Revision as of 02:55, 8 April 2020

Houseguard Riflemen Retribution Houseguard Unit Officer & Standard Command Attachment

Companies of riflemen have joined the Retribution in number and serve as the long-reaching line for the army abroad. They wield heavy rifles capable of delivering punishing firepower against the human armies that so greatly outnumber them. Every rifleman is trained to take careful aim and regard each trigger pull as a prospective kill.

Basic Info

Houseguard Riflemen
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 6 STR MAT 5 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 13 ARM 13 CMD 7 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 1 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA UNIT SIZE 6 / 10 +2CA COST 9 / 15 +4CA 1.6 each N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Entire unit
  • Combined Ranged Attack
  • Practiced Maneuvers - Each model in this unit can ignore other models in this unit when determining LOS and can advance through them if it has enough movement to move completely past them.

• Officer only
  • The officer has +1 MAT & RAT and 5 hitpoints.
  • Officer
  • Granted: War Tempered - While this model is in formation, models in its unit gain War Tempered. (War-Tempered - This model can make combined ranged attacks targetting models in melee.)
  • Whites of Their Eyes [ Minifeat ] - This model can use Whites of Their Eyes once per game at any time during its unit's activation. This activation, models in this unit gain Trained Fire. (Trained Fire - A model with Trained Fire gains an additional die on ranged attack rolls against models within 8" of it.)

• Standard only
  • Standard Bearer - While this model is within 5" of its unit commander, the unit commander gains +2 CMD.
  • 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

• Leader, Grunts, & Officer
  • Long Rifle - 14" range, POW 10 ranged attack.
  • Sword - 0.5" reach, P+S 7 melee attack

• Standard Bearer
  • Unarmed - This model has no weapons.

Weapon Attachment

• You may add up to 3 Soulless Escorts to this unit. Their info has been omitted for brevity.

Theme Forces

• Defenders of Ios

Thought on Houseguard Riflemen

Command Attachment

Houseguard Riflemen in a nutshell

Houseguard Riflemen, along with the Winter Guard Rifle Corps and the Long Gunners have the longest range in the game among the ranged infantry units. Beside having access to Practiced Manoeuvrers, Khador has weapon attachments to boost the damage output, Cygnar's soldiers sport Dual Fire and some extra mobility with Flawless Manoeuvrers, and Retribution has ways to engage targets in melee. They have superior stats to their competitors, but average troops still don't sweat much about hitting and killing them.

Thoughts on adding the CA and/or WA

What's not to like about CRA-ing into melee? And to help out, when the lines close, souped up accuracy can be leveraged for a round of shooting.

Combos & Synergies

• Lord Arcanist Ossyan fixes virtually everything that's an issue for the Houseguard Riflemen:
  • Damage output - feat
  • Low RAT despite CRA - Fortune (everyone loves a re-roll)
  • Mass dude removal - Shatterstorm (pretty sweet splash damage)
• Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn does similarly, except no Shatterstorm. But she can alleviate the Thane's burdens, providing True Sight for a key turn.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• They're a special order model.
• Given their abilities and options next to their equivalents in other factions, Houseguard Riflemen are quite expensive and offer little by way of anything either new or particularly flexible.
• They're a low impact unit who need more help than one is usually comfortable with providing (5 POW 12 is not very inspiring, even from RNG 14).
• Shooting into melee to unjam something is often a waste. Because of the penalty and potential for redirecting into the back of your own model, that shot needs to be landed without fail... so a 5-man CRA is usually a minimum so as not to fluff it (against warnouns, never mind warriors)... but this is often either not enough to clear the jam (the POW of the shot is useless against the boxes), or complete overkill (high DEF and low boxes which would usually never withstand a 2-man CRA, never mind a larger one).

Tricks & Tips

• Per model, they cost just as much for a min unit as a max unit, so it is a reasonable option to take a min unit accompanied by a Thane for long range solo hunting.

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 : Combined Ranged Attack      (Edit) CRA cannot target models in melee ... unless the target is a huge-based model or the attacker has War-Tempered. If you give the attack-leader a buff to their attack (such as Guidance) then that buff applies to the combined attack (even though the other participants don't have the buff). (Locked thread) Assault & CRA (Edit) You cannot mix Combined Range Attacks with Assault shots, as CRA works during your combat action and Assault shots occur before it. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Practiced Maneuvers - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Tactics vs Granted     (Edit) Granted = The unit loses the ability as soon as the model that grants it is taken off the table. (think "G for Goes away") Tactics = The unit keeps the ability for the entire game, regardless of who dies. (think "Tac-Tick = K for Keeps")   Granted [ Vengeance ] If the model granting Vengeance dies, the unit will not get any Vengeance attacks. It is "If you have Vengeance, and you were damaged last turn, you get a move+attack." It is not "If you get damaged, you get Vengeance next turn." If you lose Vengeance halfway through resolving Vengeance, then you stop resolving Vengeance immediately. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : War-Tempered - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Whites of Their Eyes      (Edit) Restrictions on "Any Time" abilities     (Edit)         [Show/Hide] "Any Time" abilities can be used at any time during a model/unit's activation, except: Before any compulsory forfeiture of movement/action. See step 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. After the model with the "Any Time" ability has had their activation end "prematurely". By this I mean you resolved something which includes the phrase "its activation ends". Examples include: Running, failing a charge, or failing a slam. Abilities that include "then its activation ends" (such as Reposition and Teleport). In between declaring your charge target and making your charge movement. (Infernal Ruling) In between completing your charge movement and determining whether it was a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) When you're in the middle of moving. (Note: Impact Attacks count as being in the middle of movement). When you're in the middle of an attack. Which also includes effects that occur "after the attack is resolved". (Although the attack is "resolved" at Step 11, in terms of using an "Any Time" ability the attack is not "finished" until after Step 14. Refer to the first paragraph of Apdx A.) Your opponent interrupted your activation to trigger one of their own abilities (such as Countercharge). Warcasters/warlocks/etc can normally cast a spell or use their feat "At any time". However, there is a core rule saying they cannot do so on the same activation that they run. So, they are subject to all the same restrictions listed above, plus they can't cast/feat before running. Units: See below. In general you can use "Any Time" abilities while you're knocked down or stationary (except Spells and Feats which specify you can't). If you have a gun with a random ROF, you can use an "Any Time" ability inbetween rolling the number of shots and actually making the first attack. (Infernal Ruling) Units with "Any Time" abilities You cannot use an "Any Time" ability before issuing/receiving orders. See step 1 and 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after they run (Infernal Ruling) or fail a charge. Because that makes that specific model's activation to end even though the unit's activation is still ongoing, and you can't use abilities on models that are not active. You can use an "Any Time" ability before running, however. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after anyone in the unit has begun a Reposition move. (Infernal Ruling) Rules Clarification : Trained Fire - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Standard Bearer      (Edit) If the Officer dies, the Standard Bearer can give the CMD bonus to the Leader model.

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)

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