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Warmachine: Going Headhunting

4 Minute Read
Oct 6 2015
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Whether its “plan A” or “last ditch”, assassinations are always a factor in Warmachine and Hordes (WM/H). Here’s some tips for getting those ‘caster kills.

Previously, we went over some ways to avoid assassination attempts (or at least make them a lot harder for your opponent). This time, we’ll be taking a look at the other side of things: best practices to keep in mind when you want to cut off the opposing army at it’s head.

Bring the Right Tools:

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This is most relevant for any list that wants to make assassination threat the main feature of the list. The threat of assassination is only effective if it is actually threatening. There are a lot of ways to mitigate or shut down assassination attempts in WM/H, and a surprising number of those are available universally (things like terrain, blocking LOS, camping focus/fury, etc).

As such, you need to reach for the tools that your faction has which allow you to circumvent those common defenses. Bring any form of Eiryss to mitigate focus camping (and Eiryss, Angel of Retribution to deal with pesky defensive buffs). Bring models that can ignore LOS, defensive terrain bonuses, Stealth, etc. Work things into the list that have abilities such as Blessed or Arcane Assassin to ignore any magical defensive buffs your opponent may try to use to protect themselves.

You may be amazed at how much harder one extra rule/buff/spell can make a model to kill. And there will also be plenty of times when you will be likewise surprised at how easy those models are to remove when their special rules/defenses are stripped away or ignored entirely.

Make Them Sweat:

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One of the underlying factors that leads to most successful assassinations is applying pressure to the enemy warcaster/warlock (‘caster/’lock). It is going to be very difficult (if not altogether impossible) to come up with a way to win via assassination when your opponent is able to play their ‘caster/’lock totally in their comfort zone – standing where they want to be on the table, using terrain as they please, buffing themselves/debuffing you, screening themselves with models, etc. In order to get the assassination gears a-turning you need to find ways to make your opponent worry for the safety of their ‘caster/’lock.

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The most common way to do so is to threaten attacks on them (assuming those attacks are capable of causing at least some damage). No one wants to risk their ‘caster/’lock to the whimsy of dice, so putting them in a position where you are able to make attacks on them (or at least threaten those attacks if they move a certain way don’t put models in the way, etc) is a good way to start to force a set of circumstances favorable to your game plan. Other things you can do are: deny them access to beneficial defensive terrain (typically by standing there first), remove models that they can hide behind, and disable models that may protect them (such as models with Shield Guard or models that can place cloud effects in the way).

Even if you don’t end up capitalizing on those threats for a turn or two, sufficiently threatening pressure can force your opponent to do things they wouldn’t do otherwise, and it can open them up to making mistakes that can let you take the game right then and there.

One Piece At A Time:

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Winning the game with a “one shot” assassination (killing the opposing ‘caster/’lock in a single, massive attack) is very satisfying and effective, but it is also relatively rare (though more common nowadays as everyone is trying to keep up with the current ARM meta of the game). These assassinations usually come about due to being able to leverage a very powerful attack against a ‘caster/’lock (i.e. charging, buffed colossal), catching them with their pants down (no focus/fury for defense), hot dice, or some combination of all of those.

What is more common – and repeatable, which is important if you want to make assassination your game play focus – is using a series of attacks to pile enough damage onto the opposing ‘caster/’lock to take them out. This is often the only way you’re going to take out warcasters camping focus (as their ARM values can creep up to levels where a one-shot kill becomes unlikely) or warlocks camping fury (more obvious, as you probably won’t even be getting damage onto them until you exhaust their supply of transfers).

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The important thing to bear in mind is that this damage doesn’t necessarily need to come in large chunks, nor does it all need to come in at once. Although all ‘casters and ‘locks can heal themselves with their focus/fury, the harsh reality is that doing so is usually prohibitive due to how valuable those resources are elsewhere. What may seem like piddling damage can quickly add up if they don’t have a way to heal it – some ‘casters/’locks do, so make sure you understand their abilities before trying this approach, but most can’t heal efficiently – so doing bits of damage when the opportunity arises can open up later chances for a finishing blow.

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Have any assassination tips of your own, or amusing anecdotes of long shot assassination runs that came up in your favor? Share them in the comments!

Also check out Sticks and Dice for more Warmachine and Hordes content!

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Author: Zachary NIckle
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