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Hey everyone!
So, I acquired a Skorne Battle box today in a trade, and I really like the aggressive nature of these units. However, I haven't been playing WarMachine long enough to have faced many Hordes players. While I get the basic concepts and differences from Warmachine, I don't have a clue as to where I should go next. Any ideas where I should expand? Also, if anyone can give me a basic layout of how Skorne works, I would be forever grateful...

I believe that you should use a Cryx Army. Just sayin. hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Well, as I know it, the synergy with Skorne is alot tighter than the other Hordes armies.

Generally you can't go wrong with Preatorian Swordsmen. They are cheap, fodder unit, 2 attacks, respectable UA.

On the flip side, if you want more defensive infantry, you can go with Karax.
Shield Wall, immune to blast, allows units behind to shoot through them, and still have combined attacks.

They both benefit greatly from many warcasters' spells.

pMakeda: durability boost, able to run AND shield wall.
eMakeda: Elite Cadre Swordsmen.
Hexeris: Death March: 'do you really want to kill them, they get to advance and attack before they are actually removed'.
Zaal: uses them for souls with multiple Guardians, in addition has Last Stand where you get to kill a model in exchange for double damage in combat.
Xerxis: who can say no to a feat AND a spell that says 'more damage''more attacks' respectively?
Mordikaar:kill your own guys for a spray attack that has the damage of bas armor...coupled with spirit of the ambur you can get creative sniping.

The two that really don't give a damn about infantry besides being body bags:
pMorgoul:
eMorgoul:
Primarily beast caster that focus on assassination, either himself or a beast.

Cheap enough to provide souls for various units/models that use souls (Guardian, Zaal mainly).

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Most of the beasts are great.

Brute: defensive guy.
Savage: offensive missle.
Krea/Shaman: utility warbeasts, never leave home without one IMO.
Drake: good combo with Krea, adds an interesting ranged attack.

The hvyier beasts have their own pros and cons, Rhinodon being mucho attacks, Hvy Cyclops being very efficient at what he does.
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This is a great resource here, instead of my dittoing the whole thing:
http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/Skorne

Thanks for the referral, Sanctjud! That Wiki looks to be right up my alley!

CATACLYSMUS wrote:Hey everyone!
So, I acquired a Skorne Battle box today in a trade, and I really like the aggressive nature of these units. However, I haven't been playing WarMachine long enough to have faced many Hordes players. While I get the basic concepts and differences from Warmachine, I don't have a clue as to where I should go next. Any ideas where I should expand? Also, if anyone can give me a basic layout of how Skorne works, I would be forever grateful...

A lot of people like to equate Skorne to Khador in WM/Hordes, but from my experience, Skorne is VERY fun to play, but at the same time it is a very difficult army to master. Mainly because of three reasons.

1. Speed
Most of Skorne's units are not particularly fast (SPD 4), so how or where to engage is often dictated by your opponent. Lack of pathfinder units means that certain armies (Circle and Legion) will be difficult to handle, as they weave in and out of difficult terrain constantly to deny you the charge.

2. Power
Skorne is often compared to Khador, because the many of Skorne's units are inherently tough, and can take a beating as they push (slowly) towards the enemy lines. However, one thing they do not mimic from Khador is that they do not have the heavy hitting power of Khador. Anyone who's been charged Khadorian army can tell you that most models will simply fall apart against them... With Skorne? In certain cases, not so much... In order for Skorne to generate the same hitting power as Khador will require some finesse from the player. Skorne's power does not come from a one KO punch but rather the one-two punch, which leads us to our next "challenge"!

3. Fragility
WAIT a minute!!! Didn't you JUST say that Skorne is tough and can take a beating!?! Now I'm really confused...

Nope, what I did say is that "many of Skorne's units" are tough but not ALL... Many of Skorne's heaviest hitters are effectively "glass cannons". If your glass cannons charge in first; they will do horrendous damage to your opponent's army, then get taken down by your opponent's retaliatory strike. (Molik Karn and Tyrant Rhadeim fall into the glass cannon category.) Don't get me wrong, they are AWESOME units but fragile. (Molik Karn for example essentially has the life spiral of a light warbeast...) So what makes these glass cannons so great? In a word "speed". Many of Skorne's warbeasts only has SPD 4, but Molik Karn is SPD 6 with reach, and Tyrant Rhadeim is even faster. So occasionally your glass canons can simply KO an enemy warlock/warcaster in one pass!

Skorne army is heavily dependent upon unit and model synergies. If you play them like a disjointed warband, your opponent can and will pick you apart. Here are some game winners I've employed in the past...

1. Extoller Soulward + Cannoneer/Venators
2. Extoller Soulward + Void Spirit
3. Tyrant Xerxis + Rhinodon
4. Basilisk Krea + Lord Assassin Morghoul
5. Basilisk Krea + Lord Assassin Morghoul + Molik Karn

Skorne is an incredibly tough army to crack if played right, but it doesn't take too many mistakes before you start feeling the pressure...

Here is my suggested shopping list in no particular order. I don't want to stress sequence, because what you buy will be dependent upon the warlock you choose. Obviously if you decide to get Supreme Aptimus Zaal & Kovaas first, then you want to bee-line towards Praetorian Swordsmen and Ancestral Guardian. If you get ANY ranged models (Venators or Cannoneer), then you'd want an Extoller Soulward asap, etc. I've minimized pricey units and chosen the more "affordable units" as money is usually a major consideration for most people. Let me know if $$$ is no object, and I will post an updated shopping list, but in all honesty, the shopping list will not change much.

1. 2-3x Warlocks of your choice
2. Molik Karn
3. Extoller Soulward
4. Titan Cannoneer or Venators
5. Praetorian Swordsmen
6. Ancestral Guardian
7. Void Spirit

Good luck and have fun!

Sounds a bit like My current army, PoM. Not so much in the resiliency aspect, but in the strong need to synergise. Let me try to summarize, to make sure I understand your points...
Skorne is a very aggressive, but not so resilient force. I should focus on creating hard-hitting attack combos, and try to avoid bogging down into attrition battles. From what I've read, they have a fairly good selection of ranged forces, and I could use those to force the enemy to me, where my sledgehammers can hit them from close in, and counter my relatively slow heavies....
Saying that money isn't a problem, who would I choose to achieve this goal?
Also, who can I get to develop a Morghoul army beyond the battle box?
Thanks for your input so far...

CATACLYSMUS wrote:Sounds a bit like My current army, PoM.

Skorne is actually quite a bit different then PoM. From my games with Menoth, they feel more like an denial army, with choir songs, single turn invulnerability, etc.

CATACLYSMUS wrote:Skorne is a very aggressive, but not so resilient force.

Hrmm, not exactly. Some Skorne units are very resilient. For example: All the Titans, Cataphract Cetrati, Praetorian Karax, etc. are incredibly tough, but they do not have the raw hitting power of Khador units. Skorne's heavy hitters are the ones with a glass jaw, they are fragile but they hit both hard and fast. However, if they get caught in the open... They go down fast.

CATACLYSMUS wrote:From what I've read, they have a fairly good selection of ranged forces, and I could use those to force the enemy to me, where my sledgehammers can hit them from close in, and counter my relatively slow heavies...

By themselves Skorne's range units are "Okay", but with the Extoller Soulward, the synergy makes them enormously powerful. The combo essentially enables them to instantly drop a warcaster/warlock who wonders a little too close... Regardless of LOS.

CATACLYSMUS wrote:Also, who can I get to develop a Morghoul army beyond the battle box?

I think it's safe to say that the consensus is that pMorghoul is the weakest of Skorne's warlocks, as his feat is completely ineffective against WM. Are you dead set on using him?

EDIT: Typo

Well, not dead set, however I hate wasting him if I don't have to . But, that being said, which "baby's first warlock" would you recommend?

Also, I tend to play alot of Reznik, and the way I use him is similar (not identical, but similar) to what you are describing as the strengths and weaknesses of Skorne. Sounds like fun!

CATACLYSMUS wrote:Well, not dead set, however I hate wasting him if I don't have to .

pMorghoul is an extremely fun warlock to play against Hordes... Main reason people do no like him is because his feat is completely useless against WM...

CATACLYSMUS wrote:But, that being said, which "baby's first warlock" would you recommend?

Hrmm... Baby friendly warlock? I'll assume this means 500-point games... If memory serves, Reznik is more of a spell heavy warcaster, and can do some decent damage if cornered... If my assessment is remotely correct, I would recommend playing Lord Tyrant Hexeris as your starter warlock. As he has high fury, reasonably sturdy, reasonably damaging in melee, and most importantly, lots of "dirty little tricks". His bread & butter abilities, such as Death March, Soul Slave, Death Bringer, and his feat have won many games for me.

His feat "Dark Dominion" is less effective against undead (Cryx) armies, but it creates a pretty nasty domino effect where if you destroy an enemy living enemy model (say model "X"), you can immediate activate the destroyed model "X" to move and make a single attack before X is removed from the game. So if X, kills Y, you can activate Y to attack Z. If Z is destroyed, use Z to kill A, activate A to attack B... You get the idea! It's AWESOME against Infantrymachine, and it can single handedly turn a game around if your opponent is positioned poorly.

In my opinion, Death March is priceless, because it is awesome for our cheap disposable units like Swordsman, and it is also makes normally overpriced units (like Cataphract Arcuarii) into usable beasts! Cast it on any friendly squad or model... If it/they is/are destroyed, you can move and attack with it once before it is removed from the game. Did I mention that the attack and damage rolls are automatically BOOSTED!?! So melee monsters like Cataphract Arcuarii get 3D6 for their attack rolls and 4D6 for damage rolls. Ouch!

"Death Bringer" always brings back fond memories... of Vlad rampaging around the table and slaughterring most of my army. I was forced to use my blaze of glory attack, I "ran" my full squad of Venators and Praetorian Swordsmen to bear hug Vlad while leaving some space for LOS, and blasted him with Death Bringer... The mighty explosion took most of my unsuspecting Venators and Swordsmen, but the explosion did crazy amounts of damage (like 15D3 or something funny like that) to Vlad.

Another awesome warlock is Zaal, but only if you like Ancestral Guardians (AG). AG is another game winning model with weapon master, high MAT, and 13" threat range, with 5-6 attacks. Fully charged AG under Zaal's command will kill most things in one turn flat. He has lots of dirty tricks too, but I'll save that for another time.

If you want mess around with melee beat sticks, play Tyrant Xerxis paired with a Rhinodon... Rhinodon with "Merciless Assault" can have a brutal 7 attacks on the charge! Horn, left, right, left, right, tail, tail. Add that with Rhinodon's animus, you can do even more crazy combos, like throw in a trip, before unleashing the flurry of attacks or let Tyrant Xerxis pound an opponent with two POW 18 combo attacks. Ouch!

Read up on the casters and let me know if you want any specific input.

Cool so far. I faced the battle box set that I own now (traded from the same friend) a couple of times early on, and noticed that Morghoul's feat was useless against me. However, Kreoss' feat was also useless against him so...
I was impressed, however, by the Cyclops Savages ability to boost after hitting. Very scary, in my opinion. I only have the Primal book right now. I'll look up and see what I can determine. Thanks!

I'll second the recomendation for using Xerxis with a Rhinodon, and praetorian swordsmen


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CATACLYSMUS wrote:Well, not dead set, however I hate wasting him if I don't have to . But, that being said, which "baby's first warlock" would you recommend?

Also, I tend to play alot of Reznik, and the way I use him is similar (not identical, but similar) to what you are describing as the strengths and weaknesses of Skorne. Sounds like fun!

Morghoul is great for assasination runs (which is admittedly risky) with his bucket full of attacks and his high def, but his feat and spells are pants.

You're better off going for one of the other warlocks, there's not really another bad one.

Makeda is a solid caster, particularly if you want to run with at least two infantry units.

CATACLYSMUS wrote:Cool so far. I faced the battle box set that I own now (traded from the same friend) a couple of times early on, and noticed that Morghoul's feat was useless against me. However, Kreoss' feat was also useless against him so...

Err... Kreoss' feat is useless against Morghoul!?! I think that's a bit of a stretch... Morghoul is not immune to knock down. He only stands up for free, so feel free to pummel him to next Thursday while he's sunbathing on his back... Besides, Kreoss' feat knocks down EVERYTHING in his control radius... Even if it does not effect Morghoul... I would hardly considering it "useless".

malfred wrote:Makeda is a solid caster, particularly if you want to run with at least two infantry units.

For some reason, I've never had too much luck with Makeda... I like the concept and the execution, and the invincible infantry brick is always fun, but whenever he leads my army, I tend to not do too well... I've also been on a beast heavy kick lately... That may help exlain why.

eMakeda on the other hand... Is amazing like eMorghoul!

I think you misunderstood me. heKreoss is my favorite caster. He's the only caster in my binder that has a gold card, so far . I just seem to have this issue with him against Morghoul. I pop his feat, and everyone takes a nap, but I always seem to be too far away from his Paingiverness to hit him. Kind of like you were describing with Makeda.
I think his feat gets a little nerfed in MKII, due to the "Shake Effect" rule, but overall, it is the best feat in the game!!...except against Morghoul.

By the way, I purchased a Basilisk Krea as my first addition to the basic battle box. What a pain in the she's gonna be to the enemy!!

Redeemer or something to arc spells with should give you the range you need to hit
Morghoul before he stands up.

And in MK2...Deliverers!

CATACLYSMUS wrote:By the way, I purchased a Basilisk Krea as my first addition to the basic battle box. What a pain in the she's gonna be to the enemy!!

Excellent first addition! You've got a critical piece to building of Skorne combos. The DEF and movement debuff are extremely important for Skorne, because it makes the difference between charging and getting charged. Especially if you want to test out slower beasts, like all Titan armies, etc.

Combo Paralytic Aura with Makeda's "Defender's Ward", Shield Wall, and some Swamp Gobber Smoke and you will have some impossible to kill infantry. Or just lower your enemy's DEF to increase Molik Karn's "Guided Strike" damage. Not that he needs it, but it's still fun!

I don't know if you plan to start small, but here is my primary Tooth & Claw (350-point) list.

350/350 - 13VP
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
Basilisk Krea
Rhinodon
Titan Cannoneer

This is one tough team to beat...

I like Skorne, but the Krea model (for me anyway) is a huge put off...If I did start Skorne, I'd have to covert to look more..........like a cyclops heh.

Sanctjud wrote:I like Skorne, but the Krea model (for me anyway) is a huge put off...If I did start Skorne, I'd have to covert to look more..........like a cyclops heh.

After you see the Basilisk Krea in action in a dozen or so games, the little turd will grow on you. Besides, I'm not sure what the hang up is on the model. It looks like a bipedal lizard... Which is what Basilisks are supposed to be... Now that I've used him for so long, I actually like the figure. The little frail arms are rather fitting as it is not a juggernaut in melee, and should not be as bulky as the armored/trained Cyclopses.

Or maybe I just like winning too much...

Well, I'm solely focused on my PoM force until this weekend. We're having our flashpoint event, and the Prayers are a'gonna fly!! After that, though, I'm gonna focus on Skorne for a bit.

Actually, I think that because the Krea is so much different and smaller, she looks a little more threatening. Like Yoda...