Past weekend gaming fun

Last weekend, a bunch of friends and I all headed over to a friend's place, and spent part of Friday and all of Saturday playing some games.  So naturally, I'm going to say a few words about the different games I played.

X-Wing:
Finally, I got the chance to put Fantasy Flight's game, X-Wing, on the table.  I ended up playing 3 total games, with two of them being basically starter/teaching games (pitting two TIE Fighters against a single X-Wing).  Personally, I had a blast playing it, and would love to get it on the table more.  The only non-teaching game I played was a small 50 point game that we ended up ending because Luke Skywalker w/ R2-D2 is too difficult to kill.  I've actually accumulated a moderate amount of stuff (I LOVE Star Wars, for those that don't know), and I'm itching to try some of the other stuff out (like trying to get some mileage out of that Y-Wing, or even trying some of the weapon upgrades).

Warmachine/Hordes:
This was the main focus of the weekend, and I managed to get a few games in.  I actually worked hard the last two weeks to have some new toys for these games, which mostly made an appearance.  Brief recap:

First game I played was a 50 point game, with me taking Tyrant Xerxis against Rob taking Harkevich.  Rob had recently built his Conquest, and was determined to get it on the table (which he did, several times- he'd have to tell you how he felt about it).



The scenario was Overrun (which I played a lot of this weekend... hmm...), and as you can tell, we played with a lot of terrain (thanks to Minute, which I decided I actually loved).  My early game shooting did a ton of damage, and Rob was forced to come into combat on my turns due the the Nihilators, and I actually managed to take down the Conquest with a fully buffed Gladiator, giving me the win.

Second game was against Minute, another 50 point game, again playing Overrun.  I took eHexeris, and almost the same list as my game against Rob, whereas Minute took Ossyan.



On the second turn, I dropped Black Spot through my Cannoneer onto his Halberdiers, and proceeded to lay into them with the Reivers, taking out most of the unit, and dropping a few Stormfall Archers as a bonus.  Minute's shooting was a little disappointing for him, partially because my Nihilators made five out of their six tough checks on my right.  At the end, I was pretty mangled, but killed enough on the board that Minute conceded.

Third game was a 35 point game against BK.  I ran Epic Asphyxious against his Epic Lylyth, playing, you guessed it, Overrun.



BK used his feat first, killing a lot my infantry, but it ended up just powering up my feat, which I used to kill Typhon, and damage a Ravagore.  Having taken over most of the zone on my turn, he wasn't able to get enough in to stop me from winning by scenario.

And finally, I played another 50 point game against Rob, who chose to run the Old Witch against Terminus (I didn't take a single picture of this game, unfortunately).  Rob continued with his goal of running the Conquest though, something that actually made me a little concerned, since Terminus takes a LOT of infantry.  This time, the scenario was Process of Elimination, and I managed to score the zone on my left on the second turn, leaving me free to focus on the right.  Rob had a full unit of Winter Guard there, who took shots at the nearby infantry (mostly Mechanithralls).  The Old Witch parked behind them and popped her feat, keeping my infantry back.

I took the bait, advanced up, and hit her with a spray, taking out more than half her health.  Of course, this left me without Sacrifical Pawn targets, and after the Winter Guard easily destroyed my only nearby warrior model (a non-Incorporeal Pistol Wraith), lined me up for a combined range attack, starting at about my armor... and then rolled a 3.  Eesh.  Terminus chuckled, Rob's other shooting didn't get the job done, and after failing to Gallows me far enough to get me in charge range of the Conquest, Rob conceded (I could have walked up and killed the Old Witch next turn, most likely).

Managed to end the weekend 4-0 at Warmachine/Hordes!

Firestorm Armada:
In between games, Rob and I found some time to put Firestorm Armada on the table, and try to get a few turns in.  Rob let me borrow his Directorate fleet.. and I think he took the Terran Alliance.  We played a little into the second turn, ignoring some of the rules (mainly fighter/bomber wings and such), but enough to get the basic turn structure.  It's pretty fun- there are definitely things about it that I think are great improvements over Battlefleet Gothic, and I borrowed the rulebook to read on my own time.  Next time it hits the table, hopefully I'll have a good enough grasp of the rules to play with all of them.

Boardgames:
Finally, I managed to get two boardgames in: Sentinels of the Multiverse, and Zombicide.  Both these games were AWESOME.  Very thematic, dripping in theme-y goodness, and a blast to play.  If you're looking for either a great super-hero themed card game, or a zombie survival board game, check these two out!

What have I been doing lately?

So, as you can plainly see, I haven't been posting a lot here, or anywhere.  As I've probably said before, there are lot of reasons for this, some personal, some financial, and some just lack of drive.  Fortunately, I've rediscovered my interest in various games, and I've actually started being productive.

Let's start with a big part of my new interest- there's a newish game store in the area (DropZone games), and that place is a miniature gamers' dream- lots of gaming tables, great stations for working on miniatures, and a good variety of miniature systems available without people trying to force you into a particular one.  It's good stuff.

So what have I done?  This past week, I've pretty much repaired almost every model I own (for Skorne and Cryx), I've gotten about halfway done filing down a unit of Nihilators, assembled a Cyclops Brute, and begun the work for pinning Terminus.  I've also actually done some repairs on Empire Knights, for Warhammer Fantasy.

I also played a 50 point game last night against Rob.  I took epic Morghoul against Saeryn, and managed to pull off a close win.  I don't have a Battle Report, because I didn't take notes, but did take some pictures.





So, basically, I'm loving miniatures again, and can't wait to get back into the swing of things.  Look forward to seeing me around more!

Various games played lately

Well, I haven't been posting much (okay, okay, not at all), but I have actually been playing games, so I figured I'd post an update of what I've been up to, by army.

Dark Elves:
What?  A fantasy game?  That's right- I played a 3000 point Fantasy game against Frans' Skaven last month.  Our scenario was Battle for the Pass.  It wasn't super close, but it did teach me a bit more about how fantasy works (at least from the Dark Elves' perspective).  I have a bit of learning to do, no doubt.

Cryx:
I've played a few games with Cryx.  Last month I played Iron Lich Asphyxious against Rob running Vlad, and got a win.  My highlight of that game was using my newly assembled Darragh Wraithe.  I didn't get much mileage out of him, admittedly, but the threat of Incorporeal Soulhunters did help dictate the game some.

I've been busy fixing a lot of my old Cryx models (mainly jacks).  My hope is to assemble Mortenebra soon and get them (and her) on the table.

Skorne:
I've been playing a lot more frequently with my Skorne, including breaking out some new warlocks.

First, I gave Naaresh a try, in two games- one against Jerry playing as Siege, and one against Rob running Harkevich.  Although I won in both games (although the one against Jerry was partially because I did a poor job explaining the scenario), I feel like Naaresh was just there to pop his feat and let his beasts do the work.  I've been running him fairly beast heavy (Titan Gladiator + 2 Cyclops + Razorworm + Basilisk Krea), because his feat is very good, I just haven't gotten a feel for what I should be doing otherwise with him.  Cyclone is a nice spell, but he's not going to be able to assassinate casters, and really its just there to get him out of unfavorable combats.  Still undecided about him.

I've been loving Dominar Rasheth however.  In three game (loss vs Ben playing Grissel, and wins vs BK playing the Harbinger and Rob playing Vayl) I've already decided I love the way he plays.  Running the Cannoneer + an Agonizer does a good job keeping him alive, and running Gatormen Posse and a few beasts seem to provide him with enough punch.  I'll be working to tweak what I run with him (I need to buy Nihilators!) and posting some battle reports of those games.

Finally, I ran Mordikaar once, against Rob's Bethayne army.  It turned out to be a pretty favorable matchup, but man Mordikaar seems like a boring 'lock.  I Revived what I could every turn, popped my feat on the second turn, and had Marketh cast Ghost Walk once.  Other than that, my warlock was basically a spectator.  Not too impressive... but I'll try some more times.

Legion:
I finally played a game with my Legion!  Unfortunately, it was a game using regular Lylyth with a bunch of melee elements.  Needless to say, I'm not very good with Legion, and I got destroyed by Ben's new Retribution army.  We'll see if I can get something working with these guys (maybe with Thagrosh).  I did, however, finish a fun conversion for Legion this weekend, which I'll post pictures of on Monday morning, most likely.  Let me know what you think when it's up!

Anyway- I'm still here, just not frequently.  I'm excited that I'm playing more games of late, so hopefully I can use that to drive my painting as well (since strangers now see my miniatures semi-regularly!).

Lord Tyrant Hexeris: Thoughts/Tips

I finally have some experience with Hexeris (at least enough to write SOMETHING about him).  He's certainly different than the other Skorne warlocks I've used, and with his epic version coming out, there's never been a better time to be excited about him!

Stats:
His stats aren't really amazing (or terrible) all around.  Average SPD, decent MAT, DEF, and ARM.  Having 17 damage boxes actually puts him slightly above average in Skorne, and he has a few ways to heal himself.  His FURY stat of 7 is really nice as well.  Overall, his stats are pretty average or slightly above average.

Attacks:
His only attack is Gulgata, a moderate P+S weapon with reach.  It has Beat Back, which is a nice ability that lets Hexeris move his opponent around some, either to push him into a more favorable position, or even to push him out of combat, if you'd like.  Also, it has Life Drinker- if he kills a living enemy model, he can heal d3 damage.

I don't find myself getting into combat much with Hexeris, but it's actually not that bad if you do.  P+S 14 will definitely get the job done, and with Beat Back to help move people out of combat if you'd like, Life Drinker will help keep him alive, and with Vampiric Reaving (look under Special Rules) he can really get a lot of Fury during his turn to be very effective.  Of course, you aren't going to have that happen too terribly often, but even though it rarely occurs it's a nice addition.

Feat:
Hexeris' feat is Dark Dominion.  When an enemy living or undead model is boxed while in his control area, you gain control of them, they become undead, they can move three inches, make an attack, and then are removed from play.  With luck, you can chain this through your opponent's army, getting a lot of value for a single death (although in practice, you're lucky to get even the one extra dead model per model you kill).  With luck, you can drop an opponent's warbeast with some of your attacks, and get a free warbeast attack (with no lost aspects) on another of an opponent's models.

As I 've said, with some luck, this becomes a TERRIFYING feat.  I mean, it can end a game sometimes.  Usually, you'll use it to kill models that are blocking charge lanes, or get a few extra points of damage on something that you're having a hard time killing.

Spells:
Death March: This spell tends to get used every game.  Extra MAT and Vengeance is really helpful in a generally melee oriented army.  You'll need the extra MAT often enough to make it worth using for that alone, but having the extra attacks from Vengeance, plus the extra movement can make even mediocre offensive units into something a lot scarier.  Throw it on something first turn, and move it to something else when the time comes.

Obliteration: AOE 4 POW 15 attack.  Decent damage and the AOE is nice, but at a cost of 4, you're not likely to cast it often during your games.  However, on the feat turn, sending one of these into a group of enemies can really get you started on the right foot.  I find I rarely cast this.

Psychic Vampire: This spell is incredibly helpful against some armies, and not nearly as useful against others.  However, even with the 'less useful' armies, it still might be nice to cast right away and upkeep it.  Whenever an enemy model casts a spell or uses an animus while in Hexeris' control area, they take a point of damage and Hexeris heals a point.  This spell will put a definite limit on the lifespan of several units, including Greylords, Battle Mages, Hex Hunters, and Druids.  It'll also chip away at those spell casting solos pretty quickly.  The healing is a nice bonus that could occasionally keep you in the game. 

Against warcasters and warlocks, it's not quite so strong, but how often do you find your opponent at 1 health after your turn?  Often enough that this can really be a powerful spell.

Soulfire: This is a pretty solid spell.  It's POW 12, but removes the boxed model from play if it kills it (effectively making it useless for your feat).  However, if you kill a living non-soulless model with the spell, you gain a fury (effectively making the spell only cost a single fury to cast!).  POW 12 is high enough to be deadly to most infantry, and with the extra fury you can get a lot of mileage out of this spell.

Soul Slave:  Two parts to this one- first, the warbeast you cast it on automatically passes threshold checks.  That's actually not so bad on its own, although with Paingivers and FURY 7 you're not going to be struggling horribly with managing it.  However, in addition to that, Hexeris can channel through the model this spell is on.  That's REALLY nice. 

Throw it on a Bronzeback, and none of your Titans needs to worry about Threshold checks.  Throw it on a Gladiator, slam something, and start casting at the knocked down models.

There are plenty of ways that this spell can be handy so it's probably good enough to say that you'll be throwing this on something from the very beginning and upkeeping it the entire time.

Special Rules:
Vampiric Reaving: Hexeris can reave fury from enemy warbeasts if he's closer than anyone else who could do the reaving.  Not only do you get extra fury, which is always really helpful for spell casting, healing, or holding for transferring, but you also deprive it from your opponent, who is going to be more restricted about doing those things next turn.  Of course, this ability means that you'll want to keep Hexeris up towards the front line a little, but with the abilities he has to help heal himself, having him just behind the front line isn't such a bad idea.

Synergies:
Cyclops Savage: Other than the benefits the Cyclops Savage gives to the other members of your army, there isn't really any major synergy between the two.  Perhaps making Soulfire more likely to hit would be nice, but there are probably better targets for Prescience.  Soul Slave isn't really that helpful on the Savage either.

Molik Karn: Since Karn is so good in every list, it makes sense that he would work so well with Hexeris.  Soul Slave is really nice for when Karn gets too far ahead.  You can very effectively extend your spell threat range.  The amount of pain Karn can dish out can really feed Hexeris' feat turn.  Hexeris' 14" control area gives Karn the ability to operate even further out.

Titan Cannoneer: I really like taking a Cannoneer with Hexeris for a few reasons.  First, the gun is very handy on the feat turn.  Shooting into low ARM infantry can really effectively clear them out.  Second, when you're in position to shoot the gun, you'll be in position to channel some offensive spells through (via Soul Slave).  The shooting + offensive spells can make for a moderately effective ranged threat.  Also, since Hexeris is likely to be fairly close to the front, Diminish is a very handy animus to have available.

Titan Gladiator: Another very strong choice for Hexeris.  Soul Slave allows you to put an arc node equivalent right in the midst of your opponent's army, where, after a Gladiator's slam, you should have some very vulnerable targets to drop an Obliteration or a Soulfire onto.  Using the Gladiator as any sort of wrecking ball for some spell attacks is pretty effective.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Not really any major synergy, although you can run really beast heavy if you wanted, because Soul Slave removes the threat of frenzying from a beast.  Of course, you'll end up taking these guys in almost every list you can take anyway.

Praetorian Swordsmen: Death March on these guys is really nice.  They become MAT 8 with is really nice, and with Vengeance, they become quite a bit more threatening, especially to a nearby beast or jack.  Moving from two attacks to a potential three, in addition to the extra movement potentially provided by Vengeance (and Side-Step, of course), Hexeris can turn this unit into a huge pain in your opponent's army.  Certainly not a bad choice.

Agonizer: There's no special synergy with the Agonizer, but the extra durability that he could bring may be handy.  Two less damage from living models may be the difference between alive and dead with Hexeris, you never know.

Ancestral Guardian: Not any particular synergy, but reach and potential to have extra attacks can make the Ancestral Guardian an effective starter during a feat turn.

Tier Thoughts:
Hexeris' tier list is called the 'Kingdom of Shadow.'  It's a very non-restrictive list of models you can include, although to hit tier 4 you're required to take 2 units of Praetorian Swordsmen (giving them Advanced Deployment), Aptimus Marketh (who I'll review soon, and is an amazing choice), and at least two Cataphract units.  The benefits (Advance Deploy, Advance Move, and an extended deployment zone) are all geared to get you to grips with the enemy faster, and combined with Death March and some strong beasts, this could be a very effective combination of tools. 

Oh, and he gets to have all his upkeeps up on the first turn.  That's just fantastic of course.  I've heard about using a Soul Slaved Razor Worm to put a shot into your opponent's deployment zone Turn 1, but I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know exactly how helpful that is.

Since this list is fairly open, I'll try to get it on the table one of these days in the not too distant future.  Looks like it could be very effective.

Thoughts:
Overall, Hexeris is a fairly strong caster.  You don't see him taken in a lot of major tournaments, because he isn't as 'easy' as some of the other strong Skorne casters.  You'll want to take a strong melee-oriented army, with at least one good melee unit (even Swordsmen work here), and a beast that'll need to be up close.  All three of his upkeeps will probably be in play the entire game, leaving Hexeris enough focus for a solid Soulfire shot.  I think Aptimus Marketh is absolutely required to run Hexeris- the extra spell a turn can save you some focus (even if you're just recasting an upkeep so that Hexeris doesn't have to pay for it), and the occasional ability to upkeep spells can help Hexeris' fury go a long way. 

You'll probably end up playing fairly close to the action, so you'll need to make sure to have some protection as well as focus to leave on Hexeris in order to transfer damage.  He can heal himself, a couple of ways, which will extend his lifespan.  I've been able to fairly successfully run Hexeris as a backfield caster, but it can be a little tough if your Soul Slaved beast gets heavily engaged.

Skorne vs Khador, 35 pts, 9/23/11

No pictures sadly, but did at least get a game in against Rob.

My list:
Archdomina Makeda
* Basilisk Krea
* Molik Karn
* Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
Ancestral Guardian

Nothing really out of the ordinary here, in my opinion.  I'm trying to run the Arcuarii in every list for a bit to see how I like the feel of them.

Rob's list:
Supreme Kommandant Irusk
* Demolisher
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Greylord Escort
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Kayazy Eliminators (Leader and Grunt)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard
* 2 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Rob has had some success recently with this list against Ben (from Impact Hits).  He was certainly hoping to duplicate that success against me!

We rolled for scenario, and ended up with Overrun.  In this scenario there is a 36" x 8" rectangle in the middle of the table, and you are working on getting control points.  Pretty standard.

Rob won the roll-off, and elected to go second.  The control area had forest on both the left and the right sides, with not much terrain down the middle.  I deployed my Swordsmen with the Ancestral Guardian on the right, and everything else on the left.

My first turn was just a basic advance.  Most things ran, to get into position.  The Krea advanced and used it's animus, and most of the army on my left hunkered around it.  I threw Savagery on Makeda and Defender's Ward on the Gladiator.

Rob had his Winter Guard, the Demolisher, and the Kayazy Eliminators run on the right, staying just out of the control zone.  The Doom Reavers and Great Bears ran up on my left, with the Doom Reavers entering the control point forest.  Irusk cast Fire for Effect on the Mortar, which advances, and Tactical Supremacy on the Demolisher, which got a few extra bits of movement.

I run my Swordsmen into the woods on my left, trying to keep them safe and able to contest the control area should things go bad.  I move Makeda forward into the control area to get her control zone into place, pops her feat, and casts Carnage, while moving the Krea, Gladiator, and Arcuarii around her.  Molik Karn charges the single Doom Reaver he can see in the forest in the left, and after some side-steps and swings, kills 4 of the Doom Reavers.

Now we're fully engaged, and Rob starts the shooting off.  He starts with a Mortar shot at Makeda, but deviates well past her, killing two Paingiver Beast Handlers.  Rob spends a few minutes deciding whether to send the Demolisher charging into Makeda, but after some deliberation, realizes he's definitely out of range.  The Doom Reavers take chunks out of Molik Karn, and are helped by 2 of the Great Bears who move in to support.  They don't fully kill him though (almost!).  The Winter Guard move up, get into position, and try a CRA at Makeda, which ends up as a POW 18 attack.  The 9 damage is transferred to the Basilisk.  Irusk moves to the left, and pops his feat (not realizing he's pretty far out of range for certain of my guys).  The Demolisher decides to start shooting at Makeda, but the Krea's animus keeps her safe, and the scatters end up killing a Swordsmen.

After some quick checking, we find out that the only models of mine that the feat affected were about 3 Swordsmen, who don't need the extra distance to reach his Winter Guard.  Poor Rob was a bit displeased about this- he mentioned later that Irusk's positioning with the feat cost him the game (for what it's worth, I agree).

I start my third turn off by upkeeping Defender's Ward on the Gladiator, advancing Makeda pretty far, and once again casting Carnage.  Molik Karn goes on a rampage after getting healed some, killing all the Great Bears and Doom Reavers (poor tough rolls by Rob).  The Arcuarii kill 3 Winter Guard, which clears a path for my Gladiator to charge into the Demolisher, doing some moderate damage (my rolls here were pretty poor).  My Swordsmen end up killing another 3 of the Winter Guard. 

We're pretty tied up here, but I"m definitely winning the attrition war at this point.

Rob decides to go for a pretty ballsy move, and casts Artifice of Deviation on top of the Gladiator, allowing the Demolisher to charge through him into Makeda.  He first drops a Mortar on top of the Krea, but doesn't get a whole lot of damage out of it.  The Demolisher charges, but the rolls don't happen to go in Rob's favor, and the 2 attacks that end up hitting Makeda are transferred to the Basilisk, killing it.  The Winter Guard turn their attention to the pesky Swordsmen, and end up killing all but one. 

Fully stuck in, I hammer the Demolisher with the Arcuarii, and Makeda finishes it off (and casts Defender's Ward on herself).  Molik Karn gets healed up some, and slowly moves to rejoin the battle.  The Ancestral Guardian and the Gladiator kill almost all of the Winter Guard.  Rob is running really low on guys!

Rob again decides to go for broke.  The Mortar takes a shot at Makeda, hits, but can't do any damage.  Irusk Battle Lust's the Eliminators, who rush in, hoping for the best.  Unfortunately, none of their 4 attacks hits Makeda, and Rob decides to concede, tired of the ineptitude of his underlings.

So, another hard-fought win for the Skorne.  We talked a bit, and I just don't think the Demolisher works with Irusk.  I thought that maybe a Destroyer will be better, and Rob had some ideas himself.  He also thought about switching in Fenris for some more offensive punch.  I guess we'll see!

Lunchtime Hordes, 3/31/11

Ben and I played a quick game of Hordes during lunch, using 25 point armies, and with a few new things on both sides.

I ran:
Archdomina Makeda
- Basilisk Krea
- Molik Karn
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)
Agonizer
Totem Hunter

I was eager to get my newly assembled Basilisk and Swamp Gobbers on the table, and they provide me a good amount of ranged defense, in case Ben ran with more shooting elements.

Ben, however, took:
Hoarluk Doomshaper
- Dire Troll Mauler
- Earthborn Dire Troll
- Mulg the Ancient

Ben obviously went for a rather direct approach to his army design, but that sure is a lot of 'beat-down' packed into 3 packages.

The first turn, Ben and I moved into position.  I put Savagery on Molik Karn and Defender's Ward onto my Swordsmen, Ben used Transmute for Mulg and the Mauler, giving them +2 ARM due to proximity to obstacles.

On the second turn, I started with the offense.  I used my Krea (on my left) to paralyze his Mauler, preventing it from charging.  I sent the Swordsmen up so that they were out of the Mauler's charge range, but still in Mulg's.  Molik Karn (on my far right) flew into Ben's Earthborn, but some bad rolls (an 8 on 4 dice) caused only minor damage.  Molik used Fate Weaver to get away, behind a Swamp Gobber cloud, to keep him safe.

Ben went on the offensive.  Mulg charged in, killing two Praetorians and a Swamp Gobber, before struggling with rolls to hit anything else.  The Earthborn trampled forward into the newly created void, and managed to land two swings onto Makeda, but she transferred one, and stayed alive.

With two heavy trolls in among my forces, my immediate goals were clear.  The Swordsmen surrounded Mulg, taking small amounts of damage off him, Makeda took some small chunks out of the Earthborn, and the Totem Hunter ran up to put some more damage on Mulg.  Then Molik Karn went into action.  Swing, side-step, swing, side-step dropped the Earthborn, and with the 5 Fury I had available (due to Affinity with Makeda), he finished off Mulg as well. 

Ben was left with only a single Dire Troll Mauler and Doomshaper, and briefly considered conceding.  Instead, he decided to take a shot for victory.  He moved up into the Swamp Gobber, and declared a double-handed throw (boosting to hit).  He chose Makeda as a target, again boosting to hit, and knocking her down.  A few Primal Rages later, Makeda was dead, and Ben was again victorious.

I made a few really dumb mistakes.  I forgot to use my feat on the turn I had planned to (prior to Mulg charging), which probably wouldn't have made a difference overall, but certainly would've been nice to help have more bodies.  I also cast Carnage at one point, and completely forgot that I had used it.  Those are silly mistakes that there's no excuse for.  I also really need to be more careful with the warlock.  Makeda could've side-stepped away easily, and been happily out of danger (she'd have been out of range for Primal Rage, at the least).  Overall though, the game was very close, and several times the overall momentum changed.  I have a few new toys I can use, and I phase them in, I should start seeing some improved results.

Molik Karn: Thoughts/Tips

Well, this article probably could just write itself, if it even needs to be written at all.  But for the sake of completeness, I'll have it up here anyway.  Molik Karn is considered our best beast, and some people consider it one of the best beasts in the game.  It's all about offense, and it does its just pretty dang well.

Stats:
To start, Karn has the best SPD of all Skorne heavies- he's as fast as the Skorne lights.  His STR is the same as other Cyclops, but he has a great MAT of 7.  His DEF/ARM is 13/18, which isn't terrible, but he's pretty frail given how much attention will be paid to him.  He has 28 health boxes, which isn't great, 8 CMD which is handy given one of his special rules, and has 4 FURY/10 THR which means you're going to be able to do a decent amount with him in a single activation.  He's the most expensive of the Skorne beasts (actually- of any Skorne model at this point), so given how fragile he is, he's not going to be showing up in every list.  It's dependent on whether you'll actually have a good use for him.

Attacks:
Karn's attacks are two P+S 13 Falchions.  They have Reach, which is extra handy given Karn's mobility, and Weapon Master.  Yes, a beast with Weapon Master.  Combined with the various ways Skorne can buff their beasts, this has some pretty scary potential. 

To top it all off, the Falchions can be used to Combo Strike as a special attack, giving you an option for a single P+S 18 attack with weapon master.  Sometimes it might be worth doing this, especially if you're doing some of his various tricks.  We'll look at that in a bit.

Animus:
His animus is Fate Walker.  After all friendly models have finished their activations, models who have had Fate Walker used on them (the animus has a range of Self) can make a full advance.  There are two uses for this- first, you can use it on your warlock to get him into either a better position, or a safer position.  Having the option to move after seeing how your turn has unfolded is a fantastic option.  Second would be to move Molik Karn.  Since this doesn't negate free strikes, you'll most likely use this after a Side Step, or when Karn is out by himself.  Getting him into position, or locking up the enemy warcaster/warlock, or getting Karn around incredibly fast are all options here- it's an animus that will see a good amount of use.

Special Rules:
Affinity [Makeda]- +1 FURY while in either Makeda's control area.  That's an AWESOME affinity.  5 FURY can come in handy so often.

Chieftain [Cyclops]- Friendly Cyclops within 8" of him become THR 10 instead of 8/9.  If you're running a few Cyclops, that's a HUGE help for leaving a fury or two on a beast.

Future Sight- Just like the Cyclops Savage, he can boost after rolling.  Great for making the most of his fury, and with MAT 7, you'll hit a lot of things anyway, so you can get a lot of mileage out of him.  Extra handy for his 'bullet' stuff.

Intuition- Stolen from the Cyclops Brute.  On a DEF 13 model, I just don't see this being used all that much.  Maybe if your opponent happens to hit with one of those inaccurate AOE attacks with a lucky roll.  Otherwise don't bother.

Side Step- If Karn hits with either his initial attacks or a Combo Strike, he can move 2" without fear of free strikes.  This is a big part of Karn's mobility.  He has some versatility here, since he can either use it once or twice (based off if he Combo Strikes or not), and there are a few uses.  It can be used to get him out of combat so that he can Fate Walker away.  It could also be used to reposition himself deeper into the enemy lines if he was going for the caster-kill, or some other really important target.

Synergies:
Archdomina Makeda:  Where to start?  The Affinity is the first thing to notice here.  Having five available fury can come in handy several times.  That's a great start already, but her spells make Karn even better.  Carnage is nice, but Karn doesn't really need it, but obviously won't complain if he benefits from it.  Defender's Ward and Savagery are the key spells here. 

With Defender's Ward, Molik Karn becomes DEF/ARM 15/20.  That's tough enough (combined with some healing) to be a front-line beast, and go toe-to-toe with other heavies.  Since he already has the offensive potential to scare heavies away, having the extra survivability, plus a high enough DEF for Intuition to be a noteworthy ability just makes him incredible.

Alternatively, Savagery can be used for the basic 'Molik Bullet/Missile'.  Savagery adds +5 SPD when making a full advance, and hey- Fate Walker allows Molik Karn to make a full advance.  That means Karn could advance (not charge!) into combat, and reach enemies that are 13" (6 SPD + 5 Savagery + 2 reach) away, Combo Strike (boosting to hit and for damage as needed due to Intuition), Side Step away 2", and retreat back using Fate Walker, ending your turn 15" (2 to start + 2 Side Step + 6 SPD + 5 Savagery) away from your target.  He's mauled, you're safe, and it's a great way to take chunks out of your opponent's army without too too much risk.  Obviously, you could also have him Side Step INTO the opponent's lines (multiple times if you don't Combo Strike) if that seems more important.  So long as he's within 12" of Makeda (her control area) it's a scary thing to consider.

In short, this is a great pairing, helped even more by other choices.

Master Tormentor Morghoul: Abuse is always nice for getting the extra threat range and damage into Molik's activation (he then charges for a 13" threat and can get 13" away), but the d3 damage may not always be worth taking, since Karn can be VERY fragile.  Admonition can be used to make up some of the difference in retreating distance though, keeping Molik Karn safe.  Not a terrible match, but really Morghoul is decent with any beast.  Morghoul gains some benefit from Fate Walker as well, but he doesn't have much fury to spare, usually.  He has plenty of mobility though, so the additional movement can be pretty nasty.

Cyclops Savage: Molik Karn already has Future Sight, so gains nothing from having a Savage around.  The Savage, however, moves from THR 8 to 10, which is a massive difference.  No longer will leaving 1-2 fury on the Savage be a cause of tremendous stress.

Titan Cannoneer: Well, Diminish can be nice for keeping Molik Karn alive, but it's so unlikely to be useful that I wouldn't consider it much help.  Molik's on a large base, so the Cannoneer will never fully cover him.

Titan Gladiator: A great inclusion with Molik Karn because of Rush.  The extra speed is always helpful, given Karn's abilities, but the addition of Pathfinder just makes it so much better.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: As with any beast, they help a lot.  Medicate will be nice, since a dead Molik Karn isn't killing anything, and Enrage is nice because Karn will heat even harder than before.  Nothing surprising here.

Praetorian Swordsmen: No synergies.

Agonizer: The Agonizer does a better job than the Cannoneer for helping provide a little protection for Molik Karn due to the extra range.  It's also a lot cheaper.

Ancestral Guardian: No synergies.

Tier Thoughts:
Molik Karn can be taken in either of the Makeda theme forces, and this will oftentimes be a great choice.  It's also required for eMakeda's Tier 4 list (getting extra speed on the first turn) and counts for the Tier 4 requirement for pMakeda's (extending your deployment zone).  You'll generally include him here anyway.

He can also be taken with Tyrant Xerxis' theme force, although including him won't provide much benefit aside from his normal abilities.  This isn't a bad inclusion either- Xerxis can make Karn hit terrifyingly hard.

Thoughts:
Overall, Molik Karn is a fantastic warbeast, although you shouldn't get into the habit of using him like other Skorne heavies.  He does hit as hard as or harder than the other choices, but he is not so tough.  He is capable of getting out of danger however, and this 'hit-and-run' style can really serve him well.  He's not a great match for all of the warlocks though (as we'll see when I finally move on to other warlocks), and since he's pricey, he's not an auto-include to your lists.  However, if you think you have a role for him, and the ability to support him some, you're going to love taking him.

Quick lunchtime battle report, and Skorne additions, finally

Ben and I had a quick lunchtime game of Hordes a bit over a week ago, so I figured I'd just put a quick post up, so that the blog has some signs of life.

I ran:
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Savage
- Titan Gladiator
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
Agonizer
Ancestral Guardian

I'm still trying to get the hang of Hexeris. I like the Titan Gladiator with him, the rest are just various things I'm trying with him.

Ben ran:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Troll Impaler
- Troll Impaler
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler

This is Ben's normal list with Madrak, and has served him well in the past.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but basically, I made a few mistakes, specifically with my activation order and fury management (I had the Gladiator cast Rush on himself instead of having Hexeris do it, despite him having the fury available) plus an instance of bad luck (that same turn, the Gladiator missed with EVERY attack against the Champions) on my feat turn, accomplishing nothing, and I ended up conceding.

I still don't know what to do with Hexeris. I really like him, but I think I need a few tools to get him working. Marketh seems to be a necessity, so I'll have to start with him, and figure it out from there. I need a better infantry unit to use Death March on- the Swordsmen really just aren't scary enough. Maybe some better ranged support will help too. I'll try some things out.

In other news, I was assembling some miniatures with some friends, so I'll finally have some new things to throw in my armies. I now have a Basilisk Krea, a unit of Swamp Gobbers, and a unit of Cataphract Arcuarii to start using. Some more variety will be nice, and with these I can run a fairly different playstyle.

I also assembled a few of my Malifaux miniatures. Hopefully I'll get the Neverborn crew finished assembly by the end of March- I still want to get them on the table, see how I like them.

Alright, that's it for now. Thanks for reading guys!

Skorne vs Khador, 35 pts, 11/18/10

Rob and I played a game, this time taking my Skorne- his first experience facing them.

My list:
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Savage
- Molik Karn
- Titan Gladiator
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Ancestral Guardian
Totem Hunter

I randomly determine my casters before each game, and thankfully I chose Lord Tyrant Hexeris, who I've been eager to play forever.  I wasn't really sure what to run with him, so I chose a varied assortment of stuff, plus added Molik Karn, who I haven't tried using before.  The Totem Hunter was another new choice for me.  Figured it'd be a fun army.

Rob's list:
Kommander Strakhov
- Destroyer
- Spriggan
- War dog
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- 1 Assault Kommando Flame Thrower
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- 1 Assault Kommando Flame Thrower
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Widowmaker Marksman

Rob chose a Tier 4 Strakhov list.  Strakhov was one of Rob's first casters, and I think it's just plain awesome he's trying out the theme forces.  Moral win for Rob already!  Regardless, I'm not sure how this would function.  Two flamethrowers really aren't scary enough, and the Kommandos themselves would struggle with my beasts. Still, you never know what Rob has up his sleeve.

We've been trying to get more scenario play into our games, so for this game our scenario is Killbox. If a caster is too close to the edge of the table at the end of his activation, he loses. This didn't come up this game... but as we do other scenarios we'll start seeing the effects of them come into play, I'm sure.

Terrain:


A few buildings. Green felt is forest, wooden pieces are walls.

Deployment:
Rob deploys first:


Since he proxies, I've labeled what everything is.

I deploy next.


Nothing terribly exciting- really didn't have a game plan at this point.

Turn 1:
The Khador advances forward, with the Assault Kommandos hoping into the trenches.

I also advance forward, and cast Death March on the Swordsmen, and Soul Slave on the Titan Gladiator. I had dreams of slamming something into Strakhov and punishing him for the win, but it was just a dream. Having some ability to put some distance on my spells would be helpful though, I thought.



Turn 2:
The Assault Kommandos spring forward and kill 3 Swordsmen with their shooting. Another unit shoots at one of my Cyclops (as well as dropping his defense), and the Spriggan joins in, resulting in 7 damage to the Cyclops, and a dead Paingiver.

I send everything into his line, trying to do all the damage I can. I think I killed about 12 Assault Kommandos? Something like that. It was a beating. Swordsmen and Ancestral Guardians charge in on the left, both Cyclopses and the Gladiator go in on the middle, and I send the Totem Hunter off to my right, leaping into combat with the Widowmakers, killing one and locking them all in combat.

View of the battle on my left:


On my right:


Turn 3:
Strakhov pops his feat, but after a lot of deliberating, Rob decides he can't really get to my warlock, and instead charges the Destroyer into my Gladiator, dealing heavy damage (bringing him down to 2 health!), and the Spriggan charges into one of my Cyclops, killing him. The Widowmakers, desperate to add their fire onto the Gladiator, attempt to leave the combat with the Totem Hunter, but are killed to a man.

Molik Karn joins the Titan Gladiator in killing the Destroyer. The Totem Hunter comes across the table, into contact with some of the remaining Assault Kommandos, killing two, and Hexeris hops into the forest, nice and safe. The remaining Swordsmen and the Ancestral Guardian kill the last Assault Kommandos on my left.



Rob concedes at this point. I have a pretty intact army, and he's down to his warcaster, War Dog, and a Spriggan. The Totem Hunter and Molik Karn are likely to put a LOT of heat on Strakhov next turn, so he decides to give me the victory.

Rob mentioned that he enjoyed playing against Skorne- they are a lot less tricky to play against, and they definitely don't feel much like Cryx to play nor face.

I had a good time with my Skorne, as I always do, but my warlock spent the entire game doing almost nothing, so I don't have much of a feel for Hexeris. I'll hopefully get him into another game soon, because I really do enjoy using him.

Accomplishments for November

Alright, another month down!  What did I do?

Painting: I made some progress on my Titan Gladiator, finally.  It's not much, but I finished the red and began painting the bronze.  Hopefully I can have him done by the year end (if I push myself!)

Here are the current pictures (thanks Rob!).






Assembly: I began working on assembling a 3-man unit of Soulhunters (the Cryx light cavalry). They've been filed, washed, and I've started assembling them, but they aren't finished. Surprisingly, I've also been working on some 40K miniatures- I began filing and working on a unit of Khorne Berserkers! Not very far along though, I admit.

Gaming: Played 4 games with my Cryx (25 pts vs BK, 35 pts vs Rob twice, and 25 pts vs Ben), 1 game with my Skorne (35 pts vs Rob), and 2 solo games of Blood Bowl.

Blogging: Like always, you can just look at my blog(s) to see what I've posted last month.

Master Tormentor Morghoul Tier 4 List

So, after playing with several of the Skorne models, and giving serious thought to others, I think I can take a shot at some of their theme forces.  I figure it'll be easiest to start with the 'battle box' warlock, Morghoul.  I've already gone over the basics of him, and his capabilities here.  In this post, I'll take a look at his theme force.

Let's start by taking a look at the benefits of such a list.

• FA U for Paingiver Beast Handlers, and Pathfinder for all models during the first turn of the game.  The extra FA is handy, especially since the list is going to be running a lot of beasts.  Pathfinder is even better though, since you'll be able to move up very quickly, regardless of terrain.  Might be critical for certain scenarios.
• Cataphract Arcuarii get Advance Deployment.  Since you'll have to take two units to get to Tier 4, this is a nice benefit as it gets them much closer to the enemy, where they need to be.
• Cheaper heavy warbeasts.  That's always good.
• Increased deployment zone.  Yeah, it's only 2", but it gets your melee-oriented beasts up the field a little faster, and every inch closer is going to be helpful.

Overall, pretty good benefits.  Cheaper beasts and ways to get them up there a bit faster certainly seem like a good match.  You're going to be very aggressive, and you're going to likely be melee oriented.

Well, what can Morghoul take?

Warlock: Obviously, you have the choice of Master Tormentor Morghoul, and that's all.  Given the purpose of this list, he's going to be a great choice regardless.  Abuse is going to get some power out of your beasts, while Morghoul himself can be used to clear out single-wound infantry quickly.

Warbeasts: Non-character Cyclops and Titans are available.  That leaves the Cyclops Savage, Shaman, and Brute, and the Titan Gladiator, Sentry, Cannoneer, and the Bronzeback Titan.  You'll need two heavies to finish out the tiers, and I'd recommend the Titan Gladiator and Bronzeback. 

The Cannoneer doesn't really help you all that much, since you're going to be depending on melee punch more than your range attacks.  The Cyclops Brute can help keep the warlock alive.  The Cyclops Savage and Shaman provide good animi, so are a good choice if you have a few points available.  The Titan Sentry is probably not offensively oriented enough to be a good fit.  The Gladiator provides a great animus and can hit hard.  The Bronzeback is a great beast, and his Counter-Charge works really well with Morghoul's Admonition.  Back the Bronzeback 3" away, then charge him back in.

Units:  The theme list can take Paingiver units, as well as Cataphract Arcuarii.  You're required to take 2 units of Arcuarii, and although they are a good unit for certain things, I don't feel they are useful enough that you're going to find much use to take more than the two minimum units.  They'll provide a way to handle multi-wound infantry, and are going to be very helpful for killing key medium-base models.

Paingiver Beast Handlers are going to be hugely important for this army because of the heavy beast theme.  Once the beasts get into contact with the opposing lines, they'll be running with a LOT of fury on them, and they'll be taking some damage.  Having Beast Handlers around to keep things under control is going to be vital.  In the theme force, they are FA U as well, in case you find yourself really needing more than 2 full units.

Paingiver Bloodrunners are another unit that can be taken.  They don't really gain anything from the list, and the pieces you can include in the theme force don't help them any either (aside from the Master Tormentor).  They can definitely be useful for going after ranged infantry in your opponent's army, or for going after other flanking units (like Daughters), especially if you take a Master Tormentor to increase their MAT. 

Solos: Paingiver solos are available.  Without Minion units, the Paingiver Task Master really doesn't have a role, so for now that just leaves the Paingiver Master Tormentor.  Thresher, Reach, and Anatomical Precision give her a pretty effective ability to clear out single-wound infantry, and if you take Bloodrunners, she makes them pretty incredible at doing so as well.  We may find a place for her.

How about some lists (all Tier 4):

25pts:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

That's a lot more Beast Handlers than you'll need for only two beasts, but they'll be helpful for clogging up charge lanes or blocking your opponent in other ways.  They also can kill single wound infantry, but that can't really be counted on.  The key is the two Titans, who will bust through the center of the opposing army and mess up anything in their path.  The Arcuarii can take out certain targets (like stupid Trollkin Champions).

At 35, I keep the core, and add some utility and protection:

35pts:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Cyclops Brute
- Cyclops Shaman
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

The Brute is there to protect Morghoul.  It can eat a combined ranged attack a turn (until it dies), which is a huge help in keeping my warlock alive.  The Cyclops Shaman can drop negative spells/animi with his animus, which is great against some armies, while the Primal Magic ability can give me another casting of Rush while saving Fury on my primary combat beasts.

And here's the list at 50:

50pts:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Cyclops Brute
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Shaman
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor

The Savage's animus is really helpful for maximizing your fury efficiency on those beasts.  You'll NEED them to kill things, you can't afford them missing or wasting fury, and you'll want them doing as much damage as possible.  Another Gladiator gives you more killing ability on the front line.  The Bloodrunner Master Tormentor is great for clearing out infantry, which there isn't a whole lot of in this list.  The last point is spent maxing out one of those Beast Handler units.  You're up to 6 beasts now; you'll need the Beast Handlers.

I think this list could be very effective.  That's a lot of beasts, and a decent amount of ability to support them.  Certain armies will certainly give them problems, but I really think this army could be very tough for many armies to handle.

Ancestral Guardian: Thoughts/Tips

One of the first solos released for the Skorne when Hordes was new, the Ancestral Guardian is a construct that follows Skorne into battle, to preserve the spirits of fallen Skorne warriors, so that they are not sent to the void upon their death.

Stats:
It's very slow, and has a really low DEF. Not many attacks are likely to miss it. However, it does get a great MAT (of 8!) and it's ARM allows it to be pretty durable as well.  With 10 Damage, it should be able to take a hit or two before crumbling.  It is 3 points, however, which actually feels a little high for what it does.  That's just my opinion though.

Attacks:
Back in the day, this used to have Weapon Master.  Sadly, it no longer does.  It is a P+S 13 weapon with Reach and it counts as a Magical Weapon.  Its strong enough to dish out some damage, and with the mentioned traits, it's not going to have a hard time finding targets one the enemy starts contacting the Skorne lines.

Special Rules:
Construct: No fleeing for this guy!  Not that he would get far even if he did. 

Defensive Strike: Since he's slow moving, he's going to be getting charged in most games.  With this, however, the Guardian has a way to counteract it some, by letting him take a free swing at the enemy.  Very handy ability, just remember you can't boost your rolls on this attack.  Certainly can't complain about a free attack though.

Soul Guardian: The Ancestral Guardian can hold up to three souls, which he can get from the deaths of nearby friendly living faction warrior models, then use those souls during his activation to boost attack or damage rolls, or gain an additional attack.  You're going to need to run the Guardian near a unit of some sort, but with Reach he won't be hurting for chances to get into combat anyway.  Even in death your Skorne units can serve you.  This ability lets the Guardian become fairly intimidating in melee.

Spirit Driven: The Guardian can also spend a soul token at the beginning of its movement to gain another 2" of movement.  This allows the guardian to have an 11" threat range- that's not half bad.

Steady: Can't be knocked down.  Not that opponents are going to need much help hitting the Ancestral Guardian, but it does mean you won't be deprived of your Defensive Strike.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: No real synergies.

Archdomina Makeda: Walking Death allows the Guardian to get double the use out of your warrior models.  They'll die, providing souls for the Guardian, then return, hopefully to die again eventually and provide MORE souls for the Guardian!  Carnage allows the Guardian to hit almost anything it wants, especially if it boosts.  Savagery allows the Guardian to have a 13" threat, and Defender's Ward makes the Ancestral Guardian even harder to kill (ARM 20!).  The spells have much better targets, however, so you'll likely get the most use out of Carnage.

Cyclops Savage: Prescience is pretty nice on the Guardian, since you're likely to be running on only a few souls at a time, and you'll want to use them as efficiently as possible to deal damage.

Titan Cannoneer: No real synergies, but Diminish around the Guardian is helpful for keeping it alive.

Titan Gladiator: No real synergies.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: No synergies.

Praetorian Swordsmen: With the Unit Attachment, I think these guys make a great pair.  Swordsmen are cheap, and are likely to die once the fighting starts getting the thickest.  With Ranked Attack, the Guardian can stand behind the Swordsmen and get some swings in without taking too much damage in return.  Defensive Strike may even net you a free kill over a Swordsmen head to help keep the Swordsmen alive.

Agonizer: No real synergies.

Tier Thoughts:
Given that many Ancestral Guardians were sent to the west to assist with the invasion, it's no surprise to see that epic Makeda has them available in her theme force.  With all the infantry, he's sure to have a full stock of souls to use.

Lord Tyrant Hexeris can take them as well, and if you get up to Tier 4, the Guardian will actually get another 6" onto the table before the game starts.  Helpful for a model that's so slow.

Unsurprisingly, Supreme Aptimus Zaal gets to use Ancestral Guardians in his theme force as well, gaining an increased FA, as well as Advance Deployment, in addition to all the benefits of running a Guardian with this warlock anyway.

Thoughts:
Whether you take an Ancestral Guardian or not is really going to depend on the rest of your army.  If you're running lots of cheaper infantry (such as Praetorian Swordsmen), you'll probably find him to be very helpful.  Obviously, he'll be useful if you're running Zaal.  With other forces, however, you'll probably have better uses for your points.  3 points isn't much, but when you could spend them to upgrade a unit of Cataphracts, or even change some of your beasts for more expensive ones, you'll probably leave the Guardian at home.

Praetorian Swordsmen: Thoughts/Tips

Swordsmen are the basic rank and file members of the Skorne army, and with their rules, plus abilities gained by the other members of your army, they'll be capable of performing a few roles for you, and are cheap enough to be put in most armies.

Stats:
They have fairly basic stats, actually.  Nothing really amazing or terrible.  A CMD of 9 is nice, letting them spread out a bit.  Their MAT is decent as well, and they are SPD 6, which is on the higher end of Skorne models.  Costing only 4/6, however, they are so inexpensive that you'll take them and find uses for them in almost every game.

Attacks:
Each Swordsmen has two swords, at a hefty P+S of 9.  Against light infantry, they are fantastic, against anything else, they struggle.  However, the swords come with Combo Strike, which means they can make a single P+S 12 attack instead, which is a lot better against heavy infantry and light jacks/beasts.  On the charge, you could even damage heavier jacks/beasts.

Special Rules:
Penetrating Strike: Of course, if you're going against that heavy beast or jack, you'll want something that can deal a little more damage to it without needing to charge.  Thankfully, Praetorian Swordsmen get this rule, meaning that if you hit a warjack or warbeast, you can have the target take a single point of damage instead of rolling for it.  Now, you're not going to be bringing down heavies with this alone, but it does help that a unit of Swordsmen could take 10+ points of a Khador jack reliably. 

Of course, on the charge, you'll have to decide what's going to help- a boosted damage roll from Combo Strike, or two attacks dealing a point apiece?  If you're going against ARM 21 or higher, you'll always take the Penetrating Strikes, most likely.  ARM 19 or lower, I find myself always taking the Combo Strike (unless they are in range for the P+S 9 swords to do some damage).  ARM 20 is a bit trickier.  Yeah, you'll likely get those two points of damage easily using Penetrating Strike, and Combo Strikes 'average roll' on the charge will net you a total damage of 22.5 (so 2.5 damage).  The 'Expected Value' for damage is 2.8.  You also only have like a 37% chance to NOT deal those two damage.  So I'd recommend going for it- if you get a lucky roll, you could even make your opponent really nervous about the condition his poor jack is in. (Yes, I know I could have made that paragraph a lot smaller, but I had a person ask me, so there).

Regardless, with Penetrating and Combo Strike, Praetorian Swordsmen have a way to deal small amounts of damage to almost anything.

Attachments:
Currently, Swordsmen only have one attachment available, the Officer & Standard.  Let's see what they do, and whether they are much worth it.

To start, the Standard Bearer has no attacks.  Yes, really.  Despite the fact that the Venator Reiver Standard Bearer can both hold a flag and swing a sword, this guy can't.  I don't get it.  Maybe the flag is just too big?  Regardless, the Standard Bearer doesn't really give you anything other than the regular Standard Bearer rules, so it's still moderately handy.

The officer, however, brings a bunch to the table.  First, he has an extra point of MAT and CMD.  Both are nice, especially the extra CMD.  He has all the regular Praetorian Swordsmen rules, so there's no need to cover them.  He does give three extra abilities, however.

First, his 'mini-feat': Perfect Strike.  Once per game, models in the unit can deal 1 point of damage instead of making a damage roll.  Although it's not useful against warjacks/warbeasts (since you have Penetrating Strike), it's really awesome against ARM-buffed single wound infantry.  For instance, against Kriel Warriors w/ a Krielstone Bearer + Stone Scribe Elder (using Protective Aura) backing them up, they're ARM 18- with Perfect Strike, Swordsmen will mow right through them.

The Officer has Tactics: Ranked Attack, meaning friendly faction models can ignore them for LOS.  This is occasionally handy, as it allows you to attack through them using either Venators or models with Reach.

Finally, the Officer has Granted: Side Step.  This is the main reason to take the attachment, in my opinion.  After a model hits with an attack, the model can advance 2", ignoring free strikes.  On the turn Perfect Strike is used, you could really easily mow through a full unit, and advance several inches in the process.  It's helpful for getting the Officer to swing his swords while ending his activation far enough away that he won't get killed (since the unit loses Side Step if he dies).  It's such a handy ability on this unit.

The unit attachment costs 2 points, which, compared to the 4/6 points you spend for the unit, is a little high proportionally.  But honestly, if you're taking a full unit of Swordsmen, you'll probably want to take the attachment.  8 points for a 12-man unit (with 11 fighting bodies) that can reliably deal some damage to anything it faces, as well as doesn't block LOS from your own models is going to help you in many games. 

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul:  No real synergies.

Archdomina Makeda:  Well, Makeda is really an 'infantry warlock' in a sense, so they go together with her really well.  First, if the unit is within 9" of her, they'll never flee.  Her Feat can keep them alive, especially if the unit is mostly full, since the enemy isn't going to have an easy time eating through 12 cheap bodies.  If they have Defender's Ward on them, they become a great tarpit unit on her feat turn.  15 DEF/16 ARM aren't amazing for defensive stats, but they are both high enough to cause difficulties to various threats.  Carnage is great for helping Swordsmen hit, since they'll be able to hit DEF 15 fairly reliably.  Great for when they need to mow through high DEF infantry.  Overall, it's a decent match, since Makeda can enhance the unit pretty well (of course, some of these spells are going to better used on other infantry ;)).

Titan Gladiator: No real synergies

Titan Cannoneer: Park the Cannoneer behind the Swordsmen, use Diminish, and you have a moderately effective wall to advance your army behind.  Of course, there are going to be better choices for this role, but the Swordsmen will at least eat through a few models en route. 

Cyclops Savage:  No real synergies.  Backing up the Swordsmen with the Cyclops might be nice though- my Cyclops always seem so fragile, having some warm bodies around it to keep him out of too much enemy contact would probably help.  The Savage does have reach, so they won't hinder him from fighting either.

Paingiver Beast Handlers:  No real synergies.

Agonizer:  Putting the Agonizer near the Swordsmen actually gives them a really good chance against beasts or jacks, since the Agonizer can hinder the enemy model enough to buy the Swordsmen enough time to chip away at it.

Tier Thoughts:
Praetorian Swordsmen can be taken in both of Makeda's theme forces, and if you take two units in Epic Makeda's, you can get a unit attachment to one of them for free. 

Lord Tyrant Hexeris also requires two units of them, and vies them Advance Deployment, which is really great.

Void Seer Mordikaar and Supreme Aptimus Zaal can take units of Swordsmen as well, but don't provide any benefits to them.

Thoughts:
Like I've said twice, I think you can always find a use for this unit in your army.  They are fairly versatile, and cheap enough to fit into most lists.

Agonizer: Thoughts/Tips

"Its agony leaves our enemies vulnerable.  They hear its piteous cries and tremble to think what suffering we have in store for those who stand against us."  Man, that just about sums up the theme behind this model.  The concept is actually sick enough that one of my most common opponents described the Agonizer as 'horrifying'.  When you see the art in the book, it's hard to disagree...

Stats:
Slow, but decent DEF and ARM for a solo.  It also has 8 Damage Boxes, which is great for a solo.  His combat stats don't matter, as we'll see.  For only 2 points, it's not difficult to fit him into lists, as well.

Attacks:
No attacks.  That's not what he's here for.

Special Rules:
Fearless: The thing has been through horrors you can't imagine... what's scarier to an Agonizer than potentially staying alive through a fight?  Pretty good too, since its CMD is only 6!  You wouldn't want it running, after all.

Agonies: First off, they aren't an action.  You can run and use them!  There are three different ones you can use, and each costs a fury point, and effects enemies within a 4-8 inch range.

- Gnawing Pain: Enemy warbeasts get -2 to damage rolls.  I find this the most commonly helpful, since it can really help keep your tough Skorne beasts and your warlock alive.  10" run + 8" agony means that you could also use this to go stop a ranged warbeast somewhat too.  Of course, they could just go after the Agonizer, but that does help preserve the rest of your army.

- Maddening:  Enemy warbeasts are -2 THR.  It's good, but it's not as common to find uses, although late game it would probably come in handy.  Dropping someone's THR from 8 to 6 is a MAJOR threat if the beast has 1 fury left on it, 9 to 7 is nice, and 10 to 8 still increases the chances of failing.  There's potential for some serious game-shifting potential here, just not always applicable.

- Spiritual Affliction: Enemy warbeasts can't use their animi; warjacks lose the use of their arc node, nor can be allocated focus for a round.  This is the only Agony that works against Warmachine.  Against Hordes, this could be awesome.  There are some great Animi that warlocks depend on- stopping their use for a turn, or forcing a beast to get away just to allow the use of it, could really screw with your opponent's plans.  Against Warmachine, as Ian points out in the comments, this can be quite devastating.  Some jacks absolutely need focus to be effective.  Not getting it can really hamper the effectiveness of the army.  This is a great denial ability, and against some opponents will probably cause the Agonizer to draw a lot of fire.

Fury Bank: This is how the Agonizer gets the fury he needs to use his Agonies.  Early on, you'll have some spare fury, so it's not hard to fill him up with the 5 max he can have.  Later on, if he's still alive, he can fill in for potentially dead beasts to give you that fury back.  In some ways, he may be worth taking just for this, but if you're depending on him to get your fury, you're probably pretty screwed anyway.  Like I said, it shouldn't be a problem to fill him up by turn 2.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul:  Inflict Pain + Maddening could be incredibly effective mid/late game to get a warbeast to frenzy at a useful time.

Archdomina Makeda: Not really much... but she becomes even harder to kill in combat when backed up by an Agonizer.

Titan Gladiator: Not much, although Gnawing Pain helps keep it alive once it's in combat.

Cyclops Savage: Not much, although Gnawing Pain helps keep it alive as well.

Titan Cannoneer: Same as the other beasts.  Not really much synergy, just an ability to keep the beasts alive once they are engaged.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Inflict Pain + Maddening is still great here- a full unit can add another 6 fury total to opponent's beasts, and the decreased THR can really screw with the opponent's plans.

Tier Thoughts:
He can be taken in Hexeris' theme force, which will virtually ensure he can be stocked up on focus turn one, since the upkeep spells are free.

Void Seer Mordikaar can take an Agonizer in his theme force as well.

Dominar Rasheth, however, actually requires Agonizers.  First, for every Titan you take, you can take an extra Agonizer.  For tier 3, you're required to take 2 Agonizers (starting them each with 3 fury points).  I'll have to actually play with Dominar Rasheth to get a feel for the synergies for them, but they do seem to be great targets for Dark Rituals.

Thoughts:
It's only two points- and there's always something it can do for you. Against Hordes, it's more versatile, but it certainly has some pretty effective ways to screw over warjacks as well.

It's a quite disruptive piece that's versatile in its role, and should definitely get under your opponent's skin, especially on crucial turns.  Definitely consider taking one.

Archdomina Makeda: Thoughts/Tips

Makeda is the overall leader of the Skorne forces, both of the Army of the Western Reaches, as well as back in their own lands. Although this doesn't represent the 'overall ruler' incarnation of her, she's still a powerful leader with great fighting discipline.

Stats:
Honestly, her stats are about as average as you can get. MAT 7 is nice, and her DEF/ARM of 15/16 is good, but not outstanding. Other than that, very average stats for a melee caster.

Attacks:
Two weaker attacks with the ability to Combo Strike for P+S 17. Having two melee attacks is always nice, and the flexibility of having a stronger attack really adds to the utility of the weapons. Again, it's not amazing, but it's certainly helpful.

Feat:
Her feat is Walking Death, which saves all trooper models who are in her control area for one round, returning them to play at the start of her next turn if they were destroyed. These models can't move, but can certainly attack. Also, she can't save the trooper if the whole unit is destroyed.

This is a great feat... if you're running infantry, so it's not really geared for the really small games. At about 25 points, however, you should be running at least a unit, and sometimes two, so it's awesome. The feat specifically says Trooper models, which I believe means that you'll be returning just about everything that was in the unit, including all the attachments (like the officer) and even character attachments, for the one unit we currently have with one.

Also take note: it only works with living troopers, so Immortals and Hollow models (in a two warlock game) are unaffected by this (unless after dying, Hollow models are no longer considered Undead? Hmm...).

One final thing that a lot of people miss, and may actually be wrong despite my inability to find a ruling against it: the models don't have to be returned within 3" of the remaining member(s) of the unit. They just have to be placed so that when you're done, all the returned models are within 3" of a member of the unit, and in formation. This is an interesting difference- take for example, a unit of 10 Praetorian Swordsmen. If 9 of them died, I have seen a few (okay, maybe just once) people drop the 9 in a tight circle around the last guy. You can actually set them up quite spread out, so long as the conditions are met when you're done- all the models within 3" of another model in the unit, and all in formation. Pretty slick.

The feat is great, obviously, and you're going to get a lot of mileage out of it. The timing can be a bit rough, since your opponent could just ignore your troops for that round. If he does, I'm sure you'll make him pay. Also, if your feat is about to be used, try to keep in mind that you'll want to protect at least one member of each squad. Don't bunch them all up too much, which could just lead to them dying to a man.

Spells:
Carnage: Friendly models targeting enemy models in her control area get a +2 on their attack rolls. This is really useful, as Skorne seem to have a lot of lower MAT models. Praetorian Swordsmen, Ferox, and Immortals all have MAT 6 (Karax are 5!), as do several of our beasts. Why not give them effectively MAT 8, which really helps their chances to hit those pesky enemies? I find this spell being cast from turn to turn, as it's so helpful for getting your close combat attacks to be effective and helps save fury on your beasts.

Defender's Ward: Great spell. Extra 2 defense and armor, and it's an upkeep spell. There are not many places this doesn't come in handy. On herself, it makes her 17/18 which is incredible. It can make beasts tougher to kill, and even your basic infantry get a huge boost from it (and obviously your elite infantry get a better boost). You should have this cast on someone first turn and upkeep it, or recast it on a new target every turn of the game.

Muzzle: A low powered offensive spell that stops a beast damaged by it from advancing towards her. Its range is 10, which is long enough to be useful, and it has a decent shot of putting a hurting on light beasts (and heavies if boosted). I rarely find a good use for this spell, however. I imagine if you find an opposing beast that really is that terrifying, however (maybe Mulg or an opposing Molik Karn or something), it will have its uses. Certainly not useless, but probably not getting used every turn.

Savagery: I believe Makeda is the only model with this spell. Great SPD increase when advancing, but can't make ranged attacks. This obviously works well with her special warbeast (which I'll mention when I cover him), but the uses of this spell are incredible. First, it makes your beasts move a lot faster, especially those heavies. Obviously, you have other means to enhance their speed, but this is still very handy. It can increase the speed of your infantry, while still giving them options afterwards. One trick, mentioned by loftybloke (check out his blog for more Skorne stuff!) was to have this upkept on a unit of Cataphract Cetrati, who could move up 9" a turn and end in Shield Wall (then using Defender's Ward once they are in combat). That's just such a cool use. You are going to find a lot of utility in this spell, so it will probably be upkept most of the battle, or recast when the need arises.

Special Rules:
Blood-Quenched: Pretty nice ability that gives her an extra point of STR and ARM for a round after she kills a living enemy model. It is cumulative as well, so if she somehow kills 3 such models, that's an extra 3 STR and ARM. It's great for keeping her alive, although it's not easy or common to be grabbing more than one or two of these bonuses. Still, one or two certainly can make a huge difference, especially if she's in the thick of the fighting.

Inspiration [Skorne models]: She is the leader of all Skorne forces, after all. They won't run if they are within her CMD range (of 9), and if they enter it, they'll automatically rally. Most Skorne units are CMD 9, so they aren't too likely to run anyway, but with her, they don't have to worry about it at all.

Side Step: After she hits with an initial or special attack, she can move 2", ignoring free strikes.

This has a few uses. First, she can use it to get out of combat. With a .5" melee range, she can get to the edge of her melee range, hit, and then get 2" away, out of my opponent's melee range. Of course, that's really helpful if she's already hurt and in a bad spot.

Another, and probably more useful use is to side step into another opponent. With two initial attack, she'll be able to side step twice (or once if she combo strikes), as mentioned ignoring free strikes. If she's going against low ARM models, this could put her into position to kill quite a few models, enhancing the rewards from Blood Quenched. Defender's Ward provides some additional protection for her as she does this, and of course the B-Q ARM bonus will just make you tougher and tougher to kill.

Certainly, it's another useful skill that just gives her more options.

Synergies:
Titan Gladiator: Nothing that isn't already obvious. Carnage helps save a lot of fury, bringing the Gladiator effectively to MAT 8. Defender's Ward doesn't have much use on him either. Savagery is wasted, since Rush is available, and he'll want to charge/slam if that's an option. The Gladiator is such a useful beast (because of granting Pathfinder) that it may be worth taking anyway.

Cyclops Savage: Prescience + Carnage will make your beasts incredibly likely to hit for minimal fury costs. Other than that, not much to speak of.

Titan Cannoneer: No real synergies. Diminish + Defender's Ward + Blood-Quenched all on Makeda can make Makeda very resilient against close combat death, however.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Makeda helps out infantry, these guys make beasts better. Great for enhancing your entire army, but don't really have much interaction with one another. Makeda can help keep them alive longer, if you really have no other targets or desperately need these guys alive. Enrage + Carnage will make your beasts more reliable, obviously.

Obviously, she'll have better synergy with infantry, but I haven't covered other infantry yet... I promise it's coming!

Tier Thoughts:
Her Theme Force is called 'Army of the Western Reaches', and as you can imagine, is about infantry and combined arms. It's also very inclusive, including most of the living close combat units, every warbeast, and several solos (Praetorian and Cataphract). It also includes Saxon Orrik. It's fairly generic, and gives you a slightly increased deployment zone, as well as Advance Move on some units. More on this when I have a chance to put it into action.

Thoughts:
She's a good warlock with a lot of tools to make her infantry better. Obviously, she's more geared towards close combat, with Carnage and her own special rules (and short range on her enhancement spells), but really any infantry you take with her will find her useful because she does offer some protection. Your ranged elements will love being brought back after death, and will love to see a warbeast get Muzzled instead of crashing into them. If you love Skorne infantry, and want to run a variety of different types, she's absolutely worth considering as your warlock.

New Skorne additions!

It's been a very long time since I've bought any new miniatures, but I finally have!



Molik Karn, as is often noted, is probably among the best warbeasts in the book, if not the game (I've even heard of him described as the 'best Skorne warlock'). He'll definitely come in handy to bolster my offensive punch.

The Agonizer will be nice as a support piece, plus I know Ben hates them, so hopefully they'll draw some fire as well (put the poor guy out of his misery!).

Will hopefully have them assembled by next week to get into some games!

Titan Cannoneer: Thoughts/Tips

The Titan Cannoneer is based off a simple concept- it's a big titan holding a cannon! It's also such a pain to put together, it had better be worth taking, right?

Stats:
Slow speed, which isn't a huge issue given his role. Low MAT and RAT, good DEF and ARM, average FURY/THR. A bit more expensive than his Gladiator brother, at 9, he also has few health boxes, especially for a heavy.

Attacks:
His first and most distinctive weapon is the Siege Gun, a mid-range, decent POW weapon with AOE 3. With his low RAT, you're not going to be hitting much, even with aiming. With boosting, you'll hit most things, but regardless the AOE is nice. He also has Tusks, which increase the strength of his head-butt and slam power attack damage rolls, as well as a War Mace which hits pretty hard.

Obviously, the focus of this beast is the siege gun, which is strong but not likely to hit without fury spending (which you probably will, so not a big problem). I wonder at whether or not the Titan is really going to be more useful overall than the Venator Catapult Crew, who has another half a foot on their range. I suppose I'll find out with more plays, and actually trying the other unit.

Animus:
His Animus is Diminish, which lowers the strength of enemy models within two inches of the user. It's an interesting tool, even though it can only be used on the Cannoneer or the warlock. In melee, in turns the Cannoneer into a more survivable beast than the other heavies Skorne have available (aside from the Sentry), and it can help keep the warlock alive when the opponent gets up close. It also can make it easier to throw targets, especially if combined with another STR enhancement on another beast. Overall, it's a very handy animus which should give the Cannoneer a place in lists.

Special Rules:
Bullheaded: Same as with the Gladiator, this changes the way the Cannoneer frenzies. He'll slam instead of charging. Overall, this can be very useful at the right times. Once your opponent has moved his army up into your army's face, leaving fury on the Cannoneer isn't nearly such a big deal- if he frenzies, he could make the battle a lot easier for the melee elements of your army.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: Not too much, here. Diminish helps Morghoul's survivability, but not enough to save him if he gets seriously threatened. Admonition can help keep the Cannoneer out of combat.

Titan Gladiator: Not really anything exciting here- Diminish helps the Gladiator throw things more easily. They are designed for very different roles, so not much synergistic overlap.

Cyclops Savage: If you're running enough beasts, the Savage is very handy- Prescience on the Cannoneer can really keep your Gladiator's fury usage to a minimum. If you're aiming at that DEF 15 warlock (needing a 9), you can roll and see if you're close before spending the fury to boost the hit, saving the fury for the damage rolls. These two go very well together. Also, if they are close, Diminish can be awesome for keeping the Savage alive, since he's quite fragile otherwise.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Medicate is the most useful ability here, since the Cannoneer doesn't have that much health. Enrage may be nice to make the Cannoneer useful on a critical turn as well.

Tier Thoughts:
Usable in all the same theme lists that the Gladiator was. I could see him having a place in Dominar Rasheth's list, just at a guess, but since I've not used the warlock, I can't tell quite yet (since the Sentry may be a better choice).

Thoughts:
Overall, the Cannoneer is a fairly well-rounded beast, with both ranged, melee, and support elements. He's capable of providing some use the entire game, unlike some of the other Skorne options who are melee geared. I think he's a little overcosted myself, since I don't find him any more useful than the Gladiator (who's a point cheaper), but I imagine that opinion will change upon facing more infantry-centric armies. Regardless, you can't go too wrong by taken this guy.

Skorne vs Trollbloods, 15pts, 8/31/10

Another battle vs. Ben during our lunch break.

My list:
Archdomina Makeda
- Cyclops Savage
- Titan Cannoneer
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Ben's List:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
-Troll Impaler
-Dire Troll Bomber
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 2 Grunts)

With the Cannoneer, I actually have decent shooting, and with the Cyclops' animus I can be very efficient about hitting.

Normal terrain- rough patch in the middle, various obstructions scattered around.

Ben began the game advancing his warlock and beasts up towards my right side, and sent his Champions off towards my left.

I moved my Cyclops over towards the Champions, but still a distance away, and sent the Swordsmen behind an obstacle so they wouldn't get shot at. The Cannoneer moved forward and took a long range shot at Madrak, knowing I was out of range and hoping for a lucky deviation, which I didn't get. Makeda moved up a little and Defender's Warded herself.

Ben advanced again and took some shots with his shooting elements, to no effect.

I started my turn by charging the Cyclops into his Champions, expecting to do some decent damage. On my charge attacks, I needed a 6, and I could boost after seeing the result. I of course rolled snake-eyes. *Sigh. I did manage to kill two out of the unit, but that was definitely worse than expected. The Titan took a shot at Madrak, missing, and scattering off of anything. I moved my Swordsmen into a blocking position, in front of Ben's beasts, to try to hold them up. I used Makeda to cast Defender's Ward on them, as well as popped her feat.

Ben thought for a second, then popped his feat and moved Madrak forward. The Bomber took off, rushing into the swordsmen, killing 4, I believe, after the feat. Pretty scary. The Impaler moved forward and dropped one. They failed to kill the last one in the unit, however, meaning my guys were coming back! The Champion took a huge chunk out of the Cyclops.

Sadly, the Cyclops was out of range- so he frenzied, not really accomplishing much. The Titan hit Madrak square on with a shot, but he used his scroll to ignore it. All of my swordsmen had come back, and they surrounded his beasts, taking chunks out of the Impaler, but failing to kill him.

Ben Trampled the Bomber through my Swordsmen, past Makeda. Madrak moved into the swordsmen to kill a few as well. The Champion finished off the Cyclops, and the Impaler I think accomplished nothing. Not so exciting.

Things weren't looking too bad- Madrak was close by, and I was hoping to kill his beasts to force a concession. Makeda charged into the back of his Bomber, doing a lot of damage, but failing to kill it. The swordsmen succeeded in killing the Impaler however.

Ben stared the last turn by moving Madrak around, and attacking Makeda from behind. That was not a good thing- after a few swings, he had killed her, and was once again victorious.

Honestly, there were a lot of things that hurt me thins game. My poor rolling with the Cyclops was a start, but wasn't a major reason for the loss. I just made too many mistakes, both with positioning, and in moving to protect my warlock. I did finally get a good use out of Makeda, but I really need to run a bigger unit just to ensure they stick around. Madrak's feat finally did something, and after seeing it in action, I'll need to be conscious of it. I think I have a better hang of all the models in the army as well- my next addition will be the unit attachment for the Swordsmen, which should certainly help their capabilities.