[Jarkko]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

FYI, W9 SVs and Longdead Horsemen move a lot farther than 8 squares per turn. Also FYI, units don't use ranged weapons when they're in melee.

Riderless spiders also have their web attack in melee. The web spitting is just a bonus. It's the melee web that is the killer, as you very well (should) know. Vestals, just like everything else, are useless when webbed. That is why spiders are so excellent against anything hitting hard; the enemy charges in, killing the spider rider. The spider then webs the attacker, and it is game over for the attacker.

On turn 5 you may very well have 20+ vestals with 30+ longdead horsemen. I'll have 50+ brown spiders against them (and if I forgoe recuiting mages, lots more spiders instead). You'll have to kill them twice, and first time you kill them they start to web you in melee. Enjoy your defenseless vestals.

Btw. Since when has ranged damage had to go through defenses? Shield parry is the only thing affecting wether a missile hits or not. Assuming you have three vestals per square, the rolls to compared (assuming fire darts vs vestals) are DRN + 6 + 2 vs 2 + DRN + 8. That is a 30% chance to hit a vestal in the square. One hit = one death. There are lots of fire darts flying even from one caster. Sure, they might miss the squre, but when the range is short that is not an issue (even if the darts deviate, they won't deviate that far).