So, the repeatedly-delayed post about Calandra is here! Calandra's kinda infamous for screwing with the dice, and has been the subject of more tilts from the person across the table than any other caster I've played. That usually occurs after a turn of seeing Star Crossed costing otherwise easy kills combined with some toughs, along with my feat of dice manipulation. Star Crossed is second primarily to Ashlynn for messing with the dice, but can be cast every turn, rather than Ashlynn's powerful one-hit wonder.
This will be a two part post, simply because I have a lot to say. I'm kinda long-winded, this is my blog, and I'll talk if I want to! Part 1 will focus on how to play her without Star Crossed abuse, and Part 2 will dig into use of Star Crossed (including my way of running her currently). I might do a part 3 of either lists/pieces I like with her, because I honestly think this is going to run too long to put it on there as it is. That's fairly probable, actually.
There has been a lot of debate about Calandra, and whether to abuse Star Crossed or see it as a bonus. Star Crossed (SC) can be very powerful in that it makes 1-1, 1-2, or similar dice rolls much more likely, but MAT values about 7 mean that it has less return. SC benefits models with DEF 13 or higher the most, in that mathematically it reduces the average attack value to approximately 5 (slightly higher), meaning that MAT 7 becomes much less likely to hit.
Before I dig in, here's a summary of the lady herself:
Passive: Fate Blessed - spend a Fury to reroll an attack or damage roll from a Faction model.
Mercy Killer - gain a damage dice on her melee attacks on wounded models.
Spells:
Befuddle - Non-Warcaster/Lock enemy model is advanced (by the caster) up to 3", no free strikes.
Bullet Dodger - Model gains +2 DEF against ranged attacks and Dodge (allows 2" movement ignoring free strikes after being missed by enemy attack).
Force Blow: POW 12 RNG 10 that knocks down on damage.
Soothing Song - Remove 1 Fury point from each Faction beast in control once per turn.
Star Crossed - Add an additional dice to enemy attack rolls, drop the highest.
My original train of thought was to use Star Crossed as a bonus, and enjoy using Befuddle, Force Blow, and Soothing Song, seeing Star Crossed reliance as a trap. Befuddle is situationally powerful, but ignores many effects that prevent places or pushes. Force Blow can fuel an assassination run, and Soothing Song is fantastic for getting rid of a Fury after a passed Frenzy check - I honestly find that to be one of its best uses.
One incarnation of this list that has been suggested is a nasty assassination list - using War Wagons and double Bombers to put the enemy caster/lock on his butt (Force Blow or War Wagon) and pound him with boosted POW 16's under Calandra's feat. It can be a game winner very, very quickly, and an extremely difficult assassination to stop particularly in Killbox scenarios. I've had a lot of success with her and ranged beasts - she has some solid abilities to keep the enemy at arm's length.
Being able to manipulate enemy position with Befuddle is a huge boon, also. There aren't that many abilities in the game that move the enemy with a spell - we just all know the ones that do because manipulating your opponents board position is huge for throwing off game plans. It's a very limited position movement, but sometimes simply manipulating a beast to face the wrong way can be enough - denying the charge they would have had otherwise. Or giving yourself a back arc shot so you go from 8 to hit to 6, in some cases. The odds improvement, in combination with her rerolls, are fantastic.
Additionally, you can run her as a Fate Blessed battery; don't worry about spell casting, and use her as Fortune for the army a limited number of times. Basically, a mini-Morvahna 2. Some animi, some rerolls, and we're good to go. It can help substantially with all the MAT 6 models we have, especially when you've used some support, and you don't want that now-MAT 8 model with Fell Caller support to go to waste. That just sucks. Or when Mulg creases someone's forehead with a club, then farts for damage. That 1-2 with Mulg just got re-rolled - hey, now it's a 3-5, and you spent one fury on your caster to increase your damage by 4-5 points.
And honestly, there's a lot to be said for that outlook. Look at how powerful Morvahna2 has been in the recent meta, and a lot of its because of her dice manipulation; being able to reroll is very powerful. Granted, Calandra can't do it to the same extent; she has limitations in the form of her Fury pool, and the abilities she wants to hand out. But the ability to have a back-up reroller is wonderful for you, and can be intensely frustrating for your opponent.
I apologize for this, but I'm going to hold off on lists/pieces I like with Calandra for now, because I don't want to make the posts too long. Please, if you happen to read this and think that length of post or something isn't a problem, hit me up on the NC Gunbunnies forums at Dav2K5, email me at bwill1983@gmail.com, or comment on here. Or if you have any other suggestions; I'd actually like to know if anyone's reading this much :) I'm trying something I've never done before in the blog, and I'd like to improve it a little. It'll never be much more than a niche blog, but if I can improve my writing and presentation, I'm all for it.
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