Lemm's introduction to the Westerners

[Lemminkäinen]

Westerners have relatively high PR, but low Life Points and they are definitely the experts in ranged combat. Of the nine fighters in the starter box, only four have no ranged weapons (and one of those is a spell caster that summons fireball Lemures) and most of the Reinforcements seem to tout guns or grenades.

• Francisco Vargas, the starter box leader of the Westerners, is one of the weaker leaders in the game, but also one of the cheapest. He can fight somewhat nicely and has Charisma - quite basic stuff really. His unique order is to give a free combat round for all the troopers in the army, which is a bit of a let-down as, even though free, one-sided combat is huge in this game, the Westerners have very few troopers that are capable close combatants.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/francisco-vargas/index.php
• Missionary is an interesting fellow. Not much of a fighter, he has a huge number of beneficial effects to choose from to boost nearby Westerners. Among these is the ability to heal all Westerners within 4" which is really nice, especially because Westerners have low Life Points but high PR. He also has the interesting Fanatic-ability, which meanst that once he gets wounded, his combat stats actually rise.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/missionnaire/index.php
• Sara Zingaresce is the satanist infernalist of the Westerners (so Missionary won't help her). She has interesting combat presence in that she can Attract males, but isn't much of a fighter. Instead she lights up enemies and then dances away. But her main features is, naturally her spells. Quite the little pyromaniac, Sara's Lemures tend to meet fiery ends either by exploding or by turning into a burning cloud.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/sara-zingaresce/index.php
• Fencer OTOH is close combat power personified. He has Charisma with which to boost friendlies nearby, but his true power lies in his ability to avoid enemy hits meanwhile putting the pain on with his great Combat-stat of six. If you look at his stats, he doesn't seem like all that much, but his combination of skills is really brutal and in a game he really shines.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/bretteur/index.php
• Aidan Saint James is an ok fighter and an ok shot, but nothing really fancy. He's main thing, though, are his orders. He can get the Westerners to reload their weapons, which is really, really important if one uses the three Arquebusiers from the starter box. He pretty much doubles the amount of shooting that the Westerners do.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/aidan-saint-james/index.php
• Anna Bogna Pavlova, 16 Life Points,Terror and a weapon that has the ability to make the opponent fall to the ground - she is a straightforward girl. Also gives Westerners in base to base contact +1 to PR.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/anna-bogna-pavlova/index.php
• Arquebusier is the basic grunt of the Westerners. Not much to look at in a fight, but they shoot far and, when boosted with Vae Victis, rather nicely.
  http://www.helldorado.fr/factions/les-occidentaux/arquebusier/index.php

Any questions of comments?

[Jalikoud]

Great summary, as always. Some commentaries :

Vargas has no way to shoot, unfortunatelly  . He is not very well suited to the starter content and should perform well with dopplesnoders, spadassins, troupailles damnés ( with the  quick stryke ( attack) skill) and deserters. In a nutshell, all allied troopers. A cheap guy, but not wonderful.

Missionnary can immune all your company members to Terror during one turn. This can be useful, especially against Demons. The healing aura only work on Papists ( so, at the moment, Dopplesonders cannot be healed by him...), contrary to all the other auras, which affect Christians as a whole .

It is one of the drawbacks of Westerners : variety of believes in the same faction= can be a problem with specificsynergies.

Fencer is a very nice fellow to "guard" a zone : always let his pistol loaded to use it for a defensive shot.

Aidan can do the same, but with less impact on melee.

Anna Bogna can heal people a bit ( 3 Wounds) : I've rarely ever seen a player use it. Not a game winner, but this can be handy.

Sorry for my english...

[lapiaz]

 Anna  can heal a bit  ,but those 3 poin of life  are all you need to save an arqubusier , she  have terror and  have garde the courp  and premier choc  I use  her every day and more than once  has saved  Vargas neck ...  Mis au sol  is to good a capacity not to have  in your company  and at 16 point of life she will last  enough

[Lemminkäinen]

Good additions and comments, thanks guys! I fixed the reference to Vargas' shooting - I don't know what I was thinking there.

[Jalikoud]

You were perhaps trying to boost him unconsciously  . The poor sod really need some help : he is a really mediocre officer ^^ :

Low CMD ( 4 and no chief skill).
Basic stats for an officer, really nothing shine, except maybe Faith.
Lack of interesting skill.
A good unique order, but very pricy.

I think Vargas really lack of something, he is quite a bland fellow compared to Baptiste or Geörg.