Supreme Aptimus Zaal experiments with the powers of his Skorne ancestors, leading his Praetorian Swordsmen into death and beyond.

by Felix Flauta/ malfred

500 Points

• Supreme Aptimus Zaal
• Titan Canonneer
• Basilisk Krea
• Ancestral Guardian
• Ancestral Guardian
• Immortals
• Praetorians and Unit Attachment

Small army. Don't let it get to you!

Supreme Aptimus Zaal and his Beasts

The fury will be tight. 7 Fury on Zaal and 8 total on his warbeasts. He might have to end up cutting for Fury during the battle, but that may be unlikely due to the Titan's and Basilisk's ranged abilities.

The Krea operates closer to the front lines, with Awakened Spirit cast on it to allow it to use its Animus for free. This gives it the Fury to cast Paralytic Field with a boosted hit roll (almost guaranteed to hit with its +3 to magic attack rolls and Fury stat of 4), and the Fury to activate Paralytic Aura to protect the Immortals from dying to ranged attacks (they become DEF 14 and ARM 18).

The Titan Canonneer fires its Siege Gun and looks for opportunity shots. Any damage transfers will apply to the Titan initially due to its damage grid and less essential role on the battlefield. When the enemy breaks through the lines, its Diminish animus will weaken any successful enemy melee attacks.

Zaal's Spiritual Reckoning spell will probably hit any warbeast he desires, but getting in range is extremely risky. Fortunately, he has Ghost Sight that allows him to ignore intervening models. Essentially, he can shoot laser beams through both friendly and enemy troops and cast his spells in much the same way.

His Spirit Eye attack might seem weak (POW 6), but it adds the STR of the target to its damage roll when it hits a living model. This encourages its use against high STR targets. Titans, for example, are STR 11, so his shot would be POW 17 vs. ARM 18+. Again, he probably doesn't want to be anywhere near these types of enemies, but desperate times call for a laser beam from the eye.

Krea, Titan and Zaal

Guardians and Kovaas

An enemy will want to avoid or kill Ancestral Guardians with soul tokens on them. Unfortunately, an Ancestral Guardian has ARM 18 with 10 Damage boxes. Also, when one finally dies, it becomes the Kovaas, an incorporeal pain in the rear.

Usually, the Ancestral Guardians would need soul tokens to charge, but with Aptimus Zaal they charge for free.

Which leads us to...

The Kovaas appears when an Ancestral Guardian is destroyed

Service in Death

Immortals gain 4" of movement when Ancestral Guardians use soul tokens. But they also gain an additional attack when Ancestral Guardians charge.

Aptimus allows Ancestral Guardians to charge for free.

Immortals can also receive the additional deterrent of having the spell Last Stand cast on them. With Final Strike, an Immortal will get to strike back at an opponent when its destroyed at P+S 20.

The Living

These are the soul fuel for the Ancestral Guardian, Zaal's Rage of Ancients feat. They should not have the spell Hollow on them as one might be tempted to do. They're too valuable as soul providers upon death. The only good reason to cast it would be to avoid them running off the table.

Ready to die