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The Book of 4th Massachusetts Line

dnutt99

dnutt99

Well-known member
The Book of 4th Massachusetts Line

Utgar's Rage - Collection 2 - Minute Men and Wolves​

4thmass.jpg
If you cannot see the Army Card graphic, check Hasbro's Unit Page for stats and special powers, plus "character biography" and other non-game unit info.

Character Bio: Before fighting for a larger cause under their commanding General Jandar, the 4th Massachusetts Line had endured many harsh battles. During their training back in New England, the most important lesson they learned from their Brigadier General John Glover was to save their ammunition by waiting until they could see the whites of the enemies' eyes. Although this patient fighting strategy has taken years to perfect, the 4th Massachusetts Line is known to wreak havoc on approaching enemies with their wait and fire technique.

They are most comfortable when in the company of other valiant allies, who remind them of their old commander General George Washington. For this reason they prefer to fight with other Valiant Heroes such as their new friend Drake Alexander, or Finn and his brother Thorgrim the Viking Champions. It was not until meeting Sergeant Drake Alexander in Valhalla that these men learned that their old cause had been won due to their sacrifices and discipline under General Washington. Now they have rallied behind the new and greater cause of securing the wellsprings and helping Jandar in the Battle of all time. (Hasbro)

Confred said:
WAIT THEN FIRE
If none of the 4th Massachusetts Line move this turn, add 1 die to their attack.

VALIANT ARMY DEFENSE BONUS
If every Army Card you control has a Valiant personality, each soldier in the 4th Massachusetts Line receives 1 additional defense die.
Click to expand...
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-Rulings and Clarifications-
- WAIT THEN FIRE : Stacking Per Turn
Does Wait then Fire stack each turn I use it?
No, Wait then Fire does not stack. (Hasbro FAQ)

- VALIANT ARMY DEFENSE BONUS : Army With Valiant and Non-Valiant Units
If my non-Valiant figures are destroyed, and only Valiant figures are left on the battlefield, can the 4th Massachusetts Line use their Valiant Army Defense Bonus?
Yes. (Hasbro FAQ)

- VALIANT ARMY DEFENSE BONUS : Army With the Airborne Elite
Do the 4th Massachusetts Line receive the Valiant Army Defense Bonus if I only have Valiant units in play but have not used “The Drop” to bring in the Airborne Elite?
Yes. Even though the Airborne Elite is part of your army and has a Disciplined personality, they do not disrupt the Valiant Army Defense Bonus until you activate “The Drop” and they are in play. (dnutt99)

​
_________________________________________________________________

-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received
- MARCUS DECIMUS GALLUS : Soldier Leadership
As soldiers, the 4th Massachusetts Line can benefit from Marcus Decimus Gallus’ SOLDIER LEADERSHIP movement bonus.

- MARCUS DECIMUS GALLUS : Soldier Attack Enhancement
As soldiers, the 4th Massachusetts Line may benefit from Marcus Decimus Gallus’ SOLDIER ATTACK ENHANCEMENT attack bonus.

- SIR GILBERT : Jandar’s Dispatch
As a Squad that follows Jandar, 4th Massachusetts Line figures may benefit from Sir Gilbert's JANDAR'S DISPATCH movement bonus.

- VALIANT ARMY DEFENSE BONUS : Valiant Personality Units
Having an army in play composed of only these units, will enable the 4th Massachusetts Line to benefit from the VALIANT ARMY DEFENSE BONUS:

​
Synergy Benefits Offered
- N/A
​
C3V and SoV Custom Synergies
Spoiler Alert!
_________________________________________________________________
-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-
- TBA
​
_________________________________________________________________
-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Rankings

Jexik: 4th Mass. Line- Although no longer considered unbeatable, a low-cost, average defense, 4-man ranged squad will always be a threat on most maps, taking great advantage of height and the engagement mechanics. Wait then Fire is just icing on the cake. A

OEAO: 4th Massachusetts Line- The gold standard for a ranged squad, 4th Mass excel at throwing 4 attacks of 3 into targets at 6 range. A

Cleon: Tier 9 (9/208)

dok (VC-inclusive): A


Master Index
Building an army around the 4th Mass.
4th Massacre?
4th Mass Overated? No.
4th Weapons of Mass. Destruction
Unit Debate #2 -- Minutemen Vs. Militia
4th>10th
4th Mass Flowchart

Unit Strategy Review
- TBA
​
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wait then Fire
An important thing to remember when using multiple squads of the 4th:
Even if you move only one member of the 4th, none of the other members will get the +1 attack bonus this turn.


Aranas
 
Aranas said:
Wait then Fire
An important thing to remember when using multiple squads of the 4th:
Even if you move only one member of the 4th, none of the other members will get the +1 attack bonus this turn.


Aranas
Click to expand...

wow I had overlooked that...

Still I feel guilty drafting these guys lately especially on castle levels where 2 squads can line the castle so that none of them ever have to move. They just seem so good that is is cheap.

Last game with them they good Krug out in 1 turn as he approached the castle.

16 dice getting tossed at you from range is as brutal as a squad can get.
 
riledguy said:
Still I feel guilty drafting these guys lately especially on castle levels where 2 squads can line the castle so that none of them ever have to move. They just seem so good that is is cheap.
Click to expand...

Same here. I really like them, but we've had to stop drafting them (with or without castles) as they seem way too powerful for the points and whoever goes up against them gets routinely massacred. Two or three squads of 4th Mass seems nigh impossible to beat, even for Q9. Does anyone have any suggestions? How can these guys be overcome? I've tried the seemingly best solutions: Q9, Krav Maga, Elite Onyx Vipers, Drake, all to no avail.

riledguy said:
16 dice getting tossed at you from range is as brutal as a squad can get.
Click to expand...

Yeah, maybe if there were only 3 Minutemen per squad, but 4 (for 70 points!) is just insane. Marcus only makes things worse. I'm really surprised that there are so few posts in this thread as I've found the 4th Mass to be hands down the most deadly figures in the game.

Any help as to how to defeat these guys would be much appreciated. As it is they are unusable in our games.
 
One thing about Marcus is that if they're using his soldier enhancement, they're not getting their all Valiant bonus, since Marcus is Disciplined. So basically they can choose to have one extra move or one extra defense die.
It seems like the AE (or anyone with 8 or higher range, really, so Syvarris, DED, and Q9 with his normal attack fit in here) has a good chance at taking out their points worth. The secret with the 4th Mass is to shoot them from out of range and make them move. That way they lose their attack bonus and possibly any height advantage bonuses. You have to make them play on your grounds, not vice versa.
Mimring is another one that might be worth taking a shot with, just don't get greedy. If they want to attack Mimring, make them move first, so keep him out of range and hit them one at a time. If they don't have the Valiant bonus and you hit them before they can get height advantage, they should go down fairly easily as individuals. If they have Raelin or someone else backing them, well that's just more points you can throw at them.
For a large group of 4th Mass, Drake makes a good clean up figure, because he can get there without taking shots, and he can kill them (though only one per turn) pretty easily with 6 attack die.
The real secret is just not to camp out within 6 spaces of these guys or let them get height advantage, though. If they're not getting bonuses, their base stats aren't that rough, they could even be considered mortal. So keep them moving, moving, moving!
Actually, since the 4th only have 6 range, the Krav should be a decent counter for a couple squads as well. 7 range and only needing 1 shield to block whenever one of the Mass rolls any skulls with their 2 attack dice should allow the Krav to stick around for long enough to get 100 points worth of kills, unless you're just having bad luck with rolls. Again, though (even if it matters less when you've got Stealth Dodge), don't let the 4th Mass attack with 3 die. It increases the chances they blank out, making defensive whiffs from the Krav less of an Achilles' Heel.
 
That said, in Castles these guys are nigh invincible, especially if backed by hidden Raelin/Taelords. Captain America is also going to make these guys soooo much deadlier.
 
I like using these guys with the knights and Sir Gilbert. Makes a well balanced army with lots of synegies. For example:

2x Knights
2x 4th Mass
Sir Gilbert
385 points (for 400 pt games)

First couple of order markers almost always go on the Knights, which bond with Sir Gilbert, so use Jandar's Dispatch to move the 4th Mass, then move Sir Gibert, then Knights move (key is not to get Sir Gilbert out on his own -- don't move him his total 5, but keep him with or right behind the Knights so he can give them the attacke bonus). With some lucky rolls on Jandar's dispatch, you can get the 4th Mass in range to use the 3rd turn marker for them and since they didn't move on their turn, the get the wait then fire bonus.

For a 500 Point game either add:
Finn and Eldgrim, or
Sgt Drake, or
1x Sentinels

I prefer Finn/Eldrim -- gives two more for Knights to bond with and you can Use Eldgrim to get hold some glyphs early in the game and of course Finn can boost the Knights attack and once he falls he can boost Sir Gilbert's attack.

For a 600 Point game add Charos.

All of these are built around the "valiant" army theme which also helps the 4th Mass with the extra defense.
 
I love using these guys. Once you get height advantage and don't have to move you can easily get 4 attack each! Excellent.
 
IAmBatman said:
That said, in Castles these guys are nigh invincible,
Click to expand...
Just be careful not to overload the draft with too many Minutemen and forgo something with a longer ranged reach. A wicked counterdraft to a massive 4th Mass castle build-up is anything with multiple shots that outranges them.
I've had the pleasure of my Minutemen helplessly dying to Syvarris's arrows and there wasn't a thing they could do to get him.
I eventually had to send out some ground level Minutemen to hunt him down.
 
Hex_Enduction_Hour said:
IAmBatman said:
That said, in Castles these guys are nigh invincible,
Click to expand...
Just be careful not to overload the draft with too many Minutemen and forgo something with a longer ranged reach. A wicked counterdraft to a massive 4th Mass castle build-up is anything with multiple shots that outranges them.
I've had the pleasure of my Minutemen helplessly dying to Syvarris's arrows and there wasn't a thing they could do to get him.
I eventually had to send out some ground level Minutemen to hunt him down.
Click to expand...
You are definitely right Hex. I've had this problem with out of range figures picking of my castle-top figures. It can be teedious.
 
philowar said:
riledguy said:
Still I feel guilty drafting these guys lately especially on castle levels where 2 squads can line the castle so that none of them ever have to move. They just seem so good that is is cheap.
Click to expand...

Same here. I really like them, but we've had to stop drafting them (with or without castles) as they seem way too powerful for the points and whoever goes up against them gets routinely massacred. Two or three squads of 4th Mass seems nigh impossible to beat, even for Q9. Does anyone have any suggestions? How can these guys be overcome? I've tried the seemingly best solutions: Q9, Krav Maga, Elite Onyx Vipers, Drake, all to no avail.

riledguy said:
16 dice getting tossed at you from range is as brutal as a squad can get.
Click to expand...

Yeah, maybe if there were only 3 Minutemen per squad, but 4 (for 70 points!) is just insane. Marcus only makes things worse. I'm really surprised that there are so few posts in this thread as I've found the 4th Mass to be hands down the most deadly figures in the game.

Any help as to how to defeat these guys would be much appreciated. As it is they are unusable in our games.
Click to expand...

They are easily beaten....the defense on them is so-so if they aren't in an all valiant army. The key is to make them move by outranging them, as others have said. Try to never enter their field of fire unless you absolutely have no choice or are using a range-resistant figure like Drake, EOVs, Krav Magas, etc. It can also be a good call to target Marcus or Taelord or whatever is boosting them before trying to kill the soldiers....assuming the booster is in range, of course.

Bottom line, make them move to you. Nobody says you have to be on the offensive all the time.
 
Jandars_Hope wrote:
You are definitely right Hex. I've had this problem with out of range figures picking of my castle-top figures. It can be teedious.
Click to expand...

Is that really a problem? In my first castle game (the standard scenario with the castle set; I was the attacker) I assumed I could conquer the castletop defenders by doing that. However, we found that with the battlements, I could never trace line of sight to the defenders! I tried every which angle and still couldn't do it, and as that scenario is timed, I had to rush in eventually and got slaughtered. Now, that's a double-height castle, so perhaps a single height castle would be easier to snipe at.

I've still never won as offence on that map. Granted, my opponent always drafted the Omnicrons and either Raelin or the defense Viking, or both (smart, but gets annoying fighting the same army time after time)
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll try out-ranging them, though it's tough when you're talking about 7 vs 6 range (not a whole lot of difference!). I suppose the best guys for the job would be Syvarris and Dead Eye Dan, what with their long range, though man are they fragile (and DED packs a weak punch, and only one per turn).
 
Thats the big difference you, when they move the sacrifice the ability to be better then most squad ranged units. All you have to do is keep backing away and bingo there easily countered. Plus it keeps them from going to high because if they cant jump down and chase a out ranging character they will have to fall back or just keep taking it
 
If you are building a 500 point army around the Templar i'd suggest adding one or two squads of 4th mass as your ranged unit.
 
I think an interesting 500 point army would be.....

Templar Cavalry x2- 240
4th. Mass. - 70
Sir Gilbert- 105
KoW- 70

That leaves you with 15 points... hmmm... Did someone say Isamu?!?! Just send him out as a suicide mission and when he dies, the 4th. Mass. get their 'Valiant' boosted defense. I think this would be an interesting army. After Isamu dies, send out a squad of Templar to rush into the range and engage em', doing as much damage as possible. Once they die, send in 4th. Mass. to clean up whatever range is left. Then once the 4th. Mass. die, send out the other Templar Cavalry to do as much damage as possible. Then, as your last wave you send out Sir Gilbert surrounded by Knights so they're a 4 attack, 4 defense squad of four with boosted speed. I would absolutely LOVE to field this army. Do you guys think it's tournament worthy? Or am I a little over my head?
 
GForce3062 said:
I think an interesting 500 point army would be.....

Templar Cavalry x2- 240
4th. Mass. - 70
Sir Gilbert- 105
KoW- 70

That leaves you with 15 points... hmmm... Did someone say Isamu?!?! Just send him out as a suicide mission and when he dies, the 4th. Mass. get their 'Valiant' boosted defense. I think this would be an interesting army. After Isamu dies, send out a squad of Templar to rush into the range and engage em', doing as much damage as possible. Once they die, send in 4th. Mass. to clean up whatever range is left. Then once the 4th. Mass. die, send out the other Templar Cavalry to do as much damage as possible. Then, as your last wave you send out Sir Gilbert surrounded by Knights so they're a 4 attack, 4 defense squad of four with boosted speed. I would absolutely LOVE to field this army. Do you guys think it's tournament worthy? Or am I a little over my head?
Click to expand...
Why not push the boat out and have Marcu instead of Isamu. 5 points over but who's going to quabble over that?
 
I'm thinking Templars are better suited to playing against the 4th Mass than with them. They are really the anti-range, since they can close the distance and decimate the ranged units up close. If you use them together, the 4th Mass won't be able to keep up with them without some really fancy manuevering on your part. You may decide to hold them back behind or beside the 4th Mass, though, and wipe out any Melee guys that get close to your line.
 
Junge Roman said:
I'm thinking Templars are better suited to playing against the 4th Mass than with them. They are really the anti-range, since they can close the distance and decimate the ranged units up close. If you use them together, the 4th Mass won't be able to keep up with them without some really fancy manuevering on your part. You may decide to hold them back behind or beside the 4th Mass, though, and wipe out any Melee guys that get close to your line.
Click to expand...

So maybe replace that one squad of 4th. Mass. in my army for another squad of KoW?

EDIT: If I did this, the army would look like....

Templar Cavalry x2- 240
KoW x2- 140
Sir Gilbert- 105
Isamu- 10
 
I think G Force might be onto something. I still want to try cavalry x3 and 4th Mass x2 = 500. Move the 4th Mass up first keeping the cavalry right behind them. If they opponent tries to bum rush you, Wait and Fire. If they move up somebody with better range like KMA, Charge with your knights. Heck even Q9 could (possibly) get sideswiped with 3 attacks of 5.
 
I'm still unskilled in the ways of scape, but I think if you were to use the Templar, 4th Mass. team you could keep the templar back untill the enemey trys to bash the 4th Mass. then, after you attack with the Templar you turn them sideways so you can engage more units and hold them back more effeciently. Just an idea though.
 
These guys are so sweet. for 400 points i got this army.

2x 4th Massachusetts Line - 140 points
2x Knights of Weston - 140 points
1x Sir Denrick - 100 points

20 points under, but aint nothing doing about that. for 500 points i just throw in the Sarge and make it exactly 500. Either way this army eats about anything for breakfast.
 
An army I made with these guys seems to work pretty well.

Sgt. Drake(new)-170
Brunak-110
Thorgrim-80
4thMass x2-140

Without the little troopers, the army has no range. But just adding these guys gives your army all the range it needs. They are just the perfect ranged squad.
 
War Solves Nothing said:
An army I made with these guys seems to work pretty well.

Sgt. Drake(new)-170
Brunak-110
Thorgrim-80
4thMass x2-140

Without the little troopers, the army has no range. But just adding these guys gives your army all the range it needs. They are just the perfect ranged squad.
Click to expand...
They have Drake's Special. :D I'm only questioning the use of Brunak. I'd say add another 4th Mass and a squad of Deathreavers. The Rats can tie up opponent's more than Brunak, while the additional 4th Mass are just bonus.
 
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