Balthazar Bamfist

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Balthazar Bamfist Mercenary Rhulic Solo

Fluff

Boxed Set Balthazar Bamfist comes in the Riot Quest starter set, alongside 4 other solos: Dez, Eiryss, Fortune Hunter of Ios, Gubbin, and Sir Dreyfus the Storm Knight. At the time of writing (2019.05) they are not available for individual purchase.

Basic Info

Balthazar Bamfist
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 5 STR 7 MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 13 ARM 16 CMD 7 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 5 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} UNIT SIZE N/A COST 4 N/A N/A FA C N/A Warcaster 1 BASE N/A SPD N/A STR N/A MAT N/A RAT N/A DEF N/A ARM N/A CMD N/A FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP N/A WJP N/A WBP N/A UNIT SIZE N/A COST N/A FA N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

• Riot Quest - Although this model has rules which allow it to be played in Warmachine and Hordes, it was primarily designed for the Riot Quest game. RQ is set in an alternate and/or future timeline where the Infernals won the war. Some of the RQ models have a deliberately goofy aesthetic.
• Mercenary - Balthazar Bamfist will work for Crucible Guard, Cygnar, and Khador.

Abilities

• Battle Wizard - Once per turn, when this model destroys one or more enemy models with a melee attack during its activation, immediately after the attack is resolved it can make one Magic Ability special attack or special action.
• Force Barrier - This model gains +2 DEF against ranged attack rolls and does not suffer blast damage.
• Magic Ability [ - ] - This model can cast spells. Normally this uses up the model's Combat Action and as such is limited to one spell per activation, but exceptions do exist.

Weapons

• Mecha-Fist - 0.5" reach, POW 5, P+S 12 melee attack
  • Ram - When an enemy model is hit by this weapon during this model's Combat Action, it becomes knocked down and can be pushed 1" directly away from this model. If the model hit is pushed, this model can immediately advance 1" directly toward it.

Spells

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Empower	(★ Action)	CMD	-	-	-	No
Target friendly Faction warjack. If the target warjack is in range and it was suffering Disruption, it is no longer disrupted. The warjack also gains 1 focus point.
Protection of the Great Fathers	(★ Action)	6	-	-	Round	No
Target friendly Rhulic model/unit. If the model/unit is in range, it gains Force Barrier for one round.
Tectonic Shift	(★ Action)	-	-	-	-	-
Enemy models within 3" of this model are pushed 3" towards the table edge of your choice.

Theme Forces

• Mercenary
  • Hammer Strike. Bamfist gains Tough in this theme.
  • The Irregulars

• Other Factions
  • Hearts of Darkness. Bamfist can only go in this theme if Crosse2 is leading the army. He becomes an Infernal model in this theme.
  • As a mercenary model/unit, he can also be hired out to a bunch of other Faction's themes. Refer to #Other Theme Forces.

Thoughts on the Balthazar Bamfist

New model - This article is a Work In Progress This model has only recently been released, and the content in the "Thoughts On" section is based more on theory-machine than actual gameplay experience. Please don't delete this warning unless you (1) have played several games with the final rules (games with CID rules don't count) and (2) you've reviewed this article and it mostly(★) matches your experiences. (★) Bearing in mind that other editors may make suggestions you don't think are the "best" but that doesn't make them "wrong". Don't delete stuff just because you disagree with it, please. See also Category: Recent Release and Category: Recent Change.

Balthazar Bamfist in a nutshell

See, this guy is there to keep Durgen's Primed Forge Guard from blowing each other up when they die. Or, if you prefer, make the whatever unit is behind Gorten's rock wall DEF 16 with the cover bonus.

Other than that, he's the only model with Empower allowed in either Irregulars or Hammer Strike. Empower is a valuable commodity in Irregulars where marshaled warjacks gain Flank: Warrior, but 4 points is a lot to pay for the privilege.

Combos & Synergies

• Any jack appreciates extra focus and any Rhulic unit likes Force Barrier.
• A jack-marshaled warjack in Irregulars. Marshaled warjacks gain Flank in Irregulars and he is the only way to get focus point onto one to allow an extra attack. The most powerful possible combination would be to take Boss Machorne as the jack marshal, put a Mariner on her and run it with Captain Shae. Shae's Coup de Main spell would give it a free 12" charge. Machorne would grant it Crush and Dismantle (combined with Flank for two extra damage dice against constructs) and Bamfist would give it the focus point to allow three attacks, or boost damage rolls from the cannon shot. However that's a 24 point combination even if they are you free solo choices.
• If you want to go all in on marshalled jack in Irregulars, he, Lanyssa, and Widget make for an excellent team of enablers.
• in Hammerstrike, with Gorten, Bamfist can cast forcebarrier on a TAC unit, which, spread out behold Gortens Stone Wall can create a 7” cloud Wall, with themselves being def 17, and hard to charge.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He has no units to put Force Barrier on in Irregulars besides Herne and Jonne. Note that you can still put it on Rhulic warrior models, such as Gorten, Durgen, Ossrum or Steinhammer.
• He may not be ideal in Hammer Strike; the general low DEF and high ARM means that dwarves aren't a good target for Force Barrier, and their jacks tend to be pretty focus efficient. He is their only access to Empower, and might make a good buddy to Thor Steinhammer. DEF 12, ARM 18 Forge Guard ain't so bad either.
• Force Wall of course is resistant to blessed weapons; the spell doesn't directly add to DEF - it gives them Force Barrier and the DEF boost comes from there.
• He is only available via the RiotQuest starter box or the much less expensive RiotQuest Throwdown kit (his blinged out version). If you are reading this after RiotQuest support has ended, you may have trouble finding his model.

Tricks & Tips

• Keep him back - he might hit hard but he's mostly support.

Other

Trivia

• Released 2019.07
• Despite being Rhulic in the Warmachine rules, he is not from Rhul. He is an Arcane Mechanik from the mysterious continent of Zu and would not actually be present in Immoren until after the Infernals destroyed the continent in the RiotQuest timeline.
• He has a neat glowy ball in his left hand that has absolutely no function in either Warmachine or RiotQuest.

Other Theme Forces

Crucible Guard (Edit)

• Magnum Opus

Cygnar (Edit)

• Gravediggers
• Heavy Metal
• Sons of the Tempest
• Storm Division

Khador (Edit)

• Armored Korps
• Jaws of the Wolf
• Legion of Steel
• Winter Guard Kommand

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Battle Wizard      (Edit) Cavalry Battle Wizards can trigger it from their Mount Attacks. (Infernal Ruling) This does not, however, allow them to trigger it twice in the same turn. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Force Barrier - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Magic Ability      (Edit) Using a Magic Ability counts as a spell, for effects such as Spell Ward, Witch Hunter, etc. Combat Action Nearly all Magic Ability spells require the spellcaster to use their Combat Action to cast the spell. As such it is not an "at any time" ability (like it is when warcasters/warlocks cast spells). This means ... You must complete your movement before you use a MA. A model in a unit cannot use its Combat Action to cast a spell until all members of the unit have completed their movement. (Infernal Ruling) You cannot make ranged or melee attacks on the same turn you use a MA. You cannot use a MA on the same turn you charge. Because a charge must (almost always) be followed by a melee attack. Non-Combat Action There are a few models that can use a Magic Ability at any time (eg Geomancy and Necromancy), or can cast a spell "for free" under specific conditions that would otherwise require their Combat Action (eg Battle Wizard and Combat Caster). These models get around all the restrictions listed above.

Rules Clarification : Ram      (Edit) Push - General     (Edit)   [Show/Hide] Pushed models do not change their facing. Pushed models move at half rate through difficult terrain. Also, Pathfinder doesn't apply during pushes. Pushed models stop if they contact anything - a model of any size, or any obstacles or obstructions. You don't get free strikes against pushed models, because it is "involuntary movement" and therefore does not count as an advance. Pushed models suffer the effects of anything they move through (such as acid clouds). If you use a Push vs a charging model (via a free strike for example), this will stop the charge movement (refer core rulebook). However, if the pushed model is in melee range of its charge target after the push, then it is considered a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) In that scenario, you measure whether the charging model moved 3" or less excluding the push distance. (Infernal Ruling) Knockdown (Edit) - Remember, knockdown only prevents what it says it does. Refer to the Knockdown page for a recap of what a model can/can't do.

Rules Clarification : Empower and/or Recharge     (Edit) A warjack can benefit from this ability multiple times. A warjack cannot go over its normal focus limit (which is 3 for most jacks) as a result of this ability. Refer to the Cortex rules.

Rules Clarification : Protection of the Great Fathers - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Tectonic Shift      (Edit) Push - General     (Edit)   [Show/Hide] Pushed models do not change their facing. Pushed models move at half rate through difficult terrain. Also, Pathfinder doesn't apply during pushes. Pushed models stop if they contact anything - a model of any size, or any obstacles or obstructions. You don't get free strikes against pushed models, because it is "involuntary movement" and therefore does not count as an advance. Pushed models suffer the effects of anything they move through (such as acid clouds). If you use a Push vs a charging model (via a free strike for example), this will stop the charge movement (refer core rulebook). However, if the pushed model is in melee range of its charge target after the push, then it is considered a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) In that scenario, you measure whether the charging model moved 3" or less excluding the push distance. (Infernal Ruling)