Steampunk Saturday: The Butcher of Khardov

Now, let's start things off right with a nice little bit of Warmachine. About three years ago I started out collecting a small Khador army and an even smaller Cygnar force. I very recently sold the blue guys and began to focus on supporting the khadoran war efforts in the Iron Kingdoms. Now my army is still pretty small since I mostly play 40k, but occaisonally I do really enjoy a nice little game with it. The thing about Warmachine I love the most is probably that just by switching out your warcaster you change the way your entire army works.

The first thing I bought was the battle box (two player starter set wasn't out yet), so I started playing pSorcha. She's all right in my opinion but, it wasn't really what I was looking for in play style. Too fragile, too flimsy and just not angry enough. I did some assassination shenanigans with her since there are, as most of you familiar with the game probably know, a couple of nice combos you can do with her feat and spells but that was about it. Soon after, I got Karchev who looked a lot more like the giant metal beast I wanted to throw down onto the table top. He did alright, paired up with my Behemoth (who I really love btw!) and was a real pleasure to play but he wasn't all that durable the way I threw him into the fire, basically like any another warjack in my arsenal. So my quest to find the ultimate khadoran warcaster continued but not for long because the next one I bought was... THE BUTCHER (pButcher that is) and that was most likely the best warmachine purchase I ever made. He is such a beast. I just love his feat turn were you can just obliterate the enemy forces. I played him the most out of the three that I had up to that point and loved every minute of it.

I usually run him with my Behemoth and a Kodiak in his battle group. The Kodiak is fairly focus efficient so I can pump up the big dude quite nicely. Butchers spells are great for supporting jacks (Fury/Full Throttle) and infantry alike (Iron flesh on my Winterguard with UA and Joe... HELL YEAH!!!) and if shit hits the fan he can dish out some serious pain himself with his MAT 9, P+S 16 Axe Lola and weaponmaster. Really good options for him are also Manhunters/Yuri and of course a trusty old Wardog.

Here is my painted version in all his glory swinging his beloved axe Lola (btw. I can highly recommend the ebook: The Butcher of Khardov it is pretty short but nevertheless a very good read and gives a little bit more backstory about this guy).

"Some say his manners and methods are crude

and shortsighted, but I ask you, would you deny

that he is the personification of vitory at any cost?

Has he ever failed us?"

- Queen Ayn Vanar XI

I also very recently picked up Harkevich and Black Ivan but hadn't had a chance to try them out yet, so I can't really say much about them (other than they look pretty bad ass!). Anyway this is just a little snippet of how I found my way through the thick bushes of the Thornwood forest into the heart of the motherland and to my favorite warcaster. To be continued...

Who is your favorite Khador warcaster and why? Please tell me down below in the comments. 

J.D.