Skiing When You're Skint: If You Can Hit It, It Will Die (Khador Month 3)

After the successful debuting of Zerkova, the oddly much hated caster of Khador I moved forward with my greylord army. This month's additions to the war effort were a max unit of battle mechaniks (more on them later) and a unit of Doom Reavers with their greylord escort.

The Doom Reavers are a nasty little unit, with reach weapons AND weapon master, coupled with a high MAT and P+S if you charge something with these guys you will either end up missing spectacularly or whatever you charged will be mush. The escort mitigates a lot of the weaknesses of the unit, for example without him they tend to get a little bit too choppy...with the heads of their own friends... and their low DEF and ARM makes them pretty squishy targets, which the escort also fixes by granting them tough.

The battle mechaniks have become the new thorn in my side this month due only to the fact that privateer press seems to have forgot to make the chief... This means I find myself without the stat card (for one wound models this isn't a drastic issue) but it also means I have to proxy in some models which always looks crap. I have also fallen into the same trap I did when I played my previous factions, forgetting to activate the mechanik unit. As was pointed out to me yesterday though my 'Jacks tend to either be in a state of perfect health or totalled.

My results this month in terms of victory have been a little more of a mixed bag than they were last month. I finally proved to Chris that Khadorans actually COULD stomp a mudhole where Cryx's heads used to be when I faced him one on one, however I did meet a sticky end facing the Skorne (for the whole 1 game Dan played this month). My experiences fighting the Circle have been...frustrating... Those damn druids have some mighty fine spell casting ability meaning I more or less HAD to go toe to toe with them but those damn cloud effects made it even harder for my guys to actually hit anything... They have booked themselves an appointment with the Doom Reavers I think.

Tactically I have found that Zerkova's weakness lies in scenario play, her strategies really depend on deciding on a course of action early on and building your turns carefully around that goal but scenarios require a more reflexive touch that is tricky to implement with our one eyed wonder.

Also (it was bound to happen) counters for 'The Watcher Problem' have begun appearing forcing me to rely on slightly altered game plans ( Watcher is still a SWEET spell).

So a mixed bag for me this month but a good one for the most part, join me next month as I blitz the field with...EVEN MORE DOOM REAVERS!

Skiing When You're Skint: Keep On Watching (Month 2: lessons from the battlefield)

Oh my God. I have one thing to say to everyone who says that Zerkova is the worst caster in Khador. You're so wrong.

It's been a long time since my last post where I told you I was looking forward to playing the one-eyed ice queen of the North, and this is due to many irritating factors, but boy was the wait worth while.

First of all 'Watcher'. If this spell is not an auto cast and upkeep then you're playing Zerkova wrong. Her focus orb means it can be cast for a measly 2 focus (being 7 focus in Khador is nothing to sniff at), and only costs 1 to upkeep thereafter.

The easiest way to get the most out of this spell, and so far the central strategy to my Zerkova battles has been to keep the Juggernaut close to her. Watcher activates whenever an enemy ends its movement within 6" of Zerkova and gives ANY warjack in her battlegroup a full advance and a FULLY BOOSTED attack. This gives your Juggernaut companion a heafty chance to critical freeze the charging enemy meaning that charge is now just a big old sack of damage boxes ready to be split open on your turn.

On its own this is filthy but you might be thinking "if the enemy is in a position to charge my caster I'm probably not in an optimal position". This is another issue that Zerkova's abilities can placate.

1. Offensive spells targeting Zerkova lose 3 RNG

yes, offensive spells targeting your caster lose 3 RNG, this pisses spell assassins (I'm looking at you Asphyxious) off to no end, whilst not a direct threat to casters themselves per se, their arc nodes are in trouble. An offensive spell would have to be RNG 10 for it to still be in range without triggering Watcher.

2. Offensive spells that hit Zerkova result in a d6 damage roll to the caster

Another spell assassin counter, if a warcaster, or even a magic unit, manage to hit Zerkova with an offensive spell they take a d6 damage roll that doesn't take any kind of defense into account. Low box units that rely on magic spells will have a very hard time surviving if they want to try to damage Zerkova (there spells are affected by the above ability).

3. Can make one spell per turn have +3 RNG

This is a mitigating factor for the lack of an arc node, not a bad little ability since it would give Razor Wind a threat range of 19"

4. Her feat

Her feat just stops things in their tracks. Not just slows them down, but just stops them dead. Not making them stationary like our old friend pSorscha does but removing their ability to run, charge, make special attacks, use special actions, or give orders. It also removes intial ranged attacks for that pesky gun line that just wont budge.

These abilities just pile all together to give Zerkova that ultimate fisherman's toolbox, just the right ways to lure powerful enemy pieces into the position that you want them before you trip watcher to reel in the victory.

My other pick-up this month the Greylord Ternion has had...issues. I had trouble figuring out the right way to deploy them so they would be effective and not get annihilated. After I did figure this out though I quickly found use for them by lowering foes defenses and laying down blizzards (For even more protection for Zerkova!). In general not my favourite unit ever but not an awful one by any means. (We'll find out what happens when you put more of them on the field later in the tour.)

In general I feel I was able to continue to the successes I had in month 1 this month, admittedly not as strongly due to the various crises that hopefully will not come back to plague us in month 3!

More to follow.

Winning Is My Habit; What's Yours? (Khador Month 2)

And so the first month of the tour comes to a dramatic conclusion with Sorscha and the Khador Jacks being the only force able to claim victory over every other army. The majority of the time I lost the first game against a new force as I expected I would, but a lesson learnt painfully is a lesson learnt well, leading me to win a lot of my subsequent battles.

I've had a good time with Sorscha and she will definitely be remembered as the first caster that I have ever achieved any sort of solid ability to win with, hopefully her replacements will serve me just as well.

Month Two sees the appearance of Zerkova, the one eyed treasure hunting spell caster of Khador (£5.95) with a rather swish entourage of Greylord Ternions (£9.95). This spell slinging core of devoted servants to the motherland should be able to give my battle-tested 'Jacks some support, hopefully with the ability to match-up against the choices of my opponents.

I will be writing up the findings from my first few battles with this new force as they start seeing some action, but from the test run I have done with the ternions all I can say is; watch that formation very, very, carefully.

Skiing When You're Skint: Khador On a Budget (Week 1: battle report)

The tour is now officially under-way, and what an epic beginning it was.

The tour began with a three way conflict, Sorscha V Kaya V Deneghra.

The battle took place on a road between Khador and Llael. Whilst on patrol of the road Sorscha and her battlegroup encountered a small warband lead by Kaya from the Circle Orboros. As the two readied for battle Deneghra, leading a small Cryx battlegroup also approached the road from the East.

The battle began by the Cryx forces moving in on two fronts against their foes, Chris (playing Cryx) attempted to make use of Deneghra's relatively high Focus score and the speed of his Bonejacks, combined with their arc nodes in order to do some early damage whilst the other two forces had to manoeuvre into position. Relying on the high defence of the Deathripper to keep it alive safe from retaliation Chris wasn't prepared for the Jack to be made stationary. Sorscha was able to freeze the Jack in position, allowing her Destroyer to launch a devestating shot, almost wrecking it completely.

On the other end of the road the Circle forces moved in to attack the other warjacks in Deneghra's battlegroup. The defiler and the second deathripper were made quick work of, and the warpwolf was successful in neutralising the slayer. Deneghra attempted to mount a comeback with the 'Jack power she had left but suffering from several status effects such as paralysis and stationary meant Chris didn't have a whole lot of focus left to play with. The Deathripper facing the Khador heavies made a valiant effort to do some damage before it was destroyed and due to some clever use of spells it was successful in doing some damage to the Juggernaut.

When the Juggernaut was activated though it made quick work of taking apart the final bonejack. With the loss of her 'Jacks Deneghra quit the field, now having to report her failed ambush to her unforgiving master Asphyxious.

And so it came down to the Khadoran's and the Circle Druids. Both sides took a bit of damage from the Cryx interlopers but for the most part it was a battle between two relatively fresh forces.

In my last post I talked about how in our previous test games I was handily defeated time and time again by what I considered a far superior foe, but in that same foe I made several observations and speculations that would hopefully allow me to mount a better defence in the future, and I am happy to report that I was right on most counts.

The clash re-commenced with both sides moving their groups back into a formation from which an attack could be mounted. Learning from my previous experiences I moved forward cautiously, taking my time and moving slowly forward. This had the desired effect of keeping me out of the range of the speed hindering status effects of the Circle beasts. I was able to significantly weaken the beasts through the use of the Destroyers Bombardment weapon.

Both sides managed to keep out of direct conflict for the most part, however disaster struck the Circle side when the Warpwolf fell to the power of the Khador heavies. From here things got intense. Using the remaining beasts at her disposal Kaya mounted a comeback, eventually they took down the Juggernaut which I will admit, made me think that this wouldn't go my way, even after the strong start. Kaya moved away from the fighting, hiding in the nearby forest off the road. I took a massive gamble here, I could have targeted the Argii with the Destroyer but instead chose to shoot at the highly defended Kaya (her defence was 18 at this point, gaining bonuses from the forest). With a RAT of 4 the destroyer didn't have a lot of hope here. But then a miracle occurred and I rolled a 14 on the nose, just enough to hit! I boosted the damage roll too and much like the Bonejack from the beginning of the battle it was almost all over for Kaya being left with a mere 4 hit boxes.

At this point I could see the opportunity for assassination. Using windrush to move Sorscha closer to the target I attempted a quick spell assassination with the Razor Wind spell but this time the 18 Defence was too much and I tragically missed. This is when things got really hairy.

The two Argii (still alive after all this time) went for the jugular. The first Argus unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Sorscha due to her own very high defence, then Kaya stormed out of the woods attempting to assassinate Sorscha herself. However Sorscha's high defence held true once again, meaning all that was left to attack her was the remaining Argus which had unfortunately engaged itself in melee with the Destroyer. The resulting free strike as the Argus sought to end Sorscha ended with the Argus being left one 1 hit box and unable to assassinate the stubbornly defensive Khadoran.

And so it was down to the wire. Sorscha had six focus points with which to attempt to eliminate Kaya, if she failed she would be no doubt torn to shreds by the beasts that surrounded her. She swung with her giant hammer, and although boosting missed the attack. Things were not looking good. The second boosted attack (three focus now gone) thankfully managed to hit it's target. I boosted the damage (2 focus left now, enough for one more boosted attack roll). I rolled a whopping 22 overall damage (before armour) which was far more than needed to kill Kaya. However the warlock still had a trick up her sleeves.

Transferring the damage to a beast was still an option. One of the Argii was only just limping around with 1 damage box, transferring to it would have still resulted in the death of Kaya. But there was still the final hope in a much more intact Argus. However Khador rejoiced as all present realised that this Argus had maxed out his fury points in his attempt to kill Sorscha. This left the damage with nowhere to go but onto Kaya, smearing the warlock on the roadside.

So what have we learnt from all this?

1. With the right strategy and knowledge of what your opponent can (and most likely will) do, even an inferior force on paper can overcome a superior foe.

2. It is unwise to blindly put faith in a high ability score to save you (See: The destruction on the Bonejack by Khador heavies; The miraculous Destroyer Bombard into the forest).

3. If your game has a tense and nail-biting conclusion where victory to either side comes down to a single dice roll, then no matter how the game turns out you should feel proud of the amazing game you just had and enjoy that experience equally.

With Llael safe for now Sorscha Kratikoff can rest, but what are the implications of these attacks? The Druids of Orboros wouldn't attempt such a daring assault without cause, and what could the presence of the sinister Cryxian forces mean for the people of Llael?

The story will continue next week when these forces clash once more.

Skiing when your Skint: Khador on a budget (Month 1)

So here we are at last, the beginning of a 12 month adventure to collect the biggest baddest armies in all of Western Immoren, so what's on the cards? I'll be building up a 100 point Khador list using Zerkova and Vlad, and they will I'm sure 'wreck face'.

I'm not really that big on modelling so my posts will be focused more on analysis of the battles themselves, trying to figure out what exactly went right or wrong.

So to kick off Pete and I had several 'training' matches with our battleboxes to test the waters a little. The Khador batttlebox contains a Destroyer, a Juggernaut and Sorscha. Out of the 5 or so battles we had, I only came close to winning once (perhaps not the greatest start), but I did come out with some observations.

1. Khador heavies have a speed issue

This seems obvious, just looking at the stat line can tell you that, but this speed disadvantage was a MASSIVE problem. The biggest issue is that the problem can be easily compounded; anything that reduces your speed or eliminates your ability to do special move commands like running and charging more or less grounds your 'Jacks.

2. No arc node is dangerous

Sorscha has a limited spell range, with an overall threat range (movement+spell range) of 16 (more with wind rush) you're going to need to get close to the enemy in order to deliver the damage on the spell front, you have no choice, Khador has no arc node. This puts your caster in massive danger, especially Sorscha with her low ARM, but this can be mitigated to a degree by her high DEF.

So with that in mind, what would I do differently next time?

1. Be a bit Cagier

It is obviously tempting, and often beneficial to rush your Khador heavies in trying to pound face, but this does mean putting your 'Jacks in place for a horrible dose of slowing effects. The solution? Hang back. With this box the Destroyer gives you a powerful ranged option so use him to whittle down the enemies beasts. With luck you can cripple the enemy lights, and if not you can at least goad him into coming to you.

2. Use those spells for different reasons

With the spell wind rush, it is often tempting to use it to move further up the field, however it is probably better to use it to move back, initiating hit and run tactics. Casting freezing grip on a beast, a 'Jack or a caster is not AS effective as it is against infantry because the effect can be shaken off. However, especially as far as warmachine is concerned, the focus/fury it costs to shake off may prevent an enemy plan by either preventing them from upkeeping a key spell or by preventing them being able to charge with everything.

So the verdict then is that when facing a foe with speed the basic Khador battlebox seems to be outclassed. When you see those mighty 'Jacks on the table with their seemingly impenetrable ARM score you feel like you can take almost any level of punishment, but I think it would be better to play things a little closer to my chest.

These observations were based on battles against the Circle Orboros battlebox, I will report on my experiences against other forces when I meet them on the field of battle.