First Impressions: High Executioner Reznik

Ok, so there's been a slight vacation from blogging. I am not dead; just got busy with the whole 'holiday' thing followed by a dose of 'work travelling' think.

I've got some makeup posting to do from some of the games I've played, so this'll be the first of a couple rapid-fire posts.

I'm not gonna lie; I'm a fan of Reznik's fluff (what there is of it, anyway). He's pretty much a machine of heretic-punishment; go forth and wrack the unbelievers. A lot. Oh, and kill it with warjacks, if you're not going to do it yourself.

Reznik's Stats and Gear

Reznik is reasonably straightforward. SPD 5 is a bit slow, but he can fix it. MAT 7 isn't too shabby, either. His DEF of 14 is so-so at best, and ARM 17 is at least solid. Between the defensive stats and a medium base, he's not that easy to hide and not too hard to hit. He's also got a whopping command of 7; I guess when you kill and burn people (especially your own) you're not that inspiring of a figure. Focus 6 is average, and Terror is a neat flavorful extra.

The only piece of kit Reznik's carrying is a PS14 reach sword with the requisite magical weapon. If someone's silly enough to have an upkeep on the target, you get an extra dice of damage on them via Purgation. Also, if you kill a warrior model, you can get a free Wrack once a turn. Hey, that wrack on the back isn't just for show, y'know.

Reznik's melee prowess is better than it looks on paper, though, as he has Engine of Destruction. For 2 focus, he goes up to SPD 7, MAT 11, and PS18. This means he's got a base threat range of 12", so you can conveniently measure your charge range with your control area.

I find that Engine of Destruction is somewhat counterbalanced by the whole 'medium base + DEF 14 + ARM 17" thing, though, so you should probably be careful when using it.

Spells and Abilities

I've already mentioned engine of destruction, and it's a lovely little smashing tool.

Hex Blast

Every caster apparently needs an AoE. Hex Blast drops upkeep and animi while being an AoE 3, POW 13 shot with a range of 10. Considering it's 3 focus, you won't be using it a whole lot, but you at least have the option.

Ignite

You'll probably throw this out in the first turn or two. It's a flat +2 damage buff with a side of critical fire.

Iron Aggression

Here's your bread-and-butter spell. Target warjack becomes your primary wrecking ball. Boosted attack rolls, free runs/charges/slams? Yes, please. This comes out on turn one, and stays on your primary wrecking ball. This warjack will only need to spend focus on extra attacks, and that just gets horrifying in a hurry.

Perdition

This one's iffy, and Reznik wishes he could use it better. If you damage an enemy model, a warjack of yours gets to advance (limit: once per turn) for free immediately. The downside? You're FOCUS 6, and it's RNG 10 POW 10. I'd like it more with a Hierophant backing it up, since you'll probably want to boost either the hit or the damage roll, and suddenly it's half your focus right there.

Witch Hound

Did someone tag your battle group with a spell? Someone gets to advance. Yeah, this is a nice extra, since it lets you sing the no-shooty hymn. It also makes spell assassination much more difficult (barring Scourge, which won't let you get out of the way if it hits) since you'll probably back out of range. Additionally, it keeps the enemy from readily pulling your slow warjacks out of position with Force Bolt.

Feat: Judgment Day

Everyone in the control area loses all their focus and fury. No one can upkeep spells in his control area. If you think you want to cast a spell, you catch fire. It's either a setup for assassination (lose your overboosted field; lose your ability to transfer) or forces a warlock to cut for fury the next turn. It's also not something that magic-heavy armies like, as things like the Battle Mages and Druids don't like being on fire very much.

An Army with Reznik

Reznik likes himself some warjacks, though there's probably room for an infantry unit or two.

Warjacks with Reznik

I'd look for quality over quantity with warjacks. Get yourself a nice beat-stick, ideally at least one with reach. The Reckoner is a prime candidate, with SPD 5 and reach. The Templar has reach and beatback, so while it's only SPD4 it can at least get smoe movement out of the deal. With a shield, it also hits ARM21, so it can potentially survive a beating. The Vanquisher gives you the lovely Flame Belcher, in case you need help with infantry.

The Avatar, of course, would love itself some Iron Aggression as well, since it's got the SPD5 and reach.

You probably don't need an Arc Node with him, since the only spell you'd be arcing is Perdition. For those 6 points, you could take a Crusader as a melee backup jack.

Units with Reznik

Bring a Choir. Full stop, end of story. Reznik can make warjacks sick with Iron Aggression, and will have a couple of solid heavies with him.

Reznik's only support for a unit is Ignite. Given his medium base, I'd think about taking a unit of medium-based Exemplars. Cut off the enemy's trample avenue, and hamper LOS as well. Is it perfect? No, but you can at least get some PS14 Weaponmasters out of the deal.

The only other thing that comes to mind with him? Keep an eye towards infantry-clearing if you aren't bringing a Vanquisher.

Solos with Reznik

Vassals are a good first step with Reznik, since he's a jack buddy. Wracks are also a decent idea, just to get him a little more focus. Reclaimers are a thought, IF you're bringing plenty of infantry. However, you'd be spending more points on infantry and less on jacks.

Paladins make fine objective-holders, especially if you bring the Vilmon(ster).

If you want to make use of Perdition, I'd consider a Hierophant. He'll grant you a +2 RNG bonus, but more importantly he'll give you the 1 focus discount on the spell, so you can spend 2 focus and get that boosted shot off. If you're feeling ballsy, you might also be able to cycle Iron Aggression between a pair of warjacks for a total of 3 focus (1 to upkeep, 2 to cast after the discount). It's something to think about against higher-DEF opponents.

If you want to assassinate with Reznik, look for the movement-shenanigans solos. Madelyn Corbeau can give you a nice 2" of non-linear movement.

Gorman di Wulf is worthy of notice, if for no reason other than the smoke cloud as a means of screening the caster.

Impressions on how Reznik Plays

First turn? Cast Iron Aggression, run warjacks. Contemplate pulling focus from a Wrack if you need it to get Ignite out. Then, hand out focus to fuel your psychotic coal-powered crushing machines until

Use the no-shooty hymn for the first turn or two, then switch to 'battle' once you can start hitting things. Think twice if your enemy has some kind of uber-nasty debuff.

If you have a Hierophant, keep an eye out for Perdition targets.

Screen Reznik with infantry unless you find an opportunity to assassinate with him.

Find the best way to put a warjack into the enemy warcaster with Iron Aggression and a full focus load.

Keep an eye on the scenario; more to make sure you don't lose as opposed to a quick scenario win.

Overall

Reznik's fun to play if you like to see your heavy warjacks make things dead. If you can get into melee with the enemy, then you can turn them into paste. Reznik's not really fine-tuned into scenario wins, but would LOVE to put either himself or a fully-loaded warjack into the enemy leadership. If that's how you want to roll, that's what Reznik will do for you.