Sunday 30 August 2009

Garryth and the Assassins Six

Hello everyone, glad to be contributing to rescuing of Scyrah from the vile magics of the humans. But seriously glad to be helping out you guys as much as possible. Today I'll be going over a Tier 4 Garryth army that includes six Mage Hunter Assassins, that's right six of those nasty solos. First, for those of you who don't know in MK II warcasters will have themed armies that are organized into four tiers, by meeting the requirements within each tier you get a bonus. Here is Garryth's tiers so you have a better understanding of the basis of this army:

Tier 1
Requirements: Have only Garryth, non-character Jacks, Mage Hunter Strike Forces and UAs, Mage Hunter Assassins, Nayl and Souless Escorts.
Benefit: Mage Hunter Strike Forces FA now becomes FA: U, Mage Hunter Assassin FA increases by 1 for each Mage Hunter Strike Force included.

Tier 2
Requirements: In addition to Tier 1 include 3 or more Mage Hunter Assassins
Benefit: +1 to Starting Roll.

Tier 3
Requirements: In addition to Tier 1 and 2 include 3 or more Mage Hunter Strike Forces each with a Soulless Escort attachment.
Benefit: Add Nayl for FREE

Tier 4
Requirements: In addition to Tier 1, 2, and 3 include only Light Wrajacks
Benefit: Battlegroup gain AD.

As you can see it is a really solid and interesting theme that allows for a lot of Mage Hunters of all varieties, but another thing you will notice is that Narn and Eiryss aren't allowed, disappointing: yes but nothing to lose sleep over. But without further wait the list itself:

Garryth
-Gorgon (5 Warjack Points from Garryth)
Mage Hunter Strike Force (minimum) [5 pts.]
-Souless Escort [1 pt.]
Mage Hunter Strike Force (minimum) [5 pts.]
-Souless Escort [1 pt.]
Mage Hunter Strike Force (minimum) [5 pts.]
-Souless Escort [1 pt.]
Mage Hunter Strike Force (minimum) [5 pts.]
Mage Hunter Assassin [2 pts.]
Mage Hunter Assassin [2 pts.]
Mage Hunter Assassin [2 pts.]
Mage Hunter Assassin [2 pts.]
Mage Hunter Assassin [2 pts.]
Mage Hunter Assassin [2 pts.]
Nayl [FREE]
Total Points: 35

Now you may say "Assassins are only FA: 2" I would reply simply that in Tier 1 the FA increases by one for each Mage Hunter Unit and since there are four Mage Hunter units that FA goes up to six. Now that being said lets move along to tactics.

The main tactic associated with this army is that of Threat Saturation which is covered pretty well in the link to the Privateer Press forums, the Retribution Community over there is a great place for additional information. Not to say I wont cover Threat Saturation, I will, just at a later time. Away from that tangent, this army's strength lays in its in its ability to strike quickly and take down the enemy Warcaster. Each model basically has a role to fill within the army, the Assassins are to take down high wound models and if there is an opening the enemy Warcaster, Mage Hunters are to take down jacks and enemy infantry, because 24 RAT 6 shots is nothing to ignore. Nayl is there to disrupt the enemy caster, the Gorgon to hold down high threat models, and Garryth, well Garryth is there to do what he does best, killing Warcasters. (He is also there to support his army with things like Death Sentence and Mirage.) Now these are simplified usages of these models because they have quite a few diferent ones such as using Assassins as bait to pull out pieces of the enemy army so you can strike at other. This should work because if you spread out your solos it forces your opponent to try to deal with each as threat otherwise one will run up the side of their army and just make a mess of things. But again you can't account for an opponent's decision making but using logic I would do all I can to take out those Assassins before they got too close, which would hopefully open up holes in the defense of their Warcaster. But remember none of these are fool-proof tactics, they are more suggestions to what I believe is optimal use. Back on subject, the secondary strength of this army is its ability to put a wrench into the Warcaster's plan with Nayl, Garryth's Feat, and 75% of the units containing a Soulless Escort, spellcasting should take a pretty big hit. Which leaves your opponent in another vulnerable position especially when faced with such adept killers.

This army has very distinct and obvious strengths but also has very obvious weakness, the obvious weakness is AOEs. Unfortunately AOEs will absolutely decimate much of this army due to their low ARM on the majority of the models. In this casse you have to play fast and hard putting your opponent on their heals as you push to their lines before too much of your army is destroyed. Another weakness is armies that ignore stealth which should be dealt with in a similar way you deal with an AOE army close the gap between you and them to prevent excessive casualties.

This is a fairly simple introduction into Garryth's Assassin Spam, but should help you start thinking of even better ways to use it or modify it. So go out there and kill some Warcasters.

-MRHM



(It should be noted that there is an alternate version of this army that drops one Assassin and one unit of Mage Hunters and trades the Gorgon for a Chimera and increase two of the Mage Hunter Units to their maximum size, but Garryth and the Assassin Five didn't sound as catchy even though it is probably a better list since the arc node makes Garryth far more dangerous. But the six Assassins just seem more fun.)

Wednesday 26 August 2009

House Shyeel Grows

I knew when I started this that I would not be alone for long. And now we have our second member of House Shyeel, Magnus' Right Hand Man. I'm definitely looking forward to the perspective that he brings to the table.

As for me; next month sees the start of a 5 month discussion on our warcasters. I'll be taking a month per warcaster to go into more depth as to their stats, potential army lists and combinations.

- Serraphim

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Iosian Runes

This is courtesy of Erebos over on the PP boards. Here is a full list of all the Iosian runes that Have been translated.

Currently there are not any examples of J, M, Q, X and Z. Enjoy

Wednesday 19 August 2009

Loving the art work
Got my book from my ninja shopper. Reading through the fluff right now. I'm really impressed with the quality of the book. And the fluff is awesome

Friday 14 August 2009

Retribution Spoilers - Solos

Now on to my favourite part of this army, the Solos:

Dawnguard Scyir
Commander, Jack Marshal, Coordinated Strike (This model and the jack it controls ignores Dawnguard for LOS and can move through them), Drive: Reroll (Warjack and reroll one attack), Flank, Iron Sentinel (+2 Arm when B2B with faction warjack), Reach.

- The griffon was made for this guy. The two of them are going to pair up incredibly well, especially given his drive (again, rerolls are fantastic). But then you tack on +2 ARM in B2B and flank and we have a very solid combo. Almost like having our own lesser warcaster.

Arcanist
Special Actions
Concetrated Power – RNG 5 targe warjack gets +2 to melee damage rolls.
Power Booster – RNG 5 if jack has no focus it gains 1 focus. If it was disrupted it is no longer disrupted.
Repair – D6 damage.

- Repair is good. Getting rid of disruption is good. A free focus for a jack that has none is good. +2 to damage is good. FA 2 is good. 2 points is good. And he has a huge frakking wrench for a weapon. What is there not to love about this guy. Sure, he's gonna be squishy, but really do you care? By the time he gets turned into fine elven paste you should be on you assassination run. In fact, you run should be over before he dies.

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Dragoon, Rapid Strike (one additional attack), Righteous Fury (+2 arm when friendly faction models within command are destroyed), Magic Weapon, Reach, Weapon Master, Blessed.

- I love this guy. Two weapon master attacks on a Blessed, reach weapon is nice, combined with tall in the saddle, this guy is a great solo/UA hunter. Righteous fury just helps him hit harder and survive longer. A nice character model for us, and hopefully a really nice model.

Nayl
AD, Fearless, Stealth, Souless, Arcane Annihilation (when it destroys a model, enemy models within 8″ lose focus and fury points and cannot cast spells, channel or use animi), Spell Ward. Magic Weapon, Reach.

- Holy disruption grenade. Well, not really a grenade, more a land mine. Your opponent has to pop Nayl for Arcane Annihilation to go off, so they can work around it. Against hordes the removal of all fury within 8" will hurt them more than machine players as they'll be gimped the following turn too. Otherwise, he's a nice solo, we just need to see what his P+S is.

Mage Hunter Assassin
AD, Pathfinder, Stealth, Arcane Assassin, Weapon Master, Chain Strike (4″ melee during activation), Chain Weapon, Decapitation (Damage is double, no tough roll)

- She has SPD 7, so that is a 14" threat range with arcane assassin so she ignores any DEF/ARM buffs and Weapon Master and Decapitation. Wow, I know that she is going to die to a stiff breeze, but the sheer amount of terror she will cause you opponent by her merely being on the table will be more than worth it. There is also a way to get 6 of the in a 35 point list, which I'll cover in another post.

Ghost Sniper
Pathfinder, Stealth, Camouflage, Swift Hunter (elylyth), Deadly Shot (like snipe but 3 points of damage)

- Auto 3 damage is really nice. Swift hunter means that he can move out of cover, pop off a shot, and then move back to avoid retalliation. Plus, the model just rocks.

House of Shyeel Magister
Magic Ability 7, Force Bolt – POW 10 RNG 10 pushes D3″, Whip Snap – RNG 6 POW 12 friend model within 3″ can advance up to 3″, Beat Back, Combo Smite

- MITTENS. Like his battle mage brothers, its going to be hard to tell just how good he is due to the fact that I don't know his raw stats. But looking at the spoiler he continues our ability to move our enemies to where we want them. Beat back twice, and then combo smite for another D3" on a heavy (D6 on anyone else) will give us an average of 4"(5") at the end with is better than just combo smiting for distance.

Dawnguard Destor Than (cav solo)
Commander, Gunfighter, Unyeilding, Virtuoso (Holt), Mulit-fire (like esorsha’s gun)

- Yes, we get a cav solo that can shoot up to 3 times, in combat and the attack with his melee weapon if anything is still alive.

The solos are what really push this army into craziness. Like our units, most of our solos don't require any additional support, you can trust them to get their job done. Now all we are really waiting for is the models to be previewed.

Let me know what you guys think about our revealed units.

Retribution Spoilers - Units

The Units plus their UAs:

Invictor UA
Officer – CRA, Officer, Defensive Line, Extended Fire (+4 RNG) mini feat.
Flank. Granted Combine Arms. If attack misses for a CRA it can reroll that attack once.
Standard Bearer – Defensive Line.

- Extended fire is very nice on a ranged unit, especially during the opening turns of a game where normally everyone would be out of range. The extra 4" will allow you to pop off an early CRA into something dangerous, or even to start the destruction. Combine Arms gives me a reason to always CRA, even if it's a 2 man shot. Rerolls are incredibly helpful, even when i comes to hitting DEF higher than you would normally.

Sentinel UA
Officer – Officer, Drive: Pronto, Granted Vengeance (bane knights)
Standard Bearer – Defensive line

- Pronto is awesome as a Drive as it continues to push the speed of the Ret, which is a lot faster than looks on paper. But the real reason that you are going to want the UA is Vengence. Once you get this unit stuck in, they are going to start wrecking face. The sentinels and UA re really going to love IR from Vryos as ARM 19 Bane Knights are gonna scare just about everybody

Mage Hunters Strike Force
CMA, Pathfinder, Stealth, Arcane Assassin and Jack Hunter (Additional die to melee and range damage rolls against jack) perfect for Kaelyss. Mage Hunters are rat 6 with range 12 guns. Light jacks beware PoW 10 shots with 3d6. Warcaster beware if it’s backlashed. POW 9 +4D6 if they charge a jack. If they CRA it it would pack a big punch against a heavy.

- Wow, in a game that has gone jack heavy, we have the only unit that specifically does more damage to jacks. The extra die on damage from a POW 10 means an average of 2 points on an ARM 18. Now if we combine this with Kaelyssa, we have the perfect unit for a Backlash assassination. A full unit will do 20 to the jack and 10 to the caster, and I'm not even counting what Kaelyssa herself can do.

Mage Hunter Strike Force UA
Mage Hunter UA gives them AD and Phantom Seeker.

- Wait, now the Jack hunters start closer and have Eiryss' phantom seeker bolt. Cue Bond villain hand wringing.

Dawnguard Destors (Cav unit)
Gun fighter, Dual Shot, Unyielding (+2 arm while engaged)

- I'll be honest, the Destors confuse me a little. They are a cav unit so you want to keep them moving, but dual shot means you want to keep them still. Although, you can forfeit your move in melee to shoot twice. Hmm, I guess this is another unit that I am really going to need to my book before I make any decisions about. But if they look anything like their picture, then its guaranteed I am going to buy them.

Stormfall Archers
Range 12 power 12 3 inch AOE weapons, May choose on of the following attacks (doesn’t have to be as a whole).Brutal Shot, Snipe, Star Strike – no damage but suffers fire.

- It's been spoiled that they are RAT 5, so the chances of a brutal shot going off are slim unless the target is KD'd or a stationary jack due to Kaelyssa. Snipe makes them Range 16 AoEs which is really nice in the opening stages. Star fall looks powerful, but you'll only get 3 of them on average rolls and if you're up against eFeora you're just feeding her feat.

Souless Escort
Attachment any Retribution Unit, Disbinding (enemy upkeep spells expire), Flank, Mage Static (-5 range to magic attacks against this unit) Souless, Tag Along (does not gain unit abilities except AD)

- Want to make you Cryx buddy cry? Include 3 of these little guys. -3 RNG on a RNG 8 spell hurts a lot. For only 1 point, the escort is a great WA. He's awesome at making sure your unit survives against anything but a serious magic assault. And with the new unit formation rules, you can keep him 6 - 8" behind the unit he is supporting.

Houseguard Halberdiers
CMA, Ranked Attacks, Shield Wall, Reach, Brutal Charge, Set Defense

- These guys are my go to cheap meat shields. 15/18 against a charge is better than TFG and +2 damage on a charge is really nice on those few times you are going to be charging.

Houseguard Halberdiers UA
CMA, Officer, Granted: Reform (after completing action models can move 3″) Ranked Attacks, Team Effort (Once per game +2 attack and damage rolls again enemy models in melee range of another model in unit), Standard Bearer, Reach, Brutal Charge Set Defense

- This UA is really nice, but I don't feel it is as much of an auto include as the sentinel, invictor and Riflemen UAs. The mini feat is nice if you want to put a hurting on something. I would pop it the same time that I charged something beefy, like a jack. The extra 3" move helps them keep up with the rest of the army, as your only going to be walking in shield wall.

Houseguard Riflemen
CRA, Ranked Attacks. Rang 14 power 10.

- The ranked attacks mean that you can get your entire unit in on the CRA, which is nice on a RNG 14 POW 10. A full 10 man CRA will net you a POW 20, more than enough to start threatening Khador Jacks.

Houseguard Riflemen UA
CRA, Officer. Granted: War Tempered (can make CRA models in melee), Ranked Attacks, Whites of Their Eyes (mini feat, gain additional die on range attack rolls against models within 8″).

- There is no reason to ever no take this UA. The mini feat is cool if you are make a bunch of single of 2 man shots. But the greatest thing about this unit is War Tempered. The biggest limitation on CRAs has been that you cant CRA into melee. Well we can, and we can do it with a POW 21 with +11 to the attack roll. Very, very few casters are going to walk away unscathed from that hit. Butcher, Skarre with a good sac lamb roll camping focus and feated, and Karchev are the only ones that come to mind.

Battle Mages
Magic Ability 6
Force Bolt – RNG 10, POW 10 magic on pushes d3 on crit KD.
Beatback.

- The unit of mittens. Really unit I can see their MAT and PS there really isn't a lot to go on. Force bolt is helpful in opening holes for assassination runs.

There isn't a unit that from stats a lone looks like junk. I want to include every single one of these in every list that I make. We have a lot of strong, independent units. If you notice there isn't a lot of inter unit synergy like you would see in Menoth or Cryx. Nor are we a hammer like Khador. We are a snipers bullet, and the only thing in our cross hairs is the enemy caster.