Skorne Errata Under the Microscope: Part1
Skorne was in a weird place when MKIII hit. But, PP has made it an all new war a 2nd time with the Skorne errata!
The Skorne errata is finally here!
Double Negative
A lot of things changed across the board for skorne in MKIII. It felt hard to justify once automatic included things. Titans all lost 2 defense, animus were pretty tame or just plain useless, and casters were clunky. Rasheth was playable, Makeda1 had some identity, and Hex2 had a toolbox…but, outside these 3 not much was there from the start.
PP had hit Skorne pretty hard and it seemed they didn’t take all the nerfs into account. Losing free charges, losing higher ARM/DEF vs shooting, increase in point costs all might have been good ideas by themselves to tame the skorne train. However, when added up together it was to much to overcome. Zaadesh2 helped a little but, it was a bridge too far at the end of the day.
So the errata is here! Lets take a look at the casters who might be hitting the tabletops near you.
Hexeris1
Hex1 gets a free upkeep and one of Cryx’s signature spells Parasite! Skorne in general never really had a problem with high armor if they could get a titan near it. However, this really ups the shooting game they can play. Venator Reivers are POW12 vs Large bases and throw parasite in that mix we are looking at a POW15 shot from a single infantry model. Not to many heavies are going to want to be near that.
He also got Sunder Spirit which is a useful cheap long range nuke that Hex1 can pick solos off with. Pretty solid changes to this warlock and I am definitely going to dust him off.
Makeda1
Mak1 whole battlegroup has shieldguard. Scarab packs around the world rejoice. She also received a heavy modification to the spell the Lash. This allows her to have one of the highest threat increases in the game. Living the dream with Molik Karn adding in Rush, Quicken, and the Lash she can increase a beasts SPD by a crazy 6″!!! Molik hitting something 17″ away is acheivable with Mak1 now not including side steps. Another crazy spell she has is Jackhammer. This is usually a warmachine thing but, hey let Molik get some extra swings in, why not!? Without an arc node though it is somewhat limited range. However, jamming heavies is going to be really hard with her toolkit.
Last but not least her feat got a overhaul. Similar to Harbringer’s Martyrdom ability she can suffer a damage and have a infantry model not die. This means clearing zones without grievous wounds is going to be painful vs Mak1. On top of not dieing , models receive retaliatory strike. So not only do you not get to kill her infantry they get to swing back or beasts swing back after you hit them. Pretty rude!
Morghoul2
Morghoul2 went from meh to master overnight. He gives bloodrunners parry now which is mildly useful. His big changes though are he is Fury 6 now and received 2 new spells. Shadow Play is an upkeep that makes a model incorpreal during your turn. Yes, Molik Karn ghosts are a thing now… If that wasn’t crazy enough he got Mortality on top of it. Don’t let this dude see your caster because you are going to be blinded, Mortality on you, and have a ghost of Molik Karn charging through 100 models right at you. Scary stuff!
Rasheth
Rasheth is no longer 1 and done arcing through models. He can now arc all day. This makes his spell assassination a possibility.
Xerxis1
Xer1 lost rift but gained a threat extender. Similar to Nemo1’s locomotion he now has the LURCH! A beast in his battlegroup can move 1″ for each fury up to 3. That is not as fast as Mak1’s Molik Karn but, combined with Xer1 feat the damage output will be glorious!
Xerxis2
Xer2 is all about the speed. His battlegroup is just a flat +2 SPD. Throw in Rapport to make a beast of his MAT8 and Stranglehold for some range nuking and Xer2 is back on the pain train. Archidon’s are base SPD9 with Xer2…sorry Khador but a Archidon can literally fly circles around your jacks.
Revenant’s Final Thought:
There were some small updates to other casters but the ones listed above are by far the biggest. The living rulebook idea in general I am a fan of. Things that are blatantly abusive can be fixed with a PDF release instead of waiting 5 years for an edition or book change like GW’s old trash model. I remember when Vampire Counts book came out in early 2000s…the vomit inducing lists I made lasted an edition.
I do like some of the changes are good for Skorne. But, just how they overnerfed in MKIII’s initial release I may think they have overstepped in this erratas buffs. I will take a look at the other model changes in the next article. But, my gut reaction is that Skorne is now in circles company at the top. A+ if you are Skorne fan , A+ adjusting obvious inadequicies in a timely manner, F in how far things were adjusted.
~Have you check out the Skorne errata? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
