Warmachine/Hordes: Tempest Blazers Analysis and Video Battle Report

Cygnar players have recently seen reinforcements in the form of the Tempest Blazers Light Cavalry Unit.  As a ranged skirmish unit that can harass from a distance, they bring something brand new to the table for Cygnar, but are they worth the cost of entry?

Let’s start by talking about the actual models themselves.  For the unboxing pictures, you can check our original article on it here.  The Tempest Blazers come in a box of 5 large-based models.  Each model consists of a three-part plastic horse and the metal rider, which is made of the saddle and body, most requiring that an arm or two be glued into place.  The horses are actually stand-alone models.  Putting them together was quick enough, but as you can see below, hiding the joins at the neck and up the torso required some epoxy work.  While rubber shaping tools will make this step quick and easy, you can do it with just your wet fingers to get a nice, smooth transition without leaving fingerprints.  I didn’t actually apply putty over all the breaks, as most of the back will be completely obscured by the saddle anyway.

I painted the riders and horses separately, mounting the riders to bases with a pin running into the bottom of the saddle to hold it steady.  This made the difficult work of painting the small details easier, as handling a 30mm base is markedly easier than a 50mm base.  Once both models were painted separately, I glued them together, and then they were ready for the table.

Looking at the rules for the Tempest Blazers, their role on the table seems pretty obvious to me: ranged skirmishers.  With SPD 9, Tempest Blazers will typically be running full tilt up the flanks on the first turn, putting them up to 25″ upfield if going first (28″ if second).  Pathfinder also helps here quite a bit, combining with their SPD value to give them a great deal of positioning advantage.  Add on the Light Cavalry rules, which allow them to move up to 5″ after their actions, and the Tempest Blazers are a solid, mobile package.  That combination of Pathfinder and Light Cavalry can help quite a bit to protect them for reprisals at range, as they can make their attacks, then disappear back into a forest and out of line of sight.

In terms of offensive potential, Tempest Blazers have what you’d expect from any Arcane Tempest Unit.  RAT 7 is typically high enough such that they’ll have reliable accuracy without help, and the Magical Weapon rule on their Magelock Pistols give them applicability against Incorporeal models or things like Protectorate warjacks under Safe Passage or models affected by Wind Wall.  At POW 10, their base damage output isn’t particularly exciting, but their attack types are what give them teeth.

Like all gun mages, Tempest Blazers have three different attack types to choose from when making ranged attacks: Brutal Damage, Blessed, and Electro Leap.

Brutal Damage grants the model an additional die on their damage roll, giving them a role to play against high-ARM or multi-wound targets like warjacks, warbeasts, solos, warcasters, warlocks, or 5-/8-wound infantry.  The combination of their already impressive RAT 7 with Cygnar’s abundance of accuracy buffs can potentially make Brutal Damage shots a game ender if they the Blazers can draw a bead on the enemy warcaster or warlock, and with their incredible SPD value, making that happen isn’t at all out-of-the-question.  It’s also handy for breaking up formations of infantry in Defensive Line or Shield Wall so that the rest can be shot with Electro Leap shots.

Blessed allows the Blazers to ignore spell effects that add to a model’s ARM or DEF.  This gives Tempest Blazers a way of going after frontline troops like Winterguard under Iron Flesh, Exemplar Errants under Defenders Ward, or entire armies affected by Deflection.  While it will ignore defensive animi that are cast by warlocks like Tenacity or Winter Coat as doing so counts as a spell, it will not ignore animi cast by warbeasts.  This attack type will most likely be the least used, as using it to go after infantry significantly reduces the unit’s overall potential model removal over Electro Leap, but when you absolutely need to kill a few ARM- or DEF-buffed models, you’ll be happy you have it.

Electro Leap is arguably where Tempest Blazers have the most potential.  When using Electro Leap, if a Tempest Blazer hits a model with a ranged attack, it can also inflict an unboostable POW 10 electrical damage roll to the nearest model within 4″ of the target.  The most obvious use for this ability is to tear up formations of light-ARM infantry with a maximum, unbuffed potential of killing ten models per-activation.  Application of Electro Leap goes way beyond this, though.  It can be used to clear enemy infantry off of an engaged Stormwall by firing at the DEF 10 colossal that doesn’t get to benefit from being in-melee.  It be used to attack models that you might not otherwise have an affect on by shooting hittable targets in the vicinity.  Getting mileage out of Electro Leap is usually pretty easy; you just need to keep your eyes open and your imagination running.

In terms of survivability, Tempest Blazers rely on three things: positioning, their high DEF, and their multiple wounds.  The positioning advantage comes from their RNG 10 attacks, Pathfinder, and the 5″, light cavalry move.  This can be increased further by adding in Snipe with Stryker1 or Caine1 to make their maximum shooting range 14″ instead.  At DEF 15, they will be difficult to hit, particularly at range or with spells unless some type of buff is applied or the attacker can boost the roll, making them largely safe from most infantry-based shooting.  Like with Snipe, this can be increased with spells like Blur on Stryker1, Caine1, or Caine2 or Deceleration on Haley2.  At ARM 13, Blazers are very fragile, but with five wounds they should be able to eat a blast damage roll or two before dying.  If these threats are present, look to ARM buffs like Deflection on Nemo1 and Stryker1 or Arcane Shield on the Journeyman Warcaster, Stryker1, or Haley1.

When I sat down to pair Tempest Blazers with a warcaster, I thought hard about what they do well and what they could use some help with.  As far as I see it, their big weakness is against high-ARM.  I had originally thought about Stealth being a problem, but my experience with Tharn Wolf Riders has informed me that ranged infantry with SPD 9 can typically get close enough to negate the Stealth bonus when they need to, particularly against closing melee troops like Bane Thralls.  Anyway, I wanted to play a ranged-heavy list that would be a nice complement to my balanced Stryker1 list, so I decided to run with either Captain Kara Sloan or Major Marcus “Siege” Brisbane.  I’m feeling Siege pretty strongly lately, so I’m going to go with him…

Major Markus ‘Siege’ Brisbane (*5pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Tempest Blazers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)

When I look at Siege, I immediately want to include Reinholdt so that he can shoot that gun of his twice, so he goes in the list.  I also like being able to just completely destroy a heavy at range, so it’s either Stormwall or an Avenger and a Defender.  I just can’t quit the Stormwall lately, so it’s in as well (big surprise).

Any ranged-heavy army will benefit from the presence of Rangers thanks to their Mark Target rule, which grants an accuracy buff whenever I shoot a model within 5″ of a Ranger.  This left me with eight points to play around with.  I decided to add Gorman for additional threat against high-ARM warjacks with his Rust Bomb rule as well as his ever-terrifying Black Oil attack.  He can also keep Siege protected with his 3″ smoke cloud.  Then I added in Arlan Strangeways for Repair.  Honestly, I could go with a minimum unit of Field Mechaniks instead, but Strangeways isn’t in many of my other lists, so I’m not particularly worried about character restrictions for tournament environments.  Then I put in the Black 13th.  Like the Blazers, the Black 13th are very accurate and can fill a variety of roles.  They’re cheap, effective, and they pair well with both Siege and the Stormwall’s Lightning Pods, which Ryan can use as targets for her Mage Storm attack, putting another AOE on the board that infantry will not want to wander into or through.  With my remaining points, I’ll throw in Eiryss2 and Ragman.

Here’s my first outing with the army:

Had I the ability to take things back, I would have killed his Gladiator on the right flank, then gone after Hakaar, as this would have allowed Siege to stay further back and avoid getting crushed if Hakaar didn’t die, and it would still have denied Draxos the ability to Rush his Bronzeback, leaving it a lowly SPD 4 without Pathfinder, making it much easier to deal with on the following turn.

My second game with the Blazers was against another Cygnar player who was also running Blazers amusingly enough.  In that game, he used his Blazers to kill my support by targeting my Stormwall with Electro Leap attacks, as it was right next to both my Squire and a few Rangers.  I was able to correct this problem by having Arlan Strangeways, who is immune to Electrical damage, move into base contact with the Stormwall so that he could harmlessly eat the Electro Leaps.  My own Blazers had a solid showing as well, moving into ‘Ol Rowdy’s rear arc to shoot him with Brutal Damage shots, disrupting Forge Guard formations with Brutal Damage shots, then shooting the stragglers without the benefit of Defensive Line with Electro Leap shots.

While Tempest Blazers are still very new, I think that they’re a solid addition to Cygnar.  I’m definitely a fan of having both Epic Eiryss and a unit of Rangers around to really increase their effectiveness.  What are your thoughts, internet?

Author: relasine

Relasine is a veteran tabletop wargamer with over 10 years of experience. His specialty is Privateer Press' Warmachine & Hordes gamesystem. He began writing for BoLS in 2010.