Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts: A 450pt Army Challenge

[ollie]

I'm on the NESA team for TempleCon this weekend and one of the things we'll be doing is teaching new players. I'm not exactly sure what this involves at the moment, but probably 450pts and Nyys's super-secret super-awesome display map. Anyway, this post isn't directly about that, but about army building ideas that arose from it.

Against a new player I'd much rather play a crappy army to the best of my ability than ease off and not try my hardest. Obviously, taking Q9/Raelin/Rats and obliterating the new player won't do much to get him/her hooked and may even stop being fun for me after the first twenty or so games.

On the other hand, I have no urge to play armies where the units are crippled. I like seeing the units perform to the best of their abilities. For example, I have no interest in playing Iskra without the Rechets (and even less in playing the Rechets without Iskra). For tournament armies I enjoy taking less powerful units and trying to build them into a tournament-worthy army. I now want to do the same thing, but one rung down the ladder. I'm looking to take a bunch of C and D grade units and mold them into a B- level army.

In short I want 450pt armies that work as armies and let units shine, while not being very competitive. Here are my first thoughts:

1. Do Soulborgs Dream Of Electric Yeti?
Deathwalker 9000: 140
Zettian Guards: 70
Warden 816: 90
Dzu-Teh x2: 150

Total: 450pts, 10 hexes.

The Dzu-Teh act as bodyguards against high-attack melee figures getting at DW9K/Zettians (idea stolen from killercactus and his Obsidian Guard theories) while they do most of the attacking. Warden 816 cleans up.


2. So You Think You're Special?
Morsbane: 100
Nakita Agents: 120
Deathwalker 8000: 130
Warriors of Ashra x2: 100

Total: 450pts, 11 hexes.

Morsbane negates the opponent's specials increasing the value of the Nakitas and WoA. The Nakitas also stick close to DW8K to smoke-powder and engagement-strike potential threats and protect that glass jaw.


3. Monastic Drudgery
Shaolin Monks x3: 240
Marro Drudge x4: 200

Total: 440pts, 21 hexes.

Nothing fancy here. Large numbers of commons; half melee, half range. Works well as an army build it's just that these units are not the best at the jobs.

So, what would you use?

[clancampbell]

Love the idea. I think its a great way to get new players hooked, and an interesting challenge for yourself. I love the inclusion of the Deathwalkers in the builds.
If it were me, I'd go with the first build, do soulborgs dream of electric yeti. Its cool to get the almost never used Duz-teh involved.

I'd be real interested to see how you do. Good luck, and hope we get some new blood into the game, and our community.

[Aldin]

Love the concept - here are a few that seem fun to me. I particularly like the second one:

The Viking and the Kyrie

2xTEI
Kiova
Thorgrim

Could be fun to lead with Thorgrim. If he dies it improves Kiova’s survival rate. If he lives, he boosts TEI. All melee, but most of it flies. A chance for a skilled player to demonstrate careful OM management and unit placement.

Cry Havoc!

2xDeathstalker
DW8k
Runa

You’ve seen me argue before that the Robodogs deserve better than a C+ and DW8k probably does as well. This army is nearly invulnerable to Cyprien, Braxas and Grimnak. The Puppies can keep people away from DW8k, 8k annihilates low defense squads, and Runa is a clean-up unit that says the game is never over until it’s over – and she ain’t fat and she don’t sing. Let me sub Raelin for Runa and I’d take this to a tourney.

Monkey Business

5xGorillanators

In this config, they should be able to get height and absorb whatever damage they need to absorb in order to kill the special attackers in the opposing army. Once the special attackers are gone the speed, defense and range of the simians may very well be enough to win out. Though facing Nilfheim and Q9 I’d probably just resign.

~Aldin, who thinks most Deathstalker/Deathwalker combos are pretty dangerous

[Jexik]

Team Berserker:

3x MacDirk Warriors 240
Thorgrim 320
Finn 400
Tarn Viking Warriors 450

I realize that these are mostly 'B' units, but it should still be hard to do well with if you stack them with Krav/Raelin/Syvarris or something. If you want to break the theme you could sub in Marro Warriors for the Tarn.

[ollie]

Nice ideas all. I'm planning to take a whole bunch of non-overlapping 450pt armies that between them are suitable for all the different types of games I might conceivably play (as well as teaching new players, the list is: General Wars, Above Cursed Lands, Dragon Wars, Heat Of Battle and unrestricted games of varying levels of competitiveness). I had one very like this down as potentially for use in Above Cursed Lands:

Originally Posted by Aldin

The Viking and the Kyrie

2xTEI
Kiova
Thorgrim

The difference was that I had Concan rather than Thorgrim. I think I like Thorgrim better, even in the Cursed Lands format.

[atmospro]

How about this

Hatamoto Taro
Izumi Samaria
Tawaga Samurai Archers x2
Ashigaru Yari x3

total 440
space 22
so you could add
Otonashi or Isamu for the full 450

It's as a swarm but not a strong swarm.
Would give the new comers a change to see what swarms are all about and a chance to kill some figure without hurt you too much in the beginning. It would also show how enhancement work.

[fomox]

Nice idea.

My favorite useless squad has to be the Obsidian guards, so how about:

Obsidian Guards x3 : 300
Warden : 390
Grubs x2 : 450


Warden speeds things up, Grubs can run out to grab glyphs, maybe provide some cover while the Obsidians advance. If they can get to the fight, 4A, 4D isn't so bad. Warden for end game.

--

The EI are a nice pick. Easy for a newbie to understand what they're up against and feel good about beating.

[nyys]

Originally Posted by Ollie

I'm not exactly sure what this involves at the moment, but probably 450pts and Nyys's super-secret super-awesome display map.

Without giving too much away I will reveal (for army building purposes) that every terrain type is represented in the 'big display.'

[Land-based AE]

There and Back Again:

Tor-Kul-Na
Saylind
Nagrubs x5
450 points, 18 hexes

I like to play this army when I'm playing casual games. Tor-Kul-Na goes out and stabs and stomps his way around the board until he's on life support or the nagrubs with him die.

Then, have Saylind summon him back where he can heal on some more nagrubs before taking the next trio out with him and doing it all over again.

This army is fun to play, has simple order marker management and beats up on melee-heavy squad-based armies but you'll find plenty of challenge in trying to defeat any solid ranged build.

[ollie]

Originally Posted by fomox

Obsidian Guards x3 : 300
Warden : 390
Grubs x2 : 450

Nice. With that last 60pts I might be tempted to go with Zetacron, or even Deadeye Dan, to have some decent range to potentially draw the opponent closer to me.

[dok]

240 Templar Cavalry x2
150 Sir Dupuis
60 Zetacron
450, 16 hexes

I'd prefer Concan in the last spot, but that's 470.

150 Anubian Wolves x2
160 Wolves of Badru x2
75 Khosumet the Darklord
50 Dumutef Guard x2
20 Marcu Essenwein
455, 18 hexes

5 points over, but Isamu just isn't as pretty a fit. Anubian wolves next to a Dumutef and Khosumet get two extra attack.

[ollie]

Originally Posted by dok

150 Anubian Wolves x2
160 Wolves of Badru x2
75 Khosumet the Darklord
50 Dumutef Guard x2
20 Marcu Essenwein
455, 18 hexes

5 points over, but Isamu just isn't as pretty a fit. Anubian wolves next to a Dumutef and Khosumet get two extra attack.

How about this to get under the limit?

Anubian Wolves x4: 300
Khosumet: 75
Dumutef Guards x2: 50
Marcu: 20

Total: 445pts, 15 hexes.