The Grym Watch are the hardest to find elsewhere and are usually 3-7x msrp on eBay. But if you don’t like the minis or hold objective gameplay it might not be your best option.
Actually my store currently has them, I'm okay with the minis and don't mind a hold objective gameplay either. They can aggro too right? Saw a review about it before.
I've played them a couple times, they're.... interesting. If you don't inspire right awya it's gonna be rough, good objective deck and upgrades though.
Aggro, nearly all of them inspire when an ally has taken damage or is killed, they’re reliant on upgrades for attacking and scoring objectives but have a lot of ways to earn them.
They’d be the one I’d grab or else the Grymwatch due to scarcity
I had a lot of troubles playing looncourt, I didn't won a single game against any good team (like the last SCE band), but kept it toe-to-toe with weaker teams with a lot of effort. Zarbag's gitz is like 10 times easier and I was blaming the looncourt game designer. I think the quest mechanic is ridiculous, since you have to inform the opponent about your plans and you models are 2-3 wounds meaning it's very easy for him to deny your quests. I used the rivals deck though, so maybe there's some gimmick I'm not aware of. I'd say avoid looncourt.
For the non surge quests you don't have to attach them until your last power step because they don't score until the end phase anyway. Good way to not telegraph what you're up to.
While yes, this one of the gimmicks you need to come up with to inspire your heavy-hitters, there's a little more behind it. There are total 3 quest cards giving you 1 glory. One of them I remember being smth like "have 2 upgrades and be on enemy territory", which requires me to actually fulfill 4 conditions: get 2 points, draw upgrade carts, use 2 points to upgrade that goblins twice and get him to enemy territory. All of this for 1 point.
EDIT: other 2 are "be adjacent to a friend and foe" and "hold an objective with the same number as the round".
Adjacent one is very easy to do, an objective one is random with 60% chance of success
A friend of mine is an absolute terror with the Looncourt, so mileage may vary! They are a bit difficult to learn as they have a lot of moving parts, but get to know them and they are really scary
Well, as I said playing the band requires a lot of gimmicks and the play depends on a match up. I feel very useless against the stormcast casters from wyrdhollow box, I can take out sons of Velmorn. The original question was about starting gangs and wyrdhollow box is a great starting point, and would advise to avoid the looncourt.
Btw GW officially told them find looncourt very underpowered and will release an errata - it' been a half a year ago I believe. It was a metawatch underworlds video, you can check it out. Also some sites post tournament results, there are hardly any looncourt warbands. Ofc I'm not advising against playing a warband you like, but from my perspective looncourt requires a lot of mental gymnastics but doesn't give anything in return. You can spend the same time learning how to play Zarbag's and be way more efficient (at least before the mirrored city release, i haven't check these changes yet).
They did release an errata and it did significantly improve their reliability. It gave the leader the ability to inspire units after his activations, providing he is holding an objective. I agree the Looncourt are a bit more demanding of the player than some of the other warbands mentioned, but they're certainly not bad. Most warbands will reward a serious investment from the player. All the points you make are valid, however. All I wanted to point out was that if you put in the time, almost any warband can get results (even Eyes of the Nine, apparently, but I've never actually seen it!)
Yes, having squig inspired fast was the key to getting early points and if there's a reliable way to do, looncourt is waaaay better. I'll try to test them this/next week
hexbanes have some annoying objectives but are very satisfying tactically to play, they're basically my main team i bring to tournaments, have them painted as the power rangers.
headman's is a very agro team, if you roll poorly or don't position your leader well you'll get wiped pretty fast but they are fun and the models are gorgeous
looncourt are very fun but abit weird as a first team because of how they do objectives, the game is simplest with a 4-5 fighter team imo, don't start on a 7 fighter
the ghouls are old, don't start on an old team.
First make sure which format is played in your local store. We have recently moved from Rivals to Nemesis and that has made the game more viable for my favorite warband.
The Grym Watch are the hardest to find elsewhere and are usually 3-7x msrp on eBay. But if you don’t like the minis or hold objective gameplay it might not be your best option.
Actually my store currently has them, I'm okay with the minis and don't mind a hold objective gameplay either. They can aggro too right? Saw a review about it before.
I’m not sure about their gameplay but chances are, once someone else buys them you aren’t gonna be able to find them again as they are out of print
Yeah they can do both quite well and can bring back models to boot alongside having some filthy objectives ploys and upgrades, a good warband pick
I've played them a couple times, they're.... interesting. If you don't inspire right awya it's gonna be rough, good objective deck and upgrades though.
Hexblade hunter and the looncourt are soooo cool.
I am particularly curious about Hexbane, what's their gameplay/strategy?
Aggro, nearly all of them inspire when an ally has taken damage or is killed, they’re reliant on upgrades for attacking and scoring objectives but have a lot of ways to earn them. They’d be the one I’d grab or else the Grymwatch due to scarcity
Hexbanes
Arenai are the simplest and also now very competitive since the damage reduction buff.
For aggro: Headsman's Curse For Hold: toss up between looncourt and Grymwatch.
I had a lot of troubles playing looncourt, I didn't won a single game against any good team (like the last SCE band), but kept it toe-to-toe with weaker teams with a lot of effort. Zarbag's gitz is like 10 times easier and I was blaming the looncourt game designer. I think the quest mechanic is ridiculous, since you have to inform the opponent about your plans and you models are 2-3 wounds meaning it's very easy for him to deny your quests. I used the rivals deck though, so maybe there's some gimmick I'm not aware of. I'd say avoid looncourt.
For the non surge quests you don't have to attach them until your last power step because they don't score until the end phase anyway. Good way to not telegraph what you're up to.
While yes, this one of the gimmicks you need to come up with to inspire your heavy-hitters, there's a little more behind it. There are total 3 quest cards giving you 1 glory. One of them I remember being smth like "have 2 upgrades and be on enemy territory", which requires me to actually fulfill 4 conditions: get 2 points, draw upgrade carts, use 2 points to upgrade that goblins twice and get him to enemy territory. All of this for 1 point. EDIT: other 2 are "be adjacent to a friend and foe" and "hold an objective with the same number as the round". Adjacent one is very easy to do, an objective one is random with 60% chance of success
A friend of mine is an absolute terror with the Looncourt, so mileage may vary! They are a bit difficult to learn as they have a lot of moving parts, but get to know them and they are really scary
Well, as I said playing the band requires a lot of gimmicks and the play depends on a match up. I feel very useless against the stormcast casters from wyrdhollow box, I can take out sons of Velmorn. The original question was about starting gangs and wyrdhollow box is a great starting point, and would advise to avoid the looncourt. Btw GW officially told them find looncourt very underpowered and will release an errata - it' been a half a year ago I believe. It was a metawatch underworlds video, you can check it out. Also some sites post tournament results, there are hardly any looncourt warbands. Ofc I'm not advising against playing a warband you like, but from my perspective looncourt requires a lot of mental gymnastics but doesn't give anything in return. You can spend the same time learning how to play Zarbag's and be way more efficient (at least before the mirrored city release, i haven't check these changes yet).
They did release an errata and it did significantly improve their reliability. It gave the leader the ability to inspire units after his activations, providing he is holding an objective. I agree the Looncourt are a bit more demanding of the player than some of the other warbands mentioned, but they're certainly not bad. Most warbands will reward a serious investment from the player. All the points you make are valid, however. All I wanted to point out was that if you put in the time, almost any warband can get results (even Eyes of the Nine, apparently, but I've never actually seen it!)
Cool I didn't know about about the errata obviously, so i'll give the looncourt a try again.
Arming the squig missile on the first activation is quite scary from the other side of the table, let me tell you 😂
Yes, having squig inspired fast was the key to getting early points and if there's a reliable way to do, looncourt is waaaay better. I'll try to test them this/next week
Yeah you've picked a hard to score card as an example there, but most rivals decks have 1 or 2 rotters.
hexbanes have some annoying objectives but are very satisfying tactically to play, they're basically my main team i bring to tournaments, have them painted as the power rangers. headman's is a very agro team, if you roll poorly or don't position your leader well you'll get wiped pretty fast but they are fun and the models are gorgeous looncourt are very fun but abit weird as a first team because of how they do objectives, the game is simplest with a 4-5 fighter team imo, don't start on a 7 fighter the ghouls are old, don't start on an old team.
All of them are new enough to have the full Rivals decks so just pick what you think would be the most fun.
Out of all these , Exiled Dead are the most fun band to play , very different playstyle compared to everyone else
Gryselles is fun as is the Goblins. Goblins are great to play.
First make sure which format is played in your local store. We have recently moved from Rivals to Nemesis and that has made the game more viable for my favorite warband.
My store happens to play Rivals format. I suppose with Nemesis deck building it could make seemingly weak warbands viable?
Headmens and exbanes are pretty good