Denelspire

[Kengar]

Agreed, I wouldn't include Holy Light unless I was playing a scenario situation in which I knew the Necropolis were going to be on the field. But Holy Light is one of the best cleric spells in the game.

 

...or possibly Nefsokar.

[Rkayne]

Played in a 6 player (3 per side) 2000pt@ game last weekend. Oppenents were: Necropolis, Necropolis, and free company (Razig + Mercs + Necropolis). Our side was Nefsokar, Reptus, and Crusaders (me). I drew the flank that had Razig.

 

By the fourth turn, I'd charged across open ground to engage. He lost a mage and a pair of Skeletal Archers from that initial cavalry charge. His lone Soul Cannon attempted a broadside and missed all three cavalry targets! (I took it out the following turn.) His Grave Horror surfaced to do NO damage among two of my warriors - and was then torn apart when it was surrounded by 7. Razig was shreded by 3 blessed Nuns with 2 Ironspines in support. When we left, I'd just gained a level 5 hill with archers, a ranged mage, and a second troop of warriors.

 

Oh, I did lose 1 Hvy Cav in the mix of things.

 

Anyhow, it was inconclusive, but it sure seemed to favor me for a change. (No idea what happened on the other two fronts.) Order of battle to follow.

[Melbourne Mew Mew]

Just got the Crusader book today.

 

Here's a 1250-point list I've worked up... how can I improve it?

 

Troop 1

Lady Jehanne (GMA, LMW)

Lady Devona (LMA, Familiar, Fireball x2, Dispel, Ice Shards x2, Slow)

Lions Lancers x4

 

Troop 2

Sister Majeda

Battle Nuns x5

Templar Knights x4

 

Troop 3

Celestial Lion

[Qwyksilver]

My only concern is that you will be at a serious numbers disadvantage. Likely greater than 2:1 odds.

[Storminator]

My only concern is that you will be at a serious numbers disadvantage. Likely greater than 2:1 odds.

 

A good rule of thumb is 1000 points = 20 models. You can stray from that a bit, and make up for the short fall in tactics and heavy hitters, but if you start to get too far down the model count it'll cost you.

 

In general, too much equipment kills you, and Warlords are kind of pricey for what you get. Consider dropping Jehanne for Danel, and no equipment, and use the difference (150+ points) on another troop of soldiers.

 

PS

[Ranzadule]

My theory on small numbers of figs is "It depends on how bad-arsed they are/or and how fast they are."

 

If you have half the models but can hit me in a spot where I cannot bring all of my force to meet you, you will likely overwhelm me. Say it's 1000 points and you can bring all of your 1000 points to hit half of my force for a turn or two. You will wipe the floor with me and still have a lot left, very likely more than the 500 points I am bringing after you. SO you take on part of my force with overwhelming quality and points advantage and then you do it to the rest of my force.

 

The Crusaders can do that and have the healing to make survivability more likely as well as to heal up to fresh before they engage the rest of my force. Warlord is pretty well balanced in this. Smaller elite forces match up well against the big forces if you play them well. If the other guy plays his forces well, then it's up in the air as it should be.

[Melbourne Mew Mew]

My only concern is that you will be at a serious numbers disadvantage. Likely greater than 2:1 odds.

 

A good rule of thumb is 1000 points = 20 models. You can stray from that a bit, and make up for the short fall in tactics and heavy hitters, but if you start to get too far down the model count it'll cost you.

 

In general, too much equipment kills you, and Warlords are kind of pricey for what you get. Consider dropping Jehanne for Danel, and no equipment, and use the difference (150+ points) on another troop of soldiers.

 

PS

 

Well, in a force over 1000 points, a warlord's compulsory...

 

Other than that, I guess I'm just a little too attracted to the cool models that I'd like to have, rather than the meat-and-potatoes stuff, huh? (Which is a problem for me when I play things like Magic, too...)

[Qwyksilver]

Well, in a force over 1000 points, a warlord's compulsory...

 

2nd printing of the Core Rulebook (changes between 1st and 2nd are free for download at Warlord HQ) changed that amount.

 

Warlords are required at 1501 + point builds.

[Kengar]

...I guess I'm just a little too attracted to the cool models that I'd like to have, rather than the meat-and-potatoes stuff, huh? (Which is a problem for me when I play things like Magic, too...)

 

I totally understand. My armies are based on the models I got in the deluxe starter set, so I sort of built out from there. The blisters I've picked up since then have largely been based on what I like the looks of. Sure, Kristianna isn't as tough in a fight as Gerard, but the model is uber-cool. Likewise I chose Moandain over Judas as the first Necropolis warlord model I bought. Painting is part of the fun, and buying the models I want to paint is going to make it that much more so.

 

While I'm by no means the most experienced player on the forums, I think that Reaper does a pretty good job with the point value of models, spells, and equipment. The biggest factor is how well you know what your 1000 points (or whatever the amount is) can or can't do. That, and knowing the same thing about whom you're facing, is what will make the most difference. I believe you can build a winning strategy around almost any force of the appropriate point value.

 

That's not to say that I wouldn't want to tailor things a bit towards dealing with what my opponent is bringing to the table, if I could.

[rascal007]

I need some feedback, ya'll. I got a tourney coming middle of the month, and am thinking of running an Army of Judgement. This list is huge, and doesn't have much in the way of damage soakers. I'm not sure I like it. It's kinda restrective that the list has nearly no ranged units, no way to deal with archers and mages hanging out way in the back. That's the only reason I'm using Valandil. What does this list need?

 

 

 

 

 

Troop 1 541

Sir Brannor 73

Valandil 73

Firestorm 75

Firestorm 75

Dispel 10

Dispel 10

Familiar 20

Divine Favor 10

Templar Knights x3 81

Justicars x3 93

Ironspines 21

 

Troop 2 136

Sir Malcolm 36

Unforgiven x4 100

 

Troop 3 138

Sir Conlan 30

Templar Knights x4 108

 

Troop 4 185

Guardian Beast 185

 

 

 

Army Total 1000

[Outkast Samurai]

From what I've seen the Crusaders tend to be outnumbered in most battles and dropping two firestorms on a character is really going to limit the number of grunts you are going to have out there running interference for your caster. You may also want to think about some healing in there as well, either from hospitalers or from a bandage or two. Do your opponents that you usually play use a lot of magic? Looking at the two dispels kind of leads me to believe this.

 

As a side note I finally fell victim to its calling. I picked up the Crusaders faction book and am getting ready to delve into it tonight.

[rascal007]

Yeah, we got LOTS of rampant magic 'round here. I usually use archers to put fear in them, but the Army of Justice doesn't allow for them. I've taken to running Valandil in the middle of a troop huddled together in the field to draw out their magical fellas. I guess I could do a couple of fireballs instead, but I like the idea of using that bloody firestorm back on the folks that've been chucking them at me. The guys around here like to boost thier cost with equipment and run fewer soldiers.

 

I may put some bandages on Brannor and Conlan. I love using hospitaliers, but again, not in the list. I can't use my pups, either. Don't even have access to the cheap skirmishers. Anybody used the Army of Justice list much? The time I've tried it out, I liked it, but it seems really restrictive. Should I try to fit in more Justice bearers? Maybe swap out Broderick for Conlan or something? Find a spot for Marcus or even Finari? And does the loss of Mercy have any effect?

[spiritual_exorcist]

If you are going full blown army of Justice I wouldn't include any less than 6 Justicars to take advantage of Armor of the Faithful.

 

Unforgiven simply don't function well fielded alone or in large numbers in my experience, they are too fragile. Spread the 4 of them out over several units.

 

Valandil is awefully expensive in that build, you're putting alot of eggs into that basket. At the very least don't bother with the Familiar, Firestorm is 3 inches, it will get at least on model for sure, and the familiar only works if it fails to damage all of it's targets. For the Cost of a Firestorm you could get a tonne of Ice shards and Scares to make your force much more effective.

 

My opinion is that the Crusaders need alot of clerical magic on the field, because they are otherwise often far too outnumbered. 20 models is not a very large 1000 point army.

[Brushmaster]

Unforgiven simply don't function well fielded alone or in large numbers in my experience, they are too fragile.

He ,he ,he ! Don't we know it !

[Sarec]

Rascal, remember your templar knights are now adepts except for those fielded in Gerard's troop unit. replace the knights (-81) under Brannor and add 3 more justicars (+93). Then ditch the familiar (-20) since all your spells are AoE. I can't remember but I thought Divine Favor could only be used on leader models which means you'd have to move it from Valandil to say Brannor or ditch it altogether. Take only one dispel (-10) and give your main troop musician (+15) since you don't have any real range and movement is of most importance to you. That'd give you a total of 997pts.

 

If it were me, on top of the above I'd ditch Malcolm's unit (-136) and beef up Valandil with gtr empowerment (+45) and another firestorm (+75) then add a couple bandage spells to Conlan (+20) totalling 1001pts. Giving Valandil gtr empowerment pretty much guarantees a troop of casualties for your opponent and since I'm pretty good at getting all my spells off adding a 3rd firestorm can just be devastating and further help make up for the lack of a ranged attack. Most people will allow you to go over by a couple points so 1001pts should be okay, depend on how strict the tourney rules are. Just a thought.