As always, participating in the scrum resulted in good times. This was also my best finish in the scrum so far. I ended with a 4-1 record and my tie breakers managed to push me into fourth place overall. I am not sure anyone would have predicted that kind of a result for me, but I am super excited because the top four finishers got special custom dice as a prize. I started the scrum hoping for a shot at them, but thought my chances were done after I lost in round 1.
My list pairing was interesting. I took the Skarre1 Dark Host list with the thought that it could handle high defense or high armor. I honestly wasn't sure what type of list would scare me off dropping it. Oddly enough, that safety net was supposed to be my off list. I wanted to run Venethrax as much as possible and figured he would be an easy drop any time I saw a Hordes faction. The funny thing is, I think my Skarre list ended up skewing my ability to drop Venethrax. Anytime I looked at my opponent's lists, my first question was which list did I think they were more likely to drop. Most of the time, I ended up thinking they had one list they could play into Skarre and the other would get completely murdered by her. As a result, the lists I thought I would see were ones that Venethrax did not want to play into.
Round one was against Grymkin. After the game, I ended up thinking that I should have dropped Venethrax, as he had lots of tools that countered what the Child can do. However, I am still not sure if that is the correct choice or if I needed Skarre. Round two was against Circle, but my opponent was running Bones of Orboros as his theme for both lists. I felt that Venethrax couldn't effect enough of an armor swing with just Mortality, so Skarre was the drop. Round three I was matched up against Skorne and I ended up predicting the wrong list. However, I believe Skarre was the correct choice regardless of which list my opponent played. Round four was against Trolls. This was the one round I played Venethrax and he really shined here. Everything he did was a pretty hard counter to what my opponent's list wanted to do. Round five was against Minions. At first I thought Venethrax was my play again, until I went back and read the Sacral Vault's card again. He would have been able to stop me from getting out Mortality most of the time, and without that spell Venethrax just doesn't hit hard enough. Due to this, it was Skarre time again.
I am not sure if the issue is that my Skarre list was skewing what my opponent could drop and therefore, Venethrax just was not an option most of the time, or if my Skarre and Venethrax lists don't complement each other well. The other possibility is that I was approaching it from the standpoint that Skarre was my off list, but that list is so potent I should have been planning on running her as my main. It's also possible that as much as I love Venethrax, he just doesn't do enough. I have lots of thoughts regarding him, and my next post will likely be an examination of him as a caster. I would love to get some feedback on what people think about the list pairing. Do these compliment each other ok, but I need to expect to run Skarre most of the time? Does Venethrax not really cover the stuff that Skarre Dark Host wouldn't want to see? What does the Skarre Dark Host list not want to see? Please share your thoughts with me. I am always looking for feedback so I can improve as a player. Below are the lists I ran along with some of my thoughts.
Theme: Dark Host
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Pirate Queen Skarre - WJ: +28
- Skarlock Thrall - PC: 0
- Kraken - PC: 36 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Bane Lord Tartarus - PC: 0
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Bane Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
Bane Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Bane Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 0
The general idea here is can you deal with an ARM 24 kraken? If so, a wave of banes will be coming in to clear out whatever may have dealt with it. Dark Host is such a strong theme list because banes work without any caster input at all, and Skarre cranks them up to 11 on feat turn. Everything except Skarre and the skarlock is either ghostly, incorporeal or has pathfinder. There are two things that I wish I could change about this list. First, no Darragh Wrathe is sad for Dark Host. His threat extension is great and his penalty to damage for living could help the kraken's survivability on non-feat turns. Second, after the soul trapper is sacrificed, there aren't any great targets for ritual sacrifice. I found that it usually didn't matter, as Skarre could load up the kraken, cast dark guidance and stand behind the kraken and clouds and be pretty safe. However, if I did need that extra focus, I had to resort to picking off bane knights usually. The list could be reworked to allow for these things, but I think it would need to change the big question I want to ask, as the only way I can see freeing up enough points would be to drop the kraken. I have no doubt the list would still be effective, but its not really running the same way anymore.
Theme: Black Industries
2 / 2 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Lich Lord Venethrax - WJ: +26
- The Withershadow Combine - Maelovus, Admonia & Tremulus: 9
- Deathjack - PC: 23 (Battlegroup Points Used: 23)
- Harrower - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 3)
- Malice - PC: 15
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Slayer - PC: 10
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 19
I think I may have mentioned it before, but I love Venethrax. His entire card just seems to say "Hordes factions are screwed." Many would look at this jack loadout and question why I am running this and it largely has to do with what models I actually own. Deathjack is so crucial for Venethrax's focus efficiency that I have a hard time building lists for Venethrax without it. Same goes for the Withershadow Combine. Malice I could drop down to a normal reaper, as he is primarily used for dragging in targets for Deathjack to kill in melee. Currently, I don't know what I would do with the extra two points I save by doing this, but it's definitely worth consideration. The harrower always does more work than people expect. He plays great into infantry and with mortality and terminal velocity, he has no issues using thresher to destroy half a unit or more in a single activation. The slayer is basically to be used as my cheap piece to initiate piece trading. If he actually does decent work that's great, but I'm not concerned if he dies without doing anything as long as he can bait out something of value from my opponent. The warwitches are basically required in any list with this many jacks and their sprays are valuable for helping with infantry. Finally, the only unit is the nyss hunters. With mortality, they are great for clearing out jamming or screening infantry so the jacks can get to the more important pieces. I think the theory of the list is solid, but I always look at it and wonder what I could do differently or better.
Let me know what you think about the lists individually or as a pair. As always, thanks for taking the time to read this! Next time, I think I am going to share my write up on Venethrax.
My list pairing was interesting. I took the Skarre1 Dark Host list with the thought that it could handle high defense or high armor. I honestly wasn't sure what type of list would scare me off dropping it. Oddly enough, that safety net was supposed to be my off list. I wanted to run Venethrax as much as possible and figured he would be an easy drop any time I saw a Hordes faction. The funny thing is, I think my Skarre list ended up skewing my ability to drop Venethrax. Anytime I looked at my opponent's lists, my first question was which list did I think they were more likely to drop. Most of the time, I ended up thinking they had one list they could play into Skarre and the other would get completely murdered by her. As a result, the lists I thought I would see were ones that Venethrax did not want to play into.
Round one was against Grymkin. After the game, I ended up thinking that I should have dropped Venethrax, as he had lots of tools that countered what the Child can do. However, I am still not sure if that is the correct choice or if I needed Skarre. Round two was against Circle, but my opponent was running Bones of Orboros as his theme for both lists. I felt that Venethrax couldn't effect enough of an armor swing with just Mortality, so Skarre was the drop. Round three I was matched up against Skorne and I ended up predicting the wrong list. However, I believe Skarre was the correct choice regardless of which list my opponent played. Round four was against Trolls. This was the one round I played Venethrax and he really shined here. Everything he did was a pretty hard counter to what my opponent's list wanted to do. Round five was against Minions. At first I thought Venethrax was my play again, until I went back and read the Sacral Vault's card again. He would have been able to stop me from getting out Mortality most of the time, and without that spell Venethrax just doesn't hit hard enough. Due to this, it was Skarre time again.
I am not sure if the issue is that my Skarre list was skewing what my opponent could drop and therefore, Venethrax just was not an option most of the time, or if my Skarre and Venethrax lists don't complement each other well. The other possibility is that I was approaching it from the standpoint that Skarre was my off list, but that list is so potent I should have been planning on running her as my main. It's also possible that as much as I love Venethrax, he just doesn't do enough. I have lots of thoughts regarding him, and my next post will likely be an examination of him as a caster. I would love to get some feedback on what people think about the list pairing. Do these compliment each other ok, but I need to expect to run Skarre most of the time? Does Venethrax not really cover the stuff that Skarre Dark Host wouldn't want to see? What does the Skarre Dark Host list not want to see? Please share your thoughts with me. I am always looking for feedback so I can improve as a player. Below are the lists I ran along with some of my thoughts.
Theme: Dark Host
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Pirate Queen Skarre - WJ: +28
- Skarlock Thrall - PC: 0
- Kraken - PC: 36 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Bane Lord Tartarus - PC: 0
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Bane Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
Bane Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Bane Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 0
The general idea here is can you deal with an ARM 24 kraken? If so, a wave of banes will be coming in to clear out whatever may have dealt with it. Dark Host is such a strong theme list because banes work without any caster input at all, and Skarre cranks them up to 11 on feat turn. Everything except Skarre and the skarlock is either ghostly, incorporeal or has pathfinder. There are two things that I wish I could change about this list. First, no Darragh Wrathe is sad for Dark Host. His threat extension is great and his penalty to damage for living could help the kraken's survivability on non-feat turns. Second, after the soul trapper is sacrificed, there aren't any great targets for ritual sacrifice. I found that it usually didn't matter, as Skarre could load up the kraken, cast dark guidance and stand behind the kraken and clouds and be pretty safe. However, if I did need that extra focus, I had to resort to picking off bane knights usually. The list could be reworked to allow for these things, but I think it would need to change the big question I want to ask, as the only way I can see freeing up enough points would be to drop the kraken. I have no doubt the list would still be effective, but its not really running the same way anymore.
Theme: Black Industries
2 / 2 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Lich Lord Venethrax - WJ: +26
- The Withershadow Combine - Maelovus, Admonia & Tremulus: 9
- Deathjack - PC: 23 (Battlegroup Points Used: 23)
- Harrower - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 3)
- Malice - PC: 15
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Slayer - PC: 10
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 19
I think I may have mentioned it before, but I love Venethrax. His entire card just seems to say "Hordes factions are screwed." Many would look at this jack loadout and question why I am running this and it largely has to do with what models I actually own. Deathjack is so crucial for Venethrax's focus efficiency that I have a hard time building lists for Venethrax without it. Same goes for the Withershadow Combine. Malice I could drop down to a normal reaper, as he is primarily used for dragging in targets for Deathjack to kill in melee. Currently, I don't know what I would do with the extra two points I save by doing this, but it's definitely worth consideration. The harrower always does more work than people expect. He plays great into infantry and with mortality and terminal velocity, he has no issues using thresher to destroy half a unit or more in a single activation. The slayer is basically to be used as my cheap piece to initiate piece trading. If he actually does decent work that's great, but I'm not concerned if he dies without doing anything as long as he can bait out something of value from my opponent. The warwitches are basically required in any list with this many jacks and their sprays are valuable for helping with infantry. Finally, the only unit is the nyss hunters. With mortality, they are great for clearing out jamming or screening infantry so the jacks can get to the more important pieces. I think the theory of the list is solid, but I always look at it and wonder what I could do differently or better.
Let me know what you think about the lists individually or as a pair. As always, thanks for taking the time to read this! Next time, I think I am going to share my write up on Venethrax.
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