War Journal – Flap, Flap, Flop

Quack… Quack… Quack… Quack. Quack. Quack. Qua- What..? Baharroth doesn’t play for the mighty ducks? Hmm… Well I suppose I should move along quickly then.

Rotation 3 – Oct 14th to Oct 29th

Well its been another few weeks and I’m done with two new warlords and moving on from another. I didn’t get nearly as many games in as I would have liked over the past two weeks and set my self back in my schedule a bit in an attempt to get a few extra games in. Thankfully, there’s nothing too pressing on the horizon, but unfortunately this rotation felt like a bit of a flop. All told I got in 11 games during this rotation, 5 with Baharroth,  3 with Torquemada Coteaz, and 4 more with “The Swarmlord”. How did I feel? Lets dive-bomb right into it.

Baharroth

When Baharroth was first released I panned him largely because of his signature army, Baharroth’s Hawks. Building his deck I found myself wishing that I was actually just using Eldorath Starbane. I decided to pair him with Dark Eldar to have access to Archon’s Terror along with a few other staple command and combat units. I also made the decision to include more Mobile units than I normally would to create a more distinct deck from what I usually play in Eldar.

I didn’t get to play as many games as I would have liked but I was impressed with how Baharroth performed. Much like Old Zogwort, this warlord is very good despite his less than stellar nature signature army unit. His Hawks do manage to do work, but they suffer from more restricted deployment and greater fragility than other units. You are able to get a good discount on a number of excellent units with Death From Above. Deploying at the last planet is not a major draw back when you are getting two command icons for one resource and you are able to adjust your position with Mobile. Add to that Baharroth’s signature event, Cry of the Wind, and you can actually have units deployed using Death From Above arriving into combat much sooner than expected.

This deck’s primary strength is its command game and ability to respond to threats. Having most Mobile units provide a reasonable combat presence and two command icons means you can spread out to win command and still converge on a planet for a battle. This kind of responsive presence allows the deck to dominate in multiple phases of the game.

At this point I think the deck definitely needs more work.  The deck suffers when the you do not draw the right cards early. I have found that the cost curve is too high and relies too much on being able to cheat units in with Death From Above. The release of a few more good 3 cost Mobile units, or units with movement effects, for Eldar or either of its ally factions could really help make this deck style more effective. I believe that, with a couple more cards released that focus on this play style, Baharroth could become a very competitive warlord.

Coteaz

This rotation I played Torquemada Coteaz the least.  Fortunately, I have had some experience with him in the past. Usually I’ve built his decks with Orks as his allies but I decided to explore Space Marines instead this time around. Marines provide a degree of staying power not found in cheap Ork allies. After playing a few games using Space Marines as allies I think that it makes most sense to use Orks for the greater number of cheap units. The resilience of units like Blood Angels Veterans doesn’t seem to add up to the long term attrition provided by many cheap units, at least in this deck.

Using Coteaz in many ways feels similar to playing Aun’shi. Because he has an ATK of O unless you use his Action to sacrifice a unit he can find himself easily outmatched if you aren’t consciously planning your combats. Though, if you are able to leverage the advantage when you have it, Coteaz can put an unprecedented amount of pressure on an opposing warlord. In my opinion he is the premier assassination warlord.

Playing this deck has reinforced my belief on how lacking Astra Militarum can feel as a faction. At this point there is something, missing but I’m not sure what it is. Regardless, there is a lot of space for exploration and growth. [I asked Brad to make some more cards to help Coteaz — Travis]

Swarmlord

For purposes of this reflection I am going to talk about the whole month of playing with “The Swarmlord”. Starting out Tyranids required a lot of learning and assessment. Unboxing them, it was evident that there is a lot of potential for both Swarlord and “Old One Eye to be fairly competitive. Playing Swarmlord I still feel that this possibility is present, but it has become apparent that it will take some work to unlock the faction’s full potential. In many ways the Faction still feels very similar to playing the core set factions in the early days of the game.

For this deck in particular I wanted to focus on playing a very limited amount of Hivemind, basically only including what I felt is necessary. Instead I built a focus on command and efficiency, relying on units that I thought could synergize well with a press of small bodies. Generally this strategy seemed to be successful, allowing me to play a long game with continuous pressure.

I also decided to put a bit of emphasis on infestation. So far this feels like an under-developed mechanic. I don’t feel there are enough options to trigger infestation available yet, but when you can get it on the table it does feel like there are enough effects that benefit from it to be worth while. I discussed with a friend the use of Spore Chimney versus Virulent Spore Sacs. I had been opting for Chimneys but in this deck they may be too slow for the benefit they provide. Spore Sacs might be a more effective include but ultimately I would like a more consistent option than the one time use it provides. This may be something to develop further after more Tyrnaid cards are released.

I really enjoyed playing Swarmlord, it’s ability allows it to indirectly influence battles and focus more on command. I look forward to revisiting and further developing this play style and seeing how Swarmlord and Tyranids in general fair at Worlds.

 

For the next rotation I will be building Ku’gath, Plaguefather, Colonel Straken, and “Old One Eye’. This will likely be the last set I play before the new warlords from the Planetfall cycle start releasing and I get to start incorporating the new card into decks and my game play.