Wednesday Battle Report: Makeda 3 vs. Calandra 1 - 75pts

Hi again everyone.  The Battle Report is a little later in the day today than I normally like to post it.  I spent most of the morning making some updates to the blog, and working on other things.  I'll explain everything on Monday.  Tardiness aside, I was able to attend WarmaHordes night on Tuesday, and I was able to get a game in.  I'm still experimenting with a Makeda 3 Mammoth list I built:

Building from the Battlegroup: Journeyman League with Skorne from 50pts to 75pts

This is going to be the last Journeyman League post I make this week.  The first post discussing the battlegroup itself is HERE, and the second post on expanding the list to 50pts is HERE.  In this post, I want to talk about taking your Journeyman force from 50pts to 75pts.  Up until now, I've recommended choice that let you build up a working core army list.  The last 25pts are going to give you some space to branch out a little more, and really decide what kind of list you want to run.  I won't talk about any of the Warlocks you might have switched to at the 50pt level, though I'd be happy to chat about them in the comments, or do a followup post at some point if there's enough interest.  I also won't make recommendations for specific point levels.  Your core list should have pretty much everything you need to get by, so I've organized my suggestions based on themes or strategies you might want to build on as you expand your list.

Building from the Battlegroup: Journeyman League with Skorne from 0pts to 50pts

My last Journeyman League post talked about the Skorne Battlegroup, and my thoughts on how to play it.  In this post, I'll talk about the options I feel make the most sense to add at each point level.  I won't recommend just one thing - making your own lists and experimenting with various combinations to see what works is essential to learning the game, after all.  My recommendations will either have some kind of direct synergy with the list, or will fill a common job that a lot of successful lists have.  I'm stopping this post at the 50pt level for now, because I want to give a fair amount of detail to the 50pt level, since a lot of options open up then.  My next post will talk a little more about filling out the last 25pts of your list, and how to approach larger games.

Tactica: Skorne Battlegroup and the Start of a Journeyman League

MkIII is still a new edition, so I'll give my take on how to run the Skorne Battlegroup, and how to expand your list.  This post will just cover the Battlegroup, and will include a rundown on the models and abilities we start off with, as well as some tips for using them effectively.  In my next two installments, which I hope to have finished by Monday, I'll talk about expanding your forces through a journeyman league and getting started as a Tyrant of the Skorne Empire.

Wednesday Battle Report: Makeda 3 vs. Constance 1 - 75pts

My first battle report of the all new war.  I've played a bunch of games before this one, and I will very likely post the reports.  If I don't post them as full blow-by-blow battle reports, I'll give the short version when I discuss the 'caster or list archetype I used in a tactics post.  Now, on to the report!

Lists and Thoughts

My absolute favorite Warlock in MkII was Makeda and the Exalted Court, a.k.a. Makeda 3 or Mak3da.  She was incredibly fun to play, and performed well against a lot of the lists I went up against regularly.  In MkIII, she's changed a bit, and I'm still playing around trying to find something that really clicks with her.  People online have been talking up Makeda 3 with the Mammoth, so I decided to try out:

What I'm Excited About in Skorne MkIII: Skorne

Hi Everyone!

I've been busy the last couple of months with various things, including a move.  Since we just reconnected our internet this past weekend, I've decided to get settled in by firing up 4+ Tough again.  It's been a long time since I posted, and even longer since I've updated regularly.  However, I'm in a pretty good position to post regularly, and even more importantly, play regularly.  My planned update schedule is currently:

• Monday: Random BS
• Wednesday: Battle Report
• Friday: Tactics
• More Unscheduled Random BS as I see fit

On to the excitement!

There are certainly a lot of legitimate gripes about Skorne right now, and I'll talk about them a bit at some point in the near future.  Right now, though, I want to discuss what has me rubbing my hands together with anticipation about our humble faction.

1)  A little more control.  Skorne has never been the most control-oriented faction, but we ended up getting some fun new tools this edition.  For example, Castigate on Dominar Rasheth got a massive power boost - eliminating all channeling and casting of Animi in Rasheth's CTRL.  Naaresh's Lamentation and Despoiler's Arcane Suppression were both upgraded by the fact that Animi are now spells when a Warbeast uses them.  Some models, like pMorghoul, have much stronger control games now that the meta has more lists anchored by heavy 'jacks.  Of our two standby control pieces, Orin Midwinter is a bit more versatile than he was in MkII, although less of a blanket shutdown, and the Agonizer has 4 really interesting control-oriented abilities (although using Repulsion well is hard on the little critter and risky on a Warlock).

2)  Interesting ranged defense options.  We have two excellent Shield Guard beasts in the faction.  The Brute is an all star utility/defensive light, and the Sentry is nice and tough with the ability to punch back reasonably hard if it survives the alpha.  We have several unit options I feel bring good questions to the table for a ranged game, most importantly Karax, Ferox, and Bloodrunners, as well as the Carapace beasts, which I'm looking forward to trying out in significant numbers.  I'm even starting to come around on the Krea a little bit.  I hated her at first, especially after liking her so much in MkII, but if she keeps performing the way she has I'll have to grudgingly admit that she has a place.

3)  More shooting.  The Cannoneer, all the Venator units, the Venator solo when it comes out, and especially the Mammoth and Siege Animantrax, all have me very interested in our ranged game. Our options are strong enough that we can run a solid ranged element with any 'caster, and a very punishing one with certain 'casters.  It's something I played around with a bit in MkII, and I'm looking forward to trying to puzzle out the perfect balance of shooting, melee and control now that we have a little more shooting to work with.

The Mammoth on the painting table

4)  Murderkitties.  Look you guys.  I'm a crazy cat person.  I really am.  And the overall speed, flexibility, and control that Ferox can bring to the table with the right support has me super excited to put them on the table every time.

The savage Ferox in their natural habitat

That's enough excitement for today.  As always, comments are welcome!  And so are further suggestions for material, since I now have a schedule to be keeping up with.

Thanks for reading!