93 replies to this topic

[Shakandara]

Apologies, I'd forgotten that you'd said in the Darkspawn thread that you were playing at 750, nor did I look that closely at the list you'd posted for the exact points value. This changes some things slightly, but not much. If anything, it makes the equipment load-out of the original list even worse - 105 points of gear @ 750 points is nearly 15% of your list. Carrying two casters, let alone two casters plus familiars, is going to be tough at 750, especially if you are going to try to bring 2 Kagunks, more gear, archers, etc. At 750 points, you will often find yourself having to make a sacrifice in some area of the game - it is very difficult to build an all-around list at this point size. However, in keeping with the theme of being able to take a blow from the Daisy Chain, let's try this:

Mercs - 750 points

Troop 1
Boris Mingla w/Armor of Courage, Assassin's Blade
Jos Gebblar, Necromancer
Olivia, Priestess of Shadarzaddi
Okuran x 4
Mercenary Axeman x 6

Troop 2
Hedasaa, Cultist Leader
Mercenary Axeman x 3
Darkthrall Cultist x 6

Troop 3
Stone Giant


It's not that the warriors and thugs are bad, but you have to change your mind set a little bit for this type of fight. The cultists are 2 points cheaper than the thugs each; for every 6 I take, that's an exta Spearmen model in the list. The Thugs have a better MAV than the cultists, but the Bludgeon SA is offensive, and we need to think about how to cause damage on the defensive. If the cultists are being attacked, you can just choose to Martyr, give them up as dead, and get a MAV 5 for their 2 attacks. This is now better than the Thugs, for the very brief time you get to use them. The same is true of the Warriors vs. the Axeman. The Warriors have a better DV and more attacks, but with being overwhelmed so badly, that matters little. Against a DV 10 opponent, a Merc Warrior is going to average .8 points of damage per round. 2 warriors cost you 46 points and get you ~1.6 points of damage per round. Axemen, on the other hand, inflict only .6 points of damage per round. However, 3 of them only cost 2 points more than 2 warriors, which means they inflict ~1.8 points of damage per round, and as a total, have 2 more damage tracks. Thus, the cultists and axemen are better choices, in this scenario.

And just because you don't have the models, doesn't mean you can't proxy.

EDIT: Also, don't discount the other ability of the Luck doctrine; turning 1's into 10's can be handy when you have multiple spell casters and models with Cleave in your list.


~v

Edited by Shakandara, 23 March 2011 - 05:36 PM.

[psyberwolfe1]

You should have a look at Raseri the Barbarian. He's pretty butch and compliments the Okuran and Minotaurs. Haranobu is also a pretty cool Troop leader.

The primary strength of the Daisy Chain is its alpha strike capability. Lining up at the back of your deployment zone only makes it so instead of two models I use three to get in your face. The key to fight them is formation. Put your heavy hitter of the same base size in the center of four models that are offset along each face by half an inch in the same direction. The key is to stop them from basing you on the corner. That way he only gets in with your mooks and you can then counter the Alpha Strike. Also the Darkspawn do have a great demon caster: Guros who can fly and drop Fireball so be careful.

[Azazel]

Hey there!

Just here to help out my Merc friend.

I'm the Darkspawn player CrispyMerc is playing against on occation.

Here's a link to my list and general strategy. Should make it easier advicing him.
http://www.reapermin...0pts-darkspawn/

Kind regards!

- Azazel

[CrispyMerc]

Thanx for your advice once again

If you compare the doctrines most of them are just boosts. Better deflect, fearless, dodge, move an extra inch, rerolls or something similar. All these things are nice, and a bit annoying to play against. Having move 50" with almost a complete army is better than nice to have and worse than annoying to play against. I would have to substitute a ½ army just to have a cliffhanger chance to win. I don't think other doctrines have that impact on the game. I still don't see that doctrine ballanced in anyway..But I'll have to see it in action some more to see if I may be mistaken.

[Stubbdog]

I am gonna need to ask a mod to please move about half this thread out to its own discussion. This is for discussing MERCs, not Darkspawn or mercs against darkspawn.

[psyberwolfe1]

Now that I've seen the opponent's listI have a better idea how to advise you. My earlier advice still stands but you lack your own Alpha Strike capability. You have good chance for going first so either kill the casters first or get his demons. If you kill all of his demons then he can't gate in more. Kick out his mobilty or magic and you've majorly affected his plan. Leisynn is great because he can cast teleport and have dudes killing your opponent quite quickly. Just figure out a good alpha strike defense while making your own strike happen.

[CrispyMerc]

Thanx again. I feel more inspired to fight again ;) I have at least got a few new ideas i gotta try, before I get down on my knees and scream whyyyyyy!!! Promise I that I won't post more darkspawn whinning for now :)

[CrispyMerc]

I've just listed the complete selection of Mercs. Taught perhaps people could copy/paste the list, and add experiences and uses for the differentmodels...ups & downs .. Perhaps a 5 star point system, for value for money (one being point sink & five being a must take)
In the end there should be a complete list of good combos and ideas for the different models....and perhaps an easy to use reference.
I added a few to get it started.

Leaders:
Warlords
Boris Mingla
Orba Shinan

Captains:
Deckard Nightweil
Haranobu (****) Very decent leader and close combat model. tactician a good bonus
Sigurd
Mack Hardwick

Sergeants
Thunginar
Artemis
Dingo Apple Dime
Grundor Hoardtaker
Hedasaa
Rod Blackreef

Elites:
Close combat
Ado Salient
Argonox
Arik Tellazar
Mika
Shad Coalshadow

Casters:
Elandaria
Eredain
Gars Necka
Jod Gebblar
Leisynn(****)good cating power(8), DT and only merc caster with access to mindblast. Barrage is also good on crossbows.
Olivia(****) Only merc caster with access to Burst of speed & damage reduction. Can heal.
Tallis
Theda

Soldiers
Blackreef Pirate
Darkdwarf
Cultist
Axeman
Crossbowman (***)Pierce and good RAV - very soft taget
Spearman(****) Cheapest choise good Mav
warrior(**) Many points for "Average Joe"
Minotaurs
Okuran(****)Super cool HtH model with 2 attacks & cleave
Street Thug

Solo:
Stone Giant
Dendris, Assassin
Raseri, Raging barbarian

[Bearfoot_Adam]

So I threw together a 1000 point MERC list that has been a complete joy to play. I picked the mercs because I wanted to take full advantage of the proxy rules and reapers awesome choice of mini's and turns out to be a very affective and fun list to play. I also wanted to see how a shooty army would perform. So far my favorite tactic is to have Eredain creat walls in the middle of the field for my x-bow and pirates to use and have my minotaurs on the flanks ot rush attack those that go after them. My primary struggle are my buddy's hunting cats along with Selwynn and Caerwynn right now my record for it is W 1 L 2 but my second loss was by 2 points.

So here it is.

Troop 1
Boris Mingla
Eredain
Leisynn, Wizard of Chaos
Shad Coalshadow
3 Blackreef Pirate (random DHL Pirate proxies, The male half orc is my fav)
3 Okuran (DHL samurai 3 pack)
3 Mercenary Crossbowman (Anhurian Crossbowman)
2 Mercenary Axeman (Higlander Claymore models)
familiar

Troop 2
6 Minotaur (2 warlord, 2 Trezzna, Gore, Yera water buffalo )

Troop 3
Dendris

[Ddot]

Back to Bounty doctrine. OK, the Merc Xbows are 27 pts apiece, the Overlord Xbows are 3x pts apiece. Does anyone feel that Deflect/1, Lock Shield, Ranked (attack), and slighlty better defence would be worth the extra 11 pts (and let's face it, to make use of LS you're looking at 3 min)? It makes them harder to kill with ranged and magic (heck, even hth) as opposed to the slightly squishy Merc Xbows.

Also, what about cheap meatgrindings such as Bondslaves, Broken Fodder, or even Bonslave Survivors, just to push the body count up?

[Shakandara]

Personally, I have a hard time justifying CoH when used to get a datacard similar to something that already exists in the faction. No, the Merc Xbows are not as durable as O'lord Xbows, but that's why you get 4 of them for the price of 3 O'lord ones. Same is true of Bond Slaves, Survivors, and Fodder. Mercs have cheap options available; no, they aren't quite as cheap as the aforementioned cards, but for that you generally get 2 DTs instead of 1, and a MAV that is 1-3 points better.

IMO, CoH is best used to flll specific deficiencies within the faction (flyers, cavalry, elite archers, and non-unique casters and solos). YMMV.

~v

[Stubbdog]

Mercs - 998 points

Troop 1
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Mika, Samurai Heroine
Assassin's Blade
Okuran x 3
Mercenary Spearman x 2

Troop 2
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Mika, Samurai Heroine
Assassin's Blade
Okuran x 3
Mercenary Spearman x 2

Troop 3
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Mika, Samurai Heroine
Assassin's Blade
Okuran x 3
Mercenary Spearman x 2

Troop 4
Artemis
Magic Ranged Weapon
Mercenary Crossbowman x 6
---------------------------------------------
4 troops + 3 spies
28 models (75 DTs, 46 MAs)

This list revolves around the triple samurai wielding their assassin blades on offense and having a parried DV 14 on defense. Deckard helps everyone out with his smite spells.

The crossbows find good shooting lanes and just start focused plinking.

The spears are there to both provide support and also roadblocks to help keep the samurai from getting completely mobbed.

And who can forget the Okuran with their cleaving....

[Shakandara]

Here's a thought...

Mercs - 1000 points

Troop 1
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Sokar's Prophet
Mercenary Axeman x 7
Mercenary Spearman x 3

Troop 2
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Sokar's Prophet
Mercenary Axeman x 7
Mercenary Spearman x 3

Troop 3
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Sokar's Prophet
Mercenary Axeman x 6
Mercenary Spearman x 4

Troop 4
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Sokar's Prophet
Mercenary Axeman x 6
Mercenary Spearman x 4

Obviously, this list uses CoH to grab the Prophet of Sokar. With their Bless and Deckard's Smite, you can pack the bonuses on. With Support, those Axemen are MAV 8. In Round 1, the Prophets can drop Burst of Speed, allowing the Troop to effectively triple move and attack. Nothing like moving 40 models 20" in turn 1, AND having an attack with 26 of them.

~v

[wildbill]

Mercs - 998 points

Troop 1
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Mika, Samurai Heroine
Assassin's Blade
Okuran x 3
Mercenary Spearman x 2

Troop 2
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Mika, Samurai Heroine
Assassin's Blade
Okuran x 3
Mercenary Spearman x 2

Troop 3
Deckard Nightveil, Death Priest
Mika, Samurai Heroine
Assassin's Blade
Okuran x 3
Mercenary Spearman x 2

Troop 4
Artemis
Magic Ranged Weapon
Mercenary Crossbowman x 6
---------------------------------------------
4 troops + 3 spies
28 models (75 DTs, 46 MAs)

This list revolves around the triple samurai wielding their assassin blades on offense and having a parried DV 14 on defense. Deckard helps everyone out with his smite spells.

The crossbows find good shooting lanes and just start focused plinking.

The spears are there to both provide support and also roadblocks to help keep the samurai from getting completely mobbed.

And who can forget the Okuran with their cleaving....

This is just a little quirk we have started doing here in Tulsa, but one thing you could try to do is split out your crossbowmen some. Instead of having 7 shooters in one troop, take 3 crossbowmen and put one in each of your other 3 troops. No, a single crossbowman isn't going to be able to concentrate fire and maybe severely wound a Rauthuros or a Dragon Turtle. But, that single guy can plink at a strategic target and wreck havoc. Ask Warwick. I did this the last time we played when I fielded Overlords. My crossbowmen was plinking all over the place, and almost were enough to turn the tide in my favor this way! Plus, you still have the added bonus of having a troop of 4 crossbowmen (including Artemis) that you can then use to really concentrate fire on some big baddy.

That's my two cents...

Wild Bill

[Shakandara]

I like that strategy (of spreading out the shooters). I think the real tactical value is the *threat* of the ranged attack in any activation. If you stack all of your shooters in one troop, you become a little more predicatable in how and when you activate them. Once they are done, they no longer pose a threat until they activate again, giving your opponent the ability to play more aggressively without the risk. When the shooters are scatter across every troop you have, you now constantly present a ranged threat with every activation, forcing your opponent to either a) play more conservatively with their soft targets, or b) place those soft targets at greater risk of being sniped by ranged attacks. I love the sergeants Artemis and Dingo in the Mercs list for this reason; you don't even have to spend points on adding a ranged solder - your leaders have become that threat.

~v