Lord Assassin Morghoul

Template:Skornebox This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

After long years of loyal but shadowy service to his master, Morghoul has stepped forward as a leader among the Skorne. The betrayal by his lord freed Morghoul's hands, and he has found the opportunity to further his private ambitions by taking the unprecedented step of seizing leadership of the entire paingiver caste in the Army of the Western Reaches.

Basic Info

This model is a Warlock.

Warlock Rules A warlock is an Independent Model. a Leader model. a Battlegroup Controller controls warbeasts. Warlocks use Fury Manipulation Uses ARC to determine how many fury points it gains each turn. Begins the game with a number of fury points equal to its ARC. Cannot exceed its ARC stat in fury points as a result of leeching. Can spend fury points only during its activation (unless a special rule states otherwise) for the following: Buy additional attacks Boost attack rolls Boost damage rolls Shake some effects Can leach fury points from warbeasts in its battlegroup in its control range. Spirit Bond allows the warlock to gain a fury for each of its dead battlegroup warbeasts. Reaving allows the warlock to pull fury points from a warbeast in its battlegroup when it dies.

Feat : Blackout

Enemy models currently in Morghoul2's Template:CTRL range and LOS suffer Blind (refer to his weapons) for one round.

Abilities

• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Stealth
• Template:Apparition
• Template:Reposition 3
• Template:Steady
• Template:Elite Cadre

Weapons

Mercy
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				7				13
Template:Blessed Template:Magical Weapon Template:Weapon Master Template:Grievous Wounds
Fan of Shadows
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				2				8
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Blind

Spells

{{Category: Template:Flashing BladeTemplate:Flesh HooksTemplate:Shadow PlayTemplate:Mortality }}[[Category: Template:Flashing BladeTemplate:Flesh HooksTemplate:Shadow PlayTemplate:Mortality ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Disciples of Agony. He gains Sacrificial Pawn [Minion warrior] in this theme.
• Template:Masters of War. He gains "Optional Take Down" in this theme.
• Template:The Exalted
• Template:Winds of Death

Thoughts on Morghoul2

Morghoul2 in a nutshell

Morghoul2 is the Lord Assassin of the Skorne empire for a reason. He kills any but the most careful enemies - and after the Great Skorne Errata he's finally better at it than he has been at any time since Mk1. Mortality to help take down big targets, shadow play for positioning - and between Mortality and Blind, Morghoul doesn't have to be the finisher.

Feat Thoughts

Blackout on the enemy's army makes the infantry and battle engine useless for a turn and means that everything's going to hit opposing jacks and beasts.

Blackout on the enemy caster and he will be extremely easy to hit, especially by Morghoul.

Spell Thoughts

• Flesh Hook is a seriously great blast. While the effect isn't as radical as Stranglehold, the higher POW mean it work significantly more reliably into buffed garguantuans
• Flashing Blade is not an attack per se - you can still cast it if you sacrificed your combat action to get up from Knockdown. It is not as good as his Perfect Balance was in Mk2, but if you do not need your combat action (for a charge, for example), it costs only 1 fury; just as many as to shake off the above mentioned effects. You can also cast it before moving ; you can apparition into your first target, kill it, and charge something else.
• Don't forget, Apparition works even if you're stationary, or knocked down.
• Shadowplay has a weird duration; despite being an upkeep, it applies Incorporeal for a turn and if you recast it on someone else, the first person keeps their Incorporeal status.
  So you actually can make up to four targets incorporeal in a single turn : one from upkeep, three from casts.
• Mortality is an excellent debuff. It used to be almost too dangerous to cast, but over the course of Mk3 Morghoul2 has gained access to the Blind Walker and Immortal Vessel to channel through, and now can Reposition into or behind terrain after casting it directly to keep himself safe.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• If he fails to assassinate, he gets squashed.
• Shadow Play only works on your turn, and on a limited number of model. This means that it is purely a piece for positioning your models.
• Anyone with Eyeless Sight (notably all Legion beasts, Cephalyx beasts, and drudges) is immune to his feat and fan.
• Archons ignore blind.

Tricks & Tips

• He gives parry to the Bloodrunners, but doesn't actually have it himself
• Ornery from a Titan Sentry or Counterblast from a Mammoth allow him to blind an attacker after its first attack.
• Morghoul is fairly hard to kill, but don't play too far forward. Just remember he can be assassinated.

List Building Advice

Strategy

He's the freakin' Lord Assassin. There are no prizes for guessing what his main strategy is.

By himself, Lord Assassin Morghoul has an assassination threat range of 13", most of that linear and it can be blocked by intervening models. If he gets that assassination off, it is almost invariably in the endgame. However the level of paranoia you should feel when he is on the table is massively greater than that; the Lord Assassin generally doesn't do the assassinating himself because he has much much longer threat ranges than that.

A textbook Lord Assassin Morghoul starts off with him moving 9" (including Apparition); if the enemy are unlucky he'll charge 12". Then he feats. If the enemy caster is within 12" (for a total of 21" or 24") they've just had their DEF flattened. Follow it up with Mortality (boost to hit) and most enemies are ready to be finished off. And if you have a Cyclops Shaman Mortality has the same range as the feat.

So how to finish off the target? Having lost six points of DEF and two of ARM they should be ripe for the picking. You can either do it at range or in melee. In melee, it's normally an Incorporeal Archidon from 11" away (13 if you brought a Titan Gladiator), flying over the enemy and ignoring free strikes or even an incorporeal Animantarax from 13" away. At range, it's a Mammoth from 18" away or a Titan Cannoneer or two from 20" away, supported by a Cyclops Shaman or Cyclops Raider from 20" - and possibly some Venators.

Morghoul works well with most people - his only friendly Faction buff is Shadow Play and that needs to go on a single model (normally himself, a warbeast in his battlegroup, or a beatstick solo). With his three biggest things being the Blind debuff, the Mortality debuff, and his assassination, he works extremely well with minions.

Theme Thoughts

• Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer let him threat longer when not seeing his victim, and let him sprint farther back.
• Ferox are excellent infantry blenders when supported with Mortality.

Lets Morghoul take all of the support pieces he wants while denying the enemy tricks like moving your stuff or collecting corpses. Assassination guns will have to come from the battlegroup, but Immortals are seriously dangerous against a blinded and Mortality'd caster--and they bring their own Incorporeal.

Morghoul and Aptimus Marketh and/or the Immortal Vessel (mentioned above) to hand out Mortality to break armour. It normally brings an Animantarax (sometimes even two) as its finisher; not that much survives an incorporeal animantarax, especially when their DEF has already been dropped. Or just shoot the enemy.

• Extoller Soulward, mentioned above, can also be in this theme.
• Siege Animantarax - an incorporeal Siege Animantarax has a scary assassination threat, forcing the enemy to keep troops back to block all potential landing zones or to keep their caster completely out of LoS. And even if it isn't going for the assassination it's pretty good at mugging heavies, especially ones without reach weapons.

As a debuff caster Morghoul2 is incredibly minion-friendly. In Disciples of Agony the assassination run is generally finished off by a Primaled Enraged Archidon or an incorporeal primaled and enraged Road Hog, both exploiting Blind to lower the enemy's DEF and then having a 10" charge range to hit extremely hard at MAT 8. He also likes having ambush models due to a low feat range

• Blind Walker - you're in the only theme without the Immortal Vessel, so you might want a way to channel. Or it might not be worth it.
• Swamp Horror - an extra 1" threat range for Morghoul is extremely useful (and 1.5" for the Fan of Shadows of course)
• Paingiver Bloodrunners are already good already good, and he gives them a nice buff in Parry.
• Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor combines excellently with Morghoul2; he gives it Parry (which works really well with the Master Tormentor's Sprint to escape when it hasn't killed everyone) and the Master Tormentor is a veteran leader for paingivers including the Lord Assassin, making him better able to land Mortality or even his own assassination runs.
• Siege Animantarax is as good in DoA as it is in Winds of Death.

Battlegroup

• Archidon - the improved version of the Archidon makes for a decent assassin-beast if you can deal with any free strikes (which Shadow Play normally can). And Sprint is a great power to give Morghoul, allowing him to charge, feat, apply mortality when needed, and sprint back to safety.
• Agonizer - Playing for assassination involves sacrificing pieces, and the opponent will have to commit more to accept a sacrifice if the piece you present effectively has +2 Armor. Morghoul also often has to play forward to get a backbreaking feat, and having a +2 Str bubble or spell denial can keep him much safer against whatever can still get to him.
• Basilisk Krea - Similar to the Agonizer; you don't want your opponent cheating you out of your alpha + control using their guns.
• Titan Gladiator - If playing an Archidon anyway, it's a consideration.
• Bronzeback Titan - Manages the fury on your Agonizer at least and is an excellent late game armor cracker. With Mortality it can kill the world. Its animus of Unyielding also makes it very hard to kill and gives it potential as a tip of the spear, while the animus on Morghoul (especially stacked with Agonizer) takes him to a suddenly problematic 16/18 vs Melee, with Steady to boot.
• Cyclops Shaman - Sometimes the extra 2" of range on Mortality is wonderful. If you don't have the points you can always use the Farrow Bone Grinders but you normally get more with an extra animus and the anti-magic tech.
  • With a Cyclops Raider or Titan Cannoneer and access to Guidance, the Shaman becomes a premier spot-removal piece.
  • One gimmick list used by the Lord Assassin involves a Cyclops Raider or Titan Cannoneer and four or more Shamans to shoot the enemy caster right through anything up to and including solid walls.
• Mammoth - Its gun will murder a Blinded caster and threatens 18"-20" without external buffs. Its a great scenario and attrition anchor as well.

Standard Support

• Aptimus Marketh - Mortality is one of the best possible spells for Marketh to cast and Shadow Walk is an upkeep. Marketh's a bargain for the Lord Assassin in all the themes.
• Immortal Vessel - Channeling Mortality at +2 to hit is just good. You can't take it in Disciples of Agony, having to rely on the Blind Walker if you want to channel and the Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor for the accuracy boost
• Extoller Soulward lets you Mortality people with Stealth. Including casters. Secondly eyeless sight and His feat are killer as unless you hide behind a forest Morg can see you. In Disciples of Agony a Bog Trog Mist Speaker does the same job.
• Paingiver Beast Handlers. This is Skorne. These appear in almost all lists.

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 - Winds of Death

Lord Assassin Morghoul: [+29 WBP]

• Aptimus Marketh: [4 pts]
• Titan Cannoneer: [16 pts]
• Cyclops Shaman: [8 pts]
• Basilisk Drake: [8 pts]

Venator Dakar: [4 pts]

Venator Reivers (Min unit): [9 pts]

• Command Attachment: [4 pts]

Venator Flayer Cannon Crew: [Free] Template:Grey

Total RRP: USD $221 (based on PP's online store prices 2021.04)

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

• The name Morghoul is speculated to mean "Bird Demon". It could be a combination of the words Morgh, meaning bird or chicken in Iranian, and the Ghoul/ Gallu/ Goule, meaning a mean evil spirit or demon who'd drag unfortunate victims off to the underworld. Whether or not this is how Privateer Press named him, his birdlike aesthetics makes this interpretation very fitting.
• Released in Hordes: Metamorphosis (2009)

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.05 Feat Fetish, vs Lylyth1
• 2019.04 Feat Fetish, vs Garryth1
• 2018.12 Deathclock Dave, vs Baldwin1
• 2018.09 Not Snakes Gaming, vs Kallus1
• Template:VBR