4th Mass Mass Attack

[Clarissimus]

You arrive at the site of your local (or not-so local) tournament and find your first-round opponent. Amusingly, his 500-point army consists of 7 squads of 4th Massachusetts Line. That's right, 28 minutemen are clustered into his starting zone. You mentally remind yourself to ask for a common-squad limit for next year, but for now you are confident in an upcoming victory because your own army is . . . .

[MattserTruckRally]

There are few armies that are pretty good against the Mass.

Laglor in particular is very good against them as he allows you to outrange them and make their wait and fire almost useless:

1 x Laglor
1 x Krav
1 x Raelin
1 x Q9
1 x Guilty/Eldgrim

This army would lay a whooping on them. Krav have 9 range and are hard to take down due to stealth dodge with Raelin. Eventually once the Krav whiff Q9 takes over and uses his 10 range to blow them out of the water. If they come to close use his Quiglix gun. Backed up with Raelin he'll have 9 defense and be almost impossible to take out.

[Dredd Stev]

AE - 110
Drake - 110
Braxas - 210
and........ um lets say Aburn Archers - 70
TOTAL -500

If the leet drop in round one you can CREAM that mass of mass even if you don't win first round initiative. Drake has no fear of them until he closes, and then is gonna cut a few down before he takes any real hurt. Braxas will just ruin them all; fly right in and stat melting away. The archers are just filler, though with a slight range advantage and the outside chance at a frenzy they can kill off of few without having to worry about wait the fire.

[playa1]

Braxas (there's no better common squad killer) 210
Grimnak (2nd best common squad killer) 120
Heavy Gruts (protect Grimmy and another 4 unit squad) 70

and
Raelin (gives Grimmy a defense of 6 and braxas a defense of 5) or
DW7000 (stealth dodge with 7 def. and self destruct if necessary) or
Krav Maga (better range and stealth dodge)

This army should work well against 28 4th mass line: I just played 3 squads of 4th mass in an all valiant army against an orc army. Grimnak was my worst opponent. If he gains initiative, he and his orcs could manage to kill up to 6 opponents each turn for two or three turns (as long as they'll survive). I would guess that he and the heavy gruts could take out at least half or more, leaving Braxas to clean up (which might be close -- Braxas would have difficulty holding out against so many ranged attacks, but her breath would definitely take out two each turn until she was killed). I think DW7000 might be a better pick, even though he would need to get some lucky rolls: If the 4th mass took their wait and hold ability, they'd have to deal with a 7 defense stealth dodge: if not, they'd still have to deal with a 7 defense with only 2 attack dice. However, the Krav might be the best pick, because without range, you end up having to charge into their line, which is exactly what the 4th mass would want. The Krav could keep distance and pick them off, forcing them to charge (where Braxas could then take out most of the survivers).

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by MattserTruckRally

There are few armies that are pretty good against the Mass.

Laglor in particular is very good against them as he allows you to outrange them and make their wait and fire almost useless:

1 x Laglor
1 x Krav
1 x Raelin
1 x Q9
1 x Guilty/Eldgrim

This army would lay a whooping on them. Krav have 9 range and are hard to take down due to stealth dodge with Raelin. Eventually once the Krav whiff Q9 takes over and uses his 10 range to blow them out of the water. If they come to close use his Quiglix gun. Backed up with Raelin he'll have 9 defense and be almost impossible to take out.

OFT - an army much like this one whupped me and the wife at the last DFW tourney. Thanks, Rÿchean and Funrun

[ManTrainChooChoo]

Originally Posted by playa1

Braxas (there's no better common squad killer) 210

While I admit, normally this is the case... It's hard for Braxas to get so close to the 4th Mass to take out 12 of them(so he can at least get his points worth) before he himself is blown apart by wait and fires.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by ManTrainChooChoo

While I admit, normally this is the case... It's hard for Braxas to get so close to the 4th Mass to take out 12 of them(so she can at least get her points worth) before she herself is blown apart by wait and fires.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[TheRealQ]

Dund
Brunak
DW8000
Eldgrim
Nakitas

Don't know if this would work but it would be fun trying. Eldgrim takes a glyph or dies trying. Brunak charges up carrying a Nakita and goes on a chopping frenzy. Next DW8000 cleans up with his Nakita shield. If it comes down to it Dund can stun the entire opponents army for the entire round.

[MrBarkypants]

Last night Joah's 8 rats took out 7 of 8 of Barky's 4th Mass. That last one survived because the rat found something cheesier somewhere else. The 4th Mass did takeout 1 rat before they became rat chow.

[scorpiusx]

Braxas
Drake
DW7K
AA

Have the AA go out first and pick off a few of the Mass. When the elves are down, send in either the DW or Sarge in to kill off a bunch, and once the first one dies send in the other. Have Braxas clean up.

[Guerillinator]

This scenario seems made for a large reaver army. With each round as the four 4th Mass figures open fire, you can scatter eight rats. With that in mind I would use:

Reavers x5 (200)
Q-9 (180)
Nakitas (120)

I'd spend the first 3-4 turn markers on moving out different sets of rats, and then maybe (or maybe not) another 1 or 2 to engage the 4th Mass with reavers. Even if you lose 4-6 rats in the process, you still have plenty coming. Each time you scatter, try to engage the closest 4th Mass. After that move out the Nakitas to a place that when Q-9 moves he is adjacent to all Nakitas. If any 4th Mass fires on Q-9, you get 3 rolls at the smoke powder before you even have to roll for defense (and if sucessful, the 4th Mass will only be able to shoot at rats for the rest of the round, thus causing more of them to scatter

Another variation on this to further protect Q-9 would be to substitute Raelin for two sets of rats and then keep her behind Q-9 and the Nakitas. There is no way for the 4th Mass to reach her without (a) moving in and thus losing the wait and fire, and (b) subjecting themselves to easier engagement by the reavers.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by Guerillinator

This scenario seems made for a large reaver army. With each round as the four 4th Mass figures open fire, you can scatter eight rats. With that in mind I would use:

Reavers x5 (200)
Q-9 (180)
Nakitas (120)

I'd spend the first 3-4 turn markers on moving out different sets of rats, and then maybe (or maybe not) another 1 or 2 to engage the 4th Mass with reavers. Even if you lose 4-6 rats in the process, you still have plenty coming. Each time you scatter, try to engage the closest 4th Mass. After that move out the Nakitas to a place that when Q-9 moves he is adjacent to all Nakitas. If any 4th Mass fires on Q-9, you get 3 rolls at the smoke powder before you even have to roll for defense (and if sucessful, the 4th Mass will only be able to shoot at rats for the rest of the round, thus causing more of them to scatter

Another variation on this to further protect Q-9 would be to substitute Raelin for two sets of rats and then keep her behind Q-9 and the Nakitas. There is no way for the 4th Mass to reach her without (a) moving in and thus losing the wait and fire, and (b) subjecting themselves to easier engagement by the reavers.

Don't you only get ONE Smoke Powder roll if there are ANY Nakitas adjacent?