Warmachine: Skarlock Commander 101
You know what Bile Thralls and Mechanithralls need? A blender with a magic reach stick. That seems like a good idea.
Guest Article by Spiderbite
Go ahead and give ’em a way to get rid of those pesky upkeeps that stifle our fun (lookin’ at you, Crippling Grasp, Icy Grip)…
and a higher CMD stat because Excarnate/Necrosurgery need more range…
and let the little attachment collect souls in melee… and at a range.
Screw it, give it better survivability too.
Finally, we’ll give this attachment a fair point value… how about one? One seems fair for all that. We are in Cryxland after all. 
In case you haven’t noticed, I absolutely love the Skarlock Commander. What this offers Cryx is rather amazing for its point cost. As mentioned, our little buddy can be attached to Bile Thralls or Mechanithralls. I love it with either. Fast enough to easily keep up with both units, the first thing the Skarlock Commander offers is a higher CMD. Aside from the obvious advantage of being able to spread out more, having more threat on Necrosurgery has won me games. The other major thing it brings to the units is Disbinding. Upkeep removal is essential to winning games, and Admonia can’t be everywhere. Disbinding is a special action so you wont be meleeing anyone, or charging. Bile Thralls that cannot Purge are sad sad pandas.
As for the Skarlock Commander itself, with a higher defense and actual health boxes, it will be harder to remove than the nearby grunts. Wielding a magic weapon with reach is really damn good in itself (Tartarus doesnt even have that!). Freestrikes with a reach weapon covers alot of ground, and Incorporeal models (and the like) have to respect the melee range.
With Battle Wizard, when you whack an enemy model, you get to cast a free spell. If your victim was living, you even get a soul! What can we do with those souls? What CAN’T we do? You can boost attack/damage rolls or even buy attacks. Dice withstanding, all (living) enemy squishies near the Skarlock Commander should be paste. It can only hold three souls, so there’s no point in stocking up. Did I mention he does not actually have to kill anything to get the souls? Nope! Whenever a living model is destroyed within two inches, we get soul candy! Not enough souls for you? Fine. The Skarlock Commander also comes standard with the Dark Fire feature! With ten inches of range, and a POW of 12, there’s no need to even get your hands dirty! The soul comes to you, regardless of whoever may be closer!
~If you act now, all these amazing features come standard for the low, low, low cost of … one point. The Skarlock Commander is a fantastic addition to our faction with very little reason to not be included in any Mechanithrall or Bile Thrall unit. My only fault with the Skarlock Commander is that I can only field two of them. 
