Alanis Sallustis: Delivering Virtuous Vengeance

Following on from our previous guide to the evil Bloody Cardinal, we need a little light in our lives...and Basilea claims to have the answers!

Basilea is one of the most human-dominated factions in Kings of War, which makes it a fantastic touchpoint from which to explore the rest of the world - blending elements that feel ripped from the pages of human history with religious overtones, gleaming-armoured soldiery, and some wonderful fantasy elements.

Champions lets you get a taste of that in a fast, fun and compact format that's perfect for a weekday games night. Maybe you'll one day go on to start a Kings of War army, or maybe Champions will be 'your game'. Either way, you're incredibly welcome in the world of Pannithor, and we're lucky to have a fantastic global community of players, readers and hobbyists.

Dive into a faction introduction below, including notes from Champions game designer Rob Burman!

Keep The Faith - Meet Your Champion

It's time to meet Alanis Sallustis - a Basilean war priest with a big family name to live up to, and a personal axe to grind with the Forces of the Abyss...

Since being a young girl, the pressure has been on Alanis to walk in the footsteps of her great uncle, the legendary Basilean hero Gnaeus Sallustis. Now she has the opportunity to prove herself on the battlefield.

Her rousing hymns and sermons featuring the words of the Shining Ones inspire those around her and encourage them to greater feats of heroism in the name of the Hegemony.

There's more to learn about her story and background in the Kings of War: Champions rulebook!

Alanis is brought to life with brand-new MasterCraft™ resin, which gives lots of detail, while being easy to assemble (minimal clean-up and simple to build using a little superglue) and offering enough durability for worry-free gaming. We love it.

Taking Holy Orders

And of course, Alanis isn't journeying across Pannithor alone. She commands three units of hand-picked trusted companions, hailing from Tarisios, who will join her on her adventures. Together they'll be fighting in the name of the Hegemon and the Shining Ones, performing all manner of stylish smiting.

Gnaeus's Lions (Paladin Knights), Guardians of Tarisios (Men-At-Arms Spearmen) and the Watchmen of Tarisios (Men-At-Arms Crossbowmen) are all here to protect and fight alongside their charismatic War Priest and face whatever dangers may stand in their path.

Alanis herself is a stand-out model, and the all-new hard-plastic Paladin Knights are also a fantastic reason to choose her Company as your first foray into the world of playing Kings of War: Champions.

You can have a first look at their new sprues over on their webstore page HERE.

Now, it's over once again to Rob for the inside scoop on how to get the brilliant best out of your Basileans...

Game Designer's Notes - Tips from Rob Burman

"As a relative of the legendary Basilean hero, Gnaeus Sallustis, Alanis has a big reputation to live up to on the battlefield… and thankfully she has plenty of tools to deliver on that reputation! One of the main things you’ll see across the Basileans, including Alanis, is a decent Nerve and Defence - 15+ and 5+, respectively for our Champion. This is to represent the Basileans having access to good combat training and decent armour.

A little like the Bloody Cardinal, Alanis is a tad slow, with a Speed of 4, but hits on a very decent 3+ in Melee. Although she only has five Attacks, she does have Elite, which allows her to re-roll any dice that scored a 1 in melee combat. This helps to make her pretty reliable when it comes to actually hitting the target and, combined with Crushing Strength (1) to reduce the enemy’s Defence, she’ll be putting out some decent damage too.

However, perhaps Alanis’ most useful ability is her Champion Rule: Test of Faith. If you’re a regular Kings of War player, you’ll know that a lot of Basilean units have the Iron Resolve Special Rule, which allows them to heal a point of damage when they pass a Nerve test. Unfortunately, during playtesting, it was quickly identified that this was way too powerful to have across the board in Champions. Instead, Test of Faith mirrors Iron Resolve but limits it to friendly units within 6”. It’s incredibly useful to remove some chip damage… but it does mean you’ll potentially have to put Alanis in harm’s way. So you’re going to have to make a decision about using her in combat or keeping her safe to bolster your troops.

Faction Orders

Something we wanted to do with the Basileans is to make them stoic in battle - in other words, they’ll do whatever it takes to claim a key objective in the name of the Shining Ones. This sense of stoicism is represented in a couple of their Faction Orders. First up, objectives play a key part in many of the Scenarios in Champions, so we wanted an ability that would help the Basileans claim an objective, even when they may be short on numbers. Say hello to Righteous Resolve, which increases a unit’s Unit Strength by +2 until the end of the Round. This is great when your opponent has flooded an objective with enemy units because your lowly Crossbowmen could potentially gain the upperhand by increasing their normal Unit Strength from one to three! However, it does mean you’ve potentially put them rather close to the enemy. Oops.

Thank goodness for Heaven’s Blessing then, which increases a unit’s Defence by +1 until the end of the Round. This is perfect to use on a unit that’s about to get charged by an enemy, or a unit you want to make into a tar pit while standing on an objective. Of course, you can only give this Faction Order to one unit per Round… so choose wisely!

Play Style Summary

As mentioned, the Basileans are able to take some hits, thanks to higher than average Defence and decent Nerve. This means they’re good at claiming objectives and sticking around to gain some vital Victory Points. Units like the Watchmen of Tarisios (Crossbowmen) can initially be used to fire off a couple of Ranged Attacks before being used to claim objectives when combined with the Righteous Resolve Faction Order. Admittedly, they’re unlikely to dish out much damage in close combat, with only eight attacks hitting on 6+, but at least they’ll stick around for a while.

The killer unit in the Basileans though are Gnaeus’ Lions - the beautiful new hard plastic Paladin Knights. Not only do they have Speed 6, but they’re hitting on 3+ and have Elite. Tasty! As a result they’re likely to become a high priority target for your opponent so keep them safe with Heaven’s Blessing which will raise their already impressive Defence of 5+ to 6+. The only downside is they’ve only got eight attacks… so look out for opportunities to flank the enemy.

The Basileans are really a great all-round Company that have plenty of tools in their arsenal to deal with most situations and are very good at holding objectives until the bitter end."

Thanks again Rob! Alanis Sallustis and her loyal followers will be shipping from the 14th April as part of the Faith and Fury 2-Player Set, and on retail shelves shortly after that.

With only days remaining until shipping begins(!), don't miss Andy's 'How to Play' video series on YouTube.