Privateer: New Edition List Building – Minions
Check out how Primal has changed Minions with this hog filled list…
Will Shick recently asked the Privateer staff to share the army lists they’ve created with the new edition rules. In this installment organized play head honcho, Will Hungerford, tells us about a Minions list he’s been using in casual games. Take it away, Will…
These lists aren’t necessarily tournament tweaked, or even a showcase of the “best way to play” (cause that’s nonsense that doesn’t actually exist), but instead are simply what we’ve been playing around with lately. I want to introduce you to another Minions army I’ve been playing that really explores some of the fresh new combos available since the abolishment of the pact system. Would I play this list in Steamroller tournament? Probably not. Would I play this list for fun? I already am.
I call this little ditty “Slam Bash”
Helga the Conqueror – WB: +29
– Targ – PC: 4
– War Hog – PC: 15
– War Hog – PC: 15
– Battle Boar – PC: 17
– Gun Boar – PC: 9
– Gun Boar – PC: 9Swamp Gobber River Raiders – PC: 4
Swamp Gobber River Raiders – PC: 4
Swamp Gobber River Raiders – PC: 4
Alten Ashley – PC: 5
Totem Hunter – PC: 6Farrow Slaughterhousers – Leader & 5 Grunts – PC: 11
Farrow Slaughterhousers – Leader & 5 Grunts – PC: 11Advertisement
This list can be summed up in the following two phrases: “combined arms” and “c-c-c-c-combo”. The majority of the list is made up of models that Helga is no stranger to supporting, especially if you played her in MK II using the Thornfall Alliance pact. The Slaughterhousers are primo infantry with Helga thanks to her Dash and Defender’s Ward spells, along with the fact that since their melee weapons are all RNG 2 they help trigger Gang Fighter on all of Helga’s warbeasts.
Speaking of the battle group, we’re looking at a pretty stock standard loadout here, but with a nice efficiency increase in the new edition. The War Hogs are the heavy hitters, and thanks to their new edition SPD increase and increase melee RNG perform the role better than ever. The Battle Boar pretty much exists in the list so that I can hand out Primal as needed, but with Gang Fighter and his own Adrenalize ability he isn’t too bad at bustin’ holes in tight wads of infantry.
The Gun Boars are there to put some dents into the enemy on the approach, and to clear out more swathes of infantry that try to jam up my lines thanks to the High Explosive ability on their Big Gun. Finally Targ is in the list because … well why wouldn’t you be running Targ in a Minions list? Ancillary Attack is a real thing. While most models in WARMACHINE & HORDES aren’t supposed to be auto-includes, some are. They’re just designed to be, like the Choir of Menoth for example. If you’re running any sort of ranged game in your Minions battlegroup, Targ is an auto-include.
The Slaughterhousers plus the battlegroup are the core “combined arms” aspect of the list. Some decent shooting, some decent ARM cracking, and two units of infantry that pairs well with the commanding warlock. Nothing too fancy here at all. Then we turn to the combo portion of our program.
AdvertisementSee, without the pact system, there are all kinds of fun options and synergies available that never really existed before. For example, Helga’s feat allows friendly models to slam enemy models hit by their basic melee attacks. That’s pretty neat. You know what would be neater? If you could position those slams from almost angle you wanted to, slam tougher enemy models towards your snarling frontline, and have your War Hogs and Slaughterhousers destroy them without a second thought. Enter the Swamp Gobber River Raiders.
Did you forget about these little guys? I hope not, because with Helga and her feat they are kind of magical. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but this is a gimmick list backed by a solid army composition. The combo is simple: on Helga’s feat turn the small army of River Raiders reel themselves into the back arcs of juicy slam targets and then start a daisy chain of slams straight towards my own frontlines (and hopefully through plenty of enemy models along the way). Once an enemy heavy warjack or warbeast lands at the feet of my force, the War Hogs and Slaughterhousers tear it to shreds. Being that you can slam a knocked down model these days, a handful of River Raiders can move a model a surprisingly far distance across the table.
Subscribe to our newsletter!Get Tabletop, RPG & Pop Culture news delivered directly to your inbox.By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Somewhere in my mind is magic rainbow candy land where the first River Raider gets a slam off on The Butcher, and the remaining 8 slowly bounce him towards Helga and her battlegroup, all the way through ranks of Winter Guard Infantry and Iron Fang Pikeman. I just … need that to happen in my life.
After the combo portion of my list was complete, I noticed I had some army points let to spend. I decided to split my remaining model choices between the two aspects of my army: one would add to my combined arms approach, the other would add to my combo.
When you think of Alten Ashley, you might think “Oh, he’s an anti-Hordes model”. Sure, he is great against warbeasts, but its worth noting just how good Grievous Wounds is these days. Not only does Grievous Wounds stop Tough, it also stops ALL damage removal. That includes Repairs on warjacks. Given the increased efficiency of Repair in this new edition, it doesn’t hurt one bit to include a reliable source of Grevious Wounds in your list, and Alten is not only reliable but also extremely hard to pin down thanks to his various defensive abilities and the long RNG of his gun.
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Finally, with my remaining six points, I added another combo piece to my list, the Totem Hunter. The Helga + River Raider combo is all about being able to place my slamming model anywhere I want in regards to the enemy model, to ensure my slam angles are exactly how I want them. While the River Raiders can pull it off easier thanks to how Reel In allows them to placed anywhere in B2B with the enemy model, the Totem Hunter can often do the same thanks to Jump.
So there you have it, “Slam Bash” is just one of many lists I’ve playing around with for my Mercenaries and Minions these days. Sometimes I focus more on competitive, sometimes more on narrative, but I’m always looking to have fun when I play, and let me tell you … this list is crazy fun.
How would you counter Will’s list?
