There's a tournament coming up in a couple of weeks out this way where it requires theme forces. When I started playing the game I looked at theme forces and saw them as a great way to get an army together. I'd say like many new players that I saw them as a great way to build armies. Now that I've been playing a lot more though, I am actually feeling more hemmed in than normal with respect to them. This isn't to say that Circle has "bad" theme forces, in fact we have a few that are actually really pretty decent, I'm just having a hard time getting a build together with more than one 'caster that I'm liking. That said, lets see if I can try!
First, the most solid theme forces, in my opinion, are both of the Baldur theme forces. In fact, I've pretty much exclusively played Baldur1 as a theme force. Here's my build for that...
Baldur the Stonecleaver
- Megalith
- Wold Guardian
- Woldwarden
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druids of Orboros
- Druid Overseer
Blackclad Wayfarer
Reinforcements:
Wold Guardian
Blackclad Wayfarer
Benefits:
- Sentry Stone & Mannikin units can be placed up to 20" from the back edge of the deployment zone
- 1 warbeast per Shifting Stone unit or Sentry Stone unit gains advance deployment
- Druid Stoneward & Woldstalker units gain Advance Move
- Heavy Warbeasts cost 1 point less
This theme force is great, you get up the table quick, lots of movement shenanigans, many ways to play it differently. One modification I might consider is swapping out a 'warden in the main list for another Guardian and then having 2x Woldwyrds as the reinforcements since I don't own a 3rd Guardian. Anyway, on to the other Baldur...
Baldur the Stonesoul
- Megalith
- Wold Guardian
- Woldwatcher
- Woldwatcher
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Druids of Orboros
- Druid Overseer
Celestial Fulcrum
Lord of the Feast
Reinforcements:
Woldwyrd
Woldwyrd
Blackclad Wayfarer
Benefits
- Shifting Stone units and Gallows Grove solos can be placed up to 20" from the back of the deployment
- For each Druids of Orboros unit in the army a Celestial Fulcrum gains Advanced Move
- Heavy Warbeasts gain +2 SPD during the first turn
- Light Warbeasts with Construct cost one less point.
This army is a brick. Baldur2's feat definitely allows things to have a massive amount of ARM to survive an attack. Woldwatchers get to ARM 21 on their on, the Fulcrum brings a healthy amount of anti-infantry. The biggest "problem" here is that you have to play either epic or regular Baldur because they both want Megalith. Also, there are some tweaks available, mostly that Lord of the Feast can become 2x Gallows Grove and a Blackclad. Lord has been good to me though, so unless I have another list that he might be better in, I'm giving him the nod.
After this things start to get a bit dicey, not to say that there are bad themes, just that building them isn't as easy or I'm not enjoying the trade offs. Lets look at the Forces of Circle Orboros book themes first and what we're restricted to...
Cassius the Oathkeeper - Widower's Wood
- Circle construct warbeasts and heavy warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Reeves of Orboros, Sentry Stone & Mannikins, Shifting Stones, Skinwalkers
- Feralgeist, Reeve Hunters, War Wolves, Lord of the Feast
The benefits in this army aren't strong either. All of the access to souls in this list are pretty expensive, so any of these builds are going to rely on the enemy bringing living troops to kill. Not feeling it at present.
Kaya the Wildborne - The Wild Hunt
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Reeves of Orboros, Bloodtrackers, Wolf Riders, Wolves of Orboros
- Druid Wilder, Reeve Hunter, War Wolf, Wolf Lord Morraig
If you want to play a lot of Reeves this list isn't too bad. Also, Kaya can support living warbeasts pretty solidly. Wolf Riders are a GREAT target to put Occultation up on IMO, and I have access to Bloodtrackers. She can bring any of the living beasts. Only loss here really is Shifting Stones aren't here. That said, Tier 2 requires Morraig, which then makes you want to have the 13 point investment of a unit of WoO and Morraig, when I kind of also want to play 18 points of Reeves to really get the benefits. I also don't own 2 units of Reeves, so at present not likely to happen. Tier 1 is an option though, even though I get no benefits basically.
Kaya the Moonhunter - Call of the Wild
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Shifting Stones, Skinwalkers
- Druid Wilder, War Wolf
This tends to be a theme force that people have a lot of good things to say about. I've played it and I don't hate it. Tier 1 is BIG really, all heavy beasts getting advanced deploy is pretty big. The thing here is that you have to play Skinwalkers and Druids to get to tier 4, once you do though heavy warbeasts are -1 point. Its still not a bad theme at all, but playing Druids and Skinwalkers isn't really what I'm looking for with her. Tier 1 is an option, maybe Tier 4, it might be the list that's played.
Krueger the Stormwrath - Storm Front
- non-character warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Shifting Stones, Wolves of Orboros
- Blackclad Wayfarer, Druid Wilder, Wolf Lord Morraig
The big advantages to this theme are that you can play unlimited druids and attachments, also you get the ability to bring extra blackclads to the list if needs be. Has most of the pieces that are wanted, that said tier 2 requires me to bring Morraig to the table again, and this is just not the list that I think he nor a unit of Wolves makes much sense. I know, I know that a lot of people think you can play Morraig without flank, and you can, but since he's a character I want to maximize his potential. To get to tier 4 then I'm going to have 33 points in infantry. Might be do-able, nothing special jumping out to me.
Krueger the Stormlord - The Devourer's Host
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Tharn Ravagers, Skinwalkers
- Ravager solos, Lord of the Feast
First thing is that the army requires 2 units of ravagers, and I'm not buying more ravagers until they get released in plastic sometime next year. Tier 2 gives Lord of the Feast a corpse token to start with, getting to tier 4 gives warpwolves advance move which is solid. Krueger actually does have the ability to help Ravagers up the table so that I don't mind, but I don't think this is the theme force that I like with Krueger.
Kromac the Ravenous - Heart Eaters
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Tharn units
- Tharn solos, Lord of the Feast
Again, need mulitple Ravager units, lots of Whitemanes and lord of the feast. Can get some advanced move, but as far as the rest its just too many points in infantry for Kromac to like. I just don't see this as being a build that I'm interested in.
Mohsar the Desertwalker - Sandstorm
- non-character Warbeasts
- Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers, Reeves of Orboros, Sentry Stone & Mannikins, Shifting Stones, Druids units
- Blackclad Wayfarer, Reeve Hunters, War Wolves, Lord of the Feast
This theme force is just weird. It wants you to play 2 units of Druids, at least one unit of Woldstalkers and 2 heavy warbeasts. You CAN get some free pillars out of the deal, which in the right match up would be pretty big, but to make it work you need a minimum of 19 points of infantry and that's before even adding in any support of heavies. It could work adding in the 2nd unit of Woldstalkers and then working out the right build of 31 points in beasts. That said, I don't know that Mohsar wants or needs 2 units of Druids. Not impossible to play I suppose in any case.
Morvahna the Autumnblade - Harvest of Blood
- non-character Light Warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Bloodtrackers, Bloodweavers, Wolf Riders, Shifting Stones
- Blackclad Wayfarer, Druid Wilder, War Wolves
The benefits in this theme are fantastic, free nuala, upkeeps to begin, +2 inches of deploy. There is a glaringly big problem here though, and that's no heavy warbeasts. Circle begins to have a problem when they need to try to crack ARM 19+. In this list, there are a lot of 'casters who are going to be able to camp. I've considered playing the list, just because it'll be something a lot of people don't have a lot of answers too, but it has a TON of bad matchups.
To mention the other Domination warlock, here's Grayle...
Grayle the Farstrider - Claw & Fang
- non-character Argus and Warpwolf warbeasts
- Wolves of Orboros, Reeves or Orboros, Skinwalker units
- War Wolves, Wolves of Orboros solos, Reeves of Orboros solos, Skinwalker solos, Wolf Lord Morraig
I have a soft spot for this theme force to be honest. I wish that I owned a 2nd unit of Wolves of Orboros because I think 2 is the right build for him since they can both get a UA. This is actually the list where Morraig fits the best, with Grayle. He also gives WoO Hunter, which can be good. I like Grayle with Winter Argus, he's great with warpwolves and really the only things for this list that I want to have are Shifting Stones, Druid Wilder and Lord of the Feast. I think it could be worked out.
I'm not going to go over the NQ themes at this point. I don't like the Cassius one all that much at present, and probably won't play it until Woldwrath is legal and/or I have 75 points to work with. The Krueger one is the better one, and I do think it also is begging for a Woldwrath to be honest. Additionally, the list I want with Krueger is a double Fulcrum list ...
