Hordes: The Devastation of Legion – New Unit Reviews
What’s up folks!? It’s Trevy the Great here again from Way of the Swan to talk some Warmachine and Hordes! – Legion Time!
This time in we’ll move north to the frozen wastelands the nightmarish creations of the Legion of Everblight call home and cover their terrifying new living war machines released in Devastation!
Talons of Everblight
First up is the game’s first ever dual-Warlock unit; the Talons of Everblight. Featuring the twin sisters Rhyas and Saeryn, this unit opens up some brand new and fascinating design space for the game. While they were initially put down by the community for their low WBP, necessity for an immense amount of Fury each turn and bizarre mechanics, the amount of table time they’ve seen since their first release at Lock & Load has shown that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. So what makes this weird collection of rules a strong Warlock?
First off; Rhyas is a badass. As the epitome of martial prowess, she can jump into the fray with acrobatics and waste a heavy ‘jack or ‘beast fairly easily, especially if she can get some tasty critical hits in there. With Flashing Blade to clear infantry and the help of animi like Wraithbane or Predator’s Instinct her damage output is immense. Even after she kills something super dead she can be a pain to remove, sitting safely at 17/15 with Tenacity and Riposte if you’re dumb enough to miss her. Even if you manage to remove her, she’s back next turn with the feat, ready to stab another thing you love.
On top of that, the twin’s combined spell lists are a powerful toolbox; Occultation and Banishing Ward are in there to protect the Warlocks or their army early on and Marked for Death lets them clear high-DEF infantry extremely well, especially with the number of channelers Saeryn can bring to the table. Even Onslaught and Psychic Vampire have their uses in specific matchups! When Saeryn’s not keeping her sister alive and debuffing the enemy, she can use Rhyas to throw out Razor Winds and clear even more enemy models, giving the unit a very high damage output and multiple strong assassination runs; especially with the Feat still available.
Being the first dual-Warlock unit is both a blessing and a curse; on one hand, it can be very difficult to remove both sisters, making assassination often impossible. Even if only one goes down, with the Feat to bring her back it’s often inadvisable to even try and kill them. Unfortunately having only 8 boxes each makes camping transfers a necessity and essentially requires every attack to be transferred, especially from powerful attacks. It’s rare when the Talons can safely take a low damage roll without transferring it because with their low ARM, even glancing blows often kill them. CMD 8 is a hindrance as well and makes the two very difficult to play since Rhyas is often held back from charging as far forward as she wants by her sister. These drawbacks are significant and keep the Talons from the upper tier of Legion’s strong stable of Warlocks, but they are still a legitimate threat and sure to be a common sight in many Legion armies from here on out.
Blightbringer
Despite how super cool the Talons are, they aren’t the most powerful or Faction-defining release that Legion received in Devastation. That title belongs to the hideous Blightbringer; the oversized Zerg that is being hailed as the strongest Gargantuan in the game. With a suite of support abilities that can be used to enhance a variety of playstyles, a very strong melee damage output and a significant ranged presence, all at a relatively low cost compared to other Gargantuans the Blightbringer is a force to be reckoned with. The startling number of list archetypes that this big guy can slot into is impressive; it’s been brought in lists from Lylyth2; (where it’s DEF debuff and Tough denial are infinitely helpful) to Kallus (where its buffs to Warrior models help support his army) and Thagrosh1 (where it acts as a damage sponge at ARM 23 vs. melee attacks and comes back after being killed). The only significant drawback is its slow speed; it will have trouble getting to the fight without help, but this isn’t quite as relevant is it would be on a heavy Warbeast. As a Gargantuan with a powerful ranged attack, the Blightbringer can contribute to the fight before it gets to melee, dealing POW 15 hits to heavy targets or clearing infantry in conjunction with Dragon’s Fire. Once it gets there, its Withering Ash makes it the equivalent of MAT 7 and its 7 attacks will put most targets into the dirt.
Grotesque Banshees
After the Blightbringer, Legion’s other releases in Devastation are slightly less exciting but far from impotent; Grotesque Banshees are a ranged version of the newly-renamed Grotesque Raiders, bringing a Silencer spray with Gunfighter to the table instead of simply bashing people with their enormous chins. Gunfighter is a useful ability on these models, allowing them to charge and use their sprays to if they reach their target. With a low RAT and slow speed, however, they’ll likely rely on hit buffs from Warlocks like Lylyth and movement buffs such as Dash from Rhyas or Desperate Pace from the Grotesque Assassin to make those sprays count. At the end of the day however, sprays are a powerful infantry clearing tool and I can imagine a minimum unit of these fellows finding their way into plenty of lists to fill a similar role to that of Reductors in a Convergence force; clearing jamming infantry that muck up the path of Legion’s rampaging heavy Warbeasts.
Grotesque Assassin
Speaking of the Grotesque Assassin; the latest solo in the Legion stable is not only a melee monster in his own right, sporting 3 initial attacks and Sprint, but also buffs his fellow Grotesques up to the level that they may actually see play once more. With Flight and a decent base SPD, this little guy is going to be a great spot-removal piece all by himself, but helping actually deliver nearby Grotesques into the fray with Stealth and Desperate Pace helps make up for their abysmal base stats. With damage buffing Warlocks such as Kallus or Lylyth1, even the much maligned Grotesque Raiders can be a serious threat with 2 additional inches of threat range! Whether alone or with a flock of flying monstrosities, the Assassin is going to see a lot of table time when he’s released.
That wraps up the Legion releases for this book! Next up we continue with the icy theme and cover the Trollblood releases from Devastation!
Are you a Legion player? How do you like your new abominable toys from Devastation?
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