Antioch - The Black Knight

*"**i need a coffee.**"*

Antioch hanging out in the spooky woods. What will he do?

**Antioch** is a leader unit in the **Lizimorr** faction and the faction's **epic hero**.

## Overview

Antioch is the most powerful unit that Lizimorr can muster. He is a brutal behemoth of armor and faith, that can stride across the battlefield while tanking the heaviest of enemy weaponry. His weaponry is effective at range, bringing a knight gunner's heavy blaster to bear. Antioch is most powerful in melee, however, as his unique weapon "The Axe of the Anointed" can shred most units in the game in a single action.

## Abilities

### Code of Chivalry

This unit cannot retreat. If an enemy unit adjacent to this unit retreats, this unit becomes enraged for a turn. All actions performed by enraged units are free.

### Declare Crusade

If this unit is your leader then at the start of your turn a random enemy unit will be declared as your crusade target. Crusade targets cannot be missed with melee attacks, and killing them gives you +2 energy.

### Aura of Terror

Enemy units attacking this unit in melee take a -25% chance to hit.

### Stubborn

Attacks against this model with a base damage below 45 have their damage halved on top of the effects of defense.

## Gear

### Weapon

AXE OF THE ANOINTED

Ability: Whenever an attack with this weapon hits an enemy unit, there is a 50% chance for a wide sweep. Wide sweeps cause another bonus attack to an enemy unit in melee range of both the attacking unit and the initial target unit.

HEAVY BLASTER

Ability: For every hit this weapon makes there is a 50% chance to stun the target. Stunned units have one less action per stun afflicted.

## Strategy

In older forms of the popular tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000 there was a type of unit strategy known as a "distraction carnifex." The distraction carnifex is a large scary unit that goes up the board and draws enemy fire. Antioch, with his extremely inflated health pool, high defense, and the stubborn ability, can take punishment from the enemy's entire army for a good half of the game match before possibly needing support. When using Antioch, think of him as a larger knight graven. He can soak up damage very effectively while the rest of your army gets into position. Continue to push with Antioch each turn up the board until he is within the thick of your opponent's army, at which point is absurdly powerful melee attacks will cut them all down while opponents struggle to retaliate in melee thanks to Antioch's aura of terror ability decreasing the chance they can even hit him.

Antioch also has the same ranged weapon as a knight gunner, albeit with a higher ranged accuracy. Consider weighing the prospect of firing Antioch's heavy blaster with that of moving further up the board or further towards the enemy. If an enemy is not reachable or is trying to kite Antioch's relatively low speed, then that would be a good time to unload with his heavy blaster. Otherwise, Antioch's melee is more or less a guaranteed kill on whatever he targets as well as possibly anyone close to his target thanks to his axe's wide sweep capability.

Being an epic hero, Antioch takes a very large chunk of points out of your army list to use as well as a hefty energy usage in battle. Consider supporting Antioch with one paladin to boost his crusade ability as well as help Antioch with support spells. Antioch also synergizes fairly well with assault armsmen, as assault armsmen don't consume energy on the first turn to get into position which can instead be used to command Antioch into an oppressive early game push.

## Lore

*"Antioch is the divine saint of the Lizimorr church of Great Sky and the champion of the realm. His blessings allow him to hear whispers of the will of Great Sky, which guides the knights of Lizimorr in their eternal crusade to the goblin mountains. It is said that the great Mt. Ora contains the way to eternal nirvana in the arms of Great Sky and the holy land in another dimension."*

Additionally from the epic hero teaser announcement:

"*Antioch is a hulking brutal behemoth clad in armor so thick that even the mighty goblin cannons are deflected harmlessly off of ornately decorated plate and chainmail. His body has been blessed with a spirit sent from on high, a great angel of the Lizimorr god Great Sky. His divinely anointed form stands above even the greatest human warriors, and his bestial strength can both rip apart any foe in melee and heft the greatest man-portable cannons as though they were pistols.*"