It is 2014 so time to revisit my warcaster choices for the new year. OK, in fairness this is an ongoing process and one that was started last year. However, as regular readers of this blog know, we won’t let a little detail like that prevent us from theorycrafting a few army lists.
The reason for this article is twofold. Firstly, I wanted to get deeper into two specific warcasters in Retribution so I could learn them inside out. For good or bad, this seems to be a habit that has rubbed off on some local players (almost certainly nothing to do with me), but I think this repetition is good practice.
Given that I have already used Kaelyssa and Ravyn a lot, they were out of the running. Garryth is not painted yet, Issyria is not released (actually, she is now, but I don’t have her) and Vyros, the Dawnlord didn’t really appeal. That leaves Ossyan, Rahn, and Epic Vyros. All fine warcasters.
This requires a plan.
As my first problem, I have to decide which one of these three to drop. For now, this will be Ossyan, but only because I’ve used him a lot since the summer. This said, as soon as I have painted Eiryss 3, he is back on the roaster as my third warcaster.
The second reason for this article was to organise some thoughts on how to use these warcasters at both 35 and 50 points, and work out different builds to cover various match ups. Rahn in particular suffers from the matchup problem, which is why I stopped playing him last year. This requires a plan.
Out with the Old and in with the Bald
At 50 points I have a very good idea how I want to use Adeptis Rahn, and that is in his No Quarter Fires from on High theme force. This 50 point list is pretty silly and probably change to some more sensible changes in the future. However at 35 points, the maths just doesn’t work out so I need to do something different.
Given that Rahn is vulnerable it anti-magic tech, I decided to go all in and do lots of offensive magic. This means I can not use him against Circle (ever!), some Retribution match ups, and Menoth is likely to be very very dodgy.
Adeptis Rahn
Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
Phoenix
Phoenix
House Shyeel Battle Mages
Houseguard Halberdiers (6)
Halberdier Officer & Standard
House Shyeel Magister
House Shyeel Magister
House Shyeel Artificer
Arcanist
Still, assuming my opponent doesn’t have any magical defense, Rahn’s feat turn should be rather spectacular and involve a lot of pushing and shoving.
So far, it has been out once against our local Ossrum player and it performed as expected, ie there was a hell of a lot of pushing and shoving (and slamming). In particular I was surprised how useful the Artificer was breaking up defence lines and now I starting to learn what the Magisters do, they are also very impressive.
In the Land of the Blind
My Vyros 2 list is another one I originally designed at 50 points. However for its first outing, it had to be quickly trimmed to 35 points, and whatever I had in my case at the time. This has led to a couple of big changes that seem to work surprisingly well. The first causalities were the Invictors. I like them a lot, but it was either them, or the Halberdiers. And as the Halberdiers have enough armour to prevent them being easy kills, Discordia and Deflection seemed over the top, so enter a Banshee.
Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard
Apsis
Banshee
Griffon
Griffon
Houseguard Halberdiers (10)
Halberdier Officer & Standard
Arcanist
Arcanist
Mage Hunter Assassin
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios
Lanyssa Ryssyll
This list has been out twice, and I have to say I like it alot. Synergy is a thing and enables crazy unreliable attacks to hit, and hard hit. This said, I think I need more Griffons at higher points levels because they die really fast. Especially the turn after one of them has murdered a heavy by itself….
This means the Invictors will probably also get dropped from Vyros’ big list as well, assuming I find the the will, and the time, to build and paint three more light myrmidons. At least Ossyan still loves the gun toting Dawnguard.
Escalation
Beyond this two lists obviously lie their bigger 50 point versions, but that will have to wait for another time. For now my next task will be to get the Houseguard Thane built and painted, together with Eiryss 3 and Nayl.
Yes, I did say Nayl…
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