My Experiences with Skorne Today.

[Zaqir]

Hey folks,
So this morning i dumped a ton of posts on Skorne, now I admit right off I am 99% Khador but I do like Skorne so my friends got together and we had some games.

The first was a 35 pt battle between Menoth ESev vs EMakeda.

Here are my thoughts.

1)Menoth is cheesy, Def 17 Daughters, Exemplar shinanigens and Roven is DEADLY vs Hordes.

2)Beast Handlers rock. Useful at all times.

3)The Swordsmen and Cetrati were held up by those damn sisters and after Makeda feated to get back some Swordsmen, Esev feated to take control of some and wrecked havoc.

4)Molik Karn was a baddass in the game except when my friend enraged him at one point but there was a model blocking his true goal. Once again from Exemplar annoyance.

5)AG was ok but right now you need dedicated troops to get the full benefit. I would say 2 units of 1 wound models.

6)Krea is amazing all around, the animus caused all sorts of problems.

7)Void Spirit really needs a second attack.

In the end EMakeda died but the game was close, the tarpit strategy Menoth can pull is something else.


Second game, the one I played in vs Meoth. It was PFiora vs Xerxis

My list included a Gladiator, Brute and Krea,
Rhadiem, Void Spirit, Master Tormentor
Karax, Beast Handlers and Cetrati.


So right of the bat...Xerxis kinda was a wet blanket. His armor spell is nice but your either using it on yourself and camping focus( a truly late game thing to do) Or giving it to a beast and you can't run that beast too fot or he loses control.

Krea and Brute are a wonderful combo, hard to shoot, set defense vs the charge for the cyclops its a wonderful beast

Gladiator was great and took out a Vanquisher by himself.

Rhadiem and the Cetrati hurt the Avatar but eventually all died Mostly because on my Cetrati charge half my units were unable to reach the Avatar. It was still pretty much Neutralized.

I wasted my Master Tormentor, things got close and then CRAd it to death.

Karax are AMAZING, cheap defenders that stop his vanquisher for aton because of the no blast damage power.

I actually did win the game since his Avatar was so hurt and his other jack was dead.

The Gladiator was surrounded by everything from Choir and the Covenant to block it but was barely hurt.

The krea's Animus helped as well.

The brute did amazing and the 15 defense vs charges and the ability to cause rerolls is nice.


The brute eventually died to an Engine of Destruction Fioara but the krea got close to drop her defense and Xerxis charged in, and 1 hit, 2 hit then the chain attack and she was dead.


His feat is nice and Martial Discipline is great but he needs alittle something, perhaps some BG love, Fury the spell is nice and the Armor spell is...ok but the rest is too limitting.


Anyway in a nutshell

Karax were great. Cheap and usefull.
Beast Handlers and Cetrati did what they were expected to do.
Krea, Brute and Gladiator I have no complaints with.

Rhadiem hits hard but the Avatar wasn't going to go down to just him.

I messed up the MT so who knows.

My void spirit was able to attack a 3 triangle group of Flame Guard, that were shield walled, 1 died the died to the little death fart he makes. He still could use a second attack with those claws.

Once again I did win, it was not an optinal Menoth list the second time around but neither was the Xerxis list

[Hollywoodxxl]

The Gladiator could have trampled over those pesky small based models (covenant is treated like a small base). I like the no free strike rule on trample.

[knightdrake]

So how exactly is the Krea amazing all around.

I've based my feedback off of around 20 games to not make any knee jerk reaction because of lucky dice rolls or circumstance. I'd say more games for you.

[Scalpel]

Hey folks,
2)Beast Handlers rock. Useful at all times.
3)The Swordsmen and Cetrati.
We have never said these were bad choices.


4)Molik Karn was a baddass in the game.
Ermm ... he is with eMakeda that's why he rocks. I've said a dozen times now that Molik + Ethier Makeda = too good ... any other caster just ok.


5)AG was ok but right now you need dedicated troops to get the full benefit. I would say 2 units of 1 wound models.
You want to suggest we take 12-20 men per AG ?


6)Krea is amazing all around, the animus caused all sorts of problems.
Would love to know more.


7)Void Spirit really needs a second attack.
Not really you just need to pick your target correctly ... or the timing correctly.


In the end EMakeda died but the game was close,
eMakeda is one of the top 2 Warlocks ATM for Skorne ... pMakeda is the other.


So right of the bat...Xerxis kinda was a wet blanket.
The Armour spell goes on a Cannoneer, because then it's ARM 22 against Ranged and 24 in Melee with Aura up. Or it goes on the Brute with Zero Fury on it .. then as you force re-rolls you gain armour!


Krea and Brute are a wonderful combo
Just becasue the Krea is good against ranged doesn't make it a viable beast in most lists, and/or doesn't make it fun to play with. It has one trick now and a mehh gun.



Gladiator was great and took out a Vanquisher by himself.
Well as you didn't mention ... was it Xerxis feat turn or not ?


The brute did amazing and the 15 defense vs charges and the ability to cause rerolls is nice.
The Brute is a fine Warbeast.


Thanks for your time in testing and reporting, however apart from how awesome the Krea was ... most of it there most Skorne players are not complaining about.

Play some games with Hexeris, Zaal, Mordikaar, Bronzebacks, Shaman, etc... if you can, and the please feedback that too.

[Yertle4]

I actually won a game today because of the Krea/ Shaman.

Mulg totally destroyed my entire Cataphract army (inc. feat), but due to some slighty bad rolls and lack of buffs, Xerxis was left on 4 life boxes.
Shaman uses Krea's animus, walks next to Madrak to lower his def. Xerxis charges Madrak with 4s to hit - just manages to finish him off. Right place, right time.

Diminish however, I don't know why there's an aura effect on that anymore.

[Razhem]

First thing is to give you a big round of appluase for deciding to step into the Skorne pool of gaming. As for the rest, Scalpel pretty much covered it, but I have to insist, how was the Krea so amazing? I mean, her ranged attack doesn't work against jacks so her target selection is limited and her aura is fantastic against shooty lists, but the protectorate isn't really known for being that shooty, and I assure you, the vanquisheres don't give a damn about your defence and armour. Or were you more risky while using the krea to get the debuff going? I'm very interested in this because when I played her against hordes, she pulled her weight marvellously, but against warmachine, she will just have games where she ain't facing guns and her paralysis doesn't really affect anything worthwhile except the enemy caster, which only leaves her with the def debuff in those match-ups.

Also, a very important thing you should know, Karax are horrible against vanquishers, girded stops the blast damage, but it doesn't stop them all from bursting into flames.

As for Karn, of course he'll seem amazing, you have the speed 4 jack faction and you get one that can cover some real distance with the Warlock that makes him stupid good. And don't get me wrong, he is a fantastic model, but the thing is you need to value if it is worth his 11 point tag and if I get it's worth from all the warlocks, not just with Makeda.

[tensteam]

Karax are AMAZING, cheap defenders that stop his vanquisher for aton because of the no blast damage power.

Karax do not work against Vanquisher because even if they'll ignore blast damage, they'll catch fire and (most probably) die next turn. This is exactly the same thing as Dug in Trenchers - Vanquisher just takes away the advantage.

So much fire and corrosion these days that I do think Girded isn't an appealing ability. Grouping your models just means you'll likely lose more. Compared to superior Swordsmen Karax need help. +1 ARM and set defence would be a good start.

[Zaqir]

So how exactly is the Krea amazing all around.

I've based my feedback off of around 20 games to not make any knee jerk reaction because of lucky dice rolls or circumstance. I'd say more games for you.


The fact that is protects your guys vs shooting is significant and the def debuff it provides help alot of things as well. It is a great "Support" beast

[Scalpel]

It's always protected us from shooting ... just better and gave us other options when the there wasn't any shooting.

Was it too cheap or overpowered in mk1 ? A bit yeah ... but it didn't need almost everything being taken away from it and left as anti-ranged only beast.

[Razhem]

The fact that is protects your guys vs shooting is significant and the def debuff it provides help alot of things as well. It is a great "Support" beast
Yes, but give examples of how you applied this during your games. I mean, what ranged support was the menite player using? what did it save you from? In my game it kept woldstalkers and sentry stone mannikins honest for example. How did you apply the debuff? did it get you the win or did you loose her next turn? when I used her for this, I got the assassination, so although it wasn't needed, the reassurance was appreciated.

[Zaqir]

Ok so for some more Clarifications

1)The Gladiator did fight the Vanquisher on Xerxis feat turn, however it should be noted that the Gladiator didn't use a single fury. All I did was use the 3initial attacks and the chain attack, all those attacks could have been boosted normally to achieve the same effect if I so required.

2)I am not suggesting we take anything for the AG, I am saying those were my observations and that if you do take AG then taking the multi wound models is not the best strategy, heck I aint even saying the AG is good, for the first fight I recommended to my friend not to take it.

3)True, with Makeda, Karn has no issues.

4)Krea thoughts, the krea becomes full support against warmachine. In the first game my friend was up against the Exemplar Errants, since the Krea was using it and it wasn't a spell it gave enough of a bonus that he was unable to hit with them.

In my match just before Xerxis charged EFiora i moved up the Krea next to Fiora and the -2def was instrumental in Xerxis just going to town with damage.

5)The void spirit is a great "Harasser", against the Exemplars the Eruption never goes off cause of self sacrifice. However it is true that in my game, my Void Spirit walked up to a Temple Flamge Guard, killed it, Erupted, killed 1 more TFG, the small little cloud works only against enemies so my Cetrati benefitted from it being there and the next turn it was able to nail another TFG. So yes you are correct, proper targets are key.


6)The Brute, using the armor spell is something I had not considered, thank you :)

7)The krea is not auto include but the Ranged aspect of this game has increased and the krea isn't horrible once again, it buffs/debuffs rather well.

8)I will try to play with more Skorne, I tried Xerxis for now and as I stated he needs something a bit more. There were 2 instances where Martial Disciple helped which is rather nice and being Khador I know full well the benefits of his other spells. I think perhaps he just needs just something a bit more perhaps an ability to leach extra fury off beasts but they do not count for his fury they just "go away" to represent his iron will/discipline so he can run beasts a bit hotter and still be 5 fury?

[Zaqir]

Karax do not work against Vanquisher because even if they'll ignore blast damage, they'll catch fire and (most probably) die next turn. This is exactly the same thing as Dug in Trenchers - Vanquisher just takes away the advantage.

So much fire and corrosion these days that I do think Girded isn't an appealing ability. Grouping your models just means you'll likely lose more. Compared to superior Swordsmen Karax need help. +1 ARM and set defence would be a good start.


Hmm you may have something there I always thought and I think my friends as well that if they are immune to blast damage it was as if any deviations that count as blast don't exist for them. An oversight perhaps on my part but more so on my opponent who never tried shooting the Karax with the Vanquisher but then again the Karax were engaged with the Daughters of the Flame.


EDIT:

I just checked with my friend, it wasn't an oversight, he didn't want to explode the daughters and i got to him with the Gladiator to not give him a chance the turn after but he was fully prepared to cook my Karax alive.