This past weekend was one of those weekends and WM/H was the game of choice. I'm still hanging out on the edge of WM/H after burning out hard on it near the end of last year so I don't have many lists that I've wanted to play. Butcher3 and Sorscha2 will always be good, but I want to play something different.
I've been playing Vlad3 here and there and enjoying it, but I have a hard time finding a list with him I really like. Most of the lists I make with Vlad3 at the helm seem like they'd be better under Vlad3, unless I go theme (which is fun but one sided) or more cav focused to get something out of his feat (which leads to pretty much the same problem).
In the week leading up to the gaming day I started to go back over 'casters I liked playing but didn't put a lot of time into and one name floated to the top: Irusk2. I had some lists I liked with him, he's pretty great in general, and there has been some discussion about him recently that motivated me to get him back on the table.
I used Irusk2 for all the games I played on Saturday and really liked using him. I'm not going to do batreps (not quite up for that yet) but I do have some thoughts from those games that I wanted to share. Lists and thoughts after the break.
First up, here's the list I used both games:
Irusk2, 50 points:
Supreme Kommandant Irusk (*5pts)
* Rager (6pts)
* War dog (1pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 3 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers (3pts)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)
I wanted to put together a well rounded list with Irusk2 with what I have (no 2nd unit of IFP, hence the hail mary of MoW Shocktroopers) that also adhered to the principle mentioned in this post from ChickenSlayer on the Muse on Minis forums: keep Irusk2 safe while camping as much as possible and pushing forward to use his passives/take scenario.
The WGI are self-sufficient, bring decent guns, and also can transition to melee thanks to Battle Lust and +3 STR from Joe. BDIFP are wonderful with Irusk2. Shocktroopers are...surprisingly not bad with Irusk2. I don't care much about Tough with them (not a great thing in general with dense units) but they do have some durability against stuff that works well against single wound infantry. And my hands are sort of tied with not owning a second unit of BDIFP (and not wanting to buy it for pretty much just this list).
The first game of the day was against my friend Joe running Covergence. He opted for his Directrix list, which was (going from memory):
Directrix, 50 points:
Iron Mother Directrix & Exponent Servitors (*4pts)* Corollary (3pts)
* Diffuser (3pts)
* Mitigator (4pts)
* Assimilator (8pts)
* Inverter (8pts)
Eradicators (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
Optifex Directive (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)
Reciprocators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Reductors (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
Attunement Servitors (2pts)
Elimination Servitors (2pts)
Enigma Foundry (3pts)
Scenario: SR2015 Fire Support
Summary: Ended up going second this game, which allowed me to blow up the enemy objective by turn 3 using the Mortar with Fire For Effect (catching Directrix with one of those shots and cranking 7 damage onto her).
The fight ground on for several turns with the IFP and Shocktroopers fighting with most of Directrix's battlegroup and the Reciprocators on my right flank, and the WGI fighting off the Reductors and Eradicators on the left flank.
Eventually, Directrix ended up in a dangerous spot and Gorman was able to drift a Black Oil onto her, debuffing her DEF enough to have the follow up attacks all connect and kill her (a boosted Handcannon shot from Irusk, 4 Widowmaker shots, and a charging Shocktrooper under Battle Lust).
The second game of the day was against Jon (of Seething Ginger, Press Ganger, and now Judge renown) running Cryx. He opted for his Deneghra3 list, which was trying out Barathrum (as he's posted about):
Deneghra3, 50 points:
Denghra, the Soul Weaver (*4pts)* Barathrum (10pts)
* Helldiver (3pts)
* Helldiver (3pts)
* Nightwretch (4pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (3pts)
Soulhunters (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall (1pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)
2 Soul Trapper (1pts)
2 Soul Trapper (1pts)
* Helldiver (3pts)
* Nightwretch (4pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (3pts)
Soulhunters (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall (1pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)
2 Soul Trapper (1pts)
2 Soul Trapper (1pts)
Scenario: SR2015 Close Quarters
Summary: Another battle over flags, another "second player" start. I pushed hard up the right flank towards my flag with the hope of slowly bleeding CPs that way, which led to a big 'ol mosh pit of activity on that side.
The WGI pushed up the left side towards the Bane Thralls and to try to contest Deneghra's flag while almost everything else was fighting in the middle/right side of the table. When the dust settled, Irusk was bunkered up next to his flag, camping full focus to try to survive the Helldivers inevitably popping up and making a go at him.
Thankfully, he only had to deal with one Helldiver, which was able to headbutt him down but not do any damage. Deneghra moved into position to threaten a charge next turn, which put her in range of Gorman's Black Oil (hit on a drift), Eiryss2 (missed despite the Black Oil due to a big error on my part), and Battle Lust buffed Shocktroopers (who managed to finish her off).
A random collection of thoughts from those two games:
- I still don't like running lots of infantry, even though Irusk2 does it well. Directrix highlights the issue: there are plenty of things out there that can chew through single wound infantry pretty efficiently regardless of the ARM (or DEF) you can get to. Things were harder in that fight because terrain and having a large number of models (at least for me) made it hard to spread out effectively. Something that can probably be improved with more practice, though I'd shudder to try to manage 30+ infantry models (i.e double BDIFP + a third unit).
- Martial Discipline is a wonderful, liberating, beautiful ability. The amount of flexibility it affords you in terms of movement and activation order is amazing; much more so than I ever thought just theorycrafting. One of the best features of Irusk2.
- Total Obedience is adorable, and pretty fun when it works. I have a frustration with granted Tough abilities (I expect more out of them because I'm actively trying to benefit from it) such as Joe's chant or the Doom Reaver UA (*sigh*), and Irusk2's isn't any different for me. Thankfully it is a passive ability, and it works wonderfully with the IFP now that the IFK is around, so it overall feels fun and valuable.
- Battle Lust is a fantastic spell. I forget about it sometimes because I barely play either Irusk (and its easy to get yourself killed by casting it too often) but it is hard to overstate how effective it is to be able to hand out additional melee damage dice with some of Khador's infantry. Having it be an auto-rally effect is also very nice.
- WGI are still amazing and great. They are a perfect combination of relatively cheap, versatile models that bring a volume of bodies and attacks to any list. You don't really need to give them any help for them to perform alright (Joe covers all their basic needs) so anything you can add onto them makes them that much better. I really like them in this list due to Battle Lust making them excellent at transitioning from ranged attrition to melee (turning them all into effective P+S 11 Weaponmasters with Joe's help) and there is always the off chance to put out a big nasty CRA from the unit boosted by Fire For Effect (not something I'd do 95% of the time, but the option is nice).
- Irusk2 has the second or third best control feat in Khador, and he is leagues more flexible (at least in the current meta) than either Zerkova1 or the Old Witch, making him (bizarrely) one of Khador's best control 'casters. That probably shouldn't come as a big surprise considering Irusk1 was the originator of Inhospitable Ground (a fairly devastating control spell back in Mk. 1, and it still has its moments even now in Mk. 2).
- For as much as I want to hate the Shocktroopers, I can't. They have some serious issues: slow (IFK helps), low volume of attacks, highly susceptible to being knocked around/pulled out of formation, and they're not that hard to kill out of Shield Wall. Which leads to plenty of times when they just get rolled (see: Monitor with it's Chain Weapon, Bane Thralls, terrain in their way both games). But when they work, they work: ARM 21 natively is a decent drain on enemy resources to crack, they have CMA for attack flexibility, and they don't melt to the things that will scoop up IFP (mostly continuous effects). With just a bit more of a push (possibly forthcoming) I can see at least this unit of MoW breaking into the "good option" crust of Khador choices. They're surprisingly close now.
- I bought two Mortars back in Mk. 1 because they were crazy cheap and always useful. Mk. 2 pretty much killed that; its usually not worth taking one now. Except with FFE. That is damn fun, and I'm happy to get the Mortar back on the table after years of collecting dust.
- ChickenSlayer absolutely has the right idea for how to approach Irusk2. It is very, very tempting to spend focus with him - his spell list is well rounded enough to give you something to cast most turns, its easy to bring along something like Behemoth to allocate to - but doing so puts him at significant risk. Irusk2 needs to be played decently far forward to get benefit out of his abilities, cast his spells effectively, and secure CP in a timely fashion. Doing that with a low camp (or god help you, 15/15 with nothing on him) is asking for bad things to come his way.
One of the reasons I swapped out the Behemoth for a Rager was to give me one less way to spend focus (and pick up a run-for-free Shield Guard in the trade). The other important thing I tried to do was ask myself "is this focus worth it?" and "how protected will Irusk be?" If the focus expenditure was going to really hurt the enemy and I could keep him decently safe afterwards (no-KD Shield Guard and Gorman help) then I'd go for it. Otherwise, the name of the game was upkeep FFE, maybe Tactical Supremacy, and then camp up to 20+ ARM.
It helped me feel better about pushing for scoring in both games (though it only really started to come up in the second game), and it alleviated the desire to bring along something like TAC + Valachev to shepherd Irusk2 around (TAC without Valachev is doable, but difficult with how the army tends to move with Martial Discipline).
- Having used it in a number of games in general, I really like the Rager. With how aggressive Khador 'casters tend to want to be, that Shield Guard is very nice to have to make it a little less likely that they'll be eating a big shot each turn. In games where that is less of a concern, it's an ARM 20 (DEF 13, no KD with Irusk2) 31 box model you can throw into zones as an additional contesting model, or you can randomly toss it into combat to gum up the enemy for a turn or two. I've been really impressed with the random stuff its been able to pull off just from being in odd places at the right time due to it's role.
My only complaint about the Rager is that it isn't even a twinkle in the eye of the release list right now. We get a Grolar just in time for another very useful, high quality warjack to go onto the "massively TBD" production list. Such is life in the current PP cycle.
- Both games I played involved Irusk2 trying to take a flag while holding his own big goofy flag. I like to think he just really wanted to plant it somewhere.
- Also, both games ended with Shocktroopers assassinating the opposing 'caster. Not something I ever expect to have happen again, but good for them.
-------
That's all I have for thoughts on Irusk2. A lot of these thoughts are similar to what I felt about him the last time I took him out of the case; the tools available to him haven't changed all that much since Warmachine: Vengeance so there aren't any shocker ideas there. The biggest shift for me is one in mentality, which admittedly has been aided by playing Butcher3 a bunch and realizing the value of camping up and giving yourself more leeway to get your 'caster into a good board position.
Irusk2 is no Butcher3 in terms of personal affect, but thankfully he makes up for it with a killer spell list, excellent passives, and one of the better feats in the faction. The hardest part is keeping him alive, which also makes him interesting, as each game will present different threats to him that you need to react to accordingly.
I can't say that I'll keep playing Irusk2 for the immediate future - I'm awash with different list ideas, and I really want to see what the new MoW solo might do for the list - but I absolutely loved running him this past weekend. I greatly look forward to running him more in the future and seeing what the next set of Khador releases will do to open his game up even more.
Until next time, thanks very much for reading!
The WGI pushed up the left side towards the Bane Thralls and to try to contest Deneghra's flag while almost everything else was fighting in the middle/right side of the table. When the dust settled, Irusk was bunkered up next to his flag, camping full focus to try to survive the Helldivers inevitably popping up and making a go at him.
Thankfully, he only had to deal with one Helldiver, which was able to headbutt him down but not do any damage. Deneghra moved into position to threaten a charge next turn, which put her in range of Gorman's Black Oil (hit on a drift), Eiryss2 (missed despite the Black Oil due to a big error on my part), and Battle Lust buffed Shocktroopers (who managed to finish her off).
A random collection of thoughts from those two games:
- I still don't like running lots of infantry, even though Irusk2 does it well. Directrix highlights the issue: there are plenty of things out there that can chew through single wound infantry pretty efficiently regardless of the ARM (or DEF) you can get to. Things were harder in that fight because terrain and having a large number of models (at least for me) made it hard to spread out effectively. Something that can probably be improved with more practice, though I'd shudder to try to manage 30+ infantry models (i.e double BDIFP + a third unit).
- Martial Discipline is a wonderful, liberating, beautiful ability. The amount of flexibility it affords you in terms of movement and activation order is amazing; much more so than I ever thought just theorycrafting. One of the best features of Irusk2.
- Total Obedience is adorable, and pretty fun when it works. I have a frustration with granted Tough abilities (I expect more out of them because I'm actively trying to benefit from it) such as Joe's chant or the Doom Reaver UA (*sigh*), and Irusk2's isn't any different for me. Thankfully it is a passive ability, and it works wonderfully with the IFP now that the IFK is around, so it overall feels fun and valuable.
- Battle Lust is a fantastic spell. I forget about it sometimes because I barely play either Irusk (and its easy to get yourself killed by casting it too often) but it is hard to overstate how effective it is to be able to hand out additional melee damage dice with some of Khador's infantry. Having it be an auto-rally effect is also very nice.
- WGI are still amazing and great. They are a perfect combination of relatively cheap, versatile models that bring a volume of bodies and attacks to any list. You don't really need to give them any help for them to perform alright (Joe covers all their basic needs) so anything you can add onto them makes them that much better. I really like them in this list due to Battle Lust making them excellent at transitioning from ranged attrition to melee (turning them all into effective P+S 11 Weaponmasters with Joe's help) and there is always the off chance to put out a big nasty CRA from the unit boosted by Fire For Effect (not something I'd do 95% of the time, but the option is nice).
- Irusk2 has the second or third best control feat in Khador, and he is leagues more flexible (at least in the current meta) than either Zerkova1 or the Old Witch, making him (bizarrely) one of Khador's best control 'casters. That probably shouldn't come as a big surprise considering Irusk1 was the originator of Inhospitable Ground (a fairly devastating control spell back in Mk. 1, and it still has its moments even now in Mk. 2).
- For as much as I want to hate the Shocktroopers, I can't. They have some serious issues: slow (IFK helps), low volume of attacks, highly susceptible to being knocked around/pulled out of formation, and they're not that hard to kill out of Shield Wall. Which leads to plenty of times when they just get rolled (see: Monitor with it's Chain Weapon, Bane Thralls, terrain in their way both games). But when they work, they work: ARM 21 natively is a decent drain on enemy resources to crack, they have CMA for attack flexibility, and they don't melt to the things that will scoop up IFP (mostly continuous effects). With just a bit more of a push (possibly forthcoming) I can see at least this unit of MoW breaking into the "good option" crust of Khador choices. They're surprisingly close now.
- I bought two Mortars back in Mk. 1 because they were crazy cheap and always useful. Mk. 2 pretty much killed that; its usually not worth taking one now. Except with FFE. That is damn fun, and I'm happy to get the Mortar back on the table after years of collecting dust.
- ChickenSlayer absolutely has the right idea for how to approach Irusk2. It is very, very tempting to spend focus with him - his spell list is well rounded enough to give you something to cast most turns, its easy to bring along something like Behemoth to allocate to - but doing so puts him at significant risk. Irusk2 needs to be played decently far forward to get benefit out of his abilities, cast his spells effectively, and secure CP in a timely fashion. Doing that with a low camp (or god help you, 15/15 with nothing on him) is asking for bad things to come his way.
One of the reasons I swapped out the Behemoth for a Rager was to give me one less way to spend focus (and pick up a run-for-free Shield Guard in the trade). The other important thing I tried to do was ask myself "is this focus worth it?" and "how protected will Irusk be?" If the focus expenditure was going to really hurt the enemy and I could keep him decently safe afterwards (no-KD Shield Guard and Gorman help) then I'd go for it. Otherwise, the name of the game was upkeep FFE, maybe Tactical Supremacy, and then camp up to 20+ ARM.
It helped me feel better about pushing for scoring in both games (though it only really started to come up in the second game), and it alleviated the desire to bring along something like TAC + Valachev to shepherd Irusk2 around (TAC without Valachev is doable, but difficult with how the army tends to move with Martial Discipline).
- Having used it in a number of games in general, I really like the Rager. With how aggressive Khador 'casters tend to want to be, that Shield Guard is very nice to have to make it a little less likely that they'll be eating a big shot each turn. In games where that is less of a concern, it's an ARM 20 (DEF 13, no KD with Irusk2) 31 box model you can throw into zones as an additional contesting model, or you can randomly toss it into combat to gum up the enemy for a turn or two. I've been really impressed with the random stuff its been able to pull off just from being in odd places at the right time due to it's role.
My only complaint about the Rager is that it isn't even a twinkle in the eye of the release list right now. We get a Grolar just in time for another very useful, high quality warjack to go onto the "massively TBD" production list. Such is life in the current PP cycle.
- Both games I played involved Irusk2 trying to take a flag while holding his own big goofy flag. I like to think he just really wanted to plant it somewhere.
- Also, both games ended with Shocktroopers assassinating the opposing 'caster. Not something I ever expect to have happen again, but good for them.
-------
That's all I have for thoughts on Irusk2. A lot of these thoughts are similar to what I felt about him the last time I took him out of the case; the tools available to him haven't changed all that much since Warmachine: Vengeance so there aren't any shocker ideas there. The biggest shift for me is one in mentality, which admittedly has been aided by playing Butcher3 a bunch and realizing the value of camping up and giving yourself more leeway to get your 'caster into a good board position.
Irusk2 is no Butcher3 in terms of personal affect, but thankfully he makes up for it with a killer spell list, excellent passives, and one of the better feats in the faction. The hardest part is keeping him alive, which also makes him interesting, as each game will present different threats to him that you need to react to accordingly.
I can't say that I'll keep playing Irusk2 for the immediate future - I'm awash with different list ideas, and I really want to see what the new MoW solo might do for the list - but I absolutely loved running him this past weekend. I greatly look forward to running him more in the future and seeing what the next set of Khador releases will do to open his game up even more.
Until next time, thanks very much for reading!
Irusk2 carries that flag because he dominates the board!
ReplyDeleteIndeed he does. :)
DeleteAll these years later and that is still one of my favorite sculpts in the line.