Arena Rex- Morituri Overview

Next up on the slate for Arena Rex is my other favourite faction aesthetically and gameplay wise, the Morituri. Basically an Egyptian death cult, they have some really great unique mechanics and operate a lot around death effects more than any other faction (it is in fact their main thing)

Starting with the cohort benefits, Morituri have an absolutely phenomenal set.
Will of Antony is simple but amazing, clearing all Fatigue during clear turns. Instead of having your exhausted models go down to simply fatigued, they become fresh instead so your opponent doesn't have as much of an advantage and you have a huge amount of versatility come back. It's very forgiving when it comes to Fatigue management but also lets you play more aggressively if you know a clear turn is going to happen soon.
Cleopatra's Gift is a 2 cost tactic that plays into the death theme of Morituri, just by triggering a single model's death effect. There are some great combos to be had here (particularly Iocasta, Mago, Sereqet and Ur-Kek) and you can really mess with the opponent in ways they probably wouldn't expect which can have a great effect on the game.
Offering is a great way of generating Favour dice, just by dealing 2 damage to a friendly model to gain 2 Favour. You can even double dip it with their vitality tracks to gain 3 Favour or potentially to even trigger death effects if you're willing to kill your own models (or the dream with Ur-Kek gain 2 Favour and die, attack to kill an enemy and heal to survive)

Anum is a bit weird in terms of Morituri because he is the main piece of the special Bestiae cohort and as such has a lot of synergy with beasts more than his fellow man. He does have the highest native defence out of all Morituri gladiators at 3 which is nice, and his stats are all around good with an incredibly versatile damage tree with 2 branches on it. One is primarily damage based and does good amounts of damage, while the other is more push based with a bit of damage and a fatigue at the end of it. This second tree is what his special rule Bereft triggers as when he has had 10 boxes marked on his vitality track he cannot use his other branch and much use the push-based branch which changes how he operates a bit. He is ignored by models Going Wild and can’t be targeted by Living Hazards which lets him move around the table a bit easier when beasts appear, and his death effect allowing you to make a friendly Beast or a Living Hazard take an action is also great but of less use if playing heavily into the Morituri. In general I wouldn’t take Anum without at least 2 beasts on the table that aren’t an enemy (be that through taking your own or Living Hazards) and he is far better in the Bestiae cohort overall for the benefits that gives.

Iocasta is a really interesting model and is one of the Morituri gladiators I like more than others. She has average stats with MOV on the higher end for Morituri at 6, a lowish damage tree compared to others but some sweet abilities to compensate for it and push her into a clearly defined anti-armour role. Pierce is simple and just lets her ignore the opponent’s ARM stat on all attacks which is somewhat dependent on matchup but always useful (unless they’re ARM0 it will result in easier damage). Her death effect is a pretty simple 3” AOE dealing 1 damage. It does affect your own models though unlike the other AOE death effects in Morituri so you have to be careful when you trigger it outside of her own death (or forcing her death) because of the threat of damaging your own models and making you weaker (or potentially stronger if you can hit Favour or other beneficial death effects). Halfway through her damage tree is the unique rule Sirocco. It resolves the same as a push, but you can instead choose to then resolve the rest of her successes against another model in range to continue down her tree. It means if she can get to 2 models that are at very low health she can potentially take them both out in a single action if she gets a good amount of successes, which is really useful to have because it not only saves her fatigue, it also helps boost up action economy in a big way. Obvious interaction with Ur-Kek here for stupid amounts of healing but at that point it’s a real dream to get it all set up to go at it.

Khepros is somewhat of a support piece for Morituri, with his job being assisting friendly models and pushing enemies. He has a great statline with MOV6 and especially ARM2 but otherwise has completely regular stats for Morituri (ATK6 and DEF2). Shelter combines with this good ARM stat by adding his ARM to a model he Assists as well as his DEF so they gain a huge boost in survivability for relatively little investment (with Ur-Kek it's a huge pain for the opponent). The rest of his special rules and almost half his damage tree are push-based, including his death effect. He has 3 pushes on his tree starting from 2 successes, but it's Momentum that makes these so much better for board control because with a 2" follow-up he can change his position to make sure he can push the opponent into spots where they can be trapped by your models or just into hazards where they'll suffer more. It also gives him the ability to ignore push resistance of bigger models, so he can do this almost indiscriminately against whatever he chooses to. His death effect Scarab's Toil is a simple push resolved by any friendly model on the table against a model in its engagement range (note that this is 1" for everyone, Zahra can't get the extra range) but can also be used on himself and he will benefit from Momentum, although this is better done via Thoth, Tiet-Khebi or Cleopatra's Gift because Khepros doesn't die at the end of those.

Mago is a model that I see the value in, but I prefer to grab other models before him in almost every case. He has good stats, a decent tree and some awesome abilities but I don't see massive value in most of them over other options in the cohort for how I want to play them. Second Wind is really great but also situational, and Entangle is a bit odd in how it works. You have to have models engaged by him who want to then leave engagement for whatever reason (usually prompting  an opportunity attack anyway) and it gives them a Fatigue if they do leave engagement. The fact that there are so many huge downsides to leaving his engagement to me just reads as a way of saying "don't disengage and you ignore these" and only really comes into play when you force them into an incredibly bad situation (eg between Mago and Ur-Kek). Contempt as a death effect is amazing though and I would want to trigger it as much as I could once fighting starts, but again it's putting Mago right up into as many enemies as possible and hoping he survives long enough to trigger it on your terms through tactics and abilities (or at least dies in a good position to benefit from it) so if I was taking Mago I would always be taking Ur-Kek and Khepros with him purely to support him. Overall Mago has a place, I just personally am not a fan.

The Morituri mount, Sereqet is a really cool model that has some nasty tricks. It’s a Titan so brings all the push immunity and displacement things that come with that (which also plays with what Zahra is doing normally), has good defensive stats for Morituri but has less native attack dice (a standard for mounts given their combined attacks with riders). It has Envenom to add 3 damage to an attack result at the cost of a Fatigue which is amazingly good, especially combined with Zahra for shutting down a target, and its death effect Toxin gives all engaged enemies 1 fatigue which is great for zone control-especially on his 60mm base because that is a big area. Second Wind lets it remove a fatigue whenever it would generate a Favour from the vitality track (shared with Mago), which is less useful in Morituri than in other cohorts (mainly looking at Bestiae with Sereqet) but is still good to dictate activation order and maintain a good flow. The main thing to note with Sereqet is that although he pairs really well with his rider Zahra, she is actually faster when dismounted than when mounted so you need to consider whether the mount bonuses are worth that little drop in speed (they almost always are)

 

Thoth is a bit of a key piece to Morituri IMO because he brings along some really nice abilities that help boost up the cohort a lot. His stats are the same as usual for Morituri, not super weak but not massively hard hitting either except for his movement which at 5 is on the lower end (but not below average still). The reason he has a lower movement is because of Necrosis, because being able to walk in and fatigue every enemy within 3” (which will then stop them activating immediately, so can be used to save weakened models or stop the opponent doing the same) is very strong even though it makes Thoth exhausted so he can only do a free walk and Necrosis in his activation (but if you were to then go into a clear turn soon after it all goes away…). Libra is a great way to manage Favour as well and is more useful to pull down your opponents resources IMO (because it happens at the start of your clear turn, and you can use Offering to bring yours up) but either way it is useful should you need more or less Favour in a given situation. Scythe is his death effect and really just combos with any Morituri, because it triggers every other death effect in the cohort so you can pull off some really naughty tricks by combining them all. The only downside is it has built in that he is removed from play, so even if you heal him with Tiet-Khebi or use Scythe through Cleopatra’s Gift he will always die at the end of it so keep this in mind (and really just don’t do either of those things)

Tiet-Khebi is the blender of the Morituri with the highest ATK stat (meaning higher likelihood of lower results on the tree) and a very good damage tree. She isn't lacking in defensive stats either as she has the same stats as most in the faction, but her role is definitely as a central piece in the crew leading the offence. Triumph nets the cohort 2 Favour if she kills another model which is always good, Asari at the bottom of her tree lets a friendly model within 5" of her trigger its death ability (which like Cleopatra's Gift there are a lot of good options) at the cost of a single Favour, so it is cheaper than the tactic although it has more hoops to jump through. Her own death ability is Innervate which is removes a Fatigue and heals 2 vitality on any friendly gladiator regardless of range, just not herself. This is really great as it is a way to keep your own models functioning better even in the face of losing one (or just through using Cleopatra's Gift for a pure heal). My favourite combo with Tiet-Khebi is Ur-Kek, as he provides her with a tough bodyguard through Taunt and can also simply get free attacks off her if you manage to reach Asari on the damage tree which is huge and can determine games by itself.

Ur-Kek is a very straightforward model, and is pretty much a damage sponge that can also dish out a good amount of damage. He is slow and that needs to be considered, but he has good stats otherwise and a fairly good damage tree with a mix of direct damage and pushes so he can do a fair bit of work on the table. On top of this he heals 3 every time another model- friend or foe- is killed within 3" (in a faction with 11-12 vitality almost across the board, 14 plus healing is amazing), and his death ability lets him make an attack (which can trigger Consume Essence if he kills them and saves Ur-Kek for a really great momentum shift). Last thing to note is Taunt which is always good to force enemies into attacking him over other options, especially when Ur-Kek can heal and dishes out attacks when he dies. His Spite ability is also a really obvious and easy thing to use Cleopatra's Gift for cause it's just a free action (albeit an expensive one costing 2 Favour)

Zahra is one of my favourite tech pieces in Morituri because she is really hardcore zone control. Her statline is pretty standard overall, but her special rules are where she comes into her own when combined with her damage tree. The tree has 4 different push results on it as well as a single 3 damage and a reposition (both of which are great) and with Lash she can choose to pull enemies towards her instead of away, which as an optional effect and in combination with follow-up moves gives her insane control of where models will be going and is insanely good when she's near hazards or simply to put enemies in range of things like Ur-Kek or Mago. Reach is an excellent rule too allowing her to attack 3 inches away from her during her activation (so no using it to get opportunity attacks from 3" away) but it is useful just to keep Zahra in places she will be safer (next to Ur-Kek or Khepros, or further away from hazards she wants to be pushing people into). Deft is for when she is mounting Sereqet and just means she is a bit more efficient when she is forced off or Sereqet is killed and not forced into exhaustion, while Terror is a really great addition to her placement tricks as it is a death ability (keep this in mind for tactic purposes) that pushes all enemies within 3" 2 inches directly away from her. You choose the order they move, and you can use it to muck up things that want to be closer to each other (Helleniki and Legio XIII especially) if you play the order right.