My First Spellbook. Warlord swarm.

[badhorse808]

Hey guys and gals!

I'm still really new to MW. I could use some tips and or feedback on my first book if you are so inclined. We are just now trying to get regular games going so I don't have a ton of playtest time. So here I am and here is my list!

Equipment  
Moonglow Amulet
Helm of Command X2
Horn of Gothos
Storm Drake Hide
Elemental Wand
Ring of Command
War Sledge

Conjurations

Mana Crystal
Battle Forge
Hand of Bim-Shalla X2
Mana Flower
Wall of Stone X3
Akiro's Hammer
Barracks
Garrison Post X2
Archer's Watchtower X2
Mangler Caltrops
Wall of Pikes X2

Creatures

Goblin Grunt X4
Goblin Builder X2
Goblin Slinger X2
Orc Butcher X2
Ludwig Boltstorm
Iron Golem
Grimson Deadeye, Sniper
Thorg, Chief Bodyguard
Earth Elemental

Enchantments

Harmonize
Fortified Position X2
Mind Shield
Standard Bearer

Incantations

Power Strike X 3
Whirling Strike X2
Piercing Strike X2
Perfect Strike
Battle Fury X2
Sniper Shot X2
Dissolve X2
Dispel X2
Minor Heal
Group Heal

Attacks

Hail of Stones X2
Hurl Boulder X2

First few turns are all about getting the Barracks online and a few outposts out. Tower mid board even with a Goblin Slinger in it is a beast. Other than that a standard swarm style.

I also wanted to make this able to be a versital book so I threw in the "Zerg" option with the Hand of Bim-Shalla.

Walls to defend the Barracks and such things.

And enough fatties (that should be real easy to play with 'Raks and Outposts) to hammer them down end game.

Am I trying too much here? Any help would be great!  

Thanks all!

[piousflea]

A Barracks build spends 20 mana (12+4+4) to get 3 channeling, which is a rather large mana investment early. Therefore it can be vulnerable to rush strats. There are two ways to get a "safe" Barracks start:
1) Watchtower + Sniper in the back, then watchtower + barracks in the front when you can afford them.
2) Barracks in the back, watchtowers in the front, drop Thorg ASAP.

As long as you can get a full-powered Barracks (3 channeling, 4 if Harmonized) without taking a huge amount of damage, you should be in really good shape to win the game. The 'rax can churn out so many creatures so fast, your Warlord just needs to keep himself alive while his creatures Zerg the board. Your main concern is maintaining enough early-game board control to prevent your opponent from simply killing your Mage, your barracks or towers.


Your build looks solid but I would drop the Hands of Bimshalla (They are good for builds with a small number of big creatures, less good for swarms) and pick up two Force Pushes. You never know when a force push will come in handy for re-positioning your creatures. (especially for getting Boltstorm into attack range)

I would also drop one Wall of Stone and pick up a Quicksand. They're really good for controlling big stuff.

[reddawn]

Yup, pretty much what pious said.  Basically, just understand that competitively speaking, swarm is NOT the Warlord's base strategy.  Aggressive mages like the Warlock and Forcemaster have spells that just counter it way too hard, like Fire spells and Force Hammer.  Against those mages' base strategies, you NEED Thorg and a Dwarf or you will not survive against a competent opponent.  

You should only go Barracks if you see the opposing mage setting up lots of extra channeling conjurations.  In that context, the Barracks is excellent.  If you see a strong start, like Adramelech or a pet Steelclaw by turn 2, go Thorg and friends.  You will need him.

[sdougla2]

You have too many zone exclusive cards. I'd take out both Hands of Bim-Shalla and a Mana Crystal. A Quicksand would help with big creatures, as Piousflea mentioned.

I agree with Piousflea that you can't just blindly open with Barracks and 2 other outposts. Aggressive builds will have a tendency to just kill you if you do that.

If you want to run Battleforge, why not run a few more pieces of equipment? You could add Leather Boots and Gauntlets of Strength. I'd advise adding Regrowth Belt and Elemental Cloak as well. Do you really need Moonglow Amulet?

Earth Elemental seems overpriced for what it gives you in this build. It's great for an Earth Wizard that can spam Teleport to control positioning, but I'd replace it with another Iron Golem and a pair of Charges. Iron Golem benefits a great deal from Charge while Earth Elemental does not, and Iron Golem is an extremely effective guard, while Earth Elemental doesn't even get to attack if it guards.

[badhorse808]

Wow! Thanks for all the feed back guys! I'm starting to see that the Warlord is not infact best used as a swarmer. I shall update my list soon!

[piousflea]

The Warlord is a very strong swarmer. In fact, if your opponent gives you enough room to set it up, Barracks Swarm is crushingly powerful. It's just that you can't always go for Swarm every single game. You need to have an alternative anti-Rush strategy in mind, so when that Lord of Fire gets summoned on Round 2, you have something beefy to put on Guard so that you don't die. Iron Golems and Thorg are really good for this.

[badhorse808]

Ok. Here is what I did.

Out:
Mana Flower
Earth Elemental
Hand of Bim-Shalla X2
Moonglow Amulet

In:
Leather Boots
Regrowth Belt
Force Push
Knockdown
Vampiric Strike
Force Orb
Circle of Fire
Quicksand

I think that will give me enough answers to most of the Big Boys out there, a bit more defensive options is what this Book really was lacking. And I really like Circle of Fire on the Bodyguard!