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Frijoles negros
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Post by Frijoles negros »

Lord Fear wrote:I believe that the key to winning comes partly from army composition, partly from deployment, and partly from your plan. i don't usually create a battle plan before the game. The army usually consists of units that i believe will be useful agaisnt my opponent. For ex: if i know i will be playing against HE, i will take some magical defense, some shooting, and lots of Fear/Terror causing units. The rest of the battle plan comes as soon as the game starts. In other words, i make up my plan as i see fit, based on my opponents deployment. This allows me to counter any specific threats that my opponent deploys. IE: if he sets up knights, i set up bT's to counter, or something like that. i find this to be the best strategy possible and has brought me many victories.
What about in a tournament? Where you can't change your list between games. Also, what about luck? Does that have nothing to do with who wins? Personally, I think luck is the deciding factor. You can have the best army ever, a perfect deployment, a perfectly executed battle plan; but won't win if you don't have enough luck.
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Lord fear
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Post by Lord fear »

[quote="Mædhros"]What about in a tournament? Where you can't change your list between games. Also, what about luck? Does that have nothing to do with who wins? Personally, I think luck is the deciding factor. You can have the best army ever, a perfect deployment, a perfectly executed battle plan; but won't win if you don't have enough luck.[/quote]

Tournaments are similar in deciding how to play. The only difference is that one has to create an army that can take on many different opponents,i.e. a balance force. Luck however, is not something that anyone can control, so one must rely on such things as CR to get an advantage in the game.
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Drizz't
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Post by Drizz't »

Lord Fear said:
I believe that the key to winning comes partly from army composition, partly from deployment, and partly from your plan. i don't usually create a battle plan before the game. The army usually consists of units that i believe will be useful agaisnt my opponent. For ex: if i know i will be playing against HE, i will take some magical defense, some shooting, and lots of Fear/Terror causing units. The rest of the battle plan comes as soon as the game starts. In other words, i make up my plan as i see fit, based on my opponents deployment. This allows me to counter any specific threats that my opponent deploys. IE: if he sets up knights, i set up bT's to counter, or something like that. i find this to be the best strategy possible and has brought me many victories.

Tournaments are similar in deciding how to play. The only difference is that one has to create an army that can take on many different opponents,i.e. a balance force. Luck however, is not something that anyone can control, so one must rely on such things as CR to get an advantage in the game.


Lord Fear, you do realize you just contradicted yourself in your second post?

Where you originally stated (at least the intent sounded like) that you continuously switch lists based on your opponent. Meaning that you "Tool" your army to face your opponent, picking the best units suited to do the job. But in Tournaments, sicne you cannot "re-tool" your list, you then change your plan of deployment in relation to your opponent. The problem with this is that you are RE-ACTING to what your opponent is doing, meaning you are being controlled by your opponent.

For example, I place a unit of knights in full knowlege that you will place bolt throwers to counter, do you know what the knights are equipped with? what if they have a magical banner of "This unit cant be targeted by non-magical shooting" (of course there is no such thing). But my point still stands. You whole play is to re-act to what your opponent does, I have never found this to work or bring victory. What i have found that does bring victory is controlling the game, and if you let me control you, you loose.

But this is NOT a piss-pointing contest. Again let me reiterate, this post is to describe both tactics and plays, in depth or in as much discussion as possible to help our newer players.
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Lord fear
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Post by Lord fear »

[quote="Drizz't"]Lord Fear, you do realize you just contradicted yourself in your second post?

Where you originally stated (at least the intent sounded like) that you continuously switch lists based on your opponent. Meaning that you "Tool" your army to face your opponent, picking the best units suited to do the job. But in Tournaments, sicne you cannot "re-tool" your list, you then change your plan of deployment in relation to your opponent. The problem with this is that you are RE-ACTING to what your opponent is doing, meaning you are being controlled by your opponent.

For example, I place a unit of knights in full knowlege that you will place bolt throwers to counter, do you know what the knights are equipped with? what if they have a magical banner of "This unit cant be targeted by non-magical shooting" (of course there is no such thing). But my point still stands. You whole play is to re-act to what your opponent does, I have never found this to work or bring victory. What i have found that does bring victory is controlling the game, and if you let me control you, you loose.[/quote]

OOPS! I guess i am contradicting myself in the two posts. :oops:

What i meant to say was that tournament play and recreational play requiere two different styles of play. If i know who my opponent is(recreational), then i create a list to counter that person's units. If i don't know who my opponent is(tournament), then i create a balanced list. i am not saying that i react to my opponent, i am merely saying that i don't make a plan untill i can see what he is using, and how i can best beat him. What i am saying is that army composition has something to do with it but not everything.
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Drizz't
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Post by Drizz't »

What i meant to say was that tournament play and recreational play requiere two different styles of play. If i know who my opponent is(recreational), then i create a list to counter that person's units. If i don't know who my opponent is(tournament), then i create a balanced list. i am not saying that i react to my opponent, i am merely saying that i don't make a plan untill i can see what he is using, and how i can best beat him. What i am saying is that army composition has something to do with it but not everything.


Agreed on that point, then Lord Fear, for the sake of our viewers at home, give us a fine example of composition that you yourself use. Let us say for both tourney use and for recreational use. If your unsure what to put for recreational use, let me give you an opposing for, and tell us what you would go for against it.

1500pts HE

lvl 2 mage

lvl 2 mage

lvl 2 mage

2 units of 6 silver helms
champ
mus

20 spear elves -
command

5 shadow warriors

2 units of 10 archers

2 bolt throwers

1 chariot

so this is what is arrayed against you on the table, what would you take against it?

NOTE:
I have played against this list, and it looks nasty, but its really not :)
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Post by Gulgon »

2 units of HE archers!!! :roll: All you have to do is not forget to bring your minatures to beat that :D

IF you throw in sets of 3-2-2, you're really probably only going to get one spell off.


Your may be forgeting that you are Druchii... I use 3-2-2 and hardly ever fail to cast a spell... though, like stated; this is partly due to how I equiped my lv 2s... being that I believe, scroll, darkstar cloak and scroll, Tome of Furion is the best way to achieve a cheap and effective magic phase. I take only from Dark magic because I find many armies wasting dice on the Chill Winds so that their units can shoot next turn, which I often cast twice using 2 dice I only need a 4 to succeed and then I cast my best over spell (High casting cost) on 3 and force the scroll.... Often times I see a poor roll on dispel dice resulting in protecting my Darkriders from shooting.

I usually go 4-3 with 2 lvl 2 mages. I am able to do this because of how my mages are equipped. Meaning that on the spell that i throw 4 dice with, the chances of it going off are high, so high in fact that my opponent will have no choice but to throw a good portion of his DD or be forced to burn a scroll.


This can be as effective as 3-2-2... though I would relent in considering it as more... simply because, you might roll crappy spells... what if your best spells are a chill Winds and Black Horror? Your opponent might not waste his dice on dispeling a chill winds, where as 2 chill winds would force his hand if he had any effective shooting unit which most armies do. Also... I would not be so fast to through 4 dice at a spell because the risk for miscast is too great... too often I have seen mages crippled for the rest of the game because my opponent was greedy, trying to cast on 4 dice... It is nice however that with the Staff you aren't risking a Lv4, but you are still risking your magic phase... not to say the Staff isn't effective, it is a nice option to throw lots of PD at a spell (only in a time of Desperation, because casually is greedy) in a desperate time, when an irressitable forced spell could turn the tide of the game.

On a side note... I like this Thread, it is nice to read through so many well thought and experienced ideas and tactics...
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Lord fear
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Post by Lord fear »

[quote="Drizz't"]1500pts HE

lvl 2 mage

lvl 2 mage

lvl 2 mage

2 units of 6 silver helms
champ
mus

20 spear elves -
command

5 shadow warriors

2 units of 10 archers

2 bolt throwers

1 chariot

so this is what is arrayed against you on the table, what would you take against it?

NOTE:
I have played against this list, and it looks nasty, but its really not :)[/quote]

I also play against a similar list.

here is what i would use (asuming i didn't know exactly what my opponent was using):

beasmaster on manticore

lvl 2 sorceress with 2 scrolls

noble in chariot with SoG

20 spearmen

10 crossbows

2x5 DR's

15 executioners

5 cold ones

2 BT's

This should equal around 1500 points

basically, since i do not know exactly what my opponent would be using, i could only guess that as a HE player, he would use a lot of magic, and either an all-cavalry or infantery with cavalry support. Therefore, the list is created to counter either one, although it would be better against an infantery list.

The beatsmaster and dr's would hunt mages nad take out the bT's, the crossbows would target and reduce the spearmen, my spearmen would go towards his spearmen, with support from the chariot, cold ones, and execs, and my bt's would target the chariot and silver helms. And when i say target/take out, i mean that they would set up in order to be able to do those things.
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Frijoles negros
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Post by Frijoles negros »

Lord Fear wrote:beasmaster on manticore

lvl 2 sorceress with 2 scrolls

noble in chariot with SoG

That's 4 hero choices, and a sub-optimal setup anyway.
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Lord fear
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Post by Lord fear »

[quote="Mædhros"][quote="Lord Fear"]beasmaster on manticore

lvl 2 sorceress with 2 scrolls

noble in chariot with SoG
[/quote]
That's 4 hero choices, and a sub-optimal setup anyway.[/quote]

your right

forget the noble the nand add two chariots to the list and some harpies
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Frijoles negros
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Post by Frijoles negros »

Lord Fear wrote:
Mædhros wrote:
Lord Fear wrote:beasmaster on manticore

lvl 2 sorceress with 2 scrolls

noble in chariot with SoG

That's 4 hero choices, and a sub-optimal setup anyway.


your right

forget the noble the nand add two chariots to the list and some harpies
Actually, I'd ditch the BM on manti to get another chariot, and then either another chariot or a DR unit. I'd probably pop the noble on a horse too.

Here's a fairly generic 1.5k list I use:

Characters: 303

Noble (Horse, Seal, HA, SDC, Lance, Shield) = 123
Sorceress (L2, 2 Scrolls) = 180

Core: 591

16 Warriors (shields, M) = 133
12 Warriors (rxbs, shields) = 144
5 Dark Riders = 90
5 Dark Riders (rxbs) = 120
5 Dark Riders (S) = 104

Special:393

2 Cold One Chariots (spears) = 194
12 Witch Elves (Hag with Manebane, M) = 199

Rare: 220

War Hydra = 220


Total: 1507
Cutting off the last 7 points come from a musician somewhere and, if my opponent cares I'm 1 or 2 over, spears on a chariot.

All you have to do against the high elf list is knife the mages, RBTs, and maybe some of the infantry and you've won. My noble, although he'd like to babysit the chariots, should rush out ahead and help the DR with that. The hydra can draw (and take) fire from stuff like the archers to save the rest of my army. RBTs do more damage, but I can always pull the apprentice trick against them. Witch elves aren't the best against that list, but should even a few make it to the archers, they'll be worth it.
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