Getting Started in Minions Guide
Oct 23, 2017 14:01:07 GMT
zeffid, shortcutbacon, and 1 more like this
Post by Gaston on Oct 23, 2017 14:01:07 GMT
NOTE: This was written as of Oct 2017 and may not reflect the newest CID rules changes.
Welcome to Minions, where everything is delicious, including us!
The purpose of this guide is to assist a new player with purchasing priorities in Minions. As such the focus is:
-Low model count; to make it easier to get painted up and learn each model’s rules
-Models that can be used in a broad variety of lists
-Building towards 75 points quickly; that point level makes it easiest to get games in
-Lists that are competent; sample lists may not be the best, but they will not embarrass you
Because of this, more of the focus will be on building two battlegroup heavy lists, rather than taking infantry. Every caster will use beasts, and a certain selection of solos are desirable in a majority of Minion lists as well.
When starting Minions, there are two different pacts you can choose a warlock from, Thornfall Alliance (Pigs + Arkadius) or Blindwater Congregation (Gators + Rask). Pig casters can only take pig beasts, and gator casters can only take swamp beasts; as is designated on the cards for the various beasts. The two exceptions are that Arkadius is allowed to take Goraxes, and Midas is allowed to take Boneswarms; this is also noted on their cards.
Battle Boxes
While there are no retail battleboxes for Minions, the Journeyman packet specifies these as the starter sets:
Helga the Conqueror
-War Hog
-Battle Boar
-Razor Boar x2
Bloody Barnabas
-Blackhide Wrastler
-Boneswarm
-Bull Snapper
While these are perfectly fine battleboxes, they are not necessarily where I would recommend a newer player to start for several reasons. Neither Helga nor Barnabas are specifically beast heavy casters, and building with beasts is the fastest way to build to a 75 point army with the fewest purchases. Additionally, lists that are built to maximize the abilities of Helga/Barnabas do not necessarily include a lot of models that will be taken across several lists.
Recommended Caster Purchases
The two caster pair that I suggest to start each pact is:
Carver/Arkadius
Rask/Jaga-Jaga/eBarnabus*
These are ones that I consider to be strong battle group centric casters, who take a lot of models that you will be able to get use from across many lists.
*eBarnabas would be a better choice than Jaga here, but he is a very expensive model
Recommended Battle Group Purchases
Starting with Thornfall Alliance Battle Group:
x2 War Hogs
x2 Road Hogs
x2 Battle Boars
War Hogs are your bread and butter melee heavy for pigs, and when fully buffed hit quite hard. While Road Hogs do not hit as hard, they are faster and bring a spray gun that is quite useful. Battle Boars are a very common utility light in Thornfall, you will traditionally see 1-2 in most lists (and even some gator lists) as they can give out the Primal animus. This list here totals 69 points.
Starting with Blindwater Congregation Battle Group:
x2 Wrastlers
x2 Spitters
x1 Blindwalker
Much like the War Hog, the Wrastler is a bread and butter melee heavy and quite good at its job. The Spitter is a solid gun beast, and when buffed is reasonable in melee as well. Finally the Blindwalker finds a spot specifically with casters such as Maelok and Calaban, and should be included if you are considering those casters specifically. This list here totals 74 points, but as of January 2018 will total 70 points as the beast costs are expected to change.
Recommended Lesser Warlock Purchases
Once we have our initial casters and battle groups, it is time to consider lesser warlocks. Although most other factions take lesser warlocks sparingly, they are an important part of the Minions faction and very useful to bring in your lists. They are:
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Rorsh and Brine
Dahlia and Skarath
Brun and Lug
For starting Thornfall Alliance, I would recommend considering Rorsh and Dahlia, for Blindwater Congregation, I would recommend Wrong Eye and Dahlia. The exception is usually Rask. His current most popular list build is “Super Friends”, and consists of Wrong Eye, Rorsh, and Dahlia. While Brun has various strengths that he can bring to a list, he is not traditionally considered a “must have”. Lesser point costs range from 15 to 17 points.
Building the Lists Thus Far
Lord Carver, BMMD (63/75 pts)
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
Rorsh and Brine
Dr. Arkadius (61/75 pts)
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
Dahlia and Skarath
Rask (69/75 pts)
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Dahlia and Skarath
Jaga-Jaga (50/75 pts)
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
Dahlia and Skarath
eBarnabas (72/75 pts)
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
Dahlia and Skarath
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
When playing Warmachine, it is generally accepted and expected that you will be playing a theme list. As the focus of these are beast heavy lists, the most appropriate theme for all is Will Work for Food. In addition to speeding up your beasts on Turn 1, you will get a significant amount of free solos and your warbeasts will gain the Overtake ability (move 1” after killing a model). As your collection grows, it may make more sense to transition into some of the more infantry focused themes, such as Jaga-Jaga in Blindwater.
Commonly Useful Solos
As a faction that shares models with others, Minions has a fair number of solos, character an otherwise. Here are a few of the ones that most commonly make it into lists:
-Targ
-Gatorman Soul Slave
-Lanyssa Ryssyll
-Orin Midwinter
-Kwaak and Gub
-Totem Hunter
-Bog Trog Mist Speaker
-Hutchuck
-Feralgiest/Gremlin Swarm
-Gatorman Witch Doctor
Far from an exhaustive list, but a good starting place.
In addition to these solos, there are support units that bear consideration:
-Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
-Farrow Bone Grinders
-Spirit Cauldron
The Bellows Crew brings a unit that can grab zones or drop a cloud to help protect your caster. The Bone Grinders increase spell range, but also are useful to feed the feats of Jaga and eBarnabas. The Spirit Cauldron is used to give eBarnabas corpses to power his abilities.
Putting it All Together
Lord Carver, BMMD, Will Work for Food
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Gatorman Soul Slave
Rorsh and Brine
Mist Speaker
Feralgiest
Feralgiest
Kwaak and Gub
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Orin Midwinter
Dr. Arkadius, Will Work for Food
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Targ
Dahlia and Skarath
Feralgiest
Kwaak and Gub
Orin Midwinter
Hutchuck
Bone Grinders (max)
Rask, Will Work for Food
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
-Gatorman Soul Slave
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Dahlia and Skarath
Mist Speaker
Kwaak and Gub
Totem Hunter
Orin Midwinter
Jaga-Jaga, Will Work for Food
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
-Gatorman Soul Slave
Dahlia and Skarath
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Kwaak and Gub
Orin Midwinter
Farrow Bone Grinders (max)
Going Forward
The above lists are just samples--feel free to experiment with your own ideas or just add in models that you think look cool! The easiest way to expand beyond these lists is with units. Farrow Brigands and Croak Raiders are very solid skirmishers for both pacts, and Nyss Hunters bear consideration as well. The Sacral Vault is a fantastic battle engine, and the Meat Thresher can perform well when properly supported as well.
Welcome to Minions, where everything is delicious, including us!
The purpose of this guide is to assist a new player with purchasing priorities in Minions. As such the focus is:
-Low model count; to make it easier to get painted up and learn each model’s rules
-Models that can be used in a broad variety of lists
-Building towards 75 points quickly; that point level makes it easiest to get games in
-Lists that are competent; sample lists may not be the best, but they will not embarrass you
Because of this, more of the focus will be on building two battlegroup heavy lists, rather than taking infantry. Every caster will use beasts, and a certain selection of solos are desirable in a majority of Minion lists as well.
When starting Minions, there are two different pacts you can choose a warlock from, Thornfall Alliance (Pigs + Arkadius) or Blindwater Congregation (Gators + Rask). Pig casters can only take pig beasts, and gator casters can only take swamp beasts; as is designated on the cards for the various beasts. The two exceptions are that Arkadius is allowed to take Goraxes, and Midas is allowed to take Boneswarms; this is also noted on their cards.
Battle Boxes
While there are no retail battleboxes for Minions, the Journeyman packet specifies these as the starter sets:
Helga the Conqueror
-War Hog
-Battle Boar
-Razor Boar x2
Bloody Barnabas
-Blackhide Wrastler
-Boneswarm
-Bull Snapper
While these are perfectly fine battleboxes, they are not necessarily where I would recommend a newer player to start for several reasons. Neither Helga nor Barnabas are specifically beast heavy casters, and building with beasts is the fastest way to build to a 75 point army with the fewest purchases. Additionally, lists that are built to maximize the abilities of Helga/Barnabas do not necessarily include a lot of models that will be taken across several lists.
Recommended Caster Purchases
The two caster pair that I suggest to start each pact is:
Carver/Arkadius
Rask/Jaga-Jaga/eBarnabus*
These are ones that I consider to be strong battle group centric casters, who take a lot of models that you will be able to get use from across many lists.
*eBarnabas would be a better choice than Jaga here, but he is a very expensive model
Recommended Battle Group Purchases
Starting with Thornfall Alliance Battle Group:
x2 War Hogs
x2 Road Hogs
x2 Battle Boars
War Hogs are your bread and butter melee heavy for pigs, and when fully buffed hit quite hard. While Road Hogs do not hit as hard, they are faster and bring a spray gun that is quite useful. Battle Boars are a very common utility light in Thornfall, you will traditionally see 1-2 in most lists (and even some gator lists) as they can give out the Primal animus. This list here totals 69 points.
Starting with Blindwater Congregation Battle Group:
x2 Wrastlers
x2 Spitters
x1 Blindwalker
Much like the War Hog, the Wrastler is a bread and butter melee heavy and quite good at its job. The Spitter is a solid gun beast, and when buffed is reasonable in melee as well. Finally the Blindwalker finds a spot specifically with casters such as Maelok and Calaban, and should be included if you are considering those casters specifically. This list here totals 74 points, but as of January 2018 will total 70 points as the beast costs are expected to change.
Recommended Lesser Warlock Purchases
Once we have our initial casters and battle groups, it is time to consider lesser warlocks. Although most other factions take lesser warlocks sparingly, they are an important part of the Minions faction and very useful to bring in your lists. They are:
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Rorsh and Brine
Dahlia and Skarath
Brun and Lug
For starting Thornfall Alliance, I would recommend considering Rorsh and Dahlia, for Blindwater Congregation, I would recommend Wrong Eye and Dahlia. The exception is usually Rask. His current most popular list build is “Super Friends”, and consists of Wrong Eye, Rorsh, and Dahlia. While Brun has various strengths that he can bring to a list, he is not traditionally considered a “must have”. Lesser point costs range from 15 to 17 points.
Building the Lists Thus Far
Lord Carver, BMMD (63/75 pts)
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
Rorsh and Brine
Dr. Arkadius (61/75 pts)
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
Dahlia and Skarath
Rask (69/75 pts)
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Dahlia and Skarath
Jaga-Jaga (50/75 pts)
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
Dahlia and Skarath
eBarnabas (72/75 pts)
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
Dahlia and Skarath
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
When playing Warmachine, it is generally accepted and expected that you will be playing a theme list. As the focus of these are beast heavy lists, the most appropriate theme for all is Will Work for Food. In addition to speeding up your beasts on Turn 1, you will get a significant amount of free solos and your warbeasts will gain the Overtake ability (move 1” after killing a model). As your collection grows, it may make more sense to transition into some of the more infantry focused themes, such as Jaga-Jaga in Blindwater.
Commonly Useful Solos
As a faction that shares models with others, Minions has a fair number of solos, character an otherwise. Here are a few of the ones that most commonly make it into lists:
-Targ
-Gatorman Soul Slave
-Lanyssa Ryssyll
-Orin Midwinter
-Kwaak and Gub
-Totem Hunter
-Bog Trog Mist Speaker
-Hutchuck
-Feralgiest/Gremlin Swarm
-Gatorman Witch Doctor
Far from an exhaustive list, but a good starting place.
In addition to these solos, there are support units that bear consideration:
-Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
-Farrow Bone Grinders
-Spirit Cauldron
The Bellows Crew brings a unit that can grab zones or drop a cloud to help protect your caster. The Bone Grinders increase spell range, but also are useful to feed the feats of Jaga and eBarnabas. The Spirit Cauldron is used to give eBarnabas corpses to power his abilities.
Putting it All Together
Lord Carver, BMMD, Will Work for Food
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Gatorman Soul Slave
Rorsh and Brine
Mist Speaker
Feralgiest
Feralgiest
Kwaak and Gub
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Orin Midwinter
Dr. Arkadius, Will Work for Food
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Road Hog
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Targ
Dahlia and Skarath
Feralgiest
Kwaak and Gub
Orin Midwinter
Hutchuck
Bone Grinders (max)
Rask, Will Work for Food
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
-Gatorman Soul Slave
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Dahlia and Skarath
Mist Speaker
Kwaak and Gub
Totem Hunter
Orin Midwinter
Jaga-Jaga, Will Work for Food
-Wrastler
-Wrastler
-Spitter
-Spitter
-Gatorman Soul Slave
Dahlia and Skarath
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw
Kwaak and Gub
Orin Midwinter
Farrow Bone Grinders (max)
Going Forward
The above lists are just samples--feel free to experiment with your own ideas or just add in models that you think look cool! The easiest way to expand beyond these lists is with units. Farrow Brigands and Croak Raiders are very solid skirmishers for both pacts, and Nyss Hunters bear consideration as well. The Sacral Vault is a fantastic battle engine, and the Meat Thresher can perform well when properly supported as well.
