Toggle Background Color
It's interesting how some characters are using their class models while others have cutscene figurines. I understand pre-child-soldier Rolf having a civilian figurine, but why is Paladin Titania back?
Soren arrives.
That's right, I have another wyvern rider. Hopefully his stats aren't as awful as most of my units'.
I'm pretty sure this weapon is tied to the Protagonist skill, which Ike does still have. He'll be able to wield it once he promotes.
I love this chapter. Normally, "big open field" maps aren't my thing - I tend to prefer castle assaults. But in vanilla FE9, this map has Ike, Soren, and Gatrie - plus some support characters - against an enormous formation, and it's fantastic.
This time, though, I may be in trouble. My Ike is basically immortal, but I need to conserve my remaining bows while maximizing Soren and Gatrie's exp gains. At least I don't have Priest Rhys to babysit - but that means I don't have a healer at all, and I do now have to take care of Mage Gatrie instead.
Ike has turned out marvelous, but he's not actually as broken as you'd think based on his performance. He's +0.5 HP, +4 STR, -2.5 MAG, -2.5 SKL, +1.5 SPD, +9 LCK, +5.5 DEF, and -5 RES compared to a Level 9 Astrid. That's obviously fantastic, but he's bow-locked and won't promote until Chapter 18. He'll then be amazing again, but won't have Aether. I'm pretty sure my Ike won't be able to win his duel unless Mist becomes a Heron.
Let's have another look at Titania now that we know she gained three levels from the randomizer.
This Titania compares very poorly to a 20/04 Jill: -10 HP, = STR, -1.5 MAG, -1.5 SKL, -6.5 SPD, +2 LCK, +8 DEF, +3.5 RES. This is a huge pain, because baseline Titania is endgame material; this one probably won't be. I think she'd lose to Ike in a straight fight even without her bow weakness.
Deadeye is fun, and arguably better than Counter, but still a bottom-tier skill in FE9.
Shinon is a normal Archer, he just lost four or five levels (depending whether you count "level 21") from the scramble. Compared to Level 16 Rolf, he's +1 HP, +6 STR, +1 MAG, -5 SKL, -10.5 SPD 
, -4 LCK, -6.5 DEF, and +5 RES. Wonderful.
Celerity isn't much use on an archer without Canto, since they want to stay behind the line of scrimmage most of the time. Maybe if I give him the Knight Ring he'll be able to dart out and back, though.
3 base Speed 
We've talked about Gatrie. His only advantages over an equivalent-level Tormod are Strength, Defence, and Resistance; everything else is equal or worse, and he doesn't have any skills.
He also hasn't gained Magic in either of his level-ups, which could be nothing or could be trouble.
Rhys hasn't done well either. Compared to Lethe, he's -1 HP, -1.5 STR, +2 MAG, +1.5 SKL, = SPD, -8.5 LCK, -2.5 DEF, and -3.5 RES - worse in almost every way. Also, he transforms on Turn 5 instead of Turn 1. What the hell is this.
But you know, I can forgive a lot, because...
...voila.
The game doesn't have a Level 2 Wyvern Rider by default, but let's do our best to contextualize this.
Compared to a Level 3 Oscar, Soren has -6 HP, +3.5 STR, +2 MAG, +1 SKL, -2 SPD, = LCK, +3 DEF, and +3 RES - on top of Celerity's +2 Movement bonus. And of course, he has a level of growth to go, and can fly, and uses axes.
Of course, Soren's Celerity takes up skill capacity; it isn't free like his usual Adept. And I'm going to miss Adept. But as long as his growths stack up, Soren could become my MVP once Ike has to slow down.
(Also, we don't have an Iron Lance. Oscar's got turned into a staff and the randomizer gave Soren an Iron Axe he can't use, so it's just this for now. I wonder if Jespoke had FE10 Dracoknights on the brain; those do use axes.)
But enough talk; let's go.
Ike immediately clobbers the nearby Fighter...
...for Soren to finish.
Everyone then piles into the corner. (Soren used 9 of his 10 movement tiles to accomplish this; Celerity is already helping.)
When I play this map normally, I form a kind of phalanx along the eastern wall: Shinon and Titania on the flanks, Ike and Gatrie up front, and the casters inside the formation, with the map edge preventing the enemy from sneaking behind. With generally weaker and more fragile units, and no dedicated healer, I need to avoid combat more.
Only Ike is in range, see. He kills the Archers, buying Soren some breathing room, and draws in all the nearby melee fighters.
This is how Turn 2 starts.
Shinon and Soren take out one Myrmidon.
(Look at that movement range.)
Gatrie fishes for a crit (no luck)...
...and Ike deletes the hardest-hitting nearby enemy.
In this position, I have a double brain fart. I reason that there are four enemies nearby and four spaces to attack from, so surely one will die against Titania. I'd rather she weaken her victim...
...so I have her Rescue Rhys for the stat penalties.
Next Turn posted:
As it turns out, the Soldier Gatrie weakened runs off to heal.
Also, Titania can double these guys even while carrying Rhys.
Oh well.
Two Soldiers run up and jab at Ike.
This boosts him to Level 10. I think this is his worst level-up so far.
The other Soldier attacks Soren and eats a counter.
On my turn,
Gatrie and Ike each kill a Soldier.
Meanwhile, Soren capitalizes on his movement range to chase down the escaping Soldier.
I love flying units' critical animations in the Tellius games.
I also think I might love Soren's growths. This could have been a vanilla level-up.
Even after flying that far out, Soren can make it back to safety - which is a good thing, because that's an Archer's danger zone.
Everyone else advances and I pass the turn.
Half the enemy formation rushes Ike; the others stay behind.
This gives us a nice clear field to work with.
Ike and Soren hit and run; everyone else just bails, and I reform the corner structure from Turn 1.
It works.
Gatrie gets that crit I wanted earlier - uselessly, as usual.
But it's enough. We mop up the last wave and draw the next.
Works every time.
Rhys transforms. This basically means nothing; he won't fight all encounter.
We kill off the nearby enemies...
...Titania passes the Steel Bow to Ike...
...Soren helps him equip it...
...and it's time to provoke the boss.
Ike is completely dominant right now, even without the use of his Regal Sword.
And he's only getting better.
What a mess, though.
The Archers are Priority One.
Ike and Gatrie hammer them.
Everyone else shifts back east...
...and Titania unequips. The map ends when we kill Maijin, and I want to feed the last few mooks to my growth units.
I made another mistake here.
Specifically, I went to all that trouble of passing Ike the Steel Bow. Now Maijin is too hurt and he's running away to heal 
Everyone else swarms Ike and Titania, who can't fight back.
When our turn comes around, we pick them all off.
Except this guy. I didn't have an eligible killer free, so I just boxed him in for later.
GET BACK HERE
Oh well. Gatrie grabs a final mook kill...
...for a third straight level without Magic.
Maijin is way off in the corner now, so we have to waste a turn staging.
He has nothing to say about the fact that two of our units are wyvern riders in red Daein armour.
Owwww. Titania is not as durable as I remember her being.
Let's try this again.
Boom. Soren is turning out very well.
This will be handy.
And this is still beautiful.
But this just feels undeserved.
Next Time:
The kid gloves come off.