Olim

The Norse are here and Olim is the hero of this new keyword.

Olim’s card.

Noble and ‘Look of Innocence’

To help his fellow Norse, Olim has a slew of abilities. Some of these abilities are to help anyone, some of which are better suited to the Norse and some which can only be used by the Norse. In keeping with the traditional toughness of gnomes, Olim has the Noble keyword, which allows Brunhilde to Bodyguard him, a defensive signature where fellow Norse can leap to his defence and 'Look of Innocence'. With these three abilities combined, Olim will prove as defensive and tough as all his gnomish predecessors.

‘Valhalla!!’

The Norse playstyle is somewhat different from a traditional gnome troupe. In these cases, Mama Gimble normally forms the core of this troupe, giving incentives for the gnomes to bunch up around her for damage resistance and arcane buffs. By comparison, Norse troupes usually struggle to bunch up due to their tendency to charge headlong into melee combat as soon as possible. This is seen in the form of Olim's passive ability which allows Norse models, or Olim's father, to make 6" jogs, so long as they end the jog in engaging an enemy. Just remember that a model holding a Moonstone is limited to 2" jogs, so don't pick up any Moonstones with models you want to use this with. This boosted jog can be particularly devastating with Brunhilde. With 'Loyalty' she can move 3" with a well placed noble during the opponent's turn then make a further 6" jog and still have enough energy left to make a melee attack! 

“Come on Emlyn, there’s baddies over that way!”

‘Fortunate’

Because of this, the Norse will struggle to make use of any arcane aura buffs. However, they have their own way of getting an edge with the arcane deck. 'Fortunate' is Olim's only active ability and is very similar to Young Jack's 'Lucky'. With regular use of these abilities, the Norse won't need arcane buffs as they will often know the top card of the arcane deck anyway! As well as using this to guarantee your own arcane abilities, it can also be used defensively. If for example, you know a pirate is about to have a shot at you with a pistol you can use Olim or Young Jack to remove all greens from the top of the deck.

The final use for this knowledge is for models which flip the top card of the arcane deck. This is primarily useful for Norse models such as Bjørn, Liv and Loci who have 'flip the top card of the arcane deck' abilities, but it can also have uses outside the Norse keyword with models like Dim & Dimmer and Billy. Whichever model does use the top card remember the deck is always shuffled after flipping an arcane card. You therefore won't be able to endlessly reuse the same card and will need another model to restack the deck afterward.

‘Buttermilk Elixir’

Olim's final ability is useful for most characters and rounds out his support options nicely. Much like Joanna and Jack, Olim has his own elixir ability, but unlike the previous two, his elixir targets other characters and not just himself. For any pink, he can grant a Norse or gnome model +1 energy or with a blue, he can heal X+1 Wds. With his base energy of 3, Olim also has the option of using 'Fortunate' before this to let him skim through a few cards on the top of the arcane deck before finally using 'Buttermilk Elixir'. However, he's usually best using the Elixir first on a target who'd appreciate healing or energy and then using 'Fortunate' afterward to set up his Nordic friends to accomplish their own great feats!