First thoughts on Hobbe Hunter
When I initially got the Hobbe Hunter profile card, I was excited to get him on the table! His stats make him a pretty good all-rounder (HP3, M4, Att 7>1, Dice 2, Def 1/0), and his active skill allows him to place traps on the battlefield which explode causing 1 point of damage if an opponent finishes their movement within A1 of the marker. His passive skill means that when the marker detonates, you draw a fate card, and if the card suit is a spade, the damage is doubled and the target also receives a paralysis marker! Now in truth this sounds awesome, but then I realised what I thought was a major issue with it! I’m never going to get the chance to blow up an enemy with my bomb traps because no-one in their right mind is going to stop within A1 of one of my trap markers!
Tactical Advantage Revelation
But then I thought more about it and realised that I’d skimmed over the bit that says that the trap markers also count as partially blocking terrain! This one is a game changer! It means that heroes can’t pass through the square the traps occupy! Now I have a hero who can place obstacles on the battlefield which is so far unheard of and can provide you with a tactical advantage when it comes to objectives!
Playtest example
We also encountered a situation in play testing where my Viktoria had found herself in a corner. She was facing forwards, and my son Jacob could get Hobbe Hunter into the square immediately in front of her, which if he were to attack would give Viktoria a Fate card on her defence. To attack her flank, he’d be on a lower elevation, so again, she would get a Fate card on her defence. I thought I had played her particularly well in creating a strong defensible position – but I was wrong!
Jacob’s Sneaky Tactic
Instead of attacking Viktoria, Jacob decided to use Hobbe Hunter to place a trap token right next to her whilst he stood in front of her. Viktoria’s only option at this point was to try to kill Hobbe Hunter to remove him from the table and create an exit to break through!
You can’t pass through blocking terrain (which includes heroes) or partially blocking terrain, and Viktoria was now in a corner with impassable objects adjacent to her on all available sides. If she shoots Hobbe Hunter, he is always getting a Fate card for defense as he’s facing her, and he has a defense value of 1 which makes him a little harder to take down. It’s likely she is going to need a score of 3 or less without god cards to cause him any damage, but his health of 3 means she can’t take him out in 1 turn without crits or using her Take Aim skill and having some really lucky rolls!
Next turn, there was no point in me activating Viktoria so I prioritised another character pursuing an objective. Jacob then activates Hobbe Hunter and moves away from Viktoria! Hooray! I can escape I thought! Sadly not though as my tactically devious son played his trap skill again, this time replacing Hobbe Hunter’s previous position with yet another trap!! Now Viktoria is trapped in the corner, only able to move if one of the bombs is detonated by another character! Without having to kill Viktoria, the clever little sod had managed to remove her from the game as long as he stays out of her attack range of 4!!
Limitations of Hobbe Hunter
As I’ve already mentioned, the traps will only be able to detonate if a hero lands on a square adjacent (A1) to the marker, and most sensible players will just avoid them.
What I haven’t already mentioned is that Hobbe Hunter can only place 2 traps on the table at any one time, so if you’re using him you need to be careful of their placement – once you’ve put them down you won’t be able to place more until your opponent detonates one of the existing ones.
Exclusion Zones
Another thing to consider is that you can place a trap counter on either side of an objective to create an exclusion zone around the crystal, which will render the objective unobtainable to any character with an attack range of 1. In the image below you can see the traps themselves exclude 2 sides of the crystal and the remaining 2 sides are in the overlapping red danger zones which means any hero entering them to interact with the crystal is going to take a minimum of 2 automatic damage, with a possibility for 4 damage and 2 paralysis tokens! OUCH!!
Conclusion
Hobbe Hunter can be a real thorn in your opponent’s side if you make good use of his traps. If you get them to detonate, they can be really devastating, but even without needing to detonate, the ability to place impassable objects on the table can really hinder your opponent. Place the traps adjacent to your opponent’s objectives also creates an effective deterrent that will make your opponent have to consider their tactics very carefully!
Missed the chance to get your Hobbe Hunter Miniature?
Missed the Preorder? Not to worry, the limited edition Hobbe Hunter miniature may be out of reach, but you’ll have another opportunity through the Lion’s Tower Patreon to get an alternative version through the Mercenary of the Month
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