The Jiggly Yo Wiggly Do-it-yourself Horde Guide

This FAQ can be displayed on any website as long as it gives credit to Jiggly Yo
Wigly.

Index: 
0.) Introduction 
1.) Base Theory 
2.) The Rules of the Shield 
3.) Leave the Wretch! 
4.) Ideal Horde Weapons Combos 
5.) Beating Horde on Public 
6.) Overrun: What to do to survive a base breach 
7.) Enemy weaknesses breakdown 
8.) Strategy 
i. Ruins 
ii. River 
iii. Jacinto 
iv. Day One 
v. Hail 
vi. Pavilion 
vii. Gridlock
viii. Blood Drive
ix. Security
x. Mansion
xi. Gold Rush
xii. Underhill
xiii. Nowhere
xiv. Way Station
xv. Highway
9.) A quick note on healing people 
10.) What kind of Horde player are you? 
11.) Jiggleclan
12.) Jiggleclan Contacts
13.) Credits

0. Introduction

Hey guys, my Xbox live name is Jiggly Yo Wigly, and I kick ass at Horde. I used
to be ranked under 100 on many maps, and I've beaten the game ten times on eight
different maps. The point is: I know Horde. I know the strategy and I know the
game. I don't claim that what I present here will get you to 50 every time. I've
only won ten times out of the hundreds that I've played. But I consistently,
during most engagements, get into the thirties or forties using these
strategies. If you master them too, I can personally guarantee that your average
wave death will be much farther along than before, and if you're really lucky,
maybe you'll break 50 too.

1. Base Theory

Horde is not a shoot'em up. You can't go Rambo the entire game
with your four buddies and expect to win. It's statistically impossible. It is
clear to anyone who has made it past wave 20 that you need some way to
concentrate fire and funnel your enemy. This is where a base comes in. It is a
place where all five of you congregate, and it is locked off from the rest of
the level by shields.

Ideally, some sort of weapon spawn would be best. This keeps the bad guys out,
and you safely inside. Note: Do not make your base so small that one ink grenade
couldn't kill you all. It happens. What do three people standing really close
together have in common? One boom rocket.

In every Gears 2 map, there is some area hidden within the level that could be
blocked off completely by anywhere from two to four shields. For example, on
Jacinto, there are the two towers. They can be blocked off at the sandbags with
three. What you need to do is to survive until wave 8, and then start killing
Maulers, accrue shields, and place them across a short gap and cut off your base
from the rest of the world. Mind you, this isn't a perfect setup, as little guys
can kick down your shields. But we'll get to that later.

In general, once a base is setup, everyone should have their task at the
beginning of the wave. More importantly, two people should be assigned to shield
duty(replacing the shields at the beginning of the match). You can rotate if you
want, but it's best that one or two people get really familiar with placement to
keep error at bay. If they die, they need to have a set replacement. Discuss
this before wave 8.

Also, it should be noted that due to the new update, drones can knock down
shields any which way they are placed. Be aware of this and assign one person to
each front of your base(preferably shield placers) to kill drones and others
that can knock down shields before they get close enough to do so(heavy machine
guns are ideal for this if you can get them!) In the event that they do AND
there happen to be a lot of very big, angry locust behind them, see the section
on being Overrun.

2. The Rules of the Shield

Shields are the most important piece of equipment in the entire game of Gears of
War 2. Without these, you will not win Horde. Oh, in case you're wondering,
plant the shield by aiming and pressing a.

There are many different things about shields you should know, so I list them
here:

1. The Shield disappears at the beginning of every wave - unless you pick it up
and replant it within ten seconds of wave start or so. If you're quick, you can
replant up to four shields before any disappear. But it's best to coordinate
with a friend. One person can safely grab and replant two.

2. Place the shield, handle facing your base, in such a way so that the least
amount of bad guys can get in but with a hole large enough so that you can run
in and out of your base at will to kill sires before they can knock over your
shields.

3. NEVER pick up shields in the middle of a wave. Ever. In fact, do not kick
them down until there are less than 3 bad guys left, and you know exactly what
those bad guys are. What if one is a grinder? Yeah. That would suck. The more
you know :)

4. When holding a shield, do not switch weapons to drop it, plant it instead by
aiming and pressing a. Sometimes the shield glitches when you do the weapons
switch and disappears. This is very bad.

5. Another reason not to pick up shields in the middle of a wave: If there is
even blood on the ground near the shields, when you try to place it again, it
won't plant. Then you've got a big gaping hole to deal with.

6. If you get locked outside the base, and there's a lot of bad stuff out there,
IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO KICK DOWN THE SHIELDS TO GET INSIDE IF YOU CAN'T JUMP
OVER THEM. Think before you jeapardize your teammates' lives for your own. If
it's clear, sure, have someone let you in, but don't be a Jackass.

7. New research suggests that if you can find a two shield wide
entrance in your base, this is the perfect place to place one shield in the
center because little guys will nearly always run around it, while big guys
won't be able to get through it, making it the safest configuration around.

There are many other things you'll figure out along the way as you get better at
Horde. I'll try to list more here as time goes on.

3. Leave the Wretch!

The first thing everybody on public says to me when I yell at them to get in the
base is "What if I need ammo!?" They often say this before they run off with one
of my shields and leave us all open to attack so they can get more lancer
rounds. The thing is, if you think about it, wretches are pretty weak. There are
often one or more of them in every wave. All you have to do, since you're behind
your shields, is let them run up against the shields and do nothing the entire
round. Kill everything else. Then, kill all the wretches but one. Now, you can
go outside and get all the ammo you please and then at your leisure kill the
wretch. This scheme also works well with sires and snipers. If you are left with
only a drone or something, shoot him in the knees till he crawls. Then you have
at least thirty seconds to grab ammo.

You can also grab fun weapons like grinder turrets, artillery, hammer of dawn,
whatever. Make it count - you're taking a lot of heads!

Oh, and always remember that these weapons get ammo at the beginning of every
wave no matter what: Shotgun, lancer, hammerburst, magnum, Gorgon, spawn
handgun(the Pea shooter), grenades.

4. Ideal Horde Weapons Combos

I've played with some really good people in my day and I will hereby name these
combinations after them:
(IGLOO IS AWESOME!)
The Jiggly Yo Wiggly Standard: Sniper, Shotgun, Gorgon, Frag 
Reasons: The sniper
is to take every drone, cyclops, sniper, theron, and kantus head off. It's
quick, efficient, and once you get good at using it, deadly. The shotgun is
there because even in the forties, if there's a breach, you're going to want it.
 Gorgon is for the bigger guys, like boomers, and the occasional times when you
must become the shield, it never runs out of ammo.

Do not forget:
Aim for the head. Sniper rifle normally takes 6 shots or so for one big guy and
that's in the head - better to use it on five or six little guys. The Gorgon can
afford to give this sort of ammo. Finally, frags are good for tagging maulers
and bloodmounts up against the shields to clear the way. (Yes, you can tag from
behind a shield!)

The JackinMikeRam Shield Guardian: Torque Bow, Lancer, Gorgon, Frag
Reasons:
Shield Guardians are responsible for becoming the shield in common base
breaches(see overrun section) and for placing shields in general. They need to
be responsible for killing any drones that come close. The Torque is good for
shooting big guys in the head, if you can manage it. The Lancer is always handy,
for obvious reasons, as are frags. The real key here is the Gorgon pistol since
it carries a lot more ammo than the other pistols, so that when a common breach
occurs and the shield guardian needs to become the shield, he has enough ammo in
his pistol to hold off for longer than two minutes.

The PeaTearGriffen Base-Bitch: Torque Bow, Sniper, Ink Grenades, Gorgon
Pistol
Reasons: If you've got four other competent
members with close range weapons, and you're behind shields, why waste one of
your weapons slots with a close range weapon? Use torque for big guys, sniper
for small guys, and the Gorgon is your "oh shit" weapon if things get a little
too close range for your taste. The ink grenades are because you're always
behind a shield and there is always a horde on the other side trying to get you
- one ink gases all of them!

The Triggerhappy: Shotgun, Lancer, Frag, Magnum 
Reasons: You're inside a base.
You're not always going to be able to get ammo and you like being right up
against the front door pounding away with the locusts. Well, with this combo,
you can spray all the bullets you want, and you'll still get more ammo at the
beginning of every wave. This is great
for people who are lagging too much to leave the base safely.

The Sniper Survivalist: Sniper, Magnum, Hammerburst, Frag or Ink 
Reasons: 
You want to snipe, and you want a steady source of ammo. The magnum and the
hammerburst are like lesser powered sniper rifles, they both get ammo every wave
and you still have your good old rifle to snipe with when you have the ammo to
do so. Also, the hammerburst allows you the ability to defend yourself during a
breach, from the sires(aka the Flood) who get through, or anything else that
comes at you in close range.

5. Beating Horde on Public

I beat Horde on public once. To date, I've won Horde eight times. To beat it on
public was a fricking miracle, to be honest. I went on with my pal Igloo and we
happened upon three other highly competent team members who later went on my
friends list. We beat Hail together and it was glorious. But the thing is, all
it takes is one jackass to ruin everything. Consider this scenario: It's wave
28, there are Maulers at your base doorstep, and the Jackass(who often has no
mic) comes running up to the shields. He isn't smart enough to figure out what's
going down, and so he kicks down the shields to avoid dying and runs inside.
Then the maulers follow him and kill you all. This happens 99% of Public horde
games you'll play.

The point is this: If there is even one incompetent member of your team, YOU
WILL NOT WIN HORDE. Getting lucky happens for a few waves, maybe even thirty.
But not fifty. The chances of something going wrong due to their idiocy is
unavoidable for all of fifty waves. So look at Public as a warm up and as a way
to meet new people: Play it to warm up before you assemble a team to play a
private game, and also to look for potential new friends that you know will not
screw you over when you team up. There normally is one or two people worth your
time every five public games or so. This is how I built my Horde team database!

If you want to get as far as possible on Public, however, the best way to do
this is to start gathering shields yourself. Setup your own base and get anyone
with a mic to listen to your ideas and get them inside. Explain to them basic
base theory and the rules of the shields, and hope to God that none of the
no-mics screw you over. If you're lucky, you'll last into the thirties.

6. Overrun: What to do to survive a base breach

There are two types of breaches now:

1. Common type -
A drone or sire happens to kick over your shield but the
situation is very manageable. If there aren't that many guys then even
with a hole you can normally hold them off until someone picks up the
shield and manages to replace it. If they cannot replace it, they
should stand there and keep aiming and serve as a "human shield."
Make sure any snipers on your team kill maulers before they get close
enough to hurt your human shield. This strategy was offered JackinMikeRam,
and I'm sorry if I mispelled your gamertag.

2. Critical type -
Say some Jackass knocks over your shields in the middle of the wave, or your
shield placer didn't get all of them and so there is a great big gaping hole, 
or some drone manages to get close enough to kick one over and a lot of
big guys follow.

Now the Horde is going to rush you! What do you do?

First off, you need to ask yourself if this is truly unmanageable. Most
of the time it's possible to hold them off but sometimes, a
Grinder just steps into the opening and unleashes hell. If
you have an officer on your team(see section on classes), he'll usually
know when to call a critical overrun.

At this point, depending on the wave number, you have either unlikely or
extremely poor chances of survival. Your best bet is to stock up on grenades if
you can, and pull out lancers and grinder turrets if you have them. Take the
remaining shields and set them up in such a way that little guys can get through
but not big guys(if you have a two shield wall and one's gone, place the one in
the center.) If you don't have shields, it's going to be a little tougher. As
things come up to rape you, your team needs to concentrate fire on both the
little guys and the maulers, as Boomers and Grinders aren't as dangerous. Throw
grenades whenever the horde clumps or rushes, and always try to get your active
reloads. If you start being fully overrun, which is likely, have an escape plan
handy. Maybe there is a back door to your base like the towers on Jacinto? Your
team can escape and run elsewhere. Whatever you do, move as a team, close enough
together to revive but not so close that one grenade'll get you.

Once outside, your team should find another place with ideally two entrances
that the enemy can attack, so that there is another retreat method should the
same thing happen to you there when the Horde comes. Again, your chances are
low, but this is what you can do to possibly survive.

It should be noted that it's very hard to get your shields placed perfectly
nearly fifty times. Horde is a game made of luck, sometimes glitches, lag, and
stupidity happen. I've played hundreds of Horde games and only won ten times.
Often, when I have a good team, we get killed accidentally in the late thirties
or forties by being too close together when a grenade comes rolling in or a bad
boomshot or a lagged out shield. Don't be disillusioned if this happens to you a
lot: it's part of the game. Eventually, you'll get it. A good way to keep from
losing the shield is always have the host place the most important ones. He
can't lag. To find out if you're host, take out a shotgun, and shoot a wall. If
it hits it instantly, you're host.

7. Enemy weaknesses breakdown

Here are some ways to kill certain bad guys quickly and efficiently. This is
very useful stuff for Horde.

Big Guys:

Boomer: These guys are the second most dangerous in the game. When you hear them
coming, make sure your team is spread out, because if they are close, one
boomshot can kill most of you, or even all of you. The thing about boomers is
that they always let you know when they are going to shoot at you. They always
say "BOOM!" and shortly thereafter press the trigger. Wait with your magnum or
lancer or whatever behind cover for them to fire at you, and then while they
reload, put bullets directly into their head. No matter what wave you are on,
they'll go down eventually.

Grinder: Follow the same strategy as Boomer, except instead of saying "Boom!",
these guys say "Grind!", and they have to pause for a few seconds between
shooting their grinders to cool the guns off, so you can fire then.

Kantus: Sniper rifle or Magnum to the face, as quickly as possible, from behind
cover. They are the most dangerous adversaries in the game: One ink grenade has
ended my horde experience many times because we were all too close together.
Bonus points: You can run up to the Kantus, and he'll scream and knock you down.
Then, get up as he finishes screaming, and either chainsaw him or stuff a frag
in his throat and jump away as quickly as possible. If you fail or succeed and
kill yourself too, be assured that this is the most noble of deaths in Horde. I
hate Kantuses! (Should really say Kantii.)

Mauler: If you are inside the base, let them sit outside your shields and be
your bullet sponges. They also make it hard for drones to get close enough to
your shields to knock them down! The other bad guys will just keep shooting
them.

To kill them, shoot them in the head with your handgun, lancer or sniper
repeatedly, or shoot them till they put up their shields and then run up and
stick them with a frag and dive away. If you are outside the base and you
encounter one, run away as fast as possible, get behind cover, and aim for the
head until he puts his shield up then move to a better angle. As he gets close,
run again. If he hits you once, as soon as you get up, he'll hit you again, and
again, and again, until you die. I've heard you can dodge out of the way after
the first hit from my little brother but I've never managed it. Oh yeah, they
can smash you through the shields of your base if you get too close. Watch
yourself!

Bloodmounts: If you're outside your base, you're dead unless you can put enough
rounds in that thing with your lancer or boomshot or whatever to make it go
down. Alternatively, you can aim for the guy on top. Then the bloodmount will go
crazy when he dies and run off. If you're inside your base, kill the guy on top
and then shoot the bloodmount at your leisure. Bonus: Tag the bloodmount!

An alternative strategy provided by Jaad84 is to have one person shoot the
bloodmount with a lancer in the head continuously whilst the other shoots the
rider off. The bloodmount head shots will cause it to pause to take it's helmet
off, allowing the partner a clear shot on the rider.

Flame Boomers: Shoot them in the tanks. If you see one coming towards you, you
can alternatively plant a frag in the wall and run away. It's always pleasant to
hear the muffled scream a few seconds after you plant a grenade.

Little Guys: 

Wretches - Leave one alive. Chainsaw preferable. Bonus: See if you can tag it
twice before it dies! With a few people, we've managed eight tags before one
died! Beat that!

All Manner of drones, cyclops, whatever - Aim for the head with a sniper rifle
or with a handgun, or just shoot them with your lancer. It isn't complicated! If
you get up close with them, and they shoot your chainsaw down, don't try to
re-rev it, blind fire into the bastard and back away till you can get cover. If
you have a shotgun, two piece. These guys can kill you. And avoid cyclops! They
can chainsaw you easily...and with the title update, even if you sneak up on one
who is crouched with your chainsaw on it'll still chainsaw you without a duel.
The new chainsaw upgrades have made chainsaw so weak and glitchy that
chainsawing cyclops is out of the question. Don't even try it.

Sires - More important than drones, they always bum rush, and always knock down
your shields. Make sure to be prepared for them and shoot on sight unless you
can safely leave one alive for ammo grabbing.

Flame guys - Aim for the tanks! - See flame boomer alternative strategy.

8. Strategy

These are the levels that I have beaten or nearly beaten. I offer here my
thoughts and strategies that I used to win in hopes that you will use my
experience to become a better judge of the map terrain for your own battles. Due
to the title update, however, shields can now be knocked down even if they are
placed in reverse. I beat most of these levels on the old style Horde where this
was impossible and there is no guarantee that following these strategies now
will always work. I will update this guide with better ones whenever I beat one
of these maps on the new system, but I am fairly certain that these strategies,
while not as foolproof as before, are good working models that will get you into
the thirties at least. Good luck, and don't be afraid to email me at
[email protected] if you find a better method! For references to officers,
shield guardians, and the like, see the section "What kind of Horde player are
you?"

i. Ruins This is my highest scoring win. I haven't beaten this map yet - I have
only gotten to wave 48. But still, this is considered so difficult that I'm
still under 40th in the world for it, and so is the team that I played with. To
beat this map, you need to go to the top of the level where the flamethrower is.
From here, there are two paths down into the level. If you run down either path,
you'll first hit a concrete block, and then a little further down one of those
torture capsules from the campaign. You'll see that this capsule makes a bottle
neck on the bridge, and the leftover gap is two shields' width long. Lucky for
you shields spawn right under the bridge your standing on on both sides of the
map every other round! Go get them and set them up on both sides and turn the
entire top into your mountain base. You can separate your team in two and use
the concrete slab and the capsule as cover when fighting the horde. Remember
that having one shield in the center of this bottleneck is the safest
configuration.

ii. River My first Horde win both pre update and post update. The strategy we
used was this: I had HolyKnight and I in one house with one shield at the
entrance and one shield on the ramp, as well as one shield in the sniper nest
for extra cover. It was good because most drones seemed to run around the shield
instead of knock it over. In the other house, JackinMikeRam, an officer, had a
shield guardian at his disposal. He was using two shields at the
front door, and he often had one person using a shield right behind these
shields as a sort of bullet sponge but far enough from the door not to get hit
by maulers.

For waves 1-40, I guarded my front door and HolyKnight sniped the drones and
stuff on Jackin's side while he sniped the drones on ours, creating a cross-fire
effect. From 40-47, EndOfTimes helped me by guarding the door while I took cover
behind one of the house pillars and sniped guys that got too close, as
HolyKnight had lagged out. Times didn't have the firepower any more to handle
the guys attacking us by himself. From 47-50, we all grouped in one house to
fend off the Horde.

The double bases also allowed redundancy in case of a critical breach(which did
happen) and divided enemy forces. The thing is, I found that with the two
shield door configuration, drones will always kick down your shields on River;
the one shield worked best for us because I could run out and kill angry bad
things before they got close enough to knock down the shield and then run behind
it when the big bad guys came. However, the fact that JackinMikeRam survived
just as long on the other side with the classical strategy proves that both are
viable.

iii. Jacinto There are two ways to do this. You can either have one base with
two and another with three, or have one with five people. The towers are your
bases. If you have one base then put two shields beside the sandbag with a third
shield right in front of the side of the sandbag inside the base with the handle
of the shield facing the players, not the locust. This keeps them from jumping
over the bag. One person needs to watch this "door" shield and another the two
front shields for placement. If you have two bases, this allows you base
redundancy: i.e., if one gets overrun, the other still exists. But you need five
players for this. Doing it with four IS NOT recommended. The three person base
follows the same layout as the one base scheme, but the two person base is a bit
different. There aren't enough players here to guarantee that all three would-be
shields can be replanted every round. What if one person dies? The alternative
is to place the shields on either side of the big box thing at the top of the
tower. When Maulers and flamers come, you'll have to fall back from the shields
or else get slammed, but otherwise it should work and be manageable by one
person if the other dies.

iv. Day One Got to wave 48 on the new Horde with this before having some bad
luck. Put two people in artillery, during waves 1-9, 11-19. and so on, keep one
person downstairs(always unless reviving the artillery man) with three shields
blocking off the ramp and jutting out a little bit in a sort of circular
formation. This keeps spawns from happening in the street on this base.

The top person should be responsible for one shield at the top of the ramp. On
the ten waves, when the bloodmounts come out, take two of the three bottoms and
place one at the bottom of the ramp and then take the other and place it a
little behind the top ramp shield to create three redundant shield placements
and then have both people stay upstairs for the remainder of the wave.

In the sniper "tower", put three people, have one in the little partitioned area
right behind the sniper/torque spawn, one in the middle of this sniper
base(right where the path turns a corner) and the other near the end of the ramp
who guards shields, however many shields is up to you. The point of the middle
guy is to serve as extra firepower where needed and as a healer that is close by
to both other players, making a sort of "triangle" healing combination. Since
there are three people in this base, they attract nearly all attention(it
doesn't help no spawns occur at artillery now) and so it's artillery's job to
give them as much support as possible to help them beat down the Horde.

I had two shield guardians, two officers, and one private for this mission and I
didn't have any major problems(not a single overrun) until wave 46, when the
officer on sniper base died, and then things just started going haywire, as
usually happens when an officer in charge of a base dies.

v. Hail There is this little bridge that leads from the mansion to the big
circle area with all the boxes and frag grenades spawn here. Lock off the
entrance from bridge to mansion with two shields and the same with the stairwell
leading into the circle. If you can, get two more shields and place them in such
a way to block off the tiny crack that is always there in both shield setups due
to the width of the stairwells. It's not perfect, but it works. With the new
updates, another good strategy may be to extend your base from the top of the
mansion stairs to the mansion doors leading to the street. It may be better in
case of what is now a much more likely breach.

vi. Pavilion This is an especially difficult level as your base will have to be
quite large. There are two hallways on either side of the level with a total of
four doors into them, two on top, two on bottom. Each of these doors requires
one shield and at all times there has to be at least one player at the bottom of
the hall and one at the top, as this base is so big, spawns can sometimes happen
in the top or bottom when there are only players on the opposite end. One plus
is that grenades spawn here. It should be noted that if shields are placed too
far into the doorway, Grinders can come against them and shoot all the way down
to the other side of the hall.

vii. Gridlock Got to wave 46 on the new Horde with this strategy. Remember, this
is a Gears 1 level, and so it is very fortunate that there are already bases
available here. Grab one of the upstairs areas where the handgun spawns. Put one
shield on the back door, one on the front. You can layer more shields for added
protection if you want. For the first twenty waves, we had two people in sniper
spawn tower and three here in main base, but then we all fell back to main base
when one player left and we got down to four people. We held off here with good
communication and balance until wave 43 when our fourth guy left, then to make
things safe we turned my brother into a shock trooper(shield and gorgon pistol
all the time, half way between the entrances to assist with any major breaches)
and managed to hold off the entire way till wave 46, when everybody died but me.
I ripped up a shield and fell back to the handgun spawn, and held off against
most of the wave before getting valiantly DP-ed by two cyclops just when a
glimmer of hope shown from beyond the horizon.

viii. Blood Drive Got to wave 49 before dying with this strategy on the new
Horde. On both sides of this map are stairs with two rooms up top, one a sniper
nest and the other a hand gun spawn. For the first 47 waves set up one shield on
the skinny stairwell at the top of the stairs and two on the wide stairwell.
Have four people outside at the top of the stairs and one inside the sniper nest
to make sure spawns do not occur. From 47 onwards, regroup your entire team
inside the sniper nest and place rows of shields in the door and then station
one guy with a grinder turret to guard this door, while two others sit with
shield and Gorgon combos at the ready to deal with any breaches and help kill
guys. The other two should be on reserve, maybe one could be sniping and the
other be just ready to heal someone.

ix. Security This strategy was offered by Linkueigman, an officer that I've
never had the privilege of playing with. He says that this got him to fifty
twice on this level. As I have not beaten this level myself or utilized this
strategy here, I cannot guarantee it will work.

What he outlined to me was this: There were three shield guardians, one officer,
and one private. The private was on the artillery and the the other four guys
each manned an entrance to the artillery area. If one of the front door guys
died(the bigger entrances leading to the hand gun spawn) then the other front
door guy would take post on top of the switch in the middle pillar to guard both
doors. The artilleryman would serve as a healer and would reinforce any weak
areas with artillery or machine gun fire. Generally speaking, you should always
have a balanced defense on all doors if you can, and if nobody is attacking one
door, have that guy reinforce another heavily attacked door. Occasionally, the
lasers go down, which is the reason for all this battle-readiness.

x. Mansion

Original idea thanks to Linkeuigman and JackinMikeRam.

For waves 1-40, Take the entire top floor, put one guy on each of the side doors
at the top of the landing/end of the hall on the top floor. I had a shield on
each of these doors but it should be noted that I was one of the doormen and I
never faced a single large adversary, only small guys like cyclops and what not,
so a shield seems to be optional. It's good to have handy during a base breach,
though, so consider using it. One guy guarded each stairwell, and the stairwells
had two shields each. There was one drifter who moved from spot to spot to
reinforce when necessary. The best part about this base was that most enemies
entered through the front door, allowing us to create a funneling effect, and
since we had the high ground, it was just a Golgotha down there. Discipline is
necessary to pull this one off, however, as minor breaches happen extremely
often and need to be dealt with without the entire team running to help and
leaving their flank unguarded. My team was made up of four to five officers. 

For waves 40-50, fall back to the middle portion, place one shield at the top of
each main stairwell, and then one shield right behind each couch so you have a
sort of double-redundant shield setup, so if one gets knocked down, you have the
other. Place two shields on either side of the bureau at the railing and post a
sniper and a torque bower there to take out little and big guys respectively,
and have two guys with shields as constant "shock guardians" guarding either
side of the area, because little guys will rush in often and try to fuck with
you, and having these guys armed with handguns and shields makes them nearly
impervious. Tip: Gorgon pistol preferred, has the most ammo. But if you find
yourself with one of the other two handguns, and you're the shield guardian, and
you run out of ammo, have another person replace you, so you can use your other
guns.

xi. Gold Rush Got to wave 48 with this strategy.

For waves 1-40, there is a command center on the top of the level with a handgun
spawn in it. Block off the entrance leading down the short ramp to the other
side of the top floor with two or three shields and the bottom of the long set
of ramps leading down to the second level from the command center with three
shields at the bottom and an extra one for cover midway up on the landing so you
can shoot down at the three shield blockade without being hit so easily. 

For waves 40-50, take your shields at the bottom of the ramp to the lower level
and place two at top in the command center at the entrance to this ramp and then
two down right where the ramp starts to bend around the ninety degree turn(the
landing). These lower shields should be aligned with the upper ones, not
perpendicular, if you're wondering which part of the landing to put them on.
Have two people always with a Gorgon and a shield, one guarding each entrance,
these are your shock troopers for when shit gets heavy. If someone dies twice
quickly, make him the new shock trooper, since he can't die any more or else
he's dead permanently(shock troopers die much less often, surprisingly!).
Towards the end we actually had three shock troopers, it got so hot. It should
be noted that the reason we died was because we were too cramped - two grinders
got in and messed us up. It may be more advisable to keep your lower base the
way it was beforehand, I'm not sure which would serve you better. It's just when
the base is that large, when people die, it takes longer to get to them, and in
the forties, that can be costly. You make the decision, I'll let you know which
way works when I finally beat this level.

xii. Underhill

JackinMikeRam offered this strategy as I wasn't with him when he did this. He
got to wave 48 or 49. For waves 1-40, hide on top of the bridge with shields in
the smallest gaps that you can find. Recommend one player to man artillery and
use a sniper rifle. For waves 40-50, goto the small room in the building that is
located towards the side closest to the bridge. It allows a funneling effect,
and should make it easier to beat the last ten. Granted, I wasn't there and the
reason they died was because they stayed on the bridge for the last ten and got
overrun. This last part is a recommendation on my part, and if it doesn't serve
you well, email me!

xiii. Nowhere

This strategy sent to me by JackinMikeRam, verbatim:

This is a good map for Horde. You want to establish your base in the diner. Make
everyone responsible for a shield. Try to save six shields two slightly beyond
the door way, two in the door way and two on the right window. Most of the
combat is up close (keep your lancer). 

Team positions for waves 1-30 should be the following. Two at the door. One
behind the bar (use a Mulcher for later rounds). One on each window who will
rotate to the front door if a member has been downed twice. When Maulers are at
the doors back off the door till they are down. Also this is a good time to frag
tag Maulers (elite players only).  

For waves 31-50 use the same shield setup but back off the front door when
larger enemies approach the shields. It's good to take cover behind the bar and
use your BLIND FIRE! ! ! BUT there are some shelves behind the bar that the
Boomers can hit which will knock you down unless you are under cover in the
center of the bar. When Boomers are at the front door guards fall back to where
entrance to the bar is on each side. Take cover and use your blind fire. Watch
the widows for smaller enemies specially the right window. The hardest part of
any Horde match is SURVIVING THE RUSH! ! !

When the enemy count reaches four get ready for the rush! Be PATIENT they will
come to you. If you have two shields on the right window they can only attack
you from the door. No or one shield on the window make sure to have someone
their with a lancer off to the side of the window that way when they jump in
they can saw them. Have two members go into shield guardian mode and stay there
no melee. Everyone else have a lancer ready. As they charge keep shooting
hopefully the shields beyond the door are still standing that way it gives you
sometime to put them down. Let them engage the guardians than go for the
chainsaw. Never chainsaw head on try from the side or from behind. If you have a
Mulcher go behind the bar and cover the door highly recommended. I save one for
this purpose alone. To speed up the game stay on top of the diner for waves 1-25
use the Mulcher and Morter. Put shields at the stairs with some one guarding
them. Put grenade mines behind you at the top because they will spawn behind
you. Before the end of 25 move downstairs and setup as stated earlier in the
guide. Stay together and good luck.

xiv. Way Station

This strategy sent to me by JackinMikeRam, verbatim:

Waves 1-25 I like to position my team near the platform (helps to
speed the game up). There's two sets of stairs on the right and on the left. I
like to position two players on the bottom right stairs with�two shields�and
bottom left stairs with two shields. Then the last team member on top of the
platform with the Mulcher and two shields behind him in the arch way. The enemy
will approach�from the front. Every once in a while Maulers and Bloodmounts will
go into the smaller rooms where the torque bow�and sniper spawns are. From there
they go up the stairs to where the two shields in the arch way are behind you.
That's why you need them there.
�
Waves 26-50 Pack up the shields and move to were you originally spawned at the
beginning of the game. It's a large room with a lot pillars. There are two�door
ways to shield up. When shields are knocked over and can't be placed down again
just move them back further and plant them. The team members guarding the door
way connected to the smaller room will take on larger enemies.�Plant ink
grenades to help�weaken the enemies. Also use frag tagging for Maulers to save
ammo. While the team members watching the other door looking out at the platform
should use sniper rifles to pick off smaller enemies holding up�on the platform.
Ever so often you will get a bigger enemy on this side. So use your lancers and
BLIND FIRE.

The RUSH - When the enemy count reaches four get ready for the rush!
Be�PATIENT they will come to you. Don't be the JACKASS going for ammo. Have two
members go into shield guardian mode and stay there no melee. Everyone else have
a lancer ready. Let them engage the guardians than go for the chainsaw. Never
chainsaw head on try from the side or from behind. The important thing to
remember is to keep shooting.

xv. Highway

This strategy sent to me by JackinMikeRam, verbatim:

I like to hold up my team in one of the long sniper/torque spawns. Team
positions are one down below, two in the middle, and two in the back near the
sniper/torque�spawn.�It's good to have seven shields. Four in the entry way.
Rows of two side by side. If the front shields go down just replant them back
further when safe to do so. Three in the middle. One behind the concrete wall,
one next to the concrete wall, and one facing the other sniper/torque�spawn. If
the front shields get to over run this will help hold the enemy back for the
time being. Once clear just replant the front shields.

� The team member up front will get a lot of action his way. Use blind fire and
a shield in the middle of the walk way to protect yourself. Watch for ink
grenades and don't use cover on the wall if a Boomer is near. The two in the
middle will focus fire on enemies in the front. Grab Mulchers for later rounds.
The two in the back should be snipers but use the torque it's the most
underrated weapon. Watch for smaller enemies above your�team on the right and
left shooting down. Also they will shoot from the other sniper/torque�spawn.
That's why it's good to have that shield in the middle facing the other
sniper/torque�spawn so those guys are covered. When possible get the Mortar for
one of the snipers in the back.

� The RUSH - When the enemy count reaches four get ready for the rush!
Be�PATIENT they will come to you. Don't be the JACKASS going for ammo. If your
up front fall back to the middle. Everyone focus fire as they come. Hopefully
you will be able to put them down before they get to you. If they get to you
have those chainsaws ready.

9. A quick note on healing people

If I get grinded down in front of the shields, don't run out and revive me. The
grinder will kill you too and then we're both screwed. Make sure your team mate
tells you what killed him so you know if its safe to run to him. Alternatively,
you can have him crawl to you if its close enough. And if a person dies outside
the shields, have him crawl to the shields. You can revive him from the other
side. Otherwise, don't leave. You'll probably die getting there.

10. What kind of Horde player are you?

I've recently started classifying people I meet on public by four different
classes so that I can more easily choose teams for private games. It is
relatively easy to raise yourself from one class to another, it's mostly a
matter of common sense. When you meet someone on public, follow this guide to
determine whether or not you should befriend them and work with them in later
games, and if you do so, what you should have them do for the team:

Level 1: Jackass This person most often does not have a mic(and are very
annoying when they do.) They do not care about shield placement or cooperating
as a team, they just want to kill as many things as possible by themselves
before they are completely over -run. The most common attribute of these players
is that they have no problem kicking down shields in the middle of a wave to get
inside your base to save themselves while simultaneously putting all of you at
risk. Beware these players and never befriend them.

Level 2: Private These people can place one shield at best, but are not very
skilled at it. They often have mics, and are very open to working together and
staying in base. These people are often new to the game, or new to Horde, or
simply have always wanted to beat Horde but never knew how until recently.
Friend these players, they often have great potential.

Level 3: Shield Guardian These players can place at least 2 shields, 
and understand completely how important shields are. 
In games, they often place shields each and every wave,
and are very dependable. Having even two of these class players on your team is
an almost guaranteed win. Also, they are experts at killing drones before they
ever get close to the shields, and in general are close combat masters. When
a common type breach occurs, they will often pick up the shield and become
the shield themselves, using their close combat skills to ward off more
bad guys coming into the base.

Level 4: Officer These players can place at least 4 shields. They are most
useful when everybody else has died, as they can preserve all shields for a base
to get to the next wave. The defining characteristics of these players is that
they always have a mic, other players tend to follow their orders, and they are
extremely adept with sniper weaponry and even close combat when times get hot.
They are both brain and muscle, and having even one on your team gives a much
better chance at success. These players are often older, and are not prone to
bouts of stupidity. They have no problem sacrificing themselves for the shields,
or leaving others to die who are outside them when it is inopportune.

One of them is necessary in every base. They are the leaders and the generals.

Level ?: Badass These people are not given this rank based on their quality, but
rather their personality or based on some rather obscene/hysterical/spectacular
act that they committed while in the presence of a game moderator. Originality
is key here.

Most Horde games I've one involve at least 1 officer, and at least 2 shield
guardians. Keep this in mind when assembling your team. If you want to assess
your teams strength in a quantitative way, assign a class to each person in your
team and look up the class number. A team strength for 2 officers, 2 shield
guardians, and one Jackass is 4 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 1 = 15, whereas if the Jackass is
replaced by a Private the value is 16. In this way you can guage your team
strength, from 1(one Jackass) to 20(five officers).

11. Jiggleclan

I've started up a clan of gamers dedicated to Horde and other games of strategy.
It's mostly just an excuse to use the word "Jiggleclan" and it allows players
like you and I to find other people who want to work together and have fun on
team-based games like Halo Wars and Gears of War 2 Horde mode.

Becoming a member is easy - just change your motto to Recruit // Jiggleclan.

This is the rank you'll have until a mod in the clan takes you out on a run
and ranks you by the following:

Recruit         1-20 multi player and 2 horde achievements
Warrior       21-30 multi player and 4 horde achievements
Sergeant    31-40 multi player and 6 horde achievements
Guardian    41-50 multi player and 8 horde achievements
Major         51-60 multi player and 10 horde achievements
Badass      61-70 multi player and 12 horde achievements
General     71+    multi player and 14 horde achievements
Master General successfully lead a team though the horde with a Mod as a witness
any map.

My personal recommendation for ranking is contact one of the moderators(via a
message and a friend request, not just a friend request).

When you have joined the clan, please email me at [email protected] to be
added to this list! Also, email me if you get ranked up!

Note that the ranks below are following the older system, these will be changed
over time.

12. Jiggleclan Contacts

Moderators:
Jiggly Yo Wigly(The Jigglehammer)
vincentZAPPA294(Officer)
JackinMikeRam(Officer)
MecaReptar(Officer)
igloo456(Badass)


Members:
ARMY5partan117(Private)
SkidmarkSkivies(Badass)
LONNE GUNN MANN(Officer)
ypbdootz(Recruit)
God of Lemmings(Recruit)
PainlessJoint(Private)
SHIVERmeTIMBERS(Shield Guardian)
Duo Zero Seven(Recruit)
ArtifexPT(Shield Guardian)
SmanTheMan(Recruit)
Darkthz(Recruit)
Arkem3(Recruit)
xDANGERxRANGERx(Officer)
richie legend(Recruit)
fingersticks747(Recruit)
Demon Dump(Recruit)
FightTHpoweR(Shield Guardian)
Archon Tireq(Recruit)
MDE Zeroe(Shield Guardian)
DylanEmerson(Recruit)
ViolableFlea(Recruit)
newbie30000(Shield Guardian)
AMM0BURN3R(Recruit)
A random Creep(Recruit)
MBHAMMER5(Recruit)
Atac56(Recruit)
DanielDragon(Recruit)
Linkueigman(Recruit)
Poseidenj(Recruit)
ShootinShawna(Recruit)
brianquack(Recruit)
Joe1422(Recruit)
jarole(Recruit)
WhiteStallion68(Recruit)
slayr698(Recruit)
xXIN3VITABL3Xx(Recruit)
Shanghaid(Recruit)

13. Credits

I'd like to give shout outs to my brother Noah, aka Triggerhappy, igloo456, Fuyu
Reign, PeaTearGriffen, Bojax, Polynikes, GrinningMichael, MexicanoJedi,
SinisterJedi, HolyKnight, JackinMikeRam, Jackin's father, LONNE GUNN MANN,
Frezer Guy, Linkueigman, vincentZAPPA294 and many others whose names I cannot
remember because it's 7AM and I've been up all night. You are true Horde players
and it was awesome beating(or almost beating) Horde with great team mates like
you. You make this game great.