Fixing Warcry in 7 "Easy" Steps



In which I ramble for an hour and a half on Warcry Balance…

00:00 Divine Blessings
05:50 Slow Babies
11:38 The Interaction Tax
18:41 Buffs
26:13 Elves
29:48 Counter
36:29 Cavalry
40:20 Midrange Trap
46:55 Factions and Reflections

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14 thoughts on “Fixing Warcry in 7 "Easy" Steps”

  1. The biggest problem with Warcry is that fact that so many models can one attack and kill many models. You want balance? Make so that the first damage on a model, no matter how much or from what source, won't ever drop it.

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  2. I honestly think the biggest problem with elves is that strength and toughness stats aren't applied correctly in this game. The way they use strength should instead be "attack" and toughness should be "defense". Strength should be represented in the weapon damage profile and toughness should be reflected in the hp pool. Then elves could have a higher than average "defense" skill to represent being fast, hard to hit, and skilled at parrying and blocking while still keeping their durability low with a small hp pool. Just my opinion anyways.

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  3. The Divine Blessings are an interesting angle. Probably neat, worth a try, and ultimately just as viable as every other half-baked White Dwarf ruleset, as it rather exacerbates the problem of linear valuation — though that's probably by design. It's not worth it to give them to models in a swarm list, but it will help an elite list clear out swarm lists more efficiently, driving the game toward lower model-count warbands. Probably not enough to help midrange fighters, because in most cases they aren't just 1 point of one stat away from being good, but there are a few outliers that might merit an experiment.

    [Edit, forgot to add: First thing that strikes me is that it pushes already-marginal Strength- and Toughness-buff units right off the roster. They are currently handy only against certain match-ups, and otherwise wind up being an overpriced body. Now you can just leave a points gap in your warband and take whatever buffs you need based on the opponent, no worrying about triples or range.]

    One can certainly appreciate the effort that went into all these points evaluations, though the project is not as ambitious as the title of the video implies. It will take more than points tweaks to fix issues like wizards, counter, and elves. Don't get me wrong: I think Warcry is generally in good shape as a game and doesn't need much more than these light touch looks to steadily improve it, and I think that a lot of the changes suggested would probably yield improvements. It's good short-term stuff, and it touches on but does not fully address ways that some of these imperfections could be improved in the long-term.

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  4. You should have included Khainite Shadowstalkers when you tried to save the elves. They are hot garbage right now except the crossbow warlocks, especially the chaff for 85-90 points. A good analysis otherwise.

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