Menoth’s Least Wanted: Redux

I’ve been planning on taking a second look at the Menoth’s Least Wanted models under Mk II conditions since the release of the rules and cards, but I hadn’t managed to get around to it – WarmaHordes is a little time consuming, there’s the Campaign for a Better Rhoven, making sig banners (some of which you’ll see below), and well, there’s that whole “job” thing chewing up time, not to mention that “family” thing as well…

… so imagine my amusement when I was sitting there this morning, putting together a list to play around with, and I realised I had not one, not two, not three, but all five of members of the Mk I MLW.

Let’s face it, Mk II makes the MLW a whole new set of models.

It all started, as with many lists, with the Warcaster. I’m deeply impressed with the upgrade to Amon Ad-Raza. He still has his weak spots, but he’s significantly more playable under Mk II. More focus, a tweaked spell list and feat, Groundwork… a model that almost dripped mediocrity, nay, suckitude in the past, is suddenly tres, tres nifty.

From there, it went to warjacks. You know, I actually own two Vanquishers. A Vanquisher was the first Heavy Warjack I bought for Menoth… and yet they’re both still unpainted. Now we have autofire on their Flame Belcher (yay!), and Thresher rather than Circular Strike – as well as the general ‘jack boosts from Mk II. With the blazing stars they fit visually with Amon whirling his own ball-and-chain about, and I think they’re just generally a respectable upgrade from their previous incarnation. I like the idea of Amon running multiple Heavies, so in they go.

For Light warjacks, there was only one choice if I wanted to continue the quasi-middle-eastern theme, and that was the Dervish. I’ve yet to wheel one out under Mk II circumstances, but from all reports he’s quite the little metal ninja now that they’ve taken the trigger for his extra movement away from your opponent (ie, if they miss), and given it directly to you (ie, if you hit). I’ve been a fan of the model for some time (though not of the studio pose), so he was an easy choice for the list.

Amusingly enough, that’s a 14pts for a Mangled Metal list right there.

With three warjacks, the choir was an auto-include, and the vassal wasn’t far behind… so now the question was what to take to fill out the rest of the points.

As mentioned, I was running with thematics in mind. Fluffwise, Amon has a couple of defining qualities – he’s an Idrian, and he’s the High Allegiant of the Order of the Fist. Thus, Idrians and Allegiants!

This amused me because it brought in another of the MLW, and at the same time brought in a unit that’s being decried by some as the single most nerfed unit in Mk II. I don’t know if that’s true, since I haven’t tested them under Mk II conditions, but they certainly did take a hit.

With three points remaining, I looked at the list and realised that with the exception of the Vassal, every model is sitting in my collection, currently unpainted… and I really could do with picking up a second Vassal anyway… so what did I have remaining for three points that still needs painting?

ZOMG! Sunburst! 10″ running, RAT6 RNG16″ POW16 AoE4, blowing up in your opponent’s face Sunburst! How can you not love what’s been done to the model formerly known as Rule #1? With the run it can get into position on turn one to cover a decent portion of the battlefield with a long range shot that’ll crack a warjack open like a fortune cookie?

“You will die a horrible, flaming death as a result of your heathen ways, in the name of Menoth”.

Heaven forbid if you actually have a hill in your half of the board to get up on!

Yes, the rest of the army is looking to surge forward under Mobility, but won’t it be nice to have a little long range cover fire while you’re moving up? Something to pick off whoever’s trying to move around your flank? And the 4″ AoE will come in darn handy for reducing the threat of Bile Thralls… come to think of it, there’s not a single 3″ AoE in the army – the Vanquishers are 4″ as well. Cool.

So, after all that, the list:

The Models Formerly Known As Menoth’s Least Wanted (and friends)

Amon Ad-Raza (High Allegiant)
Purifier of Heretics (Vanquisher)
Absolution of Menoth (Vanquisher)
Tear of Amon (Dervish)
Joerg (Vassal)
Sulese Chamber Ensemble (Choir (6))
Clan Ad-Raza (Idrians (6) + UA)
El Fyzt (Allegiant)
El Fut (Allegiant)
Prayer of St Crippin (Sunburst)

35pt