New to Hordes, trying to get ideas

[Wiggles]

Hello, I recently started playing warmachine just a couple months back with the release of mkII. Now that I have collected pretty much everything I need to for a while in my Menoth force, I am playing around with the idea of a Hordes force (35-50 points) with the their mk II coming up. Right now I am trying to decide between Skorne and Everblight. For Everblight, though, I am looking at either Absolynia or eThagrosh to be my warlock. My question for you guys is what is the strengths/ weaknesses of each, or what is their general playing style and are their any synergies to be aware of with them?

[Wiggles]

anyone want to throw a dog a bone?

[Shadowspite]

eThagrosh and Absylonia are mainly beast buffers.

eThagrosh does this with one primary spell he wants to cast every turn (Manifest Destiny), and the occasional upkeep or scourge to allow his beasts an easier time. he also has an amazing affinity with Typhon, not only because 3 RAT 6 sprays under Manifest Destiny are mean, but because when they are together and Typhon is forced to regenerate, BOTH Typhon and eThagrosh heal 3 damage, instead of Typhon healing only d3.

Absylonia buffs her beasts by having 3 amazing upkeep spells, protecting them from other jacks/beasts with Blight field, and having fury to defensively buff them so that they can save their fury for offensive uses.

eThagrosh plays primarily by sitting back and casting manifest destiny over and over, and sometimes helps get something out of combat by smacking it around with rapture, but for the most part just spams his one spell, kinda boring to play, but very effective. he can be played much more aggressively to force opponents to deal with the threat of his counter charge. and he is not all that easy to kill if he has 1-2 fury and either Spiny Growth or Excessive Healing on himself. if needed, with the Raek's animus, he can become immune to free strikes to go for an assassination run himself as well. because of his feat and Manifest Destiny making beasts so powerful, you generally want to spam beasts with him, and then take their token support and possibly a tar pit or harassment unit.

Absylonia plays by sitting in the back and cycling her upkeep spells on whichever beasts needs whichever particular buff. Carnivore makes anything it is cast on hit any living models MUCH easier, granting essentially +2 MAT. Forced Evolution is the beast buff everyone wants, increasing survivability as well as damage output, so far my best uses have been on Typhon and Angelii to simply make them so annoying to kill, as well as something you can't ignore because their damage is just that high. her last upkeep, playing god, is the interesting one, granting us a slew of power attacks we couldn't use before, and granting reach to beasts that have no business having it, Carn's with reach are NASTY. oh, and Terror can be a life saver on occasion (had a unit of Kayazy flee from a terror check as they charged before :))

she also has, IMO, one of our best denial spells, Blight field, stops jacks cold if you place it on them, and stop beasts from forcing if inside it. if fighting a hordes army, I've found that you just place it over your vanguard beast, and suddenly he has almost nothing that can deal with it, especially if its a buffed up Heavy. (what can Honestly take down a DEF 17, ARM 18 angel when you can't boost against it?) it is also synergistic with her spell playing god. which grants access to many knockdown attacks like 2h throw. now you can 2h throw a heavy away, and then drop a blight field on it! can't be forced to shake off, and can't be allocated a focus to shake off!

she can also kill things on her own, being able to warp for 2x power 15 claws, with Critical Grievous wounds can be pretty potent. she can also warp for flight and reach giving her some surprising angles to attack with.


not sure if thats what you were looking for, but its what came to mind :)

[Wiggles]

that is extremely helpful shadowspite