Steelhead Ironhead

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Steelhead Ironhead Mercenary Steelhead Solo - 'Jack Marshal

Mark IV Status: 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 found in the largest numbers inside the Khadoran Army, fighting men and women decked out in heavy, steam-powered armor are not exclusive to that kingdom. A number of successful mercenaries with mechanikal aptitude have opted to be outfitted in this sort of gear. For those who can afford it, such armor makes its wearer nearly invulnerable to small-arms fire and greatly increases survivability to explosives and even direct hits from major ordnance. For the best mercenary mechaniks, being an Ironhead is the closest they have to a guarantee they will live long enough to collect payment.

Basic Info

Steelhead Ironhead
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 5 STR 8 MAT 5 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 10 ARM 18 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 10 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA 2 UNIT SIZE N/A COST 4 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

• 'Jack Marshal
• Girded - This model and friendly models B2B with it do not suffer blast damage.
• Mechanikally Adept - This model can target non-Faction models with Repair special actions.
• Power Lifter - Once per turn at any time during its activation, this model can choose one other friendly Faction large-based or smaller model within 2" of it. You can place that model anywhere completely within 2" of its current location, and if it is knocked down, it immediately stands up unless it was knocked down this turn. A model can be placed by Power Lifter only once per turn.
• Repair [d3+2] (★ Action) - RNG B2B. Target friendly Faction construct model. If the model is in range, remove d3+2 damage points from it.
• Repairable - This model can be targeted with Repair special actions as if it were a construct model.

Weapons

Industrial Clamp
		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				5				13
Clamp - An enemy model with an equal or smaller base hit by this weapon suffers -2 DEF and for one round cannot advance while within this model's melee range.
Forge Hammer
		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				6				14

Theme Forces

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

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Crosse2 is leading the army.
  • Furthermore, 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.

Thoughts on the Steelhead Ironhead

Steelhead Ironhead in a nutshell

The Steelhead Ironhead is a durable support piece that provides solid repair, some blast-immunity and most importantly, a 2" place that requires no expenditure of resources every turn. Power Lifter is endlessly useful, and this is a huge selling point for the Steelhead Theme. It's also halfway decent in melee should you ever find it necessary to put it there.

Power Lifter Synergies

There's a lot you can do with the Power Lifter

• Give models a 2" threat extension (see below).
• Pull your caster back into safety after they stick their neck out.
• Give a model LOS to their target so they can declare a charge.
• Disengage a model so you avoid eating a free strike.
• In Soldiers of Fortune you can combine the Power Lifter with a Heavy Cavalry's bulldoze to get 4" threat extension.
• The Ironhead Power Lifter combined with Boomhowler2's Reposition or Boomhowler3's Hoof It allows a lot of movement shenanigans.
• Similarly, Nemo4 can use Locomotion for a 3" threat increase on his jack, which stacks with Power Lifter for 5" total. He is also required if you want to bring the Ironhead into Irregulars or Strange Bedfellows.

In terms of models that like a 2" threat extension, here's some ideas:

• Weapon Crews like being Lifted into position to shoot, or even better aim. They can also be placed B2B with the Ironhead to avoid blast damage.
• Any of your beatstick warjacks love a 2" threat extension. Especially the slower ones.
• Magnus2's warjacks with Power Lifter plus Escort can go real far.
• Archons are a great target.
• Asphyxious4 is another great target.
• Death Archons loves +2" of movement. In Soldiers of Fortune or Scourge of the Broken Coast you can even have two of them.

Other Synergies

• Repair a Tried and True warjack for even more healing.
• In any non-Merc theme that allows double Archons, adding the Ironhead to Power Lift them is great (note that he can't Power Lift non-Merc models). Also he can repair the non-Merc jacks.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He's a jack marshal without a Drive.
• In-Faction he is limited to Soldiers of Fortune or Kingmakers, or you have to summon him with Nemo4. Out-of-Faction he has much fewer targets for Power Lifting.
• MAT 5 does place this model solidly in the support category. It's weapons look good, but you won't want to use them unless desperate.
• Power Lifter is excellent, but two Ironheads don't do twice as much as one. You won't often need to Lift more than one target per turn. So most Soldiers of Fortune lists contain one but few contain two.

Tricks & Tips

• Although he's mostly a support solo, the Ironhead packs a decent punch (if he can hit). Especially under Damiano's feat and many other in-Faction damage buffs.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Soldiers of Fortune expansion (2019.03)
• Is its head made out of Steel, or Iron?! It's a mystery!

Warjacks he can take

With the way Mercenary battlegroups work, this model can't simply control any Mercenary warjack, and instead is limited to the following choices:

Mercenary Warjacks (Human)   (Edit)
Light	Buccaneer - Renegade (Magnus only) - Scallywag - Swashbuckler - Talon - Vanguard
Heavy	Freebooter - Gallant - Mangler - Mariner - Mule - Nomad - Rocinante - Rover - Toro - Swabber
Colossal	Blockader - Galleon

Note: Other restrictions may apply, such as 'Jack Marshals can't control Colossals, character warjacks aren't allowed in most theme forces, etc.

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 : Girded - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Mechanikally Adept - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Crane and/or Power Lifter     (Edit) The model can't lift itself up. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Repair      (Edit) When repairing warjacks, you can choose which damage boxes to heal - they don't all have to be the same column. If you get a +1 bonus to a repair roll, that is one extra hitpoint healed. Not +1 to the number of pips showing on the dice.

Rules Clarification : Repairable - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Clamp      (Edit) Unlike Shadowbind and similar abilities, the Clamp prevents all advances. Models hit with the Clamp may still be placed, so abilities like Apparition will still work. The restriction applies to all advances: normal activation, bonus in-activation (like Overtake), and out-of-activation (like Energiser).