Killing Time: Thagrosh The Messiah

[PG_BloodRath]

Greetings Warlocks of the Athanc. It?s Killing Time! Todays Request is brought to you by Saturated Phat. This is my first ever KT featuring a warlock. Its only makes sense that we start by spotlighting the God of the Legion of Everblight; Thagrosh, the Messiah! Big T is my single favorite warlock in the game to play. His aggressive play style and beast heavy list builds embody what it means to me to be an Everblight player. The break down this issue focuses on

? Aggression

? Synergy

? Attrition

? Assassination

Thagrosh, the Messiah is a tough warlock to play some times. His large base makes him hard to hide from shooting. His aggressive play style often puts him in sticky situations. The amount of angles he can come in from can be staggering and the insane threat ranges he can achieve can be mind blowing. Together let?s Kill Time and discuss Everblight incarnate.

[PG_BloodRath]

Aggression is the back bone to The Messiahs play style. His melee focused feat, spell list and Native abilities reward you for being deep inside enemy lines. I want to focus briefly on each of these aspects.

? Dragon Strom: Thagrosh?s feat allows all of the warbeast in his battle group to make a full advance and then one normal melee attack. This can be an extremely powerful feat when used correctly. At the most basic level it can allow something to make another attack against its target to finish it off if it survived the initial onslaught. It can reposition a heavy to charge next turn, bring lesser back into your control area, jam your opponent further, and get at tasty second line or support pieces hiding behind the main line. This feat has many applications and is best when used in conjunction with pathfinder, flight and hard hitting models.

? Spell List: all of the Messiahs spells have a use but two come to mind when we are talking about aggression. Manifest Destiny and Scourge both allow for increase in potential damage output and reward you for getting into combat with everything. Thagrosh?s entire spell list splashes into each break down so this will come up often. More on these below.

? Abilities: Eruption of ash can be one of the most overlooked ability on his card by some players that favor to play him father back in fear of him dyeing. EOA rewards you with a cloud of fiery goodness dealing a pow 12 to enemy models when it is placed and does the same to enemy?s who enter or end in it after placement. Cloud effects are a very powerful tool to offer Thagrosh concealment and can block LOS to him.


?I love playing against infantry heavy list with Big T. I often try moving him toward the enemy units early making him look appealing to advancing infantry. I played a game against Menoth where I left him barely 1? out of charging Knights Exemplar. My opponent was horrified to see the entire unit consumed by fire leaving Thagrosh safe in a nest of clouds. Nothing like fighting fire with fire?

[PG_BloodRath]

Synergy manifest itself in many different forms but I?m going to focus on a few of my favorites

? Typhon: There are many arguments as to why Thagrosh should or should not take Typhon. I feel that the constant threat of the Scourge + Spray assassination keeps pressure on my opponent. In the heat of battle this causes often players to play their Warlock more defensively or they over extend them self trying to shut down this threat, many times leaving them open to other attacks. Forcing your opponent to make decisions they did not plan on making or would otherwise not make is an intangible form of control. Thagrosh may lack a way to boost Typhons spray damage but I find 3 boosted pow 14?s on a knocked down warcaster get the job done in a wide verity of matchups.

? Shredders: there is a magic synergy between shredders and the Messiah. Shredders have a neat built in ability to go rabid. For 1 fury Rabid gives them +2 speed, pathfinder, and boosted melee and damage rolls! Couple the speed and pathfinder with Dragon storm and they have an insane threat range. Manifest destiny can crank their average damage to insane levels and help them hit reliably making them little hungry killing machines.

? Legionnaires: while I do not often include them in less than 50 pts, Thagrosh can offer these guys Dragons Blood. This makes legionnaires? armor on an average turn 18. If you bring captain Falior and standard bearer with them they can be arm 22 on feat turn. As if this weren?t enough each time your opponent kills one there is a chance he may take a point of damage. This put them in the top rank for infantry choice with Big T. as a side not if you don?t bring Falior you can bring a spawning vessel and replenish your shredders as the unit dies.


? I?m sure right now your thinking of all your favorite synergy I didn?t list There is so much synergy that I can?t address it all so feel free to contribute your favorite combo. I encourage everyone to share as much of their experience as possible in every Killing Time and Dust Off?

[PG_BloodRath]

Attrition comes in many forms. I like to break it down into three categories.

• Defense

• Force

• Maneuverability

As stated super arm Legionnaires and spawning vessel is one way to achieve field attrition. This represents defense at its finest . However there is the unseen attrition that doesn’t show up on paper, attrition by force. I’m talking about creating a huge point exchange with your feat, high aggression and ability to kill a lot in one turn. But be warned Thagrosh doesn’t have the stamina to out attrition many of the more dedicated attrition list the way Thagrosh1 can. His list can run out of gas fast and often suffers a turn of frenzying after your feat turn. Controlling the pace of the battle and curbing your speed can sometimes be the key to victory. Over extending your heavy on feat turn to kill an inconsequential piece will often lead to defeat. Be sure that when you go into feat turn you do everything possible to mitigate retaliation. Focusing on key threats with heavy force then using shredders or legionnaires to block charge lanes can help stop potential loss. Attrition by maneuverability is a calling card of legion. Both Vayl’s achieve this in spades but Thagrosh can also play this game if the situation calls for it. Some instances it’s appropriate to strike the enemy and then back out of range or back up onto the control zone. It’s not the best way to maximize his feat but knowing all the tools in your tool box can give you an unseen advantage.

[PG_BloodRath]

Assassinations can be pulled off in a number of surprising ways. The catalyst is proper timing. When you see an opponent has spent all of his focus/fury on a given turn and may be in threat range of feat assassination or scourge sprays it may be Killing Time! Knowing when not to attempt the assassination can also be pivotal to victory or defeat. Putting shredders on a focus camping warcaster can often mean losing everything you just gained from your feat. Scourging and spraying a warlock camping 3+ fury can be fatal costing you your Typhon in exchange for damage on an opponent’s warbeast you may have been able to kill outright. I’m not going to expand on this section greatly. I want to leave it open for all of the Blighted players out there to expand on their favorite ways to club baby seals



“Thagrosh can play a number of ways without stretching his list build much away from your ideal set up. The best advice I can give to you is to learn your timing and practice with him often. Below are some links worth checking out.”

THE MENU
What is your ideal beast line up?

How many shredders is to many? How many is not enough?

Is Typhon an auto include for him or a waste of space?

Whats your biggest struggle playing Thagrosh2?

What do you feel are his best & worst matchups


This is a link to chain attacks battle report on Thagrosh2
http://www.chain-attack.com/2011/10/...h-vs-ekrueger/

This link is some of my favorite list to play with Big T
http://privateerpressforums.com/show...184-Thagrosh-2


Take a few minuts and Kill Time with me. Leave a comment about your Thagrosh2 experience. Feel free to rant & rave or detail your favorite combo.

Special thanks to Saturated Phat for all the help setting up the BDO and KT sticky. If you guys have the chance drop him a line and thank him for all the hard work organizing and editing that sticky.

[Neutralyze]

i rate him a C on a scale of A-F simply due to how one dimensional he is. once you move away from warbeasts and shredders he begins to lack a lot in his army and what you build around. once you take shredders etc it begins to turn into a one dimensional game and is quite boring.

[PG_BloodRath]

I have a blast with him but I enjoy angles and lots if dice

I agree he is a C. I'd give him C+ or B-. I dont feel he is ideal as a primary list. I do think he makes a solid second or third list depending on your primary. I feel in his good match ups he can feel like an A- and in his bad matches he feels like a C-

All and all he doesn't offer the depth and complexity of the vayls. But I dont feel he is as flat or one dimensional as kallus. (another lock I love to play.) I'm ok with dimensional as long as it's effective

[PG_Saturated Phat]

I feel he is a lot of fun to play, lists with him really feel..... epic. His spells and abilities reflect his aesthetic which I really like. Manifest destiny is brutal and scourge is wonderful especially using anferalgwiat rangefinder. Then all of a sudden everything is really easy to kill. A dragons dream

I like typhoon with him for reasons bloodrath has said, I also have fun yoinking things with proteus. (tangentially i wish proteus had long leash) anyway unlike how thags2 plays goth heavy hitters and cruise missiles. I also love the backup of popping out a lesser. If your in a sticky spot

[Havock]

i rate him a C on a scale of A-F simply due to how one dimensional he is. once you move away from warbeasts and shredders he begins to lack a lot in his army and what you build around. once you take shredders etc it begins to turn into a one dimensional game and is quite boring.

Great model, boring gameplay.

"Let's see, what will I do with my fury this turn... Hmmm, I think I'll cast Manifest Destiny... Again."

[Northern Ronin]

I like playing him a lot when I'm not shredder spamming. Heavy spam, way to go.

[W0lf]

Hes cool but very one dimensional. Reminds me of mk1 vlad aka mr'signs and portents, blood of kings, every turn'.

However the models awesome and hes fun to crack out every now and then. If i play ethags i like to go for heavys with multiple attacks. More attacks = bigger bonus from manifest destiny.

First two beasts in my list are typhon and carnie.

Oddly hes one of the few times i dont play 2xangels.