Midas

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Midas Minion Farrow Warlock

Greed, ferocity, and cunning are virtues esteemed by farrow, and Midas lacks for none of these. A potent bone grinder, he is empowered by lives stolen and feasted upon. The energies released in death are weapons and tools for Midas, who consumes his foes to gain their powers and knowledge. At his command, the bones of fallen beasts become animate and dead flesh rises to fight again.

Basic Info

Midas1
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 5 STR 7 MAT 6 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 14 ARM 16 CMD 8 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY 6 THRS N/A HP 16 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP +30 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

• Minion - In a 2+ warlock game, Midas can work for Circle, Legion, Skorne, or Trollbloods.
• Warlock - All warlocks 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: Pet Cemetery

1. Midas spends any number of fury points when this feat is used.
2. Return to play each destroyed warbeast from Midas' battlegroup, placing them completely within 6" of Midas with one unmarked damage box in each aspect. Warbeasts that were destroyed this turn cannot be returned.
3. For each fury point spent, remove 1 damage point from each model in Midas' battlegroup that is currently in his control range.
4. Returned warbeasts gain Undead. Returned warbeasts cannot be forced this turn.

Tip ! Step 3 applies to the whole battlegroup, not just those returned by step 2 of the feat.

Abilities

• Tough
• Butchery - When a living or undead warbeast is destroyed in this model's command range, this model can gain the destroyed warbeast's corpse token. Once per turn during this model's activation, you can remove up to three corpse tokens from it. This model gains 1 fury point for each corpse token removed.
• Dismember - When this model hits a warbeast with a melee attack, roll an additional damage die.
• Curse [Farrow Bone Grinders] - This model can use Curse once per activation at any time. Choose an enemy model/unit in this model's command range. Friendly Farrow Bone Grinders models gain +2 to attack rolls against the chosen model/unit. Curse lasts for one turn.}}
• Limited Battlegroup - The only warbeasts that can be in this model's battlegroup are Farrow Warbeasts and Boneswarms. Furthermore, Boneswarms in Midas' battlegroup become Farrow warbeasts instead of Gatorman warbeasts.

Weapons

• Bone Saw - 1" reach, P+S 13 melee attack.
  • Damage Type: Magical
  • Soul Food - Once per activation, immediately after resolving an attack in which it destroyed an enemy warbeast with this weapon, this model can cast a spell with COST 3 or less or cast the destroyed warbeast's animus without spending fury.

Spells

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Battle Lust	3	6	-	-	Turn	No
Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit gains an additional die on melee damage rolls. Battle Lust lasts for one turn.
Calamity	3	10	-	-	Upkeep	Yes
Target model/unit suffers -2 DEF & ARM.
Death March	3	6	-	-	Upkeep	No
Target friendly Faction unit gains +2 MAT and Vengeance. Vengeance - During your Maintenance Phase, if one or more models in a unit with Vengeance were damaged by enemy attacks during the last round, each model in the unit can advance 3" and make one basic melee attack.
Hex Blast	3	10	3	13	-	Yes
Enemy upkeep spells and animi on the model/unit directly hit by Hex Blast immediately expire.

Theme Forces

• The Thornfall Alliance. Midas gains Rise in this theme.
• Will Work for Food

Thoughts on Midas

Midas in a nutshell

Midas is a particularly unusual warlock by any measure: His Feat resurrects dead warbeasts and heals his entire battlegroup, yet his spell list boasts some of the best unit buffs in the game AND an effective debuff suite in Hex Blast (for stripping buffs) and Calamity (for applying his own). His Corpse token generation tugs toward filling out his battlegroup, but his unit buffs have a number of optimal targets between his two theme forces. Even among Farrow warlocks he is bizarre, with Primal (see Drawbacks) having inconsistent use in late game, and making the absolute most out of infantry models when most Farrow warlocks prefer to use their infantry to defensively screen at best.

Mastering Midas means committing to a combined arms warlock with some of the most unique gameplay rhythms in the faction, if not the entire game to date.

Feat thoughts

Welcome to Whose Beasts Are They Anyway!? Where the fury don't matter, so why should they?

Pet Cemetery is one of the weirdest feats in the game and is best explained in three parts.

• Fully Functional Corpses - While your warbeasts can't be forced the turn they come back, they still have all the other benefits of a normal activation, so they can make their full round of attacks, move, or even forfeit their movement to aim. While they can't cast their animus, they do return that animus to your spell list, giving Midas the ability to Sprint with a Road Hog or cast a battery of Lucky Shots with your returned Splatter Boar. Lastly, War Hogs/Road Hogs can press their dails for free, meaning that if the best thing for them to do after their activation ends is die, they have a fair chance to do exactly that if you aren't spending fury to heal.
• Mostly Dead is Still Dead - Remember that the beasts you bring back with Pet Cemetery are undead. That means a few interesting things when it comes to enemy abilities like Snacking, but can be just as dismaying for Midas players when spells like Primal come into focus. Plan thoroughly at list-build so it doesn't trip you up in the middle of play.
• Squeezing Blood From a Bone - In especially rare cases, you may encounter situations where the only benefit you'll be able to derive from this feat will be the healing effect. Maybe RFP (remove from play) effects are eating your beasts, or maybe the healing boost you need is as important or more than the bodies you can return. Looking for the best time to use this feat means measuring both halves of its effect.

Spell thoughts

• Death March is an awesome upkeep spell. A MAT buff, a speed buff, and potentially an extra attack. It's an upkeep that works well on just about any unit, although the extra potential attack is best when applied to 10-person units.
• Battle Lust is an awesome damage buff for infantry units, letting even mediocre infantry trash heavies. It applies to all melee damage rolls, so units that can make multiple melee attacks (like Farrow Valkyries) benefit greatly from it.
• Calamity is a bare bones attack and damage mark. It has slightly longer range than most debuff spells of its kind, meaning range-extensions native to Minions are pretty important for keeping Midas safe.
• Hex Blast is a potent nuke. As an anti-upkeep and anti-animus spell, it is a good lead into a fortified unit or hard target--and it applies damage after any upkeeps/animi expire! Going into late game, having lots of fury can let you marry Hex Blast and Calamity for lots of damage and applied vulnerability. In a pinch, you can also use it to nuke enemy upkeeps on your own models.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• While half of his spell list is for buffing infantry, the other half of his spell list relies on debuffing the enemy. In match-ups where spell protections like Banishing Ward, Sacred Ward and the like are in play, buffing your infantry can turn from a necessity to the backbone of your list. Relying too heavily on too few infantry models in this regard can bite you in such match-ups.
• While Calamity and Hex Blast can achieve high range or be arc'd, Midas' Curse effect has limited range. Don't be too eager to use it unless you are certain of Midas' safety.
• Remove From Play effects pose a particular disadvantage to Pet Cemetery, asking players to radically adjust their normal play habits in situations where RFP is available to an opponent.
• While the Battle Boar is a necessity to most Farrow warlocks, its animus can only target living models, making the Battle Boar a liability for Midas players wanting to use War Hogs or Road Hogs.

Tricks & Tips

• Instilling False Life - Warbeasts brought back with Pet Cemetery can still charge where Lanyssa Ryssyl is concerned. Hunter's Mark can open up a good deal of options if you keep Lanyssa around long enough to apply it.
• Carnivore Encore - Razor Boars, while generally unremarkable, can be a potent source of corpses when Midas is leaning on infantry for heavy lifting, and their ability to Snack on living models synergizes neatly with Pet Cemetery's healing effect.
• Have you ever won a game where you cast one animus nine times in a single turn? - Would you like to?

List Building Advice

Strategy

Between Death March and Battle Lust Midas turns his infantry into brutal killers, while his feat puts you ahead in the attrition game. His feat also affords players opportunities to play into late game scenario/assassination, but battlegroup selection can factor heavily into either potential.

His two themes, Will Work For Food and The Thornfall Alliance, carry attractive choices on both fronts. Details below, but if you intend to skew Midas' unique resource mechanics, spellcasting support, and use a heavy-warbeast battlegroup, Will Work For Food is a wiser choice. If you want the best troop choices for Midas' infantry support, an edge for Pet Cemetery against Warmachine opponents, and better early game defensive positioning, The Thornfall Alliance can be more attractive.

Theme Thoughts

    Will Work for Food    

In its present state (January 2020), Will Work for Food is seen by many as the best way to play Midas. Some of the best targets for Battle Lust, all the best spellcasting support and a more proactive Theme Force buff than Thornfall to his battlegroup (Overtake) make it a natural fit.

• Gatorman Soul Slave - Midas is arguably one of the best benificients of the Soul Slave's many abilities. With the Soul Slave he upkeeps Death March for free every turn, but being able to cast Battle Lust for free is arguably the greatest boon here. Additionally, a Hex Blast benefitting from Mental Force is an effective Five Fury bonus from significant range.
• Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron - the Boil Master can supply Midas with either d3 corpse tokens a turn from Seasoning the Sauce or even more later on when your infantry dies and feeds the pot. This means that mid-game and late-game The Pot can focus on using Spectral Lash or Puppet Strings to polish your latter turns.
• Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - While prohibitively expensive, Midas brings some of the best options for buffing Nyss Hunters in faction. Death March and Battle Lust can work in tandem to let them run the board for a massive turn when they charge, and Calamity can enhance their shooting in situations where they might play best harassing enemy models from afar.
• Greygore Boomhowler & Co. - While Boomhowler's troopers are a fairly mediocre choice, one of Midas's favorite choices at list-build, Farrow Valkyries, are very good as ensuring Boomhowler himself can use abilities like Cacophony in the mid-game/late-game. Fighting to work with 10 medium bases might be a challenge, but Boomhowler'n Co. generally serve a good role throughout the any game where you can protect Boomhowler himself.

    The Thornfall Alliance    

Salvage is a puzzling benefit to consider in tandem with Pet Cemetery. Best look away to the other wonders this theme brings, like Trench templates... and Rise.

• The advantage of most Farrow troops is the ease with which Death March can stay functional--Rise allows them to stand up prior to the bonus move/attack from Vengeance. Three units of Farrow Valkyries (detailed below) and a full unit of Brigands/Commandos all taking an extra 3" of movement in a turn can have massive payoff. Calamity is an all-star as well, with many cheap, reliable guns achieving admirable numbers with just a little twist of magic (much like his battlegroup!).
• Farrow Brigands - Brigands are an excellent choice for Death March, but their melee potential is harder to skew than other troop choices in the faction for the price. Prey from the Farrow Brigand Warlord can alleviate this, but leaning on Farrow Brigands for Battle Lust potential can be disappointing if you set expectations too high.
• Farrow Commandos are possibly the best choices to take advantage of Calamity at range when looking for consistent damage. Calamity + 2-man CRAs put them at RAT 10 -> POW16+2d6 on direct hit. Blast drifts can also be tweaked with CRA + Calamity as well, trivializing high DEF, low ARM targets.
• Farrow Slaughterhousers have the highest melee damage potential in-faction, with excellent pricing and Take Down to be sure the killing sticks. While Take Down doesn't mesh well with Butchery where Midas's play against Hordes is concerned, their damage potential with Battle Lust/Calamity and their stratospheric MAT potential can not be overstated.

    Either theme    

• Farrow Bone Grinders - Cheap and desirable. Magic weapons, CMA, dismembering warbeasts, Grievous Wounds, and Curse! Under Battle Lust they can take warbeasts apart with a 5d6 charge. And Craft Talisman is excellent for Midas, allowing him to stay a lot safer when casting Calamity or Hex Blast.
• Farrow Valkyries - although only three models they get six melee attacks (Battle Lust wheee!). And as playing Midas can be risky, Shield Guards are excellent - and they already have Vengeance. Take them, Take all of them.

Battlegroup

Midas does little for his beasts other than bring them back to life - so it's a fairly orthodox selection. Not that Farrow Warlocks have any choice.

• Razor Boars - Cheap bone tokens.
• Battle Boar - For access to Primal. Remember that you can more easily get beasts back after Primal thanks to Pet Cemetary.
• Road Hog and War Hog - Both heavies are good, especially when they can be brought back around again with the feat.
• Boneswarm - if you can feed it bone tokens it's pretty good especially with Steady and Pathfinder.

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. Warbeast: Road Hog
2. Warbeast: Road Hog
3. Solo: Gatorman Soul Slave
4. Unit: Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron
5. Unit: Farrow Valkyries
6. Unit: Farrow Valkyries
7. Unit: Nyss Hunters

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Gargantuans (2013)

Which Warbeasts can he take?

With the way Minion battlegroups work, this warlock can't simply take any Minion warbeast, and instead is limited to the following choices:

Farrow Warbeasts (Edit)
Lessers	Razor Boars
Lights	Battle Boar - Gun Boar - Splatter Boar Dr Arkadius only: Gorax Rager | Midas only: Boneswarm
Heavies	Road Hog - War Hog

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Limited Battlegroup and/or Affinity     (Edit) If Aurora2, Nemo4, or Asphyxious4 die while controlling a Vector: The Vector remains whatever Faction it started the game as. If the Vector is re-activated by a 'Jack Marshal, its new MAT/RAT score will be 0. If the 'Jack Marshal then dies, the MAT/RAT remains 0. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Tough - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Butchery      (Edit) Midas needs to be the closest eligible corpse collector.

Rules Clarification : Dismember - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Curse      (Edit) Curse applies to all attack rolls, including Impact Attacks and Magic Attacks (spells) Curse is an ability, not an attack. Thus it can be used against stealthed models. (You can't auto-miss when you never need to roll to hit.) Curse is an ability, not a spell. Thus it can be used against spell-warded models. You don't need LOS, because it 'chooses'. 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)

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 : Blood Boon and/or Rites of Blood and/or Ritual Slaughter and/or Soul Food and/or Blood Weaver     (Edit) Timing (refer Appendix A): If you choose a non-offensive spell then it's resolved at Step 12. If you choose an offensive spell then it's resolved at Step 14. If you have another ability that triggers at Step 12 (such as Iona1 having Overtake), you can either cast a non-offensive spell and resolve them in any order, or you can resolve the other ability before the free offensive spell. You can't cast an offensive spell at Step 14 then go back to Step 12. (Infernal Ruling for all of the above) If you trigger the free spell from an attack that also grants a free melee/ranged attack (such as Rahera1 with Black Spot) then you can't have both an offensive spell and the free attack, because of the "attack-generating abilities" rule in the core rulebook. You can cast a non-offensive spell and get the free attack, though. (Locked Thread) The free spell doesn't interact with abilities that change the COST of a spell. (Infernal Ruling) For instance, if you trigger it while being affected by Lamentation then you can still cast a COST 3 spell (even though if you spent focus to do the same thing it would cost you 6 focus/fury). (Rites of Blood only): The Priestess doesn't need to be in the caster's CTRL range to use her ability. (Ritual Slaughter only): Anamag can channel spells triggered by Ritual Slaughter. (Infernal Ruling) (Blood Weaver only): It's not tied to a specific weapon, and it can be triggered multiple times per turn.

Rules Clarification : Battle Lust - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Calamity - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Death March      (Edit) This spell cannot be cast on independent models, only on units. Rules Clarification : Vengeance and/or Righteous Vengeance and/or Retaliation and/or Swift Vengeance and/or Tantrum     (Edit) Vengeance moves do not have to be towards an enemy model. You can choose to not move, but still get the attack. One is not conditional on the other. In this case, you will not count as advancing and thus will not trigger stuff like Countercharge. (Infernal Ruling) Vengeance is not an activation. It does not prevent the model/unit from activating and acting normally later in the turn. Stationary and knocked down models may not perform Vengeance moves nor attacks. Units only Out of formation models cannot make Vengeance moves nor Vengeance attacks. However if the unit commander uses their movement to bring the Grunts back into formation, then they can move and attack. When resolving Vengeance, move all models in the unit before making any attacks. (Infernal Ruling) If you have more than one unit with Vengeance, move all of unit A then complete all of unit A's attacks, before starting to move unit B. If you manage to spawn new models during the Maintenance Phase (such as with Reconstruction or Blood-Bound) then those new models can also make Vengeance attacks. (Infernal Ruling) Due to the way it is worded Vengeance can be "inherited" by unit attachments that do not actually have the Vengeance ability themselves. For instance, a Soulless Escort attached to the Spears of Scyrah. If anyone is damaged, including the attachment, everyone in the unit gets to trigger Vengeance. But if everyone is killed except the attachment, then he doesn't get to trigger Vengeance because the rule is "no longer on the table". Triggers Only enemy attacks trigger Vengeance. There are plenty of ways enemies can damage you without attacking you (such as Electro Leap) and these will not trigger Vengeance. If a CA has Granted: Vengeance then only models in formation have it. However, models that are damaged while out of formation can trigger Vengeance, they just will not benefit from it. (Locked thread)

Rules Clarification : Hex Blast      (Edit) If you miss and deviate onto a different target, no upkeeps or animi expire. You need a direct hit. Anti-Upkeep vs a unit (Edit) If an upkeep is on a unit, then all you need to do is make it expire off any member of the unit and the spell will expire from the entire unit. It doesn't matter if the target is in formation or not. (Locked thread) However, if an upkeep is on a single model within a unit (such as Scything Touch) then you need to dispel it off that particular model to make it dispel. (Infernal Ruling)