The Leader, The Warrior and The Toodles

The first of its kind, Hunting Horns is a dual faction troupe box split exclusively between the Commonwealth and the Leshavult.

With Hoff, a heavy emphasis would seem to be on Faun traited models. However, Jayda and Toodles don't have trait specific abilities and can happily lend themselves to any list with their well rounded abilities. In addition to this, Wendigo is also a new Faun to join the Leshavult who will work exceedingly well alongside the new faun leader. So how do all these new commonwealth fauns operate and how does the Wendigo play?

Hoff

Hoff’s card.

Hoff continues a subtheme of characters in moonstone such as Diana, El Capitano and Mama Gimble to name a few. The subtheme of 'Hero' characters who can build entire lists around them by buffing and manipulating certain traits in the game. Hoff himself turns his attention to the faun trait and buffs them primarily in the movement and melee department. With 'Guerilla tactician' Hoff will grant swift and an additional card in melee to all friendly fauns within six inches. As well as this passive movement buff he also has an arcane movement buff too with 'Hunting horn'. Much like 'Guerilla tactician', the 'Hunting horn' can only affect other friendly fauns. This movement isn't restricted to a particular direction and so is perfect for moving fauns into position, out of trouble or whatever is needed at the time.

As well as assisting his faunish allies, Hoff also carries a little personal damage output himself. Persisting with the high mobility themes, Hoff's only active ability grants a damage and movement buff simultaneously. For one energy 'Furious charge' allows you to move three inches as opposed to one inch of movement you'd normally get out of a one energy step. It also boosts Hoff's damage a little if his next action is a melee action. This is further aided by his 'Felling axe' giving him extra impact damage as well as an interesting signature. 'Head butt' doesn't have any ∅ damage and so will always deal damage if played, a minimum of 3 after a 'Furious charge'! However, it can only be used if the opponent is within an inch of Hoff or it will deal no damage. It may often be the case then that opponents step away after a 'Furious charge' to avoid this very signature. Finally, it offers a push away from Hoff. This can sometimes be used defensively to push one inch melee attackers away from Hoff to alleviate damage.

Despite this combat prowess though, it is often unwise to throw Hoff into the thick of things immediately. Despite having a healthy nine wounds, Hoff is relatively fragile. No armour and an evade of zero means he will be targeted and wounded often. If Hoff is permanently engaged he will also be unable to use 'Hunting horn', one of his best abilities. He, therefore, wants to generally stand a little behind, but never on, the front lines. From there he can use the 'Hunting horn' to better position fauns of his choice and can occasionally 'Furious charge' and badly damage anyone who gets too close.

Jayda

Jayda’s card.

Whatever you need from a speedy flexible fighter, Jayda can achieve. In melee, Jayda will appear very flimsy with only seven wounds and no armour. With 'Swift' though, as long as she has energy, she can choose which fights she gets involved in and which fights she avoids. This is further enhanced by Hoff giving 'Swift' to friendly fauns which means she can use 'Swift' twice per turn instead of once per turn if near Hoff! Her other bonus for being near Hoff is, of course, an additional card in melee. Whilst this isn't game changing, an additional melee card is always nice, especially when you have a nice signature move. 'Mercy kill', unsurprisingly, is great for finishing off wounded enemies. Unlike other falling swings, this falling swing is piercing which means that Jayda's 'Dagger' can help with three different melee cards as opposed to the normal two.

Outside of being a nimble melee fighter Jayda also possesses a ranged attack with 'Shoot bow'. With her base energy, Jayda will have enough to shoot her bow then leave her other energy for a potential swift reaction step. So unlike other ranged models such as the Firespitter, Quarrel and Flintlock, Jayda is able to easily avoid engagement. Alternatively, if more firepower is needed, chubs can 'Rouse' Jayda to get her up to six energy, allowing her to fire her bow twice.

Within the Leshavult this ranged attack is hugely valuable as the Leshavult generally lack ranged damage models and hence a way to deal with airships. Within Commonwealth, this is not so much the case as they have a wealth of strong ranged attacks. But in some cases, an additional ranged attack can't hurt. This is especially the case when it's on a model such as Jayda who can accomplish other feats the Commonwealth sometimes struggles with. What Jayda possesses which many Commonwealth models lack is four non-weakling energy. She also has a little evade and tricks to avoid combat rather than get stuck into combat. This can make Jayda a fantastic model to harvest with and then protect moonstones with.

Mr Toodles

Mr Toodles’ card.

Another model which can find use within Commonwealth and Leshavult lists alike is Mr Toodle. Much like Quack, Mr Toodles has three weakling energy, five arcane and 'Healing'. What Mr Toodles brings over Quack is small amounts of energy manipulation or, to be more specific, 'Blighted elixir'. At an energy cost of one, 'Blighted elixir' can be comfortably cast alongside 'Healing' every turn for whatever is required at the time. It can also fit comfortably into any troupe, Commonwealth or Leshavult. This is as it doesn't target a specific trait and hence you can target humans, fauns, gnomes, faeries, anything you want with it. At a pathetic one inch range though, it's generally going to be used on friendlies. Getting to within an inch of an enemy is usually inadvisable with Mr Toodles as this will get your flimsy healer killed very quickly. When used on friendlies, however, the elixir can have one of two great effects.

Firstly it can provide a small amount of additional energy. Irrespective of faction, troupe or strategy, a little extra energy is always good. Secondly, it can push models directly away. In terms of energy efficiency, if you want to move a model this generally provides more efficiency than just giving energy. These two uses are useful for any and every model that could possibly be taken alongside Mr Toodle. Hoff needs to make more melee attacks? Give him some energy. Jayda needs to escape with her moonstones? Move Mr Toodles in front of her and push her away from the opponent. In a pinch, the 'Blighted elixir' can also put some wounds on enemies who get too close, but this is situational at best.

His final arcane ability, much like 'Blighted elixir', is a one energy, once per turn ability that can target both friendly or enemy models. 'Lullaby' interestingly has a good and bad effect baked into one ability and learning when and who to use it on will be key to its effective use. One use of it can be to heal up a friendly Hoff who has already activated and used all his energy. Clearly, the loss in energy here won't be an issue here, making this just a 2 wound heal for your friendly model. On the other end of the scale, an unwounded enemy troll or giant stacked with lots of energy can also make a phenomenal target to sap energy off. Obviously, these perfect cases won't always happen and Toodles will often have to weigh up sacrificing your own energy for a heal and healing an opponent to discard energy.

Wendigo

Wendigo’s card.

Although it's technically not in the box, the Wendigo is at least a new faun. I also mentioned on discord a while ago that if I were to write about the Wendigo it would be alongside Hoff due to the myriad of buffs he gives it. So without further ado lets crack on. Unlike the previous three fauns, the Wendigo is a Leshavult only model and so won't be usable alongside Hoff in a Commonwealth list. When it is used aside Hoff in Leshavult however, the Wendigo can accomplish some truly spectacular things. As a melee focused character it's not hard to see how it will enjoy Hoff's 'Guerilla tactician'. Coupled with the Wendigo's 'Sure footed' and Hoff's 'Hunting horn' the Wendigo can easily reach most places on the board without much of a struggle. Finally, with a 'Rouse' from Chubs, it can accomplish even more once it reaches it's chosen destination.

But what can the Wendigo do when it gets to where it wants to be? Primarily, it wants to kill stuff. With 4 melee, or 5 with Hoff, the Wendigo has a slightly above average melee. With 'Rending claws' though it will be dealing more damage and ignoring most damage reduction in the game. It also bears a signature move seen on Grub and Bristlenose before, 'Insatiable hunger'. As the Wendigo has four energy basic it stands to gain a lot of energy and wounds back from every signature kill. If planned effectively the Wendigo can go on a killing spree tearing through heavily armoured opponents with ease.

If this is too blunt an approach or not feasible the Wendigo can perform a slightly different role. With Chubs, the Wendigo can be taken up to six energy. Critically this allows for it to use 'Mind control' twice. This can be a great approach against gnomes as their magic resistance will generally hurt the Wendigo's killing plans. But two 'Mind control's can see Quarrel and an airship fire instead, causing their friends harm and making them waste energy reloading. Or finally, in a manner similar to Jayda, the Wendigo has four non-weakling energy and a slew of bonus movement. This makes just harvesting a reasonable strategy with the Wendigo too. In to some match ups it might be better at doing this than Jayda, as the Wendigo is far scarier to try beating up in melee and will sap nearby enemies energy with 'Quite terrifying' too!