Night of Arena SMACKDOWN!

We had an intense night of Arena-ing last night, with many kills had by all. Ill post a new ranking of the table soon, but basically we had me, Toby and Stuart taking each other down. Had a few new appearances, I tried eGaspy but he is not good for this format, not good at all... and I only just scraped in with the win. Tobys Stryker arrived - and was killed by eGaspy. Adeptis Rahn made an appearance, almost killing the Butcher, but again, the Butcher pwns all. My Karchev came in vs Stuarts Butcher and annihilated him, then Toby tried Karchev against his Butcher and got SLAUGHTERED.

We ended it with a 3 player Oddball match - which I won with 10 Oddpoints, Stuart with 3 Oddpoints and Toby coming in last with none.

The Oddball is forgotten as Drago rips Butcher in two!

eGaspy versus Stryker. A close game, but eGaspy pulled out the 6's!

eGaspy practically sitting on Stryker to kill him.

Worst roll of the day - Butcher, Killing Blow, +4 damage to his 4D6 needs a 7 to kill Karchev. Stuart laughs - and promptly rolls a 6 on 4 Dice.

The Butcher + Squishy caster in melee range. Look at those dice roll! (Adeptis Rahn being proxyed by Kaelyssa)

You can almost smell the fear and sweat of Adeptis Rahn...

Retribution vs Khador, 35pts MK2

eSorcha Winterguard 35pt MK2 list:

Khador Winterguard eSorcha

As you can see in the pic, 2 Mortars, Beast 09, eSorcha, Widowmakers, Yuri the Axe + Henchmen, and the whole shebang of Winterguard. Basic Strategy here was to support the Winterguard and Beast 09 as they moved towards the enemy to get the caster kill. Manhunters running up through the forest, Mortars and Widowmakers taking care of enemy infantry, while eSorcha gives out buffs and support.

Advance of the poor bloody infantry

First turn movement - and here I can mention the Retribution army I was fighting against. Toby took along Adeptis Rahn, a battlemage Warcaster, with a unit of Battlemages, 2 Hydra heavy Warjacks, a Mage Hunter Assassin, a House Shyeel Magister, a Ghost Sniper and a unit of Housegaurd Riflemen. My movement in the first turn was pretty simple - Winterguard surged forward with Desperate Pace, Tough, Fearless and Iron Flesh stacked on them. Fired a few rockets that did nothing. Manhunters advanced through the forest, and Widowmakers took over the trenches. The Mortars advanced to get more range on the battlefield.

Toby advanced forward on his turn, and tried to shoot my Widowmakers with his riflemen. Pfft, RAT5 trying to hit DEF20. (By the way, the Riflemen spent the entire game trying to kill the Widowmakers, not touching even one of them but the Widowmakers and the Mortars killed almost the whole unit.)

Spread out! Although I probably didnt have to, it took up much more table space.

Turn 3 for me - I charged a Hydra with Beast 09 with Boundless Charge, and was totally out of range. Feeling vulnerable now, I scattered forward the Winterguard who were out of range with their Blunderbusses but were in range of the Rocketeers! Unfortunately, what I hadnt taken into account was that all Battlemages are immune to Blast Damage. I ended up firing them into the ARM18 Hydras, and doing a few boxes of damage to its force field. The Widowmakers and the Mortar take their toll on the riflemen, one of the Mortars deviated off to splat the Ghost Sniper perfectly. I ran all three Manhunters, one of them into combat with the Mage Hunter Assassin, one into combat with the Magister, and one next to Beast 09.

Endgame - and the Winterguard have Adeptis Rahn in their sights.

Toby responded, rather impotently as it turns out, and tried to Force Blast or whatever the Battlemages do after moving them forward as a screen for the Hydras. ARM20 on Beast 09 and the DEF18 Winterguard were impossible to hit or damage and they were not hurt. The Riflemen advanced again, and still failed to hit with any attacks. The Hydras and Rahn used their range attacks to damage Beast 09, and Rahn FORCEHAMMERED Beast away, knocking him down and out of melee with the Battlemages (he had advanced after being damaged by a Hydra).

On my turn, I moved forward Beast after shaking off KD, and Threshered the Battlemages. This then caused them to flee, and the free-strikes killed another 2, leaving one guy left. The my Manhunter killed the MHA, Yuri killed the Magister, and the third Manhuntress charged Rahn, taking off 15 of his 16 health! Sorcha then activated, and popped her feat (which I should have done before the MH charge, but oh well) and the Winterguard advanced and CRA away - almost killing both Hydras. I had a brain fart and didnt concentrate my fire, but I took out most of their systems on both of them so it was fine. Rahn decided to go all for nothing, and charged Beast 09, doing no damage but Forcehammering him into my non-tough WG (I had used the boost attack roll speech instead - when I didnt need to) and killing a few. The Hydras advanced, killing one Winterguard and the other dying to a freestrike from the Manhuntress. The remaining Winterguard (10 of them that were in range) did an aimed CRA with boost to hit and a reroll, and landed a POW22 hit on Rahn, killing him.

Which was game.

MVP: The Manhuntress who almost killed Rahn then destroyed a Hydra with a free strike did very well, but the Widowmakers singlehandedly taking out a 10 PC unit with a bit of support from the Mortars did well too. The Winterguard are extremely effective now, hard to hit, hard to kill (tough) and have extreme amounts of firepower which is very accurate - if short ranged. Oh, if only Khador had access to Snipe.....

This is a great flexible army, with minimal Warcaster risk since it is the units and Jack that does most of the work. If worst came to worst, eSorcha could get in there herself, but this is not generally needed I think. The massive group of Winterguard have a huge footprint, and can control the board with just their presence. Plus the threat range 20" rocketeers. Battlemages are a good counter to this type of army however, with the main anti-infantry threats being Mortars and Rockets, however thats what Beast 09 with Thresher is for!! Beast is still a Beast, and plays almost exactly the same as he did in MK1, for a neglible increae in cost.

Manhunters and Widowmakers compliment the Winterguard immensely, as these provide the Sniper and pure melee beatdown support that covers up the Winterguards weaknesses.

Winterguard MK2 here I come!

Im planning on a game today, using eSorcha and the Winterguard as the main part of it.

I will take some of the new Khador good stuff, and see how it fares:

35pt eSorcha Winterguard Army

eSorcha (+6)
^Beast 09 (11)
Kovnik Joe (Definitely for WG) (2)
Manhunter x 2 + Yuri (7)
Full Winterguard + UA + 3 WA's (11)
2 x Winterguard Mortar (3ea)
Widowmakers (4)

Ill post later to relate how the game went.. assuming it goes :D

Khador Solo Analysis for MK2 Final:

All my personal opinions here

General rule: A+ or higher is overpowered, B- or lower could be improved and i would be happy. Happy medium is B+ to A for all models.

Wardog: Hehe, it got Hunter. Which is a great rule. As well as it is now tough. Apart from that, its a good Warcaster Attachment - it only pales in comparison to stuff like the Squire and the Skarlock. It almost got nerfed into nothingness, but its now slightly cheaper so i think its gotten slightly better - but no autoinclude. Still a B+ solo.

Koldun Lord: Hes cheap for what he does. And what he does is buff stuff. Id take him much more often that the Greylords themselves. He did get Battle Wizard back, which does make Greylords more appealing if you wanted to take them. Power Booster is a big plus, so he can help Warjacks that arent his own. In fact, i probably wouldnt bother giving him a jack, just use him to support his warcasters jacks. Add in the odd Frostbite and Ice Cage, and he could be a big help to your army. and 2 points is a steal. Gone from a B to a B+.

Manhunters: One of my favourite solos, Manhunters are mobile and very strong. Work well with eVlad's feat, and have a vicious charge. They are pretty much unchanged from MK1 (though a little more expensive relatively) Still a solid A solo.

Drakhun: Much shock was had when he first came out, as expensive as the Zerker - and not even as good! Hes gotten a little cheaper and retained Combat rider now, but suffers from no Flying Steel. The blade is POW14 now, with weapon master, but thats 5 PC for one powerful long range attack. Im not convinced yet, but this may be the answer to the <7 PC heavy hitter option. Since Zerkers are meh. Gone from an A+ to a A-.

Kovnik: Totally stole the Koldun Lords thunder with the Drive: Boosted attack rolls. This makes him quite good with such jacks as the Zerker (probably the only time i could justify using one, even though, why wouldnt i just marshal a Juggy for 1 point more?) or Kodiak. Apart from that, he can slam and has a MAT8 P+S15 weapon master axe. This is pretty good, even if it is only one attack. The lack of Assault or Backswing doesnt quite make him A+ material, so i think hes probably a good balanced, heavy model suited to a MoW style army. Boosting his speed is pretty important though, since his melee threat is a pitiful 7.5" Better than he used to be anyway. Gone from a B model to an A- model.

Fenris: Hes as expensive as the Drakhun, and trades survivability for damage potential and speed. He doesnt seem overly different from MK1 - and ill have to use him more, to get a better feel for him. Im going to give an uneducated guess as about as good as the Drakhun. Giving him an A-.

Kovnik Joe: Well, he was totally ridiculous in the FT. double shots to an entire squad of winterguard?? this .. is .. madness! well, hes changed a bit, lost the double shot speech and gained a auto boost to attacks speech. which could actually be better in some cases. Im not really seeing any other differences, the bears strength speech dropped a little (i believe) but i dont see why i would use that over the auto-boost or tough speeches anyway. (i guess against enemy heavies/terminus camping armour?) Was always an auto-include for me with WG, so still an A solo (only with Winterguard)

Markov: Cheaper than the other two Cav solos, Fenris and Drakhun, and i think he is comparable to them. Certainly hes the Kovnik Joe of the Uhlans, if your taking them now you should really have Markov as well due to the Elite Cadre and Inspiration. Since very few things are fearless now, this makes them much better. Does increase the cost of Uhlans QUITE a lot, which are expensive enough as it is. A powerful attack with the Warhead explosion, but risky since it will knock down your models as well. I think hes a good solo, and definitely one to take with Uhlans. A with Uhlans, B+ without.

Yuri the Axe: A great trooper in any normal MK1 game, the main reason he was taken was to bring in the extra manhunter. Treewalker is helpful, but relatively situational. Yuri may or may not make Kossites ok as well. Might have to proxy and see... Thresher replaces Flying steel, which i dont mind too much. Thresher at MAT8 is pretty damn handy, but it does change his role quite significantly - he used to be anti-solo/warjack and now he is more anti troops. Still good, like a more expensive manhunter with about the same damage output. A- (compared to cost of a manhunter)

Current Rankings:

A: Markov (w/ Uhlans), Kovnik Joe (w/WG), Manhunter,
A-: Yuri the Axe, Fenris, MoW Kovnik, Drakhun,
B+: Koldun Lord, Wardog

As you can see, i think the Khador solos are strong, and have a good place in most lists. None of them have been horribly nerfed, and all are effective with support/good oppurtunities and stuff.

NB:

Because i forgot about the Kayazy Assasins in the Unit post, ill just put them in here as a footnote:

Kayazy Assassins + UA: The only stealth unit that Khador has, they do fill a niche role. They are expensive though, and have a low survivability rate compared to similar priced units like the IFP. They lost Ventilate, probably the best anti-troop ability ever, and one that killed many a Thagrosh and Butcher. With Kill Stroke you couldnt really do much about it either. They now have Gang instead, and while not as good does make them MAT9 when doubling up. Which is impressive. Ill probably use them for a little while, to see what i can do with them. I still think they were nerfed, but time will tell... Gone from an A+ to a B+.

Khador Unit Analysis for MK2 Final:

All my personal opinions here

General rule: A+ or higher is overpowered, B- or lower could be improved and i would be happy. Happy medium is B+ to A for all models.

Ironfang Pikemen + UA: These guys are practically unchanged, with one important difference - the lose of +2" of threat range with the change to their charge order, which now makes them Pathfinder instead. This takes them down to 11" of pathfinder threat instead of 13" semi-pathfinder threat, but i suppose they were seen as pretty godly compared to all other infantry. Still a fantastic unit. Gone from A+ to A.

Great Bears of Gallowswood: In MK1 these guys were brutal to the point of utter ridiculousness. In one game, they single-handedly killed 2 Carniveans. Unsupported. With 13" threat range. And were difficult to kill in retaliation, more so than said Carniveans. Their defensive abilities have been toned down, they have less health and less armour, and their attacking range is lessened, but they still have 6 weapon master MAT8 attacks. Gone from A++ to A.

Iron Fang Uhlans: By themselves, they are an expensive unit of guys that can be killed relatively easily. They do have a large threat range, with a massive hit on the end of it, but are not very effective after they charge. They did get combat rider back though, which is cool. Looks like Markov helps them out significantly, and is almost required to get the most out of the Uhlans. They do have relentless charge though, (cant remember if they had furious charge in MK1 or not?) so cant get bogged down by stuff like Inhospitable Ground. Gone from an A unit to a B+ unit... though im not sure on this yet, depends how good Markov synergises with them.

Shocktroopers: These are some of the most characterful units in Khador, but they do lack the killing power their comrades in the Demo Corps have. Shield Wall + 8 life each is pretty hardy however. They missed out on assault, but got cheaper in the transition between MK1 and MK2. The unit of 5 is the same cost as a Devastator though... so im wondering if i want to go for heavy armour who i would pull out first. Gone from B- to B.

Winterguard Infantry + UA + WA: Wow - Winterguard are significantly better than they were in MK1. Although they are largely an expensive undertaking once you spend all the necessary points, they form a solid unit of heavy hitters (with the right support) and decent defence (with the right support). eSorcha looks like a lot of fun with 1 or more units of Winterguard. The rocketeers lost Brutal Shot, which is pretty disapointing, but its still an AOE3 weapon with POW12. So good for deviating over high DEF stuff. Not as fantastic as in the field test, but still good. Grape Shot is cool with the UA, since sprays now ignore stealth. An awesome toolbox unit, with Kovnik Joe supporting them and an Iron Flesh/Fury/Battle Lust here and there could perform wonders. Gone from a B- unit to an A unit.

Field Gun: RAT7, RNG16, POW14 - this is not a bad gun, except for the light artillery part. The critical knockdown is unlikely to happen, but would be good against heavies. Has a utility feel to it, that the mortar does not. Cheap as well, but doesnt help much with synergy in other parts of the army. A khador ranged army could use a couple of these to compliment 2 Mortars for long distance death. Better than in MK1 anyway. Gone from a C unit to a B unit.

Mortar: The be-all and end-all of light artillery, its now gone up in cost (relatively) more than double from MK1. This is because it is so damn good. The amount of support that can be given to the mortar is what makes it so good, its POW8 blast rolls are deadly when combined with Butchers feat, Vlad's S+P and its low accuracy is helped with Sorchas feat and the amount of freezing stuff that khador can do. Gone from a A++ unit to an A unit.

Assault Kommandos: The jurys out!! Ive always wanted these guys, and never got them as they seemed too lackluster. They are still expensive for what they do, but with the fixed assault and battery order they may be more effective. You could have half of them fire gas grenades then charge into melee and the other half fire their carbines then charge into melee. They did seem to lose thier double tap ability, which i always thought was cool. The new warcaster for Khador implies it might be good for these guys as well.... Gone from a C unit to a B unit.

Battle Mechaniks: looks like everyone going on about how good these guys were has led to them getting nerfed. *angry face* i really loved the 1PC mechaniks, but they may have been a little much. Mechaniks got buffed so much in the FT that every army should have taken them, even if you werent running any jacks!!! ok maybe not. but they are still really cheap, even at 2 PC. The points are adjusted correctly now too, as 4 models for 2 points and 6 for 3 points is much more logical than 4 models for 1 point and 6 for 2 points. They actually might survive something as well while they are in B2B with a warjack! Gone from a C- unit to a A++ unit to now an A unit.

Doom Reavers: These guys dropped in cost quite a lot relatively, they used to cost almost an entire unit of tricked out WG, now they are as cheap as a Berzerker Warjack. These guys are total glass cannons, doing huge amounts of damage but being really easy to kill - except with spells. Id like to try them out with Vlad, and Butcher, but ill need to pick up some of the models first. They are looking more appealing to me now, but not an autoinclude. Because they got cheaper, i think they were improved. Gone from a B- unit to a B unit.

Greylords: Still a bit on the expensive side, they are fantastic support units. Ice Cage is one of the best debuffs out - but since you can shake it off jacks and (assumedly) beasts now as well its probably not worth trying to Ice Cage things to take them out of the game. Sprays are great, and they will be effective after a charge because of the Koldun lord getting battle Wizard back. Their best use will be to blizzard friendly models though. Gone from an A unit to a B unit.

Kossite Woodsmen: Hmm privateer seem to not want me to buy this unit. Its been sitting at my LGS... and ive been tempted multiple times, but i just cant do it. They lost the +2 on ambush attacks, but gained Reform and camoflage (which seems a bit pointless to reform, what? to engage some more long gunners? who will then kill you with your DEF12 ARM10?) they do have MAT5... and RAT4, so will be hitting Khador jacks on average rolls. And maybe the Cygnar heavies. I suppose with the back strike bonus you could have a good shot at stuff like Choirs + Vassals + Greylords, but chances are the 4 PC unit of woodsmen will have cost more than what you tried to kill :S Still pretty much a C unit.

Widowmakers: They havent changed much, they are a simple unit with a simple job and although that job itself has become less effective (because you can auto-promote unit leaders back again) they are still a useful skirmishing unit. Gone from an A unit to a B+ unit.

Demo Corp: Pretty much the same, except that their relative price has increased. While being harder to kill than most heavy offensive infantry, they still die like flies to boosted POW12s. Which seem quite common. Ive very rarely had a Demo Corp survive an attack, as anything worth hitting them with kills them. Still, they are an effective hammer and will smash apart most heavies on the charge, and are very good at taking out troops as well with MAT7. Gone from an A unit to a B+ unit.

Current Rankings:

A: Mechaniks, Mortar, Winterguard, IFP, Great Bears,
B+: Widowmakers, IFU, Demo Corps,
B: Greylords, Doom Reavers, Assault Kommandos, Field Gun, Shocktroopers
C: Kossite Woodsmen

Khador Warjack Analysis for MK2 Final:

All my personal opinions here

General rule: A+ or higher is overpowered, B- or lower could be improved and i would be happy. Happy medium is B+ to A for all models.

Berzerker: Still doesnt have Berzerk, so im a bit dissapointed there. DEF buffed up to 11, which i personally think is pointless, if anything is going to hit a Berzerker its going to hit it. DEF11 wont help. Aggressive makes it able to run for free as well as charge, yay... im still a little underwhelmed. Zerkers also only cost 1 PC less than a Juggernaut. Gone from being only good with Karchev and pVlad, to no good with any caster. Possibly may have use as a marshalled jack with the MOW Kovnik. Gone from a B jack to a C jack.

Destroyer: Point cost dropped to 9, at the cost of 1 P+S on his axe. Which is great. Still a mighty jack, with one of the best ranged weapons in the game. High ARM, Khador damage grid, powerful weapons for a moderate cost. Its awesome! With the point reduction, it hasnt changed from an A jack.

Devastator: No changes, and is 9 PC as well like the Destroyer. This is what the changes should have done, created interesting choices like this one. Devastator or Destroyer? THEY ARE BOTH GOOD! ARM 25 is fantastic, and the Rain of Death is a great attack. Looks like this may be a tie. An A jack, hasnt really changed.

Juggernaut: PC 7, is a bargain for such a workhorse. Same advantages of other Khador jacks, high ARM and hard to kill with a powerful weapon, it benefits from the increased pow of open fists as well. Pretty much the best straight forward jack in the game, without any specials. Gone from a B- jack to an A jack.

Kodiak: Lots of changes for the Kodiak, losing its chain attack and Trash on the fists. Gained a massive POW boost, to POW16 fists, and the smash and grab chain attack, giving it some fantastic options like a two handed throw after its first two hits. Much more like a massive bear of a jack than before. Still have Heavy Boiler/Vent Steam and Pathfinder, making it focus efficient and flexible. It used to be a bit weak, but now its a beauty. Also only one point more than the Juggy. Gone from a B- jack to an A jack.

Marauder: A great jack, with a powerful attack. Its an alternate weapon system to the juggy, being the same price. It gains flexibility and loses pure damage output. The combosmite is a cool attack, that can be used to take out troops or other heavies with its collateral damage. eVlad's Assail would work especially well here. Problem is its vulnerability, if one of the arms goes down then it loses the combo strike. Gone from a C jack to a B+ jack.

Spriggan: Gained Bulldoze.. for some reason! Still an expensive jack, but with a Reach POW18 weapon its pretty good value, especially with the powerful charge. Has some utility with the grenade launchers, but is probably *sligggghtly* overpriced compared to the Devastator and the Destroyer. Beast 09 is still better than it. Gone from a B- jack to a B+ jack.

Beast 09: Ahh, probably the best jack in the game in MK1, his cost has increased and hes lost some of his abilities. Still good though, because of the imprint: Murderous which absolutely murders infantry and warcasters/warjacks. At MAT7 with the imprint hes hitting pMorghoul on average rolls with a P+S19 reach + crit freeze attack. It doesnt get much better than that. He has excellent anti-troop skills and anti-heavy skills. The loss of the headbutt is mitigated by the increase in POW the fist got. eSorcha with Beast 09 is looking to be a nice combo... Gone from an A++ Jack to an A jack.

Behemoth: The epitome of Khador technology. This massive monstrosity had about a million special rules, most of which have been cut out. Unfortunately, some of the flavour has been cut out too. Now, the only special thing about him apart from his even higher armour and damage boxes than other Khador jacks is his weapon loadout. Boasting 4 weapons, two powerful ranged ones, and the best melee weapons in Khador (except for the Ice Axe - in some situations) hes a monster. Extremely expensive as well, but worth it most of the time in big enough games. He hasnt changed significantly in the transition from MK1 -> Mk2. Still an A jack.

Drago: He who used to be my favourite jack of all time, has been cut down to size. Hes now only 8 PC, but his damage output has been seriously hampered. Much of the same comments as to a Zerker apply to Drago - his imprint is useless, and the only other difference now is +2 MAT and a slightly better chain attack. The loss of Berzerk hurts the most, and the -1 POW on the axes hurts Drago much more than it does the Destroyer. (why couldnt he have had twin Ice Axes??) I would normally have taken this every time with either Vlad and most of the time with Karchev but now i definitely wouldnt. Sometimes with pVlad, and thats about it. Gone from an A jack to a B- jack.

Warjack Summary:


A: Behemoth, Beast 09, Kodiak, Juggernaut, Devastator, Destroyer
B+: Spriggan, Marauder
B-: Drago
C: Berzerker

As you can see, i think the majority of our jacks are looking great in MK2. Only exceptions being Zerker and Drago.

Khador Warcaster Analysis for MK2 final:

All my personal opinions here

General rule: A+ or higher is overpowered, B- or lower could be improved and i would be happy. Happy medium is B+ to A for all models.

Warcasters:

pSorcha: Overall, she got toned down a bit in MK2. Her Feat is counter-able with enough focus to shake-off effects, though non-warjacks and non-warcasters are still vulnerable. Boundless charge getting cheaper is nice, but Windrush only giving +2 DEF now hurts. Gone from an A 'caster to a B 'caster.

eSorcha: Exciting! I think she has got some interesting new things to play with, and im looking forward to using her. Desperate Pace looks good on any turn Sorcha wont be attacking herself, to get some extra range on those short-ranged guns of the Winterguard. Combined Arms is really cool, seems pointless for using it on massive CRA's as usually you will be hitting on anything but snake-eyes anyway, but doubling up attacks to get RAT7 POW14's with a rerollable to hit is great, especially when you could get up to 6 of them and one RAT8 POW15. With Kovnik Joe helping out with his auto-boost to hit, you will be hitting DEF16 Warlocks and Warcasters eeeeasy. Iron Flesh is cool, im glad shes got it as this on of the better "faction" spells. Cyclone looks like it only hits models that are in range when she finishes her movement, rather than all models in her entire movement? Multifire is cool, good to use on turns your not charging or Desperate Pacing. Gone from a B- caster to a B+/A caster.

pButcher: Hmm. I never disliked Butcher, and always enjoyed Killing Blow. This is gone, and was for a while replaced with Warmonger, which made him AWESOME. This is also now gone, replaced with Full Throttle. Which, i dont actually mind too much. Warmonger was brutal, but made Butcher very ranged oriented. Now hes more melee oriented again. Only '???' thing is Obliteration - really? Why? I think this will very rarely get used. If the enemy is 15" away, and Knocked Down/Stationary, its a good option, but apart from that one situation and trying to get deviations on low ARM troops its not very useful. Also - Full Throttle also gives Butcher boosted attack rolls, which is cool. Gone from a B caster to a B+ caster.

eButcher: Ive rarely used him, usually going with eVlad or eSorcha for 750, but he looks interesting now. His feat still is pretty confusing, but powerful if you get lucky with kills. Ravager and Eliminator dont seem very useful in his spell list, but Fury and Boundless Charge are nice. Although his ability to give free charges to warjacks is better than Boundless Charging them. The rest of his abilities seem the same, homicidal maniac etc. B- caster, hasnt really changed for me.

pVlad: Wow, hes changed quite significantly. Biggest change easily is both S+P and BoK being 4 focus. So you cant cast both in one activation. This is a good change, as it SHOULD stop the unimaginable whining about him. I dont think it will detract from his gameplay very much. When i played him, i usually either went BoK and charged in for some melee using the remaining focus for boosts/extra attacks, or sat him back and S+P while giving focus out to his warjacks OR putting up BoK to give him extra defence. Blood Boon is cool, but not as good since S+P is now 4 focus. Most often i would probably just cast Windwall with my free spell, to add to his protection. (after casting BoK and charging) His feat is good, since jacks can now charge/run for free. (personal anecdote: once i popped his feat and ran with 2 of my zerkers giving them 1 focus each - both blew up when i rolled 1's for both of their unstables :<) Gone from A+ caster to A caster)

eVlad: Well, obviously his feat was nerfed pretty hard from MK1. Mainly no longer boosted attack and damage rolls and an extra attack. Its still brutal though, combined with some of the power solos Khador has. Apart from that, hes almost exactly the same. No different where it counts anyway. Gone from an A++ caster to a A caster)

pIrusk: One cool change i noticed, his feat now gives his troops "Steady", or no Knockdown. This is a nice little bonus! Apart from that, he is functionally pretty much the same. He was always good, and i think they have reinforced that for MK2. B+ caster, no real change.

eIrusk: Pretty much the same thing as pIrusk, a solid caster to begin with, theres one change that ive picked up, losing Full Throttle (obviously he decided to give it to pButcher) and gained a spell called Energizer. Which is 3 focus for +3" movement for all jacks. Pretty situational, probably only going to be used for that one time you REALLY need all the movement you can get. Hes still a 1-2 Jack guy for me. B+ caster, no real change.

Karchev: Well, hes gone quite up and down. Dropped a point of armour, but is able to camp it now which i think is huge, having a ARM25 Karchev with 34 boxes is pretty cool. Fissure is changed to a ranged attack with SP10 (pretty cool, specially since it ignores stealth now) but with RAT5 is pretty hard to hit anything other than a heavy. He loses Iron Curtain, which was a good spell and replaces it with Ground Zero - situational, but one that could be really cool. Would scare off infantry swarms anyway, as it would be instant death to infantry running to engage him. Apart from that, he really plays the same, which is powerful, but vulnerable. Gone from a B- caster to a B caster.

Old Witch: Ahh... well shes taken quite a beating with the nerf bat. Maybe too much. She was all about the control and the tricks, which is very different to Khadors normal strategy. Her feat is way lamer, as before it could stop a lot of assassinations while holding everything in place. Now all the enemy needs to do is walk out of her control range. If they are engaged, just stay still and beat whatever they are engaged with. No combinations will help it out either. Unseen path took a hit as well, since you cant advance after moving. Scrapjack did get reach though, which is cool, he can kill units easier, but the whole feat/UP nerf limits her effectiveness. Gone from an A caster to a B- caster.

Zerkova: Man, she reaaaly wants an arcnode. That would be just awesome. Even something like Vayl's mini arcnode... anyway, she did get better in this edition, mostly with the addition of Razorwind. Which is great, makes her a much better assassin. Twister is cool, it can be cast 4 times and leave 4 3" AOE cloud effects in the field. Problem is, they will be deviating all over the place, and hard to get right. Looks interesting, and i would consider using her now. Gone from a C caster to a B caster. Thats the Warcasters - ill comment on my thoughts about the other Jacks/Units in later posts..

Current Rankings: (according to me)

A: eVlad, pVlad, eSorcha
B+: eIrusk, pIrusk, pButcher
B: Zerkova, Karchev the Terrible, pSorcha
B-: Old Witch, eButcher

MARK 2 OFFICIAL RULES ARE OUT!

Woohoo, head over to the PP website and download the new rules if you havent done so already, theres tonnes of changes and its looking very interesting... im writing up a review of it atm for the forums, so will post it here as well :D

Two words - Kommander Strakhov

OMFG.

This. Is. AWESOME.

If i didnt love Khador before, now I want to marry it and have its babies.

Arena Combat On Friday - Some New Mods To The Battle As Well!

By the way - im too lazy to put the photos up the right way. Apologies!!

Brief Overview with Pics:

The first game I used the Old Witch + Scrapjack + Berzerker, facing off against the Butcher and a Destroyer. This game I realised just how hard it is for the Old Witch to assassinate a 'Caster. I managed to win this one by default, using a last turn charge from the Scrapjack to throw a couple of points of damage on the Butcher, and the Old Witch escaped damage the next round for a win.

Old Witch versus the Butcher!

This was an interesting game - 2v2, each player controlling one Warcaster or Warlock. Rules were - Warlocks Fury stat became a Focus stat, giving them full regeneration of it each round, and any unspent Fury gives +1 ARM. This particular game my Butcher teamed up with Stuarts Butcher, fighting Toby's Kaelyssa and Raymonds Thagrosh. My Butcher advanced - and Kaelyssa blew him up with her Runespear Cannon (btw, this is an amazingly good weapon). Then, I realised Butcher was within 10" of Kaelyssa. Which resulted in one dead Kaelyssa. However, Thagrosh's Countercharge ripped my Butcher in half, and then the second Butcher advanced and chopped Thagrosh in half. A great game, and an interesting battle mode.

1 of 2 - Two Warcaster/Warlock battle, with no Beasts or Jacks! The Butchers are looking particularly insane this morning.

2 of 2 - Two Warcaster/Warlock battle, with no Beasts or Jacks! Thaggy just killed my Butcher, but unfortunately for him the next Butcher is right around the corner.

This game was another very interesting one, 2v2 again, but with Warjacks and Warbeasts as well. It was Irusk + Marauder and Lylyth + Angelius vs Butcher + Destroyer and Sorcha + Juggernaut. It was a great match, with Lylyth, Irusk and the Marauder killing the Juggernaut and the Angelius scaring Butcher off so much that he didnt advance. Irusk made a mistake (my bad) and advanced too far forward to shoot the Juggernaut, and Sorcha charged him! Due to some spectactulary bad to-hit rolls, Irusk survived with 3 hp remaining. Irusk then killed Sorcha, and her Juggernaut went inert. Just then, the Angelius moved into contact with Butcher and ripped him to shreds with its Pelvic Thrust (tm) attack.

1 of 3 - Two Player Arena Grudgematch! The initial set-up looking scary.

1 of 3 - Two Player Arena Grudgematch! Irusk and Lylyth advance into cover, while the Angelius is sitting in threat range.

1 of 3 - Two Player Arena Grudgematch! Irusk only just survives, and the Butcher fatally advances into range of the Angelius!

Top 10 Rankings this week:

1) Toshi's Butcher
2) Toshi's Vlad
3) Toshi's Irusk
4) Raymond's Lylyth (up)
5) Toshi's Karchev (down)
6) Toshi's Old Witch (up)
7) Toby's Vlad (up)
8) Raymond's Thagrosh
9) Toby's Butcher (down)
10) Stuart's Skarre (up)

7 Khador, 2 Everblight and 1 Cryx casters in the top 10!

Arena Combat Night!

An impressive 6 games were had tonight, 2 of them being the Oddball mod developed by Toby and 4 of them being standard Arena matches.

We had some new players, Scott using a Cryx army and Stuart borrowing some Khador.

Matches went as follows:

My Vlad won against Toby's Old Witch;
Toby's Sorcha won against Scott's Goreshade;
My Butcher won against Stuart's Butcher;
My Butcher won twice in a row against Toby's Vlad;
and last game Stuart's Butcher won against Toby's Sorcha.

Good times had by all, and we may have even recruited a couple more people into playing Warmachine!

The Oddball in the middle! Who will get to it first?

Looks like the Old Witch wants a piece of Vlad...

Look at that suspenseful positioning...

Old Witch and Scrapjack try to kill Vlad! And fail miserably.

Final Top 10 Rankings tonight are:

1) Toshi's Butcher
2) Toshi's Vlad
3) Toshi's Irusk
4) Toshi's Karchev
5) Raymond's Lylyth
6) Stuart's Butcher
7) Toby's Butcher
8) Raymond's Thagrosh
9) Toby's Vlad
10) Toby's Sorcha

Khador holding 8 out of the 10 top slots!

Arena Game on Vassal

Using the Arena rules that precede this post, I played a game against Toby online using Vassal.

Vlad + Drago vs Old Witch + Scrapjack + Berzerker

Long story short - Old Witch charged Drago, and failed to kill him. A mightily pissed off Drago turns around with 3 Focus and Signs and Portents.

Kills Old Witch in one hit.

WARMACHINE: Arena Combat Part 3

BRUTAL GLADIATOR POINTS:

Brutal Gladiator Points are awarded for extreme violence in the arena, and are a bonus both in the individual arena matches and the overall arena season. Brutal Gladiator points are given for certain achievements – and are marked by a token next to the Warlock or Warcaster that won them. On the maintenance phase after the Warlock or Warcaster has earnt the point, after reaving fury and gathering focus, they gain one bonus Fury or Focus over their normal limit.

This does not increase their control area. It may be spent just like any other Fury or Focus point. Any Brutal Gladiator points gained by Warbeasts/Warlocks go to their controller.

Brutal Gladiator Achievements:

- Brutal Damage: Causing 20 or more points of damage in a single hit, be it a melee, ranged, magical or power attack. (ie, pButcher roll POW24+5D6 for massive damage)

- Brutal Slayer: Killing a model in one attack from full health. (only Warbeasts/Warjacks and Warlocks/Warcasters are counted)

- The Impaler: Killing the opposing Warcaster/Warlock by impaling them on a Spiky Wall (the final point of damage is caused from a Spiky Wall collateral damage roll)

- Curb Stomper: Killing the opposing Warcaster/Warlock by using the Power Attack: Stomp.

- Sudden Death: Winning the game with one health remaining on your Warcaster/Warlock. (does not count if the Warlock cut themselves to reduce to 1hp)

- Long Distance Thrower: Throwing an enemy model more than 6” into another enemy model.

- First Blood! : The first team to do damage to the enemy.

- Sacrificial Lamb: Transfer enough damage to kill your Warbeast and then go on to win the match.

- Number of the Beast: Roll 3+ 6’s in any attack or damage roll.

Brutal Gladiator Points:

Each team accrues the Brutal Gladiator Points they gained in battles – when they have enough, they unlock perks for their team that are used in each game from then on. Brutal Gladiator Points don’t get used up outside of the arena, and are used to differentiate the most successful teams.

20 Gladiator Points: Warjack/Warbeast Bond – The Warcaster or Warlock has developed an intimate bond to their Warjack or Warbeast, in the case of a Warjack it may now be assigned up to 4 focus from the normal 3 focus, and in the case of a Warbeast both its Fury stat and its Threshold stat increase by 1.

40 Gladiator Points: Martial Coordination – The Warcaster or Warlock has enhanced their unique bond to their Beast/Jack, and it has picked up some of its controllers Martial Instincts. All Beasts/Jacks taken with this Warcaster/Warlock increase their MAT and RAT by 1 – with a maximum of their controllers MAT and RAT. (ie, Vlad has MAT7, so a Warjack could not be MAT8 with Martial Coordination)

60 Gladiator Points: Empathic Responses – The Warcaster and Warlock have become very protective of each other, and this has enhanced their defensive strategies. Warlocks can now transfer damage to their Warbeast, even if they are maxed out on Fury or have their Spirit Aspect lost. Warcasters in base-to-base contact with their Warjack may spend one focus point to transfer a successful damage roll to their Warjack instead of taking it themselves.

WARMACHINE: Arena Combat Part 2

Arena Format and Hazards:

The Arena is an Octagon approximately 22” in length. The two back walls are where the models are placed, and they must start with their bases touching the back walls.

Roll for Hazard placement, by rolling a D2 each. (1-3 = 1, 4-6 = 2) This is how many hazards you may place, which can be any combination of Deployable Cover (maximum 2 pieces total), Spiky Walls (maximum 3 pieces total). Roll for Initiative as per normal and the winner chooses whether to place hazards, deploy and start play first or not.

The Arena is a very hazardous place to be battling, and can have many varied traps and dangers.

Walls: The walls are made of solid, 3 foot thick Iron and cannot be penetrated by the weapons that the participants have. Knobbly in texture, they are dangerous to be pushed up against due to the rough nature of them. If a model is thrown, slammed, pushed or otherwise moved against its will into the walls, they will suffer an unboostable collateral damage roll at +2 to the STR value of whatever pushed them into the wall. (ie, a Juggernaut (STR12) slams its opponent into a wall, the opponent takes a POW12 (boostable) from the slam, and then if they hit the wall they take a POW14 (unboostable) from hitting the wall. Models crushed into the wall take a STR+2 (unboostable) damage roll from the wall, with the additional dice of damage.

For example – A Juggernaut slams an Ironclad over Stryker into a wall. The Juggernaut rolls a 6, and moves 8” into the wall (D6+2). The Ironclad takes a POW12+2D6 from the Slam, and a POW14+2D6 from hitting the wall. Stryker is CRUSHED in between the wall and the Ironclad, and takes a POW14+3D6.

Spike Walls: Some of the walls may be Spiky Walls if chosen by the arena participants. These walls are covered with deadly iron spikes, sharpened to a fine point. They are strong enough to penetrate Warjack armour, and make mincemeat out of soft flesh. Spiky Walls cannot be the original two back walls where people start. Clever opponents will throw or Slam opponents onto these spikes for grievous damage!

A model slammed, pushed, thrown or otherwise moved into contact with these spiky walls involuntarily suffers a massive amount of damage. Spiky Walls inflict an unboostable collateral damage roll at +4 to the STR value of whatever pushed them into the wall as well as an additional dice of damage. They will also suffer from WOUNDED. WOUNDED is a continuous effect that is similar to corrosion – except that it increases by +1 each round it doesn’t expire.
Models crushed into the wall take a STR+4 (unboostable) damage roll from the wall, with 2 additional dice of damage, as well as suffering from WOUNDED.

For example – A Juggernaut slams an Ironclad over Stryker into a wall. The Juggernaut rolls a 3 and moves 5” into the wall (D6+2). The Ironclad takes a POW12+2D6 from the Slam, and a POW16+3D6 from hitting the wall. Stryker is CRUSHED in between the wall and the Ironclad, and takes a POW16+4D6. Both the Ironclad and Stryker suffer from WOUNDED.
Deployable Cover: A player may put down one piece of cover as part of their hazard deployment, this must be placed in one of the ‘cover spots’, and acts like an obstacle for the game. (Assumed to be as high as the arena, cannot fly over it, move over it with Pathfinder/All Terrain) It grants the standard +4 DEF if benefitting from Cover.

New Power Attacks:

Body Slam: The Warjack or Warbeast grabs the enemy, lifting them above their head before slamming them back down into the ground, causing massive damage to them and anyone they land on.

A Warjack or Warbeast with at least one Open Fist may make a Body Slam Power Attack by spending one focus or forcing them to. Make one attack roll at -4 to hit the enemy model. If the Warjack or Warbeast moved 3” or more, reduce the penalty by 2. If the Warjack or Warbeast has 2 Open Fists reduce the penalty by 2. (So, a Warjack who moved 3” and had two open fists would make a normal, unreduced attack roll). If the Body Slam attack hits, the model targeted takes a POW equal to the STR of the attacker, which may be boosted. Once the damage is resolved, you may place the targeted model anywhere as long as its new position is within .5” melee range of the attacking model and in its front arc. If there was a model in this new position, it is moved directly away from the attacker until there is room for the Body Slammed model.

Any model that has to be moved as a result of this attack is CRUSHED by the Body Slammed model and must take a collateral damage roll equal to the STR of the attacker plus an additional die. This damage roll MAY be boosted. Also, all models hit by the Body Slam Power Attack are knocked down. The Power Attacking model may boost/be forced to make additional melee attacks.

Stomp: The Warjack or Warbeast lifts its massive bulk and brings it down with all its force, crushing a prone enemy against the ground.

A Warjack or Warbeast that is not Serpentine may make a Stomp Power Attack by spending one focus or forcing them to. You may only target a knocked down or Stationary enemy. This attack automatically hits, and inflicts a damage roll equal to the STR of the beast/jack making the attack multiplied by 2. (A Juggernaut Stomping would be POW24 – STRx2) This attack gains an additional dice of damage, and may be boosted. The Warjack or Warbeast may boost/force for additional attacks.

WARMACHINE: Arena Combat

Some of you may have seen the pic's I put up of the Warmachine Arena games we had last night... So I will publish the rules for this mod of Warmachine as well. These arent final, and any suggestions will be appreciated!!

WARMACHINE ARENA COMBAT

Army Composition:

Each army must consist of a maximum of 2 models – One Warlock/Warcaster and One Warbeast/Warjack of the same Faction. The combined points cost of the army cannot exceed 200 points.
Eg, pVlad + Spriggan = 208 points so not allowed. pVlad + Drago = 169 points, so is fine.

Army Combat Rules:

Combat rules are essentially the same as the normal MKII Warmachine Rules, however all models use their respective MK1 cards. A few points of difference is:
- No feats are allowed in WARMACHINE: Arena.
- No advanced deployment in WARMACHINE: Arena.
- Games will end after 6 turns each, with the Warcaster/Warlock who has taken the least amount of damage winning, if both Warcasters or Warlocks have the same amount of damage taken after 6 turns the result is a Draw.

- At the start of the Maintenance phase, Warlocks may leach up to half of their fury stat from themselves for free, before leaching the remaining fury from their Warbeast. E.g, Kaya + Argus with 3 fury on it, Kaya may leach 3 fury for free from herself (6 fury caster divided by 2) and then may leach 3 from the Argus so she has 6 total and the Argus 0. Alternatively, if her Warpwolf has 4 fury she may leach 2 for free from herself (as it is up to half her fury stat) and the remaining 4 from the Warpwolf.

- Power Attack Throw, Double Handed Throw, and Slam roll their Collateral Damage differently to the usual way it is done in Warmachine. In Warmachine, when a Throw, 2H Throw or Slam is successful the target takes a POW = STR of the model performing the attack which can be boosted, if the target hits an obstacle or an equal sized model it takes an additional dice of damage from the Collateral Damage. To make Collateral Damage a more lucrative option, instead of this the target takes a POW = STR of the model performing the attack, which can be boosted. If the thrown/slammed model hits something that will cause it Collateral Damage, make an additional roll equal to the STR of the throwing model, plus any modifiers based on the surface that it impacted on. This second, Collateral Damage roll, cannot be boosted but may benefit from other effects.

- Crushing is when a smaller based model is in between a model being slammed into an obstacle or a equal or larger sized based model. (ie, Vlad is in between a wall and a Juggernaut being slammed over top of him into the wall – Vlad is crushed between the Juggy and the wall.) Crushing takes a Collateral Damage roll = STR of the attacking model plus an additional dice of damage, plus any other effects from either the attacking model OR the surface which the crushed model is impacted against. Move both the crushed model and the slammed model against the wall, directly towards it.

- Power Attack Throw, Double Handed Throw, and Slam are further boosted, and all distances rolled or derived from these attacks are increased by +2”.

- New Power Attacks: These Power Attacks can be used just like normal Power Attacks, and will be listed in a later section as to their specific effects; Body Slam + Stomp.

Arena 2

Vladimir the Dark Prince takes on Toby's Butcher and a Juggernaut - this game ends when the Butcher makes a fatal mistake. He gets within 12" of Vlad.

Toby's Butcher is currently rank 7 in the Arena!

Arena

Vladimir, the Dark Prince and his personal Warjack Drago put down Goreshade and his pet Slayer.

(My) Vladimir is currently 4th place in the arena ranking!

Cryx vs Legion!!

No pics unfortunately - this was a (relatively) quick game on Wednesday night, a bit of testing out my new "Lord of the Undead" powers.

I was playing against Raymonds Legion, his entire army (which was basically a 750 point battle with 2 casters/locks instead of 1) with the usual suspects - 6 Shredders, 2 Harriers, the Carny and a host of other support units, with Lylyth and Thaggy leading the charge.

I used Denny and Gaspy, along with 2 Deathrippers and a Nightwretch, a Harrower and the Cankerworm, with Tartarus + Bane Knights, the Bile Thralls and a few support guys.

We got to around turn 3, and had to call it. During the course of the game id gotten two of my arcnodes killed along with Bane Lord Tartarus (turns out people were right when they said to keep him behind stuff) and a few Biles. Which I had purged all over the place anyway, so they were only kind of casualties.

I killed off practically all the Shredders, a unit of Striders, and a Harrier along with Gudrun. We were just getting to the meat of it as well - but alas, I was not able to put any hurt on the enemy Warlocks and that was about all we did.

Harrowers are COOL. I was loving using mine, the gun and the wicked looking scythe were extremely useful. 10" threat range is great, considering im used to 7.5" threat ranges for Jacks!

Bile Thralls are awesome though, the auto-hit and Corrosion are SO worth popping them like pimples all over the place. Did take me a while to get them all in the right position so I didnt wipe out my own unit at the same time...

Conclusion - Cryx are fantastic, and I might even be able to finish my next game since I wont have to look at all the cards 10x each turn!