What is the main idea for each faction?

[headache62]

I am still a newbie in terms of Warlord, and with the recent changes I would like to get several experienced player's ideas about each factions strenghts and weaknesses. I think if enough people contribute, this could be a good first read for new players and experienced players alike.

 

Here is my first contribution: Elves. (the only faction I have good expereience with)

 

Strengths: Of course, Elves excel at both Ranged Attacks and Magic. The default Elven list allows for one re-roll of a missed ranged attack, so the more ranged attacks you have, the more you get to re-roll. The Elven Arcane spells allow for very useful and characterful variation for the spell casters, and Elves have several useful spellcasters which can make use of them.

 

Shadowy helps with opposing ranged attacks - which seem to be in short supply.

 

Fleet of Foot adds to one of the Elves other strengths - speed. Elves have a very high average move, and combined with the ability to move fast across many common types of ground means that the Elves can stick and move (hit and run) like no almost no other amy.

 

Now the Woodland Protectors sublist is excellent for the Faction Abilities it brings. Instead of re-rolling ranged attacks, you actually lower the DV and Movement of rivals when they are in woods. And if the opponent avoids the woods, three times per game you get to make a piece of woods pop-up within 12 inches of your leaders. Expecting a cavalary charge? Put their mounted troops in the woods. Now, mostly this list is useful for scenarios and seems to lack a bit in head-to-head play, but that also seems to depend greatly on play style.

 

Weakneses: Below average melee troops and a lack of Tough. Our melee troops have improved greatly with the latest release, but they still don't seem to have the staying power of most other meleee specialist troops.

 

Expensive leaders and troops - the Elves enjoy a lot of good abilities, but they also pay out the nose for them. This can manifest in a slightly lower model count and activations than other troops, but there are ways to avoid this (don't load up on magic or archers - but then you are missing a lot of your strengths).

 

I hope this helps get the ball rolling - please contribute to the thread and I hope to hear from many people as soon as possible.

[Vil-hatarn]

Be careful of how you use the Woodland Protector's forest-summoning; unless you drop it on top of enemy or your units, it's unlikely to have much effect, as it's rather small.

[rgtriplec]

Be careful of how you use the Woodland Protector's forest-summoning; unless you drop it on top of enemy or your units, it's unlikely to have much effect, as it's rather small.

 

Or you could use it to create lanes and bottlenecks.

[Vil-hatarn]

This is off topic, really, but they're too small to be easily usable that way--it's not much extra move to circumvent them, and they're not big enough to seriously impact the overall terrain layout unless sneakily combined with existing features.

[Stubbdog]

In playtesting with them, they were VERY effective in re routing opponents and creating bottlenecks and lanes. Especially in scenario games such as the raid the tomb scenario where you have to race across the board. VH, yes if your opponent is all flyers, burrowers, or all cavalry then you are correct, it doesnt slow them down as much. But, all foot soldiers, it gains the elves a full turn or more depending on the rest of the surrounding terrain. And with the elves having everyone with Ranger and the fact that they can move and shoot thru the trees without penalty, it becomes a very effective tool.

 

But, even with cavalry, it can gain a turn depending on what you re trying to accomplish.

 

Is it all powerful and does it work in every situation? No. But, given the right enviroment and the right plcaement it has seen a lot of success.

[headache62]

[/rabbit trail]

 

Does anyone have thoughts, observations, or suggestions for Overlords? I have been looking at Crusaders (my 2nd pick), so I'll give it a shot (disclaimer - all of this is IMHO, so if anyone has any other thoughts please reply):

 

Strengths: Clerics/Healers, DV, and Cavalary. Crusaders are scary in the sheer number of healers and clerics they can field, and if they get a chance to heal up their troops in the middle of battle and you don't, be afraid. They have some good, tough infantry (Justicars and Knights come to mind) that can cause a lot of pain for opponents if they can get healed up during the battle. Plus they have access to one of the most powerful cleric spells: Blessing of Shadarzaddi. Resurrection along with extra healing is expensive, but it can be used to great effect with powerful heroes/solos (Sir Damon comes to mind). Then you don't have to spend as much time healing them up to get them back out on the battlefield. This is a very expensive combo, but if played correctly could be killer to your opponent.

 

Crusaders still have some of the highest DVs outside of demons. Sir Damon (Unq. Hero) can get up to a 17 DV w/ GMA, and if he is in the Army of Justice he also gets Deflect/1. Most of the leaders and elites have above average DVs, and the troops seem to have DVs beaten only by the Dwarves (please correct me if I am wrong).

 

Cavalry - A full unit of Sir Danel (GMA), Sir Damon (GMA), and 6 Lions Lancers will cost you a LOT - 906 points, to be precise, but you will have a hard hitting, shock inducing, First Striking, highly mobile attack force capable of at the very least holding its own against if not outright slaying many troop types that you might face. That being said, it is also worth remembering that this unit can get swamped very easily by hordes of opponents and must be played very carefully and I don't think I would ever recommend taking a full unit like this - it simply costs too much (although I may be wrong - please let us know if anyone has experience with using a unit like this).

 

Weaknesses: From observations, High Unit Cost, limited Mages, and weak Ranged options. Pretty self explanitory, some of your units eat through your points fast (Lions Lancers come to mind at 100 pts a pop). There are only three Crusader Mages, but they do allow for some variety in how you use them (and I personally would say focus on Clerical abilities instead). Ivy Crown archers can only do so much.

 

Ok, please add your thougths and evaluations for your favorite factions!

[Qwyksilver]

Uriel is a Summoned creature, therefore when he is slain, leaves no corpse, and cannot be returned to the Table via Resurrection or Breath of Shadazzadi. Sir Damon has been a rock solid candidate for this spell since it's original version in the Crusader Faction book. I've also used it on Finari for good effect.

 

Lion's Lancers are probably one of the best Heavy Cavalry in the game. I have routinely fielded a troop of Danel, Damon and 3-4 Lancers. It's pretty crushing, but you have to be careful where you strike. Facing Bondslaves and Broken Fodder were both very difficult.

 

As far as costs. This was always one of the major problems for Crusaders. This is not the case anymore. Yes, some of the elite Models are expensive, but they are worth any penny. I'd take many of the mid tier Models in a heart beat over equivalent tier Factions troops. Played properly they can hold their own against many armies Adepts. Ranged attacks. Well, yeah, that has been a staple of Crusader weakness since day one. ICA are there merely to keep an opponent honest. Mages are not so horrible. Valandil can be brutal, but don't load him up too much. Use him for maybe 2 precise big hits. Ian is really your work horse. Even if you do nothing but load him with Counterspells, he shoudl be the primary Mage for your army. Clerics are an obvious.

[LTurner]

Uriel is a Summoned creature, therefore when he is slain, leaves no corpse, and cannot be returned to the Table via Resurrection or Breath of Shadazzadi.

 

Actually, the new summoned rules don't cover the "disappearing corpse" anymore. I asked about it, but it never got changed.

[Qwyksilver]

Uriel is a Summoned creature, therefore when he is slain, leaves no corpse, and cannot be returned to the Table via Resurrection or Breath of Shadazzadi.

 

Actually, the new summoned rules don't cover the "disappearing corpse" anymore. I asked about it, but it never got changed.

 

Wow, that is a HUGE change that I completely missed.

So yeah, Uriel, Breath of Chakkakhan away on him! He and Guardian Beast are about as good a bargain as you can hope for. Unfortunately, in order to do this, you have to field Kristiana since she is the only level 3 Cleric in the army other than the Angel, and well, if he is dead, he can't very well give breath to himself.

[Storminator]

Uriel is a Summoned creature, therefore when he is slain, leaves no corpse, and cannot be returned to the Table via Resurrection or Breath of Shadazzadi.

 

Actually, the new summoned rules don't cover the "disappearing corpse" anymore. I asked about it, but it never got changed.

 

Wow, that is a HUGE change that I completely missed.

So yeah, Uriel, Breath of Chakkakhan away on him! He and Guardian Beast are about as good a bargain as you can hope for. Unfortunately, in order to do this, you have to field Kristiana since she is the only level 3 Cleric in the army other than the Angel, and well, if he is dead, he can't very well give breath to himself.

 

Yeah, but both Blessed R and Breath say they can't be used on Summoned models.

 

Whew!

 

PS

[rgtriplec]

I think you covered most of the bases, but would add that Crusaders also have a ton of very good cheap models and solos in every price range. Also I don't remember reading about Mercy, which is super useful as is Wolf and Undead Hunter.

[jdripley]

Dwarves are good at killing stuff!!

 

Strengths: Very strong soldiers. Practically everything has 4+ damage tracks (exception being our rangers and mancatchers, who are designed to be lighter anyways). Our grunts are matches for some faction's adepts! We also have good clerics - 3 of them, two are extremely good and one of them is pretty cheap so it's no big deal that he isn't a rockstar. Our single mage is worth taking, and our archery is top notch. Dwarves excel at fighting in a tightly packed formation and supporting each other.

 

Weaknesses: Very costly to field. You will not, ever, outnumber your opponent. You might have a similar number of models if you fight, say, Reptus or Nefsokar mummies, but by and large you'll face 150% or more of your own numbers. This can be daunting, but remember that dwarves sell their lives dearly, and that weakness is lessened.

 

 

Nefsokar.. my other army.. I've got less experience with, but here is my take on them.

 

Strengths: Very good at a variety of fighting styles. If you like magic, they're good at that. If you like elite warriors, they've got that. If you like cheap, fodder type armies, they can do that as well. If you like cavalry, they have an excellent lineup of cavalry models, and some excellent faction abilities to emphasize the cavalry aspect.

 

Weaknesses: They're too cool for their own good. You simply cannot fit all of the tricks into one army and have the army be any good at all. You've got to pick and choose what you bring. Poor ranged warriors.

[Qwyksilver]

Yeah, but both Blessed R and Breath say they can't be used on Summoned models.

 

Whew!

 

PS

 

I knew I remembered seeing it in there somewhere!!!

Vindication!

 

And not like I'm going to field Kristiana since she lost Holy Burst and well, there's The Wolf.

[headache62]

@ jdripley - awesome write up! That is exactly what we need for each faction and I think you did a great job simply explaining the important aspects of Dwarves and Nefsokar.

 

Any volunteers for your favorite faction? Or how about adding to what you have already seen here? Let's keep it up and give prospective players a resource to pick their first army.

[vutpakdi]

Nefsokar.. my other army.. I've got less experience with, but here is my take on them.

 

[...]

 

Weaknesses: They're too cool for their own good. You simply cannot fit all of the tricks into one army and have the army be any good at all. You've got to pick and choose what you bring. Poor ranged warriors.

 

The Nefsokar's foot archers are a bit weak (RAV 3), but the Nefsokar also have the mounted archers which are middling archers (RAV 4) and have the advantage of being highly mobile.

 

Ron