The Calaban can!

[Polar_Bear]

For my "Earth's back in the same relative place it was the moment you came into it"-day I received Calaban the Grave Walker. Now, we've had threads about general Blindwater stuff, but not one specifically about this Blindwater General (see what I did there?). So anyway, the next day I got him all nice and painted up (with a purple and silver mask. Go State!) and last Saturday I got to take him out for a spin against Trolls.

He's just crazy-nuts-fun-good-happy-to-play, honestly. I was giggling much of the time, just thinking of all I could do with him. He's got something for everyone in his repertoire.

Bone Shaker... OMG! That spell is just a hoot, especially when you're arcing it through someone you killed with Heart Stopper. Best part was when I boxed my enemy's Fell Caller Solo and had him jab Borka in the back. That was 2 Fury very well spent.

Carnivore I didn't really use... didn't even cast it, in fact. Partially it was due to fighting Trolls. With their average DEF of 12 and my Gatormen Posse units getting re-rolls when necessary, it wasn't needed. I do, however, see how it can be really useful against something like Circle or Legion where they live and die by the To-Hit roll (their armor being paper as it is).

Hex Blast was used twice to get Iron Flesh off of a full-size-+-UA Fennblades unit. This is partially why I didn't need Carnivore. That was the only high-DEF thing there, and I was able to negate it pretty easily.

Occultation I put on my Swamp Gobbers. That way, they put out the smoke that my army can hide behind (well, Calaban and a couple Bull Snappers, anyway) but still not be targeted and keep from just getting shot at. Took them right out of the equation for my opponent's Blitzer, which kept my army safer longer.

Parasite I also never ended up using that game, but again, that's because of my targets available. Even ARM 16 Fennblades aren't hard to chew through with P+S 13 weapons. However, fun things like MOW or Cataphracts are definite targets for this spell. It's been known that High ARM can potentially be a downfall for Blindwater, who lacks a bunch of really-high-POW weapons. Parasite helps negate that at least one unit at a time.

Another potential worry is getting your "spell-caster" warlock up in the front row. Well, that's where Heart Stopper comes in. Need an Arc Node? That's easy. Just use your RNG 10, ROF 2, Magical Gun on it. At times, LOS did become an issue as obviously the enemy fig was facing me and not back towards his own army, but still, it let me "corner-shoot" several things I wouldn't've been able to get at otherwise.

Now, his Feat. I read it, re-read it and re-re-read it. I made sure to ask as well, and what I'm about to say is legit.
The "Free" spells that Calaban gets to cast when other stuff kills models: Those trigger his Feat as well and he gets Fury for that. I'll type that again: If a trooper goes and kills something, it triggers Death Harvest and Calaban gets his Fury and can cast a spell. If Calaban kills something using that spell, he gets another Fury and could potentially cast another spell. So it's like his attack spells are "Mail In Rebate: 1 Fury" if you can kill something with it. It's also nice to put up a few defensive spells on something if you've managed to kill everything Calaban's able to attack.

He never got into melee in order to try out his melee potential, but being able to cut yourself for 1 to gain an die means he's like an emo weapon master. At POW 11, it's not Barnabas-level or anything, but it's something if you're going toe-to-flipper with that enemy Warlock at the end of the game.

All in all, I think I figured out why I love Calaban so much: He's the eHaley... but green and scaly. By that, I mean he uses your enemy's army against itself. You grab any living enemy model and turn them into an Arc Node to cast a spell that, when it kills something, grabs that model and makes it move and attack yet another model. I love that sort of thing. Meanwhile, you're making your army hit more reliably and the enemy's armor less effective. It's entirely army manipulation. Who wouldn't love that?

PB

[McNs]

When you need to use POW 13 Gatormen Posses to kill an ARM 20 warjack, Calaban says "Yes, we can".

When you need to murder a swath of an enemy's infantry, but would prefer to not send in your Posse, Calaban says "Yes, we can".

When you want to have upkeep hate, but don't want to take Thrullgs, Calaban says "Yes, we can".


**************

Calaban's... funky. He's a lot harder to use than Barnabas and he didn't play anything like I expected him to. I wouldn't liken him to eHaley (in that, he doesn't turn one of your enemy's turns into "Happy-fun-shared-time", where you get to "share" the experience of making your opponent's army do all-but nothinh): he's more like a Menite warcaster. He buffs, he slings spells, he clears upkeeps. He's an army delivery system with a lot of flexibility.

If Barnabas is a sledgge-hammer, Calaban is a Leatherman. Barnabas does one thing and he does it really, really well. Calaban has a lot of tricks: you just have to know which one to use in which situation.

[Halfhoot]

I've played one game with him so far and it was a bad match-up... I slaughtered poor pCaine mercilessly (sad since he's one of my favorite casters lol). He hit me with a really nasty shot from a Hunter for 11 damage. I got good use out of Carnivore for all his high defense infantry and managed to have an amazing feat turn where I killed most of his infantry (getting all but 1 hit point back if that says anything) and I also boxed a guy with his gun to bounce Parasite onto the Ol'Rowdy he was trying to shove down my throat. Next turn Ol'Rowdy was turned into bits of metal by a charging Posse. Also the Totem Hunter just went through his entire army to spend two turns standing in Caine's face. He ended up using thunderstrike two turns in a row just to be able to do anything. It was fun. Really one sided though. He did manage to end the end kill all but one of the Posse and the Totem Hunter, but I still had one Posse member, my Wrastler and proxied Spitter and Snapper on the field and he was down to pCaine + Reinholdt + squire. The Posse member actually got the charge off and finished off what the Totem Hunter had started. Yay for Carnivore + re-roll!

I like him... I didn't know if I would... but that -3 armor on something is excellent for killing jacks or beasts and against Cygnar I ended up after the first turn just putting Occultation on Calaban. Feat turn was more fun and useful than I thought it would be after reading the card. I need some more games with him though.

Can't wait to paint him... he's really cool looking.

[MagnustheJust]

Honestly, I was not sure if I was going to even get Calaban. You've totally sold me on him PB!! Danka!

[Space Donkey]

I completely agree that Calaban is awesome. I've ran into one really bad match up for him though and that's a Bastion heavy Menoth list. Sanguine Bond just shuts down his feat, Bone Shaker, and Heart Stopper. It was really fun to take over the Knights Exemplar and Seneschal, though. Something else that I've run into that is ZOMG sexy is Hex Blast on feat turn. It can be a net zero cost spell if you manage to take out 3 dudes a shot with it. His feat turn will be even sexier once the Spitter hits the shelves.

Another nasty tactic that someone on here brought up but I haven't been able to dupe anyone into yet is to sacrifice an ambushing Trog that didn't reach melee to Heart Stopper so that you can meat node more efficiently. Best case scenario for this would be to have the trogs run in and keep just one of em outside of the 2" reach kill zone. This can open up some crazy threat vectors as well as make your opponent turn to deal with the Trogs instead of dealing with the meat and potatoes of your army.

[thag-rush]

bog trog as a meat node is very clever, feel kind of dumb for not thinking of it before. I've used a single bog trog a couple of times as a target for a wrastler to throw barny to set up the assassination run. useful critters those fishmen.

[Polar_Bear]

Grave Door specifically says "Enemy Model." So no arcing through your own Trogs.

PB

[thag-rush]

Now I feel less dumb.

[Polar_Bear]

Glad I could help. :P

PB

[Space Donkey]

Oh, I guess I just got carried away after talking about that tactic on another one of the threads in here. I'm glad I haven't tried to do it yet, and effectively cheated my opponent. The Trogs have now been put back into their normal role of flank denial and assassination threat when I force the opponent to the flanks.

[Not Dice]

Calaban is the sole reason I started my Gator faction. Luurrrve him.

PB I think you had a unique experience with Calaban to start off. Not that it's a bad thing. I think you chose the appropriate allocation of resources given the opposition. In general, my experience has trended towards using a combination of Carnivore and Parasite to elevate the offensive output of Gatormen and other offensive tools in the Blindwater toolbox. Calaban's feat turn is often him dumping as much of his Fury as he can--tossing out Grave Door with boosts and reaping fury, Hex Blasting and getting fury back, then casting (if necessary) Parasite to debuff. As the Gatormen and other pieces chew into the Parasited model(s) and destroy, Calaban recycles Parasite onto a new target and starts the process again. This works quite well against solid front lines of 'jacks and beasts and heavy infantry.

Carnivore is a curious spell to allocate. You'd think you want it on Gatormen, but as you discovered it doesn't help them immensely as they usually don't have problems hitting most things. I find it far more useful on the Totem Hunter to elevate him to an effective MAT12 against his Prey. Declare the enemy 'caster/'lock as Prey and then cast Carnivore on him and watch how much your opponent respects and fears the Totem Hunter. You can use this kind of psychological manipulation to great advantage. Stealth and Sprint make him hard to pin down too.

For Calaban himself, keep a Bull Snapper nearby for +2ARM and Parasite for a nice ARM bump. Swamp Gobbers to taste.

I think his theme force requires special mention. Giving him access to Bone Grinders is incredibly useful. Plus, Advance Deploying Wrong Eye's battlegroup has been quite handy in my games, allowing an early positioning advantage for Snapjaw and whatever else Wrong Eye takes along (like cheap Bull Snappers).

[TheUnknownMercenary]

For my "Earth's back in the same relative place it was the moment you came into it"-day I received Calaban the Grave Walker.

Sounds like a Happy Birthday is called for!

The funny thing is my own "Earth's back in the same relative place it was the moment you came into it"-day is coming up later this week and I was told by my wife, when Claban was released, that I had better not buy Calaban, so me thinks, I too, will be getting this cool gator soon myself.

[TinRobot]

I've been loving Calaban, he brings a lot of fun to gators. Barnabas is a beatstick and great lock but I usually find games more enjoyable with Calaban. Last game I played I was able to get some great use out of his feat and was able to devastate my opponent's army.

He is a bit tricky to use but with experience he gets better and better.

[Polar_Bear]

He really does have a tool for every situation under the sun. High Armor, High Defense, annoying enemy upkeeps, enemy ranged units, incorporeal things, enemy swarms. It's all taken care of by /something/ that this guy can do. He's 100% complimentary to whatever you want to put into your army.

PB

[Sardonic Artery]

Don't you see what you guys are doing to me? I'd given up on Wrath being anything but a ranking officer and new Cygnar warcaster purchase, aiming those funds instead at a small Blindwater force to get me into Hordes -- starting with a solid 15 points (with enough room to force 25), while slowly growing to 35, all under Barnabas -- and all I see are threads about great stinkin' gator models. You're a cruel bunch...

I've played one game with him so far and it was a bad match-up... I slaughtered poor pCaine mercilessly (sad since he's one of my favorite casters lol).

I think a black hole just opened in the Cygnar forum...

[Polar_Bear]

I honestly can't play Calaban again soon enough. It probably won't be until Sunday, if even then, but I'm really looking forward to it. 99% chance of it being against Trolls again with much the same set-up they had before. Though this time I'm thinking of taking out a few of the solos I'd had (3 Croaks, Thrullg and a Hunter) and putting in a second Posse unit or maybe Bog Trogs (if my order ever makes it here and I get them). Will probably also get a Spitter in there instead of the Wrastler, just to change things up. I love the Bull Snappers in with him, as the armor bonus on things is just too good not to have. It was great in my last game with an ARM 21 Wrastler staring down a Blitzer. At that point, the Blitzer was the only thing that could hurt my Wrastler, but it'd been savagely beaten down a couple times, and was sitting on just a handfull of HP left. Meaning with the right rolls, I might've killed it as it attacked me. It opted for a two-handed throw to get me out of the way instead. However, as we all know, Gators don't mind that sort of thing all that much.

PB

[Loki_333]

I've gotten a couple of games in with Calaban, including facing Madrak last night. I have to echo what a few others have said as far as preferring Calaban over Barnabus. I like Calaban's play style because he plays denial till his force's are in the enemies face and then starts havoc in troop units. Coming from Khador, I appreciate that particular style as I've never really mastered some of Khador's denial casters such as the Irusks and Old Witch. Not sure why I don't do as well with them, but I'm been thinking about giving eIrusk a re-look.

The troll player I've been playing lately uses Champion's as his main infantry unit and parasite makes them easier to eat since I prefer to let the Posse and snapper's handle them while the Wrastlers take on his beasts. (Mauler, Axer and Impalers) Last night we played mosh-pit and between Occultation, Spiny Growth and the Swamp Gobbers my forces didn't see any casualties till I stuck in during the second turn.

And I gotta say that Calaban is one of the cooler sculpts, and the model is massive. Not out of proportion to other models, he's just a big Gator.

Edit: I've used Carnivore to heal Calaban after he used life trader to beat the snot out of Jacks and beasts since they have defense low enough that he doesn't need a boost to hit if they haven't been knocked down by a wrastler. Just activated the Posse after him and had them nom their way through some infantry.

[Halfhoot]

I think a black hole just opened in the Cygnar forum...

Yea lol... now I just have to try and figure out a pCaine list myself that can take him... man oh man it'll be difficult though. Hunters and Defenders maybe... if the Posse is stealth, the big beasts aren't. If a beast is, the Posse aren't.

Speaking of which... I did find a bad matchup for Calaban. Kraye. :P His jacks have cavalry rules... they can have pathfinder... his hunters can take a light cav move after shooting... His list usually has very few living models to take advantage of. Annoying. I think Barnabas would be better against Kraye just for Iron Flesh and Swamp templates for hiding from Hunters.

[felixcat]

I'm surprised there are so many Calaban lovers out there. I think he is okay as a second caster but Barnabus is too strong to be deposed as our number one caster by the Calaban's toolbox of spells. I would rate him better only against a Troll brick or maybe a Khador list. Otherwise Barny seems the best overall caster we have. Now if we are talking about having fun ... well both are fun to play. I love popping down swamps against my friend's Cygnar gunline and /barny does well against Warmachine in general but yes against tough Hordes armies I appreciate Calaban at times.

[Amalgam]

with parasite, he's more like a pow 14 weapon master

[Gramut]

I <3 Calaban
I <3 Barnabas
I <3 Blindwater Congregation

[larabic]

Occultation I put on my Swamp Gobbers. That way, they put out the smoke that my army can hide behind (well, Calaban and a couple Bull Snappers, anyway) but still not be targeted and keep from just getting shot at. Took them right out of the equation for my opponent's Blitzer, which kept my army safer longer.

[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Ha! Now thats clever, i will have to remember that.