Building
a list for Warmachine/Hordes is a tricky endeavor. One thing that you
must consider when making a list is that there are over 120 different
warcasters/warlocks, each with their own theme force, in addition to taking
any combination of units from their faction. This means that it's impossible
to see every possible warcaster/warlock in your particular gaming environment,
and that's doubly true for tournaments where you're only going to be playing a
couple games. For comparison, Warhammer 40k has 14 armies and 5 of those
are variations on Space Marines. Without any judgment attached, I can
objectively say that as a Warmachine/Hordes player, it's harder to anticipate
what you will see across the table from you in any given environment.
What you can expect, however, is to see one several playstyles which I have
observed in my time playing the game.
When building a list for yourself,
you need to make sure that you have realistic expectations about how it will
perform. What this essentially means is "INTERWEBZ BE
DAMNED!" There are many different playstyles out there to
consider and you should expect to build a list that fits your favorite playstyle,
and isn't just a copy of something you've seen on the internet. In
general, you can have an offensive or a defensive playstyle, and
there are several other styles that I find fit into those two categories:
Offensive:
Alpha strike - striking first and striking hard, crippling key models of
your opponent
Assassination - your only win condition is getting to their
caster/warlock to deliver the killing blow
Domination - relying on your superior firepower/melee prowess to
utterly destroy your enemy
Defensive:
Attrition - taking hits better than your opponent and eventually
overcoming them through numbers/toughness
Control - placing terrain or moving models such that you control
where models can/cannot go
Denial - preventing your opponent from using their best models and
striking their soft underbelly
Additionally, each of the above
playstyles can be achieved through any of the three following lists:
Heavies - achieved using a comparatively large number of heavy
warjacks/warbeasts
Combined Arms - a balanced approach with heavy-hitters and infantry units
Infantry - few heavy warjacks/warbeasts and lots of boots on the ground
(more common in Warmachine)
Magic - characterized by lots of warcaster/warlock spells,
channellers, or spell-casting models (more common with Cryx and in Hordes)
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| A great infantry attrition warcaster |
The above styles of play are very
general and each faction can perform any of the above in various ways.
Similarly, the same warcaster/warlock can run a different style of game
depending on how you want to run them. Mohsar, for example, can play a
game of control using pillars of salt, or he can play an
assassination game using infantry to get him to teleport close to the
opposing warlock. Naturally, there can be some overlap between playstyles
like denial and control, as they are both achieving a similar
goal, but I think of denial involving debuffs, preventing charges, or
hit-and-run tactics, whereas control casters will move models around the
field.
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| eMakeda is a beast-heavy alpha striker |
Take a moment and look at the styles
listed above. How does your particular faction achieve any of those
styles? Which warcasters/warlocks can achieve those styles? For
example, Skorne really loves to dominate the battlefield with their
melee prowess, but can also play a good attrition game with the right
warlocks. Circle and Legion have a good number of warlocks who like to alpha
strike, but also have their fair share of denial and control
warlocks. In Warmachine, Cygnar has a really diverse bunch of warcasters,
and as a faction they can play any of the above styles - Kraye for the alpha
strike, Caine to assassinate, eNemo can dominate the board
with his warjacks, Darius runs a great attrition game, and the Haleys
are great at control and denial. Perhaps that is why Cygnar
is such a popular faction.
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| The Old Witch is good at denial and assassination |
The next time you think about
creating a list, ask yourself what kinds of tools the warcaster/warlock you are
choosing has at their disposal. Do they fit into a particular
style? In this game, you're usually at your best when you build with that
theme in-mind. If I'm going to make a list for pKaya, I want to really
emphasize dominating the board with my superior warbeasts, but if I'm
making a list for her epic form, I really want to take advantage of the
tools she has available for her to get the alpha strike instead, or even
an assassination. Conversely, you should be aware of what you are
likely to see, and what styles will likely cause problems for you, but we'll
discuss that later when I discuss meta-gaming.
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| Kallus is an excellent at attrition with lots of infantry |
While the internet says that eKaya
is an amazing tournament warlock, I often find that I'm really not very good
with her. She doesn't really "meld" with my playstyle and I
really don't think the way I should with her. I find that I am a much
more defensive player and really enjoy playing attrition or denial
warcasters rather than the more offensive playstyles. Before
considering how to build out your list, you should really look at the
playstyles you enjoy the most, and if you're not sure, then try playing lots
of different casters/warlocks. I've only just recently discovered
that I really enjoy attrition, so get out there and try some things out,
but make sure your choices for your list aren't just there because "the
internet says so", but make sure you have a specific purpose in mind for
your particular playstyle.
Next time I'll talk about what to
expect from both your local and the broader 'meta-game' and what you can do to
use it to your advantage.