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I am literally just starting the game. I know very little. I usually like to start games with a tried and true strong army and then work frkm there. I find it to be more forgiving in the early stages.

I know very little about skorne, people mention Bronzebacks, krea and Shamans. Could someone share their opinions about these units and any other more competitve units for a starter army.
Basically does anyone have a well established vookie cutter competive skorne list for me to look at? Thanks!

TableTopJosh wrote:
I am literally just starting the game. I know very little. I usually like to start games with a tried and true strong army and then work frkm there. I find it to be more forgiving in the early stages.

I know very little about skorne, people mention Bronzebacks, krea and Shamans. Could someone share their opinions about these units and any other more competitve units for a starter army.
Basically does anyone have a well established vookie cutter competive skorne list for me to look at? Thanks!

The Bronzeback is crazy good. Probably the best generic beat stick in the game. Hell probably one of the strongest melee models in the whole game period. This thing can easily kill just about any target it makes into melee range with, if your opponent is careless about positioning it can even kill multiple enemy heavies in a turn. This thing is made out of 100% pure ass whoopin'. End of story. Normally i'd be afraid of overselling a model's strengths, that just isn't the case with the Bronzeback. Even with just basic support this thing is amazing. He will punch everybody's face off.

Krea, it's a solid little defensive piece core to a great many lists. It's not fancy or flashy, but projects a defensive aura you'll almost always find useful.

Shaman - sadly, not familiar enough with this one.


In general you're probably going to want pain giver beast handlers as your first purchase in skorne after the battle box. It really puts the juice in your goose and brings your beasts to their full potential.

For the most part Skorne have solid options and few real traps. Nihilators are probably the stand out unit from the bunch as just something generically useful.

Oh! And The Bronzeback, Krea and Shaman are all "Warbeasts" not units. Model types are important in this game, so keep that in mind when planning or discussing lists.

Thanks! What would be a good first purchase, after the starter set,for a warcaster?
I like the assassin caster guy.

Skorne is really balanced so there are no real "best" units. However the Bronzeback is really great if you just want hitting power.

TableTopJosh wrote:
Thanks! What would be a good first purchase, after the starter set,for a warcaster?
I like the assassin caster guy.

I'd say get a few games in before branching out into other casters. If you're talking about "Lord Assassin Morghoul" I wouldn't get your hopes too high, he's widely derided as one of the single weakest casters in the entire game. That said, as single small based model he's all of.. $12.00 on your average online gaming store. It's a pretty small investment if you really want to try him out.

Thanks! One last question, i thought i read some where that if yoy buy the starter box you want to convert the two cyclops into another cyclops solo because the other type is really good?

It would be beneficial to convert one of the Savages into a Brute. This game rarely rewards duplicate choices and the Savage isn't one of them. He's basically a disposable Cruise Missile. The Brute offers some nice defensive utility with both Shield Guard and his Animus, which is very useful for pMorghoul(battle box version) who doesn't like getting knocked down.

General Skorne mandatory purchases.

1) Gladiator. Awesome beast for his points. Hits pretty hard with Skorne buffs, 3 initial attacks, and has one of the best Animi in the game.

2) Paingiver Beast Handlers. These guys turn Skorne beasts up to 11. They increase Fury efficiency and hitting power of all Skorne beasts.

3) Basilisk Krea. You buy her for her Animus, which protects all your guys from shooting as they advance up the field. She also has a gun that is crippling for any living model you can hit with it. It hands out a massive debuff instead of doing damage, although her Rat is horrible so you will need to boost.

4) Bronzeback. Its been said before, but its worth stressing. This guy wrecks *%&# up. If you want something not only dead, but very very dead, he'll do it. With buffs, there is literally nothing in the game he won't wreck. He kills heavies without spending any Fury at all on even only moderately good rolls, he kills Colossals without spending all of his 5 Fury. And he can do it with a very respectable threat range.

5) Agonizer. AKA: "The Baby". A little support solo whose effect on the opponent ranges from very annoying to table-flip worthy frustration.



We have some good infantry options too.

Nihilators. Good jam unit that also kills enemy infantry pretty well. They have tough(basically a 5+ save), reach, and a good pow melee weapon. They also have a good Mat to make their attacks count. Berserk also means they can generate additional attacks when they kill stuff, although they will attack friendlies if they have no other targets.

Cetratii. If you are running pMakaeda or Xerxis, these guys become amazeballs. Extremely durable heavy infantry with good melee attacks. only downside is they can be a little slow, although both the above casters have ways of speeding them up while maintaining Shield Wall.

Immortals. These guys get poo-poo'd a lot, but they can work with the right support and surprise opponents. An Ancestral Guardian and Witch Doctor are basically mandatory IMO, having Xerxis or a Tyrant Commander is also desirable.

I would take a look at either either of these two links. The first one is dated but the give some good advice for starting out skorne.

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?101925-Skorne-Buyers-Guide
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?198887-A-Guide-to-Building-Your-Skorne

As far as the Shaman goes he is there for two main reasons: First his own animus removes enemy upkeeps from your units/models which is really good when its needed, and second he can use other beasts animus and skorne has some really good ones.

He doesn't find is way into every list since he is mainly a support model, a 5pt one at that.

Also I would look at Cataphract Incindiarii is you want a unit with a gun. Though honestly all the Cataphracts are good, they just have very different roles. The Cetrati hold the line, incindiarii shoot and set infantry on fire to burn to death or just kill them with the initial damage, and Arcuarii have harpoons that they use to drag in mutliwound models and aren't bad in melee either.

GT pretty much nailed it. I would just opt for a brute rather than try and convert. Multiple Savages while rare can see some play with pMorg as missiles and with eMakeda and Naaresh. If you really want to save yourself $15 then convert one. The thing with Skorne is there are a few infantry which are self sufficient and don't rely on support or a particular caster. I highly recommend these infantry units for a beginner and as you get into the army can look at more niche infantry. The big 3 IMO are Nihilators, Gator Posse + Taskmaster, and Incindiarii. Honorable Mention to Slingers as they are cheap as chips, usually make their points back and provide cheap souls which some Skorne casters and solos use to make themselves stronger. So a big thing of Warmachine and Hordes is simply by changing up your caster you can really change the way your army plays even if using 80% of the same units. pMorg is not really an assassination warlock he is more of a beast caster, he buffs his beasts up and they do everything. Occasionally you can get him to take out a good number of single wound living infantry and sprint away, but just be careful as he is fragile. I have made the mistake once or twice of using him to take out a solo and leave myself open to an assassination. You will also find his control area to be really small, a willbreaker will help with this. So as a 2nd caster I recommend something with a larger control area a good spell list and a good feat and you just can't go wrong with eHexeris, bottom line this guy is called eSexy for a reason. If you want a litlte more info than these posts I recommend checking out the Way of Hoksune, they are still within a year old which is young by a lot of guides out there and these guys are some of the best players out there: http://handcannononline.com/blog/2013/07/09/skorne-the-way-of-the-hoksune/ I suggest you read all 4 articles they are very informative.

Also to see these guys in action and understand how to play the army as order of activation is very important with Skorne I would refer you to here: https://www.youtube.com/user/endgamegamingnet/search?query=skorne

Thanks for all.your help