Primus Jalaam is the new Warlock for Skorne coming out as part of PP's 12 factions of Christmas promotion. He's still in development, but what I've seen looks pretty interesting, so I'm going to sketch out my thoughts, and try to make a list or two. This is a CID model, so probable spoilers for Jalaam after the cut. I'm talking about the 08/31 Update version (things may change).
Rundown on Jalaam
Jalaam is PP's vision of a Venator Warlock. He personally has a magical Riever gun with RoF 2. He also has a Pow 12 "blade" with Grievous wounds, but that's mostly a weapon of last resort*. In addition to a nifty gun, Jalaam has Hunter and Prey, making him pretty good at dishing out some pain at range. His offensive stats are a solid Mat 7 and Rat 7, while his Def/Arm is mediocre at 15/15. He's also got Pathfinder, which is very cool to have on a Warlock, and Tough, which is a neat bonus, but hooboy when you're making Tough rolls on your 'caster, something went wrong. He also (as of the 08/31 update) has Resourceful, which will help him upkeep all those spells.
His Feat is solid, but bland. Enemy models attacking friendly Faction models in Jalaam's CTRL roll one less die. Take stuff with decent Def, and you'll get good use out of it. I think this Feat will probably pick up some kind of little quirk to make it more interesting as the CID wears on, but if not, it'll still be useful.
The spells are where Jalaam's really interesting tech is. Artifice of Deviation is good, since Cover matters a lot against some armies, and being able to place Rough Terrain on demand is very nice. Deadeye is excellent. We have some powerful guns in Skorne, and this will make them a lot more accurate. Scavenger's Blessing is cool, and as far as I know, new: target model/unit gains Pathfinder and Prowl. There are a lot of great targets for this spell, since terrain and guns are both plentiful in the current meta. It's worth noting that since Artifice of Deviation doesn't grant Concealment, this won't give models in the template Stealth. One or the other of these spells might be changed to synergize better. Warpath is very cool, and adds some great maneuverability and threat extender options for Jalaam. Finally Vanish lets Jalaam hit and run a little bit, or go those extra 3" to get to a flag or zone. Overall, the list is decent, and with Resourceful taking care of those 3 upkeep spells, Jalaam will have plenty of options.
*Do keep in mind that Jalaam has a 16" melee threat range between Vanish and Warpath, and that a melee assassination is very much on the table with him if your opponent should leave their 'caster open.
So where does that leave us list-wise? Well, the one thing Jalaam's abilities indicate a ranged play style, so we probably want some ranged beasts and support. A beast with Far Strike (Cannoneer or Raider) is a must. Range 16 on Jalaam's Riever with all his abilities is too good to pass up. After that, you'll probably want an Extoller or two, Marketh is nice for the extra Deadeye, and perhaps a ranged unit to get good work out of Deadeye... You know what this sounds like? A typical Winds of Death list.
In fact, there's some really interesting synergy between Jalaam's toolbox and the Winds of Death theme. You can double down on the Cover provided by that wall the theme gets you, and you can double down on the Swift Hunter movement your beasts get by adding Warpath into the mix. There's not as much to deliver to melee in the usual Winds list, but you do get to survive enemy shooting a little better with Artifice of Deviation. Finally, if you're using your free points on Catapults, Deadeye will make those Pow 16-18 direct hits a lot more likely.
Here's what I'm thinking list-wise for Jalaam.
Primus Jalaam (*28pts) - Winds of Death
*Titan Cannoneer (17pts)
*Titan Cannoneer (17pts)
*Cyclops Shaman (8pts)
*Basilisk Krea (7pts)
*Aptimus Marketh (0pts - Theme Benefit)
Siege Animantrax (17pts)
Venator Dakar (4pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (0pts Theme Benefit)
Extoller Soulward (3pts)
Venator Slingers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (13pts)
Venator Catapult Crew (Gunner and 2 Grunts) (5pts)
Venator Catapult Crew (Gunner and 2 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Hanlders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Seams reasonable. The battlegroup is smallish but should be able to shoot well and scoot around with Warpath and Swift Hunter. The rest of the list should be able to put out a lot of shots to help out. There's a little trouble when this list gets to melee, since there's no real screening unit (the Slingers only sort-of work), and the ability to un-jam myself is pretty weak. However, if I can do enough damage on the way in, the Cannoneers and SA should be able to mop up reasonably well. I'm not 100% sold on Marketh in the list. More Deadeye is better, but I can drop him, make the Venator Dakar free, and add either a second Dakar or a second Mortitheurge, or a Flayer Cannon. I'll try to play this once or twice before Monday, and post a battle report to the CID forum. (This is not guaranteed).
I'll try to get a post set up on my tiny Cryx army over the weekend, but we might not even have the JML this week, so we'll see.
Until next time!
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