What's your favorite faction blend?

[gull2112]

I'm curious as to what blend of factions people would favor the most. I'm talking a main faction plus another faction played as mercenaries. This would be an interesting concept to plumb as it doesn't get brought up too often as it is really just an optional rule. As a quick refresher, the mercenary faction can't use faction specific cards from the main faction and only the main faction's units can meet core minimums.

So in your blend would you include faction specific cards or just go with the first 20?

I'm thinking a T-rex, since it can't really be controlled anyway, would be an excellent choice for a merc.

The Romans could give Hannibal's elephants the what for with a Giant War Elephant.

What army wouldn't benefit from a guest Lord of Dusk?

It might be fun to have a round at a tournament where mercs were allowed, probably not Kevin's tournament, but Cof5N maybe.

[Kevin]

I'd mix Orcs & Ravenwood.  Orcs have excellent line infantry, while Ravenwood has awesome unusual units (Brownies, Cavalry, and Heavies).  Not sure which one woudl be my main faction, though.  

My other thought would be to do a nasty stand-and-shoot by taking some Longbowmen or Bowmasters and adding some cheap, slow, and tough Undead meat shields.

[gull2112]

I'd mix Orcs & Ravenwood.  Orcs have excellent line infantry, while Ravenwood has awesome unusual units (Brownies, Cavalry, and Heavies).  Not sure which one woudl be my main faction, though. 

My other thought would be to do a nasty stand-and-shoot by taking some Longbowmen or Bowmasters and adding sone cheap, slow, and tough Undead meat shields.

I'm assuming you would, as a general rule, go with Orcs as mercs since their main roll would be defensive, not that their faction specifics wouldn't be handy, but I'm assuming offense and missile would be where the preferential weight would get distributed.

S&S is just wrong, and that combination would indeed double underline and bold face the point!

[BubblePig]

I would be tempted to do a combo of any two: Dark Elves, Ravenwood Elves, and High Elves, (Celestial Guard/Lashmistress/Slave Warrior close and hose sounds nasty. Chariot (or sprinted CG)/Wolfkin/Wolfpack, too. Centaur/Coven another nasty combo. )
Though Kevin does make a good point about using undead mercs.

I am not sure I would mind terribly as Carthage to face any given Roman Army with a GWE. Rome is points hungry as it is, and I suspect an elephant slapfight would mean Carthage wins somewhere else first.

[GoIndy]

2 celestial guard, 2 abominations, and the rest zombies.  (7 I think)  That's what I'm thinking.

2 abominations and 4 zombies for core is gonna be how I'd start anything, so really I got 1300+ to goof around with any faction.

[RushAss]

Lizardmen and High Elves.  Their defensive and offensive stats are polar opposites, so all bases can be covered.  Weaknesses of the Lizardmen are a lack of decent ranged units and Cavalry.  The Elves give them that.  Imagine a T-Rex escorted by 2 Chariots.  Just plain nuts.

[gull2112]

Gee, Chris has sure got you guys giving amazing cred to the Undead! I know how you feel though, the only thing that saved my tush at tournament was freakish good dice, and that only netted my a marginal!

[Niko White]

I think it's more that the Undead are a faction with some terrifyingly powerful tank units and then nothing all that impressive to back it up.  Mercenary Zombies and Abominations let some of the factions with awesome breakthrough units also tank well elsewhere in the line.

[gull2112]

I think it is something that could be addressed in a campaign system. Within the framework of the campaign certain combos would be possible and certain others would not. Or you could rule that any faction may use the Undead as merc, once. Or that anytime you used them, it would be at the cost of a VP. That is, if Undead as mercs were jusdged to be way too undeadly It would also be interesting to say that you had to "sacrifice" one unit type everytime you used the Undead as marcs. The more you used them the more dependent you would be on them the turns following.

[RushAss]

Ya know, we sort of get a glimpse of how these combinations work in the big games we play.  I've learned that Umenzi and Dwarves usually make the worst allies in general due to the requirement for Leadership in the Umenzi and the sluggishness of the Dwarves.

[Niko White]

I think making true "hybrid" factions would be a fun experiment too, putting together only existing units and cards, but in new combinations.  Obviously it could be broken if you min/maxed it, but could be cool flavor for a campaign.  Like a Hawkshold/High Elves hybrid inspired by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men from Tolkien.  You could have so many Oathbounds!

[gull2112]

I like your thinking Niko. Along similar lines, you could allow faction specific cards for both factions. Take the base 20 plus the 10 each specifics. So you'd have an increase from 33% specifics to 50% specifics, but you could only play each on a portion of your forces (I'm assuming that the faction specifics could only be played on or effect the proper faction) .

[Niko White]

Oooh, this gives me a cool idea...gonna post a thread about it.