Wolves of Orboros UA

[dkindt]

Does anyone else find that they are NEVER taking the WoO UA?

I have been testing the WoO more over the holidays, and tho I think in general the WoOs themselves are ok (boring and uninspiring, but ok) it seems to me that the problem lies in the UA.

Ranked attacks - Just doesn't seem like I've found myself in a situation where this makes a difference to the 'reach-having' WoOs. Even in CMAs it is usually quite easy to leave a sliver of a gap for the guy behind to see through.

Wolf Pack - Once per game gang and overtake? really? that's the mini feat? While gang is pretty good, overtake does nothing for us as a once per game ability. WoO don't have tokens for more attacks or things like that which make overtake powerful.

This is just my take, but it seems in it's current state, those 2 points for the UA can be better spent on a blackclad or something that makes any sort of impact on the game.

[bushman101]

They aren't nearly as awesome as they used to be but I still find them handy.

The one thing I like about the mini feat is that it doesn't require the charge to be useful. Gang and Overtake are good to have when stuck in combat.

[txiab]

What changes would you suggest?

[Dragonowar]

Every outing I have had with Wolves of Orboros I have taken the UA for this reason:

The one thing I like about the mini feat is that it doesn't require the charge to be useful. Gang and Overtake are good to have when stuck in combat.

Personally I don't think overtake is very useful either, but I don't know what to suggest to make it more useful without it going over the top.

[dkindt]

Well that really is a tough call. The MK1 version of Wolfpack was a tactic, and had the 'to hit' portion of Gang while also essentially providing Ranked Attacks. Mk1 minifeat was Wild Hunt, which was +2 spd on the charge and an additional die on damage rolls. If you destroyed an enemy model you got a full advance. Now I'm not nearly nieve enough to think we'll get the power of our MK1 version back, however, some aspects could be brought back in a lesser form to return the 'feel and flavor' to the UA while not going so far as to be overpowered.

My first draft changes, since I'm writing this on the fly, would be something like:

Drop Ranked Attacks completely.
Add Granted: Gang.
Add Wild Hunt (minifeat reminiscient of old wild hunt): Once per game, during this unit's activation, this model can use Wild Hunt. This activation, models in this unit gain Bloodthirst (When it charges a living model, this model gains +2" movement).

Seems to me, this would retain the 'feel and flavor' of our old UA, while remaining a shadow of their former selves. Again, this is a first draft written on the spot, so any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Blaque]

My proposed changes on it most recently were that the UA itself grant Tactics: Hunter and Granted: Practiced Manuevers. The mini-feat grants Gang and Cleave. Both are pretty straight-froward, the Hunter thing helps them fit with other WoO models and so on.

And stuff.

[Bladestorm]

I'm in agreement that the UA is a bit lacklustre, I think that gang probably does help them to operate as a 6/8 unit for one turn but the benefits aside from that don't really make up for it on the other turns and I get very worried that everything it does provide is contingent on a pair of def 13, arm 13 models remaining alive.

Overtake isn't a great part of the mini-feat but it does mean they can kill the things they are fighting then move up to tie up something else (which is pretty much the purpose of a 4/6 infantry unit these days) or to get into melee range of a model to help a friend get the gang bonus.

Ranked attack feels like it is there mostly to make the mini-feat easier to pull off, since we don't really have the models to take major advantage of it most of the time, but could allow for a second unit of WoO to stab things past the first to free them up for a charge or for perhaps RoO or Nyss hunters to shoot past once in a while. Of course we can't really plan around that if the ability can dissappear when the officer dies.

Really I feel like they need a Tactics: somewhere from the UA and then it would be solid.

[UnderWood]

Granted ranked attacks is a peice of **** after wolf pack

They should have practiced maneuvers as a tactic

The minifeat is quite lackluster after the old minifeat as well I can take the change to gang but with the new unit formations I'm finding that overtake is not really doing anything if its only purpose is to let them engage more models let it give them sprint.

[krom71]

Ranked attacks is there for a purpose. PP is trying to get us to use the Reeves to shoot over the Wolves. Then charge in Warwolves from the flanks with Sic'em. Then the Wolves move in and finish stuff off, and use overtake to engage a few more models and open charge lanes. The Warwolves then activate and charge whatever the Wolves were able to engage with Overtake.

The problem is that this situation almost never comes up. Add to it that the Reeves have too short RNG to be successful firing from behind another unit and its quite a snafu. They're not going to give the Reeves RNG 12. So the Combined Arms approach will almost never work out the way its designed to.

[Rosicrucian]

I think my only real issue i that overtake is so hard to make matter at all. To be honest the standard has been one of the most useful parts of the UA for me. I think I'd be happy if they just swapped the current mini-feat for an "additional damage die" mini-feat. Otherwise I'll mostly just use the vanilla unit.

[Solarhaphaeriom]

UAs in general were toned down a lot. At least WoO have reach, Praetorians now have ranked attacks instead of their old order, but no reach.