Faction and Caster Rankings

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?231691-Astra-Presents-LIST-CASTER-POWER-RANKINGS

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?231690-Astra-Presents-FACTION-POWER-RANKINGS

Thoughts?

Croak Raiders! Moar SKRON Ranged Game

Croak Raiders (spoiler posted here) are going to be a solid release for Skorne.  I'll talk about how they fit into the Skorne faction and discuss a couple of lists where they might be useful.  Pretty stock-standard introduction.

Why They Don't Suck
Croak Raiders fill a couple gaps in Skorne and provide a few opportunities.  A 10-man advanced deploy unit is unique in the faction; providing us the mobility and board presence necessary to get work done (and not lose on Incursion).  That alone makes them worth considering.  Ranged attacks, with some possibility for aiming are invaluable in Skorne and will hopefully force the engagement with typically slow Skorne armies.  Croak Raiders deliver the hard hitting shots are at a premium in the medium-based meta-game.

Anti-Skornergy
There are some really cute interactions in the faction that are worth pointing out.


1) Taskmaster. This is an obvious one, but giving Croak Raiders tough means that vitriol might actually come into play.  I'm not sure that this is worth the two points, but I think it's worth mentioning.  In lists where you can double dip on the task-master this will be a really nice synergy.

2) Krea.  I think this is the biggest one.  A Krea with Mortitheurge has a strong chance of paralyzing  a warbeast (or Warcaster/Warlock) and then the Croak Hunters can deal huge damage to it.  I think this is a real threat to Legion and is a play that will be available as soon as the bottom of 1.

3) Incindiarii.  Alchemical Accelarant really turns on Incindiarii blast damage and allows them to threaten medium based infantry.  It also allows them to threaten heavies.  Croak Raiders and Incindiarii complement each other well; together they threaten most types of infantry and some heavies.

4) Gatorman Bokur. This guy needs bodies, and the Raiders are perfectly positioned to provide corpses.  Both units want the Taskmaster and Krea, so you get to double dip on the support pieces that make these units really shine.

ADR
Is huge for these guys.  There will definitely be times when you don't want them and times when they are amazing.  Being able to swap them out with Posse or a Heavy is going to be a really strong play. They don't love fighting warmachine, particularly high-defense infantry, and being to bring in better tools will be quite nice.  Here are two lists:

pMorghoul
I've been thinking about pMorghoul ADR for a while now.  I think he is one of the better Sentinel casters, as he can protect them and make them threats in melee.  This list is tuned to fight Trolls/Menoth/Circle/Legion and has some tools to fight other lists.


pMorghoul
Aradus Sentinel
Aradus Sentinel
Aradus Soldier
Basilisk Krea
Cyclops Raider

Beast Handlers
Croak Raiders
Incindiarii (min)

Mortitheurge
Mortitheurge
Extoller
Swamp Gobbers

ADR:
Gatorman Posse
Paingiver Taskmaster
Agonizer
Extoller Soulward
Cyclops Brute

This list shoots really hard and is quite capable of closing in melee.  The Krea threats 31 inches on the bottom of 1, setting you up to steal an early Angel.  pMorg has some really nice control elements and mostly focuses on hiding behind the Aradus and not dying.

The solos can be optimized as needed.  Croak Raiders + Gobbers + Mortithuerge can be swapped for Posse against Warmachine, and Incindiarii + Gobbers can swap for Brute + Agonizer against legion.  This list has a mean assassination against any living Caster/Lock (via Morghouls feat).

I'm really looking forward to playing this and I think it will be very viable.  There's a lot of stuff that's not obvious and should be surprising to opponents.  It might even be able to play three flags! 

Rasheth ADR
I've thought less about this but I think it is worth including.  Here's a rough template.

Rasheth (Chain Gang Tier 4)
Bronzeback Titan
Titan Sentry
Titan Gladiator
Basilisk Krea
Basilisk Drake

Croak Raiders
Bokur and Shamblers
Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers

Paingiver Taskmaster
Agonizer
Agonizer

ADR:
Gatorman Posse
Titan Sentry (Or Bronzeback...)
Beast Handlers?

I'm still not entirely sure how to construct this one.  The idea is you get one list that has an infantry bend while having the option of removing the infantry and skewing hard armour for center scenarios/favorable matchups.  You've also got a credible range game against warbeasts with Blood Mark/Krea/Croak Raiders.  I used to bring Venator Reivers specifically for their ranged abilities and Croak Raiders fill most of that role with some additional functionality.

 The +2 SPD is a really nice benefit here.  It helps the shamblers get into position early to soak corpses.  You've also got the option of going deep turn 1, running all the way to 31" mark on top of 1 for the deep flank.  Thanks totally new to Skorne and something worth trying out.

I'm not as excitied for this but at least its a new spin on an old list.

I'm Gonna Buy These Fuckers
And I hope they are fun to paint.  I've also got some ideas for including them with eHexeris, but I've already written too much.

Reckoning First Impressions

So Reckoning was a book I was rather looking forward to.  The artistic design of everything spoiled was incredible as were the pre-released models.  It looked to be an excellent book.

Sadly, this didn't hold up.  As far as WM releases this is likely the most disappointing in living memory.  Far too many Jacks, in an era where Jacks are back down to minimum numbers.  Really disappointing casters(for the factions I care about at least), especially after the last batch of casters.  This doesn't seem like it has really sunk in yet on the various faction forums, but I'm honestly surprised that a faction receiving two MAT 5 warjacks is taking it as well as it is.

If you somehow haven't seen any Reckoning spoilers they can be found here.

Cygnar
I'm not sure what to think yet of Hailey3.  Temporal Flux is a solid spell, as is repudiate.  She is incredibly focus starved, even with 12 focus.  Revive is likely only going to happen once a turn due to this.  I'm also unsure where Tactical Supremacy will gain some good effect(people say Trenchers but then you've spent points on Trenchers).

Beyond that I don't think you will see much of Ace and even less of the Trencher Buster.  The loss of the storm pod on the Hurricane is huge.  It seems alright for focusing a target down or controlling a single target.  I expect to see the Stormwall more still.

Khador
eZorkova has an incredibly simple battleplan -> run greylords at enemy pop feat, win.  She is another case of a caster where they gave her a spell to create an arcnode but then forgot to give her some options in what she really wanted to arc.  I was expecting significantly more here.

As a faction that hates taking multiple Warjacks, the only other releases Khador received this book were Warjacks.  Two of them being on the berserker chassis and stuck at MAT 5 was just the icing on the cake.  Viktor is better than Konquest, partially due to being cheaper but also having a more reliable impact on the game with its guns.  Lighting enemy casters on fire should at least be fun.

Mercs
It was good to see a second Cephalyx caster.  He looks solid, with a workmanlike feat and a good selection of spells.  From a first pass he is also the only caster with a tier list that looks worth a damn.
Eh, on the battle engine.  I'm sure it will be adopted as  much as any other battle engine without a focus effect.  The Swamp gobbers suffer from incredibly bad stats, but are at least AD solos for Skorne.

Cryx
Denny3 is my favorite caster from this book so far.  She will be heavily taxed by that huge base but her abilities with souls is incredibly potent.  Gravewind will be obnoxious on the DeathJack and herself and Mostality is an incredible spell.

The soul collection solo is an excellent addition.  Too many Cryx casters had soul cages that were never relevant, even if it will still take a round for the souls to turn into focus.  It works with more than just the casters too.  I'm not sure why Barathrum is supposed to be Terminus's jack but I'm sure he will be used as often as the other random collection of rules Cryx character jacks.  Same goes with the trampling light.  The Sepulcher looks to be a solid upgrade over the Kraken, especially with RoF 2 Spiker guns.

Menoth
I'm not sure Durst is bad, mostly boring.  I'm also unsure of a battle plan that will want him marching close to his jacks on the front line as he goes up the field.

This is more than made up for with the Menoth releases this book.  A jack with a fully boosted to hit spray, that increases fire damage, has spd 5 and reach?  Sure, why not.  The Impenetrable Shield TFG seems solid too.  I'm not super sold on the light(its a light) or the Colossal(lack of range) but they aren't bad either.

Retribution
Retribution was really looks for an answer to Grayle I guess.  Thyron has a solid feat, solid stats, I like cleave on his battlegroup but his spell list is lackluster.  I just don't see much of a battleplan here outside of trying to feat to win the game.  Both Onslaught and SpellPiercer are more situationally good than consistently bringing value sadly.

The new soulless and electromancers are both solid releases.  Helios has been growing on me:  cheaper, virtuosos and a fun little selection of buffs

Bonus
Saeryn and Rhyas seem to take it in the pants with a worse spell list, worse feat and having to be tied to each other as a character unit.  I expect Rhyas to act as a super arcnode for a good chunk of the game.

Kromac, to use a term already used in this article, is workman like.  Stat buff feat, stat buff spell to use early game(with maybe a primal shock or two thrown in) and then a finish based on his own pure stats plus primal howl.  Letting him sprint to collect hearts for primal shocks seems fun to attempt to do some snipping.

Croak Raiders are really solid for Skorne.  They've tried really hard to not give Skorne any AD worth a damn, but they have solid stats and combo well with the pain giver task master.  They also combo well with Incinderaii.

eMorghoul Tier list:  Still doesn't overcome the base issues with playing eMorghoul but does make him significantly better.  Probably worth a play or two but it wasn't enough to overcome the base mistakes they made with eMorghoul.

Overall
I've been enjoying Ret and was eyeing Khador again.  While Ret received some good new releases the casters for both those faction aren't currently impressing me.  I will have to see how my impressions change after some play time.  I'm curious if I can buy the parts to magnetize the Colossals I have instead of sinking more money into models that don't ever justify their price.

Menoth and Cryx seem to have come out of this mess the best with Mercs/Cygnar in second tier.  While Menoth has been waning, Cryx and Cygnar didn't deserve the best releases this cycle.

It's still hilarious that CoC received nothing in the warjack book.  Especially after PP teased them that they were getting something.

New Skorne Unit

Can't wait to try them out!

What I've been enjoying about Ret

So I've actually been enjoying my Ret games far more than recent games with either Khador or the CoC.  I've been somewhat surprised about this, especially as I've just been kicking around rando Ret tier lists mostly.  It also likely helps that they are far far more different from Skorne than either Khador or CoC.

1.  The Daemon
Hellmouth on a gun has been a lot of fun.  Its great at killing infantry and the pull in is rather techy.  Its helped me outright win one game by hitting pDenny and killed the stone UA in a second game during turn 2.  Having accurate guns in general has been great, but the Daemon's has been the best.

2. Weapon Masters
The base Immortal Package is 11 points, which is also the cost of a full unit of Dawnguard Sentinels.  Guess which one is way better then the other?  Weapon masters still do disproportionate damage but its nice being on the delivery side of that for a change then watching a untouched Titan disappear to 3 circle chickas with daggers.

3. Battle Mages
Honestly, things should only be able to be pushed or pulled once per turn.  Until that gets fixed the ability to pull things half way across the table will continue to be abused by this Ret player at least. Nothing says great gameplay like killing a heavy without reprisal.
Randomly these guys also have 2 attacks, beatback and anti-shooting tech.  Just a really solid unit all around.

Now not everything has been great.  Honestly its hard to get any work done with their melee jacks against the wrong opponents.  A Stalker with plenty of woods to sprint back to and stones to teleport with is a real problem for a Ret player.

I've played the pVyros tier for 5 games or so now, the Rahn tier once and Force Wall once.  I'm kinda curious if there are any other fun ret lists to play.  I need to try out the newest caster sometime too.

[Randomly on the topic of Ret they are one of the infantry spammiest armies I've seen locally.  I watched a Ret vs. Menoth game that had a total of 3 light jacks in a 50 point game.  Its kinda obnoxious to see, but not impossible to deal with.]

The state of Competitive WM

Anyone else see the top 8 from the Adepticon IG?

Look at those results.  3 Cryx and 3 Circle are sign of an incredibly balanced game, right?  Well tournament results are incredibly noisy and this was only from a single event at a single con.  It's not really indicative of a larger trend.

Huh.  They only represent 50% of the field making the cut here so its a step in the right direction.  Still this is troublesome, if only there were a compiled list of top faction appearances.  To keep things modern lets say from Nov. 2014 to now taken from an online store that keeps track of lists to sell you, say Discount Games Inc.  This information would surely continue to correct these results:

Cryx - 10

Circle - 9

Skorne - 5

Cygnar - 4

Trollbloods 4

PoM - 3

Legion - 3

Ret -2

Minions - 1

CoC - 1

Well fuck.  At this point I would be worried that the data is pointing towards some real unfortunate trends.  Thankfully the competitive WM braintrust was right there to clear it all up:

"Players win games not factions"

"It's the player."

"Do remember both minions and ret have won major cons.  It's all about the player."

The mental gymnastics on display when you've biased yourself to certain outcomes are incredible.

Charge of the Rohirrim

In thinking about organizing a 4 player cooperative Lord of the Rings strategy for Gencon I figured the deck I enjoy playing the most could be an interesting way to focus the conversation and throw out some ideas.

Heroes- Theoden, Eomer, Hama
The idea of this mono red deck is to basically control the monsters with "feint" and "thicket of spears." Theoden allows shitty red heroes to quest effectively and sentinel the occasional attack. Eomer trucks stuff with firebrand and weapons. Hama enables event recursion. And the team can smash into the staging area with "Forth Eorlingas." The deck is pretty good at tangling up a bunch of bad guys but struggles to smash through locations. I can make a deck list later with specific cards, but I want to tweak things and focus on team comps before looking at individual cards.

Deck pairing: mono colored comp

This pairing is designed to exploit Theoden's bonus to questing by overloading on tactics heroes.

Bard the Bowman, Brand son of Bain, Legolas- this deck spams archers and some of the same event cards in the other tactics deck to crush as many baddies as possible each turn. Probably also plays feint, thicket and the recursion book to help the Rohan deck control the board.

Eowyn, Galadriel, Glorfindel- Blue deck control. Spams threat reduction and control events to mitigate what the stupid bad guy deck throws at you. Eowyn is the strongest quester in the game and Galadriel has a bunch of support tools in addition to her base abilities. I think blue has some of the most OP cards in terms of preventing problems before they even happen. Tweaking this deck could also make secrecy an option due to its relatively low starting threat and threat reducing tools.

Aragon, Celeborn, Prince Imrahil- Purple deck plays classics like sneak attack and gandalf while trying to support the board. Celeborn pushes decks to include a disproportionate number of pointy eared cards.

Pros: mono colored decks limit versatility within the decks but also mean people won't be sitting on dead cards mid game. monsters should die relatively quickly. Each deck can play the books that allow them to recast events in discard piles.

Cons: no green (seems like the weakest color). high starting threats so blue needs to mitigate threat levels quickly. No hobbits. No dwarves. Both seem overly complicated.