Kingdom Death: Monster – Stampede Glaive – Xell White Box Review (Patreon)

As she ran after the monster, exerting her muscles beyond their limits, color bled from the scene. Black vibrating outlines of lean, trampling limbs and massive twisting hulks of sodden fur flashed back and forth like pictures blinking through the darkened terrain ahead. With a roar that drowned the monstrous braying, she swung for the strangely still haunch, sinking the blade with a wet crunch. Suddenly, the scene was animated again, the beast collapsed, tumbling and skidding, painting the ground in red, before finally stopping in a twisted heap of heaving gore. Color filled her world again, creeping in from the edges, intensifying. Suddenly everything was light, and nothing was visible in its shine. She listened closely, beyond her own ragged breath, for any signs of life.

The indomitable monsters that stalk the darkness unchallenged tend to grow features not normally found in younger specimens of the species. Survivors brave and lucky enough to survive encounters with these monsters gain indomitable resources. These unusual components inspire new configurations of gear worthy of these hard won treasures.

Contents

• 1x Xell Plastic Miniature
• 1x Indomitable Screaming Antelope resource card
• 1x Pattern card
• 1x Pattern gear card
• 1x Install guide
• 1x Art Card

Model

Like her compatriots, Morg and Lenore before her; Xell honestly looks like every bit the badass you'd want from an indomitable survivor, she has a combination of Screaming Antelope and ambitionism styles. It's not a good representation of a typical gear load out, but she has character, style and just a lot of excellent detail everywhere. This is a fun model in every way possible even if she's not as well kitted out as Morg or Lenore before her were. As such I have no real complaints beyond the impracticality of using heels in a world where the terrain is made up of endless stone faces, some of which are cracked and broken. However, KDM is an anime game, so suspend logic and enjoy the badassery!

Its fair to say that Xell is my favourite of the three miniatures released so far.

Gameplay Content

• Resource Requirements: 1x Denticulated Bladehip, 1x Perfect Organ, 3x Bone

As always, the route to gaining this is the same as any other Indomitable Pattern Gear Card; defeat the L3 version of the monster, then you draw a random Indomitable Resource as a part of the rewards. In the case of the antelope we currently only have the Denticulated Bladehip; which unlocks the pattern for the Stampede Glaive. So it is an auto gain, but that will change in the future.

Crafting costs for this weapon are pretty reasonable for an Indomitable weapon. It is typical to see some form of Perfect Organ needed here, so I don't find anything about this to be questionable. It's well priced for a weapon of its category and power level.

As for the weapon in use; this is a two-handed bone axe/spear with the (1/7+/7) attack profile; Reach  2, a pair of solid blue affinities that can help contribute towards activating the Blue Charm (which always becomes more powerful when used in combination with Spear or Scythe Specialization) and a unique ability that ties to the Screaming Antelope set in an oblique manner. Whenever the carrying survivor uses Dash, this weapon gains +1 speed until the end of the showdown (tracked by tokens on the weapon).

All of those things mean that the weapon will increase in speed in a controllable fashion, something that will offset its low accuracy while also combo-ing with spears due to the way that they do not mind being high speed when they are in the hands of a Spear Specialist. Between reach and specialisation Spears have a lot of intrinsic benefits. Especially when in the hands of an Axe master.

I've found that the Stampede Glaive is a weapon that has a good spot in a campaign's weapon progression, it now allows campaigns with the Screaming Antelope to have an excellent choice for the mid to mid/late game while not making the Lantern Glaive obsolete. It does however make the Lance of Longinus obsolete, but that weapon was pretty much dead on arrival due to being irreplaceable and already power crept out by the Lantern Glaive from the get go. It is always fine to create a more powerful alternative of something that isn't good; it only gets a concern if we end up getting a Node 1 or 2 indomitable weapon that makes Blacksmith or King weaponry look bad.

So while the Glaive is nothing fancy, it is ticking a lot of boxes that you want an Indomitable Axe/Spear to be doing. As such this is another hit and the only way it may ever slide down in desirability is linked directly to the Screaming Antelope and Indomitable Resources as a mechanical entity.

Summary

Indomitable Resources and Gear Patterns continue to be amongst the best ways that the game can expand upon existing monsters outside of heavy retooling of the showdown and rewards. The previous Screaming Antelope Level 3 prestige weapon “Lance of Longinus” was not worth pursuing when there is a strictly better option in the Lantern Glaive. The Stampede Glaive on the other hand is capable of competing against that Blacksmith weapon without a need for Iron/Heat.

Final Verdict: Like Lenore and Morg (whenever he gets a physical release) before her, Xell is a worthy purchase for anyone seeking to expand upon their core game content and the only criticism I can level here is that there should have been White Lion and Screaming Antelope Indomitable Resources/Patterns in the Gambler's Chest.