Menoth convert looking for SR ideas/input

Its worth buying into Harbie FM.
Vilmon, double champs, 3 paladins, 2-3 units of initiates.

Not to costly, and her better mode.
Thyra is pretty great in EI.

Guardians is a garbage theme that I wouldnt bother playing when you can EI Thyra and FM Harbie.

paradox Thank you for your input. During my time lurking on this forum, I've always liked the advice you give and insight you have. I do agree that FM would be a great investment. I've always loved the paladins, so it's on the list of things to get done. I just don't know if I'll be able to get it done before the tournament. I will keep you posted on this front!

I really like the Thyra direction. Stealthed Cinerators seems like a good way to deliver them, and her damage buff will definitely go a long way juggling it between units/whomever. I think this is a great starting area for me to begin preparing for the tournament, and I'll shamelessly steal/borrow that Thyra list to kick things off. A couple questions though. Is it worth keeping the Fire of Salvation and the Knights Exemplar? I was pondering switching the FoS to a Dervish, and the Knights Exemplar unit to a 2nd Cinerator unit or Bastion unit. Maybe this is something I tweak as I get games in. For pairing purposes, being completely new to menoth aside from a handful of games (reminder I don't even see them in my meta but once in a blue moon) what kinds of things does that Thyra list not want to see? Obviously anything that ignores stealth or gets through armor, and a lot of rough terrain. Is there anything else I'm missing?

Is a pairing of double EI themes worthwhile to consider? Or does Faithful Masses provide so much utility and flexibility to my pairing and my teams options that I should really bite the bullet?

Thank you for your input and I'll try to get some games this weekend in when I'm not traveling to uphold my end of things.

All I heard was I'm putting Cyrenia Guardians in my next Masters pairing. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

'dox has the right of it for sure. To answer your questions, Thyra is a generalist that plays well into many things. She is not crazy about lists that can front a bunch of ranged pressure, though. I'm not keen on her into Cygnar or Crucible Guard. 

A couple of adds:

• HR can also play EI extremely well and loves the Judicator.
• Medium based Exemplar are quite competitive. Bastions are allergic to guns, so protect them. If you have two squads of Cinerators, I highly recommend them + CAs. I am not so big on single wound KE like 'dox is, but if you take them, I recommend several squads.
• Do not doubt the Severius0 Fire of Salvation assassination cruise missile. It works and is extremely potent under Thyra. It's like Ninja Pig (Rorsch & Brine) in a Rask WWFF list.
• Double EI is a competitive pairing. Perhaps not our *best* pairing, but it can certainly hang. I've been doing that pairing for months and felt fine (losses were not due to list mismatches except for Iona).
• You are a Mercs player so likely have Forgeguard. They are amazing with Harby and an Attendant Priest in FM. You can shrink down the Idrians for them, as Idrians tend to attract a lot of fire and die easily.

Thank you Hashmal for contributing. I do enjoy my Cinerators with CA. I always take 2 units with Crosse2 lol. And yes, I have plenty of Forgeguard. Is 30 too much lol (probably for this endeavor)? On a side note, your Cyrenia in GoT challenge sounds interesting. Please report back how it goes lol, I'm a sucker for the theme.

I will give the FoS a chance. Seems interesting and well worth the try, thank you for explaining the nuance of how it works in the grand scheme of the list. I think this Thyra direction is a good place to start, especially being a generalist; means I "should" be able to drop her in most of my match-ups (reducing the amount of prep work involved) unless I get stuck with hand grenade duty lol.

Good note on the KE paradox. It makes sense if I keep the FoS in the list so I shall do that for now.

Any other insights, tidbits, and potential pitfalls are appreciated. I'm hoping to get 2-3 games in this weekend, and start tripping over my feet with Thyra (She can't be much harder to play than Ossrum right? LOL).

RE Guardians, the theme is full of lower ARM, single wound, light-hitting troops, with nothing to compensate other than jacks.
Outside free points, you must take TFG or daughters to realize benefits. Ambusg daughters is solid, and the new SR might help them see value, but they are nothing special. Minor value at best on an already fast, mobile AD unit.
TFG get to be a faux anvil, but not really. Shield wall and Iron Zeal get them to just cinerator ARM. No KD and Tough is cute, and twice the bodies, but no real wounds and zero real hitting power. If you need a brick, you play cinerators in EI because they are better than TFG in every way for 1-3pts more.

Theres no incentive to take cleansers at all. You cant get Sev0. Feora3 is the worst caster in the stable and this theme is a death trap for her. She can prop up its hitting weakness, but does nothing to up its strengths and has zero protections. You also cant get the BE for lol-death sprays. The best use Ive found is Sevy1, but I prefer him in my non-theme list to Guardians, which probably tells you everything you need to know about this theme - even Sevy1 turd polishes better out of this theme than in it.

The ONLY nice thing in theme are flamebringers. They are pretty great. But know what? Pretty soon youll be playing these in Warriors of the Old Faith, or Hearts of Darkness with a Zaateroth pair. Both themes are clearly better than Guardians in pretty much every way for flameguard models. WotOF at least offers FB a minor buff and interesting caster/list options. HoD offers Regna, lamentor bubbles, Valin Hauke, etc for any flameguard you try.

Guardian solo options are also limited. You go a more-better daughter Nicia and more better TFG Pyrhhus. Unless you skipped TFG (I often do) then hes missing some of his best tech. Neither solves any issues the theme has.

IMO the theme needs a complete overhaul to entice more variety, alongside a Flameguard CID because the sub-faction is just sadly lacking substance right now.