Hatman Begins
The Barony and Friar Flavious form the Commonwealth side of the starter set for Moonstone.
Unlike their goblin counterparts, humans aren't as subtle in their abilities and how they play. This leads to a preference to engage in straight-up fights where their larger than average stats will see them in good stead. But how best can the humans engage and capitalise on their fantastic stats.
Eric, the Squire
Eric is a straight forward support model who offers a passive, active and arcane ability to offer help to his fellow nobles and soldiers. 'Squire' is a simple support ability; soldiers and nobles who keep within 4" of him gain a nice bonus to their melee. This bonus is better for nobles such as Fancyhat, but soldiers such as flintlock can also benefit. This brings the traditional backfield models melee stats up to above average, enabling them to get stuck in a bit more, something that other races can't do with their backfield models.
As well as passive support that is always active, Eric also possesses abilities to lend additional support during his activation in 'My hero' and 'Field medic'. 'My hero' is likely to be something Eric uses every turn if he can. This is as using it on Baron Von Fancyhat will double his energy from 2 to 4! On first inspection, however, you're not really gaining anything, Eric loses 2 energy for another noble to gain 2, meaning a net change of 0 energy. Nevertheless, this ability is still worth using regularly as energy on Fancyhat is far more impactful than energy on Eric as FancyHat can use energy for more powerful and accurate melee attacks.
'Field medic' rounds off the Squires support options, costing 1 energy. At this cost it can be used as well as 'My hero' meaning so long as Eric is at full energy, he'll be able to comfortably use all his support options available to him each turn. As 'Field medic' is cheap though, it is not a very effective, flexible or reliable heal. With 3 arcane cards, you'll draw at least 1 blue roughly ~65% of the time - not a reliable number. It is also short ranged at 4" but this isn't much of an issue as ideally, Eric should be within 4" of the soldiers and nobles he wants to heal to give them the benefits of 'Squire'.
Baron von FancyHat
Baron Von Fancyhat is the quintessential human in Moonstone. He has better stats than you, he hits harder than you, he's tougher than you, he will generally always win in a straight-up melee fight. The aim of the Baron, therefore, is to get into combat as soon as possible and start using his energy to buy as many attacks as possible. At the start of a game when most models aren't in range Fancyhat is able to fire a pistol shot or two to start making an impact and to soften up enemies for the next round. With Eric's help with 'My hero' the Baron can also fire twice during turn 1 if he has 4 energy. With 3 arcane these shots, unfortunately, are likely to miss, but during the first turn when everything is outside melee range, its better than nothing.
Beyond the first turn, however, firing and reloading the pistol is just energy being used not to make melee attacks. With 5 melee, Fancyhat will draw 7 cards on the attacks, going up to 9 cards when making an attack within 4" of Eric. With the Longsword, this high card attack will also deal an additional point of slicing or piercing damage, a damage type handily available on every attack. Slicing is also the damage type of 'Master strike' - his signature move. 'Master strike' will likely see a lot of use as unlike the native falling swing, 'Master strike' will also deal damage against a target using thrust. It also allows for follow-up attacks against falling swing, thrust, and sweeping cut, allowing Fancyhat to attack again if an opponent plays one of these.
Finally, the Baron also possesses the situational 'Rallying cry'. This will often go unused during a game, but under specific circumstances can be a nice boon to nullify some enemy energy sapping abilities or to give your troupe a little more mobility. This mobility comes in the form of reaction stepping anyone you plan on activating after Fancyhat, then before activating them, using 'Rallying cry' to give them all the energy back they spent stepping with.
Flintlock
Flintlock quite simply shoots stuff to great effect. Flintlock's 'Shoot musket' has a staggering 12" range and causes X+2 Impact Damage. Unlike a lot of ranged characters Flintlock is also not saddled with 'Slow' and so is able to jog 4" before taking his 12" shot, extending his threat range to a phenomenal 16" range. Much like The Squire however Flintlock suffers from a low arcane, so shots, although powerful, are often inaccurate. However, with the arrival of the new errata, Flintlock has gained the nice 'Take aim' ability. With his base 3 energy, the sniper can use 'Take aim' to boost his accuracy, use "Look out!" to save his fellows from ranged harm, then 'Shoot musket' into at an unwitting enemy.
With the soldier keyword, Flintlock is also a viable target for all of The Squire's abilities. 'My hero' can bump Flintlock up to 4 energy enabling him to 'Reload' after a 'Take aim' shot or can also be used to 'Shoot musket', 'Reload', then shoot again! Another feat the human sniper can accomplish unlike the other ranged characters in the game is the ability to also hold his own in melee too. With The Squire nearby, Flintlock will draw 6 cards when attacking in melee with +1 piercing damage thanks to his 'Dagger', not bad for a type of model which is usually pathetic in combat. If jumped by a model which is too much for Flint to handle though, with 4 cards on defense if The Squire is nearby, he can often use his signature move to save himself from harm, then retreat with it. Overall, Flintlock is a simple but effective long-range damage option. Where he suffers in flexibility, he makes up for in excelling in his main role.
Friar Flavious
Friar Flavious is a flexible, tough cleric who offers a mix of melee prowess and support options, whatever your troupe needs, the Friar should be able to help. With an above average melee and range, Flavious is able to beat and outrange most opponents in combat. Friar Flavious is also a master of impact damage, being able to reduce all the impact damage he takes by -2 as well as increase the damage he deals by +1. Unlike a lot of characters, the priest has access to 3 impact melee attacks with his signature, not just the 2 normally afforded by rising attack and falling swing.
As well as good offensive capabilities, the Friar is also incredibly tough. Although evade +1 is poor, 'Divine intervention' gives Friar Flavious great defense from arcane attacks. Even if an arcane ability manages to get around 'Divine intervention', many ranged damaging abilities deal impact damage, so will cause next to no damage to the cleric anyway! To compound this toughness even further, Flavious also brings along 9 wounds and heals 1 wound every time he deals damage or 2 wounds for a signature move.
Friar Flavious can also extend this healing to his allies with the ubiquitous 'Healing' which can be used once per turn with his standard complement of 3 energy. Much like Eric, this heal is unreliable with only 3 arcane cards. In contrast to Eric, however, the Friar is far tougher and less likely to be killed whilst supporting his troupe. He also presents a much greater threat in melee than Eric and would generally like to be stuck in the thick of melee anyway. Getting stuck in the thick of it means he can catch enemies in his 'Divine intervention' aura, deal lots of impact damage and finally, can heal himself efficiently with those strong impact attacks.
