DiskWars Intermediate Issues 2: Army Unit Composition

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="258e1c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>            </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  Navigation Links</div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Garrison 188 "><U>Garrison 188 </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Disk Wars: The Articles"><U>Disk Wars: The Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Conversations: A new DiskWarrior to an o"><U>Conversations: A new DiskWarrior to an old Veteran</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Intermediate Issues 1: Army Con"><U>DiskWars Intermediate Issues 1: Army Construction</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Intermediate Issues 3: Trade To"><U>DiskWars Intermediate Issues 3: Trade Topics</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 1: Conditional "><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 1: Conditional and Threat Disks</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 2: Range Consid"><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 2: Range Considerations</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 3: Missile Drop"><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 3: Missile Drops</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 4: Terrain"><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 4: Terrain</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Disk Trades Central Page"><U>Disk Trades Central Page</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="163df0e3.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Mojo Dojo</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mojo Dojo"><U>home</U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> DiskWars Intermediate Issues 2: Army Unit Composition</div> <div>                                                      <IMG SRC="0e788870.gif" border=0 width="136" height="135" ALT="Bitmap Image" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">    </div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="20e16160.gif" border=0 width="22" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>T</B></FONT><B>here are, literally, so many themes that an Army can take.  But there are two, somewhat interrelated, threads that run through every competitive army that is fielded: </B><B>Number of Activations</B><B> and </B><B>Cost vs Effectiveness</B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FF00" FACE="Arial" ><B>Activations = Options</B></FONT><B>:  </B><B>Going first, and going last, are always best.  If one moves first, then a critical spell, or an advantageous unit, can be activated.  Offensively you can tie up opposing units by moving onto them; or move one (or more) of your own units out of harm's way.  Moving last allows you to save your best activations for last, and to maximize power, position, and Special Abilities (SA).  The best of both worlds occurs when you move last, in the current turn, and first in the next turn.  </B></div> <div> <B>You cannot be guaranteed to move first; only on alternate turns.  You can, however, guarantee having the last moves by having the most activations.  Generally this means having the most units, although we will explore other, more specific options also.  To have the most units will require a balance of strong, powerful (or specialized) units with cheaper "scut" troops.  Expect most armies to have 20+ activations.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Best Scut Troops</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Accolytes</B></FONT><B>: Abaley Guard</B><B> 4/2/2 M3 First Blow. Cost 3.  Fixed in the Broken Shadows expansion box.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Evil Dragons</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Drake Warriors</B><B>  Attack 3 / Defense 2 / Toughness 3 / Movement 4 Cost 3.  Contained in the Original and Revised boxes.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Good Dragons</B><B>: </B><B>Wreyland Talons</B><B>  Attack 2 / Defense 3 / Toughness 5.  Mo</B><B>vement 3.  Cost 4.  Contained in the Waiquar Path box.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Dwarves</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Regiment of the Anvil</B><B>  Attack 3 / Defense 3 / Toughness 4 / Movement 3.</B><B>  Cost 3.  </B><B>Contained in the Original and Revised boxes.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Elves</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Deepwood Warriors</B><B>  Attack 3 / Defense 3 / Toughness 3 / Movement 3.  Cost 4.  Contained in the Original and Revised boxes.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Knights</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Daqan Sentinels</B><B> 3/1/4 M3 C4.  Found in the Broken Shadows expansion.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>K'Ryth</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Lesser Kzayas Spawn</B><B>  Attack 1 / Defense 1 / Toughness 2 / Movement 6.  Cost 2.  </B><B>If more than 6" away from another K'zayas Spawn or K'zayas Master, Spawn is Immediately destroyed.  </B><B>K'Zayas Spawn within 6" of Master receive +2 AT.  If 3 or more K'zayas Spawn are attacking the same Disk within 12" of a K'zayas Master, you can activate Master to instantly destroy that one disk.  "Dopplegangers" can copy the Master's ability, but these disks are BANNED in official play due to the ease of abuse.  All disks contained in Wastelands.  In Broken Shadows the K'Ryth got the K'Zayas Overmind that can activate to give a wound to any disk being attacked by two, or more, of any spawn.  Spawn also gain first blow in the presence of the Overmind.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Mahkim</B></FONT><B>:  </B><B>Miasmen</B><B>  Attack 3 / Defense 5 / Toughness 4 / Movement 4.  Cost 4.  W</B><B>ill not activate to attack an unactivated disk.  Contained in Moon Over Thelgrim.  </B></div> <div> <B>Swamp Warden</B><B>  4/1/3 M4 C4.  In the Broken Shadows expansion.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Orcs</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Urkan Hordes</B><B>  Attack 3 / Defense 2 / Toughness 1 / Movement 5.  Cost 3.  First Blow.  A Urotok Warrior may activate to allow up to two Urkan Hordes to move up to their movement rate.  Contained in the Legions boxed set.</B></div> <div> <B>Gobog Rippers</B><B> 4/1/3 M4 C3.  Broken Shadows.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Undead</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Legions of Bone</B><B>  Attack 2 / Defense 1 / Toughness 3 / Movement 3.  Cost 3.  </B><B>If Oorlian, King of Skeletons is in play, Legion receives +2 AT, D and T. If Oorlian is not in play, Legion is instantly destroyed.  (Oorlian is in the Original and Revised).  Legions of Bone are contained in Wastelands.</B></div> <div> <B>N.B. In a move that I am totally against, FFG placed the Legions of Bone on the "Restricted" (4) list.  Given this turn of events, the Undead have no viable 3 cost, front-line troops.  The best bet, now, is:</B></div> <div> <B>Nachtkinder</B><B> 2/2/2 M5 C4. Reanimate.  Broken Shadows.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Uthuk</B></FONT><B>: </B><B>Ykata Harpy</B><B>  Attack 3 / Defense 1 / Toughness 4 / Movement 4.  Cost 3.  Contained in Waiquar's Path.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Gaining Activations</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Besides cheap troops, there are several units that will help gain activations; as well as spells which can affect the equation.  In essence, anything that denies activations to the enemy, or increases your activations, is a weapon to be considered when building your army.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Cost Effectiveness</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So, why not just buy 75 Lesser Kazayas Spawn and have done with it?  While that's certainly an option, the low quality of troops would fall to many stronger units.  </B></div> <div> <B>An effective benchmark, set by Peter Bakija, is the Grug test.  It takes the standard unit (in this case an Orc unit named "Grug"; a 3-3-3 unit that costs 3) and asks the question: Is this unit (x) worth its wait in Grugs; and for that fact, is it worth the loss in activations?  </B></div> <div> <B>For example: The Spiderbeast of Xaarrx is 18 points.  If in an Orc army, the 'Beast would cost me 5 activations and the utility of those additional units.  But, the Spiderbeast is a huge unit that can successfully attack all units that it lands on at once.  It can also cause two units to activate before moving.  It has strong attack and excellent toughness with the ability to take three wounds.  In this case, I would take the Spiderbeast of Xaarrx over the six Grugs.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When is the slightly superior, but more costly, unit worth it?</B></div> <div> <B>Bottom line: when it starts costing you activations below your set minimum.  Take the case of Goblin Crossbowz (cost 2)  vs Urkan Hordes (cost 3).  The Crossbowz are 2-2-2 with Bolt 1 and a slight disability.  The Hordes are 3-2-1 with First Blow.  The Hordes stack up as a better combat unit, but you can get 3 Gobbowz for the same cost as 2 Hordes.  Having self-decided a comfortable number of activations, you would take the Hordes as long as it doesn't drive you below that number.  </B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>