Ghosty Gators - Maelok Tier @ 50

[Minotaur]

Post 1: The List, and notes.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, here is my Tier Maelok list for 50 point games, for your criticism and or critique:

Maelok the Dreadbound
Ironback Spitter
Swamp Horror
Bull Snapper

6 Bog Trog Ambushers
6 Bog Trog Ambushers
Feralgeist
5 Gatormen Posse
5 Gatormen Posse
4 Gatormen Witch Doctors

This is a tier 3 list, so everything is Incorporeal first turn, and Maelok and the Feralgeist gain advance move. I do not like Boneswarms enough to add 3 to make the list tier 4. I see little point in adding 3 of a monster I do not really like at the expense of models I do for a few corpse tokens.

The Ironback Spitter is included as I have the model already. The Feralgeist was added as I had a point to spare.

[Minotaur]

Well, for the first turn the army will be Incorporeal. This I can use defensively or offensively. If I am playing an army with a lot of magical weapons, like Menoth, I can use it to better position my own army so in the following turn I can either ambush or charge and attack things that provide synergy or attack things that are strong in the opposing army. Used offensively, I can run forward with a lot of the army or move through terrain. Then one can ponder steamrolling at the enemy or trying to go down a flank and prepare for a turn two charge on the side with the entire or most of the army against a portion of the enemy, crippling part of their force.

One could always pop the feat after running forward on the first turn to basically ghost over and around the enemy. This seems very daring, agrressive, but also foolhardy as things can go wrong, and are never that easy.

The Witch Doctors are there if Maelok needs to hang back while other elements of the army surge forward, and they can force the wabreasts, cast magic, and have magical blades against other incorporeal enemies. That way Maelok need not run and can support and buff the army before the kill strike.

The idea is that the Witch doctors, on the second turn, as there are 4, can make 4 units tough and undead. When combined with the feat they gain a further armour bonus. Not sure if it is worth the effort as incorporeal makes them immune to most attacks anyway, but it seems like an ok idea. Using the Snapper animus on the Posse and getting them into melee, as per Battle College, makes em pretty tough. The bog trogs are there for a bit of support and can be sacrificed if need be, in various ways.

[jkin1962]

I like the list. I've been playing Maelok quite a bit lately and am really loving his playstyle. I do find it hard to build a list for him though. Typically I put at min 2 gator posse and usually struggle when it comes to beast selection. My only concern with your list is lack of armor cracking. I think it will do fine as an assassination style army but if your opponent plays it safe you may be in for a fight you can't win.

[Minotaur]

Thanks! I don't have any models aside from a Croak Hunter and an Ironback, but I love the Gators.

I will need to pick up the minion book and go through it, see what I can find for cracking armour.

Thanks for the tips!

[MagnustheJust]

Thanks! I don't have any models aside from a Croak Hunter and an Ironback, but I love the Gators.

I will need to pick up the minion book and go through it, see what I can find for cracking armour.

Thanks for the tips!

The Piggies are better at dealing with armour than the Gators. We usually either throw it out of our face sacks, or just go around...

[Minotaur]

While that may be true, I cannot include them in this tier list.

[Brandubh]

Not too shabby. A few thoughts, if I may be so bold.

1 ) Wrong Eye and Snapjaw are a pretty good fit for Maelok. For the price of a Blackhide, you get another model which can cast the Bull Snapper's animus (if you want to move one to him) or which can take some of Fury burden off of Maelok.

2 ) I know you don't like Boneswarms enough for 3, but taking one might not be too bad. They synergize well with Maelok as you can keep them close enough to make him hard to hit, they can gain corpses while he gains souls from their killed. On his feat turn, they're incorporeal and ARM+2.

3 ) I don't know if 4 Witch Doctors are necessary. Sure they're only 2 points with this list, but how many Sac Strikes do you want to put out in a turn?

4 ) I wouldn't underestimate the Feralgeist with Maelok. You can do some pretty cool stuff with the whole Maelok kill, steal fury, Spirit Bind, Feat and end up with something like an ARM20 undead Dire Troll which your opponent now has to consider. Better yet, if you killed the model in the previous turn, you can charge your opponent with his own incorporeal undead arm +2 warbeast. :P

[Minotaur]

Fire away with pointers, Minions are knew to me, I appreciate wise advice from the more experienced.

(1) I didn't think of that, it sounds like a good idea.

(2) Ok, I won't totally rule them out, but I can't see myself hitting tier 4 at 35 point levels, and with the space the swarms take up I would rather other warbeasts.

(3) It is not so much about sacrifical strikes with them as it is getting undead off on different units.

(4) That sounds pretty cool.

[Brandubh]

Another thing to consider with Maelok - something I've been working on lately in test games against my son's trolls (which ends up sort of being like playing against myself) is Pendrake. The down side is that you lose your tier benefits. The up side is that you gain the ability to get auto boosted attacks against Warbeasts.

This can make Maelok quite the melee monster against them. At MAT 8, P+S 14 (with Malediction), and boosted melee attacks, he can afford a considerable number of boosted attacks. If he kills the War0beast, he'll get its fury and a soul (provided it's not a Construct) - which means he can camp fury or buy some spells (Revive sounds good here). With the Bull Snapper, he can sit on ARM 19 most of the time. That's decent durability and allows you to keep him up front and threatening warbeasts.

As a Circle player, I'm pretty ecstatic for Kromac with 2 P+S14 initial attacks. Maelok can have 3 - with reach if you have a Swamp Horror - plus you can still cast / upkeep spells. That's pretty cool

A final thought (for now) is that Maelok can be very durable when you stack his abilities. He's capable of going up to ARM 23 and DEF 16 (Swarm for Melee or Swamp Gobbers for Shooting) on his feat turn. So it may be worthwhile to capitalize on your ability to put him out front.

[Minotaur]

Pendrake sounds interesting, but I do really like the theme. Still, that is pretty tempting...

I was thinking of dropping the swamp horror but 3 reach attacks is very good.

[Brandubh]

Pendrake sounds interesting, but I do really like the theme. Still, that is pretty tempting...

The great thing about the game is that you can pick up Pendrake at any point to give it a try. You can do the theme now and pick up the $10.00 Pendrake model down the road. I think that against Circle and Legion warbeasts, it might be pretty helpful.

I was thinking of dropping the swamp horror but 3 reach attacks is very good.

I wouldn't. I'd stick with giving Maelok reach. If he has 3 initial melee attacks with reach, Malediction up, he's going to hit most infantry on average dice, kill them on average dice and get souls (reach = cull soul range). That's a great way to get him some souls. If he can manage to get his those three souls each turn, you can revive a Gatorman for "free" every following turn.

[Minotaur]

Your right about Pendrake. My girlfriend could use him in her Cygnar army too...

The Swamp horror stays so. That is a pretty good combo, I'll have to write that down.

[imomam]

Just remember, those reach attacks on the swamp horror are only pow 12, so pick your target accordingly. Also, you havev 4 units and 4 witch doctors, with the theory of turning each one undead on the feat turn. However, maelock will already have made a unit of gators undead with his spell, and depending on where you ambushed the troggs, it is very possible they wont be in range to be zombified.

I do do do like the idea of 4 auto hitting pow 16 sacrificial strikes. If you can get all 4 doctors in range that is... but that would kill an awful lot of warnouns.

[Minotaur]

@ imomam

Yeah, I'm playing with a lot of 'Theory machine at the moment'. This army is on the backburner at the moment. I will slowly acquire it, starting at say battlebox sized games, and slowly increas bit by bit, learning as I go along. The army could change drastically whenever it hits 35 points.

I will bare in mind your advice on the pow 12 attacks and such.

[MMMMK]

The idea is that the Witch doctors, on the second turn, as there are 4, can make 4 units tough and undead. When combined with the feat they gain a further armour bonus. Not sure if it is worth the effort as incorporeal makes them immune to most attacks anyway, but it seems like an ok idea. Using the Snapper animus on the Posse and getting them into melee, as per Battle College, makes em pretty tough. The bog trogs are there for a bit of support and can be sacrificed if need be, in various ways.

I think that the feat only makes them incorporeal for your turn and ends right afterward, so they wont be invincible during your opponent's turn or anything.

[Minotaur]

Ah, good to know.