Reply To: (Need) Late game strategy help

[Mike]

Hello,

well it IS called a crisis for a reason ;) seriously though, here’s how I deal with them (lemme know if you need some further explanation):

1. Serious ranged firepower (I usually roll with 4 bows and 2 crossbows) and prioritizing targets: kill berserkes before they can reach your line and get their rage rolling. Next are enemies with axes, because of point 2. Target the youngs next, ’cause you’ll kill 3 in the same amount of shots it takes to seriously damage a single warrior. Warlord is last as he tends to hang out in the back (so it’s hard to quickly and effectively gang on him) and his threat lies mostly in supporting others – it drops quickly as the enemy numbers are thinned (unless he rolled the 2h axe as his weapon, but there are solutions for that further on).
If you go full-crossbow setup you can TRY to bring down warlord with shooting, but only after berserkers and axes are down.

2. Use 6 tough and shielded “tanks” – orcs hit hard, but their melee skill isn’t too high. If you deprive them of axes (and thus shield-destroying capability, they have a really hard time hitting dedicated defensive bros, and those few times they do it doesn’t really hurt so much (by dedicated defensive I mean heavy armor, giod shield, decent melee def stat, Steel Brow, Battle Forged and Underdog)

3. Control units movement and positioning – in context of orcs that mostly means Footwork on all your archers so that you turn Warriors’ signature “push” skill against them – as they squeeze themselves into your line they become surrounded by melee bros while the rangers can move away unharmed.
Second piece of the puzzle: nets, nets everywhere. Give them to everyone (especially if they have Quick Hands) and use whenever you need to immobilize a dangerous target that you cannot kill quickly. Take care to check your AP before usage as to not end up with a shieldless bro next to a heavy-hitter – a potentially deadly mistake. Nets are and absolute godsend against a 2h axe-wielding warlord who can potentially wreck most of your company by himself – keep him immobilized and cut down to size with massed missiles and reach 2h weapons before engaging.
Lastly, there are dogs – good for slowing enemy progress towards your lines and suckering AI into leaving your bros alone (it tends to attack the squisher targets first – dogs are always squisher than your bros, even the rangers) – a good “panic button” if you screwed up and your archer is about to get a face full of battleaxe. Just drop little Pluto next to the orc and he will happily butcher it first, buying you some time.
Be aware that when the dogs inevitably bite the dust it can and WILL improve orcish morale – so use them sparingly.

4. Use the right tools for the job – forget spears, they’ll break themselves before they chip away all that armor. Bring hammers AND axes – break armor first, chop the delicious green flesh to ribbons next. You wanna focus-fire each warrior and go all-out on him, don’t spread yourself too thin trying to kill 3 or 4 at once.
After they’re done sniping soft targets rangers should switch to billhooks (or at least longaxes) and join the merry club of meatchoppers (unless they’re Fearsome archers as a high-volume of morale-breaking shots might actually outweight the usefulness if added damage).
If you feel really ballsy – or lucked out on backgrounds and talents and ended up with a couple of REALLY high melee skill guys – you can just say “screw your heavy armor” and give everyone a dagger – Puncture is a fickle mistress, though, so your mileage may vary.

5. Play dirty, use every trick. Fearsome on ALL brothers? Even with Warlord screaming his lungs out Warriors will be pissing their pants when you’ve killed soft targets and they get focused. Speaking of morale, get as many of your bros as possible to Euphoric mood before the battle, as Confident is quite OP with lvl 11 mercs. Poisoned arrows? Oh yeah. Overwhelm? Even your “tanks” attack before the Warriors, who will have hard time hitting the wide side of a barn with a couple stacks. The list goes on… Go all-out on one-use-only consumables, you were hogging them so exactly for this fight.

I’m sure others will help as well, but with just the above you should be able to do really well against the green oafs. Happy hunting!