War Dog

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Khador Logo.jpg War Dog

Khador Solo - (Warcaster Attachment)

Mk4 icon.png
Prime
This model is available in one Prime Army, 5th Division. 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.

In a world teeming with multi-ton, fully ambulatory metal constructs, it's easy to see how some might scoff at the thought of a dog on the field of battle. But Khadorans possess two useful characteristics in their extremes: a twisted sense of creativity and unbreakable obedience. The chosen pup is bred from a line of murderous bull mastiffs and drilled to kill anyone but its master at the slightest provocation. For the master, the warcaster, this dog becomes an extension of his or herself, a trusted confidant.On the field of battle, the war dog is a terror for any that threaten its master. Its sinew and muscles ripple beneath the heavy iron plates, aching to tear the life out of nearby enemies.

Basic Info

War Dog
Missing Info
WarDog.jpg
COST {{{cacost}}}
UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}}
FA {{{cafa}}}
Warcaster 0
BASE Small
SPD 7
STR 7
MAT 6
RAT N/A
M.A. N/A
DEF 13
ARM 14
CMD N/A
ESSENCE {{{essence}}}
FOCUS N/A
FURY N/A
THRS N/A
HP 5
F. Field N/A
WJP {{{wjp}}}
WBP {{{wbp}}}
IHP {{{ihp}}}
FA 1
UNIT SIZE N/A
COST 2
N/A
N/A
N/A
Warcaster 1
COST N/A
N/A
Understanding
the Statblock

Attached - Before the start of the game, attach this model to a friendly Faction warcaster for the rest of the game. Each Faction warcaster can have only one model/unit attached to it.

Abilities

  • Tough symbol.jpg Tough
  • Countercharge - When an enemy model advances and ends its movement within 6" of this model and in its LOS, this model can immediately charge it. This model can use Countercharge only once per round and not while engaged.
  • Guard Dog - While this model is within 3" of its warlock/warcaster and isn't knocked down or stationary, its warlock/warcaster gains Parry and +2 DEF against melee attack rolls, and models attacking the warcaster/warlock do not gain back strike bonuses.
  • Return - Immediately after resolving a charge attack, this model can make a full advance toward its warcaster. This model cannot be targeted by free strikes during this movement.

Weapons

Bite
Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S 
0.5 4 11

Theme Forces


Thoughts on War Dog

War Dog in a Nutshell

The War Dog is a great way to make your warcaster that much trickier to line up for a melee assassination, potentially killing charging solos with Countercharge, and bringing Casters like Sorscha1 up to ludicrously high DEF, or pushing Karchev to the point enemy jacks/beasts will likely need to boost to hit, mitigating the volume or severity of incoming attacks.

Giving Parry to any melee-centric warcaster (such as Butcher1, Butcher2, or Butcher3) is nothing to frown about either, as they can now easily un-jam themselves from free strikes. Meaning they can waltz across the board targeting anything important in your opponents army.

Combos & Synergies

  • Any caster who likes the extra DEF from Guard Dog and the counter charge return combo over the Greylord Adjuncts guidance, spiritual conduit and arcane assist.
    • Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad - Return gets the boost from his feat and many people don’t expect that kind of damage output from a pup.
    • Strakhov1 often plays forward but doesn't have great defensive stats. Because he doesn't need the upkeep help from Sylys or an Adjunct, if you rely on Resourceful, a war doggo will definitely be his best friend.
    • Butcher3 prefers getting up the board savely to wreck some face and the Doggo helps with that way more than anything the Adjunct does.
    • Any of the casters in Warriors of the Old Faith. They are on large/huge bases, making them very vulerable, and have to play very far forward either fpr personal out put or because of their feats.
  • A Morrowan Archon's Blinding Radiance and Shield Guard further ensure the casters safety. As does anything with the Ashen Veil rule, so Menite Archons, Purifiers, Hand of Silence.

Drawbacks & Downsides

  • Do not get too confident with your warcaster! The War Dog itself becomes your warcaster's weakness, if it dies that can leave your warcaster in a vulnerable position, so watch out. Protect your lovable mutt.
  • It competes with the other attachments, the Greylord Adjunct in particular, for its slot in the list, and most of the time the versitilty of that model is far superior to the cheapness and anti melee capabilities of the dog.

Tricks & Tips

  • If you need your warcaster to charge past someone but don't want to eat a free strike, activate the War Dog first and run it into a position. The position you want the dog is one where, when your warcaster charges, you'll be within the Guard Dog aura at the same time you'll be leaving the enemy's melee range.
  • You can put the War Dog out front of your warcaster, to block charges and/or Counter Charge enemies.
    • But putting yourself too far forward runs the risk of getting shot off the board or being charged yourself (remember you can't trigger Counter Charge versus someone that charged you).
    • Usually it is more useful to keep the War Dog behind your warcaster. Either to keep it alive this turn for the DEF bonus, keep it alive next turn for the free strike bonus, or simply to be in position to Counter Charge models that charge your warcaster (and hopefully kill them before they even attack).
  • Alternatively you may want it to guard your warjacks. You can use Counter Charge to chomp an enemy Weapon Master infantry (one less Weapon Master attack can make all the difference!) and/or block any more infantry getting into melee with the jack.
  • Sometimes you don't need to Return, most models cannot shoot if they are engaged by the dog.


Other

Trivia

Other Khador models

Khador Logo.jpg       Khador Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters

Butcher1 - Butcher2 - Butcher3 - Harkevich - Irusk1 - Irusk2 - Karchev1 - Karchev2 - Kozlov - Malakov2 - Old Witch1 - Old Witch2 - Sorscha1 - Sorscha2 - Sorscha3 - Strakhov1 - Strakhov2 - Vlad1 - Vlad2 - Vlad3 - Zerkova1 - Zerkova2

Warcaster attachments

Khador: War Dog - Greylord Adjunct
Mercenary: Madelyn Corbeau - Reinholdt - Wyshnalyrr

Other Warjack Controllers

"Junior" Warcasters: Malakov1 - Sorscha0
'Jack Marshals: Man-o-War Kovnik - Greylord Forge Seer

Heavy Warjacks

Beast-09 - Behemoth - Berserker - Black Ivan - Decimator - Demolisher - Destroyer - Devastator - Drago - Grolar - Juggernaut - Kodiak - Mad Dog - Marauder - Rager - Ruin - Spriggan - Torch

Colossal Conquest - Victor
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units

Assault Kommandos - Battle Mechaniks - Black Dragons - Doom Reaver Swordsmen - Great Bears of the Gallowswood - Greylord Outriders - Greylord Ternion - Iron Fang Pikemen - Iron Fang Uhlans - Kayazy Assassins - Kayazy Eliminators - Kossite Woodsmen - MOW Atanas & Standard - MOW Bombardiers - MOW Demolition Corps - MOW Shocktroopers - Widowmaker Scouts - WG Field Gun - WG Infantry - WG Mortar Crew - WG Rifle Corps
Ranking Officer CA : Koldun Kapitan Valachev

Solos

Bulkhead - Fenris - Greylord Adjunct - Greylord Forge Seer - Iron Fang Kovnik - Jozef - Koldun Lord - Malakov1 - Manhunter - MOW Drakhun - MOW Kovnik - MOW Strike Tanker - MOW Suppresion Tanker - Markov - Sofya - Sorscha0 - Ol' Grim - Underboss Vizkoya - War Dog - Widowmaker Marksman - WG Artillery Kapitan - Yuri1 - Yuri2

Battle Engines Gun Carriage - Man-o-War Siege Chariot - Man-o-War Assault Chariot
Theme Forces
Armored Korps - Flame in the Darkness - Jaws of the Wolf - Legions of Steel - Warriors of the Old Faith - Winter Guard Kommand - Wolves of Winter
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Khador Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Attached      (Edit)

  • Attached models are not (normally) part of the warcaster's/warlock's battlegroup. (Infernal Ruling)
(You need the Companion rule to become part of the battlegroup).
  • Thus, attachments are not affected by battlegroup-only effects such as Energizer (unless they're a Companion).

Rules Clarification : Tough - None yet. (Edit)

RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification:  : Countercharge      (Edit)
(Click Expand to read)

    Timing    
  • If the moving model has Assault, the Countercharge is resolved before the Assault attack. (Infernal Ruling).
  • If the moving model has a rule that resolves "at the end of Normal Movement" (such as Slipstream), the Countercharge is resolved before the other rule. (Infernal Ruling)
  • The moving model cannot use an "Any Time" after finishing their advance but before your Countercharge. They can use it only after the Countercharge is resolved.
  • If the non-countercharging player has a similar "ends an advance" trigger (such as Admonition) then they can trigger and resolve that from your countercharge movement.
    • Example: Model [A] charges, and triggers Countercharge on [B]. Model [B] countercharges, and triggers Admonition on [C].
      Resolve Admonition on [C]. Then finish resolving Countercharge on [B]. Then finish model [A]'s activation.

    Triggering Countercharge    

  • You can trigger Countercharge if you're engaging, but not engaged.
  • You can trigger Countercharge during your own turn, if your opponent has an ability to move during your turn (such as Admonition).
  • Some abilities let you "ignore intervening models when declaring a charge" (such as Flight). Unfortunately, you still need LOS to trigger Countercharge, and it's only after CC is triggered that you actually get to declare a charge. In other words, Flight and Countercharge don't work together for LOS purposes.
  • What does trigger Countercharge
    • Countercharge triggers off any advance, not just in-activation stuff.
    • Standing still but changing facing is an advance.
  • What doesn't trigger Countercharge
    • Aiming, or forfeiting your movement, is not advancing.
    • If a model doesn't move, doesn't change facing, doesn't aim ... does nothing but skips straight ahead to its Combat Action, this is not an advance. (Infernal Ruling)
    • Being placed (such as Teleport) is not an advance.
    • Involuntary movement (being slammed, thrown, or pushed) is not an advance.
  • When a unit is moving, countercharge is triggered on a model-by-model basis. So you can countercharge after any model in the unit has finished its move within range, but you can only countercharge that model who just finished its movement. You can't "save it" until the entire unit finishes moving and then say "I'm going to Countercharge the first guy you moved."

    Attacks, Boosting, & Other Triggers    

  • You only get one attack when making a countercharge, regardless of how many initials you normally have.
  • The charge attack damage is only boosted if the Countercharger moved 3" or more, as with a regular charge.
  • Countercharge occurs outside of activation so you can't spend fury/focus to boost a countercharge attack, nor buy additional attacks afterwards, not trigger stuff that only happens during your Combat Action (like Berserk).
  • Even if you trigger Countercharge during your own activation, for the duration of you resolving the CC it "no longer counts" as being in your activation. (Infernal Ruling)

    After the Countercharge    

  • The countercharging model cannot use any abilities that trigger on "during activation" or "during combat action" (such as Sprint), as Counter Charge is not an activation. (Locked thread)

    Other interactions    

  • Countercharge during your own activation (Countercharge vs Admonition etc) ( Edit )
    • You can trigger Countercharge during your own activation, but only if an enemy model moves during your activation. For instance, you move towards a model who has Admonition and they trigger that to try to move away. (You do a normal move, they trigger admonition and move, you trigger countercharge from their admonition-move.)
    • However countercharge always counts as being out-of-activation, no matter when you trigger it. (Infernal Ruling)
    As a result, you can't trigger only-during-activation effects (such as Critical Shred & Sustained Attack).
    • On the other hand, you can potentially get two charge attacks (one for your normal charge, one for the counter charge). (Infernal Ruling)
      This ruling still applies even after the 2018.07 update (Infernal Re-ruling)
  • Countercharge plus Admonition
    • If a model has both CC and Admonition, it can trigger both at the same time. A model moves nearby, it admonitions away, then countercharges back in.
  • Countercharge Inception
    • If a model [A] has Countercharge, and it charges an enemy model [B] that has Countercharge and Admonition, then ...
      • Model [A] charges and triggers CC and Admo on [B]
      • Model [B] Admo moves but before it can resolve its own CC, it triggers CC on [A]
      • You now have two models that have triggered CC simultaneously. So the Active player gets to resolve their one first.
  • Assault vs Countercharge ( Edit )
  • Countercharge & Cavalry ( Edit )
    • A model with Countercharge and Cavalry can make Impact Attacks during the countercharge. (Refer "Charges Outside of Activation" in the rulebook).
RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Guard Dog      (Edit)

  • If Rocinante is put under the control of a Jack Marshal then he effectively loses his Guard Dog ability because he does not have a controlling warcaster.
    • Simarily, he loses it while under Gastone1's control because Gastone1 is not a warcaster, he's a solo.
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Rules Clarification : Return      (Edit)

  • This ability resolves after your charge attack, not after your Combat Action. Thus, if you have more than one initial attack (ie Lug) then you'll essentially lose your second initial attack.
  • If your charge movement is less than 3", then your attack is not a "charge attack" and so you can't trigger return.
  • You can trigger return with a Countercharge.