Supreme Aptimus Zaal & Kovaas

Template:Skornebox2 This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Supreme Aptimus Zaal, first among extollers, has communed with the widest possible range of ancients. He has gained mastery over the insane ancestral spirits called Kovaas and is akin to high priest for the Skorne army in the west. Though it could mean his destruction, he treads dark paths for the glory of his race, the victory of his master and the expansion of his own power.

Basic Info

Zaal1

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 : Rage of Ancients

1. Zaal1 gains a number of ancestral rage tokens equal to the number of friendly Faction warrior models that have been destroyed and not (yet) returned to play since the start of the game.
2. While in Zaal1's Template:Control range, friendly Faction models can spend ancestral rage tokens on Zaal1 to boost one melee attack or melee damage roll for each token spent.
3. At the end of the turn, remove unspent ancestral rage tokens from Zaal.

Abilities

• Template:Gunfighter
• Template:Direct Spirits
• Template:Ghost Sight
• Template:Irregulars
• Template:Soul Converter

Weapons

Spirit Eye - 8" range, POW 6 ranged attack

• Template:Magical Weapon
• Template:Annihilating Gaze

Staff of Aarakis - 2" reach, P+S 9 melee attack. If Zaal is using this something has gone badly wrong

• Template:Magical Weapon

Spells

{{Category: Template:Awakened SpiritTemplate:Hex BlastTemplate:Inviolable ResolveTemplate:Last StandTemplate:Sunder Spirit }}[[Category: Template:Awakened SpiritTemplate:Hex BlastTemplate:Inviolable ResolveTemplate:Last StandTemplate:Sunder Spirit ]]

Kovaas

Template:Infobox-Model A Kovaas is created when an Ancestral Guardian is destroyed. You can have up to one Kovaas at a time.

Abilities

• Template:Undead
• Template:Incorporeal
• Template:Destruction Spawned
• Template:Dessicator
• Template:Soul Cage
  • Template:Soul Powered
  • Template:Strength of Death

Weapons

Wasting Touch - 2" reach, P+S 14 melee attack

• Template:Magical Weapon
• Template:Thresher

Theme Forces

• Template:Disciples of Agony
• Template:Masters of War. They gain "Optional Take Down" in this theme.
• Template:The Exalted
• Template:Winds of Death

Thoughts on Zaal1

Zaal1 in a nutshell

Zaal1 is an infantry and ancestral guardian warlock whose main big trick is Last Stand, and whose secondary big trick is getting excellent use out of ancestral guardians. He also has a few tricks beyond that. He makes people hit much harder at the cost of burning them up - and the Kovaas assassinations (with Last Stand and powered up by souls) can be effective. Zaal has spent most of Mk3 prior to December 2018 on the shelf due to not being allowed Ancestral Guardians outside The Exalted, and that theme needing a tune up - but he can now bring them wherever he goes and the theme has had the tune up it needs.

Feat thoughts

Zaal's feat is simple; you play it half way through the game and unleash devastation.

Spell thoughts

• Last Stand lets you trade up - but remember that you need to be trading up because your models will die if you use it. It's easy to wreck your own army by using it - but you can take out a lot of enemies with an additional dice on attack and damage rolls. It goes really well on an Ancestral Guardian - either it gets massive numbers of attacks for the cost or the enemy kills it (or let defensive strike kill it) and the Kovaas then takes over.
• Inviolable Resolve is not exactly subtle. And will probably go on a Supreme Guardian
• Awakened Spirit is basic tech. Just changing the odds in your favour. A Titan Gladiator or Basilisk Krea are often the best targets.
• Two zaps, one of which is anti-upkeep tech.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He's squishy
• You absolutely must use Last Stand to trade up. It kills your troops so your opponent doesn't have to. If what you are attacking isn't more valuable than your models, you lose on the trades.
• Zaal's big thing is using Last Stand to kill things they normally couldn't. If you can beat the skews without Last Stand, it's better, because you don't destroy your own models.
  • The faction with Paingiver Beast Handlers and the Bronzeback Titan is normally strong into ARM-skews if it's trying.

Tricks & Tips

• The Ferox Assassination and the Immortal Assassination are both mentioned under related Theme sections.
• The Kovaas assassination involves leaving an Ancestral Guardian with Last Stand up. If it gets to Defensive Strike then the Kovaas pops out at the end of the opponent's turn. An incorporeal model fully loaded on souls that you can last stand and is right in the heart of the enemy army? Throw last stand on that and it tends to demolish casters.
• Models with Combined Melee attack love Last Stand. Only the model that initiates the attack gets destroyed!
• Remember, if the enemy caster gets too close you can Last Stand Zaal himself and beat the enemy to death. If the enemy caster dies first, Zaal wins!
• Did we mention how awesome Last Stand is?
• His gun is really good against gargantuans, being +1 or +2 against most. Whether you want to be that close to one is up to you...
  • His gun is +1 or +2 against most living stuff, and he can get up to range 12" ; with extoller advocates and Cyclop shaman, you can have for relatively cheap a nasty ranged firepower that is entirely ghost shot.
• In Some pre-feat run ups, use last stand to increase the number of rage tokens.
• Models that can benefit from Soul Converter are Ancestral Guardian, the Supreme Guardian, and Hakaar the Destroyer

List Building Advice

Strategy

Zaal is an attrition warlock - but he has an assassination threat with Last Stand and his feat; an Ancestral Guardian, Kovaas, or even warbeast with an extra damage dice and boosting on top of that will trash almost any caster, and the Guardian is only five points. What he doesn't do is anything to either keep his models alive or extend threat ranges.

His infantry is a much greater proportion of his force, and what he really likes is infantry that can get multiple attacks .

Theme thoughts

Zaal wants infantry both to Last Stand and to power up his feat - three themes have infantry (The Exalted, Masters of War, and Winds of Death). The first two themes are preferable as they are melee themes and thus synergise with more of Zaal's kit.

There is even an off-beat build for Zaal that works in Disciples of Agony with several Ancestral Guardians, all powered by Soul Converter and the occasional dead Paingiver or warbeast. If you want to do this, however, it's probably preferable to instead go for a triple battle engine build in Winds of Death, use your Guardians as your free models, and take a skirmish screen of Venator Slingers while only losing out on a couple of free points (making all your free models Ancestral Guardians).

Almost every Zaal list is going to take two Ancestral Guardians and Hakaar as its free models for 16 points, although Masters of War might want a Tycom and/or Vorkesh and to buy an Ancestral Guardian or two.

• Ancestral Guardian - between Soul Converter and the Kovaas there's no reason to not bring as many as you own. Remember that you can get them for free in most themes, and three of these will provide a floor of 15 points to the free models Zaal should be bringing.
• Hakaar the Destroyer is finally back to being an Ancestral Guardian - and gets even more attacks out of Last Stand than a Guardian plus all the other nice bonuses.
• Supreme Guardian - Zaal hands out free souls.
  • Extoller Novitiate - no direct synergy with Zaal - but Guardians and the Supreme Guardian both love these guys, so bring them. This is such a good combination a lot of Zaal1 lists don't bring Paingiver Beast Handlers.
• Aptimus Marketh gets to hex blast and upkeep.
• Extoller Soulward Direct Spirits makes sure they have the perfect number of souls for blowing things up (two).
• Immortal Vessel for arced hex blasts to deal with upkeeps.
• Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers With that many bodies, why not? Zaal can't use Faction spells on minions, but its an excellent infantry recycling machine for a warlock that likes to off his own guys. After you "Last Standed" your own unit into destruction, your Bokor picks up the bodies and reuses them the next turn. It can help Zaal apply pressure on the turns after the feat, if such a thing happens. It does not always work because opponents tend to have plans too, but its good fun. Apply Tough from a Paingiver Task Master, and get in the way of things like the best of them.

Template:Header The key thing about The Exalted and Zaal is that with his ability to feed the Guardians there should be plenty of spare souls for the Advocates however fast you burn them. He's nice and thematic in the theme but for good reason people tend to prefer Zaal2 who's actually one of the Exalted both for fluff and synergy/power reasons.

• Immortals With the Extoller Advocate, they can turn incorporeal, and then get a non-linear charge off with a total threat range of 14". Vengeance also lets them use two attacks in a turn for Last Stand. You only get the one unit in The Exalted but it's one that works well with Zaal.
• Abidan the Keeper keeps Zaal safe with shield guard, and comes back from the dead via a soul from the ancestral guardians - the same models Zaal fuels up with souls.

Template:Header Masters of War is Zaal's default theme as it contains the two things he loves. First lots of warrior models to die to power the feat. And second lots of models that make multiple attacks to leverage Last Stand.

• Praetorian Swordsmen Two attacks for a low cost/ and with the attachment, they get the opportunity to reposition and strike again - and to make one attack at 5d6 damage and the other at 4d6. If they make it through no one is better at trading up. Also very cheap bodies.
• Praetorian Keltarii Two attacks for a low cost and more maneuverable and more flexible than the swordsmen. Rapid Strike has really unlocked their potential.
• Praetorian Karax Very cheap bodies
• Praetorian Ferox One of his two choices for assassins, Praetorian Ferox with Last Stand can frequently make short work of casters and have an excellent threat range.

Probably not his best theme - but can be pretty fun with the swathes of destruction you can wreak.

• Nihilators - Last Stand + Berserk anyone?
• Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor - Thresher + Last Stand + MAT 8 + Weapon Master?

Template:Header You can at least bring a lot of disposable warrior models to fuel his feat, and last stand means they can at least do something in melee. Not normally considered a good choice.

• Venator Reivers/Venator Slingers - you get the work out of them from shooting and then throw them in under Last Stand.
• Siege Animantarax - under last stand it kills anything. Not normally worth it except as a genuine last stand or game closer.

Battlegroup

Zaal is an infantry warlock who prefers to spend the bare minimum on beasts. The following are the most common:

• 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
• Cyclops Raider - Zaal occasionally likes to blast things with his Spirit Eye.
• Titan Cannoneer - see Cyclops Raider. It also can help to have a heavy that you buy out of your warbeast points (if you aren't using warbeast points the Supreme Guardian is preferable with Zaal).
• Cyclops Shaman Effectively a second Krea bubble while having a bag of tricks of its own.
• Cyclops Brute - Shield Guard - and a fairly standard Zaal assassination run.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Hordes: Evolution (2007)
• Zaal might be named after the Persian medieval hero Zaal (or, Zāl), who according to myth was a great warrior king, raised by a mythical bird. He ended up really, really old. Quite like Skorne's Zaal.

Video Battle Reports

• Arcane Assist, 2018.03, vs Kallus2
• Template:VBR