So let's start with the bad news. The Mad Dog is essentially a Berserker 2.0 - and the Berserker was a pile of garbage. Usually, sprucing up a pile of garbage with a little pink ribbon and some perfume doesn't do anything but make the pile of garbage more expensive. In the Mad Dog's case, that pile of garbage got cheaper and remained a pile of garbage. So let's look at the base stats. SPD 4: garbage. MAT 5: garbage. DEF 11: garbage. Two non-reach POW 14s: garbage. STR 11: relatively poor (we'll discuss this later). ARM 18 and 31 boxes: meh. At a points cost of 5, you're allowed to have some below average stats. Unfortunately the Mad Dog is not a C student - he's a straight up flunker. But he's a flunker that tries REALLY hard.
Aggressive's free runs and charges is a fantastic rule. Crusher is also a fantastic rule - except this thing's got garbage stats. Boosted MAT 5's hit 15's on average, sure, but STR 11 is pretty low these days. Iron Zealed or Shield Walled Iron Fangs are the standard of competitive infantry these days, and even my Temple Flameguard are ARM 17 under Iron Zeal. Needing 8's or 7's to crack armor against infantry is nothing to write home about. Combine this with the low SPD 4 and the lack of immunity to free strikes and you're looking at a pretty fat 5 point dude that still struggles to kill the infantry he was designed to kill. Furthermore, think of all of the small-based infantry in the game that this guy wants to trample. There are very few that are slow enough or low damaging enough to allow the Mad Dog to consistently engage in optimal tramples. If anything, even the faster infantry that would get in range of him have probably finished their jobs, as this guy is definitely not fast enough to be your front line.
So now let's talk about the two rules that make this guy go from tryhard flunker to a true failure. Unstable is the epitome of bad as far as a warjack goes. I already abhor random elements in any of my lists, and this random element restrains this jack's output further than anything of his any other stats. Combine this with Jury-Rigged [SPD], and you have a jack that risks blowing up even when he tries to go from a terrible SPD to a mediocre one. So we've established that the jack is already poor at his intended role, and now we've established that he punishes his owner with a random negative effect whenever he tries to get better at it. Truly just garbage.
What makes his design even worse is that his only attempt at viability is through spamming. At 5 points, there is a tier list(s?) that makes him 4 points: Karchev's Iron Curtain. At 4 points, maybe you can justify the ARM and boxes. But then again, you can just take 6 point Juggernauts that have 3 extra boxes, 2 extra ARM, +1 MAT, and +4/+1 POW. So on a scale of a Mechanithrall to a Bane Rider, I'd give him a Scrapthrall.
So if the Mad Dog is a Berserker gone wrong (still wrong?), then the Rager is the essence of a Berserker gone right. The Rager keeps the basic stats of the Mad Dog, but gains a couple of important rules for the measly cost of 1 point. These two rules are Shield and Shield Guard. The increase from ARM 18 to ARM 20 is extremely significant, increasing the Rager's average amount of hits till death a much larger number than the Mad Dog. Taking that into account, the Rager's Shield Guard becomes that much stronger.
As the first faction model (with the Bokur being the only other model available to Khador) with Shield Guard, Rager will single-handedly change the face of Khadoran list building. The ability to place an extremely durable Shield Guard next to the fairly robust defensive stats of the Khadoran warcaster lineup will push your opponents away from ranged assassination. It also serves as a decent means of protecting important solos from damage, ranging from Andrei to even protecting Uhlans/Drakhuns. On a similar note, most Khadoran lists try to spend very little points in jacks, and this guy definitely replaces the solo Juggernauts taken simply to fill in the free points. The Rager is a decently exciting release that I expect will see much use. On a scale of a Ogrun Bokur to Lucant's Corollary, I give the Rager an Aspis.
Though a lot of people are calling this Privateer Press' apology to Khador, I've always had a deep and affectionate love for my Conquest. I even painted him with a little freehand Black Dragon icon, named him Ares, and still own him despite having sold my Khador collection three times. But I digress. Regardless of whether or not Victor was an apology, he's an extremely important addition to the Khadoran armory. Having the same base stats as Conquest at 1 point cheaper, Victor remains one of the most durable colossals in the game. POW 22 Fists will never be bad, and it's hard to argue with ARM 20 and 64 boxes.
But the main strength that differentiates Victor from any of her fellow warjacks is the Siege Mortar. Coming in at a massive RNG 20, humongous AoE 5, an on-the-high-end of respectable POW 15, and the always decent benefit of Arcing Fire, it receives these stats at the cost of two negatives: Inaccurate and Minimum Range [6]. With an already poor RAT 4, Inaccurate reducing Victor to RAT 0 is a blow, but not a nail in the coffin. It restricts Victor's POW 15 damage to other Colossals and low DEF heavies, though the AoE 5 POW 8 still allows it to be fairly versatile. It's also important to remember Khador's access to Stationary, allowing for fairly long range POW 15 bombardments. Thumbs up in my book of jank assassination opportunities.
On the other hand, Minimum Range [6] is a much larger problem. The first colossals all shared one similarity in common: ranged weapons that could wipe away infantry in front of them. For example, Judicator's high POW 9 Rocket Pods and high RAT 7 Flamethrowers would protect itself from being surrounded. Similarly, Conquest's potential five AoE's would save it from both its relatively low MAT and against high DEF infantry. But Victor lacks this. With Minimum Range [6] and non-AoE secondary weapons, cheap infantry pins become a very viable option. Common strategies with Conquest are to place it as aggressively as possible, counting on its high ARM and boxes to deter any attempts at one turning it (of course, if you know they have a high average attempt at one turning it, you wouldn't do that). Victor lacks that option. It remains a late game, back line piece. To say that makes it a much weaker piece would be hyperbole, but it's important to remember that distinction between the two colossals. Victor serves a very different purpose from its first generation brethren.
In a faction that's known for being straightforward, any utility pieces make a huge difference in list creation - it generally increases the amount of playable units and strengths already competitive choices. Victor fulfills that role. The three different ammo types on the Siege Mortar provide different kinds of utility, two of which are unique to Victor within faction. Crater (rough terrain control) is one that Khador has had access to in the Gun Carriage's cannons and Irusk2. Being able to plant a fat 5'' AoE on top of a heavy warjack can really slow your opponent's advance to a crawl. Next up is the biggest one: Flare. Anyone that's played a Reckoner or Convergence can understand the raw power of being able to give an army wide +2 to hit buff against a few targets. Just think of MAT 8 Iron Fangs. Magic Ability 8 Outriders. RAT 7 Winterguard and RAT 9 Widowmakers. MAT 10 Uhlans on the charge. MAT 8 warjacks in Khador. The possibilities should have you Khadoran players salivating (other factions' players can continue along thinking that those stats are normal). Even self-buffing Victor's 2d3 Autocannon shots to RAT 6 is damn decent. With the relatively few to-hit buffs Khador has, I expect to see Victor create new opportunities for list building options and play lines (especially assassinations). Last but not least, the AoE 5 Fire is a personal favorite. Lobbing fiery shells into your opponent's back line from 20'' away is something I've grown accustomed to from Judicator and Redeemers. Not only does it gain you random value over the course of a game, but it also affords you the ability to threaten Iron Zealed and Shield Walled infantry. Of course, there's also the fantastic option of just trying to set your opponent's caster on fire.Take the fire portion with a grain of salt - I'm particularly fond of fire.
Overall, Victor's awesome. I might buy two and just run them with Harkevich with support. Victor opens a lot of doors for Khador, and I like the idea of a more supportive colossal. For those of you wondering why I didn't talk about the Autocannons, that's because they're basic as bread and butter. Fire them at Angels and laugh at the inherent anti-Legion tech. Fuck Legion. Yeah, I said it. On a scale of Drizzy to Based God, I'd give Victor a Yung Yeezy.
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So I'm not going to talk about Zerkova2 because there's already a decent wall of text above. Her review will probably come along with Cygnar, as most of that article will be Haley3 and me laughing at the other releases they got - the perfect opportunity to slip in a decently long review of Zerkova2 and all (some) of her possibilities. As always, if you made it this far, thanks and comment on what you think below. Peace.
Love it! Keep the write ups coming (Z2)!!!
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