Fortune Hunters vs Nereids, 330 points

[Landlubber]

Stephan and I sat down this evening for a "Capture" game of DeepWars, my Fortune Hunters against his Nereids. Forces were right around 330 points. He was running Amatheia along with her pet hammerhead shark, as well as a Sea Serpent and the actual Beast of Blood Reef (which is a MASSIVE model). So basically, one Nereid and a few warbeasts. My force consisted of Marie du Chatelet, one Tactical Dive Soldier, one Heavy Support Diver, and one Breaching Mech.



The object in the center was the Scenic Artifact; we would score one VP for having a Personality model within medium range of the Artifact at the end of each game turn (we each only had one Personality in our force). The Scenic Artifact was actually a Cyber Defense Platform from TT Combat (made of MDF). I still need to paint it, obviously, but it worked well for this scenario.

In a word, the Nereids are BRUTAL. All the models he fielded were able to move one long stick per action (whereas all of mine only moved one medium stick, with the Mech moving one short stick). They were also all Quality 3+. In other words, his models were moving farther and in general getting more activations than mine.

I moved Marie quickly into range of the Artifact to start scoring VPs, while the Beast and the Sea Serpent ganged up on my Breaching Mech:





The Beast caused one wound to the Mech, while the Mech was able to fight off the Sea Serpent and wound it in the process. Meanwhile, Amatheia had moved into the scoring zone at the Artifact as well, and was being shielded by her hammerhead. So Marie and the Tactical Diver moved in and killed the shark, scoring another VP for the Fortune Hunters (per the scenario, one VP was scored for each model killed inside the scoring zone).

The Mech was able to break contact with the Beast and Serpent and fire off a torpedo, which did one wound to the Beast and a second wound to the Serpent due to the blast radius from the torpedo. Unfortunately the Mech itself also suffered a second wound in the explosion.



And, that's about all the success the Fortune Hunters had. I keep forgetting, since I'm used to playing ship games, the models in DeepWars can (for the most part) change facing at any time. Marie and the Tactical Diver had their backs to the melee combat going on between the Mech, the Beast, and the Serpent; after they killed Amatheia's hammerhead, the Beast turned 180 degrees and charged at Marie.



Yeah. Not a survivable attack. Then, the Serpent did the same thing to the Tactical Diver:



The Beast then turned and charged the Mech, killing it, at which point my final remaining model, the Heavy Support Diver, decided it was time to call it a day. Victory went to the Nereid warband, 5 points to the Fortune Hunters' 2.



I've faced the Nereids before, but this is the first time I'd faced them with the warbeasts. The Beast of Blood Reef is aptly named; it was nigh unstoppable in this game. The Nereids in general are going to be a challenging warband to face, even without the warbeasts, as they are almost all high-quality models (Q score of 3+ on most models, I think), and they all move long distance when activated. So they're fast, and they tend to get more activations.

Stephan and I feel comfortable enough now with the rules to embark on a small campaign, so we're planning to get that started early this summer. There are rules for scoring VP and upgrading individual models and warbands, similar to a role-playing game, so we figure we'll try a short campaign and see how that goes. If it works, and it's a good system, we'll see about running another one with more players (if anyone is interested). We'll track the campaign here on MBS so you can follow along.

Stephan, if I've made any errors or left anything out, please chime in.

Thanks for reading!

[Dakkar]

So what (if any) is the Nereid's weakness? How are they balanced against worse quality forces?

[Stephan]

Good question Dakkar.  We pondered that ourselves.  To start with, the Warbeasts are actually only Q 4+ and, more importantly, the Nereids can't take them unless they also take Amatheia.  She's an 86pt personality model with no ranged attack and no armor.  Her sole function is to allow you to take the warbeasts, and so is an 86 point tax to the force.  Even then, that may not be enough.  We need to play a bit more before saying for sure.

For the rest of the Nereids, their price is pretty hefty.  I don't have the big male Nereid, but I've got all the females, and they range in price from 85pts to 105pts.  Their only "basic trooper" is the reef guardian, and those come in at 94pts each.  The Nereids are fast, but they're pretty light on armor.  The majority have an AV0 and the highest (among what I've got) is a 1.  Note, that's the Nereids, not the warbeasts.

[Landlubber]

Thanks for the correction Stephan. I guess it just seemed to me that they were activating on a 3+.

The Nereid Treasure Seeker, Guardian of the Reef, Eidothera (Nereid Captain), Cymopoleia (Sorceress of the Reef), and the Triton Berserker all have a Quality of 3+, and they all have Long Move (in DeepWars, models are assumed to have Medium Move unless otherwise stated on their stat card. Long Move is about 7", whereas Medium Move is about 4"). Considering this game is usually played on a 24"x24" board, that means if they were able to get three Actions when activated (which is easier due to their lower Q value), they could move almost completely across the table. As Stephan pointed out, they have little or no Armor--even the Berserker only has AV1. Only the Guardian of the Reef and Eidothera can conduct Ranged attacks (the Guardian at Medium range, and Eidothera at Short range). And yeah, they aren't cheap. The Guardian of the Reef can probably be considered their "standard foot soldier", and she is 94 points. Contrast that with the Fortune Hunters' Tactical Dive Soldier, which costs 63 points and is a little more survivable. So they may be fast, but they're fragile, and susceptible to Ranged attacks--especially if you can coordinate fire on one model.

Lord help you, however, if they can close the gap and engage you in Hand to Hand combat--with their speed, they should be able to maneuver for attacks from the rear, which gives bonuses, or charge/rush attacks, which also gives bonuses. Take the Triton Berserker, for example. It has a Combat score of 3; it's Crystal Lance gives it +1 in Hand to Hand combat. It's Big, so it gets +1 in Hand to Hand combat against normal-sized models. It has the ability to go "berserk" in line of sight to an enemy model, giving it +1 in the first round of Hand to Hand combat. And if it attacks from the rear or from above or makes a Rush attack, it's going to get another +1. That's a Combat score of 7 before the combat die is even rolled. And it is Savage, which means it inflicts three wounds if it doubles the opponent's Combat score (most of the Fortune Hunters have 3 or fewer wound points).

I think the Nereids will be a finesse faction. Not brute force, like the Fortune Hunters. With their speed, they should be able to flit from cover to cover to avoid Ranged attacks, and close with the enemy quickly.