So, what I’ve learned from this year, is that since I’m only going to be playing in Iron Arena, there are things I need to consider to make life a little easier.

Thunderdome is a thing

I need three warcasters that play well together for Thunderdome.  I hadn’t considered this, but Thunderdome easily hits several of the “easy points” parts of Iron Arewna: New Opponents, New Opponent Locations, Fully Painted, and Multiplayer.

At just three models, it’s a gimme for fully painted, too.

Since multi-caster games are so rare these days, playing Saeryn and Rhyas could be really fun.  They become arc nodes for eachother, meaning Saeryn has access to the front line from a safe spot, and Rhyas can move Rapport around as needed.

Alternatively, running all three incarnations of Butcher could be entertaining, but it’s not allowed.

Now, I do have Sorscha1 and Butcher1 painted.  Boundless Charge increases the Butcher’s range and Fog of War combined with Iron Flesh pushes her defense to ridiculous levels.  Maybe throw in Vlad1 for the Primal tri-fecta, and toss Signs & Portents / Wind Wall into the mix?

Scalable Armies

Iron Arena tends to see most games at 35 and 50, and I spent most of my games at 50.  This means I got an extra point, but it also means that games took longer.  Now, this year, 25 and 35 point games were worth the same amount, so playing 35 was a bit pointless, but that may change next year.  The point is, I need to be able to throw down up to 75 points of whatever I bring, and be able to feel comfortable at every size below that.

My Khador this year didn’t really scale well, usually leaving something important home.  The Spriggan is a tad expendable, but cutting the max WGI to min hurts.  They take break checks sooner, and all that support I’m paying for does less work and is thus less “efficient”.

The other big thing that this consideration means is that I should really focus on limiting myself to one faction.  I took both KHador and Cygnar this year, and the Cygnar only came out for two games, and I still played Khador for them!

Between the Absylonia2 art and this guy, I’m itching to play Legion of Everblight, too…

Portability & Speed

One of the things I did not like about the WGI was that I had to setup 16 models for deployment, cleanup, etc. It’s just a lot of attacks and a lot of damage rolls, and it takes up a lot of space on the tray.

If possible, I’d like to go with a lower model count next year.  Something with lots of ‘jacks or beasts, maybe one 10-man unit and some solos.  This is another thing that’s pushing me towards Legion for next year.

Conclusions

Here’s what I came up with for some lists:

Faction: Thagrosh – New Blood (NQ50)
Casters: 1/1
Points: 25/25
Tiers: 2
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)

This is great, because it fits all the requirements and has a decent chance.  Both big beasties will be a pain when it comes back under Thagrosh’s feat, and the Beast Mistress has some beasties to play with.

An alternative list reduces the effectiveness of Thagrosh’ tank, but boosts to Tier 3, and puts more models on the board:

Faction: Thagrosh – New Blood (NQ50)
Casters: 1/1
Points: 25/25
Tiers: 3
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)
* Angelius (9pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Harrier (0pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Harrier (0pts)
* Shredder (2pts)

I think both could be a load of fun.

At 35 points, I like Abyslonia’s theme force:

Faction: Absylonia – Winds of Change
Casters: 1/1
Points: 35/35
Tiers: 4
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (*5pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Raek (4pts)
* Raek (4pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Carnivean (10pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

I’ve loved the Raek for a long time, and putting Playing God on it so it can jump behind the enemy warcaster and double-handed throw it towards my army for the Angel to AP it just sounds like fun.

As you can see, I’m also re-using lots of models from the Thagrosh list in the lessers and the heavies.  They all come back again for the 50 and 75 point Vayl2 lists:

Faction: epic Vayl – Machinations of Shadow
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 4
Vayl, Consul of Everblight (*6pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Ravagore (9pts)
* Scythean (8pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
1 Spell Martyr (1pts)
Succubus (2pts)

Faction: epic Vayl – Machinations of Shadow
Casters: 1/1
Points: 75/75
Tiers: 4
Vayl, Consul of Everblight (*6pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Carnivean (10pts)
* Ravagore (9pts)
* Scythean (8pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bayal, Hound of Everblight (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Captain Farilor & Standard (3pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
2 Spell Martyrs (2pts)
Succubus (2pts)

Conclusion

There’s a lot to do, but when broken down, a lot of it doubles up:

Warcasters:

• Thagrosh 1
• Absylonia
• Vayl 2
• Re-paint Lylyth1?

Warbeasts:

• Carnivean
• Ravagore
• Scythean
• 2x Angels
• 2x Raeks
• 2x Shredders
• 2x Harriers

Units:

• Legionnaires
  • Unit Attachment
• Stew Pot & Attendants
• Hex Hunters
  • Bayal

Solos:

• 2x Beast Mistress
• 2x Shepherd
• 3x Forsaken

Ok, that’s still a lot.

Thoughts?