Forcemaster vs Warlord First Battle Ever

[halvor]

Baron, thanks for the break down. I have split up the cards so many times, I have lost track on how many of each spell there are in the box.

[baronzaltor]

The equipments are a little different...
looks like theres 3 of stuff like the lightening armor, 2 of stuff thats mage specific like ring of command or psi orb, and 1 of the forcemaster's weapon.

so, my count is fairly "round about".

[MrSaucy]

My first impression is that his conjurations and creatures are incredibly powerful, but I haven't even scratched the surface of how to use him properly.

The 4-mana conjurations (Watchtower and Garrison) are incredible because of their cost. They are so cheap that there is no point in trying to destroy them; you can recast them for the cost of a single Block. (and they've probably absorbed more damage than one Block) You need 2 other outposts to maximize the mana income of a Barracks, so there is no reason not to throw down towers early.

The "Soldier" type creatures are all about damage and mana efficiency, but they tend to be fragile for their cost. In contrast, the Iron Golem and Earth Elemental are Slow and immensely sturdy. I am definitely planning to use Golem/Elemental to Guard my fragile slingers and snipers.

The Barracks generates 3 mana per turn and the Goblin Grunt costs 4 mana. This is incredible. Seeing all of those grunts swarm out onto the battlefield made me want to yell "FOR THE HORDE!!".

Becoming good at the Warlord is going to require a lot more skill in positional play. For example, the mere presence of Ludwig Boltstorm (1-1 3 dice triplestrike crossbow) strongly discourages enemies from hanging out in zones adjacent to Ludwig. The presence of an iron golem strongly discourages enemies from venturing into that zone. Caltrops and walls can further "zone out" enemies.

A Warlord creature swarm is very different from a Beastmaster creature swarm in that he is slower to get started and therefore cannot rush as effectively. A BM can make an effective swarm without any spawnpoint at all, or with just a Lair (14 mana), while a WL needs a minimum of Barracks + 2 Towers (20 mana). However, once the Warlord has a lot of creatures out, his extra abilities like Veterancy and Battle Orders make those creatures extremely powerful.

The 3x mana cost for dispels, nullifies and teleports is really painful. A Warlord will frequently have to make do with knives, axes, slings and arrows in situations where a more "educated" Mage would use spells.

Thanks for such a great analysis of how the Warlord plays! I am thinking of playing as the Warlord myself.

[halvor]

I thought I would conclude what happen in the first battle. Over the first few turns the warlord built up his structures and put out some goblins. As the forcemaster, I put out a thoughtspore with a facedown invisible fist and 2 Psyloks. With a full action 0 distance ranged attack, the Psyloks had trouble getting any attacks. I still need to figure out how to best use them.  I found that the goblin slinger was a huge threat to my squishy flying army. So ended up mind controlling the slinger ( for 6 mana this was pretty powerful because he only had one range unit at the time). I took out my stalker and the warlord put up a stone wall to block his way. This just delayed me some. The stalker was fun because I got to decide the terms of engagement. The Warlord,  was forced to act defensively against the stalker by putting units on guard and setting up range units to attack him. For all I know he also had quick cast set up to curse him.

With my forcefield up, I made a change into his defended zones. Although I had no weapon, I figure I would be able to get one out. Boy was I wrong. With the forcefield, the stalker and mind control up keep, my effective channeling was pretty low. In addition, the warlord put agony curse on me.  I kept  seizing an opportunity to play cards like force bash and force wave, rather than save up to take a weapon out. Throughout this time his army perked away at my forcefield but no real damage was done to me. I kept paying for my defense once the field was down.

I did not have much mana with all my upkeep so my Thoughspore was not getting too much action either.

At one point, the warlord, brought out the dwaven crossbow guy. Once he was in range, I just charmed him. By that time my whole army was gone except the stalker and me so the only target was me.

It was incredible how durable the forcemaster was in the game. The warlord had about 5 units on the board against me and my stalker.

 In a risky play, the warlord, brought out a goblin boomer. The goblin boomer moved into a zone with the forcemaster and the rest of the goblin army, including the warlord. Since 4 units were in my zone and the stalker is ethereal, Shadow , the forums admin, suggested that I pop the goblin boomer. Against my better judgement, I did go in to pop the boomer, for fun factor, but sadly, when the effect die was rolled, it did not blow up.

Gradually, I whittled the warlord's health down and won the game but it was a strange ending. What made it strange was I dodging and absorbing so many attacks each turn but I was barley doing any damage.

After playing the forcemaster, you have to bring out her melee weapon before getting all those upkeep spells on the board because you will not have mana to bring it out or use attack spells. I love her abilities and I really felt like the board was under my control with all  my control abilities. I have already altered the base deck  to better fit my play stay and I can't wait to learn how to best use the Forcemaster.

Sadly, my week has been pretty busy so I have not gotten around to that review. Tom Vassel pretty much summed it up. Go pick it up, it is great.

[Tacullu64]

I thought I would conclude what happen in the first battle. Over the first few turns the warlord built up his structures and put out some goblins. As the forcemaster, I put out a thoughtspore with a facedown invisible fist and 2 Psyloks. With a full action 0 distance ranged attack, the Psyloks had trouble getting any attacks. I still need to figure out how to best use them.

Sorry cut out a lot of your post. I have not played the psyloks yet but I will try to push or pull targets into range. Possibly use them to attack a restrained target. It's possible it may take too much effort to set them up and they aren't worth the cost.

[halvor]

The way I see it, you would use the psyloks defensively. You would deploy them in your own zone and fire at something in the same zone is you. I still need to experiment with them my self.

[sIKE]

The video I watched last night used it with Push attach then used it on the Warlord to push him back towards the Forcemaster so she could use her Pull quickspell to bring him back into her grasp and then proceded to beat the heck out of him.

[Tacullu64]

The way I see it, you would use the psyloks defensively. You would deploy them in your own zone and fire at something in the same zone is you. I still need to experiment with them my self.

Wouldn't that require the battle settle into a zone for a while to be effective? As soon as the battle starts moving again the Psyloks become ineffective again. I'm going to experiment with them too, I'm doubtful they make the cut though.

[halvor]

After playing the forcemaster, you don't have to move her around alot because you can just pull things to you. so I could see one or two hanging out  in the same zone as you.  Any more than two are you are just begging for a fire storm.