Warcry/Tactics/Splintered Fang

SPLINTERED FANG TACTICS

Faction Overview

Hailing from Ghyran, the Realm of Life, these wannabe Trojans believe that Archy is the embodiment of their weird Snake god and are doing everything they can to gain his favor. They have no qualms about using poisons--even going so far as to conduct whole religious ceremonies for brewing new and lethal poisons. Naturally, they really, really like snakes and have a heavy snake theme.

Pros

• Great assortment of mid-ranged attacks.- Most of their Fighters have access to weapons with 2"-3" range, giving them a slight edge when it comes to mid-range combat. They can hit Fighters on small platforms, across obstacles, through other fighters, etc. This comes in really handy considering they also have...
• Access to good lock-down abilities- Truebloods can throw a net up to 3" and prevent any target from moving or disengaging for the entire battle round. The rest of the warband can pile in and start poking and whipping the poor bastard without any fear of retaliation (assuming the target doesn't have any 2"-3" attacks). [Quad] Paralysing Venom also has a (shitty) chance to confer the same effects.
• Great Universal Faction ability.- Splintered Fang have one of the best faction-wide abilities in the game in [Double] Poisoned Weapon. When used, all attacks are considered to have a strength value which is one higher than the target's Toughness. This means that any fighter who uses this ability will ALWAYS hit on 3+ regardless of their target's Toughness. So, in essence, you'll be able to hit anything in the game now and in the future on a 3+. Fighting Monsters with Toughness 8? Doesn't matter, you still hit it on 3+. Sigmar himself wants to join the battle? You'd hit him on 3+ too if he joined the fray. In a game where effective to-hit increases are surprisingly rare, this is an incredibly powerful skill.
• Low Cost Warband-Most of the Fighters are on the lower end in terms of point cost, which means you can squeeze a lot more of them into your Roster than some other warbands. Even their leader doesn't even break 200 Pts.
• Above Average Crit Values-Across the board, Splintered Fang have very high crit values for most fighters.

Cons

• Limited Movement Options-Splintered Fang have no abilities which grant them ANY type of movement benefit. No increased movement ability. No crazy ninja-jumps like those Hysian faggots use. No flying around the battlefield like pissed off chickens. Nothing. The only way to improve their movement is through the Universal Abilities, [Double] Rush and [Quad] Rampage. Outside of these abilities, they have to slog around the battlefield like normal saps.
• Rely heavily on synergy-If you know what you're doing, you can make this work in your favor, but more often than not, the loss of one fighter will fuck up some of your overall fighting strategy. Splintered Fang rely on coordinated synergies and combos to function effectively, so if you lose even one key Fighter at the wrong time it's going to make this a lot more difficult for you.
• Below Average Durability-They don't have access to any type of 'tanky' Fighters. Their wounds pools are abysmal and they also lack any means of healing or increasing toughness.
• No Long-Ranged Options-Technically, they do have a long ranged attack with the Serpent Caller's snake toss attack, but it's pitiful and will never do much of anything substantial in a game. Apart from this, this warband has no long-range options.

Abilities:

• [Double] Poisoned Weapon: Until the end of this fighter's activation, the Strength characteristic of attack actions made by this fighter count as being higher than the target's Toughness characteristic. (Faction-wide Ability)
  • Ability Commentary:-As discussed above, one of the strongest Warband-specific universal ability's in the game. This ability alone takes Splintered Fang from "absolute dogshit-tier" to "remotely viable-tier". If you're playing Splintered Fang, then this is the one ability you'll use more than anything else. One thing to note is that this effect only applies during a fighters activation. So any abilities which allow a Fighter to make another attack action outside of their own activation are not effected. Shame.
• [Double] Ensnaring Net: Pick a visible enemy fighter within 3" of this fighter. Until the end of the battle round, that enemy fighter cannot make move actions or disengage actions. (Trueblood)
  • Ability Commentary:-Another staple of the Warband. You'll use this to set up combos with your other fighters. Since your Trueblood has a 2" weapon, park him 2" way from the target, throw the net, and then start poking him. Target priority is very important when using this skill. Ideally, you'd want to pick targets who don't have a reach of 2" or more, but you have access to enough 3" weapons in this army that you can even do it to these targets and be OK. If if you have to sacrifice some of your Trueblood's wounds to get it done, it's probably worth it just to keep a key target in place. Other great targets for this ability are any Fighter that has a Charge ability (Ogor Breachers, Rocktusk Prowlers, anything on a Squig or mount, etc.), anything that relies on hit and run tactics (Corvus Cabal, Cypher Lords, etc.), and enemy leaders. You can also use this defensively to get out of a bad situation. Honestly, it's uses are pretty varied and because you currently MUST include the Trueblood as your Warband leader you'll find yourself using it often. Keep in mind that abilities which allow a fighter to "be removed" from the battlefield and set up again (such as the Cypher Lords [Triple] Shadowy Recall ability) are NOT prevented by the net as it is technically NOT considered a "move". The net will stay on the target before and after being "teleported", but not during the teleport.
• [Double] Fanged Buckler: Pick a visible enemy fighter within 1" of this fighter and roll a dice. on a 3-4, allocate 1 damage point to that fighter. On a 5-6, allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to the value of this ability. (Venomblade w/Barbed Whip and Clearblood w/Shield)
  • Ability Commentary:-A boring "Shield Bash" ability. Very lackluster, even for a double. Most of the time, you'll be better off taking weapon options with more reach rather than more toughness, so this won't come into play much anyways. You'd be much better off saving any doubles for [Double] Poisoned Weapon than this, even if you do take shield options on some fighters.
• [Triple] Snake Charmer: Pick a friendly fighter with the beast runemark within 4" of this fighter. That fighter makes a bonus attack action. (Serpent Caller)
  • Ability Commentary:-This is obviously meant to be used in conjunction with snakes and it has to potential to make for a pretty powerful ability in snek heavy rosters. One interesting thing to note is that if you take any Chaotic Beasts in your warband, this ability can effect them as well (remember, the fighter only needs to have the beast runemark, it's not specific to only sneks. So this means Razorgors, Chaos Warhounds, Harpies, and Raptoryx can be given an extra attack.
• [Triple] Relentless Killer: A fighter can use this ability only if an enemy fighter has been taken down by an attack action made by them this activation. This fighter makes a bonus attack action. (Pureblood)
  • Ability Commentary:-Another generic "extra attack" ability, only this time on a triple. If you have a triple and for some reason don't have a Snake Charmer on the battlefield then it may come in handy. It's better than nothing, but otherwise pretty mediocre.
• [Quad] Paralysing Venom: Until the end of this fighter's activation, add the value of this ability to the damage points allocated by critical hits from attack actions made by this fighter, and after each attack action made by this fighter, roll a dice. On a 5-6, until the end of the battle round, the target fighter cannot make a more action or disengage action. (Faction-wide Ability)
  • Ability Commentary:-This ability is far too random to be very reliable. Firstly, the extra damage only applies to crits, which mathhammer says will only happen once per activation-on average (even assuming two full attack actions are used). Secondly, the immobilization effect will only come into play on a 5+ rollable only after an attack action, not any successful hits. Which means if you aren't using at least two attack actions the chances for this to happen are low. Still, it is better than nothing and the fact that it is available to every fighter in the warband can come in handy if you get odd Initiative Dice rolls. Interestingly enough, this ability is best used with Snakes, as they already have high crits and have the most amount of attacks per attack actions (5). A snake using two whole attack actions is putting out, on average 13 wounds. It'll mostly crit at least once on two attack actions, taking this from a potential 13 wound attack to a 14-19 wound attack and a 33% chance to immobilize. More on Snek tactics below.

Fighters

• Trueblood (Warband Leader):
  • Stats: Movement 4; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 180 Pts.
    • Weapons:
      • Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/5
    • Fighter Commentary:-He's the only leader available to the Splintered Fang so you MUST take him. Not the flashiest of Warband leaders in the slightest. On paper, it looks like he can't do much. He has average movement, toughness and attacks and very low wounds for a leader. His value comes from his ability, [Double] Ensnaring Net. As discussed above, this ability only really works in conjunction with other fighters to isolate and combo mid-ranged attacks on high value targets. Like with most other fighters in this warband, don't commit this dude to heavy fighting until you have the correct fighters around you and in place for proper combo synergy. This isn't a leader who can wade into combat on his own and start dealing the pain. You should play him (and most of the warband), defensively and cautiously but once the timing is right to strike, then go in for the kill and commit to it. You worship a Snake god so think like a Snake. Wait for the right moment and finish something with one lethal strike.

• Serpent Caller:
  • Stats: Movement 5; Toughness 4; Wounds 15; 145 Pts.
    • Weapons:
      • Fangs-Range 2"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
      • Throw Snake-Range 8"; Attacks 1" Strength 3; Damage 1/3
    • Fighter Commentary-The heavy lifter of this Warband. A surprisingly decent statline (apart from wounds) for what is largely a support Fighter. He has a good amount of high crit attacks and above average movement for the Warband. His true value shines in the form of his [Triple] Snake Charmer ability, by which he can grand friendly chaotic beasts a bonus, out-of-activation attack. Always field him in the battle group with your snake(s) to keep in range to use his ability when the time is right.

• Pureblood:
  • Stats: Movement 4; Toughness 4; Wounds 12; 125 Pts.
    • Weapons:
      • Paired Short Swords-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
    • Fighter Commentary-An average beatstick fighter , given his point cost. While he lacks a mid-ranged weapon that many other Fighters in this warband have, he makes up for it for good damage. His ability [Triple] Relentless Killer is best used in situations where you need to finish off an already wounded model that just has a few wounds left on it before being taken down. Overall, a very average Fighter saved only by his high damage potential (and for 10 points more you can get a Venomblade with more toughness, wounds, and range at the cost of only 1 attack).

• Venomblood with Barbed Whip:
  • Stats: Movement 4; Toughness 4; Wounds 10; 110 Pts.
    • Weapons:
      • Barbed Whip-Range 3"; Attacks 3; Strength 4; Damage 1/2
    • Fighter Commentary-The first of four variants for the Venomblood. The Whip+Shield combo offers the added protection of a shield bearer (a rarity in this Warband) with the versatility of the whip. As such, it's costs slightly more than the purely offensive Venombloods. Arguably the best all-around choice when it comes to Venombloods. It can hold objectives fairly well with Toughness 5 while keeping out of range of 1" retaliation strikes provided he's roaming with a Trueblood. While [Double] Fanged Buckler is rather lackluster as an ability, it's better than nothing and gives him at least some variety when it comes to ability choices. Take him if you are playing an objective heavy Battleplan as he's really one of the only defensive options you have available.