Menite Heavy Armour

A new Challenge:

After a brief tour of the Dark Side; Cryxian Bile Thrall painting, a bit of playing Dirty Denny and Terminus I decided to crack on with some more Menoth painting; primarily because I’m hoping to attend a couple of tournaments in the near future (late October).  As regular readers will know I’ve been quite comfortable at 50 points with Kreoss1 and field tested this extensively until I was as happy as I could be with the choices for the ETC et al.  I’ve mused over other lists that would complement Kreoss1 in the Steamroller 2012 constrictions.  Initially I used Sevvy1, but in all honesty both lists fought the same way and had a very similar unit composition so I needed something more diverse.  I considered various Warcasters, but perhaps my main goal was to find a list which works as well as the Kreoss1 list, doesn’t conflict with character restrictions and presents a challenge tactically for me as well as my opponents.

The ying to Kreoss1’s yang:

Feora2: Source BattleCollege

I decided to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Kreoss1 list and try and go for something that filled whatever I was missing.  I also wanted a list that didn’t seem to boil down to Errants and two Reckoners, giving me something new to paint and learn to use!  In a nutshell the Kreoss1 list is good at dealing with infantry whilst presenting a lot of infantry to deal with itself.  I felt that perhaps with the recent addition of Colossals to the meta I should try and build a list that can deal with lots of armour as well as present that.  To cut a long story short I settled on Feora2 as a Warcaster who could fit this niche.  I decided to go ‘jack heavy with a couple of very hard hitters, namely the Avatar and a bonded Templar.  Feora2 has two excellent ‘jack spells: Ignite and Escort.  The former simply adds +2 STR and critical fire to a unit or model (so it can work on stuff besides ‘jacks), this helps with the armour-cracking theory behind the list; as it is upkeepable there are options for cycling it round.  The latter, Escort, gives warjacks in Feora2’s battlegroup +2 movement and grants her +2 ARM if she is within 3” of one of those ‘jacks (not including the Avatar I might add).  Extra speed on the slow-to-medium speed Menite ‘jacks escalates them to fast, verging on ‘alpha-strike’ speed, certainly a nice ability.

List building: Theorymachine:

Avatar: Source BattleCollege

As noted above I wanted to build a list which could crack armour as well as present it, therefore I felt four heavies was the order of the day, the Avatar being one of them for definite.  I researched Feora2 on the interwebz for ideas and poached the idea for the bonded Templar, I had initially considered the Redeemer for the bond to take advantage of the continuous fire effect the bond grants to ranged as well as melee weapons, however with Ignite, Hymn of Battle and four focus this bad boy can hit as hard as the Avatar, what is better than one Avatar?  Two of course!  So with two uber hard hitting Avatar’s I felt that I would need some troop clearance and the Vanquisher was almost mandatory, given I wasn’t going for the bonded Redeemer.  Initially I included two of these, but later dropped one for a Reckoner, reasoning was that I had more ranged melee threat with the Reckoner (SPD 5 and reach = 12” threat with Escort) which presents opponents with a difficult question to answer.

Templar: Source BattleCollege

Regarding support I went for a minimum Choir, two Vassals, two Vassal Mechanics, Gorman and Eiryss2 leaving 8 points spare for a unit.  Obviously I considered Errants, being so good, but wanted to include something that wasn’t that unit, especially considering a Reckoner had sneaked into the list already!  I field tested Bastions and am still in two minds about them, but more than likely will settle on a full unit of Holy Zealots plus Monolith Bearer.  Eiryss2 ended up joining the party for upkeep removal duties, especially if I am serious about killing Arcane Shielded Stormwalls.  Gorman is there to provide a bit of mobile cover for Feora2 early game and his grenades later game.  The double Mechanics are for increased chances of repairs to the ‘jacks as fix-it [8] isn’t that reliable.  A full Choir and Wracks have also been field tested, however this is the list (as it stands):

+6  Feora2

  8  *Templar (bonded)

  8  *Reckoner

  8  *Vanquisher

 11  Avatar

  6  Holy Zealots (full unit)

  2  *Holy Zealots UA

  2  Vassal of Menoth

  2  Vassal of Menoth

  1  Vassal Mechanic

  1  Vassal Mechanic

  2  Gorman Di Wulfe

  3  Eiryss2

Concluding thoughts:

I wanted a list which counterbalanced the Kreoss1 list and the above specialises in cracking armour as well as presenting that problem.  It will provide a new painting challenge and will give me some new units to learn how to use.  Although the list is geared towards armour it can still deal with infantry with the Vanquisher’s 4” AOE, which can fire twice.  The Zealots all have AOE’s too, which have Critical Fire and finally Feora2’s feat allows me to move fire around in her control area pinpointing key solos, troopers and UA’s etc.  So in essence a balanced list that meets my criteria.

I’ll field test some more and possibly make more changes, perhaps the Bastions and second Vanquisher will make it back into the list, I even thought about the Battle Engine!  The next couple of articles will expand on the painting of Feora2, Holy Zealots, Mechanics and converting a Crusader into the Templar!

[Next up some newly painted Menites....]