Menoth’s Least Wanted: 500pts

You know how much I dislike fielding unpainted models, right? You know how my painting schedule’s booked solid with the WarmaHordes stuff, right? You know that I don’t have a single one of any of the MLW’s painted, right?

Thankfully, I at least have them assembled, so a game can still go ahead… though I accept no responsibility for the outcome, since I’m sure you’re all well aware of the whole painted-mini’s-are-luckier thing.

That said, we’re possible I’ll be filling gaps with painted stuff, so maybe there’s some hope for me after all.

As promised, the list has to include at least one of each member of the MLW. That’s Amon, Vanquisher, Dervish, Sunburst and the Allegiant. That’s 290pts at bare minimum locked up, 210 to play with. The question is, what to do with it. Do we go with the standard Synergy list, or do we get a little more creative?

The first thing I want to do is take care of Amon. If this was a 1000pt game, Gorten Grundback would be in tow in a heartbeat, protecting Amon from blast damage and from being knocked down, negating his high DEF… but Gorten doesn’t play with Menites, and we’re only talking 500pts, so.

If I can’t shield Amon from blast damage and knockdown through merc magic, what’s my alternative? Stop the enemy from shooting at all. I can hide Amon behind jacks and chant no shooty, but another alternative is simply to base the opposing ranged attackers. For that I want the fastest units available to me, and in keeping with the theme of the list (ie, taking less-loved models) I’m going to grab my newly painted Daughters of the Flame.

What’s that, you say? The Vengers would hit so much harder?

Daughters have stealth. Daughters have advance deploy. Daughters have a 14″ run. Daughters can be in my opponent’s setup zone in the first round, tying up a mortar crew or long gunners. Daughters can bounce away if they decide they’re actually in any danger, and heaven forbid if your opponent’s using a low ARM warcaster or warlock.

The point of the unit isn’t to do a lot of damage (though yay if they manage to do so), but rather to harass, tie-up, and force my opponent to play knowing they’re looking for shanking opportunities, while the rest of my force advances.

Okay, now that we’re including TWO of the least popular units in the Protectorate, what about a third jack for Amon?

I considered a Castigator, since throwing Amon and then having him stand up for free and unleash Oblivion would be awesome, but there’s that whole can’t stand up on the turn you’re knocked down thingie, so boo-urns to that.

I considered a Guardian, since… well, since it’s a heavy arc node, and the entire concept makes me chortle like someone chortling at the concept of a heavy warjack with an arc node… but there’s only so many points to spread around, and we haven’t even bought a choir yet.

So, following that chain of thought and being hip to the idea of arcing Sandblast, I came back to the old faithful Revenger… and if I’m going to take a Revenger, why not up the stakes and take Blessing of Vengeance? For a start, I have BoV all painted up, while my two Revengers are still in pieces. Ah, the logic of convenience.

Filling in the gaps, toss in a choir – pretty much obligatory in any Menite army fielding more than one ‘jack (and really, generally worth taking in an army with only one ‘jack as well), toss in the warjack’s OTHER best friend in the Vassal (who we’re hoping can get multiple shots out of the Vanquisher), and just to round things out, we’ll adhere to the buddy system again and call in a Heirophant.

This last one’s gonna be tricky. Having him keep up with Amon’s going to be rough if Amon decides to go cross country, but having him around will hopefully help mitigate Amon’s lower focus somewhat, as well as providing a medic for those expected shots that bust his armour.

Where does that leave us in the end?

Army: Menoth’s Least Wanted
Faction: Protectorate of Menoth
Army Points: 500/500
Victory Points: 20

High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza
Vanquisher
Blessing of Vengeance
Dervish
Hierophant
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Vassal of Menoth
Choir of Menoth (6)
Daughters of the Flame
Deliverer Sunburst Crew

So the plan’s pretty straightforward – send the Daughters forward to run interference while Amon and his ‘bots (and their assorted support pieces) advance. I don’t own Gorman, so creating my own cover’s not an option, thus we’ll be looking to utilize the terrain where we can – but thankfully, that’s what Mobility’s for.

Once we get in range, hopefully we’ll be able to sandblast via the Blessing of Vengeance at the same time as lobbing Menoth’s Fury from the Vanquisher. In the background the Sunburst will be looking to pop whatever it manages to get in range. At least we don’t have to worry about ranging shots deviating onto Amon – if it misses, there’s no AoE, so no deviation

In melee the bulk of the pressure to perform is on the Dervish and Amon. I imagine the Daughters will be toast by the time this happens,but hopefully they’ll have been able to do some damage while distracting our foe.

In the end there’s not a lot of strategy to the list, nor is there a lot of tactical brilliance – but there’s some fun toys that need a little love.