Mak3da Musings

I'm trying to try new things with Makeda 3 right now, to figure out what I want to do with her in the new edition.  I've tried the Mammoth build, and couple of heavy beast builds, but nothing has really clicked for me so far.  I've spent a lot of the weekend wondering what I really want from a Makeda 3 list, and I keep on coming up with things similar to the Brute Squad I was running in MkII.



This is the closest I am to the original Brute Squad list, with some changes made to accomodate MkIII cards and the fact that my Brutes are a little cheaper now relative to the rest of the list.  It seems like a pretty solid list overall.  I'll probably end up going for a variant that includes Orin, although my original list doesn't.  He and Despoiler are a good pair for spell denial.

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*24pts)
*Molik Karn (20pts)
*Despoiler (18pts)
*Titan Gladiator (14pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Cyclops Savage (8pts)
*Basilisk Krea (7pts)
*Agonizer (7pts)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (2pts)

Total: 75/75pts

Variants I'm thinking of are:

1. Drop the Gobbers, drop the Paingivers to a min unit, and swap the Savage for a Razor Worm.  I lose the Savage as a Hand of Death target, and I lose its Animus, but I gain Spiny Growth and an ok melee beast, as well as the 5pts I need to slot in Orin Midwinter.  I could also drop the Krea for Orin, and fudge some other points around.
2. Drop the Savage and Krea for a Sentry.   A little more beef in the list, and a little more Shield Guard.  Seems legit.  If I drop the Savage and a Brute for the Sentry, I can drop the Gobbers and Paingivers to include Orin too.
3. Drop the Savage for a Basilisk Drake.  Grievous Wounds Spray seems fun.  Lurker seems situationally good.  Flank+Vortex+Dark Shroud+Enrage seems very silly.

Here's something similar to the bug squad I was running last year when the Aradi came out.  I actually like the Aradus Sentinel a lot with Makeda 3.  Well, a lot better than with most Warlocks.  They still need an Animus.  If she's standing nearby, a Sentinel will wreck just about any heavy.  The Sentinels backed up by Rush have a respectable ranged threat, and Grievous Wounds on the their weapons is very hard on Warbeasts.  They also make a nice little bunker for Makeda to chill in as she goes up the table.  I also really like the idea of running 5 heavies plus Mak 3.  :D

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*24pts)
*Molik Karn (20pts)
*Despoiler (18pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (16pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (16pts)
*Titan Gladiator (14pts)
*Agonizer (7pts)

Extoller Soulward (3pts)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)

Variants I'm thinking of are:

1. Drop the Extoller for More Paingivers.  4 is not enough these days.
2. Drop one of the non-bug heavies for a couple of lights and/or some infantry for a front line.  This might be the way I go since the Aradi are a little pricy to be early trades (twice as expensive as Brutes for the same effect).  Still, their offense is way better, and they're backed by the Agonizer, so I'm going to try this list out as-is before I give up on them.

Any thoughts on the lists?  Any Mak 3 lists people really think I should play?