Tips and Tactics

[Chieftain]

This is a thread to share and discuss your hints, tips, tactics, and army builds for Warband.

[Leman]

Presumably this is Warband as opposed to wargaming in general.

[petercooman]

Top Tip: try to win

[Bodvoc]

Top tip: do not send Dragons out unsupported unless you are targeting a lone unit yourself.

[Kiwidave]

Top tip: Don't charge units (especially expensive ones like Knights) into the front of missile-armed troops that have a load of CPs to spend on shooting....

[Luddite]

Top tip: If you're planning to spend CP, spend at least two at a time.  I've observed many situations where 1CP has been fed in at a time...resultng usually in eight '1's in a row!

Don't let units get isolated.  The loss of motivation alone can cripple a unit's movement.  So be careful about the sequence of moves, to ensure you always have friendly units within 2BW.

When building your army, don't fixate on having lots of the same unit.  'A little is good, more must be better', doesn't really apply.  You'll likely only be getting 8-12 units so try to think about what each unit is going to do.  Do you really need 4 archer units when 2 will do?  I try to think about the role each unit will serve in the army - having a spread of capabilities seems a better approach than 'one trick ponies'.  (Mind you, it doesn't seem to help!    ).

Think about terrain, when building your army.  Some unit special abilities will give you a clear advantage you'll want to exploit, but in most battles you'll likely have to deal with some sort of terrain.  Make sure you have units that can do it.

If you can pursue routed units, do it.  Ride them down, or stop them being rallied. 

[Nosher]

Dumb Tactic No1.

Don't indirect charge units with only 1d6 melee dice into Fear causing units..... 

Two units of Centaur Archers had their flank turned by a Gargoyle Flyer and a Wraith Unit. Said Archers dispatched the Gargoyle unit with a hail of arrows and in the next turn charged boldly into a unit of Wraiths but due to not being able to charge directly received no charge bonuses. Their firing on the way in was nullified by the Wraiths 4d6 protection bonus!

They spent the remainder of the game pinned in melee unable to score any hits due to being in contact with the Wraith and only the wraiths poor dice rolling prevented them from being whittled away slowly.

[paulr]

Top Tip: try to win

I would think "try to have fun" would be more obtainable

[Luddite]

Hill dwarves and dealing with "that" goblin spell (Consuming rage)

Anyone whose taken on a goblin army will have had to deal with their potentially very powerful Consuming Rage spell.  This spell can really mess up your plan (as Justin Borges found out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHyHiz4Jw0s).

It is however, something you can deal with.

So how can the hill dwarves do this?

Firstly, lets look at what the goblins need to do to get the spell off - they need 6 Magic Points.  This means they'll need a decent shaman and a good roll.

Well, the Hill dwarves have a decent magical counter to that in the shape of their spell-crafter and the "anvil of fate" spell.  This lets you take those precious MPs off the goblin shaman denying him the magical power to cast Consuming Rage in the first place.  I'd say, if the opponent's goblin shaman generates 6MP or more, casting Anvil of Fate (once or twice) is a priority.

If you don't want to take a spell-crafter though, you have other options.

Shoot the goblin shaman...
Hill dwarves have access to good archers and very powerful long ranged artillery.  Remembering that you don't have to shoot at the closest enemy, so even if the sneaky goblin shaman lurks behind its friends, you can shoot it down - especially by adding your commander's CP into the shooting roll.

Lock the goblin shaman in melee...
The goblin shaman can't cast spells if it begins the turn locked in melee.  Hill dwarves have access to flying gyrocopters that can easily get into melee with the shaman unit on turn one.  Sacrificing this unit to lock up from turn one, and possibly destroy, the goblin shaman may be a very good trade off.

"Run away!!"
Of course, if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having the goblin shaman ready with 6MP to cast Consuming Rage, it doesn't go off until the P&M phase, so you have a chance to disperse or move your units away from it to limit the damage.

Just a few thoughts on dealing with the goblin shaman.