Warmachine: Retribution Adds the Aeternae Heavy Warjack To Its Arsenal
There’s a new heavy in town, let’s check out the latest addition to the Ret lineup of heavy warjacks.
House Vyre has a new warjack ready for the table. Let’s jump right in and check out the rules.
Lots of similarities to the other House Vyre heavies as they are based on the same chassis. The immediate rules that stand out are the Accumulator[Ellowuyr] and the long-range Shatter Cannon. Accumulator will bring even more focus efficiency than usual to Ret jacks and will reward you for playing with Ellowuyr models. Although with existing focus efficiency models like Arcanists, this isn’t a requirement.
The Shatter Cannon is bringing some long-range firepower and an Armor-Piercing shot. Armor-Piercing can be brilliant, especially into targets not being affected by any ARM buffs. If you do plan on paying 17 points largely for the gun, you do run the risk of a single shield guard being able to nullify your shot each turn. This isn’t a problem unique to the Aeternae of course, anytime you have a single high-powered shot this is something to consider. Along with the guns the Aeternae bring some decent melee presence, this is a heavy warjack after all, and a magical POW 17 weapon with reach and Beat Back is nothing to scoff at.
Aeternae vs Banshee
You can’t help but compare this heavy to another popular Vyre heavy, the Banshee. With the same MAT, RAT, DEF, and ARM – and the Banshee only 1pt more, you’ll often be deciding between these two. The Banshee’s gun in RNG 12 and POW 14, which while shorter range is pretty comparable to the Aeternaes damage output. However, the Banshee’s gun has the fantastic Momentum rule and is able to slam things around(even shield guards). Many an assassination run has been set up with a Momentum shot. Still, it’s hard to declare one gun ‘better’ than the other as they are both similarly powerful.
The Banshee does bring a little more damage output with its 2-inch melee weapon. At P+S 18 and Grievous Wounds if you want a melee damage dealer the Banshee just edges out the Aeternae. However, Beat Back on the Aeternae melee weapons on both of its weapons does give the Aeternae some movement shenanigans in melee the Banshee doesn’t have.
Lastly, you have Wailing vs the Accumulator rule. Anyone who has had their spell casting ruined by Wailing knows how much of a problem this rule can be. But there will also be plenty of games where Wailing doesn’t come up. Contrast that to Accumulator which isn’t as flashy but will likely guarantee you 1-3 focus during a game(if you planned on using the rule). Hard to say which is better, again depends on list composition and what you are trying to accomplish on the table.
So which jack should you reach for?
As you might expect, the answer to which heavy is better is a surprising… it depends? Bringing both is definitely a viable option as they are both capable in range and melee. Plus if your opponent only has 1 shield guard they will have a hard time figuring out which shot is scarier.
What do you think of the Aeternae? Do you think you are more likely to bring a Banshee or an Aeternae in your list?
