HORDES: The Molik Missile Crisis
Do you Warmachine players out there miss the “Flying Drakhun” first turn kills during the halycon days of Mk I? Well, do I have a trick for you…
The Blackhide Wrastler is a new Gatorman heavy warbeast released for Hordes. It has an animus that allows a knocked down model to stand up and have a normal activation a’la Reville (e.g. – it can still run, charge, etc). He also comes with two open fists (and hence, can two handed throw). As a Gatorman warbeast, he can be taken as part of Wrong Eye’s (of Wrong Eye and Snapjaw fame) battlegroup. If you can take Wrong Eye and Snapjaw, you can take the Wrastler.
This grants any of the Hordes factions plus Cryx and the 4-Star Syndicate access to a self-sufficient module that can throw a model, then stand it up sans penalty. That’s an average of 6″ of additional threat range for pretty much any heavy warbeast or warjack/warcaster/warlock. In other words, we’ve reintroduced the “Flying Drakhun” mechanic back into the game.
So, how bad is it? Sevwall does an excellent job of summing up the situation here. The link goes to describe how, in a 50 PC game, Epic Makeda’s army can deliver Molik Karn into your front line on turn 1 (when it goes first). To shameless steal Sevwall’s work (all below is my paraphrasing; don’t blame my spelling mistakes on Sev!):
List – Skorne “Intercontinental Molik Missile” 50 PC
Epic Makeda
– Gladiator
– Molik Karn
– Cyclops Shaman
– Cyclops ShamanPaingivers (minimum)
Swamp GobbersMarketh
Wrong Eye
– Snapjaw
– Wrastler1. Marketh casts Leash on Molik Karn (3″ extra movement towards eMakeda’s base after her movement).
Advertisement2. Paingivers enrage Karn (+ 2 STR, must charge/slam)
3. A Swamp Gobbers runs to be within 6″ of Karn (for the Gladiator to throw at to ensure no loss of throw distance), while the other runs to be within 12″ of Karn.
4. Gladiator throws Karn at the cloests Swamp Gobber, boosting to hit Karn then to hit the Swamp Gobber.
5. Shaman activates, puts Rush on the Wrastler, and Slams eMakeda.
6. Wrong Eye advances and uses Wrastler animus on eMakeda (standing her up).
Advertisement7. Wrastler advances and throws Molik Karn and an AD model (another 6″), then casts his animus on him (standing him up).
8. Second Shaman activates, charges the Wrastler (or advances if Karn is within 12″), and drops Rush on Karn (+2″ of movement, Pathfinder).
8. eMakeda activates, casts Road to War (+2″ of movement for everyone but eMakeda) and Engine of Destruction (+2″ SPD but other buffs) then feats (boosted attack rolls/no free strikes or KD) and charges forward. This puts her between 12″ to 17″ upfield (to Molik’s 12″) due to the slam. If you roll a “1” for the slam, use Snapjaw to push her the extra inch (critical for her control area and for Leash). Molik moves 3″ due to Leash, allowing him another 2-3″ of threat (depending on position).
9. Molik charges 13″ (SPD 6 + 2 [Rush] + 2 [Road to War] + 3″ [charge]) sans forcing with 2″ Reach. If he deployed on the front of your deployment zone (10″) and the enemy warcaster is on the front of their deployment zone (10″), you’ve cover 12″ (2 throws) + 3″ (Leash) + 13″ (charge) = 48″ (the length of the board). Congratulations, you’re threatening 2″ into your opponent’s deployment zone with all of your attacks, all boosted to hit, at P+S 15 (weaponmaster, at that).
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With 6 attacks hitting an average of DEF 17 (doing an average damage roll of 26 sans charging), you’re doing 15.5 damage to the Butcher with full focus on average on turn 1 with the capacity to boost especially promising damage rolls after they roll due to Future Sight.
Or, in other words, playing with this combo is kinda like doing this to your opponent:
You can do equally rude things with Mortenebra and Overrun (and have the added benefit of not having to keep your attacking model [probably Nightmare] in your control area) – netting you a 27″ threat using a double throw (easy with a spare Slayer/Seether), Terminal Velocity, Overrun, and Nightmare’s Prey-granted +2″ of movement. All with Ghostly (either from the Imprint or Spectral Steel) and potentially with re-rolls if you’ve popped your feat that turn.
Now, stepping back a bit, this problem isn’t going to turn the tournament meta upside down. Its a neat trick for catching someone unawares (and I’m sure will be a source of quick Hardcore wins for years to come) but its easy to stop by deploying far back or 8-9″ away laterally. Moroever, its a trick that really comes into its own on turn 2, as it’ll require much less manuver in many cases as you’ll need to cover less distance.
Yes, utilizing this trick costs you 18 PC for the module that activates it. That said, the models in question are still quite good sans the trick. Is this on par with the old EVlad “Flying Drakhun l-u-l-z” lists? Probably not, but it introduces an old mechanic of “I can get tossed than charge” that a lot of us were happy to see go. Also, with Side Step being what it is, there’s almost nowhere that Molik Karn can’t get at by turn 2, and that’s scary.
I’ll be happy to field questions on how this works with regards to rules semantics, though I encourage you to follow the link above to the thread on the Privateer boards (where most of that is covered in detail). I think the big question is: How many of you are ready to take the Molik Missle to the next level?
