Retribution Initial CID thoughts – Week 1
I haven’t been posting much
recently since I’ve been on WTC lock down, but with the Retribution CID finally
going live yesterday I thought it as good a time as any to put a post up with
my thoughts. As ever, all opinions are my own, but please feel free to let me
know if you disagree.
Lord Ghyrrshyld, the Forgiven
At the end of last year I ranked
all 12 Retribution casters and put my blog’s namesake right at the bottom of
the pile. That won’t be the case any longer. A new Feat and a rewriting of his
spell list has made him a genuinely interesting looking choice that I will
definitely be looking to test at some point. The 4 new spells he’s picked up
are Dauntless Resolve an amazing
defensive upkeep, Freezing Mist for
the cloud wall Ret always wanted, Hand of
Ice a straight up armour debuff and Light
of Wrath as a dual purpose nuke and Stealt removal/DEF debuff. Wow, it is
an incredible spell list. He also keeps Ghost
Walk (Yay) and Revive (Meh). His
Feat has been reworked too, now causing stationary to enemy models when they
destroy a model in his control, as well as collecting souls from fallen models
to be used as Focus next turn. It is still early days, but he looks great to me
and I can’t wait to get him on the table.
Ravyn, The Eternal Light
Another caster being given a new
lease of life with the CID. Gaining Sprint
and Weapon Master really lets her
get some work done without immediately dying afterwards, and her new spells Countermeasure and Open Fire are really strong, though the latter may run into the
issue of being able to shoot into deployment zones on turn1 that has always
been toned down in previous CIDs.
Daemon
A reduction to 14 points is
actually pretty decent, and is enough to make me start to look at putting some
paint on mine. The gun has some interesting uses, and can move your own models
around a bit, and Blessed weapons are
always useful. Not going to grab any headlines during the CID cycle, but a good
change.
Gorgon
Went down a point. Still rubbish.
Hyperion
Range 12 on the Starburst is a nice
buff. I still refer the defensive abilities and utility of Helios but this is
certainly an improvement.
Hypnos
Unlike some of our character Jacks,
Hypnos didn’t get released into any themes, and as I’m not a fan of Ossyan this
change doesn’t affect me too much. Still, a point drop is definitely a good
thing.
Imperatus
Regular readers will know that I
play Vyros2 in Forges a LOT, and until fairly recently have had Imperatus in
the list. I dropped him a couple of months ago and honestly haven’t looked
back. A MAT buff and pint drop probably doesn’t get him back into the list, as
I don’t think he solves Vyros’ problems, but him having the Legions theme
opened up to him does present some opportunities with a threat extending caster
like Elara or Thyron, possibly even marshalled onto a Scyir for some really
impressive threat ranges.
Moros
Moros has always been hamstrung by
Garryth, but at least now has a place without him in Shadows. A speed boost and
Parry help as well. Some interesting assassinations might be possible with that
gun
Phoenix
Always felt a little overcosted at
18 points, so a drop along with a MAT buff is a great change. It has a lot of
rules on its card but can never use all of them, so feels pore appropriately
costed now.
Dawnguard Trident
The big shock inclusion for the CID
is our second battle engine and it brings a whole lot to the party. It gains
power tokens in the same way as the Storm Strider, and can us them to boost its
Momentum melee attack, it’s 3D3 range
12 Pow 13 guns or, most excitingly, place a nearby model 2” in the same manner
as Slipstream in Legion. I think this
thing maybe has one too many rules, and may not make it through CID in this
capacity, but there is a lot to be excited about here. PP have warned about a
long wait for the actual model but it looks like it will be worth it.
Destors and Destor Thane
As anyone who frequents this blog
often will know, I am already a big fan of Destors, and these changes make them
really very potent. It makes their infantry clearing a bit more reliable, their
support removal super reliable, and helps them dink a few more points off
heavies, but where it makes a huge difference is when they go up against light
jacks and on assassination runs, where the extra reliable hitting POW 14 will
be a huge deal. I still don’t think that max units is the way to go with them, but
as support units they look like they will now be doing a lot of work.
Invictors and UA
Not the most glamourous of changes here,
but Reposition 3 and a point
reduction feel like exactly what these guys needed. They are one of the very
few units that I have never put on the table, but am tempted to do so now,
especially under a caster that can boost their ranged output.
Sentinels and UA
Sentinels were easily worth 18
points, this seems like a very odd change. I’ll take it though…
Battle Mages, Artificer and Magister
All of the Shyeel models gained Set Defence as a new standard rule, with
the Battle Mages and Artificer losing Force
Barrier to compensate. Obviously for the Magister this is a straight buff,
which is great, but for the rest the picture is more complicated. I think that
this is a real loss for the Battle Mages, who relied on Force Barrier to deliver themselves, but they have at least dropped
a point and become FA:U, which leaves some interesting options. The Artificer
gained the ability to give Force Barrier to
a unit within 6”, which is an interesting change, especially with it being
opened up to the Legions of Dawn theme. These are interesting changes that feel
like they need a lot of looking at going forward.
Mage Hunter Infiltrators
Up a couple of points and gain
Combo Strike. An interesting change, and would certainly mix up the Elara2 list
I was running a bit back, they would get up to P+S 16 with combo strike, gang
and Scything Touch which is a pretty
respectable number. I like Infiltrators a lot, but mainly liked them for being
very cheap. Now that they’ve lost that tag it will need to be seen if they can
get enough work done to justify the extra points.
Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander
Now gives the unit magic ranged
weapons. Pretty cool. Will help against Gremlin Swarms, Machine Wraiths and the
like, as well as giving a few more options into Menoth. A nice change.
Stormfall Archers
Became a Houseguard unit. Means
they can gain buffs from the Thane to ignore Stealth or gain Desperate Pace. Useful.
Defenders of Ios
Just changed so that instead of
just all Halberdiers gaining Advance Move, one melee unit gets to move for each
Houseguard unit taken. In simple terms: take Rifle Teams or Stormfalls, Advance
Move Ellowuyr or Ryssovass. A nice change.
Forges of War
Threshold for free cards moves up
to 30, but you can now take a Shyeel unit for free. This is a pretty big change
and allows a lot of extra stuff, I’m not sure it’ll stick. Also we can take
Elara1 now, so that’s something.
Legions of Dawn
Gained Imperatus and some support
solos. Still looking like this will be our first major CID theme. Having access
to the Lys Healer is good though.
Shadows of the Retribution
Gained Moros and the Lys Healer,
and can now take command attachments for free, which may convince me to get
Eiryss3 onto the table at some stage. It’s a shame there is no Artificer in
here but I can understand why.
So that’s our lot, I like the
changes on the whole and I think it will open up so many options within the
faction. The obvious things are the reworked casters, but there are bound to be
so many great combinations that are now opened up. Go, play games, test things
and report back to the CID forum. This is a great opportunity.
