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Subject: How do you defeat Couatl/Marut?

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Earthbound Angel
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05/09/2006 10:06 PM  
All I'm seeing now a days in Couatl/Marut warbands and in many variations. It seems like everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Is there a band that can put an end to this tierany? Suggestions please.

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Newtoncain
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05/09/2006 10:14 PM  
There is a few bands that have a 50-50 chance vs Marut/Couatl.

They have been around (or at least versions of them)for awhile and posted here on several threads.

Giving you a band wont mean you will win with it. You need to think about how to beat M/C in the Assault format.

What are its weaknesses?
What are its strengths?
What maps help/hinder it?

Does the warband you desire to beat M/C have bad match ups vs other upper tier warbands?

All this information can be found on this website.
Might want to try the toolkit files stickied at the top.[:)]

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05/09/2006 10:18 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by Newtoncain

There is a few bands that have a 50-50 chance vs Marut/Couatl.

They have been around (or at least versions of them)for awhile and posted here on several threads.

Giving you a band wont mean you will win with it. You need to think about how to beat M/C in the Assault format.

What are its weaknesses?
What are its strengths?
What maps help/hinder it?

Does the warband you desire to beat M/C have bad match ups vs other upper tier warbands?

All this information can be found on this website.
Might want to try the toolkit files stickied at the top.[:)]



Hey thanks Newtoncain, I really appreciate the help.

DN

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05/10/2006 12:18 AM  
A creature with a high attack bonus and magic damage is all it really takes. Either that or some good rolls with something that has magic damage and a reasonable attack bonus. Case in point I had a Marut get obliterated by a couple Duergar Champs the other day. They and the other beaters in the warband (Helmed Horror and Chraal) hit enough to kill and that was that. Other factions have magic damage dealing beaters that are of some use as well. Aspect of Kord for one is a very effective Marut killer if he can get his attacks in and make morale. Some beaters like Orc Champs, Frenzied Berserkers, Eye of Gruumsh have a bit harder time taking the Marut down but it's really not all that hard to kill one as long as you can hit. This is why GAS warbands can instant kill one on occasion as well.

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05/10/2006 1:32 AM  
There is no counter to the Marut/Couatl band.... Don't look behind the curtain... There is nothing there to interest you.... :)

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Earthbound Angel
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05/10/2006 3:14 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by robbdaman

A creature with a high attack bonus and magic damage is all it really takes. Either that or some good rolls with something that has magic damage and a reasonable attack bonus. Case in point I had a Marut get obliterated by a couple Duergar Champs the other day. They and the other beaters in the warband (Helmed Horror and Chraal) hit enough to kill and that was that. Other factions have magic damage dealing beaters that are of some use as well. Aspect of Kord for one is a very effective Marut killer if he can get his attacks in and make morale. Some beaters like Orc Champs, Frenzied Berserkers, Eye of Gruumsh have a bit harder time taking the Marut down but it's really not all that hard to kill one as long as you can hit. This is why GAS warbands can instant kill one on occasion as well.

R~



You know I was actually thinking about an Archmage band. The armchages flight can be very usefull on lets say "Kings Road" which is actually a very popular map for Marut/Couatl bands. I know marut has SR, but archmage has SP. So you have two shots at rolling an 11 or higher. And with the empowered magic missile, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel from a safe distance of course. Inspiring Marshall can be used for that timely Grant Move action and then I could use Frenzied Berserker to clean up the fodder.

DN

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05/10/2006 4:39 AM  
The Archmage also has empowered melf's acid arrows that punch right through SR, and banishment, which has a nice 50/50 shot to eliminate the Couatl outright. You'd probably have a significant advantage. An Archmage band can be very difficult to pilot, though. (I know, I used him at nationals last year.) And some of the bands designed to stand up to a Marut are really ugly for the Archmage. Still, he's a ton of fun to play, in my opinion.

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05/10/2006 8:15 AM  
I would say that the two worst matchups for Couatl/Marut are the Archmage and Ghaele Eledrin. Both are just too mobile and good at doing ranged damage for the Marut to counter. Ghaele has the advantage of often winning map choice. I would even say that if Ghaele wins its map of choice (king's road), the marut band has no chance of winning unless the Ghaele player makes a mistake.

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05/10/2006 8:24 AM  
I'm also a fan of multiple Eyes of Gruumsh. They hit hard enough and for enough that a few swings can chop through a non-bodyguarded Marut and the Marut's fabulous to-hit is basically lost on them.

Multiple Gith Monks are also considered a good foil for Marut builds, given their ability to (when combined with the Young Master) auto-hit anything for 80 magic damage or 120 if it isn't immune to crits. Marut folks can counter this by running a standardbearer, etc. but that's the rock-paper-scissors game.

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05/10/2006 9:22 AM  
Even factoring in Spell Resistance, a triple Slaad warband is strong vs the Marut.

Slaadi are immune to Sonic damage, which is big vs the Marut and Couatl.

They will probably strip about 10-20 damage from the Marut before fighting it (out of a possible 60 from Chaos Hammers). But more importantly, the Couatl and Bodyguard can possibly be hurt or routed before engaging. Aramil and the Cleric of Order are also potentially easy targets for either the Chaos Hammers or other CE units coming in from the side.

2 Grays and 1 Blue hit at +15 (the Blue hit's twice at +15). With flight, there's no reason not to flank, so, you have a respectable chance of hitting for 15 damage on first swings.

Marut bands don't have huge damage output, and the gray slaadi regenerate... so even if one routs, then later rallies, it can delay engaging until it can take more than one or two hits.

Slaadi bands won't win initiative much, and will rarely win map initiative, but, being able to safely target your own units for the Chaos Hammers is useful on just about any map.

Slaadi bands also do not match up well vs hard hitting bands with reach, like 2x HGB.

I think I have a potential fix for that matchup so it's not an auto-loss, but, it's either brilliant or borderline retarded, so, I'm testing it privately with friends.



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05/10/2006 9:25 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by bshugg

I would say that the two worst matchups for Couatl/Marut are the Archmage and Ghaele Eledrin. Both are just too mobile and good at doing ranged damage for the Marut to counter. Ghaele has the advantage of often winning map choice. I would even say that if Ghaele wins its map of choice (king's road), the marut band has no chance of winning unless the Ghaele player makes a mistake.



I'd been toying with a Ghaele + Graycloaks band recently as foil for slow bands and HGB, but I didn't think any actual good players were considering it.

I guess it's along the lines of a Sword Archon with Sacred Watchers.


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Vrecknidj
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05/10/2006 9:36 AM  
If your initiative modifier is high enough, you can really make it likely that you'll win your map several times in a big event. If you expect to be facing a lot of Marut/Couatl bands at an event, then you can bring a map that is least favorable to them. This, by itself, can help a lot.

Anyone have any advice on the worst maps for Marut/Couatl?

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doubtofbuddha
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05/10/2006 9:38 AM  
Nuke it from orbit.

Its the only way to be sure.


I would say the worst map for Couatl/Marut would be the Hellspike. Very few ways to keep your support protected.

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05/10/2006 10:58 AM  
Heh... "Nuke it from orbit." (I love it)

I think one of the keys to beating the Cuoatl Marut band is to kill that damned Cuoatl lickety split. Kill her first! I send all resources that way!

That damn snake's swiftness is a killer!

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05/10/2006 10:59 AM  
There is a difference between creating a warband designed to kill the Marut build and a warband designed to survive a Marut build in a tournment.

There are lots of varitions on hate bands for the Marut - but they will not do well in a tournment. Tournment built warbands need to be more well rounded and able to face many different types of warbands including the marut. At best it comes down to stratgy, good warband selection and luck ;) You have to learn the first, the second others can help you with and the third you're completely on your own! heh!

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iluvxtina
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05/10/2006 11:02 AM  
I hope marut+couatl+bodyguards continue being the invincible team,because LG is the most powerful warband and I love the idea they will be much more powerful in each expansion

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05/10/2006 11:12 AM  
The most powerful version of Marut didn't play the bodyguard at all, rather opting for the near impossible to kill Sacred Watchers.

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Vrecknidj
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05/10/2006 11:30 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

I would say the worst map for Couatl/Marut would be the Hellspike. Very few ways to keep your support protected.
Really? Interesting choice.

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Chad the DragonLordofAiur
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05/10/2006 11:31 AM  
How about a different approach - win on points. One weakness the Marut has is it is slow and on a large base. It has a high cost and with the couatl combined that's over half your warband. So all this means is that the Marut builds generally suffer from speed and the ability to score and maintain VP from victory areas. If you are skilled enough you can win by outscoring the opponent on VP by eliminating the VP grabbers in the Marut band and avoiding the Marut as long as possible.

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Vrecknidj
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05/10/2006 11:33 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by bshugg

I would say that the two worst matchups for Couatl/Marut are the Archmage and Ghaele Eledrin. Both are just too mobile and good at doing ranged damage for the Marut to counter. Ghaele has the advantage of often winning map choice. I would even say that if Ghaele wins its map of choice (king's road), the marut band has no chance of winning unless the Ghaele player makes a mistake.

Then again, the Ghaele probably wouldn't be too fond of some of the other bands out there right now. But, this is a really interesting choice.

Dave

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05/10/2006 11:39 AM  
Let me add one more related idea. The Couatl is the weak point to the build. Eliminating the Couatl drops the damage output in half and the Couatl is not fearless, has fewer hitpoints and a lower AC. So targeting the Couatl is a priority.

Some Marut builds will try to cover this weakness by including a Bodyguard. Trying to tackle the trio of Marut/Couatl/Bodyguard head on is suicide for many bands. However, this trio must stay together in order for it to work and now the total cost of these three pieces is about 150 points. Keeping the three together is one weak point. The pilot must activate them two at a time so if he wants to keep advancing one of the three must stay behind. The teleporter map makes this much more difficult for the pilot of the MCB band. On other maps you might be able to use a flying creature to take advantage of an opening when one of the three is left behind.

This type of build also really suffers in its inability to maintain VP areas. Many times it might be easier to win with VP than taking the trio head on. (See my previous post).

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05/10/2006 2:40 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by Vrecknidj

quote:
Originally posted by bshugg

I would say that the two worst matchups for Couatl/Marut are the Archmage and Ghaele Eledrin. Both are just too mobile and good at doing ranged damage for the Marut to counter. Ghaele has the advantage of often winning map choice. I would even say that if Ghaele wins its map of choice (king's road), the marut band has no chance of winning unless the Ghaele player makes a mistake.

Then again, the Ghaele probably wouldn't be too fond of some of the other bands out there right now. But, this is a really interesting choice.

Dave



Its, pretty interesting that it also does very well against helmed horrors, chraals and other popular choices. As long as it packs 4 greycloaks, it does well against hill giant barbs as well. Traditional CE is troubling though. Good thing no one actually plays it. [:)]

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05/10/2006 2:44 PM  
Monks too. But no one plays them either.

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05/10/2006 2:51 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by Chad the DragonLordofAiur

How about a different approach - win on points. One weakness the Marut has is it is slow and on a large base. It has a high cost and with the couatl combined that's over half your warband. So all this means is that the Marut builds generally suffer from speed and the ability to score and maintain VP from victory areas. If you are skilled enough you can win by outscoring the opponent on VP by eliminating the VP grabbers in the Marut band and avoiding the Marut as long as possible.

I think it's dangerous to consider the Marut slow, at least unless you've killed the Couatl. Moving 12, basing a figure, and then attacking is very powerful. If the figure gives an aoo, that's 60 damage dealt to it, otherwise, it's still sitting there waiting to be killed.

Generally, the Marut can defend VP areas on most maps quite well.

I think the most dangerous bands for Marut are probably the fast hitter bands, and the fast ranged bands. Note that none of these bands do well against HGBs. Conversely, HGBs certainly aren't a Marut hate band, but they have a solid chance to win, especially if they win their map. That's the number one potential advantage that fast hitter bands have, an open map.

So if it's me, I'd probably rather take HGB than any of the choices presented in this thread. Not sure how good HGBs are against Duergars or Zakyas, but every other suggestion in this thread HGBs are amazing against (though Archmage and Ghaele can fudge their bets with multi-Graycloak).

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05/10/2006 3:07 PM  
Heh, maybe Im not a lunatic for considering chaotics as Marut hate after all, eh? [)]

The real big thing you need to look at for countering Maruts is the metagame you expect to play in. How many helmed horrors do people own? How many people like to play GAS? Does Marut even post good numbers? Once you know the answer to these questions you can build a warband that can play off variances in your local meta to succeed where it might not succeed in a different meta.

Speed doesnt really kill a Marut, speed kills the Maruts allies. Ignoring the marut and playing keep away while picking off squishie figures can be a good strategy that can pull a win off for you depending on the map. This involves debating risk vs reward. What pieces can you give up to the Marut to slow it down while still staying ahead on the points game?

Or maybe all you need to do is swarm in, gank the squishies, then eat the AoO and run away. Ive seen both of these strategies used to great effect.

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05/10/2006 3:37 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by Shadow_Fox

The real big thing you need to look at for countering Maruts is the metagame you expect to play in. How many helmed horrors do people own? How many people like to play GAS? Does Marut even post good numbers? Once you know the answer to these questions you can build a warband that can play off variances in your local meta to succeed where it might not succeed in a different meta.



Bingo and how many people are going to play Tri frenzy/Duel HGBs?

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05/10/2006 4:13 PM  
Yes it is true that the Marut can move 12 and still attack with the SS spell. I was aware of that, but the point was that the Marut, being a speed 6 large base moving only on the ground, is easy to block its advancement with speed bumps.

You almost need to decide early if you are going to go all out and try to kill it or if you are going to go all out to avoid it and win on points. Deciding one way and then flipping strategies in the middle of the battle is likely to bring failure.

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05/10/2006 4:20 PM  
Speaking of the Ghaele...

Ghaele Eladrin
Large Air Elemental x2 (bear with me)
Elf Warrior x3
Xeph Warrior x2

After the first round, everybody is doing magic damage. So, the Large Air Elementals are now at +11 for 10 magic. And, thanks to their whirlwind attack, they can affect quite a few squares.

They have DR 5, which is nice against HH, Chraal, and unmodified Maruts. They have F10, which means you can plop them about anywhere. They have Large bases, which means they can plug up the works. The fact that they're incited is relatively unimportant in this band, because you probably want the Ghaele to activate last every round any way. They're elementals, so they have all the useful aspects of that, and, though they require a commander, you actually have a resilient commander. If the Ghaele doesn't have to heal herself, she can heal a LAE that's made it's morale save, keeping it around a while longer.

Call me crazy, but it might be fun to try...

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05/10/2006 4:30 PM  
If it weren't for King's Road, I'd say Snake Eyes or the Rikka variant is a fine option as well, despite the low attack bonuses. A marut takes a darn long time to kill a justice archon backed by a couatl (5 hits or 4 with magic weapon.)

...but forest cover can really put it out of reach unfortunately.

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05/10/2006 4:35 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by IanB

If it weren't for King's Road, I'd say Snake Eyes or the Rikka variant is a fine option as well, despite the low attack bonuses. A marut takes a darn long time to kill a justice archon backed by a couatl (5 hits or 4 with magic weapon.)

...but forest cover can really put it out of reach unfortunately.



Ian, what has your testing results been for Rikka Snake Eyes vs. LE hitter bands? I like the build (and came up with something similar before Underdark came out though with the Dwarf Samurai rather than Rikka. Thankfully Rikka came out to fill the can-opened role...) but I am uncertain of how successful it would do against any metagame that included any sort of zakya rakshasa/duergar/shuluth bands.

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05/10/2006 5:19 PM  
Okay, I just tested that crazy Ghaele, LAEx2 band. It did remarkably well against a Marut/Couatl band. The last round, the Ghaele and Marut were on the side B victory area with the rocks in the middle on the King's Road map. For init, I rolled a 1, he rolled a 20, the Ghaele had 5 hit points left. If I'd won, I would have given myself 50 hp, and would have headed over to the other victory area--I had 193 points.

But, I lost, and the Marut popped me.

But, the point is, that's what it came down to, and the Marut/Couatl band was played very well.

So, maybe it isn't so crazy.

Although I think pulling two Elf Warriors for two more Xephs, and turning a LAE into a Rikka would be even better.

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05/10/2006 6:18 PM  
I have some experience which supports what SF proposed: kill the support for MCx/MCB and then take a defensive posture. SWarm or other multi Sacred Watcher builds could quite possibly do this effectively. Nothing says "speed" like a ton of incorporeal creatures breaking all the rules of mobility.

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05/10/2006 7:09 PM  
if you're not worried about facing HGB x2 i'd say the best band i've seen so far for marut/coatl hate is le quad with zak rakshasa and chraal. i've also had good sucess with shuluth dcx4 before i gave that up due to hgb's. lots of hitters with good attack bonuses = dead marut. with dual hgb i rely on large #'s of swings to get me the 3 hits i need.

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05/10/2006 7:50 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

quote:
Originally posted by IanB

If it weren't for King's Road, I'd say Snake Eyes or the Rikka variant is a fine option as well, despite the low attack bonuses. A marut takes a darn long time to kill a justice archon backed by a couatl (5 hits or 4 with magic weapon.)

...but forest cover can really put it out of reach unfortunately.



Ian, what has your testing results been for Rikka Snake Eyes vs. LE hitter bands? I like the build (and came up with something similar before Underdark came out though with the Dwarf Samurai rather than Rikka. Thankfully Rikka came out to fill the can-opened role...) but I am uncertain of how successful it would do against any metagame that included any sort of zakya rakshasa/duergar/shuluth bands.



Unfortunately I haven't had a lot chances to test against that yet. The HGBs have overfished the LE quad fishery locally, as it were.

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05/10/2006 7:51 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by Vrecknidj

Okay, I just tested that crazy Ghaele, LAEx2 band. It did remarkably well against a Marut/Couatl band. The last round, the Ghaele and Marut were on the side B victory area with the rocks in the middle on the King's Road map. For init, I rolled a 1, he rolled a 20, the Ghaele had 5 hit points left. If I'd won, I would have given myself 50 hp, and would have headed over to the other victory area--I had 193 points.

But, I lost, and the Marut popped me.

But, the point is, that's what it came down to, and the Marut/Couatl band was played very well.

So, maybe it isn't so crazy.

Although I think pulling two Elf Warriors for two more Xephs, and turning a LAE into a Rikka would be even better.

Dave



2 incited creatures just seems like a really bad idea to me, given that there are going to be a lot of scenarios where you're going to want to activate the ghaele in the first 2 activations, and you can't really count on a LAE being dead already.

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05/10/2006 8:17 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by ChristopherGroves

I'm also a fan of multiple Eyes of Gruumsh. They hit hard enough and for enough that a few swings can chop through a non-bodyguarded Marut and the Marut's fabulous to-hit is basically lost on them.

Multiple Gith Monks are also considered a good foil for Marut builds, given their ability to (when combined with the Young Master) auto-hit anything for 80 magic damage or 120 if it isn't immune to crits. Marut folks can counter this by running a standardbearer, etc. but that's the rock-paper-scissors game.



Agreed. The Eye of Gruumsh is still very effective for taking down high AC creatures like the Marut. And now, with the Orc Wardrummer beating his drum, there is a much lower chance that it will run away.

The Githzerai Monk's auto-hit for 20 is also nice, but this is a bit trickier to play.

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05/10/2006 10:27 PM  
Did a little testing tonight against Dual HGBs and I'm starting to see why more people don't play them.

It'll take a fortunate combination of opponents and warbands for an HGB player to make it past a lot of rounds.

In the first match, I was testing a build that would have it's worst match against Dual HGBs, and it did lose.

In the second match, I tested a top band (AoM + Iron Golem varient) that looked solid vs HGBs and people have talked about the matchup. Even with the HGBs rolling well on attack rolls vs high AC (like hitting on 2nd attacks even nerfed), and making ALL their morale saves, I killed both HGBs without losing a unit.

The rolls were about average for both players, although I did score two big crits and almost lost one of my units.

I'm really thinking that the best HGB variations will only include one HGB.

I bet I could have played that match against HGB 10 times and won 9 of them, even on Teleport Temple.

The Iron Golem is so slow though, that AoM and IG have other bad matchups.

It'll be interesting to see the warband that top players have come up with that has almost no bad matchups. I haven't found it yet.


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05/10/2006 11:03 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by IanB

2 incited creatures just seems like a really bad idea to me, given that there are going to be a lot of scenarios where you're going to want to activate the ghaele in the first 2 activations, and you can't really count on a LAE being dead already.
It seems like it, but, it's not a big deal. In the first round, on the King's Road anyway, I moved one onto the joint victory area, and the other behind some cover. In the second round, since my opponent based them, I had plenty to attack.

They die pretty fast, and so there are better choices, I'm sure. But, that Whirlwind with reach is a nice surprise to people who don't expect it.

Still, I'll modify it and play something else if I go with Ghaele. I tested the band a second time. This one was against HHx3, Duegar, Dark Moon Monk, and fodder (no commander). I took out all the fodder in the first two rounds (including the Monk), and the Duergar fell a few rounds later. For a long time it was HHx3 v. Ghaele. But, only one of the HH had a magic weapon, and with the Ghaele's speed, I could keep zipping around, getting assault points, and doing 20 damage a round against somebody.

I took out a HH and that put me at 190, I grabbed points and won. I wouldn't have thought it was a good test of the band, except that the Duergar made his morale save.

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05/11/2006 12:10 AM  
Balista seems to hurt a Marut pretty well. Kachunk.....35 damage. Kachunk.....35 damage.

Downside of course being the spooky ghosts. And helmed horrors. And really fast giants.

It's a rough life :-p

Still, Balistas are hilarious to play.

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05/11/2006 6:24 AM  
My pet Marut killing band:

Inspiring Marshall 29
Elf Pyromancer 32
Warforged Barbarian x2 98
Aramil 13
Healer x2 24
Xeph warrior 3
199 pts

Buff the WFBs with resist sonic and enfeeble the marut, and it hits them for a whole ten damage per attack. Meanwhile it takes at least 10 autodamage a turn. For extra effectiveness, have your WFBs kill the couatl first.

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