I need tactical advice for my Ostlanders

To get a better view of my warband, check the link in my signature, it leads to my blog.

Currently I have five heroes, and two Jaeger groups (4+2) and one Ogre (new recruit). I have played three scenarios and my opponents have played four, except for the Undead warband which restarted prior to last scenario since his Vampire had died.

The other warbands are:
Undead
Possessed
Tomb Kings
Dwarven Treasure Hunters

All warbands are designed for hand to hand fighting. The dwarves have one or two pistols.

The thing is that my warband rating is somewhere around 150. I don't think that any other warband has passed 100 yet. They have few models, tending to put all eggs in one basket or two. That was what happened to the Undead warband. When the vampire died, he had about nothing left.

Two of my heroes have bows, and all my Jaegers have bows. Which leaves me with two blood-brothers who are kitted for close combat, and my priest of Taal who will back-up my ogre with his Blessed Ale and Tanglethorn spells. And of course, my ogre.

Should I max out my warband and bring in some Kins and arm them with missile weapons, or shall I arm them with melee weapons?

Or since I face several fear causing opponents, should I get some Ruffians who I can count on to get into the fight when needed?

I am planning to get an elf bow and hunting arrows for my elder once she get a new skill, so that she can do some serious kiting. My Jaeger hero will get a Long Rifle when I do have enough gold to spend.

I hope that this isn't too confusing to read. But I need a bit of advice on how to progress with my warband. Shall I focus on kiting m enemies, using missile weapons, or shall I make my warband more suited for melee fights?

Currently we are playing without house rules.

Go with the shooty warband. Depending on how experienced your playgroup is, this can be a major advantage. Your opponents will be used to running straight into combat, leaving you with easy shots.

Besides, if you use elevated positions to best advantage, the low-Initiative dwarves, undead, and tomb kings will have a tough time climbing up and dislodging you. You've even got an ogre to block the top of the stairs!

I might go the other route, but for wholly different reasons than optimization. If you lean too heavily towards the gun line, you'll make the game pretty damn boring for your friends. Especially if you guys don't have enough terrain.

If you want to dominate the field, get more missile dudes and hunting arrows and rabbits' feet, maybe a merchant and an extra haggler to supply you with cheap poisons. Then huddle in the tallest building you can find. There's nothing stopping you from being a contender in hand to hand as well though, and you'll probably all get more out of the game like that.

Best of luck, mate!

Well yeah, if you want to have fun I guess that's fine. Then after the game your Ostlanders can all hold hands and prance through a field of flowers, arm in arm with shambling Possessed horrors and bloodthirsty vampires.

Seriously though, FKSN makes a good point. Especially if you're one of the top players already (you said your rating is 150 vs. a field of <100). There's no need to make your list cheesy. If you want an edge vs. undead and possessed, it's common knowledge that you're "supposed" to go shooty. If you want to get in there and mix it up with your friends, get some extra melee dudes.

DRD1812 wrote:

Well yeah, if you want to have fun I guess that's fine. Then after the game your Ostlanders can all hold hands and prance through a field of flowers, arm in arm with shambling Possessed horrors and bloodthirsty vampires.

Well, not that far fetched a situation - with all the drinkin' the Ostlanders do maybe they are wearing permanent 'beer goggles'

if you start using much range weapons you will see the posessed use sprint, climb and perhaps jump. Without melee you will be dead shortly.

Our Posessed player has a beast with 15" +D6" movement/attack distance. Additional he doesn't need to roll for climbing.

That gives you only 1 or 2 rounds for hitting a T4 W2 monster(or higher thanks to advances). You can use your range advantage, but you should be cautious with it. Use it so much, that you gain a good advantage and than tackle them in melee. Mostly you get more Advances for hand to hand combat than range.
I use range attacks (with shadow elves) mostly to dispel lucky charms or target caster/shooters, which can harm me badly. The real fight is melee.
This way i hope its fun for both, but i have my advantage in range combat and can move freely until i decide to attack.

Thanks for som many answers.

As far as I've read Ruffians ain't favoured by any Ostlander player. But in my case, with my fear causing opposition, wouldn't it be good to have a group of ruffians?

Say for example that one of my heroes get charged by a fear causing enemy and gets stunned. My other warriors, except for the Ogre, will have to test against fear to help this hero out. Ruffians doesn't need to. They can just charge in and hopefully give the hero enough time to recover.

Or do you see Ruffians as a waste of gold and henchman slots? I have 12 warriors at the moment, leaving me with only three open slots, possibly four with the Halfling cookbook.

Shooty isn't a bad idea, because you are going to be faster than the Undead, Dwarf, and Tomb Kings. So you can walk and shoot, kind of Rope-a-dope them. The Possessed Hero will always be a tough model it take-out.

I suggest shooting at him as much as possible, because Fear doesn't effect range shots, and there are no attack backs. When he does get into melee swam him with a couple of guys, but beware of him getting the Combat Master Skill, those bonus attacks can be brutal.

I would suggest getting a couple of guys with Strongman, the +2 strength from the double handed weapon will help you wound. Maybe a couple of guys with Flails if they don't have the strongman skill.

Maybe a guy or 2 that you would use to take the charges then have others Swam. Normally I would suggest giving them spears, but they have a lower Initiative than the Possessed Model and you would be wasting money and gain no advantage. Swords might be a better choice, the Parry bonus is not bad. Bang for the Buck you can't go wrong with clubs.

Shooty against dwarfs is not good. T4 and hard to kill makes dwarfs very very hard enemy for shooty warbands.
You will see, that good posessed players aren't easy to hit, they are fast and you will often only get a shoot, if you moved and after that it will attack you.

and pure shooty warbands are beardy ... it doesn't make fun to fight with them or against them.

You are already the top warband from your ranking, so you should go and get them in hand to hand and use shooting just as a support tool.

Well, as can be read in my blog where I describe my warband, I do have my two Blood-brothers, where one has a spear and a mace and Strength 4, the other has a two-handed sword and the strongman skill. And then I have my Ogre Uncle Archie who is armed with a mace and a sword. And when I do have 80 gold to spend, I will get the Ogre Bodyguard. So I will have quite some hand to hand punch I think.

But the question is, is it enough, or should I get more, or if I should, shall I get regular kin or ruffians?

That's easy enough. It just depends on whether you've decided to go shooty or CC. If you're going shooty, get the regular guys. The +1 BS is worth it. But since 3 out of 4 games are against fear-causing warbands, your CC warriors ought to be drunks.

Also of note: you can't wield a club and spear simultaneously. I'm sure you already know this and just have two different weapon layouts for your Blood Brother, but I wanted to throw it out there just in case.

I did not know that about spears. I'm not sure "Unwieldy" is in my old version of the rulebook. Thanks.

I think I have to convert a few ruffians then.

Yup. You can hold a buckler or shield in the offhand, but that's it.