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Windwalker

Unique Ability

Hibernate (Action: Cost 0): Add +1 Power to your total for each enemy Great Old One in play (but not more than your current Power). You can take no further Actions during this Action Phase. At the start of the next Gather Power Phase, do NOT lose your Power, but add it to your total.

Setup

After everyone except Opener of the Way has set up; 8 Power, 6 Acolytes, and a Controlled Gate in one of the Areas marked with this Glyph:

Spellbooks Requirements

Awaken Rhan Tegoth.

A Gate exists in the Area marked with the Windwalker Glyph and in which you did not start

You are the First Player.

Another Faction has 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card.

Take this spellbook at any time. Gain 1 Elder Sign for each enemy player with 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card, to a maximum of 3 Elder Signs.

Awaken Ithaqua.

Unit(Tot)

Cost

Combat

Unit(Tot)

Cost

Combat

Notes

Acolyte(6)

Cultist

 1 0

Spellbook: Cannibalism
Spellbook: Cannibalism

Wendigo(4)

Monster

 1 1

Spellbooks: Cannibalism, Howl
Spellbooks: Cannibalism, Howl

Gnop Keh(4)

Monster

 ? 3

Cost: Equals the number of Gnoph Kehs in your Unit pool (i.e. if only one Gnoph Keh is in your pool, the Cost is 1).
Spellbook: Berserkergang
Cost: Equals the number of Gnoph Kehs in your Unit pool (i.e. if only one Gnoph Keh is in your pool, the Cost is 1).
Spellbook: Berserkergang

Rhan Tegoth

Great Old One

 6 3

How to Awaken Rhan Tegoth:

1) Pay 6 Power.

2) Rhan Tegoth appears in an Area containing the Windwalker Glyph.

Eternal (Post-Battle): If Rhan Tegoth receives a Pain or a Kill, you may pay 1 Power to cancel its effect on him. He can only receive one combat result per Battle.

How to Awaken Rhan Tegoth:

1) Pay 6 Power.

2) Rhan Tegoth appears in an Area containing the Windwalker Glyph.

Eternal (Post-Battle): If Rhan Tegoth receives a Pain or a Kill, you may pay 1 Power to cancel its effect on him. He can only receive one combat result per Battle.

Ithaqua

Great Old One

 6 ?

How to Awaken Ithaqua:

1) Rhan Tegoth has been awakened (he need not be in play).

2) A Gate must exist in an Area marked with your Glyph. You need not control the Gate.

3) Pay 6 Power and replace the Gate with Ithaqua.

Combat: Equal to half of your opponent's Doom, rounded up.

Ferox (Ongoing): While Ithaqua is in play, your Cultists cannot be captured by enemy Monsters or Terrors. They are still vulnerable to enemy Great Old Ones.

How to Awaken Ithaqua:

1) Rhan Tegoth has been awakened (he need not be in play).

2) A Gate must exist in an Area marked with your Glyph. You need not control the Gate.

3) Pay 6 Power and replace the Gate with Ithaqua.

Combat: Equal to half of your opponent's Doom, rounded up.

Ferox (Ongoing): While Ithaqua is in play, your Cultists cannot be captured by enemy Monsters or Terrors. They are still vulnerable to enemy Great Old Ones.

Arctic Wind (Ongoing)

When Ithaqua uses Move Action, any or all your Units in the same Area can Move with him for no additional cost.

Berserkergang (Post-Battle)

For each Gnoph Keh assigned a Kill in Battle, the enemy must Eliminate 1 Monster or Cultist.

Cannibalism (Post-Battle)

After all Battle results have been applied, if one or more enemy Units were killed, you may place a Wendigo or Acolyte from your Pool into the Battle Area. You may do this even if you were not involved in the Battle.

Herald of the Outer Gods (Ongoing)

Pay 5 Power for Windwalker's Ritual of Annihilation, regardless of the number indicated on the Ritual track.

Howl (Pre-Battle)

Before Battle, if any Wendigos are present, you may force the enemy to Retreat one Unit (of their choice) out of the Area to an adjacent Area. This is not a Pain - the Unit may be moved to an Area containing your Units.

Ice Age (Action: Cost 1)

Place or move your Ice Age token to any Area. When an enemy Faction takes any Action ending in the Ice Age Area, they must pay +1 Power.

Playing as Windwalker

Windwalker is a late bloomer. Your Spellbooks are not always useful in the early game, and you have no good movement abilities until Ithaqua is Awakened. However, as the game progresses your Units become cheaper, your strength increases dramatically, and an array of powerful options appears.

Hibernate with every other Action Phase—if you do it in every Action Phase, you will not actually get a Power advantage. Do the math; it can be tempting to Hibernate with a lot of Power in the bank, hoping for a super Phase next time, but if your enemies are also high on Power this can be risky. When other players have their Great Old Ones out, you should be able to bank on 2 to 4 extra Power via Hibernate on every other Action Phase.

Gnoph-Keh are expensive at first, but you must start producing them in order to get their cost down. Before Battle becomes commonplace, you may need to Summon a Wendigo or two—later, they should be the product of other people’s fights. While Ferox lets you safely leave Cultists more-or-less alone, you still need to beware of Cthulhu’s Dreams.

Your Great Old Ones are inexpensive and useful. Remember that you can Awaken Rhan Tegoth at either pole, and without a Gate. This can be a nasty surprise for an Enemy who thought himself safe (particularly in light of Rhan Tegoth’s resistance to injury!).

In the late game, bring out Ithaqua to your advantage, and your Spellbooks start to kick in. This is when Ice Age is most valuable, and your army will be large enough to take the field. You lead one of the few forces that can take on even Great Cthulhu itself. You will often bank on one gigantic turn in which you achieve massive success, controlling five to six Gates and then using your Power advantage to perform a massive Ritual of Annihilation in the following Doom Phase.

Special Rule for Windwalker:
The Windwalker Faction may never be the First Player at the beginning of the game!

Note:
In a 2-player game, some Factions may grief Windwalker by not taking their 6th Spellbook. Therefore, only in a 2-player game, Windwalker may score his “get six Spellbooks” Spellbook by sacrificing Ithaqua, instead.

Arctic Wind

Useful for marching your unstoppable horde to victory.

Berserkergang

Best when you have a lot of Gnoph-Keh, so that they are cheap to replace.

Cannibalism

Take this Spellbook early, to start your Wendigo army. It also acts as a damage shield—as long as you score a Kill in Battle, you can instantly replace one of your losses!

Herald of the Outer Gods

Simple and reliable. Combine with your Power advantage from Hibernate to pull ahead every turn...if you dare.

Howl

Useful for clearing out an Area to capture a Gate, or for removing an Enemy Great Old One’s protective guard.

Ice Age

Useful to defend a vulnerable Gate or to lock down an Enemy Area in preparation for an invasion.

Thwarting Windwalker

Take early action against Windwalker, while he is still accumulating his Spellbooks and armies. Seek an early lead in Doom, and spread your empire far and wide so that he can’t cripple you with one big attack. The harder you harass Windwalker in the early game, the later he comes into his glory, and that’s good for you.

It may seem like a smart move to preemptively seize a polar Area, but this will usually end up with you getting a Great Old One in your face. Rhan Tegoth is a particularly knotty problem—you can’t Kill him, and you don’t want him to stay.

Like Cthulhu, Windwalker has a huge and nigh-indestructible army, but a weak periphery. However, unlike Cthulhu, Windwalker is expensive to play. Keep him starved for Power.

Tip:
Not sure what to do with the extra Power from Hibernate? When in doubt, Summon a Gnoph-Keh!