Skye

Race: Elf
Class: Defender
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Low
Threat Range: High

Profile: Skye has possibly the best defensive stat line in the game. Though he has no RES he has AGI 6 as well as MOV 5 and 15 boxes. Though 15 boxes is low for a defender it is average overall and would be high for an AGI 5 model, let alone an AGI 6 model. To make him even more survivable if you knock him down he only loses 2 AGI instead of 3 ans stands back up for free. He has MEL 6 with a 2" melee range, 2|3|4 damage and a Soul Harvest of 4. He also has pathfinder.

His incredibly high AGI makes him psuedo-immune from a lot of conditions in the game - Rakkir isn't going to try and put poison on him rolling 3 dice, Istariel's 1 dice Burning Arrow attacks are not very effective she needs the Ring of Power to have a minuscule theoretical chance of causing fire. etc.

What does he do?: I'm going to insert in this section Tort's guide to using Skye. First thing when it comes to warband selections - Skye is extremely fate hungry, don't take him with heroes that are going to burn up your fate. Next when it comes to positioning him - in 3s Skye is very difficult to damage - his high AGI means your opponent simply will not be able to roll enough dice to kill him - they will need to wear him down over multiple turns which gives you the opportunity to retreat or heal or otherwise collect souls with the rest of your largely unmolested warband. In 5s he is less survivable - your opponent can conceivably throw more at him, there are more models to add ganging up bonuses and more activations before he can go again. You will actually need to think about positioning and how important his safety is.

Now on to why you are taking Skye in your warbane - Heroic Stand. For the cost of an action and a fate Skye gains the ability to teleport to a friendly model in the process of being attacked, give the model 4 health and if it is a melee attack remove a die from the dice pool (by engaging the model, he is moved before the dice pool for the attack is calculated). It also allows Skye to be extremely mobile he can move more than 5" as he can be placed anywhere b2b with the model being attacked and since he moves before the attack you can't avoid triggering the ability with pushes or other combat maneuvers.

Getting the best out of this ability can be tricky - for best results you need 2 fate. There are many models in judgement that gain from applying crits or applying combat manoeuvres, these models will often charge in order to be able to apply these effects as these effects are rare to trigger unless you roll large numbers of dice.

In order to prevent your opponent from being able to trigger those effects you are able to trigger Heroic Stand and then also use Stand your Ground. This will cost a second fate but will remove both dice from the charge and likely an additional dice from subsequent attacks. Rakkir for example charging with 6 dice would have a 64% chance of triggering poison and then using his toxin ability, by removing two dice you reduce the chance to 38%. In this hypothetical situation where Rakkir would be expecting to do 13-17 damage with attacks and toxins he is instead unlikely to trigger toxin, and will do less damage with attacks, taking into account the extra 4 life the model gains Rakkir is only likely to do 2-4 damage. That is a huge difference. This also works on Brok needing Crits, Thorgar with his throw, and other non-aggressor models who may have struggled to trigger effects as is.

If you don't have to worry about triggering abilities you can still use Heroic Stand to add health to a model in danger of death and remove dice, if your opponent is using ranged attacks you may be able to use Heroic Stand to block LOS - the original attack will still happen but your opponent will not be able to make subsequent ranged attacks against the original model (note: you will need terrain or other models in order to block a 50mm base from another 50mm base).

His other defender ability is diversion - it allows you to allocate damage to any models within 2" when another model within 2" is hit - crucially you can allocate damage to a defender although you can't use the ability when another defender is the target of the attack. This will trigger along with other defender abilities so for example Thrommels Bodyguard ability will add two RES to the original target and then you can transfer damage to Thrommel effectively negating 4 damage through RES.

At level 2 he gains the ability to stun a model (2S + damage - the combat manoeuvre also heals Skye) and at level 3 he gains an excellent ability - Globe of Invulnerability which grants a RES to models within 4". This ability dovetails with Heroic Stand as when you teleport to a model the 4" bubble moves with you so in addition to giving a model 5 health and reducing your opponents dice pool you can also add a RES to the model being attacked and position Skye to affect other models as well. Globe of Invulnerability costs an action and a fate.

Fate Appetite: High. If Skye isn't using Heroic Stand every turn he isn't doing his job.

Level Appetite: Low. It's hard to use both Heroic Stand and Globe of Invulnerability, getting him to level 2 is a good improvement, he gains the ability to use Heroic Stand, charge and stun a model to make it lose an action (or a fate to shake) but it's not essential to him.

Magic Items: Minotaur Essence (Med), Gift of the Gods (Med). The Boots of Agility are overkill with him. He only goes down to 4 AGI even when knocked down so your opponent will almost never be rolling good dice against him. Taking him to 7 AGI instead of 6 won't effect models unless the attack stat they are using is 8 or higher, there is generally another model in your warband that will benefit more from the boots. Don't bother with an offensive item since he will not make a lot of attacks (usually 1-2 a turn). I like the Minotaur Essence with him as he tends to be quite hard to hurt but in the way a lot. It stops you killing him over turns with chip damage. Gift of the Gods is also good on him especially in combination with Heroic Stand but eats up even more fate.

Combinations: I like Skye with minotaurs as he can share the damage out and then have it regenerated - Doenrakkar is a great partner for him as he can hold space in the centre while Skye teleports around behind or to the side. He likes both ranged and melee warbands, he works particularly well with Brok - Heroic Stand + Heroic Destiny makes him surprising survivable and Brok can draw in targets, gain the health and protection from Skye then activate with an extra die from Skye engaging the model that attacked him.

Ban Targets: Zhonyja actually rolls enough dice to hurt him, Loribella and Styx can do damage without rolling dice - look out for models that can pull him out of position - now that the distance is reduced to 5" on heroic stand he can actually be out of position.

Judy's Judgement:

Kogan

Race: Minotaur
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Med-High (he rewards conservative play so his survivability increases rapidly with good play)
Damage Output: High
Threat Range: High (10"+ is a high rating for charging or moving and making a ranged attack)

Profile: He has minotaur stats - MOV 4, AGI 3, lots of boxes (18) and regeneration 2. His MEL is 7 and his RNG is 6 despite this he is still mainly a ranged aggressor, if used as a melee aggressor his output is lower than all the other melee aggressors. His melee attack is range 2" and does 2|3|5 damage and his ranged attack is range 6" and does 3|4|5 damage with armour piercing (ignores 1 RES).

What does he do?: Kogan wants to be a second line hero. He wants to sit behind what are preferably defenders and shoot his gun. The main reasons he wants to do this are that the gun has better damage than the melee attack, the gun has armour piercing, and the gun has the better combat manoeuvre (knock down). Just quickly on the Sustained Attack combat manoeuvre - it's not very good. It's a 2S + damage combat manoeuvre which means it is hard to get it going and 50% of the time it does absolutely nothing. If you need to be making a melee attack anyway (this will often be the case as Kogan needs to sit quite close to your front line) then it's a nice bonus but you shouldn't be looking for it.

Aside from shooting his gun the other reason Kogan wants to sit just behind your front line is his excellent level 2 ability - Stand and Shoot. If charged he is able to make a ranged attack targeting the model charging him. If he manages to trigger his 2S + damage combat manoeuvre Power Shot the model will be knocked down outside of his melee range and therefore unable to attack him. Even if you don't you can add some damage to the model and of course if you have a model in front of him the charging model may also have to take a free strike making charging Kogan a daunting prospect.

Lastly he has very strong fate abilities - Battle Cry is an ability he wants to use every turn if he can. An ideal turn for Kogan involves aiming at a knocked down model, using Battle Cry and then shooting three times. He comes very close to guaranteeing crits. He can do this to a regular standing model too and will still do a great amount of damage. His other fate ability is Buck Shot you need to get to level 3 to use it but it is bonkers. You make ranged attacks against the target and up to 2 enemy models within 2" of the target. This means that Kogan can make up to 9 attacks on three different models and use Battle Cry on all of them. In practice this will not happen - it's hard to get Kogan to level 3 and usually you will only get one other model. Remember all three models also have to be in Kogan's 6" range. It's limiting although you can use the manoeuvre symbols you roll to move Kogan forwards to get more models in range - he only needs LOS to the original target which helps if he is hiding behind a defender.

A note on Kogan related to including him in a warband - Kogan is strongest in 5v5 games. He is quite good in 3v3 games where you can use him as a hybrid melee and ranged aggressor but you will struggle to create a proper second line with 3 models, your opponent won't generally leave their entire warband within 2" for you to get Buck Shot working and he will spend a lot more of the game engaged and forced to use his melee attack. He can still do a lot with his melee attack but it is not what he ideally wants to do.

Fate Appetite: Med. He wants to use Battle Cry every turn and if he is making 3 attacks you will get a very high benefit from Battle Cry (even with 2 attacks it's a good option) but he's still quite good without it.

Level Appetite: Med-High. Kogan is an odd one because you won't generally get to use either of his level up abilities. Your opponent will generally try to walk up to Kogan rather than charging and risking the knockdown and your opponent will try to keep some distance between models to avoid you getting a really good buckshot turn. That said they are both bonkers good abilities that you really want to have available.

Magic Items: Heartseeker (High). Kogan's biggest weakness is his RNG of 6 the Heartseeker makes him really sing. He doesn't generally need defensive items - if you can level him up and play him behind a defender your opponent will generally opt for less difficult targets.

Combinations: Thrommel is his best friend. Get Thrommel to level 2 first then use him to knock down targets for Kogan. Thrommel is difficult to kill and can't be pushed out of the way to clear a charge lane to Kogan. Your opponent will not charge Kogan if they have to take a free strike from Thrommel and a Stand and Shoot reaction from Kogan. Forcing your opponent to fight Thrommel instead really lets Kogan sing as a second line hero. Marcus also does this job nicely although his free strikes are much less scary and he can be pushed away to open up lanes. I also quite like Istariel or Victor with him - Those models are able to sit even further back than Kogan allowing Kogan to help protect them and they can help pile on to models knocked down by your front line defenders also they doesn't use Heartseeker. Istariel has Armour Piercing allowing you to get great value from your second line against Defenders or models with RES and Victor adds Algarath to your front line to increase the protection of models sitting in behind. Saiyin's healing is nice and she likes to sit behind defenders, Skye's ability to teleport back and engage a model attacking Kogan even after making a parting blow is amazing. Haksa brings good healing and his Voodoo Idol allows you to make it even harder to go after your second line.

Ban Targets: Kogan doesn't like the long ranged aggressors, Allandir in particular is mobile and able to strike well at range especially if he can get Camouflage. Istariel for the same reason. Both of these aggressors also have the ability to set him on fire which takes away his Regeneration and any other healing you have in your warband. Styx and Kvarto are able to pull him out of the back line - it's less of an issue for Kogan than it is for squishier heroes like Victor, Istariel, Zaffen and Allandir but they will often be in the warband together.

Judy's Judgement:

Skoll Bonestorm

Race: Ettin (Two headed orc)
Class: Defender
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Med
Threat Range: Med

Profile: Skoll has closer to minotaur stats than orc stats even though he is technically an orc (MOV 4, AGI 3, 21 boxes). His RES 1 is low for a defender and his MEL 5 is also below average. He does 2|3|4 damage which is good especially as he has Dual Wield which allows him to make a second attack every attack action with a one die penalty. He is immune to stun and parting blows do not gain an extra die.

What does he do?: Skoll is the best damage dealer of the defenders though his survivability is low for a defender and he needs dice fixing. If you can get Skoll some extra dice he is able to do aggressor level damage but a lot of the time you will be struggling to provide that dice assistance.

His Bulwark ability giving a model 5 extra health is an excellent ability, it can make a massive difference keeping a model alive. He fate ability (1A and 1F) does a d6 damage for every soul bound to models within 3" - it can be very effective as Skoll is a defender and wants to get forwards but you won't often find opportunities to use it. When Skoll levels up you can choose one of two paths:

Mystic - He has a 1A cost ability that makes your opponents active abilities (within 4") cost an extra action. This is great against models that want to use active abilities. Rakkir for example wants to charge, apply poison, use Toxin then escape. This makes Toxin take an action and a fate, if Rakkir had to move and then charge he can't use the ability at all. At level 3 he can spend a fate to make models lose their innate abilities while within 4", this takes away abilities like Back Swing (Brok), Dual Wield, Regeneration, Transference (Kruul), Heroic Ballad (Bastian), Back Stab (Piper) etc. It is better on abilities that you will be able to trigger like Transference but you can also use it to make life harder on your opponent, stopping Dual Wield or Back Swing can be huge.

Warrior - At level 2 you gain Combo Strike - you sacrifice your Dual Attack so while it costs 2A it stops you from making normal attack and 2 back swing attacks. That said the damage goes up and you gain a 2S knock down and Stun. It can be situationally useful to use it on a charge (for example against a defender with decent RES or when you need Stun and Knockdown). At level 3 he gains Mystic Shield - the ability to make a non-defender immune to ranged or magic attacks (pick one) this can be extremely strong.

Fate Appetite: Low. Until he gets to level 3 you will not generally use fate. Soul Burn can be very useful but you won't get a lot of opportunities to get good value from it (a fate and an action is not worth 1d6 damage, just make your attack then your dual attack most of the time).

Level Appetite: Low. I say this despite the fact that his level 3 abilities are excellent. He is able to carry out his job without levelling.

Magic Items: Vorpal Blade (high). Skoll needs dice fixing to work. Mel 5 is bad and deliberately so because he is very survivable and with good dice fixing able to fight as well as an aggressor. The Vorpal Blade is not enough if you want him to really sing, ganging up bonuses, knock down, Heroic Ballad, and poison are suggested to get him to really work. The minotaur essence isn't a bad option for him.

Combinations: Bastian and Marcus are both great enablers to get his melee damage working and Bastian can heal him which is very useful. I like the Skoll + Thorgar combination for Thorgar's ability to add knockdowns for him. Skoll is a very strong defender for a melee centric list - you'll be able to provide crowd outs and the Bulwark defender ability is very strong and can help keep your melee aggressors alive.

Ban Targets: He doesn't like Istariel - she loves attacking agility 3 models and though healing is not as important for Skoll as Doenrakkar for example he still needs healing if he wants to stay alive. He relies on his 1 RES and high boxes as he is AGI 3 - you generally won't kill him in one activation but you'll need to apply healing to keep him alive especially as the other defender abilities won't work on him. Skye is a problem with his ability to teleport and take off a die.

Judy's Judgement:

Kvarto

Race: Human
Class: Hybrid (essentially a supporter IMO)
Survivability: Med (high for a supporter)
Damage Output: Med (taking into account his ability to make 3 magic attacks and his level 3 ability)
Threat Range: High (9" charge is average but he also has a 6" magic attack)

Profile: Human stats (MOV 4, AGI 4) with highish boxes (16). He has a MEL of 6 and a MAG of 7. His melee attack is range 2" and his magic attack range 6". When he gets to level 2 he gains a RES and immunity to poison. He has a Soul Harvest of 4 which is often enough with a little help from nearby models or from killing Inferno.

What does he do?: Kvarto is interesting because he does a lot of things and none of them particularly well. His best ability is Mind Control, it costs one action and allows you to make an attack with a friendly model within 4". It is better than it sounds because often you will have one model who has a very good attack option - either getting a lot of ganging up bonuses or against a knocked down model or with a great ranged attack - so this is always a high value attack.

Other than mind control he has his own attacks - both attacks have 2S abilities, poison on melee and fire on the magic attack. Though the magic attack is higher dice it is a lot easier to get bonuses on the melee attack and he often likes to gang up on models he is about to mind control an attack into.

Hold Monster is an ability that I find dangerous to rely upon, though you can stop a monster from advancing you can't stop your opponent from pushing one of your models into its melee. Telekinesis allows you to move an enemy model 5" it's a place and the target has to be within 4" - though the effect of moving a model 5" is very strong the 4" range is quite limiting and it costs an action and a fate.

Fate Appetite: Low. Telekinesis is good but it often means moving Kvarto further forwards than is idea.

Level Appetite: High. His level up abilities are quite important to making him a strong choice. When he gets to level 2 his survivability becomes quite good, when he gets to level 3 he is able to deal very good damage.

Magic Items: Glyph of Warding (Med). It's my favourite item to give him, the Boots of Agility are also strong choices. You generally want to avoid giving him something like the Ring of Power or the Vorpal Blade because he wants to use his non-attack abilities.

Combinations: Zaffen is my favourite partner for Kvarto. His ranged attack is high damage and can reach a lot of places. Thrommel is not a bad partner - the biggest issue I have found with using Mind Control on Thrommel is that unless you have knocked down the target he isn't rolling very many dice (the difference between MEL 6 and 7 may not seem that big but melee aggressors will also often have the Vorpal Blade and 2 dice is a big difference). He works well with Rakkir as he is able to apply poison before Rakkir goes in and he isn't bad with Istariel because of his ability to set things on fire before she activates at level 3. Thorgar is a good partner for him and I don't mind Marcus for out of activation knock downs (also Kvarto at level 2 really likes the extra RES). Kogan though is range is less than Zaffen also does excellent ranged damage and has an out of activation knock down.

Ban Targets: Kvarto doesn't have a lot of weaknesses - there aren't many obvious ban targets but also his strengths are limited. He can struggle against a lot of aggressors. His survivability is OK and his damage output is OK but he won't out-fight an aggressor and he won't survive like a defender.

Judy's Judgement:

Doenrakkar

Race: Minotaur
Class: Defender
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Med (though often low as he wants to Stone Form)
Threat Range: Med (though often low as he wants to to Stone Form)

Profile: Minotaur stats (MOV 4, AGI 3 with high boxes - 20), MEL of 6 and damage of 2|3|5 all are average or above for a defender. He only has a RES of 1 which is low but it goes to 3 when he Stone Forms which is excellent. He has Regeneration (2) which goes up to 3 when he levels up. All this adds up to making him one of the hardest models to kill in the game (if you use his abilities).

What does he do?: Doenrakkar is the tankiest of tanks. He wants to push forwards, he wants to stone form, he wants to lock down models with Stone Grasp and he wants to not die. He does all those things very well. If you don't stone form his survivability is still OK - he has AGI 3 which is poor but better than the 1 he has in Stone Form, RES 1 which is OK and 20+ boxes which is very good. That said he goes from practically invincible to moderately hard to kill. Doenrakkar actually does very good damage for a defender if you need it which makes him quite versatile.

He has several abilities:
Stone Form makes him RES 3 with AGI 1, and become nigh unkillable. Only costs an action so you are able to run fate light.
Stone Grasp - models cannot perform move actions in his melee, this ability is only really strong on 1" melee models as 2" melee models can attack Doenrakkar and because of his low AGI (or AGI 1 in stone form) use the manoeuvre symbols to push themselves out of melee. It does at least make them waste an attack which can be useful.
Redirection - one of the stronger defender abilities, take the first hit a model in 2" suffers on Doenrakkar.
Healing Wave (level 3) - heals all friendly models in 3" 3 health, it's hard to get Doenrakkar to level 3 and this ability is situational and costs a fate.

As a rule when playing against Doenrakkar it is not a good idea to try and kill him. His incredible health plus the ability to be RES 3 means you have to dedicate a lot of damage to him and his healing abilities are strong - you can't just chip damage over the course of several turns. Don't go for it unless you a good plan.

Fate Appetite: Low. Stone Grasp can be situationally strong but he doesn't need to use it to do his job.

Level Appetite: Low. Getting to level 2 is quite nice, one of the things that makes Doenrakkar so hard to kill is his healing and that helps. The extra life is quite nice too.

Magic Items: Doenrakkar does not generally need or want a magical item. The Blood Sucker is nice and I admit I have used the Healing Surge on him which was one of my favourite Judgement moments but in general use the items on other models.

Combinations: Doenrakkar wants healing and enables the other models in your army to get their jobs done, whether it's Soulgazers behind him or Aggressors staying nearby to make use of Redirection or moving away while he locks down enemy aggressors. Saiyin works very well with Doenrakkar - she sits behind him, heals him and he allows her to soulgaze in peace. Bastian is another great choice - he makes it hard to get to him, takes attacks from him with redirection and his healing is fantastic. I don't like Doenrakkar as much as the knockdown defenders (Marcus and Thrommel) for a warband with ranged aggressors because he tends to be engaging enemy models and therefore is more of a hindrance than a help but he is one of the stronger defenders for a melee focused warband.

Ban Targets: Brok. If you want Doenrakkar to be at his best ban Brok. When he gets to level 3 he causes real problems for Doenrakkar - if Doenrakkar uses Stone Forms he can use Molten Metal and do a lot of damage, if he doesn't he's AGI 3 with only 1 RES and a perfect target to trigger Back Swing. Less worrisome ban targets you should still consider - Istariel shuts down his healing and ignores one of his RES, that said she does not have the damage dealing ability to kill him. Allandir is able to use his low AGI to trigger Twin Shot and can set him on fire and ignore his RES at level 3. He can be placed by Styx and Kvarto and Kvarto can also set him on fire, Rakkir will get Toxin off against him.

Judy's Judgement:

Bastian

Race: Human
Class: Supporter
Survivability: Low
Damage Output: Low
Threat Range: High(ish)

Profile: Bastian has human stats (MOV 4, AGI 4) and a rather paltry MEL 5. He does 1|2|4 damage which is very low especially combined with his low MEL. He has 14 boxes which is on the low side of average. His Soul Harvest is 5 making him a decent back up soulgazer and his melee range of 3" is quite strong.

What does he do?: Despite having that very uninspiring profile Bastian has some amazing abilities that make him one of the strongest supporters in the game. His bread and butter ability is Heroic Ballad - models within 4" of him gain +1 attack dice on their melee attacks. He can generally double that to +2 dice by engaging the model with his 3" reach. Though Bastians attacks do not do a lot of damage you do often end up attacking with him in order to move models around as part of his set up for the melee models you will be bringing with him. He can also use Plane Walker to be extremely mobile around the map to ensure his Heroic Ballad can be effective in multiple battles. 

Next in order of importance is Prayer of Health. He heals a d6+3 and the ability is incredibly useful. Even if you can't save a model you can force your opponent to allocate often 2-3 more attacks to kill it. It combines nicely with his Calming Waters ability which allows you to remove conditions from a model. In Judgement there is real danger in activating front line models (particularly aggressors) early in the round - if your opponent can knock the model down then you can't stand the model up or move it away until the start of the next round. Calming Waters is one of the few abilities that mitigates that. With Bastian you can send in an aggressor early - let your opponent charge with Marcus or Thrommel or Thorgar then heal the model and stand it up.

Enhance Magic and Time Bender are also great abilities - Enhance Magic is a great way to get extra dice from the Vorpal Blade or turn the Blood Sucker into a Leech (4) item. It also works on the defensive items allowing you to turn the Boots of Agility or the Glyph of Warding up to 11. Time Bender is incredibly strong especially now that conditions like fire and knockdown are removed. If you get Bastian to level 3 (something that is often quite difficult) then you should be using the ability as much as possible.

The best way in general to use Bastian is to try and keep him behind your front line and hopefully near a defender or two, benefit from Heroic Ballad and activate him after your opponent goes in on a hero to heal the model. He is very easy to kill and will often need the defenders abilities to keep him alive. His Prayer of Health is also usually much more valuable on defenders. Note that if you want Bastian to soulgaze you will want to activate him first, he can still do this and provide his aura and be somewhat effective but he loses a lot - you'll need to evaluate how important his ability to heal and remove conditions will be later in the turn. Bastian is a good model to send in to rough up a nearby monster on turn 1 - his 3" melee means you can keep him far enough away to prevent counter attacks while still giving the ganging up bonus, he will give the model you send in to finish the monster +2 dice and you don't need his abilities on turn one most of the time.

Fate Appetite: Med. You will often want to cast Prayer of Health and you can cast it on any model on the table as long as you have 3 actions using Plane Walker.

Level Appetite: Low. Enhance Magic is a good ability and Time Bender is amazing but it can be a struggle getting him to level 3 and most other models in your warband will get more out of an early level than Bastian.

Magic Items: Bastian does not want an offensive item but the defensive ones are quite useful, The Boots of Agility (Med) and the Glyph of Warding (Med) are both strong with him especially as he can use Enhance Magic on himself.

Combinations: Take Bastian with melee models, they are all good with him. Some in particular like him: Rakkir/Brok/Zhonja - really need the extra dice for Crits or 2S+damage abilities, Skoll - with his low MEL Skoll really wants the extra dice to rack up the damage with Dual Wield.

Ban Targets: Allandir can cause a lot of problems both with his ability to put damage on Bastian who is quite squishy and with Twin Shot and Explosive Shot penalising you from putting models near Bastian (which is where you want your melee models). As he is a bit squishy and his positioning is important Styx can also be an issue. Bastians ban targets are low priority - you generally want to look at who will cause problems for the rest of your warband.

Judy's Judgement:

Thorgar

Race: Minotaur
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Low to Med
Damage Output: High
Threat Range: Med

Profile: Thorgar has minotaur stats which are pretty good without being very exciting - MOV 4, AGI 3, high boxes (18) and a MEL of 7 (standard for a melee aggressor). Where he distinguishes himself is in having a melee range of 2" with damage of 3|4|6 which is excellent. As a minotaur he also has Regeneration (2).

What does he do?: I consider Thorgar in many ways to be the baseline melee aggressor. He has excellent base damage and he has very strong melee abilities which are pretty straightforward. If you just send him forwards and hit things you'll still get a lot out of him - more than a lot of the other more complicated aggressors. That said his abilities which I will go through below are the key to high level Thorgar play, also like a lot of aggressors he needs a bit of help if you want him to stay alive.

Enraged Slam - This is a brilliant fate ability, it allows you to move models and does automatic damage ignoring RES and without requiring you to hit (so also ignoring AGI). It has the dual benefit of being great against the high RES defenders as well as the high AGI elves. At level 3 he can do this ability without using a fate and if you do get him to level 3 you should always be on the look out to see if there is a good Enraged Slam path for him. 3" to the side means that often you can move so that the model will still be in Thorgar's melee range at the end of its push.

Gore Thrust - is one of the better combat manoeuvres in the game, it allows you to throw (and therefore also knock down) a model giving you dice fixing and allowing you to move an enemy model where you need it. It's a 2S ability so it is hard to get it working reliably but you have the benefit of being able to charge for extra dice and ganging up and other bonuses. Also unlike Rakkir where applying poison is crucial the throw is often just very good, fail it and Thorgar can still continue to attack for decent damage.

Man Catcher - Gore thrust also works very well with his level 2 ability Man Catcher which allows him to pull in and attack a model within 4" (the same distance as the throw) with one action. Man Catcher is also a great ability to allow Thorgar to get 3 attack actions and do maximum damage or to move enemy models forwards to be in range of other models in your army. If you can pull a model into melee range of two models you'll get the same bonus as charging but get it on all of your attacks.

Fate Appetite: Low. 5 damage (Enraged Slam) is OK for a fate ability - the good melee ones do on average 7 damage, the good ranged ones closer to 3-4. If you can move a model to where it will take more damage or if you can get multiple models it becomes a great fate investment for damage. Be aware that you also need to take into account where Thorgar ends up and if you have put Thorgar in a position where he will more easily take damage that can undo any advantage you have from extra damage.

Level Appetite: Med. Man Catcher is good. You will use it. I am not sold on whether this should be a medium or high level appetite. I have often found that the better strategy is to give the first level up from killing the nearby monster to a more important target depending on who else is in the warband so I have left it at medium. He still operates at quite a high level without getting to level 2.

Magic Items: Vorpal Blade (Med), Defensive Items (Med), Armour Shredder (against a lot of high RES models) - I don't mind either the Glyph of Warding or the Boots of Agility on Thorgar. He needs some help to stay alive but not not a huge amount of help. I generally only take the Boots of Agility if I am more concerned about ranged aggressors as Thorgar can often get cover from a shrine or ideally from your opponents effigy and is often in melee.

Combinations: I like Thorgar with the other melee aggressors because he has a knock down and doesn't need the Vorpal Blade as badly as Brok or Rakkir does. Bastian is a strong option as he gives him extra dice in melee and can heal him. Saiyin is fantastic with the frontline minotaurs as she can make them immune to fire (so their regeneration is not stopped) and she gives them extra healing. For me Thorgar is still the baseline melee aggressor - if you want a melee aggressor you take him unless you have some kind of synergy or plan involving another melee aggressor.

Ban Targets: Thorgar doesn't like fire but he can live with it. He has good abilities to handle high AGI models - better than for example Rakkir or Brok. He can struggle with high RES models though he has answers. Gendris and Thrommel can be problems for him in that one of his best answers to high RES models is to get rid of them with enraged slam and get to the softer targets behind. His low AGI often means that he is targetted by other aggressors who while they have lower base damage can often do more damage with their special abilities that can trigger off his low AGI.

Judy's Judgement: