Post 100 - Acknowledging our "special" cousins

Yay.

To celebrate this monumentous occassion, I thought I should do an utterly biased/brutally honest review of our sister sub-faction, the Thornfall, in the style of this grading article. Please don't expect anything of serious value :)

Overview

Pigs have been pretty terrible thus far. I would argue they are the worst "faction" in Warmahordes. This is mostly because Pigs (like Gators) are super restricted, but unlike Gators don't have access to Posse. You can take Rhulic/Pirates casters and jacks in Highborn/4-Star with good troops/solos.
Pigs beasts are really bad for their cost, their infantry options are limited and in no way compare to Gatorman Posse as a faction backbone, they lack a strong sense of in-game faction identity and they are pretty much worse or equal to Gators in 95% of matchups.

Recently however, they got a few good releases that could improve to their viability as a faction: the Arkadius theme, Maximus, the Efaarit and the Meat Thresher. If things keep going like this, they might catch up to Gators within 2 releases cycles (circa 2017!)

Pigs' greatest strength at the moment is that nobody expects them. And Carver's massive balls.

Casters

Lord Carver - 9
Potentially one of the best warlocks in the game. Incredible spell list, very solid feat (damage boost + infantry shred in one package?), very survivable and good personal damage output.  He brings much destruction - one could argue the most destruction, in very large quantities. His biggest weakness, is of course being in Pigs, which keeps him chained down at a solid 9.
He is one of the best Who's the Boss casters out there, where he gets bumped up to a hard, highly overpowered 10 with almost any balanced Hordes list. At my last Who's the Boss tournament, I managed to get a free pick and chose Karchev because everyone always thinks Unearthly Rage with beasts is totally insane. It is indeed nuts, however the downside is you have Karchev as your caster (who sucks more than ever in a meta where lists have to deal with Colossals). Next time, I will not hesitate to take Carver, a man's pigman.
He even has his own tax, applied to Pig heavies and lights - the Carver tax. Ruthless imperialism has its downsides.

Arkadius - 8
A really good beast spamming warlock who finally got his time in the sun with a tier list that makes up for his garbage warbeasts by reducing their PC by 2 across the board AND giving him access to an even better version of one of the game's best light warbeasts.

PP: Pls buy plastic War Hogs, we will be nice from now on :(

Arkadius makes warbeasts grind hard and often. He also happens to have one of the most overpowered spells in the game (Crippling Grasp), which has made people believe he sucks because he doesn't have an arc node, rather than because his beasts are garbage.
Solution? The Ark's Ark, the best thing Pigs have received since Carver. The good thing about the list is that it specifically names out the 3 current Pig beasts for the discount (allowing for new, less garbage pig beasts in the future) and still takes a lot of practice to use effectively due to his very chaotic, frenzy-heavy playstyle.

Midas - 6
Midas does some cool stuff and has very solid spells. His tier is also sweet in that it gives you good Boneswarms and most of a heavy warbeast for basically nothing (at least pre-Efaarit and Meat Thresher).
His downfall (other than being in Pigs) is that he is skewed towards Hordes matchups due to his anti-beast abilities, and has no defensive tech to speak of yet needs to get up in the fray to have an impact (ie. mostly casting Calamity, Curse and using his feat). Not to mention that he wants to spend a lot of fury to cast his sweet spells in order to carry his army.
If the Bone Tokens gave him some defensive tech (ie. Ancient Shroud effect per Bone Token), he might be Carver-levels of legit since his spell list really is that good and he can grind pretty effectively (mass RFP not withstanding).

Sturm & Drang - 3
I love the design on this guy. He looks so fun. But.... he  actually kinda sucks to play and feels incredibly limped dick - again mostly because of his crappy beasts.
Sturm can do cool stuff with TK (one of the best spells in the game), his neat spray and his defensive spells. Drang brings really good bonuses to melee warbeasts.
But they are both polishing turds - badly. Sturm has lots of defensive tech, but none of it really stands out as serious playmakers with his current model pool. Drang only has access to craptacular heavies that are not even a quarter as good as Mulg. Not to mention they are on a medium base in a primarily small-based faction with no worthwhile anti-shooting tech and are SPD 5. WHY SPD 5? If they had SPD 7 with Ride-By, they could do a lot more stuff and not need to worry about constant death.


Helga - 7?
I haven't seen Helga played much yet. I think she seems at least as good as Midas and her feat can be really devastating, especially against medium-base spam like Gators. Like most Pig casters, her spell list is incredibly solid. Dash, Defender's Ward, Distraction are easily top tier spells, and Cyclone + Muzzle are pretty close too. Her passive beast bonus is also really legit (especially since she also benefits).
The main issue I see is not being able to speed up beasts, or buff the damage of her troops. Again, another story of a good caster with a good feat and excellent spells, but is probably carrying too much.

Beasts

War Hog - 3
The War Hog is across the board a crappy heavy. Its one redeeming feature is being able to hit somewhat hard, and a crit KD initial attack. Apart from that it is slow, costly, not that survivable, has a bad animus and is not generally fury efficient. Pigs make do with what they have, and this subpar beast is it. You take it because you have to.

Bebop also does not understand why War Hogs are so bad.

Road Hog - 5
The Road Hog is also pretty lame. It is expensive, has bad base stats, and hits like a wet noodle. However it does have a somewhat useful animus, a speed buff, a pretty decent ranged weapon with auto-fire, and can offer an element of surprise - none of which the War Hog has. I think at a point less, it would be solid, but 9pts for a heavy with no real damage output is hard to stomach.

Gun Boar - 5
Useless animus, bad stats... the pig story. However it gets at least mediocre because it can two-handed throw and it has quite good defensive stats for a light. Also, has a gun.

Razor Boar -7
Pigs' best beast IMO. The animus costing 2 makes it basically blank which frustrates some people, but if you think of it as a really tanky 2pt solo that benefits from battlegroup buffs and doesn't really care about frenzying, then it's pretty legit.

Midas Boneswarms - 7
Boneswarms how they should be - starting with 3 tokens! Makes it a very tanky light, well worth the cost. The animus is also somewhat useful to Midas in cornercase situations since he doesn't have unrestricted access to Spiny Growth like the Gator Master Race.

Arkadius' Goraxes - 10
Holy shit, these are totally insane. Goraxes by themselves are probably 8s, and these have Shield Guard as well (big deal for Arkadius), and the animus does HUGE amounts of work since the downside (auto frenzy) is really an upside in Pigs. Also you can autoplink them in the ass with Arkadius for a free charge before buffing them up to the gills and sending them to one-round a heavy twice their cost.
And the best part is these Goraxes alone were not considered enough to make up for the pig heavies and light, you also have to include them in a tier with -2PC on your other warbeasts and some aggro deployment bonuses.

Troops

Brigands - 4
Mediocre in a nutshell. Have a lot of potential and Hog Wild is a pretty good rule, but bad base stats, pretty high cost, and no really defined role in Farrow (are they tarpits? counter-chargers? how do they trade?, etc) makes them not so great. They are quite a bit better with Carver due to CRA increasing their flexibility a lot.

Slaughterhousers - 6
I quite like these. Bring anti-tough/RFP and a good counter charging toolset. However they don't have access to a great tarpit in Pigs, so don't get to shine as much as they would behind a row of Gators in Skorne.... other most other factions for that matter.

Bone Grinders -7
Sweet unit. Very cheap way to get an accurate magical missile, save animi after beasts die (would be excellent in Gators), boost caster spell range - solid, no real downside other than horrible stats, but for that cost, who cares. They make Calaban less terrible too :)

Razorback Crew - 5
Phew, I almost forgot about these. I graded them very average because it kinda depends on the terrain and the rest of your list. It is a RNG 14, POW 15 AoE3 gun which more than likely gets to AD due to the Thornfall Pact. That's not too terrible for 3pts if you get to make at least 2 shots with it, which you are likely to do if terrain is in your favour. If you don't, then it's not really worth it. Still one of the better artillery models when it gets to AD. Without AD, forget about it.

Solos

Gudrun - 5
This guy would be really sweet if he had Perfect Balance or some other ability that lets him stand up for free so he could deliver himself effectively after getting shot or whatever. I am guessing he will also be pretty legit with Helga + Defender's Ward as a Turn 1/2 tarpit. Aside from that, I have never seen him really pull his weight despite his pretty solid base stats - when he dies, he just gets killed again.

Maximus - 7
I like this guy a lot, and it mostly revolves around him being like Gudrun, but better, for a point less. Basically just the unmounted version of Fenris, but trading a little bit of damage output for survivability and Pathfinder charge (excellent way to protect himself on the advance). Great raw combat solo.

Efaarit - 8
I am really tempted to give these a 9 because they are so good - basically a free, accurate, no consequence ARM piercing every turn on a really fast pathfinder solo. However, I will stick with an 8 because Pigs don't really have much good ranged support to really push them over the top.

Saxon - 8
Saxon would be worth his 2pts without the ability to give something pathfinder. Great stats, good survivability, and some good combat potential. But on top of that, he can also douche warbeasts and give pathfinder to your Slaughterhousers (one of their biggest drawbacks as counter chargers). I am probably slightly biased about how sweet he is, because he is the manliest man on Immoren. Also, his book art makes him look a lot like our favourite Slovenian Press Ganger :)

Alten - 6
It's hard to say really bad things about a RAT 8 RNG 14 hand cannon shot with AD, Camouflage and Swift Hunter. And he gets some free damage against beasts on top of it. Basically a better Widowmaker Marksman (the archetypal mediocre ranged 2pt solo in my book), minus the Stealth.

Pendrake - 5
Ha, I didn't even grade this guy in Gators (would be a 6). Usually Pigs will want Saxon over this guy (as they are mutually exclusive), but Beast Lore can do some cool stuff for your Slaughterhousers, which means they can shred high DEF warbeasts. Aside from that, meh. In Gators he is a bit more valuable because guns are so rare, which isn't really a Pig problem.

Targ - 4
 The only Farrow solo, and he wears their trademark crappiness with pride. He can heal, he can Anxilliary Attack. Wow. Again, polishing turds. Herding does help with control area, but that isn't a problem I've seen Pigs have. Since his special abilities only work on Pig beasts, I assume he was supposed to be a tag-along for Brine in other factions, while also giving those other factions Herding?

Rorsh & Brine-5?
You only hear about them in super janky theorymachine because they are hypothetically able to go super fast. Can do cool stuff but I literally cannot remember a time I have seen them played in Mk2 :(

Raluk Moorclaw also goes here, but I will continue to pretend he doesn't exist. Hypothetically best in a Sturm&Drang list with a marshalled Vanguard so he can repair your BE and Shield Guard for your caster.

Battle Engine

Meat Thresher - 7
I like it. It's not the Gator BE but it's still one of the better battle engines in the game. Again, a good counter charging model in Pigs with no good tar pit in front of it. It is DEADLY in melee with Trash and auto-KD - it basically one-shots Gatormans reliably, which is scary. Not to mention boosted hit rolls against small bases. Bulldoze is also one of the best abilities in the game, and having it on a huge base is really good. It doesn't quite make up for the lack of reach, but it comes close in a lot of situations. The gun is also pretty decent, despite the targeting restrictions and low RAT.

Conclusion & Discussion:

Can you win games with Pigs? Absolutely. I'd go so far as to say that if you are a player with sound fundamentals, you can even win the majority of your games with Pigs in a casual setting. However, if you were put in a situation where there was big money on the outcome of a game (ie. a serious competitive situation), Pigs are very likely the very last lists you would reach for, regardless of familiarity.

As you can see, Pigs do have access to some good models, especially in the warcaster and solo department. Where they fall down is crappy warbeasts, lack of consistent engagers and lack of an effective tarpit. The best tarpit they have at present is a swarm of Razor Boars, which is just a tad expensive, and small bases without reach don't take up enough of the board to really jam up. It seems to me that if the beasts were cheaper on the whole, they could be used as good frontline models..... and lo and behold, the Ark tier (one of the two good Pig lists). I guess this is also part of what makes Carver so good (the other good Pig list) - making heavies fast and high ARM allows them to take the initial hit and/or engage.

There are many perspectives on what Pigs as a "faction" are supposed to be, since PP has certainly not made it obvious over the years. Many believe they are a combined arms factions - if that is the case, they are a really bad one as Cygnar and Khador both do that significantly more effectively even at only their Prime release level. By this reasoning, Pigs are then purely aesthetics.

Others, like myself, believe the primary design of Pigs is supposed to be chaos, frenzy and gambling: their warlocks are built heavily around improving warbeasts (two of which have random, self-damaging mechanics); they have no fury management to speak of (one warlock actively encourages frenzy); and their beasts are mostly crap and work best when thrown away to frenzy and hope to get lucky.
The latest wave of releases confirms this approach between:

• Maximus (literally: a Pig Doom Reaver, just because) 
• Meat Thresher (a crazy Mad Max contraption) 
• Helga (slams everywhere, fat Valkyrian lady singing)
• Arkadius tier 

Let's see if the design keeps going this way. If Pigs get a few more releases in this style, they will develop enough of an identity and tactical niche to make them a viable competitive choice over Gators in the realm of Miniondom. Right now, they still suck and are mostly just things for Carver to carry on his manly back and look neat. Sorry, Bacon lovers :)

Also, gator meat tastes better than pig meat. Sjakk matt, griser.

Extending an olive branch

In the meantime, if anyone wishes to contribute Minion-themed quality guest articles, please get in touch. I'd be happy to discuss it! I made this blog primarily as an easily accessible, semi-permanent (1) depository of Gator information for players interested in playing the faction, and I have more or less kept it up to date these past years despite lulls of interest and long periods of no gaming activity. Especially with my tournament attendance about to take a massive nose dive for the next year, and only getting one release in the next ~18 months, there won't be too much to write about.

However it'd be really nice to have a foreign and/or Farrow element to the website: either stand-alone tactics articles, fluff articles, hobby articles, you name it. So if you know your stuff and can write nicely, leave a comment or send me a PM on the PP boards (Yertle4 - the guy who only posts in sarcasm).

Article on the Sacral Vault will be posted when the model comes out (late 2015 is likely!).

Also thanks to anyone who takes the time to comment or let me know they value this site, your comments and opinions are appreciated.

(1) Unlike the PP forums, I have control of what gets posted here and can be as critical or expressive as I want :)

Jaga Jaga + Exigence info

Yay, a thing. Or two things.

Jaga-Jaga has risen to prominence as a high priestess of the Blindwater Congregation. In her talons writhe the spirits of death drawn from the swamps, each eager to comply with her designs. She is an enigmatic creature, whispering into the darkness to converse with ravening things of shadow. Around her the unseen spirits bubble close to the surface, drawn to her as leeches are drawn to disturbances in the water.

So the model looks pretty nice. They've tried to accentuated the femininity of the model by totally covering the space where her mammaries would be (if she were a mammal) and generally made her more slender and less bulky than her male counterparts.

As for rules, we get basically nothing. As far as I can tell, the blurb text may as well be describing the latest cheesy black metal album from Dimmu Borgir, Cryptic Doormat Extinguish. Let's hope she doesn't suck.

UPDATE: TO RELEASE IN OCTOBER 2014.  Woot.


Then there is the blurb for Exigence:

HORDES: Exigence brings you the next thrilling chapter of the HORDES saga. Hold nothing back in your fight for survival with:
•  New warlocks, including new epic versions.
•  Three new character lesser warlocks who bring even more furious support to your army.
•  New units and solos to expand HORDES armies with new strategic possibilities.
•  New narrative fiction picking up directly after the harrowing events of HORDES: Gargantuans.
•  A painting and modeling guide to help you prepare your forces for battle.
•  Theme Force lists for each new warcaster, which allow you to create armies based on specialized forces found in the HORDES world.

There's some fluff stuff beforehand, but I will safely assume that not much happens, nobody anyone cares about dies, nobody feels strongly about things, and the realm is safe for another year.

What is really interesting with the blurb is that it does not mention ANY new beasts. If the "real" factions hadn't received 1-2 new beasts each already, I would probably break out in hysterical laughter as Pigs get screwed again. At this point, I can only hope.

However, you do get a Theme Force list for each new warcaster. I don't expect any new warcasters in a Hordes book, so I will say no new Theme forces. GG PP.

The Cryx Matchup

This is my modest contribution to this thread on the PP boards regarding the Minion matchups for Cryx. Arlaharen and the rest of the Gator folk have already written a good deal of useful tips and tactics in dealing with Cryx (with more hopefully coming), and I thought I should add my own since I like to think about stuff and readers might benefit from my perspective.

In general, I think a well-played Cryx list is still one of the worst matchups for Gators due to mass undead, increasing amounts of tough BS, cheap infantry that hit like sledgehammers and lots of movement debuffs and control.

Importance of melee positioning and "staggering"

Cryx is the best melee faction in the game, all things considered. There is a reason people ALWAYS have Cryx in mind when preparing tournament lists, because if they don't, they will probably lose to Cryx and their "infantry-that-kills-anything spam" skew.
Cryx generally sucks balls at the ranged game (with exceptions like pDenny pirate gunline lists that prove both the rule and that pDenny is the ultimate turd polisher), and their spell assassination is nowhere as good as it used to be in Mk1 (despite being decent, it's not really a core game plan amongst most of their casters anymore). To make up for this, in a straight out melee scrap, Cryx will generally have the upper hand. They will hit more often, harder and for cheaper than other factions for less points and keep doing it until you are dead. How fluffy.

This is why they get hosed by Cygnar, Retribution and PoM, who can play a very good ranged game and can blow them up before Cryx makes it across the field to fight on their terms. It's also why Gators, as a largely melee subfaction, don't do great vs Cryx in principle since you have to beat the masters at their own game, so to speak. Therefore, it is very important if you want to come out victorious against Cryx to at least have good positioning when it comes to melee engagement, whether you are getting the alpha strike or receiving it. Good staggered positioning leads to good piece-trades, which is one of the fundamental concepts of Warmachine.

Let me elaborate on this slightly: Have you ever had a single Doom Reaver run up in front of your bunched-up, flanking Gatorman unit, at max CMD range from his unit leader, and not have any solos or ranged attacks nearby to deal with it? As a result, that Gator unit's entire activation is spent dealing with this one Reaver. They can't really run past him to kill his comrades as they will take free strikes, they can't move away as they will take free strikes. You can probably block some free strikes using 2 Gators to block LoS, but even then you are not in a good spot. That unit will probably in turn get charged by 5 other Doom Reavers, and the Khador player has now traded 1 Doom Reaver for 5 Gatormans. Good trade, wouldn't you say?

Often a good player will put a couple of models a few inches in front of the rest of his unit just to add as an ablative wall to absorb charges, trading those few models for what you charge in there. You can't really get to the back models either, because as a largely melee faction, you might not have the ranged attacks to deal with the 3 guys in front to clear a charge, or reach the guys in the back at all. Whatever is put up front will be traded for whatever you wish to kill it with. This is what I mean by the "staggering" of melee positions. It's like the "waves" of an army, where you have the anvil (tough or expendable units) go in front, followed by the hammer to clean up (hard-hitters who are usually squishier). Except it's all one unit, and all placement skill.

Well, good Cryx players will be really good at the staggering game since that is one of their core tactics. Oh, and Cryx have Ghostly, Curse of Shadows and Ghost Walk, so can cheat the stagger game better than most, making them even better than you in a melee scrap. They can also do stuff like turn your living dudes into their dead dudes and go through your dudes to get at the backfield stuff. Ain't life grand? Fortunately Gators have some such cheating of their own.

It's difficult to write a descriptive tactica about staggering and piece-trading. They are skills and perceptive abilities you will develop as you play the game and a pattern you will see repeated over many games.  The best way to actively develop this is whenever you move a model, try to think one or two turns ahead - if I move this Gator forward, what will threaten him, and what do I have to threaten things who threaten/kill him? And so on, and so on. It's like a dance... OF DEATH.

Importance of attrition + Dealing with Cryx feat turns (armor)

Cryx is also really good at attrition. They can bring their guys back to "life" with things like Necrosurgeons, Death Toll, Goreshade2's Elite Cadre for Banes, etc. They are mostly fearless (except Satyxis!) and have quite a bit of tough. Their crappy 1/2 point models can destroy your 2 pt models on expected dice values with the standard Cryx buffs/debuffs. If you let the fight go on long enough, they will eventually outlast you simply by virtue of having more attacks than you, turn after turn.

They also tend to have OP feats that destroy your will to live along with your army. This can range from really powerful debuffs and denial (ie. Deneghras, Coven, Skarre2) to big burst damage/activity potential (ie. Skarre1, Lich1+2, Scaverous, Mortenebra). Either way, you're going to have a pretty shitty turn. A lot of the time this is no different than the average Warmahordes game and you just grind through and move on. But when it comes to a feat like Denny2's or Lich2's that are really strong against the melee oriented, elite infantry style of Gatormans, then you better have a plan for it or you're going to lose the game right then.

The average 50pt Cryx list. Notice the small number of warjacks
and many small-based models. Source.

Which warlock should I use?

Why Rask isn't great

Rask is a baller. If his testicles weren't internal, he could use them as a seat. He is a little OP, but still has his non-favourable matchups. The typical Cryx list is one of these.

• He has little attrition potential. He can protect himself pretty damn well, and has Admonition for a warbeast, but outside his feat he doesn't do all that much to make his guys harder to kill or stand their ground. Gators are naturally good at attrition, but Cryx are better and Rask doesn't give us the attrition edge we need to hang in the fight.
• Fury is usually not needed to kill Cryx ARM. POW 13 charges are enough to handle even Mortenebra ARM lists - only Deathjack and Krakens might prove to be an issue (and not a crippling one).
• Inhospitable Ground is not as ballbusting against the pathfinder/ghostly stuff you see in Cryx lists as it is against a lot of other hard-hitting melee units.
• Shooting upkeeps off your own stuff is kinda cool though.

Why Calaban looks good, but is bad

Calaban is practically a Cryx caster, except way shittier.

• He can potentially shred infantry with his feat BUT that relies on him using Bone Shakers on Cryx models. As you may know, Cryx models generally have crappy stats and aren't so sweet at killing each other without any of their mental buffs. You would probably get more out of the feat putting Spiny Growths on everything.
• His spells don't really do anything. Carnivore works only against living so does blah (and living DEF in Cryx is not really high enough to worry about for a Gatorman). Parasite does blah since ARM is not a problem. Occultation does blah since they don't have guns, although it could theoretically protect you from an offensive debuff (if only Cryx didn't have cheap SPD 7 arc nodes). The meat node ability on his gun is not only crap, it doesn't even trigger on Undead stuff (thus is very blah).
• His attrition potential is possibly even worse than Rask's, outside his ability to put Spiny Growth on all the things as a result of his feat.
• Generally sucks horse dick.

Why Barnabas is decent

Barnabas is a respectable Cryx matchup. He can attrition reasonably well with Iron Flesh and his feat, Warpath allows you to get beasts into good positions, and he himself is a tough croc able to put some work in. Swamp Pits can also make ye olde Deathjack crap itself.

• His feat helps in slowing down infantry as well as knocking down those Satyxis and DEF 13 warjacks. It's also nice to make all Gator melee attacks pretty much auto-kill since you can't reroll to hit vs Undead and 5s are not as certain as they appear.
• Iron Flesh Posse can be problematic for many Cryx lists to deal with, at 16/18. Just pray the Withershadow and their lol-tastic dispel bot isn't around.
• Swamp Pits as noted helps take care of Deathjacks, and sometimes block up a certain part of the board to force Cryx players to spend the Skarlock's activation casting Ghost Walk (woe unto the Cryx player).
• However, he lacks the recursion powers or the ability to gain the upper hand in the melee staggering piece-trade game that Maelok does (unless you take a lots of Spitters and Croak Hunters, which is not advisable for almost any other matchup for Barnabas since it lacks any kind of punch).

Why Maelok is best

Maelok is a mighty warlock made of rotting flesh and other evil things. He is so evil, he kills baby crocodiles just because some dude said he couldn't do it. Sure showed him. Maelok is the best matchup we have against Cryx and is as close to a fair one as we get if one builds the list correctly.

• His list usually comprises of almost all Undead models, thanks to Death Pact and Witch Doctors (which you take for the strong synergy with his feat and his grindy playstyle). This shuts down a lot of Cryx's abilities and makes Cryx players bitch about Undead being OP.
• He has great recursion potential with Revive. Each Revive is an almost guaranteed 2 dead Cryx models, and an ARM 18 reach model in their face. Bringing 1-2 back a turn adds up FAST as the model count on the table gets lower and lower.
• He has 3 magical melee attacks! That's kinda cool. I guess. And a spray... at Focus 6. It's not that sweet but it can be cute for taking out incorporeal things that hide behind walls and contest zones.
• His feat allows you to cheat the staggering stage hard. So hard that it makes Cryx players jealous. It means that for 1 turn, all the Gatormans get all their attacks and you get in their backfield and cause problems. Not only that, but all Undead models get +2 ARM for that round, making them even harder to dislodge. Throw in a few Spiny Growths and Death Pact, and you've got one of the few lists in the game that can absorb a Cryx feat turn without falling on its knees and cursing the gods and heavens for forsaking it.

Bow before his rotting majesty!

Other cool stuff

• Thrullgs are reasonably sweet because without guns on the other side, they have a good chance of living long enough to do something cool. They have 3xMAT 7 magical melee attacks (only one with Reach despite having 2 long ass arms), cannot be targeted by spells and cause damage to spell casters in their CMD (sweeter vs Circle Druids or Hex Hunters than against Cryx usually, but you never know). He can also hit upkeeps off your dudes, in the rare event that your Gator unit with Curse of Shadows or Crippling Grasp lives longer than a turn. As such, he is best kept back and protected and used as required rather than charging wherever he can.
  Most importantly, he is your ace in the hole vs Terminus because he can strip off Terminus' focus and make him mortal. Well, killable. Again. A smart Terminus player will know this and may be willing to overextend a bit in order to kill the Thrullg, giving you a bit more table positioning. A foolish Terminus player will run in front of him camping focus, proclaim his status as an immortal god and then probably die.
• Croak Hunters are one of the few ranged attacks you have available. They are great for sniping out lone models blocking charge lanes or contesting zones and such. Remember they also have gang fighter, so even without poison can do good damage on the charge.
• Ironback Spitters tend to do pretty well vs Cryx in my opinion. Having a good, reliable boostable gun with auto-Corrosion can do some sweet stuff. They suck in melee and will get shredded by charging infantry but that gun will allow it to make its point back in opening doors for the rest of your list.
• I also quite like the Totem Hunter vs Cryx. He can get hosed by tough, but his very high mobility makes him like a quasi-ranged attack and he can scare a lot of Cryx casters in the mid to late game. He also makes a pretty good trade for Tartarus, or at least force the Cryx player to keep him back.
• Witch Doctors - they make your stuff Undead. Undead is sweet against Gators, but super sweet against Cryx. They also give you the opportunity to fail tough rolls, which you should absolutely not rely on. Tough on a 5man unit is nowhere near as nutstomping as it is on 3x10man units. They also have Dominate Undead which in a blue moon can do cool stuff like turn models around or have Banes kill Tartarus or whatever, but it is generally not as good as making things Undead since it requires a succession of dice rolls to do anything cool. Sacrificial Strike, on the other hand, can do some serious work late game when you want to put the last few points on an enemy caster, clear a charge lane, or snipe out that annoying Machine Wraith that's been contesting a zone all game.

In conclusion:   Maelok > Barnabas > Rask  > Calaban @ 50pts and above. I think at 35pts Barnabas is probably just as good as Maelok since he doesn't need quite the same 'critical mass' to do his thing well.

Other stuff to watch out for

• Bane Knights have Vengeance AND ignore rough terrain and free strikes. Vengeance weapon masters will do some serious, serious damage to Posse units. This means that you must absolutely kill as many as possible in one turn as you can. Try to line this slaughter up with your feat turn.
• Bane Thralls hit ridiculously hard, and pretty accurately when you factor in Tartarus and all that other Cryx stuff. They don't ignore free strikes, nor do they have reach however. You can kind of tie them up with buffed Gators, and often you will have no choice in doing so because they will roll tough 6 times in a row. Try to avoid getting charged as much as you can - knowing your fundamental movement rules and melee ranges pays off here. They are also prone to just running into melee with your Gators, reducing their ARM by 2 so they can die to whatever else Cryx has on the board.
  They also will totally bend you over the table with Goreshade2 if you didn't stock up on Witch Doctors.
• Tartarus must die. So must Gorman. If you can trade pretty much any single non-warlock model for these (including a Wrastler), it is probably a good trade. This makes me very sad but it is the reality of things.
• Satyxis are living. YAY. This means you can hit them pretty reliably. Raiders will usually get the charge on you though, so focus on positioning for an effective countercharge AND avoid getting jammed up by them. Cryx can be pretty good at scenario play, I hear.
• Blood Witches aren't usually something to worry about too much (besides the UA), though they DO have magic weapons... P+S 12 free strikes will probably kill ghost Gatormans.
• Cryx has some of the best upkeep removal in the Blood Hag and the Withershadow Combine. This can suck for Iron Flesh and Death Pact. It is very satisfying to revive a Gatorman and then charge them with Maelok's feat though (if you hit those straight 7s... 14/16 with Stealth and Undead is totally fair game for support models with long-range nukes).
• Mechanithralls hit at P+S 15 and each cost 25% of a Gatorman. They are "only" MAT 5 though, so without a buff/debuff they might miss you. But if they hit, you're probably dead. They also have Necrosurgeons. These are a high priority target who just happened to have Sac Pawn so are hard to shoot (you guessed it, Maelok's feat + needing straight 7s to hit support models).
• Blackbane's Ghost Raiders are pretty terrifying due to our lack of magical weapons. Their DEF of 13 is just high enough to be annoying to FURY/MAT 6 warlocks. Essentially, these more or less go whereever they want and will always get their attacks before you can deal with them. Sucks to be a Minion.
• Deathjack - Swamp Pits / ignore him / throw him around / cup your nuts and charge him with everything you have left. Or if you're playing Rask, a Posse with Fury should do it.

Basically, heaps of infantry that doesn't have too hard a time at killing your infantry/casters/anything at lower cost.

Terminus

Terminus is stupid to the point where I feel I should make a special section for him. He is basically the epitome of rock/paper/scissors in Warmahordes. Do you have enough damage to kill my DEF 14/ARM 24+ caster? If not, you are not going to have a fun time. There are basically three aspects to him that make him suck for Gators:

1) Gigantic "FU" Tough aura

We have nothing to deal with Tough outside Crit Consume on Barnabas. So if the Cryx player keeps rolling 5s, you're not killing anything no matter what you do or how many lambs you sacrifice. Much fun. Such games design. Wow.

2) ARM camp + Sac Pawn

As you may know, Gators of the past had problems with ARM greater than 19. This is because the highest P+S in the faction is 17 on the Wrastler. As a result, Gators would have almost insta-lost any 1 zone scenario against lists with Gargossals.

In response to this, Gators got Rask. Rask has Fury and the ability to remove upkeeps and camped focus at ranged. Rask is pretty amazing. But even Rask cannot shoot Terminus' focus off because he has a neat ability called Sac Pawn [pretty much anything in my list, bitches!]. This ability more or less means Terminus can camp at ARM 22+ or so and tell your Posse and heavies to suck his dust pipe, even if you play Rask (which you probably shouldn't, for reasons described below).

Thankfully we have Croctors who make things Undead and more or less deny him a feat. This is sweet because it makes Cryx players complain about Undead.

I assure you that the limp-wrist is just for show. This dude
will bitchslap the scales right off your back. Source.

3) Flight + hits like a truck

Not only does he camp ARM like a boss, but he will bitchslap you to death from a long ways away since he is effectively MAT 9, POW 18/16 with Malediction up. Oh, he also a POW14 SP10. You know, for lolz.


I don't have any tips other than "take Thrullgs, keep scenarios in mind and play much better than your opponent".

Playing for Assassination

Warmahordes games typically have two win conditions - either win by scenario (5 control points in SR 2013), or win by having the only warcaster/warlock model on the table (assassination). There are usually three playstyles with which one can achieve these goals:

1. Attrition - this playstyle focuses on making efficient trades, sacrificing as little as possible, and generally killing your opponent's stuff while keeping yours alive. The idea is to improve your relative position on the table so that your forces become relatively stronger and your opponent's become relatively weaker, thus allowing you to assassinate or win on scenario a few turns into the game without the possibility of strong resistance or retalition.
   Examples of attrition tactics include recycling dead bodies (Necrosurgeons, Shamblers), hit and run (Vayl, Stalkers), having really resilient stuff that can take a counterpunch without collapsing (Gatorman Posse, IF Kayazy), having enough hitting power to reliably one-rounding heavy targets, and so on.
2. Board Control/Scenario - this playstyle focuses on obstructing your opponent's ability to manoeuvre so that you can control important areas of the board (usually the areas that give CPs).
   Tactics for this playstyle include power attacks (ie. throws), speed debuffs (Crippling Grasp), jamming, movement denial feats (eDenny/ eKrueger/Gorten), generating terrain and generally being an asshole.
3. Assassination - this playstyle focuses on somehow killing the enemy caster as quickly as is safely possible.
   Tactics for this playstyle involve removing/ignoring defenses like buff spells and focus (Arcane Assassin, Eyriss), placement and movement shenanigans (Shifting Stones, Apparition), contrated high power attacks (mobile heavies/casters) and having massive balls of steel.

Obligatory old-school gaming reference

The Purest Form of the Game

Many believe that Warmachine is at its heart an assassination-oriented game, and the assassination playstyle is the purest form of Page 5:

• Mk1 tournament games were won on assassination more often than not, and lists were designed around that.
• The Hardcore format traditionally encouraged an assassination playstyle by having dice down being equal to 'both players lose'.
• The game bears many similarities to chess, which operates on a similar principle. 
• See previous comment about steel balls.

Despite the "purity" of the assassination style, it has fallen out of favor as a preferred winning strategy. I argue this is due to the risk/reward of the assassination playstyle relative to attrition/scenario play.

Risk vs Reward

I think the main reason assassination has fallen out of favour as a competitive playstyle is that it provides the same or lesser rewards than an attrition playstyle, while also being significantly riskier.
If you win a game by assassination, you get 1 VP on your scorecard along with any CP you scored in that game (probably not many).
If you win a game by scenario, you get 1 VP on your scorecard, and 5 CPs that will serve to elevate your overall ranking.
If you win a game as a result of attrition, you get 1 VP, probably a couple of CP, and a good deal of KPs.
In terms of reward therefore, you are likely to get quantifiably more out of a scenario win than you are out of an assassination win, at least in a tournament setting.

In terms of risk, an assassination playstyle necessitates more risk than the alternatives, or at the very least, more focused risk - less redundancy leads to higher potential for each singular die roll to influence the outcome.
First, you will usually have to involve your caster in the assassination, either by use of a feat, a buff, a debuff, a placement effect and so on. Often, this means that your caster has to have the opposing caster in his control area, which in turn means that you caster is probably in threat range of most of his army next turn.
Secondly, you are probably banking the outcome of the game on a smaller number of dice rolls than a scenario win strategy. Most assassinations rely on making a few attacks - the fewer dice are rolled, the more likely you are to get screwed. A ~58% chance of success (dice at expected value) also means a ~42% chance of failure.

Because of all these factors, failure means you will in turn be assassinated next turn more often than not and at much lower risk on your opponent's part.

So why else has assassination fallen out of favour?

First, I think Hordes becoming a fully-fledged competitive sister game to Warmachine (not really the case early Mk1) has made assassination lists less viable, as the transfer mechanic takes emphasis away from winning the game with two-three high POW attacks on the right target. Playing against Hordes pushes you to play for attrition as killing warbeasts simultaneously decreases your opposing warlock's survivability by taking away potential transfer targets - not to mention the loss of resource generation, animi and damage output. Abilities that bypass transfers are quite rare (Grievous Wounds?), the casters who can do it reliably are often crapped on (Garryth, eMorg, Thyra) and Cryx players are too busy spamming OP infantry to take Stalkers. There are alternatives, like manipulating fury on beasts to block transfers or moving them outside the opposing warlock's control area - these are good tactics but poor strategies.
Hordes might come second in almost everything PP does, but I think it has had a significant impact on how tournament games are played.

Second, the changes to Steamroller over the years have also changed how players approach competitive play. Scenarios have become more important to the game, and not respecting the scenario conditions means you are likely to lose on scenario. As scenario play becomes more popular, assassination play has become less so (zero sum).

Third, the mass reduction in threat ranges between Mk1 and Mk2 has had a pretty big impact on how easy it is to keep your caster safe. There are still a few models that can go a million miles and hit really hard (ie. my buddy Molik Karn), but such models are far less prevalent than they used to be. The reduction of advanced deployment from 12" to 6" is also a big deal, as is the greater distance between each player upon deployment (first player deploys 7").

Finally, arc nodes. I think the increase in relative cost of arc nodes from Mk1 to Mk2 is a factor in the decrease of assassination play. Mk1 Warmachine lists usually had an arc node (unless you played Khador, which traded arc nodes for charging 22" on average). Lancers, Revengers, Guardians and especially chicken bonejacks were very common. Spell assassination was a common strategy amongst all the factions with arc nodes, and THE strategy for Cryx.
Fast forward to a few years of Mk2 and I haven't seen a Revenger in YEARS (except for the one I have on the lower level of my case next to Calaban). Same thing with Lancers and Guardians. Bonechickens are still pretty common, although you see one or two per list these days, compared to the 4-5 you saw in Mk1. Sometimes Haley and Nemo players take Thorn (because he is sweet), and Ret players regularly take a Phoenix with Rahn (since it is also one of their best combat jacks). But on the whole, spell assassination as a reliable tactic or list strategy is gone.


In the end, is the move away from assassination a good thing or bad thing? I don't think it is really either - it just 'is'. The alternative is we could go back to Mk1-style eVlad casters that make assassinations much more certain by throwing ridiculous buffs on a handful of models*, or Goreshade being able to exchange a Blackbane's Ghost Raider almost anywhere on the board for a Deathjack that gets to activate and insert his metal into your caster. Personally I prefer the way things are now than the way they used to be.

In summary, the way the game is at present, if you enjoy assassination and like that aggressive playstyle, you can still be competitive in building your lists around it. There is nothing wrong or right about playing for the assassination. However, it is riskier, and therefore a less reliable path to victory than attrition/scenario play in most balanced matchups.

Blindwater Assassination

One of the nice things about Gators is that (almost) all their casters have some legit assassination tactics, on top of being quality attrition warlocks (due to Gatorman Posse, shooting denial and Spiny Growth).

Barnabas - The "Drop 'n' Pop"

This is basically the oldest trick in the WM book, but weaker since Blindwater has far less guns than PoM and Barnabas's feat is a straight-up inferior version of pKreoss' feat. I wish it was 'non-amphibious enemy models have their base DEF reduced to 5 and must sacrifice movement or action next turn' instead. You don't get LoS advantage like you would with KD, but then there is a ton of anti-KD tech out there that it would bypass... I digress. Here is how it is done:

1. Activate Barnabas
2. Charge a living enemy trooper (charging gives you an extra 3" of range on the feat which you will probably need to catch the enemy caster).
3. Feat to knock down enemy caster and everything in the way
4. Kill your now-KD target with the Blood Cleaver, giving you a free Flesh Eater at the enemy caster
5. Cast 2 more Flesh Eaters at the enemy caster
6. Shoot KD enemy caster with Ironback Spitters and Croak Hunters

I admit I use this tactic more than I would like - sometimes because I come upon bad matchups and feel my odds of victory are better with this than playing out the game, and sometimes just because I like to cup my nuts of steel and gamble.

Maelok - The "ScoobyDoo Ghost Gator"

I think this is probably the most potent assassination in Blindwater because it is really unpredictable, and the only sure defense is distance (or Polarity Shield/Hellbound type stuff)- which is a problem when you are faced with an grindtastic Gator list threatening to win on scenario. It is a bit like a weaker but more focused version of eGaspy's feat:

1. Activate Maelok
2. Revive some Gators in your control area (if you managed to get a small heap of souls last turn, then you get more Gators! Yay!)
3. Feat and finish Maelok's activation
4. Charge enemy caster with incorporeal Gators, or whatever else in your army that can get there and do the job (heavies for example)

That's about it. Against a living warcaster, 2 Gators are likely to get the job done - rerolls are pretty cool. You just have to make sure you have LoS, beware magical weapons, and try to keep Maelok semi-safe in case the assassination fails - the less heavy stuff there is on the table at this point, the better it is.

Rask - The Best Gun In The Game™

Rask has really viable assassination options:

• Boundless Charge for 2" of threat range/ free charges on beasts
• Fury for +3 damage
• Paralysis Bolt to bring high DEF casters to their knees
• Arcane Interference Bolt to remove those pesky defensive upkeeps and focus adding to ARM

I have one-shot several hardy casters after hitting them with Rask's gun and charging them with a single Furied Gatorman (2x POW 16s at MAT 7s with rerolls = better than many heavies).
Snapjaw in particular becomes an absolute terror under Rask, with a 14" threat range against living models at P+S 20 (Fury + Boundless Charge + Bloodthirst + Elasticity). Turns out this is pretty good at killing Gargossals as well.
Anything that stops or hinders ranged attacks can hurt this assassination run of course (Stealth, Blur, DEF buffs, etc.)

And unlike his fluff blurb, he never actually applies the finishing blow himself. What a douche.

Calaban - The "Yeah Nah"

The "Yeah Nah" tactic of assassination is something that looks sweet and legit, but isn't. Here is how it should go:

1. Activate Calaban
2. Shoot a squishy enemy living model with LoS to the enemy caster with your voodoo meat gun
3. Pop feat and finish activation
4. Kill every infantry model in your opponent's list, and use the fury you generate via the feat to periodically throw boosted Bone Shakers into your opponent's caster through the meat node.
5. Fail and die

Much like the phrase "yeah nah", it doesn't really mean anything, but sounds deep and meaningful. I think I have actually pulled this off once or twice, but repeated self-inflicted blows to the head to reduce the mental strain of playing Calaban seem to have affected my memory. It is also very matchup dependent, which makes it even less appealing. It's a decent feat, but more for defensive than offensive purposes IMO.
This makes me want to write another article about exactly why Calaban sucks - I know you love them! Watch this space.... maybe.

The Gator Rise Missile 

This trick can potentially be pulled off in any list that includes a Blackhide Wrastler. I have already written about this trick at length here so you can have a look at it there. The summary is basically that it is an effective and unpredictable way to deliver a heavy beast to the enemy caster and bypass the engagement lines, but I feel it is very risky (even risky for an assassination).

The Totem Hunter

This guy is a ninja and is capable of killing the squishier casters, especially if you can get Fury on him. However he will need the Prey bonus to do so for the MAT/damage buff, and the odds of you getting a Totem Hunter onto a moderately skilled opponent's caster early game are very slim. You would be better off preying an AD unit or key support piece and focusing your efforts on killing that, saving a potential Totem Hunter assassination for late game.

*Sidenote - History Lesson: Blood Legacy in Mk1 was not only +3 to all stats for a round, but also fully-boosted attack and damage rolls and an additional attack per melee weapon. And the Drakhun had d3 initial attacks. It's also why the fastest caster kill on hardcore record was eVlad feating on 4 Widowmakers who killed a focusless Skarre with 4 fully-boosted RAT 10 POW 10s.

A new pair of boots! - tips on how to defeat Blindwater

I have come across several people that think Gators are actually good. This blows my mind, but apparently this is a real perspective from real people.  There might be some truth to it, since I have seen Gator players who know what they are doing place well while I wallow in the muck of the bottom 25%.

So I have taken it upon myself to sink myself even further into the muck by giving people advice on how to crush my "faction".

Note that I have not played more than a handful of games outside Blindwater for well over a year. Therefore, take any advice I give with a grain of salt. Or several handfuls of salt that you can throw into your opponent's eyes if you are losing while using my lackluster advice.

Here are some general guidelines when facing Gators:

1.  Gators are a melee-centric army. This means they hate getting controlled and snared. They hate being denied the ability to move or make melee attacks. If you can stop charges, you're doing alright irrelevant of anything else.
2. Gators are excellent at delivering themselves in the face of shooting. Don't rely on your guns.
3. Posse are MAT7, 2x POW 13 attacks, charge at +2" against living, can choose to reroll misses vs living/pathfinder/+1 DEF and Terror, and are ARM 16 with Unyielding and 8 boxes. They will shred through any small-based infantry without problem, and are very hard to remove once engaged without charges. Space your squishy guys out.
4. Gator warlocks are difficult to assassinate due to great defensive stats, or other survival mechanics. If you go for an assassination run, make sure the odds are heavily stacked in your favour and bypass their survival mechanics.
5. Gators have pillowfists and have trouble cracking ARM >19 IF you don't include Fury. The highest natural P+S in faction is the Wrastler's P+S17 bite (not amazing). But we can pump out a lot of attacks.

Cygnar

Casters: Haley1+2, eCaine, Stryker2, Siege
Other picks: Centurion, Stormwall, Journeyman

Cygnar's reliance on ranged attacks to deal crushing damage (ie. Siege, Sloan, Hunters, Defenders, etc.) reduces their potency to crack Gatorman armor. Furthermore, disruption doesn't affect Hordes at all so they lose one of their strongest control elements. Fortunately, they have possibly the best control casters in the game in the form of Haley1+2. And we all know how Gators love being controlled.

Centurions are especially nice against Gators because of innately high ARM and the option to Polarity Field makes them very survivable against Gators, and an excellent way to hold a zone while the rest of your force lolerskates around and does its thing (just keep in mind a smart Gator player will probably handle this by throwing the Centurion away every turn). Journeyman is just good because +3 ARM changes heavies from 'difficult to kill' to 'might as well be a Devastator'.

• Hayley1 - Temporal Barrier and you are very safe. Feat on counterattack - if you have enough stuff left to deal sufficient damage, you probably win. If you don't, then you probably lose on scenario.
• Hayley2 - everything she usually does works great against Gators. Time Bomb, TK and super melee Stormwalls are especially ballbusting. I'd hold on to the feat for a while because a clever Rask player will just counterfeat your feat if you expect to shoot Gators to death - it's better if you wait until after initial engagement because then there is really nothing the Gator player can do while you wipe the floor with him.
• Caine2 - While Caine is unlikely to be able to assassinate, what he can do is blow up your entire army during his feat turn at any stage of the game if it isn't protected, and then stay perfectly safe due to Gate Crasher. The one risk is losing on scenario while all this pussyfooting is going on, which makes choices like no-KD Boomhowlers and the aforementioned Centurion really sweet.
• Stryker2 blows things up in general. Just keep your infantry back so they don't all die to a Gator alpha-strike and you should be able to crack through any reptilian armor presented via Positive Charge and naturally high POW weaponry. Just don't do anything risky with Stryker - he is not that tough. 
• Siege - just recently have I played against Siege with Gators and realized that Ground Pounder does not target anything. This means he can blow Gators up from 14" away for two rounds before you get to him, bypassing ALL OUR ANTI-RANGED TECH except for Swamp Horrors. What a load of crap.

Khador

Casters: Irusk1,  Old Witch/Irusk2, Vlad123, eSorscha
Other picks: Kayazy + UA, Clam jacks, Conquest, Uhlans

You have two choices when playing Khador - either you can try to grind down Gators with ARM, or employ super high DEF Kayazy/WG/Nyss. The problem with the first strategy is that the heavy ARM usually gets controlled by rough terrain, the problem with the second strategy is Barnabas' feat.

Clam jacks (Devastator, Spriggan) are excellent because of their very high ARM, meaning that outside of being thrown around, there is not much Gators can do about them. They can just bulldoze and be really annoying. Conquest is in a similar boat. He is unlikely to ever die, and with Superiority can easily kill a handful of Posse every turn with sweeps or initials. Iron Flesh Kayazy here are worth the points even if they just force the Gator player to blow Barnabas' feat to deal with them - keep this sacrifice in mind however. Uhlans are a bit of a wild card selection, but in my experience playing against them, they have proven a tough matchup because of their hardhitting charges, and ability to then tank Posse reasonably well after the charge (especially with Vlad3). 

• Irusk1: an all-around infantry buffing monster. If you feat defensively (no KD/4+ tough) while your IF Kayazy run into the Gator force, you can pretty much kill every single thing in the list the next turn thanks to Battle Lust. Yay! Sounds fair.
• Old Witch/Irusk2: these are both quite solid all-round control casters that play very differently.  I think they bring enough tools each to allow you to play any balanced list capable of dealing with anything Gators can throw at you (both literally and figuratively).
• Vlad works in almost any incarnation if you build the list well. I have always found games against him to be challenging and not an easy win for either side.
• eSorscha - not as popular these days, eSorscha can be really legit vs Gators on account of her feat alone.Combined with tons of WG sprays, a handful of weapon masters and the amazing Beast 09, eSorscha can deal with almost any armor list.

 

Cryx

Casters: Deneghra12, Lich123, Skarre12, Terminus, Goreshade2...
Other picks: Banes, Satyxis, McThralls

I've already written a bit about why Cryx eats Gators alive. The summary:

• Banes/Satyxis/Mcthralls - they blow Gators up, are hard to wipe out, and are stupid cheap.
• Undead - deny Bloodthirst and a lot of 'living only' effects.

Basically you can more or less auto-pilot a list forward, roll dice, and win. Cryx has clear superiority in the melee department, on top of having heaps of denial, debuff and control tools. The main thing to focus on is to keep your caster safe (not too difficult), and make sure you decapitate the Gator force when it is crying on its knees during your feat turn. NO MERCY, NO SOUL, NO PRETENSE OF BALANCE. I may be somewhat bitter, but it is my sincere opinion that Banes are damn stupid.

• Deneghra1 stops your opponent playing the game, Deneghra2 stops your opponent playing the game IF they are an all-melee force (which Gators pretty much are).
• Lich1 is really good. Lich2 is the best caster in the game, cannot be charged, and his feat pretty much kills most of your army with nothing you can do about it. Lich3 is like Lich1 but with a feat that screws Hordes.
• Skarre1 blows everything up and then has pStryker's feat. Skarre2 stops your opponent playing the game.
• Terminus camps and walks forward, gets your heavies killed, and then casually picks you apart.
• I put Goreshade2 as a caster pick there because recycling Bane Thralls are totally bananas vs Gatorman Posse, although something like a Rask tier list might have a game against it.

You can't spell Cryx without 'cry'.

 

Protectorate

Casters: Harbinger, Kreoss123,
Other picks: Covenant of Menoth, Reckoners, Errants + Piper

The Covenant is a must given its anti-KD and anti-magic auras being excellent vs Gators. Gravus can also do the job here, although he costs more and unlike the Covenant can be killed. Tough no KD Errants are really annoying for melee armies... incredibly so. Reckoners, apart from being the best non-character heavies in the game, bring a -2 to hit aura for living model on top of great melee and ranged capability.

• Harbinger is obvious - great control, feat is damaging enough to kill Posse, Purification, Crusader's Call, Fear of God, and of course, Awe messes with living melee armies real bad.
• Kreoss123 all have some game - pKreoss has Purification, mass KD and a damage buff, eKreoss brings weapon master swarms that can shred anything in your list (but make sure to bring the Piper and the Errant UA to deal with rough terrain!), Kreoss3 is a tank with good defensive and damage buffs, one turn of Purification and Warpath so his heavies obliterate yours.

 

Retribution

Casters: Rahn, Vyros
Other picks: Banshee, Hyperion, anything with giant mittens

Having played against Ret with Gators more than I have played against anything else, I can say that Ret have a really bad matchup against Gators.
First, do not take the MHSF! I have zero respect for them as a Gator player since they have POW 10 weapons and can't really hurt any of my casters.  Second, don't rely much on your infantry like Sentinels, Invictors or Halberdiers. They do not put out enough damage (unless under Ossyan) to hurt a Posse wall and melt in front of the Gator onslaught. Therefore you might want to play a bit more jack-heavy than usual.

Banshees are great in this matchup since they prevent orders (namely, charges) after engagement, which greatly decreases the Posse' potential output and threat ranges (stops those two Gatormans charging your caster way in the back and killing your caster). Hyperion is also good because he has so much ARM (especially with pVyros) and you can get some pretty good sweep power attacks against Gators, or throw a few points of damage on unprotected heavies with your meganuke cannon. Finally, Mittens' ability to push, pull, slam and generally douche models is quite potent against grindy Gators.

• Rahn - In my opinion the best matchup vs Gators. He lacks a damage buff outside his feat, but brings enough control to the table that he can systematically take apart your army and protect his forces over a few turns while winning in more places than Charlie Sheen. At least one unit of Mittens to make use of the feat, a few jacks (including a Phoenix) and smart use of Polarity Shield are your friends.
• Vyros - Both Vyros' are ok vs Gators because of their armor and damage output.
  pVyros can camp a few focus to be tough to kill, while buffing his troops and tanking you with an ARM 21 Hyperion. He can also hit very hard himself with Flank, and make his jacks fly.
  eVyros is good if and only if you play a Synergy-focused list. Griffons can take a few hits from Gators and with Synergy can dish it out hard too. He is boring as hell to play that way but that's the way it is.

Mercs

Casters: eMagnus, MacBain, BartGalleon
Other picks: Orin Midwinter, Alexia... Gorman and Galleon

Orin is incredibly annoying to deal with when you don't have guns. He can usually get close enough to mess with the Blindwater warlock as they tend to play midline. Alexia is probably one of the best roadblock grinders in the game and will do a great job of making Posse waste their attacks on useless Risen, on top of all her other cool shtick. Gorman is also kind of alright - barely playable.

• I like Macbain in this matchup for his ability to jam like a pro - throw some 1+ tough Steelheads in the Gators' faces to stop them in place for a turn, followed by flanking Steelhead cav = dead Posse. Then Galleon can clean up your heavies under the effects of Fail Safe (bring a Bokur to Shield Guard Rask's pitiful attempt at dispelling it). By then you probably win on scenario scenario or slowly grind them down.
• eMagnus is also quite good given his control feat and Calamity.
• Bart Galleon is as good as ever, but note that this not one of his best matchups ever since 2d3 won't be doing all that much work on ARM 16+ models. However, you can only stop so many ranged attacks and one of the heavies is bound to get dragged in an killed at some point. An ARM 22+ Galleon is pretty much impossible to 1-round for Gators, even cycling Fury. Just focus on keeping Bart safe while at low FOC.

Skorne

Casters: eMakeda, Rasheth, Xerxis, Zaal
Other picks: Agonizer, Bronzebacks, Sentry, Cetrati

Skorne are basically Gators 2.0, without the specific animi and anti-shooting tech, but better everything else (including better Posse). Bronzebacks are exceptional in this matchup since they can quite easily kill Posse and heavies without needing to spend much Fury, and Beat Back is a great ability to have in a grind situation. Sentries and Cetrati are both high ARM models that can be buffed to the point of unkillable, and Agonizers are just really annoying all the time.

• eMakeda delivers heavies in your face so they kill all your stuff first. Not a good place to be for a fast melee army.
• Xerxis and Zaal can both make things hit ridiculously hard to crack that Gator ARM, and attrition in their own ways. Both suffer a little bit with the release of Rask, but still have the tools to make it work.
• Rasheth with lots of Titans is really hard to chew through. The one risk of course is that Rasheth dies to basically anything that gets into melee with him (ie. a Flying Wrastler or a single Posse member), so you have to really watch your positioning.

Legion

Casters: Vayl1+2, Saeryn, Thagrosh2 / Kallus, Thagrosh1
Other picks: Scytheans, Typhon / Swordsmen, Legionnaires + UA, Blackfrost Shard, Incubi, Spawning Vessel

The main thing to keep in mind is that the common anti-infantry snipers like Striders/Deathstalkers are next to useless and are just expensive points sinks against Gators, and a pure ranged attrition game won't do too well in a scenario situation. However, sprays are pretty good at getting around targeting restrictions, either by targeting something behind the target, or targeting your own stuff in front of the target, and Legion have some really killer sprays.
I think Legion attrition with Kallus and pThagrosh have some game against Gators with a mix of ARM buffs and troop recycling, eventually you will grind the Gators down due to numbers, and Incubi hitting pretty hard on charging combo strikes. Alternatively, there is the classic beast heavy style that picks the enemy list apart and runs off. Scytheans, Typhon and Carniveans can deal a great amount of damage if you protect them well against retalation, either via the use of defensive animi, feats or keeping your distance.

• Saeryn is an all-round amazing warlock with a feat that crushes Gator balls, Breath Stealer, and the ability to stop healing/transfers with ranged attacks. Deliver those heavies and watch them rip things apart.
• Both Vayls have huge control areas so should be able to play a bit further back (not to mention making arc nodes THAT ACTUALLY WORK and Spell Martyrs), and have some defense mechanisms to stop that one Gatorman that manages to get in her face. Both bring good board positioning that rewards smart, safe play. Vayl1 also has Incite, which will usually result in Posse dying if they try to jam you too fast in order to get ahead of scenario, and Rampager which is amazing against any Hordes list.
• Thagrosh2 - heavy warbeasts with signs and portents can cut things up good. This includes ARM 18 multi-wound models and heavy warbeasts.

Circle

Casters: Kromac, Morvahna2, Krueger2, Baldur2, Kaya2, Mohsar
Other picks: Stalkers, Ghetorix, Woldguardian, Megalith, Skinwalkers + UA

With Circle, you will have to rely on your beasts and hit and run tactics, using terrain like forests to control Gators. Squishy Tharn units do not deal enough damage to Gators and they will die easily. Like most Circle lists, your choice of troops will depend on your choice of caster. I think Stalkers are good in any Gator matchup if played safe (Lightning Strike), Ghetorix can tank reasonably well, Woldguardians and Megalith I have found especially annoying, and Skinwalkers with the UA are basically evil Gatormans that benefit from Circle buffs.

• Kromac can play quite a few beasts, brings an ARM buff, has an amazing denial spell that is great vs midline casters (Bestial) and Warpath, allowing him to play support in the early game and beast out and smack things when things quiet down.
• Morvahna2 is arguably the best attrition caster in the game and brings a solid denial toolkit as well. She will also be quite safe most of the game since Gators suck at shooting.
• Krueger2 has a monster control feat that will easily allow you to get two alpha strikes against a Gator opponent with your beasts if you play safe, and then he has Telekinisis and Gallows. What a douche.
• Kaya2 - more hit and run with beasts. Yay.
• Mohsar's strength is in the Pillars of Salt spell - these are very annoying to deal with in a low model-count melee list. On top of that you have a pretty strong feat against Hordes, Curse of Shadows, and the ability to run lots of beasts. I would hate this guy so much if he didn't have the best fluff in the game (Grade A douchebag).

Trolls 

Casters: Madrak1+2, Grissel1, Calandra
Other picks: Champions, Tuffalos, Burrowers, Axer, Mulg

Trolls play similar to Gators, relying on their physical superiority to grind you down and control the board. Unfortunately for us reptiles, Trolls tend to be better at counter-attacking than we are and those bricks are hard to crack. Champs and Tuffalos are great here as they are super survivable and can hit quite hard. Mulg is great in general, but does especially well vs Gators on account of his animus being a mass denial to animi.

• Both Madraks can take AND deal out respectable damage, given the right list. Blood Fury on Madrak2 is a gamechanger in an attrition context.
• Grissel's Fell Calls are pretty amazing. You can: a) deny charges (big deal against Gators), b) get an extra attack out of each champion (big deal against Gators) or c) run away at the end of your activation (big deal against anyone). Then you can do all three on your feat. Oh, we'll also throw in Calamity just because.
• Calandra is incredibly annoying to deal with for a melee army. Then she has a pretty great feat and a pseudo-TK spell.

Grim2 might have some game because of Mortality, and Scattergunners with Mortality can do some serious damage while hiding behind a screen.

For some reason, I'm also tempted to believe the Mountain King would be pretty legit. I'm not even trolling - Gators rely on a lot of attacks to deal damage since they don't have any heavy hitters, and with a few ARM buffs (very easy to find in Trolls), the MK is unlikely to get 1-rounded. This is even easier to pull off if you bring the Bouncer to Shield Guard (who also brings a decent animus in this matchup). Then he can animus sweep DEF 12 stuff after getting back to full health, and you repeat and win. Then again, I could be completely wrong.

Pigs

Casters: Carver
Other picks: Slaughterhousers, War Hogs

This isn't a hard choice. Carver is amazing and makes everything amazing. Having high ARM pathfinder beasts in your face the whole game is not encouraging. Especially not when followed up by tough quasi-weapon masters with Take Down.

Midas might be ok because of his huge damage output potential, but he is a little squishy.

Summary

So that is my write-up. I seriously lack experience against a lot of matchups and don't really know what I am talking about, so feel free to make your comments and criticize constructively, preferably using correct grammar and punctuation while sober.

Enjoy your new shoes.

Pedigree Butchery - choosing the right caster for the right matchup

I have received/read a couple of queries regarding how to make lists to deal with certain factions. Given that we have a small pool of models and limited options, it seems like the choice is pretty straight forward a lot of the time, but then again I have seen people claim Barnabas is amazing against Menoth.

I usually prefer Rask with 2 Posse and the other casters with 3 Posse. I recommend bringing two to three units of Posse in every list at 50pts, and most lists at 35pts. Gatorman Posse are without a doubt the best bang for your buck in Blindwater.

Khador

Best casters - Rask (anti-ARM), Jaga-Jaga (anti-buffs)
Other picks: Wrastler, Totem Hunter

Khador has two strengths: high armor with their jacks and heavy infantry, and high defense with Iron Flesh. Therefore you're always playing a game of list-chicken if your opponent has two lists that each fit a separate box.

Rask is great against high armor because of Fury and the ability to almost always get the charge. Inhospitable Ground is also usually quite good against Khador armor since it is so slow. On the other hand, Rask has no real way to deal with Iron Flesh infantry spam. This is where Jaga-Jaga comes in, since she effectively makes such buffs null.

The Wrastler is a good beast with either caster because he brings a POW 17 and is excellent at throwing jacks into pits or out of commission. Totem Hunter is great at hunting out Khador's many crutch solos, and the stealth + high speed combo is really strong against Khador.

Cygnar

Best casters - Rask (2nd: Barnabas)
Other picks: Swamp Horror, WE + Snapjaw

Prior to the advent of the Stormwall (which you now see in 99% of Cygnar lists), Barnabas was a solid matchup against Cygnar - hard to assassinate, great situational shooting protection and Swamp Pits to throw heavies into. However, now that the Stormwall is everywhere, you need to kill it if only to win on scenario. And to do that, you need to charge it with Fury and a way to remove Arcane Shield. As well as a way to deliver your entire army to it in one piece. Rask can do all of this for you.

The Swamp Horror is a winner due to natural shooting protection and being a great multiplier for Fury. He can do a good deal of damage to that Stormwall. Same deal with Snapjaw.

Cryx

Best casters - Maelok, Jaga-Jaga
Other picks - Croctor, Thrullg, Sacral Vault

My thoughts on Cryx are well documented, and things haven't changed all that much. The one thing in the Cryx matchup that shouldn't bother you is ARM, so Fury is not a must. Shooting is also not really an issue. You will also have a lot of trouble at attritioning them in the melee game, since they hit insanely hard, often have tough, tend to recycle themselves.

Maelok with 2 Witch Doctors keeps most of your stuff undead so you can deny them Tartarus Death Knells and such. Tough can also help out a bit to get 2-3 Gators on the enemy caster under the feat, preferably while affected by Malediction (all in!). Maelok's feat also allows you to 'cheat' the melee staggering trade of Warmachine by charging their backline at the same time as their front line.

Jaga-Jaga is also really good because of her ability to deny buffs, deny incorporeal, has a lot of answers, and her feat is really strong against infantry swarms.
A Thrullg is also especially helpful in this matchup to deal with Crippling Grasp-like FU upkeeps - shame it can't be taken in tier.
Finally, the Sacral Vault is a custom designed middle finger to Cryx, with its anti-Stealth, anti-Incorporeal boostable gun and its almost total immunity to single wound melee infantry. Also it steals souls and RFPs.

Protectorate of Menoth

Best caster - Rask
Other picks - Ironback Spitter, Bog Trog Ambushers, Croctor

Easy choice - Rask shoots off upkeeps, disrupts jacks, has Inhospitable Ground to slow jacks that can't get pathfinder, has Fury to crack armor and gives you the charge without getting shot up. No really high DEF to worry about, no anti-living, only weapon masters which are a problem for all Gator lists.
Barnabas is a bad choice as he brings no damage buff, dispels (outside Thrullgs) and the Broken Book of Menoth is ever present, thereby negating Barnabas' feat and his most effective tool against warjacks. Maelok also has a bad time due to the prevalence of magic weapons and lack of hitting power.

The Ironback Spitter can do a decent amount of damage with Fury against DEF 10 warjacks if needed, and brings that almighty gun that you can use to take out a few support models. Bog Trog Ambushers are excellent at putting pressure on a flank or to their caster, as their backline is usually squishy. The Croctor is mostly there because of Awe on the Harbinger and the inbuild Ashen Veil on the Reckoner.

Retribution of Scyrah

Best caster - Rask, 

There are a few things that make Gators very strong against Ret: anti-shooting, hard to assassinate casters, Gatorman Posse.  Both Barnabas and Rask are excellent in this department. The one issue with Barnabas is that he can have a lot of trouble displacing a Hyperion or Griffon swarms, whereas Rask can kill them quite efficiently. Furthermore, Rask's feat is a lot more efficient as a delivery mechanism than Swamp Pits because it also shuts down magic attacks - and really, against an all living army, you only need one turn of protection because your Posse starting ripping elves apart with ease.

Rask can also shoot off pesky upkeeps like Polarity Shield or Inviolable Resolve - winner.

Mercs of Money

Best caster - Rask

Surprise! Rask can kill the Galleon, the others can't, and therefore he is the best. I guess you could take Calaban. Theoretically - his feat might be decent vs the usual high model count Mercs, and Parasite + Occultation can sort of keep you safe from Galleon at ARM 17, especially if you can someone get the damn arc node to work. But really, don't take Calaban.
Apart from that, if the Galleon/Earthbreaker isn't present or unkillable (ie. Bart + Spiny), then Barnabas can pretty much handle everything mercs can throw at you while also hiding in a Swamp Pit to make sure he doesn't die.

Writing this has made me realize that nobody plays non-Circle Hordes around here.

Trolls

Best caster - Rask
Other pics - Sacral Vault, Shamblers

Inhospitable Ground, Paralysis Bolt, Disruptor Bolt + Fury beats tanky trolls and big charging beasts. Unfortunately there is no anti-tough tech anywhere in Gators. A fully juiced up, well supported Wrastler is also one of the few things in the game that can take out Mulg on a favourable trade balance.Not much else to say - Trolls are full of medium-based tanky troops that aren't as good as Gatorman Posse with Fury. I'm not sure if ambushing Bog Trogs to kill the Krielstone would be a good investment, since those blue baboons will probably just tough everything and you will cry.

The Vault and Shamblers will usually be pretty decent as you can get a lot of work out of the souls/corpses over the course of your 2+ hour grindfest. Enjoy!

Skorne

Best caster - Rask
Other picks - Bog Trog Ambushers

While Inhospitable Ground is not as good in this matchup, Paralysis Bolt is a winner, along with Admonition and Fury. Skorne are a melee-heavy army they relies on their beasts - either shut them down or blow them up. If the Skorne list is especially beast heavy, you can slow them down drastically by killing the support pieces. This might be one situation (along with Protectorate) where ambushing with Rask' sacrificial Trogs is a good tactic.

I once played against an eMorg list with Ferox, Archidons, Savages and a whole manner of squishy things and incorrectly chose Barnabas since I thought armor wouldn't be a problem. Of course, none of that crap can be knocked down, so I cried some crocodile tears and tried to tank eMorg for glory and got diced to death.

The main thing you should be worrying about is that their Gatormans are straight-up better than your Gatormans. Just because, you know. Skorne. The main difference is your casters are awesome and deliver Gators, theirs not so much.

Circle

Best caster - Barnabas, Maelok
Other picks - Totem Hunter, Bog Trog Ambushers,

While armor will be a problem in a minority of Circle lists, most times with Circle you should be worried about high DEF warbeasts and getting assassinated. I've had Barnabas tank primal + STR warp Stalkers without too much trouble thanks to Spiny Growth and Unyielding plus a transfer or two. Throw Iron Flesh on top of that and you're basically invulnerable as long as you stay on your feet. If you can attrition them out, you will usually end up in a good place.
The Totem Hunter is a must to kill those one of those annoying Sentry Stones early - just prey and walk away. Bog Trogs are great for killing almost anything in Circle due to pathfinder, CMA and MAT 8 on the charge.


Rask will probably make a resurgence against Circle with Bradigus/Baldur2 theme lists, but he suffers greatly against anti-magic effects (Druids/Kromac) and getting picked apart.
Maelok can also be really good against Circle as Revive missiles also him to reach out and touch Circle in unwanted places while also fielding a lot of tanky undead models.

Legion

Best caster - Barnabas, Rask

The name of the game is terrain creation to screw infantry, and shooting-denial to screw the beasts. Rask can still give a good game, but I believe Barnabas is the slightly better matchup due to Legion's generally lower ARM, and their squishier high DEF casters/troops. Barnabas' style of shooting denial via Swamp Pits is also more effective than Rask's one big turn of denial since Legion beasts will often engage in hit and run tactics with their shooting. Certain casters like Saeryn and Vayl will give you serious headaches if played well, but that is more a limitation of Blindwater than anything else.

Pigs

Best caster - Rask, Jaga-Jaga

The only real bad matchup for any caster is Carver due to Batten Down the Hatches, given the Blindwater problem with ARM - which means Rask is the best matchup overall (although Spellpiercer ignores it too!). Maelok would  suffer a bit due to prevalent Slaughterhouser RFP, and Midas can probably outtank him given his huge potential damage output and the aforementioned RFP effects. My only other bit of advice is to control Slaughterhousers with rough terrain if they don't have Saxon Orrik, because tough is annoying and they will blow your Gators up pretty easily if they get to charge.

Conclusion

RASK IS A MIGHTY WIZARD

Basically, my advice in a multi-list format would be to take Rask and Barnabas/Maelok/Jaga-Jaga (season to taste), with Rask tailored slightly more for heavy armour, and your second list tailored more for infantry-heavy / ARM-light lists and general tankability.

Looking at the whole "Minions" picture, I don't think the inclusion of Pigs as one of the lists would really shake things up since a meaty Rask list should be able to handle most heavy armor in the game. The only place where Pigs would do much better is situations where RFP is very much sought after (eLich, eMorvahna) or you face insane amounts of ARM. Otherwise I think Gators are just better off 95% of the time. Currently Pigs only have 2 good lists - Lord Carver and friends, and Arkadius tier.

If it is a three-list format, you might consider taking one of the two Pig lists. If you want to stick to all Gators (preferable), then you will likely want to tailor your Jaga/Maelok list slightly more towards Cryx and leave your third list to deal with everything else Rask has issues with (depending on your meta).


Updated - November 2014 (post Exigence)