Ignore the model's case of "horse face" - the actual model doesn't look that bad in person |
Greetings ladies and gentlemen, it's Whitestar333 here again from Steam-Powered Gamer. Before I get started I want to make a shameless plug for Templecon 2012 which is occuring next weekend in the [smallest U.S.] state of Rhode Island. It's host to the biggest Warmachine/Hordes tournaments outside of Lock-n-Load and actually boasted a larger attendance than GenCon last year, and it's also the first major set of tournaments for the 2012 Season (naturally using the Steamroller 2012 rules), so it will be interesting to see how it turns out! I will be on-site playing in a couple of the tournaments and I will be reporting from the Privateer Press conference early on Friday morning with any spoilers on the next Warmachine book, so check out Steam-Powered Gamer for updates as I will be sharing and info I gather while I'm there!
Okay, shameless plug over. After last week's article on making pNemo work, there was a request for me to do a similar style of article for Zerkova. She's a Khadorian caster that has a special place in my heart and I think she's pretty fantastic and cool, offering a unique playstyle to Khador. Unfortunately, she struggles to come up with easy answers to some common problems, so she's often left behind in favor of the flashier warcasters like Sorscha or Butcher. That said, I think that she will be a satisfying warcaster in the hands of a dedicated general. Let's start - as usual - with looking at her feat.
Zerkova's feat is very interesting for such a straight-forward and aggressive faction like Khador, and is the definition of denial. It basically reads like this: enemy models beginning inside her control area can only make a normal advance and make their initial melee attacks (and buy any attacks as normal). As denial feats go, this one is one of the better ones out there, as you can prevent a lot of the ridiculous threat ranges that other factions can pump up with charging, special actions (from various solos), and also prevents power attacks like throwing or trampling which can be very helpful. This basically means that Zerkova can be a little more certain of the survivability of her warjacks since she knows that she will either be able to deliver them to the opponent's face quickly, or insure that whatever damage they take will be less likely to cripple them (especially against infantry who rely heavily on charging to deal damage to warjacks). This is a feat that you'll likely either want to pop at the bottom of first turn or the top of second turn if your opponent is particularly aggressive with his movement.
Looking at her other abilities, it's important to note that she has Pathfinder (often overlooked, but pretty important for a warcaster to have!) and immunity to cold (common for Khador, but it's important against spellslingers like Vayl or if facing another Khador player). Also, Zerkova is a great counter to a spellslinger warcaster/warlock because if she's ever targeted by a spell, that spell suffers -3 RNG and the attacking model takes d6 damage after the spell is resolved! A bit situational, but it's worth considering Zerkova as a 2nd-list caster in case you face someone like Bethayne, Vayl (either version), or some of the Cryx warcasters like Denny or Scaverous.
What makes Zerkova the most interesting, however, are her Arcane Artifacts which let her modify her spells - making her an even more versatile spellslinger. She has 3 effects to choose from, and can only use each one once during her activation. She can reduce the cost of one of her spells by 1, give herself 360 LOS, ignore LOS and Stealth when targeting a model with a spell, or she can give the spell +3 RNG. It's important to note that each ability can only apply to one spell at a time and you can't stack all three abilities on one spell. Even still, these abilities give her loads of flexibility that will make most spellslingers jealous.
You know who could use Banishing Ward... |
This guy is great for Watcher |
Any tier list that includes darkwing duck- I mean Gorman di Wulfe - is worth considering! |
Zerkova (+6)
- Spriggan (9*)
- Marauder (6*)
- Marauder (6*)
- Vanguard (4*)
Greylord Ternion (4)
Gorman di Wulfe (2)
Kayazy Assassins (full, 8)
- Underboss (2)
Other Benefits:
For each Greylord unit, place one 3" AOE cloud
Add 2" to deployment zone
Some might think that Zerkova is not well-equipped to manage so many warjacks, but I actually think that she will do better than one might think. First, the Spriggan is such a utility warjack and will be ideal for sitting near Zerkova to take advantage of Watcher (which should be cast first turn and upkept until it expires!) while the Vanguard protects her with shield guard and both can pop shots from behind your line. Kayazy are obnoxious enough normally, but with Banishing Ward, Twister, and the Greylords all tossing clouds everywhere, they will be very difficult to get rid of and your opponent will be unable to ignore them. Gorman will also benefit from hiding behind Kayazy and waiting until his moment to throw a black oil bomb to shut down something particularly obnoxious.
Underdog. |
What we're left with is a solid wall of steel surrounding Zerkova, infantry that are really difficult to kill from range, magic, or melee, and more clouds than a Dave Matthews Band concert. Again, I think this list will do best against Hordes opponents (except for Legion) and Cryx, as Zerkova has answers for a variety of threats, you just have to take advantage of the clouds, movement shenanigans, and denying your opponent the charge or target that they want.