Musings on Army Building:
Part 1 — Getting Started
by Carl Hotchkiss
One of my favorite aspects of miniatures gaming is building armies. I know, I know, it should be playing the game, but there is a subtle attraction to building multiple armies and variations of armies and spending time trying to envision how they will perform against various other armies. While I am not always very successful at anticipating the moves of my opponents (or of remembering their special abilities), it is still fun to go through the process. So it was with much enjoyment that I spent some time at work over the last few weeks building armies.
The first reason I was building armies at work was to prepare the demo kits for the FFG Mobile tour. The specifications I tried to meet were:
- Try for balance, so each player has a good time.
- Try to field different units, so players get a taste of what's out there.
- Try to keep it short, yet lengthy enough to show the strengths of the game.
The first thing I needed to choose was point values. By nature, I prefer large-scale battles with huge numbers of figures, as it gives me more of an epic feel to battle, yet my target audience here would be people who have not played before, so I needed to keep the size down. And yet while the starter set is a cool entry point, I wanted more than one unit apiece so players could really get a feel for the scope of the game. I decided to go with 2000 points, which allows 2-3 units on each side. I also decided to go with the basic Order of the Banners for both armies for simplicity's sake.
Starting with the Confrontation starter, I decided to begin with the Wolfen. I grabbed Serethis for my Incarnate, since each army must have an incarnate to play. He currently is the only Wolfen incarnate, but that will change when the Throne of Stars Hero box is released. Since Serethis works well with Hunters, that was my obvious choice for my first unit, which also satisfied the compulsory choice. I took the basic 4 Hunters from the starter set and added 4 more, which can be done by picking up a Hunter Unit Box, which will be coming out soon. This can also be done from a second starter box (trade with a friend who plays Griffin) to bring the Hunter unit to 8. I then decided to pick as my second unit the Great Fangs. This unit box has one of my favorite sculpts (the one with the 2 blades). My Wolfen army was complete.
Going back to the starter, I then turned to the Griffin. I began with Abel, as again I needed an incarnate. Since Abel works with Spearmen, my first unit became a Spearman unit, which also satisfied my compulsory choice. I used the 8 spearmen from the starter and added 6 more, which can be done using a Spearmen Unit Box (coming soon!). This can also be done from a second starter box (trade with a friend who plays Wolfen) for a total of 14. I then picked out the Fusiliers as my primary unit. I say primary as my experience with demos out of the starters has been that the Wolfen's Fear is a huge factor, and the ferocity of their attacks usually carries the day. However, the recent arrival of the Fusiliers suddenly gives the Griffin faction the ability to cause some wounds before the Wolfen barrel into them. In my mind, that balanced the two forces, and gave the Griffin a bit of edge they were missing. I went with a full unit strength of 12 Fusiliers, just because they are so important. To round out my points I chose a Templar unit of 9 Templars. At this point, I felt I had two forces that are roughly balanced.
While building the demo armies, there was discussion around the office asking those of us who know the Confrontation system to teach others here. This is the second reason I have been building armies, to be able to teach people here in office, and just get some games played during our lunch hour. Since these games would be played during a lunch period, the armies needed to be smaller, so I went with 1500 points. I decided to do up 2 configurations per army to give me a variety of strategies.
This time I started with the Griffins. I decided to go with two extremes: The first army is primarily ranged, while the second is melee only. The ranged army gives me a little trouble as the army banner only allows me to put three infantry units in, and only two of those may be Rank 1. Abel only works with Spearmen, so I gave up one Rank 1 slot to nine spearmen. The other slot went to twelve Fusiliers, naturally, given their great shooting ability. When the Temple of the North is released, and I have a commander that works with Templars, I will actually carry two units of Fusiliers. My third unit is a group of six Demon Hunters. This gives me a second shooting unit, which though weaker, allows me to shoot and protect the Fusiliers both, and their Scout ability allows me to set up in advantageous positions.
The second Griffin banner is all about melee. The Spearmen can fight out to 3 cm, so are most likely to be able to get all of them in a fight. I started with eight Spearmen and Abel, hoping his Chastisement artifact can keep his unit alive for a time. The second unit is a unit of Templars. This is a fully decked out unit of nine Templars, including the Chaplain, Standard Bearer, and Musician. I am hoping that they can be the core group that can stand against the Wolfen, as the Chaplain gives them sacred weapons which make them read on a better column on strength tests, the Standard Bearer gives them a two point bonus on courage (much needed against the Wolfen fear), and the Musician allows them to resolve a second combat. My third unit is another, smaller Templar unit, with seven Templars, and minus the Chaplain, as I ran out of points.
Moving on to my Wolfen Banners, there are no ranged units, but knowing that the Griffins have ranged available, I try two ideas here also. The first is to simply go with cheaper, more plentiful troops, just trying to get as many available Health out there as possible. I of course took Serethis and four Hunters, as Serethis only works with Hunters. Fangs are the cheapest Wolfen available, so I looked to those next. Since I could afford more than a single unit allows, I purchase two under strength units. My second and third unit therefore have five Fangs each, though with the few remaining points I was able to give one of the units available a Repentant, whose ability allows him to skip one damage per strength test, i.e. wounds.
The second Wolfen Banner is a much stronger one, but doesn’t have nearly as much health. I began with the required Serethis and four hunters for my first unit. My second unit contains six Great Fangs, decked out with the Rune Guardian, Grave Guardian, and the Repentant. While the Great Fangs have similar stats to the Fangs in most areas, there are some critical differences. Each Great Fang rolls two dice for attack instead of the one which the Fangs use, giving them much more punch. They also have a special ability called Sequence, which allows them bonus dice on fives and sixes in hand to hand combat. Even if they take some losses crossing the field towards their prey, they should do considerable damage when they get there. The Rune Guardian allows them to call for Sacred Armor, making them harder to hit. The Grave Guardian allows them to re-roll failures on courage tests if they have been taking serious losses. The Repentant allows them to ignore one damage point each strength test. This looks to be a fairly solid unit.
All in all I look forward to trying these and other builds soon, and look forward to the ever varying strategies as more units become available.
Read the next Article, Musings on Army Building: Part 2 — The Future
