Newbie looking to join in the fun...

[mercoutlaw]

A number of years ago, probably four, I ran across a game called CAV purely by accident. I had only been mini gaming for about two or three years and ran across Reaper at my first GenCon. Well, with recent events with rather hardcore disillusionment with the entire Classic Battletech and IWM in general, a small band of my closest friends and I began research into other games. I recently got a hold of some CAV and am loving everything about it. Then, about a week ago my Fiance cam home with some Reaper fantasy figures, and well, now I want to play Warlord too! I am thoroughly impressed with the models, in my opinion no other minis game produces more beautiful models, I tried the pro-paints and surprisingly I liked the quality a great deal. Also, I have found the atmosphere here on the Reaper boards infinitely more friendly, there is no hostility or childish bickering, and I have felt nothing but welcome, so I'd like to thank this great community for all of this.

 

Now, with that preface out of the way, I need some help! I went ahead and ordered the core rulebook, and downloaded RAGE chronicles and a great deal of other info to get started. Since the book is on the way, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give a Mercenary some ideas what I should look into getting, to get me started. I know this is a wide open request, but just a general idea of what would be necessary for a standard point game for me and three others to get our grubby hands into what promises to be an amazing universe! All suggestions are welcome, sorry for the lengthy post! Thank you all in advance!

[Brushmaster]

Well if you are looking at purely Mercs , then there are so many combinations to choose from . You will probably have to consider when selecting models , the good/neutral , evil/neutral combo restrictions . Also there is the choice of what model to use for the "Change Of Heart" faction ability . I could give you many suggestions but it comes down to , what models do you like and what is your typical type strategy ? More info required .

[Saint Vierzehn]

1) Keep the cost of your command structure low. Stick with low point captains and sergeants whenever possible. (For Mercs, I'm a big fan of Mack Hardwick and Hedassa.)

 

2) Inexpensive infantry is the backbone of a good army. Try to match up infantry that can take punishment with troops that have the reach SA. Support and reach bonuses are your friend. (Mercs have low cost infantry and spearmen in spades.)

 

3) Take a handful of missile troops, and don't put a lot of points into spells & spellchuckers. (For Mercs, Counterspells + Scoundrel's Luck is your friend.)

 

4) Take a few models with high mobility to seize and contest tabletop objectives. (Hard to get with Mercs. You might want to use Change of Heart to get something good from another list. I like the harpies from the Reven list. I've also used Crusader Light Lancers.)

 

5) Use inexpensive solos & outriders to up your card count in the initiative deck and to help control the point at which you have to commit a significant force. Sometimes you want the first move of the turn, sometimes you want the last move of the turn. Having lots of cards in the initiative deck is the best way to manage that.

 

 

The above tips work for any army.

 

-StV.

[vutpakdi]

Welcome!

 

Warlord works pretty well if you go with fewer expensive (point wise) models or many cheap models as long as you play the overall army appropriately. Combined arms tends to work fairly well in most situations.

 

For Mercenaries, be careful of alignment: you can have Good and Neutral models or Neutral and Evil combined, but not Good and Evil models. So, when picking minis, make sure that you don't pick both Good and Evil minis.

 

To start, I suggest planning on playing 750-1000 point games. Large enough to provide choices and flexibility in force composition and tactics, small enough to be relatively inexpensive to start and easily playable in 1-2 hrs. You can go for the 1500 and 1501 point games later.

 

As a start for any faction, I suggest buying troops that roughly fit this layout:

1 captain

1 spell caster (cleric or mage)

3 core melee models

3 reach / spear models

 

1 sergeant

3 ranged weapon / archer models

 

1 sergeant

3-5 melee models

 

1 - 2 solos (or models with outrider used as solos)

 

Ron

[mercoutlaw]

So what am I looking like in numbers of models in a given 750-1000 point game, typically with a good combined arms strategy?

[vutpakdi]

Depends on the faction and the actual mix of model types (and additional equipment). A rough range might be 10-25. Most of my builds are in the 15-20 range for 1000 points.

 

An extreme would be a 1000 point Goblin build with mostly cheap goblins. Theoretically, up to 83 goblins, but even a slightly more balanced force with a hill giant, several clerics, and 10 skeeters, still comes out to 42 minis.

 

Another extreme would be the Lupine Lord, the Lupine Shaman, 6 Lupine Ragers, and Volendria of the Blade. (Or, taken to more of an extreme, drop one or more Ragers to add equipment for the character types).

 

Ron

[mercoutlaw]

Eighty three models eh? That's part of the reason I dropped WH and WH40K, I love to paint, but I also love to actually play! THe info has been very helpful, thanks again!