Steelhead Arcanist

Steelhead Arcanist Mercenary Steelhead Solo

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Soldiers of Fortune. 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.

While the Steelhead Mercenary Company isn’t known for occultists, its commanders and captains know the value of battlefield magic and are willing to offer a premium wage to recruit seasoned arcanists. These individuals enjoy privileged positions in Steelhead companies and the most competent quickly earn officer commissions, receiving even greater pay. A number of Steelhead arcanists formerly served in Ord’s navy, earning combat experience and knowledge of weather magic and lethal barrage spells.

Basic Info

Steelhead Arcanist
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 6 STR 5 MAT 5 RAT N/A M.A. 6 DEF 13 ARM 13 CMD 8 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 N/A COST 3 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Mercenary - This model will work for Crucible Guard, Cryx, Cygnar, Khador, and the Protectorate.

Abilities

• Hit the Deck! - This model cannot be hit by AOEs. If it would be hit by an AOE, it instead becomes knocked down. While this model is knocked down, ranged attacks targeting it auto-miss.
• Leadership [ Steelhead ] - Friendly Steelhead models in this model's command range gain Damage Type: Magical on all their weapons.
• Magic Ability [ 6 ] - 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

• Banded Staff - 2" reach, POW 5, P+S 10 melee attack
  • Damage Type: Magical

Spells

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Bombshell	(★ Attack)	10	3	13	-	Yes
On a critical hit, models hit are thrown d6˝ directly away from the attacker. Roll distance once for all models affected. Models thrown do not deviate. Move models farthest from the attacker first. Instead of suffering blast damage, models hit but not directly hit suffer a POW 10 damage roll. (Blast damage on non-critical hits is done normally.) The POW of collateral damage is 10.
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.
Wind Thrower	(★ Action)	CMD	3	-	Round	No
Place a 3" AOE anywhere completely within the spellcaster's command range. Cloud effects overlapping the AOE expire. Models cannot make ranged attacks while within the AOE. The AOE remains in play for one round.

Theme Forces

• Mercenary
  • Soldiers of Fortune - This solo gains Mark Target in this theme.
  • The Kingmaker's Army - This solos gains Feign Death in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Mercenary models can be hired by other Factions. Normally those Factions' themes will have a limit on how many models they can hire. Refer to #Other Theme Forces, below.
  • Aside from that, there are a few themes that will change what Faction this model counts as (and thus what "friendly Faction only" buffs it can receive). They are:
    • Infernal players can use this model in the Hearts of Darkness theme.

Thoughts on the Steelhead Arcanist

Steelhead Arcanist in a nutshell

The Arcanist is an essential part of a Steelhead force being the major source of Magic Weapon (every Steelhead within 8" gets it). He will spend most of his time using Empower unless that rare opportunity to remove clouds or toss out a mediocre blast arises. His anti-shooting bubble is very small and short ranged, and is difficult to use in such a way that it impacts your opponent too much. Any caster who prefers to run without having to hand off anything to warjacks would be pleased to have him around.

Combos & Synergies

• Steelheads, and warjacks obviously.
• Thamarite Advocate - For a Thamarite battlegroup they are able provide a lot of focus to jacks together.
• Crosse2 and Durgen Madhammer - They both hate cloud effects and the Arcanist can dispel them. They are also very focus starved.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• One of the few Mercenary models not allowed in the Irregulars theme force.
• The range on his anti-cloud is pretty short and forces you to expose him.
• In most games, he's just an Empower bot and that's not really worth 4 points, but you kind of need to bring him.

Tricks & Tips

• The Arcanist has the longest ranged empower in the game, so can be a very back line model if there's no need to project the magical weapon aura

Other

Trivia

• Released at LVO (2019.02)

Other Theme Forces

Cryx (Edit)

• Black Industries
• Dark Host
• The Ghost Fleet
• Scourge of the Broken Coast

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

Protectorate of Menoth (Edit)

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

Crucible Guard (Edit)

• Magnum Opus

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Hit the Deck!      (Edit) This model cannot be hit by any type of AOE (ranged AOE, magic AOE, or the very rare Point-Blank melee AOE). However the "auto-miss when knocked down" part only applies to ranged attacks. While knocked down, non-AOE ranged attacks can target someone near this model and still hit it. This model cannot be directly hit by an AOE, and it cannot be hit with blasts from an AOE. It also cannot be hit by AOEs that are "spawned" from non-AOE weapons (such as Vortex Blast or Hellmouth). However Hit the Deck is ignored by AOEs that skip "hitting" models and instead skip straight to damage (such as Krueger1's feat) or skip straight to applying debuffs (such as Burning Flames).

Rules Clarification : Leadership      (Edit) If you have two Leaders handing out the same buff, then sometimes they stack (Bronzeback) and sometimes they don't (Exemplar Bastion). (Infernal Ruling) See specific models for case-by-case Infernal Rulings. If you have two Leaders handing out different buffs (such as Iona's Leadership giving Dodge, and the Wolf Rider Champion's Leadership giving Prowl) then the benefits do stack - they'll get both Dodge and Prowl. (Infernal Ruling)

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 initial ranged or initial melee attacks on the same turn you use a MA. You cannot buy additional melee/ranged attacks after using a MA special attack. Refer to the core rulebook, "Special attacks listed as a rule of the model itself are neither melee attacks nor ranged attacks. The rules for these special attacks indicate the nature of any additional attacks that can be made afterward, if any." 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 without using their Combat Action. These models get around all the restrictions listed above. Models with Geomancy or Necromancy can use a Magic Ability at "any time" just like a warcaster/warlock. Models with Battle Wizard or Necrophage can make melee attacks then get a bonus "free" spell. Models with Combat Caster can cast a spell before charging, then do a normal charge + melee attack. Note that Battle Wizards, Combat Casters, etc have the option to use their Combat Action to cast a spell. Their special rule is in addition to the normal spell casting, not instead of.

Rules Clarification : Bombshell and/or Full Battery Fire     (Edit) See also the throw rules recap. If any two models (or more) in the AOE are B2B before the throw, then when you move the second model it is going to re-contact the first. This means you'll get an extra damage die vs the second model, or collateral damage (depending on who is larger than whom). If the first model can't move the full throw distance (because it contacts an obstacle, or an equal/larger based model) then the other model(s) in the AOE are going to smack into him when they get moved. Thus you'll get extra damage die/collateral damage. Incorporeal models won't be thrown, because "can't be thrown" trumps "is thrown". (Infernal Ruling) Bombshell only The sentence "instead of suffering blast damage" only relates to what happens on a critical hit. If it's not a critical, you apply blast damage as normal. (Infernal Ruling)

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 : Wind Burst and/or Wind Thrower     (Edit) There is a formatting error on the Steelhead Arcanist's warroom entry such that Wind Thrower is not listed under Magic Ability. Despite this error, it is a spell. The Wind AOE has to actually cross over the cloud; two AOE templates which are exactly "base to base" are not overlapping. (Infernal Ruling) Anti-Cloud abilities vs Burning Earth (Edit) If you make a piece of terrain "Burning Earth" it counts as a cloud effect in addition to it's original type. This has 2 odd rulings: If any part of the terrain piece is "hit" by an ability that makes clouds expire (such as Gale Winds) then the entire terrain piece is taken off the table. (Infernal Ruling) If a model can ignore clouds but not the original terrain type, they don't ignore the terrain. For instance if you have a burning forest, then Eyeless Sight can't see through the forest. (Infernal Ruling)

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.")