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I've not been the biggest fan of PP after suffering the Khador gap back in the Mk1 rules, but as Warmahordes is picking up traction in our area, a friend has kindly donated some Skorne to my cause so I can mess around with them. I hadn't really looked at the Hordes faction before, but I guess I'm a sucker for the chunky eastern style armour and death elephants, and I've found myself surprisingly enjoying the aesthetic. Now I just need some guidance on what Skorne excel at; the must take units, the units that are lacklustre, common strategies etc. I want to know if I'm going to enjoy the playstyle before investing further.

I've also noticed a few conversions floating around here once or twice, like Kraye Cryx (Krayx?) and Stryker gone all Khador. Anyone got any good ideas for twisting the fluff for Skorne a bit and bringing out some sweet conversions?

hmm. Skorne have a lot of the sadomasochist flavor in their spells and abilities so you are not going to make them into good guys. If the stock models appeal to you and you have no strong draw to a particular theme. there is little reason to put a twist on things. Then again converting can be fun. Anything you do will require headswaps since Skorne are their own race.
You could make them blighted followers of any of the dragons, not only Toruk or Everblight but maybe Blighterghast, Charsaug&Ashenphos, or Scalefang. They could also stand in for Menintes fairly well with their ornate armor and no apprehensions about harsh treatment of the living. You might even be able to put enough spin into them to have them be elves representing the remnants of Eastern Iosan culture.

Skorne primary fame is their damage, its easily one of the highest around

From there they are divided between Speed or Toughness

Bronzeback is the ultimate example of Damage and Toughness
Molik Karn is the ultimate example of Damage and Speed

The most core unit they have is the Pain Giver Beast Master

From there commonly seen units is the Gladiator, Nihilator and either Bronzeback or Molik Karn

Among casters Skorne is famous for having essentially no bad casters (except eMorg, pMorg is amazing tho), and each caster brings an almost vastly different style of play

From Zaal's masses of suicidal infantry to Mordikaar's undying infantry to Xerxis's insanely survivable infantry

From pMorg's masses of heavy beasts, to Makeda and Karn, to Naareshes' masses of Cyclops

Each caster brings a surprisingly desire to bring different units however if you want a good core that works with everyone, look at Gladiator and Nihilator

I saw Skorne Vs Menoth last night. It was a pretty huge throwdown with a colossal on each side and 3-4 jacks/elephants per army.

That fury mechanic is flat out terrifying once you get into combat. "i buy another attack...and another...and another..." All of the menoth jacks that got destroyed were destroyed in one turn. And the little baby elephants running around with obscene amounts of fury to stop jacks getting focus allocated to them...yeah.

Menoth managed to win though because he had some warcaster with amazing movement and defense who managed to outflank and charge into the opponent's shaman to get an assassination.

Skorne does the one thing that pulls people away from GW games from those games to PP and that is run those big beasts probably better then any faction out there. Cancel warmachine out as fury is just plain better, top if off with a bronzeback that when buffed is not unheard of deleting a gargossal in 1 turn and sprinkle some beast handlers on top. Infantry is nothing to sneeze at either between Cataphract, Nihilators, Slingers and Swordsmen we have decent infantry that can do what they are made to do, however as stated beast handlers will probably show up in every list.

What kind of Skorne stuff were you given and we can maybe assist in some future buys from there. For any potential Skorne starters I recommend the battlebox, beast handlers then a bronzeback, Brute works well with pMorg as does a krea. I personally like a willbreaker with pMorg, an agonizer is also a good pickup as is Marketh that should take you through 25ish, for an infantry unit Nihilators and Gator Posse with a Task Master can work well with pretty much any caster out there, Nihilators for more bodies and a tarpit, gator for more killing power.

Skorne has a lot of possibility for conversion, even without changing backstory. Mortitheurgy and the paingiver's craft alone offer a lot of options. Take this shameless plug of my Agonizers, for example:

 Laughing Man wrote:
Skorne has a lot of possibility for conversion, even without changing backstory. Mortitheurgy and the paingiver's craft alone offer a lot of options. Take this shameless plug of my Agonizers, for example:

This is awesome. Dominar Rasheth approves.

 Dais wrote:
hmm. Skorne have a lot of the sadomasochist flavor in their spells and abilities so you are not going to make them into good guys.

Well sure, by Western Immoren standards. By Skorne standard, I doubt the Skorne would see themselves as evil.