Friday, January 28, 2005

Is the 100 point metagame broken?

Much debate has occured regarding if Orc Champion, Ogre Ravager, or Red Samurai are "broken" for the 200 point game and if special action needs to be taken to curb their power. While I personally feel that these figures are not the end all be all of the 200 point metagame, can the same be said about the 100 point metagame? Today I would like to take a look at the effects of these three figures on 100 point games.

Ogre Ravager 38 points
Lvl 9, SPD 6, AC 17, HP 80
Melee Atk +10/+5 (30)
SA: Aura of Fear 2, Melee Reach 2, Resist fire 10, Smite +10 []

Red Samurai 40 points
Lvl 9, SPD 8, AC 14, HP 75
Melee Atk +14/+9 (15 magic + 5 Fire)
SA: Breath Weapon: DC 14 Fire Cone 20 damage

Orc Champion 39 points
Lvl 7, SPD 8, AC 15, HP 80
Melee Atk +13/+8 (25 magic)
SA: Cleave

These figures are notorious for their power. Fortunately enough, there are figures that can be fielded in the 200 point metagame to rival the power of these three figures. Large Red Dragons, Large Silver Dragons, Frenzied Berserkers, and Half Elf Bow Initiates are just a few examples of answers for these CE staples. But in the 100 point metagame things greatly change. Suddenly the dragons cannot be fielded, and no more then 1 FB or HEBI can be fieled without sacrificing warband integerity or passing the 100 point limit. The agressive cost of the three CE figures really comes into play for 100 point games, allowing two of these massive hitters to be fielded while still having room for the ultra efficient Tiefling Captain.

Tiefling Captain 21 points
Lvl 3, SPD 6, AC 16, HP 30, Commander 4
Melee Atk +6 (10)
SA: Blindfight, Conceal 6, Resist 5 Cold; Electricity; Fire
Commander Effect: Followers score critical hits on a 19 or 20.

Being able to combine the heavy melee power of these figures and give them a commander 4 rating along with a doubled chance of scoring a critical hit for massive amounts of damage (most likely killing the defending figure outright) is severely powerful and there isnt much in the other factions that can stand up to this lethal combination.

Seeking an answer to this conundrum, my friend and fellow team mate, Doug Lee (Bonepinhimer), constructed several bands in an attempt to dethrone the potent CE tripple threat bands. Between the samurai, ravager, and champion, we felt that it was best to team the champion with the samurai. The Champion hits for magic damage, cleaves, moves faster, and has a better attack bonus then the ravager. The samurai's breath weapon can decimate weaker fodder pieces under the right circumstances and it moves faster then the ogre ravager on top of having the best attack bonuses out of the three.


Tripple Threat CE (piloted by Doug Lee):
1 Red Samurai
1 Orc Champion
1 Tiefling Captain

First Opponent (piloted by myself):
1 Lich Necromancer
5 Abyssal Maw
1 Cursed Spirit

The idea behind this first opponent is to attack the low AC of the Orc and Samurai with the agressive Abyssal maws (hit for 15 damage and only cost 5 points) while hoping for a failed Hold Monster save with the help of the Cursed Spirit.

Matchup:
I started out by spreading my maws out in the hopes to swarm and overcome his leading figure. We meet in the middle and he uses the best breath weapon he can manage with the samurai (one maw and the spirit). The maw makes the save then takes zero due to resist 10 fire. The Samurai fails the Incorporeal check on the spirit. A fruitless activation. When I use my first hold monster on the samurai he passes the save. The maws proceed to land many attacks on the samurai's low AC. The champ manages to take out one maw and the tiefling lurks.

He wins the next initiative and clears out 3 maws with the champ. The Samurai manages to eliminate the cursed spirit, passing incorporeal on its second attack, but then falls to my abyssal maws. The Tiefling moves up and kills a maw. I attempt my second and last hold monster on the champion and he passes the save. He wins the next initiative and charges the lich and lands the hit. At this point Im pretty much out of luck. I attack the champ with the lich and hit but he passes the paralysis check. He then proceeds to finish me off with a full attack from the champ next init.

Conclusion:
This Lich band relies too much on failed paralysis saves and failed morale saves to win.


Opponent #2(piloted by myself):
5 Greycloak Ranger
---5 Wolf Minions
1 Cleric of Corellon Larethian

The goal of this band is obvious. Assault as much as possible with ranged attacks while using wolves to disrupt and block.

Doug and I are both adept at tile placement and it shows in our very neutral set up. But with the high speed of the samurai and champion, they are able to double move to cover in a corridor and still be within striking distance next initiative. I am able to disrupt him with several stun attacks, negating his Tiefling and champion for one activation. Long story short, I am able to eliminate the champion but not before he kills a large amount of wolves/rangers. The samurai kills his fair shair as well and the game goes to Doug handily.

Conclusion: Greycloaks do not deal the damage nessecary to curb the beefy champion and samurai. They would fair much better against the larger, slower Ogre Ravagers (on top of having giant foe).


Opponent #3 (piloted by myself)
1 Purple Dragon Knight
2 Warforged Fighters
1 Man at Arms
5 Hill Dwarf Warriors

The goal of this band is to outactivate the samurai/champion and whittle away at them with fodder while using the warforged and PDK to finish them off. This game can swing greatly depending on the fear cone.

Doug brings the fight to me due to my low speed and begins clearing out my fodder in single hits. I choose his samurai as my first target and swarm him as best as I can. He never gives me a good use of my fear cone but I never give him a good use of his fire cone. He decides to ignore my fodder and go for my beef when they engage in the fight. His champion moves taking a couple of attacks of oppertunity to flank a warforged with the samurai.

I win the next activation and swing with both warforged (on the samurai) and land both hits. He then activates his orc champ, hitting the flanked warforged for 25 and it fails its morale. Its finished off by the samurais attack of oppertunity. He then uses his champions second attack to force morale on the second warforged and it too fails morale and shares the same fate as its twin as the samurai finishes it off with the attack of oppertunity. Chosing to ignore my fodder and go for the lucky win, I blow my fear cone hitting the champ, samurai, and two of my dwarves. All figures pass their morale saves.

I win the next init, charge my PDK in, and land a crit on the samurai, reducing it to 15 HP and he passes morale. The champ (70 hp remaining) moves and swings for 25. His captain moves in and fights with a hill dwarf.

He wins the next init and drops my PDK after it makes its morale save. Game over as only my fodder remains.

Conclusion:
Not enough fire power in this band to take on the high HP and fire power of CE. Too reliant of failed morale saves.

At this point we cant come up with any other band that doesnt do what our three test bands did and do it better so we call it quits.



Overall Conclusion
In the 100 point metagame it is incredibly hard to defeat the orc champion, red samurai, and the ogre ravager (although we didnt field it, and the greycloak band seems a good counter, many of the same principles apply to it). The only real chance of beating these figures is reducing the chance they pass their morale save as much as possible. If their morale saves are failed it can be very easy to defeat this band. Hopefully Death Knell will offer us some different solutions to combate these powerful CE figures in 100 point games. The Large Blue Dragon may do well as it has been confirmed in DK Preview 6 that it is playable in 100. Until then, the Red Ravager and Red Champion bands seem to be on top of the 100 point metagame without much, if any, competition.