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stormywaters · rare Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 1403

The Format:

36-points
Single race
No Magestorm/Promos, but Special Terrains allowed
No more than 2 of any one die
At least one monster, no more than 2
Each of the 5 "classes" must be represented by at least one die
All other restrictions apply

So I have two lists in mind. I'll post each and explain the strategy and reasons for each:

Treefolk

Home: 1

1x Pineling

Campaign: 17

1x Unicorn
2x Elder Dryad
2x Dryad
2x Hamadryad
1x Willowling

Horde: 18

2x Lady Nereid
1x Noble Willow
2x Willow
1x Naiad
2x Oakling
1x Willowling

As far as terrain, I thought Standing Stones for either Highlands or Flatlands. Highlands gives me access to Dancing Lights, which is really useful, but Flatlands gives me Lightning Strike and Wind Walk, and only grants racial abilities to Amazons, unlike Swampland or Highland.

The idea with this race is to move one terrain to magic (either up or down, depending), then letting my mages protect and aid my other army, with saves, TRtM, etc. My second army is built for survival and maneuvering to a lesser extent. Double counter maneuvers, TRtM and Flash Flood should help me keep my opponent off-balance while I move to an 8. I also have Wall of Fog as defense against missiles, if I see them.

Feral

Home: 1

1x Falcon-folk

Campaign: 17

1x Owl-folk
2x Wolverine-folk
2x Badger-folk
2x Weasel-Folk
1x Hound-Folk

Horde: 18

1x Owl-Folk
2x Buffalo-Folk
2x Horse-Folk
1x Leopard-Folk
2x Antelope-Folk

Same basic plan here: Maneuvers/Saves on one army, Magic on the other. There are advantages and disadvantages, of course. I have Lightning Bolt, Wind Walk, Wilding, Backlash, etc. I have useful magic in reserves to help my other army move, in case I can't get a magic face. I can Feralize to recover troops. I have Owls in both armies to protect from magic, but I can group them both with my mages to double their Dispel chances and add more magic to the army.

I can't TRtM, I can't Flash Flood, I don't double maneuvers ever, and I don't have Wall of Fog to stop missiles.

Which of the two would you play?

DialFforFunky · rare Joined: 11 May 2010 Posts: 1992 Location: Groningen

I think one of the most important questions is how relevant will time be. Mages tend to go for the slow game, so if the rounds are tightly timed they are probably not your best choice. The system to determine winners after time has been called is also quite important.

Gah! I can't really decide! I was going to post that I was in favor of the treefolk, but now I'm not so sure. One of the main thoughts against the treefolk is that the feral have more mages with magics that also do something in reserves, and lightning strike is a nice spell with those guaranteed monsters around. Even though the quality of the owl-folk leaves something to be desired, the quantity of magic icons kind of compensates.
Then again, the treefolk have such nice and efficient dice, along with a method of keeping them in play when you want to. And the unicorn is such a great die as teleport allows for very quick shifts in balance.
All in all, I think feral are the way to go if you want to play the magic attrition game, while treefolk are the way to go if you want to play the more muscular game of moving up by means of muscle.

Then some thoughts on treefolk terrain and placement: if you place you mages at home you'll just about always be facing a maneuvering army on the other side of the terrain die. Taking a highland and rolling magic is a way to scare them away, though it also creates an opportunity for your opponent to immediately block your plans by moving you off the magic faces (which still is an option against the treefolk mages). All in all a lot very significant variables. (You should, however, take a highland, as you do want to start casting. There's no sense in bringing a terrain for your mages if they can't use it for casting, and getting an 8th is a really big 'if').
So the think I'd be going for is placing your mages on the frontier. Even though you have less controle over the choice of the terrain, it usually is uncontested, putting your mages out of harm's way. You can now choose to place your maneuvering forces in the frontier or at home, and both could be very decent. In fact, if you've scouted the field, and know what your opponent will be bringing, you could just make this decision at the last minute. The nice part about this setup is that it usually has substantially less very negative outcomes while still retaining decent positive ones.

F
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DEEPBLUEB2 · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:17 am GMT Post subject:

chuckpint · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:31 am GMT Post subject:

Yes, I do Jim, but this was for single race. BTW, Funky's analysis is pretty much spot on.
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Battlefest tied for first GenCon 2012
Single Race Champion GenCon 2008-2009, Sealed Box Champion GenCon 2007,2009,
My collection is 21,500 Dragon Dice, 20,000 Daemon Dice, and others (too many to count).

DEEPBLUEB2 · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:33 am GMT Post subject:

stormywaters · rare Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 1403