My fellow mercenaries, here is my tentative list for Cardo's Tigers. This is my basic list, so pieces could be replaced, on a battle-by-battle basis, depending upon the type of enemies we expect to face. Please offer whatever suggestions you think would make my troops better.
Lord:
Arkan, Wizard Lord, Level 4: 310 points.
Lore of Fire. 4 magic spells (Burning Head, Fiery Blast, Conflagration of Doom and Wall of Fire) and 4 dispel scrolls.
Heroes:
Mercenary Captain (me): 138 points.
Heavy armor, one pistol, shield and Sword of Battle (magic weapon), riding Pegasus. Accompanying Light Cavalry, on open flank ("hammer").
Paymaster, Ulrich Basinger: 89 points.
Heavy armor, brace of pistols, hand weapon, and shield, riding a barded warhorse.
Special:
Paymaster Bodyguard, unit 10: 200 points.
Heavy armor, hand weapon and halberd. Stubborn, while Paymaster lives.
Richter Kreugar with 9 Cursed Company skeletons: 305 points.
Light armor, shield and hand weapon. Kreugar has heavy armor, shield, Dark Gem of the Cursed and "his unholy sword, Blight." They have the Killing Blow with their weapons. Immune to Psychology and Unbreakable. Cause fear.
Ogres, unit 5: 220 points.
Light armor and two hand weapons. Cause fear.
Rare:
Malakai Makaisson and his Goblin Hewer (2 crew): 130 points.
Great weapons, hand weapons, and Malakai has a Repeater Handgun.
Unbreakable (Dwarf Slayers).
Core:
16 Duellists, with pistol and throwing knives: 176 points.
4 on each side, protect Paymaster and Bodyguard.
Luca Braganza and 9 Besiegers: 195 points.
Heavy armor, crossbows, hand weapons and pavises.
Voland and 9 Venators (Heavy Cavalry): 315 points.
Heavy armor, shield, lance, hand weapon, riding barded warhorse.
Light Cavalry, with shield and spear, unit 20: 280 points.
Fast Cavalry.
Light Cavalry, with shield and bow, unit 8: 136 points.
Fast Cavalry.
Total (I think): 2,595 points.
My "Anvil" Flank would consist of (from outside toward inside):
Cursed Company, Goblin Hewer and Besiegers. I thought I could put my Wizard Lord with the Besiegers.
Headquarters, behind the Besiegers:
Paymaster, Bodyguard and Duellists.
Ogres would form the pivot unit in the center.
My "Hammer" Flank would consist of (from inside toward outside):
Venators, LC with spears and LC with bows. Mercenary Captain on Pegasus would be among the LC units, to encourage them with my leadership, then to launch my attacks on key targets. The Light Cavalry units could advance in groups of 4 or 5, in either columns or ranks, depending upon terrain (and board-space). Their goal would be to attack and/or surround enemy units, especially in the rear of the enemy territory.
I normally envisage my left flank as being my "anvil," and my right flank forming my "hammer." But, if the battlefield's terrain is different, my battle order would be arranged differently. Generally, though, the infantry would occupy any defensive terrain, while the cavalry exploits any open terrain, where they use their speed to its best advantage. Our Ogres would form the link between infantry and cavalry wings. My Captain would fly about, to wherever he seems to be needed most or to destroy vulnerable targets of opportunity, as the battle progresses.
What do you thnk?
After reading Marko's suggestion about replacing the Special Bodyguards for the Paymaster with a Regiment of Renown, I decided to amend my list as follows: I will use Leopold and his Leopards as the Paymaster's Bodyguard, since they are Immune to Psychology--enabling them to ignore any potentially terrifying attackers. This will free up a Special slot and 200 points. I added 2 more Leopards, so there will be 3 (counting Leopold) on each side. The Duellists will screen for them, since the Leopards' light armor puts them at a disadvantage. Also, the Paymaster doesn't need to ride a warhorse, since he would be with the treasure-chest cart, in the middle of Leopold's Leopards. (So, putting him on a warhorse would make him stand out more, as a target!) I decided to adjust my Ogres and use these extra points, to choose Golgfag and 4 Ogres (1 extra) and to add Long Drong and 10 Slayer Pirates (1 extra) to my infantry line. So, the improved list would be:
Lord:
Arkan, Wizard Lord, Level 4: 310 points.
Lore of Fire. 4 magic spells (Burning Head, Fiery Blast, Conflagration of Doom and Wall of Fire) and 4 dispel scrolls.
Heroes:
Mercenary Captain (me): 138 points.
Heavy armor, one pistol, shield and Sword of Battle (magic weapon), riding Pegasus. Accompanying Light Cavalry, on open flank ("hammer").
Paymaster, Ulrich Basinger: 75 points.
Heavy armor, brace of pistols, hand weapon, and shield.
Special:
Richter Kreugar with 9 Cursed Company skeletons: 305 points.
Light armor, shield and hand weapon. Kreugar has heavy armor, shield, Dark Gem of the Cursed and "his unholy sword, Blight." They have the Killing Blow with their weapons. Immune to Psychology and Unbreakable. Cause fear.
Long Drong and 10 (1 extra) Slayer Pirates, unit 11: 207 points.
Pistols galore, with no reloading! Unbreakable.
Golgfag and 4 Ogres (1 extra), unit 5: 330 points.
Heavy armor and two hand weapons. Cause fear.
Rare:
Malakai Makaisson and his Goblin Hewer (2 crew): 130 points.
Great weapons, hand weapons, and Malakai has a Repeater Handgun.
Unbreakable (Dwarf Slayers).
Core:
16 Duellists, with pistol and throwing knives: 176 points.
4 on each side, protect Paymaster and Bodyguard.
Leopold and 11 (2 extra) Leopards (Paymaster's Bodyguards): 234 points.
Light armor and pikes. Leopold has heavy armor, a hand weapon and a pistol. They are Immune to Psychology.
Voland and 9 (5 extra) Venators (Heavy Cavalry): 315 points.
Heavy armor, shield, lance, hand weapon, riding barded warhorse.
Light Cavalry, with shield and spear (4 Lancer companies), unit 20: 280 points.
Fast Cavalry. Their spear gives them each +1 Strength bonus in a charge.
Light Cavalry, with shield and bow (1 Horse Archer company), unit 7: 119 points.
Fast Cavalry, so they can move and shoot, with -1 to hit penalty.
Total (I think): 2,597 points.
My "Anvil" Flank would consist of (from outside toward inside):
Cursed Company, Goblin Hewer and Long Drong's Slayer Pirates. I thought I could put my Wizard Lord with Long Drong and his Slayers (rules permitting) or between them and the Goblin Hewer.
Headquarters, behind the Slayers:
Paymaster, Leopards (Bodyguard) and Duellists.
Golgfag and his Ogres would form the pivot unit in the center.
My "Hammer" Flank would consist of (from inside toward outside):
Venators, LC with spears and LC with bows. Mercenary Captain on Pegasus would be among the LC units, to encourage them with my leadership, then to launch my attacks on key targets. The Light Cavalry Lancer units could advance in groups of 5, in either columns or ranks, depending upon terrain (and board-space). Their goal would be to attack and/or surround enemy units, especially in the rear of the enemy territory. The Horse Archers company (LC with bows) would support them and strike targets of opportunity, especially in the rear area.
I normally envisage my left flank as being my "anvil," and my right flank forming my "hammer." But, if the battlefield's terrain is different, my battle order would be arranged differently. Generally, though, the infantry would occupy any defensive terrain, while the cavalry exploits any open terrain, where they use their speed to its best advantage. Golgfag's Ogres would form the link between infantry and cavalry wings. My Captain would fly about, to wherever he seems to be needed most or to destroy vulnerable targets of opportunity, as the battle progresses.
What do you thnk?
Hey miklamar,
the Cursed Company sounds nice in theory, but in the games where I tested them, they never managed to do something to get in their points. Theyre quite expensive for their capability, furthermore only Richter Kreugar himself has the Killing Blow, the other skeletons don't. :/
The characters are ok, maybe 4 dispel scrolls are a bit overkill, 3 should be enough. For the free points you could buy your paymaster the Enchanted Shield for extra protection. Captasus is fine.
Units:
12 pikemen are a bit too few in my opinion...I would recommend a unit of 17, 6 wide, 3 ranks deep with the paymaster in centre. If a resilient cavalry unit charges them it has a good chance of surviving and killing the paymaster...not quite what we want, is it?
16 duelists in 2 units of 8, I suppose? They don't need Throwing knives, because they have pistols, here you can save a few points for pikemen. Voland is fine, nice hammer, same for the light cav. with bows.
But then, woa! 20 spear Light kav? :O They will take quite a bit of space to move and to deploy, maybe take 2 units out? 2 units should be well enough. :o I miss some crossbowmen in your list, maybe swap 2 light cavs. for 2 10 man units, or the marksmen is you havent enough space?
Pirates are always good, as is the goblin hewer. Personally, I prefer Maneaters over Golgfag, but maybe only because I love the maneater models.
I would swap Cursed company for Mengil, or 3 maneaters with handguns or Lumpin Croops lads...but maybe you have more luck than me with the company and they perform well!
So far,
Greetings from Bavaria
Mork
Thank you, Morkash! I really appreciate your suggestions! You make some good points, but I have had good luck with the Cursed Company in the past. They are the only unit I know that finishes a battle with more troops than they started with! (Recruited the hard way!)
I planned to use the 16 Duellists 4 per side. That way, a flyer couldn't sneak in behind (or flanking) them.
The large number of Light Cavalry is intended to surround any enemy unit they encounter, to reap those benefits. It also occurred to me that I could keep a couple of those units back, in reserve, in case any enemy unit(s) manage to slip, or fly, past my front units.
Another possibility is that I take a second (Hireling) Wizard and place him with one of the cavalry units. He would replace 2 of my Lancer companies (10 horsemen). He would be:
Murtek, Level 2 Hireling Wizard (95 points).
Lore of Death: Wind of Death and Dark Hand of Death spells.
Barded warhorse (14 points), and 1 dispel scroll (25 points).
Total: 134 points.
Morkash, as you like the Manflayers, I've got a soft spot for Ogres. When I followed your advice and used a RoR instead of the Special Bodyguards, that freed up the spot for Golgfag.
If I could take all the units I wanted, I'd take Blood-Dragon Dark Knights cavalry, to help the Venators, and Grave Guards, to protect the Paymaster. (However, Richter Kreugar hates Undead, so that could be a problem!) And, of course, a cannon or two would be nice. But, I'm pleased overall with what I've got.
I really appreciate your suggestions, though, Morkash! Thank you for all your thoughtful help!
I've tweaked the Tigers' tail a bit and have developed two or three options that can be used, depending upon certain rules (such as at various tournaments) and upon the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of your opponent. The basic list will be the same, with the changes mentioned below.
If we can hire Blood Dragon (Vampire Count) units, then Option A would be to use Grave Guards, instead of Richter Kreugar and his Cursed Company. I would take 16 Grave Guards and place my Wizard Lord with them, so they could march. Being Undead Wraiths, they inspire fear, are immune to psychology and are unbreakable.
Option B would be to replace Voland and his Venators with Black Knights, whom I think are the best Heavy Cavalry anywhere! Being Blood Dragons, their Weapons Skill is increased by 2, and their charge (with lances) hits with a Strength of 6! Of course, they also inspire fear, are immune to psychology and are unbreakable. Being the general, I would ride along with them, on my Pegasus, to help them move. As it turns out, Voland and 9 Venators are only 1 point less than 10 Black Knights with a magic banner.
Since these Blood Dragon units--if allowed--would probably be "Rare" choices, I would only be able to choose one of them at a time (less than 3,000 points), in order to still be able to use the Goblin Hewer.
Options along with the two above, would be to either use 20 Lancers (LC with spears) and 10 Horse Archers (LC with bows), or to include a Hireling/Battle Wizard, Level 2, which would limit my cavalry to 14 Lancers and 6 HAs. However, that latter option would allow me to add 1 Dwarf Slayer Pirate to Long Drong's regiment.
All of these options would total about 2,595-2,600 points, if I added correctly.
If I take the Black Knights, I would probably choose to replace the Cursed Company or Grave Guards on my "anvil" flank with a ROR, such as the Lost Legion or the Besiegers. Again, I still lean strongly toward the Besiegers, although either--or the Marksmen or the Alcanti Fellowship--would be good, as well.
Also, since I'm sending most of my cavalry "hammer" out on one flank (terrain permitting), I thought it might be prudent to keep a unit or two in reserve. That way, if a flyer swoops in or an enemy unit breaks through, they might be able to keep it away from my Paymaster group.
One last suggestion: People wonder if I would have room for all those units. But, since most of the cavalry are Fast Cavalry, they could advance in columns; then, they would be in place to launch flank attacks on enemy units!
What do you think?