Kaelyssa, Build Tweak

I finally finished painting my Dawnguard Sentinels (as well as Skarath), so what better way to celebrate than to field them?

I grabbed Kaelyssa and finally got a game in with a tweaked list.

My previous 35pt Kaelyssa list included:

Kaelyssa

-Hydra

-Phoenix

10 Sentinels w/ Officer, Standard

6-elf Mage Hunter Strike Force w/ UA

pEiryss

2 Arcanists

The tweaked list:

Kaelyssa

-Phoenix

10 Sentinels w/ UA

Stormfall Archers

Arcanist

Narn

eEiryss

Dahlia & Skarath

Basic Impressions of Tweaked List

Without the Hydra in there, Phantom Hunter gets demoted to either going on Kaelyssa in a pinch (if you need to clean out a solo or a couple infantry) or languishing, though I suppose you could always slap it on the Phoenix, since the Halo Cannon isn't THAT bad (I just have rarely used it).

The Archers were in there for two reasons:

1) Testing

2) In case the enemy brought light, squishy infantry.

I admit to being leery about paying 5 points for a whopping four guys, but their range and versatility is very nice. Snipe means they have a 21" max threat range, and RAT 5 is about par (RAT 7 after you Aim at 16"). I'd figured I'd be able to get some versatility out of them in case I ever got LOS on a warjack; Brutal Shot means it's a RAT 5 base, boosted POW12 on the direct hit. Not perfect, but serviceable against non-Khador warjacks.

As a comedic aside, in the game one managed to peg eStryker in the face (actually GETTING the 11...) and then got box cars on the damage roll. Apparently sniped grenade arrows HURT.

eEiryss is a nice change-up from the prime version. I can very much live with the reduced ammo types in exchange for screwing up focus allocation and dropping upkeeps/animi. Between that and a well-placed arcantrik bolt from Kaelyssa, I managed to stall out/gut a Stormclad in one good round. Stationary + nearby weaponmasters = pain, true story...

Dahlia and Skarath make an excellent flank-threat. The spray lets them handle infantry, and Skarath isn't a major slouch in melee. Kaelyssa might miss a Hydra for Phantom Hunter shenanigans, but the dynamic duo are fine flankers and can hold well enough on their own against lighter foes. I just wouldn't expect much out of them when it came to dealing with an enemy heavy in good shape, since Skarath's got that mighty ARM16 for protection.

Brief Commentary on Test Game

Played against a comrade I'd sorta converted from 40k. He brought eStryker, a couple variants of Storm Knights, the Black 13th, a Stormclad, Lancer, and the bloody piper. Scenario was break the line. He ended up winning on assassination after I botched activations to get a scenario win.

I forgot about that whole 'velocity' thing followed up by 'take damage to get a Strength bonus' crap. eStryker's pretty much lurking around, waiting for a chance to fire off a brutal assassination run (then again, it is kinda all-or-nothing for 'im, but he can pull it off, so yeah...).

I will say that Narn is wonderful for a flanking threat, though Stryker managed to velocity, then charge him. It at least pulled eStryker away from the fun, but not far enough as it turned out...

All things considered, it was a fun (and close) match. I think this Kaelyssa list merits some tweaking, though I'm not sure I miss the Hydra. I'm not yet 100% on the Stormfall Archers, though they honestly didn't do BAD. It's more a leeriness about that '5 points for 4 guys' thing. I can say they don't merit being dismissed out-of-hand.

Retribution: Testing with Kaelyssa

I've been trying to put my money where my mouth is with Kaelyssa, and I've tested out the following 35pt list:

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper

-Hydra

-Phoenix

10 Dawnguard Sentinels

-UA: Officer & Standard

6 Mage Hunter Strike Force

-UA: Officer

2 Arcanists

Eyriss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Logic in the List

The Hydra is intended to hunt solos/ping stuff with Kae's Phantom Hunter, and the Phoenix is its versatile self. Arcanists provide foucs/melee support, and Sentinels are...nasty. Reach weaponmasters with vengeance and MAT 7 tend to ruin anything they can hit. The MHSF is a reactive element for support-hunting and jack-softening.

Some of the Matchups

I ran up against my buddy Jon's Khador. Mmm, freaking ARM20+ jacks...and the Winterguard. I managed to pull off a win on a scenario, due to going first (and getting into the middle before he could) and blunting his advance long enough to grab the requisite 7 control points.

Against Kara Sloan, well...sure, SHE can get True Sight, but Kae's 'We're All Stealth Here' feat is pure yum. Add that on top of getting into position early in No Man's Land, and it being his first time playing Kara and it was...yeah. It was one part bad matchup for him (since my feat pretty much denies his ability to grab position) and one part inexperience with the caster.

Thoughts on the List's Components

Kaelyssa

Whenever I need to damage something disrupted with Arcantrik Bolt, I'll see...nothing. Still, being able to threaten to deny warjacks with this and Eyriss gets the enemy to pay careful attention to where the Elf Witch and my arc node(s) are.

I know that if/when I run up against someone with de-buffs, I'll love me some Banishing Ward.

Arcane Reckoning is...eh. I think it's the most situational, since the enemy has to MISS. It's best slapped on a high-DEF target that the enemy might try to cast spells on. Honestly, I can think of three uses for this:

1) My enemy will try to tag Eyriss with a spell, and it's not the Epic version

2) Mage Hunter Strike Force, for folks with magic AoEs

3) Someone might try to spell-assassinate Kaelyssa

Phantom Hunter means I'm really, REALLY going to think long and hard about bringing a Hydra with her almost automatically. In fairness, all myrmidons with guns can benefit from it.

Phantom hunter + her rifle lets her, in a pinch, pick off infantry from anywhere. This actually came in handy when I had to make sure an infantry unit wasn't in the No Man's Land.

Hydra

I have to say, this is a warjack I'd initially kind of gone 'eh' in the general direction of, given the Phoenix and the Manticore. On the other hand, it's very focus-efficient. Turn one, it gets a full three focus and jogs. Turn two, you...hand it a focus, maybe. Then either it starts popping shots at solos, or starting to put POW 15s on jacks. In a pinch, it can also go into melee, though it really wants Arcanist support.

The big thing the Hydra does is STORE focus. Also, if the enemy scatters AoEs or lets you walk into covering fire templates...yeah. It's FUN, and it's a psychological weapon with Kae's Phantom Hunter: it will shoot you from 15" away, and if you ding it, you fuel it.

Phoenix

It's neat. It kills stuff. It has reach, combustion, an arc node...it's got a little of everything. The enemy ALSO likes it dead, and in my experience it gets focus-fired until it's dead, but it usually does something neat prior. Reach DOES give it a pretty solid threat range of 11", and it's a solid workhorse. But, you pay for what you get.

Mage Hunter Strike Force and UA

I think I'd almost always take the UA with them. Advance Deploy lets you deploy reactively, and Phantom Seeker is of course sweet for hunting support and the odd warjack.

That being said, I'm glad I haven't decided to go with the Tier lists where I have to own 20-30 of these guys. They're not bad for hunting support, and they've got a solid DEF 14. MAT/RAT 6 is respectable, but sometimes I worry about how hard they can hit. They just don't seem to be so graphically killy, but what they DO offer me is mobile anti-infantry support that fires through forests and the like. Give me Pathfinder and that, and I think they're a solid support element.

Dawnguard Sentinels and UA

Reach weaponmasters with solid armor and vengeance? Yes, please. Kaelyssa doesn't actually DO a lot for them other than keep stupid upkeeps/spells off them. ARM 17 in defensive line means that you start to need warjacks, weaponmasters, or nasty stuff like corrosion/anatomical precision to kill. The average infantry POW 10 bounces off this, at least.

And, of course, PS12 weaponmaster attacks break things they hit. Add in vengeance from the Officer, and when the enemy DOES break one, they get a handy-dandy 3" move. Considering the SPD 5, they need all the help they can get in that regard.

Arcanists

I think if points permit it, having one per heavy myrmidon is a great idea. Myrmodons don't have the largest of damage grids, and it's full of squishy stuff, like crucial systems. Since it doesn't take that much to bring systems online, you might be able to restore some crucial functions. If you can get focus, then a repair can also get you the ability to regenerate your field.

Other than that, they're focus efficiency on a stick, and +2 to melee damage rolls helps make sure that the stuff your myrmodons tag stay down.

Overall

I'm starting to like the way that Kae plays. Still, the bulk of her toolkit is matchup-dependent as to how you'll use it. Most of the time, though, you'll have something to do with her spells. All else fails, having a Hydra chuck POW 15s through solid walls is great fun, and a bunch of weaponmasters bearing down on the enemy is also good stuff.

Most of my wins seem to have come from scenario. I'm not sure Kae has a good way to pull off an assassination herself, so it's either bring something else that can kill the caster (perhaps Narn) or go for the scenario win.

I'm debating on testing something else out for the MHSF slot. Unit-wise, I'm entertaining two options:

1) Stormfall Archers

They throw out AoEs up to 12", and it's either more damage (extra dice on direct hits), fire on direct hits, or snipe. It's not a lot of models, but it IS good for contributing at range. They also provide me an easy counter to high-DEF, low-ARM infantry. In a pinch, they can also throw the equivalent of boosted POW12s at warjacks.

2) House Shyeel Battle Mages

Movement shenanigans for the win. The ability to push or pull things into/out of position is great. I think I could always find a use for that ability.

3) More Solos?

Seven points could get me Narn, and leave me four points for either Ghost Snipers or Mage Hunter Assassins. I suppose it could work, though my gut says that one unit-of-the-line and a pair of heavies is a bit light for 35 points. I could also drop Eyriess and add Dahlia/Skarath, perhaps.

I dunno. More experimenting will be in order.

Tactics: Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper

Kaelyssa is the current toolbox-caster for the Retribution of Scyrah. She's got some solid denial spells, but prefers more of a supervisory position than a lead-from-the-front-with-my-sword a la Dawnlord Vyros, or 'kill a lotta guys with my uber Kroot rifle' like Ravyn.

Stats, Weapons, Attacks

SPD 6 and Pathfinder are sufficient to keep up with most retribution units. She has a solid DEF 16, but ARM 14 and 16 health boxes do not a durable caster make. Her FOCUS 7 and spell list mean that she's got a solid enough control area, and that she doesn't belong on the front lines from a durability standpoint.

Her melee melee capability is so-so with MAT 6 and POW 12; it's enough to KO enemy troopers but this should be a holdout weapon. She's more at home with the Runebolt cannon, a RNG 12 POW 10 magical weapon with ROF 3 and MAT 7. It's not got a lot of punch, but you can always use it to KO annoying solos. Be ready to boost damage, though, if you want the solo to stay down with one shot.

Overall, she's quick enough to keep up and has a solid focus pool, but she's squishy and only slightly above-average in terms of hitting things with a gun.

Skills/Abilities

In addition to Pathfinder, she's got three neat abilities: True Sight, With Hound and Energy Siphon. Pathfinder at least lets you get Concealment with some ease.

True Sight means you can hit Stealth models. This works even when arcing, so you can snip annoying solos or lay down fire on units with stealth. You can also snipe solos with your rifle, if it comes to that. This is her major anti-stealth ability in person.

Witch Hound is neat, but situational. If someone hits Kaelyssa's battlegroup with a magic attack, someone in the battlegroup gets to make a full advance and an attack after the spell is resolved. It's a bit more fun when the enemy has plenty of magic attacks that they want to use on your jacks, though.

Energy Siphon lets you pull Focus or Fury off any target you hit with one of Kaelyssa's weapons. This is probably going to be of more use in Hordes (and more annoying, since it can screw with their Fury for next turn, potentially) but it lets you get more than 7 Focus. It's something to keep in mind. It is NOT a reason to go fight some beasts in hand to hand unless they're low ARM/DEF models, because they can still probably beat you up, even/especially if they frenzy.

Spells

Hellooo, toolbox. There's something for most every situation here.

Arcantrik Bolt

POW 12 magical attack, RNG 10. It's for sniping annoying solos/magical models via arc nodes. If it damages a warjack, then the warjack is rendered stationary. It can make the enemy pay Focus to shake the effect, which is somewhat useful. Stationary is of course wonderful for making sure jacks get tagged, since MAT 6 on our heavy-hitter warjacks is not exactly the most accurate.

Arcane Reckoning

Hello, denial. If the enemy misses the model/unit holding this buff, then they are in turn hit with the attack. Higher-defense models love this, because the enemy can’t dump a magic AOE on them and game the deviation. It will force boosting, and it’s a deterrent for non-caster magic attacks.

Backlash

Cryx players will recognize this; when the warjack suffering this effect takes damage, the caster takes a point of damage each time the jack gets hit. You probably won’t kill the caster with this but you can knock a chunk out of them. The trick to getting the most mileage is to paper-cut the jack to death. Just don’t expect a knockout punch with it at this point, unless the Retribution gets some units with Feedback on their weapons.

Banishing Ward

Banishing Ward renders a model/unit immune to being targeted by enemy spells/animi, and knocks off any enemy upkeeps on them. Bottom line, it can keep a unit from getting a nasty upkeep on it, or remove it after the fact. If you didn’t put it on something preemptively, then they get one turn to enjoy the debuff.

Phantom Hunter

Someone in the battlegroup ignores LOS when making attacks, and laughs at concealment and cover when shooting.. This can let Kaelyssa hit anything she can range. It also lets most of the jacks be a little more accurate; RAT 5 becomes a little more effective at hitting stuff but probably still wants boosts. It’s a neat upkeep for 2 focus, but somewhat situational.

Rift

This is her most expensive spell at 4 focus, but it’s a 4” AOE with POW 13. That’s not bad for thinning out troops with lower armor (and/or stealth), but the real bonus is that the AOE is difficult terrain for a round. IF you can make it hit, and the enemy doesn’t have pathfinder, then it’s wonderful denial.

See also: another reason to bring an arc node.

Feat: The Vanishing

Friendly faction models in her control zone gain Stealth and cannot be charged for a round. This is purely a setup feat, and can potentially deny both ranged and shooting. Just make sure the enemy isn’t so close that they’ll simply walk up and smack you, and keep a look out for any ranged attacks that ignore stealth.

Filling out the Army

Warjacks

Kaelyssa wants heavy hitters. The Phoenix gets a mention because it’s an arc node and has a pretty reasonable damage output. You can get around MAT 6 by smacking the target with an Arcantrik bolt if it’s a jack.

The Manticore goes nicely with Rift, since Covering Fire + Rift = unhappy infantry plus slow jacks. It is also, of course, a great heavy hitter and you need that as well. PS 20 hands (force generator + Arcanist's Concentrated Power) make even Khador jacks worry a little.

The Hydra can bank its focus and use Phantom Hunter to great effect with its Force Cannon; unless you’re stealth you can’t hide from a POW 15, RNG 15 gun with RAT 5 (potentially 7 with the aim) and a boost. It’s not really for hunting casters, but solos and UAs probably won’t do well with a boostable POW 15 hit.

Units

Typically, you’re bringing Kaelyssa because she doesn’t have as many problems with Stealth as other casters. Retribution has two ways around stealth: melee and AoEs. To this end, I suggest starting with Dawnguard Sentinels, and look elsewhere once you’ve filled them out and added the UA. This also means you don’t absolutely, positively HAVE to use your jacks for all the big game hunting.

The only unit-borne AoEs come from Stormfall Archers, and Kaelyssa doesn’t really buff those.

The Mage Hunter Strike Force doesn’t really have a way around stealth, but a minimal unit + UA are excellent support hunters, since they also have Phantom Hunter.

Solos

Eiryss is excellent support against Warmachine opponents. pEiryss is more of a caster-kill setup or sniper, as eEiryss + multiple arcantrik bolts = 2-3 stationary jacks a turn if they’re close by. eEiryss is also capable of removing buffs from units, so I honestly have to lean towards her a little more for utility + ability to help Arcantrik Bolt lock down multiple warjacks.

I suggest an arcanist per heavy jack, or the max of two. Early on, they let you run myrmidons into position without taxing her, and once she starts running them they buff the damage output or fix busted systems.

Beyond that, current solos tend to be support-hunters of one stripe or another, so flavor as needed.

Wrapup

The most frequent word in this write-up has got to be 'situational.' That's what Kaelyssa does: she changes a situation in your favor. Chances are that she won't use every tool in every game, but she's bound to carry something you will find useful against most any opponent.

Addendum:

A thanks to the Warmachine Retribution Forum for feedback and covering gaps in my knowledge. You can find the associated discussion here.