Spears of Scyrah

Spears of Scyrah Retribution Mage Hunter Character Unit Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander Character Command Attachment

The trio known as the Spears of Scyrah count among the most fanatical mage hunters in the Retribution. Worshiping Scyrah in her guise as Avenger of the Vanished, they aspire to appease the goddess by striking down those who have caused harm to the lost Iosan gods. The Spears have had many members over the centuries, starting from the first years of the Retribution’s existence, and all have accepted their mortality to serve without fear of death.

After years of hunting human spellcasters and gathering intelligence on the armies of mankind as a mercenary, Eiryss has returned to her proper place as one of the foremost leaders of the Retribution. Now she takes to the field leading other mage hunters, inspiring them to feats of incredible bravery and peerless precision while lending her own deadly skills to rid the world of humanity’s blasphemy against Scyrah.

Basic Info

Leader & Grunts

Spears of Scyrah
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 6 STR {{{str}}} MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 15 ARM 11 CMD 7 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 5 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA C UNIT SIZE 3 COST 8 2.66 each (no CA) N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Pathfinder
• Stealth
• Duelist - This model gains +2 DEF against melee attack rolls.
• Reposition [3"] - At the end of an activation in which it did not run or fail a charge, this model can advance up to 3", then its activation ends.
• Shield Guard - Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent's turn while within 3" of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. The Shield Guard special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.
• Vengeance - During your Maintenance Phase, if one or more models in this unit were damaged by enemy attacks during the last round, each model in the unit can advance 3" and make one basic melee attack.

Weapons

• Spear - 2" reach, P+S 11 melee weapon
  • Blessed
  • Damage Type: Magical
  • Weapon Master

Eiryss3 (CA)

Eiryss3
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 7 STR 4 MAT 7 RAT 9 M.A. N/A DEF 16 ARM 12 CMD 9 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 5 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA C UNIT SIZE N/A COST 6 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Officer
• Pathfinder
• Stealth
• Arcane Hemorrhage - When this model hits another model with an attack, the model hit loses d3 focus, fury or essence points on it, and upkeep spells it cast immediately expire.
• Attachment Deployment - If this model is attached to a unit with Advance Deployment, it gains Advance Deployment. If it is attached to a unit with Ambush, it gains Ambush.
• Granted: Mark Target - While this model is in formation, models in its unit gain Mark Target. (Mark Target - Other friendly Faction models gain +2 to ranged attack rolls against enemy models within 5" of a model with Mark Target and in its LOS.)
• Quick Work - When this model destroys one or more enemy models with a melee attack during its Combat Action, immediately after the attack is resolved it can make one basic ranged attack.
• Tactics: Tough - Models in this unit gain Tough.

Weapons

Crossbow
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			-			10
Blessed Damage Type: Magical Weapon Master
Crossbow Blade
		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				3				7
Blessed Damage Type: Magical Weapon Master
Saber
		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				3				7
Blessed Damage Type: Magical Weapon Master

Weapon Attachment(s)

As usual, they can take a Soulless Escort as a Weapon Attachment. Info omitted here for the sake of brevity.

Theme Forces

• Shadows of the Retribution - This unit gains optional Take Down in this theme.

Recent Changes

No changes since 2019.08

Thoughts on Spears of Scyrah

Spears of Scyrah in a nutshell

They're an elite combat melee unit, fast, agile, and hit hard thanks to Weapon Master. They rely on their insanely high DEF to avoid hits (because anything that hits them tends to make them splatter). What makes these guys special is the presence of Shield Guard and Vengeance.

The Spears of Scyrah are elite melee Mage Hunters/suicide squad. Where they differ from other mage hunter units is that they are not simply hit and run harassers/assassins. Their long melee reach and their bonus defense in melee makes them want to stick it out more than other Mage Hunters. They also have Shield Guard, which on first glance seems pointless on a unit that can barely withstand a stiff breeze. But they are the only shield guard unit with stealth, which makes them ideal meat shields for your stealthy mage hunter assassins, Narn, or Eiryss. Yes, you'll almost certainly lose a model every time you trigger shield guard which is unfortunate, but you'll have protected a strong solo and also triggered vengeance.

Thoughts on adding Eiryss3 (CA)

• Pros: Eiryss benefits from Vengeance. Spears benefit from Advance Deployment
• Cons: Points Cost & Opportunity Cost. Repo 3 is doubled up. Spears are melee only, while Eiryss3 prefers ranged combat.

There's a good case to be made for adding her to this unit. Due to the way Vengeance is worded, she can make both Vengeance attacks and prompts the spears to make them if she is attacked, which is more usefull than it sounds, as this extends her threat range by 3". The Spears gain Advance Deployment, which means they can be where they are needed to be shield guards, though the Repo is wasted on them. Another issue you might encounter is the fact that Spears are a pure melee unit, so Eiryss will either have them hang back and not contribute much or will have to issue Press Forward! and charge a lot. She does have Quick Work though, so she can still shoot after she has killed something. In a sense, Eiryss benefits more from being part of the unit, than the Spears benefitting from her presence.

Thoughts on adding Soulless Escort (WA)

Totally worth it. Worst case scenario, he gets killed without achieving anything worthwhile... but that will still trigger an extra Vengeance move.

Combos & Synergies

• Goreshade4 can also give the ghostly, making them immune to free strikes and therefore allowing them to do lots of melee range movement mischief safe from extra attacks.
  • As the Spears are not named characters, but rather Leader and Grunts, Goreshade4 can Revive them, even though they cannot attack the turn they are bought back, they can Shield Guard again
• Elara2's Feat can provide them with ghostly as well as boosting their already impressive charge range. At 2" melee range they are also excellent Scything Touch appliers.
• Issyria can bump up their armor, making shield guarding slightly less deadly.. at least being able to survive an average pow 10 shot.
• Vyros1 and Vyros2 can likewise slightly boost their armor.
• Garryth1 has a nifty trick up his sleeve with Mirage and Eiryss3. He can upkeep Mirage on the unit and have them shield guard something, which causes Eiryss to make a Vengeance move during you next turn, which stacks with the move from Mirage. This results in a 24" non-linerar threat range on an Arcane Hemorrhage crossbow bolt (or even 27" if you charge, kill and Quick Work). Due to Garryths proviciency at assassinating casters, this can win you the game outright.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• If you're looking just at their offensive potential versus their cost, there are more efficient units and solos.
• You pay extra for having 5 wounds, but have such a low armor value that each model effectively only has 1 wound.
• Vengeance is okay, but nearly impossible to trigger without losing a model, making it less effective than with a larger unit with more disposable grunts like Dawnguard Sentinels.

Tricks & Tips

• Be super selective with when you trigger Vengeance to minimise the chances of losing one of them, but also because the resulting Vengeance moves may turn out to be pointless, and they need to threaten a fair bit to make it worthwhile.
• If you plan to charge, but one can't, run to engage. With native high DEF and Duellist, they're better off in combat than close enough that Stealth is not a benefit any longer.

Other

Trivia

• Released 2017.04

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 : Blessed and/or Creator's Wrath     (Edit) Blessed ignores spell buffs even if they're not directly on the target. (For example, Haley3's Temporal Distortion spell is cast on Haley and gives a DEF buff to everyone within 5". Blessed ignores it on everyone, not just on Haley.) (Locked thread) You only ignore the DEF/ARM buff if the spell directly adds to the stat (for example Arcane Shield gives +3 ARM). Whereas a spell which grants an ability, and the ability gives a DEF/ARM buff, would not be ignored by Blessed (for example Cloak of Ash gives a model concealment, and concealment gives +2 DEF). (Infernal Ruling) If a spell buffs DEF/ARM and [something else] then you ignore the buff but not the [something else]. (For example, the spell Death Ward grants +2 ARM and the defender chooses which column suffers damage. You would ignore the ARM bonus, but the defender still picks the column.) This ability only ignores buffs from spells, not buffs from feats (such as Stryker1's Invincibility +5 ARM) or abilities (such as Protective Aura's +2 ARM).

Rules Clarification:  : Magical Damage      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling) All spells have "Damage Type: Magical" (refer errata). This is inherited by "immediate" secondary damage (such as Eruption of Spines). (Infernal Ruling) and might be inherited by "lingering" secondary damage (see below). If a spell leaves a template in play that does damage to models that walk around in it, then: if it is not described as a hazard it will do magical damage to models that walk around in it. (Example: Razor Wall) if it is a hazard then it will not do magical damage to models that walk around in it. Instead, it does whatever damage type is specified by the spell description. (Example: Breath of Corruption). (Infernal Ruling) If a weapon/spell includes Magic Damage and another kind of elemental damage it will still damage Incorporeal models. Incorporeal models are not affected by the rule "if an attack does multiple types of damage and a model is immune to at least one it is immune to the entire attack." The phrase "immune to non-magical damage" should be interpreted as "immune to damage that doesn't include Damage Type: Magical" (not interpreted as "has immunity to Corrosion and Electricity and Cold and etc.")

Rules Clarification : Weapon Master - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Pathfinder      (Edit) Pathfinder (Edit) - Pathfinder does not apply to involuntary movement (pushes & slams). (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Stealth      (Edit) Stealth models are not invisible and you can target them - you'll just auto-miss most of the time. You can target them with a charge. You can target them with an AOE, have it auto-miss and scatter, luckily land on top of them anyway, and that will hit them.

Rules Clarification : Duelist - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Reposition      (Edit) Models out of formation cannot move via Reposition. Refer to the "Out of Formation" rules in the core rulebook. End of Activation (Edit) You cannot resolve two end-of-activation movement effects (refer to "End of Activation Movement" in the core rulebook). For EOA stuff that doesn't involve movement, though, it gets a bit more murky: Some EOA abilities explicitly state your activation ends as part of resolving the ability (like Reposition), and some don't (like Refuge). Whether it is explicit it or not, by definition an EOA ability is the last thing you can do for that activation. For instance, if you resolve Refuge and then continue your activation to cast more spells, then you have not used Refuge at the end of your activation. You cannot do an "at any time" ability during or after triggering an EOA ability; you cannot cast spells, purchase additional attacks, use a mini-feat, etc. If you start resolving an EOA movement (such as Reposition) then you cannot trigger abilities that occur "at any time" (such as Go To Ground). Because you can't trigger it while resolving the EOA movement, and after the EOA movement your activation has ended. (Infernal Ruling) For units: if any model in the unit starts resolving the unit's EOA movement, then no model in the unit can trigger an any-time ability. (Infernal Ruling) See also the training article: LPG - End of Activation.

Rules Clarification : Shield Guard and/or Shadow Guardian     (Edit) You can't use this ability vs spells. You shift all effects onto the new model, including stuff that triggers on "when this attack hits". When you use this ability vs an AOE attack, the template moves too. Because, with reference to Apdx A, the hit 'moves' at Step 6 and the template placement is determined at Step 7. This ability doesn't work vs Point Blank attacks. Because Point Blank attacks are melee attacks that are made using a ranged weapon. On the other hand, it will work vs Gunfighter attacks. Shield Guard only Since Shield Guard specifies "opponent's turn", it can't be used against stuff that shoots in your own turn (such as Watcher or Counterblast). The Shield Guard does not necessarily need to be in the attacker's LOS or range. The Shield Guarder is always hit even if they have an ability that makes them automatically get missed, such as Stealth. (Automatically missing is determined earlier in the timing sequence than the Shield Guard moving the hit.) (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Vengeance and/or Righteous Vengeance and/or Retaliation and/or Swift Vengeance and/or Tantrum     (Edit) Vengeance moves do not have to be towards an enemy model. You can choose to not move, but still get the attack. One is not conditional on the other. In this case, you will not count as advancing and thus will not trigger stuff like Countercharge. (Infernal Ruling) Vengeance is not an activation. It does not prevent the model/unit from activating and acting normally later in the turn. Stationary and knocked down models may not perform Vengeance moves nor attacks. Units only Out of formation models cannot make Vengeance moves nor Vengeance attacks. However if the unit commander uses their movement to bring the Grunts back into formation, then they can move and attack. When resolving Vengeance, move all models in the unit before making any attacks. (Infernal Ruling) If you have more than one unit with Vengeance, move all of unit A then complete all of unit A's attacks, before starting to move unit B. If you manage to spawn new models during the Maintenance Phase (such as with Reconstruction or Blood-Bound) then those new models can also make Vengeance attacks. (Infernal Ruling) Due to the way it is worded Vengeance can be "inherited" by unit attachments that do not actually have the Vengeance ability themselves. For instance, a Soulless Escort attached to the Spears of Scyrah. If anyone is damaged, including the attachment, everyone in the unit gets to trigger Vengeance. But if everyone is killed except the attachment, then he doesn't get to trigger Vengeance because the rule is "no longer on the table". 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) Triggers Only enemy attacks trigger Vengeance. There are plenty of ways enemies can damage you without attacking you (such as Electro Leap) and these will not trigger Vengeance. If a CA has Granted: Vengeance then only models in formation have it. However, models that are damaged while out of formation can trigger Vengeance, they just will not benefit from it. (Locked thread)