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After a long think on where to go next, I knew I wanted a Horde but which one?

I got the two player starter set and my dirty Khadorian/Dwarven flatmate went headfirst in to Legion (a nice change of pace for him, literally) and I took the Circle side... After some games with the starter models I just wasn't enjoying them, even worse was, as much as I enjoy the wold models there isn't much more for me there visually, I also couldn't really get to grips with why I would want certain units... Unlike my Cygnar where nearly everything has its place (or imo look badass).

So I ponder, I love the Skorne aesthetics but there is a lot of them in my meta, the Trolls visually don't strike me past a few models though I do like them... Then it hit me, giant alligators? Who doesn't love giant alligators? They have something called Swamp Horror? Seen a fair few of them devouring men on a Saturday night.

This is the faction for me. I love their limited choice and their tier list options, especially looking at Rask and Barnabus.

The question is, will I enjoy them? Are they that competitive with their choices? Are they different enough from Cygnar but able to use the same mindset?

What is your thought on those damn Blindwater folk!

Will you enjoy them? Depends what you're into, nobody can answer that question.

Are they competitive/Are they competitive with their choices? Errr... not really but yes... Gatormen can still win tournaments, but you have to be playing specific builds against specific casters, and even then Blindwater on its own has hard counters that can't be circumvented unless your second list is Farrow, though slowly this is improving with new releases.

Are they different enough from Cygnar but able to use the same mindset? They are certainly different from Cygnar, though I don't necessarily know what you mean by using the same 'mindset'... To me there is no tactical overlap between the two, Cygnar and Blindwater play entirely differently.

Posses are arguably the best heavy infantry in the game, with them gaining further buffs from the Witch Doctors and .Bull Snappers

Be warned though, you will be limited in your choices and you'll find cracking heavy armour can be a pain without Rask. and fury management is simply not there (without a few inventive chices, which I'll get to later). Cryx will give you a hard time as well as Gators get a lot of bonuses from living models. Plus Calaban is not exactly regarded as a great choice as far as casters go, limiting your choices further.

However, your support pieces are amazing. Witch Doctors are pretty much compulsory, and you can turn the tables on Cryx by using dominate undead on the Wraith Engine, just for the looks.

Wrong Eye and Snapjaw are amazing. WE's Voodoo Doll is just hilarious when cast on a Gargantuan. Remove its spirit so it can't be forced. You may also want to consider putting a Bull Snapper in his battlegroup if you've also taken Rauluk Moorclaw, as putting spiny growth on his marshalled jack (rather fun on a Rover) makes it a bit difficult to crack.

Feralgeists are your fury management due to being incorporeal. If you've got a beast that's run hot and you can't get the fury off of them. Stick a Feralgeist in front of them before the following turn when they make the frenzy check. The beast will just thrash uselessly at the Feralgeist due to a complete lack of magical attacks. Ferals are also good for contesting objectives too (they can't hold as they're incorporeal). Certain factions will probably have to commit their caster to get rid of the Feral.

Wrastlers are pretty much your staple warbeast with the "fastball special" being one of Blindwater's favourite tricks. They have pretty ok attacks, with the bite being the strongest one, but it's still a bit average. Rask makes them ridiculously strong with Fury cast on them.

Ironback Spitters are the only shooting attack in the entire faction (well, Croaks too). They're a bit pillowfisted and their animi is considered to be useless by some. But they do have their uses, namely girded and their spiny back plates. The latter just slays infantry. The Ironback can walk into a unit then if it walks away, every time the enemy free strikes it they take d6 damage.


There's a lot more to go through, but here's a small taste of what Blindwater play like.

You just have to remember that Gators aren't a faction, they are one half of a faction, and even that is the smallest faction in the game. Restricting yourself to only one pact in minions means you don't have the full range of tools that the faction has access too, and so you'll be less competitive than otherwise. That doesn't mean uncompetitive, of course, it'll just mean you're more prone to bad match-ups, for instance against high-ARM skew lists, which I believe gators have trouble with.

Now, that said I have to say gators look like heaps of fun - flying gators fun with the Wrastler, placing water holes fun with barnabus, the shooting shenannigans of Rask, and the best heavy infantry in the game by far (basic Gatormen posse is amazing). As you already have cygnar if you want competitive, perhaps just take up gators for fun and shenanigans Plus, many gators can find a home in various other factions if/when you decide to branch out!

Blindwater is a very limited sub-faction, and you'll feel that right out of the gate. Fortunately, Gatormen Posse are awesome against anything living. They merge elements of Trolls and Cryx somewhat, which might be up your alley playstyle wise.

Also, Maelok's Incorporeal ARM skew assassination is all sorts of ridiculous.

ive not long started gators (coming from cryx) and tbh im absolutely loving it! Like what other people have mentioned Minions are unfortunately lacking in their over all choice of models to use (you cany use pig models in gator lists and visa versa) this does mean that you have to get creative with your own models to try and fill the gaps that faction has. other than this and the fact that they will only ever get the odd release now and then are probably the only bad things about them (in my opinion).

In terms of competitiveness depends on your idea of competitive. If your hoping on taking a major con or tournament in your area its perfectly possible to do it with minions it just requires you to have a very high skill level (not because they suck simply cause we dont have all the answers yet) if your just looking to make some ball busting lists to throw at your mates over a few beers then look no further.

Comparing cygnar to gators the first thing is gators has little to no shooting and are very much the shooting denial type faction (okay maybe not as a ENTIRE faction but barnabas and a few others do it well) secondly gators do kinda rely on the attrition game a lot of the time (again this is not true for the ENTIRE faction but it is a recurring theme) so im gonna want to say that cygnar definitely has a different style and you might have to change the way you look at your army, with that in mind if your looking for something to have some fun with, enjoy looking at some rather cool models and arent entirely bummed about not having the most optimal choices in the game then i say GO FOR IT! you wont be disappointed ;-)