Archive Notice: This content was originally published at mk.strats-welt.at. I’m working to archive as much Mage Knight 1.0 content as I can find before it disappears from the web.

WarLord H0urg1ass’s Army Theme Guide

I put this little guide together mostly for the new crowd of players who wish to learn a little about playing the game without having to embarrass themselves like I used to. This guide groups the major army themes and gives a little background information on what types of units are generally included in them.

First, however, this guide gives a little background information on the basic unit types. You won’t be able to understand the army themes unless you have a little knowledge about the types of units that comprise an army.

Basic Unit Types

Uniques / Heavy Hitters

These units are generally the “Leaders” of any army that you form. In most cases they are the units with the highest values and many of them have Special Abilities that regular units do not have OR they just plain have more of an SA.

The reason I don’t put just uniques here is because some armies use figures that pack as much punch as a unique but are actually standard figures. One really good example is the Tough Steam Golem, which packs as much punch as any unique and even costs as much as most uniques.

Ranged Units

Many people contend that these units are the most important units in an army and I agree with them. Ranged units are incredibly useful because of their ability to deal damage from afar and, sometimes, not have to worry about receiving any return fire.

If you don’t have any other unit in your army, you MUST have ranged units or those people that you face who DO have ranged units will chew you up and spit you out.

Melee Units

These units are probably the most overlooked units in the game. These units consist of such pieces as Dwarven Berserkers and Crystal Bladesmen. Because of their lack of ranged firepower, they usually take a beating from whatever opposition they are facing before they even get into Base to Base contact.

Unless, of course, they are moved into position behind Blocking units…

Blocking Units

Other than ranged units, blockers are the second most important units to include into most army constructions. I can’t stress this enough: Without blockers 99.99% of armies will LOSE to their opponents!

Their uses are wide ranging and if you pick good units, then you will be able to accomplish many tasks at the loss of only a few points. Some common blocking units are:

Shades
Woodland Scouts
Imps

These units nearly all share a common factor of being cheap and mobile.

How to use them correctly: Run them ahead of your ranged/melee/unique units. This keeps your good units from taking fire because they are… well… blocked. Most players will use their blockers to engage enemy figures. If the enemy decides to attack and destroy your blocker, then you will have a clear line of sight to attack him. Also, this will leave your opponent pushed, which is a bad position especially if they just took damage.

Capturing Units

Capturing units, in many people’s opinion, fall under the same heading as blocking units. Many people use units such as Shades and Imps to block AND to attempt capture attempts. Of course, capture attempts depend on not being totally vaporized by the unit they are engaged with.

Other armies, however, are built purely for the purpose of capturing the other player’s pieces. Deep Spawn for example are very good at capturing enemy pieces and then moving into deep water territory which drowns and destroys the enemy piece.

Capturing units, whether they are the central element of your army or not, can turn the tide of a battle vastly—especially if they manage to get a lucky roll and walk off of the battlefield with a very expensive piece.

Push Spawn

These units are some of the best non-ranged units in the game. The reason is because their stats actually get better as they take damage. The name comes from the fact that the three major figures that do this are Mage Spawn units.

Figures with this ability include:

Werewolves
Werebears
Crypt Worms
Tough Dwarven Berserkers

One fun use: Rush ranged units without using blockers. Who cares if they take damage, just so long as they get better, right?

Important warning: Most push spawn are incredibly vulnerable to capture attempts in their first couple of clicks.

Healers

Healers are also an important element in many armies. What’s better than taking a beating and then healing your figure back into a kick-arse fighting unit? Nothing.

Common healing units:

Shaman
Mending Priestess
Leech Medic

One mistake I see many people making: Not considering what else that healer has to offer. For instance, why use a Leech Medic unless you:

a) Don’t have enough points for a better healer, or
b) Have lots of Magical Immunity figures in your army

Always consider the other Special Abilities when trying to decide which healer to add to your army.

Special Ability Units

Many units are used in a game just because of a unique Special Ability that they have. For instance, the only units in the game with the Aquatic ability are the Deep Spawn. In a game that is going to include lots of aquatic terrain, they would be incredibly helpful.

Basic Army Themes

Tangle and Flank

This army theme is quite possibly the most common theme in existence. It consists of using any type of blocking units and any type of ranged or melee units.

How it works: The blocking units are usually quite numerous and attempt to make base to base contact with as many enemy figures in a movement formation as possible. This puts the enemy formation at a total stand-still until they destroy the blocking figure.

The sacrifice of this piece allows your army to move their pieces into position and wait for the blocker to be destroyed. At that point you may open fire on the enemy piece. This is great because the enemy piece will have to push in order to make a counter attack, which will leave them another click closer to death.

One popular approach: Use a powerful unique such as a Troll Chieftain, Order of Vladd, or Magna Draconum that does not have a ranged attack. Use the blockers to tie up the enemy’s units and then pick them off one at a time at your leisure. Just make sure that you have a way to heal your unique in case he takes too much damage.

Fling / Sling Blade

This is one of the most used Tournament armies to date. It usually consists of a Magus and perhaps the Limited Edition figure Anunub. Both of these figures have the Special Ability of Magic Levitation.

How to implement: Use blockers and harassers to tie up the enemy units, then move in close with the Magus and attack figures. Levitate your figure into base to base contact and attack in the same turn.

Best pairing: Use a Magus and a non-unique with a very high attack and damage value. Most non-unique golems are perfect for this, however the Blade Golem is the most used choice because it can move in formation with the Magus.

Most of the time, the first piece to score a hit will be the winner of a skirmish.

Single Formation

This type of army is probably the second most popular on the Tournament circuits today. Many of these armies are centered around two predominant figures: the Storm Golem and the Hierophant. When both of these extremely high cost figures are paired with a couple of other enhancing units, they become very formidable.

Many people contend, as even I used to, that armies like this are not generally good because they run into action shortages. I have to disagree on one basis:

Storm Golem: Has three ranged attacks per turn at a 12 inch range. Every other turn, he can make three attacks and still have an action left over. This is NOT an action shortage—you basically get a free action every other turn.

Hierophant: Can make two ranged attacks per turn with Flame/Lightning ability. If he attacks two formations in one turn, he can damage at least 6 units. This is NOT an action shortage.

The real problem: Getting swarmed by weenies that tie them up. This can easily be solved by using good ranged units that can destroy the weenies before they become a threat.

Capture

This army theme is fairly self-explanatory. It is also risky.

The basis: Use good units that have decent attack values to capture a couple of the enemy’s expensive units, then run like a bat out of hell to get back to your starting area. Most people choose to back all of their forces into a corner at this point and make the enemy come to them to make up for their lost points.

Best units for capture armies: Shades. They have a combination of:

Quickness
Stealth
High defense value
Fairly high attack value

This means they can move into base to base contact, hopefully survive the first attack, and then capture. Because they have Quickness, you don’t have to use actions to move them back to your starting area.

Best targets for capturing: Push Spawn and Demi Magus units. This is because they have low defense values and are worth quite a few points when returned to your starting area.

Necromancy

This army theme has experienced a small revival since the original rules were updated. The new rules state that if an army that uses necromancy manages to kill/capture/demoralize their opponent’s army, you will win no matter what the victory point totals would have been. This ruling gives armies based on raising units back from the dead a fighting chance.

School of Thought #1 - Necromancer: Use a Necromancer as your central source of raising figures, then fill your army with Zombies/Skeletons/Push Spawn.

However, the Necromancer is considered by nearly every player in the game to be the worst unique ever molded. His attack and defense values are both very low. His only good side is Magic Immunity and several clicks of Necromancy.

School of Thought #2 - Grave Robbers (recommended): Using two or three Grave Robber units is much more efficient. They all have Stealth and the cost of using three Tough Grave Robbers is the same as using one Necromancer.

Benefits:

Possibly raise a figure back from the dead every turn to keep your army at full strength
Important if someone manages to wipe out two or three figures in one turn
Keep Grave Robbers in separate parts of the playing area and decide where to raise your undead for maximum efficiency

Weenie Swarm

This army theme is usually used just for fun. One of the most popular Weenie Swarm armies is the Orc army. This is because most Orcs, including their amazingly fun leader the Chaos Mage, are very cheap. This means you can have several unit formations for very few points.

The point of this army: Grouping up on your opponent’s pieces with numerous figures and making good use of the Close Combat Formation which allows you to add +1 to a figure’s attack for each other figure in base to base contact with the enemy figure (up to a maximum +2).

Faction Based

This army theme is also predominantly a casual and fun theme to use.

Good examples of faction based armies:

All Orcs
All Dwarves
All Undead

While most armies can benefit greatly from using pieces from other factions, it is still fun to play a purist army every once in a while.

—WarLord H0urg1ass

H0urg1ass's Army Theme Guide