Hordes: Calaban, the Gravewalker Overview
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| Have mojo, will travel. |
I’ve had two weeks to play with Calaban, and after four games, I’m pretty pleased. Let’s start with a stat breakdown:
Statline –
Calaban’s statline is pretty respectable. He’s moving fast for a gator, allowing the player to bring his ranged weapon and spells to bear with relative ease and flexibility. His MAT value is pretty low, but he’s not the kind to lay down the hurt in melee unless the right buffs/debuffs are being upkept or you’re in a desperate situation. Despite a respectable RAT value, Calaban will typically want to boost to hit high-priority Heart Stopper targets. Defensively, Calaban’s towards the low end of the spectrum, so you’ll have to be mindful of his positioning. His DEF value is fairly low with a slightly-above average ARM stat and only fifteen wounds.
Weapons –
While the RNG and POW on Heart Stopper leave something to be desired, its ROF and special ability make up for it in spades. Being able to create up to two channeling sources is pretty fantastic. It is, however, a tricky ability to take advantage of, as facing rules still apply. My play experience, however, has shown that there are quite often single-wound, back-field support models that you can target to take best advantage.
In melee, Calaban’s MAT value can potentially keep you down, but if you can manage a hit with this attack against a high-DEF, low-ARM target, you have an auto-hitting, spammable POW 11 attack. This can be a last-ditch means for taking down warcasters and warlocks like Caine or Morghul. What Carcass lacks in the auto-hitting repetition of Bite it makes up for in raw damage potential and threat range. The extra 1.5″ of melee range is a big deal for a medium-based model, particularly when you consider that his army is filled with other medium-based models. Life Trader grants an additional damage die that gives him some ability to be a threat while up front, but his low MAT will preclude him from effectively crushing higher-DEF targets unless you can knock them down or you both boost and use Carnivore.
Spells –
His first spell, Bone Shaker, is most easily described as an offensive damage spell that heals the model by one hit point and grants the Seduction effect before the model is removed from play. You’ve got a decent spell here, but don’t get overwhelmed by what this spell is capable of, particularly when combined with Calaban’s feat. Getting a good chain off with Bone Shaker involves a lot of dice rolling and consequently a lot of chances for failure. Obvious opportunities for Bone Shaker will pop up, opportunities you should take advantage of, but you’ll most often be better off using your resources for more practical applications.
His second spell is Carnivore, which grants an accuracy bonus to a model/unit against living models with the addition that effected models allow you to heal Calaban every time the effected model destroys a living enemy model. This lets you run lighter on warbeasts and makes Calaban a great late-game warlock. Due to his mid-to-front line nature, Calaban will often take damage early- and mid-game, damage that is easily removed via Carnivore. The only drawback to Carnivore is that it removes models from play at the boxed stage, conflicting with Calaban’s feat.
For one more fury point than Bone Shaker, you get Hex Blast, an AOE attack with slightly longer range and damage. Additionally, it removes upkeeps from models/units directly hit by it. This reduces that inherent need to run a Thrullg, which doesn’t really work particularly well in the context of the Congregation anyway. Calaban also has Occultation, which gives a model/unit Stealth. It’s great on Gatorman Posse units or Wrastlers depending on need and your opponent’s target priority. It’s not a bad idea to throw it on Calaban in the late game, either. Calaban’s final spell is what really sets him apart from Calaban. Parasite removes the inherent weaknesses of the Gatorman Posse and Wrastlers (i.e. rather mediocre damage profiles), making Posse models effectively P+S 16 and Wrastlers P+S 20/17. There’s also the added bonus that as long as Parasite is up, Calaban is ARM 17, greatly increasing his ability to take those random hits on the nose.
Feat: Death Harvest –
Like Bone Shaker, proper use of Death Harvest is sometimes elusive. You’ll most often want to pop it when you have a target-rich environment and good “meatnode” positioning. If you can channel into the rear arc of single-wound models, then Bone Shaker is a good spell to look to. If you have several heavier threats like warjacks, warbeasts, or multi-wound units, cycling Parasite may be a good deal. If you’re nearing the end of your turn, casting Occultation or Carnivore may be the best course of action. If you can manage range and line of sight on the enemy warcaster, you may wish just to spam Bone Shaker on them. Just be aware that there are several remove-from-play (RFP) effects that will deny Death Harvest from triggering, like Snacking, Carnivore, and the Bone Shaker.
Battlefield Role –
Calaban is all about army support. He has two of the best kinds of buffs: he increases accuracy (Carnivore) and effectively increases damage (Parasite). These two spells alone allow you to deal with a huge variety of potential threats. Occultation helps a ton for getting your forward elements upfield safely while providing a safety net for Calaban late game. Hex Blast is great for removing annoying upkeeps like Arcane Shield, Iron Flesh, or Defenders Ward or animi
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| You’ll be needing this. |
Deployment –
As mentioned earlier, Calaban is a mid-line warlock. Being relatively fragile, this will mean that protecting him should be a very high priority. Look to cloud effects, ARM buffs, and screens to keep him safe. Do your best to screen with models that can function effectively at any point during your turn, this way you can move them out of the way early in order to make room for Calaban to move forward without loosing effectiveness. This can be the hardest part of playing with Blindwater in general and will require some practice to grow accustomed to.
Supporting Calaban, the Grave Walker –
Starting with his battlegroup, Wrastlers have been fantastic. While Calaban lacks the means of speeding the Wrastlers up, throwing a Wrastler forward and using Rise to stand it back up has sufficed nicely. Add Parasite to their target and Wrastler’s become wrecking balls. While I have yet to use the unreleased Bull Snapper, Spiny Growth is potentially a huge bonus to both Calaban as well as the other available models in the Congregation. While the full rules for the Spitter continue to elude us, we are aware of its impressive ranged attack and reasonable price, already making it something to look forward to.
Where units are concerned, Calaban loves his Posse. While having to choose between Death Harvest and the MAT boost from Carnivore can sometimes be tricky, with Gatormen it’s usually not a problem thanks to their already decent MAT value combined with access to Cold Blood. With Parasite, Gatormen hit extremely hard as well. Bog Trogs can be effective, but I wouldn’t recommend them in games under 50 points. At 35 points, it’s just too easy to keep your army centralized, avoiding the potential threat created by the Ambushers. Swamp Gobbers can be a good choice, but getting good use out of them can be tricky due to placement issues.
For solos, the Totem Hunter is great as always. With such a long threat range and high MAT, the Totem Hunter is a great model for triggering Death Harvest, and can be the perfect means for setting up an ideal target for Calaban’s Heart Stopper. Croak Hunters are another good choice; their ranged attacks are a good way to proc Death Harvest, and, against a living target with Parasite, they’re effectively P+S 15 Weapon Masters if they’re benefiting from Gang Fighter. Wrong Eye and Snapjaw can make another fine addition, but finding points for them in 35-point games can sometimes be difficult, particularly if you are as fond of the Gatorman Posse as I am. A Feralgeist can give a little bit of extra life to your Wrastlers, provides an annoying screen that denies placement, and isn’t a terrible investment for one point.
I’m really enjoying Calaban, moreso than the other two currently available Minion warlocks. He’s extremely flexible and feels a good deal like a Cryx warcaster, save the cries of “cheese”. He’s also my current favorite warlock/warcaster.
