Warmachine: Eradicators 101

The Eradicators are the final infantry unit to be released for Convergence of Cyriss.  How do they stack up against the faction’s other troop options?

First off, points cost.  At 9 points for a 5-man medium base unit, these guys are on par with Perforators or Reciprocators.  They’re 1.5 times more expensive than the small-based chaff (Obstructors) or second-wave troop clearing unit (Reductors), so can they do enough work to justify their cost?

Unlike the other 5 man units, the Eradicators have 2 initial melee attacks each, which solves one of the common problems with medium bases, namely volume of attacks.  They don’t have reach, but Side Step means they can still get to more than one target (albeit at less initial threat range than the Reciprocators with reach).  Pow 12 isn’t the highest damage in the faction, but it’s sufficient to deal with most infantry, as well as threaten heavies on the charge.  And thanks to the Variable special rule, the Eradicators can choose to be an impressive mat 9.  Combined with Flare and accuracy buffs from Aurora, Lucant, or Syntherion, they’re going to hit their target.  

In terms of overall damage output on a per-model basis, they outperform Perforators or Reciprocators against high-defense low-armor Hordes heavies, but struggle to compete against arm 19 or higher.  It’s also not feasible to get more than 3 of them on a large-base target, whereas Reciprocators with reach can often charge a single target with the whole unit.  They’re definitely better at clearing infantry than either of their medium base cousins.   However, they’re not quite in the same realm as Reductors (a 6″ spray may seem short, but it’s shocking how many models you can get in practice, especially if they’ve bunched up on a target).

As for survivability, the other Variable option of bucklers for +2 arm puts them well above the Perforators’ victim stats, while still being able to run forward faster than Reciprocators in shield wall.  On the other hand, they’ll die to charges that Reciprocators would laugh at, due to 2 more defense and 3 more armor.  Eradicators will shrug off pow10 shooting, but dedicated gunlines (e.g. Signs and Portents on pow 12 shots) will tear them apart.  Lucant’s deceleration should help considerably here, otherwise they aren’t in the same league as Reciprocators as far as durability to shooting.  

In the end, they can’t kill hard targets as effectively as Perforators, can’t take a hit as effectively as Reciprocators, and can’t clear infantry quite as effectively as Reductors.  But they can do a reasonable job at any of those roles, which makes them a versatile addition to the faction.