The Book of 4th Massachusetts Line

[Revdyer]

Originally Posted by gamjuven

Eh, I don't like having raelin in my 4th mass armies. Having that valiant bonus is too good a thing to pass up for 1 more measly defense die on a couple of figures

I agree completely, gamejuven. It is not just the all army bonus you lose, but the order markers that you have to put on Raelin also detract from what the 4th can do.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Wait a second, how come 4th Mass have 5 move? When I think of Revolutionary soldiers I think of a marching "brick" or line of soldiers, not a running one.

[NFCfan]

Raelin only takes 1-2 order markers the whole game

I find the extra defense die to be very useful since in terms of defense the key ability is being able to get shield #2

[rdhight]

Originally Posted by ParaGoomba Slayer

Wait a second, how come 4th Mass have 5 move? When I think of Revolutionary soldiers I think of a marching "brick" or line of soldiers, not a running one.

Almost all of the 4-Move figures either have another movement power to help them (zombies, airborne, minions/sentinels) or compensate for low individual speed by being a common squad with four figures and bonding (knights, greeks/romans). The figures that have a flat four move with no built-in way to speed up or compensate are like molasses.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Originally Posted by rdhight

Almost all of the 4-Move figures either have another movement power to help them (zombies, airborne, minions/sentinels) or compensate for low individual speed by being a common squad with four figures and bonding (knights, greeks/romans). The figures that have a flat four move with no built-in way to speed up or compensate are like molasses.

Ummm, but what about Marcus? Now, he isn't built-in, but it's similar to the gilbert's movement thing.

[Rÿchean]

How come? Because the designers set their move value at 5.

[StLouisBear]

Originally Posted by ParaGoomba Slayer

Wait a second, how come 4th Mass have 5 move? When I think of Revolutionary soldiers I think of a marching "brick" or line of soldiers, not a running one.

Perhaps then you have an incorrect understanding of the guerrilla war tactics of the Revolutionary Forces. They weren't Red Coats. Besides 5 move is pretty much standard for humans. Those humans higher than that are exceptional, like Ninjas.

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by ParaGoomba Slayer

Wait a second, how come 4th Mass have 5 move? When I think of Revolutionary soldiers I think of a marching "brick" or line of soldiers, not a running one.

I was thinking about this the other day. I figure that in the case of the Sacred Band and the Roman Legionnaires, they have 4 movement because they assume that you draft Marcus. The Airborne Elite are also soldiers, and because of The Drop and Marcus, they decided to leave them at 4 movement. With Marcus, 6 movement, and 8 range total, they'd be really deadly.

I think the main reason that they avoided giving the 4th Mass 4 movement is because of their Valiant Army Defense bonus. In many situations, you won't draft Marcus with them, so giving them 4 movement and assuming Marcus wouldn't do. In the end, keeping them at 5 movement gave us an extremely powerful, underpriced squad.

[NFCfan]

i think it is their Wait then fire that makes the 4th Mass so good. I'd draft them even if they had only 4 movement but not if they lacked WTF

[Footlad79]

these guys were the best for a LONG time, but now I think the torch has been passed to the Marro Stingers

[NFCfan]

4th Mass are better vs squads and stingers are better vs heroes with decent defense

[Agatagary]

I think that the Marro Stingers are perceived to be better than the fourth Massachusetts Line because:

a) They have more mobility, not being required to stay in one place to get the attack bonus.

b) With height and stinger drain, they can reach an attack of 5 which, for a ranged unit, is quite unusual.

c) They can be regenerated using the Marro Hive.

d) They have better, less restrictive defense.

I am not necessarily saying that they are better, disregarding point cost...These are just the primary reasons that I think that they are perceived as being better.