Incoming: Heavy Warbeast

So in a bunch of the games I've been playing lately, I've come to a conclusion: I need another heavy warbeast. Too many of my games hinge on whether my Carnivean lives or dies, and I imagine having a second powerhouse will really help. The question is, what do I want? I've been playtesting a bit over the last month, and I'll go over my thoughts.

First off, here's a list of all of Everblight's heavy warbeasts:

Carnivean
Seraph
Scythean
Ravagore
Angelius
Typhon


Off the bat, I'm going to drop the Carnivean and Seraph. I already have one of each, but more than that, they're all-rounders. While its good to have at least 1, I want something more specialized for my next beast. Because of that, I'm also dropping the Angelius. His melee power pales in comparison to the Ravagore, and the Seraph can out shoot him any day of the week. Combined with the fact that his animus is nothing to write home about, he grounded, at least for now.

That leaves the Scythean, Ravagore, and Typhon. I'll start with our three-headed fire-breathing monstrosity, since it would be really cool to have a character beast. Comparing Typhon to the Carnivean, I come up with the following: he's one point more for better ranged capability. Seems like a decent improvement - with gunfighter and 3 sprays, he could conceivably go for a caster kill, especially with Lylyth's feat helping the still-bad RAT. I decided to try proxying him and using him instead of my Carnivean for a bit.

Sadly he totally didn't work out this way when I played him. I didn't realize his spray was 8", and way too often I found that the extra 2" were important. In addition, he's across the board just a little weaker than the Carnivean - POW 17 vs. POW 18, ARM 17 vs. ARM 18, a slightly smaller health spiral, and an animus that, while on average the same as the Carnivean's, is RNG Self. This was all compounded by the fact that I couldn't afford to just have him stand back and shoot - I really needed him to get stuck in, since thats where he does his best damage. And once he's in melee, he's just a bad version of the Carnivean for 1 point more. I even tried using him with Epic Thagrosh for the affinity, but I never ended up using regeneration. Fury is just too valuable on eThags to waste on superfluous healing. The final straw was his lack of pathfinder. Maybe I'm just spoiled playing Legion, but getting stuck in forests was miserable.

So that leaves the Carnivean's two younger brothers: the Scythean and the Ravagore. They couldn't be more different: one takes the Carnivean's melee power and adds reach for 2 points less, while the other is a living artillery cannon. I'll post the test games I play with them, as well as thoughts on how they are doing. In the meantime, I've put up a poll (to the left) to see what you guys think: which heavy beast should I pick? I've included every beast I don't have, since I'd like to see how much people like the options I've already discarded. You can pick multiple options, and I'd also like to hear your thoughts on why you selected the ones you did.

Tier list thoughts

So with Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight releasing tomorrow, pretty much all the new info has been spoiled, and I've started taking a closer look at the tier lists, particularly for the warlocks I have/play to get. Some just seem bad - Epic Thagrosh has to take a 4 point solo with very low utility for his army just to get higher tiers - and some like Prime Lylyth I'll never have the figures for (I have no interest in archers). Saeryn's definitely seems workable though - I've always been a fan of Nephilim Soldiers, and hers sets them up pretty well. This was the list I mocked up:

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
Seraph
Seraph
Nephilim Soldier
Nephilim Soldier
Nephilim Soldier
Nephilim Protector
Blackfrost Shard
Nyss Sorceress

The goal is to get into range, then pop Saeryn's feat and have the Soldiers fly over any defenders and cut the caster to ribbons. P+S 14 is respectable, and Reach helps them avoid getting in each others way. The Sorceress gives them a free charge letting them save their fury for more attacks, and the Blackfrost Shard can use Ice Cage and Kiss of Lyliss to make the enemy caster easier to finish off. The Protector is free and helps keep Saeryn safe during the set-up, and the Seraphs can slipstream to give the soldiers extra range while also providing ranged support. Its very beast heavy, but when I run hot I plan to end the game. This probably won't come to fruition for a while since I don't have most of the models, but it seems like it would be fun to proxy up sometime.

The other tier list that seems interesting is Rhyas. While I don't have her yet, shes definitely on the top of my list of casters to get, and I'll probably pick her up when I buy the models to bring me up to 50 points. Her tier 4 requires a pair of angelius that I'm not a huge fan of, but up to tier 3 it definitely seems like a solid list. Here what I was thinking:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
Carnivean
Seraph
Min Swordsmen + UA
Min Swordsmen + UA
Blackfrost Shard

This list seems a little more likely for me to build, especially if I take the swordsmen and blackfrost shard to get to 50. Its also got a lot of hard-hitting power with the swordsmen, and on feat turn I could see them tearing through most of the opponent's army. Once again the Blackfrost Shard provides debuffing support and the Seraph adds slipstreaming shenanigans. I read a strategy with the Carnivean I want to try: on Rhyas's feat turn, if the Carnivean throws an enemy model at the caster, he will teleport next to that unit and, by extension, the caster. Though he gives up his initial attacks, with the bonus attack from the feat and most of his fury, he should be able to take the enemy warlock out. Something to try when I place another order!

New purchases, new releases, and new ideas!

Great news - I finally found a place that has Striders in stock, so they, along with Epic Thagrosh, should arrive soon! On top of that, with the new Legion rulebook coming out in a week, most of the new models have been spoiled. There are several cool ones I'm eying: the Blackfrost Shard, a trio of character sorcerers, similar to the Black 13th I've been facing off with; Hex Hunters, swordsmen with powerful magic attacks; and Bethanye, Voice of Everblight, a new Warlock who can merge with her beast. I've always wanted my Carnivean to be my warlock, and it seems like this is a great chance to try out something similar!

With the new releases and new models on the way, I've started thinking about how I want to expand my list out to 50 points. The last few games I've played I really needed someone to help shield my caster, and I'm thinking Ogrun might be a good fit for this role. With high armor and lots of health, they can definitely take a beating. The two types are Warmongers and Warspears. The Warmongers seem a bit more offensive focused, since they have slightly higher power on their attacks, and when they kill an enemy they can strike again, great against mobs of weak units. Warspears on the other hand have +2 DEF vs. charge attacks, making them better at holding the line. The other option I've been considering is Legionnaires. Though they have similar armor and defense, they lack the many health boxes. On the other hand, for 2 points less I'm getting twice as many models, so that may help compensate a bit. Still weighing the choices there.

Now that I'm this close to 50, I really want to round out my army. I'd like to be able to play in tournaments and avoid getting squashed, so I want to know what I have a hard time handling. So far the Carnivean can handle large threats, and when the Striders get here they should help with mobs of weak units (as do Saeryn and Thagrosh when he arrives). This leaves 2 major openings I see: heavy infantry, and safe from everything except magic. I'm also not feeling great about my anti-infantry, so anything that helps with those is a plus. Based on the current options and new releases, my main choices are Swordsmen, Raptors, Hex Hunters, and the Blackfrost Shard. Here are my thoughts on each:

-Swordsmen are nice because they come in large numbers and deal an incredible amount of damage. Averaging power 25 blows on the charge will tear apart even the toughest enemies. The downside is they're very one-dimensional; they lack the speed of Raptors and the versatility of the casters.
-Raptors hit with all the power of Swordsmen but are also tied for fastest unit in the game, basically ensuring they will get the charge off. Unfortunately, they are really expensive, coming in at the same cost as a Shredder each. If I go with them I'll definitely need to take Legionnaires instead of Ogrun.
 NOTE: The next two are not released, so my thoughts are based on the information provided in the spoilers, which may not be entirely accurate.
-Hex Hunters bring great magic attacks to the table, as well as built in defense in the form of Stealth. They also match Swordsmen for numbers. I can easily see these guys carving through mobs of infantry with their attack-then-cast ability, but I would probably have to take Warmongers to take on heavy infantry.
-The Blackfrost Shard has the numbers problem of Raptors, but at least they don't cost the same arm and a leg. While they don't pack much hitting power, their utility is through the roof, providing ice bolts (which helps get around immunity to fire, something I hear complained about in tournaments), countermagic (again, useful for tournaments to get around opponents that curse you), and armor debuffs (nice for dealing with heavy infantry). The best part though might be Ice Prison - I can use it to lockdown a heavy Warjack/beast until my Carnivean can get around to dismantling it. If only they hit harder...

So while I'm not making a decision until I can see the actual rules, here are the layouts I'm thinking:
Warspears + Hex Hunters
Warmongers + Hex Hunters
Warmongers + Blackfrost Shard
Swordsmen + Legionnaires + Hex Hunters
Raptors + Legionnaires + Blackfrost Shard

Wow, thats a lot of options...Can't wait for the new models to be released!

Striders MIA

So last week, I decided to round out my army to 35 points by adding Epic Thagrosh, a unit of Striders, and the Strider commander and musician. I placed the order, and have been obsessively checking the tracking page ever since. As its been over a week and it still says "In Process", I sent them an email, and they were nice enough to let me know the strider unit was whats holding up the order - apparently they are out of stock everywhere. Since they didn't know when they would get more, I cancelled the order and started look around, and it seems that they were correct, and they are out of stock everywhere! I'm a bit stuck as to what to do at the moment. My local gaming store only stocks more recent models, so my choices are fairly limited - Scythean, Ragavore, Stingers, and Spell Martyrs. The Spell Martyrs seem cool, though while they would work well with Saeryn and Epic Thagrosh, they don't add much to Lylyth. I'll probably pick those up if my normal Cygnar opponent manages to bring 25 points just so I can match her. The other things I'm considering is the Scythean, who would help me make it to 35. The Carnivean has been my star performer so far, and while the Scythean is a little weaker, it is also 2 points less for a huge damage output. It also helps solve the problem of heavy infantry, which is something I've been a bit worried about. I guess it'll mainly come down to how expensive the big guy is...

Musings about how to expand my army

So I've been thinking a lot lately about how to expand my army, and thought I would share my thoughts with you guys. I've spent some time reading up on the Legion and figuring out which models I think are cool, and have a list of the following

Rhyas - its hard to argue with a leather-clad sword-wielding ninja assassin. Also since I have her twin sister it would be cool to use them both in a team game (assuming I ever manage to get 100 points)
Epic Thagrosh - the model looks awesome, and hes a giant ogre/dragon hybrid

Nephilim Soldier - mutated winged sword elf? Yes please. Also fills the roll of a light warbeast, which I currently don't have

Striders - I'd like to have some ranged backup, and after reading the forums, it seems like these guys have pretty much replaced blighted archers in that department
Swordsmen - uber lethal emotionless warriors definitely seem like fun to try out. Weapon Master is also an excellent bonus
Warmongers - blighted ogres also caught my eye, and I like the idea of carving through packs of infantry more than the throw-and-assault style of warspears

Shepherd - Cheap fury management, lets me run my beasts hot and not suffer for it.
Strider Deathstalker - Similar to striders in providing ranged backup, but less points intensive; I've been reading up a bit and it seems like 2 are better value than the base stalkers, but stalkers with the UA have more to offer if you're willing to shell out the points
Warmonger Warchief - a warmonger that keeps my other warmongers from chopping each other up. Something I'm definitely going to want if I get the warmongers (warmonger warmonger warmonger)

So thats the list - pretty long to be sure, but they're just ideas. I feel like right now, the two things I want to add are a unit, to boost my woefully low numbers, and some ranged support. With that in mind, I posted the following three ideas on the Privateer Press forums. People who know the game well may notice all of these bring me up to 35 points, which seems like a standard game size

Option 1:
Swordsmen Unit + UA
2 Strider Deathstalkers

Option 2:
Warmonger Unit
Warchief
2 Strider Deathstalkers

Option 3:
Striders + UA
Warmonger Warchief

Results came back overwhelmingly in favor of option 3, though it was suggested I replace the Warchief with a Totem Hunter (a Minion solo). It seems good based on the card, but I'm not sure I like the flavor that much, and I also though about using Gudrun. While I like his flavor more, I don't think a drunken lout would fit in well with the rest of my Legion. In the end, I decided on something else - I'm going to get Epic Thagrosh, who, with his 3 fewer warbeast points, brings me up to 35. It means I won't be able to play Lylyth or Saeryn at 35, but for now I'm just psyched about getting Everblight's Messiah!

Army purchased

I started playing a few weeks back, so the first few posts will be to help you guys catch up on what has happened since then. I bought a very basic Legion army from one of the guys that stopped playing them back in MK I at half off, so here is what I'm starting with:

Legion Battlegroup
-Lylyth, Herald of Everblight
-Carnivean
-4 Shredders
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
Seraph
The Forsaken

They were all already primed, and Saeryn was painted, though her skin is flesh colored so I'll probably strip the model down and do that over. I also bought the Legion paint box from the game store I play at (Dragon's Lair in Bellvue, Washington), and I hope to try to get some painting in before my first game.