Ivya Volga Preview

[Sception]

finally some rules preview:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/04/04/ivya-volga-is-a-consummate-monster-hunter-who-brings-the-cruelest-creatures-of-ghur-to-heel/

I have to admit, I had little hope for Ivya. We've seen 'monster hunters' before, and they've never been able to get past the fact that foot heroes just don't want to be in melee, let alone with monsters.

but holy cow does Ivya look to break the mold:

That's nuts. if anything, that almost feels too good.

-1 to hit her with any attacks, plus reduces melee attacks of enemy monsters engaged with her to one. Sure, we don't know her own stat line or points cost yet, but that's a lot of debuff.

her lore is interesting, but I'm not sure about calling Ulfenkarn out as a failure? I thought the city falling into the nadir was an acceptable outcome?

Further rules preview later in the week.

 

[The Sun King]

Yeah she looks like an autoinclude if you are facing anything like Kragnos and Archaeon.

 

[Sception]

although if she has the typical 5 wounds, 4+ save then most of the biggest monsters still have a solid chance of dropping her in a round, even making each of their attacks only once. but even then they'd only kill her, not her plus a whole unit of something else.

 

[Oppenheimer]

GW is so annoying. Their pity hero in an army with tons of heroes already always has inflated abilities so encourage you to buy it anyway.

 

[Sception]

we're complaining about units *not* being bad now? Come on.

 

[Oppenheimer]

I would rather our existing models are improved than having a brand new one.

 

[Sception]

Sure, sure, but she's here now regardless, and if she's going to be taking up space in the battletome either way, I'd rather she actually did something with it, as opposed to say Radukar the Wolf, or Torgilius, or Halgrim, or Annika. Especially if the thing she's doing - debuffing melee monsters - isn't really stepping on the toes of any of our other units.

The closest existing unit conceptually would be the war cry monster hunter warband, and rather than obsoleting each other Ivya seems like a natural complement to them. The Trueblades negate monstrous rampage, Ivya debuffs the monsters attacks, & they both go to town attacking their prey in relative safety - which is nice since the trueblades aren't so durable that I'd feel super comfortable throwing them into a megagargant or the like otherwise. Like, they may not fit super well together aesthetically, but mechanically they seem like a natural combination.

I'm not sure what monsters are dominating the current meta enough to justify that kind of investment in countering them, but still.

 

[The Sun King]

Interestingly, GW has been way more bold in their rule design the last half a year... I mean, it wasn’t long ago that I could not have imagined such a powerful debuff ability on a little hero. But here we are. I get the feeling that they are exploring design space now leading up to 4th edition. Hopefully it wont make the game too unstable, but I have faith in them. And I will never complain about getting hard counters to the God Heroes (a type of unit that I personally dont like).

 

[AmperomierzWojtek]

I think the Soulblight Gravelords faction itself has a bit in its characterization of basing its strength on heroes and hordes of undead under their control so I think there is nothing to complain, cool that they are adding something new especially since the anti-monster option might be useful.

 

[The Sun King]

Yeah the anti monster debuff is really strong. Normal monsters are not so scary but things like Kragnos, Archaeon, Nagash and Alarielle are quite intense and it is nice to have a hard counter to them.

 

[Gederas]

Honestly, she looks AMAZING. Like I've got every Named Hero for Gravelords currently, and while I haven't had much games, I definitely think Ivya might find a place in my lists depending on her points.

I also feel people are sleeping on her Shrieking Swarm ability. 2d6 (12 if she's taken a wound!) 4+/4+ -1 damage 1 attacks is nothing to sneeze at, especially if there's a way to boost to hit/to wound for characters.

 

[The Sun King]

I agree, this model is stunning. We are quite spoiled as AoS players.

Regarding the bat attacks... on their own 2d6 attacks with that profile are 1.1 wounds on average against 4+ armour saves. I think that is indeed sneezable . However, I do agree that if you can get Ivya wounded and give her all out attack they become quite good with an average of 2.7 wounds. Add to that her own combat profile which is probably similar to a normal Vampire Lord and you are looking at a respectable 5.7 wounds. That is not impressive, but quite decent.

I think the issue with her will be to keep her alive. But all this is merely speculation from me. And it is weird to think that Ivya would be the target of All-Out Attack. Hopefully, we will have better targets.

Cheers,
Sunny