Minions

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Minions.jpg

Minions are the Hordes equivalent of Mercenaries. They're an eclectic collection of scavengers, monsters, and savage warriors from the wilds of Immoren.

Minions are more "typecast" than Mercenaries, and can be categorised into just 3 groups: Farrow (pig men), Gatorman (alligator men), and Other.

With the way Theme Forces work in third edition, you have three options for collecting Minions:

  1. Play Minions as your main faction, and choose 1 of the 3 Minion themes.
  2. Play another Faction, and use one of their themes that lets you include up to one Minion unit and up to one Minion solo (this is the case for most themes).
  3. Play another Faction, and use one of their themes that allows nearly unrestricted access to Minions (there are only a few themes that do this). These themes are referred to as "Minion adjacent themes".
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Tip !
New players often misunderstand how they can include Minion models in a non-Minion Faction (especially how they can include Minion warbeasts/warlocks).

  • Minion warbeasts can only be controlled by a Minion model.
    In a normal game, this means other Factions need to hire a Minion Lesser Warlock.
  • A Minion warlock can only be put in a non-Minion army if you're playing a 2+ caster game.
    If you're only playing with 1 caster, and that caster is a Minion warlock, then by definition you're playing a Minion force.
  • Minion units, solos, and battle engines can hire themselves out to any non-Minion army that is listed on their card.
    Most non-Minion Theme Forces place a limit on how many Miniona can be included.

There are many exceptions to the above rules, such as Partisan, Limited Battlegroup, and themes like Disciples of Agony.

Meat Thresher

Minions for beginners

Minion starter sets

The Blindwater Congregation all-in-one-army box is the closest thing Minions have to a starter set. It has lots of Gatorman stuff and is a good way to get into the faction.

Playing Minions as your main Faction

Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III

So, you want to join the glorious ranks of Minion players? Welcome, let's start with a few pointers:

  • Minions don't have a small "battlebox starter set" which means there is no easy "get this it's good bang for your buck" option when starting your force.
    • However, there is a medium-sized "army theme set" available for the Gatorman (but not Farrow) which is a good deal. See the Blindwater Congregation article for more info.
  • Gatorman warbeasts can only go with Gatorman warlocks. Farrow warbeasts can only go with Farrow Warlocks.
    So essentially ypu have to choose between being a Gator player or a Farrow player (at least until you can afford to own both).
  • There are 4 themes to choose from:
    1. The Blindwater Congregation is for Gatormen.
    2. The Thornfall Alliance is for the Farrow.
    3. Will Work for Food can be used by either/both, but it is more of a warbeast theme (very few infantry choices).
    4. Vengeance of Dhunia is a crossover theme with the Trollbloods

There is a golden rule in wargaming, that you should always pick your Faction based on aesthetics because you'll enjoy playing with something you like looking at (and a little bit on price).

Starting with Gators

Captain Crawtooth
  • Gatormen are part of the the The Blindwater Congregation theme force, so you'll want to look into that.
  • If you want to start with the Gatormen take a look at Barnabas1. He is possibly the best choice for new players because of his high ARM value and very forgiving feat.
  • Rask is also a good pick for new players because of his very flexible listbuilding. With the ability to deliver most anything into melee with his feat then make them hit hard when they get there with fury there's little he doesn't work well with.
  • You will want to pick up at least one Blackhide Wrastler. Their Rage Animus is simply amazing. In bigger lists you will often find yourself playing two of them.
  • A less common warbeast is the Ironback Spitter. It is a ranged heavy that synergizes very well with Barnabas.
  • You'll also probably want a Bull Snapper, since they can potentially be taken for free in the Congregation.
  • For units, you'll want at least one unit of Gatorman Posse who are the heart and soul of the Congregation.
  • Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers are a nice cannonfodder unit that can act as a sponge for enemy attacks.
  • Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew provide protection from getting shot.
  • Gatorman Soul Slave is useful if you have an upkeep and a spell he can cast.
  • Gatorman Witch Doctor can give you easy access to ghostly to ignore terrain and free strikes.

Starting with Farrow

Farrow Brigands
  • Farrow are part of the The Thornfall Alliance theme force, so you'll want to look into that.
  • Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III is a good warlock to start with. Similar to Barnabas, Carver makes everything hit harder with his feat and will provide you with enough ARM to survive an attack or two if things start getting south.
  • Carver's battlegroup will usually start with a Battle Boar for its animus to make your beasts hit harder and more accurately although at the cost of auto-frenzying the next turn.
    • This animus is a fundamental part of the subfaction, Farrow warlocks let their beasts frenzy more than any other faction, but you still need to be careful about when to use it.
  • For a heavy you either go for a War Hog if you want something crazy hard hitting, or a Road Hog which will show you how useful it is to set things (the enemies Warlock) on fire.
  • For units you can't really go wrong with the Farrow Brigands with their Command Attachment.
  • Targ is useful if you decided to bring a ranged warbeast.

Starting with Both

Dracodile
  • You can either play themeless, or look into the Will Work for Food theme force.
  • A Swamp Gobber Chef solo is available to both Gators and Farrow and provides fury management.
  • Orin Midwinter can't be taken in Thornfall or Congregation, but can in Will Work for Food. He is useful for infantry removal and spell negation.
  • Barnabas likes Farrow Razorback Crew when not in the Farrow theme.
  • The Lesser Warlocks are also valuable.
LOS logo.jpg

Line of Sight article : Brawlmachine List Building - Minions
In 2021.04 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, wrote an excellent article for how to start Minions. It is based on the newbie-friendly Brawlmachine format (25 point limit).
The article contains a different list for each Minion theme, and advice on how to expand those lists beyond 25 points.

Hiring 1 or 2 Minions for your Faction

Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron

Most theme forces in the non-Minion Factions allow them to hire up to one Minion unit and one Minion solo. So, consequently, there end up being a few favourites.

  • Minion units are typically a bit weaker than their counterparts in your own Faction.
  • If your warlock has any "friendly Faction" abilities/spells/feat, then that's a no-go for Minions.

That being said, Minions are usually a little cheaper than in-Faction equivalents, and certain units/solos can do things that no other Faction can.

Minion units

  • Croak Raiders are one of a kind. They will work really well with anything that has Damage Type: Fire.
  • Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew are owned by almost every player they're so useful. These sneaky gobbos can keep a unit safe from shooting, for just two points. In the current meta this is a big deal.
  • Farrow Valkyries are durable shield guards at a bargain price.

Minion solos

Swamp Gobber Chef
  • Gremlin Swarm and/or Feralgeist bring a cheap Incorporeal model to your army. This can be a huge problem for your opponent if he doesn't have a way to hand out magic weapons.
    • The Feralgeist can also possess a dying warbeast (which sounds way cooler than it tends to be).
  • Saxon Orrik will give a nearby warrior model or unit "Pathfinder". Also super useful.

"Minion-adjacent" themes

War Hog

There are three non-Minion themes which allow (almost) unlimited access to Minion models, plus one shared Trollblood/Minion (Farrow) theme.

  1. Circle: Secret Masters
  2. Legion: Oracles of Annihilation
  3. Skorne: Disciples of Agony
  4. Trollbloods/Minion: Vengeance of Dhunia

These themes are great for players that want to dabble in other Factions because you can just buy a core of Minion models, then pick up a handful of models from the non-Minion faction to make a legal list.

Info icon.png

Below is just a quick summary, there's a deeper discussion on the Minion-adjacent theme forces article.

    Enslaving Minions with your Skorne    

Gatorman Posse

Disciples of Agony is the Skorne theme that allows unlimited units and solos - and uniquely for one of these themes it allows your battle group to contain minion warbeasts, and even to mix Farrow and Gatorman (and Skorne) warbeasts. As such it's the easiest option if you want to mix things up a little, requiring only a warlock, requisition points, and in practice a unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers.

    Coercing Minions with your Circle    

Secret Masters allows infinite minion units, solos and battle engines. It doesn't get minion warbeasts.

    Blighting Minions with your Legion    

Sacral Vault

Oracles of Annihilation allows infinite units and solos and has access to both minion battle engines. It also makes all minions blighted, and means that if the enemy ends their activation within 2" of one of the minions they suffer continuous corrosion.

    Allying Minions with your Trollbloods    

Farrow warbeasts, Farrow unit’s with guns and some Gobbers and support models thrown in for good measure. With a Krielstone and a few choice warbeasts you have more options than Thornfall alliance with better theme benefits.

Faction Aesthetic & Playstyle

Helga the Conqueror

Minions are far better at melee than range. While they have some guns, they don't have the ability to shoot anyone off the table. They are very similar to Skorne or Trollbloods.

As you'd expect from an ecletic bunch of barbaric thugs-for-hire, the aesthetic and playstyle varies greatly. However, the two main 'sub factions' do have some common aspects.

Important: The descriptions below are very generalised. Minions are broad enough in their options that they can put together a melee force, a ranged force, or magic force. They can spam cannon fodder, or have a few elite troops.

Gatorman

Rask

They're a mix of Aztec blood sacrifice and voodoo dark magic. Witch Doctors, Altars of Sacrifice, lots of bones and entrails. Real Baron Samedi stuff.

In terms of playstyle they have strong magic and decent debuffing. Punches pretty hard in melee, but can struggle with accuracy.

Farrow

Gun Boar

They're almost a joke; similar to Orks in Warhammer 40,000. They have lots of secondhand weapons and scrounged/homemade equipment, and they are trying really hard to be a serious military force. Hey they're doing their best ok!?

They're considered a "combined arms" army. Many of their models have both ranged and melee options but work best when supporting each other. Most of their casters have spells or abilities that support both warbeasts and infantry (i.e. Carver's Leadership and his battle group focused spell list) but tend to lean more towards infantry.

Starting a Theme Force

Blackhide Wrastler

Theme Forces compartmentalize the full range of your Faction's models into smaller subsets that are thematically related to one another. By restricting yourself to a narrower range of models, you unlock additional in-game benefits which vary from theme to theme.

Theme Forces aren't compulsory, but the benefits of playing in-theme are so great that most players never play out-of-theme.

When you first start playing you should ignore theme forces, and just buy and play a few models you like the look of. Also, you can't even use Theme Force rules in games under 25 points.

However you should start looking into themes sooner rather than later, because otherwise you might end up owning, say, 80 points worth of models but can only field a 25 point theme force (because very little of your collection work together in the same theme). You should focus on collecting just one or two themes to begin with, not every single one in the Faction (unless you're a "Collector Completionist").

Theme Forces

The Thornfall Alliance

Farrow Slaughterhousers

Farrow theme force. If you like pigs, look here. Mechanically a hodgepodge (hodgepork?) which can lean into any element of the Farrow, warbeasts, infantry, or battle engines.

Here's some examples of the model aesthetic for this theme:

  • MeatThresher.jpg
  • WarHog.jpg
  • Farrow Sapper.jpg
  • Farrow Valkyries.jpg
  • FarrowBrigandWarlord.jpg

The Blindwater Congregation

Swamp Horror

Historically the Gatorman theme force, but now that Croaks & Bog Trogs are their own thing it is instead built around the Amphibious rule. Mechanically a heavy infantry theme, namely the Gatorman Posse.

Here's some examples of the model aesthetic for this theme:

  • Longchops.jpg
  • Dracodile.jpg
  • SacralVault.jpg
  • Underchief Mire.jpg
  • BogTrogAmbushers.jpg

Will Work For Food

Gatorman Witchdoctor

This theme allows both Farrow and Gatorman. It's mechanically built around the Lesser Warlocks and combining the Warlock support from both sub factions.

The models allowed in Will Work for Food are:   [Show/Hide]

This list was last updated: 2021.10   (Edit)

Warlocks

Warbeasts

Battle Engines

Units

Solos

Here's some examples of the model aesthetic for this theme:

  • Kogan.jpg
  • Swamp-gobber-bellows-crewPNG.png
  • Scythe.jpg
  • Dahlia-hallyr-and-skarath.png
  • Melvin & Mayhem.jpg

Vengeance of Dhunia

This theme allows both Farrow and Trollbloods, including all Trollblood warlocks and warbeasts.

Here's some examples of the model aesthetic for this theme:

  • Farrow Razorback Crew.jpg
  • TrollkinChampions.jpg
  • Thunderstone.jpg
  • RoadHog.jpg
  • Gudrun2.jpg

Models

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Unlike their Mercenary equivalent, Minion models are strongly divided between Farrow, Gatorman, and Unaligned. Both in regards to which warbeasts can go into which battlegroup, and which models can go in which theme force.

Farrow Models

Warlocks

Arkadius1 Dr. Arkadius
Azazello1 Lord Azazello, The Castellan
Bethayne-1 Bethayne the Farrowfiend (Not tournament legal)
Helga1 Helga the Conquerer
Helga2 Helga on Wheels
Carver1 Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III
Midas1 Midas
Sturm & Drang1 Sturm & Drang

Warbeasts

Battle Engines

Units

Solos

Gatormen Models

Gatormen, Bog Trogs, and Gobbers.

Warlocks

Barnabas0 Refer to Minions solos below
Barnabas1 Bloody Barnabas
Barnabas2 Barnabas, Lord of Blood
Calaban1 Calaban the Grave Walker
Jaga-Jaga1 Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer
Maelok1 Maelok the Dreadbound
Rask Rask

Warbeasts

Battle Engines

Units

(^) The Void Leech is technically not a Gatorman model given it can attach to any Minion unit with Amphibious ... but in practice the only Amphibious units are the Gator ones.

Solos

Unaligned Models

Warjacks

Units

Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath

Solos

Thrullg

Other

Designer's Notes

Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter

Just before the launch of the mk3 ruleset, the game developers did a series of Insider articles about what they saw as each Faction's "Core Identity". Although it's a little dated now, it is still an interesting insight to how they view Minions Insider article 2016.05 Minion Preview.

Viktor Pendrake

Mercenary Minion models

These models are both Mercenary models and Minion models, making them perfect for a player that wants to expand their collection from one to the other.

-NOTE- This list is badly out of date.

Solos

Units

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