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Warcaster - Kharchev the Terrible

Winter Guard Mortar Crew - 3
Man-o-War Shocktroopers (3)- 6
Gryelord Ternions - 4

Kodiak
Kodiak
Beast-09

So basically I lurk behind terrain until enough stuff gets into range to capitalize on Kharchev's Feat + Tow combo to whipsaw two Kodiaks and Beast-09 18" into melee. The Mortar is there to keep range-oriented folks from just hanging out 20" away and the Greylords+Man-o-Wars can double as horde thinners or mobile terrain with the cloud effect on shield-walled ARM21 nfantry. With Clouded Man-o-Wars, I should be able to pull off the combo even with minimal terrain on the table. My heavies either overload and completely crush a flank, or I can use Kodiaks to Double-throw screening warjacks out of the way and use Beast-09 to assassinate a Warcaster.

Thoughts? What are the most common counters I can expect to see?

Biggest problem I can see is high def infantry running to engage your shock troopers, it will totally stall your advance. Or cav charging in to wreck the man o wars and then you have to use your jacks to get rid of them, leaving you open to counter charges.
As for common counters for Big k watch out for, eiryss obviously and another very strong model is gorman. The rust bomb is always a problem but even worse may be the black oil, with your battlegroup tending to bunch up for side arms 3" aoe could get all your jacks and karchev. Good luck, Big K is fun to play but don't be surprised if you easily walk over some opponents and really struggle against others.

Thanks for the heads up, as I am still a very novice WM player. It seems to me, though, that those are relatively short-ranged solutions to the Kombo. The screen isn't integral to the advance provided there's *any* terrain mid-table; it protects the mortar more than anything. The merc character could certainly mess me up royally, but I don't think I'll run into him any time soon.

Although I do dislike the idea of getting charged by heavy cav, I should have a longer range than a significant cav force thus getting the charge on them if necessary, or I can just ignore them to death or destroy them piecemeal if the 'Caster is nearby or isn't.

I could drop the Greylords/Man-o-Wars for two squadrons of IF Uhlans, which is an idea I'd been tossing around?

MoW Shocktroopers don't really fit the Karchev list that well. The biggest issue they have trying to fit in is speed. Karchev and his jacks using Tow can massively outpace the MoW, so you're either slowing down the whole list or not using shield-wall. It also seems kinda odd to screen jacks with them because if you're opponent can't handle ARM21 with 24 boxes how was he going to threaten ARM20 or more with 34 boxes? The points just seemed like they'd be better used on something like a Berzerker that adds extra punch to your brick than on some more armor. Two Kodiaks also seems a bit excessive, while it's nice to have Pathfinder jacks, you really won't be using their ability to run for free. One Kodiak and something else with a little more hitting power (and possibly a good ranged attack) would probably get you more mileage.

One of the best uses with Karchev is just as a shock caster i.e. towing a pile of ARM20 in your opponent's face and seeing if they can deal with it in the 1-2 turns they'll get before getting run over.

He does have a slightly more rock-paper-scissors feel than most casters mainly because if your opponent can deal with jacks quickly, it's going to be uphill, but if he can't it will be a cake walk.

watch for eiryss, she is gonna ruin your day. the 2 most common things i see with karchev is the bokur to stop eiryss and the wardog for DEF in combat.

i can see where beast would be VERY good in a list with karchev, but i usually just run 2 berzerkers and a kodiak. then i fil out the rest of the list with anti infantry stuff like Rifle Corp and ternion for toolbox.

my standard karchev list is:

Karchev the Terrible
Berserker
Berserker
Kodiak

Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Ogrun Bokur
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Mastershake wrote:MoW Shocktroopers don't really fit the Karchev list that well. The biggest issue they have trying to fit in is speed.

WM armies seem to do better when they're all the same 'speed' - either all fast and deadly or slow and plodding.

You really don't need much more horde control than mortars and trampling jacks. I'd think about stuff that's pretty self-sufficient, like Widowmakers. I don't know that you need cav with Karchev - he's got a pretty solid threat range already.

I've been playing Berzerker Barrage for ages, it's a really fun list to play and can break face real good - huh huh huh huh!!!

Karchev

Berzerker x6

Min unit of Mechaniks x2

Basically you use the Jacks to trample stuff or if you are feeling really adventurous load one up with focus and hope it blows in the middle of a horde of infantry.

For the assassination runs, get Karchev into range for Fissure and let fly. You may need to boost to hit a Caster/lock, but when it's KD, get your Zerkers to charge in. There isn't a single caster or lock that can survive this, especially when they get boosts from Unearthly Rage.