In The Army Now

Well, it had to happen eventually.

As you can see in my previous post, I was not entirely thrilled by the prospect of having only two releases for the forthcoming year.
I expected four releases, with a heavy warbeast and a solo but would not have blinked had there been only three for Blindwater and four for Thornfall (they really need it). I think the really low number of releases for Minions was surprising and unexpected for the playerbase as a whole, with Minion players getting a bit disillusioned/mopey/depressed/whiney and non-Minion players mostly shrugging it off to go complain about the one bad model they got (except for Circle players, who locked themselves in the bathroom and got overly excited about eMorvahna). But hey, at least the two Blindwater releases are well above Boneswarm level. Basically, I just don't feel that Rask alone is enough to give good competitive games in a Gargossal meta (1).

But life goes on, and the dogs of war don't capitulate. We either adapt, or die out. I've thus made the decision to move on to Minions 2.0 until the next Hordes release, hoping that the next Hordes expansion offers a little substance and direction for those of us striving for full-time Minionhood. This contradicts my 2013 annual plan to stick with Blindwater, but when life gives you lemons, fillet some Bog Trogs and enjoy the free delicious citrus seasoning.

Bow to the Emperor

Molik Karn, first of his name, may his reign be profitable.

I considered all the Hordes factions after I had decided to contract my forces out somewhere. Warmachine was off the table since I suck at making Warmachine list and prefer the synergy of the fury mechanic, but I want to keep playing Minions. Fortunately, Gatormans work for pretty much everyone in Hordes so options were open:

Circle was first on the chopping block - having to play Stalkers (2) and Shifting Stones all the time does not really appeal. Facing Circle three times in a row at the last tournament only reinforced this. Plus, I hate most of the faction.

Legion was next - while I think Legion has really cool beasts, a few good troop choices and a vastly different style, I don't think the most enthralling Legion playstyle (beast heavy) meshes very well with Gatorman Posses.

Trolls were considered. I am surprised at the number of abilities on Troll warlocks that specify "friendly model" and not "friendly Faction model" (3). I think the only Troll warlocks that need to run a lot of Trollkin are Madraks and Grissels. The rest would be pretty happy with a Posse or two.  In the end, I feel the beasts are a bit overcosted and crutch on each other and their army support a bit too much to be really appealing for running multiple Gator-heavy lists. I also have played Trolls before and rage quit them after a mere three weeks.

Skorne were both first and last to be considered. I played Skorne many years back but had to sell them for non-game related reasons (although the Hordes playtest did frustrate me greatly). This was at the end of Mk 1, where Skorne beasts outside Molik were pretty crap and most lists revolved around a Cetrati wall, heaps of troops and overpowered Ancestral Guardians. Skorne is very different now, and have awesome beasts and beast support, a wide range of useful troop options and the best Minion support potential in the game.

Why Skorne? Let me count the ways:

1. Paingiver Task Master - Mmmmm... did Privateer Press just make every future Minion unit release have to be balanced around being able to receive either +2 STR or no-KD tough at any given time? Yep, that happened. WTF. That's almost like Fury on a Gator Posse (with no downside), or an awesome addition to that Iron Flesh+ Dirge Gatorman wall (yep, Skorne can do that too).
2. Excellent beasts and beast support - the combination of Paingiver Beast Handlers, the new Willbreaker, Agonizers, and animi makes Skorne's awesome warbeasts pretty much run themselves - throw in the occasional sweet caster support and they go from bananas to nutcrackingly bonkers.
3. About half the casters go very well with Gators - many Skorne casters have feats, abilities and spells that don't rely on friendly Faction troops. Hexeris1+2, pMorghoul, Naaresh and Rasheth immediately come to mind, but even Xerxis and Makeda1/2/3 could do pretty well with them.
4. Familiarity - as mentioned before, I'm sort of familiar with the design philosophies behind the faction and its playstyle. So it would be an interesting personal adventure of rediscovery and other fluffy Disney themes.
5. Molik Karn - this guy is totally broken. I love and hate him.
6. Good employers- pretty much every Minion model works for Skorne: Totem Hunters, Thrullgs, Swamp Gobbers, Bog Trogs, Croctors, WE + Snapjaw, Feralgeists... pretty much everything but the warlocks and beasts.
7. Below the Luke Line of Approval - Skorne are only a slight step above Minions on the Brimblecombe Scale of Faction Power, the universal New Zealand scale for classifying Warmahordes factions. Not only that, but they are below the almighty Line of Approval. So technically I should still be in the same boat as before, paddling aimlessly in a sea of futility, struggling with unwinnable matchups and barely able to win good matchups on account of strokes of player genius.

Where to next?

 I have to buy some Skorne stuff and practice with that. I am hoping to avoid buying any Skorne units at all and just run Posses and Bog Trogs when I can. We'll see how that works out.

Maybe I am just copping out of Minions because I played crap at Ides of March and need to blame someone other than myself. Maybe I'm just genuinely disappointed at getting two releases for the whole year. Maybe I really love playing Gatormans and wish they could be as viable as they are in Skorne, and I am just adapting to the reality of the game as it stands now. I will let you be the judge over these coming months.

I will still be playing "pure" Blindwater occasionally and will post whatever new thoughts I have on the matter (or related ramblings) but will probably stick to playing Skorne for tournaments because... why wouldn't you?

(1) And no, I did not want a Minion Gargantuan. With only 1 out of the 4 released being "playable", I do not have great hope that the Minion Gargantuan/Battle Engine would be worth much in terms of table top ability if it were released in this book.
(2) Because you NEED to crack high ARM and high box count models in this meta, and Primaled Stalkers are one of the few things in Circle that can do it semi-reliably. As a Gator player, I can empathize.
(3) Some notable examples: Calandra's feat and all her spells (!!!), Borka's Mosh Pit, and Jarl's spells.