In a world where dead people become another enemy, people are like resources; resources must be spent wisely and managed properly and so, like a psychotic book keeper, Negan manages his Saviors.
The Saviors are the big villains whose primary arc was used as the title for this game, All Out War. If you were to describe them in a single word, it would be ‘ruthless.’ While Negan imagines his reign over the Saviors to be one of managing people to keep the most of them alive, they are mainly a gang of bullies. They extract people and resources from other groups, murder defiant survivors, and provide nothing but pain and suffering.
When we first hear of the Saviors in the comics, they sent a group of Hilltop survivors back to murder Gregory for failing to meet their quota, quickly establishing them as a group that extort others under threat of death. We never quite learn the full extent of the power the Saviors hold, but it is enough to oppress at least three communities many hundred strong and wage an all out war (you see?) against them. And while they seemingly got very lucky with the gear they found (grenades, military grade weapons and plenty of vehicles), much of their presence can be attributed to their charismatic, foulmouthed leader Negan. From the moment we meet Negan he shows himself to be someone who believes in himself just a little too much. And his domineering presence leaves such an impression that the Saviors end up following two more strong personalities, Sherry and Dwight, before they finally being to appreciate a more communal style of leadership.
With the latest wave of releases, we finally got a proper faction roster for the Saviors; new survivors and minions to round out the line up of Negan and his lieutenants. Previously the Saviors acted as an elite faction with none of the survivors costing less than 30 points; Now we have nine(!) additional Savior survivors to create numerically superior forces. There is also a new faction gimmick for the Saviors: Merit System. In this article I will explain the new merit system as well as give you an overview of the five available leaders for the Saviors; The next article will deal with the remaining saviors and include some sample lists.
The Merit System
Those of you that played the ‘Here’s Negan’ board game will remember a similar system being used there, where based on your action you would gain you ‘favor’ with Negan which could be spent on avoiding Negan’s wrath or getting him to help the player. The Merit System works quite similar to that: So long as Negan is your group’s leader your merit points are tracked per round up to eight and are set to zero at the end, there is a list of actions and events that gain you merit points and a list of things the lose you merit points. At the end of the turn you take as many red dice as you have merit points and distribute these to survivors with the Merit System keyword; until the end of the next round these red dice may be added to any roll, but are lost if unused. Should you fail to gain any merit points then, just like in ‘Here’s Negan’, Negan will become angry and immediately deal a white dice roll’s worth of wounds to the nearest friendly model regardless of distance. This obviously hurts quite a lot and could be enough to take out your weaker Saviors or seriously weaken any one of the lieutenants. Note that since it is later on specified when such a roll counts Headshots !, this punishment roll does not count Headshots !.
The following actions gain you 1 merit point:
- An enemy survivor is killed by a Savior with the ‘Merit System‘ keyword.
- A Walker is removed from play by a Savior with the ‘Merit System‘ keyword.
- A Supply Token is picked up by a Savior with the ‘Merit System‘ keyword.
The following actions lose you 1 merit point:
- Every time a friendly survivor is killed.
- Every time Negan loses a wound.
- Every time a survivor with the ‘Merit System‘ keyword rolls a panic die.
- Every time a survivor with the ‘Merit System‘ keyword is bitten.
The last point is a little confusing as it is unclear to me if this just triggers whenever a Savior gets bitten or if it also automatically triggers every turn for every Savior who is bitten. I am going to go ahead assuming it is the latter as it is closer to the original wording.
This is quite the flavourful way to display the Savior’s frankly psychotic ‘meritocratic’ way of doing things, rewarding people for doing well and punishing them severely for failing. At first glance this system might seem amazing, it is a way to improve your weaker Saviors massively by simply doing the things you want to be doing anyways. Yet the system is a double edged blade and can quickly decimate your forces if you fail some critical rolls. Similar to how doing well can snowball in more successes thank to the extra dice pool, you can just as easily fail to accomplish any tasks, fail to defend against walkers or simply panic and get punished by either having one of your weaker Saviors almost immediately taken out or one of your lieutenants seriously wounded. Since it says ‘immediately loses white die Health’ there is no way to protect against that. Luckily you can completely sidestep this by using either Sherry or Dwight as leaders instead.
The Leaders
Negan – Leader of the Saviors
Coming in at a whopping 82 points, this is the most expensive card out of all the leaders, but for that price you get the premium package: Blue melee, white shooting, blue defense, high nerves, eight hitpoints and three special rules! Not counting ‘Merit System’ his special rules are ‘Be More Afraid of Me…’ which is taken from the survivor creator rules, it allows every friendly survivor in his kill zone to use his high nerves instead of their own; ‘Pee-Pee-Pants City’ which makes any enemy hurt by Negan in melee panic during their next turn regardless of nerves; ‘Relentless Bad@$$’ if Negan is not engaged during the melee phase but has enemies in his kill zone, you may move him into contact with them and attack normally. If he does this then it does not increase the threat counter for melee combat like usual. These special rules make Negan a monster of a hunter for anyone that is unfortunate enough to get into his kill zone as he will move up to attack and if he wounds you, but does not kill you he has a great chance to debilitate you for the next round to finish you off.
He also has a Leader Ability which lets him remove a white die of health from a friendly model in his kill zone to immediately add a blue die of merit points to the Merit System. This gives you some control over the negative side of the Merit System, by pre-emptively taking the penalty on your own terms to then still benefit from the positive aspects. It is important to note that this ability lets you choose who to beat up, rather than making you beat up the closest ally as he would do if you ended a turn with zero merit. With this ability you can set yourself up to get the ball rolling on the Merit System if you feel you are unable to naturally gain enough merit. You can also use this to cull your group of weaker bitten survivors who will just drag down your merit score and at the same time fill up your score for the stronger team members. Just remember, you will lose one point of merit if you decide to kill a friendly model, so there is a gamble that you may just get nothing.
Negan also has access to three unique equipment pieces: Negan’s Jacket, Lucille (assuming the old equipment card is still usable) and a new infected Lucille. His jacket makes Negan immune to the Sharp keyword and it can be discarded to block all damage from a round of melee. The old Lucille equipment had the Bludgeon keyword and added two white dice to the attack roll and should any Headshots ! be rolled you would add a third white die to the attack immediately. The new Infected Lucille is almost identical, just one point more expensive and rather than add a third white die when rolling for a Headshot ! the target survivor becomes bitten. Lucille is also a unique item and so may only ever have one of the three variants in the same group.
This version of Negan has the potential to be a beast in melee, especially when you get the ball rolling with the Merit System to bolster either his offence OR his defence – Do not forget that one way to lose merit is to let Negan get wounded, which is prone to happen when you throw a character repeatedly into melee. While it is tempting to let Negan loose without abandon, you need to restrain yourself and think tactically. He is best deployed alongside a certain other Savior(Davis), whom I will mention next time, to wipe out low to medium threats or higher threats when accompanied by his lieutenants to avoid a protracted fight. Use his leader ability whenever you have a disposable or bitten ally in his kill zone and it looks to be a round with little merit gained as. Do not be squeamish about killing off bitten survivors if they seem to be pushing up daisies soon anyways as an extra two rounds of them might not make as much of a difference as one to three red die to add to any roll. Plus it may be worth losing one merit point for killing them and getting nothing than letting them pollute your merit score by being bitten for two to three more turns.
Negan – Savior Leader
The Savior Leader variant of Negan’s card will most likely be the most common one as it was included in three sets; The Kickstarter exclusive booster, the booster from wave 2 and the event exclusive Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe- diorama. Coming in at 10 points cheaper than the new card he is obviously missing any access to the Merit System. He still packs some serious heat with an extra red die in melee and is still relatively tough at eight hitpoints and two white dice in defense.
His Special rule is simply a permanent one damage reduction in melee combat, which makes him more survivable, but is a step down from his intimidating abilities as Leader of the Saviors. His leader ability is a similar deal, but instead of rolling to wound a model he immediately kills off one of his team members to distribute a blue die worth of actions amongst all those survivors in his group who have not been activated yet. Depending on your team’s composition this can be quite a powerful boost; The most obvious constellation you want to have is a core of high cost survivors who could really benefit from one extra action and a handful of minions who are kept as sacrificial lambs.
This older version of Negan is obviously not geared towards the actual Savior faction since it was not designed with them in mind (he was released long before we even got Negan’s lieutenants). He can still be used with them as a powerful fighter, but at that point you should just spend ten points more to use his Leader of the Saviors version. He also has access to all the previously mentioned equipment.
Negan – Bad Mother****** (Legacy)
Note that this card was sold alongside the cards for all the lieutenants included in ‘Here’s Negan’ separately before the game went out of print originally. It might still be available in new prints of the boardgame but I bought my copy back then, so I cannot confirm nor deny that.Â
This Negan was a sort of prototype for the Merit System as he introduces a similar mechanic appropriated from ‘Here’s Negan.’ Being the cheapest version of Negan, he has worse shooting dice and two less hitpoints compared to Leader of the Saviors. Unlike Savior Leader he brings two unique special rules. First is Here’s Negan which increases friendly Saviors’ nerves to high in the action phase following a melee in which he took out one or more enemy survivors. Second is You Scared? that dishes out one damage to any friendly Savior in six inches that panic. In return your get an extra red die to your melee for that turn.
This Negan’s leader ability is the aforementioned prototype to the Merit System; Impress Me! works in tandem with the Budding Lieutenant versions of Sherry, Dwight, John, Laura and Tara and gives them one red die every time they impress Negan to use on whichever roll they wish. Each of the Budding Lieutenant cards has a special rule which, if performed successfully, impresses Negan, triggering this leader ability.
A step up from Savior Leader, this Negan is actually a useful leader, but only in a specific group of survivors namely the Budding Lieutenants. And out of those five only three have easily repeatable ways of impressing Negan(John, Tara and Sherry). While you could certainly find ways to make a competent group out of this Negan and the Budding Lieutenants, you lose a lot of the tactical flexibility afforded by the Merit System. Seeing as this card was designed with a much smaller amount of faction survivors in mind it really shows its inadequacy. This Negan also has access to the aforementioned equipment pieces.
We’re All F%I*@D
Not a leader, but there is a new event card related to Negan. It adds a ton of Walkers to the game, but should you manage to kill enough in the following phase it will lower the threat; The interesting bit on this card relates to Negan, if he is in play you put this card to the side and it effectively suspends the rule that ends the game when you hit maximum threat. Instead you roll the black die and if you roll a Sheriff’s Badge the game continues for another turn. This is a surprisingly nice addition as it allows you to risk playing a bit more loose with Mayhem triggering weapons.
Sherry – Ambitious Savior
Sherry is the cheapest of the Savior leaders, bringing modest stats at 35 points with one red die in melee, one white die in shooting, two red die in defense, medium nerves, four hitpoints and one special rule. Sherry is nowhere near Dwight’s or Negan’s level as a lone fighter, but she makes up for that in being a relatively cheap leader allowing either for more minions or better equipment. She also sports a pretty powerful leader ability that has a small drawback. What tarnishes her a little bit is her ‘Who’s Sane Anymore?’ special rule, making her roll a blue die at the start of her activation to determine one of three effects to apply for this turn:
- Sherry loses one action, but her nerve is high.
- Sherry adds one red die to her defense rolls.
- One friendly Savior within six inches gains a bonus action to use in their next activation.
The first effect seems pretty mediocre, exchanging one of her actions for an increase to her nerve. This is essentially the ‘Quiet!’ result on a panic roll without the noise limitations. On the surface this seems an okay exchange, but if you decide to take Sherry as your leader, you definitely want to bring along Martin as his ability allows a tighter grip on the threat counter without taking away his actions. This makes the first effect kind of a bad deal as you do not event want to let the threat counter get to high if you can avoid it. Her second ability is good; there is little to complain about as it is just a straight up boost to a stat that she is going to need with her four hitpoints. The last ability is pretty damn good as it gives a Savior within six inches an extra action to use until their next activation, meaning you can prepare an already activated survivor for the next round. Overall she has a two in three chance to roll for a good effect and a one in three chance to roll for an effect that makes your leader a sitting duck for this turn. There is also the question of if a Panic test comes before or after she rolls for this ability, since panic tests have to be taken before an activation. I would assume this ability comes before as it is meant to prevent Panic.
Where Sherry gets to shine is her leader ability ‘Hammer in Search of Nails’. Once per game she gives one white die to all Saviors within six inches on their attack rolls for that turn. If they should not manage to wound anything during that turn, they Panic during their next turn regardless of their nerves. This ability is great for decimating your enemy’s weaker chaff as it boosts your survivor’s attacks and to avoid panicking the next turn you want to pick targets with low to medium defense to ensure at least one wound. To use it effectively requires somewhat precise positioning as you want to ensure all of those affected can actually attack, this would suggest creating a gunline of sorts (or something like the comic panel from the start of this article) which would be the most efficient use of this ability but endangers Sherry if you create too much Mayhem.
Sherry is arguably the weakest Savior leader with little synergy beyond Mark and John (since he is unaffected by her Leader Ability’s panic). She has some tricks up her sleeve to make do, but her strength lies in quantity over quality. You do not want to send her anywhere alone both to make use of her aura abilities and to not risk her ending up in a fight where she is outnumbered. If you however use Sherry as just another Survivor, she becomes much more viable since the one in three chance on her ‘Who’s Sane Anymore?’ becomes a much more acceptable since it no longer weakens your group’s leader. She should make sure not to choke on her ambition.
Dwight – Militia Leader
Dwight is a good middle ground between Negan and Sherry, coming in at 66 points with one white die in melee, one white and red die in shooting, one white and red die in defense, high nerves, six hitpoints and two special rules. He also has a dual affiliation with the Saviors and Rick’s Group/Alexandria. Right off the bat he is an able fighter who, even without his special rules could be trusted to run across the board solo. His abilities include ‘Deadly Accuracy’ which gives him an extra red die on shooting attacks within eight inches, this cements Dwight as a ranged survivor with an able melee should he be ambushed. His other rule ‘Trust Issues’ is the more interesting of the two as it allows him to bring along Saviors if he is in a group led by Rick Grimes. This rule obviously requires him not to be the leader. Specifically you can only bring along Saviors that have a base cost of 66 or lower; That is to say everyone but Negan. Now this feels like maybe a mistake, as this version of Dwight is the second most expensive Savior survivor. This ability feels like it should be more restrictive of who you can take into a group with Rick since the Saviors have some incredible survivors like Martin and John who would synergise well with Rick’s group. Dwight’s Leader Ability is ‘Militia Tactics’ which allows him once per game to distribute one white die worth of actions amongst friendly Saviors(including Dwight) at a maximum of one action per survivor. We have seen similar Leader Abilities before and just like those this a neat trick to pull in rounds where tactical flexibility is paramount, but it should not be relied on to save your ass as it is a maximum of two extra actions and with a one in six chance for nothing.
Dwight has access to one unique item and also has one named for him, but it is not exclusive: Lucille (liberated) and Dwight’s Crossbow. The liberated Lucille is the third variant and so can also only be in the same group once. It is a three points cheaper and weaker version of the original Lucille with Bludgeon and plus two white dice. The second item, Dwight’s Crossbow, may bear Dwight’s name but is available to any Savior. It is a silent 15 inch ranged weapon with the Reliable keyword and adds one white die to your ranged attack roll, however it has the drawback of requiring two actions when using an ammo reload on it.
Dwight is a straightforward leader who can do some damage by himself, with an ability to improve a bad situation if used correctly. This version of Dwight seems more suited as a ‘Savior adapter’ to Rick’s group. You would think that he could serve as a secondary leader to the Saviors of that group since Saviors and Rick’s Group have a tenuous alliance, however his special rule clearly states that the leader of the group he is in has to be a Rick Grimes which implies Dwight has to be taken as a member of the Rick’s Group faction rather than as a Savior. This means you are forced to choose whether you want to abandon one of his special rules or his leader ability.
Who’s the Top Dog?
While it is good to have a choice of leader and there are some good narrative inclusions the choice is heavily weighed in favour of the Leader of the Saviors Negan as he is not only a superb survivor on his own, but the access to the merit system he gives you can lead to some nasty snowballing as you wipe the board clean with the provided extra dice. He easily wins out over the other two Negan variants as both of those are arguably outdated and do not quite work with the current roster of Savior exclusive survivors. Sherry has a single use leader ability that mimics what the merit system can do with one higher grade of dice but it is limited to Saviors within six inches of her and should they fail to wound that turn they will panic making this a potential disaster should enough of your Saviors end up out of position or simply roll badly. As mentioned previously, Dwight seems much more suited to work as an adapter in a Rick-led group since his leader ability is not really that unique and is limited to the Saviors so he cannot be used as a leader for Rick’s group, he works much better as a lone operative with his stats and special rules in either a Saviors group or Rick’s group.
That sums up the special rules and leader options for the Saviors, I hope you found this article insightful and are excited for part two where we will look at the lieutenants and thugs of the Saviors.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
