106 replies to this topic

[Qwyksilver]

Thanks for the advice all. Omber is on my list for the second 500 pts. as is Varaug. It's nice to know that even 4 archers on a field can be effective.

If you get Varaug, don't forget to get him a Bugbear Bully as a bodyguard. You can enrage/frenzy with Varaug + Bonesplitter to like 9MAV and 6 MAs with the ability to give 2-3 wounds each hit... and if he has a BB or preferably 2 they can Provoke all the Defensive Strikes towards themselves, thus Varaug lives to enrage/frenzy again. It's a beautiful thing.

I missed that they had provoke. Time to see if I have bugbears in the basement of shame.

[Bearfoot_Adam]

My thought is it would be tough giving him two body guards, though since he only has room for 2 elites, this means he would get no magic support

[rgtriplec]

My thought is it would be tough giving him two body guards, though since he only has room for 2 elites, this means he would get no magic support

Well magic can go in another troop, archers are as good as magic or better for range. There isn't a caster in the game that is going to kill as much as an enrage/frenzy/bonesplitter varaug and two guards is nice because they will get killed if they are provoking all the defensive strikes. In that combo Varaug can literally kill anything in the game in a turn with a good roll. Enrage is much more powerful in the new version because before there was no provoke. So, your enraged models died most of the time. Now Varaug or Gaaguk or Narg can enrage and most of the time have the Bugbears take the beating and be back to full DV the next activation with full health.

Yagun and the Goblin Warlord are our best offensive casters, and the are large so I generally take them with ogres so the soldiers can block clear LOS to them. I think a great magic/range troop is

Kagunk
Yagun
Ombur
Ogre x 3
Archer of choice x 5

Then I have Greka or Lurgh follow it hiding behind the big models and popping in and out potshotting or casting.

I know you want your first 1000 points to be Bulls, but don't forget the 12 point Beastmen they are IMO the best 12 points in the game and they are murderous with a totem and Gonda to Bless them.

[Bearfoot_Adam]

Alright my Revenny companions I have over a thousand points of Bull Orcs, and a hunting beast and Lurgh for fun.And while over time I would like to see some beast riders, beast men and bug bears maybe even some skeeters and rangers, right now I'm stoked to see what the bull orcs can do. I've played 2 500 pt games so far and lost but done well enough to not be discouraged with my lists. However who I'm playing with says I would be better served with some goblin meat shields. Now there is obvious value to this, but I've run out of money, and it's not entirely on theme for what I want to do. So with:

3 models for leaders (2 different Varaugs and a kharg)
8 Fighters
6 Hunters
4 Berserkers
4 Archers

Will I be able to tweak an army that will win at least as many times as it loses or will I be the laughing stock of Taltos?

Could hunters at 21 points be used as a meat shield with 3 damage tracks or is that just too many points/ model to use in that role?

So far I have used troops involving 4 fighters/3 berserkers combo and a 3 Fighter/2 archer troop. I've yet to see the hunters in action. Just wondering what kind of troop builds you would use to give me some perspective

[Castlebuilder]

The first model I would add is Korgug, Bugbear Bully. Put him in the troop with the Berserkers. With his provoke SA, as long as Korgug lands a hit your Berserks can frenzy all they want and not worry about defensive strikes. And then after you have popped that stunt on someone, you will know which model he will try to kill first every game after that...... and it's never a bad thing to know where your opponent is going to throw the heat first.

[Stubbdog]

they would not be meat shields, but dont forget that Goblin Rangers have SA Stealth. This means that the opponents archers cannot shoot at them until they are within 12 inches no matter how long their range is. And at only 13 points a piece, you can grab a handful of them and charge them across the table to force the opponent to change their thinking.

And that hunting beast can be just that. Its asking to be a pincushion, but it has a high enough DV that it can take being a pin cushion again forcing the enemy to deal with it or be trampled. allowing your orcs a little more friendly path to the enemy's door.

With a -1 to shoot at flying models, the harpies and their speed can be very affective distraction.

I could keep going about different models that can force opponents to change their "normal" behaviors.

Also, don't overlook the cheap Gonda and her bless and incite spells. Those can be huge. And look around at your spell options. Lots of times people get hung up on a spell or two and completely forget about the other spells. Some spells dont cause nuclear bombs to go off, but they can still be extremely affective when paired up with the right combination of models or other spells.

Lastly, Warlord and Faction abilities can also be huge. Make sure to consult them as you build your lists.

[Sivrel]

In the few moments I've been playing I've been finding myself drawn farther away from the dwarfs and closer to the Reven. Although so far I'm very fond of the Bull Orc Archer SA pierce. I'd think one thing that could make them scarier is to add Ombur in a troop with them and have him cast bless. I'm sure others have tried this as well.

[Stubbdog]

These are not the RC Reven for sure..

[Bearfoot_Adam]

Always a grand idea, however Omber can not cast bless. Gonda is your man for that. I like the Archers but I've been mostly playing Elves and their 24"/ indirect 18" range is hard to beat. So I've been laying off the archers and using a combination of beast riders, and Omber casting Incite on berserkers and fighters. This has been very successful.

[jdripley]

Lunk has access to the Arcane tome and the spell Arcane Shield helps a little bit against overwhelming archery. Could be something to consider - for the most part archers have fairly low RAV values, and of course the Reven aren't exactly tops in DV, but even +1 defense can go a long ways. That and Lunk has to be the craziest looking caster in the whole product line!

[Bearfoot_Adam]

How would you make a defensive Reven? Can it be done? I played my first 1000 pt game. This was my break down.
Troop 1
Hunting Beast

Troop 2
4 Goblin Rangers

Troop 3
Varaug
Gonda
Korgug
4 Bull Orc Archers
6 Bull orc Hunters

Troop 4
Kharg
Ombur
4 Goblin Beast riders
2 Bull orc Fighters
2 Bull Orc Berserkers

I was going up against elves. He's a big fan of cats and death seekers,and had some gaurdsmen along with a handfull of archers. I thought, well with ranger and all that he will be getting into B2B with me pretty readily. Now with my last game and first win against the elves I ignored the elves arrows and it seemed to work. So I'll use Kharg troop/ hunting beast/ rangers to soften up his melee, and whatever is left would go after the elf archers. I would then have my hunters/ archers and varaug clean up the rest when the elves entered base to base. Well I played the hunting beast poorly, my rangers kicked some serious butt for goblins, and my beast riders and fighters did what they were supposed to and softened up the guardsmen and death seekers and took out some cats before they fell. My archers dropped a death seeker and some elf swordsmen. But the game ended before they ever made B2B with my hunters and most importantly Varaug who frankly never really moved from the hill I set my archers up on. The death seekers even moved away from the hill to be out of range of the archers. At the end of it all I had 500 points left and the elves had 600. Now I know it is hard to go defensive against the elves what with there 24" range. But is it possible to use defensive tactics with the Reven and still win?

[ViciousPanzer]

How would you make a defensive Reven? Can it be done? I played my first 1000 pt game. This was my break down.
Troop 1
Hunting Beast

Troop 2
4 Goblin Rangers

Troop 3
Varaug
Gonda
Korgug
4 Bull Orc Archers
6 Bull orc Hunters

Troop 4
Kharg
Ombur
4 Goblin Beast riders
2 Bull orc Fighters
2 Bull Orc Berserkers

I was going up against elves. He's a big fan of cats and death seekers,and had some gaurdsmen along with a handfull of archers. I thought, well with ranger and all that he will be getting into B2B with me pretty readily. Now with my last game and first win against the elves I ignored the elves arrows and it seemed to work. So I'll use Kharg troop/ hunting beast/ rangers to soften up his melee, and whatever is left would go after the elf archers. I would then have my hunters/ archers and varaug clean up the rest when the elves entered base to base. Well I played the hunting beast poorly, my rangers kicked some serious butt for goblins, and my beast riders and fighters did what they were supposed to and softened up the guardsmen and death seekers and took out some cats before they fell. My archers dropped a death seeker and some elf swordsmen. But the game ended before they ever made B2B with my hunters and most importantly Varaug who frankly never really moved from the hill I set my archers up on. The death seekers even moved away from the hill to be out of range of the archers. At the end of it all I had 500 points left and the elves had 600. Now I know it is hard to go defensive against the elves what with there 24" range. But is it possible to use defensive tactics with the Reven and still win?

I don't quite understand the concept of defensive tactics .. atleast when I'm playing Reven lol. But for defense they have plenty of High DV/Tough models and some really excellent archers though and don't forget about the little ones! Goblins make an excellent meatshield between your enemies and your archers/casters. A line of Gnoll or Bull orc archers with a line of Skeeters in front of them is basically two rows of firepower (since the Short goblins won't block LoS for the row behind them). But really, what do you define as a "defensive" tactic?

Joshua

[Bearfoot_Adam]

Well every other game I've played I left out my archers and just took everybody across the board, made good use of the incite spell and just tried to clobber any one I came across. And the 3 damage tracks and tough were wonderful. I was going up against a lot of elf swordsmen and vale warriors. However now the guy I play most often has picked up some death seekers and royal blades men, and is a big fan of cats (which I dislike with a fiery passion). This time I wanted to set myself up to receive a charge and lay down some arrows since he has been adding some melee might. So that is what I mean by taking a more defensive role.

[jdripley]

I think it has more to do with the opponent than anything else. If the other army has a serious ranged component, hanging back really only plays into their hands. If you don't run up to an archer, it's never going to run up to you, right?

But if your opponent obliges by not having much punch at range, sure you can play more defensively. I think that the key to making them come to you - just like in my first paragraph there - is to have plenty of range so that if they don't, you can play out the advantage. Most players will understand that and they'll oblige you by running madly into melee as quickly as possible. Then you just need a seriously good counter punch ready. Hill Giant, or Varaug and Berserkers, or something like that. Maybe you put a thin screen of goblins out front to take their first charge.

[Stubbdog]

From your lists that you have posted, it does seem that you have been keeping to a 90% bull orcs and 10% other in your lists. Now, although there is nothing wrong with that. That may not be the best thing when facing the elves that you are facing. Adding more beastriders, harpies, and goblin rangers would help a lot. You have shown that your opponents have changed and varied their strategies and builds from game to game, butfor the most part I have seen very similar lists from you each time you have posted. Maybe its time to try something completely different just to throw your opponent for a loop, win or lose. It will help keep them from being able to optimize their list against what you always bring.