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Hey guys and gals,
Looking to start Hordes with Minions. Are they a good stand alone in MK 3? Suggestions on what to start with and what to stay away from.

Gators and Pigs, is one better over the other?

Thanks

I just started too. Like the way the gators look so got the Gatormen and Blackhide Wrastler. Thinking of getting the Ironback Spitter... I'm interested on hearing about this...

For gators you probably want to have 2 Blackhides, 2 Spitters and, 1 Bull snapper. If you want to use Calaban or Maelok then you'll also want to get a blind walker.

For Pigs your battle group picks should be 2 War Hogs and 2 Road Hogs, a battle boar and if you want some shooting a gun boar and targ. Razor boars are also useful 4 should do you well.

For general units I reccomend a max unit of Brigands with UA and if you are playing in a blindwater (gator) theme at least 1 max unit of Posse.

Solos are season to taste. I have seen a lot of list with Dahlia and Skareth, Rorsch and Brine and/or Wrong Eye and Snap Jaw. I have found that having a mist speaker is handy to give out eyeless sight and magic weapon. Lanyssa, Saxon, Pendrake and, Alten are all useful to have.

The battle engines are nice but are in CiD right now so I can't speak directly to them.

This is just my advice take it with a large grain of salt since I've only been playing minions for a few months.

 Deus Mortis wrote:
Hey guys and gals,
Looking to start Hordes with Minions. Are they a good stand alone in MK 3? Suggestions on what to start with and what to stay away from.

Gators and Pigs, is one better over the other?

Thanks

The good news is that the only defining decisions is your Warlock, as they determine your Warbeasts. All the units and solos can be taken no matter your Warlock (unless you are running Themed, honestly).

Are you new to the game? If so, Gators. They are a little more forgiving, being tougher overall.

If you are completely comfortable with the game, then go with what you like.

Look up the Journeyman League document, and it gives the Minion equivalents to a "battlebox". You don't have to start there, but if your group is looking to start the growth league soon, I highly recommend it. Even if you are not, it is a decent place to start and will give a place to grow from, such as to what Leo suggested.

Thanks guys for the help, keep it coming.

Yep. Thanks guys.

Any of you seen that Widower's Woods game coming out in the near future?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/privateerpress/widowers-wood-an-iron-kingdoms-adventure-board-gam

Seems to be a good assortment of Gator miniatures if you are starting. However, I've heard they aren't tournament playable which is a shame because the plastic ironback spitter is far more attractive than the current metal one.

For my warlock, like the way Jaga Jaga looks but would like to read the fluff first. That said, might go with Barnabas.

I'm leaning towards gators over pigs, any units or solos that are recommended to start with? Looking at a gator lot that has barnabas, calaban, maelock and rask.

1 thing ill tell you is to try to play gators in their new theme, its bonkers. You will need 2 units of posse if you wanna try it. They get some pretty insane bonus', and for solos one of the top ones i recommend is the totem hunter. Hes got a crazy threat range and can kill stuff super easy

Mk3 is really, really good for Minions. I would say they are in the best shape they have ever been.

The most immediate change is that you are no longer locked into a Pact and every Warlock can take a mixed army. Not only have you been given the other side of the fence with Gators and Pigs, but you have also gained all the loners inbetween them.
In particular, super solos like Lanyssa or Alten Ashley can now be mixed in, alongside the Nyss Hunters and Skarath. You can also start mixing up some bonkers combo attacks, like putting Primal and Rage onto the same beast.

Of course, the new Theme forces have to be equally powerful to overcome this new mixing pot, and they are both viable lists to run. I would personally say that Blindwater is better than Thornfall simply because the buffed Gators are mental, but both are playable.

If you are set on Gators, the Blackhide Wrastler is the current superstar of the faction. It's one of the most powerful models available to you, and one of the better Warbeasts in the whole game IMO. I would say that you should be playing at least one in almost every list you ever write.
Bull Snappers are always good to have, because they are solid units in their own right, and also free if playing Blindwater. Otherwise the Blind Walker and Ironback Spitter are both very popular, depending on your Warlock.

Gatormen Posse are a tough sell because they are awesome in the Theme list, but quite weak outside of it. They can be a playable core to spam, but it's not necessarily a unit you'll always want to use. Croak Raiders always do very well for themselves, as does the Bokor and Shamblers.

As always, the Warlocks all play differently and demand different army builds. Really the only constant is that you always want a Blackhide or two.
Barnabas likes shooting and can deliver Amphibious models very well. He likes Gator Posses, Ironbacks, Croaks and Theme lists.
Calaban is a magic machine gun and also likes shooty units. Croaks, Ironbacks and a Blind Walker are all solid.
Maelok is all about spamming Gators. Theme list, multiple units of Gators and Witch Doctors, and maybe a Blind Walker.
Jaga-Jaga is a battlegroup caster and wants to spam Beasts. She gives a scary threat range to Bull Snappers and wants an Ironback to protect her.
Rask is a polisher and works very well with anyone. He is the most versatile caster we have, but Fury demands a good-sized unit to make the most of it.

You can not put 2 animi on a model the second you cast the 2nd animus the 1st goes away (except with primal you'd lose the benefit but still frenzy next turn). So no primal+rage. With Rask you can combine fury and rage.

Mozzamanx wrote:
Mk3 is really, really good for Minions. I would say they are in the best shape they have ever been.

The most immediate change is that you are no longer locked into a Pact and every Warlock can take a mixed army. Not only have you been given the other side of the fence with Gators and Pigs, but you have also gained all the loners inbetween them.
In particular, super solos like Lanyssa or Alten Ashley can now be mixed in, alongside the Nyss Hunters and Skarath. You can also start mixing up some bonkers combo attacks, like putting Primal and Rage onto the same beast.

Of course, the new Theme forces have to be equally powerful to overcome this new mixing pot, and they are both viable lists to run. I would personally say that Blindwater is better than Thornfall simply because the buffed Gators are mental, but both are playable.

If you are set on Gators, the Blackhide Wrastler is the current superstar of the faction. It's one of the most powerful models available to you, and one of the better Warbeasts in the whole game IMO. I would say that you should be playing at least one in almost every list you ever write.
Bull Snappers are always good to have, because they are solid units in their own right, and also free if playing Blindwater. Otherwise the Blind Walker and Ironback Spitter are both very popular, depending on your Warlock.

Gatormen Posse are a tough sell because they are awesome in the Theme list, but quite weak outside of it. They can be a playable core to spam, but it's not necessarily a unit you'll always want to use. Croak Raiders always do very well for themselves, as does the Bokor and Shamblers.
w
As always, the Warlocks all play differently and demand different army builds. Really the only constant is that you always want a Blackhide or two.
Barnabas likes shooting and can deliver Amphibious models very well. He likes Gator Posses, Ironbacks, Croaks and Theme lists.
Calaban is a magic machine gun and also likes shooty units. Croaks, Ironbacks and a Blind Walker are all solid.
Maelok is all about spamming Gators. Theme list, multiple units of Gators and Witch Doctors, and maybe a Blind Walker.
Jaga-Jaga is a battlegroup caster and wants to spam Beasts. She gives a scary threat range to Bull Snappers and wants an Ironback to protect her.
Rask is a polisher and works very well with anyone. He is the most versatile caster we have, but Fury demands a good-sized unit to make the most of it.

Wow this is a really super write up. Thanks.

The Wrastler just looks awesome. The model singlehandedly got me into Hordes. What's not to like about a Gator on roids?

Just getting into the game, so trying to understand this- as to the posse is going from 8 boxes in MKII to 5 boxes in MKIII and points cost the reason they are a tough sell now?

Exactly that. The Posse was really powerful in Mk2 and often trumped in-faction equivalents. For a Minion to be better than its parent unit was seen as problematic, so they got nerfed down.
They went from 8 boxes to 5-with-Tough. Not only is Tough far weaker than it used to be, but Gators could already gain Tough from the Witch Doctor. They used to have Bloodthirst as stock which now has to be selected as a Prayer, taking the spot of their old Pathfinder option. Their Dirge used to provide a better buff that stacked with other Concealment options, they could cause Terror, and they lost a point of MAT.

They are weaker all round; squishier, slower, less accurate and less flexible than they used to be.
However, 8 boxes with Tough and Snacking is a completely different beast. And they also start contributing to free unlocks when taken in Theme, so they are back in a big way now. For a pure Gator army they are probably similar to where they used to be, but they are much worse when taken out of Theme or as a MInion.

Leo_the_Rat wrote:
You can not put 2 animi on a model the second you cast the 2nd animus the 1st goes away (except with primal you'd lose the benefit but still frenzy next turn). So no primal+rage. With Rask you can combine fury and rage.

My bad, of course not. Just substitute Rage for Fury and it's still valid.

I agree about Minions being awesome in Mk3 but I'm not sure about the love for the Spitters in Leo's reply. In general, I'm finding the farrow beasts are awesome, and the gator beasts serviceable. You can only field one type per list (has to match your warlock) so pick one to start with, and an accompanying warlock

Arkadius is super fun and quite simple to use, he'll almost certainly be one to try on the pig side. I'm still deciding on a regular warlock for the gator side... everyone will recommend Rask, but I haven't gotten the knack for him.

Let us know how it goes, and have fun! I do think picking up the board game models is a good idea for starters if you want to try the gator beasts, the sculpts look identical to me. Just prime them so you can't tell . Only question is whether they're scaled exactly the same - but that would only really come into play if you started mixing in other beasts, and for the price you could just get two board games, instead. You'll need the Kickstarter version to get the Wrastler and Horror, though.

 RiTides wrote:
I agree about Minions being awesome in Mk3 but I'm not sure about the love for the Spitters in Leo's reply. In general, I'm finding the farrow beasts are awesome, and the gator beasts serviceable. You can only field one type per list (has to match your warlock) so pick one to start with, and an accompanying warlock

Arkadius is super fun and quite simple to use, he'll almost certainly be one to try on the pig side. I'm still deciding on a regular warlock for the gator side... everyone will recommend Rask, but I haven't gotten the knack for him.

Let us know how it goes, and have fun! I do think picking up the board game models is a good idea for starters if you want to try the gator beasts, the sculpts look identical to me. Just prime them so you can't tell . Only question is whether they're scaled exactly the same - but that would only really come into play if you started mixing in other beasts, and for the price you could just get two board games, instead. You'll need the Kickstarter version to get the Wrastler and Horror, though.

Spitters just look awesome. Big alligator snapping turtles that spit stomach acid. Can't beat that. When does that game come out? It seems the Kickstarter stuff contains all the heavy warbeasts:( Yeah the scale is important. They might be too small but they allow alternate gator sculpts.

Given their latest update, sounds like only a few months to go (production is complete, and it's either on or about to be on a boat!). See here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/privateerpress/widowers-wood-an-iron-kingdoms-adventure-board-gam/posts/1877641

 RiTides wrote:
Given their latest update, sounds like only a few months to go (production is complete, and it's either on or about to be on a boat!). See here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/privateerpress/widowers-wood-an-iron-kingdoms-adventure-board-gam/posts/1877641

Man those guys look sweet. Too bad the heavy warbeats are KS exclusives. Hopefully some will make it on to eBay lol.