Hordes Karchev (Thags2 thread)

Hmm... interesting to think about.

The throne has a higher native threat, Scythean needs slip to match. Also probably better for holding down a zone/flank, and killing more infantry. But Scythean hits harder, has more quality attacks, and takes advantage of manifest/hyper aggressive/feat.

Good input... need to think about which match ups I’m really gunning for.

If hitting power is what you need, say you are facing a bunch of enemy heavies, the Scythean is the least likely to make it. It has no shooting defense, nothing to hide behind, and has nearly the worst threat range in your list (more than the Carny but not if you include Assault or the Carnivean ability to take a charge to face). So if you are facing an enemy that doesn't shoot AND one that you out threat with your Scythean... Then it will come up. Only it doesn't hit as hard as the Carnivean (for only two more points), loses any staying power from an animus, and doesn't have a breath weapon.

Seems pretty unlikely to me.

Couple bits it can do though.

IF you can clear a path to their caster, it's feat attack can still kill them on a good damage roll thanks to Murderous.

It's wonderful against Troll Champions.

Throne, on the other hand, increases the accuracy of your entire army, is more resilient, mulches infantry like a champ, and gives all your flyers something to hide behind (and then fly over on the charge)... It won't hit as hard as the Scythean, but I would say again, just how likely do you think it will be that the Scythean is delivered safely?

Also, if you really want safety from a gun line, I think you would be much better off running Raeks to hunt them for you. As it stands right now, most gunline armies that I have seen would crush thisb list, but your meta may differ.

Nothing, he just doesn’t lose it on the initiative roll like Abby2 does. I think it’s 50/50 and just comes down to playing better than your opponent which is all you can really ask for.

I’ll summarize my position better—
Abby2 is the main drop. She has my whole heart, and I’ve established pretty good success with her.

The 3 things she doesn’t like (so far) is guns, Rasheth, and Bearka. My original plan was to play Vayl2 to answer the guns (by assassination)... but in that pair I have zero answer to Rasheth and Bearka which are too common around me.

Enter Thags2, who isn’t particularly tooled for any of those but is well rounded enough to allow me to play the game I need to. Not the best answer... but will have to do until Anamag I think.

I also recommend dropping the scythean for a throne from personal experience. The scythean is good, but inflexible, and Thagrosh2 beast heavy lists have to sacrifice way too many activations and attacks to remove units without a dedicated infantry-killer in the list, and the throne is the best bar-none. The throne is also an excellent contribution to assassination with its 4 potential spellcasts in an activation, and its tremendous reach. The throne is also defensively basically a juggernaut, so Dragon's Blood makes it an excellent tank. 

I'd also consider dropping the sorc and harrier for Ice Witches. Ice Witches dial the whole list up to 11.

So back from the team tournament—

I went 3-1 overall (2-0 with Abby2 into Fyanna2 and Heretic). Lost a game with Thags2 into Thexus by assassination... just got to aggressive with him and should have stayed back and leveraged sprays instead, felt like I was way up on attrition. Won a game into Shae, also just buy getting up on attrition.

Here is my feedback from the suggestions above—
I think the Scythean stays. It was really strong as a second wave heavy, and getting to take advantage of the feat with my entire army was game breaking. Also my opponents were really scared of it, making sure to stay outside 19” of it if they were going 0 camp because they thought the Scythean might 1 shot them using feat. Grievous wounds was also really nice for it and Thags into Thexus.

Starting with 1 harrier was also too good to take out. It allowed me to play Thags agressively against guns with a little fury battery parked behind him.

What I am weighing is a way to get Ice witches or Farrow Valks in. If I take out the S&H and turn 2 Neraphs into 1 Carni, I could fit either unit. I am also wondering if 3 Raeks could be better than 2 Neraphs. I think I’ll play another 5-10 games with the list as is and re-evaluate after that.

This will certainly be in my Kingdomcon pair, so I will have more feedback then.

Grievous Wounds, Murderous and better Mat, 2" reach.