Abilities and Ways you can Counter Them

This will probably not be exhaustive, but when you get down to it, there are a lot of nasty abilities in WarmaHordes. Part of the game is finding a work-around for them.

The way I see it, there are usually two types of counters to any given ability:

1) Hard Counter

You explicitly deny the enemy the use of their rule, usually with a special rule of your own.

2) Soft Counter

You find a work-around for the problem. Your work-around does not explicitly say 'ability X that I hate does not work' but you nonetheless achieve the desired result. That being said, I'm going to start a rundown of some of the common abilities I know folks hate.

Stealth

Nya! You automatically miss me with your puny ranged attacks over 5" away! Man, is this bloody annoying when you brought a lotta guns to the fight. Suddenly, they're not so useful. What do you do?

Hard Counters

There are a few things that explicitly ignore stealth, among them:

-Eyeless Sight (Legion FTW)

-True Sight

-Spray Attacks (one of the MANY things they ignore...)

Soft Counters

-AoE Attacks work against lower-ARM troops, which are usually the things with stealth. Even a POW7 blast damage roll has a good chance of killing ARM11-13 guys

-Melee doesn't CARE about stealth at all

When you get down to it, the easiest way to soft-counter stealth troops tends to be just lobbing lots of explosives in their general direction. If you didn't bring a lot of guns, then honestly you don't much care about stealth, and it becomes an ability the enemy paid for and isn't using. The problem lies in dealing with high-ARM stealth models; you either need a hard counter or melee as the blast damage won't cut it.

High Defense

Face it, sometimes you'll just run into models that you can't friggin' hit. DEF10-12 models tend to be very easy to hit. DEF 13-14 starts getting rougher and requiring higher-level MAT/RAT. Once you start seeing DEF15-16+, you're running into problems. DEF17 casters simply REQUIRE specialist kit to realiably deal with, assuming a high-end RAT/MAT of 7. Your average 2d6 roll is a 7.5; your average on 3d6 is an 11.5.

The other issue to consider with defense is the source of it. Is it a natural defense? Is it granted by a spell? Is it something that comes from terrain? This also tells you how you counter it.

Hard Counter

-Defensive Debuffs. Not the easiest thing to find outside of Cryx

-Knockdown. You can get knockdown by throwing things at high-def targets, slamming models through them (incluidng your own), or various weapons WITH knockdown effects. You only need one good hit to reduce them to DEF5 versus ranged and bypass an attack roll altogether in melee.

-Stationary. Sorcha's on to something there...

-Sustained attack. Hit a harder-to-hit target with this once, and then you move straight to damage rolls on later attacks. You do have to hit the first time, though, but if you can hit hard enough you tend to do just fine later on. Or, you just buy a bunch of damage rolls and hope the job gets done.

Soft Counter

-AoEs. They don't roll to hit; they roll to damage. If the high-DEF target is within the blast radius for a direct hit on a low-DEF target, then you can solve the problem (especially if you can boost the blast damage on a target with wounds)

-Boosts. Not always the most reliable or available ways to do it, but rolling 3d6 versus 2d6 DOES help you. However, it means you'll have fewer attacks available to get the job done, and means you're generally looking at warjacks, warbeasts, casters, or rarer abilities.
-Combined ranged/melee attacks. This requires getting enough of the unit into a position where they can exploit the ability, though.

-Setting them on fire/corroding them. It may take a hit the first time, but next time around there's a 66% chance they'll eat an automatic point of damage from corrosion or a POW12 from fire.

Honestly, I don't think high DEF counters break down as cleanly as others might into 'hard' and 'soft' counters, but I'm pretty sure the preceding are all viable ways to get around it.

High Armor

Sometimes, it's just bloody hard to scratch the other guy. High ARM is a pain in the butt, and sometimes a strength of the other guy. There are many sources for it, from raw stats, to buffs, to orders like Shield Wall.

Hard Counters

-Debuffs. Again, not something you often see outside of Cryx and Everblight, but it's there.

-High POW attacks of your own. Power on through to them.

-Boosts. Like high POW, just batter your way through their defenses.

-Damage buffs of your own

-Armor-piercing attacks. Even a Hunter's POW7 gets nasty when a Khadoran jack has ARM10 against it. Throw a boost in there and suddenly that's a column and change off of a hefty target.

-the Decapitation special ability. Double your damage that exceeds the armor? Ouch.

Soft Counters

-Effects do not require a damage roll, like 'Sniper' special rules. Tends to be more effective against single-wound infantry.

-continuous effects like Corrosion (good for single-wound models) and Fire (can get around Shield Wall and other effects that require an activation to bring up)

-ask yourself if you really and truly have to engage and kill the target. If it's in a place you don't want it to be, you can always try to throw/slam it. Or, you can always go for the scenario win or caster-kill

Tough

All that hard work you did is for nothing on a 5+, at the cost of the target getting kncoked down. Granted, this gets more annoying when the enemy has a workaround for the knockdown.

Hard Counters

You need a specifically-worded rule (IE: Take Down, Decapitation, Grievous Wounds) or something that denies healing. Tough explicitly states that the disabled target is healed one damage box and knocked down.

Soft Counters

-Volume of attacks. Hit 'em 'til they fail the tough checks.

-Continuous effects like fire and corrosion. Put 'em down this turn, then make them take the check AGAIN next turn.

-Another way to confound a unit with Tough is to try to force tough checks on all of them in the front rank (assuming they can't work around the knockdown effect). Force the enemy to waste time moving around them, or get spread out after having to move around their slow-poke buddies.

Honestly, Tough falls more into an 'annoying' ability than a 'OH GOD' ability. Frankly, it's got a 33% chance of working, which isn't that hot. Sometimes the enemy has good dice, sometimes they don't.

Overall

At this point, I think I'd call this a work in progress. I'm sure there are other nasty things people would love to know how to counter, but I'm not sure what they are at this particular moment in time. That being said, I would love some comments/feedback on what I've missed here, since this one is incomplete for the moment.

Legion Reflections on Various Models

This will just be some general thoughts on stuff from the last couple of games with Legion. I'm currently playing them in a map league. We have our forces dictated to us by what territories we control.

I had access to 32 points as well as a Faction Solo and two Merc Solos (limit of 3 points each on those solos for sake of balance). So, I could potentially run a 41pt army, with the constraints about solos.

Epic Lylyth

Ok, you really only need to read 'Shadow Pack' to realize that it's a disgusting spell and makes her a hard counter to enemies that like direct-fire weapons. Most stealth stuff is infantry with ARM11-15, and you can use AoEs on that. Not too hard, right? Well, ARM18+ with a damage spiral is significantly more difficult to kill at range. Shadow pack does nothing vs. melee, but if you planned on softening up everyone before you got in there, well, that's cute and all but wrong.

What I hadn't used prior to these last couple of games, though, was Lylyth's own bow. The occasion hadn't really arisen, but with two shots, RAT 8, POW12 and base RNG12, she's readily capable of KO'ing 4 light infantry in a turn and then getting a 2" swift hunter. On Feat turn, it's a RNG16 bow with the ability to KO up to 6 guys. Disgusting? Yep.

I've still yet to actually use her spells outside of Shadow Pack, as turn one is usually Shadow Pack and run everything. Turn two is her usually handing out the Ravagore's animus to folks for the continuous fire giggles.

Nephilim Bolt Thrower

Honestly, with eLylyth, his big gig is pushing two enemy heavies back d3 inches and hoping for crit knockdown. Still, it's bascially 6 points and a fury to hope for a crit to throw a heavy back, and that's some stupid potential denial. The POW14 is nice, and one even got lucky and hurt Behemoth some once, but that's icing on the cake.

Anyssa Ryvaal

I grabbed this solo as I knew I was going to be facing a Magnus list (ok, not knew, but had a pretty good idea) and that means AoEs. So, bringing units? He'll just blow my Striders to hell (I'd figured I'd go with eLylyth to deny him direct use of those fraggin' thermo-nukes, which was a good idea, but there's bound to be a mule there too). So, I took a pair of Deathstalkers, Anyssa, and a shepherd instead.

Anyssa is disgusting.

People might compare her to two Striders, but she's got a few things on 'em.

1) Mobility.

SPD 9, light cav, and Pathfinder mean she's where she wants to be, and can often back out of threat range. OR, run screaming across the field another 4 inches.

2) Lethality.

She's not got Sniper, but she's got the same RAT8, RNG12, POW10 statline. The bow's also poison, and with the Prey bonus she's RAT10, POW12+3d6, which usually kills single-wound infantry and also has a solid chance of killing enemy solos, as well. Or, y'know, hunting a character unit.

Basically, she's a bloody hard-to-pin-down homing weapon, and with Snap Fire sending her after a unit isn't a total loss. In the first game, she managed to wander behind the Devil Dogs, kill a grunt, then snap-fire Sam McHorne herself to death. No more pronto, which is a positive in my book.

I wouldn't call her an auto-include at lower point levels, but I think I can start looking for room for her around 35 or so. You don't need her with Raptors, but remember that veteran leader just wants LOS, so your regular raptors can be on the other flank and wave to her for the bonuses to attack rolls.

The Totem Hunter

Frankly, if you're talking about long threat ranges and Prey, this guy comes up. I started out with free merc solos, and I picked up this guy, Gudrun, and a Croak Hunter. This guy's been in all the games so far, and never fails to make an impact.

Add in reach and leap, and he's got a bloody 14" move to engage with the reach death-stick. With Prey, he's perfectly capable of offing solos (MAT10 PS16 and PS13 usually do the job...) and can also harry units.

Given the speed, stealth, and ARM15 + 8 boxes, the enemy really has to either dedicate sprays or charges to take him out rapidly (or True Sight/Eyeless Sight). AoEs probably won't do it, and if the Hunter kills anything, its total movement for the turn is a whopping 21 inches. Try pinning THAT down. Doable? Sure, but it's a lotta area to cover.

Bottom line? This guy's wonderful on a flank. The only thing that would make him sicker would be Advance Deploy. Just be careful about Prey; you want to put it in something important that you're reasonably sure you can engage.

Gudrun the Wanderer

Honestly, this guy does a couple of things.

1) Take Up Space

This guy can take up to three rounds to kill with shooting. First turn, you shoot him dead, he falls down and you can't shoot him as he heals to full. Second turn, he can move and then voluntarily knock himself down (via Binge Drinking). Then, you can try to shoot him again on the third turn. If you just need a guy to hold down a control point, he's annoying and workable for that.

2) Threaten Berserk

Reach, PS15ish, and MAT7 mean he can meander his way through a decent number of infantry as well. Anyone running lower-DEF troops is gonna have to worry about that, and the POW15 is enough to threaten even shield walls.

That being said I'm not sure I'd take him in ALL of my lists, but he's definitely workable. I also like my conversion of him, which looks a little more demonic/rebuilt.

All else fails, his rules are funny. WarmaHordes even has rules to describe someone who drinks excessively and has a temper: Berserk, Binge Drinking, Hangover, and Feign Death. You never know if he's dead or just passed out drunk after a rough night of drinking, but you know if you get close he'll mess you up.

Croak Hunter

I've taken one a few times, mostly with eLylyth. You don't really want to be that one guy without Stealth, because you'll get lit up.

He meshes reasonably well with Legion, between Hunter and Pathfinder. Immunity to Corrosion is nice as well, as a few of our attacks that might potentially tag him (IE: Scather, Blight Bringer, some sprays) won't hurt him.

Beyond that, his main purpose is to hunt living units. MAT/RAT6 and PS10 poison weapons mean he's essentially a weaponmaster, He can tag something from 14" away at more or less their base DEF, but he'll be in range of retaliation by then, and DEF13/ARM14 are probably NOT going to save him. Putting him in a forest might, though.

I'm honestly not sure I'd reach for him rapidly in a Legion army, unless I'm going Stealth-heavy and have already taken a couple of Deathstalkers and/or Anyssa. Mostly, I've had them move around for control points, as Stealth makes them annoying to ferret out of Breaking the Line/No Man's Land unless you run up to them and strike them.

Closing Word

Ok, I have a Gatorman Posse on order (...ok, back-order; apparently EVERYONE wants a couple of them now to start Minion armies.) and I'll eventually put some stuff in on that. I have a Thrullg I have not yet fielded. Why? I have been using Gudrun and the Totem Hunter, or the Totem Hunter and a Croak Hunter as I either want to hold points, or want stealth to fit in with eLylyth.

I also have Wrong Eye & Snapjaw, but have yet to feel the need to field them with a 32 point army as described in the initial post. I do believe they'd fit in nicely with eLylyth's MO, given the ability to deny shooting.

I've not really used the Swamp Gobber Bellows crew, but if I did, I'd use them to hide important support solos like Shepherds & Forsaken.

Thoughts on Vyros after a few games

After doing a bit of a writeup on Vyros, I figured I'd put in some more test games. I've played a handful of games (one 50, the others 35) with this list:


Vyros
-Discordia
-Phoenix
10 Invictors w/ Officer, Standard
-Soulless
Arcanist
Magister
Scyir
p/e Eiryss (depending on whether I know a Hordes/WM matchup is coming up)


Game 1: 50pts vs eStryker
I ran a slightly different list; in lieu of the Magister and Scyir there were a pair of MHAs; in lieu of a Phoenix there was a Manticore, and to make up the points I added another Manticore, a unit of Stormfall Archers, and probably one other solo.


Stryker hada heap of Stormknights (both varieties), Ol' Rowdy, a Stormclad, and a junior warcaster with a hunter.


He won the roll to go first, and with Advance move and a run, I had a bunch of ARM20 storm-things halfway across the board. (ARM15 + 3 for arcane shield + 2 for Deflection). I promptly wished for epic Eiryss as a means to knock 'em down to ARM17. As it was, Invictors advanced, mini-feated, and took down a couple of those guys, but not nearly enough. Manticores threw up covering fire, but it didn't do a lot since there was the good ol' Piper in the back ready to pass out pathfinder to counter the terrain.


The bright side? A Mage Hunter Assassin one-shotted the hunter; it was glorious. Then it died horribly, but it was a 2pt solo for a 6pt long-range sniper, so I'm down with that.


Past that, I botched the scenario and didn't get enough into the middle. One Manticore got in (another could have, but I botched a trample angle) and Striker promptly rolled +15 Strength on his overcharge roll. Myrmidons don't last long when the other guy rolls 2d6+13 base for damage, just sayin'.


Lessons Learned:
-2 Heavies is probably the limit with Vyros. A Griffin, points permitting, might be ok with the Invictors.
-Covering Fire helps SOME with the focus efficiency, but manticores are gonna get hungry when you go into melee.
-PAY ATTENTION TO THE SCENARIO. Not Vyros-related, but still.


Game 2: 35pts vs Legion
Opponent's Army
pLylyth
-Typhon
-Carnivean
-Scythean
-2x Shredder
2 Strider Deathstalkers
Shepherd


We rolled mosh pit (again) and I decided to not screw it up this time. Given the small model count, I figured my feat would be a bit 'eh'. Turn one here was mobility + Inviolable Resolve + Hallowed Avenger on the Phoenix. Focus to discordia (via arcanist) for imprint, and blammo! ARM21 vs ranged Invictors!


His turn one, he moved into position. and promptly shot down three Invictors with his lovely little deathstalkers. Screw you, Sniper.


Second turn? Advance, mobility, focus to Discordia, feat on Vyros. the Invictors advance and pop their mini-feat. They manage to rip up both Shredders and, importantly, pop the Shepherd. Eiyrss attempts to KO a Strider by walking into range and firing, only to pull a '3' on the dice. My dice do this for a bit, but since I got the Shepherd, I'm not caring too much. The Magister also manages a crit knockdown on the scythean after shoving it 3 inches back, so I'm down with that. The Phoenix kicks a boosted shot into the Carnivean, and knocks a chunk off.


...I promptly lose the Phoenix to a pissed-off Carnivean. Typhon munches on Eiryss, and the Scythean meanders back into position after forcing to stand up. However, my opponent has a HEAP of fury in the field. A couple more Dawnguard go away, thanks to the sniper. However, ARM21 dawnguard (thanks to discordia) discourage the sprays that I'm expecting in a list like this.


And here? It gets messy. I tie up the Scythean with a combo-smite, and then engage the Carnivean as best I can. Discordia charges Typhon and does some damage (and also engages the Deathstalker). I have Vyros with a couple focus, and think to myself "Ok, Lylyth's just behind Typhon; time to go for broke and try to get her. May not have another turn."


So, I charge Lylyth, miss...then realize Typhon's in flank range. Vyros crushes Typhon's face something bad, AND engages Lylyth.


His Carnivean frenzies and KOs a trooper something fierce, a shredder overloads and whiffs on another shredder. Lylyth dodges the free strike to move across the mosh pit, and the Scythean eats that pesky little Magister. Hey, the 2pt bugger tied up a 9pt heavy for a couple turns; it's a good price for me to pay.


Discordia gets Concentrated Power and has a word with the Carnivean; this word is DIE! Vyros eyes the Scythean, thinks a moment, then pops a Strangehold on the thing (I'd dropped Inviolable Resolve because by now, I had about 2-3 Invictors left, and one was the standard bearer. Some losses due to meandering away from the scythean and death via free strikes. Hey, same thing happed to his Deathstalker with Discordia).


So, he's got a scythean with nothing in melee reach and only a move OR action next turn.


Vyros streaks across the field and finishes off the Scythean after Discordia works it over, and engages Lylyth again. Lylyth tries to back away, gets one-shotted in a free strike.


Lessons Learned
-Other guy had WAY too much fury for pLylyth, and not enough fury management
-Vyros' feat has issues with smaller model-count lists (obviously)
-ARM21 vs ranged dawnguard shut down a lot of strategies
-Vyros is SICK in melee, if you do get to use him. MAT10, PS14+3d6 = WHEEE! Seriously, it's great fun.
-in a pinch, Invictors can do ok damage, but they are CRAP without flank vs. hard targets, like a Carnivean.


Round 3: Trollbloods
Gunnbjorn
-Impaler
-Bomber
-Slag Troll
5x Trolls with the d3 shots each
Min Pygmy Snipers
Min Scouts


Scenario: 10" circles on either side of the middle


My comrade decided to grab his Trollbloods in lieu of his Khador. He ended up building a Gunnbjorn tier list, which was interesting. Those guys with multiple wounds and d3 POW13s on an aim are a bit worrisome.


Basically, in this game he opted not to do a lot of advancing, and that cost him. On the other hand, ARM20 warjacks and ARM21 infantry (combined with immunity to blasts) is pretty rough on a shooty list. Long story short: all he had that advanced were the scouts. The Scyir ran off to get one objective; the Invictors and Discordia cleared the scouts off the other.


Lessons Learned
-Discordia (especially if it can cover most of your guys) and Inviolable Resolve are sick against ranged armies.
-Invictors are tidy for putting down multiple infantry, OR doing a massed CRA into hard targets. Nothing like a POW20 to the face...
-With a Reach jack alive, the invictors are bloody frightening


Round 4: eMadrak Trolls
eMadrak
-Axer
-Dire Troll Mauler
Full unit of Kriel Warriors + Caber throws + UA
Full unit of Champions
Whelps
Hero


Ok, this was a little more frightening. This was Break the Line against a crap-ton of melee troops and threat, and nil shooting. On the bright side, this freed up Discordia for more maneuvering.


Basically, he had beasts/Madrak in the middle, champs + hero on one flank, and warriors on the other. That's a LOT of medium bases and a lotta pain waiting to happen.


After he advanced, I moved up, mini-feated, popped feat, and shot up a bunch of Kriel Warriors. Terrain slowed his army a bit, and at least kept the champs from advancing too fast on a flank. i KO about half of the warriors, but not enough to cause a morale check. The Phoenix puts a dent in the Axer.


Then...the charge. Discordia eats three Kriel Warrior charges (AND Madrak's little 'get an extra d6 on damage rolls and lose some DEF and/or ARM) but remains standing. The phoenix eats a charge from the Axer, and a few troopers go down at the end of it.


The next turn, the Phoenix beats down the Axer and puts some damage on the Mauler. Flanking Invictors rip it apart and take down some guys, but it's not enough to pull out a scenario win for me.


I have no line of sight to Madrak (not with enough firepower, anyway...) and there's a unit of Champions bearing down on a flank. Honestly, I was a bit intimidated by all the bloody wounds (ARM18, weaponmasters, 8 wounds each...yeah, it's like a squad of killy solos.) and their firepower. He wipes out my guys in one flank, pulls Kriel warriors back, and his caster claims the other one on his side.


Lessons Learned
-I hate high-ARM, multi-wound infantry that kill you in melee
-Trolls and medim basers make it easier to line up shots
-Tough is annoying for Vyros' feat
-Medium bases cut out tramples (shock, I know) which cuts down options for the feat
-Focus on scenario


Overall
I think Vyros performs decently. His feat is no game-winner, but can get you a few extra focus for your 'jacks on a messy turn. It'll let vyros upkeep Inviolable Resolve, throw Mobility up, and maybe even get off a Stranglehold (which is very nice WHEN it happens, mind you...)


I do believe if you're going to run invictors, you need to commit to at least one reach warjack. The Phoenix is a solid choice here, and the arc ode may get some use. Mostly, though, the flank is solid. The Griffin is a backup choice here, points permitting.


If you're lighter on numbers (or like screwing with the other guy) a Magister is wonderful. Throwing enemy heavies back a few inches in this game can be sick for them to deal with. Considering that there's not always enough heavy-duty firepower to go around (well, with invictors; they're great for thinning enemy ranks) you'll want that to delay enemy plans, or for scenario purposes.


The Scyir...not so bad, as he can provide you with a nice homing missle to fire through your Dawnguard. Hitting something at POW12+4d6 and MAT10 on the charge is bloody nice, and being able to get through your Dawnguard is nice, too. I'm not sure I'd marshal to him (you might as well to it to the Dawnguard themselves) but he's also workable enough as a scenario grabber.


As we all knew, the Soulless is situational. The situation didn't arise, and another arcanist would've been nice.


Arcanists are nice. Full stop, end of story. They only become useless when you lose all your myrmidons.


Discordia + Invictors + Inviolable Resolve makes some players cry, hard, if they don't have access to fire or corrosion or snipers.


I think you can run Vyros with Sentinels just fine as well, but you'll need to take something for riot control, as you'll have less ability to thin out the hordes at range. I suspect that Stormfall Archers wouldn't be out of place for such a task.

Evaluating Rhys, the crazy sword of Everblight

Rhyas is the kind of warlock that gets some flak on the forums. Realistically, not everything is created equally. This means some things are better than others, and Rhyas ends up on the lower end of the spectrum for Legion warlocks.

Being on the percieved 'lower end' doesn't mean Rhyas is bad. It means more that Rhyas is a bit more limited: she's got a handful of spells and nasty assassination potential, so she's kind of limited in what she can do.

Round 1 of Questions

1) How Vulnerable am I to Assassination?

Rhyas has the typical DEF16 and ARM14 you see in the smaller Legion warlocks. She's sitting on 16 health, which is about average. She's harder to hit, but not very hard to damage. This is kind of par for the course for warlocks.

Bottom line? Rhyas is hard to hit, but not hard to damage. You're likely better off buffing her defense, as DEF16 means that even boosted shots are probably rolling at 50/50. With Perfect Balance, the enemy can't try to use combined attacks to get around her DEF16, at least. However, she's still vulnerable to knockdown, which lets the enemy do fun stuff like slam things over her.

2) Can the warlock kill things?

MAT8 and a PS12 weaponmaster sword say that yes, Rhyas can kill things. Critical decapitation (double damage that exceeds ARM, cannot take Tough rolls) is icing on the cake.

Rhyas has SPD 7, and can get +1 from a spell. As such, she's got a threat range of 11.5 inches, and chances are that if an enemy caster gets within that threat range, you can kill them.

Note, though, that if you do plan on using Rhyas' offensive ability, make sure she kills the target. She has Sprint, so if you can hack at targets and kill them, you can promptly run out of combat and back to safety (kind of, anyway) and ignore free strikes thanks to Perfect Balance.

Better yet, thanks to Acrobatic, she can get through anything and make full use of her 10.5" base threat range. Screening models? She doesn't care, as long as she can put her base there.

Bottom line? If you're going to use Rhyas' melee potential, be careful about it. Note that she can only buy a limited number of attacks, given her FURY 5 and having a couple of upkeeps.

3) Spells/Utility

Rhyas does NOT have a lot of spells. She's got a whopping three spells, but part of that comes from having a whoppin' FURY of 5.

Rapport is a solid warbeast buff; it's a 2-fury upkeep buff that gives a warbeast in her battlegroup MAT8, RAT6 and the ability to transfer once without paying fury. Honestly, you kind of want a beast of a warbeast to take this spell, because it's her new best friend. You can also transfer to it even if you're outside of her whoppin' 10" control area.

Occultation is a situational buff that gives a friendly unit/model stealth. It's a nice 'screw you' to spells.

Dash is the one spell she has that's not an upkeep. Warrior models are immune to free strikes in her control area, and warrior models & Rhyas gain +1 SPD. This does two things: 1) increase the threat range on Legion infantry, and 2) pull your infantry out of a fight without risking death from free strikes.

Basically, Rhyas can make one infantry unit immune to direct fire, buff the accuracy of one beast, and increase the threat range of all of your infantry.

4) Feat

Her feat has the lovely title 'Tide of Blood.' Basically, Legion models get a free extra melee attack (YAY!) and the first time they damage an enemy model, you can place 'em in base contact with that model. You can use this for the obvious extra attacks, and you may be able to get a little extra threat range and positioning out of the feat, depending on what targets you go after.

I think you're more likely to use the feat to rip up the enemy army than anything else, but that's me. All else fails, you can use it to increase Rhyas' ability to get to the target.

Round 2 of Questioning

5) What kind of game does the warlock play?

Rhyas is light on fury and carries a small control range (all of 10 inches, as small as it gets for the game). As such, she's going to take the lead, and you may be wanting to take advantage of her personal melee capabilities. Make no mistake, if you CAN get to the enemy, then you can probably do some damage. However, you don't have the fury and durability to absorb much abuse, so you don't want to lean too much on Rhyas herself to kill things.

Any way you cut it, Rhyas WILL be close to the front just because she's FURY5. She's likely to throw out her upkeeps on turn one, and advance from there, looking for a good time to kill something herself.

The problem is that Rhyas has a fairly narrowly-defined list of stuff she can do: get infantry into the fight and make a beast accurate. She's very focused, and in that regard it's like taking a sniper rifle into an FPS game: you can do one thing REALLY WELL, but anyone that can get around that can give you some trouble. She's just not that versatile, as about the only thing she's good at is trying to kill things.

6) Win Condition

Ideally you'll use her feat to knock a chunk out of the enemy army. Otherwise, you're probably hoping to deliver the beast with Rapport on it to the enemy caster, as MAT8 will probably get through their defense without absolutely requiring the boost.

Really, Rhyas is about offense. Get the infantry in there, kill the enemy, and get something accurate to the enemy warlock. There's just not a lot of subtlty to her, or necessarily options. You can play the scenario, or go for the throat. She just seems a little more inclined to go for the throat.

7) Army Composition

Look to Rhyas' buffs to understand what kind of army she wants to run.

Rapport: bring a warbeast that's got both melee and ranged capabilities. Frankly, the Cariviean comes to mind; Rapport brings it to MAT8 for some punishing melee attacks and RAT6 on the spray is terrifying as well. I suppose you could put that on an Angelius, but it doesn't have the raw hitting power. The Ravagore has similar melee power, but I don't think it necessarily gets the same mileage out of the RAT6. Still, it's worth considering. The Scythean would lvoe the MAT8, but the RAT6 is wasted on it.

Occultation: this makes an infantry unit immune to direct fire, but doesn't do anything for its ability to survive blasts. If you were up for running two infantry units (which would maximize the utility of Dash) then you could go for Swordsmen (and give them occultation) and Hex Hunters. The Hunters go for infantry and the swordsmen go for harder targets. On the other hand, I kind of want to run Warmongers with them (or even Gatormen) as those guys are already resistant to blasts via 8 wounds + ARM16, and Stealth helps get around their lowish DEF12.

Dash: bring at least one infantry unit, and consider more. this makes you want to lean towards Faction models (sorry, Gatorman Posse...). If you want to roll something like Striders, this lets you throw Striders at lower-MAT enemies to try to slow them down, THEN extract them from combat and shoot the enemy in the face.

Past that, keep an eye on melee beasts for her feat, and potentially a Seraph for ranged support and Slipstream.

And, also, consider fury-management solos. You're FURY5. Never forget that. One full-out heavy beast rush can but you up to four fury. You're likely to have Occultation and Rapport out, which means you've got enough fury left to cast Dash and then transfer.

Conclusion

Rhyas is kind of limited, compared to other warlocks. If you want to run melee infantry, though, Rhyas is your wayt o do it for Legion. Like Lylyth, she's simple and elegant (and thus limited), but unlike pLylyth, I think she's a little more limited (Hey, Typhon triple-sprays and Seraphs can reach out and TOUCH someone...infantry may have trouble).

Evaluation of Animi available to the Legion of Everblight

As I have started talking about evaluating warlocks and the need to be familiar with all the various animi at your disposal, I figured I'd do a rundown/evaluation of those available to the Legion, my home Hordes faction.

That being said, I intend to provide a generalized list of the animus and their potential utility.

Lesser Warbeasts

Harrier: True Strike

This animus is situational, as it's range is SELF. It lets the next attack this model makes hit automatically. It turns the Harrier into a homing missile, but...the utility of that is debatable. If you think you might be taking your warlock into melee (and, frankly, there are some that might do that, like eThagrosh, Absylonia, and Rhyas) and you can spare some points for a free hit-buff, then grab a harrier. Otherwise, the animus alone is not worth bringing the beast.

Shredder: Tenacity

Ah, tenacity. It's cheap (both to bring the Shredder and to cast) and it's a general utility spell. The low cost of 1 fury gives you a little more leeway in spending your fury. +1 DEF and +1ARM with a 6" range let you give models that little extra push they might need. You can use it to get a little extra armor on a bigger, easier-to-hit target (IE: Carnivean-chassis models) or help push your defense up a little higher (most of our warlocks go to DEF17 with this up).

Honestly, Shredders are versatile and useful, and this is one of the reasons to bring one.

Stinger: Lurker

1 Fury and a 6" range to hand out bushwhack? This is potentially useful, but doesn't quite have the utility of, say, tenacity. Bushwhack lets you switch up the order of activation: act, then move, but you must make a full advance for that move. This allows a ranged model to fire and back away from a threat, or it can let a melee model beat up what's close to it, and then reposition.

All in all, it's versatile, but not necessarily something you'll field in every list as the Stinger isn't quite on the level of the Shredder for damage output.

Light Warbeasts

Nephilim Bolt Thrower: Glider

Yay, flight for one fury! Downside? Two things: 1) RNG SELF, and 2) this is a faction with a lot of built-in pathfinder and flight. It lets the Neph bolt thrower ignore terrain, and if you have one of our warlocks that doesn't have pathfinder (...ok, we have a few, to be honest) then they might be able to make use of this.

On the other hand, you tend to bring a Bolt Thrower for its other abilities; Glider is really just a supplimental thing for it (and often, it alone). 

Nephilim Protector: Safeguard

Two fury and RNG 6. What's this get you? Immunity to knockdown, and a flat 3-inch reduction on slam distance. Given that knockdown negates the normally-solid DEF values of Everblight casters, there may be some merit in the animus.

However, this animus is attached to a purely-defensive beast (...whoppin' MAT5, PS12 attack, aw yeah...right). The animus is at best situational, but it can totally save your hide in those situations.

Nephilim Solder: Massacre

Massacre is interesting, as it's both efficient and inefficient at the same time. It's 2 fury and RNG 6. The target can charge without being forced, and if it kills an enemy model with the charge attack it can advance an inch and make another melee attack.

Now, charging and buying another attack cost two fury. If you botch the first attack, then you're out a fury. So, you're gambling, right? Why would we want to gamble?

Look back to the range: Your warlock (or the Nephilim Warrior itself) can cast this spell on a beast, which can now use all its fury for extra attacks. Take something like a Carnivean with its 3 melee attacks; it's now looking at a potential EIGHT melee attacks (plus the spray for assault) as it runs up, crushes something, moves up, swings again, then buys four more attacks in an orgy of destruction, blood, and maniacal laughter on your part.

The downside is that if you want to maximize Massacre, your boosted charge attack of death is going to be against something you're certain you'll finish off.

Altogether, it's a potentially useful animus, but again the chassis may hold it back as the Warrior is not BAD, but not necessarily GREAT.

UPDATE: this is about the only way the Throne of Everblight is going to make extra attacks.  That thing can ALWAYS love some extra attacks, and the 4" melee range means you can engage a crap-ton of targets.

Raek: Shadow Shift

Two fury to become immune to free strikes; RNG: SELF. This is a situational animus. You are going to use this when you want your warlock to get into melee and they'll have to eat free strikes (IE: maybe they're flying? Thagrosh can do it...) on the way. Now, one school of thought is that you'd simply hand off those potential hits via transfers.

Really, this one ends up being situatioal: 1) did you bring a warlock that wants to get into melee? 2) Will they HAVE to eat free strikes? 3) How many free strikes are they likely to take? 4) Couldn't you just camp fury and gamble on getting there? 5) Do you have enough beasts to transfer the free strikes to?

Ultimately, it's situational. Nice when you need it, but it's not the reason you bring a Raek. No, you bring a Raek for its crazy mobility, and you may or may not remember it has an animus.

Teraph: Counterblast

See also: situational. The Teraph's not the most popular beast, and the animus doesn't necessarily help: it's 2 fury and RNG: SELF. If someone wanders into the command range of this model, they can make one normal melee or ranged attack and then the animus drops.

So, which warlocks have a ranged attack that's worth spending two fury on as a keep-away? The Thagroshes have sprays, but so-so RAT and the ability to potentially hit friendlies with sprays. The Lylyths have bows and one supposes that they COULD use it, but 2 fury is kinda steep for a 5-fury 'lock.

Overall, this one is very limited in its utility by its RNG: SELF.

Naga Nightstalker: Wraithbane
At 2 fury, it ain't cheap, but.  But.  Blessed and Magic Weapon are NICE traits to get.  Consider factions with buffs like Defender's Ward or Arcane Shield, and this is 2 Fury for something like +2MAT/+2 damage, or just +3 damage.  Also, you can shoot folks immune to non-magic weapons, and mess up incorporeal on anything (though as to the latter, the NIghtstalker itself has a magic gun for a face, so yeah).

This thing is not an auto-include; we have our own buffs that can power through enemy defensive buffs.  On the other hand, eLylyth LOVES this thing (What? Passage, choir, menoth, what?  Whatevs.), and in general our beasts love it.  The downside?  2 fury, single target.  Not an auto-include, but it's on a workable package and you have a hellaciously versatile/useful animus against some folks.

Heavy Warbeasts

Angelius: Repulsion

Ok, it does have the somewhat-limiting 'RNG: SELF' and it costs two fury. On the other hand, it's free movement of enemy models: push everyone that's within 2" of you back three inches in the order of your choosing.

Yep. Two fury to free you from melee. Combine this with a warbeast that's actually reasonably solid rolling this animus and maxing out its fury (as it can then do a charge and boost the hit for a sick, sick armor piercing shot, or fully boost its ranged attack) and you have a reasonably useful animus.

It's not something you go out of the way to include in your list, but it will certainly be useful.

Carnivean: Spiny Growth

Two fury and a 6" range for +2 ARM and d3 damage to beasts/'jacks that hit you but don't kill you? This is a bloody solid animus. Legion's not exactly brimming with high ARM, but this can jump most heavies up from 'so-so durability' to 'groan-inducing.'

If you bring a carnivean as a can-opener, you WILL get great mileage out of Spiny Growth. It's an excellent piece of a solid package.

Ravagore: Dragon Fire

The Ravagore is a carnivean that trades a little bit of MAT for its bite and spray, and brings siege weapon in its place. Dragon Fire goes nicely with that, and since you're bringing the Ravagore in a ranged-themed list, then yeah, you'll get good use out of the animus.

So, what's that animus do? 1 fury, range 6, and all your warbeast's ranged weapons gain Continuous Fire. Considering this comes on a beast with a RNG 14 AoE3 shot, that's a nice little suppliment for troop-killing and generally inconveniencing stuff. Other ranged warbeasts can make plenty of use of this, as it's a nice counter to Tough (ok, you made it this time? Whatever. Do it again next turn.) and makes lighter targets very worried about stray shots.

This one's a solid compliment to the kind of list that would favor a Ravagore by nature.

Scythean: Slaughterhouse

1 Fury: target Trollblood or eAsphyxious player cries. This animus is a limited-use compliment to the Scythean,as it's a 1 Fury RNG: Self animus. Simply put, the target ignores Tough and removes the dead stuff from play.

Is it situational? Absolutely. Is it golden in those situations? Oh, yeah.

However, the Scythean's a popular choice for its threat range and sheer damage output; SPD6 heavies with a pair of PS17 reach weapons are capable of reaching out and touching something; add Chain Attack: Thresher to that and, well, yeah.

Slaughterhouse is highly situational, and mainly serves to make a select few opponents weep in public when the Scythean goes chop-happy on them.

Seraph: Slipstream

This is a 1-fury, RNG: self animus that has an insane amount of utility. Why? The model using this animus moves. Then, if it moved within 2" of a friendly faction model, you can place that friendly faction model 2" completely within its current position. Limit: once per turn.

Yep. 1 fury for a free two-inch move. This is in the category of stupid-good. There are a variety of uses for this, and I'll list a few of them below:

1) Another two inches to your threat range

2) pull a model out of melee without eating free strikes

3) another 2" of movement on something

4) get a shooter in range AND keep the aiming bonus

5) non-linear movement: get around an obstacle

Frankly, it's on a workhorse beast (the Seraph is workable at melee and ranged without being spectacular) but you end up with a package that can melee, shoot, AND provide you with out-of-phase movement with very generous conditions.

Honestly, I think Slipstream takes the cake for the most versatile animus in the book at this point.

Typhon: Excessive Healing

2 fury for a 'SELF' animus. Man, there's a lot of 'SELF' stuff in here, isn't there? Well, this one lets you heal d3 from an attack that doesn't kill you, instantly.

Yep. Any time the enemy damages you, you get to heal d3. Maybe there's a reason it's RNG: SELF.

That aside, it basically makes Typhon (and potentially your warcaster) laugh off snipers and low-POW attacks. It helps soften the blow against harder hits, but frankly the enemy can work around this by just hitting you. It really does force the enemy to go for fewer, harder hits to deny you more healing rolls.

This animus is bloody important for harder-to-hide warlocks like, oh, Epic Thagrosh and his DEF13 large-based self. Combine this with the affinity, and suddenly eThags becomes a little more survivable.

Bottom line: you generally take Typhon for his damage output, but he goes very well with eThagrosh because of this and would generally help you with any hard-to-hide 'lock.

Proteus: Snacking
Heal whenever you mulch the living, and RFP 'em to boot.  This is a bit situational, and Proteus himself is far from an auto-include, but the animus is a situational way to RFP stuff and repair minor dings/dents to your beasts.  Bottom line: situational at best; it completes Proteus as a beastie with a lotta random tricks, some of which you'll use.

Closing Thoughts

Legion has access to some pretty solid animi. Tenacity is a wonderful little piece of kit; most of the time you don't see folks leave home without a Shredder because the animus is cheap and useful.

The light beasts don't necessarily have stand-out animi. When you get down to it, they're either situational, or don't come on beasts that lots of folks take (if not both).

The heavies have some great workhorse and general utility animi. I'm a fan of Spiny Growth (ARM18 to ARM20 is a nice jump in durability, methinks) and Slipstream as general utility animi. The others tend to be just plain compliments to the army, but that's not a bad thing. It's just that when you're picking heavy beasts, well, you're dropping 8-12 points on a model that should be crucial to your plan. I mean, it's a chunk of resources, and the animus is only part of that. Bring the beast because it can work for your plan, and integrate the animus accordingly. I mean, frankly, ignoring tough and removing models from play is highly situational.

At any rate, I hope this has served as a useful resource for both Legion players and those that might play Legion.

Ok, someone might have noticed that Belphagor is missing from this list. It's deliberate; I can see Belphagor where his green stuff is drying. However, he only comes with Bethayne; I'd rather keep him in with an evaluation of her because of this.