General or No General

[Garet Jaxx]

I have seen that a lot of people don't use general themed armies. I usually just play with one general. Am I weird, or are you. The main reason we do this is because we (me and my friends) don't take turns picking people. We just pick our general and make our armies secretly. Next time I think we will take turns. I can see the possibilities. Taelord + omnicron. Raelin + Krav.

So the question is, Do you use general themed armies or not?

[rdhight]

I never set out to use a single-general army. Sometimes a smaller group within one general, such as a Valiant army, blasts/glads, or a large bonding group, will take over my plans and cause me to end up with a mono-general team, but that's it. The simultaneous construction thing is tempting, I admit. But the problem with single-general armies however you slice them is that the generals aren't equal.

1. UTGAR has the biggest selection, loads of bonding and swarming, great variety, and the best filler. Draws: Deathreavers, vampires, Stingers, orcs, Krug, etc. etc. etc.

2. JANDAR is another excellent choice. He stinks in the area of cheap swarm figures, but he has a nice wide selection of unit types and a large army overall. Draws: 4th Line, Nilfheim, AE, Knights/Champions, Raelin.

3. VYDAR has a small selection and terrible filler options, but it's going to be hard to go too wrong with what he offers. Draws: pretty much all but three or four of his cards.

4. EINAR has decent numbers and good swarming and bonding, just like Utgar, but lacks Utgar's arsenal of strong heroes and high-defense commons. Suffers in single-general games because his Romans and Marcus can no longer call on Utgar Warlords and 4th Line. Draws: Kaemon Awa, samurai in general, Guilty.

5. ULLAR really lacks a "killer app" as a single-general force. Aubriens and Syvarris are the best things pulling you to play Ullar, but lack of access to rats really hurts both. Likewise, Sonlen loses some great healing targets like Q9 and Nilfheim, and Charos loses the 4th Line. Draws: Syvarris, Aubriens, Deadeye Dan, Theracus, perhaps WoA.

If you really want to go with single-general armies, I'd make Vydar neutral so everyone can have a shot at a Major, or at least give everyone access to Marvel.

[Flame Gryphon]

Originally Posted by Garet Jaxx

I have seen that a lot of people don't use general themed armies. I usually just play with one general. Am I weird, or are you. The main reason we do this is because we (me and my friends) don't take turns picking people. We just pick our general and make our armies secretly. Next time I think we will take turns. I can see the possibilities. Taelord + omnicron. Raelin + Krav.

So the question is, Do you use general themed armies or not?

General themed for me.

[NecroBlade]

I usually only play single-general armies by accident. It's not in the rules that you have to play only one general at a time. You're weird.

[feekonea]

Originally Posted by rdhight

...Draws: pretty much all but three or four of his cards...

I play non genereal themed, but because of the synergy, it sometimes ends up that way.

[Lord Pyre]

I usually pick nearly all Einar, but with a few Utgar or Jandar thrown in.

Of course, if I make a scenario, that's a different matter.

[DarkBladeCB]

In casual play, I find it really fun to play themed armies. Even in the division of "Utgar" I tend to play "Orcs" or "Marro" or "Undead." I find this to be visually interesting and a sort of challenge to piece together the best possible themed army. I don't really have any friends, so I sit in my room and think about Heroscape a lot, instead of going out to parties and stuff. I am not a very cool person. So I dream about themed Heroscape armies and the pieces I wish I had. Sad life.

But if I'm trying to make the most competitive army, I can't say I'd end up so restrained by theme.

[Uprising]

Originally Posted by Garet Jaxx

I have seen that a lot of people don't use general themed armies. I usually just play with one general. Am I weird, or are you. The main reason we do this is because we (me and my friends) don't take turns picking people. We just pick our general and make our armies secretly. Next time I think we will take turns. I can see the possibilities. Taelord + omnicron. Raelin + Krav.

So the question is, Do you use general themed armies or not?

In casual or tourney play I roll General specific. Each.....and.....every.....time. I was actually gonna write up a blog about this but just haven't done it yet. I have a pretty small play group. Like 3 or 4 people. We just grab a General and choose an army from that stack of cards. We don't draft or anything. As a fan of the flavor and theme I think I've mixed Generals 2 or 3 times when I first bought the game. Just didn't feel right mixing the bad guys with the good guys. Silly I know, but I'm a thematic purist.

[SpiderCoach]

My friends and I try to build single-general armies when we play. When the kids and I play, it's a total free-for-all. They're so much more interested in playing with the "cool" looking figures rather than playing with armies that offer bonding or other synergies.

[Revdyer]

I generally end up with an all Jandar or all Utgar army, but not intentionally. The Jandar ones happen if I'm building a Valiant army. The Utgar ones happen if I'm doing a Marro Drone or Marro Stinger onslaught, it seems. But, then, last night I played Braxas, Q9, Krav Maga Agents, and Eldgrim all in one army and they worked together quite nicely.

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by Revdyer

I generally end up with an all Jandar or all Utgar army, but not intentionally.

Same, except I often find myself mixing those two generals as well, but it's largely based on the synergy/strength reasons that rdhight listed. I'll stick Raelin in an army with the Arrow Gruts, or Nilfheim in an army with Stingers or Deathreavers.

Really, Raelin, Deathreavers, and Kaemon Awa are three cards that make it really hard to stick to theme. Ever since I first started playing though, I've loved that you can make armies of a bunch of apparently random stuff thrown together and have it be good.

[bad_calvin]

I stay pretty General specific as well. I don't really play competitively as much as I like to just play. I like to stay in theme. There have been a few times I don't but not really for any other reason then just wanting to try something different that game or use a miniature that I may not use very much.