Gamers:

It seems that battle formation discussions invariably revolve around 300pt H-t-H events. Because success in a sealed environment is crucial to participating in and winning Nationals, I want to raise community awareness about this neglected area of Mage Knight. WizKids has also set up the faction war in March to further underscore the significance of these tournaments. I hope they continue to promote H-t-H and sealed, so that MK remains dynamic and unpredictable. (Virtually anybody can buy a great army, but sealed creates what I like to think of as 'Fog of War'). The best generals have the upperhand, instead of the richest!!

Every now and again I will buy 3 booster packs from my local venue. Once I have all the boxes open, I get 15 minutes to create a 300pt army. My plan is to post my pulls here, and then initiate a discussion about what is worth fielding. While my army will have already been determined, I am interested in the opinions and ideas of other players.

The following are my pulls for 1-31-04:

D-014 Grasslands
*Orc Marauder 12pts
**Crusader Priest 40pts
*Shocktrooper 14pts
**Ub-Khan 53pts

R-026 Dragonsbreath
*Shocktrooper 14pts
**Apprentice Conjurer 30pts
***Mortar Altem 40pts
*Orc Marauder 12pts

CT-012 Crude Archer's Shield
*Cloud Warrior 38pts
**Deathsinger 29pts
**Amazon Scout 24pts
*Crusader Priest 35pts

Please reply to the following:

1) What figures would you include if this was your pull, and why?

2) What are your army's weaknesses and strengths?

3) How could you compensate for said weaknesses?

4) Rate your army from 1 to 10. (1= WTF, while 10=Omnipotent).

Keep in mind that you would be competing in a sealed environment, so don't give examples of BoL destroying your forces. It is highly improbable that anyone would pull everything needed for a killer combo like that out of only 3 boosters! I await your replies.

Mago-Azul

Initial commebnts on the pulls: not an easy lot you got there, there are a couple of nice figures in here (ex: **Ub-Khan, *** Mortar Altem), but overall, the power-level is nice but not overly powerful, there are enough options to get something decent going as the 2 REvenant figures makes for some really interresting options...

1) The Build :

Formation 1:
- ** Ub-Khan : Probably teh strongest piece of the lot, provides a decent punch, and great resiliance...
- 2 * Orc Marauders : Cheap meat-shields, they also enchance the Ub-Khan's attack with gang-up...

Formation 2:
- ** Crusader Priest : nice ranged attack with ability to deal high damage, and Revenant... Not too bad.
- ** Deathsigner : Yet another fig with Revenant, and a nice surger as well, it will give you options.
- * Crusader Priest : not my favorite piece, but the necro isn't bad... It also it allows you to move in formation...

Loners:

*** Mortar Altem : yet some more range, this one will be especially useful with his ability to restrict ennemy movement via Bombardement.

* Shock Trooper : Yet anotehr meat shield, he can surge/capture which isn't too bad... most likely will end up taking a few shots for the team...

* Cloud Warrior : your only Soaring figure, not a bad fighter per se, he will help you out.

** Amazon Scout : Yet anotehr smaller fighter, her immobiblize gives you some options, not too amazing, but flexible...

Total :297 points

2) Strenghts / Weaknesses :

The main strenght in this army lies in the sheer amount fo figure you're packing in. Most of them have sword-type, which means gang-up is and should be used plenty. There's also a decent mix of ranged capabilities... The army is also pretty flexible since most of the figures it contains have both swords and ranged attacks... The 2 Revenant Figs and the necro will also make it a bit moer durable...

On the weak side, well it's the perfect exemple of Jack of all-trades, master of none. It can do pretty much anything, but it lacks specialisation, except for Revenant... The Ub-Khan is really your biggest gun, seenig him get crippled early will be a harsh blow, so you might want to play him a little more conservatively then usual... Also note that the ranged capabilities in this army aren't too good either, your best range (excluding Bombardement, which is pretty unreliable) is only 10...

3) Really there's not much to do about the army's weaknesses. Its solid, and quite versatile, so it's all a matter of how you play it. Blocking Terrain is a must for this one since the range isn't too good...

4) I would rate this army somewhere between 7 and 8.5 It's solid, but it'' not overwhelmingly good.

Olan:

Excellent post with a lot of insightful comments! While my choices were slightly different, you captured the essence of what I also thought about this group of figures. I too will post my ideas/opinions in detail, but not until more people have responded to the 4 questions I presented.

Mago-Azul

Just wondering, how different was your build from mine? and why did you made it this way?

Olan:

People are doing the usual H-t-H only stuff, so I will go ahead and reply to your questions.

1) What figures would you include if this was your pull, and why?

I fielded everything but the *Orc Marauder and the **Apprentice Conjurer. The **Apprentice Conjurer was a tough cut and I prefer a *Shocktrooper over a *Marauder. (The click of Frenzy worries me because I don't want the Revenant engine stalling). My DC can stick together and collectively they will get a lot of mileage out of my troops, and the opponents as well. The 3 Atlanteans can also move together, thus maximizing actions. That leaves everyone else as loners, but they will all remain clustered together until I make my move.

2) What are your army's weaknesses and strengths?

Strengths: 2 figures with Revenant! Sweet!! 1 figure with Necromancy, which could come in quite handy. A balanced group of "surgers" and "archers" to handle assorted threats.

Weaknesses: No big guns, but the **Ub-Khan and *Cloud Warrior aren't too shabby. No unique, so it will take multiple units to secure any given objective token.

3) How could you compensate for said weaknesses?

Create a situation in which you disrupt the opposition's plan and force him to kill one of your units. That gets the Revenant engine going. Also, use all of the cheap trash in this army to disallow surging by key opposing units. (i.e. DT your peons as needed).

4) Rate your army from 1 to 10. (1= WTF, while 10=Omnipotent).

I give this group of weenies a 7. Under the right Warlord, this ecclectic group could beat most opponents. But it would have to be played just right, or it will tank quickly.

Mago-Azul

P.S. This will probably turn out to be one of the easiest groups to select. Wait until I pull 400+ points of units out of 3 boosters. :eek:

Chances are, I would have gravitated more towards Olan's build (the man knows his stuff ;) ) rather than Mago-Azul's (although good as well :) ) simply because from my personal experience with sealed events, the winner is usually the one who can create the most formations. The most important thing I would have done is keep the Orcs and Dark Crusaders together in formation. I can't really comment any further with this pull because I feel most players would have done the same thing with the formations and vary slightly with the loners.

This is a great thread; I'm curious to see what the next pull brings us.

While I agree that sealed tourneys have thier place - esp nationals - And that practice in building sealed tourneys is important -

I don't like sealed tournaments.

I call up my local store and order a case - Thankfully he will lett me set back three boxes for the 1st sealed tourney - since I bought them from him, however -

In a location where sales is lagging - there always seems to be an increase of sealed events. Basically - I end up with a load of trade stock,

Before you think i'm more negative than i should be - I finish well in sealed. I know its more even - gives a better chance to new players - however experience can win with alot of different armies.

I feel its a bit discriminatory to case buyers.

BTW my last sealed pulls included Drakor and Cyrus. We had 12 boxes opened and 5 uniqes. I pulled to rammers - EL Troll smashers and a bone golem - They took down PP Tremelen who had the ELTotem Staff. Breakaway and ram!

Gamers:

Thanks for the input guys. I hope to continue this trend, and make it a staple of our online gaming experience. My goal is to cause an increase of strategical discussions. This is best accomplished by individuals making their army first, and then seeing what others did--and why. Of course, you also need to "go out on a limb" and post your thoughts.

Of course Olan knows what he is doing. He is exactly the type of player we all benefit by interacting with. I just posted my choices after 15 minutes of strategizing. That is the time limit to construct your sealed army, right? So, in closing, I sure hope we can get together again soon.

Mago-Azul

Whao guys, stop doing that, I'm gonna start to blush... :rolleyes:

I gotta say, the thought of fielding the pair of Shock Troopers rather then the Marauders did cross my mind, but I opted for the Orcs for the folowing reasons because they make a better synergy with the rest of the army. in fact, the thing is that while Shock Troopers and Orc Marauders are about equal in potential, but tehy work better then the Shock Troopers because your orc formation is actually going to go upfront, while there are little reasons why I would like to spend an action on moving my mortar Altem. Meanwhile, your Ub-Khan will charge forward, and if he's got the 2 little marauders coming along, he can do his job unhindered (2 harrassers to prevent interference) or have a little help against higher defenses (gang-up!).

Just thought I'd revive this with Faction Wars coming. I think it's gross that with 3 boosters you might not get enough points to hit 500 (assuming you use a figure/relic combo under 100.)

Chris

Thats part of the stratagy in choosing what to bring, you want to be able to use as much of the boosters as you can, so you dont want to bring something that would be half your army, but you dont want to end up with 450 pts, so you want to bring something decently sized... alot of it depends on the luck of the draw though. Fate is fun, isnt it.

Gamers:

Thanks for the bump guys! :D After attending the Nat Qualifier, I will post my pulls and see what others would have done with my boosters. That should be most interesting. We can use this thread as a template for future discussions. Until then..................

Mago-Azul