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Okay. My original plan was to write up a faction article a week and yeah, here we are several weeks out. Life happens. I’ll try to get back on track here with Almirithil! They are the “new” faction on the block when CAV:SO dropped. Originally, they were space elves once. Then they were twisted by the dark lord… oh wait, wrong universe. It is true that the Almirthil were once a part of the ADON and after a bloody civil war, they migrated into the galactic south and established their own nation. Now, from a game and real world history perspective, the Almirthil got four models in the second kickstarter (Concussion, Grizzly, Bear, and Growler) and, well, that was it. There was other designs but they were just cards (and many still are.). Instead, Almirthil had two Faction Doctrines that helped out. The first, called the Dogs of War, allowed you to take a Veteran Templar squad (using Templar models only) in your force as a Specialist squad. Veteran status is helpful with the extra +1 to hit and can help turn the tide when needed. The other option? Well, really, the only option. Lend Lease. Take any Ritter unit and run it as if it’s Almrithil. So you got to pick from both the Almrithil and Ritter line up. Is it like, well, playing limited mercs with no other real benefit? Yeah, that’s really what it is. But. Well. Leave me alone. It was fun. I won the 2019 CAVCon Tournament with such a force! That said, the Faction Doctrines from the book are going away and going to be replaced with something else. The only ones who are really sad are the Ritter players, so no one else really cares. So with those leaving, things changed. I may have prodded CAVBoss a few times about Almirthil needing a “cheaper attack CAV” as the Grizzly is super expensive and the Sunder is specialized. And Jon delivered. Just not how I thought. Instead of just adding a new design, he revamped most of the Ritter units into “export” models. While they are mostly, technically “downgrades” of the standard heavy metal mayhem that the Ritter love, they are still mostly viable designs in their own right and bring a new feel to the faction in addition to their home grown designs. The main reason for this is the price change between many of the units or their new role they slot into with the changes. As an example, the Ritter Tiger series is a speed seven, armor seven superiority CAV with twin heavy MAC’s and various SA’s that make it hard to kill. The Almirthil Fullback (uses the Tiger model) instead drops the armor and raises the speed, giving it a speed of ten and armor five. Still has twin heavy MAC’s and SA’s that let it do it’s job. But now it’s a Double Time, cavalry heavy who’s focus is racing around the battlefield and costs 413 TV. Paired with the equally fast Sunder, you have a tandem of fast, higher track units that can dish out damage. I’ve seen a Sunder pack in action several times and they did a lot better than I thought they would. So what makes the Almirthil tick besides somewhat cheaper options? One word. Hound. This little 172 TV recon armored car carries the powerful APA2, has decent armor for a recon unit, and decent speed to get Double Time in the first track. Besides that, it also has EST and TAG to help in it’s duties. And as a bonus, it doesn’t have any real weapons to temp you the player from trying to attack with it. Two heavy machine guns will worry infantry and mauled units, but don’t invite you to race off guns a-blazing. These little guys form the core of Almirithil recon units and provide the whole force needed punch to help amp up the damage. It’s always a plus to include this piece of gear in any force, but Almirthil has the ability to have a few extra in case the enemy gets lucky and kills one. Beyond that, general combatants like the Hammer (Rhino) and Havoc (Cataphract) bring heavy MRAC’s to the field for relatively cheap. They function much like their Ritter counterparts, though the Hammer has less armor (seven) and tracks (ten) and the Havoc loses some SA’s and it’s speed/armor is subpar, although still reaching the magic number seven (armor.). I feel both will form the backbone of most of your smaller point games as they bring great firepower for their price tag. As a faction, with the choices it has, Almirthil has a very flexible feel to me and the added benefit of having a lot of model choices already in print (albet with them all being Ritter) and ready to go! You have a lot of options across the Threat Value scale that do different things, but you really do have a lot of choices. The example forces I put together play completely different. And I love it! As far as models go, the Kodiak just came out as of this writing and its rumored the King Cobra, Cobra, Armada, Cossak, and Hound could be in the near future, so it’s a great time to play Almrithil! For the first force, which I consider a general, take on all comer’s sort of deal, I started off with an attack section. Two Havocs bring a lot of consistent punch, adequate armor, and decent price point. A Fullback is on board as a price break to help out the rest of the list. As you’ve already seen, Assault 2, ATC1, and Wizzo combined with speed 10 give you a speedy, high power platform that is admittedly a glass cannon. A Cobra recon CAV rounds out the list and provides APA1 and EST to help with the groups targeting computers. For the second squad, I chose the Specialist squad so I could mix up some of the model types. The Flogger is a Silverback model that changes out the four heavy Guided Missile Launchers for FIVE medium Guided Missile Launchers. It also loses a pip of Advanced Targeting Computer compared to it’s parent, but you still have five launchers. I have two. So that’s ten shots out to like, what, 72 inches? Yes. Please! The next unit is a Gauntlet II. This is a Lion II that’s been downgraded, missing a track and missing ATC2 compared to it’s parent. ATC1 is still fine and it’s still armor eight, speed six and still has smoke. And reinforced 1. It’s a tanky little tank and it’s heavy PBG can cut folks down. I’ve taken it as a body guard for the Floggers. Finally, a Hound rounds out the force to provide APA2 for the whole force and EST support for the squad. The last squad is a pure recon squad. You get to drop a card down to the bottom of the deck because of it, and it also provide several other functions. The King Cobra is the most expensive recon unit in the game at 478. It’s armed with four medium LBG’s while also carrying an ECM2 and using Superior Mobility to laugh at most terrain. Nominally this squads leader, this unit is out to bully other recon and lightly armed units with extreme glee while providing an ECM bubble for the force. The three Hounds are there to pump out APA2 and assest the force. They really do work. I had three in my 2019 CAVCon force and they were hated. Attack Havoc 521 Havoc 521 Fullback 413 Cobra 246 Specialist Flogger 653 Flogger 653 Gauntlet II 322 Hound 172 Recon King Cobra 478 Hound 172 Hound 172 Hound 172 Total: 4495 A different kind of list, very much themed and specialized, has two attack squads, one consisting of three Sunders and a Hound while the other uses three Fullbacks and a Hound. The final squad is three King Cobras with a Hound as well to give the force a recon squad. All twelve models in the force start off at speed 10, armor 5. Every single model has Double Time, while you have three APA2 sets and three ECM2 sets. The force wants to punch the accellorator pedals and get moving forward as fast as possible, overwhelming the opponent by numbers in the hope to mitigate the poor armor across the force. Will it work? I don’t know! But it sure looks fun if/when the models are avaialbe (King Cobra, Sunder, and Hound) Attack Sunder 423 Sunder 423 Sunder 423 Hound 172 Attack Fullback 413 Fullback 413 Fullback 413 Hound 172 Recon King Cobra 478 King Cobra 478 King Cobra 478 Hound 172 Total 4458 So have you gotten to get some games in with the “new” Almirithil? What’s worked? What hasn’t? I know I couldn’t talk about “everything” like the monstrous flying tank known as the Hind, but what have you seen/found about the faction that you’d like to discuss?