Are Mormaers bad?

I thought the same until I started utilizing them myself and it turned out that they are great defenders and backup attackers when McMurrough, Uxia or the Grey link are stuck or out of the game.

I admit that the Wulver seems better on paper for an equal or lower price but the t2+X-visor variant is a great suppressive fire defender while the AP HMG can outshoot everybody who doesn't have ODD/Mimetism/Camo/TO during the active turn. Just last weekend the Mormaer won me a tournament because his toughness allowed me to handle situations in all three matches which the softer troops in CHA usually don't survive.

 

As far as looks go, I absolutely adore Mormaers, especially the new sculpt that comes with the Starter. I want to like Mormaers so much but they just haven't performed for me. Albeit, I am a person who can't make armor saves so, that helps to color my opinion of them. Mormaers being one wound combined with my bad rolls, makes them an expensive liability. I really think that NWI would do wonders for this unit instead of Dogged. The problem is when my Wulvers out perform them, I find it hard to justify them. I should give it another go because everyone talks about that T2 Rifle in Suppression that I need to try that. Need for him to survive long enough until then.

 

Yep, they are. They dont have a clear purpose on the army.

Long range high burst high BS active turn shooter? You have the cheaper Grey Rifle.

Hard guy for keeping that flank clear? Yep, you have ARM 5, but only 1 wound. Wulvers has 2 wounds, ARM 3, and can be deadlier at short range.

Simply adding NWI to the mormaers will be a great push to the unit.

I often try to give them a chance to defends the honor of the Caledonian Elite troops. but they always fail.

 

Trade-offs, everything is trade-offs. They might be a might expensive, but you're getting a pretty good deal.

First, as @fari points out, there are other options that are close. Grey Rifles are nice, with a 8 point discount on the AP HMG profile. However the Grey Rifles also have frenzy, which is the reason for the discount. Losing the +3 ARM on an HI is a pretty sizable swing.

In the Caledonia sectorial your options for long range fire power are pretty limited. Grey Rifle AP HMG, Mormaer AP HMG, Scots Guard Missile Launcher, Cateran Sniper Rifle, Volunteer AP HMG. So I think within the sectorial the Mormaer with a AP HMG fills a definite role. Outside the sectorial the Veteran Kazak is the way to go.

Second, Wulvers DO have 2 Wounds, but they have lower burst weapons, with shorter range, they also have a Frenzy, which makes them more vulnerible after the first kill. I think it's a hard toss up between the Mormaer T2 Rifle, with X-Visor, and the Wulver with T2 rifle. Wulver is going to own close range, with his close combat ability, but the Mormaer is going to be better at range, and in suppression.

I think a lot of this comes down to how Frenzy really works locally. I find that myself, and a lot of the local players tend to forget about the effects, since it's easy to overlook, making the Frenzy discount an unfair advantage for models that have it. If you're playing Frenzy correctly, the inability to take cover is pretty major later in the game.

 

yes, Grey rifles are frenzy, but since they can be part of a volunteer fireteam...

 

Yeah, agree with fari here. Yeah, the Third Highlander Greys are Frenzy but at the same time, I am only taking a Grey if they are in a link which prevents the Frenzy from going off. And if the link is destroyed to the point of the Grey is by himself, well, it really doesn't matter if he Frenzies.

None of those units that you detailed, I ever take a single unit of. Wulvers are also Frenzy but if they are in a list, they are going to be a Haris. With a MK12 and T2 Rifle, the Wulvers are a force to be reckoned with. Yes, its not an AP HMG but with I have one of those in the Core Link of Volunteers being wielded by a Highlander Grey.

The difference is yeah, I possibly could take a Mormaer singly but why would I do that when they have a Haris making them more deadly and this is where they have something slightly over the Wulvers is that you can put a cheap T2 Boarding shotgun Highlander Grey in the Haris so the link has smoke to get to those spots so they can break the link and get into suppression. If your opponent has MSV2 or high though, that point becomes moot and you will have to rely on eliminating that first. The Wulvers have to have Wallace LT in the link to get the same access but this is a moot point because there are tons of smoke delivery in CHA that you don't need to make this trade off and take the Wulvers anyway.

NWI would do a lot for the Mormaers even if it ups their cost. It would make them better than Greys but not as good as Veteran Kazaks but carve out a reason to take them.

 

I to love them when I played CHA. A T2 rifle in cover in suppressive fire is an amazing roadblock. Arm8, Dogged and -6 to be shot at with BS13 B3 ARO... what's not to love? I wouldn't use them active turn, since there are Greys in volunteer links which will be more effective, but there's no other CHA unit that I think creates as brutal of a suppressive fire piece.

 

The problem is reach the right place to put him in Supressive fire. Is the only S2 Heavy infantry that still move 4-2.

 

Interesting, I personally wouldn't want to run an AP HMG in those fireteams. The T2 rifle is a very different story, since it matches more closely with the range bands of the other members of the fireteam, and the ability to run specialists, and push buttons. Same with a Haris unit on Mormaers, it just doesn't seem worth it in either case to spend all the extra points on additional members for +1 burst.

I'd rather a volunteer 5 man link with a Grey Rifle with a T2 Boarding shotgun, and potentially Isobel, and a 3 man Wulver Haris team, and keep the Mormaer back with the AP HMG to snipe things.

 

How would you not want an AP HMG in a 5-man link with BS 13? You are able to mow pretty much anything down with it and have a good chance of hitting it because the Highlander Grey is at BS 16 because of the 5 man link and Burst 5, it's greatly putting things in favor for your Highlander Grey to destroy people. I try to have cover all range bands in a link so that my active link is able to take on things at all ranges. Having them only good at similar range bands handicaps the link especially with ranges that are below 16". You leave open for the link to be destroyed or hampered by any MSV2 snipers or HMGs.

If I take the Mormaer, the Haris is still the best option to take them in. The Grey provides smoke and at least the Mormaer gets one more burst until you get them forward and into suppression. AP HMGs wreck things in links because light armor is destroyed by the damage 15 and high armor is halved. Without hackers, it's your main way of dealing with HI is destroying them with AP weaponry and you are going to want to put as much odds in your favor because more than likely it has high BS as well.

 

Range bands. T2 Boarding shotgun is effectively a +9 swing at 0-8" over the HMG. Why not take something that works with the range bands of the rest of the fire team? Otherwise you either stick in the back, at which point the Volunteers don't do much, and you've payed an additional 24 points for a 1W model to gain +1 Burst and +3 BS. It's possible to buy a bunch of cheap Volunteer HMGs, but that increases the price dramatically. You're also going to be wasting a lot of orders idling as your other short order. If you move up, you're going to find yourself in the 0/-3 band for the HMG.

In a vaccuum, but you're giving up a lot. The AP HMG is almost as good, and you're not paying another 58 pts and removing the ability to take the Haris Wulvers for +1 Burst. Between the two helpers + the AP HMG, you're paying 1/3 of your points and 2.5 SWC on a unit that could be put down by a bad roll. Once again you're sticking in the back field for the most part, and your ability to effect rest of the table is hampered by MOV 4-2. I'd rather take Haris, which effectively breaks with the first casualty, on a unit with two wounds.

Like I said trade-offs. Everything costs you something, and in this case it's a large opportunity cost, IMHO, which you seemed to be ignoring. Which is fine, sounds like you've got a very good idea of how you like to play, I just have a different rationale.

 

The Mormaer would be fine if I would not fail those ARM tests all the time. I tested the Mormaer haris, and I think it can be good, but most of the time it is better to get more of the cheaper troops. Those guys are simply a bit too expensive in a team. Also, Greys only in fireteams. A frenzied machine gunner is simply nonsense. The one Grey in the volunteer link is awesome. No real need for an additional Mormaer with HMG.

Using a Mormaer as LT is worth considering in an CHA list as well.

 

Heresy!!!!

Wallace ALWAYS as Lt.

 

Exactly! This is what I tell ALL my opponents. There's no way I could possibly chose another to replace him. No, no I just didn't want all those free irregular->regular orders in this list. Wallace is still my LT, and not that Mormaer in the corner!

All joking aside, running 8-12 Chain Rifle 45thers and using them to power the better Rambo units is hard to turn down. It also makes an interesting fall back, or main Fireteam as well.

 

I find the 5 men fireteams difficult to move, too many LoF, keeping the distance between them... If im gonna move forward with a fireteam, i prefer a haris (Or a high mobility core, with jump or climbing +), and keeping the Core for defensive actions (This is why now i'm not using anymore the volunteers fireteam)

 

I am essentially using Link teams in a much different way because I don't have the link leader be static at all. I use the HMG to clear things out in order to move up the team and once we get in closer, I switch to the another who has a more appropriate range band. In this way, I have a tool for every job. The only time I take similar range bands in a link is if I am putting in a defensive link team.

And you pretty much pointed out why I have yet to really use Mormaers at all and pretty much just use Wulvers. Even as a single piece, they are still expensive but if you are using them the way you use them outside of a link then I can see why then you create a need for the Mormaer.

That being said, I still don't think that the Mormaer is worth his points even if it is the go to source of an AP HMG.

 

I would like to add my point of view.

- Mormaer HMG isn't worth the cost. His objective is attack, attack and attack until dead. For that you can use a Grey.

- Mormaer Haris. The linker is the HMG. Expensive and your main attacking unit is highly vulnerable to the bad luck strike and then you lost your Haris. Wulver one is more reliable and if you want smoke to reach the mid zone, you can send galwegian first or just use Wallace (whom well used survives more than spected).

- Mormaer T2 rifle. Good one. Really. Use it. You can have it in SF until you need a backup hitter after losing Uxia, cameronian, whatever.

- Mormaer HMG Lt. Worst Lt choice ever. Trust me, I tried to use it.

- Mormaer T2 Lt. Not bad Lt choice. You can use as specified. But as has been said, using it instead of Wallace is heresy. And heretics shall be purged with fire (Wallace's flame thrower's fire) .

Laika Dog-Girl Now!

 

Alright, you convinced me to at least give the T2 Rifle Mormaer a try. T2 Ammunition was one of the thing I was most excited to use in the first place and I am always trying to put more in.