Moros, Retribution Character light warjack: Initial thoughts, opinion.

 Well here we have it. Moros in all of its glory... all of it, right there. In that picture.

In Greek mythology, Moros^{[pronunciation?]} (Greek: Μόρος, English: doom, fate)^[1] is the personification of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate.^[2][3][4][5] He is one of the offspring of Nyx (Night), who had conceived him without male intervention, and brother of the Moirai (Fates). It was even proclaimed by the Fates that not even Zeus could question Moros (destiny), who like his mother, Nyx, was invisible and dark. To break with destiny was to reintroduce Chaos into the world. Even if Zeus issued a decree or made a promise he later regretted, he could not then change his decree because it was destiny. In which case, he was the only force that Zeus truly dreaded. Because of this, Moros was also considered to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Aeschylus describes how Prometheus saved mankind from the misery of seeing their doom (Moros) with the gift of hope (Elpis). Moros' siblings Thanatos and Ker represented the physical aspects of death—Ker was the bringer of violent death and killing sickness, while Thanatos represented a peaceful, passing away.
Moros' name is also the origin^{[citation needed]} for the word "morose", meaning sullen, ill-humored or gloomy. The word is used to describe the victims of whom he revealed their fates to.

 

And thus we have the fate of our first Character Light Warjack.




First grab a Gorgon. Wait never mind what a stupid assumption to think you own a Gorgon.
Well, maybe you own the book or bought the card deck.

Lets see, take the Gorgon chassis give each of its weapons plus one power and give its gun plus 2 power.
Give it Stealth.
Give it Mirage when its in Garyths battlegroup.
Give it Grievous Wounds on the weapons.
Give its gun Paralysis.
Give it Duelist.
Give it +1 mat and rat.

Ok thats it. You might, like myself, soon realise how he is the "Personification of impending doom." This is impending doom specifically for the faction as my immediate thoughts are that this does nothing for the faction apart from bring the same old tricks in a brand new bag and is thus of little value.

Lets contrast the mythical potential of Moros with that of the reality.

The personification of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate.

Specifically mortals here, both Grievous Wounds and Paralysis wont work on non living targets. He can in theory happily kill Warlocks and Trolls and maybe cut up or lock down high defense beasts.

He is one of the offspring of Nyx (Night), who had conceived him without male intervention.

 

Or this Nyx.

This Nyx

 

But not this Nyx Assassin.

What becomes apparent is that in no part during the creation of Moros or upon completion was a big pair of balls at all involved. Thus Moros lacks Balls.

Because he is the offspring of night he has stealth.

 It was even proclaimed by the Fates that not even Zeus could question Moros

Not even god knows what this Jack is supposed to do.

 To break with destiny was to reintroduce Chaos into the world.

 He doesn't do anything new for the faction that we don't already do in some other capacity.

Even if Zeus issued a decree or made a promise he later regretted, he could not then change his decree because it was destiny.

Do not expect an errata.

He was the only force that Zeus truly dreaded. Because of this, Moros was also considered to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.

Most people know that this is a load of balls, as opposed to has balls. Thankfully being all powerful, all knowing and everywhere means he gets Mirage when he is in Garyths battlegroup.

Moros' siblings Thanatos and Ker represented the physical aspects of death—Ker was the bringer of violent death and killing sickness, while Thanatos represented a peaceful, passing away.

He doesn't kill anything! He is potentially an enabler.


This is the rub. Is he a better enabler than a Banshee? some cases, maybe. For the majority of the time no. If he had reform, perhaps. If he had sidestep or beat back or acrobatics or leap, maybe. If he had assault maybe.

Range 8 on a speed 6 chassis means a 14" threat that almost any of our casters can push to 16" and get to 19" with a Whipsnap. Yea cool ok, put 3 extra inches on all of those threats for the Banshee. Banshee doesnt have stealth but its a damn sturdy jack.

Low defense and armor means any guns that ignore stealth will ruin it. Looking specifically at Legion and Cygnar.

Grievous wounds but no reach or pathfinder or other movement augmentation. Honestly look at the jack, look at those legs. We all expected speed 7 and maybe more. I mean you think Garryth opens the box and pulls out the assembly kit and then sits in stunned silence as he realizes his custom issued jack actually is nothing like him. No pathfinder, no extra speed, no Arcane Assassin, no Weaponmaster. I reiterate this point. HE IS NOT AN ASSASSINATION PIECE. If you can kill Warlocks with this jack on a regular basis *without Rahn. I sir, take off my hat to you.

Ok but deep breath. Look at the miniature, isn't it sweet.

Lets have a quick think about specific applications for this jack with the Retributions Warcasters.

Garryth.

In my experience Garryth doesnt much want to spend time or focus on fueling jacks. I often pick a character jack or a chimera with Garryth either for the arc node or for a jack with higher base stats thats more reliabe. More often than not I take the Chimera because I want to spend as few points as possible on the jack and allocate them elsewhere.

Thank you Moros is a perfect fit in this place. You dont have to give it Mirage. Mirage would always be an option on this jack but with Garryth it gets it for free, so I can keep it on my Sentinels or Garryth himself. Works well.

If you can draw a line to the caster with both Garryth and Moros you have some focus efficient 3 power 12 shots if you initiate with Moros. That's good.

Garryth has great game against Warmachine, Moros gives him some play against Hordes.

Moros gets 8/10 sight wards for being just the kind of competent support that Garryth can tolerate.

Rahn

Hmm ok obviously Telekinesis enhances his assassination potential considerably. 4" increased threat and the extra mat from back strikes. However experience tells me 2 things. One is mat 9 still isn't a sure thing so you want to be knocking down that target first. So still want a Banshee or your blowing 4 to 8 focus to pull off the assassination run. Power 15 is fine for a handful of Warlocks but it will fail to kill some of the tougher ones.
Duelist and Polarity shield plus natural stealth make this an amusing jack to deal with. Throw on top of that Force Blast and good use of Telekinesis and you have a real pain in the butt of a jack to nuetralise, who for the most part is a considerable threat to Hordes armies with Rahn backing it up.

Moros gets 9/10 kittens for the mittens master.

Ravyn

Snipe-feat-go. Snipe-paralyze-go again. Locomotion for increased threat Viel of Mists to help delivery, Vortex of Destruction makes it hit very hard for its focus.
Like with Rahn and Garryth I tend to run light on the jacks with Ravyn, still looking to spend those points on more guns/swords/gun-swords/crossbows/bows.

Moros gets 7/10 gentle taps upon Ravyns chamber door.

Ossyan

Quicken, give this guy speed 8 and bonus defense against shooting and spells. yay I don't feel so hesitant to drop it against Legion and Cygnar now. Admonition so it can get up paralyze those heavies and then Admonition away when they walk up to hit it, cause they can, cause range 8 does not keep you safe from things.
Chronomacer....... chrono mancering your focus away, erm.
Ok well I see Moros doing ok backing up Hypnos. Between Void Lock and Paralyze you can keep a couple beasts a turn tied down. Throw Chronophage on top of that and you have some considerable control wrapped up with hard to target or kill jacks.

6/10 power fist bumps for letting that unit of stormfall archers hit without any problems.

Issyria

Admonition was a thing for Ossyan. With Issyan however its not quite as sweet. I'm sorry but Moros is not an ancillary attack target, not really. It doesn't have an arc node. It doesn't need blinding light to protect it from shooting. Crusaders call is a thing but all of our casters save Kaelyssa and eVyros can directly increase its threat.

2/10 thimbles of pixy dust to keep Issyria floating.

Kaelyssa

Ok phantom hunter can give this jack a good chance of letting a unit of strike force go to town on a caster. Getting polarity shield from the feat is a bonus. However I like my jacks with Kaelyssa to be easily targeted becase it baits out those spell/witch hunter interactions. You could conceivably tag a caster with Moros and switch over Phantom Hunter or upkeep it on Kaelyssa and go in for a rune bolt cannon assassination also. Witch hound and banishing ward go a small way to increase its durability but like I said being stealth its almost moot.

5/10 forum fanboys theorymachineing in their bunks.

eVyros?

Pathfinder, Deflection, Synergy.
yup that works.
loose 1 and a half Griffons and or tier? not so good. Tides of War movement to set up a super sweet assassination on the end of a synergy chain? priceless.
Thankfully I hate eVyros and Griffon spam so I actually think Moros is particularly good with Evy for 2 reasons.

1. Spend all of your focus and get an opening at the end of a 5 stack synergy chain this jack can potentially 1 shot Rask. Anything that can potentially kill Rask in one hit, or kill Rask at all is super legit in my books.
2. It helps pull off those ranged jack birds eye assassinations.

6/10 MOAR GRIFFENZ for the spam boat.

pVyros

Hmm pathfinder and +2 speed, nice. Bonus armor probably wouldn't give it Invoiable Resolve but I guess I could. What I really like here is I put way more credit into the Banshee initiated birds eye assassination than I probably should, but it works for me. Moros helps make this an even more sure thing. I like it. It doesn't work well with the feat however, no mid activation movement augmentation and no reach kind of sucks.

6/10 new Iosan houses joining the cause for the xenophobic mass murdering Hitlerelf.

Jack marshals?

Nope, character.

Elara?

Hmmmmm I guess? The thing is Counter Charge is actually bad. The only reason I like it is that Reach with counter charge becomes ok. Reach with a counter charge thats +2 mat is getting pretty good and putting on that path finder and doing it more than once for 2 more points than none of that with Moros is kind of my point.
Griffons please.

Units and Solos?

Mage Hunter Strike Force.

In any case where Moros ca
n hit a Warcaster/Warlock it gives the Strike Force sans snipe the same threat as a normal Ravyn list. I suppose that coule make him scary with Issyria or Ossyan.

Storm Fall Archers

Because almost auto hitting those Brutal Damage shots is worth 10 points, its easily worth 6.

 Mage hunter Assassin.

Takes a whole lot of the gamble out of delivering this extreme gamble piece. It means you are less likely to throw the Assassin at a 50/50 and more likely to hold it until Moros can lock it down, thankfully what Assassins want to charge are for the most part the same thing Moros can effect, lightly armored high defense targets which are normally the living kind.

What makes this jack shine.

Duelist.

A defense 14 jack in combat. With all of the movement buffs and stealth it shouldn't be hard to get this guy into combat and def 14 means you can quite happily throw it at a unit of Trolls or Banes and let it muck about. Better yet Grievous Wounds means its actually going to kill them. Def 14 puts it at that sweet spot for a lot of infantry and jacks and means its as much of an attrition piece in our faction than an assassination piece. However like I said its not actually an assassination piece, although it can but its really more of an enabler.

Thus Moros is actually just like Nyx Assassin
Early game you roam around and gank, cause you can.
Late game you buy wards and initiate team fights because you are otherwise worthless.
You can solo lane but you have some sweet synergy with Antimage (Garyth) and thankfully he can carry your heavy late game ass to victory.

Just think about it...

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.

The House Shyeel Magister, Retribution Battle Mage solo.

This guy, took a page right out of the book.

Magister

From Latin magister (“a master, chief, head, superior, director, teacher, etc.”), from magis (“more uor great”)

Welsh, maestr.

Master; sir: -- a title of the Middle Ages, given to a person in authority, or to one having a license from a university to teach philosophy and the liberal arts.


The possessor of a master's degree.

Magisters in the Retribution of Scyrah are:

1. Possessors of Masters Degrees in arcane law
2. Act as if their training in the liberal arts and philosophy make them better than everyone else. 
3. Deeply envy and answer directly to Artificers.

Masters of arcane law and philosophy

In order to become a Magister for house shyeel prospective trainees must acquire a master's degree in arcane law, which is the study of law in regards to transporting medieval live stock and Philosophy. 

Because of the amount of time this takes Magisters can never become Artificers and are consequently horrible dicks to everyone else who doesn't know as much as they do.

Because of this educational training coupled wih mastery of arcane forces and a suit of bad ass shyeel arco fist armor, Magisters act like and generally are a Boss.

Magister in the pose required for receiving his armor.

The delusion of being the boss has its benefits. It let's them do things like:

• Beat back.

Whenever a new up and comer or hard worker thinks they have done something to merit reward or recognition the Magister uses beat back to push him back in line.

• Whip snap.

Cracking the whip is an ancient way of making your slaves work harder, just because it's the modern era doesn't mean we need to dispense of this effective motivational tool. A well placed whip snap can send your hard workers to positions where they can fully apply their potential.

• Force bolt.

By glance the Magister can direct the force of his learned pontifications to ensnare and draw in would be by standers or push them away shunning them.

• Combo smite.

The Magister has perfected the art of back handing his intellectual lessers.  To such effect that it can slam them with great force and deadly effect. Don't always look for the linear application of this ability.

• Force Barrier

Don't shoot the messenger is taken very literally with this guy. 

The delusion of the Magisters self importance is deep set. The following dialog is taken from a Magister Symbyrg who was reprimanded for Whip Snapping a friendly into the path of an oncoming warjack.

Mr. Symbyrg, thanks for coming to your performance review.

No problem.

So you're in charge around here, is that fair to say?

Absolutely, I'm the boss.

Well, so take us through a day in the life of, "The Boss".

Well the first thing I do is--


Talk to Scyrah (like a boss) 

• Magisters derive their power through our goddess Scyrah.

Approve memos (like a boss)

• Magisters are entrusted with maintaining the flow of information.

Lead a workshop (like a boss)

• Magisters are also entrusted with motivating their colleagues.

Remember birthdays (like a boss)

• Magisters are the keepers of Retribution personnel files.

Direct work-flow (like a boss)

• Magisters will Force bolt, Beat back, whips snap and combo smite until fiscal goals are achieved.

My own bathroom (like a boss)

• The armor of magisters contain built in sanitry functions.

Micro-manage (like a boss)

• Using his skills and special attention to put one enemy in one place or one friendly in another to make the most out them is what he does.

Promote synergy (like a boss)

• The very presence of the Magister allows greater threat ranges, and his ability to back hand things to the ground has a myriad of uses for the rest of your army.

Your Magister and you.

Much like a boss a Magister usually has no idea what's going on.
I find the Magister will usually stand around and look important. This is not a bad thing, because they stand around and look important they may cop a lot of flack, and it's flack that the more important harder working members are not getting.

The Magister I believe can be used in 2 ways effectively.

1. If by closing 3" of distance between one thing and another wins you the game or gives you a serious advantage, do it. This could be Garyth getting close enough to kill, or parking your Phoenix in the zone cause you forgot to do it during its activation.
2. As a late game enabler.

I think the Magister shines mid to late game.
Ok he already brings survivability a magical attack and 2 magical fists to the party but the ability he has to move other models around becomes more and more influential when the lines have closed and there are fewer models on the table.
They could be hiding at just the right angle until a whipsnap gives you the slither of vision you need. Maybe they parked an un touched heavy jack right on the corner of the zone and you can't possibly kill it, just push it out.
Maybe there is something large or un kill able in melee, but knocking it to the ground will let you get around it or shoot over it.

Combo smite is your best ability, all of the Magisters abilities are good but a well delivered combo smite might knock it's target into the thing you really want to kill, knocking them both to the ground. Or simply used to disengage your gun line from something that spent it's turn running right at it.

A Magister is a cheap replacement for a Unit of Battle Mages. However I think you are better off for putting an Artificer and a Magister in your list before a unit of Mages,  simply for the versatility and support they bring.

The Soulless Escort, Retribution weapon attachment.

Google can't find stock art of the Soulless. So this is the next best thing.

All jokes aside.

It's too easy to make jokes about gingers, prostitutes, Julia Roberts or Keanu Reeves, emos and everything else that a soulless escort could be. 

The truth is the soulless are one of the coolest and most interesting things about the entire Iron Kingdoms universe and especially the elves.

They are it is conjectured, the greatest threat to Elven society since... well probably since ever. I mean the rivening was pretty awesome and terrible but that was a once off. Then there was that whole dragon business, dragons on the scale of things are pretty terrible. But at least you can see a dragon, you can fight it. 

Having your population slowly being born souless and euthanized,  you slowly start to look like modern Japan.

Soulless are like a horrible genetic disease. It's like... downs syndrome for nazi elves.

Maybe I'm just feeling particularly nice today but I still don't want to make fun of window lickers.  Retards are usually pretty nice people and having personally known quite a few they are generally not as bad as the people who I would openly call retards.

 Complicating things further.

As much as it is too easy to make fun of Soulless escorts, it's just as hard to explain them effectively in application.

A particular rule they possess or a couple of them make them, an oddity not only in fiction but in reality.

It is said that Iosan units generally disdain the presence of a Souless attachment, like most people generally disdain gingers who shave themselves to hide the fact they are ginger... (oh dammit let that slip)

Tag along: This guy does not gain the abilities of the unit to which he is attached.

But the presence of one in a unit has the certain benefit of mysteriously being able to absorb or inhibit the ambitions or motivations of others much like any other emo teenager. . .

What I mean to say is they inhibit the abilities of others around them to effect them magically. In the same way Julia Roberts magically inhibits the ability of romantic movies to be romantic...  or what I mean is much like an escort gifted to young men inhibits their ability to have a magical romantic experience later in life... wait no.  

Mage static: Enemy magic attacks targeting the group this guy is escorting have reduced range.
Thanks to her pimp summoning powers she can keep other whores out of effective range.
Disbinding: When this guy does Disbinding enemy up keeps on this guy's group expire.
Just when you hope you will get what you paid for, extra charges are incurred. 

Thankfully they not only bring this gaping mystical yaw of apathy but also in the same way as Keanu Reeves, they possess great ability in martial prowess without actually being able to express any emotion at all.

Flank: This guy is good at fighting alongside people he is in a group with.
Look at him go.

They have the special oddity to be able to take orders or advance deploy or even be effected by mini feats, yet can't perform simple tasks the rest of the unit could.

This kind of autism leads them into strange situations where, for example: they could receive the shield wall order and go into shield wall, yet won't reform. However they will get the teamwork bonus from the mini feat yet still won't be able to have beers with the squad after training. 

Tag along: This guy gets to hang out with other groups, he does what he's told but can never really be one of the guys.
Character soulless unit concept art.

Also when Souless die no one much cares, except for those people who make a habit of collecting souls. Generally what they find are collections of dark angst poetry, piles of black clothes and Smashing Pumpkin albums.

What can be said about a Souless Escort unit attachment is this

• Much like japanese school girls they will come in groups of up to but not exceeding 3.
• They will attach themselves to any Retribution unit.
• They have magical swords. When your own species has the habit of killing you on sight at childbirth and no other species is particularly fond of you, it's in your best interest to have a magical sword.

Because of this it raises an interesting point about the future of Retribution war caster releases. If the Retribution gets a War caster unit, you could possibly attach Soulless to it.

However Souless can amusingly be attached to these things:

• Battle Mages.  Having defense 15 to shooting and immunity to blast isn't enough, why not give them pseudo anti magic stealth too.
• Halberdiers, because when they mini feat they turn into mat 9 p+s 11 weapon masters. 
• Heavy rifle teams. Because it's funny.
• Every other Retribution unit, because you are net decking against your opponents magic heavy list.

The Bottom line.

A soulless is one point, a magical weapon and some handy defense tech. More specifically a Souless is one point, so if you're full up on Arcanists might as well grab a Souless. 

This is because there are basically no 3 point solos in Retribution that you would upgrade a 2 point solo to become. There is however one 2 point solo you should downgrade to be 2 Soulless. 

They are not always directly useful for their passive ability. Their *action is almost a joke, if someone goes to the length of putting an upkeep on the unit in the first place it's probably the kind that stops you from using abilities, or your opponent is a moron.

That aside they are still good little solos for what they do, if you already have the other essentials like Artificers, Arcanists, Magister then you could consider putting in a Soulless Escort.

The Mage Hunter Assassin, Retribution solo.

You can't see it, but she's totally about to mess with that bunnies head.

Shits and giggles was the phrase on the concept design panel for this one.

sadistic

səˈdɪstɪk/

adjective

1. deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others.

   "she took a sadistic pleasure in tormenting him"

   synonyms:

   callous, barbarous, bestial, perverted, vicious, brutal, cruel, savage, fiendish, cold-blooded, inhuman, ruthless,heartless, merciless, pitiless More

Deriving pleasure from inflicting on others...

1. Pain
2. Suffering
3. Humiliation

Mage Hunter Assassins specialize in...

• Humiliation

It's an odd fact that being trained in the martial discipline of chain weaponry has a detrimental affect on the students disposition.

There are 2 important things to know about people using chain weapons and or flails.

1. There is always a chance they could fuck up and kill themselves
2. Because they are so highly trained and obviously still alive, the first point obviously didn't happen to them yet. Because of this they are probably extremely confident in their own skill and are about to either murder you horribly or fuck up and kill themselves in a spectacular way.

It is likely that because they are either aware that they don't know what they are doing and gambling with their lives and the lives of the people around them,  or are extremely skilled murdering machines that this is why they are generally not nice people to be around.

There are also 4 very important things to know about the Mage Hunter assassins of the Retribution of Scyrah.

1. They are extremely good at what they do.
2. Their chain weapons are exceptionally sharp and nasty
3. They are the most sadistic creatures in existence.
4. They are all women, some may argue that stating this is irrelevant because women are naturally sadistic when it comes to messing with people's heads, however Mage Hunter Assassins can mess with people's heads in whole new ways.

Evil, evil women.

Now many people would be saying, "hey hold on a second, I'm pretty sure the Skorne factions whole style is built up around kinky S&M stuff." To which you are right,  Pat yourself on the back.
However no one in the entire Skorne empire or indeed Immoren either has the ability to kill almost any other thing, man, beast or machine with a single flick of its chain. No other single man sized creature wields the power of a Mage Hunter Assassin.
Because of this, they are quite rightly mad.

You see a Mage hunters power complex, which feeds their sadistic tendencies doesn't come from the fact that they will kill you in the blink of a rather fortunate eye, but rather that they could.

They are extremely good, at what they do.

Mage Hunter Assassin training begins in hidden Retribution training camps in the forests of Ios. Here they are taught to stalk and mercilessly slaughter baby deer, bunnies, hedgehogs, mice, wild piglettes particularly cute or pleasant sounding birds. Also to generally trod on anything slightly enjoyable such as toad stools and saplings and generally treat life with the same contempt as cancer. This is the first stage.

We are not talking about some kind of life enriching spiritual rebirth social experiment behind the liquor shop malarkey here.

The second stage (and this is the real doozy). They learn with utter control, to stare manically,  cold heartedly, unflinchingly into the face of their victims. As if into the face of death itself and not blink, or wince but gently smile. As the terror and helplessness in their prey rises to defecating effect ...
they miss, not only do they miss but they give it a cuddle and a kiss and a pat on the bum, giggle like a lunatic and then slope off to torment another soul.

What we are talking about, is utter bastards.

Mage Hunter assassins are trained and employed by the Retribution because they CAN horribly murder things. The problem the Retribution has with Mage Hunter Assassins is that sometimes they simply choose to mess their targets up psychologically in stead.


So...

Because of their training on woodland creatures Mage Hunter Assassins have the pathfinding ability, they also have stealth and advanced deployment. How else are you going to get the jump on that baby badger.

Mage Hunter assassins love to mess with people's heads. Whether it's wrapping a razor blade embedded chain around them and ripping them off or its getting inside them and psychologically tormenting them.

Mage Hunter Assassins are sadists. Just because a Mage Hunter Assassin missed it's charge on its target it doesn't mean it's not messing with someone else's head, more often yours.

Because of this you can never rely on them not to be fucking with you in some way.

In order to use a Mage Hunter Assassin within the Retribution you must:

1. Be comfortable gambling, there is no telling what way the dice will fall and a 2 point investment might be worthless or net you a 10 point Warpwolf, it's all in the dice.
2. Be ballsy and have fun. It's only 2 points. You could save it for late game and try to kill the enemy war caster with it but they have stealth, advanced deployment and a 14 inch charge range for a reason. It's much more fun to deliver 30 points of damage to Tiberion or the Avatar, or watch you opponent poop his pants when your Mage Hunter Assassin comes screaming out of the woods for their war caster. 
3. Be able to laugh it off when it misses.

Mage Hunter Assassins work well with:

Everybody.
Seriously there is little reason not to fit at least one in every list you can.

Mage Hunter Assassins love to target:

1. Shifting stones, they genuinely hate those things and delight in killing them
2. Heavy or light beasts or jacks equipped with shields or bucklers. 
3. Enemy warcasters when they are not looking
4. Enemy warlocks when they are not looking and when they are not camping fury.

Mage Hunter Assassins should not be used to target:

1. Most infantry, unless they really can't do anything else.
2. High defense solos unless they are the only viable target or you can lower the defense. 

Special tricks to mastering these vindictive sadists:

Don't leave them within an enemy models melee range after you have finished moving, before you have made your attack, if you can help it. If they do decide to mess with you and miss or better yet leave Ghettorix on one box they at least have the decency to withdraw their chain and leave themselves un engaged, so you can shoot the target.


Chain weapon is 4" reach only during your activation.


As much as they love to mess with the heads of cute woodland creatures and us, they also mess with the heads of your opponents and sometimes the psychological stress of seeing one across the table will lead your enemy into panicked thoughtless actions to kill something that might just otherwise have done nothing but delivered self defecation, hugs and giggled like a lunatic.

The Arcanist, Retribution solo.

In this picture we can see our typical Iosan artificer. First note the coffee. Arcanists spend little time in military training after they leave arcaneering school and spend most of their time hanging out in clicks sketching new jack designs and drinking and brewing coffee.  Because of this Arcanists all throughout the Retribution are master barristas.  Secondly notice the haggard cigarette. Arcanists are not paid well, thus they tend to buy tobacco and roll their own, compounding this is the stress of being extremely vulnerable while making battle field repairs. Smoking rates among Arcanists increase 100% once they enter the ranks of the Retribution. Finally please pay attention to the various jack heat sinks on his person and the fact that he is scavenging spare parts shows that Arcanists in the services of the Retribution are often under equipped for their task and frequently have troubles to successfully repair myrmidons during the stress of battle. 

Subject file: correspondence from Arcanist Arthyr Tyndyll. 

Hi mum and dad,

It has now been two weeks since I finished Arcanist basic training. I am currently on the move to a Retribution training facility.  The lads back at the Vyre workshops let me keep my multi tool, which is nice of them. Soon I will get to meet my first Shyeel myrmidon. Anyway write to you soon.

Arthyr. 

 1. Arcanists are not particularly special at anything. They have the most basic military training. If you are lucky and in really dire straits they might hit something with their multi tool. If your even luckier they might kill it

So I have been in advanced training now for 3 days. Already they have taught me how to power booster a myrmidon. My mate Byll power boostered a construction myrm over in the dynamics department, thing nearly burnt a hole right through the steel plates it was welding. Also we have learnt to Concentrate Power on the jacks. Wow what a difference it makes that additional strength, we tried it on the coffee machine but it just burnt the beans. 

2. Arcanists have 2 primary abilities. Power booster and Concentrated power. Either of these options  is usually infinitely better than using their multi tool to hit things. This is because using their multi tool aggressively will usually result in death. Whenever a jack is going to hit something an Arcanist should concentrated power it. 

A general rule is if you are at dice + (X) and it doesn't have extra focus, power booster it, the extra attack or boosted damage roll should be more effective. If it has extra focus or you are at dice - (X) then concentrated power it.

Obviously you can't power booster something that already has focus on it, but we all knew that. 

Also sometimes hitting with one attack is more important than doing damage,  at these times a power booster will save a focus on your war caster and achieve the same effect.

Hi mum, dad. I had some interesting news this week, I don't  know if I like it. Apparently it's common for the enemies of the Retribution to have their Arcanists (mechanics they call them) go through advanced battle training. So far all I have learnt to do is power booster, concentrated power and repair them. They say these mechanics come in whole units of their own sometimes. Sometimes they are taught how to use the warjack for extra protection or even make it attack and in some cases they can even shoot bolts of magic! Why can't I do any of that? It's just me and Byll! They haven't taught us any of these abilities and yet we are still expected to make repairs in the field.

3. Arcanists are delicate flowers. Treasure them. Keep them as far from harm as is practically possible and only use them to repair when the situation absolutely requires it. They have the least defense,  armor, hit points and defensive tech (none) out of all of their contemporaries in other factions.

It's been 3 months now. My training was over 2 months ago. I make an amazing coffee. The same can't be said for Byll. We had an engagement the other week and he was standing too close to a Banshee when a mortar hit it. Then this insane horseman came crashing through the woods duel wielding Orgoth fell blades. Well I'm not paid enough to deal with that so as soon as he got too close I ran for it. My commanders were not happy about it, they said I had a prerogative to hold the line. But I made them some pretty awesome coffee and they said I am re assigned. 

4. You only get 2 Arcanists use them wisely. Arcanists are not stupid, thus they are not fearless. Most things in Retribution are not fearless. Be careful.

Dear Mr and Mrs Tyndyll.  It is our duty and great misfortune to inform you that your son Arthyr was killed in action. A Retribution cell was engaging a known Cryx threat where he was cut down by a Bane Thrall. Your son died with honor attempting to secure a point of control long enough for reinforcements to arrive. The surrounding unit had been wiped out and the myrmidon which he was attending was wrecked, with great courage Arthyr bravely fought on. It is with great pride we wish to tell you his sacrifice was not in vain and reinforcements came to secure victory. Arthyr Tyndyll will always be remembered as a hero who gave his all for his country and his goddess Scyrah. 

5.  Although a pansy and a wimp, Arcanists have been known to do great things. When the jacks are down and they have no remaining task, sometimes if things are getting to the wire, sometimes they can do amazing things. Like kill a bane thrall and contest a zone long enough for you to counter attack. Or simply make a sweet final cup of joe and wait for oblivion, directly in front of something that would otherwise charge and smash your war caster to tiny bits, if it were not for a rather annoying, complacent looking elf wielding a menacing cup of coffee that is now parked in his way.

The beans of his brew, now scattered and lost like our gods.

Dahlia Hallyr and Skarath. Retribution minions.

"Whistle while you work." 

Walt Disney.

Dahlia Hallyr. 

Dahlia was or is an elf and a member of Iosan high society. But she was weird.

Dahlia was so weird that she was shunned from Iosan society, probably as much as she shunned Iosan society herself and set out into the world to make her own way.

Like so many pretty wayward girls she ended up in the entertainment industry.

Snake charming in the iron kingdoms is small beans. She had a fair proficiency with the flute but with warlocks bounding around controlling Warp wolves and mountain kings Dahlia was more than a little out of her league.

So she did what any little girl with daddy issues would do, got the biggest, meanest, most intimidating, nastiest thing she could possibly find and started dating it.

Skarath is an appreciator of fine flute music. When he was not busy melting faces with acid spit or swallowing people whole he was working in his death thrash metal band Solid Snake. However Dahlias specific charm was enough to persuade him to launch a career in performing arts, dancing to Dahlias flute music.

Many Solid Snake fans bitterly hate Dahlia for this treachery,  which is fortunate for Dahlia as all of Skarath fans reside in Ios and Dahlia has no interest in that place.

Except that is for the Retribution of Scyrah.  Dahlia is an artist, as an artist she is sensitive and attune to the deeper rhythms of urcean and being an elf just compounds this. Because of this she cares greatly for endangered species and Noble causes. The most of which is the endangered species of her gods which is a very noble cause.

So whenever the Retribution ask her to do a gig for the forces she is always willing to accept. What Dahlia doesn't understand is why these performances are always arranged at the front lines of battle...

This is not so bad however as Dahlia and the artist formerly known as Skarath have a huge following outside of Ios. You can guarantee that when they show up on the front lines trolls and humans and elves alike all stop to applaud and wolf whistle Dahlia and dance with Skarath. Dancing with Skarath however is an exceptionally dangerous activity as he is after all an extremely jealous Grey tatzl wurm. Tatzl wurms themselves are not known for their affability and Skarath is exceptionally un affable.  It's a good thing he's so good at what he does.

The Artist Formerly Known as Skarath.

Haunting Melody hits charts at number 1.

Haunting Melody is Dahlias signature tune. It is actually her only tune. However she has been so successful with this piece of music that she hasn't yet needed to write a new one.

When Dahlia is playing Haunting Melody Skarath whips himself up and starts flailing about, teeth gnashing and acid spray spurting all over the place. It's quite a show. 

The crowed is almost always too enthralled with Dahlia or entrancingly terrified with Skarath to do much more than walk around, any attempts at ordered cohesion are useless. 

1. Haunting Melody stops people from hurting you.
2. Haunting Melody limits people's ability to run away from you, many have conjectured that this attribute is exactly why the song is so popular.
3. Never stop playing Haunting Melody. 

Move with the music.

The key to a successful performance with Skarath is not to limit him. Dahlia needs to keep close so he can follow her prompts but other than this its pretty much do as he likes. The good thing about interpretive dance is Skarath is free to engage with the crowd as he sees fit. It's important that he doesn't get too worked up, he does tend to accumulate some fury but if you keep him just below his threshold he will not tire out and be useless to Dahlia. Or if he does get over excited or bursts out in a frenzied fit of jealousy Dahlia at least has developed a charming way to reel him in.

Ultimately Skarath is just a distraction, Dahlia loves crowed surfing and once she has her song going she is likely to run full tilt at the crowd and bob up and down in front of them while Skarath gets to work.

Unfortunately with any amount of extreme popularity there are those that don't like Dahlias art. Specifically these are the kind of people who are good at hurling magical rocks, lightening or fireballs at people. Thankfully Dahlia likes to perform for the Retribution and the people who don't like her, the Retribution exceptionally hates.

1. Skarath likes to kill people or things that don't appreciate Dahlias music out of a sense of pride. Some might call this thuggery however he maintains it is out of a sense of romantic love.
2. Skarath is exceptionally pussy whipped and will do whatever his darling Dahlia requests of him, this includes foot rubs buying sanity pads and not biting people's faces off in fits of rage.
3. He might have a mean venomous exterior but he's just a big softy deep down.

For a commander of the Retribution mastering Dahlia Hallyr and Skarath is a piece of snake.

As part of your forces line up.

First of all, make sure she is playing her song. Always, it's good for troop morale but even better that drivel stops anyone with ears dead in their tracks. For Scyrahs sake don't let her get near anything undead or those abominable robotic contraptions, they don't stop to listen and will just cut her down.

If the enemy is alive, and even better, heavily armored with shields or exceptionally organized and likes to give orders.  Tell her they are really big fans.

Don't worry about the snake, it will usually be eating something or wrecking whatever can't listen to her music.

If the snake is feeling particularly useful it may use serpent Strike. Dahlia practically never performs this animus, it's better to let her keep her fury for transfers than anything else.

Having Dahlia dance about in front of a living enemy, preferably in their scenario zone is exceptionally amusing and I greatly encourage any commander to laugh and enjoy the show. Not being able to remove her from the path of a fully enraged Bronze Back Titan or Dire Troll Mauler buys times and is good for a laugh.

There is not much to master skill wise with Dahlia. What it comes down to is positioning.  There are some corner cases where it's useful having the snake not be able to be knocked down. But for the most part she is just there for her music.

• Against some opponents she is cripplingly annoying and will easily save you the game.
• Her stage is the scenario zone, there is no reason ever... ever, ever, ever , ever that she should not be inside a scenario zone. Ever.
• If she is not inside a scenario zone by turn 2 you are playing her wrong, unless your playing against Cryx, then you are still playing her wrong. 
• In case you are playing her wrong and are playing against Cryx,  she just tends to mope around the back line and hand out serpent strikes to people while Skarath spits acid in anger.

Good gigs within the Ret.

She doesn't really care who she performs for. On our side at least. 

• Ravyn has been good at giving her a smoke and lazers show. 
• Ossyan likes to quicken her advance towards her adoring fans. 
• Vyros in no form is particularly fond of her. 
• Rahn however doesn't mind her. 
• Garyth however is particularly fond of her and she has a bit of a soft spot for the old prick himself. 

Garyth doesn't mind getting a little freaky with 3 some snake action and is a massive fan of flute jazz and interpretive dance.

Garyth likes to keep his focus on himself, he loves a little distraction while he gets to work, so Dahlia and Skarath work in nicely. Even better Garyth has a spell and a feat that keeps Dahlia safe from her haters, usually with head popping efficiency.

Why you would want Dahlia and Skarath at your next party.

The old "snake in the engine so there is no reason not to drink tonight" excuse. 

Dahlia is an attrition piece in an army that doesn't do attrition so well. Most things in the game are either problems or answers. Dahlia is a problem, a really big problem in the right places. This is exceptionally valuable in the Retribution because it is more a faction with answers than problems, subjectively speaking. Literally speaking you could say they have lots of problems what with dead and missing gods and all that and no answers much at all.

The House Shyeel Artificer.

The best damned elf out there.

"He's an elf in a Gator suit"

Wikipedia has this to say about the word Artificer:

An artificer is a member of an armed-forces service who is skilled in making devices as needed in the field. The specific term "artificer" for this function is typical of the armed forces of countries that are or have been in the British Commonwealth.

From this we can infer 2 things. 

1: Ios probably is or was a member of the British Commonwealth. Rule Brittania.


2: One can expect an Artificer to potentially provide a solution to an otherwise sticky situation. Much like liquid soap.

An online dictionary says this about the word Artificer:

Artificer

1. a skilled craftsman

2. a clever or inventive designer

3. (Military) a serviceman trained in mechanics

From this we can further understand that:

An Artificer is someone that uses skill or creativity. An artificer builds things.

In this way an Artificer is three things to a Retribution player.

1. Soap

1. Skills

1. Structures

Structures require plans, with the right plan an Artificer can enable victory. Artificers are not trained to float around and fart out Force walls. Artificers are highly trained Shyeel Battle Mages, Mages who have gone through many rigorous years of discipline and structure. Thus an Artificer understands structure, he understands your army structure and his role in it. An artificer understands that he is part of the fundamental structure of your success, like he understands the fundamental structure of the universe. Great generals will know that the Artificer is an integral pillar of support for the structure of his list design and army composition. Lastly without structure there is no strength, no learning. The Artificer understands there is no learning without pain, and there is no pain without damage and if you don't have a good learning and training structure the damage you sustain will not be supported. Thus through structure the Artificer is your ultimate support.



Soap. Like many sticky situations, the best way to fix them is with the wanton application of soap. It's surprising how just a little soap can turn a shitty disaster into a mere memory. Also Soap should be your best friend. Soap gets you paid, soap gets you laid. Soap is the catalyst for modern civilization. Never drop your soap, keep your soap near you at all times at least within 3 inches. Soap works because it has 2 parts, a hydrophobic part and a hydrophilic part. Just like your artificer part of it wants to be in the shit and part of it wants to be out of it. This is why your artificer floats, to keep out of the shit. Because he keeps his feet out of the shit he can be where you need him to be, getting stuck into the shit with his shit loving fists when you want him to be. Just like soap your Artificer loves to attach himself to shit and push it away. Finally if you have ever played call of duty, you know soap is your talented and reliable friend.

Skills. The Artificer has 3 fundamental skills. The value of these skills is calculated through the exchange of your mind. None of these skills are worth anything if you are unable to apply them meaningfully. The Artificer is the master of his skills, you are not. The Artificer realizes he is a soldier in your army, like he realizes he is a weapon in your arsenal. If you don't know which end of the sword to hold, it's not his fault. If you wear your shield on your wrist and not your arm it's not his fault. If you place your eye socket on the sight before you fire, it's not his fault. You must learn to utilize the full extent of the Artificers skills. Then like anything that requires great skill to wield successfully, 2 things will happen.

1. You will look like and be a bad ass.

2. You will out maneuver, out wit and out play your opponent.

With these three S's you can begin to master the art of fully applying your Artificer to the face of adversity. 

Throughout fantasy culture, Artificers are steel fisted bad asses.

Firstly the magnificent flying suit that our wonderful Artificers adorn gives them a built in advantage in 4 ways.

1. Pathfinder, see Soap.


2. Force Barrier. The Artificer is the Duck to the Rain of your opponents artillery. While a direct hit will still take him out, he completely ignores blast damage. Think of a duck in a flack jacket. While the shotgun blast will effortlessly bounce off from far away, a direct hit will still see him stuffed.


3. Power Gauntlets, Beat Back, see Soap.


4. Beefy Stats. 2 high power fists, good armor respectable defense 8 boxes and a very solid mat make this guy an Iosan Iron man. Or as a Minion player once said with great respect. An elf in a Gator suit.




Packed into this already awesome member of elven society are the skills with which you may use to artifice victory.

The problem here is that the Artificers magic ability is 6. This doesn't mean he is bad, it just means you as a player need to use your skill to roll good dice, or pick a target where a skill of 6 has a good chance of hitting, like rocks and giant hunks of metal or dwarves.

The first power armored duck.

The Artificers abilities are:

Force wall. This turns every elf within 3 inches into a flack armored duck.

Mango Blast. This spell pushes war casters out of shield guard, infantry out of shield wall, something to be slammed into something else later on. It opens lanes and closes distances, it makes what looks un movable movable.

Polarity Field. This is your late game shit in the fan maneuver. Got an empty zone, have an enemy that needs to charge in to get somewhere? Needs to charge to do damage to respected armor 17? Pop up the polarity field and walk in.

Just like your game progresses through stages the Artificers abilities are useful at different stages through the battle.

Early on he will be providing Force Wall. To do this he will always be within 3 inches of your caster and potentially covering some other troop type, like sentinels or invictors. The Artificer loves to hang out with dawn guard, he thinks they are real cool guys. Unlike Mage hunters, when he hangs out with Mage hunters your war caster gets shot, this makes him sad, your dawnguard get shot, this also makes him sad. Mage hunters do not like the Artificer, Mage hunters expect to die, they are the Marines of the Retribution. Your artificer is a talented and skilled individual, he does not expect to die. Therefore he is in the rear with the gear.

As the game advances, opportunities will arise for you to make use of Mango Blast. Do not use this skill lightly, there are only 4 situations where Mango Blast should be used


1. To win a game.

2. To score a point.

3. To secure some other tactical objective, like removing the last point of health on a warbeast.

4. To break up shield wall.


Some times in situations 3 or 2 charging or entering melee may be better.

Situation 4 should occur only if there is no ranged or blast threat to your caster, or a large amount of your infantry.

In the case of situation 1, Mango Blast can be used effectively in the following situations.

Targeting a model with shield guard, to push what it is guarding out of its guard range. This will work with ranged assassination vectors that are enabled with a Banshee or Strike Force.


Targeting a nearby model to push or pull the War caster in to a threat range or out of melee engagement so it can be shot or slammed.


Targeting a model to push nearby models out of a zone.

Targeting an easier to hit model behind or near cover, on or near a hill to push or pull another harder to hit model away from its defensive position.

This spell should predominantly target: models defense 12 or lower. War jacks and war beasts, colossals and gargantuans. Something you couldn't otherwise charge for better results. Don't be fooled by the limited application of this ability. Through practice this skill can be learnt to be the first step in the sequence that leads to a victory.

Finally we have Polarity Field. The Artificer is structured, skilled and his mind is clear. Because of this the Artificer is in the zone, more so the Artificer needs to be in the zone, he lives in the zone. When he's not within 3 inches of your caster he's in the zone, it's just him.


Because of this when he is in the zone, it's probably late in the game and his skills have not been called upon for best effect, or he has been supporting as best he can and now things are on the wire. On the wire in the zone. On the wire in the zone where the Artificer loves to be.


But when the Artificer is in the zone, other opponents might want to be in the zone too. Being an elf of many talents the Artificer has a few way of keeping people out of the zone, his zone.


Prevention is better than cure, and Polarity Shield is all about prevention. If the Artificer can keep his enemy out of the zone simply by looking at him funny, then he is happy in a job well done.


Now there are few and far situations where polarity shield has value on a single solo, it is the rand of strategic currency. However he can at least make some use of it to try and slow down an otherwise inevitable situation.


The thing is if your Artificer uses polarity shield, one of 4 things are going to happen net turn.


1. You will lose on scenario

2. Your caster is about to die

3. Your Artificer is about to die.

4. You just didn't lose on scenario.



Because the use of Polarity Shield usually warrants imminent loss, the Artificer is naturally apprehensive to use this ability. It is for all intents and purposes a last ditch maneuver.

Thankfully more often than not the Artificer can use his fists late game and simply push out those annoying hard to kill pieces and let you score scenario.

This here comes the final and most important part about the Artificer.

artifice

ˈɑːtɪfɪs/

noun

noun: artifice; plural noun: artifices

1. clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others.

   "an industry dominated by artifice"

   synonyms:

   trickery, deviousness, deceit, deception, dishonesty, cheating, duplicity, guile, cunning, artfulness, wiliness, craft,craftiness, evasion, slyness, chicanery, intrigue, subterfuge, strategy, bluff, pretence;

An Artificer uses artifice to win. He may be big and obvious but it's his tricky little movements, a push here a pull there. He comes out when not expected to enable a game winning play. The number of times people don't expect a Magno Blast to or a simple beat back to win a game... I could probably count on both hands...

Ask not what your Artificer can do for you, but what you can do with your Artificer.