Sunday, August 28, 2011

Horde Armies, is it all worth it?

Old school here with a quick post tonight. I love my Nids and as you can tell from the photo, I have tons of them. That's not even counting the tyrants, pods, unbuilt vantage, gargoyles and more. And while I love them, I think looking back now, I might never have gotten involved with a horde army.

It comes down to time. I am a dad with three kids. I am also in the military. Those both are full time jobs. On top of the time it takes to paint them and assemble them, they also take a long time to set up and to push around the board. In a tourney, this can be horrible and in casual play, a massive time sink.

I don't think I will sell them, but its just that the deathwing has made me see how inconvenient a horde army is. Does anybody else out there have an army they feel the same way about? Care to share your trials and tribulations or even a possible solution?
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9 comments:

  1. I have orks, so I know the pain of horde armies. It is definitely a pain much of the time, from just setting up to army, playing, and packing them all up after. I've tried to mitigate by running lots of kans and dreads, but it's still rough.

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  2. I am right there with you Old School.
    I am a retired Marine, Full Time Student, father of four, and I work part time.
    Before My Deathwing, I played Tyranids and Footdar; only one of which I ever got painted.
    I have really grown to love my small elite armies:
    1.) They are competitive.
    2.) Take very little time to get ready for the table top.
    I enjoy my Deathwing so much, I have even contemplated following Blackmoor's example and thought about putting together a Draigo list.

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  3. I've thought of draigo a couple times myself since getting back into the DW, the small armies are just so convenient. Great minds think alike.

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  4. I am all about the Horde armies and am about to start my first fantasy army with a skaven horde. I had a large Ork Horde of 5000+ points but sold the majority of it off. Something I regret doing when I look back. Sure they take a while and take up a lot of space but they will reward you with an army that very few play and or complete. A horde army is a collects dream army as it opens the flood gates with a never ending stream of grey model goodness. Right now in a 40k gaming era where the battlefield is flooded with Space Marine variants any and all horde based armies are welcome sight in my books. Long live the Horde.

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  5. I like the concept of Horde armies personally. They are a labor of love though when it comes to painting. Its hard enough for me to get into the painting mood anymore. I can only imagine how hard it is getting all the stuff painted you do. I can see the appeal of smaller armies. Especially when they are as effective as your deathwing.

    Which by the way Lelith was denied Belials head and she will not be denied. Crowe, a bunch of purifiers a warboos and a nob squad of doom have fallen since she was denied the head of the master of the deathwing.

    I look forward to getting a game in when you get back and before you leave.

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  6. i know the feeling man, as a tyranid player it sure is a pain to paint all the minis up. and to have three tervigons in my list the termas never end. Iv been playing some warmachine and you can sure feel the differers, in models. to have the bord full of stuff to about 15 models in all.

    the most importent thing is to find a god way to paint them fast and make them look TT.

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  7. i had a foot guard army with lots of artillery and rough riders at one point but now i use it as a vet army in chimeras since all the game now puts horde down. we count for to many kill points and we take forever to move around to get objectives. everyone complains about vet guard lists or razorback spam but these days its all that actually is playable since horde lists are time sinks

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  8. After playing nids at NOVA this weekend, I'm frustrated with the "slowplay" aspect. As a newer player, it is even more pronounced. I made it to turn 5 in 1 game, 3 in another, and 4 in the rest. I had a blast with my horde army, but clearly the speed frustrated a few of my opponents. Aside from getting more experience as a player and no-kidding taking the time to freaking memorize the codex/rulebook, I'm at a bit of a loss on how to mitigate touching 50+ models 1-2x/turn, and then managing multi-initiative, multiple save, multiple-action units (terv for instance). The "run at the same time you move" crap is nifty, but depending on what happens when I shoot I may not want to run, so I don't view that as an always-valid thing to do. Especially since my run dice HATED on me this tourney =)

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  9. Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Panda makes some very good points about horde armies and how they can also be rewarding. I think I just need to adjust my mind set and look at the army like less of a slave to it and more like a long-term investor in it.

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