Back from a hiatus, still kinda hate Xekaar

So, you've probably had no idea that I hadn't been updating. Seriously, who checks this with any regularity? But hey, I haven't! So today I've got some updates, and a little batrep where, spoilers, Xekaar dies.

Turns out I got married, and what with the wedding and some followup events I've been kinda swamped. To make up for it, though, and start my marriage off on a rocky footing I have one hell of a WM/H month planned coming up....

Thoughts on Disciples of Agony from one who has played too much Xekaar

Thoughts on Disciples of Agony

Perspectives from one who has played far too much Xekaar....

Initial views:

If you're reading this, I'm sure you've taken a look at the recent theme for Skorne entering CID, Disciples of Agony. This theme focuses on the extreme ends of the spectrum of pain as expressed by mortitheurgy, both internalized and externalized. The Disciples of Agony, if you will. What does that mean, though?

First off, the internalization: Naaresh and the Nihilators. Ascetics who subject themselves to the most extreme self-mutilation they can survive in order to enhance themselves. As much as I love this concept in the Skorne lore, we're incredibly limited in what we actually have from it. Really, just the one unit and caster. I had been really holding out hope that this theme would crop up as a sub-faction release, most likely alongside an expansion of mortitheurgy in general - think willbreaker units alongside nihilator solos and UA's (also, Genzoul plz).

Externalization, however, comes from the Paingivers - Morghoul, Xekaar, and the various units and solos. I had expected us to get a Paingiver/Minion/Beast theme, a la Hit Squad or Chain Gang. Unfortunately for those who loved Chain Gang, this theme does not allow Rasheth (I'll touch on this more in the next section). It does, however, permit access to Minion beasts - Yep, Rage and Primal in Skorne (as well as 5 point Spiny Growth, Elasticity, and a few other things of note). This seemed pretty absurdly good, at first glance, and really had potential to crack things wide open for some of our list options.

I Hate Myself: My Month of Xekaar - Final

Well, it is finally over - my month of Xekaar has come to an end. I'm not entirely sure of the total number of games played, I lost count around 18, and I'm sad to say I didn't manage to take pictures or do write ups for most of them. Herein I'll be discussing my afterthoughts given my poor showing at the WMW qualifier in Rochester; I went 2-2, though I don't think I can pin any of that on Xekaar, and one of them I feel like Xekaar would've pulled through if I had dropped him. But first, a quick rundown of my games...


The List!


Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
 Tyrant Zaadesh [4]
  - Cyclops Shaman [8]
  - Titan Gladiator [15]
 Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
 Paingiver Bloodrunners [9]

 Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

Scrambled - I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 5

Well, I played a few more games last night - both of them into the same opponent. He was working on a Zerkova1 gunline with double winterguard infantry + UA + 3 rockets. Gotta say, I had no real way of surviving it. Round 2 jamming and feating was about all I could come up with, and his volume of attacks still let him clear most of my army out of the way and assassinate Xekaar. Shit was rough, and I'm really intrigued to see where he takes that list next (seriously, I was confused as shit by the Winterguard Infantry UA until grapeshot started spraying me down after I tried to jam).


At this point I've decided I can't rely on Xekaar's feat to do anything defensive against ranged attacks (sans hydra builds). So, since I'm expecting to still have to handle some ranged attacks with any list I drop, I'm planning on building him in a brick. Instead of my usual reliance on Brutes, I think I'm going to have to use some Sentries. Their animus isn't as good for Xekaar, personally, but they make a damned near impenetrable wall for him to hide behind. I'll also bring a krea, because why the hell not, and an agonizer to just further skew things (also, repulse has quickly become one of my favorite spells). Tack on a few support models, some infantry for scenario presence, and below is what I'm thinking:

Scrambling to Make this Work- I Hate you Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 4

Right now I have less than a week before the Rochester WMW qualifier. Last year, despite the state of Skorne, I pulled off 3-1. I had been hopeful that I'd make it to the second day this year, but I'm doing this Xekaar thing, so we'll see where this goes...

From time to time, the people at my FLGS run scramble tournaments, 2 or 3 round tournaments that aren't scheduled, $5 buy in, winner take all. Some weeks we'll do one Monday and another Saturday, depending on attendance and other things going on, and we go back and forth between WM/H and Guild Ball. Last Monday (the 12th), I brought some Xekaar into a 2 rounder at the LGS. Round 1 I played into an opponent who was, for the first time ever, playing Cygnar - dicking around with Kraye and Trencher theme. Round 2 I played into Gaspy3 in the Bane theme.

THE LIST:
https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bg24v4xhG4C6N5V67eI6c6d

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Basilisk Drake [8]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Chiron [19]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [20]
Praetorian Keltarii (max) [15]
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) [13]

 - Praetorian Swordsman Officer & Standard [4]
Note: The role of Chiron will be played by Bronzeback Titan.

Sensible Lists played Senselessly - I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 3

Got another 2 games in at the FLGS last week on Monday night (the 5th). I have another 3 in the pipe to write up, but figured I'd get these done first. These are the first 2 games I ran after spamming Archidons for the sake of spamming Archidons, and while the lists are a little more sensible, I did pretty poorly if I do say so myself.


THE LIST! (for game 1)
https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bg2eG4x4y4ygl5G6N6vfF5U

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Aradus Sentinel [16]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Cyclops Brute [8]
 - Cyclops Brute [8]
 - Desert Hydra [38]
 - Titan Gladiator [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Extoller Soulward [3]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

3 Games, 4 Archidons, 0 Wins - I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 2

So I recently picked up 3 archidons, bringing my total of them to 4. I had a few plans, mainly because I had only started running Naaresh near the end of Mk 2 and Archidon Spam - a mostly terrible idea that seemed to gain a lot of traction post-errata - actually seemed fun with him. P+S 20 defense 14 armor 19 beasts that threaten 13"? Yes Please!

Instead, I fielded them with Xekaar.

https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bg26U6U6U6U4xhG4C5G6N7y5V

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Chiron [19]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Titan Gladiator [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]

I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 1

So, I asked the Skorne Facebook group to pick a caster for me to main this month, to help with my faction ADD. The plan is to try a variety of lists and builds and really test out their capabilities, posting battle reports as we go.

You asshats picked Beast Master Xekaar.

I played the hell out of him pre-errata, because the only real strategy I could come up with for awhile as playing for clock. Xekaar with 8 or so brutes is pretty good at a clock game... Apart from playing an aggravating brick, though, I don't really know how to make him work. I have a few lists I've been dojo'ing, and spent more time than I'd like to admit on it yesterday. Below I'll go over my initial thoughts on Xekaar, Pro and Cons, and then a few list builds and strategies I think might be viable.

On Breaks, Anticipation, and Pairings

I've been pretty quiet recently, probably mostly because my cell phone camera is almost completely useless so I haven't been taking any pictures. Part of it, though, stems from not playing as much as I had been. Felt burned out at the end of February, and despite being really excited by the new things in Skorne and having a dozen lists I wanted to try out I haven't really had an avenue to do so. I'm also currently not committed to any event until the SOO, and despite feeling pretty good about my chances there this year I haven't been doing as much prep as I'd like to.

Breaks

Or how to burn out without fading away

I played a lot of this game in February and January. Probably more games than I'd normally get in during a 3-4 month period. I then switched over to practice for a guild ball tournament, which I took first in. Overall I probably played around 50 games of the miniature variety from the dropping of the Skorne Errata to the end of February, where in a non-tournament week 4 games would be a lot for me. 

This was especially problematic, as near the end of 2016 I had all but stopped playing - I dropped in for a few tournaments just because I like the community, and kept showing up for game nights, but had kind of lost the desire to play knowing that the faction was going to be upended. Felt like going from 0 to 60 overnight when the errata dropped, painting up tons of swordsmen, getting a hydra ready, figuring out lists, and playing every chance I could. I started to feel like a bit of a local meta-boogeyman, and wound up pushing things a bit too far towards competition for competitions sake than I'm honestly comfortable with.

Repainted to reflect newfound awesomeness

So... I took a step back. My last few games have been a bit more toned down - no clock, keeping the Rasheth to a minimum, trying new things. I know Rasheth is going to be one of my warlocks for the foreseeable future, but I have no idea who the other 2 are going to be. I'm thinking of going back to using ADR, maybe playing around with those four until I land on a three list pairing and a champions pair that I really like.

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