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MrCharisma

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Freeguild Guard with sword and shield are excellent for holding objectives. 4+ save re-rolling 1's, 80 points for 10, fill a battleline slot, and with the Order GA abilities and a Freeguild General, you're pretty much never failing battleshock. Their biggest down-side is that they only move 5". 

For those further away objectives, Free People have a lot of good cavalry options. Demigryphs I think are sold picks for getting across the board and holding it down - one unit is 200 points, 12 wounds with a 4+ save, rerolling 1s. You've got plenty of ways to boost saves and even heal wounds, which works great on the Gryphs. 

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On 9/27/2016 at 8:46 AM, Hugh Halligan said:

If you got the 5-6 result on his command ability it could make a unit of crossbow men explode! For example if you have a unit of 30 crossbow men, their ability allows them to double their shots to 60. Then add Marius shoot twice command ability, then they are shooting 120 shots! Then if you add a hurricanum, and the detachment battalion you are hitting on +2 and you could even throw in a beast battle Mage so you are wounding on +3 and rending on +5.

Has anyone else used this combo before and if so how successful was it?

Wildform only works in the combat phase so you wouldn't be able to buff them with it. The only way to buff the wound roll is to give them hold the line but then you can't use Marius ability. 

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22 hours ago, Paul Conti said:

For those further away objectives, Free People have a lot of good cavalry options. Demigryphs I think are sold picks for getting across the board and holding it down - one unit is 200 points, 12 wounds with a 4+ save, rerolling 1s. You've got plenty of ways to boost saves and even heal wounds, which works great on the Gryphs. 

Give them Wildform and you are doing D3 on 5's.  If you can pull it off (eg the unit is already in combat) add hold the line and now they are doing D3 on 4's. I still think Demigryphs are over costed especially when you look out some other armies cav or elite unit's around that 200 point mark.

 

If you are just looking for fast moving units then i would go with knights, or even outriders with there 12 inch move and the ability to run and shoot and charge all in the same turn.  Or even branch outside of freepeople. 

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Hi Everyone!

First time posting, I'm just getting back into the hobby after about a 7-8 year hiatus and so am trying to wrap my head around everything. I'm keen to start a Free Guild army with some Ironweld cannons in the background. I would have loved to create a list with the Free Guild Regiment upgrade, but I just found it too limiting with what I wanted. 

A few basic notes

- Guard units have 10 swords, 10 spears and 10 militia weapons each (with the swords in front to take armour saves, spears with the reach to add attacks and militia to shoot around and absorb wounds).

- I'm not sold on the Demigryph knights. I feel they paint too much of a target on themselves for only 3 models, open to other suggestions? I'm tempted to get 20 more guard armed with Halberds with the points.

- The 2000 Point variant would just remove the Hurricanem and the Gryph knights.

- Basic tactics are:

   - Guard units to be the mainstay, supported by the general and the Hurricanem to give them a nice and easy 2+ hit, 2+ wound

    - While enemy units are tied up with the guard, the handgunners flank from the sides and shoot into the combat (because you can...).

   - Pistoliers are to support the main body/protect handgunners/take objectives, they were chosen over outriders for increased wound chance in melee

   - Cannons line up with an objective and try to create a no-mans/ladies land with them, Gunmaster hangs back and helps them aim properly.

2500  
1 Freeguild General 100
1 Gunmaster 80
3 Demigryph Knights 200
30 Guard 240
30 Guard 240
20 Handgunners 200
20 Handgunners 200
10 Pistoliers 280
10 Pistoliers 280
2 Cannons 360
Celestial Hurricanem 320
   
  2500
   

 

Thanks in advance.

Draffin

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There are a couple of things I would like to point out. I think the size of each unit is excellent but you are only allowed one weapon for the whole unit be that swords, halbers, spears, or militia weapons. I understand what you are trying to do but there are some added downfalls. First being, the militia line would not be able to shoot through the first two lines to engage in combat. They could potentially be blocked by line of sight. The second is in regards to combining the sword and spear units. The only time this would make sense would be if you were positioned on an objective and waiting to be charged. Moving two units around as one can be messy in the movement phase and bite you in the charge phase. The reason I say this is because you would have to charge each unit individually and there is a chance the second charge may fail due to a dice roll or because you were not able to finish your charge with in 1/2" of the target model. 

I would also break up the Pistoliers into units of 5. There is no added benefit to having them in larger groups. They shoot in the shooting phase and also get to shoot again in melee along with being able to use their Sabres. Having 4 units of these running around claiming objectives and harassing your opponent can be useful. The only problem is you need to lower their to Hit. +5 to Hit is not good. I would keep the Hurricanum. It can keep up with your Pistoliers and would give them +4 to Hit with pistols and +3 to Hit with Sabres not to mention the range attacks that come along with the Hurricanum. 

Here is how I think I would deploy.  

One Flank- Demigryph Knights Gunsmith and Cannons x2 

Center- x30 Guard [Sword and Shield] x30 Handgunners x30 Guard [Sword and Shield]  add General and Battlemage for Wild Form +1 to Wound and Mystic Shield + to Save (10 Handgunners add Battlemage)

Other Flank- Hurricanum and 4 units Pistoliers 

Plan: Wreck Face with Cannons protected by Demigryph Knights, engage and hold enemy units with Guard, blast held enemy units with Cannons and Handgunners (Keep Handgunners with in 3" of each guard unit. If either Guard unit is charged you can Counter shoot enemy unit)  , claim objective and hunt characters with Pistoliers and Hurricanum

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@Silverjelly - Ahh you're absolutely correct re: you can only have one type of weapon per unit. I completely misread it, so thank you for pointing it out. Overall I like your battle plan (though I'm also inclined to agree with Beasts of Nurgle about the Gryph Knights being put to better use).

I decided to try and shrink the list down to 2000 points seeing as that's what would probably be a commonly played game and I ended up with this.

1 Freeguild General 100
1 Gunmaster 80
30 Swordsmen 250
30 Swordsmen 250
20 Handgunners 160
5 Pistoliers 140
5 Pistoliers 140
3 Gryph Knights 200
Celestial Hurricanum 320
2 Cannons 360
   
  2000
   

 

It seems like a pretty stock standard army, i'm not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing yet.

It would be possible as an alternative to remove the Gryph Knights to bulk up the Handgunners again and add another unit of 10 Halberdiers to play dedicated cannon guarding. Alternatively I can cash them in for another unit of 5 Pistoliers (I feel 10 may not be enough?) and a witch hunter.

Thoughts?

 

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@Draffin - You and Beast of Nurgle are right about Demigryph Knight they probably need a more forward role than protecting cannons. My thought was protecting the cannons through aggression. The cannons softening anything they target and the Demigryph Knights wiping out the rest. 

 I understand what you mean by your army feeling very standard. It doenst seem like anything special but once you breakdown all the buffs your units are getting we can potentially be hitting on 2s and 3s. 

My list is very similar to yours. Here is what I am currently running.

Freeguild General 100
State Troop Detach 120
30 Swordsmen 240
30 Swordsmen 240
20 Handgunners 200
3 Gryph Knights 200
Helblaster VolleyGun 120
10 Greatswords 160
Celestial Hurricanum 320
Steam Tank 300
   
  2000
   

You have three items that buff the whole army if within range. General, Detachment, and Hurricanum. The infantry units buff themselves because of numbers. There is also a good mixture of ranged and mobile units giving you great flexability in most situations. 

 

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Here's a 1k list ive been pondering on :


Freeguild General 100
 - sigmarite weapon, shield, stately war banner


Helstorm Rocket Battery 180


Helstorm Rocket Battery 180


30 Freeguild Guard 240
 - shield and sword


10 Freeguild Archers 100


3 Demigryph Knights 200
 - lance and sword

 

1000

 

Pretty self explanatory, using the buff from the general to make the rockets a bit more reliable. I considered dropping the knights and archers and some guard to squeeze in a hurricanum but I think that may be a bit too gunliney.

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So i have a 1,000 point game tonight and wanted to do something a little different. This is what i came up with:

 

Grand Master, General, with Reckless - 100

Hurricanum - 320

Reiksguard knights x 10 - 280

Guard x 10 - 80

Guard x 10 - 80

Outriders x 5 - 140

Total 1,000 points. 

Wounds = 66 if anyone cares. 

 

I know i haven't listed an  Artefact. i'm not sure about the outriders i had 140 points left over so thought i would give them a run. I could drop them out for another unit of knights. The basic idea is the knights make a quick charge, Grand Master lets them run and charge, Reckless lets them re-roll both. Guard sit on objectives or slow units down. Hurricanum for magic, buffs and to pick off heroes. 

 

Any feedback or red flags here. 

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Here's a 1k list ive been pondering on :

Freeguild General 100
 - sigmarite weapon, shield, stately war banner

Helstorm Rocket Battery 180

Helstorm Rocket Battery 180

30 Freeguild Guard 240
 - shield and sword

10 Freeguild Archers 100

3 Demigryph Knights 200
 - lance and sword
 
1000
 
Pretty self explanatory, using the buff from the general to make the rockets a bit more reliable. I considered dropping the knights and archers and some guard to squeeze in a hurricanum but I think that may be a bit too gunliney.

Not sure you can use the generals command ability on the rocket launcher as it does not have the free people key word.


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On 2016-09-04 at 7:56 PM, jobume said:

My current list is this:

1x King Louen Leoncouer

1x Freeguild General

1x Gunmaster

1x Celestial Hurricanum

16x Knights of the Realm

20x Handgunners

10x Archers

2x Cannons

I've only tried it once, and it was a loss, but I will run with it again soon and hopefully do better.

So, I took this list to a tournament this weekend. It performed much better than I had expected. The tournament used a 20-0 scoring system which gave 15 battle points for a major scenario victory and another possible 5 battle points from killed warscrolls. I started by losing 2-18 to Sylvaneth in Take and Hold. I then won 16-4 against Stormcast Eternals in Border war. In the third game I faced Fyreslayers in Blood and Glory and managed a big 20-0.  Round 4 was against Khorne bloodbound and it was a 17-3 victory in Gift from the Heavens. The final round  was against Pestilens and it was a 19-1 victory in Three places of power. So I managed to scrape together 74/100 victory points which took me to fourth place (missing the podium on tiebreakers) out of 36 players. The Sylvaneth list that I lost against took the win on 78 points. The lists shooting was really strong and was a big deciding factor in many of the games. I only managed to charge once with the knights, and most of the time they only acted as a meat shield for the shooting. The King seems a little bit too expensive for what he does. He really did not perform in combat, but his 14" fly move was vital in chasing down objectives in many of the games. I was pleased to see that with a little bit of luck, and the right matchups the Free People can still perform.

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On 9/27/2016 at 7:06 PM, Draffin said:

Hi Everyone!

First time posting, I'm just getting back into the hobby after about a 7-8 year hiatus and so am trying to wrap my head around everything. I'm keen to start a Free Guild army with some Ironweld cannons in the background. I would have loved to create a list with the Free Guild Regiment upgrade, but I just found it too limiting with what I wanted. 

A few basic notes

- Guard units have 10 swords, 10 spears and 10 militia weapons each (with the swords in front to take armour saves, spears with the reach to add attacks and militia to shoot around and absorb wounds).

- I'm not sold on the Demigryph knights. I feel they paint too much of a target on themselves for only 3 models, open to other suggestions? I'm tempted to get 20 more guard armed with Halberds with the points.

- The 2000 Point variant would just remove the Hurricanem and the Gryph knights.

- Basic tactics are:

   - Guard units to be the mainstay, supported by the general and the Hurricanem to give them a nice and easy 2+ hit, 2+ wound

    - While enemy units are tied up with the guard, the handgunners flank from the sides and shoot into the combat (because you can...).

   - Pistoliers are to support the main body/protect handgunners/take objectives, they were chosen over outriders for increased wound chance in melee

   - Cannons line up with an objective and try to create a no-mans/ladies land with them, Gunmaster hangs back and helps them aim properly.

2500  
1 Freeguild General 100
1 Gunmaster 80
3 Demigryph Knights 200
30 Guard 240
30 Guard 240
20 Handgunners 200
20 Handgunners 200
10 Pistoliers 280
10 Pistoliers 280
2 Cannons 360
Celestial Hurricanem 320
   
  2500
   

 

Thanks in advance.

Draffin

If you're already set up like that, why not make some tweaks and take the battalion? 3 groups of 20 guard, swap one unit of pisoliers for outriders, and squeeze in one more shooting unit - maybe break up one of the units of handgunners?

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1 hour ago, Draffin said:

So I'm trying to squeeze out a 2k point list. Think it's feasible to get the battalion with that as a cap? Does leave much wiggle room.

You can, but it's a challenge. Brotherhood of Knights is probably your best bet. Otherwise you have to take the massive Freeguild battalion which is basically your whole army, all for a +1 to hit buff and some additional BS reaistance. You end up in a bad spot because the battalion has 1 hero, so you need to squeeze in more. Your Demigryphs are your only unit that can really secure objectives across the board (outriders and pistoliers will just die). Its a tough list to run

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I'm prepaing for an upcoming Australian AoS tournment in January and I tested the following 2,000pt list;

Type Points Models
Freeguild General 100 1
Wizard (Jade) 100 1
     
Freeguild Guard (Sword) 240 30
Freeguild Guard (Spear) 160 20
Freeguild Crossbowmen 200 20
     
Demigryphs 400 6
     
Celestial Hurricanum 320 1
Carmine Dragon 480 1

Overall it performed exceptional well against a Chaos Warriors / Tzeentch army. It's the first time I've used a list like this and attempted a new style after many hours of watching Warlords.

Things That Worked;

  • Creating a single file gun line across 33-50% of the board. It meant I had a good selection of units to fire at, while my opponent was intimidated and moved more of his units to the wings of the board and kept spell casters such as Kyros out of range
  • Taking Guard with Spears. I always take lots of Swords & Shields but the 2" range was fantastic. The gun line would eventually be charged and the large unit of spears meant I would get multiple attacks in the same combat
  • Hold The Line and Hurricanum buffs worked a treat with the Handgunner & Guard with Spear combat mentioned above. We were able to hold up a Chaos Spawn, a Lord on a Manticore and their troops without being obliterated
  • Taking a Jade wizard with Life Surge saved my General from being torn apart from the Manticore, which would have meant my troops lost their Hold the Line buffs and benefits to Bravery
  • Counter-Attack, I kept my Swords and Spears just outside of the 3" range from the Handgunners. With them behind charged I would be able to rush my Spearmen behind them and provide additional attacks (as mentioned above). First time I've remembered about the Counter Charge rule and had units who could benefit

What Didn't Work;

  • Carmine Dragon was TERRIBLE due to my poor dice rolling. I was too eager to get it into combat and the Chaos Wizard being near an Arcane scenery worried me. The Dragon did tear it down but would eventually die a quick death after rolling too many 1's and 2's in both attack and defence
  • Taking handgunners over crossbowmen probably wasn't my smartest move. The reduced range hurt and I missed the double shots from 20+ crossbowmen provide. I think I'll go back to crossbows
  • Demigryphs were ok. They held down the flank well but didn't deal out the amount of damage that I would have expected

What I'm Thinking About Next;

  • Reducing the amount of Demigryphs from 6 to 3, and re-investing my points elsewhere
  • Swapping out handgunners to crossbowmen
  • Using my spare 200 points for The Empire State Troop batallion and another 10 Spearmen

 

What are your thoughts on my list? What would you change and why?

 

14695602_10155372755304148_5132572990069816777_n.jpg

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@MrCharisma I think your list looks cool. The handgunners have worked surprisingly well for me. In many games, my opponent would close in really quickly on my lines, so the limited range was not a huge factor, and the rend and increased to-wound was really useful. I guess it depends what kind of opponents you are up against. The state troop battalion seems nice, but is it really worth it? I've found that I'm usually hitting on 2's without the buff from the battalion, due to 'Hold the line' and 'Hurricanum'. The dragon looks cool, and I think many people will put a huge target on it, allowing your shooting to do their work. Don't make too many changes based on one game. If you have the opportunity, play with the same list in all scenarios before making any changes.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 18/10/2016 at 7:19 PM, jobume said:

@MrCharisma I think your list looks cool. The handgunners have worked surprisingly well for me.

I used the Crossbowmen over the Handgunners today and it worked much better against Death & Skaven (I played 2 on 2) with the double shot when the unit doesn't move and has 20 models.  

I'm considering finding space for a unit of 30 crossbowmen somehow in this list and I protect me against taking wounds and losing the benefit. 

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Generals: do you use "counter charge" and what's the key benefit to you over being sucked into combat when being within 3"?

I'd love to build it into my upcoming tournament strategy but i've found out that I'm either not using it correctly or it's more beneficial to strategically position supporting units within 3" of my first line of defence. 

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I ran the following 2000pt list on the weekend and it went incredibly well. It was a 2 (Freeguild & Syvaneth) on 2 (Death & Skaven) battle using Gift from the Heavens. We lost on points, however; I completely destroyed the Skaven and my ally just couldn't keep the gifts uncontested.

Type Points Models
Freeguild General 100 1
Wizard (Jade) 100 1
Freeguild Guard (Sword) 240 30
Freeguild Guard (Spear) 160 20
Freeguild Crossbowmen 200 20
Demigryphs 400 6
Celestial Hurricanum 320 1
Carmine Dragon 480 1

I've been playing with formations and the counter-charge rule, with a line of crossbowmen with a supporting line of spearmen 3" behind the line. I was able to apply the counter-charge rule and benefited by having 2 on 1 combat. Upon reflection, I can do the same thing with a line of swords then spears.... since there is no line of sight issue that was in WHFB. New formation attached below.

I've included two more photos from the battle. My favourite is my Spearmen Sergent looking over at the charging Monghoul (which I whooped with one round of Hurricanum focused Storm of Shemtek).

 

 

formation.jpg

IMG_6531.JPG

IMG_6535.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/12/2016 at 1:26 AM, Paul Conti said:

You can, but it's a challenge. Brotherhood of Knights is probably your best bet. Otherwise you have to take the massive Freeguild battalion which is basically your whole army, all for a +1 to hit buff and some additional BS reaistance. You end up in a bad spot because the battalion has 1 hero, so you need to squeeze in more. Your Demigryphs are your only unit that can really secure objectives across the board (outriders and pistoliers will just die). Its a tough list to run

 

What up nerd!

Seriously, have you used the Free Guild Battalion? I'd love to use a battalion and get jealous with the newer armies running with them, however; I can't justify it. I find 'Hold the Line' and the Hurricanum provide the same benefits without having to take a ton of units.

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