A Guide to the Blindwater Congregation

[Sevwall]

A Guide to the Blindwater Congregation

So, you want to play the Blindwater Congregation. Well, here’s my take on it. I hope it helps. The faction is still young, and selection is still low, so its up to you to develop enough different tactics to keep your army fresh, and your opponents off balance.

B Rating is how well things work with Barnabas, C Rating is how they work with Calaban. W rating is how well warbeasts work with Wrong Eye.

But first, some important Gator links! The rules for Rise are confusing, so if anyone has any questions, the following links can help.
Why does the Rise animus get around the normal rules for being thrown? (http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?49120-Rise-Animus&highlight=gator+toss)
Why can I cast Rise when knocked down? (http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?47794-Can-I-do-this&highlight=rise)
Can a model knocked down during its own turn activate (thus casting rise on itself)? (http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?62558-model-knocked-down-during-its-own-turn-does-it-still-activate&highlight=rise%2C+animus)

Now, back to the guide!

Bloody Barnabas
About as spectacular as warlocks get, this guy has it all. Firstly, his defenses are very good, with a solid DEF 13 ARM 17 that jumps to ARM 19 in melee. On the melee end of things he packs a trio of initial attacks at a nice high MAT and reach on the strongest weapon. So he makes for a more than capable melee combatant. Once you take a look at his spells and feat, you get to the real goods. His feat is effectively a control area KD (amphibious is only likely to bother you in the mirror match), which for a melee force with reach means one turn where the enemy cannot retaliate with melee attacks and a turn where all your hits are free. You should be popping the feat on the charge turn vs most armies, and save it for the kill turn on armies with high DEF warlocks.
His main spell is Swamp Pit, a spell that makes everything but Thrullgs, Gobbers, Pendrake and the Totem Hunter immune to ranged attacks while inside of the giant 5” template. The models still block LOS to things behind them, so as long as the aforementioned models hide behind, say, a unit of gators in the swamp, you can render your whole army untargetable by ranged attacks. Considering that this forces the enemy to engage you in melee, and you are a melee-centric force, that’s a huge advantage. His other spells are also sweet, with Iron Flesh bringing Gators to the incredible DEF 16 ARM 16 with Dirge of Mists, and Warpath making all of your beasts move around for free. What fun.

If you want a melee powerhouse who forces your enemy to engage him on his turf, take this guy.

Theme Force: Well, I’m going to be honest and say just forget about this thing. Essentially, you trade the power solos for cheaper heavies and +1 to go first, but it forces him to take a few non-optimal choices (3 heavies, Bog Trogs) and forces him to leave behind the Thrullg, his only option for breaking troublesome upkeeps or focus camping casters. Barnabas has trouble with high ARM, and removing that Arcane Shield or Spiny Growth is hugely important.

Calaban
He lacks the straightforward power of Barnabas, but he possesses the spells to buff his forces or ruin the enemy. His stats aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible for a 7 fury caster. He actually hits a little harder than Barnabas in melee, at the cost of a life point per attack, though he can’t hit as accurately. With Parasite and Spiny Growth his ARM is actually a respectable 19. Speaking of Parasite, that’s the main draw of this caster. Gators are a melee force, but they top out at P+S 13 for the most part, and that means that ARM 18+ models have an unacceptably high survival rate. With Parasite, you need not worry, things will drop with ease. He also has the requisite ‘gators screw ranged’ in Occultation, which is really sweet on so many different targets. Carnivore makes it so that gators will hit nearly any living thing in the game on average rolls, and will make your beasts into accurate killers of enemy beasts. Hex blast is good in a pinch. Bone Shaker is nifty, if harder to use than you might think at first glance. He’s a nice toolblox, but he plays second fiddle to the hugely powerful blunt object that is Barnabas.

If you want a tricky approach to gators, or worry about high ARM, take this guy.

Theme Force: This theme force has quite a few awesome benefits, and the penalties aren’t exactly as big a problem. You still lose Thrullgs, Swamp Gobbers and Totem Hunters, but Hex Blast, Occultation and Parasite cover those problems. In return you get Bone Grinders, which help enable your feat and keep Calaban safely away from the action. You also gain increased deployment, a plus for any melee force, and ADing Wrong Eye and Snapjaw. As the Deathjack will tell you, an ADing heavy is great, especially one with a 12” threat range against most models.

Wrongeye and Snapjaw
The best thing about this pair is that Snapjaw has a huge threat range vs living models, hits hard, and is independent of the battlegroup and thus doesn’t tax your warlock’s fury. The downside is that you need to practice keeping Wrongeye alive. Luckily, Submerge makes that relatively trivial. Once you master them, its almost like having a super solo on the table, with a moderately capable melee solo thrown in for fun. Wrongeye can also cas spells, but with Fury 4, offensive spells really aren’t worth it. Stick to animi and submerge.

B Rating: Barnabas likes his battlegroup, but he also tends to have fury issues. You can take or leave Wrongeye, its more down to personal preference.

C Rating: Sure, why not. Barnabas likes Spitters, which leaves him low on threat range. Snapjaw has that threat range. Plus, the Theme Force is so good, and ADing heavies are awesome.

[Sevwall]

Wrastler
A really sweet melee beast, the Wrastler is a pure melee threat with slightly above average defenses and melee potential. His slightly low health is offset by really high ARM and decent DEF. His P+S is about the highest one can expect on an unbuffed beast, and he has two open fists at a hefty P+S 14 for additional damage. His animus is the main draw for a tricky player, as it allows him to stand up and charge after he is thrown, or allows him to allow others to perform the same trick. With proper placement, that’s a 6” movement buff per wraster, and that’s easily capable of winning games for you. Finally, Death Roll allows him to sacrifice his initial attacks for a KD and a boosted damage die. This will allow you to kill high DEF models as long as you can get that first hit, and its really useful on non-charge turns, because sacrificing two P+S 14s for a boosted roll is a decent trade at ARM 20, and helps ease ethe sting at lower ARM levels.

If you want a solid melee beast with some hidden trickery, take this guy.

B Rating: As the only heavy melee, it doesn’t really matter, does it? He’s solid, especially with Warpath for enough movement to get the charge off on things. Two of them almost function as a ranged attack, thanks to the flying gators trick.

C Rating: Parasite gets him up to effective P+S 20/18/18. That’s enough of a benefit for me. He is also a potent set up piece. Calaban is actually more potent in combat that Barnabas if you can KD the target and have life to spend on life trader. The snapper gives access to easy KD via Death Roll or throws.

W Rating: Nooooooo. Just no. You already have one heavy tied to a relatively frail model, please don’t compound the issue.

Bull Snapper
A cheap little missle, this guy will only ever kill one thing a turn, but is cheap and efficient, and has an 11.5” charge range vs living models. Oh, and Spiny Growth completely changes the faction by turning our tough beasts into Khador heavies. That’s sorta it. I mean, he’s a cheap missle with an awesome animus. Done.

If you want a cheap missle with an awesome animus, take this guy.

B Rating: Spiny Growth makes Barnabas a complete pain to kill, even at range. On top of that, they capitalize very well on warpath, and their fury efficieny is nice with a 6 fury caster. Take at least one, if not two or three.

C Rating: The problem with the Snapper is that it doesn’t hit hard, and Parasite fixes that right up. Even ARM 18 models would have something to fear from a snapper when Parasite is in play. Oh, and Carnivore is hilarious on a snapper, because it brings him up to MAT 7 and allows him to kill multiple living models, since he never destroys any of them, which bypasses torpid.

W Rating: Well, you get to cast a sweet animus and you get a second transfer target. Its going to frenzy, because Wrong Eye is going to focus on keeping Snapjaw safe and frenzy free, but its not a bad idea. At 2 points in a Calaban Theme force, its an even better deal.

Ironback Spitter
A cheap heavy with moderate survivability, passable melee power and a really sweet gun. AOE guns on warbeasts are extremely good, because they can boost without any planning, and thus are never all that taxing to run while still being excellent sources of boosted blast damage and such. In a faction like gators with no other real ranged attacks to speak of, this is a huge bonus. I would go so far as to say that every single gator list for the foreseeable future should have at least one, just to remove problem models or soften up heavies. Other than that, Girded is a bit useless when you have nothing that really cares about blast damage, but hey, why not. Back plates is kinda fun. Sure, you are going to take a ton of damage from free strikes, but you are going to take some infantry with you, you might survive, and Spiny Growth can help out. Just don’t forget about it.

B Rating: You can pull off a passable ‘drop and pop’ with this list, KDing an enemy caster and then hitting them with boosted POW 14’s. This is an effective but common tactic, so your opponent should see it coming, and to really be effective you have to take more than one Spitter. And that means you have fewer Wrastlers, and your army caps out at P+S 15, which is bad news, buddy. That said, one spitter is a good idea with this guy, just to provide ranged support to an otherwise melee force.

C Rating: Yes please. Parasite means that you really don’t care about topping out at POW 15, and Calaban has the fury to keep Spiny Growth on them. They also really help his feat, since they can fire out of the control range, killing maybe 3 infantry and providing a ton of fury and a spell. Plus, you are likely taking the theme force, and have snapjaw to provide the true killing power.

W Rating: Okay, well, its still a bad idea to take two heavies on a lesser warlock. Its also 17 points, which means that you don’t really have any points to give your warlock any beasts. But, a ranged heavy on this guy isn’t a bad idea, since he likes staying safely in back with Submerge up. The reason you even consider this is because Spitters are only 6 points with Wrong Eye in a Calaban theme force, and gain AD. That’s an interesting idea. But I haven’t tested it yet, and I likely won’t for some time. So tell me if it works.

[Sevwall]

Totem Hunter
Gators focus on melee, but the melee they have is all high threat range and high power , which is exactly what the Totem Hunter brings to the table. Even without Prey his ability to bring a MAT 8 P+S 14 attack to the table is golden. With Prey even his buckler is a light beast shredding weapon. Sprint lets him perform turn after turn by retreating to flanking postions where he will threaten a charge next turn all the while relying on stealth to keep him safe.

If you want the best melee solo this side of Tartarus, take this guy.

B Rating: Higher than high. He is the ideal canditate for setting off Warpath, since he has a 14? threat range and is a faction model (faction totem hunters are gross ;)). If you prey the caster, a charge on feat turn can easily end the game.

C Rating: Still great. You are hitting Parasited prey at effective P+S 19, and he already has stealth so him and occulted gators make a cool flanking force.

Croak Hunter
Another stealthy solo, this guy is a little mini-totem hunter, who graduates to full fledged totem hunter if you can get him in combat with a living model under Gang Fighter. His ability to throw spears is his draw, as it adds even just a little ranged to the army. Even a single ranged attack will let you threaten key solos and make your opponent think just a little bit. If he forgets, all the better, you might just nail that Forsaken with a thrown spear. They work best in large numbers, as a flanking force that can shred living models. They also give gators some scenario presence, with AD to get them in place and stealth to keep them safe.

If you want a cheap utility solo with decent melee power and a thrown spear, take this guy.

B Rating: Second only to the Totem Hunter in early game Warpath triggers, they work well under the feat, which makes they?re ranged attacks much more accurate. While you probably only want one or two, its never a bad idea to take them.

C Rating:Ranged attacks are really good with the feat, since they are easier to trigger. He is also already stealthy, and such helps form a stealthy flank with occulted models.

Thrullg
A truly awesome melee solo, this guy is a counter to some of the more annoying spells in the game. First, he has 3 melee attacks at MAT 7, a truly respectable stat. With an 11? threat on the charge, you are going to get some nice use out of him even if that?s all he was. But he?s more. With Psychic Vampire he is going to frustrate the hell out of Druids and Battlemages, models which would otherwise frustrate the hell out of you. In addition, he can remove camped focus or upkeep spells with a single hit. Even Ironfleshed Kayazy have a little trouble with him, since he has three chances to roll boxcars. You should really always have one on the field if at all possible.

If you are tired of magic attacks and upkeep spells, take this guy.

B Rating: Just perfect. In combination with the feat, you can KD a model to remove its DEF so that theThrull can remove ARM buffs (Spiny Growth, focus, Arcane Shield). Or, better yet, you can remove that anti-KD animus or upkeep so that the feat can KD them. Plus it?s a bad *** melee solo with a caster that loves melee. Its perfect.

C Rating: Just be careful that you don?t attack targets with Parasite on them. Despite this anti-synergy, the Thrullg is just too good to pass up. Take him anyway.

Pendrake
A third awesome solo, this guy brings a highly accurate (for gators) high range (for gators) attack. He also has an incorporeal slaying weapon, which is better than nothing I guess. The main draw for most factions is the increased accuracy vs beasts, but gators don?t really need it. It is a nice bonus though in a pinch, when you want DEF and Terror, or terrain is in the way.

If you want a real gun and the ability to hit any beast in the game on average rolls, take this guy.

B Rating: Our most long range, most accurate ranged attack for triggering Warpath! Beast Lore is nice for Gators under Iron Flesh, because it lets them charge, say, a Warpwolf, hit without using the reroll ability, and then become DEF 16 after you cast Iron Flesh on them. Its nice.

C Rating: Are you tired of hearing how ranged attacks work well with the feat? His ability to grant boosts against beasts is a nice way of keeping Carnivore off of gators on feat turn while still wrecking beasts.

Feralgiest
Cheap filler, these guys have all kinds of fun benefits. First, they contest scenarios, so your mostly-melee force can plunk down a running incorporeal model, and your opponent will likely have a hard time removing it. Secondly, you can use its base to block non-reach models from engaging your stuff. Barnabas with two feralgiests right in front of his base is pretty safe from non-reach models. Thirdly, they jump into beasts, taking over enemy ones, and keeping your beasts alive for an extra attack or two. While its usually not hard to kill the beasts again, sometimes that extra 3 points of life will keep your Wrastler alive to ravage what tried to kill it.

B Rating: Aside from the effects listed above, Barnabas likes the Feralgiest because it?s the only 1 point model he wants to take. Swamp gobbers have little place in a Barnabas list.

C Rating: Calaban is more of a hang back caster, so the ability to contest scenarios is a pretty big deal for him.

[Sevwall]

Gator Posse
This is why you play gators! Seriously, these guys are better than most faction melee forces, and now they finally benefit from faction synergies and buffs. Just on their own, they pack reach P+S 13?s with a ?backup? non-reach attack. They are a hardy DEF 12 ARM 16 with 8 life each, and in melee they shoot up to ARM 18. They have a selection of three prayers to fix most of their deficiencies, DEF 13 and terror, or pathfinder, or rerolls against living models. Such an amazing unit. I?d recommend owning at least 2 full units if you want to play gators full time. You could even splurge for 3.

If you want to play this faction, take these guys.

B Rating: DEF 16 gators are just horrifying, doubly so if you can?t shoot them on the approach. Two units is a sweet idea with him.

C Rating: Stealthy gators that hit at effective P+S 16 are so amazing its criminal. Again, take 2 units.

Bog Trogs
Ambush is a really nice ability, allowing the faction to field a really nice flanking force to complement the incredible up front melee power. With MAT 6, powerful charge and CMA, there is no flanking force that will be able to take a charge from these guys. Perversely, that means that in most games the opponent simply won?t flank, which can lead you to believe that they aren?t doing much, but don?t fall into that trap. Always pop these guys turn 2, even if all they do is run. Your opponent will have to deal with them, taking troops away from the front lines. That translates to less opposition for the gators, and that?s a great thing.

B Rating: Well, you are already protected vs shooting, and your feat is often enough disruption. I?m not a fan, but in some scenarios they are worth their weight in gold. It?s up to each player to decide.

C Rating: Well, theoretically Parasite gives them horrifying power on the ambush, but the likelihood that you are going to hit a flanking target with it is low. So, take them for the reasons you always take them, but unless you can force the game to the flanks, they don?t synergize well.

Swamp Gobbers
As a troll player, I can tell you that you can still block LOS to you force pretty well with these guys, even with medium bases. They are one of the easiest ways to keep your caster safe, and for a single point its well worth it.

If you want to keep you caster safe, take these guys.

B Rating: Simply not needed. Barnabas often has the 2 fury to spend on swamp pit and its far superior defense against ranged attacks.

C Rating: Calaban needs to get close, and is fragile (for a gator). You should really always be taking Swamp gobbers with him if you are forsaking the theme force. Just remember to avoid blocking LOS on feat turn until the very last activation, or you can ruin your feat.

[Delrogue]

Great stuff. It will be interesting to see the debates on some of the stuff (I quite like Barnies tiers - in my mind it's a good trade off for the loss of the Totem Hunter and Thrullg) but that's part of the fun.

Can you go and update Battlecollege as well? :)

[Aisriyth]

Nice write up! So far I am loving how Calaban sounds only big thing that bothers me is Gatormen(Calaban) gets stuck with having to use Farrow Bone Grinders instead of an equally suitable and imo more thematic Gatormen style shaman unit. In due time i hope though!

[Top]

I like the way you broke it down in 'ratings'. The more I read the more I'm liking Barnabas.

[Skeenip]

Just to contribute, Wrong Eye and Snap Jaw can be quite effective with Baranabas vs Hordes. On Feat turn you offset Wrong Eye's low Fury stat allowing you to toss out Vodoo Doll to knock out spirit and removing their ability to shake off.

This also combo's well with the death roll ability on the Wrastler's on non-feat turns.

[PUFNSTUF]

thats a fantastic idea with voodoo doll skeenip

[Sevwall]

Yes, excellent trick.

[Sevwall]

Welcome, newly gatored friends! Maelock will be up in a week or two in preliminary form, and check back in upcoming months as we learn more about what Gators get in the new book!

[fn_quick]

My cali tier list has two spitters. With both AD you can usually get 2 shots off of each before things get close. These shots have gotten me a number of results:
Fenblades hate it, anything that loses tough durring the start of the turn hates it. Itll soften up some of the harder stuff, man-o-wars etc.

I like to look at it like bombardment, see what you can take out / damage. Once the opp has crossed and is in your face it becomes situation in what I do with the spitters. I do find throwing khador jacks effective in buying me some more time.

[Loki_333]

Sevwall, it might not be a bad idea to add in something about models with circular vision as priority targets for Caliban's Ranged attacks. Specifically I'm looking at Circle Argus and Khador Great Bears. Generally the game is over if you tag Mohsar and eButcher and Typhon are a little harder targets then even boosted POW 10s can deal.

I can't think of any other models with it at this time.

[Watchtower]

Welcome, newly gatored friends! Maelock will be up in a week or two in preliminary form, and check back in upcoming months as we learn more about what Gators get in the new book!
Awesome!

Sevwall, it might not be a bad idea to add in something about models with circular vision as priority targets for Caliban's Ranged attacks. Specifically I'm looking at Circle Argus and Khador Great Bears. Generally the game is over if you tag Mohsar and eButcher and Typhon are a little harder targets then even boosted POW 10s can deal.

I can't think of any other models with it at this time.

Cryx Overseer, Vyros's Battlegroup.

[DaveZee]

Is Baranabas's swamp pit effective against magic attacks, too, or just ranged?

[ChristopherY]

Is Baranabas's swamp pit effective against magic attacks, too, or just ranged?

Just ranged, Dave. I don't know who would be so misinformed to tell you otherwise. ;)

[pattison]

Welcome, newly gatored friends! Maelock will be up in a week or two in preliminary form, and check back in upcoming months as we learn more about what Gators get in the new book!
Any updates on Maelock please? :)

[MagnustheJust]

Any updates on Maelock please? :)

Height wise the model is between Calaban & Snackjaw for size... He's huge!!

[Sevwall]

Update S@@N. ;)

[fildrigar]

Gator Posse
This is why you play gators! Seriously, these guys are better than most faction melee forces, and now they finally benefit from faction synergies and buffs. Just on their own, they pack reach P+S 13?s with a ?backup? non-reach attack. They are a hardy DEF 12 ARM 16 with 8 life each, and in melee they shoot up to ARM 18. They have a selection of three prayers to fix most of their deficiencies, DEF 13 and terror, or pathfinder, or rerolls against living models. Such an amazing unit. I?d recommend owning at least 2 full units if you want to play gators full time. You could even splurge for 3.

If you want to play this faction, take these guys.

B Rating: DEF 16 gators are just horrifying, doubly so if you can?t shoot them on the approach. Two units is a sweet idea with him.

C Rating: Stealthy gators that hit at effective P+S 16 are so amazing its criminal. Again, take 2 units.

Something to keep in mind with Gators, ( It may not come up very often, but can be quite important when it does. ) is that Blood Thirst doesn't specify enemy. You can charge your own living models for the +2 Movement. Since they have two attacks each, you can attack something else with their second attack. I faced Barnabas with Baldur at a tourney, and had very few living models. ( Baldur tier list, five living models, no Druids ) The unit of Gators close enough to charge Baldur had no line of sight to charge him. A living model ran close to Baldur, and the Gators were able to charge and two models got to swing at Baldur. ( Sitting on on Fury to transfer with ( ! ) ) A couple of good rolls would have ended the game then and there. Alas, Baldur lived to tell the tale.

[Der Tod]

Wrastler BC Rating: Parasite gets him up to effective P+S 20/18/18.

Isn't this 17/17 on his Claws with the +3 improvment or what did I get wrong??

I really like this write-up as I bought some gators, too and I am going to field a 15pt Maelok force soonish for undeadfrigginzombiemadness!! :)

[Sevwall]

Correct. Domination update s@@n.

[Halfhoot]

Wrongeye can also cast spells, but with Fury 4, offensive spells really aren’t worth it. Stick to animi and submerge.

Voodoo Doll is a great thing. For 3 of his 4 fury you can easily hit all but some crazy buffed Legion beasts. Average on 3 dice is 10ish so 14 is your average hit with it. Trust me I come from Cygnar... Jr's RAT 4 Hand Cannon with a boost can hit a lot of things fairly easily even when he moves and has no rangers. Anyway... hitting a DEF 12 beast is pretty trivial... and having a beast not be able to force for a turn is quite awesome. In fact, if Wrongeye stays 8" away (easy to do since you can measure that exactly) most beasts won't be able to get to him if they can't charge for free... and he still has the one transfer. If you can whittle your opponent down to 1 big nasty beast... Wrongeye can pretty much take it out of the game on his own.

In the very least you can do it before charging in with a Spiny Growthed Wrastler... and that Wrastler will live to a beast that can't buy extra attacks.

[shady]

very good i enjoyed reading it i have the minons book and im really starting to like blindwater their so good i play menoth so its a tottal change for me cheers

[ChristopherY]

I'm curious as to how you use the Thrullg... It only seems to draw fire when I play it. Seems like the AD on the Thrullg is a trap; it gets the extra 6", but that only puts it 6" closer to enemy ranged attacks. The only thing I can think of is keep it hidden behind larger based models or in the case of Calaban, I suppose Occultation could be cast on it but to me it seems there are better targets for that spell. It can't really effectively use forests to hide... I suppose the Swamp Gobbers would be a good way to protect it, but I don't find myself bringing them very often and to bring them specifically for the Thrullg just seems to be going to far out of my way for one solo. It does have some impressive abilities but I have NEVER been able to get it somewhere I can use them... not to mention it's not amphibious, so Barney's feat KD's it if the Thrullg happens to be in range.

[Mod_GoLu]

I use AD to deploy it away from things that might kill it. Unless I see a unit full of delicious single wound Magic Ability troopers, I keep the thrullg back with my caster and only have it emerge from hiding late game once everything is tied up. Occultation doesn't work on it because no one can target a thrullg with spells. And your own black tide won't knock over the thrullg, since the feat only affects enemy models.

[ChristopherY]

Occultation doesn't work on it because no one can target a thrullg with spells. And your own black tide won't knock over the thrullg, since the feat only affects enemy models.

Yet another reminder for the newbie to read his cards. ;)

[fildrigar]

Correct. Domination update s@@n.

Is it s@@n yet?

[Yertle4]

Is it s@@n yet?


Colonel Sandurz: Try here. Stop.
Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?
Colonel Sandurz: Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.
Dark Helmet: What happened to then?
Colonel Sandurz: We passed then.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We're at now now.
Dark Helmet: Go back to then.
Colonel Sandurz: When?
Dark Helmet: Now.
Colonel Sandurz: Now?
Dark Helmet: Now.
Colonel Sandurz: I can't.
Dark Helmet: Why?
Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now.
Dark Helmet: When will then be now?
Colonel Sandurz: Soon.
Dark Helmet: How soon?

[hisshers]

Beautiful. Just beautiful.