Control Elements in Skorne Part 2: Stacking Elements and Building Lists

The second installment in my Control Series.  Part 1 is here.

So Skorne has a lot of options for control, but most of them are somewhat limited in their application - they can only affect one model or one type of model, and they can only control one aspect of its activation.  This post aims to talk about building a stronger control game by getting stacking a bunch of these little interactions to have a way to focus on a certain aspect of the control game.

I'm going to talk about two warlocks who I feel are among the strongest at control we have in general, what parts of the game they seem to want to control, and how we can add to their abilities to build a more control-oriented game.  Here are the 'locks I'm looking at as some of our best at control:




Dominar Rasheth

I gave a quick mention to Rasheth in part 1.  He has some strong magic denial in Castigate and Sunder Spirit (shuts down Arc Nodes and removes a Warbeast's Animus).  One of his strongest forms of control, however, is the area denial he can set up with Breath of Corruption: a 3" AoE cloud effect that damages any model entering or ending its activation inside.  Not a huge deterrent to multiwound models, but instant death to 1-hit infantry.

There are a couple issues with relying on a Breath of Corruption denial strategy.  First, they're attacks, so the only way to put them where you want them is to directly hit their targets.  Second, Rasheth can only cast 2 of them with his own Fury.  That's a problem, because two 3" AoE's that might drift if you don't have perfectly placed targets for them, aren't the most reliable way to deny area.

This can be solved by taking some models that help Rasheth out by building on his area denial theme.  Specifically, I'm talking about Void Spirits (and to a lesser extent, Despoiler), Aptimus Marketh, and Croak Raiders.

Void Spirits have Eruption of Ash: When they kill a model, remove it from play, and put a 3" cloud effect that damages enemies who enter it where the model used to be.  It also damages any models who are in the cloud when it's put into play.  Rasheth can also channel through Void Spirits without hurting them.

Despoiler puts new Void Spirits into play.  It's a bit of a gamble, since he's got to be on the front lines to do it, and is a big ol' softy when it comes to taking damage or dishing it out to heavy targets.  He's also very expensive.  However, new Void Spirits on the fly is very strong, and Despoiler also doubles down on Rasheth's magic denial game with the Arcane Suppression Animus, building up 2 control themes at once.

Marketh can cast another Breath of Corruption, bringing our grand total number of Breaths of Corruption to three.  Now we're getting somewhere.  We have 5 possible 3" AoE's of death for infantry that are also cloud effects (and thus provide Concealment and block line of sight).

Finally I'm mentioning Croak Raiders, not just because they're very good, but because they're immune to Corrosion.  By targeting our own Croak Raiders, we can pinpoint where our BoC templates will land without needing enemies to be in range or hurting our own troops.

Master Tormentor Morghoul

Morghoul 1's Feat is an incredibly strong denial Feat.  It severely hampers any list that depends on Warbeasts or Warjacks to get most of its work done.  In extreme cases, it can all but shut down an opposing list.  It also prevents Warcasters (and Journeyman Warcasters) from spending their Focus - so no casting spells, buying or boosting attacks, or even upkeeping spells while in Morghoul's CTRL as long as you'd spend Focus to do it.  Morghoul also has Admonition, which while not directly a control tool, can help you keep your battlegroup safe by denying the opponent good charges.

This amounts to a turn of glory against 'beasts, 'jacks, and if we're willing to play a little fast and loose with Morghoul's life, 'casters as well.  We can double down on this resource denial with the Agonizer and Orin Midwinter.  We can also double down on controlling enemy Warjacks and 'beasts with a Titan Sentry.

The Agonizer can deny Focus Allocation to 'jacks with Spiritual Affliction.  This can be combined with Morghoul's Feat for two straight turns of Focus Denial to 'jacks.  More if you can keep the Agonizer alive longer.  If an opposing list is counting on Warjacks to do the heavy lifting against you, it's in for a very bad time.  You can use Spiritual Affliction to deny Warbeasts their Animi for 2 turns in a row, and you can stack Gnawing Pain with Morghoul's Feat to reduce damage from enemy beasts as well as prevent them from buying attacks.

Orin is very similar.  You can shut down spellcasting for two or more turns in a row if you can get both Orin and Morghoul close enough to the enemy 'caster.  It also lets you cover more area in a no-spells zone on the Feat turn.

The Sentry adds great area denial against 'beasts and 'jacks with Locker.  Combine it with Morghoul's Feat, and you can stick 'jacks or 'beasts in place completely while they're unable boost/buy attacks or use Animi.


Both Morghoul 1 and Rasheth have solid denial tools that can be amplified by other pieces.  They also have secondary denial aspects to build on.  Plenty of other Warlocks are in the same boat.  Mordikaar can play a very strong spell denial game, and I mentioned Makeda 3 having a decent pushing game.  Both of these 'casters can do alright on their own, but when you put in some complementary control elements, you can start to dictate the game more.

I'm open to suggestions for my next post in the series.  I could talk about more warlocks, or I could try to look at tactics a little more deeply.