SYVASH STRONGHOLD - An Initiation Guide And FAQ For New Initiates

**hausdorff space** · 04-14-2010, 06:11 PM

SYVASH STRONGHOLD
- AN INITIATION GUIDE AND FAQ FOR NEW INITIATES -

Welcome new inductees,

This thread is here to help you along in your first experiences with these forums and faction. For the most part it will be built of two parts: an initial guide and introduction; followed by an FAQ... but who know what the future will bring.

**hausdorff space** · 04-14-2010, 06:12 PM

- Welcome to the Cabal -

First up, if you?re brand new to these forums and the game, stop by the New Members Area, introduce yourself and collect your faction plushy. They?re a much friendlier lot over there and will be more than happy to help you deal with any faction or game insecurities that you may have. They?ve also got a pretty good set of faction descriptions over there.

Online Resources:
If you?re new to the faction and haven?t got the rule book yet, you can still find out a lot of information on the faction available:

(While one isn?t allowed to post full stat descriptions of models, there?s a good set of online resources available to you.)

Most immediate is the Council of the Nine Voices (which will eventually detail everything relevant to the faction); and while that is being finished
there?s a very good summary of everything over on Dakka Dakka.
For points values and list construction ForwardKommander is a great online resource.

And of course, if you can?t find the information you?re after through these, the forums are here to help. Just remember there are limitations to what can be posted on line; and try not to feed the local forum trolls.

List building:
Now, building a list, that?s what seems to be on everybody?s mind; that and whether or not a specific list is viable.
So, to the first part, whatever you have you can make a pretty decent starting list out of. Caster + Jack + Unit + Solo is near enough to 15pts, give it a go and have some fun, the people here will only tell you to do the same (or netdeck you an army you don?t yet need/want). For those coming from other games (40K WFB) this can be hard to get your head around, but small games are played in this game; and while people might prefer to play 35pts or 50pts, that doesn?t mean they won?t give you a 15pt game (and if they won?t they?re devilsquids and you should avoid gaming with them anyways).

If you don?t have anything, then try proxy something. The themes in this army are all pretty straight forward, so it?s pretty hard to go wrong. If it?s too hard, start a thread; but buy what you like (not what other people tell you to like), you?ll be happier playing it. Just try to avoid buying multiples of anything when you start, and if you buy a heavy jack kit, magnetizing it is always a good move ? see THIS thread.

Also, if you ever feel like posting ?I have this and need to build a 50pt (or 35pt) list and don?t know what to do? or anything like it, DON?T. Seriously, if you don?t know what and how you want to build you should be playing smaller games. Start small and have fun, you only get to really start once, enjoy it while you can. That said, feel free to ask what other people like to run at 50pts (or 35pts), and what options they think are most viable.
As for viability, this is a competitive game. What?s works best for one doesn?t work best for all. And almost every list can work. Seriously, play what you like and like what you play; don?t be a powergaming tool ? you can?t beat anyone when they refuse to play you.

Tier Lists:
When starting off you should probably avoid jumping straight into Tier lists (if you?re interested in them); feel free to play them, but as above, stick with playing small, and try avoid buying multiple of models/units until you are truly convinced of where you are going. For instance, if you are interested in Rahns tier then 1 unit of Battle Mages and one or two Magisters is plenty; and if you interested in any of Kaelyssa, Garryth, or Ravyns tiers then one unit of Mage Hunters, one assassin and a few solos is a great start. The point is, you don?t break standard Field allowances until you know what you are doing. Owning four units of Battle Mages (FA:2) sucks if you never intend on playing them again.

Posting:
Now that all that?s out of the way...

There is a RoS List Discussion subforum, feel free to use it. But when you post a list, please try to post some comments alongside it ? what are you looking for in posting? Advice or tactics suggestions?
The big reason behind this is that if you just post a list, then you?re not likely to get any replies. This goes doubly strong when posting about tier lists, they?re so restricted if you don?t ask for anything there?s very little anyone can say. Similarly don?t just post and leave for a week, check back in a few minutes/hours to see if anyone has asked you to clarify something, or has gone completely off topic (feel free to nerd rage about that) - this is good practice in any thread you start. That way, you?ll be sure that when you come back later you will have got some meaningful answers (and if you haven?t bump the thread and cry out for more replies).

There is also a Rules Forum. If you have a rules question, then generally this is where they should go. And before you start a thread do a search to check it hasn?t already been answered. So, the Search Function. It?s pretty worthwhile learning how to use it and getting up some searchfu skills.

Is it ok to feed the forum trolls?
Also, make sure you don?t just post one sentence, or a sentence pretending to be a paragraph. A complete lack of any punctuation (and too much netspeak) can really sets some people off, and is a very quick way to see your thread derailed. DO NOT FEED THE FORUM TROLLS

...there's nothing stopping you, but it almost always leads to trouble.

**hausdorff space** · 04-14-2010, 06:12 PM

- FAQ -

Here are some common FAQs and their answers, if something missing post it below and I’ll add it in.

Q: blah blah blah Tier list(s) ...?
A: Answers to all tier based FAQs should be found HERE.

Q: Is this warcaster viable/useable/a good one to start with?
A: All our casters are very decent and more than fine to start with.
Vyros can be a little hard to get the best out of and Garryth is sometimes considered a little on dimensional; but neither of those things make them bad things to start with.

Q: What/Where is the RoS Battlebox (starter) army? And is it any good?
A: RoS currently don’t officially have a starter army, but PP considers it to be Kaelyssa, a Manticore, a Chimera, and a Girffon. And yes it’s pretty decent.
Note: being a non-Prime faction we're in the unfortunate position of most likely never getting a proper (in a single box) Bbox.

Q: Should I take a UA with my unit
A: In general yes, we have awesome UAs on awesome units. Why not compound their sins.

Q: How do Soulless Escorts work with respect to the weapon attachment rules (FA 3, 1pt for 1, up to 2 more for 1pt each)
A: FA 3 means that up to three units can be given a Soulless escort weapon attachment, however each attachment may consist of up to three models (at a cost of 1pt per model). This means you can have up to nine Soulless escorts on the board per warcaster.

Q: What mercenary/minion models work for RoS:
A: Currently Eiryss, Cylena Raefull & the Nyss Hunters, Lady Aiyana & Master Holt, MAdelyn Corbeau, Lanyssa Ryssyl, and Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath are the only released mercenary and minion models that work for the Retribution.

Q: What do we do against stealth
A: Cry... that’s my answer at least.
Truth be told we have quite a few answers – Phoenixes, Discordia, Stormfall Archers, Melee, Skarath, and every caster has an AOE attack of some kind.

Q: Is the Field Generator Shield System worth it?
A: The Shields are great. Think of them as taking our easy to kill jacks and making they about as hard as every other factions, except since the damage goes to shield boxes and not the damage grid, it’s even harder to lose systems to the few first attacks they recieve.

Q: Can knocked down models be pushed/pulled? (Rahn, HSBMs, Magisters)
A: Yes. - http://privateerpressforums.com/show...8&postcount=43

Q: PP says XXXX unit comes with 10 models in the box, but the picture on YYYY only shows 6, how many come in the box?
A: 10

**hausdorff space** · 05-13-2010, 02:49 PM

- LINKS -

Here's a list of potentially useful links for beginning RoS players:

Lists For A New Beginning - a collection of lists us RoS players first used.

**dicegod** · 05-24-2010, 04:52 AM

I really have nothing to add to this thread - except that the title isn't very eloquent.

It should be "SYVASH STRONGHOLD - A Guide And FAQ For Initiates".

So much redundancy...

**hausdorff space** · 05-24-2010, 02:44 PM

There ain't nothing wrong with being redundant

**hausdorff space** · 06-08-2010, 06:07 PM

A quote from another thread, that I thought was relevant:

Originally Posted by themocaw

So I've been playing Warmachine as Retribution for about three months now. . . thinking about lessons learned about the game in general, and Retribution in specific, during that time period.

1. You may win your demo game. You will lose your first game. You will also lose your second and third game. You will probably win your fourth game. After that, your opponents will start to take you seriously, and you will start losing again. Around the tenth game or so, you will start to win again, and then you can stop thinking of yourself as a newbie.

2. You will most likely lose your first game against a faction or warcaster you've never seen before, especially against a more experienced opponent. Even if you read their card carefully, it's a certainty that your opponent knows something about their models you don't see, and the first indication of it will probably be when he kills your warcaster with it.

3. Read the cards carefully while making a list and before every game. Don't make assumptions. Kaelyssa is a Mage Hunter, but she doesn't have Stealth. Vyros has a big sword like a Dawnguard Sentinel, but he's not a Weapon Master. Before you cast a spell, read it carefully - especially check if it affects a unit, a model, or the battlegroup.

4. The Retribution of Scyrah are elves. Don't let this confuse you into believing they play like other elves in other games. If you try to play them like glass cannons, you'll die against real glass cannons. They work best as a versatile combined arms force: find what your opponent is weak against, and hit them there.

5. If you take a Phoenix, do what it takes to remember to use the Phoenix Field at the start of every turn: tape a note to your forehead if you have to. That extra 1d6 shield every turn helps a lot. The same applies for the Sentinels' Vengeance ability and anything else that triggers on your opponent's turn.

6. Try something new every game. If you've never used a Throw or a Slam before, and the situation comes up where you can use it, try it out. Find out how it works, and think of ways you can use it.

7. If your opponent has you outgunned, outnumbered, outflanked, and outmatched, that's the time to do something stupid.

8. Be excellent to your opponents. Remember you'll see these guys next week, and you'll have to face them again.

9. Solos will die first, especially if they have the words "Arcanist," "Mage," "Hunter," and/or "Assassin" in their names.

. . . and my most important lesson of all. . .

10. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER leave an army transport case open, even if you think it's safe. Someone WILL trip over it, you WILL forget it's open and try to pick it up by the handle, there WILL be an accident, and you WILL wind up playing your next game with an army of broken guys!