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After trying my hand at Cygnar, I've decided I'm a lot more interested in Skorne. I really like their models, and I'm more of a blunt force kinda guy and they seem to fit that bill pretty well. In particular, I really love the look of Cataphract Cetrati, Praetorian Swordsmen, and Praetorian Karax. I dig the whole phalanx thing. I'm wondering if the community here could give me a good idea of what would work well with those units (which warlocks, other units, warbeasts, etc.), since they're likely going to be among the first things that I buy.

Makeda (either of the first two, although I prefer Makeda1) and Xerxis are possibly the best choices to go with infantry-heavy Skorne, especially with the Phalanx idea. Hexeris and Zaal are also pretty good choices.

Makeda1 brings an army-wide accuracy buff (Carnage), along with possibly the best speed buff in the game (Savagery). When cast on Cataphract Cetrati, they can walk 10" in shield wall, threatening 12" with their spears. With the addition of a Tyrant Commander their reach is extended to 14". If you're playing Makeda forward, this means that they're potentially MAT 9 weaponmasters. Add on her feat and a model from each unit held in reserve, and you can keep her army from losing a single model for a turn.

Xerxis doesn't offer much in the way of speed buffs (barring his Battle Plans which mirror the Tyrant Commander), but with Defender's Ward and (an admittedly short ranged) Inhospitable Ground you can mitigate alpha strikes, then follow with a melee counter attack buffed by Fury and his feat and enabled by Martial Discipline.

Zaal's thing is mostly playing around with the souls of his infantry horde, filling up his Ancestral Guardians with soul tokens, toughening his units with Inviolable Resolve, and sending in suicide squads to murder damn near anything with Last Stand. He's a particularly large fan of that last one, as every dead model on his side can effectively be used as a focus point (by anything in his army, no less) on his feat turn.

Unit-wise, the Tyrant Commander is pretty much your go-to unit buffer, offering higher speed to shield wall units, easy access to Pathfinder for warriors, and a way to get around Knockdown effects, along with immunity to Terror for most of your army. This all comes packaged in a rather durable weapon master and his flag-bearing buddy.

Slingers are also a great choice for the Phalanx turtle, as they'll be able to arc shots over your own models and into the foe. Not terribly accurate, but when they do hit they'll typically slaughter tightly packed infantry and can do some serious damage to warjacks and Cryx.

For warbeasts, Basilisk Kreas are a staple, offering both a defense and armor buff to your own nearby models and providing a defense penalty to enemies that get too close. Their ranged attack can also make certain enemies a lot more manageable for low RAT infantry like the slingers, although the short range will mean that you might be trading it for whatever it shot.

Our character warbeasts are pretty good choices as well, with Molik Karn providing a speedy hyper-accurate missile that can retreat after attacking. Tiberion, on the other hand, provides another high armor model to anchor your line with, as well as being a somewhat slow murder machine. The former works especially well with Makeda, while the latter is nicely thematic with Xerxis. The Titan Gladiator is a staple for beating face as well, and its animus is almost worth the points by itself.

Finally, consider the Mammoth. It's a great center point for your army, especially lurking slightly behind the front line with its cannonade. It's near invulnerable when paired with certain buffs, hits harder than anything else we can field, and has a downright awesome ranged attack (especially when paired with a Cyclops Raider and/or a Mortitheurge Willbreaker). Counterblast provides it with both a way to discourage encroaching infantry as well as giving your Warlock a nifty defensive measure. Downside, it's 20 points.

All good points. Zaal gets bonus cool points from me because of what he can do with souls (he can make Cryx players mad at you) and his ancestral guardian schenanignas. Short version: he can transfer damage off to the guardians, and he has a special model that's pretty much a death tornado that comes into play when a guardian dies. Your opponent always has to wonder if putting damage points on your warcaster will get transferred to a guardian and finish it off.

Plus his tier list looks like it would be fun to hit at least tier 3 with.

Definitely Makeda1

You actually said exactly what she wants

Cetrati and Swordsman

Between Savagery to allow the Cetrati to move up quick, then Swapping it to Defenders Ward so that they NEVER die

As also suggested pick up Slingers, Insanely cheap high damage unit that can also do well at clearing infantry masses

Krea is godly for Phalanx to keep it from being shot up


Makeda is the true Queen of the Phalanx


Xerxis would be a good 2nd choice, but he doesn't really care as much about Swordsman and would likely rather have Incindiarii (or even Arcuarii) instead. Xerxis is the true Heavy Infantry Spammer

Karax suck

Sadly Karax are pretty bad. They are the same cost for less abilities than equivalent spear units.

TFG are the same cost, have the same abilities minus Girded, and have +1mat along with a UA's minifeat that gives another +4 arm for a turn. As well as Continuous Fire and Terror.

They are only good as a cheapish speedbump unit to absorb an enemy charge.


The rest of the units you mentioned are good though.


Good Warbeasts to consider getting

Titan Gladiator: every list should have one. Very useful Animus and all around solid warbeast.

Krea: Good defensive animus and a shooting attack that can take a living enemy model out of the game for a turn.

Bronzeback: Hit stuff with it. Seriously, it kills everything it touches, and with its animus it can walk its way to the caster or through a unit of infantry.

Molik Karn: Similar to the Bronzeback, he kills stuff. He is the only weapon master warbeast in existence. With Enrage he's hitting at pow15, thats a stupid amount of damage when Weapon Master is involved. And he has more Fury when Makeda is nearby.

Mammoth: Its the best Gargantuan. Good shooting and melee, especially when its had a dose of Skornergy applied to it.

Makeda's pet beast is and always will be Molik Karn

When you have Molik walking 11" up and down the field because of Savagery, you don't even need Gladiator (tho Pathfinder doesn't hurt)

Pick up pain giver beast handlers, also try epic Hexeris he is a versatile and good war castor. That makes him good when starting out.

 Talamare wrote:
Makeda's pet beast is and always will be Molik Karn

When you have Molik walking 11" up and down the field because of Savagery, you don't even need Gladiator (tho Pathfinder doesn't hurt)

Pathfinder could hurt alot if you forget Fate Walker replaces it and Molik only retreats 5.5" if in rough terrain.