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Cygnar: 50pt eCaine

May 7, 2014, 11:53 pm
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Look at this sexy man-beast.

Alright, so what does my eCaine list look like at 50 points?  Well, the answer is pretty simple.  You take my 35 point list and you add Boomhowlers.  It's not my fault that Cygnar typically has suck ass infantry except for ATGM + UA, but hey, what can you do.  After some deliberation, I've decided to give my Tempest Blazers a try with Boomhowler and Co. in the same list for 50 points.

One of the biggest issues I have with Tempest Blazers is that while they're incredibly good, they're also very generic in terms of what they provide.  The first thing that you'll notice is that they fit the same role of ranged combat.  They're essentially faster, more durable versions of ATGM, but they lack the True Sight but can extend their firepower more because of their speed.  At the end of the day, they hit harder than ATGM but they lack the shenanigans that Thunderbolt can sometimes net you, especially in a Caine2 list where you can move things out of firing lanes.  The True Sight is also huge, making them less useful vs. Stealth and doesn't give you the same amount of degree of protection vs. say, Mage Hunters or Bane Thralls.  Fortunately for the Tempest Blazer, you can always race out there and put some Electro-leap shots in their face.  Last, but certainly not least, is the UA ability to put Rune Shots onto a Hunter.  That's probably the biggest reason to take ATGM over the Blazers.  I guess the fact that they require Crits to get inflated results also wants them in a list with Deadeye (cough Haley cough).  Overall, I can see both working out just fine in an eCaine list, but for now I think I'll go with the Blazers.

To me, it's pretty set in stone what you want in a 50 point eCaine list.  You really need some meat in there no matter what so Boomhowler is an auto-include.  Cygnar infantry typically have zero sustain and you want a unit that can tarpit, take positions and play objectives.  There is simply no substitute in the entire Cygnar game in that respect.  The rest is simply mandatory items for Caine which is: Taryn, Reindholt, Squire, Rangers, eEiryss, A&H, and Ol'Rowdy.  Essentially, the first 30 or so points that you have is pretty mandatory, from my experience anyway.  Anything else for me is just sub-optimal and there's not much list variation for the casters that I plan on playing with Cygnar (eCaine and eHaley).  Guess I did it to myself huh?

Anyways, here's the list:

Points: 50/50
Captain Allister Caine (*5pts)
* Ol' Rowdy (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Tempest Blazers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)
Taryn di la Rovissi (2pts)

This is the list that I'm building towards and the first list I'll put on the table for my glorious return to competitive Warmachine.  Good timing too, since it looks like 40K is going down the shitter real fast.
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BR: 50pt eCaine vs. Butcher3

May 11, 2014, 11:09 am
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Look at this god damn crazy.

I was itching for a game all week but due to work, I wasn't able to get one in until last night.  As usual, I played over Vassal man, was it a lot of fun.  The scenario was Close Quarters.

Here's the list he took.  I'm not sure if it was standard or not, but that's what he brought to the table:

Points: 50/50
Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed (*4pts)
* Beast-09 (11pts)
* War dog (1pts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

I brought my standard eCaine list and we duked it out on a map with a trench on each side and a long shared forest on the right.  Most of the right side of the map was also a giant hill, so elevation all over the place.  Sorry, no pics, it ran pretty late last night and I just went to sleep right after the game.

Anyways, here are some highlights from the game:
  • The game started out with him playing very aggressive and running or advancing everything up.  I did the same with all my guys but I couldn't really shoot at anything so I camped all my focus.
  • Next turn, he manages to kill some of my Boomhowlers and strip them of their Arcane Shield thanks to Eiryss.  No further damage is dealt to the rest of my army while all of his marched up fearlessly down the middle.
  • On this turn, I was able to run a few Rangers up and go hard on his army with my shooting.  My B13th killed some of his Pikeman with Ryan doing most of the work as usual, killing 4 by herself thanks to Mage Storm.  The Tempest Blazers advanced 9 and used Elecro-leap to drop a ton of Kayazy from the field despite them having Stealth.  Man, I absolutely love their ability to move 9.  Caine himself did some serious work as he was able to pick off a few Pikeman, Magic Bullet the nearby Eiryss to death and ping another Magic Bullet into Beast '09, but failed to kill Aiyana despite the +1.  A few more shots here and there from some of my other units at Ragman and he sac pawns to one of Butcher's dogs.
  • The next turn was something pretty hilarious.  While I think I had a pretty good turn and I was pretty far ahead, I was definitely not expecting this.  Butcher immediately moves up thanks to Vengeance and drops one of my Boomhowlers stone cold.  He adds 2 focus to Beast '09 and then casts Impending Doom, Silence of Death and Flashing Blade, followed by Feat.  Needless to say, most of the Boomhowlers are dead in one foul swoop with no chance of Tough rolls.  He then advances, into some more Booms including Greygore, and Flashing Blades again to kill every single Cygnar-sympathizing troll on the board while camping 5 Focus.  Damn, that did not go the way I wanted to, especially when I was relying on them to block Beast so I can get another round of shooting.
  • Some of the remaining Kayazy including the Mob Boss charges Ol'Rowdy and actually do something like 8 points of damage to him due to hot rolls.  Not just that, but he activates incorrectly and the 1-HP Aiyana trolls boxcars to Kiss Ol'Rowdy while he was already engaged!  Now, I watch grimly as his Beast '09 barrels down the field and straight into Ol'Rowdy's face, beating his ass into the ground and leaving him with 5 boxes left.  Looks like things really changed in a span of a few activations.
  • With Ol'Rowdy near death, my primary jack was out of commission and the battlefield situation looks pretty damn even.  I choose not to allocate any Focus to Ol'Rowdy because both of his arms were out.  Instead, I move up my Gorman really close to Beast, toss Black Oil, it can only scatter 1" and it hits '09 in the face, sharply dropping his defense.  I then land a Kiss from my own Aiyana, shoot him for some damage with Holt, and put him at roughly half-health after Rowdy activates and hits him with straight dice.  Not the best outcome, but better than nothing.
  • Now, my Rangers run ahead to mark the rest of his army while my Tempest Blazers advance into range of his A&H.  A few Electro-leaps after and both are dead, including his Gorman who's unfortunate enough to be within 5" of one of the Blazers after checking range.  With no more real targets, I'm left with a really tough decision.  I have Beast with Kiss and Butcher in range with Ranger's Mark Target.
  • I know for a fact that with effectively POW14 guns, I can drop Beast in one go with Feat thanks to Black Oil, or I can go for Butcher.  My Eiryss was out of range to threaten Buthcer unfortunately, so I'm going to have to rely on Caine to do all the work.  Well, what the hell, why not go big or go home?  My B13th with Brutal Damage and Taryn try to do some damage to Butcher, but it was just not happening with his camped Focus.  Caine then activates and moves in range of Butcher with +2 RAT.  He throws down 10 shots, misses with the last shot and then proceeds to roll damage.  After the dust settles, Butcher is left with 1 HP and everyone in the room is sitting there in shock.
  • Needless to say, I think that's going to be game.  Next turn, he charges one of his own Kayazy to get within Impending Death range of Caine, and smacks him in the face with Lola.  It actually took him two swings and that was the only thing he could muster, but he rolled what he needed to hit Caine for a second time and that was it.  If he missed, I would have shot him to death next turn.

The winning scenario for me would be to kill Beast with Feat, reallocate Eiryss to the other side of the board to threaten Focus-camping, and to shoot everything else dead in Butcher's army leaving him with no support.  Unfortunately, that might have taken too long to play and I was in a very YOLO mode because this is just a casual game and I've been working too damn much.  You gotta learn to relax and have fun a bit, especially when you're not playing in a tournament and its all fun and games.

I talked with my opponent for a little bit and he said I could have been a bit more aggressive with Rowdy and Eiryss.  I definitely agreed with the Eiryss part, as I think her ability to drop Focus off of Butcher might have been exactly what I needed on Feat turn.  A very fun and close game, I enjoyed it very much.
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Cygnar: A few more lists to try out

May 16, 2014, 12:08 pm
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A whole new world of hurt.

Here a couple more lists that I've been experimenting with lately.

The first is the eHaley list I plan on running along side my eCaine list for dual-list SR2014.

Points: 50/50
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Thorn (8pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Hunter (6pts)
Tempest Blazers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)

The list here is painfully straight forward.  You have the ATGM + UA + Hunter so you can take full advantage of Haley's Deadeye and Temporal Acceleration on the Hunter.  Haley bonds with the Stormwall and the Stormwall pretty much becomes a walking god.  With the ability to threaten infantry with his firing templates, put out two fully boosted Defender shots, or engage a target with 4 Focus and 5 possible attacks, we're looking at one of the most dangerous caster/jack combinations in the game.  If you manage to TK a target with Haley, TA the Stormwall, he can charge back arc and deal damage from 16" away (7" bond, 3" charge, 2" TA, 2" TK, 2" Reach).  That's just an insane amount of reach for something that big and beefy.

Next, you have Siege.

Points: 50/50
Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (*5pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Tempest Blazers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Taryn di la Rovissi (2pts)

Siege is one of those casters I really like because he's all about numbers - big numbers.  The alpha strike that this dude is capable of is something out of a fairy tale.  When he says go, his entire army is capable of putting down so much damage that other sources just seem redundant.  Because of Breach, Tempest Blazers are exceptional in a list with Siege.  Being able to Electo-leap shots on half-armored targets from 19" threat is exactly what a list like this needs.  Boomhowlers will hold the line and Siege's Breach assassination is very possible still with Rangers and Stormwall's big guns.

If I'm not taking eCaine, I'll probably play Siege because of the character restrictions.
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Skorne: Road to War

June 1, 2014, 10:31 pm
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Lead my army to war!

This might come as a shock for some people, but a few years ago I owned 4 armies for Warmahordes.  My first army was Cygnar, followed by Retribution, Circle and Skorne.  I didn't really write all that much about Circle or Skorne because that was towards the tail days of my WH career.  Just recently, I decided to buy back the majority of my Skorne army.

So why did I choose to buy back Skorne and not Circle?  I think the biggest reason for me is the aesthetics and look of the army.  If you think about it, Skorne are basically Dark Elves in Samurai armor.  They love to torture and extend their lives with cruel and sadistic practices, and they're highly disciplined and powerful.  I mainly look at armies for aesthetics and how much synergy they have in their units.  Thankfully, Skorne has a lot of interesting synergies in their army to a point where people refer to it as "Skornery".

For my SR2014 dual list, I'm currently thinking of running both Makedas.  pMakeda will be my attrition caster while eMakeda will be my aggressive caster.  I originally wanted to run with Xerxis, but I think his playstyle might be a little too linear for my tastes.  After looking at my other options like eHexeris, I actually think I like what pMakeda brings to the table more.

Points: 50/50
Supreme Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Molik Karn (11pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)

Let's break this army down piece by piece:

  • eMakeda gives me two really useful spells and an extremely powerful Feat.  Road to War gives the entire army extra movement and Leash allows me to add 3" to a warbeast of my choice.  The feat allows my entire army to hit accurately and ignore Free Strikes.  When combined with Road to War, this allows me to move past enemy models and get in striking range of the models that I want.
  • The Krea in this list gives me two things:  Paralytic Aura and Paralyzing Gaze.  Eyeless Sight when combined with the Willbreaker's re-rolls gives me a solid ranged solution to reduce a target's defense down.  Paralytic Aura is also pretty huge because having a 2" aura of +2 DEF/+2 ARM is super useful vs. ranged attacks.
  • Both the Bronzeback and Gladiator are great beasts to have in any Skorne army.  Rush is a fantastic animus and a staple for any list that wants additional movement and Pathfinder.  One of the biggest flaws of Skorne is the lack of Pathfinder and thus, the Gladiator becomes a staple the majority of the time.  Not only that, but this allows you to combine Road to War and Rush to extend a beast's charge by 4".  As for the Bronzeback, he's nothing more than a solid beatstick that's capable of one-rounding any opposing beast/jack in the game.
  • Last but certainly not least, we have Molik Karn.  When you add on Leash, Road to War, and Rush, you extend Karn's natural 11" threat range to 18".  Add in two additional Side-Steps and you're threatening 22" of unconventional movement before you start tapping into Karn's 5 Fury with Makeda.  Enrage gives you POW15 on the attack and Feat turn gives you 3 attack dice per swing.  On average, you'll be hitting DEF17 with POW15 Weapon Master.  MK is your key assassination tool in this list.
  • The rest of this list is made out of infantry and key support solos:  Nihilators threaten an additional 2" under Road to War and Praetorian Swordsman are great at destroying single-wound infantry with their mini-feat.  This allows you to chew through Black Dragons, Boomhowlers, or other armor-stacking units that are meant to hold the line.  Vengeance move with Makeda gives you 3" of additional threat, which puts their threat range to 14" with RoW before Side-Step.  Even against enemy beasts/jacks, you're capable of putting out tremendous damage if your opponent isn't aware.
  • Beast Handlers are in every Skorne list ever made, Willbreaker gives beasts an extra attack and Puppet Master, and the Agonizer is there to shutdown enemy Colossals/Warjacks.

I'm not ready to reveal what my other list pairing will be just yet, but this has to be my favorite list to play in all of Hordes.  It's fast, aggressive, capable of assassination and has all the right tools for the job.
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Skorne: Dual Makeda?

June 4, 2014, 11:45 pm
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Let's do it, why not?

One of the biggest challenges for me when I build lists is coming up with two lists to run in SR2014.  I have one mainstay caster in the army and that's eMakeda.  There's something about her that I absolutely love and she's my favorite caster in the faction.  In a lot of ways, she's very similar to eCaine.  Her playstyle and army is high-reward, some risk, and most of the stuff in the list is pretty fragile (for how I take her anyway).  I just love the fluff behind her and the fact that I get to play with my favorite model in Warmahordes (Molik Karn) makes me very happy.

As most of you know by now, this is what I'm packing for eMakeda.  However, I'm also thinking about taking the Prime version of her for my dual list.  Before you guys start judging, here's the list.

Points: 50/50
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Tiberion (11pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Feralgeist (1pts)

The idea with this list is very simple.  I need something that can play attrition while giving me the speed and accuracy that I desire naturally.  It's all about playstyle at this point and I think pMakeda will give me the best of that over Xerxis (which was my other choice).  The fact that I can apply Savagery on any of my Titans and extend their threat range walking by +5" is absolutely ridiculous.  This is why I love having both Tiberion and a Bronzeback in my list despite other people trying out the Mammoth.  I can't for the life of me justify taking something that costs 20 when I can get both Tibbers and a BB for the same amount of points, I'm sorry.

This version of Makeda allows me to run hard on the first turn and stay there.  Next turn, I pop some Shield Walls, Krea goes to work with Paralytic Aura on the Cetrati, and Nihilators go jam up someone with Makeda's feat up.  If things die, I don't care.  If things don't die, they're going to hit a lot harder next round, and that's always a good thing.  More attacks equates to more enemy models dead.

Let's be pretty honest here.. this Makeda's spell list is absolutely fantastic:  Defender's Ward on Cetrati is borderline godly because it makes them 16/24 in Shield Wall vs. Shooting with the Krea.  Carnage allows everything in my control area to hit with insane accuracy, which boosts Cetrati/Nihilators/Bronzeback/Tiberion to an effective MAT9.  Muzzle isn't a bad spell when it goes off vs. warbeasts, but the main money-maker in this spell list is Savagery.  This gives me insane flexibility for a 2-cost Upkeep spell.  Having the ability to give any of my units +5 SPD when making a full advance is borderline obscene.  This allows my Nihilators to jam further into enemy lines, Cetrati to full advance 10" with Shield Wall, and gives Tiberion a walking threat of 13" with Rush.  Since it's not a charge or anything, this allows me to be very accurate in how I navigate around the battlefield and makes my threat vectors highly unpredictable.

The only thing that really sucks here is that I don't have Molik Karn in this list.  You know what?  That's OK.  I think eMakeda has better synergy with him as she threatens for longer distances, provides Free Strike immunity for Fate Walker on feat turn, and makes him even more accurate.  As long as one of my Makedas has MK, I can sleep easy at night.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's article, I'll talk about which casters will be dropped against which factions.
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Skorne: Matchup Analysis

June 5, 2014, 8:59 pm
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Death awaits those who defy me.

Now that I have my two lists for dual-list SR2014, let's talk about matchups and what to expect.  Let's take a look here really quick and see what caster I plan on dropping vs. any given matchup.  The main thing to take away from this is that you'll know one thing and one thing only:  Which faction you're going to play against and that's it.  You have to use your knowledge of the faction, which casters are the most powerful, and which ones you'll be expecting in your meta.  Keep in mind that your local meta can be something very different when competing on a national-level.

With that being said, let's go straight into it.  Here are the casters that I plan on dropping without knowing what's in my local meta.  I've been out of the tournament scene for a while and there's a few more players around here, but I've done my research, I still remember a ton of stuff and this should be a pretty good place to start.

Cryx - eMakeda
Cygnar - pMakeda
Khador - eMakeda
Protectorate of Menoth - eMakeda
Retribution of Scryah - pMakeda
Covergence of Cyriss - pMakeda
Mercenaries - eMakeda
Circle Oroboros - eMakeda
Legion of Everblight - pMakeda
Skorne - eMakeda
Trollbloods - eMakeda
Minions - eMakeda

The total count for this comes out to: 8 for eMakeda and 4 for pMakeda out of the 12 factions presented in the game, including the Skorne mirror.

Now, let me go over my thought process of when and why I plan on playing specific versions of Makeda. The biggest difference between the two casters is that while they both offer me threat, mobility and accuracy, pMakeda plays a solid attrition game and eMakeda gives me the assassination.


Cryx
When I think about Cryx, I immediately think about how amazing their warcasters are.  The major tournament casters that stand out to me are both versions of Deneghra, eGaspy and eSkarre.  While Mortenbra can make an appearance, I think I'm satisfied with going with eMakeda in this matchup.  I have enough infantry in my lists to threaten the infantry-heaven playstyle that is Cryx, and I always want to put the threat of assassination in their minds with Molik Karn.  This typically allows me to run the tempo of the game and takes it slightly away from the otherwise aggressive nature that is Cryx.  Immunity to Free Strikes on Feat turn also allows me to go exactly where I want with my infantry and get he most out of my attacks.  Swords will be forcing a lot of Tough checks on Thralls and any blast damage my way will only give them additional threat.  I expect the games to be quick and bloody.

Cygnar
This is my first love so I know them like the back of my hand.  Unfortunately, this also means I know all too well about eHaley, eCaine, Siege and eStryker; the Elite 4 of the Cygnar army.  This is why I plan on taking pMakeda for this faction matchup.  While she only seriously suffers at the hand of Siege, my Cetrati brick is a handful for the likes of eCaine and eHaley even if they plink off Defender's Ward with eEiryss.  Siege is the one guy who poses a serious threat on Breach turn, but keeping guys in cascading order and predicting it ahead of time so you can feat first will save a lot of your units.  eStryker can be out-played if you're careful for his assassination run, and the sheer number of beasts that you have will cause any of them trouble.  No Stormwall list likes to see 3 heavy beasts across the table from them, especially when they can threaten exceptionally long ranges due to Savagery while being protected by the Krea's aura.

Khador
I think my drop vs. Khador will be eMakeda.  Her Praetorian Swordsman outright hard counters Black Dragons and a lot of lists these days like to run 1-2 units of them.  I'm expecting to see eSorcha, Irusk, Butcher3 with maybe some Old Witch in this matchup.  Butcher3 is a really strong caster in the tournament scene right now because it answers a lot of Tough and medium bases, so I need a warlock that can threaten him with death at all times.  Since eScorcha, Irusk and B3 likes to play aggressively, I want to counter their tempo by threatening them with my leashed MK at all times.  This forces them to play more passively and allows me to alpha strike the majority of their army because I'm faster.  When it comes down to Khador, it's about heavy armor and jamming IFP in my face.  As eMakeda, I simply don't care about such things and I have the exact tools to punish everything that's dropped on the table, including the hyper mobile Old Witch because Karn can out-threat her in most cases.

Menoth
The casters I will see here is Harbinger, Severius and Kreoss.  Maybe I will see the oddball eFeora or Kreoss3, but I'm mainly preparing my list against Harby.  I thought long and hard about which caster I would rather drop here and I think eMakeda would be the better choice.  While I can be all gun-ho and rush my caster forward with Leash, both Severius and Kreoss punishes that playstyle pretty hard.  At the same time, they want to be closer to me to use their Feat and thankfully, that's MK territory if I get in some Side-Steps.  This really leaves me with Harby and her area denial, which I'm more than sitting still for a turn so I don't lose everything to fire.  No matter what, Harby will be a difficult setup with eMakeda but I'm in a good position to fight everything else in her list.  My Warbeasts will be able to answer the warjacks, my infantry will force martyrs or death against her infantry, and being a larger model makes her a prime target to get MK sling-shotted in her face.

Retribution
For this matchup, I'll be dropping pMakeda.  There is quite a bit of shooting going on in this army, so I'm expecting to take a good amount of losses.  Fortunately for me, I'll be able to apply a good amount of pressure while keeping my caster safe from assassination hopefully.  I'm thinking that Rahn, Ravyn and Kaelyssa will be the best casters although I've heard crazy things about their new spellcaster.  For now, I'll concentrate on these three and prepare the best I can.  While MHSF will be able to shoot through my defenses, a lot of the other ranged options cannot.  I'm just going to have to anticipate the big turn and prepare to receive damage.  My most dangerous matchup here is Rahn since he can drag the majority of my army cross the field and deal with them individually, but that's why I have to barrel forward and kill as much of the army as I can.

Covergence
I've only played this army once so far, but I did some research on a few casters after the game and I think Father Lucant, Aurora and Syntherion.  Axis also caught my eye and he's looking pretty damn good, but I don't think he'll be as popular as the other three.  Regardless, one of the things that I learned from my first game is that their jacks are very good for the cost.  They also have a huge amount of multi-wound, high-armor models that Skorne doesn't really like to fight.  For that reason, I think pMakeda will be the better drop here because of Cetrati and Savagery moving a lot of my beasts forward.  Being able to take down these walls and choosing indirect methods of movement will be my best friend here, especially if the goal is to play attrition.  I don't have much else to say about the matchup here because I just haven't had too much experience playing against them, but this is one of those matchups that either one might work.  Time will tell.

Mercenaries
I feel good playing eMakeda here because I'll be able to chew through the majority of high-armored dwarves and bully their casters with MK.  While some shooting lists look pretty scary on paper, I'm not too scared because I'll have my Krea, move very aggressively with my army, and threaten their scariest jacks with my better warbeasts.  As long as I don't bunch my guys up and play it smart, I'll be able to get into a good position to alpha while threatening their casters with MK death as well.

Circle
I've thought long and hard about this matchup and there's really not much to say.  Goatvana is probably one of the hardest counters to Skorne because I don't think any army is designed to play attrition that well.  eKrueger and Kromac are really good casters and I out-range eKaya so I don't really care.  eMakeda will be running point in this matchup and I'm hoping that Goatvana will play careless and I'll be able to open up an assassination lane.  The key here is to alpha strike as a form of attrition and force her the Goat-woman to low health so everything is more threatening.  eKrueger will be annoying because of his Feat, but it can be anticipated, so I can keep MK back ready to be unleashed.  Kromac will be able to chew through a lot of infantry with his Stalker, but the fact that I have eMakeda will hopefully keep that dog on a hard leash unless he want to be chopped to bits by Karn.  Honestly though, the Goat will be the most difficult game, followed by the Stormlord.

Legion
When I think Legion, I think of Saeryn, both Vayls and eLylyth.  I really enjoyed Abby when I was experimenting with the faction, but it's pretty clear to me who the upper tier casters are.  eThagrosh also pops up some here and there, but I think Saeyrn and Vayl will be the warlocks to take down.  To prepare for this matchup, I decided to drop pMakeda because of Tibbers and her security vs. eLylyth and other shooting elements of the Legion army.  With Defender's Ward and Krea's aura, my Cetrati will feel pretty comfortable with their place on the battlefield and early deaths can be made up with Makeda's Feat.  The only other challenge here is if my 3-beast trifecta can tango with the best beasts that Legion has to offer and I think it can.  High defense will just eat some Carnage and hopefully that'll be enough.  The gameplan here is to weather the storm and kill as many of them as I can while constantly applying beast pressure.

Skorne
In any faction mirror, I always like dropping the caster with the highest threat on assassination (so eCaine with Cygnar).  There's no better woman for the job here than eMakeda with Molik Karn.  Against all matchups, MK will be a solid threat vs. Skorne because most casters enjoy playing mid-field at least.  Getting the alpha strike is also very important because having the ability to out-threaten your opponents will give you advantage in tempo, position and thus, scenario advantage.  For this matchup, it's a game about speed and threat.  The person with the most of both will be favored in my opinion.  I'm also expecting to see most lists play eHexeris, but I don't think anyone will be dropping that in a Skorne MU, so I'm expecting to see an fake Makeda.

Trollbloods
Frankly, all that armor and tough is meaningless when I'm faster, more accurate and largely ignore the armor buffs.  That's why I chose eMakeda for this matchup.  I'm expecting to see eMadrak, Borka and eHoarluk here for the most popular Troll locks.  eMadrak is a beast but he needs his army to be standing to make any real use out of it.  Thankfully, most of my army doesn't care and will run straight into his stuff and kill as much as I can while ignoring Free Strikes and taking advantage of Side-Steps.  Since his army is aggressive, the threat of death from MK will also force the tempo back on my side in scenario situations.  Borka is a good caster to prepare for, but again, I'm very accurate on Feat turn so I can always override the benefits of Iron Flesh while the majority of my army doesn't care about Wind Wall.  Mosh Pit gives him some nice KD, but alpha strike on Feat turn makes me completely immune to that, so yeah, that sucks.  eDoom is also pretty excited to get on the field, but doesn't like the fact that I have infantry units for days that can swallow up his supporting infantry while I jam up his warbeasts.  The person who loses the first beast will be ahead.

Minions
Lastly, we have Minions, and I plan on eating them alive with eMakeda.  That is all.


*Quick Note*
At the end of the day, just understand this is one man's reasoning behind what he expects to see and what he plans on doing about it.  There will always be bad matchups and nothing will be as perfect as it seems on paper.  Keep in mind that right now, this is all subject to change and some of it is based off of theory of what I'll see as "standard" on the battlefield.  I also haven't played against a lot of the new casters, and have only played some of the mentioned ones once or twice (Morty, I'm looking at you).  Overall, I'm always confident in my abilities unless proven otherwise, or given advice from more experienced players.  All feedback is welcome of course!
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Skorne: pMakeda and Marketh

June 18, 2014, 4:44 pm
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Chopping up dem plebs.

After deliberation, I've decided to change up my pMakeda list slightly.  I took out the Krea and included Aptimus Marketh with her.  Sure, I get less protection from shooting, but I get some major benefits from including Marketh.

The first benefit is the ability to recover from Purification being spammed on my army.  With Savagery and Defender's Ward both being upkeep spells, having Makeda casting them constantly is a bad for my Fury economy.  Instead, Marketh can pick up the additional spellcasting because Spell Slave allows him to cast it for free.

The second reason to include Marketh with pMakeda is the ability to cycle through spells.  You can cycle a super powerful spell like Savagery across multiple units by spacing out the activation.  Makeda can upkeep or cast Savagery on a unit of Cetrati, allowing them to advance 10" under Shield Wall.  She can use her activation to throw up Carnage, making everyone super accurate in combat.  Once they activate, Marketh can cast Savagery on another unit like Tiberion and having him walk 9" to punch someone in the face, or 11" if you want to play with the Nihilators.

Lastly, the third reason is for additional Fury-efficiency.  Since I have enough infantry models in my army that will die and give away souls, having Marketh spend souls to upkeep spells is a great way to keep Makeda healthy.  She doesn't need to camp everything of course, but it's straight up good fury management.

Oh, and I guess I also get a tortured baby elephant to go along side Marketh.  That's always cool.  New list looks like this:

Points: 50/50
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Tiberion (11pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
* Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)

Overall, this list seems much better than the previous.
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X-Wing: Echo, echo

June 24, 2014, 11:22 pm
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Ooo, new toys!

Yes, I'm making a pun off that Disney movie that's about a cute little robot alien.  You know what game I haven't played in a long time because of overtime?  X-Wing.  You know what game I need to play immediately?  X-Wing.  It's a shame I wasn't able to find a game tonight, but then again I'm not too upset because I didn't get my TIE Phantom yet.

Just so you guys know, I plan on fielding a TIE Phantom in my next list just so I can do all the outrageous things with it that you think it can.  I'm planning to field "Echo" along side two of my favorite Saber Squadron pilots, Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir.  Combined with the new TIE Phantom, I plan on making quite an impact on the battlefield as all the ships I have are ridiculously maneuverable.

First, let's take a look at Echo:

Seems good.

The greatest thing about this guy (or girl?) is the ability to go anywhere I want on the battlefield with his ability.  As you can see from this article on the FFG website, Echo can fly anywhere he wants as long as there's enough room to move around.  While this is great and all, I'm quite worried about how the presence of asteroids will limit his ability.  When you think about competitive play, players have the opportunity to place asteroids one after another, in alternating fashion.  A lot of the better players know exactly how these asteroids can affect how the battle plays out:  Tightly clustered asteroids gives TIE Swarm players a fit while more sporadic placement of rocks gives Interceptors and flankers an edge.

Regardless, I think the sheer number of movement tricks will make Echo worth his points.  So what will the layout be do you ask?  Well, I'm thinking about taking Veteran Instincts, Recon Specialist and Advanced Cloaking Device.  This will bring his price up to a whopping 38 points, but hopefully the Recon Specialist and ADC will be worth it.  The reason I chose these abilities is pretty well-reasoned I feel:  Veteran Instincts gives me PS8 so I can move later and shoot quicker.  Recon Specialist gives him double Focus tokens so I can choose to Decloak, Focus x2, Attack and trigger Advanced Cloaking Device.  I will then either have a focus to make my attacks more powerful and keep a another with 4 dice on defense.  If I hit with everything and I'm satisfied with my result, I can hold back both focus for two rounds of enemy shooting.  This greatly prolongs the life of a relatively lightly-armored ship.

Again, just like the motto of the TIE Interceptors, the idea here is to not get dead.  It's a lot harder than it looks when you're playing against skilled opponents, and even harder when they're well-versed in fighting against Interceptors.  To make matters worse, what hurts Echo is the same thing that hurts Interceptors and that's good ol' Stress.  If you get stressed in a Phantom, you're going to feel it as soon as your opponents start opening up.  Since Cloak/Decloak itself is an action, and ADC is a free action, if you can't take actions you're not going to be well-off on defense.  In fact, you're probably going to lose your 38 point ship.  I guess it's also important to point out that ADC only triggers after you attack with Echo.  This means that PS9 pilots or anything that outspeeds you (including pilots shooting first) is going to have the advantage offensively vs. your ship.  Hence why I chose to go with a 99 point list.

This is the other 789 list I have.

As for the rest of my dudes, Soontir and Turr will be flying escort for Echo.  The list itself looks like this:

99 points

"Echo"— TIE Phantom
Veteran Instincts
Recon Specialist
Advanced Cloaking Device
 
Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor
Push the Limit
Hull Upgrade
 
Turr Phennir — TIE Interceptor
Push the Limit

Let me know what you guys think about the list.  I'm pretty confident it'll do well.  I'm used to flying elite lists by now and this one is no different.
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X-Wing: Crying about the Phantom

June 29, 2014, 4:34 pm
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Seems appropriate.

I don't usually browse the forums, but when I do its to look for one thing:  Discussions centralizing around game imbalance.  Call it a hobby of mine, but I really like reading what others have to say and the arguments they put forth when talking about specific game features.  I find it highly entertaining because most of the time; the arguments are poor, the assumptions are premature and the theorycrafting is astronomical.  For example, there's this article on the official FFG forums talking about the Phantom being the best ship.  You can find the ridiculous 9-pager right here.

One of the first things to keep in mind when reading stuff like this is that most of the time, it's coming from an inexperienced player.  Experienced, tournament-faring players with lots of games in a diversified meta do not outright claim game imbalance when they get beaten.  They first analyze their play, see what went wrong and try to adjust their plan of action for next time.  That's what I did when I played pro (in other games), that's what my colleagues did and that's what every competitive player I ever knew did.  They analyze their mistakes and rectify it first thing.  What do they do next?  Play it again, and again, and again until it's clearly in both players' minds that there's nothing more can be done.

Most of the time, competitive players have played the game a lot.  They played it enough that they know what's in their meta, but also in the national and global meta as well.  If a competitive player starts to present anecdotal evidence through several playtests against equally competitive players who are also pitching in their feedback, and no one agrees that the ship in question is answerable, then there might be an issue.  This is a natural form of check and balances to make sure there's no weak link, and that the argument for the eventual problem is clear, concise and accurate.

This is one of those times where people misunderstand the concepts of game imbalance and things that change the metagame.  Like I said in that thread, this is Wave 4, a major release that throws 4 different ships into the meta with all different kinds of upgrades and options.  Just before that, we got the Rebel Transport that had a good amount of Rogue Squadron upgrades.  Shortly before that, we got Imperial Aces and now in the next couple of weeks, we'll get Rebel Aces.  What this means to the game is that everything will change:  Not just a little, but a lot because of all the different player options coming into the mix together.

When you look at what has been released before this, you'll find a common thread of meta-changers out there.  The Falcon and Han Solo changed how the game was played because of 360 firing arcs, solid damage output as well as fire consistency.  Not to mention the Falcon has a crap ton of health.  Then you look at the Imperial equivalent in the form of the Slave, the release of the TIE Bomber, named Interceptors like Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir, turret-based Rebel ships like the Y-Wing, Ion Cannons, Heavy Laser Cannons, Carnor Jax.. the list goes on and on.  The point is:  Whenever something new is introduced into the fray that people are not comfortable with yet, the most common reaction on the internet is to panic and post shitty threads crying imbalance.  Most of the people who post this shit are inexperienced players who haven't seen enough game time.  Even fewer are players who think they know what they're talking, but end up talking out of their ass because they play in a meta where the competition is weak, thus destroying the check and balances anomaly I talked about earlier.  I think I read in that thread somewhere where some dude proclaims that the Phantom single-handily destroyed 100 points worth of enemy ships.  That just smells like scrub-bashing.

I personally can't wait to get my Phantom and fly it around in a few games.  While I think it's a powerful ship, it's the epitome of a glass cannon and there's a huge number of counters out there.  Specifically, I'll target "Echo" for the purposes of listing out some counters:
  • Higher PS pilots who shoots before him at his 2 defense dice before ACD triggers.
  • Ships who ignore his maneuverability e.g. 360 turrets, Falcons.
  • Player-induced stress tokens e.g. Flechette Torpedoes, R3A2.
  • Ion Cannons are seriously bad news if they hit the ship.
  • Bad luck, because it happens and I've lost Fel with full health off  5 evade dice before.

So the moral of the story is this:  Before you cry imbalance about a near 40 point ship with 4 hull points, at least have the common courtesy to know the difference between changing the meta and a balance concern.  Once you figure that out, at least try to defeat the problem instead of complaining about it on the forums like a giant bitch.  Maybe if you think about the issue long enough, it'll suddenly dawn upon you that there is no spoon [problem] in the first place.
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My Dark Eldar in 7th

July 22, 2014, 4:18 pm
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The gig is up.

It has been a very long time since I played 40K, mainly because of other hobbies and real life getting in the way.  Let's just say that I'm not a super huge fan of 7th:  They did a few things that were good for the game, but it mostly felt like a patch that to 6th Ed. that was released for full price.  I guess you can say that I'm not the biggest GW fan right now.  Even though I've been playing their games for 14 or so years, I dislike their business model, their prices and the direction that they're taking their company.

Despite all this, I still really like the army design and most of the lore behind it.  This got me thinking: Maybe I should break out my Dark Eldar for a little bit and maybe mix it up with some Eldar.  It's been a while since I've played and it will be my first game of 7th Ed., although I don't think much have changed.  The big ones for me are the changes to Jink, all vehicles got more durable (mine and my opponents), and the fact that most of my army scores now, including my dedicated transports.

When I look over my Dark Eldar army, it's pretty clear to me that the book is starting to show its age pretty harshly.  If you compare the Dark Eldar book to the Eldar book, you'll see that a lot of the units are overpriced in terms of cost and effectiveness.  With the changes to how Psychic powers are executed in 7th, having a psyker in my army is also very desirable, especially since the DE book was made in 5th when things were a lot different.  I think that overall, I need to re-purpose my army to fight the newer edition more than anything else.  It's quite clear that we need a new book (rumors say by the end of the year).

Whatever the case is, it looks like I'll be adding more Eldar to my Dark Eldar forces.
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Dark Eldar: Making it work

July 23, 2014, 3:58 pm
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Let's give this another go.

For a while now, I've thought about just putting my Dark Eldar army on hold until the new book.  Rumors have been circulating that we'll see a new book by the end of the year, but like anything GW-related, I tend not to hold my breath these days.  Even though I feel that the book is really showing its age, I've decided to get a list together and play a game of 7th in the upcoming days.

Before I get into the list details, I want to expand a little bit to why I feel the book is showing its age.
  • First and foremost is the points associated with the units and how much bang for the buck you get for them.  When you compare likewise units from the newer books, you'll see that firepower increased or stayed the same, but the points have decreased from their previous incarnations.  When prices decrease and your firepower stays the same, this is a huge indication that you're playing with overpriced units.
  • Second, is that the game has changed radically from 5th to 7th.  Many of the special rules that the Dark Eldar book associates with has been nerfed repeatedly either voluntarily or involuntarily.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, FNP is now 5+ from the 4+ it was before, explosions inside Open-Top vehicles is no longer S3 but is now S4, Night Fighting only giving Stealth, the inclusion of hull points, the vehicle damage chart changing to benefit all vehicles, Overwatch being a thing, Allies being included..etc.
  • Third, is that while other armies get stronger and receive more toys, the power of Dark Eldar has declined from 5th to 7th.  It's been a constant stream of decline due to voluntary and involuntarily nerfs, but it becomes a double-whammy when Ignore Cover and Overwatch run rampant.  I believe Dark Eldar were designed to be a glass-cannon faction.  It moves fast, hits hard and cannot really take a punch unless you were clever in execution and cunning in placement.  Ignore Cover simply doesn't give a shit and Overwatch made our premiere assault unit (Wyches) look overpriced.  Not to mention that the new 7th Ed. Jink makes shooting relatively pointless on vehicles that are designed to shoot on the move.

While I understand there are a few good things to come out of these editions, I can't help but feel we got the short end of the stick here.  No matter, because I pride myself as a good player and I've beaten netlists throughout the editions with good plays.  As good ol' General Patton once said:  "Good tactics can save even the worst strategy."

At 2k points, here's what I plan on taking for my Dark Eldar/Eldar allies.

2000
19 kp

HQ:
Succubus (VB, Haywire) = 75
Farseer (JB, Spear, Mantle) = 160*

TROOPS:
5x Warriors (Raider FF/AS, Blaster) = 135
5x Warriors (Raider FF/AS, Blaster) = 135
10x Warriors (Raider FF/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
10x Warriors (Raider FF/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
5x Dire Avengers (Holo/SS/Scatter/SC) = 220*
5x Dire Avengers (Holo/SS/Scatter/SC) = 220*

FAST:
Crimson Hunter Exarch = 180*

HEAVY:
Ravager (FF) = 115
Ravager (FF) = 115
Ravager (FF) = 115
Night Spinner (Holo/SS) = 140*

With this list, I hope to accomplish two things:  Maximize on firepower, and maximize on Objective Secured troop choices.  I felt a good balance between the core army and Eldar allies was to maximize on poison shooting, Dark Lances, and bring enough high-powered shots as possible while still maintaining a good spread.  By that, I mean I have poison to cover MCs and high toughness, multiple all-purpose S6 shots from the WS, Ignore Cover shots from the WS, anti-air from the Crimson Hunter, Dark Lances from the Ravagers, and a Spinner to keep blobs honest.

For scoring, I have two durable ships in the form of the Wave Serpents, fast back-field lanceboats with the two Aethersail Raiders, and two fully geared Raider gunboats carrying full mans.  Also, I changed all of my Raiders and Ravagers from Night Shields to Flickerfields.  There's just too much Ignore Cover out there and sometimes, I will want to shoot over Jink on my Ravagers.  As always, I refuse to use the disgusting Haemonculi and I would rather see a Succubus run the show at a few points more.  It's purely for principle at this point.

Lastly, I think the Farseer will be rolling with Divination.. although the thought of Telepathy's Shrouding and Invisibility looks great.  What you guys think?  Looks pretty good to me.
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The End Times are coming!

August 22, 2014, 10:32 am
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All green and stuff.

Here's the current news on the street:

The Dark Brothers are stronger than ever before, and the old gods fade. Only in death will any respite be found.

In a land of mist the mountains will tremble and the sea turn black. The Wind of Shyish will blow once more, freed from its eternal prison.

Divine blood will flow, kings will fall. Mankind must choose between death or damnation.

The Reign of Millions of Years will end, the great exodus will begin.

So what does this actually mean?  Based on what we already know..

  • Dark Brothers = Chaos Gods.
  • Only in death = necromancy = Nagash making a come back.
  • In the land of mists = Ulthuan.
  • Wind of Shyish = Amethyst = Death lore.  Very dark, very Nagash.
  • Divine blood will flow = High Priests/Kings of Khemri.
  • Kings will fall = Settra.
  • Death or damnation = Mankind will either be dead/undead or Chaos.


With all that said.. we will see another Chaos uprising after Nagash gets his.  Hopefully, this means Greater Daemon models finally.
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The End Times is awesome

August 25, 2014, 3:07 pm
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This is going to be epic!

I'm going to be straight up about this:  I think the End Times series that GW is doing is the best thing the company did in a long time.  Not only are they building up for the release of Fantasy 9th Edition, but they're doing it in epic style.  Literally, epic.  They are progressing the storyline, they're making it involve all the armies of the game, and they're doing it in segments similar to that of FW's Horus Heresy.  There's going to be awesome model releases, followed by rules, alliances and the ability to take a much more epic army.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm actually very excited about the upcoming schedule.  My latest sources tell me it's going to unfold like this:

Endtimes will have 4 Books:

  • Book 1 will release Late August
  • Book 2 with Chaos releases in October.
  • Book 3 with Skaven releases in January.
  • Book 4 with other Forces releases in March.
  • Shortly after this WFB 9th Edition arrives. The Rulebook releases at the same time of year as 40k 7th did in 2014.

I might actually go around rebuilding that mono-Slaanesh DoC army if they finally release new plastic kits for the Keeper of Secrets and Fiends.

Get ready folks, between these epic releases and Dark Eldar sometime this year, I'm going to be dropping some cash and making a ton more posts.
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WHFB: Back playing some games

August 30, 2014, 8:47 pm
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Hmm.. should I pick up Daemons again?

I've recently picked up the game again since there's been a lot of hype generated from The End Times.  Out of all of the armies that I've played in the past, the only one I still have in my inventory is my High Elves.  They were my first army and by that right, they get to stay with me forever.  However, there's another army that I had that I'm thinking about purchasing again, and that's my mono-Slaanesh Daemons of Chaos.

The last time I played with that army in physical form was when the 7th Ed. army book just came out and I completely swept my opponents with it.  I don't think it was really me that did it, it was mainly because the book just allowed so many ridiculous things to happen because it was utterly amazing.  That book is still my favorite book of all time, not just because it was incredibly powerful, but the internal balance was so god damn amazing that almost everything had a use and saw game time.  I don't say this very often, but the fluff, stories and unit descriptions was also godlike (Mat Ward ironically).  It was just externally, the book was horribly over the top compared to everything else, but that was before Dark Elves came out and 7th Ed. army books truly started creeping their way forward.

In the last couple of days, I've been toying around with a mono-Slaanesh list and playing it on Universal Battle.  If you guys haven't played with that program before, I strongly suggest it because it allows you to practice with players from all around the world.  If your meta is as stale as mine (meaning, there's hardly anyone to play), I highly suggest getting on and giving it a couple of games.  Just like Vassal, it's a tool that players use to try out new units and strategies before deciding on the final purchase.  It's safe to say that I feel pretty good coming back to the hobby, mainly because I'm excited to see what else is getting release in The End Times, and hoping that 9th Ed. is right around the corner.

I have very high hopes for 9th Ed. Fantasy.  They streamlined a lot of rules and made it simpler to play, but in terms of movement there's still a lot of clunky stuff out there.  Once they fix the movement to be more like Kings of War (just simpler movement mechanics) and reduce the amount of bullshit magic there is in the game, I think we'll be one step closer to making the game faster to play.

There are 3 things that I care about when I get into any hobby:
  • Time - The most precious of all commodities.  You literally can't take this back no matter what you do unless you're a fucking wizard.
  • Money - How much does it cost me to get into the game?  We're talking dollar bills here.
  • Commitment - Not just from you, but also from your community and how many players are willing to keep playing the game with you.
Strictly speaking about the hobby from a resource perspective, I need the game to not take forever to play, costs to be affordable and enough people to play so I don't get bored.  These are the biggest hurdles for WHFB in my opinion.  It takes an incredibly long time to play and setup because there's just so many models to put on the table.  It takes an extraordinary amount of money to buy-in, and due to those 2 main restrictions, there's not enough players who can be committed to such a thing.  On a surface level, your main competitors is ironically one of your own IPs in the form of Warhammer 40K, Warmahordes and the dominating newcomer in the form of X-Wing.  The only thing that you really have backing your ass up at this point is your outrageous quality in plastic showcase models and high-fantasy fluff that's non-existent in the market right now.

I really hope that 9th Ed. will make the game faster to play, designed in a manner where smaller, more starter-level armies are actually playable (and have fun in them), thus lowering the barrier of monetary entry.  Once we get there, you will see a huge resurgence of Fantasy players because you're already the king of high-fantasy-nerdgasms outside of pen and paper.
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VC: Undead elves are real

September 3, 2014, 5:08 pm
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She can lead my army anytime.

Now that GW has officially confirmed the fact they exist, I'm going to add on some undead elements to my current High Elf army to make it into Vampire Counts.  I already have an asston of High Elves, all I need to do is get myself some undead elements and make it real.

  • I'm thinking about using my Spearmen as Skeleton Warriors.
  • Dragon Princes as Black Knights, although Blood Knights would be better.
  • Ghouls I will need to buy, probably Mantic Ghouls because they look great.
  • Dire Wolves I will need to buy as well.
  • Pick up some Hexwraiths because I love the models and they look very different than the rest.
  • I will need to pick up a Terrorgheist because there's not really a model like it.
  • New Spirit Host models are coming out, so I'm going to pick myself 3 of them.
  • Vargheists right now are a toss up, I might use them, I might not.  I gotta playtest more.

On another note, so what about those Undead Legions?  Being able to combine VC and TK will lead to a lot of crazy stuff.  Seeing how TK couldn't march before and now they can, do you think they will be more competitive?  What about the fact that Incantation of Desert Winds can now affect both TK and VC units? Would you like the ability to march twice?  Then put on a big bubble VDM?  Add in 2x Necrosphinx and a Casket of Souls and you have one potent list.

2500
13 drops

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 548
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward

HEROES:
Lv.1 Vampire BSB = 250
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile
Nightshroud, Luckstone, PoFools

CORE:
33x Skeleton Warriors, FC = 195
30x Ghouls, Ghast = 310
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
12x Black Knights, FC, BoSwiftness = 357
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Casket of Souls = 135
Necrosphinx = 225
Necrosphinx = 225
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VC: The book is not so bad

September 4, 2014, 5:52 pm
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I remember when this card dominated..

Coming back to WHFB after a long hiatus, I took the last couple of days to learn about the new armies.  I stopped playing a few months after Dark Elves got their new book and during that time, Dwarfs and Wood Elves also got their proper updates.  Good for them.  It's been a long time coming since these armies got their updates and I hope everyone gets updated relatively soon.

So what prompted this post exactly?  Well, I've been hearing quite a bit from the online community that VC lost a lot of their appeal.  Wood Elves bring a lot of magical arrows into the fray and Dwarfs just have enough shooting to make your Terrorgheists miserable.  While these are both true, I don't think it's all doom and gloom for VC.  Out of all the books that have been released so far, I think VC has the best magic item selection and very powerful playstyles overall.

There are three main playstyles that is VC for the most part:

  • The offensive style plays with a Blenderlord, loves to apply pressure with a knight bus and fast movers that jam up and annihilate the enemy.  He sustains himself via magic, chews through units through his lord and plays a more isolate and destroy game.  The lord likes to focus on one unit, annihilates it utterly and then moves onto the other while the rest of the army supports this action.  When you look at the army itself, it runs with fast movers like Hexwraiths, Terrorgheists, multiple drops of Dire Wolves, Vargheists, Bat Swarms, basically anything that can keep pace with the Blenderlord's bus of Black Knights.
  • The defensive playstyle is on the completely opposite ends of the spectrum.  You like to footslog, keep your army as compressed as possible and win the game through attrition.  In order for VC to do this, they must have a strong magic phase in the way of magical items, namely the Black Peripat.  You might see one or two Master Necromancers in this list, forming your basic casting engines to be combined with the Mortis Engine's +2 to cast for Lore of Vampires.  The rest of the army is made out of anything that everything with good staying power:  Big units of Ghouls, a big unit of Crypt Horrors, Mortis Engine for additional Regen, and anything else that can take a beating and stick in combat.  These lists tend to be slower than the offensive style of playing.
  • The last style that you'll see is a mix of both.  You might have a Blenderlord bus, a fat stack of Crypt Horrors with Mortis Engine, and/or anything else that combines the ideology of both.  These lists might have more options when fighting against specific archetypes in the metagame, they're definitely not as focused as the other two playstyles.  Personally, I think players that focuses on either pure offense or pure defense have better lists overall.  The reason for this is because the VC army likes to either move and move fast, or move slow together.  Breaking that 12" march bubble with your General causes some serious problems most of the time, especially when most of the spells you cast are best in an AoE.

I will say one thing that is the major flaw in the VC book:  Some of the units are gimmicky and very swingy in terms of effectiveness.  For example:  Hexwraiths can be great against something like Ogres, but they'll be hiding for their lives vs. Wood Elves.  Terrorgheists basically have nowhere to hide against multiple cannons, but against an army with little shooting, they can dominate.

At the end of the day, you gotta take what playstyle you playing with most and utilize units that can face anyone in a tournament setting.  That means knowing your meta and which archetypes out there give you the most trouble.  If you're expecting to see a lot of magic flying around, you probably don't want to load your list with Hexwraiths.  If you're expecting to see Ogres, Dwarfs and Empire a lot, multiple Terrorgheists might be a poink sink more than anything else.  You just gotta know what you're fighting against and build a balanced list based on your own playstyle.  And for christ sakes, revisit your magic selection once in a while, you'll be surprised with what you'll find.  Black Peripat allows you to absolutely dominate magic phases and it might be one of the best Arcane items in the game, rivaling that of Book of Hoeth.  Nightshroud has been absolutely phonemically for me, shutting down other ASF and magic weapon/GW-totting models entirely.  Shit, even that cheap little Cursed Book that you have there for 35 points might be one of the best items in the game right now.  A little Lv.1 Necromancer can potentially cast a Soul Blight with 1 dice that'll normally take him 3 dice to cast normally.  Not just that, but your opponent will throw at least 2 dice on his Lv.4 to dispel it.  If that's not magic power, I don't know what is.

Know your meta, know the archetypes, and know your opponents.  Above all else:  Know your own army.  It will drastically increase your win % as far as preparation is concerned.
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WHFB: How well does VC and TK play together?

September 5, 2014, 12:23 pm
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Let my legions pour forth and consume this world!

Hey guys, just a quick article here about how I'm going to incorporate some of the new Undead Legions rules to my existing Vampire Counts army.

Here are some of the big things to take note of:
  • There is no more Nehekharan Undead or specific Vampire Counts Undead, there is now only one Undead.  This means that all the magic, magic items and special rules that target a specific undead entity now affects all Undead models in your army.  The same applies for the Lore of Nehekhara and Lore of Vampires.  This is absolutely huge, and something I will expand on in a bit.
  • You now have access to all of the units in both army books so you and mix and match like you please, following the normal army restrictions of course.  By normal, I mean now you can play with 50% of your army as Lords.  You want to take a beefy Tomb King along side your pumped up Vampire Lord in 2500 points?  Sure thing.
  • Tomb Kings' units can now march within 12" of the army general, just like Vampire Counts.  This is gigantic because the army was never able to march before, and made up their movement with magic spells.  Let this sink in for a bit, because it's going to get wild in a little bit.
  • Finally, your general dying no longer makes your entire army crumble.  If you lose your big bad Vampire Lord, nothing bad happens because Nagash's power is able to sustain your army during these dark times.  This can be a huge boon for late game attrition when your general rolls horribly to save.

If you guys haven't figured it out already, this unlocks a huge new can of worms that the Old World is not ready for.  Just when you think it's bad enough that some of their greatest heroes have fallen, the world is in ruins and they're being bombarded by Undead and Chaos at all sides, what more can go wrong?!

Here is where it goes wrong:
Tomb Kings can now march with your Vampire Lord right?  Both Lore of Nehekhara and Lore of Vampires can be used on all Undead units right?  Bring on the movement shenanigans!  If anything WHFB has taught me over the years is that these slow-moving, corpse-ridden undead guys sure can move when you want them to.  Between Incantation of Desert Winds and Vanhel's Danse Macabre, you can move your entire army into your opponent's backfield soon after you deploy.  Why?  Because there is no more restriction which Undead units are affected by these spells.  Incantation of Desert Winds is a signature spell that was built into the TK lore to make up for the fact that TK could never march before.  Now that every Hierophant and their mother can take it, you have a grave decision to make when your opponent wants to cast this spell.  On a 8+ augment Undead (was Nehekaran Undead) units within 12" can immediately make a normal move as if it were the Remaining Moves sub-phase.  You can extend this to a bubble 24" on a 16+, but that might be out of the realm of possibilities for a Lv.1-2 supporting Hierophant.

Now think about this for a second:  Your entire army just marched, and now it can move again?  What happens when you get off VDM (Vanhel's Danse Macabre) on a bubble 12+?  If that goes off, every Undead unit within 12" can now make another 8" move followed by re-rolls to hit until the next round of magic.  If you think Wood Elves are fast, or Slaaneshi Daemons, think again:  Undead are the new masters of movement and they do so with basic spells, one of which is a signature spell that every Hierophant can take, and VDM with Book of Arkhan (BS PL3) from a Necromancer.

Sure, sure, but we can dispel that right?  Of course you can, but that's the beauty of it all.  For a spell like Incantation of Desert Winds, it just became questionable to a must dispel lest you want Terrorgheists screaming behind your units.  This level of magical commitment forces your hand and there's a possibility that it won't be enough to stop it all.  The fact that this is available on every wizard in the TK army means that you will always have it in your arsenal.

What happens when you combine an army with re-roll hits via VDM with Incantation of Righteous Smiting?  You have a dramatic increase in damage potential as your army is now capable of re-rolling hits with +1 attack.  Both of those can be stacked and both of those can be cast in a bubble if you so desired.  With Tomb Guard and Grave Guard benefiting huge amounts from these magical effects, it's no wonder that they stayed in different books.  If you think that's rough, think about what happens when you cast Hellish Vigor on a unit in combination with Incantation of Cursed Blades?  Your Skeletons now gain re-roll wounds and the ability to Killing Blow!  Throw this onto your Grave Guard and you now re-roll wounds and KB on a 5+.  If that's not crazy, I don't know what is.

When you throw magical items into the fray, things get even more ridiculous.  Incantation of Vengeance is a hex that not only reduces the movement's by D3, but it treats all terrain as Dangerous Terrain so everyone has to test if they move.  Combine this with Rod of Flaming Death (BS PL3) and the unit will take an immediate S4 hit on every model if it moves.  More interactions can be Death magic's lovely Soul Blight with Incantation of Desiccation that's essentially the same thing, but a possibility of a stronger, more expensive to cast -D3 S/T version.  As we already know, Incantation of Smiting is a great spell because of the +1 attack it gives, but when you combine this with Staff of Damnation (BS PL4) and its ability to give Extra Attack to every Undead unit within 6", things get really ridiculous if these spells start flying out.

Alright, enough about spells, I get it.  What more do the armies have that can help each other?  Well, think about it like this for a sec:  A lot of these items never interacted with each other before and certainly not on a competitive level.  I frown upon the decision to put something like Golden Death Mask of Kharnut (TK magic item) together with a unit with Screaming Banner (VC magic banner).  Your model now causes Terror, all enemy units within 6" of the wearer cannot use their general's Inspiring Presence or their BSB's Hold Your Ground rule.  Screaming Banner requires that enemy units in combat with the thing roll an extra dice for a fear test and discard the lowest result.  Add in the already existing fear-bomb that VC have such as Fear Incarnate (successful fear tests must be re-rolled) and Aura of Dark Majesty (-1 Ld aura), and you have something much greater.  Although seen as a gimmick by some, other armies are not as fortunate because they don't have plentiful ITP units.

Another popular unit being talked about is the Necrotect.  For a very affordable price in your hero slot, you are able to grant any unit Hatred.  Slap this in a unit of Great Guard with Banner of Barrows and you'll be hitting things with re-rolls with +1 to hit.  If that's not enough for you, add in a Tomb Prince or Tomb King special rule My Will Be Done! and give your WS to the entire unit.  WS5 or 6 Grave Guard will hit most things in the game on 2s, wound with 2s.  Slap on some of the magic spells we talked about earlier and things get out of control.  One of the other rules that that Necrotect lends the army is his ability to give Undead Constructs within 12" range of him a lovely 6+ Regen.  This doesn't seem like a lot at first, but then you apply the Mortis Engine's ability to improve Regen saves and your perspective changes a lot.  For your opponent, this changes in a very bad way as most armies already struggle with T8 Necrosphinx, and now they have freakin' 5+ Regen and take 2 less wounds from losing combat if you have a BSB nearby.

Lastly, expect to see a Casket of Souls in every list.  Not only does it work wonderfully with the whole scream-machine that VC tends to throw out every now and then, but it supplies a lovely +D3 PD to the army.  Combined with something like Black Peripat and maybe the Mortis Engine's +2 to cast for Lore of Vampires, you might just dominate the magic phase.

Just how powerful is all this?  Aside from the movement shennigans, I'm pretty sure it's going to be very powerful, but not unbeatable.  I'm not going to get into all the crazy Mortarchs just yet, but this should be enough to get the gears in your head moving.
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WHFB: Some Fantasy rumors and what it can mean

September 7, 2014, 3:48 pm
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Shit is about to get epic.

Just recently, Harry decided to spill the beans on what he think is down the line for WHFB.  You can see most of the rumors here, but I want to personally tell you what I think will happen.

What this whole End Times ordeal is right now is GW's way to forward the storyline and put us into a more sinister and grimdark era.  Among all the lore changes and alliances, there's real money to be made and I think GW's actually onto something here.  From a business perspective, this is the direction WHFB should be going in.

Let me explain:

  • Nagash and the rest of the upcoming The End Times books gets players excited.  I mean, really excited.  Not just new players, but most importantly, older players.  I'll use myself as an example in this clause:  I was not interested in WHFB at all because the meta in my area was as good as dead.  Most people left the game to play other game systems because there's just enough players.  Why are there not enough players?  Because the older players just sit there, wait until they get a new book, buy a new unit or two maybe and then give the game a couple of tries.  After a couple of games, the hype dies down and that's the end of it.
  • WHFB is often avoided because the barrier of entry is so high.  Nagash, the Mortarchs and 50% Lords completely destroy this philosophy because you can now take a big, bad character on a monster and play games with it.  Will it be effective?  Most definitely not.  Does it eliminate the barrier of entry and have newer players join in big games faster?  Absolutely.
  • This barrier also affects older players as well.  I already have my big, expensive High Elf army, and I don't have the finances to start another army.  Here is where allies come in, and why GW is using the same tried and true business model for 40K and is now applying it to WHFB.  By letting players take allies as a common thing e.g. Undead Legion's VC and TK, you are giving older players purpose to buy new models.  Newer players don't really care about this particular point, but this is GW's way to sneak a gateway drug into your daily coffee.  The idea behind it is:  Allies give the player more player options, this in turn gives players the incentive to buy different army components from different books, and this will mean you will eventually buy multiple armies.  When you look at the army rosters from the latest 40K tournaments, you will see allies all over the place.  The only thing I see aside from ludicrous combos and questionable abuses is all the cash that GW's making.  It boggles my mind to think about how many Tau players bought Eldar detachments in the last edition and vice versa.  More importantly, how many of those players are playing both armies now?
  • Advancing the storyline into something more grimdark and gritty is exactly what GW needed to do to generate hype.  I mean serious hype.  I've been playing the game for 14 years, and even though I've seen Storm of Chaos come and go, this is something that I've been waiting for.  It's something huge, something epic and something everyone can get their hands on.  When you look at it from a business standpoint, it's a win-win:  Newer players just joining the hobby has a lower buy-in cost.  Older players are now looking to expand their existing armies.  New and old players are coming back, buying models and increasing the concurrency of the game.  This means more events, more blog posts (such as this), and thus, more free advertisement.  If you guys have ever seen the marketing campaigns that other successful media companies have done, you will see a common thread here.  Generating hype, releasing badass models that no one else in the miniatures industry can rival, and releasing rules to go with it is absolute genius.  I seriously never thought I would say genius and GW in the same sentence a little over a month ago.
  • Now enter preparations for 9th Ed. WHFB.  Once this whole The End Times thing blows over, GW will be ready to release 9th Ed. upon the already expanded playerbase.  All those players will pick up the new book, and rave to newer players how they've spent the last 6 months or so fighting the most epic battles ever with brand new Mortarchs, Greater Demons (rumored) and Dragons (also rumored).  Boom, congratulations, you have just potentially increased your playerbase by 2x-3x from what it was months ago.  The new 9th Ed. will have even simpler rules (such as movement mechanics from Kings of War), better magic (not as crazy as it is now), 50% Lords allowing newer players to field their favorite big model their parents bought them when they first started the game 6 months ago (by now, they've probably noticed 50% Lords equates to cannon-fodder), and allies as a staple thing.  Undead Legions was the first, but expect to see Chaos Warriors and Demons holding hands across the table real soon.
  • I keep talking about this, but 50% Lords is really just a impulse buy for newer players.  They see a big model that they really like, the GW employees blows it up and says: Yeah! Now you can play 2500 with 1 model!  And once the new kid buys 5 boxes of shit plus Nagash, he will be ready to enter his first game.  Then you give him a little experience, play a few Ogres, Empire and Demon players, and he'll decide he needs more units instead of big fancy favorite Mortarch.  Out he goes to buy more models and before you know it, poor Neferata is sitting on the shelf with a counter that reads 79, indicating how many times she's taken cannonballs to the face.
No matter what the outcome, this direction can only be positive for the WHFB scene.  More hype, more players, older and newer players joining the game, all of this makes for a better community and shocks new life into a declining game system.

For all those that wanted to see GW fail, sorry, not this time.
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WHFB: What 9th Ed. will hopefully bring

September 8, 2014, 4:33 pm
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Bring on 9th Ed., but not yet.

There's a lot of talk on the streets right now about what will happen after this whole The End Times thing comes to an end.  Several rumor sources hint at 9th Ed. being less than a year away and that makes total sense to me.  I don't think GW will spring 9th Ed. WHFB on us mid-way through their end of the world campaign, but it will make perfect sense to whip it out right after.  That way, the players have time to digest what has happened and be ready to embrace a new edition.  With that said, I have high hopes for 9th.  What would make 9th great for me would only be a couple of minor changes, since I think 8th is pretty good except for some major issues.

Here is what I want to see in 9th:
  • Allies is definitely the most probable from what I see right now.  I'm not sure how the rules are going to be for WHFB, but you will definitely be able to take different components from other army books.  Whether or not this will resemble Undead Legions or not, I don't know.  All I know is that it's the most reliable change.
  • Simpler rules for movement, as seen in Kings of War.  You will still have the core fantasy mechanics, but more streamlined movement rules will reduce the amount of clutter you have for funky movement issues while preserving battlefield tactics and maneuver war.
  • Magic needs to be looked at to be not as killy.  There's just too many kill spells in the current edition of the game and it's not fun for anyone, in fact, it's quite frustrating.  I think spells like Dwellers, Mindrazor, Final Transmutation, and other spells of that sort will be reduced in power.
  • They might limit the amount of PD wizards can cast again; so instead of 6-dicing spells in hopes of getting IF, they might bring back the older system where wizards can only cast with max dice equal to their power level +1.
  • Perhaps a change to Steadfast, making it so more things are able to disrupt ranks from the flank or rear.  The current playstyle of Steadfast just makes the game turn into a grind fest instead of letting of letting you outplay your opponents via maneuver.
  • Cannons and Stonethrowers will also need to be reduced in effectiveness if larger, more expensive models are to be played.  I'm anticipating maybe a scatter or damage reduction for the cannons, but I can't be so sure.  All I know is that if these things don't change, all those centerpiece models GW is selling right now will be collecting dust real soon.

Overall, 8th Ed. is a pretty solid edition.  It just needs a few fixes here and there, much like what 7th Ed. is compared to 6th.  I'm pretty stoked.
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VC: Analyzing my current 2500 list

September 9, 2014, 11:53 pm
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Long reads require a beautiful vampire chick.

Before anything else, I'll throw up the army list so we can go over everything piece by piece.  My current rendition of VC is pretty much the same of what I ran in the past.  I still have an all-powerful Vampire Lord, but I've changed a couple of components around the rest of the army to fit a more aggressive playstyle.  Probably the biggest change here is the fact that I dropped a Terrorgheist for an greater selection of units and magic support.

2497
13 drops

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 548
Lore of Vampires
Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dark Knight, Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward

HEROES:
Lv.1 Vampire BSB = 245
Lore of Vampires
Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile
Dark Knight, Nightshroud, Gem

Lv.1 Necromancer = 100
Lore of Vampires
Cursed Book

CORE:
33x Skeleton Warriors, FC = 195
30x Ghouls, Ghast = 310
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
11x Black Knights, FC, BoSwiftness = 331
5x Hexwraiths = 150
3x Vargeists = 138
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Terrorgheist = 225

First, let's take a look at my Vampire Lord.  He runs Lore of Vampires obviously, and comes with the standard kit of Quickblood and Red Fury.  I always run my Vampire Lords with Beguile because the chance to make someone re-roll successful hits against you is just too good to pass up on.  This combined with your 1+ save, 2++ vs. fire and 4+ ward, you're extremely tanky while still capable of putting out ludicrous amounts of damage yourself,  With 13 deploys, you should be able to drop your characters last, placing your VL and supporting Vampire away from enemy characters so you're not forced to fight them.  If you do, I have strong faith in my lord's ability to take them down because of..

The Vampire.  I chose the Vampire over the Wight King BSB that I regularly take for 3 main reasons:  You can take another Invocation of Nehek that can be used close to your general, you are S5/S7 on the charge, and you can take vampiric powers.  The extra IoN gives me sustainability on my unit once I enter combat and allows me to heal up any characters that take damage.  S7 on the charge is just huge for me these days because there's a lot of T5 out there that I want to force damage through.  While the Wight King's main advantages over the Vampire is the extra wound and T5, he lacks the raw killing potential that the Vampire delivers.  Over a sustained fight, you need to be able to pile on those additional wounds, especially if the WK can't KB stuff like monstrous infantry.  In terms of durability, I'm already sporting the Nightshroud and 1+ AS, but the -1 Ld aura plus Beguile tests at -4 for both Lord and Vampire is remarkably good.  The Nightshroud's ability just can't be underestimated:  It is seriously one of the best defensive items in the game, rendering most magical weapons and GWs ineffective vs. your vampires in combat.  Not only that, but it strips away ASF and allows Quickblood to do its thing.

When you deploy these guys in a bus, you want to put them on the edges, away from any characters that you might face.  The first rank of 5 should look something like this:  VL V CH BK BK.  The VL on the edge means that hopefully, the least amount of attacks will be going towards your lord on a unit of similar size.  Since the last model swinging will also be in BtB with your Nightshroud, the Lord will reap all the advantages and additional protection that the NS will provide.  In addition, you will have 2 instances to apply your -4 Beguile, and hopefully that will be enough to push the damage through the unit instead of into characters.  Should you absolutely need to fight enemy characters (such as a challenge), the character fighting your VL will also be in BtB with the Nightshroud, and lose ASF in his fight as well.  Let's just say I got money on our guy.

Lastly, we have the humble Necromancer.  Sure, he gives me yet another IoN to cast around if he so desires, but he carries the awesome Cursed Book.  I don't know about you guys, but I think this is one of the best magic items in the game.  For an average of 2 dice, he can cast a lot of spells that a Lv.1 Necro would normally struggle with.  He has a 33% chance to cast a great spell on one dice, and I think that's a great price to pay for some of the best combat-swingy spells in the game.  All of them are hexes that can be cast in combat, and some of them are Remains in Play.  To make it even better, a lot of them have greater range than your other spells, allowing you to stay back a little further and still be a threat on the battlefield.  I absolutely love this item and I think it's a great way to improve your magic flexibility while keeping your LoV spam strong.  Good players can often play fine without a scroll in their army, so give this handy little thing a go for a couple of games and see where it gets you.  I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Alright, now we enter the bulk of the army and you'll see some set staples here.  I always take some kind of chaff and that's why we'll see 3x Dire Wolves and 3x Spirit Hosts.  Personally, I think VC have some of the best drops in the game for cheap and effective chaff.  Spirit Hosts might be one of the most annoying things ever since they can kill other cheap chaff, work as redirectors, and offer static combat res if your opponent is already tied up.  They can tie naked knights up all day, and being Ethereal means they can get places other units cannot.  In short, they're probably one of the best units in the entire book and everyone should have 3x for chaffing purposes.  Later in the game once your forces hit combat, make sure to run them behind enemy units and rear charge them for a static +2 combat res.  If they can't reform and all their characters with magical weapons are already fighting in the front, then it sucks to be them.  The same would apply to your Hexwraiths.

Speaking of Hexwraiths, I always like running one unit whenever I play VC.  Their applications are truly outrageous and they can do so many things its unreal.  I only like taking one unit of them because if you take too many, you risk drawing a bad matchup in the form of heavy magic missiles, magic shooting, or something else that can just wipe them off the board.  They're relatively expensive, and you can only heal a single one per IoN, so you gotta be smart about how you use them.  For me, they're excellent chaff killers since they can pass through enemy (and friendly!) units and deal good damage.  They can kill chaff, hunt warmachines, threaten any unit that won't beat them in combat res naturally, provide Terror tests, strip Regen, and offer static combat res in later parts of the game.  You just need to make sure you keep these guys away from magic attacks and within range of your general.  Since I'm running a relatively fast army, I don't really have an issue with that.

My Skeleton Warriors are there to be a bunker of my Necromancer, and the Ghouls in 6x5 allow me to fight on a semi-decent level.  The 2 poison attacks each really help once I push these guys up and tie up something nasty.  I always like some Ghouls in my army because they threaten a lot of the big beasties out there with high T.  Apply enough wounds either through luck, or with Vanhels and Ghouls become really threatening to some armies.  My Black Knights form my VL's armored bunker and BoSwiftness helps me get to where I want to be.  The Vargheists are just there to keep pace with my army and hunt down anything that threatens to block me or can threaten my flanks.  Since they're not the toughest things in the world and they have Frenzy, then tend to fly out to kill chaff and enemy warmachines.  Their plentiful attacks at S5 can really make short work out of most light units, and the fact that they're vampires allow me to reach out to other areas of the map I wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Finally, we have the lone Terrorgheist.  I've ran two TGs for the longest time, but as new armies come out and high S, D6 wound shooting becomes more and more accessible, things can get really bad, really fast.  Multiple Terrorgheists, Ethereal units and scream-lists are purely a meta thing I feel because there are some armies that just don't care they're on the board.  When you're playing something like Wood Elves, or Daemons of Chaos, investing in multiple units of Hexwraiths is just a bad idea.  You're essentially giving them points because you WILL lose them.  If you don't lose them, you know you've probably played them too conservatively, and thus they're not making back their points.  The same philosophy holds true for Terrorgheists because while they're god damn amazing, cannons just erase them from the board.  Unlike the Hexwraith unit that costs 150 in your list, these things are 225 per pop and each one lost is a huge chunk of your points.  Hexwraiths are also easier to hide and keep out of range.  Terrors need to be within 8" of something to scream, and if they're not screaming, they're not making their points back.  For this reason, I've reduced the number down to 1 and used the points to buff up other areas of my army.  Losing one is bad enough in a poor matchup, but losing two before you can get any use out of them is disastrous.

That's it from me, good night folks.
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