skormedlover87
Junior Strategist
Desperately searching for days off to game...
Posts: 517
|
Post by skormedlover87 on Feb 18, 2018 19:45:07 GMT
So I'm going to a steamroller next weekend and I've decided to put my big beautiful mammoth on the field. I got it last July and it hasn't seen table time god damnit. My problem is, I don't know what caster to take him with. I've been looking at Mak1, Mak3 and Hexy1 but I can't come to a decision without flip-flopping a day later.
So you all decide. I've got everyone but Zaadesh2, however X2 is out as my pair and fatty is out because I've been playing him nonstop since mk3 dropped. Suggestions?
|
|
|
Post by bloodsplatterartist on Feb 18, 2018 21:15:32 GMT
Both versions of Hexeris run him fairly well.
Parasite let's him maul heavies at range and hexy1's feat works well with the reach of his guns.
Hexy2 is probably a little better though. Banishing ward keeps obnoxious spells like parasite, mortality, and stranglehold off of him and black spot let's helps him clear infantry almost as well as Hexy1. Vampiric harvest also supports the mammoth well. With agonizer/ krea support and no debuffs he is incredibly hard to one round and can constantly heal himself back up as your army kills things. Combine this with a unit of beast handlers behind him healing him and he should be a nightmare to remove.
I have one other moderately janky idea, Makeda 1. I don't think he would hate having access to quicken. Also with counterblast and retaliatory strike he has two chances to crit pitch away an attacker or at least potentially damage an important system on an attacker. Pair it with a couple of turtles in warhoast and you could have a super beefy gunline that can knock down or throw away most enemies that try to charge it. The feat would also allow your beast handlers to survive with so few screening models.
|
|
demonic
Junior Strategist
Posts: 649
|
Post by demonic on Feb 19, 2018 1:38:17 GMT
Mak1 with quicken is a really good idea, but I think Mak1 has better reasons to have him. 1. Shieldguard field martial- mammoth is a tank for soaking up damage. he's one of the harder gargs to 1 round, for sure, especially when he's softening up the crowd with his guns. Taking on shots he can nullify with his high armor and numerous boxes makes him a great target for shieldguard. 2. Carnage + Jackhammer + Mammoth's massive base- After the mammoth is put into melee, Mak1 can use jackhammer to allow him to clear 3 heavies in a round, easily letting him earn his keep in your list. This works especially well since he won't be missing much with +2 mat. 3. Mak's feat- no one is going to piss off a pow 19 beast unless they plan on killing it or being killed. Ret strike on a garg sized base can be a massive road block, and deterrent, for assassination runs on the turn where Mak's life takes a bit of a blow. Quiken's jankiness on top of this makes things really interesting, especially if you fit in the Gladiator for +2 additional movement. I have another nice pairing for it as well: Bronzeback Titan- his animus, puissance, works on jackhammer, meaning you can nudge the mammoth's big ass an additional 6 inches if you wanted too
|
|
|
Post by oranjejus on Feb 19, 2018 2:37:04 GMT
Makeda3. She's the best looking one. Is there any other reason you need?
|
|
skormedlover87
Junior Strategist
Desperately searching for days off to game...
Posts: 517
|
Post by skormedlover87 on Feb 19, 2018 3:38:56 GMT
Mak1 with quicken is a really good idea, but I think Mak1 has better reasons to have him. 1. Shieldguard field martial- mammoth is a tank for soaking up damage. he's one of the harder gargs to 1 round, for sure, especially when he's softening up the crowd with his guns. Taking on shots he can nullify with his high armor and numerous boxes makes him a great target for shieldguard. 2. Carnage + Jackhammer + Mammoth's massive base- After the mammoth is put into melee, Mak1 can use jackhammer to allow him to clear 3 heavies in a round, easily letting him earn his keep in your list. This works especially well since he won't be missing much with +2 mat. 3. Mak's feat- no one is going to piss off a pow 19 beast unless they plan on killing it or being killed. Ret strike on a garg sized base can be a massive road block, and deterrent, for assassination runs on the turn where Mak's life takes a bit of a blow. Quiken's jankiness on top of this makes things really interesting, especially if you fit in the Gladiator for +2 additional movement. I have another nice pairing for it as well: Bronzeback Titan- his animus, puissance, works on jackhammer, meaning you can nudge the mammoth's big ass an additional 6 inches if you wanted too I've thought about all that and I like it. Except the BB thing. Gargossals can't move except when they're supposed to. No repo, no sprint, no out of activation moves.
|
|
skormedlover87
Junior Strategist
Desperately searching for days off to game...
Posts: 517
|
Post by skormedlover87 on Feb 19, 2018 3:44:27 GMT
Makeda3. She's the best looking one. Is there any other reason you need? I was looking at her for 2 reasons. 1) I haven't played her yet (bought just before mk3) and I really want to 2) by including the Mammoth at all its a bit of a funzies list anyway so why try to make it good right? That being said Mak1 will function better and therefore might be more fun??? You see my dilemma now right?
|
|
boozy
Junior Strategist
Posts: 429
|
Post by boozy on Feb 19, 2018 12:50:14 GMT
The Hexys are both solid, and I partuxularly agree on the Hexy2 argument.
As an alternate approach, perhaps see if Morghoul2 in DoA id your flavor. With a Splatter Boar, the debuffs seriously tune his gun past 10, making it legitimate infantry clearance, heavy softener, and assassination threat.
|
|
skormedlover87
Junior Strategist
Desperately searching for days off to game...
Posts: 517
|
Post by skormedlover87 on Feb 19, 2018 17:12:10 GMT
The Hexys are both solid, and I partuxularly agree on the Hexy2 argument. As an alternate approach, perhaps see if Morghoul2 in DoA id your flavor. With a Splatter Boar, the debuffs seriously tune his gun past 10, making it legitimate infantry clearance, heavy softener, and assassination threat. Real DoA is out as I don't have any minion beasts and being in that theme without them makes me sad.
|
|
boozy
Junior Strategist
Posts: 429
|
Post by boozy on Feb 19, 2018 20:28:20 GMT
The Hexys are both solid, and I partuxularly agree on the Hexy2 argument. As an alternate approach, perhaps see if Morghoul2 in DoA id your flavor. With a Splatter Boar, the debuffs seriously tune his gun past 10, making it legitimate infantry clearance, heavy softener, and assassination threat. Real DoA is out as I don't have any minion beasts and being in that theme without them makes me sad. Fair enough, but a single Splatter Boar is all you really want, at least 'beast wise. Units could be standard Skorne Nihilators and Bloodrunners, both of which are good in theme and like the kit, and qualify for freebies. The only other 'beast I think is essential with Morghoul2 is the Archidon, which is a faction staple.
|
|
|
Post by oranjejus on Feb 19, 2018 21:02:33 GMT
Makeda3. She's the best looking one. Is there any other reason you need? I was looking at her for 2 reasons. 1) I haven't played her yet (bought just before mk3) and I really want to 2) by including the Mammoth at all its a bit of a funzies list anyway so why try to make it good right? That being said Mak1 will function better and therefore might be more fun??? You see my dilemma now right? Those are both _excellent_ reasons. She's my 3rd most played caster, and vouch heavily for her funsies factor. I've never been bored playing her, tho she can feel very 'wait, wait, boom?' She never really offered that much to support the force (outside of that tasty, tasty grievous.) Instead it was usually advance everything towards enemy as inexorable tide, then Makeda takes Molik out as her dance partner and they do the Chainsaw Mowdown. Whenever I didn't blow up the right pieces, or had bad target priority, Makeda usually went bye-bye But dayum if she doesn't hit like a truck and go scary long distances. I've never gargantuaned - her or otherwise - so I cannot comment on that front.
|
|
demonic
Junior Strategist
Posts: 649
|
Post by demonic on Feb 20, 2018 2:49:42 GMT
the garg base size is a pain in the ass. They are huge, walking targets that are easy to hit and, under the right circumstances, easy to kill. In order for a model like the mammoth, a good 38 pts, to make his points back, you'd have to either kill off 38 pts of the enemy or control EVERY aspect of the battle in your favor just for fielding it. Gargs like the Glacier King (35 pts) for trolls are a good example of control. Your caster gains access to the Frozen Ground spell, which is killer, and being within 3 inches of him gives your friendly faction model's concealment, helping them move up the board before engagement. The Troll's Mountain King (36 pts) is a good example of the earlier, as his ability to survive long enough for him to splatter 36 pts worth of models is pretty easy with a pow 16 assaulting 10 inch spray and two PS 19 fists on a model that has Rage as it's animus x.x Other than Trolls fielding their gargs, though, you won't see many 120mm bases other than battle engines.
Mmm, if I was going to make a list PURELY for fielding the mammoth, I think I'd choose between Jalaam, Xerxis2, Naaresh, Hexy1, Hexy2, and Mak1...
The mammoth benefits most from Xerxis2, as his slow, bumbling ass will actually be able to get up the field fast enough to be of real use.
Jalaam has Deadeye and can really benefit from counter blast on preyed targets. His feat also bumps up his survivability rate by quite a bit.
Naaresh has the beast points to wield a few heavies without feeling the hurt and has blur to really throw people for a loop... suddenly a garg has 12 def and 20 arm!? Pain response helps quite a bit with getting the most out of the mammoth's melee strength, and during feat turn he'd just be pounding away.
As for Hexy 1 The mammoth makes a great Soul Slave target, plus combining parasite with his feat? the mammoth would allow you to cause some humorous chain attacks.
Hexy2 reaps the benefits when combining the archidon with black spot and then laying down the areal bombardment from the mammoth.
I'd then like to add... In regards to the synergy of the mammoth and the Bronzeback Titan, Beat back does work when the mammoth is pounding away with his 3 melee attacks and 5 fury. It only does not work during a spell like jackhammer.
|
|
skormedlover87
Junior Strategist
Desperately searching for days off to game...
Posts: 517
|
Post by skormedlover87 on Feb 20, 2018 2:58:16 GMT
I was looking at her for 2 reasons. 1) I haven't played her yet (bought just before mk3) and I really want to 2) by including the Mammoth at all its a bit of a funzies list anyway so why try to make it good right? That being said Mak1 will function better and therefore might be more fun??? You see my dilemma now right? Those are both _excellent_ reasons. She's my 3rd most played caster, and vouch heavily for her funsies factor. I've never been bored playing her, tho she can feel very 'wait, wait, boom?' She never really offered that much to support the force (outside of that tasty, tasty grievous.) Instead it was usually advance everything towards enemy as inexorable tide, then Makeda takes Molik out as her dance partner and they do the Chainsaw Mowdown. Whenever I didn't blow up the right pieces, or had bad target priority, Makeda usually went bye-bye But dayum if she doesn't hit like a truck and go scary long distances. I've never gargantuaned - her or otherwise - so I cannot comment on that front. I'm thinking it would make a wonderful barrier for her to one side, and definitely keep Aggy safer if he can squeeze in between and behind them. Maybe... Mak3 Court Mammoth Archidon Rhinodon Gladiator Free Aggy Free Krea Max Brigands w' Warlord Min Handlers
|
|
demonic
Junior Strategist
Posts: 649
|
Post by demonic on Feb 20, 2018 4:31:26 GMT
*looks at the min handlers portion* yeeaaaaaa- can't agree with that for a full functioning list. Depending on terrain, you'll be using up a base of 5 fury just with your animi, not to mention the additional run/charge order fury, bringing it up to 11 fury for just your first turn, meaning Mak3 will be empty even with every handler knocking off a fury. The turn afterward, you're more than likely going to be getting some bombardment to try and kill either the krea or aggy IF your opponent is smart enough to do so. A drifting AoE hitting even 1 or 2 of the handlers would be fatal to your fury control and spell selection for the rest of the game.
|
|
skormedlover87
Junior Strategist
Desperately searching for days off to game...
Posts: 517
|
Post by skormedlover87 on Feb 20, 2018 8:49:54 GMT
*looks at the min handlers portion* yeeaaaaaa- can't agree with that for a full functioning list. Depending on terrain, you'll be using up a base of 5 fury just with your animi, not to mention the additional run/charge order fury, bringing it up to 11 fury for just your first turn, meaning Mak3 will be empty even with every handler knocking off a fury. The turn afterward, you're more than likely going to be getting some bombardment to try and kill either the krea or aggy IF your opponent is smart enough to do so. A drifting AoE hitting even 1 or 2 of the handlers would be fatal to your fury control and spell selection for the rest of the game. And this is where I tell you my X2 7Drake, 3 Krea list has only min handlers and your mind explodes! Really it's not a big problem. Mammoth and Archidon deal with terrain on my side of the board, everything can practically charge for free and there's little need for most protective animi turn 1 outside extreme circumstances. Seriously, let the handlers stay at arms length and they'll be fine. Besides, Mak's feat takes care of any fury issues that turn and after that you've gone far enough it shouldn't be a problem.
|
|