dormouse said:

I think all races can control temp in some way (Some are stronger than others)...Dwarves have damage reduction to capital and troops. Chaos has corruption and discard effects. Orcs have mass creature kill and support destroy...Empire has tactical control and mass destruction card.

They all have ways for them to work at their optimum speed, but Orcs don't need to try and control the games tempo. They are a rush race for the most part the question is do you want to hold back and blitzkrieg or just go drag race to the finish line? Dwarves played in that fashion would lose terribly. Empire is probably the most versatile thanks to their mobility. Extending heavily in one zone can net you a hug card advantage and then the next two turns those units spread out and are attacking and pooling resources to just toss out more units than you can effectively deal with, weaknesses magically shoring up before your eyes. Chaos and Dwarves though need that tempo control, ways of slowing their opponent down or forcing them to overextend.

Or at least so it appears to me.

40 to 45 is my favorite, fill it with low cost cards and few combos. I now I havent play destruction since my son and nephews dig on it. I dont play mix since the starter set only has one alliance cards for Empire/dwraves and you could be half way through your game before the they come up. I find speed and simiple win more often they waiting for that cool combos.

Wytefang said:

Actually I have a tendency to do that. I tend to focus on building a swarm in the battlefield with Chaos or the Orks (usually Chaos) and going offensive quite a lot. Only if a card has a really useful ability or I need a quick boost in carddraw or money do I put units in the other 2 zones. I just don't usually see the use of spreading over all three.

How has that worked for you with Chaos? I've found that type of setup for Chaos pretty much ensure that my head is handed to me by Dwarves or Orcs.

Hmmm varies. First game I played was against Empire and I won relatively easily. Against Dwarves with Chaos I won too but it was far more hardfought. With Orks vs Empire, I crushed the Empire through a quick mass 'Waaagh'.

I only have 4 or so games under my belt so a bit early to tell. But so far:

- Investing heavily early on in first the Questzone than Kingdom and than wherever best seems best. Taking some early hits is fine if it means gaining extra resources/card draw early on

- Normally it seems that the winner usually looses 1 zone regardless.

Most of the time I don't really see the use of spreading my forces. It makes it easier for the enemy to push through across the board. Most of my troops I join in the battlefield to mass attack his weakest zones. Or try to force him into a confrontation at his own battlefield.
The only units I tend to place in another zone besides battlefield are those who give a distinct advantage through an ability or so. (or if I really don't have any supportcards or so to place there)

Okay I misunderstood you. I thought you were deploying almost exclusively to your BZ with Chaos, in which case I could not fathom how you were winning games. Investing heavily into your KZ and QZ early and then working the BZ makes a lot more sense and fits with my own experiences.

dormouse said:

Yeah I merely meant that it seems useless for Chaos or Orks (and probably the other 2 also) to invest in a lot of 'defensively placed' units. It just denies attack force.

That isn't precisely true though. Chaos doesn't require a lot of units in the BZ because it's ability to corrupt your opponents units. A small force without a lot of power can totally hammer away at an opponent with a well defended zone and leave the capitol burning.

Empire likewise does not need to necessarily deploy heavily into the BZ because of their ability to move around units to whatever will give them the best strategic advantage. I should also point out that with counterstrike, they can do a really good job or destroying units while remaining defensive allowing a smaller deployment in the BZ to wreck some havoc (especially when helped by Forced March and Judgment of Verena).

Hmmm atm corrupting helps but it rarely locks down the enemy defences entirely.
Hence I prefer to do as much damage as quickly as possible. Hence I focus on battlefield armies to quickly overwhelm zones.

dormouse said:

Well I've only played 5 or so games + 1 using the draft rules.
But Chaos can work against Dwarves. To know wether they have problems i'll need to play with that setup more.
Which seems likely as my brother is leaning towards Dwarves while I'll be a Chaos (and DE) player for sure.

Orcs vs Chaos... I have a feeling atm the Orcs have the advantage. Chaos is offensive with a hint of subtlety, Orcs are just great in offence. Their support cards simply rock within the knockdown archetype build. And I always found knockdown one of the nastiest archetypes in any deck. Simply because there is more room for 'error' or rather it is easier to make less errors. And atm the potential for mass power token output seems very high with the Orcs.