Warmachine: Against the Giants
Colossals and gargantauns are likely to be on the rise with a second wave of those models coming soon. Here are some tips for dealing with the big lugs.
Colossals have been popular since their release (with some much more so than others), and gargantuans show up here and there. The pervasiveness of colossals and especially gargantuans is likely to rise in the future due to two factors: 1) the most recent books for each game system – Warmachine: Reckoning (recently released) and Hordes: Devastation (coming soon) – are introducing a second round of colossals and gargantuans, and 2) the recent rules errata changed some rules that used to be particularly problematic for the big guys.
Since we’re likely to see a lot more Huge based warnouns (warjack/warbeast) in the future – and since some tools for dealing with them have changed – now is a good time to go over some general ways to deal with colossals and gargantuans.
Chip Damage:
One of the defining traits of gargantuans and especially colossals is that they have a lot of damage boxes, meaning that they can take a beating and also maintain full functionality (no disabled systems/aspects) for longer than their normal counterparts.
As a result of that durability, it is often very valuable to be able to wear down the target before you commit your most valuable resources to finishing it off. Ranged attacks, combat solos, decimated units charging in; these things aren’t likely to cause significant damage to a gargantuan/colossal, but they are likely to get damage on it, which makes it easier to take down in subsequent turns.
Some armies can muster together a sufficient combination of speed and hitting power to take out huge warnouns in one round of combat. If you are capable of doing that, go for it! However, it is often worth getting softening damage onto a colossal/gargantuan even with this style of army as it can buffer you against bad dice later on.
Roadblocks:
Huge bases are a pain to maneuver around the tabletop. They require a big landing zone and are often additionally constrained by having a low SPD value to work with.
Terrain that prevents movement – impassible terrain, scenario objectives – or that prevents you from ending movement upon it – linear obstacles, scenario flags – can greatly restrict where huge based models can move. Use these to your advantage to either shepherd where the opposing colossal/gargantuan can move, or recognize that they need to move around these things and set up for counter attacks based on their limited “end of movement” choices.
Body Blocks:
If terrain isn’t helping you out, you can use your models in a pinch. Although colossals and gargantuans can Trample, it is usually very difficult for them to do so effectively due to their combination of low/mediocre movement speed and significant landing footprint (this is often the biggest thing that screws up Tramples for them).
Running a cheap/otherwise not useful unit in front of a colossal/gargantuan is a good way to jam them up for at least a turn. Even if your opponent is able to dig their own huge based model out, that can often be difficult without specific tools (since the blocking models are still considered to be engaged in melee for shooting purposes), and it can pose order of activation issues.
“Hey, Down Here!”:
This is more of a PSA about base sizes and line of sight: being a Huge base doesn’t grant you any special LOS ignoring ability. Thus, you can doubly gum up a Huge warnoun by running models in front of it – not only do they need to figure out a way past you, but they also can’t see past you (depending on how big a model you have blocking them) to attack outward either.
Arc Systems, Works:
Thankfully, easier to track than this.
One of the most important things to remember about Huge based models is that most (sometimes all) of their weapons are restricted to specific arcs of fire (left or right), and they can only use both of their arcs against models that are in line with the (very small) area that marks the center of their front facing. Some Huge warnouns care less about this than others (anything with a weapon in their Superstructure), but even at its most basic it affects the melee weapons of all these models.
What this means for those facing gargantuans/colossals is that spreading out or coming at them from multiple angles forces them into tricky facing situations. The more vectors you give them to worry about, the harder it becomes for them to position properly for that turn (and the next) while also lining up all the attacks they want. In some cases you can force them to move just to get the attacks they want, and that can be a significant swing in their ability to hit with ranged attacks (as it forces them to abandon aiming).
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These are general tips that should help you against the general field of gargantuans and colossals. If you have your own army or model specific strats for dealing with the big guys, let us know about them in the comments!
Also check out Sticks and Dice for more WM/H content!
