Archangel Spoilers

http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/hordes-general-discussion/forum/topic/no-quarter-spoilers/

so the spoilers are out and while I won't say that my worst fears have been realised it's still not good news. It has less health and less ARM than the mountain king which was previously the most easily killed of the colossals and unlike the mountain king it doesn't have the benefit of the krielstone for an ARM buff or the trolls other defensive schtick. That said it is MAT 6 but RAT 5, the range on its gun is only 10 and most everblight movement shenanigans involve out of activation movement. Its animus is that any model that ends its activation within 2" is set on fire, that's OK but it doesn't protect the model, even from infantry. It's only fury 4 (expected).

So what to do about it? I'll admit I'm still trying to absorb what has happened (and that possibly the two best looking models in the game both work for factions I play and are both ... not good) but I'm not ready to give up on it yet and unlike the mountain king I can see some positives. The thing has strafe on a gun with good POW and an AOE, three melee attacks at good P+S, reach and good SPD (6) and ride by attacks so you can move forward, shoot and then move back.

The thing has high DEF for a colossal/gargantuan at DEF 11, I know that's still bad DEF but it can be boosted. If you put Forced Evolution on it and Tenacity then it gets to DEF 14 which is actually quite good (though reliant on upkeeps and animus so Eiryss or purification or any other type of upkeep removal drops it back down). Absylonia has that spell and has a feat that fully heals all your warbeasts. That also brings the Archangels P+S up to 19 for the claws and 21 for the bite (forced evo is +2 Strength, +2 DEF). So at 14/19 with a good damage output it actually looks like it could carry it's points with Abby. The problem is ofcourse that you are dropping forced evo of an Angelius to put it on the archangel and the angelius is DEF 17 under forced evo and tenacity and it also cannot be knocked down. It also doesn't solve the MAT problem of the beast. MAT 5 will miss most things most of the time, MAT 7 will hit most things most of the time, MAT 6 is in between, not good and not bad, a MATT buff would have been nice and much more useful than the strength buff.

What about other warlocks - The Thagroshs can play ARM stacking games with it, using death shroud and spiny growth or draconic blood and spiny growth. They can both get it to ARM 22. That's all Thags1 does though as his feat will be errated to not work on the archangel (PP have already confirmed that this is coming) Thags2 on the other hand also gives this thing Manifest Destiny which will make it hit very reliably and increase its damage output and scourge can allow both easier hits and the ability to shoot through enemy models (though the range then becomes a limiting factor).

I really think that's it. All the other warlocks have reasons to avoid it except maybe Lylyth1 who just does nothing with it and it nothing for her. It'll be interesting to see what the community makes of it. I'm not sure its worth taking with any caster at the moment but Abby and Thagrosh2 I think are strong possibilities. This is one that will require playtesting. At the very least I think it's playable in 75 point games with both those casters.