Void Seer Mordikaar - UPDATE

My first 2 games with Mordikaar didn't go so well. I played against Dr. Arkadius and pIrusk and lost or conceded both games. I was beginning to think that maybe Mordikaar wasn't my caster, but I wanted to play him again to make sure. I played against Rob's infantry heavy Grale list...and won. Had he played his usual eKaya list, I'm sure he would have defeated me and I could have put this silly notion to rest and get on with a caster that I'm good with, like Hexeris. Our game played out better than the first 2; I had a better idea what to do and what no to do and I was a bit more aggressive with my army in general. It wasn't just the win that convinced me to continue playing this list; some very interesting things happened during the game.
Despolier killed an already damaged warpwolf.
An entire unit of Wolves of Oberos failed a CMD check after I ran a void spirit at them.
The archidon charged Grale and got a CRIT, throwing him into a unit of karax that finished him off.
Mordikaar cast Revive twice to bring back dead troopers.
A single nihilator killed 3 enemy models and then proceeded to butcher 3 (or 4?) of his own unit.

There was more than meets the eye with this army, I wanted to continue playing to unlock more hidden potential. I am often criticized for my caster ADD I seem to have, it's hard for me to focus on any one caster for too long. I see potential in a caster and tend to get fixated in it but when my expectations come crashing down, I start looking elsewhere. I knew that if I wanted to continue with Mordikaar, I would have to make a few changes. First, get rid of Despoiler, for now. He's a great toolbox warbeast, but I was having difficulty figuring out where he fit into the army. His ability to upkeep a spell for free was great (when I remembered to use it) but that was his main function for my first 2 games. His ability to create void spirits out of dead enemy troopers was great, but by the time the nihilators were through, there wasn't much left.
So I dropped Despolier and added a gladiator, hands down my favorite warbeast and with the 2 points left over I decided to bring the list to Tier 4 and add 2 feralgeists.

I played the new list in 2 separate games today, first against Dr. Arkadius and the second against eIrusk. The first I lost due to scenario, the second I conceded.
Despite my losses, I am undaunted and want to continue with Mordikaar. I may have to break tier in order to fix some of the holes in the list. First off: no eyeless sight. I felt lost without the extoller soulward but I may have to add her in next game. Second: no arch node. Aptimus Marketh can cast all but one of Mordikaar's spells, some of which only have a range of 6". Marketh can put himself in harm's way without risking Mordikaar. Being incorporeal for the first turn does nothing for me, but the free void spirit is indeed a boon. AD for the incorporeal models is nice, getting into the control zone first helps but being able to stay in is the problem. I also need to look into a shooty unit, venators maybe. And replacing the raider with a shaman.
We shall see.....

Void Seer Mordikaar - 35 points, Tier 2

Having been disappointed with Midas, I dove into the Skorne pool again. This time I am looking at Void Seer Mordikaar. He possesses some interesting abilities, a nice feat and some solid spells. I wrote up the following list to capitalize on his strengths:

Legions of the Abyss: 35pts., Tier 2
Tier 1: Models in the army are Incorporeal for the first turn of the game
Tier 2: 1 free Void Spirit for every 2 units

Void Seer Mordikaar +5
Despoiler 10
Cyclops Raider 5
Archidon 7
Max Nihilators 8
Max Praetorian Karax 6
Void Spirit 2
Void Spirit 2
Void Spirit FREE

Everything is just TheoryMachine at this point. Being Incorporeal for the first turn will help getting around terrain, a problem I always seem to have. The free Void Spirit is a nice benefit, not only can I create more within 2" of Despoiler but Mordikaar boosts their MAT. Having no beathandlers will be a challenge, as they have been my crutch for most of my past armies. This will force me to really think about the amount of FURY I want to squeeze out of my warbeasts without having the beasthandlers around to make all the excess go away.

I plan on getting some games in with this army this weekend and posting the results.

Vassal Escalation Campaign

Trying out something different on Vassal; an escalation campaign with Rob. I wanted to give Skorne a break, been playing p and e Hexeris on the tabletop and Zaal on Vassal almost exclusively. I decided to play Midas, the new(er) Thornfall caster. No real reason, he just caught my eye. I've been painting Adam's Thornfall army and they grew on me after a while.
We decided to start with 15 points and move to 25, 35 and eventually 50, possibly beyond.

GAME 1:
Thornfall
Points: 15/15
Tiers: 2
Midas (*5pts)
* Road Hog (9pts)
* War Hog (8pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)


Trollbloods
Points: 15/15
Borka Kegslayer (*5pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
* Skaldi Bonehammer (3pts)
Trollblood Skinner (2pts)

Battle was short and to the point. Midas got capped. I blame my lack of experience with such a small list. I deployed the bone grinders too far away to really be effective. Too late I realized that only the leader can cast spells. After a short break, we decided to play another game. Rob suggested that I change my list a bit, I agreed. 


GAME 2:
Thornfall
Points: 15/15
Tiers: 3
Midas (*5pts)
* Bone Swarm (4pts)
* War Hog (8pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Farrow Slaughterhousers (Leader and 5 Grunt) (6pts)

Trollbloods
Points: 15/15
Borka Kegslayer (*5pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
* Skaldi Bonehammer (3pts)
Trollblood Skinner (2pts)

I deployed in a classic brick; line of slaughterhausers in the front, Midas and the bone grinders behind and the warbeasts on the flanks. Because I was at Tier 3, the War Hog got advance move and the bone swarm received 3 bone tokens. This battle was a bit more intense, as smaller games tend to be. The War Hog failed to kill the Mauler by 1 hit box. Battle Lust on the slaughterhousers is nice as is Bad Blood on the Mauler. Midas fell to the might of the Trolls once again. 
I may have to rethink my strategy a bit before the next game. Kind of odd that Midas' affinity with the bone grinders gives them a combat bonus considering that they aren't all that great in melee and are more of a support unit. Their arcane bolt would get a bonus to hit but only the leader can cast it. 

Tracking my progress: pHexeris vs. pButcher

Played a game with Adam this past Saturday. I decided to use my new pHexeris list. I wanted to try out the archidon as an arch node and get some more mileage out of the Cataract Cetratii unit I just purchased. Plus I wanted to field the rhinodon.
System: Hordes
Faction: Hexeris - Kingdom of Shadow
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 1
Lord Tyrant Hexeris (*6pts)
* Archidon (7pts)
* Rhinodon (7pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
* Titan Sentry (9pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

Adam's list:

System: Warmachine
Faction: Khador
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50
The Butcher of Khardov (*6pts)
* Destroyer (9pts)
* Juggernaut (7pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 3 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers (3pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)

We rolled scenario #1: Destruction, I won the rolloff and chose to go second. Tier 1 allows Hexeris to begin the game with upkeeps in play. I had Soul Slave on the Archidon, Death March on the swordsmen and Psychic Vampire on Hexeris. As per usual, Adam and I will ignore the scenario and just try to beat each other's face in. I moved the Cetrati up to deal with the Shocktroopers and the swordsmen to counter the advancing Kayazy. The Kayazy and swordsmen were a good match up with both units almost wiping each other out. The Cetrati and MOW exchanged blows but were mostly deadlocked. The rhinodon used its animus, walked up and threshed 7 (?) winterguard, only killing 2 and hitting 2 Certati, killing nothing. I moved the Archidon close to the widowmakers and arched Obliteration at them. I missed and only took out 1 widowmaker. The Sentry slammed the Juggernaut doing some damage and knocking it down. In retrospect, I should have just charged it. The soulward, gorged on souls from the dead swordsmen, proved her worth and finished off 2 of the MOW plus 1 Kayazy. I made my critical mistake by moving Hexeris up too far to engage the oncoming Kayazy. He charged the underboss, killed it and proceeded to move closer to engage another Kayazy which he failed to kill. That left him wide open to get charged by the Juggernaut and killed. 

Tracking my progress 1/0/3 - eHexeris v. eGorshade

 
I decided to change my army list a bit to include a mammoth and support. I included a full unit of Cetrati in the hopes that they could hold objectives.
Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Cyclops Raider (5pts) - BOND BEAST
* Mammoth (20pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)


Points: 47/50 (????????)
Tiers: 4
Goreshade the Cursed (*5pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Slayer (6pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (0pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (3pts)
The Withershadow Combine (5pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall (1pts)
3 Scrap Thrall (1pts)
3 Scrap Thrall (1pts)
3 Scrap Thrall (1pts)

What I saw the opposing army, I was squeeing with delight. My extoller soulward could counter Stealth and even if I couldn't get a solid hit with the mammoth's guns, that's a 4" blast - it's going to kill something and with Black Spot I was going to kill more. I killed 7 bane thralls including bane lord Tarterus in the first salvo but I was badly outnumbered, and those banes wouldn't stay dead. I made a mistake on turn 2 - I moved the cyclops raider into position and triggered a counter move from Tartarus thus blocking a charge from my mammoth to the deathrippers directly in front of Goreshade. This put the raider in melee and thus unable to function as a bond beast. By turn 3 Hexeris wasn't in much of a position to do anything useful, the Cetrati unit was down to half strength, the mammoth failed miserably to kill the Slayer and was holding onto only 9 health boxes and my other beasts were tied up. I conceded. 

Khador vs. Circle - 50 points

Turn 1: Khador

Irusk's army deploys as a brick, The Winter Guard Rifle Corps and Kovnik
Joe set up behind the Man-O-War unit on the right, the Kayazy Assassins
with the Underboss set up behind the MOW unit on the left.
The Battle Mechaniks set up directly behind Behemoth where they will be
most useful. Widowmaker Marksman uses his Advanced Deployment and sets
up in the woods.
Everyone runs forward, the Kayazy and the Rifle Corps taking cover
behind the 2 units of Demo Corps. Irusk walks up, casts Fire For Effect
on Behemoth.

Turn 1: Circle

Kaya deployed her forces to both threaten the enemy zone using the
druids and the stalker to invade on the east flank supported by the
Gorax and the Druid Wilder.
The Feral, Pureblood, and Warpborn deployed on the East flank to defend
the Circle control zone as well as break through the enemy lines and
flank their control area.
Circle advanced at full speed into the jaws of death. Everyone moves up
one way or another.
The stalker hid behind the tower occupying the center of the board.
Druids popped smoke and elemental protection as well as anti magic aura.
Gorax hid out in the backfield with the wilder.
Kaya moved up toward the east flank supporting the two warpwolves and
the skinwalkers.

Kaya casts shadowpack giving her and all her warbeasts stealth. She also
puts Forced evolution on the pureblood thinking that def 16 will keep
him alive if he does get charged.
In a misguided attempt to blast the enemy with his sonic howl the

Pureblood Angrim moved out into the open thinking its high defense and
distance would prent it from being harmed.

Turn 2: Khador
Eveyone moves forward to get into position. Irusk upkeeps Fire For
Effect on Behemoth.

Behemoth shoots bombard cannons at stealthed pureblood warpwolf, 3"
AOE auto deviates and hits nothing.
Irusk casts Airburst on pureblood - only target in his control range.
Misses him and shifting stone.

Irusk casts Battle Lust on MOW D-Corps unit on the east flank, MOW
D-Corps unit charges, kills pureblood and a shifting stone.

Turn 2: Circle
The warpborn skinwalkers countercharge the D-corps and with the help of
a feral warpwolf kill them all. (DAMMIT!!!) Druids move off further to the west
flank to try and pull the surviving unit of D-corps into range for

attack from the pureblood and manage to inflict a few minor injuries.

The Stalker makes a failed charge which will surely lead to his doom.

Turn 3: Khador
Kovnik Joe uses For the Motherland, shoots the closest skinwalker. The
rifle corps activate, all shoot the same skinwalker, fail to kill it. (My dice suck!!)
Kayazy Underboss uses kill stroke, orders the assassins to charge the
unit of druids, kills 3 druids.
MOW Demo Corps charge the warpwolf stalker, 2 kill him. Rest of unit
destroys shifting stones.
Behemoth shoots feral warpwolf, misses, hits skinwalker instead, does
1 point of damage, 2nd shot misses but still catches warpwolf and 1
skinwalker, damages warpwolf, not skinwalker

Turn 3 :Circle
Severely depleted unit of Shifting stones moves into enemy zone .
Keeper blasts at Irusk with his stone hammer spell but misses killing a
pair of mechanics cowering behind the behemoth. (What else are they going to do?)

Laris charges into woods to attack sniper -fails Kaya pops feat, moves,

casts laris' animus to port next to sniper.
Beats him down.

Druid Wilder casts PRIMAL on the Gorax.

Gorax moves up picks up a man o war demo corps and chucks him two handed
at irusk. Knocking both down. Damaging demo corps nearly to death and
irusk a bit.
Gorax beats on other demo corps in his rage.

 Feral Warpwolf moved up and picked up another demo corps and chucked it
at Irusk...killing the D-Corps and does 9 damage to Irusk.

Turn 4: Khador
Irusk spends 1 focus point to stand up, pops feat, gives focus to
Behemoth.  MOW trooper moves up and kills stonekeeper. Behemoth kills
warpborn skinwalker, shoots at Laris, misses and does no damage. Kovnik  Joe uses
Bears Strength on rifle corp, rifle corps charge skinwalkers.  Assassins
activate, move in to kill remaining druids.

Turn 4: Circle

Feral and gorax berserked, gorax could not be helped but letting fury
stay on the feral cost circle  a chance to assasinate or at least put
some real hurt on a more critical unit....killing rifle corps was not
helpful.
Druids ran away in an effort to not die.

Kaya took potshots at Irusk and missed.

Skinwalkers butchered a couple of gunners...but that fight dragged on.

Turn 5: Khador
Behemoth charges and kills warpwolf. Shoots bombard cannons, misses
gorax, hits 3 skinwalkers, does not damage them, kills 1 rifle corp
trooper instead. Ooopps!

Irusk moves into control zone, casts Battle Lust on MOW on the West
flank. MOW charges skinwalkers, killing 2.  Rifle corps move in to

engage skinwalkers, killing nobody.  Kayazy run into control zone on
opposite end.

Turn 5: Circle
Double buffed the Gorax with primal and forced evolution Took a pot shot
at irusk with kaya for one point.
Threw a rifelman at irusk for 3 dmg.

The last living druid tried to take out a knocked down and severely
damaged Irusk. Had he opened fire with his spells he might have
succeeded...he tried to melee him though and fell short on the charge.
At that point Kaya decided the better part of having your army butchered
might be to come back and fight another day.
Victory goes to Khador.

But the druids will be back for the next battle
report...Mwuhahahahahahahaha

Tracking my progress: 0/0/2

With the start of the new year, I thought it a good time to start tracking my W/L/D. eHexeris is one of my favorite casters, next to his prime counterpart. This is my current list and I have played a few games with it already. I want to tweak it a bit but not sure what to add or take out.

Points: 50/50
Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)
* Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
* Titan Sentry (9pts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

Last weekend, I played 2 games.

Game 1 was Process of Elimination against pIrusk. As with all my games against Khador, I had trouble hitting his high DEF Winter Guard. Irusk casting Inhospitable Ground didn't help my slow beasts. I was able to get around it with the gladiator's animus and the tyrant commander. As for points we ended up tying 1-1 but I conceded after my last warbeast bit the dust. Not sure what I would have done differently. This was my first game in a month and I was a little rusty. I think I would benefit from some high damage AOEs somewhere in this list.

Game 2 was Outflank against Kromac. I was done after turn 2. All 3 of my heavy beasts were knocked down or dead, there was an anti-magic bubble in play and a gnarlhorn satyr was staring down a badly wounded Hexeris. I conceded.