Warmachine: What’s the Best Defense?
What is the top factor you look at when protecting your Warmachine Warcaster or Hordes Warlock?
Chalkboard here from Chalkboard War, and I wanted to do a bit of a breakdown of what different people think may be the most important factor in defense of your Warcaster or Warlock in Warmachine and Hordes. There are four key categories vying for our attention when we’re scooting through War Room doing quick appraisals of casters:
- defense value plus armor value
- ability to sit on a stack of fury or focus
- large control area or ability to be effective at range
- special defensive tech
I’ll start with the obvious point: it’s all of the following factors together that marks the best, most defensive force leaders in Warmachine and Hordes. Of course, some of the most defensive models in the game have all four of these. This article is not intending to choose which Warcaster or Warlock sits atop the heap of all four in Warmachine and Hordes.
Instead, what I want to sort out is which of these four factors gives the best initial read on a Warcaster’s or Warlock’s ability to survive. When we’re looking at a caster, what should we start with? How do you start your inquiry into just how safe your force’s leader can be?
Defense Value Plus Armor Value as the Warmachine Code
I hear this common wisdom a lot: add the base defense value plus armor value together, and compare the result to 30. The further above 30, the better and more safe the caster will be. The further below, the more in jeopardy they will be. Some people may add in routine buffs the character might have on them (e.g. Escort adding +2 ARM to the caster when close to a member of their battlegroup is almost always likely to be up for the models that have that spell), while others think only about the basic numbers.
I list this one first, as this is a short-hand that I’ve heard many people use. And while it’s an okay rule of thumb, it can paper over some severe differences. Defense 16 Armor 14 and Defense 14 Armor 16 are very different animals, as the break point of damage and MAT/RAT are quite different. The additive score may be a handy start, but it may be misleading and give the wrong impression of a Warcaster or Warlock from the get-go.
Despite having a distance gabe and a dit of defensive tech (see below) that helps him, but Rasheth scores REALLY low on this measure with a pitiful 24.
Sitting on the Stack
A second consideration is how many Focus or Fury a caster can manage to hang on to each round. While it’s particularly valuable for Warlocks, thanks to transfers, Warmachine casters also get some benefit (more the higher their armor can reach). What’s critical in this evaluation is to sort out how many the model is likely to be sitting on at the end of a given turn. We all know that character that’s likely to blow their whole stack to get things done in the game, and that’s hardly a safe measure. Likewise, there are those casters that seem to end up with a healthy stack of Fury or Focus to sit on from turn to turn–in particular soul-collecting models in Cryx, Skorne, and Protectorate can ride the “soul train” and keep very safe in this manner once they get into the thick of things.
Unfortunately, this measure is only something you start to see when you sit a model on the table and play with it for a few games. I’ve played Warlocks that I thought would be really active, and they ended up camping a lot. Likewise, I’ve seen Warcasters who I thought would have a consistent defensive stack hanging about who actually need to boost a bit more often than I expected due to a low MAT, RAT, or FOCUS stat. The critical thing is to sort it out, as this can be a critical factor in survival.
Sit on all the tokens!
Large Control Area and/or Effectiveness at Distance
That said, you don’t need to save Focus or Fury to reduce/transfer damage if the Warcaster or Warlock is so far back safely that attacks cannot reach them. Some have long distance attacks while others only run buff spells that allow them to stay well back from the action. Seeing a big control area, or long range on spells or abilities, or a number of cheap and survivable arc nodes in the faction can be indicators of potential for this defensive ability.
The flaw of this defense is in part the fact that there are Killbox scenarios out there, which means your Warcaster or Warlock (or Warnoun unit) cannot hide so very far back after all. And there can be moments when you need to play for scenario, which can be an incentive to get up to dominate scenario zones and flags. If you’re relying upon arc nodes, losing them can be a limit as well. And finally, this may only work for so long–getting behind in attrition can mean foes creeping closer and closer to your once-safe commander.
Long control range can be really powerful… until it shortens dramatically with the loss of one of the team.
Defensive Tech
This is the other eye-candy option: some critical ability of defensive tech that the Warcaster or Warlock has (or can access through their faction or Minions/Mercenaries) that makes them extra-defensive. There are all sorts of these, so having a full list would be an article in itself. There is immunity to certain damage types, immunity to problematic status effects, ability to shift out of danger when threatened, protection from certain sorts of attacks (e.g. additional defense against charges or having non-magic ranged attacks automatically missing), Stealth, ability to damage those that draw too close during their activation, and so much more. Each of these is worth considering, and can be a factor to make us decide that a particular Warcaster or Warlock has good defense.
Where this category fails is with its particularity. Very few models have a lot of this, most have only one or two (not everyone can be Borka Kegslayer). It makes it meta-dependent and opponent dependent. I’ve been running lists that leave my Warcaster well-protected against spells lately–which is great if I face a Scaverous or an Adeptis Rahn, but does squat all against a melee assassin or buff caster. The temptation is to focus on all the things that the tech protects you from, while forgetting all the myriad of ways that other players will be able to get to your Warcaster or Warlock with alternatives. That, or you spend so much effort protecting your Warnoun that you don’t actually have the tools to stop the opposing force: the notion of “support bloat”, which most every faction can find itself entrapped.
And this category’s leader is: Immune to cold. +2 ARM when engaged. Tough. No knockdown and stumbles away. Wind wall. Defense buff and spell immune spell are just the icing on the cake.
What’s telling is that there’s no good answer for what is the primary thing to check for. Yes, it is a mix. I’m personally inclined to think about the Defense + Armor + Likely Distance combination as the critical part of my defensive evaluation of a model. That’s where I find my sweet spot with a Warcaster or Warlock–or put better, where I promptly muck up and get someone with a bit too low an armor stat too close to enemy attacks time and again.
~ So what’s the first factor you look for in defense with a warcaster or warlock? Defense value plus armor? Large control area and/or ability to be effective at far distance? Camping focus or fury? Defensive tech? What tops the list for you?
To watch some defenseless tomfoolery, check out Chalkboard’s blog at:
www.chalkboardwar.com
