The Soldier

Vitality: 7

Courage: 6

Key Mechanics:

Rage

Starting Gear:

Fireplace Poker – A makeshift melee weapon that increases effectiveness of attacks, and reduces threat on successful fate dice.

Pot Lid – For some reason the pot lid is no longer a defensive item, instead giving the same bonus as the fireplace poker.  (It used to increase enemy target numbers in development versions of the game.)

Strategy Guide

Maneuverability: Very Strong (7 cards)

Two sprint and two hustle cards make the soldier one of the most mobile heroes from the start.  Add in additional movement from 2 riding the edge cards and 1 disengage card, and the soldier has more cards to use for positioning and movement than anyone else.

Defense: Strong (4 cards)

The soldier has two cards to avoid an attack, and two more to make himself virtually unhittable.  The two impenetrable cards are especially potent in keeping the darkness from beating down the party.

Attack (Single Target): Strong (7 cards)

The soldier has 7 cards with various ways to do damage.  More importantly, over half can be played as reactions, allowing multiple attacks in a hero turn.  One thing to be aware of is that 5 of these 7 use the range of a weapon, so a soldier armed with a ranged weapon actually can use as many distance attacks as the archer can.

Attack (Multiple Targets): Strong (4 Cards)

Continuing the soldiers’ run of strengths, the soldier has 2 different attacks to hit multiple targets, with 2 cards of each.  Harvest of bones is one of the best cards to take down massive numbers of enemies.  Ride the Edge takes some setting up, but it is also useful.  The soldier should be your best generator of treasure tokens with these attacks.

Utility: Average (6 cards)

Although the soldier has 6 utility cards, none are overly strong.  He has some buffs and cards to work with his rage mechanic, the ability to fish his discard pile for a card, and the ability to take hits for others, which is useful with his combination of high vitality and defensive cards.

Special: None

Advancement

There Can Be Only One – This is a really strong utility card, making it easier for the whole group to attack, which will be invaluable in boss fights.  Definitely worth picking up as soon as possible.

Everyone Behind Me – This is as effective defensively as There Can Be Only One is offensively.  This can be a key card in saving the party from boss attacks or other sticky situations.

Chain Mail– Upgrading armor should be a priority.  A soldier is going to take more hits than anyone else, so the extra vitality is more valuable to him than to anyone else.  Any armor, shield, and helmet upgrades are valuable, but chainmail is likely the best upgrade if you are looking for 1 items to hold onto.

Mace – Although any weapon is an upgrade, a mace is especially useful due to the ability to damage lairs with fate recipes.  With the large number of attacks the soldier has, he will often be the one charging through enemies towards lairs.