This was supposed to be a small local event using the pack I designed (EDIT: event got cancelled, but due to May TTS league running this pack I decided to release slightly modified version of the article). Instead of trying to get the best possible list I was going to try (lets keep pretending the event will actually happen so I don’t have to rewrite the whole article) to make a meta statement by hopefully winning with unusual list. Last weeks discussions were dominated by hordes (you can find my own horde article here – Horde List Ideas), so I will try to go the opposite direction and try to win with as small warband as I possibly can.
The tournament will use my latest battlepack – Path to Glory. If you are not interested in checking the related article then here you have a TLDR: In this pack you must pick one of the 6 paths related to usual wincons (kill, treasure, objective or a combination of two) and then instead of all players playing the same mission each round every matchup will determine the battleplan based on the combination of both players paths (kill path meeting a treasure path will end up in a mission focused on both killing and treasures).
Path Selection and general strategy
When looking at paths with my goal in mind then it feels obvious I should avoid objectives and after looking which battleplans could be won with a very elite force I decided that the Path of Glory (treasure/kill oriented path with the same name as the battlepack, confusing I know. I will have to work on my names more in the future). Lets take a closer look at the missions and try to figure out what I need in my list to deal with them.
The guiding principle for my list makes this my Achilles’ heel. The only chance I see with minimal number of fighters is to try to win one objective with You messin’ (If I have to win some objectives with as small warband as possible I’m forced to Grand Alliance: Destruction, with Brute in the list) and kill at least one of enemy objectives rounds 2 and 3 while trying to get all the treasures. Very uphill battle and avoiding this battleplan (by focusing on tiebreakers and tracking the progress of players that would force me to play it) is a key to success. If I were to win the event then not playing this batttleplan was a big part of it. If I end up against 15+ wounds chaff I don’t think I have any chance here (By making the distance to objectives slightly over 9″ I really messed a lot of options how elite warband can fight here, which is both frustrating in my current position and satisfying as it works exactly as intended).
Titan heavy list with basically no chaff and access to You messin’ looks like a winning formula – Get titans to the center and kill whatever comes close.
The plan for this mission is very simple – ignore controlling objectives, focus on killing anything that is next to objectives quickly. Having all fighters durable is key here.
I love this mission and its one of the main “enablers” of the minimum possible warband size strategy. The fact that enemy is making the choice of thieves gives us great opportunity of making sure there are no choices other than the ones we like, so the smallest fighter will go to Hammer to avoid being selected. Ideally I would go with something like 3 Tyrants here (so opponent must make a “decision” of: I must go hunt this titans that I don’t wont to be close to, while getting flanked by a third one), but sadly we need You messin’ to have any shot at Gorewyrms Nest, so this 3 man variant is out.
Another mission that says “if everything I have is hard to kill, then you are in trouble”. Focusing enemy Hammer seems like a good start.
Trying to secure three treasures round one and then using Shield to get points advantage seem like a plan simple enough to win if there are no crazy trick on the other side, the trick I plan to have on my side (advantage in spreading violence) will hopefully help to win even against the tricks.
How many bodies?
I would love to go 3, but the missions like Dragon’s Hoard or Gorewyrms Nest require more than that. Having a “spare” fighter (assuming no-one will die is crazy) for 3 treasure missions like Bloody Trophies and Shrine of Bloodlust is necessity. The fact that Cursed Well and Reclaim our Relics has exactly 4 treasures makes 4 fighters a good number to consider. 4 is extremally low for Gorewyrms Nest (and is on the edge of doable for some other missions), but isn’t actually much worse than 5 or 6 when you take into account that the opponent will have warband optimized for objective control, so my only chance is You Messin’ and basically tabling the opponent. Because of deployment maps of Gorewyrms Nest (so You Messin’ can actually win objective), Dragon’s Hoard (to start even on points) and Reclaim our Relics (to force opponent into selecting 2 titans as thieves) I want to have 2 fighters in Hammer.
Listbuilding
I already know I want access to You Messin’ and as big threats as possible. Bonus action ability is also a must to be able to conquer treasure after kill or to kill 2 chaff models after a move action (I expect to be outnumbered by a lot) and not durable fighters for numbers sake are not an option. With all this in mind the list basically writes itself:
What horde meta?
- Gutlord (290pts, Hero) +1A blessing
- Gutlord (290pts, Hero) +1A blessing
- Brute Boss (200pts, Hero) / Morgok (if I can get him)
- Orruk Brute with pair of Brute Choppas (140pts)
I hope I will be able to borrow Morgok for the event (otherwise he will most likely be played in Kruleboyz and I don’t think in some missions I stand a chance with 2+ nets on the other side and my objective trick not working on enemy chaff), otherwise I will bless the small Brute with Strength (so he can deal damage to high Toughness opponents if needed). Maybe Toughness buff is a better option but having all fighters T5 is a list symmetry I really like, so Strength blessing it is (I don’t have a good idea for this blessing). I think the list meets all of my requirements as it only have 4 bodies and the least durable one has T5 and 25 wounds.
Sadly our local event event didn’t happen, but if you like the concept of this pack you can still join the TTS league as the May iteration of the league will use exactly the pack from this article. Here are the links for CASUAL and COMPETITIVE leagues. As always I hope I inspired and entertained you and I dare you to try joining the league with my list to help me prove my point that “global meta” is way less important than building for the pack. If you would like to support the blog you can do it via Patreon.
Overthinking Warcry 