Warmachine/Tactics/Retribution of Scyrah

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Note that this page is, for the most part, a placeholder, and will be added to over the coming months. Also note that, currently, it only contains units from Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah.

Why Play Retribution?

Because they're bald, bearded eye patch wearing elf terrorist that's why.

The Retribution in many way the Jack of All Trades army, they can be lighting fast, tough as nails, melee rape train, a gun line you name it. But they're best if you gear them to one trait. As their background suggest they're all about anti-magic and mage hunting, meaning most of your strategy will be taking out the Warcaster/Warlock (note many of there stuff is gear to Warcaster and Warjack only)

For the most part they come in two flavors. The Retribution itself and Ios (the elf nation) armed forces. The retribution is your stealth assassins and what many think of an elf, fast and made of paper. While the Ios 'guard on the other hand are able to fight head on.

Unit Analysis

Warcasters

• Garryth, Blade of Retribution: Nothing much to be said really, pure assassin. If you want to play Garryth you have to maintain a "Go For The Throat" mentality, especially with his tier list he does not like the protracted arms-length playstyle, you are pretty much throwing the game, so make sure you have support for him as insurance for the assassination run. That said he is good at taking out warcasters, very good. Take note of the specific wording of his abilities, as some of it won't apply to warlocks, meaning your kill threat is not as good as it is against warcasters. Also Garryth is probably the only warcaster with a chance at assassinating Gorten Grundback, one of the hardest hardasses in warmachine.
• Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper: Coming soon.
• Adeptis Rahn: Coming soon.
• Ravyn, Eternal Light: Coming soon.
• Dawnlord Vyros: Coming soon.

Myrmidons (Warjacks)

Light Myrmidons

• Aspis:
• Chimera: Your standard light arc node. The Phoenix is more survivable, but also slower and easier to get caught in combat. It has problems with survivability, being on the fragile side (as to be expected from an elf army). Phantasmal field helps, but you usually don't want to blow focus on that. Try to keep it alive and at the edge of your caster's spell ranges, but don't feel bad if it dies.
• Gorgon: Has a basic light Myrmidon statline. Force lock is THE REASON why you take this guy, and has some beautiful tactical applications. Rob a small unit or solo of their movement, or pin a big 'jack or beast in place for a heavy to attack next turn. Stall solos, pin down warcasters, slowing units, force the enemy to break formation. The polarity cannon helps with denying charges as well. Gorgons also work well in duos: you can combine their polarity cannons and force locks to shut down entire charge lanes.
• Griffon: The cheapest Jack Elves have, and boy it is FAST. Use it with finesse. Force your opponent to divert resources into bringing it down. Again, a pair of them opens up more tactical options, allowing you to take on heavier targets.

Heavy Myrmidons

• Hydra: The hyrda is very focus heavy, but its offset by the fact you gain focus for every hit it takes (while its shield still works) and never losses them every turn, useful for waiting for the right time to attack.
• Manticore: Coming soon.
• Phoenix: Cost as much as a character 'jack and for good reason. Arc Node, a good range weapon, the burns things, great sword, the burns things and shields recharge 1d6 every turn for free, and burns things.

Units

• Dawnguard Invictors: Coming soon.
  • Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard: Coming soon.
• Dawnguard Sentinels: Coming soon.
  • 'Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard: Coming soon.
• Dawnguard Destors: Coming soon.
• House Shyeel Battle Mages: Ok unit its not about the damage as much as it is about being able to clear charge lanes and isolate units. In Rahn's tier list you get ridiculous amounts of pushing thanks to these guys.
• Houseguard Halberdiers: Coming soon.
  • Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard: Coming soon.
• Houseguard Riflemen: Coming soon.
  • Houseguard Rifleman Officer & Standard: Coming soon.
• Mage Hunter Strike Force: When building a list these are a good unit to choose first but not a good one to build around outside of Garryth's tier list. On their own they are not going to kill a focus camping warcaster without a lot of luck, but they will kill the squishier ones with some planning. They are however really good as the "2" in a "1-2" combo as while you have better things at nabbing the caster kill, Mage Hunter Assassin comes to mind, if they fail at it you can finish the target off with the Mage Hunters.
  • Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander: Decent addition to a good but not amazing unit, he does improve the odds for them taking at most casters, but you will still be unable to touch Dwarves or Karchev with Mage Hunters.
• Stormfall Archers: Coming soon.
• Soulless Escort: Coming soon.

Solos

• Arcanist: Phenomenal mechanic abilities, itty bitty health stat. If you're going to take one, take a couple.
• Dawnguard Scyir: The Scyir is ideal for warcasters with lots of strong spells (Rahn, for example). Instead of spending all your focus powering your caster's battlegroup, you have your Scyir do the lifting. He's not only a Jack Marshal, but he also has quite a few abilities that augment his synergy with his myrmidons and make them work very well with Dawnguard (himself included). If you're having problems deciding whether you want to cast spells or power battlegroups, look no further than the Scyir (unless you've got Elara, of course).
• House Shyeel Magister: If you're going to take a Magister, you should seriously ask yourself 'why don't I spend another three points and get six of them instead?' In almost all situations, a full group of House Shyeel Battle Mages is superior to a single Magister. Six of them means six Force Bolts instead of one (and if you're taking the Magister for the Force Bolt, you're doing it wrong anyway). Combo Smite, an extra MAT, and some extra health boxes are the Magister's only claim to fame (Whip Lash is negligible), so he could be good for bodyguard duty on your 'caster. His only other function is as an escort for nasty solos: Combo Smite is a good way to set up an assassination attempt. Unfortunately, he's pretty squishy, and if anything actually gets the drop on him, he dies instantly.
• Mage Hunter Assassin: Often hailed as 'the best solo in the game, take two or more.' Yeah, they're pretty spiffy. First, let's address her issues. She only has one attack, so she needs to charge (preferably into the back arc) to make an impact. The other option is having her charge a knocked down model (warjacks, Magister, Battle Mages, Rahn, etc). Her armor sucks, watch out for explosions. Everyone's going to focus her, so don't play dumb and expect her to Rambo around by herself and not get wasted.

Why is she so good, then? If you can set her up with a good charge where she lands her hit, she can kill almost everything in the game that doesn't have 20+ armor with just that one hit. Decapitation combined with 9 + 4d6 damage on the charge means that on average you're hitting for 23 damage before Decap. Against an armor of 16, that means you're doing 14 points of damage. That will drop most Warcasters as long as they've taken even marginal damage prior to the Assassin's dive. Pathfinder means terrain is no problem, Arcane Assassin of course is nasty for killing 'casters, she can hit them from 4" away (giving her a 14" threat range on the charge, base), and Advanced Deployment means she can get into that threat range very quickly. If you're going to run two, also run something that can seriously threaten your opponent (Mage Hunter Strike Force, Dawnguard Sentinels + Stormfalls, heavy myrmidons, etc). This way, you can place one major threat on each flank and force your opponent to choose how he's going to split up his defenses. This dramatically increases your odds of getting the kill.

• Ghost Sniper: Like Mage Hunter Assassins, they work best in pairs. Use them to kill important attachments, solos, and officers, or damage systems on warjacks. They can also punish your opponent if he walks his Warcaster up the field with a lot of camped Focus (though if you're playing Scyrah and not running at least two dudes with Arcane Assassin, what are you doing with yourself?). Think of them as a bubble of board control: your opponent will be wary of moving any important pieces into their kill zone. Make sure you have some dudes set aside to cover them if your opponent tries to rush them. They're exceptionally effective with Ravyn and Kaelyssa.
• Dawnguard Destor Thane: "Say hello to my little friend," Elven cavalry style. Fills a really weird niche, as generally if you want to shoot things you either take mass infantry or heavy myrmidons as Retribution of Scyrah. If you insist on taking him, always be aware of his threat range. His most useful function will be to kamikaze the enemy warcaster if the opportunity arrives.

Character Solos

• Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios (pEiryss): The Elf bitch herself. They're a reason why most players have some form of anti-Eiryss tactic.
• Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (eEiryss): Oh you thought pEiryss was a bitch? This is her matured into a full-grown bitch.
• Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen: Coming soon.
• Nayl: Souless anti-magic suicide bomber. Can't be targeted by spells (even your own) and when he dies everyone within 8" loses all focus/fury and can't cast spells for one round (it affects you too). Basically your DISTRACTION CARNIFEX. Be very careful with him: if the enemy manages to have a 'jack throw him into your warcaster before killing him, he can seriously mess up your day. Treat him as if he were a live grenade and keep him far away from anything that might throw him back at you. The best use of Nayl is typically in conjunction with other solos: run them along a flank, send Nayl at the enemy warnoun, and watch your opponent's ensuing headache as he picks from several bad options to deal with him.
• Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios: The character version of the Assassin. Doesn't have the nice reach or decapitation, but instead he's got two melee attacks and is incredibly mobile. He can use Acrobatics to hop right through your opponent's lines with a charge, ignoring free strikes while he does so, kill a nice target, and then move quite a distance with Sprint to get into cover. Remember: back strikes are your friend, and it's very easy for Narn to get them with Acrobatics. On the charge, he can kill most warcasters from full health with a bit of luck.