If the shiny logo and title didn't give it away, we'll hit up Legion this time around. Note that Legion tends to be a very beast-friendly and beast-loving army, so at first glance you may not be thinking in terms of minions.
Solos of Note: Shepherd and Forsaken
These are two of the reasons that Legion loves it some beast-heavy action. These are wonderful and inexpensive fury management options, both in terms of points and money.
Shepherds bring healing and can add/remove any amount of Fury, plus things in their CMD range can get forced. The downside is that they have to be within 3" of the beasts to use their special actions.
Forsaken are Abominations and thus you have to worry a bit about fearless troops. Additionally, they can only hold up to 5 fury before they're done helping you manage fury. On the other hand, these girls can then use that fury to pop Blight Shroud, which does three things well: 1) kill low-ARM [often high-DEF] infantry, 2) punish beasts running hot, 3) punish camping casters.
Unit of Note: Spawning Vessel
I put this up as a note if you're going to play Farrow. This thing collects corpses and turns three corpse tokens into a lesser warbeast. At 3 points for a full unit (the min unit at 2pts loses out on collection range and speed; not worth it in my book) this isn't a bad idea behind Brigands; Brigands will probably be hunting infantry anyway and there'll be a lotta tokens.
The Warlocks
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight
Abby is primarily a beast caster, between two beast buffs, free upkeeps on her battlegroup, and and her feat that involves healing her beasts up to full. She's an abomination, so bear that in mind for troops. Her feat involves playing for attrition, so I'd consider maybe Bog Trogs (For a flank surprise/herding your enemy into your beasts) or Gators (to fit in with the attrition theme, and Carnivore makes them stupid-accurate against living targets, which helps since beasts are pretty much MAT6).
She doesn't DO a lot for minions, but she doesn't lose out on a lot, either.
Bethayne 'n' Belphagor
This is honestly a pretty solid choice for minion play. She has three unit buffs, all of which work on minions. Ashen Veil is free concealment AND -2 to melee attack rolls against the living. Methinks Gators or even Slaughterhousers could like this for closing in. Blood Thorn hands out continuous corrosion to your weapons, so low-POW infantry (IE: non-charging Brigands and their mighty POW10 guns) can ding up anything they can hit. And of course Carnivore is great for melee against living models.
The feat is only for magic attacks made in-faction, but that's Bethayne, and possibly, um. Black Frost Shard? BFS wouldn't be bad for minions, and does at least work with the feat.
B'n'B is overall very compatible with minions.
Lylyth, Herald of Everblight
Parasite works with anyone, Bad Blood is HILARIOUS against hordes, and Eruption of Spines is theoretically good infantry clearing. On the flip side, Lylyth's feat is faction-specific, and most of the rest of her abilities center around getting her beasts to hit. That being said, even WITH fury-management tools, Lylyth wouldn't mind infantry to do some work for her.
Losing out on the feat isn't necessarily game-breaking, but your minion choices should be self-sufficient.
Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight
As your minions can't Stealth, they're sitting ducks in this army. eLylyth is more about range and attrition, and anything you bring needs to either be out of range or be able to avoid getting hit. Honestly, bringing minions here is anti-synergistic. The best-case scenario involves digging in with Farrow Brigands, but I'd rather run a Legion-pure list and bring either stealth infantry or none at all.
eLylyth isn't a great choice on the basis of list-building issues, as your non-stealth minions are gonna get hung out to dry. MAYBE a unit of Brigands. Maybe.
Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight.
Skip. Her infantry speed buff and feat are faction-specific. You lose out on a couple of big deals here, and I don't think it's worth it.
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
Ah, the toolbox. Her only warning about non-faction stuff comes in Blight Bringer, but that's really going on a harrier or shredder to kill infantry, or to defend a beast from charges (as non-Reach guys ARE gonna die to this). She also comes with a DEF debuff, and Banishing Ward works on infantry as well.
The only warning note is that her feat renders only her battlegroup immune to melee; this is a great time for the enemy to focus on your minions and beat 'em up. Otherwise, there's nothing stopping you from running minions with Saeryn.
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
This guy is honestly pretty minion-friendly; at least he can run a Posse well. Death Shroud is a passive STR debuff with RNG:CMD, and with that and unyielding Gators end up with an effective ARM20 in melee. Fog of War also works for everyone in his control area (everyone, so shooting without Eyeless Sight has to worry about it...).
Draconic Blessing would be nice on an infantry unit, but harder-hitting beasts is seldom a bad thing. Otherwise, his feat is attrition-oriented, and this guy hiding behidn a posse is pretty nasty. He even has the fury to hand out some Tenacity. Yay!
Thagrosh1 is a prime choice for minions.
Thagrosh the Messiah
Oddly enough, this one's not quite as minion-friendly. You lose out on Death Shroud, and a Posse no longer blocks LOS to this guy's large base. The moneymaker, Manifest Destiny, is battlegroup-specific and the ARM buff is faction-specific. The feat is also battlegroup-specific. Honestly, I'd skip this guy with minions.
Vayl, Disciple of Everblight
She's all about a hard-hitting up-front battlegroup. Chiller is a lovely debuff, either on a beast OR on a faction unit to hand it out widely. Pretty much everything else is beast-related on her card.
Frankly, I'd rather pay for a cheap screen, but MAYBE in a large game you could justify a Posse as a screen.
Vayrl, Consul of Everblight
This one's a lot more minion-friendly than her predecessor. You have two movement-shenanigan spells that are faction-specific in Refuge and Admonition, but you also have a DEF debuff and free Stealth, AND purification which is a HUGE HELP.
Your feat lets you purify and re-establish upkeeps, which is nice. Honestly, if you want to make a go of running her with minions you can, but I would consider Spell Martyrs (and the Posse, because it'll survive an Oraculi to the back of the head and being used as an arc node).
Kallus*
Dark Guidance and Unconquerable are faction-specific. You won't cast Dark Guidance that often given the cost (especially if you're upkeeping Ignite, which you should be, and at least that's minion-friendly) even if you have a Succubus to help with that. However, Dark Guidance is kind of your knockout punch spell.
I think you lose out with minions; Gatormen already have unyielding and can use the 'I Eat Living Things' prayer for re-rolls against living models. While Kallus can make gators less pillowfisted (15 vs 13) he'd still probably rather have bodies for that whole feat thing. Farrow completely miss out unless you're using them as feat fodder.
I honestly don't see much point in going with minions with Kallus, as you lose out on Dark Guidance and Unconquerable. Gatormen are a possibility, I suppose, but only because they sort of duplicate what Kallus can already offer.
I'd grab a unit of Swamp Gobbers to give Kallus better than DEF14 and call it.
Overall
Legion has a few solid choices with minions, but you're still probably committing to a couple of heavies and solos. I'd suggest a battlebox and a plastic heavy kit; magnetize both the heavies and order a couple wings and Harrier card and you're in good shape to add warlocks.
Bethayne/Belphagor are solidly compatible and do good things for minions, and pThags can use Gators in a nasty, nasty way. pLylyth, Absylonia, Saeryn, and eVayl can make use of them, but have some issues (well, eVayl is probably the least problematic of these). The others...not so much.
*credit to John Spencer for noticing Kallus' feat isn't faction-specific
4 comments:
Kallus is not as bad as you think with minions. His feat is not faction specific, while Dark Guidance is. Gators with him is not a bad idea, better than the in faction Ogrun.
John, good catch on Kallus' feat. I'd assumed that spawning Incubi would still involve being in-faction, but the feat does get around that.
I've expanded my Kallus section a bit.
Short Version: Kallus can run gators fine, but it's mostly what they already bring to the table. The biggest thing he does for +2 to damage rolls via ignite. You're not really adding anything new, and Legion is likely to use beasts for cracking armor anyway. (Scythean under Dark Guidance with Ignite IS pretty hilarious...)
Another good reason to DQ Kallus for the 'moonlighting' piece: you need to own minimum one box of Incubi models.
I've enjoyed your Moonlighting with Minions write ups and am wondering...where's the Circle article?
This has been a good guide for me as I am expanding into other Hordes through my Minions armies and your write ups have been useful in what directions to go.
Thanks!
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