Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Probably the best way for a small offense (and thus a large defense) to mess with an opponent's offense is through cards like Abom with forced drawing (Kindness and several of the Luke/John Heroes) or via side battles (so your defense does your dirty work,  but your offense makes sure that you can play the cards you need. Then there is a combo you could set up with a pretty limited offense, though it mostly applies to stopping an opponent's OT defense (you could also include a way to stop N.T. offenses as well, though it may be a bit more complicated).

Cards you need:

-Ehud
-A converted EC with Horses attached (or a chain of Heroes starting with an O.T. Hero that can bring in E.T.)
-I am Healing (optional; Chariot of Fire might also work, if you don't have backup Heroes)
-Deborah's Directive
-Samson's Sacrifice
-Canaan and Prince of Tyrus (WA) (This may also not be necessary, but it is a good way to ensure that Ehud will have initiative)
-Holy of Holies in a Temple (This may not be necessary, but it is a good way to ensure that you can get rid of FBTN Heroes as well)
-Something to discard (OT Fortress or occupied Site) with SS (you should have plenty of options here in your own deck, if your opponent doesn't have anything)
-Unity in Christ (Apostles) and Coat of Many Colors for N.T. option.

Steps:

-Use Canaan to give your opponent Prince of Tyrus (or if your opponent has a guy that gives Ehud initiative even better; just try to make sure somehow that that character can't play a negate).
-Use Deborah's Directive (or Coat and Unity) to band in all of your opponent's Heroes, plus E.T. or your character with Horses.
-Play Samson's Sacrifice

This will discard all of your opponent's human characters, good and evil. You can use I am Healing to heal your own guys.

Of course, this will take considerable setup, but since you will probably want to wait until endgame to do it anyway (for maximum effect) that should be ok.

There are a bunch of potential additions/modifications to the combo that may fit your playstyle, but this is essentially the gist of it. If you are able to keep Ehud in hand, deck or discard pile until you are ready to pull it off, Angel with the Secret Name would also help to ensure that opponent can't negate SS. You will also want Shipwreck to negate and discard Wall of Protection (since Ehud's interrupt only lasts until the blocker is chosen) or an N.T. protect fort like Areopagus or High Priest's Palace that SS can't hit.

The best way to hit a Clay offense is probably to use Romans Destroy Jerusalem. This works best if you use an O.T. offense that doesn't rely on Fortresses (Genesis or Judges work well for that), and with all the new Romans, there are several good options. And a side battle to play it is usually your best bet as well, since it is often hard for Romans to gain initiative.

the only problem I have is the people that negate OT Enhancements. that is actually why I love Crimson, is Great Image, also Christian Suing Another.

this now has me thinking.... is there a way to get my opponents heroes from deck to play, to make sure I have all of them?

Yes, actually. I believe you can use Patience to search your opponent's deck for all of his heroes.

Imitating Evil would allow you to play Great Image a second time if you miss a few Heroes the first time around. 

but is there an EC that acts like woman at the well, which pulls out an EC and LS, but pulls out a hero? if not, I'll try the other two.

I do play Babs. I find that they have some fun things to do. plus, Capture 6-8 humans, at least once per game if you get your people out.... awesome block, and decimates their defense.

The problem is you almost have to play that on Nergal or in a side battle for HoG to be useful. In a large defense the odds of doing that are low. They can chump block a little bit but turtles need to consistently get rid of heroes which nothing unique to Babylonians does reliably.

Another strategy is to block with a low Babylonian (one of the magicians of Bab Soldiers) and capture as many characters as possible not in battle, which may not transfer initiative depending on the strength of the attack. But otherwise I agree with Hobbit, it will get negated 9/10 times if played by anyone but Herbal, and the odds of Nergal getting intiative to play is pretty low without Horses, and if your opponent attacks you with a Nergal + Horses in territory, he either has a backup plan or he is hoping that you somehow don't have anything to play. Or perhaps he is just not very experienced in those sort of things, which he soon will be...

So... Is it an offense you're looking for here or a defense?  Usually when I play Babs I like to do Judges with an Ezekiel splash to get better access to those DAEs. In order to make it "small" you could go with something along these lines:

Ezekiel
Aaron
Samuel
Moses
Ehud
Simeon
AUtO
David (green)
Benaiah (wa)
Wheel Within a Wheel
Eli's Sound Advice
Ehud's Dagger
Samuel's Edict
Two Bears
Provisions

I know, it's not super small and doesn't mess with your opponent too much, but it's reliable to get you a few souls and get your defense set up faster.

Ehud's good because it goes along with territory destruction theme I wouldn't cut him. You can choose all the little guys who get under Judges Seat!

Ehud's good because it goes along with territory destruction theme I wouldn't cut him. You can choose all the little guys who get under Judges Seat!

I agree. In 98% of cases wherein someone suggests you to cut Ehud, you should ignore the suggestion.

Quote from: TheHobbit on August 25, 2015, 02:22:28 PM

Ehud's good because it goes along with territory destruction theme I wouldn't cut him. You can choose all the little guys who get under Judges Seat!

I agree. In 98% of cases wherein someone suggests you to cut Ehud, you should ignore the suggestion.

And in 100% of cases wherein Justin suggests it