Blunt and Brutal

Commonwealth humans have been a presence in the game and story from the very beginning. Today they continue to influence Tauber and play as a brutally hard-hitting and tough troupe on the tabletop.

The Average Gameplay

Sir Hogswash’s Card

Among Tauber's common races, humans stand as some of the biggest and strongest. In-game, this is often reflected by above-average melee and wound count, in some cases as high as 9! This wound count is supplemented by an average amount of energy, usually 3, with most of it generally skewed to the left. Whilst it's not as extreme as the gnome's energy skew it is enough for the humans to take a few hits before their energy starts suffering.

In addition, their large frames and affinity for larger weapons often bestow them with great melee ranges. There are, however, some disadvantages to being so large - meaning humans often have poor evade, usually 0 or +1. This can make them very easy to hit with ranged weapons and other arcane abilities. Damage-dealing arcane abilities usually aren't too much of a problem as their armour and high wounds can offset the worst of the damage. Control-type arcane abilities are another matter, as energy-draining and other rebuffing abilities can pose a real problem for humans.

Armour and Boosting

Fritz’s Card

Speaking of armour, humans are typically festooned with a large number of passive abilities such as armour. Famously, Baron Von Fancyhat and Sir Guillimot Poppycock boast some of the best armour available reducing all non-magical damage by -2 with their 'Plate Armour'. This, combined with their large number of wounds, means that the commonwealth humans can be tough to take down, often requiring the concerted effort of multiple models. If this is done in melee this can end disastrously for the player attacking the human. As well as armour, humans are often known to have excellent damage-boosting weapons such as Fritz's infamous 'Greatsword' which provides a whopping +3 slicing damage to complement his 4 melee.

Otherwise, the next most common theme for passive abilities is... even more melee-boosting abilities! Poppycock for example can use 'The Governor' to boost the melee stat of friendly nearby soldiers, which many melee-focused humans happen to be. Similarly, Agatha Tavernfrau can also boost friendly soldiers, as well as mercenaries, whenever they make melee attacks. Unlike Poppycock though, she gives out energy for this boost instead of melee stat. Now Fritz can make four attacks a turn instead of his usual three, just for having Agatha standing nearby!

Old Calders’ Card

Another model with a melee bonus is Old Calders with the ability to see the opponent's melee cards. Despite this excellent melee ability though, Calders is normally more suited to a support-orientated role with his healing, evade buffs and catastrophe mitigation abilities. This is a superb example of a Commonwealth human support model who can still get stuck into melee. Agatha, for example, has a Melee stat which is certainly not below average, as well as a 'Concealed Dagger' and a brutally efficient signature for countering her opponent's attacks.

Regarding the actual buffing effects, these support models usually give stat modifications and a little energy manipulation. Eric for example gives out a melee buff to any nearby soldier or noble, many of whom happen to be human. Furthermore, he can donate some of his energy with 'My hero!' to give these buffed characters even more melee attacks. If instead, you wanted to increase your damage output at range, the humans can rely on Quack. For the very cheap cost of 1 energy, he can provide a buff for his human friends, a terrific +2 arcane!

Recipients of Buffs

Flintlock’s Card

As for potential recipients of this arcane buff, the humans have plenty of options, but none as deadly as Flintlock. With +2 arcane Flintlock's musket can cause massive damage, in many cases being able to kill a lot of models in 2 shots! In addition to this, the human tradition of being brutal in melee still holds even for this range-focused character. With his dagger, decent melee, and useful soldier keyword, Flintlock can even mix it up in melee if needs be. This sets him apart quite happily from other ranged characters such as the Firespitter who suffer badly the second they get engaged in melee.

Flintlock's musket and Fritz's greatsword are great examples of the human's core strength. No other troupe can convert their energy into such high damage as reliably as the humans. With 1 energy and some good cards, Fritz has an uncanny ability to reduce a model to 0 wounds with a single melee attack and still have energy left to spare. Similarly, Flintlock's musket with an Impressive X+2 damage for 1 energy can have a huge impact against the right target at the right time. Whilst 5 damage can't one-shot many models, it can knock multiple energy pips off models at the end of the turn. This can leave enemies with low energy next turn and make it harder for them to escape melee from other humans!

Soldier and Noble Troupe Builds

Sir Guillemot Poppycock’s Card

In terms of troupe builds, humans have incredible flexibility. Many keyword synergies among humans don't mention humans by name, instead often mentioning keywords like soldier and noble. In fact, the only Commonwealth characters that mention human as a keyword for abilities are Baron Von Fancyhat and Quack. This can lend their troupes great flexibility, such as bringing the gnomish noble Young Jack into noble lists and the faunish soldier Jayda in soldier lists. These troupes will still predominantly feature humans though as their blunt and brutal playstyle works well with the similar playstyle of other characters.

For the soldiers, Sir Guillemot Poppycock will generally provide the centre point of the list, buffing your soldier's melee and pushing them around the board. For the nobles, Eric will often be the lynchpin of the list, granting a large melee bonus for free and the ability to give nobles loads of energy. In comparison to the soldiers, the nobles will often be able to pile all their resources on one model for a supercharged activation at a slight cost of mobility. Where they're both similar though is their ability to hit harder in melee than anyone else. You'll want to be getting into melee as fast as possible and doing shed loads of damage to the enemy. With massive damage bonuses and the ability for any of your humans to put out hurt as needed, you'll be able to destroy all troupes in melee, then scoop up all the moonstones afterwards for victory!