Strategic Maneuvers Army Specific: Marro Siege

[Tai-Pan]

Marro Siege
by Tai-Pan

Units required: Marro Hive, Marro Drudge (multiple squads), Marro Warriors, Marro Stingers (multiple squads), Marro Drones (3+ squads), Su-Bak-Na

This strategy is best used when attacking a castle or other fortified position.

Place Su-Bak-Na and the Marro Hive in your starting zone and leave them there. They are used only as support units in this strategy.

Move your Marro Horde towards the enemy position, leaving one Marro Warrior, the Marro Drones, and the Marro Stingers behind with the Hive. Attack the enemy position until all of the Drudges and the three Warriors are dead. Then clone the Warriors and use the Hive to bring back the Drudges then use them to attack again. If your enemy doesn't come out then you can repeat all day. You may get tired of having your Marro get cut down while the enemy only loses a few units, but remember that once your opponent's guys die, they ain't coming back.

You may be thinking, "what about the door?" Well don't worry about the door. Just shoot at the enemy on the walls. The door is incredibly tough to destroy with squads like the Drones or Stingers, and it's risky to send in a heavy hitter like SBN if the enemy is upon the walls. Once your opponent realizes that he can't destroy your army without coming out after the Hive and the back-up Warrior, he'll probably come out. This is where you swarm him with the Drones and Stingers. If it doesn't look like they can do the job alone, fly SBN in for the kill.

Throw in TKN, WSG, Marrden Hounds, Nagrubs, NGS, MBS, and KMS to make a truly terrifying Marro Horde.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Tai-Pan

Marro Siege
by Tai-Pan

Units required: Marro Hive, Marro Drudges, Marro Warrior, Marro Stingers, Marro Drones, Su-Bak-Na

This strategy is best used when attacking a castle or other fortified position.

Place Su-Bak-Na and the Marro Hive in your starting zone and leave them there. They are used only as support units in this strategy.

Move your Marro Horde towards the enemy position, leaving one Marro Warrior, the Marro Drones, and the Marro Stingers behind with the Hive. Attack the enemy position until all of the Drudges and the three Warriors are dead. Then clone the Warriors and use the Hive to bring back the Drudges then use them to attack again. If your enemy doesn't come out then you can repeat all day. If they do come out then use the Drones and Stingers to battle them, move in Su-Bak-Na if necessary.

Nice one, Tai-Pan. You might consider moving all but one of the drones ahead to attack, leaving fewer defending the hive and Su-Bak-Na, but having more joining the assualt.

[Bloody the Marro Stinger]

I'd like this if this had more than one stinger squad. The Drudges are pretty much useless unless there's swamp water behind the castle, and even then, they die fast. One squad of Drones are horribly useless. I don't like this much, due to these facts. Sorry, I'd like to, but no. The bad part about your strategy is that you assume the Drudges and Drones will do anything to the castle. They won't.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Bloody the Marro Stinger

I'd like this if this had more than one stinger squad. The Drudges are pretty much useless unless there's swamp water behind the castle, and even then, they die fast. One squad of Drones are horribly useless. I don't like this much, due to these facts. Sorry, I'd like to, but no. The bad part about your strategy is that you assume the Drudges and Drones will do anything to the castle. They won't.

It depends on whether there is access besides the door. If not, then you will need to substitue some Wulsinu or bring in Su-Bak-Na to attack the door. I was picturing drones swarming up ladders or stepwise elevations. I usually build my castle maps with some way for the attackers to get in besides flying or door smashing, just to make it interesting.

[Bloody the Marro Stinger]

That doesn't change the fact that the Drones at one squad won't do much at all, and the Drudge are always useless. Plus, there are no Wulsinu in the army.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Bloody the Marro Stinger

That doesn't change the fact that the Drones at one squad won't do much at all, and the Drudge are always useless. Plus, there are no Wulsinu in the army.

You would need to put some Wulsinu in. If you can use them or Su-Bak-Na to open the door, the Drones can go in. And I am picturing a bigger army with more Drones, actually.

I have never used the Drudge, but I suppose if there is swamp water on the other side of the door they can be used possibly to open it. It depends on who is standing on the door space. Two attacks of three on a Knight of Weston might do the trick of getting that space clear. If your opponent has the rest of his order markers for the round on his ranged shooters up top, the Marro Drudge might be out of their LOS. Even if they are not, then if they survive being shot at, your opponent won't be able to activate another Knight to step onto the door space. His activated units may have to risk jumping down and getting killed just to stop you from putting a Drudge on the door space on your next activation.

[Bloody the Marro Stinger]

But the Knight of Weston will have good defense, you probably won't be able to get all the Drudge past the castle, and I don't see a reason why they couldn't see you if they went down a couple of steps. Plus, how are the Drudge going to survive to tunnel?

[Tai-Pan]

Well the idea is to use this strategy if your opponent refuses to come out of the castle. Sending ranged units in to fire at guys on the wall may not do much, but eventually it should do something. The idea with keeping the Stingers and especially the Drones outside of the castle and out of range of the enemy is for them to be ready once the enemy comes out. Since you can keep regenerating fallen Warriors and Drudge, then you don't need to worry when they start to fall. Basically you can force the opponenet to come out of the castle. I don't have SotM, so I haven't actually tried this full-blown strategy, but I've done it with the Marro Warriors. Eventually, your opponent realizes that when they kill one of your Warriors, you don't lose anything, but when you shoot an Omnicron or Minute Man, he ain't coming back.

[Bloody the Marro Stinger]

Then they just keep their units up there and wait for you to surrender out of boredom. Better yet, the timer buzzes out while you sit there.

[Tai-Pan]

No, see if you start with the same amount of points, then everytime your opponent loses a figure, there total army point value decreases. Everytime you lose a Marro, he can come back in a turn or two. If you're missing a few Marro and the clock is starting to run down, pull everyone back and replicate back to full force.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Bloody the Marro Stinger

But the Knight of Weston will have good defense, you probably won't be able to get all the Drudge past the castle, and I don't see a reason why they couldn't see you if they went down a couple of steps. Plus, how are the Drudge going to survive to tunnel?

I suppose judicious use of jungle terrain will help them get close. Maybe having two squads moving in at once will help also.

On the other hand, why not send some Nagrubs in alongside a Hivelord, smash the door open, and allow Drones to swarm in?

I guess maybe Tai needs to think about changing the exact compositon of the Marro Army. Wulsinu and Nagrub-eating Hivelords are better door-openers than Drones and Warriors. Use the medium commons to swarm in once the door is open.

And let's not forget that he is talking about attacking not necessarily a castle, but "other fortified position." If the enemy is merely on higher ground that can be attained by climbing, the plan is a lot better.

[Bloody the Marro Stinger]

But who says they won't stand there? If your Drudges come out, their low range plus their fiendishly low defense means fodder for the enemy. The Stingers do a little better, but you suggest using them for defense, not offense. The Drones are entirely useless, since the enemy will kill the before they do anything.