Throwback Thursday is a common theme on sites and blogs where you hearken back to something interesting or random from the past. On Land of Redemption, our current Throwback Thursday trend is re-posts of preview articles from years and sets past.

We now continue with the Thesaurus ex Preteritus preview articles. Enjoy!

“Red needs help.” The playtesters heard this often. As if the lack of red decks at the top tables of tournaments was not enough of a clue, players voiced their concerns to us numerous times that red needed an upgrade to become a viable option for top decks.

Red has its strengths. It has some of the biggest numbered Heroes in the game. It has a lot of banding options. A red brigade Hero can defeat Evil Characters with an array of “battle-winner” Enhancements such as Freedom, Baggage, Jael’s Nail, Power of the Cross, David’s Mighty Men, etc. Red’s main weakness has been immune abilities on Evil Characters. Unfortunately, a lot of players use immune Evil Characters such as Red Dragon, Emperor Nero, Prince of this World, and even The Bear. The Priests expansion contained a card that helps against immunity: The Might of Faith. While that one is certainly versatile, a single regular Enhancement can’t defeat an entire defense built on immunity. Compounding red’s problems was the influx of Evil Characters (and a site) with special abilities that can stop a rescue before a Hero can use an Enhancement.  Red’s troubles were doubled by a shortage of New Testament Heroes. Yes, Red needed help.

Enter The Centurion at Capernaum.
This Hero helps red punch through many defenses that previously gave it trouble. His 7/6 numbers are identical to the other good centurions in the game: Centurion and Cornelius (2nd edition).

While those numbers are not great for initiative, he is still small enough to go first against several popular Evil Characters. The ability to hold a weapon is nice, and access to Sites can save you in a pinch, but his primary military specialty is the first special ability: “Negate special abilities on Sites and Evil Characters, except banding and warrior class. ”

As I list the following Evil Characters, think about how useful they are without their special abilities: Uzzah, Trembling Demon, Emperor Nero, Emperor Claudius, Red Dragon, Prince of this World, The Bear, Complainers, Shadow, Egyptian Warden, The Amalekites’ Slave, Persian Presidents, Sabbath Breaker, King of Tyrus. I could go on, but you get the idea. Many, many players rely on the special abilities of their Evil Characters. If you take away those special abilities, your opponents must rely on their evil Enhancements – a weakness in more than a few defenses.

True, negating the special abilities on Evil Characters is nothing new. John, another New Testament Hero, has graced purple with a similar ability since 2005. Now Red gets to use it, but with a twist. This Hero trades in the ability to negate warrior class abilities, and instead gains the ability to negate the special abilities on Sites, and gains access to Sites.
Sites are used fairly often now, and will be used even more after the release of Thesaurus ex Preteritus. We already have many players using Hormah to hide lost souls, Jericho to draw a card or look at a hand, and Mildewed House to make your opponent lose a hero for a while. Come August, Herod’s Dungeon will be capturing male human heroes with strength 7 or greater. (In fact, sites like Herod’s Dungeon and Hormah might be reason enough to consider using The Centurion at Capernaum over a hero like John or Moses.) There will be more Sites, more and different ways to use Sites, steal Sites, discard Sites, negate Sites, and search for Sites.  In short, the ability to negate special abilities on Sites will help.

The Centurion at Capernaum showed great faith in how he asked Jesus to heal his servant. As a man with authority over 100 soldiers, and as a man under authority himself, he understood what following orders meant. It meant the orders were obeyed. He knew that Jesus had authority over illnesses and diseases. He knew the illness would leave if so ordered. Jesus so ordered, and the servant was healed from that very hour.

It is appropriate that the special abilities on this Hero and The Might of Faith are so similar, since that is what he demonstrated. And this hero doesn’t make The Might of Faith obsolete by any means. The Might of Faith is still one of the best ways to stop the suicide kings: King Zimri and Emperor Otho, both of whom are warrior class. And in case you get caught without a banding card, The Centurion at Capernaum will still need The Might of Faith to defeat the new warrior class Evil Character, Philistine Garrison.

The Centurion at Capernaum can employ the newest tactics, too. Red’s territory class Enhancement, like most of the good territory class Enhancements, only works when used by certain Heroes. In Red’s case, it must be used by a warrior class Hero. Both the red Heroes in this set can use that Enhancement, which allows you to get the red Enhancement you need from your deck or discard pile. Is your Spy peering across the table at Judas Iscariot? Search for Freedom. Is The Centurion at Capernaum about to face the Philistine Garrison alone? Search for The Might of Faith.

To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies mentioned, please visit Three Lions Gaming!

By Scott

Scott was a bit of a latecomer to the Redemption scene, starting after the Angel Wars expansion released. Having a passion for games of all kinds, but especially card games, Redemption has been of special interest to him. While Genesis and Prophets are his favorite themes, his most enjoyed aspect of Redemption is theoretical card design. Coming up with new card ideas and mechanics has always been exciting for him (having thought up ideas for other TCGs as well)