Sadly I’ve done no painting for a while, though I aim to
complete the Errants and Holy Zealots in due course and will post some snaps
when they’re done.
In the mean time I’ve had a slight distraction from my
Menoth, shock horror!!
I made a daft New
Year’s resolution to play some Hordes and get myself more accustomed to that
gaming system rather than relying on my opponent’s knowledge – more from a
tournament perspective to be honest. I
also purchased quite a large amount of Hordes models in the way of Skorne and
Legion over twelve months ago and had barely used them!
So last month I started playing some games with my Skorne; I
tried out Makeda2, Xerxis and Zaal. Each
time I played I varied the units, warbeasts and solos in an effort to get to
grips with how they function as a faction and start to work out how well these
tend to synergise together.
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| Supreme Archdomina Makeda (source PP website) |
I started out using Makeda2 as she has a powerful spell
list, feat and an affinity with Molik Karn; I did enjoy using her as a warlock,
though I felt like she was a Molik delivery system, not that it is a bad thing,
I just wanted a bit more from my list than how long a threat range I could
create with the character cyclops (which is ridiculously long by the way –
LOL)!
Secondly I tried out Xerxis, again with some different units
to the Makeda2 list; interestingly I used the Cataphract Cetratii – they are
the heavy (shield wall) infantry and the Skorne elite. The list worked like a brick, where there
wasn’t a lot of speed, but rather a slow moving steamroller. Xerxis feat is all about damage output as it
gives friendly faction models and additional die of damage as well as a small ARM
buff. Xerxis was a bit of fun, though I
found him a little one dimensional; again not a bad thing – just not quite what
I was looking for.
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| Tyrant Xerxis (source PP website |
The third warlock I tried was Zaal and Kovaas, now this is
where it suddenly got interesting.
Zaal’s army works by collecting souls, given his passive abilities to
direct souls and buff units who use them as well as his affinity to Ancestral
Guardians. The ‘soul token’ mechanic was
something new to me, though it is quite simple in practice – Zaal just allows
any eligible faction model to collect the Skorne soul rather than just the
nearest model. The Extoller solos and
Ancestral Guardians can use soul tokens to buy and boost attacks, Zaal himself
doesn’t actually collect souls however.
Zaal comes with a special solo called Kovaas, it is essentially the
spirit of a destroyed Ancestral Guardian and comes into play when said destruction
occurs. The Kovaas is quite interesting
as it is incorporeal and has a number of unpleasant (for the enemy) abilities.
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| Supreme Aptimus Zaal and Kovaas (source PP website) |
Zaal’s feat is quite interesting also as it is directly
proportional to the number of destroyed warrior friendly faction models since
the start of the game, these basically equate to ‘Rage Tokens’, which on the
feat turn can be spent by a faction model to boost an attack or damage roll;
lots of dead means lots of boosts, but then again you’ve got less models to use
the free boosts so like all feats must be timed correctly.
Zaal’s spell list is pretty decent with a couple of ranged
attack spells and a couple of defensive/utility spells, but perhaps his
signature spell Last Stand is his
most interesting spell and a strong reason to take Zaal in the first
place. It really is a double edged sword
this spell as once cast on a model/unit it is destroyed at the end of the turn
if it makes an attack (be it hit or miss); the bonus is that any attacks made
roll an additional die on attack and damage rolls, these can of course be
boosted on top making damage output potentially colossal.
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| Molik Karn, the rudest cyclops in town! (source PP website) | | |
|
So that is Zaal et al
explained, I used a variety of units to complement the lists, but as you’ve
guessed I concentrated on Zaal, I just liked his play style and found my games
quite exciting as I learned how to time his feat and make best use of his
spells. I found that units which
synergise well with Last Stand are
good, i.e. have multiple attacks, Pretorian Swordsmen and Nihillators fit well
here, also to power up the Ancestral Guardians and Extollers with souls cheap
infantry used as fodder is paramount. I
also found that putting Last Stand on
a hard model, such as Molik Karn, under the feat turn is absolutely devastating
and perhaps overkill, though killing an enemy caster for the loss of a heavy
warbeast etc is obviously well worth it.
If Dave is reading this he is probably still remembering Molik doing
exactly this against Karchev, rolling MAT 7
+ 4D6 to hit and 5D6 + 15 damage for up to six attacks is just insanely good! Though if I am honest Molik should have died the previous turn to an angry fully focused-up Spriggan under Unearthly Rage, which is a Khador spell that is just about as rude as Last Stand!!
I intend to keep practising with Zaal, trying out new units
and models to hone a good list and perhaps start painting a new army later in the year. Though I’m wavering from the Creator’s path
with this new Skorne distraction I’ll still be playing the
Protectorate and painting up units for it.
Hope my ramblings have been of some interest :-)
