Sunday 1 June 2014

New Cathay update out now!

This update changes the following:

  • Stance of the Dragon - replacing Glory for the Dragon Emperor. Units with this rule counts as having double ranks (to a maximum of +3). This means that as long as you have enough ranks, Cathayan units will be hard to break to the front, which should offset their otherwise rather lacking damage output in combat and low saves. Will need playtesting to ensure it's balanced.
  • Drum and Gong acts as a normal/extra musician to all units within 12", +15 pts.
  • Repeater Crossbowmen -1 pt.
  • Hill Tribesmen loses Frenzy, -1pt.
  • Emperor's Guard -1 pt.
  • Swordsaints -1 pt.
  • Celestial Dragon Monks -2 pts.
  • Foo Statues -5 pts.
  • Terracotta Warriors -5 pts, halberds instead of add. HW's, -1 WS, S, T, I. They are more like skeletons, in short.
  • Stormhurler Ballista -15 pts.
  • The Swooping Hawk +10 pts.
  • Improved formatting in the background section.
  • Some new art.

6 comments:

  1. Just tried some of the Cathay units.
    Cho ku nu: very good
    Dragon knights: Fire lances would probably work better if they were lances with flaming attacks.
    Stormhurler bolt thrower: should also have the option to fire as a normal bolt thrower
    Bastion chariots: Amazing
    Cannon: good
    Wu jen and Yin and Yang Magic: Very good: the more powerful spells can really turn a game around.
    Warlord: Good
    Imperial infantryman and strategist: More needs to be done in combat with them. They were slaughtered by a far smaller squad of Clan Rats.
    But in all it lead to a very enjoyable game

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    Replies
    1. Sure, I could make Fire Lances flaming. Could make the stormhurler work like an elven BT too.

      Not sure what else you would like to see with the imperial infantry, they are not supposed to be able to handle much on their own, and they already have double rank bonus to begin with.

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    2. Try the rule from bolt action: green. This rule reflects that a conscripted squad might be really cowardly but has the chance of fighting like a veteran by making the player role a dice and on a 4+ the unit is upgraded from inexperienced to regulars and increases leadership and ws by 1. so for Cathay it could be.
      Massive Bureaucracy: The shear size and complexity of the Imperial Bureaucracy can lead to a commander not getting the troops that they are after.
      For Each unit with this rule roll a D6 at the start of the game. On the score of a 4+ a commander has been lucky and has received troops from the more experienced regiments from the border patrols around the great bastion and khuresh. The unit gains +1 ws and ld.
      This rule would then mean that you have the inexperienced conscripts and the emperor's guard and the border garrison units would be half way between the 2 (it would also mean that they no longer have a ws and ld that is less than many goblins and equal to snotlings. A low leadership seems a bit weird for an army that has supposedly the most disiplined human army in the world)

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    3. The thing about Cathay though is that there is a spectrum similar to Bretonnia, where the basic infantryman is basically a recruited peasant with little no formal training other than how to hold a weapon and stay in formation. On the other side you have the elite troops in the form of the Emperor's Guard and Swordsaints, which are the "magazine cover" troops in Cathay. If you have seen any Chinese Epic movie like Red Cliff you'll see what I mean, the basic troops are essentially just cannon fodder for the elite and heroes to cut through. By having the basic troops cheap, it also allow players to field a lot more of them, which is entirely fitting. So I don't think Cathay's basic troops should really be good fighters, which is in line with how Chinese armies were during the Warring States as well.

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    4. in that case 5 points i recon is still to expensive- id drop em by at least 1 point- like i said they got massacred by clan rats which are about 2 1/2 points each

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    5. Clanrats are 4,5 pts each with shield IIRC, I think you might be thinking of slaves, which have no armour by default at 2 pts. That said, they might need a slight price drop. I will be playtesting them myself relatively soon, that should give a decent idea of how they fare if more situations. Please keep playtesting them yourself and let me know how you do!

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