In my search for the ultimate 1000pt army... I decided to try something fun with all of the new Jade Falcon units I got recently (in that big bunch of Vanguard mechs I mentioned in my 'Ignore Blocking Terrain' army thread)

one thing that has always made me enjoy playing Jade Falcon is the 'Uber-DFA' they had before Wizkids cut off the Faction Abilities... so when I found the CJF Faction Pride that gives all JF units without Merciless pretty much that same ability in the lot... I grinned evily :devious: <-- yeah just like that

and to boot I got 4 CJF Thors and a Loki (an entire JF Heavy Star) plus 4 Star Commanders... let's just say my JF forces recieved a HUGE boost in power with this lot...

so here is my (mainly for fun) army designed to Death From Above like mad!

998 pts:
207 Thor
27 Star Commander
44 Armor Piercing
207 Thor
27 Star Commander
44 Armor Piercing
207 Thor
27 Star Commander
49 Inferno Ammunition
23 Thunderbird Battle Armor (x3)
60 CJF/CNC Situational Alliance
30 CJF Faction Pride (Merciless)

3 Thors... two with Armor Piercing and one with Inferno Ammo (because I didn't have a 3rd Armor Piercing for heavies)
Each Thor has (with pilots) 3 pulse damage at 0/12, 4 ballistic at 2/14 for 2 targets, 12 speed with jump jets, 12 attack, and 21 defense
with the CJF/CNC situational alliance I practically won't take heat from pushing
the Faction Pride... any friendly JF unit without Merciless has 'When this unit makes a death from above special attack, roll one six-sided die and add the result to this unit's attack value for the attack. This unit is dealt 1 pushing damage when it fails a death from above attack and 0 damage when it succeeds at a death from above attack.'

so basically... when I DFA I can have anywhere from a 13 to 18 attack, and can attack every turn without taking heat...

The Armor Piercing will help soften up any tough shells... and the Inferno Ammo will slow the enemy down


all-in-all I think this army will be REALLY fun to play... and annoy the #### out of my opponent (which makes it all the more fun) especially after I ended up doing 7 damage with the Jade Hawk 'Blitz' on my friend's 'X-Axis' with a DFA (3 base + 2 DFA + 1 Brawling + 1 Critical Hit :devious: his Null-Sig didn't help him out much) and chances are I'll be using this army against that same friend...

so let's see... two things I can do in an army that make that one friend cringe...
1. HUGE amounts of Clan Battle Armor (10 SW, 6 SC, 1 Merc, 1 SSw.... his poor vehicles didn't stand a chance when that wave came over the blocking terrain)
2. Death From Above

Yep....... he'll hate me when I face him with this :P

Few things wrong with this army.

First thing is a rules violation - you can't play a Situational Alliance and a Faction Pride at the same time.

Second thing is also a rules violation, or rather a bonehead move - you can't run a Situational Alliance army with only half of the Alliance. You need at least one able CNC unit on the field or the Alliance's effect is negated. And from the cost listed on your Pride, those Thunderbirds aren't Novakitty T-birds.

Third thing is that the CJF/CNC Alliance reduces heat recieved from orders by one to a minimum of one. This means that it only works when you give a 'Mech an order that results in multiple heat being taken, such as a push to assault. Trust me, I play that SA all the time, I know it very well. If I recall my Merciless jumping correctly, a successful jump - and that's all Merciless types ever get - is free, no damage taken and no heat gained. If true, the SA is doing squat for you, on top of not being useable because you have no CNC units.

Fourth is that your Thors are wasting their gear. Tons of Armor Piercing is superfluous on an army focusing on MDFA, which deals impact damage and thus negates armor anyways. Instead, dump both Armor Piercings and the SA, since you obviously need the Merciless Pride for your army to function right, and use the hundred and fifty free points that gives you on one thing - harassers. I'd recommend at least six Vanguard Clan Battle Armor, which comes out to 108 points and should, if my math is right, put you up to 958. You might also want to think about a heavy Anti-Personnel attached to one of the Thors if your friends do a lot of infantry fighting. Either way, you need, and I do mean need, harasser support in this kind of army. Without it, the other guy's harassers can base you at will and steal your MDFAs since you can't DFA out of base contact. This will allow the opponent the time they need to set for your attacks and crack your Thors but good, especially since they're only sitting at 22DV even with friendly fire. The CBA can go to war with the opponent's ATVs and such and allow your jumpers to focus on jumping instead of constantly pasting basers. Especially since the minimum range on those Thors' ballistics mean they'd have to use energy or close combat against those basers, which is sub-optimal.

If you really want to run Merciless jumps, I'd trade for several CJF Goshawks out of Firepower. They have innate Merciless and do the exact same DFA damage as those Thors for a great deal less points. My brother is an avid CJF player who gains great enjoyment from jumping on people, and his four Firepower Goshawks are his greatest weapons. If you go with Goshawks, then you can dump the Pride for extra support, plus your army will still work if someone True Grits you. I'd recommend at least one Huitzilopochtli tank in your battleforce to act as a ranged combat hammer at need. That thing eats 'Mechs alive, especially with a few CJF SNiper Teams acting as fire formation helpers for it. It'll help you if your opponent is harasser-heavy and can lock out all your MDFA attempts, or can play well enough to make an MDFA impossible otherwise.

Anyways. Hope all that rambling helps. I'll discuss the issue with my bro and see if his Jump Turkey-obsessed butt can help you out at all as well.

Heh...apologies for double post, but I spoke with my brother and he had one recommendation reguarding this army over what I'd said above, so I decided to just jump the gun and lump it all mostly together.

He tells me that the Hui and Sniper Teams are a bad deal and to go with CJF Cizin tanks instead. Those things can do both the job of shooting things up and acting as harassers due to their speed, and a pack of them are a serious threat on the board. He's right. With enough Vanguard CBAs to act as impromptu fire formation buddies (call it three Cizin and six CBA), you can quickly establish a considerable energy threat anywhere you need it, and the Cizin move even faster than the CBA.

I'd go with Goshawks, Cizins, and CBA, maybe backing them with one of the new Vulture Mk. IVs to give you some credible ballistics, and see where it goes. Should work better than a bunch of jumped-up Thors, especially when you hit True Grit armies.

it's not a rules violation since it's not going to be used in anything but games for fun... the closest place for tournaments is an hour away so my friends and I don't even play by Wizkids' rules... we've changed a lot of stuff to make it more fun and in some ways more realistic

this will be the first time we've ever tried using SAs or FPs... but I'll have to take out the SA anyways cause I didn't see the 'to a minimum of one'

I'll see what I can do to replace the gear... but the problems with your suggestions on replacements...

I only have a Steiner Goshawk from Vanguard... no one in our small group has a True Grit... and the Huitzipochtli tank's 12" range will make it practically useless in our games except for maybe against one guys' Steiner forces... because everyone else always tries to make most if not all of their force have 14" ranges...

I only have 1 Cizin and 2 JF CBA... so that's not possible either (and btw... in all of this I can't trade with anybody because I'm the only one of us with even a single JF unit)

I appreciate the help and your suggestions would be great for a tournament army... but this is just for fun and games in our own little circle

now one army I would like help with is my army built to shoot from the safety of blocking terrain: http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295118

please note it's also built only for fun since, again, the nearest tournament is an hour away so we don't even bother...

alright... my new army consists of:

996 pts:
207 Thor (x4)
27 Star Commander (x4)
30 Sylph Battle Armor
30 CJF Faction Pride (Merciless)


the Sylph will be used to harrass any artillery he has, which will most likely not have any support (especially not anti-aircraft support) since pretty much the only times either person has ever been able to reach the others' artillery is if the rest of their army has been destroyed, and we rarely use VTOLs so he won't be expecting that...

other than that.... it's pretty obvious what the Thors and FP are for so I don't need to explain that again

you need a bit more versatility, sure the thor's are cool, but running 4 of the same mech is asking for trouble, an army is about balance, 2 of the same mech is a little iffy, 4 isn't a good idea at all

I'm pretty sure this army will work well... since they'll be able to DFA from 12 inches away... as LaserLight said the impact damage caused by a DFA ignores any kind of armor

a plus to having multiples of the same unit is if one of them is rendered useless the others can still keep going

I can't do a ton with the Clan Wolf army, I don't know much in the way of Steel Wolves and Clan Wolf itself has a rather miniscule unit selection right now.

And now for the bad words...

Wolf, the suggestions people are giving you is for a tournament-ready army under the desired theme and point restrictions. That's what this forum is for. If ye're'a'gonna disregard all our advice on the basis of 'we don't have this' and 'we don't play that way', then you wasted yer forum posts.

Now I know quite well that sometimes the so-called experts need arguing with. Lord knows I've done it often enough myself, and for good reason as often as not. But statements like "I'm pretty sure this army will work well" kinda defeat the purpose of an army advice post. Quite frankly, with a thousand points to work with, I could thrash this army silly. My Jump Turkey MDFA-specialist brother would, and actually has, laughed. Now if it works against your buddies around the local scene, awesome. Go for it and I really and truly do wish ye luck, it looks like it could be fun to play. But realize that if you ever do spend that hour driving up to a thousand-point tournament at that nearest venue, you're gonna get mauled with this one.

Alright I'm sorry I realize I may have come over a little badly on that... I actually realized that after I'd posted my reply...

the only real reason I disregarded your suggestions are with the fact my Jade Falcon forces are VERY limited...

my mechs consist of:
4 Thors
1 Loki
Eve Buhallin
Vincent DeLeon
1 Griffin
1 Raven
1 Blade
1 Salvagemech

my vehicles:
2 Huitzipochtli
2 Tokugawa
1 Cizin
1 Nacon Armored Scout
1 Shamash Recon Vehicle

and infantry...
1 Sylph
2 CBA
3 Thunderbirds
1 Centuar
1 Flamer Team
1 Gun Nest
1 Elemental



my Falcons are the smallest of the factions I collect myself... I really didn't mean to seem like I didn't want help... I probably should have posted what I have to work with beforehand...

Disregarding a suggestion with "I'm sorry, I don't have those pieces" is different than disregarding a suggestion with "No, my version works just fine."

I don't mean to sound like a domineering ogre myself, but I've fought Falcons enough times to know a great many of their tricks. That and, to be honest, I am something of a domineering ogre when I'm in a bad mood, and tonight has sucked in a major way. So how about we call it even and I let some other Falcon weenies come in and say hi, eh?

Fair enough... I wasn't in much of a good mood myself when I typed that first post...

let's just forget it happened