Ragman... Initial thoughts

It's a bit pretentious to write an article about him after one game, so I'll stick to my initial thoughts. The Ragman struck me as rather pathetic when I saw him first, though this could have something to do with Dark Shroud being available from other sources. I preordered him, so he's been hiding on the shelf for a while now.

Sacrificial Pawn [Living]: He increases the power of Bloodgorgers, and they take the hits for him. Since he's small based he can also hide behind them. This presents a couple of unique problems, but Telekinesis solves most of them, as I can either move a Bloodgorger out of the way, or give the Ragman a little needed boost if a path is already opened.

Bone Shaker: Range 8 means this better count, because Ragman is joining his minions if it doesn't. Ragman isn't even a faction model, so Dark Gate from Scaverous won't help him either.

Death Field: He gains Dark Shroud, and so does friendly models within (not completely within) 3". The thing about Bloodgorgers is, that they're just a tad on the low side when it comes to damage output against heavy armor. A Bane Thrall on the charge averages out at 27 damage, while a Bloodgorger will do 23/20 on his attacks. If I apply Dark Shroud to the Bloodgorger, he will have the same charge damage against ARM 20, and every additional debuff will increase the damage on each attack.

Applying Death Field...

This is what has made Ragman a rare sight on the battlefield. If he activates first to grant them Dark Shroud, he'll be stuck behind the lines, or dead if he tried to spend a round on the front lines. With Bloodgorgers I can keep him on the side, and perhaps team him up with Gorman (they need to be in the same area anyway). This will allow him to be Def 16 against shooting, and with a couple of Bloodgorgers within range, I just need to worry about blast damage.

Usually this would be a problem, as Bloodgorgers are ARM 15 and thus become targets for blasts. With Scaverous though, they become ARM 17, and pull out of blast damage deaths on average dice. Since they're also tough, it needs to be some heavy duty artillery to take them out. Incidentally I need three Bloodgorgers to take down most heavies with all the debuffs up, and getting more than three in range of Death Field is very hard. So I hereby present "Team Ragman"...

• Ragman
• Gorman di Wulfe
• Three Bloodgorgers.

The team also becomes an asset with the Withershadow Combine, as rolling 4d6+17 damage each, will make pulling of Dark Industries a lot easier. If I apply a feast to the jack first, the WSC will have a good chance of scrapping it from new, in a single charge.

With Telekinesis there's also an addition trick, because I can actually move the Death Field around a bit. I don't see it happening often, but if the center of the field clogs up, I might be able to apply Dark Shroud to one kill, and then move him 2" and assist on another afterward. Ragman is on the team, and he also fits Scaverous perfectly as a theme.
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