Karchev the Terrible

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

Karchev is the man in the machine, a warcaster with the body of a warjack and a heart of fury. This Khadoran patriot drives his battlegroup forward relentlessly to crush the enemies of his beloved Motherland. Few are those that can withstand the sheer brutality of his assault. A single swing of his mechanikal axe Sunder can fell entire units as he wades into close combat with his warjacks in tow. Nothing short of the most advanced firepower can slow the unstoppable force that is Karchev.

Basic Info

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

Feat: Unearthly Rage

While in Karchev's Template:Control range, models in his battlegroup gain boosted melee damage rolls and their melee weapons gain Damage Type: Magical. Unearthly Rage lasts for one turn.

Abilities

• Template:Arcantrik Turbine
• Template:Man in the Machine
• Template:Repairable
• Template:Unyielding

Weapons

Fissure
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		SP 10			1			Template:-			12			Right
Template:Magical Damage Template:Knockdown
Open Fist
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		1				3				15				Left
Template:Open Fist
Sunder
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		2				7				19				Right
Template:Magical Damage

Spells

{{Category: Template:Battle-ChargedTemplate:EruptionTemplate:Ground ZeroTemplate:JumpstartTemplate:Road to War }}[[Category: Template:Battle-ChargedTemplate:EruptionTemplate:Ground ZeroTemplate:JumpstartTemplate:Road to War ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Armored Korps
• Template:Si
• Template:Jaws of the Wolf
• Template:Legion of Steel
• Template:Si
• Template:WG Kommand. In this theme the caster gains Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model].
• Template:Wolves of Winter

Thoughts on Karchev1

Karchev1 in a nutshell

He's the jack caster of Khador - in every sense. Few can match his raw combat potential, and he rewards an aggressive play style on the board. Also he's big and mean, which works for him and against him. He has a lot of tricks to make his 'jacks faster than opponents expect and to allow them to come from unexpected directions.

Spell thoughts

• Road to War - This is the most critical spell for getting the most out of Karchev. It can be difficult, since it requires 1) killing an enemy model 2) with a melee or ranged attack 3) during the model's activation. This means it is best triggered by killing single wound infantry. Jacks can have difficulty activating this effect without being fed extra focus, but your army can help with this by taking out exposed solos or squishy members of support units (I'm looking at you Widowmakers). One move is triggered per attack, not per model killed so AoEs will not potentially move your whole battlegroup. Since this only triggers on attacks, enemies killed by non-attack sources will not help you.
• Jumpstart - Your go-to spell against pop and drop tricks, stationary-causing attacks like Ice Cage, as well as movement shenanigans, like Telekinesis, which would change your jacks' facing. If more than one of your models were knocked down, use this spell rather than spending FOCUS on shaking the effect. Situational, but can be life-saving - and don't forget that it includes you too.
• Eruption - Even with the above-average damage of the hazardous effect, this one is pretty restrictive on your FOCUS pool.
• Battle Charged - ensures that the enemy must place itself very well, if they don't want to get charged in return.
• Ground Zero - Expensive, but can worth its weight in gold, when it comes to play. First, because it hits automatically. Even the most elusive jamming models will be hit automatically, and unless they have a 2" melee range, they have no way engaging you and evading the hit the same time. Heavy targets can also be pushed away from you, freeing up space for mounting a counter-attack, or simply just spraying them down with Fissure. Just watch out for rough terrain, as it halves the push distance.

Feat thoughts

Since all melee attack damage rolls are boosted, Karchev loves jacks with multiple melee attacks. Karchev is also a member of his own battlegroup, so he is an extreme assassination threat on his own with a full stack of Focus. His feat gives a boost, not an extra die, so it does not stack with the damage boost from charging. If you don't need the extra 3" of movement from a charge it is better to walk up and spend all of your focus boosting attack rolls and/or buying extra attacks. Since Karchev has few good ways of improving accuracy efficiently, you may want to knock target models down first. A charge from your Gun Carriage, or a shot from a Field Gun Crew will make sure your boosted damage rolls won't be wasted.

Though it gives you magical melee weapons too, it doesn't make your melee attacks magical, so you still won't be able to headbutt Gremlin Swarms to death.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Joint lowest DEF in the faction with Old Witch2 - whatever targets him, will likely hit. Beware Eyriss.
• Large base makes his screen hard, and screening jacks can easily be hit/pushed out of place.
• Deceptive ARM - he is as easy to kill as a regular heavy warjack.
• Karchev does very little to help anything outside warjacks.
• With two upkeeps and possibly a focus to improve his own mobility, Karchev has to be very careful with Focus management for his battle group without additional support.
• Even with SR2017, his army's focus points are jacks. Actually, low SPD, low DEF jacks.
  • That makes him vulnerable to many tricks which hurts constructs (Dismantle and the like), and especially those which hurt warjacks and their controller (Domination, Feedback, Backlash)
  • Speed de-buffs and rough terrain tricks can hinder the delivery of his army.

Tricks & Tips

• Don't forget, he's not a Construct. Anything that interacts with living models (Poison, Annoyance, Burning Ash, etc) affects him too.
• The open fist is not magical, unlike Sunder. Keep it in mind when you try to wreck Incorporeal models.
• Since Karchev can trample for free, and since trampling doesn't end your activation, you can declare a trample and then cast spells afterwards, effectively giving you +3" range on your spells.
• Reinholdt can "reload" Karchev's axe giving him an extra spray during a round. How you reload an axe I have no idea.
• Though you use an AoE for Ground Zero, the damage is not a blast damage, so blast immune models can still be hurt. Also, the spell targets Karchev, so targeting restictions against spells (like Spell Ward or Sacred Ward) can be circumvented.
• If an enemy cannot be targeted by your spray attack, run up one of your own model in line with the enemy, then target it with Fissure, catching the intended target with it.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Karchev is an odd duck now. He allows an extremely mobile Khador jack game through Road to War/Counter Charge shenanigans, but at the same time, he has no way of addressing rough terrain. He allows extreme damage output from his jacks during his feat turn, but at the same time he doesn't have any focus efficient ways to make them more accurate outside of Fissure, which can easily leave him overexposed. This means he needs to be very careful in choosing his army if he is not going to be stymied by certain enemies or battlefield layouts. Ironically, if you are aiming for a well-suited theme force, you might best be served by the Winter Guard Kommand force instead of the jack-oriented Jaws of the Wolf, since it provides far more sources of knockdown to maximize the damage from his feat turn as well as advance move for his jacks and possible ways to provide protection despite his large base via sacrificial pawn. Also worthy of note is the Wolves of Winter theme, since stationary can also make those boosted damage rolls connect and it gives you access to the Greylord Forge Seer which can mitigate some of your focus shortage with Empower. Doom Reavers can also trigger plenty of Road to War movement.

It is difficult to consider Karchev independently of the other offbeat beat stick jack caster, Captain Jeremiah Kraye, with whom his Mk2 incarnation shared a lot of similarities. It appears he got the short end of the stick in the edition bump, since Kraye gets reposition 5 and cavalry rules for his jacks as passive effects, while Karchev has to pay upkeeps for far less reliable mobility boosts, nor does he get any accuracy benefits. He is definitely an incredibly powerful piece in his own right, and his damage potential far outstrips most casters in the game. His bump in WJ points also offsets some of the nerfing, but he will struggle far more against specific enemy army compositions, board layouts, and scenario conditions than he did previously.

Karchev is not for subtle scenario manipulation or cunning movement shenanigans. Quite often you'll win by assassination, or simply by attrition, destroying a huge chunk of your enemy's force under your feat turn. Though the in-yo-face approach seems easy, it requires perfect timing and model placing. Key elements are setting up a reliable Road to War chain to move your most important jacks up before a critical strike, and managing Battle Charged to stave off enemy jammers and/or heavy hitters from your army. For his personal combat output, Fissure is quite an efficient tool for setting up targets for the rest of your army. Sometimes it is better to stay your hand, and just shoot the target for a reliable knockdown, then letting your jacks finish the job, than rushing in all by yourself. With 1 focus, his personal threat range is a respectable 16", while with another to boost the attack roll, he can knock down warcasters and warlocks up to DEF15 with ease (while ignoring concealment, cover and stealth).

Theme thoughts

Template:Header Pathfinder on all jacks in the list (even those on Junior and marshals) is a really strong benefit. As is the extra forest offering some protection. I can alls lead to some interesing plays where a Battle Raged jack counter charges out of the woods. The theme also features lots of nice units for scenario and triggering Road to War.

• A unit of Widowmaker Scouts as well as the Widowmaker Marksman are very good at triggering Road To War - and the Marksman is free in theme.
• Kayazy Eliminators are useful - and you can get a unit of them for free. Also they can trigger Road at nice times and contest like champions.
• Battle Mechaniks - you want to keep those jacks running, right? These are the guys you need. In Jaws of the Wolf reposition ensures that they won't die to blasts once they finished repairs.
• Kossite Woodsmen - They ambush and thus contribute to your scenario game, also they can be nice RtW triggers (if they actually hit something).
• Kovnik Apprentice Kratikoff - Boundless Charge is an extemely useful tool for Karchev since Khador jacks are notoriously slow.
• Kovnik Andrei Malakov - He also brings a much needed speedbuff in Redline, bringing the two juniors just for this reason is usually worth it.
• Greylord Forge Seer - Khador lacks for good magical shooting options to remove pesky Gremlin Swarms, Feralgeists and the like. Giving a Destroyer or even Behemoth to a Seer solves this problem nicely. They won't benefit from RtW, but can trigger it with their shooting. Additionally they prvide some focus efficiency with Empower.

Template:Header The main draw here is the abundance of ARM debuffs, as well as 4(!) models with Empower.

• Koldun Lord - the afoementioned ARM debuff. Alternatively he can copy the Forge Seers empower, netting you up to 4 free focus a turn.
• Void Archon - Yet another ARM debuff! Also a solo with an incredible threat range. Unfortunately it is not Friendly Faction so does not trigger Road to War.
• Greylord Outriders - Sprays are excellent RtW triggers. Especially so when they come from SPD 9 horse riders that can flank around while your jacks advance up the middle of the board.
• Doomreaver Swordsmen - Your bread and butter unit in this theme they can screen and contest your jacks.
• Greylord Ternion - Ice Cages increase your odds to hit and Blizzards can screen your jacks nicely.
• Lady Aiyana & Master Holt and Valachev are only available together in this theme. Aiyana hands out kisses and Holt shoots stuff to trigger RtW. Valachev makes the package faction friendly and Zephyrs them around.

Template:Header This theme offers a plethora of RtW triggers due to it s great shooting capabilities. Winterguard Infantry, Rifle Corps, Rocketeers, the Gun Carriage and even the often maligned Assault Kommandos make for great screening and shooting pieces. Furthermore, the two Juniors are in this theme too.

• Greylord Adjunct - An absolute autoinclude. A free upkeep is just too good to pass up for Karchev who'S entire gameplan relies on his two. Guidance, extra range on spells and clouds in also very nice.
• There is a good case for most of the other attachments though; Reinholdt lets him reload his Axe (what?) and Stealth removal is vital for RtW triggers. Sylys also provides free upkeeps and makes Eruption absolutely terryfing with Arcane Secrets. Corbeau or the War Dog keep him save in melee.
• Kell Bailoch - If you brought Widowmakers and the Marksman already you migth want to bring him, just for the option to peel of 13 damage off of any warnoun.
• Gobber Tinker - Mechanikally Adept, a prime contester and an excellent pointfiller!

Battlegroup

• Every warjack in his arsenal can screen him. If you expect pop & drop tricks, the clamjacks are ideal counters, as all of them resist knockdown. Spriggan has other utility for stealth removal too, and can activate RtW at range with its grenades. The Demolisher and the Devastator resist pushes on top of Knockdown, and can serve a pretty good deterrent against lists with lots of movement shenanigans (Rahn, for example).
• Karchev synergizes surprisingly well with the Decimator. RtW plus Beat Back allows a surprisingly mobile jack that is still able to gain an aiming bonus. It's auto-hit on subsequent melee attacks after a hit is also particularly deadly on his feat turn. You will still probably want a Forge Seer to feed this guys focus if you want to get the most from him.
• For RtW chains units with long range guns can serve well. (Destroyer and Behemoth) fit the bill.
• Kodiak - Kodiaks are already very mobile jacks thanks to their speed boost when running. This gets turned up to 11 with RtW/BC Karchev will also appreciate their built in Pathfinder since he does not have any way to hand it out. Finally, a source of cloud effect for screening is always appreciated, just be aware that Vent Steam cannot trigger RtW movement because it is not an attack.
• Rager - a shield guard is always nice for such a large caster, and under your feat your point-blank shot's damage roll is also boosted.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2020.10 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Theme - Jaws of the Wolf

Karchev1: [+30 WJP]

• Devastator: [14 pts]
• Juggernaut: [13 pts]
• Rager: [9 pts]

Yuri the Axe: [Free] Template:Grey

Widowmaker Marksman: [3 pts]

Manhunter: [2 pts]

Widowmaker Scouts: [7 pts]

Kossite Woodsmen: [7 pts]

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

• Originally released in Warmachine: Apotheosis (2005)