the target(s) +1 Power for the duration of the ability.

So, a lot to cover with this one ability as you have so many options! But in essence it comes down to if you want your Warlord to be in the thick of the fight or to hang back and issue commands from the rear at long range while likely using a ranged weapon of some sort to contribute to DPS. If you want your Warlord to go in hot and heavy, you won’t need the range increase, and instead buffing yourself in addition to an ally gets you (obviously) double the impact from it. It just comes down to how you want to play your Warlord. 

At level 2 the Warlord gets Brace Yourself which, very similar to Strike With Might, is a short ranged, short duration but powerful buff. Brace Yourself gives the recipient the Armored and Defense Inspirations. Armored grants the recipient +1 Damage Reduction which doesn’t require explanation at this point, and the Defense Inspiration grants the recipient +2 to all defenses (Evasion, Fortitude and Will) and while they are not Activated they have no Rear Arc, meaning they cannot be hit in the back! This makes a vulnerable hero much harder to hit and is extremely useful when you need someone to hold the line against a horde of monsters or simply try and not get knocked out if a tough enemy is barreling down.

As with Strike With Might this ability can be enhanced to medium range with Reaching Commands or to affect the Warlord as well with Skillful commands. And as with the above, which of these to take depends on how you want to play your Warlord. As these are both Simple Actions you can only use one or the other each turn, and they last a turn in duration so you will be constantly tossing buffs with your Warlord where needed depending on the flow of the game.

At level 4 you get the extremely useful Alter Formation which allows two allied models in range to swap places, ignoring Attacks of Opportunity! The amount of ways to use this are too numerous to cover in this article but suffice it to say, this ability is a doozy. It can get an ally out of engagement with a tough opponent, or put an opponent into engagement with a tough ally! You can set traps with it, or fake out setting up a trap to keep an opponent guessing as to what your real intentions are. But as I have stated many times, any ability that allows you to move out of the normal turn sequence is strong and can really mess up your opponents plans in PvP or save your bacon in PvE!

At level 8 the Warlord gains the Charge! skill. This is a once per game ability and very strong. It allows an ally to immediately make an out of sequence free Charge Action. I don’t think I have to take up too much space explaining how strong this can be! If you have a hero like Kijo the Barbarian in position to smash an opponent you issue this command watch the carnage when it is least expected!

Tertiary Skill Tree

To round out what is already an amazing toolbox of abilities, the Warlord has Counters as their final area of focus and while they only have a single ability, what an ability it is. Counters are hands down the most powerful set of skills in Blood Throne and as such they are very limited to avoid the game becoming unfun. Counters allow you to stop a monster or opposing hero from using a special ability after they have declared it. If successful the ability counts as having failed so the target model almost always will not be able to try it again and they lose an Action. The correct use of Counters is without question, game winning.

The Warlord gets Counter Strategy at level 1. This allows them to attempt to deny a special Physical action within medium range and line of sight once per Activation. All special actions are either physical or metaphysical. The Warlord cannot stop spells for example, but any physical action, such as those most often performed by Martial classes, can be stopped. When you are about to have a Monster hit you with their super charge ability and instead they stand there looking stupid and having wasted it due to a well timed use of this skill, it can absolutely change the game.

At level 8 you can further upgrade this powerful skill to count Swirls on the Action dice as successes, increasing the odds of this working by a significant amount. 

As a side note, you will see that this card instructs you to roll against an AT 4, which is Action Threshold of 4. In some instances you will roll against these set thresholds, treating the number as if it were the target defense.

The Warlord has a number of Feat options reflecting their core skill set of manipulating action economy and issuing commands.

At level 2 the Warlord may select between increasing their ability to shut down special actions with Skillful Counters or gaining the Hasted inspiration whenever a model in medium range activates a crit via Predictable Outcome. This comes up more often than one would think, and means if you are playing a Warlord that will be in the middle of the action, they will very frequently be gaining a bonus action for free. However, shutting down special actions can be game winning so really it just depends on which you value more: your Warlord making more actions or shutting down actions more efficiently.

At level 4 the Warlord can increase the range of Move with Haste, Strike with Might, Brace Yourself and Charge! to Medium Range via Reaching Commands or apply the effects of Strike With Might, Brace Yourself to also apply to the Warlord via Skillful Commands. This is a tough choice as both options are good but boils down to the kind of Warlord you are playing. If you built your Warlord to be up in the action, gaining the benefit of buffs is awesome as it obviously doubles the efficacy and as you are close to the action the range matters less. If you have a Warlord that hangs back more and uses a missile weapon, the extra range will be much more effective. 

At level 6 you get another tough choice. You can either opt to use Move With Haste on two allies but burn an Action on the Warlord to do so with Blitzkrieg, or increase Strike with Might to also grant +1 Power with Strike With All Your Might!. Again, it comes down to how you are playing your Warlord. If your Warlord is geared for combat and engaging the enemy in melee, gaining +1 power for you and an ally when using Strike With Might  with Skillful Commands and retaining all your actions is a solid option. If you have a Warlord that hangs back, the option to hand out an extra action to two heavy hitting allies might be the better choice.

Finally at level 8, you have a similarly difficult choice. Mass Halt! Is very powerful, allowing you to attempt to Stun two targets when using Halt!, but at a higher chance of failure. Or increasing your ability to cancel special actions with Masterful Counters by counting Swirls as successes on the Action Dice. These are both genuinely strong choices. Possibly stunning two enemies a turn is massive, but as I have said many times, stopping a key special ability can be game winning. It just comes down to how you build your Warlord and want them to play. 

Playing Amara

Amara is an interesting Hero to play. She poses some challenges in being somewhat fragile, but also boasts some great offensive stats and flexibility in how she can be used. As you can see she has solid stats in every category, Accuracy and Denial of 3, two of her main actions, and Metaphysics of 2 for helping get her offensive commands off successfully. She has a good Power of 2 to increase her damage.

Defensively she has a decent starting HP of 15, an excellent Evasion of 6, good Will of 3 and Fortitude of 3, but you will notice no armor as she has opted for Class Garb instead, giving her another skill option. Speaking of which, she has a whopping 5 skill choices which lets her take essentially every class skill in her deck up until late game before she even has to choose some to exclude. You can build a Warlord to just focus on a few skills and then put more stats and gear into combat to play them like a light martial hero, but Amara is built to have maximal options to issue commands.

As Amara will have more Class Skill selections than she will have options initially, she will be taking additional General Skill cards until her number of Class Skill options catches up to her prodigious capacity! General Skills are cards available to all classes. Every Hero puts one in their deck automatically but can take additional options if they so choose. As you level up, more General Skills become available to further add variety to your hero’s deck of abilities. At level 1, Spirited Action is a great all around choice. Once per game, you can give yourself a boost with +1 Advantage on a roll. Simple but highly effective and great for when Amara wants to try and stop a key enemy Special Ability with her Counter Strategy skill.

Amara wants to use her very high Elf movement of 6 to get into position to support allies, slow down enemies and grab objectives. She has the versatile Javelins which can be used as a ranged weapon and/or as a melee weapon. This versatility comes with no additional keywords and a modest damage of 3 dice, but the ability to hang back and throw javelins or charge in and use them in melee is very valuable. She also carries a Medium Shield which gives her a big boost to Evasion but also, and just as importantly, allows her to use the incredibly powerful Block Action. As a refresher, Blocking allows the model to dramatically reduce incoming damage from melee and ranged attacks, even magical damage as long as it is not raw damage, in the front arc. This comes with the penalty of half speed movement after blocking but it is by far the best active defense in the game. 

This helps her to mitigate her lack of armor as she really depends on not getting hit over absorbing damage, with only her Shield to reduce damage when needed. If you use Brace Yourself and take the Feat upgrade Skillful Commands so that she can also benefit from it, this jacks her defense up dramatically and puts her Evasion particularly into the range of being missed more often than not at a hefty 8 after the buff. 

Amara is able to operate at many ranges but tends to work best in a support role, not going into melee directly unless needed, hanging behind the frontline heroes and buffing them, debuffing the monsters they are fighting and looking to stop key special abilities. She wants to be mobile with her huge 6 movement and constantly getting into a good position, then throwing her Javelin to try and finish monsters off or plink at distant supporting or arcane monsters. As noted, she can charge into combat when needed to finish off an enemy or get into a better position but she doesn’t want to go toe to toe with a beefy enemy as she doesn’t have the endurance to absorb too many hits.

Amara is a Ancestral Elf, hailing from the savannas of Mutamba. Elves in the world of Blood Throne, unlike many fantasy settings, do not live longer than other sentient beings but in fact, shorter! They burn hot, with high metabolisms, tons of energy and vigor and stay beautiful until they near the end of life when they rapidly age and die. On average they die much younger than humans or dwarves but are known to pack a lot of life into the years they get. This is reflected in the rules with Elves having a movement value of 6, the highest of any of the heritages in the core box, and their Heritage Skill is Skilled, which lets them make an action with the Lucky status effect, allowing them to re-roll one die in the action dice pool.

When making your own Warlord, you want to think about how they will function in your party. Will they hang back and act more in a support role using abilities at longer range and contributing with ranged weapon attacks? Or, will they be armored up with melee kit and able to go in and act as a secondary DPS or off-tank hero to support their allies from the front line? From that key choice, the rest of your options will become clear as you level your Warlord. One thing you will notice when building your Warlord is that you are stretched thin on stat points. They rely on a lot of different abilities so they tend to feel starved for points unlike classes with a more narrow focus such as a Ranger that can get away with just maxing Perception and Power. However, in my experience it pays off to spread the points around more so that you can be good at multiple things but in testing we did have Warlords built to just focus on a few skills and then pumping the rest of the stat points into maxing one aspect of the class or another, and accepting they would have some weaknesses outside of that more narrow scope.

Therein lies the challenge in the class and also the fun of it. Warlords have an enormous number of ways to be played. They more than any other class in the core box allows you to make whatever you want. They can act like a mini-Ranger with a ranged weapon and light armor and hang back shooting and issuing commands, or they can be built like a mini-Fighter with Medium Armor, Medium Shield and a hand weapon to go in and engage on the front line. Lastly, they can even be built like a mini-Barbaian with Light or Medium Armor and a two-handed weapon or dual wielding! They really are immensely flexible and their heavy use of the Simple Action to use commands and the free bonus actions they hand out every activation means they have a ton of flexibility and excellent action economy acting as a force multiplier for the rest of the party. 

Thanks for reading and let me know if there is a class you are looking forward to learning about next!

Reece Robbins
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Blood Throne: the Dread Mage in Depth