Building A Skew List

I haven't talked a lot about skew lists. The idea behind skew lists is to do the opposite of balance a list. For example you can skew high DEF, you put as much high DEF stuff into a list as possible. Most lists try to do stuff, skew lists instead say to your opponent - can you deal with this? If they can't you win and if they can you generally lose. There are a lot of different ways you can skew a list, the most common is probably high DEF in Khador. Where you take Kayazy and Winterguard or Nyss Hunters and abuse Iron Flesh (and sometimes Weald Secrets). It's not just high DEF or high ARM you can skew a list with. The 42 doomreavers list (Epic Zoktavir theme force) is a skew list. Pretty much all double Colossal lists are skew lists, you won't get the same offensive power out of two colossals as you will almost anything else but if your opponent can't deal with two colossals you'll win and while most lists can deal with one colossal as it stands probably the majority cannot deal with two. 

You still need to be able to deal with:

• Heavies

• Infantry

• High ARM

• High DEF

Mostly though you are trying to ask your opponent a question. If you are making things difficult to kill they need to be as difficult to kill as possible. If you are going for a swarm of something it needs to be as big as possible. Go for overkill, an ARM 22 Galleon is probably going to be very difficult to kill but an ARM 24 Galleon is going to be impossible for most armies and that's what your skew list needs to aim for. 

Example

Trollbloods
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
17 models

[00] Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain (0 / 6 WB)
[12]  >> Mulg the Ancient
[10]  >> Earthborn Dire Troll
[10]  >> Dire Troll Bomber
[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler
[06]  >> Troll Axer
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[02] Troll Whelps
[03] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (3 grunts)
[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder

Madrak has sure foot so a model and all models within 3" get +2 DEF. The earthborn animus gives me +2 ARM when in 3" of a wall and Janissa gives me a wall that I can place wherever I want. The wall also gives me cover against shooting (another +4 DEF) and +2 DEF if you are striking me in melee over the obstacle. The Krielstone gives me another +2 ARM and I end up with 4 heavies on anywhere between DEF 14 and 18, ARM 22 or 23, with whelps, snacking and regeneration to heal them back up. The Bomber and Axer kill infantry and I have two big AOEs so high DEF isn't a big problem. The Mauler has a great strength buff as do the stones and the Earthborn and Mulg are high P+S to start with. Madrak's feat allows models to move an inch and attack again for free whenever they kill a model and he can give them +2 to hit. The only real problem with the list is that I can't get elemental communication on the Axer so it is only ARM 20. Poor little Axer, he never gets any love, he doesn't even have a chicken.

There aren't a lot of armies that can deal with 4 ARM 22 or higher heavies, particularly when they also have to contend with mostly DEF 16 and also need reach to attack at least two of the beasts in melee. Of course if your opponent has enough buffs to get over that hurdle then you have 4 slow beasts, only one of which has reach and they only need to remove 5 models to defeat the list. A good example of a counter to this list is Kreoss1. Purification lowers all your ARM by 2 (except on the earthborn) and gets rid of sure foot (lowers DEF by 2 and can be knocked down). You can then use your knockdown feat to shoot Madrak or just beat  a few heavies out of the game with your choir buffs. 

Building an Alpha Strike List

What does it do?The idea behind an alpha strike list is to hit your opponent first and hit them so hard that their counter attack is blunted and they cannot do as much damage to you back. This is not as simple as merely getting the charge. An experienced player will spread out their units frontwise (forwards and backwards, needs to be a word for this, there probably is and I just need to ask someone who actually speaks English). They'll stop you from being able to engage the majority of the unit. Important beasts/jacks will be hidden behind cheaper models (often with someone like Alexia picking up their souls to create more models for your opponent). Other feats and spells will stop you from attacking key models. Some of this in unavoidable and just makes the bad match ups any list faces but if you can't deal with at least some of these tactics your alpha strike list is not going to work very well.

• Heavies

• Infantry

• High ARM

• High DEF

I also need for my alpha strike:

• Threat Range (the maximum distance away your model can be from mine where I can still attack you). I have to be able to out threat my opponent in order to alpha strike. High SPD is good, reach is good, pathfinder is also important.
• Damage Potential - I need to be able to kill what I hit.
• Protection on the approach. If your opponent can shoot you to death or set all your models on fire then you won't have enough for an effective alpha strike.
• A way to clear screening units/models. I want to attack as many models as possible. My opponent is going to attempt to place his models to minimise that. I need to be able to kill, move or otherwise get past those models to attack the bulk of his army and in particular the valuable models. 
• Caster protection. When your army is tearing across the table instead of standing and shooting and when you need to throw in as many models as possible to blunt your opponents counter attack you'll find your caster is more exposed. 

What do I want to put in the list?
Firstly generic stuff. My list needs to be able to deal with:

Alpha Strike - I want to go fast and I want to hit hard. I want reach if possible. I want protection on the approach. If I'm alpha striking my plan is to hit my opponent so hard they don't have enough left to counter successfully. I want a way to clear cheap screening units. I have to also look more closely at how I'm going to keep my caster safe, I don't have quite as many screening options when all my stuff is charging in compared to a gunline.

Example
I've talked about my Madrak2 list before but it's the best alpha strike list I have. It has some shooting to clear screening models, madraks spells to increase damage, madrak's feat lets me run and attack and everything is fast anyway. That's a pure alpha strike list but I didn't want to talk about the same list twice so I'm going to look at Doomshaper1 instead.

1. Doomshaper - feat gives +3 SPD to his beasts. Wild aggression makes them hit very accurately, refuge lets me pull back a key beast so that I protect at least one model from counter attack. Great at throwing out animus, goad allows you to move after attacking a screening model. 
2. Runebearer - lets me protect two models from the counter attack or cycle wild aggression so two models attack extra accurately. 
3. Earthborn + Janissa + Krielstone - Gives me +4 ARM to all my beasts so they make it to the alpha strike alive. Also a damage buff with the elder.
4. Mauler - Damage buff so I kill what I hit, also benefits from the +3 SPD feat. 
5. Mulg - Best beatstick in trolls. With Reach and Wild Aggression and Goad and Rush and Feat can get most anywhere and kill most anything. Gets an extra attack with doomshaper.
6. Axer - rush for more SPD. +3 SPD is good. +5 SPD and pathfinder is fantastic.
7. Fennblades - got to balance the list. All beasts is fine but sometimes you need bodies to get in the way of things or to go do something out of doomshapers control area. Sometimes your opponent has anti beast tech and you need something to go kill it. Fennblades don't synergise at all but give you balance which can be important. Reach also allows them to kill things while still leaving a path the heavies can charge through. They are fast enough to alpha strike as well. 

Trollbloods
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
24 models

[00] Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (0 / 6 WB)
[02]  >> Trollkin Runebearer
[12]  >> Mulg the Ancient
[10]  >> Earthborn Dire Troll
[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler
[06]  >> Troll Axer
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[03] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (3 grunts)
[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder
[08] Trollkin Fennblades (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer

Sometimes I drop the Axer, take some whelps and a chronicler max the stone and take the bellows crew. If I do that sometimes I switch the fennblades for a bomber. I used to play him a lot but I've been giving him a rest lately. Might be time to crack him out again. 

Building a Gunline

Wanted to start by mentioning that you can shield guard black oil. It's been a crazy journey but once again you can have a shield guard dive in front of your colossal yelling "NOOOOOO!" or whatever it is robots yell when they dive in front of stuff.

I started out trying to write a post about the general archetypes I build lists around but it became way too long so I'm breaking it up. I'll start with the Gunline.
What does it do?
The idea behind a gunline army is to outshoot your opponent, to do massive damage from range with minimum engagement.

What do I want to put in the list?
Firstly generic stuff. My list needs to be able to deal with:

• Heavies
• Infantry
• High ARM
• High DEF

I also need in my gunline:

• Guns. Lots of guns. Boostable guns prefered.
• Something to contest/control zones. It should be particularly survivable and also fulfil another role
• A way to prevent engagement, or a way to unengage my guns. Most gunlines fall apart once you get them into melee so I need to stop my opponent from doing that. 
• Magical guns or a way to get them. A lot of the things that stop shooting stop non-magical shooting
• A way to deal with stealth
• An assassination. Gunlines tend to give up points rather than get them, especially in a timed turn situation you need to be able to assassinate in order to win.
• I want a way to maximise my range to my opponent, that could be long range guns, snipe or tricks that allow you to move after you have shot (moving backwards to get more distance).
• I want a way to minimise the amount my opponent shoots me

Example: 
My Caine1 50 point list.

1. Caine1 - He has snipe for a bigger distance between you and your opponent, deadeye to kill high DEF infantry, blur to dampen your opponents shooting, thunderstrike to assassinate and a feat that kills infantry. He doesn't help you contest or kill heavies though so lets start with that.
2. Stormwall - Has guns, puts down covering fire to prevent engagement, kills heavies, kills infantry, can contest zones. A unit that helps it prevent engagement is
3. Black 13th. They have magic guns, kill infantry, can shoot a pod (from the stormwall) with mage storm to help prevent engagement and can put down an AOE to allow other to ignore stealth. They also have stealth so are hard to shoot.
4. Journeyman - gives Stormwall Arcane shield so it can get forward and be very difficult to kill
5. Gun Mages - great with deadeye and snipe, two things Caine1 has. They have magical guns and they ignore stealth, they also kill infantry.
6. Wyshnalyr - I want to open up the thunderstrike assassination. Wyshnalyr gives me two extra inches and an additional dice drop lowest. He also gives me a free upkeep for snipe or blur.
7. Two units of Long Gunners - with deadeye and snipe they kill everything. the two units can put out 4 POW 20 shots as well if I need to destroy a heavy or a thunderstruck caster. They round out my need for more guns. They are very long range, especially with snipe. 

The finished list is:

Cygnar

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

34 models

[00] Lieutenant Allister Caine (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker

[19]  >> Stormwall

[03] Journeyman Warcaster

[06] Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

[02]  >> Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer

[04] Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team

[10] Long Gunner Infantry (9 grunts)

[10] Long Gunner Infantry (9 grunts)

Variant - Counter punch

This is a combined arms approach rather than a pure ranged approach. The idea is to shoot your opponent so that they move into your charge range and then finish them in melee. It is more versatile than a pure gunline  but generally doesn't shoot as well. I want pretty much what I have above but with a few changes

• Remove the need for a model to contest, as you are going to get into melee.
• Instead of just shooting you need models that can shoot and fight in melee.  

This is how I chose to build Stryker2's list. He has a whole lot of melee abilities and previously I had run him as an alpha strike caster but since Cygnar is a ranged faction I wanted to try him with a counterpunch list, using his melee abilities to make the counterpunch that much more dangerous. 

My thinking here was that Defenders with Positive Charge actually become quite good in melee, MAT 9 P+S 18. I could take two, and then two hunters so I can remove a heavy a turn at range. In order to do that though that heavy can't have an ARM buff so Eiryss comes into the list. That should be enough to scare my opponent to come towards me. 

Next I wanted a long range shooting unit that could fight well in melee. Cygnar don't really have one in faction but the Nyss can do it and I can take Murdoch to make them Cygnar. Since everything is going to be bunched up around the defenders Ragman should be able to give a lot of stuff Dark Shroud. That also takes the Defenders to POW 20 and the Nyss to MAT 8 POW 13 weaponmasters if in 3" of a defender and 3" of Ragman (just POW 11 weaponmasters if not within 3" of Ragman). 

Next I want to put the assassination on the table. Stryker is an excellent melee assassin. In order to get to his target though he probably needs pathfinder. Runewood can give him that. He can also give the Nyss another +2 to hit. If MAT 10 P+S 13 weaponmasters are overkill I can spread the three out to cover a larger area and settle for MAT 8 P+S 11 weaponmasters. Remember the Nyss have 3 attacks on feat turn (though one is ranged and will only benefit from dark shroud from Ragman). The other thing when assassinating with your caster is that you have to get them further forward than you would like so I want to be able to protect him. That means Arcane shield so in comes a journeyman. He can marshal one of the hunters with his last two focus.

And that's 49 points. Put in Reinholdt and I have a 50 point list. 

Cygnar

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

22 models

[00] Lord Commander Stryker (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Squire

[09]  >> Defender

[09]  >> Defender

[06]  >> Hunter

[03] Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin

[03] Journeyman Warcaster

[06]  >> Hunter

[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

[02] Ragman

[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Captain Jonas Murdoch

Dice Rollers

Uli has tracked down a games club down in Nowra and we are in the process of organising an inter-club challange. Possibly for the 13th of January. Looks like it's going to be 25 points because they don't have that much stuff. I don't know what else to do about the format. Sounds like they may not want to play two lists and I also suggested highlander format. Uli and I will be heading down there on the 30th to work out the details and play a game or two. Give me a yell if you want to come down too.

Anyway since it seems 25 points is locked in I immediately starting asking myself what were the douchiest 25 point lists I could make:

Legion of Everblight
Standard Army
PCs: 25 / 25
5 models

[00] Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (0 / 5 WB)
[11]  >> Carnivean
[09]  >> Scythean
[01] Blighted Nyss Shepherd
[09] Throne of Everblight

I actually like this one. The Carny and Scythean will be ARM 22 against melee attacks, the throne ARM 23 and one of the beasts will come back to full health after you kill it. Warbeasts and Warjacks also take 1d3 damage for every attack they make against me (I have seen a warjack charge and do more damage to itself than the model it was after). The heavies kill heavies and the throne clears infantry really well. Trolls take my feat out of the game and can kill me despite my ARM, the throne doesn't do squat against cryx infantry who absolutely love high ARM low DEF heavies. I feel like this is barely douchey at all, it's hard but not over the top, it requires me to risk my caster, its schtick doesn't work against ranged attacks and the low model count can really hurt. 

Protectorate of Menoth

Standard Army

PCs: 25 / 25

21 models

[00] The Harbinger of Menoth (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[08]  >> Reckoner

[06]  >> Redeemer

[02] Vassal of Menoth

[02] Vassal of Menoth

[02] Choir of Menoth (3 grunts)

[08] Exemplar Errants (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard

That looks meaner. Combining self sacrifice and Martyrdom is mean, really mean when your opponent only has 25 points. Add in awe (living models are -2 to hit if withing 10" of Harby), both jacks will be enlivened (after you damage them once they walk away no free strikes), no shooting against the jacks unless it's magical, errants can't be targetted by enemy spells, harby't feat is that if you advance towards her you take a POW 14 so I can hold you in place for a turn while I shoot you and I have purification so you have no upkeep spells. I can hit hard too as the errants are blessed on their ranged weapons and weapon masters in melee, harby can give them an additional dice on their attack rolls, battle makes both those jacks ridiculous, I can give them an extra attack each and crusaders call gives everything +2 movement. Now I feel like a douche but you still get to do something against this list. I don't feel it makes you hate the game and want to kill yourself

Legion of Everblight

Standard Army

PCs: 25 / 25

9 models

[00] Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight (0 / 5 WB)

[02]  >> Succubus

[10]  >> Ravagore

[10]  >> Ravagore

[05]  >> Naga Nightlurker

[01] Blighted Nyss Shepherd

[01] Blighted Nyss Shepherd

[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Cygnar

Standard Army

PCs: 25 / 25

9 models

[00] Major Victoria Haley (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Squire

[19]  >> Stormwall

[03] Journeyman Warcaster

[01] Stormsmith Stormcaller

[01] Stormsmith Stormcaller

[04] Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team

I felt dirty writing up the Lylyth list, like I was a bad person just for thinking it. For a new player I would be impressed if they lived to the end of turn 3. Really impressed. Most games would end assassination on turn 1. The Haley list is actually less deadly but you add the feat in to make sure there is no possible way your opponent could have any fun. It is unlikely that your opponent will be able to roll any dice against either of these lists. At 25 points they are stupid broken.

I think I'm going to take the Thagrosh list. It's fully painted and the throne is a great centre-piece. It doesn't assassinate turn 1 or pull anything else that I think is going to annoy people too much but at the same time it's a good list. That it has bad match ups is probably a good thing. 

Cataphract Incindiarii Rumours

I saw these before and thought they were awesome and didn't make the connection when I saw the models. Rumours again, came out after one of the cons after talking to the PP guys (who had been play testing them).

SPD 5 (same as other Cetrati)
MAT 7 (really good for a combined arms unit)
RAT 6 (better than I thought it would be)
DEF 12 (shockingly)
ARM 15 (a bit low but it's a ranged unit)
8 Wounds

RNG 10
POW 12
AOE 3
Continuous fire

Cost 6/9 (for 4/6 models)

Adding in this:
http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/legion-of-everblight/units/warspear-chieftain
Pathfinder is obvious  Sounds like they also get beserk. Could be no quarter which is definetely not bad though they already have fearless. If they get beserk they will be affected by the abilities of the warmonger warchief so they will have a way to heal and stop beserking. They suddenly become very awesome with Kallus.

Anti Colossal Update

And it involves MACBAIN.

The idea is pretty simple (and stolen from the muse on minis forums), countermeasured Boomhowlers. If you are within 5" of the colossal it can't shoot and if it chooses to try to punch to death your boomholwers they're DEF 12 and 4+ tough or DEF 14 and on feat turn they are invincible. Most colossals can't walk away either because they are SPD 5 or slower, you can't trample over them because they have medium bases so you can't get to something you'd rather be punching. I'm not sure it's better than countermeasures on kayazy in most circumstances but you can still take the kayazy and put countermeasures on them when you don't need to jam a colossal. Boomhowlers are also great for using the feat to block out scenario zones. Take Alexia and the risen for when your Boomhowlers die, spread them out so you still can't trample and give them tough with Rhupert Carvolo. Take a Galleon yourself to Fail Safe and god damn it I've built a MacBain list.

Mercenaries

Four Star Syndicate
PCs: 50 / 50
38 models

[00] Drake Macbain (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[18]  >> Galleon
[05]  >> Vanguard
[02] Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist *
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Saxon Orrik *
[09] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (9 grunts)
[05] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (9)
[08] Kayazy Assassins (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Kayazy Assassin Underboss

* I built this list taking into account character restrictions with my Bartolo Montador list (Bart - MacBain not a combination you were particularly worried about running into in a tournament before now). Given the choice switch these two models for Dougal Macnaile and Ragman.

OK, new deal to make with myself (replacing the old deal where I agreed to pretend he didn't exist as a Merc caster). I can play MacBain but I must do it in a fake German accent while paraphrasing McBain. You commie nazis won't stop me from delivering these UNICEF pennies!

Cygnar Lists

In preparation for the league and because I have War Room now I've been updating all my Cygnar lists. Here they are in no particular order.

The Arc Node Dillema

The arc node dillema is a problem that Cygnar and Menoth have. Khador cannot pay points for an arc node and Cryx and Retribution do not suffer from the dillema. Here is the problem in a nut shell:

Arc nodes cost points, their combat abilities are much less than similarly priced models and if you choose to use those combat abilities they can no longer arc spells. Arcing spells through an arcnode also uses up focus that you could be giving to jacks or casting buff spells on your own troops. That means that when you are playing an arcnode you need to get so much out of your offensive spells that the difference between casting those spells and buffing/feeding jacks is big enough that it pays for your arc node.

Mammoth model

Looks Mammothy. Sadly I don't see myself getting the archangel, at least for the moment but the Galleon is coming, he and Stormwall can be friends. I could even take both in a two caster game, Bart Galleon and Haley Stormwall. I know that seems like the worst thing ever but think about the smile on my face.

Kreoss1

Early in MkII Kreoss1 enjoyed great success as one of Menoth's best casters. This success came largely from the pop and drop tactic. It was pretty simple. You brought Kreoss, Eiryss and 3 Redeemers. Once you had your opponent's caster in your control area you purified (if they had a defensive spell that could hamper your assassination, like sure foot) feated and then shot the knocked down caster to death (first with Eiryss then the redeemers). If you did not need to purify you could give all 7 focus to your redeemers otherwise 4 focus would also get the job done. With 7 focus you could then hit the knocked down caster with 11 POW 14s (with 16 inch range too, 3 from each redeemer and two from ancilliary attack from your vassals, you could even boost one of the damage rolls). With 4 focus (purification) you could still hit the caster with 9 POW 14s. The enemy caster would not be able to camp any focus as Eiryss would remove it. And of course if you had any other shooting in the army you could pound the unfortunate caster with that as well, though even an ARM 19 caster was unlikely to survive even the 4 focus assassination attempt.

New Stuff

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/cygnar/units/tempest-blazers - Cygnar gun mage cavalry, not sure if I'm sold on the sculpt.
http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/minions/warlocks/midas - Minion warlock (pigs). Rask looks awesome. Midas may end up being really good too.
http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/skorne/units/cataphract-incindiarii - Skorne heavy ranged infantry. Looks very interesting.
http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/circle-orboros/warlocks/morvahna-the-dawnshadow - Epic Morvhana. She's riding a goat. I like the model. No clue on the rules.
http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/skorne/solos/mortitheurge-willbreaker - Skorne solo.

Wild speculation o'clock

Tempest Blazers - it says they have rune shot but from the little fluff blurb it doesn't sound like it is the gun mages push abilities. I would guess they have blessed and magical weapons. Sad face, unless they also ignore stealth then I will be smiling again.
Midas - Guessing he will collect corpse tokens and have Revive or a feat that brings dead models back. It also says he is able to consume his foes to gain their power and knowledge so I'm assuming a unique spell or ability there. 
Incindiarii - a ranged unit with medium bases. Every model that far released with that description has been disappointing but sounds like they will have high ARM. I do predict RAT 5. I also predict that PP will have learned from the other medium based ranged units and make them good.
Morvahna - Light cavalry warlock. That alone is stupidly exciting. She has the ability to run away after shooting off spells built in. Sounds like she has a unique ability to do with hurting friendly models. I have no idea on her abilities here but the fact that she is light cavalry already makes her awesome.
Mortiheurge - Sounds like Influence and another ability. Influence is OK but not spectacular, though he sounds like a 2 point solo so he couldn't be too ball breaking. 

Gauntlet Winner

The super series Australian masters in an invitation only event, you have to qualify by winning one of the qualifiers (or coming second) or by running the gauntlet, the last chance qualifier on the Saturday before the Final on Sunday. Andrew Galea also known as Guns (he painted my Throne of Everblight) won the gauntlet and came fourth in the finals. I like Guns, he's a great guy and so is his brother but he plays a very different style than I do.

Deployment and the first turn

I talk a lot about list building and a lot less about list playing, that's mostly because I tend to write these with war-room and/or FCU open while I'm screwing around with my lists. That said how you play a list is more important than list construction. This is stuff you should be aware of before you start a game.

How are you going to spend focus
Have a plan with what you are going to do with your fury. Most casters have some upkeeps they want to get out, some don't have enough focus for all of them. Warmachine casters need to balance their desire to get their spells out with feeding their jacks. If you want your jacks to run that's less focus for spells. Generally you want to make sure your defensive upkeeps are out as turn 2 there is generally some engagement, shooting if nothing else. You also need to think about where you want your caster. If you cast spells you can't run but you can charge. If you are going to fail your charge you need to cast spells before your caster moves. That's important because then you need to make sure you have line of sight to the things you want to cast spells on. A common mistake I see and have been guilty of making in the past is to put your caster between two heavies which then means that you cannot see any of your units and can't put any upkeeps on them. Now I will put a model from every unit I want an upkeep on next to my caster. It's also a common mistake to put a caster who wants to get up the table, say one with a good control feat behind your jacks. That pretty much forces you to walk first turn. Your jacks need to go first because they are in the way and then aren't in range of your upkeeps. You can't fail a charge and cast so you have to charge and attack your own model or walk up and cast. That 3" can make a huge difference. Some casters don't need to get up the table but some really have to. Some of my troll casters actually just put fury on the krielstone and run to get a better position on the table.

Know where your support models go
The choir for menoth move 6" and have to be within 3" of a jack. Most of the good Menoth jacks (except the Vanquisher) are SPD 5. If your choir starts behind your jacks and the jacks run 10" you can't protect them from shooting. If your choir goes first (and are trapped behind your jacks) gives then no spells and they run then they will be out of range next turn which is much worse. If you want to use your choir first turn (and if your opponent has ranged attacks you do) then your choir has to be front line besides your jacks. Shepherds in Legion have the same problem. This also applies to basic stuff like which support models need to stay near what models. Again with Legion Shepherds need to be a lot closer than Forsaken to remove fury so I use Forsaken on me melee beasts and shepherds on the ranged beasts. If you collect souls, you need to be near models that will give you souls (in menoth again your reclaimer collects souls but some units like errants have defensive abilities that stop soul collection), if you give a unit hunter in your command range you need to deploy with that unit. The Thrullg is a great late game model and it has advance deploy, you generally want to sit it behind your units not out in front of your army where your opponent will just shoot it. Janissa is another one, if she runs she can't put down a rockwall, this is OK sometimes but if you go second against a fast list or a list with a lot of ranged attacks then you need the rockwall up. Janissa can't put it that far forwards. She moves 5" and the wall has to be completely within 5", if your beasts run their full distance she can't put the wall in front of them. Every faction has stuff like this. You need to be aware and know if it applies to you.

Know roughly how your army will set out
This is the one that gets the most variation as you want to pick favourable match ups for your troops. You want gun mages with deadeye across from the Kayazy, winterguard or iron fangs not across from the conquest they can't move. That said you should have an idea of what goes where, what goes in front, what goes behind, what goes out on the flanks, what needs to stay near your warcaster, etc. Look out for aura or command range abilities and also remember abomination. It's a common cryx mistake to deploy models that are not fearless near the deathjack. Eiryss too can block focus allocation to your own jacks if you aren't careful.

Know your match ups
Know what kills infantry, what kills heavies, what kills high arm, what kills high DEF, what kills stealth, what needs to steer way clear of fast reach troops, what needs to hide from Eiryss and Gorman, what wants to kill Eiryss and Gorman. If they aren't across from the thing they want to kill don't be afraid to run your models sideways first turn especially if you are faster than your opponent.

Know your order of operations
You should never have order of operations problems on turn 1. If you know what order things need to happen in at least for the first turn then you should place your models accordingly. Don't block in a model that needs to activate first. You are going to be activating things in the same order for your first turn in pretty much every game you play with the list so you should know it. First turn other than the support models that I've mentioned above the other thing is usually pathfinder. Fell callers, Rhupert, saxon orik and a few other models have the ability to give out pathfinder. You often have some rough terrain in or just in front of your deployment zone, these models need to be free to activate, move where they want to be and give those units pathfinder. Don't block them in.

I think that's it. I feel like I've missed something though.

Upgrades

These are the upgrades you can get, listed by the model it applies to. These are from the PP leagues like the league models.

Cygnar
Sentinal - Rotational Accelerator: Sential chain gun becomes reliable. Re-roll one dice per turn (includes the strafe roll).
Ironclad - Aggression Amplifier: Ironclads gain "while he's down". Once per turn when a model becomes knocked down in melee range of a model with while he's down the model can make a melee attack against that model with a POW equal to that models strength.
Stormclad - High Yield Generator: Generator blasts gain AOE 3
Lancer - Augmented Boiler: War spear gains brutal charge. +2 damage on the charge.
Defender - Storm Capacitor: Defender warjacks gain +2 strength during its activation if they begin their activation within 3" of a model with immunity electicity.
Hammersmith - Vulnerability Reactor: Hammersmiths gain opportunist. You charge damaged models for free.

Cryx
Ripjaw - Hollow bone construction: Ripjaw bonejacks get pathfinder
Scavenger - Death's Shadow: Scavengers gain prowl (stealth when in terrain or spell that grants cover or concealment).
Leviathan - Spiked Fusillade: Leviathan helljacks gain Implacable. When it forfiets its movement to aim it immediately advances 2"
Defiler - Oozing Carapace: Defilers gain Vitriol. If you hit a model with vitriol you suffer continuos corrosion unless the model is destroyed or removed from play by the attack.
Corruptor - Sludge Accelerator: Corruptors gain quick shot. At the start of your activation you can choose to suffer -4 RNG to gain +1 ROF.
Harrower - Soureaper Modification: Harrowers gain circular vision (360 front arc)

Khador
Decimator - Subjugation Rounds: Decimator warjacks Dozers (ranged weapon) gain critical knockdown.
Destroyer - Tide of Victory: Destroyers gain implacable. When it forfiets its movement to aim it immediately advances 2"
Devastator - Reinforced Frame: Devastator ARM only goes to 19 when both arms are crippled or when it makes attacks.
Beserker - Vlad's Veterans: Beserkers go to MAT 6
Kodiak - Impalement Spikes: Kodiaks gain Take Down. No tough rolls from attacks from this model and models boxed are removed from play.
Marauder - Orgoth Relic Retrofit: Marauders do not suffer the effects of crippled systems.

Protectorate of Menoth
Devout - Defenders of Faith: Devouts gain brace for impact. When slammed reduce the distance moved by 3. If the result is 0 or less the model is not knocked down. The models is not knocked down when it suffers collateral damage.
Redeemer - Divine Compensator: Redeemers skyhammer gains reliable. Once per turn reroll one dice (includes deviation roll).
Templar - Lawgiver's Judgement: Templar warjacks gain bone crusher. Slam and trample damage rolls are boosted. Collateral damage from templar slams are also boosted.
Repenter - Flamewave Formation: If B2B with another repenter you can reroll missed attack rolls.
Crusader - Burnt Offering: Crusader warjacks gain take down. No tough rolls from attacks from this model and models boxed are removed from play.
Reckoner - Menoth's Gaze: Reckoners gain brace for impact. When slammed reduce the distance moved by 3. If the result is 0 or less the model is not knocked down. The models is not knocked down when it suffers collateral damage.

Legion of Everblight
Nephlim Protector - The Best Defence: The models halberd gains powerful charge (+2 to hit when charging).
Raek - Lashing Tail: Raeks gain cleave. Once per turn when you destroy a model make another melee attack for free.
Carnivean - Blighttide fire: Carniveans gain implacable. When it forfiets its movement to aim it immediately advances 2"
Shredder - Blooded Fury: Shredders gain opportunist. Can charge damaged models for free
Teraph - Counterblaster: Teraphs go to command 9
Ravagore - Fireworks: Blight Blasts gain reliable. Once per turn reroll one dice (includes deviation roll).

Circle Orboros
Argus - Blood Scent: Argus gain opportunist. Can charge damaged models for free
Woldwyrd - Natures Fury Woldwyrd gains implacable. When it forfiets its movement to aim it immediately advances 2"
Pureblood Warpwolf - Enhanced Regeneration: Purebloods gain hyper regeneration. Heal d3 at the start of every activation.
Gorax - Cornered Animal: Gorax do not suffer the effects of crippled systems
Shadowhorn Satyr - Superior Breeding: Shadowhorns gain shedding. If you remove one or more fury from the model you can remove any number of fury points from it. (So if you can only take one fury you can throw away the rest)
Woldwarden - Runes of Fate: Rune Fists gain reliable. Reroll one dice from the runefists. Includes the chain attack smite roll.

Trollbloods
Troll Axer - Hunger Driven: Axers gain opportunist. You charge damaged models for free.
Winter Troll - Flash Freeze: Winter trolls gain quick work. When you destroy a model with a melee attack you make a ranged attack for free. does not count towards rate of fire.
Dire Troll Blitzer - Custom Slugger: Sluggers gain reliable. Reroll one dice roll from the slugger per turn. Includes rapid fire.
Pyre Troll - Extra Flamey Claws: If you box a model with flame claws models within 1" suffer continuous fire.
Troll Bouncer - Extended Chain: 4" melee range with the ball and chain during the bounder's activation.
Earthborn Dire Troll - Rapid Shifting: Earthborns gain resilience. Once a turn when you suffer damage you can heal 1 point of damage.

Mercenaries
Avalancher - Rockslide Cannon: Avalanchers gain quick shot. At the start of your activation you can choose to suffer -4 RNG to gain +1 ROF.
Freebooter - Reserve Hopper: Freebooters gain stoked. When you begin your activation B2B with a model you are allocated a focus point.
Mangler - Home Wrecker: Mangler heavy warjacks gain Circular Vision. Front arc extends 360 degrees.
Vanguard - Charge Pistons: Guisarmes gain brutal charge (+2 damage on the charge)
Ghordson Driller - Sericsteel Drill: The drill gains reliable. Reroll one dice from the drill a turn.
Mule - Skullcrusher: Mule's gain take down. No tough rolls from attacks from this model and models boxed are removed from play.

Skorne
Basilisk Krea - Paralytic Suffering: Spiritual Paralysis gains POW 8
Cyclops Savage - Predicted Threats: Savage gains circular vision Front arc extends 360 degrees.
Titan Sentry - Vicious Stomp: Titan Sentry gains while he's down. Once per turn when a model becomes knocked down in melee range of a model with while he's down the model can make a melee attack against that model with a POW equal to that models strength.
Cyclops Shaman - Shaman Elder: Becomes CMD 9
Rhinodon - Savage Beatings: Gains Drop and Stomp. After performing a headbut you can make melee attacks with every weapon with open fists for free.
Titan Gladiator - Overeater: Titan Gladiators gain steady (no knockdown)

List Building Again

This is another post borne out of a dicussion at the club. The comment put to me was that there is a tendency towards trying to take "premium" models rather than something more along the lines of "I like this model I'll try it out". There is really nothing wrong with building towards models that you like both in a casual and a competitive sense. I was a bit thrown by the comment and it took me a while to pin down why, it's because I don't build lists like that anymore. I don't build a list by asking what are the best models with this caster I instead come up with a way I want the list to work and then pick models to do a job in the list.

I'll try and explain with the help of a list I have refined and am pretty happy with, my Madrak2 list. I'm picking him because I ended up playing him very differently from the way I played him the first time I put him on the table.

Madrak2
My second favourite troll caster. Your caster's abilities are going to be key when deciding what you want your list to do Madrak has a couple of important ones

Blood Fury - Additional damage dice for model/unit. Better on units because they have more attacks for the same spell cost so put out more damage.

Desperate Hour (Feat) - Everyone instantly makes a thresher attack that only targets enemy models. Works with blood fury.

Grim Salvation - If you hurt Madrak you instead remove a warrior model from within 1" of him. Unless it's a Musician or Standard Bearer or Weapon Attachment in which case they can pass it on to someone within 1" of them.

Warpath - Whenever you kill a model in his control a warbeast in his battlegroup can move 3".

When I started with him one of the first things I took was Mulg. Seemed like a high MAT reach beast with the feat was a good idea and Mulg's only drawback is his low SPD which is fixed by warpath. I also had an Earthborn and Janissa so I could being up his ARM and keep him safe, figuring the Earthborn would also get a lot out of warpath. The problem is that is a lot of points (At some stage there was a mauler in here too but I can't remember if I ever had all three together), these are points you can't use on troops. Points that do much less attacking on the feat, points that get less value out of blood fury, points that do not help keep Madrak alive. So the list was altered. I dropped one and then both heavies and started to have a plan for the list rather than a bunch of models I thought would be good.

The plan was a pretty simple one: Surround Madrak with infantry so he is unkillable. Alpha strike (or let your opponent alpha a tarpit unit then counter) and feat with blood fury killing everything.

In order to carry out this plan I need: reach for the feat, speed for the alpha strike, a way to deliver stuff for the alpha strike, I want a hit buff (so I hit on all my weaponmaster, reach, thresher attacks). I also need some beasts but I don't want many, the infantry will do the heavy lifting so the beasts should be able to contribute to the battle from relative safety.

Good units for this plan:

Kriel Warriors (you can take a weapon attachment with reach and they are cheap to stand around Madrak, they can go faster or hit harder and more accurately)
Borrowers (no reach but fast and high pow to abuse blood fury, also very cheap and will always make it alive)
Long Riders (fast and reach and hit hard and high MAT but expensive)
Fennblades (fast and reach)

I can take any three at 50 points. All have their own justifications there are no right or wrong answers. Burrowers are one of my favourite units so they are in, they always make it to the battle too, guaranteed as they can burrow. They also can't benefit from the feat which is good because it means I can cycle blood fury to them after the feat and I don't lose anything. Fennblades are a big unit with reach which is fantastic for the feat and the Kriel Warriors add to numbers to keep Madrak alive and I can put them in front of the more important Fennblades. If I take a Runebearer (Moses) I can upkeep blood fury on the Kriels, charge and kill stuff, runebearer it onto the fenns, charge and kill, feat and kill more stuff, have Madrak cast blood fury onto the burrowers and they can kill anything still standing. I need a fell caller so the Burrowers can hit and I want a second fell caller for the Fenns as they are going to be making a shitload of attacks (I've made more than 30 attack rolls in a single turn with them).

The burrowers don't need any help getting to the enemy but the fenns and kriels do, so add a krielstone to make them pretty much immune to blast damage and immune to fire and corrosion (KS elder). Since I have so much infantry I'll take a chronicler too as he can give them concealment and his best ability, if you kill a model in melee you get knocked down which makes it very hard to get through the unit and means the survivors will kill everything next turn as well.

I need some beasts with ranged abilities and or useful animus as they are going to stay back, I want ranged stuff in particular so I can kill annoying models my opponent has left in front of his army to disrupt the charge. The Impaler means Madrak can shoot 12" with his axe which is good and it has a good ranged attack. The Pyre's animus gives me a damage buff (always love a damage buff) and immunity to fire makes Madrak even more unkillable. That's 47 points, the last 3 points are a Thrullg if it's a tournament list (stays back removing offensive upkeeps until the late game) or Janissa if it's not. Janissa is a lot better than the Thrullg for this list but I tend to run Madrak2, Doomshaper2 and I need Janissa in my Doomshaper2 list.

Trollbloods
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
52 models

[00] Madrak Ironhide, World Ender (0 / 5 WB)
[02]  >> Trollkin Runebearer
[05]  >> Pyre Troll
[05]  >> Troll Impaler
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[03] Fell Caller Hero
[03] Fell Caller Hero
[02] Stone Scribe Chronicler
[04] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (5 grunts)
[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder
[06] Kriel Warriors (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Kriel Warrior Standard & Piper
[03]  >> Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (3 Caber Throwers)
[06] Pyg Burrowers (9 grunts)
[08] Trollkin Fennblades (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer


A few more things and then I'll shut up. I've seen a lot of Madrak with Champions. Madrak is great with champions, blood fury makes gives them 5 dice on the charge and 4 dice on their second attack. If they hit a heavy it disintegrates but they never hit a heavy. They spend the whole match killing Legionnaires and slowly dying to ravagore shots until I can finish them off with a Scythean.  That said I've also seen Madrak with champions as a second wave unit where the fennblades and burrowers kill anything that can take ARM 20 champions and the champions then just chomp through the rest of the rest of the army while puny infantry just bounce off. The plan is more important than the models. What do they do? why are they in the list?

Lastly you need a plan for how you are going to spend your focus/fury. This can be as simple as camp the lot or Caine shoots stuff. Here I want Blood Fury on 3 things so I need the Runebearer to cycle it. When the runebearer is not using his once per game spell casting ability (stupid Skarlock Thralls) that'll mean Madrak has 3 fury left. He's got plenty to top up the krielstone or snipe and throw his axe. He does not need to camp a lot of fury as his troops keep him alive. You need to remember if you want your caster to cast a lot of animi or if you need to fuel jacks and cast spells that you need a plan for how you are going to spend your focus.

This may make no sense, I'm very tired. I may put up a post about different things I build lists to do at some point.

2nd Place Super Series

2nd Place went to Trent Denison. Again with Cryx. Cryx also took out third place.

Cryx
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
Reinforcements: 10 / 10
41 models

[00] Warwitch Deneghra (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall
[10]  >> Nightmare
[04]  >> Nightwretch
[04]  >> Nightwretch
[02] Warwitch Siren
[03] Pistol Wraith
[03] Pistol Wraith
[05] Bane Thralls (5 grunts)
[03]  >> Bane Thrall Officer and Standard
[06] Satyxis Blood Witches (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Satyxis Blood Hag
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
[09] Wrong Eye
[00]  >> Snapjaw (Companion)


[08] (R) Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)
[02] (R)  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

No Skarre2 here so the Deathjack and Nightmare get spread out to other casters. Two arcnodes again (standard). This list is a colossal killer. Bane Thralls give you dark shroud, Gorman gives you rust, you have the feat and you have parasite and you have the blood hag (dispel). If you manage to get all of these to hit a Stormwall with Arcane Shield (ARM 22) it goes to ARM 10. You aren't generally going to be able to deliver all the ARM debuffs to a colossal but you don't need them all. The redundancy means that you can lose a few ARM debuffs and still effect a huge swing. Without a colossal this list will still tear up ARM. Beast heavy skorne and jack heavy menoth lists should be afraid. Deneghra really makes anything awesome so you do see a lot of different builds with her. 

Cryx

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

Reinforcements: 10 / 10

36 models

[00] Lord Exhumator Scaverous (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall

[12]  >> Deathjack

[09]  >> Malice

[04]  >> Nightwretch

[04]  >> Nightwretch

[04] Bane Lord Tartarus

[02] Warwitch Siren

[05] Bane Thralls (5 grunts)

[03]  >> Bane Thrall Officer and Standard

[05] Bile Thralls (5 grunts)

[05] The Withershadow Combine

[08] (R) Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)

[02] (R)  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

Love this list. Love it. Scaverous' feat makes magic attack and damage boosted and drops the focus cost of spells by 1 (only for scaverous not the deathjack). Scaverous has Telekinesis and this list is designed to exploit it. The withershadow combine will all be able to charge a warjack when it is turned around (-2 DEF) and moved towards them as many times as you need. Tartarus too will be able to be moved to ensure maximum damage on his thresher. Bile Thralls are there for excarnate. Malice with the drag gives you even more movement shenanigans. The deathjack also gets a lot out of death ward. 

Cryx

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

Reinforcements: 10 / 10

45 models

[00] Pirate Queen Skarre (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall

[19]  >> Kraken

[04] Darragh Wrathe

[02] Satyxis Raider Captain

[04] Satyxis Blood Witches (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Blood Hag

[08] Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

[09] Soulhunters (4 grunts)

[02] Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

[02] Ragman

[09] (R) Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (9 grunts)

[01] (R) Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall

Skarre adds +5 Strength and ARM to everything on her feat turn so it's no surprise that this list is geared towards melee threat range. Alpha your opponent so hard they can't strike back. They generally won't be able to take down a Kraken with +5 ARM so it will live a turn after killing the world. With Ragman it gains dark shroud so on feat turn it is P+S 25 and all its hit rolls are boosted. Skarre can always afford to feed it thanks to ritual sacrifice. Raiders are fast, blood witches are fast (and the hag stops tough) Soulhunters are fast and Darragh Wrathe gives everything an extra inch movement or adds another 2 arm to everything including the Krakken by making living models do 2 less damage. The necrosurgeon may look out of place with no mechanithralls but it is there to heal Skarre as she needs to put 5 damage on herself when she feats. 11 health  Skarre is a bit of a worry and you don't want to waste her focus healing herself when she could be casting dark guidance, ritual sacrifice and feeding the Kraken. 

Super Series (Australian Masters)

This was this weekend. The final was Cryx on Cryx. The format was 3 list character restricted, play each list once (over 5 rounds). The winner was Michael Blyth. Here are his lists, the (R) denotes reinforcements which some scenarios use:

Cryx
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
28 models

[00] Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall
[12]  >> Deathjack
[10]  >> Nightmare
[04]  >> Nightwretch
[02] Satyxis Raider Captain
[03] Pistol Wraith
[03] Pistol Wraith
[05] Bane Thralls (5 grunts)
[03]  >> Bane Thrall Officer and Standard
[08] Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

[02] (R) Warwitch Siren
[02] (R) Warwitch Siren
[06] (R) Soulhunters (2 grunts)

One of the best jack casters in the game. She also really likes Tartarus but he can only be in one list so she'll settle for Gorman instead. This list will melt colossals. The risk when taking character heavies is always that you are paying more points for something that dies just as easily as a regular jack. With Skarre though her feat gives her jacks pretty close to invulnerability for a turn. There aren't a lot of Cryx casters that like warjacks so taking her gives you some options when the infantry swarm looks like a bad choice and makes your opponent think about what to take against you. She plays very differently from the other two casters and that is a great thing in steamroller tournaments. Soulhunters are pretty good reinforcements. Satyxis just have a massive threat range and with power swell can kill a lot of stuff and are immune to blast damage so are very difficult to kill from range. They are a really fantastic unit which is why they are in all three lists here. They also have a great scenario effect. Because they are so fast you can often run them out in front of a scenario zone before your opponent has managed to get in there which can often mean that you score points. One point in a timed turn game like this series generally means that if the game goes to time you win. 

Cryx

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

Reinforcements: 10 / 10

48 models

[00] Lich Lord Asphyxious (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[04]  >> Deathripper

[04]  >> Deathripper

[04] Bane Lord Tartarus

[04] Darragh Wrathe

[02] Satyxis Raider Captain

[02] Warwitch Siren

[10] Bane Knights (9 grunts)

[04] Satyxis Blood Witches (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Blood Hag

[08] Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

[05] Bile Thralls (5 grunts)

[05] The Withershadow Combine

[01] (R) Machine Wraith

[03] (R) Pistol Wraith

[03] (R) Pistol Wraith

[03] (R) General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Asphyxious2. I don't think any more needs to be said. Tartarus and the Bane knights are there for the feat. Bile thralls for excarnate. Blood witches I think are there mostly for the hag which again is great on the feat (your warlock cannot transfer damage when she is within 9" of him). I assume Wrathe is there for the extra inch on the feat and becasue Asphyxious2, possibly the hardest model to kill in the game wasn't quite invincible enough.

Cryx

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

Reinforcements: 10 / 10

55 models

[00] Warwitch Deneghra (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall

[09] (R)  >> Leviathan

[04]  >> Nightwretch

[04]  >> Nightwretch

[02] Warwitch Siren

[03] Pistol Wraith

[03] Pistol Wraith

[08] Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

[03] Mechanithralls (5 grunts)

[02] Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

[02] Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

[10] Croe's Cutthroats (9 grunts)

[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)

[01] (R) Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall

* note the Leviathan is also a reinforcement and so not used in most scenarios.

I wrote about Deneghra yonks ago. I missed Croes when I wrote that but the idea is the same. They shoot so they put out more attacks on the feat. Poison means they can put out quite a fair amount of damage and with crippling grasp/parasite they are very good in melee as well (POW 8 + Poison is enough to kill most living grunt models on a charge anyway). There are also a lot of living models for you to turn into Mechanithrals when they die. 

Bad Match Ups For Caine2

Following on from a discussion with Ed. What is a bad match up for the Caine2 troop swarm? In particular what is a bad match up in Cryx. I had a few ideas as I was driving away and I am pretty sure Ed will like none of them.

The list relies on two things decent ARM and tough. Neither of these things is particularly difficult to deal with but the combination means you need a lot more attacks to get through the models than you otherwise would. So what owns this list

Satyxis Blood Hag (Blood Witches UA)- removes tough in her command range, gives her troops weaponmasters for a turn and regular charges with gang will kill stuff pretty reliably anyway. They're also DEF 13 so boomhowlers will miss them a lot. If she gets in a charge she'll dispel whatever is on the unit as well.

Bile Thralls - POW 12 is high enough to kill pretty much everything in the list. Maybe not the dwarves with arcane shield but boomhowlers are going to die and if they tough they are corroded so will probably still die.

I'll also mention that hex blast (Litch3 + others) can get rid of arcane shield, hellmouth (Denny2) is a nightmare for bunched infantry, Death Knell (Litch2) is also bad, phantom hunter (Goreshade2) will let the Krakken target key solos being screened (although that was not really a problem, the krakken is quite bad against this list as the massed infantry is pretty useless, it perhaps could have done more if it sat back and shot).

In Other Factions
You want tough removal, something to bring the ARM down just a little bit and things that can deliver a large volume of attacks. Other assassination lists also do really well against Caine2. If you can knock him down it takes very little to obliterate him.

While I'm putting up Ed related stuff:

Piece Trading with Tartarus

There are two types of models that are particularly great in piece trades, those that take more to kill than their points and those that can kill more than their points. Tartarus is in the second catagory here and in the first catagory are the excellent cryx bone jacks. Tartarus is on a medium base, so are the bone jacks, Tartarus has reach so he can hit with his thresher attack every single infantry model that your opponent used to kill that arc node that just did something awesome. That doesn't need to be the unit he curses either, he can curse a unit the bane thralls are about to charge and then charge a different unit himself. You can do it with other stuff as well but the 4 point arc nodes are the best. Your opponent inevitable over-commits to kill them and it takes a lot of infantry to bring them down. You do lose an arc node but if you can say crippling grasp your opponents biggest model/unit or pull off a fantastic excarnate then it's worth risking your arc node (and you would have to risk it with or without Tartarus if you want to spell cast with it) especially since you have Tartarus to recoup that points loss. For everyone else watch out for this tactic when playing against cryx. Tartarus is ghostly so he can do this from around 7" back from the arc node, which is generally far enough back to make him very safe.

Week 1 - Peering into the Abyss

League Models:

I'm including a summary of league models. They are special versions of the models in brackets and have the same stats and abilities except where noted (if I don't say they lose something they have it). You do not have to take any league models, you can take the regular versions of these models without issue or whatever list you want but if you like the look of the league model for your faction or your allies faction then you can use them. Jacks/beasts can be controlled as normal as if they were part of your faction (they will not count as part of your faction for spells, feats and abilities).

Cryx
Bloodhook Raiders (Black Ogrun Boarding Party)
Add weapon master on their melee weapons. They also gain fearless, Amphibious and Crit Freeze on their melee weapons. (5 points for 3, 8 points for 5).

Cygnar
Dorian Billings, Master Gunner (trencher master gunner)
Same stats + jack marshall. Drive Withering fire (boosts all ranged damage rolls) + normal TMG abilities. (PC: 3)

Khador
Manstalker (Manhunter)
1 Faster but 2 less pow and one less initial attack. Gains sprint (can make a full advance after fighting if it destroyed an enemy model). (PC:2)

Menoth
Condemner (vigilant warjack)
Chain Attack Smite instead of Girded. (PC:4)

Mercs
Hammerfall Rampart Guard Officer and Standard (Hammerfall High Shield UA)
Extend Range (+4 RNG once per game) rather than guns blazing (PC: 2)

Circle
High Shaman Gradduk (Tharn Ravager Shaman Weapon Attachment)
Loses Assault and powerful charge, whole unit gains electroleap. Also he personally has immunity Electricity. (PC:2)

Skorne
Thraxis (Agoniser)
Loses it's agonies. Gains 3 star actions:
Beyond Death: -2 to damage rolls of living enemy models in it's command range (6")
Dessicator: Centre a 4" AOE on the model, living enemy models moving in it or ending activation in it suffer a point of damage.
Pain Shroud: remove all fury points, enemy models within 1" for each fury point removed suffer a pow 8. Additional dice damage for any focus or fury on the model hit. (PC:2)

Trollbloods
Pyg Shock Troops (Burrowers)
Lose Burrow and point blank. Gain a point of MAT and RAT, 2 POW on their melee weapons and fearless.  Also Gain Assault. Same points cost (4/6)

Skipping Minions and Retribution. I'll bring the no quarters so you can have a look at the models I'll be using throughout the league. The upgrades are there too.

Mammoth

Possible Mammoth Spoilers!

These are rumour at the moment. Until it shows up in war room these stats could be wrong (but probably aren't, the gun at least is not wrong and the rest is very believable).

Fury:4

SPD:4

MAT:6
RAT:4
DEF:8
ARM:20

(2)P+S:19 Fists (crit pitch)
P+S 17 tusks

RNG 10, RoF 3, AoE 4, POW 15 gun
Assault
Bulldoze

Animus: Repulsion.

Straight up looking at those stats it's good. Good P+S, lots of initial attacks, decent MAT, great animus especially when combined with bulldoze and an awesome gun. Then you add in the support Skorne can give to their beasts and it's amazing. With rush and road to war (or rush and abuse and with abuse it's 23, 23, 21 which is stupid good) this thing is SPD 8, faster than the archangel which has no usable SPD buffs. Or you can leave it maxing out at SPD 6 with rush and put defenders ward or inviolable resolve on it to take it to ARM 22 with an agoniser and a krea behind it to make it even more invincible. It will happily sit in front of a Krea, with an ARM buff spell and far strike (from the cyclops raider) and blast anything else stupid enough to walk into the scoring zone. If it is shooting at a unit with black spot it can potentially make 6 shots with the -2 DEF taking it to equivalent RAT 6, if it's aiming which it can conceivably do with far strike it's RAT 8. 

There is so much this model can do with so many casters. Of course the problem is going to be its cost and the fact that it is competing with with a lot of other beasts for its spot. That said this guy is awesome and he is going to turn up in a lot of lists. Easily the best of the Gargantuans so far. Certainly not invincible though and the model from what I have seen looks sweet. 

Just a note on bulldoze + Repulsion. Let's assume you only have rush. No zone is going to be bigger than 12" in any dimension in 2013 so that means the Mammoth if near the centre of a zone can walk over, push every enemy model in the zone 4" away and then still make all three shots with its gun without giving up defenders ward or any other upkeep spell on it. Or if another colossal is in the zone charge it, do a crap ton of damage and then push everything else out. It will depend on the colossal and which caster you have brought whether the free boost from the charge, 4 initial attacks at high pow and two bought attacks will be enough to kill it. With Xerxis with the feat and fury you will kill the archangel or an unbuffed Mountain king with your initial attacks and have significant damage to spare.

If you are going to be up against this thing my advice is to make it a priority to kill it but the standard colossal advice still applies (that link has been updated slightly now to correct the Gorman mistake). 

Battle of Dave's Crack

These are what will be the final version of the rules unless anyone has any objections or suggestions.

This will be a team league. Experienced players will be teamed with less experienced players.

Each club day you play games against someone not on your team. These can be team games with your team-mate or single player games or three player free for all games. Games will be played according to the current steamroller packet or if they are 3 player games the following 3 player scenarios (more may be added).

Supply Line 

Kill Box 

Points will be awarded, 2 for a single player game, 3 for a 3 player game and 4 for a team game if the winning team does not lose a warcaster, 3 points for the winning team and 1 for the losing team should the losing team manage to kill one of the opposing casters.

Every week league models from one of the privateer press leagues will be available. I will pick a league at random and post the basic model profile plus points cost on this site (to enable players to build lists in advance should they want to). You can use league models from your own faction or your team mates faction.

4 club days after which there will be a final for the two leading teams, the team with the most points picks the match ups. If tied match ups are either to be agreed on by both teams or randomised.

Upgrades will be available at 6-12-18 points. The list of available upgrades is here.

As an optional rule - Roll 2 dice before deployment but after army list selection. On a 2 or 3 swap armies and play your opponents list.

Assassination Casters In Attrition

I've been writing a lot lately, I even have a backlog of posts, mostly due to the fact that I haven't been particularly well so haven't been able to do that much, that and I got a hold of war room (it's pretty but not as good for list building as FCU). I've also got stuck into some painting (I'll put a thanks up here for the swivel thing Uli made me though he'll never see it as that would require using technology).

My favourite lists are attrition lists with a dangerous assassination run. Vayl1 is fantastic at this, Caine2, Seige and I've recently spotted one in Caine1 which will probably see me put him on the table shortly.

The value of these casters is twofold. Firstly they can finish the game even when losing the attrition war with their assassination run and secondly when they don't assassinate they take your opponents caster out of the game and give you a huge attrition advantage.

I'll use Caine2 as my example. He's my favourite Cygnar caster (and I really want to run Keith's Caine2 list in the near future too). Caine has a 19" assassination death zone. He can with his feat shoot 10 shots at RAT 11 at increasing POW with the last shot at POW 22. Very few casters can survive it, especially since his lists will always have Eiryss to strip focus and Gorman to black oil (-3 DEF). In fact even without his feat very few casters can survive the 6 boosted POW 12 damage rolls he can give them or even four double boosted shots. Caine plays in the midline so if you want your caster close enough to cast their spells on your beasts/jacks without an arc node then you will almost certainly be in the death zone (to be read in a deep booming voice). Playing against this you have 3 options:

1. leave your caster back out of the game and forgo casting a lot of their short range spells and using some abilities. You can leave a model from some of your units way back so you can get some buffs out but otherwise your caster sits out most of the game.

2. Use your resources to protect your caster. This may mean that you camp a bunch of focus/fury or that you use models just to protect your caster. Something like errants that the Caine player will have difficulty getting through. Often it will have to be a combination of these things, especially if the list has some knockdown potential.

3. Move up and operate at full efficiency and hope your opponent fails the assassination.

All three options are good for the Caine player. The first two put your opponent at a significant disadvantage and the third will almost always mean that you win the game. One of the best things about Caine is that if you suffer dice failure you can generally still get away as he can gate crasher back to safety.

That's generally what having an assassination on the table does, it forces your opponent to give up something, whether it makes them hide their caster or waste resources defending them, it gives you an advantage. Sometimes your opponent won't see the assassination run coming, and sometimes they will be powerless to stop it. It also gives you an advantage in scenario as your opponent has to keep their caster away from the scoring zones. If you don't have a way to assassinate many casters will just sit in the scoring zone and prevent you from winning on scenario.

The only real disadvantage is to bring the assassination into play your caster has to play in the midline which puts them in danger. This is generally not as much of an issue as it sounds. All the good assassination casters have an assassination because they have these threatening spells or abilities that require you to bring them forward to use. They all also have something that makes them difficult to kill. Caine for example has the best DEF of any caster in the game at DEF 17, he can also put blur on himself (+3 DEF against shooting) and if you kill his jack expect him to sit happily in the wreckage so he gains cover (DEF 24). Same deal (actually worse as then he is +2 DEF in melee as well as from ranged, you won't kill DEF 19 Caine) if there is a wall anywhere on his side of the table. He'll be behind that wall the whole game, happily running forward, shooting 6-7 of your guys and teleporting back. Vayl1 also has high DEF (as she always has concealment) and has dark sentinel and Talion, which add to her ability to get forward. In the end though it requires you to think carefully about how you are going to protect your caster which is something I enjoy.

Kreoss3

Nearly a week after he was released Kreoss3 is finally up on the PP site
http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/the-protectorate-of-menoth/warcasters/intercessor-kreoss
I have it on good authority that he is a lot of fun to play.
The Galleons release date has been pushed back to February. I think you may see me playing with a Galleon that looks suspiciously like a Stormwall before then.

Polishing Some Turds

Following up from last year (no crutch 2012) there is a new challenge to try and shake up the tournament scene with new lists. This one the Paradox Plunge (Paradox is the forum name of the player who suggested it) is trying to get players to bring less common warlocks and warcasters to competitive tournaments. It is also known by the title of turd polishing 2013 by those who are less enthused about the idea. I don't know how much competitive play I'll be doing in 2013 but if I do end up at a tournament for me it will always end up being the casters I am fastest with as I play too slow for much else. I'm not entirely sold on the concept, some of the lesser played casters are actually hidden gems but some really are just less competitive. The hidden gem casters are generally only less played because they are more difficult. Hopefully though it will work and I'll be putting up some weird but very competitive lists, I don't see there being much chance of a competitive Zerkova or Morghoul2 list though. Here are the casters from the "Paradox Plunge" as of now.

The idea is not necessarily to play the worst casters but the ones that are just very rarely seen. I am going to have to use my executive privilege to veto Venethrax and Ashlynn, they simply should not be on this list, Venethrax may not be as common as Terminus who does a very similar shtick but both are pretty common tournament casters. I also think since nothing is known about Makeda3 that she does not count. Calaban should also be up there with the minion casters.

So lets go through the factions

Minions
Minions need more stuff, that's the biggest failing of the faction. Put Barnabas in any other faction and he's one of the best in the game, in minions he struggles for lack of choice. Arkadius and Calaban have a common hordes problem, they are squishy casters with short range offensive spells. Without a way to channel they either do nothing or go forward, cast their spells and die. With some more options in faction when Gargantuans comes out they may find a new lease on life.

Cryx
Witch Coven - They have a lot of potential with the release of the Kraken. They also have a new theme force that looks interesting
Goreshade1 - Has always been a fantastic caster and has won tournaments. That said he's not as ball breaking as Cryx's top tier as Cryx probably has 4 of the best 5 casters in the game.
Scaverous - New and hurt by colossals. Otherwise he has the same problem as Goreshade1

Khador
This is literally just a list of the Khador casters without iron flesh (excluding the two original Vlads). Sadly this is also literally a list of the most rarely seen Khador casters. Strakhov in particular I think is good and has a lot of potential and Karchev and Harkevich are much improved with the advent of colossals, I expect to see more of them.

Menoth
This one isn't that simple, I may write a post about what I think of the Menoth casters at some stage as I have been seriously looking at the faction for a while now. The high reclaimer I think is really good and Amon has a jenky list that can be fun.

Cygnar
Kraye is really good and Stryker1 got a big boost from Colossals, those are two casters I have high hopes will benefit from the challenge. Before colossals I would have rated Darius among the worst casters in the game (with me maybe being still a little sore over the change from MKI to MKII) but now I think he's playable. The Sloan list with pirates is also a thing that I like but is less common because of character restrictions (if you take her you can't take Caine2 or Seige). The reason you don't see these guys so much is because Cygnar's big4 are just too good. That's Haley1, Haley2, Siege and Caine2 (also maybe Stryker2). Only Haley2 is as ball busting as the top Cryx casters but the other ones are still a cut above the rest of the faction.

Retribution
Garyth is a bit predictable and the Vyroses are jack casters in a faction that up until recently had poor jacks. I expect them to see more of them.

Mercs
The Magnusses are assassination casters in what is becoming an attrition meta, hopefully this will change with the new steamroller package and the two Magnuses will be back with a vengence. Fiona is still missing some pieces, she has this great feat and some neat abilities but they just don't quite pull together right. She is someone who could do really well once someone works out a good list for her or a new release comes out that complements her abilities. Of all the casters I think she will benefit most from this challenge as she really does have a lot of good abilities but just doesn't quite work. I think someone will figure her out. Ossrum is good but new and uses the same characters as Durgan who is very popular. I don't like MacBain but he's not bad and once the Galleon is out his major weakness is gone. Bart and Shae are actually pretty rare at the moment. Shae is possibly the best caster in the game if you could take him with anything other than pirates or his theme force, the Galleon will help him as it helps pretty much everyone but the dwarfs because they can finally hurt things at ARM 20+. Bart goes from one of the worst Merc casters to one of the best with the release of Galleon. His Galleon + Snapjaw list is kind of skewed but will require you to plan for it.

Legion
Kallus is actually really good as is Thagrosh1, they just tend to be beaten out by Legions fantastic top tier casters (Saeryn, Lylyth2, Vayl1 and Vayl2, this is becoming a theme). Jake Van Meter (Neutralize) has won events with Thagrosh1 and with Kallus (but Jake is the top Legion player so I don't think he counts). Lylyth1 is seeing a resurgence with colossals and is actually pretty good now (with Parasite and the Naga she can effect -6 ARM to a stormwall and let a scythean charge it for free). Thagrosh2 is always a bucket of fun but has a tendency to die especially with all the guns at the current tournament scene. Rhyas has an assassination list which may get a lot of advantage from the new scenario rules encouraging warcasters forward, she will probably benefit most from this especially as JVM has a been spruiking her with Proteus.

Circle
Morvhana is currently suffering from the glut of purification casters currently on the scene but she is otherwise very, very good. I put up a tourament winning Cassius list just recently, he's definitely one of the hidden gem casters I mentioned. Grayle I'm not sure about and Kaya tends to be overshadowed by her epic version but is very solid. Moshar is pretty good too but colossals hurt him a bit and Cassius does most things he does but better.

Trollbloods
Jarl should maybe be here as well. Again I posted a tournament winning Gunnbjorn list recently but I think most people are like me and just don't like him. If you want to play a gunline you play Cygnar, Menoth or Legion and it's a lot more fun. I also think he is a bit of a trap as people tend to take Sluggers with him and he doesn't do enough to make them worth it. Grissel2 won at superseries in Sydney too, she's really good. I wrote recently about attrition and she is fantastic for that because she does so much work herself. She does suffer from some bad matchups though, Legion in particular.

Skorne
All these guys are pretty good (except Morghoul2 who I think is the worst caster in the game) but again are overshadowed by Skorne's best casters. I've seen some great Rasheth lists and his theme force is fantastic. Naresh is still a bit new.

As for me I have a particularly stupid Nemo1 list that I think will be a lot of fun which I'm planning on running a bit. Expect to see my Magnus2 in bad seeds theme force as well. Other than that the only caster you can be sure you won't see me play is Gunnbjorn.

Attrition

Attrition is the default way most people approach the game but there are a lot of concepts I think people do not recognise. The basic idea is to kill more points of your opponent than you lose of your own. There are a lot of different ways to do this so I'll go through some of them. I'm sure that I will miss some concepts so I'll probably come back to it in future. This will be longer than my assassination and scenario posts as this is how I prefer to play. I hope this makes sense as much of this was written while I was very very tired.

Assassination & Scenario Are Part of Attrition

It is not enough to have an army that purely attritions. It must also be able to win by scenario or assassinate because in the end it will be one of those two things that wins you the game. If you have no way to kill your opponents caster they will be able to move right up and use all their powers and abilities, if you have no way to win on scenario then your opponent will have to waste less models and activations contesting scenario zones. You can be a lot more effective at attrition if your opponent has to be worried both about attrition and about losing due to assassination or scenario. If you can force your opponent to keep their caster back out of the game or you can force your opponent to waste activations contesting rather than killing your stuff you can get ahead in attrition. It will also let you finish the game quicker, rather than wiping out your opponents entire army you just wipe out enough that they can no longer stop the assassination or contest the scenario.

Alpha Strike

This is probably the most basic of the attrition concepts, the idea is to hit your opponent hard before they have had a chance to hit you. Ranged armies are generally very good at this but so are those with threat range extensions like Doomshaper2. The ranged alpha is very different from the melee alpha so I'll discus them separately.

Ranged Alpha - The first thing to look at when it comes to the ranged game is whether you are ranged dominant or ranged submissive. If your opponent has more ranged threat than you do you need to close and engage. If you have more ranged threat then you can hang back and shoot and wait for your opponent to come to you. The key in a ranged alpha strike is concentration of force. If you are shooting at a unit there is no point moving up so that the back members of the target unit are in range if you aren't going to be able to kill the front members of the unit. You just make it easier for your opponent to shut down your shooting. If you hang back and make sure all the closest members of the unit die you have greatly increased the amount of ground your opponent has to cover to get to you. Likewise when shooting multiple wound models you don't want to put a little bit of damage on a lot of models you want to kill something. Try and move so that you are as far away from everything else as possible and just close enough to the thing you want to kill. Then do the same thing next turn. Don't be afraid to back up, backing up is good but you see a lot of players who almost don't seem to realise that their models can move backwards.

Melee Alpha - you need three things, SPD and the ability to kill what you are hitting and something to keep you safe from retaliation. If you leave your models up where your opponent can kill them you are piece trading which will be discussed shortly. The other option is to hit your opponent so hard that they are no longer able to counter attack or that their counter attack is so blunted that you are able to stay ahead of your opponent in the piece trade.

Piece Trading
Whenever you go to attack something of your opponents you need to be aware of the counter attack that will happen on their turn. You need to be taking into account what they will be able to kill. The idea with piece trading is to ensure that you allow your opponent to kill less points worth of your models than you kill of theirs. It is very rare to be able to kill your opponents entire army in a single turn so if your opponent can pick and choose what to kill they will take out the biggest threats, even if you have alpha struck you will still find yourself at a disadvantage. The idea behind piece trading to kill models in your opponents army while exposing models that are less important to your army than the models you have killed. You always want to trade up, kill a 10 point model while exposing only a 6 point model to your opponents army.

Part of piece trading is list building. Good models for this are models that take more points to kill then they are worth, models that can kill more points than they are worth and/or models that enable other models to do either of those two. A good example in trolls - champions are a great piece trading unit, they can kill more than 10 points of models and have high ARM and 8 wounds each so it often takes more than 10 points of models to kill the entire unit. The Mountain King on the other hand is very bad for piece trading. It cannot kill 20 points of models and it does not take anywhere near 20 points of models to kill it. Troll heavies can use their support staff to both become more difficult to kill than their points and to destroy the world. A lot of cryx infantry also falls in this catagory, banes and mechanithrals in particular. Though Mechthralls are very easy to kill they are also half a point each so you generally can't kill them as cheaply as you can buy them and they can destroy heavies.

The other part is to recognise when you are making a trade and to make sure you don't make bad trades. There are quite a few players that will charge with their heavies as long as there is something in range, even if that something is not particularly valuable. Be aware of when your opponent is baiting you and bait your opponent. The best way to do it is to use models that are harder to kill than their points. The Warpwolf Feral (warping ARM) is a great choice for a bait piece, the Vanguard is probably my favourite (13/19 with 26 boxes and set defence). Generally when you are baiting you are also using the scenario, you run a model into the scoring area to contest and control and then you have another piece in range to charge and murder whatever kills that model. It's a great tactic too with second wave units like Forgeguard that are slow. When you commit a model recognise what your opponent has to strike back with, if you are likely to lose that model then make sure that what it kills is worth losing that model for (I'm not just talking points here, often taking out the choir for example is worth a lot more than 2 points).

The other thing to take into account when piece trading is to use the depth of the table. You don't want your whole army in a line, again it will allow your opponent to pick what they want to kill and ensure that they are ahead on the piece trade. Spread out forward and backwards, particularly with units. Make sure your Officer is at the back of the unit where he has some protection. If only 3 models can make the charge don't move up the rest of the unit next to them where your opponent can easily kill them, keep the bulk of the unit back with a few models forward that your opponent has to kill first before they can clear a lane to the unit. Often this leaves your opponent blocked by their own models and you can charge the rest of the unit in.

Things That Keep Your Models Safe
Some abilities allow you to attack or at least move your army into threat range of your opponent without losing models and these abilities are key to attrition. These can be simple ARM or DEF buffs but also include things like the Choir of Menoth (who can sing no shooting), Vassals (who can allow your jacks to walk away from charges) and Janissa (walls). The best pieces are those that keep your models completely safe but following up from that are pieces that make your models much more difficult to kill, enough that it is very unlikely that your opponent will kill them. I know it does sound obvious but every single game I have won against Menoth I have benefited from my opponent choosing to ancillary attack (jack makes an out of activation attack) rather than enliven (jack makes a full advance in any direction first time it is damaged). If you are playing circle remember that the warpwolf stalker has sprint for an animus and use it, hit and then move away out of threat range of the majority of your opponents army. Too many players ignore these abilities and they are the key to winning via attrition. In the circle case in particular you may not be able to kill as much stuff if you are relying on sprint but you kill it for free rather than trading those models for your heavy warbeast. Make use of refuge, of soulgate, spirit door, teleport, gate crasher to kill models and then move back to safety.

Throw away units - this one blends into the next section which is tarpitting. There is a lot of value in cheap 10 man units, these units aren't in the list to kill anything (it's a bonus when they do) but they are there to die in preference to your more expensive models. Generally the unit is a speed bump, forcing your opponent to spend activations killing cheap models that aren't particularly dangerous, possibly blocking off charges with their own models they send to kill your guys. The basic way you use them is you put them in front of your better models, blocking off charge lanes and if they are small based models blocking LOS. Against some lists, especially low model count lists this tactic can make your valuable models completely safe. I use this tactic a lot with Legion, Legion beasts are very easy to kill but if I can put my legionnaires in between my models and my opponents models that are threatening them then I can make it much more difficult for my opponent to get to my beasts. If your opponent tramples then they lose all their initial attacks and have spent a focus/fury which is often enough to ensure that they don't kill the model they were sent after. The other thing these units do well is kill cheap units my opponent has put in the way of my beasts.

Tarpitting
So this is something I don't see that much but which is very useful both in attrition and in scenario play. The idea is to put something your opponent will struggle to kill in front of either the scenario zone or something you don't want to deal with. Boomhowlers are the ideal mix of a tarpit and a throw away unit, especially when you put arcane shield on them. There are other great tarpits though, the Centurion is a great one (again particularly with arcane shield), Tiberion with defenders ward and a krea and an agoniser is pretty much invincible. The difference between tarpitting and piece trading is that your tarpit is not supposed to die, at least not for a turn or two. It slows up your opponent and allows the rest of your army to take take out the rest of your opponents army while key pieces are tied up with your tarpit. A lot of casters that camp focus like to do this themselves as well (at least in SR 2012), they contest scoring and simply stand around killing a few models but mostly just being invincible (in SR 2013 the rumour is that casters will no longer be able to contest). If your opponent cannot score in scenario because of your tarpit then you are free to attrition as much as you like while pretty much ignoring the scenario. Tarpits are also great for protecting ranged threats. I mentioned recently a Caine2 list that I really liked. If you have Caine2 behind a unit of Boomhowlers you can allow him to take a lot more shots at your opponents army and he'll be able to wipe out a unit himself pretty much every turn. It works particularly well for units like gun mages, long gunners and the black 13th that lose a lot when they are engaged.

Out of Formation Troopers
There are quite a few abilities in the game which require at least some members of the original unit to be alive. Makeda1's feat is a good example, it requires returned to life trooper models to be placed in formation and you can't do it if the unit is dead. What you can do though is leave 1 trooper model way back with your caster and not care that he is out of formation. If the rest of the unit dies you can still return them all to play just way back near that one model. This also works the other way, if you run models towards your opponent so they are out of formation they can't make free strikes or attacks but they can use other abilities that are not attacks and do not require them to be in formation. Rangers are a good example of this, you can run 1 ranger forward to be within 5" of what you want to shoot giving your whole army +2 to hit while the rest of the unit hangs back in safety. Spell effects also effect trooper models that are out of formation so you can use an out of formation legionnaire to deliver chiller or an out of formation bane thrall to deliver dark shroud (if the banes aren't in charge range you can run that one model and keep the rest of the unit safe).

Models that Generate More Models
Great for attrition as when you are playing attrition games tend to go a bit longer, they will have a lot of time to generate more models. The spawning vessel for Legion is a fantastic example, stitch thralls, Tartarus (although Tartarus does tend to just die), Alexia1. They also give you interesting threat vectors so you can take out key models that your opponent has thought was safe.

Moving Your Opponents Models
This one is a common mistake. There are a lot of spells and abilities that allow you to advance an enemy model and then use that model to make an attack. The mistake people make is using that spell/ability to use make an enemy model attack an enemy model. The best way to use that ability is to advance that model directly towards your army and then turn it around. That will generally allow you to kill it without suffering retaliation. You can still have a shot at your opponent if you have a ranged weapon. If you waste that spell or even feat having a swing at an opposing model you can almost never get anywhere near the same points value. This is particularly true of Rampager as you are casting on a beast. Some trooper models can get more value making attacks against other stuff but still you generally get more value picking expensive stuff and moving it towards you. (If you are playing against Rampager have your heavies hold hand, if one heavy is arm locked neither can be moved by rampager, it also works against pushes).

Attacking your own models
I don't know that this necessarily goes in attrition but I'm putting it here anyway. There are a lot of great tricks you can pull off if you remember that you can attack your own models. If you are up against non-reach infantry you can shoot your own heavies with a scather template (Ravagore, Desecrator) and they will auto-die if they charge it. A trick I often see with cryx is to run a death-chicken up and slam another death chicken through it to knock down an important model. Remember that this avenue is available to you. Lately I've been attacking the storm pods Stormwall drops a lot. It lets you put down extra covering fire using the black 13th and lets you drop a pod in the middle of a stealth unit and take half of them out.