söndag 21 juni 2015

Rush of battle



I just realised I forgot to post anything about Thyron's theme force in the Reckoning summary, so here it is!
His theme force is called Rush of battle and allows the following models:
Warjacks: Any non-character Myrmidon
Units: Houseguard units, Mage hunter infiltrators, Stormfall archers
Solos: Arcanists, Ghost snipers, Houseguard solos, Soulless solos, Narn, Sylys

As you can see it's a pretty wild mix of models without any real "theme" to it (oh you). Kaelyssa's theme is clearly mage hunters, Ravyn's is guns guns guns, Rahn's is magic and so on, but this guy brings something from almost every branch of the Retribution, with the notable absence of anything Dawnguard (which is probably because house Ellowuyr seems to despise house Nyarr) or Shyeel (I guess Ellowuyr hates them too?). There's also a good mix of both melee and ranged models allowed.

Only a mother could love these guys.

So what requirements do you have to fulfill to climb the tiers, and what benefits do you reap from it?
Let's check it out!

Tier 1
Requirements: Same as ever, only take the above mentioned models.
Benefits: Solos gain Advance deployment.
Right out of the gate you're getting a real benefit from the theme, instead of something like "FA U to unit X". Advance deployment on all solos is a nice benefit, and even though the most important one, Narn, already has AD it will be really nice for Voidtracers or Ghost snipers (who really should've had AD from the start). Arcanists and Sylys will probably not want to use it too often, but the Thane might like being a couple inches further up the board, since the Halberdiers tend to rush ahead on turn one.

Tier 2
Requirements: Take two or more Halberdier units.
Benefits: Get a free Halberdier UA that doesn't follow FA restrictions.
This right here is the money tier. A second unit of fully functional Halberdiers is an amazing benefit, especially for this guy. His Onslaught spell solves the issue with Pathfinder that Halberdiers and Sentinels have struggled with for a while, but Sentinels remain slow since Thyron does nothing to speed up infantry. Halberdiers on the other hand are already ridiculously fast thanks to the Thane, so they will get the maximum benefit out of Onslaught (and the feat!). Getting a second UA means the second Halberdier unit will be accurate, punch really hard and be very mobile.

These two, on the other hand, are the life of any party!
(well, mainly the officer, John the standard bearer is just tolerated)

Tier 3
Requirements: Take one or more unit of Mage hunter Infiltrators.
Benefits: You gain +1 to your starting roll.
I've never been too psyched about the Infiltrators. They're great at killing lighter infantry and were released just as the meta took a turn towards heavy armour, so they never really got a chance to shine before the game outran them. Thyron does offer them a little something with his feat though! Side step is a great benefit for these guys, since that makes it so much easier to trigger Gang across a wider area. The additional dice to hit is also nice, although they were always pretty accurate. Eiryss3 makes for a pretty good Storm rager target as well, making sure she hits with her melee attacks and deals some damage with them, and then she can Side step away and fire off that deadly crossbow of hers.
+1 to start is one of the best theme bonuses you can get, and since Thyron is such an offensively focused warcaster you really want that bonus, so taking a unit of Infiltrators is worth it in my opinion.

Tier 4
Requirements: Take three or more light jacks.
Benefits: Thyron can begin with his upkeeps in play and doesn't pay to upkeep them during the first round.
Another pretty good benefit, but that requirement. :(
PP hinted in their official podcast that Thyron's theme force "would hint at future releases" and I think this must be it. Our current light jacks do very little for Thyron (except for the Aspis on feat turn) and while he has some nice jack bonuses they're really more for the heavies. So I hope this is a nod towards the ever-elusive Vyre light jacks that we've heard talks about since before Vengeance.
I definitely don't think the benefit is worth taking three light jacks, you're better off with a Banshee or two in your battlegroup if you're playing Rush of battle.

This guy gets to stay at home, yet again.

To summarise; I think Rush of battle is an interesting theme force, apart from Tier 4. The theme lacks some of the models that Thyron would love to take (Imperatus, Skeryth Issyen, Mage hunter assassins) but it offers some strong benefits instead. It probably won't be the best way to play him but I also don't think you will gimp yourself by playing Rush of battle. It does compete with Dawnbringers when it comes to fast infantry-spam, and I think Dawnbringers does that better.
Still, I'm considering getting a second unit of Halberdiers + UA to try this out, because it looks like a lot of fun!
Here's my sample list, and with that I sign out for this time!

Tiers: 3 - Rush of battle
Points: 50/50
Thyron, Sword of Truth (*5pts)
* Griffon (4pts)
* Banshee (10pts)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (7pts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard (2pts)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (7pts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard (0pts)
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander (3pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Houseguard Thane (2pts)
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios (3pts)

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