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Zbrojny

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  1. Lets preface with this: I don't know what I'm talking about. I never played a single game of AoS. I only read the rules, read some warscrolls, did some faulty math in my head. It's probably all just a pile of throggoth dung. On a rare chance it's not, it's probably been said by a million people before, but I haven't read it, so I'm claiming it genuine. I'm a troggoth, that's what I do. If by any weird occurrence of fate you misread my ramblings and somehow get any useful information from it, please remember that this is a discussion on a competitive level, and in your casual games you should let your opponent balance your now superior skill with a few extra Nagashes. If a wargame is to be any good, it has to have some rock-paper-scissors business going on. In the core of it, a unit has to be more effective against some enemies than others - that's what stimulates tactical play. Otherwise it's all just "throw your dice and see who wins". In a typical wargame, you would have something like "cavalry beats archers, archers beat infantry, infantry beats cavalry" or whatnot. You know, something that makes actual sense. Not in AoS. AoS came out, and what was immediately apparent, is that (Rend discarded), a unit's strength is not at all relative to the opponent - the hit and wound rolls are not affected by what you are targeting at all!!! Probably a huge part of why people think it's a simplistic game with no real thinking involved. I mean, if the point values of whatever comp you're using are proper, a unit can stand against any other unit of the same value and have roughly 50% chance of wiping them out before they get wiped out in turn. So let's pile up our models in the middle of the table, and let a hundred dice rolls decide who the superior commander is... Obviously, there are other stats that come into play (movement being the most evident one), but when push comes to shove, it's all about those combat rolls. So is AoS really a game deprived of any tactical thinking? Far from it. The rock-paper-scissors dance is just hidden on a different level. Let's have a look, but before that, let's establish some basic terms. Glossary: DPM - average damage per model. It's basically the number of attacks, times chance to hit, times chance to wound, times damage. Abilities like "reroll 1 to hit" also taken into account. DPP - average damage per point. In short, DPM divided by the point value of a model, in whatever comp you are using. WPD - average number of wounds taken by the unit per single damage point. Basically chance to save, with abilities like "reroll saves of 1" taken into account. EWPM - effective wounds per model. WPD times number of wounds. EWPU - effective wounds per unit. EWPM times number of models in unit. EWPP - effective wounds per point. EWPM divided by the point value of a model, in whatever comp you are using. The Scissors, or "I will hurt you plenty": Consider Bloodreavers (warscroll for reference). No save, 1 attack, DPM of around 0.25 depending on equipment. Those guys are so pathetic, their point value in your comp probably oscillates around zero. The only interesting thing here is the ability that gives them an extra attack when within 12" of a TOTEM. But now... since those guys are worth next to nothing in your comp, let's make an experiment and take lots of them. I mean like 3 units, 20 models each. And let's find that TOTEM. Since we want to be fluffy even when we're melting faces at a tournament, let's take the Bloodsecrator (sorry can't find warscroll links for the starter set models) dude. And behold - his special ability can give our Bloodreavers another attack - that's triple their original weak-****** DPM, and we're nowhere near done. Now let's look at batallions - there's one there that fits our 3 units of Bloodreavers nicely, and, with the Bloodpriest and Bloodstoker included, it will give our fellas another attack. Now let's add a general - Aspiring Champion for his command ability and another attack. It's 5 attacks per model at this point (500% of the original DPM), and we can still improve on this by getting a few Wrathmongers to stand behind our dudes and give them another +1 attack. Or, you can expand your army to the whole Grand Alliance: Chaos, and look for what other (now overpowered) buffs you can give them, but let's stop here for now. We've just created an army that has 3 units of very cheap (in your comp) models, that with proper positioning will get 5 attacks each. Since the models have relatively small bases (and bodies for those purists out there who actually measure model to model), you can get large amounts of them into their 1" range - if you get all 20 of them into range, you're getting around 25 damage from them (20 models times their now buffed to 1.25 DPM). That's enough to wipe out a unit of comparable EWPU in one turn of combat. In 2 turns of combat, they take down Nagash. And that's just one of the 3 cheap-****** units we got there, with plenty of points left for more exciting stuff. That's the scissors of AoS, stacking buffs that increase DPM on a unit until it can wipe virtually anything that stands in their path in one combat turn. To create a force like this, you're looking for abilities that increase number of attacks, chance to hit / wound, give rerolls, give extra damage etc, and you are looking for models that are either relatively small (size/base wise) and cheap in your comp, or for models that play especially well with your available buffs (like units that have 1 attack but good hit/wound rolls and more than 1 damage per attack - those play very well with the +attack buffs). So, with a force like this, you've already won AoS. Or did you? The Rock, or "Give me everything you've got": Well... how do you counter a unit that can make 100+ attack rolls? It's quite simple really, you just make them meaningless. Consider Concussors (warscroll). 3+ save, and a reroll of 1's. Give them Arcane Shield, or the buff from Lord Castellant, and their WPD soars up to ("down to" actually, but you get my drift) 0.027(7). It means that only every 1 in 36 damage will actually cause a wound. It means that the 20 Bloodreaver scissor with their 5 attacks each will only score an average of 0,69 wounds per combat phase. That means they need like 6 combat phases to even kill 1 model (and remember they only need 2 to kill Nagash himself). Slap another +1 to save roll on them, an they become immune. Rock crushes scissors. Now this seems quite simple, as we only have one unit (quite expensive in your comp probably, but w/e), and one hero. We do, however, have to take into account the wildcard of Rend (even the Bloodreavers have a weapon option that will give them 1 point), and be aware that most armor buffs will target a specific unit, while DPM buffs often target multiple. So, preparing a solid rock, that can hold around 3 enemy scissor units might be a serious investment in points. But then... watching your enemy roll 100 dice not to score a single wound - priceless. For a solid rock setup, you're looking for warscrolls that have good save roll, and... well... Wizards. Be on a lookout for any battalions and heroes that can otherwise increase your armor save roll, or give rerolls. "Ward" saves (additional save rolls you can make apart from the normal one) also help. Remember, that here the number of models is not really important. If you manage to get in combat with the unit you want to block, and they cannot kill you, you've already eliminated them from the fight unless they can get 2 turns in a row (they need to retreat to disengage, and need another turn to charge something else, without you charging them again). Having the threat neutralized, it's a simple matter of scoring enough wounds to get them out of the game - in case of Bloodreavers, just breathe in their direction and they will topple by the score, in other cases you can pepper them with arrows, or just choose rock units that have decent attack capability of their own. By now, you probably know where this is going... The Paper, or "Resistance is futile": Ok, I failed at that one. How do you kill that which cannot die? In AoS the answer is quite simple - mortal wounds. Now I admit, I didn't do much research here and I'm kinda guessing what can be done. You're looking for units that reliably deal mortal wounds, or units that have a certain chance of dealing mortal wounds that can be increased. One example I can give you is Retributors (warscroll) - they deal mortal wounds on a hit roll of 6+ - give them a buff or 2 to hit roll, like the one Lord-Celestant (warscroll) provides, and see the rock crumble. 5 Retributors with +1 to hit roll will, on average, deal 6.66 mortal wounds per combat phase - that's not even counting the Starsoul Mace and extra attack from Prime. Problem here is, warscrolls that can deal mortal wounds will be quite expensive in any comp, and while those mortal wounds are excellent against the 2+/reroll rock dudes, they are kinda worthless against the zerg rush of Bloodreavers - the "mortal" on the wounds is meaningless when there's no save to be bypassed. Thrus, scissors will cut through paper. So what's this all about really: In AoS, if the comp you're using is anywhere near balanced, units of similar value will be similar in power against each other, no matter the actual statline - this is a natural consequence of non-relative rolls that AoS introduced. To gain advantage at the list building stage, you need to consider how some battalions / units can reinforce others, and find the most effective combinations. For that, you need to consider what unit a particular buff will be most effective on. Just to give you a few examples: +attack buffs are most effective on units that have good hit/wound rolls and high damage. On top of that, they are most effective on units that have low attack stat (+1 attack on a 1 attack unit will double it's combat effectiveness, while on a unit with 2 attacks - only increase it by 50%). Furthermore, units with multiple weapons will benefit more, as it's usually +1 attack to each weapon used. +hit and + wound roll buffs are most effective on units with weak rolls - if a unit hits on 6+, giving them +1 to roll will double their damage potential, while on a unit that hits on 3+ - only increase it by 25% "reroll 1's" buffs are most effective on units with good rolls (a unit with 2+ save will improve it's WPD from 0.16(6) to 0,027(7) - that's 600% improvement!). And so on, and so forth. On top of that, stacking buffs is usually more effective than spreading them over several units. Does that mean that for your army to be relevant, you have to fall into one of the above categories? No. It can be only part of your army. Or you can ignore it altogether, and instead focus on thwarting your enemy's setup. Remember that you are committing points to one of those schemes. Your enemy spends those same points on either his own scheme, or just extra bodies. If your scheme is countered, the extra commitment in points is wasted (minus what the enemy spent on his counter) - immediately putting you at a disadvantage. The advantage that can be gained by combining buffs is so significant, however, that I can imagine highly competitive games revolving entirely around creating and countering those combinations. A successful list will be able to shift from one scheme to another, and effectively counter enemy's scheme - by putting rocks in the way of scissors, eliminating relevant heroes early on, etc. The more I look into it, the more I see there's actually a game under all those pretzels. Took me long enough... What's to take from this: 1. You create advantage, when put buffs on units that benefit from them in a significant way. I gave examples of how Scissors, Rock and Paper combinations can be created, but it's likely there's also a Lizard and a Spock somewhere in there - I just can't see it yet. 2. An army that will exploit the first point will almost uniformly be stronger than an army that doesn't. 3. Different areas of buffing will counter each other. 4. There are other ways to counter buffs, but that's a topic for another post entirely. I'll leave you with "hunter-seeker units".
  2. The first 5 Liberators I painted. More pictures can be found here
  3. Well... the "How to paint" books are quite disappointing (except for "How to paint citadel miniatures", which explains the basic techniques) - they basically just show you what paints to use, with little to no help on actual technique, and very scarce advice on the actual models (like "paint this part first because otherwise you'll make a mess trying to get to it"). I think most people are able to do this on their own, esp. with the shading/highlighting chart from one of the last autumn's White Dwarf. Videos on the other hand allow you to pick up the small detail that is very difficult to describe in words - like how to hold a brush, or how much paint should be on it, or how watery it should be. It's much easier to see and copy than to figure out from text (especially if you have to google which finger is the "index" one). Seriously, I think Duncan did more for tabletop quality painting worldwide than all the painting forums and websites combined. You watch him, you know you can't paint for sh*t, but you feel like "THAT I could manage".
  4. I've been putting this aside long enough. With the baby, work and everything, it was really hard to find the will to sit down and paint anything. Eventually, I had to tell myself "no more trolling, until you paint something"... I mean people are out there playing, and I'm sitting here watching pictures. No more of that. I sat down, and finished the "only need a few more layers" Liberators that I started (!) last August. It feels great to actually have something finished, bases and all. It's been so long since I last finished any painting project, we might as well call this the first models I ever painted. As an adult anyway. In 21st century. I went with the "how to paint book", simply because I know nothing about colors. If it wasn't for Duncan Rhodes' videos, I wouldn't even know which end of the brush goes in the pot. Still, I'm quite happy with the result, and I got a better hang of it now. The models themselves (those are the guys from the starter set) are quite nice for beginners, with nice sharp detail that lends to edge highlighting, and a lot of metallic surface that is so much more forgiving when it comes to highlights. The only real problem I had was with the right shoulder pads - but that's probably because I ruined it when trying to fit the gaps after gluing the models together - I'm even worse with green stuff than I am with the brush. The part I enjoyed most was the parchment - very easy to paint, and really giving a nice result. As for the scheme, I went with Hammerhands, partly because as I said before I would probably fail badly at creating my own color scheme, and partly because I wanted one army that would be the poster boys that never get left behind in lore, and all other poster boys (Celestial Vindicators and Hallowed Knights) have so wierd color schemes my stomach couldn't handle it. After all that effort, what better way to reward an old Troggoth than to get a blog of my own? Let's just make a deal - something gets painted for every non-painting entry... ok, every 2.
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