State of the Metagame 2010: Civilization

The 2010 Qualifier season coming nearer every week. You have all seen the announcement article, so it really is time to consider which warband to bring! Wizards of the Coast and us, the DDM Guild have released quite a few new sets since last GenCon: the sets Aberrations through Harbinger and (of course) . And don’t forget the Drow’s Fortune item cards! Fortunately, we have found Shayne (Brig) Lindeman available to give you advance notice some of the best warbands out there. The reigning champion has already shown you (what he feels are) the top Borderlands warbands. Today he shows you two top Civilization warbands, complete map, how to play, variations and, very important, how to beat them. Brig, show them you have in store for us this time!

Civilization has a strong showing in past qualifiers and at the championship level. The majority of the warbands you see during qualifier season will probably be Civilization. There are numerous competitive warbands that Civilization can bring to the table. Today we are going focus on two of them.

Mercenary General Sellsword Swarm Band

Over the past couple of years Mercenary General Sellsword Swarm bands have been very popular at championship level events. A version of this band finished 4th at the 2009 GenCon D&D Miniatures Championship. Expect to see this band (or variations) at any high level event.

Mercenary General, Runecarved Eidolon, Wand Expert, 3x Human Sellsword, Healer, Standardbearer, 2 x Merchant Guard, Human Crossbowman, 200 Points, 11 Acts, Champ 4, Map: Mithral Mines Link to cards

Key Pieces: The Mercenary General and the Human Sellsword have been an inseparable pair since the beginning of the revised edition. The Sellsword is the perfect cohort for the General. He has good hit points and very high damage for his cost. This allows you to run them in multiples and benefit from the Generals champion effects that allow pieces with cost 20 or less to gain +2 to speed and allowing pieces with the same name as your cohort to have +4 to attacks. This helps turn a capable backup hitter into a pure beater by boosting the Sellsword’s biggest weakness (his attack bonus) and allowing him to get to the fight quickly with the speed boost. The Runecarved has been a piece that I have seen with this band a lot lately and I really like how it fits in. The ability to sit back and boost the rest of the warbands’ attack and damage really fits the swarm theme. It also benefits the General and the Wand Expert by boosting their damage output. The Eidolon is no slouch in combat either, with his 30 damage attacks. So after you lose a couple of Sellswords, feel free to charge the big guy in.

Support Pieces: The Healer provides some extended survivability for your Sellswords and can remove one of the nasty conditions that your opponents will use to slow your swarm down. The Merchant Guards are there to protect the General and the Eidolon so you can maximize their abilities and prevent an early exit by either. The Human Crossbowman benefits greatly from the Eidolon. It is also a 7 point piece that your opponent will really need to worry about. He should have little trouble picking off your enemy victory grabbers. The Standardbearer was a piece that I felt really needed to be in this band. His ability to negate enemy champion effects and allow allies to reroll saving throws could really push you over the top in certain matchups.

Map: This warband can perform well on nearly every map. I chose Mithral Mines for its narrow corridors and because it will be difficult for your opponent to grab victory points without exposing his piece to your Crossbowman. Your Sellswords should have little trouble navigating the corridors with the General’s speed boost.

Other Options: There are numerous options to use in the band. You can’t go wrong with more Sellswords or another Wand Expert in place of the Eidolon. The Eidolon and Wand Expert can also be replaced by the Tomebound Arcanist and more Sellswords. In the end all versions of this band are trying to maximize the effectiveness of the 14 point Human Sellswords.

How to Counter: While status effects work well against this band, it is difficult to get enough status effects going to cover all of the Sellswords. The best way to counter this band is to eliminate as many Sellswords as you can as early as possible. Many people find the Wand Expert troubling. All factions have a very good weapon against the Wand Expert. The Drow Assassin and the Kenku Sneak work wonders against this piece. The key is to shoot with low cost pieces forcing the Expert to jump out of the way of those shots which opens it up to bigger hitters.

Save or Die Band

22/4/2010 Editiors Warning: one of the key components (Witchknife) of this warband is currently banned, so simply copying this warband will not work!

Yeah, I know the name is a little melodramatic, but if you do not make your saving throws against this band, it will get bad quickly. I will admit that I stole this warband idea from Joel Barnabe (Kezghan). I was impressed with what Joel came up with so I took it and tweaked it a little.

Vampire Guildmaster, Githzerai Mindmage, Witchknife, Soulknife Infiltrator, Merchant Guard, Drow Assassin, Harpy, Goblin Runner, Ialdabode, Human Psion, 200 Points, 9 Acts, Champ 2, Map: Dragon Graveyard Link to cards

Key Pieces: The Witchknife is one of the most hated pieces in D&D Miniatures. Normally he is used in a warband with a mixed group of hitters in order to stun a number of your opponent’s key pieces. But combine him with the Vampire Guildmaster and his ability becomes even more devastating. The Vampire turns a failed save into 10 damage for your opponent’s entire warband. You can really thin out an opponent’s warband quickly with two failed saves early on. I recommend using Mindstorm on a keyword that your opponent has multiples of but is also relatively easy to hit with a +13. If your opponent makes too many saves early don’t worry you have ample opportunity to maximize that champion effect with the Mindmage’s and the Witchknife’s ranged attacks that cause save ends effects. Also constantly dazing the enemy pieces you set-up both the Vampire and the Soulknife Infiltrator to use their sneak attack abilities.

Support Pieces: The Harpy is one of the key support pieces for this band. It has the ability to pull pieces out of hiding and immobilizes them there. This allows you to get clean shots with your ranged attacks and helps keep the enemy from advancing on you. The Drow Assassin provides another save ends effect and is very efficient at picking off support pieces and enemy fodder. Ialdabode allows you to lower the damage on an adjacent ally and he has a ranged attack that also dazes the enemy.

Map: Dragon Graveyard offers a map with good lines of sight, while providing plenty cover. Just remember that your Mindmage ignores cover and conceal effects on its ranged attacks. This makes this map a favored home for him.

Other Options: Instead of the Harpy, you could use the Delver Sergeant to get another use out of the Vampire’s potent champion effect. You could also include a second Vampire Guildmaster, but you would end up around 7 activations. The Kolyarut is a good substitute for the Githzerai Mindmage. It has a save ends ranged attack that weakens the opponent and it has the ability to heal itself with its melee attacks.

How to Counter: Anything that can remove conditions such as the Healer or the Unicorn will reduce the effectiveness of this tactic. Pieces that grant rerolls on failed saves can help too. The Witchknife has a problem if you use varied keywords. You can also empty your opponents champion powers with the Mind Flayer Lich. Resist necrotic also works wonders against the Vampire Guildmaster champion power.

In Conclusion

You may be wondering where all of the other competitive Civilization warbands are. Civilization has numerous warbands that it can field at a competitive level. It has the most in my opinion. I am sure we will see Gold Dragons, Thralls, Skullcleaves, and Onis come qualifier time. Tune in next time when it might be advisable to be afraid of your own shadow.