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I've been practicing with Epic Kreoss lately and enjoying it, and decided to start using the Harbinger, whom I plan on using in conjunction with E.K. in 1,000 point games.

750, my army:
6 Knights Exemplar x2
Seneschal x2
6 Knights Errant
Choir +1
Avatar
Devout
harbinger
Paladin of the Wall
Piper
Vassal
Vilmon
Doc Killingsworth
Wrack x1

He was using Legion of Everblight led by Vayl, using two Seraphs, a Nephilim, a few shredders and harriers, some sword-swinging nasties with some other gribblies that popped out of them when they died, some solo that blows herself up when loaded with fury, the talisman crafters, the goblin smoke cloud makers, and... that's it I believe.

Things weren't going too badly until He got a Seraph to shoot at Vilmon and the Paladin, who were standing next to each other. On that same turn he managed to down a couple other models I wanted to keep, so I used Martyrdom to save them. Every time a model died and I used Martyrdom, I rolled a 3 on the d3 for damaging the Harbinger. It was absolutely terrible how quickly she gutted herself. And the Seraph's shooting on the paladin was superb. When he died the first time and I kept him alive, he proceeded to get shot twice more, causing 9 total points of damage to the Harbinger. I really wanted him to stay alive so he could continue to be a Cornerstone for Vilmon, I just wished I didn't keep rolling 3's for the Martyrdom damage!

I misused the piper as well. First turn he was out of range for a song, second turn I used the tough song and failed horribly on all but one of the rolls, and on the next turn when I used march Vayl had activated Cat & Mouse, making things exceedingly difficult to actually get the unit of knights I'd cast it on to get where I wanted to go.

In the final fateful turn, I had used the doc and all but one of the Harbinger's focus to heal her back up 12 points. I thought when his next turn started that the focus would have been better spent extending her power field, as armour 23 would have been tough to crack, even if she only had 6 hits left. The devout used its spell barrier and stood ready to intercept at least some of the Seraphs' fire. Due to cat & mouse I couldn't charge the Seraphs even though they were right in the middle of my mass of troops- most of them still perfectly healthy, just due to how the game had gone. In the end I ran the Avatar next to Vayl and used the Vassal's Ancillary attack to land a solid hit on her, but she transferred the damage. I'd also run Vilmon up next to her, so if he didn't kill the Harbinger I was sure I'd be able to clean her clock soundly [not realizing her def would be a 20 - what the hell!]

But after the game finished [the Harbinger died to the two strafing Seraphs], I remembered the Harbinger's more than a Martyrdom sponge! Her focus is a 10, making it easy to hit things with her spells, and had I cast Tremor of Faith with some boosting for insurance and knocked the two Seraph down, Cat & Mouse wouldn't have been able to affect them, and my knights and seneschals in the area would have throttled them totally, especially since the Harbinger was able to attack an enemy infantry model to give everyone in my army boosted damage rolls. Doing so would have destroyed all of his shooting power, and with Spell Barrier on Vayl wouldn't have been able to come after me either. I'd also managed to kill the Nephilim that was threatening the Harbinger, so with those all gone things would have been in the bag.

I can't believe I didn't see it! The holding onto focus for armour would have also worked [trying to damage an Arm 23 model is tough for Seraphs], most likely, but would have been just another defensive turn as I reacted to his motions. I need to remember those spells!

Next time, the Harbinger's going to be trigger happy with that spell. Knocking down enemy warbeasts and warjacks is invaluable, especially considering how many ways there are for Hordes to get extra movement.

And Cornerstone combined with Martyrdom is great. Stay alive without being knocked down? Outstanding! I think I'm going to capitalize on that more often now, and perhaps switch the Vassal [though I love him so] with a second paladin, just to have that trio wandering about causing all kinds of problems for the enemy. Making a beeline for their caster with those three would just be delicious! They couldn't ignore it, and until it was dealt with the rest of my army could run about freely!

The Harbinger is the model which got me into Warmachine. It's freakin' epic.

Martyrdom is nice, but don't be afraid to use her 10 Foc for other things. She can run multiple Heavy Jacks (and should, just to hide behind them). Also, don't discount charging her in for the kill. Her sword autohits (great against Def 20 things like Vayl and wind-rush Sorscha), has a decent base damage, and she can get 5 boosted damage autohits with it. Should be entertaining against a transferring Warlock, who likely won't have 5 Fury on them. The extra 1 FOC she doesn't use can go onto one of her Heavy Jacks so it can charge in as insurance.

There's the hilarity of 2-handed throwing her over an intervening unit with the Castigator - she can't be knocked down, and isn't likely to take damage with 9 FOC. Then she can charge the caster/lock who was hiding behind that unit and beat it down (or cast Cataclysm at point blank range).

She's much more than a Martyrdom-mop!

Yeah, depends on the enemy list. If they're running lots of shooting, seems hard to get her in there healthily. I suppose I could send her in with the focus on the jacks and a good amount on her as power field and let them attempt to cause her any real damage while the jacks come in unscathed.

But I DO like that tremor of faith spell now that I've reminded myself that she has it. Knocking something down to pummel it to death with the Avatar or just about anything else sounds like a wonderful plan! With 10 focus there's no model she couldn't hit if she boosted it, and once it was down, life would suck for them!

And yes, I've recently purchased a Castigator and can't wait for the opportunity to Hail Mary the Harbinger