Fundamentals - Part 4 - The Basics of Guns

With ranged attacks there are a few different basics we need to cover. First I'll define the different types of ranged attacks available to us. Then go over combinations of ways to use them to it's full effectiveness.

Art by: Hollowpointhell

Basic -The basic ranged attack that requires your RAT to hit a target.

AoE (Area of Effect) Attack - An AoE requires your RAT to hit, but if you miss can scatter and potentially do damage to targets.

Spray - Spray attacks which place a template based off the range of the attack. SP 6/8/10 typically that you need to use your RAT or magical value to hit models underneath the template.

Template - These are very unique style attacks that you place on the table and roll to hit any model under the template. Siege is the most famous model with this attack.

CRA (Combined Ranged Attack) - This is a basic ranged attack that gives you a +hit/+dmg modifier for every additional model shooting in the attack.

The greatest thing about ranged attacks is you can apply damage to or kill models from afar. When you have superior shooting then your opponent you get to force your opponent to come to you. Shooting also significantly helps you with scenarios like destruction while typically making you weaker at holding objectives since shooting units don't tend to be durable.

There can be three styles of armies in Warmachine/Hordes. Combined arms forces of shooting/melee, gun line which is heavy shooting and a heavy melee force. Overall if you have a combined arms or gun line you can control the flow of battle vs. heavy melee forces, forcing them to come to you. Heavy melee forces usually take heavy losses early which can be demoralizing but once they get into the opponent they can turn the tides of battle. It typically depends if you can do enough damage before they get to you.

One of the more powerful things about ranged attacks is assassination vectors are easier to achieve. You can clear a LoS lane to your target with knock downs or repositioning your self. When you have seasoned opponents this can cause them to brick up models in front of their warcaster or keep their warcaster very far from the battle.

When dealing with lots of infantry its commonly better to have lower power ranged attacks but much more plentiful. While POW 10's by the truckloads might be the trick vs. infantry means very little when going up against beasts/warjacks. This can typically be the biggest issue for gun line armies. They need to bring enough of a mix to deal with both or can have very bad match-ups.

This brings me to my next point. The biggest issues ranged armies have to deal with.

Stealth - This one is pretty self explanatory if you know the rule. Attacks auto miss if too far away.

Stealth has a few counters vs it for a shooting army.

1. True sight ignores it
2. Enough AoE attacks will still scatter onto them and if they are low enough army can be killed
3. Spray attacks ignore stealth
4. Mage sight - special note for this spell.
5. Eyeless sight - because legion cheats

High Defense - This one can be a hard issue for some factions.

The best counters vs. high defense that I've used are.

1. Rangers for Cygnar
2. Kovnik Joe for Khador
3. Aiming - Go +2 rat!
4. Boosting - sometimes this isn't enough to help Khador RAT
5. CRA's
6. Thunderhead/Phoenix - not really a ranged attack

High Armor - Most ranged attacks cap around POW 15. This makes armor 20+ targets hard to take down with ranged attacks.

The best shooters to deal with high armor in my opinion.

1. Defenders - Cygnar
2. Ravagores - Legion
3. CRA's
4. Behemoth - Khador
5. Reckoners with Choir - Menoth
6. Woldstalkers - Circle (bleh imo but best option)
7. Mage hunters vs 'Jacks - Retribution
8. Poor skorne
9. Bomber - Trollbloods

Being engaged - Models without gunfighter cannot shoot while engaged.

Best way to deal with this.

1. Gunfighter
2. Parry

Shadow Pack - While this is stealth, this spell needs special recognition.

Best ways to deal with this.

1. Any of the above stealth options.
2. Kill the warcaster/warlock
3. Purification

Now that I've gone over the basic attacks, the basic weaknesses and different army styles I'll end this with a few ranged lists. I'll give a few gun line lists I've found effective and a few combined forces lists.

Captain Kara Sloan (*6pts)

* Cyclone (9pts)

* Defender (9pts)

* Triumph (11pts)

Storm Strider (9pts)

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)

* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)

Stormguard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

50 pts.

Tiers: 4

Captain Jeremiah Kraye (*6pts)

* Hunter (6pts)

* Hunter (6pts)

* Sentinel (4pts)

* Centurion (9pts)

* Cyclone (9pts)

* Hammersmith (8pts)

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)

Rangers (4pts)

Rangers (4pts)

Gun Mage Captain Adept (2pts)

50 pts.

Grim Angus (*6pts)

* Troll Impaler (5pts)

* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)

War Wagon (9pts)

Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

* 3 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (3pts)

* Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper (2pts)

Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes (3pts)

Fell Caller Hero (3pts)

35 pts.

P.S. Blog post number 42! Best post ever.

The Fundamentals part 3 - What to do to reliably hit your target

This article is going to cover when too boost and when not too boost, how to counter high defense models and over all statistical information to on what you need to hit. This is based off of my normal practices and would love to hear any counter arguments! Please post if you have any.

Lets start this off with a true evaluation of the statistical information. The following is going to a be a wall of numbers, please skip it if you just want my conclusions. This is for the people who want to follow the process or come up with their own conclusions. If you are skipping it drop down until you hit the END OF NUMBERS section.

Base Statistics Averages:

1D6 = 3.5

2d6 = 7

3d6 = 10.5 (when rolling in a game I base most of my assumptions on 10 aiming high is usually a bad idea)

4d6 = 14

5d6 = 17.5

Base Statistics with +2 effect averages:

1d6 = 5.5

2d6 = 9

3d6 = 12.5

4d6 = 16

5d6 = 19.5

Base Statistics with Manifest Destiny/Sign and Portents/Pin Cushion averages:

1d6 = 4.47

2d6 = 8.45

3d6 = 12.24

4d6 = 15.93

5d6 = 19.56

Anyone who puts much effort into seeing stats can get roughly close to these numbers. Now lets put this into a % format.

The # followed by the % when rolling 2D6

2 = 2.78%    or  2+   = 100%

3 = 5.56%    or  3+   = 92.23%

4 = 8.33%    or  4+   = 91.67%

5 = 11.11%  or  5+   = 83.34%

6 = 13.89%  or  6+   = 72.23%

7 = 16.67%  or  7+   = 58.34%

8 = 13.89%  or  8+   = 41.67%

9 = 11.11%  or  9+   = 27.78%

10 = 8.33%  or  10+ = 16.67%

11 = 5.56%  or  11+ = 8.34%

12 = 2.78%

The # followed by the % when rolling 3D6

3 = .46%         or  3+   = 100%

4 = 1.39%       or  4+   = 99.74%

5 = 2.78%       or  5+   = 98.35%

6 = 4.63%       or  6+   = 95.57%

7 = 6.94%       or  7+   = 90.94%

8 = 9.72%       or  8+   = 84%

9 = 11.57%     or  9+   = 74.28%

10 = 12.50%   or  10+ = 62.71%

11 = 12.50%   or  11+ = 50.21%

12 = 11.57%   or  12+ = 37.71%

13 = 9.72%     or  13+ = 26.14%

14 = 6.94%     or  14+ = 16.42%

15 = 4.63%     or  15+ = 9.48%

16 = 2.78%     or  16+ = 4.85%

17 = 1.39%     or  17+ = 1.85%

18 = .46%

Common Mat vs. Def

Mat 6 vs. Def 10 = 91.7% with 13.9% critical chance, boosted 99.5% with 44% critical chance
Mat 6 vs. Def 12 = 72.2% with 11.1% critical chance, boosted 95.4% with 39.8% critical chance
Mat 6 vs. Def 14 = 41.7% with 8.3% critical chance, boosted 83.8% with 33.8% critical chance
Mat 6 vs. Def 16 = 16.7% with 5.6% critical chance, boosted 62.5% with 26.4% critical chance

Mat 7 vs. Def 10 = 97.2% with 13.9% critical chance, boosted 99.5% with 44% critical chance
Mat 7 vs. Def 12 = 83.3% with 11.1% critical chance, boosted 98.1% with 42.6% critical chance
Mat 7 vs. Def 14 = 58.3% with 8.3% critical chance, boosted 90.7% with 38% critical chance
Mat 7 vs. Def 16 = 27.8% with 5.6% critical chance, boosted 74.1% with 29.6% critical chance


END OF NUMBERS


Understanding your army and what will hit what.

First thing I'd like to bring up is do no be overwhelmed by the numbers. There is definitely a lot to digest if you want to balance the game and everything as a whole. Luckily your not designing and balancing the game.
Lets tackle this by a simple process.

1. Look at the common Mat/Rat of your models. Typically you'll find a theme. Most armies have a low Mat for non elite troops 5/6 range. Elite troops are in the Mat 7/8 range.
2. Look at the common Def of the armies you fight against. If you play in a large meta this can be harder, but typically you can find a trend inside of opposing factions. Warcaster/warlocks have common trends in their Def. The backfield casters with high amount of support spells are Def 14, mid line casters that have a hybrid spell lists are in the Def 15/16 range, aggressive/assassin casters are Def 16/17.
3. Identify what your non elite troops can hit reliably (in this case I am referring to 50% or higher). Some factions can buff MAT/RAT. Factions with this available (Ex. Trolls - Felcaller / Cygnar - Rangers / Menoth - Choir) can turn non elite into elite troops.
4. Now you need to identify how your faction hits high defense targets. The typical methods are Mat/rat buffs, elite troops, lots of boostable models and aoe attacks.
5. Make sure lists you build can handle high defense targets. If your building 2 lists for a steamroller, make sure one of them can reliably hit Def 16 or higher.

Boosts! When to do it and when not too.

Being able to boost attacks is amazing. You can reliably hit Def 16 with a Mat 6 model if you can boost it. Always boost to get your attack if you fall below 50% chance to hit. The exception is if your trying for a Hail Mary and you can't mathematically kill the model unless you can take more attacks.

Whenever you need that 7+ on dice to hit I would also boost the too hit in a charge scenario. This is because I've committed either a fury/focus or gained a free charge. You don't want the charge to go to waste and the chance too miss is high for my taste. When talking non charge attacks this really comes down too how many times you need to hit the model to kill it? Will crippling do? 

Boosting for damage is also a commonly debated topic. Though this is off topic of the subject matter, but I'll cover it quickly since it can be directly affected by how hard it is too hit. I'll boost anything that is -4 on dice rolls, most of the time on -3 to my dice rolls and almost never on my -2 to dice rolls. This is all contingent on my too hit roll. If I have to boost my to hit roll then I'll boost all damage rolls vs. the target unless their is 0 or + modifier to the damage roll. I'll even boost that roll if my too hit roll is below 60%.

The biggest no nos when boosting.

1. Boosting to hit a model needing 5+ to hit. The exception here is if you hit the model it's a game ender or their is a on hit affect like enliven or poltergeist where you'll only get one attack so you might as well.
2. Boosting damage rolls when you need a 6+ to hit and your at 0 or + on the damage roll.
3. Boosting a 4+ or 5+ to hit because you've missed your last attack.
4. Boosting damage roll on a model when you have 2 more focus/fury available and you need to boost to hit. The exception to this rule is if you are -5 or more on damage.

Hardest to hit targets and solid ways to counter them. - Going to go over the hardest culprits of high Defense jamming and solid counters.

Kayazy Assassins/Nyss Hunters - Can be very hard to kill. The best response I've had to these models is aoe attacks or incredibly high Mat troops. Usually above and beyond "elite troops." Trolls and Menoth both offer aoe attacks and high MAT models so if your list needs Kayazy to jam your opponent take your other list vs. them. In my personal experience Cygnar seems to suffer the most vs Kayazy. Minuteman and Avenger warjacks that aren't out yet will be great answers. Certain casters can offer a ranged threat too them with Caine2 and dead eyed gun mages.

Iron Flesh - This is a spell ripe for upkeep removal. Purification casters, Eyriss2 and any other dispel affects that can reliably hit high defense is the best solution. Trying to win the fight by trying to hit them can prove to be difficult. Aoe attacks are the next best thing, though only effective if you know the target will be low armor.

High Defense Warlock/Warcasters - Boostable attacks are the most reliable method that every army has availability too. One thing about Warcaster/Warlocks is you should use all methods. As players we can get deterred when attacking these models since they seem out of reach and it's true sometimes it's better to attack something you can kill to help win the scenario or protect your caster from attacks. Take these considerations in to your decision to attack them, but never let the odds stop you from throwing the dice.

Conclusion:

Hope this helped with your list construction and help with your decision of "should I boost?" and good luck on the battlefield!

The Fundamentals - Part 2 Power Attacks

We simply just forget how many tools are available to us while playing Warmachine/Hordes. When new players try to get into the game I try and insist they stick with the battle box for at least a few games for many reasons but one of the main ones is to find  shenanigans with basic models. Power attacks give players a very large tool box, especially if they have an open fist. Lets start with breaking down each power attack, then discuss when they are viable to use and round it off with fun tricks.

Power Attacks - I would definitely recommend players read this section of the rulebook as my exact wording isn't the official ruling. To simply give a brief description power attacks are a special attack that sacrifices all of your initial attacks, requires a focus or fury to activate and grants the attack a special rule. Also hordes models need to be forced which requires the warlock or some sort of control extension to use. All power attacks have 1/2" melee range. There currently aren't any models in the game that offer the exception. The Krueger1 reach extension spell and the animus coming from the Swamp Horror will allow you to extend your power attack ranges.

Summary - If you know power attacks already skip this section.

Throw - This is a very basic attack. You roll to hit followed by a strength test. Once you hit the model is tossed in a direction of your choosing, though it requires to come from your front arc the distance of half your strength. Once you land the model takes a hit equal to the model that has thrown's strength. The model that lands also scatters a d3 inches upon impact of its location.

Two-handed Throw - This is the same as above with two huge exceptions. The first strength test the attack gains 2d6 vs the opponents 1d6. Second you can aim the throw at a specific model. This throw attack now has to hit the target thrown at or it'll scatter a d3 inches. One common confusion point about this is the throw attack goes off the Warnoun's MAT not his RAT.

Slam - This is a combination of movement and attack. It's very similar to a charge attack. If you slam a model larger then you it is at a minus 2 to hit. Also you must charge to the middle of the enemy model. Center point to center point, making slam angles much harder to achieve then charge angles. Once hit the enemy model is knocked back a d6 inches. Any smaller base models it comes into contact with are knocked down. If it ends on top of them they are moved out of the way. You will stop prematurely if you are knocked into a same or large based model. All models contact in this way take a damage hit equal to the models strength. The model targeted by the slam is the only 1 who can be boosted against. Also if the slammed model hits a same or large sized model an additional damage dice is added to the roll.

Headbutt - This is a very simple power attack. You roll too hit if you do the enemy model is knocked down and suffers a damage roll equal to the models strength.

Trample - This attack is also a very simple and powerful attack. Your must be a large based model to do trample attacks. You can only trample over small based models. Remember artillery pieces and the book of Menoth are considered small based models. You pick a location and declare how far your going to trample. You measure to see if you can reach there and if any models are in your way. All models you travel over you get to take an attack vs. Any models hit suffer a damage roll equal to the models strength.

Weapon locks - I never use these. Though they can be used well. You roll to hit the model with an open fist. If it hits the system is locked and every turn afterward the enemy model can do a strength test to break the lock.

Push -This attack automatically hits. The enemy model is pushed one inch backwards and you can follow up one inch.

When to use power attacks.


Most power attacks have a triggering event for me. I'm going to give a few examples of when I commonly used power attacks. To hopefully inspire the use of more in your games. I'm sure there are plenty of great ways that I haven't used power attacks yet. Please respond with some of your own favorites!

• My warbeast/warjack is jammed by tons of infantry. - Whenever this happens you should consider doing a trample. It is commonly the best way to clear lots of infantry and trample gives you the best way to generate a lot of attacks on large groups.
• Objective is jammed with lots of infantry. - This is also another situation where trampling can be very beneficial
• Enemy Warcaster/Warlock is sitting behind only small based models. - This typically screams for a trample assassination run. I love it when I can trample over some models buy a boosted attack and smash enemy warcaster/warlock. This is mostly typical with 5 fury beasts since you can trample, buy an attack, boost to hit, buy an attack and boost to hit spending all 5 fury. Otherwise you'll only get one attack which usually won't win you the game.
• A big model is sitting in front of their warnoun. - This is screaming for a slam. You knock the large model into the enemy warcaster/warlock causing both to fall over. The key here is the model has to be larger then the warcaster/warlock, otherwise they just get knocked down. Sometimes this is enough for an assassination run, especially with shooting factions like Cygnar. This can open up a lot of potential assassinations. This amplifies in greatness if the model who slams has follow up. You can effectively move up onto the knocked down warcaster/warlock and buy attacks that auto hit.
• Your warjack is crippled - Whenever I find a warjack having his cortex intact but all his weapon systems damaged I am a lot more prone to buy slams and headbutt power attacks. These attacks don't need your weapons.
• Enemy warcaster/warlock is in charge range but has really high defense - I often find the best solution is to use a slam/two-handed throw/throw to knockdown the model before you commit to an assassination run. If the knockdown attempt fails, might be best to not sacrifice the models. Remember you only need to throw a same sized model at the warcaster/warlock to knock it over. Don't be afraid to use your own models.
• Enemy Warnoun is near a forest/pool of water - I really enjoy knocking non pathfinder models into forests/water. You can do this with throws or slams. If you get a good travel distance you can knock a model out of the game for a turn. This is generally only something I would do with models that get bonus slam distance. A couple examples would be Titan Gladiators and Shadowhorn Satyrs.

Tricks - Every faction has great tricks to take advantage of power attacks. You should re look at your animuses and warcaster/warlock spells again in relation to power attacks. See if you can come up with some tricks on your own! Here are a few of the one's I like to use.

Shadowhorn Satyr Throw yo-yo - This is a trick I've fallen in love with. I wasn't sure if this would be a valid strategy until I committed to trying it for a few games. Both games it surprised my opponents and got me a heavy for no trading. This list requires a Shadowhorn Satyr and Kaya1. You maneuver with your Shadowhorn next to an enemy heavy, which is fairly easy with jump and 6 base movement. Cast virility and buy a 2handed throw. Throw the enemy heavy toward your army, hopefully into a waiting net of shifting stones and heavies. Your heavies proceed to tear them apart and get teleported back with shifting stones. Denying your opponent any retaliation. The final key move is Kaya teleporting the Shadowhorn next to her.

Gnarlhorn goes infantry bowling - This trick requires a Gnarlhorn and Warpborn skinwalker. You position your medium based infantry model in front of the enemies small based infantry. Then slam the rear of the Warpborn skinwalker through the enemy infantry. I also use this for assassination runs on enemy warcaster/warlocks. With follow up you just buy attacks on the knocked down model.

Denying fury - One of the biggest weaknesses that aren't exploited is the game currently is fury. If you can pull, drag, throw and slam enemy models away from the warlock it can be better then killing it. If the enemy can't pull fury from the beast it causes two impacts on the game. One the enemy has to cut himself to get full fury and second the beast will frenzy. Obviously the best positioning would be to have him frenzy on an enemy model. Short of that make sure you sacrifice something to the warbeast that would cause him to face away from your army so he can't charge the following turn. *Note - Nicole, my wife, has taken special use of this one vs. me in our last journeyman league. It is brutal especially when the warbeast being tossed around is slow.

Conclusion

Power attacks are can be game changers. A lot of the knockdown options have grown weaker in Mark II since you can shake the effects off, but the ability to auto hit in melee or significantly lower a models defense can drastically reduce the longevity of the model. Models that wouldn't normally hit high defense models can become very scary after a good headbutt. It also can create hysterical endings where choir charge the knocked down warlock to finish him off. Have fun trying to find your own ways to use power attacks!

The Fundamentals -- Part 1. Reach

I'm excited to say this is the first post I'm writing in response to feedback I've recieved. They wanted me to do a write up about reach and the implications it has on the game of Warmachine/Hordes game. So I'm using this as an excuse to start a series about the fundamentals of Warmachine.

Reach is a very simple mechanic in Warmachine extending the threat range of a model from .5 inches to 2 inches. So the very first and most straightforward implication is reach gives your model an additional inch and a half of threat. This simple extention of threat ranges allows you to play the first strike cascading game better.

Warmachine is a game of first strikes and cascading. This is one of the reasons games of Warmachine are won in the movement phase, but lost in the combat phase. The latter of that statement is for another post though.

Creating the opportunity to remove the first model from the board has far reaching implications. To sum it up as simply as possible, if you start trading point for point in the end you should be in a position to threaten their Warnoun sooner then they will be.

What I'm referring to when I use the statement cascading is the concept of I throw my army at you and kill half of it. You respond, but your army is now at half so you only kill a quarter of mine. This generally forces my opponent to try and change the momentum of the game with a big move, which typically requires risk. Taking risks while required at times is the easiest way to open up yourself for assassination runs or giving up capture points to your opponent.

This leads into my 2nd major reason I love reach, prevention. There are 2 methods of prevention that are amazing about reach. 

1. It creates much higher threat areas around models with reach. This allows a model with reach to engage multiple models, create much larger free strike lanes if people try to pass you and force weaker enemy models to move around your models forcing them to waste movement. Getting your opponent to waste movement is the easiest way to get them out of position. Warmachine/Hordes is typically won or lost by turn 4(this includes the concept of timed turns, non timed turns can go on much longer). An out of position model or unit can easily cost you the game if you find it being ineffective.
2. Reach allows you to thwart the opponents method of prevention much easier. Screened models must be much more forward or the models being screened must be much further back if they are to successfully prevent reach models from hitting vital parts of the army. Your opponent also has to now worry about oddly angled charges. Typically you can put lots of models directly in front of a charge path, but as soon as you have to spread out your screen since the enemy model can come from many different directions it is weaker. They can punch a hole in it since there are less models and throw the reach model at you.

The third major advantage of reach applies mainly to units, but warjacks/beasts can take advantage of this as well. You can engage more targets onto one source then normal. By leaving small gaps when you charge a target you leave the opportunity of a model with reach to attack the enemy model. This allows you to bring higher amounts of attack, which means higher amounts of potential damage onto hard to kill targets or models that are critically important to kill.

The final advantage of reach is very simple. It gives you the capabilities of fighting over linear obstacles. Take advantage of walls if you have reach or pathfinder. Even more so if your enemy is lacking in these rules. One common misconception I've noticed playing Warmachine/Hordes is the ruling that you get +2 defense from fighting over a wall. This is simply not true unless that wall is labeled as an obstruction. Linear obstacles offer cover and prevent charging unless the model has pathfinder. That's it, so watch out for this common misconception.

There are a few negative impacts of reach as well. These can be mitigated by proper facing and placement of your models though. The first biggest downside is enemy models engaged by a model with reach has more freedom before he suffers a free strike. You can charge while still in a reach models melee range without ever leaving it (a trick you can take advantage of as well). Something you have to pay attention to and prevent by creating weird facing arcs. In the example below the model is caught in melee range of a reach model, but his facing is preventing him from charging the blue target without suffering a free strike. If the facing was reversed he would be able to engage the blue target and possibly charge it.

My sexy ms paint job.

To recap. 

• Take advantage of your extended threat ranges. 
• Look for odd charge angles to surprise your opponent. This will also force them to spread out their screens giving you less models between you and your higher valued targets.
• Reach models can screen much larger areas for your models, but do this wisely with good positioning.
• Leave gaps for reach attacks to fight through. This allows you to eliminate the critical pieces much more effectively.
• Take advantage of linear obstacles
• Use facing and placement of your reach models to prevent your opponents freedom as much as possible.