Souls for the win!

Sadly I’ve done no painting for a while, though I aim to complete the Errants and Holy Zealots in due course and will post some snaps when they’re done.

In the mean time I’ve had a slight distraction from my Menoth, shock horror!!

I made a daft New Year’s resolution to play some Hordes and get myself more accustomed to that gaming system rather than relying on my opponent’s knowledge – more from a tournament perspective to be honest.  I also purchased quite a large amount of Hordes models in the way of Skorne and Legion over twelve months ago and had barely used them! 

So last month I started playing some games with my Skorne; I tried out Makeda2, Xerxis and Zaal.  Each time I played I varied the units, warbeasts and solos in an effort to get to grips with how they function as a faction and start to work out how well these tend to synergise together.

Supreme Archdomina Makeda (source PP website)

I started out using Makeda2 as she has a powerful spell list, feat and an affinity with Molik Karn; I did enjoy using her as a warlock, though I felt like she was a Molik delivery system, not that it is a bad thing, I just wanted a bit more from my list than how long a threat range I could create with the character cyclops (which is ridiculously long by the way – LOL)!

Secondly I tried out Xerxis, again with some different units to the Makeda2 list; interestingly I used the Cataphract Cetratii – they are the heavy (shield wall) infantry and the Skorne elite.  The list worked like a brick, where there wasn’t a lot of speed, but rather a slow moving steamroller.  Xerxis feat is all about damage output as it gives friendly faction models and additional die of damage as well as a small ARM buff.  Xerxis was a bit of fun, though I found him a little one dimensional; again not a bad thing – just not quite what I was looking for.

Tyrant Xerxis (source PP website

The third warlock I tried was Zaal and Kovaas, now this is where it suddenly got interesting.  Zaal’s army works by collecting souls, given his passive abilities to direct souls and buff units who use them as well as his affinity to Ancestral Guardians.  The ‘soul token’ mechanic was something new to me, though it is quite simple in practice – Zaal just allows any eligible faction model to collect the Skorne soul rather than just the nearest model.  The Extoller solos and Ancestral Guardians can use soul tokens to buy and boost attacks, Zaal himself doesn’t actually collect souls however.  Zaal comes with a special solo called Kovaas, it is essentially the spirit of a destroyed Ancestral Guardian and comes into play when said destruction occurs.  The Kovaas is quite interesting as it is incorporeal and has a number of unpleasant (for the enemy) abilities.

Supreme Aptimus Zaal and Kovaas (source PP website)

Zaal’s feat is quite interesting also as it is directly proportional to the number of destroyed warrior friendly faction models since the start of the game, these basically equate to ‘Rage Tokens’, which on the feat turn can be spent by a faction model to boost an attack or damage roll; lots of dead means lots of boosts, but then again you’ve got less models to use the free boosts so like all feats must be timed correctly.

Zaal’s spell list is pretty decent with a couple of ranged attack spells and a couple of defensive/utility spells, but perhaps his signature spell Last Stand is his most interesting spell and a strong reason to take Zaal in the first place.  It really is a double edged sword this spell as once cast on a model/unit it is destroyed at the end of the turn if it makes an attack (be it hit or miss); the bonus is that any attacks made roll an additional die on attack and damage rolls, these can of course be boosted on top making damage output potentially colossal.

Molik Karn, the rudest cyclops in town! (source PP website)

So that is Zaal et al explained, I used a variety of units to complement the lists, but as you’ve guessed I concentrated on Zaal, I just liked his play style and found my games quite exciting as I learned how to time his feat and make best use of his spells.  I found that units which synergise well with Last Stand are good, i.e. have multiple attacks, Pretorian Swordsmen and Nihillators fit well here, also to power up the Ancestral Guardians and Extollers with souls cheap infantry used as fodder is paramount.  I also found that putting Last Stand on a hard model, such as Molik Karn, under the feat turn is absolutely devastating and perhaps overkill, though killing an enemy caster for the loss of a heavy warbeast etc is obviously well worth it.  If Dave is reading this he is probably still remembering Molik doing exactly this against Karchev, rolling MAT 7 + 4D6 to hit and 5D6 + 15 damage for up to six  attacks is just insanely good!  Though if I am honest Molik should have died the previous turn to an angry fully focused-up Spriggan under Unearthly Rage, which is a Khador spell that is just about as rude as Last Stand!!

I intend to keep practising with Zaal, trying out new units and models to hone a good list and perhaps start painting a new army later in the year.  Though I’m wavering from the Creator’s path with this new Skorne distraction  I’ll still be playing the Protectorate and painting up units for it.

Hope my ramblings have been of some interest :-)