For Kingdoms of Men, a regiment of Knights comes in at 195 points and is a common sight in lists of just about any play style. But a horde of Militia is 105 points. A legion of Militia is 155. If the Knights are considered MSU, are the Militia MSU too?
Basically, does unit cost or unit size define MSU play? Must units satisfy both criteria to count?
As I was picking up Warhammer, this was not an infrequent topic of discussion in Warhammer-Empire forum. These discussions were immensely complicated by the fact that that game really emphasized the individual model, so unit size argument won out online usually and price was largely ignored. Some even argued that our 15-25 strong infantry blocks were too big for MSU play, and we should really call the Empire stuff Multiple Medium Units style of play instead. Sheesh. I more often came down on the "points matter" side of this debate, as 10 elite Chosen Warriors of Chaos were definitely not equal to 10 Ogres or 10 Humans or 10 Goblins. Points values, incredibly flawed as they were in the game, was how this style needed to be discussed across armies and between the various units. Kings of War is a different game, with different considerations, which I've blabbered on and on about before. But oddly enough, I'm coming down on the old Warhammer side of this debate at the moment, as I pour over potential lists to test. I think unit size should "gatekeep" the discussion of the Multiple Small Units playstyle in Kings of War.
Kings of War emphasizes units instead of models. Unit sizes are set regardless of army, and options for each unit are even circumscribed. Not everything can be taken as a horde or legion. More importantly for the discussion at hand, this game has a math complication, giving discounts for larger units. I more profoundly realized this feature recently in Battle 004, when in some post-game discussions, I realized that if I had just combined all my doubled regiments into hordes, I would have saved myself a few hundred points. That is a steep premium for running regiments over hordes!
Things can be expensive, but at a typical game size (2k+) the game is designed to get you to run multiple units and not have any one unit cost an unreasonable amount of points, with even the most expensive things usually topping off around a maximum of 300 points. Cost can still definitely be a consideration for MSU, like swearing off those 350 point dragon lords and running cheaper versions instead, but I would argue that it is a secondary determining factor for this particular game.
So yeah, right now I'd actually argue that unit size is the main factor for defining and determining MSU play for Kings of War. At tournament points levels for lists (1995, 2k, 2300, etc), no one unit completely breaks the bank. And with the game's list building unlocks feature and unit pricing scheme, if you are running a few cheap hordes I'd argue you were simply playing the game as intended! I think " a focus on Regiments" might be the easiest shorthand for determining MSU play? You can run heroes, troops, monsters, really anything you want except hordes and legions of stuff. This is still a very nebulous definition, and a bit unsatisfying, I think, but I think the simplicity makes for a decent place to possibly help frame some future discussions on MSU style play. More thoughts to come after some more games!
No comments:
Post a Comment