Someone get the boudin outta the fridge, cuz we gonna celebrate! January is the first Blindwater release month, with a ton of swampy goodness hitting store shelves.

This month sees the debut of the Blindwater Congregation 35-point army box, along with the Gatorman Soul Slave, Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, and Barnabas, Lord of Blood. And releasing in February are the Void Leech, Gatorman Husk, Croak Trappers, Bone Shrine, Longchops, and the Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron.

It’s going to be the best two months in the history of everything ever.

If you’re thinking about jumping into Minions, specifically Blindwater, then there’s a good chance you will pick up the Blindwater Congregation army box this month. It’s a great starting point for any new gator player! In today’s Insider, I want to talk about a potential 75-point list you can look to collect and paint over the next two months that uses the army box contents as the starting point.

Will this list be the most cutthroat tournament list of all time? Nope. Will it be a good foundation for starting to explore the faction and getting some fun games in? Absolutely. So let’s take a look at what we can build using the army box contents.

First off, the Blindwater army box contains the following models:

Rask
Blackhide Wrastler
Boneswarm
Bull Snapper
Gatorman Soul Slave
Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers
Bone Shrine
Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers
Gatorman Posse
Void Leech (x2)

Using all of these models from our box, we can then build towards the following 75-point army list. I’ve put the new models we’ve added in bold.

Theme Force: Blindwater Congregation
Rask
– Blackhide Wrastler
– Boneswarm
– Bull Snapper
– Gatorman Soul Slave [free in theme]
Wrong Eye
– Snapjaw
Bog Trog Mist Speaker
Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers
Bone Shrine
Gatorman Husk
Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers
Gatorman Posse (max unit)
– Void Leech
Gatorman Posse (max unit)
– Void Leech
Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron [free in theme]

As with many Blindwater lists, we’re building an aggressive melee-centric army here. Rask absolutely excels at delivering melee forces into the enemy ranks thanks to his feat and to spells like Veil of Mists and Boundless Charge. As we build up from 35 to 75 points, we want to take models that will strengthen our aggressive tactical plan and synergize well with models already found in the army box.

Wrong Eye & Snapjaw: This powerhouse duo is an amazing addition to just about any Blindwater Congregation (or Will Work for Food) theme list. Wrong Eye provides powerful defensive support thanks to his Star-Crossed spell, and Snapjaw not only has one of the best animi in the game but will also rip apart nearly anything he gets into combat with. This is especially true when Snapjaw gets helps from the models in the army box, such as Rask’s Fury spell or the Blackhide Wrastler’s Rage animus.

Bog Trog Mist Speaker: The Mist Speaker is a targeted utility piece that won’t find a home in every Blindwater list, but in the right lists he provides absolutely amazing value. With Rask, the Mist Speaker’s value gets cranked up to 11. Not only does his Guidance spell provide Eyeless Sight, which Rask adores, but he also has Veteran Leader [Bog Trog], which Rask also benefits from!

Gatorman Husk: Blindwater lists have a wealth of options at 1 to 3 points, mostly solos, which is great when an army list has a few points left to fill. One of the newest Blindwater releases, the Gatorman Husk, is a nice point filler that can fit into a wide variety of lists. With a melee-oriented army, having a disruptive Ambushing solo that the opponent must prepare for is very useful. With proper positioning and Ambush timing, or even the skillful use of mind games (He’s coming to get ya!), this 3-point solo can steer enemy models right into the hungry maws of the Gatorman Posse.

Second unit of Gatorman Posse: This addition to the army box is quiet simple, because it follows the Blindwater Collector’s Golden Rule: “If you are playing Blindwater, buy two Gatorman Posse units, maybe three.” The Blindwater Congregation theme force benefits turn the already formidable Gatorman Posse into absolute tanks, capable of taking more damage and then feasting on the flesh of their enemies to heal back up to full.

Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron: The Boil Master is easily one of the most intriguing support units in Minions, if not the entire game, and opens up a ton of new options for army building. While its Puppet Master and Spectral Lash spells are situationally powerful, the primary reason to bring a Boil Master is its ability to collect and generate corpse tokens and then hand them out to nearby friendly models that can use them. Basically, if an army list contains Swamp Shamblers, Boneswarms, Barnabas, or Midas, it’s probably worth considering adding this unit. As an addition to the Blindwater army box models, the Boil Master ensures that the Boneswarm fills up on corpse tokens early, and that the Swamp Shamblers are always adding warriors to their undead ranks.

So there you have it, a fun beginner’s list that is easy and fun to play and that can be painted up easily over the next couple of months. I look forward to seeing all the new Blindwater models painted by all of you in the near future, especially Barnabas, Lord of Blood! Speaking of which, I should finish painting my own models—Adepticon isn’t that far away!