For the 11th article in my Everblight 2012 series we will be looking at Saeryn, Omen of Everblight. She is possibly one of the most dreaded Warlocks. She brings an onslaught to the table every single game. It may be the feat, it may be Breath Stealer, it may be Blight Bringer or it may be the potential 19 defense against ranged attacks.

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight

She is fast at 7 speed, and solid defense at 16 with 14 armor. She throws deathspurs at 2d6 + 7 for 2d6 + 8 damage. Which doesn’t seem like much (it isn’t much) but she does have Grievous Wounds on her spurs in Melee or at range. So no tough, self sac, or transfers. In addition she has Force Barrier so she not suffer blast damage and has an extra 2 def vs ranged attacks. She also has 7 Fury. 16 boxes and 5 warbeast points.

Nothing too crazy so far. So lets get to the feat…

Foreboding: While in Saeryn’s control area she and her battlegroup cannot be targeted by melee attacks.

Not a long winded feat description but wonderful anyway. The power of Legion heavy warbeasts with a turn of being untargetable by melee attacks…sweet!

Saeryn’s Spells

Banishing Ward: An upkeep that costs 2 to cast and stops enemies from targeting your model or unit with spells or animi. If there is an enemy upkeeps on the model/unit they expire when you cast Banishing Ward.

Powerful toolbox spell. Excellent from getting Crippling Grasp or Parasite off your models or trying to protect Saeryn from getting spell assassinated.

Blight Bringer: Costs 4, Range 10 and you can only target a warbeast in Saeryn’s battlegroup. When you cast the spell, center a 5 inch aoe on the targeted warbeast. Enemy models in the aoe suffer a boostable pow 12 corrosion roll. The aoe stays in play and enemy models or friendly non-faction models entering or ending their activations in the aoe suffer 1 damage.

This wonderful spell can be used offensively to kill high defense models like kayazy because it auto-hits or you can use it defensively to protect a beast from non-reach single wound infantry. Great spell to have. Also, keep in mind that this spell is NOT an attack. Kallus’s Feat will not trigger, Self Sacrifice cannot be used etc.

Breath Stealer: This spell can be cast once per turn, costs 2 and the model or unit suffers -2 def and -2 speed for a round. It has a range of 10 inches.

The key component to realize with this spell is that a speed penalty prevent the model or unit from charging. Nothing short of awesome.

Hellfire: Range 10, Costs 3 and pow 14 nuke. Side effect that a model or unit hit by this nuke must make a command check or flee.

Solid nuke. I would prefer Eruption but Hellfire still rocks.

Respawn: This upkeep costs 3 to cast and it when the target warbeast in Saeryn’s battlegroup becomes disabled by an enemy attack (anytime except while advancing), place it anywhere within 3 inches of it’s current location and the warbeast heals 1 damage point in each aspect and then respawn expires.

This buff allows a beast that is about to get removed from the table to heal 3 boxes and be placed outside of the melee range of whatever tried to kill it. Just keep in mind this is a healing effect so it is shut down from Grievous Wounds.

Beyond the Card

 We have gone over everything from her card. Her spells, her abilities, her feat and her stats. Now lets look at her greatest strength…her faction. What belongs in a Saeryn list?

 Angelius

The angelius has a place in any Legion list lacking a damage buff for our heavies because of the incredible Armor Piercing attack. But the usefulness of this beast go well beyond its star-atatck. With Saeryn’s feat the Angelius can fly over enemy tarpit units ignoring free strikes. Or charge up to an objective and use its animus to push all the enemy models away and then sit there in relative safety because of Saeryn’s feat. If you hit a unit with Breath Stealer that will lower the average unit’s def low enough that an Angelius should be to overtake through a fair chunk of them. With all that said…you should be able to see why Angels often show up in pairs for Saeryn.

Scythean

Scythean brings the side of melee destruction that the Angelius lacks. An animus for anti-tough and rfp for making sure those banes don’t come back from Gaspy2′s feat. A possible 7 pow 17 attacks with reach and an impressive speed. This powerhouse also tends to show in pairs for Saeryn.

Raek

I bring up the Raek because you will want a target for Blight Bringer. Shredders, Harriers or Raeks are all wonderful choices. The Raek is Stealth, speed 7 and can jump 5 inches to be right in the middle of a unit for maximum Blight Bringer destruction. Plus it has a nice base def of 15 which can be raised to 16 with tenacity. Very tough for most units to break.

Spell Martyrs

Saeryn has quite a few spells she wants to be able to throw out. 1-3 Spell Martyrs is almost a must. Blight Bringers and Breath Stealers where you want them. Your play style with determine how many you will want. The more aggressive you plan to play, the fewer you are likely to need.

Outside the Obvious

A Saeryn list can contain a Carnivean to help boost your beast’s armor to the point their weakness to ranged is mediated. You can stick a nice tarpit in front to draw more attacks away from your beasts before you feat. Annyssa Ryvaal and Strider Deathstalkers can provide the anti-infantry assistance. Blackfrost Shard can also help push the Scytheans into overdrive. She definitely brings options.

 All of the Threats

The best part of Saeryn is that she can play Attrition, assassination, or for Scenario. And…she can do this all with the same list in most cases. And…she does all 3 very well. Which forces your opponent to try and plan for 3 different directions you can take your force. If you plan her for a variable play style and can adapt to your opponent, you can always take the approach that they have the worst defense against. All of that with her ability to really shut down heavy melee lists and be nearly unstoppable in the right scenario.

What isn’t there?

Ravagores. She is one of the only Legion locks that rarely uses Ravagores. With her feat she tends to get very aggressive because you want to be able to get into your opponent’s face, feat and then cause maximum devastation afterwards. I wouldn’t say that you can’t design Saeryn lists to make use of Ravagores but there should be a distinct reason or plan. Saeryn can actually be a good lock to bring when your other lists is packing 1-2 Ravagores because of this. Helps make sure you have a good option when you face eFeora and choir or pyre trolls.

The List

• Saeryn, Omen of Everblight {+5}
• Angelius {9}
• Angelius {9}
• Raek {4}
• Scythean {9}
• Scythean {9}
• Shredder {2}
• Shredder {2}
• Forsaken {2}
• Forsaken {2}
• Strider Deathstalker {2}
• Strider Deathstalker {2}
• Spell Martyrs {3}

Most Saeryn lists that you will see are going to be slight variations on this. Drop a Shredder and add a Harrier. Or drop a Martyr and add Swamp Gobbers. Drop the Raek and put in Annyssa Ryvaal.

Don’t force yourself to play this version just because I post it. Saeryn still has a ton of room to change-up the plan. I am currently brainstorming some variations or alternate ways to run her. I think I will probably include a Succubus come July and maybe a Naga Nightlurker will have a spot…we shall see.

I hope the article is helpful to all the Hand Cannon readers out there!

~Omnus

Here are the links for my previous Everblight 2012 articles.

• Part I goes into the different ways to play Bethayne.
• Part II is a guide for Vayl2
• Part III concentrates on our heavy beasts.
• Part IV is a more in-depth look at Vayl2.
• Part V delves into playing Vayl1.
• Part VI is a detailed look at our infantry options.
• Part VII is a look at how to play Legion for an attrition game.
• Part VIII is a comparison of Kallus and Thagrosh.
• Part IX contains my experiments with Lylyth1′s tier list.
• Part X is a guide for playing Kallus.

This episode we revisit the assembled Black Sun Type-012: Hunter from Anima Tactics.

We jump back into my progress on Cang the Implacable!! You can get one of these amazing models here!

Continuing with our focus on battlefield accessories we look at base stamping with Happy Seppuku

We also take a close look at Ucuzo the Flesh Golem from House Goritsi in the upcoming new game Wrath of Kings

We take quick looks at The Bloodchild, The Longhorn and the Goritsi Werewolf Warrior also from Wrath of Kings…which along with the Deep Caller from House Hadross and Sorik the Unfinished from House Teknes are all this episodes Give Away’s!!! Talk about celebrating a milestone!

And last but not least we also celebrate out 100th subscriber with a very special give away as well!

We’ve got a lot to cover so sit back, enjoy and thank you for joining me!!!

-Throne of Angels

Part 1 – Initial Shade

Part 2 – Final Shades