Post by GreatBigTree on Apr 10, 2017 23:02:40 GMT
Hi Folks,
I've had a chance to knock off a handful of battlebox games, get a bunch of stuff painted, and now have a pretty fluid understanding of the core rules. It's quite a remarkable game. My 7.5 year old son has shown an interest in playing, and I was quite surprised that I didn't need to dumb-down the core rules for him. It's all pretty intuitive, and we've played a couple of "games" to get to know the rules, and he's having a lot of fun with it. I think he mostly likes using the 'Jacks... and I get it. He sure loves Menoth, for all the Fire effects.
I won a 25 point game against a fellow playing Menoth. Discovered that I should never, ever, get close to Castigators. My poor Sentinels, all clumped up and charred.
I digress. Now that I have a bit of understanding of the core mechanics, it really seems to me like everything dies, really fast. Like, crazy fast. Is that just me, or is that a fact of the game for all Ret players, or is it a case for all players?
I also find that, obviously quite deliberately, there isn't enough Focus to go around. I'm using Helynna, with FOC 7, and it seems like after I throw even 3 focus out to the Jacks, and upkeep a spell, she's slinging one spell at most, and usually keeping one for defence, or upkeeping a second spell. I guess getting my hands onMechanics Arcanists would help, but the damned things have been on back order for 5 weeks now. At least through my LGS, and I want to support them.
So far, I haven't figured out a way to take real advantage of Helynna's Repair ability. I'd been using the Gorgon as a Chimera, so didn't have much of a shooting game going on. I'm worried about getting her too close to battle. Would shifting to more shooting focused Jacks let me use that ability a little more safely? It feels like she'd be well off with Jacks that move into range, fire their shots, Rhythm of War out of charge range, and then use her Redirection Blast to push back something that might be at the edges of charging.
I've only played one game beyond the "Battlebox" range, which was the 25 point game. I'm learning at my LGS, and don't want to bog a game down with my incessant checking of rules. Having modified the Battle Box's Chimera into a Gorgon, I own a 50 point list, as follows.
Magister Helynna
Sylys Wyshnallyr
Gorgon
Griffon
Manticore
10+2 Sentinels [Command]
10+2 Riflemen [Command]
Houseguard Thane
I like the Griffon model, so plan to keep it. It seems like it would be ideally suited to chasing down light infantry that could otherwise be shooting me up, or something. The armour is high enough to deal with shooting infantry, and possibly require that a Jack be diverted to deal with it.
Moving forwards, I think I'd like to either buy a Phoenix, or maybe an Imperatus. If I go the Imperatus route, I'd have enough points for one Arcanist, and a Soulless Escort, I suppose. The Imperatus is pretty impressive, all on it's own, I must say, and is a beautiful model.
The Phoenix would give me an Arc Node, Combustion, and still be a solid beat-stick, better suited to crowd-control. I'd then have 7 points to work with, so could get a pair of Arcanists and then a Ghost Sniper.
So I guess my major question is how practical is a "Shooting Army" in Warmachine? So far, I haven't seen any armies at my LGS that seem to focus on it. If it's practical, would you recommend the Imperatus route, or the Phoenix route?
I've had a chance to knock off a handful of battlebox games, get a bunch of stuff painted, and now have a pretty fluid understanding of the core rules. It's quite a remarkable game. My 7.5 year old son has shown an interest in playing, and I was quite surprised that I didn't need to dumb-down the core rules for him. It's all pretty intuitive, and we've played a couple of "games" to get to know the rules, and he's having a lot of fun with it. I think he mostly likes using the 'Jacks... and I get it. He sure loves Menoth, for all the Fire effects.
I won a 25 point game against a fellow playing Menoth. Discovered that I should never, ever, get close to Castigators. My poor Sentinels, all clumped up and charred.
I digress. Now that I have a bit of understanding of the core mechanics, it really seems to me like everything dies, really fast. Like, crazy fast. Is that just me, or is that a fact of the game for all Ret players, or is it a case for all players?
I also find that, obviously quite deliberately, there isn't enough Focus to go around. I'm using Helynna, with FOC 7, and it seems like after I throw even 3 focus out to the Jacks, and upkeep a spell, she's slinging one spell at most, and usually keeping one for defence, or upkeeping a second spell. I guess getting my hands on
So far, I haven't figured out a way to take real advantage of Helynna's Repair ability. I'd been using the Gorgon as a Chimera, so didn't have much of a shooting game going on. I'm worried about getting her too close to battle. Would shifting to more shooting focused Jacks let me use that ability a little more safely? It feels like she'd be well off with Jacks that move into range, fire their shots, Rhythm of War out of charge range, and then use her Redirection Blast to push back something that might be at the edges of charging.
I've only played one game beyond the "Battlebox" range, which was the 25 point game. I'm learning at my LGS, and don't want to bog a game down with my incessant checking of rules. Having modified the Battle Box's Chimera into a Gorgon, I own a 50 point list, as follows.
Magister Helynna
Sylys Wyshnallyr
Gorgon
Griffon
Manticore
10+2 Sentinels [Command]
10+2 Riflemen [Command]
Houseguard Thane
I like the Griffon model, so plan to keep it. It seems like it would be ideally suited to chasing down light infantry that could otherwise be shooting me up, or something. The armour is high enough to deal with shooting infantry, and possibly require that a Jack be diverted to deal with it.
Moving forwards, I think I'd like to either buy a Phoenix, or maybe an Imperatus. If I go the Imperatus route, I'd have enough points for one Arcanist, and a Soulless Escort, I suppose. The Imperatus is pretty impressive, all on it's own, I must say, and is a beautiful model.
The Phoenix would give me an Arc Node, Combustion, and still be a solid beat-stick, better suited to crowd-control. I'd then have 7 points to work with, so could get a pair of Arcanists and then a Ghost Sniper.
So I guess my major question is how practical is a "Shooting Army" in Warmachine? So far, I haven't seen any armies at my LGS that seem to focus on it. If it's practical, would you recommend the Imperatus route, or the Phoenix route?
