Warmachine: Flames in The Darkness Gains Heavy Firepower
The Infernals continue to be a very popular faction right now, and players may be looking for some new tools to fight them. We have recently seen the release of Cygnar’s first medium-based infantry and specialized infernal-hunters: the Order of Illumination Resolutes!
The Resolutes are a very cool-looking unit (as are many medium-based infantry), but we’ve seen from past experience that often medium infantry doesn’t see a lot of table time, especially at competitive levels. So what do the Resolutes bring to the table that makes them more attractive than other similar options in other lists?
Stats and Abilities
Stat-wise they look about like many other medium infantry. Speed 5, 12/17 defensive stats, high-end MAT, decent RAT and 5 boxes apiece. They are a good bit cheaper than most medium infantry, with a full 5-man squad costing only 13 points. As a point of comparison, Khador Shocktroopers (the general “bar” of medium infantry in my mind) cost 16 points. Menoth Bastions are 15.
On the offense side, each model has both a ranged attack and a melee attack. Both attacks have very similar rules. Each attack has a pow or P/S of 13 with magical and “execrator”. Execrator gives them +2 damage to any soulless or undead models. Pow 15 attacks at a cheap price are very attractive if you happen to be fighting legion, infernals or undead. Otherwise, the weapons are strikingly average.
On the defensive side, the unit has tough, repairable, and set defense along with two unique abilities: holy bonds and blessed wards. Holy bonds prevents enemies from capturing souls from this unit, and blessed wards is the defensive version of Execrator, granting +3 armor against Infernal and Undead models.
Looking at these models as a whole it is clear that they are designed to be a good counter to very specific targets: undead and infernals. Against these preferred targets, you’re getting some really good value for the cost with arm 20 pow 15 models. Against anything else, they lack a lot that makes other medium infantry shine. This makes it hard to take a slot in a tournament list unless you are building a list specifically to match up against Infernals. Of course, if infernals continue to be as popular as they have been lately this might not be such a corner-case scenario.
Availability
Like several other models we have reviewed lately, you are somewhat limited in the places you can take this unit. As mercs, they can be taken in Khador, Cygnar (as Partisans) and Crucible Guard. They can also be taken in any Flames in The Darkness list where they become whatever faction they join. In Mercenaries, they cannot be taken in any theme outside of Flames.
They clearly shine in Flames where they gain Vengeance and can take advantage of a lot of the abilities of other common Flames models. They also bring some armor to a theme that generally has very low-armor infantry. Outside of Flames they can be interesting in Cygnar lists, especially ones that can boost their armor since they can take advantage of faction buffs as partisans. Similarly in Khador they can take a ranking officer in Wolves of Winter where they will be able to take advantage of faction buffs plus movement tricks from Valachev himself.
Synergies
There are a lot of places they can be taken, but I don’t expect to see them in many non-flames lists unless someone is tooling very specifically to fight infernals, so I will focus on synergies in Flames for this article.
The two biggest synergies in Flames regardless of caster come from Gabriel Throne and the Morrowan Archon.
Throne has tactician which is always good for melee medium infantry, as well as “stir the blood” which gives +2 damage to melee attacks. This in combination with common debuffs in Flames like ragman and the Hermit could really increase the damage potential of this unit, especially if you’re fighting infernals.
The Morrowan Archon gives extra defense to the unit if it is close enough. This combined with Set Defense can make the unit surprisingly hard to hit. It also provides the leadership ability that gives them a +1 to hit on all of their attacks and the ability to shield guard a shot that otherwise might knock out one of your Resolutes.
Aside from these two big solos, each caster in Flames could bring different abilities that the unit might be able to take advantage of. Abilities that improve armor or hitting power are obviously best. Fiona is a really interesting choice, as Resolutes make a great arc node target and are also a good choice for Occultation. Of course, Fiona makes everything good and might not have room for this unit.
Overall, I think this unit fills a good gap in Flames, bringing a unit with a bit more staying power than things like Vigilants or other single-wound infantry. They are very good for their points against very specific targets and are otherwise fairly average medium infantry.
What do you think? Have Resolutes made their way into any of your own lists? Do you see enough Infernals to make a dedicated counter-list? Are the model sculpts cool enough to bring them even if they aren’t the strongest option?
