Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Grading Blindwater - an analytical exercise

This is an interesting mental exercise I fell into while discussing a colleague's faction. Assigning a grade to each model (ie. putting them in a box) serves to give a different perspective on how models compare to each other within faction and within the game. Taking a soulless bureaucratic approach to a highly complex system, so to speak.

Of course, designing a suitable scale is an article all of its own. I chose to use a 1-10 scale, where 1 is bad and 10 is Cryx:


1 –  A liability, has a crippling design flaw, is very painful to play and/or very weak 
3 – Crap. Only playable in a very tiny majority of lists. Bad at what it does.
5 -  Mediocre. Not really exciting or strong. Playable in several lists, but never really shines.
7 – Solid, has some bad matchups. Does cool things. Taken in a lot of lists.
10 – Overpowered, and should be nerfed a bit. 
11 - Mk1 eVlad / Idrians

Like all good 1-10 scales, this one goes to 11.

My idea is that the developers are aiming for everything to be around a 6-7 level with a few outliers each way, where it’s strong enough to be exciting and powerful, but not powerful enough to risk breaking the game. Therefore it comes out around a bell curve where 6 is the median. Think of it as a 1-5 scale, but doubled for extra granularity (1). The game as a whole should only have a few 1s and 10s (ideally none, but PP is very slow and cautious when it comes to balance errata), and lots of 5-6-7s.


Warlocks

Bloody Barnabas -8

Barnabas is a really strong warlock with some really good match-ups thanks to his feat, Swamp Pits and his nigh-invincibility. That said, he does have some crippling matchups against high ARM lists (especially if the Covenant is involved). If he had Battle Lust or Fury, he would probably be a 10. 

Calaban, the Gravewalker - 3

My feelings on Calaban are well-documented. He doesn't work right mechanically - lots of Skornergy, lots of frustration, lots of inneficiency. Fix his arc node mechanism and Skornergies, and he'd probably be a solid 7 or 8. Still, can't give him much lower than a 3 since you can still win comfortably with him. You'll just wish you hadn't. 

Maelok the Dreadbound -7

Maelok is very solid and grinds like a boss, but lacks depth. His feat helps with that, and Revive is hard to defend against once it happens, but it does have its hard counters. He additionally suffers from the same bad matchups as Barnabas. 

Rask - 9 

The more I play Rask, the more I come to realize how powerful he is. His feat early game is straight up ballbusting (even if you cheese your way around it), and his utility after that is off the charts. He has what is probably one of the best spell lists in the game, and what is certainly the best gun in the game, and is almost as hard to kill as Barnabas. Very high on the power curve, and probably only balanced since he is in Minions.



It occurs to me at this point that most things in HORDES are named 
after BC Rich guitars... or the reverse. Metal \m/

Warbeasts

Wrastler - 6

I tend to hate on our warbeasts a bit, but to be honest they aren't terrible. They just require a lot more finesse and creative play than traditional heavy beatsticks, and/or cost a lot. The Wrastler is a solid example of that - his raw power is a bit underwhelming but if you take into consideration his Wrastler ability, Rise animus, two open fists and Death Roll attack, you've got a good tricky workhorse on your hands.

Spitter -5

The Spitter is pretty much middle of the pack when it comes to warbeasts. His gun really is good (especially when it's THE only gun!), but the rest of him isn't so flash. His animus is pathetic (who decided to put Ornery on this guy?), he isn't too hard to kill and his melee output is sub-average at best for a heavy. Having a good relevant animus or more melee punch would push him up a good deal. Still has a place here and there.

Horror - 6

The Swamp Horror is a bit of an anomaly. He brings a great animus, a heap of initial attacks, a good deal of push-pull trickery, undeniable resilience against ranged attacks, and a cute smile. However, he is also very prone to death by melee, is slower than a dead horse and hits about as hard as a nun. Overall, pretty standard (unless you put Fury on him, where he suddenly blows stuff up).

Snapper - 8

This little dude is money for 3pts. He brings a great faction-defining animus, and his offensive capabilities are very well designed. Brilliant.

Boneswarm - 2

This little dude is garbage for 4pts. He brings a very cornercase animus, and his offensive capabilities work about as well as gluten-free pizza bases. Useless.


Units

Gatorman Posse - 9

These guys are just insane. They are tough as old steel-capped boots, have a great damage output (both in quality and quantity), an awesome threat range vs living models, and their prayers allow them to deal with practically any problem that presents itself. Probably the best medium infantry in the game.

Bog Trog Ambushers -6

I debated for a while whether these guys were 5 or 6. If they couldn't ambush, they would be really unappealing at their current cost. However, ambush is an amazing ability that brings so much to Blindwater, not to mention any faction that can take them and can potentially anything with mid to low ARM. They are still situational though. If only their stats weren't so low for 5/8....

Swamp Gobbers - 7

Awesome little dudes for one point. They will die like nothing to AoEs, but even a turn or two of putting that cloud down is worth it.


Upcoming AD unit.

Solos

Totem Hunter - 8

This guy is insanely good when he works well and manages to actually do something, but pretty average when he doesn't. Still, sometimes having the threat present is worth the cost of admission alone.

Thrullg - 4

Very cornercase. Brings some great abilities (Spell Ward, Arcane Consumption, Disruption), but is squishy as hell and will get shot to bits if he wants to do anything more than whipping enemy offkeeps off your guys. For 3pts, is lacking a little pazzaz. 

Croctor - 6

Good solid support piece. Similar defensive stats to a Thrullg, but doesn't ever have to show his face to the enemy. 3pts is quite costly though, within Gatormans anyway. This is obvious when you see they are 2pts in Maelok's tier (the warlock with which they are most powerful). Minion tax at work.

Croak Hunter - 4

Mediocre, with a capital M. If anyone suffers from Minionhood, it's this cheeseball. Also I will trade Vitriol on this guy for a sandwich.

Feralgeist - 7

He can contest and control in SR. He's incorporeal, and only costs one point. Great! Of course, if you're not playing a scenario, he's probably a 5.  

Wrongeye + Snapjaw - 7

These guys are pretty good too. Good punch, good survival, good utility. Good all-around which counts for a lot, but not quite excellent. 


Speaks for itself.


Conclusion


Looking at our sub-faction this way allows us to see that we are in fact not that bad. We have some good stuff (mostly in the caster department), some bad stuff, and a good deal of average stuff. Probably to the same ratio as everyone else. 

But this is where that old truth rears its head - the main issue is that we have far less 8/9/10s than other factions which have been around longer. Take Skorne for example - most of the power lists feature a couple of top-notch heavies like Molik Karn, Tiberion, Bronzebacks, Gladiators, top notch beast support in Paingivers, and then awesome units like Nihilators and Gatorman Posses (P+S15, no KD, tough Gators)! Combine that with some pretty solid casters (even though they might not be as good as Barnabas or Rask), and you've got a list that can beat Gators to a pulp almost on the raw power of the models alone. 

So go ahead and apply this analysis to your own faction, you may discover a thing or two in the process!

(1) Much like the Mk2 points system should have been!

Updated a bit March 2013.

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