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Post by Gamingdevil on Oct 10, 2017 14:08:02 GMT
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Dark Host And here is where the rubber meets the road folks for Lich Lord Asphyxious...at least in my opinion. Probably the best theme for him that brings him the most ammo and he helps the most. Banes! Lots of hard hitting, recycling banes. Asphyxious's feat brings back d3+5 destroyed grunts and forces them to charge. He points at that colossal and says "be gone" and the bane warriors do it. You are limited to MAT 6 for the feat turn though Tartarus still provides a +1 to hit for all banes assuming he is still alive at that point. Even bane knights are okay targets for the feat as on a charge they are POW 14, and with reach, you can get more of them on a target. This theme also provides 2 4" dense fog clouds that you place. This allows you to ensure you have an effective cloud wall moving forward the first 1-2 turns of the game between the theme benefit and Caustic Mists. The banes are granted prowl as well so if you are dealing with something that can ignore clouds but not stealth, you can hide banes in the clouds to give them stealth. If you are dealing with something that ignores both, they probably don't have that many shots to deal with your 3-4 units of dudes. While trolls play like an anvil, letting other people bounce off of them and then hit back, this is the freaking sledge hammer. Lich Lord Asphyxious - Desecrator - Cankerworm - Ripjaw x 2 Wraith Engine Bane Lord Tartarus Soul Trapper Bane Knights (max) Bane Warriors (max) + CA Bane Riders (max) I know I said earlier that I was on the fence about including a wraith engine because of its base size and its inability to be hid by clouds. Well it will be ARM 20 against ranged and magic attacks from its Unhallowed ability and making the bane knights effectively ARM 20 as well, all but immune to blast damage and some actual ranged weaponry. That and there isn't that much in the way of plentiful magic weapons that can reliably remove something like that from range short of very specific builds. It helps deliver your army in some match ups, provides a source of dark shroud apart from your bane warriors and can generate machine wraiths when you are lucky. It is also a self sufficient equivalent of a heavy warjack hitting at P+S 17 with three attacks and reach. It will not drop another heavy short of some massive dice spiking but it is sufficient to finish something off that your banes charging in didn't quite get. Its not plan A, its the clean up crew. Asphyxious loves souls so having the soul trapper will help him keep a good fill from what the banes manage to kill. The desecrator is a decent jack, being the cheapest of the crab jacks and having accumulator: Bane. Meaning it gets a free focus when it activates near banes. That means its less Asphyxious needs to pay attention to it or feed it. It has a nice scather for infantry removal and a decently high P+S 17 weapon (compared to our other jacks) with a small chance of getting extra attacks. So it is fairly self sufficient. The bane riders provide another accurate means of infantry removal with boosted charge rolls, impact attacks and a naturally high armor. They also benefit from veteran leader of Tartarus if they are nearby. While not impossible to kill, most anti-infantry tech such as covering fire, electroleaps, etc, has a tough time dealing with ARM 18 + 5 wounds. So overall, I think this theme is Lich Lord Asphyxious's best fit. It feeds his feat, he protects the army and can help keep numbers up with excarnate when lines cross. Like anything, there are match ups it does not want to see such as a lot of remove from play tech (i.e., band of heroes, though the sheer number of banes could probably overwhelm the more expensive trolls) or cloud ignoring gun lines (most of lylith lists in everblight). But those matchups are far from unwinnable and while they have the right tools to take on your list, they may not have enough of those tools to deal with the numbers. In any event, a powerful caster with a powerful list. You can do whatever you want of course, but you used your free model on a Soul Trapper If you made both infantry units a minimum, you could add another min unit of bane warriors with free CA and have 2 points left for 2 soul trappers or a Machine Wraith. This would give you the same amount of bodies, but more tough Bane Warriors. On a related note, Bane Knights really need a CA so you would have some sort of reason not to bring 2 unit of Warriors in this theme besides those few casters that can actually do something with a Skarlock Thrall.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 10, 2017 14:47:17 GMT
A machine wraith would have been a fair choice too. To be clear, the lists I provide are things I can build with my collection, no extras that I do not own. So if it is a subpar build, that is usually why, as in not spamming many duplicates of units. I think taking a few max units of warriors + CA or multiple min units with CAs would be the better build, but my collection cannot do that. The exercise was to just get people thinking about the interactions of the caster and the theme with an example list. I do appreciate the input and the tweaking though.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 10, 2017 15:51:14 GMT
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Black Industries
Our jack theme, list building is both better and worse than Infernal Machines in that you do have access to Aikos and the Iron Lich Overseer, but neither one is free here. You get bone jacks for free for every 30 pts of warjacks you buy. So the list encourages a large battlegroup, or at least a lot of jacks and does give the options to really lighten that burden from the warcaster. Asphyxious really doesn't want a lot of jacks hanging off of him as he has better things to do with his focus usually. The list also gives carapace (+4 ARM vs ranged attacks and free strikes) to heavy warjacks in your army.
I was tempted to take a Kraken here as a big single warjack that would be easy to feed with focus but carapace does not apply to it, so I was discouraged with that purchase and chose to go multiple heavies instead.
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Ripjaw x 2 (free) - Deathjack - Inflictor Ironlich Overseer - Seether Warwitch Siren x 2 Aiakos Scourge of Meredius - Harrower Soul Trapper Cephalyx Mind Slaver and Drudges Cephalyx Overlords
Deathjack was a conscious decision because its a relatively resilient beater that can really output the hurt. I wanted an accurate, fast beater and it brings a lot of focus efficiency, self healing and spell casting at a premium price. Asphyxious's spell list is not ideal and really all Deathjack can cast from it is excarnate and doesn't even get the secondary ability from it because Deathjack doesn't have a control range. He can easily be replaced with a seether and a slayer if you so choose.
Iron lich overseer with a seether is something I have discussed before, a very powerful armor cracking combo and the overseer can help the seether close. Though Asphyxious has that mostly covered with the cloud wall of Caustic Mist, allowing most of the battle group to approach unmolested.
Aiakos, a lot of people like stalkers with him and so do I. I put a harrower on this time to get the benefits of carapace and bring an anti-infantry gun. With reach and thresher, and the 3" AOE gun that you can quick work shoot after charging (assuming you are no longer engaged) with a fully boosted shot at the cost of a soul, it seems pretty good on paper. And truth be told, the harrower is my favorite heavy warjack from MKII and I think he got better in this edition.
The only units you can take in this theme are the withershadow combine or cephylix. I don't mind Cephylix, they are cheap fodder and they do that job well. The overlords are pretty good and provide some eyeless sight sprays for infantry removal. They mesh well with the cloud wall and can hit things on the other side of it without needing line of sight.
Overall, not the best theme for Lich Lord Asphyxious, but it can definitely work as he can deliver our fragile heavy warjacks, which are made more resilient by the theme and everyone loves free arc nodes.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 10, 2017 17:08:36 GMT
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Slaughter Fleet Raiders
Our non-satyxis living theme strikes again. Actually I was really tempted to fill this out with a bunch of mercenary units and warjacks to really get the gang fighter thing going. But you need 20 pts of units from Black Ogrun, Blood Gorgers or Devil Shadow's Mutineers to get something free. And a free Gerlak is not bad at all.
Feat targets for Asphyxious are limited to grunts so no characters which leaves out the Devil Shadow Mutineers. You could bring back blood gorgers or Black Ogrun...and Black Ogrun are the superior choice for that; however, I left them out of this list in lieu of other choices.
The excarnate spell does not work in this theme either because you don't have any undead units that you can add a grunt to. I mean sure, you can still shoot something and do damage, but you don't get the secondary ability because of lack of legal targets.
The cloud wall works as good as ever with Caustic Mist spam. It will protect your medium based troops on the approach or your warjacks with the exception of any huge bases...Which is exactly what I did in this list because the thought of a Kraken with gang fighter and 4" reach just made me really want to try it.
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Kraken - Cankerworm Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius - Stalker General Gerlak Slaughterborn (free) Ragman Blood Gorgers (max) The Devil Shadow Mutineers Cylena Raefyll and the Nyss Hunters
So right away, I took the bare minimum units to get my free Gerlak. Then I added a quality unit like the Nyss Hunters. They have no special synergy with the list other then ignoring concealment on what they are shooting so may help with poor placement of caustic mists. They are a very solid unit in that they are weapon masters in melee and have a legitimate combined ranged attack with a good range. Versatility is their middle name and you certainly pay for it at 19 pts.
Ragman was there to follow around the blood gorgers and give them some extra hitting power, or follow around the kraken and make it really eat opposing heavies. With good placement, he can gift dark shroud to multiple friendly targets.
You will notice I do not have any arc nodes in this list. I could have used at least one for parasite application, but I can still do that with a teleport if necessary. Like I mentioned earlier, excarnate was not on my list of spells to cast with this list except in a clinch target removal.
Aiakos brings a self sufficient assassin module. He typically works better with 2 stalkers, maybe you can downgrade the kraken and fit another one in. Or drop cankerworm and do it.
I am not sure I have discussed cankerworm in any of my write-ups. The one jack I always bring with any asphyxious incarnation because it really is that good. Armor piercing bite, self healing, weapon stealing, advance deploy, stealth, parry, reposition. Best damage grid on any warjack we have. You really have to destroy it to knock out any systems. I think its a great jack for its points.
So what is the game plan with this list? Close behind a cloud wall while softening up targets with the kraken, closing to melee as quickly as possible. Flank with the Nyss Hunters to try and get to a position where you can pump 2 5 man CRAs into something valuable. or 5 2-men CRAs, or 1 10-man CRA...you get the picture. The blood gorgers are your disposable meat shield and can take care of any jamming. Dark Shroud can help them hit a little harder depending on the matchup. Aiakos and his stalker may be able to get behind the lines, head butt something down and let the kraken or nyss shoot it to death.
Not a theme I would bring with Lich Lord Asphyxious as there is just too much anti-synergy.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 10, 2017 19:08:30 GMT
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Scourge of the Broken Coast
Ah Lich Lord Asphyxious, one of our casters that really doesn't want to bring living models. Can they work with him? Sure. Can he help them out? Sure. Are there any really good synergies? As I discussed in the Slaughter fleet raiders discussion, not really. Asphyxious's spell list will pretty much exclude excarnate again and his feat will be limited to POW 9 charging reach feedback girls or POW 10 magical with some special effect as they loose gang from not being part of a unit anymore. Your feat will be limited to satyxis raiders or the blood witches. I don't think you can bring in the CA as they are not a grunt and you cant bring in the raider captain as they are not a grunt. Correct me if I am wrong please, the raider captain would be worth it by herself with her auto knockdown attacks.
The theme gives all satyxis pathfinder which is great because asphyxious sure doesn't. It also gives a unit of blood witches ambush which is a great ability for that unit.
Satyxis raiders are already pretty hard to deal with at range and the cloud wall only helps.
Lich Lord Asphyxious - Cankerworm - Ripjaw x 2 - Inflictor - Slayer - Seether Satyxis Raider Captain Ragman Satyxis Blood Witches (Max) + CA Satyxis Gun Slingers Satyxis Raiders (MAX) + CA
I have a large amount of heavy jacks in with Asphyxious who really doesn't want them, I could trade out the inflictor, seether and slayer for a sepulcher or a kraken, or a leviathan and some mercs. With all the knockdown tech I have in the list, albeit most of it is crit knockdown with the exception of the raider captain, a nice ranged presence would help with a good old pop and drop, capitalizing on the DEF 9 lying down and engaged.
But having the Seether as a self sufficient beater and the inflictor as a body guard are both good options too. Its just a matter if you want to play the attrition/scenario game or go for assassination from the start.
Not much else to say with this one, raiders and blood witches are good self sufficient units that will hit harder with ragman and parasite. Against another war machine army, you will ding up their jacks and feedback the caster quite a bit. The raiders and blood witches are great at gathering souls assuming you don't do the remove from play special abilities from the blood witches. That is a bit of Skornergy to watch out for, don't deny yourself souls unless you have a good reason. So usually through the soul reaper template near the raiders.
With a good influx of souls, spell assassination could be a thing with enough softening up. One or two good excarnates to the face could get her done.
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Post by Gamingdevil on Oct 11, 2017 9:38:21 GMT
I don't think you can bring in the CA as they are not a grunt and you cant bring in the raider captain as they are not a grunt. Correct me if I am wrong please, the raider captain would be worth it by herself with her auto knockdown attacks. You are not wrong unfortunately. At one point in MK2 you would bring back Tartarus (so you couldn't even kill him to avoid getting a Curse on your caster), a Raider captain or two (no auto knockdown yet), the Satyxis Blood Hag, Gerlak and the Bane Thrall (Warrior) Officer back, which was basically enough to kill any caster in the game and then you have 4 more bane knights to go in. Unfortunately, rather than going for an iteration that said "non-character" or "trooper" first, they immediately went with "grunt" really limiting your options and it stuck since then.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 11, 2017 12:38:36 GMT
Lich Lord Terminus - Ghost Fleet
So on to the warcaster, who when I got into this game quickly became my favorite caster because he was just a really big model and something about really big models appealed to me. For me, size does matter and bigger is better. Something about unstoppable juggernauts plowing through the field ignoring the chaff to get to the priority target or just plowing through the chaff and causing all sorts of carnage appealed greatly to me.
Terminus is our "tanky" caster. With a stat line of 14 DEF and 18 ARM and 20 boxes, he can take a beating, though with the change to focus rules, not as much as he once could, where you would have basically a minimum of two turns of invulnerability thanks to his feat and 30+ armor with a good feat turn, nothing short of a colossal can hit hard enough to really hurt you and even then, it was an acceptable hit. Now, you have to spend a focus to avoid 5 damage, which is kind of like camping 5 focus, but worse since you have to spend one for the ability to reduce the damage by 5. So you don't need to camp as much focus anymore, but you are not the unstoppable juggernaut you once were.
Terminus can hit pretty hard with MAT 7 and his reach weapon at P+S 16 and scything claw at P+S 14, he hits like a heavy warjack, oh, did I mention he has assault with a POW 14 10" spray that causes auto corrosion at RAT 5. Not too bad for a more melee focused guy. Terminus can hit even more accurately and harder with his upkeep spell Malediction that reduces the DEF and ARM of any enemy models in his 2" melee range by 2 effectively making him MAT 9 and POW 18 with Doomsayer (his big sword). His scything claw also has critical pitch for some occasional fun interactions. Though I typically choose not to toss something because I want it next to me so I can kill it.
Special abilities give Terminus sacrificial pawn: undead. This means that while traveling with an entourage of undead troops, he is all but untouchable at range. Especially in a list like ghost fleet or infernal machines where you can just recycle the sac pawn target back in. In addition to this, all undead in his command range, including himself, has tough from his ability Shadow of Death. This used to be a spell he cast every turn. Keep in mind this is command range (10") now and not Control Range (12").
Terminus's spell list, aside from Malediction, is fairly irrelevant to my game play, but he does have some nice spells. Hellfire is a legit attack spell at RNG 10 and POW 14 and ignores tough and removes from play. Annihilation gives terminus souls in the AOE 3 POW 10 non-blast effect and gets the souls regardless of proximity to other models. And his one buff, Ravager that gives a target warjack in his battlegroup berserk for a turn. Redundant with a Seether, but on a more accurate reach jack can be quite good.
Terminus's feat allows him to collect the souls of all living enemy models that are destroyed in his control range (12" and proximity counts) and gets +1 ARM for each soul on him. This potentially gives him one round of invulnerability and a nice stack of power for the following turn.
Lich Lord Terminus - Barathrum - Harrower - Scavenger Wraith Engine Pistol Wraith x 2 Captain Rengrave Blackbanes Ghost Raiders (max) Revenant Cannon Crew Revenant Crew (min) + 2 riflemen Revenant Crew (min)
Pretty much the same list I always build until I can get some different troop options. Though I really have no intentions of buying more pirates.
The thing to understand about playing terminus is not asking what he does for your list but what your list can do for him. 9 times out of 10, your win condition is getting terminus to the opposing warcaster and beating their face. Terminus can also play a decent attrition game with his bubble of tough and taking a strong undead theme like Ghost Fleet, with the super recursion going on. It will be very hard to remove a couple of units of pirates from the zones, even with dedicated troop removal lists. So having said all that, how does ghost fleet deliver terminus or how does he help them hold ground and protect him? As I said before, playing the attrition game with ghost fleet is pretty easy, as that is pretty much what the theme itself does, allowing you to return +1 pirates back per turn, and now they all have tough.
The pirates themselves are great at killing infantry with gang and two attacks each. Terminus can one round almost anything in the game short of a buffed colossal (arcane shielded stormwall for example) and in that case it is probably just better to feed it some pirates and ignore it. With flight, Terminus to just charge over enemy lines if he is willing to take free strikes. He has no way of giving himself ghost walk. I didn't see any merc solos toting ghost walk as an option.
Speaking of Merc options, I noticed that Madame Corbeau was not available as an option in the themes. I don't know if that is an oversight on the part of Warroom or not, but Terminus used to love, and still does love his French prostitute. Being able to not be targeted by any warrior model, including the opposing caster, is just too good. Only warjacks and battle engines...and cavalry? can attack him under parlay. For a front line caster, its a great benefit. And I think that non-targetability would include free strikes but I would need to check on that.
Anyhow, back to Terminus or in this case, his character jack Barathrum. Accurate, hard hitting and cheap and brings with it some defensive abilities like "dig in" and "drag below". Barathrum can charge in, kill some stuff, then he gets a reposition and free dig in action from the drag below ability. It swings at POW 17 x 2 with feedback and a POW 12, has countercharge, and his bond gives him unyielding. It has a slightly better stat line than our normal jacks at 13 DEF and 18 ARM, unfortunately the same damage grid. Oh, and he advance deploys. All for 15 pts. That is a steal in my book.
I included a harrower as a reach heavy for a ravager target, with thresher, that gets fun. The only downside is that the harrower collects souls as well so can steal some from Terminus who really wants them.
The wraith engine is a good addition with terminus as it gives him +2 ARM vs ranged and magic attacks and terminus gives it tough. It is also a good source of dark shroud that terminus can charge through for a -2 DEF, -4 ARM debuff.
I like the pistol wraiths with terminus because they can control threats to him with their chain attack, making something stationary. That can also benefit your list making things easier to hit if you manage to pull it off on a high profile target. Aiming, you get MAT 9, which is dangerous to most casters and you do not have to damage, just hit, to get the stationary effect.
So overall, ghost fleet can help deliver terminus by giving your opponent more than they can handle through recurring troops. You keep jamming them, break through the front line and charge into their back lanes with a flying SPD 6 with reach terminus and melee assassinate. At least that is typically plan A. If assassination isn't viable, scenario play has a strong presence with this list. A very good theme for terminus.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 11, 2017 16:10:37 GMT
Lich Lord Terminus - Infernal Machines
There are a lot of interesting ways to build infernal machines for Terminus. You could go the full blown recursion boat and rely on a swarm of tough models that you bring back with multiple sources of recursion to dominate and control the field. You could build to really accentuate and facilitate anti-infantry to feed Terminus souls aiming for that one big feat turn to let him go and assassinate the following turn. You could even make a mostly flying theme. You can go jack heavy with the alternate jack marshall and junior warcaster available in theme. The theme provides support for casters, battlegroup and troops. Everything terminus wants to see because he does none of that.
Lich Lord Terminus - Barathrum - Scavenger x 2 Iron Lich Overseer (free) - Seether Eilish Garrity, the Occultist Soul Trapper x 2 Bile Thralls (min) + skarlock commander Mechanithralls (max) + 2 Brute thralls Necrosurgeon (free) Soulhunters (max)
The only thing here I am really not happy with in the list with this caster is the soul hunters. Sure they do good work, but I want cheap plentiful bodies that are not going to steal my souls. I could drop them and add in the carrion thralls, or Aiakos and a stalker. Or another heavy. Whatever you like.
I have three heavy warjacks in this list if you count Terminus himself. Between Barathrum, the Iron Lich/Seether combo and Terminus, there isn't much that they cannot kill with respect to hard targets and can handle most anything short of heavy jack spam, Karchev style. Though the mechanithralls can get work done on that respect. At least they can hit Khador heavies and do a bit on the charge. Brutes can deal out some damage as well.
For infantry removal, no one does it better than Biles, 2 x nerfed throughout their history, now are an 8" spray of POW 12 auto-corrosion that auto-hits, at the cost of sacrificing the shooter. You cannot purge if you are engaged because it is considered a ranged attack.
Soul Hunters are also great at this role, with three initial attacks (including impact/mount attacks) getting boosted charge attack roles as cavalry, and are very mobile. They are also very squishy for cavalry, at ARM 14 and 5 wounds will die to almost any attack that can hit their DEF 14. But getting the alpha with them is usually pretty easy. Keep in mind, they can make themselves incorporeal with a soul and they can no longer spend souls to buy attacks, only boost.
I included a pair of scavengers in here as backup for Terminus. Speed 7 flying jacks with the finisher rule, meaning P+S 11 + 4D6 on a charge against a wounded target isn't bad, and that gets better if it is against something terminus failed to kill as it is mostly likely in the bubble of malediction (-2 DEF and -2 ARM). They also have reposition and a very high base defense.
I included Eilish Garrity in this list because he adds a nice anti-magic buffer. Stripping upkeeps, punishing offensive casting, he is really good. Of course he is also very matchup dependent. You may be further ahead bringing someone along like Gorman DiWulfe, Saxon Orrick, or Ragman for different buffs or support.
Necrosurgeon is a must include for me when I bring mechanithralls, and another free choice in this theme. She can also heal terminus for D6 if you so choose. Not bad in a pinch. But it is target undead model, which would also include something like the wraith engine, but no living warcasters like the Skarres.
Overall, Terminus likes Infernal Machines. Gameplay is a lot like Ghost Fleet, flooding the field with a mountain of tough troops that have some recursion. Move Terminus up the field until you can get to their caster, protected by your cloud of meat sheilds. Infernal Machines hits a bit harder than ghost fleet does, but doesn't have the level of recursion on better quality troops.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 11, 2017 17:30:58 GMT
Lich Lord Terminus - Dark Host
This probably doesn't need to be said out loud, but this is an exceptionally good theme for terminus. Lots of hard hitting self sufficient undead models that can just move as a sweep across the board and remove anything they come across...everything that is except defensive skew. Though technically this isn't any worse than the asphyxious's for that sort of match up and malediction can help a little bit in a small portion of the board. Veteran leader from Tartarus will be very valuable in that matchup as will any accurate warjacks you bring. Bane riders are also competent at infantry removal with the accurate charge attack. Armor isn't really a problem with the sheer amount of dark shroud and weapon masters that you can field.
Lich Lord Terminus - Barathrum - Desecrator - Shrike Wraith Engine Bane Lord Tartarus Machine Wraith Bane Knights (max) Bane Warriors (max) + CA Bane Riders (max)
So the dark host theme force gives the banes prowl and allows you to place 2 4-inch dense cloud templates in play within 20" of your starting side. Those clouds are one of the first things we have encountered with Terminus involved that would help your army close unmolested. And those wont really cut it for the entire army, but with proper use of terrain and ghostly, the clouds can really supplement and make sure most of your group gets there.
Terminus provides tough to the army in a 10" bubble around himself. This is redundant with the Bane Warrior CA but now you don't need to worry if you lose the CA early. Or you can split up and not have to worry about keeping stuff close to terminus, as bane knights make better sac pawn targets in this list anyhow. Especially with the wraith engine running around. That is potentially 20 ARM vs ranged attacks. Not bad for single wound infantry, especially cryx where most anti infantry is POW 10-12. Dice-8 says better than average chance of not dying, then a tough roll too.
The shrike is a great, accurate anti-infantry jack that flies, moves fast, is hard to hit and doesn't need focus to do its job. Everything Terminus wants in a battlegroup jack. It can trample over anything in a 10" line with free boosted to hit P+S 11 attacks and is immune to free strikes while trampling.
The desecrator, as always, has great synergy with the banes and terminus especially likes the focus efficiency from the accumulator.
Great theme force that makes really good units better and helps deliver terminus. There so a lot of threat saturation that any opponent will be hard pressed to deal with the number of troops and high armor. And if they are dealing with the banes, they are not dealing with terminus.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 11, 2017 18:15:28 GMT
Lich Lord Terminus - Black Industries
So the warjack theme with terminus is not the worst fit we have, but certainly not ideal. It brings no stand alone undead units to benefit from shadow of death or act as sacrificial pawn fodder. What this theme force does do is allow warjacks to close with heightened armor against ranged attacks and provides free bone jacks. It also allows you to take some nice warcaster support in the form of the withershadow combine.
Lich Lord Terminus - Withershadow Combine - Kraken - Barathrum - Shrike x 2 (free) Iron Lich Overseer - Seether Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius - Stalker x 2 Soul Trapper Necrotech
So right away, is the wonderful withershadow combine, shadows of their former selves but still the best support necromancy can buy. Puppet master on a single target (like terminus) allows for rerolls of any attack or damage roll. Great for those inevitable whiffed rolls. Call me when you get 2 triple 1's in a row, then we can cry together. They also bring something as valuable to Terminus, free upkeep of Malediction. They also spell slave like a skarlock so that means a free casting of hellfire, which hits a bit harder than their normal black fire spell that each of them have. On Barathrum, it could be a very solid thing, or the 4" reach Kraken is even more funny assuming you can hit your targets with the MAT 6.
I did include the Kraken in this list, mostly because I love the Kraken. It does not benefit from Carapace from theme benefit; however, terminus can hide behind it and it cant be slammed or moved over him. You can unjam it using shrikes or terminus himself. It has a really nice long range gun with a legit AOE and gets stronger as the kraken kills things. Remember, the Kraken removes from play so it does not generate soul tokens when it gives itself corpse tokens. That can potentially steal from Terminus. Especially on feat turn, you probably want to stick with ranged attacks. Though you will do more damage to heavy targets with your 4" reach chain weapons at P+S 19 + 1 for each corpse token, maximum of 3. Kraken also has kill shot, so if you do kill something in melee you get a free ranged attack. It can eat the corpses it collects to fuel itself giving itself focus, not bad in a pinch if you need to have a clutch turn and need all of terminus's focus elsewhere.
The Kraken can easily be replaced with 1-2 heavies and a unit of drudges for tough meat shield bodies who can score in scenario. As the list I built here has very little scenario presence...you know other than the colossal.
You do however have 3 independent modules in the list with Aiakos and the Iron Lich Overseer being able to flank while you send Terminus and the Kraken up the middle. Or do it like Kong Island where the Kraken can flank and sneak up on literally everyone in the movie! Yeah, that isn't going to work, thanks Hollywood! So the gameplan is stuff the Kraken down their throats and let Barathrum and Terminus deal with whatever they can manage to send to kill it. That should effectively take out most threats to Terminus himself, who will then be free to hunt their caster. An advantage of the kraken is that you should have softened them up with your nice long range gun on approach, because no one expects that from Cryx.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 12, 2017 10:57:20 GMT
Lich Lord Terminus - Scourge of the Broken Coast
Our Satyxis theme, while having the advantage of having access to some of our best most self sufficient units, has no special synergies with Terminus nor does it bring any support that he wants...short of the satyxis raider captain who is awesome with auto-knockdown attacks. I mean we can build the list and the list will most likely work well because satyxis are that good, but Terminus does nothing for them, and they do nothing for him. Or do they?
Raiders, gunslingers and blood witches all excel at clearing infantry, the source of Terminus's souls. As long as you don't do a remove from play ability and rob him of souls, Terminus is fine with any group of sacrificial soldiers. Also, satyxis jam really well as they are fast enough to get into or through zones before most armies get their butts in gear so they can potentially clear a path for Terminus to get to where he wants with critical knockdowns and infantry clearing. They will have trouble with hard targets, but that is why you choose a battle group that can handle it. A self sufficient group that probably doesn't need a lot of focus to do their jobs like Seethers. We don't have access to Deathjack in theme or he would be good choice here. You already have plenty of anti-infantry tech in the list so shrikes aren't really necessary. You want hard hitting stuff to compensate for the lack of hitting power of the satyxis.
Lich Lord Terminus - Barathrum - Seether - Inflictor - Reaper - Scavenger Satyxis Raider Captain Satyxis Blood Witches (Max) + CA Satyxis Gun Slingers Satyxis Raiders (Max) + CA
So my battle group consists of a Seether which, like Barathrum, has countercharge. It can also charge without spending focus so focus efficiency right there. It also has berserk so you don't need to hit it with ravager. The seether hits naturally hard at POW 17, it just has sucky defensive stats at DEF 12 and ARM 17.
The Reaper is there to add a little threat extension. With the drag, it can reel something in and the battle group or terminus can demolish it pretty easily. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of focus efficiency with a reaper, they are focus hogs and if you want to ensure the drag, you are either boosting the damage of the drag, and maybe even boosting the to hit unless you were aiming. But what are the chances you were already in position? That never happens with me.
Alternatively you could take something with long range AOEs as the raiders are immune to blast damage most turns under whipping winds, you could just lob AOEs into the mix of whatever they are jamming and clear the jam without hurting your own troops.
Of course all of this is independent to the warcaster. Malediction will help satyxis hit a bit harder when they engage the same target as Terminus, but that is the extent of his help. They are there to help him get to where he is going and they are good at their job. They can even soften up the caster with feedback damage before he gets there to help out with the assassination run. If you can get the satyxis raider captain onto the target, it helps conserve focus by not needing to boost to hit against a knocked down target...assuming the raider captain didn't miss a lot.
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Post by Gamingdevil on Oct 12, 2017 12:06:00 GMT
Using a theme without Undead doesn't only lower the usefulness of the Tough aura, but also robs him of Sacrificial Pawns, so Terminus is much more vulnerable outside of those first 3 themes. Also, Spell Slaving Ravager unfortunately doesn't work as it targets a warjack in the battle group and unless it's a Companion, an Attached models isn't in the battle group.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 12, 2017 12:09:36 GMT
Good catch on the battlegroup clause, I did miss that. Correcting.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 13, 2017 2:20:54 GMT
Lich Lord Terminus - Slaughter Fleet Raiders
As Gamingdevil pointed out, taking Terminus with non-undead units and models can leave him more vulnerable as you are ignoring two major parts of his kit, his tough aura and his sacrificial pawn undead. I mean the tough aura still applies to himself, but he doesnt have a swarm of cheap undead guys that he gives tough too. In Slaughter Fleet Raiders, most of the troops you can choose have tough already, in the Black Ogrun Boarding Party and the Bloodgorgers.
The theme itself gives gang fighter to warjacks when they are in melee with a target that is already in melee with a faction friendly warrior model. The +2 to hit and damage is one of the best accuracy buffs Terminus is going to find. This theme also has access to Aiakos, who alleviates the focus burden off of Terminus and provides an independent module to flank or hunt priority pieces.
Lich Lord Terminus - Barathrum - Inflictor - Reaper - Scavenger x 2 Aiakos Scourge of Meredius - Stalker x 2 General Gerlak Slaughterborn Bloodgorgers (max) Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max)
Lacking sacrificial pawn targets, I included an Inflictor as a shield guard. ARM 19 and reach make it a fairly resilient and versatile combat jack, with the reach helping it to trigger gang fighter. Combined with a group like the black ogrun who can drag in medium or small bases, this jack can move in after combined ranged drag and free attack, and finish off the light warbeast or jack. Or on a charge, can do some serious damage to a warbeast with a chance of critical poison adding to the damage. With gang fighter, its MAT 9 and POW 18/POW 15 for its initials. Since its also body guarding terminus, there is a good chance you can get the malediction bonus for an additional +2/+2. Not much will survive that.
The reaper and black ogrun give alot of threat extension and janky drag mechanics to the list being able to move around enemy models closer or out of zones. Too bad that black ogrun are limited to medium and small bases, though with the combined ranged attack option, it is most likely a hit and a successful damage. The reaper will most likely need to boost damage against most heavy targets, not leaving it much focus for the helldriver. Though in a pinch and on a charge, the helldriver does have reach and sustained attack, meaning if you connect with that initial charge attack on a priority target like the opposing caster, you dont need to roll to hit again. Auto-hitting is always good.
Your anti-infantry in the list comes in the form of bloodgorgers and Gerlak Slaughterborne. Bloodgorgers have two attacks and gain berserk from Gerlak so even though they are limited at MAT 6, two attacks is in effect a reroll increasing your odds of hitting and overtake allows them to move to another target allowing berserk to give them free attacks. Gerlak has been nicknamed pacman, though having lost his reach weapon, is not as good at it as he used to be. Though MAT 8 and berserk and overtake will still kill alot of stuff. Even on harder targets, he has a POW 13 weapon with finisher, so if it is already damaged, he can get an additional dice of damage on it, effectively making him a weaponmaster.
So overall, this isnt a terrible theme for terminus, but there are much better options. The troops already have tough, anti-infantry options that do not steal his souls exist. Focus efficient support exists. And options for board control and lane clearing exist through drags.
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Post by tiberius on Oct 13, 2017 2:52:55 GMT
Lich Lord Venethrax - Ghost Fleet
Lich Lord Venethrax was once our dedicated anti-hordes caster and now has become more of a jack caster with some anti-hordes tech. He has a slew of powerful abilities that can really make a battlegroup sing, especially against living targets. He has a Focus score of 7, Speed 6, MAT 8, DEF 15 and ARM 17 with a reach weapon with P+S 15. All around solid statline and competent in combat. He has a special ability of dismember which gives an additional damage die against warbeasts, making him probably the most dangerous thing in your list against enemy warbeasts.
He has field marshall countercharge. This means any warjacks in his battle group can charge an enemy after ending its advance within 6" of the warjack if the warjack is not engaged. That is right, you cannot countercharge if you are engaged. However, you can countercharge with multiple warjacks at the target. You can only countercharge once per turn.
His weapon is almost like Reznik 2's feat. When a model is boxed by an attack made with Wyrmbane, center a 3" AOE cloud effect on the boxed model and remove it from play. Its a hazard that stays in play for one round. Enemy models in the AOE when it is placed, take a POW 12 fire damage roll. Enemy models entering or ending their activations in the cloud take the same.
Venethrax's spell list is fairly impressive. He has two attack spells, one is very good at anti-infantry. Blood rain is a 3" AOE autocorrosion spell. The damage is not that high, but the corrosion kills shield walled single wound infantry very easily. The other attack spell is Deadweight, which is a single target spell. If you manage to kill something with it, pick an enemy model within 2" of it and that model has to sacrifice either movement or its combat action the next turn.
Venethrax totes around Lamentation. This spell royally screws over most casty casters and is Venethrax's only upkeep spell. It doubles the cost of all spells cast in his control range by enemy models. In addition, it double how much it costs to upkeep spells on models/units in the spellcasters control range.
Venethrax has a very good debuff in the form of Mortality. -2 DEF and -2 ARM to target model or unit and they lose tough and cannot have damage removed from them for one round. This is not an upkeep so can be necromancied or spellslaved. This works on Gargantuans and Colossals that are normally immune to grievous wounds. This also messes over most of trolls infantry and shuts down alot of their special abilities like snacking.
Terminal Velocity, formerly Mortenebra's signature spell, has made it into Venethrax's spell list. This spell is a force multiplier by giving +2 movement to charge attacks to warjacks in your battle group charging or slamming living models. You can also charge or do power attacks without spending focus and you get boosted attack rolls against living models. I love a harrower under this spell, with reach and thresher and all boosted to hit rolls, really cleans up infantry or hard to hit warbeasts. Its also great for assassination runs, as its hard to miss.
His feat prevents focus allocation and fury leeching in his control area. This gives a measure of protection to your forces and your caster by not allowing them to fuel their jacks (though remember, this only prevents allocation, if you have an ability that grants or gives focus, that could get around it). Not allowing beasts to be leeched can cause them to frenzy and deny the warlock resources and deny the beasts from losing their fury if they dont frenzy. So it has some minor control with potentially game turning consequences depending on the resources lost by the opponent.
So Ghost Fleet, Venethrax can be built in a number of different ways, though doesnt have any special synergy with recursion. He can help your pirates hit accurately and harder. He can shut down alot of enemy casting. He can remove hard targets like shield walled temple flame guard under mini-feat. All things that the pirate list would have trouble doing by itself. In truth, Venethrax doesnt do anything really special for infantry but that doesnt mean he cant and isnt good at it.
Lich Lord Venethrax - Harrower - Inflictor - Ripjaw x 2 - Slayer Captain Rengrave Pistol Wraith x 2 Black Bane Ghost Raiders (Max) Revenant Cannon Crew Revenant Crew (min) + 2 riflemen Revenant crew (min)
As mentioned above, the harrower is my favorite warjack with Venethrax with its reach and thresher under terminal velocity. Venethrax fixes all of its problems by giving it more accuracy and allowing it to hit harder if its target is mortalitied, as normally it is only MAT 6 with a POW 16 attack. The harrower can collect souls to fuel itself or use the souls to fuel a quickwork shot with its 3" AOE (full boosted if you use a soul). And like all crab jacks, it is steady, natural pathfinder and amphibious.
Ripjaws are included as both an arcnode and a real armor piercing threat. With powerful attack, you can spend a focus to fully boost your to hit and damage rolls with a single focus. Then buy and attack and spend your third focus to do it again. Under terminal velocity, you wont need to spend your precious focus to charge, it will most likely have increased threat range and you can just set back and keep buying attacks instead of buying up powerful attacks fishing for that critical hit.
Mortality will help the ghost raiders more reliably kill their targets and replentish any losses they suffer, assuming you can protect blackbane himself. This fully incorporeal unit is good at getting where you need a nuisance group to go, or just hold a zone as magical weapons or spells are required to hurt them when they are incorporeal. Thier attacks also cause auto-fire which can be dangerous to low armor targets like in a mirror match. Cryx heavies hate fire. They are limited to MAT 6 (blackbane is MAT 7) but with mortality, their accuracy is increased greatly.
Overall, Venethrax does alot for ghostfleet but ghost fleet doesnt do much for him. It doesnt bring the support he really wants with a free upkeep or spell slaves. He does like keeping all the warjacks in his battlegroup, but had trouble feeding them beyond terminal velocity and the powerup freebie, so lacking things like warwitch sirens hurts. But Venethrax can make the list perform better, as good turd polishers do.
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