Here is a list idea I have come up with that focuses around a tight knit army with Ardus at its head. Ardus has the potential to benefit from: Duskblade, Carrion Lancer Ability, Maro's Heal, Tempered steel, Blight from archers. Thanks to combat ingenuity he can use these skills with just one surge each (except maro). Dispatch runner on the deathknights with their dial allow for them to rally and skill to get ardus to double attack turn after turn. Ardus also has a rally on his second command dial if you want to get rid of banes. This build would allow Ardus to really choose what skills to use during each attack and tailor it to the enemy he is fighting. If he had: Hit-Surge, Hit-Surge for dice he could do 6 damage, reduce their defence, apply blight or apply blight and do 4 damage 2 mortal strikes.

198/200 points

Ardus IxErebus x1 [37]
--Artifact: Shield of Margath [6]
--Unique: Ardus Fury [1]
----------Total Unit Cost: 44

Death Knights x2 [24]
--Artifact: The Duskblade [8]
--Champion: Dispatch Runner [7]
--Training: Combat Ingenuity [6]
----------Total Unit Cost: 45

Carrion Lancers x2 [27]
--Equipment: Fire Rune [7]
--Training: Simultaneous Orders [2]
----------Total Unit Cost: 36

Ankaur Maro x1 [40]
--Unique: Violent Forces [6]
----------Total Unit Cost: 46

Reanimate Archers x2 [18]
--Equipment: Tempered Steel [3]
--Training: Combat Ingenuity [6]
----------Total Unit Cost: 27

He can also be pretty defensive with only needing one surge to use maro's ability to heal.

Pretty nice synergy going on there. Od love to hear how it does on the table. My first thought is that the list as a whole is pretty squishy. Ardus does not like being attacked, at all. Heroes in general dont like being attacked.

AFAIK, Ardus cannot benefit from Tempered Steel.

That surge ability only exists during the attack in which you exhaust it.

What you want is Master Crafted Weapons + Combat Ingenuity.

I love the idea, but I feel like the lack of focus and dependence on poor Ardus is a weakness.

He loves to hit hard, but he can't take much damage in return, same for Maro, and even if they are regenerating.

Other than that you have three two tray units? Seems like they'll die to a harsh sneeze.

This list has teeth, but lacks backbone.

4 minutes ago, Tvayumat said:

AFAIK, Ardus cannot benefit from Tempered Steel.

That surge ability only exists during the attack in which you exhaust it.

What you want is Master Crafted Weapons + Combat Ingenuity.

I love the idea, but I feel like the lack of focus and dependence on poor Ardus is a weakness.

He loves to hit hard, but he can't take much damage in return, same for Maro, and even if they are regenerating.

Other than that you have three two tray units? Seems like they'll die to a harsh sneeze.

This list has teeth, but lacks backbone.

I agree, I can't tell you how many times my Ardus has been one hit, or just shy of one hit. Him being able to do all that is really cool. I think where this might shine is as an upgrade instead, allowing a reanimate block to do all that. Not to mention you would have a much larger area to check range from.

I think Ardus can use tempered steel as per the new rules. He actually exhausts thier card. You are right however, sure would be a Shame if he was one hit haha.

Yep, i was wrong. FAQ says otherwise

49 minutes ago, rebellightworks said:

Ardus cannot use Tempered Steel. He's granted the surge ability, but a condition of that particular surge is to exhaust a card. Since he does not have a card to exhaust, he cannot fulfill the requirements, therefore cannot spend the surge.

Pretty sure the FAQ said Ardus CAN use the tempered steel and he exhausts their card...

20 hours ago, Curlycross said:

I think where this might shine is as an upgrade instead, allowing a reanimate block to do all that. Not to mention you would have a much larger area to check range from.

Only problem here is that Ardus' Host of Crows is allowing all the cool upgrades on the small units. It becomes a wildly different army.

I like what you're going for here, Ysguy. You have three out of five units that can attack at range, so anything that comes towards Ardus should be weakened by the time it arrives. Looks interesting.

Huh, the more you know.

Regardless, why would you borrow Tempered Steel when you can borrow MCW+CI? It does everything TS does but better, easier, and more, and the expense is heavily offset by the ability to use it on multiple units.

I've been looking at lists like this and I think Ardus might be better off in a reanimate block, you still get the abilities without being so vulnerable. Only problem is surges aren't guaranteed.

12 hours ago, Jukey said:

I've been looking at lists like this and I think Ardus might be better off in a reanimate block, you still get the abilities without being so vulnerable. Only problem is surges aren't guaranteed.

Far from being guaranteed, they're exceedingly unlikely.

Reanimates are pretty hot for damage/morale with their two reds, but they can't roll a surge to save their bones.

24 minutes ago, Tvayumat said:

Far from being guaranteed, they're exceedingly unlikely.

Reanimates are pretty hot for damage/morale with their two reds, but they can't roll a surge to save their bones.

The added white dice helps though, and if your lucky enough to catch a flank toss in a blue.

Just now, Jukey said:

The added white dice helps though, and if your lucky enough to catch a flank toss in a blue.

Yeeeeeeah but...

I've put a decent amount of practice into engaging with Ardus without getting him killed, and I'd rather have the guaranteed double-surge from the dial + Ardus' Fury.

YMMV

I wonder if skipping the archer and lancer options and dropping in a reanimate block with profane banner and caprivating hexer would have merit. Then Ardus can hit a big unit worry free

11 minutes ago, Jukey said:

I wonder if skipping the archer and lancer options and dropping in a reanimate block with profane banner and caprivating hexer would have merit. Then Ardus can hit a big unit worry free

Interesting, and certainly worth trying!

Yeah I would run MCW+CI on the worms and if you really want fire rune floating about throw it on the archers...just in case...then ardus really gets scary when 12 damage becomes a lot more doable...I also think shield or margath is meh here...your goal should be blight to prevent any opponent from being able to roll on ardus...I'd pull maro as well...and throw in two more Archers with just CI...blighty blight blight...

12 hours ago, jek said:

Yeah I would run MCW+CI on the worms and if you really want fire rune floating about throw it on the archers...just in case...then ardus really gets scary when 12 damage becomes a lot more doable...I also think shield or margath is meh here...your goal should be blight to prevent any opponent from being able to roll on ardus...I'd pull maro as well...and throw in two more Archers with just CI...blighty blight blight...

Maro is in the list for his ranged support but also for his heal ability. Its true that he is expensive and blights may "heal" more by preventing damage but I thought I'd throw it in there. He also allows for another factions unit to come in which may give Ardus a cool surge ability from the Uthuk or Latari.

54 minutes ago, TheWiseGuy said:

Maro is in the list for his ranged support but also for his heal ability. Its true that he is expensive and blights may "heal" more by preventing damage but I thought I'd throw it in there. He also allows for another factions unit to come in which may give Ardus a cool surge ability from the Uthuk or Latari.

Oh I understand the why, I just have never had Maro be effective outside of a group of reanimates...and I like having all the archers...

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 11:42 AM, jek said:

Oh I understand the why, I just have never had Maro be effective outside of a group of reanimates...and I like having all the archers...

Maro is the absolute best Figure sniper. His mortal wound modifier, give him fortuna's dice he pops heads off.