Kell Bailoch: why is he good?

[thesavage]

The "Traitor" Asheth Magnus has escaped from his plastic prison (someone mistook him for Magneto?) which some in the Iron Kingdoms have nicknamed "The Battle Box". He is now fighting his way through the forests of Cygnar near the Ordic border. He has been hired by the 4* Syndicate, and has already recruited some notable mercenaries such as Reinholdt, the Dog Company led by Sam McHorne, Rhupert Carvolo, and even the the elven Mage Hunter Eiryss.

He has expressed an interest in hiring the services of Kell Bailoch. However, as his Chief Adviser, I have expressed concern at this.

Bailoch can reliably hit targets, and his gun is magical so it will be good against incorporeal models like the ones Cryx like to use. However, his gun doesn't deal much damage. It can take out standard infantry just fine, thanks to sniper, but against anything with hit boxes, he will not be as useful. So he isn't the greatest at killing solos. Yes, he can get two shots, but only if he stands still.

So what is Bailoch's role on the battlefield? Is he used to harass enemy units, hoping to lure them away from where they can do real damage? Or does he suited to something else entirely?

[mikethefish]

Some people swear by the guy, but i have always found him very lackluster.

[MMMMK]

Don't use Sniper against low arm solos and you'll kill them just fine. He can kill 2 single wound infantry (of any armor value) every round and will usually get two rounds of shooting in against a unit. I don't think he's jaw dropping but he's pretty useful for thinning out a unit and taking out low arm, high defense solos.

[mikethefish]

If you are taking a solo purely because he can kill stuff, I think you are missing the point. ANYTHING in your army can kill stuff (with a few notable exceptions) - you don't need to take up a valuable solo slot to do this. Unless the solo can kill an unprecedented amount of bad guys, the fact that me might be able to drop a fww targets shouldnt be the main draw.

No, the main asset any solo has is his special rules. Its how they bring utility to the army. Bailock just doesn't bring that much thats exciting. Unless you are REALLY starved for magical attacks, you are better off looking at someone else.

[Thamarite Merc]

Well, he can hit DEF 15 (17 when aiming) and will do 17 damage before ARM on average rolls. That leaves him quite an array of potential targets. Plus, thanks to long range, DEF 14 and pseudo-stealth he is reasonably survivable.
If he teams up with pEyriss and gets to shoot from a static position, the two of them can deal enough damage to silence all the small-based solos regardless of ARM, or could take out columns of jacks/ some beastly aspects. You already chose p over eEyriss, so that bit of synergy might count for something to you.

On the contra side, he is a 2 pts merc solo, so there is massive competition for his pay check. If you don't like him, don't take him.

[Bartacus]

I run Magnus' Most Wanted theme list and so Kell ends up in a lot of those lists. Outside of theme lists though there are usually other 2pt solos I would pick over him.

He can be very effective though. In one game versus Khador I was facing the mortar which threatened to do horrible things to my Steelheads. Snipe on Kell, pop-pop, no more mortar, opponent was a bit shocked thinking the mortar was far out of threat range.

I keep meaning to run Kell, Harlan and Holt (with Aiyana of course) as a replacement for a ranged unit, throwing out between 5 and 8 shots with plenty of perks should be effective.

[Chopsworth]

AD+Prowl means he'll be in that forest first turn or running into the nearest one and camp their the rest of the game. You did bring a forest template along for him right, right?

Standing still he's firing off two RAT 10 shot every turn, that's a near guarantee to hit almost anything in the game and it will effect your opponents play style and how they move down the board. Anything you can do to take your opponent out of his comfort zone and make him play differently is already an advantage to your game. Sun Tzu said it more eloquently though, I just don't have a quote...

Will he work amazingly every game? No. Will he earn his points back against a list that isn't running all heavies? Yes.

[DocMerc]

Also two shots to finish off a system on a jack or beast can come in handy.
Personally, I like him dealing with high armor units. Dealing two casualties to a minimum sized unit can really gimp their effectiveness. Especially cra and cma units.

[baronvonchaos]

Yeah High RAT and 2 shots with sniper makes him a widowmaker duo, rolled into 1. I like him because not only does he have a magic weapon, but he can thin out that group and make it so your unit takes far less casualties. Lower def usually means higher ARM and on top of that can sometimes mean wounds. Kell isn't for these guys. He's for taking out Nicia, Vilmon, Pistol Wraiths, Machine Wraiths, Arcanists, Squires, soulless Escorts, All the friggin pesky solos that are screwing up your plan. Multiwound high ARM models aren't his forte. That's where he loses his luster.

If your meta is Multi-wound, Armor heavy. He's not the guy for you. Mine is not at the moment.

[baronvonchaos]

Double post...

[Chopsworth]

If your meta is Multi-wound, Armor heavy. He's not the guy for you.

This is really the deciding factor for this guy.

Nothing sucks more than dropping down Kell against a Troll or Gator list. Although to be fair against those pesky beats that heal just 1 point to a spiral after a failed kill attempt you can just pluck it back off instead of devoting a 'Jack with Focus against 'em.

[PG_LunarSol]

I think in general a lot of his praise comes from Khador lists with Widowmakers. Going from 4 single autowound shots to 6 is a huge jump, allowing you to kill some of the multi-wound stuff regardless of armor or kill half a high arm unit.

[baronvonchaos]

Or negate Knight Exemplar armor bonuses when you start killing them...

[PG_bnf]

So what is Bailoch's role on the battlefield? Is he used to harass enemy units, hoping to lure them away from where they can do real damage? Or does he suited to something else entirely?

He's your savior against Menoth Jacks with Enliven on them. That alone is enough reason for me to include him in most lists that can take him.

[moorg]

Reliable RAT, long range, magical weapon, 2 shots.

What's not to like? Prowl is just gravy. And yes, most games he'll sit in the same play for most of the game.

On average rolls, when he stands still, he hits DEF 17. And average damage is also 17. So those high DEF solos with ARM 12 and 5 health, he should be able to kill them with one shot if they don't have stealth.

And He hits incorporeal things from a long way away.

[moddball]

He is just a sniper and does his job well. I face a lot of high Arm single wound Cygnar stuff so he is great for clearing out the screening models to allow more charges. He is great against shieldwalls and that base to base arm bonus thing; he takes out a couple of key guys so helps your other shots have an affect.

Against multi wound high arm he is less use but that's not to say he is totally ineffective. Two points of damage were you want it is never a bad thing.

[moddball]

With character restrictions you may just need that extra magic weapon.

[JoeGuardsman]

For me the sole reason to have him is the magic weapon. So this means he only slots in when absolutely needed. Those times being when I'm filling in a list where I didn't take Magic yet (very rare) or when I can't with a tier list like with Magnus. Personally I don't care what your meta is if you don't build in at least a Machine Wraith contingency you've lost yourself a lot of games and that's all he is. Kill or threaten the odd incorporeal solo. And he'll always chip in on top of that with some standard kills.

I own him, I use him but only when absolutely necessary. He tends to pull two points of weight though.

[Aylw]

He's a sniper. He's not supposed to kill lots of things, he's a scalpel. And when he stands still (most of the time), he's two scalpels.

Have you ever been blocked from a charge by 1 or 2 grunts? had a high def low arm solo or UA you needed to kill? incorporeal models? He'll deal with them.

He'll most likely make his points (he's only 2 after all) and more, but it's not how many points he takes, it's which points.

[John of Arc]

He's the best Enliven hoser in the game, Sniper gives him some utility against jacks and makes him great at killing things like Ironfang Pikemen and Forgeguard, and his amazing RAT allows him to deal with insanely high DEF targets. Two shots also makes you better at solo hunting. Colossals aren't immune to Death Chill, so he can be a great way to kill pesky flanking pistol wraiths. And hey, if you've got nothing better to do but shoot infantry, he'll still make his points back 90% of the time. I don't take him all the time, but he's a good way to add a scalpel into your list if you're melee heavy, or just worried about high armor infantry. I just got back from a game with Galleon against some Iron Fleshed Ironfang Pikemen, and they were pretty difficult to put down. Kell would have made short work of them.

[Bogues]

Kel was the bane of my Legion opponents existence lol. And every time I have fielded him he always makes his points back.
Whether it's plinking off the odd spiral or blowing away those massively annoying Feralgeists (oh how I lothe them ) he contributes in every game and is rather difficult to take down if he makes it into terrain.
So far his personal best was taking out a min unit of Raptors over the course of 2 turns. A 7pt unit gunned down for a 2pt investment? Awesomesauce lol.
A rather extreme scenario and very rare but the potential is always there.

[MagnustheJust]

Kell Bailoch is great for the fact that other players HAVE TO take him out, or he will cause no end of pain and trouble for said opponents. I use him to lure high threat solos away from my priority units, as well as making a tag team with Kell Bailoch and Alten Ashley.

But the silent sniper rarely fails me in gaining back at least double his points before getting engaged in melee & summarily executed...

[MarneusBigFists]

Indeed, I had 3 bonejacks go for him once he sniper one's Arcnode out by himself, and I dropped the line "Suddenly, knowing all your arcnodes will be gone before they're any good makes me happy I spent these two points".

It worked.

[jandrese]

It's hard for him not to at least kill 2 points of enemy models with his high RNG and Sniper abilities. If he knocks out three single wound models he's already on the favorable side of the attrition battle, and it is hard to lose him before he does that. The only times he's not so great is against Gators where everything has multiple wounds and can't be targeted by ranged attacks.

I find that he's even pretty decent against Trolls because tough leaves you with 1 wound so he can do mop up duty after everybody has used up their attacks.

[moorg]

Plus, 2 points to whatever column or spiral you want, can more or less make a Jack or Beast, screwed.

[lastspartacus]

Kell is great. I've learned through much play that sometimes, beyond awesome support pieces, you just need more offensive punch. In my Bart list, I take Kell even over something that can repair my jacks and Galleon. His magical, rat10 double tap is just too valuable, even for the ability to make 2 more infantry models disappear.
He is truly versatile.

[Ranhothep]

Funny, no one mentioned it, but due to his high RAT when aiming he has a good chance to hit stuff in melee as well, which I used several times to disengage some of my models or put down a near dead healed-up beast before activating my heavy hitter. Granted, sometimes you do not have the points for him, or you need some specific support solo, but as has been said, he DOES get his points back

[mrhuettel]

ranhotep has a very important point. bailoch hits a lot of things in combat reliably, and it is always nice to pick off solos and uas you do not want to survive.

apart from the obvious things, he is also part of my khador list - between widowmakers, a marksman and eiryss, that's A LOT of highly accurate shots to take whatever infantry you want off the board.

[mikethefish]

Rannhotep probably makes the best case for Kell so far. The vast majority of his uses listed to far have been very cornercase, but disengaging key models in melee is a creative use for his high rat.

[pattison]

Facing incorp spam you're pretty much screwed if you're not well prepared against it but for picking off the occasional Feralgeist or other contesting incorp models Kell may be your only option in some of the loadouts. And he's a reliable option.
You might not want or cannot pay 4 pts for A&H or they're simply not allowed because you're running a tier list. Kell's value goes really high in those armies.
I also found that I really like him to 'lead' one of my ranged units. He adds that plus to Long Gunners or Riflemen, even if the latter is typically a mobile firebase.

[lastspartacus]

The great thing about rat 10 and two shots is that you can pretty darn guarantee you will make two infantry models per turn disappear. Kell wracks up quite a kill streak if left alone. I average about 4 models dead with him a game. Just finished one where magical weapon was invaluable. In tournies there is only one ayanna list, and I feel very strongly about him, and I play competatively.