I have gone through the process of explaining how a min/max army plays out, and now it’s time to explain the polar opposite of that style of wargaming: the horde. Typically speaking, this style of army is one that is prevalent and possible in systems like Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k, where there are a greater number of figures to play and buy. The strategy that a horde army affords you is available in almost any system. It’s just a matter of scale.

The basic idea behind the play style is exactly how it sounds. If you are playing a horde army, you want to greatly outnumber your opponent and ensure that even if you take causalities you will have enough backup to continue on. Specific armies that utilize this in the Games Workshop family of products include Orks, Imperial Guard, and Tyranids in 40k, and Orcs & Goblins, Skaven, and Vampire Counts in Fantasy. These armies are personified by having a lot of units that may have weak stat lines, but don’t cost a lot of points to field, and when attacking in these large numbers, they are very dangerous.

So what are some of the advantages of fielding such an army? The most obvious one is that as I alluded to before: if you take causalities early on, you will have large enough unit sizes to weather the storm. These large units are also a fantastic psychological advantage to utilize against your opponents, especially if they are new to the game. Being able to lay down 40-50 and fill up your deployment zone is quite a scary thing to behold.

Something that is an underrated part of this type of army is that it most certainly gives you the chance to roll a lot of dice. This works out well in a few different ways. For one, it is simply fun to count up a large number of attacks and then roll it. With that many attacks, despite a generally lower stat line, the idea behind it is that with such a high concentration the odds are with you that many of them will succeed. It also emphasizes the psychological advantage against your opponent. If you play it right, you’ll be outnumbering the enemy army, and then force them to watch you roll a ludicrous amount of attacks.