Captain Sam MacHorne & The Devil Dogs

I have an update about Special Order Models - it is no longer a thing. Click here to read more.

Captain Sam MacHorne & The Devil Dogs Mercenary Ordic Character Unit

The Dog Company is one of the oldest and most respected mercenary companies in western Immoren. Under the leadership of Samantha MacHorne, a former pistoleer, sometime mechanik, and full-time gambler, the Devil Dogs hire themselves out as the best professional anti-warjack unit gold can buy.

Basic Info

MacHorne1
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Sam / Grunts BASE Small SPD 6 STR MAT 7 / 6 RAT 6 / 4 M.A. N/A DEF 15 / 13 ARM 12 / 13 CMD 9 / 7 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 5 / 1 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} UNIT SIZE 6 / 10 COST 12 / 18 1.8 each 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

• Mercenaries - will work for Cygnar, Crucible Guard or Protectorate.

Abilities

• Grunts only
  • Dismantle - This model gains an additional die on damage rolls vs construct models.
• Sam only
  • 'Jack Marshal
  • Officer
  • Drive: Reposition [5"] - While in this model's CMD range, a warjack under its control gains Reposition [5"]. (Reposition [5"] - At the end of an activation in which it did not run or fail a charge, this model can advance up to 5", then its activation ends.)
  • Iron Sentinel - While B2B with a friendly Faction warjack, this model gains +2 DEF and ARM and cannot become knocked down.

Weapons

• Grunts
  • Slug Gun - 4" range, POW 14 ranged weapon.
  • Net - 4" range, 3" AOE, gun that does no damage.
    • Cumbersome - This model cannot attack with this weapon and with another weapon on the same activation.
    • Knockdown - When a model is hit by an attack with this weapon, it becomes knocked down.
  • Pick Axe - 1" reach, P+S 10 melee weapon.
• Sam
  • Hand Cannon - 12" range, POW 12 ranged weapon.
  • Stun Sword - 0.5" reach, P+S 10 melee weapon
    • Stall - A warjack hit by this weapon becomes stationary for one round.

Theme Forces

• Mercenaries
  • The Irregulars
  • Operating Theater (only if controlled by a Cephalyx Dominator)
  • Llaelese Resistance

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

Thoughts on MacHorne1

MacHorne1 in a nutshell

Sam and the Devil Doggos are essentially 9 knockdowns on a stick. Due to the way deviation works, a net trown from 4" away from the target will always clip the target's base, meaning the can knock down anything within 10" of their starting position. Additionally they have Dismantle, meaning they are effectively Weapon Masters against jacks, many battle engines, almost the entirety of Covergence, Wolds, and Skorne Exalted. Sam herself brings a neat gun and a stall sword and is also a jack marshal, but you don't NEED to bring a jack with her as her unit is probably overpriced by a few points and you wouldn't want to increase their price tag. Still, against armies without mass knockdown immunity they can be worth their weight in gold, just make sure to screen them or otherwise help them with delivery, because elsewise they die like flies.

Combos & Synergies

• Lieutenant Gastone Crosse - Probably the best Lifebound target in Llaelese Resistance as he can make the opponent not want to kill them by putting Lifebound on them, but any Dog they don't kill will knock something down in turn. This should help deliver quite a few of them.
• Captain Rahera - Run them 12", then feat and have them throw their nets for a threat range of 16".
• Magnus the Traitor or Ossrum - They can snipe them to give them a much larger threat range and they can knock Magnus down to make him feign death.
• Captain Jonas Murdoch - Go To Ground and Assault between them are exactly what the doctor ordered for the Devil Dogs. They are tailor made to be in Cygnar with Jonas where they can get Snipe and Deadeye with assault and protection from blasts.
• The High Reclaimer and an Attendant Priest get their knockdown into interesting places; from 4" away that knockdown net physically can't miss.
• The Vessel of Judgment (and an Attendant Priest) can let them knock down models on the enemy turn (via doors) - and they can't stand up on the turn they were knocked down.
• Advancing them behind Trencher Infantry in Llaelese Resistance is one way to deliver them with few casualties thanks to Major Harrison Gibbs granting the Trenchers Reposition 3" so they can back up behind their clouds. Another one is to flood the board with two full unit of Rocketmen under Ashlynn's feat. The enemy will have to chew through them in order to get to the Doggos.

Jacks to Marshall

• Marshalling is encouraged by the Irregulars theme force. Sam has an unimpressive drive, so taking a Mangler to get the free charge, Crush bonus and flank in Irregulars would be the best choice if points were no object.
• The Freebooter is generally good and synergises well with the Devil Dogs. With the Crush Order, Flank and Thrash it can utterly mangle anything that a Devil Dog knocked down before.
• Lanyssa, Bamfist, and Widget are a trio of solos that together make any marshalled jack really shine.
• Shae's Coup or Magnus1's Iron Aggression make jacks charge for free so they can Crush! instead of Hurry!
• Remember that there is no obligation to give them a jack, with the right support (e.g. Crosse's Lifebound) they are able to function on their own.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• They're a special order model.
• If you don't face constructs regularly Dismantle is an empty rule.
• Without defensive buffs they die to basically anything.
• They set up enemy models for the rest of your army, they probably won't do much on their own.

Tricks & Tips

• With the net, you can trigger Feign Death on Magnus or any Llaelese models near Major Gibbs.
• Under Jonas Murdoch: When assaulting a medium or larger base, get the first Dog Base-to-Base with the target and the other dogs at maximum Melee. When the first dog throws his net it will not deviate, which will knock down the target and himself but not the other Dogs. The other Dogs hit with their guns on anything but snake eyes and autohit their melee attacks.
• Snipe and Deadeye affects both nets and slug guns.

Other

Trivia

Released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004)

Other Theme Forces

Cygnar (Edit)

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

Protectorate of Menoth (Edit)

• Exemplar Interdiction
• Guardians of the Temple
• The Creator's Might
• The Faithful Masses

Crucible Guard (Edit)

• Magnum Opus

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Cumbersome - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Knockdown     (Edit) 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 : Stall     (Edit) Remember, stationary only prevents what it says it does. Refer the recap on stationary for what models can/can't do. Abilities that say they cannot be used if the model is stationary (such as Shield Guard) cannot be used while a warjack is inert, either. Refer "Warcaster Destruction", page 59 of the core rulebook.

Rules Clarification : Dismantle - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : 'Jack Marshal     (Edit) If a warjack gets a marshal benefit (such as Crush) but then moves out of the marshal's CMD range, it keeps the benefit. (Infernal Ruling) Marshals can control character warjacks. (Closed thread) Although they never get the Power Up bonus, a marshaled warjack can gain focus via other means (such as Accumulator, Empower, Spirit Harvester, etc). They can do this even after the Marshal dies and they become autonomous. 'Jack Marshal & Ranking Officer (Edit) If a Ranking Officer joins a unit with the 'Jack Marshal ability, then they can still only take Mercenary warjacks - they don't gain access to Faction warjacks. (Infernal Ruling) They can control that mercenary warjack as normal, even though they're technically no longer the same faction as the jack. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Officer     (Edit) Even if they're not on the Officer's card, an Officer can give (and benefit from) any non-standard orders that are on the unit's card (such as Shield Wall). Refer main rulebook. A Ranking Officer can't do this, though. When the Officer dies, the Leader model becomes the new Unit Commander (you don't get to choose). But if your unit doesn't include a Leader model, then you do get to choose any of the remaining models to be the new Unit Commander. You don't swap the model, but it may be worth putting a token down so you can tell that grunt apart.

Rules Clarification : Drive     (Edit) If the Drive is on an Officer model, and that model dies, then the new unit commander does not inherit the Drive.

Rules Clarification : Reposition     (Edit) Models out of formation cannot move via Reposition. Refer to the "Out of Formation" rules in the core rulebook. You cannot trigger abilities that occur "at the end of activation" (such as Sprint) after resolving Reposition, because your activation has ended. (Infernal Ruling) See also this article for a detailed explanation. You cannot trigger abilities that occur "at any time" (such as Go To Ground) during a Reposition. Because you can't trigger it while moving, and after moving your activation has ended. (Infernal Ruling) This holds true even if it's a unit with multiple Reposition moves. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Iron Sentinel - None yet. (Edit)