Dragon's Breath Rocket

Dragon's Breath Rocket Crucible Guard Weapon Crew Unit

Dragon’s Breath Rocket artillery are devastating long-range rockets used in the place of traditional artillery like mortars and cannons. Containing a payload of explosive charges and debilitating alchemical agents, on impact they first devastate an area with a concussive blast wave, then the dispersed aerosol form of the compounds within blanket the target with a cloud of toxic gas.

Basic Info

Dragon's Breath Rocket
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Stats: Gun / Grunts BASE Large / Small SPD 2 / 4 STR MAT 6 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 13 CMD 5 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 N/A COST 4 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Entire unit
  • Immunity: Corrosion
  • Immunity: Fire
  • Breather - This model does not suffer gas effects.

• Gunner only
  • Officer
  • Man-Sized - This model is treated as a small-based model and occupies the space from the bottom of its base to a height of 1.75".
  • Mobile Artillery - When this model advances as part of its Normal Movement, it gains +1" movement for each Grunt in this unit within 2" of it at the start of its advance.
  • Take Up - If this model is destroyed, you can choose a Grunt in this unit within 1" of it to be destroyed instead. Effects on this model expire, and it gains the effects on the chosen Grunt. Remove the Grunt from the table instead of this model. This model has the same number of unmarked damage boxes as the chosen Grunt.

Weapons

• Gunner
  • Rocket - 14" range, 4" AOE, POW 14 gun
    • Arcing Fire - When attacking with this weapon, this model can ignore intervening models except those within 1" of the target.
    • Withering Humor - Living and undead models hit by this attack suffer -2 ARM and lose Tough for one turn unless they can ignore gas effects.
  • Sword - 0.5" reach, P+S 9 melee weapon

• Grunts
  • Carbine - 10" range, POW 10 gun.
  • Sword - 0.5" reach, P+S 9 melee weapon

Theme Forces

• Crucible Guard
  • Magnum Opus. This unit gains Reposition [3] in this theme.
  • Prima Materia

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this unit in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Lukas is leading the army.
  • Mercenary players can use this unit in the Llaelese Resistance theme. This unit becomes Llaelese and gains Pathfinder in this theme.

Recent Changes

2021.10 Mega Update

• -1 point cost

Thoughts on Dragon's Breath Rocket

Dragon's Breath Rocket in a nutshell

The Dragon’s Breath Rocket should be a staple in Crucible Guard armies, rarely being seen as anything less than full FA (thanks in large part to being a free option in both Guard themes). Applying Withering Humor to the opposing army is an important role to play, however, it should not be guaranteed. This model does not have different ammunition types, and thus is significantly less useful into Construct-heavy factions (such as Skorne, Convergence, or any warjack list).

Combos & Synergies

• Withering Humor will be relevant in almost every matchup (with the notable exception of Convergence, which consistently runs all Construct lists).
  • -2 ARM at an 18" threat is ludicrous, and makes the faster elements of your army (Railless, Rocketmen, 'jacks with SPD buffs) very scary for enemy casters.
  • Even the threat of a DBR shot can keep your opponent honest, and prevent them from taking a commanding position in the center of the board
  • Order of activation really matters; if you intend to go for the assassination make sure you are not relying on a support set up which runs out of activation (such as needing Snipe on the DBR, but then also needing Baldwin's shots to get the -2 ARM debuff). As such, your DBR(s) should be one of the first things you look at to decide where it will fall in your order of activation.
• The DBR pairs well with pretty much every model in Guard, but especially the faster ones.
  • Rocketmen are of particular note, as they are naturally better into the warjacks the DBR cannot debuff. At the same time they really like the -2 ARM debuff to hit the medium-base tanky units common in the meta at the moment.
  • The Railless Interceptor has a huge mess of attacks of relatively low POW, so a large ARM debuff is exactly what it wants.
  • Crucible Guard Storm Troopers benefit tremendously from Withering Humor, as their blast damage is natively buffed.
  • Pretty much all Crucible Guard 'jacks have relatively low POW, and are balanced around the ARM debuffs provided by the DBR & others. If you're not getting at least some kind of debuff in before you send in your 'jacks (especially the heavies), you are not getting your points worth in terms of hitting power.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Victim stats, but like any weapon crew they have Takeup so at least your opponent will usually have to kill all three of them to eliminate the gun.
• No defensive abilities apart from 14" range keeping them away from the fight. They are vulnerable to the same things as other weapons crews (electroleaps, AOEs, collateral damage, etc.)
• RAT 5 is sad. You should get really good at rolling and measuring deviation because you will be doing it a lot.
• Withering Humor only works on Living & Undead, which turns the DBR into just a gun when playing against Convergence.
• The DBR relies on its range, which means abilities that decrease your range or make models untargetable make it very hard to apply, and abilities like Stealth make it harder to apply accurately.
• Against lists with few to no living models, high DEF, gas effect immunity (e.g. mirror match), and/or blast immunity, the DBR may contribute very little.
• The Vindicator has the exact same shot type on its gun, but the shot is fully boostable with just its Power-Up focus and the Vindy is SPD 5. And if there is no living or undead model to debuff, it can still choose another shot type, or go into melee, where it will perform excellently as well. All of this combined with the above drawbacks has made the DBR all but obsolete in competitive lists.

Tricks & Tips

• The -2 ARM debuff and loss of Tough against living and undead still applies even if the models are immune to blast damage, but not if they are immune to gas effects. This is relevant against models like Trenchers and Resolutes.
• Reposition 3" in Magnum Opus makes them much faster and easier to use than in Prima Materia. Also note that DBR cannot be taken as a Requisition option in Prima Materia.
• If your opponent has some squishy living models being protected by durable Shield Guards, you may be able to aim for a high-DEF model (for example, your own blast-immune Trancer engaging them) with the intent of drifting the deviation into the squishy models, killing them with blast damage. AOE shenanigans like these work with CG's other AOE weapons (Vulcan, Railless Interceptor, etc) and will usually work out in your favor a few times per game, but don't clock out wasting your time on low-odds deviation drifts.
• Even against constructs, POW 14 rockets are still fairly effective, especially with help from a feat, Rust, or other buff/debuff.
• The DBR can get to some truly bonkers threat ranges with the right suite of support:
  • Baldwin has Snipe, which by itself gives the rocket a 22" threat.
  • Lukas can give them Apparition, which only extends their threat to 20" but costs only a single focus per turn to upkeep. They go back up to 22" when run in Lukas' Hearts of Darkness list, thanks to the 2" from the Infernal Gate.
• Don't forget the grunts have rifles, and they all have swords!

Other

Trivia

• Released with the Faction launch (2018.06)
• The kit has a "standard" unit leader (the dude with goggles). However the gun itself is small enough that any of the models could be put on its base.

Other Crucible Guard models

Crucible Guard Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Benett - Gearhart - Locke - Lukas - Mackay - Syvestro
Warcaster attachments	Aurum Legate Alyce Marc (Crucible) - Sylys Wyshnalyrr (Mercenary) - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers	Prospero (BGC)
Light	Liberator - Retaliator - Vanguard
Heavy	Suppresor - Toro - Vindicator
Colossal	Vulcan
Units, Solos, Battle Engines, & Structures
Units	Combat Alchemists - CG Assault Troopers - CG Infantry - CG Rocketmen - CG Storm Troopers - Dragon's Breath Rocket - Failed Experiments Ranking Officer : Doctor Alejandro Mosby
Solos	Ascendant Mentalist - CG Mechanik - Gorman1 - Gorman2 - Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter - Prospero - Rocketman Ace - Trancer
Battle Engines	Railless Interceptor
Theme Forces
Magnum Opus - Prima Materia
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Crucible Guard Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.05

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Arcing Fire      (Edit) Arcing Fire lets you ignore models but not terrain. You don't ignore clouds, forests or buildings.

Rules Clarification : Withering Humor - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Corrosion      (Edit) If you deploy in corrosion hazard terrain (Acid Pool), then you get corroded 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. A weapon can inflict continuous corrosion without itself being a corrosion damage weapon (for example, the Acidic Touch animus). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity: Corrosion it just won't apply the continuous effect.

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)

Rules Clarification : Breather - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Officer      (Edit) Even if they're not on the Officer's card, an Officer can give (and benefit from) any non-standard orders that are on the unit's card (such as Shield Wall). Refer main rulebook. A Ranking Officer can't do this, though. When the Officer dies, the Leader model becomes the new Unit Commander (you don't get to choose). But if your unit doesn't include a Leader model, then you do get to choose any of the remaining models to be the new Unit Commander. You don't swap the model, but it may be worth putting a token down so you can tell that grunt apart.

Rules Clarification : Man-Sized      (Edit) Despite being mounted on a large base, the model counts as a small-base for any and every rule. (Infernal Ruling) This includes Ranking Officers being able to join them. (Infernal Ruling) This includes being able to take them as a Requistion Option (if you have a Man-Sized solo in a theme that allows free solos). (Locked Thread) This includes abilities that only work vs small-based models (such as Consume, Trampling over them, etc). Those work just fine vs Man-Sized models. When drawing LOS it blocks LOS across the full width of its base (some players think you should swap it for a small proxy base when trying to draw LOS past the edge of its base ... don't do that). Since it only counts as a small-based model, it only blocks LOS to other small-based models. You can see medium and larger bases through it just fine.

Rules Clarification : Mobile Artillery - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Take Up      (Edit) If you use Take Up the attacking model cannot trigger anything that needs the attacker to "Destroy" a model (such as Alpha Hunter, Killing Spree, Berserk, etc). Although the model that was attacked reached the Destroyed step of the timing sequence, Take Up negates that entirely. (Infernal Ruling)