Veteran Chisel has two Character Traits on the back of her card, both of which push her theme of team support and solidarity. The first, Share the Burden, might look a bit familiar. This rule is very similar to Take One For The Team on Millstone in the Farmer’s Guild. The truth is that we playtested Chisel with that rule, but we felt it was a bit much when combined with all the other Mason synergies. As a result, we ended up with this version, which has a larger aura size, but may only be used once per turn. Throughout the playtesting of this model, we actually came to like this version of the rule more, and it’s worth saying that this will very likely be the Season 4 version of Take One For The Team.

At this point we felt we had a couple of options; to errata Take One For The Team to match this rule so they could have the same name, or simply release this rule with a different name but a very similar effect. Bearing in mind the short timeframe between this model’s release and Season 4, we eventually made the decision to go with this version for now.

To move on and actually discuss the rule, Chisel being able to take one condition each turn is simply fantastic. There are a tonne of uses for this Character Trait, taking the knockdown condition to allow a friendly model to counter attack an enemy and dodge out of melee, for instance. It could also allow Chisel to take the bleed or poison conditions to prevent a friendly model dying in the Maintenance Phase, or take the snared or burning condition to allow a friendly model to keep moving and finish that important Charge or goal run. It’s really just a beauty of a rule, providing tonnes of flexibility providing you keep your team within the protective aura.

Chisel’s second Character Trait also provides plenty of options. Adaptive Strategy allows Chisel’s Controlling Player, once per turn, to remove any number of Influence from a friendly model within the pulse, and allocate that number of Influence to another friendly model within the pulse. Chisel cannot use this ability to allocate the Influence to herself, since it turned out in playtest that Chisel spending 8 Influence in a single activation was, to quote one of our playtesters, ‘a bit good’.

This ability provides a tonne of options, both on quite a basic level and once you get really into the Mason strategy tank. Suddenly being able to switch tactics on the fly and, for instance, take 3 Influence off Mallet and give it to Flint for a goal run is right in Chisel’s wheelhouse. And oh boy, that’s BEFORE we even start talking about how this rule interacts with Superior Strategy because it does and its totally rad. Activate a model with Superior Strategy on them, spend four Influence beating down on someone, then have Chisel go, give them four more Influence, then have them finish the beatdown! Now of course your opponent has a couple of activations to try and pull their player out of there, but you’re forcing them to react to that potential threat. Which of course, might never even happen if you spy an even better opportunity to score some VPs somewhere else!

Veteran Chisel is a character who’s grown and developed over her time playing Guild Ball into a real team player. She’s focused on helping out her teammates and enabling them to play their best game. We feel she’s a really strong addition to the Mason’s Guild, and we’re excited to know what you think of her! Let us know on our social media and forums, and if you think Chisel is an absolute must have, you can pre-order the Faithful box here.

See you all next week for a look at a distinctly more holy figure….