Tournament: Einherjerne - Day 1

I arrived a full hour earlier than I needed to, since a couple of people got themselves lost. I was facing one of the slackers, and he turned out to be a very nice guy, but going for the title of most hungover player I've ever seen.

It was a day of mixed emotions. 

My opponent was a veteran of two entire games, so I settled down for a game of try not to end it to fast. I had an enjoyable game, with Scaverous against eMakeda, but the outcome was never in question. While I didn't come to the tournament to fight rookies, they're the future of the hobby, so I decided to enjoy myself, and I did. In the end I killed him with an unbinding from Admonia, which was a first for me, and it was on to round two.

This is when it hit the fan. Due to the character restriction I couldn't bring a good Terminus list and play around with Scaverous at the same time, so when I was faced up against Retribution I knew I was doomed. Mortenebra would be destroyed, so I settled for learning some more about Scaverous while I took my beating. It was a Ravyn list so I threw everything I had forward and hoped for the best.

Scaverous vs. Ravyn

It took him three MHSF shots to neuter my Arc Nodes, and both Sirens were lost to sacrifices I need to make. The entire WSC and Rorsh couldn't shoot the Destor Thane, so Brine had to step in as well, and I wasted fourteen points worth of army to destroy a single cavalry solo. Then I missed the range on a charge with Tartarus and I knew I was done for.

Amazingly his dice decided we should go another round, and my casualties were fairly limited. I actually had a shot at doing this, so I took it. TK a few models, TK Ravyn, Icy Grip Ravyn, Feast or Worms Ravyn, and forget to TK my Bane Thrall Officer into range (sigh). I did get one Bane Thrall on her, after I shot her with three Dark Fires, and the Feast of Worms plinked a few boxes of her as well, so if I rolled well on the single Bane Thrall I could still do it.

Guess what, I didn't. While I came closer than I would have thought possible, I lost as I should, and went on to round three. I can't say I enjoyed the game all that much, since I knew I was doomed, but at least my opponent was a nice guy, and I sort of owed him for our last game, in which he accidentally shot and killed his own caster.

Mortenebra Vs. The Harbinger

While both my opponents were great people, I was having a bad day in general. My first game was a slightly advanced practice game, and my second game was lost before the first dice hit the table. I know I intentionally brought a weak build to produce better games, but being two thirds through the day without a good fight, left me slightly bitter. I also came to the conclusion that character restriction is an impressively bad idea, that works just as piss poorly in Warmachine as it does in Warhammer.

With that in mind, I faced my third opponent who turned out to be a rookie Menoth player. I know he's been an impressively successful Warhammer player, but he has less than ten games under his belt, so while he had some impressive skill for such a new player, it just wasn't enough. The Harbinger list was actually quite well suited to handling my Mortenebra list, so I put that on the table to make things a little interesting.

He managed to surprise me, and he actually scored a control point, but The Harbinger got within 19.5" of a Scavenger, and he didn't feat. If he had popped his feat I would have been in trouble, since no Scavenger survives Overrun + Charge against POW 14 hits (it actually dies on average dice), but being new he had so many things to keep track of, that he forgot about Overrun (I made sure he knew, and gave him a walkthrough of my army and tricks, but being new is hard).

My Scavenger beaked The Harbinger with Focus left to spare, and the day was over. I did some peeking at the other tables, and one of the complete rookies from my last tournament was winning his third game, so I latched on to that (and the opportunity to add one to my beaker-score), and called the day acceptable.

Summary

I did learn a few things today, and I've got Rorsh & Brine figured out (all I had to do was write REMEMBER TRANSFERS on the back of each base), but I don't like thirty five point games, and I loathe those character restrictions.

I've got in my ten games (in total) with Scaverous, but I just can't get him to work the way I would like. There's no doubt in my mind that he's a fantastic caster, but I find his style produces the same kind of annoying games that pDenny does, and he requires the perfect setup to run smoothly, which tends to lead to boring lists.

I still can't get around the sad fact that I need Terminus as a backup caster. Terminus covers just about every bad match-up we have, and he produces exactly the kind of games I prefer. My opponent gets to kill, main, and burn my army to cinders, and I end up winning. My opponent has fun smacking me around, and I win the game, which means he has as good a game as I can deliver without loosing, and that means a lot to me.

Tomorrow is another day, and maybe it will bring some close and interesting games, so I can either lose some close games, or get a few more notches on the beaker-score. Edit: After giving it some thought, I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed the day completely, IF I could have brought Terminus to the table, so I could have played a serious game in between noob-stomps. I guess that's what I'll do next time.

Tournament: Einherjerne

It's Thursday, and I need to decide on a list for the weekend. I was briefly considering playing to win, but then I met skeptical turtle. Skeptical turtle called me on my bullshit, and told me to remember how much fun I've been having with Scaverous the last couple of games, and my oath to stop making boring lists.

I'm not entirely settled on a list yet, but I'm sure I'll be including Rorsh & Brine, and perhaps building the list from my available painted models to make up for the lack of paint on Scaverous, Rorsh, and Brine. It's a bit annoying, that the tournament has three games at thirty five points, since I can never seem to build a satisfying list for those. This is what I've got so far.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous [35]

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Rorsh & Brine

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

That list has more blind spots than a blind beggar with a blindfold, looking the wrong way, in the dark. If we add the fact that it has no protection against Eiryss, it transforms into a thing of horrible beauty. In the words of Ron White: Take it down, I don't give a shit. Hit something hard, I don't want to limp away from this.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous [50]

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

Bloodgorgers (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 5 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Rorsh & Brine

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

It will drop like a rock, and I will ride it to hell while cheering for more more fucking beatings. The fifty point version has a bit of punch and a slight defense against ranged threats, but I very much doubt it will be enough to prevail.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous Vs. The Harbinger

Tonight I fought my first really hard game since the masters, and what a game it was! I brought my Scaverous list, which admittedly isn't tuned to perfection, and I had the worst match-up I can imagine. 

Lord Exhumator Scaverous

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

Bloodgorgers (Leader and 5 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Rorsh & Brine

Warwitch Siren

Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Vs.

Harbinger of Menoth

- Redeemer

- Reckoner

Hierophant

Avatar of Menoth

Choir of Menoth (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & 2 Honor Guard

Nicia, Tear of Vengeance

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Saxon Orrik

The Covenant of Menoth

Vassal of Menoth

My opponent was testing a list for the ETC in 2012, which was designed to lock down spellcasting, though it had a few issues that we sorted out after the game. We rolled a capture the flag scenario that had little impact on the game, and he won the roll to go first.

I was charged, then locked down by her feat, then mauled some more, but in the end the lack of Devout cost him the game. It took almost everything I had left to clear out the Covenant, but the Harbinger was pulled into range, and Scaverous made two new Bane Thralls with Excarnate, and placed them in range. 

One was all it took, since the Harbinger had rolled poorly on her sacrifices, and I pulled a win out of my behind again. We agreed he should try a minimum choir, removing Orin, and removing the Vassal in order to fit in a Devout, and he asked to meet my pDenny list in a couple of weeks, to prepare for the worst Cryx had to throw at him.

Spotlight: Lord Exhumator Scaverous

I'm not entirely sure I'm qualified to write this, but since nobody else seems to have done it I guess I'll give it a shot. I can always return and update it when I feel I've got it all figured out, but do take this into consideration when pondering the information in this spotlight.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous initially attracted my attention, because I refused to believe the rumors about him. I couldn't believe the people at Privateer Press would take the spell we could all agree Cryx should never have, and put it on a caster with access to Excarnate and Ghost Walk. When he finally arrived I damn near fainted, and I knew I had found my second caster.

A specialist in the acquisition of lore from the dead, Lord Exhumator Scaverous is one of the most potent and intelligent servants of the Nightmare Empire.

I lost my first game with the Exhumator, but then I got him figured out. The second and third game had my opponent surrendering after turn two, but then I ran into my first problem, as there are just: so many options. It literally gave me a headache to sort through his possible actions every turn, and I had to put him aside for the masters, since there was no way I would be able to field him in a timed tournament.

Scaverous: Abilities

Scaverous is a trinity-caster, and that's his only weakness. A trinity-caster is someone who has the ability to win by assassination, attrition, and scenario, while being equally strong in all aspects. This might not sound like a weakness, but it's horribly complicated, and mistakes will cost you games. This spotlight will contain more walkthroughs than usual, since Scaverous is so new at the moment.

• Avernus

Scaverous swings a mean scythe, and with Thresher he can reap a fair amount of souls. Scaverous can move potential targets around with TK, then charge in and Thresher the lot of them, TK himself further up the field and swing at some more targets, but this is a trap. Scaverous is not Terminus, and no amount of souls will help him if he dies before he can turn them into Focus. Avernus is handy to have, but should be considered your last way out.

• Black Gate (Feat)

The Black Gate is what makes Scaverous so dangerous, and while several other casters have feats that seem more powerful, the Black Gate is right up there with them. The obvious effect is to allow Scaverous to cast a storm of boosted spells, which allows him a fair spell assassination potential, as well as the potential to move entire units around on the table. This is such a powerful feat, that I would have thought it adequate, but there's more.

The Black Gate also provides every other friendly faction model in range with free boosts to their magic attacks, which makes Warwitch Sirens and Withershadow Combine hit defense seventeen on average dice. This is not worth constructing a list to abuse, but it's worth taking into consideration with the models/units you already include for different purposes.

There's more though, because the Black Gate also features a watered down version of Lamentation, increasing the cost of enemy spells and animi by one. There are quite a lot of casters which cannot pull their usual shenanigans with this added cost, and it will ruin the Fury economy of a lot of warlocks as well. It's not something to be relied on, but if your plans fail, it's nice to have a secondary effect reducing the consequences.

In summary, the Black Gate allows you to move a couple of models out of the way with boosted Telekinesis spells, at the cost of one Focus each. Then another Focus will buy you a boosted Icy grip, reducing the enemy casters defense by two. The another Focus will buy you a boosted Telekinesis, pulling him two inches forward and turning his back to your army, and the final three Focus will buy a boosted Feast of Worms. You now have an unprotected enemy caster, with his back turned, and -2 DEF/ARM, ready to be taken down at your leisure.

• Spells

The spell list is an abomination and should never have existed. Scaverous is one spell away from the perfect spell list, and Icy Grip is the closest thing to Crippling Grasp they could find. I usually don't do walkthroughs, but in this case I think I should.

1. Death Ward allows Scaverous to camp at ARM 26, setting a new record as far as i know.  It also allows him to run a few units such as Bane Knights or Bloodgorgers, that normally suffer badly from their lack of ARM.
2. Feast of Worms brings a powerful AoE attack, that just happens to include an ARM debuff. While it's not as good as a model/unit based debuff, it brings the ability to clear out models shielding your target, while applying the debuff as well. Remember that the ARM debuff applies to the AoE attack, making it effectively POW eight.
3. Excarnate allows for a slightly weaker version of the eGaspy Bile Thrall shenanigans. It's slightly weaker since Scaverous lacks the ability to redeploy after casting it, but I've never found it to be a serious problem. Excarnate also allows Scaverous a decent spell assassination, since three Focus buys you a fully boosted POW 13 on feat round.
4. Ghost Walk is a staple spell in Cryx, and it works just as well for Scaverous. With his access to movement related spells, Ghost Walk simply ads icing to a delicious cake, and allows you to forget about the annoying terrain or free strikes.
5. Icy Grip is there because they couldn't give him Crippling Grasp. A defense debuff to go with his ARM debuff, and the ability to stop a unit with scary *Attacks from doing harm. No running is a nice little bonus, but remember that ban on *Attacks, as it will make Winterguard Deathstars cry.
6. Telekinesis is just wrong. This spell does everything, and will need more than a little snippet like this to explain. We'll get back to this later, but the first thing I thought to myself when this was confirmed was: Oh dear, how do I justify putting this guy on the table.

The only thing holding this spell list back is a lack of Focus, but you did read his feat just before. If you manage to gather three souls, you can cast every spell on that list, with boosted attack rolls, in a single round. I'm not saying it would be a good idea, but a powerful list of spells backed up by the ability to cast all of them in a round, is just plain old wrong.

Scaverous: Telekinesis

This spell has a ridiculous amount of applications. I'm just saying it so you won't be surprised, and there's no possible way I can describe the multitude of ways this spell can ruin an opponent. Let's begin with five completely obvious applications and work from there.

• Additional threat: Casting a simple spell will increase the range of any model with two inches, allowing our speed six models a greater threat than a reach model with the same speed. This can be applied on the target as well, allowing a combined four inch increase in threat. Bile Thralls suddenly purge from thirteen inches away, and Admonia unbinds from fifteen inches away.
• Rescue & Retrieval: Telekinesis requires no attack roll against friendly models, so if you need something pulled out of melee, just apply Telekinesis. This can also allow you to freely gun down a model that was hiding in melee with the model.
• The Merry-Go-Round: Turning models around can really mess up an opponents plans. My personal favorite is simply turning heavies around, removing their options for a charge, removing their initial attacks, and making them pay for a Trample in order to reach anything. In addition it's a lot easier hitting someone who's looking the other way, and they don't benefit from shields either.
• The unwilling assistant: A dastardly use, which involves moving enemy models into positions that benefit you. This could involve moving a living model near a Warjack (allowing Snapjaw a free charge and more range), or moving models that release dangerous effects upon death, to where they inflict damage on his models instead.
• The Control area boogie: A little poke is all it takes, if your opponents Warjacks are loitering at the edge of his control area. It's a little less effective against hordes, but pushing your opponent two inches back, can occasionally prevent him from forcing his beasts if he doesn't run.

Those are just a few of the more obvious applications of the spell, and the list continues. The final thing to remember is, that if you attempt a Telekinesis against an engaged enemy model and miss, you instead get an opportunity to move your own model to a better position (and you won't even need to hit your own model since it's friendly). This probably wont come into play often, but keep it in mind anyway.

Scaverous: Complications

Knowing a bit about what he can do, we get to his one balancing fact: That he can't do it all at once. Scaverous can camp at almost unbreakable ARM, perform incredible feats of trickery, or simply fire a hail of spells, but he has to choose each round. This is actually some hard choices, because Scaverous is on a medium base, with no other defense mechanic, and he will go down if you choose the wrong round to go all in. This is a weakness we can remedy, but we have to do it through his list.

Scaverous: List construction

The first thing we have to look at, is survivability. Scaverous is on a medium base, and has a tendency to run himself dry on Focus with all his nifty spells, so getting shot in the face is a very real possibility. We've got several possible solutions for that particular problem, but I think two of them stand out.

• Bloodgorgers: These guys are faction models, and with General Slaughterborn to back them up they can be a fantastic shield. Bloodgorgers also benefit a lot from Death Ward, making them almost immune to blast damage. They do require a lot of resources to run properly, but they're usually worth it. The major problem is the amount of space they take up on the table, and this is something you need to practice avoiding.
• Ogrun Bokur: The cheap and easy option. This options means fighting with three points less in your army, since it will never actually do anything except keep Scaverous safe(ish). If you find yourself strapped for points, he will do.

The next thing we need to consider is assassination pieces.

• Malice: This is the only Helljack I'd consider including, since Scaverous makes pulling of Dark Industries even easier. Malice lacks reach, but opens up a lot of assassination vectors with drag, and can produce an impressive number of attacks when loaded up with souls.
• Lesser Warlocks: Looking at Scaverous it's clear, that he doesn't like to part with his Focus, so I'm always surprised when I see lists featuring multiple Helljacks. I do realize that we have access to some heavy hitters, and that several of them will be fine assassination pieces, but I feel the Focus drain limits his available options for assassination. Wrong Eye & Snapjaw will be the prime candidates for the job, but Rorsh & Brine shouldn't be underestimated.

Then we reach the really problematic part of the list, which is support. Scaverous is infamous for bringing an army of support pieces, but I don't think we need to go overboard.

• Skarlock: Always an awesome piece, but with Scaverous it rises to legendary. The ability to use Telekinesis before activating Scaverous will win you games, and with Black Gate active it can even apply debuffs to enemies with a fairly good chance of success.
• Withershadow Combine: If you don't already know why, then go read this. 
• Warwitch Sirens: If you don't already know why, then go read this.

And that's the list. There's plenty of additional support available, but the cost would have to come out of your units that will do the real work, and that's going to be a problem. Scaverous needs protection, he needs an assassination piece, and he needs a ton of support, so that leaves very little room for units.

• Bane Thralls: Scaverous really needs a way to apply a secondary ARM debuff, and Bane Thralls work well in that capacity. The Unit Attachment is a given, and you might as well bring Tartarus, but I usually settle for a minimum unit with Scaverous to keep the cost down. You can find their intervention article here.
• Bile Thralls: Not only do they annihilate enemies, but they deter charges and work wonders with Excarnate. You can find their spotlight here.
• Bloodgorgers: As stated earlier, they perform well as both protection and anti-infantry. With Dark Shroud support, and Feast of Worms up, they can even destroy heavies, which tends to surprise people writing them of as anti-infantry.
• Croe's Cutthroats: This unit becomes something truly unique when used with Scaverous. The unit has Backstab and Poison, allowing them to function as ranged weapon masters with Scaverous. In addition to turning a model around, he will increase the units pathetic range when he moves the target forward, and with the right support a unit of Croe's can take down most heavy warbeasts in a round, and Bushwack to safety.

I'm sad to report this, but Croe's Cutthroats rarely makes my lists. They require heavy thinking every round, and an amazing amount of resources, but when you do put the effort into it they can perform some truly stupid feats of strength.

Scaverous: Summary

Scaverous is a true powerhouse, but keeping him alive is harder than his exceptional ability to camp would suggest. Scaverous has no passive abilities to buff his army like Terminus, nor the ability to drain souls like Venethrax or Lich Lord Asphyxious, so you're usually restricted to his basic allotment of Focus (remember that Avernus is a trap), and it just isn't enough to do it all.

If you can manage to keep him safe, his ability to manipulate the battlefield will win you every game. If you can stay alive until both armies are decimated, you can camp your way to victory, and if you have the mental resources to grasp the vast amount of options he presents (I don't) you will never loose.

Scaverous fail... well, it should have been.

I took my army out for a spin last night, and what a nightmare.

I clogged up my lanes with Bloodgorgers, blocked in my own models, and got stuck behind walls (I couldn't pass them with Ghost Walk because I had models from different units, and a couple of solos/jacks behind it). Then I messed up activations, and I even began the game with first blood on my own models due to a mighty scattering Feast of Worms. An accurate portrayal of my army in turn two and beyond...

I couldn't get anything working, and I played like an ass, but as always the lord of dice intervened. The casualties inflicted by a full unit Nihilators on a charge... One... the casualties of the following round of attacks... Zero. So after having missed thirteen 5+ rolls in a row, he managed to land a few and get in some casualties, but by then it was to late. It was a total suck game, that only had two bright spots for me.

Croe: The man himself, clipped Molik Karn on a free strike, and inflicted nine points of damage on him, removing his spirit, and getting him stuck in a pile of pain. The round after that, he charged a Bronzeback in the rear arc, and inflicted fourteen damage on it.

Slaughterborn: Charged a Gladiator, and inflicted 17 damage on it with one hit. This was something quite new, as he usually doesn't do anything at all, but being able to keep him a bit back was nice.

So in general, while my army is fine, it just does not work in cramped fighting. I'm thinking I need a total army revamp for the masters, and then I can run my fancy army in friendly games. I'll still try and include some of the units/models I rarely use, so maybe Blackbane's Ghost Raiders should make an appearance. Croe's take to long, and require to much finesse, and Bloodgorgers simply take up to much space.

The game was against pMorghul by the way, and ended when Morghul tried for an assassination, just to find out he couldn't actually hurt Scaverous at all. I took a shot with Scaverous in melee, because I honestly felt he should have won the game, and he deserved a shot if Scaverous failed (11+ to hit in melee, so he easily could have). A quite tense finish to an otherwise ridiculous game, and it took frigging four hours and pissed of my wife-to-be at home :D
_______________________________________________________________

Scaverous, take two...

With my Terminus army locked in, it's time to tweak my Scaverous list. I usually find myself hard pressed against horde lists, since I'm a lot less familiar with the mechanics behind Fury and transfers, and with no time left to learn, I figure I need to bring a list that can cover my lack of familiarity. This is what I began working from...

Lord Exhumator Scaverous

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

- Malice 

- Skarlock Thrall

Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Ragman

Saxon Orrik

Gorman di Wulfe 

It just feels "wrong", but it's fairly small at 34 models, and packs a hefty punch against living models. It does have a few tricks against Warmachine armies as well, but I'm conflicted about several parts of the army. I feel my Focus economy is stressed, I'm lacking Bile Thralls, and I'm strongly considering removing Malice. If I do, I will limit myself to attrition, and that sucks badly...

The list does pack a surprising amount of shooting. The Skarlock, Croe's, WSC, Dougal, and Saxon can all pour out some ranged attacks, giving me a potential 19 ranged attacks per round. Madelyn and Telekinesis, will allow Slaughterborn to hide waaay behind the army, and still get a chain going. I'm also lacking a way to negate tough, which is pretty lousy since there's bound to be plenty of Trollblood lists at the masters, so perhaps it's time to rethink the list.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

- Skarlock Thrall 
Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan

The Ragman

Saxon Orrik 

That's a solid core, and leaves 23 points to play around with. With Madelyn & Telekinesis, I can get Slaughterborn up to 17" threat without activating Scaverous, and if I can pull a target closer he can reach 19" threat. Saxon Orrik handles terrain, and the Ragman increases PS to acceptable levels for the Bloodgorgers, that act as screening and shock-troopers. Adding another unit of Bloodgorgers could be interesting, but then I would have to borrow them somewhere, and I could only have Death Ward up on one unit anyway.

Time to think up some new shenanigans...
____________________________________________________________

Training game...

We had an player turn up today, that had his last game in MK1, and I volunteered to run a training game for him. He was more or less up to speed on the rules for MK2, and a veteran player of old, so we had a semi-competitive game, but I pointed out mistakes he was about to make, and gave him the odd suggestion for rules he was obviously unaware of.

He did very well, but in all the confusion he forgot about objectives, and put himself in a bad position where he had to come to me, in order to avoid loosing outright. He was playing Hexeris, which I'd never faced before, and dear god that's an amusing feat. I had half my unit of Croe's trying to assassinate my Warwitch at one flag, and my Bloodgorgers punching each other on the other. In the end Malice got him, and while it wasn't a "real" game, I did learn a few things.

• One unit of Bloodgorgers is not enough to bear the brunt
• General Slaughterborn either dies or does nothing in the game
• I need to play Croe's more defensively.
• Ragman still rocks, and allowed Malice to kill a Titan Cannoneer
• I don't think I need Saxon Orrik, with the Skarlock available
• I don't think I need two Warwitch Sirens. Then again, why not

So... either I find something I like for four points, or I figure out a way to find two extra points, and include a couple of Pistol Wraiths. I also found the idea of running a couple of machine wraiths funny, as Telekinesis can increase possession range to 12", and kicking out two machine wraiths could wreck his focus economy. Then again.. Warjacks go in the belly and become Seethers, so maybe it's not worth it.
_______________________________________________________________

A little bit of Scaverous on my mind...

I took the Exhumator to a tournament today.

I made him a model last night, and though the picture is crappy phone quality, I think you get the idea. It's a work in progress of course, and the scythe arm looks clunky on the picture but rather elegant in real life. His arms are magnetized so they/he can be posed and transported, and most of the flight stand will be covered in terrain of some sort when I'm done.

Ftaghn?

Now equipped with a model, I noticed that it was two in the morning, and I needed to get up at eight. That left me with little time to crunch the numbers on a list, so I mostly just threw together what I'd been considering for the last couple of weeks, and hoped for the best. Though I seem to be suffering from a strange disorder that makes me ill at tournaments, I did manage a third place and got a shiny new coin.

Lord Exhumator

- Nightwretch

- Nightwretch

- Skarlock Thrall

Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall

Ragman

Warwitch Siren

Round 1: Exhumator Vs. pIrusk
I was very unsure about the army, so I mostly just trundled ahead and tried my best not to be destroyed by shooting. The game turned, when a Telekinesis got Admonia within range of his Winterguard Deathstar, and managed to unbind Iron Flesh. Scaverous put Icy Grip on them, and Tartarus cursed them and Threshered up two new Bane Knights, and then the Knights charged. With most of his unit destroyed by Bane Knights, I turned my attention to his jacks. Scaverous had applied a Feast on his Juggernaut, and the Ragman had made it close enough to the lines, that charging with my Bloodgorgers became a possibility.

Feast, Dark Shroud, and Gang had the Gorgers rolling at PS 17, and three of them took down the slightly damaged Juggernaut (I had two more ready to hit, though outside Ragman range), while the rest were munching on random Manhunters or the remains of the WG. That round totally broke his back, and after the following round he gave up. I didn't feel the fight was completely lost for him, but it was his choice and I respect that. I also didn't feel like I was using the list to it's full potential, but I did learn a lot of things.

Round 2: Mortenebra Vs. eVlad
I should have gone with Scaverous, but I couldn't resist a shot at the top five list of bad match-ups. I decided I'd go for it, and prove my non-tier list could rock eVlad, but alas I was sadly mistaken. The game itself was incredibly uneventful, and I was squashed like a bug. I had one shot at Vlad, with a reasonable chance of success, but it didn't pan out and Mortenebra got hit by Fenris.

Round 3: Exhumator Vs. Karchev
I had to take a seat for a couple of minutes, because the room began behaving in strange ways. You know that feeling just before you pass out, or if you're really really drunk and the world just doesn't want to stay were it's supposed to... well I had a solid five minutes of that. Then it passed, and we got down to it.

I never faced Karchev before, and I get him with just the caster I needed to mess him up beyond belief. I learned a lot from my first game of the day, and the poor guy never stood a chance. Bloodgorgers messed up his jacks with the help of Ragman & Feast, while Bane Knights tore through his support on the right flank, and Croe's were making sure he couldn't just swing around to face them.

I got a Nightwretch through, and Karchev was hit in the back by the two Croe's Cutthroats that were in charge range after he was turned around. Watching two grunts carve about half of Karchevs hitpoints was fun, and charging him with my shiny new WSC brand Seether (Again with Feast & Ragman) took out some more vital systems. He pondered his options for a while, and the gave up, as he couldn't escape Croe's, and had no chance at taking down the Exhumator behind the wall of angry Bloodgorgers.


Post-game Thoughts: I'll go through this more thoroughly in the coming days, but these are my initial thoughts on the army composition, and Lord Exhumator Scaverous.

I had way to much infantry. I know it's awesome, but moving 45 models around is tough when you're under a time limit. That means something must go, and I think it's going to be my Bane Knights. I ordered the Exhumator to use the models and units I otherwise wouldn't, and one of my melee units has to go. The Exhumator also needs protection, and a wall of steady trolls is just what the doctor ordered. With the points left over by the Knights and Tartarus, I can put in Gorman di Wulfe, which should allow the Gorgers to munch some jacks. I also think I might bring a Ogrun Bokur, as I was hit by pEiryss in my first game, and had it happened a round earlier I would have been in big trouble. I'll try a few more games without one, as I might be able to keep him safe and save those points.

The Ragman is awesome in this list. It's just crazy how hard Bloodgorgers can swing, when they've got backup. I'm using some of the points from the Bane Knights to put in Gorman, and then I can have three Bloodgorgers take down a Khador heavy. Feast + Dark Shroud + Rust + Gang + Charge, equals 15.5 damage per Bloodgorger, and if the feast took just a couple of points of it, then two of them could take down a Juggernaut on average dice.

The Withershadow Combine also likes that combination. Getting at a jack, and rolling 13 average damage each, will make some fine Seethers. I don't think I can avoid bringing Malice, as that combination is simply to good. With a few points left over, I'm thinking I could use another Warwitch Siren.

Finally I think I might bring in Saxon Orrik. Having Pathfinder available to the Bloodgorgers, Withershadow Combine, or Slaughterborn, could prove valuable. I know I've got Ghost Walk available, but that's a lot of Focus I could use elsewhere, and there are plenty of units that will work just as well with just Pathfinder. Saxon can also help out with the odd warbeast, or shoot some key models if needed.

Lord Exhumator

- Nightwretch*

- Nightwretch*

- Malice

- Skarlock Thrall*

Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts)*

The Withershadow Combine*

General Gerlak Slaughterborn*

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist*

Ragman

Saxon Orrik*

Warwitch Siren*

Warwitch Siren*

* means painted, which is actually a selling point for me. With the whole marriage, honeymoon, apartment, and countless other things to do, I'm not going to have much time for painting. The Bloodgorgers are actually 6/10 done as well, and Malice just needs a touch up, so that means 4 Bloodgorgers, Exhumator, and Ragman to paint. That's a huge amount of time saved.

Scaverous in the house...

He arrived in box that looked like a fat lady on the bus sat on it. Despite the crushed box, the model survived, and the Talos Pain engine I'll be using to convert his sorry ass, was intact as well. There is one thing bothering me though, because this parcel was shipped a week after my Wrath book, which has not yet arrived.

Either way, I'll be trying him out tomorrow, If I can manage to assemble something that can actually be used in a tournament (non-painted). As my main, I'll be bringing the non-tier Mortenebra, as hope for some good match-ups, so I won't have to put Scaverous/Terminus on the table. I have enough experience with Terminus, and none with Scaverous, so either would be a poor choice.

Mortenebra
- Deryliss
- Helldiver
- Helldiver
- Scavenger
- Scavenger
- Stalker
- Harrower
- Harrower
Blood Witches (Leader & 5 Grunts)
- Blood Hag
Withershadow Combine
Gerlack Slaughterborn
Warwitch Siren

This should allow me to make some crazy assassinations, with Gerlack under Recalibration to clear a path through the first line of infantry. Horde armies should be easier to handle, with a way to ignore tough, and an infantry unit with two attacks each, and gang. As far as I can tell, the only match-ups I should really fear, is a true tank caster. That also means, that my backup list needs to be able to handle just that. I'd really like it to be Scaverous, but I'm not sure I've got time to put him together.
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Croe's Cutthroats: the embodiment of failure

I had my first game with Scaverous, and that did not end well. I was allowed to proxy him, as Maelstrom still keeps my pre-order on hold for some reason (I think they hate me for canceling an order, "just" because it was six weeks late). I faced Kaya the Wildborne, and I was thoroughly pleased to finally get my first match against Circle. As it turns out, having Occultation & Tracker made Kaya pretty much immune to my assassination attempts, and Scaverous had to acknowledge, that ending his days a dog-food is a wee bit embarrassing.

Still, It was an expected loss, and I learned a lot from the game. It's a sad thing to admit, but Internet wisdom proved me wrong for once, and Scaverous does indeed seem to be an attrition caster. He has access to a spectacular assassination run, but if it fails he's a quadrillion miles behind in attrition, and has next to no way of catching up. Next time I'll try the attrition route, while attempting to dictate play with his assassination potential instead.

Croe's Cutthroats failed me spectacularly, and missed every attack that actually mattered, but I'm determined to make them work. They fit my theme, they look awesome, and they're Ninja Assassins for christ's sake. I don't care if I loose every match because they suck, I'm bringing them. This is something entirely new for me, and I hope it heralds a new level of maturity in gaming (heaven knows I need it).

So come Monday I'll be trying an attrition list, and maybe finding myself an easier opponent to mend my broken ego. I did win my second game today, but the amount of mistakes I made was heartbreaking, and only the even greater mistakes of my opponent, saved the day.
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Scaverous model...

Since I've already pre-ordered the guy, I might as well do something to make looking at him tolerable. I think he'll mesh well with the Talos from Games Workshops Dark Eldar line.

This is a lot closer to what I felt Scaverous should look like, so I'll see if I can't use the parts to make a legal Scaverous that doesn't suck. I know a lot of people like the new model, but it seriously looks as if a Slayer impregnated the Cankerworm, and the offspring robbed a warehouse labeled "Weapons even Games Workshop thought was lame". It does require me to buy a GW product, but as my spine closely resembles a wet noodle, it should come to no surprise that I already placed the order.

The Talos kit should also give me all sorts of nifty stuff, I can use to enhance a lot of the other models I feel are lacking. Maybe my Terminus should feature some yummy tentacles as well, if I ever use him again. Scaverous can out-tank him, is on a medium base, and has so many crazy abilities. He also has more WJ points, so getting an Ogrun Bokur to block Eyriss should be a minor investment. Scaverous is crazy tough, so I'll just have to work around his silly spells and model.

• Step 2: Make a nice model.
• Step 3: Explain to everyone that Librarians are bad motherfuckers.
• Step 4: Punch them in the face if they disagree, then shout "I told you so".

This probably only works, if people know I actually am a Librarian. That just leaves step one, which is figuring out how to bend the conversion rules as much as possible; A converted model must contain a majority of parts from the WARMACHINE or HORDES model for which the rules were written. The end result of any conversion must be something that is clearly identifiable as the intended miniature and accurately represents its weapons and equipment as listed in its rules.

I could technically melt him, recast the metal as a Talos, add a Scythe, write Scaverous on it, photo document it, and call it a day. Realistically though, I'll need to think up some way of retaining a parts majority, leave it clearly identifiable as Scaverous, while avoiding the whole "your mother was humped by a Slayer" feel. A challenge... I like it.
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Suddenly the pieces fell into place regarding Scaverous

I had a little nerd-rage session at my club tonight, but suddenly the pieces fell into place. I've hated Scaverous from the second he was spoiled, and it's been hard explaining why, but when the words were on the table they rang true, and it's nothing more than simple disappointment. This is what I expected...

The way he was described had me thinking he was an archivist of hidden lore, and the Scavengers would fit well with the theme. He could have an ability that allowed Scavengers to collect corpse tokens for him, which would allow him to "purchase" some extra abilities from nearby Cephalyx units.

They could have included a few additional Cephalyx units/solos, or even a Cephalyx Lesser Warlock which could be really creepy, and the whole archivist feel he had going in the fluff would have made him my favorite warcaster, even if he did make me take Cephalyx.

He could have abilities like eHaley that allowed him to copy spells cast near him, and maybe Madrak Ironhide's Scroll to make him a bit survivable. There are so many exceptionally cool abilities out there, and with his theme as an archivist he could easily pick and choose spells/abilities from every caster out there, to make him a true archivist at heart.

Instead we received this.

I heard a lot of exceptional things about Scaverous; his name alone made me think of a creepy old geezer picking through remains on the battlefield, but instead of an archivist he's a Helljack with a chainsaw, that can out-tank Terminus.

Lastspartacus says it so well over at the forums: "Its like hearing fluff about the Coolest Dude caster, then he comes out and has an amazing ruleset...that has nothing to do with what made him sound cool to you". I was expecting an archivist, not the bastard child of a Slayer and something that escaped from a dungeon at Games Workshop.

That's why I hate him... nothing else.
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