Post by challenger on Apr 9, 2018 21:59:21 GMT
So dark menagerie is definitely a top notch theme and out of the casters available to the grymkin i'd personally say there are 4 main contenders for the dark menagerie "brick" (the standard build) and one whos a bit of a dark horse but still an option.
So when i say standard build i mean:
Between 4 to 6 heavies and a knell (no knell in 6 heavy build)
Couple of crabbits, min unit of rots and gremlin swarms and karianna rose. Lights also come into play if you play less heavies such as 2x rattlers.
So those four casters are:
The Dreamer - she brings a damage and accuracy buff, a survivability bump for your beasts through enfeebling a key model/unit and ranged defense in the form of cover. She has a place effect that has a heavy tax on her fury and mirage for one model threat extension.
She has a large amount of utility through spot rfp with hat trick and her babies.
The Child - she brings a much wider threat extension damage buff with abuse and her trump. Triggering tantrum gives you a single beat 4" threat extend which is roughly comparable (although cheaper) than dreamers mirage + gate combo. Force hammer is great spell as well.
However child brings zero tools to keep her models alive. Shes pure threat extension + damage fixing. Force hammer will allow you to situationally mat fix against one model though
The Heretic - the heretic comes as the hardest to kill out of the lot (generally) as 15/17 with divinity + sacred ward and potentially dodge from a crabbit is no joke. Hes got serious damage fixing through fury + reckoning. P+S 26 Mat 9 blessed magic skin and moans are a serious threat!
His threat extension is quite random. Sometimes he will have the best threat extension vs single models in faction and sometimes he'll whiff. Gallows has a big upside and a big downside. Last game i gallowsed a bomber 5" and essentially stole 19pts of my opponents army.
Theres a serious utility in heretic sitting behind his army and threatening to steal high quality spells too. By far the best trump.
Zero protection tools
The Wanderer - comes with a general army defensive buff array. Fog gives shooting defense and star crossed is a mix. By far the most defensive choice. Playing ill omens means your opponent has to deal with 14/22 skin and moans under star crossed with arcane vortexes next to it.
A reliable 2" threat extension, a general pathfinder solution for any model in his army, and sometimes you can pull off dome cheeky 4" threat extensiom by putting a road marker somewhere your opponent cant help but trigger it.
No offensive buffs, mat fixing limited to one sp10. Repudiate is sometimes useful in cases where wraithbane isnt enough such as admonition.
Finally the dark horse of the menagerie - Old Witch 3 - she has no arcana but has shooting protection, infantry control, damage and mat fixing along with potent personal output. She has a 2" threat extension along with general pathfinder solution. Her biggest downsides are no survivability bump and she doesnt play well with another 120mm in the knell.
So basically what im getting at breaking down these 5 is you actually get a lot of repeats. They all have threat extension which varies in its ease of application and distance. Most of them have a damage bump. Some have accuracy bumps. Survivability tools varies.
When it comes to choosing between these casters you can run similiar lists but the question i ask is -- how do you choose between casters for a menagerie brick? Is it simply a matter of adjusting to a meta? Or do abilities such as manifest destiny just win out?
So when i say standard build i mean:
Between 4 to 6 heavies and a knell (no knell in 6 heavy build)
Couple of crabbits, min unit of rots and gremlin swarms and karianna rose. Lights also come into play if you play less heavies such as 2x rattlers.
So those four casters are:
The Dreamer - she brings a damage and accuracy buff, a survivability bump for your beasts through enfeebling a key model/unit and ranged defense in the form of cover. She has a place effect that has a heavy tax on her fury and mirage for one model threat extension.
She has a large amount of utility through spot rfp with hat trick and her babies.
The Child - she brings a much wider threat extension damage buff with abuse and her trump. Triggering tantrum gives you a single beat 4" threat extend which is roughly comparable (although cheaper) than dreamers mirage + gate combo. Force hammer is great spell as well.
However child brings zero tools to keep her models alive. Shes pure threat extension + damage fixing. Force hammer will allow you to situationally mat fix against one model though
The Heretic - the heretic comes as the hardest to kill out of the lot (generally) as 15/17 with divinity + sacred ward and potentially dodge from a crabbit is no joke. Hes got serious damage fixing through fury + reckoning. P+S 26 Mat 9 blessed magic skin and moans are a serious threat!
His threat extension is quite random. Sometimes he will have the best threat extension vs single models in faction and sometimes he'll whiff. Gallows has a big upside and a big downside. Last game i gallowsed a bomber 5" and essentially stole 19pts of my opponents army.
Theres a serious utility in heretic sitting behind his army and threatening to steal high quality spells too. By far the best trump.
Zero protection tools
The Wanderer - comes with a general army defensive buff array. Fog gives shooting defense and star crossed is a mix. By far the most defensive choice. Playing ill omens means your opponent has to deal with 14/22 skin and moans under star crossed with arcane vortexes next to it.
A reliable 2" threat extension, a general pathfinder solution for any model in his army, and sometimes you can pull off dome cheeky 4" threat extensiom by putting a road marker somewhere your opponent cant help but trigger it.
No offensive buffs, mat fixing limited to one sp10. Repudiate is sometimes useful in cases where wraithbane isnt enough such as admonition.
Finally the dark horse of the menagerie - Old Witch 3 - she has no arcana but has shooting protection, infantry control, damage and mat fixing along with potent personal output. She has a 2" threat extension along with general pathfinder solution. Her biggest downsides are no survivability bump and she doesnt play well with another 120mm in the knell.
So basically what im getting at breaking down these 5 is you actually get a lot of repeats. They all have threat extension which varies in its ease of application and distance. Most of them have a damage bump. Some have accuracy bumps. Survivability tools varies.
When it comes to choosing between these casters you can run similiar lists but the question i ask is -- how do you choose between casters for a menagerie brick? Is it simply a matter of adjusting to a meta? Or do abilities such as manifest destiny just win out?