Saeryn: Tier Thoughts

I've been toying around with Everblight tier lists for Lock 'n' Load's Blood, Sweat, and Tiers. (I am, alas, on the waiting list...).

I've had great fun with eVayl's, but on a whim I gave Saeryn's tier a go.  I've found it...interesting.

The Tier
T1: Advance Deploy your Spell Martyrs (if any), following restrictions:
Only flying beasts/Nephilim, no characters
Only units with flight
Shepherds/Sorceress on hellion/Spell Martyers

T2: Bring a Sorceress on a Hellion, gain +1 to starting roll

T3: Bring 2+ heavies with Flight, gain +2" DZ

T4: Bring 3+ Nephilim Warbeasts, gain a free Nephilim

How Deep?
This is the big question.  Honestly, T2 and T3 work together nicely; as the Hellion grants you some fury efficiency with flying heavies (read: Angeliusss...however the hell you spell it for plural) and your heavies are naturally swift.

Once you get to T4, well...then it gets interesting.  You CAN do T4 at 35pts, but it's pretty limited.  At 35, I have:

FALLEN ANGELS!
Saeryn [-5]
-Angelius [9]
-Angelius [9]
-Nephilim Soldier [5]
-Nephilim Protector [5]
-Nephilim Bolt Thrower [6]
-Nephilim Bolt Thrower [0]
Nyss Sorceress on Hellion [4]
Shepherd [1]
Shepherd [1]

Cons
This list has a glaring weakness - the shepherds.  If you can't hide them or shield guard them, you're in for a world of hurt.  Comically, 2/3 of your beasts CAN frenzy on your caster, an oddity for a Legion list.

In all seriousness, fury management IS an issue; you have 7 FURY on Saeryn and can generate a whopping 20 fury in a turn, and can cool off one Angel and change with a safety Fury or two on Saeryn.

Early on, this isn't a huge issue, as you're running everyone turn one (after getting out upkeeps and dumping fury).  When shooting, you've got Shepherds to cool off troopers, and maybe you can keep an Angel or two in melee.  Lose a Shepherd, or need to push?  You're going to take threshold checks.  On the bright side, at least Nephilim have a high threshold, and you'll want to learn about frenzy rules and getting things like the Soldier and/or Protector close to enemies.

You also are a bit low on melee power, outside of Armor Piercing strikes.  Armor-heavy enemy lists may make you consider scenario/assassination plans.  Similarly, higher-DEF heavies can give the Angels issues with their Legion-standard MAT6.

As a minor note, I like having a Harrier or other lesser to throw out as a Blight Bringer target, but at least you've got a Soldier for that, right? 

Pros
This list has a decent ranged game with Bolt Throwers (one of the best ranged attacks in Legion, between the POW, RNG, thunderbolt, and lack of damage type) and the boostable hand-cannons on the Angels.  You also have a SPD8 spray-bot that can go hunt support in a pinch.  Just note that spells don't really match up with a ride-by attack, alas.

While you ARE rocking a ton of Fury, note that Saeryn's feat favors a hefty battlegroup.  Your army will basically be untouchable in melee for a turn.  Which is nice.

You also have access to some wonderful movement shenanigans, between Repulsion and Thunderbolt, and you can always get slams off with the Protector and Soldiers.  Given the extended deployment zone and widespread flight, you also have an excellent mobility advantage.  You might even find a use for Massacre, as it IS extra movement and can give your melee beasties a free charge after the Sorceress bites it. 

Playing The Army
Early on, you'll throw up Respawn and possibly Banishing Ward.  Saeryn may grab Flight on turn one and charge up, or just meander up.  The Bolt Throwers and Angels grab good shooting lanes, the Soldier looks for slam targets or clumped-up infantry.  The Protector wanders around with Shepherds nearby, and generally waits to eat a transfer from Saeryn.

You actually have a decent selection of animi, as Saeryn enjoys Flight (hey, no innate pathfinder...) and Safeguard (keep that high DEF; not like ARM14 keeps you alive).  Repulsion is solid utility, and even Massacre can be fun for the extra inch of movement, especially if an Angel is going to go on some kind of Overtake stab-fest, or if you just need more fury for attacks/boosts on the beastie.

Some Tests
I've had several games with the list, and managed a few wins.  I managed a win against an eFeora list, as support solos  that rely on stealth/clouds to survive don't last against Bolt Throwers and Angelius shooting.  Add in 1-2 combat heavies, and a Protector to eat transfers and you're fine.

A pSorscha list didn't have enough time to fully activate, and again the shooting managed to KO a few important models (like sharpshooting manhunters, etc) and pull a flight/feat assassination run by dumping two Angels onto Sorscha's doorstep while tying up Beast 09.

A Circle pKaya 3x Warpwolf list thrashed me pretty soundly.  I misjudged threat ranges (half an inch difference is way too close for comfort...) and with their accuracy, yeah.  I managed to take a chunk out of his army, but losing the Angels and not focusing on scenario cost me.

Overall
I do like this list.  It's not what I'd normally take with Saeryn, but between this list and the eVayl triple-angelius list I have, I've learned to love the Angelius.  Bolt Throwers are solid, and playing with a free light is a hell of a tier benefit.

If I weren't going to go with a full-up T4 list, I'd probably rock something like:

Saeryn [5]
-Angelius [9]
-Angelius [9]
-Angelius [9]
-Nephilim Bolt Thower [6]
Nyss Sorceress on Hellion [4]
Shepherd [1]
Shepherd [1]
Spell Martyr [1]

You lose three Nephilim for another Angel and a Spell Martyr.  You get some hitting power, but I wonder if losing three friggin' lights is worth that.

Thagrosh the Prophet, Part 2: To Tier, or Not To Tier

In the previous post, I discussed my opening thoughts with regards to my newest, bestest attrition buddy, Thagrosh the Prophet of Everblight. 

As with all casters, there's at least one theme list out there you can potentially use.  At this time, the only one I can think of is in the Forces book, and someone's been nice enough to post it out in picture form.  Without further ado, I'll dig into what our list looks like if we theme it.

Tier 1: Whoopity crap.  FA:U on the Blighted Ogrun units (which tend to be FA:2-3 already) and FA:2 for Spawning Vessels.  Most Legion folks own one spawning vessel, tops.  On the bright side, excess corpse tokens don't get 'wasted'.  On the down side, you're bringing expensive bodies, and not too many of 'em.

Tier 2: We have 2+ Blighted Ogrun units.  At this time, we've spent 10-16 points to get 6-10 bodies.  We could double up on Warmongers OR Warspears, but in all honesty I would expect most people to have one unit of either instead of two units of one.

That being said, I would suggest leading with Warspears, because Set Defense can be fun for taking the charge, and we'll be at effective DEF14, ARM18 if we can make use of Death Shroud.

Warmongers OR Warspears can use the +2STR buff.  Alternatively, Tenacity Spam can make the front line of Warspears a stupid-nasty DEF15 against charges/shooting (provided we have Fog of War up against things that don't ignore concealment).

Con: Warspears want you to drop Fog of War upon their charge turn IF they need to peg targets that are in Thagrosh' control area.

Pro: free 3pt solo.  Yeah, you want at least one War Chief in there for the accuracy buff.  Using him to buff everyone might be tough, but at least you can get healing.  Even better: this healing does NOT remove the enemy from play, so the spawning vessel you might bring can still help.

Tier 3: Bring a spawning vessel.  We're at effective 19 points by now, though we still haven't taken beasts or fury support.  Your lessers get advance deploy...but the point of taking a Spawning Vessel is to save on lessers...um.  Yeah.  About that...

Tier 4: Bring 2+ heavies, get +2" on your DZ.  This is pretty solid, considering you're kinda slow as-is.  Get all your stuff up-field faster.  If you're playing 35pts, you have a solid 16+5pts to play with.

What's Your t4 List Look Like?
Assuming 35 points, I would grab a Carnivean (because, hey, spiny growth) and an Angel (we want another heavy; it can crack armor and fly over our glut of medium bases).  I'd love a Shredder for tenacity, but I'm just not sure we've got the points.

pThags [-5]
-Carnivean [11]
-Angelius [9]
-Shredder [2]
5 Warspears [8]
5 Warmongers [8]
Min Spawning Vessel Crew [2]
Warmonger Chief [0]
Total: 35

That gets us to a full T4 list, and runs us a grand total of 34 points.  At 35, I'd be sorely tempted to drop a couple grunts off the Spawning Vessel crew to get me a Shredder.  Lead off with the Warspears, add Fog of War, and throw out tenacity and/or spiny growth on them.  Make the enemy deal with high DEF (up to 15, assuming they want to charge, or if they don't ignore concealment).  Warmongers in the back as follow-up.

At 50?  Add another heavy, max the spawning vessel.  You have 5 points remaining, assuming a 9pt heavy (Angel or Scythean).  Consider a War Chief and Lesser, or Forsaken and lesser, and find a point somewhere?

Overall
The requirements for the tier are KIND of nice with pThags.  He wants to abuse multi-wounders and high ARM, and Blighted Ogrun are where you'll get that in-faction.

Pros
-Warspears with Tenacity, Fog Of War/Set Defense, and Death Shroud are a DEF15/ARM17 front line vs shooting, and DEF15/ARM19 front line if you can get Death Shroud to go off.  Not the easiest thing to crack.  If the enemy brings lots of infantry, you'll have fun with Berserk and the stew pot.

+2" on the DZ is a nice way to compensate for slower models.

Cons
-Not a lot of bodies; this makes the Stew Pot a little less efficient.
-Tier Benefits of T1 and T3 are a bit 'eh', all things considered.
-You're burning a minimum of 13 points (more like 19) on infantry, and you still need a pair of heavies.  Unless you compromise somewhere, this build is only going to mature at 50.
-You have to own two units of Blighted Ogrun?
-Honestly, Gatormen derive more benefit from Fog of War and Death Shroud; only inferior to Warspears in that they lack Set Defense but can get +1DEF or Pathfinder; are you willing to trade +1DEF only vs charges for Unyielding and more accuracy/attacks in melee?

Summary
I wouldn't really try this list under 50 points, since the core requirements are a bit steep with regards to the amount of Blighted Ogrun.  If you want to try out a Legion 'brick', this is probably as good as it gets.  At 35, I'd  lean towards a front line of Gatormen with Fog of War and/or Tenacity as a cheap and nasty front line/anti-infantry core.

The tier isn't necessarily terrible, but I feel you need to play it at 50 points to get the most out of pThag's attrition ways, and you really need Warspears as the front line.

First Impressions: Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight

I'm back (again) after a bit of a break, this one due to real life, and the fact that I FINALLY have a functioning laptop again. (loaned one out, it came back in less-than-stellar condition, and the other one suffered a hard drive meltdown).

On a whim, I put in a couple games with pThagrosh, and honestly?  I like what I saw.  On paper at first, I was kind of like 'eh, what's this guy actually do?'  I didn't see an amazing knockout punch, but the feat looked hilarious.

Then again, there's a reason for this: I'm more used to thinking about Legion as assassination.  pThagrosh can certainly pull that off, BUT, but: pThags is solid at attrition.

Base Stats
His stats are fairly tank-ish: SPD5 is kinda slow, but he's got some workable defensive stats and damage output. 

Defensively, DEF14 is so-so until you figure out you can gain Concealment at will, and you probably have Tenacity, so you can pull off DEF17 vs shooting.  You have ARM16 base, and with Death Shroud and Spiny Growth, you can be an effective ARM20 vs melee.  Throw that on top of 18 boxes and you have some nasty defensive stats for a warlock.  Just bear in mind you've got to spend some Fury to get there.

The other neat defensive thing: Death Shroud.  If the enemy is in his CMD9 range, they're at -2STR.  Go ahead, melee me.  This can be a huge asset against melee armies, and you'll want to bring ARM and wounds to take advantage of this.

Offensively, you have a decent POW12 spray; it's workable enough for infantry clearning.  Note that it's a fire type spray, so immunities come into play.  In melee, you have a PS12 backhand, and a PS16 reach whompin' stick that turns dead infantry into burning clouds.  This is nice if you get close, and he CAN clear out some infantry.

Spells
The first spell you'll notice is Fog of War.  Concealment for your 14" control area is nice, especially if you've got Legion shooting that doesn't CARE about concealment, like anything with Eyeless Sight, Hunter, or sprays.  You'll probably throw this up first turn, and keep it up as long as there's a shooting threat.

Bad Blood is situational; it's useless against Warmachine and HILARIOUS against Hordes.  I'd almost thing about a bloody Spell Martyr just to get it on an opposing heavy early.  It does several things:

1) You leach?  You take damage.  Free early-game damage and a 'screw you' unless they've got fury management, and they'll have to dedicate that management to that heavy.

2) No healing.
Seriously, this is one of the major perks.  Bad Blood an enemy heavy, then cripple it.  One of the things Warmachine players hate about Hordes is our ability to spend 1-2 fury and bring a mostly-dead heavy back up to full operational capability.  Not so much with this.  Note it shuts down Regenerate AND all forms of healing, too.  The fewer heavies the other guy has, the more they'll hate this.

3) No Transfers
Just a nice, last 'up yours' from this spell.

Draconic Blessing is a pretty nice little +2STR for model/unit spell, but note it must be Faction models.  Ah well.

Mutagenesis is an interesting spell.  It's a RNG8 POW12 shot, but if you kill an enemy model, you RFP it.  If Thagrosh was the point of origin, you can place him in the spot where the enemy was, and then you can't move.  Some people will doubltess look to this as an assassination threat, but that's a bit of a trap.  You're looking at burning 3-4 fury to get there, and then you've got 3-4 tops to beat the target down.  It's doable, but be very careful about using it for that.  Bear in mind you can move before you fire the spell, so you CAN potentially use it to Get Outta Dodge.

And, since no one should be without a big magical shot, you get Obliteration.  Yay.  It's kind of a trap; you'll probably have better things to do with your fury, not gonna lie.  Don't forget you have it, though.

Extra Fury Management Tools
You've got two other neat special rules with pThags: Athanc and Attuned Spirit: Legion.

Athanc lets you pick up an additional point of Fury if you're one under.  This is nice if you have to transfer, or in the late game if you're low on fury generation, or if you miscalculate the amount of fury you need.

Attuned Spirit lets you drop an animus for free as a spell.  This is great for things like Spiny Growth, or any of the other 2-fury animi.  Mostly, though, it's nice for Spiny Growth, because Spiny Growth + Death Shroud = Hilarious.

The Feat: Dark Revival
Bring a beast back to play, fully healed, and it forfeits the action.

Or, Let's Trade Heavies, But I Get Mine Back.  See an attrition trend here?  Beware of enemies that have RFP abilities, because you don't want that to come into play here.

Army Composition
Fog of War dictates that if you're going to bring shooting, bring shooting that ignores Concealment, OR drop FoW when it can help the other guy.  In terms of infantry, Striders and Hex Hunters with their respective UAs gain Hunter.  Additionally, I would look into a Shredder for the DEF buff; even a DEF11 heavy can start to get difficult to shoot if you add Concealment and +1DEF from Tenacity to it. 

Death Shroud makes Spiny Growth attractive, and I'd be hard-pressed to NOT include a Carnivean with pThags.  With this, you can get your heavies up to an effective ARM22, and every time an enemy heavy tags 'em they eat d3 damage.  Even Khador heavies struggle with this, and it puts you in a good position to screw the enemy up.

Battlegroup
As mentioned above, think long and hard about a Carnivean and Shredder.  DEF/ARM buffs are nice with Fog of War and Death Shroud. 

An Angelius can get up to DEF:Stupid (or 17) with Tenacity and Concealment, and ignores the debuff from shooting.

Typhon likes the DEF/ARM buffs, as DEF15 vs ranged is pretty solid, and ARM19/effective 21 with Spiny Growth + Death Shroud.  You can also get lovely PS19 smacks with Dragon's Blood, and his own animus/affinity with Thagrosh let him play a nasty attrition game, too.

Scytheans can struggle with heavy armor, but Dragon's Blood going up to PS19 (and Spiny Growth) can make this guy a workable way to start off the piece trade; you then get him back via feat.

Proteus is another option; he can start the piece trade and you can use Spiny Growth/Dragon's Blood to help with his durability and hitting power issues.  Honestly, I think Proteus might work well with this guy, but it's worth more testing.

Infantry
Consider multi-wound infantry with pThags just to abuse the Death Shroud.

I want to like Blighted Ogrun with pThags and it feels fluffy.  Warmongers love being PS16.  Warspears love the DEF buff, and +2STR helps their melee AND ranged attacks; just remember to turn off Fog of War on the assault.

However, I think the Gatorman Posse wins out here.  Death Shroud helps them; they're effective ARM20 when engaged with that.  With Fog of War and potentially Tenacity Spam, they're DEF16 against ranged.  They miss out on +2STR, but come on.  You have heavies for that.

You could make Hex Hunters and/or Striders work, and you could always cheap out with Legionnaires or Grotesques + Spawning Vessel, but I kinda like the Posse for the few more points.

Solos
As ever, consider Fury Management Solos.  Forsaken help with fury management and can of course fight off high-DEF infantry and camping casters.  Additionally, if the enemy runs beasts hot to try to crack your armor, 8+3-4d6 can do a number on them.

Shepherds are nice for more healing and of course fury management.

Spell Martyers are by no means auto-include; BUT against Hordes an early Bad Blood can be great fun.  Otherwise, hell, just fire off an early Obliteration or something.

Fog of War makes Deathstalkers and Annyssa kind of iffy, as it harms them.

Battle Engine
Again, the Death Shroud/Spiny Growth mix can put this thing up to ARM23 effective, and with 24 boxes? That's pretty much Heavy Beast durability.  pThags can run this thing well enough, and buff its swings up to PS17; if you can get some corpses then things will get nasty if you can tag enemy heavies.

Just make sure you leave the Spawning Vessel at home if you bring this guy, because they'll be competing for corpse tokens (to an extent, at least).

Sample 35pt Army
We'll start with a Carnivean, Shredder, and Gatorman Posse:

pThags [-5]
-Carnivean [11]
-Shredder [2]
5 Gatorman Posse [9]

This puts us at 17 points.  We have a solid front line, and our defensive animi covered. We want a heavy to start the piece trade, and possibly a bit of fury management.

I've been liking the Angelius as of late, so what the hell.  Plus, you can go high-DEF, moderate ARM, and you get a nice animus.  Add in the +2STR spell, and things get fun. That puts us to 26 points, leaving 9 for anything else we want. 

pThags [-5]
-Carnivean [11]
-Angelius [9]
-Shredder [2]
5 Gatorman Posse [9]

Total: 26

We could go for a third heavy at this point, or we could go for more support.  I'm not willing to drop the Shredder, and I'm not into dropping down for a min posse.  At this point, I would consider fast flankers to harass the enemy.  One way to spend 9 points would be: Anyssa Ryval [4], Totem Hunter [3], Forsaken [2].

I know I warned about Anyssa, but she's reasonably accurate already, has prey, and should be operating on the periphary of the board anyway.  Totem Hunter lets me put a fast flanker on the other side.  These two will combine to try to kill support models.  And the Forsaken?  It eats fury, and threatens a Blight Shroud mid/late game.

The Vyros NQ Tier

First, I'd like to offer a quick apology to readers; my posting was somewhat interrupted by a barrage of work-related travel, then travel-related illness that forced me on something of a hiatus.

That aside, I decided I'd paint up some of my Retribution, and try to make my favorite borderline-psychotic elf work in a theme list: Dawnlord Vyros.  Everyone's favorite flanking caster got himself a new theme list in No Quarter #35.

The Tiers
The Limits
Non-character warjacks with field dependent.
Small-based Dawnguard units; any Houseguard units.
Arcanist solos, Dawnguard solos, and Houseguard solos.

Tier 1
Obey the aforementioned limits
FA of non-character Dawnguard units/solos goes up by 1

Tier 2
Battlegroup has 2+ heavies
Point cost of heavies in the battlegroup goes down by 1

Tier 3
2+ units
For every two units you have, one heavy in the battlegroup gets Advance Move

Tier 4
the army has 4+ warjacks
Each jack in the battlegroup gets 1 focus at the start of Control Phase 1

On the Benefits/Restrictions
For me, Tier 3 is the money.  Tier one is so-so; given the subsequent restrictions (and lack of extra unit attachments) I don't see redundancy in the units as a major benefit.  As we have all of zero Houseguard solos and two Dawnguard solos, I'm not sure I see a benefit there, either.  Scyirs are somewhat questionable with Vyros, as heavies belong in his battlegroup and lights still like the benefit.  At best, they're a guided MAT10 weaponmaster missile that fires through your Dawnguard lines.  Thanes are useful for feat turn and as flankers, but I'm not sure I'd want to take 3 in the army.

Tier two, however, is pretty easy to get to.  Vyros likes warjacks, and he's gonna like cheaper heavies even more.  Seven point Manticores are hard to argue with, and I can live with 8pt Hydras a bit more.  The Phoenix at 9 is still nice, since you're probably not going to use the arc node and frankly, a 360 front arc + reach can be a liability to a canny opponent, as you kind of lose the benefit of free strikes.

Tier 3 is where we start making money.  Advance move on heavies is nice, and with access to Houseguard units (and the 2pt Heavy Rifle Team) we can reasonably get advance move on a couple of heavies as low as 35pts.  Any of our heavies can use this: Manticores can put suppressive fire just outside the enemy DZ, Hydras can fuel up and move into the mid-line on turn 2, and a Phoenix can get in there and be ready for a devastating charge or a nasty Combustion even faster.

Tier 4 is bound to be nicer for larger games, as you'll be able to push your jacks up faster and still crank out your upkeeps on turn one.

Downside of the Restrictions
Offhand, you'll notice a couple of things you're NOT gonna get in this list:
Eyriss
Stormfall Archers

Eyriss is your only real answer for upkeep removal.  This could hurt you.  You're otherwise stuck with Soulless for anti-magic duties, which could be passable.  Stormfall Archers are also a bit of a loss, as they're one of our main answers to high-DEF infantry and/or stealth stuff, plus they can do a number on hard targets as well.  I like these guys, what can I say? 

You also lose out on some of our hard-hitting solos and our movement shenanigans, but I've always kinda felt Vyros liked the straightforward approach anyways.

Working the Tier
My experience with the tier is largely at the 35pt level.  I think aiming for T3 is going to maximize your benefit, as it's unrealistic to get to T4.  I want my cheap heavies, and I want my heavies to be able to get up there in a hurry.

1) The Choice of Heavies
Honestly, I'm currently liking a pair of Manticores for my T2 requirement.  Here are some reasons why:
1) Covering fire WAY out there early on
You can help control enemy movement, and with a turn one mobility, you can be 14" across the field, add in a foot-long range for covering fire and you ARE putting it on their doorstep.  If you go first, you can get some great board control against enemy infantry
2) Enemy stealth people don't like covering fire
...if you can't kill them early, you can at least control them somewhat.  One template isn't too hard to get around; two near each other forces a considerable detour
3) The feat can help fuel them
Against enemy infantry lists, it's not going to be too terribly hard to slag a handful of guys during your feat turn, and fuel these things.

Pondering Hydras
On the one hand, you can also push Hydras up to the mid-line, and they can set up shop.  One of them can get two focus from Vyros, one gets one from an Arcanist; you then chuck up Inviolable Resolve and Mobility and you have Hydras at the midline and your infantry buff in play.  Next turn, you can fully fuel them with 3 focus, upkeep, and have a couple left over in case you feel the need to cast Hallowed Avenger.
T
he Con: this is more of a gimmick in that Stealth still shuts you down.  On the other hand, you can bounce some high-damage shots off enemy targets, and start doing a number on them as they CANNOT hide from you unless they have stealth.

On Phoenixes
I'm hesitant about the phoenix for a few reasons.  On the bright side, combust is a fine way to kill high-DEF enemy infantry, and you still have the Phoenix's lovely PS17 reach weapon.  On the downside, you're still probably never going to use the Arc Node.  Finally, a canny opponent will exploit your 360 front arc to avoid free strikes, and a phoenix has a large area around it where they can do so.  The gun on it is so-so, so pushing up to the midfield early on really only uses this thing's melee and combust capabilities. 

I just think you can get more for less in jacks with this particular tier; I still like the Phoenix and it still has a nasty threat range with reach and mobility.

2) The Units
If we're going to Tier 3, you probably want to grab a pair of Heavy Rifle Teams.  It's 4 points for some armor-piercing shots (still vulnerable to stealth, but frankly, if the enemy is stealth-heavy you just try to grab/hold territory with these guys.  They're 2 bloody points).  Let them run turn one, and set up for shots on turn 2 and later.  Some people take exception to armor piercing as well, and with an effective RAT7 with the binocular grunt, you can make people leery of getting heavies nearby, or even heavy infantry.

So, let's pretend you're gonna take two of these.  Let's pretend you're taking two Manticores as well.  You've spent a total of 6 points after accounting for Vyros' jack points, and if you're shooting for 35 you have a solid 29 points.  Let's be honest, you're gonna take a couple of Arcanists, so you've spent 8 points and have 27 to dump on two more units and any more solos you choose to take.

At this point, you're going to want to decide what you want for a core.  We have movement control, heavy hitters for melee, and anti-heavy gunfire.  I would like a little accurate melee damage.  When it comes to Vyros, I have a soft spot for Invictors.  Expensive?  Yeah.  You get what you pay for, and Vyros doesn't mind a ranged punch.  You have an easier time on the feat turn, and in a pinch if you can get the ranges right, you can mess up even Stealth infantry, as most of them don't like RAT8 tag-teams that re-roll misses.  You have 360 front arcs on heavies, so you can also get the flank bonus out there a bit easier, then you have MAT9 weaponmasters at PS10, which isn't bad.  You ARE dependent on your jacks, though, for this to work.  I would consider a Griffin with them as a flank-bot for them and for Vyros.

On the other hand, you can go for the Houseguard module.  At 9 points, you can get a fully-equipped unit of Halberdiers; they can go up to ARM20 in shieldwall with Inviolable Resolve, and with the minifeat, a pair of them can tag-team something at MAT10.  You get your hitting power, AND any guns behind them still see through 'em.  This brings me to the Riflemen; you have good range (still worrying about stealth...) and with the UA, they're almost tailor-made to go with Halberdiers as they can accurately CRA into melee.

3) Solos & Support
Frankly, take your two arcanists already.  Just do it.  There are currently no Houseguard solos, so forget that.  You have access to a pair of Dawnguard solos: the Scyir, and the Thane.  As you're likely to keep warjacks in Vyros' battlegroup for the benefits (Mobility & Bird's Eye), the Scyir is really just a guided missile.  Then again, it's a MAT10 PS12 weaponmaster guided missile with flank, and if you're rocking Dawnguard, you can fire it through the lines and knock a chunk out of things.  It's no Mage Hunter Assassin, but it'll do some damage and not draw near the fire the MHA does.

The Thane, in my mind, competes with the Griffin.  The Thane is a great flanker:  it can hold down objectives and still contribute, and in a pinch it can throw out a nasty charge at a distance; MAT10 PS14 is on par with the Griffin.  Plus, multi-fire on a POW12 gun is just plain fun; you can mow down infantry or ding up softer targets.  Don't forget you can go for a RAT9 with the aim (fun if someone gets a high-DEF target or a caster within 10") or get a nice scoot 'n' shoot with multi-fire + ride-by attacks.

The Griffin, on the other hand, does two things: VERY long-ranged missile, and flank-bot/distractor.  Start with SPD6, add 3" for a charge, and 2" for reach.  If you fleet, you can get another 2", and with Mobility, that's another 2" still; you have a max threat range of 15" in any direction, but it costs you.  More likely you'll either fleet or mobility, but a Griffin already has MAT8 on the charge with the spear.  Two focus is enough to eke out a 13" threat range with fleet + charge, or you can boost to be sure you hit.  It's also an ARM18 light with reach; if you are benefitting from Bird's Eye you can tie up a LOT of infantry or solos.

Some Sample Lists
List 1: Houseguard Heavy, 35pts
Dawnlord Vyros [-6]
-Manticore [7]
-Manticore [7]
-Griffin [4]
10 Houseguard Halberdiers [7]
-Officer, Standard [2]
-WA: Soulless [1]
6 Houseguard Riflement [5]
-Officer, Standard [2]
Houseguard Heavy Rifle Team [2]
Houseguard Heavy Rifle Team [2]
Arcanist [1]
Arcanist [1]


The Logic: Manticores push up, establish covering fire.  Halberdiers provide a front wall; riflemen and rifle teams abuse Ranked Attacks for all they're worth.  Arcanists do what they do.  Griffin serves as a guided missile/flankbot for Vyros.  Optional: drop the Griffin; trade its delaying tactics/threat range for a full unit of Riflemen and another Soulless.  I like the Griffin, though.

List 2: Invictors Holding the Line
Vyros [-6]
-Manticore [7]
-Manticore [7]
-Griffin [4]
10 Invictors [10]
-Officer, Standard [2]
-WA: Soulless [1]
6 Houseguard Halberdiers [4]
Heavy Rifle Team [2]
Heavy Rifle Team [2]
Arcanist [1]
Arcanist [1]

Here, we're abusing Halberdiers as a roadblock with Set Defense.  You could again drop the Griffin, and free up points to upgrade the Halberdiers with either the UA or a full-up unit + soulless, but I lean towards the griffin, again.  Your strategy is much the same, except all your troops are capable in melee, and you still have a decent shooting contingent.

Overall
This is a tight tier to get the meat out of in 35pts, no lie.  I do feel that there's mileage to get out of T3's Advance Move on heavy jacks, and if you were only going to go with one heavy and some lights, you'd have more options.  Still, I think that guns + advance move on 7pt Manticores open up some fun opportunities for board control.  Just be mindful that you are missing out on Eiryss and Stormfalls, though.

Epic Lylyth: First Impressions

I have to admit, after a few games with pLylyth, I looked at epic Lylyth and wondered just what in the world she had to offer. I mean, come on, I just have to shoot someone to put a spell on them; I've got Parasite for hard-target cracking, I've got Eruption of Spines for clustered light targets, and I've got a feat for making sure I hit you and you die.

As it turns out, both of the Lylyths are kind of like Everblight's break-action shotguns: clean, elegant, easy to operate, and capable of doing some damage when pointed in the right direction.

The Look at eLylyth, the Shadow of Everblight

Stats

SPD 7 and Pathfinder makes her pretty bloody swift. STR 4 means you're getting thrown by anyone that can touch you, but is otherwise irrelevant as she has no melee weapons. Similarly, her MAT is irrlevant. Her RAT went up to 8, making her about as accurate as it gets. DEF 16 and ARM 14 make her tough to hit, but easy to damage, and CMD 8 is so-so. Chances are that anything that NEEDS to make a command check (read: striders) probably has a better command value.

You should of course by now be used to her FURY of 5. Not great, but this is the Legion! We've got ways around it.

Skills/abilities

She kept Eyeless Sight (...I'd be hard-pressed to find a fluff reason for losing it). She picked up Evasive, so she can't be tagged by free strikes and she also gets a free 2" advance if the enemy shoots at her and misses. Range Amplifier is something of a replacement for Witch Mark, and it gives you the good ol' +5" RNG if you don't channel the spell. Snap Fire and Swift Hunter combine with her RNG 12 POW12 ROF 2 bow to let her cut through infantry with light/medium armor.

Spells

She's got three spells, all different from her prime incarnation.

Pin Cushion: RNG 10, cost 2, offensive upkeep. Friendly faction models get an extra dice to ranged attack/damage rolls, and drop the lowest. It's Manifest Destiny, but for guns! Between this and her feat, you should seriously be looking into a shooty army.

Pursuit has a couple inches less range than pin cushion, and the same cost. If an enemy model/unit advances, you get to make an advance with one of your battlegroup. Good for keeping someone out of harm's way, or making sure the enemy doesn't run away. Honestly, I see it used more for getting out of harm's way.

Shadow pack is the middle finger for ranged armies. 3 fury and then one to upkeep it afterwards means everyone in your battlegroup gains Stealth while in Lylyth's control area.

Feat: Decimation

The feat is aptly named. Everyone in your control area gains Snipe, and all your beasts get to make an additional free ranged attack. This means you should pretty much consider beasts with ranged attacks, as this feat is either your assassination or (I feel, more likely) your alpha strike to soften up the enemy.

The Utilization of Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight

I'll offer up the 35pt army I ran with her, and an explanation of why each piece made it in there.

Lylyth

-Ravagore

-Carnivean

-Nephilim Bolt Thrower

-Shredder

Striders + UA

2 Shepherds

The Battlegroup

The Ravagore has a stupid-long threat range with a 6" move and 14" shot. It gives us the ranged attack we want for the feat/pin cushion, and it can provide backup against lower-DEF targets in melee with a pair of PS16 open fists and MAT5. The MAT5 is the weak point, though, as it kind of starts falling through against anything with a DEF better than 11/12. So, don't match it up against heavy infantry and you'll do fine. The other major selling point for the Ravagore is the Animus; Continuous Fire on ranged attacks is stupidly useful. Don't uderestimate the potential value of the Scather templates left behind after the attack, and if you're shooting infantry aim for the front ranks to screw up the movement of the rear guys.

The Carnivean also boasts a nasty ranged attack with the SP10, though the RAT 4 means you'll be boosting it. The ability to double-tap with this on Feat turn sort of mitigates that crap RAT, though you'll want to have Lylyth use Spiny Growth on the Carnivean if anything survives the spray as it will (almost) invariably be in charge range. The MAT6 on top of the three initial melee attacks also makes the Carnivean suitable for point-defense duty.

The Nephilim Bolt Thrower is in there for the Thunderbolt ability, on top of the part where it's got a gun (which is more or less the prerequisite for being in Lylyth's battlegroup). The ability to reach out and push someone d3 inches is big; peg the enemy's heavy hitters from as far away as you can to buy more time to shoot them. The only thing to watch out for is the fact that you might shove them out of everyone else's shooting range. Past that, the Animus is only so-so, as Lylyth has pathfinder and 90% of the time it's as good as Flight.

The Shredder is there because I like Tenacity. Admittedly, it's not as necessary because the carnivean-chassis are a mighty DEF 11 and likely to use something like Spiny Growth instead. I would probably replace the Shredder with a Stinger in the future, though the cost and pathfinder mean it can be an objective-sitter in a pinch.

Striders are in there because they're nasty ranged troops, and because I need to keep Stealth in there, lest all the guns be directed at the troops because no one can see my friggin' battlegroup. They're fast, hard to hit, and have ranged attacks. They get serious mileage out of Pin Cushion, which may let you get past the need to double up for combined ranged attacks.

Shepherds are in there as fury control, obviously. With a mighty Fury of 5, Lylyth kind of NEEDS the help. The ability to heal is also excellent, as it lets me potentially bring up a crippled spiral or two. Lylyth COULD do this, but again five fury and an upkeep or two means her personal fury is at a premium. The only worry is that Shepherds do NOT have stealth, so they're the odd ones out.

Use of Lylyth

Lylyth's first turn is probably something like 'run everyone up', 'cast Shadow Pack' and 'hand out a Spiny Growth' or something. Get field position, try to at least get near objectives, and look for good lanes of fire. Turn 2 is likely to be feat turn; try to rip up as much of their army as you can. Cross your fingers that you either break their back, or stall their advance. From there, decide if you can win on scenario or by asssassination, but make it quick: you're Legion and you don't win by attrition.

As for anyone griping about FURY 5? Pin Cushion has a 15" range, and if you've got Shadow Pack up you can afford to boost the hit; 5+3d6 = usually hits, and you've got a fury left for a transfer. Keep in mind that the range amplifier also works on any animus she casts, since they're spells for her. You don't HAVE to play her forward, but if you do, you can at least use her to pop off infantry and Swift Hunter back.

Overall

If you like guns and like stealth, give eLylyth a try. She's not very subtle, but then again the Legion is not the most subtle of factions. In a sense, it's liberating: when someone hands you a mastercrafted long gun with a fine scope, you know exactly what it's meant to do.

Kaelyssa, Build Tweak

I finally finished painting my Dawnguard Sentinels (as well as Skarath), so what better way to celebrate than to field them?

I grabbed Kaelyssa and finally got a game in with a tweaked list.

My previous 35pt Kaelyssa list included:

Kaelyssa

-Hydra

-Phoenix

10 Sentinels w/ Officer, Standard

6-elf Mage Hunter Strike Force w/ UA

pEiryss

2 Arcanists

The tweaked list:

Kaelyssa

-Phoenix

10 Sentinels w/ UA

Stormfall Archers

Arcanist

Narn

eEiryss

Dahlia & Skarath

Basic Impressions of Tweaked List

Without the Hydra in there, Phantom Hunter gets demoted to either going on Kaelyssa in a pinch (if you need to clean out a solo or a couple infantry) or languishing, though I suppose you could always slap it on the Phoenix, since the Halo Cannon isn't THAT bad (I just have rarely used it).

The Archers were in there for two reasons:

1) Testing

2) In case the enemy brought light, squishy infantry.

I admit to being leery about paying 5 points for a whopping four guys, but their range and versatility is very nice. Snipe means they have a 21" max threat range, and RAT 5 is about par (RAT 7 after you Aim at 16"). I'd figured I'd be able to get some versatility out of them in case I ever got LOS on a warjack; Brutal Shot means it's a RAT 5 base, boosted POW12 on the direct hit. Not perfect, but serviceable against non-Khador warjacks.

As a comedic aside, in the game one managed to peg eStryker in the face (actually GETTING the 11...) and then got box cars on the damage roll. Apparently sniped grenade arrows HURT.

eEiryss is a nice change-up from the prime version. I can very much live with the reduced ammo types in exchange for screwing up focus allocation and dropping upkeeps/animi. Between that and a well-placed arcantrik bolt from Kaelyssa, I managed to stall out/gut a Stormclad in one good round. Stationary + nearby weaponmasters = pain, true story...

Dahlia and Skarath make an excellent flank-threat. The spray lets them handle infantry, and Skarath isn't a major slouch in melee. Kaelyssa might miss a Hydra for Phantom Hunter shenanigans, but the dynamic duo are fine flankers and can hold well enough on their own against lighter foes. I just wouldn't expect much out of them when it came to dealing with an enemy heavy in good shape, since Skarath's got that mighty ARM16 for protection.

Brief Commentary on Test Game

Played against a comrade I'd sorta converted from 40k. He brought eStryker, a couple variants of Storm Knights, the Black 13th, a Stormclad, Lancer, and the bloody piper. Scenario was break the line. He ended up winning on assassination after I botched activations to get a scenario win.

I forgot about that whole 'velocity' thing followed up by 'take damage to get a Strength bonus' crap. eStryker's pretty much lurking around, waiting for a chance to fire off a brutal assassination run (then again, it is kinda all-or-nothing for 'im, but he can pull it off, so yeah...).

I will say that Narn is wonderful for a flanking threat, though Stryker managed to velocity, then charge him. It at least pulled eStryker away from the fun, but not far enough as it turned out...

All things considered, it was a fun (and close) match. I think this Kaelyssa list merits some tweaking, though I'm not sure I miss the Hydra. I'm not yet 100% on the Stormfall Archers, though they honestly didn't do BAD. It's more a leeriness about that '5 points for 4 guys' thing. I can say they don't merit being dismissed out-of-hand.

Thoughts on Venethrax

I gotta admit that Venethrax is one of my favorite casters for Cryx in terms of image and general aura of badassery.

Come on, it's a big skeleton waving a sword at you and looking generally angry. What's not to love?

A Brief Look at Venny

Honestly, Venethrax is a selfish guy that LOVES to fight Hordes. How do you know this?

Well, Dragonslayer gives you +2 POW and +2 ARM, but more importantly lets you eat the fury off of a beast and turn it into focus. Therefore, if you can get into a beast and get some reach, MAT 8 PS 16+3d6 base damage into a beast you can probably get its fury, but I'd rather hit a wounded critter. Your other lovely denial spell is Lamentation, where anyone in your 14" area has to pay double for spells/animi. It's a great 'screw you' denial spell in general.

Now, why is he selfish?

Simple. You've got no buffs or debuffs to hand out to any other units on the table. You DO have a nice 3" AOE that hands out corrosion, and youv'e got the typical Hellfire for shooting harder targets. Your one spell you'll cast on a friendly unit is Soul Harvester, which means Venethrax gets the souls they cull instead.

Selfish, ain't it? Well, his feat kind of makes up for that, though at first glance Charnel Flames feels a little bit lackluster when you compare it to out-and-out break-your-opponent's-face feats like eGaspy or eSkarre. For a round, if you kill a warrior model they pop into a 3" cloud that explicitly denies Eyeless Sight. Anyone entering one of these clouds takes a point of fire damage. Basically, if you're running some troops (and honestly, you should consider it) you can make the enemy think carefully how they're going to kill your guys, and in what order. Also, if/when your guys get the charge in, they're buying protection against shooting and charges in turn.

The other note about Soul Harvester: this is a potential assassination setup; Focus 7 means you need to harvest three more souls to get enough focus for two fully-boosted hellfires, which can potentially kill a caster, and if you've wounded them prior...good times.

The Army I've Run

I opted to roll with a Tier 4 list for Venethrax at 50 points. It contains:

Skeletor

-Deathripper

-Deathripper

-Seether

-Seether

10 Mechanithralls

-WA: 2 Brute Thralls

Necrosuregeon & stitch thralls

10 Bloodgorgers

5 Black Ogrun Boarding Party

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

2 Pistol Wraiths

Tier Benefits

1) Seethers cost 8 points

2) I get a 3" cloud to place w/in 20" of my board edge for the first round (before deployment), at one per unit

3) Gerlak & his Bloodgorgers get advance deployment

4) Seethers get an Advance Move

Logic Behind the Army

You want Arc Nodes, because Venethrax is NOT a front-line caster. He can hit and hurt, but unless I'm dealing with hordes I'd rather NOT run the risk of getting up close and popped, because he has to camp focus to not die, being medium-based and having only so-so defense.

Seethers are there because of two reasons: first, the tier likes them, and second, Venethrax likes to sling spells, so the focus-efficient Seethers give me heavy hitters. If I can get them up to the enemy caster, then I can probably stomp on the caster with MAT8, PS 16 hits as well.

The Bloodgorgers & Gerlak handle infantry, especially if they can get Gang up. The Mechanithralls can handle jacks, and if I lead with them, they're wonderful with the feat since they're not THAT hard to pop. Necrosurgeons naturally go where Mechanithralls go. The Black Ogrun are a hefty bodyguard for Venethrax, since they can block tramples and LOS, and can do a reasonable amount of damage as well.

The Pistol Wraiths are some fun denial, and stuff I can TAKE with Venethrax. I'd consider a skarlock briefly, but the only spell a Skarlock's good for is cycling Soul Harvester around, or wandering out and popping an offensive spell before someone decides it should die. Since Venny's tier doesn't give you a heap of anti-jack stuff outside of Seethers and Mechanithralls (the former aren't THAT durable and might be needed for assassination and the latter are not that durable), the Pistol Wraiths provide a way to slow down heavy hitters, and in a pinch can outflank and try to pop shots or assassinate solos.

The Round

I fought one of my buddy's Khador armies. It was something like:

pIrusk

-Devastator

-Spriggan

-Beast 09

Full Winter Guard, 3 Rockets, Standard

Kovnik Joe

Kommandos & a Flamethrower

Widowmakers

Widowmaker Marksman

Man-hunter

Scenario: Killing Field

I made him go first, purely so I could react to the deployment of a slower army. He deployed a little more focused on the side, and basically moved into position on turn one. He experimented with slapping Superiority onto Beast 09, then having the Devastator chuck it downrange. The dice promptly said 'no throw'. This was a bit of a theme on the dice for both of us, though he got the worst of it.

Round one's positioning for the most part. He puts the ManHunter on objective duty on the unused flank, which ends up drawing my Pistol Wraiths off to pop the guy, and then hold onto that objective (only after conceding a point of it to the Manhunter. Damn stealth for making me get within 5" to take the shots). He makes a move to put a Widowmaker Marksman on the other side objective, though a Deathripper wanders over to the objective and arcs a boosted Blood Rain into the Widowmaker's face, which promptly melts off.

Round two is the fine art of making Tough rolls with Bloodgorgers and losing almost half of them, but still making solid tough rolls. Man, I hate Winterguard shotgun + rocket love...

Round tthree is the fine art of throwing my surviving Bloodgorgers (Which make some tough rolls) into his Winterguard (which don't) and Soul Harvest provides Venny with some souls. His Spriggan and Beast 09 move up to the middle to start claiming the middle objective. My Seethers and Mechanithralls move to counter.

I put Seethers into Beast 09, and roll laughably bad on damage. I do manage to get a weapon lock on his Axe of Threshering Your Frelling Skull Off.

He pops feat, and goes into the fray. His dice betray his jacks; one Seether is left with a half-dozen boxes that include the cortexx, leg, and arm, and I have one Bloodgorger left that's on fire, and a somewhat beat-up Gerlak.

I pop my feat, and with 11 Focus on Venethrax I load up the Seethers, drop Soul Harvester, and prepare to go to town. I end up with a nice layer of clouds in front of me, and the Seethers drop Beast 09 and beat up on the Spriggan. Mechanithralls and a Brute put Spriggan into the ground with some spectacular damage rolls on combo-strikes. DEF 10 doesn't stop PS15 combo-strikes, and that PS19 coming out of the Brute Thrall is icing on the cake when it comes up box-cars for 8 boxes off the jack. Too bad I didn't have the charge, thanks to those bloody walls...

The last turn is him making a grab for objectives, but DEF 15 Deathripper manages to NOT get shanked by shooting, charging Commandos. His remaining Winterguard down some Mechanithralls and take a chunk out of my Seether (which Kovnik Joe promptly headshots in its last box, which WAS the cortex), but only have one Winterguard on there.

the last turn sees me with five points, one objective locked down, and a Seether looking at the winterguard on the last objective. The Seether promptly squishes the last winterguard after walking onto the objective.

Game ends; Khador 3 to Cryx 7

Highlights

Neither of us can roll 5's to hit our AOE spells

Neither of us can roll damage against jacks

Kovnik Joe gets the killing shot on a Seether and gives an inspirational speech

One Pistol Wraith pops two shots and fails to kill a Manhunter, so the OTHER one has to do it

Devastator spends most of the game thinking that Death Chill is some crap

Lessons

-Full Bloodgorgers are tough to take down with infantry-grade weapons

-Winterguard Blobs are tough, and massed sprays are sick

-Superiority makes Khador jacks average in terms of defense and speed, which is disgusting

-Beast 09 is a priority target all the time. Big shock.

-You probably won't kill multiple Khadoran jacks unless you get lucky and are willing to sacrifice chunks of your army

-Deploying second is wonderful when you have speed on the other guy

-Assassinating a second-line caster like Irusk means going through his army, OR trying to play Scenario. The latter may get you a faster win.

-Lamentation doesn't do much at all to a support caster when you're not playing from the front (...funny story, I think a Khador jack will hit DEF 15 with a boost and it doesn't need to hit that often...)

-Soul Harvester is good for a few spare focus, but don't expect to get more than a handful with it

-Black Ogrun end up serving more or less as JUST a bodyguard, mostly because the Bloodgorgers and Mechanithralls are rushing to engage. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

-Seethers really, REALLY want to get the first hit in, and Smash & Grab is fun when it goes off.

-Weapon locks may have a use, but if the other guy is stronger than you...may not be so impressive.

Thoughts on epic Skarre Army Lists at 33

Now, when it comes to the epic version of Skarre, I'm a believer that she favors a balanced force, but several of her spells and her Feat can be serious benefts for jacks.

Why the angry horned pirate lady likes Jacks

1) Admonition

AKA 'Get outta the way, little arc node!' Admonition is a battlegroup-only spell for 2 that means whenever an enemy ends their movement within 6", Admonition's target can immediately move 3" and is immune to free strikes.

Now, I've used it on lower point levels for my Arc Node, but you can of course use it to keep heavy hitters or even Skarre herself safe from charges. You can get extra movement out of it, and it's not something the enemy can FORCE you to use, either. Basically, I figure you can either keep yourself out of assault, or get yourself closer. Note that it IS up to the enemy to trigger it, though.

2) Perdition

2 focus for a 10" POW 10 shot that allows one warjack in the battlegroup in this model's command range to make a full advance towards the nearest enemy unit. Now, the last part makes it a little tricky to use (since the nearest enemy unit can dictate your movement a bit) but note that 'Towards' =/= 'Directly Towards'; you just have to keep getting closer to the other guy.

I can think of two main uses for this: get a ranged jack closer to the target you want to shoot while you can still get the 'aim' bonus (since you can still forfeit your movement when you activate), OR move a melee hitter closer to their target. Hey, that Deathjack missile just got a free advance...

The nice part? Since you're Epic Skarre and can wait to boost AFTER you see the dice roll, you can minimize the Focus needed for this spell, and given FOCUS 7? You should be good.

3) Feat: Fate Weaver

Take a point of damage to render friendly units immune to being charged/targeted by attacks for a round, or enemy units unable to attack, period. Obviously, you should spend a point on making SURE Skarre is protected by this, so you've got four targets to render immune. If you've got a few jacks on a flank, they can move up with impunity for a turn and gain field position, or do crazy stuff. I'm sure we can all think of some ways to annoy the enemy by making sure they can't target jacks, or watching some of their guys be utterly unable to DO anything cool for a turn.

4) Death Ward

This is number four for a reason; while +2 ARM is nice for heftier infantry (Hey, who loves ARM 18 bane knights? Any takers? No? Oh well...) but on a 'jack, this lets you pick the column you take the damage in. It lets you keep criticle systems alive that much longer.

Raptor, why's there a picture of a Phalanx in this post?

Glad you asked. It's a simple math problem: Black Spot + Leviathan + Focus + Infantry = Infantry-flavored Hash Browns.

It's a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but it goes like this: Arc Node runs up. Skarre arcs Black Spot onto an enemy infantry unit. Black Spot gives the enemy warrior/model -2 DEF, and if you kill one you immediately get another attack of the same type, independent of ROF and the like for free.

The -2 DEF is huge for Cryx at range, since most of our guns have a mighty, mighty RAT 5 base. I favor the Leviathan for this approach because the Spiker has ROF 3. I'll throw the Leviathan 2-3 focus if I can get a shot at a Black Spotted unit. Heavy-armor infantry go down to DEF 10-11, and POW 13 can usually get the job done against single-wound infantry. With good rolling (and the ability to boost the initial ROF shots AFTER the dice go down) you can KO 4-6 infantry a turn with this.

Besides, there's nothing like the expression on the other guy's face when he watches this hulking spider-like monstrosity mulch an infantry unit in 1-2 turns.

The Cons

Well, first off, you have to field a Leviathan and an Arc Node to make this work. You'd probably be fielding the Arc Node anyway. The Leviathan IS a bit focus-hungry to get results; either 1 to run or 2-3 for a good round of shooting. That's about the worst I can say, though, since the Leviathan IS a fairly decent platform. Black Spot just makes its ROF 3 go further than normal.

It does mean that any of the other jacks you bring should probably be reasonably self-sufficient in terms of Focus, though. Then again, something like a Seether or Deatjack will go nicely with Perdition.

The List

Admittedly, the escalation league has run at some wonky points levels. At 33, I ran:

Skarre

-Nightwretch

-Leviathan

-Deathjack

10 Satyxis Raiders

-Sea Witch UA

Warwith Siren

Satyxis Captain

First turn is something like 'slap admonition onto DJ or the Night Wretch, hand out focus, run up'. Then, it's address the enemies. I can try to put damage on the caster with Backlash + Raiders, or ram the Raiders down the other guy's throat with a freaking 12" move on the charge if I take the Desparate Pace from the Captain into account.

DJ fits the criteria of being self-sufficient with the focus-hungry Leviathan in tow. The other goal (that I'm admittedly working on) is Perditioning a DJ-missile into range of the enemy caster, though the two times I've used this list it went like this:

1) I goof up, DJ dies to POW 10 weaponmaster-esque ranged attacks from Retribution Mage Hunters. He goofs up, forgets he can't block Ravyn with a fleeing unit, and the Leviathan makes hash out of her in melee. (Guess losing 8 health from Backlash and getting punched by a boosted P+S 17 crab-jack isn't that healthy...)

2) I goof up, overextend myself and fail to get DJ into Perdition range of eAsphyxious. He fires off 10 Bane Thralls at eSkarre; it takes him until number six (when he could fit in maybe one more, given space requirements) to get the 8 he needs with MAT 6 + Bane Curse to make it happen, and promptly wipes her out with one weaponmaster-charge hit. Ouch. Then again, he does Attrition better than I do, so yeah.

I've still got plenty to learn, but I like eSkarre as a caster and find the whole 'can boost after you throw the dice' thing to be a major benefit.