List Review For Warfare

The Winter and Autumn Invasion tournaments highlight the twin peaks of the competitive Dropzone calander, with many tourney gamers gearing and preparing themselves for these events for months! Although we have to wait until sometime next January or February for the next one, luckily the season is never truly out, and most of the OB team have one more event to look forward to for before Christmas; Warfare 2015!

Warfare is a 2 day, 1500pt clash tournament held in reading, and run by Hawk themselves. As well as Dropzone, there will be a whole host of other game systems being played over the two days, ranging from a lot of historic games through to fantasy and sci-fi. Warfare also hosts a range of stalls and stands to peruse (at the risk of your bank account). If this all tickles your interest gland you can buy day tickets for a pre-determined fee which I can't find, possibly on their awful website (if it looks like you've clicked into Reading council's website, you're in the right place. How boring is it?!).

I did mention most of team OB will be going, but sadly not all of us. I won't be attending, and I believe neither will Sgt Slaughter. The rest of the crew, Mike, Ed, Joe and Alex will be bombarding Reading wholesale though, so as nothing more than a casual observer for this event I thought it might be fun to critique their lists! In strictly alphabetical order:

Alex is our newest and most silent member (Pete may not blog or pod, but is oppressively loud in the flesh) and has very modest targets when playing in a tournament. His goal has always been 'win three games', and managed to achieve this for the first in any tourney at Invasion with a brand new army! I'm going to set him the goal of winning four games for Warfare, as he has now been blooded with Scourge.

The lists boasts a lot of predatory AA, and by that I refer to the six reapers which are dedicated hunter units. On top of this the eight Minders and mini arc-caster is sure to spell trouble. No matter the army, he will be sure to have no issues taking out any aircraft in his way! The mix of troops is perfect (in my opinion), and with his boss being CV5 he should be getting the jump when he wants (which is very important for Scourge).

One noticeable point is that the list is a little lacking in AT, so the Oppressor will need to be used aggressively in most games which can be dangerous! Also with no Raider he is going to have a hard time against Medusa's and Freeriders; let's just hope he doesn't run into any (the two most popular races not bringing one of their best units? yeh right...)!

Ed (although his real robot name is Techboy 2000, he asked for me to use his fake human name for legal reasons) has managed to stick by his PHR through the earlier dark days, using a combination of love for the design and his unhealthy level of stubbornness to carry him through. Now the good times are here, praise the cyborg traitor gods, and he is not skimping on the units which are the PHR's proverbial rising sun.

This is a very swift list, and if used correctly can potentially be devastating. As back field cover the two lone Phobos work well as a fast mover deterrent, and a Nemesis is always nice to have about to remove any unwanted visitors from your table half. Although Ed is only using three dedicated troop squads, the two squads of Valkyries are incredibly quick and versatile. Also, if push comes to shove, the two Medusa can be used as intel gatherers or objective nabbers.

Ah yes, the two Medusa. Similarly to Alex's list, on face value Ed's seems to lack AT. Any to assume this could be on the raw end of a heavy beating though! The Medusa haven't been 'errated' yet and are still as devastating as they were in Invasion. If you sit a squad of Hellios behind a Medusa, you have a wedge which can quite happily wipe out a squad of tanks and/or aircraft per turn; Death By A Thousand Dice! To top of the strike force the Athena adds a backboard threat, and is possibly the only thing I would change in the list. I like the Athena, and when it turns up it kicks both arse and scroat, but what if it doesn't turn up? With only one squad of Inmortals Ed could find them being too busy to act as FAO, and if Lady Luck is scowling at those attack runs... I would maybe have another Immortal squad, or perhaps Sirens as the list lacks a little dedicated CQB.

Mike has Ed pegged to earn a top 3 place at Warfare, and if he uses this list correctly I agree!

Joe is using mostly the same Spamrider list as at Invasion. Yes, we give him a hard time for using 8+ Freeriders frequently, but it's with just cause; he uses 8+ Freeriders all the time! We know that in Joe's hands this list can be deadly, as displayed with his 3rd place at Invasion.

The change made was to give the ATV's a Kraken and an extra base. Joe said that he found they weren't really of that much use at Invasion due to the lack of transport, and by the time they got to where they needed to be it was too late. I'm looking forward to his feedback regarding the unit! And as for Freeriders, we all know how hard they are to get rid off. Having said this, the sands of meta are shifting once more, and gamers are bound to have taken methods to dispatch both Freeriders and the feared Medusa.

The list is a great, solid Resistance list. Enough basic troops to get the dirty jobs done, and a couple of Vets for a bit of flair and firepower. The AT in this force will be mainly from the Thunderstorm, but with each Freerider base boasting multiple E9 shots they are great at harrying scouts and light tanks (such as the Katana), and at a push can be used for demo too. AA is covered amply, and is incredibly predatory. Six Gun Wagons and a Pathfinder means he can jump on anything, at almost any time,

To give credit where it's due, although it may look like it, this list isn't easy to use and takes a bit of brain power to engineer the most out of it!

Mike, like Joe, is running the same list as at Invasion too. It is a tweak on his archetypal Air Wing list which spawned from his foul mind on the launch of the Phoenix, and the undead rise of the Falcon from the Crypt Of Useless Units.

This list is just so very good in a lot of aspects, and fails in a few others. The potential AT and demo ability of the roster is frightening, as nearly all units can lend their hands to both or one of the tasks. Even the troops are good at AT, as it boasts two squads of Hazard suits. Perhaps even more robust than this is the AA capability. It efficiently controls the air in both table halves, with Rapiers for back board, Archangels for the opposition's half and Starsprite drones for wherever they bloody well want to be. 

Focal points pose an issue however, as Mike discovered at Invasion. Having the majority of your units in the air is all well and good, but they can't claim! His only option in missions like Bunker Assault is to devastate his opponents ground forces; luckily his army is pretty good at that. CQB is also a real issue, and one that I thought he may have addressed with the addition of some Praetorians. As it is now, if he ends up in combats that he did not engineer it could end very badly.

We know this list works, and if the Archangels perform averagely all weekend he could place very well!

What do our most lovely readers think of the lists? I'd love to see your reviews in the comments!