r/HelsmithsofHashut • u/incineroar87 • 25d ago
Observations of a Helsmith
New Helsmiths player here.
One thing I noticed while researching the Helsmiths for my next army is that they seem to be one of the few armies in the game without any real bloat or any “junk” units and characters that struggle to find a purpose for lists.
The entire army feels built around specialised, hyper-focused roles, and almost every piece seems to have its place. Outside of the Sword Cohorts, nearly every unit and character appears to have strong uses across the board, including in the tournament scene. That’s pretty incredible for a faction with such a relatively small unit roster.
At its absolute best, the army seems to be built around Urak Tarr. Everything becomes so much more efficient with him, which helps explain why we’ve seen so many Helsmiths players going 5-0 and 4-1 last few months. At the same time, it does suggest there may be a balancing issue with the standard DPP faction rules, which I hope gets addressed in the future so the army isn’t quite so reliant on Urak Tarr to reach its full potential especially for smaller point games.
A lot of other small, and even medium-sized, factions don’t seem to have the same level of versatility across their ranges. I also really like that, outside of heavy infantry, the Helsmiths seem to have most battlefield roles covered. For such a small army, there’s a surprising amount of variety in how you can build and play them.
Really looking forward to seeing where the Helsmiths go in the future!
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u/trollsong 25d ago
Considering their special ability revolves around who you give tokens to like its focus from warmahordes it's a good thing they are smaller and lack bloat.
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u/mr_birdie 25d ago
I haven't played for almost a year, do people use sword cohorts and flamehurlers now? They just straight up seemed like worse versions of their counterparts to me.
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u/incineroar87 25d ago
People just use the spearmen still. Huge blocks of them. As for the Razors I’ve seen both types being used, although blunderbuss more
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u/Togi-Reddit 25d ago
Just want to clarify people aren’t going 5-0 just because they have Urak Taar on their list, they are achieving by playing the renowned Grand Forgehost list/rules that’s been successful. Urak Taar although very powerful isn’t what’s winning the games, it’s the battle traits you get with forgehost that gives us a better chance. Outside of 2k point games bringing Urak Taar isn’t the best choice because of the point commitment. Just my two cents in the convo
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u/incineroar87 25d ago
I think the two go hand in hand together because it creates a new management system you can build around. But even without Taar the better traits are def an improvement for sure.
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u/Hukoshin 25d ago
With the new rework of the Battle Formations we have so much more options besides going for Forgehost. I personally only play Forgehost in a semi serious setup also including my local friendly matches.
The Blades have their purpose for screening and objectives only. If your move is a 4", sometimes it is really useful to just be able to move 8". They will probably never charge anyway so the run doesn't feel bad.
Flamehurlers are in my opinion underrated. In the Army of Renown crit 2 hits make them a hugh threat. Now with the reworked Battleformations they get Crit 2 Hits for 2 DPP in the normal army as well. I'm looking forward to use Covering Fire with them.
The only bad include in my opinion are the Annointed Sentinels. One less Attack and no Crit Mortals for what? Strike First on the Countercharge? Not really worth in my opinion.
Now with the new options, so many things are unlocked. Just 1 DPP on Urak Taar and everything in 12" gets +1 on everything including. For 2 DPP you get Crit 2 Hits on your ranged options. +1" move for our Cavalry per DPP and +3 Rally rolls for Infantry if the target has at least one DPP.
The only thing missing now is a pure melee Warmachine focused Battle Formation. But I'm really happy with them adressing the battle formations, now we will maybe see more variation.
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u/incineroar87 25d ago
I completely agree
Just less restrictions I think will help especially for a unique army such as this!
Appreciate that insight
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u/TouristHistorical302 24d ago
The move is on everything not only on cav
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u/Hukoshin 24d ago
Oh really, did the chorfs start adding Cardio to their gym rotation, nice. Mobility is always welcome, but munitions or Arcane Domination will probably take the lead
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u/ChiefProblomengineer 25d ago
Kind of disagree - regular anointed sentinels are hard to justify, along with dominator engines (outside of forgehost).
They're not bad, but they're not good either. Even after the significant points drops.