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Old May 8th, 2018, 03:09 PM
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Re: Orc's Power Rankings

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Originally Posted by wriggz View Post
I think the Sacred Band is also undervalued if you know what you are doing.
I've been a big fan of the Sacred Band for a long time, ever since I finally picked them up (they were some of the last official units I got, partially due to their reputation...). I think they're massively underrated. Granted, I think they're tonnes better now than they were when they were released - the need to take an all Disciplined army is a lot less painful now we have a lot of strong Disciplined units around, including the Redcoats. They need an all Disciplined build and Marcus to work well (that third defence die and fifth move point are both essential), but once you've got that, I think they're arguably better than the Romans due to not needing to maintain a tight formation. You can then essentially use them almost like Knights or Heavy Gruts, and while both of those are still better, they're also 20 points more expensive per squad. Don't bother with Parmenio, though - he's just bad.
Unfortunately, mixing squads of 10th and Sacred Band is significantly worse as of late, seeing as you don't have 24 hexes to play with.

Their biggest problem when compared to Romans is they lack a killer bonding hero: Me-Burq-Sa. MBS is absolutely incredible for his points, and a bonding range option is really the only thing Romans have over other bonding melee. They also have a defense cap of 3, and the 4th die is huge. This really, really, REALLY hurts, and is a huge reason why they are a B+.

I also disagree they can be used like Gruts- Gruts need to maintain formation. That's the only way to get the most value out of them. Romans are much closer in play style to Gruts than SB.

All this being said, SB are a middling to high B+. They're extremely solid... just not good enough to be an A-.
Good points, all - not having the space to pair them with Redcoats hurts, and Me-Burq-Sa is a solid bonding hero it's a shame to lose. No 4th Defence die does hurt, but all things being equal I think I'd usually prefer the strategic flexibility, especially since the Romans will be defending on equal or lower numbers once they start to be wittled down. In 24-space General Wars, at least, I reckon SB are a better choice than Romans.

That's also a good point with the Gruts, though I think their stats are solid enough to allow them to break formation a little more readily than Romans, particularly since Disengage may allow them to go after a juicy target behind enemy lines (i.e. Raelin).
SB are a nice choice in a 24 hex GW, although I'd still take Romans. If it was still 24 hexes, I might bump them to A-. I really do like them a lot (I'm a sucker for bonding melee, hence Spiders at B). Bonding melee can never truly be bad (except for Groks...)

Absolutely right on Gruts being able to break formation a bit more... although Tethering is absolutely vital for Heavies, whereas it's not quite as necessary for Romans or SB. (I'll have a whole article dedicated solely to the strategy of Tethering in the next month or so).

Looking at the rankings again, there are maybe a couple units I'd bump up to A- before Sacred Band and that's it. They're an Elite B+.

Thanks for the input!
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