HOLDER'S HEROES

Basic Principles: Band multiple characters together to get huge numbers to overcome any defense an opponent may have.

Fight by Banding is a strategy that was introduced with the Warriors expansion. Since then it has only gotten better, and gained a large boost with the introduction of the Kings expansion. For those that don’t already know, banding is when one of your characters uses its special ability and brings another character into battle. Some Enhancements have banding abilities also. Banding offenses focus on using multiple characters with banding abilities to get large numbers.

Follow up:

If you’ve played Redemption with the E and F starter decks then you have seen some banding characters. Even the C and D decks had one or two. Banding is often used as a sub-strategy in a “rouge” offense, although this article focuses on building an offense that focuses on banding. Banding works because of the large numbers and multiple targets that you create.

When you have three or four characters banded, your characters could total around 20/20. Get that character count to six or seven and you’ve got well over 40/40. So first off, the reason you’re banding all of these people together is to create multiple targets. Most evil “battle winning” Enhancements target one character. If you have seven in battle, losing one isn’t a big deal. Banding chains can overcome some of the strongest Evil Characters in the game in one fell swoop.

The only problem with having numbers at a gargantuan level is that your opponent will almost always have initiative to play nasty Enhancements that can hurt your hand/deck. They would also have the chance to play a card such as Joseph in Prison and remove every single one of your precious Heroes (in battle) from the game. You can prevent this by having one of those wonderful characters that negate all special abilities except for banding, such as Captain of the Host, in battle.

During the era of the Warriors expansion, Captain of the Host and Shamhuth were the only characters that could effectively stop Enhancements on a banding chain. However, with the introduction of the King’s expansion, banding got the beautiful gems called warrior-class Heroes. Now banding and Fight by the Numbers can be combined into one strategy. There are three warrior class heroes that band to the FBTN ones, and there are about five FBTN warrior class heroes.

On to the threat - and usefulness - of Artifacts. There are a few Artifacts that can hinder FBTN but they can all be easily stopped. The number one enemy of the banding deck is Household Idols. This is easily stopped by Covenant with Moses (but only for two turns), and Covenant with David.

The next two Artifacts are harder to get rid of, but don’t hurt banding as much. Holy of Holies is extremely hard to stop/get rid of. The only way here is to use an Artifact discarder, such as Pierced Heart. Ashearah Pole is the other one, but this one can be removed with one of the four Heroes printed on the card. Any of these Artifacts can be stopped by Destruction of Nehushtan, but be careful in your choosing, you can only use this once.

Artifacts also play a very big part in the usefulness of a banding deck. I Am Healing isn’t really an Artifact, it’s a Covenant (so it can be used as an Artifact). I’m choosing this as the most important Artifact because it’s a common and a very useful one. So your opponent just pulled the “can’t be negated” combo of an Assyrian and Rabshakeh Attacks. All but one of your Heroes in battle are going to die, but I Am Healing to the rescue, they get to stay in play. This can also be used twice.

Next on the list is Chariot of Fire. If your Heroes do get discarded because you made a bad rescue at the beggining of the game, Chariot will get them all back. Another helpful Artifact is Blue Tassels. With the 3 Evil Characters that have a “capture can’t be negated” ability, captures and Raiders Camp could hinder your offense. See one of these guys in play, just activate Blue Tassels and you’re set. The last Artifact I would recommend is Altar of Incense because most banding heroes are Old Testament and this would stop any other nasty discards that may come your way.

The last aspect of your wonderful banding offense is Fortresses. Wall of Protection is the only one that you really need. Wall stops your opponent - who realized that banding was good and is also using it - from banding all of your guys into battle. You could add Solomon’s Temple, Book of the Covenant, Covenant of Eden, and Covenant of Palestine… if you wanted to prevent capture and removal in one blow. However, this takes up a lot of space and really isn’t needed.