MonPoc Fundamentals: The Four Unit Archetypes [Tekk]
When first starting Monsterpocalypse, it can be daunting to know “what’s good” in your first unit list. You may be tempted to just pick up a couple packs based on sculpts you think look cool, and I’m here to tell you… you can actually be more successful doing that than you might expect! A good Monpoc unit should perform one of four basic tasks in your list; as long as you can hit those core benchmarks, synergy is more important than individual unit strength. In this article, I want to go over these archetypes so you can understand better what to look for in a well-balanced army.
SECURERS
The core of a balanced unit list begins with your securing units. Securers are units that excel at holding territory, and will thus be one of the main ways you generate power dice and utilize building abilities over the course of a game. This can take the form of either standing adjacent to a building to secure it (hence the name) or on a power zone on your table half where it will be difficult for your opponent to remove. When looking for a unit to fill your list’s securing role, there are two main aspects to be aware of.
The first, and more obvious, is a model’s defenses. Because you want these units to stick around, or at least be resource intensive to remove, a defense of 3 or preferably 4 is a natural place to start. In addition to their printed stat, however, a model’s abilities can also contribute to its defensive capabilities. Rules that limit your opponent’s ability to target them, like Cloak or Jam, or that give them extra survival chances against certain attacks, like Burrower, Force Field, and Hunker, also can be important to making a unit effective at securing.
The second important aspect to consider when choosing a Securer is mobility. Speed is not a particularly important factor when discussing the merits of Securers, but where they can legally end their movement is. Because many maps will have impassable terrain in key strategic squares, units with Hover, Flight, or Amphibious are key for efficiently securing those power bases.
Examples of strong Securers are: Steel Shell Crab, Bellower, Exo-Armor, Juror, Crawler, Mollock Brute
ATTACKERS
Attackers, the second archetype, are the opposite side of the equation from Securers. These are the units you put in your list to fight, primarily against your opponent’s units. Unit to Unit combat serves three important purposes: first, because destroying enemy models generates power dice for you, this can be a way to accumulate resources even when you don’t have a stable power base. Second, interacting with your opponent’s units will disrupt their power base, cutting down on the resources they generate. Third is tempo; every unit you kill is one that your opponent will need to spend dice spawning again, which means that if left alone they will accumulate more and more efficient unit turns in response. Think of every unit you don’t destroy as an eleventh, twelfth, or more action die in your opponent’s unit pool!
So, with that said, What makes a good Attacker? Two or more boost dice on their attack profile is the first and most obvious consideration. Two action dice and a boost die in an attack roll will only hit a defense 3 model roughly one third of the time; because you only have 10 dice to spend on your turn, missing that roll and losing those two action dice is 20% of your available resources wasted. Because of this, a second blue is required if you want to fight one-on-one. Second, you’ll want to consider the unit’s Threat Range. Threat Range, or TR for short, is the number of spaces away a unit can make an attack against the turn it is spawned. A Hunter, for example, can advance 6 squares and then shoot a target 5 spaces away, making it a threat range of 11. Be aware that because of Cover and rules like Cloak, blasting units will generally have their naturally higher threat range offset by lower odds to hit their attacks. The third consideration is what attack triggers the unit has: these can either take the form of generating extra power dice (Power Gorge, Fury) additional attacks (Berserk, Fling) or repositioning (Hit and Run, Berserk again). Defense is never a bad thing to have, but it’s less of a consideration for Attackers because any unit dropped into the enemy’s side of the map will likely be trivial to remove.
Examples of strong Attackers are: Stalker, Draken Berserker, Shadow Rider, Dervish, Task Master, Mollock Berserker
POINT HOLDERS
If Securers are categorized by their defense and Attackers for their Brawl/Blast stats, the third archetype, Point Holders, are focused primarily on speed. Point Holders serve two primary functions. The first is occupying objective spaces in the midfield, like power zones and neutral spawn activators. The second important job they fill is standing in as a screen, getting in the way of strategically valuable locations your opponent will want to stand in.
Speed 6 or higher is the sweet spot to look for when deciding which Point Holder to include in your army. Typically, midfield power zones will be 6-7 spaces away from the nearest spawn point, so a high mobility unit should be able to reach them (although they might need a bit of help from a bump spawn). The second consideration is how easy it is to remove that unit from the board. Unlike Securers, you won’t really find any options for a high defense Point Holder (most commonly they will be defense 2) so special rules like Cloak or Disruption will help them, if not survive, at least be a speed bump requiring some resources to deal with.
Examples of strong Point Holders are: Hopper, Sun Fighter, Squix
TECH
The final archetype, Tech, is more or less the ‘everything else’ category. These are units that will have special rules or actions that accentuate the other archetypes’ strengths and fill in gaps in your strategy. Does your Draken Berserker lack the threat range to reach the unit you want to kill? A Command Ape’s Blitz action can double his speed. A Shadow Gate will give your Crabs Cloak, making them even harder to remove than they are naturally. Scorchers and Fire Kami don’t have impressive stats on their own, but their powerful Ignite action is enough to make them considerations all on their own. There is no hard and fast rule as to what makes a tech unit applicable to every list; they are the spice that gets added to the foundation built up by the other three archetypes.
Examples of strong Tech units are: Repair Truck, Command Ape, Shadow Gate, Fire Kami, Propo Walker, Spy Fly, Scorcher
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
As an example, here is my personal list:
Securers:
2 Juror
2 Crawler
1 Propo Walker
Tech:
1 Facilitator
1 Scorcher
1 Toxxo
1 Destructomite
Attackers:
2 Dervish
2 Abrogator
1 Mollock Berserker
1 Hellion
1 Hunter
1 Task Master
1 Explodohawk
Point Holders:
2 Squix
As you can see, I try to have a healthy mix of all four archetypes; however, it’s important to note that some units can fulfill multiple roles. The Dervish, for example, has a high threat range and good brawl stat, making it an Attacker, but it can also fight a Point Holder and then Hit and Run onto that unit’s space, making it something of a Point Holder itself. Likewise, the Propo Walker’s high defense and Disruption make it a strong backline option, but its Inspiration ability also makes it a valuable tech piece in the midfield. Once you know the important details to look for, the next step is finding opportunities for units to fulfill multiple archetypes at the same time.
CONCLUSION
While a top-level competitive list will err towards the most optimized choices, as long as your unit list includes a fair number of each of these archetypes it should be successful at fulfilling all of the jobs a good unit list needs to do. It can be daunting at first to look at tournament winning lists and seeing 10+ different units that each require their own pack purchase, but for casual Monpoc, the victory percentage you give up running your favorite over whatever is best-in-show at that role is less than you might expect. Monsterpocalypse is a game that rewards good fundamentals first and foremost; a fully juiced list will not take you nearly as far as practice and practicals can.