This just blows my mind!

Viper Legion Archers - 6 Tray
Champion - Take what you want
Equipment - Wind Rune
Heraldry - Warsprinter
Music - Metered March
Training - Simultaneous Orders

This build is so freakishly fast and maneuverable in the right circumstances it's insane.
Assume Runes are: Unstable/Unstable/Stable/Natural/Natural

You can move up to 10 with a reform thrown in for good measure. With metered march locked in you can abuse every millimeter of that movement. Get your crew right where you want them! Could be a point sink but I'll give it a go just for the fun of it when these guys hit the shelves!

Certainly would be amusing. I can add that to the list of absurd Viper builds I’ll try when they finally arrive. Right after the Aggresive Shrieker/Warsprinter/Cacophony Reaver build that shoots and then charges into melee.

You can tack on Wind Rune and Simultaneous Orders to that shoot/charge build to help slide and reform into a flank charge - or shoot at one thing and reform to charge something else. I've also looked at using them in a dispatch runner/rallying shrieker combination to cause a unit to attack then remove the stun from them in the same activation. Man, I'm looking forward to these guys!

Ok. Just putting together what you listed:

Simul Orders, Wind Rune, Aggresive Shrieker, Warsprinter, Cacophony Reaver. 68 points.

Shoot, Shift Natural, Reform, Charge Unstable

I can shoot at a target ~12 inches in front of me and then charge sideways something like... 15 inches?

Exactly. And if you nab a flank you’re rolling two red rocking a threat 3 front with a reroll. I think these guys are going to give so much flexibility to a rather one dimensional force. Even the four tray builds add enough range punch and strategic effect to transform play style for the faction. I can see some finess lists coming out that will frustrate opponents.

I just ask that you post videos of your shenanigans because this just sounds fun to watch.

1 hour ago, Curlycross said:

I just ask that you post videos of your shenanigans because this just sounds fun to watch.

Oh for sure. @Brikhause has been streaming our monthly store plays. You'll definitely get a chance to see this in action.

Ok, I'm sold. Going to have to try this with Uthuk once, or maybe permanently. Thought, I think it is fair to say that 68 points is a very large investment in one unit, so you'd better be able to pull off some pretty big stuff. What will be interesting to see is after the surprise element wears off, if this ends up bringing about the same overall level of performance to your list as spending 68 points on any of the Stars, or 6 tray seige/cav. I mean, there's a nice one-two finish here, but you're looking at something like 16-20 total damage points. And then some of the time, I'm certain it won't be advantageous to lock your archers into melee combat. In the wrong circumstances, they are waiting around till initiative 8 to swing in combat.

In the end, it will come down to how often you think you can pull off that charge useful. If frequently, that's an amazing 7 points. If not so frequnetly, then maybe a Cacophany Reaver/Wind Rune/Close Quarter Targeting might serve just as well. There are so many good archer combinations with these guys. Most of the archer battle comes down to who manages initiative and movement better. Wind Rune can definitely help with that. Shift-2 at 6 and Shift-1 at 8, plus the chance to Wind Rune really helps set that up nicely.

As much fun as I'm anticipating having with the six tray version of these guys, I'll likely scale them back to a four tray and leverage their simultaneous orders to throw out a dispatch and rally during the same activation. I like firing off dispatch runner as it has come in clutch for me a few times, but leaving that stun on the unit hurts. With their rally on the action dial, I can reload and fire it off doubling up key attacks each turn. When I would run dispatch runner on a four tray of beserkers I had to rally the first turn or two to make sure I had some inspiration in my back pocket. This was primarily caused by their rally action being on the modifier dial. There are plenty of shenanigans to be had with the vipers in the mix. I'm looking at them as quite possibly the single most transformative unit to be released for the Uthuk because of how drastically they can alter the rest of the army's play style based on how you choose to tune them. Of course, I could be completely wrong...

@Steel82 I'm looking forward to that as well. DR is pretty powerful, and rallying Starling can be beneficial not just the unit you are DRing, but also for other units in your army. Getting rid of Ravos banes on turn-1, readying TS or another upgrade on several units, and getting rid of random banes that start appearing in the middle of combat is powerful. In fact, I am liking the 2x1-Music just for this. Bane removal just went from awkward to really easy.