Ulthuan

I have thought of a new use for swordmasters that i have yet to try, and have read nothing about. So I put this out there for feedback.

Swordmasters as cannon fodder.
put units of 7 up front and move as fast as possible. This will draw missile fire and magic away from your bigger blocks. If it doesn't the swordmaster units are favored to win combat against many larger units. If it does then you lose 105 points, but your blocks are virtually untouched. make sure to point out to your opponent that your 7 sm can beat his blocks of 20 (or 30) in combat and they will likely shoot them.

obviously the strategy is basic and the details would depend greatly on the siutation, but might this work the way i see it?

a small block of spears (10) would be cheaper, but hardly enough of a threat to draw even a small portion of the shooting/magic that sm would draw. I think.

thoughts?

Not really a new tactic, most people run them in 7s and as said, two things happen. They get focussed and its a minor loss points, or ignored and they rip shit.

Pointswise, its the same if you add musician and champion in with the spears. The Sword Masters are easier to panic, and if they're still five models, can infect others.

It depends on what you're facing. Anything with minimal or moderate missile capacity it's a viable tactic, since we could always dispel magic missiles.

What Aethyr said.

Musashi wrote:Pointswise, its the same if you add musician and champion in with the spears. The Sword Masters are easier to panic, and if they're still five models, can infect others.

It depends on what you're facing. Anything with minimal or moderate missile capacity it's a viable tactic, since we could always dispel magic missiles.

I fidn the best part of the sword masters in small untis of 7 is that if they are reduced enough to panic they will be at 4 models or less, meaning they dont panic other units. The only time which they should panic your front line is if only 2 wounds are inflicted (you have to be damn specific to do this) or if they were already paniced from something else.

I use my swordmasters exclusively in units of 7, i wouldnt dare take them any bigger, because as everyone knows they will get shot and shot good. But as a small contingent is enoguh to make a psychological difference, they dont look as threatening as they are to all but the most knowledgable of HE units.

In a bigger unit i tend to fidn they get focused a lot more and more points are lsot that way, so i diced to split the unit of 14 into seperate units and now i have another quater capturing unit and another space on the board to occupy and deny advancement, even bloodthirsters become wary about charging them or getting in charge range of them just because they have the possbility of knocking off a wound or two.

I dont think the price of those units is worth the amount of fire they will redirect.
last time I played against units of 7 swordmasters i panicked them with tiranoc chariot bowmen missile fire...

Last time i played with my untis of 7 swordmasters they butchered a unit of charging wild riders and their hero, so i guess it's all about the dice roll huh? ;p

It depends more if you can keep them in tact until combat, which is difficult if your opponent has the means to reach out and touch them.

Musashi wrote:It depends more if you can keep them in tact until combat, which is difficult if your opponent has the means to reach out and touch them.

Are you suggest my opponent will try to molest my swordmasters? D:

WarpPhoenix wrote:

Musashi wrote:It depends more if you can keep them in tact until combat, which is difficult if your opponent has the means to reach out and touch them.

Are you suggest my opponent will try to molest my swordmasters? D:

/wink /wink

Your opponents will attempt to harass your Sword Masters at a distance, because up close and personal, they aren't called Sword Molesters for nothin'.

And that's why you run multiple units and of course the super mobile '1 turn super mobile swordmaster' dragon princes. The pressure is on, somthing is gonna hit them, and it's going to hurt.

They also make a good reserve at a cheap cost for anything that managed to get behind your line.

I use my swordmasters are a second line of hitting, the dragon princes make a threat zone, the swordmasters remain out of charge range, even their own. If the enemy feels like taking the prince charge they'll move foward to take it in which case the swordmasters will go in instead, just incase rubber lances take hold, if they dont want to take it they'll back off or stay stationary in which case the swordmasters still run in after them because they'll always do more actual damage than the princes.

The main asset to this strategy is ASF, it means the sowrdmasters can always pose an amazingly scary prospect. I have also used swordmasters against dwarves to great effect, they tear down slayers and if you know your opponent has miners you can swing a unit looking backwards right behind your bolt throwers and archers, meaning that unit of miners is never gonig to claim your bolt throwers. Since this is usually behind a hill too they are pretty well protected from the dwarf shooting, I find so many uses for my swordmasters. Against wood elves they stand near the edges of the forest and keep waywatchers away, they protect archers like no other, its another unit for my archmage to bail out to for a little while, they capture quaters if ignored (which they frequently are, no one wants to engage them and if i dont threaten them with the swordmasters they dont attack them. Sometimes i just run them down a flank not even looking at another unit with them, they get to the middle of the board, turn sideways and thhey can sweep the board, not bad for 105 points). I can use them to add to any combat, to assassinate mages and hero level characters, to kill certain unit champions with imortant items, to kill that block of X amount of cheap models from getting near my mage quickly, to sideswipe steam tanks, as bait for charges (if they dont rally oh no i lost 105 points).

I just cant get over how much I use these guys.

WarpPhoenix wrote:Last time i played with my untis of 7 swordmasters they butchered a unit of charging wild riders and their hero, so i guess it's all about the dice roll huh? ;p

Mine too!

Took a charge from wild riders + hero on stagg. 1st turn chopped wild riders lost the champ. Second turn killed the WE hero (which was the general) Not bad for a 117 point unit.

SM's are easy cannon fodder and points for your opponent.

They are great in combat but your opponents know this and are unlikely to let the SM's live to reach hand to hand. With only a 5+ AS the SM's struggle.

Options for the SM's
1. would be screen them with other troops eg: Bowmen, the SM's then need the Banner of Balance (making them ItP) so when the bowmen flee the SM's are still happy chappies.

2. Hide them in terrain (forests then use Banner of Ellyrion) or behind a hill until ready to pounce.

6 is psychological wise the best way to deploy them.

- 15 points cheaper
- Panic when 2 are killed, but then, they do not affect others
- But they have less killing output...

like flame says i run mine in 6's rather than 7's but to be honest i find it hard to find the special slots - i usually run white lions, 2 x princes and 2 x chariots so...

You usually run out of points before you run out of slots.