Oak – as strong as the mountains themselves, and nearly as unmoving.
~Mallet, Mason’s Guild.
The Lumberjack’s captain, Oak, is a towering and opposing figure who doesn’t ask how hard the work is. She may bend, but she never breaks, and suffers no mistakes.
You can also read about Oak on the official SFG reveal – LINK
Basically all text here is taken from their blogpost.
Starting off with her stats and playbook, Oak brings solid values across the board, other than slightly below average movement. She has access to a combined tackle and knock down, as well as damage and access to guild ball results to trigger her powerful character plays…more on those in a moment. At the top of her book, she can push through that key damage she may need to get takeouts herself.
Oak brings two character plays, both which amplify the damage output of the rest of the squad. Bull of the Woods provides Oak with Lend a Hand – increasing the dice on attacks from other friendly models against enemies she is engaged with. Cut Em Down reduces the defense and movement of enemy models in her melee zone. Once Oak has her plays up, remaining close to her is certainly an occupational hazard.
On the back of her card, Oak brings several traits which further synergize with a play pattern of getting in and setting up her team. Between a Rock… allows Oak to reposition during an opponent’s activation, putting herself in a position to set up your next activation by applying bonus TAC or reducing an opposing model’s DEF. It can also be used in many other clever ways, such as providing an additional crowd out to an opposing model, extending Oak’s own threat range, or blocking movement and placement for opposing models.
Now Bends… But Never Breaks is the first ability that showcases the interaction between logpile markers and the Lumberjacks. While Oak is within 1” of a friendly logpile marker, she will gain stoic, allowing her to ignore the first push per turn. This makes it more challenging for opposing teams to deal with the pressure and threat she brings.
Caber Toss, in addition to be an excellent visual for how Oak deal with logs after she has cut them down, showcases another aspect of Lumberjacks gameplay – the ability to reposition logpile markers to where they are most needed. For Oak, this ability allows her to move a logpile marker into the best position so that she and her team can benefit from being nearby, or can move to the next area where they need to be.
Lastly, Oak’s legendary ability Fell Swing allows for a single turn of extra attacks for the team, as well as another ability to reposition both logpile markers on the pitch with a large degree of flexibility. With the perfect setup, Oak can provide her team with up to 6 attacks that do not require influence. Eat your heart out, Honor. However, proper planning is key, as it is also quite easy and likely to get much less out of the first part of the legendary if your team is out of position.
Overall, Oak is a captain that brings respectable output on her own, however truly excels when her setup and utility abilities are used effectively to enable the output and abilities of the rest of the squad and drive them to better heights – the mark of a leader.
