Kommander Sorscha

Kommander Sorscha Khador Warcaster

Unlimited Only This model can only be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can see the other models with / without mk4 rules on this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff wages unending war against the enemies of Khador. After the untimely death of her father, she lied about her age and joined the Winter Guard, rarely leaving the battlefield since. As cold and stoic and the frigid northland from which she hails, Sorcha is the embodiment of the Khadoran Empire, both in terms of fighting prowess and unshakable resolve.

Basic Info

Sorscha1
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 6 STR 6 MAT 6 RAT 6 M.A. N/A DEF 16 ARM 15 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS 6 FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 17 F. Field N/A WJP +29 WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA N/A UNIT SIZE N/A COST N/A N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warcaster - All warcasters come with a stack of standard special rules - most notably being awesome. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Feat: Icy Gaze

Enemy models without Immunity: Cold currently in Sorcha's control range and LOS become stationary for one round.

Abilities

• Immunity: Cold

Weapons

Hand Cannon
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			-			12
Frostfang
		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				7				13
Damage Type: Magical Critical Freeze - On a critical hit, the model hit becomes stationary for one round unless it has Immunity: Cold. Shatter - This weapon gains an additional damage die against stationary models.

Spells

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Boundless Charge	2	6	-	-	Turn	No
During its activation, target friendly Faction model can charge without spending focus or being forced and gains +2" movement and Pathfinder when it charges. Boundless Charge lasts for one turn.
Fog of War	3	SELF	Control	-	Upkeep	No
Models gain concealment while in the spellcaster's control range.
Freezing Grip	3	8	-	-	(★)	Yes
Target model/unit becomes stationary for one round unless it has Immunity: Cold.
Razor Wind	2	10	-	12	-	Yes
This spell has zero special effects.
Tempest	4	8	4	12	(★)	Yes
Models hit by Tempest become knocked down and suffer a POW 12 damage roll.
Wind Rush	2	SELF	-	-	Round	No
The spellcaster can immediately make a full advance and gains +2 DEF for one round. Wind Rush can be cast only once per activation.

Theme Forces

• Armored Korps
• Flame in the Darkness
• Jaws of the Wolf
• Legion of Steel
• Warriors of the Old Faith
• Winter Guard Kommand. In this theme the caster gains Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model].
• Wolves of Winter

Thoughts on Sorscha1

Classic Sculpt

Sorscha1 in a Nutshell

Sorscha is a control/assassin caster. She is highly mobile and hard to hit. With Freezing grip, and Tempest she is able to control enemy models/units allowing for the rest of your army to dispatch them.

Sorscha's crazy assassination threat also dictates where your opponent moves, and what they move. Her ability to threaten a caster from a non-linear 19" is quite scary. Even veteran players can make mistakes allowing for an assassination opportunity.

Feat thoughts

Her feat is used to freeze the bulk of the enemies army in place, so you can clobber/shoot them all to death. If you also manage to freeze the opposing caster, all the better. The only tricky part is that, unlike most feats in the game, it is based on her LOS.

Spell thoughts

• Boundless Charge is great for moving a Warjack or Solo into charge range, or if needed, Sorscha herself.
• Fog of War is great for delivering melee brawlers like Doom Reavers.
• Freezing Grip is one of Sorscha's signature spells. Move forward, cast this on the most dangerous target, and use Wind Rush to fall back to safety. Alternatively, you can now freeze 2 units if you've already spent your feat, or if you want to save it for something else.
• Razor Wind is essentially a magic version of Sorscha's hand cannon. You're unlikely to use it, but it's there if you do.
• Tempest is more expensive than Freezing grip, but affects units with cold immunity, shoring up one of Sorscha's potential weaknesses. She can still Wind Rush after as well.
• Wind Rush is Sorscha's other signature spell, with a whole host of uses. It'll get her out of trouble, help out with an assassination run, and generally helps anytime you want her to be a bit more mobile or have a bit more defense. You're probably going to be casting this every single turn.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• She lacks a damage buff.
• She's nimble, but very fragile; boosted blast rolls and knockdown effects can be deadly for her.
• Remember that enemies in Sorcha's CTRL range also receive concealment from Fog of War.
• She's focus-starved.
• Freezing Grip and her Feat are useless against enemies that are immune to cold.

Tricks & Tips

• Under Guidance Sorscha will ignore the concealment bonus she will give the enemy via Fog of War. If your force consists mainly of melee brawlers, you can keep it up the entire game without repercussions.
• With Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios ability Disruptor Bolt and feat you can completely disable a warjack for entire opponent turn, because a disrupted warjack cannot shake the stationary in the maintenance phase.
  • You can also combine the feat with precision strike and sniper. Cut out a warjacks cortex or a warbeasts spirit and then they can't activate.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Sorschas strategy is simple enough. Protect your troops with FoW on the advance, gain Eyeless sight from the Greylord Adjunct, freeze everything and then unleash hell upon the enemy. Thus you either win through attrition because everything got shattered into pieces or you straight up assassinate the unfortunate enemy caster. It put this into practice you will need lots of hard hitting bodies, which will either be the resident weapon masters that are Doom Reavers or Winter Guard Rocketeers with Brutal Damage on their guns (so effectively weapon masters), with some help from jacks sprinkled in. Note this makes Sorscha a very good counter to lists that rely on lots of tough dudes like Flames in the Darkness. Making live hell for Morrowans is the thing she does best. She doesn't really ask your opponent questions but answers theirs instead.

Her assassination run is tempting, but choose your engagement wisely. If you need to use both Wind Rush and Boundless charge, you'll have only 2 focus left to help with damage, giving you little room for error. Your target should be stationary before you hit them, so you don't have to waste focus trying to hit, as well as crit. Also be aware of how much armor the target has, and if they have any camped focus to prevent damage, which could screw you up if you roll poorly. If you happen to be up against one of the few warcasters that are immune to cold, then you probably just want to avoid making an assassination run to begin with. Alternatively, let her set up a warjack to do the assassination. Assigning 2 focus and Boundless charge to almost any Khador Warjack will enable it to do far more damage to target than spending the same amount of focus to get Sorscha there, especially if Sorscha also pops her feat. This also makes it less likely that in the event of a failed assassination that Sorscha will get killed. Kovnik Malakov can assist here as Redline + Boundless Charge = 4 extra inches on your unsuspecting opponent. Be on the lookout for enemy feats and spells which prevent / punish spell casting, or make them harder (like Lamentation) - in such cases, you better forget about your assassination run.

Theme Thoughts

    Wolves of Winter    

• Doom Reaver Swordsmen - Freeze the enemy in place, then clobber them to death with about 30 Doomies. It doesn't get much simpler, yet more effective that this. They also really like the FoW buff, going from DEF 13 to DEF 15 against shooting, which is reasonable.
• Koldun Lord - An in-theme damage buff is great since Sorscha has none herself. Puppet Master also ups the odd of hitting Freezing Grip. Leadersip: Prowl means all your Greylords have stealth under FoW.
• Ruin - Provides spell hate and other than that acts as a focus efficient beat stick, which is always great to have, especially if you can cast Boundless Charge on it.
• A Void Archon or even two will provide your army with significant fire power as well as some much needed damage buffs Sorscha can't provide. Freeze some fools, then spray them to death, then Void Walk into melee with a hard target and apply Dark Shroud for the follow up crew (don't forget to slap it twice if you haven't done your melee attacks yet). As Void Archons fold pretty easily into guns, they will also love her Fog of War bubble.
• Greylord Ternion - They recurr fallen doom reavers but Blizzard and Ice Cage are not that necessary with her kit.

    Winter Guard Kommand    

• The weapon attachments for the Winter Guard Infantry and Rifle Corps are the important part here. After Sorscha freezes everything, shoot it all to pieces with Brutal Damage!
• Same goes for the Mortar Crew. POW 16 direct hits will really hurt.
• A Boundless Charge'd Gun Carriage is just fun!

    Support Models - Various themes    

• Greylord Adjunct - The most important model in any Sorscha list. Not only is extra range on freezing grip and a free FoW nice, but Guidance is where it's at. The importance of Eyeless sight for her LoS based feat can not be overstated, since enemies will hardly be able to hide from her frosty gaze, thus rendering potentially the entire enemy army stationary.
• Malakov1 works great with Sorscha. She has no battlegroup spells so you're not losing anything by having a warjack outside the caster's battlegroup. Additionally, she is usually focus starved so he can help her bring jacks along without paying the focus bill. Last, Redline improves STR and SPD but not MAT, but if Sorscha freezes a model you can focus your Malakov controlled jack on buying additional attacks instead of boosting attack rolls.
• Greylord Forge Seer - He ups her focus efficiency and she is a valid Winter's Wind target.

    Mercenaries    

• The usual damage buffs: Ragman, Aiyana & Holt, Gorman1, Hutchuck. Special mention to the latter two as they will have no trouble hitting their AOEs on frozen targets.
• Eiryss1 - A costly investment, but the combination of Disruptor Bolt and stationary can be very much worth it.
• Alexia2 - Another huge investment, but she brings spell hate and Weapons Master Thralls for scenario purposes, or to simply whack enemy popsicles hard.
• Saxon Orrik - As usual, he brings crucial Pathfinder. You can't boundless charge your entire army after all.
• Hermit of Henge Hold - Sorscha likes all of his buffs and debuffs. Telementry makes her Freezing Grips M.A. 8, so she will hit most things pretty reliably. A damage buff is always solid to a caster without one herself and Mad Visions allows her to be more aggressive and threaten assassinations.

Battlegroup

Beast-09 is her pet warjack that she can take in any theme.

• Beast-09 is her character warjack, that she can take in any theme. He hits hard and protects her from shooting, which is all good for a caster like her.
• Marauders can be a huge help to Sorscha since huge bases are immune to stationary.
• Juggernaut - Apply axe to face has never been easier when said face is frozen solid.
• Victor - Your enemy will be cold. Warm them up by dropping some incindiary pie plates on their heads!
• Berserkers, Ragers & Mad Dogs really love the free charges due to the wording of unstable - they also become Def 13 under fog of war which is still not great but it’s right on the edge of the curve for unboostable guns.

First Seven Purchases

A few veteran players have put their heads together and tried to figure out the seven best things to buy for this specific caster. This is not designed to add up to a nice round points limit, nor be balanced vs other "First Seven" lists you find on this website. It is simply going to give you some of the essentials this caster needs most of the time.

1. Warjack: Marauder
2. Warjack: Juggernaut
3. Solo: Greylord Adjunct
4. Solo: Koldun Lord
5. Solo: Koldun Lord
6. Unit: Doomreaver Swordsmen + CA
7. Unit: Doomreaver Swordsmen + CA

Other

Trivia

• Released way back in Warmachine: Prime (2003)

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.06 Tiny Men, vs Gunnbjorn1
• 2019.02 Tiny Men, vs Goreshade4
• 2018.12 Tiny Men, vs Issyria1
• See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.

Other Khador models

Khador Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Butcher1 - Butcher2 - Butcher3 - Harkevich - Irusk1 - Irusk2 - Karchev1 - Karchev2 - Kozlov - Malakov2 - Old Witch1 - Old Witch2 - Sorscha1 - Sorscha2 - Sorscha3 - Strakhov1 - Strakhov2 - Vlad1 - Vlad2 - Vlad3 - Zerkova1 - Zerkova2
Warcaster attachments	Khador: War Dog - Greylord Adjunct Mercenary: Madelyn Corbeau - Reinholdt - Wyshnalyrr
Other Warjack Controllers	"Junior" Warcasters: Malakov1 - Sorscha0 'Jack Marshals: Man-o-War Kovnik - Greylord Forge Seer
Heavy Warjacks	Beast-09 - Behemoth - Berserker - Black Ivan - Decimator - Demolisher - Destroyer - Devastator - Drago - Grolar - Juggernaut - Kodiak - Mad Dog - Marauder - Rager - Ruin - Spriggan - Torch
Colossal	Conquest - Victor
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Assault Kommandos - Battle Mechaniks - Black Dragons - Doom Reaver Swordsmen - Great Bears of the Gallowswood - Greylord Outriders - Greylord Ternion - Iron Fang Pikemen - Iron Fang Uhlans - Kayazy Assassins - Kayazy Eliminators - Kossite Woodsmen - MOW Atanas & Standard - MOW Bombardiers - MOW Demolition Corps - MOW Shocktroopers - Widowmaker Scouts - WG Field Gun - WG Infantry - WG Mortar Crew - WG Rifle Corps Ranking Officer CA : Koldun Kapitan Valachev
Solos	Bulkhead - Fenris - Greylord Adjunct - Greylord Forge Seer - Iron Fang Kovnik - Jozef - Koldun Lord - Malakov1 - Manhunter - MOW Drakhun - MOW Kovnik - MOW Strike Tanker - MOW Suppresion Tanker - Markov - Sofya - Sorscha0 - Ol' Grim - Underboss Vizkoya - War Dog - Widowmaker Marksman - WG Artillery Kapitan - Yuri1 - Yuri2
Battle Engines	Gun Carriage - Man-o-War Siege Chariot - Man-o-War Assault Chariot
Theme Forces
Armored Korps - Flame in the Darkness - Jaws of the Wolf - Legions of Steel - Warriors of the Old Faith - Winter Guard Kommand - Wolves of Winter
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Khador Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Feat : Icy Gaze Remember, you need LOS. Remember, stationary only prevents what it says it does. Refer the recap on stationary for what models can/can't do. Abilities that say they cannot be used if the model is stationary (such as Shield Guard) cannot be used while a warjack is inert, either. Refer "Warcaster Destruction", page 59 of the core rulebook.

Rules Clarification:  : Magical Damage      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling) All spells have "Damage Type: Magical" (refer errata). This is inherited by "immediate" secondary damage (such as Eruption of Spines). (Infernal Ruling) and might be inherited by "lingering" secondary damage (see below). If a spell leaves a template in play that does damage to models that walk around in it, then: if it is not described as a hazard it will do magical damage to models that walk around in it. (Example: Razor Wall) if it is a hazard then it will not do magical damage to models that walk around in it. Instead, it does whatever damage type is specified by the spell description. (Example: Breath of Corruption). (Infernal Ruling) If a weapon/spell includes Magic Damage and another kind of elemental damage it will still damage Incorporeal models. Incorporeal models are not affected by the rule "if an attack does multiple types of damage and a model is immune to at least one it is immune to the entire attack." The phrase "immune to non-magical damage" should be interpreted as "immune to damage that doesn't include Damage Type: Magical" (not interpreted as "has immunity to Corrosion and Electricity and Cold and etc.")

Rules Clarification : Freeze      (Edit) Remember Stationary only prevents what it says it does. Refer the page on Stationary for a refresher.

Rules Clarification : Shatter - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification:  : Warcaster      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

General Damage from a feat is neither an attack nor Damage Type: Magical (unless the feat says it is). FOCUS (uppercase) is the stat printed on the warcaster's card. Focus (lowercase) refers to focus points a model currently has. Your CTRL area is double your FOCUS stat, not double your focus points. (Infernal Ruling) Casting spells or using feats is an anytime ability with the added restriction that you can't use them on the same turn you run even before you run. See also the clarifications on Any Time abilities (below). Some warcasters are also Battle Engines and thus follow all the Battle Engine special rules. There is no particular interaction between the Battle Engine rules and the Warcaster rules. Work out all damage modifiers (such as Decapitation doubling the damage that exceeds ARM) before reducing it with the Power Field. (Infernal Ruling) Restrictions on "Any Time" abilities     (Edit)         [Show/Hide] "Any Time" abilities can be used at any time during a model/unit's activation, except: Before any compulsory forfeiture of movement/action. See step 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. After the model with the "Any Time" ability has had their activation end "prematurely". By this I mean you resolved something which includes the phrase "its activation ends". Examples include: Running, failing a charge, or failing a slam. Abilities that include "then its activation ends" (such as Reposition and Teleport). In between declaring your charge target and making your charge movement. (Infernal Ruling) In between completing your charge movement and determining whether it was a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) When you're in the middle of moving. (Note: Impact Attacks count as being in the middle of movement). When you're in the middle of an attack. Which also includes effects that occur "after the attack is resolved". (Although the attack is "resolved" at Step 11, in terms of using an "Any Time" ability the attack is not "finished" until after Step 14. Refer to the first paragraph of Apdx A.) Your opponent interrupted your activation to trigger one of their own abilities (such as Countercharge). Warcasters/warlocks/etc can normally cast a spell or use their feat "At any time". However, there is a core rule saying they cannot do so on the same activation that they run. So, they are subject to all the same restrictions listed above, plus they can't cast/feat before running. Units: See below. In general you can use "Any Time" abilities while you're knocked down or stationary (except Spells and Feats which specify you can't). If you have a gun with a random ROF, you can use an "Any Time" ability inbetween rolling the number of shots and actually making the first attack. (Infernal Ruling) Units with "Any Time" abilities You cannot use an "Any Time" ability before issuing/receiving orders. See step 1 and 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after they run (Infernal Ruling) or fail a charge. Because that makes that specific model's activation to end even though the unit's activation is still ongoing, and you can't use abilities on models that are not active. You can use an "Any Time" ability before running, however. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after anyone in the unit has begun a Reposition move. (Infernal Ruling) Warcaster/Warlock Cavalry ( Edit ) Warcasters/Warlocks can't cast spells or use their feat while resolving Impact Attacks. Because Impact Attacks occur during movement - you can use spells or feat before moving, or after moving, but not during movement. Exception: If your Impact target(s) include your charge target, then your movement has ended (refer rulebook, last paragraph of 'Impact Attacks') and thus you're fine to use "any time" abilities before starting the Impact attacks. Rules Clarification:  : Warcaster Unit or Warlock Unit     (Edit) (Click Expand to read) This summary is specific to Warcaster/Warlock units. You may also want to check the Warcaster and Warlock pages respectively, for the "regular" rules clarifications. All models in the unit count as part of the battlegroup. So, for instance, Butcher3's argus can be moved via his Energizer spell. Warcaster units can have attachments. They can even attach units (such as the WSC). (Infernal Ruling) The non-caster models are trooper models but are not normally Grunt models. Therefore they're not normally eligible for stuff like Revive. If any member of the unit start to do their reposition movement, the warcaster or warlock in the unit would no longer be able to feat.(Infernal Ruling) Press Forward Order vs Spells cast at Any Time (Edit) You must issue orders before anything else. If you issue a Press Forward order, you must run or charge. If you cast spells before moving, you can't run so you must charge. If you cast spells before moving, then start the spellcaster's Normal Movement but have no valid charge targets, you are in a situation where you must charge but cannot charge. In this situation the spellcaster must either: forfeit their Combat Action, use their Normal Movement to make a full advance, then their activation ends. (Note that you cannot cast more spells after the full advance). forfeit their Normal Movement, then their activation ends. (Infernal Ruling) Steamroller 2018 The non-caster models can contest scenario zones & flags. The caster model cannot contest. The caster model can control zones and flags by itself, but: to control a zone, the entire unit remaining in play needs to be in formation. to control a flag, the entire unit remaining in play must be within 4" of the flag. Units Buying Attacks (Edit) If you make attacks with model [A], then start making attacks with model [B], you cannot 'go back' and buy more attacks with [A]. Because: A model can only buy additional attacks during its Combat Action. A model in a unit must complete its Combat Action before the next model starts theirs (with some exceptions, like CMA). Rules Clarification : Unit of Warcasters or Warlocks     (Edit) Even though they're warcasters, if they're out of formation they suffer the normal penalties (can't make attacks, actions, spells, etc). They can't upkeep each other's spells. They can only dominate one SteamRoller scenario element at a time. Each warlock/warcaster can have different upkeeps on them if those upkeeps are "target SELF" or "target model". If you cast an upkeep that is "target model/unit", that is the only upkeep any of them can have. Units Buying Attacks (Edit) If you make attacks with model [A], then start making attacks with model [B], you cannot 'go back' and buy more attacks with [A]. Because: A model can only buy additional attacks during its Combat Action. A model in a unit must complete its Combat Action before the next model starts theirs (with some exceptions, like CMA). The Legion Twins Rhyas cannot dominate a zone while out of formation. Rhyas can use the feat while out of formation. Haley3 Only Haley Prime is an 'actual' warcaster model, and as such she is the only one that can dominate a scenario element. The echoes can Control/Contest scenarios like a normal unit. Haley Prime can dominate an element even if the echoes are out of formation.

Rules Clarification : Cold - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Boundless Charge      (Edit) Pathfinder (Edit) - Pathfinder does not apply to involuntary movement (pushes & slams). (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Fog of War      (Edit) All players will gain concealment from Fog of War. It lacks the "friendly models gain ..." part that would normally limit it.

Rules Clarification : Freezing Grip      (Edit) When you hit a model in a unit, the entire unit becomes stationary. If models are added to a unit after it is frozen (for example via Excarnate) then those models immediately become stationary; because the effect is applied to the unit not to the models. (Closed thread) Since Freezing Grip is applied to the unit for one round, then those new models will "unfreeze" at the same time as the rest of the unit.

Rules Clarification : Razor Wind      (Edit) The text description has no in-game effect. It's just for flavour.

Rules Clarification : Tempest      (Edit) Not blast damage (Edit) Due to the way it is worded, this spell/weapon does full POW to all models in the AOE. It is not blast damage and it is not halved. For the same reason, it doesn't do "two damage rolls to the model directly hit". (Infernal Ruling) Models that are immune to blast damage have no defence vs this spell/weapon. Knockdown (Edit) - Remember, knockdown only prevents what it says it does. Refer to the Knockdown page for a recap of what a model can/can't do.

Rules Clarification : Wind Rush - None yet. (Edit)