War Journal – There is Only Worr

Rotation 5 – December 3rd to December 22nd

Its been another slow month in my gaming life this December. I only managed to get in 10 games of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest but included in that was the first tournament I’ve been to in a while. With the release of Decree of Ruin I made the decision to focus my limited gaming time on our new Astra Militarum warlord Broderick Worr. While Captain Cato Sicarius and ”Old One Eye” were also sleeved up to play this rotation, I didn’t manage to get enough games with either to warrant reviewing them. So on that note lets talk about our grizzled Militarum vet.

Worr

For the first time since I started writing these journals we’ve seen the release of brand new cards. I decided to start with Worr because my last two rotations each included one of the previous Astra Militarum warlords, Colonel Straken and Torquemada Coteaz. I thought Worr would be the next logical step and provide a good frame of reference for testing.

Starting out I felt able to go in pretty much any direction with putting together a deck. There is not much established wisdom or particular innovations for Worr, leaving the field open to lots of ideas. Starting with his ability, which focuses on Astra Militarum units at stronghold (green) planets, I was determined to keep the army units mono faction with the exception of Rogue Trader and Void Pirate. I decided that this would be the perfect deck to run Muster the Guard out of. Worr’s ability works well regardless of what planet he is committed to, making it easier to keep him out of danger while he is exhausted. Additionally his other ability to destroy army units that retreat from the planet he is at means that though he won’t win command while exhausted he is still very effective at destroying opposing command units.

Beyond the general decisions I started to look at the opportunities his signature squad and potential synergies. I decided to add Noble Deed for the extra utility from combat units that would otherwise be destroyed because they can’t retreat. I included Enginseer Augur to help dig for the signature support Forward Barracks and potentially deploy outposts for free. With the generally solid command in the rest of the deck and numerous buffs to the ability of the Enginseer (extra attack at green planets, more sacrifice or destroy effect than I would normally have, etc) I found it worked well in this deck where maybe it wasn’t a strong include in others. I added Captain Markis for similar reasons to Noble Deed and Cadian Mortar Squad for the synergies with the sacrifice effects along with their added value under Worr’s command.

When I started to play games with the Commissar I found that many of my initial assumptions seemed to be correct. Even with only three stronghold (green) planets showing up in a game – the minimum number – he is still very capable. I was able to build tremendous collections of units for very effective combats and play a strong command game. The use of Muster the Guard and Broderick’s utility for the remainder of that turn generally followed the pattern I predicted. Despite all this I actually found it difficult to win games. Most games had a reasonably tight finish, or had a one sided result after several particularly close combats, but I only managed to win a quarter of my games. At this point I think this can be attributed more to myself as a player than the deck or Worr himself. I have had a much lower win percentage lately and made a reasonable number of costly play errors, particularly in the tournament.

Moving forward I’m not sure where I would go with Broderick Worr. As the Planetfall cycle continues and we see more cards become available, a more defined play style may become evident, but until that point I think I will likely fiddle with something very similar to what I’ve already built.

Next rotation I’ll be focussing on our other new combatant, Commander Starblaze. But, I also plan to build Zarathur, High Sorcerer and try to get in some more games with Old One Eye.

Until next time!