Week 1 of my local Journeyman League is done, and it’s time to reflect on some basic tactics and to ponder how to move ahead to week 2.

Let’s start with Vayl, Disciple of Everblight herself. As the army’s warlock, she is the most important and powerful model. She’s also the most fragile. She has a great SPD stat, so positioning her to make the most of her spells should be relatively hassle free—and you will want to use her spells as much as possible. Her DEF is just a little above average, but this combined with Snow-Wreathed should keep her relatively safe from ranged attacks. Don’t be too aggressive with her, though, as her ARM 13 will see her crumble to any attack that does hit her.

At first glance her weapon Oraculus may seem unimpressive, but the ability to channel spells through a target hit while Vayl is hiding in the backlines is incredibly powerful. This is an important learning opportunity even for a veteran player. It’s easy to quantify something like high POW, but it can be difficult to fully appreciate the utility of an attack like Vayl’s. Sometimes the best use of Oraculus is to target one of your own models. During week 1 of our league, I made it a point to show new players the advantages being able to hide 8˝ behind your warbeasts and still cast spells, as well as to explain how to stop channelers by engaging them.

Vayl has one of my favorite spell lists in the game. Chiller is a great utility spell, offering a way to address opponents with high DEF. Again, this provides a great teaching opportunity. Understanding upkeeps is critical to success in a game of WARMACHINE or HORDES, and Chiller offers the opportunity to show new players how upkeeps work. Additionally, Chiller gives you the opportunity to talk with your opponent about the importance of planning ahead and how to decide who the target needs to be on turn 1, so that by turn 3, when that model or unit is engaged in combat, it will have been the correct call.

Hoarfrost is another great teaching tool. An AOE with a critical effect provides a chance to explain game mechanics, such as when to boost or how blast damage and deviation work. While Incite may seem to be a straightforward spell, its teaching moment comes from explaining the resource cost of the spell and its effects versus how much it would cost for a beast to boost to achieve those effects.

Out of all Vayl’s many great spells, however, I had the most fun explaining Rampager. This can be a very deceptive spell, and a new player’s inclination is generally to take control of a warbeast and hit the opponent’s own models with it. It may be better, however, to simply move an opponent’s model out of the way to create a charge lane for his warcaster or warlock. Additionally, many opponents can be caught off guard by having their warbeasts moved out of their control zones, and they may be unprepared for the impact this will have on their next turn.

The Scythean’s animus is a lesson waiting for when my opponents have infantry. The real learning points I used the Scythean to illustrate are the frenzy rules. This required me to play a bit more defensively with Vayl so she still had a large amount of fury on her to facilitate failing threshold checks. The Scythean also allowed me to instruct players on how to choose chain attack targets, explaining the value in attacking hard targets you aren’t likely to kill with both of your initial attacks.

There are two main learning points for the Neraph. First, though it is a heavy warbeast, it is better suited to removing your opponent’s light warbeasts than heavies. Second, its animus is an incredibly powerful tool for controlling your opponent’s army placement as well as for creating charge lanes for your own models.

I had three ideas about how to expand my new Legion of Everblight army for week 2 of the Journeymen League:

1. Spawning Vessel + Strider Deathstalker
My immediate thought was to add a full Spawning Vessel unit to my army. The ability to produce 6 points of models over the course of a game for the price of a 3-point unit is amazing, as is the ability to produce lesser warbeasts to fill a deficiency in my battle line during the game.

At only 3 points for a full unit, I would still have 2 points left for a solo. I would need something capable of hunting down my opponent’s new solo and support pieces, and the Strider Deathstalker would fill that role perfectly. With an impressive RAT, high SPD, and Advanced Deployment, she would be an incredible tool to take out key support pieces.

As mentioned in my previous insider, however, I believe the responsibility of a veteran player is to guide new players and help them understand the rules of the game, not to beat them down mercilessly. As such, while I know I will add these components to my army at a later date, now is not the time.

2. Strider Deathstalker + Forsaken + Blighted Nyss Shepherd

This brings me to option 2: support solos. The Blighted Nyss Shepherd excels with ranged warbeasts, as she has the ability to force warbeasts in her command range. Additionally, she can either heal a warbeast or remove fury from it. The Forsaken has a similar ability, but instead of removing fury, she actually stores it, powering up like a battery over the course of battle until she is ready to unleash a blight bomb to wreck her opponents. As mentioned above, I adore the Strider Deathstalker for her ability to remove key pieces from my opponent’s army.

This is a solid expansion, and I almost went for it. The issue, though, is that Vayl is very greedy with her fury and wants to use as much as she can get each turn. Given my current beast loadout of only two heavies, I don’t believe I will be able to power up the Forsaken, and there isn’t enough fury generation to justify a Shepherd yet.

3. Nephilim Bloodseer

Vayl loves to use fury. Starting with only two heavy warbeasts, they tend to run very hot, and once you lose that first warbeast her fury generation will be all but crippled. Adding another warbeast to the mix helps alleviate some of these issues. Thanks to the Nephilim Bloodseer’s Telemetry ability, Vayl should have no problem hitting whatever target she desires with her spells. The Bloodseer brings additional utility in the form of primal magic, allowing it to cast another friendly Faction warbeast’s animus. This is particularly potent with the Neraph’s animus, giving you the ability to ensure your opponent’s models are exactly where you want them to be.

So, that settles it. In a game of giant stompy robots and horrific monsters I want to use as many as possible!