Little_Lano Talks About: Warmachine Hordes List Building Part 1

My father has always told me...

"Piss Poor Planning, Piss Poor Performance"

And that is something I always take with me even in table top games.

Having had the pleasure do playing with competitive, beginner and casual players, I believe I have enough experience to be able to show what I go through when making Warmachine and Hordes army lists.

Now this started with Warhammer 40k, and being a mathematics under graduate, I applied a lot of maths to what ever game I played. Something which is commonly called "MathHammer" in table top society. And in due course I will post about Warhammer 40k list building, but for now, we shall continue with WarmaHordes. 

Firstly, I'd like to say that this is my method of thinking, it may work for some and others not. And in no way is it the best.

Now let's look at my current favourite list.

50pts

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (+5pts)

Ravagore 10pts

Scythean 9pts

Seraph 8pts

Naga Nightlurker 5pts

Max Warspears w/ UA 10pts

Max Warspears w/ UA 10pts

Warmonger Warchief 0pts

Max Spawning Vessel 3pts

Now let's go through the steps.

1a) Who is my 'lock or 'caster? And most importantly, what is my "Win Condition"?

"Win Condition" is pretty simple, how are you looking to win, scenario, assassination or death clock? In my case scenario is most likely. 

1b) What sort of 'lock/caster are they? Either...

Frontline, down and dirty.

Midfield, supportive caster with good support spells. May lack arc nodes.

Rear Support, great support potential, ranged threat. Possible Arc Node support. 

1c) What spellsdo I have. Do I have abilities that would be perfect for my plan? Thagrosh has Death Shroud, Fog of War and Draconic Blessing. I identify him as Frontline/Mid. He wants to be close enough to support Ogryns but is still a little squishy to be totally upfront. 

2a) What tactic do I employ.  These will be explained in latter course. 

Either...

*Hammer and Anvil

*Refused Flank

*Attrition

2b) Now this is where it gets tricky. How do I achieve my "win condition"? Now this is where you need to pick you "win unit". This can either be a model or unit which will play a vital hand.  In this case, Ogryn Warpspears are my "win unit". Potentially POW17 assaulting unit is something to be afraid of. 

2c) Does my tier list allow me any significant benefits while not restricting anything that may seem integral to my plan? In this case yes. 2" extra deployment and a free Warmonger. 

3a) Now that has been identified, you should now have an idea of what you want in your army.

Now, I regularly refer to units as one of three types or a combination. 

"Hammers" Units which deal damage, or volume of Attacks to remove models. 

"Anvils" units which hold up opponents.

"Supports" units which provide a role which is niche among the army. 

I've just realised, this next part is pretty large, so will continue in another blog ost. Ciao!!!