In my recent armies, i've discovered how wonderfull the Crystal Protector's are..
They are the BEST support piece in the game point-wise and flexibility IMO.
For the mere cost of 15 build points you get an 8 attack healer with LI + EASY breakaway on the ** version.

So i was wondering, is a REAL healer a MUST in 300 points games?

On this design of my Steel Rain/All Mounted/Swiss however you wanna call it army, i only use one **CP:

Corpheus 128
*HL 35
*HL 35
***WHK 40
***Scorpmen Gunner 47
**CP 15

300 points

So yes, i'm using corpheus with only 1 healer IN 300 points format.

Am i crazy? No, it works perfectly.

The point is that with only 15 points of your army you can have a moving blocking piece of terrain plus a healer.
Since they ALL (except for the glassjawed Corphy) break easily, i can hit, break, heal while hitting with other threats. Some kind of yo-yo between 2 chargers and a ramer will get things harder for oponnent since i am not leaving until i kill most of his threats AND they can't range-hit my support figure.
I've tried the same version of the army with 2 and with 3 CP's but it's not necesary although it let me play even more aggresively.

I played against most of the HATE armies (AmaDrac, HOST's, not posse though) winning most of the time (when i say MOST of the time i mean i've played LOTS of games and the dice rolls DO alter this result) with a considerable advantage with ONLY 1 semi-healer in the army.

But then, i tried the same army without the CP.

It was a chaos. I don't know why or how i've lost every game i've played without a healer in my army.
I couldn't use my mounted to the maximun (hit, then get hit, then deal some shake off, and heal is my main cycle with mounteds) because i didn't have that little fairy.

It's a GIGANTIC advantage in that army (a MUST since i use Corpheus who is like the most glassjawed figure in the game). Maybe it's because they are mounted, or they are faster or i dunno why.

Then i tried some Fort army without much mounteds (just the Scorpmen) with healer and without healer.
As i was thinking it's the same conclusion, maybe because the fort is based on getting hit then healed.

So i wanted to test something even better: a GA army WITH and WITHOUT healer.
With a healer it worked perfectly again.. but when i was going to play it without a healer, things got worse. With all the bouncing now, not even a striker is out of danger. The support GA was taking before (Faith Healers, Shades, Imps etc) is now gone with CP's being invisible, the Fell's having thoughness, etc.
So i had to really get closer to a bounder and get an answer from him before being able to eliminate it.
The more i tried the worse it got: since my oponnent knew i didn't have a healer, he played ala aggresively, thing that DOES work against GA.

In other words.. IMO, it's a MUST having at least a figure with healing in any army. Having 2 is even better.

So do you think a healer is a MUST in 300 points? What are your experiences (if any) playing without a healer? I want to hear GA players who play without a healer.

Thanks for reading.

I think that in the current enviroment a healer of some sort is a must. There are just too many figs that can deal 4 and 5 damage to your primary attacker. It doesn't matter if it is a crystal protector or not. I personally prefer yellow chanellers. but that is because I like range.

I think it comes down to personal choice. However, most armies are going to field a big hitter (i.e. Amazon Draconum, Stonethrower), or a uber enhanced attacker. The idea is one hit - one kill (or at least significantly weaken). In this enviornment an army that has a healer will be at a tactical advantage.

For this reason, I ALWAYS play a healer in my armies. My favorite is a ** Solonavi Channeler. Not only does she magically heal, but she can play a secondary attacker roll. The other healer I'm fond of is the EGM, primarily because I like to play a tank army and use her defend skills. At absolute minimum I will include a ** or *** crystal protector, but I primarily use them for LOS blocking that can also heal.

So bottomline, it's up to you and the points available.

Steve

As far as I am concerned the crystal protector is a real for all the reasons that you mention. :)

Crystal Protectors are TOO useful to be ignored... Very few armies won't benefit from having one added (Wkura's Tank comes to mind; it has EGM, so no need for CPs).

Crystal Protectors are a staple in my armies since they saw the light of day ;)
Seriously, I remember going to Games World (last october = 8 months ago) with my army which contained a CP and I was surprised to see that almost everybody else played one too.

Of course now, 8 months later we all know why she gets used so much.

About the GA without a Healer.
It didn't take long before the *Corrupted Priest was brought in to enforce GA, Kindakous.
I played a few games without healer
but soon found out that having the healer around allowed you to play a lot more agressive in some situations (having tough, hard to kill figs to begin with AND healing back-up)
One of the main ideas of GA was to NOT LET ANYTHING DIE AND YOU WIN usually.

The GA I had most success with consisted of

Striker
Techun
***Horned Krugg
*Corrupted Priest

What makes the crystal protector popular is her combination of abilities:

Healing and LI

Pair it up with a very small point cost... then why wouldn't you use her with all these perks?

The CP is an excellent figure for the points, however she cannot be taken seriously as a primary healer.
My reasoning for this is the inability to defend itself, which makes it an ideal target for harrassers wishing to slow down or eliminate a moving wall.
She is seriously vulnerable to shake-off, yes I know she can break but it then becomes a question of who's dictating the game.
As an LI shield she is good, with the secondary ability of healing, but if you really feel that you need a healer, she cannot be relied upon.

Well that depends.

I define a "reliable" healer as a healer who does NOT need more than a "5" to make a successful healing attempt.

That means a **CP is a reliable Healer to heal figs who's defense is 13-or-lower at the point where you normally want to start healing them.

I agree that excludes a lot of figs
but there are some good ones who's defense drops fast and where the CP can be very usefull
Troll Artillerists, for instance
and of course Mancatchers
to name just a couple.

I agree that she can be useful, and your points are all valid.

My question on reliability is more to do with her being a front line figure and easy target for basing.
(I know that the basing figure can be charged, but then that opens the LI shield up and makes the charger vulnerable (especially if the basing fig is mounted, but I digress).

So, my main point was not whether she can score the hit, it's whether she's going to be in a position to do so.

I couldn't use my mounted to the maximun (hit, then get hit, then deal some shake off, and heal is my main cycle with mounteds) because i didn't have that little fairy.
-Kindakous

how do you do that ?
shake off doesn't work that way.
shake off only works if someone based you OUTSIDE your arc.

Oh and everybody knows that the CP is great, before she was brought out it's kind of obvious.

a healer is always advantagious If you roll good once for healing the healer already paid for itself.

Well, you hit, get hit (usually 3-4 clicks) then you base (or they base you) from outside arc and you shake away after doing so.

That's why mounted figures where the main focus on my army since they are good in late game also. This provides me of more firepower.

8 attack is the average on the healers i use. Once my figures take 3-4 clicks they have like 13 defense so it's not a problem.

when your mounted has taken 3 clicks I will base him in your front arc.
you then breaking away and basing my damaged fig with the back end of the horse will get him killed with only 13,14 defence.

granted it could be a good tactic in the late game after the first attack it's usually not.

i think a healer is a must in any army. :) when i play, i usually pick fast warriors like the techun and striker so it's logical for me to have a good healer that can keep up with my fast figures. that's why i use a standard channeler because of its damage and 12" ranged healing. :)

just my humble opinion. :)

[ag][ag][ag]

Right.. so you think i will base your healty amazon with my mounted.
Well, NO.

I'm not going to base your figures, just your support (usually with lower attack). So NO, you won't kill him with your 7 attack 1 dmg figures i usually hit.
But anyway, it doesn't matter.