Post by hocestbellum on Jul 10, 2019 10:44:12 GMT
As the full moon approaches and I start thinking crazy thoughts, I've been contemplating running Harkevich again.
I'm on record as saying that Hark is our worst caster. He can't support troops, and for the vast majority of army compositions he only has one spell. His one good spell isn't even one you cast often after about turn 3 because the lines have already met. So why do I keep coming back to him? Well, he may be just a feat and a single spell, but damn are they good. His feat is the only mass ARM boost our jacks can get, and it gives free charges. Mobility fixes two big issues with Khador jacks.
I think that with the upcoming theme changes Hark will look better in Wolves of Winter. It has ARM debuffs, DEF debuffs, troop clearing, extra focus... in short, all the things that jack heavy lists need. The Greylords patch the weaknesses in his toolkit, and Hark buffs speed and ARM, which they can't do normally. I tried something along these lines back in January, but the lack of free options (and usable theme benefits) meant that it didn't quite click. But now you'll be able to take three free options regardless of the army composition. I also think the addition of the Void Archon to the theme is going to be significant; extra ARM debuff, sort-of Grievous Wounds, and so on.
Some thoughts from my brief run in January:
1) Probably don't need the Adjunct. No upkeeps, no ranged spells he'll actually cast, and I have other sources of clouds. It felt like I was paying 4 points to sometimes have Eyeless Sight, which didn't seem worth it. Maybe meta dependent, though.
2) Hark loves a buddy jack, but doesn't care if it's in his battlegroup. I was originally running a Rager as an Iron Sentinel bodyguard, but it felt like a 10-point tax. I switched to a Destroyer, which would actually do some work whilst playing bodyguard. I also gave it a shot whilst Marshaled on a Forge Seer; really liked it. Not sure if I prefer the Repo and free focus or the magic, blessed weapons.
3) Hark is actually pretty nails on feat turn; I ran the War Dog since the Adjunct was useless, and he had a buddy jack and a cloud. That put him at 18/21 no KD against both melee and shooting. Even without the extras, 16/21 no KD is not trivial to assassinate.
4) Not a fan of the Kodiak trick. It's cute, but I'm probably running 5-6 jacks tops, so having most of them struggle so much to dent the big stuff was really annoying. Always felt I needed harder hitters.
So the basis of the list I'm working towards is as follows: (I'm assuming the Requisition options will be the same as the current free options)
[Harkevich 1] Kommander Harkevich, the Iron Wolf [+28]
- Juggernaut [13]
- Juggernaut [13]
- Marauder [11]
- Marauder [11]
- Marauder [11]
Greylord Forge Seer [4]
- Destroyer [14]
Koldun Lord [0]
Koldun Lord [0]
Greylord Ternion [0]
That only comes to 49 points, which gives me a lot to play around with! Options:
Another jack: I don't see too many problems with having 6-7 jacks instead of 5-6.
Ruin: Either as an extra jack, or more likely as an upgrade to one fo the existing ones. He's a very good piece.
Void Archon: Man, having Dark Shroud and Entropic Force is tempting, along with that high value spray and generally nice abilities
Outriders: Good target for Apparition, generally good troop clearers. A min unit could be good.
Mechanics: The list could do with some more units for scenario play, and they synergise well with Hark's feat where your opponent will have a really hard time killing your jacks.
Eliminators: Never a bad shout
More support: Could take another Ternion, or another Forge Seer. Feels more like redundancy than an efficient choice, though. I could even take another entire Destroyer module?
War Dog: Could let Hark play a bit more aggressively, and as a bonus you can call him Kommander Barkevich, the Iron Woof.
What are people's thoughts?
I'm on record as saying that Hark is our worst caster. He can't support troops, and for the vast majority of army compositions he only has one spell. His one good spell isn't even one you cast often after about turn 3 because the lines have already met. So why do I keep coming back to him? Well, he may be just a feat and a single spell, but damn are they good. His feat is the only mass ARM boost our jacks can get, and it gives free charges. Mobility fixes two big issues with Khador jacks.
I think that with the upcoming theme changes Hark will look better in Wolves of Winter. It has ARM debuffs, DEF debuffs, troop clearing, extra focus... in short, all the things that jack heavy lists need. The Greylords patch the weaknesses in his toolkit, and Hark buffs speed and ARM, which they can't do normally. I tried something along these lines back in January, but the lack of free options (and usable theme benefits) meant that it didn't quite click. But now you'll be able to take three free options regardless of the army composition. I also think the addition of the Void Archon to the theme is going to be significant; extra ARM debuff, sort-of Grievous Wounds, and so on.
Some thoughts from my brief run in January:
1) Probably don't need the Adjunct. No upkeeps, no ranged spells he'll actually cast, and I have other sources of clouds. It felt like I was paying 4 points to sometimes have Eyeless Sight, which didn't seem worth it. Maybe meta dependent, though.
2) Hark loves a buddy jack, but doesn't care if it's in his battlegroup. I was originally running a Rager as an Iron Sentinel bodyguard, but it felt like a 10-point tax. I switched to a Destroyer, which would actually do some work whilst playing bodyguard. I also gave it a shot whilst Marshaled on a Forge Seer; really liked it. Not sure if I prefer the Repo and free focus or the magic, blessed weapons.
3) Hark is actually pretty nails on feat turn; I ran the War Dog since the Adjunct was useless, and he had a buddy jack and a cloud. That put him at 18/21 no KD against both melee and shooting. Even without the extras, 16/21 no KD is not trivial to assassinate.
4) Not a fan of the Kodiak trick. It's cute, but I'm probably running 5-6 jacks tops, so having most of them struggle so much to dent the big stuff was really annoying. Always felt I needed harder hitters.
So the basis of the list I'm working towards is as follows: (I'm assuming the Requisition options will be the same as the current free options)
[Harkevich 1] Kommander Harkevich, the Iron Wolf [+28]
- Juggernaut [13]
- Juggernaut [13]
- Marauder [11]
- Marauder [11]
- Marauder [11]
Greylord Forge Seer [4]
- Destroyer [14]
Koldun Lord [0]
Koldun Lord [0]
Greylord Ternion [0]
That only comes to 49 points, which gives me a lot to play around with! Options:
Another jack: I don't see too many problems with having 6-7 jacks instead of 5-6.
Ruin: Either as an extra jack, or more likely as an upgrade to one fo the existing ones. He's a very good piece.
Void Archon: Man, having Dark Shroud and Entropic Force is tempting, along with that high value spray and generally nice abilities
Outriders: Good target for Apparition, generally good troop clearers. A min unit could be good.
Mechanics: The list could do with some more units for scenario play, and they synergise well with Hark's feat where your opponent will have a really hard time killing your jacks.
Eliminators: Never a bad shout
More support: Could take another Ternion, or another Forge Seer. Feels more like redundancy than an efficient choice, though. I could even take another entire Destroyer module?
War Dog: Could let Hark play a bit more aggressively, and as a bonus you can call him Kommander Barkevich, the Iron Woof.
What are people's thoughts?