1.

OK so I got bored over my Christmas break and thought I'd write everything down about my favorite Warlock; Supreme Aptimus Zaal. I won't say I've got unique insights, but I have learned to play Hordes-Machine with Zaal (after a few games with Makeda) so I will say that I've got recent experience with him against a wide variety of lists and styles. Please feel free to add anything you think I've gotten wrong, or you've learned that I haven't. Ideally I'd like this to get included in the sticky thread on Skorne tactics, hopefully you guys agree. Oh, and it is long. Like five pages of long. Sorry! Tell me all your thoughts on Zaal. By Nailgraizer This is intended to be a fairly in-depth discussion of Supreme Aptimus Zaal. Later there will be a little bit about Kovaas. All over the forums, and mostly in my local game shop I hear a lot about the different Skorne warlocks. Mostly Makeda, Rasheth and Morghoul. While assassins, fat guys, and archdominas are all well and good, why don't we hear as much about Zaal and his shenanigans? I aim to fix that. Stats: Zaal's stats are pretty mediocre. What do you expect from an caster-type warlock? Decent Def and terrible Arm leave something to be desired. Don't worry, as I'll discuss later this isn't that big of a deal. Fury 7 is nice, and a 14 control range is very handy for late game power-ups. Damage 15 is understandable, but a little on the weak side. Warbeast points of +5 is pretty standard. Weapons: Spirit Eye is nasty. Not only does it add the STR of its (living) target to the damage roll (adding on to a respectable pow of 6) but it also benefits from Zaal's ghost sight. Staff of Aarakis won't be used much. With Zaal being a gunfighter you don't have much of an incentive to use this sucker, but it does have reach, so there. Other stuff:

As I said above, gunfighter is nice because it allows you to fire off his eye-beam in combat, which would drag down something nasty that's beating on the Aptimus. Direct spirits is where things get nasty. Terminus got you down? Not any more! Zaal prevents enemies from reaping the souls of your fallen comrades. Only you get to play with the souls of your dead. Not only that, but you get to decide who gets the spirits pried from the ugly little heads of your friendly faction warrior models. This is nice because you can begin to shovel spirits to those who really need them, not necessarily the closest model to the dying. Ghost sight is awesome. You no longer need LOS to cast spells on your units, and you can make a Spirit Eye attack at anything in range. Nice. As far as I know, it doesn't ignore stealth though, which is a bummer. Soul converter: Spend a fury to give each Ancestral Guardian within range an extra soul token? Any day! It's a shame he can only do it once per turn. This is the first ability that will make you want to take Guardians en mass with the Supreme Aptimus. He makes them much nastier, much quicker. By the time combat should be happening, you've already got a pair of tokens on your Ancestorbearing statues, and by activating Zaal first, you have the option to max the statues out on soul-food goodness. Union [Ancestral Guardians] is amazing. Not only does Zaal have multiple beasts to whom he can transfer damage, but now all of your Guardians are eligible targets as well! Just remember to save a few fury points if you sense Zaal will be eating incoming attacks. Feat: Rage of the Ancients: Holy Crap! Essentially each of your destroyed warrior models become extra fury. For everything in Zaal's control range. While it takes a few games to get the hang of the timing of this feat, once you get it down, you will wreck face. It makes everything in your list very threatening, and with enough units on the table you've got mini-warbeasts running around, waiting to make people cry. The key to the Rage tokens is that they cannot be used to buy additional attacks, only boost them (or their damage), so this feat works best with things like warbeasts,

Ancestral Guardians, Hakaar and the Kovaas. Spells: Awakened Spirit: A reasonably costing upkeep spell. This has many applications, whether you apply it to a Shaman for his Spirit Blade, to Molik Karn for a free Fate Walker, a Gladiator for a free Rush or a BB for some Train Wrecking. Essentially you're saving the beast the cost of the fury, this is nice because it allows your bigger guys to usually spend that two additional fury on extra attacks or boosting. Cast it early, and keep it up-kept until you need it. Hex Blast: A nice 3 aoe blast with reasonable power. It also strips enemy upkeep spells off of the target. While this is obviously nice for yanking a beneficial buff off a unit that absolutely must die, don't forget that you can hit one of your own units with it and strip something horrible off of it. Inviolable Resolve: A decent buff (come on now, he's a Skorne 'caster!) which makes unwilling to run away, and buffs their armor. Something very decent to cast on a priority unit of your own, one what you assume will be eating incoming shooting or counter-attacks. One thing to remember is that you can only have one upkeep spell on any given unit. Something I've found useful is to activate something like Molik Karn, or a Bronzeback first, who then uses his Awakened Spirit to use his animus for free, then get busy killing things. Then Zaal activates and slaps Inviolable Resolve on the said beast to help prevent reprisals. Last Stand: The proverbial crux of Zaal. This spell makes pretty much everything in his list terrifying to just about everything in the game. With additional dice on attack AND damage rolls even your worst unit becomes threatening. The downside is that it destroys a model at the end of the turn if it makes a melee attack. This isn't so bad when you use it to power Zaal's feat while maximizing the damage output from the Last Stand unit. Remember those removed by way of Last Stand don't offer up soul tokens! Sunder Spirit: A pretty standard direct damage spell. Decent POW combines with the ability to strip the animus from an enemy warbeast for a turn. Very useful for things like the new gators (try throwing your

buddies around when they can't stand up so easily!), or other nasty Animi that you just don't want to deal with. Remember that because the beast loses the animus, the opposing caster can't use it themselves!

The Kovaas: The third incentive to include as many Ancestral Guardians as you're comfortable with. Since the Kovaas spawns from a dead AG(including Hakaar) the aim is to charge a meddling Guardian into melee, and force your opponent to deal with it immediately. After the Guardian is destroyed the Kovaas pops into play allowing you to activate him next turn and take drastic measures. He begins incorporeal, and so is very difficult for specific enemies to deal with. This also allows him to charge away from something that killed his former shell, and possibly put the hurt on something else. The Kovaas loves eating infantry. With an initial thresher attack (boosted from a charge) he can easily re-coup the soul tokens spent in his statue form and continue to eat away at the infantry unit with a very respectable pow 14 attack. Oh, and he's mat 8. Kovaas is also a very respectable assassination tool. With incorporeal he has an easy time getting to opposing casters hiding behind a wall of models. With Zaal's feat he becomes even more dangerous because the souls essentially grant him four attacks, at mat 8 with boosted damage rolls. That's an average of 24 damage per roll. Almost no caster (or jack/beast for that matter!) likes that. So we've reviewed the basics of the Supreme Aptimus. Now what? I'll talk about some strategies for putting them to good use. Zaal's feat is what makes his list constantly threatening. What you're doing is waiting for a poor move, or other opportunity to destroy things that are important. If you can pop Zaal's feat, with a good few Rage tokens flying around, your list is easily capable to eliminating every other threat roaming the board. I've had games where I've removed four warjacks in a single turn, leaving the opposing caster facing a wall of meaty muscle. Obviously the caster-kill is a viable option, and even with a Kovaas or an Ancestral Guardian looming, you can easily kill a caster off with four boostable attacks. Warbeasts similarly love the Rage tokens.

Using their initial fury for additional attacks, the Rage tokens become your chosen boosting source. Remember that the tokens generated by Rage of the Ancients cannot be use to buy additional attacks, so use that fury wisely! Often removing the need to spend fury on an animus (because of Awakened Spirit) is all you need to finish off that nasty Death Jack or Kromac. Last edited by Nailgraizer; 12-30-2010 at 04:31 AM. Reply With Quote 2. 12-29-2010, 08:08 PM#2 Nailgraizer Warrior Join Date Dec 2010 Posts 43 So how to power Rage of the Ancients? Cheap infantry. Look no further than Praetorian Swordsmen or Karax. Both are suitable, but they fill different rolls. Karax are nice because they have a CMA, and combined with last stand this means that you're getting the benefits of a massive boost in hit and damage, while only losing a single trooper. Swordsmen are nice (especially with their attached UA) because they can deal respectable damage to heavy jacks (often 15 or so with so many attacks out of a unit) with their good mat. Their only downside is that they don't utilize Last Stand as well as the Karax. You're hoping both units will die, but turn 3 or 4 (which I've found to be the optimal time to use Zaal's feat) but you're hoping they do enough damage on the way down to significantly weaken something scary. In this vein I'm very fond of Karax. Not only do they get right up in peoples' faces, but their Shieldwall order can prolong their utility if you're not ready for them to die. And never underestimate the damage potential of a unit of 10 making a pair of combined melee attacks with Last Stand. Even Beast 09 and other nasties won't be happy getting beat in the face by that. I'm not a huge fan of immortals, because I don't believe they utilize Last Stand all that effectively, and because they're expensive. Expensive with a low def. In my experience high arm doesn't do much on warrior models, and paying 6pts for 10 bodies is much more preferable than 8. So you know how to fuel the feat, but what else? I've found that with Zaal having as many threats on the table, that can successfully utilize his Rage tokens is important. Fortunately, Zaal has a built-in affinity for Ancestral Guardians. Not only are these guys beastly, but Zaal makes them super effective. By spending a rage a turn and adding soul tokens to your Guardians you make them nasty in

their own right. The fact that spirit tokens allow Guardians to function as mini-beasts is nasty in its own right, but when combined with Rage tokens from Zaal's feat, it allows you to throw out up to four mat 8 attacks with boosted damage (that's an average damage roll of 23 from each attack!). Guardians are also nice because the more you have on the table the more it allows you to slough off incoming damage from Zaal. That should make it so that your opponent literally has to kill every last one of your statues and beasts before Zaal starts to shake in his booties. Now I'm not to make this a unit guide, as well as a warlock guide, but I'd like to include a few thoughts on units that work well with Zaal. Guardians are also your delivery system for the Kovaas. Something dirty is to let a Guardian die and then replace him with the Kovaas, but with the Kovaas' arc of sight pointing out of the combat. Your turn rolls around, charge the Kovaas out of combat (who cares about free strikes when they can't hurt you!) and into something much more tasty. Maybe a caster or his meat-wall of warrior models? If you can get the Kovaas in range of a caster, it's usually a good idea to spend all your soul tokens for extra attacks, and Zaal's Rage for boosted hit/damage rolls. Don't forget about Hakaar. Dude is nasty with his initial combo attack (pow 18!) and mat 9. He also becomes an infantry killer with multiple attacks, and a respectable pow+s output. He also gains life whenever he butchers a poor infantrymen. Sometimes camping a few soul tokens will also fit the bill. Although his def is laughable, an arm21 beast stuck in your face makes only a few opponents happy. A good idea is to let Hakaar go nuts during his activation, spending souls/rage as you see fit, and then allocating souls from an extoller (during the extoller's activation)back to him in order to power up his Ghost shield. He also becomes a prime target for Zaal transferring and Kovaas delivery. Warbeasts become a matter of preference. Molik Karn is my favorite (mainly because I intensely dislike the way titans look). I'm sure you can understand why a weapon master, reach, side stepping cyclops of doom, with five boostable attacks gives fits, but with Awakened Spirit a free Fate Walker can prevent some return fire. A Bronzeback is also a prominent win-condition. With his massive fury you can be looking at as many as 8 (three initial and five extra!) pow 17 attacks-with the possibility to knock the target down (thanks Grab and Smash!). Oh, and a free Train Wreck also lets you plod through troublesome units to a juicy target nearby. Titan Gladiators are pretty similar in this role, but I feel lacking any movement options (like MK or the BB) makes them not an ideal kill condition. Although they can add a useful Rush here and be threatening under the right circumstances.

The support for these lists tends to vary on personal preference. An extoller is a decent addition because of his ability to funnel out souls to those Guardians who need them most (like the above mentioned Hakaar situation)-but he does have the added benefit of granting Ghost Sight to a model. Which can allow your nasty, super fury, super Raged-out beasty charge people in otherwise un-chargable conditions. A Cyclops Shaman is nice as well. Keep in theme with eye beams, ghost sight, and utilitarian Animi this guy finds a good home in a Zaal list. While being able to cover your advance, an objective, or provide a nice threat range for his boostable, ghost sighted eyelazors. Primal magic also lets him piggy back off of another useful animus present within the list. Brutes and Tyrants are also useful for the prevention/recuperation of knockdown effects. While not necessary if you tend to play a lot of Gators or eLylyth lists, they can be invaluable. Finally I'll include some of my favorite Zaal lists for giggles. Each one is pretty similar, as I've tried to play to Zaal's strengths and play style. I also tend to stick to a theme (in these cases, lots of mystic-type units backed up by exalted statues and troopers looking for an honorable death. Oh and Molik Karn). Zaal and the Kovaas Molik Karn-11 Cyclops Shaman-5 Max Praetorian Karax-6 Ancestral Guardian-3 Ancestral Guardian-3 Ancestral Guardian-3 Hakaar-4 Aptimus Marketh-3 Extoller Soulward-2 35/35 pts. My favorite list so far. It provides six targets for Zaal to transfer damage to. Provides 5 Ancestral Guardian-type beasties to power through Zaal's Soul Converter, multiple Kovaas delivery units, and most importantly, a boatload of units that can effectively utilize Ancestral Rage tokens. With the ability to buy multiple attacks, I've found that you can overload your opponent's defenses with too many threats, especially if they're running lists with only a few units. The karax are there to charge the most scary thing on the table, while ignoring blasts and AOEs and then delivering Last Stand CMAs to butcher things. A unit of 10, all within range of a target (which is likely, given their Reach)can deliver a pair of effective mat 10(plus 3d6 from

Last Stand) pow+s 15(again plus 3d6) attacks, hitting an average def of 20 and doing an average of 25 damage each. Against some targets not all that impressive, but impressive enough to prevent them from eating the free strikes to leave combat, and effective enough to garner return attacks...all to power Zaal's feat. Another: Zaal and the Kovaas Molik Karn-11 Cyclops Shaman-5 Cyclops Brute-5 Praetorian Swordsmen+UA-8 Ancestral Guardian-3 Ancestral Guardian-3 Hakaar-4 Swamp Gobbers-1 This list swaps out the Karax for swordsmen and their UA. This allows you some in-combat movement shenanigans with the swordsmen's sidestep (and a pair of attacks) and swaps out the extollers and a guardian for more knockdown/ ranged defense. I won't say this list is designed to give eLylyth fits, but it does!

1. Disclaimer: These are just my personal thoughts and opinions, and it is worth reading the discussion that takes place after these posts. Overview: Xerxis is a brick powerhouse, and can field one of the best melee beat stick armies in the game. Xerxis is an infantry powerhouse whose army, while slow, can grind the opponent into dust. Unfortunately, his low Fury stat, and small spell list means that multiple beasts, even with our excellent beast handlers, can sometimes not be the best with him. He provides a lot more support to infantry with his passive and active abilities. Also worth of note, is that he himself, can put out the single most powerful hit in faction. With a POW 23 combo strike on 4 dice damage. However, this will rarely come up as it has to be on his feat turn, and he has to cycle one of his upkeeps onto himself, but it is nice to know that it is there.

Stats: Xerxis, like his army, is a power house. He has an extremely high Mat, two high strength initial attacks, reach, combo smite, and a high armor value. He has Overtake as well, which ensures that he can become a wrecking machine himself. His defense is low for a caster, which is important, especially against ranged assassination runs. His medium base can also be a liability, which naturally leads to the need for medium based infantry to shield him from attack. Good thing we have a great many choices when it comes to that. His low fury stat and his other abilities require him to be in the front, and played aggressively. Considering the nature this game, keeping him forward but safe is critical to understanding his play style. Special Abilities: His role as an infantry support caster comes from here. His Battle Plans mirror the plans on the Tyrant Commander, and he can use them for free. The great thing about these is that they are not spells, and they have no bearing on your base stats. So when you face off against casters, who can deny your spell casting ability for a turn, or try and shove anti-spell down your throat, you are never without these. This is huge. Overcome can give a unit Pathfinder for a turn, which is critical to get past rough terrain with the slower models in the army. Press forward is a speed buff which even though it is only when advancing, can be great to get a slow unit further forward. Martial Discipline is by far his signature ability. Small and Medium based models can ignore each other for LOS and movement purposes, while in his command range, including him. It allows you to move and advance in a tight formation, and ensures that you never trip over your army to proceed with your plan. It also allows him to play very aggressively. You can charge through a cetrati brick, cause damage, overtake away a little, and then have your brick follow up charge and get in position

between the enemy and the caster. Spells: Defenders Ward By far his signature spell. A medium defense and armor buff starts to become fantastic when combined with the other abilities of the army to further raise those stats. Unfortunately, it is an upkeep, so it can only be on one unit at a time. Also, because of enemy upkeep removal, it can be a trap to rely on this spell to continually save your units. Fury A Minor defense penalty can turn even the weakest infantry into damage powerhouses. Dont forget, you can even cast this on your beasts for make their damage output crazy (especially combined with enrage). In a pinch, you can even cast this on Xerxis himself to increase his already impressive damage output. Just make sure you cycle off him afterwards, as the defense penalty can be costly. Inhospitable Ground Probably his least cast spell. Rough terrain in his tiny control range has its uses, but the amount of pathfinder out there can really diminish the usefulness of this spell. It can be good in a variety of match ups, but more often than not, with its high fury cost, and your desire to cycle fury and defenders ward most of the time, it isnt very useful. Be wary with this spell, and make sure what, across the table from you needs to die, in order for this spell to be useful. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 08-16-2011 at 09:58 AM. Reply With Quote 2. 08-16-2011, 09:54 AM#2 Bully Bully Mahu

Annihilator Join Date Sep 2010 Posts 552 Feat: Total Annihilation His feat is both simple and complicated in its execution. On the surface, an additional die on melee damage is pretty self explanatory

in its uses. You pop your feat, you wreck your opponents army. Any army that relies on high arm does not want to see Xerxis across the table from him. The great thing about it, is that it is a straight die of damage, so it stacks with other abilities. A unit with Weapon Masters, on the charge, will be doing a massive 5 dice damage on targets. Combine that with fury, or any of the other damage increasing abilities, and you start to get the idea. Heavy Beasts, Warjacks, and heavy infantry just dies. Things get a little complicated, when you start to discuss the other aspect of his feat, which is an armor buff when models are in base to base with each other. Knowing when to take advantage of this is a key strategy. On one hand, you can use Press Forward, allow your feat to replicate charging, and sit on a high arm versus most things, or you can charge, and just be very careful with your charge lanes to be able to take advantage of this. Also, realize that the armor buff might not be worth it. There are a few AOEs out there that can and will set your stuff on fire in tight formations, and you have to be careful to feed your opponent those opportunities. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 08-16-2011 at 09:58 AM. Reply With Quote 3. 08-16-2011, 09:55 AM#3 Bully Bully Mahu

Annihilator Join Date Sep 2010 Posts 552 Warbeasts: Light: Basilisk Drake The Drake does provide a fantastic spray, that can be critical in the slow moving Xerxis Brick. His animus can be golden to bail Xerxis out of a bad spot. However, Xerxis doesnt provide the Drake with any really good buff, and if Xerxis is in that bad spot, you are probably loosing anyways. The drake is a good beast to run with him, but not an auto-include. Light: Basilisk Krea The Krea can be an awesome beast with

Xerxis, namely due to the animus which provides essentially defenders ward against ranged attacks for Xerxis and models within a certain range of him. Considering that is stacks with defenders ward, and can still be a buff with a unit with spell ward, and you see her usefulness. On top of that, her eyeless sight gun can be extremely handy in situations, as Xerxis doesnt provide any to hit buffs himself. Light: Cyclops Brute Another fantastic beast with Xerxis. Shield Guard alone is worth it to save you from certain ranged assassination runs. But his animus can be critical to keeping the far forward Xerxis safe. He is also no slouch in Melee, especially on the feat turn, and can run interference to things wanting to get to Xerxis. Definitely an A+ beast, take him, constantly use his animus, and keep Xerxis safe. Light: Cyclops Raider - Actually, a very decent choice. Xerxis loves some ranged support to go with his relatively slow army. Unfortunately, due to Xerxis' low fury, him tossing the animus on to the Raider will be rough (which you want to do with a raider to still be able to boast his shot against those troublesome stealthed support solos). I can see taking him, if you have a Shaman to toss his animus and other ranged units to capitalize on his animus. Light: Cyclops Savage Doesnt offer Xerxis much, with his high Mat and damage spells, future sight isnt all that necessary. They are godly on the feat turn, but beyond that only provide minimal support that your army can do much better. Light: Cyclops Shaman Can be critical against certain opponents, especially against casters with speed debuffs. His ability to cast animi can be good, especially if you want to save fury for offense with the other beasts you took. Never overlook the Ghost shot either. Due to the amount of SPD and Armor Debuffs out there, the Shaman has almost become an auto-include for me. Even if you don't see debuffs across the table, ghost shot and tossing different animi, still makes him a solid choice. Light: Razor Worm Doesnt offer Xerxis much. I guess his animus can provide some buffs to an army that likes to stay close, but otherwise, their doesnt seem to be any really good uses. Heavy: Rhinodon He can actually have a lot of good uses in a Xerxis list. He is cheap for a heavy, and his primary problem of damage output can be mitigated by Xerxis feat. Considering Xerxis sometimes wants points for troops, and excels at heavy targets, an infantry wrecking ball can most certainly find its place.

Heavy Warbeast: Archidon - A fantastic choice with Xerxis. Xerxis loves to mix it up in Melee himself if possible, and giving him access to Sprint on a cheap heavy is a fantastic way to do so. Xerxis can charge, kill, overtake, kill, buy additional attacks if necessary, and retreat back to his lines during his activation. Which in my opinion is better then Fate Walker, because Xerxis is not taking up valuable board space. Especially on the feat turn, where you can better dictate what models will be in base to base with him for the armor buff. The Archidon itself is fantastic with Xerxis too. Critical Pitch can solve the problem of a high defense heavy. Plus if you Cycle Fury and the Feat, the Archidon can hit like a ton of bricks. Heavy: Bronzeback Titan In an army with plenty of damage output, the Bronzebacks fists are not absolutely necessary. But a feat turn, enraged, fury bronzeback wrecks the planet with its fists. It is up to you if that is necessary. There is such a thing as overkill. Heavy: Titan Cannoneer This is actually a surpisingly decent choice with Xerxis. His Animus is another tool to keep Xerxis safe, and considering the slower speed of a typical Xerxis army, a ranged attack, even if it is a scattering AOE, can never be a bad thing. Also, it becomes a fairly decent melee monster on feat turn. Heavy: Titan Gladiator I am going to go out on a limb and say that Xerxis is one of the few armies that you dont need the Gladiators animus. Speed is an issue, and Rush can compensate with other beasts, but as I said in my over view, I think running beast heavy with Xerxis is a mistake. Relying more on your infantry is where I think he is at with only minimal beast support. Having a heavy for transfers is still a big deal, but you can get that elsewhere. Not a bad choice, just not the auto include like other casters. Heavy: Titan Sentry Not a bad choice either. Locker can be great to prevent movement shenanigans, and again, the feat can make him a monster to overcome his less offensive abilities (compared to other beasts). Plus the armor bonus from the feat turn, plus his already impressive armor cant be overlooked. Character Heavy: Molik Karn A fantastic choice, but not for a lot of the reasons usually stated with other casters. Side step and fate walker can give you a beast that can easily open a charge lane, side step away, and then advance safely away again to match Xerxis grinding style. He is less an assassin with Xerxis simply due to Xerxis control area and speed. You cant throw him from a large distance away. He does however become a damage god under Xerxis feat. Again, stack Enrage, and Fury on him, and he wrecks most things he

touches. POW 18 plus 5 die damage tends to do this. The even better part comes from Xerxis casting fate walker on himself. You can allow your warcaster to actually participate in the battle, with charging combo smite to knock things down, let the rest of your army charge through you, and fate walker to safety. They even let you include Molik in his tier force. Again, a fantastic choice. Heavy Character Warbeast: Tiberion - It cannot be stated how great it is that Xerxis has a Character Beast now. Tiberion is a fantastic choice and provides so much to his army, that I feel he almost becomes an auto-include, if only for background reasons alone. The beast itself is awesome, immovable plus shield guard really buffs the cetrati brick. Any ranged knock down. displacement, etc, Tiberion just ends. Keep him behind the brick within 2" of the Cetrati (especially if you include Vorkesh), and you have an immune to almost any disruption effect solid beat stick brick. Now, let's talk damage. Under Xerxis, with Fury + Enrage, Tiberion is hitting with a massive P&S 23. That is dice plus on most heavies. You connect on any heavy on the game and you wreck it. Especially on the feat turn. His downsides though is his relatively low speed. Because of his already high cost and the Cetrati brick you are probably going to be taking anyways, your points can run out fast, which means fitting in a Gladiator for Rush might be problematic. To a certain extent you can just accept his speed limitation and run with it. He can hang with the Cetrati which provides a fairly good buffer to prevent Tiberion from being alpha struck. And you can make anything committing to kill Cetrati pay. There are a lot of fun options with Tiberion. Battle Engine: Siege Animantarax - Xerxis is on the short list of casters I would strongly consider the Siege Animantarax with. Xerxis doesn't need a lot of beasts to work well, so diverting points otherwise spent on beasts on this isn't really a loss. You can have a soul ward give it eyeless sight, a Cyclops Raider can hand it snipe, and you can can go to town with a decent ranged game. Plus on his feat turn, you can buff it's pretty decent damage output, and put it's armor to something annoying to deal with. It can also make good Fury and Defender's Ward targets. Plus if you include Tiberion (and why not) bump can really make the Animantarax super annoying to deal with. Maybe not an autoinclude, but a fun piece to include for sure. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 11-29-2011 at 07:08 AM. Reply With Quote 4. 08-16-2011, 09:55 AM#4 Bully Bully Mahu

Annihilator Join Date Sep 2010 Posts 552 Units: Paingiver Bloodrunners With anatomical precision already, and fairly weak armor, they really dont offer Xerxis much, nor do they gain much from him. They can provide a nice flanking threat and work independent from the tight formation, and tie things up, but more often then not, there are just better choices for them. Cataphract Cetrati The signature unit with Xerxes. Medium bases and shield wall put them into a realm of survivability rarely experienced in this game. They have a fairly average base defense, and they push Khador warjack armor while in shield wall. It becomes even better when you factor in Defenders Ward and/or the Kreas Animus. Because of their Medium bases, and difficulty to get rid of, they are generally best deployed in a reverse V formation right in front of Xerxis himself. They will save him from ranged assassination, and due to martial discipline, they are exactly the type of model you need to advance in formation. They have their weaknesses though, that you must be in consideration of. Their biggest weakness is their single attack. With reach and weapon master, it is a quality attack, but they can easily be bogged down by enemy infantry. Even with all their buffs, a full charge from enemy single wound weapon master infantry can still break their backs with giving the survivors little to retaliate with. They are also relatively slow, with multiple scenarios requiring you to get to the center quickly; they are put into a position of needing to sometimes run to get into position. You cant shield wall and run, and getting too far forward is asking to lose the unit. Because of all this they need to be supported by other infantry. It is a very common, beginners mistake, to rely on the Cetrati brick too heavily with Xerxis. This may seem like I am down on them, I am not, they are essential to the Xerxis style, and the first time you charge a behemoth with a couple of these things on the feat turn, it is a very rewarding experience. Cataphract Cetrati Character UA: Tyrant Vorkesh This is a hot button debate on whether to include Vorkesh with your Cetrati brick or

not. Vorkesh does add a lot to the unit, he is stronger, can dish out multiple attacks, and has cleave which can be pretty critical if you know you are not going to finish a jack or beast off. He also grants spell ward, which makes his unit immune to all spells, friendly or enemy. The major debate comes down to how critical defenders ward is to the unit, and how critical it is to protect the unit from opposing spells. In my opinion, straight spell immunity is superior to all the support pieces you would need to keep them safe. I will discuss this in length when I bring up those support pieces, but a common tactic is to bring the Agonizer and Orin Midwinter to protect them from spells. The agonizer prevents channeling, but only has a maximum 16 bubble to do it. A smart player can position an arc node right outside of that but still within range of at least one model in the unit. It also doesnt prevent models that allow channeling, but are not warjack arc nodes. Orin Midwinter prevents casting within his cmd range with the advent of abilities that can extend spell ranges, still doesnt save the Cetrati. On top of it, if people are able to get past those two defenses, and cast spells on the unit, you would then need to further have a Cyclops shaman to knock those offensive upkeeps off. Vorkesh for a decent points cost just says no, and like the other support pieces, can hang out behind the line in relative safety, and deny all your opponents their spell tricks to stall the cetrati. Some believe that the loss of defenders ward isnt worth it, but I would counter that you are now free to have Defenders ward on another unit, I have had great success with Defenders Warded front line infantry, while the immune to spell cetrati follow up. It is also worthy to note that Spell Ward does not make them immune to Battle Plans, your feat, nor to the Kreas animus. So you are perfectly able to buff them during the game. I recommend trying with and without Vorkesh and see what works best for you. Cataphract Arcuarii Xerxis loves medium based infantry, and Arcuarii are another great choice with him. They lose some defense and shield wall, compared to Cetrati, but more than make up for it with a cheaper points cost and a ranged attack. Their harpoons also have drag, which is pretty good when facing off against another medium based unit with multiple wounds. Unlike Cetrati, they might have opportunities to hit something multiple times in a turn, between a CRA, drag into combat, and fighting. They are a great secondary medium based infantry unit in a Xerxis army, and a good defenders ward target, especially if you are taking Vorkesh with your Cetrati. It can be a trap to put too much faith in Medium based infantry in a Xerxis army, so be careful selecting these. Immortals Besides a tough defenders ward and fury target. They really dont offer much to Xerxis. Their main disadvantage is speed, and any support infantry you take with Xerxis needs to be quick

enough to make up for the speed deficiency of the rest of the army. It isnt that they are a bad choice, it is just there are better options. Nihilators Decent speed, reach, beserker, fearless, and tough. What about these is not to like. With Defenders Ward, their def actually becomes a little hard to deal with. Cycle fury on them, and they are beserking through even high arm, especially on your feat turn. They are a great support unit, because you can throw them into your opponents face, and they have to deal with them, or suffer the consequences and with high defense, and tough, that isnt easy. Paingiver Beast Handlers If you know anything about Skorne, you know you need these. Even if you go beast light, the fury management alone is key. Praetorian Ferox Actually a pretty good support unit for Xerxis, he doesnt help them hit, but they can still threaten a flank, and ensure that the slow brick actually makes it there. Again, another good defenders ward target, and fury also makes them rather excellent and hitting targets. It requires you to be close to Xerxis, which isnt their best place, but they can get Press Forward, and have a pretty far move, plus a jump over enemy lines and threaten support solos with their reach. Speed is a weakness to the brick, and they provide ample support in that department. Praetorian Karax Immunity to blast damage, and their own shield wall, which can be further buffed with defenders ward, seems like a good idea, but you are already getting that from your Cetrati, and trust me, you want speed and combat ability in your front lines. Karaxs weakness will always be that they are overshadowed by better offensive options, and Xerxis doesnt change that. Praetorian Swordsmen Not a bad option with Xerxis, but not a fantastic option either. Between their innate abilities, and the swordsman mini-feat, a caster specializing in damage output doesnt really buff them all that much. Combo-striking on feat turn can be pretty good, but beyond that, they are pretty self sufficient which isnt a bad thing. They just do not shine as much as with casters with attack roll buffs. Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer Adding more battle plans to the army, is never a bad thing. He has a crazy good melee stat line himself, and can contribute to the battle. The Standard bearer can keep your troops in line and safe from running. He is also nigh mandatory with Nihilators, as Reveille can make the negative aspect of tough disappear.

Venator Catapult Crew Xerxis doesnt really provide anything for them, but they can be included in his tier list to gain advance move. They, like the cannoneer, can provide some support to an army that could easily be swamped with faster high def infantry. Blasting to hell stealth models before they jump into your army is very nice to have. So overall, not a bad choice, just not a fantastic one. Venator Flayer Cannon Similar to the catapult but worse in use, as their relative rat and uneven number of shots makes using them difficult. The only benefit of them with Xerxis is hitting the tier cheaper. Its an artillery piece I want to like, but considering Xerxis weaknesses, the catapult fills them better. Venator Reivers Another unit that can be surprisingly good with Xerxis. Martial Discipline allows them to CRA easier. Defenders Ward can give you a difficult to hit ranged support unit. You can easily minifeat plus press forward and shoot at range before any combat is committed on the first turn, which can give you the initiative in the attrition game. Cycle fury to them, and pop your feat, and then they are a pretty fantastic assault unit as well. They are even part of his tier force. They can be expensive though, so generally they are overlooked for cheaper options, but providing ranged options to a Xerxis list cant be understated. Venator Slingers - A Decent choice with Xerxis. Xerxis likes ranged support, and they offer it cheaply. The only downside is that Xerxis really provides them with very little. The best they get is press forward for slightly better threat ranges. They already have arching fire, so they don't benefit from Martial Discipline (and arching fire is better anyways). As a cheap ranged support unit on a flank, they can do pretty good. However, there is nothing compelling about them in a Xerxis list, so I don't expect to see them often. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 11-29-2011 at 07:01 AM. Reply With Quote 5. 08-16-2011, 09:56 AM#5 Bully Bully Mahu

Annihilator Join Date Sep 2010 Posts

552 Solos: Agonizer This is the signature solo for the Skorne and should be taken, even if you have included Vorkesh. Xerxis low fury stat makes it difficult to feed it and get your upkeeps in play, however when the inevitable grind in the center happen, denying warjack focus, or decreasing the strength of enemy beasts can be a game changer. A Cetrati brick in shield wall, on feat turn, is ARM 22. With the agonizes, you can increase that to an effective 24 against beasts. It becomes crazier against Warjacks, that traditionally have less attacks anyways, not being able to buy or boost. Plus, the rare caster who likes to spell assassinate from an arc node can be shut down if an agonize chills around Xerxis himself. Ancestral Guardian Another model that doesnt really provide much to Xerxis. However a high Mat plus the ability to grab souls to boast and buy, especially on the feat turn, has its uses. And the fact that they are not fury dependent can allow them a degree of autonomy. If you really like Immortals, take at least one of these. If not, you will probably run out of points before getting to include one. Bloodrunner Master Tormentor Xerxis lists can struggle against infantry, and this can provide you with some infantry clearing. A nice thing about her, is that Xerxis feat can overcome her weakness to Undead models. Overall, a nice choice. Extoller Soulward Taking this depends entirely on the rest of your list. I will say that it is extremely nice to give a Cannoneer eyeless sight and magic weapons for certain solo hunting. Soul denial shenanigans can be played with this as well. On top of that, you can provide yourself with yet another ranged threat. Overall a good support choice. Paingiver Task Master Mandatory if you take Minion units. However, a Xerxis list is one of those rare Skorne lists that really dont need Gatormen support, so you likelyhood to need this model is dimished. Void Spirit Having an incorporeal solo hunter, can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the match up. Even though the Void Spirit is a pretty good piece, Xerxis doesnt really offer him much, and he doesnt fill any holes for Xerxis. Character Solo: Aptimus Marketh Another nigh mandatory

support piece for Xerxis. The ability to upkeep spells cant be understated for the fury starved Xerxis. Upkeep cycling, for free no less, is a fantastic ability. With Marketh, you can cast fury on a unit with Xerxis, end his activation, have that unit have all the benefits of fury, and then cycle defenders ward on to the unit. It allows you to have all the benefits of fury, and none of the downsides. And it takes no fury away from Xerxis. Fantastic choice. Character Solo: Hakaar the Destroyer Similar to the Ancestral Guardian. Again, it is a model that can run very independent of Xerxis, and gets even better on the feat turn. However, you need infantry to feed him souls, and Xerxis can sometimes run light on numbers. Character Solo: Tyrant Rhadeim He is a relatively cheap solo (for a dragoon) that provides Xerxis a much needed speed threat. Plus armor piecing and the feat can be extremely awesome. Overall a solid choice. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 08-16-2011 at 10:03 AM. Reply With Quote 6. 08-16-2011, 09:57 AM#6 Bully Bully Mahu

Annihilator Join Date Sep 2010 Posts 552 Minion Support: Unit: Bog Trog Ambushers Having a unit to rush out the side and tie a flank up most certainly has its merits. But beyond that, they dont offer him too much. Unit: Farrow Bone Grinders Doesnt really offer Xerxis much, and generally, there are better choices. Xerxis can run beast lite, and doesnt really have a lot of offensive spells. Pretty much a poor choice. Unit: Farrow Brigands Besides providing more ranged threat, they dont offer Xerxis much, and at the very least, if you want a ranged troop, Reivers are just better considering all the buffs Xerxis can give them.

Unit: Gatormen Posse With the task master, these are a fantastic unit that relies little on Xerxis support to be just plain awesome. Gatormen are not bad with Xerxis, it is just finding the points to get them in a list after your beasts and Cetrati brick. Also juggling close combat effectiveness with ranged threat can see them excluded as well. They benefit not from the feat, which is another thing to take into consideration. Unit: Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew Good olde fashioned cloud effects can be a life saver, and is probably the best way to fill in an odd point gap in any Skorne list, including Xerxis. Solo: Feralgeist Nothing too terribily exciting about this models abilities in the first place. If you feel he fills a hole, take him. More often then not, his abilities will rarely matter. Solo: Thrullg Our version of Eiryss has its uses. The biggest thing is knocking defensive buffs off units, as that is something that a Xerxis list can struggle with. Getting him across the table is a little easier in a Xerxis list because of the amount of medium based infantry generally fielded. Solo: Croak Hunter Doesnt provide much but solo hunting threat, which can be good, but isnt really necessary, and there are plenty of other in faction models that can similar things. Character Solo: Gudrun the Wanderer Another minion that doesnt offer much. He can provide some forward support, and generally be annoying to get around. Hangover plus the task master is hilarious. Xerxis doesnt really give him anything, so a solid b choice. Character Solo: Orin Midwinter The answer to anti-magic. Especially units like Hex Hunters, Battle Mages, and Druids. Offensive upkeeps can be arc around him, so his ability isnt a sure fire way to shut things down. You can do things like prevent certain casters in activation moves if they get to close, but knowing your opponents caster can gauge that distance at anytime. Makes doing so against a good player, a little rough. Furthermore, he can be a victim if he stands in the way of an opponents plans. Blast damage can and will take you out, even with stealth up. His signature ability, in my opinion, is arc lightning. It makes him an excellent infantry clearing machine, especially against low arm stealth. Overall a fairly good choice, as he does fill some gaps in a Xerxis list. Not as auto include as some would argue, however.

Character Solo: Saxon Orrik Between Xerxis himself and the Tyrant commander, we are not hurting for the ability to hand out pathfinder. His other abilities tend to be too Hordes dependent for my tastes. Character Solo: Totem Hunter Another good solo hunter and an overall fantastic unit. Xerxis doesnt offer him much, but you need him running solo anyways. Again, it becomes a question of room to fit him, but there is nothing particularly bad about him. Lesser Warlock: Rorsh & Brine The good news? A warbeast that requires nothing from your low fury caster. The bad news? We dont need another warbeast. Especially one that cant be effected by the feat. Again, a question of points, and in that light, rarely worth it. Lesser Warlock: Wrong Eye & Snapjaw See Rorsh & Brine, but if you must take one, Wrong Eye is the better choice. His spell list is much nastier. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 08-16-2011 at 10:09 AM. Reply With Quote 7. 08-16-2011, 09:57 AM#7 Bully Bully Mahu

Annihilator Join Date Sep 2010 Posts 552 Summary and Sample Lists: Xerxis is an infantry caster, and does a lot more for infantry then he does beasts. That doesnt mean beasts are bad with him, as you need damage transfer targets to keep him alive. However, his low fury stat means he doesnt need that many beasts to keep him powered. He actually has enough damage boxes that a single point or two of damage to get him up to 5 after he reaving from a light is still not a big deal, and unlike Morghoul, he doesnt have any particular synergy with beasts to make up for his low fury stat. So of all the Skorne casters, he is probably the one that requires the typical beast load out for skorne warlocks the least. We still have beast handlers to mitigate if you want to go beast heavy with him, but it is a blessing to not need a lot of

beasts with him. His typical strategy is simple; stay behind a Cetrati wall and Press Forward them for a decent speed in shield wall. Because of this, and as you could notice in my unit reviews, you can fall into a speed trap. A lot of scenarios punish you if your plan is to get to the center by turn 3. Because of this, you need decent speed front line troops. There are many options to do this, but my preferred option is Nihilators. Especially with defenders ward to make them an annoying, tough, tarpit, for the rest of your slow army to catch up. Another weakness of his army is a susceptibility to ranged threats. Yes, you can push your medium based infantry to incredible armor values, but it doesnt take but one offensive upkeep, or ranged knock down, etc. To start really messing with your plans. There are ways to make your brick immune to spells, and there are ways to add added protaction from range. However, bringing your own ranged to bear can actually be a pretty good things. As mentioned, because you have less need for beasts with Xerxis, you actually clear up more points for things normally not considered. I already mentioned Reivers as a fairly good choice with them. With Martial Discipline, they can CRA through themselves against infantry, and with Press Forward from Xerxis or the Tyrant Commander plus their mini-feat can give them even a first turn threat range. And, as I mentioned, you have all the buffs you need to make them a decent assault threat as well. There two ways I see playing him. Either as a Melee Wrecking ball force, or a combined arms infantry force that still likes to mix it up. Here are two lists I have had pretty good success with. Xerxis Wrecking Ball 50 Points: Tyrant Xerxis Cyclops Brute Molik Karn Titan Gladiator Agonizer 6 Cataphract Cetrati 10 Nihilators Orin Midwinter 4 Paingiver Beast Handlers Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer Defenders Ward the Cetrati Brick, and shove the Nihilators down your opponents through. Let your beasts wreck the opponents army on feat turn. Very useful against armies with little to none quality

shooting, and also want to get into melee with you. Very poor against armies that can disrupt your plans, or can wear you down with just straight shooting. It can struggle to get across the table against quality armies and opponents. Xerxis Combined Arms 50 Points: Tyrant Xerxis Basilisk Krea Cyclops Brute Titan Cannoneer Aptimus Marketh 6 Cataphract Cetrati w/ Tyrant Vorkesh 4 Paingiver Beast Handler Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer Venator Catapult Venator Reivers w/ UA Basically, between the Swamp Gobbers and Xerxis casting the kreas animus, you can make the cetratri extremely hard to kill at range. You also have the Reivers become your Fury/Defeneders Ward target, and have them advance on the army, shooting the whole way. You follow that up with AOEs from the Cannoneer and the Catapult. Once combat is engaged you pop your feat and start wrecking the army. Reivers dont have the pure combat potential as Nihilators, but hopefully you where able to compensate by killing a fair amount of people with your shooting on the way in. This list suffers versus armies with a lot of access to quality stealth. To sum all this up, Xerxis is a versatile, if a little one dimensional, caster, but he is extremely fun to play. Last edited by Bully Bully Mahu; 08-16-2011 at 10:09 AM. Reply With Quote 8. 08-16-2011, 10:34 AM#8 Triumph Of Man Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Jul 2010 Posts 1,137 Praetorian Swordsmen Not a bad option with Xerxis, but not a fantastic option either. Between their innate abilities, and the swordsman mini-feat, a caster specializing in damage output doesnt

really buff them all that much. Combo-striking on feat turn can be pretty good, but beyond that, they are pretty self sufficient which isnt a bad thing. They just do not shine as much as with casters with attack roll buffs. Combo striking with Fury hurts the crap out of stuff on the charge, even with just a few of them. Wouldn't overlook it tbh. Plus they're a cheap throw away unit so the neg DEF is barely an issue. Reply With Quote 9. 08-16-2011, 11:39 AM#9 Dyoria

Annihilator Join Date Dec 2009 Location Ottawa, Ontario Posts 915 I used to bring full Ferox and Rhadeim at 50 points, but I now I have been using the following: Xerxis -Gladiator -Sentry -Cannoneer Cetrati (6) -Vorkesh Arcuari (4) Beast Masters (4) Tyrant Commander Agonizer Orin Midwinter I find this combination to be very resilient. The titans are all bunched in a cheveron, with the Cannoneer debuffing enemies in its surroundings. Combined with Defenders Ward on the Sentry, he is nigh impenetrable. I also have been using Defender`s Ward on the arcuari.

Your best? Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and "enjoy the company of" the prom queen!

Reply With Quote 10. 08-16-2011, 12:11 PM#10 Tainted Coil

Annihilator Join Date Feb 2011 Location I live in the weak and the wounded Posts 507 Nice write up. One question I didn't get answered though (or I just missed it) is - "What is Xerxis win condition?". Is it scenario, assassination, how do you get it done? Otherwise great job though. I am going to be running: Xerxis -BB -BB -Krea Max Cetrati Max Ferox Rahdeim Extoller Min Handlers I really want Orin and an Agonizer in there but I can't see a way to do it without dropping the BB's down do TG's. I am a huge fan of the BB's and I find that especially with Xerxis low fury stat they make the most of their 5 fury. With base 3 attacks, chain attack, and 4-5 buys you can get a VERY good return on your investment, then use the handlers to wipe the fury off. Usually I just hide my Krea behind the Cetrati wall and run its fury up to 3 (animus and rile) which accounts for my upkeeps or 1 upkeep and casting.

They also make a nice deterent to getting near the brick (counter charge) and a nice deterent to shooting (shoot the DEF14-16 and ARM22-24 Cetrati, or shoot the BB's with hyper-aggresive). The extoller I have found is an absolute must. The problem with this list is that its very compact and doesn't always fare well in scenarios that require you to split your forces. Too many an incoporeal unit or something immune to non-magic (see paladin) camp objectives or flags and I lose. The extoller can make a BB magical for a turn and with proper use of Beat Back you can destroy multiple models. As stated Orin and Agonizer are at the top my list too add, but no good way to do it. Reply With Quote 11. 08-16-2011, 12:50 PM#11 Cardboard Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Aug 2010 Posts 1,570 TOTALLY HONEST AND MODERATELY HARSH OPINION BELOW This isn't really a tactica; it's a listing of units while missing out on a lot of key points. You don't actually go into any depth on tactics, real list building strategies, or how to overcome common counters Take for example, the Savage. You write it off, but it's far better than the Brute in a Xerxis list. This is due to how you get a reasonably cheap missile you can throw away and can boost. Seriously, toss Fury on it and you're hitting at ps18. Feat and you'll kill anything pretty much. It's far more useful than the Rhinodon for Xerxis in terms of points put in to what you get. Your analysis of the Gladiator is terrible. The Gladiator is not only cheap as hell for what you get, but Rush means you're not screwed by Terrain against models you ened to hit with beasts. Also gives you a better vector to get slams to KD enemy 'casters. Basically, you're missing any information on how many different units work well with Xerxis (Void Spirits and Feralgeists are amazing for a brick due to their base blocking powers. You miss the main reason you don't run Constructs with him (namely that they don't get MD) and why Hakaar is still a decent choice with him (you're running Nihiliators so he gets souls, he's hyper accurate in a lower accuracy army, and

Xerxis solves his pillowfist issue). You're not explaining how to use IHG and why it synergies well with the brick style, etc etc. You need to go back and actually explain tactics and strategies, goals, how to brick, when to break the brick and charge, so on and so forth. Right now you've not said more than what's on the cards. You've got several false conclusions (You claim you can only brick with Xerxis when you can run a skirmish Xerxis or combined arms one reasonably well). It's a decent start to a tactica, but maybe a quarter of the way through at most.

Here is a little Guide for our hedonistic warlock, Rasheth. Since I left my Forces book and cards at home, expect some changes once I have those in my hands and from any discussion that pops up in here. In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy. And hopefully this helps someone. INTRO Dominar Rasheth, aka (insert random fat man name here), our newest ?lock and overall the laziest thing around. Fortunately for him, he can cast spells all over the place. STATS Rasheth?s stat line, at a glance, is just downright horrible. At SPD 4, he is just trailing behind the rest of the army. His STR, MAT, and RAT might as well not be printed on the card, as he has no weapons what so ever. Rasheth looks even worse when it comes to his DEF and ARM. Rocking the worst defensive stats of any ?caster/?lock in the game, a charging Swamp Gobber can hit and put a hurting on him. If you can hit a Khadoran ?Jack, then you can hit Rasheth; while his ARM is right there next to pNemo and a wet paper bag. Being on a large base doesn?t help, as only our heavy ?beasts can block LOS to him. Don?t let these stats fool you into thinking that he is subpar?far from it. With an 8, Rasheth is rocking the most fury on any of our faction ? locks. While this may lead you to believe he is a ?beast caster?it?s a

lie. More on this later. ABILITIES So Rasheth?s stats leave something to be desired. Ok I take that back, they leave much to be desired. So what can he do on his own? Is it super awesome and game breaking? In short, it is not game breaking at all, and just helps keep his fat butt alive. Steady ? All those agonizer?s he has know how to stay standing. If Rasheth wasn?t so easy to hit, this would be great. If he had a ranged weapon, or a weapon period, even better. Either way, Rasheth is not falling and will be able to move and cast his spells when he wants to. Impervious Flesh ? He is the Blob from X-men. No other way to really put this. With ranged attacks getting 1 less die on the damage rolls, it helps, but does not guarantee, that he won?t be as susceptible to ranged assassination. Most trooper models can do at most, 2 ? 4 points of damage. If a model can boost, well it uses up their fury to have 2d6 for damage instead of 3d6. Don?t count on this saving him, Rasheth still needs to be protected. Dark Rituals ? This is what makes Rasheth right here. Using this nifty ability, Rasheth can arc through any friendly warrior model in his control area. With a 16? control area, Rasheth can get a spell where he wants it. Now the downside to this, you can only do it once per turn, and the model that you arced through takes D3 points of damage. So most infantry will just die usually. There are many fun applications with this ability, which will be explained further on down. SPELLS Ok. So Rasheth can?t smack you in the face in melee, nor go for a ? Boom Headshot? at range. This leaves his spells. Now personally, I love his spells list, but that is all opinion. He loves having infantry for arc nodes and his one ?buff? spell gives you more bang for your fury when cast on a unit. Now for the breakdown. Breath of Corruption ? see ?Asphyxious??but for 3 fury, you get a 3? AOE that does a POW 12 to everything underneath the AOE. Not only that, you get a nice corrosive cloud that hangs around for a round. This is nice if your opponent decides to clump his infantry together, as you can clear them out and block off LOS to a small portion of your army. Blood Mark ? This is by far Rasheth?s signature spell. Debuffing a target?s ARM by 2 is great, and being able to use that for a transfer target is just better. However, you can only transfer to that target

once, and the model needs to be in control area. This spell combines really well with Rasheth?s feat. Carnivore ? A great spell for Rasheth to have. When put on a friendly model/unit, they gain +2 to melee attack rolls against living models and Rasheth gets to heal each time they kill something. Castigate ? Going against a spell heavy army that relies on arc nodes? Rasheth can force their caster forward with this. Great if your opponent relies on arcing through models, non-existent otherwise. Influence ? Your dude?s belong to me. For 1 fury, you can make one of your opponent?s warrior models make a basic melee attack. Could be useful. One that you will probably rarely cast. Sunder Spirit ? Costs 1 less than Breath of Corruption, same POW, but no AOE. If you close enough for the spell assassination, then this is what your using. If you don?t boost for damage or to hit, then Rasheth can fling out 4 of these in a single turn. Also useful if there is a warbeast with an animus you don?t like, as you can get rid of it for a round. FEAT Ok, so all we have left for our resident fat man is his feat. Plague Wind can be good or useless depending on who your facing. Living enemy models in Rasheth?s control area getting -2 ARM and -2 STR and then healing Rasheth when they die isn?t so bad?.until your up against a Circle contruct army or just Cryx in general. Now his feat does couple nicely with Blood Mark, making an enemy model have -4 ARM. This is one of those feats you use to either decimate your opponent?s army or when your moving in for the caster kill. While Plague Wind can be used defensively, with the -2 STR debuff, your missing out on the majority of what Rasheth?s feat can give you. COMBINATIONS Now onto some Rasheth + (insert model name here) combinations and synergies. Aptimus Marketh ? There is no denying that our ?lock attachment is good. With Rasheth, that is an extra Breath of Corruption, Sunder Spirit, Carnivore cycling, and just free upkeeps available. If you don?t care about Rasheth?s tier, than Marketh should find a way into your army.

Nihilators ? These guys make a great target for Carnivore and are useful arc nodes for Rasheth. Getting bumped up to an effective MAT 9 against living models and with beserk, not only can Rasheth heal quickly, but the Nihilators are chewing through whatever infantry unit you just set them against. Tough gives them a chance to stay around after Rasheth uses them to cast spells through. Feralgeists/Void Spirits ? These make for great arc nodes for Rasheth. Since Dark Rituals is not a feat/spell/magic attack, they don?t suffer the D3 damage when used as arc nodes. I prefer the Feralgeist over the Void Spirits, as I can take 2 Feralgeists for the price of 1 Void Spirit. I know this is discussed from time to time if this works or not, so here is the link to the Infernal ruling. Post #34 Dark Rituals and Incorporeal Bloodrunners ? Now people may disagree with me, but this is my opinion. I enjoy having Bloodrunners with Rasheth. AD gives you a set of arc nodes a bit further up the field, while Shadow Play on the bloodrunners can get them into unexpected positions your opponent wasn?t counting on, allowing you to get a spell exactly where you need it. Swamp Gobbers ? Now I just couldn?t leave these guys out. Their ability to make a cloud for Rasheth to hide behind is great, as it helps keep him out of harm?s way. Worse comes to worse, they can be emergency arc nodes. Titan Cannoneer ? Nothing is worse than having the enemy caster at -4 ARM and not being able to hit him with anything. The Cannoneer can fix that with her big gun. Not only that, but the animus can kinda help in keeping Rasheth alive in melee (it?s a small chance) and stacks with Rasheth?s feat. Basilisk Krea ? This one is for the animus only. Upping his DEF and ARM against ranged attacks, coupled with Rasheth?s Impervious Flesh, ups his survival from ranged assassination. SUMMARY I love playing with Dominar Rasheth. He can take a bit of getting used to however, and I would not recommend him in small point games. He does have bad matchups, and while he can potentially win, it will be his army doing the work with little to no support coming from the

Dominar. Overall, it?s Rasheth?s army that does the work, while he sits back and slings a spell here or there.

1. Overview Void Seer Mordikaar doesnt look like a whole lot at first glance. His whole is more than the sum of his parts however, and he is one of Skornes better attrition warlocks. Where other warlocks make their troops harder to kill, Mordikaars have a way of not staying dead. Stats Mordikaar has classic old-man stats, appropriate for a guy who ought to be undead. At DEF 14, ARM 16, and 16 damage boxes he wont hold up to any attention from the enemy. His speed is average for small based infantry, his STR and MAT are a measly 5, and he rounds it out with a more respectable RAT 6. Overall Mordikaar tends to operate at the very edge of his control range so his poor defensive stats are not a lethal obstacle, but he does need to be carefully defended. Weapons and Abilities Outside of the standard Magical Weapon, Mordikaars sword Eidolon is forgettable; the real interesting piece of kit is Death Blast. At POW 13, Range 10, and AoE 3, it is easily the best ranged attack of any Skorne warlock and it matches some of our better ranged spells as well, which is good since Mordikaar lacks a normal attack spell. Both weapons also have Life Drinker; healing d3 after destroying a living enemy model isnt huge, but its important to remember that its there for those rare occasions when Mordi takes some early damage or has to cut for Fury. For the rest of his abilities; Void Lord makes the already decent Void Spirits more accurate with boosted attack rolls, Cull Souls is mostly there to allow Hollow to work (although there is the odd chance of Mordikaar killing something in melee), and Mordikaar has Poltergeist which is easy to forget since its also part of his feat.

Spells Hollow: The engine to Mordikaars other abilities. The target unit becomes undead (with all the benefits) and tough, and every time one of them is destroyed Mordikaar gains Soul Tokens. This spell is also his biggest weakness; all of our warlocks have valuable upkeep spells but only Mordikaar really depends on his to function properly. Upkeep removal and RFP effects can seriously hamper his effectiveness, so plan accordingly. Youll want a big unit to put this on, but putting it on Blood Runners or Ferox that you intend to throw out as a speed bump early is viable as well. Revive: This is Mordikaars real bread and butter spell, bringing back at least one model every turn (and upwards of five if a big Hollow unit gets wiped out) is what earns him his label as an attrition warlock. The best use of this spell is generally bringing something dangerous (Acuarii, Ferox) back into a good charge position before the unit activates for the turn. Essence Blast: Pick a living friendly faction model, use it as the point-of-origin of a 6 spray at POW 5 + the base STR of the model, then RFP the model. Note that the RFPed model has to have LoS to the target of the spray, Mordikaar does not. This spell is highly versatile, but it undercuts Mordikaars primary shtick since it prevents Revive. On normal infantry it wont get much above POW 12, on beasts it gets really dangerous. If your STR 13 Bronzeback doesnt manage to kill that Warcaster, Essence Blast lets you take one more POW 18 stab at it. As an added bonus, it lets you clear your own models out of the way; you can run a couple of Swordsmen/Nihilators/whatever into ideal positions and then EB them to open a hole for Molik Karn to Side-Step through, knowing that neither of your own models will be in MKs way when he activates. On a big Hollow turn Essence Blast can let Mordikaar put shots on more targets than almost any other warlock, although he can chew up big chunks of his own army this way. Essence Blast also enables some sneaky assassination runs if you have a little extra Fury; a couple of Acuarii probably wont drop a Caster whose guard is down even on the charge, but a couple of boosted POW 12 Essence Blasts after the charge might just get the job done. Banishing Ward: There are not many offensive upkeep spells in the game, and most will have done their damage already by the time you could remove them with Banishing Ward. This spell is

far more useful for preventing a model/unit from being targeted in the first place, and it has the added advantage of stopping other magical abilities like the push/pull effects on Druids and Mage Hunters. Ghost Walk: Probably Mordikaars most under-rated spell, Ghost Walk lets a unit ignore Free Strikes with the added bonus of granting pathfinder. This spell has lots of potential uses, but it does have the disadvantage of RNG 6. A Shaman or Marketh can help here. It can let a ranged unit walk out of melee without penalty, let Karn walk past a heavy hitter without having to waste a Side Step on it, help compensate if you lose a Gladiator or TyCom early, and generally make your models harder to pin down or guard against. Feat Void Wind is primarily defensive, but its pretty good for positioning your army where you want it next turn with little fear of reprisal; even Karax are sporting DEF 15 under Void Wind. Better, since it adds Poltergeist no melee combatant can afford to miss more than a couple of times without being shoved back out of melee range. Its easy to shoot yourself in the foot with it against shooting units though, that D3 movement can easily shove a target out of your charge range. Thankfully its optional and its not particularly hard to see when not to apply it. Last edited by gaminguy; 12-01-2011 at 11:30 AM. The above is my personal opinion, and in no way should be taken as representative of the overall Skorne community. Even when I claim otherwise. Skorne on date ... when did Primal Mk I hit again? Reply With Quote 2. 12-01-2011, 04:42 AM#2 gaminguy

Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Oct 2005 Location How did I get into this hand basket, and why is it so hot? Posts

2,852 Synergies Warbeasts While they might serve better on an infantry unit, Banishing Ward can help keep a melee beast from being rendered ineffective by Telekinesis or other placement effects and Ghost Walk can allow any beast to waltz through openings in the opposing line. Essence Blast can also use a beast as an origin point; while thats very expensive it can also make an assassination run with a beast a little more likely to succeed. Raider: Far Strike is fantastic, and only Zaal needs it worse than Mordikaar. Death Blast is a fantastic ranged attack, but at 10 Mordikaar doesnt really want to be close enough to use it. Far Strike lets him blaze away from 14 out, matching the effective operating range of his major spells. It's important to remember that Mordikaar is very squishy though; there are a lot of things that can cover 14" in this game and even with Far Strike if Mordikaar can shoot there's a good chance he's close enough to be targeted in return. Savage: On a good Hollow turn Mordikaar can put attacks on more targets than any other Skorne warlock, but he's frequently sitting at 67 to hit. Prescience can help you make the most of that extra Fury. Brute: Mordikaar has terrible defensive stats outside of his feat turn, so Shield Guard and Safeguard are really handy for him. Tiberion brings that to the table as well, but he doesnt really want to hang in the back field babysitting Mordikaar. Krea: If Mordikaar is in melee, things have gone seriously awry. If Mordikaar is being shot at Paralytic Aura is very handy for getting him up to marginally survivable, and has the advantage of being stackable with Safeguard. Tiberion: Our new character titan is probably better suited to working with a front line melee warlock, which doesnt describe Mordikaar at all. Mordi wants his infantry doing the dirty work. However, between Immovable Object, Banishing Ward, and Cetrati with Vorkesh you can present a big chunk of NO! to your opponent. Its not quite playing Menoth, but it would have to be annoying to face off against. Archidon: This guy is one of the few beasts that Mordikaar has something special for; no beast in the stable benefits quite as much as

the Archidon does from Ghost Walk. Flight no longer grants immunity to Free Strikes like it did in Mk I, but Mordikaars Archidons are extraordinarily hard to hide from since he can grant it as needed. They also hit DEF 17 under his feat and with KD immunity they can be positioned very aggressively if your opponent isn't sporting some autofreeze or other defence lowering tech. Mordikaar doesnt want to be very close to the front line, but with the Archidons long threat range it can more easily hang back to be buffed and Marketh makes it a moot point anyway. Sentry: Mordikaar can Banishing Ward this guy, which lets him be a bigger anvil than usual and stops Telekinesis from messing with his shield. Paired with Tiberon for bump Mordikaar can run an even more solid brick than he could pre-Domination, even if that's not his standard layout. Cannoneer: Mordikaar does tend to rely on his infantry (most of his core abilities are based around them) so he also tends to skimp a bit on his beast layout. Without many beasts on the table Mordikaar is going to want to keep them back from the action early-mid game, and the Cannoneer fits in nicely here being able to add his fire to Mordikaar's AoE while staying back out of harm's way. The Cannoneer also has the advantage of being reasonably capable in melee against heavy 'jacks and other hard targets (compared to the Raider, Drake, or Shaman) if there are too many of them for the Acuarii to handle alone. Drake: While Mordikaar doesn't do a whole lot for it directly, when a spray is what you need due to cover or concealment or lack of LoS a Drake can take his shot and then be essence blasted. That's two boostable magical sprays at POW 14/13 (and possibly another with the Will Breaker), and that's nothing to sneeze at. Mammoth: Theory at this point, but the Mammoth is a whole lot of points for a guy who would rather be taking infantry. It sort of falls into the same niche as the Cannoneer though, and the Mammoth/Raider/Krea module does leave enough for at least two or three units at 50 points. Probably a non-starter at 35 though. Reptile Hounds: If these little buggers had come out in Domination Mordikaar would have been one of the three warlocks happiest to see them. The ability to cover his native Fury generation for a mere 6-8 points is pretty darn good for a guy who wants to take a swarm of infantry since it opens his build options up in a substantial way. The meta shift from Colossal took some of the wind out of that idea, but it's not totally without merit and it opens some skew lists when everyone is expecting a big pile of armor.

The Despoiler: WARNING - EARLY THOUGHTS HERE. Some stuff here is obvious: he hits like a Gladiator under Mordikaar with a better threat range, generating Void Spirits with the guy who buffs Void Spirits just standing there is nifty, Mordikaar wants Hollow upkept and now Marketh is free for lists where his soul collection isn't being stepped on, and being an infantry-centric Warlock without a damage buff Dark Shroud is quite the boon. He doesn't fix everything that's wrong with Mordikaar (particularly his vulnerability to upkeep removal), but he does help address some of his issues. As always the Gladiator is just plain good with everyone, but Mordikaar doesn't have any particular synergy with it. Ghost Walk makes Rush a bit less necessary, which shouldn't preclude taking it. Last edited by gaminguy; 03-22-2013 at 03:30 AM. The above is my personal opinion, and in no way should be taken as representative of the overall Skorne community. Even when I claim otherwise. Skorne on date ... when did Primal Mk I hit again? Reply With Quote 3. 12-01-2011, 04:43 AM#3 gaminguy

Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Oct 2005 Location How did I get into this hand basket, and why is it so hot? Posts 2,852 Solos Void Spirits are a good choice due to Void Lord, and since the Hollow unit gains Fearless Abomination is less of a concern than normal. Since Mordikaar works well with the Ferox, Tyrant Rhadiem is a decent choice. He tends to only get one good turn before your opponent kills him, if they come up short he is an STR 7 for Essence Blast. Be aware that EB bypasses the Dragoon Dismount rule though.

Marketh can help Mordikaar with Fury management by recasting Hollow or Banishing Ward, or casting Ghost Walk (which gets a fair bit stronger if you don't have to expose Mordikaar to cast it). Hes less useful than usual for maintaining upkeeps since the Hollow unit wont give up souls, but Mordi likes having several infantry units to work with so it shouldnt be that big an issue. It's worth noting that RFP effects deny normal soul collection, so spells like Shatter Storm can gimp both Hollow and Gatekeeper at the same time. The Blood Runner Master Tormentor has some good synergy with Mordikaar, especially with Marketh on the table; with Ghost Walk she can kill something and then Sprint into a better position without worrying about Free Strikes. The BRMT is normally a mini-tarpit; charge into a front line melee unit, kill a model or three, sprint further into the unit to engage several models, and your opponent now has to alter his order of operations to remove the BRMT without burning the activation of the infantry shes engaging. With Ghost Walk she can move to engage a more valuable shooting or utility unit your opponent thought was safely out of range, or move into a good Essence Blast position to take a bigger chunk of infantry out of the opposing line if Marketh cast Ghost Walk. The Will Breaker is going to be good with just about everyone, Mordikaar is going to really like one for being able to multiply the effectiveness of a single Cannoneer when he's playing beast-light (although that isn't going to come up as much in the post-Colossal Meta). Mordikaar is also capable of some real shenaniganey plays with EB against high DEF/low ARM casters; Puppet Strings can take those from long-shots to frighteningly reliable. The other usual suspects are good choices as well; the Agonizer, Extoller, and Tyrant Commander will all work just fine. Mordikaar can have issues with Fury management as Hollow can leave him with odd amounts and his spell list is expensive, the Agonizer can make sure the extra doesnt go to waste. The TyCom gets some extra utility since Reveille helps mitigate the downside of making Tough rolls. The Extoller can help Mordikaar with firing lanes (you will probably be trying to deny targeting lines to Mordikaar and that cuts both ways) and granting Magic Weapon is frequently handy, although the Extoller does have the same issues with soul collection that Marketh has. Minions: Orin Midwinter will serve Mordikaar well as he can help mitigate some of the Caster-based upkeep removal options, Ghost Walk can make the Thrullig easier to deliver, Swamp Gobbers can help mitigate Mordi's terrible defensive stats, and the Totem Hunter is still one of the best solo hunters we have available. Just remember you

cant Essence Blast through them. The Ancestral Guardians and Hakaar are probably not the best options to take with Mordikaar since Hollow will interfere with their soul collection; as with the Extollers careful placement can take care of that issue but its still something to keep in mind. With Mordikaars primary spells being faction specific, Minions are not the best use of his points either and that takes the Task Master out of the running too. Last edited by gaminguy; 01-29-2013 at 06:54 PM. The above is my personal opinion, and in no way should be taken as representative of the overall Skorne community. Even when I claim otherwise. Skorne on date ... when did Primal Mk I hit again? Reply With Quote 4. 12-01-2011, 04:43 AM#4 gaminguy

Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Oct 2005 Location How did I get into this hand basket, and why is it so hot? Posts 2,852 Units Swordsmen: At 12 men for only 8 points Swordsmen make a better than average Hollow target, and youll care less than usual when they die. Venators: The only other 12-man unit Skorne has available, Venators also deserve mention as a Hollow target. They can pump out CRAs at POW 21-23; your opponent will prioritize killing them. Hollow can keep them in the game longer and let you benefit from the ones that die, and they have the advantage of being able to stand up after making a tough roll and still be effective. Ferox: The problem with most Cav is that they struggle to do any damage without the charge. Mordikaar can Revive the Ferox into good charge positions, letting the unit accomplish far more than usual. They

are still pretty fragile (Spell Ward can help there) and throwing Hollow on them works well early since they have Steady and can be thrown in to jam while slower units get into position or take objectives. Theyre an expensive unit to use that way, so its best reserved for bad matchup situations. Blood Runners: While you can jam early with Ferox, Blood Runners are a much better (and less expensive) choice for the task. They will draw a lot of attention anyway; Hollow can help keep them alive for an extra turn or two, Shadow Play negates some of the downsides of Tough rolls, and they feed Mordikaar early Fury on the side. Cetrati: Vorkesh deserves special mention here; between Vorkesh and Banishing Ward you can deny a large chunk of your army as spell targets, and nothing about Spell Ward prevents Revive or Essence Blast from working on them. This is one of the places where Vorkesh actually earns his keep, otherwise Acuarii will probably serve Mordikaar better. Cetrati with Vorkesh is a big chunk of points, so this is best reserved for building a brick at higher point levels. The Cetrati themselves bring their usual bag of tricks to the table, and Mordikaar can throw Banishing Ward at them to up their survivability if you didn't pack Vorkesh. Mordikaar gets the best use out of Revive by bringing high damage output grunts back into good charge positions and Cetrati are hard to kill (and don't want to charge) so they are not the best fit, but Acuarii struggle to hit DEF 15+ and CMA makes that a non-issue for Cetrati. Acuarii: For multi-wound infantry Acuarii are pretty squishy, theyre actually worse than Tharn Ravagers for the points there. They make up for it with damage output; Revive keeps them in the fight for longer and lets them repeatedly make those four-die damage rolls that make Weapon Master infantry so dangerous. Incindiarii: Again; terribly squishy for multi-wound infantry and Revive helps them stay in the fight longer. They might take fewer casualties as well for working further from the front, although they're also going to be a higher priority target for infantry heavy lists. They're not as good a fit for Mordikaar as Acuarii (not that many things are), but they willl help keep Mordikaar from being out-swarmed. Nihilators: An excellent choice with Mordikaar since he can't buff Mat or P+S and they have good stats for both. Berzerk means that Reviving even one of them can be a big return-on-investment as well. Catapult: One of the issues with artillery is that it tends to die if it gets

any attention from the enemy at all. Since the Catapult is so inaccurate anyway (even with Range Finder its sitting on RAT 3) there really isnt much of an issue with spreading the grunts out at the edge of CMD range to keep them safer. That can buy an extra turn or two as the leader replaces the grunts under normal circumstances, but Mordikaar can make this even more frustrating by Reviving the Grunts. Karax: Since Mordikaar brings a really good AoE to the table and combos well with the Catapult it's not hard to really spam AoEs with him. Karax are immune to bad scatters, Ranked Attack lets Mordikaar ignore them for targeting, and between Hollow and Revive they can almost be hard to remove. They are still better as a second wave unit or warlock bodyguard, and with CMA they can make contact with high DEF models late game (read: warlocks/casters) if and when your elite units get wiped out. Immortals: Mordikaar is one of the few Warlocks who I would notconsider taking Immortals with. They cannot take Hollow, cannot be used for Essence Blast, and they need an AG/Hakaar who really will be starved for souls in a Mordikaar list. They can be revived (which is funny) but you lose too much other utility with them. Minions: While Banishing Ward and Ghost walk can target minions, Mordikaars primary abilities are faction-specific. Putting Minion units in his army is not generally a good idea unless you have a specific plan for them. Bog Trogs are not a bad choice since they tend to be out of position to receive any buffs anyway and they help clump up the opposing army away from the edges, making AoEs more effective, and a min unit of bone grinders can help keep valuable Animus like Rush or Lightning Strike in the game, but otherwise Mordikaar should stick to faction infantry Battle Engine The Animanithrax is a tough include for Mordikaar since he would much rather be spending those points on Acuarii, Ghost Walk only lets it walk out of combat (which it probably wasn't going to do anyway), and it's already immune to the more annoying placement effects that you might want to stop with Banishing Ward. It is an STR 13 model so Essence Blast hits pow 18 from it if you know it will probably die next turn, but that's hardly an overwhelming reason to take it. On the other hand, every little bit counts for a model that's struggling to find any space at the table at all. Last edited by gaminguy; 03-22-2013 at 03:39 AM. The above is my personal opinion, and in no way should be taken as representative of the overall Skorne community. Even when I claim

otherwise. Skorne on date ... when did Primal Mk I hit again? Reply With Quote 5. 12-01-2011, 04:45 AM#5 gaminguy

Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Oct 2005 Location How did I get into this hand basket, and why is it so hot? Posts 2,852 Skornergy Mordikaar has the worst example of Skornergy on a single model outside of Hexeris: Hollow prevents Essence Blast and Essence Blast prevents Revive. Essence Blast is a spell that should be used sparingly, so it's not all that big a deal. Tier List Mordikaar's tier has a couple of big issues: 1) It denies Beast Handlers, which is a big deal since it makes our beasts decidedly less effective on heavy targets. 2) It denies his two best Revive targets (Acuarii and Ferox), which compounds the first issue and leaves Mordikaar with a real lack of heavy hitters. Unless you really want to play infantry spam with him it's probably not worth the bother. Conclusion Overall Mordikaar is pretty solid, but he has some glaring weaknesses. Success with him hinges on destroying opposing upkeep removal as early as possible and then out-grinding the opposing army until you have an overwhelming advantage in material, and knowing when to abandon Hollow and start throwing Essence Blast. If you find yourself

up against an army with either a lot of upkeep removal or a lot of RFP effects its important to switch tactics accordingly, and he loses a lot of potency without Hollow. Special thanks to dboeren, PaintVagrant, TaintedCoil, Junn Khan, and Benji for their input.

1. Note: Major additions and revisions are italicized until next revision. Overview: If you like your Warlock to have a strong, game winning feat move along Hexeris isnt for you. If you like your warlock to have a strong support, debilitating control or versatile offensive spells move along Hexeris isnt for you. If you want a warlock who leads from the front fighting at the head of his army move along, Hexeris isnt for you. That isnt to say his feat, spell list or fighting abilities are weak, but there are better examples of those caster archetypes in faction. Hexeris is an attrition caster w/ a decently strong scalpel/assassination play and some minor scenario strength. He brings a lot of anti-infantry attrition strength, but he requires this army to do the majority of the heavy lifting. His Soul Slave can let him single out priority targets. Clear enough chaff and Beat Back can be used to clear a zone or free up previously jammed pieces. Jack of all trades, but he isnt the best at any of them. Stats: Faster than Xerxis. More powerful than an unenraged Savage. Able to leech as much fury as Mordikaar. Hexeris is more accurate than Zaal, boasts the same DEF and ARM values as Makeda1. And he backs all that up with a robust amount of life. All of his stats are solid, but none of them are exceptional; and he can not improve any of them. As solid as his stats are he is still a mid line warlock who will suffer greatly when he forgets his place and falls too far back or surges too far forward. Weapon and Abilities: Gulgata is a magical reach weapon w/ Life Drinker and Beat

Back. Fairly simple; when Hexeris hits an enemy he can push it an inch and then he can move an inch. When he destroys a living model he gets to heal a bit. Combined with his ability to buy attacks Hexeris could move 8 after his charge movement. But it gets better. Hexeris also has Vampiric Reaving. When certain conditions are met Hexeris can reave the fury off of an opposing beast. The main use for this is to deny your opponent the fury they had anticipated having, but if Hexeris kills the beast during his activation he can spend it to continue buying more attacks, casting spells or sitting on for transferring. Something of Note: Hexeris can reave from an enemy beast even if he is already at full fury. Doing this will not take him above his FURY score, but will deny the opponent access to that fury. Spells: Hexeris is a very upkeep reliant caster. He has 5 spells, three of which are upkeeps. Three of his spells, Death March, Soulfire and Soul Slave, are worth using every game. The remaining spells, Obliteration and Psychic Vampire, are situational, but they are fairly hard counters to their favored situation. Death March- Provides a MAT buff and Vengeance to a friendly unit. The spell works equally well on Skorne models or Minions. Since this is Hexeris' only infantry buff this makes him an attractive warlock for a Minion heavy army featuring Taskmasters and Minions. Something of Note: Take a look at the timing of a turn. Vengeance happens in the Maintaince Phase, upkeeping in the Control Phase. This means that the effected unit gets the benefits of Death March, Vengeance and MAT buff, before you have to commit to upkeeping the spell. Obliteration- Good range. Large AOE. High power; the blast will kill ARM 14 on average. High fury cost. Wonderful answer to clumped low armor infantry, punching a single big armor target surrounded by scrubs or shield wall infantry if delivered from behind. Something of Note: Hexeris can cast this spell two or more times in a turn through Vampiric Reaving or if Marketh gets him an additional Fury via Soul Fire. Vayl2 has shown this to be a powerful end game move. Hexeris is unlikely going to be able to fully boost them as she can, but 2 POW 15 can be game

changing in the right match ups. Psychic Vampire- Auto damage to each enemy when it casts a spell or animus inside of Hexeris' Control Area and Hexeris heals a point. This includes spells cast by spending Focus, Fury or abilities under the Magic Ability category. This damage happens before the spell is actually cast, so Druids, Battle Mages and other single wound spell casters die before die for trying to do what they want to do. It is expensive to cast, but amazing given the right match ups. Since every faction seems to be picking up Magic Ability enabled infantry the spell is getting better, but still not an every game spell. Soulfire- This is the spell Hexeris will cast most often. Good range. Power 12. Fairly cheap. Potentially removes models from play and gives Hexeris an extra Fury. While Power 12s will kill casters this spell's extra effects only trigger off of Boxing living models. As such Hexeris won't often cast the spell at the opposing caster but will fire it off as many times as possible into living models to get the spell's full suite of effects. Something of Note: Soulfire will give Hexeris a fury point when it boxes a living model, even if the target is a friendly model, or if it is cast by Aptimus Marketh. Soul Slave- The ability to channel spells is rare in Hordes. Soul Slave allows Hexeris to channel his spells through any one of his beasts, and, as if that wasn't enough, makes that beast auto pass threshold checks. When channeling remember to use the LOS rules and abilities of the channeler not the spell caster. Something of note: Some spells and effects deny the Arc Node advantage, others prevent channeling. Do not let the conversational short hand of the forums and your LGS fool you; loss of the Arc Node advantage does not effect Hexeris' ability to channel spells though the Soul Slave target. Last edited by Rynth; 05-24-2013 at 07:08 AM. Reason: 032613: Updated Psychic Vampire reflect the current rulings, expanded and added new "Somethings of Notes" and tightened some phrases and wordings.

Reply With Quote 2. 08-18-2010, 05:52 AM#2

Rynth Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Mar 2006 Location North Georgia Posts 3,475 Feat: Dark Dominion For one turn whenever one of your guys boxes one of your opponents living or undead models you gain control of it, it becomes an undead model, cannot be targeted by free strikes, can advance 3 and make a melee attack. Warbeasts ignore lost aspects. Then the model is removed from play. One guy could potentially cause a chain reaction of deaths that leads to an entire unit killing each other. Something of Note: Models attack under the effects of Dark Dominion will not receive the back arc bonus because that only applies during activation. However, moving behind the target will allow them to ignore the targets Shield or Shield Wall. Something of Note: Constructs are not living or undead so Dark Dominion has no effect on them. Hexeris feat is incredibly variable in power, and you have very little say in mitigating what your opponent does to limit your feat. Seeing tightly packed low DEF, Reach Weapon Masters is the ideal situation for Dark Dominion, but you're as likely to see that as you are to see ranged troops who cannot hit each other to save their lives, or units spread too far apart to get to each other with only 3 inches of advance, or models with Tough. There are two schools of thought on how to get the most out of his feat. The first is to use ranged attacks to begin setting off the chain from as far a way as possible. This allows your opponents army to do most of the work, and hopefully puts them out of retaliation range on your forces. Unfortunately, by attacking at range your opponent has had little or no incentive to close ranks and group his army together. Youll often find 3 movement + melee range to be inadequate to get to the next guy. Also, Skorne is somewhat lacking in the ranged department both quality and quantity. Fail a few crucial rolls and you may find your feat did little because your melee elements weren't quite close enough to capitalize on your feat. The other school of thought is to pop the feat after combat has been well and truly joined. This makes it more likely that your opponents

competent melee troops(ie. the ones most likely to be able to kill each other) are close enough that 3 + melee range will be enough to get an attack, and means you're close enough that a few missed attacks wont mean your army is out of range to try starting another chain. Unfortunately, this strategy often means accepting the charge from your opponent. Your army could end up too crippled or locked in place to make a viable counterattack, or, if you attack first, you could end up killing too many of your opponents quality melee fighters before Hexeris can activate. I have found best use of the feat by planning on using it to take one fairly close unit off the table with minimal effort. If I have good targets I'll commit my ranged elements to strike deeper and I might throw away a charge or two on the chance something more than a single unit's destruction can happen from my feat. By setting my goals low I am usually very pleased by the feats performance since my goal is almost always met and I get a few other unexpected kills. Most infantry can manage to kill most other infantry on about average rolls if they can manage to hit. With that in mind, try to start chains on targets that can hit themselves on average rolls. Fortunately, MAT 6 DEF 13 is about average for melee oriented infantry. Weapon Masters are also good targets during the feat. However, due to their typically higher MAT and damage output they may serve better going after higher profile targets; targets that the average infantry many will struggle to hit and/or damage rater than murdering each other, especially if you have several attacks going into others in their unit. Models with Reach are also excellent targets. Often, Reach models are more elite in either their MAT or their P+S, making them better able to continue chaining kills or doing damage on harder targets. And if they don't possess higher MAT or P+S then they still have the higher Dark Dominion threat range and the chance of hitting and damaging something. This should go without saying, but always try to take advantage of the special rules a model has when it becomes yours. If a model has a rule that only applies when attacking a certain model type(ie Alten Ashley and Warbeast) then try to send that model after its favored target type even if that target is a little less than optimal. While this may end a chain prematurely it likely will have a better top end pay off. If a model has a critical effect(ie Critical Smite) send it towards where it is most likely to happen(low DEF targets) rather than where is would be most advantageous if it happened, that way youre more likely to get a

hit/damage rather than a miss. Something of Note: If you take control of a model with Terror then as soon as it becomes yours the opponent has to make a Command check where appropriate. Tough and other abilities that trigger on Disabled will trump the feat. Unless the model cannot be knocked down, or can be easily stood back up, or needs to be RFP'ed it is a better use of your time to ignore the knocked down model. Hexeris' feat is often resolved incorrectly. Usually I see it this way: Model A attacks Model B. After Model A's damage roll Model A is RFP'ed and then Model B gets his move and attack. However, if you look at the feat's wording, the timing appendix and thisinfernal posting you'll see that model's dont get removed until the last attack in the attack chain is fully resolved(ie the target lives or is outside of Hexeris' Control area). This has potential to be good and bad. Bad because your own Dark Dominion'ed models can block LOS or movement paths. Good because it opens up more abilities we can now exploit(Gang Fighter, Veteran Leader, Tactician, and Flank among others). Hexeris feat is a time drainer. If playing in a Steamroller tournament plan on using your extension on his feat turn, but dont commit to it until you know you will need it. Practice your ability to pause and unpause your clock. Dark Dominion needs every second it can get and tough checks, your opponent rechecking their model's MAT, DEF and ARM values and just keeping track of which models are currently whose can devoure time needlessly. Last edited by Rynth; 03-26-2013 at 10:08 AM. Reason: 032613: Typos, and awkward phrasing cleaned up(possibly with more typos and awkward phrasings)

Reply With Quote 3. 08-18-2010, 05:52 AM#3 Rynth Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Mar 2006 Location North Georgia

Posts 3,475 Warbeasts: Hexeris has a high Fury stat, so he can run a good amount of beasts. Beyond that he does very little for them. As such I'll only be discussing warbeast with whom Hexeris has a better than average interaction with. Titan Gladiator. Gives Hexeris access to Rush which Hexeris has the ability to spam due to his Fury stat. The Gladiator also makes a fairly good Soul Slave target. All combat focused beasts enjoy the freedom of filling up without risking frenzy, but the Gladiator can be a good channeler. As a Heavy Warbeast the Gladiator has more options to free itself from combat(throws, headbutts, tramples) than light beasts. Also, due to Follow up the Gladiator can get deep into the enemies back field to channel from places the enemy didn't expect. Titan Sentry. Provides the standard Heavy Warbeast benefits(power attack opportunities, large base for LOS, etc), but does so with significant amounts of extra durability. Since he is armed with a reach weapon he can engage the enemy and still channel so long as he isn't engaged by them in return. Also, Locker can be useful on either the Sentry or Hexeris in some situations. Rhinodon. Again brings the standard Heavy Warbeast benefits, and the benefits of being armed with a reach weapon, but does so at a bargain basement point cost. Also the Rhinodon is fast(comparatively), and punishes any who free strike him as he moves into a good channeling position. Bronzeback. As an easy to frenzy beast the Bronzeback loves autopassing threshold checks. Due to Leadership[Titans] Hexeris can run a never frenzying Titan Herd by just keeping them a bit close. The Bronzeback's animus also lets the Bronzeback attain great angles or distance for channeling if provided with a target, or series of targets, durable enough for him to get enough 1 movements. Razorworm. IMO, Hexeris' #1 favored Soul Slave target. Advanced Deployment, Pathfinder and SPD 6 lets the beast get almost anywhere it wants. Eyeless Sight allows Hexeris to channel through forests and clouds. Dig In and Drag Under help the beast survive long enough to be used for several turns worth of channeling. Something of Note: While Hexeris gets to channel through forests and clouds unless he has an ability that ignores concealment or stealth those rules will apply making the attack more difficult or auto miss.

Due to the Eyeless Sight errata the Razorworm cannot draw LOS through stealth models; this applies even when being channeled through. Basilisk Krea. Another good Soul Slave target. Eyeless Sight, SPD 6 and extra durability against Ranged attacks. A luck shot from her gun can tear down a living model's DEF for ease of elimination during Hexeris' feat turn, or prevent it from engaging by denying runs and charges. Basilisk Drake. A good, magical gun. Excellent during Hexeris' feat since as a SPR 8 it can kill a few models simultaneously providing multiple vectors from which chains could be started or maintained. Cyclops Shaman. Between all his upkeeps and spells he wants to cast Hexeris is usually a bit fury strapped. Having a Shaman around to help shoulder the Animus cost is very helpful, and another pair of magic attacks, both ranged and melee, is never a bad thing. Molik Karn. Molik does well as a Soul Slave target. Auto passing his Threshold checks leaves him free to use Intuition to help his survival rate. Side Step allows him additional, free strike ignoring movement to get into optimal channeling position(provided he can avoid engangement). Also Fate Walker allows him to get into channeling position then retreat to safety after everyone's activation. Hexeris can use Fate Walker to over extend his feat and then retreat to safety as well. Reptile Hound. SPD 7, cancels tough and dirt cheap. Takes some setting up, but can be a fantastic Soul Slave target, and helps get around one of the hard counters to Hexeris' feat. Despoiler. A free upkeep is always appreciated. Extra RFP is always helpful. Extra void Spirits are also never a bad thing. However, Hexeris does nothing to help this beast survive or deal damage. Archidon. A fast, flying heavy. A little pillow fisted, but high DEF makes it surprisingly durable. A solid Soul Slave target. Units: Hexeris favors independent units of infantry because he can do little to help them. His one buff spell, Death March, is always good on any unit with a melee weapon. As such I will only discuss the units that have an extra level of interaction.

Bloodrunners. Good for starting things on his feat turn. Easily removes living infantry thanks to high MAT and Anatomical Precision. They get where they need to go thanks to Pathfinder, Advanced Deploy and Shadow Play. While all but worthless against warjacks, Bloodrunners can be viable against the undead either due to a charge, a little above average damage rolls or general undead bad armor. Beast Handlers. In a pinch Death March on Beast Handlers makes them a formidable melee threat against living models. Reach, Anatomical Precision and MAT seven all for the low, low price of 2 or 3 points and a small stack of fury. Praetorian Swordsmen. With the UA and their mini-feat these guys are walking chain starters that are almost unstoppable in their advance into the enemy's face. Fantastic on his feat turn because they save time by not needing to roll damage against warriors and will get two attacks. Nihilators. What's better than MAT 7 with Reach and Berserk? How about MAT 9 with Reach, Berserk and Vengeance. Less mobile than Side Stepping Praetorians, but Death Marched Nihilators are more accurate, have the potential for more attacks and higher P+S. Something of Note: During Dark Dominion enemy models are never destroyed, and thus berserk never forces a Nihilator to make another attack. This means that for one turn in the game Nihilators will only get 1 attack and can group together without risking friendly fire. Slaughterhousers. Good MAT, good P+S, kinda weapon master to help against big ARM/wounds and they get around one of the hard counters to Hexeris' feat. Solos: Bloodrunner Master Tormentor. Thresher, Anatomical Precision and Dark Dominion work great together. Between her Sprint and the Bloodrunner's Shadow Play you should often be able to benefit from Veteran Leader potentially making the Bloodrunners MAT 11. Extoller Soulward. Your army will take losses, these guys help make those losses good things, or at least less bad things. But that is rather minor compared to handing out Magical Weapons and Eyeless Sight to a single model when necessary. When needed her gun can be rather impressive against some targets. Something of Note: If Hexeris is given Eyeless Sight then he gets to ignore Stealth and Concealment when channeling his spells. He will not, however, ignore forests and clouds for LOS purposes as LOS is

based off of the Point of Origin's LOS rules. Hakaar. Like the Extoller Hakaar helps you make your opponent suffer for killing your stuff. Have him hang out near the Death Marched unit and watch the fun. When a Death Marched guy dies within 5 of Hakaar the remaining members of the unit will get their Vengeance move, Hakaar will get his Righteous Vengeance move and attack and he gets a soul making him more effective next turn and harder to kill. Marketh. Marketh can shoulder the upkeep burden for Hexeris by paying soul tokens. Marketh can take care of some spell casting leaving Hexeris free to cast more Soulfires or even triple cycle Death March. And Marketh collects souls which he could also spend to boost attack and damage rolls. Almost an auto include. Something of Note: When Marketh casts them spells that say this model those effect apply to the warlock. This allows Marketh give Hexeris an 8th fury to spend by casting Soulfire at a living target, friend or enemy. Mortithurge Willbreaker. Hexeris doesn't like missing, Puppet Master helps make that not miss. Hexeris has a bit of an issue dealing with high ARM, or may want a beast to start another kill chain on feat turn, Ancillary Attack makes that happen. Even Influence can be useful on the feat turn. Last edited by Rynth; 03-26-2013 at 09:43 AM. Reason: 032613: Typos, re-phrasings, errata based, and new book additions.

Reply With Quote 4. 08-18-2010, 05:53 AM#4 Rynth Destroyer of Worlds Join Date Mar 2006 Location North Georgia Posts 3,475 Theme List, Kingdom of Shadow: Hexeris' Theme list is all about getting into your opponent's face quickly and forcing them to react to what you are doing rather than

what they want/need to do. For the sake of being spoiler free I won't mention much of the limitations required to reach each tier, focusing instead on the bonuses the tiers provide. Suffice it to say that his lower tier requires little sacrifice, IMO. However the higher tiers require doubling up on units/unit types you may not want or have the points to double up on. Tier 1. Hexeris starts with his upkeeps in play and doesn't need to pay for them turn one. This benefit, a Razorworm, Rush and a Push allows Hexeris to cast Soulfire up to 7 times at targets on the opposing deployment line before your opponent gets a turn; an Extoller makes it so that neither terrain nor Stealth will provide any protection from this early game assault.* Tier 2. Praetorian Swordsmen gain Advanced Deployment. Thanks to FA: 3 you could have about 30 Advance Deploy models for about 20 points. Combine that with the early game Soulfires and you can have a tremendous tempo advantage early game. Tier 3. Ancestral Guardians gain Advance move. This helps the Ancestrals keep up with the Swordsmen. Tier 4. Increase your deployment zone by 2. This also increases your Advance Deployment and effectively increases your Advance Move. Skornergy: Skornergy is when one good rule/stat/effect is reduced in value or made worthless due to a second good rule/stat/effect. Often the two rules/stats/effects look like that would be great together, but the timing chart prevents the desired interaction. Let's take a look at some of Hexeris' more Skornegetic choices so you can avoid building an army with the expectation that these combos work. Dark Dominion and Vampiric Reaving. Reaving happens when a model is destroyed. While Dark Dominion is in play living and undead models never make it to destroyed; they get Removed From Play at boxed. Dark Dominion and Soulfire. Both effects happen at boxed. You can choose the Fury or the Dark Dominion effect, never both. Dark Dominion and Life Drinker. Life Drinker happens on destroyed. During Dark Dominion living models aren't destroyed. Death March and Berserk. Berserk only applies during a model's activation. Vengeance does not provide an activation. Dark Dominion and Berserk. Berserk triggers on destroyed, Dark Dominion Removes From Play at boxed. Dark Dominion and Eruption of Ash. Both effects happen at boxed. You can choose the cloud or the Dark Dominion, never both.

*How this is achieved: 7" Normal Deployment + 6" Advance deployment + 1" Push + 14" Rushed Razor Worm run +