Power attacks and when to use 'em?

Just out of curiosity

How often do any of you guys end up using power attacks (slam, headbutt, throw, etc etc) and in what situation?

Do any of you do it to clear a path or for a set up? Possibly throwing something into another unit?

I throw alot!!!! In MK II, there are not any penalties to power attacks, so i will prolly use them more often. My Issues with Power attacks was the penalty to the attack roll. I use two handed throw because it had no penalty. I might try headbutting more often.

We've been playing Steamroller scenarios it our tourneys, and in certain situations using a power attack can be a game winning play. In most scenarios you have to hold the center, or colunm on the board to either win, or score points and a well timed slam, or throw can sometimes more easily accomplish this than attempting to destroy an entire unit, or wreck a fully functional 'jack. Some power attacks can also be used semi-defensively. Slams and throws will also cause knowdown, and cause the target model to forfeit either movement or action to stand up, thereby giving your slamming or throwing 'jack some room the breath.
Hope this helps. Good luck on the battlefield!

- Art

I must admit, it's something you don't think about all the time when you're a noob.

Power attacks will hopefully be used more in MK2, lot of people ignore them when they have awesome possibilities.

Trolls end up with an inordinaate amount of open fists on their beasts (dire troll mauler, earthborn dire troll, pyre troll, winter troll, slag troll, dire troll blitzer) so throws are a bit more common.
I don't perform slams too often because generally my Impalers can crit slam 45% of the time with their ranged attack and that generally is all i need it for.
Headbutts I haven't tried except for by Borka on an assasination run (unsuccessfully).
I have in the past knocked down models in order to give Grim Angus a shot at a caster/lock behind that model, but it's not too common.
And finally i realized this morning that i could lock the tail of an Angelius with a big strong troll to eliminate the stoopid armor piercing BS.

I honestly don't understand the logic behind, arm/head locking in the game.

Why would I do that when I can just beat the piss out of whatever I'm trying to hit.

Ovich wrote:I honestly don't understand the logic behind, arm/head locking in the game.

Why would I do that when I can just beat the piss out of whatever I'm trying to hit.

The mechanic is there if you don't think you'll be able to remove the opponent's beast/jack from play this turn and you don't want it to take a swing with a particular weapon (especially anything armor piercing)

dork_jedi wrote:

Ovich wrote:I honestly don't understand the logic behind, arm/head locking in the game.

Why would I do that when I can just beat the piss out of whatever I'm trying to hit.

The mechanic is there if you don't think you'll be able to remove the opponent's beast/jack from play this turn and you don't want it to take a swing with a particular weapon (especially anything armor piercing)

Not only that, there are other very good uses for locks, but they are certainly very situational and will only be used against specific models. Take for example the Blessing of Vengeance, the Menoth heavy 'jack with the Heavy Repulsor Shield. If you hit him in melee, but do not destroy the shield, it pushes you away 2". If you don't have reach, or even if you do, but were not in base to base with it, it is now out of your melee range. In this case locking the shield arm with your first attack could be very useful.

Ovich wrote:I honestly don't understand the logic behind, arm/head locking in the game.

Why would I do that when I can just beat the piss out of whatever I'm trying to hit.

When you cant really damage an enemy model because your heavy hitter has been taken out. You can reduce the models effectiveness by tying it up with a lock. Example - lets say I dont have anything that can damage your armor 20 Destroyer and you are wrecking my troops with the cannon. I lock that arm and hopefully tie you up for a few turns.

Setting up slams to knockdown high def models or headbutts to knockdown enemies for autohitting melee attacks later in the round.

Slam like this

O- the slammer

O - your crappy model with same base size or larger in front of target
X - high def model

Throws can be used to neuter a piece as he has to waste movement or action to stand up. Very annoying and basically makes the piece lose a turn. Throw something you cant deal with.