Initiates of the Wall

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Protectorate Logo.jpg Initiates of the Wall

Protectorate Paladin Unit

Mk4 icon.png
Unlimited Only
This model can only be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can see the other models with / without mk4 rules on this page.

Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

Only those with a true calling can walk the path of the Order of the Wall. These men and women spend their youth honing body and soul to serve the Creator and to protect the faithful. To complete their training, initiates are sent out in small groups, tasked with guarding the Temple's servants in battle. Though still far from full mastery, several initiates standing side-by-side can withstand devastating blows from beast and machine alike. For this duty, each sets aside their sword and shield to wield blessed battleaxes instead, teaching them that the weapon they wield is secondary to each paladin's faith and resolve.

Basic Info

Initiates of the Wall
Missing Info
Initiates of Wall.jpg
COST {{{cacost}}}
UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}}
FA {{{cafa}}}
Warcaster 0
BASE Small
SPD 6
STR 7
MAT 6
RAT N/A
M.A. N/A
DEF 13
ARM 15
CMD 6
ESSENCE {{{essence}}}
FOCUS N/A
FURY N/A
THRS N/A
HP 5
F. Field N/A
WJP {{{wjp}}}
WBP {{{wbp}}}
IHP {{{ihp}}}
FA 3
UNIT SIZE 3
COST 7
2.3 each
N/A
N/A
Warcaster 1
COST N/A
N/A
Understanding
the Statblock

Abilities

  • CMA symbol.jpg Combined Melee Attack
  • Practiced Maneuvers - Each model in this unit can ignore other models in this unit when determining LOS and can advance through them if it has enough movement to move completely past them.
  • Set Defense - A model in this model's front arc suffers -2 on charge, slam power attack, and impact attack rolls against this model.
  • Shield Guard - Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent's turn while within 3" of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. The Shield Guard special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.
  • Unbreakable Wall - This model gains a cumulative +3 ARM for each other model in this unit it is currently B2B with. Additionally, while B2B with another model in its unit, this model cannot become knocked down, cannot be placed, and cannot be moved by a push, slam, or throw.

Weapons

Blessed Axe
Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S 
2 5 12

Theme Forces


Thoughts on the Initiates of the Wall

Initiates of the Wall in a Nutshell

Paladins of the Order of the Wall in training, the Initiates are green Paladin recruits. Durable and hard to dislodge for their point cost (as long as they're base to base with one another), they play the role of an anchor unit in Faithful Masses while protecting vital models with Shield Guard. They pay for their durability with their mediocre offensive abilities and will do little more than scratch the paint of harder targets even with CMAs.

Combos & Synergies

  • Anyone with the ability to buff their defensive scores so they become even harder to dislodge; Defender's Ward via Grand Scrutator Severius, Inviolable Resolve from High Exemplar Cyrenia, etc etc.
  • Severius1, besides providing Defender's Ward, can also give one member of the unit Vision, allowing them to take any one hit in the game without a scratch. Death Sentence and Eye of Menoth also bring their offensive capabilities up from mediocre to "fair".
  • Thyra, Flame of Sorrow is a general purpose infantry force multiplier. Carnage gives them elite MAT, Silence of Death makes one unit decently hard-hitting, and Occultation makes them even more difficult to dislodge with shooting. Although she'll rarely have need of a Shield Guard due to her native Stealth, protecting important models from getting shot (such as Paladin solos or Blood of Martyrs) is a good thing.
  • High Exemplar Cyrenia, in addition to providing Inviolable Resolve, gives Rock Wall to improve their DEF against shooting and melee, Dash to speed them up, and Positive Charge to boost their offensive output. Her feat, in combination with Set Defense and her wall, makes them incredibly difficult to dislodge.
  • The Harbinger of Menoth loves high-ARM, multi-wound models to Martyr, and they can Shield Guard her from your opponents shooting. Martyrdom lets you keep every model in the unit alive, thus keeping them at ARM 21 for that much longer. Awe gives them a respectable DEF 15 against living models, DEF 17 against the charge. Although Guided Hand is usually better on larger/harder hitting units, it can make them very accurate if for some reason you don't want to CMA.
  • The Champion of the Order of the Wall gives them Girded, which can allow them to protect other models from blast damage.

Drawbacks & Downsides

  • Mediocre offensive output. Even with available buffs they don't hit very hard, and unit-specific buffs are usually better off on larger units or more powerful models.
  • Due to all of them needing to be base to base with one another to maximize their defenses, they have a relatively small footprint on the field.
  • Although ARM 21 is a great number for infantry, some models (heavy warjacks/warbeasts, weapon masters) will be able to blow right through it. Once a single member of the unit is lost, their survivability drastically drops.
  • Very limited board presence - with all of them in base to base contact they don't threaten much more of the battlefield than one model would, and they are only POW 12s.

Tricks & Tips

  • "Triangle Formation" with each Initiate in B2B with both of the other two is their normal formation. If you instead arrange them in a line, then as soon as the middle of the line gets sniped out the other two will lose their bonuses.
  • If another model has a special ability that triggers when a friendly model dies (such as a Menite Archon's Swift Vengeance ability) then have these guys stay in range so that, if/when they use Shield Guard and die, that special ability gets triggered.

Other

Trivia

  • Released at LVO (2019.02)

Other Protectorate models

Protectorate Logo.jpg       Protectorate Index       (Edit)          
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters

Amon - Cyrenia - Durant2 - Durst - Feora1 - Feora2 - Feora3 - Feora4 - Harbinger - Kreoss1 - Kreoss2 - Kreoss3 - Malekus - Reclaimer1 - Reclaimer2 - Reznik1 - Reznik2 - Severius1 - Severius2 - Thyra - Vindictus

Warcaster attachments Hierophant - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers BGC Durant1 - Severius0
Marshals Bastion Seneschal - Reclaimer Gatekeeper
Light

Blessing of Vengeance - Dervish - Devout - Purifier - Redeemer - Repenter - Revenger - Vigilant

Heavy

Avatar of Menoth - Blood of Martyrs - Castigator - Crusader - Eye of Truth - Fire of Salvation - Guardian - Hand of Judgment - Indictor - Reckoner - Sanctifier - Scourge of Heresy - Templar - Vanquisher

Colossal Judicator - Revelator
Units, Solos, Battle Engines, & Structures
Units

Choir of Menoth - Daughters of the Flame - Deliverer Sunburst Crew - Deliverer Skyhammers - Exemplar Bastions - Exemplar Cinerators - Exemplar Errants - Exemplar Vengers - Flame Bringers - Flameguard Cleansers - Holy Zealots - Idrian Skirmishers - Initiates of the Wall - Knights Exemplar - Temple Flameguard - Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard
Ranking Officer CA: Attendant Priest

Solos

Allegiant of the Order of the Fist - Champion of the Order of the Wall - Covenant1 - Covenant2 - Deliverer Arms Master - Exemplar Warder Elias Gade - Exemplar Warder - Exemplar Bastion Seneschal - Exemplar Errant Seneschal - Hand of Silence - Hierophant - High Exemplar Gravus - High Paladin Dartan Vilmon - Initiate Tristan Durant - Knights Exemplar Seneschal - Menite Archon - Nicia, Tear of Vengeance - Paladin of the Order of the Wall - Pyrrhus, Flameguard Hero - Reclaimer Gatekeeper - Scrutator Potentate Severius - Vassal Mechanik - Vassal of Menoth - Wrack

Battle Engines & Structures Vessel of Judgment (BE) - Shrine of the Lawgiver (Structure)
Theme Forces
Exemplar Interdiction - Guardians of the Temple - The Creator's Might - The Faithful Masses - Warriors of the Old Faith
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Protectorate of Menoth Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Combined Melee Attack      (Edit)

  • Each CMA only counts as a single attack, no matter how many participants are involved. This means, for example, that if Satyxis Raiders damage a warjack and trigger their Feedback ability, the enemy warcaster will only take 1 damage total, not 1 for every Raider.
  • Any bonuses (such as back strike) or penalties (such as intervening terrain) are determined according to the model leading the CMA (the attack leader).
    • If the participants have buffs/debuffs but the attack leader doesn't ... then the CMA doesn't because only the attack leader matters. Simple as that.
  • A single unit can perform multiple CMAs, utilising different groupings of models. eg a unit with 10 models could make one 10-man CMA, or two 5-man CMAs, or five 2-man CMAs, or etc.
  • CMA for units that have more than one melee weapon (the short version)
    • Once you have more than one melee weapon, charging becomes a bit complicated. There are two important rules:
      1. A model which charges must use its first attack to make a charge attack. It can't "skip ahead" to contributing its second non-charge attack before it's resolved its first attack.
      2. For a CMA to gain the charging bonus, then all contributors must be contributing a charge attack.
    • These two rules have a few, slightly confusing implications. Click the expand box below for a full breakdown.
CMA for units with more than one weapon (the long version) (Edit)
The following example is about Satyxis Raiders, but is equally applicable to other units with two CMA:
  • Each Raider gets two attacks. Both, one, or neither can be a CMA as you choose.
  • If you are doing two CMA in a row, then you should note that the second CMA doesn’t have to use the same “primary attacker” or the same “participants” as the first CMA.
    • For instance, you could have the first CMA with raider A being the "primary attacker" and raider B being the "participant",
    • then for the second CMA have raider B the "primary attacker" and raider A the "participant".
    • Or leave A alone for a moment and use B plus C. Whatever takes your fancy.
  • Primary attackers and participants don't have to use the same weapon. So, continuing with the above example, you could have primary A use lash and participant B use horns, then primary B use lash and participant A use horns. Effectively granting you two lash attacks with CMA bonuses!
  • Combined Melee Attack and charging
    • Remember the 2 rules above?
    • Rule 1 means you cannot contribute your second, non-charge attack before you have resolved/contributed your first attack.
    • Rule 1 means you cannot "skip ahead" to resolving your second, non-charge attack before you have resolved/contributed your first attack.
    • but wait, there's more!
    • However, thanks to the "Units with Combined Melee Attack ignore the rule that one trooper's combat action cannot begin until the previous model's combat action ends" rule, you can "pause" your second attack if you want to do a CMA with it later. For example:
      • Model A performs its charge attack.
      • Model B performs its charge attack. (Interrupting A)
      • Model C performs its charge attack. (Interrupting B)
      • CMA using A, B & C's remaining attack.

Rules Clarification : Practiced Maneuvers - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Set Defense - None yet. (Edit)

RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Shield Guard and/or Shadow Guardian     (Edit)

  • You can't use this ability vs spells.
  • You shift all effects onto the new model, including stuff that triggers on "when this attack hits".
  • When you use this ability vs an AOE attack, the template moves too. Because, with reference to Apdx A, the hit 'moves' at Step 6 and the template placement is determined at Step 7.
  • This ability doesn't work vs Point Blank attacks. Because Point Blank attacks are melee attacks that are made using a ranged weapon.
    • On the other hand, it will work vs Gunfighter attacks.
  • Shield Guard only
    • Since Shield Guard specifies "opponent's turn", it can't be used against stuff that shoots in your own turn (such as Watcher or Counterblast).
    • The Shield Guard does not necessarily need to be in the attacker's LOS or range.
    • The Shield Guarder is always hit even if they have an ability that makes them automatically get missed, such as Stealth. (Automatically missing is determined earlier in the timing sequence than the Shield Guard moving the hit.) (Infernal Ruling)
RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Unbreakable Wall      (Edit)

  • You can still be damaged by slams and throws.


RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification:  : Magical Damage      (Edit)
(Click Expand to read)

* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling)
  • All spells have "Damage Type: Magical" (refer errata).
    • This is inherited by "immediate" secondary damage (such as Eruption of Spines). (Infernal Ruling)
    • and might be inherited by "lingering" secondary damage (see below).
  • If a spell leaves a template in play that does damage to models that walk around in it, then:
    • if it is not described as a hazard it will do magical damage to models that walk around in it. (Example: Razor Wall)
    • if it is a hazard then it will not do magical damage to models that walk around in it. Instead, it does whatever damage type is specified by the spell description. (Example: Breath of Corruption).
    • (Infernal Ruling)
  • If a weapon/spell includes Magic Damage and another kind of elemental damage it will still damage Incorporeal models. Incorporeal models are not affected by the rule "if an attack does multiple types of damage and a model is immune to at least one it is immune to the entire attack."
    The phrase "immune to non-magical damage" should be interpreted as "immune to damage that doesn't include Damage Type: Magical" (not interpreted as "has immunity to Corrosion and Electricity and Cold and etc.")