35pt Magnus the Traitor List

[The Buoyancy of Water]

Hello all,

So recently managed to get hold of the Magnus battlebox, and have been scratching my head for a while now trying to work out how to bump it up to 35pts. Eventually (after a bit of a read on battlecollege to see some other thoughts on him) I came up with the following:

Magnus the Traitor
-Renegade
-Renegade
-Mangler
-Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

First of all, there's still 2pts to spend! There are so many great solos to choose from though, so I was hoping someone with a bit more experience playing him might have some suggestions on who to take? Gorman is probably leading at the moment, though Kell would add some to the mediocre ranged game. My other thought was to ditch Aiyana and Holt and get pEiryss and something else for 3pts like a bokur. Though Kell and Reinholdt might be better than the bokur because then I'd get another magical attack and the gobber is always handy! My thinking was that there's a couple of sources of knockdown in the list, and pEiryss would really mess up a jack or caster that got knocked down...

So anyway, that's the start of my list so far. Comments and criticisms would be much appreciated

Cheers,
Dave

[pattison]

I'm not sure you really need Sylys. The only spell I can see outside of BG here is Blur, so I'd probably drop him.
That gives you 4 points. Your biggest problem (magical weapons) are already solved through A&H, the other one (Pathfinder) not yet.
I'd probably add Saxon. Then you have another 2 points that could be used to upgrade one of your units (Alexia to min. Kayazy + UA?).

Magnus the Traitor (*6pts)
* Renegade (6pts)
* Renegade (6pts)
* Mangler (8pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (2pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)

[The Buoyancy of Water]

Thanks for the response pattison! Perhaps I should explain one or two ideas I had, see what you think?

Two renegades were a given, since I fancied having three feats, and the mangler seems fairly well designed for Magnus while coming in the battle box Wyshnalyrr was in there more for the pseudo-boosts for spells and the +2 RNG. Was thinking that with Arcane Secrets I might actually be able to cast some of Magnus' offensive spells without using most of his focus. Not sure, but the idea seemed good? Will try with and without if you don't like the idea of him Alexia was in there because a commander seemed like a good idea given Magnus' very low CMD stat? Is there a better commander you would recommend? Also wanted to use the unit because I won them at the last SR I was at! Looking at the Merc options, halberdiers seemed to fit the bill of fairly solid basic unit that I also don't mind loosing to create risen. After that A+H were added to give some oomph and magic attacks as you say and MacNaile is there to help the renegades. And that's how I got where I was!

Saying all that, I really like the Saxon idea, don't know how I forgot about him! I also like the kayazy, having plenty experience using them with my Khador so I know how dangerous they are. I will try out both lists as well as somewhere between the two Thanks for the help!!

Cheers,
Dave

[pattison]

Glad you found my suggestions useful.
Sylys is counter-intuitive here as the +2RNG he provides is only applicable if Mags is not using an Arc Node. Just as the mini signs & portens.
And with the Arc Nodes he can not just cast those offensive spells with a greater effective range, but he might also get the Backstab bonus with proper Renegade positioning!
Alexia & Risen is a good unit, no question, but I found that they need some spice to be great.
Like Primed from Durgen or at least Tough from Rhupert (meaning that each of Alexia's extra wounds come with a Tough roll... making her super survivable). You won't reach too much with a plain Risen unit even if they're numerous. With some buffs though they become a pain to eliminate.
If you want to keep the Risen I'd say include Rhupert and cast Blur on them. Although as they're easy to hit anyway their bigger enemy are the AOEs, so slightly higher ARM or blast immunity serves them better.
Please note, that Alexia is not a Commander. She's the officer of her unit, but she does not provide her CMD stat to anyone.
For that purpose we have Stannis, who might be a tad expensive option at 35 points.
A cheaper solution is Rockbottom and his coins, probably he won't be able to keep up with your infantry, but it's not a huge issue as his starting CMD is 11".
His Fire Breather can be invaluable against high ARM single wound infantry, so if you want to improve the braveness of your lads he looks like a good solution.
With Kayazy you could send them behind the Blurred Halberdiers who will engage the enemy, and charge through the moshpit when the time comes using the minifeat of the Underboss and Pathfinder from Saxon.
Dougal is a great support solo indeed and he can also massacre some infantry with his good RAT and Quad-iron, but you need to be prepared that he'll be able to support only one of your Renegades due to the fact that typically they'll be on different flanks. With good positioning his minifeat can affect both though. If you're fine with this then take him, he's good value for points.

[The Buoyancy of Water]

Thanks again pattison

My bad on Alexia. Don't have my book handy because I'm at work, so foolishly believed battlecollege... Not sure if true or not, but MacNaile is a commander, so actually solves that problem anyway. Don't know how I forgot about Rhupert to be honest! Since he can grant pathfinder, do you think I would be OK replacing Saxon with him? See, as a Khador player, I forget about arc nodes unless Scrappy is around, so forgot renegades with help with range! However Wyshnalyrr's Arcane Secrets will pseudo-boost arced spells, it's just the range he won't help... So, this is my amended list now:

Magnus the Traitor
-Renegade
-Renegade
-Mangler
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

So again there's 2pts left! Thoughts are: Wyshnalyrr (I can be stubborn at times ), Saxon Orrik or someone to help with damage output. Thinking either Gorman or Ragman would fit the bill?

As a side thought: when expanding to 50pts I thought about the Devil Dogs marshalling the mangler? Any experience of this? Seems like a good Iron Aggression target and pronto means it can get pretty far upfield. Looses out on the feat though...

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Dave

[pattison]

Well Dougal is indeed a commander, but his CMD is 8 so he's not making the Halberdiers braver.

If you're taking the Kayazy I'd take Saxon (blends well with them due to Stealth), but in case of pAlexia I'd defo go with Rhupert.

What Sylys can provide is a free upkeep (probably Blur on Halbies, but that will likely wander over to pMags in the other half of the game), and the mini signs&portens. I would say in this list you could spend that 2 points better.

Ragman really shines with Halberdiers (particularly due to Reach). Having Pathfinder from Rhupert and Dark Shroud from Ragman turns them into a potent offensive asset. Add a kiss from Aiyanna and they're dishing out MAT7 charge attacks with an effective P+S15.

Gorman serves a dual purpose in pMagnus lists: he protects Magnus against shots with his smoke bomb, and helps with (high ARM) heavies.
If you manage to stack Dark Shroud, Kiss of Lyliss and Rust bomb on a jack, your Halberdiers will be able to wreck it with ease (effective P+S17).
Also, if you need your resources elsewhere, he can single handedly take out something nasty for one turn using Black oil.
Don't forget, that he can also be affected by both Artillerist and the minifeat from Dougal!

On Devil Dogs: I think that the Mangler should stay within the BG. Sam either needs a self-sufficient jack or a shooty one.
A Mule is thankful for Pronto as it can move 5" out of activation then forfeit it's movement for aiming bonus + increased range. If you already have Dougal in there it's worth to think about the Mule.
The other jack crazy good with them is the Buccaneer. It's simply made for Sam, enough said.
I'd try to avoid melee jacks like the Nomad or Mangler on her as they lose quite a lot of damage potential.

[The Buoyancy of Water]

Thanks for another great response, helping lots!!

From what you've said there, I'm definitely thinking Gorman or Ragman, just not sure which! Leaning towards Ragman at the moment, though both are great solos. Will test them both

Thanks again,
Dave