Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm new to Warmachine and need some help.

I have the rules, currently unread and a small starting Khador force as below all painted up ready for battle but I need a second army to play against.

I recently saw the new Gorshade the Bastard and Deathwalker models and thought that would be a good starting point as I really like them.

So I need some help with what other models to get to go with them to make a small even force to use against the Khador I have below.

Kommander Sorscha
Khador Man O War unit - (5)
Khador Destroyer Warjack
Khador Juggernaught Warjack
Khador Manhunter

Thanks in advance

So this is a 22 point list your friend is using?
Seems very odd. I would suggest bumping the points for your khador list to 25 first before going into a new army.

Man-o-war kovnik is a good suggestion to take over one of the jacks. But a better suggestion would be the new iron fang kovnik to again take one of the jacks to help sorscha on her focus as well as help the man-o-wars move faster while shield walling. and for the last point the wardog to help sorsha stay alive longer and to be a pain for the opponent.

As for cryx.. the cryx are not something i would recommend to a new player going into without reading the book or trying out the game yourself first.

but for a gorshade list that is 25 points.

WC - Gorshade ( 6 wjp ) of corse. For a new player i would recommend using the Stealth and Darkshroud spell that is 3 points on him and keep it up most of your turns, as that is the theme this list will be going for. which means that he will only have 4 focus left over on jacks or other spells most of the time.

WJ - Reaper - 7 controller Gorshade. Reaper is to be range anti jack to bring their jacks to you so you can hit them in melee before they fight back. Would recommend putting 3 focus on this, boost to hit, boost to damage, gain an extra attack. with darkshoud on this model and stealth it cannot be shot at, and it will lower the opponents armor within 2 inches of the reaper by 2.

WJ - Setther - 9 controller Goreshade. Setther gives itself free focus and is very focus efficient. you hardly need focus on it at all unless you want to make sure the target dies.

UNIT - Banethralls - ua - 11. bane thralls are the of if not the BEST unit in the game. stealth so it cannot be shot at. decent armor so blast cannot kill it. undead, pow 11 axes, darkshoud ( -2 arm in melee range of models. DOES NOT STACK ) and weapon master. AND with the ua they gain tough and cannot be knocked down. This unit is EXTREMLY deadly and not alot can remove it.

SOLO - Bane lord tartarus - 4. this banethrall makes you banthrall unit faster and hit the opponent easier. not only that, If he kills models add a banethrall to the unit so the squad has even more of those bastards. last but not least, he can go through Any terrain building or wall, he cannot go past other units and he cannot be targeted by free strikes.

total 25, the list above is a super aggressive stealth melee list that is hell bend on making your opponent cry. the only thing that will stop this is stealth revealing range, witch at 25 points is not easy to do. ( unless your retribution playing snipers with their new solo that ignores stealth )

Hoped this helped you out and good luck. Welcome to warmachine

Your post about bane thralls is very misleading to a new player. Stealth makes it so any ranged or magic attack from more than 5" away automatically misses. Any ranged attack that automatically hits cannot miss which means certain spells (chain lightning/ashes to ashes against a none stealth model nearby) will still hit the banes. In fact, there are many spells that dont need to hit their targets to inflict damage. Their armor is high for a stealth unit but in the grand scheme of things, it is only going to save you from some blasts, although any AOE attack above power 3 (which is all of them) can still kill them. Some factions have many methods of ignoring or removing stealth. Any spray attack ignores stealth as well, so those hordes of high DEF/tough winterguard are a serious threat to bane thralls. Cygnar and Legion both laugh at stealth as they have multiple models that you will see constantly (most legion beasts ignore stealth outright) that ignore it or remove it. Arcane tempest gun mages and their officer ignore stealth and their arcane inferno is powerful enough to blow through their armor. You will find that bane thralls are so common that many lists will include models to counter them. This is an unfortunate side effect of everyone jumping on the bane thrall wagon and when they meet a countering unit, they will get gunned down very easily as their DEF is below average, and their ARM is not even close to what is needed to survive direct attacks. In addition to this, cryx does not have easy access to buffs that boost defensive stats.

Bane thralls are really built to destroy high ARM targets. They have weapon mastered weapons and drain the armor on enemies near them. This makes them great at killing warjacks and heavy infantry but somewhat wasted on tarpit units that will be just as effective at killing the bane thralls while usually costing less point. Plus, being below average speed and lacking reach means that many of those tarpit units will get the drop on them if you arent careful.