Searforge Commission?

[Ohmen76]

Thinking about starting a stumpy army, but wonder is I'm in for just a lot of frustration? I like to play at cons using my Khador/Skorne, and want to branch out into mercenaries. I know with their new third caster upcoming one could play all stumpys' with the three caster format. What I am looking at is are they competitative with the big factions to hold their own, or no pun intended will they just get steamrolled. My thought process is Gorden is your board scenario/anti heavy armor caster, Madhammer is your anti infantry swarm caster, and Ossrum is the toolbox caster that can handle multiple things (flex caster if you will). With this in mind can they make it? Your thoughts?

[PG_Crump]

It is my honest opinion that playing Searforge is not a competitive option. That being said, I believe all of the dwarf casters are competitive. Just, when they are played in other contracts. The benefits you get when playing searforge are vastly outweighed by the ones you get by playing highborn. I don't mean just the extra 4" or AD solos. The model options in highborn are much more versatile and better.

I've even started to think that Ossrum is better in highborn, but with more dwarfs than I would normally take in order to synergize with his feat.

[whats82]

Dwarf casters are fine and quite good. Searforge contract is not. If you're planning to play 3 lists with searforge, you're in for a real struggle. Play them in 4* and highborn and they can do just fine.

[Dais]

I agree with crump and whats. The dwarves and ogrun are good, but limiting yourself to only dwarves and ogrun can hold you back a lot. 2-3 human solos can go a long way.

[Mod_Gemini]

Moving to the Merc forum, feel free to continue discussion here.

[PG_LunarSol]

I'm making the jump from Khador to Dwarves now and I'm definitely seeing where the Dwarf casters would work better outside of Searforge. Dwarves as a whole seem to have a lot of similar weaknesses and while the casters have spells that shore up these weaknesses somewhat, they seem to do so at the cost of some of their strengths. Outside of Searforge, these spells have a lot more targets that can use the spells that take away from already weak areas and make their strong areas even better.

[Ohmen76]

Yea can see where Rhupert, Eiryss, Macnail, and Reinholdt could help out. Just think it is funny seeing the non stumps hanging out with the stumps in a list.

[SportsComedian]

Do they have as many answers to problems as other factions? Of course not. Can they be competitive? Yes. Especially in tournament/scenario play. I've placed 2nd in two tourneys recently playing exclusively them. Not many people know what they can do, and all you have to do is surprise a couple people's with the movement shenanigans of a Basher or the epicness of Gorten's feat, and you can go 4-0 or 3-1 no problem.

[MagnustheJust]

Just one minor correction needed -


It's Stunty, not stumpy...

[Zelot # 87]

Lord Joln Rockbottom in all his glory is a stunty and a stumpy.

[MagnustheJust]

Meh... fair enough.

[Hjelmen0]

I disagree with Crump and whats. I find that Searforge works just fine in a competitive setting, but they are not top-tier contenders. But as with so many things in this game, it is more a question of it works for you, than on paper

[absent]

First of all

Its Seaforge

trust me

second i think gorton is seaforge is just fine, and ossram in theme is just fine, and ossram in seaforge is just fine. Durgen... i dont think so but i don't play a lot of durgen.

But mostly i just came in to correct the misconception that the dwarf contract is about searing and not seafaring.

[Hjelmen0]

Yaaarggh!!

[pattison]

This lad here above me won the Danish Masters with Searforge.
And I won the last national slow grow league with Searforge using only Gorten.
It surely has a couple of bad matchups, but I wouldn't say that it's not suitable for tournaments.
Especially as soon as Herr General is being released... who seems tailor made for Searforge (unlike Durgen for example).

[HeadHunter]

But mostly i just came in to correct the misconception that the dwarf contract is about searing and not seafaring.

A "sear" is a part of the trigger assembly of a gun. It holds the hammer back until sufficient trigger pressure is applied, then it releases it to strike the primer.

They're not talking about burning things, they're talking about GUNS, laddy.

[absent]

either way that is the wrong one.

[StJason]

either way that is the wrong one.

What? Y'think there aren't enough guns in a Searforge force?

[HeadHunter]

Not to mention that Rhul has no coastal ports - the only notable body of water is the Armsdeep, located entirely within Rhulic territory. Aside from Rockbottom, I'd bet most of them can't even swim.

[Kenlen]

Rockbottom swims??

[MagnustheJust]

Rockbottom swims??

I thought he only doggie paddled...

[Zelot # 87]

Horgenhold fortress is on the border of Rhul defending the Black river (IIRC) which leads all the way up to Armsdeep the largest inland sea. Many Rhulic clans have built settlements on these shores including Ghord their capital. Rhulics even have their own Alcatraz in Armsdeep, so I would bet that not only do most Rhulics know how to swim but even know who to sail a ship.

[Zelot # 87]

Rockbottom swims??

Nah, he just pays some privateers to do it for him.

[rydiafan]

Is it impossible to do well with Searforge? No. Are you crippling yourself? Maybe not crippled, but hobbled at least. Any willing decision to limit your army choices wil hamstring you, whether it's onlt playing Seaforge, or only using man-o-wars in Khador.

[pattison]

Rydiafan speaks the truth. But I have to add, that it's yourself who needs to decide if the look & feel is in balance with the extra effort you need to put down in order to do well with a certain army. I believe that there is a healthy balance.

[StJason]

Horgenhold fortress is on the border of Rhul defending the Black river (IIRC) which leads all the way up to Armsdeep the largest inland sea. Many Rhulic clans have built settlements on these shores including Ghord their capital. Rhulics even have their own Alcatraz in Armsdeep, so I would bet that not only do most Rhulics know how to swim but even know who to sail a ship.

This. Also there is another large lake out by Farhollow. Not to mention the area is run through with rivers (The Black, Oldwick, Raggerdrill Run, Fleetsfill, Ayeres, North Ayeres, Miner's Run), and the majority of the population lives on the shores of the Armsdeep. Three large cities (Ghord, the capital, Ulgar and Bruner) are all on the shores of the Armsdeep, and most of the agricultural areas of Rhul are there. In a lot of ways, it's mroe accurate to say that the dwarves live on the shores of the lake more then they live in the mountains around it. I'm willing to bet even the outlying colonies use the rivers as the primary method of moving materials into the big cities, floating logs down, barges of coal, powder, ore, whatnot.

The Dwarves are a waterfaring people!

[StJason]

Rockbottom swims??

"Out in the ocean, floatin' like an island.
Peg-leg for a rudder, and skivvies for a sail.
Surely I be droundin, but I'm still a' smilin'!
`Cause I just walked the plank, and lived to tell the tale!"
-Rustmonster, Still a'smilin'

[absent]

see i was right, it's seaforge, it just happens to be an inland freshwater sea.

[Kenlen]

Not to be too geeky about this, but back in the age of sail most sailors didn't know how to swim, or were not very good at it. Of course, it's possible that Rhul has mandatory public schools, and that these schools all have mandatory swimming classes, buuuut....

It takes more than nearby water to be able to swim.

[StJason]

It also depends on your definition of swimming.
Organized crawl-stroke? Likely not. The ability to float and paddle about? That's pretty common among all people who make their living on the water. Knowing to relax and let yourself float to be rescued? Very common survival trait.

[Kenlen]

Agreed. Back in the days of sail it was common practice to have a dingy on tow. If you fell overboard this was basically your only chance to survive, a quick dogpaddle and a desperate lunge to grab onto it, since it's nearly impossible to find a single head bobbing in the water, once you've lost sight of it. And for a sailing ship to return to the exact same spot in the ocean with no landmarks, and probably against the wind, takes more blind luck than skill. For a sailor it was often viewed as better to drown quickly than to float/swim for hours, and then drown. Harsh, but those were tough times.

[Zelot # 87]

So the question is how much of Rhuls nautical transportation is sail/steam/other? Not knowing to much about weather but with all the mountains in Rhul I imagine there would not be that much wind so I could see Armsdeep surface not being to rough.

[Kenlen]

Rhulics will be using mostly steam to power their vessels. On the rivers, sails are next to useless, although on body of water the size of Armsdeep, winds should reasonably steady.

But this has gotten waaaay of topic.

You can get good results with Searforge, if you are dedicated, get lots of practice with them, and learn to play them to their strengths. And accept that some matchups will just be rough.