Stormfall Archers

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.

Stormfall Archers Retribution Houseguard Unit

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Legions of Dawn. 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.

Stormfall archers are walking artillery batteries who can unleash a firestorm of destruction from an arsenal of alchemical ammunition. Requiring only their great compound bows to send their firepower across the battlefield, these archers are quite unlike the slow-moving cannon crews of the human kingdoms.

Basic Info

Stormfall Archers
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 5 STR 4 MAT 5 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 13 ARM 13 CMD 6 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 1 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA 2 UNIT SIZE 4 COST 7 1.8 pts each N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• None - Attack Types are all the abilities they need!

Weapons

Great Bow
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			3			12
Attack Type - Each time this weapon is used to make an attack, choose one of the following special rules: Brutal Shot - Gain an additional die on the damage roll against a model directly hit. Snipe - This attack gains +4 RNG. Star Strike - This attack causes no damage. Instead, on a direct hit models in the AOE suffer the Fire continuous effect.
Sword
		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				3				7

Weapon Attachment

Stormfall Archers may have up to 3 Soulless Escorts added to them. The escort's info has been omitted from this article for brevity.

Theme Forces

• Defenders of Ios. Stormfall Archers gain Reposition [3] in this theme.

Thoughts on Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers in a nutshell

The roundears have cannon crews and gun crews and sunburst crews. You've got archers with bombs strapped to them.

Legolas and company have/are an offensive toolbox. Their RAT is kinda low, so it's more common than not to stand still to get the Aim bonus.

Combos & Synergies

The Archers' main drawback is their poor RAT. Anything that can fix it tags along nicely with them.

• Lord Arcanist Ossyan - his gun is a built-in solution for RAT fixing, and his feat gives Brutal Shot a new meaning
• Ravyn, Eternal_Light - so far your only caster with Snipe, and a feat which allows you to deliver very accurate, and potentially long range, Brutal Damage shots.
• Rahn - Force Hammer can knock targets down, while Telekinesis increases the threat range by up to 2" and maybe effective RAT +2.
• Issyria - her feat helps control your attack/damage dice, and solves issues with Stealth.
• Banshee and Arcantrik Force Generator- good sources for knockdown on your target.
• House Shyeel Magister - Combo Smite or Force Bolt can both knockdown as well (or even Whipsnap to reposition one of them if you can pull it off).
• The Defenders of Ios theme gives them Reposition - excellent tool to move in once your targets is dead, or fall back if you failed to cause damage.
• Houseguard Thane - Use his Firing Solution when you want to engage stealthy models.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• For a bunch of elite elven archers, their RAT is pretty low. Find ways to knock the enemy down or fix their RAT one way or the other.
• Brutal Damage and Star Strike need a direct hit, and the latter also needs the fire effect to work. In the armor-heavy world of MK3 it's less useful.

Tricks & Tips

• Got trouble with stealth infantry and no Thane around to help you out? Use the Snipe attack type and blind-fire AOEs into their general direction. Even if they miss, with some lucky scatter a few blast usually land among the unit and kill or wound several. Don't forget that there is always a reasonable chance of their 3" AOE hitting a small based model (scatter distance 1-2 always hits... because maths!).

Other

Trivia

Released in Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah (Novermber 2009)

Other Retribution models

Retribution Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Elara2 - Falcir1 - Garryth1 - Garryth2 - Goreshade4 - Helynna1 - Issyria1 - Kaelyssa1 - Ossyan1 - Rahn1 - Ravyn1 - Thyron1 - Vyros1 - Vyros2
Warcaster attachments	Fane Knight Guardian (Retribution) - Sylys Wyshnalyrr (Retribution) - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers	Elara1 (BGC) - Sentinel Scyir ('Jack Marshal) - Artificer ('Jack Marshal)
Light Warjacks	Aspis - Chimera - Gorgon - Griffon - Harpy - Siren Moros
Heavy Warjacks	Aeternae - Banshee - Daemon - Discordia - Hemera - Hydra - Hypnos - Imperatus - Manticore - Phoenix - Sphinx
Colossal	Hyperion - Helios
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Cyelna & Nyss Hunters - D Destors - D Invictors - D Sentinels - Heavy Rifle Team - H Halberdiers - H Riflemen - HE Swordsmen - HE Wardens - HS Arcanists - HS Battle Mages - HV Electromancers - MH Infiltrators - MH Strike Force - Ryssovass Defenders - Spears of Scyrah - Stormfall Archers Special: Eiryss3 (CA) - Soulless Escort (WA)
Solos	Aelyth Vyr - Arcanist Mechanik - D Destor Thane - D Sentinel Scyir - Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios (1) - Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (2) - Eiryss, Fortune Hunter of Ios (4) - Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber (1) - Fane Knight Guardian - Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen - Ghost Sniper - Hermit of Henge Hold - HE Warden Executioner - HS Artificer - HS Magister - Houseguard Thane - Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress Lys Healer - MH Assassin - Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios - Nayl - Priest of Nyssor - Scythe - Soulless Voidtracer
Battle Engines	Arcantrik Force Generator - Dawnguard Trident
Theme Forces
Defenders of Ios - Forges of War - Legions of Dawn - Shadows of the Retribution
Mercenaries
Refer to Category: Retribution of Scyrah Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.04

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Attack Type and/or Arcane Savant     (Edit) If you forget to declare your Attack Type before rolling the attack, and you and your opponent can't agree on a fair fix, then the Judge's Policy is that the first listed Attack Type is the one that will be used. If your target can only be targeted by certain kinds of attack (ie a Menoth warjack with Passage), you can first choose the correct Attack Type (ie Magical Damage vs Passage) and then that allows you to target it. The Attack Type selection and target declaration both occur at Step 1 (Refer Appendix A). (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Brutal Damage and/or Brutal Shot     (Edit) Brutal Damage/Shot only applies to the damage vs the model directly hit. It does not affect blast damage.

Rules Clarification : Snipe      (Edit) Although Snipe the spell and Snipe the Attack Type are two different "sources", they are multiple instances of the same effect. As such, they're not cumulative. Refer to the "Rule Priority" section of the core rulebook. Snipe does not affect the range of weapons that use the Spray template, or one's which have RNG = CTRL.

Rules Clarification : Star Strike      (Edit) Rules Clarification : Fire      (Edit) If you deploy in fire hazard terrain (Burning Earth), then you get set on fire before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. Moving into "Shallow water" standard terrain does not cause continuous fire to expire. It's magic fire. You can always use non-standard terrain if you agree with your opponent before the game starts, however. A weapon can inflict continuous fire without itself being a fire damage weapon (for example, the Helios's fists). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity:Fire it just won't apply the continuous effect. In terms of which player's clock is running down during the Maintenance Phase: The active player will roll for expiration of all the continuous effects. Then the inactive player will roll for all the damages of the continuous effects. (Judge Ruling)