We’ve already seen a ton of models from Vengeance. But the brand new book still has a handful of unseen gems – till now…
It’s been a long time since Colossals, and in that time we’ve already seen a ton of models from Vengeance released to store shelves, previewed in No Quarter, and on Matt Wilson’s Twitter feed. Let’s look at those few remaining stragglers that haven’t clawed their way out of the book yet.
With the exception of Mercs and Convergence, every faction gets five new entries in this book: a Warcaster, a warjack, a unit, a “junior” warcaster and either a solo or unit attachment.
Cygnar
So let’s see… what have we seen for Cygnar already? For the unit we have the Tempest Blazers. These were the first of the Vengeance Light Cavalry units to be released. That was almost a year ago. The Cygnaran solo was the Stormblade Captain. He’s another one that’s been around for a little while. Lieutenant Allison Jakes is their warcaster in training. Her rules were spoiled awhile back as part of the Warmachine Tactics Kickstarter (be forewarned that link will open a PDF). If you want to get an idea of what she looks like, Xanadu was nice enough to post pictures of her, and all the other novice warcasters in the lounge. While those are the Kickstarter limited edition sculpts, I suspect that the general release versions will just be reposes of the same digital sculpts. Lord General Coleman Stryker is the new Cygnaran Warcaster. If you haven’t seen his card yet, a Google search will bring up an image of it.
So that just leaves Reliant: the new heavy ‘jack based on the Stormclad Chassis. As you can see in the pic above, this guy packs a voltaic Pulse Hammer as well as a Stormbringer for it’s ranged weapon. First, the obvious. This guy has the same stats as a Stormclad – minus the Storm Accumulator and the shield of course. It’s gun is RoF 1, has a nice respectable twelve inch range, and a nice respectable POW of 13. It has a 3″ AoE, and this AoE that will remain in play for a round (whether it hits or not) inflicting POW 10 electrical damage on anyone entering it or stopping in it. The Pulse Hammer also has an AoE strangely enough. The P+S 17 Hammer doesn’t do anything special unless it gets a critical hit. If it does it will lay down a 4″ AoE on the model hit that will cause any models not immune to electricity within the AoE to become stationary for a round. Hopefully that will make up for the lack of reach. Not to shabby for an 8 point ‘jack.
While that might be the final model for Cygnar, there’s still General Stryker’s Tier list to discuss. I don’t think it’s been spoiled yet.
It’s very restrictive. No light warjacks allowed, and the only character ‘jack you can take is Rowdy. Only Cavalry units may be taken. For solos we’re looking at Storm Knight and Arcane Tempest Solos only. Additionally, it will allow the inclusion of Storm Striders. If you follow these restrictions you can take an extra unit of Storm Lances, at Tier 1. If you take Laddermore, Tier 2 gives those same knights Pathfinder turn 1. If you take at least 2 warjacks, Tier 3 will give them +2 SPD turn 1. At Tier 4, cavalry units will have their cost decreased by a point if you take at least two of them. Not a lot of options, but some will definitely find it worth it for the extra Storm Lances.
Menoth
For the Protectorate we’ve seen the Flamebringers, we’ve seen the Bastion Seneschal, we’ve seen Initiate Tristan Durant in that same PDF I just linked, and on Matt Wilson’s Twitter feed we’ve seen Reznik Wrath of ages.
Indictor is the only guy left. You guessed it he has Guardian stats, but no Arc Node. The rest is pretty interesting as well. He possesses what is, as far as I’m aware, an entirely new rule: Consecration. Enemy models within 5″ of him cannot cast, upkeep, or channel spells. And he just does this – he doesn’t even have to spend a focus or anything. Additionally he has the Sacred Ward rule making him immune to enemy spells. As expected that shield works, like most other shields adding a couple points to his armor in the front arc and giving him a weak P+S 12 attack. This makes him pretty tanky which is good since he will need to be in the middle of things to use Consecration. While Banisher, that cool glowy sword of his has the Blessed rule, it’s P+S is pretty standard for Protectorate at a 17. At 8 points this guy will have to fight for his spot in a lot of lists since he costs the same points as Protectorate favorites the Reckoner and the Vanquisher. With SPD 4 and no Reach, a lot of Protectorate players may find him a hard sell despite his cool abilities.
Unlike Stryker, Reznik, Wrath of Ages has a pretty open Tier. All non character warjacks are allowed (which means Scourge of Heresy is a go because of special issue) as are all Exemplar units, and Zealots, and Choir. You can also bring along Exemplar solos, Reclaimers, Wracks, and a Vessel of Judgment. To reward you for sticking to these limitations, Wrack solos become FA U, and Reznik can suck focus off as many as he wants turn 1. At Tier 2, including a unit of Cinerators will give all medium based units advance move. If you take two reclaimer solos, models with Cenotaph and Gatekeeper get a soul to start the game with. Right now only Sanctifiers and Reclaimers respectively have those abilities, but the wording implies we might get more some day. Lastly at Tier 4 you get a 1 point discount on huge based models if you include at least two that aren’t your warcaster.
For their new warjack the northmen get Grolar. Did you know a Grolar is what people call a half polar bear half grizzly bear? Neither did I. I googled Grolar to see if it was some ancient Russian name or something. I was not expecting what I found.
He has Kodiak stats of course, and like a Kodiak, has the Pathfinder rule. No Double Boiler though. Instead he has the fleet rule. If he spends a Focus he’ll get an extra 2″ of movement for a round. Some of the more outrageous rumors I was reading about this guy are true. He does indeed have a RoF 5 gun: the Auto Cannon. It has the Double Strike rule allowing it to make two extra attacks per focus spent. The downside is it has a mediocre RNG and POW of 8 and 12 respectively. It also has Gun Fighter rule which means with it’s open fist and Piston Hammer it can make three initial attacks. And to make it even sweeter it has Virtuoso as well. As for the Piston Hammer, it’s a nice solid P+S 18. No Reach, but it has the Ram special rule. It’s like Beat Back but also knocks it’s target down. I feel like there’s another model out there with this rule but I’m blanking on it… At 9 points, this is the most expensive warjack so far.
So what is Butcher 3’s Tier you ask? He can take non-character warjacks, Doom Reaver and Winter Guard Units, Fenris, Manhunters, Yuri the Axe, a War Dog, Winter Guard solos, and yes the Gun Carriage. For Tier 1 (you’re going to love this) the FA of War Dogs goes up for every warjack in the army, and you can attach any number of War Dogs. For Tier 2 everyone gets Pathfinder first turn if you take Yuri. For Tier 3 if you take a Gun Carriage, every Gun Carriage you take will let you place a 4″ rough terrain template within 20″ of your table edge . Tier 4 gives you a 1 point reduction in cost for Pathfinder warjacks as long as you take at least two of them. Good thing there’s a sweet new Pathfinder ‘jack in Vengeance.
All I can think about right now is the Butcher and a bunch of Doom Reavers being followed around by a pack of Bloodthirsty hounds. Glorious. Too bad I don’t play Khador.
Cryx So far for Cryx we’ve seen rules for Goreshade Lord of Ruin, the Bane Riders, and the Skarlock Commander in No Quarter, and Aiakos Scourge of the Meredius in that same PDF. So what’s the new thing?
Cryx’s new warjack is the Inflictor. It has a Soul Drive like a Seether, and it’s stats are almost identical to a Seether – but with one less MAT, no Terror, and no Aggressive. As promised during the last episode of Primecast, this guy has a Reach Weapon (our first Reach Jack in Vengeance so far), a shield, and the Shield Guard rule. His main weapon, Stinger, has critical poison and at P+S 16 is a bit more pillow fisted than I expected – presumably to compensate for that extra potential damage output. But given all the debuffs Cryx can bring, I think he’s pretty exciting. Now Cryx players can have Shield Guard in almost all of their tier lists. And since that shield is a Shield Claw, it swings at a surprisingly high P+S 13. And 8 points seems like just the right cost for him.
As for Goreshade 3s Tier, the one in this thread on the PP forums is correct but I will reiterate nonetheless. In his Theme Force, the Lord of Ruin may take any non-character Warjacks, any Bane Units, any Thrall units, any Bane Solos, and any Thrall Solos. Tier 1 will let him take that extra unit of Bane Cav. If you include any Bane Cav, Tier 2 gives you +1 to starting roll. Take at least one Desecrator and all amphibious warjacks go down a point in cost. Yes that includes Krakens. Finally if you take a mechanithrall unit and a Kraken, any Krakens get one corpse token per mechanithrall unit. Although I guess that wording is a bit redundant since you can’t get a bonus for a unit you don’t take.
Except it has been mostly spoiled as well. Matt Wilson again! The gun is not the same as a normal Phoenix, which I didn’t notice at first. The Halation Cannon is range 10, does Fire Type Damage, is a Magical Weapon, and has the Flame Burst special rule. Additionally the warjack is Special Issue: Vyros. It’s MAT and RAT are also each a point higher than a normal Phoenix. Sorry I missed these details when the article first went live. The only unknown that remains is it’s point cost. Would you like to know it? It’s 12. Definitely a fair price for this beast.
And that just leaves us with Issyria and her theme force. She may bring any non-character Myrmidons with Field Generators, Dawnguard Invictors, Dawnguard Sentinels, Houseguard Units, Arcanists, Dawnguard Scyirs, Houseguard Solos, and Sylyss. She’s the only one with no Battle Engine. At Tier 1 all non character solos get an FA bump of 1. At Tier 2, if you include any Houseguard units, warrior models get +2 SPD first turn. At Tier 3, if you have two Dawnguard units, one of them can have a free attachment ignoring FA. Finally at Tier 4, as long as you have at least one Arc Node, you can roll two dice and keep the Highest for starting roll.
Mercs And for us Merc players… we’ve already seen it all. Gastone is the only unreleased Merc model from Vengeance. While this was all but confirmed at Templecon, I know a lot of people were holding out hope for a new jack based on the Mangler chassis. No luck there I’m afraid. So to anyone who wants to bemoan the lack of mercs in Vengeance I have one word: Cephalyx. We’ll have to wait a little longer than all these main line faction players to get new warcasters, but it looks like it will be worth it.
And Convergence players… nothing for you. Hope you all understood the limited nature of your faction when you boarded that train.
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~Hope you enjoyed! I’m pretty sure I got everything correct. Please feel free to ask questions about any omissions I might have made. I’ll try to be back soon with a rundown of the fluff, but I’ve got to read it all first!
Ben Willimans is a Professional Painter and Columnist at Bell of Lost Souls. He has been involved in the hobby and art side of miniatures and the tabletop gaming industry for over 20 years. He has won multiple national painting awards.
