Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker
Goreshade the Bastard |
During the rare moments Goreshade is not in study or slaughter he stares into the empty night remembering a time when he was positioned to seize control of an entire nation and not just another general in the legions of the Dragonfather.
Basic Info
Warcaster Unit - All warcasters come with a stack of standard special rules - most notably being awesome. Furthermore, this warcaster comes with some troopers that can be ordered around. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.
- This unit is made up of Goreshade and the Deathwalker.
Goreshade
Goreshade1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Feat - Dark Summons
Add to play one unit of Bane Warriors (one Leader and five Grunts). Place each model completely within 3" of Goreshade.
Tip ! |
Abilities
Weapons
Bloodcleaver | ||||||||||||||
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RNG | POW | P+S | ||||||||||||
2 | 7 | 14 | ||||||||||||
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Spells
COST | RNG | AOE | POW | DUR | OFF | ||
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Bleed
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2 | 8 | - | 10 | - | Yes | |
When Bleed damages a living enemy model, this model can remove d3 damage points. | |||||||
Hex Blast
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3 | 10 | 3 | 13 | - | Yes | |
Enemy upkeep spells and animi on the model/unit directly hit by Hex Blast immediately expire. | |||||||
Lamentation
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3 | SELF | - | - | Upkeep | No | |
When an enemy model casts a spell while in the spellcaster's control range, double the COST of the spell. Additionally, enemy models must pay double to upkeep spells on models/units in the spellcaster's control range. | |||||||
Shadowmancer
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3 | SELF | CTRL | - | Round | No | |
While in the spellcaster's control range, models in its battlegroup gain Stealth and Dark Shroud. Shadowmancer lasts for one round.
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Soul Gate
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3 | Control | - | - | - | No | |
RFP a friendly trooper in Goreshade's control range and replace it with target warjack in Goreshade's battlegroup that is in his control range. The warjack cannot activate this turn after being placed by Soul Gate. |
Deathwalker
Deathwalker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Abilities
- Undead
- Breath Taker - Living enemy models suffer -2 STR and -2 DEF while in this model's command range.
- Dark Restoration – If Goreshade is disabled while in this model's command range, this model is destroyed and 1 damage point is removed from Goreshade.
- Ghostly - This model can advance through terrain and obstacles without penalty and can advance through obstructions if it has enough movement to move completely past them. It cannot be targeted by free strikes.
Weapons
- Unarmed - This model has no weapons.
Theme Forces
Thoughts on Goreshade1
Goreshade1 in a Nutshell
Goreshade1 is a middling battlegroup caster who brings a bit of a Stealth skew and anti-spell tech to the table. He lacks the focus efficiency to run a really large battlegroup (unless you spam something focus efficient, like Seethers).
Also, his buffs and debuffs are all tied to himself or Deathwalker (who has to be nearby) meaning he has to play fairly forward to apply them, which can leave him exposed to danger.
Feat thoughts
Pop his feat to get a small unit of Bane Warriors within charging range of something important (like the enemy caster) and combine the Dark Shroud and Breath Taker debuffs. Dark Summons is powerful in low-point games.
Don't get carried away with the Banes - remember to finish all your business with Goreshade after putting the Banes on the table, because if you start moving them then you've stopped his activation!
- In an alternative use, feat can be used to summon Bane models, which can be combined with the Desecrator for use with its Accumulator(Bane). This can be used to generate Bane models into themes that normally are unable to include Bane models (aside from Agathia)
Spell thoughts
- Bleed is a simple nuke, with a situationally useful heal tacked on.
- Lamentation makes it hard for your opponent to buff his own troops (or debuff yours), and Hex Blast will let you get rid of the upkeeps he does manage to cast.
- Using Hex Blast to get rid of debuffs on your troops is a good excuse to take a Skarlock Thrall or the Withershadow Combine.
- If you can catch the enemy caster in Lamentation your opponent will think long and hard about what spells to cast. Often they'll cast less, camp more, making it harder to assassinate them; so it can work against you.
- When it comes to Lamentation vs upkeeps, note that is the model(s) the upkeep is on, not the original caster, that Goreshade needs to catch. So that is a lot easier to achieve.
- Lamentation should be cast first turn and upkept all game.
- Soul Gate is normally used to yo-yo a high-value Jack (such as Deathjack). Send the jack in, beat face, then cast Soul Gate to bring it back to safety.
- It can also be used for manoevering; beat face on the left flank then teleport to the right flank, ready for next turn.
Or take it one step further in the themes Black Industries or Scourge, and use your Ambushers to get a jack right into the backlines. - You can even rescue a damaged warjack that (somehow) survived an enemy attack by teleporting it to a Necrotech or Ironmongers.
- Incorporeal models are also a great option for using with soul gate, as they can get into the backlines then let you teleport a warjack there.
- It can also be used for manoevering; beat face on the left flank then teleport to the right flank, ready for next turn.
- Shadowmancer has a hefty casting cost but it easily pays off as Stealth protects you on the approach, and Dark Shroud makes not just your jacks hit harder, but nearby infantry that attack the same target will benefit too.
- Warjacks with 2" reach can spread the Dark Shroud further, while jacks with Drag can pull more enemies into Goreshade's CMD range.
- Note that the spell affects Goreshade, his warjacks, and the Deathwalker.
- You'll cast Shadowmancer most turns, in the early game for the Stealth benefit and in the mid/late game for the damage increase.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- His spells are expensive, and only one can be upkept from turn to turn. He doesn't have enough focus to do everything at once.
- Between casting too many spells, and playing a bit forward so they're more effective, he leaves himself open to assassination.
- With so much anti-magic tech in one package, your opponents will simply pick a caster that never (or hardly ever) casts spells. That will render half your tech pointless.
- He is susceptible to anti-Stealth tech.
- You need to buy a unit of Bane Warriors to use his feat.
Tricks & Tips
- When you respawn Deathwalker it is an "add to play" effect, not a "return to play" effect.
- Remember they're a unit, and Deathwalker is not a solo. (She was a solo in previous editions of the game)
List Building Advice
Strategy
Goreshade likes to bully his way up the middle of the table, casting Shadowmancer to keep himself and his 'jacks safe and casting Lamentation to make his opponent's life miserable.
As battlelines close, he will pop feat and use the free Banes to take something nasty down.
He likes focus-efficiency support like Warwitch Sirens and Misery Cages. He also likes accuracy buffs and/or inherently accurate troops.
Theme Thoughts
Not a bad theme for Goreshade1, although he certainly isn't the best caster for that theme. He has a damage buff which the girls like.
- Blood Witches have stealth and so double down on the Stealth skew. They also ambush which can give you Soul Gate shenanigans.
- Satyxis Raider Captains have auto-knockdown which can fix accuracy.
- The theme has access to Misery Cage and Satyxis Blood Priestess for arcane support, and Ironmongers for warjack support.
- The Priestess also gives Sucker! for any anti-stealth guns that might be out there.
- The Gang Fighter bonus stacks nicely with Dark Shroud, both from Shadowmancer and the Banes you summon via feat. Your jacks will hit really hard!
- You can double down on the Stealth skew by having Axiara hand out Prowl to some Marauders
What's better than an army of Banes? An army of Banes led by a caster who summons more Banes, of course.
- Darragh Wrathe's Mortal Fear stacks with Breath Taker, or use his Death Ride ability to speed Goreshade up.
Mercenaries
- Gorman can debuff a construct's ARM, letting you really crank damage up.
Battlegroup
- Seethers are good with Goreshade. They are focus efficient, appreciate the Stealth (since they're only DEF 12) and can countercharge anyone who tries to get close enough to target stealth models.
- Inflictors can Shield Guard any guns that ignore stealth.
- Reapers are a decent warjack to pull enemy models and so give Goreshade an indirect threat extension which he is otherwise lacking.
- Special mention to the character Reaper, Malice, although she is only available in two themes; Black Industries or the bad theme we don't talk about.
Starting a 25 point list
In 2020.10 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.
- Goreshade the Bastard: [+27 WJP]
- Bane Lord Tartarus: [Free] (6 pts)
- Bane Warriors (Max unit): [16 pts]
- Command Attachment: [5 pts]
Other
Trivia
- Released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004)
- Sculptor (2004 original): Kev Whit
- This model has a limited edition sculpt, released in 2016-ish.
Other Cryx models
Video Battle Reports
- 2019.03 Tiny Men, vs Strakhov1
- 2018.07 Not Snakes Gaming, vs Jalaam
- See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.
Rules Clarifications
Rules Clarification : Deathwalk (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: : Magical Damage (Edit) | |
* 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)
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Rules Clarification: : Warcaster Unit or Warlock Unit (Edit) | |
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.
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Rules Clarification : Officer (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Undead - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Bleed - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Hex Blast (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Lamentation (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Shadowmancer (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Soul Gate (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Unarmed (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Breath Taker - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Dark Restoration - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Ghostly (Edit)
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Note to Editors |