Friday, October 29, 2004

Warbands VI

Here's this week's list of warbands. If you'd like to have your warbands posted here, just e-mail them to me at the address above, or post them on one of the Warbands threads I've started on maxminis or the Wizards boards.

Darkmeer's Dealbreaker (200 pts; LE)

• Urthok the Vicious
• Snig The Axe
• Goblin Skirmisher x3 (Minions)
• Half-Elf Hexblade
• Bladebearer hobgoblin x2
• Gauth
• Thayan Knight

Instead of Gauth, you could use Mind Flayer Telepath and 1 hobgoblin warrior.

Tactics: 2 pronged attack, using snig and the skirmishers to get to the other side of the board, urthok plus bladebearers for hitting power, and the other 3 as support (and defense against the HEBI, if playing CG). Maybe even enough for a heavy melee unit featuring 2 Ravagers.

Darkmeer's Soth's Charge (200 pts; LE)

• Lord Soth
• Bladebearer Hobgoblin
• Half-Elf Hexblade
• Green Dragon
• Goblin Skirmisher x6

Soth plus bladebearer for viciousness, Hex plus Green can make the difference with acid damage, and skirmishers as fodder.

Greyhaze's Hard Pressed (200 pts; CG)

• War Chanter
• Clay Golem
• Evermeet Wizard
• Halfling Wizard
• Graycloak Ranger x2
• Wolf x2 (minions)
• Daring Rogue
• Elf Spearguard x2

Grendell's Buff Drizzt Plus (200 pts; CG)

• Drizzt, Drow Ranger
• Guenhwyvar
• Clay Golem
• Aramil, Adventurer
• Ialdabode, Human Psion
• Regdar, Human Fighter

Hi Guys! Just thought about updating the Buff Drizzt Warband originally brought to us by Shadow Fox. I really wanted to have had space for Vadania as she would benefit both Drizzt and Guenhwyvar but there simply wasnt enough space.

Alexander Dane's Hyper Rush Warforged Team Go! (LG; 200 Points)

• Alusair Obarskyr
• Warforged Hero x2
• Rhek x2
• Cleric of Saint Cuthbert
• Man-at-Arms x3

You should sacrifice the man at arms early in the match to garner the bonus damage from the cleric of saint cuthbert. After that you should be able to get the rheks and warforged in position to get a few charge attempts. After the first round of rushes, this band breaks down into a simple melee beatdown team.

Best used when teamed with the spiked stones, mushroom tile, and treasure room. Also use the new assembly tile with the rough terrain, just incase your guys rout... the rough terrain can be a life saver.

Scott Trausch's First GoL Warband (200 pts; LG)

• Paladin of Torm
• Purple Dragon Knight
• Human Dragonslayer
• Human Dragonslayer
• Aramil, Adventurer
• Stalwart Paladin
• Stalwart Paladin
• Stalwart Paladin

Scott Trautsch's Chaos Inc. (CG; 200 pts)

• Champion of Ellistraee
• Bladesinger
• Githyanki Renegade
• Elf Pyromancer
• Fire Genasi Dervish
• Aramil, Adventurer

Faragdar the Wise's Arrow Storm (500 pts; CG)

• Storm Giant
• Arcane Archer
• Valenar Commander
• Crow Shaman x2
• Half-elf Bow Initiate
• Aasimar Favored Soul
• Graycloak Ranger
• Wolf (minion)

Strategy: Obviously, this band is meant to devastate opponents from across the board. The Aasimar will want to magic weapon the Storm Giant first and probably bless the band next. Each round, magic weapon the other ranged attackers. The Crow Shamans will probably put cat's grace on the Storm Giant (and possibly the HEBI) first. If your opponent gives you the opportunity, though, it may make better sense to just pump the Storm Giant with snake's swiftness spells right from the get-go.

Thanks to the Valenar Commander and Arcane Archer, the Storm Giant should have plenty of choices for ranged targets. Pick off support units like the Drider Sorcerer as soon as possible. If you get a shot on a commander, thanks to the AA, take it.

Use the wolf minion to screen, if you can, but expect the Storm Giant to be the target for area effects, so be careful not to bunch too tightly near her. At the same time, don't let an opponent like the Glabrezu dimension door right into the middle of your formation. The Valenar Commander will also probably serve his purpose in the early rounds, so don't be afraid to use him up in melee to take some heat off the Storm Giant.

NYCfarmkid's Mobile Assassins (200 pts; CG)

• Githyanki Renegade x2
• Bladesinger
• Fire Genasi Dervish
• Longtooth Barbarian
• Aramil, Adventurer
• Elf Warrior x3

The idea behind this warband is to close on the enemy quickly. You can bypass his heavy hitters and/or base the weaker commanders/spellcasters. The Githyanki have Dimension Door, the Longtooth has a speed of 9, and the Genasi, with its dual activation, could possibly travel 24 squares in one turn. The Bladesinger also has a speed of 7, and one quick casting of magic missile, which can be done after a double move, or in between moves.

You can also try to bait your opponent with Aramil. Due to his Ray of Enfeeblement, many players may make him their first target. They could over-extend their forces trying to get to Aramil, allowing you to move your fast figures in. You could also use the Bladesinger as bait if needed, though that is some pretty expensive bait. The Elf Warriors will provide some meager protection for your bait, as well as extra activations.

Leviathan's Orc Horde (100 pts; CE)

• Orc Sergeant
• Drow Sergeant
• Orc Champion
• Orc Warrior x 7

We had a 100 point tourney today, and this band had a fairly strong showing (3 out of 7 -- a few small variations between). I was not one to play it, but I played against it twice (and it's kinda hard to deal with)

With 10 activations (really high for the current 100 point meta) and 7 Orc Warriors hitting at +6 (with Orc sergent) for 15 (with Drow Sergent) it's easy to get overwhelmed. The playstyle is easy... Go up and swing. I feel it's an effective band against almost any other band out there. Its weakness comes against heavy ranged bands, but I watched it beat a HEBI build (with good line of sight all over the board -- still not sure how it happened).

Richard II's Bow Giants (500 pts; CG)

• Storm Giant
• Half-Elf Bow Initiate x2
• Crow Shaman x2
• Champion of Eilistraee
• Aasimar Favoured Soul
• Eberk, Adventurer

It'd probably be better to squish in a Valenar Commander.

Richard II's Giant Bows (500 pts; CG)

• Storm Giantess
• Half Elf Bow Initiate
• Crow Shaman
• Champion of Eilistraee
• Eberk, Adventurer
• Valenar Commander
• Silver Sorcerer

Q's The Front Man (200 pts; CG)

• Clay Golem
• Moon-Elf Fighter
• Halfling Wizards x2
• Graycloak Rangers x3
• Devis, Half-elf Bard x1
• Elf Spearguard x1
• Wolf (minion) x3

Tile a chokepoint, plug in your golem there, and let loose with the band's ranged firepower. LG tank builds are pretty much toast against this, even two GC's can't handle 10 auto-damage (courtesy of the Wizards) + Golem swings while Graycloaks mop up the filler and the Moonelf waits to clean up what's left. Use the Wolves and the Spearguard as extra blockers, flankers, filler killers, or foxes.

CE hitter bands pose a bigger problem. Same basic strat though: set-up a choke point, plug in the golem, try to pick off your opponent from range. Keep the Moonelf and other figs relatively close to the Golem plug/bodyguard and hopefully the golem should be able to tie up one or two enemy hitters. Keep the Wizards way behind and use the Tactics + Scorching Ray + Devis Confusion wildcard to keep the fox at bay. In this match up, especially with a Drider/Driders present, my friend Nixlord was kind enough to demonstrate to me that activations are ESSENTIAL(two Driders are messed up). If you get behind in activations the Golem is gonna crumble real fast to transposing hitters. And once the front man goes that'll be all folks.

Haven't tested it much against LE (given pre-Aberrations LE however, pretty much this band has a counter to anyything LE can field) or CG (which most of the time is a hide and cover situation if Graycloaks are on both sides).

The only really insurmountable problem for this band would probably be a dual-LRD... Hope and pray for a bunch of Golem criticals and fleeing Dragons!