Welsh Open Countdown - Borka and Long Rider Impressions

So my first game with my Borka infantry spam resulted in a victory, as well as brought a lesson about never to let Borka's wind wall defenses down even if the match looks like it is in the bag after a Siege assassination run left him on 7hp.

Just the one warbeast sometimes feels like it detracts from what makes Hordes and Warmachine such a great game, which is a great big bunch of honking beasts and robots tearing each other to pieces and comes closer and closer to the old infantrymachine that I hated when fighting against the Harbinger or the High Reclaimer. I do still hate the Harbinger but I digress...

Troops under Borka are impressive and his feat allowed my entire army to charge 11-12 inches (most of them with reach) to close the distance on a gunline army while still being able to make attacks at the end of it. Ironically I passed only two out of fourteen tough rolls that match (14.3% instead of the expected 33.3%) but the match ultimately was decided by the three surviving long riders who ran straight through a unit of long gunners into Siege.

No matter what anyone may tell you otherwise, MAT9+3d6 POW14 impact attacks will kill anything and hit standard DEF13 infantry on anything except triple ones (1 in 216 chance) and autokill any infantry of ARM15 or less, reliably killing ARM18 infantry (most shield wall units fall in this category) 83% of the time. Follow that up with MAT11 charge attacks that ignore base sizes smaller than their own at POW14 (POW15 in the game I won due to KSB) that can reliably reach POW18 and there isn't much that will stand up to that.

Long Riders on their own are good, but it is the extra 5 points for Horthol that make them great. On his own he is a decent solo, MAT8 POW15 with reach and POW14 impacts are alright but giving both Follow Up and Linebreaker to Long Riders makes him a steal for 5 points. Granted you have spent 16 points of your army right there (you did take max long riders didn't you?) but they are fast, brutal on the charge and the Bull Rush order gains a vicious new twist thanks to Follow Up. They are very survivable for cavalry (ARM17 8hp) which are easily even more survivable with buffs accessible to any warlock via the KSB and SSC taking them to a formidable DEF14 ARM19 8hp which means against all but the meanest gun lines you won't lose more than two on the way in. Borka and Madrak possess the ability to make that even better with Iron Flesh or Sure Foot bringing them up to a terrifying DEF17 or 16 respectively. Even three as I witnessed on Monday night have the potential to run straight through a unit and end a warcaster with an attack to spare.