Legion Swordsmen

   In Mark 3 PP decided to make Swordsmen more of a staple and priced them accordingly. The funny thing is I liked them in Mark 2 just fine, and like them a bit less in the Mark 3 environment. Yes there's lots of jacks for them to beat up on, but infantry clearing got better as well, and aside from their DEF 14 Swordsmen are pretty squishy.

Ravagore

   I'm a bit behind on updating. I finished my Ravagore in December but I usually take pictures outside and the weather wasn't co-operating. Then I had camera problems. And then for some reason the blog wouldn't upload pictures from my computer. But all fixed now.

   The Ravagore was new to the Legion book and quickly became a staple. It has good range, a hard hitting ranged weapon that can do crowd control with its 3" AOE and template that stays in play, has a solid animus, and with the right buffs is solid in melee as well. It's just a total package beast. I don't take one in every list, but it does show up in a lot. A staple with warlocks like Epic Lylyth or Vayl it works decently with all the others as well.

Epic Lylyth

Epic Lylyth is a bit different from most of Legion. For one she's the only really top tier 5 Fury warlock. For two she's the only one that runs Legion as a nearly pure gunline. You still need a heavy that can do the job in melee, like a Carnivean, but the rest of her army is going to be about the shooting. Fortunately she does it well.

Epic Lylyth brings two big things to the table. First she increases the armies threat range with her feat, and second she makes it hard for the opponent to respond in any way except melee due to all the stealth. She's not an auto-win or anything though, because as soon as your opponent closes the armies damage output drops like it fell off a cliff.

Annyssa Ryvaal, Talon of Everblight

Annyssa is one of Legion's best characters. She has a few things going for her. First of all, she does what you buy her for and does it well. She can shoot and back up all day long, harassing the flanks and circling around to get at rear support pieces. Second, she's relavent all game. She transitions from shooting up infantry to smacking preyed warcasters very nicely. And third, she makes the Raptors, already one of Legions best units, even better. Veteran Leader kind of sucks on Finn, but on a large base that the Raptors can see through most of two armies it's really solid.

Incubi

Incubi aren't something you see a lot of. Legion tends to run beast heavy, and people prefer to have their five point investment on the table at the beginnng. I've found them to be decent though. They aren't spectacular, but they aren't bad either. The big thing they have going for them is that they let you push deeper into your opponents force. The two front lines clash, and all of a sudden you have guys behind their front line charging into support solos and getting in the way of their second wave. I have more than once forgotten to use them though. Out of sight out of mind as they say.

Nephilim Bolt Thrower

The Bolt Thrower is a solid beast. At six points it's at the high end for what you pay for a light, but is solid enough in its specialised role of denting large targets and picking off solos and officers that it still sees play . If I'm running beast light I'll often throw one in as extra fury and to keep my opponent honest at range. I don't ever take two except with Epic Lylyth, and even then that will probably change once the Naga comes out.

Nephilim Protector

The Nephilim Protector is a rather limited model. It has no ranged ability and is also pretty blah in melee with MAT 5 and POW 12. It's job is to take it to the face, either with Shield Guard or blocking charge lanes. And on the occasional time you run into deadicated knockdown his animus can protect you.

The only warlock I have found that I'm willing to take it regularly with is pThagrosh. Because of Fog of War and Death Shroud, once you put Tenacity or Spiny Growth on the Protector it can actually stand up to enemy damage. At ARM 20 (with Spiny Growth) at range he can take a few big hits, and at DEF 15 ARM 21 against charges (Set Defense + Tenacity + Death Shroud) he can actually get in the way and block the charge lane to a heavy without dying.

Spell Martyrs

People often call Spell Martyrs the best arc nodes in the game, but I honestly think that's a bit of an exaggeration. I certainly like my Spell Martyrs, but they're very easy for my opponent to kill, and you can't get them in place and spam spells through them, which is what I normally do with mine in warmachine. You also can't use them to easily extend the range of support spells, since you don't want to have it blow up just because you want to cast Tenacity on something every turn.

On the other hand they are only a point a model so you can't really complain.

Legion Deathstalkers

I love these girls. One Deathstalker is nice, but a pair is awesome. Together they can inflict enough damage to cripple a unit. They stick and move, shaving off the front row and backing up. The fact that they have both Sniper and non typed damage is important for Legion.

These two followed my standard colour scheme except that I free handed some runes onto the cloaks to dress them up a little. I had painted (roughly) the Legion symbol on my Lylyth model, and felt as part of the same cadre the Deathstalkers would also have marks of prowess.

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight

Thagrosh has always been one of my favorite warlocks. He plays very differently than most Legion warlocks, supporting both beasts and units about equally and being one of the few that can play the attrition game. Aside from his decent spell list and feat, Thagrosh can take care of business himself, which is always fun.

I painted him up the same as my other Ogryn, with the dark green skin that matches the beasts. Thagrosh also has a fair amount of gold on him to reflect his status as the bearer of Everblights anthanc. The fluff always talked about him having a skull like vissage, so I drilled out his eyes. I assume he just sees via the blight, a bit like Lylyth.

Scythean

The Scythean is one of the staples in Legion. He's the cheapest beatstick melee beast we have along with the Angelius, and is also one of the best thanks to reach. I don't use it in every list, but the ones where I do I'd really miss him if he came out. It's been a while since I painted a Legion heavy and it took a bit of extra work to get the colours looking like my older models. I knew which colours to use, but couldn't remember exactly how I had mixed them or how many layers I usually did. I just kept at it until it looked "right".

War Chiefs

I've been enjoying the War Chief with my Warmongers a lot. He's not super awesome but he's decent at 3 points. With a medium base Veteran Leader is actually a useful ability, since you can actually see through small bases to see it. I pretty much never run two of them. The only reason I have two is becuase they were so crazy good in MKI. But if I was painting one I might as well do the other.

Spawning Vessel

The Legion Spawning Vessel is pretty solid in MKII. I don't use it in every list, but if you're playing more infantry heavy it trundles along behind pumping out lesser beasts and tilting the attrition game in your favour. I have found that it's something you always take the maximum unit for. The minimum unit suffers becuase it is both slower and has a smaller range, two issues that compound with each other to make it not really work. The only other downside is painting seven models and only getting three points out of it.

Stingers & Forsaken

I wasn't too sure what to make of the Stingers at first, but these days I rather like them. I can have them lurk behind a heavy beast, ready to aim and spray off any small bases sent in to tie ti up. Or I can use it like a cruise missile, shreaking in to do a POW 12 + 4d6 to a living target. Doing 26 points of damage on average is enough to even put the hurt on enemy heavies.
The Forsaken is my third which I painted up for my Absylonia teir force.