With all the dominating "range" figures today,
I was wondering if it would *really* be impossible to put a good and viable melee army together.

So I started looking for some cream of the crop (IMO) melee figs in today's figure pool.

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Pyre Spirit -87
Wandering Mochooch -43
***War Krugg -40
***War Krugg -40

Autumn lvl1 -26

*Mancatcher -16
*Mancatcher -16
*Mancatcher -16
*Mancatcher -16

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Four of the best rammers in the game, all of which can hit for 4 damage (counting Pyre's Venom) and who protect each other.

Four Mancatchers who can take a fig out of the game with just one successful attack and who can protect the Rammers during the build-up.

Autumn lvl1 because I figure I will have to push her only once (on the turn after I committed to the attack).

For the players who don't have a Mooch :
-add another ***War Krugg
-upgrade one Mancatcher to **.

Borg

I like this army beceause it's kinda weard with al the big bound today, i like 4 rammers (instant damage) and always have been a fan of mancatchers. Not sure about the spirit (8 slot life i think) but 2 tumbs up for breaking al those range figures.

Borg, I wish you lived in Portland instead of Belgium. I would love to play MK with you.

At first site I had reservations about this army. After a little though, I saw what I didn't like about it. The Pyre is a little shallow, your healing is limited and vulnerable, and you don't have a charger anywhere to be found. Oh, and I like the tough mancatchers.

Then I re-thought what you were saying about it. It's melee, you don't need a healer. You just need the ML to get into base. Check. That Pyre still bugs me, though. I like to kill Pyre Spirits - their shallow dials can mean easy points.

I dunno. I'd have to see it in play, but I think what this army has - ram - is also its bane. Your WHKs are highly succeptible to capture, but you have plenty, so that should be ok.

Again, it's all in how you play it. I think this could be viable, and quite nasty. As for me, I want a charger. I do like this take on melee, though, and I prefer melee despit its weaknesses, so maybe I'll tweak it and give it a shot!

Bri

I understand what you're saying , Bri.

My "standard" reaction would also often be :
-add a Charger
-add a Bounder
-use Autumn at lvl2

but that would simply make it a "versatile" army again.

I wanted to "get away" from the "stereotype"
and make a "focused" army rather than a "versatile" army this time.

Originally, I had two more War Kruggs in there and a Crystal Protector before I decided to use the Pyre and drop the Protector because I didn't know what she was supposed to do in a melee army.
Sure , in theory she can make the occasional healing attempt,
but in practice I have never had much actions to spare for healing attempts when playing a melee army.

I realise the Pyre has only 8 clicks of life ,
but the reason I put him in is that he's such a d@mn good counter-figure in a lot of situations and he's always useful.
And with some ML help , he even outranges Corpheus :)

The War Krugg for only 40 pts , not to mention Mooch ,
is one of the best melee figs you can find today IMO.

-deals one damage as he goes b2b
-has a decent 10-Attack and a great 4-Damage
-keeps nice damage for a long time
-gains Toughness after a few clicks
-40 points is not cheap but is still an amount of points you can overcome if you lose one.

Depending on the match-up, either the Mancatchers will go in first, followed by the Rammers, or vice-versa.

Just trying to think a little out of today's box here ;)

Borg,

This army will definitely be effective against figures like Khumeret, Amazon Drac, and Corpheus.

My reservations lie more with opponents who use figures combining Toughness/Invulnerability and Battle Fury. Since you don't have a charger, denying you the ability to capture or Ram their main figure may give them enough of an edge.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this army was "What about the Striker?"

A Stomper would hurt. The 19 defense is terrible for this army to deal with.

If your opponent doesn't have Toughness or Invunerability I think this looks like a lot of fun.

It is a great counter against Big Bound armies though.

Well I definitely like "out of the box" thinking, Borg - you know me - the man who has never played a Striker! LOL!

I have been pondering the whole thing and I think I may give it a run in a fun match here or there. I just have my prejudices against the Pyre. Then again, I have torn them to bits, but they aren't always played by the best of players. The Pyre Spirit is a figure that looks deceptivly easy to play. He is much more of a finesse figure than most think.

I have noticed people bringing up a Stomper as a problem for this army. I have to disagree. He's much less of a problem than a Striker, but either is managable. Remember, we're talking Melee here, and a swarm practically at that.

With a Stomper focus on support and make the Stomper come to you. When he does he's tokened and melee, not shooting, so the battle's more on your terms. This is where *** mancatchers would be great, but since we don't have any, the Mooch is the best bet for attacking. Just remember that we don't have to kill every living thing here, we just need to win. If we base anything the Stomper can't shoot us, and with some work we can turn him into a big waste of points. So focus on the support, and the battle is won. It's not the best matchup, to be sure, but we can do it!

As for the Striker, well, I don't like how easy it is for the Striker to break. We can tie up a Stomper; it's hard to tie up a Striker. He's easier to hit, though, with the Mooch. Again, keeping the crew together and making sure to swarm the support would be how I'd do it.

Again, cool army, Borg. I like it!

Bri

Well with the goal being a focused army, I think you have achieved it. Sometimes being heavily focused on one thing you can overcome its weakness (like toughness) through brute force.

My 300 pt pyre army had 3 rammers and people are always saying its too much. That is until all of their figs are "bruised" from the rammers and the Tormented souls start getting tossed into the fray.

Because its kinda similar here is my current version:

Pyre Spirit
Mochooch
War krugg*

Amotep gunner***
2 Techno*

2 Tormented Soul***


I can see the advantage of the Mancatchers, but really think you need to slip in a second leviator to be able to fling 2 turns in a row with out pushing. You really need it to be able to keep up with something fast like big bound. Other wise you cant put enough pressure on them fast enough, to keep them from pulling a fighting retreat. Also the second levitator would allow you to keep up pressure on things that can break away easily and have toughness like the striker. They can break easy but cant run far enough to get away from a 20-30" flung mochooch.

One thing you will find is that you will have so much fun playing something like this that win or lose you'll want to play it again right away.:D

borg have you tried it??? what is your strategy against ironclads?
________
Vaporize
________
Asian live

My Screeching Terror army will 0wn that army anytime Borg...better scrap it while you're ahead. :)

Seriously...

I'm glad more and more people are straying away from the text-book Mk army builds and doing a bit of experimentation, using alternative armies....

Some are so text-book, sometimes, it's easy to read your opponent's moves. Predictable really. Part of the tactics in MK is 'the element of surprise', or for any tactics for that matter.
Watch as your opponent go "Huh???..." as you set your army down.

I heard of a local player who was so good at reading intentions (in this case, your tactics) that he's got you figured out, 1 to 2 turns in advance. And it shows...he's been dominating the tourney scene here.



Commenting on the *Macncatchers...

One's initial reaction would be "They will be quite useless if most of your opponents field non-captureable figs (atleast at the start). It still has it's uses. They double as "shades" if you can't capture anything...keep 1 or 2 healthy, hold them back, and during the end game, when figs are weakened and these no-capture SA's are gone, send the mancathers in.

Hah, reading this reminds me of the days when swarm was popular... anyways, I am kinda biased against the pyre, since he has a shallow dial, but his fast move should make up for it.

Posible bane: A swarm of fell reapers.

Yes, someone in this area has about 12 ***Fell reapers or so, and fields them in one army, pretty annoying matchup if you ask me.

How would you???

Go up against a chariot? This army can handle a dragon, but a chariot? How about this specialist army...

2 KI chariot 202
Jarl lvl 3
Oren Lvl 3

300 points... big annoyance...

:D

This army still looks fun enough to play... time to start looking for those war hatchets...

Hope I can finally get to play this army next friday.
Maybe I'll use this configuration :

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Pyre Spirit -87
Mooch -43
***War Krugg -40
***War Krugg -40

Autumn lvl2 -34

***Mancatcher -24
*Mancatcher -16
*Mancatcher -16

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Dropping one *Mancatcher
to upgrade another to *** and add a lvl to Autumn.