| Wyvern Riders | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Race | Orcs | |
| Req. Town Buildings | Fantastic Stable | |
| Construction Cost |
 200 | |
| Upkeep Cost |
 4 1 | |
| ||
| # of figures |
 2 | |
| Moves |
 3 | |
| Melee Attack per figure |
 5 * | |
| Defense per figure |
 5 | |
| Resistance |
 7 * | |
| Hit Points per figure |
 10 | |
| ||
 Poison Touch 6 | ||
Wyvern Riders are a type of Normal Unit. This unit is unique to the Orc Race, and can only be built in Orc towns, for the Construction Cost of 200. The town must already contain a Fantastic Stable for this to be possible.
Wyvern Riders are airborne shock-cavalry, and are some of the most powerful Normal Units in the game. They are both strong and sturdy, allowing them to effectively do combat with a wide range of units, including some Fantastic Creatures. Wyvern Riders utilize their speed and Flying ability to pick out their targets and eliminate them. During Melee combat, the Wyvern Riders rely primarily on a Poison Touch attack which can cause significant damage to units with low Resistance scores. The Wyvern Riders' normal Melee Attack is not too powerful on its own, but can still do serious damage to Normal Units.
Wyvern Riders will almost always have at least one Experience Level by default ("Regular"). This makes them even stronger than described above, and they'll just keep getting stronger as more and more Experience is accumulated.
Wyvern Riders require an Upkeep Cost of 4 and 1 to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically.
Unit Properties
Physical Description
Wyverns are large reptiles, roughly the size of horses. They are bipedal, missing any front legs or arms, but have two great dragon-like wings. Their long tails are tipped with venomous spikes, which they use to stab at their prey. Each Wyvern is ridden by an orc - a short, ugly, red-skinned humanoid - whose job is to direct the Wyvern towards its target.
Wyvern Riders are a Multi-Figure unit, though containing only 
2 figures when fully healed.
Attack Properties
The Wyvern Riders rely on two separate attacks that are used simultaneously - a moderately strong Melee Attack, and a Poison Touch attack. Depending on the target's properties, either attack could be the more dangerous component.
Each Wyvern's Melee Attack has a strength of 5 by default. However, Wyvern Riders created from a town always receive at least one free 
Experience Level, giving them 6 each. With this score, each Wyvern delivers an average damage output of 
1.8 per attack, a high amount that can easily go through light or even medium armor. With both figures attacking simultaneously, the Wyvern Riders are likely to inflict at least some damage to most opponents.
In addition to normal Melee Damage, Wyvern Riders also carry out a Touch Attack which delivers 6 points of Poison Damage per Wyvern. The target does not make Defense rolls against this attack - instead it makes Resistance rolls (at no penalty), with each failed roll resulting in 1 point of Damage to the target. The average damage output is therefore completely dependent on the enemy's Resistance score, but will be very high against low-resistance targets.
Targets possessing Poison Immunity or a Resistance score of 10 or higher are completely immune to the Poison Touch attack. Such targets will only suffer Melee Damage, if any, from the Wyvern Riders.
Defense Properties
Wyvern Riders are the best-armored units in the Orc army (and some of the most heavily-armored Normal Units in the game) possessing a default Defense score of 5. This allows them to block about 1.5 points of Damage from any incoming attack. This should protect the Wyvern Riders from most enemy Normal Units.
Furthermore, Wyvern Riders are also very healthy, with each creature having 10 Hit Points, for a total of 20 per unit. Together with its high Defense score, this unit has roughly as much survivability as a low-tier Fantastic Unit. Even damage that gets through the Wyvern Riders' armor will take some time to kill these creatures!
Finally, Wyvern Riders possess a high Resistance scores of a Normal Unit. Their default Resistance is 7, but since Wyvern Riders almost always have at least one free Experience Level upon creation, this is raised to 8. It is enough to save the Wyvern Riders from Curses and other ill effects fairly often, and with additional 
Experience this unit can even become immune to some spells and effects.
Other Properties
Wyvern Riders are Flying creatures and are very quick. They have a Movement Allowance of 3, which allows them to travel very rapidly both on the overland map and during combat. This is particularly important in combat, as the unit requires speed to reach the lowest-Resistance targets, which it can easily eliminate.
Basic Strategy
Wyvern Riders are some of the strongest Normal Units in the game. In the Orc army, they provide the ability to quickly get rid of weaker enemies on the battlefield, including any target that has either a low Defense score or a low Resistance score.
In battle, the Wyvern Riders can cover the distance to almost any target with haste. Enemy Ranged Attackers are often the best initial targets, both because they generally lack armor, but also because they tend to pose more of a threat to the Flying Wyverns themselves. Once these are dealt with, the Wyvern Riders can continue choosing other low-armor/low-resistance targets to chomp them up.
Sadly, Wyvern Riders are not too efficient against stronger targets. With only 2 figures, the Wyverns' attack is not very useful against well-armored and highly-resistant units. Nonetheless, some Fantastic Creatures possess low Resistance scores, and are thus vulnerable to Wyverns. A group of Wyvern Riders can gang up on such creatures and kill them fairly easily. The Wyverns' high Hit Points should keep them safe when going after such targets.
Ability Overview
Poison Touch 6
- During this unit's Melee Attack, each figure will also make a Touch Attack against the target, delivering 6 points of Poison Damage per attack.
- The target unit must make 6 consecutive Resistance rolls against each Poison Attack. For each roll the target fails, it receives 1 point of Damage.
- The Poison Damage is dealt simultaneously with the exchange of Melee Damage between the two units.
- The Poisoning also occurs when this unit Counter Attacks against an enemy assailant.
- This effect does nothing against targets possessing the Poison Immunity ability.
Experience Table
The following table illustrates how Wyvern Riders improve as they gain Experience. Any properties that are not listed here do not improve with Experience in any way.
| Level Icon | Level Name | EP | Melee | To Hit | Defense | Resist | Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Recruit | 0 - 19
|
5
|
 30%
|
5
|
7
|
10
|
|
Regular | 20 - 59
|
6
|
30%
|
5
|
8
|
10
|
|
Veteran | 60 - 119
|
6
|
30%
|
6
|
9
|
10
|
|
Elite | 120
|
7
|
40%
|
6
|
10
|
11
|
|
Ultra-Elite | 120 *
|
7
|
50%
|
7
|
11
|
11
|
|
Champion | 120 **
|
8
|
60%
|
7
|
12
|
12
|
* To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play.
** To achieve this level, both the Warlord Retort and the Crusade spell must be in play simultaneously.
Average Damage Output
The table below details the average amount of damage that each Figure in a Wyvern Riders unit will deliver with each type of attack, based on Experience Level. It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to figure out the chance of hurting that target.
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">Acquisition
Wyvern Riders are unique to the Orcs, and thus may be produced in any Orc Town.
A town must contain the Fantastic Stable to be able to produce Wyvern Riders. Should a town lose its Fantastic Stable, it can no longer produce Wyvern Riders until a replacement structure is built.
Note that this building requirement means that Wyvern Riders produced in towns will always start as "Regular" troops (one free Experience Level), giving them a small but significant bonus above the default unit strength.
The Construction Cost of this unit is 200.
Wyvern Riders may appear for hire as Mercenaries. They may already have some Experience on being hired, and several units may be hired simultaneously. Hiring these units requires a certain cost in Gold that depends on many different factors. Wyvern Rider Mercenaries have the same Upkeep Cost as a normally-constructed unit.