ARM - Anti-range movement

[Matthias Maccabeus]

I just wanted to give this thread a little bump.

I've heard over and over again how range rules. I agree with this to some extent, but not near the extent others feel it does. I played in a tourney this last weekend up in Austin, MN with some of the premier players of the Mid-West. I chose to take an all melee team to try and prove a point. I wanted to prove that if played right, and of course with a little luck, that it was quite possible for an all melee army to have more than a fighting chance. I placed 4th out of 31. My only loss came against a blast/glad + Raelin Army played by Spider Poison. I defeated a Stinger army, 4th Mass armies, and an arrow grut army. My army wasn't exactly shabby: knights x 3, Alastair, Gilbert, Eldgrim, Isamu, but it wasn't speedy either. My dispatch rolls were pretty bad. More often than not I got less than 1. There was 1 map that was a little advantageous with a road down the middle which 2 of my wins were on, but the other 2 wins were on maps that were definitely not advantageous to my army.
Am I a good player? Perhaps, (only time will twll) but the point is that with a little strategy, good decision making, and a little luck melee HAS a fighting chance in this game!!

[Ullar/utgar own]

I hope you guys don't mind if I post a 29% range army but I like:

Marcus
Izumi
2x legos
2x 10th
Ngs

[KCU Master 2007]

I would drop the Izumi for another set of legos...2 just isn't enough IMO.

[Ullar/utgar own]

Yeah I would too but I ran out of legos when I made the army and the izumi are great for engaging range allowing the others to freely slow roll with bonding.

[KCU Master 2007]

Makes sense enough. I would suggest getting another couple packs of Romans. They really are a fun army to play.

[Ullar/utgar own]

Originally Posted by KCU Master 2007

Makes sense enough. I would suggest getting another couple packs of Romans. They really are a fun army to play.

.

Exactly why I bought them and bleakwoode ( along with 3 sets of soldiers and wolves, rotv, and wave 8 elves) from coolstuffinc. I was really lucky to get the last packs of 10th.

[Agatagary]

A lot of the issues with the power of range stem from the way maps are designed (favoring range).

One of the easiest ways that we now have to balance range and melee is jungle terrain. Jungle gives a bonus only to melee troops, allowing them to get close enough to engage the ranged attackers. Anti-range tactics are necessary, but we also have to consider the maps. If you know what map you will be fighting on, and that map is hostile to melee forces, using a melee army might not be a good idea.

In general, good maps (tournament worthy) ought be more friendly to melee troops.

[quozl]

Originally Posted by Agatagary

Jungle gives a bonus only to melee troops, allowing them to get close enough to engage the ranged attackers.

That's not right. Jungle gives any small, medium, or large figure a defense bonus as long as they are targeted by a non-adjacent attack.

[RoninValentina]

Originally Posted by quozl

That's not right. Jungle gives any small, medium, or large figure a defense bonus as long as they are targeted by a non-adjacent attack.

That's correct, but I think Agatagary's point is that because it only applies to non adjacent attacks, melee troops receive the benefit while ranged troops don't. Melee figures being shot at gain +1 defense. Ranged figures don't receive any bonus in return against melee- the melee guy only attacks from adjacency. In the case of shooter vs shooter, they both get a +1 defense, so there's no real advantage. Yes, this can be broken down, but I think the general point being made still stands.

[Uhurugu]

Replying to the original topic (because I haven't read all the way through this), things are really looking up for anti-range melee armies. The Venocs and spiders just got a nice boost with Brave Arrow and the natives (I consider them to be melee, since I would always use two engaged, Brave Arrow, and one to snipe from height) although they don't really fit into either category, melee or range. Additionally, the Caps are shaping up to challenge Maccabeus, although, like him, I would still favor knights. Minions plus Atlaga should be a nice anti-range army, as well. This wave is packed with possibilities for the ARM.

On a more strategic note, has anyone thought to use an army consisting of Minions, Zombies, and Nakitas/Raelin? In theory, the Minion's wings block the Zombies' heads from fire, until they can get close, while the girls provide bonus cover with smoke powder or bonus defense. Aside from the order-marker difficulties, it looks like fun to play (although not extremely practical). If anyone tries this, let me know how it goes.

[PlasmaScaper 2.0]

Well, now we have a couple other answers to the range problem (although not many), as Zelrig can blast apart or scatter ranged armies, and him combined with Deathreavers to pin ranged figures in place would deal fairly large amounts of damage. Also, Gurei-Oni + RotV Raelin should theoretically work pretty well against ranged. Tul-Bak-Ra can also be a nuisance with Mind Blast and Teleporting.

[KCU Master 2007]

I love how two of your answers to the Range Dominance are units with RANGED attacks

But, I do think that we have more answers to range, but I also think that we have had these answers for a while.

For example, these have been around for a while:
KoW boosted by Gilbert can quickly close the distance.
Romans boosted by Raelin is a natural fit with how they bunch.

Now, we have:
Atalaga boosted Minions/Sentinels.
Dwarves without bonding until they close the distance.
Gladiators move fast enough and are though enough to withstand ranged attacks.

In the end though, it comes down to how well you know how to play your army. You should be so comfortable with you army that the map and opponents army shouldn't worry you.