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So I thought some cool tactics threads should be put in here covering some topics as they pop into my head.

First up, Warmachines.

When I started playing KOW it was the beginning of 2nd edition. Warmachines had just been toned down and at a glance they didn't seem so bad. So I used a cannon here and there and was pretty unimpressed. Last week I started messing around with them again and after 7 games I think I got them nailed down pretty well.

This is how I suggest using Warmachines:

The key to war machines is volume of shots. The more shooting the better, if you are going to take these machines I highly recommend a battery of 4 at least. This is a high investment but when you are hitting on 5s you want your warmachines actually doing something. Some factions like Elves have 4+ to hit on their warmachines, with lists like these I would say you can get away with using 3 of them. The exception to this would be any breath attack warmachine. These are more like mobile support guns that can follow your troops and fire away. While you could use a battery of these, it's simply not necessary as you need them to have line of site and not get in the way of your soldiers.

Group them together preferably on a hill or in a forest if no hill is available. Placement is everything for these weapons and more often than not you want them to be ale to see over your advancing line. If the enemy want your warmachines dead they will kill try kill them. If you place your machines correctly they can pelt most attackers as they slowly eat through your 3 warmachines. You cannot save them as most of the time you are trying to complete the mission. So why do we group them together? Because you want ALL of your warmachines firing at the same target most of the time. Of course sometimes it is wise to split their fire but more often than not I suggest simply ensuring priority targets die in huge volleys. So when placing them optimize their placement for view of the battle field, target saturation and if you can defense.

Finally, to elaborate a bit on shooting, you need to pick high priority targets. A battery of 4 warmachines will be a large portion of your force who often won't be helping you directly take on objectives. So you need to shoot targets who will win the enemy missions. Personally if the enemy has a dragon he is the first to take bombardments as a flying tough beast will always come back to bite you later. Really it's important you spend a bit of time weighing up your target choices because often you only have a portion of your hits make it. Every round of shooting should count. Seems obvious, but I have seen people fire at targets willy nilly and suffer for it, it's important to keep the unreliable weapons focused.

Warmachine Set Ups I often see/use:

The Organ Guns: A battery of 4 or 5 warmachines with the following profile are amazing: Range 24", 5+ ra, 15 shots and piercing 2. So things like the Halfling Volley Gun or the Dwarven Organ Gun. These guns take up little space but anything within 24" is likely to get hurt badly. A battery of 4 has 60 shots. When all of these fire at a target you tend to get a lot of hits. Against most targets you are wounding on 2's so most hits are going to do damage. These guns often (I think) have access to elite through engineers. I know the Dwarven and halfling ones do. Im not certain it is worth the points personally, but due to a lack of models I take one anyway. Often squeezes in some extra hits a turn. It also gives these guys a reroll on the route keeping them on a little longer.

Ballistas: These guys are often cheap. Doing less damage per hit to their heavier cannon counter parts but usually doing more hits for points. I find that this class of Warmachine is very varied, with some firing 1 powerful shot while others fire multiple less powerful shots. All in all you can't go wrong with these no matter the variant. Think of these as the middle road of warmachines. They may not have the volume of shots that the organ guns have but they have a much better range and usually damage potential. They don't hurt as much as cannon but often they are either much cheaper or hit more reliably. Another thing to consider is most armies have access to these. I have seen some successful tournament goers use 3 of these. Often split OR bunched up. Usually the shooting based armies spread their ballistas out while the more melee focused bunch them together.

Harpoons?: Now while cannon are the least effective of the bunch (due to one shot each and just general unreliability) The new Trident Realm Leviathans Bane is an excellent war machine. It operates just like a cannon but fires 2 shots each! Of course doing less wounds per hit compared to a cannon, they still are getting more hits. With piercing 4 you are universally wounding on 2+. If you are taking a Trident realm force I highly recommend this excellent warmachine.

Not so Hot Warmachines:

Well I will group them together but personally I see the cannon/siege weapon type of warmachine as lack luster. I find these weapons far too unreliable to invest too much in. Even 4 of these are only firing 4 shots. Seige weapons can ignore cover which helps however that 1 shot a piece is simply not enough. For a lot less I often find the Ballista type to be much more effective. Of course when these weapons hit and roll well they hurt... but this does not happen as often as you would hope.

Mixed effectiveness Warmachines:

And lastly the Breath Attack Warmachine. Is your enemy commonly a speed 5 or less enemy? Then these become amazing weapons. You know those games where nobody wants to charge so the line sits awkwardly as flak and flanks engage etc? The stand offs? Well add a few of these to your main line and you can happily sit out of charge range while these breath attack weapons burn away. Your opponent can either run away (while you can follow) or sit and take it (great) or come into your charge range so you can get the first assault (great). This idea falls apart when your enemy is all mounted for example or has a speed of 6. Even in these cases you will find use for them im sure, but as a Human Faction player these sorts of lists pain me as I get caught in a trap With my speed of 5.


Conclusion

Warmachines are the kind of weapon that needs numbers t make up for their short coming: Unreliability. Usually the more reliable the siege weapon the better it is and then on top of that the more warmachines you have the better that gets. These wont win you games directly but they can help you win games.

Anything I got very wrong or missed?

I haven't covered special Warmachines like the the Portal of Despair etc.

Totally thought this post was about the video game...

 Alex C wrote:
Totally thought this post was about the video game...

If you read between the lines it is still applicable.

 Swastakowey wrote:

 Alex C wrote:
Totally thought this post was about the video game...

If you read between the lines it is still applicable.

Thanks for the write-up though!

A special case of a decent Warmachine can be found in the Varangur list. The Magus Conclave is a range 4+ 2 shot warmachine with piercing 2 and D3 damage per hit.

Not for 100 points the damage output is low but unlike most warmachines this one is an individual. What does this mean? Well not only can it move and shoot (no reload!) it also gets 1 free pivot before being issued an order. You effectively have an incredibly mobile weapon that hits reliably. It would be incredibly rare for this weapon not to be firing every turn.

They do come at a price of 100 points however their mobility can be more than worth the cost. Nothing will be able to escape it's arc of fire.

I'm taking a single Cannon with my KoW army, and viewing it less as a big hitter then a potential unit breaker. Sure, it's D6+1 shots per turn, but with Crushing Strength (4), even De 6+ units will still take a point of Nerve on a 2+. And after a couple rounds of combat, that one shot might be all that's needed to make a unit Rout.

Siege weapons with the Indirect Fire rule also get to ignore the -1 shooting modifier for firing at units in cover, so they're more likely to hit against entrenched units.

 infinite_array wrote:
I'm taking a single Cannon with my KoW army, and viewing it less as a big hitter then a potential unit breaker. Sure, it's D6+1 shots per turn, but with Crushing Strength (4), even De 6+ units will still take a point of Nerve on a 2+. And after a couple rounds of combat, that one shot might be all that's needed to make a unit Rout.

Siege weapons with the Indirect Fire rule also get to ignore the -1 shooting modifier for firing at units in cover, so they're more likely to hit against entrenched units.

It's actually 1 shot per turn with D6+1 damage IF you hit. It's likely to hit once a game on average in my experience. Hence why taking multiple is so important, to increase your chances of getting a hit in there.

Siege weapons are better than cannon for hits but are still hurt by the 1 shot per weapon.