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Some quick thoughts on Lord Carver, BMMD Esq. III (who has insisted that I use his full title at all times), after finally getting the chance to peak at him and his beasts.

Firstly, I'm kind of in love with his statline. Higher than average MAT, average RAT, good defense and great armor for a warlock. With a PnS 15 melee weapon, he's a melee monster, and the P16 spray is rather brutal as well, even with the shorter than usual range.

Batten and Mobility are both great for his beasts, as it pushes them from rather slow to very quick, and pushes their armor into the Khadoran range. Only reason I might avoid using it is if you're up against something that would otherwise have trouble hitting Carver BMMD Esq. III himself.

Quagmire seems a good choice to cast on himself, especially if trying to assassinate a caster that's weak in melee (eLylyth comes to mind). 6 PnS 15 attacks at MAT 9 will probably kill off most anything he faces. The fact that it reduces defense also opens up the option to cast it on a model and run it into melee so that a second wave can tear into it.

Unit choice leans heavily towards the Brigands, of course, what with the CRA and fearless. Gators could also make an interesting choice, especially with Quagmire: Their high volume of attacks should wreck face pretty well. Trogs won't get too much from him, but then again, since when do they really need anything?

Beast-wise, the War Hog stands out: Three attacks, with the option to force to make them 18/18/17 means that it'll annihilate anything up to a Khadoran heavy with little effort. While you probably won't see it casting Massacre on itself, you can bet Lord Carver BMMD Esq. III will be casting it at every opportunity. For 2 fury, the free charge alone is worth it, with the extra attack and movement just being gravy.

The Gun Boar sees the return of Bacon (BAAAACOOOON!), which alone makes it awesome. With the Teraph's animus and a similar (if not identical) gun, it's pretty decent at shooting. The nifty part is really the fact that it's got a pair of open fists, so it'll be able to chuck medium and small models about the field rather well. I'd normally say it's somewhat uninspiring, but it's a Minion, so I wasn't really expecting too much. And hey, bacon.


Now, onto the faction specific stuff: First off, the trolls made out like bandits with the Swamp Troll and Skinner. The latter is, as expected, pretty much just a Trollkin manhunter, although with the addition of Duck, Dismember, and Hunter, and trading Stealth for Prowl. Likewise, the Swamp Troll was rather predictable: An amphibious warbeast with a pair of claws and a tongue. Said tongue is a ranged weapon with Drag and Critical Consume, so rather nice for sniping beefier solos or Legion Lessers.

Not entirely sure what I think of the Warpborn Skinwalkers. Basically, they're furry fetishists warpwolves but smaller, so heavy infantry with pole axes. Get shot, move faster, decent armor but relatively low defense, supplemented by standard heavy infantry health. Also have unyielding, so hard to kill once they get stuck in. Still, with the faster, harder-hitting Tharn around, I'm not entirely sure of their place in a Circle list beyond having true heavy infantry now.

The Wold Guardian, on the other hand, is pure gold. Even if you were to pay the nine points just for its animus, totally worth it: A die less damage on ranged attacks against this model. Empathic transfer and girded as well, so one hell of a defensive beast. Offensively, it's even better, with a pair of magic PnS 17s with ram. Oh, and it's pretty much a Khadoran heavy statwise, albeit a bit easier to hit.

The stinger is entertaining, with a poisoned tail that critically injures it on use. The short spray and dig in will probably keep it alive while it tries to get into position to stab the crap out of you, and it hands out Bushwhack to a single model with its animus.

The Paingiver Task Master is also nice, with Grogspar's no-knockdown thing (minions only tho), and can either hand out extra strength or Tough and Fearless to a nearby minion unit every turn. Only complaint is that Skorne players are currently sitting in the corner giggling about how awesome their stuff is in the final rules (I know I did after seeing the cards, anyway), so I'm not sure how often you'll see them using minions in the near future anyway.

Oh, and final model: The Thrullg. Medium based solo with Spell Ward, the ability to strip focus and upkeeps, hurts casters and heals itself whenever they cast near it, and 3 magic attacks, one with reach. So, about what I expected from the Monsternomicon entry. Really, I expect to see it mostly as a oneshot, used like eEiryss to strip defensive buffs for an assassination run.

One Hordes theme list in there, with Mordikaar handing out Incorporeal to everyone and covering the table with ADing Void Spirits and Feralgeists. Yep, a Skorne theme list with a minion choice. Awesome, ain't it? Nice and infantry heavy, with nihilators, Karax, and swordsmen.

Couple other notes: The White Moon Dream game looks like it should rock, given that it's the guys from Fallout (yes, the original two) and the Medal of Honor franchise. The puzzles (brought to you by one of the local PGs, Captain Saulty Dog) are also nice, with the back cover one a classic from DieCon. The front one may or may not be impossible as written, however, as Privateer apparently misread Saulty's instructions on that one. >.<

I have to say, I'm in love with the Stinger. This is my new go to model for flanking with my Everblight. It's stupid fast, and a pretty nasty threat with that tail. Not to mention dirt cheap at 2 points. Sure, it's also pretty squishy, but the point here is to run up a flank, and *Dig In to keep it alive, while presenting a threat that you opponent can't afford to ignore. With it's high defense (while dug in, at least) keeping it alive, your opponent will have to dedicate a melee model or two or a CRA to get the thing out of the way. That's some pretty nice force disruption for two points. Not to mention the brilliant animus, on par with the rest of the Lessers. I'll definatley be taking a couple of these guys in most of my lists.