Warcry- The Unmade discussion

[Overread]

It gives me hope that we might one day see whip arms for Deamonettes appear (at least once they get an update which might be many years away). Looking in the Libre Chaotica there are some fantastic displays of melted weapons and melted/melded bodies that GW could achieve with modern plastics. 

[Obeisance]

Played my first two games today. Horrifying Visage is amazing.

[Obeisance]

How do you guys split your forces?

I assume Blissful in the Dagger, split the rest between the shield, virtually nothing in the hammer cause it comes on so late generally?

[exliontamer]

So I just picked up the box and haven't had a chance to play with them yet, but what kinds of lists are people running outside of the designated contents of the box? Just fooling around via the warband builder app on the GW site I noticed you can take 13 Awakened Ones of either flavor and a leader. Is there any reason to take the other two "special" guys. 13 grunts is a LOT of activations. The other guys' abilities seem a little too random (requiring a roll of 5 or 6 to do any real damage)...and it seems like your doubles and triples would be better spent on generic abilities in the first place. Are their stats (Dmg 2 base is nice, I admit) really worth it? Their cost seem WAY too high. Thoughts?

Edited August 14, 2019 by exliontamer

[Sleboda]

On 8/10/2019 at 5:33 AM, Obeisance said:

Played my first two games today. Horrifying Visage is amazing.

Why is that?

I've played several games of Warcry now, with various warbands, and (even though I am/was very excited to get going with them) The Unmade seen like the low end of things in the game, in terms of power.

 

How are folks making them work?

[exliontamer]

3 hours ago, Sleboda said:

Why is that?

I've played several games of Warcry now, with various warbands, and (even though I am/was very excited to get going with them) The Unmade seen like the low end of things in the game, in terms of power.

 

How are folks making them work?

Horrifying Visage, for the low cost of a double greater than one, allows even your lowliest grunt 60 pt fighters to tie up any model on the opposing team with only a 1" range weapon and essentially nullify their activation (seriously, all they can do is "Wait"). This is very powerful against some warbands, and just meh against others. 

It does of course have its downsides:

• 66.6% success (haha, the BIG obvious one I missed)
• Only really works against a fighter who hasn't activated yet...if opponent sees it coming and is going first they will just activate the endangered model first. (Of course then you have forced their activation order which can be its own benefit.)
• Only really nullifies targets with 1" range weapons...many warbands have access to fighters with mid- and long-range weapons, or multiple weapons.
• Only really works in a game where victory condition relies on movement (though it can be used to take a big melee damage dealer out of action dropping the opponent's ability to kill your models in killy missions)
• Disproportionately affects warbands with lots of elites/low model counts, high model count opponents will likely just shrug it off.

I do think it is a really powerful tool, and unique from what I've seen so far(?)...and in conjunction with what I was suggesting above with taking lots of the 60 pt Awakened One models it could really just stop a smaller force dead in its tracks. If you're already out-activating them by 3-5 fighters and then take one of their guys out of action every turn...that's gonna hurt in most scenarios.

Of course for me this is all based on analysis of rules/theory. I hope to get my spooky bois built and painted up this weekend to start playing with them ASAP.

Edited August 15, 2019 by exliontamer

[Sleboda]

Isn't that the ability that fails one third of the time even after you got lucky enough to get the needed doubles and spent them?

 

Seems too risky to plan on.

Don't get me wrong, I'll give it a go. It just seems far too luck dependent.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Sleboda
Missing an o.

[exliontamer]

20 minutes ago, Sleboda said:

Isn't that the ability that fails one third of the time even after you got lucky enough to get the needed doubles and spent them?

 

Seems to risky to plan on.

Don't get me wrong, I'll give it a go. It just seems far too luck dependent.

Oops, I missed that. Yeah that does make it significantly worse (though still more useful than the damage abilities with the 33% chance success rate IMO).

[Sleboda]

Yeah, I don't use those either. 😉

I'm finding I use the Universal Abilities far more often than faction ones. There are exceptions of course (like the one for spirit hosts that gives them crits on all hits!), but generally I am finding the Universals to be more useful more often.

[exliontamer]

I hear you. And if I'm being honest I really hope they introduce more universals in an expansion. They could be tied to the under-utilized role runemarks maybe?

Like there's all these rules for falling damage (pretty complex given the largely simple rules of the game)...there should be a universal "Push" action for beefier fighters where if you are within 1" of a model you can push it 2-3" away from you (maybe require an opposed strength roll or something if it seems too good to auto succeed...I dunno), that way you could push people off of buildings/platforms, or break enemy lines and be able to move through them without triggering the 1" rule on Move actions. Or push them into the 4" death zone at the end of round 4 in some missions. Wouldn't that be cool?

[Sleboda]

It would be!

[Obeisance]

People don't see why Horrifying Visage is strong?

If you're playing a scenario where you need to control objectives, it gives you the option to stop your opponent scoring. It is also activation control.

It's a 66% chance of locking down an expensive enemy piece for a turn.

In my second game (vs IG) we had 3 objectives running along the board. We brawled for the middle after I scored it, locked down two of his dudes and scored both flanks instead.

In any game, if you activate first you can basically just say- your guy doesn't get to move this turn.

It's an A+ ability. I'm glad it's only on a 3+, because having it go off automatically would be crazy strong.

[Obeisance]

PS. I think falling damage is too weak and yeah, I'd also love a universal push.

Like, on a double, push that value directly away.

As for fall damage, I think it should be 2D6 but Raven guys take D6, as they're all about jumping off things.

[Kramer]

9 hours ago, exliontamer said:

maybe require an opposed strength roll or something if it seems too good to auto succeed...I dunno), that way you could push people off of buildings

That does sound cool. Maybe fail the check and your opponent can attack once in response. Because it would be really powerful to push your opponent towards an elite fighter saving him a move activation. 

[Obeisance]

What if: Make your attacks at -1. Score a hit to push D3"?

[Keith]

So any thoughts on the Ascended One ?

I really want to include them as I like the model , but 125 points for one vs  120 for two Awakened Ones?

I will be experimenting with them in my Warband but I’m interested to see if there is a tactic with them that I’m not seeing ?

[Lior'Lec]

     On the subject of a universal push ability: what about a variable cost ability? If your fighter has equal or greater strength than the target strength it costs a double to push but if the target is stronger it takes a triple? The push itself is a single die attack using the standard rules, if you fail the attack roll the target gets either a free attack action in response or gets to push your fighter away (no roll required for counter push). A successful push lets you move the target 1/2 value of the ability dice rounded up.

     This is untested but to me seems more thematically correct. Weaker fighters have to work harder to push larger enemies. Even with strong fighters there is always a chance of failure and failure carries an actual risk which introduces a decision on the defending player’s part. 

Edited August 20, 2019 by Lior'Lec
Typo

[The Traitor]

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I've posted in this forum as I haven't been playing much AoS lately, but Warcry has brought me back quite hard. Just wanted to share my experience with Unmade since yesterday there was a "gaming day" in my store to try out Warcry and I played my seven games with them and won them all.

 First of all the Unmade seem to be in the lower end of the bands at first sight, if you compare the cost and profiles of our band to any other other one you'll easily see it. Iron golems get an awakened one with flail but at T4 for only 5 points more. Almost every band's elite guys are better than the joyous and ascended one, etc etc. If you add that to the fact that we get less options than anyone else with only five warrior cards, it doesn't give a great first impression. However, the Unmade shine because of various sinergies. 

My list yesterday (and I don't plan to change it so far) was a Blissful One, 2 Joyous Ones and 8 Awakened Ones with Flail.

Terrifying Visions, which I've seen criticized above, is one of the best doubles in the game. Working 2/3s of the time is not an issue when you can use it with any member of your band and are only wasting a double. Don't plan too much around it, but it can give you so much breathing room. 

Spamming guys with flails was a completely unexpected but powerful build. Awakened Ones are really cheap and with range 3 they become a huge pain. Not only that, but because they are so many, you can control the board with them and limit your opponent's movement a lot.

Finally, the Blissful One, while certainly expensive, is amazing and a fundamental tool for the Unmade as it can make so much damage thanks to his naturally powerful combat profile and his amazing triple ability.

At the end of the day and thinking about it I've realized this band is about board control. You can basically limit your opponent's movement completely thanks to the horde of Awakened Ones combined with Terrifying Visions, which allows to pick off targets with the Blissful One and Joyful Ones without exposing them too much, specially with the earlier with his high movement and the triple. This way of playing is effective for most if not all types of missions, since you can easily control objectives in controlling missions and your opponent needs to kill a lot of models in killing missions, and won me my seven games yesterday. I of course need to play a lot more, but so far I'm happy with the warband, and I'm not regretting having picked them up purely for aesthetics :P.

@Keith I don't see myself paying for one when Joyful Ones are only 20 points more with +5 wounds and +1 movement, plus a better (though still bad) unique ability. For me the tactic, as explained above, has been board control with loads of cheap bodies and surgical attacks with few elite ones. 

Edited August 19, 2019 by The Traitor

[Sleboda]

9 hours ago, The Traitor said:

First of all the Unmade seem to be in the lower end of the bands at first sight ... However, the Unmade shine because of various sinergies. 

...

My list yesterday (and I don't plan to change it so far) was a Blissful One, 2 Joyous Ones and 8 Awakened Ones with Flail

Point one: agreed. I thought they would be the worst. Then I played with them and find I was wrong.

 

Point two: that's a lot of boxes! Or a lot of converting. Lol.

[Brother_Captain]

Good thing i planned to buy a second box anyway 🤔

Had my first two games yesterday, was a bit unfortunate regarding the battleplans because my opponent took up both treasures in the two games with his Rocktusk Prowler and just ran away and i wasn't able to keep up in order to terrify him.
BUT although a glascannon the Blissful One is dishing out some serious pain, love it! Plus the second game had the twist where every unit gets +1 strength, which made the Blissful and my Joyous One even more deadlier.

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by Brother_Captain

[The Traitor]

@Sleboda they are deceptively good, yes, probably because they synergize well instead of having plain good models. I only bought a box, converted every ascended one and awakened one with polearm to be awakened ones with flails and asked a friend who was going to play another warband for a joyful one and another flail. I'll probably convert those two models in the near future out of something else when I have some time though.

@Brother_Captain two boxes is great if you plan to play narrative campaigns as the warband can grow up to 1300 points. In treasure games I usually find going first is key, so I either spend my wild dice into a simple or if that wouldn't work anyways I turn a triple to a quad to try to one-hit the treasure bearer with the Blissful One. I'm finding the leader to be a really key piece for the Unmade since it can dish out so much damage in needed places thanks to the high movement and damage. Also I didn't have problem with the "glass" part since you can literally protect him with bodies and can move to keep himself safe. I managed for him not to get killed in any of my seven games so far.

 

 

[Kilofix]

Not exactly reliable but having an Ascended One Move - Move 8” then use a 5” fairly cheap  [Double 6] Chain Garrote ability, and actually rolling a 5-6 has won me a couple of games.

 

I mean, Onslaught is more often used, and the Blissful is a faster killer,  but she can’t be everywhere and sometimes all I have is an Ascended that is just slightly out of range.

[Paul Conti]

On 8/10/2019 at 6:33 AM, Obeisance said:

Played my first two games today. Horrifying Visage is amazing.

Its absolutely amazing. You can tie up your opponents big dudes with a chump really easily. SO GOOD. 

[Paul Conti]

Has anyone tried tinkering with lists using models in addition to the basic warband box?

[Kilofix]

I’m running:

• Bliss
• 2xJoy
• 6xAwakened

Edited August 23, 2019 by Kilofix