Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate

Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate Skorne Exalted Warlock

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Exalted. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

Supreme Aptimus Zaal exemplified the power of the extoller caste, whether communing with the honored dead or leading a host of ancestral guardians and immortals in battle. Mortally wounded in one such battle against Ios, Zaal refused to surrender to the Void, preserving himself with his last breath. His devoted followers recovered his sacral stone and fused him into a new form worthy of his stature. Zaal retains leadership of his caste as the Ancestral Advocate, and both his will and his connection to the spirit realm are stronger than ever.

Basic Info

Zaal2
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 5 STR 8 MAT 6 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 10 ARM 18 CMD 8 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY 7 THRS N/A HP 18 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP +29 IHP {{{ihp}}} FA C UNIT SIZE N/A COST N/A N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

• 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 : Strength Eternal

1. Remove d6+3 damage points from each friendly Faction construct model currently in Zaal's control range.
2. While in Zaal's control range, friendly Faction construct models gain +5 ARM.

Strength Eternal lasts for one round.

Abilities

• Construct
• Direct Spirits - (1) When a friendly living Faction warrior model is destroyed in this model's control range and generates a soul token, you choose which model with the Soul Taker ability gains the destroyed model's soul, regardless of the proximity of other models. (2) Enemy models are not eligible to gain soul tokens from friendly models destroyed in this model's control range.
• Righteous Vengeance - If one or more friendly Faction warrior models were destroyed or removed from play by enemy attacks while within 5" of this model during the last round, during your Maintenance Phase this model can advance up to 3" and make one basic melee attack.
• Soul Taker: Reclaim - This model can gain souls. When a friendly living Faction model is destroyed by a continuous effect, an enemy attack, or collateral damage from an enemy attack while in this model's control range, this model gains the destroyed model's soul token. After this model leeches fury during your next Control Phase, replace each soul token with 1 fury point.
• Soul Vessel - This model generates soul tokens as if it were a living model.
• Steady - This model cannot become knocked down.

Weapons

• Obsidian Staff - 2" reach, POW 6, P+S 14 melee weapon
  • Damage Type: Magical
  • Silencer - A model hit by this weapon/attack cannot cast spells for one round.

Spells

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Annihilation	4	10	3	10	-	Yes
Models hit suffer a POW 10 damage roll. Models destroyed by Annihilation are RFP'd and do not generate corpse tokens. When a living enemy model is destroyed by Annihilation, the spellcaster gains the destroyed model's soul token regardless of the proximity of other models.
Aura of Power	2	SELF	Control	-	Upkeep	No
While in the spellcaster's control range, friendly Faction non-warlock warrior models can spend 1 fury point on the spellcaster to boost a melee attack or melee damage roll during their activations.
Mage Sight	2	Control	5	-	Upkeep	-
Place a 5" AOE completely within the spellcaster's control range. While a model is within the AOE, models in the spellcaster's battlegroup ignore forests and cloud effects when drawing LOS to it and ignore Stealth when attacking it.
Sunder Spirit	2	10	-	12	(★)	Yes
An enemy warbeast damaged by Sunder Spirit loses its animus for one round.
Vision	2	6	-	-	Upkeep	No
When target friendly Faction model is directly hit by an attack, you can choose to have it suffer no damage roll from the attack, then Vision expires.

Theme Forces

• Disciples of Agony He Gains access to minion Warbeasts which count as Skorne due to theme.
• Masters of War. He gains "Optional Take Down" in this theme
• The Exalted. In this theme he gains Immovable Object and starts the game with one soul token (which Cull Soul will immediately convert into +1 fury on your first turn).
• Winds of Death

Thoughts on Zaal2

Zaal2 in a nutshell

Zaal2 is an attrition warlock with three different games. The first is a Reclaim-into-Aura of Power engine. You kill one of Zaal's infantry, and the next hits you harder (and if you're running Immortals you have a turn when most of your infantry is ARM 22). The second is an assassination play if he has a huge stack of Fury. The third is that Mage Sight allows him to ignore quite a lot of defensive tech so he can run a pretty good shooting battlegroup. But it's generally infantry swarm or shooting battlegroup as both are expensive.

His fundamental concept involves using souls to break the normal amounts of Fury you can put out in a turn.

Feat thoughts

Zaal's feat is purely defensive, putting your Immortals up to ARM 22 - or your Supreme Guardians up to ARM 24 and allowing you to no-sell most of a round of enemy attacks.

Spell thoughts

• Aura of Power is a backbone spell, allowing his infantry to hit almost any target and swings the attrition game in your favour as you pick up boosts every time one of your models dies.
• Sunder Spirit is his assassination spell; this isn't something you plan to do - but if the enemy has had a very good turn it's often possible to tear the caster apart with all the souls you've collected. Zaal breaks the soul economy here. (If they were in 13" of you the Obsidian Staff can work here).
• Mage Sight helps the assassination game. And lets your beasts join in; Zaal really likes the Cyclops Shaman to help finish the job.
• Anihilation is just RFP tech that stores souls for next turn. No other caster would use this, but Zaal breaks the fury economy.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• His defensive stats are deceiving. He has Khador jack Def but less Arm than one, and only an above average amount of boxes for a warlock.
• No natural armor cracking
• He is begging for a construct warbeast (although a construct battle engine option isn't a bad second choice).

Tricks & Tips

• The Ferox Assassination and the Immortal Assassination are both mentioned under their entries.
• The Zaal2 assassination. When Zaal2 has a large stack of fury he can spam Sunder Spirits until the enemy is dead. (If anyone's silly enough to end up within 2", you can splatter them with the Staff - but few are).
• Annihilator lets you bank souls if you're overflowing with them and don't know what to spend them on.
• He can be repaired, for instance from a Gobber Tinker
• Watch out for "cannot have damage removed" stuff (like Entropic Aura) which will negate your feat somewhat

List Building Advice

Strategy

Zaal is an excellent attrition warlock, able to fuel his Aura of Power thanks to Reclaim, and with a turn of high ARM. He also has two back pocket assassinations (a melee one thanks to a 13" threat range and his Sunder Spirit) - and when played in The Exalted has both a scenario threat thanks to the deceptive speed and mobility of the statues, and an Incorporeal Assassination. A huge multi-threat.

His infantry choices are variable but generally rely on numbers.

Theme thoughts

The Exalted is the obvious theme force for Zaal2, and almost builds itself.

    The Exalted    

Frankly it's very rare he's not seen here. The only question is whether it's two units of Immortals and two Supreme Guardians or three and one - although it looks as if the Void Spirit may make its own argument for one of those options.

• Immortals - Immortals as a second wave are awesome with Zaal. Under his feat, enemy infantry need to charge to kill them, and enemy jacks/beasts don't kill enough. Under Vengeance, they do a lot of work. And with his aura and Vengeance, they become pretty effective assassins by making boosted attack rolls.
• Supreme Guardian - an ARM 19 construct with 33 hit boxes is an awesome thing to go with Zaal's feat.
• Hakaar the Destroyer is almost unkillable under his feat - and you bank souls early thanks to Direct Spirits. Also his Veteran Leader works for Zaal's spells!
• Ancestral Guardian isn't as good as Hakaar but still useful and still very tough on feat turn.

    Masters of War    

There's enough infantry to feed his soul engine but it is normally a secondary choice for Zaal and the same sort of list with a single Supreme Guardian can get up to far weirder and more interesting shenanigans with Void Seer Mordikaar. Double Supreme Guardian on Feat turn gives you two huge ARM 24 bases, allowing you to no-sell even more of the enemy attacks than ARM 22 infantry would.

• Praetorian Swordsmen are cheap, effective, and make decent armor crackers with the CA. Remember that you can boost the off-hand sword attack when they charge under Power Swell.
• Praetorian Keltarii can go where they want and are hideous to unjam.
• Praetorian Karax are hard to beat if cheap souls are what you want - or the enemy is using blast damage.
• Ancestral Guardian and Hakaar the Destroyer - also protected on Zaal2's feat turn, and also sucking up souls
• Immortal Vessel for zappy assassinations and even more toughness.
• Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers With that many bodies, why not?

    Winds of Death    

Similar to Masters of War, this can be a secondary choice.

• The Supreme Guardian, mentioned above, can also be taken in this theme.
• Venator Slingers - the cheapest available skirmish screen. They die early - but this just means feeding his soul engine.

    Disciples of Agony    

He doesn't want to use this theme. He is not a battlegroup Warlock and this list has neither the Supreme Guardian nor Ancestral Guardians.

Battlegroup

Other than his "free" warbeast points, he doesn't want to take beasts. What he does take is normally some of these:

• Titan Cannoneer - a great shooter.
• Mammoth - going all in in the shooting.
• Cyclops Raider - almost as good as the Cannoneer at shooting big things.
• Basilisk Krea - to spread its aura to protect your infantry from incoming fire
• Basilisk Drake - an all round good warbeast that flanks with the Krea and also lets Zaal Pathfinder.
• Cyclops Shaman What's not to love about the Shaman with Zaal? It's a shooty warbeast. It can add an extra Krea bubble. It can give Zaal a bigger threat range for Sunder Spirit assassinations. And it even brings anti-magic tech.
• Cyclops Brute - Shield Guard

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2020.09 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Theme - The Exalted

Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate: [+29 WBP]

• Agonizer: [6 pts]
• Basilisk Krea: [7 pts]
• Bronzeback Titan: [17 pts]

Hakaar the Destroyer: [Free] {6 pts)

Extoller Novitiate: [2 pts]

Ancestral Guardian: [5 pts]

Swamp Gobber Chef: [1 pt]

Immortals (Max unit): [13 pts]

• Command Attachment: [3 pts]

Total RRP: USD $235 (based on PP's online store prices 2021.05)

For more Brawlmachine list ideas, see Category: Brawl List

Other

Trivia

Zaal, The Ancestral Eye. Lock n Load 2019 exclusive

• Released in Hordes: Devastation (2015)
• This model has a limited edition sculpt, released in Lock n Load 2019.

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.11 Advanced Maneuvers, vs Deneghra1
• 2019.06 Lock & Load Champions Semi-Final, vs Child1
• 2019.03 Arcane Assist, vs Malakov2
• 2019.03 Deathclock Dave, vs Kolgrima1
• 2019.03 Feat Fetish, vs Fyanna2
• See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.

Rules Clarifications

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 : Silencer - None yet. (Edit)

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

General Damage from a feat is neither an attack nor Damage Type: Magical (unless the feat says it is). FURY (uppercase) is the stat printed on the warlock's card. Fury (lowercase) refers to fury points a model currently has. Your CTRL area is double your FURY stat, not double your fury 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 warlocks 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 Warlock rules. Reaving & Leeching If you choose to Reave, it's all or nothing. You must Reave all the Fury (up to your limit) and you can't choose to "let some disappear". (Locked thread) If your warbeast is Removed From Play, you can still reave fury off it. (Locked thread) If your warbeast is destroyed or RFP'd while under your opponent's control then: You cannot reave fury off it. Because it is still enemy at the time it was destroyed/RFP'd, and you can't reave from enemy warbeasts. After it is taken off the table, it returns to your control and is eligible for Spirit Bond and (possibly) Return to Play stuff (like Thagrosh1's feat). Transferring Damage If both the warlock and the warbeast are damaged by the same attack (such as an AOE), then you need to apply the 'normal' damage to the warbeast before the transferred damage. This distinction can be important when you're working out who/what actually destroyed the beast. (Infernal Ruling) If there is too much damage for the warbeast and it "overlaps" back to the warlock, then that damage is considered ... unsure at this time. (Infernal Checking) 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 : Construct - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Direct Spirits      (Edit) There is no range limit on who you allocate the soul to. Any friendly model anywhere on the board can receive it. (Infernal Ruling) You cannot give souls to enemy models. (Infernal Ruling) Enemy models can't gain souls even if there is no way for you to get it. Instead no one gets it. Direct Spirits modifies both the proximity limit and the "source type" limit. (Infernal Ruling) For example: Source type: You can give friendly souls to models that normally only gather them from enemies. Proximity: You can give a soul to a model from 20" away, when they normally only collect from stuff within 10" A model that is full of souls is not eligible to collect more souls, and can't benefit from Direct Spirits. For the purposes of taking/giving souls, Soul Vessels are counted as living models. (Infernal Ruling)

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". Granted [ Vengeance ] If the model granting Vengeance dies, the unit will not get any Vengeance attacks. It is "If you have Vengeance, and you were damaged last turn, you get a move+attack." It is not "If you get damaged, you get Vengeance next turn." If you lose Vengeance halfway through resolving Vengeance, then you stop resolving Vengeance immediately. (Infernal Ruling) 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 : Reclaim      (Edit) You have to be the nearest eligible model to collect souls. Reclaim lacks the "regardless of proximity of other models" clause. Of course, most models with Reclaim also have Direct Spirits or Soul Ward to help mitigate this - but the different ranges of different abilities is something to keep in mind.

Rules Clarification : Soul Vessel      (Edit) The only thing the Soul Vessel rules does is, the model produces a soul when it is destroyed as if it were a living model. For similar logic, things that prevent living models from generating souls (such as Annihilator) also prevent Soul Vessels from generating souls. (Infernal Ruling) A Soul Vessel is not a living model for the purposes of anything except soul generation & collection. Special rules that interact with living models but which aren't soul-related (such as Bloodthirst or Poison) don't do anything vs Soul Vessels. For example: An attack that RFPs living models (such as Snacking) would normally prevent that living model from generating a soul token; but Snacking doesn't work vs non-living. So a Soul Vessel doesn't get Snacked and will produce a soul token.

Rules Clarification : Steady      (Edit) If you are hit by a knockdown effect during your own turn then ... nothing happens. Unless it was a Slam or a Throw that knocked you down. In that situation, there is a core rule that says "models immune to knockdown that become knocked down from a slam or throw must forfeit either movement or action when they activate". But that core rule doesn't apply to other knockdowns (lots of players assume it does) Steady models are still susceptible to other effects of knock-down attacks (if there are any). For instance, a Head Butt attack causes damage and knockdown - a Steady model would still take the damage. A knocked down model that gains Steady will remain knocked down, because the "cannot be knocked down" is not retroactively applied. Steady models who make a tough check during an advance can continue advancing. (Locked Thread)

Rules Clarification : Annihilation      (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. "Regardless of proximity" soul takers (Edit) The model which ignores distance doesn't always get the soul. Abilities which say you "can't" collect souls (such as Soul Ward) trump it, due to the general rule that "can't trumps can". If there are multiple models that all have the "regardless of proximity" clause, then you randomise who the soul goes to. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Arcane Might and/or Aura of Power     (Edit) This ability can't be used on charge damage rolls, simply because they're already boosted. This ability can't be used on Impact Attacks, because Impact Attacks are defined as "cannot be boosted". It can be used on CMA or CRA.

Rules Clarification : Mage Sight      (Edit) Mage Sight's AOE allows LOS to models in the AOE, not to points on the ground. So it doesn't help with stuff like Siege trying to place his Ground Pounder attack. (Infernal Ruling) You ignore Stealth when making the attack, but not when determining LOS. So if there is an model with Stealth intervening between the attacker and the Mage Sight-ed target, then you treat it as normal (if it's within 5" it'll block LOS, if it's more than 5" away it won't). You ignore all clouds/forests between you and the Mage Sight-ed target, even if that cloud/forest is blocking LOS to the Mage Sight template itself. (Infernal Ruling) You need to check LOS to your target before you can declare you're attacking it. When you check LOS to a Mage Sight-ed target, you get to ignore clouds/forests.

Rules Clarification : Sunder Spirit      (Edit) Because the warbeast has lost its animus, other models can't cast it either. Neither its controlling warlock, nor models like the Cyclops Shaman.

Rules Clarification : Vision and/or Mad Visions     (Edit) Visions ignores the damage dealt, but not any effects that trigger on hit. For instance a Quake will still cause knockdown, Star Strike will still set you on fire, etc. Visions will block special abilities that deal a fixed amount of damage instead of a damage roll (such as Deadly Shot, Needle, Sniper, etc), because those abilities are resolved at the same time as a damage roll normally would be. (Infernal Ruling)