Grundback Blaster

99% of this website is about Mark 3 (mk3), which is the previous edition of the game (2016 to 2022). The reasons for this are explained here. 1% of the website is about Mark 4 (mk4), but only in regards to which mk3 models are useable in mk4 Prime and which are mk4 Unlimited. See Legacy Armies for more detail.

Grundback Blaster Mercenary Rhulic Light Warjack

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Rhul Guard. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

The Blaster's Rhulic ruggedness and durability make it both a brutal and economic weapon of war. Armed with a canister-fed Hail-Shot Cannon, the Blaster answers many of the demands of mercenary commanders and adds an incredible degree of flexibility to Rhulic forces fighting all over western Immoren.

Basic Info

Grundback Blaster
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 5 STR 6 MAT 5 RAT 6 M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 18 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 18 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 6 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warjack - All warjacks share the same set of special rules. Most notably being big and stompy. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Rhulic Warjack - This warjack must be controlled by a Rhulic model.

Abilities

• Construct
• Sturdy - This model cannot be pushed.

Weapons

Hail Shot Cannon
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		SP8			1			-			10			Head
Powerful Attack - When attacking with this weapon, this model can spend 1 focus point to boost all attack and damage rolls for the attack.
Bash
		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		0.5				0				6				-

Theme Forces

Within mercenaries, this warjack can be used in:

• Hammer Strike
• Soldiers of Fortune
• The Irregulars. If it's 'Jack Marshalled in this theme, it gains Flank [Warrior model].

Outside of mercenaries, it can be taken by Thor Steinhammer in a few more themes.

Thoughts on Grundback Blaster

Grundback Blaster in a nutshell

The twin brother of the Grundback Gunner, the Blaster is yet another gun platform with a rock-bottom price tag, and sacrifices a single direct shot for a spray template. That means 4" shorter threat range, but the added benefits of the spray weapon (most notably ignoring stealth and penalties for being in melee/cover/concealment) often worth this small flaw. While Gunners can bring the pain for a single target, Blasters are effective crowd control solutions. They also really shine when used to clear jamming models from your other pieces - Gunners, for example. Bringing one or two in a Dwarf list is never a bad idea.

Combos & Synergies

• General Ossrum gives it Tactician, Energizer, and Unstoppable force to allow you to move, place enemies together, then spray once they are packed together. Bulldoze can be especially effective to cluster up enemy models for a spray.
• Durgen Madhammer turns their sprays to flamethrowers and gives them Gunfighter on feat turn.
• Gorten Grundback isn't so good as Ossrum with them but they are already good and Energizer is a very good spell with them.

Drawbacks and Downsides

• Due to Powerful Attack their performance are tied to the power-up Focus. Watch out for armies with access for massed Disruption effects (like Nemo1's feat), or with targeted damage sources which can quickly knock out their cortices.
• Good ARM for a light (especially for its point cost), but few HP. Against dedicated warjack-busters it falls pretty quick.
• Slow speed and highly susceptible for rough terrain tricks.
• Really horrible in close combat. If your Blaster gets stuck in melee, it's worth risking the free strike to try and get away.
• Consequently, anti-shooting tricks will hurt you really bad.
• Boosted POW 10 can cause chip damage into a heavy, but still not something to play into an ARM skew, even with powerful attack.

Tricks and Tips

• Beginners' guide: Remember the targeting mechanism of the spray templates. You can target a model outside the range of the gun if that could get more enemy models under the template than targeting the actual unit you want to damage.
• Powerful Attack boosts all of your attack and damage rolls - even if you target multiple models. Use this to your advantage.
• They're perfect zone holders against armies which rely on push/drag/pull tricks, like the ATGM's of Cygnar, the Prime Axiom, Kolgrima, etc.
• Despite immunity to pushes, enemies can still slam/throw/place your jack.

Other

Trivia

Released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006)

Who can control this warjack

To include this mercenary warjack in your army, it must be controlled by one of the following Rhulic warcasters or marshals. Thus, to include this jack you first need to find a controller that works for your army.

Rhulic 'Jack Controllers (Edit)
Warcaster	Durgen Madhammer - General Ossrum - Gorten Grundback
'Jack Marshal Cannot take Colossals	Thor Steinhammer

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Powerful Attack      (Edit) If your weapon can make multiple attacks (such as a Charger's ROF 2 gun) then you need to declare (and pay for) Powerful Attack for each attack. (Infernal Ruling) You must declare whether you're using Powerful Attack before making any attack rolls. If you choose not to use it on attack rolls, you can't trigger it on damage rolls. (Infernal Ruling) Exception: If your attack auto-misses, such as an AOE vs Stealth, then you can declare it after deviation but before making damage rolls. (Infernal Ruling) If you declare you're using Powerful Attack, it will apply to to-hit roll(s) and damage rolls. You can't choose to have it just boost the attack roll(s) or just boost the damage roll(s). (Infernal Ruling) The Powerful Attack bonus doesn't apply to "secondary" damage such as Magic Bullet or Electro Leap.

Rules Clarification : Warjack      (Edit) The Cortex/Induction core rule means a warjack cannot have more than 3 focus at any time (maybe 4 if they're really special). Many abilities give out focus and don't state an upper limit (such as Convection and Empower). Despite not stating an upper limit, they are always "hard-limited" by the core rule. A warjack can have more than 3 focus during a turn, though. For instance, a knocked down warjack can Power Up and be Allocated 2 focus, then spend 1 to shake knockdown, then another model could Empower it back up to 3. Warjacks cannot spend focus outside of their activation. For instance, they can't boost free strikes or trigger Powerful Attack on Broadsides. (Infernal Ruling) Inert warjacks 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 : Rhulic Warjack - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Construct - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Sturdy - None yet. (Edit)