35p Naaresh with 3 Titans, criticism wanted.

[stormshaft]

Torment to all of you (and well wishes)!

After growing a bit fed up with Menoth, I was thinking of growing my Skorne army (I already have ~35pts of Zaal'iness), and I fell in love with Naaresh and his power and unpredictable playstyle. I also want to try out a heavy hordes-list as well so I was thinking about the following:

35pts

- Naaresh +6p
? Bronzeback 10p
? Gladiator 8p
? Gladiator 8p
? Cyclopes Brute 5p

? Nihilators (full) 8p
? Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) 2p



I was thinking of shoving the Nihilators at the enemy and give them IF to make for a beaty wall of pierced flesh and then bringing the full force of a whole bunch of very grumpy elephants to slam, throw, kick and kill the enemy's heavys.

Is it viable? Most Naaresh lists I've seen consists of Cyclopes and such, but I felt like a bunch of heavy heavy heavy hitters will crush absolutely everything under his feat and with the help of Nihilators will put out quite a lot of beating. The lack of aoe's can hurt me when it comes to Kayazy Assassins, Daughters of the Flame and such, but I imagine that 3 Elephants will be very intimidating for anyone to face.

Am I on the right track here?
So far I own the Brute and one of the Gladiators, the rest are still not bought so there is absolutely time to change it around.

[stormshaft]

I realised I can minimize, if not negate, my worry of high def infantry by using a Rhinodon instead of one Gladiator, and a Feralgeist for the last point.

Giving me the following list instead:

35pts

- Naaresh +6p
• Bronzeback 10p
• Gladiator 8p
• Rhinodon 7p
• Cyclopes Brute 5p

• Nihilators (full) 8p
• Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) 2p

• Feralgeist 1p

A Rhino-turtle under Enrage and the feat actually packs quite a punch with 3 attacks if needed.

[Earthcrosser599]

I'd use that last point to increase your paingiver unit to a full one rather than throwing in a Feralgeist. If you're planning on using them to buff your warlock as well as handle your beasts 4 is not going to cut it.

[stormshaft]

I'd use that last point to increase your paingiver unit to a full one rather than throwing in a Feralgeist. If you're planning on using them to buff your warlock as well as handle your beasts 4 is not going to cut it.

Thanks for the tip! A few good whips to the back could be a good idea.

[Bastion5]

I run Naaresh with 3 big'uns standard. BB and 2 Gladiators at 35. Personally I like the list but, where's the agonizer? Naaresh is an attrition warlock and loves for his beasts to be around as long as possible. The agonizers debuffs helps this out immensely.

[stormshaft]

@Bastion5:

I revised the list, and took out the Brute.

Naaresh +6
- BB 10p
- Gladiator 8p
- Rhinodon 7p
- Marketh 3p

10 Nihilators 8p
6 Beast Handlers 3p
Agonizer 2p


I could take min Nihilators and leave Marketh to take a Brute and have 1p left but I'm not sure if it's a good trade off.

[AngraX]

I find the brute pretty important to him. In times of need, Naareash can IF himself and be immune to knockdown. I would go as far as dropping Marketh and the Aggy for the brute.

[onthedownlow]

Don't forget about the Cyclops Shaman - I might be tempted to include him over the Brute, if nothing else for the tremendous utility of being able to cast Rush outside of Naaresh's activation..

[stormshaft]

Good points after all.

How does a min unit of Nihilators fare? Are they required to be full or are they in fact better as a smaller unit (minimizing the risk of berzerking my own friends)?

I am a bit concerned that taking only a small unit will leave me with too few models on the board.

[onthedownlow]

I usually run the following for Naaresh at 35pts

Naaresh

Bronzeback
Gladiator
Gladiator
Shaman
Max Beast Handlers
Min Nihilators
Agonizer

Which seems to work pretty well, although I'll be honest.. I dont get much out of Naaresh as a melee Warlock as much as a lurking assassination threat, or a denial / army buff warlock with his feat and spell set.

[onthedownlow]

Which is to say that I found that a max unit of Nihilators is pretty unwieldy if you're using them as a screen; they kept running out of formation.

[various]

Lack of light 'Beasts could lead to reduced flexibility as they have some pretty good Animi on them as wel as being slightly quicker. Things like the Bassilisk Drake for it's ranged potential and Bushwack Animus can be quite useful to move out of a prolonged combat that you've just won, it's also cheap too. Agonizer's usefulness can't be stressed enough, they're more or less an auto-include unless you're running a Tier List that doesn't allow them. The min Nihilators are pretty good as the CMD of 7 can lead to Berserk casualties and vulnerability to blast damage due to the tightly packed way that they've to be placed, Fearless and Tough should get them to stick around for a while.

[stormshaft]

Wow, thanks for the thoughts and information.

Revised the list yet again:

Naaresh +6
- BB 10p
- Gladiator 8p
- Rhinodon 7p
- Brute/Shaman 5p

Min Nihilators 5p
6 Beast Handlers 3p
Agonizer 2p
Swamp Gobbers 1p

This list feels like it can be fun to play, and the beasts will all pack a considerable punch when they get to the enemy lines.