Restoring Faith

Last night I got a simple question from one of our new local players, Lee.
“Do you believe that Hordes is Overpowered against Warmachine?”
It made me think for a moment. Is it really overpowered?
“No. It just has a different play style than what Warmachine is.”
“Oh good man, that has restored my faith.”

Turns out the Skorne list he has been taking, which he has been very successful with, is considered overpowered by the Local Meta. Mostly because it's a very successful list and, while the opposing player is told about the method beforehand, they don't quite picture it in their head properly and fail to counter it.

The entire list mainly revolves around Epic Makeda, the Paingiver Beast Handlers, Molik Karn and getting Molik Karn close to the target Warcaster or Warlock. Makeda casts the spell “Leash” so that Molik Karn moves up to Makeda when she finishes her activation, she then moves her SPD and casts “Road to War” which gives +2 movement to figures within her control area. The Paingiver Beast Handlers use “Enrage” on Molik Karn to give him a +2 bonus to Strength and allow him to charge for free. Molik Karn then gets thrown a good 11 or more inches across the board nearing the target with a charge, making his attack against something else if the target isn't quite within range (Usually he targets something he believes is more likely to be within range of charge). With his initial attacks, which he has two of, he can move an additional 2” per successful hit.

If he reaches the target he has up to 7 attacks (2 Initial Attacks, 4 for his base Fury stat and +1 Fury for his affinity with Makeda) with a MAT (Melee Attack) of 7 against average defences of 15. If he hits, his attack is POW 15, rolls 2d6, an additional 1d6 for Weapon Master, and he may choose to boost the damage for another 1d6.

In Warma-hordes (Our portmanteau of both games) 1d6 has a hefty effect on the game. That can be 1 or 2 of 6 columns of damage to a Warjack. For Molik Karns attack on 2d6, he has a ~42% chance of hitting the defence 15. If he were to boost beforehand, his chances increase to ~82%.

Now, assuming the armour value of 15 again on the target, average damage can be 10-11 before boosting which he must declare before the roll. If he does boost, it goes up to 14 which leaves most Warcasters and Warlocks on very little health. This is only average rolls, however. The chances of rolling better, or worse, are always present.

Molik Karn also has an ability called “Future Sight” where if the player dislikes the roll he may choose to boost his attack and/or damage AFTER the roll has been made. So if he rolled really well and were a few hit points short of executing the target, or one or two points off equalling the targets defence, Molik Karn can generate a Fury point to boost the roll, have his cake and eat it right then and there.

And yes, he can probably kick the ever-loving crap out of your Warcaster/Warlock by second turn if you leave a decent enough lane for him to take advantage of.

What's so wrong about this? You spend a few resources for something that may or may not work. You can do the same with Epic Caine, who gets Line of Sight against a target by moving his 7 inches and has a RNG of 12 on his pistols, pops his feat and does incrementing damage with a RAT of 9, 6 focus, an additional focus from the Squire and an additional attack from Reinholdt (I'll have to check if this is possible, I think Reinholdt has the attached rule). Up to 10 shots, starting at POW 12 and each further attack increases the POW by 1. And then let it sink in that average rolls of 7 will kill Karchev.

Great Bears of Gallowswood have a very high damage output. If they come into contact with just about anything, and especially if they have a damage boost from their Warcaster. Butcher gives Fury, +3 melee damage; Irusk gives Battle Lust, Additional die on melee damage; Vlad gives Signs and Portents, an additional die on damage but remove the lowest of the roll.

Magnus the Traitor casts Snipe on one of his two Renegades. The closer one fires first at the target, or something close to the target and knocks down everything within a 4” diameter. The second Renegade, who is further away and now has the addition of Snipe, then fires at the now knocked down target and deals a significant amount of damage to the target. This is boosted by Dougal Macnaile, who increases range AND damage.

Okay, so that last example isn't as effective to a Warlock as it is to a Warcaster. But it sure as shit will scare him.

That's the thing, there are assassination moves for all Warcasters, and there are always ways to get around it. I could list many 'casters/'locks that are designed to be assassins, and other people can too, and each one has a counter measure. Some are difficult to counter, such as Epic Caine. If he has LOS to a Warcaster or warlock, they're most likely dead. Stealth isn't even a guarantee as there are things in his army that can negate it for the turn, which is just enough time to perforate them.

Kaya the Moonhunter, Epic Kaya that is, has an assassination move that involves her Character Warbeast, Laris. You cast “Spirit Shift” and place Kaya within 2 inches of Laris, then you whack away at whatever it was you wanted to kill.

It was worse in MK1. She used to gain +1 MAT and STR for each enemy figure within her melee range, and each hit would generate an additional attack for free. Topped off with Lightning Tendrils from Krueger, which used to simply add 2” melee range to melee weapons, and you have a king-hit from any poor bugger who decided to screen himself with an entire unit. And if you decide to keep yourself away from everything, you're either too far back to be helpful or you've made yourself vulnerable to the rest of her army.

Cryx are great spellcasting assassins. Deneghra is the first example. She features in the Cryx Battlebox and is a very nasty caster. All she requires are bonejacks with arc nodes, and she has 3 in the battle box! She pops her feat which lowers all stats by 2, particular ARM and DEF, within 14 inches of her then she casts her 2 focus spell multiple times at the target through the arc node. Most likely, the figure will be dead.

Darius had a similar assassination play in MK1. Darius would be fielded with 3 Centurions, who were disgustingly efficient in MK1, along with a Journeyman who was present for Arcane Shield, a tradition that will never get old. Darius would cast a spell that would give +2 Armour and cannot be moved or knocked down, and figures base to base can't be moved or knocked down either. Then the Journeyman would cast Arcane shield, which gives +3 armour, on one of the base-to-base Centurions. Darius would follow up behind these three figures, who cannot be charged because the Polarity Shield ability was passive, and he repairs the warjacks via Halfjacks, who restore 1 damage point, or by his feat, which restores all damage to the offending Centurion. Centurions also start off with a high armour of 21, so with two warjacks at armour 23 and 24 it makes for a very tough nut to crack, and he will most likely win a stand off between whoever.

Now, the assassination move. It's simple: You load up a Centurion with 3 focus. You then use your crane, which lifts up figures from Knockdown within 2” of him, then one figure can be placed anywhere within 2” of Darius. The figures took free strikes until Privateer Press Adjusted it *Shudder*. The Centurion would then charge the target Warcaster/Warlock, with an additional die to it's attack rolls because of Full Throttle, which also gave the figure a free charge, and the Centurion would hit with it's P+S 18 spear.

This can't be done any more because Darius got the shit nerfed out of him, and so did Centurions to a relatively lesser degree.

So I'm lost on the argument that the “Molik Karn Slingshot” is overpowered. Can you get around it? Yes, and it's quite simple. Block off any paths to your caster! It's a live and learn effect. If you've been hit by it before, then don't let it happen again. The only reason I got hit by it so hard was because I forgot that the Great Bears don't charge at SPD+5, so I only had 1 of 3 get into melee range, and miss on the backswing attack.

So don't complain about Hordes being overpowered. You got hit by a valid tactic. So don't let it happen again!