So, like a lot of Waiqar players, I have been lamenting the expensive, underwhelming hero choices in our faction. While I thematically love Maro and Ardus, I can't help but be jealous of the lower cost and value that seemingly every other hero provides in comparison.
In my efforts to find lists that work, I've come across an idea for getting value out of Maro that I think has merit.
I was trying to develop a list that could put out consistent ranged damage behind cheap blockers with a good amount of blight synergy. I often run either 1 or 2 2x1's of Reanimate Archers with Combat Ingenuity. I'm really happy with how they perform, but would like to get something with more consistent damage output. I started looking at 2x2's and 3x2's of RA's, but they just get so expensive. After fiddling with lists a bit, I landed on a new idea: Naked Maro (40 pts) + 2x1 RA + CI (24 pts) + 2x1 RA + CI (24 pts). Maro spends the first 2-3 rounds raising the RAs to 2x2's while hanging safely back.
Now stay with me here, cause this might be a stretch... but 2x2's of RA's are 14 points more expensive than 2x1's, which is (in a way) like discounting Maro by 28 points but getting him with only 1 wound...
This leaves you with more than 112 points to spend on blockers and flankers. I ran 3 solo Lancers, one 2x1 of Reanimates, 1 Scion (Maro's body guard/flanker), and a 2x1 of DK's with the power glove and Rank Discipline. This part of the list is really workable and there is a lot you can do with it, but I loved the idea of running a lot of dials.
If you can keep Maro alive long enough to shoot a few times, he will get more than enough value out of the 12 points you theoretically spent on him. The one time I ran this, I kept him safely in the back of the battle, he was able to raise up archers in the first two rounds (unfortunately it was 1 blue rune both rounds, so only one of the RAs got to 4 trays... so I guess I theoretically spent 26 points on him), and then shot for 5 of the remain six rounds (I got a lot of red runes and my opponent rushed me), and was actually at full health at the end of the game. My archers put out MASSIVE amounts of blight, sometimes re-rolling the blue for surges not damage to continue to erase full attacks, or cut them to one die, and whittled two 2x3's of Leonx Riders down to one unit with one tray (with Maro's help). That blight worked neatly with the Lancers who both layed down some blight themselves, and got off some decent damage before dying. In the end I lost a close game because of silly mistakes (I forgot to set a few dials early... not used to running 9 dials...) and caused a few units to end up way out of position. Also, my DK's were poised to put Death's Grasp on a fully upgraded Aliana, ensuring her doom, but caught a crucial stun token before making the charge. This point swing alone would have won me the game.
I feel there is both a lot that went right and a lot that went wrong during this match and am looking forward to playing some version of this list again. Wanted to get other Waiqar players' experience on Maro in the mean time. Have you run anything like this? Is my calculation of Maro being worth at least the points of the trays he is adding to your army... off? I honestly feel like the urge to invest heavily in him might be misplaced (violent forces is really tempting). If you just think of him as 12-20 point option to choose where your reinforcements are early in the battle, who may also put out some solid damage by the end of the game, you can find real value here. If you keep him at 40 points and you get the raising in early, so you get the value out of those bolstered units, even losing him to a random Maegan surge or a flanker shouldn't feel too bad...
