Peter and I got a game in this evening with the new Legion warlock facing off against pSkarre. Peter’s force was all Satyxis (Raiders and Blood Witches), their respective UAs/solos, Mechanithralls, Skarlock and a Leviathan.
In Kallus’ force I had a Ravagore, Carnivean, Shredder, Shepherd, Deathstalker, max Warmongers and max Legionnaires. This was my first game with Kallus and I wanted to see how he fared with a mixed force. His abilities mostly seem to support infantry, but Dark Guidance is a great spell on beasts too. It is expensive for a 6 Fury warlock… Incite gives the Legionnaires decent punch and they, along with the Warmongers will also benefit from Dark Guidance. The Shredder is there for his animus and a damage transfer if needs be.
We played the Close Quarters SR2011 scenario this evening and I’m afraid I only got a teaser of what Kallus is capable of. Peter pushed up aggressively and the Ravagore dropped a boosted Scather shot on to Skarre. When I saw the opportunity I sent the Carnivean in, under Dark Guidance, to tear up the Leviathan. This left Peter with little option other than to attempt an assassination on the furyless Kallus under his feat and with Tenacity on him. Some unlucky dice rolls left him on 6 boxes. Skarre feated, but it wasnt enough to stop the Ravagore and a feat Incubus finishing her. Kallus was fully loaded with Fury and in charge range had the Incubus failed.
Peter forgot Puppet Master on Skarre which may have let him land one of the Hellfires that missed, but probably not with the way he rolls dice!
It was a good game, but I didn’t learn too much about Kallus. The +2 DEF on his feat for soulless models is great. It protected him from Skarre and made the feat Incubi tricky to hit. Dark Guidance is pricey – between greedily casting it and leaving Kallus on zero Fury I nearly lost the game. I needed to repair the Carnivean after some decent Leviathan ranged attacks, but I should have let Incite drop to leave him with a transfer. He will always be short on Fury when casting Dark Guidance, but the Carnivean did make six attacks including its charge and hit with all of them thanks to the extra die to hit. It was a thing of beauty! The Incubi are useful, but like most defensive feats rely on your opponent, so a canny opponent can minimise the impact, or plan to take out the Incubi created.
I think Kallus could be very solid. I’m looking forward to getting more games in with him.
Owen