Winter Guards – The Greylord Archives

Winter Guard Kommand under Vlad1 – post quality of life update

Igor Khador — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 22:07:00 +0000

Vlad is back. He have had a long and proud tradition of leading the double Gun Carriage Winter Guard Kommand list. He managed to have a 50% win rate over a year of playing (which on this blog is considered very impressive). The recent Quality of Life Update has affected the Winter Guard Kommand and the corresponding troops. The changes are not huge. Nevertheless, this post will sum up the changes and how Vlad’s new and improved Winter Guard Kommand list looks.

I have historically been playing Vlad1 and his famous Winter Guards a lot. I played the double Gun Carriage list almost exclusively for a bit over a year (see here for a summary of a year of Winter Guard Kommand playing). The original list was pre-Oblivion (see discussion of list here), which was updated post-Oblivion (see discussion of list here and of Vlad’s famous last stand). It was a lot of fun. I still believe that this list has merit.

Now, the Quality of Life Update has change some of the models and their cost. So, perhaps we should brush the dust of this list and have fun again. The point cost change only releases 4 points from the original list. The low number of free points is primarily due to the fact that many of the models were, and still are Requisition Options. Thus, point changes doesn’t change a lot.

Nevertheless, some changes are made. In the text below, I’ll go through the new version of the list, the important changes, and what we can get extra for four points. The leftmost list below is the original (post-Oblivion) version, whereas the rightmost is the new one.

[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci [+28]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Greylord Adjunct [0(4)]
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [0(4)]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]

[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci [+28]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– War Dog [2]
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [3]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(3)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(3)]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [7]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [7]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [3]
Battle Mechaniks (min) [2]

Winter Guard Kommand

The Winter Guard Kommand theme has had a few minor changes. Primarily, there has been a change to the Sacrificial Pawn rule that the ‘caster benefits form. Before the Quality of Life Update (QLU) we could chain a Sacrificial Pawn via e.g. Joe. This is not possible anymore as the rule now explicitly states that: “the Sacrificial Pawn special rile can only trigger once per attack roll“. This is OK. The old version was a bit strange. Also, I think I have only used chaining a very limited number of times.

The second change is in the models that can be chosen as Requisition Options. It is the same as the old one, except for one other small- or medium-based Khador solo with a cost of five or less. In principle, this changes a bit since some models have had a price change. However, for this version of Winter Guard Kommand (WGK) there really isn’t any change.

Battlegroup

The battle group comprises Vlad1 and the marvellous three Marauders. Neither, Vlad nor the Marauders have had any changes to them. So, that’s the same.

There are three solos in this list that has carried over from the older version: Joe and two Artillery Kapitans. In addition, the Greylord Adjunct is being exchanged for the trusted War Dog (more on this later).

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich has had two minor adjustments made: i) the universal change to Sacrificial Pawn and ii) a one point reduction in cost. The latter is really nice, as he is an auto-include in a WGK list.

The two Winter Guard Artillery Kapitans are still a single Requisition Option. They have lost Close Fire, which is fine, and gained Veteran Leader [Winter Guard] and a change to Fire & Displace.

Veteran Leader is huge, if you ask me. They now automatically give a +1 to attack rolls to all Winter Guards within 8″. This means that the Field Gun, Rifle Corps (and Rocketeers), and Gun Carriage are now RAT 6 if sufficient close; and if they aim (perhaps not particularly relevant for the Gun Carriage) they can now hit DEF 15 on an average roll (almost DEF 16 if Vlad goes first and does Signs & Portents). This is really good. They also works magic on the Mortar Crew. They are now an effective RAT 6 when aiming and under Artillerist; also bringing them close to hitting DEF 15 when aiming and under Signs & Portents – even without Joe. I’m almost tempted to bring four.

Finally, Fire & Displace has gained and extra inch for Reposition. It is now Reposition [3″], which is obviously nice.

The old version had a Greylord Adjunct attached to Vlad1. His primary jobs was to allow Vlad to cast Boundless Charge 8″ instead of 6″. However, points are tight so I have opted to exchange him for a War Dog. Vlad have had a bad habit of getting into more trouble that he could handle. He would quite often leave a safe hiding spot and join the battle. He is surprisingly brittle. The additional +2 DEF agains melee attacks (bringing Vlad to DEF 17), immunity to back strike bonus, and gaining Parry are what I think Vlad needs to get out of trouble. By the way, the War Dog became one point cheaper.

Units

The core of this list is still two Gun Carriages, two Field Guns and two min units of Rifle Corps with Rocketeers. The new version also includes a Mortar Crew and a min unit of Battle Mechaniks.

There hasen’t been any significant changes to any of these units. The Field Guns, Rifle Corps and Battle Mechaniks have all drooped one point; whilst the Mortar Crew has dropped two points. Nothing has happend to the Gun Carriage.

The main benefit here is actually the improvement to the Artillery Kapitans. As aforementioned, the +1 to attack rolls for Winter Guards is huge. The table below describes the DEF that can be hit on an average roll. Rat 5 is for all Winter Guards, save Mortar Crew (Rat 1), Joe (Rat 6), Artillery Kapitans (Rat 6)

Rat	Base	AK	Aim	FTM	S&P	AK+Aim	AK+Aim+S&P	AK+Aim+S&P+FTM
1	8	9	10	10	9	11	12	14
5	12	13	14	14	13	15	16	18
6	13	14	15	15	14	16	17	19

Where AK is Veteran Leader from the Artillery Kapitan (+1), Aim is the aiming bouns (+2), FTM is For the Motherland from Joe (+2), and S&P is Signs & Portens from Vlad (+1.5).

All of the minor point cost adjustments have left two point up for grabs. I’m opting for a min unit of Battle Mechaniks. The list heavily relies on the two Gun Carriages creating pressure on the flanks for as long as possible, and the Marauders surviving until they can make their fabulous 14″ piston to face manoeuvre. Thus, having a few Mechaniks around to fix minor issues seems like a good idea.

My (new) Winter Guard Kommand List

All of the above sums up to my current WGK list. Despite only minor changes coming out of the QLU, I think the WGK is a winner. The Veteran Leader from the Artillery Kapitans alone is golden. It might actually warrant four of these solos. Time will tell.

I’m pretty sure that I’ll field this list again soon. I like the uncomplicated nature os an almost quintessential Khador list. It will be interesting to see it in action. I wonder if the War Dog is the right choice.

For the Motherland!

A year of playing Winter Guard Kommand

Igor Khador — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:02:00 +0000

It has been around a year since I decided to focus on Winter Guard Kommand and try to actually figure our how it works. I have played basically two different lists. One Stalingrad-style list under Irusk2 and one Gun Carriage based list under Vlad1 (in addition to a few variations of the themes). I think it is about time to evaluated how Winter Guard Kommand has worked, what is good and bad, and what I have learned.

There is nothing more Khador defining than disciplined Winter Guards pushing forward towards the enemy. It is pure human resolve (OK, supported by a few of Khador’s finest Warjacks) against all the strange horrors of this world; and lately not of this world.

While it was the lure of the wonderful Khador ‘jacks (and Man-O-Wars) that originally drew me into the Khador ranks; it is fair to say that, to a large degree, it is the ranks of lowly Winter Guards that have kept me here. There is something strangely satisfying about placing a bunch of painted Winter Guards on the table. Despite the fantastic Warjacks at our disposal, masses of Winter Guards just looks better than a large number of ‘jacks.

I have been playing almost exclusively Winter Guard Kommand for the last year and a half. My second list have been Armored Korps under Sorscha3 (see here for a description of that list). Even though, my daily schedule doesn’t allow a lost of games, I have managed somewhere in the vicinity of 50 games with my Winter Guards. I haven’t managed to write up all of them. However, most of them has been detailed here at The Greylord Archives.

I originally started with a Stalingrad style list under the command of the Winter Guards best friend: Supreme Kommandant Irusk’s (Irusk2) orders. The Winter Guards were led be him through two different iterations of the lists. Later, Irusk was send to care for other duties, and Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince’s (Vlad1) was put in charge of a very different version of the Winter Guard Kommand. He went through two iterations.

Here follows an attempt to write up my experiences with the Winter Guard Kommand under two different commanders, and two very different lists.

Winter Guards under Irusk2

There is hardly anything more cinematic than waves of Winter Guards surging forward led by the grand old man himself, Supreme Kommandant Irusk. Irusk2 is in many ways a Winter Guards best friend. He inspires so much confidence that the Winter Guards that they are masters in operations from his Tactician ability. They are also Total Obedient, granting them Tough and Immune to Blast. On top of that, Irusk can cast his Solid Ground spell, which also makes them immune to knockdown. All in all, a rather robust package. As a bonus, he can also cast Artifice of Deviation, making a Winter Guard DEF 16 against shooting.

Irusk not only helps Winter Guards staying alive, he also has a few tricks up his flag to make them more dangerous. Fire for Effect really helps artillery, and Battle Lust combined with Kovnik Joe’s Bear Strength turns a Winter Guard into a P+S 12 Weapon Master. This is equivalent to our Doom Reavers! There is nothing more satisfying than having a unit of Winter Guards charge through a forest (thanks to Irusk’s feat) and kill a colossal or gargantuan (see an Archangel go down here).

Finally, he has a really big flag. Who doesn’t want to follow a really big flag?

Army composition

Irusk has been in command of two different armies. The first one was a proper Stalingrad list, where he used as many Winter Guards as he could find (for a thorough discussion of the list, see here). The main idea was to have enough Winter Guards to outlive the opponent; a Marauder for dealing with huge bases; possibly in cooperation with Battle Lust’ed Winter Guards; and a Spriggan for long range charges and dealing with clouds. The Lady and his boyfriend were there to hand out magical attacks. The complete list can be seen to the left below.

Khador Army – 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Irusk 2] Supreme Kommandant Irusk [+27]
– Marauder [11]
– Spriggan [17]

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [3]

Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]

Winter Guard Infantry (max) [10]
– Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard [4].
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]

Also at conflict chamber.

Khador Army – 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Irusk 2] Supreme Kommandant Irusk [+27]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Greylord Adjunct [4]
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [3]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]
Winter Guard Infantry (max) [10]
– Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard [4]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]

Also a conflict chamber.

The second attempt at the list did some changes (for a more detailed discussion, see here). First of all, Lady Aiyana and friend simply did not do anything. At 8 points, they are far too expensive compared to what they do. Also, in the mean time the fantastic Greylord Adjunct had appeared. He solves a lot of Irusk problems. Most importantly, he upkeeps a spell for free and can also handle clouds far better than the Spriggan. Speaking of the Spriggan, this is another example of something too expensive; at least in this list. So it also went away, and in came the fabulous Triple Marauder Goodness. Marauders are a dream when it comes to huge bases, of which there are so many; and combined with the Field Guns there are now so many knockdown possibilities; something which the Winter Guards and Mortar love. The full list is detailed to the right above. The picture below depicts the complete army in its second edition.

Irusk and his stoic Winter Guards (2^nd edition)

Battles

The main plan behind Irusk’s battles were to throw him at everything an anything to figure our what works. The table below summarises the battles and their results (some of them also has links to their battle reports). It is quite clear that Irusk did not have a lot of success. Out of 15 battles, he only managed to win four of them.

Let’s look at the ones he won. He beat Mackay1 and her Crucible Guards; Absylonia and he Legion of Everblight; Makeda and her Skorne; and Morghoul and his Skorne (the latter actually doesn’t count, as Irusk won on a technical error by Morghoul’s handler, who forgot that Morghoul is a Weapon Master). So besides Irusk apparently being able to only beat women, why did he win?

Mackay1 is, herself a huge-base and here she also brought another huge-base, the Railless Interceptor (battle report here). The main reason that Irusk was victorious here was the fact that Mackay is a huge-base. She got scared of the Marauders (and rightly so), attempted to avoid them, but finally succumbed to them. In only three rounds, she was killed by the biggest strength in Irusk’s list. The rest of his army was more or less decimated.

More or less, the same story can be told for the match agains Absylonia (battle report here). She brought an impressive three huge-bases. The game was, more or less about keeping them occupied by feeding Winter Guards to them, and then hitting them with Marauders and overcharged Winter Guards (Irusk’s Battle Lust and Joe’s Bear Strength). That did the trick.

Finally, the battle against Makeda is probably the odd one out (for battle report, see here). She did bring a single huge-base, which also spend most of the time being scared and not joining the battle. Irusk won on the clock after an assassination attempt on him failed. I think this was kind of deliberate (not surviving the assassination) as at this point Irusk could play his Winter Guards pretty fast, and the opponent had a lot of Immortals to move around. Nevertheless, lady luck smiled at Irusk.

In general, the three wins were won on the ability to kill huge-bases and keeping them sufficiently safe to actually make it into battle. This typically involves a lot of dead Winter Guards. This is a valid strategy, leaning of survivable Winter Guards to get the Marauders to finish the show.

Let’s look at the many losses. We can divide them into two different groups: The winnable (Mackay, Siege and Harbringer), and the un-winnable (Iona, Ossrum, Goreshade, Syvestro and Reclaimer.

The winnable should obviously have been won. However, the gods do not always favour the bold. The match against Mackay1was actually progression quite ok (battle report here). However, I played too slow and managed to clock myself. The next two games were using the old list with only one Marauder and a Spriggan. The first was against Siege2 and his Gravediggers (battle report here). This one was touch and go; at least until a used some Rifle Corps as charges instead of shooters. I think I lost this because of poor planning. Finally, Harbinger, which is a match up that should be manageable (battle report here). This was another example where I was too slow. Irusk was, more or less in control, but I spend far too much time and ended loosing on the clock. So, to sum up two of them were lost on being too slow, and the last one on basically just not playing good enough.

Most of the un-winnable were known before the games began. However, on purpose Irusk was pitched against anything and everything. It is a good way of learning a list’s weaknesses and its possibilities. To begin with was Ioan and her Tharn (battle report here). Irusk simply haven’t got the tools to deal with tough, healing, no knockdown, unit surfing Tharn Ravagers. Next up were Ossrum and his bunch of bunnies (battle report here). This is one of those match-ups where I haven’t got a clue. I have also tried Armored Corps under Sorscha3 against such a list. Yet, I always come up short. Those bunnies are either spraying the pants of my troops or shooting them to smithereens. The are really fast as well. I’m clueless. Goreshade4 is one of those that potentially could have gone both ways (battle report here). I basically just lost to a better player. More speed would have been nice here. Syvenstro is actually Winter Guard unfriendly, in particular when they are supported by Irusk. Crucible Guards have all sorts of sprays and clouds that removes the thing that keeps Winter Guards alive. This was also under the old list, where there are not enough Marauders to be a threat. Finally, the Reclaimer with his handfull of faith on the Judicator (battle report here). Nothing here to see, move along.

All in all, most of the un-winnable are just that with the Irusk list. In particular with the first list, where the Spriggan simply did not pay off; and there weren’t enough Marauders. With the amount og huge-base around, a single Marauder is too easy to neutralise. Also, despite Irusk keeping his troops alive. Their threat ranges (for charging) are too short to keep the enemy honest.

Faction	Warcaster/Warlock	Theme	Result	Battle report
Circle	Iona1	The Devourer’s Host	Lost	Report
Crucible Guards	Syvestro1	Magnum Opus	Lost	Report
	Mackay1	Prima Materia	Won	Report
	Mackay1	Prima Materia	Lost	Report
Cygnar	Siege2	Gravediggers	Lost	Report
Legion	Absylonia1	Oracles of Annihilation	Won	Report
Mercenaries	Ossrum1	The Irregulars	Lost	Report
Minions	Maelok1	Blindwater Congregation	Lost	– – – –
Protectorate	Reclaimer1	Exemplar Interdiction	Lost	Report
	Reclaimer1	Exemplar Interdiction	Lost	– – – –
	Harbinger1	Faithful Masses	Lost	Report
Retribution	Goreshade4	Legions of Dawn	Lost	Report
Skorne	Makeda3	The Exalted	Won	Report
	Morghoul2	The Exalted	Won	– – – –
	Xekaar1	Winds of Death	Lost	– – – –
Won-lost			4-11

Conclusion

Irusk clearly has a few thing going for him. First of all, he excels in keeping Winter Guards alive. Thus, begin able to deliver the ‘jacks to the enemy. There is also the surprise move of Winter Guards killing colossal when under Battle Lust and Joe’s Bear Strength. However, there are far too many things out there that can kill Winter Guards, and Khador ‘jacks without a speed buff simply doesn’t cut it. Speaking of ‘jacks. It is clear, that with all the huge bases out there, triple Marauder is a thing. The original combination of a single Marauder and a Spriggan doesn’t work. Backup is important. From now on I will only run ‘jacks in, at least pairs (not character ‘jacks obviously). There is also an issue with low MAT/RAT and general damage output.

All of these issues led mw to the second version of the Winter Guard Kommand list with: Vlad1, triple Marauders, double Gun Carriage and Winter Guards.

Winter Guards under Vlad1

Vlad is probably a Winter Guard’s second best friend. Where Irusk keeps them alive, Vlad makes sure that they can actually hit and damage stuff from his signature spell Signs & Portents. This spell adds roughly 1.5 to a 2d6 roll. This brings Rifle Corps just over the bar begin able to hit stuff, and fixes any other low MAT/RAT issues. The Winter Guards love him and his little spell.

In addition to the MAT/RAT fixer, Vlad brings two other important things that Irusk could not help with. Namely, Boundless Charge and most importantly his feat, which doubles the base speed of his Warjacks. This is huge for a Khador ‘jack. A Marauder can now threaten things a mighty 14″ away under both feat and Boundless Charge. Normally, only 12″ as Vlad tends to be focus strapped. Yet, 12″ threat range really keeps opponents, and in particular huge-bases honest.

Army composition

Vlad took up the torch where Irusk left it, and was also in charge of two different versions of the Winter Guard Kommand. The first one was pre-Oblivion and before the proper introduction of the Greylord Adjunct. The main idea was to deal with some of the limitations found when playing Irusk.

It, obviously contained the famous and feared “Triple Marauder”. Nothing beats the backup to the backup. They are primarily there to keep huge-bases under control. I don’t think I can praise this setup enough. It simply works. Two Marauders can take out any huge-base in the game; and with a bit of finesse they can do so from 14″ away. When not killing huge-bases they are good at knocking stuff down for the Rocketeers to rain rockets on. Speaking of knocking down, the two Field Guns and the two Gun Carriages are also pretty good at this. There is no end to the number of knockdowns this list can produce.

The first list also contained a single Artillery Kapitan and a Mortar. They are best friends forever, since the Mortar couldn’t hit itself if it tried. Aimning, a Kapitan and in a pinch Joe actually enables it to hit. Of course everything under Signs & Portens makes for a happy group of Winter Guards. The full list can be seen to the left below.

Khador Army – 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci,
the Dark Prince [+28]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [3]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]

Also at conflict chamber.

Khador Army – 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci,
the Dark Prince [+28]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Greylord Adjunct [0(4)]
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [0(4)]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]

Also a conflict chamber.

With the arrival of Oblivion and changes to the Themes a few minor adjustments were made to the list. I my opinion, the Mortar simply did not perform. The theme allows for two Kapitans to be taken as a requisition choice. So, two are now in the list. I personally think that they are among the most underrated models. They offer Fire and Displace to the Field Guns, allowing them to aim and move; they offer +2 RAT to the first cannon on a Gun Carriage (and re-roll scatter); and they are very cheap scoring or contesting pieces. At two for the price of none, they are the best choice a requisition.

Removing the Mortar and adding a Kapitan also made room for the Adjunct. Another brilliant piece, which really does a lot to the list. He gives +2 range to Vlad’s spells, which is actually huge for Boundless Charge; He offers Guidance for Eyeless sight and Magical damage, which is really good typically on a Field Gun; Also an extra cloud is always nice; Finally, his spray often comes in handy in the late game. The full list is detailed above to the right.

Vlad and his valiant Winter Guards (1^st edition)

Battles

The plan for Vlad was to a large degree the same as the one for Irusk: throw him at everything and anything. This is simply the best way to learn the strengths and weaknesses. The long term goal was to figure out what the list is good against, and what it is bad against. This can then form the basis for a good paring.

It is clear that Vlad was much more successful than Irusk. Of the 22 battles I have been keeping track of, he won half! He should have won more, but was sometimes let down by the man behind the line (that’s me, in case you were wondering).

Let’s look at the impressive list of the games he won: He easily beat Orion1 and its Convergence of Cyriss; he beat Gearhart1 and his Crucible Guards twice (he should also have won the last match); He beat both Siege1 and Sloan1 running Cygnar; he beat Butcher3 twice and Irusk2 once (just demonstrating that he is better); He beat Harbinger1 and her Protectorate twice (and lost once); and finally, Gorshade4 and the crazy elves once (and lost twice).

Convergence is a bit peculiar with their weird focus manipulation. It turned out to be a surprisingly easy match (battle report here). There wasn’t a lot to be learned from this match, except for Joe demonstrating how to kill a huge-base, and perhaps the joy of Blood Boon.

I still don’t like Crucible Guards, despite now getting the hang of them. Gearhart1 is, more or less the standard ‘caster I see across the table. Vlad manage to fight him thrice and emerge victorious twice. The first game saw the joy of the Triple Marauder living up to the idea of a backup to the backup (battle report here). Also, the two Gun Carriages really did solve a lot of infantry-related issues. The second game, which unfortunately haven’t got a battle report, did go more or less the same. The Gun Carriages doing crowd control, and the Winter Guards being killed to bring the Marauders to their targets. Finally, the third game was one of those that should have been won (battle report here). Vlad was in control for most of the game. However, he was let down by me when I got overly greedy trying to kill stuff instead of thinking. This was one of those examples where a toe in a zone is better than a dead enemy trooper.

Cygnar is Cygnar. A lot of blue guys running around claiming running away from the fray is a “tactical retreat”. Vlad managed to beat Siege1 and his Heavy Metal (battle report here). Siege brought two huge-bases, so party time for the Marauders. Siege did try to shoot Vlad to death (a lot). But, cleaver positioning of the Winter Guards ready to scarify themselves brought victory to Vlad. The second win was against Sloan1 and trenchers, actually more ‘jacks than trenchers (battle report here). Six Hunters and two Grenadiers are a lot of shooting under Sloan1. However, it doesn’t matter how hard you shoot, you are going to kill only one Winter Guard per shot. Finally, Vlad lost to Nemo3 and more lightning that one cares to remember. Winter Guards are clearly not a good match against lightning jumping around.

What can be said about Infernals. They are clearly not something Vlad and his Winter Guards should be thrown at. Nevertheless, they were (battle report here). There really isn’t anything to say besides that.

Civil war is never pleasant. Yet, Vlad has been sent to the front to deal with imposters and frauds. He managed to beat Butcher3 in Jaw of the Wolf twice (battle report here, none for the second). In both cases it was the same story: Vlad ensured that assassination runs by Butcher were unsuccessful and retaliated by killing him. One highlight was assassination by Gun Carriage (in the battle report). A knocked down Butcher is a sad Butcher. Vlad also beat his predecessor, who apparently have been assigned a lot of crazy half-naked men (battle report here). I honestly feel that Wolves of Winter under Irusk2 is not really a match for Vlad1 and his Winter Guards.

Unfortunately, Vlad did also manage to loose to other Khador players. He lost once to fake-Vlad playing Jaw of the Wolf (battle report here). This was an example of the man behind the line laying Vlad down. I made too many mistakes. Most importantly moving Vlad out of cover and into the range of an overcharged Behemoth. Don’t do that. Speaking of mistreating Vlad, this is exactly the same situation for the last loss. This time to Strakhov1 running also Jaw of the Wolf (battle report here). Again, Vlad was doing pretty well until the man behind the line thought it would be a brilliant idea moving Vlad without thinking too much about it. This time it wasn’t Behemoth that Vlad came within range of, it was Beast 09. The result was the same. I should learn to stop and think sometimes!

Ossum is still trouble. It simply can’t seem to get the hang of it (battle report here). Yet, this time it was really really close. Ossrum got saved by a hail Mary, where he pulled some fancy foot work out of a Driller and killed Vlad; seconds before a Marauder would have killed him.

Harbinger and her Faitfull Masses has been so ubiquitous that it is almost boring. Vlad managed to win twice (battle report here and here). Both were by assassination by Marauder. For Harbinger to be efficient she has to play within threat range of a supercharged Marauder. She really doesn’t like that. The strategy is to weather the storm until an opening for a Marauder appears. Then feat and win. The lost game against Harbinger was proceeding according to plan. But, Vlad having played Harbinger a lot assumed it was a walk in the park. I got sloppy – and lost.

The Crazy elves are difficult. Vlad lost three matches, twice against Goreshade4 and Legion of Dawn (battle report here, none for the second match). This matchup should actually be ok. He did manage to win once (battle report here). Yet, matches against the elves are always pretty close. I think I just got beaten by better players. Vlad also lost against Garryth2 and his Defenders of Ios. That was a matchup lost before the first dice was rolled. It contained double Trident and an Arcantrik Force Generator. There really isn’t anything this list can do about that.

Finally, Skorne is one of those factions that I, surprisingly haven’t see a lot across the table. This game saw Vlad beating the fat guy and his two turtles, or so it should have been (battle report here). Once again Vlad was let down by the man behind the line. I got preoccupied with killing stuff and not actually winning the game.

Faction	Warcaster/Warlock	Theme	Result	Battle report
Convergence	Orion1	Clockwork Legions	Won	Report
Crucible Guards	Gearhart1	Magnum Opus	Won	Report
	Gearhart1	Magnum Opus	Won	– – – –
	Gearhart1	Magnum Opus	Lost	Report
Cygnar	Nemo3	Storm Division	Lost	– – – –
	Siege1	Heavy Metal	Won	Report
	Sloan1	Gravediggers	Won	Report
Infernals	Zaateroth1	Dark Legacy	Lost	Report
Khador	Butcher3	Jaw of the Wolf	Won	Report
	Vlad1	Jaw of the Wolf	Lost	Report
	Strakhov1	Jaw of the Wolf	Lost	Report
	Butcher3	Winter Guard Kommand	Won	– – – –
	Irusk2	Wolves of Winter	Won	Report
Mercenaries	Ossrum1	Hammer Strike	Lost	Report
Protectorate	Harbinger1	Faithful Masses	Won	Report
	Harbinger1	Faithful Masses	Lost	– – – –
	Harbinger1	Faithful Masses	Won	Report
Retribution	Goreshade4	Legions of Dawn	Lost	Report
	Goreshade4	Legions of Dawn	Won	Report
	Goreshade4	Legions of Dawn	Lost	– – – –
	Garryth2	Defenders of Ios	Lost	– – – –
Skorne	Rasheth1	Disciples of Agony	Lost	Report
Won-lost			11-11

Conclusion

I think the second iteration of the Winter Guard Kommand list under Vlad1 is done. I can’t see what I would like to change. It has everything that makes sense in this context.

As I have played the last list I have really learned what separates a good player from a mediocre (I’m clearly the latter). Many of the losses I have incurred were basically down to me making sloppy and annoying mistakes, like not toeing a zone or being preoccupied with killing stuff rather then actually winning the game.

Some of the games were lost basically before the first dice was rolled, just because it was a matchup that Vlad couldn’t deal with.

Finally, some were also lost simply because the opponent were a better player. This is fair and there is only one way to deal with this. Be better yourself.

There are clearly some matchups it is really bad against. It struggles against multi-wound heavy infantry, as well as tough and healing units. Also, soul or corpse manipulating armies are bad news. It is so so against armies that do not enjoy the long game. Some it can deal with, some not (read Infernals). To deal with this it needs to be paired with something that can deal with one or more of these issues. This might be a well played Armored Corps list (I have never managed to play one well) or perhaps Jaws of the Wolf (under Old Witch2?). Since this list is not a classic Stalingrad-style list, it might actually be paired with a Wolves of Winter list under Vlad2?

Nevertheless, this Winter Guards and Vlad1 list is now solid, and I will happily return to going forward.

Winter Guard Kommand Going Forward

What can I say? I love Winter Guards. There is something about the stoic men and women of Khador valiantly battling all sorts of magical beasts and horrors. They do so without any fancy tricks of souls, corpses or magic mumbo jumbo.

The current list is, in my view as good as it gets and I don’t think I will modify it any more. It will now just be a steady tool in the wonderful toolbox of Khador.

There are, however many other ways to take a Winter Guard Kommand list. I have always wanted to try a ‘jack heavy list where the Winter Guards are kept to a bare minimum. Perhaps Butcher3 with a lot of (clam) ‘jacks and just enough Winter Guards to offer Sacrificial Pawn. That could deliver him for the assassination run he so craves. I have also been playing with the (crazy) idea of running Strakhov1 and, wait for it, two min units of Assault Kommandos with all the trimmings. Strakhov offers a similar feat, and the Assault Kommands can deal with tough and healing units. Finally, Sorscha might be in play again. Her main problem is lack of ‘jack speed.

Dear reader, if you have made it here, I’m impressed. All in all, Winter Guard Kommand is a fantastic theme and I think Vlad1 has found his home in it. If you haven’t tried it, give it a spin. It is effective and a lot of fun to play.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!

Winter Guard Kommand under Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince’s orders (Vlad1)

Igor Khador — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 13:06:00 +0000

Vlad is a Winter Guard’s second best friend after Irusk2. Where Irusk2 keeps them alive to fight another day, Vlad1 makes them fight today. This post details my approach to Winter Guard Kommand under Vlad1. As a special treat, this list contains two of the Empress’ finest Gun Carriages. A marvellous addition to a WGK list under Vlad1.

Winter Guard Kommand has quite a few good ‘caster. I have traditionally been running Irusk2 in a Stalingrad style list (see here for a description). Where Irusk2 keeps Winter Guards alive, Vlad helps them actually kill stuff. Further, Irusk2 is missing opportunities to speedup our ‘jacks, which ofte resulted in them not really doing anything. Vlad can really propel a Khador ‘jack almost unreasonable distances.

The whole Winter Guard Kommand list

In the text below, I’ll go through the different models, and the rationale behind the army composition.

Vlad1

Vlad 1

Vlad1 is, in my view a good runner up to Irusk2 as being a Winter Guards best friend. However, where Irusk2 is there to keep Winter Guards alive in an I’ll outlast you style of game play, Vlad1, on the other hand is there to make Winter Guards actually hit stuff and hit above their weight.

In exchange for the Winter Guards’ willingness to sacrifice themselves (thanks to the theme benefit) if their leader is being shot, Vlad offers them primarily a bubble with the ability to hit and damage stuff, and a smal bubble with a little bit of protection from ranged attacks.

The bubbles are pretty large, and can easily encompass his entire army. Vlad can fit in two units of Winter Guards, three pieces of artillery, three ‘jacks, two carriages, and a few solos; whilst being protected by an ample number of Winter Guards.

Vlad’s spell list can help both Winter Guards and ‘jacks in performing at an optimal. The main spell in Vlad’s arsenal is Signs & Portents. Also, Boundless Charge and Wind Wall works wonders. Finally, his feat really fires up under the Warjacks.

Vlad2’s bubbles of good stuff (The Empress’ standard deployment pattern 2)

Signs & Portents

This spell is the reason we bring Vlad1 to the table. It adds one additional dice to attack and damage rolls, and the lowest dice is discarded. As a rule of thumb, this little trick add roughly 1.5 to the result (more on this later). This is within his Control Area, that is a 14″ bubble. Unfortunately, and fortunately this is not an upkeep spell. It is unfortunate because Vlad will have to cast it most turns, and at a cost of four, it leaves only three focus to play around with. It is fortunate because most, if not all spell removal tricks only works on upkeeps. So nasty things like: Purification, Dissolution, Unbinding, and Hexblast just doesn’t do anything!

Boundless Charge

Straight forward charge extender by +2″. Also charge for free and gain Pathfinder. This is always golden for our slow ‘jacks. Note that is does absolutely nothing for Trampling.

Wind Wall

This spell is what can help deliver both the ‘jacks and Vlad himself. Non-magical ranged attacks automatically miss completely within 3″ of Vlad.

Blood of Kings

This is Vlad’s emergency break. Sometimes he has to step up and do some killing on his own. Casting this spell makes Vlad SPD 9, STR 9, MAT 10, DEF 18, and ARM 19 for one round. That gives him a charge threat range of 11″ (10.5″ for the small weapon) with 4 (5) attacks hitting DEF 20 on the average.

Razor Wind

A POW 12 range 10″ spell. It might come in handy at some point. I have never heard about it being used.

Forced March – Feat

This is the second huge reason to take Vlad1. Warjacks in his battlegroup that begin their activation in his Control Range double their SPD, and can Run, Charge and make Power Attacks for free (including Trampling). This is huge! It allows a standard Khador Heavy Warjack to charge 11″. Under Boundless Charge it is even better. A lowly Marauder can threat stuff 14″ away!

Winter Guards

Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan

Artillery Kapitan

This is our artillery’s best friend. The Artillery Kapitan really helps our artillery hitting things. His most used ability is probably Artillerist, which give +2 RAT for the first AOE attack, and the ability to re-roll deviation dice. This is most often used on the Mortar (see below). But can also be applied to Gun Carriages. Clear makes Weapon Crews automatically miss friendly models, which can be helpful for clearing out stuff too close to the Winter Guards. Finally, Fire & Displace gives Reposition 2″ to a Weapon Crew.

I would actually like to have two in a list. But points are scare.

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Joe in all his might

Jozef Grigorovich, or Joe to his friends, is the epitome of Winter Guards. His many years of impeccable service to the Motherland has made him revered among his troops. So much, in fact that normal winter guards happily will be a Sacrificial Pawn for him if somebody shoots him. Contrary to the Sacrificial Pawn ability from the Winter Guard Kommand theme, Joe can actually use a Gun Carriage as a Sacrificial Pawn!

Joe fixes many of the issues with winter guards. His battle plan Bear’s Strength gives the lowly Winter Guard a +4 to their STR. Combined with Signs & Portents, this actually make them somewhat dangerous (more on this later). He can also help the Winter Guards actually hitting stuff through his inspirational speech For the Motherland, giving them a +2 to hit. Finally, he can make them Tough be remembering the Courage of the Forefathers. He is natively Tough on his own. Joe is an auto-include.

He can also score flags, and actually have a Hand Cannon (quite obvious on the model). For some reason I tend to forget the latter.

Winter Guard Field Gun Crew

Knockdown of a stick aka Field Guns (the right one on loan from the 5^th Border Legion)

The Field Gun is our “knockdown on a stick” tool. It offers automatical knockdown on a hit up to 14″ away (a whooping 18″ if it advances). This is huge as our winter guard normally only have RAT 5. DEF 5 from being knocked down is easy to hit, even for a winter guard.

As with all other winter guard, Jozef can help its low RAT of five by using his battle plan For the Motherland. This should allow a field gun to hit DEF 14, and DEF 16 when aiming. With all the bells, including Signs & Portens a Field Gun will actually hit DEF 17 with auto-knockdown. As Joe most often is occupied otherwise it will most likely “only” be DEF 16. The Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan can employ Fire & Displace, allowing it to aim, shoot and still advance by repositioning 2″.

I prefer two of these fine pieces of artillery, giving me two potential knockdowns per turn. Shoot something to knock it down, hit it with everything you got.

Winter Guard Mortar Crew

The mighty Mortar

The Mortar Crew is really good when it hits. It offers a POW 16 up to 18″ away (all the way to 21″ if it advances). It also offers a decent AOE 4″ blast of POW 10 (due to High-Explosive). Unfortunately, it only has an effective RAT of one (1)! Meaning, anything with a DEF of eight or more will most likely dodge the shell.

In general, I think this can be used for two things: 1) shooting somewhere and hoping to drift into something. It does an average of 18 points of damage inside the 4″ AOE. In that case it might as well just move and shoot, as RAT 3 and RAT 1 is basically the same; and 2) actually trying to hit something. The combination of aiming, For the Motherland from Jozef, Artillerist from the Kapitan, and Sign & Portents actually makes it hit DEF 15 on the average.

Winter Guard Rifle Corps

Two min units and of the trusted Winter Guard Rifle Corps and their Rocketeers

The rifle corps is the shooting version of the Winter Guards troopers. Where the Infantry has a blunderbuss, the Rifle Corps has the more modern rifle. The rifle has an impressive range of 14″, and a somewhat unimpressive POW 10. Fortunately, they can do CRA and is also helped by Vlad’s Signs & Portents; and are also subject to Joe’s range of inspiring speeches. All of these different buffs allows the standard Winter Guard to actually hit impressive DEF. The table below summarises the DEF that can be hit on an average roll, given the different options; as well as expected average damage output.

CRA	None	S&P	Aim	FtM	Aim+S&P	FtM+S&P	Aim+FtM+S&P	Dam	Dam S&P
1	12	13	14	14	15	15	17	17	18
2	14	15	16	16	17	17	19	19	20
3	15	16	17	17	18	18	20	20	21
4	16	17	18	18	19	19	21	21	22
5	17	18	19	19	20	20	22	22	23
6	18	19	20	20	21	21	23	23	24

In addition to the standard grunts, a Rifle Corps can also include three Rocketeers (which they always should). They do not carry a rifle, so no CRA on their part. They do, however have the impressive Rocket. It has the same range but is POW 12 and Brutal Damage (additional dice on a direct hit). This is an average of 22.5 points damage (24 points under S&P) on a direct hit, and 14.5 points of damage under its 3″ AOE, under S&P. Unfortunately, they suffer from the standard RAT of five. So, they should either Aim, be under Joe’s For the Motherland; or even better wait until one of the Field Guns have applied the Knockdown on a Stick.

Finally, the Rifle Corps has Practise Maneuvers, which allows models to ignore other models when determining LOS, and they can advance through each other. I tend to forget this. Probably because I have been playing Irusk2 too much, where his Tactician basically does the same.

Winter Guard Gun Carriage

Two of the Empress’ finest Gun Carriages

The Gun Carriage is a marvellous piece of machinery. It it a real infantry killer from its Impact Hits and two main guns. which drops two AOE 4″ of infantry killing blast damage – and Rough Terrain, which is very nice if the opponent can’t do Pathfinder. It can also be another knockdown tool (in addition to the Field Guns). However, with all the rules associated with this model, it can be a clock killer. The table below summerises the activation sequence os a Gun Carriage. It describes the actions including a short description (where dice rolls in brackets are assuming S&P), the specific rule applied, and the average dice roll with and without S&P.

#	Action	Description	Rule	Avg.	S&P
1	Charge	Threat distance 11.5″ (+2″ BC)	Charge
2	Impact	Can move less than 3″ and still impact	Crushing Weight
		Can make any number of impact attacks	Crushing Weight
		To hit: 3d6+6 (4d6+6, drop lowest)	Line Breaker	16	18
		Models hit are knocked down	Mount
		Damage: 2d6+14 (3d6+14, drop lowest)	Cavalry	21	22
		Impact charge target	Cavalry
3	Attack	To hit: 3d6+6 (4d6+6, drop lowest)	Trampling Hooves	16	18
4	Damage	Model hit is knocked down	Mount	1	1
		Target is slammed d3″ (*)	Ton of Bricks	2
		Damage: 3d6+14 (4d6+14, drop lowest)	Charge	24	26
		Collateral: 2d6+14 (3d6+14, drop lowest)	Slam	21	22
5	Shoot	2 times Heavy Cannon – range 10″	Dual Attack
		To hit: 2d6+5 (3d6+5, drop lowest)	Heavy Cannon	12	13
		Damage: 2d6+16 (3d16+16, drop lowest)	Heavy Cannon	23	24
		Blast 4″: 2d6+8 (3d6+8, drop lowest)	Heavy Cannon	15	16
		AOE 4″ is rough terrain for one round	Heavy Cannon
6	Shoot	Military Rifle – range 10″ (360 degrees)	Dual Attack
		To hit: 2d6+5 (3d6+5, drop lowest)	Military Rifle	12	13
		Damage: 2d6+11 (3d6+11, drop lowest)	Military Rifle	18	19
7	Reposition	Advance up to 3″	Reposition

(*) Remember the slam rules

A word of warning though. There seems to be a little, either cock up or explicit style cramping of the Gun Carriage from Privateer Press. A carriage is a Cavalry model, so it is allowed to do initial attack with its Mounts (p. 75, Prime Rules MK3). However, a Cavalry model cannot make initial attacks when it charges (ibid.). Yet, Crushing Weight allows a carriage to make Impact Attacks when moving less than 3″. Here is the caveat! Trampling Hooves tells us that a carriage can make Charge Attacks with its mount. However, a Charge Attack requires a move of at least 3″ (p. 31, ibid.). So, if we charge a Gun Carriage to make any number of Impact Attacks and move less than 3″, it looses its initial Mount Attack; if there is less that 3″, and we want to make initial attacks only a move should be made, and alas no Impact Attacks.

I usually run one on each flak, just at the edge of Vlad’s Signs & Portents bubble (see also standard deployment above). This allows a lot of mobility and impressive threat to the opponent’s flanks. Gun Carriages normally have a large target painted on them, which normally attracts a lot of hostile forces. This is bad in the sense that they tend to die early, yet good as the middle of the field is spared all of this hostility.

Warjacks

The triple Marauder goodness

I have grown funned of Marauders from my many games with Irusk2 as commander of the Winter Guard Kommand (see here for list discussions). There are so many huge bases around, and Marauders are currently our best bet against them. They are also really good at knocking stuff down from their Combo Smite, which is really helpful for the shooting part of the army. In theory, two Marauders should be sufficient (see below). However, I’m a great advocate of backups. So, three it is (this is also only three more points that Vlad’s Warjack points). Luckily, Marauders fit really well with Vlad1, as he helps them solve a lot of their issues.

Marauders’ damage output under Vlad1

Marauders love Vlad1 when it comes to damage output. The table below details the damage output for a single Marauder under several conditions. The table’s rows are: the attack type, damage against medium or large based models, damage agains huge bases, and damage against four different ARM values for huge based models:

Attack type	Dam. M and L	Dam. H	ARM 16	ARM 18	ARM 19	ARM 20
Charge, combo	76	86	38	32	29	26
Charge, no combo	95	108	44	36	32	28
No charge	115	130	50	40	35	30
No charge, S&P	120	140	60	50	45	40
Charge, S&P	96	116	52	44	40	36
Charge, S&P, feat	124	144	64	54	49	44

The table above describe the following situations (all rows are when a Marauder is fully loaded with focus): the two first are just a plain vanilla Marauder charging, either using the Combo Smite or not; the next two are if the Marauder just walks up to the enemy, either under Signs and Portens (S&P) or not; and the last two are if a Marauder charges under Signs and Portens, either under feat or not. The conclusion is that a single Marauder is tremendously dangerous when charging under Vlad’s feat, and Signs and Portens. A average damage output of 124 points agains small and medium sized models, and an average damage output of 144 points against huge based models!

Out of the 53 huge based models in the game (I’m sure I missed some) a single Marauder, on average rolls, can one-round 30 of them (57%), under feat and Signs and Portens; and 27 (51%) when not feating. Two Marauders can take out all (also when Vlad can only allocate three focus). A Marauder should hit an average DEF of 15 under Signs and Portens, which hits everybody. Please note that this calculation is based on just the huge base without any buffs.

A word of warning: a Marauder is really good at killing huge bases. However, it is really bad at killing large bases. Taking out large-based ‘jacks almost always requires two Marauders. If there are only medium and large bases around, bring Juggernauts to the party (on average they have a 32% higher damage output against ARM 20 non-huge bases). If you only have Marauders make sure they charge under Boundless Charge or feat, and ignore the Combo Smite unless you really want to slam stuff.

Getting Marauders into the fray

All of this wonderful damage a Marauder can wreck is all good and well if it can’t get to the enemy. Luckily, Vlad is happy to assist with this as well. Boundless Charge gives one model +2″ movement and Pathfinder; and his feat doubles the base SPD (both also allow for free charge). This means that a Marauder can put pistons to face 14″ away (base speed 4″ + feat 4″ + charge/trample 3″ + Boundless Charge 2″ + Reach 1″). Suddenly a lowly Marauder out-threatens many of its favourite prey. Also note that Trample being a Power Attack makes screening and jamming with small based models difficult at best. Unfortunately, casting both Signs & Portens; and Boundless Charge leaves Vlad with only one focus to allocate, making it impossible to fully load a ‘jack.

My Winter Guard Kommand list

All of the above basically sums up to my current Winter Guard Kommand list. This is the third iteration, when the first one was Irusk2 with a Spriggan and a Marauder; and the second one was Irusk2 with triple Marauder and an Adjunct. This latest iteration will hopefully fix some of the issues of actually killing stuff, and thereby winning more.

Khador Army – 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince [+28]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [3]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]

Also at conflict chamber.

Assuming you, me dear reader has arrived all they way down here, I hope you have enjoyed these wild speculations. With a bit of luck, battle reports will appear in the foreseeable future.

The whole Winter Guard Kommand list

For the Motherland!

Today’s tip: How do I know which unit this random Winter Guard belongs to?

Igor Khador — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 13:20:00 +0000

There are currently more that 50 Winter Guard models on the table when Irusk commands his WGK list. This is a well and good during deployment, and perhaps during the first turn. But what to do later on when the table is a complete mess of Winter Guards from six different unit all mixed up? I have opted for coloured base markings, here is how and why.

You probably all know how it is. The battle is progressing and the well ordered ranks of Winter Guards have descended into a chaos of Winter Guards from several units all mixed up – and the clock is ticking!

One the deployment is done, it is still easy. Irusk normally deploy in the Empress’ standard deployment no. 1 (see picture below). One Rifle Corps on each flank (the red one on the left flank, and the green one on the rigt flank), and the Winter Guard Infantry in the middle (marked with blue).

Deployment, the easy bit

Already during turn one, Irusk might be in trouble. 51 Winter Guards pressing forward do take up a lot of table space. So, it is quite easy to get them mixed into each other. The picture below shows a typical first turn (I have colour marked the different units for simplicity). It is still somewhat easy to distinguish the different unit, as they are not too mixed up yet.

Turn 1, trouble on the horizon

Second turn, I’m usually in trouble. The picture below shows the chaos emerging. Try and guess which Winter Guard belongs to which unit. This is usually here I start loosing on the clock.

Turn 2, even worse

To exemplify, the same situation is depicted below just with each trooper marked with the corresponding coloured rings.

Turn 2, again

It is clearly not feasible to sit and put coloured rings on each trooper during the game – neither is it particularly pretty. I initially started by “only” making the bases slightly different. Below is a picture of the unit leader for each of the Winter Guard units. To the left is one of the Rifle Corps units. It has barbed wire and wooden spikes on the base. To the right is the other Rifle Corps Units. It only has barbed wire on the base. In the middle is the Winter Guard Infantry unit with only barbed wire. I assumed that it would be easy to separate normal infantry from Rifle Corps on the battlefield – I was wrong. In particular with respect to the Rocketeers, they all look the same.

Spikes and barbwire

Next level was to add colour markings to the base, which also function as front arc markers. This has helped a lot. It is perhaps not very evident in the three battle pictures above, but it really do help. I have also added a small star on the back of the unit leader base so I easily can spot him.

Who’s the boss?

This is clearly not a huge super fantastic new thing. I am pretty sure that plenty others have been doing the same. However. it has really helped my gameplay. Without having done a thorough scientific trial, I am pretty sure that I am saving at least five minutes each game by being able to easily identify which unit a given Winter Guard belongs to, and who is the unit leader. It is either green unit Rifle Corps, red unit Rifle Corps, or blue unit Winter Guard Infantry. The remaining models (Field Gun, Mortar, etc.) are not a problem.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!

Revisited: Winter Guard Kommand under Supreme Kommandant Irusk’s orders (Irusk2)

Igor Khador — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 13:42:00 +0000

Irusk2 is still a Winter Guard’s best friend and Stalingrad-style lists are fun. However, over time Irusk has learned that the original list had its downsides. First and foremost, there is a lack of ARM-cracking ability. This is an attempt to remedy some of the problems, by changing the list to include the Greylord Adjunct and the triple Marauder battle group.

I have been running a Winter Guard Kommand list for quite some time (see list and thoughts about it here). I really do enjoy it, and the whole Stalingrad-style list is also very Khadorian. However, there have been two main issues with it (in addition to my own lack of skill):

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt have never really performed; and
The combination of a Spriggan and a Marauder have left the list with too little ARM-cracking.

So, to mitigate these problems, I have been thinking hard about what changes could be made. The list needs to fix ARM-cracking and magical weapons, without loosing too many of the benefits from the existing ‘jack, and the lady and friend.

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Let’s start with the Lady and her friend. This small unit is there, primarily to provide some way of having magical attacks to counter things such as incorporeal, and in a pinch claim a round zone, or contest.

The ability to hand out magical weapon has never really come in handy. Arguably, this is due to the fact that Irusk haven’t really faced that many armies, which counted on incorporeal. Nevertheless, eight points for this is a rather steep price. It could be argued that including Koldun Kapitan Valachev in this package would open up for using Ayiana’s Kiss of Lyliss (as Valachev makes the unit a friendly faction unit instead of merely friendly). Clearly +2 to damage rolls is not to be frown upon. However, that would put the entire package at 12 points. I simply cannot see these three models being worth 12 points; in particular not after the release of the Greylord Adjunct.

The Greylord Adjunct attached to Irusk2

Greylord Adjunct

This guy solves a lot of problems for most Khador casters and lists. He comes with both passive and active abilities. Let’s start by looking at his two really good passive abilities: Arcane Assist and Spiritual Conduit.

Arcane Assist allows the caster, whom the adjunct is attached to, to upkeep one spell for free. For Irusk2, this is major. He would really like to cast Solid Ground and Fire for Effect during turn one; and sometimes even Artifice of Deviation. This leaves him with “only” four focus each turn after upkeep. The extra focus each turn suddenly give Irusk five, opening up a whole new range of options. For example, he can now cast both Battle Lust and Energizer, giving him much more tactical flexibility; he can fill up two ‘jacks, and still leave him with one focus – just in case; or if needs be, dropping one of his upkeeps and casting Battle Lust on two units. Two times Battle Lust combined with one unit under Joe’s Bear Strength actually gives a rather hard hitting combination.

Spiritual Conduit extends the caster’s range for spells with two inches. For Irusk2, this means that he can suddenly reach out 8″ with Battle Lust, and the same for Fire for Effect if he wishes to cycle it – which is not a completely unsound assumption. These two inches might not sound like much, but two inches can mean the world, in particular in a WGK list where the huge number of models, and the clutter they create easily can put Fire for Effect targets outside the six inches mark.

In addition to the two passive abilities, the Greylord Adjunct also brings three active abilities to the table: Blizzard, Frostbite, and Guidance.

Blizzard is a magic ability, which creates a 3″ cloud on any (friendly faction) model within 5″. The main usage of this is to put it on himself (giving him DEF 15 against shooting), or even on Irusk. This will make Irusk even more difficult for take down with ranged weapons. It brings him to an impressive DEF 17, and in combination with Sacrificial Pawn and Solid Ground makes him very difficult to assassinate from afar.

Frostbite is an 8″ POW 12 spray, which in itself is not remarkable. However, sprays are super powerfull in this game, so the more the merrier.

Finally, Guidance is where the money really is. This can be cast on a friendly model within 7″ and gives Eyeless Sight and magical weapon (both melee and range!). Eyeless sight allows a model to ignore clouds for LOS, concealment, and stealth. Despite being model only and not model/unit as Lady Aiyana’s Sigil of Power, and not as powerfull as the Spriggan’s two Targeting Flares, it goes a long way. Cast on a Field Gun (under Fire for Effect), makes this artillery piece marvellous for removing pesky solos, such as Eiryss1 or Eiryss2,

Eiryss1 and Eiryss2 are often used to Disrupt ‘jacks. This can really be terrible for any plan. One ‘jack out without focus is always bad. Both incarnations of this little lady have Stealth. Eiryss1 shoots 12″, which is within a Field Gun’s range. So, it can even aim, giving it a 71% chance of hitting. Hitting her means she is dead. Eiryss2 is slightly worse. She can also shoot 12″, however she can reposition 3″, brining her just outside a Field Gun’s range. Thus, the Field Gun would have to move, giving it a 50/50 chance of hitting her.

All in all, I think that the Greylord Adjunct is a pretty good substitute for some of the abilities that both Lady Aiyana, and the Spriggan brings to the table; and for only four points.

The Triple Marauder battle group

Triple Marauder – thrice the pain

The combination of the Spriggan and the Marauder has been lacking in damage output against heavily armoured targets. It also appears to be too easy to neutralise two ‘jacks before they can make an impact. Finally, removing Lady Aiyana & Master Holt and the Spriggan, and adding the Greylord Adjunct releases exactly 22 points for ‘jacks. So, it might be time for the triple Marauder battle group.

If we look at what Marauders are best at, it is knocking things down, and taking out huge based models. I almost always see one or more huge based models on the table. There are currently 53 huge based models (colossal/gargantuan (25), battle engine (21), structure (2), warcaster/warlock (5)). Assuming a Marauder is fully loaded, the following options exist (this is ignoring any issues regarding actually hitting the target): all structures, warcasters/warlocks, and battle engines can be taken out by one ‘jack; most colossal/gargantuan require two ‘jacks to be killed, only five can be taken out by one ‘jack. So, having two Marauders ready to deal with huge based models would be handy; thus, having a third in backup sounds prudent. Obviously, if everything goes completely wrong a Battle Lusted and Bear Strength Winter Guard unit can assist.

How triple Marauder interact with Irusk2

In general, Irusk2 do not do a lot for ‘jacks. His main tricks are obviously his feat, which allows them to ignore clouds and forests. He can also offer Energizer, which offers two inches more movement and non-linear charge lanes. Using Energizer, a Marauder can reach an enemy 10″ away. Finally, he can actually use Artifice of Deviation to bring them to an impressive DEF 14 against shooting, not bad for a Khador ‘jack (yes, three ‘jacks can be packed into the 5″ template).

It requires six focus to fill up three ‘jacks. So, with the Greylord Adjunct, Irusk can still upkeep Solid Ground and Fire for Effect, and fully load all three ‘jacks.

The new version of Winter Guard Kommand under Supreme Kommandant Irusk’s orders (Irusk2)

Irusk and his Winter Guards ready to take on the enemies of the Empress

All in all, I think that the change from Spriggan, and Lady Aiyana and Master Holt to triple Marauder and Greylord Adjunct solves the main issue of ARM cracking, without loosing all the benefits of the old setup. So, without any further ado, here is the new version of Irusk2’s WGK list:

Khador Army – 75 / 75 points

[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

Also a conflict chamber.

Stay tuned for battle reports on this new list. Until then:

For the Motherland!

Today’s tip: Weapon Crew escaping from annoying opponent

Igor Khador — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 17:09:00 +0000

A friend of my gave me a brilliant tip the other day. Our marvellous knockdown on a stick, the Field Gun tends to be engaged by my opponents to avoid the knockdown issue. My fellow Kadorian pointed out that there is a rather cool way of getting out of the engagement.

First of all this is the situation is as follows: some annoying ‘jack (or anything really) is engaging our fine artillery. They haven’t really got a chant ce of getting rid of it by axe. The trick here is to employ the Take Up rule that weapon crews have. It basically allows you to remove one of the grunts instead of the artillery piece.

So declare a move and accept the free strike. First move both grunts (if necessary) and make sure that they stay within 1″ of the artillery piece. Then move the artillery piece and accept the free strike (see figure to the left).

Assuming that the free strike kills the artillery piece (which is very likely), remove one of the grunts. The artillery piece is now free of engagement and ready to knock down the annoying opponent warjack (see figure to the right).

Cool trick I wish I had known earlier.

Winter Guard Kommand under Supreme Kommandant Irusk’s orders (Irusk2)

Igor Khador — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:43:00 +0000

Irusk2 is a winter guard’s best friend. I like to run him in a Stalingrad-style list. This post sumes up my thoughts and experiences with Irusk2 in the Winter Guard Kommand theme. Any short comings in the performance of Irusk and his winter guards are solely the fault of the player.

There are quite a few potentially good casters for running a Winter Guard Kommand list, as well as combinations of winter guard units. Currently, I prefer Irusk 2 running as many winter guards as I own. The idea of as many winter guards as possible is colloquial knows as a “Stalingrad” list. This post goes through all the models in my list. If you can be bortherd to read this long winded “thinking out loud”, you can just scroll down to the bottom for the list.

Irusk2

Irusk2 is in many ways a winter guard’s best friend. His many years of experience gives Tactician in a 10″ bubble, which allows troops to ignore each other for LOS and movement. Due to his long and successful service to the Empress, his troops have Total Obedience, which is a 10″ tough bubble. Irusk can top this off with his spell Solid Ground (this should always be upkept), which gives a 14″ bubble of no knock down and immunity to blast damage. Finally, the winter guards pay tribute to Irusk by self sacrificing from within 3″ if Irusk is being shot.

All of these bubbles are actually enormous. They allow Irusk to easily fit in three full units of winter guard including attachments, and two weapons crew (see figure, below); giving them: no knock down, immunity to blast, tough, and sacrificial pawn.

Not to mention, he has a really, really big flag! Big flags always make winter guards happy.

Irusk2’s bubbles of good stuff

Irusk’s spell list can also assist the lowly winter guard (in addition to Solid Ground). The two main spells are: Battle Lust and Fire for Effect.

Battle Lust

Battle Lust gives the standard winter guard the opportunity to become rather dangerous in melee. All winter guards are equipped with the trusted Axe, a P+S 8 weapon, which in it self is underwhelming. However, applying Battle Lust, and even Jozef’s Battle Plan Bear’s Strength makes them rather dangerous, in particular when charging:

Base: P+S 8

Bear’s Strength: P+S 12

Battle Lust: additional die

Charge: boosted

This allows a single winter guard to charge for 4d6+12 damage, dishing out 26 points of damage (on average) pr. hit. This means that six winter guards will wreck an average Khador warjack (on average). A full unit (10) will wreck a Judicator colossal (on average) – and, yes ten winter guards do fit around a colossal. Even single wound heavy infantry in shield wall will die (e.g. Black Dragons or Dawnguard Sentinels).

Battle lust and Jozef’s battle plan combined with Irusk’s feat, Desperate Ground is know for taking opponents by surprise. A unit of winter guards charging through a forrest and then wrecking a colossal is a sight to behold.

Fire for Effect

This spell seriously helps our artillery actually hitting something. It boosts the first ranged attack’s to-hit and damage. Our two weapons crews can’t really hit a barn if they were in it. The Field Guns should be able hit DEF 12 (which, arguable is better than a barn), whereas the Mortar will only hit DEF 8. The following table details what DEF our artillery should be able to hit using: Aim (+2 RAT), Fire for Effect (Boosted), Jozef’s For the Motherland (+2 RAT), the Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan‘s Artillerist (+2 RAT), and the whole shebang.

Unit / DEF hit	Base	Aim	Fire for Effect	For the Motherland	Artillerist	The lot
Field Gun	12	14	15	14	N/A	19
Mortar	8	10	11	10	10	17

In addition, Fire for Effect also boosts the damage roll. This will give the Field Gun 3d6+15 (average of 25), and the Mortar 3d6+18 (average of 28). It is also worth noticing that the blast from the Mortar will be boosted. Thus, due to high explosive, it will be 3d6+10 (average of 20).

Artifice of Deviation

This spell also deserves to be mentioned. At first glance it doesn’t seem to do anything for our winter guard. However, it does potentially provide cover for a whole unit. It actually turns our winter guards’ DEF up to 16, requiring a RAT og 9 to hit. No to mention brining Irusk up to DEF 19 agains ranged attacks.

Winter Guards

Winter guards basically comes in two flavours: Infantry and Rifle Corps. They are basically identical, except for ranged threat range, attachment options, and cost. Both can take three Rocketeers pr. units. Take them!

Winter Guard Infantry

The proud winter guard infantry

The infantry are the bread and butter of the Khadoran army. We get a full unit of ten and three Rocketeers for a mere 16 points. Add an officer and standard for another three points. All in all, clocking in at 20 points – a bargain.

In general they do tend to have a hard time hitting things. MAT 5 and RAT 5 only gives DEF 12 on the average, P+S 8 for the axe gives an average of 15. The gun is slightly better at POW 12, giving an average of 19. They need help. As described above Irusk and Jozef can help them in melee. Jozef can also bring them up to MAT 7 and RAT 7 (battle plan For the Motherland).

The officer and standard do add a few nice abilities. CRA helps them to hit at range (see Winter Guard Rifle Corps below for an overview). However, the one I think is most useful and also tends to forget is the 3″ reposition.

I tend to use them for Sacrificial Pawn for Irusk (and Jozef), blocking lanes and LOS, scoring zones, and the surprising charge on steroids described under Battle Lust. I like a full unit clustered around Irusk.

Winter Guard Rifle Corps

First unit of winter guard rifle corps

The rifle corps is basically the same as the infantry. They have exchanged the blunderbuss for a rifle, which has an impressive 14″ range (same as the rockets from the Rocketeers), and an equally unimpressive POW of 10. Thank the Empress for CRA. The table below details the effect of using CRA (note that the Rocketeers can’t contribute to a CRA, since they haven’t got a rifle).

CRA	RAT	Avg. DEF	POW	Avg. dam.
1	5	12	10	17
2	7	14	12	19
3	8	15	13	20
4	9	16	14	21
5	10	17	15	22
6	11	18	16	23
7	12	19	17	24
8	13	20	18	25
9	14	21	19	26
10	15	22	20	27

As with the infantry, Jozef can also bring them up to MAT 7 and RAT 7 (battle plan For the Motherland). Jozef can also chose to use his battle plan Courage of the Forefathers to give them tough. Something that in some sense can extend Irusk’s Total Obedience bubble all the way to his 14″ Solid Ground bubble (and beyond) in one direction; offering slightly more flexibility.

Personally, I like to take two full units with all the rockets. I know the wisdom of the internet often dictates min units – but I like max units.

Winter Guard Field Gun Crew

Field gun

As with all other winter guard, Jozef can help its low RAT of five by using his battle plan For the Motherland. This should allow a field gun to hit DEF 14. If we really need to hit stuff we can combine it with Fire for Effect (see above) to hit DEF 17, and DEF 19 if aiming in addition! The Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan can also employ Fire & Displace, allowing it to aim, shoot and still advance by repositioning 2″.

I prefer two of these fine pieces of artillery, giving me two potential knockdowns pr. turn. Shoot something to knock it down, hit it with everything you got.

Winter Guard Mortar Crew

Mortar

The Mortar Crew is really good when it hits. It offers a POW of 16 all the way to 18″ (all the way to 21″ if it advances, which it might as well. The difference between RAT 1, when moving; and RAT 3, when aiming is negligible). It also offers a decent AOE 4″ blast of POW 10 (due to High-Explosive). Unfortunately, it only has an effective RAT of one (1)! Meaning, anything with a DEF of eight or more will most likely dodge the shell. So the mortar typically needs all the help it can get. Either a knockdown from the field gun, or the whole lot of Fire for Effect, For the Motherland (note that this also boosts the blast damage), Artillerist, aiming. This should allow it to hit something as nimble as DEF 17! However, this is rather expensive in support.

Normally, I would put Fire for Effect on it and use the artillery kapitan’s Artillerist, and aiming if possible. This gives it an effective boosted RAT 3, hitting DEF 13; boosted damage for 3d6+18 (average of 28), and boosted blast for 3d6+10 (average of 20).

Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan

Artillery Kapitan

This is our artillery’s best friend. The Artillery Kapitan really helps our artillery (and warjacks) hitting things. Most of his benefits are already described above. There are two other properties that are worth noticing: he can score flags, and he is tough all on his own – something I tend to forget.

I would, in a perfect world like to have two on my team.

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Joe

Jozef Grigorovich, or Joe to his friends is the epitome of winter guards. His many years of impeccable service to the Motherland has made him revered among his troops. So much, in fact that normal winter guards happily will be Sacrificial Pawns for him if somebody shoots him. He is obviously tough all on his own.

Joe fixes many of the issues with winter guards. As described above, his battle plan Bear’s Strength is instrumental in making a run of the mill winter guard into: a colossal slaying monster (see Battle Lust, above); a winter guard that can actually hit stuff, through his battle plan For the Motherland (see Fire for Effect above), or make a unit of winter guard tough by using Courage of the Forefathers. Joe is an auto-include.

He can also score flags, and actually have a Hand Cannon (quite obvious on the model). For some reason I tend to forget the latter.

My Winter Guard Kommand List

So. all of the above can finally be summed up in my Winter Guard Kommand list. Obviously, Irusk2 is in charge.

I think more boots on the ground is always preferred. I have chosen to go for one max unit of winter guard infantry with all the trimmings, and two units of winter guard rifle corps with all the rocketeers. I like max units for several reasons:

They are going to take heavy casualties (despite all of Irusk’s tricks), more bodies means longer survival time for the unit;
It is easier to always have enough to score a zone, or contest one;
I can postpones the time when one of them have to run and hide to limit the points my opponent will score;
There are plenty of targets for sacrificial pawn; and
13 or 15 bodies allows for the (situational): “surprise! this unit can take out a heavy when charging under Bear’s Strength and Battle Lust” later in the game.

With respect to the artillery, I like two field guns, simply for redundancy and board coverage (I usually deploy one on each side). I also go for one Mortar (this is the primary target for Fire for Effect). These three units are free under the theme.

Joe is an auto-include, and one artillery kapitan is also an absolut minimum.

Marauder

This leaves the warjacks. I have opted for a combination of cheap hitting power through a Marauder, and a bag of tricks using a Spriggan.

The Marauder is basically there from some hitting power (and being cheap). An argument could be made for a Juggernaut, but I like the extra threat a Marauder poses to huge base enemies (Siege Weapon) and the option for more knockdown (Combo Smite) for our ranged troops to hit. It is of course as slow as any Khador warjack, but the Advanced Move from the theme benefit mitigates this a bit. Also, Irusk’s spell Energizer helps out a bit.

Spriggan

The Spriggan has a range of good tools in it’s little clam…

It is a decent hitter, and threatens an impressive 11″ with it’s War Lance (a good 13″ if Energizer has been cast);
It can even Bulldoze it’s way to a target;
It is steady, which fits Irusk’s whole “you can’t bring me down” theme;
Perhaps most importantly, it offers an efficient way of removing Stealth and allows our shooters to ignore clouds. This is potentially huge for a winter guard list. Also, it does not require any to hit or anything, you just place the AOE 3 completely within 10″ of it.

I always forget it has Dual Attack. It can punch stuff and shoot in the same activation. I also forget Powerfull Charge, which gives it an effective MAT 8 on the charge (on the War Lance only).

All of this leaves nine points remaining from the list. Currently, I have opted for Lady Aiyana & Master Holt. They are basically only there to hand out Magical Damage to any model or unit. This should be handy if there are any incorporeal units or models out there. I have to admit that they haven’t really paid off yet.

I have been seriously thinking about remove these two. They haven’t really performed. Then, again I haven’t played into too many list where magical weapons are required.

Some of my thinking revolves around the Greylord Adjunct, who is a no brainer once he is released. He offers one free upkeep, which is perfect for Irusk as he is going to want to upkeep both Solid Ground and Fire for Effect every round, and one more focus is one more focus. He also offers Irusk two more inches when casting Battle Lust and Fire for Effect. To compensate for the magical weapon from Lady Aiyana, the adjunct can even give a single model magical weapon.

One option is: Greylord Adjunct, and an extra Mortar; I could also be the Greylord Adjunct, an extra artillery kapitan, and a Gobber Thinker (I always miss a repair option); finally, there is the option of the Greylord Adjunct and the tested and tried triple Marauder.

Anyway, without further ado, here is my: “Winter Guard Kommand under Supreme Kommandant Irusk’s orders”:

Khador Army – 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand

[Irusk 2] Supreme Kommandant Irusk [+27]
– Marauder [11]
– Spriggan [17]

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4]
Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [3]

Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]

Winter Guard Infantry (max) [10]
– Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard [4]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]
– Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]

Also at conflict chamber.

There is a least one important trick: ignore the temptation to take every pot shot. It is quite easy to clock yourself if every potential shots is to be rolled.

Assuming you, me dear reader has arrived all they way down here, I hope you have enjoyed these wild speculations. With a bit of luck, battle reports will appear in the foreseeable future.

For the Motherland!

CRA	None	S&P	Aim	FtM	Aim+S&P	FtM+S&P	Aim+FtM+S&P	Dam	Dam S&P
1	12	13	14	14	15	15	17	17	18
2	14	15	16	16	17	17	19	19	20
3	15	16	17	17	18	18	20	20	21
4	16	17	18	18	19	19	21	21	22
5	17	18	19	19	20	20	22	22	23
6	18	19	20	20	21	21	23	23	24

CRA	RAT	Avg. DEF	POW	Avg. dam.
1	5	12	10	17
2	7	14	12	19
3	8	15	13	20
4	9	16	14	21
5	10	17	15	22
6	11	18	16	23
7	12	19	17	24
8	13	20	18	25
9	14	21	19	26
10	15	22	20	27

CRA	None	S&P	Aim	FtM	Aim+S&P	FtM+S&P	Aim+FtM+S&P	Dam	Dam S&P
1	12	13	14	14	15	15	17	17	18
2	14	15	16	16	17	17	19	19	20
3	15	16	17	17	18	18	20	20	21
4	16	17	18	18	19	19	21	21	22
5	17	18	19	19	20	20	22	22	23
6	18	19	20	20	21	21	23	23	24

CRA	RAT	Avg. DEF	POW	Avg. dam.
1	5	12	10	17
2	7	14	12	19
3	8	15	13	20
4	9	16	14	21
5	10	17	15	22
6	11	18	16	23
7	12	19	17	24
8	13	20	18	25
9	14	21	19	26
10	15	22	20	27

CRA	None	S&P	Aim	FtM	Aim+S&P	FtM+S&P	Aim+FtM+S&P	Dam	Dam S&P
1	12	13	14	14	15	15	17	17	18
2	14	15	16	16	17	17	19	19	20
3	15	16	17	17	18	18	20	20	21
4	16	17	18	18	19	19	21	21	22
5	17	18	19	19	20	20	22	22	23
6	18	19	20	20	21	21	23	23	24

CRA	RAT	Avg. DEF	POW	Avg. dam.
1	5	12	10	17
2	7	14	12	19
3	8	15	13	20
4	9	16	14	21
5	10	17	15	22
6	11	18	16	23
7	12	19	17	24
8	13	20	18	25
9	14	21	19	26
10	15	22	20	27