2 Player Starter box

Just had the thought that so far most of the articles so far haven't been aimed so well at the new starters of Warmachine and Hordes, so to change that I'm going to take a brief look at the Khador half of the 2 Player Starter box.

What do you get in the box?

Ignoring the Menoth half of the box, Khador get some very nice kit from the box, namely pSorscha (Warcaster), a Destroyer and a Juggernaut and a five man unit of Man O war Shocktroopers along with all the cards for each model. To start with lets look at Sorscha.

Sorscha

Put very simply Sorscha is widely known as an Assassination caster, meaning that her tactics generally entail finding an opening in your opponent's lines then rushing in and (hopefully) killing the caster. This is mainly due to her spell list and her very nice feat. To start with Sorscha's spell list contains two gems that really aid her assassination runs, Boundless charge and Windrush. Boundless charge is important as it gives a model/unit a little extra movement, but best of all it also gives out Pathfinder, this special rule allows models to ignore terrain (other than Impassable, which as the name suggests can only be moved round, not through) which in a faction like Khador, where the majority of models will have a relatively low SPD stat is a great bonus, especially when your opponent decides to park a soft unit/model on the other side of a forest so that you still have Line of Sight (LOS) to that unit/model, you can then cast Boundless charge and more often than not get the charge. As for Windrush, this spell allows the affected model to make a full advance (move upto the amount of SPD the model has) and then grants a DEF boost, as spells can be cast before movement takes place this means Sorscha could advance almost as far as she would ordinarily charge, then charge and as her melee weapon Frostfang has Reach (adds a little extra onto your melee range) meaning that she has an incredibly long reach. However, it is worth keeping in mind that if this charge fails, more often than not Sorscha will die next turn. This is due to Sorscha's ARM rating being somewhat low when compared with other Warcasters on offer.



However there are other ways of playing Sorscha, mainly revolving around her feat Icy Gaze this feat allows her to freeze all enemy models in her control area and LOS, making them stationary. This then means anything in melee with an affected model is auto hitting and any models shoot at the affected models will almost get a guaranteed hit (as double 1s always miss), this has then led to many Sorscha players bringing masses of Winter Guard, in the form of mortars, the regular infantry (especially in their signature Death Star formation, which is a max squad, with the Unit and Weapon Attachments and the Character UA Kovnik Jo) and the Riflemen squad (Winter Guard with Widowmaker rifles, with some nice rules to go with them) as well as shooty Warjacks such as the Behemoth and Destroyer (Who I'll talk about later on) and effectively carpet bombing the board with high power AoEs (Though WGDSs may opt to use their Combined Ranged Attack, by forfeiting their shot giving +1 to hit and damage for each model that gives up their shot, creating a shot that could one shot a caster on a good roll.)

Man O War Shocktroopers

A unit with one main use, at first glance. Man O Wars are slow, easy to hit, but are hard to damage especially when they use their shield wall ability to boost their ARM above that of the already well armoured Khadoran Warjacks, add to this that they each have several damage boxes each making them an incredibly useful screening unit. Whilst they work well in a defensive role, I have found in lower point games where I've found myself largely outnumbered (as a Khador player, you'll find this happens quite a lot, but remember Quality is better than Quantity... Usually) I tend to use the Man O Wars to Charge enemy Warjacks, as the back ground to the units is that due to the rarity of components for making Warjacks there is no non Character Warjack in the Khador army (Scrapjack being the exception, but he belongs to another Caster who I will write up a profile for once I get some games in with her), therefore Man O Wars were designed to fill that gap in the army, as the amount of Jacks I've seen wrecked by Man O Wars far out numbers the amount of Jack vs Jack wrecks I have seen. The main issue with Man O Wars on the whole is their lack of SPD, they can keep up with our Warjacks, but beyond that they will struggle, although there are several ways to remedy this none of them tend to last more than a turn at best.

Destroyer 

If you want a Warjack that is designed for pumping out shots for decimating infantry squads and has the potential to cripple a whole system in one hit, then the Destroyer is the Jack you're looking for. Armed with a Bombard cannon which is rarely outranged (Unless you face Colossals or Cygnar) and an Executioner axe with a POW a few less than the top end of Warjack Melee weapons, this jack is an excellent addition to most Khador armies. Ordinarily the role of the Destroyer tends to be a back line Jack, one that hangs back and lobs shells into the enemy's front line while your army advances. It can also work relatively well running up towards the front of your army with some careful positioning to discourage any charges on a more vulnerable unit, although this tends to work better when the target is going to be charged by another jack as the Destroyer doesn't handle mass infantry very well up close (If you want Jacks that do that I'd suggest the Beserker or Drago, however the best option upto now is the Devastator, especially when facing high DEF enemies with low ARM). Ideally if you keep the Destroyer central to your army not much will be able to hide from it's cannon, but make sure it has support or mass infantry charges will eat it and most other Jacks whole, just through the sheer number of attacks.

Juggernaut

Always leave the best till last, and for the points you pay the Juggernaut is one of the best. It's axe has one of the best P+S values in the game (Not counting Colossals, I believe it is the highest, but I'd need to check that), meaning that anything that gets charged by a Juggernaut with full focus allocated on it is going to get scrapped, smashed and squashed, (unless the controlling player gets incredibly unlucky in terms of dice rolls). To add to the fun, the Juggernaut comes with an open fist, while at first glance this seems a little on the weak side, don't dismiss it based on it P+S value a Jack with one open fist is incredibly useful as it can use a wide array of power attacks, ranging from throws to locks, causing all worlds of hurt to your opponents plans and potentially opening a hole in an enemy army's line to allow for a certain Warcaster to attempt an assassination run. Put simply if you want a solid melee Jack with no weaknesses that you don't find on most other Jacks (doesn't do well against high DEF or large numbers) there is generally no reason to not field at least one Juggernaut in a force, unless your caster is going to be using a lot of focus, or you intend to use a focus hungry Jack (Torch is a brilliant example of this), you are better going for either the Beserker or Kodiak as they can do a lot of what the Juggernaut can at a lesser level, but requiring less focus to do it.

What to add

My first recommendation would be to play a few games with this army, see what you like see what you dont, so if you like the Man O War's shield wall but want something faster try Iron Fang Pikemen. If you just want more men or more shooting try the Winter Guard. You want something hard to hit take the Kayazy for a spin. One unit I can't stress enough that is almost an auto buy however is the Widowmaker squad, removing the MoWs and keeping everything else you can put these in and you have an army, they are highly feared and rightly so (I'll do a Profile for them at some point in the near future, as I want to go into detail, but not right now).

Moving on you'll also want to look into solos, does your army tend to run forward and need something to keep your flanks clear? Try Manhunters, or take two and Yuri the Axe to make them even better. Want your Widowmakers to get that aiming bonus, get a kill then step back to cover? Widowmaker Marskman is what you want. Before I forget, given Sorscha's inherently fragile nature in melee I must recommend you buy the Wardog, giving your caster a DEF boost, the ability to ignore free strikes and the ability to counter charge a unit which gets close to you the points cost is just so good it'd be insane not to take him if you plan on taking your caster into melee. However if you want to stand back and fling spells at your opponent I'd suggest Syls Wynshlar, a Warcaster attachment who gives spell casters such as boost you just have to take him.

Next we reach the Warjacks, again dependent on who you play depends on what I can recommend, if you like to hang back and shoot, drop the destroyer and for a few points more take the Behemoth, Armour Piercing Fists (halves armour on Med or Lrg bases and a damage bonus against Small bases) with TWO bombard Cannons, which cant be crippled and can shoot out of melee, if it wasn't for the pose of the model I'd buy it myself. However if you want to run up the field then smash face then I'd point you towards the Beserker and Kodiak, both can run for free, the Kodiak spews out an AOE to give a DEF boost and clear low ARM infantry, where as the Beserker Charges for free, with the chance of exploding dependent on how much focus it spent that turn. Alternatively I'd suggest considering the Devastator, it's ARM is even higher than standard Khadoran Jacks and it's Rain of Death attack can really threaten some tough opponents when it gets close enough. Another slightly more specialised option is the Spriggan, it is one of three Khador Warjacks with Reach and is the best by far (the others if you want to look them up before I get to them are Beast 09 (Sorscha's Character Warjack) and the Conquest (the Khador Colossal)), the Spriggan also comes with a nice ability shared by the Clam Jacks (Devestator and Demolisher, take a look and you'll see why) called Bulldoze, allowing the Spriggan to push enemy models directly away from it, which is very nice for opening up charge lanes. As almost an added Bonus the Spriggan comes equipped with a Shield providing it with a slight ARM boost, and twin Grenade launchers, that have a special shot that can remove DEF buffs such as Camouflage and Stealth.

Lastly, there is the choice of Warcaster which can and often will shape your army choice, trying to keep it simple, if you like running lots of troops and maybe only take on Jack to fill the Warjack points, take Irusk, he gives so much to troops he is a frequent Caster of choice at tournaments and his epic incarnation gives units in his control area Tough, making them harder to kill (to understand just how good this is, imagine Man of Wars that have to be killed twice, I think you'll agree thats pretty nice). If you like to have a fast army that allows Warjacks to move faster as you kill models take Strakhov, having played him myself he takes some getting used to, but once you get inside his head and see how to make him work your opponent will not know what hit them. If you prefer a Caster that simply walks forward and smashes face take Butcher (pButchers Profile is already up so do take a look), he begs to be played up front and has a couple of buffs to ensure his army survive the trek to where they are going and deal more than enough damage to kill what is there. He is also in his Prime form very good at running multiple Warjacks efficiently, giving out free boosted attack rolls and charges for half his focus, making him my favoured caster by far. However if you would like to sow confusion and just be really tricky for your opponent to deal with take Old Witch, I have yet to use her, but one of the players I face off against hates to play either Butcher or Old Witch, also from what I've researched of her she is incredibly fun in scenario play with surprisingly good mobility for someone who is several hundreds if not thousands of years old. Other casters that I lack the experience to say much about, but would like to mention at least are the Warjack Caster Karchev, who excels at running Jack heavy though I've yet to see any games featuring him and I don't rate him that much, until I see him properly. Then there is one of the most underrated Warcasters we have Zerkova, many people slam her for being useless my argument is most people haven't played with her or haven't given her a chance to actually learn how she works and would rather put it that the model is poor rather than their skill (Sorry, I just dislike people saying a model is poor when they have never used it to know, once you've used it the complain, but not before.) The caster we gained from the Wrath expansion Harkevich is a specialist at running many Jacks and his Character Jack (Black Ivan) is almost an auto include for the free boost to Ranged attack rolls and dodge alone, however I feel he'd also work well in a list focusing on shooty infantry and mainly melee oriented jacks, but thats just my limited experience from playing him, I'd need more games to full work him out. Finally We have Vlad, all 3 of him, Prime has no upkeeps, although this can be something to work around as one of his blades allows you to cast spells of a select cost free having killed a model. Epic loses a blade however gains upkeeps and a sword which if you ever play Cryx with masses of undead you'll be flinging him into their midst very fast (I'm not recommending it as a tactic, though it works well with his ability that makes him stronger as he loses health (again not a tactic to rely on to win the game)). Legendary loves his cavalry, in fact he loves anything that can keep up with him because he will likely be rushing forward from what little I have seen of him, he tends to use this tactic a lot and more often that not it works incredibly well.