Horde formation

[Urgat]

I'm currently completing my 100-strong horde of common goblins. 460pts (full command, bows, shields, 3 nasty skulkers). Woosh!

[Rapahatsutt]

I start deep with my Halberdiers usually, then reform to horde either before or during combat to swing it my way, otherwise i stay deep for the steadfast.

[Liber]

Never used it. My friend uses it with his big ole block of Marauders all the time though. They hit pretty hard.

[Souppilgrim]

I constantly use horde formation. Giant units of halberdiers, and greatswords. Greatswords are stubborn so you don't really need to go deep. If I ever need to go deep, because I'm losing and need steadfast, or I'm winning by a lot and want to cancel their steadfast, I will do a thing called combat reform, or a swift reform the turn before I get into a fight. Really there is no reason to not do this.

Empire swordsmen are my ghetto anvil, and I usually just keep them deep in bus formation, but Halbs go horde for sure. Especially with a warrior priest in there to give rerolls.

[Minsc]

Depends on what army I play.

Wood Elves: Never.
Dark Elves: I occasionally horde Executioners.
Empire: Unless I play all/mostly-cav lists, I always have a horde of Halberdiers in my list, and possibly Greatswords.

[Gop]

In my 2500 dwarf list I run 50 hammerers and 50 GW warriors. A fair few die, but they sure hit back HARD!

[Warlord Gnashgrod]

i play Skaven, and see absolutely no reason for horde units, since ranks are vital for Skaven for both LD and steadfast. The only time I ever would is with units with a screaming bell or plague furnace, since they're unbreakable.

[Askari]

i play Skaven, and see absolutely no reason for horde units, since ranks are vital for Skaven for both LD and steadfast. The only time I ever would is with units with a screaming bell or plague furnace, since they're unbreakable.

Not even with Queek's Stormvermin? An extra rank of attacks from them should mean you don't lose combat in the first place, thereby negating the need for Steadfast.

[Metacarpi]

As a Skaven player, I tend to run my Plague Monks in Horder formation. Give 'em the Plague Banner, and they tend to destroy whatever they come into contact with, and after that's done, I can reform them into a more survivable formation.

[redben]

I always Horde up a unit of Bloodletters.

[The Clairvoyant]

I always run hordes.

My all-goblin army has units of 60 NGs in hordes, my vampires always run a 50-strong horde of skellies and a 40-block of ghouls. My TK always have a 70 strong unit of skellies.

[boli]

As a general rule of thumb you horde if you expect to win combat; well... unless you reach 75+ models in a unit when the 12" deployment zone means you cannot do deeper than a 5x15 formation.

I try to horde my stormvermin if possible... although I am still annoyed in my last game "Flames of the Phoenix" took out 36 of my 50 SV and I lost my entire flank due to panic in the first turn :/. If they were in a 5x10 formation I would have held.

[oldWitheredCorpse]

@Jind_Singh and everyone else - What do you see as the advantages of hording TK TombGuard? I'm just getting back into warhammer, and the're the fraction I like, but their community seems really down on.... well everything (though other players seem to think their solid, and I'm getting sick of the i win eighty percent of my games but the books a failure posts ). I was planning on running Tomb Guard, but more traditionally (I think they're more of a dangerous tarpit, then a deathstar if that makes any sense?)

The Khemri forum can be depressing sometimes, I agree. As for TG, hoarding them with halberds is a new tactic since 8ed and the new book. It works, but is a big point sink. The "old way" is still valid, run them sword and board 5 wide as an anvil. Running them with halberds 5 wide seems odd, though.

[pointyteeth]

I run my great weapon marauders in horde formation. My TK buddy always runs 2 hordes of halberd tomb guard (with 2-3 characters each). My VC buddy runs a horde of great weapon grave guard and a horde of ghouls (no characters in either. My Dwarf buddy runs a horde of great weapon dwarf warriors. We play at 2500 points. It may be that you don't see many hordes used below 2500 due to the points investment usually related to purchase a large enough unit to put in horde formation.

[Petey]

For VC skellie warriors 40 or 60 man hordes
For High Elves, on occassion w seaguard
For my wolfriders never
for dark elves never
for brets men at arms 40-50 man unit

[IcedCrow]

The irony is that the horde formation rules were written with trash troops in mind getting more attacks, and the complete opposite seems to be what happens with them lmao.

I think "horde" should be a special rule applied to units like slaves, skeletons, etc (trash troops) and that normal units shouldn't get it, but that's just my opinion.

[Mr Ogre]

As a general rule of thumb you horde if you expect to win combat; well... unless you reach 75+ models in a unit when the 12" deployment zone means you cannot do deeper than a 5x15 formation.

I try to horde my stormvermin if possible... although I am still annoyed in my last game "Flames of the Phoenix" took out 36 of my 50 SV and I lost my entire flank due to panic in the first turn :/. If they were in a 5x10 formation I would have held.

Sure, units going for Steadfast can be a pain, but a Horde can strip ranks like nobodies business. Plus, Horde ranks tend to last a lot longer, as you have to slot 6 guys just to strip the first....

[vcassano]

It is good for some units - Marauders, Gor of all kind, Ghouls perhaps, Bloodletters etc. - and in certain circumstances. It is a pretty well-designed rule - it is effectiv
e enough to get used but isn't obvious or so good it is mandatory.

[Drongol]

Every army that I build includes at least one horde.

Ogres? Guthorde. Absolutely brutal, as mentioned, and (practically) immune to (most) enemy magic.

My wife's Night Goblins run at least a single Squig horde (chicks dig Squigs) and typically two or three.

Really, anything with high strength but low attacks is doing well to go in a horde formation. And anything that you expect to buff is well-served in a horde as well, since the buff affects a larger amount of points per cast.

[Petey]

The irony is that the horde formation rules were written with trash troops in mind getting more attacks, and the complete opposite seems to be what happens with them lmao.

I think "horde" should be a special rule applied to units like slaves, skeletons, etc (trash troops) and that normal units shouldn't get it, but that's just my opinion.

not really. historically, units except for a few armies, units tended to longer rather than square. The square formation was used by the romans, and columbs of troops were almost never used, except in troop movement. The game designers and players at the studio ahve often been historical gamers and like it when the fantasy looks like reality did.

The wide formations allowed troops to make enemies feel overwhelmed, allowed for more troop allocation to combats, and was easier to move for commanders.

I feel that the horde rules for fantasy are intended to give players an advantage for using armies the way they looked during the pre renaissance periods