The Model Costs How Much?

by Ishamael

I do not know what to say beyond...holy crap!?


Considering the knowledge that this unit will be released soon, one has to question if such a unit is good enough to substantiate purchasing this model. Let me preface this with that I am not as much a modeler or painter as a competitor, so any purchase I make has to be balanced between my wallet and how often I think I will use the model. Currently, I have no plan to purchase this on the basis of price, so it will be up to the rules being released to attempt to convince me to get this for my games. Let's hope the rules rock for this thing, as has been hinted at in the past few Insider articles over at the PP website.

Zerkova

So, I'm continuing my misadventures with this misanthropic warcaster, and here I'm going to go through a method of list building I have been applying to Warmachine, which I learned from 40k. Specifically, how to make a "balanced" list in a game. While Warmachine lacks the absurdly awesome utility of melta weaponry, one can divide the various unit types, as well as builds, and find a "best fit line" that combines one's units. Luckily, Warmachine is set up so there are plenty of ways to do this that'll let you use your favorite units.

Any list in this game must be able to do the following:

Balance between ranged and melee units. Although this game lends itself to favoring the melee-oriented, combining ranged and melee gives you an edge over specialized foes.
Light/heavy jack kill, one of which requires better MAT/RAT, the other high P+S
horde infantry, which requires either quick melee or long ranged weaponry in abundance
Multi-wound infantry and solos require accurate and high P+S units
I'll give stealth its own mention, which either requires flares, the capacity to simply ignore the rule.

This is an oversimplification, but here are my rudimentary criteria. Now, to put it into action, I'll supply a Zerkova list that covers these bases at 50 pts.:

Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova
Behemoth
War dog
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Iron Fang Uhlans (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Man-o-war Demolition Corps (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Orin Mindwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

I added Behemoth in here because I plan to grab the model and use it soon, so I thought I would Theorymachine it here. Behemoth takes care of just about anything in the game, but his primary role will be jack hunting. The Bears and Demo Corps act as my melee unit that can either clear out infantry, harm multi-wound infantry, and threaten both types of Warjacks. The Rifle Corps help me clear infantry, act as meat shields for Zerkova, and can do their suppression order if something unruly is getting too close. Uncle Jozef gives them tough and fearless, so they'll be staying where they are. Midwinter is there is to add to Zerkova's spell immunity, as well as hopefully annoy enemy casters. Zerkova herself will clear out infantry, multi-wound infantry, and hopefully whack the enemy caster. The Uhlans will act as a herding mechanism, starting off on a flank, and they also can threaten just about anything, if their horses can run over enough enemies on a charge.

So, here's a little tidbit on how this list will work. Now, I'm wondering about that full unit of Uhlans. Cavalry are very useful by themselves, but those four points can net me a unit of Mechaniks for Behemoth, as well as a Koldun Lord to add to the infantry-clearing capacity of my Ternions.

Comments and criticisms on everything I've posted here about approaching Warmachine will be appreciated.

eSorscha

I will end this article with a combo question that came to mind when I was considering purchasing Lady Aiyana and Master Holt. Let us assume I have eSorscha and a unit of Widowmakers. Aiyana casts Kiss on target X. eSorscha activates, and uses her feat, which includes the target of the Kiss. Widowmaker 1 fires, hits, and uses the Snipe rule to instantly deal one damage to the target. The damage would get +2 from the Kiss, then would be doubled due to the feat.

1 + 2 = 3 x 2 = 6 damage

Does this work? I have looked at the newer FAQ for Mark 2, and didn't see a question for it. Now, having looked closer at eSorscha's feat, it does state "damage that exceeds ARM", yet everything I've ever seen that wants to abuse her feat requires Widowmakers to do 2 damage instead of 1, so it doesn't appear to be a case against this combination.

Thoughts?

Tested the Decimator today, pretty sweet Warjack,
Ishamael