Ides of March 2014 - How 42pt makes life difficult

I have a relatively huge 42pt tournament coming up in a couple of weeks. I say relatively huge because this is probably the biggest Warmachine tournament in the NZ calendar, and it happens to be local. Yay!

This tournament is run by Soulless Dave, who enjoys the following things:

1 - Running sweet tournaments, which he can't play in otherwise he'd probably win those too.
2 - Giving me beer mugs.
3 - Shamelessly relishing how OP Cryx is.

Quite the gentleman.

Anyway, I have been told that Gator list building is faceroll and requires no decision making at all, and that playing Gators for so long has erased my ability to write "good" or "sound" lists for other factions. In light of these comments, I thought I would write a post about my list writing process for this 42pt nightmare.

First, I must admit that writing lists are the part of the hobby/game I enjoy the least. This could do with the fact that Gators have way less options than everyone else, or it could be related to how writing lists for my previous factions (Khador, PoM, Skorne) used to remind me that I would have a much better chance of winning games if I just bought X unit or Y solo for this specific list, or it could be related to how I would rather the game be as well balanced as people claim and lists had very little impact on the outcome of a game rather than a sizable one. But then I accept that a lot of people really enjoy the meta-game, and I too see the appeal in it, I just don't really experience the enjoyment of it too often.

Secondly, 42pts is a kick in the nuts, especially when you play Minions. Unlike most of the fleshed out big boy factions, it is very, very difficult to build 2 lists that answer enough matchups sufficiently. 3 lists might be alright, but two is very tight. In Minions, this is primarily a result of our casters being so dominant and being the primary "solutions" to problems we face. Factions like Legion, PoM or Cryx don't really have trouble making 2 lists that can more or less deal with more or less everything, simply through having a wide range of beasts, units, support and niche-filling mercs. That's not a luxury Minions have.
The higher the points, the more balanced the game is. That's been my experience in the past year anyway. I really think the meta would benefit on the whole from a push up to 60/65 pts, but that's another post altogether.

The Proto-Lists

These are the lists I started with, and I would have to choose 2 of these:

List 1: Rask

Spitter 

Snapper

5 Gatormans
5 Gatormans  
5 Gatormans
Min. Trogs
Gobbers  

4pts for "support"

3 Posse version. I take a Spitter in this list because the entirety of the damage potential of the list comes from cycling Fury on Gatormans and shooting off defensive upkeeps. High skill plays right there, woo! Anyway, having a Spitter is nice to clear jams and soften up targets at range. I guess he can also do stuff in melee with Paralysis and Fury and Boundless Charge and all that. Maybe.

The min. Trog unit and Gobbers more or less make Rask invincible, which either will result in my opponent wasting attacks on Rask, or ignoring Rask and his fish friends entirely so they are free to wreck havoc as they please. Either way, points usually well spent.

So the two questions with this list are '2 Posse, or 3 Posse?' and 'What to do with those 4pts?'

List 2: Barnabas

Wraster 

Spitter
Snapper

5 Gatormans
5 Gatormans  
5 Gatormans

Feralgeist

I would really, really like to throw in some solos like Croak Hunters, a Thrullg or Totem Hunter in there to give the list some flexibility, but 42pts! I think the beast composition is pretty fixed - without any Croaks, you really need a Spitter for some ranged presence, and Bull Snappers are too good to pass up between their sweet man-eating abilities and Spiny Growth on Barnabas.

The Wrastler could be changed for a Horror, however. More on that later.

List 3: Maelok

Bull Snapper
Bull Snapper
5 Gatormans
5 Gatormans  
5 Gatormans

Witch Doctor

Witch Doctor
 +9pts

Max Posse, the two Croctors I own, and 2 Bull Snappers to use up those beast points. This is pretty much the Maelok list I used at Battlecry this month (minus Pendrake), and does what you want Maelok lists to do - get a big unpredictable feat turn, then tank up and grind your way to victory.

The only real question is what to do about those last 9pts?

THEORYMACHINE TIME!

Some things are a given:

1. I have to play Rask to break ARM, and doubly so post-Colossals. Also he's like one of the best warlocks in the entire game, so there's that going for him too.
2. I have to bring at least 2 units of Gatormans per list, because 2 Posse is better than every other alternative in almost every situation. 3 Posse, in my opinion, is not a certainty however. 
3. The tournament is mid-March and has a fully-painted requirement, so I am unlikely to have Shamblers ready by then.

Because the field is so big, every faction is likely to be represented in some capacity. Except Pigs, since the only guy I know who plays Pigs told me he'd be playing Gators because his Gators are fully-painted (but really, he's just sick of Pigs).

Factions I don't really have to worry about in general:

• Skorne - any Rask list does great to decent here. There are of course builds that will hurt like Xerxis Cetrati brick or Zaal attrition, but in general it is not something I can really list tech against heavily.
• Retribution - Similar to Skorne. I think Rahn and eVyros Griffon spam can be a real worry, but not something I really have to tech for. As long as it's Rask, and perhaps Barnabas, we're alright. Gators shred infantry, and Fury kills heavies.
• Protectorate - similar to Skorne but more annoying. The Errant/Piper/Book combo is also cryx-level, jigglypuff-in-a-vaccuum-cleaner type of retarded, but since I have no anti-tough, I cannot do a single thing about it or the Gorman hiding behind them chaining Black Oils onto my stuff. They also usually have lots of magic weapons to skrew Maelok's feat.
• Circle - Most Circle stuff is squishy and dies to Gators. Gator casters are also real tough to assassinate so they lose that gameplan.
• Legion - a fair matchup for Gatormans, so it mostly comes down to how I play. Usually Legion has trouble dealing with so much ARM and anti-shooting. Note the comment on Vayl below however.
• Cygnar - Cygnar does Cygnar things. I have pretty good anti-shooting tech (which Siege ignores), but otherwise there's not much to specifically worry about. Rask is pretty good most of the time here.
• Trolls - For the most part, Trolls are like Gators except with crappier troops but way better lists, if you catch my drift. They can bring some problematic lists like Runes of War and eDoomshaper heavy spam. But I think it more or less comes down to two things: good play, and the troll player rolling 5s when he needs them.
• Mercs - Infantry dies, bad jacks are bad. The Merc Colossal skew can be a problem though, but overall the faction isn't really problematic.

Factions I have to worry about in general:

• Cryx - my arch nemesis. Infantry that destroys mine for half the cost + all undead and all that. Stupid. Does it with pretty much any caster.
• Khador - these guys are tough in a multi-list environment because they will always hit really hard in any list, but the possibility of IF Kayazy is quite a list-chicken problem for Gators (to Barnabas or not?). I don't think I have problems with specific casters as much as their general options and the many, many mercs they are sure to bring. It's like Cygnar, except it actually hurts.

Casters/builds I have to worry about specifically:

• eMorvahna - Maelok does so much better than Barnabas here on account of his feat and assassination potential. Barnabas does ok, but he does better than Maelok vs most other Circle stuff.
• Harbinger - Awe is public enemy number 1. MAT 5 is terrible. Of course I can make the Gators undead, but then I have to use 3pts down on a Croctor or two in the Rask list, and at 42pts that's a big support investment for only one caster. The alternative is to drop Maelok and hope like hell the second list isn't some jack spam list (which is a tall order).
  The feat is nasty as well but usually I can get in the zone after that and stay there till the end. She also brings the Errant tarpit up to mega-powered Ben Stiller fully retarded.
• Vayl - Incite, her feat, Dark Sentinel and Rampager can be really problematic for my lists. She is also a pretty popular caster around here. I do not like her, Sam I am. And there's not too much I can do about it. Barnabas is probably the best bet due to Pits + Iron Flesh + feat.
• Terminus - if I don't have a Thrullg, I probably lose. Sweet. People like Terminus as well so he's very likely to be pretty well represented in the field. Because hard skewing is fun for everyone.... said the guy playing 3 Posses.
• Bart/Galleon - this is a tough cookie. Theoretically, if I can shoot off Spiny Growth and cycle Fury, I can probably 1-round the Galleon. However every single other thing in the Galleon list is made to stop that happening and I get grinded out as Galleon gets repaired up every turn. So I probably drop Maelok or Barnabas, ignore Galleon and go for everything else, and hope it's a 2 zone scenario?
  I guess Rhulic casters with the Pooper Scooper also fits in here, but again, there is a near total lack of quality experience against quality lists on my part.
• Haley/Denny/hard control casters - The great thing about this is I can worry all I want, but can't really do jack about it. So I suck it up, hope the feat turn goes ok for my opponent while he timewalks over my play time, and we move on if I have anything left.

Decision 1 – Barnabas or Maelok?

The Barnabas list is a pretty good all around list. It does "ok vs Cryx" due to many Posse, his feat + Spitter. It does pretty well against Circle and Legion, even without Pendrake. I am also quite a bit better at playing him than I am at playing Maelok, which counts for something.

Maelok is much better vs Cryx, ok vs Circle (great against eMorvahna), ok vs Legion (mostly because I am not so good at playing him) and also has some game vs jammy infantry Zaal Skorne and most Trolls (even with the anti-incorp aura - if the Troll player is using it, then he's not using +1 STR and you live longer to grind).

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Both feel a little gimped by 42pts rather than 50pts, Barnabas probably a little less. There is no real alternative (Calaban is a bad dream and Pigs are Pigs) outside these two for a second list. So I guess it just comes down to how I feel on decision day.

Decision 2 – Rask with 2 Posse, or 3 Posse?

The 2 Posse alternative involves dropping one Posse for WE+ Snapjaw (since he is probably the best combat heavy we have and does bad ass things with ALL THE BUFFS), and the Spitter for a Swamp Horror, since the Horror brings Elasticity for the two big Crocs and does some really good damage with Rask.

For the way I play, 3 Posse is better against Trolls while 2 Posse is better vs PoM and Skorne. This is from 50pt experience, where I will usually have Horror+Wrastler+Snapjaw in the Rask list and can blow stuff up with only a tiny charge lane by spreading the triple-heavy threat and then stacking buffs on the chosen heavy when the opportunity presents itself.

However at 42pts, you have a bit more space on the table and the 3 Posse skew can be really problematic for your opponent (a.k.a. skewy as balls). On the flipside, taking 3 Posse is also a hell of a lot less interesting for me tactically since it basically removes Boundless Charge from Rask's spell list and power attacks from mine. I do love me some power attacks... damn you Colossals. Damn your stupidity.

Thus it comes down to what I can expect to play against, and whether I will hate myself for only taking 2 Posse when I get dropped against Trolls 3 rounds in a row.

For Barnabas and Maelok, I play 3 full Posses by default. If Gator beasts hit harder/more accurately than a full unit of Gators, this probably wouldn't be the case, since both can do pretty good things for Gator beasts - not as much as Rask of course, but a lot nevertheless. But as things stand, I have found that playing three Posse with these two is much preferable to taking two (I played two Posse with them for almost a year before getting a third).

Decision 3 – Rask solos

In any case, I have 4pts left over in the Rask list (5pts if you discount the Gobbers). These are going to be used for solos.... a sort of "support" allocation, one might say.

I've given myself 3 options here:

1. Two Croak Hunters - these guys are mediocre as hell, but when they are one of your only ranged attacks, you learn to value their input. They can hold zones about as well as the other two options, they can unblock Gators, they are two independent activations and are really sweet at countercharging.
2. Totem Hunter + Feralgeist - the Totem Hunter is a lot like a Croak Hunter on steroids but without a gun. His stats and mobility are almost better than a Croak in every way, but he relies entirely on proccing Sprint to unblock Gators. This has led to bad things in my life. But he can also sometimes break games open if used patiently, and does work at all stages of the game. Finally, he is also a character so putting him in this list means he isn't in my other lists, and I do love him vs Circle to snipe out Shifting Stones.
   Feralgeists are 1pt zone holders/contesters 99% of the time, and sometimes take over beasts to annoy people (primarily me).
3. Croctor + Feralgeist - This would almost be purely for the Harbinger matchup alone, because the stuff I drop Rask against doesn't usually care about Undead and Tough on Gators is mostly a non-issue.

 

Decision 4 - Barnabas asks "Wrastler or Horror"?

Another tricky question revolving entirely around one beast selection:

• On one side, the Wrastler is SPD 5, reasonably tanky (especially with Spiny Growth), and is P+S 17. He can do respectable, although not great damage. He also keeps the 'Rise Missile' threat alive, which is the one thing people seem to know about Gators. Being able to independently knock heavy targets down following a charge is also pretty neat. His weaknesses are lack of reach and an extra point cost relative to the Horror.
• On the other, the Swamp Horror has really good protection vs shooting, can do work against infantry, has built-in reach, can give reach to other things (mainly Barnabas or some random Gatorman), benefits a LOT from Warpath since it is slow, and also costs 1 less point than a Wrastler, allowing me to level the Feralgeist up to a Croak Hunter for that extra ranged attack. Its weaknesses are being squishy as balls in melee, and being 1 less POW and 2 less STR than a Wrastler.

Decision 5 - Maelok's last 9 pts.

Unfortunately Posse are (only) FA:3 in Blindwater. Sad face. That means I have to take other things.

• WE + Snapjaw - Usually in a Maelok list, you want to have Wrong Eye around to put up another 2 Spiny Growths a turn. And you also get a sweet heavy to go with it. However, at 42pts, that's not really a luxury we have. But you still get a pretty good heavy and solo with solid animi.
• Support solo staff: TH + Thrullg + Pendrake + Feralgeist - This gives a little more flexibility to the list. Thrullgs are good against Cryx, the Totem Hunter can also be super scary with incorporeal charges followed by a Sprint away and 15 Gators in your grill, Pendrake makes Gators much better vs beasts (so they can Dirge or Pathfinder on the charge if needed), and the Feralgeist gives you specific zone control potential. But, you don't have a heavy hitter outside Malediction (which you really don't want to be using as a core ARM crack strategy).

So there you have it - how faceroll easy it is to chose Gator lists, why I don't have to worry about list chicken because all my lists are the same and why I am so bad at making lists for other factions.

What did lists did I go for in the end? Stay tuned for exciting revelations in March (after lists have been submitted to TO)!!

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.

The Gator Rise Missile

I played a (very short) game in preparation for the Ides of March tournament coming up. It was not very good preparation for either participant.

Here were the lists:

pVyros
Hyperion
Banshee
Aspis
Min Halberdiers + UA
Stormfall Archers
Arcanist x2
Lanyssa Ryssyll, Granter of +2" Charge Distance

vs

Barnabas
Wrastler
Snapper
Spitter
Max Gatorman Posse x2
Wrong Eye + Snapjaw

I go second. We played the Fire Support scenario. He deploys Hyperion to my left, most of his troops to my right, and the support and other jacks in the middle.

Vyros Turn 1: Stuff runs really fast (Mobility = srs bzns).
Barnabas Turn 1: Stuff stands in Swamp Pits, Submerges. I anticipate using WE+Snapjaw and a Feralgeist to stop scoring on Hyperion's flag for a couple of turns.

Vyros Turn 2: Hyperion kills my Artillery Emplacement objective (actually illegal) and places himself b2b with the nearby flag, and the Banshee charges Snapjaw and takes out about 1/3 of his boxes + crit Grievous Wounds. Vyros ends his turn behind a building
Barnabas Turn 2: Spitter picks up Wrastler, 2-handed throws it forward (just winning the strength check). Barnabas charges the Banshee, leaves it on a few boxes, pops his feat which KDs Vyros, goes to cast Rise on the Wrastler but gets shut down by the Banshee. Wrastler rises himself, is unable to charge Vyros due to a small base and building in the way (is literally a bee's dick short of making it, had I been able to kill the small base I would have been fine), so instead Tramples up to naked Vyros (who is about 8.2" inches away), buys 2 additional attacks at dice for damage, rolls an 11 and a 7. Pure skill.

Vyros Turn 3: Goes to make coffee.

Basically I don't think that game was really winnable for me without an assassination, since there was too much ARM on the table between Vyros camping, Inviolable Resolve and Hyperion. Either I would have lost on scenario, or would have my beasts killed and Barnabas stomped to death.

The Gator Rise Missile

I have already written briefly about this tactic in my Blackhide Wrastler article, but will take the opportunity to expand on it here.

The Gator Rise Missile is (post-errata) a tactic unique to Gatormans (1). It makes me feel like a special snowflake to have access to something that is potentially really good. Other factions have had ways to pull similar things off in the past but most have been errata-ed or reworked in MkII to make it impossible. Examples of this include Kraye's feat, Irusk2's feat and the fabled Turn 1 assassination eVlad Flying Pegasus. Thus this broken trick remains unique to Gatormans and subjects Blindwater to design restraints for the forthcoming expansions.

The whole tactic revolves around the Wrastler's unique Rise animus, which allows a friendly Minion to immediately stand up. It costs 1 fury, and is RNG 6. This combos well with the Wrastler's Wrastler rule, which allows it to basically function as normal when KD with the exception that he does not block LoS, is DEF 5 and cannot advance.

Usually, the Gator Rise Missile looks like this:

1. Activate heavy warbeasts with 2-open fists
2. 2-Handed Throw Wrastler, boosting to hit to be safe.
3. Throw Wrastler at a carefully positioned Feralgeist, a well-placed enemy model, or risk it with a random deviation.
4. Activate Wrastler, cast Rise (or caste Rise on Wrastler with warlock before he activates).
5. Charge enemy caster, win.

As mentioned in the Wrastler article, some people recommend doing the throwing with the Wrastler and the flying with your warlock instead. I think this is a bad idea.
Firstly, if you miss your throw target and deviate outside Rise's 6" range, you have just irreversibly knocked down your warlock in front of your entire army. This means you cannot activate your warlock this turn and against any semi-competent player, this means you have lost the game.
Secondly, using a warlock for an assassination run is a highly risky proposition. If you fail (and none of our warlock hit that hard - Calaban is potentially the hardest hitter), you are very likely to die and therefore lose the game. This should only be attempted in the most dire of circumstances.

When you should use it

The Gator Rise Missile is a risky tactic. Dice are the one element of the game truly outside the player's control. Good play relies on minimizing dice rolls and the consequences of dice rolls as much as possible. This means both trying to avoid rolling dice when possible by boosting stats so that the possibility of failure is nil or almost nil , or applying tactics which do not require dice rolls at all.

The Rise missile requires a lot of dice rolls - the 2-handed throw hit roll, the STR check, the throw melee attack roll/deviation roll, and the Wrastler's own attack and damage dice. Therefore it is not really a tactic upon which to build a list strategy. You cannot consistently win games using the Gator Rise missile because not only will your opponent adapt to avoid it, but the dice will just straight up screw you at one point. Therefore, you have to pick your opportunitie:

• Use it when you can get a high percentage assassination. In the game above, we determined I could not have made the charge because of a small base so had to trample, but it was an extremely close call that certainly would have required a judge in a tournament setting. As a result, I had to get lucky with dice to get the kill - with the charge, I could have had 11 dice at straight damage and 2 attacks at dice -3. In short, 99%+ chance of success.
  Basically, try to stack the odds in your favour as much as you can with the usual buffs and debuffs available.

• Use it when you're a little bit desperate. Had I not gone for it, in the long run my army would have been grinded down by an ARM 19+ wall of death that could have killed my Wrastler and then laughed at my puny P+S 13 attacks. Sometimes it is also a viable choice to Gator Rise Missile with your warlock late game, because you literally have no other chances to win.

• Use it when the threat of retaliation is low. For example, if you can get the Wrastler out on a flank , at the edge of your control area, to destroy a valuable enemy model and contest a zone, with little chance for reasonable retaliation on your opponent's side of things (remember the Wrastler is ARM 19!), then that's usually a good risk to take.
• Use it when explaining Page 5. Because it takes balls, and is pretty cool.

 

What you should use it on

The Wrastler and maybe your warlock. That is about it.

• Swamp Horrors are not a valid target, because they have Steady, and thus when thrown cannot be Risen. Too bad.
• Boneswarms are not valid targets, because they shouldn't be in your list.
• Snappers are not good targets, because odds are that you'll take out an aspect with the POW 12 throw. Yay.
• Ironhide Spitters are not good targets, because if you find yourself in that situation, the Spitter should probably be doing the throwing. Although if you want to get some ultra-sneaky assassination late game with that Spitter gun, it could work. And be hilarious.
• Totem Hunters and Gatormans are probably the best candidates outside Wrastlers, since they will only die to the throw on a 12, and have heaps of threat range by themselves.

But really, just stick to throwing the Wrastler.

Things to watch out for

• Rise will remove any animi currently on the target. Thus if you intend to do something like give the Wrastler reach, you will have to cast Rise on the Wrastler using your warlock, then cast Elasticity on the Wrastler with the warlock. The reverse order will result in nothing.

• Deviations can be risky business. This is why it is highly preferable to throw at a target (boosting to hit) rather than risk a deviation - if you go backwards 2.5", it is just as good as a wasted activation.
• The Wrastler has the highest STR in our faction. He will sometimes win the STR check when another beast is throwing him. This really sucks, but don't despair. In the greater scheme of the game, this is a minor setback. Complain profusely, then carry on with your turn.
• Abilities and feats that stop special attacks will stop you doing the throw (ie. Zerkova's feat, Icy Grip), and abilities which deny spellcasting or increase the cost of animi (Druids, Mulg's animus, Scaverous' feat) can seriously mess with this tactic.

(1) And by extension Wrong Eye, if you want to spend 18 pts on that little package instead of a Gargossal.