Last week, I talked about playing an attrition game, and trading models effictively. In this post, I'll talk about what I call Direct Denial, which is generally just called Denial, and how that interacts with Attrition. A strong element of Denial can vastly improve an army's ability to create favorable trades, whether or not it has a strong attrition theme.
Let me give an example using my pMorghoul list at 35pts, which has a solid element of Direct Denial as well as Attrition. The list again is:
Master Tormentor Morghoul (+7)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Cyclops Savage (5)
*Basilisk Krea (4)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Extoller Soulward (2)
Agonizer (2)
The Attrition scheme has already been discussed. I have several dedicated Attrition abilities, most of which end up on my Cannoneer as it leads my army forward. With the Krea's Paralytic Aura, Candes is Def 14/ Arm 20 against ranged attacks. Her own Animus, Diminish, makes her effective Arm 20 against melee attacks. Morghoul's spell Admonition lets the Cannoneer dodge out of melee with one model/unit that just engaged her. Finally, the Agonizer adds even more Attrition against Warbeasts, inflicting a -2 penalty to damage rolls upon affected beasts. So the Cannoneer is hard to kill. She threatens a wide area with her gun, and of course, her backup is Titans under pMorghoul.
So where's my Denial, and what does it do? The main element of Denial is pMorghoul's Feat, Pain and Suffering, which prevents models in his CTRL from spending Focus, being Forced, or having damage transferred to them. Basically, it brutally shuts down Warbeasts, Warjacks, and sometimes, when I can catch them, Warcasters, for a turn. Most jacks rely on Focus for effectiveness, and nearly all beasts rely on Forcing even more. After Morghoul feats, for one round, I'm basically safe from anything capable of putting a serious dent in my warbeasts except Weapon Master infantry.
What this amounts to is that against many armies, I'll be able to grind enemy counterattacks to a dead stop for one round. If they take my bait (the Cannoneer), and dive into my melee range, I can counterattack, then hit Pain and Suffering. I just traded my Cannoneer for whatever they used to kill it, and prevented them from continuing to trade next turn, giving me the initiative to hit them.
Offensively, the denial element gives me a turn to hit the enemy first without too much fear of a counterattack. I charge in, kill the opponent's bait, then Feat, stopping their backup from hurting my army as I plough in.
I've mostly been playing against Hordes lately, but against Warmachine opponents who play with a significant number of Warjcks, the Agonizer is also a powerful denial piece, although I use it a little differently. Its Spritual Affliction ability denies Focus allocation to affected Warjacks. This seems to tread on Pain and Suffering's toes, but the timing on Focus allocation makes Spiritual Affliction better if it's used pre-emptively rather than defensively. In other words, it's better for me to run the Agonizer out *before* my forces meet my opponent's, and use Spiritual Affliction to deny allocation to as many jacks as I can, than it is to wait until our forces are engaged to do it.
The result is that the turn before I strike, my opponent's jacks cannot charge me or run to new positions. If they can advance into melee with me, I'll take little damage, since they can't boost or buy attacks against my already strong attrition setup. My Agonizer usually dies here, but the damage is done. On the second turn, I'll commit for all I'm worth with my own beasts, do as much damage as I can, and use Pain and Suffering, buying me another turn of freedom from any serious warjack reprisal. What counterattack there is is softened considerably by my defensive measures. That's often enough to let me finish the game on the next turn (turn 4, usually), at least if all goes according to plan. It's an effective one-two punch of Denial I use to deliver my army, and maximize my Attrition potential by essentially counter my opponent's attrition game. I can take their pieces, but they can't retaliate in kind.
That whole example was with pMorghoul and Skorne, but lots and lots of caster (and support pieces) from many factions have Denial tools they can use in similar ways.
In a recent game against eKrueger (commanded by the ever-valiant Caleb), I had the tables turned on me by Krueger's strong denial feat. Caleb shoved most of my army out of reprisal range (they couldn't charge thanks to the Speed debuff component), and gutted my Bronzeback for no loss to his forces on my next turn. My whole Attrition setup was countered by a well-timed round of Denial, and I was forced to fight an uphill battle from there.
Denial has a strong effect on an Attrition game, whether it's used to bolster an Attrition army's ability to trade effectively, or break that army's tempo and steal back the initiative. One reason I like my pMorghoul list is its ability to combine Attrition and Denial into a crushing offense. Synergizing different strategic elements is a key part of list building and strategy building, and considering the effects the different themes in my lists will have on one another helps me come up with a battle plan for every list.
Let me give an example using my pMorghoul list at 35pts, which has a solid element of Direct Denial as well as Attrition. The list again is:
Master Tormentor Morghoul (+7)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Cyclops Savage (5)
*Basilisk Krea (4)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Extoller Soulward (2)
Agonizer (2)
The Attrition scheme has already been discussed. I have several dedicated Attrition abilities, most of which end up on my Cannoneer as it leads my army forward. With the Krea's Paralytic Aura, Candes is Def 14/ Arm 20 against ranged attacks. Her own Animus, Diminish, makes her effective Arm 20 against melee attacks. Morghoul's spell Admonition lets the Cannoneer dodge out of melee with one model/unit that just engaged her. Finally, the Agonizer adds even more Attrition against Warbeasts, inflicting a -2 penalty to damage rolls upon affected beasts. So the Cannoneer is hard to kill. She threatens a wide area with her gun, and of course, her backup is Titans under pMorghoul.
So where's my Denial, and what does it do? The main element of Denial is pMorghoul's Feat, Pain and Suffering, which prevents models in his CTRL from spending Focus, being Forced, or having damage transferred to them. Basically, it brutally shuts down Warbeasts, Warjacks, and sometimes, when I can catch them, Warcasters, for a turn. Most jacks rely on Focus for effectiveness, and nearly all beasts rely on Forcing even more. After Morghoul feats, for one round, I'm basically safe from anything capable of putting a serious dent in my warbeasts except Weapon Master infantry.
What this amounts to is that against many armies, I'll be able to grind enemy counterattacks to a dead stop for one round. If they take my bait (the Cannoneer), and dive into my melee range, I can counterattack, then hit Pain and Suffering. I just traded my Cannoneer for whatever they used to kill it, and prevented them from continuing to trade next turn, giving me the initiative to hit them.
Offensively, the denial element gives me a turn to hit the enemy first without too much fear of a counterattack. I charge in, kill the opponent's bait, then Feat, stopping their backup from hurting my army as I plough in.
I've mostly been playing against Hordes lately, but against Warmachine opponents who play with a significant number of Warjcks, the Agonizer is also a powerful denial piece, although I use it a little differently. Its Spritual Affliction ability denies Focus allocation to affected Warjacks. This seems to tread on Pain and Suffering's toes, but the timing on Focus allocation makes Spiritual Affliction better if it's used pre-emptively rather than defensively. In other words, it's better for me to run the Agonizer out *before* my forces meet my opponent's, and use Spiritual Affliction to deny allocation to as many jacks as I can, than it is to wait until our forces are engaged to do it.
The result is that the turn before I strike, my opponent's jacks cannot charge me or run to new positions. If they can advance into melee with me, I'll take little damage, since they can't boost or buy attacks against my already strong attrition setup. My Agonizer usually dies here, but the damage is done. On the second turn, I'll commit for all I'm worth with my own beasts, do as much damage as I can, and use Pain and Suffering, buying me another turn of freedom from any serious warjack reprisal. What counterattack there is is softened considerably by my defensive measures. That's often enough to let me finish the game on the next turn (turn 4, usually), at least if all goes according to plan. It's an effective one-two punch of Denial I use to deliver my army, and maximize my Attrition potential by essentially counter my opponent's attrition game. I can take their pieces, but they can't retaliate in kind.
That whole example was with pMorghoul and Skorne, but lots and lots of caster (and support pieces) from many factions have Denial tools they can use in similar ways.
In a recent game against eKrueger (commanded by the ever-valiant Caleb), I had the tables turned on me by Krueger's strong denial feat. Caleb shoved most of my army out of reprisal range (they couldn't charge thanks to the Speed debuff component), and gutted my Bronzeback for no loss to his forces on my next turn. My whole Attrition setup was countered by a well-timed round of Denial, and I was forced to fight an uphill battle from there.
Denial has a strong effect on an Attrition game, whether it's used to bolster an Attrition army's ability to trade effectively, or break that army's tempo and steal back the initiative. One reason I like my pMorghoul list is its ability to combine Attrition and Denial into a crushing offense. Synergizing different strategic elements is a key part of list building and strategy building, and considering the effects the different themes in my lists will have on one another helps me come up with a battle plan for every list.
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