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Hello all! Decided to jump into Warmachine after years of 40k. I have for you a 15 point "take all comers" list.

* The Butcher of Khardov (6 pts)
* Destroyer (9 pts)
* War Dog (1 pt)
* Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5 pts)
* Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6 pts)

I plan to keep Butcher behind the Shocktroopers (keep a wall between and/or hit anything that gets too close to Butcher) and push into objectives, casting fury or iron flesh when needed, and balancing the remaining focus on himself and whoever needs a buff. When the opportunity presents itself, unleashing Butcher to hit the enemy repeatedly in the face with his axe. The Pikemen lead the way, softening and/or destroying what they can, leaving the Warjack to clean up survivors. I had an extra point, so that usually means add War Dog. The other models I have but didn't include in this list are: Juggernaut Warjack, Widowmakers, and Kommander Sorscha. I know Butcher has a great Warjack ability, but I figured It might be wasted to spam Jacks on a 15 point list. I am very new to this game, so any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

It looks like a fun list if just a bit slow.

I'd personally run something like this.

The Butcher of Khardov (*6pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)

I chose Widowmakers because shooting things like arcnodes is a good thing, that and Butchers feat works on shooting too. The IFP are just great and can tarpit for you. The Spriggen is probably Khador's best jack, and Butcher can easily put a heavy or two into the dirt.

Honestly, at 15pts, you will get a ton of mileage out of spamming infantry, dont waste points on an expensive jack because your opponent is most likely not going to bring more than a single heavy and most of our jacks are meh at anything other than smashing enemy heavies (except beast, hes good at everything). At 15pts, your lists are so small that whoever gets the first solid alpha strike can usually secure victory so I usually end up focusing on that. This means taking lots of models that benefit really well from Butcher's feat so you want models that are: Cheap, low POW, multiple attacks. Winterguard fit this description perfectly as well as Assault Kommandos with their 3 low power attacks on the charge. Manhunters are absolutely diabolical with pButcher as he can fury them so they make 2 P+S 14 +4d6 attacks on his feat turn, plus one will be 14+5d6 for the charge. Iron Fangs are also very good with him as they have fantastic threat range and make for a very hard target under Iron flesh and Shield wall. Make sure to get their UA for maximum effectiveness. Plus, the new Iron Fang Kovnik solo seems very good - big weapon mastered axe and he gives Iron Fangs +2" when shieldwalled. You will not need a big expensive jack in a 15pt pButcher list. Here is an example of what I have run in the past:

pButcher - +6WJ
-Juggs - 7

Max IFP - 8
-IFP UA - 2

Iron Fang Kovnik - 2

Manhunter - 2

OR:

pButcher - 6
- Berserker - 6

Max Winterguard - 6
-UA - 2

Kovnik Joe - 2

Great Bears of Gallowswood - 5

These lists may not be ideal for your style but they capitalize on Butcher's spells and feat. Do not worry about casting Full Throttle, it should not even be on your radar to use except for a last ditch effort. It is almost always better to use the focus to camp or charge the butcher in and deal with targets himself, unless casting it will win you the game.

I'm leaning more towards Kingkodo's first list. Max Pikemen and Manhunter look like a great combination with pButcher. And Kovnik will make the Pikemen tough as nails. Thank you both. I appreciate the help.

Honestly, the second list is probably stronger and more versatile. Greatbears hit like F*****g trucks with good threat range hit boxes, and backswing. They can just about put down anything, especially with the butcher boosting the hell out of their damage, but you can run a ton of different infantry with pButcher and be really effective at these points. You should see Kommandos with him, they are actually useful! 3 weak attacks with Fury and the Feat is nuts. They can effectively put down heavy warjacks pretty easily.

If you already have a Juggernaut I'd put that in place of the Destroyer. You'll really only get mileage out of shooting with his Feat, due to deviation, but you can use Full Throttle to good effect on the Juggernaut. Later on, when you have more 'jacks, this works well with a Spriggan (with reach) or Beast 09 (reach and thresher).

The Wardog is the best single point you can spend, and I've found it always earns back more.

Butcher is robust enough that you needn't necessarily keep him behind Shocktroopers. He's good for wading in and whacking things, and there are units (like Mage Hunters) that will just eat through Shield Wall.

I might swap the Pikemen for Widowmakers, as they can be a good deterrent, and can strip a lot of HP on Butcher's Feat Turn. Snipe is also useful for taking out arc nodes and high ARM solos.

What about this?:

* The Butcher of Khardov (6+WJ)
* Juggernaut (7)
* Great Bears of Gallowswood (5)
* Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5)
* Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard (2)
* Manhunter (2)

Is it worth it to lose five Pikemen to add some Great Bears?

OR

* The Butcher of Khardov (6+WJ)
* Juggernaut (7)
* Great Bears of Gallowswood (5)
* Widowmakers (4)
* Widowmaker Marksman (2)
* War Dog (1)
* Manhunter (2)

I dig the 2nd list simply because you have more options for attack. Widowmakers with the Marksman are great with Stealth and Swift Hunter, especially popping in and out of forests and cover. Everything else hits hard and benefits a lot from the Butcher's strengths. Consider running the Manhunter with the Widowmakers to keep them from getting tied up in melee if they fail to hit or take out something in threat range. A Manhunter on the charge usually kills what it goes after.

Sounds good, i'm going with list #2. I'll pick up some Great Bears and a Manhunter and give it a try at my local gaming store. Thank you everyone for the advice.

The problem with your second list is the abundance of targets. WM & MH are hard to hit or even stealthed so everything will be concentrated on your bears. They shine as a second wave unit, I´d prefer the first list.

I have never had great success with Widow makers and pButcher. At 1pt per model with a low power attack, you can get better mileage elsewhere. Yes, butcher will buff their damage with his feat, but you can take Winterguard for much less points who have a long list of tools to deal with anything, can generate more damage rolls due to their spray attacks, they have more powerful attacks, and they are more difficult to deal with when they are paired with their UA and Kovnik joe. Not to mention you can have 12 armed models for 8pts all with Def14/Arm13 and tough, screening your greatbears while they advance up the field.

Greatbears should not be at your front line, they are more difficult to kill than pikemen only because they have 5 damage boxes, but any decent attack from your opponent will take them out very easily. An average damage roll from a Cygnar Longgunner or ATGM will deal a point of damage to a great bear assuming they are in B2B with each other, and there are only three members in the unit. Thats not alot of targets to shoot at.

Alright, I'll try out Kingkodo's second list as well. Berserker seems like a double edged sword with the Unstable rule. Is it worth it to not use focus on it at all since it can run and charge without focus?

tommyb90 wrote:
Alright, I'll try out Kingkodo's second list as well. Berserker seems like a double edged sword with the Unstable rule. Is it worth it to not use focus on it at all since it can run and charge without valor?

With pbutcher just case full throttle. Then you get the boosted melee attacks. Plus you get the boosted chain attack.


OR Give it three focus, send it into a crowd of infantry and pray it blows up. The AoE is POW 14 and incredibly nasty.

That's true. And I love the idea of using the Unstable rule as a bomb. Won't work every time, but pure gold when it does.

tommyb90 wrote:
That's true. And I love the idea of using the Unstable rule as a bomb. Won't work every time, but pure gold when it does.

It's very good, especially seeing as it is 3 inches from the base of the 'zerker. Better than a Rain of Death.

In a 15 pt list with the butcher, your warjack realistically serves only two purposes, kill an enemy heavy warjack and draw incoming fire away from your infantry and butcher. The zerker is fine for this as he does not need focus to run and charge and he is so cheap that it doesn't hurt that bad when he goes down. IFP, great bears, and butcher all hit harder anyways so you don't even need the zerker for much besides taking hits.

Great, i'll pick up some Winter Guard with their UA. They seem to be like the Khador Swiss Army knife. I'll save the Widowmakers and/or IFP for when I go to 25 pts.