We're #2! Retribution Success at Blood, Sweat, and Tiers

Blood, Sweat, and Tiers happened yesterday in Flint. Having never played them up there, I decided to pack my Retribution. The lists were required to meet Tier 1 minimum. I ended up taking Tier 2 Rahn and Tier 4 Dawn's Talon Vyros (from No Quarter 35). The metagame was pretty varied this time around. (1 Cygnar [Kraye], 1 Khador [eIrusk], 2 Cryx [Mortenebra, Mortenebra/Terminus], 2 Retribution [Kaelyssa/Vyros Book, Vyros NQ/Rahn], 2 Trollblood [pDoomshaper, Calandra], 1 Circle [Kromac], 2 Legion [eThagrosh, Vayl/Rhyas NQ].) I happened to draw the bye first round; I seem to have a thing for doing that lately. (Remember Hardcore?)

Second round I'm up against epic Irusk. I chose to use Vyros (though in hindsight Rahn would've been nice considering Force Field versus Bombards). We were playing Gaining Ground. Rifle Corps try to bog up the middle of the board with Suppressing Fire, but the army isn't really moving forward. I get my first point after the Phoenix fries a bunch of Winter Guard and my other 'jacks claim the first zone. His Kodiak comes in to try to take care of them, but can't quite squeeze enough damage through. It takes me 2 rounds to counterattack (since Houseguard have trouble breaking armor and my Manticore needed its cortex repaired), but I managed to take care of it. The gun line still wasn't moving to take scenario, though.

The Destroyer, powered by Fire For Effect, was not helping. It did more than enough to that Manticore, and now the Phoenix was getting bombarded. In my last ditch effort I sent it at Behemoth, managing to take out 4 columns and more importantly keeping it away from Vyros. He did drop one boosted bombard on Vyros, but rolled horrible (1-1-2) on boosted damage. I trash the Kodiak finally and manage to keep everything else out of the middle zone, ultimately winning on scenario after attempting some VP-sniping.

It wasn't until after round 3, pairing Rahn and Rhyas, that I realized we were the only 2-0's. This game didn't go so well for me, though. I got way too aggressive with the Phoenix, opting to Combust rather than launch the Halo Cannon after arcing a Chain Blast to take care of some of Rhyas' troops. (I easily could've had Houseguard take care of them while keeping the Phoenix safe.) Discordia didn't fare too well on the other side. I got a War Chief and a good chunk of Typhon with the spray, but I didn't have enough in the way, and it became Carnivean bait from Rhyas' feat.

I counterfeat to attempt to clear out the rest, but my dice were giving up at this point. I roll boxcars on a Repair check to bring my Chimera's arc node back, and I couldn't hit the Harrier on a boosted roll until it was too late. I manage to get Force Hammer off to send the Carnivean back into a wall, but that was the high point of the turn. The Battle Mages weren't rolling too hot either. I ended up losing everything save my free Arcanist, but my other tiebreakers were enough to maintain second.

It feels cheap getting second on technically one win, but I'll take it. My Vyros list worked really well (its own access to Covering Fire helped a lot against those Winter Guard), and while Rahn didn't perform exceptionally well, a lot of it involved bad tactics on my part. So really I can't complain. It is time to take the Retribution off the battlefield for a little while, though; I need to get painting them!

Charging Into the Dawn

I've been putting together my Dawnguard Destors (finally... took a month to get them in), and in the meanwhile I've been looking over ideas on getting them on the field. Retribution's still relatively new, so compared to other factions there are a limited number of synergies available to specific models/units as opposed to, say, Cygnar, since Retribution only has one book's worth of models while Cygnar has six (not including Wrath, obviously). This is a blessing and a curse, as you have less to think about, but fewer options. Regardless, though, I've thought of quite a few.

Destors are heavy cavalry, of course. Their speed is average for cavalry, and their MAT is actually slightly higher, which goes along with the Dawnguard theme. Even their RAT is decent (and also on par with the Invictors), and their ARM is pretty good, especially once you put unyielding into the mix. Destors can play a varied role in the army, as well. On the one hand, they have a pretty good POW charge attack, and they have gunfighter to use their cannons in melee. On the other hand, if they're out of melee, they can take advantage of Dual Shot. (Remember, you cannot gain an aiming bonus if you're in melee, and you can't get your second shot if you don't get an aiming bonus.) It really does go along with the Retribution's theme of having a versatile, dual-threat army.

Some warcasters get better use out of them than others though. Vyros is a fairly obvious choice, as Dual Shot can rack up kills for his feat, plus they can get up to ARM 21 in melee with Inviolable Resolve upkept on them. Vyros is also the only warcaster with a theme force that features them currently (and only in his “Legions of the Dawn” force in Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah). Ravyn is also a pretty good pick, since they can get pretty good range with Snipe, and due to Tall in the Saddle can be screened behind pretty much any front-line infantry, letting them get ample shots in before joining the charge. Obviously Ravyn's feat works very well with Dual Shot as well.

I'm going to mention Rahn too, because of a tactic that allows them to get the charge off that I learned from a friend of mine (only he used eNemo and Storm Lances). Using Polarity Shield will almost guarantee they get the charge, unless the opponent has a ridiculous advancing threat range or superior ranged firepower. (Or pretty good luck... I actually thwarted this plan with Trollkin Scattergunners, who rolled godly on dice, killing 4 and forcing the last to flee from casualties – appropriate, considering the luck I had.) Kaelyssa and Garryth don't get as much from them, though Kaelyssa's feat does help get the charge off in a similar nature to Rahn (while also granting Stealth to avoid having them shot to death), and Garryth can play around with their threat ranges with Mirage upkept on them.

I plan on using them in a gaming session this weekend, at least once with Rahn and possibly with Ravyn as well. (Appropriate, too, since I've just finished painting those two warcasters.) I might throw in a battle report if one of them happens to go well. In either case, the Destors have me excited about cavalry again, and I'm ready to finally let them loose.

Start Your Engines!

Battle engines have been all the talk over at Privateer Press, or at least that's what you'd get by looking at them online. To date, they have previewed two: the Khadoran Gun Carriage in No Quarter 35 and the Retribution Arcantrik Force Generator on Privateer Insider. Funny since Arkanika tends to want to feature Khador and Retribution. Let's take a look at these two monstrosities.

I have mixed feelings on the Gun Carriage. On the one hand, it is fast. Those two horses make the battle engine as fast as a Drakhun, and on top of that it can charge despite not technically having a melee weapon. It does have a mount, though, and the fact that the Gun Carriage is a cavalry model allows it do do something that the other battle engines cannot: make impact attacks. Don't have a specific target in mind? Never fear! You can just trample over any infantry in the way! The trample also grants the Gun Carriage one of the longest threat ranges in the Khadoran arsenal. 22” of threat (10” trample, 12” heavy cannons) are definitely something to be feared, especially with what are essentially Khadoran bombards on each side. In fact, the Gun Carriage can be a cheaper alternative to Behemoth if you plan on using it for artillery support. You lose 2” of basic range, an armor-piercing melee attack, and the ability to boost, but you do get a higher RAT, more speed, and a melee threat that automatically knocks its targets flat, so that even if the Gun Carriage doesn't kill them, you can automatically hit them and finish them off.

I'm surprised at its lack of melee power, actually, since that's one of Khador's greatest strengths. However, the engine can still find uses with several warcasters. Prime Vlad's Signs and Portents is a great example noted in the pages of No Quarter. Strakhov can, under the right conditions, give one a 26” threat range with the heavy cannons if you charge something in his control area. Either version of Sorscha can freeze potential targets and help the accuracy problem, and the Butcher helps with damage. I'd need to see it in play before I make any final judgments, but it seems like something that could prove very useful if played correctly.

The Arcantrik Force Generator is less in-your-face, and it is more about support. It can fire 3 different attacks depending on the situation: one makes the weapon more powerful and adds a rough-terrain AOE. Another slams a target, which can allow some less accurate models (such as Stormfall Archers) to get some more reliable shots in. It can also forget these abilities entirely and take d3+1 shots with a gun that is no slouch, all coming from a fairly respectable RAT. It's also more readily able to protect itself, as it's not screwed in melee thanks to Gunfighter and cannot be charged due to Polarity Field. Plus, once it's at the point where you can aim, it and ranged myrmidons by it get a slight range boost, keeping your 'jacks back until the point where they're needed in melee. In fact, with Ravyn, the Generator can turn the Hydra into a whopping RNG 21 powerhouse if it has 3 focus, which only gets scarier if Ravyn's using her feat and eliminating your need to boost manually.

Of course, Ravyn isn't the only warcaster that can get a nice kick from the Generator. Vyros and Kaelyssa can both use that Range Booster to support their 'jacks when they don't need line of sight to shoot. Rapid Fire can also help get kills in for Vyros' feat, causing those 'jacks to rain even more boosted death. Rahn and Garryth can use their spells to advance the engine slightly with Telekinesis and Mirage respectively, and still gain the aiming bonus while doing so. It's a pretty hefty points investment (as only Discordia and the Phoenix match its cost), but its abilities and general sturdiness help make up for that. I'd have to say I'm more hyped about the Generator than the Gun Carriage at this point.

But will they have an effect on the game? It's hard to say. The battle engines' point costs make them a liability in smaller games due to their base size and point cost, especially since a single heavy warjack or warbeast can destroy a battle engine in a few hits. They can take a fair amount of damage and can be repaired, but how survivable are they truly? Only experience will tell, and we won't have any of that until the Gun Carriage hits shelves next month. Stay tuned once this time comes around, as I'm sure there'll be at least one battle report involving a battle engine once the time comes.