Almost 2 months ago now, I went to a local tournament. As usual, I had a great time, and even won a couple games. Here are the lists I took:
Makeda and the Exalted Court (*24pts) - Imperial Warhost
*Molik Karn (19pts)
*Titan Gladiator (15pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Cyclops Savage (7pts)
*Agonizer (0pts)
Siege Animantrax (17pts)
Tyrant Zaadesh (4pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Basilisk Drake (8pts)
*Basilisk Krea (0pts)
*Agonizer (0pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
This is my most recent take on Mak3da. The last list I played had serious Fury management problems, and I'm hoping this list will do better. There are a lot of beasts on Zaadesh 1, but he's pretty tough for a lesser Warlock, and he can handle their Fury reasonably well. Other than that, the list has good hitting power, a lot of infantry clearing, and a couple of tricks. I want to like Makeda 3 a lot, and hopefully this list will sell me on the Maksperience.
Void Seer Mordikaar (*29pts) - Masters of War
*Despoiler (19pts)
*Archidon (10pts)
*Archidon (10pts)
*Basilisk Krea (7pts)
*Cyclops Savage (7pts)
Tyrant Rhadiem (9pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (4pts)
Praetorian Ferox (Leader and 4 Grunts) (20pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (13pts)
*Command Attachment (Officer and Standard Bearer) (0pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (0pts)
Mordikaar is quite strong and flexible in my opinion. Masters of War is a good way to run him, since Revive and Hollow are still a solid pair of spells for our better units. This list can play the recursion game with both Ferox and Swordsmen, and has some solid tools for an Essence Blast assassination run with the Savage, Archidons, and Mortitheurge. The secret weapon is Void Spirits, which aren't allowed in the core Masters of War theme, but which are still created by Despoiler, and can do a lot of damage. I built this list to be an answer to Haley 3, now that I've fought against her and have seen what she can do. It won't be an easy fight, but it's one I feel this list has the tools for.
Game 1 vs Matt's Cygnar
Matt was running Haley 3 in Gravediggers and Kraye in Heavy Metal, so we were in a bit of a list chicken situation. I knew my Mordikaar list had the tools to deal with Gravediggers if I played well, but it's lacking a little in the armor cracking department. Makeda 3 has good armor cracking, but really lacks the flexibility to deal with Haley 3 reliably. I decided to go with Mordikaar, while Matt dropped Kraye. Whoops.
Captain Jeremiah Kraye (*28pts) - Heavy Metal
*Stormclad (18pts)
*Centurion (17pts)
*Centurion (17pts)
*Ironclad (12pts)
*Ironclad (12pts)
*Hammersmith (12pts)
*Charger (9pts)
*Squire (0pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (0pts)
*Charger (9pts)
Captain Arlan Strangeways (0pts)
Field Mechanics (Leader and 3 Grunts) (3pts)
Matt won the roll-off, and went first. I took the table edge a little closer to the central forest. The scenario was The Pit II, so everything was on the centerline.
Round 1
Matt made the most of Kraye's ridiculous speed, and got his warjacks right up in my face.
I ran up to meet him, and had Mordikaar use his Feat. I put the Swordsmen in a position to charge some 'jacks next turn, and got some attacks on a leading Ironclad with the Ferox. The Archidons moved quickly to claim the left rectangle, though I wouldn't be able to score it until next turn.
Round 2
Matt tried a lot of things to do damage to my list, but ultimately killed nothing of value (one Swordsman and one Ferox). He advanced his 'jacks to block me out of the right rectangle unless I did something about them. The Chargers moved up to contest the right rectangle against the Archidons.
I retaliated hard. The Swordsmen used their mini-Feat, and between them and Despoiler, they killed an Ironclad and the Hammersmith. The Ferox and Rhadiem put some damage on the second Ironclad and the right Centurion by jumping into its back arc. The Archidons flailed around at the Chargers, but didn't do much. Mordikaar tucked himself into a corner as far from the Chargers and central (non-tied-up) 'jacks as possible.
Round 3
Matt did some coming back, attacked my Archidons for decent damage, killed some Swordsmen and some Ferox, and the Krea, and shifted away with Kraye. Dealing with my central Ferox let him advance with his Centurion and Ironclad to a position to threaten Mordikaar.
I finished off the other Centurion, killed Strangeways, and started putting damage on the Stormclad and second Ironclad. Mordikaar Revived a Ferox into the Centurion's path, and cast Host of Shadows to give his battlegroup Ghostly.
One Archidon went after Kraye, but didn't kill him. The Savage ran to help the Revived Ferox block the Centurion's path.
Round 4
Matt tried an assassination run, but the Chargers didn't finish the job, and he ran out of time before he could activate much more.
Victory to the Skorne!
My list did a lot better in this matchup than I thought it would. Swordsmen are excellent on the turn they use Power Swell, but even just regular Combo Strikes are pretty decent against Arm 18. Despoiler was fantastic, and the Ferox were great as always. Matt mentioned that he thought I should've gone for an assassination on my 3rd turn. The pieces were in place for it, but I was really hesitant to sacrifice the Archidons in case it failed.
Matt made some mistakes. He overcommitted to trying to kill Swordsmen on my Feat turn, and I was able to kill 2 heavies and inflict critical damage on a third. He also hesitated and ran his clock down a fair amount, possibly because my list was putting up more of a fight than either of us expected. In the end, that was what got him.
Game 2 vs Shannon's Menoth
Shannon was running Kreoss 1 and Thyra 1, both infantry heavy. I figured Mordikaar was my better drop, and he went for Thyra.
Thyra, Flame of Sorrow (*29pts) - The Faithful Masses
*Reckoner (16pts)
*Reckoner (16pts)
Champion of the Order of the Wall (8pts)
Champion of the Order of the Wall (8pts)
Paladin of the Order of the Wall (0pts)
Paladin of the Order of the Wall (0pts)
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist (3pts)
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist (0pts)
Idrian Skirmishers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (15pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (12pts)
*Command Attachment (Monolith Bearer) (3pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (12pts)
*Command Attachment (Monolith Bearer) (3pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Shannon won the roll-off, and chose to go first. I chose the table edge with access to a wall and a forest to stash Mordikaar behind. The scenario was Spread the Net, so there would be a lot of potential scoring, and one 'jack or 'beast would hang back to score the friendly rectangle. Shannon chose the Swordsmen as the Idrians' Prey.
Round 1
Shannon ran forward aggressively, claiming a lot of table space, and moving his Idrians into position to start killing Swordsmen asap.
I saw an interesting opportunity to do a lot of damage, and after a little measuring, I decided to go for it. I moved the Krea, the Swordsmen, and Despoiler up very fast, getting Despoiler to within a critical 5" of one of the lead Idrians. Then Mordikaar cast Hollow, moved into the woods, and shot the unfortunate victim with his gun, spawning a Void Spirit.
The spirit immediately activated, killed a bunch of Idrians and a couple Zealots, then teleported behind an Allegiant, but missed its attack.
Round 2
Shannon moved up, started jamming me, and killed a couple Swordsmen and the Void Spirit. One of the Champions started a move around the far flank to get to Mordikaar from behind. Thyra moved into the center where she could redeploy wherever she was needed.
The Swordsmen and Ferox charged forward, slaughtering most of the remaining Idrians and Zealots. One Archidon put a little damage on a Reckoner, while the other killed an Idrian, and Sprinted over to Mordikaar's side of the table. The Savage charged a Champion, but failed to kill it.
Another Void Spirit was created, which killed a couple Zealots in the rear of the formation, then teleported into the Choir at the very back, and killed a bunch of them.
Round 3
Shannon killed a bunch of Swordsmen, one Ferox, the Savage, and both Archidons, and moved Thyra to the right to help support his disintegrating flank.
I saw an assassination opportunity. The Mortitheurge put Puppet Master on the Krea, who advanced and shot at Thyra. She hit with the reroll. I charged Thyra with the Void Spirit and a Swordsman under their mini-Feat, and took her down.
Victory to the Skorne!
This Mordikaar list is brutal into a list that depends on infantry and recursion. I forgot to Feat on my second turn, which ended up ok, but would probably have saved both Archidons and most of the Swordsmen Shannon killed. Shannon definitely didn't see the turn 1 Void Spirit spawn which cost him a lot of models early on. Next time, he'll definitely consider it. Even so, it was an uphill game for him. His Kreoss list might have been a better pick.
Game 3 vs. Tom's Skorne
I've played against Tom W a bunch of times over the years, and he's always a fun opponent. Plus, this was going to be a Skorne-on-Skorne game! He brought Rasheth in Winds of Death with double Animantraxes and Zaadesh 2 in Imperial warhost with no Animantraxes. I dropped Makeda, and he dropped Zaadesh.
Lord Tyrant Zaadesh (*28pts) - Imperial Warhost
*Aradus Soldier (16pts)
*Aradus Soldier (16pts)
*Titan Sentry (15pts)
*Titan Sentry (15pts)
*Titan Gladiator (15pts)
*Archidon (10pts)
*Basilisk Krea (0pts)
*Agonizer (0pts)
Bog Trog Mist Speaker (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (2pts)
Tom won the roll-off, and chose to deploy on the table edge that didn't have a forest mucking up the center of its advance, which meant I would go first. With both of us benefiting from a 2" deployment extension, we were also starting very close together. The scenario was Recon II, so beasts and solos would be doing the scoring, and there would be objectives to choose. I picked the Pathfinder objective (Fuel Cache) because I had a mess of a forest to deal with. Tom chose the healing objective (Stockpile) because he did not.
Round 1
I advanced, and cast my upkeeps: Hand of Death on the turtle, Vortex of Destruction on Makeda, and Tag Team on Zaadesh. The Animantrax also damaged an Aradus, which used Hyper-Aggressive to advance a bit.
Tom advanced right back at me. The bugs mostly stayed put, jockeying for position against the Animantrax. Everything else caught up to them, and Tom's beasts got into all the zones. Zaadesh cast Battle Charged, but didn't put up any clouds.
Round 2
I started pushing forward with my Cyclopes and advancing behind them. The Animantrax did a little more shooting, and managed to take out the Agonizer's Spirit.
Tom used Zaadesh's Feat, and put up some clouds to block off his right flank. He also went in hard on the left flank with a Sentry and one of the Aradi; the other stayed back to counter-charge or retaliate next turn. The Mist Speaker moved up to the flag, and started scoring it.
Round 3
Molik killed the Archidon without triggering any Defensive Strikes, and the Cyclopes on the right moved up, The Animantrax continued to skirmish against the Aradi. An Enraged/Flanked/Tag-Teamed Krea almost killed the Sentry jamming me on the left.
I was doing reasonably well in attrition, but I'd forgotten to contest the scenario. Tom had scored a second point at the end of my turn, and easily cleared both zones to score 3 more for a 5-0 win.
Victory to the Skorne!
But not, you know, me.
I made 2 key mistakes this game. The first was definitely forgetting to contest the scenario on my third turn. The second, related mistake was not loading up my Siege Animantrax with Rage tokens at the start of the game. I hadn't played this incarnation of the Mak3 list before, and I'd misdeployed my Paingivers to load it up. If it had been full of Rage tokens, I'd have charged it in, and done a much more convincing job contesting the left flank. Tom also sold me on Aradus Soldiers with this list. Carapace and the options they have with Pull look like a lot of fun.
Final Thoughts
I had a blast as usual, and I think I've convinced myself of two things. First, Mordikaar is extremely solid. I don't think he's a top 'caster for Skorne, but he brings a lot to the table, and I like this list a lot for him. I thought I was toast in the Kraye game, but that list did a very decent job at attrition against a much heavier opponent. Second, I think I'm going to leave Mak3 on the shelf until she gets another look in the CID. I'm really not wrapping my head around her, and most of what she brings, other warlocks do better. I have a lot of other Imperial Warhost lists I'm eager to try, including one for Hexy 2 and another for Jalaam.
I also placed 4th overall, despite having 0 Control Points for the whole event, because both Tom and Shannon went 2-1 as well.
Many thanks to Matt, Shannon, and Tom for being great opponents, and to Tom K for running the event! I haven't been able to make it to any tournaments since June, but hopefully I'll get to more this fall, and I'm deffo planning to be at the Renegade Open again this year.
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