Monday Night Mordheim: FTL- For the Loss!

Monday Night Mordheim: FTL! For the Loss!

Hello, and welcome back to Monday Night Mordheim. Today I want to talk about something that is not just a good idea, but sometimes the best idea. Losing on purpose.

"Losing is for losers!" I can here you say and yes, yes it is. That being said there are times when you want to lose. You may plan to lose. Sometimes losing the way you want is the key to overall victory.

People tend to forget that. They get caught up in the heat of battle, and end up risking valuable War Band members or other hard to replace resources. That is the way of defeat. You lose more then one or two expensive models, then you have a hard time replacing them, and that in turn leads to losing more games when you don't want to.

Which is a very long winded way of getting to my initial point. The voluntary Rout is your best friend. Even the hardest, most killy, leadership ignoring guys aren't stupid. Cut and run sometimes, and you might get enough to salvage a bad match.

The first thing to think about a Voluntary Rout is that it is NOT a viable long term goal. You won't get anywhere if you lose EVERY game. What the Voluntary Rout is, is a way to lose while not getting slaughtered. You can Voluntary Rout at the start of any of your turns after you have lost two warband members. However, when to take the Voluntary Rout and when to take your chances is really the key to determining what you want to do.

When Voluntary Routing is a good idea;

* If you have lost more then one hero, and you have others at risk. Heroes get you income during exploration. If it starts going south for you, head for the hills to regroup.

*Out numbered, out gunned, out matched. If your opponents warband is twice the size yours is, or they have a warband rating high enough to give you an underdog rating, then you might want to cut and run. The basic rule of thumb in this situation is to try to cause as much damage to your opponent as they will to you. However, if that seems to be going poorly, run away! If your heroes survive, you still get extra experience points and can still do the exploration phase.

*There are no more henchmen. I'm sorry, but if ALL of your henchmen are gone, and you haven't failed a Rout check, you really should Voluntarily do so, especially if your opponent still has a healthy amount of henchmen.

*There is nothing at stake.

*You play dwarfs, then you should ALWAYS rout. 'Cause I hates them beardy so-and-so's. Chew on that bit of Tactica Tommy-boy!

When it is a Bad Idea to Voluntarily Rout:

*There is something on the line. Many scenarios involve an extra bonus. Extra pieces of Wyrdstone or some sort of treasure. This is Especially true of the Wyrdstone. Those extra pieces of Wyrdstone can often make up the difference from losing a roll in the exploration phase.

*When your opponent is around the same warband rating as you. This especially holds true if you have a particularly potent hero. You might want to stick around even if you are losing to inflict more casualities. Any model lost during the Injury Results phase means something that your opponent needs to replace rather then enhance. Sometimes sacrificing one really good unit can cause huge amounts of delay and consternation to your opponent over the long term of the campaign.

*If your opponent is already rolling Rout Checks. You are already starting to win, don't abandon hope now! This is the crunch. There is a chance that the match will come down to the leadership roll, and believe me, that's unpredictable.

These are some simple things to keep in mind when deciding to Voluntarily Rout. It may seem simple, but it is complex. In some ways you need to weigh the cost of winning against the consequences of losing. Sometimes the cost of victory is just too high for a particular skirmish, and you are better off running away and bidding your time.