Warning: Long Post

Now todays enviroment is definetly range heavy and range friendly. Range is also alot easier to use then melee, which is why alot of people use it. I on the otherhand like to play melee and I am tried of going to a tournament and getting killed by a range army, so I have done some thinking.

The tournament scene right now is being dominated by Big Bound. Now in a Big Bound army the bounders, namely Kermit, Bakus, and Amazon Drac, are going to close to Autumn or thier levitator in order to stay safe. Since they are not going to stray far away from the levitator they loose some of thier mobility. Believe me they are still quite fast and still very mobile, but not as much as they could be if they didnt use a levitator.

Now that we know that the bounders are less mobile then they could be we need a way to close in on them without being hit. Before bound became big the way to deal with a ranged combatant was through harrassers to block LOS, but now bounders just maneuver around them, not to mention that a harrasser is now free points. So what we need is a fast durable harrasser that can get up close and personal with the bounders in one move.

After looking through the database I have discovered that the greatest effective bound range is 20 in., which is from center dot to center dot. So what we do is we set uo our harrasser so that is center dot is just beyon 20 in. Now the MK base of a standard figure is 1 1/4 wide. Half of that is 5/8, which is where the center dot is, so when we set up we have about an extra 1/2 in. to work with.

Your now saying, but how are we going to get that harrasser over to the bounders in one turn, no one has a 19 in. speed. Yes I know your right no onw does have a 19 in. speed, but we dont need that. We can use ML to give our harrasser an extra 10 in. Which still means that we need a harrasser that has a 9-10 in speed.

Now that we know what we want in our harrasser which is: durability, 9-10 in. speed, and I would also like it to have an auto-damage ability, such as ram or venom. I would prefer venom as the harrasser could be in base contact for a couple turns. Using all these requirements I have come up with our harrasser, the Throttle Worms.

What we do with the Worm is we have him move out 10 in. then we ML him into base contact with one of the bounders, which ties them up. If the bounder breaks, which he should do, you follow him with the Worm. Now your going to say well the bounder is faster then a 10 in speed, which they are, but don't forget they are not going to moving far away from Autumn. true the bounder will have a body guard, but that is why we wanted a durably harrasser.

After we move the Worm into postion we move up our charger, preferably one with a 7 in. charge, in the same turn. So now that the charge has moved 14 in. out, he waits. Now is the bounder breaks and moves within charge distance do not be afraid to push. If he does not then you can still just base him and then push the next turn to attack.

Another thing that i think is necassary is another type of harrasser, one that can capture. That way he will think twice about pushing. You say well what is he has BF or BZ, which he might, then if he pushes it goves us the opportunity to base or charge with the charger.

Now using this style format for an all melee army, I have come up with two different armies. I would really appreciate comments on both, thanks. Well here they are:

1 Uhlrik Charger (118)
1 Nightmare Reaper*** (42)
1 Horned Hachetkrugg*** (44)
1 Throttle Worm*** (35)
1 Autumn Lv. 3 (42)
1 Amazon Mancather** (19)
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300 pts.

Here is the second one:

1 Carlana Lv. 5 (74)
1 Nightmare Reaper*** (42)
1 Horned hachetkrugg*** (44)
1 War Hachetkrugg** (39)
1 Throttle Worm*** (35)
1 Autumn Lv. 3 (42)
1 Amazon mancatcher*** (24)
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300 pts.

Now the second army is not as fast as the first army, which I am slightly worried about, but I think that it can still pull it off.

I would really appreciate all comments that you have. Thanks alot in advance.

i likethe first army zaxan. I too am an all melee type of guy but i am lacknig the muonted units to do it. I didnt buy a lot of lancers or WW and now i am paying for it.

Suppose the bounder is single base (and therefore gets a free spin) and just decides to hit your worms? Or has toughness, and is not bothered by the worms? This also seems to assume that they've only got one bounder/ranged attacker, (since the worm is supposed to tie up all their range to cover your advance). I think you'll either need another levitator to get the mancatcher there the same turn as the worm (to tie up multiple bounders), or dump her altogether to throw in, i don't know, maybe a ram warrior for another auto damage shot (which would still be useless against the toughness). I guess in conclusion, it could work against a single large range figure with no secondary threats, but against multiple bounders (like the named big bound army which includes scorpem, bakus, Sislith tracker, etc) or any figure that's not bothered by venom/capture (STRIKER!!!), I think you'll flop.

Big Bound usually uses two bounders, namely Bakus and Kermit. I know that I can not tie up both of them at once and that is fine. As long as can tie up atleast one of them for atleast 2 turns that is all I need.

So what if the bounder is single based, the Amazon Drac, and she does free-spin and whack my Worm, it costs her an action and the worm is pretty durable, even after 4 clicks.

If I go up against a Striker, which has BF and Toughness, then it doesnt matter. The Worm having venom is just a plus. You could also use a Thorn Maiden. I dont need to capture it is only a threat. If he pushes that leaves me one more turn to get into postion with my charger.

The way I described using the Worm and the other figures was just one scenario, there are multiple options that I can use.

I think this has potential, but a Throttle Worm is not the answer. It is an answer, but I think that a decent atk and decent damage traded away for venom and toughness isn't worth it. They're fine against some, but they just won't cut the mustard in most situations. Generally speaking, if you can look at your environment and see that people will founder against Throttle Worm harassment, then by all means play it; but, if you think that people will deal with it easier than previously expected, then you need something else.

Truly, nowadays the best friends of melee armies are speed and more speed. The faster you get into base contact the better your chances of getting the win.

Assuming we're playing a 300pt game of rebellion, you'll get three actions a turn. Of those three actions, do you really want to spend two on harassing? Leaving one of your likely two melee formations back; or, in your case, leaving a few of your chargers back. To me this simply is not action-efficient for melee to function. Range-heavy armies will find a way to deal with the harasser too easily with minimal actions being used up. Truly what you need is something that really scares the snot out of them, that makes them act and, hopefully burn up enough actions to get the actual threats in.

What figure is that big-arse threat--or big-arse harasser for that matter--I honestly could not tell you.

Some may scream Fell Reaper***, others Wyvern, and still others might even say Vladd! But I think the only way we'll find out is to test it out. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. Perhaps the Throttle Worms will be far more effective than anyone has anticipated.

Assuming that you lose your big-arse harasser, but still come away with the win will give you a lesser point win than would you have just gone with the crowd and played bounders. Thus is our pursuit of straight-melee going to win you that case of boosters or those hard-to-get LEs. *shrug* A noble cause nonetheless ;)

Looking at your armies, I think that by using your principle you may be able to accomplish straight melee, but I think you may not be packing enough punch necessarily in either of the armies, but I'd suggest trying them both out to see how it works. Then to optimize as you see fit.

As a final note, I think that straight melee is only effectively accomplished with some hybrid army of ML/Ram and other auto-damage type armies.

Things that use Pyre Spirit, War Hatchetkrugg***, Ram Warrior*, and Tormented Soul*** + MLers

Good luck with what you have, and tell us how it all works out.

Well, I don't have very much to add to your worthy cause (I love melee btw.)

But, here is a suggestion: Don't forget about the Stalking Skeleton. 10-inch Quickness + Dodge, means you can get a total of 20 inches in a single action, and be able to dodge 50% of all attacks.

Good luck.

Ok well I took Mr.Dwarf's idea and decided to go with the Fell Reaper, as he is one of the fastest and most durable harrassers around.

Now like Dwarf said speed is the best friend of melee. So I kept the Charger and decided to go with the Nightmare Reaper as the second charger.

I also added a rammer, so that I can an auot-click in there if I need to break a high defense.

So here is the army:

1 Uhlrik Charger (118)
1 Nightmare Reaper*** (42)
1 War Hachetkrugg** (39)
1 Fell Reaper*** (43)
1 Autumn Lv. 2 (34)
1 Amazon Mancatcher*** (24)
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300 pts.

Combined with blocking terrain and the speed and flight of the Fell Reaper, I think that he can get base-to-base with the boundes without ML.

I could also ML the rammer out 20 in. to deliver the first blood, if I need to, or I can move him up with Autumn to ML/Ram, when I get into position.

So let me know what you think bout this new army. Thanks alot in advance.

Big bounds main advantage is all its figures break easy, its very mobile, and supported with ML. In the melee vrs big bound match up melee needs to be able to threaten more of big bounds figs then they can safely move away in a single turn. Other wise they just fade back and take dish out some damage. move/leving a throttle worm will not be enough to pin down anything or even really annoy them. They usually include a charger so they just break away with what ever you base and then bound and charge it to finish it off. Since you committed 2/3rds of your turn to get that fig in place you are most likely not any closer to them except by a single figure or formation. If however you are able to threaten the majority of their army in a single turn, they will get their hits in, or run, but still expose some figs the following turn.

The only army that can really do that right now is a KI forcemarch/charger army. With proper use of terrain you can easily get with in 18-19 inches which is close enough to set up charges after moving. Since Big Bound can't really dish out sustained damage like most armies you often will not take much losses on the way in.

One of the best armies to do this would be a variant of Wkuras "Tank" army. Its fast, deadly, and has the added benifit of being very hard for the Big Bound army to be able to hit (bakus needs an 8 to hit anything, Khumeret needs a 10!) and has healing to heal up any scratches the big bound army does get through. I actually think its one of the best armies to take out Big Bound right now.

well, the benefit to tying down the bounder, even if it has easy break, is that it's still an action in which it's not shooting.