Splinterlads Battle Mage Secrets - Back To Basics Means Old School ...

The classic weekly battle challenge retired to make way for the Battle Mage Secrets series, making it more entertaining. This new set-up adds a focus on dynamic strategies, as players will be able to choose from a greater selection of more diverse units to bring into battle. May the gods of random be in my favor!

Let's enjoy the Back To Basics ruleset, where all the units lose all abilities. At least the summoner effects are still active ... maybe!

What's the approach for a successful Back to Basics battle? Use a summoner that will boost the whole team, unless is silenced, and the strongest melee as a tank. Top up the team with low cost casters and ranged units, depending on the summoner choice!

This battle made it weirdly efficient to go for Sloan ranged boost, with the Equalizer rule making the lesser archers stronger than usual.

General Sloan: +1 Ranged Attack

Pelacor Conjurer: Decoy

Gargoya Scrapper: Melee

Time Mage: Caster

Supply Runner: Ranged

Venari Crystalsmith: Ranged

Pelacor Arbalest: Ranged

My focus on ranged units was beneficial, as my opponent expected an army of magic boosted units. The summoner's Shatter and Void Armor was pointless against this team of sharpshooters!

Not that pointless was the health reduction, as I started the battle with one health less then the enemies. Their mix of decoys, casters and ranged was similar to mine.

Even without his Double-Strike, the Arbalest had enough damage in his quilt to take down the Mycelic tank. The Hill Giant took it's place and was ready to counter. The Pelacor Conjurer was severely injured by the casters, but the Giant had the last hit.

Round two started with a new set of tanks, and nearly finished with others. Luckily enough, the Gargoya Scrapper survived with one health! The Pelacor Arbalest was again the MVP, delivering another deadly blow! The Hill Giant was replaced by the shady Chaos Agent, which failed to survive the next round.

In return, the Gargoya Scrapper was obliterated by mystical forcers! His demise was fulfilled by Djinn Biljka, the one who hides in the darkness. It was the Time Mage's turn to become the bullseye, a more useful task than his zero damage so far!

We moved into the endgame, where all my ranged units will become vulnerable. It was a similar situation on the other side, with the Goblin Psychic and Djinn Biljka defending the Goblin Tower. However... the Pelacor Arbalest done it again! The team lowered the health and the Arbalest precise arrow took the Baby Yoda out of the game!

I was lucky again, as the Time Mage's superior speed made him elusive enough to avoid the Goblin Tower's arrows! Who was always there to complete the task? The Pelacor Arbalest obviously! Game over! See the full battle here!

I remember that I played more than once Back to Basics with silenced summoners... that is just boring AF! It's close when Rise of Commons is added in the mix, as the epic and legendary monsters couldn't be chosen.

Obsidian: +1 Spell Power

Nectar Queen: Tank and Not-Flying Bee

Mycelic Slipspawn: Caster without Taunt

Centauri Mage: Caster

Regal Peryton: Caster and Non-Flying Unicorn

Goblin Psychic: Caster and healer (that doesn't heal)

Uloth Dhampir: Ranged half-vampire!

The opponent mirrored my tactic, buffing the casters with Obsidian. We both used the Mycelic Slipspawn as a tank without taunt, plus the Regal Peryton and the Goblic Psychic. I started with a small advantage, as the Unicorn Mustang and the Mycelic Infantry were able to attack, and the melee opponents had to wait for their turn. Maybe was unwise to use three big health melee for this fight?

I played the Centauri Mage and Uloth Dhampir for instant damage and this helped me to take down the Elven Defender by the end of the first round. However, the Nectar Queen soon followed the elf in the grave, and the number of causalities was now even.

Having six monsters dealing damage instead of four gave me a tactical advantage, as I downed the second melee tank. I consider selecting three melee monsters was big mistake, as the casters I choose not only kept hitting but also ignored the armor.

Mustang down, quickly was followed by the Mycelic Slipspawn. I lost two monsters as well, and it looked almost even at the start of round three!

Peryton v Peryton and Goblin v Goblin! However, having a vampire as an extra card proved to be a game changer! Game over in only six rounds! See the full battle here!