Ouch, I suppose Pestilence doesn't have the same ka'pow but it does have a certain painful hit and run capacity. Move into a several guys in formation at once, promply ramming all of them. Let venom do its work the very next round, and the break away for shake off damage. Once you move away you'll be untouchable by any ranged attack, and they'll only be able to hurt you if they surge or have charge, at which point they probably end up taking venom again the next round even if they can move into you. Surge would be foolish considering how much damage they've arleady taken, the push they'll have to give themselves, and the venom they'll then take afterwards. All that just from the mount itself and with only one dice roll where anything but a 1 is golden.

I guess its a matter of preference and play style. I'd rather smite an entire formation for a straight 6 damage (base damage 3 +2 from impale + 1 more damage from an item or relic) and end any possible threat in one fell swoop. Don't get me wrong, I have a good old time clicking away at my opponent's stats without having to roll any dice at all.

Honestly, being able to trash a whole formation in one or two turns is ultimately going to be the most efficient strategy. Formations make so much sense when you're trying to conserve movements in a turn (or to hit a high defense character) but it can turn right around make you pay when the enemy has a piece with Smite, Flame/Lighting, Sweep, Stormfire, etc. I learned that the hard way a few times....

Too true. But that's what they make harassers and fodder figures for, right? Nothing in the game can outrun a *Shade from Rebellion.

My favorite fodder was the *Imp from Rebellion. Hilariously weak, but I've used it to block lines of fire or put him in base contact with heavy hitting close combat figures' face to stop their movement temporarily. Alot of the time my opponent won't even bother killing it initially because they don't want to waste the movement. Every piece has its place I suppose.

How many points were the * Imps? Were they six? I think my favorite piece was WereBears. Started out weak, but once you hit him once he gets angggrrryyyyy!!

The *Imp is a teeny weeny 5 point piece. Speaking of pieces that get angry, I always really like my good old ***Crypt Worm. He gets straight up vicious!

Ahhh I was never able to obtain a Tough Crypt Worm, but boy were they hard hitters. The one thing about them was that they lived a long time before they became demoralized.

1.0
Solonavi Creator - I'll take her over the striker every time. She never moves less than 10 inches with flight, she never does less than three damage, she can heal almost any figure without fail when shes not blasting things, she has several clicks of potentially devastating 7" shockwave, she can regen tall the way back to the top of her dial, she's got a 180 arc with a 14 inch range, and she has only one click of death. And all of this for less than 200 points.

2.0
Caldera - fast, powerful, awesome. I like to use her share defense with three *** Cloud Warriors in front. They surge out and handle the light stuff, and leave Caldera the meat and potatoes :)

Honorable Mention
The Red Duchess of Khamsin - Both as a hero (Uprising) and as a 2.0 (Nexus) warrior, I really love the way she handles both close and ranged combat. The 2.0 version really helped her out, and I've always loved her sculpt and flavor :D

Marrow.

At 28 points, it was costly as a harasser, but easily worth it in 300+ point games.

It has close to the speed, but rivaled the power of the Shade by having quickness.
It has Limited Invis., which blocked lines of sight, combining that you could move it there for free was ridiculous.

Top those by giving it a decent attack rating and Weapon Master; Lets just say someone would finally get tired of getting chump blocked by it and decide to kill it (where they have to base it first due to LI), only to get smacked. Hard.

Marrow is a great choice :D And don't forget he was errata'd to be a skeleton!

Quick note: Mortis Draconum is sheer terror in a dungeons environment.

One of my favorite figures to try to abuse was Mortis... I got burned out a bit with all the ruling changes with magic levitation, etc.

At one point, I believe levitating another figure's rear into Morty following with an easy 10 clicks was legal... those were the days.

Oh man, I'm so glad to see you say this. I never saw anyone play Marrow except myself. But I put him in armies for as long as I could till WK banned all 1.0 from tourney play. He was the best far objective harasser.

But overall my favorite I think was Zeph Wyndfenner. Fairly cheap fig with decent stats and toughness, but oh the leadership... and on such a cheap fig! Khan Rava plus Zeph = ridiculous ranged piercing every turn. Or later Tithania Stormbringer, or any big nasty. I won the red magestone event with Zeph. Everyone else was bring 'Trix or Vith or Caldera, big heavy hitters, but in a sealed you can't depend on getting the right backup. But with Zeph you enhance your army, whatever it is. Of course I ended up pulling crap...except for a ***Steam Mauler. Bombardment every turn, for the win.

And then when Spirit Armor was added, good times.

Tough Steam Golems. I used those all the way into some 2.0 games and they still gave people the heebie-jeebies.

2.0 wise I always loved Golemkiller. For 48pts, I'd usually fit her with something like an Enchanted Fuser Rifle and Cloak of Shadows, sit her somewhere along some terrain and target the nasties uniques I could.