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:

Zaron

Race: Human
Class: Soulgazer
Survivability: Med (can be high if played conservatively)
Damage Output: Med
Threat Range: High (uses ranged magic attacks and a summoned skeleton to deal damage)

Profile: He has AGI 4, MOV 4 and a lowish amount of boxes (14) but his mediocre defensive stats are made up for by his ability to contribute at range, often at extreme range. He has a MEL of 5 that you want to avoid using and a MAG of 7. The damage on his magic attack is higher than the damage on his melee attack as well.

He is able to summon a skeleton with MOV 4, AGI 2 and MEL 2. It only has 2 actions and 4 damage boxes.

What does he do?: Zaron's game is focused around 3 things, his soulgazing, his summoning and his magical attack. Of all the soulgazers he is able to contribute most when not soulgazing however unlike Saiyin and Kruul he has no way to strip souls from enemy models and he provides very little support outside of ganging up bonuses from the skeleton. He has the Gift of Life ability which gives a model Leech 2 (the ability to heal up to 2 damage with each attack) an ability I quite like on Brok (BOOOO! errata). With the errata only allowing you to gain 2 life per attack action this is no longer something I would look in any way to build around and instead this is a way to add some healing particularly to ranged models (since your opponent will generally get a turn to try and kill the model before any healing has a chance to go ahead).

Soulgazing - Zaron has two ways to soulgaze, he can get within 4" like a regular soulgazer or he can soulgaze through his summoned skeleton from any distance. This allows Zaron to stay base to base with his effigy, soulgaze and bank. Also when Zaron gets to level 3 he is allowed to use the Shadow Orbs he can place to teleport around the board and of course back to the effigy to allow him to bank. On maps with two soulpits he is able to stand within range of one and send his summoned skeleton to the other soul pit in order to easily soulgaze both spawning locations.

Summoning - In addition to the skeletons ability to act as a soulgazing proxy it also has some useful combat abilities. Though it is only Range 1" and MEL 2 it is able to charge and throw 3 dice at most targets and often as importantly when Zaron gets to level 2 the skeleton will explode when destroyed doing 2 damage (ignoring RES) to all models in 3". It costs an action and a fate to summon a skeleton and is almost always the right move given the versatility of the skeleton. Even when the skeleton does very little you get some value from your opponent directing attacks to destroy it.

Attacking - Zaron has the best base attack at range of any of the soulgazers at 2|3|4 and at MAG 7. This is actually a really strong ranged/magical attack as those go in the game. Though Zaron generally prefers to be summoning and soulgazing he can actually get a fair amount of work down with his magical attack.

Fate Appetite: High. He wants to make a skeleton every turn if he can.

Level Appetite: High. The skeletons are a lot more valuable at level 2 when you add in the exploding rule. You can force your opponent both to waste attacks and to take damage digging it out of an awkward area. His level 3 teleport ability is also very strong. This is mitigated by the fact that he is a soulgazer and will level up easily if there are souls on the board.

Magic Items: Ring of Power (Low), Boots of Agility (Low). He doesn't really need an item, he can generally stay pretty far back and contribute and spends a lot of actions soulgazing and summoning.

Combinations: I wrote this before the errata last night and a lot of this section was the combination I liked with Brok where you put leech on a level 2 Brok, hard to kill in one activation because of Heroic Destiny and then he could heal up to 12 damage back. I'm not sure the combination works now that you can only heal a maximum of 6 damage but you can try it if you want. Considering it's been 12 hours since the errata I haven't had a chance to play around with the new rules. Also I have had some joy using the skeleton to go and engage targets for Piper (you don't risk anything to trigger backstab and your opponent has to waste attacks to deal with it). Generally though Zaron is a very strong soulgazer in a fate light warband (as in where the rest of the warband doesn't need fate). He is the strongest soulgazer for double soul pit maps so far released.

Ban Targets: Zaron doesn't like ranged models both for his ability to stay back himself and for their ability to aim, kill the skeleton and use the symbols generated to move into range of other models. Whenever you take a soulgazer if you can stop your opponent from also having a soulgazer you have an advantage. Watch out for Brok using the skeleton as a way to trigger backswing and get a free attack. Watch out for models like Piper pushing the skeleton into your own models before exploding it. Styx is always a pain for back-line models that do not survive in frontline melee and Zaron fits that bill.

Judy's Judgement:

Brok

Race: Dwarf
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Low
Damage Output: Very High (up to 24 without his fate abilities)
Threat Range: Medium (Charges 7" + 2" melee)

Profile: He's slow (though his MOV goes up when he charges), he's easy to hit and he has no RES but he does have MEL 7 which is average for an aggressor. His 16 health is neither high nor low.

What does he do?: Brok wants to get crits in melee. If he can get into melee and reliably roll crits then he becomes the best damage dealer in the game, without crits Thorgar does his job better. He also has an ability called cleave which allows him to attack multiple models and is a great way to spend a fate and Molten Metal which can do a lot of damage to defenders.

In order to run Brok effectively you need to set him up in order to be rolling a lot of attack dice, there are a number of ways to do this the easiest one is to have your opponent be a sport and play an all Dwarf/Minotaur warband. Even if they do this though you still only roll 4 dice when not charging which is not enough. I'll put up some dice maths again:

If you can roll 5 dice or more Brok will do more damage than Thorgar, if you are rolling 4 dice or less Thorgar will do more damage (and is also more survivable and has better other abilities). So how else can you dice fix without the helping hand of your opponent. You can stack ganging up bonuses by taking a number of other melee models, you can get knockdowns (Thorgar, Thrommel, Marcus etc. - all also melee models who can gang up), you can take Bastian for both ganging up and his Heroic Ballad ability, you can get poison on your opponent and you can take the Vorpal Blade.

Brok's survivability using only his base stats is extremely low, possibly the lowest in the game, this is compounded by the fact that he is a melee only aggressor. The other AGI 3 models in the game all have some combination of more boxes, RES, Regeneration, other healing abilities or ranged abilities allowing them to stay back. You need to take this survivability into account when playing him, you can mitigate it with his savagery ability, his level 2 ability Heroic Destiny, with defenders and with good placement.

Fate Appetite: Low. Though I did mention cleave and how strong it is, often you just want Brok to go whole hog on a model where he can get some additional dice. His two fate abilities cleave and his level 3 fate ability Molten Metal both add a lot of versatility without being necessary for him to have a good damage output.

Level Appetite: High. He wants to kill the monster, he wants to get to level 2 fast so that he can get a little bit of survivability. His level 3 ability (Molten Metal) is strong but you don't generally need to worry too much about him getting there, with his damage output he tends to level up easily after the two sides become engaged (provided you keep him alive).

Magic Items: Vorpal Blade (High). Brok needs crits to get his kit to work that means he needs as much dice fixing as he can get. The vorpal blade is a good start but he will often need more if you want to get his full damage potential out of him. He is also a good choice for the Glyph of Warding, he can use savagery to lift his RES and get to the front line and the extra RES from this item can be pretty important in keeping him alive.

Combinations: Bastian is the obvious pair for Brok. He can use his 3" melee range to engage and Heroic Ballad for an extra dice. He can also heal Brok when he triggers Heroic Destiny (or preferably before it's gone that far). Marcus and Thrommel can knock down his targets and help him to stay alive and Thorgar is a good aggressor partner for him because he doesn't need the Vorpal Blade quite as badly and can knock down models and bring them to him.

Ban Targets: Istariel. Fire counters Heroic Destiny and she has a field day against his low AGI. A lot of the elves can be a problem for him, they don't have RES so his level 3 ability does nothing and their high AGI makes it hard to get crits against them. Skye in particular is a problem not only is AGI 6 making him near impossible to crit against but also teleports into melee with Brok whenever he goes after another model reducing his dice pool.

Judy's Judgement:

Thrommel

Race: Dwarf
Class: Defender
Survivability: High (average for a defender)
Damage Output: Low (4-7)
Threat Range: Low (Base 8" and difficult to increase)

Profile: He's slow and easy to hit. He relies on his RES of 2 and his boxes to stay alive and he has a 2 action cost melee attack with very high damage although his melee is only 6 (which is good for a defender).

What does he do?: Thrommel has one of the easiest knockdowns in the game, he only needs to damage a model then spend a fate to knock down an enemy model and doing 4 damage on a glance means that he only needs one hit symbol. On top of that you only need to damage and get one combat manoeuvre to stun your opponent. Combined it means that Thrommel can take two actions away from a hero and your opponent can only spend a fate to remove one of those conditions.

He has an ability called bodyguard, it's not fantastic, your opponent does 2 less damage on their first attack to a hero within 2" provided they don't have a way to ignore RES.

Lastly his higher level abilities are very strong. Get him to level 2 and he cannot be pushed or knocked down. This makes him excellent for blocking charge lanes and contesting a shrine. Get him to level 3 and he has one of the best abilities in the game (in my opinion) in dwarf toss.

Fate Appetite: High. At level one/two he wants a fate to charge and stun and knock down a model. At level 3 he wants a fate to dwarf toss into the middle of multiple models then stun one with his warhammer. Without fate a number of other defenders outshine him.

Level Appetite: High. The things that distinguish Thrommel from the other defenders are almost all on his higher level abilities.

Magic Items: Boots of Speed (Low) - on the 5v5 maps I often like to have Thrommel finish of the nearby monster on turn 1 and buy the Boots of Speed. From then on he can really move up into annoying positions to cause problems for your opponent blocking charges, contesting and protecting weaker models and he can't be pushed out of the way. That said he doesn't generally want to be making 3 move actions and the boots don't affect dwarf toss so if you can get by without them you should. Items that benefit from multiple attacks like the Armour Shredder or the Blood Sucker are useless for him. The other boots are also useful as are healing items and the Gift of the Gods. In general he does not need a magical item so giving him one will be match up dependant.

Combinations: An obvious combination is Kvarto allowing him to make an additional attack, this works well if you can knock down a model that has already activated and then hit it again. It works less well if you need to hit a model that is still standing without any positive dice modifiers (MEL 6 isn't the greatest).

Thrommel is one of the better defenders for a ranged aggressor warband, once leveled up he can't be moved out of the way allowing him to protect your squishy aggressors and he is has great knock down abilities which can really dial up your ranged damage output. In particular I will point out Loribella - she really needs a knocked down opponent to trigger spring loaded reliably and she heals Thrommel and gives him extra speed though I personally prefer him with Kogan and Istariel.

He also works well with the standard models that work well with defenders, Nephene, Bastian, Piper...

Ban Targets: Thrommel's low AGI makes him vulnerable to models with abilities that ignore ARM. Allandir can ignore his ARM at level 3 but at lower levels is able to use his low AGI to twin shot damage onto nearby targets. Rakkir and Zhonja, are able to use his low AGI to apply their fate abilities that ignore RES (Rakkir in particular can apply a large amount of damage and then move to safety). Styx can apply a large amount of burst damage that ignores RES as well as pull him out of position even when levelled and Brok is always someone to avoid with a lot of defenders, particularly low AGI defenders he can use to trigger Back Swing.

Judy's Judgement:

Saiyin

Race: Elf
Class: Soulgazer
Survivability: Med
Damage Output: Low
Threat Range: Low (though she moves 5" she has a 1" melee range and cannot charge).

Profile: Saiyin has high MOV, high AGI and low health (Standard Elf stats). Her MAG is high but she prefers to avoid using it.

What does she do?: Saiyin wants to soul gaze and use her support abilities. Though she can attack quite well against enemy models with souls she generally prefers to stay back and avoid the fight using Augury and Holy Shield and gazing/stripping souls then banking them. Her healing Aura is very useful and something that is important to remember when playing her. Augury is a great ability particularly for models that roll multiple d6 rather than combat dice since the change in outcome can be much higher and of course she herself benefits greatly when using Augury to aid her soulgazing.

Saiyin is very strong in one soul pit maps when you can go first. She is able to use Augury on herself and soul gaze until she hits level 3 and can bank two souls. On double soul pit maps she levels up more slowly and is at a greater risk of dying before she can bank, she also will not or at least generally should not do a great deal when the soul is on the other side of the map as you do not generally want to throw her forwards into melee. Though she lacks ranged attacks you are often better off holding her back and not getting much out of her early activations rather than throwing her into melee especially is she is holding souls. This may mean that she doesn't do a lot early on which shouldn't concern you too much.

Her strip soul ability is in general not as good as Kruuls but it has certain advantages. As she is performing a soul harvest she gains an advantage from having models engaging the target whereas this robs Kruul of attack dice, also she doesn't need an action to use her Soul Beckon ability (Kruul needs to use his after an attack which means using an action) which means she can Beckon, Soulgaze then bank using her level 3 ability or back off to a safer location. Be careful if you are sending models forwards to engage the model she is using Soul Beckon on that you leave a place for the soul to spawn otherwise it may be out of range for Saiyin to Soulgaze.

Fate Appetite: Med. Soul Beckon and Soul Bank are great abilities to use late in the game but not generally used early.

Level Appetite: Med. She really wants to get to level 3 so she can bank her souls without moving. Her level 2 ability (which increases her healing) is also nice. That said she doesn't want to go after a monster and she will level up quickly by soul gazing.

Magic Items: Boots of Agility (Low), other defensive items (low). Saiyin in general does not want aggressive items, I quite like the Boots of Agility on her but often they have a more pressing place to be in your warband.

Combinations: Saiyin's healing works very well with the minotaurs as does her ability to stop fire turning off their healing. Augury is really nice with Rakkir, Brok or Zhonja when they use their fate abilities and Holy Shield is a great counter to Rakkir and to Istariel.

Ban Targets: Saiyin like a lot of the elves doesn't like automatic damage or knock downs. They have low health and rely on their agility to live. She is much more likely to be a ban target for your opponent if they have a model like Rakkir than to dictate who you want to ban.

Judy's Judgement:

Rakkir

Race: Orc
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Med
Damage Output: Med (up to Very High with Toxin his fate ability)
Threat Range: Med (to Very High with Shadow Orbs)

Profile: He is MOV 4, AGI 4, MEL 7 and 15 boxes. Pretty much average across the board except for his aggressor MEL of 7. He has the Cloak of Darkness giving him extra AGI against ranged and magic attacks. His melee range is only 1" which can be a problem.

What does he do?: Rakkir is one of the more specialist aggressors, his base damage output is low for a melee aggressor, his 1" melee range is constricting and can make him vulnerable to models like Doenrakkar and his base threat range on a charge is only 8" (including his 1" melee range). That said his abilities are incredibly strong. Toxin his fate ability does not require an action and is allows him to do an extra 2d6 damage ignoring RES which is extremely strong. From level 1 his able to teleport to and from shadow orbs makes him extremely mobile and adds to his survivability, also he has Invisibility (at level 3) and Cloak of Darkness to add to his hit and run style and make him difficult to kill from range.

What Rakkir wants to do is generally charge in, use the extra dice to apply poison to a target, use his toxin ability then place a shadow orb and teleport out (either using his base ability or by getting to level 2 and triggering Escape from an attack). In the early turns of the game you want to make sure there are shadow orbs allowing you to target important areas of the board, look to see if you can teleport near soul spawning pits to target soulgazers, near shrines to push out or kill contesting models (Rakkir's Toxin ability ignores RES which means he can often finish off wounded defenders) or get charge range to your opponents effigy.

Fate Appetite: High. If Rakkir can't use his Toxin ability then his damage output is much lower than the other aggressors.

Level Appetite: Med. Rakkir really needs to pull back after charging in if he wants to live, he can do that without levelling up by dropping a shadow orb and using an action to teleport away but it is advantageous to be able to do that with an attack. Invisibility his level 3 ability is extremely strong combined with his ability to teleport back after attacking.

Magic Items: Vorpal Blade (High). Rakkir really wants the vorpal blade. I'm going to do something I haven't done previously and put up some dice math.

This is the chance of getting at least a glancing hit and two manoeuvre symbols. The chances are probably lower than most people would guess they are. The odds are broadly similar to what you would have to roll for a crit. What this means in game terms is that if Rakkir charges an elf with no assistance you only have a 38% chance of getting poison off and being able to use Toxin and with your second attack the chance goes down to a very low 8%. You are not generally going to get poison off on an elf without assistance, even against a human or an orc the odds only go up to 50-50. Taking a Vorpal Blade takes those odds up to 64% (closer to 2/3) and sending in a defender to engage the model first and you are up to 73% (closer to 3/4). Rakkir needs dice fixing if you want to use his kit and the Vorpal Blade is often an important part of that. 

Combinations: Zaffen and Kvarto are both able to apply poison to a target independently of Rakkir so can be very useful, Kvarto is also able to use his telekinesis ability to have Ashtooth or Vujasha apply poison. The knockdown defenders (Marcus, Thrommel and to a lesser extent Skoll) are able to knock down targets before Rakkir charges then use their defender abilities to make it hard to get to Rakkir. Bastian is a great source of extra dice to make the poison ability stick and Thorgar is a useful aggressor partner because he doesn't need the Vorpal Blade as badly as Rakkir as well as also having access to knockdowns.

Ban Targets: Ban Saiyin. She can prevent you from using toxin on one target. Kvarto at level 2 is also immune to poison. Skye is also someone who is a high priority on the ban list. After we just finished looking at how important each die is for Rakkir having someone who can both add 5 health to the model you are going after as well as reduce the dice pool is not what Rakkir wants to see.

Judy's Judgement:

Piper

Race: Elf
Class: Supporter
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Medium
Threat Range: High (12" on the charge with Mystic Step & Enhance Self, or two magic attacks at a target 14" away when he starts his activation).

Profile: Piper has an elf stat line, low boxes high MOV, high AGI no RES as well as MEL 6 and MAG 6 and he has a fate ability "enhance self" which adds one to all of those (except RES). His movement is further increased by an innate ability allowing him to gain a 2" place at the start of his activation. Though he only has a 1" melee attack range he has a magical attack at range 6" which allows you to push a model like a melee attack (this is a lot more useful than it seems on face value).

What does he do?: Piper is one of the most versatile models in the game. His ability Duplicate Self allows him to ignore the first attack he would suffer, Enhance Self takes him to AGI 6, and at level 3 he gains Taunt which allows him to force an enemy aggressor to target him rather than a squishier target. Added together that makes him a good pseudo-defender.

On the other hand and again using Enhance Self (although he can do both these things without the ability just not quite as well) he becomes MEL 7, attacks a model already engaged to add another dice to the pool and uses Backstab to do 3|4|5 (glance|solid|crit) damage which makes him a decent pseudo-aggressor.

Lastly with his huge threat he can move models around in the back line and disrupt your opponents abilities and things that contest shrines as well as move models quite far away into monsters to cause your opponent difficulties. He also has a Soul Harvest of 4 which makes him a decent back up Soulgazer especially given his survivability.

Fate Appetite: High. He wants to cast Enhance Self every round if he can, you will always get some use from that ability. That said he can live without it, it will reduce his effectiveness but it won't cripple him.

Level Appetite: Med. Viper Venom (the ability to trigger enhance self of a melee attack) is incredibly useful and Taunt is a fantastic ability that can turn games. That said he can use the bulk of his toolkit without levelling up.

Magic Items: Glyph of Warding (Med). Makes him an even stronger pseudo-defender, the Boots of Agility also do this for one less cost but often your opponent will be looking to knock down Piper or apply automatic damage which makes it less effective (automatic damage will also often bypass the Glyph of Warding). If you are looking to get him an aggressive item to increase his output he gets more out of the Vorpal Blade or if you are up against a lot of models with RES the Armour shredder rather than the Ring of Power.

Combinations: Piper likes melee defenders, particularly Doenrakkar as they can help trigger his Back Stab rule and I quite like the Piper + Lvl2 Zaron combination as you only risk a skeleton and killing it generally does some damage to your opponent anyway. Generally though you take piper for his versatility. He can be a ghetto soul gazer, he can be a pseudo-defender or a psuedo-aggressor and he brings a long threat on his ranged attack that can move models around. He makes a good pick to round out a 5 or a 7 model roster to fill in for an important position that gets banned or in a warband where versatility is important. He also fits nicely into high AGI warbands which are useful for making it hard for your opponent to trigger their abilities.

Ban Targets: He doesn't like being knocked down and automatic damage, this means models like Thorgar, Xyvera and Styx are good ban targets. Thrommel also has the knockdown ability as well as his level 2 ability that prevents piper from pushing him but he really doesn't like duplicate self.

Judy's Judgement:

Kruul

Race: Orc
Class: Soulgazer
Survivability: Low
Damage Output: Low
Threat Range: Med-High (move and shoot 10” charge 9”)

Profile: Standard stats MOV 4, AGI 4, as well as MEL 6 and MAG 7. Average boxes (15). He does more damage in melee but has a higher MAG score so rolls more dice at range. His magic attack increases in damage for every soul bound to him.

What does he do?: Kruul is a more combat oriented Soulgazer than for example Saiyin and is strong on single soul pit maps but still quite useful on maps with multiple soul pits. In single soul pit maps he is able to take a soul then stay near the soul pit safe in the knowledge that if he dies the soul will pass to a nearby model (his Transference ability) and then use his level 2 ability Soul Distortion to make it harder for enemy Soulgazers as well as the extra damage on his Bewitched magic attack. On multiple soul pit maps he can use Bewitched to add some damage without getting bogged down in melee. It is important to note that you can use Transference to send a soul to the effigy provided Kruul dies in range.

Like most Soulgazers he wants to sit in behind the melee and move to take souls. His Extract Soul ability is a very strong ability that can quite reliably take a soul off an enemy model. Null Magic is situationally quite useful and the presence of the ability can often be enough to make your opponent thing twice about buying a magical item.

Fate Appetite: Low. Extract Soul and Frenzy are his two fate abilities. Extract Soul is very strong in the late game when fate is easier to come by and Frenzy requires a lot of effort to get value, I would not build a warband around it but it's nice to have when you need it. Either way he is able to his job in general without fate.

Level Appetite: Low. His level 2 ability is useful especially in single soul pit maps but it isn't necessary for his game plan and as a Soulgazer he levels fairly easily. Nor do you need to worry about getting to his level 3 ability.

Magic Items: Defensive Items (low). Ring of Power (low).

Combinations: Kruul works well with defenders, his Null Magic ability can make it even harder to take them down and when he dies he likes to hand off the soul he is carrying to a model that is hard to kill. Having defenders around can also allow you to push forwards safely to get more use out of Extract Soul. You can also take multiple orcs and get value out of Frenzy late game or you can take models like Nephene and Skoll that take away your opponents options and make it hard to get anything done

Ban Targets: Kruul is at his strongest when he is the only soulgazer on the board. Soul Distortion is good against another soulgazer taking them from needing a 6 to a 7 or an 8 but it can stop your opponent from even trying to soulgaze if they are relying on using non-Soulgazers with a soulgaze of 4. It also really turns on his Extract Soul ability as non-Soulgazers have to be further up the board in general to collect souls. If you can't stop your opponent from taking a Soulgazer getting rid of the defenders who can make it much harder to use Extract Soul are the next best ban options.

Judy's Judgement:

Marcus

Race: Human
Class: Defender
Survivability: High
Damage Output: Low (max 12)
Threat Range: Medium (9" Charge, 8" with shield)

Profile: Marcus has high AGI for a defender (4), and MOV 4, MEL 6, RES 2 which are average stats. He has 16 boxes which is low for a defender but not low in general. His Soul Harvest of 4 is pretty good.

What does he do?: The main thing Marcus does in charge and knock things down. Though his damage on the shield is quite low and it only has a range of 1" he only needs 1 manoeuvre  symbol to knock a model down (plus damage). His protective stance is one of the better defender abilities too, he is able to add a RES to any non-defender model and this can stack with the native RES on the model, abilities on the model, and the Glyph of Warding. Lastly his fate abilities can be pretty useful, the wall in particular can make it very hard to attack a model in melee particularly in conjunction with Marcus' positioning and other models and can provide cover. His level up abilities are situational but can be very strong.

Fate Appetite: Low. He needs fate to drop a wall and to use a blizzard token at level 3. Though these are situationally very strong most turns you can get a very high return from Marcus by using his shield to knock down a model and occasionally using protective stance. The fact that protective stance doesn't use a fate allows you to much more reliably build a synergies around it without worrying about low fate maps or needing rerolls. The wall in my opinion is the stronger of his fate abilities and learning to use it correctly especially in the late game is what make a good Marcus player.

Level Appetite: Low. Winter's bite is one of those abilities that is occasionally clutch but mostly not useful. Blizzard is another one, on rare occassions it is quite useful but often you'll get better use from Marcus just using his base abilities and of course the knock down.

Magic Items: Boots of Agility (Medium). The boots of agility on Marcus really take his survivability up to the next level. He can live without them if you really need another magical item or if he has to use all his movement to get forwards to contest a shrine but they do make a massive difference to his game. He doesn't get a lot of use out of the other items.

Combinations: I like Marcus in a lot of warbands because he doesn't need fate or levels. He works particularly well with Gendris who can use Root on him. He also likes models that can heal. Models that need crits or abilities that require 2S + damage really make good use of his knock down ability. Models with 1 RES or the ability to increase their RES make good use of his Defensive Stance ability, Svetlana really makes excellent use of that ability.

Ban Targets: Bastian. Marcus is really able to get a roll on if he activates after an enemy aggressor has activated, knocks them down and lets your aggressors get in to attack. Bastian gives your opponent a second chance to stand up the model so needs to go. He has trouble knocking down defenders but generally they have low AGI anyway.

Judy's Judgement:

Istariel

Race: Elf
Class: Aggressor
Survivability: Med (relying on distance and high agility)
Damage Output: Med. Her damage is low for an aggressor but by attacking from range she is more likely to be able to make all three attacks. She does up to 15 damage or 18 at level 3 and ignores 1 RES.
Threat Range: High. She can make all three attacks on models within 8 and 2 attacks on models within 13". She is able to place herself within 5" too which ignores terrain and intervening models.

Profile: Her boxes are low and she has no RES but her AGI is high and her MAG is high. She is MOV 5 in addition to having a 5" place which makes her very mobile when she needs to be.

What does she do?: Istariel wants to hit an opposing model with 3 flame blasts and possibly use her fate ability to do 3 more damage. She doesn't like to move if she can avoid it and she doesn't like to get forwards and she doesn't really have any other abilities other than making magic attacks.

Fate Appetite: Low. She does 3 damage with a fate if she sets you on fire and that's it. It's very useful for finishing off models but she generally allows you to save fate for other models.

Level Appetite: Med. Going up a level prevents her fire from expiring naturally which is really useful given her fate ability and her level 3 ability where she is able to increase damage on models on fire. However she still does good ranged damage without going up levels.

Magic Items: Ring of Power (High). If Istariel has a weakness it's that she requires two symbols and damage to set you on fire. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that she often gets three hits on you but she can't charge and engaged models become really hard to hit. Also the fact that her damage per attack is low takes into account that you are often going to be making 3 attacks with her without having to survive a turn on the front line. The Boots of Agility are also nice for her taking her up to AGI 6 and the Armour Shredder can be a big help against low AGI defenders.

Combinations: Istariel likes to stay away from the fight so having defenders in front of her is important, the knock down defenders (Marcus, Thrommel and Skoll) can help to mitigate the DEF bonus from front line models being engaged as well as prevent aggressors from getting to her. Skye with his ability to teleport to her when she is attacked is also useful.

Ban Targets: Saiyin. She's annoying for a low level Istariel but when Istariel gets to level 3 Saiyin is effectively able to reduce her damage against a single target by 6 by making it immune to fire. Istariel struggles against the elves in general due to their high AGI but really enjoys going up against the Minotaurs where her fire ability can turn off regeneration. That said you also want to avoid heroes that can pull her up to the front line and knock her down like Thorgar or do a lot of damage ignoring AGI like Styx.

Judy's Judgement:

Judge Judy and Executioner

Hello Judgement fans. I decided it might be good to have a new player guide to the judgement models. Although I am by no means the world champion I have touched both current ones and that has to mean something right? This blog represents my opinions only and as such is 100% correct and beyond reproach.

Format

Race:
Class:
Survivability:
Damage Output:
Threat Range:
Profile: Here will be a description of the main attributes of the hero.
What does it do?: I will go through the main abilities of the hero and the reasons you take him/her in your warband.
Fate Appetite: Low to High. How badly does this hero need fate. Some heroes are reliant on their fate abilities to distinguish them from other heroes in the same class. Others are able to do their job well without fate.
Level Appetite: Low to High. Just like their fate abilities some heroes rely on their level up abilities to distinguish themselves from other heroes in their class.
Magic Items: What magic items does this hero want and how important are those magic items.

I have found that both level increases and fate are resources that are very scarce in the early game. First turn you can generally kill a monster to get 2 fate to spend total and one level. In addition to getting the level increase you need most it also lets you get out the magic items you need most. Though these will change from game to game you don't want to have multiple heroes who really need their high level abilities to function or need the same magical item or all really want to use fate abilities.
Combinations: What kinds of warbands does this model work well in and any particular models you should look to include with them.
Ban Targets: Who is this model afraid of.
Judy's Judgement: My final judgement on the model. (Judge Judy's judgements are unadjustable).

Though I reserve the right to change the format should I or anyone else come up with a good idea.

I want to keep it simple and provide basic advice on how to start using the model.