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Let's chat: The Farstriders


Biboune

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Hi,

Those poor fellows will be released soon but they don't have their topic like all the other bands.

There is something quite weird about this band: they get inspired by getting in enemy territory, witch can look easy but the vanguards have guns and are not as good as other bands in hand to hand combat.

Their specific objective cards don't look so great; They have a specific supremacy but with only 3 models it can be denied on a band dice roll.

But their main issue is the models. imo they don't look great, they are not ugly but there is nothing special about them. I think GW Sisters of Silence would make good proxies, with an Aetherwings from the AoS Vanguards for the leader. The only issue is the pistols: the vanguard boltstorm pistols look too big, i can't figure out what proxies can work for them.

 

Edited by Biboune
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TBH, I was this close to making this topic myself.

It seems the faction is something of an oxymoron - a faction with a focus on range that is encourage to make aggressive rushes into enemy territory. Originally, I felt positive about this twist on the formula, but those early impressions have faded. Haven't looked at their specific cards too closely as of yet, as I've mostly been focusing on Magore's Fiends (much like everyone else, it seems).

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Thanks for posting. There is a release day tournament at my FLGS and I've decided that I need to give these guys a shot. Whats more... I need to Katophrane it.

The goal is to get as many easy to score 1pt objectives as possible, and then mill through to get the Katophrane armors. Im going with the Farstriders instead of the SCE for this because 1. its a casual release tourney and 2. pew pew! Its actually insanely hard to build a deck for these guys, so any input would be welcome AF.

Objectives     Ploys   Upgrades
Lightning Advance e1   Duel of wits   Katophrane
Swift Advance e1   Spoils of Battle   Katophrane
Punnishing Volleys e1   Ready for Action   Katophrane
Advancing Strike i1   Lightning Blow   Katophrane
Escalation e2   Trap   Katophrane
Precise use of force i1   Rangers advance   Katophrane
Ploymaster e1   Rapid Volley   Great strength
master of war e1   Earthquake   Great Fortitude
Alone in the darkness e1   Great Concussion   Cursed Artifact
Change of tactics i1   Time Trap   Incredible strength
Chosen Champ e1   Healing Potion   Helpful whispers
Flawless strategy e1   Warning cry   Lone Warrior

 

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3 hours ago, Biboune said:

But their main issue is the models. imo they don't look great, they are not ugly but there is nothing special about them. I think GW Sisters of Silence would make good proxies, with an Aetherwings from the AoS Vanguards for the leader. The only issue is the pistols: the vanguard boltstorm pistols look too big, i can't figure out what proxies can work for them.

I'm convinced they'll be great once turned into Pirates. Replace their boltstorm pistols with (or turn them into) flintlock pistols, give them proper heads (Farstrider should have a tricorn hat and a beard, give one an eyepatch, etc), add a peg leg/proper boots and a decent paint-job and they'll be great. Plus the captain already has a parrot.

Hopefuly, I can get my warband ready relatively quickly.

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11 minutes ago, Spinsane said:

I'm convinced they'll be great once turned into Pirates. Replace their boltstorm pistols with (or turn them into) flintlock pistols, give them proper heads (Farstrider should have a tricorn hat and a beard, give one an eyepatch, etc), add a peg leg/proper boots and a decent paint-job and they'll be great. Plus the captain already has a parrot.

Hopefuly, I can get my warband ready relatively quickly.

I was thinking about using the melusai as proxy for them, could be funand the models are lovely :)

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My impression is that you want to get in enemy territory on the first turn, possibly make some melee attacks or score some objectives while you're there, then run away while shooting after losing 0-1 models.

Being able to charge AWAY from enemies and still attack (which can push them away!) and then use ploys to further your distance... Seems good.

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So, this band seems to take the place of my traditional view of a shooty army like wood elves (sorry I don’t play aos so don’t know what they would be called these days).

if they do add elves later, how do you think they would differ from this lot? Weaker with more range? Would they put two long range bands in or just one per series?

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7 hours ago, Kaptain Murder said:

Thanks for posting. There is a release day tournament at my FLGS and I've decided that I need to give these guys a shot. Whats more... I need to Katophrane it.

The goal is to get as many easy to score 1pt objectives as possible, and then mill through to get the Katophrane armors. Im going with the Farstriders instead of the SCE for this because 1. its a casual release tourney and 2. pew pew! Its actually insanely hard to build a deck for these guys, so any input would be welcome AF.

Objectives     Ploys   Upgrades
Lightning Advance e1   Duel of wits   Katophrane
Swift Advance e1   Spoils of Battle   Katophrane
Punnishing Volleys e1   Ready for Action   Katophrane
Advancing Strike i1   Lightning Blow   Katophrane
Escalation e2   Trap   Katophrane
Precise use of force i1   Rangers advance   Katophrane
Ploymaster e1   Rapid Volley   Great strength
master of war e1   Earthquake   Great Fortitude
Alone in the darkness e1   Great Concussion   Cursed Artifact
Change of tactics i1   Time Trap   Incredible strength
Chosen Champ e1   Healing Potion   Helpful whispers
Flawless strategy e1   Warning cry   Lone Warrior

 

I think i would go on objectives:

  1. Supremacy
  2. Eternal Supremacy
  3. Our Only Way Out
  4. HO1
  5. HO2
  6. HO3
  7. HO4
  8. HO5
  9. HO6
  10. Alone In The Dark
  11. Escalation
  12. Brave But Cautious

May be drop the HO 1-5 to put some positioning or immediate objective: for example Skirting Danger is easy to score and goes well with Hidden Path and let you get inspered.

Imo those stormcast should be play defensively in a first place: first turn avoid combat, try to score Bloodless, HO/ Supremacy like card, Punishing Volleys, Skirting Danger and try to deny the agro band to score anything (heal potion against the bloodwarriors easay scored Shardgale related objectives); Upgraded your models (3 cleave upgrades... great). Then, strike as hard as you can.

Against aggro bands, getting too early in enemy territory is a trap in my eyes. Sprint,  Spectral Wings, Hidden Path (with  Mischievous Spirits  or Shifting Shards ) and Confusion can help to score the Supremacy like objective cards. But they have more combat related objective cards; you will give them early easy glory points. Starve them, draw more powercards, upgrade, strike them.

Like the first Stormcast band, this one seems imo great as with a flexible deck. 

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Their melee is sub-par and their range is all 1 damage. They just seem so weak. What is the point of range if I need to spend 3 activations to take a model out?
As far as I can see you can't increase their ranged damage except for one use ploys. Only one upgrade helps with range, and it's just chance to hit - which is amazing, but still only 1 damage. 

Is anybody seeing it? I want to like these, but the thing that makes them special just seem so weak... Hopefully I'll like them better once I see them in action.

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28 minutes ago, Goblin-King said:

Their melee is sub-par and their range is all 1 damage. They just seem so weak. What is the point of range if I need to spend 3 activations to take a model out?
As far as I can see you can't increase their ranged damage except for one use ploys. Only one upgrade helps with range, and it's just chance to hit - which is amazing, but still only 1 damage. 

Is anybody seeing it? I want to like these, but the thing that makes them special just seem so weak... Hopefully I'll like them better once I see them in action.

Well, i don't like them either. Range 3 on every fighter can be good to drive back enemies from objective without rushing to whole enemy band. And they have few really nice cards and a lot of upgrades that give cleave. But you will need a lot of boost to make them high damage faction. On other hand, they defend with 2 dieces on shield after inspiration, so thats pretty good (except against cleave). Sadly, thier inspiration condition will offen put them on risk, that they will die before they get inspiration.

We still don't know inspiration of one of thier fighter. Leader after inspiraton get 4 hex attack that on crit get +1 damage, and second fighter have 3 damage attack after inspiration. So its not bad. But i like more new Khorne's. :)

Edited by Reggi
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For the less unique warband (in a aesthetic way. I can build the 3 guys with a vanguard-hunter box, thing you can't do with most of the others warband), i really like how each fighter have unique exaltation bonus, very different upgrade cards (swiftblade is very melee focused, eagle-eye is a tank with good ranged dmg, the boss is the fastest, etc).

And i love the artwork on their card too. Most of the whole warband appear on it each time, and they really look like a band of brother that fight side by side

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I like them on first impressions - they seem quite flexible and able to respond to/take advantage of how the battle plays out (which is what I enjoy about Steelheart's band). As has been mentioned they can all access Cleave (2 of these being a decent 3 damage melee attack) and seem to be able to play a decent objectives game - with Eternal Supremacy you can  effectively treble down on supremacy cards for redundancy/big glory - as well as having good options to counter objectives play.

However the flip-side is they don't appear to be optimized for any one thing and do lack that raw hitting power.  I'm probably feeling them because I tend to torture myself by being drawn to the warbands that are more difficult/complex to get the most out of, because trying to work that out is what holds my attention.

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42 minutes ago, BigT said:

However the flip-side is they don't appear to be optimized for any one thing and do lack that raw hitting power.

This! They have a lot of little nice things, but those things don't seem to synergize much.
It seems impossible to go all-in with any particular strategy.

Mobility - they are only three and their ranged is weak. No upgrades to speak of.
Objectives - fast and ranged, but they are only 3 and need to cross the border to inspire.
Aggro - again only 3 and not exactly "excellent" attacks. 

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There is a +2 movement upgrade

I think you guys really undervalue how amazing it is to attack 3 tiles and then push another 1 - only Khorne and Skaven can counterattack after that, and you've got great reaction ploys to deal with them.

The guns only do 1 damage but with a 6 tile (!!) threat range you can control the board easily. Every one of your models will be attacking every turn, and they'll be doing it from a SAFE distance. It's a paradigm shift to end an attack outside of enemy charge range.

Edited by PJetski
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31 minutes ago, PJetski said:

There is a +2 movement upgrade 

I think you guys really undervalue how amazing it is to attack 3 tiles and then push another 1 - only Khorne and Skaven can counterattack after that, and you've got great reaction ploys to deal with them.

The guns only do 1 damage but with a 6 tile (!!) threat range you can control the board easily. Every one of your models will be attacking every turn, and they'll be doing it from a SAFE distance. It's a paradigm shift to end an attack outside of enemy charge range.

Actually, every fighter with move 3 can charge from that distance. 3 hexes range attack + 1 driven back is exacly the distance of 3 hex move + 1 hex distance attack (you attack enemy on next hex, not on that you stop moving, so move 3 have charge reach of 4), there are no attacks with 0 range. So its out of reach for unispired skellies and uninspared dwarfs. Ofc, its better for leader hex 4 attack, when reach have only skaven's, khorne berserkers and inspired magore's fiends. And when someone will charge you, with move 3 you will not run from him, even by charging away and driving him back.

If they all would have range 4 attacks, they would be a much more stronger, cuz those things you wrote :) Right now, only leader have range 4 and he need to inspire first, so he need go to enemy territory (or you need to play a ploy).

Edited by Reggi
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41 minutes ago, Reggi said:

Actually, every fighter with move 3 can charge from that distance. 3 hexes range attack + 1 driven back is exacly the distance of 3 hex move + 1 hex distance attack (you attack enemy on next hex, not on that you stop moving, so move 3 have charge reach of 4), there are no attacks with 0 range. So its out of reach for unispired skellies and uninspared dwarfs. Ofc, its better for leader hex 4 attack, when reach have only skaven's, khorne berserkers and inspired magore's fiends. And when someone will charge you, with move 3 you will not run from him, even by charging away and driving him back.

If they all would have range 4 attacks, they would be a much more stronger, cuz those things you wrote :) Right now, only leader have range 4 and he need to inspire first, so he need go to enemy territory (or you need to play a ploy).

Oh, right. Not sure why I was thinking otherwise ... I clearly didn't math good there.

Are there any easy ways to gain Knockback?

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2 minutes ago, PJetski said:

Oh, right. Not sure why I was thinking otherwise ... I clearly didn't math good there.

Are there any easy ways to gain Knockback?

There is only War Cry for them. Universal upgrade, that give knockback 1 to attack if this fighter charged this turn.

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Well, attacking at range like they do is awesome to disrupt objective holders, but considering how everyone thinks the objective game is dead, I'm not sure how usefull the ability will be perceived.

While they might have a harder time scoring points, all they need is to score more than their opponent...

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3 hours ago, PJetski said:

There is a +2 movement upgrade

I think you guys really undervalue how amazing it is to attack 3 tiles and then push another 1 - only Khorne and Skaven can counterattack after that, and you've got great reaction ploys to deal with them.

The guns only do 1 damage but with a 6 tile (!!) threat range you can control the board easily. Every one of your models will be attacking every turn, and they'll be doing it from a SAFE distance. It's a paradigm shift to end an attack outside of enemy charge range.

I second you. It also mean they can snipe out objective holder like skellies, skavens or khorne bloodreavers even if they are "protected" by their friends

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