Thoughts on Warlord after a 16 month hiatus

[merlonc]

Hi,

 

I just played in my first warlord tourney and first warlord game since early last year and I thought I would share my observations. I realize I have had very little experience with the lastest incarnation and only against 3 different armies and generals so far but here goes anyway.

 

I played an elf list with 4 troops and 3 solo's for a total of 8 initiative cards. No mages, clerics or warlords but 9 archers and the sniper. I also used a merc contingent.

 

I played against a Reptus list, Razig list and another Elf list.

 

The lack of magic defense meant that any wizards got to zap me but with spread deployment and mass archery fire it did not really hurt that much. Getting to go pretty much when I wanted to with 8 cards helped. And the elves are fast enough not to need to stay close together to be able to support.

 

I am not going into a detailed battle report now but across the three games the following stood out.

 

 

Archery beats magic. With more range and the ability to continue to deliver damage down range every turn. The only threat my archers faced was fast mounted troops and the eagle and treeman were able to tie those up fairly nicely. I think two treemen will be even better.

 

No healing was not that big an issue. Most of my troops don't have tough and die quickly. A healerfor the treeman would be nice but is not essential I don't think.

 

Its all about speed and discipline. Beng to reposition my units with Ranger was key. Having standards to re-roll disengage tests and friendly fire tests is a big plus for elves anyway. Musicians are worth it. Elves are fast, but even faster is better.

 

All elves die fast in combat, this makes the Merc rule great. Tough or disposable units and it fits the fluff. Elves pay someone else to o the dying.

 

Treemen rock. I want 4

 

I will probably play something like this if I play the warlord reapercon tourney.

 

Thanks to all my great opponents putting up with me relearning the rule specifics.

[Saint Vierzehn]

I wish my Mercs had gotten to bump heads with you, Merlon. I would have liked to see your army in action.

 

Maybe we'll see eachother at ReaperCon.

 

-StV.

[Gaming Glen]

What mercenaries do you take that an elf cannot do?

[spiritual_exorcist]

Mercs are the only faction that have both Cheap Grunt First Strikers and Cheap Grunt Critical Shooters, which in my mind is a very lethal combination. Whether that is what StV basis his force around I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

 

With change of heart you could nab any number of models that would benefit such a build. Conlan might be a nice leader to CoH to bless those X-Bowmen and Spearmen and provide healing, or you could CoH just about any adept that tickled your fancy to bolster your build.

 

Mercs can do just about everything any other faction can if they want to, with only a few exceptions (very Cavalry heavy for instance).

[Gaming Glen]

Mercs are the only faction that have both Cheap Grunt First Strikers and Cheap Grunt Critical Shooters, which in my mind is a very lethal combination. Whether that is what StV basis his force around I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

 

Then perhaps either similar elven units are too expensive, or the mercenaries are too cheap?

 

What does make elven Vale Archers so expensive? Indirect Shot?

 

 

Hmm. Perhaps I'll make a troop of elven recruits, using mercenary data cards . Now who would be best to lead these recruits? I do happen to have Marda of the Blade waiting to be painted. Also, I'd be able to use an old other-manufacturer Minotaur I've had for some time. Now he'd make a good meat shield ("Mooo!") for my archers .

[merlonc]

Hmm. Perhaps I'll make a troop of elven recruits, using mercenary data cards . Now who would be best to lead these recruits? I do happen to have Marda of the Blade waiting to be painted. Also, I'd be able to use an old other-manufacturer Minotaur I've had for some time. Now he'd make a good meat shield ("Mooo!") for my archers .

 

 

Mercs have cheap fodder to throw forward and screen the elves. Taking vale archers in a merc list loses their best ability, sure shot, only the elf list gets this on all the archers. I used Ronin, Haranobu and Mika to give the elves a fast, hard hitting, tough contingent. They have more attacks than centaurs, better WS and armor than saytr's, are as fas as the elves and Mika is a 76 point beast. I also plan on trying a Minotaur troop or a large troop of cheap grunts with Orba leading as a merc contingent for my elves.

 

If you like the crit shot route you can get two more characters with crit shot from the merc list. Mass crit shot (5 potential characters + merc cross bows) could be interesting if somewhat one dimensional.

[Gaming Glen]

I would be playing an elf faction with a mercenary contingent using Mercenary data cards, but I would use elven figures and call them elf recruits. Now to find some appropiate elven figures for the recruits. Marda's hair hides her elven ears.

 

Marda + 3x Mercenary Spearman + 5x Mercenary Crossbow = 235 points. That gives me 15 points for either a magical item for Marda, Troop Musician, or Troop Standard. This 250 point troop can be used with a 1000+ point elf army.

 

Hmm, the Minotaur costs one less than the 3x Spearman + 1x Crossbow. I wonder if he's worth that. He'd be more fun to put in the field, though.

[spiritual_exorcist]

No, I don't think Mercs are under-pointed, nor Elves over pointed, merely that in certain combinations they can be utilized to great effect. It's possible to get 30+ crappy little first strike models in a 1000 point build, which is tough to deal with, but essentially it is a one trick pony. The problem is a build like that is easy to defeat if you are prepared, but most of the time we as players don't know what our opponents are bringing to the table.

 

The trade off for Mercs being versatile in their builds is that their FA isn't that hot once the game starts.

 

Vale Archers are expensive for a whole number of reasons (and truthfully in the grand scheme of things they aren't really expensive when lined up with other effective ranged attackers).

 

Range 30 is a big issue, they are one of only a handful of models int he game with it, RAV 5 + Marksman/1 is also an expensive combination, and I don't think Rangers is all that cheap either.

 

But if you compare the Vale archers to other ranged soldiers there are plenty that are similar (Bow Sister and Bull Orc Archer) in abilities and price (in fact the Vale archer is weaker in melee so saves points compared to the aforementioned datacards).

[rgtriplec]

I have been thinking about taking an elf list that was 50% range and 25% merc spearmen, 25% elf spearmen.

 

Lots of shots and first strikes.