To sow terror and reap death, blackclads who embrace the primal aspects of Orboros turn to the Tharn. With murderous howls, Tharn warriors charge from the darkest forests to strike fear into their enemies’ hearts before ripping them out and devouring them whole. These gruesome, gore-streaked combatants run side by side with all manner of beasts, intent on slaking their thirst on the blood of the Circle’s foes. Theirs is a history of violence, and their motivations for war do not stray beyond devotion to the Devourer Wurm and an attunement with the basest of instincts.
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made use the The Devourer's Host theme force can include only the following Circle models:
- This army can also include one Minion solo and one Minion unit that will work for Circle.
- These models/units can be included even if they have the Partisan [Circle] rule.
- Minion units can have non-Ranking Officer attachments
Full model list
The models allowed in
The Devourer's Host are:
[Show/Hide]
This list was last updated: 2020.12 (Edit)
Warlocks
- All Circle warlocks
- Well, except for Bradigus (★)
Warbeasts (Limited)
- Non-character living warbeasts
- Ghetorix
- Loki
- Other character warbeasts can be taken (Living or otherwise), but only if they have a bond and they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
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List of living beasts
[Show/Hide]
Units
Solos
- (Warlock Attachment)
Structures
Minions
- Up to one solo
- Up to one unit
(★) Notes:
- Technically Bradigus1 is allowed in this theme, but as of the time of writing (2019.06) his Stonebinder rule is incompatible with the theme's requirement for living warbeasts.
- The Primal Archon is explicitly allowed, so doesn't use up your "Up to one Minion solo" slot.
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point on either:
- One Circle CA
- Three Gallows Grove solos
- One other small- or medium-based Circle solo with point cost 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Each living and Construct model in this army that can gain corpse tokens gains one corpse token before the first player’s first turn.
- One Tharn Bloodweavers unit in this army gains Ambush.
- Ambush - You can choose not to deploy this unit at the start of the game. If it is not deployed normally, you can put it into play at the end of any of your Control Phases after your first turn. When you do, choose any table edge except the back of your opponent's deployment zone. Place all models in the unit in formation completely within 3" of the chosen table edge.
Recent Changes
2020.12 - Kogan the Exile released
2021.10 Mega Update
- Wolf Rider Champion can no longer be a free option
- The free solo option must now cost 5 points or less
- The free corpse benefit reworded to be "gains 1 corpse token" instead of "starts with 1 corpse token".
- Basically this means the Death Wolves start with 2 corpse tokens each.
- Worded to be "living and construct" so it deliberately doesn't work for the Death Archon. To a lesser extent it also effects models like the Boneswarm if taken by Wrongeye
Thoughts on The Devourer's Host
Devourer's Host in a nutshell
This is a thematic Tharn army that gives you a few bonuses for playing mostly with Tharn. If anyone needs heart tokens to start with it's Death Wolves so getting 2 they can survive most incoming fire on the approach. Remember that corpse tokens alas only boost melee rolls, so have minimal gain with the Blood Pack or Ravager Shaman.
Tharn Ravagers are a great aggressive melee unit, though not as tough as they seem at first glance.
This thems has excellent skirmishers in Tharn Bloodtrackers, hard hitting melee infantry in Tharn Ravagers, utility in Brighid & Caul /Tharn Bloodweavers, a little ranged firepower in the Tharn Blood Pack, and sheer speed and mobility in the Tharn Wolf Riders. And then a nice collection of solos that support all of the above, plus the Death Wolves who are fairly tough but don't mesh with the theme support models.
Add the Well of Orboros into the mix to apply corpse tokens just where they are needed and you have a really strong infantry theme.
Theme Weaknesses
Easy to counter
The list is easy to tech against; even Ravagers go down to standard anti-infantry tech. Rapid Healing sounds good on paper, but rarely will you survive long enough to see it. Maybe it'll mean it takes 3 attacks instead of 2, to kill you.
Low Damage output
Outside your Battlegroup you have very few attacks over P+S over 13, which means you'll struggle vs ARM 18+ targets. There are exemptions in the form of Brutal Charge and Kogan the Exile but they will only come up a handful of times.
You'll want to bring a caster with ARM debuffs.
You may also want to put some heavy hitters in your battlegroup, as opposed to utility 'beasts.
Difficult list choices
Death Wolves and Lord of the Feast are excellent but don't get any of the Tharn support buffs
Starter Set
Unlike most themes, the Tharn have a starter set. This is a worthwhile purchase as you save about 12% over buying the contents individually. The contents are:
- A 6-man unit of Tharn Ravagers plus their command attachment.
- A 6-woman unit of Tharn Bloodweavers plus their command attachment.
- The character unit Brighid & Caul
- This adds up to 34 points, plus the Ravager CA who you'll take as your first free card.
You'll notice that there is no warlock or warbeasts included.
List Building Tips
Since the errata and new releases this has become a pretty versatile theme with a lot of ways of building; a list starting with Bloodtrackers, ambushing Bloodweavers, and the Death Wolves is going to be applying a lot of scenario pressure with all the advance deploying (and ambushing) Pathfinders, whereas a list that starts off with two full units of Ravagers with their unit attachments is basically threatening to charge head on at the enemy and shatter them whatever they may be.
The Spirit Cauldron helps a lot in spreading around corpse tokens. You should really consider it as your minion unit.
The most expensive free models you can get are the Lord of the Feast, the Tharn Ravager White Mane and the attachment for the Tharn Ravagers at 5 each for a potential 15 free points for the army.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
It's difficult to really bring both parts of the theme benefit to bear at this points level Tharn Bloodweavers are really good for scenario presence with Ambush but they won't crack armour the same way Tharn Ravagers with corpses will.
For more Brawlmachine list ideas, see Category: Brawl List
Warlock Thoughts
- Baldur1
He can buff Ravagers to high enough ARM to survive light gunfire and electro-leaps, and makes them hit hard enough to kill heavies.
- Iona the Unseen
She was made to run Tharn in Devourer's Host, and her entire card reflects it. She provides Dodge within her CMD, shores up their defenses with Surefoot and Phantasm, and her feat massively ups their survivability and hitting power.
- Krueger1
Deploying max Tharn and a small battlegroup. Ravagers can be protected by Gale Winds on the approach and have a 2” melee when they get there.
- Kromac
He is a Tharn and fits the look of the theme while benefiting from Hunters Grace and the Whitemane.
- Morvahna1
She is very good at regrowing Bloodtrackers or Tharn Ravagers. All Tharn appreciate Mortality.
- Morvahna2
She likes to feat back Tharn Ravagers and rerolls can keep their overtake/heart eater chains going for a long time; she also likes feating back Tharn Wolf Riders for their position and hitting power. The Tharn Blood Pack of course have Hunter which allow them to ignore her fog of war (while the Bloodtrackers are normally forward enough to shoot beyond it)
- Una2
She has Hand of Fate, which lowers the odds of missing an attack and enables a single Ravager to plough through a whole unit if he can constantly kill and buy with corpse tokens. Popular army compositions concentrate around half a dozen Griffons and two units of Ravagers plus the Death Wolves.
Other
Trivia
- Released 2017.01, expanded in 2018.10
Other Circle models/themes
Rules Clarifications
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Rules Clarification : Snacking (Edit)
- You can use Snacking to RFP your target even if you're at full health. (Locked thread)
- Snacking occurs at boxed, and thus:
- Doesn't prevent abilities that trigger at disabled (such as Tough, Self-Sacrifice, etc).
- Might prevent abilities that trigger at boxed, depending on who the active player is and whose model the ability triggered on. Refer the 'Triggers' section (pg 10 of the pdf)
- Does prevent abilties that trigger at destroyed (such as collecting soul tokens, etc)
- You can snack friendly models.
- You may choose where each individual point of healing goes.
- If you kill multiple models with a single attack (such as trampling over them) then you get to heal once for each model killed.
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Rules Clarification : The Devourer's Host (Edit)
- Bradigus1 is not legal in this theme. The theme only allows living warbeasts, his rules only allow construct warbeasts, and you can't just 'skip' his battlegroup - you have to spend your warbeast points.
- If you create a new model mid-game (ie with the Well of Orboros and that model can have corpse tokens, that model does not enter play with a corpse. Because it's not the beginning of the game. (Locked thread)
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Rules Clarification: Theme Forces (Edit)
Themes that change a model's Faction [Show/Hide]
- Many themes swap which Faction a model counts as. They're slightly inconsistent with how exactly this is worded. Despite this inconsistency - whenever a model is considered a different faction to normal, it will not be its original faction. (Infernal Ruling)
- For instance Lukas stops being a Crucible Guard model when taken in an Infernal army, and as a consequence he cannot take Toros or Vanguards in Infernals. (Infernal Ruling)
Rerolling the starting roll [Show/Hide]
- You cannot use the theme benefit to reroll if it is a draw. Instead both players reroll until there is a loser, and then the loser can use their reroll benefit (if they have it). (Infernal Ruling)
- If both players have a reroll, first the original loser uses their reroll.
- If the original loser still loses, fine.
- If the original loser now wins, the other player can use their reroll.
- If it is now a draw, both players reroll until there is a loser. Then the player that hasn't used their theme benefit reroll can still use it, if they want.
Warjacks/Warbeasts with bonds [Show/Hide]
- A warjack/warbeast with a bond can always be included in a theme force, whether or not they're in the list of allowed models, but only if they're controlled by that bonded model.
- This applies even if that bonded model isn't a full warcaster/warlock (changed as of 2018.06).
Including Mercenaries [Show/Hide]
Number of Mercenaries
- If your "up to one Merc" ...
- ... can take warbeasts/warjacks, then you can add warbeast(s)/warjack(s) (without exceeding your "up to one" allowance)
- ... comes with a Companion model, then you'll get that Companion (without exceeding your "up to one" allowance)
- There is a bug in Warroom that allows you to not only take one Merc solo/unit, but the entire FA of that Merc solo/unit. It's a bug.
Mercenaries and Ranking Officers
- Adding a Ranking Officer to a Merc unit doesn't increase the number of Merc units you can take.
Other
- See also the section on Partisans
Including Partisan Mercenaries [Show/Hide]
Partisans & Theme Forces (Edit)
- Partisans are Mercenary/Minion models, so there are two ways you can add them to a theme force:
- Freely: If the Partisan is on the list of allowed models, then you can take as many as you want plus another Mercenary unit/solo. (Infernal Ruling)
- They can be explicitly allowed (for example Jaws of the Wolf allows "Kayazy models/units" so Partisan Kayayz can be used freely).
- They can be implicitly allowed (for example Scourge of the Broken Coast allows "living Cryx models/units" and Partisan Cephalyx fit that criteria, so they can be used freely). (Infernal Ruling)
- Limited: If the Partisan isn't on the list of allowed models, it does use up your "Up to one Mercenary/Minion" slot, so you can only have the one.
- Whether you used option 1 or 2 above, once they're in your theme force they count as a Faction model and so:
- They can be taken as a Requistion Option (if they fit the Requistion description).
- For example Lanyssa can be taken as a free solo in the Legion of Dawn theme. (Infernal Ruling)
- They will get any theme benefit that they fit the description for.
- For example Storm Division gives all Cygnar models Immunity Electricity, so Partisan Mercs in that theme get immunity too.
- For example Nemo4's Mechaniks get Reposition [3] in Heavy Metal. (Infernal Ruling)
Requisition Points [Show/Hide]
- You can choose the same Requisition option as many times as you like, as long as it doesn't put you over a FA limit.
- You can't mix and match models from different options. Say one option allows 3 Machine Wraiths and another allows 3 Necrotechs. You can't use your Requisition Point to get 2 Wraiths and 1 Necrotech.
- If you have an option that allows one other solo, you can't use it to get something already on the list. For instance, Ghost Fleet allows 3 Misery Cages (which are FA 4) for one Requistion Point, and it allows 1 other solo. That "other solo" can't be a 4th Cage.
- If your theme allows "3 weapon attachments" as a Requistion Option, you can spread them into different units. (Locked Thread)
- Models with the Man-Sized rule count as small-based models for the purposes of being a Requistion Option. (Locked Thread)
Free models and Specialists (ADR) [Show/Hide]
- If your theme only allows one merc solo, you can't have one in your main list and a different one in your specialists.
Unit Attachments [Show/Hide]
- If a unit is allowed in a theme, any-and-all of its attachments are allowed too. Exception: Ranking Officers are not allowed unless explicitily mentioned.
- If the theme force gives a benefit to a specific unit, any-and-all attachments to that unit will benefit too. Even if it is a "generic" attachment like the Void Leech. (Infernal Ruling)
For example, a Trollkin Sorcerer will gain Serenity if its attached to a Dhunian Knot unit in a Power of Dhunia theme force.
- If your theme allows "3 weapon attachments" as a Requistion Option, you can spread them into different units. (Locked Thread)
- A non-character unit with a character attachment (i.e. Captain Karli) still counts as a non-character unit. (Infernal Ruling)
When to apply theme benefits [Show/Hide]
- With reference to special abilities that themes give to models, Ranking Officers, adding new models, and/or taking control of models:
- Theme force benefits are applied when you construct your list or put a new model into play. A model already in play will not lose or gain any theme benefits mid-game based on any changes of faction status or otherwise. (Infernal Ruling)
- However, if the theme gives a benefit to models "at the beginning of the game" (such as Devourer's Host letting models begin the game with 1 corpse token) then this benefit does not apply to new models that are put into play mid-game. (Locked Thread)
- Example 1: Sons of the Tempest says "ATGM units in this army gain Pistoleer". If your opponent takes control of one of them, it keeps Pistoleer while under their control even though it's currently not "in the army".
- Example 2: Storm Division gives Immunity:Electricity to "Cygnar models in the army." If you include a Mercenary unit with a Ranking Officer, they will get the theme benefit and also keep it even after the Ranking Officer dies.
- Example 3: Stange Bedfellows gives solos Swift Vengeance. If Nemo4 creates a new solo mid-game, that solo will have Swift Vengeance.
See also these Theme-Specific Rulings [Show/Hide]
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Rules Clarification : Black Industries (Edit)
- The entry which allows "Cephalyx models/units" only applies to Partisan Cephalyx. That's because the theme's rules start off with "this army can only include the following Cryx models". Partisan Cephalyx are the only ones that fill that condition.
- The Cephalyx Agitator also works for Cryx and can go in Black Industries but, because it is not a Partisan, it will use up your Mercenary solo slot.
- (Infernal Ruling)
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Rules Clarification : The Creator's Might (Edit)
- Elias Gade is allowed in Creator's Might. (Infernal Ruling)
- You can spend the "Two Vassal solos" requistion option on one Vassal Mechanik and one Vassal of Menoth. Warroom has a bug and tells you that you can't. (Infernal Ruling)
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Rules Clarification : Flame in the Darkness (Edit)
- You can take any number of Mercenary jacks. You can also select two additional jacks from Khador and Cygnar in any combination you like. Character warjacks with a bond don't count against this limit of 2. (Infernal Ruling)
- There is a bug in Warroom that allows you to take two Cygnar and two Khador jacks.
- Morrowan Battle Priest:
- If your warcaster is a Cygnar model that makes every unit you take a Cygnar unit, and Battle Priests can be attached to any unit.
Warroom has a known bug where it doesn't allow this interaction.
- If your warcaster is a Mercenary or Khador model, though, the only units the Battle Priest can attach to are the Morrow ones.
- If you attach the Battle Priest to The Devil's Shadows Mutineers then it can be returned via Blood Bound. (Infernal Ruling)
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Rules Clarification : The Bones of Orboros (Edit)
- Una1 cannot be taken in this theme (yet) due to the conflict between the theme's "Only Construct warbeasts allowed" and Una1's "Must take warbeasts with flight". There are no construct warbeasts with flight (yet). But if/when there is, then Una1 can be taken in this theme. (Infernal Ruling)
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Rules Clarification : The Devourer's Host (Edit)
- Bradigus1 is not legal in this theme. The theme only allows living warbeasts, his rules only allow construct warbeasts, and you can't just 'skip' his battlegroup - you have to spend your warbeast points.
- If you create a new model mid-game (ie with the Well of Orboros and that model can have corpse tokens, that model does not enter play with a corpse. Because it's not the beginning of the game. (Locked thread)
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Rules Clarification : The Wild Hunt (Edit)
- The animus benefit doesn't apply to enemy warbeasts. (Infernal Ruling)
- The animus benefit doesn't stack with the Druid Wilder's Herding ability. (Infernal Ruling)
- When it comes to other things that alter COST (such as Lamentation), follow basic maths: Double/halve first, then add/subtract.
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Rules Clarification : The Exalted (Edit)
- If a Construct model loses the Construct advantage mid-game, it keeps the theme benefit anyway. (Infernal Ruling)
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Rules Clarification : Band of Heroes (Edit)
- Boomhowler2 uses up your Minion slot. His Fell Calls ability is not enough to make him a "Fell Caller model/unit". (Infernal Ruling)
- Boomhowler3 does not use up your minion slot on account of having the Champion keyword.
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Rules Clarification : Magnum Opus (Edit)
- If Mosby is attached to a Mercenary weapon crew unit, they would gain 3" reposition and would not lose it if Mosby is no longer in the unit. (Infernal Ruling)
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