However!
I'm more or less settled from the other, non-wargame stuff I've been doing, and now have a lot of free time at home to think about games, build armies on Warroom, and aimlessly wish I could get back to playing. But since theorymachine is the responsible thing to do right now, I'm may as well post my musings so other people can correct me if I'm too far astray. I might try playing on Vassal soon, but Vassal games take a long time, and aren't as fun as in-person games.
Since I've been out of the game so long, I'm going to start with a review of my main faction and host of horrible torture-babies: Skorne.
Our themes have had a little bit of a revamp since the last time I posted, and it's mostly good as far as I can tell. I have a couple of questions, mainly about the place of Winds of Death in the faction now that Disciples of Agony has opened up so much, so I'll start with that.
Winds of Death
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| From: Privateer Press Gallery |
Not a lot has changed for Winds of Death. We have access to all the Venator units, all non-character warbeasts, both battle engines, and our most essential support elements: paingiver beast handlers and extollers. The theme benefits are Reposition [3] on weapon crews, and a free wall template we can plop down at the beginning of the game.
There are a few Skorne warlocks who can really make Winds sing, and they're mainly the ones who could do it before: debuff-oriented 'casters like Rasheth, Morghoul 2, and Hexeris 1. It's possible that Xekaar is playable in Winds now because he can channel through Immortal Vessels. My inner fluff bunny likes the idea of Jalaam in Winds, and he can certainly use a unit of Venators to help trigger Warpath moves at long range.
Even though the above warlocks work well in Winds, I'm forced to wonder if they aren't simply better in Disciples of Agony.
Disciples of Agony
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| From: Privateer Press Insider |
In the Oblivion overhaul, Privateer Press took the old Disciples of Agony and Imperial Warhost themes, and just smooshed them together. The result is versatile and very powerful. We can take as many minion units and solos as we want, and our warlocks can take minion warbeasts, which count as friendly faction. The other benefit is that Paingiver models gain sacrificial pawn [minion warrior model], which is decent if you're running minion units, and forgettable otherwise. The requisition options include solos (as in the old Disciples), Agonizers (including the Terrorizer) and Kreas (like in the old Warhost), or 2 Paingiver Taskmasters for a single option, which is great if you're running minion units.
It's a very strong theme for all our 'casters except Zaal 2, who really needs constructs. Making minion warbeasts friendly faction gives us access to all their animi. The biggest standouts are the Battle Boar and Blackhide Wrastler for Primal and Rage. The short version is that if your 'caster fixes Mat sufficiently, take a Wrastler, if not (or if you don't have the points), a Boar. There's also the Blind Walker as a channeler for warlocks like Xekaar and Morghoul 2 and 3, who really want access to one. Finally, there's the War Hog, which is a cheap and devastatingly powerful heavy that's easily one of our best with access to Skorne animi and paingiver support.
I also shouldn't overlook minion units and solos. Croak Raiders and Farrow Brigands are excellent choices for a bunch of our 'casters, and having the option to take more than one minion solo in theme is nice for builds that really want, say, a Mist Speaker and Wrong-Eye.
For me, the best thing about the new Disciples theme is that opening it up to all warlocks lets the ones who need infantry build with Nihilators and Bloodrunners, but take an overall beast-heavy list that includes all the combinations available with Minion warbeasts. I'm very interested to see what Zaal 1 and Mordikaar can do with access to Nihilators and the minion beasts and animi.
A more troubling thing is that I'm not seeing a lot of compelling reasons to run Winds of Death over Disciples right now. Venator Rievers are very good, but Farrow Brigands and Croak Raiders step into their role with very little difficulty. They give up a little range, but add a lot of their own tech, including better hitting power. The Venator weapon crews are fine, but not so strong that they make up for the ability to stick Primal in a list. The wall template is something that Disciples doesn't replicate, and I can see incorporating it into your strategy enough that it's worth taking with Winds' other limitations. My big question here is: who likes to run Winds, and what tricks are available to us in Winds that aren't outshone by Disciples.
On a more self-involved note, my personal fave, Makeda 3, is a real monster these days, and the ability to bulk out her old roster in Warhost with minion beasts and Nihilators is filling me with glee.
Masters of War
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| A terrifying Ferox with her prey. |
As with Winds of Death, there wasn't a big change to Masters of War, just the overall change to requisition options. Molik and (more importantly) Tiberion can go with any warlock in this theme, and your units are a fairly diverse selection of melee fighters plus the ranged cataphracts. In addition to fighty grumpsters, you can take exalted and extoller solos, and the Supreme Guardian, which is great for several 'casters, but not probably not great enough to run Zaal 2 outside of Exalted. Masters lost the initiative bonus it used to have, but kept the best reason to choose it: ignoring Tough and RFP-ing with warrior models' melee attacks.
Masters of War is super solid, and remains my go-to with a bunch of 'casters, especially when I feel like breaking out our super fun Praetorian Ferox or the Legends of Halaak. Masters fits best with our buff-centric Warlocks, who are more faction exclusive with their support for units. I've really enjoyed the first two Makedas and Mordikaar in Masters, and I'm looking forward to trying Zaal 1 as well.
The Exalted
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| From: Privateer Press Blog |
I have the least experience with The Exalted, mostly because I still just own one unit of Immortals, but it looks like a lot of fun. It also has the fewest extra changes, since it was overhauled just prior to the Oblivion arc. All the Exalted and Extoller models are allowed, as is Despoiler and Void Spirits. Additionally, Void Archons are in theme, so we can field multiples to put more Dark Shroud to help the Immortals crack armor.
Exalted is Zaal 2's bread and butter, though despite the limited model selection, most of our Warlocks do quite well with it. Only the ones who really prefer living troops, like Makedas 1 and 2, don't do well there. It's important to note that despite not having a good target for Hollow, Mordikaar does fine in Exalted, because Supreme Guardians can use Direct Spirits to give him souls from friendly troops who die near them.
Overview
Overall, our themes seem to be in a pretty good place, with the possible exception of Winds of Death. It's been a long time since I've played though (and even when I played regularly I wasn't great), so maybe I'm missing a few key synergies that make Winds better in some circumstances.
My favorite theme is probably Disciples of Agony just because there are so many things you can do with it. Most of the lists I'm working on right now are in DoA.
That's it for now. It'll probably take me quite a while to get through the whole faction, but until I can play games out in the world, I'm happy to be blogging.
Until next time...
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