Starting Skorne in the Age of Themes, Overview

Hello again.

Way, way back in 2016, I made 3 posts about starting Skorne from the battlegroup box and building up to a 75pt list over the course of a Journeyman League (JML).  That information has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years - we had a faction overhaul and a bunch of themes released.  On top of that, the rules for the JML have been updated.  So this seems like a good time to update my recommendations a little.



Changes to Skorne

The tactics I outlined for the battlegroup largely still hold true.  The point costs for the Titan Gladiator and Cyclops Savage were changed to make the Gladiator a little more expensive and the Savage a little less so, but the battlegroup still has an over point value of zero, and none of the rules on the battlegroup models has changed.

When you start adding troops to your list, though, things start to get a little more complicated.  For one thing, most of our models improved significantly in the faction overhaul.  Some of our infantry options, for example, are a lot more enticing.  In my "building from the battlegroup" post, I mention Praetorian Karax and Paingiver Bloodrunners for melee infantry.  However, if you're interested in a melee-oriented list, Praetorian Swordsmen and Cataphract Cetrati are decent options now, and the Legends of Halaak have also become a lot more dangerous and easy to use.

For warbeasts, I recommended all the Titans, largely because the rest of our warbeast stable was sorely lacking.  Post-update, Archidons are excellent, Rhinodons are solid, and the Aradus Sentinel got a sweet little boost in the form of a real animus.  The Titans, meanwhile, aren't being taken as much because they tend to trade poorly with the cheap 'jacks that most Warmachine factions can field.  They're also being upstaged by infantry, light beasts, and especially by the Siege Animantrax.  The turtle is a pricey model (money-wise), but it's fast, flexible, durable, and dangerous at both melee and range.  Most theme lists that can take the Animantrax should probably take one, and there's a strong argument for taking 2 in a lot of cases.  That brings us to...

Themes

The benefits from theme forces are many and powerful, and ours are no exception.  In this day and age, you should probably be playing in theme unless you have a specific reason not to.  We currently have 5 themes, of which 4 are playable in a JML.

1. Winds of Death - A strong and flexible theme, and probably the one you'll be looking at in the JML.  It lacks melee infantry, but gives access to most of our shooting options, as well as a wide selection of our support models.  Most Warlocks can run this theme well, and some are very strong with it.
2. Imperial Warhost - If you want to run beasts, beasts, and more beasts, this is the theme to do it.  Your options outside of beasts will be very limited, so you won't have the same kinds of support tools other themes have.  That said, this is a strong theme, probably my favorite.
3. Masters of War - Another good theme, with a focus on melee infantry.  Almost no ranged weapons are allowed, even on beasts, which means you can't run this theme at all in the JML thanks to the Cyclops Raider.  As you dig into Skorne though, you'll definitely want to give MoW a look, because it allows a lot of our best troops and gives you a lot of fun options.
4. The Exalted - This theme focuses on our Exalted and Extoller models, which currently is an extremely limited selection.  The theme is very powerful with the right 'caster, and if you like the Exalted enough, you won't go wrong building this theme.  You won't get a very broad perspective on Skorne, and you'll be investing a significant amount of money to build a list that covers a small amount of the faction, but that's fine as long as you like the results.  However, sometime in the next 5-6 months, the Exalted will get a new look in CID, and new Exalted models will be introduced.  The Supreme Guardian battle engine is already on the way.
5. Disciples of Agony - A number of Warlocks can run this theme, and Xekaar is even one of them.  DoA gives you access to all Minion warbeasts and units who work for us, and makes the beasts Skorne, so you can use most of your abilities on them.  It's a great theme if you want to explore and exploit the synergies between Skorne and Minion models, but you might not wind up with that many Skorne models at the end of the league.

Over the next month or so, I'm going to be updating my advice for building up from the JML with an eye toward each of our current themes.  I'll also discuss Masters of War briefly; even though you can't run it in a JML, it's pretty easy to build it with a couple of purchases.

The most recent rules for a JML can be found here.