Monday Mercenary Mutterings: Mercs State of the Lists 2017

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I figured it was about due. There have been a lot of changes in the faction since Mk III came out, mainly from themes and couple new models, but also some errata changes.

The biggest change is that you can no longer power attack friendly models - meaning it is now much more difficult to knock down enemy models by using your own models to line up the slam. This is a huge benefit for high-DEF warcasters such as Ashlynn and Constance Blaize, and should (theoretically) let them take better advantage of their rather absurdly potent melee abilities without the constant knock-down assassination run fear.

The next biggest change for my lists is the Rhulic Hammer Strike Theme - it's awesome! An additional +2" deployment zone, free Artillery Corps or Bokurs, and 3" reposition on all Heavy 'Jacks and Artillery Corps. Artillery Corps and Heavies form the core of my Ossrum lists already, so the benefits line up really well.

But enough talk - on to the lists!

Monday Mercenary Mutterings: Battle Report! Ossrum1 vs Naaresh1

I meant to get this out yesterday, but I was lazy. pGrexy and I got one last game in on Friday before the end of 2016, with our age-old rivalry, Skorne vs Trollbloods Mercs.

He's been helping me with my Ossrum lists as I continue in my epic quest to find a list setup that works for me, and this is the result so far. I'm pretty pleased with it, and I've started taking his good advice to heart (for instance, "why are you trying to get the alpha strike in when you're list is better suited to sitting back, threatening a lot of good shooting, taking the hit on the bunnies, and counter-punching like a champ?"... I maaay be paraphrasing on most of that, but you get the idea).

But anyway, Battle Report!

Wednesday Battle Report: Zaadesh 2 vs. Ossrum - 75pts

Hey everyone!  I'm back, and I'll be going back to mostly-regular weekly battle reports after a somewhat hectic November.  This week, I decided to try Skorne's new toy: the all-grown-up-now Lord Tyrant Zaadesh.

Lord Tyrant Zaadesh (*28pt) - Proxied by Zaadesh 1
*Tiberion (22pts)
*Despoiler (18pts)
*Titan Sentry (15pts) - Proxied by a Bronzeback
*Titan Sentry (15pts)
*Agonizer (7pts)

Immortals (Leader and 9 Grunts) (15pts)
*Command Attachment (Extoller Advocate) (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (2pts)

Monday Mercenary Mutterings: General "Awesome" Ossrum

I've liked Ossrum pretty much since I started playing Mercs, mainly because he reminded me strongly of a more condensed version of Khador's Irusk (1 and 2). He gives a lot of support to the army, whether it's in his spells, his feat, or just outright buffs like tactician.

Mk III didn't change him much, and the ways it did I actually really like. His feat is virtually the same, but now allows him to benefit from the speed portion of it, Martial Discipline is now just plain old Tactician (Rhulic) which isn't very different, and his spell Energizer changed from a variable cost battlegroup movement to a solid cost 2, move 2. Mostly, these changes are just tweaks to make him run more consistently, and he still does what he used to do - but is now LOADS better at it, considering he can take all the Warjacks he always wanted to take.

That seems like a bit of a theme in Mk III, doesn't it? Lets dive in.