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!
