Dark Age Fanaticism Part 2: The Prevailers
With all the models in Fanaticism, the Prevailer Council is now the largest subfaction of the Forsaken. There are 18 subfaction-specific models for these guys; three times what any individual Saint can take – although three of them are purchased along with other models. Additionally the Prevailers have access to all the generic Forsaken like Banes, Strikes, etc.
If you’re still new to Dark Age, reading the rules or my old primer about the game will help you understand a lot of what I’m about to discuss. While my gameplay article was written about the previous version of the game, most of the core principles remain the same.
Once again I’m going to start off with Lilith. For 100 points she has a lot of great abilities to offer. She’s nimble with a DF of three but her AR is kind of low at 14 and she only has 3 Action Points and 2 Wounds. She does get a little added survivability from the Parry and Human Shield abilities.
Her chem gun is a very cool weapon that lets her choose from a bunch of different abilities when she uses it: Acid, Blind Cauterize, Paralyzing Poison, Poison 16, and Rot. It has a super low PW of 1, but with a multiplier of 3 it might still cause some damage. She can also make a friendly unit go berserk which will make it fight harder at the risk of possibly maybe dying during the next lingering effects phase. The coolest thing about her might be the fact that she has Command (infinite) so you can always activate another model right after you finish with Lilith. This is great in I-go-you-go games like Dark Age since it can really throw off your opponent’s plans.
Marius really wants to beat you with that huge sword he has. With Assault 10, PW 8, Brutal, and Extreme Damage, this is not a weapon you want to be on the receiving end of. While Marius clearly has a role taking down hard targets, he has a very useful passive ability in Righteous Charge. When he charges he can place two models within 8″ into base contact with the enemy. My first instinct is to put them behind whatever Marius charged. After he kills it, they’ll be free to wreak havoc on whatever he doesn’t manage to mop up. With Command 2 he can make sure at least one of those models activates right after he finishes.
He’s also pretty tough to bring down with Armor 20 and Tough as Nails. And if 3 Wounds seems like too few for you, his little buddies Nabu and Yael can each take a wound for him using the My Blood for Your Blood ability – provided they’re within 4 inches of him. They don’t have to use it on Marius if they don’t want to. My Blood for Your Blood can be used on any model. You want these little guys to stay alive if they can though. Nabu allows Marius to shrug off counters with the Field Order: Enhanced Constitution ability, while Yael will make him immune to Psychogenics with the Field Order: Defiance ability. Both of these abilities are passive, so as long as they are keeping up with their boss, the two little cherubs will be able to shoot their dart guns, which have an incredibly low PW, but make up for it with the Poison 16 ability.
Esh is a cheaper choice at just 125 points. He’s not as well armored as Marius with just a 16, but he’s a lot more nimble with a DF of 4. He does have 3 Wounds, and Tough as Nails will help keep a botched armor save from completely ruining his day. He can do a couple of tricks with that scythe of his, swinging it in an Arc at PW 8 to hopefully hit multiple opponents, or using it with RE and Sunder Armor at PW 6×2. Whichever way he uses it it has the Decapitate rule. On a critical hit it causes an extra point of damage. With 4 AP he’ll be swinging that scythe a lot.
He’s also the first Forsaken model we’ll be looking at with a Psychogenic ability. No the Forsaken haven’t been mutating, Lilith has created a bunch of different gadgets that give models Psychogenic type abilities. For Esh it’s that weird collar around his neck. It gives him the Final Judgement power (Scroll down a bit to get to the Prevailer Psychogenics). If he hits a model with a melee attack, and he can roll under a 14, they receive a Final Judgement counter. If someone with one of these counters can’t pass a PS check at -2, they’ll lose a wound.
His little Cherub buddy Zephon also brings some cool abilities to the table. It has the same stat line, weapons and My Blood for Your Blood ability as the other cherubs, but the Mark for Death ability it comes with might be the coolest thing about it. It can pick a model within 12″ and line of sight to be marked. All friendly models will get a +1 to AS and PW on all attacks made against that model for the rest of the round.
Michael is the first of our three Archangels. While they share a common stat line, all their abilities are a bit different. They each come with a very impressive AR value of 20 and three wounds. 4 AP means they’ll get to make plenty of attacks. And while DF 5 isn’t fantastic it’s good enough that your opponents will miss these guys from time to time. None of their melee attacks run any risk of malfunctioning, although all their ranged attacks will do so on a 19+. They also all have Goes Out With a Bang to ruin it for anyone who kills them.
Another thing all the Arcangels can do is Vault, making a move that ignores terrain and other models. If you can land Michael in the middle of a bunch of enemies, he can unleash a Purgation attack. On a successful hit, this melee Assault Group will allow you to place a 3″ blast template on your target which will hopefully mop up multiple enemies. 3″ is the radius, not the diameter fyi, so we are talking about a big template here. Unfotunately it’s only RF 1, so use it wisely. After he’s blown up some grunts, Michael can move on to tougher prey. Like Marius he wields an Assault 10 PW 8 sword, although Michael’s lacks Extreme Damage. Instead it has Cauterize (which prevents healing) and Fire, which can be almost as nasty as Extreme Damage. Models on fire can roll to try to put themselves out, succeeding in doing so on a 10 or less. If they fail they can try again. Each time they do this they must spend an AP. If they can’t put themselves out they’ll take a PW 7 hit. So it will be harder for Michaels to kill models outright than Marius, but they might end up wasting all their AP on Fire rolls, meaning they still won’t be causing you any trouble. Michael’s big shield isn’t just for show either. It has the Blok Stopper ability giving Michael and any models obscured by his base light cover.
Gabriel is probably the least subtle of the three Archangels. Those boxes on his shoulders project his Angelic Choir, a spray attack which, while only RF 1 is still super accurate with Assault 10, and has a decent PW of 4×2. The really important part is it will knock models Prone on a roll of 12 or less, and once that happens, Gabe here will start swinging his Hammer of Faith. While this hammer doesn’t initially seem that impressive (impressive I guess being a relative term here) with an AS of 8 and a PW of 7, it makes up for it with the Finishing Blow ability. This gives it an extra power multiplier and Extreme Damage against prone targets. And if KP 12 seems a little too uncertain for you, he can spend an AP on the Tremor ability which will cause KP 14 on all models within 2.” Yep. Gabe here can be quite the beatstick. His hammer even has Proximity Strike, like Michael’s Purgation. It’s blast is only a 1″ though so it won’t hit nearly as many guys.
Raphael is more of a gentle soul. What makes him special is his God’s Judgement Assault Group. This Assault group contains the Benediction “attack” which is actually used to heal friendly models within 6″. But the God’s Judgement Assault Group has has a second attack. The other is Damnation, a Stream attack that is AS and PW 8. When you use God’s Judgement you’ll have to choose between Benediction or Damanation. Tough decision I know; heal two models per turn or shoot twice with an awesome Stream Attack. Of course you can always do one of each. To go with Benediction, he has the Hang in There Boys ability to make sure Single wound models stick around long enough to get healed. The downside is Benediction can only heal a model once per game. I guess I’ll need to make some “already healed by Benedicion” counters. Raph’s Spear Strike is a little less exciting but still useful. It’s actually weaker than his Stream with only PW 6. It does have the Pierce ability however, which can allow it to hit a second model within an inch of the original target, but with a -2 to its PW.
The Skylancer here has some kinda tricky rules for a rank and file troop. She has a Power Generator like Saint John. If she elects to power her armor, she gets a couple extra movement and can essentially Vault. But then she won’t be able to power her Shock Lance and it’s attack doesn’t get to use a Spray. Whether it uses Spray or not, it will always have a fairly decent AS of 7, along with the Point Blank, and Stun abilities. Stun is great against big lumbering power houses like Abominations and what-not that have Assault groups with lots of attacks but only 3 AP. If you do power up that Shock Lance, it not only becomes a spray but it gets Cauterize and Knockback 12. The downside is its Mal drops from a 20 to an 18, and it’s RF drops from a 2 to a 1.
The Sight of the Prevailers is the leader version of the Skylancers. He does so much more for just an extra 20 points you’ll probably always try to take him over a standard Skylancer. His weapons are the same but when he shoots them he does so with an AS 8. To top it off his DF drops from a 3 to a 2 (Defense is the one stat where low is good), and he gets an extra wound. He can also make an AS 7 Fury of the Heavens Psychogenic Attack with a RNG of 8, a PW of 5, a Blast 1, and the Cauterize ability. It will gain a power multiplier against the highest AR model it hits and if there are any Skylancers nearby it gets an extra PW for each of them.
Yeah now that’s what I’m talking about. We can now count Dark Age among the many games with battle nuns. The Red Sisters can swing that big sword in an Arc to hit multiple enemies but only once per activation. After that its just normal swings, but with an added power multiplier. The Red Sisters have two wounds, and hit harder if they’ve been hurt. They also have retaliation so be careful. If you miss them with a melee attack they may hit you back. And with DF 4 they can be kinda tricky to hit.
At only 50 points, Warknights are the most basic troops for the Prevailers so far. Their AS 6 PW 6 spears have Reach and the Pierce ability just like Raphael’s spear. They have a very respectable AR stat of 18 which will go up to 20 if they stand base to base with another Warknight thanks to Shield Formation. They can also Push enemy models around. They don’t even have to hit to do this. As long as they have an AP to spend, once per Activation they can make a model go 3″ directly away from them, follow up after that model, and then make an attack against it. Very useful for scenarios if your opponent is trying to put bodies in your way to keep you from an objective. But you can only Push models of equal or smaller base size.
There are two other types of warknights. The warknight bondsman trades in his War Trident for a RN 6 Net Launcher that will Entangle your foes. Models with Entagle counters are automatically prone and can’t make melee attacks unless they spend an AP to get rid of the counter. The Net Launcher has Blast 2, so you can tangle up several enemies at once.
Finally there is the Warknight Captain. He’s that snappy looking fellow in the middle there. He’s traded in his War Trident for a Tribute Strike. It lacks Reach and Pierce, but gains the Finishing Blow ability we saw earlier on Gabriel’s hammer. Combos nicely with that Net Launcher don’t you think? And just in case that net launcher should miss, the good Captain has the Weight of Sin Psychogenic ability which can cause a lot of enemies to go Prone, and maybe even keep them that way.
Last of all is our cheapest model yet, the Repentant. They don’t have much going for them. AR 10, DF 6, and they’re a pitiful AS 4 with that Razor Club. But these 30 point losers have an unexpected surprise. They can all use the Penitence Blast Psychogenic, which will place a 2″ blast on themselves that will cause a PW 6 to any model that fails a PS check. The attack also causes Stun and Horrible Death. Of course there’s also a good chance that they’ll kill themselves in the process.
Crimson Mother 65
Red Sister x2 150
Total 495
I haven’t played enough Dark Age to really know what to expect, but the plan is to have Marius deliver the Red Sisters using furious charge after Lilith has made one of them Berserk. Then hopefully the sister will go nuts behind enemy lines killing everything she can. The Sisters have a good PS stat so she has good odds that she’ll pass her PS check for the Volatile Augmentation. If she fails she still has another wound left. If she gets hit again, I can always try to have one of the cherubs sacrifice itself to keep her alive. Hmmm… Seems ok on paper…
~Hope you guys are enjoying all this Dark Age. I’ll be back soon to discuss the other Forsaken released in Fanaticism. If you like everything so far you can go look through all the cards at the Dark Age downloads page.
