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The Book of MacDirk Warriors

dnutt99

dnutt99

Well-known member
The Book of MacDirk Warriors
Jandar's Oath - Collection 3 - "Kilts and Commandos"

oynS7I1.jpg
Spoiler Alert!
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: These highlanders are among the most fierce and loyal warriors that any leader could hope to have. They will do anything to protect their chosen Hero, and their tenacity is infectious. Leaders always gain confidence while the MacDirk clan is fighting in their Army. These clansmen scream and yell as they charge into battle with an odd assortment of weaponry. Their battle cry can be heard for miles as it echoes through the highlands. This often confuses the enemy as to where the MacDirks will show up next. 'MacDirk! MacDirk! For Clan and Highlands!’ (Hasbro)
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-Rulings and Clarifications-
  • - HUMAN CHAMPION BONDING : How Many Human Champions
    How does Human Champion Bonding work? Can I take a turn with all the Human Champions I control first?
    No, you can take a free turn (move & attack) with any one Human Champion you control before taking a turn with the Macdirk Warriors. (Hasbro FAQ)

    - HIGHLAND FURY : Multiple Human Champions
    If I have more than 1 squad of MacDirk Warriors, can I choose a different Human Champion for each squad?
    No. At the start of the game you must declare who the MacDirk Warriors’ chosen human champion is. All MacDirk Warriors must have the same human champion. (dnutt99)

    - HIGHLAND FURY : Mindshackled Human Champion
    What happens if my chosen human champion is mindshackled to an opponents army?
    The mindshackled champion is still the chosen champion for the MacDirk Warriors. Any wound received by the chosen champion, (before or after mindshackle), will still aid the MacDirk Warriors’ Highland Fury. (dnutt99)
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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

Synergy Benefits Offered
  • - HUMAN CHAMPION BONDING : Human Champion Units
    * Alastair MacDirk
    * Eldgrim the Viking Champion
    * Finn the Viking Champion
    * Sir Denrick
    * Sir Gilbert
    * Sir Hawthorne
    * Thorgrim the Viking Champion
C3V and SoV Custom Synergies
Spoiler Alert!

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

  • - TBA

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-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Rankings

Jexik: MacDirk Warriors- Gilbert has dusted off these neglected figures, but expensive melee figures with low defense remain hard to play. C+

OEAO: B+

Cleon: Tier 6 (95/208)

dok (VC inclusive): C+

Master Index
MKSentinel said:
MacDirk Warriors
And Mindshackled Human Champion? http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=6214
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Unit Strategy Review
 
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If you are playing a large point value game, leaving Alastair waaaaaayyyyyy in the back lines, safe from harm, can result in a devasting horde or MacDirks. Every round, the MacDirks use one of their bondings to make sure Alastair injures himself, bulking up the MacDirks even more...they other two turns of the round the MacDirks can bond with other champions (Finn, Thor, Hawthorne, Denrick, Gilbert) to add a fifth attacker to their storm of carnage. Gilbert is a great choice for a second champion, as a bond with him will allow extra movement for the MacDirks, getting them even closer to their targets....careful positioning will give them an extra attack die as well. On the right map and with careful play, your opponent should never get within striking distance of Alastair to be able to undo the giant boost the Macdirks are receiving from him.

Don't try this trick on a small map or in armies of less than 600 points....110 points is too much to leave unused in a smaller army. This tactic begins to work fairly well in the 800 point armies I think, on maps of at least 4 master sets or so with lots of terrain separating the starting zones.

Range can undo this force, so don't try it against a strong, range-heavy army. Also watch the terrain....don't attempt this tactic on a map that's terribly rough. This is best against a melee-heavy army or an army that is fairly mixed. Also best on relatively smooth terrain to avoid awkeard bottlenecks.
 
I normally play 1000 pt games and in the games I play only part of the army is advanced with the rest held in reserve. I stick MacDirk in the back surrounded by the units that will not be advanced until later in the game. That way he has to be summoned or shot to be touched (even Ghost Walk can't get to him if there are no open adjacent hexes). Fast glyph grabbers help to locate the summoning glyph before your opponent. But there have been plenty of times where I was playing against MacDirk and got to the glyph first. (My favorite was with Saylind: land on Summoning glyph, summon MacDirk, roll and summon someone large and scary, squash MacDirk, laugh.)
 
If your army is primarily MacDirks, you have to play Alistair close to the front and let him lead the charge. There's no other way for the squad to get his bonus; they can't attack him themselves. He's able to take a fair amount of bruising, though, and the squad around him just keeps getting deadlier. I've seen the Macdirks deliver 8-die attacks regularly. This is one of the rare squads who bond best with their like champion. In fact, they're not that extraordinary without him.
 
RobWeaver said:
If your army is primarily MacDirks, you have to play Alistair close to the front and let him lead the charge. There's no other way for the squad to get his bonus; they can't attack him themselves. He's able to take a fair amount of bruising, though, and the squad around him just keeps getting deadlier. I've seen the Macdirks deliver 8-die attacks regularly. This is one of the rare squads who bond best with their like champion. In fact, they're not that extraordinary without him.
Click to expand...

It depends on how long of a game you're playing. On a larger map, you can bond with Alistair 1st turn and have him run in circles, overextend himself to get 1 wound, and then activate another human champ the remaining two rounds, or activate an entirely different glyph-grabbing squad (rats, vipers, etc) the remainder of the round. Then repeat the process round 2, after which your McDirks are pumped up to an attack of 4 each following the 1st turn... If there isn't a huge time pressure to rush in your McDirks, then it's strategically sound to leave Alistair in the back ranks running in circles once a round to get a +1 attack bonus per round.

But the beauty of Alistair is that he's tough enough to choose to throw him into the front lines ASAP as well. He's rugged enough to slug it out up front, and he's versatile enough with his overextend ability to safely and slowly take wounds "for the team" in the back ranks if needed.
 
I played a game the other day; Utgar Vs Jandar, and i had Alastair as the Chosen hero. He had 4 wound 5 wound markers on him and so the Macdirks ended up having 7 attack - then i stupidly healed Alastair back to full health with kelda :duh:
 
These guys can be very dangerous if you let things get out of hand, but they're pretty easy to manage. You simply need to make them a focus, and be sure to take care of them early, while they're still pretty terrible. If they get their attack up, you really have to be careful, throwing a melee screen up so you can pick them off with a ranged squad.

Thematically, I really love this unit. Appearance-wise, they look fantastic. Completely random, looking more like a crowd of worked up drunks from the bar than any sort of organized military force. That's probably the best way to play them in my experience as well. Send out your hero (often with the Knights or more MacDirks) as a first wave assault. Once he takes a few wounds, have him retreat while the MacDirks charge in to save their beloved hero. I've seen this work quite well against the Glad/Blast combo. Alistair in particular, has the ability to kill a Gladiatron, then run away before his friends can lock him down further. After a few wounds, the MacDirks can run the Gladiatrons over pretty easily, leaving the Blastatrons a weak and vulnerable crew to clean up later.
 
Jandars_Hope said:
I played a game the other day; Utgar Vs Jandar, and i had Alastair as the Chosen hero. He had 4 wound 5 wound markers on him and so the Macdirks ended up having 7 attack - then i stupidly healed Alastair back to full health with kelda :duh:
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You stupid.... j/k. But dang, that's gotta hurt! Who ended up winning the game? Why'd you pick Kelda in the first place? :)
 
It's really strange that these guys are at their most effective when their leader RUNS AWAY from battle after getting wounded. :lol:
 
ArcturusII said:
It's really strange that these guys are at their most effective when their leader RUNS AWAY from battle after getting wounded. :lol:
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He does NOT run away. He falls, wounded for honor, dragging himself back while cheering his laddies on. His trail is blood-streaked as his life ebbs from his body, giving strength to his loyal men.
 
Revdyer said:
ArcturusII said:
It's really strange that these guys are at their most effective when their leader RUNS AWAY from battle after getting wounded. :lol:
Click to expand...
He does NOT run away. He falls, wounded for honor, dragging himself back while cheering his laddies on. His trail is blood-streaked as his life ebbs from his body, giving strength to his loyal men.
Click to expand...

:popcorn:

[quote="GForce3062]
Jandars_Hope said:
I played a game the other day; Utgar Vs Jandar, and i had Alastair as the Chosen hero. He had 4 wound 5 wound markers on him and so the Macdirks ended up having 7 attack - then i stupidly healed Alastair back to full health with kelda .
Click to expand...

You stupid.... j/k. But dang, that's gotta hurt! Who ended up winning the game? Why'd you pick Kelda in the first place? [/quote]

Wow - I bearly remember typing that post and it was only a few months ago! :shock:
Just to clarify, though, when i say 'Utgar vs Jandar' for example, i mean the whole army not just point drafting. Oh how i love my 'all-figures' battles.
 
On Saturday night, Dnutt99 faced off against me using the Warriors and Sir Gilbert.
I thought it a great pairing as Gilbert had the heady life and defense to match as well as the movement boost for the Warriors.

Ack, a truly memorable moment was experiencing a highlander who struck my Taelord with 7 attack dice - (Gilbert had three wounds), plus 1 for height and one more for adjacency to his Champion!
Oy vey, poor Tae!
:?

I'm definitely trying the Gilbert/MacDirk Warriors line-up someday!
 
Revdyer said:
ArcturusII said:
It's really strange that these guys are at their most effective when their leader RUNS AWAY from battle after getting wounded. :lol:
Click to expand...
He does NOT run away. He falls, wounded for honor, dragging himself back while cheering his laddies on. His trail is blood-streaked as his life ebbs from his body, giving strength to his loyal men.
Click to expand...

Most of the time I have him hiding in a corner slitting his wrists.


And I thought Deathwalker 7000 was emo.
 
I cannot be the only one who ever noticed this. The wording for "HIGHLAND FURY" includes the phrase "There can be only one...".

But the usual, thematic choice for that "one" is a guy who looks like Sir William Wallace, not Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.
:fencing:

I love this game.
 
So even though the MacDirk Warriors may only choose one Human Champion for their Highland Fury power, they may still bond with any champion you control, correct?
 
That's why I often bonded with Alastair, but got to move Eldgrim.
 
Well, after several prior attempts, I finally got Alastair and the MacDirks to work well tonight. I sent Alastair out, got five wounds on him, and retreated to safety. I then sent out MacDirks who were hitting with 7 --- 8 with height! --- who took out Sonlen, several Einar Imperium, etc. After the Warriors were all dead, I healed Alastair with Kelda and sent him out for another round. Great fun!
 
Can this hold up competitively, with Zelrig lurking about? Unless you have height (a no-glyph tournament is my dilemma) they're toasted with a single skull. Of course, not everyone will draft the big dragon, but there's always that planning to do.

It looks like Alastair is the choice if you want to build your warriors' strength quickly, and Sir Gilbert the best one if you want to keep them clustered around him for the extra attack boost. Of course, this just makes them more vulnerable to splash attacks. Decisions, decisions...
Using Gilbert, you can make good use of the Sentinels and Knights of Weston with Jandar's Dispatch, or even Omnicron Snipers if you need the range. I've been wanting to put the MacDirks to better use as of late. Might they work well with anything from Wave 8 or Aquilla's Alliance?
 
Blackrock said:
Can this hold up competitively, with Zelrig lurking about? ....Might they work well with anything from Wave 8 or Aquilla's Alliance?
Click to expand...

You know, ironically, Zelrig might just work well enough with these guys. If you send Zelrig out, scare your opponent out of their starting zone and break apart their clusters, then you can use the Macdirks to chase 'em all down and clean house. If you used Sir Gilbert as your hero of choice, then you can get an even faster moving set of Warriors on the prowl.

I don't know how it would fare competitively, but it sure would be fun to play. I may have to give this a go and see how it does.
 
I played with them and Alastair and got slaughtered. I thought Scots were warrior poets but apparently not these Scots.
 
They just need the right motivation and the right leadership. Oh, and bag-pipes. They need to pipes to fight well. And haggis. You have to eat haggis if you're going to play the MacDirks. Chewing oatmeal cooked in a sheep's stomach can really improve your melee' game.
 
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