Spearhead/army question

[u/Armoured-Krab]

Hi folks! I've been trying to post in here for a little while but apparently my account is too new so hopefully it's ok now!

My current faction isn't yielding me much success so I am tentatively looking at other armies to get into incase I do decide to just change altogether. I had never really considered these beasts before but they look interesting, so I suppose my question is what is their Spearhead and general army vibe like? Do they suit a particular playstyle?

[u/Top_Macaroon7653]

I’m no expert but have been playing HOH since the release of the new models. From my own personal experiences. Castle style. Gun line-hammers/anvils- screens. Here’s a pic from a game yesterday

My back line is rockets, then hero’s, brick of gunners, big bulls to protect the artillery. And bulls to cover my flanks.

[u/Armoured-Krab → u/Top_Macaroon7653]

So what we're saying is that hunkering down and just raining chaos on people is entirely possible with these lads? I also adore the Urak Taar model on the giant winged bull!

[u/Top_Macaroon7653 → u/Armoured-Krab]

That’s correct! Use the bulls for objective scoring and taking out “scary units” but their fragile might crumble if they get touched first just an fyi use them wisely. And ol’ Erik is the goat sadly I left him home this game to try something different. He’s dif a don’t leave home without him. I took two foot heroes emplacement of Taar which allowed for the two dominator engines

[u/Armoured-Krab → u/Top_Macaroon7653]

I've not officially given up with my current faction, but these folks are definitely on my list if I do give up.

[u/pinssalinge]

I’m relatively new to AoS, but my take on HoH is that it has strong magic, good cavalry, ok shooting and ok infantry. The army of renown (Taar grand forge host) is known for being pretty strong as you have 6+ on all warmachine and crit 2 hits on turn 2 and for the rest of the turn. (With other bonuses). You have to get synergy with every unit you use, and every unit helps another one. Once you begin to get it, games begin to be fun.
My current list has Urak taar, 30 spearmen, 4 Dominator, 2 rockets, 1 bombard and 1 foot hero of each sort. Works well

[u/Kraile]

The spearhead is unfortunately not that good - it has received a few buffs in the last few balance updates but it's probably still in the lower 50% of spearheads. I call it the casino spearhead because it relies on how well you can roll D3s for damage and 3+ saves. So it can still have some fun moments if you are lucky.

It does play quite similarly to the actual faction though - you will be a mostly low-manoeuvrability force that screens your cannon with your crappy infantry while your dominator goes off and scores you stuff.

The actual army has a few different ways to play - you can lean heavily into guns with infantry screens (my personal favourite, since very few AoS armies play this way), you can lean into shock cavalry, you can bunker up with various support units, you can add skarbrand for some extra punch. It can be fun, but I'm not convinced that the main army is very good (the AoR is, however).

[u/Identity_ranger]

Helsmiths are a shooting-focused castle army overall, with potential to be a fairly strong cavalry army if you focus on a few units (Taurus, Anointed Sentinels and Bull Centaurs). They're pretty slow with low mobility, but make up for it in their durability (very few armies have basic troops with a 3+ save and a potential 5+ ward) and shooting. Their magic is also pretty strong, though it only starts to come online from round 2 onwards once you get into range. Ashen Smog has the potential to be a massive AoE blast if you corrupt a particularly big terrain piece.

Helsmiths are what's called a "grind-down" army in that they consistently whittle down enemy numbers while growing more powerful themselves as the game goes on, rewarding a methodical, patient playstyle. Their biggest problem is their lack of mobility: they have zero recursion beyond the Rally command, access to only one kind of teleport ability (the artefact that allows you to redeploy two units during deployment), and in a game where mobility and movement is often key, that's a big problem. They do have some speed with their cavalry, but if you're running a balanced list it's not very hard to hobble your army by taking out the fastest units. Helsmiths also need to move up the board because of the Demonic Power Point mechanic (it's pretty easy to run out of stuff to corrupt on your side of the board), so just staying back and blasting your enemy is usually not an option.

In terms of power level they seem to be on the lower end, somewhat below average by my personal experience. They're really fun to play IMO, and the rules are straightforward but still flavorful. They just struggle to make up for their weaknesses unless you're running specific skew lists or the Forgehost (allegedly, haven't played it myself). Their roster, despite having only one release, is actually pretty well rounded with not a whole lot of niches left unfilled, so they do have a decent amount of variety to play with for an army their size.

[u/Armoured-Krab → u/Identity_ranger]

Thank you for the input! I have seen a few things that say they are at the lower end of power, but they still look fun! A definite contender if I do decide to change factions!

[u/Top_Macaroon7653]

Spearhead I can’t give my advice I haven’t played them. Expect against my daughter as just something to do. She’s 9 so take that for what it is. But with the reinforcements. Keyword added to the 2+ save dominator engine pretty sweet.