Using Makeda 2: My First Impressions

I've been having a lot of fun and success using Makeda 2 so far this edition, so I decided to write up a quick take on my experiences with her so far.

I love the pose on this model.

Let's do a quick rundown of her cards first.

Her stats and weapons are fine.  Defensively, she has what it takes to survive as a second line support Warlock, provided she's pretty well defended by the rest of your list.  Offensively, she has what it takes to land the finishing blow to clear a zone or kill the opposing 'caster, but shouldn't be anywhere near the front lines other than that.

She has Elite Cadre [Praetorian Swordsmen] which gives them Vengeance.  In my opinion, this is enough to take them to the top of the pile when considering 10-strong infantry options with her.  Vengeance is a good threat extender, and can let the Swordsmen make more attacks.  Additionally, Vengeance triggers when a model in the unit is damaged, which pairs nicely with Makeda 2's game-defining ability, Stay Death.

Stay Death allows Makeda to spend a point of Fury to stop a non-character Faction warrior model from dying when it is disabled while in her command range.  Stay Death does remove damage, so it is negated by Grievous Wounds or other effects that prevent healing.  It's hard to overstate how powerful the ability to simply prevent a model from dying is.  You can use this ability to keep specific models screened for a long time, lock your opponent out of zones, keep their ranged models engaged, or just lose models more slowly than your opponent.  Makeda 2 will probably be spending most of her Fury on this ability every turn, and this ability makes any fight with her a hellish grind for most opponents.  This ability does put Makeda fairly close to the front, but at Command 10, she can also stay relatively safe.  Just know where the threats are, and you should be ok.

It's usually better have too much Fury on the table at the end of your turn with the expectation of using Stay Death a lot.  If one of your beasts Frenzies, it's usually not a big deal, especially if that means your opponent didn't target your troops at all.  I usually camp Makeda's whole stack for Stay Death, use it all, and have her beasts refill her completely.  I have yet to be burned doing this, but I'm sure I will be soon.

Makeda 2's spell list is generally good.  The only problem with her spells is that they compete with Stay Death for her Fury, so any spell she casts should be part of a larger plan.  You'll rarely want to cast more than one spell per turn.

• Dash gives warrior models +1 Spd if they start in her CTRL, and Parry for as long as they're in it.  It's great for getting your warriors where they need to go without having to worry about Free Strikes.  You'll want to spend the 2 Fury it takes to cast this spell when you're engaged in melee, and would rather make your attacks somewhere else.  This will usually come up one to three times per game, and it's a great spell to cast when you need it.
• Deflection gives you extra Def against Ranged and Magic attacks.  It tends to be worth the cost of 3 if you're up against a large number of low to mid quality attacks where the defense bonus would cause plenty of shots to miss.  If you're up against a lower number of very accurate or boostable attacks, it's usually better to save 3 more models with Stay Death than it is to use this spell.  You won't use Deflection every game, and when you do use it, you'll generally only cast it once on the approach.
• Prostration is a short ranged offensive spell that knocks its target down.  Generally, you should only cast it if it'll win you the game that turn.
• Storm Rager gives target warrior model +2 Mat, Str, and Arm.  This is great on a bunch of our combat solos, and pretty good on Makeda herself in the late game.  Standout targets are Hakaar, Rhadeim, and Ancestral Guardians.  Generally either cast it turn 1 before you're likely to take any damage, or cast it when you need a specific model to hit harder on a specific turn.  You'll probably cast this every game, and recast it as soon as the original target dies, even at cost 3.

Makeda's Feat is very straightforward.  Friendly Faction models in her CTRL gain boosted melee attack rolls and cannot be knocked down for one round.  Great against high-Def stuff.  Fine against low-Def high-Arm stuff, since hitting every time is better than hitting almost every time.  If you're up against a bunch of Khador jacks, though, it's often worth it to wait on the Feat until you have a shot at the 'caster.  Even against lower-Def stuff, critical effects will take place more often.   It's also worth noting that Free Strike attack rolls will be boosted.  Overall, the Feat is fine.  It's good every game, but it doesn't knock anyone's socks off or anything.

Battlegroup

Since Stay Death only works on warrior models, and Makeda's spells don't affect warbeasts much if at all, Makeda doesn't usually want to invest too much in a battlegroup.  It's usually fine to have a couple of heavies to block LoS to Makeda and make sure the list can deal with some armor, and a light or two for whatever utility you need.  Here are some beasts I like.

• Despoiler:  It gives her an extra Fury for Stay Death by letting her upkeep Storm Rager for free.  It has Dark Shroud to give your troops a little more armor cracking.  Her Feat lets it get critical brutal damage off a lot more regularly on that one turn.
• Titan Sentry, Cyclops Brute, Tiberion:  Our Shield Guard beasts.  Tiberion cracks armor like a champ, which is something Makeda wants help with.  The Brute is a quick and cheap option, and the Sentry is a middle option.  Makeda can definitely benefit from having a Shield Guard around, since she does like to play pretty far forward.
• Basilisk Krea:  The Krea helps out with ranged defense, since Force Aura and Deflection stack.  If you want both, you can get Def 17 on most of your basic infantry.  Even if you'd rather have more Fury open for Stay Death, Force Aura gets your infantry into a pretty comfortable level where shooting won't get through both Def 14-15 and up to 6 Stay Deaths.  Paralysis is also nice to have.
• Titan Gladiator: Our cheapest heavy hitter.  Lets you spend more points on infantry, while keeping some Armor cracking in the game.
• Ranged beasts can also serve her well, since her battlegroup is mainly a reserve for the infantry who'll be doing most of the heavy lifting in the early game.
• If you're running high armor, an Agonizer is good for backing it up.  Makeda 2 is one of just a few 'casters who really runs Cetrati well, and an Agonizer is great for making them tougher.

Since Makeda's spells don't do a lot for her beasts, the battlegroup is mostly going to be support for the warrior models.

Other Troops

Makeda runs all units and solos pretty well.  She's one of the 'casters who really wants combat solos, due to Storm Rager.  Stay Death doesn't affect character models, but some of our character solos are still good enough to consider on the merits of Storm Rager alone.  Here are some standouts:

• Praetorian Ferox: I've gushed about these kitties enough for now, but they're very good with Makeda 2.  As long as you don't let them get too far ahead, they make good Stay Death targets, and between that and Dash, they're a huge threat to the battlefield under her.
• Praetorian Swordsmen: I mentioned them before, but I'll mention them again.  Vengeance puts the Swordsmen in the running for best one-hit unit to run with Makeda, and the combination of her Feat, Dash, and Stay Death makes them a very solid choice with a lot of accuracy and a long threat range.  I like the CA with Swordsmen under Makeda 2.  Relentless Charge makes them very self-sufficient, and Side Step works really well with Dash.  Finally, two turns of boosted attack rolls combined with Stay Death makes Swordsmen one of the better units to threaten enemy infantry with.
• Praetorian Karax:  They're cheap and difficult to kill for 1-hitters.  With Makeda 2, they're even more difficult to kill.  They don't do as much work as the Swordsmen, but they're a lot cheaper, and they won't tax Makeda's Fury reserves as much.
• Immortals:  Like the Swordsmen, they have Vengeance.  However, they also have higher Arm, higher Pow, and Reach.  They also have Magic Weapons and the ability to take a CA who can do a fair amount for them.  Their weakness is their low speed.
• Paingiver Bloodrunners: They are a little fast for Makeda, but if you can keep them in Stay Death range, they'll do good work.  They're also very independent, especially with a Master Tormentor, so they don't need to be close by. 
• Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer:  If you're running infantry, the Tyrant Commander is good support.  The Tyrant can be affected by Stay Death, and makes a good Storm Rager target too. 
• Cataphract Cetrati:  Really high Arm and Stay Death make them attrition monsters.  Vorkesh is also a good Storm Rager target due to his high innate P+S and Cleave.
• Hakaar the Destroyer: One of the best Storm Rager targets.  With Storm Rager and 3 Soul Tokens, he's Mat 11 P+S 15 (and can Combo Strike for P+S 20!), and Arm 23.  10/10 would tie up a full unit of Forge Guard then kill them all again.
• Ancestral Guardian: Not as powerful as Hakaar, but still very strong, and the ability to benefit from Stay Death as well as Storm Rager makes it a contender.
• Tyrant Rhadeim: Mat 10 P+S 14 Armor Piercing *Attack.  :D  Storm Rager also boosts Rhadeim's arm to a very respectable 19, and he has some support for Ferox.
• Mortitheurge Willbreaker: Handing out tough and removing continuous effects is very useful.  Stay Death can save troopers before they die to continuous effects sometimes.

Here's what I'm currently running with Makeda 2.

Supreme Archdomina Makeda (*24pts)
*Despoiler (18pts)
*Titan Gladiator (14pts)
*Basilisk Krea (7pts)

Hakaar the Destroyer (7pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (4pts)

Praetorian Ferox (Leader and 4 Grunts) (21pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (13pts)
*Command Attachment (Officer and Standard Bearer) (4pts)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (6pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)

The basic approach is to cast Storm Rager on Hakaar turn 1, and then camp 6 every turn after that so I can use Stay Death aggressively and play forward.  Despoiler and the Gladiator make a good pair, but I try to avoid using them until the late game, when I need their armor cracking.  The Ferox do a lot of heavy lifting and board control.  The Swordsmen take up space and attack ranged units head-on.  They have some cool tricks against a bunch of targets, and are pretty hard to dislodge.  Hakaar backs them up, taking Souls as they come, and hitting hard targets that the Swordsmen can't get on their own.  The Tyrant and Willbreaker support the two units.  I usually have Pathfinder when I need it, so Press Forward on the Ferox is my main battle plan.  Both units can benefit from Tough, especially on the Feat turn.

My big concern for this list is that it doesn't have enough Shield Guard, so if Makeda gets into any kind of trouble against a ranged list, it could go badly for her.  She doesn't cast offensively though, so I'm free to hide her as thoroughly as I can.  So far, she's done well for me without a bodyguard.  The Ferox and Swordsmen get into shooting units quickly, and Stay Death makes them really hard to remove.