Jordan Nach's Merc Lists From Adepticon

Jordan Nach (of crippled system fame) recently won both major events at Adepticon. In particular he won Masters with Mercs, which has generally been considered quite difficult due to character restrictions. His lists were:

Durgen
*Earthbreaker
Thor
Dougal
Reinholdt
Max press gangers
Max nyss hunters
Herne and jonne
Aiyana and holt
Tac
pEiryss
Anastasia

Damiano
*Nomad
*Sylys
Gunmages+ua
*Vanguard
Max boomhowlers
Max forgeguard
Alexia and the risen
Tac
eEiryss
victor pendrake
Madeline corbeau
Ragman

Macbain
*Galleon
Max sea dogs with walls and 2 rilfes
Max press gangers
Gunmages+ua
Doc
Bosun
Hawk
Rockbottom
Rhupert
Gorman

I highly recommend looking through his thread on the tournament:
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?196827-Mercs-at-the-Adepticon-Masters

It was interesting the read his report on the Durgan list where he ambushed Anastasia but the Press Gang failed command so he couldn't use the espionage attacks. My Durgan list is very similar but no Anastasia, I take Hawk instead so they don't fail command. Unfortunately character restrictions force some hard choices.

Invitational lists

Will Pagani won the warmachine invitational with Butcher3 and Vlad1.

Khador
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
44 models

[00] Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher Unleashed (0 / 4 WJ remaining)
[01]  >> War Dog
[07]  >> Juggernaut
[02] Iron Fang Kovnik
[02] Iron Fang Kovnik
[04] Greylord Ternion
[08] Iron Fang Pikemen (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Black Dragon Officer & Standard
[08] Iron Fang Pikemen (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Black Dragon Officer & Standard
[04] Widowmakers
[04] Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire
[02] Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Saxon Orrik
[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Khador

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

30 models

[00] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[13]  >> Behemoth

[10]  >> Spriggan

[02] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

[02] Koldun Lord

[02] Iron Fang Kovnik

[05] Assault Kommandos (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Assault Kommandos Flame Thrower (2 Flamers)

[05] Great Bears of Gallowswood

[08] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (9 grunts)

[04] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

[02]  >> Koldun Kapitan Valachev

A couple of things I want to talk about. That Butcher list looks sweet. I don't think you can do much better than that for him. Silence of death with the ability to pick a column, the Juggernaut trades really well, it's difficult to kill for its points and will kill anything if left standing. The Vlad list is the one I really want to talk about though. It really heavily abuses signs and portents and makes assault kommandos good. Immunity to corrosion means that they are immune to bile thrall purges, you can give them +2 SPD and shield wall and shoot and they hit and do damage with signs and portents. Also the sprays are really good with signs and portents and you can have the Behemoth throw the flamethrower dudes like fire causing grenades. I really like it and I think it's outside the box. It pairs really well with the Butcher list, I think it handles cryx like a boss. Only thing I'm not sure about is how it pairs with anything that isn't Butcher3. 

Caine2 Tactica

Of all the Cygnar casters the one I love the most and the one that I think is the most competitive (better than Haley2 in my opinion) is Caine2. I love him to pieces and I have the most play experience with him out of the Cygnar casters.

Spells and Abilities

Caine has some excellent army support spells in his bag in Blur and Heightened Reflexes but by far the best thing he does to support his army is shoot a unit dead every turn. His feat is a useful assassination threat but it should never be the be all and end all of his game. It is more useful as a threat than as a mainstay of your game plan. Focus on killing troops and projecting threat, if your opponent leaves him self open for the feat by all means take it but it is generally more useful in forcing your opponent to camp focus, find cover or other defensive bonuses or just stay further back where his ability to influence the game is lessened.

Army Composition

Squire, Reinholdt and Rangers. These are auto includes in any Caine build. Rangers are just awesome all round but the extra +2 on Caine's feat turn will often buy you 2 more shots (when he's taking 10), since the POW goes up with every hit these will be the high POW shots, the POW 20+s. Reinholdt is the best one point imaginable for Caine and the Squire is how you get up to 10 shots on feat turn.

Since Caine is going to be shooting all the infantry dead you don't need any infantry clearing in his army, what you need is a jack that uses an absolute minimum of focus (0 preferably) and pieces that can crack ARM without warcaster support. Highly recommended are Forge Guard and the 4 arm fixers Cygnar has access to (Aiyana and Holt, Ragman, Eiryss to shoot off upkeeps like arcane shield and defenders ward and Gorman for Rust). Alexia and the Risen are also a great asset for him. Alexia with 20 risen will kill most heavies dead. You charge then buy 10 boosted attacks.

Other than that if you are looking for synergy Boomholwers are dumb with heightened reflexes. 4+ tough and they are not knocked down makes the unit a massive pain to chew through. Don't take them if you feel you are compromising your ability to crack ARM. Ol'Rowdy is a particularly good choice for a jack, he has high power attacks, runs for free and charges for free. Counter charge is a particularly good ability.

The other thing you can do when you have a troop swarm like Caine favours is to go though tough and recursion route. When you have a lot of tough models you can force your opponent to spend a lot of resources killing them, particularly when units like Boomhowlers are 4+ tough. If you combine this with Alexia you also get the dead models coming back as risen. The combination of the two makes it even harder than normal to fight through a troop swarm. One of the ways to get tough is through the piper (Rhupert Carvolo) and he also grants fearless which I would say is essential for a troop swarm. We have all been in games where a failed command check takes important models out of the game, particularly if they are the only models contesting the scenario.

Things to Avoid

I'm going to talk about the things I occassionally see with Caine that I don't think suit his play style. I'm going to skip over things you never see that are also bad choices like trenchers or Hammerfall High Shields.

Gun Mages. Gun mages are very good at shooting infantry models, particularly incorporeal and stealth models. Caine shoots exactly the same targets but better. When you add in the shots from the rangers you have plenty of infantry clearing at range. Save the gun mages for a deadeye caster and take some ARM cracking instead. Boomholwers and Forge guard and Alexia also have no problem killing infantry models either if you need it. EDIT: I should add that I don't mind gun mages if you are going double hunter. The gun mages are awesome jack marshals for the hunters and the hunters give you some long range punching power against high ARM.

Storm nouns. Caine is the best grind caster in the game because no matter how much damage your opponent does to your army Caine will still be there shooting the crap out of stuff. He can feat to remove a heavy and even without the feat will still kill most casters. 5 Boosted POW 12 shots are a problem for most casters, especially when they are coming in at RAT 11. Storm nouns die too easy, yes you can put arcane shield on them but you can also arcane shield forge guard. Go for the more survivable models to give Caine the time he needs to grind out your opponent.

Stormwall. That thing is a focus hog and Caine wants that focus. He does nothing to support it so you need to bring that in and he doesn't give the forwards momentum that Caine wants. Caine wants he army to press into his opponent so he can sit just behind it murdering infantry and forcing the opposing caster to worry about the feat assassination. Stormwall wants to sit back and shoot and force models to come to him. He's not a match for Caine2 put him in your other list.

Tips for Playing Him

Go first if you can. Get into the scenario zones as deep as you can and keep pressing forwards. AVOID LOW PERCENTAGE ASSASSINATIONS! That has to be the biggest mistake I see with Caine, players get fixated on getting the feat off and often use it when the enemy caster is in cover or camping a lot or both. Work out the maths in your head. If you need 5s to hit you are going to miss two shots, if you need 6s to hit you are going to miss 3 shots. If the POW of your final shot is two below the ARM of the opposing caster then you aren't going to make it. If you need to boost to hit remember that you only get 5 shots, if you need to boost both only 3 shots. As soon as the assassination looks unlikely pull out. If your assassination is close to the border line and you miss the first shot pull out immediately, figure out where the feat shots will do the most damage, shoot there and save 3 to gatecrasher to safety.

Other Playstyles

I know some people are talking about Tempest Blazers with him and I don't dislike it. Put blur on the unit, send it out on a flank and get behind your opponents models. Having Caine in front of your army and tempest blazers behind is a nightmare. They don't fit into the list I have built for him but if anyone ever runs a tournament with reinforcements then they are straight in the list.

I'll mention here also although I dislike the list, the avenger assassination tactic. If you take an Avenger and marshal to gun mages and take a Trencher Master Gunner you can push models around with the gun mages to get the opposing warcaster in AOE range of the Avenger and if there is nothing in between you can snipe the Avenger and just shoot straight at the caster. You can also use the avenger to just shoot screening models to ensure Caine has LOS to the caster. Caine's feat works a lot better against a knocked down caster. I don't like the tactic because it places too much focus on assassination and you are picking options that make your list worse at attrition to make it better at assassination. Caine doesn't need to be any better at assassination but he does need to have a good attrition game in order to ensure that assassination is on the table.

My List


Cygnar
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
47 models

[00] Captain Allister Caine (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Squire
[09]  >> Ol' Rowdy
[03] Journeyman Warcaster
[05] Rangers
[02] Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Ragman
[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
[09] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (9 grunts)
[05] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (9)
[08] Horgenhold Forge Guard (9 grunts)
[04] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

This list is shamelessly stolen from Keith Christiansen who is my Mercs/Cygnar guru. I used to have a thing against playing lists other people had come up with but I've changed my opinion. I want to play fun lists and I want to talk about my lists with other players. I'm not going to avoid playing a fun list just because someone else has come up with it and boy is this list fun. Having your warcaster just obliterate stuff is just amazing. I had a game against Cryx where Caine killed two pistol wriaths, the entire withershadow combine, more than half a unit of mechanithrals, a Krakken and Asphyxious3. That was my first game with this list. My other games have had similar results. I will warn you though that around turn 3-4 of Caine just destroying everything it starts becoming impossible to hold in the pew pew noises. 

In this list the Boomholwers are 4+ tough no knock down, the forge guard are ARM 21 and tough, anything that dies comes back as a zombie and you have all 4 ARM debuffs. Apply all of them to a colossal (say a Krakken) and Caine will kill it without feating. Boomholwers with shoot a colossal to death. Even just one or two and the Forge Guard and charging Boomhowlers will get the job done. That redundancy is what makes the list so good at cracking ARM, you can probably kill one or two ARM fixers but you aren't going to kill all 4, not until they've done what they are in the list to do. 

Match ups and Pairings

The list has very few bad match ups. It really wants to avoid anything that can remove tough and RFP and casters Caine can't assassinate (there are a few). The only character that really bugs me when it comes to pairing is Reinholdt. Too many casters want that guy, all the rest of the characters here I can live without in any other list. If you are willing to run Caine against Ravyn and other assassiny (definitely a word) casters and just keep him in his deployment zone until the assassination is gone then you can go with Haley2 or Nemo1 or Nemo2. They all run jack heavy very well. Kraye too can run double Stormwall quite well.

Inter Mountain Cup

The Inter Mountain Cup was run at the same time as Mayhem and it was won by Chain Attack's Scott Wray. His lists:


Tier 4 Shore Leave
Pirate Queen Skarre -6

• Harrower 10
• Leviathan 9
• Skarlock Thrall 2

Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8
Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8
Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 5 Grunts) 5
Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 5 Grunts) 5
General Gerlak Slaughterborn 3
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Satyxis Raider Captain 2
Satyxis Raider Captain 2

This is an interesting theme fore, the Harrower and Leviathan get advance deployment, the Bloodgorgers get advance move and the Satyxis already have advance deployment and are stupid fast. This list gets up in your face fast and then Skarre feats you to death. I really like it and I'm surprised more people don't play this theme force. I suppose last year jam wasn't as powerful as it is this year.

Tier 4 Witching Hour
Warwitch Deneghra -5

• Nightwretch 4
• Ripjaw (free)
• Ripjaw 5
• Scavenger 4
• Stalker 4
• Harrower 10
• Harrower 10
• Skarlock Thrall 2

Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Pistol Wraith 3
Pistol Wraith 3
Warwitch Siren 2
Warwitch Siren 2
Warwitch Siren 2
Warwitch Siren 2

Another theme force you don't see much of. Again warwitch sirens get advance deployment, the heavies get advance deployment. There are arcnodes up the wazoo, warwitch sirens to run all the jacks, two pistol wraiths to combine with the warwitch sirens and crippling grasp and the feat to ensure your opponent can never do anything. I really like it and I really like to see a good jack heavy cryx army. From Scotts comments this list is designed to take a colossal out of the game, make sure it can never do anything without necessarily killing it.

Lich Lord Terminus -4

• Kraken 19
• Skarlock Thrall 2

Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) 5
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls 2
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls 2
Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 9 Grunts) 6
Satyxis Blood Hag 2
The Withershadow Combine 5
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist 2
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
Ragman 2
Saxon Orrik 2
Warwitch Siren 2

Not a standard terminus build. You still have the full unit of mechthralls and double necrosurgeons so you still get the tough recycling machanithralls but it only has one full unit then blood witches, the hag in particular is a big help on Terminus feat turn to ensure the maximum amount of souls. Withershadow for the free upkeep of Malediction. Then there is pathfinder from Saxon some fixers in Ragman and Gorman and the Warwitch Siren to run the Kraken (as sad as that sounds) it can get 3 focus on feat turn pretty easily. The Krakken is a good partner for Terminus because it is so beefy. You need the same things to kill the Krakken as you need to kill Terminus so if you can trade the Krakken for those models then there is nothing left that can kill Terminus and you win.

I have not listened to Chain Attacks review of the cup yet so I may update this after I've gone through that.

Mayhem Cup - WIll Pagani

Mayhem Cup data is up on End Game Gaming (I love that site) and as usual I will talk about the winning lists, especially as one of the winning lists was Morvhanna2.


Morvahna the Dawnshadow
    * Warpwolf Stalker
    * Warpwolf Stalker
    * Gorax
Warpborn Skinwalkers Max
    * Warpborn Alpha
Wolves of Orboros Max
    * Wolves of Orboros Chieftain and Standard
Shifting Stones
    * Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Wolf Lord Morraig
Gallows Grove
Gallows Grove

The wolves are probably the thing that would throw people about this list but with powerful charge they are MAT 8 so they go to MAT 10 with Carnivore. They are a great cheap unit to help you trigger imperishable conviction. With her feat you guarantee that you can use power swell. Damage rerolls can really help when you have 4 dice and with concealment they are DEF 15 against ranged attacks. The Skinwalkers are a more obvious choice, you bring them back with all their wounds. Double Stalker and Gorax is a pretty standard self contained package as a battle group. You don't need any other support and with Scales of Fate you can make sure you trigger sprint. Both Stalkers also get stealth from Fog of War. Wolf Lord Morraig also gets stealth from fog of war and flanks with the wolves of Orboros. With his speed he can get a lot of work done.  Gallows Groves are a must particularly as you can bring them back to wherever you need with the feat.

Kromac the Ravenous
    * Ghetorix
    * Warpwolf Stalker
    * Feral Warpwolf
    * Gorax
    * Druid Wilder
Druid Stoneward and Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward and Woldstalkers
Shifting Stones
    * Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Gallows Grove
Gallows Grove
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

This list is pretty standard Kromac. Hit an run using lightning strike and warpath and using the tankyness of the Feral and Stalker. Be interesting to see if the Feral stays in this list when the new Satyr is released. 

The fact that you can play this pairing is almost enough to make me pick up circle. It doesn't help that I always like Will's lists. I think it says a lot about Morvhanna2 that the week she was released she was one of the winning lists at a very large tournament (Mayhem had 100+ players). This by the way is the tournament my tournament is based on. 

Templecon and Haley2 Double Stormwall

Something I wanted to point out as a trend from other players at Templecon.

Marc-Andre Leblanc - 3rd in Standard Issue, 5th in Masters.
Major Victoria Haley

• Stormwall
• Stormwall
• Squire

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Journeyman Warcaster

Chris Root - 5th in Standard Issue
Major Victoria Haley

• Stormwall
• Stormwall
• Squire

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

• Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer

Journeyman Warcaster
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Stormsmith Stormcaller

Billy Robin - 7th in Masters (and I think he won something else)
Major Victoria Haley

• Stormwall
• Stormwall
• Squire

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

• Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer

Black 13^th  Gun Mage Strike Team
Journeyman Warcaster

That's one of the lists of every Cygnar player whos lists are available. Everyone who did well at Templecon with Cygnar was rocking Haley2 double Stormwall. This is almost entirely Billy Robin from the Texas Renegades (and the podcast Road to War)'s fault. It seems though that Haley double stormwall is now a list that is going to keep popping up at tournaments. So I'm going to explain a bit about it.

How does it work - Bond + temporal acceleration = SPD 9 Colossal. Arcane shield goes on one (the bonded one), they both get the benefit of Deceleration taking the bonded one to ARM 24 against shooting and the other one to ARM 21 against shooting. You can make a line about 16-19" wide that no model can advance through without taking a POW 12 damage roll making you relatively safe from infantry. You use the feat, your SPD and your hitting power to remove as much stuff as possible, taking out anything that can take out an arcane shielded stormwall. Gun mages with deadeye if needed kill all the enemy infantry safely from behind the covering fire templates and they are DEF 17 if your opponent tries to shoot them (from Deceleration). Now the bottom list of the two I posted doesn't have the B13th so it's wrong. I generally don't like to say a list is wrong but in this case I'm pretty confident about that. If you take them out your wall drops to 12-14" (and you lose some high RAT shots and the ability to let your Stormwalls shoot stealth models), I think that's alright if you are going to add in something with a lot of utility like Eiryss2, Gorman, Aiyana and Holt, Anastasia Di Bray or even some mechanics but for a gun mage captain adept I think that is a big mistake (the two Stormcallers aren't bad though). 

What should you take against it? - Strangely enough even though my description included a Stormwall at ARM 24 this isn't the meta bending list for ARM cracking, it gets worse. Bartolo Montador is capable of fielding two ARM 24 Galleons and they are both ARM 24 all the time, to shooting and melee. So if you are building a 50 point list to crack ARM that's the one you have to build for. If you have a list that can crack that much ARM then take that list here and you should be fine. Unless it's based on single woumd weapon masters in which case those covering fire templates are a problem. Other than that standard colossal tech applies. Countermeasured boomhowlers are an option, shooting Haley is going to be hard with Deceleration up but it can be done if you can shoot through the colossals. She needs to be further forward that usual to hand out temporal acceleration and deadeyes.

The good news is (though I'm stretching the definition of good) is that this list is prevalent enough that people will net-deck against it. This list and the other meta benders (Asphixious2, Bart Galleon, winterguard death star, and the Harbinger gun line) tend to grab attention and so people plan for them. It reduces their effectiveness at a tournament level, not enough to make them bad but enough to make them less ball breaking. The other good news (stretching even further) is that this list is really hard to play. You make a mistake with your stormwall and it's gone and that's half your army. Give it up cheaply and your opponent will still have enough left to kill the other one. The thing that I dislike about this list is that it is not fun to play against, it's possibly the least fun list to face in the game. I think Asphixious2 and Bart Double Galleon are probably better lists but both are much more fun to play against. 

Templecon Masters Winning Lists

From endgamgegaming. Mike Puryear was the winner (came second at warmachine weekend). My comments after the lists.

The Harbinger of Menoth
    * Devout
    * Reckoner
    * Redeemer
    * Repenter
Choir of Menoth Min
Exemplar Errants Max
    * Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard
Visigoth Juviah Rhoven and Honor Guard
Vessel of Judgement
The Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Wracks

The devout is something I think Menoth will see more of in 2013. It brings shield gaurd, spell ward and defensive strike to protect its warcaster. With Harbinger in particular it can't be slammed through her or knock otherwise be use to knock her down so that removes its biggest drawback. Errents, Covenant, Rhupert with Harbinger I have talked about before. Vessel also helps with that and it brings some boosted shooting that doesn't use Harbinger's focus. Rhoven brings some help against stealth/clouds.

Feora, Protector of the Flame
    * Reckoner
    * Reckoner
    * Judicator
Choir of Menoth Min
Holy Zealots Max
    * Monolith Bearer
Temple Flameguard Max
Vassal Mechanik
Vassal of Menoth
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Epic Feora with a Judicator. All the Judicators AOEs cause fire, and it can be allocated 4 focus and she speeds it up and she can ignite it. Reckoners help it hit (if you need direct hits with the AOE guns). Reckoners are also just awesome. Temple Flameguard can hopefully set more things on fire before she feats.

Intercessor Kreoss
    * Fires of Salvation
    * Crusader
    * Redeemer
Exemplar Errants Max
    * Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard
Exemplar Vengers Max
Exemplar Vengers Max
Choir of Menoth Min
Vassal of Menoth

This one is interesting. Double Vengers will scrap any colossal. It's also incredibly fast and has shenanigans. It's also very magic resistant. The thing I especially like about this list in the current meta is fast, blessed, weaponmasters. They even get a 5th dice and drop the lowest. They do not care about ARM stacking.

Comments in general - At Warmachine Weekend both of Mike Puryear's lists were Menoth gunlines. Now only the Harbinger list is a true gunline. I think SR2013 has gone part of the way to beating the gunline out of the Meta and I think people are starting to expect it as well. Hopefully this year will be different than last year and won't see the total gunline domination that last year brought.

James Moorehouse Cancon

Cancon was last weekend, James Moorehouse took out Masters with his circle. I love looking at tournament winning lists and in particular James' lists. Anyway it was a US style event, you qualified for masters by winning one of the earlier events at the Con. James won The Usual to qualify, came second in last call (losing to the epic butcher doom reaver spam list) and won masters itself here are the lists:

The Usual (Plus Kromac for Masters)

Cassius
-Wurmwood
-Gorax
-Feral Warpwolf
-Warpwolf Stalker
Gallows Grove
Blackclad
Shifting Stones
Shifting Stones + UA
Max Tharn Ravagers + UA
Max Bloodtrackers + UA
Max Farrow Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers

Reinforcements:
-Pureblood Warpwolf
Gallows Grove

--------------------------

eKreuger
-Gorax
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Ghetorix
-Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Gallows Grove
Shifting Stones
Shifting Stones +UA
Druids + UA
Woldstalkers
Woldstalkers

Reinforcements:
Lord of the Feast
Min Wolf Riders

--------------------------

Kromac
-Gorax
-Pureblood Warpwolf
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Warpwolf Stalker
Blackclad
Gallows Grove
Shifting Stones
Shifting Stones +UA
Woldstalkers
Woldstalkers
Swamp Gobbers

Reinforcements:
Min Tharn Ravagers + UA
Blackclad

---------------------------

Last Call

eBaldur
-Woldwrath
-Megalith
Celestial Fulcrum

Reinforcements:
Lord of the feast
Blackclad wayfarer
Gallows Grove

------------

Morvahna
-Gorax
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Ghetorix
Gallows Grove
Max Bloodtrackers +UA
Shifting Stones
Shifting Stones +UA

Reinforcements:
Blackclad Wayfarer
Woldstalkers

My Comments on the lists:

Cassius - close to the Cassius list I want to play (been saying that I want to play Cassius for a while now). The only difference is I had a Wilder instead of a blackclad and a Woldwarden instead of a Feral. I think I like the Feral better now that you may have to deal with colossals.

Kruegar2 - With sprint on the Stalker and Ghettorix and telekinesis and druids and the feat you can hit and run really successfully here. Stormwall + that much shooting + beasts retreating looks painful. There are also so many assassination angles and other shenanigans you can pull with this list. 

Kromac - Another caster I really want to play. So many shenanigans, lots of anti-colossal tools too (though none of the lists will auto lose to a colossal they are pretty well balanced). I'd have Ghettorix in this list, I assume character restrictions keep him out.

Baldur2 - now we get to the funky stuff. Megalith is needed to heal Baldur. Baldur can heal constructs and his feat ARM buffs the Woldwrath. His defensive schtick helps him get forward and Baldur can close out the game himself. 

Morvhana - Once the UA comes out for the warpborn skinwalkers I would want them in her list at least at 50 points. At 35 recycling Bloodtrackers are going to be a massive pain, especially when they shoot and back up. Restoration on Ghettorix makes him tank very hard. Morvhana loses to anyone with purification so she is an excellent partner for Baldur2 who doesn't care at all about purification. 

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.

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. 

Cassius

This is Crump's list which he used to qualify for masters at GENCON. He also played Cassius in the masters where he came fourth but GENCON masters was 75 points.


Circle Orboros
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
38 models

[00] Cassius the Oathkeeper (0 / 6 WB)
[00]  >> Wurmwood, Tree of Fate (Companion)
[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker
[09]  >> Woldwarden
[04]  >> Gorax
[02] Shifting Stones
[01]  >> Stone Keeper
[02] Shifting Stones
[09] Tharn Ravagers (5 grunts)
[02]  >> Tharn Ravager Chieftain
[02] Saxon Orrik
[02] Farrow Bone Grinders (3 grunts)
[06] Farrow Slaughterhousers
[06] Farrow Slaughterhousers
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

The bellows crew is important as you can use it to give the tree or the Stalker stealth. The woldwarden animus can do the same thing (generally you'll have the Woldwarden forward with the Stalker and the Bellows Crew back with Wurmwood). The Woldwarden does a similar job to the Gallows Groves, allowing you to get your spells out when you don't want to teleport otherwise the bone grinders give you extra spell range and you can move forward to cast your spells and teleport back. Tharn Ravagers are DEF 15 in a forest and ignore the terrain penalties to LOS and movement and can move through other models in the forest (both the one made by Cassius feat and the Woldwarden). The chieftain makes them POW 15 on the charge and gives them advance deployment. The other trick you can do in this list is that you can kill your own models for more souls on Wurmwood. In particular you can kill the bonegrinders. 

I also think if you don't like slaughterhousers (or don't have them) you can take Nyss Hunters or Blood Trackers without losing a great deal as those are both spectacular units, they also give you another two points for another solo, you can actually drop Saxon Orrik as well as he's mainly there to give the slaughterhousers pathfinder and you have 4 points for two solos or a lord of the feast. The reason slaughterhousers are in there is because they are so toolboxy (to continue my trend of making up words). Take Down gets rid of soul collecting or corpse collecting shenanigans and stops tough, powerful charge makes them MAT 8 on a charge and if you put some damage on a beast/jack they become weaponmasters, they also have reach which again is very useful in some circumstances. That and they can hang back and give Cassius some much needed protection and they have tough so they can be a pain to get through.

Here's the 75 point list because what the hey:

Circle Orboros

Standard Army

PCs: 75 / 75

56 models

[00] Cassius the Oathkeeper (0 / 6 WB)

[00]  >> Wurmwood, Tree of Fate (Companion)

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[09]  >> Woldwarden

[04]  >> Gorax

[01] Gallows Grove

[01] Gallows Grove

[03] Tharn Ravager White Mane

[03] Sentry Stone & Mannikins

[02] Shifting Stones

[01]  >> Stone Keeper

[02] Shifting Stones

[08] Tharn Bloodtrackers (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Nuala the Huntress

[09] Tharn Ravagers (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Tharn Ravager Chieftain

[03] Farrow Bone Grinders (5 grunts)

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

[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Warmachine Weekend - Menoth (2nd Place lists)

So these were very nearly the winning lists. In the final (Severius1 v Caine2) the menoth player went for a slightly dodgy assassination against Caine. At one stage he was shooting at Caine with a Redeemer needing 14 to hit decided not to boost and rolled a double 6 hitting automatically. He then needed to roll a 14 on the damage roll to kill Caine, boosted and rolled exactly 14. However it was then that the other player noticed that the choir bonus had been used on 3 jacks and there were only 2 choir members left alive. The game was being filmed so they checked the tape and found that the choir had not been activated. Caine was restored 4 health (he had been hit twice by menoth jacks) and the game continued with Cygnar winning.

I wanted to put up these lists because they are almost exactly what I would play if I played Menoth.

Protectorate of Menoth
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
Reinforcements: 10 / 10
36 models

[00] The Harbinger of Menoth (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[08]  >> Reckoner
[08]  >> Reckoner
[06]  >> Redeemer
[02] The Covenant of Menoth
[01] Vassal Mechanik
[01] Vassal Mechanik
[02] Vassal of Menoth
[02] Choir of Menoth (3 grunts)
[08] Exemplar Errants (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard
[09] Vessel of Judgement
[02] Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
[04] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

[03] (R) High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
[02] (R) Paladin of the Order of the Wall

[05] (R) Daughters of the Flame

Protectorate of Menoth

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

Reinforcements: 10 / 10

37 models

[00] Grand Scrutator Severius (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[08]  >> Reckoner

[06]  >> Redeemer

[06]  >> Redeemer

[01] Vassal Mechanik

[02] Choir of Menoth (3 grunts)

[08] Exemplar Errants (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard

[09] Vessel of Judgement

[09] Vessel of Judgement

[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

[05] (R) Daughters of the Flame

[05] (R) Daughters of the Flame

The fourth place player (Jason Watt) was also playing Menoth but though I have seen what purports to be his lists they don't add up to enough points so I won't post them. I will say that what I have seen is the same two casters with marginally different lists. It's Sev1 in theme force and Harbinger has slightly more of a melee focus. Both lists contain reckoners, both lists contain the choir, both lists contain vassals.

The idea behind these style of Menoth lists is to shoot the living crap out of your opponent and then smash whatever is left over in melee. One point I do want to make first is that both lists are very similar, though that might be intentional. I believe this tournament was divide and conquer format which requires you to take each list twice, that means you may be forced into using the list that would normally be your second choice for a key match up or the final so you want to make sure that both of your lists can take anything. Both of these lists are very generalised, they can take jacks and infantry and have very few bad match ups. I'll note that both Cygnar lists had the ability to deal with a variety of lists as well. 

I wanted to go into a bit more detail on a couple of things.

Reckoners - Easily the best jack in the game for its points. It always has Ashen Veil (concealment and -2 to hit for living models within 2" - basically 12 DEF). It has assault. It has a Range 12 gun with high POW (with choir anyway) that also lowers you DEF when hit and has critical fire. It has reach, and it has a melee weapon with good P+S. It's faster than most menoth jacks at SPD 5 and somehow is only worth 8 points. When you add in things like Vassals enabling you to move away from attacks and Menoth spells like Eye of Menoth or Defenders Ward then you can really get it to sing.

Rhupert Carvolo - he does two things. He takes your menoth units which are already loaded with special rules to make them more painful to kill and gives them tough. Also he has pathfinder which is an issue for Menoth. He can also give +1 DEF to your unit with holy/defenders ward so they get +3 DEF total.

Aiyana and Holt - so with shooting becoming more important in the game with the advent of Colossals Aiyana and Holt are also becoming more prevalent. They do two things; they can give you a damage bonus against a single enemy or they can give something magical weapons. This is quite important in a ranged heavy list as there are a lot of things that shut down non-magical shooting. The choir for example. Also things like wind wall, impervious wall and incorporeal also require magical shooting.

Severius - I want to play this caster for a few reasons. Firstly I want to see what it's like to play a caster that does not have a feat. Alright technically there is a feat on his card but it's much more of a trap than a useful tool. It seems like it has the ability to stop your opponent from replenishing focus but in order to do that you need to have Severius within 16" of your opponents caster and that is way too close. He has almost no defensive tricks and some of the worst stats in the game. While this sounds like it would be bad he has a very very strong spell list. Eye of Menoth (how is that an upkeep?) Defenders ward, Vision, Ashes to Ashes (at POW 12 if you take his personal character jack) and he has 8 focus.

Harbinger - Purification breaks the game a little bit and Harbinger has 20" of it. From your deployment zone she can purify across the other half of the table (and really that's where she should be). She can also allocate to jacks 20" away and you need to be using most of those 20". Her army is fast and she can martyr important models and allocate a lot of focus to her jacks. 

Khador Warmachine Weekend (3rd Jamie Perkins)

Menoth came second but that's going to be a longer post so I'll leave it for now. Just wanted to highlight the Khador lists of the player who came third.

Khador
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
Reinforcements: 10 / 10
42 models

[00] Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador (0 / 3 WJ remaining)
[00]  >> Scrapjack (Companion)
[13]  >> Behemoth
[10]  >> Spriggan
[08] Kayazy Assassins (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Kayazy Assassin Underboss
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)
[04] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

[08] (R) Iron Fang Pikemen (9 grunts)
[02] (R)  >> Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard


Khador
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
Reinforcements: 10 / 10
53 models

[00] Kommandant Irusk (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
[19]  >> Conquest
[02] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
[02] Battle Mechaniks (3 grunts)
[05] Great Bears of Gallowswood
[08] Kayazy Assassins (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Kayazy Assassin Underboss
[04] Widowmakers
[06] Winter Guard Infantry (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard
[02]  >> Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeer (2 Rocketeers)
[02] Saxon Orrik


[08] (R) Iron Fang Pikemen (9 grunts)
[02] (R)  >> Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard

Two casters with iron flesh, each caster has Kayazy and a high DEF character unit (technically Winterguard aren't a character unit but I'm counting Kovnik Joe who is required to make winterguard good). So there are two high DEF infantry units in each list. Both are infantry focussed casters with Iron Flesh and the Conquest with Superiority is pretty awesome. 

Warmachine Weekend

Keith Christianson won Warmachine Weekend with Cygnar. It's pretty rare to see Cygnar do so well so I wanted to have a look at his lists. I had been predicting that Cygnar would be a lot more competitive now that they have the Stormwall but until now that had not materialised.


Cygnar
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
47 models

[00] Captain Allister Caine (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Squire
[09]  >> Ol' Rowdy
[03] Journeyman Warcaster
[05] Rangers
[02] Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Ragman
[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
[09] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (9 grunts)
[05] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (9)
[08] Horgenhold Forge Guard (9 grunts)
[04] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt


[01] (R) Stormsmith Stormcaller
[01] (R) Stormsmith Stormcaller
[06] (R) Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
[02]  >> (R) Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer



I love this list, I'm going to have to try it at some point. It's designed to crack high ARM and in particular shoot down a colossal without using Caine's feat. There are 3 armour debuffs here the idea being that even if you do your best to protect these key models you can always expect your opponent to be able to kill one, with 3 debuffs you still can apply two ARM debuffs as well as having Eiryss shoot off any buffs your opponent has put on the model. It also works equally well on Trolls and Skorne who can put down a lot of high ARM beasts and Menoth who can put down a jack wall. It has a massive wave of tough infantry, you can put arcane shield on Boomhowlers, heightened reflexes on the forge guard (with tough from Carvolo) and Blur on the rangers and pretty much everything becomes a massive pain to kill. While your opponent is dealing with that you have time to move Caine in position to assassinate or you can use his feat to destroy key pieces and attrition your opponent out of the game with your infantry horde. It's got a great mix of ranged and melee, it's fantastic at dealing with the menoth gun lines that have become very popular (and which it faced in the final).


Cygnar
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
25 models

[00] Major Victoria Haley (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Squire
[19]  >> Stormwall
[02] Captain Arlan Strangewayes
[03] Journeyman Warcaster
[01] Stormsmith Stormcaller
[01] Stormsmith Stormcaller
[06] Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
[02]  >> Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
[06]  >> Hunter
[04]  >> Sentinel
[04] Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
[05] Rangers


[02] (R) Anastasia Di Bray
[08] (R) Horgenhold Forge Guard (9 grunts)

This is a pretty standard epic Haley list, only with the tarpit infantry unit she usually brings (Steelheads or Stormguard) replaced by more shooting. The Stormwall bonded to epic Haley is ludicrously good. +2 SPD on a colossal is huge as is the ability to give it 4 focus. This list is designed to shoot the crap out of everything and use Haleys feat to get an extra turn of shooting the crap out of everything. You have everything you need to make the colossal sing, stormcallers, Journeyman Warcaster and a Sentinel which has shield guard to dive in front of the colossal and save it from any shooting that's going to hold it up. The Sentinel marshalled to the gun mages is really great too as you get the rune shot ability on every shot (it has a d6 shots). Not enough to justify it's points cost by itself but now that the shield guard rule has been fixed it's become a good useful jack again. Haley's arc-node has also been replaced with more shooting but she does also have a Sentinel to shield guard her for some protection. 

I have not taken Cygnar to a lot of tournaments (just 1 normal two list tournament if you don't count highlander events) but when I did I took Haley2 and Caine2. I think they are a great match, Haley is the scenario caster and Caine the assassination caster. Haley is a far back support caster and Caine is an aggressive super-solo who wants to be shooting at his opponents every turn. With this configuration Haley shreds infantry while Caine cracks ARM. It gives you fantastic balance between your two lists. Also the tools you need to kill an infantry horde are very different to the tools you need to take down an arcane shielded colossal so it makes life difficult for you opponent. If both your lists are infantry hordes then your opponent can safely pick whichever list of his is best at taking down infantry. This way you make your opponent make a more difficult choice. 

Khador

Ratmen - http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?297863-Ratmen-list

Wanted to try to organise my thoughts on Khador as a faction. I'll start off with What I think is a quintessential Khador list. This one is Jamie Perkins Old Witch list. Jamie has been very successful with this list or close variations of it.

• Old Witch & Scrapjack
  • Spriggan
  • Behemoth
• Nyss Hunters (max)
• Kayazy Assassins(max)
  • Underboss
• Lady Aiyana and Master Holt
• Gorman di Wulfe
• Eiryss, Angel of the Retribution (epic Eiryss)
• Reinholdt

Reserves

• Iron Fang Pikemen
  • Officer and Standard

The old witch has two DEF buffs, Iron Flesh and Wealed Secrets (which grants camouflage and will take the Nyss up to DEF 19 in a forest, Kayazy will be at 19 in combat and have stealth). It has two jacks (plus the scrapjack which comes with the caster), the maximum I think you can take with Khador and they both do something to mitigate the lack of threat range of khador jacks. Good lists are looking to ask questions or answer questions, this one asks a question - can you deal with 21 models with unhittable DEF? That's typical of Khador, can you deal with DEF 19 Kayazy with stealth, can you deal with a full unit of winterguard with DEF 17 and boosted sprays? Speaking of winterguard the reason why they are not in this list is because of character restrictions. The winterguard go with epic Sorscha, normal Irusk or the Butcher (normal not epic).

Why is high DEF so good?

I'll start by explaining why high ARM isn't that good. You have a built in buff to help with ARM, charging, that means that infantry, particularly weapon master infantry really have no trouble taking out models with higher ARM. Also beasts and jacks have higher P+S and the ability to boost. If you combine high ARM with multiple damage boxes then you can cause problems. High DEF doesn't need that. Average MAT and RAT is 6, and the top base MAT or RAT is 9, beasts, jacks and even casters do not have higher numbers. That's a much smaller spread than for P+S (Base P+S go from 8-22), there is also no built in buff to hit. You don't get an extra dice to hit when charging and while aiming may get you +2 on your ranged attacks you have to forfeit your movement to do it which lessens your ability to put attacks on a target (charging generally increases the number of attacks you can make) you still have problems with stealth and even at RAT 8 or 9 you will miss more than half your shots against DEF 17 or higher.

High DEF is DEF 17 or higher, it's the point where even when you have your beasts and jacks boosting you will still miss more than half of your attacks, where you'll need more than two attacks and two boosts for one hit. It's also the point where you are essentially immune to normal infantry. At MAT/RAT 6 you hit only 1 in 12 attacks against DEF 17 and cannot hit DEF 19 Kayazy at all. Even with an army like Everblight which is loaded with fury management and mostly beasts you cannot get through a unit of Kayazy if you are paying 3-5 fury for every single kill. The only way to deal with high DEF is to take models that have abilities to deal with high DEF. I've talked about that before and I think what I wrote there is still pretty valid. Even against models with lots of wounds DEF is still very important, a DEF 13 Colossal will take nearly twice as many average attacks to take down as a DEF 10 one, if you don't have a MAT buff even middle of the range DEF on models with a lot of wounds becomes an issue.

Lastly most of the things that can remove the spells/animi that are giving you high DEF or ARM require that you hit the target. Eiryss can easily strip off an armour buff but will struggle to remove iron flesh particularly from Kayazy (stealth). The same goes for hex blast the spell, or other models with dispel on their weapons.

What does this have to do with Khador?

Khador is unique among factions in that a large chunk of khador players including most of the top players break this faction down largely to one spell and that is iron flesh. Half of the Khador casters have it and the casters with iron flesh see much more game time than those without. Those that do not have iron flesh, if they are played at all, are second or third choice casters to provide some variety and take on different threats in a tournament (most players now know to take a list that can handle high DEF so it's good to bring something different as a backup list). Khador largely rely on their high DEF to cause issues at tournaments and it has for the reasons above been a very successful tactic.

Also the two best units in Khador (at least the two best full size units) are without a doubt Kayazy and Winterguard. A full unit of winterguard with UA put out 15 8" sprays with all attacks rolls boosted at POW 10 or can make normal POW 12 ranged attacks with the ability to CRA as well and three range 14 rocket shots (AOE 3). Iron flesh gets them to DEF 17 and if they don't need boosts to hit then Kovnik Joe can give them tough instead. Kayazy have stealth and duellist  gang and good mat so they hit anything and gang also takes them to respectable POW 12 so again they will shred infantry. Lastly they have kill stroke and parry which allows them to charge straight through your front line so they can kill your support, or midline casters, their good MAT and gang making them perfect for killing casters.

Khador can't do high ARM

One thing a lot of new players tend to think is that Khador is slow and high ARM. The problem is that Khador can't do high ARM, while they do have ARM 25 jacks, they are only ARM 25 as long as they don't make any attacks or they go to ARM 17. If you actually want your stuff to do anything Khador can only do ARM 20 and 21 as they have no ARM buffs (only one feat which doesn't really count, even then other factions have better ARM boosting feats). ARM 21 is not high ARM particularly when you are talking about infantry (shocktroopers) even POW 12 attacks will damage to ARM 21 models.

Most factions can do high ARM better than khador or at the very least as well - Trolls can give all their heavies ARM 22 and 23, their infantry ARM 20 and still be fast enough to get across the table, Menoth can give the Avatar ARM 23, Legion can get to the equivalent of ARM 22 with all their heavies, both minion factions can take their melee heavies to ARM 21, Circle can take the Wold Guardian to ARM 23 and Megalith to ARM 22, Skorne can get Cetrati to ARM 22 and 24 against shooting (again not counting feats). Even Retribution of Scyrah can put inviolable resolve on their colossal and take it to higher ARM and more damage boxes than the khador colossal. Then we get to the stuff that I actually consider high ARM - Skorne can use an agoniser, defenders ward and a Sentry or Tiberion to get to ARM 25 (and if you want you can take a sentry and it also benefits from the same Aura to go to ARM 23). Cygnar can put Arcane Shield on a Centurion for ARM 24 (and polarity field to prevent charging it), the Stormwall at ARM 22 also counts because it has so many damage boxes and plenty of casters can take it to ARM 24 against shooting. Mercs are actually the faction that can do it best now (or at least will be able to do it best shortly) with batten down the hatches and spiny growth on a Galleon it goes to ARM 24 which is probably the worst of the lot as it has so many damage boxes and can be repaired.

Flanzer's Trolls at GENCON

My brain is fried so I'm going to take a break from uni shit and think about warmachine. In particular I've been meaning to analyse Flanzer's lists from GENCON. Jason Flanzer is one of the top players in the US, he changes factions pretty regularly and of all the players he's the one I look out for the most becausse he tends to play very different, very interesting lists. He definitely did that at masters taking a mountain king into the final. He lost but the fact that he made it that far with a mountain king tells you that it can be made to work. So lets have a look at his list:

Trollbloods
Runes of War (Hoarluk Doomshaper)
(Tier 4)
PCs: 75 / 75
34 models

[00] Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls (0 / 7 WB)
[20]  >> Mountain King
[12]  >> Mulg the Ancient
[10]  >> Earthborn Dire Troll
[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler
[06]  >> Troll Axer
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[02] Troll Whelps
[04] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (5 grunts)
[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers

So first thing to note. ARM buffs, this list has them. With the Earthborn, Janissa and the krielstone the MK will be ARM 23 most turns without using his upkeep slot which  means you can then throw banishing ward on him. That means no enemy spells may be cast at him which makes it very hard to drop his ARM unless you have purification. The wall from Janissa also helps to keep him safe. Still you're starting off with 10 less health than a regular colossal and the wall can't completely protect him and the DEF bonus it gives isn't really going to help. While your earthborn hides behind the wall only reach weapons can hit him and he's DEF 14 if they do. MK behind a wall is DEF 11 in melee swinging over the wall or you can just go around/over it. I suppose the key here is that the earthborn, krielstone and Janissa are already in the list so you that ARM buff was already there.

Offensively - You have fortune which helps both his MAT and RAT and with a 10" spray that's actually pretty useful. You've got rage to take him to P+S 22, rush to give him 12" threat and the strength bonus from the krielstone if he needs it. The key here is the runeshapers. They bring a shitload of knockdown to the table. They can make sure he actually hits his targets. 

So add all this together, does that make the mountain king worth taking. Almost definitely no but talking this tier list at 75 points, then yes he's worth including. Not an auto include but not silly to take either. Quick explanation: The benefits of the tier list are fantastic but it is really restrictive, you can only take two units: the krielstone (and only one unit of krielstone bearers) and Runeshapers. There are already 5 units of runeshapers, that's not only a lot of models to buy but they all do the same thing and that's put out short range shots and knock down stuff. They are only middle of the range in melee, doomshaper needs his beasts to really tear things up in melee but he's only fury 7 and in his 50 point list he already has 3 heavies and a light (it's this list minus the mountain king, a unit of runeshapers and whelps). He'll struggle to take two more heavies, even if he takes a bunch of whelps his fury management is going to be really difficult. The mountain king won't do as much as two heavies but it also is easier to manage the fury from. And it will do slightly more for it's fury than a beast that is not Mulg. 

His other list:

Trollbloods

Family Reunion (Borka Kegslayer)

(Tier 4) 

PCs: 75 / 75

39 models

[00] Borka Kegslayer (0 / 5 WB)

[00]  >> Pyg Keg Carrier (Companion)

[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler

[02] Stone Scribe Chronicler

[03] Trollkin Champion Hero

[03] Trollkin Champion Hero

[03] Trollkin Champion Hero

[03] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (3 grunts)

[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder

[05] Trollkin Champions (2 grunts)

[09] Trollkin Champions (4 grunts)

[09] Trollkin Champions (4 grunts)

[03]  >> Skaldi Bonehammer

[09] Trollkin War Wagon

[09] Trollkin War Wagon

[03] Gudrun the Wanderer

[09] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (9 grunts)

Another theme force, another fantastic list. This one is surprisingly fast, is full of weapon masters, everything is really hard to kill and it has a lot of ranged threat as well. Great complement to the first list as it really does play quite differently. The first list is more defensive and attritiony, this one wants to get to get up in your face and does so quickly. I suppose the only surprise to some would be that Borka only has one beast. He only really needs one, the mauler stays back and is there almost entirely for his animus. Troll infantry is good enough that quite a few lists scrape by with only one beast.

Karchev

Khador
Standard Army
PCs: 35
20 models

[00] Karchev the Terrible (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[01]  >> War Dog
[11]  >> Beast-09
[08]  >> Drago
[02] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
[05] Great Bears of Gallowswood
[04] Winter Guard Infantry (5 grunts)
[02]  >> Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard
[02]  >> Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeer (2 Rocketeers)
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

This was Flanzer's masters winning (2010) Karchev list. Here is a more recent Flanzer Karchev list:

Karchev the Terrible (*5pts)
* Devastator (9pts)
* Juggernaut (7pts)
* Juggernaut (7pts)
* Kodiak (8pts)
* Kodiak (8pts)
Gun Carriage (9pts)
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Koldun Lord (2pts)

Second one is 50 points.

Both lists contain a decent ranged threat. The gun carriage or the winterguard. The second list comes after the introduction of character restrictions so that may have a big bearing on it. The gun carriage is there to clear infantry, you have the koldun lord to give a free focus to something the kodiaks run without focus and the mechanics are there to repair your jacks.

I think the way to go with Karchev is to take a bunch of jacks and then take some ranged stuff that can deal with infantry. Give yourself some threat range, the jacks can kill jacks/beasts pretty easily but can get bogged down wading through a unit of infantry.

In our game even though I had a lot of stealth the winterguard sprays ignore stealth and Kovnic Joe can give them additional dice to hit or tough and AOE's don't ignore stealth but would still have killed the striders and my important support pieces with blast damage from the scatters. Plus the gun carriage is a cavalry model so it can do ride by attacks (this is move forward 4" shoot and then move back 3").

I think it might have been worth casting tow first turn to move up the warjacks, charging with Karchev and then running them both in front of Karchev. It would still have kept the caster safe and  had your warjacks up the table. 10" deploy Karchev moves 7 with charge jacks have to be in his back arc so lose about 1.5" so 10" + 5.5" + 8" run would have put your jacks 23.5" up the table turn 1 or pretty much on the half way line. I would have been in big trouble then. You could have run your Iron Fang Pikemen and spread out to avoid the AOEs and run the man o war to put them up near Karchev.