Army List: Blindwater Congregation 35pts.

Despite recent success with my current Blindwater list, the arrival of new figures (Ironback Spitter and 3 Bull Snappers) has meant a slight change to how I view my army. Previously I had been content to drop swamps and slowly make my way up the field with a plethora of solos providing harassment, before going for the "Black Tide" kill. However as my opponents adapt by taking amphibious/knockdown immune and in some case armour piercing units, all very anti Blindwater units that are a result of my very obvious one trick pony. What the list lacks is fire power, melee is too predictable a manoeuvre and in these situations the ability to do harm from the safety of a cold, comforting...swamp is invaluable. While I do indeed have a Croak Hunter, I would not really classify it as reliable firepower, one short range poking stick is not really that impressive.

"The new" Blindwater Congregation 35pts

• Bloody Barnabas
• Blackhide Wrastler
• Bull Snapper
• Ironback Spitter

• 6 Bog Trog Ambushers
• 2 Croak Hunters
• 5 Gatormen Posse
• Thrullg

Bloody Barnabas retains position as Warlock of choice, while Calaban would be the most logical solution for magical ranged spam I still prefer the ever predictable Black Tide and Swamp dropping theme. The trick now is to use said spells but in a much less obvious "walk in, knock down and bite" method. Upon closer inspection, Barnabas has amazing melee efficiency (3 attacks and "Counter Charge") that make him my Gator of choice when used with my chosen beast's Animi: The armour buffs and out of turn damage dealing (Ironback Spitter - "Ornery" or Bull Snapper - "Spiny Growth") will most likely see him survive and punish would be attackers, in particular solos or minimum sized infantry units. With the Animi in play, Barnabas does become the very image of death dealing described in the fiction.

As with Blindwater lists, the fundamental units are the Gatormen posse and (in my case) Bog Trog Ambushers. With 8 wounds a piece, two attacks (one of which has reach), passive and turn generated buffs; this group of hardy infantry form the first line of all my lists. They have the ability to withstand a hard hit, and the tools to punish would be attackers afterwards. The Bog Trogs bring the ever scary "unknown factor" to the game. The ability to jump from a table edge and attack, will catch new guys completely off guard and even seasoned veterans will change the usual setup to take into account this very good unit. Couple this with powerful charge and combined attacks, means anything caught by these angry fish men on the Feat turn, will probably be dead. The trick now (assuming people have now caught onto the "Black Tide" assassination) is how to distract your foe to allow this to happen consistently.

This new list differs in that it features three different warbeasts. I normally play a riskier game of only two heavy warbeast, but my last encounter (win vs Legion) saw me lose both Wrastlers to a pair of Angelius, which not only made the game harder, but also would of meant Fury starvation in subsequent turns had I not got the Caster kill. In this list I still have one of the ever present Blackhide Wrastler with his powerful almost always boosted bite attack  (Death Roll) and "Rise" animus combo. The two abilities make this Heavy Warbeast an auto include every time. Remember that it also has the "Snacking" ability which makes the Wrastler one of the most cost efficient melee Heavy Warbeasts with its ability to self heal. The Ironback Spitter replaces my second Wrastler, as a mobile artilery platform with some cantankerous bite. While the Spitter is yet to see game time I have a number of uses for it akin to Khador Destoyers, the high power aoe with continuous corrosion is self explanatory in terms of effectiveness, but once we look past this we begin to see a number of very sweet additional abilities. The Spitter also comes with two open fists which gives melee utility for power attacks, it also has a high powered bite attack (not as nasty as the Wrastler but useful indeed). The Spitter retains the theme of low defense (equal to a Khador warjack) but high armour, so we can expect it t soak up a fair amount of damage unless it comes up against something very nasty. Finally the Spitter has "Back Plates" - does damage to when it suffers a free strike attack; "Girded"- friendly units in B2B do not suffer blast damage. Imagine the frustration as your opponent; who cannot target you due to swamp drops, will also be unable to damage the Spitter/Unit with fire for effect aoes. I expect good things from the Spitter as I drop swamps and fire corrosive spit out of them. To finish the warbeast line I have a Bull Snapper, a very cheap but useful light warbeast with "Sustained Attack". While the animus "Spiny Growth" makes this creature worth the 3 points investment alone, the relative uses as a guided missile beast again add decent utility to the list. It is the last two warbeasts that change the way in which this army fights, it has even more protection and does not need to come out of the bayou to inflict all of its damage.

My first list heavily featured Solos, a trait I retained from my old Khador army, nothing has really changed in this list except that I have dropped the totem hunter after finding no real use for him in my previous games (his points were taken up by the Snapper) while the novelty of putting "Prey" markers on enemies was amusing, it never made an impact in previous games. As always the Thrullg is in, I just like the idea of being able to punish people for excessive magic use/being able to strip away buffs at the safety of reach or being able to force a focus drain/disruption, without committing my Warlock (basically let the Thrullg do the dirty work). The final pair in my triumvirate of Solos are two Croak Hunters, previously I had one running around doing interference and putting short range pressure on enemy solos or casters, with two I intend to up the ante with paired "Gang Fighter" or double poison spear volleys from the safety of the tree line. I treat the Croaks as my ranged Manhunters and so far this analogy has done me well, I expect as a pair they will be able to cover more ground and act more independently as previously the lone Croak ran alongside the Bog Trogs to gain full effect of it's abilities. I expect to see good things from these two under the protective fire of the Spitter.

The major principle behind this new list is to get more utility out of "Black Tide" and do damage while marching up the table. My previous list was too melee centric with a do or die Feat philosophy,  prone to leaving Barnabas exposed and usually starved for Fury to protect himself. The inclusion of a ranged Heavy warbeast and third Lightbeast make for more efficient damage transference, fury generation a 3" Aoe for my ranged needs. I fully intend to sit in the safety of my swamps and spit corrosion at the enemy while waiting for that opportune time to pop "Black Tide" and consume my foe!

At time of writing, the only miniature missing is the second Croak Hunter. The Ironback Spitter is built and is ready for priming tomorrow morning, with a expected finish time of Tuesday next week.The theory of the list seems sound in my mind, but naturally it is down to how it performs on the day. Fingers crossed I should be getting some games with the new list over the next couple of weeks and hopefully it will result in a batrep!

Need advice with a Warma/Hordes list? Email me at: Traitorsbane@gmail.com 

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Inspired? Buy the figures for the army lis today! from: Wayland Games - Discount Wargames