600 Point Competitive Armies

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by Soul Shackle

What were your last 3 tournament armies, Jexik?

I'll do one better and show you my last 4. Which are... coincidentally, also my first 4.

Originally Posted by Jexik

I haven't played in many tournaments yet, but I'll add my experiences into the mix, and edit this as I play in more. This is probably a good way to do it instead of simply having everyone list the first cool army idea that pops into our heads, or telling everyone how many times you beat your 7 year old cousin with a given army. (I'm as guilty as anyone at just throwing out ideas!)

Tree Town Open III- NHD 2007
6x 4th Massachusetts Line, Airborne Elite
Losses to gibberish 47 and slade, close win against Codeman
Results 4-2
This army was kind of like playing checkers with 28 checkers. When it worked, it was unstoppable. When I started losing, I couldn't catch up.

Outpost 2000 Open- Coon Rapids, MN Jan. 2008
3x Deathreavers, Cyprien Esenwein, Sonya Esenwein, Nilfheim, Marro Warriors
Loss to Snotwalker 8000, wins against Jormi and Supergeek, very close win against Codeman
Results 4-1
This army was fun for me, but really frustrating for my opponents. The game against SW8K was very intense in the middle, but then I clearly lost. I'm 2-0 now against Codeman, but only with a +165 PD.

Oswego, IL March 1, 2008
2x Deathreavers, 2x Minions, Nilfheim, Isamu (no more than 2x of any common allowed, 500 point limit)
Loss to jdtenor
Results 3-2
This army was very swingy. If I lost Nilfheim or too many Minions early, I had little offense left. The rats were almost unnecessary because my army was so tough, although they did a good job of holding the glyphs in all but one game. When I won, I won by a lot though.

Austin, MN, March 15, 2008
Krug, Raelin, 3x Arrow Gruts, 6x Swog Rider
Losses to gibberish, supergeek, and phloid... all playing the exact same army
Results 2-3
I actually liked the 6 swogs. I knew that I'd have trouble with Valiant 4th Mass, and I had to face it 3 times.

I'm 13-8 now, for a 62% win rate. I'm only 2-6 in the first two rounds of the tournaments that I've been to. I tend to lose close or challenging games.

I actually think that Bengi's army is really cool, and I'm sick of people looking at spider_poison's rankings as a list of taboo units. At the end of the day, you still have to play the games and win them, and it's more fun when everyone brings some of the best armies that they can come up with. Just because a unit is ranked high, that doesn't mean that it will do that well in a bad army or in the hands of a bad player. On the flip side, just because a unit is ranked low, that doesn't mean that it can't do well in the right setup or hands. The Sentinels of Jandar were a B- a year ago, and now they're a B+, almost entirely because Revdyer has handed it to people using them.

It's just one guy's opinion. Sure, he's a smart guy. Sure, he wins tournaments. Sure, he even listens to a bunch of other people's opinions. But don't take the list for any more than it is. It's a rough guide to the relative strengths of Heroscape units in a 'standard' tournament format.

[ollie]

My 600 pointer for the Slugfest was

Taelord: 180
Minions x2: 220
Omnicrons x2: 200

It did reasonably well, winning three and losing two. I've never made Taelord fit comfortably in at 500, but at 600 I had high hopes and he performed reasonably well. The snipers often got a bunch of early Taelord-enhanced damage in, but I did less well at coordinating Taelord and the minions later in the game.

My first loss was against Bengi's army---I was outranged and outplayed. I did get a first time one-hit kill in on Brunak which made for a great close finish (one minion and one sniper against two microcorp). The second loss was against a Krav, rats, Sujoah, Sonlen, Zetacron army. There was a castle in the middle and I was too keen to get Taelord and the snipers up there. The Krav took out Taelord in a single turn (in fact it only took two shots; three skulls both times against all blanks and one shield, even roling four dice thanks to height). After that I got some good kills in but was slowly worn down.

I'm with Jexik on the Q9 (and other A-graders) issue. I love playing against Q9. Taking out a neat looking robot with his reputation is good fun. I've used him at a tournament before (with rats as well).

[Einar's puppy]

Originally Posted by Jexik

It's just one guy's opinion. Sure, he's a smart guy. Sure, he wins tournaments. Sure, he even listens to a bunch of other people's opinions. But don't take the list for any more than it is. It's a rough guide to the relative strengths of Heroscape units in a 'standard' tournament format.

That is very true, because in a 500 point tournament, who would use tealord? In the 600 pt slug fest 2 people used him. He actually did pretty well.

And as for the rest of your statement (I didn't want to use a ton of space quoting the whole thing) I agree. There is nothing wrong using A+ units. I don't really like to use Q9 because I can't get him to work in my favored armies, and I don't use rats because I have none. It takes skill to use the 4th too, so I have nothing against other people using them, And I like using Realin especially. She is fairly easy to kill off, and it is tricky trying to get her to the best spots without her dying.

Really, I just like any unit that can do reasonably well (no one likes to play a unit that is just dead weight) and require some finesse to use.

[Faxanadu13]

I had great fun killing a Q9/ Raelin/WoA group with this:

Concan 80
2x sentinels of jandar 300
Kelda 380
Niflheim 565
Eldgrim 595

With Kelda I healed 8 total points on Niflheim before he died anyway. But not before biteing Q9 in half halfway thu the game.

[ChocoVanilla]

Ashigaru Army:

Kato Katsuro - 200

Ashigaru Harquebus x4 - 240

Ashigaru Yari x4 - 160

Total - 600

Swarm party ANYONE?

(Edit: Because of limited starting zone space, you could substitute a set of Yari and Harquebus for a squad of samurai or raelin (RotV- for th extra defence) and Isamu or Marcu just for the space filler unit)

[Paladin573]

N00b here - played a few games yesterday. Right now we are very limited on figs -Marvel, Marro, and a few expansions..

Here is 600 pt army that surprised me that won several times. I had my doubts because of NO range but once I closed in it seemed to work. One game all I had lift was Spartacus and he took down the last 3 figs.

I know there is a big Marvel too powerful thread going on but our group is starting to yes...so I think eventually we might separate them.

I have noticed in some post that Marvel is not allowed in some tournaments. So eventually I will need to replace Capt. America.

A few questions-

1. Over all thoughts on this army?
2. What should I eventually replace Capt America with?


Crixus – 90
Retiarius - 90
Spartacus – 200
Captain America – 220

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by Paladin573

A few questions-

1. Over all thoughts on this army?
2. What should I eventually replace Capt America with?

Crixus – 90
Retiarius - 90
Spartacus – 200
Captain America – 220

1. Neat army. It will probably struggle when your collection grows or you face people who have larger collections. Common squads, especially Deathreavers, Minions of Utgar, bonded melee units (Knights of Weston, Romans, Gruts, etc), or ranged commons (4th Massachusetts Line, Stingers, Arrow Gruts, Glads/Blasts, etc.) will crush this army.

2. Nilfheim plays similarly to Captain America, only he flies and is a bit easier to kill. He ought to be just as good at either going out early to kill Deathreavers and ranged commons, or coming in after the dust settles to clean up what's left by the Gladiators. Q9, Q10, or Kaemon Awa could also be good for that late game/special attack role, and Kaemon actually makes it 500 points exactly, which is a little more typical of a total. (There really is no standard in Heroscape though).

Most excitingly, there have been rumors here and there that Wave 9 might include common gladiators. So when those come out, you might just be ahead of the curve. You might drop Retiarius though. He seems pretty weak, even in a Gladiator themed army.

[Paladin573]

Thanks Jexik

Nilfheim is also cheaper leaving me 35 pts maybe I could find some range for 35

Your so right about this army getting smacked around eventually I have been snooping and 4th Massachusetts Line looks like one of the must haves in some armies. I will look up the rest you posted to get up to speed.

My first thought when I started was to go the route of elves, but I think I will keep going with the Roman theme add some range and some warlords - Marcus Decimus Gallus

[Teh_Marro_Child]

my 600 pt. army:
Tor-Kul-Na 220
Marrden Nagrubs 30
Marro Drones 50
Ne-Gok-Sa 90
Marro Stingers 60
Marro Drudge 50
Marro Drudge 50
Marro Warriors 50

Wadda ya' think?

[Aldin]

Originally Posted by Teh_Marro_Child

my 600 pt. army:
Tor-Kul-Na 220
Marrden Nagrubs 30
Marro Drones 50
Ne-Gok-Sa 90
Marro Stingers 60
Marro Drudge 50
Marro Drudge 50
Marro Warriors 50

Wadda ya' think?

Nice concept, rough execution. Kill the Drones and Drudge for 2x more Stingers and 1x more Nagrubs. Makes OM management easier, gives more snacks to TKN and boosts your firepower by quite a bit.

~Aldin, swampily

[killercactus]

Originally Posted by Aldin

Nice concept, rough execution. Kill the Drones and Drudge for 2x more Stingers and 1x more Nagrubs. Makes OM management easier, gives more snacks to TKN and boosts your firepower by quite a bit.

~Aldin, swampily

I'm killercactus, and I approve this message.

This message was paid for by the campaign to elect Runa as the next A+ figure.

(Jexik gets credit for that political joke).

[Teh_Marro_Child]

yeah you'r right. I'll try that later. But so far it is working for me (I posted a battle report for it) but for finding a mistake and offering a suggestion you win... A smilie!