Tail Feathers: Sienna & Snibble, Valchirp & Wella

Tail Feathers is the exciting new miniature skirmish game by Jerry Hawthorne set in the beloved world of Mice and Mystics. Soar across the table, send your troops on dangerous missions, and defend your nest! Players will recreate the famous battles for aerial supremacy that shaped the Mice and Mystics world. Pre-order Tail Feathers today for $15 off the retail price and a free promo Mice and Mystics Lost Chapter compatible with Downwood Tales!

Brothers and Sisters Unite

While the players are encouraged to mix and match pilots and birds, certain pairings are reflected in the included story, as you will discover. This week we will be taking a look at Snibble and Wella, two unlikely pilots for the Downwood Militia, and their trusty Starlings Sienna and Valchirp. With their villages in ruins, these two mice join the Downwood Militia with a desire to defend their homeland. Soon they find themselves volunteering to be part of a new and desperate plan that just might turn the tide of war in their favor. They volunteer to become pilots and fly on birds. So let’s find out more about Wella and Snibble and their birds.

Flying Friends

Snibble’s village of Thornwillow has been decimated by Vermin Raiders. Instead of following his parents and siblings deeper into the Downwood for shelter in Headfall Hollow, Snibble runs away to join the Downwood Militia. It is there that he meets the strong willed Wella, and both of the mice accidently volunteer to fly on birds. They are paired with two nestlings Sienna and Valchirp. Together these heroes learn to rely on their birds and on each other.

Birds and pilots perform essential battlefield roles in your force. As mentioned in previous articles, we encourage experimenting with different pilot and bird combinations. We have also prebuilt certain bird and rider combinations to get you playing quickly and to develop stories as well.

Snibble and Sienna

Snibble is a practiced ranger, has a ranged attack value of 3, and has the bullseye proficiency allowing him to use a variety of ranged attack actions. His ability to gain additional cheese each time he wounds an opponent’s figure makes him a good cheese generator. Sienna has the ability to dart across the sky when she is at center tilt, allowing Snibble to get in range quickly. Snibble provides a nice life point bonus of 2, but Sienna is a fragile bird with a defense of only 1.

Wella and Valchirp

Wella is a woodsmouse who makes a living selling shavings to the villages along the edge of Downwood. She is handy with an axe, and like most woodsmice, has a volatile temperament. She has a melee value of 3 which strong, plus she has the sword proficiency so she can use many melee attack action cards to augment her battle prowess.  She can be dangerous when combining her melee value with Valchirp’s battle value of 2 when in a death spiral or when swooping. She also can reroll her piloting checks, making it hard to pin her down. Valchirp can fly in an erratic fashion gaining the team an additional die of defense when tilted. Unfortunately, Wella is a bit reckless and this is reflected by her life point bonus being only a 1.

Speed: Both Sienna and Valchirp have a speed of 3. This, combined with the various action cards available to them allows these birds to quickly traverse the battlefield and respond to changing battle conditions.

Strategy

Snibble and Sienna, as well as Wella and Valchirp are agile and affordable units to include in your force. They can work together to support your assaults or to defend your home tree. The starling speed and access to maneuver based action cards allows you to fly circles around the bigger slower rat birds. Use these units together to compliment and protect each other.

Harassing: Snibble and Sienna are fragile but fast. Stay out of harm's way and harass your opponent by sniping at his home nest. If he diverts any birds to sky hunting you, dart away fast. Use Double Shot and Far Shot to increase your range of threat, and your opponent will be frustrated trying to stop you.

Defensive Spiral: Wella and Valchirp are agile and sturdy. If your opponent is sending birds toward your home nest, position Valchirp to disrupt the enemy plan by grabbing an enemy bird in a death spiral. Will the enemy outclass you? Most likely, but Wella and Valchirp roll a total of 5 dice so any advantage the rats have will be minimal. Use of action cards to augment your roll can really help. Cards like Iron Spurs or Jousting Lance can cause automatic wounds on your opponent’s bird, chipping away at their health.

Swoop Threat: Wella and Valchirp can make a potent swoop attack duo with their combined total of 5 dice. Since Valchirp is a starling, they can use some of the starling cards that allow them to maneuver into position to swoop an enemy mission. Cards like Tumbling Freefall and Pull Reins can line them up in ways your opponent might not expect. Use Bird Bond to quickly get these crucial cards back in play.

Tree Defense: Defending your own tree from attack is a very useful strategy. Starling birds have the mobility to respond to nearby threats, so they make great tree defenders. Snibble is great at picking off enemy foot troops as they try and assault your home nest. Wella and Valchirp are great at swooping big enemies like spiders and centipedes as well as regular foot troops. Either of these units make for a decent tree defender.

Click here to pre-order Tail Feathers today for $15 off the retail price and a special promo Mice and Mystics scenario with initiative and search cards compatible with Mice and Mystics: Downwood Tales!

Tail Feathers Preview Articles
Week 1: Round Phases, Story Part 1
Week 2: Flight Basics, Aerijin & Zure, Story Part 2
Week 3: Attacking, Grizzard & Snag, Story Part 3
Week 4: Ground Troops

Written by Jerry Hawthorne.
Jerry Hawthorne is the designer of Tail Feathers as well as Mice and Mystics.