So, I was going to write about threat ranges...

But then my friend Kirby went and posted this the other day http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2011/10/threat-ranges-what-are-they.html, so as a result, I'm going to write about something else. I have a pretty large list of stuff here, so ba da bing, one out the hat. [=

WARMACHINE/HORDES - FOCUS CAMPING VS. FURY CAMPING.

Ok, so, assuming you understand the basics about Warmachine and Hordes (stick around if you don't, there's music, politics, 40k, WHFB, Gothic, Chaos in the Old World, Malifaux, Yugioh and League of Legends to come >_>), I'm gonna be weighing up the pros and cons of the ability to camp Fury versus the ability to camp Focus.

 So, lets assume we have the "standard" caster stats (16 DEF, 14 ARM, and 16 hits, along with either 6 Fury or 7 Focus, as you generally have more Focus than Fury I find). So, lets talk.

Say you've had a hard turn of casting spells, Inciting those Carniveans, getting your Hex Hunters to Chill out. Y'know, the usual. You have a mere Fury left at the end of your turn. Now, lets say you get whacked by 4 Pow 10 hits. Each averaging a score of 17. Meaning you take 9 damage if you transfer one. Now, had you been the Warcaster with your 2 Focus, you'd only have taken 4 damage. Now, lets say you take three Pow 14s. Now, with your 1 Fury, you'll take 14 damage, if you transfer one. If you're a Warcaster with your 2 Focus, you'll take 15 damage. Finally, assume you take 2 Pow 18s, one of them gets boosted. These average 28.5 damage and 25 damage respectively. Now, with your 1 Fury Warlock, you can transfer over the boosted roll, meaning you'll take 11 damage. With your Warcaster (at ARM 16) you'll take 21.5 damage.

So, here we can see that if you're redlining Focus/Fury, that Fury is better against big high Pow hits, whilst Focus is better against many low Pow ones.

Now, this can get a bit more intricate. Assume you're playing against my Karn bullet. Molik Karn, 7 boosted Pow 15 weapon master attacks. So, if you're camping all 7 Focus on your caster, you'll still take (on average) 31.5 damage. As a Warlock with all 6 Fury you'll only take 11.5 (on average). Sure, that's grand. However, the Warcaster camping all his Focus is pretty much immune to anything under pow 14. Stack on an armour buff to that caster and well, yeah, can make him really hard to hurt.

So, is it balanced? Yup. A lot of newer players will cry out and say that Fury is totally overpowered because well, even a low camping Warlock can survive a full onslaught from a Warjack. And whilst Focus camping can make you literally untouchable (especially on higher armour casters, or those with an Arm buff) to lower Pow hits, Fury can do the same, if you have enough of it. What these people ignore though, obviously, is if you transfer on a Warlock, well, you transfer. You're still taking the damage, just on your Warbeasts. People underestimate this. Especially when it's a heavy warbeast banging on your Warlock. Means chances are you're going to lose a significant amount of your boxes. Hell, beasts have died! You also can't transfer to a beast on full Fury. Usually not a problem, but it does mean you occasionally have to show some restraint with your beasts.

Now, I prefer the Fury mechanic to Focus, but that's because Fury forces you to bring lots of beasts, and rely on them, and I like big things, so, yeah.

Food for thought? Hope so. [=