PRIMUS FIRST, PRIMUS LAST

“The kingdom in the deep jungle has survived and thrived thanks to it’s vicious army of Amazons and it’s connection with the primeval monsters of the jungle. Primus can win through relying on their Amazons to hold the field or on the massive beasts to overwhelm their opponents with size and strength. A good mix of monsters and amazons makes Primus a difficult faction to beat. Primus can have difficulties with skilled lower and middle level units occupying the battlefield and winning the resource war, making it impossible to afford their expensive, albeit powerful, monsters. Players who like using big, powerful units will really like Primus, as well as those who like to build up forces over time.” Website gameplay description

“One of the oldest and most remote factions, Primus inhabits a thick jungle rich with the faction’s three most prized resources: jade, green obsidian, and mana. The humanoid fighting forces rival Zyan’s techniques. Primus fighters use energy infused jade armor and obsidian weapons paired with organized tactics that overwhelm those who venture into the jungle. It is their mana wielding witches, however, that makes them so overwhelming. Primus witches have mastered using mana in one of it’s most unique forms- runestones. The witches use these runestones to summon some of the largest monsters in the jungle like krakens, yacumamas, and coatls.“- Jason Crayton, Director of Graviterrus Lore

MrBoardGamer- Primus Strategy Video

PRIMUS KEYS TO VICTORY:

• Call upon the jungle! Use Runestone and War Horn to summon huge monsters and rally troops without having to
  spend all of your gold.

• Establish control of a Gold Mine or Mana Pool with tough units that have high health and abilities designed to make
  them a challenge to eliminate.

• Overwhelm opponents with multiple majestic and powerful ancient monsters of the jungle. More than one will be
  expensive, but hard for any opponent to overcome.

5 Spells and Abilities that make Primus dangerous:

AMPHIBIOUS: This unit can move through water spaces and melee attack while on water spaces

without penalty. (Jungle River Kraken)

WAR HORN: Put a unit of the indicated unit type into your base camp without paying its recruitment

cost (Amazon or Witch). (1 use per game). (Amazon Champion)

PARRY: Your opponent must roll a 6-sided die when this unit is targeted by any melee attack. If the roll

is less than or equal to the Parry number, the attack has no effect. (Amazon Champion, Yugolori Soldier, Tortuloid Soldier)

ARCANE BLAST: 6 damage total, divided however you choose, among any amount of enemies within

a of 2 spaces.

SNIPE: Ranged attack does double damage. Cannot move before using. (1 use per game). (Iguannax Archers)

Battle Plan A: Monster Wave

6 key units:

Primus dominates the battle when they are able to deploy several high powered monsters at once. Monarch Coatl is simply unstoppable with mana and still elite without it. Arcane Blast enables Primus players to zap multiple enemies and have total control over damage distribution. The Monarch Coatl has the highest rank skill in the game and outstanding mobility with 3 movement and the flying. 6 health and Immune to Spells give it significant staying power and solidify its status as a bonafide battle finisher. However, other Primus monsters are nothing to overlook. Greater Wyvern is a havocwreaker as well, and can rip through enemies quickly with a tremendous melee attack. The Greater Wyvern and Sabertooth Hodag both have Spikeskin and Stealth (for the Wyvern on home spaces only) making them really challenging to eliminate through melee attacks only. Darktrench Yacumama and Jungle River Kraken can patrol boards with large amounts of water spaces with Amphibious and Aquatic. Iguannax Archers make for a great support force, as their ranged capabilities allow them to feast on enemies preoccupied with the bigger monsters. Patience and defense is the key with this approach. Putting all your resources into a high cost monster or rushing your monsters across the battleground too early could result in your opponent weathering the initial offensive and you out of gold. Use the 5 cost slot, high health and Stealth based monsters to build a solid force and patiently lurk in the jungle. Your opponents will be against the clock trying to figure out how to deal with that threat before you accumulate enough gold for the Monarch Coatl or Greater Wyvern.

Battle Plan B: Frontline Grind

6 key units:

Health and defensive abilities are at the heart of every Primus strategy, but sometimes a skilled player will use those health attributes as a way to lead an offensive charge. Amazon Champion is the catalyst for this type of tactic, as she can bring in a free Amazon or Witch unit with War Horn, enabling her to grow your forces rapidly. She is also an outstanding melee fighter, and along with Tortuloid Bladebreaker, poses a significant advantage on the frontlines. This advantage does not come in the normal form of very high damage melee attacks or powerful spells, but rather in the ability to do something relatively rare in Factions– Survive multiple attacks. Tortuloid Bladebreaker and Amazon Champion have the high health and Parry ability to waste enemy activations, allowing them to establish control over Resource Centers and key spaces. Tortuloid Soldier and Yugolori Sentinel have great toughness as well for costing only 3 and 4 gold. These units can support the Champion and Bladebreaker on the front lines as they push forward, crowding the enemy zone, absorbing attacks and establishing domination of the resources. Bogdeep Witch and Amazon Javelineer, again at only 3 and 4 gold, provide cheap, ranged offense that can weaken or eliminate key enemies as the frontline grind wears down the enemy. Complacency is not the way to go with this strategy. Waiting too long with highly defensive units will leave them vulnerable to high powered spells. Go directly for the resource centers and once claimed, make them as hard as possible for your opponent to recover.

Underrated Unit: FERAL HYDRA

Feral Hydra is a great fit for any Primus strategy. It has great Prowess and also a defensive ability in Menace. It also has the ability to attack more than one unit with Multi-Attack. Primus units in general will draw multiple enemy units together because of their high health and ability to survive attacks. This creates a lot of great chances for Multi-Attacks. The Feral Hydra doesn’t have the best attack in Primus (Greater Wyvern) or the best defensive attributes on Primus (Jungle River Kraken) nor is it’s defensive ability amazing compared to Stealth. Multi-Attack is not nearly as powerful as Arcane Blast. However, put all of that together and you have the makings of a very useful and effective unit.

Underrated Spell or Ability: RUNESTONE: Put a unit into your basecamp by paying its gold cost with mana instead of gold. Cannot use on an Amazon or Witch. (1 use per game).

This is a little bit misleading because almost every Primus player will probably tell you that Runestone is the best ability in the faction and maybe the game. I actually think it’s overrated— when used at the beginning of the battle! Getting an absolute top tier game wrecking monster onto the board is fun, but it torches your mana for a couple of rounds, minimizing your spell options. Also, your opponent has time to adjust and could score some serious points right away. Runestone used late in the game to bring out a finisher and end a close game? Now that is more like it… of course this is just one opinion!

What are some of your war stories with Primus??