Impressions - The Helldiver

The other week, I had occasion to run a pair of the cheapest (read: least expensive...) warjacks in the game: Cryx's very own Helldiver.

Man, are these guys fun.  They're so fun I figured I ought to blog about them (...it's also cleaner than taking a cue from a dog and relieving oneself in a fit of excitement without regard for current location).  I'll also explain just why there's a bloody dorsal fin there.

Pros

Cheap

Like other models, this isn't something explicitly called out on the card (I mean, Steelhead Halberdiers have this ability as well).  However, it's a whopping 3 points for a Helldiver.  As such, I'd recommend fielding them in pairs, but I'll get into a bit more on that later.

Durable(ish)

These things have three systems: the head, the movement, and the cortex.  The damage grid looks an awful lot like a bone chicken's, but you have to pretty much half-kill  the thing to disable a system.  With DEF14, anyone that gets a shot at it is probably thinking about boosting, but ARM15 is so-so at best.  Most of the durability comes from the DEF, the system layout, and then of course how you deliver the boggarts.

Deliverable

HERE is the major perk for these guys - they only have one explicit ability, a special action called 'Burrow.'  On the first turn, you'll contemplate running if you have the focus and the other guy doesn't have anything that could shoot/damage these guys.  Otherwise, they walk up 5 inches and burrow.  When they burrow, you drop a marker in base contact with their front arc.  The marker's about the size of a penny.

The next turn, you place the Helldiver anywhere within 3" (note this is WITHIN, not 'COMPLETELY WITHIN') of the burrow marker.  The only way to stop this thing from coming up is crowding the burrow marker and leaving it nowhere to set the base.  This is...not...easy.

And here's the biggest strength - it's damned near impossible to stop these guys.  Yeah, they can't burrow into rock or man-made stuff, but it's advancing close to 10" a turn and you can't shoot it.

Angle of Attack

Note that they pop up ANYWHERE within 3" of the burrow marker.  If you need to grab an angle, this is how you do it.

Cons

Damage Output

You get one PS13 chomp on MAT6 with this thing.  That's it.  You're not going to do a lot of harm without outside help.

Uses
Basically, you've got a little dude that can go just about anywhere with relative impunity.  He's not too hot on holding territory but they can do it in a pinch.  Note also that once the Helldiver does something other than advance and burrow, the enemy might experience a reaction much akin to watching a Khador clam-jack open: HOLY CRAP IT'S VULNERABLE KILL IT!

The Slam-Bot

Throw it 1-2 focus and slam.  Resurfacing after a burrow gives you a ton of freedom in grabbing just the right angle and making sure you've got the requisite 3" to pull off the actual slam.  If you're slamming a large-based model, you might want a second focus for the boost, since you kinda take the -2 to hit since it's bigger than you.

Note that the slam-bot can of course play into assassinations by providing convenient knockdowns and/or opening LOS.  Or, you can just make the enemy spend time/resources in forcing jacks/beasts to stand back up.

The Solo Hunter

MAT6 PS13 is probably enough to handle a solo.  They get nowhere to hide.

The Assassin

If you're going to use the Helldiver as an assassination threat, I'd consider a pair.  One may not be enough to get the job done, and it's a lot harder to hide from a pair of these if one starts the game on either flank.  The major perk of using these guys as an assassination vector lies in

You will need to overcome the Helldiver's accuracy and damage issues, but we're Cryx! We can debuff armor and DEF, and of course someone can obligingly slam something into our high-DEF target to make it not so high-DEF.

Casters of Note
Basically, anyone can use these guys as slam-bots.  They need no focus until you want to crank out the slam, and they can always solo-hunt.  However, some casters can really make these guys, um...do whatever squee-like behavior a Helldiver does.  I dunno.

Skarre1

Her feat and Dark Guidance is the perfect storm for these guys - the ideal turn is something like this:
1) Helldivers pop up, draw LOS on enemy caster
2) Thanks to Ritual Sacrifice, Helldivers get focus-loaded
3) Skarre pops feat.  Helldivers go up to PS18
4) Skarre casts Dark Guidance.  Helldivers are PS18 with 6+3d6 to hit
5) Hilarity Ensues

Even outside of feat turn, Dark Guidance is a huge help for these guys, especially if the enemy doesn't camp.

Warwitch Deneghra

On paper, Denny1 has the knockdown and debuffs to make these guys work, but in practice she's probably more comfortable using stuff that doesn't require as much focus to work, since Scourge is half her focus (assuming we can get a Siren to power boost the arc node and a skarlock for the potential ghostwalk).

Mortenebra

She loves her some slam-bots.  They're cheap, and they LOVE terminal velocity.  Hell, a pair of these guys alone slamming living targets make that spell efficient - you're looking at a two-focus slam/boost done twice for three focus right there.  I'm pretty sure Lamoron has a hilarious bonejack swarm army  using a couple of these guys.

She gets the utmost accuracy out of these guys, honestly. (...ok, against living models, that is)

Scaverous

Feat turn TK + Feast of Worms runs you four focus, leaving ~3 to play with for these guys.  As an added bonus, they don't ask for handouts prior to doing stuff, and are cheap and can contribute to board control with the Scav.

Sample List
Skarre1
-Helldiver
-Helldiver
10 Satyxis Raiders
-Sea Witch
10 Bane Knights
Bane Lord Tartarus
Satyxis Raider Captain
Skarlock Thrall
3 Scrap Thralls
Ogrun Bokur (Skarre as the client, obviously...)
..,.invariably some other stuff, I think maybe I had the Withershadow Combine in there but I could be wrong.

Basic logic is to use Raiders as a first-wave jam if necessary, move the Banes into position.  Helldivers are here to move up on the side; Skarre can solve their accuracy and/or hitting power issues and probably fuel them as well, given Ritual Sacrifice and a Skarlock.

Overall
There are doubtless other uses for these guys, but I feel that the above casters can really make them shine.  Otherwise, this is the kind of jack that doesn't necessarily get a ton of table time, so you might also enjoy the 'OMG, what is THAT thing?' advantage.

Also, there's a delightful little psychological advantage.  You might make the other guy feel like they're on a clock, because there's a fair chance that the Helldivers WILL reach his back line, and the only way to stop them is deny them a lane of attack or a zone to dig up in.  Otherwise, they're kinda gonna get there.  For 3-6 points, you can get some decent utility that doesn't cost focus until you're ready to use it.

In Defense of the Carnivean

When it comes to heavies for the Legion, I think a lot of people look for something flashy - the Scythean is a SPD6 reach heavy hitter, the Ravagore has a long-range continuous-fire gun, the Angelius has crazy armor-piercing and speed and utility...and where's that leave the Carnivean?

The Carnivean is Legion's attrition-based beat-stick with a side of trickery.  Attrition isn't always a popular style with Legion, but those who think the Carnivean a pure beat-stick with so-so threat range are in for a shock.

The Basics
If you're familiar with the Scythean and Ravagore, you're familiar with the base chassis - you get a solid SPD value with pathfinder and eyeless sight, a solid damage spiral with so-so ARM18 and laughable DEF11.  You get a solid FURY4, and Legion-standard MAT6.

The 'Wait, what?' part of the show
You also get a point cost of 11.  This tends to make folks sit back and think; the Scythean is a couple points cheaper and the Ravagore has a long-range direct-fire weapon.  The Carnivean's gun is a cool 10" spray, which happens to be tied to a comically-sad RAT4 (Khador doesn't feel bad for you, but that's about it).

The beginning of 'Oh, ok...'
So, that PC of 11...bothersome, yes?  Well, first, consider damage output.  You get a pair of PS16 open fists, so you've got all your power attacks.  You don't have reach, but you DO have a PS18 bite, which is just plain fun.  You have arguably the highest damage output in Legion, unbuffed: a pair of PS16s, followed by five bloody PS18 smacks.  You also get your spray on the charge, so that's a PS14 for free if you get the charge off.

Attrition, what?
Legion gets a rep (deservedly so) for assassination.  Attrition is a viable game strategy, and the Carnivean is an enabler - spiny growth is a stupidly useful animus for attrition.  ARM18 is so-so.  ARM20 is annoying to crack, and DEF11 vs DEF12 isn't really that big a deal so if you have the spare fury and the lower DEF then Spiny Growth is a superior defensive animus.

The other fun part of attrition is thus - when a jack/beast smacks you and doesn't kill you, they eat d3 damage in return.  So, you're cutting their damage output and you are in turn damaging their heavies that want to crush your beasts in hand-to-hand combat.  If you've already softened up the heavies, you might luck out and KO some systems.  This damage also ignores armor value, so a pissed-off Khador heavy can take the same few-d3 that an angry Cryx jack can muster.

There were tricks, y/n?
The biggest trick that Carnivean has is assault on the SP10.  People talk about threat ranges, and if you want to maximize the threat range, you can reach out and touch someone 19 inches away.  THAT is why you're on a bloody RAT4.  The ideal way to pull off the hail-mary is slap Spiny Growth on the Carnivean from an outside source (IE: Warlock or Succubus), then charge and double-boost the POW14 that's coming from nowhere.  If you have a Succubs and Ravagore, you can get the continuous-fire animus and then perhaps the spiny growth up as well, too.

The other big trick on the spray is tagging support models and/or casters.  Most of the time, people assume blocking LOS is enough.  Not so much with the spray.  If you can get the angles right, you can drop fire on support models, and then decide if you want to spend fury boosting those rolls (...which you do if you want to kill the support, as RAT4 is once again comical and Legion's only RAT buff is aiming, outside of feats and a few DEF debuffs).  Note also sprays get around a lot of things, including 'can't target me!' crap like Skarre2's feat.

The Team Player
The Carnivean loves a few models.  It's an attrition-enabler with hideous damage potential, so that's what you're adding to/emphasizing with the thing.  As a rule, anyone that can make our heavies hit more accurately is always a bonus, but this thing is more of an attrition piece.  With that theme in mind, here are models to consider -

Thagrosh1
Honestly, this guy and the Carnivean are a match made in hell.  With his passive Death Shroud for -2STR, a Spiny-Growth'ed Carnivean is effectively ARM22 in melee, and hits jacks/beasts for 1d3 each time he gets tagged.  He can also use Fog of War to pump the bugger up to DEF13 vs ranged, which is actually missable.  Attuned Spirit[Legion] means a 2-cost animus isn't that terrible, since pThags gets one off for free.  Finally, pThags has an attrition-oriented feat, so if you can avoid remove-from-play you'll enjoy getting a heavy back.  This means you can over-extend on a crazy spray, try to snipe some support, and then spiny-growth something without fear of losing your Carnie.

Absylonia
Her feat is attrition-oriented, and she has quite a selection of beast buffs.  Access to Spiny Growth only helps her out by making her other beasts harder to kill.  Also, you can give the Carnie reach if/when he needs it. 

Saeryn
Respawn and melee immunity are both fun on this model.  She'll let it overextend itself a bit more, and you don't always have to pop the feat just to keep this thing alive.

Ravagore/Scythean
These are heavies that benefit from the +2ARM, as DEF11 vs DEF12 isn't that huge a difference, so tenacity is probably not as cool a choice.

Shepherd
Anyone who plays/has played Legion knows the Shepherd is nasty.  My point in mentioning her here is reminding you that Beast Master lets you force the Carnivean outside of your control area, which can be a useful tip when you're taking full advantage of that 19" threat range.  You pretty much HAVE to boost that RAT4 spray.

Forsaken
If you're fighting against Hordes, there's a good chance that they'll run heavies hot on fury to kill your ARM20+ Carnivean.  Forsaken are nice for making sure it's a costly kill.

Throne of Everblight
The Throne loves all the durability you can give it.  This is especially fun with either of the Thagroshes, as they can pump it to an effective ARM23 with Spiny Growth.

Sample 25pt Mangled Metal
Thagrosh1 [+5]
-Carnivean [11]
-Ravagore [10]
-Scythean [9]

Thagrosh1's feat is stupid-potent at this level.  Additionally, you can start the piece trade with either a Carnivean's hail-mary spray, or a Scythean's long natural threat range.  You can also gun for a ranged assassination with the spray and Ravagore shot + continuous fire.  Finally, if all else fails you have three ARM22 heavies and an effective fourth, provided there's no RFP out.

Sample 35pt Legion Attrition
Thagrosh1 [+5]
-Carnivean [11]
-Ravagore [10]
-Shredder [2]
5 Gatormen [9]
Forsaken [2]
Annyssa Ryvaal [4]
Deathstalker [2]
OR
Succubus [2]

Much as I like the unholy Carni-chassis trinity, this is another nasty build for attrition.  I've opted for Gatormen over Legion heavy infantry, for a couple of reasons - Dirge of Mists + Fog of War + Tenacity = DEF16 vs ranged Gatormen.  Get into melee and if you can bring Death Shroud into play, your medium infantry are basically ARM20 multi-wounders.

The Gatormen also screen Thagrosh, which is a hell of a bonus.  Thagrosh can choose between buffing his DEF or buffing his ARM.

The Ravagore is in there as another high-ARM heavy, and because of the gun.  That gun is sweet.  Furthermore, you always have Dragon's Blood to pump STR and make this guy hit almost like a Carnivean.  Kind of.  Well, it helps.

The Forsaken is there for fury management, and because anyone in Hordes is going to run up some Fury clawing through the wall of ARM20+ models. 

The ranged support solos give you a little more oomph and some actual flankers.  I suppose if you didn't want the Ravagore's gun,m you could always drop the Ravagore down to a Scythean and switch the last 2pt solo out for a Totem Hunter.  I've had great luck with our raptor solo, and enjoy her immensely.

The Succubus is a solid model in terms of helping hand out 2-cost animi, and unlike Thagrosh2 you're not going to be crapping yourself with abomination.

If this list went up to 50, I'd add a Shepherd, battle engine, and consider bringing mor flanker-type things, possibly up to/including squeezing in raptors (maybe a min unit and the battle engine?).  Speedy flankers, and use the battle engine + spiny growth to tie up the enemy while everyone else gets into position.

Overall
 I'm a big fan of the Carnivean and I don't think it gets enough love, to be honest.  It doesn't have the melee threat range of the scythean or the spectacular defender-like gun of the Ravagore, and it's not a sexy long-range assassination/armor-piercing shot like the Angelius.

It DOES boast a solid defensive animus, a high volume of hard-hitting attacks, and some wonderful options with an assault SP10.  Give this guy a chance, you'll like what he can do.  Also, given the number of hit boxes a Gargantuan is going to have, Spiny Growth is bound to be awesome on the Archangel.

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.

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.

Moonlighting with Minions: Trollbloods

After a slight hiatus from my 'moonlighting' articles, and at the prodding of one my local buddies (well, now local 'press ganger' I suppose) I'm back to it, and going to hit up our favorite irate hard-to-put-down medium-based army.

Solos of note: Trollkin Whelps
This is pretty much what you've got for fury management/out-of-activation healing for your battlegroup.  Two points give you five guys, and you can either start 'em on the table OR have them come into being when your big guys get hit.  They can be sacrificed in your control phase to drop Fury off a beast.  On the downside, this requires your opponent to cooperate.

Honestly, this is about it for non-faction-specific support in terms of units and solos.  You are passing up on some wicked stuff like Fell Callers and Kriel Stone bearers, for example.

The Warlocks
Grim Angus
Who likes hunters?  (No, not the Cygnar light jack...)  You've got two faction-specific spells.  Cross-Country is a PAthfinder buff along with Hunter, so if you've got a ranged beast in your battlegroup without native pathfinder, you can get mileage out of it.  Return Fire lets you, you guessed it, return fire, but it's faction specific (and since you have to SURVIVE the hit, it kinda goes with ranged beasts...).  Otherwise, your feat and movement debuffs are kinda useful.

This guy would be very picky about a battlegroup (and want ranged stuff) but if you could bring a heavy hitter and still get some ranged, or use Cross Country on something other than an Earthborn...there's some potential, but it's picky with this guy at best.

Grissel 1 & 2
All about faction infantry, more or less.
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls
This guy's got a little potential.  You've got a feat that impacts enemies only, and only Fortune is faction-specific.  Banishing Ward, at least, is good for anyone.  He's compatible with minions, at least, but doesn't necessarily do anything spectacular for infantry.

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia
Refuge is faction-specific, but you have to survive the hit, so it likes a beast again.  therwise, this guy is all about beasts.  I guess if you want to bring a minion unit  with him he'll work, but he really kinda wants a hefty battlegroup.

Gunnbjorn
Your feat guarantees that any minion infantry you bring (outside of dug-in Brigands) is gonna get iced on feat turn, because they're the ones that will be easiest to hit.  I suppose Snipe is a nice bonus, and if you really want to bring Brigands and shooty troll beasts, you can make him work.

Honestly, you're better off looking elsewhere.

Madrak 1 & 2
These guys are both all about friendly faction infantry.

Borka Kegslayer
Other than his feat, this guy can work with minions.  His spell list is notably lacking in the word 'faction', and if you bring a heavy or two, this guy'll get mileage out of his feat.  Honestly, he's got potential.

And, dude.  He's DRUNK AND BELLIGERANT.  Come on.  That's gotta count for something, right?

Calandra Truthsayer
Minion-friendly DEF buff?  Enemy-only attack debuff?  Minion-friendly feat?  Yeah, we have a winner here.  She is 100% compatible with minions.

Jarl Skuld
Tactical supremacy, quicken, and weald secrets are all compatible with minions.  The only thing you lose out with Minions is that your feat turns into an LOS-blocker instead of a feat-turn Veil of Mists spam-fest.

Honestly, this guy's not bad.  You lose out on a little, but not nearly as much as the average troll caster.

Overall
Calandra's about as good as it gets for minion-friendly warlocks.  I believe it was Lamoron that said it; 'grab Calandra, an Earthborn Dire Troll, an Axer, and call it.'  That's not bad advice at all.  I'd say you could make Jarl work, though you lose a bit on the feat.  The Doomshapers are more beast-centered, but could learn to love some minion infantry.  Borka's semi-workable, but you lose out on the feat's burst of speed for your minions, which hurts.

Honestly, though, you lose so much in-faction support via fell callers, krielstones, and whatnot that I feel like Trolls are probably last on the list of minion buddies.

List Building: Scaling

First off, I'd like to briefly thank everyone who still reads this.  I had a break from blogging and WarmaHordes due to a mix of Christmas Holidays, periodic head-splodey-branded illness, and then my computer kinda falling apart.

But, hey, I'm back and I plan on resuming a 2-3 post per month rate of blogging.

What tickled my brain this time around was the concept of scaling lists versus building to a points level.

The Inspiration: The Journeyman League
Part of what got me thinking was the Journeyman League: start with a battlegroup, and build slowly.

Benefits
The bright side of building up from a small core is that you tend to know how things work at the core. You get used to the caster and battlegroup, and slowly add support.  There's less thought in picking up a core (which faction I like?)

Cons
 The Journeyman League is fine for a learning experience, and it's good on the pocketbook for folks, as you can acquire things slowly, versus dropping a few hundred bucks at a time.  The downside?  You're locked into a battlegroup and caster for the first part.  Options are limited, and growing at 5-10 points a time changes the way you build a list.  You may not contemplate more expensive options/packages.

The Point on Scaling
Simply put?  There are some things that work at higher point levels.  There are three basic ways I think scaling applies:
1) Option Cost
2) Spell Efficiency
3) Utility

Cost of Options
This is among the simplest of the scaling factors I can think of.  Some stuff cost more points than others.  Look at Winter Guard Infantry: they're not too expensive as a unit at 4/6.  However, you can dump as much as 13 points into the so-called 'Deathstar' after we max out the unit, add an officer/standard, a trio of maniacs with rocket launchers, and a loud Kovnik to keep them in line.

The question is, do you want to invest the points in the packages at a given points level?  You are probably not gonna grab these boys at 15pts (...though you could make it work, I suppose, especially with an Iron Flesh caster or eSorscha), and at 25, the same question applies.  Will you have enough points left for useful support you need?

Basically, some packages become more affordable as the price goes up.

Spell Efficiency
This one's been running through my head since I saw a threat speculating on whether 'Full Throttle' was a trap or not.  For those of you who don't rock a Full Throttle caster, it's a 3-focus spell that allows all battlegroup jacks to run/charge for no focus, and gain boosted melee attacks.

On the one hand, this looks cool.  On the other hand, there's the question of whether or not the spell is worth it.  Let's keep a Khador theme up, and pretend we have a Kodiak in a Full Throttle battlegroup.  If I cast Full Throttle, and charge with a Juggernaut, it's the same as loading it up with three focus: one for the charge, two more for boosted initials.  If I allocate the Juggy focus for extra attacks, each extra swing is basically two more focus (one actual off the caster, one effective for the boost).  Unearthly Rage is a similar math problem.

The second issue with such spells is a points-level thing: Full Throttle becomes more hideously efficient as you bring more jacks.  A Full Throttle (or Karchev with Unearthly Rage) becomes more efficient as they bring more melee attacks (...and Beast 09 + Thresher + Full Throttle = Hilarious amount of effective focus).  However, you have to bring more jacks to buff with Full Throttle, which gets expensive.

My point?  Some options/spells don't become efficient until higher points levels, based on how they scale.

Utility
This one is a bit tougher to quantify.  There's a thread in the Khador forum about why they don't often run the Juggernaut, despite liking it. At lower point levels, you need your points to do more.  It's an incremental cost on a model-by-model basis: I can take a Juggernaut at 7 points, and it can wreck a hard target with a full focus load.  I take take Beast 09 at 11 points, and it can wreck a hard target, out-threat the Juggernaut, and murder infantry/living models.

Can I bring a Juggernaut + 4 points of stuff that'll do the same stuff as Beast 09? 

That's my utility question at lower points.  I'll have better odds of winning if I bring in more capabilities, and as such I just can't afford to specialize as much at lower point levels.  It's why you're not as likely to see specialized warjacks at lower levels (IE: Marauder, the Slam-Bot) because you run a risk of not having what you need when you need it.

An Example
I'm going to use my buddy pButcher to illustrate scaling.

At low point levels, you're unlikely to use Full Throttle.  As discussed, its efficiency goes up as you bring more warjacks; you need more points to bring more warjacks.

So, what about Iron Flesh?  The larger infantry unit you bring, the more benefit you'll get out of the thing.  Kayazay Assassins get a nod here because they love Iron Flesh, then can pop mini-feat and take Butcher's 'Fury' damage buff to wreak some serious havoc.

Alternatively, Iron Flesh + Focus Camp on the Butcher himself can get kinda silly.  Why?  At lower point levels, the enemy's unlikely to have too many things that can readily deal with DEF17, ARM 23 maniacs with 20 health that just want to close and apply weaponmaster attacks with MAT9.  This kind of killing is most likely going to fall on the enemy's heavy warjack/beast; they might not have more than 1-2.  However, as poitns go up, the number of heavy hitters go up, so while pButch can still camp/solo stuff, it's not as likely to happen.


Wrapup
And, finally, what's the journeyman league got to do with it?

I'm going to divert here to the latest NQ article on Cryx power progression with the battle box.  Note that they dropped the Defiler in a hurry, and once they hit 50, the Slayer got dropped for an incremental upgrade for Nightmare.  My point is that you don't necessarily want to set a 25pt force, and go immediately to a 50pt without contemplating changing some of the 25pt stuff.

Ode to the Totem Hunter

I apologize to the readers, as it's been a bit since I've managed to update this bloody thing. I blame that in part on the scattered apocalypse that hit northern AL the other week.

That aside, I offer up an analysis of one of my favorite minions: the Totem Hunter.

Basic

If you think of the Totem Hunter like a Predator that left his guns at home (to make it more sporting, you know...) you have a good start on what the Totem Hunter does.

If you need a fast harasser in your Hordes army and you have 3pts to spare, then the Totem Hunter is for you.

Stats

As you'd expect for a 3pt solo, he's fairly burly. DEF 14 is solidly above-average and may want a boost. ARM15 over 8 boxes mean he'll generally laugh off blast damage, and can probably survive a couple of boosted blast damage rolls. He's also got got Stealth, which makes the whole 'resistant to blast damage' thing important. Also, SPD7 with Pathfinder is about as fast as it gets.

As far as killin' goes, you have MAT8, a PS14 reach spear for stabbin' and a PS11 non-reach shield for punchin'.

Special Rules

These are where the Totem Hunter gets his teeth. You're looking at four happy little special rules:

Hunter - Ignore forests, concealement, and cover for LOS purposes. Totem Hunter Sees You.

Jump - If you make a full advance with your normal move, you can then place the Hunter completely within 5" of the current place; but you can't Jump if you can't charge.

Prey - after deployment but before the first turn, pick a unit/model. You get +2 to attack and damage rolls against it, and +2 movement if you start within 10". Pick new prey as you slag it.

Sprint - Chopped a head off this turn? Make a full advance when you're done.

The Fun Part

So, what do you do with this hideously fast, accurate death-machine? You go hunting units/solos. Against your prey, MAT10 and PS16/13 means you WILL put a dent into your target. That'll handle most solos, and easily KO single-wound troopers. You have the speed to get the first strike in, and then evade.

What To Prey? To answer this, you've got to keep two things in mind. Initially, can you kill the solo in one round? If it's a unit, can you get to them without a ton of trouble? Finally, can something else get to it? If the enemy sees you Prey something, they might just keep it way away from the totem hunter.

On the Approach Ideally, you want to hit the enemy from the side. Why? You want to make sure you can engage the enemy one chunk at a time. You want to make sure it's difficult for them to vector reinforcements in there, and leave yourself an exit.

Get the Drop You have a basic charge move of 10" in a straight line. You can move 7" and place up to 5" for a good 12" move. You can also do fun things with the Jump like get a line on the enemy officer, which is great fun when they have a wonderful 'granted' ability or an as-yet-unused minifeat. There is no such thing as a 'screening unit', there's just 'does he have space to land or not?' If 'yes', you killed something important, and hopefully got away.

The Old One-Two Remember that the Totem Hunter is NOT in fact immune to free strikes. When engaging an enemy infantry unit, you want to be careful in your placing. If you commit, you want to minimize the number of enemy infantry actually engaging the hunter. He prefers none-reach infantry. Why? Land within the 0.5" melee range, and try to deck your first target with the shield. If you miss, try to stab it in the face. If you KO the target with the shield, use your reach-stick to claim a second victim.

Play Keep Away Remember that question about 'can you kill the stuff in a hit or two?' You want to put in a kill each round to trigger sprint. Sprint is how you keep the Totem Hunter alive. He can survive for a little bit against infantry, between the DEF, ARM, and 8 boxes. He's NOT a tar pit, though. You want to kill something, and then sprint out of the enemy's melee threat range. Better yet, get out to the flank or behind him. Force him to either keep taking losses, or divert something to deal with the hunter.

Weaknesses

Ignoring Stealth Obviously, this guy kind of LIKES to not get shot at. Some casters and the like can ignore stealth, and DEF14 ARM15 on 8 boxes doesn't eat heavy direct firepower. Oh, and something like the Ravagore is a potential nightmare for the Totem Hunter, as it'll probably one-shot the guy with a 2-fury expenditure.

Multi-wound/Tough Infantry If the totem hunter can't make a kill, it can't get away with sprint. While the Totem Hunter isn't weak, it's not hefty enough to survive dedicated attention.

Lack of Infantry/Soft Targets The Totem Hunter exists to pick off solos and infantry. If there's not a lot of that out there, then the Totem Hunter isn't going to seem as useful. He'll be good for harassing the enemy, though; take out support and then try to threaten the caster.

Incorporeal Stuff That's a poking stick, not a MAGICAL poking stick. Worth remembering, since your strength is the first strike and without magical weapons, you cede first swing to the incorporeal guy.

Buffs with 'Faction' model in them Ok, this isn't so bad, since there's a good chance this guy is operating way out on the flank away from your support. He doesn't NEED the support much anyway, since he's hideously accurate and hits hard enough to kill most of his intended targets.

The Totem Hunter in a Game

Honestly, with the Totem Hunter (and any other model with Prey and no Advance Deploy) I can live with going second, as it lets me place him in response to his intended prey. If the enemy has an infantry unit of decent size that I need to whittle down prior to its arrival, I'll put that out there. If they've got some nasty flanking solo that he's got speed on, I'll shoot for that one. At that point, the Totem Hunter goes into pursue/harass/engage mode: hit the other guy, KO the target or whittle a couple troopers off, then sprint behind the other guy. Why? He's got to go after the hunter, or the hunter takes a bigger toll / hunts support solos.

If you DO run out of infantry/solos to KO and the game's still one, there are two ways to go for Prey: 1) find a wounded beast/jack, try to charge it and feed it a virtually auto-hitting POW16 hit, or 2) target the caster and make them sweat. MAT10 hits most casters, and they may not really want a POW16 and POW13 for breakfast.

Overall

If you want to bedevil your opponent and have 3pts for a spare minion solo, the Totem Hunter is your guy. He hits and fades with the best of them, and can get an absurd 21 inches of movement in a turn (9" advance to Prey, 5" jump, 7" sprint = LOL. Seriously.). He's pretty resistant to being gunned down at range, and everyone's going to have some support that this guy can turbo-shank. Give him a shot, if you play Hordes.

The Reznik's New Tier

The whole reason I own some Menoth figures is because I like Reznik. He's got a nice, simple, three-step approach to life:

1) Find a Heretic

2) Wrack or Burn Heretic

3) Profit! Return to step 1.

He's got a lovely new Tier list in NQ 35. I've given it a spin, and am reasonably impressed with it.

What's (new) in the box?!

Apparently, Reznik's on cleanup operations for the Protectorate as they wander through Llael and make sure they have a kind, loving, loyal populace that believes in the Creator of Man.

Or, the bogeyman (Reznik) comes along to pacify your village. And by 'pacify' I really mean BURN EVERYONE THAT DOES NOT AGREE WITH THE NICE MAN.

Tier components:

Much like his old tier, but you are allowed Steelheads, Kell Blailoch, Stannis Brocker, and Vessels of Judgement.

Tier 1: Deliverer Sunburst Crews gain advance deployment. Honestly, I like AD on my artillery for two reasons: 1) free move up, and 2) lets me react to where the enemy places their infantry.

Tier 2: field 1+ small-based steelheads; get free Attendant Priests. I think this goes a way towards shoring up Reznik's relative lack of support for infantry (outside of Ignite, I suppose). Hey, giving your guys Pathfinder, Magic Weapons, or Immunity To Spells. Get your guys where they need to be faster.

Tier 3: 2+ vassal solos; you get your upkeeps (Ignite and Iron Aggression) out on the first turn. There are a couple of perks for this: if Reznik has more than two warjacks, one's not running on turn one if you want Ignite out. You can get all your jacks upfield with a run, and get Reznik to run and camp some focus.

Tier 4: 3+ heavy warjacks in your battlegroup; you get +2" to your DZ. Hey, get all your happy stuff upfield faster, and AD your incendiary ballistae up further.

What To Do With The New Toys

The cheapest you'll get a tier four list at is 18 points, assuming a minimum Halberdier unit, two Vassal Mechaniks, and three Crusaders.

The biggest decision you'll want to make is how many Steelheads to bring. Your screening unit choice is a happy little Steelhead Halberider unit. From there, you can go with the 'steelhead module', a full Halberider unit, a full Rifleman unit, and Stannis Brocker. That means your Riflemen can fire through your Halberdiers like they aren't there.

Alternatively, you can crack out Flameguard Cleansers (still in the tier) and their sprays ignore the melee bonus. Even if you're engaged, the burnin' boys can take care of the problem. The difference: you're relying on your halberdiers to KO high-DEF targets with directed attacks and let the Cleansers BBQ heavy infantry; the Rifleman can reliably hit solid defense (with CRA and Combined Arms) but become pretty incapable against stuff the Halberdiers have engaged.

It's 19pts for the aforementedion Steelhead 'module' but you DO have a mobile support unit with Pathfinder capabilities. Alternatively, I'd look at Halberdiers + min cleansers + 2 Sunbursts for 18 points. Or, you can just go for the minimum and drop six points on some Halberdiers.

Frankly, I'd suggest a pair of Vassals, just because I dig these guys, and Reznik loves him some jacks.

Jack-wise, I'd probably open with a Reckoner (because it's just plain fun). I'd consider a Vanquisher for the ranged element, or maybe another Reckoner, just because of its combination of reach and SPD5. If you really want an Arc Node, I'd probably go with the Guardian just to keep another heavy in the mix. It's not TERRIBLE, but I admit that we have some solid choices.

Overall

While this list requires infantry just as his last one does, I believe it does a much better job of supporting your infantry and giving you options. Previously, you were going to dump at least ten points into a couple of flameguard cleansers, and your only real option for melee infantry is Cinerators, which are slow and expensive, but do screen reznik.

At 35, I've had fun with the list, but only went up to tier 3. It included:

Reznik

-Vanquisher

-Reckoner

Full Halberdiers + UA

Full Rifleman + UA

Min Choir

Stannis Brocker

2 Vassals of Menoth

Not bad, I think, but I think some of thei nfantry would have to give in order to fit everyone, but I like having some accurate ranged support.

Factions and Indecision: Problem or Opportunity?

I'll admit it: I play more than one army in WarmaHordes. It starts simple: "Well, I've got a couple armies up and running. Hey, a battle box won't break the bank.."

Then, it's "Well, I'd like to play 15, so I'll just get a solo or two."

"I'd like to play 25. I think I can get a unit. Maybe I'll get some mercs! Then I can use them with multiple factions. It's economical!"

"Hmm. I have all these merc solos and units, if I get a merc battle box I've got ANOTHER diversion..." And before you know it, BLAM! Multiple armies.

Is this good or bad? You decide. I think it's a little bit of both.

The Good

The bright side of collecting multiple factions is that you get variety, pure and simple. There's one flavor of variety in switching out your warcasters. Most of the time, it involves tweaking the army, and occasionally it's a radical redesign (I mean, try swapping Terminus for Denegrha, and adjusting for the difference in warjack points. Probably not gonna work so well...).

Gameplay

The bright side of picking up a new faction (or maintaining an alt faction or seven) is that it forces you to learn a new way to play. Epic Butcher and Epic Asphyxious have very different ideas about how to win a fight (hint: one is 'AXE TO FACE!' and one is 'I'll be hiding over here now, lettming my army do the work'. Hint 2: Butcher has an axe.) AND access to different options.

How's this a benefit? Well, honestly, I think that any intellectual exercise is good exercise. You apply some problem-solving and study skills* in order to grasp a faction's pros/cons.

It also helps you figure out how these armies play, obviously. If you've played Terminus a dozen or so times, and Terminus plops down across the table from you, then you've got a pretty decent idea on what to expect. Same goes if you see the Harbinger, or even the less-flashy casters. You'll also be able to look at his units and have a pretty solid idea of what you can get out of them, because you've tried to get the most out of them yourself.

Hobby

Plain and simple: variety in what you can paint and model. Tired of painting up a bunch of faceless stormknights and doing electricity effects, and want to paint fur and flesh? Look into Circle Orboros. Sick of the undead, and want to move to the draconic? Ditch Cryx, get Everblight. Want a wide palette of stuff that doesn't necessarily have to be uniform? Mercs have an opening for you.

Basically, you want an army to have a unified look on the field (even if it's just having the same bases) and that imposes some limitations on how you paint. A different army can give you a complete 180 in what you're painting, so if you're sick of doing armor, you can drop the Storm Knights and pick up some Tharn Ravagers.

Community

You can inject some variety into your community. How important that is, is up to you. We had one guy who was a good sport and, literally, out of the goodness of his heart, picked up Menoth for our local group's map campaign.

Additionally, if you're going to do demos, it probably helps to show off more than one army, even if it's something like a battle box and solo(s).

The Bad

Money

Let's start with the obvious low-hanging fruit. Picking up a new warcaster means you'll want new things for your army. That's an expense. However, you can probably use a lot of the support, and they may still be able to use some of your existing stock of jacks/units. Picking up a new army, on the other hand, means investing in new support as well, and a new book, and possibly more paint/flock to flesh it out.

The bottom line? You pay for the variety.

Time

Part of the joy of having a variety of factions is being able to switch. Well, time's a switching cost as well. It takes time to get good with your chosen faction, and if you take a radical shift (IE: Khador is your prime, and you pick up Circle Orboros) you're going to have a bit of a learning curve on top of the usual. This also means more time studying/practicing in order to get as good. It also takes time to, y'know, assemble and paint stuff.

Gameplay

This deserves a mention outside of time. It takes work to learn your faction. It's a form of specialization; you become accustomed to how your units perform, what your jacks can do, and your support options. You get used to fitting those into a warcaster's capabilities, and then you learn how all of those interact with the scenarios and other people's armies.

And then, well, you change your tools and that can change EVERYTHING. It's like spending every day for a month at the range learning to fire a .22 pistol, and then deciding you'll go to a target match with that brand-new high-caliber rifle you bought. Sure, there's some commonality between the two, but your muscle memory and well-practiced habits don't quite fit with what you're holding.

Basically, you have to be willing to take the hit in your gameplay. Learning to lose gracefully should be a prerequisite for this hobby, and making drastic switches is a good way to get more practice in it.

Wrapup

Honestly, I'm a fan of collecting multiple factions. I'll freely admit it's a bit of a reaction to my years as a Warhammer 40k player; there were some serious switching costs (expensive models, the requirement for lots of models, the lack of bargain-priced starting packs, and the game's inability to scale well at all to lower point values are factors). WarmaHordes is significantly more affordable in that regard.

That aside, there are really only two questions that dictate whether or not multiple factions are for you:

1) Do you want to branch out and play other factions? Honestly, if the answer's 'No', it's fine. It's not necessarily for everyone.

2) Do you have the time/money to put towards it? It's not cheap, and it wants a little more of your time than just one faction will in order to get your mileage out of it.

If you answered 'yes' to both of the above, then you'll get to reap the rewards. Me? I've got no family and am currently flying solo**, and I enjoy multiple factions. It's strictly a personal preference thing.

And if that picture made you nostaligic for some Christopher Watkin dancing, here's the obligatory link to it.

*Yes. Yes, I did just go there. Seriously, tell me you can win against rouger opponents without having an idea of what everything does, and how it fits together. Game really DOES require some problem-solving skills, logic, and analytical thinking.

**Brief soap box moment: it's a statement of fact in my case. I'll wax poetic on life for long enough to tell you that there are two things in life: 1) What happens, and 2) how you react to #1. If you can't change #1, change #2, and you're probably going to be at least semi-content. Also, not all gamers are single; some are married, and some have families. That would tend to cut into your spare time...

Pondering: Goreshade the Cursed

Or, 'NEED MORE BANE THRALLS!' I've recently stripped my Bane Thralls (didn't like the bloody back-spikes; they just got twisted) and repainted them. i finally hit a break-through on what to paint my Epic Goreshade up as (I mean, he's kinda the master of Bane Thralls, right?) and have been painting them in tandem. Mmm, red. I do my Cryx with a red glow, and decided to reflect that with my jolly little stealth weaponmasters.

Of course, now that I'm painting up Goreshade the Cursed, I'm going to have to use him. So, I'll break out my favorite rubric of judgment for warcasters.

Initial Questions

1) What's my vulnerability to assassinations?

Well, Goreshade may have a nice DEF15 base, but ARM16 is so-so. 17 boxes isn't bad, but the biggest issue you've got with the guy is the medium base; he's more difficult to hide. If you're worried about ranged assassination, though, you can always use Occultation on the man himself; it's Stealth for a focus a turn.

Ultimately, the biggest thing here is the medium base. You'll want things like Occultation, clouds (IE: Gorman di Wulf) or medium-based infantry to block LOS.

2) What's Goreshade's personal threat value?

MAT 7, PS15 and a sword with reach, stationary, and the ability to inflict Stationary is pretty sick for offensive talent. I suppose you could use this as a setup, but if you do you're going to want to camp focus and/or finish things off in a hurry; you've got no way to extricate yourself from the situation other than killing all the threats around you or ending the game.

Technically you also have a POW13 AoE 3 spell, but that's more of a backup weapon/sidearm than a primary. At least it can drop upkeeps/animi, right?

3) Spells/Utility

Now we're getting to the fun part. He's got a pair of special rules that help him play attrition and discourage spellcasting.

Elite Cadre: Bane Thralls. When a Bane Thrall kills a warrior, you get a new grunt for the Bane Thrall's unit. Huzzah! Join us. Buy a few more blisters of Banes, while you're at it. It's nice against living enemies, but bear in mind it is semi situational.

Arcane Consumption. Use magic near him, and eat a point of damage. Situational, but a nice way to make someone pay for using one-wound guys with magic ability.

Goreshade has a well-rounded spell list. You've got a nice ARM debuff; Curse of Shadows is only -2ARM but it does let you move around/through the target unit by denying them freestrikes and letting you literally walk the hell on through them.

Occultation is a nice ability for your non-stealth stuff; you're probably using Bane Thralls, so you might as well make sure another nice target doesn't eat all the gunfire. Or, use it on Goreshade himself.

Phantom Hunter is for ranged jacks, which probably means the Leviathan.

Sudden Death is an interesting little spell. I've seen free-countercharge stuff for jacks, but this is an upkeep for a warrior model. It lets an unengaged trooper model charge a model that comes within 6" and make a normal attack. Honestly, given that you'll probably have Bane Thralls (and the ability to replace them) I see it as softening up a warjack or heavy-hitter that comes in to do some damage, and if you lose the grunt in the process (by running out of formation) you can get 'him back. (Her? It? Do Banes in general have a gender)

4) Feat

Goreshade's feat is...interesting. You can remove warrior models to return non-character warrior models to play, so long as their unit still stands. Why is this interesting? Think about certain officers or unit attachments that you may want alive. Got any in mind? (Hint: Bane Thrall Officer/UA). Bring some Scrap Thralls or other cheapo expendables, and you can get them back. This might also let you do fun things like bring back Brute Thralls or Necrosurgeons, y'know...

Round 2

5) What Kind of Game does Goreshade Play?

Honestly, Goreshade doesn't have an overt sucker-punch open to him like some guys; his feat doesn't auto-kill the other dude on the spot or deny them some fun. It can bring back some important models for you, though.

Goreshade's more on the attrition side of things. Play the scenario, but don't rule out killing the other guy. Just realize you may need to chop up more of his army first.

You can deny the enemy chances to kill your important stuff, bring some of it back, and get the odd out-of-activation hit in with Sudden Death. You've got a nice ARM debuff that can help get you through harder targets, or kill lighter ones that much faster. At the end of the day, Goreshade feels like a utility kind of guy with a variety of tools (sadly, you won't use them all on any given Sunday, which can make you feel like you're wasting something). Remember that with Dark Shroud AND Curse of Shadows, Bane Thralls hit something at ARM -4. Friggin' Ouch.

6) Win Condition

No built-in win condition. As I mentioned previously, look into attrition, especially if the other guy has lots of living models. There's nothing as fun as just screwing over the other guy with 20-30 bane thralls. If you can kill a lot of their warriors with Bane Thralls, you can get a numerical advantage with weaponmasters. The problem is, of course, in OWNING that many Banes.

This part is also subject to change, assuming more practice with him than I currently have.

7) Army Composition

I'll start with three points for the army composition.

I) Elite Cadre

II) Feat

III) Spell List.

The Elite Cadre means I want to look into Bane Thralls. A full unit with UA is a nice 11 points, Bane Lord Tartarus is another 4. That gives me a solid anti-armor starting point.

I'll probably throw in Scrap Thralls; it's 1 point fo Feat Fodder. They stay in the back until needed, then do something fun like turn into Bane Thralls or whatnot.

The spell list tells me two things: first, I want an arc node to sling debuffs through. Figure on four points for a cheap node. Then, look at Phantom Hunter. This ability is just short of Eyeless Sight (doesn't ignore Stealth). It goes great on a ranged jack. Cryx doesn't have a lot of ranged jacks. You can try the Corrupter (and hope it can pull Arc Node Grabbing duty as well, but there are issues with that*), the Reaper (which is shorter-ranged), or the Leviathan. (technically the Harrower has a long-ranged gun and can be reasonably self-sufficient, but it ALSO more or less has Phantom Hunter on the gun).

I favor the Leviathan. Why? You have a solid range (13") and solid POW that only improves against larger targets (POW13 is plenty vs small bases; POW14 is nice on medium and POW15 on large means stuff gets hurt). Phantom Hunter helps negate the RAT5 by ignoring concealment/cover, and with the range you can always look for the aiming bonus as well. As a side bonus, it's immune to knockdown so it could always screen for Goreshade.

So, with Goreshade's 5 jack points, I'm looking at:

Goreshade (-5)

-Nightwretch 4

-Leviathan 9

10 Bane Thralls 8

-Officer/Standard 3

Bane Lord Tarturs 4

3 Scrap Thralls 1

Total: 24 points

Not a bad start for a basic kit. From here, thoughts:

Occultation + UA for Satyxis Raiders does several things.

a) Unless they ignore stealth, you're GOING to get there in melee. You are immune to blast damage, and with Stealth you're immune to direct-fire weaponry for the most part

b) You have Combined Melee Attack, for killing higher-def targets

c) You can always bring back the sea witch

d) If you take the Captain solo, you can use them as a first wave to tie up the other guy, and get your Banes into position.

Occultation + Bile Thralls can help with infantry; who needs to hit high DEF when a POW12 and corrosion probably kill?

Black Ogrun Boarding Party: hey, medium bases for screening, right?

Bloodgorgers: good for hunting down living models, as they have a 10" charge, MAT6, gang, and a pair of hand weapons.

Satyxis Blood Witches + UA: gang and MAT6 help them clear out infantry; if you throw Occultation on them along with the UA's mini-feat, well, it's hard to kill a bunch of incorporeal stealth models at range...

Soul Hunters would love Stealth, and give you an early element of disruption. Probably means you'll take Darragh Wrathe, too.

Withershadow Combine: you're gonna have 1-3 upkeeps out, and they're generally solid anyway. Too bad the feat can't help them.

Skarlock: probably not necessary; while you COULD use the guy as a means of getting a free upkeep, you don't exactly have a buff spell you'd want to cycle out of activation unless you're trying to roll TWO bloody heavies.

Warwitch Siren: useful for a Magic Ability 7 spray to kill troopers, AND fueling your warjacks for a run. Probably not a bad idea.

Ogrun Bokur: for when you're just not screened enough and you worry about an Eiryss shot to the face.

Gorman di Wulf: as above, but also for lowering the DEF of some targets.

Cylena Raefyl and the Nyss Hunters: worth a mention as they CAN do combine ranged attacks, and with Hunter, they're roughly comparable in roles to that Phantom-Seeker'ed Leviathan. You sit behind a forest and dare a non-Everblight guy to come near.

Saxon Orrick: you have Bane Thralls. They are not pathfinders. Pathfinder is their buddy.

So, I would probably consider rocking this in 35:

Goreshade (-5)
-Nightwretch 4
-Leviathan 9
10 Bane Thralls 8
-Officer/Standard 3

10 Nyss Hunters 10
Bane Lord Tartarus 4
Saxon Orrick 2

This gives you a decent ranged firebase, a melee compliment, and a fair amount of mobility; Saxon can hand out Pathfinder and that really leaves you with either Goreshade or Banes that aren't hoofing it through whatever.

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.