Hello Kings of War community, Jake here again with a U.S. Masters army dissection! As a reminder, this is a series where I pick an article from the U.S. Masters that caught my attention, and I pick apart what is in it, how I think it will work, and why I like it. I do not think these are necessarily the strongest lists at the event, but I do think they are the most interesting and are 100% lists I would consider playing.
I will be posting a new article with this focus each day until the Masters this Saturday, February 22nd. My first article, on Kris Kapsner’s Northern Alliance, can be found here, and my second article, on Mike Grant’s Forces of the Abyss, can be found here.
Right, without further delay, the list I picked today is an Empire of Dust list, an army that I have always found really interesting, but I don’t see very often. This list is run by one of the videocast members from the San Antonio Masters, hailing from the South, Matt Carmack.
Matt’s List:
Revenant Cav Regiment — Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding 180
Revenant Cav Regiment 165
Revenant Cav Regiment 165
Revenant Cav Regiment 165
Revenant Cav Troop 105
Revenant Cav Troop 105
Enslaved Guardian Horde — Aegis of Elohi 240
Ahmunite Pharaoh on Royal Chariot — Blade of Slashing 210
Ahmunite Pharaoh on Royal Chariot 205
Apaphys, Champion of Death 360
Idol of Shobik 290
Revenant Champion — Tome of Darkness, Undead Horse 110
With 11 drops and Unit Strength 21, it is much more compact than many of the lists at the Masters. It also has an army of almost entirely shambling, but very little Surge to take advantage of it, with Surge 8 from Apaphys and Surge 4 from the Revenant Champion due to the Tome of Darkness. However, I see a number of things here that I find intriguing. Let’s dive in!
The Core
With my last two dissections I started with the battleline. Matt’s list is interesting in that it doesn’t have a traditional battleline; instead, it is more of a “core.” There aren’t any infantry groups to receive and tarpit charges, there aren’t high nerve or defense pieces to carry tokens, or really anything to anchor his strikers; it is this that really intrigued me. I have to say that of all the lists I plan to dissect, this is the one I am most likely to get wrong, as it is SO unique, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
Right, so the core of the list is four Revenant Cav regiments backed up with two troops of Revenant Cav. This is the main chunk of Matt’s battleline. Revenant Cav are an odd unit, with Melee 4+ they can’t quite take advantage of their Thunderous Charge 2 easily, and with Speed 8 and Shambling, they project threat but can’t really move up the board quickly. Their biggest call to fame is their chunkiness, which is odd for cav. They are Defense 5, and a troop is -/14 Nerve and a regiment -/17. Both pretty solid, not amazing, but solid. They are also relatively cheap.
The nice thing with Matt’s list is that he has redundancy built in; charge one Revenant Cav unit and there is at least one, probably two, more options preparing to hit you back. Since these Cav units aren’t incredibly expensive, and since he has multiples of them, Matt can use them a bit aggressively, charging and killing enemy chaff, running in and hitting enemy regiments, or jumping forward into terrain to try to bait risky charges. If he loses the unit on the gamble, he should still have the tools to recuperate.
These units can also serve in objective play, freeing up the much more expensive pieces in his army.
Perhaps the coolest thing about this core is that everything can charge 16″, everything. This means that while it might not leap forward up the board, if you get too close, it WILL get stuck in, and all of it will be able to then hit you. With good positioning this will lead to lots of threatened flanks and great control of where and how combats happen. I have to admire the guts, too; in a game where some people have been theorizing that Phalanx invalidates cavalry, Matt has taken basically a whole army of them.
Despite all these positives, though, as someone who has used Revenant Cav, I have to say that I (and I am sure Matt) doesn’t expect a ton of damage output from these guys. Again, Melee 4+ can be SO dicey, and if terrain comes into the mix, it can spell disaster.
The Hammers / Support
Since I already discussed all the Revenant Cav, there are basically just hammers and one support piece left in the list. These are the components that I think really benefit from the hardiness and maneuverability that the Revenants bring.
First, two Ahmunite Pharaohs on Royal Chariots; these bros are rather tasty. 7 Attacks with Melee 3+, Crushing Strength 2, and Thunderous Charge 1. They hit rather hard! With Speed 8 and Nimble they have the ability to maneuver and threaten flanks. And finally, with Defense 5, Regen 5+, and a -/16 Nerve they are relatively tough.
These two guys could pair together to form a threatening strike force. They could move to support Revenant Cav regiments, supplying important extra hitting power or taking advantage of flanks after the Cav locks down enemies. Finally, they are Unit Strength 1, which means they can claim objectives in a pinch!
Next we have Apaphys. Coming in at an astounding 360 points, Apaphys is a BEAST. He has Fly, Speed 10, 10 attacks hitting on 3s, Crushing Strength 3, Cloak of Death, Nimble, and Very Inspiring. Oh, he also has Drain Life 7, Surge 8, and can reroll all dice that score 1s when casting those spells!!!!
So yeah, incredibly expensive, but also basically all the tools. In many lists I think Apaphys is just too much. However, in Matt’s list he has the support to really make ‘Paphy shine. Again, since Matt’s list has no hard center, he can really swirl around the board, threatening to strike from multiple angles. If he gets a combo charge off with ‘Paphy and basically anything else, yeah, it’s going to hurt.
And again, like the chariot Pharaohs, he has Unit Strength and so can score objectives!!!!
As if the investment in Apaphys wasn’t enough, Matt has also decided to invest in the Idol of Shobik.
Shobik provides another terrifying combat beast with 10 Attacks hitting on 3s with Crushing Strength 3; it is smashing things up. With Strider these attacks will rarely be hitting on anything but 3s. Shobik is also Defense 6 with a -/18 Nerve meaning that it is not easy to remove. In addition to these rules it has Aura (Iron Resolve), nice but not amazing, Very Inspiring, Heal 5, and Shambling. All this comes in at 290 points!
What Shobik does though is build redundancy into Matt’s list. If you deal with Apaphys, you still have Shobik to deal with, and vice versa. Both hit like a ton of bricks, and both can stand up to some punishment. Finally, both of these beasts have support spells and rules allowing them to participate before getting stuck in.
These 4 options are really the meat of Matt’s list. The Revenant Cav serve to help control board space and enemy units while these four hammers roll up and knock out the opposition.
*Update* Canny readers will notice I missed the Enslaved Guardian Hordes during my analysis.This lends a 5th real threat to Matt’s list. Though they are a little slower than the rest of his list, the Revenant Cav can easily support this horde. With 18 Crushing Strength 2 Attacks hitting on 3s, they are a major threat. Their Defense is 5, and their Nerve -/17 lets them stand up to some charges as a counter charge threat.
The final piece of this army is the Revenant Champion with Tome of Darkness for Surge 4. With a mount this character isn’t amazing, but it is cheap and provides a mobile source of Surge. Not a ton of Surge, but with Matt’s whole army having a solid base speed, he shouldn’t need to aim for big Surges; instead he will be trying to line up cheeky flanks or just enough to get in the way. It can also hunt war engines if need be. The Revenant Champion can also serve as chaff in a pinch, and finally, though it only inspires Revenants, Matt’s entire army that doesn’t already Inspire is Revenants!
Why I Like this List
I picture this army working like a slow, swirling maelstrom. The closer the enemy gets, the more it gets wrapped up and pushed around. Without a solid core, it will be challenging to deal definitive damage to Matt’s army, and he has the tools to protect his major investments with aggressive blocks of Revenant Cav. It’s very different from traditional armies, and that is why I like it!
I also think that this army has the potential to look VERY cool on the tabletop. Loads of cav, some cool characters, and two big monsters! I always loved the way massed Tomb King chariots looked, and this follows a similar idea.
I do think that this list has several really poor match-ups. Any army bringing war engines will give Matt fits. While he can hide his monsters some, eventually they will have to come out, and the Revenant Cav are fragile enough that two or so good hits could remove them. With everything being Height 3 or taller, enemy infantry won’t be blocking line of sight. And finally, with the whole list almost being Shambling, it isn’t moving fast enough to really pressure those war engines soon enough.
I do think Matt wants to see other Alpha Strike and Elite builds. He doesn’t have targets as easy to strike, and in return he can make opponents pay for every charge. Trash builds will have a tough time killing any of his important stuff, and Revenant Cav can threaten weaker units, making Matt’s whole army a threat.
I didn’t get to see Matt play last year since he was hosting the video stream, so I will be excited to see how he does! I’ll have my fingers crossed that he gets good match-ups, as I would love to see Empire of Dust do well.
