..and lo, did our heroes from the Imperishable Dominion blog travel, across the highest snow wreathed mountains, overcome the sandy and barren deserts, through verdant green fields, over the endless sapphire seas, and go to a local tourney hosted by our resident Press Ganger, which included the 'Theme Forces: Tier1 Required' variant. And it was pretty cool.
So initially, I should probably explain, for those uninitiated that are unfamiliar with the variant. The Theme Forces: Tier1 requirement states that all lists for the event must be theme forces taken from either No Quarter or Forces of books, and must be at least Tier1. All non theme lists are illegal. Otherwise, the Steamroller pack is the same, although interestingly, the variant also lifts the usual FA C restriction - something which most people don't realise, myself included.
Although nervous of seeing a lists filled with hordes of Banes led by Bane Lord Tartarus, I've been looking forward to this one as a first tournament testing ground for the Morghoul2 Hit Squad list I've been working on. To pair with it, after much deliberation I chose another experimental list - a Makeda1 Army of the Western Reaches list at Tier3, filled with Scarab Beast Packs. More on the latter later.
At this stage, it would probably be best to discuss list construction and the build a little.
Hit Squad, Tier4
Lord Assassin Morghoul
-Cyclops Brute
-Titan Gladiator
-Titan Gladiator
-Titan Gladiator
Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Agoniser
Paingiver Task Master
Paingiver Task Master
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and three grunts)
Gatorman Posse (Leader and four grunts)
Gatorman Posse (Leader and four grunts)
So.. I know. There's no Archidon. No Basilisk Krea either, although that's probably less mandatory than having Sprint on a stick. Finally, there are no Paingiver Bloodrunner units. Morghoul2 doesn't do anything much for the Titans either. So what does it do?
It plays on two fronts for the most part. Early experimentation with maximising the amount of Heavy Warbeasts that I could get out of the Tier3 bonus was a lot of fun, but ultimately a real strain on a Fury 5 Warlock. Most Warbeasts would start the turn with Fury and risk frenzy, especially once the game was into turn three and beyond where careful placement of Beast Handlers or a Bronzeback couldn't keep the rest reigned in. Additionally, due to the small Control Area I could never quite get the most out of some of the higher SPD Warbeasts. An Archidon with Rush, a Shadow Whip move and either Ghost Walk or the Feat for immunity to Free Strikes has a tremendous threat of 15.5" inches which is difficult to defend from, but typically flies straight out of control and cannot then boost or buy any additional attacks. The alternative forces you to push Morghoul too far forward to a vulnerable position, and whilst on occasion it was possible to get a long shot assassination (the Archidon at MAT6 with one attack base isn't the best for this..) more often this would be for a piece trade, and certainly not worth the risk.
The answer I found was to instead focus on the slower Warbeasts, which were easier for Morghoul to keep control of, and with less of them, to reduce the strain. I overlapped multiple Titan Gladiators to reduce my opponents chances of sniping out Rush from my force, too often the obvious tactic to experienced opponents, and to allow for the beasts to buff each other if needed - removing the need for Morghoul to cast the animus each turn. Plus, three Titan Gladiators is an imposing sight heading down the battle field, and very tanky. With Morghoul and the Paingivers either Stealthed or immune to CRA attacks, the Warbeasts needed to be able to take a hit at reasonable power and keep going.
The second learning curve of this list was that the same small Control Area meant that the list couldn't effectively play into scenarios where the focus wasn't a central zone. Whilst it was easy for Morghoul and his zoo to clear one side of the battlefield, on the other, I'd lose to scenario. Using Bog Trog Ambushers and a unit Gatormen to contest was one approach which worked in some games but often didn't maximise the potential of either, the Bog Trogs suddenly too predictable in where they would ambush and the isolated Gatormen easy to pick off before they could close. Losing the Big Trogs and using the points from the extra Warbeasts allowed to add in a second unit, and back them both up with a Paingiver Task Master to further increase their versatility and survivabilty.
Finally, although initially I didn't include the Agoniser, I felt that the new build with its heavy armour skew could benefit from the inclusion of one to maximise the strengths of the list further - additionally, with no Fury 1 spells or animus, Morghoul often could find the Fury to drop into the solo, keeping it topped up during the game.
All the subtlety of the average house brick? Must be one of Sherwin's lists then.
So.. how did it do? I fielded the list in Games One, Two and Four - and won all of them.
Game One was against the Protectorate of Menoth, and Feora2. I was helped in this game by a central forest on the table, allowing me to run my Titans forward under the cover of the trees and out of line of sight but at the same time able to draw LOS to the inevitable Judicator, which my opponent was forced to either hold away from my battlegroup, or risk the Titans wrath. On the other side of the table, the two Gatorman units were more than enough to initially wipe out the Temple Flameguard and then contest the zone, whilst Morghoul cleared out the friendly zone from enemy models to start scoring. Even so, clever placement from my opponent mean that this one came down to an assassination in the end; with my time on the Deathclock running out, a Task Master was able to use her Mancatcher attack to hold Feora in place so that a Titan could beat her into red paste.
Game Two played into a Sorcha1 Khador list, and was Recon. Going second and having seen my opponents deployment, from the first turn, I gambled that Morghoul could capture the flag on the far left, whilst the rest of my army denied my opponent the same in the middle and on the far right flank. My opponent suffered from trying to advance in a more linear manner, unable to capture the other two zones, I managed to walk away with a scenario victory from this often awkward scenario.
Game Four pitted my list against Siege Brisbane in Destruction, and this was a far more conventional Morghoul2 game, pushing aggressively up the table on the first turn, and then finding a janky assassination in the second turn after extending my threat via Apparition and Shadow Whip.
..I came second in the event, my only loss to Dan and his Trollbloods in Game Three, Dan being the guy that won the event. This was my only non-Morghoul game, and where sadly my second experimental list failed utterly, in a very rough Runes of War Matchup. I'll keep pushing with that one, especially once the Aradius Soldier arrives, which I think is exactly what it needs to give it more punch. More on that in weeks to come.
Overall, I'm delighted with the list. It plays very well into scenario play, which is both unusual for an assassination Warlock, and not necessarily something which Skorne armies are best suited to. It can both take attrition from the opponents forces, as well as deal out significant damage, but at the same time is interestingly mobile. I might keep playing around with it and fine tuning, but in truth will probably keep it this way for some time, until I come up against a wall.
Until next time fellow Tyrants.
