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Slave Arrangement
Topic Started: 3rd October 2014 - 06:13 AM (360 Views)
joshman3_16
Clanrat
Hello, working out a last few things for my army and wondering how people form up slaves.

I have 2 units of 40 in each for 80 in total, with a Warlock in each so far. Should i split them up into 4 units of 20 and have a musician in each and only 2 engineers, or do i keep them how they are? I like the idea of having many units being able to run around, however I find that slaves in units of 20 really don't last too long.

My second reasoning is in tournaments and certain games you have to capture objectives in order to gain points and so far I haven't really gotten any as most of the time my big units are stuck in combat.

Any suggestion would be helpful, thanks.
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TanKoL
Grey Seer
Usually ou want your Slaves 40+ strong, any less and they don't last
you also do NOT want any character iin them 90% of the time
Those characters won't last anyway, and they prevent you from shooting into Slave's CC
Just keep'em close to your General
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Royos
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Hey Josh,

I suggest you keep your slave units at 40, or more (50 is good).
Arrange them 5 per rank - in bus formation ;)

Why? because slave units are cheap tarpits. They trap the enemy in one place for a few turns, and this is what they are good at. If they don't have the ranks then they can't do their job (they're cannon fodder). Also, small units of slaves running around doesn't fit the fluff (safety in numbers).

If you want some small units to capture objectives then Gutter Runners might be useful in this role. They are quite a versatile troop type.
Also, rat darts (small units of giant rats) are versatile and work well as re-directors.






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joshman3_16
Clanrat
My thought for adding in an Engineer has always been for the Ld bonus. When the slaves loose combat, and they will, it will be a lot easier to test on Ld 8 then base Ld 5.

Plus by giving one Engineer the DR and the other the brass orb, once those items have been used the Engineer is expendable. Skitter leap him out or have him killed in combat. Once gone, unload into that block with a RG or the WLC.

So my thought process is this, is it better to have 4 smaller groups that will not cause panic and can be used to capture objectives, or 2 larger blocks that will tie up units and cost the same amount when they all break from combat.
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Nurglitch IX
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joshman3_16
3rd October 2014 - 04:43 PM
is it better to have 4 smaller groups that will not cause panic and can be used to capture objectives, or 2 larger blocks that will tie up units and cost the same amount when they all break from combat.
That is a question we can't answer, because it depends on how you play, and who you play.

But I will point out that a slave unit within 12" of the BSB and General only break 1/144 when you've got at least 20 slaves left.
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Mathusala0
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The Evil Underlord

Quote:
 
But I will point out that a slave unit within 12" of the BSB and General only break 1/144 when you've got at least 20 slaves left.


and your opponent has less than 20 models in standard 5 wide formation, else you would not have steadfast
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ratboy1018
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No opposing general worth his/her salt would even attack the engineer in a unit of slaves. I would go so far as to decline a challenge. The whole point of slaves is to lock up hard targets and kill them with magic and shooting.
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King Rat
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40 with shields 50 without shields.

I rank mine up 5 wide to give them steadfast.

Slaves are usually deployed centrally as my front line to soak up shooting and Magic. I have a central Leadership bubble so the slaves will be doing Leadership tests on a 10+ with re-roll most of the time.
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joshman3_16
Clanrat
Shields? Does anyone run slaves with shields? From other threads i've read it seems that shields on Slaves is a big no no.

Would they be worth it? This may prove a bigger advantage to running 4 units of 20 each with shields over 2 large blocks of 40 ea. Antone run some numbers on the save %?
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Skrits
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Shields have their place its more a matter of preference and sometimes a matter of getting the most out of your restrictions.
Say for example you are only allowed to take units of max 40 slaves then adding shields to them will make them stay around a bit longer say like a unit of 50 would have.

For fluff reasons I feel without shields is cooler but if you use shields you can use cheaper models (island of blood)
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garrett!
Clanrat
I really like having shields on my slaves for the 6+/6++. I almost always have my slaves in units of 50, I know someone who doesn't use shields and runs units of 60.
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Nurglitch IX
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joshman3_16
5th October 2014 - 07:22 PM
Shields? Does anyone run slaves with shields? From other threads i've read it seems that shields on Slaves is a big no no.

Would they be worth it? This may prove a bigger advantage to running 4 units of 20 each with shields over 2 large blocks of 40 ea. Antone run some numbers on the save %?
I've run them, but I'm only 75% confident in them.

The problem is that Probability isn't a number, it's a curve. And since there are 4 throws to a combat (Hit, Wound, Save, Ward) the Curve is a 5th dimensional shape. Fortunately it projects down onto a 2 dimensional shape, so once the calculations are done it's easy to read, but getting to the final format is troublesome. I'm working to prove a shortcut, but I haven't had time of late to pour energy into the project.

The old numbers showed that the shields weren't worth their cost in bodies unless the enemy unit was as weak as slaves in combat.
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Mathusala0
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Nurglitch is trying to hard to math it.

against strength 3, shields are better that no shields, anything else its a gamble.

12 wounds at strength 3, odds are you'll save 2 armor, then 1-2 with parry. since 12 shields is worth 3 slaves, every time you save the 4th slave its effective.

of course you could roll nothing, or alternatively you could roll a lot of parry saves, the fact that you get to roll at all is a pretty nice boon.
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King Rat
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Just one thing to note is the "Meta" has changed a bit with more shooting type lists particularly the Wood Elves.

So shields will come in handy vs. Strength 3 bow shots such as some of the High Elves.
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plaugechild
Clanrat
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6th October 2014 - 05:40 PM
Just one thing to note is the "Meta" has changed a bit with more shooting type lists particularly the Wood Elves.

So shields will come in handy vs. Strength 3 bow shots such as some of the High Elves.

No because Wood Fairys all have armour Piercing on everything.
and they dont wanna shoot them anyways, they will just leave them and kill everything else!
but if u can get your slaves in combat with them they will grind anyting but tree "stuff" down!
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