Theme - The Irregulars

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	Theme - The Irregulars Mercenary Theme Force Flame in the Darkness - Hammer Strike - Llaelese Resistance - Operating Theater - Soldiers of Fortune - Strange Bedfellows - The Irregulars - The Kingmaker's Army - The Talion Charter

Some mercenary contracts offer jobs so desperate, so vile, or so insane that no right-minded group of sellswords would ever consider taking them. For the employers who offer these contracts, it is fortunate that the Iron Kingdoms has no shortage of mercenary companies full of the desperate, the vile, and the insane. When such undesirable jobs appear, they attract an unlikely assortment of mercs willing to do anything, no matter the odds of survival, for another fistful of coin.

The Irregulars, the Mercenary theme force. Irregulars, the model ability.

Magnus the Warlord

Theme Rules - Remix

Theme Restrictions

Talon

An army made use the The Irregulars theme force can include only the following Mercenary models:

• Mercenary warcasters
• Non-character Mercenary warjacks
• Mercenary character units
• Idrian Skirmisher units
• Kayazy units
• Precursor Knight units
• Mercenary character solos
• Gobber Tinker solos
• Mercenary battle engines

Full Model List

Kayazy Eliminators

The models allowed in Irregulars are:   [Show/Hide]

This list was last updated: 2020.07   (Edit)

Warcasters

• All Mercenary warcasters, except the Cephalyx ones.

Warjacks

• All non-character Mercenary warjacks,
• Character warjacks can be taken, but only if they have a bond and they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.

Battle Engines

• Hammerfall Siege Crawler
• Nemo4 ("Junior Warcaster")

Units

• Alexia1
• Boomhowler1
• Croe's Cutthroats
• Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters
• Dannon Blythe & Bull
• Herne & Jonne
• Idrian Skirmishers
• Kayazy Assassins
• Kayazy Eliminators
• Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
• Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr
• MacHorne1 ('Jack Marshal)
• Precursor Knights
• The Commodore Cannon & Crew (★)
• The Devil's Shadow Mutineers

(★) The Commodore Cannon can only be included if your warcaster is a Privateer.

Solos

• Alexia2
• Alexia3
• Alten Ashley
• Anastasia di Bray
• Balthazar Bamfist
• Black Bella, Duchess of Dread
• Bloody Bradigan
• Boomhowler2
• Boomhowler3
• Bosun Grogspar
• Brun Cragback & Lug (Lesser Warlock & Companion Warbeast)
• Captain Crawtooth
• Colbie Sterling, Captain of the BRI - ('Jack Marshal)
• Crosse1 ("Junior Warcaster")
• Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath (Lesser Warlock & Companion Warbeast)
• Dez
• Dirty Meg ('Jack Marshal)
• Doc Killingsworth
• Eilish1
• Eiryss1
• Eiryss2
• Eiryss3
• Eiryss4
• First Mate Hawk
• Flubbin
• Flugwug the Filcher
• Glyn Cormier, Illuminated One
• Gobber Tinker
• Grand Master Gabriel Throne
• Gorman1
• Gorman2
• Gubbin
• Gudrun the Wanderer
• Harlan Versh, Illuminated One
• Harlowe Holdemhigh
• Hermit of Henge Hold
• Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter
• J.A.I.M.s
• Kell Bailoch
• Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
• Lord Rockbottom
• MacHorne2 ('Jack Marshal)
• Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan - (Warcaster Attachment)
• Major Harrison Gibbs
• Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile
• Orin1
• Ragman
• Raluk Moorclaw, the Ironmonger ('Jack Marshal)
• Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (Warcaster Attachment)
• Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
• Rorsh & Brine (Lesser Warlock & Companion Warbeast)
• Rutger Shaw, Professional Adventurer ('Jack Marshal)
• Savio Montero Acosta
• Saxon Orrik
• Scythe
• Sergeant Nicholas Verendrye
• Stannis Brocker
• Sylys Wishnalyrr (Warcaster Attachment)
• Taryn Di La Rovissi, Llaelese Gun Mage
• Thor Steinhammer ('Jack Marshal)
• Viktor Pendrake
• Weird Wendell, Gremlin Wrangler
• Widget, Tinker Extraordinaire
• Wrong Eye & Snapjaw (Lesser Warlock & Companion Warbeast)

Requisition Points

You can spend each Requisition Point on either:

• One Mercenary command attachment
• One small- or medium-based Mercenary solo without the Lesser Warlock special rule

Theme Bonuses

Rutger Shaw, Professional Adventurer

1. If Ace is included in this army it is a friendly Mercenary model instead of a Cygnar warjack.

   Note: Only Caine3 can take Ace

2. While 'jack marshaled, warjacks in this army gain [Friendly Warrior].

   Flank [Warrior] - When this model makes a melee attack against an enemy model in the melee range of a friendly warrior model, this model gains +2 to attack rolls and gains an additional damage die.

3. You can reroll your starting roll for the game. Your starting game roll can only be rerolled once as a result of this special rule.

Recent Changes

• Continuous new releases
  • This theme gets new options much faster than most themes, although most of them are similar enough to existing options that it doesn't affect Irregulars' list design.
  • As such this Recent Changes log doesn't normally keep up-to-date with them. You can look at New Releases if you're curious.

• Early 2020
  • Special mention to the release of Nemo4 and Asphyxious4, who had a huge change on list design.

Thoughts on this Theme Force

The Irregulars in a nutshell

Idrian Skirmishers

The Irregulars are conceived as the plucky band of misfits that just don't fit into the many, many other Mercenary themes. However, due to the catch-all nature of character solos and units being allowed, the theme ends up with a glut of powerful choices that rather imbalance it compared to the more cohesive themes. So you end up with a lot of lists running Nemo4, Asphyxious4, Hermit, Harlow and whatever else your particular caster needs to do their thing.

It has so many very powerful choices crammed into it that it's borderline overpowered. On top of this, the Riot Quest game continues to provide a nearly endless supply of solos that are automatically allowed in theme, so while most other themes in all the other factions languish, Irregulars keeps getting more powerful.

The theme lets you reroll the dice to see who goes first, which gets +1 from Anastasia, which means you will go first more often than any other theme. It has options for pathfinder, magic weapon, multiple ARM debuffs, reposition 3", multiple threat extenders, recursion and much more. Coupled with the power of, say... Fiona the Black, and you have a force that could lead to many a rage-quit.

Oh, yeah and your get Flank on marshaled warjacks which you'll probably never use.

Theme's weaknesses

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

There are virtually none since Asphyxious4 and Nemo4 came out as the theme has a solo or unit to provide almost any bonus you need, but if we must pick nits...

No non-character solos (Gobber Tinker excepted)

For a long time this wasn't a weakness because there were only about 3 non-character solos (and they were all sort of "meh"). Now, however, some of the recent releases not being available in Irregulars is starting to be a downside. Specifically the Powder Monkey, the Steelhead Ironhead, and the Archons, even missing out on a Swamp Gobber River Raider as a 1pt filler model can sometimes be an issue, albeit a 1 pt issue.

• You're light on warjack support (it's just Balthazar Bamfist, Widget and Thor Steinhammer)

• The jack marshal theme bonus is a almost useless gimmick most strong players avoid since you have access to three journeyman warcasters, four lesser warlocks and Malvin and Mayhem.

List Building Tips

The units and battle engines

• Most good Irregulars lists start with double Kayazy Eliminators and Aiyana & Holt for excellent scenario pressure, damage buffs and magic weapons on a stick. From there on out it's caster dependent but Gaspy4 and Nemo4 can both be fielded here which dramatically increases your focus pool and lets you run jack heavy with the best of them. They are probably the main reason to play this theme because not only are they powerful models themselves, they also make everything around them better via recursion, damage fixes, and threat extensions. Having one of them bring a Diffuser is also very valuable for the beacon shots.
  • The Siege Crawler can't actually reinforce anything in theme.
  • Idrian Skirmishers are decent ranged units, though they're slightly below the curve.
  • Precursor Knights are great in melee, but have delivery issues outside of Flame in the Darknes.
  • Devil Dogs are 10 knock downs on a stick, but expensive.
  • Croe's are great with Fiona for Backstab shenanigans.
  • Boomhowlers despite their weaknesses have a place with MacBain.
  • Nyss and Kayazy Assassins are probably the worst units in theme, so avoid them.

The solos

Nomad

Maximise free solos and bring the most useful ones that fit with what your army wants to do. One of the strengths of Mercenaries is the power of the in-faction solos.

• Though the solo selection is caster dependent, it's hard to go wrong with the Hermit and Harlowe Holdemhigh as your first two freebies.
• The lesser warlocks are all usable although they have lost a step over time.

Jack Marshalling

• Warcasters that let marshalled jacks charge for free, that is Magnus1 and Shae might get some use out of the Flank benefit
• Lanyssa Ryssl, Nyss Sorceress Widget and Bamfist are helpful with marshalled jacks as they hand out free charges, an extra attack or free focus, respectively, allowing them to charge and crush, though it is much easier, albeit more expensive, to just take a Mangler.
• Jack Marshals are much improved and this theme lets you take the aforementioned Lanyssa, Widget and Bamfist to greatly augment them.

The Mercenary jack marshals are:

• Captain Sam MacHorne & The Devil Dogs - They knock down targets expertly, so they can set up the Freebooter.
• Colbie Sterling, Captain of the BRI - She has a really weak drive so she runs everything equally mediocre.
• Dirty Meg - She has the best drive out of all the marshals so she can run just about anything.
• Raluk Moorclaw, the Ironmonger - His Assault Drive lends itself to combined arms jacks, so a Swabber or Rover or Mariner can be good.
• Rutger Shaw, Professional Adventurer - He wants a sturdy jack for his drive, a Talon, Freebooter, Nomad or Toro fit the bill
• Thor Steinhammer - Can only marshal Rhulic jacks. Having him run a Basher can be surprisingly powerful. Or give him an Avalancher with a buff such as Fire for Effect from Ossrum.
• Boss Machorne has a powerful drive and is a strong melee combatant, but it's an expensive package.

Sample 75pt List

Fiona the Black - WJ +27

- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker - PC: 4

- Mariner - PC: 14

- Toro - PC: 13

Artificer Prime Nemo - Nemo & 3 Arcane Mechaniks: 18

- Arcane Mechaniks

- Toro - PC: 13

Hermit of Henge Hold - PC: 0

Harlowe Holdemhigh - PC: 0

Scythe - : PC: 0

Anastasia DiBray - PC: 3

Asphyxious the Sanctified - Asphyxious & 3 Annihilation Servitors: 14

- Scavenger - PC: 7

Croe's Cutthroats - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

This is a particularly punishing list that crams one of the strongest casters in the game with some of the most powerful models in mercenaries. It provides board control, good shooting, good melee, recursion, multiple bonuses to go first, excellent scenario pressure and tons of focus.

Starting a 25 point list

If you want to try this theme but are still stuck for ideas, try this. It's relatively newbie friendly.

• Magnus2 [+28]
  • Nomad [13]
  • Rover [14]
  • Talon [7]

• Eiryss1 [Free]

• Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]
• Kayazy Eliminators [5]
• Kayazy Eliminators [5]

Casters of Note

• Fiona the Black - She makes Croe's shine by befuddling targets and exposing their rear to them. Idrians make excellent use of her ARM debuff. Nemo4 is a great gun platform to abuse Curse and recurrs fallen Croes, the main spice is his ability to take a Toro and put Watcher on himself, which combos well with Befuddle. Her feat is also best used with high DEF units, of which there are plenty in this theme.
• Shae - His only privateer models are likely only going to be jacks, but that is alright, as the solos and Gaspy4 more than make up for that. He also loves the Flank bonus to marshalled jacks. A Freebooter or Mariner under Boss MacHorne will do lots of heavy lifting.
• Captain Rahera - She can really maximise her feat and Black Spot with Idrians, Devil Dogs and Aiyana and Holt. Even if she only brings a Blockader she doesn't mind only having one Empower solo, too.
• Bart - Irregulars has better solos than Talion and among Bamfist and Sylys he can fully fuel two colossals, upkeep Hotshot and cast Batten every turn. On top of that he really loves the damage buffs, solo hunters, infantry clearing and defensive models in the theme.
• Ashlynn2 - Gaspy is probably the best model to benefit from True Path, and Idrians love Artifice. Also there are lots of great solos to bring back with her feat.
• Crosse2 - He will find excellent targets for his upkeeps here in Idrians and Gaspy as well as lots of damage buffs to augment his personal output. Nemo4 also adds an recursive element he so loves for his Lifebound unit.
• Magnus1 can snipe some Idrians and appreciates a marshalled Freebooter under Iron Aggression.
• Damiano can have a field day with Gaspy and Idrians in tow, making for a very strong melee list which also features great gun play which should give his jacks plenty of RtW moves. He also loves Alexia2 recycling the souls of Idrians into Thrall Warriors who turn into P+S 13 weapon master on feat.

Other

Trivia

Released 2017.08

Other Mercenary models

• Category: The Irregulars

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Flank      (Edit) You can gain the Flank bonus vs knocked down/stationary models (refer to the latest Errata). Melee range is measured from your front arc so you cannot trigger Flank on models in your back arc. The target enemy doesn't need to be in the Flanker's LOS, just their melee range. Most of the time if something is in your melee range then it is so close it's in your LOS too, and the difference is meaningless. But if you have 2" reach and you're jammed up in B2B with a bunch of closely-spaced enemies, you'll find your LOS is blocked. In this case, you might be able to trigger Flank on an enemy model that is "hiding" behind that front row of jammers, even though you don't have LOS to it. Flank is not tied to a specific weapon, so Mount attacks and Power Attacks can benefit as well. If you have two sources of Flank they are still giving you the bonus from the Flank rule so do not stack. (Infernal Ruling) If the target moves in/out of the Flanker's melee range between the attack roll and the damage roll (for instance if you throw it) then you need to reassess whether you get the Flank bonus for the damage roll. (Infernal Ruling)

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) Since Partisans are Mercenary/Minion models, there are two ways you can add them to a theme force: If they are 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: Cephalyx in Black Industries or Kayazy in Jaws of the Wolf). They can be implicitly allowed (for example Scourge of the Broken Coast allows "living Cryx models" and Partisan Cephalyx fit that criteria). (Infernal Ruling) If the Partisan isn't on the list of allowed models, it does use up your "Up to one mercenary" slot, and you can only take 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 Eiryss1 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) 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) When to apply theme benefits   [Show/Hide] Theme force benefits are applied when you construct your list and models keep the benefit for the whole game. You don't gain/lose theme benefits due to in-game changes. Also, if you put a new model into play midgame, they immediately gain any relevant benefits too. (Infernal Ruling) For example, Scourge of the Broken Coast gives Dodge to "models in the army." If your opponent takes control of one of them, it keeps Dodge even though it's currently not "in the army". For example, Storm Division gives lightning immunity 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. See also these Theme-Specific Rulings   [Show/Hide] 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) 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) 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) Rules Clarification : Llaelese Resistance      (Edit) It is 2 Cruicible or 2 Cygnar or 2 Menoth. You can't take more than 2, and you can't mix and match from multiple Factions. (Infernal Ruling) Rules Clarification : The Talion Charter      (Edit) The 3rd benefit is "Sac Pawn [Sea Dog trooper]", not just any Sea Dog. (Infernal ruling) 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) 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) 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. Due to the way Tanith's feat is worded, during her feat turn the COST of animi cannot drop below 1. (Infernal Ruling (2019)) Rules Clarification : Oracles of Annihilation      (Edit) Kallus1's feat doesn't stack with the Minion bonus rule in Oracles of Annihilation, because one triggers at disabled and the other at destroyed. (Locked Thread) Rules Clarification : The Exalted      (Edit) If a Construct model loses the Construct advantage mid-game, it keeps the theme benefit anyway. (Infernal Ruling) Rules Clarification : Band of Heroes      (Edit) Boomhowler uses up your Minion slot. His Fell Calls ability is not enough to make him a "Fell Caller model/unit". (Infernal Ruling) Rules Clarification : The Blindwater Congregation      (Edit) Void Leeches attached to a Gatorman Posse will gain Snacking, but they won't gain extra hitpoints. (Infernal Ruling) 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) Rules Clarification : Hearts of Darkness      (Edit) Lukas can't take Maker Marked warjacks in Hearts of Darkness. (Infernal Ruling)