Saint Vierzehn

Infantry usually isn't a good answer to shooters. Even the most expensive shooting adepts need to cause only a couple of casualties to break even, and that's not too difficult for marksmen. Cheap infantry is great in mass melee, but it's just about the ideal target for shooters. The best answer to shooters are units that are fast and tough. Griffons, for example, are awesome against shooters. Even if all you do is draw fire, it gives the rest of your army time to close. Cavalry works nicely against shooters, and so do lupine ragers. Two wounds, good movement, and a high DV will run over archers. I think that once more cavalry and mercenary options become available, most of the playbalance problems regarding too much shooting will fix themselves. Healers also stymie shooters pretty well, but most lists can't afford a lot of that. -St.V.

The "faction ability" of freelance armies is to take the troops that you like. Yes, it is a potent ability. And yes, freelance players give up quite a lot in order to get it. I understand the need for play balance, and quite frankly, I don't see much of a playbalance problem regarding freelancers per se. With the new merc rules coming out, all factions are going to gain quite a bit of the flexibility that was previously the sole purview of freelancers. That, I think, is a good thing. It will serve to level the playing field between all factions, though a true faction purist would resent loosening the restrictions on all the factions. But if there is a playbalance problem, I hope it will be addressed with a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer. Allowing an entire army of shooters probably isn't good for the game. If so, fine, let's fix it. But let's keep the playing field level. Perhaps we should limit everyone to only two units of shooting adepts. After all, if an entire army of shooty freelancers is unpleasant, then an army of 11 bull orc archers, 11 goblin skeeters, and 11 merc crossbowmen probably wouldn't be very pleasant, either. -St.V.

I really didn't think that the victory-points-for-spells-cast idea was very good, but I do like the idea of allowing anyone to take mercenary troops in their force. -St.V.

I'm considering making a roadtrip for this. Can you please post the address of the location so that I can Mapquest it? And please confirm the date/time. Thanks! StV.

Looks interesting. I'll be waiting with anticipation for the Merc book. And the dwarves really do need an alternate warlord option. -StV.

Way cool. I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised. I wasn't actually expecting y'all to listen. I'll be looking forward to seeing you at the tourney, if not sooner. -StV.

The limit means that I'm either going to have to shelve my favorite models (since I can't make them fit) and buy a bunch of new stuff, or skip the tourney. I don't particularly like either option, but I'm leaning toward the latter right now. After all, who's to say that the new stuff that I buy won't be made illegal next week? I guess I could buy GW's wood elf models in order to field a RAGE elf force. At least then I could be assured of having something useable in another game. You might consider more carefully what you're doing the next time you "banter about" ideas like that. GW may be big enough to get away with shafting new patrons, but I'm not sure that Reaper is. -StV.

Well. I guess I'm flattered. And annoyed. I would like some clarification please. Does this restriction mean that Freelancers can only have two units with adept troops in them (and possibly more than one type of adept troop in each unit), or does it mean that Freelancers can only have two types of adept troops? Or does it mean something else that I've missed? -StV

I live in Irving, and show up at Jasco's fairly often. I would be interested in hearing about other game clubs in the DFW area. -St.V.

I want to know if any of the top winners were local to the Dallas area. I couldn't make it to the con, but I would like to throw down the gauntlet to the top players for a pick-up game. -St.V.

Heya, Pat! I didn't know you were into WarLord. Show up at Jasco's sometime. The tourney was great, and I'm looking forward to more. Later! -Richard.