Post by faelin on Mar 9, 2017 6:05:43 GMT
Here is Tom Bombadil's original guide to Garryth. I broke the formatting and am still fixing it. Please be patient 
Garryth, Blade of Retribution
Even among mage hunters Garryth is considered a fanatic. He sweeps across the battlefield like a storm, letting the death reaped by his pistols and their razor-sharp blades serve as prayers to the stricken goddess. Garryth’s niche is an assassin and can easily kill most casters who he can get on top of. But despite his personal assassination focus he is surprisingly good at providing his army with the tool they need to survive
Stats
Garryth is an agile WarCaster with both above average SPD and DEF even for retribution standards where high DEF is a norm. His ARM on the other hand is standard for most backline WarCasters and does little to protect him from any form of dedicated assault. His elite assassin status shows up in his MAT which is high beating out even our most elite infantry and hitting DEF 15 on a average roll but sadly despite the fact that he does have ranged options his accuracy at a distance suffers with an average RAT. His magical capabilities are also quite low, with only FOC 6 he struggles to keep up with his own needs, expensive spells, a need to make sure they hit, and giving out focus to ‘Jacks all put a big strain on him.
Weapons and Attacks
Garryth has, like a good member of The Retribution two gun blades giving him two initials at both range and in melee. The blades as well as their attached guns have a respectable POW but its nothing to be overwhelmed by, reinforcing the idea that he is not supposed to be taking on anything heavier than WarCasters and infantry. All of his weapons also have both Blessed and Damage Type: Magical allowing him to be fairly free with his targets. The blades are his primary weapons and this is obvious through both his increased MAT and the presence of Weapons Master and GrievousWounds on them. This is not to say that the pistols do not have their use and in most cases Garryth can kill two infantry models a turn in the rounds before he attempts an assassination run.
Feat
Vortex Lock is Garryth’s feat and is devastating to both WarMachine and Hordes though it does have a bit more power on the WarMachine side of the game. While in his control range enemy models have all magic capabilities disrupted preventing them using both focus and fury, casting and channeling spells, as well as preventing place effects. There are a couple importance pieces to take into account when using his feat. First of which is its weakness against Hordes unlike WarJacks that ‘spend’ focus which is prevented by the feat WarBeasts ‘generate’ Fury which is still allowed making it possible for Beasts unlike Jacks to operate at full capacity. The second important thing to remember is the feats power against both Casters and Locks. Garryth’s feat removes the vast majority of what keeps a War-Noun safe as both transferring damage and reinforcing the power field are considered ‘spending’ focus or fury.
Skills and Abilities
Garryth has plenty of tools in his toolbox even before spells are considered providing himself with plenty offensive pieces as well as a healthy dose of defense. Acrobatics is by far the most stand out piece on his first card; A melee assassin caster who can not be blocked out by a wall of ShockTroopers or a couple heavies is amazing but just as important is Parry. Acrobatics no longer directly gives parry in MK3 but luckily for the pointy eared assassin he as it as well. His other abilities are stables of the mage hunter community which makes sense for the Blade of Retribution Stealth provides an even better protection from ranged than his naturally high DEF and Pathfinder make sure that there is absolutely nothing that can slow him down when he sees it fit to charge a WarCaster or ‘Lock.
Spells
Despite his obvious focus on assassination from his weapons and other abilities his spells provide a lot of support for the rest of his army and have actually little the way of assisting him kill the opposing WarNoun
◦Gallows - An average range & POW spell that also pulls the target closer a large but variable distance closer. It has a large variety of practical uses both in playing for scenario and for attempting an assassination run but is very expensive when considering his small focus pool. Its pull is a great threat extender if arced properly and can easily get a heavy out of a zone and into charge range of your own. Its important to remember that Garryth’s low-ish FOC can make it difficult to actually land on ‘Casters.
◦ Heightened Reflexes - A model/unit spell that prevents both Knock Down and Stationary. No knockdown or stationary is a really powerful tool to have and gives a unit a real edge on attrition especially against certain casters and lists that focus on keep units out of the fight through these means. Despite its apparent strength on a unit, Heightened Reflexes is one of the strongest upkeeps Garryth has when it comes to upkeeping something on himself. Rarely does an enemy have a way to stationary or KD an entire unit but it is much easier to knock down a single caster. A knocked down or stationary 'Caster means death in most cases and this spell can prevent that, keeping Garryth on his feet and forcing them to get through his high DEF for every shot.
◦ Mirage - Target model/unit gains Apparition. This again is a another spell that has both utility for Garryth as well as the rest of his army. Apparition works as a threat extender, up keeping it increases the effective SPD of our slower units or gives our already fast infantry an extra edge. Mirage is also important to Garryth as it gives him a reliable way to increase his own threat which is something he greatly needs. It is readily apparent that this spell has a wide range of potential uses no matter who you put it on. Ranged units can use it to get out of melee before shooting or to extend their threat while still getting the aiming bonus while melee troops, both infantry and Garryth himself, can use it to add a non-linear element to their charges.
◦ Psychic Vampire - If an enemy model casts a spell while in this models control range it takes damage and this model heals damage. If the spellcaster is destroyed from the damage the spell does not take effect. Once again another upkeep but this one is target self only. Its a powerful spell that directly counters a lot of magic based infantry such as Druids or opposing battle mages. The sad part about this spell is that it is often competing with the limited focus that Garryth has and beyond that he is often up-keeping either Mirage or Heightened Reflexes on himself so it normally gets relegated to a very situational counter to some infantry units as mentioned above.
◦ Sentry - During the maintenance phase a model with Sentry may make one free ranged attack. Sentry is Garryth’s fourth up-keep as well as his last spell and can in some cases can greatly increase the offensive output of his army. Sentry is really powerful but often can only be fully utilized if it is considered while still in list creation. This is not to say that entire list should be created around utilizing this spell but that there should be at least one model that can take advantage of it. Sentry really wants models with a single high power or high utility shot that would benefit greatly from having a second chance to shoot. An additional Hydra shot during the maintenance phase is significantly more useful then an additional shot from a Manticore so target selection for Sentry is key.
Synergies
◦ Moros: I figured I would start this out by mentioning Garryth’s character jack. Moros is a solid light jack with +2 DEF over our standard light-jacks plus stealth so he actually has some decent survivability though he still dies quickly. The Bond gives him Acrobatics but its important to remember that Acrobatics no longer implies Parry in MK3 so in most cases you are going to be taking free strikes. The main reason that Moros works well with well with Garryth is that he has Paralyze on both of his blades and his gun. This can be a real asset. Garryth despite his slightly above average MAT still will want to boost to hit against casters so boosting one attack with Moros to get them down to DEF 5 is significantly more efficient than boosting every swing when Garryth actually makes his assassination run.
◦ Sentry: Sentry as a spell has a lot of power when it comes to attrition in Garryth lists. An extra shot per turn can be turn can be useful no matter who is getting in but there are some people who benefit more that others so I thought I would mention them.
◦ AFG: Our battle engine can get some real work done with Sentry. It already has some powerful shots and good range so it will almost always have something to shoot at no matter if it is an extra slam or an extra rift it almost always has a lot to value.
◦ Eiryss: All three forms of Eiryss have always been a one shot wonder packing a lot of power into a ROF 1 gun weather it is disrupting a jack or striping a WarNoun of its focus/fury being able take the shot twice a turn is in most cases more than twice the value.
◦ HRT: The Heavy Rifle Team specializes in accurate Armor Piercing shots from a long ways away. This makes them a perfect candidate for Sentry. Being able to spread through a jack with an extra shot from these guys is what everyone wants.
◦ Banshee: Like with the AFG the Momentum shot from the Banshee’s gun has a lot of of punch packed into it and being able to apply it twice or even just get the extra shot to ensure the hit can have some real value.
◦ Hydra: POW 15 RNG 15 ROF 2 would seem ridiculous on any single jack yet when you pair a Hydra up with Garryth/Sentry that’s basically what you are getting.
These are some of the best models to use when it comes to Sentry targets but they obviously are not the only ones that are viable; like I said earlier most any of our guns wouldn't mind being able to shoot an additional time. Sentry is a really powerful spell that it is important to get the most out of but ultimately you can only have it on one model at a time so it doesn't take much from an army building stand point to make the most of it.
Garryth, Blade of Retribution
Even among mage hunters Garryth is considered a fanatic. He sweeps across the battlefield like a storm, letting the death reaped by his pistols and their razor-sharp blades serve as prayers to the stricken goddess. Garryth’s niche is an assassin and can easily kill most casters who he can get on top of. But despite his personal assassination focus he is surprisingly good at providing his army with the tool they need to survive
Stats
Garryth is an agile WarCaster with both above average SPD and DEF even for retribution standards where high DEF is a norm. His ARM on the other hand is standard for most backline WarCasters and does little to protect him from any form of dedicated assault. His elite assassin status shows up in his MAT which is high beating out even our most elite infantry and hitting DEF 15 on a average roll but sadly despite the fact that he does have ranged options his accuracy at a distance suffers with an average RAT. His magical capabilities are also quite low, with only FOC 6 he struggles to keep up with his own needs, expensive spells, a need to make sure they hit, and giving out focus to ‘Jacks all put a big strain on him.
Weapons and Attacks
Garryth has, like a good member of The Retribution two gun blades giving him two initials at both range and in melee. The blades as well as their attached guns have a respectable POW but its nothing to be overwhelmed by, reinforcing the idea that he is not supposed to be taking on anything heavier than WarCasters and infantry. All of his weapons also have both Blessed and Damage Type: Magical allowing him to be fairly free with his targets. The blades are his primary weapons and this is obvious through both his increased MAT and the presence of Weapons Master and GrievousWounds on them. This is not to say that the pistols do not have their use and in most cases Garryth can kill two infantry models a turn in the rounds before he attempts an assassination run.
Feat
Vortex Lock is Garryth’s feat and is devastating to both WarMachine and Hordes though it does have a bit more power on the WarMachine side of the game. While in his control range enemy models have all magic capabilities disrupted preventing them using both focus and fury, casting and channeling spells, as well as preventing place effects. There are a couple importance pieces to take into account when using his feat. First of which is its weakness against Hordes unlike WarJacks that ‘spend’ focus which is prevented by the feat WarBeasts ‘generate’ Fury which is still allowed making it possible for Beasts unlike Jacks to operate at full capacity. The second important thing to remember is the feats power against both Casters and Locks. Garryth’s feat removes the vast majority of what keeps a War-Noun safe as both transferring damage and reinforcing the power field are considered ‘spending’ focus or fury.
Skills and Abilities
Garryth has plenty of tools in his toolbox even before spells are considered providing himself with plenty offensive pieces as well as a healthy dose of defense. Acrobatics is by far the most stand out piece on his first card; A melee assassin caster who can not be blocked out by a wall of ShockTroopers or a couple heavies is amazing but just as important is Parry. Acrobatics no longer directly gives parry in MK3 but luckily for the pointy eared assassin he as it as well. His other abilities are stables of the mage hunter community which makes sense for the Blade of Retribution Stealth provides an even better protection from ranged than his naturally high DEF and Pathfinder make sure that there is absolutely nothing that can slow him down when he sees it fit to charge a WarCaster or ‘Lock.
Spells
Despite his obvious focus on assassination from his weapons and other abilities his spells provide a lot of support for the rest of his army and have actually little the way of assisting him kill the opposing WarNoun
◦Gallows - An average range & POW spell that also pulls the target closer a large but variable distance closer. It has a large variety of practical uses both in playing for scenario and for attempting an assassination run but is very expensive when considering his small focus pool. Its pull is a great threat extender if arced properly and can easily get a heavy out of a zone and into charge range of your own. Its important to remember that Garryth’s low-ish FOC can make it difficult to actually land on ‘Casters.
◦ Heightened Reflexes - A model/unit spell that prevents both Knock Down and Stationary. No knockdown or stationary is a really powerful tool to have and gives a unit a real edge on attrition especially against certain casters and lists that focus on keep units out of the fight through these means. Despite its apparent strength on a unit, Heightened Reflexes is one of the strongest upkeeps Garryth has when it comes to upkeeping something on himself. Rarely does an enemy have a way to stationary or KD an entire unit but it is much easier to knock down a single caster. A knocked down or stationary 'Caster means death in most cases and this spell can prevent that, keeping Garryth on his feet and forcing them to get through his high DEF for every shot.
◦ Mirage - Target model/unit gains Apparition. This again is a another spell that has both utility for Garryth as well as the rest of his army. Apparition works as a threat extender, up keeping it increases the effective SPD of our slower units or gives our already fast infantry an extra edge. Mirage is also important to Garryth as it gives him a reliable way to increase his own threat which is something he greatly needs. It is readily apparent that this spell has a wide range of potential uses no matter who you put it on. Ranged units can use it to get out of melee before shooting or to extend their threat while still getting the aiming bonus while melee troops, both infantry and Garryth himself, can use it to add a non-linear element to their charges.
◦ Psychic Vampire - If an enemy model casts a spell while in this models control range it takes damage and this model heals damage. If the spellcaster is destroyed from the damage the spell does not take effect. Once again another upkeep but this one is target self only. Its a powerful spell that directly counters a lot of magic based infantry such as Druids or opposing battle mages. The sad part about this spell is that it is often competing with the limited focus that Garryth has and beyond that he is often up-keeping either Mirage or Heightened Reflexes on himself so it normally gets relegated to a very situational counter to some infantry units as mentioned above.
◦ Sentry - During the maintenance phase a model with Sentry may make one free ranged attack. Sentry is Garryth’s fourth up-keep as well as his last spell and can in some cases can greatly increase the offensive output of his army. Sentry is really powerful but often can only be fully utilized if it is considered while still in list creation. This is not to say that entire list should be created around utilizing this spell but that there should be at least one model that can take advantage of it. Sentry really wants models with a single high power or high utility shot that would benefit greatly from having a second chance to shoot. An additional Hydra shot during the maintenance phase is significantly more useful then an additional shot from a Manticore so target selection for Sentry is key.
Synergies
◦ Moros: I figured I would start this out by mentioning Garryth’s character jack. Moros is a solid light jack with +2 DEF over our standard light-jacks plus stealth so he actually has some decent survivability though he still dies quickly. The Bond gives him Acrobatics but its important to remember that Acrobatics no longer implies Parry in MK3 so in most cases you are going to be taking free strikes. The main reason that Moros works well with well with Garryth is that he has Paralyze on both of his blades and his gun. This can be a real asset. Garryth despite his slightly above average MAT still will want to boost to hit against casters so boosting one attack with Moros to get them down to DEF 5 is significantly more efficient than boosting every swing when Garryth actually makes his assassination run.
◦ Sentry: Sentry as a spell has a lot of power when it comes to attrition in Garryth lists. An extra shot per turn can be turn can be useful no matter who is getting in but there are some people who benefit more that others so I thought I would mention them.
◦ AFG: Our battle engine can get some real work done with Sentry. It already has some powerful shots and good range so it will almost always have something to shoot at no matter if it is an extra slam or an extra rift it almost always has a lot to value.
◦ Eiryss: All three forms of Eiryss have always been a one shot wonder packing a lot of power into a ROF 1 gun weather it is disrupting a jack or striping a WarNoun of its focus/fury being able take the shot twice a turn is in most cases more than twice the value.
◦ HRT: The Heavy Rifle Team specializes in accurate Armor Piercing shots from a long ways away. This makes them a perfect candidate for Sentry. Being able to spread through a jack with an extra shot from these guys is what everyone wants.
◦ Banshee: Like with the AFG the Momentum shot from the Banshee’s gun has a lot of of punch packed into it and being able to apply it twice or even just get the extra shot to ensure the hit can have some real value.
◦ Hydra: POW 15 RNG 15 ROF 2 would seem ridiculous on any single jack yet when you pair a Hydra up with Garryth/Sentry that’s basically what you are getting.
These are some of the best models to use when it comes to Sentry targets but they obviously are not the only ones that are viable; like I said earlier most any of our guns wouldn't mind being able to shoot an additional time. Sentry is a really powerful spell that it is important to get the most out of but ultimately you can only have it on one model at a time so it doesn't take much from an army building stand point to make the most of it.