Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Mercs: Short, Stubborn, and Surprisingly Well Painted

So, I've been seriously thinking about getting into Mercs (and more specifically Searforge) for a while now, for the following reasons:

1. I love Forge Guard - great models, great fluff, fun stuff on the battlefield, just fantastic all around.
2. General 'Awesome' Ossrum - this short little dude is just everything a caster should be, to me.
3. EARTHBREAKER SMASH! - nuff said.
4. Have I mentioned Forge Guard?
5. They are a bit different tactically from my current factions (Trollbloods and especially Circle), and it would be good to get back into a Warmachine faction from playing Hordes for so long.
6. MOAR FORGE GUARD!

So, contemplating this and actually buying (and assembling, priming, painting, and basing) said models are two different things entirely. In the meantime, my friend Tim says to me one day "Caleb, wanna buy some Searforge?" to which I says "maybe, how much ya got?"

Pretty much all of it.

So, I now have Searforge. A lot of Searforge. A lot of beautifully painted and based Searforge (with instructions on how to replicate the paint job for the ~1/3 of the models that are not painted). With the exception of Durgan, Gortan, the Tactical Arcanist Corp, and the Earthbreaker (which I promptly bought, but have yet to assemble), I managed to procure a complete Searforge army and helped a friend out to boot.

List Building

At the moment, I'm limited to Ossrum and Searforge - actually a lot of models, but coming from Circle and Trollbloods, that is actually a very limited selection any way you slice it. I have 2 games under my belt so far, one late-night game I barely remember winning, and another against my eternal foe, pGrezy (see battle report). I've been building Ossrum lists, which poses a surprising conundrum - Ossrum's tier, or straight Searforge?

Searforge:
Benefits: deployment zone extended 4", +1 to FA of non-character models/units

Thoughts:
 - an extra 4" deployment zone is just amazing, and help mitigate the universally low SPD
 - additional FA is ok, good for skew lists (3 units of Forge Guard), and it lets you take 2 High Shield UAs (which is actually a really nice strategy if you want to go gun line with an Earthbreaker).
 - with no tier restrictions to reach, it makes for MUCH more variable lists than tier.

Ossrum's Tier 'State of War':
Tier 1: take basically Searforge models = 1 unit gains Advance Deploy
Tier 2: take 2 units with ranged weapons = place 1 trench template (for each 2 ranged units, basically)
Tier 3: take at least 2 solos = start with Ossrum's Upkeeps already up
Tier 4: take 3 jacks in Ossrum's Battlegroup = they get +2 SPD for the first round

Thoughts:
 - All the benefits basically equal out to a very, very fast start: speed boost for jacks, AD for a unit, trench templates for running units/exposed Ossrum to hide in, and upkeeps already up so Ossrum can throw fury into a full Energizer and fail-charge forward for 10" (15"+ for 'jacks!) on the first turn. Not bad.
 - Getting to tier 3 alone means running either a straight gunline or a combined arms list, which can get kinda tricky unless you space them out (causing problems for his feat) or pack them near Ossrum to benefit from Martial Discipline (making it a tempting target for templates).
 - 3 jacks, even if two are gun bunnies, are really going to put a strain on Ossrum's available focus. Switching just one of them over to Thor would be a big help, but the tier is battlegroup-specific.

Conclusion:
Honestly? Both are about evenly matched. Ossrum's Tier 3 is amazing, and the advance deploy/spd buffs do a lot to make up for losing the 4" extended deployment zone, but it's really the main thing the tier has going for it and comes at a cost of a greatly restricted variety of lists over straight Searforge. What I'll probably do is make the list I want to make in one of them, and see if it would work better converting it over to the other. I'm digging the Tier list for the moment, mainly because it is such a faster start than anything I can make in Searforge.

The Lists

35pt Ossrum: State of War Tier 4
General Ossrum (*5pts)
* Grundback Blaster (3pts)
* Grundback Blaster (3pts)
* Wroughthammer Rockram (8pts)
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps Officer & Standard (3pts)
Herne & Jonne (3pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Lord Rockbottom (2pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)

Sort of a bare-bones approach, it has everything I want in it and very little else. Rockbottom is in a lot of these lists partly to keep units/thor from failing command checks, partly as a secondary target for Fire For Effect (he's got a pretty decent spray), and mostly because there is exactly one other 2pt choice in the entire freaking sub-faction to fill up points with, and that model is already in every list anyway (Thor).

35pt Ossrum: Searforge
General Ossrum (*5pts)
* Grundback Blaster (3pts)
* Wroughthammer Rockram (8pts)
Herne & Jonne (3pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
Lord Rockbottom (2pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)
* Ghordson Basher (7pts)

As much as I like High Shields with Ossrum (snipe!), it's tricky to fit them and Forge Guard in at 35pts and keep a good diversity of options - I had a hell of a time just dealing with incorporeal models in my first game, simply because I had only 1 magic weapon (Ossrum). Dropping them for a Bokur, TACs, and upgrading a gun bunny to bash bunny on Thor really opens up some options, namely magic weapons, shield guard, and a good single target slammer to keep jacks/beasts off my line and relieve the focus-crunch on Ossrum.

50pt Ossrum: State of War Tier 4
General Ossrum (*5pts)
* Grundback Blaster (3pts)
* Ghordson Driller (6pts)
* Ghordson Earthbreaker (19pts)
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps Officer & Standard (3pts)
Herne & Jonne (3pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)

At 50pts, there really is absolutely no reason not to bring an Earthbreaker (discounting not being a jackass... kidding, kidding!), which severely limits options. Dropping the Rockram for the Earthbreaker and upgrading the bunny to a driller takes up a lot of it - I want the driller around to threaten enemy jacks/beasts once the Earthbreaker goes, as one of the few sure-fire ways to deal with an Earthbreaker list is to kill the damn thing as quickly as possible with everything you've got and hope you come out favorably in the inevitable counterattacking scrum. The Bokur is in there for charge blocking, as a 2nd string hitter, and (mainly) shield guard to counter the other sure-fire way to deal with the Earthbreaker: that dirty rat bastard. The problem is, to fit that in, I'm dropping TACs to keep to the tier requirement.

50pt Ossrum: Searforge
General Ossrum (*5pts)
* Ghordson Earthbreaker (19pts)
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps Officer & Standard (3pts)
Herne & Jonne (3pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Lord Rockbottom (2pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)
* Grundback Blaster (3pts)

Same thoughts, bit more variety. The blaster is a good choice for Thor, in my opinion, as he can pronto it around and it can boost a spray attack or two when needed, making it a solid 2nd line jack, especially with Thor devoting his buff to the Earthbreaker (because holy hell that's good). I'm debating dropping Herne and Jonne, Rockbottom, and the TACs (or just the High Shields and UA) for a full unit of Ogrun Assault Corps for some speed and a relatively independent combined-arms force to run interference for the big guy - medium bases are always good, after all. We'll see how this one works first.

So, there we have it! I'll be putting up some battle reports for these as soon as I can get some games in (they're just so photogenic, you see...), as well as (hopefully) a Trollblood tactica or two and some more lists now that the Circle-specific football league is over and the insanely busy summer is winding down. 

5 comments:

  1. Nice! I like the look of those lists, though it's true that to make T4 State of War, your selection is *really* limited. I'm sad not to see Brun and Lug, but if Tim didn't have them, then I guess you'll have to wait on them. They also eat up a bunch of points for a list that's already taking the Earthbreaker.

    I'm always up for some games against Rhulfolk. I have a lot of new stuff to try out, both for Skorne and Ret.

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  2. Actually, I DO have Brun and Lug - fully painted and based. Lug is ludicrously well painted, I just haven't gotten around to figuring out how to use them yet (the tiny control area is a bit difficult to get used to). You are also correct, they are a bit difficult to fit in with the Earthbreaker there, but could have a place in the Searforge lists in place of the Ogrun Assault Corps or High Shields.

    I suppose we'll just have to play some games with them and figure it out :D

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  3. Moar Bears then!

    I can see them fitting into a Searforge list as a second heavy. It's almost too bad that the Earthbreaker is so powerful for Rhulic 'casters, since that makes oddball heavy hitters like Brun and Lug a little less likely to be taken. They can be pretty murderous though. I'd definitely consider them if you're not taking a different heavy. They're pretty independent, and Brun is pretty freaking tough, especially if you give him a Bokur.

    That seems like a decent little pod actually - Brun, Lug, and Bokur. The Bokur can Shield Guard and Slam, while Brun and Lug can do a lot of heavy damage and apply KD and throws from Grab'n'Smash where needed.

    I *may* be obsessing over Lesser Warlocks right now though (and therefor not very objective) since I *may* have purchased some Reptile Hounds for Zaadesh to sling around.

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  4. Why oh why did Brun have to kill a bunch of Khadorans? It's very sad that Mother Khador can't take a bear at all so far...

    What are your thoughts on doing Four Star instead? Most of the rhulic lists that I've seen have been that instead of theme or Searforge, though I can understand the vein of stunty pride coloring your choices.

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  5. (trolls can now have 2 bears in most lists :D and to be fair, Khador does have 3 bears... great ones, actually...).

    Four Star and Highborn are, I agree, arguably better list formats all around, since you get access to a greater range of units and solos that work great with the awesome Dwarf warcasters. However, since I currently only have Searforge models and Ossrum, I'm sticking to the lists I can actually play at the moment. The other issue is that Ossrum's feat is Rhulic-specific, so unlike Durgan his tier is about even with Highborn and Searforge as well - I'm pretty much never taking him without Forge Guard, regardless of the list format.

    I'm looking to expand into more Mercs eventually, and I'll probably start with Highborn first, mainly because it would give me access to Gun Mages or Long Gunners, which are just ridiculous with Snipe. Give me a few more games under Ossrum's tier, and I'll be posting up a set of Highborn lists as well.

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