Samurai vs. Marro

[NecroBlade]

I finally picked up my second pack of Archers/Kyrie the other day, so I wanted to test out the 500pt Samurai army.

1x Hatomoto Taro 130
1x Kaemon Awa 120
1x Tagawa Samurai 120
2x Tagawa Samurai Archers 130
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Total 500pts

I built a quick, very small map and played against an equally themed 500pt Marro army.

1x Su-Bak-Na 160
1x Ne-Gok-Sa 90
1x Marro Warriors 50
4x Marro Drones 200
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Total 500pts


The first game was a complete slaughter. The TSA were rolling extremely well both games and knocked out Drone after Drone, as well as the Warriors before they had a chance to clone! As soon as the Drones started swarming the Archers, the TS swept in. They killed 3 Drones in the first turn, fully powering their bloodthirst right away! NGS charged the Samurai, attempting to take this power for his own team, but failed and was quickly cut down by 6 dice attacks. SBN made an attempt to use his massive attack to take down the Samurai, but only managed to kill one before he fell too. With only Drones left, it wasn't long before the Marro army was completely gone. And KA and HT didn't even have to do anything* that game!

Casualties:
Samurai: 3 TSA and 1 TS.
Marro: Every last unit.

In game two, the TSA steadily took down one Marro every single turn. This time SBN charged earlier and massacred Archers before KA moved out to deal with him. KA lost that battle, though, and SBN put 4 wounds on HamTaro as well before being once again cut down by Tagawa Samurai. The Samurai satisfied their Bloodlust again on Drones while NGS tried for the steal again. He couldn't cut through their defence, but they cut through his. Down once again to Drones (the Warriors had lost out to Archers again, even attempting to clone this time, but failing despite SBN's help), they managed to kill a TS before losing again.

Casualties:
Samurai: KA, 6 TSA, 1 TS, and 4 wounds on HamTaro.
Marro: Every last unit.

*What I learned: Since creating the Samurai Army, I've been worried about their lack of figures. Having only 11 units when other 500pt armies often have 18 seems like a bad deal for them. I'm no longer worried about this. TSA, especially with height advantage are a force. Back up that defence with HamTaro and you'll counterstrike opposing squaddies to death more often than you lose Archers. You'd be surprised how many more shields you get because of those symbols! I was also worried the TS wouldn't be as effective, because typically in games past they die before getting Bloodlusted and going to town. This was not so in these games. They positively mopped up both games.

It was fun to finally see my samurai in action, and I'm definitely more pumped about using this army than I was before!

[Clarissimus]

Of course an all-counterstrike army would be better countered with ranged units.

I wonder if the Marro army would've fared better using multiple squads of Marrden hounds.

[NecroBlade]

Of course an all-counterstrike army would be better countered with ranged units.

I wonder if the Marro army would've fared better using multiple squads of Marrden hounds.Likely they would've, but I don't have any hounds. Stupid Jandar's Oath being out of stock everywhere... Anyway, I still expected the superior numbers of the Drones to come into play, but any counterstriking defence in HamTaro's arua cut them down.

Versus the hounds, I think if Kaemon Awa stepped up, he could put them down without much problem. Against range, obviously counterstrike wouldn't come into play as much, but ranged attacks tend to be weaker and within the aura you usually have the same chance at shields as they do skulls. That is, they'd roll about 3 attack dice and you'd roll 3 defence or so, and you'd both have a 50% chance on each die. It's a surpsiringly tough little army.

[Browncoat]

Cool! 8)

I had similar results, which I posted here (http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=6702). Glad you finally got your other set of archers!

Personally, I think the Marro army stinks. It doesn't matter what I've fielded against them, I've always won...and against different opponents. I don't see the attraction to the Marros, they rely too much on the D20 to be successful.

[Stealth Dodge]

Marro do not match up that well vs Samurai. Counterstrike is vulnerable to 2 main things: Ranged attacks and Special Attacks and the Marros have neither. Against Sumurai Me Burq Sa would do much better then Ne Gok Sa