Well as the title suggests this may be interesting for those wanting to use their Golden Hat 3# entries or maybe just want an excuse to use one.
Well (for those that don’t know my CD army is at the moment in Nippon, which is the Warhammer version of Japan) as I am creating my army I do do quite a few proxy battles and as I am unsure of my fourth hero in 2000pts and dont want to model something that doesnt work for me. I thought what the heck Ill try a Hobgoblin Hero this time around.
Now looking at his stats hes faster than a CD and comes with the option of a wolf and at 40pts well it is a :h. Bad things do include leadership but he isn’t going to need that for ninja business (no idea why they made assassins have high leadership as they spend half there time running from regiments anyhow) As I always take a magic level 4 user and a level 2 magic user and a CD kill everything in reach hero, so this doesnt leave much room for uses for a Hobbo Hero, or does it?
Well most of us know a single Hobbo Hero wolfrider tactics of bait and fleeing but he does seem rather fragile racing around the battlefield shouting “chase me, chase me” on his own.
So how to use a foot Hobgoblin? Well you could armour him up but lets face it, you have a CD hero for this and if you are paying the points for magic armour yes +1, well, each to their own but not mine thankyou :cheers
So what better than being a sneaky Ninja Hobgoblin (cant think of a better role and yes Bujinkan members I know Ninja were Honourable to themselves and family, I have trained in it, but this is a Hobbo Ninja of a different breed)
This tactic is a debased tactic or pointless tactic depending on your opponents army, hope for level 1 and 2 spellcasters although mine killed a level 4 spellweaver, go him :idea
Now this tactic may work with a couple of level 2 sorcerers but I generally think it works best with at least 8 power dice.
Simply give you Hobgoblin Hero a great weapon, thats all, 44pts of rubbish (or so your opponent thinks, and most people reading this thread :hat off) and he is ready for some Ninja action.
Steed of Shadow him 20" into a full regiment with a spellcaster in the front, target all attacks with him usually hit on 3+ wound on 2+ Then run away, if the opponent pursues well good messed up their battleline if they dont do it again when the hobbo reaches your battleline.
Why not use a CD Hero,
1 - well he doesn’t flee as fast
2 - imagine a CD Ninja the implications are mind-boggling
3 - he costs more points
Now magic heavy armies/shooty armies will find this tactic more useful, as you want to keep the enemy away from you or at least disrupt the battleline with your Hobgoblin and stop him from being shot at with earthshakers and watch your hero Hobbo fight, run, and keep an entire army at bay (well most) and if he dies o-well 44pts of rubbish, try this tactic if you can, do a victory dance (YMCA is not allowed apparantly:~) when it works and laugh when it goes all horribly wrong.
Hope it helps someone :hat off
Im off to convert my Ninja Hobgoblin now as he becomes a permanent addition to my Heros.
you should dump the gauntlets down on your “ninja”… now he cracks chariots like leon uris cracks turtles…
and your wolfboz is not all that fragile if you equipt him right… Heavy armor, enchanted shield and hes a 2+ save… off on his own solo career… give him a sword of might and hes actually quite the beast for 88 points…
The thing is the Steed of Shadows thing will only work the once. Nobody is stupid enough to keep on letting you kill their Mages. What I’d do would be to use either a Hobgoblin Hero mounted on a Wolf (or a Bull Centaur Hero) equipped in a similar way to Metro Gnome described. The Wolf allows him to be speedy enough to flee away from nasty infantry blocks, who with any luck may even chase after him and end up in a trap. The Hero rallies and may now pick off war machines at his leisure.
well if hes blocking your steed of shadows then you are getting other spells off...
which is perhaps where the real value of the strategy comes from...
metro_gnome
Exactly!
I dont mind my opponents dispelling steed of shadows, bear in mind it is a 1 power dice/2 power dice to cast spell so if they dont dispell it they get mister hobbo in front but if they do, more dice for my level 4 fire mage to reak Havok with. I used to use a Skaven Eshin army and this tactic used to work for them (yay smoke bombs) and now it works really well with cheap characters.
I see your points on a Hobbo wolfrider hero but regardless I think a Bull Centaur Hero would be more cost effective in the role of durability of hardhitter, although Hobbo on wolf does cost considerbly less points, ill have to test that.
Just a question a hero mounted on a wolf can have a free reform right?
Until then my hobgoblin version of a Ninja shall continue to terrorise mages from every race :)
won’t really work if the mage is in a unit with a champion, he challenges-you must accept-you loose by cr-he tests not to persue ( unless he wants to go forwards, but then you give him a free move )
won't really work if the mage is in a unit with a champion, he challenges-you must accept-you loose by cr-he tests not to persue ( unless he wants to go forwards, but then you give him a free move )
str 7 on foot is usefull though
grupax
Like hell it won't, so you won't kill the mage but any smart player will charge the flank with a unit of wolf riders first meaning you issue the challenge then your assassin strikes. Alternatively, youa ccept the challenge, you won't die cause the champ hits 1/2 the time so once and then wounds maybe maybe not and your 3 strength 7 attacks may get a small overkill bonus, but what I am meaning to say is, it won't work only if you have no idea what you are doing. A smart player will know when to use the trick and when not, certainly it's not like it isn't a common tactic at all, it's been abused all over the shop in all armies even in a WD Bat Rep! The better way to use it is to go after Tomb JKings chariot units, with the gauntlets you are destroying a chariot per wounding hit and as you're wounding on 2's anyways, you'll win the combat res and may or may not chase them down. Pretty good return after all.
actually you can kill the Mage… It states in challenges that the model accepting the challenge must be engaged… if your a single model you simply charge the model to the side of the mage… and let the opponent challenge… as you can just direct your attacks… who cares if he dies… if he challenges he can only do so with the mage.
Do you have to charge to the centre or is the rule just as many models in base contact as possible? Because most players stick a sorcerer on the corner from where they can escape from the u7nit faster and more efficiently…unless you are skaven, and then you don’t see enough people having their general’s leading from the back rank! Wait…they are allowed to do that right? The Skaven?