Analysis: Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Masters of the powers of death and agony, the mortitheurges known as willbreakers can influence the mind of an enemy soldier as easily as they can control the great beasts of the skorne war host. A soldier who faces a willbreaker knows the roiling fear of uncertainty, that his own weapons might be turned against his friends and allies or he might be forced to lay down arms and placidly accept the blows of the enemy. Few things can terrify a warrior more than the stark realization that his fate is not his own.
Say hello to the latest solo joining the ranks of the Skorne: the Mortitheurge Willbreaker.  

In this episode of Analysis, we're going to be looking at what makes this guy such a big deal for everyone's favorite empire.
Let's take a look at his stats first.  He only costs 2 points, which is a bargain for what all he can do for you.  His SPD of 6 allows him to keep up with the rest of your forces or run further up the field to take advantage of Beast Master (see below).  His STR, MAT and RAT shouldn't come into play if you're using him right.  He's a utility piece, not a fighter.  His DEF and ARM are both 13s and with 5 hit boxes, he's not incredibly tough.

He's a Commander with a CMD of 9.  He may end up being close enough to a unit of Paingiver Bloodrunners or Venator Reivers for it to help, but the real reason he has CMD of 9 is Beast Master.

Beast Master: This model can force friendly Faction warbeasts in its command range as if it were their controlling warlock.

That is some really good stuff, especially in a faction with good casters hindered by low FURY stats (Morghoul and Xerxis come to mind immediately).  Suddenly the leash on your beasts is extended out considerably.  The Molik Missile, for example, requires much less effort on your part now to be able to ensure he gets across the field but is still within range of being forced.  If you can keep this guy around for a while, you have the ability to keep your warlock slightly further back than normal, or allow the warlock to head for an objective on one of the flanks while still maintaining threat towards the opposite side of the table.

I'd almost take him for Beast Master alone (with certain casters), but he's also bringing some magic abilities to the party.  He has:
Magic Ability [7]:
Ancillary Attack, Influence, Puppet Master

If you've ever played against Protectorate, you know what Ancillary Attack does.  It has a Range of 5 and allows a target friendly Faction warbeast to make one normal melee or ranged attack.  A warbeast can only benefit from one Ancillary Attack per turn, so even if you bring the maximum of 2 Willbreakers, you can't stack them on a single beast.  Also note that you can't boost the attack because it's not taking place during the warbeast's activation.  Still, who wouldn't want an extra attack with some of our heavy hitters for free?

One cool trick with Ancillary Attack is to use it before your warbeast activates for situations where your opponent has tried to lock you up in melee with a single model.
Influence is highly situational.  It has a Range of 10 and it's a magic attack.  With a 7+2d6, he's got a decent chance of hitting most infantry.  If it does hit, you get to take control of a target enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock warrior model.  That model makes one normal melee attack and the effect expires.
Last but certainly not least is Puppet Master.  This has the potential to be spectacular in the right circumstances.  It is Range 10.  If you target an enemy model/unit, it is a magical attack.  Again, 7+2d6 is good enough to hit most things in the game if you roll average.  If you target your own stuff, it's an auto-hit.  You can have one affected model reroll one or more dice of your choice rolled for a command check, attack, or damage roll.  It lasts for one round and expires as soon as you use it.  

Puppet Master has an infinite number of uses.  Here's some I snagged from the PP forums:

Combine Puppet Master with Ancillary Attack and suddenly your Basilisk Krea can hit two targets in a single turn with Spiritual Paralysis (using Puppet Master to help the second shot hits even unboosted).

Use Puppet Master on an enemy heavy who is thinking of charging Molik Karn.  With Intuition, Molik can be forced and the enemy has to reroll the attack roll.  Assuming Puppet Master wouldn't have any impact on the first attack roll, it may the second.

Puppet Master on your warlock can be helpful too.  Want to up your chance of hitting with a timely spell but don't want to spend the Fury to boost?  Rerolling one or more dice can do that.  

Since you cast it on a unit but choose to use it on a single model, you get the flexibility to decide when you really need an attack to hit (or miss) with one of members of that unit.

There's always the chance to get lucky with a Command check too.  Since you can choose a single die to re-roll, if your opponent's dice show at least one 6, you've got decent odds to force a failed morale roll if you make him re-roll the other die again.  

You can look for critical effects more often with units such as Tiberion (Critical Smite) or the Archidon (Critical Pitch).  You can do combined ranged attacks with your Venator Reivers and not fear the double 1s (and if you hit anyway, use it instead of the damage roll).  Lord Assassin Morghoul can hit more reliably with the Fan of Shadows ensuring you get that Blind effect.  

There's no end to the combos.  Seriously, that's how good Puppet Master is.  

Overall, I would give this solo an "A".  I can't see any lists I wouldn't want him in and while there are a lot of good 2 point utilities in Skorne (Beast Handlers and Agonizers, most obviously), this guy can still find a place.