The Book of Major Q9

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by Boodog

A quick question about the special attack ability. Assume Q9 is engaged with Captain America, but he wants to shoot at 2 KMA he is not engaged with a few spaces away. Does he have to fire everything at Capt America first because of engagement rules, or does the Special Attack nullify that? Thanks!

If Cap gets destroyed before Q9 runs out of dice, though, he's free to fire the remaining ones at the KMA (assuming he's not engaged with anyone else).

[Jexik]

Although I'm nearly a month too late, I thought I'd remind everyone that there were zero players using Major Q9 on Day 2 of the GenCon 2009 Championship this year. It was pretty wild.

Marro Dividers, Alastair MacDirk, Braxas (twice), Heavy Gruts (twice), Roman Legionnaires, Finn the Viking Champion, Redcoats (twice-zomg!), and Airborne Elite (twice, including winning it all) were some of the surprises to me who did make it.

Useful reference thread for the rest of the armies and units.

[MattserTruckRally]

Originally Posted by Jexik

Although I'm nearly a month too late, I thought I'd remind everyone that there were zero players using Major Q9 on Day 2 of the GenCon 2009 Championship this year. It was pretty wild.

Marro Dividers, Alastair MacDirk, Braxas (twice), Heavy Gruts (twice), Roman Legionnaires, Finn the Viking Champion, Redcoats (twice-zomg!), and Airborne Elite (twice, including winning it all) were some of the surprises to me who did make it.

Useful reference thread for the rest of the armies and units.

Major Q9 just isn't the beast that everyone makes him out to be. He is good but most definately beatable. Marro Stingers and Blasts/Glads are already pretty good against him. In addition squads of enchanced Knights or Heavy Gruts can bring down the mighty Major as well. Wave 9's release hasn't helped out as well with the Dwarves and Gladiators. Atlaga also sped up the Minions which can be problematic for the Major since his Quiglix Gun can't outrun 5 movement Minions.

This should've been a good year for Major Q9. The format was set up perfectly for him since he takes up 180 points of your army and only uses 2 starting zone spaces, perfect for reinforcement options. It's not like the guy wasn't represented either there were plenty of good players running him they just fell short of Day 2.

[Jexik]

I think a lot of it is that s_p is the one who wrote the power rankings.

He has never done that well with Major Q9, but Q9 routinely does very well against the kinds of armies that he and his brother tend to play- low defense ranged commons who win on attrition, but have trouble beating Q9.

K-boom was going to play Q9 too, but he stupidly forgot to hand in his slip on time. I figure he would have had a decent shot, but I also felt the same way about swninja and momo.

Major Q9 is still probably my most feared figure to face, although I've historically done worse against Mass, Knights, and Sir Gilbert- hence his new A+ ranking.

The tough thing about Q9 is that when someone doesn't know how to play him, they can still win just because he's so good, and if someone does know how to play him... good luck! He's more frustrating than a lot of units, because you always feel like you're at the mercy of your opponent's defense dice when you're attacking him, and just waiting for that whiff. Sure, I could complain about my 6-7 failed mindshackles in the last game of Heat of Battle, but I also scored zero wounds with about 30 3v8 attacks against Q9 before my NGS died. Very few ranged heroes are that tough.

[Obsidian]

During a 2 vs 2 game, my teammate's Q9 had height advantage on our opponent's Charos. He said, "Should I use my normal or special attack?" I felt pretty confident that 3 attacks of 3 was better than one attack of 5 when attacking defense of 5. A few turns later, Q9 picked up an attack + 1 glyph and had height on Charos again. Again my friend asked me which was better. I was less confident when I said that he should go with the normal attack.
This experience got me thinking and looking through the book. I didn't see this addressed in the book, so I'll take a crack at it.

When Q9 attacks ,you will inflict more wounds on average if you use the normal attack when:
Attack = 4 and Defense > 21 (AKA never)
Attack = 5 and Defense > 7
Attack = 6 and Defense > 3
Attack = 7 and Defense > 2
Attack = 8 and Defense > 0

This does NOT take into account multiple targets or special circumstances. This only applies when you have one target in range of 6, or one high life target of importance.

For easy reference on how to use his special, here is Sisypus's great post.

Originally Posted by Sisyphus

Against defense 0 squads, roll 1 attack die 9 times.
Against defense 1 squads, roll 1 attack die 9 times.
Against defense 2 squads, roll 2 attack dice 4 times and then 1 attack die 1 time.
Against defense 3+ squads, roll 3 attack dice 3 times.

Against heroes with more than one life roll 3 attack dice 3 times. If the hero has 1 life remaining use the same firing rules as for against squad figures.

Exceptions:
Against Stealth Dodge (Krav Maga at range), roll 1 attack die 9 times (regardless of defense bonuses).
Against Shields of Valor (Sentinels of Jandar), roll 1 attack die 9 times (regardless of defense bonuses).
Against One Shield Defense (Crixus), roll 2 attack dice 4 times and then 1 attack die 1 time (regardless of defense bonuses).

[Tai-Pan]

I think Q9 is going to take a pretty heavy hit next week when Mogrimm comes out. The dwarves already pose a threat, being 4/4 when fighting him. Now they have a bonding hero who can get around the major's major defense. As long as the dwarves can keep at least one guy adjacent to Q9 and keep Mogrimm alive, the dwarves can put out some hurt. Under even conditions, the dwarves would get five attacks of four, plus a chance for an autowound. During proxy-play, Q9 has gone down in one turn.

I think it's interesting how Q9 is such a dominant figure but is slowly losing his place at the top. It keeps things interesting.

[S1R_ART0R1US]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

I know, just pulling out an EMP custom of mine

It's really just not possible to Target Q9 without hitting the Deathwalkers as well. Their stats are nearly identical as far as anything that would make sense in a special attack. Q9 is just shielded by other, weaker units. He's a Large Soulborg, just like the Deathwalkers, and he's a Vydar Major just like X17. I really can't think of a way to make a specialized Q9 counter that isn't also going to affect every other Soulborg in the game.

Reading the beginning of this thread there's a ton of discussion about this: how to hurt Q9 without hurting the Deathwalkers. I think one difference they could take advantage of is the fact that the Q brothers (and other heavy hitters like the Fen Hydra and Krug) are double spaced whereas all the Deathwalkers are single spaced. A phantom walking ninja with a bonus against double spaced heroes could seriously hurt Q9/Braxas/Hydra Pods. /2cents

EDIT: To address the above post, the Dwarves are hurt because they, like the Knights, have a tough time getting through rats and they need to be engaged to Q9 otherwise Mogrimm is an easy Queglix target.

[flameslayer93]

I'm wondering how the Major is so powerful. Regardless of his attack 3 times with 3 dice clause, he seems very counter-able anymore. That Queglix only has 6 range, and playing Rats will mean nothing as more and more abilities come out that make us get around the little robots.
.................................
Take for example, the Greater Ice Elemental with his Drake level of attack and if he can back onto water, disengagement from one little rat won't bother him(thank you cold healing) and that's if the rat can get through his Engagement Strike which is made better on cold spaces.

Looking at probability, Q9's screen goes down 25% of the time and will get an engagement strike 50% of the time.

If and only if all 4 rats in a squad do get adjacent to the GIE, one will die and half of the time when the GIE disengages and he heals on water(available on many maps) he will keep a wound. Should he attack a rat from his water spaces and activates Scatter, the 2 rats who move will possibly move away from the GIE, fearful of Ice Spikes. If they don't, they run a 25% chance minimum of dying(and still not reactivating Scatter).

All of this time, my opponent will have to continue using their heavy Q9(and unless I had the GIE move backwards, should he be attacked he can probably get to the Major next turn). The sculpt of the GIE could also possibly prohibit the defense boost given by Raelin.
........................................
Repulsors are another squad that could potentially stop the Major. The occasion EMP(35% one in 3 shot basically when it can be activated), easy rat killing powers, and their cheap ranged attack which allows them to bolster themselves by an addition attack die and grabbing height nets an attack of 3. Should a kill actually be made, another attack of 1(or maybe 2) can still be made by the little robot who got near the enemy in the first place.

Against squad soulborgs, we get a 40% chance(which pretty much means every 2 or 3 rolls) we get to kill a rat before we actually take our turn with them. If by some miracle we can get one of the omnicrons by the Big Daddy...err Q9, we get a 25% chance to get through that HEAVY ARMOR and deal an unblockable wound to him. I wouldn't count my chickens just yet, if we use Mogrimm to boost our inititive by a notch(a la X marker) we get a better chance(15% isn't much, but every little bit helps) to further surround the Major and next round means more EMP's, more autowound potential and even Mogrimm can use Commander's Strike(another 25%) on Q9 if you have a troop by the major(repulsors).

A little secret for you if you actually think that this won't work if my foe's Q9 uses the Queglix gun on Mogrimm, but if you keep him behind the Repulsors they can jump Q9. This works extremely well for 1 reason. The gun only has 6 range. To shoot at Mogrimm, our foe must get closer to my Repulsors. If Q9 shoots at my little Repulsors, they run a risk of the dreaded EMP. For each risk in this army there is greater benefits, there probably will be no harassment of the rats thanks to my Repulsors and there will be lots of dead Soulborgs
............................................
Our next entry, the Air Elemental doesn't focus as much on hitting Q9 as hitting his girlfriend, Raelin. No engaging me my friend as the Air Elemental is new the land screen and those rats can't tie me down anymore. Moving him is easy with Kurrok who can also resurrect once a round with Ornak, but we'll look at that later...

To kill some rats without making a Scatter scene, use some fire elementals. Their pretty tough with 4 defense and an occasional wounded from Searing Heat will force rats to think twice before coming towards us.

...................due to time constraints, I'll finish this later........

[MegaSilver]

The problem is the Q9 is paired with rats often. That's why some (or most) of your plans don't work as well/often as you say, flameslayer.

Don't get me wrong, they can work, but not as often as you may think.

MegaSilver

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by MegaSilver

The problem is the Q9 is paired with rats often. That's why some (or most) of your plans don't work as well/often as you say, flameslayer.

Don't get me wrong, they can work, but not as often as you may think.

MegaSilver

That's what I was trying to accomplish with the anti-rat figs. Kill the rats and Q9 has no screen. If I bring those plans to a game and my opponent is using the Q9/rat combo, they will easily lose their rats sooner than they think

[Devil's Advocate]

The problem is that many of the Better Counters to Q9 are weak vs Other armies that you will come across in a Tournament. Having a good matchup vs Q9 does not mean much if you lose your other matchups. The Best meta build to take on a Q9 army is probably Heavy Gruts.

[Frylock]

If the GIE tries to fight through the rat screen, he's going to get clogged down pretty quickly. If I were playing the rat/Q9 army, rather than scatter next to the GIE, I would scatter one space away from the GIE. This forces GIE to engage the rat screen, and not the other way around. Thus, the rats don't have to worry about Ice Spikes. Meanwhile, Queglix is wearing down the GIE's four lives. I don't want to go too much into the GIE (as this isn't his book), but Ice Spikes works better against a melee attack force, rather than a melee screen. Even without his rats, though, Q9 would likely beat the GIE. He could set up away from water, forcing Icy to leave his safe zone. And his 4 defense isn't holding up against Queglix for long. I could see GIE killing Q9, but it would need a near-perfect setup.