Let's Chat: Chosen Axes

[Changer]

So my lunchtime game finished in a 7-7 draw.  I would have finished 10-7 up but my opponent played a last minute distraction to push Tefk into no mans land.  Turned out I was one power card away from a sidestep, which is a shame.

Anyway, lets see what happens tonight.  I felt a little better about my new deck today, but I think that's more the fact I was able to draw ploys rather than just upgrades for my first hand.  I'll report back with my deck and the results after the casual event tonight - I know I'll be up against more than just Orruks, which will make a nice change. 

[Sleboda]

Thanks for the input!

I'vechanged the deck a ton since I posted that. Heroslayer and Not Moved, for example, are out.

Shardfall is 100% of the time always in my deck. It has been very useful in all warbands for movement control and fighter protection. 

Stare is also still in and had saved fighters several times.

Several of the cards you mentioned have also been added. I'll post my next deck version when I play again.

[Biboune]

As a friend of mine want to try the Chosen Axes, I have gave more thought about my deck:

With Treasure Lust and Tantalizing Price (I forgot to put it in the ploys list in my last post: one of the best card...) you can get in charge range very easily. The idea is to put an objective in enemy territory close to your territory and adjacent to a starting hex in enemy territory or to place one objective as a "jump beacon". Shifting Shards can help to move the beacon. May be Side Step should be drop to put Distraction, in case enemy model move on the objective.

According to this idea those objective cards should be considered: Ferocious Charge, Scion of Grimnir , No Remorse, Precise Use Of Force.

As you place your models after seen your cards, you can chose to target a 2 or a 3 wound model whit Fjul or Tefk/ Vol in order to deal the right amount of damages.

May be Fueled bu Fury can help to secure the kill, there is already Oathsworn but why not?

The improved mobility also help to score Swift Advance and Unstoppable Advance.

I think there will be a least 1 enemy model eligible for a charge: with luck, you can hope to score 1, 2 or 3 glory points before the end of the round.

Anyway this is Plan A, your opponent will feel less comfortable if it can be achieved, Plan B is still to inspired some of you fighter while entering enemy territory.

I'll try this deck next week; I'll tell you how it goes.

 

[Sleboda]

I just got two more games in vs. Skaven.  I was sure I was going to lose both, but my Objective Cards saved me in both games.

I won the first 7-6 and the second 9-6.

She killed Fjul rather easily in both games despite him having +1 Defense.  I also never inspired any fighters in either game.

Hungering Skaven is no joke.  Consider him an additional second in command (but he comes back to life with all his stuff).

 

My deck:

Objectives

Escalation, Fury of the Lodge, Ferocious Charge, Flawless Strategy, Alone in the Darkness, Bloodless, Crushing Force, Scion of Grimnir, No Remorse, Master of War, Unstoppable Advance

Ploys

The Earth Shakes, Distraction, Living Wall, Treasure-Lust, Sidestep, Oathsworn, Shardfall, Piercing Stare, Earthquake

Upgrades

Grimnir's Blessing (included by mistake - dropping), Grimnir's Fortitude, Grimnir's Speed, Activated Runes, Helpful Whispers, Sprinter, Light-Footed, Great Speed, Awakened Weapon, Shadestep

 

Both games were played with long edges touching about half way along. First game she risked her Leader and I killed it in the first Activation on Turn 2, but Hungering with Heroslayer then killed 3 of my guys to make it close.

In game two Hungering was upgraded, hitting all adjacent and killing two more (3 damage each).  I won by having just the right Objective cards at just the right time.

[Changer]

So I got three single games in last night. Here was the deck I used.

Mighty Swing

Treasure-Lust

The Earth Shakes

Earthquake

Ready For Action

Sidestep

Duel of Wits

Piercing Stare

Oathsworn

Ur-Gold Boon

Indomitable

 

Awakened Weapon

Great Fortitude

Activated Runes

Great Strength

Grimnir’s Speed

Headlong Charge

Shadeglass Axe

Grimnir’s Fortitude

Defiant Strike

Light Armour

Soultrap

 

Swift Advance

Unstoppable Advance

Conquest

No Remorse

Precise Use Of Force

Scion Of Grimnir

Master Of War

Plant A Standard

Ploymaster

Escalation 

Superior Tactician

Ferocious Charge

My first game was against Skaven. He placed the boards connected against the short edge, so I put one objective in his territory, and the other two close to my slayers. His first turn he spent putting ploys on his rats and moving to the back of the board. I took 3 objectives, and scored Plant A Standard as Fjul was on the objective in his territory. I the night gave Fjul Headlong Charge.

In the second round I won the roll and opted for him to go first. After which I played Mighty Swing. Fjul was 4 hexes away from Hungering Skaven and Krrk. Fjul charged in and killed Krrk (double dodge means nothing when you roll double crit to hit!!), and immediately scored Ferocious Charge. I then pulled No Remorse before swinging against Hungering Skaven; then scored it when I also killed him. 4 glory in 1 big swing!! He managed to kill Tefk, and then ran away and brought back a rat. The game ended 13-4.

My second game was against Orruks. He was very new to the game, and made a lot of tactical errors. He fell back and went on guard instead of attacking (which I advised he should), and an Inspired Fjul killed both Basher and Bonecutter with a Mighty Swing. I annihilated him when Tefk (with Great Strength) struck Gurzag back with Defiant Strike to take the last two wounds off. The rest of the game consisted in me fishing for my objectives, and I won 14-1.

My final opponent was Orruks again. I made a tactical mistake here by not pushing Gurzag back after hitting him with Fjul, and he punished me by hitting and then playing Having A Good Time to kill Fjul in giant first activation. I finished the first round by playing Earthquake to move both Tefk and Maegrim onto objectives. Tefk with killed in round 2, but a lot later than my opponent wanted as I used Piercing Stare on an inspired Bonecutter with Awakened Weapon, and then Indomitable a few activations later to ensure he survived again. I finished round 2 with a Sidestep + Charge to get Vol inspired.

In the final round, Vol failed to kill Bonecutter, even with Oathsworn, but then Bonecutter also failed to kill Vol back. I used Treasure Lust to get Maegrim in charge range, and he finished off Hakka with 2 rerolls (gets one for being inspired + Awakened Weapon). My was worried I’d have Ready For Action for Vol so used Distraction to push me away. I then pulled a power card and got Ready For Action! I equipped Vol with the Shadeglass Axe, which suprised my opponent as he threw it in Bonecutters direction! Unfortunately it missed, but it was as worth it just to see my opponents face when it happened. By this point I’d gone through all my objectives, and had Conquest, Swift Advance, and Unstoppable Advance in my hand, which allowed me to win the game 10-4.

So, 3 wins with decent glory for the Fyreslayers. As you can see, the deck really has a single plan; get into the opponents territory. I think it works. I’m interested to play this deck against different warbands, and I’m actually pretty happy with how it should play. I think the issues I’ve had during the week against my regular opponent come down to him exclusively playing Orruks since they we’re released: he knows the deck inside out, and it’s going to be a struggle to consistently win against him.

One thing that definitely helped last night wasn’t the fact I managed to get every surviving member of the warband Inspired. The extra movement and damage they can do when inspired helps tip the balance.

[Sleboda]

Thanks for sharing.

Yourplan of getting into the enemy's territory and getting inspired is my plan as well, it's just that my opponents know this and do all the really easy little things to stop it.

You played well and should be commended. Your opponents also played incredibly poorly. Give them rematches and see if they've learned anything. ☺️

[Kaptain Murder]

13 hours ago, Changer said:

So I got three single games in last night.

Hey Changer,

Happy to see you gave the slayers another chance and that you had some success with them. We have a couple differening strageys in how we are doing, but I think we are both getting good results after some practice. Could I ask a favor of you (and any of my fellow Brosen Axes) reading:::

 

Keep track of your Round one glory and inspire.

 

Here's why: Ful-Hannibal is the quintessential A-Team leader, and in order to make this plan come together, I think we both agree that we need him to inspire/upgrade up and start chopping as soon as possible. The question then becomes-what is the best way to accomplish this? 

I'm going to keep going with Hold objective 1-5 in my deck, as I think that is the best way to get a couple easy early glory, since we can't depend on our opponents willing to take an axe to the face. I'll let you know how I do after some more games but I think that round one is the key and would appreciate your insights. 

 

Cheers Bro!

[Changer]

Of course! My main strategy is to try for earthquake in round 1, and push Fjul onto the objective just inside enemy territory that I’ve put down. 

Against the Orruks on Friday I wasn’t quite happy with the flexibility any of the Fyreslayers gave me whenever inspired. That, plus the ploys I was able to pull allowed Tefk to survive longer than he should have and Maegrim kill off an Orruk. Every little helps etc etc...

[lare2]

Been playing casually since release but planning to play more in the future and I'm aiming to focus on the Chosen Axes as they look awesome and are completely different to what I play in AoS and 40k. 

My question is simple really, are they any good? Is there anything I should be aware of or focus on? 

I've only been playing Steelheart's crew before now so any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers in advance.  

[Spinsane]

@lare2

The Chosen Axe are a difficult warband to play, probably the hardest one in a competitive setting.

They are slow and predictable, and they're the warband that's most easily disrupted: they are the models who rely the most on inspiring and yet are the ones which can most easily be prevented from doing so...I'd suggest getting as many push ploys as possible, and/or cards that could prevent your opponent from pushing your guys off: No Time and Forceful Denial.

Ideally, especially if you have NoTime on hand, you want to play second, especially on the first turn; many opponents will wait after the last activation to push fighters off of objectives so you can't move them back on; if you were last to move, you can then play NoTime before they get to do so, saving you a lot of trouble.

One thing I'd suggest avoiding is an #alleggsinonebasket approach: it's easy to load up Fjul-Grimnir with all your upgrades, but a single bad roll or unexpected ploy can easily leave him out of the game for good...

[Mikeymajq]

Am I the only one who feels Vol Orrukbane is a bit of a let down? I find myself preferring Tefk over him by a long shot. I expected a lot more from a guy with a 2handed axe and the nickname Orrukbane, but as it is he's almost the worst att baneing orruks xDD

 

then again I've never been that fond of knockback, I almost prefer inspired mad maegrim over inspired Vol, three dice with a reroll (or two with activated runes) or the throwing axe makes maegrim a pretty cool guy whilst Vol just feels.... dull? I've done his whirlwind attack a few times and it just doesn't do that much, even against tiny skavens or petitioners

Edited March 19, 2018 by Mikeymajq

[lare2]

27 minutes ago, Spinsane said:

@lare2

The Chosen Axe are a difficult warband to play, probably the hardest one in a competitive setting.

They are slow and predictable, and they're the warband that's most easily disrupted: they are the models who rely the most on inspiring and yet are the ones which can most easily be prevented from doing so...I'd suggest getting as many push ploys as possible, and/or cards that could prevent your opponent from pushing your guys off: No Time and Forceful Denial.

Ideally, especially if you have NoTime on hand, you want to play second, especially on the first turn; many opponents will wait after the last activation to push fighters off of objectives so you can't move them back on; if you were last to move, you can then play NoTime before they get to do so, saving you a lot of trouble.

One thing I'd suggest avoiding is an #alleggsinonebasket approach: it's easy to load up Fjul-Grimnir with all your upgrades, but a single bad roll or unexpected ploy can easily leave him out of the game for good...

Thanks for the detailed advice. I'm stuck at work so looking forward to sitting down and reading through in detail. From a quick glance though, it looks like they're a tough warband to master. This is kinda what I'm after... have never been a fan of the easy wins!  

[Sleboda]

Don't worry about the easy wins with these guys. @Spinsane is right. These guys rely on inspiring and your opponents will be able to stop it from happening with laughable ease.

You'll play many games where you don't get inspired at all. 

I don't agree that you should avoid loading up Fjul. So far for me, that's been the only approach that produces what might pass as reasonably close to sort of a good chance to win games with enough glory to matter in games using tournament rules.

You'll win a moderate number of games other ways, but usually something like 6-4 or 7-6.

[Hesa_First]

1 hour ago, Spinsane said:

@lare2

The Chosen Axe are a difficult warband to play, probably the hardest one in a competitive setting.

They are slow and predictable, and they're the warband that's most easily disrupted: they are the models who rely the most on inspiring and yet are the ones which can most easily be prevented from doing so...I'd suggest getting as many push ploys as possible, and/or cards that could prevent your opponent from pushing your guys off: No Time and Forceful Denial.

Ideally, especially if you have NoTime on hand, you want to play second, especially on the first turn; many opponents will wait after the last activation to push fighters off of objectives so you can't move them back on; if you were last to move, you can then play NoTime before they get to do so, saving you a lot of trouble.

One thing I'd suggest avoiding is an #alleggsinonebasket approach: it's easy to load up Fjul-Grimnir with all your upgrades, but a single bad roll or unexpected ploy can easily leave him out of the game for good...

This sums it up perfectly.

It is extremely important how You place objective tokens. Against defensive warbands You might find yourself in a bad spot when doing it wrongly. When You spend turn one securing objectives and need a whole turn two to approach Your opponent, the third turn might just not include enough fighting to score precious glory.

On the other hand, when placing tokens aggressively, turn one charges might take Your (still weak) fighters out of action. And this can snowball hard.

This of course comes in addition to general positioning, deckbuilding, card knowledge and whatnot. So expect al lot of losses against Your friends in the beginning, as You will need more practice and a rougher trial and error approach than them. When You are fine with this, go for drawfs!

[wardrock]

Hi, im a painter, and i had buy this warband for painting contest, but i want to play them at turnament in 2 weeks, have you some help for me with this warband, what to train? how to start? wich deck is good ? if you have some advice i listen you^^ Sorry for my english im french. And thanks for answer

[lare2]

Thanks for all the pointers guys. From what your all saying, playing the axes can be a challenging experience and is heavily dependent on inspiring your fighters. 

I haven't looked into their deck (sure I could find them online but want it to be a treat when I pick them up tomorrow!) but with the play-styles you've mentioned, would I be looking at objectives which are reliant on securing objective tokens and killing the opposition?  

@Hesa_First - although you warned against it, I really like the idea of aggressive placement. Suppose I'll see how it goes! 

[Biboune]

5 hours ago, lare2 said:

Thanks for all the pointers guys. From what your all saying, playing the axes can be a challenging experience and is heavily dependent on inspiring your fighters. 

I haven't looked into their deck (sure I could find them online but want it to be a treat when I pick them up tomorrow!) but with the play-styles you've mentioned, would I be looking at objectives which are reliant on securing objective tokens and killing the opposition?  

@Hesa_First - although you warned against it, I really like the idea of aggressive placement. Suppose I'll see how it goes! 

Hi, for the moment i did not play the deck I made for them a lot but i would like to point some things:

Sleboda must have been traumatized but a enemy deck with a lot of push ploys and a band with a lot of movement because. I mean, the Chosen Axes have more push ploys than other bands. If you take every universal and specific push ploys you should have 1 or 2 more than your opponent. It also means that you can try to score Alone in the Dark, Bloodless or even Perfect Planning or Unbroken Wall (hello Living Wall) . Against a high movement band, you are going to be in trouble, Reavers can reach and kill some of you models round 1 for example (but it looks like few people play them in competitive play in UK?).

Against slow movement band without specific push ploys like Orruks... you should do well and they are played a lot in competitive play.

Their is good specific defensive cards like Indomitable or Piecing Look, you have one ploy to re roll a failed attack.

The Chosen Axes have good objective cards: Immediate scoring ones for killing someone after a charge, for killing someone with your leader, a better Conquest.

 

So in my opinion Chosen Axes are not so predictable: you can score glory points with objectives, you are rewarded for fighting with specific objective cards, you are also rewarded for positioning. For example,  Orruks are predictable because their specific cards only reward fighting. The goal is to score glory point: you are push from objectives? try to score Alone in the Dark. Someone push you from a objective by attacking you? Try to score Ferocious Charge or Scion of Griminr striking back. Playing against a defensive band?  Unstoppable Advance.

[wardrock]

hi, what you think about grand clash deck with 24 ploys?

[Killax]

3 minutes ago, wardrock said:

hi, what you think about grand clash deck with 24 ploys?

If you have a clear purpose for the 24 Upgrades that also need to be there then why not.

[wardrock]

i dont know, its a grand clash deck list from warhammer website , i dont know if its good deck for this hard warband because i will play them in turnament in 1 week and i search some help for build my deck^^

[Reggi]

1 hour ago, wardrock said:

hi, what you think about grand clash deck with 24 ploys?

You need to be careful with wording. You wrote 24 ploys, so  @Killax answered that you need to have  at least 24 upgrades aswell. What you meant, that there is  "24 POWER cards in deck" (12 PLOYS and 12 upgrades) or "deck with 12 ploys". Deck that have 24 ploys in it, would have at least 48 cards (cuz you need to have at least that same amount of upgrades in it as ploys). I really doubt that in Grand Clash someone played with that many cards in power deck. So, if someone will not guess that you meant 24 cards in power deck, he would not know about what deck you talking about.

Word "Ploys" only mean cards with that sword in left corner.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Reggi

[lare2]

My FLGS was closed and GW didn't have any in stock... what an anticlimax! Will have to wait until the weekend to pick up my Chosen Axes!

[Sleboda]

22 hours ago, Biboune said:

Sleboda must have been traumatized but a enemy deck with a lot of push ploys and a band with a lot of movement because. I mean, the Chosen Axes have more push ploys than other bands. If you take every universal and specific push ploys you should have 1 or 2 more than your opponent.

The difficulty is in the number of things that must go right for you vs. the number of things the opponent needs.

You must end up with sufficient pushes to counter what the opponent has, and if he has earthquake and you don't in a given hand, or if he has the last play, you will end up uninspired.

If he has multiple ways to fight you and/or had knock back, he need only tie you in a fight to bump you.

Shardfall and other cards can prevent even the possibility of claiming an objective.

Placing his 2 or 3 objectives out of reach means you don't inspire.

The list goes on.

Timing of holding the specific card you need vs the numerous ways the opponent can stop you is the problem.

 

Fun, cool warband. Neat models. Just very hard to kick them into high gear in a game with just 3 chances (2, effectively) to make it happen.

 

[PJetski]

Who runs Shardfall?

Yes you can build a deck that will be able to prevent the Chosen Axes from inspiring. However, doing so requires building a deck that will lose to the other warbands (most notably Skaven, which are insanely popular).

Their narrow scope is the hidden strength of the Chosen Axes because if you build to counter them you'll lose to other warbands.

[lare2]

Picked up my axes today - first game scheduled for tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes ?