As promised in an earlier thread, I'd like to share with you guys a recent build I played on a game last weekend.

Now, this was meant to be a fun army but I think it could do pretty well in a competitive setting, especially after playing it against some of the more well rounded armies last weekend. Let me know what you guys think.:grin:

My Fickett's Five army:

- Commander Townley on dial a - 35 pts.
- Steam Mauler*** - 81 pts.
- Galeshi Stalker*** - 45 pts.
- Cindrata - 97 pts.
w/ Galeshi Sunsword - 40 pts.
w/ Potion of Vitality - 20 pts.
- Uncle Guns - 67 pts.
w/ Screaming Shield - 31 pts.
- Dwarven Runelord - 36 pts.
w/ Tome of Wierding - 28 pts.
spells: Arcane Sight, Centaur's Gait, Disenchant, Disbelieve
- Fickett's Fifty AC - 20 pts. (20 pts. cohort discount from Townley and the Runelord)

Total: 500 pts.

Thanks to the AC, the Steam Mauler can use 3 bombardment tokens instead of 2 for some mean carpet bombing! With that many tokens in play at a time, he should be able to hit something whether the tokens drift or not. Townley's Leadership lets the Mauler bomb the enemy's camp each turn.

Cindrata and Uncle Guns become nasty unshootable gun emplacements with the Stalker acting as Guns' bodyguard and token grabber. The Screaming Shield's ability may become a hindrance against my own shooters, but thanks to the Bloody Thorn sub faction ability, I can just spin Uncle Guns away from my shooters during my turn before unleashing hell on the enemy.

And just in case some wiseguy fields a Ghost Form figure, the Runelord can help with Arcane Sight, plus he can even Tinker the Mauler if needed.

Now, I know what you guys may be thinking: no Crown of Khamsin? Agreeably, it's the perfect relic for this build, but alas, I've yet to nab one of those. In any case, this army did great and was plenty fun to play! The Mauler hit a commendable 60% on its bombardment attacks and there was also a certain satisfaction in seeing your opponent's reaction whenever his figs get bombed.:grin:

Despite having Cindrata (with a 25" bounding range), the greatest bane of this army however was speed. Facing a cavalry-heavy army led by none other than Nephrea Pike proved this. Cindrata was eliminated by Pike, then Pike was done in by Uncle Guns while the other cavalry units kept MC/C-ing my other troops. Fortunately, the Mauler, Stalker and even the Runelord stepped up and dispatched the other riders (their mounts were all skittish so that's that). Then my opponent missed some crucial rolls and that helped turn things to my favor. His healers also proved troublesome but the Mauler took care of them nicely.

That is pretty sweet. I admit, few people have been capable of utilizing bombardment successfully. I find that the ability works best against slower infantry type figures like the zombies of the Crusade or trolls. Have you considered using bombardment in tandem with both the crown of Khamsin and Spirit Armor? I had an army once that had 2 ***Steam Maulers, Scattershot, and Tymara wielding the Crown of Khamsin and Mistral wielding the Spirit Armor. It was something along the lines of an 800 pt battle vs a Dark Crusader army. I managed to destroy most of the army before it reached my side of the battlefield. I hadn't even considered using Fickett's Fifty AC. I think that would have broken the game. One of the reasons I think I won though, is just that my opponent hadn't considered the possibility of Bombardment in his build.

I've got to say, it's nice to see something new and clever after playing this game for so long -- well done! I for one never dreamed of putting Fickett and Bombardment together until you brought it up.

Now, for the army itself: it has a lot going for it, but I'd feel more comfortable if it was able to concentrate more damage on one target; in 500 points, I don't know if Cindrata's three is going to cut it, especially when, with items, she's a good 30% of your army. Her speed is certainly sweet, but I think in this army she suffers from something I never liked about Bakus: a lot of figures can shrug off three damage without too much problem. I think this problem mostly affects Cindrata. Guns packs more of a whallop, hitting for four straight or hitting an amazing three targets for five clicks (!!!); the Mauler is dishing out AoE damage, dealing three damage to every figure within 2" of his three (!!!) tokens.

I'm not going to say get rid of her. Her massive range and high attacks means she can be all but guaranteed to lay those three clicks down, letting her be opportunistic and capitalize on openings caused by the bombardment and by Guns. I think a really cool albeit risky idea would be to replace her with Janos Freeborn, who would really benefit from the AC and is more capable of dealing heavier damage, but a) not many people have access to Janos and b) doing that would leave you wanting in the melee department (but please consider it, the idea of Janos bounding around nailing four targets for five damage makes me feel something akin to warm and fuzzy).

The alternative is just make her cost less! I'm almost never a fan giving pieces items that don't always give maximum benefit. With the Sunsword, for instance, you're paying a fair bit for a +2 to attack that's only good when your bounder in melee. True, Cindrata doesn't shy away from some light melee, but imagine how much more useful Inferno would be, which gives a +1 to attack for range and melee (actually, who am I kidding, I just think Inferno is the best relic in the game, hands down). When it gets down to it, I personally would almost always have another figure than a relic on Cindrata when I play her.

If you don't mind breaking faction purity, I'd dump Cindrata's items and give her a Cloak of Shadows, just to give her the edge on Vith. I'd probably also scrap the Stalker. With the points, I'd put in a small Summon engine, maybe something like Fys'Okra (b) with some **Shades a Werewolf or two, just to give you some recyclable chumps to tie down the opposition long enough for your massive bombardment capabilities to tear them apart. If you want to keep things strictly BPR, I'd consider dumping the Sunsword, Potion, and Shield for two Cloaks of Shadow and two Potions of Dueling (one set for each of Guns and Cindrata), and using the left over points (63, I believe) put in some more melee muscle or harassment. I think Tonen Swiftblade is a fine choice if you don't mind taking a Cloak away from one of your other fighters, but even something like an Axe-Knight or a Runelord, maybe with a Potion of Dueling, would really help deter any alpha strikes against your Mauler. Even a bunch of Amazon Scouts would help slow down the enemy.

Whew, that was long, I guess I had a lot of pent up MK thinking this help me let out! Hope that was helpful, I'd love to talk about the army more if you have thoughts on changes you'd like to make.

Thanks for the comments!

@War Wolf: I also considered a pure EL Fickett's Fifty army with Spirit Armor but I was really dying to try it out with Bombardment. What can I say? I like 'em pure! Hahaha! **Rivvenguard Archers with the AC and the Armor would be pretty sick indeed though.;)

@Norim: Thanks for the suggestions! I've actually made some revisions to this army already since a good friend of mine was kind enough to lend me a Crown of Khamsin just the other day. It will now look something like this:

- Commander Townley on dial a - 35 pts.
w/ Crown of Khamsin - 31 pts.
- Steam Mauler*** - 81 pts.
- Dwarven Forgemage** - 28 pts.
- Cindrata - 97 pts. (sorry, I just love this figure)
w/ Galeshi Sunsword - 40 pts.
w/ Potion of Vitality - 20 pts.
- Uncle Guns - 67 pts.
w/ Screaming Shield - 31 pts.
w/ Potion of Dueling - 6 pts.
- Dwarven Runelord - 36 pts.
w/ Tome of Brass - 33 pts.
spells: Arcane Sight, Call Familiar, Forge Relic (-25 pts. to 1 relic)
- Fickett's Fifty AC - 20 pts. (20 pts. cohort discount from Townley and the Runelord)

Total: 500 pts.

Perhaps Cindrata will be more threatening now with 4 ranged damage thanks to the Crown with a possibility of doing 5 with the AC. And yes, Janos is hard to come by so that's that.:D Guns' PoD is just a filler, though you'll never know when the need to capture arises.

You read my mind when you mentioned having some sort of summon engine for this army, that's why I dropped the Stalker for a Call Familiar/Forgemage combo. After that uphill battle against the cavalry-heavy army, I thought I needed something that will give me some staying power especially with the lack of any healing (aside from the PoV) in the original build. These Forgemages (especially the ***ones) are among my fave BPR nons and the **ones are pretty decent melee fighters with a nice 8 starting speed and returns to life thanks to Call Familiar. Gotta love those dwarves!:D

Well... if C. Townley could wield the Crown, it would be certainly the best thing since sliced bread :)

I think the army is well rounded, but suffers from a little bit on the health side. None of the figures have damage reduction for example, and neither can them survive long enough if they take damage continuously. I mean if you got a swarm type army: mage spawns or exploders you can get a hard time surviving the encounter healthy.

I mean you might need a tanky figure, lets say the **dwarven hammerskald, or the **dwarven stomper. Or something like that. You see, you need to guard your artillery. The elves got Geddion, you got well... not much, but even a Hazna Bez or a ***Dwarven Runelord.

Just saying. Well nice army for my fav. faction btw :)

Well this is supposed to be a 'shooty' army and admittedly it lacks a tank figure for some resilience. The strategy behind it however is to shoot hard and fast before the enemies can reach my camp. Though I would consider replacing Cindrata with a Stomper, if I had one. Another one I'm considering is a Molog Bloodaxe to keep with the faction purity and gain the benefits of the Crown. In any case, I will be playing the above revised build on our next game in a couple of weeks and see what happens. I'm pretty sure some of my buddies had already prepared armies to trump this one as the original build did do pretty well on our last game. I may be crazy playing a similar army again but I just can't help it. Hahaha!

Against swarms, I think this should still do fairly well since my shooters can whittle down multiple figs in one go and the 'recycling' dwarf helps in slowing down some of their advance.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

Cheers!

I admire your dedication to range in an environment where melee usually dominates. As for the revisions, I really like them -- the Crown is never a bad call in a pure BPR army. What is a bad call, however, is sticking the :sword: Crown on poor :bow: Townley ;). I trust you to fix that problem in a suitable way; the quickest fix I can think of is sticking the Crown on Guns and finding something else to do with the 37 points currently dedicated to his items (costs him a point of ranged damage, though). I like the recyclable dwarf, just make sure he doesn't get captured! Again, I'm personally not a fan of having only 5-6 figures in a 500 point army, but this group seems pretty tight, and if it's working for you, then by all means, stick with it.

I think this army looks exciting, and every game will be a race -- can you hurt them badly enough before they get to you? With your massive ranges (24", 25", even 17"), I think you have a shot, so long as you can keep harassers off you and minimize the cover your enemy gets from terrain (a big worry for you, I should think; some well-placed blocking can really cut down on Cindrata's effective range). I would just be careful of something fast, hard-hitting, and hard to target. Varatrix with some spell-casting back-up comes to mind; if he can keep Arcane Sight off the field, I think he could pretty much have his way with your army, with only Cindrata posing him a significant threat. That being said, Arcane Sight gives you a big advantage, as does clever use of your recyclable dwarf. Normally for a ranged army with so few pieces I'd be concerned about a swarm, but I think your AC pretty much takes care of that one.

I'd actually love to hear a report on how the army does, definitely keep us posted.

Thanks Norim!

Considering the limitations of the original build, the matches were indeed exciting and challenging and despite it all, Fickett and co. still managed to win.

For the revised build, Fickett's role is still just for Leadership duties so I gave him the Crown. I actually liked how Screaming Shield worked on our last game so it stuck with Guns. Hopefully the big difference here will be the recycling dwarf plus the fact that all my guys will have +1 to attack, damage and ranged damage. That being said, fast hitters would still pose a problem for this army. We'll just see what happens on that game. A battle report will definitely be in order as requested.:D

One another thing is that you can face a whole invisible army with the Ghost Army spell, so a disbilieve could be needed.

Me myself would take out Uncle Guns, imho he's kinda weak and easily based. Sure he can put out a lot of damage, but only on close range; And if he's attacked, then you can do not much;
If you really want to use another heavy range hitter, then use ** Amazon Headhuntress. She costs the exact same, and has a much higher range, also having the bow attack type. She has stealth also, and later bounding also. But she is better in the defense side, boosting with magic resistance. My favourite ability for her is the leadership at the end.
Or as I suggested, side with the *** Runelord for the wielding of the crown, covering a token etc. He's a cohort for the AC card, so will only cost you 29 points.

When I field Snow's rifle, another high range thingy, the only thing that they can do is put Cloak of Shadows of all of their importand figures. (Arcane Sight cant counter stealth.) Think of it like if you can face a Kem Ravenbane, Geddion, even a blue Sky Dragon with a rider having it. Another thing is that if you get dropped this at your face with a Mask of Mysteries(like a guy here using that)

sry just ranting again... but I really like the basic idea and trying to thinking of all the basic dangers that we can face.

Hey, if Townley could wield the Crown, I'd be all for it, but I'm fairly certain the Crown has a sword requirement, maybe I'm wrong, as I don't have my stuff with me, but I'm fairly certain that's how it is.

Ahh..my bad..if the crown has a sword requirement then another revision is in order:

- Commander Townley on dial a - 35 pts.
- Steam Mauler*** - 81 pts.
- Dwarven Forgemage** - 28 pts.
- Cindrata - 97 pts. (sorry, I just love this figure)
w/ Galeshi Sunsword - 40 pts.
w/ Potion of Vitality - 20 pts.
- Uncle Guns - 67 pts.
w/ Crown of Khamsin - 31 pts.
w/ Cloak of Shadow - 8 pts.
- Dwarven Runelord - 36 pts.
w/ Tome of Brass - 33 pts.
spells: Arcane Sight, Call Familiar, Disenchant, Disbelieve
- Fickett's Fifty AC - 20 pts. (20 pts. cohort discount from Townley and the Runelord)

Total: 498 pts.

Guns now has the Crown and permanent Stealth with +1 speed. The Runelord now becomes a full support caster with Disenchant and Disbelieve (for Ghost Army and other nasty illusions). As an alternative, I can give Guns the PoV and Cindrata a MSB.

@zeph88: I understand your concern regarding this army's many limitations. For Stealth figs, I do have the Mauler to take care of those hiding in the bushes. Bombardment still hits Stealth figs. In the event they run out of their cover, Cindrata and Guns goes to work. MoM on the other hand is indeed a nasty relic to face with this army. Careful terrain placement will be crucial in this case and most probably Guns will not be able to do some infiltrating at the beginning.

Lots more things to worry about with this army really but it will make things all the more interesting and exciting for me. In the face of insurmountable odds, my guys (and my dice rolls) will need to step up their game to survive. This I found out when I faced the cavalry-heavy army led by Pike/EF Skydragon and still I was able to scrap a win with Cindrata as the only casualty. The lessons learned from that battle will surely help in the next game.

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments! Will let you know how it turns out.

Cheers!

I had used FF before but hadn't really thought of Bombardment. That is a great idea! How about something like this?

Scattershot
w/ Spiritbane
Technomantic Control (enchantment)

Basically, with Crown of Khamsin in play, Fickett's Fifty and Technomantic Control you have a monster who can place 3 tokens at 24' range, hits with 13 attack, deals 5 (6?) damage and ignores Ghostform!

Been in some other plane of reality lately so I was only able to check the realms now. :)

Anyway, thanks all for the suggestions and comments. Here's the latest incarnation of this army that has seen quite a lot of success recently.

FICKETT'S FIVE:
1. Commander Townley on dial A - 35pts

2. Scattershot - 99pts
w/Wave Plate - 19pts

3. Cindrata - 97pts
w/Inferno - 35pts
w/Scythrian Quarterstave - 28pts
w/Magestone Bracers - 10pts

4.Dwarven Runelord - 36pts
w/Tome of Brass - 33pts
Spells: Arcane Sight, Disenchant, Disbelieve, Call Familiar

5.Hazna Bez on dial A - 29pts
w/Crown of Khamsin - 31pts

6.Dwarven Forgemage** - 28pts (acts as the familiar)

7. Fickett's Fifty AC - 20pts (20pts cohort discount from Townley and Runelord)

Total: 500pts

Scattershot was the perfect piece for this army concept. 13 attack, 20 range, possible 5 damage from multiple bombardments plus he gets extra protection when firing from water terrain. Cindrata gets a kick out of Inferno and becomes a little more intimidating defensively thanks to the quarterstave. That nasty 24" bounding range for 13 attack (plus the target gets -2 to its defense) for 4-5 piercing damage was quite something to behold. The unlikely hero of this army however was the Forgemage. He now has quite an impressive list of kills under his belt and (literally) just kept coming back for more. I guess luck also played a big factor with this army.

@locoghoul: I once saw someone doing a Scattershot-Spiritbane combo. It was really great and I did considered it for this army as well. But alas, I don't have this relic. :(

I like the army a lot! You've got withering range, recyclable harassment, and a dash of melee muscle. My only suggestion is for you to maybe consider the spell Morass. It seems to me that the longer you can keep your enemy away from you and taking artillery fire, the better off you'll be -- what better way that to make the battlefield hindering? In all honesty, the spell can end pretty suddenly, so I'm not sure if it would be more effective than Disbelieve and Disenchant, but it's something to consider.

I love that the Runelord calls a buddy of his as the familiar. :D

EDIT:

I think the spell choice of morass over disenchant/disbeleive is a call based on the opposition he faces. If the opponent is packing a swarm strategy or other sort of fast melee, morass may come in handy, but the two protection spells give him an out against strong spellcasters.

I think disenchant/disbeleive maybe wins as the default, since a bad spell at the wrong time might stop his army cold, but a fast melee opposition just means a tougher fight. It's a close call though and very conditional.