Circle Orboros MK3 Wishful Thinking

With the advent of the new edition of Warmachine and Hordes coming very soon, I felt that maybe it would be a fun time for me to just throw out some ideas/predictions for what I hope will happen with Circle in MK3.  I think there are some generic rule changes that I could predict as well (how reach is handled for instance), but for now I'll leave that be.  I'm going to go through everything that I can think of and make some sort of prediction, even if that's essentially that it doesn't change much.

Warcasters

In general there are a lot of things to love about Circle Warlocks.  They're powerful, they often like to sling spells or mix it up in melee themselves.  I don't think that I have a ton of across the board sort of changes to make.

Bradigus Thorle, the Runecarver

I'm not actually completely sure what I want here.  I actually love a lot about this guy.  With Synergy he can become personally very dangerous.  I love the utility and creativeness of Mystic Wards as well.  Rift is ok, as is Battering Ram.  I LOVE that he's actually limited to only having Wolds in his battlegroup and I hope that there is more limiting like this potentially down the road for some others as I think it opens up a lot of options for building unique Warlocks.

Biggest thing here is the obvious one, I think that his theme force needs a massive overhaul and/or just needs to go away entirely.  We don't know how they're handling themes yet, so I'm not going to speculate much more than that.  I think that adding in some sort of compelling spell in place of either Rift or Battering Ram would be great, but I'm not sure what I'd want that to be.  I think if Battering Ram were to stay I'd want it to gain +2" on the range.

Baldur the Stonecleaver

I don't know what to do with Baldur1, his feat is ostensibly pretty good at hoping you can make the first strike or keeping someone from getting much into a zone.  However, too many things in the game (Ghostly, Incorporeal, Flight) that ignore it and it gets kind of frustrating.  Rapid Growth allowing you to drop a 4" forest anywhere is very strong.  Stone Skin is a very frustrating spell because of the SPD debuff making it so that you can't utilize the fact that you have a STR buff.  My only other wish is that Kreoss1 doens't have Purification any more because the most annoying thing I can think of is how Baldur SHOULD neutralize Kreoss' knockdown feat, but doesn't because of Purification.

Baldur the Stonesoul

The rock of Circle himself.  I see Baldur continuing to be a defensive Warlock, but he may get a bit better at it.  I'd probably enjoy it if his feat wasn't just a repeat of his signature spell, but its not a bad feat by any means.  Really, I just want to see more work to differentiate him from Bradigus.

Cassius the Oathkeeper

I'm actually hoping for the most part that Cassius doesn't really see any change.  He's one of the most interesting, well balanced but powerful options that Circle has.  The only thing that might be helpful is if there is an easier way to utilize his feat since right now it sort of requires constantly measuring out 10" since there isn't a template or ring I've ever found to make that any easier.

Grayle the Farstrider

This is the guy that I have the most hope for!  He's already so close to being a fantastic character, but it seemed like they had the kid gloves on when they were designing him.  If you look at some of the melee assassins they developed more into MK2 (Butcher3, Makeda3 and Aurora for instance) you can see more of what he could be!  First thing I'd do is add either +1 or +2 to the power of his melee attacks, and potentially give him +1 MAT (though that's less necessary).

I think that I would keep Storm Rager, even with my proposed changes he's still only getting to POW 13/14 weapon master which is yes good, but is what you need for him to be strong enough to matter.  Without that, Morvahna2, Kromac2 and Bradigus are always just more personally dangerous, which kind of doesn't make much sense to me.  The next thing is that he needs at least one spell that is more compelling either for infantry or for his battlegroup in place of Awareness.  It seems pretty apparent that his thing is sort of melee hunting and melee prowess from the fluff, so lets bring that out more!  Gallows seems like a fine spell, especially if our Geomancers get any better than they are.  Wind Blast is alright, wouldn't be sad to see it go.  Adding in something like Silence of Death perhaps might make a lot of sense.  Marked for Death could be a fluffy spell for him too.

Kaya the Wildborne

Always just a little bit plain in my opinion and only really had Occultation to make her list builds interesting.  I'm not actually too sure there's a ton that needs to be done here.  She has a unique spell in Spirit Door and Spirit Fang can be good too.  While I'd love to see her actually improve, I'm not sure how you do that without totally re-doing her from the ground up, which I'm just not sure that I see happening.

Kaya the Moonhunter

She has been a solid warbeast caster, the problem is that she does so little for anything else that its the only thing you want to play with her.  A lot of hubbub has been made of Shadow Pack, but I think it fits here.  I could see Alpha changing to a Field Marshal, but that's not really a huge deal either.

Kromac the Ravenous

I'm not actually sure if this guy needs any changes either.  I've always though he should have +1 POW on his weapons in beast form, but he's probably pretty close honestly.  I'd like to see his feat become a bit more interesting, but overall he seemed to have a solid kit that supports beasts pretty well.  Don't see that changing a whole lot.  Mostly just hoping more beasts become more compelling with him.

Kromac, Champion of the Wurm

As the most recent warlock before the edition change I don't see a lot of changes for him.  Guessing that he gets something to compensate for Terror going away, but it'll be a small something.  His package is otherwise pretty defined, fun to play, and strong.

Krueger the Stormwrath

He's always been about throwing as many POW 10 (lightning) damage rolls on the table as he can.  Problem is that this has started to be less and less effective over the course of the game.  I know a lot of people look to the Storm Raptor to help this with his animus, but I'm not sure that's a great pairing.  He's already got two signature spells in Lightning Tendrils and Tornado, so I'm not sure there's much to look forward to there.  I could see Tornado getting a bit of a re-work potentially, but we'll see.  I'd love to see Chain Lightning become a spell that does 2d3 leaps instead of 1d6 so that you can at least count on making 3 damage rolls.  I'd also love it if Deflection didn't have the "Warrior model" clause in it because I can't think of why it should when it doesn't for Deceleration.

Lightning Tendrils will be interesting to see how its handled.  In MK1 it just added 2" to melee range.  In MK2 it gave "Reach".  Since nothing has Reach now, hard to say what it will do.  Will it double your range? Set it to a fixed 2"? Add 2"? I don't know, all of them are interesting though.

Krueger the Stormlord

I have loved this guy for basically all of MK2, I've not played more games with any other caster.  He's powerful, he has a lot of great abilities, and I'm a fan.  Personally, I hope they don't change anything about him.  Practically, I think something is going to change.  Could be a simple rules change that a SPD-debuff doesn't actually prevent charges anymore.  Maybe if everything has 360 LOS that TK isn't as strong.  In general I think I'd enjoy Gallows being 2d3" instead of 1d6" but I don't know that I actually anticipate that change happening.  Storm Wall is the spell that I've really relied on him for and I hope that one doesn't see any major changes.

Mohsar the Desertwalker

As I understand it Mohsar has struggled in MK1 and MK2 to really find a place, and his character is so amazing that its always been unfortunate to me.  I hope he gets some love, and the first place for that I think needs to be his feat, its hot garbage about 80% of the time due to more than half of the game being Warmachine and the amount of fury management on the Hordes side.  I sort of like what it aims to do, I just think it needs to be more relevant somehow.  After that I'm expecting some changes to Pillars of Salt because right now they're extremely un-intuitive to the game because you have to know the structure rules, which are fairly convoluted themselves.  Sands of Fate is a pretty unique spell so I don't know that I see that going away.  Mirage I would love to see changed so that you don't have to upkeep the spell to get the effect.  I actually like Sunhammer quite a bit (more than most do).

I'm not actually sure what he needs as he's amazingly close to being in contention for a top spot, but a re-work of Pillars (like maybe just make them ARM 25 with one wound and none of the other rules?) and a relevant feat could go a long way.

Morvahna the Autumnblade

From what we've seen so far it seems that upkeep removal might be getting toned down, that is only good for Morvahna1.  She's actually a lot of fun and a very strong warlock ... if there isn't much in the way of spell-hate out there.  If the spell-hate goes down, her stock rises.  Her spell list actually gels really well, so I hope really not a lot about it changes.  Her feat timing was always a bit clunky I felt, but that had more to do with Bloodtrackers being such an optimal choice with her I think.  Removal of fleeing is also a massive boon to her army.  Not sure I really think changes are needed here, but the ones around her seem to bode well.

Morvahna the Dawnshadow

A lot of folks seem to think she's going to be hit pretty hard with the edition change.  Her package is so well thought out from looking at it that I'm just not sure that I agree that much will change.  Could be that her re-rolls are CMD, or certainly seems fine to say they can't be transferred.  Wouldn't shock me if Purification goes away in general either, not just on her.  Some of the changes to the number of wounds on heavy infantry will impact how much her feat can swing as well, which seems alright.  Time will tell here.

Light Warbeasts

So the big thing with the light warbeasts is that some of them need a better place to be.  Circle actually has a lot in this category that I would classify as combat lights which have generally suffered in MK2 as not having a place.  Rarely can two lights trade up effectively into a heavy under the current system, a light to kill a light wasn't really something that was needed, and a light going on infantry would work some times, but without reach many were left lacking in that arena as well.  While at the same time Circle didn't really have a lot of utility provided by many of the lights either, so some diversification there seems like a place to start, and then really defining their role better.

The one thing that I think I want to see for Circle beasts, and I don't know if it will happen, is that they should all have Pathfinder all of the time.  It was always sort of odd to me that they did not and was often confusing to players since so much other stuff did

Wild Argus

Here is a beast that needs a role.  One of two things needs to happen with this piece.  Either it needs to have a more prominent place in battle if its to become a melee light OR it needs to provide more utility in some fashion.  With the Moonhound being more utility and the Winter Argus being the ranged piece, I'd probably suggest that melee is his place.  If that's the case, lets make him MAT 6 and at least POW 13.  I don't think it needs its current animi, so perhaps it has an animus that also helps it in melee of some variety?

Argus Moonhound

I actually think this light is one of the better examples of having a good, support/utility role in the faction.  Unique animus for certain.  Mark the Target is a great utility rule.  Hunting Howls was always pretty tough to get into position with unless you used Acceleration from a Rotterhorn I felt, but overall I think that was alright too.  Not sure this model really needs any changes, which is great!

Winter Argus

I have always liked this model and felt that it has potential.  The two ranged attacks seem like they have some promise.  The animus makes him pretty tanky too.  Problem being that you can't really effectively use the beast without filling it up on fury and at a two cost for the animus it basically was stuck either using that or spraying.  If its to keep its animus completely as-is, then I think it needs to cost 1 instead of 2.  If its getting an animus that can be more utility, such as it not being just range self.  I think going to at least RAT 5 would be helpful as well.

Gorax

Oh the Gorax! Primal is in many ways what defines Circle.  It allows us to successfully assassinate most of the things we send in, but it has also been quite limiting.  He is one of the few original lights we had with open hands, that's always been great.  I think I'd like to see Primal either go away or not define the game so much that the Gorax was required for Circle.  This requires such an overhaul of so much of the faction that I'm not really sure how to look at it.

Rotterhorn Griffon

This is another amazing light that I don't really think needs a lot of changes!  If I were being nitpicky I think that I'd love the POW 8 to be POW 10, but with it being boostable I'm pretty ok with it as is too.  Has utility and has usefulness against light targets.  Perfect!

Scarsfell Griffon

This is the melee light that doesn't seem to know what to do with itself.  It has Stealth which normally would be great and Long Leash is really helpful of course.  After that though it has sort of low POW initials and an animus that costs too much to do too little.  Hunter is kind of cute, but its a fairly corner-case ability when talking about nothing but melee attacks.  On top of that threatening only a 9.5" charge isn't anything to write home about either.

Seems like his purpose is to be in melee and be sneaky about it.  Stealth should definitely stay.  I think again that perhaps +1 or 2 pow could be helpful (or at least all of them being POW 12 would be solid), and maybe another way to speed himself up.  Maybe he has an animus that is something similar to Slipstream in Legion, or maybe a more limited Slipstream or something.

Razorwing Griffon

Amuck is a cute animus, but I'm sort of hoping that it goes away because there aren't really that many good applications for it right now.  I'd also sort of like the rules for Trample to just say the model is hit if the movement is restricted so much, then we're talking about a POW 12 autohitting, but if its only fitting the movement requirements that Trample currently does.  Otherwise I'm not sure that being the trample bird is really enough for this and he might need to flow the way of being more utility or more melee-oriented.

Woldwatcher

I actually like this guy as he is, though he has caused some problems certainly.  Having only FURY 2 has done a lot to keep this guy balanced if you ask me, he's often making a choice of being defensive or offensive.  Given his points I don't really think that there is a lot that needs to happen with this guy.

Woldwyrd

This guy is so close that its ridiculous, I actually love almost everything about him, but he just doesn't quite deliver.  In MK1 everyone would play him actually because he had opposite rules as now.  His anti-magic was a latent ability and his animus essentially handed out Purgation to other models.  I've long found it odd that he is only POW 10 while the smaller Woldstalkers are POW 12.  I think increase is POW to 12, and give him Blessed and/or Arcane Assassin and he finally finds his home.

* As I was writing this blog there was an Insider which told us the ROF essentially means "initial ranged attacks" now.  This means that, if unchanged, the Woldwyrd can always just shoot three times.  If that's the case and he's unchanged that could be pretty solid.

Heavy Warbeasts

In general what I think needs to happen here is that things need to differentiate some of these beasts a bit more.  There are a lot of non-reach, melee-oriented heavies in Circle.  As stated before, I think that one of the big changes should be to give Circle beasts Pathfinder as a baseline, even if that means a points adjustment accordingly.

Feral Warpwolf

I think the Feral is actually a really good base-line sort of beast.  With the likelihood that he's getting 1" range on his melee attacks, I think that he's poised to come into his own.  I would like it if they moved him to being a baseline 14/17 like the other warpwolves though, since I don't think the Protective Plates really is so good that it means he needs the -1 ARM by comparison when he's not Warping that.  Also, please get rid of Baying of Chaos, its awful and only ever used out of sarcasm.  Any other animus would be better.

Pureblood Warpwolf

The common understanding with him was that he was good but a bit too costly at 9 points.  SP10 POW 14 is nothing to sneeze at however, and a pair of POW 16s that can be effected by Primal always felt like he was almost the right balance point for what he brought.  Definitely a model that if it were unchanged I could see being 17 points instead of 18.  If they've removed the ability to aim I think I'd like to see RAT 6 out of this guy, but otherwise I'm actually not expecting a lot of changes here.

Warpwolf Stalker

So the biggest thing here is that the Stalker seems like he was the ONLY beast to choose.  With his warps, having reach, pathfinder and being generally a good answer for almost all of the different things your opponent sent at you and his Lightning Strike animus, he was ubiquitous.  Often the answer was just to bring more of this guy when people needed more beasts.  So, while I do hope to play him in MK3 he probably needs to be balanced so that he doesn't overshadow other options.  This is one of the reasons that I want to see Pathfinder across the board which will help with some of the problems.  The other thing is that Lightning Strike probably needs to be on another beast entirely.

Shadowhorn Satyr

For a long time I just didn't play this guy because he didn't hit hard enough.  That said, his kit can actually be amazing.  I would almost say he needs no changes, other than I'd be happy if he either got +1 POW across the board OR if he gets a point reduction.

Gnarlhorn Satyr

This guy actually does have a niche you would think.  His animus is a +2" movement on charges, slams and tramples.  He excels at slams, and has counter slam.  Biggest change I want here is for Counter Slam to be easier to do.  Also, I think he's POW 15/14/14, which for 8 points is still a smidgen too low, but isn't bad.  The biggest reason that we didn't see this as our faction's 8-point beast that gives a +2" movement (Seraph and Gladiator being the other entries there) is that you always had to choose that over Lightning Strike and Primal, which is a tough pill to swallow.

Riphorn Satyr

I like this guy.  I like his model, his rules actually seem fun too.  The problem is that he and the Feral are both the same number of points and do much the same thing.  The Feral does it a bit better I think.  I'm not sure exactly what the change should be, but I really hope that they can differentiate him some how.  Maybe have him hit harder, or give him Bulldoze without the animus, help him have a bit more ARM maybe.  Not sure.

Woldwarden

Another guy that needs some work! Biggest issue as is with him I think is the point cost.  At 9 points to largely be used as a geomancy bot he's just not good enough because he's sucking up a slot that you need to put a heavy hitter in.  If he were to stay as-is I think that'd be fine if he was closer to 7 points under today's numbers.  Also, if there are any buffs coming to HOW they geomancy then maybe it starts to be more worth the points.

Wold Guardian

SPD 4 was something when I started into Circle that I thought I'd NEVER want to play this guy.  I quickly learned that Shifting Stones can make that some what irrelevant.  ARM 20 and I think 30 wounds does make him one of the tankier options in the faction.  The animus is good as well. POW 17 and only FURY 3 though definitely left him wanting in the fact that he's supposed to be the heavy hitting Wold.  POW 17 with no way to buff that is just not enough to get it done.  There's a new Stoneshaper solo, so if that guy buffs damage then the POW 17 might be sufficient, but if not, for this guy to see play he needs to hit harder.

Megalith

My biggest complaint is that this model needs a repose I think (I'm working on it soon). He's a bit costly at 11 points today for being a heavy that only brings POW 16, but as far as how he debuffs DEF and movement I think that he's pretty good as-is.  I'd say he's a decent candidate for a slight point adjustment.

Ghetorix

What does the angry Warpwolf who has everything really need?  Well, other than the fact that all Tharn in the game have Pathfinder and for some reason he lost it when he sipped the druid kool-aid and forgot, I'm not actually sure that a whole lot needs to change with this guy. He fits a niche, and costs more points for it.

Brennos the Elderhorn

No one has more room in Circle to grow than this model.  Personally when I saw him I was hoping that he might be a beast that had two animi and that maybe one of them was some kind of offensive debuff.  I think with Primal being the big deal that it was that putting more ARM debuffs out there didn't work.  I do really like Primal Magic.  I think his ranged attack was decent, though I don't think there's any reason that it couldn't be at least POW 12.

So what do we do?  His POW isn't that high (even with Mage Killer).  His DEF/ARM is abysmal.  Primal Magic is good.  Gun is alright.  Animus is interesting.  His MAT/RAT is subpar.  Huh.  I'd like to see focus being on utility.  Less points, more utility.  Maybe have some sort of effects that can used with the gun in addition to Thunderbolt.  Keep Sacred Ward.  Maybe allow him to cast more than one animus in a turn.  I would also have given him a different, offensive animi of some kind and then made him FURY 5.  I'm sure a lot of this won't happen, but improving any of this would be great.

Gargantuans

What has so far been stated is that these are mostly due for a buff, which I'm excited about, they're fantastic models and I'm excited to play more of them!

Storm Raptor

Having never put him on the table makes it hard to say what needs to be done here.  The obvious complaint has been his MAT 5, which I'd happily love to see be MAT 6.  Aside from that, hard to comment on something which hasn't hit the table yet.

Woldwrath

He's already in the "good in the right list" position just for the fact that he brings a fantastic gun that is respectable into Circle and then is hard to deal with later.  He's just not quite there though for a lot of the same reasons that other gargantuans weren't.  Spell Ward was very limiting overall, especially when his animus makes you want to bring Druids anyway, changing that to Sacred Ward would be great.  In the old RPG he also had a regeneration ability which I feel like he could bring back.  Druid's Wrath always felt alright, though a bit clunky to execute honestly.  I think the biggest thing that would help is a second gun to shoot and removing the Storm Generator rule and just making it drop a single template.  I'd obviously welcome a bit more pow out of those fists too, but not sure we'll see that.

Units

This is going to get trickier as I think a lot of our units are already pretty solid.  Many just need some tweaks probably, and some will get interesting with some of the changes that are being made.

Shifting Stones

THE unit in Circle, what's going to happen here? I'm sort of hoping ... nothing really.  The change to Teleportation last year seems to be a pretty good one.  The big thing that I'm seeing that might change is based on some of their re-tooling we could see Shifting Stones get +1 FA to account for the third unit in Bradigus' army.  Also, since each unit can take a UA now, I would expect he might be seeing some changes as well.  Is Stealth too good?  Maybe his CMD will get smaller?

Sentry Stone & Mannikins

I'm pretty sure I'm stealing this from someone else, but I'd love it if these were better than they are now, without being ridiculous like they became in the Bradigus theme force.  Problem is that I have no idea how to go about accomplishing that.  I might have said initially that they could be a different fury management tool for Circle, but with them saying those things are being toned down I sort of doubt it.

Druids of Orboros

The other most iconic unit in Circle.  One cool thing is that being able to bring another Overseer if you're bringing an additional unit is nice.  They were sort of a pricey unit before, so I'm not sure where that'll land.  It could be neat with the Storm Raptor if they added a Lightning-based attack, but I'm not going to hold my breath there.  I'd overall like to see Camouflage get better as there were just too many things which ignored it in MK2 if you ask me.

Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers

Beginning of MK2 we didn't see these guys, then Pagani started to play them in lists and we saw them kind of everywhere for a year or two, and then they started to disappear.  I'm not actually sure what I would change here though.  I don't really like playing a single unit of them because I think what they do is neutralized too easily.  I'd be happy if their guns change to be a lightning-based attack maybe, or to have elemental options perhaps.

Blackclad Mist Riders

I'm not going to say much on this, because these models aren't even out yet.  Its been announced that all cavalry are now FA:2 so that's definitely a new development, but that's about it.

Tharn Bloodtrackers

Most seen combat infantry in the faction, and for good reason, they're a fantastic unit.  I think that Prey is definitely something that keeps them in check.  I'm honestly not expecting much of a change to this unit, I've always felt that it was good but not over the top really.

Tharn Bloodweavers

Solid toolbox sort of unit with having Dispel on their melee attack and the ability to hit living models really hard.  I always sort of wished that they had some more movement shenanigans, but they do get Killing Spree from a well placed Night Witch now.  I think they're more-or-less alright as they are, but any little tweak to them would be a boon.

Tharn Ravagers

At the time of this writing we already know that they are getting a points reduction and their UA is going to have a mini-feat Overtake and Vengeance.  Hopefully the latter is "tactics" and not "granted" or whatever the equivalent is in MK3.  We know too that they're the offense based med-based troops for Circle, but with only 5 wounds I do hope they get some buff so that they can actually get to the fight.

Tharn Blood Pack

I actually really have liked these guys, but not really played them much at all.  RNG 12 POW 13 should be a big deal.  The problem that I was having though is that without being able to boost their damage, they're only one higher than things like a Reeves 2-man CRA or a Woldstalker shot, and they cost a lot more for what they do.  However, they're solid in melee of course when they get in there and mix it up due to being MAT 7.  I'd really just love to see them have a way to consistently get fed corpses.

Tharn Wolf Riders

I'm really hoping that a little something is done to them for them to see play AND for them to be differentiated more from Bloodtrackers.  I really do think that Assault is a good rule for the, its fluffy and strong overall.  I'd like to see them lose Prey and gain some other buff to their offensive output honestly.  Prey is a great rule, I'll be alright if it stays, but I think for them to really find their own place that they need some different buffs.  The rest of the rules I'm pretty happy about, though, I do love the idea of Howl from MK1 coming back which allowed for them to always be considered in CMD basically.

Reeves of Orboros

So maligned for so long, I have enjoyed them with Morvahna2, and I've felt a few times that they might be good with some other warlocks as well, but never got around really to trying too much.  Love the synergy with Warwolf solos though.  I do think that CRA was overcosted on a lot of units, this being one of them.  I'm ok with them staying as is if points are adjusted.  That said, for the love of the Devourer I'd like to see their UA actually matter.  Swift Hunter is a good ability, Ranked Attacks isn't poor, but all of that for 2 points is terrible.

Another thing that would be helpful is if Nyss Hunters are toned down a bit, or their cost adjusted up (or the same if Reeves go down).  Comparing the two units in MK2 was painful for the faction-purist sort of folks.

Wolves of Orboros

They're actually a decent 4/6 unit in MK2 its just that rarely is that what Circle wanted or needed, and its hard to keep 13/13 troops alive sometimes to see battle.  Being able to just stock add a UA to each unit should help though.  Also, if they're going to pierce the thickest armor maybe at least get them to POW 10 base?

Warpborn Skinwalkers

The only thing here we know for sure is that they're the defensive-based unit as far as medium based troops go, and that they'll only have 5 wounds in MK3 almost certainly.  I think with their UA that they were pretty on point honestly.  Might be nice to see them get another point of ARM though if they're losing wounds.

Death Wolves

Our character unit which has only been out for a little while.  I really hope that they don't change because they have thus far been amazing for me as I've played them.

Solos

I don't have any specific concepts for too many of these, but will comment on it.

Druid Wilder

If there are no rules changes we already know that Condition is going to take a hit, so that would set her back a little.  That said, I am normally taking her for Spirit Tap so that's fine.  If we get some new, different or better animi that aren't self I think she'll become pretty useful still, and I'd maybe see her going to 3 points (so 1.5 in today's numbers).

Blackclad Wayfarer

Always felt like one of the best balanced 2 point solos in MK2.  It has a pretty functional spell for attacking, has some synergy for other things in the list, has some interesting utility movement-wise.  Also has a solid statline and some decent defensive tech.  Can't say that I have a lot of thoughts on him changing.

Tharn Ravager Whitemane

Another model that never lived up to its hype really, and much of that I account for the fact that it was too swingy.  If your opponent had a pile of non-Tough, Living, DEF 13 or less, ARM 17 or less models that were all about 3" apart, you'd own them.  The problem is that none of that was what dominated the meta competitively (minus the ARM part).  With the Ravager unit gaining Overtake from their Command Attachment, I'm not sure that I see him keeping Overtake.  Tactician is a decent rule, but its not enough to justify a 3 (6 in the future) point investment generally.

Reeve Hunter

You basically never saw this model played, and the reason being that it seems to be sort of slightly above average at a bunch of things, but not really good at anything.  Its comparison point is probably the Strider Deathstalker in Legion, which is RAT 8, Stealth, RNG 12 POW 10 with Sniper.  The Reeve Hunter is better in melee and can produce more attacks, being that its RAT 7 same gun, but also has Quick Work and two melee attacks (if charging one at MAT 8 otherwise MAT 6).  Theoretically you could live the dream of killing 6 models in a turn (I actually did once).  However, POW 10 often come up short with the amount of ARM out there, RAT 7 would come up short with too much DEF up there.  Same for the melee attacks.

I'm not really sure what I want here though.  Camouflage needs to be a bit of a better rule in general which would help this model and the Reeves too.  Its clear that this guy is intended to be a combat solo, but we seem to have a bunch of those and most do it better.  He's got a lot of potential, but it might require an entire overhaul.

Gallows Grove

Cute little bark-node.  Not sure here what to do, I like them alright as-is, and think they might still be only a single point (so effectively a 1/2 point) if they don't change at all.

Tharn Bloodweaver Night Witch

Released just before the edition change, I'm not expecting too many changes for this model honestly.  I like the model as it is, and its already a pretty good model.  I'm hoping that since you could play three of them with Kromac2 that you still are able to field three of them (I also incidentally own three of them) but we'll see.  If not its not the end of the world.

War Wolf

He's the reason that you play Reeves a lot of the time.  An out of activation boosted charge is amazing, and then adding in Gang Fighter and its definitely worth bringing some of these.  I could see them actually becoming weapon attachments for Reeves, but I think the reason they're solos is just that the interaction doesn't play out correctly if they have to activate at the same time.

Lord of the Feast

So, for the record, this guy is pretty alright as is.  If his rules don't change at all I'd love to see him at 7 points (effectively 3.5) based on how I've played him.  That said, if I'm going to dream, this is the guy that I might just do it with.  In Wild Adventure, which is an add-on for Iron Kingdoms RPG: Unleashed, there are a couple of changes and I'd love to see them maybe hit him here.  First is a good change which is just that he goes from POW 13 to POW 15 on his melee attack.  I've felt for his points that his POW only being 13 was a bit low given that you pay so many points for him, so this would be a great change.

The other thing is that he has a rule called 'The Offering' which he can utilize if he has five corpses in the RPG and it gives all Circle Orboros / Devourer Worshippers within 5" of him +2 STR, SPD, DEF, ARM and they gain Berserk.  I would translate this to a mini-feat in the table top game if we were to get it, and it would obviously being something that would have to dramatically change his point cost.  That said, I like the idea of a big buff being handed out by a character solo, and the bubble is big enough to matter, but not so huge as to not require strategy.

Wolf Lord Morraig

I've struggled to find a home for Wolf Lord Morraig for most of MK2.  Its really hard for me to want to play him without Wolves of Orboros just because of how hard he hits.  Cleave was always sort of an awkward rule so I'd be ok with that being streamlined into just getting a second attack.  I'd be pretty alright with him being a bit more valuable stand-alone as well.  I'm not sure there's a ton here I think needs to change, I haven't really played him enough to nitpick.  Anything that happens here will excite me.

Una the Falconer

Sadly, I'm expecting Watcher to get "fixed" so that you can't just keep making movements if you don't make the attack.  That'll make me a bit sad because I really loved that ability and I felt it lent itself towards some pretty awesome plays.  That said, the rest of her kit is great and I'm hoping there's effectively no change to it.

Battle Engines

The rumor here is that they want to be buffing things so that we see a few more of these on the table.  I already enjoyed the one we have access to, so I'm hoping that it does in fact improve.

Celestial Fulcrum

Our battle engine is already so close to being amazing that them mentioning tweaking them upwards is fantastic news.  Longer range on the two non-spray attacks would go a long ways, as would more access to Fury than it has now.  Excited to see what happens with this!