Is it too easy to win a game by killing a general in Warmaster?

[Draccan]

This is a question, not an opinion:
Is it too easy to win a game by killing a general in Warmaster?

[calmacil]

It's never happened before in a game i've played.

I guess it might happen with a new player to warmaster, he might forget some rules .......... eg. a unit of harpies and a DE general on manticore surge forward. The opponent lands on the General, he can't join the harpies, so he dies

But i'd say no it's not easy to win by killing the general

[Draccan]

4000k High Elves can field 4 dragon riders and a hero or two on one. Can't they pretty much make a concerted effort and smash an enemy general anywhere?

[Edmund2011]

The typical situation is when General has joined a unit for a combat, and that unit is destroyed in his opponent turn. Could be easy, or not...

Usually most of Generals spend their time not attached.

If the General is not with a unit, and is contacted by enemy, the way to destroy him is if he can't reach a friendly unit in 60cm, as Calmacil said, thing not common but possible.

[Stormwind]

If I faced someone who spent all those points and effort to make a barrage of 6 dragons I would give them a Cold, Hard Stare. =-P

[Jo]

4000k High Elves can field 4 dragon riders and a hero or two on one. Can't they pretty much make a concerted effort and smash an enemy general anywhere?

No they can't. First a unit has to move over the general who can then move 30cm towards any unit he likes. The dragons riders have to charge a unit that they can see. Even for flyers starting from an elevated position intervening units block LOS. So unless the general is quite a distance away from the main army, joins a unit in the front or has joined another unit during the previous turn (a conscious risk taken by the player) chances are slim you can just take them out, even with such a combo.

But it can certainly happen, certainly further in the game when you are getting to the more decisive actions. Battle lines get split and players have to decide where to put the general, which is sometimes somewhat exposed. If you manage to get several brigades to surround the enemy contingent with the general then its a game one well.

A disadvantage of this rule for me however is that generals are hardly riding real monsters in our games. Especially for O&G I find it silly to have a hero on a Wyvern and a general on foot. It's smarter to put heroes on monsters because they are more expendable. But it's not what Gork & Mork would allow.

Jo

[Draccan]

I guess that's what I am hinting at - purely from an armchair perspective (I need to get that castle and my army ready soon and get more games under my belt) but it always bothered me with games where a game starts and ends with getting rid of the general. Some random thoughts about it is that it may have been preferably if a hero or general in a lost unit had a some kinda 50% chance to flee to another unit. And another possible rule would be that an army losing a general gets confused but can still try to recover morale with his second in command.

What's next - you will lose chess if the opponent can take your king?!?    

[Lex]

I have some millage in this game, some say, and it only happened to me twice..   and the first time was against Chris Burnett......

And I actually managed to pull this off about 3 times, in each occasion allowing the (mostly less experienced) opponent to rectify the issue...

Technically, under the original rules, you would create a "box" around the general forcing him to take a longer route to friends and killing him, or even better, box him in entirely and then land something on top of him.

By the FAQ the clarification is that the route he needs to be able to take is the shortest distance, assuming that the general does not take up space and can use an infinitesimal line to get out.

Note that he can still, be several options, be taken out by putting him out of range of freindlies, but he is no longer stopped by intervening enemy troops! 

[calmacil]

4000k High Elves can field 4 dragon riders and a hero or two on one. Can't they pretty much make a concerted effort and smash an enemy general anywhere?

It's an extreme case, but i guess it's possible........

Assuming all 4 dragons pass the command test and have LOS.
One dragon will have to fly and land on top of the general, so no combat for one dragon (flyers can't pass over characters, they must land on them)

And let's say the general has limited choices, he joins an infantry unit that supports another infantry in front of it. The first infantry unit then faces 24 attacks, if the dragons wipe that unit they will advance into the generals unit.

But i think it fairly unlikely that you'd find yourself with so few units around a general, the game is usually over before that situation arrives.... and personally i think 4 dragons for 1200 points isn't a great idea, you'll probably have a low break point.

It's even better with 3 Greater Daemons, 30 attacks 

[Draccan]

Great points all around.

But imagine that you then extend the battle to 8000 points. Then a host of dragons would be more likely.
Any ways it seem that LOS is the key to obstruct this from happening..

But talking of 8000 pts. I find it not so great that the larger the army the more you can throw everything hard in the army at the opposing general and try to steamroll that flank or centre for a victory...

I need more games to really know though... 

[Stormwind]

Any Warmaster player who has 8000 points ready to fight you is from what I gather, NOT the kind of person who would make a General Assassination Brigade. =-P

I think you're getting confused with Warhammer players. ;-P

[calmacil]

But imagine that you then extend the battle to 8000 points. Then a host of dragons would be more likely.
Any ways it seem that LOS is the key to obstruct this from happening..

If this is a problem, try making a simple adjustment to the min/max

For a dragon have -/0.5
Meaning you can take one dragon rider for every 2000 points

[Draccan]

You miss my point. Dragons are not the problem. I was merely wondering about the sanity in the game ending with a dead general. Like other posters it also means you never want to field him on a dragon or griffon..

It may happen rarely, so it might not be a problem.

[Geep]

A dead enemy general doesn't mean you've won, though. If, while you're going General-seeking, his army is damaging the bulk of yours then you may lose on the VP count.

[Edmund2011]

IIRC that situation is a tie

If, while you're going General-seeking, his army is damaging the bulk of yours then you may lose on the VP count.