Shit Sucks, Volume 2

Free charges... you guys remember them, right? No, I'm not talking about explosives left on the side of the road. Those are usually called "IED"s, and are bad.

I remember them so well that the very act of paying for a charge is still foreign to me. So strange, in fact, that the Skorne player they got for their MK3 battlebox game in No Quarter seemingly used one (or he walked and called it a charge?).  In the MK3 Skorne insider, the upside to us losing free charges was focused on (great attempt, but damned if the forums and facebook groups didn't turn to shit as soon as someone read that line).

"...Beast Handlers remain a premier warbeast support unit. Beast Manipulations are gone. Instead, each Handler has three special actions that he can use to influence the beasts in the army. These include Condition (which now adds or removes only 1 fury point), Enrage (which is now a flat +2 STR bonus without dictating the action the beast has to take during its activation)..."

But that's neither here nor there... Here, we're going to talk about JUST how much the loss of free charges changes the game for Skorne.

Shit Sucks, Volume 1

Hey everyone, I seem to have developed something of a reputation as excessively positive, and have been called out for it. I've decided that to help combat this, and any perception that I think Skorne is fine as is, I'm going to go through and detail some of the MK3 changes that I really absolutely positively CANNOT stand.

WARNING: CONTAINS SALT

Beast Master Xekaar: Brute Force

I've been experimenting with Xekaar and Cyclops spam since early August. The first iteration was fairly balanced, using a Zaadesh + Gladiator package to rush an army of Savages and Brutes down the field (at one point a Sentry was involved somehow, but I can't rightly recall why). The brutes were really aggravating for my opponents (16/21 against melee on feat turn, with set defense, and 22 boxes), and were only marginally worse in melee than savages who boasted an extra mat and p+s, as well as future sight.  My last 3 games have been with a more refined brute-spam list, and I figured I'd do a breakdown of the strengths/weaknesses and playstyle of this list.

The List:

War Room Army

Skorne - the worst 

Theme: No Theme Selected

75 / 75 Army

Beast Master Xekaar - WB: +31

- Aptimus Marketh - PC: 6

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8

- Titan Gladiator - PC: 14

Tyrant Zaadesh - PC: 4

- Cyclops Shaman - PC: 8

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8

- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 5

Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter - PC: 6

Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 7

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GENERATED : 09/19/2016 23:54:34

BUILD ID : 2024.16-08-27

Archdomina Makeda: Why do I like her?

I've been playing Makeda 1 a lot lately, after bringing her out to practice for champions, and realized I really enjoy playing her. At GenCon I went 3-0 with her in Champions, and went 1-1 in Masters qualifiers. At TempleCon I went 2-1 in Champions, giving me a 6-2 record, granted 5 of those wins are in a very limited format. At any rate, this success with a caster that, on paper, confused me and I figured I'd do a break down of her to help myself and anyone else that might be interested in trying to unlock this strange, strange lady.

Filthy Casual: Tournament Report

I went to a nearby town for a laid back 1 list steam roller event. Wound up being a 10 man 3 round event, and I had a ton of fun. We're working on bringing the 2 meta's into closer contact, since we're only ~45 minutes apart, and this weekend had 5 people (myself included) make the trip down, and we've had a few of them come up for tournaments as well. I really like the feeling of community this game has to it, and look forward to making more trips to see the guys down there.

THE LIST:

http://conflictchamber.com/#b91b6QeocQ5G6N6J6J6p6F5V6v6H6x6x

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Hexeris 2) Lord Arbiter Hexeris [+27]

 - Scarab Pack [10]

 - Despoiler [18]

 - Titan Gladiator [14]

 - Aptimus Marketh [6]

Venator Flayer Cannon Crew [5]

Venator Flayer Cannon Crew [5]

Venator Reivers (max) [15]

 - Venator Reiver Officer & Standard [4]

Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]

Extoller Soulward [3]

Hakaar the Destroyer [7]

Void Spirit [4]

Void Spirit [4]

ARCANE FUCKING WONDER BABY!

TempleCon Afterthoughts

So, I went to TempleCon last month. Sorry for the silence, been a bit busy with work ramping up, and after having a 2 con month I've tried to dial back my gaming until my brain recovered. I had a pretty horrible showing at TempleCon, and below I'll try to break down the gist of my experiences...

Champions Lists:

http://conflictchamber.com/#b91b3VeG5D5D5G6N6v6v5V6C6h

Skorne Army - 74 / 75 points

(Morghoul 1) Master Tormentor Morghoul [+30]

 - Aradus Sentinel [16]

 - Titan Cannoneer [17]

 - Titan Cannoneer [17]

 - Titan Gladiator [14]

 - Aptimus Marketh [6]

Extoller Soulward [3]

Extoller Soulward [3]

Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]

Nihilators (max) [15]

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

Rasheth Wants to Pet the Kitty

So I've been thinking about Rasheth with Ferox a lot lately, because of course I have. I decided to try it with the models I have, though I've impulse bought a second unit... Played into Menoth, one of the jacks below is being proxied, but I'll be damned if I can remember which one is which. The one with the gun isn't the AOE gun, but the single target gun. He's on the right in the pictures...

The List:

Skorne Army - 74 / 75 points

(Rasheth 1) Dominar Rasheth [+28]

 - Titan Gladiator [14]

 - Despoiler [18]

Praetorian Ferox (max) [21]

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

Tyrant Rhadeim [9]

Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor [4]

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor [4]

Void Spirit [4]

Void Spirit [4]

Paingiver Bloodrunners [9]

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

I went a bit heavy on solos, for scenario play and arcing targets. This did pay off, in the end, helping me secure a scenario win and take out a few key targets. The idea is to bully as much as possible pre-feat, then go in for a massive attrition swing and jam to close out via scenario.

I don't really know Menoth, so I can't guess at what my opponents list was. Plenty of jacks, plenty of sprays, Eiryss, character unit, choir, double wracks.

Looking Back on GenCon

Well, I went to GenCon. I played a total of 13 games at various events there, and wound up with the not-so-stellar record of 6-7 overall, with three of those wins coming from Saturday's Champions event. 3-6 in the IG and Master's heats, which was educational, at the very least. I will say this, though, that with the exception of Hexeris 1 who I only played once and with a subpar list, I never felt that any of our warlocks were bad, nor did I dislike the performance of any of our models. None of my losses came down to dice, but rather simply to being outplayed.

I am a rather new player who, through a tendency towards obsessiveness and proclivity towards quick learning got pretty decent, fast. I still make plenty of mistakes when it comes to threat recognition and target selection, and on scenario play. At GenCon, a small number of mistakes was enough to put me in the lower tier, easily, and playing against and watching high-level players was an unusual experience, like finding out that I've been playing this game in the dark the entire time and discovering there is a light switch on the wall. Maybe next year I'll bring a headlamp, and in a few years I'll figure out where the g'd light switch is, but at least now I'm aware that there is one.

Below I'm going to run through some of the models I ran and my experiences with them. Most of these did not see a ton of games, but I brought most of them because I had a positive experience with them previously and thought they were worth the trip.

Trial by Fire and Making the Cut For GenCon

GenCon:
I'm heading out to GenCon tomorrow, and have been trying to lock in a few caster pairings for it. Right now I'm most comfortable and experienced with pXerxis and Mordikaar, but I wanted more variety in case my pairing flops. I've gotten a few more games in with Mordikaar, and he's definitely going to be my drop into Ret, maybe Cygnar, as very few points worth of his army can wipe out significant chunks of theirs, and my lists with him should be stealth and def 17 on the approach. He might also have to go into Khador if I see Irusk on the other side, but I don't really see him as a Skorne drop, both of my lists should have enough beef that I don't have to be afraid of his infantry. pXerxis seems to be able to handle heavy beast and jack lists, with quite a bit of survivability.

Things I'm worried about:

High value shooting - Beasts and jacks capable of lobbing multiple boosted ranged attacks. Xerxis wants to deliver his Ferox for a crippling alpha, and while my threat ranges are insane I'm worried about dropping into Legion where I might lose 2-3 Ferox on the approach. Really takes the wind out of my alpha strike. Some Cygnar lists can also do this, though they don't scare me quite as much after facing down an eCaine jack heavy list at the WMW qualifier.

Undead Infantry (or Construct infantry) - Really makes Voids and Blood Runners lose a lot of value. Essence blast is still good at clearing them, but I'm not sure I want to drop Mordikaar into Cryx if I see a bunch of banes in one list.

Solutions - Nihilators still hit hard enough and accurate enough to mulch banes. Tibbers can rip through huge swathes of them as well, but my pXerxis list lacks a gladiator. A few cannoneers can shore this up, and still threaten heavies and assassination, making it harder for my opponent to shoot me up. 

I've been toying with eXerxis, as I switched to him for my JML at week 4, and decided to see how much shooting he can handle. So far I've dropped him into Cryx, Trolls (twice), Circle, and last night I asked a friend of mine to drop his best Ossyan list ideas into me. I will say that he is in no way a drop into a shooting army, but for combined arms or melee I think he is ideal. The idea is long threatening reach heavies that, on feat, can either crack arm or take out large swaths of infantry and help me get board control.

Mordikaar Vs. Dr. Arkadius: Academic Throw Down

 Battle Report!

Mordikaar Vs Dr. Arkadius:
So initially my Mordikaar list was a bit different, including a cannoneer instead of the legends, Orin, and the second void spirit. Today I saw a list online that used the Legends, though, and figured I'd try them out. Sadly, this meant my plan of running five heavies with Mordikaar would have to be tabled.

NOTE:
For today's game the role of Despoiler will be played by Bluebug. I have had some weird issues with my Despoiler model in the past, with him having spent about 8 months without a base, and now that I finally put him back on one I don't quite know where he went...

War Room Army

Skorne - Kaar Bomb

Theme: No Theme Selected
75 / 75 Army


Void Seer Mordikaar - WB: +29
-    Despoiler - PC: 18 (Battlegroup Points Used: 18)
-    Titan Gladiator - PC: 14 (Battlegroup Points Used: 11)
-    Bronzeback Titan - PC: 18
-    Titan Sentry - PC: 15

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor - PC: 4
Void Spirit - PC: 4
Void Spirit - PC: 4
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 5

Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Paingiver Bloodrunners - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
Legends of Halaak - Valgesh, CIdaar & J'Deth: 8

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GENERATED : 07/17/2016 17:43:11
BUILD ID : 2022.16-07-07

WMW Qualifier Decompression

I'd like to start with a shout out for those who are keeping things positive in the Skorne boards and forums, and elsewhere. There is a lot of doom and gloom, but several people are doing well with the faction (e.g. Paul Leatherby looks like he's going places with Skorne in MK3, and is shaping how I think about my anti-ranged game). There are also the big names in Skorne (Trevor, Watt, and Hornacek) who seem to be finding plenty of positives in the faction.

Now onto the actual post:

Last weekend I went to a WMW qualifier in Rochester, NY, and have been going over it in my head ever since. I wanted to do a post on it, but have been up in the air with my thoughts since then on list tweaking and am finally starting to settle down on my second list. I'll be doing a quick overview of my games, and then discussing my list pairing process afterwards.

The lists I brought:

What is Skornifest Destiny?

Hey everyone, welcome to the inaugural post of this blogging attempt! I've been posting mini battle reports, my painting, and list building thoughts around various places for awhile, and I figured it was time to condense things into a blog. So first, a little background:

I've only been playing WM/H for about a year and a half, Skorne exclusively, and it has turned into somewhat of an obsession for me. This summer I'm going to be turning things up a notch, hitting GenCon and TempleCon, and trying to be competitive at a wider-scale, after becoming one of the top players in my local meta and doing well with traveling a few hours outside of my small bubble. This blog will include some of my painting work and tips, battle reports, tournament reports, and a bit of theory/philosophy.


And Philosophy is where I'd like to start, with Skornifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the idea that the USA should stretch from coast-to-coast, spanning from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Skornifest Destiny, then, is based on building lists that bully the board, taking the mindset during list building that I should be in control, from board edge to board edge. This winds up giving us a very strong scenario game, in my experience, that works incredibly well with our attrition edge (Beast handlers for healing, native ease of healing beasts, a tendency to bring enough meat and armor to be fairly safe when the charging is all done). There are a few parts to this that I'll discuss below: Speed, Threat, Delivery, Durability, and Follow Up.