Moonlighting with Minions: Circle Orboros

I know it's been a bit, and I apologize (hey, everyone's got to start long absences with a detailed apology and explanation of why they were out before they get to the juicy content, right? RIGHT?!).  Real life had other things to say, and I kinda moved.  I'm actually using coffee house wi-fi to post this, as my dear cable company doesn't feel like having a paying customer for another two weeks.

Anyway, none of you are here for that.  You're here for the part where I finally finish up my 'moonlighting with minions' series, and that's with Circle Orboros.  Because I somehow lost steam a few months back.  Whoops.

Units of Note - Shifting Stones
These guys do two things for you as a minion-heavy player: they provide some fury management via Serenity, and can teleport beasts.  Healing Field is a neat potential extra as it’s healing that’s not happening during the warlock’s activation, and it can fix constructs if you’re running them and not named Baldur.  The Stone Keeper UA is worth a look for another point, as it gives the stones Stealth, which is nice.

Solo of Note – Druid Wilder

This is your fury-management solo.  She brings you three spiffy tools: Herding, Conditioning, and Spirit Tap.  She’s kind of like a mini warlock; herding lets her force beasts in her CMD 7 range, Conditioning lets her pull the fury off them, and Spirit Tap lets her use their animus.  Note that the latter two require her action.  Fittingly, she’s the faction Warlock Attachment.  It’s probably not a bad idea to have her.

Solo of Note – Gallows Grove

It’s a teleporting arc node.  Some casters could really dig this, and they’re reasonably cheap at 1pt per head.  Consider a couple blisters IF you’re going to play casters that would like them.

Minion unit of note - Cylena and the Nyss Hunters
You know those pathfinding weaponmasters with bows that were obscenely hard to assemble?  They'll work for Circle.  If you're a merc/Warmachine player with them, then you already have an infantry core to use for Minions.  Given their point cost, you'll probably want to hit larger games and make them your only unit, but they're bloody good at what they do.

The Warlocks

Baldur the Stonecleaver
                This is the construct-lover of the faction, as he can heal them.  He’s got all of four spells to go with that FURY6, and only one is faction-specific: Stone Skin is good for +2STR/ARM, at the cost of  -1DEF/SPD.  This isn’t a bad buff, but you’re using it mostly on beasts that you aren’t charging with, or you’re using it on Baldur (ARM18 makes him harder to papercut to death; denying the enemy that strategy isn’t a bad move) in lieu of Solid Ground and immunity to blasts/knockdown.
                His feat grants his army cover, and ISN’T faction-specific.  Cover for a turn, along with immunity to blast damage, allows him to deliver light infantry to the fight.  The only other note is you might want to consider Pathfinder on your infantry, as Rapid Growth lets him place a forest.  Alternatively, you can move your infantry up and then plop a forest on them for instant concealment.  Gatormen love this because they can get up to DEF15 versus ranged between the Dirge of Mists and concealment; the bog-standard pigs can get cover, and Slaughterhousers can enjoy blocked LOS or additional DEF as well as immunity to knockdown.
                All things considered, Baldur1 is pretty minion-friendly.

Baldur the Stonesoul

                This guy’s somewhat minion-friendly, but only in the way his feat is written – his feat gives Roots of the Earth to all friendly models in his control area, whereas the spell requires you to be a Faction model to get the +3ARM and immunity to knockdown/placing.  Written as-is, this guy probably wouldn’t mind Gatormen; wander up and make those Gatormen ARM19 (21 in melee) and use them as a buffer to deliver his otherwise-slow beasties.  For extra BS factor, add in Witch Doctors to make Gators tough and turn the mostly-dead ones into Sacrifical Strike fodder.
                I like the Stonesoul on paper, but he really wants to run a ton of constructs between his ability to buff armor (feat and Roots of the Earth), deny charges (rock wall is great with slower guys) and Elemental Mastery (allows thos constructs to charge/power-attack for free).

Cassius the Oathkeeper

                This guy’s spells have zero interaction with infantry of any sort; he’s got two damage spells (Stranglehold for control joy and Hellmouth for infantry removal), an ARM debuff in Curse of Shadows, and Unseen Path to move that big tree.  The feat is great for scenario, but you may wish to consider pathfinder-capable models if you want to move after popping feat.  Also, bring Gallows Groves, because this is a model that LOVES it some spells and souls.
                He’s honestly kinda ambivalent about his infantry company.  Just don’t bring any removed-from-play stuff and he’s fine.

Kaya the Wildborne

                Occultation can go on anything, but if she’s running beast-heavy then she’s running it on herself if there are guns around.  Honestly, she’s kitted out to run beasts between Soothing Song, Spirit Door, and her feat; at best you might rock a unit of infantry with her.
                It’s worth noting that since the two-player battle box for Hordes is announced, you can get her with a Winter Argus, Argus, and Feral Warpwolf, but you ALSO get a unit of Skinwalkers in there.  I would say this battlegroup is preferable to double-argus, and owning Skinwalkers is…um, owning skinwalkers and nice for those times where you might actually want a faction unit.

Kaya the Moon Hunter (and Bark Node)

                She’s 100% beast focused.  Any points spent on infantry are points she’s not spending on beasts that she makes sick.  Honestly, you can probably skip her; she’s just ambivalent about infantry and wants to get the charge off with beasts.

Kromac the Ravenous

                Skip this guy for our particular exercise.  His armor buff (Inviolable Resolve) and battlegroup movement buff (Warpath) are both faction-specific.  You’re losing out on some seriously useful tech if you go minions for infantry here. 
                Admittedly, you can always drop Resolve on a beast or Kromac, but +2ARM over a unit is a bigger benefit.  You also make triggering Warpath more difficult, and honestly, you may lose out on fun stuff like grabbing new threat vectors and the like.

Krueger the Stormwrath

                You lose out on Deflection, which is a fun buff for faction warrior models with +2ARM vs incoming spells/shots.  However, lightning tendrils still work on minions, and the rest of his spell list/feat is offense-oriented.  Krueger’s got plenty of oomph for killing infantry with his own spells/attacks and Lightning Tendrils on infantry, so bring heavy-hitting beasts and you’ll be looking at something workable.

Krueger the Stormlord

                This guy’s infantry will enjoy Storm Wall’s ability to shut down ranged attacks (within reason; they have to start in his control area and suffer -5RNG).  Beyond that, he doesn’t really offer a lot of support to infantry, but he’s likely to be using Telekinesis and animi instead.
                He’s passable with minion infantry, and certainly doesn’t lose anything with them.

Mohsar the Desertwalker
                The major loss with Mohsar is Mirage; this could be fun on a unit but may be better-served in allowing a beast two more inches of threat range.  You do lose out on Sands of Fate, but that should be more of a ‘get out of jail for a Faction Trooper’ card than a regular thing you use; DEF14/ARM14 has no business being close to the front. 
                He’s largely workable with minions, but doesn’t have anything that outright screams USE ME! USE MEEEE! With minions over, say, faction troopers.

Morvahna the Autumnblade

                Skip.  You lose out on Regrowth, Restoration, and her feat.  This is to say you’re losing out on the ability to regenerate grunts, an ARM buff that can heal Morvanna, and a feat that gives you wide access to Removed From Play and terrain generation.
                Morvahna loses a chunk with minion units.

Grayle the Farstrider

                Grayle’s main loss with bringing Minion infantry is the feat, which is army-wide stealth and potentially army-wide movement buffs (it’s basically Warpath for Faction models versus the battlegroup).  He can dispel clouds and screw over shooting with Wind Blast.  Storm Rager isn’t that huge of a loss, as it impacts one model only; this lends it towards buffing Grayle (+2STR/MAT/ARM is nice on someone with Sprint and two initials) and/or someone like The Lord of the Feast (…because his 360 thresher needed to be MAT10, PS15…).
                Honestly, this guy’s not terrible with minions, but you are losing out on the feat, which is sad because it’s a nice setup.  At the least, bring infantry that can deal with being the only shooting targets on the field (either via durability like the Posse, or the Brigands’ ability to Dig In could save them here).

OVERALL

                Honestly, Circle has a fair amount of ambivalence/non-synergy with mercs.  I would suggest Baldur1 is among the best for working with minions, between Rock Wall, Solid Ground (things like Nyss Hunters LOVE immunity to blast damage) and the feat.  Baldur2 is subject to making sure his feat works on minions.
                Cassius and Krueger2 are mostly ambivalent about minions; they just don’t interact with them and they’d love to maybe have some Gallows Groves around for more angles to do fun things like sling spells.
                Grayle is kind of on the fence; losing out on the feat is a potentially hefty blow, but otherwise his playstyle doesn’t look like it would change much.  Mohsar doesn’t lose a terrible amount, but he DOES lose out on the ability to bounce away from danger in exchange for a friendly faction model.
                The rest of the cast either loses out on active buffs (Kromac being the worst offender) or would rather have more beasts (Kaya1&2).
                I would probably start with Cassius and/or Krueger.  Cassius is ambivalent, and Krueger2 can lean on the minions to screen him/clean out enemy infantry while his beasties do the work.

So There's a Colossal/Gargantuan Across The Table From You...

I'm sure there are plenty of people doing the OMGWTFBBQLOL!!!1!!21! dance at the thought of having to face a 120mm-based monstrosity.

Some people are probably crying "BROKEN!"

Some people are saying "BRING IT ON! I KEEL EET!"

And some are saying "Whatevs, I'll work around it"

Teh Borken?!
Personally, I'm not convinced they're broken.  Not at this point.  Frankly, they're expensive (both in $$ and points) so that limits availability. 

They are durable, that's for sure.  Figure on ~ARM19 and about 54 boxes as a yardstick.  Figure on SPD5 and reach.  Other than the 50+ boxes, this is kind of like a nasty heavy with a pretty reasonable 10" threat range.  This threat range (which is only extended by SPD/movement buffs applied during activation) isn't new.  Thus far, the Kraken has the top threat range at 12" (SPD5, 4" melee range during activation).

Honestly, the one really novel thing that Colossals/Gargantuans bring is a concentration of power.  These things hit monstrously hard and can absorb a beating.  Personal opinion - Warmachine's focus mechanic gets a little more mileage out of these than Hordes fury, as 3 focus on something that hits at PS20 (or, y'know, hits a half-dozen infantry at PS15 and closethlines a jack or two in the bargain) can go a ways.  On the flip side, while Colossals are doubtlessly trailed by mechanics, Gargantuans can still heal readily.

Honestly, they're just big, expensive jacks with some neat tricks and an immunity to a number of normal stopping effects (knockdown, stationary, disruption...)

BRING IT ON! I KEEL EET!
Ah, the page 5 approach...there's a certain elegant simplicity to this.  People will doubtless point to the ARM19 base and 50+ boxes you'll see on a gargantuan. 

On the flip side, these things are doing good to hit DEF10, and they're pretty much NEVER gonna get a DEF buff outside of a spell.  What you really ought to worry about on a colossal is an ARM buff, as these things are going to takea number of hits to kill, and the more hits you tank the more you benefit from an ARM buff, y'know?

That aside, you kill regular heavies with massed weaponmasters and/or hard-hitting heavies.  Given the DEF value on these things, hitting isn't hard unless your dice decide to yahtzee on one's.  The most you might have to worry about is finding a way to knock off any ARM buffs on the things.  The biggest difference is that you'll have to worry about making sure the thing actually gets DEAD; there WILL be repair nearby and a single focus can fuel a sweep attack and potentially ruin a fair number of those pissed-off weaponmasters.  Similarly, PS20ish fists will ruin jacks they can hit, but most of these things are MAT6 base.

So, honestly, can your list deal with some heavies?  If so, this thing costs about as much as 2-2.5 heavies, and takes about as much abuse.  Bring a way to drop ARM buffs, then commit as many heavy hitters to it as you can to make sure it dies, because if it survives it WILL make you pay for your temerity (or bad dice).  It's big, it's not going to hide.  It's almost daring you to kill it.

Soft style - avoid the thing
This is also a bit of page 5, because avoiding the enemy heavy hitter is potentially another way of saying "I think I'll kill the juicy center of the army", or, y'know, you can maybe try scenario.  Maybe, because colossals/gargantuans DO have staying power (as, y'know, previously mentioned).

The biggest asset of a colossal/gargantuan is it's a huge concentration of power.  There's a lotta ARM, a lotta boxes/circles, and some high-powered attacks on one package.  They can dish out and take a huge amount of abuse.  HOWEVER, it's also just one model.  It will probably get deployed centrally, and at the end of the day there's only so much room one can cover.  If you have multiple threats (IE: not colossals) then you can potentially threaten the caster even if it's hiding behind the big guy.

Alternatively, anyone with Phantom Hunter might just be able to shoot THROUGH the colossal.

As another note, anyone that can cut the SPD on a colossal or otherwise inhibit its movement (IE: Locker animus, Gorgon, a bunch of medium bases it can't trample through / good placement to avoid giving it a trample landing zone) is in a potentially good spot - you don't HAVE to kill the Colossal to win.

You just have to kill the caster.

That being said, if it's a scenario about holding raw territory, a colossal is even nastier than a heavy for holding territory as it can take up a lot of real estate, AND you don't have the option of slamming/throwing it out of the way.

Wrapup
Yes, they're new.  Yes, you may have to adjust your playstyle.  No, they're not broken - their main defense is being able to absorb a lot of abuse while being able to dish it out again, and strategically they can take and hold real estate just about better than anything else in the game.

If you know how to kill heavies, you know how to kill colossals.

If you know how to work around heavies, you have an idea about how to work around colossals.

It's not rocket science.  Back when I started this game (and when I inculcate new people) I tell them that novelty kills in this game.  The first time you see something new and don't fully appreciate what it can do, there's every chance it will smoke you.  That's part of the learning curve.  Take a deep breath, look back at what happened, and move from there.

The Terminus Returneth - Cryx Retakes the Table

In honor of all the Cryx painting I've done in the past month, I elected to drag the bad boys out for a run on the table.  To be honest, one of the casters that drew me to Cryx was good ol' Lich Lord Terminus, and I'd just finished up my crabjack repaints (1 Harrower, 1 Leviathan, 1 magnetized plastic chassis) and said 'what the 'ell'.

Cryx
So, I hit up my buddy, and packed the following:
Lich Lord Terminus
-Leviathan
-Leviathan
10 Bane Thralls
-Officer/Standard Bearer
6 Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Bloat Thrall
Tartarus
Skarlock
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech/Scrap Thrall
Saxon Orrick

Trollbloods
My buddy brings:
Jarl Skuld
-Mulg
-Mountain King
10 Fennblades
5 Champions
-Skaldi Bonehammer
Champion Hero

Scenario - Mosh Pit., Trollbloods get turn one.

A Quick Overview
He slaps the King and Mulg in the middle; Fennblades go on one flank, the Champs go on the other.  Oh, joy, they're all gonna be real fast and pathfindery and STUFF, and the two beasts he has are, well, beastly.  That's ok, I'm Cryx, I've had plenty of sleep, and I'm pretty sure all the alcohol is out of my system by now. (Not that onlookers knew, but what the hell.)

I line up in the middle, Leviathans flanking Terminus, with some Banes in front, Tartarus opposite the Champs, Biles and Withershadow behind, and the Bloat opposite the Fennblades.

He starts out with Weald Secrets on the Fennblades (who promptly run screaming through terrain) and Quicken on the Champs (...because +2SPD isn't gonna make me a sad lil' zombie-panda), and jogs up the middle with the battlegroup.

My initial movement is pretty simple; Terminus hands out a focus to the Leviathans, pops Malediction, and charges up.  The Blob moves on up, Leviathans getting into firing position while Saxon somehow points the undead through a forest.  Biles take up defensive positions, and the Bloat takes up a firing position away from my lines.

On turn two, his champs sweep forward.  Mountain King moves up and tries to spray Tartarus, he's short by about an inch and I'm sweating a lot less.  Fennblades charge/run; I lose a couple Banes, and one Fennblade engages the Bloat Thrall.  Mulg tactical-supremacy's after a run, and Jarl moves up.

On my turn two, I figure it's time to start killing stuff.  Terminus loads the Leviathans up, and the Skarlock Maledicts him.  Terminus then advances, and proceeds to stab a couple Fennblades to death.  I'm gonna need souls, because Mulg is pretty close, and if I don't make an aggressive move he'll own the Mosh Pit and I'll lose. 

The Leviathans burn six focus between them and account for...ONE...kill.  Tartarus manages not to kill a champ on his advance, but reduces all the ones he touches to one box.  Banes charge up and wreck some infantry and champs.  By the time the killing stops, Terminus is sitting on 7 souls.  Darragh Wrathe looks up, sees Mulg a bit close, and decides this is a good time for some 'Beyond Death'.

Terminus is sitting at ARM25, effectively ARM27 against melee.

Jarl decides that it's time for MULG TO DA FACE!, but first, tries to clear some banes (HA! I ARE CAPABLE OF MAKIN' MA TOUCH CHECKS! Sort of...) and then tries to bounce some magic bullets into Wrathe.  His inability to hit with pistols is a bit of a downer, and then Mulg goes in.  Mulg maxes out his fury and puts Terminus down to 5 health.  The Mountain King is one inch away from making melee with Terminus.  I'm down to about 3-4 banes by now, and Tartarus got a case of the Death from champions.  Hardly a shock.

I've several champions still alive, a couple fennblades alive, and...oh yeah, a Mulg and a Mountain King in Terminus' face.  On the bright side, Terminus is sitting on 13 focus.  I do a quick measure, and find that Skuld is within 11" of Terminus.  HOWEVER, getting there involves a free strike from Mulg and the Mountain King.  And a random fennblade.  I activate the Banes, and they manage to crush Mulg's mind.  Saxon guides a Bile Thrall through the woods and he purges, killing a couple more champions that were on 1 health each.

I look at Mulg, I look at the Mountain king, and then a little voice in my head whispers to me:

PAGE 5! GO FOR THE THROAT!

I say 'hell with it' and throw Terminus at Skuld.  1d6+2 isn't enough for Mulg to hit Terminus.  The Mountain king connects, but fails to break Terminus' camp...and Skuld burned his fury trying to get rid of Wrathe. (in fairness, had Wrathe died I would have lost).

Terminus proceeds to rip Skuld in half with a single blow.

End Result
Cryx Win via Assassination

Casualties -
~7 Bane Thralls (who cares)
2 Bile Thralls (who cares)
Bloat Thrall (we can build another out of all the dead trolls)
Numerous woodland creatures from a Bile Thrall Purge
7 Fennblades
Skaldi Bonehammer
3 Champions
Jarl Skuld

Closing Thoughts
I think ignoring gigantic monstrosities like battle engines, colossals, and gargantuans is a reasonable tactic.  Gargantuans can be healed readily, and most people will dump another couple points to put a mechanic behind a colossal.  As such, you're going to have to commit a chunk of forces to kill one, so either go big or don't commit.  Half-arsing it is stupid.

Terminus is fun.  I like the list (could probably tighten it up a bit) and like Leviathans, even when the dice COMICALLY FAIL on them.  A lot.  Like, several times over.  God, I needed friggin' 5s.

The list involves a lot more traffic control than my Legion.  Then again, what DOESN'T run more models than beast-heavy Legion?

Tough is annoying as hell on feat turn.  I could've easily gotten another 3-4 souls, and been in much less danger.

MVP goes to Darragh Wrathe, because Beyond Death saved my friggin' bacon in this game. 

Cryx Rebirth

As the post title gives away, I'm taking a break from my Legion to go back to my roots: Cryx.

At current, I've got the following back up and in tabletop condition:

Ready To Rock
10 Bane Thralls, UA, Tartarus
10 Satyxis Raiders, UA, Captain
10 Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
2ea of the light Arc Nodes (1 Defiler, though)
Slayer
Venethrax
both Skarres
2 Bloat Thralls
2 Pistol Wraiths

Coming Up
Terminus
Cankerworm
Nightmare
Deathjack
Crabjacks
Bile Thralls (min)
2 Helldivers
3 Scavengers
AND MUCH MORE!

Things To Look Forward To
1) Rocking Terminus dual-Leviathan style like Gangbusters
2) Rocking eSkarre, period.
3) Getting some pGaspy + Wraith Engine on
4) Kraken + whatever

And Some Words
This is actually a heap of re-work for me in some degree, as I've decided to revert to a green glow (never COULD get the red to look like I wanted it...) and upgrade to the plastic nodes (...because, let's be honest, the old metal ones looked kinda dinky).

On the flip side, once I get a functional camera, I'll have to throw pictures up.

I'm also just waiting to get my Terminus conversion up and painted.  Bigger wings, reposed, and on an elevated base?  Aw, yeah.  I've got the Crabjacks up and coming to go with him.  I always have liked them, especially the Leviathan.

Cryx's Kraken - Initial Thoughts

So, I laid hands on the Colossals book and the Kraken up at Lock 'n' Load, and I gotta say I'm looking forward to painting and fielding the thing.  After I finish up the Extreme Carnivean and Throne and futz around with them for a bit, I'm gonna dive back into the Cryx.

I'm going to devote at least two posts to the Kraken; first off I'm going to evaluate it on its own here and see what it can do, and scratch the surface of what it can do with some casters.  After some practice and/or more thinking, I'll start discussing it in the context of an actual list.

Kraken Basics
First off, it's a colossal. (Yarrgh! I be Captain Obvious!)  This has a few implications.  First off, you deploy this thing first off; it MUST be pre-deployed.  Second, the enemy can't control or disrupt it, or move it.  The only time it's going anywhere is during its activation.  Also, pathfinder.  Which is fun.

Third, it's bloody big and durable and hard to hide.  Like battle engines, it's never gonna hide behind anything or get ANY defensive buffs, and being in melee is no refuge from combined ranged attacks. It's also got 54 boxes on ARM19, so it can absorb some abuse.

Kraken on the Offense
Shooting
This thing brings a pair of guns - the Hellblaster and the Flayer. Both guns can fire through the entire front arc. They're tied to an average RAT5, and the Flayer is spec'ed out as an anti-infantry gun whereas the Hellblaster is a sizeable high-powered blast weapon.  The Flayer's good for d3+1 POW12s out to 12 inches, and Rapid Fire means it can spray those from one end to the other of its range.  The Hellblaster is a POW14, RNG16 AOE4 gun that can go up to POW17 with a full load of corpse tokens (and due to the wording of Doom Driver, the blast damage can get up to an effective POW10).

Also of note is the new rule 'Killshot', which allows you to make a single ranged attack ignoring ROF if you take out something in melee.  Note that colossals can make their ranged attacks while in melee.

Melee
This thing starts with a pair of PS18 'Harvesters', which are Chain Weapons with Chain Strike on 'em, so you can reach out and punch enemies out to 4" away.  With SPD5, you have a base charge range of 12", and you end up 4" away from the target without engaging it at the end of your activation (at least, in theory and in a vacuum).

This model has Collector and Meat-Fueled, which are some of its 'flavor' rules.  If it KO's a living model in melee, corpse token.  +1STR for corpse tokens, to a max of 3.  ALSO, you can remove corpse tokens to give it focus at a cost of one per focus.  It lets you trade off hitting power for self-sufficiency.

Also, note colossals have a few extra power attacks, like the no-move slam and perhaps more amusingly, the 'sweep', which tags everything in 2" of one melee weapon.  Hilarity can ensue, as a good sweep will KO infantry, help with meat-fueled, AND activate killshot.

What Would the Kraken Like?
I can think offhand of two things the Kraken would like:
1) help hitting
2) help not dying

As we're Cryx, we have access to DEF debuffs.  The 'not dying' is very often up to the player to provide by not doing dumb stuff, and also by bringing Necrotechs for repair.  There's nothing quite as obnoxious as the enemy dog-piling the thing and failing to kill it, only for a pair of necrotechs to bring it back up turn after turn.

What Casters Can Offer What Benefits?
Asphyxious1
ARM debuff, damage buff...not bad, but a to-hit buff would be nice.

Asphyxious2
Much the same as Gaspy1, but with more desire for infantry.  'eh'.

Asphyxious3
Hey, we have a to-hit buff and a damage buff.  This guy could make it work.

pDeneghra
Debuff queen to the rescue.  Also, a good feat turn with Scourge and parasite?  Yeah, the Kraken can basically auto-hit with 2-4 POW12s and a POW14+, while the enemy's at -5 ARM.  That will probably do the trick.

eDeneghra
You have a DEF and/or ARM debuff, and a feat for more DEF debuff/positioning fun.  Sadly, Pursuit doesn't work on the Colossal.

pGoreshade
You have a DEF debuff against the living via the Deathwalker, and you can grant it Dark Shroud via Shadowmancer.  Sadly, Soul Gate is unlikely to be much use hwere, and you probably won't cast Mage Blight either.

eGoreshade
You get an ARM debuff, and in a pinch Curse of Shadows can help you disengage.  Perhaps more amusing is Phantom Hunter; now you can't HIDE from the big damn guns.  There's potential here, one supposes.

Mortenebra
She can provide boosted attack rolls vs the living AND +2ARM.  Bring in focus-efficient lights to take advantage of the free slams/charges, and add a unit or two...there's potential here, I think.  And Morty's Repair[10] is solid as well, and in a pinch you can burn through her focus via Interface.

pSkarre
Dark Guidance and the feat are neat, but I think pSkarre still gets more mileage out of melee troopers.  Not saying she couldn't run the Kraken, but I don't think it's optimal, and you're kinda hoping for good Ritual Sacrifice roles to make the most out of it.

eSkarre
At first glance, there are a handful of things that just don't work with the Colossal - Admonition and Perdition are out-of-activation movement that it can't use, and it cannot be directly protected by the feat.  On the OTHER hand, Black Spot can let you rack up a HIDEOUS number of attacks and help them hit, while Seas of Fate helps you make the most out of the focus invested in the Kraken.  Finally, Death Ward gets it up to ARM21 and can help preserve important systems.

Terminus
He can hide behind it and give it Berserk.  Downside is it's expensive, but can make good use of focus Terminus gives it, and let's face it - you have this thing called 'Sacrifical Pawn' AND a CD-sized base to hide behind.  Do you need to camp focus if you'll never get shot?  Plus, berserk on a 4" melee range is hilarious.

Lich Lord Venethrax
Um.  Yeah.  Moving along...all Venethrax likes is hiding behind it, I guess.

Witch Coven
Going up to MAT8 SPD7 is nothing short of hilarious.  Veil of mists can help with traffic control, curse of shadows can debuff ARM, and Nightfall can even protect this thing.  The Coven can also generally feed it AND cycle Infernal Machine with their 9 focus.  There's potential here.

Scaverous
ARM buff?  Check.  ARM debuff?  Check.  DEF debuff?  Check.  You have just about everything you'd want to support the Kraken, it's just a matter of using it at the right time and fueling the colossal.

Overall
On paper, I like the Kraken.  I've played against a couple of colossals and don't find them broken; they're not THAT tough and melee heavies can still sort them out.  Keep repair support near them, and keep away units of weaponmaster infantry.

I plan on trying the Kraken with eSkarre first up, and going from there.  I'm pretty sure the Dennys will be fine, and so will Scaverous.  The Goreshades seem marginal, and Venethrax and Gaspy are just kinda 'eh' for me.