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So in the journeyman that I am playing in right now...Beating Hordes is like trying to win a shoot out against Wayne Gretzky...
I am using Retribution, and nothing seems to work :(

Tips? Strategies? Anything please!

My main chatty person is a retribution player so these are all things I've seen him do but I haven't tried myself.

Are you using Kaelyssa? or a different caster?

If you're using Kaelyssa then use her ability to nick fury points especially on feat turn as you can't be charged then. There's other interesting stuff you can do with her but I'll stop till you confirm.

Also what size battles are you playing currently? and is there a particular horde army that is giving you issues or just all of them?

Solos that can help are Eiryss2 (Angel of the Retribution) as she can knock off any animus/upkeep spell that is causing issues. Mage hunter assassins are feared. for two points you have a little missile that won't be interfering with your shooting after using it's attack. My mate has hit and taken down beasts/casters with one attack (good rolls though).

The Magister along with the battle mages can screw with fury management by pushing the enemy beasts out of control range so it can't be reaved from and might frenzy further reducing it's threat. Other units are the sentinels (with UA) as weapon masters with vengeance are awesome.

In March Retribution will be getting new warjacks so have a look at the banshee with critical grievous wounds and hypnos (as long as you are using Ossyan). Grievous wounds stop healing so you can damage a beast and remove some aspects and then it can't be healed. It also stops transfers which is something else which is awesome. And Hypnos' affinity can stop beasts being forced, screwing with fury management and stopping big threats.

Generally you should concentrate with taking out the beasts. As the warlock loses beasts they lose animus, fury generation and a something to transfer a hit to. When a Warcaster loses a jack it means more focus for them, so more spells and better armour.

Don't go for the assassination, kill the 'beasts.

malfred wrote:Don't go for the assassination, kill the 'beasts.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

RiTides wrote:

malfred wrote:Don't go for the assassination, kill the 'beasts.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Guess it doesn't work if they're playing Saeryn, but still!

malfred wrote:Don't go for the assassination, kill the 'beasts.

When you've got a ROF 3 Energy Siphon gun you can change this to "shoot their dumb @$$"

Mastershake wrote:

malfred wrote:Don't go for the assassination, kill the 'beasts.

When you've got a ROF 3 Energy Siphon gun you can change this to "shoot their dumb @$$"

That's because Kaelyssa is evil.

hordes armies are typically very focused on a large warpack. warlocks need beasts to fuel their fury-based spells and as wound sinks. warbeasts one one level are better than equivelant warjacks, but they also cost a hell of a lot more. So, youre generally looking at a lower model count army, with battlegroups taking proportionally more, proportionally more expensive warbeasts than casters need. infantry are typically there to support the battlegroup.

right now. here is the thing. beasts are CRUCIAL. its in capital letters. theyre VITAL. more than warjacks. theyre heavy hitters, theyre animi, theyre wound sinks and theyre fury generators. kill them, and the overall effectiveness of the hordes army dips to a huge extent. DONT spread your damage. do the opposite. engage in overwhelming force. Dont wound them. there is no point, especially with healing. Go for the beasts but more importantly, go for the kill. kill them. stone cold dead. a dead beast hurts a hordes faction far more than a dead warjack hurts a warmachine faction.

Attrition. With few exceptions, hordes factions need to hit hard, and hit fast. they cannot deal with retaliation. their infantry generally isnt as good, and their beasts are generally squishier. engage them in a long, drawn out brawl, and once they start dying, their power tends to dissipate. its the nature of fury. its fantastic in early-game situations, but its far more unreliable. once beasts start dying, getting it is an issue for a start. and with less beasts, everything can do less.

so yeah, play attrition, and go for the beasts. thats how you beat hordes.

Deadnight wrote:hordes armies are typically very focused on a large warpack. warlocks need beasts to fuel their fury-based spells and as wound sinks. warbeasts one one level are better than equivelant warjacks, but they also cost a hell of a lot more. So, youre generally looking at a lower model count army, with battlegroups taking proportionally more, proportionally more expensive warbeasts than casters need. infantry are typically there to support the battlegroup.

right now. here is the thing. beasts are CRUCIAL. its in capital letters. theyre VITAL. more than warjacks. theyre heavy hitters, theyre animi, theyre wound sinks and theyre fury generators. kill them, and the overall effectiveness of the hordes army dips to a huge extent. DONT spread your damage. do the opposite. engage in overwhelming force. Dont wound them. there is no point, especially with healing. Go for the beasts but more importantly, go for the kill. kill them. stone cold dead. a dead beast hurts a hordes faction far more than a dead warjack hurts a warmachine faction.

Attrition. With few exceptions, hordes factions need to hit hard, and hit fast. they cannot deal with retaliation. their infantry generally isnt as good, and their beasts are generally squishier. engage them in a long, drawn out brawl, and once they start dying, their power tends to dissipate. its the nature of fury. its fantastic in early-game situations, but its far more unreliable. once beasts start dying, getting it is an issue for a start. and with less beasts, everything can do less.

so yeah, play attrition, and go for the beasts. thats how you beat hordes.

I like this one
For Casters - I am going to try out Vyros and use his NQ35 Tier list in the upcoming tournament, Ossyan will be my alt caster. I am debating on taking Ossyan with Invictors, or 2 units of Stormfalls and then having 2 points for either another soulless/arcanist, or ghost sniper or nayl if he's not in the list.
Until then I am going to be practicing strong defense and just holding back waiting for them to come to me vrs spreading out like I have been doing.

Kill one beast at the time. Your worst situation if you play against 3-4 warbeasts is if you've damaged all of them 90%. Even then, they all fight and generate fury as if they're undamaged. I play Hordes and I win games when my opponent do this mistake.

I played Gatormen on the weekend, did the whole defensive style - had 2 units of stormfalls, 2 manticores, with ossyan, I subbed the invictors and used sentinels for close combat.

Had Nayl run into combat with Barnabis, just sacrificed him, before that happened though I had killed 2 of his beasts, the other one that was left had 3 health boxes left and was just about to die.

It was carnage at it's best and felt gooooood.