Wolves of Winter

Khador as an empire have a very simple mentality to them which can be aptly described as such: “Place Weapon into Enemy Figure at High Velocity”. There is an abbreviation to this but it's not PWEFHV, because that's just too silly to put into conversation, let alone pronounce. It's simply “Axe to Face”, and even though only a relative few figures in Khador actually hold an axe, many of them can be used in an Axe like fashion including the Spriggan Lance, which can put a nasty bop on the noggin when used as such.

The thing about “Axe to Face” is that it's occasionally a little too simple and can leave little room to move. You can run around knocking peoples teeth out with a sharpened lump of metal secured to a stick, or you can stand there and bop someone on the noggin with a sharpened lump of metal secured to a stick. This isn't always reliable, and in Warmachine this really comes down to Maths where one figure has better stats than the other and your figure may get shot before he can reach them, stabbed because he got charged first, or generally can't hit their high Defence.

And so this is where we come to the subject at hand which focuses on a different approach with night classes of “Axe to Face”, which is called “Utility”. A unit with utility can do more than just Axe to Face and can do things such as Provide Cover, increasing Axe to Face success, or making a Ice Blocks.

You'd think that last one wouldn't apply to Warmachine, or even Hordes, however that is not the case. The Greylords are a very capable unit and can certainly make Ice Blocks, and they make them out of enemy targets. Not over several targets, but they save themselves a little effort and make it in bulk by targeting a heavy target such as an enemy Warjack.

This is a spell called Ice cage, featured on the Greylord Ternion. It starts off as a simple cumulative negative to a targets defence, described as a cold wind that the target is huddling against, until the target becomes stationary. Which means the target has stopped moving because it's suddenly frozen up from the cold wind getting a bit too spiteful.

As soon as the Greylords have finished making their ice block, they call out to whatever is nearby, particularly a heavy hitting unit or warjack, and order it to dig in. With Axe To Face being a large proficiency in Khador, they dig in really deep and nine times out of ten will destroy the poor warjack that couldn't stand the cold. If anything is left it stands impotent until the end of it's turn unless it's controlling Warcaster decides to throw a cup of cement at it and order it to harden up.

Being the spellcasters they are, they aren't limited to the one spell. They can also defend their Komrades from the terrible effects of ranged combat and those nasty spells that want to cause trouble to the disciples of Axe to Face. So they create a murky cloud to follow someone around and obscure their opponents aim. A large warjack coming at you a little foggily is definitely something to worry about, especially when you can't seem to hit the broad side of it's barn.

But life isn't complete when you're just dropping smoke around and turning people into giant icicles all the time. Sometimes you have to just wave your hand a bit funny and make all the bad people go away, and that's something the Greylords are able to do with relative ease with their spell Frost Bite, AKA: the Magic Shotgun.

The Magic Shotgun is strong as the Greylord Ternion have a high Magic ability, and coupled with the effects of making a Spray attack, there isn't much that can gain defensive benefits from the magic shotgun. Not even being a fiendish ghost that haunts the battlefield shooting the snot out of people because it likes to.

So with this array of options, the Greylords are a good choice to support your army against the fiends of of the world. Kept well behind friendly forces, they can just cause shenanigan after shenanigan while everyone takes advantage of them over and over again,

Then there's someone travelling along with them skipping along to "Anything you can do, I can make better". This is the Koldun Lord, AKA: Bad Santa. He's not really that bad. But he's an angry looking man who deserves a reindeer with a red nose. Instead, he can marshal a pair of Warjacks.

But what a strange song to be singing? What would he mean by that?

Well ladies and gentlemen, the Koldun Lord has an ability called Elite Cadre. Elite Cadre gives particular units in the army a special effect. This effect is called "Battle Wizard". A Koldun Lord is a rank or two above the leader of a Greylord Ternion. In the time to get to this point, he spends his time going back to school learning the tried and true methods of Khador, while not forgetting his roots, and this is something he teaches Greylord Ternions that are out in the field with him.

So his roots were Spellcasting, flinging clouds and Magical Shotguns everywhere, along with blowing a cold wind someone's way; Khadors tried and True method is called Axe to face, which is rather self explanatory. The connection: Battle Wizard. It's pretty simple. If a Koldun Lord, or a Greylord Ternion fielded with him, are in an Infantryman’s face and aren't dead from either old age, a heart attack, or a hammer to the noggin, he can attack that infantryman. If the infantryman is destroyed, he may freely cast a spell.

Now a magical shotgun straight into the middle of unit is very possible. The thing about spells is that you may cast them straight into their face, regardless of whether you're engaged or not. So with a swing of the axe you remove one fellow, and with a wave of the other you make another few disappear into the afterlife. Or they can put a gloomy cloud over someone’s life. Or they can turn the wind vicious and freeze someone to the bones.

The Koldun Lord is probably not the only person who thinks it's rude to cloud up someone's day. He also frowns upon Warjacks being Disrupted because certain wire heads can't keep their fingers out of power sockets, and they keep sending their stupid static electricity to the local warjacks.

So with a little bit of concentration, and a little magic, the Koldun Lord waves his magic hand and removes the Disruption that the poor warjack is suffering and then gives it a point of Focus, so it may cause some shenanigans that it wasn't meant to do before.

Lastly, because the Koldun Lord loves his warjacks so much, his Warjacks love him. And one must always protect the ones you love. So, in turn, while the Koldun Lord is nice and close to his warjacks, safely tucked away under their wings, he gains increased armour from the nasty people that are trying to get at him for causing so many shenanigans. Having warjacks get back up to scratch after a nasty headache from static electricity? Making Greylord Ternions charge more often with their axes and magic shotguns? Spreading the Influenza Virus? It's just not on, says everyone else. Not on indeed.

Koldun Lords come in all shapes and sizes though, and all of them love their Warjacks. And as a particular tradition of various games, it's the female that tends to stand out. This is where Koldun Kommander Alexandra Zerkova comes into the picture. A warcaster with a flavour of Greylords.

Now Zerkova isn't the same as other Warcasters. Other Warcasters are very head on, and to win a game they'll be looking into the whites of their opponents eyes. Zerkova is what's known as a Spellcaster and instead takes her place at the back of the lines throwing spells at everyone.

This is a shock to the system for Khador. With an Axe to Face methodology, they haven't prepared themselves for spellcasting, whereas other factions have an Arc Node to help them fling spells across a battlefield without the hassle of having to get anywhere near the pointy bits of their enemy.

To help seal the deal as a proficient Spellcaster, she has enlisted the help of various Orgoth Artefacts, six in total, which she carries about on her being to seal the deal. To start are her weapons, the Rod of Whispers, and her sword Quietus.

The Rod of Whispers isn't too fancy. It's a short range with decent power behind it, mostly due to it being so creepy that most warriors will get such a bad case of the heeby jeebies, they kick the bucket right then and there. Quietus however is a different case. Being a sword, it has a harder time giving the heeby jeebies to warriors, but makes a Warjack drop the rear engine when it gets conked. It'll instantly have a mechanikal seizure and freeze up for a round.

Her other Orgoth Artefacts aren't as simple as these two. They don't deal damage but they help her in her role of being a Spellcaster, and one helps her defensively. This is the Orgoth Seal, and I don't mean 'of approval'. It actually denies by lowering the range of spells targeting her, and if they do hit the opposing spellcaster suffers damage. Just a smidgen of spite there.

The spellcasting artefacts are all very nifty. While Zerkova can only use one per spell, they change the way she decides to cast spells. Whether it's throwing a Razor Wind at a stealthy solo sneaking up behind you, using the Ghost Stone; casting a Twister towards a unit that was just that little bit too faraway, using the Lens of Tarvodh; or influencing a grunt to attack it's own standard bearer at less spell cost, thanks to the Focus Sphere.

These are just a few spells she has access to, and what she hasn't forgotten is her Greylord Training but with her own twist of lime. Razor Wind, a standard spell which is as close as she can get to Frostbite. It's cheap, it's got the same Power with a little extra range, but the loss of being a spray is a downer. That's how the dice rolls when you're a Warcaster.

Twister is her version of Blizzard, but instead of clouding a friends day, it gives enemies a foggy outlook on life. It even causes damage! It's a piddly amount, but it's still damage!

Influence however is not a standard Greylord sort of spell. If she hits, which is likely, the target has a spasm and hits the guy next to him.

"Oh sorry mate. You can stop playing dead now. Hey where did you get all the tomato sauce?"

There's still more from her Greylord Ranks that is still well appreciated, including her own twist on the Ice Cage spell. It's not Warjack Flavoured Ice Block, but it makes for chilly units that are much easier to hit for everyone. On top of that, the unit can't double time or pull one of their fancy moves that they're always showing off.

Speaking of Fancy moves, she has a few of her own. Being a warcaster, she has to have a few signature moves and one of them is Banishing Ward. While Zerkova isn't the happiest person in the Iron Kingdoms, she doesn't like her forces being all "Doom and Gloom" on her. So why not remove the problem and prevent it from happening again. No more spells being cast on you, lads. She could even cast it on her Warjacks whom, like the Koldun Lord, she has a bit of an affinity for as well with a pair of her spells.

One of the problems facing Warjacks these days is units. They block routes, and tie them up to no end. It's always frustrating having a warjack perfectly capable warjack surrounded by an opponents Kossite Woodsmen, and able to do Pot with it all.

Zerkova knows this and designed her own spell, Force Blast, which shunts enemies straight away from the aforementioned warjack, untying it from being targeted by free strikes and not tied down by silly little girly men who stand in it's way.

The other is a reactive spell. Because Zerkova isn't the toughest of Warcasters, she needs a little bit of help. And when someone gets that little bit too close, she chooses a Warjack to go ahead and offer a massive king hit to the silly bugger who thought they'd try and get a good look at her. It'll only happen once every so often, but sometimes it'll be just enough to keep someone at bay. Heck, it might even destroy a Warcaster or a Warlock.

Now you know her shenanigans. She's absolutely full of them, especially her feat "Howling Wind". You can't shoot; you can't double time; you can't sprint at someone; you can't hear your commanding officer yelling profanities; you can't even pull off those fancy moves you learnt in boot camp. You're stuck with the basics: Waddle up to someone and hit them.

Sometimes that's just enough, but you may cop a warjack to the face, or you'll stand there looking silly. I'm sure quite a lot of warriors would prefer to stand there looking silly rather than cop that warjack with the platter of Massive Axe to Face.

So while Zerkova is wandering around, entertained with the thick foliage which she simply prances through, ignoring the bitter cold that is cast her way, there is a great knowledge that she's not the only one putting in the effort to help her Komrades, and that her training will never fail her, nor will it fail the Greylord Ternions and Koldun Lords that are speckled across the borders of Khador.