Happy New Year

Hello again everyone, sorry for the long absence just real life has gotten in the way again, that and Warhammer 40k, which I'm now taking part in a year long tale of gamers with some friends, I'll be trying to put updates on the progress in that as I go, I realise this is a Khador blog, but I'm currently branching out a little bit, picking up Cygnar and getting back into 40k for a little bit, this doesn't mean that Khador will be neglected. In the not too distant future the long awaited painting tutorial will be posted up as well a new warcaster profile for my newest caster, eVlad. As well as that I'll be posting up some more painted pictures, passing on what I hear of Vengance (apparently we're due a Kodiak Chassis jack with a mini/chain gun type weapon), now slated for March 19th.

Asides from that I just wanted to wish all of you reading a very happy new year, been doing this blog for almost a year now and I'm really glad so many people have looked and hopefully found my ramblings useful or even entertaining in some way. Thanks again to you all and have a very happy 2014.

New years resolution - to paint more models than I buy/build and to play games more often, whats your's?

Once more with feeling...

Hello again, sorry it's been a long while since I've been on and posted anything new up, I've been quite busy with life getting in the way, but once again I'm disentangling from the mess that is said life and bringing you up to speed with all things Khador, today I'm going to very brielfy go over a few interesting thoughts I've had from the play through I had using Butchers latest incarnation, I've got to say he puts a whole new spin on the word terror.

The First Look

Looking at Butcher at a glance he's not changed too much in his basic stats, his focus is stable once again, he's lost a few warjack points, though the war argii, which I'll mention later do make up for that, but that aside he is the same old Orsus Zoktavir we've come to know and love or loathe dependent of which side of Lola you happen to be on. However, take a look at his spell list and you have a recipe for some very nasty tricks. Firstly, Energiser to give a little extra movement, Flashing Blade to make slicing units that little bit eaiser on your focus, Impending Doom to bring your opponent's units closer to you and Obliteration, because you can't have Butcher without it. Tag on his newest feat and Butcher is a terror generating machine, replenishing focus and making all command checks in Butcher's melee range to fail is just horrible, especially if your opponent is fielding an army lacking in high command or fearless. Having tried him out once I can say that while Butcher3 is essentially a one trick pony (essentially use your army to deliver Butcher to your opponent's doorstop and tear face) he is still a very fun caster to play and I'm sure we'll see a lot of him in the coming year.

Then you have the Argii, not as good as Circle's beasts, for obvious reasons, however with the unit (Butcher and the argii pair) having Vengence they give some flexibility, either to throw the dogs forward or screen Butcher as they're all on medium bases, additionally they have the ability Gang to give the Argii the ability to guard against sneaky assassination attempts, though I wouldn't count on it, having seen the mounted Daughters of the Flame that Menoth have just recieved (truly horrible, unless you can use terror ;)).

Thats unfortunately all I have currently, hopefully I'm aiming to get a little more gaming time in so hopefully I'll be able to start putting more articles out, also having picked up a Cygnar force that I previously passed on to a friend I hope to put out some articles regarding Cygnar models from a Khadoran players view point, but for now keep on reading and keep on playing ;) hopefully shouldn't be as long between the next post and this one

Fresh view on Khador

Hi, once again I'm slipping in putting up posts, I can only apologise for that, currently the Warmachine scene is incredibly slow right now. However this has given me a little chance to think and refine ideas or come up with some wildly interesting ideas such as my current train of thought, an eSorscha list.

Now as probably every Warmachine player to have played or played against Sorscha in her prime incarnation they will probably expect the Assassination run and defense buffs (and debuff in the form of her feat) that Sorscha's epic form wouldn't be that different, to a point they are right. That point being when turning epic Sorscha has taken it upon herself to send her army forward to do that and cause the largest amount of pain they can while she sits back and pops the unlucky solo plucky enough to go near her. Put another way, while eSorshca maintains her assassination style she uses her army to do the heavy lifting while she is mainly reduced to throwing out spells and buffs on on the other models in the unit.

Looking Forward: Vengeance

Hi, sorry for the massive gaps in posts, since the tournament and the journeyman wrapping up (I finish second overall in that, which I was quite happy with) Warmachine is tailing off at my local gaming club at the moment. That said there's still big things coming up soon, we've had the release of Convergence of Cyriss last month and though I've yet to see any hit the table top I'm told by a friend who has a 25 point army, it's really quite a nice army. More importantly for Khador players we've got the upcoming release of the new expansion: Vengeance, which I believe is set to drop in January 2014, bringing a whole new bag of good stuff our way.

The dust settles - Tournament Wrap up

Well, just back from the tournament, of the five games played, there were four pretty solid defeats and a close fought win and I mean close fought. A few things I noticed while there of the 8 people taking part (there were meant to be 12, but 3 no showed and a player volunteered to drop out to even out the numbers) 4 of those players (including myself) played using Khador, there was my list that I posted previously, a player using an Old Witch, eIrusk combo (the overall winner), a player with just Strakhov's tier list (and two min Assault Kommando sqauds as reinforcements) and a pVlad, Strakhov player. Now I'm pretty sure that the vast opinion of most people who have played Khador wouldn't have put money on Strakhov being featured in a torurnament let alone twice.

Last week of Tournament Prep

Hi eveyrone, sorry for the long gap of no posts, as  I mentioned in the title next week is the Ribble Rumble tournament I've been waiting for, so most of my time and effort is being spent looking at how my armies work, getting them painted and trying to get practice games in. Hasn't left much free time for me to attend to the blog, but as I've got a few free minutes I'm going to post up the lists I'm taking and do a quick run through why I chose what I did and how the army "should" work.

Quick post

Hi all, sorry I've not posted in ages, been up to my eyes in journeyman painting and tournament painting, then being drawn into Necromunda and Mordheim. It has been a very busy few weeks to say the least, quick side not to those of you who don't recognise the names Necromunda and Mordheim they are "Specialist" Games Workshop games, both skirmish based so low model count and relatively simple to play through, only in GW's infinite wisdom they decided to stop supporting the systems ages back so they're a little bit of an unknown to most people pre 2000ish.

Anyway, before I go further down the GW tangent, I wanted to just put a few quick things up as I've not much time spare and can't do full profiles, so heres a couple of snap shots on models I've been trying out.

Journeyman Battle Report 35 Points pButcher vs pStryker

Last match for this month and I was feeling really fired up for this game, given that if I won this game I'd be well on my way to boosting up the table again. Just so you can see how the table is at the moment here it is.



We're using the Privateer Press painting point guidelines and points are awarded as such: Win = 3, Draw = 2, Loss = 1. Currently I am sat 4th with a potential 28 painting points and 3 gaming points to go on, so really I wanted the win for this game. Getting back to the game, my opponent announced he was using pStryker for this match, which I wasn't greatly worried by, it just meant my opponent's army was more versatile than if he'd chosen to take eStryker (in no way am I saying eStryker is a bad caster, I got completely caught out and lost by caster kill as I forgot about Velocity, oops...).


Month 4 Scenario - Steam Roller Scenario 5: Incursion, three flags placed in the middle of the board at 12" intervals, at the end of player 2's first turn a flag is removed. Scoring begins at the end of player 2's second turn, 1 CP for controlling, 2 for Dominating, with Killbox in effect.

Journeyman Battle Report 35 Points pButcher vs eStryker

Month four of the journeyman league and I'd miraculously managed to claw my way up from 8th (of 9) in the table to 4th so I was looking for a fresh win to add to the points. I faced this opponent previously in month 2 so knew vaugley how they would try to play completely forgetting this month's special rule. "Month 4 - you may change your caster, but not your battlegroup", this meant that instead of facing eHaley as I had previously I was up against eStryker, by no means was I any more complacent for that fact mind, as eStryker is a pure assassination caster and I've quite often left Butcher out in the open feeling secure only for really weird assassination attempts to kill him in one turn, so I knew I had to be on my toes.

Month 4 Scenario - Steam Roller Scenario 5: Incursion, three flags placed in the middle of the board at 12" intervals, 1 CP for controlling, 2 for Dominating, with Killbox in effect.

Having played using Irusk the past few months I decided to return to my caster of choice, pButcher and given how his feat is all about damage potential I tried to build my list accordingly.

Life getting in the way

Hello, just wanted to put a quick post up as I'm aware I've not put anything new up recently, just in the middle of tournament preparations for a the Ribble Rumble, so I'm currently painting three different armies (pButcher for this months journeyman and my two rumble lists). Once they're all done regular posting should resume, probably starting with a mass of pictures of everything I've been painting as well as some battle reports, as I feel I've been slipping a little lately in terms of putting things up, I'll try to get my journeyman battle report up from last night, it may take a while though as the game went very very fast.

Encounter levels

There is one basic prinicple that makes Warmachine and Hordes what it is, it is a skirmish level game. This means that unlike Warhammer, 40K, Kings of war and such other games you are pitting massive armies against each other, you only have a small force comparatively. I have absolutely no problems with this idea, the issue that I have is when the game grows beyond the 35 point level (or 36 if you play in German tournaments) the game stops being a skirmish game due to the amount of models and units on the table. At a skirmish level you rely on army wide synergy and combos so x does this which helps y to do what it does making it easier to achieve objective a, where as once you get to the point beyond that it becomes more and more how can I deal the most damage to my opponent while trying to not to lose my important units.

Unit Profile: Kayazy Assassins

Widely regarded as the ugliest Warmahordes models available (although the Nyss hunters are pretty close), this unit is capable of more than compensating for this when they hit the table top. This tricky unit is capable of taking on most threats in the game and dealing some serious damage in a single activation.

Taking a look at their stats, the SPD is average for warrior models, a MAT equal to that of Doom Reavers, and a good DEF to boot, however it's worth keeping in mind that their CMD is relatively low, meaning that if the Kayazy have to make a CMD check they aren't as likely to stick around and they are limited as to how far they can spread out, making that CMD check a big threat if your opponent hits you. For this reason I'd recommend taking the Kayazy Underboss UA as he brings a great deal that makes this great unit, brilliant.

Character Jack Profile: Drago

Hi everyone, sorry I've not posted in a while, just life has suddenly picked up the pace and I had to drop a few things to manage, I should be able to start posting regularly again now though, thanks for your patience and enjoy the article :).

The cheapest character jack available in all of warmachine (tied with Erberus (a character Cryx Slayer hell jack I think)). In no ways does this make Drago a poor jack, quite the opposite, Drago is one of the best Character jacks Khador can field, also the model is one of the nicest to build and paint, so long as you don't mind the small spikes and other small detail parts.

As a Khadoran jack Drago shares the same basic stats line, however he is an upgraded Beserker, meaning slightly higher DEF as well as lower ARM and RAT. With the upgrade he comes with a fair buff to his MAT which is very nice considering this allows Drago to threaten the likes of Lancers and Chargers with ease on average, good thing to as like Beast in the upgrade Drago's target priorities changed from infantry to jacks. Basically Drago is designed to run into jacks chop them to pieces then move on to the next one.

Journeyman Battle Report 25 points pIrusk vs pSorscha

Month 3 game 1, to say that I was anxious about this game is a bit of an understatement. I'd just written up pSorscha's article so I was wary of her feat and most of her tricks and wasn't certain how my army would stand up to them.

Scenario Month 3: Steam Roller Scenario 1 - Destruction, 4 Monoliths (50mm bases) forming a 12" x 6" zone, CPs are scored by either controlling the zone, dominating (Caster controlling the zone) or destroying the opponents Monoliths (2 per side, player owns the monoliths closest to the player's deployment zone)

Warjack Profile: Destroyer

The original Khadoran ranged jack, features in the battle box and the starter box and with good reason. This jack is solid both in terms of it weapons and how it can be used, which is just one of the reasons players choose to keep it handy even after their army expands.

As with every none clamjack Khadoran jack, the main features of this jack are it's STR and ARM, it's other stats are average to poor (RAT, though this isn't to big an issue), allowing the destroyer to go toe to toe with enemy heavies and still come out the other side.

Warcaster Profile: pSorscha

Originally one of the most powerful casters in the game in Mk 1, since then she has been toned down, but still remains a very good caster. Hard to hit, but easy to kill.

Sorcha's stats are average across the board, apart from an above average DEF and slightly below average ARM. Similarly Sorscha has an average focus, which due to her spells being relatively expensive can leave Sorscha highly vulnerable, more so if your opponent can get round her DEF (looking at you pKreoss).

Warjack Profile: Juggernaut

The iconic Khadoran jack, a pure beatstick with the armour that'll shrug off most damage without much of an issue. It's Ice Axe is unmatched by any other non character jack weapons in the game (Colossals not withstanding).

As with every Khadoran jack the SPD is low, MAT is average, RAT and DEF are both low, however the ARM makes the jack difficult to hurt unless you start hurling POW 15s at it. That said the jack is not indestructable, if you want that try the Devestator or Demolisher.

Warjack Profile: Spriggan

Imagine a knight from the middle ages, now take his lance and shield and stick them on a warjack, that is the Spriggan. A very versatile jack that inspite of it's stats can be very potent in terms of threat range, tending to be seen as a great assassination jack for that very reason.

In terms of the Spriggan's stats they are the same as the regular Khadoran jacks except it has a point less base ARM (though it makes up for this with the ARM bonus from the shield). Essentially this means the Spriggan should be hunting two things, jacks or casters/locks, at range it has the flexibility to provide some utility to your army, but for the points you pay for this jack you want it for more than just utility.

Warcaster Profile: Harkevich

Ah, Brian Blessed, or as a friend calls him "The Colonel" in reference to his "Chicken Drumstick", one of my favoured warcaster models, not so much due to what he can do as the model itself, it's easy to put together and when painted well looks amazing. Due to Harkevich's spell list he is viewed as a ranged jack caster, however I'm not sure that is the case as I'll cover later.

Harkevich's stats are pretty average across the board, with a higher than average ARM and the same focus as both Sorchas and Butchers. This combined with his spell list puts Harkevich into the support caster category, he doesn't like being up front in the thick of things and when fielded with his character jack Black Ivan he doesn't need to be.

Warjack Profile: Decimator

A mixed bag of a jack, in that it's one of the Khadoran jacks which comes with both a melee and ranged weapon, one of many avaiable though it stands out as while it's melee weapon suggests you should put it in melee with heavies, it's gun suggests otherwise.

The Decimator shares the same stats as the Destroyer, giving it the low SPD Khador jacks are expected to have, ok MAT, poor RAT and DEF, but good ARM. Essentially this means ideally the Decimator is a jack hunter, leaning more towards heavies than lights unless you want to throw the Decimator into combat with lights, which tends not to happen unless your opponent chooses to leave a light out in the open nearby.

Journeyman Battle Report 25 Points pIrusk Vs pHexeris

My opponent in this match was a friend who got me into Warmachine and Hordes, so to me this match wasn't just important for the sake of the journeyman, but also I was smarting from a rather poor defeat I suffered in our last match so I had a lot riding on this match,so this made the much rather personal, moreso as we're both very competitive. As with the previous match we were using the scenario detailed below

Journeyman Month 2 Scenario: 2 medium sized objectives 24" apart and 12" from each table edge, 1CP for controlling, 2 for dominating (controlling with 'Caster/'Lock), CPs were gained from the 1st players second turn.

Khador

pIrusk (+6 WJPs)

Beast 09 (11)

Doom Reavers (6)
Greylord Escort (2)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5)
Widowmakers (4) 

Saxon Orrick (2)
Wardog (1)

Skorne

pHexeris (+6 WBPs)

Titan Gladiator (8)
Rhinodon (7)
Razorworm (4)

Praetorian Swordsmen Maximum Unit (6)
Praetorian Swordsmen Officer and Standard (2)
Paingivers Minimum Unit (2)

Agoniser (2)

Merc Solo Profile: Saxon Orrik

A good merc solo to pick up, especially if you have issues when facing down Hordes armies. As a Mercenary Minion model he can be fielded most of the factions, so even if you don't want to use him in a Khador faction he has his uses.

Orrick's stat line is very impressive for what you pay, with normal infantry speed he also gets Doom Reaver MAT and Widowmaker RAT, along with DEF equal to Eliminators and damage boxes, making him ideal for throwing out front provided he picks his fights, his average ARM means he'll be engaging Beasts and only shooting at units rather than charging them.

Journeyman Battle Report 25 points pIrusk Vs eHaley

I will happily admit that going into this game I was a little nervous, having played against eHaley once before (granted with Strakhov) I'd been pretty much toyed with and smacked about (by the end of the game I had Strakhov and 4 Kayazy assassins left, although in my defence I was facing Nyss Hunters and a Stormwall...) and given that this month the scenario involved objectives, I felt this game was going to be an uphill struggle.

Journeyman Month 2 Scenario: 2 medium sized objectives 24" apart and 12" from each table edge, 1CP for controlling, 2 for dominating (controlling with 'Caster/'Lock), CPs were gained from the 1st players second turn.

Khador

pIrusk (+6 WJPs)

Beast 09 (11)

Doom Reavers (6)
UA (2)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5)
Widowmakers (4) 

Saxon Orrick (2)
Wardog (1)

A little deliberation went into this list which was originally going to be max Kayazy Assassin + Underboss, thoug realising I'd need something to give ranged support, the Widowmakers were an obvious choice, they'd served me well before and rarely disappoint, the Wardog is an excellent points use and given Irusk's tendency to play upfield I felt the DEF buff and Counter charge would be useful, as for the Bears they were added primarily as a way of removing Beast or the Doom Reavers from Tar pits as well as providing me with another three models to hold an objective.

Cygnar

eHaley (+5 WJPs)

Ironclad (7)
Lancer (6)
Charger (4)

Sword Knights minimum unit (4)
Black 13th (4)

pEiryss (3)
Squire (2)

Warjack Profile: Beserker

The cheapest Khadoran warjack and thats not a bad thing. Whilst it does have poor stats for a warjack it's abilities make up for it, taking what on some levels looks like something of an expensive paper weight and turning it into a mean and grizzly jack with a little unstable side to it.

Statswise the Beserker is sub par as Khadoran warjacks go, it's SPD is the same as other jacks, however it loses a point of STR and MAT, gains a point of DEF and loses two ARM and 3 damage boxes. This means that on average a Beserker can hit Stormblade infantry, but struggles to hit models with DEF higher than theirs, this makes it ideal for going after jacks, although this isn't it's primary role.

Unit Profile: Man O War Bombadiers

The latest Man O War unit and another way for Khador to throw out AoEs with some added melee punch. Like the Demo corps, the Bombadiers fill a second wave role, advancing behind another unit while throwing out shots over them and into the opposing front lines, before charging in and chopping up units and jacks alike.

In terms of stats the Bomabadiers have the same stats as other Man O Wars, but have the ARM of the Demo Corps, making them slow, with decent STR, better than average MAT, RAT equal to Black Ivan, relatively easy to hit by infantry standards, but with decent ARM and a good number of damage boxes, meaning that whilst they are easy to hit, they have enough ARM and health to survive intial hits and survive (as long as those hits aren't from Weapon Master models) also their CMD allows them to spread out enough to minimise damage from AoEs.

Solo Profile: Manhunter

The Manhunter (or Huntress, if you use the variant model) is the pinnacle of of melee solos available, it's stats are some of the best across the range of similar solos and it's abilities aren't shabby either. Often likened as a cruise missile due to the way it's generally used, Manhunters tend to run forward and do as much damage as they possibly can as the turn after they're likely not to be around to do much else.

As mentioned before Manhunter's stat line is a good one, with decent SPD, STR, DEF and ARM, as well as a MAT just shy of Butcher's, with damage boxes to boot. This generally ensures that the Manhunter is fast enough to get up the board whilst not being easy to kill from far away, however if he gets stuck in melee with models with the ability to CMA or have a naturally high MAT chances of survival tend to drop off quite sharply given that such models will normally have enough POW to kill your Manhunter in one hit.

Warcaster Profile: Zerkova

An interesting caster, not geared towards melee or range, but very much a spell casting caster, or as most people on the forums seem to say, the worst Khadoran caster. First I'd like to just say to all those people who refer to Zerkova as such a poor caster, try actually playing using her, if you are going to actually get the true measure of how a model works and how good it actually is use it, rather than slating it. Anyway rant aside, Zerkova is something of an oddity given that she is a caster who flings out spells like a Cygnar army shoots, or a Protectorate army synergises, in a faction where the only available arc node is a companion for another caster (Old Witch and Scrap Jack). While at first glance this may be somewhat off putting I find it to be quite fun to work around given her abilities that can work around that and play to her strengths.

Merc Solo Profile: Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

One of Mk 1's best assination tools Eiryss has the potential to shut down and disrupt an opponent's jacks from a distance, whilst being able to survive in melee. In Mk 2 Eiryss remains a great asset either to deny the use of a Jack for a turn or to set up an assassination run on casters, still performing best at range thanks to the abilitiy Invisibility becoming Stealth with the transition to MK 2.

In terms of stats Eiryss is relatively fast, has the highest RAT in the game a decent DEF and a low ARM with a few damage boxes, this means that while most shots will miss Eiryss if she gets clipped by a stray AOE chances are she'll be damaged, but not killed on average unless the damage is boosted. In melee Eiryss is reliant on her higher than average DEF to survive, if your opponent has ways of getting around this chances are that Eiryss will not survive.

Character Unit Profile: Great Bears of Gallowswood

Three surivors of an Iron Fang Kompany, the Great Bears are the Khadoran triumvirates character unit and they are pretty exceptional even by Khadoran standards. This unit makes for a great offensive unit, mainly serving the second wave role, charging in after the inital combats have begun and tearing a hole in enemy lines.

The Bears stats line is similar to their base line unit (Iron Fnag pikemen) barring their excellent MAT (just one short of either Butchers') their ARM and damage boxes are enough to keep them safe from stray blasts, but their DEF puts them in the range of being likely to be hit by anything RAT 6 on average.

More pictures, Journeyman league army

Hi everyone, as those of you catch the blog often will know I'm currently in the middle of a journeyman league meaning I'm forced to paint models (such a silly idea really, lol), so I'm putting up the pictures here so feel free to crtique them, or take ideas from them, I'm not a great painter and I'll be the first to admit that, but anyways enjoy the pictures and happy gaming to you all :).

Character Jack profile: Beast 09

What do you get when you cross Khador's staple beat stick with a Kodiak and turn it into Sorcha's main warjack? Simple answer is you get one very angry jack which eats up focus like it does any model foolish enough to be stood in it's melee range. I've a friend who says that of all Khadoran jacks Beast is pretty much top of the tree and I agree with that to a point, Beast fills a gap in the Khadoran arsenal in a way that many other jacks can't, with a hefty price tag.

Stats wise, Beast is a regular Juggernaut with an extra point of MAT, meaning that it's only going to really start struggling to hit models and units such as Nyss hunters on average rolls, while it's not a great improvement over the Juggernaut the key point to remember is that while these jacks may share a chassis, what they are designed to do is completely different.

Merc Solo Profile: Gorman Di Wulfe

In an attempt to branch out the blog, I'm going to start doing profiles focusing on mercinary units and solos, hopefully I'll still be able to provide some insight into those who haven't used mercinaries yet, so to start with one solo I've used quite a lot recently, Gorman Di Wulfe the Rouge Alchemist. He is an excellent solo that I've both used to great effect and been hampered by more times than I care to count. He has stats similar to that of an average solo, bar his MAT and RAT which are a little lacking, although he costs the same as a Manhunter and is available to any faction other than Retribution of Scyrah.

Mercs

When I first got into Wamrahordes I said I would never use Mercs in my Khador army, just the idea of using non-Khadoran models didn't work in my head. However with time I've found that not only are Mercs worth taking in a Khadoran army, they can work their way into any army (as long as they can actually be hired by that faction). I'll start with a pretty well known example Eiryss, mage hunter of Ios, on her own she is capable of shutting down jacks, completely ignore LOS, cover and concealment or deal damage without rolling, essentially being enough of a threat to cause an entire army to have to manouver to avoid her or deal with her. The best part is that Eiryss is a solo and a relatively cheap one considering all the tricks she packs, on top of all that you will struggle to find a solo in any faction she can work for that does a better job of setting up assassinations (or carrying them out for that matter).

Unit Profile: Greylord Ternions

The first time I ever saw these models, I didn't think much of them, simply as I was new to Khador and very set in the walk forward > smash face > win mind set. Given a little experience and the realisation that having shed loads of infantry as well as tough as nails jacks wins games I found myself hitting a bullet/mortar wall from Cygnar and Menoth players where I struggled to get my army over to the other side to get to their caster, thats when I came back to these guys and I've not yet regretted using them.

Unit Profile: Man O War Demo Corps

Whilst the MoW Shocktroopers are seen as a defensive unit, essentially walking in front of the army taking bullets, spells and whatever else gets flung at them the Demo Corps are purely offenisve, but then what else do expect  from guys in steam powered suits with giant frost hammers?

As with the Shocktroopers, the Demo Corps have brilliant stats, apart from their SPD and DEF, additionally given the fact they haven't got Shields like the Shocktroopers have their ARM is slightly lower, as such it's better to use the unit as a second wave to come in and mop up after the first wave have hit the enemy lines, or under eIrusk use Shocktroopers in shield wall to shield them then thanks to Martial Discipline, charge the Demo Corps through your shield wall and right on to the opponent's doorstep.

Warcaster Profile: Strakhov

When I originally started using Khador I used pButcher as my caster as he is arguably the caster that embodies Khador, hard hitting, tough and very in your face, but very slow. To counter that I toyed with Kayazy, finding them to even feel a little slow and vulnerable, then I used Strakhov, let me just say that if ever you find someone call Khador slow, take this guy and show him what this speed demon can do.

In terms of stats Strakhov is somewhat average, barring his above average DEF, meaning that he is somewhat like Sorscha, except he is no melee assassin, if you try to use him like Sorscha he will generally end up dead, due to his slightly low armour and the fact that given his average focus and the cost of his spells, he isn't likely to be camping focus.

Warcaster Profile: pIrusk

pIrusk is arguably one of the best casters Khador has to offer for one very simple reason. He is a toolbox caster. He has a spell to get around cover, stealth and LOS, a unit buff, a jack buff, rough terrain generation, a spell  to slow jacks down and a mass melee unit buff. On top of all that he has a respectable stat line, the most focus a Khadorn caster can have and some nice weapons to boot. In terms of his stats he has decent SPD, good MAT and RAT, average DEF and ARM for a caster and an amazing CMD, making him brilliant at ensureing warrior models don't break and run. He comes with enough jack points to get a free Beserker and as mentioned before he has a very good amount of Focus for a Khadoran warcaster.

Warjack Profile: Marauder

The 'other' cheap jack that costs exactly the same as the Juggernaut, yet generally sees far less table time, which in my opinion is quite a shame as this jack is brilliant when supported and especially in scenario play. Whilst it's stats remain the same as the regular Khadoran jack stat line once you start looking past that you start to see the true value of this beast.

Unit Profile: Doom Reavers

This is a very interesting unit, interesting both in their background and what they are capable of in terms of table top performance. Doom Reavers can either devestate an opponent's army or be taken apart piece by piece before even reaching the opponent's army.

Statswise Doom Reavers have the same speed as most regular infantry, good MAT, giving a relatively good chance to hit most models, however the DEF, ARM and CMD are somewhat on the low side meaning that the unit tends to be fiarly easy to hit and kill as well as limiting their ability to spread too far, which can be something of a liability once you look at their abilities.

Journeyman Battle Report 15 Points pIrusk Vs pVayl

My second journeyman match and my first match against Legion. I have very limited experience with Legion other than knowing Shredders (Lesser Warbeasts with a lot of bite) can tear jacks a new exhaust port and then some. My list remained the same as my previous match, but for those who haven't read that report here is my list

Khador

pIrusk (+6 WJPs)

Beast 09 (11)

Doom Reavers (6)
UA (2)
Saxon Orrick (2)

Legion (I don't know the points values)

pVayl

Proteus
Shredder
Shredder
Shredder
Shredder

Sheperd

Journeyman Battle Report 15 points pIrusk Vs eKaya

Hi everyone, a friend has been setting up a journeyman league for a few months now and seen as I'm going to a tournament at the end of May with a new caster I figured it'd be pretty good practice for me to enter with what will eventually become my list for the torunament slowly building it from the ground and learning a whole new caster.

For the first month we played using a modified version of the Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw, allowing units and solos, with the victory conditions being either Caster kill or Jack/Beast kill (Killing all the opponent's Warjacks or Warbeasts). The lists were as follows:

Khador
pIrusk (+6 WJPs)

Beast 09 (11)

Doom Reavers (6)
UA (2)
Saxon Orrick (2)

Circle
eKaya and Laris (+3 WBPs)

Gnarlhorn Satyr (8)
Warpwolf Stalker (10)

Character Solo Profile: Fenris

Hi all, sorry for the long wait for new posts, been a bit busy and unwell so haven't been able to get anything done, also the 50 point 2 vs 2 match I played last week is still waiting on a write up as after turn two I gave up noting down what was happening as I couldn't follow it myself, so once I've everything of that game noted the report will follow swiftly. Back to the article, I have yet to play using Fenris myself, however given that I'm entering a mini 20 point mangled metal tournament  in a few weeks and I'm only allowed one solo Fenris was the solo to win me over and having explained what he does, I'm sure you'll be looking for the points to fit him in too.

Stats wise Fenris is brilliant, his SPD is great (with or without the horse), his MAT ensures he'll be hitting all but the most evasive of models with relative ease, his RAT is never used, his DEF leaves a little to be desired given his being on a large base although his ARM (mounted at least) and his damage boxes give him some protection, but leave him a little fragile when compared with other Dragoons available.

Unit Profile: Kayazy Eliminators

A unit that is an incredibly powerful tool when used correctly. That is the best way to some up the deadly duo that make up the Eliminator squad. If you have ever played a unit of Kayazy Assassins then this unit runs in a pretty similar way. For those who haven't you're looking at a unit that is almost as fast as cavalry, hits DEF 15 on average (Ignoring buffs) has DEF almost on par with Circle or Cryx units and a nice CMD (good for allowing them to spread out to avoid the AOEs that will be flung their way). On the downside, their ARM is rather low, they do have damage boxes allows a little survivability, though anything that hits them will likely kill them. Their RAT is poor, but given that they have no ranged weapons (and don't really need them anyway) that is a moot point and their STR is lower than the Assassins, however their abilities more than make up for this short coming.

Opening up the floor

Hello to all of you who have been reading this blog. I've been writing for almost a month now and I hope what has been going up on here has been useful, or at least entertaining to you all, the thing is while this is mainly for the new starters or people starting Khador armies, I want to try and have something for everyone on the page, so I'm open to suggestions as to what you, the readers want to see put up. It can be anything from articles focusing on how to beat certain models outside the Khador faction, to even just more pictures being uploaded. I'm also hoping to start putting up at least two battle reports a week as of this coming week, as Warpdragons Saint Annes branch opens on February 21st meaning I will have two nights to get games in, so expect to see more of Strakhov slicing through more opponents or Butcher just doing what he does best. Any comments or requests are appreciated so if theres something you want to see on this blog, or even if you have an army yourself and want to have your thoughts voiced or pictures of your army shown off, just post a comment and I'll reply to you as soon as I can.

Thanks again for supporting the blog :) 

Battle Report 25 points Strakhov Vs Kraye

This was unfortunately a very quick match, mainly due to time constraints, however it did prove really quite useful and has highlighted a point I mentioned in an earlier blog. Infantry beats Jacks!

As this was a 'fun' game my opponent opted to field a Jack only army:

Kraye
Ironclad
Ironclad
Hunter
Hunter
Minuteman

Whereas I chose to try my previous Strakhov list, with a few less trimmings:

Strakhov
Torch
Kayazy Assassins (Max)
Kayazy Underboss
Kayazy Eliminators
Kayazy Eliminators
Great Bears of Gallowswood

 Having won the roll for deployment I chose to deploy Torch just behind a forest on the right hand side of the table with Strakhov just a liitle further back. To the right of them I deployed one set of Eliminators, with my Assassins and Great Bears all deployed to the left of Strakhov, behind a building (classed as impassable terrain)  with my second set of Eliminators deployed on my left Flank. My opponent chose to deploy both Kraye and his Ironclads opposite Torch, with the Hunters and Minuteman Advance Deploying further over on the left flank.

Convergence of Cyriss

Yesterday a new faction was introduced to the Warmachine and Hordes scene in the guise of the Convergence of Cyriss. From what the trailer has shown (link is at the bottom of the page if you want to check it out) is that firstly anyone who loves their really techno looking models will love these models. In my opinion they look like a crossover of Elven and Egyptian (mainly the Warcaster's face at least) asethetics with a dash of 40Ks favourite unfeeling robotic rave, the Necrons. It has also shown that like the Retributuion forces Jacks are not called Jacks, they are actually called Vectors, and given their technological feel I'm relatively certain there maybe some form of immunity to electricity or even a weakness to it give the mechanical nature of the army.