The Houseguard Thane, Retribution Solo

Lark, lark lark, lark lark lark lark lark.

Well lucky, lucky us.

Here we can see a general example of the excitement people expressed when they first saw the House Guard Thane. 

The house guard thane does not take his name from guarding houses. The house guard thane does not like house music. The house guard thane is an illustrious member of the house guard. Those members of Ios who have been entrusted to search for the lost god House

The House Guard Thane is the best thing to happen to the Retribution since. Well since ever. Obviously the god House is a mighty one, because the abilities that the House Guard Thane brings to the battle are so impressive, you could almost say they were faction breaking.

This piece of intelligence was recovered from a Legion outpost. It clearly demonstrates the effect the House Guard Thane has had on the Retributions fighting potential.

The House Guard Thane is easily mastered for a Retribution player.

The god House in mid war cry, the war cries of House Guard Thanes give lesser Houseguard fearless resolve.

First keep him far away from things. House is a bit of a celebrity, he doesn't like to get swamped down with the rest of the common folk, thankfully he has spent many years acting and has a commanding voice so you can be up to 9" away and still hear him clearly. Also just one member of a unit needs to be within 9" of house and in coherency. So if he gets shot first you are terrible at game,  uninstall.

All Houseguard units listen to the Thane and benefit from his fearless leadership.

The House Guard Thane has 2 key abilities.

Wide stance, the first stage required for executing desperate pace.

• Desperate pace.

The House Guard Thane instructs the Houseguard to spread their legs further apart, thus allowing them to cover more ground upon the advance.

The god House depicted with his monocle of true sight. 

• Firing solution. 

The House Guard Thane instructs the lesser Houseguard to don their monocles of true sight, thus allowing them to target otherwise stealthy or hidden adversaries.

Using these abilities is pretty straight forward, you should not often find yourself where you need to use both at once but...

• Use firing solution when your Riflemen can reach a target with their range.
• Use desperate pace at any other time.

Thus the House Guard Thane does 2 things for Retribution players.

1. Increases the threat range of Halberdiers and makes them fearless.
2. Let's any Ret army take a unit of Riflemen who can shoot directly at stealth targets. 

In case it has been understated, this is an exceptionally big deal.

 It looks pretty deadly but they don't actually do anything with it.

It's vitally important that for 75% of the game your House Guard Thane sits back and stays well clear of trouble. Only after turn 2 or 3 should you even consider shooting at or charging the enemy. The Thane for the most part is more valuable alive than dead and although he possesses some martial skill he is only slightly better than your standard troops, thus it's often not worth risking him until he has no troops left to lead.

House Guard Thane for President.

Worshippers of the god House have benefitted exponentially from the arrival of the House Guard Thane.  Namely the Riflemen and Halberdiers.

While Halberdiers were considered productive members of society Riflemen were generally disdained. 

The House Guard thane has been more successful at finding employment for riflemen on the battlefield than any other previous Iosan political leader. 

Thus the House Guard Thane has been heralded as the best thing to happen to the Retribution and the best thing that could have happened to Riflemen.

For this I think it is vitally important to give thanks to the god House and all he has done to make Ios a better place by getting riflemen out of the pubs and brothels and back on the the battle fields.