Barnabas, Lord of Blood

Mercenaries Blindwater Congregation Legacy Warlock

There are few living things that have accomplished as much as Barnabas, Lord of Blood. Having achieved his goal of transfiguration amid gory carnage, Barnabas has risen from death as a god. Wielding the dark magic of his people, augmented by his own defiance of death, the Lord of Blood goes to battle attended by undead skeletal companions called bone shakers. Together they collect bloody sacrifices from the flesh of any who would oppose his growing cult.

Basic Info

Barnabas

• Minion - In a 2+ warlock game, he can work as a Template:Circle minion, Template:Legion Minion, Template:Skorne minion, or Template:Trollblood minion
• Template:Warlock Unit
  • This unit is made up of Barnabas and three Bone Shakers.

Feat: Death Ritual

Immediately RFP one or more friendly living or undead models currently in Barnabas' Template:CTRL range. For each model removed, Barnabas gains 1 corpse token, 1 fury point, or removes d3 damage points from a model in his battlegroup. Barnabas cannot exceed his FURY as a result of Death Ritual.

Abilities

• Template:Amphibious
• Template:Tough
• Template:Bone Pile
• Template:Gatorman - This model is a Gatorman.
• Template:Gatorman Warlock
• Template:Meat-Fueled
• Template:Sacrificial Pawn
• Template:Steady
• Template:Tide of Skulls

Weapons

• Axe - 2" reach, P+S 15 melee weapon
  • Template:Magical Damage
• Bite - 0.5" reach, P+S 14
  • Template:Grievous Wounds

Spells

{{Category: Template:Blood RainTemplate:Execration of Blackest NightTemplate:Hunter's Mark

}}[[Category:

]]

[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	2	Self	Ctrl	-	Turn	No
Spellcaster and friendly Faction models beginning their activations in the spellcaster's control range gain Relentless Charge for one turn.
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])
[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	2	Self	Ctrl	-	Turn	No
Spellcaster and friendly Faction models beginning their activations in the spellcaster's control range gain Relentless Charge for one turn.
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])

Bone Shakers

Barnabas starts the game with 3 Bone Shakers in his unit. Template:Infobox-Model

Abilities

• Template:Amphibious
• Template:Undead
• Template:Dark Shroud

Weapons

• Bone Strike - 1" reach, P+S 10 melee weapon
  • Template:Magical Damage

Theme Forces

• Template:Blindwater
• Template:Will Work For Food

Thoughts on Barnabas2

Barnabas, Lord of Blood in a nutshell

Barnabas is a tough front line warlock who protects his troops with Execration, buffs damage via his Bone Shakers, increases threat ranges via Hunter's Mark, and hands out Pathfinder via Onslaught. Oh, and hits brutally hard - P+S20 if fully loaded and counting the Dark Shroud bonus. Template:LOSbox

Feat thoughts

Feat gives him an ultra-turn as long as he has enough cannon fodder to waste to power himself up. That's "Kill a Gargantuan and still have full corpses and enough spare Fury to camp" level turn.

Spell thoughts

• Onslaught is a cast once and upkeep throughout the game. It's basically Pathfinder for melee troops and well worth the Fury cost.
• Execration of Blackest Night is probably his signature spell. If Barnabas plays forward he effectively gives his whole army a 2 point DEF buff (that isn't affected by Blessed). The only good reasons to not cast this spell are that it's your first turn or you are trying to end the game on your turn (e.g. via assassination).
• Hunter's Mark is a useful threat extender and will probably be the main spell cast by the Soul Slave.
• Rebuke is a nice debuff that allows you to prevent infantry from charging.
• Blood Rain is your zap. It isn't especially good.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Large based target will draw incoming fire.
• Any shooters with a >10" range are going to target Barnabas without worrying about Execration. And he only has DEF 13. Your only protection is sacrificial pawn onto the Bone Shakers.

Tricks & Tips

• Barnabas has a 12" threat range (10" if he doesn't use Hunter's Mark) and hits at MAT 8 P+S 15-20. Any caster he gets the drop on is likely to die.
• Remember, Barnabas has to be the closest eligible model to collect the corpse. Don't go sending your Bone Shakers off to attack models near an enemy Necrosurgeon or somesuch.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Barnabas is an attrition caster who also wins scenarios by bullying the enemy out of the zones.

Barnabas requires cheap infantry for his feat and corpse tokens for his bone pile.

Execration of the Blackest Night stacks with just about any defensive buff you care to name. This means that Barnabas loves anyone who hands out more DEF buffs or otherwise make his models harder to hit.

And otherwise Barnabas likes hard hitting melee models with a decent DEF to synergise with Dark Shroud.

Theme thoughts

He'll spend most of his time in this theme.

• Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers are as cheap a unit of infantry as you get and are self-replenishing. It's hard to think of a better unit for your feat - but these guys can clash with the Cauldron.
• A cheap option for his feat are five Void Leeches.
• Gatorman Posse are already DEF 12 with easy access to concealment and P+S 13, able to take advantage of Dark Shroud
• See also the suggestions in the "either theme" heading, below.

He can get some huge returns in this theme. Specifically, access to Farrow Valkyries for additional shooting protection.

• Another cheap options per model are the Farrow Bone Grinders.
• Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath are already high DEF before Execration.

• The Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron is almost necessary to feed corpses to Barnabas. This should probably be your first pick every time you play him.
• Wrong Eye & Snapjaw provides Star Crossed making Barnabas' army that much harder to hit within 8" of Wrong Eye.
• Totem Hunter is DEF 14 - and you can get one free in the Blindwater Congregation.
• Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew provides clouds - which means concealment for more DEF on top of Execration. They're also cheap models for his feat.
• Bog Trog Mist Speaker - Summon Vortex is more clouds, and Guidance is excellent. As for that matter is raising the Shamblers to MAT 6.

Battlegroup

• The Boneswarm has an animus that both provides Concealment and a DEF debuff, leading to an effective DEF of 17 for Barnabas or the Boneswarm.
• The Dracodile provides shallow water - and thus concealment and hence makes other models harder to hit.
• Bull Snapper has an ARM buff animus that will allow Barnabas to reach ARM 20. It also can give Barnabas three fury single handedly if you sacrifice it to his feat.
• Blackhide Wrastler is of course excellent. And between Rage and Dark Shroud you can turn light warbeasts into effective beasts for breaking over heavies.

Other

Trivia

Released in the Blindwater expansion (2017.09)

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.11 Arcane Assist, vs Wanderer1
• 2019.08 Desperate Pace, vs Kallus2
• 2019.07 Tiny Men, vs Abyslonia2
• 2019.01 Arcane Assist, vs High Reclaimer1
• 2018.07 Arcane Assist, vs Macbain1
• 2018.05 Not Snakes Gaming, vs Skarre3
• Template:VBR