Bane thralls + ?

[Brownpanther]

I'm still just starting to play WM and I'm looking at units now. I know I want bane thralls over knights, but what would you suggest should be my second to last me for a while. Not sure which caster I'm gonna stick with yet. I have pDenny, pGaspy, Venethrax, and pSkarre at the moment. Should I get bane knights as well or would their role be redundant with bane thralls. Would it be better to mix it up with mechanithralls or something else? Thanks in advance.

[drachenfels]

bile thralls.
banes can get clogged down trying to clean out infantry, but a backup unit of biled behind can just walk up, purge, and clear a lane for banes to eat better more important things.

[Borkas drinking buddy]

I agree bile thralls are freaking nasty. If anything they scare your opponent into dealing with them first. Bane knights are good, but not on par with thralls, you have chosen wisely.

[Mathai]

Withershadow Combine is another good choice as long as you dont plan to jump into many multi list, character restricted tournaments. They literally have something for everyone to like them.

Bile Thralls are very nice indeed, but I never like their results without something else to first keep attentions away from them. So before them I would suggest a screening/frontline unit. Bane Knight/Thralls are nice, but expensive in both points and cash to make work. Mechanithralls are something that just work in one way or another for everyone, especially Denny. Take them with Necrosurgeon or two, and they just dont go away very easilly. Which can be very worth the points, even if they never kill a single model on their activation.

[2LiveIs2Die]

Satyxis blood witches + blood hag 100%
Entropic Force is amazing on its own, within 9" no healing or tough (no beast healing, self sac, martyrdom, revive, etc.)
They are also fast and accurate, not to mention cheap. 8 points for 11 guys.
And with 2x mat 8 attacks each they never have problems with infantry, something banes can't deal with.
Also they go incorporeal for a round so they can make it to battle.

Biles are slow, low def, low arm and almost always die before getting an effective purge. I use them in conjunction with blood witches or a caster with occultation but they really do need help.

[Harvester]

My biggest problem with the blood witches is that their ua is speed 5

[2LiveIs2Die]

I don't understand how that's a problem.

[subgenius]

As usual, almost as many answers as responders If anything, you're seeing just how deep our bench is. My advice would be satyxis raiders with the UA (captain optional). Their play style is completely different from bane thralls and they combine very well with them as an extremely fast first wave to tie up the enemy. With the mini-feat and charge (which you'll almost always get) there is enough damage to mess up heavys, and the CMA lets them take down high DEF infantry without too much trouble, particularly if you're using pDennegrah or pSkarre. Once the enemy has been tied up, you're pretty much free to choose your striking point with the following bane thralls. Truly an A+ unit, and they play differently enough to help you widen your gaming style.

Mechanithralls are also a solid choice and can be a wonderful tarpit to make sure your banes get where they need to be. To really shine they need to have some kind of help hitting however, so I tend to avoid them with pAsphyxious. Denegrah and pSkarre both love them however (no Venethrax experience for me). If you get these guys though, a necrosurgeon is mandatory, and you'll probably want a couple brute thralls as well, so it can get a bit more pricey in terms of actual $.

Really, just get both

[Sanctjud]

My biggest problem with the blood witches is that their ua is speed 5

The Hag can run.
Hence, there is no problem, esp. with 9" Command, speed 7 on her would be terrible for the game.

[Brownpanther]

Thanks. I actually hadn't even considered Bile Thralls or Satyxis Raiders, so it's good to know that they have some real strengths. So much to consider...

[Fandeath]

I have to second Bile Thralls. They win a lot of games.

[various]

Most of Cryx's infantry is pretty good for one reason or another: be it hard hitting 'Banes (of either flavour) or dirt cheap Mechanithralls. Personally i nearly always take at least a minimum unit of Mechthralls as they've so many uses and with a Necrosurgeon they can be recycled as long as at least one of the unit survives. Depending what else you have planned to buy you may want to seriously consider adding a unit, then again all the other units suggested are worth having so it all depends on your playstyle and the composition of your local meta. In all likelihood you may well end up with one unit of each unit (at least), i'm not far from being there myself.

[Admiral_Arzar]

Either Bile Thralls or Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch. I would probably get Biles first though.

[PG_Sobek]

I like Bile Thralls, but I have to admit that, for some reason, I feel like a ^%*$ whenever I actually field them.

[Brownpanther]

Would you field bile thralls in a low-point game (25-35 points) or are they too auxiliary? I'm still brand new to the game, but their value now seems clear to me as a support unit in larger games, but in smaller games, where every point in your army carries more weight and responsibility, do they maintain their value? Am I completely viewing the scaling wrong? Biles just seem very hit-or-miss, high risk/reward by the sound of it. In a low-point game, is your success/failure gonna hinge on whether or not they survive long enough to do their thing?

[syanide]

Bane lord tartarus & the unit Ua
Mechanithralls are gr8 with pskarre

[Brownpanther]

Bane lord tartarus & the unit Ua
Mechanithralls are gr8 with pskarre

Already got 'em on order

[Brownpanther]

well, the ua and Tartarus at least

[Bronze]

Descecrators!

[PG_Wankel]

seeing your opponent's face after 10 winterguards dying to a single bile thrall is just priceless. GET BILE THRALLS :P

[shaner]

Bile thralls are the devil....and have cool models.

Raiders are also neat....awesome for frying Cygnar casters who bring light jacks!!!

[Bearsoldier]

nothing like seeing your apponents face when you plop down 30 mcthralls 9 brute thralls and two necrosurgeons for a measely 28 points all hiting with the power of a mack truck while rolling 3d6 to hit with pskarre.

[SpiderBite]

I'm still just starting to play WM and I'm looking at units now. I know I want bane thralls over knights, but what would you suggest should be my second to last me for a while. Not sure which caster I'm gonna stick with yet. I have pDenny, pGaspy, Venethrax, and pSkarre at the moment. Should I get bane knights as well or would their role be redundant with bane thralls. Would it be better to mix it up with mechanithralls or something else? Thanks in advance.

with your list of casters I would reccomend the Officer and Standard (UA. Obviously useful) first, followed by a close second by Bane Lord Tartarus (should still be obvious).
After you have those, try getting some Satyxis Raiders and their unit attachment.
pDen: loves everyone that isnt eating her focus. Raiders, like everything, are sickening with her.
pGaspy: Clouds help their already impressive defenses for the one turn they might not be in combat
Venny: Advance deploy Soul harvesters with 12" threat range (14" with the Captain solo) anyone?
pSkarre: . . . Dark Guidance + Power Swell super killy.

And nothing seems to help get BaneThralls up the field as your opponent dealing with demonic chicas with whips in his fave, eating his frontline.

just my 2FOC on the subject.

[Brownpanther]

1) I was considering blood witches over raiders for the points savings. If you had to choose, in general, would you take a full unit of blood witches or a min unit of raiders?
2) Is a min unit of bile thralls ever useful, or are you pretty much committed to maxing them out to get anything out of them (and all over the enemy).

[drachenfels]

1) blood witches should ALWAYS take the hag. the hag is the reason to take her.
and that said it depends on what yo face more often. if hordes or lots of tough infantry - the bloodwitches and hag. they shut down healing on beasts and stop tough. pop blood shadow and they can cause allot of havoc. if your facing allot of warmachine tho raiders with seawitch (again always take the ua) can just end games when they start lashing a jack and sending damage through with feedback.

2) min biles is usualy all that is needed. they are NOT a front line unit. meanign they should be behind things, and out of range. you dont advance them towards the enemy aggressively, they are for cleanup and clearing stuff that hits your lines.
also biles REALLY benefit from a ghostwalk caster. they sit behind an important forest, get walked, move to the other side and purge at anything that approaches.

[PG_Sobek]

2) Is a min unit of bile thralls ever useful, or are you pretty much committed to maxing them out to get anything out of them (and all over the enemy).

Honestly, a min unit of Biule Thralls is all I ever take. I usually find that paying the 3 extra points for a max unit is kind of a waste. If I can't get the job done with 6, chances are I won't be able to with 10. That's my mindset anyway.

[Sanctjud]

Biles are more for counter attack and keeping the opponent hesitant in commuting his forces to your front line. They do this at five points and there is no need to pay for more.