Greetings ladies and gentlemen, Whitestar333 here with the other half of my evaluation on the Privateer Press Summer Deals. Just like with Warmachine, Privateer Press is offering deals on 25 point lists for the Hordes factions. Much like I did for my review on the Warmachine deals I'll be rating these on a 1-5 scale on Longevity (how often you'll use the models in the deal), in a similar style to when I rated the Battlegroup boxes on my own blog, but I'll also rate these based on the Power of the 25 point list in the deal. Just to clarify, I do mean the 25 point list created from the models you get in the deal itself compared to any other 25 point list you might come across. This means that I'm not so much ranking them relative to each other, but more sharing my opinion on whether it'll be a solid list playing against anyone at 25 points. At the end of my review I'll include my [brutally honest] concluding thoughts about the deals themselves!
Hordes
Circle Orboros
Circle Army Summer Sale Bundle contains:
Circle Battlebox (plastic)
o Kaya the Wildborne Warlock
o Feral Warpwolf Heavy Warbeast
o 2 Argus Light Warbeasts
Tharn Bloodtrackers (unit)
Shifting Stones
Lord of the Feast
and a free copy of the Primal MKII rulebook!
Value:
$116.96 vs. $159.95 retail - %26.8 savings
Longevity: (3/5) - In this particular deal I feel like the battlegroup actually holds the deal back from a better score. While most Circle players will agree that Shifting Stones, Lord of the Feast, and Bloodtrackers are amazing models that can be used in most any list, unfortunately those will be the only models you're likely to use again outside of this specific list. I will say that the Feral Warpwolf is much better than people give it credit for, despite it's Stalker brother. The Feral is capable of wrecking most heavies in the game with a full compliment of attacks and you'll miss that MAT 7 when you don't have it around. Unfortunately, pKaya rarely sees play outside of these introductory games and the Argus is notorious for the bashing it gets from the community - despite my personal feelings to the contrary.
Power: (2/5) -This 25 point list is a mixed bag. While Kaya definitely makes her beasts awesome, she does often lack in anti-infantry, which this list packs in spades. Unfortunately, that's to the detriment of some great heavy-hitting warbeasts. Also, Kaya is really good at managing fury on her warbeasts and so the purpose of the Shifting Stones is a little unclear. Additionally, while Occultation is a great spell, it's a bit of a waste on the Bloodtrackers since they already have a natively high DEF and Stealth does not make them terribly excited. In general, this power of this list is just the sum of its parts, and although those parts are pretty great, I think a budding Circle player will get frustrated playing with this list more often than not.
Legion of Everblight
Legion of Everblight Battlebox (plastic)
o Lylyth, Herald of Everblight Warlock
o Carnivean Heavy Warbeast
o 4 Shredder Lesser Warbeasts
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
The Forsaken
Warspears
and a free copy of the Primal MKII rulebook!
Value:
$114.26 vs. $156.94 retail - %27.2 savings
Longevity: (3/5) - Some of the models included in this deal aren't bad at all. Forsaken are pure gold no matter who you take (and were hard to find in stores and online for a while). The Deathstalkers are also great, but are limited in their usage with particular lists (they're great with eLylith). Same thing goes with the Warspears. They're great, but most people will prefer the Warmongers because of berserk. I've already given the battlegroup a solid rating in the past but I think that the models included here, aside from the Forsaken, will probably be too limited for usage in other Legion lists. Also considering how much Legion players like running warbeasts (they're pretty cool so I don't blame them), I doubt many of you who are interested in Legion will be happy without lots of land-shark-dragons running across the battlefield.
Power: (5/5) - I think that this 25 point list is quite solid! While not many feel drawn to pLylith, if you think of her more like a super solo then you'll see why she's so appealing. She shoots targets with her bow (and with Eyeless Sight, mind you) so that her beasts can charge them for free AND she can also toss Parasite on the target for free! She's great at hunting down high-ARM targets and even Shredders become scary when they effectively get +3 POW. This list also sports solid ranged attacks to deal with infantry (Deathstalkers) and the Warspears - although often overlooked for Warmongers - will love pLylith's feat and offer some meaty bodies to keep her safe behind. Lastly, the Forsaken offers some much-needed fury management for Lylith so you can feel safe in running that Carnivean to maximum. Also as a side note - pLylith's feat affects ranged and melee attacks, offering some fantastic versatility against a number of targets - especially with the Carnivean's spray!
Skorne
Skorne Summer Sale Army Bundle contains:
Skorne Battlebox (plastic)
o Master Tormentor Morghoul Warlock
o 2 Cyclops Savage Light Warbeasts
o Titan Gladiator Heavy Warbeast
Nihilators
Paingiver Beast Handlers (unit)
Hakaar the Destroyer
and a free copy of the Primal MKII rulebook!
Value:
$122.36 vs. $165.95 retail - %26.3 savings
Longevity: (5/5) -This deal is fantastic if you're looking to start Skorne. Nihilators are their go-to infantry in a large variety of lists because they sport a good P+S, reach, tough, and berserk for clearing out swaths of models. In fact, the only models that are limited in their use here are probably Hakaar and the Savages, but they can certainly be used with other warlocks.
Power: (4/5) - While I don't have much experience playing with Skorne, I have played against it a lot and I can tell you that I think this list will be pretty solid. Not only is pMorghoul a solid warlock but the rest of the elements seem to work fairly well together. Nihilators will do a great job at clearing out any infantry you might encounter and with the help of the Paingivers and Abuse, those Savages can deal some serious hurt to enemy heavies. Combine all of this with a good feat (although it's much better against Hordes) and I think that any Skorne player will find this 25 point list fun and effective. My only worry is that Hakaar seems a bit out of place here, but I guess he could be a useful solo in this list for his solid melee attacks.
Trollbloods
Trollblood Battlebox (plastic)
o Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain Warlock
o 2 Troll Impaler Light Warbeasts
o Troll Axer Light Warbeast
Fell Caller Hero
Whelps
Runebearer
Trollkin Fennblades
and a free copy of the Primal MKII rulebook!
Value:
$126.86 vs. $170.94 retail - %25.8 savings
Longevity: (5/5) - I think that the Trollblood summer deal is the best deal of the bunch. Period. While Trolls have been adding some diversity to their playstyle, a lot of Trollblood warlocks apply the philosophy of "Axe to Face" and every model included here will find itself useful in a wide variety of lists - even the second impaler might find itself a home with Gunny or Grim! Also worth considering with this list is generally how expensive Troll models are normally (since they're so large in stature) and so a deal like this is fantastic for taking the sting out of purchasing the models you need and this is a fantastic, affordable start to playing the faction.
Power: (4/5) - While the models included here are really fantastic, the hitting power of this list is fairly lacking. More specifically, there's a lot of mid-range power hitting here but nothing goes above the P+S 14 range, which can be a real problem when facing other lists. Fortunately, at 25 points you're unlikely to see a swarm of heavy targets so this is mitigated a bit. Also worth considering is that a large volume of mid-range hitting means that almost anything in your list is capable of damaging heavy targets, even if you might have to apply lots of them to do it. Even still this list I feel packs a lot of power behind it and "bricks up" rather well and its strength is in being able to handle a variety of targets.
Concluding Remarks
It's always refreshing to see a miniatures game company putting models on sale when they aren't going out of business, and each of these 25 point deals represent a great discount to both bolster your forces or if you're interested in taking the plunge into a particular faction. I'm actually amazed at how well-balanced each of these appear to be against each other - and that's not easy to do! I think that any player will get a good feel of the faction from any of these 25 point lists, even if I might make the review sound terrible.
That said, you should have noted by now that the discount on all of these deals is generally around 25%. That's both fairly significant (especially directly from the company) but also unimpressive when compared with online retailers. I won't provide any links or share any names of stores, but I'm sure you're all able to find an online retailer that will sell the same products for 25-30% off of their normal retail value. What does separate these deals apart from their value is that you are getting a 25 point list. They did a pretty good job of finding and making lists that are fairly well-balanced and around the same cost - and that's not an easy thing to do. If you've been playing Warmachine/Hordes for a while, though, these deals are not really for you. You probably will already have an idea of the models you want to purchase for that faction you're eyeing and you can probably pick up the models you need for a much more efficient value (especially since you will doubtfully need the "free" rulebook). If, however, you are new to the game, then I would recommend these deals since you might not have any idea of where to get started - especially since opinion varies wildly on the internet.
In short, if you're interested in taking the plunge into Warmahordes, these are a great way to get started. If, however, you've been playing for at least 6 months, you'll probably be unimpressed.
