Step into a world forged of

iron and tempered by war.

In WARMACHINE, the very earth shakes during fierce
confrontations where six-ton constructs of iron and
steel slam into each other with the devastating force of a
locomotive, where lead-spewing cannons chew through
armor plating as easily as flesh, and where bold heroes
set the battlefield ablaze with a tempest of arcane magic
as they forge the fates of their unyielding nations in the
fires of destruction.
Take control of an elite battle mage known as a warcaster
and his army of devastating warjacks and deadly
soldiers in this fast-paced and aggressive 30 mm tabletop
miniatures battle game set in the steam-powered fantasy
world of the Iron Kingdoms.
WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II thrusts you into this
war-ravaged world with:

Complete core rules for the WARMACHINE tabletop

miniatures game.
In-depth histories of the nations of the Iron
Kingdoms and the conflicts that have shaped them.
Detailed profiles and game stats for the powerful
characters, warjacks, and soldiers that will make
up your army.
An instructional painting and hobby guide
that will show you how to bring your tabletop
battlefield to life.

Charge into the metal-on-metal action of

WARMACHINE Mk II and brace yourself for
battle like youve never experienced before!

Play WARMACHINE against

ISBN: 978-1-933362-53-3 PIP 1021 $29.99 www.privateerpress.com

PIP 1021

SPINE

Credits
WARMACHINE
created by

Concept Illustration

Development

Project Director

Graphic Design
& Layout

Product Line
Coordinator

Matt Wilson

Bryan Cutler

Game Design
Matt Wilson

Lead Designer
Jason Soles

Additional
Development
David Carl
Brian Putnam

Art Direction
Kris Aubin

Lead Writer

Douglas Seacat

Additional Writing
Simon Berman
Rob Hawkins
Ron Kruzie
Jason Soles
Matt Wilson

Continuity
Jason Soles

Editing

Darla Kennerud
Sheelin Arnaud

Cover Illustration
Andrea Uderzo

Illustrations

Daren Bader
Chippy
Matt Dixon
Illich Henriquez
Andrew Hou
Imaginary Friends Studios
Luke Mancini
Slawomir Maniak
Karl Richardson
Brian Snoddy
Greg Staples
Andrea Uderzo
Chris Walton
Eva Widermann
Matt Wilson
Drew Wolf
2

Chris Walton
Matt Wilson

Kris Aubin
Kim Goddard
Sean Jones
Josh Manderville
Stuart Spengler

Studio Director
Ron Kruzie

Miniature Sculpting

David Carl
Michael Faciane

Rob Stoddard

Creative Manager
Ed Bourelle

President

Sherry Yeary

Chief Creative Officer

Matt Wilson

Sean Bullough
Gregory Clavilier
Christian Danckworth
Brian Dugas
Roy Eastland
Chaz Elliot
Will Hannah
Jason Hendricks
Mike McVey
Ben Misenar
Jerzy Montwill
Paul Muller
Jose Roig
Ben Saunders
Steve Saunders
Kevin White
Jeff Wilhelm
John Winter

Executive Assistant

Resin Caster

NQM EIC

Miniature Painting

Licensing & Contract

Manager

Sean Bullough
Matt DiPietro

Hobby Manager
Rob Hawkins

Terrain

Ambrose Coddington
Alfonzo Falco
Todd Gamble
Rob Hawkins
Pat Ohta

Photography
Kris Aubin
Matt DiPietro
Rob Hawkins

Development Manager
Erik-Jason Yaple

Chare Kerzman

Marketing
Coordinator
William Shick

Customer Service
Adam Johnson

Convention Coordinator
Dave Dauterive

Community Manager
& Staff Writer
Simon Berman

Volunteer Coordinator
Jack Coleman
Eric Cagle

Brent Waldher

Production Director
Mark Christensen

Technical Director
Kelly Yeager

Production Manager
Doug Colton

Production

Trey Alley
Max Barsana
Alex Chobot
Doug Colton
Joel Falkenhagen

Joe Lee
Michael McIntosh
Jacob Stanley
Benjamin Tracy
Clint Whiteside

Sys Admin/
Webmaster
Daryl Roberts

Infernals

Jeremy Galeone
Peter Gaublomme
Brian Putnam
Gilles Reynaud
John Simon
Donald Sullivan

Playtest Coordinator
David Carl

Playtesters

Greg Anecito
Kris Aubin
Alex Badion
Simon Berman
Ed Bourelle
Dan Brandt
Erik Breidenstein
David Carl
Kevin Clark
Jack Coleman
Our Player Community
Dave Dauterive
Michael Faciane
Joel Falkenhagen
Rob Hawkins
Field Test Participants
Adam Poirier
Douglas Seacat
William Shick
Jason Soles
Rob Stoddard
Chris Walton
Erik-Jason Yaple

Proofreading

Ed Bourelle
David Dauterive
Darla Kennerud
William Shick
Rob Stoddard
Brent Waldher

Welcome to Steam-Powered
Miniatures Combat!
WARMACHINE is a game of cunning strategy, brutal tactics,
and epic clashes between armies of steam-powered warjacks,
battle-hardened soldiers, and elite battle mages. The game is
set in the Iron Kingdoms, where youll find deft swordsmen
fighting alongside skilled riflemen and powerful magic is just
as present as cannonballs or battle axes. The Iron Kingdoms are
rife with conflict where the boldest heroes will reign supreme.
This book is the first step toward entering this war-torn land.
It begins by throwing you right into the conflict, as a Cygnaran
warcaster behind enemy lines attempts his mission of sabotage
while unknowingly walking into a trap. It then continues with
a historical account of the lands history and varied nations
and peoples before diving into the nuts and bolts of how to
play out the conflict on your tabletop battlefields.
Then, with a firm understanding of the game rules, the book
moves into descriptions of four nations of the Iron Kingdoms

among whom the most bitterly contested battles are waged:

Cygnar, Khador, Cryx, and the Protectorate of Menoth. Each
has its own history and viewpoint, and each is looking to
dominate its foes on the fields of battle.
Finally, WARMACHINE is more than just a game. Its also
a hobby where players collect and paint finely detailed
miniatures representing the warriors, machines, and creatures
of this steam-powered fantasy world. To support that effort,
Prime offers not only inspiring photography of our studio
models but also helpful instruction on how to get started
yourself with the miniatures hobby.
We sincerely hope youll enjoy WARMACHINE as much as
we do. With this book and a few miniatures, youll be on your
way to ultimate steam-powered miniatures combat.
Your tabletop will never be the same!

Table of Contents
Failure is not an option. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Factions of WARMACHINE. . . . . 94

The Iron Kingdoms, a history . . . . . 14

Cygnar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

The Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Protectorate of Menoth. . . . . . . . . 122

Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Khador. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Preparing for War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Gameplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Cryx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Mercenaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Anatomy of a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Model Gallery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Warjacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Hobby and Painting Guide. . . . . . . . 235

Warcasters and Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Additional Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Appendix A: Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Appendix B: Bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Terrain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Rules Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Scenarios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Visit: www.privateerpress.com
Privateer Press, Inc. 13434 NE 16th St. Suite 120 Bellevue, WA 98005
Tel (425) 643-5900 Fax (425) 643-5902
For online customer service, email frontdesk@privateerpress.com
This book is printed under the copyright laws of the United States of America and retains all of the protections thereof. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks
herein including Privateer Press, Iron Kingdoms, Immoren, WARMACHINE, WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II, Forces of WARMACHINE: Cygnar, Forces of
WARMACHINE: Cryx, Forces of WARMACHINE: Khador, Forces of WARMACHINE: Protectorate of Menoth, Forces of WARMACHINE: Retribution of Scyrah, Forces
of WARMACHINE: Mercenaries, HORDES, Formula P3, Formula P3 Hobby Series, Full Metal Fantasy, Play Like Youve Got a Pair, Steam-Powered Miniatures Combat,
Monstrous Miniatures Combat, Cygnar, Cryx, Khador, Protectorate of Menoth, Retribution of Scyrah, Trollblood, Circle Orboros, Legion of Everblight, Skorne, warjack,
warcaster, warbeast, and all associated logos are property of Privateer Press, Inc. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or
events is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form without written permission from
Privateer Press. Duplicating any portion of the materials herein, unless specifically addressed within the work or by written permission from Privateer Press,
is strictly prohibited. In the event that permissions are granted, such duplications shall be intended solely for personal, noncommercial use and must maintain
all copyrights, trademarks, or other notices contained therein or preserve all marks associated thereof. Product information is subject to change. You should
know the drill by now. Dont steal from us. We have several years worth of steam-powered necromantic badness awaiting those who violate our copyrights.
Third printing: August 2011. Printed in Hong Kong.

WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ISBN: 978-1-939480-14-9 . . . . . . . . . . . . PIP 1021e

Foreword
Rarely is a first draft the best draft; as the saying goes,
writing is rewriting. In our own worlds history, there
are times new information comes to lightdiscovered
from new sources, concluded after deeper scrutiny, or
revealed through more enlightened interpretation. So it
goes for this next era of WARMACHINE. We, the creators,
have approached this as a second draft, an opportunity
to improve on that which we felt did not fully meet our
original vision or stand solidly among the ranks of our
otherwise esteemed work.
While some details have changed, the spirit of
WARMACHINE remains intact, both in game and
chronicle. Histories have been adjusted to fit a more
cinematic paradigm, with an eye to epic storytelling that
will allow us to spin this convoluted yarn more eloquently
and through broader narrative media. We have approached
the game rules in a similar fashion, ruthlessly lopping off
unnecessary material, streamlining the gaming experience,
and rebuilding frameworks to better support the engine
and the components of the game.

Each and every cut, every new join in the materials of our
effort, every new feature introduced has been done with
meticulous examination and maternal care and is toward
one single, overriding goal: to make the WARMACHINE
experience better for you.
Those seasoned in the art of WARMACHINE may at first look
upon these pages with trepidation, for what immediately
draws attention are the differences, those aspects that were
known so well and now have transformed into something
unfamiliar. We are confident that upon further exploration
the true connoisseur of WARMACHINE will realize these
changes are for the good of the whole and will deliver a
much more satisfying experience. For it is from a studious
and laborious examination of community feedback that we
approached the renovation of this game, heeding a clarion
call for reform sent from the breast of those who in the same
breath avowed their unabated love for WARMACHINE.
Here begins a new epoch for WARMACHINE, forged with
the same passion as the original but guided by nearly a
decade of experience developing the game and interacting
with our community. Looking back, it is amazing to see how
far we have come, and whether you are a veteran of our
inaugural publication or are experiencing WARMACHINE
for the first time, we can only hope you are as excited by the
prospects of this games future as we are.
With enduring thanks to our dedicated players,

Matt Wilson

The Five Rules

of Page 5Mk II

3) GIVE AS GOOD AS YOU GET

In keeping with a tradition as controversial as it is revered,

Page 5 continues as a manifesto of our disposition, the
philosophy with which we have created WARMACHINE.
Contained in these paragraphs is the doctrine of our players
and the common ground upon which we do battle. Whether
a grizzled vet or fresh meat, here are a few things you need
to know if youre going to survive in the unforgiving arena
of steam-powered warfare.

The proof is in the punishingthe one you give and the one
you take. Theres no honor in clobbering the smallest kid
in the yard, and theres no pride to be won by blazing a
path to the well for your fail-safe formula. The real bragging
rights come from taking down the big dog with a move that
jams his pizza hole open like a he just had a Juggernaut in a
tube sock applied vigorously to the back of his skull. Damn
the status quo. Defy convention! Tempt defeat, then wipe
that food-trapping snaggletoothed grin off its face with a
wrecking ball.

1) THOU SHALT NOT WHINE

If the fight is easy, youre not challenging up the ladder.

This game is not suitable for wussies. If you cry when

you lose, push offcause youre going to lose. If it hurts
your fragile sensibilities to see your favorite character get
pounded unmercifully by a rapid succession of no-holdsbarred iron fury, youd better look the other way. If youve
ever whined the words, Thats too powerful, then put
down the book and slowly walk away. Now.
This is a game about aggression. This is metal-on-metal
combat. This is fuel-injected power hopped up on steroids.
This is WARMACHINE.

2) COME HEAVY, OR
DONT COME AT ALL

In every dark alley is a ruthless bastard waiting to carve

another notch in his bat with your face. And across every
table, in his unassuming faded black T-shirt, is a coldhearted killer mentally tearing you limb from limb.
WARMACHINE favors the aggressor. Youve got to throw
the first punch if you want to land on top. If you wait
for your opponent to come to you, youre going to get
steamrolled. Youve got to have big [metaphorical] balls to
play this game. Youve got to charge your opponent and
hang it all out there! Youve got to break his formations.
Youve got to be relentless with your onslaught. Youve got
to go for the jugular and latch on like a rabid dog that hasnt
eaten in days.
Anything less, and youll be hamburger.

4) WIN GRACIOUSLY AND

LOSE VALIANTLY

Page 5 is about honesty. Its a self-awareness of what were

doing, why were doing it, and who were doing it for. Its
about the kind of people we are and the kind of people we
want to face across the table. Page 5 is a cultivated attitude
designed to get the most out of the gaming experience. Its
about showing up, playing your hardest to win, feeling
satisfaction in a game well lost, and respecting your
opponent for the accomplished competitor he or she is, no
matter what the outcome.

5) PAGE 5 IS NOT AN EXCUSE

Most importantlyand lets state this loud and clear for

the recordPage 5 is not permission to be a jackass in
the name of competition. Its not a shield to hide behind
when youre playing like a sissified cheeseball, running
down the clock, gaming a scenario, or rules lawyering your
hapless opponent to death. Page 5 doesnt discriminate
between genders. And Page 5 is never, ever, EVER a license
to diminish another player so you can inflate your own
vertically challenged self-esteem.
Remember, we all come here to battle out of a common love.
Respect Page 5. Respect each other.
And now that were all on the same page...

PLAY LIKE
YOUVE GOT A PAIR.

Failure is Not an Option

Summer 603 AR, east of the Black River

The distinctive shriek of incoming rockets split the air,
one blending into the next to be followed by explosions
that shattered rock and packed earth. The weapons were
extremely inaccurate but compensated with sheer quantity.
Leaning against the rough surface of a tall, craggy boulder,
Lieutenant Allister Caine shielded his face as debris and a
spray of dust spilled over him. He held a magelock steelalloy revolver in each hand, their barrels inscribed with
arcane runespriceless custom-crafted prototype weapons
worthy of a gun mage warcaster. He was wearing light
warcaster armor and a reinforced leather overcoat backed
by a small coal-fed arcane turbine. The Cygnus on his left
shoulder and lieutenant stripes on the right identified him
as a Cygnaran officer.
The incessant blasts were enough to put anyone on edge,
even someone protected by the thrumming energy of an
active power field. To his men, Caine looked calm and selfassured, completely in control of the situation. Meanwhile,
his mind was frantically concocting and discarding potential
plans to prevent them from getting killed here amid the
lifeless sands on the fringes of the Bloodstone Marches.
His men lay in firing positions between the rocks, protected
by helmets and armor but also by their position atop the
hill. They were all trenchers of the 2nd Army, a squad from
the 211th who were no doubt starting to regret volunteering
for this simple little operation across the Black River.
Caine suspected his colonel had placed him in charge of the
mission as punishment; earlier in the week he had reported
to duty still nursing a severe hangover after a late night
spent with the attractive daughter of one of Corvis many
bureaucrats. Even so, it was lucky he was there. Otherwise,
these soldiers would already be dead.
What are we dealing with here, sir? Sergeant Kiel Cartway
shouted as he peered down the bore of his rifle into the
shifting sands. Between the strong winds that had kicked
up clouds of dust all around their position and the need to
keep under cover, visibility was poor.
More Menites than should be in this godforsaken dust
bowl. I could do with a few less, so get cracking! Caine had
the advantage of being able to see through the eyes of his
warjacks in addition to his own, giving him a slightly better
perspective. What he saw did not reassure him.
Several figures dressed in flowing white and sanguine robes
with cloth wrapped tightly across their noses and mouths
were advancing through the dunes. The sergeants rifle
barked as he fired, but his shot sank harmlessly into the sand
behind the lead figure. Cartway cursed under his breath
even as his fingers automatically started reloading, opening

the breach and sliding another silk-wrapped cartridge into

place with practiced ease. Most of the Menites, including
those launching rockets onto their heads, were staying
safely out of rifle and pistol range.
You got a plan to get us out of this, sir? Cartway asked.
Something in his voice reminded Caine how young the
sergeant was. It was easy to forget; Cartway was a thicknecked, broad-shouldered man who looked like a brawler,
his tanned face dirty from sweating under the unrelenting
sun besides. He seemed tough enough to chew shoe leather,
but he wasnt more than twenty.
The situation reinforced Caines preference for working
alone rather than being shackled to a bunch of kids barely
old enough to shave, however well trained they happened
to be. The worst part was the complete faith they had in
him; he was a warcaster of the Cygnaran Army, the battlewizards whom young soldiers viewed almost as living
gods. If he told them to charge the deliverers, they would
run straight into the rocket fire. Some officers savored that
sense of power, but holding other mens lives in his hands
gave Caine no joy.
Caine showed no sign of these thoughts as he answered,
Keep your shorts on, son, Im working on it. He was
distracted, looking through the eyes of the two light
warjacks linked to him. Through force of will warcasters
could mentally connect to a warjacks cortex, the artificial
mind inside the torsos of their metal chassis. His jacks
included a Sentinel he had sent to guard the only approach
up the crag and a Charger firing from an exposed position
at the edge of the rocky promontory. While battered by
unrelenting impacts, it had yet to sustain severe damage.
Considerably louder than the intermittent rifle fire was the
deep report of the Chargers cannon, each shot followed
by the crisp metal clank of its reloading mechanism. Its
glowing eyes scanned the surrounding ground for targets,
and occasionally its cannon bucked. Earlier Caine had sent
arcane energies to bolster its long-range accuracy. Caine
mentally helped guide its fire, feeling satisfaction as several
of the hurrying figures below fell to the sand, unmoving.
Caine had considered their position well chosen just a few
minutes before, but now he suspected his men were stuck
in an elevated deathtrap. The crag had excellent cover and
only a single route of easy approach, up the gentler slope
behind them, but they would be exposed the moment they
left cover. Caines Sentinel stood down below to shred
any foe that got too close from that direction. Caine heard
the clanking buzz of its chain gun barrels spinning up to
speed followed by the ripping sound of bullets fired in

rapid sequence. Plunging his mind into the Sentinel to peer

through its eyes, he saw several emboldened zealots fall to
the dirt in a ragged line after trying to make an abortive
run toward the incline. These appeared to have broken from
the main group, though; It seemed they were waiting for
greater numbers before rushing the crag.
Sergeant Cartway shouted over the noise to Caine, I
thought they said no one was guarding this place, sir!
At a guess, Id hazard we got some bad intelligence.
Caine gave a grim smile.
Suddenly the sergeant yelled, Incoming! Get down!
Everyone except Caine hunkered down as a larger volley
of rockets pounded the boulders and sprayed them with
shrapnel and rock fragments. Unfazed, Caine continued
to scan his surroundings like a bird of prey, seeking an
opportunity.
To the east through the choking dust and debris, Caine saw
the tantalizing sight of rig towers above the sandstorm
haze. This was an extraction site for Menoths Fury, the
volatile oil the Menites pulled from the desert wastes and

refined for many of their weapons. Cygnaran generals

were concerned about increased weapon production by
the Protectorate, which was technically prohibited by
law from producing weapons of war. The order had come
down to take out several of their weapons facilities. As far
as the Menites should have been concerned, this location
was secret. The ranger who had located the site two weeks
prior had reported minimal protection. Clearly something
had changed.
With the dust, they couldnt even see the deliverers whose
rocket barrage had initiated this ruckus, although smoke
trails from the continuing rocket fire indicated they had
taken a position atop a dune to the northwest. What
worried Caine was the fact that the last volley had come
from the opposite direction. Warjacks were coming from the
southeastRedeemers, hed guess. In that direction was a
low wall of unnaturally thick black smoke. Several hulking
shapes moved within the smoky depths. Caine felt a faint
but familiar itch in the back of his mind that confirmed the
approach of another warcaster. At any other time he might
have enjoyed the prospect of pitting his skill and speed

Failure is not an option

against such an enemy, but pinned down as they were,
another warcaster was the last thing he wanted to see.
Look! The warning came from Niels, one of the younger
trenchers who knelt with his rifle pointing east. Out of the
black haze a single light warjack had emerged, running
toward them at top speed. Its stacks were pouring smoke as
it pushed its engine to its limits.
Caines keen eye recognized the distinct profile of a
Revenger. Like all Protectorate light warjacks this one was
heavily plated with layers of iron and steel; the armor
made them slower but also more durable than their nimble
Cygnaran counterparts. With its left arm, the Revenger
carried a large shield displaying a Menofix, the holy symbol
of the Menite religion. It carried a long halberd with its right
arm. The gun mages gaze slid over these weapons to rest on
the much bigger threat: just above the machines shoulders
and connected to its protected cortex was an arc node, by
which a warcaster could channel his magic to deliver death
at a distance.
Impelled by Caines focused will, his Charger fired its
cannon twice in rapid sequence. The first shot tore a ragged
hole in the Revengers shield and the second exploded
one of the pistons in its left arm, but the running jack did
not falter. Caine left his position, counting on his speed,
reflexes, and power field to keep him safe. He scrambled
down the steep incline while raising his pistols to fire at the
approaching jack. He shot with an experts precision, his
bullets glowing blue with sorcerous power as they struck
the arc node housing. Sparks flew as one bullet tore a
chunk off the outer metal bands, but it failed to penetrate
the casing to the arc nodes delicate internal workings. The
machine was battered but could still channel.
Caine glanced over his shoulder and saw several trenchers
emerging from behind the boulders to bring rifles to bear on
the incoming jack. He felt a presentiment of dread as one
moved completely into the open to take his shot. Niels, for
the love of Get down, you idiot!
It was too late.
From the black haze a heavily muscled man in blackened
armor strode forward. He was carrying a weapon that looked
like a massive torch shod in iron and bronze. A blazing fire
between its bladed flanges poured dense smoke into the air.
His face was obscured behind a thick metal mask with tubes
extending to a furnace strapped to his back.
This Menite warcaster raised his right hand and pointed
toward the crag. A yellow light ignited between the battered
slats of the Revengers arc node with a crackling hiss like
wet wood thrown on a fire. Caine felt a deep thrumming
sensation in his chest while some tremendous pressure
squeezed his head like it was caught in a vice. A wave

of heat surged from the Revenger to strike Niels, whose

body glowed suddenly with orange radiance before fire
consumed him. In an instant his flesh and bones were
transformed into an ash statue. This began to disintegrate
in the wind as if the air itself were chewing away the mans
face and arms before exploding the column that was once
his body. Flames leapt in quick sequence to the four nearest
trenchers, who were similarly obliterated. The air around
the survivors filled with the choking ash of their comrades.
Caine smashed his gloved fist against the nearest rock and
clenched his teeth. You goddamned fool!
They heard the sound of the Sentinels chain gun whir to
life behind them as zealots below the incline rushed their
position.

The High Reclaimer felt deep satisfaction as he watched

unbelievers burn to ash by the powers he invoked. Faith
filled him with an implacable resolve, and his eyes were
intense and unwavering. Those who had stared into them
said they were lit from within, like a reflection of the Eternal
Flame of the Temple of Menoth.
Dozens of zealots and deliverers pressed in on the enemy
without his command. The High Reclaimer did not function
like most leaders of men, for he had taken a vow of silence
and his mind was focused on a higher calling. In the absence
of spoken orders, those who followed him relied on faith and
instincts, heeding impulses they did not fully understand.
This gave his forces the appearance of a chaotic mob, but
one that moved at times with uncanny coordination.
As the High Reclaimer had passed towns and villages on his
march north, zealots had poured from nearby churches to
join him. None of those gathered could have explained what
compelled their steps. A number of Temple Flameguard
had similarly abandoned their posts to join the throng as
they witnessed his march. They brought their shields and
spears, knowing they would soon be hurled as weapons
against the faithless. Other volunteers had also joined him,
including village youths tasked with driving the wagons
laden with coal and water.
Their long march had been nearly silent except for the
endless prayers chanted by the choir priests and acolytes
following behind his warjacks. The machines had been
borrowed from Tower Judgment without explanation. Those
who maintained them had either joined him or watched
him go without protest; the High Reclaimer answered only
to Menoth and it was not their place to question his actions.
Periodically during their trek the High Reclaimer allowed
a short reprieve. This allowed those behind him to refuel

the warjacks, water the horses, and make quick meals for
themselves. The High Reclaimer afforded them only one
nights sleep out of three, during which he stood tireless
vigil. No one had seen him sleep or rest.
Those who followed him were united by both
overpowering faith and an unspoken fear. This silent man
was no priest. He was not one for words of encouragement
to ease their spirits and inspire them with reminders of
the greater cause. He was an ominous figure from an old
and terrifying order, a man who was perhaps the greatest
of those who had taken the Oath of the Reclaimers Last
Breath. That he had no name beyond his title reinforced
how far removed he was from humanity.
He could recall any of the faithful to Urcaen at any time,
rendering their bodies in holy fire. Their souls were more
important to him than their flesh. To reclaimers, life was
transitory, a brief lull when the soul hid in skin and bone
to do the work of the Creator. It was said that a reclaimers
gaze laid bare the soul with all its myriad sins, doubts, and
inequities. To such a being even the greatest man was no
more than the sum of his failings.
Because the High Reclaimer did not speak, no one who
joined him knew his destination or purpose. They could not
comprehend that he answered a divine call that impelled
him north. He marched toward a confrontation that offered
the opportunity to annihilate an enemy who, if left alive,
would become an impediment to the Protectorate of
Menoth in the years to come. Receiving such mandates was
the reason the High Reclaimer and his order existed; they
were conduits for the will of the divine. The knowledge of
where he must travel to confront this foe seared into the
High Reclaimers mind.
Now, amid the dunes and with the oppressive heat of
the sun bearing down upon him, the High Reclaimer felt
righteous anger stir. Here were interlopers: a Cygnaran
warcaster with pistols in hand, and behind him a pitiful
handful of soldiers. These were clearly enemies of the faith,
but this was not the foe he had seen in his vision. This was
not his true adversary.
This fact did not deter him. Menoth had sent him to this
place with the faithful and his blessed machines of war.
He would eliminate this enemy and then seek out the
other. Opportunities to annihilate enemies of the faith
must be embraced.
A Crusader marched alongside its master, hefting its
smoldering mace as if eager for battle. The High Reclaimer
mentally bade it stay near his side and wait and then closed
his eyes in prayer. Without warning, a young zealot behind
the High Reclaimer suddenly wavered on his feet and
collapsed. His skin shrunk upon itself as though all liquid

was being pulled from him. A harsh orange glow covered

his body and then moved to imbue the High Reclaimers
warjacks. The Menites around the youth looked fearfully
at their master but said nothing as they collected their
comrades body. The nearest village priest whispered a brief
prayer, his hands shaking.
The High Reclaimer beckoned to his three Redeemers,
directing their attention to the warcaster below the
crag. These jacks strode forward and their underslung
Skyhammer rocket pods pivoted toward the enemy.
Numerous small metal hatches along the conical forward
sections of these tubes sprung open, followed by the roar
of launching rockets. The chanting voices of the choir
behind them swelled to add majesty and spiritual power
to this attack.

Caine had shouted his warning too late to stop Niels, and
now he found himself in the same predicament. There
were dangers that could not be easily dodged. Redeemers
emerged from the black smoke to unleash a barrage. Time
seemed to slow as the rockets spun like a nest of angry
hornets toward him in an expanding cluster.
Their very inaccuracy made predicting their flight difficult.
He sprinted to the left and leapt into a tumble. He knew
the power field generated by his arcane turbine was ebbing
after he had expended so much sorcerous energy trying to
shoot down the approaching Revenger.

Opportunities to annihilate
enemies of the faith must be
embraced.

His Charger moved without prompting to intercept that

same Revenger by jumping heavily and awkwardly down
from the crag. This was a risky maneuver given its weight,
and it landed poorly. The weight of its chassis partially
buckled the strut comprising the lower half of its left leg,
but it managed to limp forward while raising its hammer
to strike the Menite jack. With a metallic clang its swing
hit into the Revengers already damaged shield, partially
buckling the steel along its upper edge and knocking it
aside. The force of the blow was sufficient to shatter the
repulsor mechanism in the shield, which otherwise would
have knocked the Charger back.
Caine ducked into a roll even as the first explosions
began to erupt around him. A close blast made the world
temporarily go white, and his ears filled with ringing as

Failure is not an option

he felt himself blown into the nearby sand. Something
solid tore into his left side just below the ribs, but he was
almost numb to it; he felt the wetness of his own blood
but no pain. His armored breastplate and power field
had absorbed a portion of the impact and likely kept it
from being a more grievous injury. For now he ignored it.
Coughing, he regained his feet and stumbled to the cover
of a nearby outcropping of reddish sandstone.

arc node. Well before the Lancer reached the Crusader, its
node flickered to life with a gleam of bluish-white light. The
ground beneath the Protectorate jack suddenly heaved and
buckled to topple the top-heavy Crusader mid-stride. It fell
back heavily and sank partway into the packed sand. Even
as it labored to regain its feet, the Lancer finished its charge
to open a deep rent in the armored chest of the downed
machine with the tempered point of its war spear.

A few dozen yards behind him, Caine heard his Sentinel

firing continuously. By his mental link to the machine he
knew it was dealing with a mob of zealots rushing the
trenchers crag. Its merciless chain gun tore through them
but not fast enough to prevent several from hurling powderpacked bombs. It used its assault shield to protect the more
vulnerable elements of its chassis, such as the connecting
rods above its hips that transmitted the power of its steam
engine down to its legs.

Looking back in the direction from which the Lancer had

come, Caine saw an Ironclad rushing forward as quickly
as its mass allowed. Running ahead of the warjack was
a familiar figure, a Cygnaran with red hair and heavy
warcaster armor. In one hand the man held an enormous
sword, its pommel alight with a blue glow and thrumming
with mechanikal power. In his other he brandished a
similarly augmented pistol, occasionally taking shots at the
nearest Menites. Caine groaned, his relief turning to chagrin.
Why couldnt it have been anyone else? He would rather take
on another entire Menite army than endure being saved by
Commander Coleman Stryker.

For every Menite they shot

down, several more arrived
to take his place.

Other zealots and Flameguard advanced from several

directions toward the remaining trenchers firing on them
from the elevated crag. Ignoring the blood seeping down
his side, Caine raised his pistols and leaned past the stone to
unleash deadly shots into the nearest Temple Flameguard.
His Charger, having beaten the damaged Revenger to
scrap, limped closer to keep watch behind him. He felt a
sense of futility as more black smoke rose to hide the Menite
warcaster and his Redeemers. For every Menite they shot
down, several more arrived to take his place.
Caine heard the sound of a jack bearing down at full steam
toward his position. Wincing against the pain in his side
he leaned out to see an approaching Crusader. It was a
slow machine, but one hit from its tremendous mace would
end him. Bloody hell! Caine cursed as he mustered his
arcane energy, preparing to teleport to a new position out of
desperation. He knew retreating would leave his Charger
to face the Crusader alone and would buy only a little more
time. He had no problem sacrificing the jack, but right now
that would just leave his men even more vulnerable to the
enemy that so greatly outnumbered them.
He was stopped from flashing away by an unexpected sight.
From between two dunes behind his position emerged a
warjack sprinting toward the Crusader. It was a Lancer,
Cygnars equivalent to the Menite Revenger, armed with
a bladed spear and a shield and outfitted with a Cygnaran

10

Caine reacted with instinctive speed, turning on the nearest

Menites with pistols blazing to cover Strykers advance.
The Ironclad ran past the gun mages position to stand like a
metal wall between Caine and the enemy beyond. It peered
left and right while holding its quake hammer in hand. It
eyed the clash between the Lancer and the Crusader as if
eager to join that fray, but clearly it was being kept on a
short leash. Commander Coleman Stryker was breathing
hard and scowling as he stopped alongside Caine. The gun
mage leered and asked, Whats wrong, Cole? Shouldnt
you be somewhere else right about now?
The senior warcaster frowned but did not bother to rebuke
the lieutenant for addressing a superior officer so casually.
The two had known each other too long to expect anything
else. Our rangers spotted a large force heading this way. I
came to pull you out.
Caine looked past him, hoping to see more Cygnaran
soldiers, but all he could see were Menites closing the gap
Stryker had temporarily opened. A number of bodies littered
the sands in that direction. Where are your people?
Its just me. Stryker answered. Seeing Caines blank stare,
he added, Its a long story, and we dont have time for it.
Youre surrounded and outnumbered. Get your men and
lets withdraw before anyone else gets killed.
Caines temper flared at the thought of being pulled off his
mission by someone as insufferably arrogant as Stryker, a
man who could do no wrong in the eyes of the generals.
We dont need your help.
Stryker did not seem amused. This mission is over!

I have it under control. He was too angry to recognize the

absurdity of his statement. Go play hero somewhere
Caines next words were rendered inaudible by a fresh
volley of Redeemer rockets even as the deliverers on the
further dune renewed their own assault on the crag,
blanketing the entire area in explosions. Stryker extended a
hand toward the crag and Caine could sense his gathering
of arcane power as a ring of glowing runes encircled his
fist and was mirrored by a brief manifestation above the
trenchers who were hunkered down in fear for their lives.
This was an additional layer of protection that might
help preserve them once they were on the move. Several
Redeemer rockets exploded against Strykers Ironclad, and
it staggered back a step.
Once their ears stopped ringing, Caine shouted, Im here
to take out that extraction rig . . . He jabbed a finger in
the direction of the exposed towers, just past the smoke
concealing their adversary. ... And Im not leaving until
that thing is ablaze!
The Crusader regained its feet and began hammering its
mace into the Lancers upraised shield with armor-crushing
force. It suffered cortex-burning feedback from contact with
the Lancers shield but still managed to knock the smaller
jack to its knees. The Lancers shield arm finally gave way
with a screech of tormented metal. Amid this clash the High
Reclaimer approached once more, emerging from a wreath
of obscuring smoke behind his Redeemers and flanked by
several clusters of Temple Flameguard and zealots.
Stryker stared at Caine, his face implacable. We can get the
rigs later. Saving the lives of these men is more important.
Caine sent his Charger to help the Lancer deal with the
Crusader, hoping they could finish it quickly enough to
respond to the other threats closing on their position.
His Sentinel was nearly ruined, its chain gun firing in fits
and starts as it struggled to aim after enduring sustained
punishment. The trenchers on the crag had noted Strykers
arrival and were giving up their position. They scrambled
down the nearest incline and fired their rifles at the
approaching Menites as they joined the warcasters. This
in turn prompted the deliverers on the hill behind the crag
to advance, likely hoping to wipe out the exposed soldiers
with their next volley.
Caines jaw clenched. I have a mission, and Im completing
it. What angered him most was how blind Stryker was to
the fact that his trenchers wanted to complete the mission
as badly as he did. They were willing to put their lives on
the line to get the job done. Pulling them out now would
be an insult to those who had died to get them this far. He
pointed toward the enemy warcaster. Keep him busy! I
have an idea.

With his nostrils flared in obvious irritation, Stryker

looked beyond his Ironclad, nicknamed Ol Rowdy, to the
approaching High Reclaimer and his jacks. The Cygnaran
heavy was standing in the way of another rocket salvo, but
already the Redeemers were spreading out to gain better
angles. Strykers Lancer was not quite demolished, but
it was badly damaged. The rigs loomed just behind the
Menites. The winds and swirling sand had momentarily
died down, and he could see massive rusting metal tanks at
the base of the towers, likely filled with explosive Menoths
Fury. He turned back to Caine and scowled. If whatever
youre planning doesnt work, youd better beg Morrow for
a merciful crossing before I catch up to you. He had hardly
spoken before Caine sprinted away.
Stryker holstered his pistol and hefted his blade Quicksilver
in both hands, turning toward the High Reclaimer. He
exchanged a quick look with Ol Rowdy and then they
both began to move. As his pace increased, he unleashed
a battle yell. Coleman Stryker and his Ironclad charged at
the enemy, running headlong into a steadily closing ring
of Menites.

The High Reclaimer felt the familiar sensation of the world

aligning with his divine imperative. The enemy he was sent
to intercept was before him. More remarkably, the foe ran
straight toward him as if rushing to meet his own death.
A sudden and unexpected explosion of light and motion
behind his quarry managed to break the High Reclaimers
focused concentration. The other warcaster, the gun mage,
had swung into action. After running away as if fleeing
the fight, he turned to point a pistol toward the nearest
Redeemer. A ring of blinding runes surrounded the pistols
barrel, which immediately disgorged a wave of raw,
concentrated force. The five-ton Redeemer crumpled as if
hit by a train and flew back several yards. It crashed into a
second Redeemer to topple both in an ear-splitting crunch
of colliding machinery.
This same warcaster became an impossible blur of motion as
he leapt into the air to fire his pistols in every direction. He
launched glowing rounds of screaming lead with impossible
speed and unerring accuracy as the barrels glowed with
heat and arcane power. The advancing deliverers were
annihilated in a cascade of blazing death. An entire squad
of Temple Flameguard met a similar fate. Zealots fell by
the handful. It was such an amazing display of sorcerous
gunplay that it took even the High Reclaimer by surprise,
and he was a man well accustomed to the miraculous.
There was a howling only the High Reclaimer could hear as
the souls of the dead were shaken from their bodies. Those

11

Failure is not an option

nearest to him swept inward, crying out in rage. They swept

around him with such power that they became visible as a
dark tornado filled with howling faces. The High Reclaimer
took these souls into his embrace to deliver them to Urcaen,
meanwhile gaining power from the turbulent storm of their
spiritual energy.
In moments those souls would pass through him, but in
their wake he would have the strength to annihilate all his
enemies in a single, great outpouring of vengeance. For now
he must endure. The High Reclaimer received Commander
Strykers charge and fell back several steps along the ridge
of the dune as he tried to block the swords blows with
his mace. The Cygnaran blanched when he entered the
swirling tornado of souls that sucked the warmth from his
blood, and the Menite leader took delight in his enemy's
suffering. One of the enemy warcasters strikes sliced a
deep gash through the muscles of the High Reclaimers left

12

arm, but he stubbornly refused to relinquish his hold on

his ceremonial torch Cremator. He ignored the pain of his
shattered shoulder when the Ironclads blow penetrated the
field of his turbine. Soon his power would be redoubled and
his injuries erased by the reclaimed souls of the faithful.
The High Reclaimer did not realize how close he was to the
reservoirs of Menoths Fury behind him. He was focused
on siphoning energy from the souls he bore as they crossed
through the barrier to the afterlife. His injuries began to
mend as he lifted his great mace to annihilate this enemy
of Menoth.

Caine did not have time to observe the clash between Stryker
and the High Reclaimer. Nearly exhausted from blood loss as
well as the outpouring of energy, he pushed on. Adrenaline

kept his legs from collapsing as he rushed past a dozen

Menite corpses to where the deliverers had fallen.
He was too far from the rigs to hope to hit them with pistol
fire. He awkwardly lifted one of the loaded deliverer
tubes and turned back to face the towers, simultaneously
calling on his remaining reserves of arcane strength.
Runes erupted along the rocket tube as he augmented the
weapons range and accuracy as he had done earlier for
his Charger. Caine held the rocket tube awkwardly, never
having fired one before, but it was a simple, almost crude,
piece of hardware designed for easy operation. With a little
prayer to the scion of luck, he yanked the self-igniting fuse
and aimed at the rigs.
With a jolt he realized that Stryker was closer to those
towers than he had anticipated, but there was nothing to be
done now. He decided grimly that if worse came to worst
the man would probably enjoy going out in a blaze of glory.
With a hiss and belch of flame, the rocket flew from the tube
and soared forward in an erratic spiral. He held his breath
and swore as he saw it swirl up as if about to veer off in
the wrong direction before it suddenly fell straight down
toward the tanks of Menoths Fury.
There was a dull thump and a sound like a gigantic indrawn
breath. Caine barely had time to teleport away, vanishing
in a flash of light and reappearing behind a half-buried
boulder. An enormous fireball consumed the eastern
horizon, settling into a wall of roaring flame that sounded
like an enraged dragon. Searing heat washed over him.

Ol Rowdy had broken off to intercept the one Redeemer

left standing while the other two labored to regain their
feet. Coleman Stryker was facing the extraction rigs as he
pressed forward with his sword locked against the shaft of
the High Reclaimers blazing torch. His eyes were watering,
and he could barely breathe from the strange wind that
whipped around his enemy. He thought he could hear the
howls of angry ghosts. That unnatural vortex suddenly
extinguished to be replaced by a palpable aura of mystical
strength as the High Reclaimers entire body shimmered
with a protective halo.

and he felt himself thrown backward and away from the

High Reclaimer. His throat filled with smoke and ash as he
tumbled head over heels down the opposite slope of the rise
where they had battled. He lost sight of the High Reclaimer
entirely. Around him he heard the anguished screams of
Menite soldiers and zealots caught in the inferno.
Commander Stryker knew all too well the High Reclaimer
would gain enough power amid such carnage to become
nearly invincible. His loathsome order thrived on death.
Stryker slapped at the flames running along the armor of
his left arm as he stumbled back toward the bewildered
trenchers, who seemed to have emerged unscathed. Spotting
the gun mage behind a boulder, he shouted, Caine! Lets
go! Move it or Im leaving you for the crows!

For once Allister Caine had no ready retort, and he ran

painfully toward the others without protest. He looked
dazed and blinked against the light of the raging fire.
Behind them the blaze showed no sign of relenting; the
air shimmered with waves of raw heat that tore at their
throats and stung their eyes. There was no sign of the High
Reclaimer, but both Cygnaran warcasters were certain he
had survived. Caine held his side, which was still bleeding,
and staggered as he came near. Stryker grabbed his arm to
steady him and allowed the gun mage to lean on him as they
hurried west. Ol Rowdythe only jack left standing
followed protectively, occasionally checking behind them
for signs of pursuit.
Caine gave one look over his shoulder as they went and
grinned at Stryker, his face pale. Looks like I earned a
medal. Ill trust you to put in for that. His voice shook.
Stryker grimaced. Just be happy we cant demote you any
further.
Dont worry, Im sure we can talk them into giving you a
medal too, so you can add it to your extensive collection.
Caines sarcasm prompted Sergeant Cartway to chuckle, but
he stopped at a glare from Stryker, swallowing nervously.
With the fire behind them pouring black smoke into the sky,
the Cygnarans limped toward home.

Something moving quickly in his peripheral vision caught

Strykers attention: a descending projectile heading straight
toward the rusting metal tanks. His eyes widened.
In that instant he unleashed a surge of protective energy,
sending arcane runes over himself and Ol Rowdy. They
stretched far enough to reach the surviving trenchers
hunkered behind cover a couple dozen yards behind him.
The world was erased in an explosion of fire and heat,

13

The Iron Kingdoms

Forging a world in blood and metal

From the journals of Rhupert Carvolo, an Ordic mercenary
and chronicler also called the Piper of Sorrows
Reflections on Western Immoren
on the Last Day of 607AR

I am a traveler.

I earn my coin in battle and move constantly from one field

of strife to another. I call no land my home, yet I confess a
sentimental attachment to every plot of ground on which I
have marched, fought, or sought shelter. It seems inevitable
some peril will end my journeys one day, as is the fate of a
man such as I in times such as these. With this in mind, I
have collected my recent thoughts and assembled them in
the hopes that these words might outlast me and prove an
adequate description of our varied lands and peoples.
As I travel these embattled lands I speak of what I have
seen to those who will listen. I have walked the length and
breadth of western Immoren, this beautiful and rugged
land split from the unexplored east. Even were the world
limited to this region, there would be more places to see
and people to meet than could fill a dozen lifetimes. I find it
difficult to fathom the rest of Caen, the little-explored wider
world beyond our shores. It is no doubt filled with countless
wonders, but here I will speak only of what I have seen,
read, or heard described in tales.
The kingdoms of this land are both young and old, a paradox
that creates some of the tension within and between them.
Each is rich in culture, tradition, pride, and the potential for
bitter enmity.
In the north stands the vast nation of Khador, its lands noted
mostly for the frozen bite of its ice-encased mountains and
less for the milder plains, rivers, lakes, farmland, and hills
of its southern expanses. A few years ago Khador declared
itself an empire and I should probably speak of it as such, but
old habits are hard to break. Khadorans have a long history
as warriors and conquerors, having arisen to dominate any
rivals they encountered as well as their rugged land.
East of Khador and enjoying its share of rugged and frozen
peaks is the dwarven nation of Rhul. Their unbroken
civilization predates all human claims. Politically, they seem
to lack the desire for war that consumes our human nations,
although recent battles have lured many individuals forth
to test their mettle.
In the west is Ord, the land of my own birth. It is a small
kingdom boasting hardy people but not blessed with an
abundance of resources. Ord is a land of fog-shrouded
moors, imposing hills, and a stretch of coastline where our
proud ports seek to dominate the seas.

14

Northeast of Ord and south of Rhul was Llael, once famed

for its vineyards and clever merchants but recently fallen to
foreign invasion. Llael has been swallowed up by Khador,
churned by the boots of Cygnaran soldiers, and exploited
by zealots of the Protectorate of Menoth. Some few Llaelese
resist their occupiers, and there are those who still dream
of freedom.
Just east of war-torn Llael and long isolated from the affairs
of mankind is the enigmatic nation of Ios, home to the elves.
Unlike Rhulfolk, who are seen often in cities abroad, the
Iosans have kept to themselves. I have heard rumors they
are stirring behind their well-fortified borders: witnesses
say their soldiers are on the march. Given their fearsome
reputation, I pity any who stands in their path.
South of Ord and Llael is the mighty nation of Cygnar,
long Khadors hated enemy. Cygnar is a large kingdom
and one particularly rich in resources and fertile lands.
Accordingly it boasts the largest population and one of
the mightiest militaries in western Immoren. It holds the
southern peninsula along the Broken Coast and thereby
has the longest stretch of shoreline of any of the Iron
Kingdoms, with a powerful navy to match. As large as the
kingdom appears on a map, it is worth noting how much
of its southern and western lands are covered by the dense
mountains of the Wyrmwall, uncivilized and treacherous
peaks never tamed by man. It is a diverse nation with a
strong-willed and well-educated populace, but because of
this its leaders sometimes become distracted by internal
disagreements, impeding their ability to commit to
decisive action.
For all Cygnar s power and wealth, I do not envy them.
They are surrounded by enemies and in recent years
have been beset on every side. In addition to their
Khadoran rivals to the north, they must guard against the
Protectorate of Menoth to the east and Cryx to the west.
Even the wasteland called the Bloodstone Marches that
occupies much of their northeastern border has recently
become a menace, disgorging a race called the skorne to
assail them. That Cygnar still stands against so many is
a testament to the resolve of its people as much as to its
strength of arms.
Cryx exists apart from the rest as a collection of horrors and
abominations that barely qualifies as a nation. Southwest
of Cygnar, across the Broken Coast, amid the swampy and
rank Scharde Islands, dwell immortal and unimaginably
powerful creatures that are a plague upon the living. There
are people who live in Cryx as well, horrible as that thought
might be, but their lives are not the same as ours. There the

15

The Iron Kingdoms

dead walk alongside the living and the land itself is tainted
by the unholy radiance of the dragon who rules that empire
and forces his vassals to worship him as a god.
The only way for Cryxs citizens to rise above the misery
and misfortune of their squalid lives is to serve the dragon
in any capacity he demands. Many become brutal pirates
and raiders and spend their lives preying on others. The
place would be foul enough were its denizens confined to
the islands, but they scour the main coastline on countless
ships geared for war and slaughter. In recent years they
have become more brazen in their attacks and have begun
to send armies onto the mainland, a development I fear our
nations are not taking seriously enough.

Some distinguish between

fact and legend, but I know
the two are inseparable.

That is the general lay of the land, but what does it mean?
To even begin to understand the current state of affairs we
must consider how it came to be. The flow of battle can
change with each decision on the field, but a surge cannot
be undone completely. The past is the foundation for the
present in all things.
Reflections on Ancient History

Though Ordic born, I have no living family there and

few remaining ties to that land. I must confess I feel more
comfortable outside its borders, as its murky hills and moors
remind me of tragedies I have struggled to forget. In these
times of increasing strife it seems Cygnar is the only place I
can still find warm and inviting pubs where I can reflect in
peace. Even Caspia, the City of Walls, is a haven for me now,
although its warren of towering bulwarks and clustered
humanity unsettles my mind with countless reminders of
the ancient past. My writings from the public houses of that
city invariably plunge into examinations of history rather
than accounts of the present.
How many bloody wars have unfolded in sight of Caspias
great gates? How many swords and spears have pierced
human flesh to purchase another few yards of land?
Everywhere reminders of fighting remain, remnants of
buildings destroyed by Menites during recent clashes. It is
the city that forged the colossals, the giant war machines
that fought off the Orgoth invaders four hundred years ago.
Too often in studying the past many look no further back
than the Rebellion, as if our history began with our freedom
from the Orgoth.

16

For an era long beyond reckoning mankind roamed

Immoren in wild and savage tribes, incapable of recording
their deeds. Menoth, our Creator, left us in this state to test
our strength. After a time we drew his attention when we
put forward the rudiments of civilization. The first priests
rose, chosen by the Lawgiver to bind us together and teach
us law. Menoth is our first and eldest god, the Shaper of
Man. I am not deeply religious, but even a wine-sodden
pipe-blower and teller of tales gives deference to him who
created us.
I live to chronicle mans endless appetites for destruction and
strife and his search to redeem bloodshed through heroics.
Some distinguish between fact and legend, but I know the
two are inseparable. That Menoth once strode Caen is to me
a fact as solid as the count of those who fell in the Boarsgate
Massacre. Menoths priests shaped our earliest villages and
farming communities into towns and cities.
Some of our oldest buildings today stand on the bones of
those ancient structures. Though I myself find most of the
city rather oppressive, the simplest peasant can recognize
Caspia as among the grandest of mans works. Its ancient
streets mark the entire course of our history brick by brick.
In another time it was named Calacia and was the home of
the priest-king Golivant, who beat back the Molgur tribes
and erected a great wall against them and who also gave us
our first taste of true order.
Such accomplishmentsgreat cities, statues of ancient
kings, libraries with walls stacked high with weighty
tomespale before mans unquenchable thirst for war.
During the Warlord Era, the people of western Immoren
fought endless battles. I am inclined to believe it was
Menoths will, a means to test the strength of both rulers
and ruled.
Even between vast cycles of history, some events are so
significant they forever change the shape of the world.
It was in Caspia that the Twins were born, and their rise
to enlightenment was one such moment. The Twins were
originally mortals, but they transcended their flesh to
become gods. They defined their paths in a time when
all men were slaves to their gods and kings. They left
their footprints across Immoren and drew thousands of
followers to learn from their example. We always speak
of Morrow before his sister Thamar, as her legacy is as
dark as his is bright, but their destinies were joined. One
need not be a theologian to appreciate the complexity of
the philosophies they birthed. Their ideas shook the very
foundations of civilization.
Morrow taught there was more to life than battle and blind
obedience to law. He claimed a good man must think of
others before himself. Thousands followed his example and

looked inward for answers. He said that leading a good

life required the will to protect the well-being of others, to
right injustice, and to fight honorably in war. Morrow was a
warrior-philosopher such as the world has yet to see again.
His ideas spread faster than the Menites could contain them.
The insidious and subversive Thamar was as selfish as her
brother was selfless and as fascinated by the darkness as
he the light. She felt true power was boundless and came
from the strength of the individual to exert his will over
the masses. Thamar taught that morality was the prison
of truth and freedom. She delved into forgotten occult lore
and profane secrets in the pursuit of illimitable power.
She ascended by freeing her mind from the shackles of
conscience. As a divine being she became the goddess of
temptation, indulgence, dark magic, and deception.
The rise of these ascended gods marked the beginning of
the Thousand Cities Era. After the Twins rose and crossed
over to Urcaenthe realm of the gods and the afterlife of
the deadthe shaping of mortal history was left once again
to mortal hands.
Like a stained glass window fallen from its casing to shatter
on the ground, the map of western Immoren fractured. Citystates of various sizes arose, each with its own warlord or
petty king. Tavern-born treaties and back-alley allegiances
lasted only long enough to muster men-at-arms for
countless murderous wars. The suffering of these bloody
days extended beyond humanity. We battled trollkin and
ogrun tribes, and we foolishly encroached on the ancient
lands ruled by the dwarves of Rhul and the inscrutable
elves of Ios, who pushed us back with fierce decisiveness.
They punished us for these violations but did not commit to
conquest outside their lands.
Though warfare never ceased, the claims of kings began
to consolidate as they seized the lands of their rivals
and brought more people under their control. Caspia
expanded. Thuria rose and Tordor consumed it. The
Midlunds unified. The vast Khardic Empire stretched from
the north to absorb the Kos, Skirov, Umbrean, and Ryn
peoples. Caspia experienced a flowering of thought and
reason exemplified by the consecration of the Archcourt
Cathedral in the Sancteum. Khardic engineers invented
the steam engine and began to realize its potential. Ships
fueled by coal plied the rivers without relying on currents
or winds. Among my ancestors, the dirgenmast captains
of Tordor formed an armada stronger than the world had
ever seen, and the sails of a thousand ships spread across
the ocean from horizon to horizon.
Who can say what heights we might have reached had
we been able to capitalize on these achievements? Alas,
such was not to be. Across the ocean came a fleet of black

17

The Iron Kingdoms

ships that fell upon our shores. The arrival of the Orgoth
would eclipse even the ascension of the Twins and leave an
indelible stain across our history. We were thrown into an
even darker age, and all the progress hard won through so
many bloody quarrels was undone.
The Orgoth possessed a rapacious hunger for slaughter
and enslavement. They seemed human enough but proved
crueler and more calculating than any race our ancestors
had ever encountered. Although it is true we were also
warlike, our old warlords had fought for understandable
goals, obeyed codes of behavior, and sometimes heeded
priestly advice. In contrast, the Orgoth embraced slaughter
and cruelty with dreadful enthusiasm. The Tordoran
armada sailed to meet the Orgoth ship to ship, but they
sent our proud vessels to the deep, spawning the Sea of
a Thousand Souls. Countless longboats then spilled cruel
warriors onto the beaches of Immoren. The once-warring
tribes and towns of the Thousand Cities fought valiantly
together for the first time, but the disorganized resistance
failed to stop the invaders.

18

The Orgoth consorted with dark powers. They boasted

infernal magic and wielded weapons terrible beyond
reckoning. Our Menite war priests and Morrowan battle
chaplains brought the power of their gods and fought as
best they could, but we were undone. The Orgoth subdued
us with rivers of our own blood in a slow but inexorable
conquest consuming two centuries.
The Orgoth did not seek to destroy western Immoren.
Nothey subjugated and enslaved us instead. Camps of
starving men and women compelled by the whip and the
threat of torture pounded out the fine roads we still use
today. Thousands of stone-torn hands erected the basalt
fortresses and towers of our conquerors. Of all our cities,
Caspia alone held them at bay, kept safe only by her
towering walls. Despite this small victory, Caspian armies
were soundly defeated every time they ventured forth to
meet the Orgoth in battle. For four centuries the Orgoth
occupied our lands all but uncontested, plunging our
people into enduring darkness.

Our eventual revolt against the Orgoth proved to be

as painful and excruciating a time as our initial defeat,
requiring the span of two centuries to succeed. A tide of
bitter hatred rose in our ancestors and restored the fire in
their eyes. This spirit of resistance was not enough in itself.
Every rebellion requires weapons and carries a cost payable
only in blood. While some do not like to speak of it, evidence
suggests the dark goddess Thamar played a part by giving
us the Gift, humanitys first manifestation of sorcery.
The arcane power and mechanikal wonders we take for
granted today were unknown before that time. Miracles had
been the sole province of gods and the priests who became
living vessels of the divine. The magic afforded by the Gift of
Thamar was something else again: the ability to manipulate
the very laws of nature through the application of will. It
would be long centuries before arcanists understood the
extent of this power, if they do even today, but it quickly
proved to be a formidable weapon for the Rebellion.
We learned the study of alchemy and produced the first
firearms when survivors of the Battle of the Hundred
Wizards fled east, but not even guns could turn the Orgoth
aside. The tyrants had their own weapons, wicked and
unholy, as well as warwitches capable of tearing a mans
soul from his flesh.
It was the development of mechanika, coupling the old
principles of engineering with the new sciences of magic,
that provided the key to eventual victory. The early
practitioners of this nascent science conceived the first
colossal as a steam-driven, war-ready construct of gears,
iron, and smoke standing fifty feet tall or more. It only
remained to find the means to build several of these iron
monsters without detection by the Orgoth.
Mans commitment and resourcefulness so impressed the
dwarves of Rhul that they pledged their aid. The Orgoth
had never conquered that northern people, having been
rebuked from the great southern fortress of Horgenhold after
a single massive assault. They had thereafter ignored that
nation, leaving them isolated amid their remote mountains.
Rhul did not send armed forces to confront the Orgoth
directly, but their supplies of iron ore, fabricated steel, and
mechanical expertise helped transform the colossals from
an engineering dream to a towering reality. This heralded a
new age of mechanika.
The colossals built from Rhulic materials in the factories of
Caspia were truly monumental achievements: towering,
smoke-belching, steam-powered constructs that walked
on legs of steel and wielded weapons so powerful even the
gods would envy them. As impressive as they were, their
successes in battle relied on the warcasters who learned to
control them. Shortly after the first colossal was created,

some few battle wizards awakened to their potential to

communicate mentally with the cerebral matrixes that
served as artificial minds inside these machines. By an effort
of will, these battle wizards guided the colossals in battle.
This sharing of minds between man and machine was
something the Orgoth could not match, and over the next
few years their fortresses fell one by one to the Rebellion
armies that brought together soldiers from each of the future
Iron Kingdoms to fight alongside the colossals. Every giant
footstep pushed the enemy further west. They fled back to
the sea but did not go quietly. As they retreated, the Orgoth
razed cities, poisoned wells, salted fields, and otherwise
defiled the lands in an act called the Scourge.

The colossals were towering,

smoke-belching, steampowered constructs that
walked on legs of steel and
wielded weapons so powerful
even the gods envied them.

Following the defeat of the Orgoth, we rediscovered what

it meant to govern ourselves. The leaders of the victorious
armies, called the Council of Ten, met in Corvis, Cygnars
City of Ghosts. This council hammered out the map of the
new Iron Kingdoms on their political anvils. Deliberations
lasted weeks. The negotiations resulted in the Corvis
Treaties, which drew the borders for the newly formed
territories and created the kingdoms of Cygnar, Khador,
Ord, and Llael. These four great nations were briefly united
by peacebut soon enough, old rivalries set them once
again at one anothers throats.
Reflections on the Khadoran
Empire

Every year I try to return to Midfast on the Day of Markus.

I look north and consider the rugged and cruel men who
dominate the expanse called Khador. At Midfast the people
of Ord beat them back in 305AR. From those walls our tired
soldiers witnessed the ascension of Markus to join Morrow.
He sacrificed his life to buy time for reinforcements to reach
the city and proved that few can defend against many if
courage holds.
I will make plain my feelings. I loathe the descendants
of the Khardic Empire, and I find in them little to praise.
Such men ruined my family, and the blood they have
spilled in their unrelenting drive for conquest stains
the pages of history. I prize truth and scorn those guilty

19

The Iron Kingdoms

of dangerous rhetoric, so I will attempt to restrain my
distaste and write of the northerners with what measure
of neutrality I can muster.
Without question Khadors people are tough, irascible,
weathered, and proud. They learned well from those ancient
days when man endured through strength and cruelty and
see no reason to temper those qualities now. The north
keeps deep and ancient customs derived from the time
when barbaric horselords roamed and ruled the Khardic
Empire alongside their pompous, gold-laden Menite
priests. The Khadorans took to Morrows message later but
heeded only select words of his teachings. They lauded the
wise philosopher-gods advice on nobility in battle while
ignoring his condemnation of unrestrained aggression.
To understand these cold northerners, consider that much
of Khador is frozen five months out of the year. There strong
winds snap trees in half, and sudden snows sweep in so fast
that entire wagon trains have vanished in mere seconds.
Only a harsh people could hope to survive in such a harsh
place. Khadors military personifies this strength, with
huge warjacks thundering along next to steel-hearted men
and women armed to the teeth with axes and guns.
Perhaps in such a frozen place the concept of freedom
becomes meaningless. Khador has conscripted its soldiers
since the time of the old empire. Every adult male and
any woman who wishes and is not with child serves their
Motherland for at least one period of duty. Their mastery
of mechanika is nearly the equal of Cygnars. Even I who
loathe them will admit there are many Khadorans as shrewd
and cunning as they are implacable.
Morrowans form the majority of this nation, but not an
overwhelming one as in Cygnar, Ord, and Llael. The Menite
faith is stronger in the north than anywhere outside the
Protectorate of Menoth. Whether Menite or Morrowan,
however, Khadorans love their sovereign above all. They
are as patriotic a people as you will ever findand that is
part of why they are so obnoxious to outsiders.
Khador has always chafed at the compromises made in
the Corvis Treaties, for they glorify the days of the old
Khardic Empire and seek every opportunity to restore
its power. Every generation a new sovereign ascends
the throne and declares the time ripe to reclaim lands
stolen from the Khadoran people. It is unfortunate
the Kossite and Skirov tribes no longer remember that
they once stood as their own kingdoms, free of the rule
of Khards. Now all Khadorans are alike in their blind
devotion to the rebirth of the old empire and heedless of
the consequences of their savagery.
Recent events have shown that the desire to restore that
empire is more than an idle dream. Following the recent

20

occupation of Llael, Queen Ayn Vanar named herself

empress of the Khadoran Empire to the tremendous
approval of her people. She will surely never be satisfied
until all of western Immoren bows before her. After the
successes in Llael, Khadoran forces swept on to batter the
Cygnaran northern border. They have since claimed the
entire Thornwood Forest. Its capture presages bitter battles
to come between these two great nations.
Reflections on the Middle
Kingdoms of Ord and Llael

I like to compare my homeland of Ord to a walnut: it

presents a tough exterior that is difficult to crack but holds
nourishing meat at its center. My land lacks the resources
of some great kingdoms, being a moody realm of foggy
bogs, wet marshes, and difficult farmland. Land-owning
castellans maintain themselves on herds of cattle and
horses, aloof from the masses struggling to put food on the
table. We are a tough people not easily discomfited. We find
diversion in song, gambling, and ale rather than dwelling
on lifes inequities.
Ords coastal cities are a sailors paradise, and we boast the
best mariners ever to live. The sea has brought a bounty of
riches the peat bogs lack but is filled with Cryxian pirates
and other hazards. The Ordic Royal Navy is counted a peer
among the greater powers of western Immoren. Our army
does not have similar acclaim, but make no mistake, they
are tough as trollkin and have courage to spare. Talk to the
men serving at Midfast and you will find soldiers the equal
of any. Despite our resolve, however, Ord lacks the modern
weapons and engineering necessary to battle on equal
terms with our neighbors. Khador has often come snapping
at Ords heels like a wolf after a famished deer, but we
have held. The number of Khadorans we have sent to their
graves speaks to their underestimation our defenses. I hope
my kingdom can maintain the security of her borders in the
days ahead, but I fear the rabid northern beast will come to
consume us just as they did Llael.
Llaels primary geographical advantage turned out to
be its greatest weakness. It shared its borders with four
kingdoms with few natural barriers to inhibit tradeor
the movement of armies. This served to line the pockets
of certain entrepreneurial nobles and merchants who
exploited the shipping along the Black River flowing
from Rhul to the Gulf of Cygnar. Llaels merchants were
centrally located to serve as middlemen for a variety of
lucrative exchange routes, leaving its farmlands to the east
of Khador almost unprotected and making them a very
inviting target. Cygnar allied themselves with Llael three
centuries ago, and with their protection the smaller nation
weathered Khadoran assaults for many generations. In
604 AR, however, it was finally overrun. That this was

perhaps inevitable does nothing to reduce the sting of

Llaels loss among the survivors of those who fought to
preserve it.

well as those in the heart of ancient Thuria and the wily

Morridanes of the Thornwood Forest, inheritors of the
bloodlines of Morrdh.

Ord cannot afford to take any joy in the misfortune of Llael,

though my countrymen shed few tears over its fall. Its fate
is an abject lesson on the danger represented by Khador:
just as Llael was consumed yesterday, Ord could follow
tomorrow. Ords peril is all the greater now that Khador
has pushed Cygnar out of the Thornwood that comprises
Ords eastern border. My former homeland stands more
vulnerable than ever.

Cygnar has no lack of iron, gold, timber, food, gems,

quarries, or any other resource coveted by a modern
nation. Coming as I do from poorer lands, I view these
people as overly fortunate and do not believe they properly
appreciate their many blessings. Cygnars technology
and alchemy is superb and improving daily, yet it is their
mechanikal engineering that gives them the edge. Their
warjacks boast inventive armaments and bow to the will
of their warcasters, who are trained by the finest military
academy in the Iron Kingdoms.

Reflections on Cygnar,
the Golden Swan

At the southern extreme of the Iron Kingdoms lies Cygnar,

where I often find myself for one reason or another.
Cygnar emerged from the Corvis Treaties as the strongest
and wealthiest nation of western Immoren. They were able
to unite the diverse and powerful peoples of the ancient
lands of Caspia and the sweeping Midlund farmlands as

From the time of the Corvis Treaties, Cygnar bordered each

of the original Iron Kingdoms. These included Ord to the
northwest, Khador to the north, and Llael to the northeast.
The Bloodstone Marches made up their entire eastern border
until the Cygnaran Civil War. The end of that war resulted
in the establishment of the Protectorate of Menoth, their

21

The Iron Kingdoms

newest eastern neighbor and enemy. While they marched
bravely to defend Llael during Khadors recent invasion,
the fight proved futile and in the end Cygnar could not keep
Khador from its northernmost lands. The subsequent loss of
the Thornwood has separated Llael from its southern ally
and further diminished any hopes for that small kingdom
to regain its freedom.
I have mixed feelings about Cygnar. I prefer them by far
to the Khadorans, and Ord has reason to appreciate their
support. But they do seem to enjoy putting their head into
the bears mouth. I wonder if the rivalry between Khador
and Cygnar will consume all lesser nations in a funerary
pyre. Would it not be better if these two powers focused
on the greater threat of Cryx in the southwest? It is my
opinion that Cygnar has been short-sighted about the dark
enemy off their shore. Furthermore, every Cygnaran king
since the Civil War has failed to keep the Protectorate of
Menoth in check, and this has led to the rise of that nation
as a significant threat to peace abroad.
Cygnar endured political upheaval in recent times when
Leto Raelthorne, the Younger, ousted his tyrannical
brother King VinterIV, the Elder. The deposed king
managed to escape before being put to trial for his
crimes, only to reappear from the Bloodstone Marches
after almost a decade with strange allies: an inhuman
race from eastern Immoren called the skorne. Since his
return these inhuman invaders have been a constant peril
on Cygnar s eastern border, including a failed attempt
to seize Corvis in 603AR. While it has never been easy
to wear the Cygnaran crown, King Leto has borne more
burdens than any sovereign deserves.
Giving a proper accounting of Cygnar s victories and
defeats would fill a lengthy tome, so I must gloss over
them. Suffice it to say that even diminished by the loss of
its ally Llael and its territories in the Thornwood, Cygnar
remains among the mightiest powers of the region. They
have suffered the invasion of their own capital by the
Menites but drove the enemy from their lands. Their
northern border has been compromised, yet their soldiers
stand at fortresses along the Dragons Tongue River
ready to fight and die for their king. A more stubborn
people I have yet to meet, and I think Khador may have
underestimated the Cygnaran fighting spirit. I hope that
to be true, as I am not eager to see these lands crushed
under Khadoran boots.
Reflections on the
Protectorate of Menoth

I am not a comfortable guest in Sul, and they watch me

with mistrust. Still, I have friends among the alleyways of
that battered and bloodied city, and a mercenary can find
employment there. It is impossible not to be reminded of the

22

strength of faith in such a place, where all facets of everyday

life are steeped in religious ritual and symbols.
For years historians and politicians both have pretended
the Protectorate was not a nation of its own because the
agreements that ended the Cygnaran Civil War left them
technically beholden to Cygnars crown. Over time those
obligations proved to be a farce, and now it is clear the
Protectorate of Menoth stands as the youngest of the Iron
Kingdoms. Indeed, they have now outlasted Llael, and their
survival seems more certain with each passing year.
Caspia was divided in the aftermath of the Cygnaran Civil
War, with the eastern portion becoming Sul, the capital of
the Protectorate at that time. This placed bitter enemies in
close proximity, a powder keg awaiting a spark. The rest
of the Protectorate stretches east and southeast into an
arid and resource-poor region adjacent to the dangerous
Bloodstone Marches.
Sul-Menites practice a strict form of worship and believe
endless punishment awaits them in the afterlife if they do
not obey the True Law. Priests and scrutators instill a terror
of the clergy in the population from an early age, and they
teach the people to obey without question and to expect the
lash for expressing the slightest doubt. Nowhere except the
Protectorate are the priests of Menoth obeyed so completely
and unflinchingly, hearkening back to the time of the priestkings of old. Perhaps because of these harsh measures, the
Menite faith has been in slow decline for many centuries,
and it was clear the ruling priests sought some means to rise
back to prominence.
The recent emergence of the Harbinger has provided the
spark the Menites have long sought to revitalize their faith.
This young woman emerged from an obscure town on the
fringes of the Protectorate and displayed clear signs of
miraculous contact with the divine, including most notably
the fact that her feet refuse to touch the unclean earth. It is
said she sometimes communes directly with Menoth and
can speak his words.
While violence between the Protectorate and Cygnar has
long threatened the security of both powers, these tensions
erupted into open war following Khadors invasion of
Llael. The leadership of the Protectorate took advantage
of Cygnars distraction to initiate a great crusade against
unbelievers, one that succeeded in inspiring the people.
The Harbingers endorsement of this campaign filled the
hearts and minds of the Sul-Menites with unprecedented
fervor and a frightening willingness to sacrifice their lives
for the cause.
Violence between Cygnar and the Protectorate escalated to
a crescendo that exceeded any even in the old Civil War. The
Protectorate besieged Caspia in 605AR but were repelled.

Cygnar counterattacked and Suls walls were breached,

allowing Cygnaran soldiers to pour into the streets of Sul.
Following a year of grueling battles throughout the city,
eventually Protectorate forces drove the Cygnaran invaders
back and in turn spilled through Caspias gates to march
on Castle Raelthorne. Cygnars home garrison narrowly
achieved victory, for a time quieting the constant warfare
between the two nationsa tenuous situation that could
flare back to open war at any time.
While the fighting in Caspia and Sul resulted in a stalemate,
efforts elsewhere have strengthened the Protectorate of
Menoth. Its Northern Crusade has met with great success
brazenly marching through Khadoran-occupied Llael and
seizing lands to the north, including the fortified Llaelese
city of Leryn, a center of alchemical production and one of
the greatest fortresses ever built.
One thing that must be remembered about these people
is that the manifestation of divine power gives them
unpredictable strength beyond their raw numbers. No one
would have predicted a year ago that the Protectorate could
seize territory from Khadoran hands. What further miracles
lie in store?
Reflections on the Nightmare
Empire of Cryx

From the crows nests of steamers crossing the heaving

Meridian waters I have seen the slender watchtower called
Hells Hook on the eastern tip of the island once called
Schardenow the heart of Cryx. Only a few outsiders,
myself included, have walked the black soil amid the
undying hordes and necromechanikal constructs that
call this place home. Even venturing close to it invites
destruction. I consider myself fortunate to have avoided
that dark fate and plan never to return.
The Nightmare Empire is made up of the sweltering and
malignant Scharde Islands off the Broken Coast of southern
Cygnar. Skell is its capital, and I fear that place more than
the hellish wilds of Urcaen where the gods wage their War
of Souls. There Lord Toruk landed sixteen centuries ago to
claim the islands as his own. He is the father of all dragons,
and he rules Cryx without question. Toruks ancient talons
have ground entire towns to dust, and thousands heed the
merciless orders of his undying generals. Still more fail to
escape the call to war even in death.
Cryxian raiders sail from their island home in search of
plunder and spill thousands of bloodthirsty pirates and
marauders, along with fiendish bonejacks and helljacks, onto
mainland shores. Innumerable slaves end up conscripted
into Cryxian armies, where they become undead thralls
fused with mechanika or else have their souls stripped to
feed the dark appetites of the Dragonfathers lich lords.

Through necromancy Lord Toruk boasts an eternal army

that grows with each victory.
The full scope and strength of Cryxs potential to wage war
has long been underestimated, a fact I consider now with
growing apprehension. For many centuries Cryxian attacks
were isolated and random, limited to piracy and terrorizing
villages along the shores of western Immoren. Yet as battles
erupted elsewhere, Cryx stretched its unliving claws to
reach places we thought safe from its clutches. Cryxian
soldiers and necromancers were ready with tools of war
deep within the mainland. They emerged in great numbers
following the outbreak of the conflict in Llael. Though none
know Cryxian motives or goals, it is clear the Dragon has
interest in the wars of men. Perhaps all they seek is carnage;
if so, they have devices enough to accomplish that end. I fear
their designs are both more ominous and more profound.

Toruks ancient talons have

ground entire towns to
dust, and thousands heed
the merciless orders of his
undying generals.

Reflections on the Outer

Reaches of Western Immoren

When we speak of the Iron Kingdoms it is understood by

scholars to refer to those kingdoms created by the Corvis
Treaties, expanded in the aftermath of the Cygnaran Civil
War to include the Protectorate of Menoth. In common use
the term has grown to refer to all the adjoining lands as well,
including those of our neighbors, both hostile and friendly,
that are populated and led by species other than humanity.
The elven land of Ios lies nestled in a vast forest valley
between barrier mountains that prevent the encroachment
of the Bloodstone Marches. Even in friendlier times Ios was
a nation we could never have claimed to know. The Iosans
seldom accepted visitors and conducted only a trickle
of trade with outsiders. Sadly, Ios has kept its borders
completely sealed for the entirety of my adult life, and I
have never had the opportunity to walk its fog-shrouded
paths. Trespassing is unthinkable; those who violate their
borders never return.
I would like nothing more than to chronicle the history of
that mysterious people, but I must admit my ignorance.
Rumor holds that the Iosans have powerful magic and
their own mechanika, quite dissimilar to that created by
either mankind or the Rhulfolk who are their neighbors.
At one time Ios dispatched ambassadors to human lands,

23

The Iron Kingdoms

but even then they wore veils to obscure their faces and
kept their own counsel, listening more than speaking. The
Rhulfolk, who have maintained written records far longer
than our own ancestors, say that in ancient times the region
called Ios stood uninhabited. By their account, the Iosans
traveled to their present home from farther in the east after
a catastrophic upheaval the Rhulfolk witnessed only as fire
and smoke covering the entire eastern horizon.
Regardless of past tribulations, Ios role in the future of
our region remains to be seen, and I am wary of any sign
of activity from that quarter. There has been bloodshed in
recent months all too close to their border, during both the
invasion of Llael and subsequent battles. It could be this
unfriendly nation hopes to remind its neighbors of why
even the Orgoth steered clear of them.
Inexplicably the former
king returned in 603AR,
bringing terrifying allies
never before seen in
the west: the skorne.

Rhul, on the other hand, is a mountain nation governed by

a council of clan lords. In addition to the dwarven people,
Rhul is populated by a large number of the towering
ogrun with whom Rhulfolk have long had strong ties. The
dwarves of Rhul are honorable and stoic people boasting a
culture that has changed little in thousands of years. They
pride themselves on their mastery of stonecraft but do not
believe the stories that they live only below the soil. They
have erected tremendous castles, vaulted halls, and towers
that scrape the sky, and their industrious nature is one we
could emulate. Rhulfolk trace their heritage back to the
original thirteen clans who founded their nation and appear
to revere the clan fathers as gods. Just as Menite priests once
ruled the land by the dictates of the True Law, the Rhulfolk
obey their Codex, which serves as both a holy text and a
summary of their convoluted laws.
Rhulfolk, unlike Iosans, enjoy the company of mankind.
While they defend their borders from intrusion just as
tenaciously, they also trade large quantities of manufactured
goods and mined materials to Khador and Cygnar in
exchange for food, timber, and other materials difficult to
find in their rocky homeland. With every passing generation
they pay greater attention to happenings abroad, and many
venture south to make their fortunes. While the Iosans are
rare in human lands, Rhulfolk are widely accepted and
have earned their places as valued members of various
communities from Khador to Cygnar.

24

With the onset of recent wars a large number of armed

and trained Rhulic warriors have turned to the life of the
sell-sword, earning a living as mercenaries. They seem
to enjoy battle in a way unique to their people. Mankind
seems destined to endless turmoil, and we often fight wars
over abstract ideals or when pushed to violence by hatred,
but the Rhulfolk seem to derive genuine satisfaction from
a good battle. Perhaps it is simply that the long-enduring
stability of their nation makes war seem an entertaining
diversion. This attitude puzzles me; I have been in wars
enough and seen sorrow enough for many lifetimes.
Reflections on Perils from the
Wastes and the Wilderness

I have looked out over the storm-blown sands of the

Bloodstone Marches and wondered that any would
willingly traverse its fierce expanse. The region is a sunscorched and windswept wasteland. Beyond the perils
of howling winds, mirages, and indigenous beasts lies a
blasted expanse called the Stormlands. It is a withered
realm plagued by constant lightning strikes and deafening
thunder. Other than the Protectorate capital of Imer, the
only human settlement abutting the Marches is a series of
shacks and hovels called Ternon Crag where miners pry
gold and coal from the reluctant mountains and mercenary
companies often camp between contracts. These men face
peril daily without hesitation, but both make a point to stay
out of that void to the east.
Following the Lions Coup of 594AR, Vinter RaelthorneIV
was hurled into the east in an imperfect balloon intended to
soar far above the ground. This unlikely flight was thought
to have killed the man, since no one had ever made it across
those wastes alive. Inexplicably the former king returned in
603AR, bringing terrifying allies never before seen in the
west: the skorne.
I know little about these skorne except that they are
powerful warriors with a cruel temperament. They march
to battle alongside great beasts and wield strange firearms
of their own invention. I wonder what the appearance of
these new invaders heralds, whether it presages another
dark era to test mans strength. Thus far the skorne have
yet to penetrate Cygnars border, but not for lack of trying.
Determined to the end, they have constructed fortresses and
holds just east of the Black River. Those are lands mankind
gave up as inhospitable, but it seems the skorne find them
suitable enough.
Nor are the skorne the only dangers arising unexpectedly
out of the wilderness in recent years. Strange horrors have
emerged from Khadors northern mountains, creatures
we have yet to explain. Serpentine horrors fly and march
alongside savage and deformed warriors, all intent on

slaughter and destruction. In recent months I have heard

of these creatures seen farther afield, and this troubles me
greatly. This seems destined to be an age noted for the rise
of monsters.
Whether as a consequence or a reflection of the chaos created
by recent warfare, violence has erupted elsewhere. Trollkin
kriels that once peacefully inhabited the untamed regions
have taken up arms and begun harassing trade routes and
train lines in Cygnar, Khador, and even Ord. There have
been accusations that Cygnar put the trollkin kriels in the
path of the skorne to brunt their invasion. Whether this
claim is true seems immaterial, as the kriels and soldiers
of Cygnars 4th Army have recently engaged in bloody
skirmishes, with horrendous casualties on both sides. As
if this were not enough to show the wilds are stirring, an
ominous group of mystics we call the Blackclads have been
on the move with well-armed bands engaged in similar
clashes. They walk with wild beasts from the deeper forests,
gathering in number for reasons only they can comprehend.

I am sure others have said the same in every age filled with
war, yet I cannot escape the feeling that we are on the cusp
of disaster. I hope it is just age catching up with an old
mercenary too long on the march. Mankind is a destructive
lot, and war is always around us. Our finest hours have often
come in the tumult of battle. I have found that Immorens
heartfireand perhaps even Caens as a wholeis stoked
by the wars and skirmishes around and within it.
Each of us must choose a side, raise a weapon, and lift our
banner to join in the strife to come. Better to fall in heroic
charge than to waste away nursing sullen regrets. We who
fight will sign our names on the pages of eternity with our
own blood.
For better or worse, war has become my meat and drink, my
bane and muse. As long as I can I will keep accounts just as
I have always done, for surely within events to come will
be countless tales of glories and triumphs that will endure
even past the shroud of death.

25

26

Rules Basics

General Knowledge for Combat in WARMACHINE

Game Overview

In WARMACHINE, the very earth shakes during fierce

confrontations as six-ton constructs of iron and steel slam
into each other with cataclysmic force, lead-spewing
cannons chew through armor plating as easily as flesh,
and bold heroes set the battlefield ablaze with a tempest of
arcane might to forge the fates of their unyielding nations in
the fires of destruction.
WARMACHINE is a fast-paced and aggressive 30 mm
tabletop miniatures battle game for two or more players set
in the steam-powered fantasy world of the Iron Kingdoms.
Players take on the role of elite soldier-sorcerers known as
warcasters. Though warcasters are formidable combatants
on their own, their true strength lies in their magical ability
to control and coordinate mighty warjacksmassive
combat automatons that are the pinnacle of military might
in the Iron Kingdoms. Players collect, assemble, and paint
fantastically detailed models representing the varied men,
machines, and creatures in their army. This book provides
rules for using those models in swift and brutal conflict. This
is steam-powered miniatures combat, and your tabletop
will never be the same!
In addition, WARMACHINE is also fully compatible with
the monstrous miniatures combat of HORDES, which is set
in the wilds of the Iron Kingdoms and features powerful
beings who harness the strength and fury of the savage
warbeasts that stalk the dark places of the realm. This allows
players to pit their forces against each other in a battle of
machines versus beasts.
A WARMACHINE army is built around a warcaster and
his battlegroup of warjacks. Squads of soldiers and support
teams can further bolster a battlegroups combat capability.
Sometimes huge armies with multiple battlegroups and
legions of soldiers take the field to crush their enemies with
the combined might of muscle and iron.
Warjacks, called jacks for short, are specialized fighting
machines. They are hulking iron giants powered by a
fusion of steam technology and arcane science and are
controlled with deadly precision by a warcaster. Warjacks
can be outfitted with a plethora of wicked melee or
ranged weaponry and equipment. Specialized jacks
known as channelers are equipped with a device called
an arc node that lets the warcaster project spells through
the warjack itself.
A warcaster is in constant telepathic contact with the jacks
in his battlegroup. During the course of a confrontation,
warcasters continually draw on a magical energy called
focus. A warcasters focus points can be used to boost his

own combat abilities, boost those of his warjacks in his

control area, or cast powerful spells.
The warcaster is the tie binding the battlegroup together
but is also its weakest link. If the warcaster falls, his jacks
become little more than iron shells.
The outcome of a battle depends on your ability to think
quickly, use sound tactics, and decisively employ your
forces. A crucial component of your strategy will be the
management of your warcasters focus points and how
you use them to boost your warjacks abilities. Focus
points can be used to enhance a jacks already impressive
combat power significantly. Properly allocated, they can
make an entire battlegroup a nigh-unstoppable instrument
of destruction.
Victory favors the bold! So bring it on,
if youve got the metal.

Summary of Play

Before a battle begins, players agree on an encounter level

and a scenario, and then they create their armies based on
those guidelines. Next, determine the turn order. It will not
change throughout the game. Players then deploy their
forces and prepare for battle to begin.
Battles are conducted in a series of game rounds. During
a game round, each player receives one turn to command
his army. During his turn, a player activates all the models
in his army, one after the other. When activated, a model
can move and then make one of a variety of actions such

What You Need

In addition to this book and your army of WARMACHINE
models, you will also need a few basic items to play:
A table or playing surface where you can conduct your
battles (typically 4 x 4).
A tape measure or ruler marked in inches and fractions
thereof to measure movement and attack distances.
A few six-sided dice. Six will be plenty.
A handful of tokens to indicate focus points, spell
effects, etc.
The appropriate stat cards included with each model. We
suggest you put them in card sleeves and use a dry erase
marker to mark damage.
The markers and templates on pp.255-256 of this book.
You may photocopy them for personal use.

27

Rules Basics
as attacking, repairing a jack, or casting spells. Once both
players have taken their turns, the current game round
ends and a new one begins starting again with the first
player. Game rounds continue until one player wins by
destroying the opposing warcaster or warcasters, meeting
scenario objectives, or accepting the surrender of his
opponent or opponents.

Dice and Rounding

WARMACHINE uses six-sided dice, abbreviated d6, to

determine the success of attacks and other actions. Most
events, such as attacks, require rolling two dice (abbreviated
2d6). Other events typically require rolling from one to four
dice. Die rolls often have modifiers, which are expressed as
+ or some quantity after the die roll notation. For example,
melee attack rolls are described as 2d6+MAT. This means
roll two six-sided dice and add the attacking models MAT
stat to the result.
Some events call for rolling a d3. To do so, roll a d6, divide
the result by 2, and round up.
Some instances call for a models stat or a die roll to be
divided in half. For distance measurements, use the actual
result after dividing the number in question. For everything
else, always round a fractional result to the next highest
whole number.

Dice Shorthand
A six-sided die is referred to as a d6. When you need two or
more of these, a numeral before the small d indicates the
number of dice to roll. Two six-sided dice are abbreviated as
2d6, three dice as 3d6, and so on.
The term d3 is a shortcut for roll a d6, divide by 2, and
round up. Quite a mouthful! Heres how to read the results
of a d3 roll quickly:
1 or 2 = 1
3 or 4 = 2
5 or 6 = 3

Additional Dice and

Boosted Rolls

Sometimes a special ability or circumstance will allow a

model to roll an additional die. An additional die is a die
added to the number of dice a model would ordinarily roll.
For example, when a model makes a ranged attack roll, it
generally rolls 2d6 and adds its RAT stat. If the model gains
an additional die on this attack, it would roll 3d6 and add
its RAT stat.

28

A die roll can include multiple additional dice as long as

each additional die comes from a different rule or ability.
Some effects grant models boosted attack or damage rolls.
Add one extra die to a boosted roll. Boosting must be
declared before rolling any dice for the roll. Each attack
or damage roll can be boosted only once, but a model can
boost multiple rolls during its activation. When an attack
affects several models, the attack and damage rolls against
each individual model must be boosted separately.
Example: A model that hits a target with a charge attack
gains a boosted damage roll, meaning it adds an extra die to
its damage roll. Because this roll is boosted, the model cannot
spend focus to boost the damage roll again for a total of two
extra dice on the roll.

General Guidelines

This section covers how WARMACHINE handles game

terms, the relationship between standard and special rules,
sportsmanship between players, and the procedures for
resolving rules disputes.

Game Terms

When these rules define a game term, it appears in bold.

For the sake of brevity, the phrase model with the
ability is sometimes replaced with the abilitys name. For
advantage is
example, a model with the Jack Marshal
a jack marshal, and a model with the Spellcaster ability
is a spellcaster. Similarly, the phrases attack with the
weapon and attack granted by the
ability can be
replaced by the expression
attack. For instance,
Caines feat, Maelstrom, allows him to make several attacks
with his Spellstorm Pistols. These attacks are referred to
as Spellstorm Pistol attacks in the Maelstrom text. In the
same way, the extra attacks granted by the Strafe ability of
a Cygnar Sentinels Chain Gun are referred to as Strafe
attacks and the attacks a trampling warjack makes against
models it moved over are called trample attacks.
All models in your army are friendly models. Models
controlled by your opponent are enemy models. If your
opponent takes control of one of your models or units
during play, it becomes an enemy model or unit for as long
as it is under your opponents control. If you take control
of one of your opponents models or units, it is friendly for
as long as it is under your control. If you take control of an
enemy trooper, it acts as an independent model while it is
under your control.
The abilities of models are written as if speaking to the
current controller of the model. When a models rule
references you or yours, it refers to the player currently
controlling the model.
In a models rules, this model always refers to the model
carrying the rule.

Rules Basics
The various nations and forces within the Iron
Kingdoms are represented by the different
factions; this rulebook includes information on
some, but not all, of those factions. Armies are
made up of a single faction and may include
mercenaries that will work for that faction.
When a rule references Faction it refers to
the faction of the model carrying the rule. On
a Mercenary model, for instance, friendly
Faction warjack means friendly Mercenary
warjack"; the same text on a Cygnar model
means friendly Cygnar warjack.
A model or unit may be referenced by either
line of its name, in whole or in part. The Knights
Exemplar unit, for example, has the name
Knights Exemplar and is a Protectorate Unit.
This unit could be referenced specifically by its
unit name Knights Exemplar, as a Protectorate
unit, as a unit, or as Exemplars.
Unless specified otherwise, when a models rules
reference another model by name, the model
referenced is assumed to be a friendly model.
For example, the Cryx helljack called Nightmare
while
has an Affinity rule that grants it Stealth
it is in Deneghras control area. Nightmare gains
Stealth only if its controlling player also controls
Deneghra. An enemy Deneghra model does not
grant Stealth to Nightmare.

Rule Priority

WARMACHINE is a complex game providing

a multitude of play options, but its rules are intuitive
and easy to learn. The standard rules lay the foundation
upon which the game is built and provide all the typical
mechanics used in play. Additional special rules apply to
specific models and modify the standard rules in certain
circumstances. When they apply, special rules take
precedence.
Unless otherwise specified, multiple instances of the same
effect (that is, effects with the same name) on a model are
not cumulative. If a model would be affected by a second
instance of an effect, the second instance is not applied and
does not change anything about the first instance, including
its expiration. If the effect has a duration, this means it
expires when the first applied effect expires. Multiple
instances of the same effect are not cumulative even when
the effect comes from different sources. For example, a spell
that grants Dark Shroud would not be cumulative with the
Dark Shroud ability of Bane Thralls.
Different effects are cumulative with each other, however,
even if they happen to apply the same modifier to a model.

For example, being in a Burning Ash cloud reduces your

attack rolls by 2. Choking Veil does the same thing but is a
different effect, and so a model in both effects would have
its attack rolls reduced by 4.
Situations can occur where two special rules conflict. Use
the following guidelines, in order, to resolve special rules
interactions.
If one rule specifically states its interaction with another
rule, follow it.
Special rules stating that something cannot happen
override rules stating that the same thing can or
must occur. (Rules directing or describing actions
or circumstances are treated as if they used must.
Examples include Gain an additional die, Knocked
down models stand up, and This model gains cover.)
Example: A model has a rule stating it cannot be knocked
down, and it is affected by something that states it is knocked
down. Since the rules make no specific mention of each other,
follow the second guideline, and the model is not knocked
down.

29

Rules Basics
Sportsmanship and
Sharing Information

Although WARMACHINE simulates violent battles

between mammoth forces, you should still strive to be a
good sportsman in all aspects of the game. Remember, this
is a game meant to provide entertainment and friendly
competition. Whether winning or losing, you should still be
having lots of fun.
From time to time, your opponent may wish to see
your records to verify a models stats or see how much
damage a particular warjack has taken. Always represent
this information honestly and share your records and
information without hesitation.
During the game, when a player makes a measurement for
any reason he must share the information with his opponent.

Resolving Rules Issues

These rules have been carefully designed to provide as

much guidance as possible in all aspects of play. That said,
you still might encounter situations where the proper
course of action is not immediately obvious. For instance,
players might disagree on whether a model has line of sight
to its intended target.
During a game, try to resolve the issue quickly in the interest
of keeping the game flowing. There will be plenty of time

Within vs. Completely Within

If a situation arises in which all players cannot agree

on a solution, briefly discuss the matter and check this
rulebook for an answer, but do not spend so much time
doing so that you slow the game. In striving to resolve
an issue, common sense and the precedents set by related
rules should be your guides.
If you cannot solve the dispute quickly, roll for a resolution.
Each player rolls a d6, and the person with the highest
roll decides the outcome. Reroll any ties. In the interest of
fairness, once a ruling has been made for a specific issue, it
applies for all similar circumstances for the rest of the game.
After the game ends, you can take the time to reference the
rules and thoroughly discuss the issue to decide how best to
handle that same situation in the future.

Measuring Distances

When making any measurement, you cannot measure past

the maximum range of the attack, ability, spell, or effect for
which you are measuring.
When measuring the distance from a model, measure from
the edge of the models base. Similarly, when measuring the
distance to a model, measure up to, but not past, the edge of
that models base. Thus, a model is within a given distance
when the nearest edge of its base is within that distance, or
equivalently, when any part of its base is within the given
distance. If two models are exactly a certain distance apart,
they are within that distance of each other.
A model is completely within a given distance when its
entire base is within that distance. Equivalently, a model is
completely within a given distance when the farthest edge
of its base is within that distance.

after the game to determine the best answer, which you can
then incorporate into future games.

If models bases overlap, they are within 0 of each other.

C
E

Bile Thrall A does not have any portion of its base in

the shaded area, so it is not within the shaded area. Bile
Thralls B and E do have a portion of their bases in the
shaded area, so they are within it. Bile Thralls C and D
are completely within the shaded area because each of
their bases is entirely within the shaded area.

30

When determining the effects of a spell or ability that

affects models within a specified distance of a model, the
effect is a circular area extending out from the models base
and including the area under the models base. Unless the
spell or ability says otherwise, however, that model is not
considered to be within the distance itself. For example,
when an Ironclad uses its Tremor special attack, it affects
all models within 2 of itself, but Tremor does not affect
the Ironclad.

ModelsThe Dogs of War

Model Types, Stats, and Damage Capacity

Each WARMACHINE combatant is represented on the

tabletop by a highly detailed and dramatically posed
miniature figurine referred to as a model. There are several
basic model types: warcasters, warjacks, troopers, and solos.
Warcasters, troopers, and solos are collectively referred to
as warriors. Non-warjack models are living models unless
otherwise noted.

Independent Models

Independent models are those that activate individually.

Warcasters, warjacks, and solos are independent models.
WarcasterS

A warcaster is a tremendously powerful sorcerer, warpriest,

or battlemage with the ability to control a group of warjacks
telepathically. A warcaster is a deadly opponent highly
skilled in both physical combat and arcane spell casting.
A battlegroup includes a warcaster and the warjacks he
controls. A warcaster can allocate focus points to or channel
spells through only the warjacks in his battlegroup.
During battle, a warcaster commands his battlegroup of
warjacks in an effort to complete his objectives. A warcaster
can use his focus points to enhance his combat abilities and
cast spells, or he can assign them to individual warjacks to
increase their fighting abilities. A warcaster can also channel
spells through jacks equipped with arc nodes, effectively
extending the range of his magical powers.
Warcasters are independent models. A model with the
model type Warcaster has many rules that are common to
all warcasters and are not listed on the models stat card (see
Warcaster Special Rules, p.74). All warcasters are characters.

give his warjacks commands and use focus to boost their

abilities with just a thought. Through focus, a warcaster can
make his warjacks attacks more accurate and powerful. A
well-controlled warjack can even make amazing power
attacks, such as slamming its opponents into buildings,
grappling their weapons, or even throwing them.
The telepathic link binding a warcaster to his warjacks
is fragile. A warjack whose cortex is crippled cannot be
allocated focus points. Even worse, should a warcaster
become incapacitated, the telepathic link to his jacks will
be severed. The accompanying feedback of uncontrolled
magical energies overloads and shorts out his warjacks
cortexes and causes the jacks to cease functioning and
become inert.
Warjacks are classified according to base size: a light
warjack has a medium base (40mm), and a heavy warjack
has a large base (50 mm). Even though it is assigned to a
specific battlegroup, each warjack is an independent model.
A model with the model type Warjack has many rules that
are common to all warjacks and are not listed on the models
stat card (see Warjack Special Rules, p.73).

So, You Gotta Be Different

Cryx light warjacks are called bonejacks, and Cryx heavy
warjacks are known as helljacks. Retribution warjacks
are sometimes referred to as myrmidons. Bonejacks,
helljacks, and myrmidons are all warjacks.

In the game of HORDES, the parallel of the warcaster is

called a warlock and is a commander of raging beasts and
feral troops.

Solos

Warjacks

Units

A steamjack is a mechanikal construct given the ability

to reason by a magical brain, known as a cortex, housed
within its hull. A steamjack does not possess high cognitive
powers, but it can execute simple commands and make
logical decisions to complete its assigned tasks. Throughout
the Iron Kingdoms steamjacks perform a variety of heavy
or dangerous tasks that would be impossible for a human.
A warjack is a steamjack built expressly to wage war. Armed
with the most fearsome ranged and close-combat weaponry
yet devised, a warjack is more than a match for a dozen men.
Though able to think and operate independently, a warjack
reaches its full destructive potential only when controlled by
a warcaster. The warcaster forms a telepathic link to each of
the warjacks in his battlegroup. This link lets the warcaster

Solos are individuals who operate alone, such as assassins

and snipers. Solos are independent models.
A unit is a group of similarly trained and equipped troopers
operating together as a single force. A unit usually contains
one Leader and one or more additional troopers. Models in
units do not activate individually; instead all members of
the unit activate at the same time and progress through the
steps of an activation together. See Anatomy of a Unit,
p.70, for more detailed rules on units.
Troopers

Troopers are individuals such as swordsmen, riflemen, and

mechaniks who operate together in groups called units. A
unit always operates as a single coherent force. All models
in a unit are troopers. Trooper models in a unit generally
share identical attributes and carry the same weapons.

31

Models

Iron Lich Asphyxious:

Warcaster

Ironclad:
Heavy Warjack

Paladin of the Order

of the Wall:
Solo

Iron Fang Pikemen

Officer &
Standard Bearer:
Unit Attachment

Grunts

Grunts are the basic troopers in a unit.

Unit Commanders, Leaders, and Officers

Each unit is led by a unit commander. A unit commander

sometimes has different weaponry than the other models in
its unit and has the ability to give his unit orders that allow
the unit to perform specialized battlefield maneuvers.
In most cases, the Leader of a unit is its unit commander.
Some units are led by Officers . While an Officer is in play,
it is the unit commander of its unit.
Attachments

Attachments are troopers that can be added to some units.

They include unit attachments and weapon attachments. A
unit can have only one of each type of attachment. Models
in an attachment are not Grunts. Attachments are easily
identified by their Attachment rule, which specifies the
unit or units to which they can be attached.

Model Profiles

Every model and unit has a unique profile called a model

entry or army list entry that translates its combat abilities
into game terms. WARMACHINE uses a set of stats to
quantify and scale the attributes fundamental to gameplay.
In addition, a model can have special rules that further
enhance its performance. The faction section provides all the
game information required for your army to battle across
the tabletop. For even more models and information for the
factions, check out the Forces of WARMACHINE books.
A model or units stat card provides a quick in-game
reference of its profile and special rules. The cards front lists

32

Iron Fang
Pikemen:
Unit

the models name and model type, its model and weapon
stats, field allowance, point cost, and a graphic for tracking
damage if the model can suffer more than 1 damage point.
The text for special rules appears on the cards back. A
warcaster has an additional stat card that explains his spells
and feat. Refer to this and other WARMACHINE books for
the complete text of special rules and spells.

Model Statistics

Model statistics, or stats, provide a numerical representation

of a models basic combat qualitiesthe higher the number,
the better the stat. These stats are used for various die rolls
throughout the game. A stat bar presents model statistics in
an easy-to-reference format. The abbreviation for each stat
shows how it is referenced in the rules.

STRYKER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 6 7 6 16
15 9
Commander Coleman Stryker
SPD, Speed A models movement rate. A model moves up
to its SPD in inches when making a full advance.
STR, Strength A models physical strength. STR is used
to calculate melee damage, grab onto or break free from a
model, or determine how far a model is thrown.
MAT, Melee Attack A models skill with melee weapons
such as swords and hammers or natural weapons like

Models
fists and teeth. A model uses its MAT when making melee
attack rolls.
RAT, Ranged Attack A models accuracy with ranged
weapons such as guns and crossbows or thrown items like
spears and knives. A model uses its RAT when making
ranged attack rolls.
DEF, Defense A models ability to avoid being hit by an
attack. A models size, quickness, skill, and even magical
protection all contribute to its DEF. An attack roll must be
equal to or greater than the target models DEF to score a
hit against it.
ARM, Armor A models ability to resist being damaged.
This resistance can come from natural resilience, worn
armor, or even magical benefits. A model takes 1 damage
point for every point that a damage roll exceeds its ARM.
CMD, Command A models willpower, leadership, and
self-discipline. To pass a command check, a model must
roll equal to or less than its CMD on 2d6. Command also
determines a models command range.
FOCUS, Focus A models arcane power. Only models
with the Focus Manipulation ability, such as warcasters,
have a FOCUS stat. Focus determines a models control area
and beginning focus points. A model uses its FOCUS when
making magic attack rolls.
Base Stats, Current Stats, and Modifiers

Rules in WARMACHINE can refer to a models base stats

or its current stats. A models base stats are typically those
printed in its stat bar. Some special rules can change a
models base stat to a specific value, however. Apply this
change before applying any other modifiers to the stat. If
a model is affected by multiple rules that change a base
stat, the base stat becomes the lowest value. For example,
a model that is both stationary (base DEF 5) and suffering
Stall (base DEF 7) would have a base DEF of 5.
A models modified stats are referred to as its current stats,
differentiating them from the models base stats. Unless a
rule specifies otherwise, always use a models current stats.
To determine a models current stat, start with the base stat
and then apply modifiers in the following order.
1. Apply modifiers that double the models stat.
2. Apply modifiers that halve the stat.
3. Apply bonuses that add to the stat.
4. Apply penalties that reduce the stat.
The result is the models current stat. Except for DEF, a
models base and current stats can never be reduced to less
than 1; its base and current DEF can never be reduced to
less than 5.

Example: Stationary models have a base DEF of 5, and cover

grants +4 DEF. Therefore, a stationary model behind cover
has a current DEF of 9 (base DEF 5+4 DEF for cover). A
stationary model (base DEF 5) affected by Deneghras feat The
Withering (2 DEF) would still have a current DEF of 5.
Note that these limitations apply only to the stats themselves
and not to attack rolls. A Deliverer's Skyhammer with RAT 5
affected by Deneghras feat The Withering
(2 RAT) has a current RAT of 3. The Deliverer suffers 4 to
his attack roll from his weapons Inaccurate rule; what would
have been 2d6+3 becomes 2d61 even though the stat itself
is not less than 1.

Advantages

Advantages are common model abilities, described below.

A models advantages are represented by symbols beneath
its stat bar; the text of the abilities does not appear in the
model entries or on the cards. Advantages are always in
effect and apply every time a game situation warrants
their use.

Eiryss
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 4 6 9 16
12 9
These symbols show that Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios has
Advanced Deployment, Fearless, Pathfinder, and Stealth.
Abomination This model is a terrifying entity (p.84).
Models and unitsfriendly and enemywithin 3 of this
model must pass a command check or flee.
Advance Deployment Place this model after normal
deployment, up to 6 beyond the established deployment
zone.
Arc Node This model is a channeler (p.79).
Combined Melee Attack This model can participate in
combined melee attacks with other models in its unit (p.62).
Combined Ranged Attack This model can participate
in combined ranged attacks with other models in its unit
(p.62).
Commander A friendly Faction model or unit in this
models command range can replace its current CMD
with the current CMD of the commander when making
command checks (p. 84). Models with the Commander
advantage should not be confused with unit commanders
that lead individual units (p.71). All warcaster models have
this advantage.

33

Models
Construct This model is not a living model, never flees,
and automatically passes command checks. All warjack
models have this advantage.
Eyeless Sight This model ignores cloud effects (p.69)
and forests (p. 87) when determining line of sight. This
model ignores concealment (p. 57) and Stealth (p. 34).

as an intervening model. This model suffers damage and

effects only from magical weapons , magic attacks, animi,
spells, and feats and is immune to continuous effects. This
model cannot be moved by a slam. When this model makes
a melee or ranged attack, before the attack roll is made it
loses Incorporeal for one round.

Fearless This model never flees (p.85). All warcaster

models have this advantage.

Jack Marshal This model is a jack marshal (p.80). If

this advantage is on a unit, only the unit commander is a
jack marshal.

Gunfighter This model is a gunfighter (p. 63). The

gunfighter has a melee range of 0.5 and can make ranged
attacks targeting models in its melee range.

Officer This model is an Officer (p.70). The Officer is

the unit commander of its unit.

Incorporeal This model can move through rough

terrain and obstacles without penalty. It can move through
obstructions and other models if it has enough movement
to move completely past them. Other models, including
slammed, pushed, or thrown models, can move through
this model without effect if they have enough movement
to move completely past it. This model does not count

Pathfinder This model can advance through rough

terrain (p. 86) without penalty and can charge and make
slam and trample power attacks across obstacles (p.87).
Standard Bearer This model is a standard bearer (p.70).
Stealth Ranged and magic attacks declared against
this model when the point of origin of the attack is greater
than 5 away automatically miss. This model is not an
intervening model (p. 43) when determining line of sight
from a model greater than 5 away.
Terror This model is a terrifying entity (p.84). Enemy
models/units in the melee range of this model or with this
model in their melee range must pass a command check
or flee.
Tough When this model is disabled, roll a d6. On a 5
or 6, this model heals 1 damage point, is no longer disabled,
and is knocked down.
Undead This model is not a living model and never flees.

Immunities

Immunities are advantages that protect models from some

types of damage and effects. A model never suffers damage
from a damage type to which it is immune. If the damage
has multiple damage types, a model that is immune to any
of the types will not suffer the damage.
Immunity: Cold This model does not suffer cold
damage (p. 68).
Immunity: Corrosion This model does not suffer
corrosion damage and is immune to the Corrosion
continuous effect (p.68).
Immunity: Electricity This model does not suffer
electrical damage (p.68).
Immunity: Fire This model does not suffer fire damage
and is immune to the Fire continuous effect (p.68).

34

Models
Immunity to Continuous Effects

Some immunities and special rules also grant immunities

to some or all continuous effects (p. 69). A model that is
immune to a continuous effect never suffers the effect to
which it is immune. The continuous effect is never applied
to that model. If a model gains immunity to a continuous
effect while the model is suffering that continuous effect,
the continuous effect immediately expires.

Weapon Statistics

On a models weapon stat bar a sword icon denotes a melee

weapon, a pistol icon denotes a ranged weapon, and a
horseshoe icon denotes a Mount. The entry for a model with
two identical weapons has a single weapon stat bar with
x2 on the icon. A weapons stat bar lists only the stats that
apply to its use. Those that are not applicable are marked
with .

Spellstorm Pistol

Quake hammer

RNG ROF AOE POW

POW

P+S

12 2 12

18

POW, Power The value used when making damage rolls.

A weapon or attack marked with a POW of does not
cause damage.
P+S, Power plus Strength The stat used for a melee
weapon when making its damage rolls. The P+S value
provides the sum of the models Power and Strength stats
for quick reference.
L/R/H, Location A warjacks weapon stat bars indicate
where its weapons are located: left arm (L), right arm (R), or
head (H). When all the system boxes for a location have been
damaged, the system is crippled (see Crippling Systems,
p.66). These weapon locations are also used when resolving
headlocks and weapon locks (p.51). A weapon that is not in
one of these locations is marked with .

Weapon Qualities

Weapon qualities are special effects that are marked as a symbol

on a weapons stat block. Weapon qualities include damage
types, magical weapons, and specific continuous effects.

CREMATOR
Sample Ranged Weapon Stat
Bar for a Pair of Identical
Weapons

Sample Melee Weapon

Stat Bar

Mount
pow

10

Sample Mount
Weapon Stat Bar
RNG, Range The maximum distance in inches between
the attacks point of origin and the target before the attack
will automatically miss. Measure range from the edge of
the point of origins base nearest to the target up to the
maximum range of the attack. Spray attacks use special
range descriptors including SP (p. 60). A RNG of *
indicates the models special rules contain information
about determining the RNG.
ROF, Rate of Fire The maximum number of times a
model can make attacks with this ranged weapon during its
activation. Reloading time limits most ranged weapons to
only one attack per activation.
AOE, Area of Effect The diameter in inches of the template
an area-of-effect (AOE) weapon uses for determining which
models are hit by the attack. When using an AOE weapon,
center the template on the determined point of impact. All
models within the template are affected and potentially
suffer the attacks damage and effects. See pp. 5860 for
detailed rules on AOE attacks. Templates for AOEs can be
found on p.255.

POW

P+S

14

These symbols show that the High Reclaimers melee weapon

Cremator has Continuous Effect: Fire, Magical Weapon, and Reach.
Buckler This weapon has an integral buckler that
gives the model a cumulative +1 ARM bonus; for example, a
model with two of them gains a bonus of +2 ARM. A model
does not gain this bonus while the weapon system with the
buckler is crippled or being held in a weapon lock or when
resolving damage that originates in its back arc.
Continuous Effect: Corrosion A model hit by this
attack suffers the Corrosion continuous effect (p.69).
Continuous Effect: Fire A model hit by this attack
suffers the Fire continuous effect (p.69).
Critical Corrosion On a critical hit, the model hit by
this attack suffers the Corrosion continuous effect (p.69).
Critical Fire On a critical hit, the model hit by this
attack suffers the Fire continuous effect (p.69).
Damage Type: Cold This weapon causes cold
damage (p.68).
Damage Type: Corrosion This weapon causes
corrosion damage (p.68).
Damage Type: Electricity This weapon causes
electrical damage (p.68).

35

Models

Damage Type: Fire This weapon causes fire damage

(p.68).
Magical Weapon This weapon is a magical weapon
(p.68).
Open Fist This weapon is an Open Fist. A warjacks
Open Fist enables it to make certain power attacks. A
warjack with an Open Fist can make arm lock, headlock,
and throw power attacks; a warjack with two Open Fists
can also make double-hand throw power attacks. A warjack
cannot use a crippled Open Fist to make power attacks.
Reach This weapon has a 2 melee range (p.50).
Shield This weapon is a shield that gives the model
a cumulative +2 ARM bonus; for example, a model with
two of them gains a bonus of +4 ARM. A model does not
gain this bonus while the weapon system with the shield is
crippled or being held in a weapon lock or when resolving
damage that originates in its back arc.
Weapon Master When attacking with this weapon, add
an additional die to its damage rolls.

Special Rules

Most WARMACHINE combatants are highly specialized

and trained to fill unique roles on the battlefield. To
represent this, most models have special rules that take
precedence over the standard rules. Depending on their
use, special rules are categorized as abilities, feats, special
actions, special attacks, or orders.
In addition, Warjacks (p.73) and Warcasters and Focus
(p.74) detail many special rules common to all warcasters
and warjacks that do not appear on their stat cards or in
their army list entries.
Abilities

An ability typically gives a benefit or capability that

modifies how the standard rules apply to the model.
Abilities are always in effect and apply every time a game
situation warrants their use.
Some abilities have a range (RNG). An abilitys range is the
maximum distance in inches it can be used to affect another
model or unit. Measure range from the edge of the base of
the model using the ability nearest to the target up to the
maximum range of the ability. If the nearest edge of the
target models base is within the maximum range of the
ability, the target is in range. A RNG of CMD indicates
the ability has a range equal to the models CMD.
When a model uses an ability with a RNG, it must target
a model in its line of sight. Determine if the target is in the
range of the ability. If the target model is within range, it

36

is affected by the ability. If the target model is outside the

range of the ability, it is not affected but the ability has still
been used.
Feats

Each warcaster has a unique feat that can be used once per
game. A warcaster can use this feat freely at any time during
his activation in addition to moving and making an action.
A warcaster cannot interrupt his movement or attack to use
his feat. He can use his feat before moving, after moving,
before making an attack, or after making an attack, but not
while moving or attacking.
Special Actions (HActionS)

A special action lets a model make an action normally

unavailable to other models. A model can make a special
action instead of attacking as its action if it meets the
requirements for the special actions use.
Special Attacks (HAttackS)

A special attack gives a model an attack option normally

unavailable to other models. Warjacks can also make a
variety of punishing special attacks called power attacks,
described on pp. 5156. A model can make one special
attack by choosing that option during its combat action if it
meets the specific requirements of the attack. Special attacks
can be made only during a models activation.
Orders

An order lets a unit perform a specialized combat maneuver.

A unit can be given an order by its unit commander at the
beginning of its activation (see Issuing Orders, p.72).

Damage Capacity and

Damage Grids

A models damage capacity determines how many damage

points it can suffer before being destroyed. Most troopers
do not have a damage capacity; they are destroyed and
removed from the table when they suffer 1 damage point.
The army list entry for a more resilient model gives the total
amount of damage it can suffer before being destroyed. Its
stat card provides a row of damage boxes for tracking the
damage it receives. Unmarked damage boxes are sometimes
called wounds. Some models, such as warjacks, have their
damage boxes arranged in a damage grid.
Every time a model with multiple damage boxes suffers
damage, mark one damage box for each damage point
taken. A model with damage capacity is destroyed once all
its damage boxes are marked. However, a warjack can suffer
from crippled systems before its damage grid is completely
filled. Some of a warjacks damage boxes are system boxes.
These are labeled with a letter denoting the component
of the model they represent. When all system boxes for a

Models
specific system have been marked, that system is crippled.
See Recording Damage (p.65) for more information.

DAMAGE

Sample
Damage Grid

L R

L L M C R R

M M C C
SYSTEM L
STATUS

Sample damage
grid from a
warjack stat card

A models front arc determines its perspective of the

battlefield. A model typically directs its actions, determines
line of sight, and makes attacks through this arc. Likewise,
a model is usually more vulnerable to attacks from its back
arc due to a lack of awareness in that direction. If a model
is not completely within the back arc of a model, it is within
its front arc.
A model is facing another model when the second model is
within the first models front arc. A model is directly facing
another model when the center of its front arc aligns with
the center of the second models base.
A model with a 360 front arc has no back arc and is both
facing and directly facing all models.

FACING AND DIRECTLY FACING

Crusader

Base Size and Facing

The physical models themselves have some properties

important to gameplay, namely base size and facing.
Base Size

The physical size and mass of a model are reflected by its

base size. There are three base sizes: small bases (30mm),
medium bases (40mm), and large bases (50mm). Generally
speaking, most human-sized warrior models have small
bases, larger creatures and light warjacks have medium
bases, and very large creatures and heavy warjacks have
large bases. A models army list entry states its base size.

Stryker

Defender

Facing

A models facing is determined by its shoulder orientation.

The 180 arc in the direction its shoulders face defines the
models front arc; the opposite 180 defines its back arc. You
may also make two small marks on either side of each of
your models bases to indicate where the front arc ends and
the back arc begins instead of relying on the positioning of
its shoulder. If a model lacks shoulders and does not have a
360 front arc, you must mark its base or discuss its facing
with your opponent before the game starts.

Stryker and the Defender are within the Crusader's

front arc, so the Crusader is facing both Stryker and the
Defender.
The center of the Crusader's front arc also lines up with
the center of the Defender's base, so the Crusader is
directly facing the Defender. Note that although it is
facing the other jack, the Defender is not directly facing
the Crusader.

Front Arc

Marking Your Models Facing

Model
Facing

We recommend players paint lines on their models bases to

define their facing clearly.

Back Arc

37

Preparing for War

Armies, Setup, and Victory Conditions

Building Your Army

A warcaster and his warjacks form the central fighting

group of every WARMACHINE force. Units and solos
with a variety of abilities further support the warcaster and
his warjacks. In larger battles, you can even field multiple
warcasters for greater might.
To create an army, first choose a faction and decide on an
encounter level, and then spend the allotted army points
to add models and units from your chosen faction and the
mercenaries who will work for that faction. You can even
field an army made up entirely of Mercenary models,
using the mercenary contract rules found in Forces of
WARMACHINE: Mercenaries.
Every army list entry provides the models or units point
cost and field allowance values to use when designing your
force. Specific scenarios can modify the standard army
creation rules.

Encounter Levels

WARMACHINE battles are played at different encounter

levels to allow for a diversity of army sizes, strategies, and
game experiences. Each encounter level gives the maximum
number of army points each player can spend on an army.
You need not spend every point available, but your army
cannot exceed the maximum number of points allowed by
the chosen level.
Each encounter level also dictates the number of warcasters
available to each player. Warcasters do not cost army points
to include in your army but instead grant you some number
of warjack points that can be spent only on warjacks for
your warcasters battlegroup. These bonus points are in
addition to the army points determined by the encounter
level. Each warcasters warjack points that are not spent on
warjacks for his battlegroup are lost.
Example: Kris and Rob are playing a 25-point skirmish. Kris
chooses Captain Victoria Haley as his warcaster, and Rob
chooses Warwitch Deneghra. Because Kris chose Haley, he
has 5 warjack points to spend on warjacks in her battlegroup.
Based on the encounter level, he also has 25 points that he can
spend on whatever models he chooses.
Warjack points can be divided among warjacks in the
warcasters battlegroup; they do not have to be spent on
a single warjack. They can also be combined with army
points to pay for an eligible warjack.
Example: Rob has 25 army points from the encounter level and
5 warjack points from Deneghra. He wants to add a pair of
4-point Deathrippers to Deneghras battlegroup. He spends his
5 warjack points toward the point total of 8 for the two jacks
and pays for the remaining 3 points with army points.

38

Duel

Max. Warcasters: 1
Army Points: 15
Est. Play Time: 2045 Minutes

A duel occurs when two warcasters cross paths. Sometimes

they are on special assignments, but other times they are
out to settle vicious rivalries. A duel is the perfect match for
playing with the contents of a battlegroup box.
Skirmish

Max. Warcasters: 1
Army Points: 25, 35, or 50
Est. Play Time: 4590 Minutes

A skirmish is an encounter that includes a single warcaster

and his warjacks supported by a small retinue of units and
solos. Skirmishes can occur over such things as routine
border patrols or elite surgical missions.
Grand Melee

Max. Warcasters: 1
Army Points: 75 or 100
Est. Play Time: 90120 Minutes

As warfare rages across the land, escalating hostilities rage

unchecked. Each faction races to bring its most devastating
engines of war to the battlefield to ensure total victory.
Everywhere warcasters command armies to march to battle.
Battle Royale

Max. Warcasters: 2
Army Points: 100, 125, or 150
Est. Play Time: 23 hours

Battles decide the pivotal events in the course of a campaign.

With two warcasters in an army, you can fully realize the
opportunities for army customization and heavy firepower.
War

Max. Warcasters: 3
Army Points: 150, 175, or 200
Est. Play Time: 34 hours

When objectives can no longer be achieved by deploying

small forces and both sides refuse to yield, nothing less than
full-out war can decide the differences. This huge game, in
which each side fields up to three warcasters, allows your
forces enough breadth and depth to inflict and recover from
staggering blows as the fight swings back and forth.
Apocalypse

Max. Warcasters: 4+
Army Points: 200+
Est. Play Time: 4+ hours

When a conflict rages so bitterly that war itself cannot resolve

it, the final reckoning has arrived. You have summoned the
apocalypse. An apocalypse is a massive game employing
four or more warcasters in each force. Although this vast
endeavor should never be undertaken lightly, it yields game
experiences found in no other arena. One warcaster can be
added to an army for each additional increment of 50 points.

Preparing for War

Battlegroups

Each warcaster in an army controls a group of warjacks. A

warcaster and his assigned warjacks are collectively referred
to as a battlegroup. There is no limit to the number of
warjacks that can be fielded in each warcasters battlegroup.
Warjacks must begin the game assigned to a battlegroup or
controlled by a jack marshal (p.80).
A warcaster can allocate focus points only to warjacks in
his battlegroup. If an army has multiple battlegroups, it is

Sample Army
The following army illustrates the force creation rules
of WARMACHINE. This army is designed for a 100-point
battle royale encounter, so each player can field up to two
warcasters.
WARCASTER: COMMANDER STRYKER (+6 warjack points)
Strykers Battlegroup
Army Point Cost
1 Defender Heavy Warjack..................................................9
1 Ironclad Heavy Warjack...................................................7
2 Lancer Light Warjacks..........................................12 (6 ea.)
WARCASTER: CAPTAIN HALEY (+5 warjack points)
Haleys Battlegroup
Army Point Cost
3 Defender Heavy Warjacks....................................27 (9 ea.)
1 Charger Light Warjack......................................................4
1 Lancer Light Warjack.......................................................6
Units

Army Point Cost

2 Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Units (FA 2)..................12 (6 ea.)

1 Long Gunner Infantry Unit (FA 2) with 6 troopers..............6
3 Stormblade Infantry Units (FA 2) with 6 troopers...15 (5 ea.)
1 Trencher Infantry Unit (FA 2) with 6 troopers....................7
2 Field Mechanik Units (FA 3) with 6 troopers........... 6 (3 ea.)
Total

111 Points
(100 army points +11 warjack points)

The chosen warcasters are Commander Stryker and Captain

Haley, avoiding duplication since they are named characters.
Stryker adds 6 warjack points and Haley adds 5, so the army
can include up to 111 points of models in addition to the
warcasters. The nine warjacks in the army are assigned to
specific battlegroups.
The unit of Long Gunners and Trenchers are minimumstrength units with only six troopers each, as allowed by
the unit options. There are two units of Field Mechaniks,
each with six troopers as allowed by their unit option. We
also included two Gun Mage units that always include six
troopers each. There are three units of Stormblades, which
also always include six troopers each. With the units FA 2
and two warcasters, this army could have a total of four such
units. The total of army points spent is 111, so no points are
left unused.

important to distinguish which warjacks are controlled by

each warcaster. See Warcasters and Focus (p.74) for more
information on battlegroups.

Characters

Some models represent unique individuals from the Iron

Kingdoms. These personalities carry proper names and are
identified as characters. Characters follow the rules for their
basic model type.
Unique units and units that include named characters are
designated as character units. They remain character units
even after the named characters in them are no longer part
of the unit or in play at all.
An army can include only one model of each named
character and only one of each character unit. For instance,
you can never have two Commander Coleman Strykers
in the same army. However, two battling Cygnar players
could each field Stryker. How can this be?
In the chaos and tumult that engulfs war-torn Immoren,
pretenders and imposters abound. Thus, a warcaster might
find himself impossibly facing his apparent double across
the field of battle. Which is the real Commander Coleman
Stryker or Butcher of Khardov? Victory alone can determine
the answer.

Point Costs

A models point cost indicates how many army points

you must spend to include one of these models (or in the
case of units, one basic unit) in your army. Some models
and units have different costs associated with different
play options. For example, many units have one cost listed
for the minimum-strength unit and a separate cost for the
maximum-strength unit.
A model or units entry in your army list must specify
which point cost option you took. Remember, a warcaster
adds warjack points that can be spent only on warjacks in
his battlegroup.

Field Allowance

Field allowance (FA) is the maximum number of models or

units of a given type that can be included for each warcaster
in an army. For example, Cygnar Trencher Infantry units
have FA 2, indicating an army can have up to two Trencher
Infantry units for each warcaster. An army with two
warcasters could have up to four Trencher Infantry units.
A field allowance of U means an unlimited number of
these models or units can be fielded in an army. A field
allowance of C means the model or unit is a character;
only one model of each named character and only one of
each character unit is allowed per army regardless of the
number of warcasters.

39

Preparing for War

Field allowance is not faction-specific. If an army includes
both faction and mercenary warcasters, count all the
warcasters in the army when determining field allowance
limits for both faction and mercenary models and units. For
example, if a Cygnar army contains both a Cygnar warcaster
and a mercenary warcaster, that army can include up to
four Trencher units just as if it had two Cygnar warcasters.
Some solos, like Scrap Thralls, are purchased in small
groups for a single point. In these cases, Field Allowance
determines the number of groups of these models a player
can include in his army rather than the number of individual
models. For example, Scrap Thralls are FA 3 and cost 1 point
for three Thralls. That means a player can add three groups
of Scrap Thralls, a total of nine models, to his army for each
warcaster in his army.

Setup, Deployment,
& Victory Conditions

WARMACHINE games can be played in a variety of ways.

The primary influences on a games setup are its encounter
level, number of players, and victory conditions. Players
can also agree to play a specific scenario or even design one
of their own.

Two-Player Games

In a typical WARMACHINE game, two players match forces

across a 4 4 battlefield, a playing surface sometimes
referred to as the table. After setting up the battlefield
according to the rules in Terrain (p.86), players roll a d6
to make a starting roll. The player who rolls the highest
number chooses which player will be the first player.
Players then deploy their armies. The first player chooses
any edge of the battlefield and deploys all his forces
completely within 10 of that edge. This area is the players
deployment zone. Deploy units so that all their troopers
are in formation. The second player then deploys his forces
on the opposite side of the battlefield following the same
guidelines.
After both players have deployed their forces, the first
player takes the first turn of the game. Players then alternate
taking turns for the rest of the game. This is the turn order.
Once established, the turn order remains the same for the
rest of the game.

Multiplayer Games

When playing multiplayer games of WARMACHINE,

players can choose to play either a team game or a freefor-all game. Agree on the type of game to be played, then
set up the battlefield and use the following guidelines to
determine the games turn order.

40

Team Games

Before beginning a team game, players split into two

opposing sides. Each side decides the composition of its
teams. Teams should be made up exclusively of models
from the same faction and the mercenaries that will work for
that faction. If a team wishes to field an all-mercenary force,
all the members of the team must use the same mercenary
contract. Each team can include only one of any character
model. To begin, have one player from each team roll a d6
to establish the turn order. The team that rolls highest gets
to choose which team goes first, and the first team chooses
which of its players will be the first player. Once the first
player is determined, the opposing team chooses which of
its players will go next. The first team then names one of its
players to be third, followed again by the opposing team.
This continues until all players have a place in the turn
order and ensures the turn order will alternate between
players of opposing teams.
Force deployment should be done in turn order following
the above guidelines, with teammates sharing the same
deployment zone across the battlefield from their opponents
deployment zone.
Free-for-All Games

You can also choose to play a multiplayer game in which

each player fights independently in a free-for-all game. To
establish turn order, each player rolls a d6. Starting with
the highest roller and working to the lowest, each player
chooses any available position in the turn order. Reroll ties
as they occur with the highest reroller winning his choice
of position, followed by the next highest reroller, and so on.
Example: Matt, Jason, Mike, and Steve roll 6, 5, 5, and 3
respectively for turn order. Matt chooses his position first. Then
Jason and Mike reroll their tie, getting a 4 and a 2, respectively.
Jason chooses next, followed by Mike. As the lowest roller, Steve
gets the remaining position in the turn order.
Use your best judgment to establish deployment zones based
on the number of players and the size and shape of your
playing surface. Deployment zones should be spaced such
that no player gets a significant advantage or disadvantage
unless mutually agreed upon. As a starting point, for games
with three or four players on a 4 4 playing surface,
deploying forces completely within 10 of any corner of the
playing area should ensure adequate separation.

Scenarios

If all players agree, you can set up the game according to a

specific scenario. Scenarios add an extra layer of excitement
by incorporating special circumstances and unique rules.
A player wins a scenario by achieving its objectives, not
necessarily by eliminating his opponents forces. Certain
scenarios have specific guidelines for battlefield size, terrain
setup, deployment zones, and turn order. See Scenarios

Preparing for War

(pp. 9093) for the scenario descriptions. If you feel
particularly daring, you can randomly determine which
scenario to play.
As long as all players agree, you can even design your
own scenarios to create a unique battle experience. Just be
sure to allow a minimum of 28 between rival deployment
zones. Feel free to be creative when setting up your games.
For instance, if you have three players, one player could
set up in the middle of the table as a defender and the
other two could attack from opposite edges. Furthermore,
you could have a four-player team game with teammates
deploying across from each other on opposite edges of the
battlefield so everyone will have enemies on either side.
Your imagination is the only limit.

Starting the Game

After establishing victory conditions and deploying forces,

the first game round begins. Every warcaster and other
model with the Focus Manipulation ability begins the game
with a number of focus points equal to its FOCUS stat.
Starting with the first player, each player takes a turn in
turn order. Game rounds continue until one side achieves
its victory conditions and wins the game.

Victory Conditions

Establish victory conditions before deploying forces.

Typically victory goes to the player who accepts his opponents
surrender or who has the last warcaster(s) remaining in play.
A scenario can define other specific objectives. The objectives
can even be customized for each side.

A WARMACHINE battlefield as two armies prepare to clash

41

GameplayThe Rules of Engagement

Turn Sequence, Movement, and Actions
The Game Round

WARMACHINE battles are fought in a series of game

rounds. Each game round, every player takes a turn in the
order established during setup. Once the last player in the
turn order completes his turn, the current game round ends.
A new game round then begins starting again with the first
player. Game rounds continue until one side wins the game.

4. Resolve all other effects that occur during the Control

Phase.

Activation Phase

For game effects, a round is measured from the current

players turn to the beginning of his next turn regardless of
his location in the turn order. A game effect with a duration
of one round expires at the beginning of the current players
next turn. This means every player will take one turn while
the effect is in play.

The Activation Phase is the major portion of a players

turn. All models you control must be activated once per
turn. This is usually done during the Activation Phase, but
some effects allow a model to activate earlier in the turn.
Units and independent models are activated one at a time in
the order you choose. A model cannot forfeit its activation
unless allowed to do so by a special rule. A model must be
on the table to activate.

The Player Turn

Activating Models

A players turn has three phases: Maintenance, Control,

and Activation.
Some effects are resolved at the beginning of a players
turn. These effects are resolved before the start of the
Maintenance Phase. Remember to remove any effects that
expire at the beginning of your turn.

Maintenance Phase

During the Maintenance Phase, perform the following steps

in order:
1. Remove all focus points from your models.
2. Check for expiration of continuous effects on any
models you control. After removing all expired
continuous effects, resolve the effects of those that
remain in play. All damage dealt by continuous effects
is resolved simultaneously (see p.244).
3. Resolve all other effects that occur during the
Maintenance Phase.

Control Phase

During the Control Phase, perform the following steps in order:

1. Each of your models with the Focus Manipulation
ability, like warcasters, replenishes its focus and
receives a number of focus points equal to its current
FOCUS.
2. Each model with the Focus Manipulation ability can
allocate focus points to warjacks in its battlegroup
that are in its control area.
3. Each model with the Focus Manipulation ability
can spend focus points to maintain its upkeep spells
in play. If a model does not spend focus points to

42

maintain a spell requiring upkeep, the spell expires

and its effects end immediately.

When a model activates, it is granted its normal movement

and its action. The normal movement must be resolved
before the action is made.

What a Model Does

When Activated
Generally an active model moves before going on to its
action. Depending on the movement option chosen, the
model might be able to make either a combat action or a
special action. A combat action lets a model make attacks.
A special action lets a model perform a unique battlefield
function such as digging in or creating Scrap Thralls.

Activating Independent
Models

Independent models activate individually. Only one

independent model can activate at a time. The active model
must end its activation before another model or unit can be
activated. The model then makes its normal movement if
it was not forfeited. After resolving its normal movement,
if the model did not forfeit its action, then it uses its action
to make either a combat action or special action. After
resolving its action, the model then ends its activation.

Activating Units

Troopers do not activate individually. Instead, the entire

unit activates at once. When a unit begins its activation,
every trooper in it activates. First determine if any models
in the unit are out of formation. A trooper that is out of
formation at the start of its units activation must use its
normal movement to make a full advance toward or run
directly toward its unit commander. If it makes a full
advance, it must forfeit its action.

Gameplay
After resolving the normal movement of each activated trooper,
each trooper can then make its action, one trooper at a time.
Completely resolve the movement of one trooper before moving
on to the next. After one trooper resolves its action, another can
begin its action.
Units require strong leadership and guidance to be effective on
the battlefield. Since a unit operates as one body, it functions best
when all members are in formation. A unit must receive an order
from its unit commander in order to run or charge. Some unit
commanders can have other special orders that allow the unit to
perform a specialized combat maneuver.

Line of Sight

Many game situations such as charging, ranged attacks, and

magic attacks require a model to have line of sight (LOS) to its
intended target. Simply put, having line of sight means a model
can see another model. Any time one model targets another
model, it must have line of sight to that model. When a model
selects another model, it need not have line of sight. A models
controller can check its line of sight at any time.
There are several steps to determining whether one model
has LOS to another. If any step results in a models potential
LOS being blocked, return to the first step and try a different
line. If no line can be found to pass all steps, then the model
does not have LOS to the desired model.
Each model occupies a volume of space above the bottom
of its base determined by its base size. A models volume is
used for determining if terrain blocks LOS to a model.
In the following descriptions, Model A is determining LOS
to Model B:
1. Draw a straight line from any part of Model As
volume to any part of Model Bs volume that is
within Model As front arc.

3. The line must not pass over the base of an intervening

model that has a base size equal to or larger than
Model B.
4. The line must not pass over an effect that blocks LOS,
like a cloud effect.
Intervening Model

If you can draw any straight line between the bases of two
models that crosses over any part of the base of a third
model, the third model is an intervening model.
How Elevation Affects LOS

When determining if Model A has line of sight to Model

B, ignore intervening models on terrain more than 1
lower than Model A except for those within 1 of Model
B. Additionally, ignore those models within 1 of Model B
that have equal or smaller-sized bases than Model A.
When Model A is on terrain at least 1 lower than Model B,
Model A ignores intervening models on terrain more than
1 lower than Model B.
Using Reference Objects

If you cannot easily determine LOS between your model

and another model due to the position of terrain on the table,
use reference objects for drawing the line. First confirm the
other model is in your models front arc; if it is not, your
model cannot have LOS to it. Otherwise, choose an edge of
your models base and an edge of the other models base.
For each model, hold an object next to the chosen edge that
is the height used to determine its volume (1.75, 2.25, or
2.75). If you can draw a line from the inside edge of the
object next to your model to the inside edge of the other
object that does not pass through a terrain feature, your
models LOS to the other model is not blocked by terrain.

2. The line must not pass through terrain.

Determining Model Volume

A small-based model occupies the
space from the bottom of its base to a
height of 1.75.
A medium-based model occupies the
space from the bottom of its base to a
height of 2.25.
A large-based model occupies the space
from the bottom of its base to a height
of 2.75.
A model is considered to occupy a
standard volume regardless of its pose
or the size of the sculpt itself.

Mechanithrall
Small Base = 1.75

The Wrack
Medium Base = 2.25

Behemoth
Large Base = 2.75

43

Gameplay

LOS and Targeting

Flameguard 2
Crusader

Butcher

Flameguard 1

Revenger
Kreoss
The Butcher obviously has LOS to the Revenger. Since the Revenger has a medium base, it blocks LOS to other models with medium
and small bases. The Butcher has LOS to Flameguard 2 because you can draw an unobstructed line from the Butchers front arc
to the edge of Flameguard 2s base that does not cross the Revengers base. On the other hand, the Butcher does not have LOS to
Flameguard 1 because you cannot draw a line between their bases that does not cross the Revengers base. Because they have
smaller bases than the Crusader, the Revenger and the two Flameguard do not block LOS to it. The Butcher can draw LOS to the
Crusader as if those models were not there.
The Butcher has LOS to Kreoss because Kreoss base is not completely obscured.
If the Butcher were on terrain more than 1 higher than the other models, the Butcher would have LOS to Flameguard 1. The
Revenger does not block this LOS because its base is the same size as the Butchers and it is within 1 of Flameguard 1.

LOS and Elevation

The Charger is on a hill 1
higher than the other models.

Charger

The Charger has LOS to the

Manhunter because the
Manhunter is on a lower
elevation and there are no
intervening models that would
block line of sight within 1
of it.
The Charger has LOS to the
Battle Mechanik because none
of the intervening models
has a base larger than the
Chargers.
The Charger does not have
LOS to Sorscha because the
Berserker is an intervening
model that is within 1 of
Sorscha and has a larger base
than the Charger.

Sorscha
Mechanik

Manhunter

44

Berserker

Iron Fang Pikemen

Gameplay

LOS and Terrain

Vanquisher

Stormblade

Vanquisher

Stormblade

Here, the Vanquisher has line of sight to the Stormblade

because an unobstructed line can be drawn from its
volume to the Stormblades volume.

Here, the Vanquisher does not have line of sight to

the Stormblade because there is no unobstructed line
between their volumes.

This wall is shorter than 1.75. It will not block line of sight
to any of the models behind it.

This wall is taller than 2.25 but shorter than 2.75. It will block
line of sight to small- and medium-based models behind it.

This wall is taller than 1.75 but shorter than 2.25. It will
block line of sight to small-based models behind it.

This wall is taller than 2.75. It will block line of sight to all
models behind it.

Although the Trencher Sharpshooters pose has it hidden

below the stone wall, its defined height is greater than the
walls height. The Trencher Sharpshooter can see over the
wall to the Repenter, and the Repenter can also see the
Sharpshooter.

Similarly, although the top of the Guardians banners can

be seen over the wall, its defined height is lower than the
wall's height. The Trenchers do not have line of sight to the
Guardian.

45

Gameplay
Base to Base and Contact

Models whose bases are touching are in base-to-base (B2B)

contact. If a model has an ability that allows it to move
through another model, while it is moving through the other
model they are considered to be in base-to-base contact.
One model contacts another when it changes from not
being base to base with it to being base to base with it.
Additionally, when a model is already base to base with
another and would move toward it, it is considered to
contact that model again.

Movement

Normally the first part of a models activation is its normal

movement. Special rules can also permit it to move at
other times.
A moving models base cannot pass over another models base.
The term normal movement refers to the movement a
model makes during the movement portion of its activation.
Advancing refers to any movement a model intentionally
makes, not to any movement caused by other effects such
as being pushed or being slammed. A model can change its
facing at anytime during its advance, but when it moves
it must always move in the direction it is facing. Make all
measurements from the front of an advancing models base.
Determine the distance a model advances by measuring
how far the front of its base travels. The distance moved
is absolute; we suggest using a flexible measuring device
to keep accurate track of a models movement. Changing
facing by rotating in place does not cost any movement.
Terrain, spells, and other effects can increase or reduce a
models movement and/or its SPD. Modifiers to movement
apply only to the models normal movement, while
modifiers to SPD apply whenever the models SPD is used
to determine the distance. See Terrain (pp.8689) for full
details on terrain features and how they affect movement.

By Any other Name

Remember that all intentional movement, whether full
advancing, running, or charging, is considered advancing
whether or not it takes place during the movement portion
of a models activation.
Example: A model running as its normal movement would
move at twice its SPD plus any movement modifiers. If that
same model then runs outside its normal movement, it would
move at twice its SPD.
There are three basic types of advancing: full advance, run,
and charge.
Models can also move without advancing, typically due to
being pushed or slammed or from other effects. Determine the
distance a model moves in this way by measuring the distance
traveled by the edge of the models base in the direction of the
movement. Unless otherwise specified, a models facing does
not change when it moves without advancing.

Full Advance

A model making a full advance advances up to its current

speed (SPD) in inches.

Run

A model that runs advances up to twice its current SPD in

inches. A model that uses its normal movement to run cannot
make an action, cast spells, or use feats that activation, and
its activation ends immediately after it ends its movement.
A model that forfeits its action cannot run during its normal
movement that activation.
If a model cannot run due to some effect and is required
to run, instead of running it makes a full advance, then its
activation immediately ends.
Some models must meet special requirements to run:
A warjack must spend 1 focus point to run during its
normal movement.

Measuring Movement

A trooper must receive a run or charge order to run

during its normal movement, or it must be compelled
to run as a result of a game effect (like fleeing or being
out of formation, for example).

Charge

46

A charging model rushes into melee range with a target and

takes advantage of its momentum to make a more powerful
strike. A model suffering a penalty to its SPD or movement
for any reason other than for being in rough terrain cannot
charge, regardless of offsetting bonuses. A model can charge
through rough terrain. A model must have both its normal
movement and action in order to use its normal movement
to charge. A model without a melee range cannot charge.

Gameplay
Once the charge target is in the charging models melee range,
it must stay in the charging models melee range for the entire
charge. The charging model stops if it contacts a model, an
obstacle, or an obstruction or if it is pushed, slammed, or
thrown. After declaring a charge, the charging model turns to
face any direction that will bring it to within melee range of its
target, ignoring terrain, the distance to the charge target, and
other models. The charging model then advances its current
SPD plus 3 in that direction, in a straight line. The charging
model cannot voluntarily stop its movement until its target is in
its melee range, then it can end this movement at any point. The
charging model stops if it contacts a model, an obstacle, or an
obstruction. At the end of the charge movement, the charging
model turns to face its target directly.
Some effects require a model to charge. A model required to
charge must charge a model to which it can draw line of sight.
If there are no models in its line of sight, or if it cannot charge,
the model activates but must forfeit its movement and action.
A charging model that ends its charge movement with
its charge target in its melee range has made a successful
charge. It must use its action to make a combat action,
choosing to make either initial melee attacks or (if it can
make a special attack with a melee weapon) a melee
special attack.

Charge Direction

The charging models first attack after ending its charge

movement must target the model it charged. If the charging
model advanced at least 3, this attack is a charge attack.
A charge attack is not in addition to the regular attacks a
model would get for its combat action. Rather, it modifies
the models first attack after its charge movement. The
attack roll is made normally and can be boosted. If the
charge attack was made with a melee weapon and the
attack hits, the damage roll is automatically boosted. After
making a charge attack during its activation, the charging
model completes its combat action normally.
If a charging model moved less than 3, its first attack is
not a charge attack because the model did not move far or
fast enough to add sufficient momentum to its strike. Its
first attack must still be made against the charge target,
however. The charging model completes its combat
action normally.
If a charging model ends its charge movement without
its charge target in its melee range, then it has made a
failed charge. If a model makes a failed charge during its
activation, its activation immediately ends.
Some models must meet special requirements to charge:
A warjack must spend 1 focus point to charge during its
normal movement.
A trooper must receive a charge order to charge during its
normal movement. A trooper that receives a charge order
must either run or charge during its normal movement.
Troopers in the same unit can charge the same target or
multiple targets.
Cavalry models have additional rules governing charges.
(See Cavalry, p.81.)
If the charging model cannot make its first melee attack
against the charge target, the charging model can make its
first melee attack against another eligible target, but this is
not a charge attack. It does not lose its first attack.

Winter Guard

Winter Guard

Deathripper

Deathripper

Either of these charge moves would bring the Winter Guard

to within its melee range of its target, the Deathripper. The
gray area represents the Winter Guards melee range.

Charges Outside of Activation

When a model charges without using its normal movement/

combat action, such as with the Counter Charge ability,
follow the rules above but ignore any references to the
models action or combat action. When a model makes
this type of charge, it makes only one attack. If it made a
successful charge and moved at least 3, that attack is the
charge attack. If it made a successful charge but did not
move at least 3, that attack is a single normal melee attack
subject to the targeting restrictions above. Counter charging
cavalry models still make their impact attacks. A model that
charges outside its activation cannot make a special attack
when resolving that charge. If the model fails its charge it
does not make any attack.

47

Gameplay
Movement Restrictions

Some effects place restrictions on how a model moves or

advances. There are four types of these restrictions. In
the following descriptions, Model A is moving with some
restriction relative to Model B.
Model A Must Move Toward Model B: Model A can move
along any path such that the distance between Model A
and Model B is always decreasing during the movement.
Model A Must Move Directly Toward Model B: Model A
moves along the straight line that connects the center
points of Model A and Model B such that the distance
between them decreases during the movement. A model
that moves directly toward a point cannot change its
facing after moving.
Model A Must Move Away From Model B: Model A can
move along any path such that the distance between
Model A and Model B is always increasing during the
movement.
Model A Must Move Directly Away From Model B: Model A
moves along the straight line that connects the center
points of Model A and Model B such that the distance
between them increases during the movement. A model
that moves directly away from a point cannot change its
facing after moving.
Movement restrictions are cumulative. For example, a
model required to advance toward one model and away
from another would need to move in a manner to satisfy
both requirements. If a moving model cannot satisfy all
restrictions on the movement, it cannot move at all.

Movement Penalties

Some rules reference movement penalties. A movement

penalty is any effect applied to a model that reduces its SPD
or movement. Effects that cause a model to move at half rate
are also movement penalties.

Placed

Sometimes models are placed in a new location as a result

of an ability or spell. When a model is placed it is not
considered to have moved or advanced. Because the model
is not considered to have advanced it cannot be targeted by
free strikes. There must be room for the models base in the
location the model is placed. A model cannot be placed in
impassable terrain or with its base overlapping an obstacle,
an obstruction, or another models base. The player placing
the model chooses its facing.
When an effect causes a friendly trooper model other
than the unit commander to be placed and that model is
in formation, it cannot be placed out of formation. When
an effect causes a unit commander to be placed, it can be
placed without restriction.

Actions

An activated model might be entitled to make one action

depending on the type of movement it made. There are two
broad action types: combat and special. A combat action
lets a model make one or more attacks. A special action lets
a model perform a specialized function. A model cannot
advance after making any action unless a special rule
specifically allows it to do so.

Combat Actions

A model can use its action to make a combat action if it did

not use its normal movement to run. A combat action lets
a model make attacks. A normal attack is an attack with
a weapon that is not a special attack. A model making a
combat action chooses one of the following options:
A model can make one normal melee attack with each
of its melee weapons. These attacks are called initial
melee attacks. A model making more than one attack
can divide them among any eligible targets.

Directly Toward
and Directly Away
Paladin of the
Order of the Wall
Directly

Directly

Away

Toward

Deathripper
The dotted line represents the line connecting the center points of the Paladin and the Deathripper. To move directly toward or
directly away from the Deathripper, the Paladin must travel along this line.

48

Gameplay

A model can make one normal ranged attack with each

of its ranged weapons. These attacks are called initial
ranged attacks. A model making more than one attack
can divide them among any eligible targets. Each
ranged weapon makes only one initial attack regardless
of its ROF.
A model can make one special attack (HAttack) allowed
by its special rules.
A model that did not use its normal movement to charge
can make one power attack allowed by its special rules.
A power attack is considered both a melee attack and a
special attack.
After resolving these attacks, a model might be able to make
additional attacks. A model can make additional attacks
only during its combat action. Each additional attack is
a normal attack that can be made with any appropriate
weapons the model possesses, including multiple attacks
with the same weapon. A ranged weapon cannot make
more attacks than its rate of fire (ROF) during a models
activation, however. Completely resolve each attack before
making another attack.
Warcasters and warjacks can spend focus points to make
additional attacks (see Focus: Additional Attack, p.75).
Unless noted otherwise, a model cannot make both melee
and ranged attacks in the same combat action. A model
can make additional attacks after a special attack or
power attack.
Special attacks listed as a rule of a melee weapon are melee
special attacks. Special attacks listed as a rule of a ranged
weapon are ranged special attacks. A special attack made
with a ranged weapon counts toward the ROF of the
weapon. For example, if the Thunderhead makes an Energy

Pulse special attack with its Lightning Coil ranged weapon,

it can spend focus to make up to only two additional
Lightning Coil attacks because the weapon has ROF 3.
Special attacks listed as a rule of the model itself are neither
melee attacks nor ranged attacks. The rules for these special
attacks indicate the nature of any additional attacks that can
be made afterward, if any. A model cannot make a special
attack or a power attack as an additional attack.
See Combat (p.50) for detailed rules on making attacks
and determining their results.

Special Actions

Some models can make a special action (HAction) as their

action. A model cannot make a special action if it uses
its normal movement to run or charge. A special actions
description details its requirements and results.
Skill Checks

Some special actions appear with a skill value following

their names. When a model makes one of these special
actions, make a skill check to determine its success. Roll
2d6. If the result is equal to or less than the skill value listed,
the model passes its skill check and its results are applied
immediately. If the result is greater than the models skill
value, the special action fails. Typically nothing happens if
a model fails a skill check, but some special actions impose
negative consequences for failing a skill check.
Example: The Cygnar Field Mechanik Crew Chief has the
special action Repair [9]. The Mechaniks Repair special action
will succeed on a 2d6 roll of 9 or less.

49

CombatThrowing Down

Melee attacks, Ranged Attacks, and Damage

Combat Overview

Melee Range and Engaging

Unless stated otherwise, an attack can be made against

any model, whether friendly or enemy, and against certain
terrain features.

A weapons melee range extends 0.5 beyond the models

front arc for any type of melee attack. A weapon with
has a melee range of 2. Some effects and special
Reach
rules increase a weapons melee range beyond this. A
models melee range is the longest melee range of its

A models combat action allows it to make attacks. Special

rules might also permit models to make attacks at other
times. An attack roll determines if an attack hits its target.
A damage roll determines how much damage, if any, an
attack deals.

There are three main types of attacks: melee attacks, ranged

attacks, and magic attacks. A model cannot make both
melee and ranged attacks during its combat action. In other
words, a model cannot make a ranged attack after making a
melee attack, and it cannot make a melee attack after making
a ranged attack. Magic attacks have no such restrictions.
Some models, such as warcasters, can make magic attacks
and melee or ranged attacks during the same activation.

A model can make melee attacks against any target in its

melee range that is in its line of sight. A player can measure
his models melee range at anytime.

Melee Range, Engaged Models,

and Reach Weapons

Normal Melee
Range: 0.5

Certain rules and effects create situations that specifically

prevent a model from being targeted. A model that cannot
be targeted by an attack still suffers its effects if inside
the attacks area of effect. Other rules and effects, such as
Stealth, only cause an attack to miss automatically; they do
not prevent the model from being targeted by the attack.

Melee Combat

A model using its combat action for melee attacks can

make one initial attack with each of its melee weapons.
Some models have special rules that allow additional
melee attacks during their activations. Warcasters and
warjacks can spend focus points to make additional
melee attacks during their activations, for example. Each
additional melee attack can be made with any melee
weapon the model possesses with no limit to the number
of attacks made per weapon.
A melee attack can be made against any target in the melee
range of the weapon being used and in the attackers line
of sight. A model making more than one melee attack can
divide its attacks among any eligible targets.

Melee Weapons

Melee weapons include such implements as spears, swords,

hammers, flails, saws, and axes. Some models, such as
warjacks, have attack options allowing them to make
attacks without their weapons (power attacks, for example).
Melee Damage Roll = 2d6 + POW + STR

50

Reach Melee
Range: 2

If a model is in melee range and line of sight, it has

engaged its opponent in melee combat. When opposing
models are in each others melee range, they are both
engaged. However, a model with a Reach weapon can
take advantage of its greater melee range to engage an
opponent that has only normal melee range weapons
without becoming engaged itself. Though both models are
considered to be in melee, a model is engaged only if it is
in its opponents melee range!

Combat
usable melee weapons. A model that has a Reach weapon
and another melee weapon can attack an opponent up
to 2 away with its Reach weapon, but its other weapons
can only be used to attack models within their normal
0.5 melee range. Non-warjack models with no melee
weapons have no melee range. Warjacks always have at
least a 0.5 melee range.
When a model is within an enemy models melee range and
in that models line of sight, it is engaged in combat and
primarily concerned with fighting its nearest threat. When
a model has an enemy model in its melee range and line
of sight, it is engaging that model. When a model is either
engaged or engaging, it is in melee, which prevents it from
making ranged attacks.
Melee Range and Elevation

When a model makes a melee attack against a model 1 or

less higher or lower, ignore the vertical distance between
the two models when determining melee range.

Free Strikes

When an engaged model advances out of the enemys melee

range or line of sight, the enemy model can immediately
make a free strike against it just before it leaves. The model
makes one normal melee attack with any melee weapon that
has sufficient melee range to reach the moving model and
gains a +2 bonus to its melee attack roll. If the attack hits,
the damage roll is boosted. Always treat the free striking
model as being in the advancing models back arc, if it has
one, when the free strike is made. Free strikes do not benefit
from back strike bonuses.

Melee Attack Rolls

Determine a melee attacks success by making a melee

attack roll. Roll 2d6 and add the attacking models melee
attack stat (MAT). Roll an additional die if the attack roll
is boosted. Special rules and certain circumstances might
modify the attack roll as well.
Melee Attack Roll = 2d6 + MAT
A target is directly hit by an attack if the attack roll equals
or exceeds the targets defense (DEF). If the attack roll is
less than the targets DEF, the attack misses. A roll of all 1s
on the dice is a miss. A roll of all 6s is a direct hit unless you
are rolling only one die, regardless of the attackers MAT or
the targets DEF. Sometimes a special rule causes an attack
to hit automatically. Such automatic hits are also direct hits.
Melee Attack Modifiers

The most common modifiers affecting a models melee

attack roll are summarized here for easy reference. Where
necessary, additional detail can be found on the pages listed.
Back Strike (p.61): A back strike gains +2 to the attack roll.

Free Strike (above): A free strike gains +2 to the attack

roll and a boosted damage roll.
Intervening Terrain (p.45): A model with any portion of
its volume obscured from its attacker by an obstacle or
an obstruction gains +2 DEF against melee attack rolls.
Knocked Down Target (p. 63): A melee attack against a
knocked down model hits automatically.
Stationary Target (p. 64): A melee attack against a
stationary model hits automatically.

Power Attacks

Power attacks are special attacks that can be made by some

models. The power attacks available to non-warjack models
are described in their special rules. Warjacks can make
power attacks as indicated by the following list.
All warjacks: head-butt, push, and slam
Heavy and Colossal warjacks: Trample.
Warjacks with at least one non-crippled Open Fist
headlock/weapon lock and throw

Warjacks with two non-crippled Open Fists

double-hand throw

A warjack must spend 1 focus point to make a power attack.

A model cannot make a power attack as its charge attack.
Power attacks are melee attacks with a 0.5 melee range.
When a model makes a power attack, do not apply the
special abilities on its weapons unless they specifically
reference power attacks.
Headlock/Weapon Lock

A model making a headlock/weapon lock can lock a

warjack or warbeasts weapon or head to prevent its use
if the target has an equal- or smaller-sized base.A warjack
must have at least one non-crippled Open Fist to make a
headlock/weapon lock power attack. Declare what the
attacking model is attempting to lock before making the
attack roll.
When a warjack makes a headlock/weapon lock, also
declare which weapon with Open Fist it is using to make
the attack before making a melee attack roll. A knocked
down model cannot be locked. If the attack hits then the
specified head/weapon is locked. Headlock/weapon lock
attacks do not cause damage.
Maintaining Locks and Being Locked

When a weapon is locked the target model cannot make

attacks with the locked weapon along with all other
weapons in the same location. Locking a weapon with a
location of has no effect on other weapons. A model
held in a headlock cannot make attacks with any weapons

51

Combat
located in its head (H). A model held in a headlock/weapon
lock cannot make special attacks.
While involved in a lock, the attacker cannot make special
attacks or attack with the weapon with which it made the
lock attempt, nor can it use any other weapon in the same
location. The attacker and the defender are free to attack
with any of their other melee weapons.
Example: Robs Juggernaut successfully locks the head of Eriks
Slayer with its Open Fist. The Slayer cannot make Tusk attacks
or special attacks (including Combo Strikes or power attacks),
and the Juggernaut cannot make attacks with its Open Fist
until the headlock is broken or released.
A locked model can choose only to make a combat action as its
action and cannot make a special attack. At the beginning of
its combat action, a model suffering a headlock/weapon lock
must attempt to break the lock. When a break attempt is made,
both models involved in the lock roll a d6 and add their STR. If
the locked models total exceeds that of the model holding the
lock, the lock is broken. The locked model can make its initial
melee attacks with any melee weapon not located in a locked
system as normal. After resolving these attacks and attempts
to break free, a warjack can spend focus points to make
more attempts to break a lock or to make additional attacks
with usable weapons, at 1 focus point per break attempt or
additional attack. Once a lock is broken, the model can use the
weapon that was locked to make additional attacks during
its activation. At any time during its activation, a model can
voluntarily release a lock it is maintaining.
Neither model can advance or be pushed while involved in
a lock. A lock is broken automatically if:
An effect causes either model to move or be placed;
An effect knocks down either model;
An effect causes either model to become incorporeal;
An effect causes the attacker to become stationary;
The weapon system maintaining the lock is crippled; or
Either model is destroyed or removed from play.
Head-butt

A model making a head-butt power attack smashes its head

into a model to drive it to the ground. The attacking model
makes a melee attack roll against its target. If the attack hits,
the target is knocked down and suffers a damage roll with a
POW equal to the attackers current STR.
A model cannot head-butt while held in a headlock. A
model cannot head-butt a model with a larger base.
Push

A model making a push power attack uses its bulk and

strength to shove another model. A push power attack
automatically hits and deals no damage. Both models roll
a d6 and add their STR. If the defenders total is greater, it
52

resists being pushed. If the attackers total equals or exceeds

the defenders, the defending model is pushed 1 directly
away from the attacker.
After a model is pushed by a push power attack, the attacker
can immediately advance directly toward the pushed model
up to the distance the pushed model was moved.
Being Pushed

A pushed model moves at half rate through rough terrain,

suffers the effects of any hazards it moves through, and
stops if it contacts an obstacle, obstruction, or another
model.
Remember that a pushed model is not advancing and
therefore cannot be targeted by free strikes during this
movement.
A pushed model falls off elevated terrain if it ends its push
movement with less than 1 of ground under its base. See
Falling (p.63) for detailed rules on determining damage
from a fall.
Slam

A model making a slam power attack rams a model with

the full force of its body to send the target model flying
backward and knock it to the ground. Any effects that
prevent a model from charging, such as a penalty to its SPD
or movement for any reason other than for being in rough
terrain, also prevent the model from making a slam power
attack. A slamming model can advance through rough
terrain. A model must have both its normal movement and
action available in order to use its normal movement to
make a slam power attack.
During its activation, a model can attempt to slam any
model that is in its line of sight at the beginning of its
normal movement. A knocked down model cannot be
moved by a slam.
Declare the slam attempt and its target before moving the
model.
Declare the slam attempt and its target, then turn the
slamming model to face the slam target directly. The
slamming model then advances its full SPD plus 3 directly
toward its target. The slamming model cannot voluntarily
stop its movement unless its target is in its melee range, but
it can end this movement at any point with its slam target
in its 0.5 melee range. It must stop if it contacts a model,
an obstacle, or an obstruction. The slamming model cannot
change its facing during or after this movement.
A slamming model that ends its slam movement with its
slam target in its 0.5 melee range has made a successful
slam. If it advanced at least 3 it makes a melee attack roll
against its target. A model that power attack slams a model

Combat
with a larger base suffers 2 on its attack roll. If the attack
hits, the target is slammed directly away from the attacker
(see Being Slammed, next).
If a slamming model makes a successful slam but moved
less than 3, it has not moved fast enough to get its full
weight and power into the blow. The model makes an attack
roll against its target. If the target is hit, it suffers a damage
roll with a POW equal to the attackers current STR but
is not slammed. These are still slam attack rolls and slam
damage rolls.
A model that does not end its slam movement within 0.5 of
the target has failed its slam power attack. If a model fails its
slam power attack during its activation, its activation ends.
Being Slammed

A slammed model is moved d6 directly away from its

attacker and is then knocked down. If the slamming
model has a smaller base than the slam target, the model
is slammed half the distance rolled. It then suffers slam
damage as described below. A slammed model moves
at half rate through rough terrain, suffers any damaging
effects through which it passes, and stops if it contacts an
obstacle, an obstruction, or a model with an equal or largersized base. If a slammed model cannot be knocked down, it
must still forfeit its action or movement if it activates later
in a turn in which it was slammed.
A slammed model moves through models with smaller
bases than its own. If it would end up on top of a model,
follow the rule of least disturbance (p. 64) to move the
models into legal positions.
A slammed model falls off elevated terrain if it ends its
slam movement with less than 1 of ground under its base.

Slam Damage

Apply slam damage after movement and knockdown

effects, regardless of whether the model actually moves or
is knocked down. The model hit suffers a damage roll with a
POW equal to the attackers current STR. Add an additional
die to the damage roll if the slammed model contacts an
obstacle, an obstruction, or a model with an equal or largersized base. Slam damage can be boosted.
Collateral Damage

If a slammed model contacts a model with an equal-sized

base or moves through a model with a smaller base, that
model is knocked down and suffers collateral damage.
A model suffering collateral damage suffers a damage
roll with a POW equal to the attackers current STR.
Collateral damage cannot be boosted. A contacted model
with a larger base than the slammed model does not suffer
collateral damage and is not knocked down. Resolve any
collateral damage simultaneously with slam damage.
Collateral damage is not considered to be damage from an
attack or model. For example, an effect triggered by being
damaged by an enemy attack would not trigger due to
collateral damage.
Throw

A model making a throw power attack picks up and throws

another model. A model cannot throw a model with a larger
base. A warjack must have at least one non-crippled Open
Fist to make a throw power attack.

Slam Movement
and Collateral Damage
Wa
ll

A Juggernaut declares a slam attack

against a Crusader. Because it moved
more than 3 to make contact with the
Crusader, the Juggernaut will be able
to slam its target. The attack succeeds,
and the Crusader is knocked back d6.
The roll comes up a 6, but the Crusader
stops when it hits the wall 4 behind
it. During the slam, the Crusader passes
over a Temple Flameguard, and the
Flameguard suffers collateral damage.
In addition, because the Crusader
was slammed into a wall, it suffers
a damage roll of 3d6 plus the STR
of the Juggernaut (2d6 plus an extra
die for colliding with a solid terrain
feature). This damage roll can still be
boosted on top of the additional die.

See Falling (p.63) for rules on determining damage from

a fall. Resolve any falling damage simultaneously with
slam damage.

Flameguard

Juggernaut
Crusader

53

Combat

Power Attack Effects

From Other Sources
A model can be pushed, slammed, or thrown as a result of
a spell or an ability rather than from a power attack. The
resolution of a push, slam, or throw caused by an effect
might differ slightly from the resolution of one caused
by a power attack. For example, a model slammed as a
result of Lieutenant Caines Thunder Strike spell suffers a
POW 14 damage roll instead of suffering damage based on
Caines STR. When the Marauder Combo Smites a model,
the POW of both of its weapons is added to the damage
roll in addition to its STR.

Throw Damage

Apply throw damage after movement and knockdown

effects, regardless of whether the model actually moves
or is knocked down. The thrown model suffers a damage
roll with a POW equal to the attackers current STR. Add
an additional die to the damage roll if the thrown model

Example of a Throw

ttac

ctio

of A

Dire

The attacking model makes a melee attack roll against its

target. If the attack hits, both models roll a d6 and add their
current STR. If the targets total is greater, it breaks free
without taking any damage and avoids being thrown. If
the attackers total equals or exceeds the targets, the target
model is thrown.

A thrown model falls off elevated terrain if it ends its throw

movement with less than 1 of ground under its base. See
Falling (p. 63) for rules on determining damage from
a fall. Resolve any falling damage simultaneously with
throw damage.

Being Thrown

When your model throws another, choose a direction for the

thrown model to be moved. This direction must be away
from the attacker. Measure a distance from the target equal
to half the attackers current STR in inches along the chosen
direction to a point on the table. This point is the thrown
models intended point of impact. A large- or huge-based
model throwing a small-based model adds 1 to this distance.
From this point, determine the thrown models actual point
of impact by rolling for deviation. Referencing the deviation
rules (pp.59-60), roll a d6 for direction and a d3 for distance
in inches. The deviation distance cannot exceed half the
distance between the thrown model and the intended point
of impact.
The thrown model is moved directly from its current
location in a straight line to the determined point of impact.
A thrown model moves through models with smaller bases
during this movement without contacting them. Unlike
when a model is slammed, rough terrain and obstacles do
not affect this movement, but the thrown model still stops
if it contacts an obstruction or a model with an equal or
larger-sized base. The thrown model is then knocked down
and suffers throw damage. If a thrown model cannot be
knocked down it must still forfeit its action or movement if
it activates later in a turn in which it was thrown.
If a thrown model would end on top of another model, that
model is contacted. Follow the rule of least disturbance
(p.64) to move the models into legal positions.

54

Actual
Point of
Impact

Intended
Point of
Impact

Deathripper

Crusader

A Crusader throws a Deathripper. Since the Crusader

has a STR of 11, measure 5.5 from the thrown model to
determine the intended point of impact and determine
deviation from that point. The Crusader rolls a 3 for
deviation direction and a 6 for distance. On a d3, that
equals 3 of deviation, reduced to 2.75 because the
deviation cannot exceed half the throw distance. Measure
the deviation distance in the direction indicated by the
deviation diagram to determine the actual point of impact.
The Deathripper moves from its current position directly
toward the point of impact.

Combat
contacts an obstruction or a model with an equal or largersized base. Throw damage can be boosted.
Collateral Damage

If a thrown model contacts a model with an equal or

smaller-sized base, that model is knocked down and
suffers collateral damage. A model suffering collateral
damage suffers a damage roll with a POW equal to the
attackers current STR. Collateral damage cannot be
boosted. A contacted model with a larger base than the
thrown model does not suffer collateral damage. Resolve
any collateral damage simultaneously with throw damage.
Collateral damage is not considered to be damage from an
attack or model. For example, an effect triggered by being
damaged by an enemy attack would not trigger due to
collateral damage.
Double-Hand Throw

A model making a double-hand throw power attack uses

both its arms to pick up and throw another model. A model
cannot throw a model with a larger base. A warjack must
have two non-crippled Open Fists to make a double-hand
throw power attack.
The attacking model makes a melee attack roll against its
target. If the attack hits, the target rolls a d6 and adds its
current STR. The attacker rolls 2d6 and adds its current STR.
If the targets total is greater, it breaks free without taking
any damage and avoids being thrown. If the attackers total
equals or exceeds the targets, the target model gets thrown.
To determine the direction of the double-hand throw, the
attacker can either follow the steps for determining the
direction of a regular throw (see Being Thrown, previous)
or simply throw the model at another model within the
attackers line of sight. Ignore the model being thrown when
determining line of sight to the other model. In either case,
the direction must be away from the attacker as with other
throw power attacks. The throw distance is equal to half
the attackers current STR in inches. A large-based model
throwing a small-based model adds 1 to this distance. If
the other model is within range, the attacker makes a melee
attack roll against it. If it is outside this range, resolve the
throw using the rules in Being Thrown as if the thrown
model were thrown directly toward the other model. On
a hit, move the thrown model from its current location
directly toward the other models base until it contacts the
target. This throw does not deviate. A double-hand throw at
another model is not an attack against that model.
If the attack roll misses, determine the thrown models point
of impact by rolling deviation from the center of the other
models base. Referencing the deviation rules (pp.5960), roll
a d6 for direction and a d3 for distance in inches. If the other

model is beyond the throw distance, determine deviation

from a point on the line to it equal to the throw distance. The
thrown model moves directly from its current location in a
straight line to the determined point of impact. The deviation
distance cannot exceed half the distance between the thrown
model and the intended point of impact.
A thrown model moves over models with smaller bases
during this movement without contacting them. Unlike
when a model is slammed, rough terrain and obstacles do
not affect this movement, but the thrown model still stops
if it contacts an obstruction or a model with an equal or
larger-sized base. The thrown model is then knocked down.
If a thrown model cannot be knocked down it must still
forfeit its action or movement if it activates later in a turn in
which it was thrown.
If a thrown model would end on top of a model, that model
is contacted. Follow the rule of least disturbance (p.64) to
move the models into legal positions.
A thrown model falls off elevated terrain if it ends its throw
movement with less than 1 of ground under its base. See
Falling (p. 63) for rules on determining damage from
a fall. Resolve any falling damage simultaneously with
throw damage.
Resolve damage resulting from a double-hand throw
using the Throw Power Attack, Throw Damage, and
Collateral Damage rules above.
Trample

A model making a trample power attack crashes its way

through small-based models in its path. Any effects that
prevent a model from charging, such as a penalty to its
SPD or movement for any reason other than for being
in rough terrain, also prevent the model from making a
trample power attack. A trampling model can advance
through rough terrain. A model must have both its normal
movement and action available in order to use its normal
movement to make a trample power attack. Light warjacks
cannot make trample power attacks.
Declare a trample power attack at the beginning of the
models normal movement. Choose a direction in which
you wish to trample, and turn the model to face that
direction. The model then advances up to its current SPD
plus 3 in a straight line in that direction. It moves through
any small-based model in its path, but there must be room
for the trampling models base at the end of the movement.
It stops if it contacts a model with a medium or larger
base, an obstacle, or an obstruction. The trampling model
cannot change its facing during or after this movement. Do
not resolve free strikes against the trampling model during
this movement.

55

Combat
After the warjack has finished its trample movement, it
makes a melee attack roll against each small-based model
through which it moved during this movement. Models hit
by a trample attack roll suffer a damage roll with a POW
equal to the current STR of the trampling model. Trample
damage can be boosted.
Resolve free strikes against the trampling model after
resolving all trample attacks. Models contacted cannot make
free strikes against the trampling model. Ignore the distance
between models when resolving free strikes against the
trampling model; if a model was eligible to make a free strike
against the trampling model during the trampling models
movement it can do so whether or not the trampling model
ended its movement in the eligible models melee range. If
a trampling model first contacts the front arc of a model in
Shield Wall, that model gains its Shield Wall ARM bonus
when resolving damage for the trample.

Ranged Combat

Some would argue there is no honor in defeating an enemy

without being close enough to look him in the eyes. When
a soul-burning helljack with two fists full of iron-shredding
claws bears down on you faster than a charging destrier,
however, it is a good plan to keep your distance and
consider your ranged attack options.
A model using its combat action for ranged attacks makes
one initial attack with each of its ranged weapons. Some
models have special rules that allow additional ranged
attacks during their activations. For example, warcasters
and warjacks can spend focus points to make additional
ranged attacks during their activations. Each additional
attack can be made with any ranged weapon the model
possesses, but a ranged weapon can never make more
attacks in a single activation than its rate of fire (ROF).
A ranged attack can be declared against any target in
its line of sight, subject to the targeting rules. A model
making more than one ranged attack can divide its
attacks among any eligible targets. A model in melee
cannot make ranged attacks.
Some spells and special rules allow certain models to
make magic attacks. Magic attacks are similar to ranged
attacks and follow most of the same rules, but they are
not affected by rules that affect only ranged attacks. See
Offensive Spells and Magic Attacks (p.77) for details on
magic attacks.

Ranged Weapons

Ranged weapons include bows, rifles, flamethrowers,

crossbows, harpoon guns, and mortars.
Ranged Weapon Damage Roll = 2d6 + POW

56

Declaring a Target

A ranged attack can target any model in the attackers line

of sight (see Line of Sight, p.43), subject to the targeting
rules. A ranged attack cannot target open ground or a
permanent terrain feature. Some terrain features and objects
can be targeted, but they will say so in their individual
rules. A ranged attack need not target the nearest enemy
model, but intervening models can prevent a model farther
away from being targeted.
The attack must be declared before measuring the range
to the intended target. Unless a models special rules say
otherwise, it can make ranged attacks only against models
in its front arc.
Measuring Range

A ranged attack must be declared against a legal target

before measuring range. After declaring the attack,
measure to see if the target is within the Range (RNG) of
the attack. Measure range from the edge of the point of
origins base to the target up to the maximum range of
the attack. If the nearest edge of the target model's base
is within the maximum range of the attack, the target is
in range. If the target is in range, make a ranged attack
roll. If the target is beyond range, the attack automatically
misses. If a ranged attack has an area of effect (AOE) and
the target is out of range, the attack automatically misses,
and its point of impact will deviate from the point on the
line to its declared target at a distance equal to its RNG.
See Area-of-Effect (AOE) Attacks (pp.5859) for details
on these attacks and deviation.

Rate of Fire

A weapons rate of fire (ROF) indicates the maximum

number of ranged attacks it can make in an activation.
Reloading time prevents most ranged weapons from being
used more than once per activation. Some ranged weapons
reload faster and can make multiple attacks if a model is
able to make additional attacks. A ranged weapon cannot
make more attacks per activation than its ROF, though,
regardless of the number of additional attacks a model is
entitled to make. Ranged attacks made outside of a models
activation are not limited by ROF.

Ranged Attack Rolls

Determine a ranged attacks success by making a ranged

attack roll. Roll 2d6 and add the attacking models Ranged
Attack (RAT). A boosted attack roll adds an additional die
to this roll. Special rules and certain circumstances might
modify the attack roll as well.
Ranged Attack Roll = 2d6 + RAT
A target is directly hit by an attack if the attack roll equals
or exceeds the targets Defense (DEF). If the attack roll is

Combat
less than the targets DEF, the attack misses. A roll of all 1s
on the dice is a miss. A roll of all 6s is a direct hit unless you
are rolling only one die, regardless of the attackers RAT or
its targets DEF.
Sometimes a special rule causes an attack to hit automatically.
Such automatic hits are also direct hits.
Ranged Attack Roll Modifiers

The most common modifiers affecting a models ranged

attack roll are summarized here for easy reference. Where
necessary, additional detail can be found on the pages listed.
Aiming Bonus: A model can forfeit its movement to gain
an aiming bonus. The aiming bonus adds +2 to every
ranged attack roll the model makes that activation. This
bonus does not apply to magic attack rolls.
Back Strike (p.61): A back strike gains +2 to the attack roll.
Cloud Effect (p.69): A model inside a cloud effect gains
concealment.
Concealment (below): A model with concealment in
relation to its attacker gains +2 DEF against ranged
and magic attack rolls.
Cover (next page): A model with cover in relation to its
attacker gains +4 DEF against ranged and magic attack rolls.
Elevated Target: If the target is on terrain at least 1 higher
than the attacker, it is an elevated target. When drawing
line of sight to an elevated target, ignore intervening
models on terrain at least
1 lower than the target.
An elevated target gains
+2 DEF against ranged
and magic attack rolls.
Elevated Attacker: If the
attacker is on terrain at
least 1 higher than the
target, it is an elevated
attacker. When drawing
line of sight from an
elevated attacker, ignore
intervening models on
terrain at least 1 lower
than the attacker unless
they are within 1 of
the target. Additionally,
ignore intervening models
within 1 of the target that
are on terrain at least 1
lower than the attacker
and have equal or smallersized bases than the
attacker.

Knocked Down Target (p. 63): While knocked down, a

model has its base DEF reduced to 5.
Stationary Target (p. 64): While stationary, a model has
its base DEF reduced to 5.
Target in Melee (p. 58): A ranged or magic attack roll
against a target in melee suffers a 4 penalty.

Concealment and Cover

Terrain features, spells, and other effects can make it more

difficult to hit a model with a ranged or magic attack.
A model within 1 of a terrain feature that obscures any
portion of its base from an attacker can gain either a
concealment or cover bonus, depending on the type of
terrain, to its DEF against ranged and magic attacks. A
terrain feature obscures the base of a target model if you
can draw a line from any part of the attackers volume
to any part of the target models volume and that line
passes through that terrain feature. In order to benefit
from concealment or cover, the model must be within 1
of the terrain feature along that straight line. Concealment
and cover bonuses are not cumulative with themselves or
each other, but they are cumulative with other effects that
modify a models DEF. See Terrain (pp.8689) for details
on terrain features and how they provide concealment or
cover.
Some terrain features and special effects grant a model
concealment by making it more difficult to be seen, but

Cover:
+4 DEF
Cover:
+4 DEF

Cover:
+4 DEF

Concealment:
+2 DEF

Examples of Concealment and Cover

57

Combat
If the attack against the intended target
misses and the target was in range, it
might hit another combatant. If the
target was not in range, the attack misses
automatically and will not potentially
hit another combatant.

Concealment and
Cover in Action
Butcher

Juggernaut
Winter Guard
A
C

Defender
It might appear at first that the Defender has several targets from which
to choose, but many of them are actually well defended. The forest grants
concealment (+2 DEF) to the Juggernaut, and the crates grant cover (+4 DEF) to
Winter Guard A and Winter Guard B. The Defender cannot draw line of sight
to the Butcher at all because there is a forest between them. Winter Guard C
is behind the crates, but because he is more than 1 from them, he does not
receive the cover bonus.

they are not actually dense enough to block an attack.

Examples include low hedges or bushes. A model within
1 of a concealing terrain feature that obscures any portion
of its volume (p.43) from an attacker gains +2 DEF against
ranged and magic attack rolls. Concealment provides no
benefit against spray attacks.
Other terrain features and special effects grant a model
cover by being physically solid enough to block an attack
against it. Examples include stone walls, giant boulders,
and buildings. A model within 1 of a covering terrain
feature that obscures any portion of its base from an attacker
gains +4 DEF against ranged and magic attack rolls. Cover
provides no benefit against spray attacks.

Targeting a Model in Melee

A model making a ranged or magic attack roll against a

target in melee risks hitting another model participating
in the combat, including friendly models. The standard
targeting rules, including line of sight, still apply when
targeting a model that is in melee.
In addition to any other attack modifiers, a ranged attack
roll against a target in melee suffers a 4 penalty.

58

If the target was in range, the attacker

must immediately reroll his attack
against another model in that combat.
When determining the attack's new
target, the only models considered to be
in the same combat are those in melee
with the attack's original target and any
models in melee with them. Any model
meeting these criteria can become the
new target. However, a model cannot
become the new target if a special
rule or effect prohibits it from being
targeted by the attack or if the attacker's
line of sight is completely blocked by
obstructing terrain. Ignore intervening
models when determining a new target.
If multiple models in the combat are
eligible targets, randomly determine
which model becomes the new target
(excluding the original target).

Example: Using a d6, if there are three

other models in the combat, the first model
will become the new target on a 1 or 2,
the second on a 3 or 4, and the third on a
5 or 6. If the attacker cannot draw line of sight to one of those
models due to an obstruction (e.g., its around the corner of a
building), ignore that model and randomize the attack between
the other two: it targets the first on a 1, 2, or 3 or the second
on a 4, 5, or 6. If one of those two models cannot be targeted
for some reason, only one model is an eligible target and thus a
random roll is not necessary.
If the attack against the new target misses, it misses
completely without targeting any more models.
Example: Stryker is in melee with a Revenger affected by the
Protection of Menoth spell. A Charger forfeits its movement,
aims, targets the Revenger with its dual cannon, and spends
1 focus point to boost its attack roll. The Chargers attack roll
gains an additional die for boosting the attack roll, gets +2 to
the roll for the aiming bonus, and suffers the 4 penalty for
targeting a model in melee. In addition, the Revengers DEF
against this attack is enhanced due to the spell affecting it.
If the attack misses, the Charger rerolls the attack, this time
targeting Stryker. It still includes the additional die for
boosting the attack roll, the +2 aiming bonus, and the 4
penalty for targeting a model in melee. If Stryker is behind
cover in relation to the Charger, he gains +4 DEF against this
attack.
An area-of-effect attack that misses a target in melee
deviates normally instead of following these rules. Spray
attack rolls that miss a model in melee do not follow these

Combat

Targeting into Melee Example

Charger

Deathripper

effect attack, such as from an explosive spell or a gas cloud,

hits every model in an area centered on its point of impact.
The attack covers an area with a diameter equal to its area of
effect (AOE). Templates for AOEs appear on p.255.
An AOE attack follows all normal targeting rules. A
successful attack roll indicates a direct hit on the intended
target, which suffers a direct hit damage roll of 2d6+POW.
Center the AOE template over the point of impactin the
case of a direct hit, the center of the targeted models base.
Every other model with any part of its base covered by
the AOE template is hit, but not directly hit, by the attack
and suffers a blast damage roll of 2d6 + 1/2 POW. Make
separate damage rolls against each model in the AOE; each
roll must be boosted individually.
Blast Damage Roll = 2d6 + 1/2 POW
AOE attacks are simultaneous attacks (p.244).

Stryker
Deneghra
Defender
Stryker is in melee with Deneghra and a Deathripper.
A Defender enters the fight from the side to engage
Deneghra but not the Deathripper. A Charger makes a
ranged attack against the Deathripper and misses. Since
Stryker is in melee with the Deathripper and Deneghra is
in melee with Stryker, they are both in the same combat
as the intended target. The Defender is not included
because it is not in melee with the intended target (the
Deathripper) or with another model in melee with the
intended target (Stryker). It is far enough from the
intended target not to be attacked accidentally.
A random die roll determines Deneghra is the new target.
Unfortunately, since the Charger is more than 5 away
ability makes the attack
from Deneghra, her Stealth
automatically miss without even rolling. Even though
Stealth prevents Deneghra from being hit, she can still be
targeted. Since the attack missed both its intended target
and the new target, it misses completely with no further
chance of hitting Stryker or the Defender.

rules; they simply miss.

Area-of-Effect (AOE) Attacks

An attack with an area of effect is sometimes referred to as

an AOE attack. A ranged attack with an AOE is a ranged
attack. A magic attack with an AOE is a magic attack. A
melee attack with an AOE is a melee attack. An area-of-

An AOE attack that misses its target deviates a random

direction and distance. An AOE attack declared against a
target beyond its range (RNG) automatically misses, and its
point of impact deviates from the point on the line from the
attacks point of origin to its declared target at a distance
equal to its RNG away from the attacks point of origin. An
AOE attack that misses a target in range deviates from the
center of its intended target.
Damage Point of Origin

An AOE attacks point of impact determines the origin

of damage and effects for models not directly hit by the
attack. For instance, suppose an AOE ranged attack targets
a trooper in a unit that has used the Shield Wall order. If the
attack hits, the target trooper will benefit from the Shield
Wall if the attacker is in the troopers front arc, as will other
troopers that have the target trooper in their front arc;
troopers that do not have the target trooper in their front
arc will not benefit from Shield Wall, though, as the damage
is originating in their back arc. Should the attack miss and
deviate long, into the target troopers back arc, the target
trooper would not benefit from being in the shield wall
either. See p.64 for more information on point of origin and
origin of damage.
Deviation

When an AOE attack misses its target, determine its

actual point of impact by rolling deviation. Referencing
the deviation template (p. 255), roll a d6 to determine the
direction the attack deviates. For example, a roll of 1 means
the attack goes long and a roll of 4 means the attack lands
short. Then roll another d6 to determine the deviation
distance in inches. Determine the missed attacks actual
point of impact by measuring the rolled distance from the
original point of impact in the direction determined by the

59

Combat

Deviation Example
Point of
Impact

Redeemer

A Redeemer makes a ranged attack with its Skyhammer rocket targeting

the Mechanithrall in the middle of the unit 11 away. If the target is hit,
the Skyhammer will catch four Mechanithralls under the template! The
Redeemers ranged attack roll misses, however, and since the attack is an
AOE attack, the Redeemers controller must roll deviation to determine
the attacks point of impact. The roll is a 5 for direction and a 4 for 4
of deviation. Measure this distance in the deviation direction from the
center of its original target to locate the point of impact. Models under the
template suffer blast damage and are subject to the attacks special effects.
The Redeemer does not hit as many Mechanithralls as it wanted, but it still
catches one under the template.
deviation roll. If the deviated point of impact would be
off the table, reduce the deviation distance so the point of
impact is on the edge of the table instead. If the intended
target is beyond the weapons RNG, determine deviation
from the point on the line from the attacks point of origin to
its declared target at a distance equal to its RNG.
If the target is within range of the attack, the point of
impact will not deviate more than half the distance from the
attacks point of origin to its intended target. If the target is
not within range of the attack, the point of impact will not
deviate more than half the RNG of the attack. Use the exact
value for this maximum; do not round it. For instance, an
attack made at a target 5 away from the attacks point of
origin will deviate a maximum of 2.5 even if the attacker
rolls a 3, 4, 5, or 6 for deviation distance.
Terrain features, models, or other effects do not block
deviating AOE attacks. They always take effect at the
determined point of impact.
Center the AOE template over the point of impact. Every
model with any part of its base covered by the AOE template
is hit, but not directly hit, by the attack and takes a blast
damage roll. Deviating AOE attacks never cause direct hits
even if the point of impact is on top of a model.

Spray Attacks

An attack using the spray template is sometimes referred

to as a spray attack. Some weapons and spells, such as
flamethrowers and Deneghras Venom spell, make spray
attacks. This devastating short-ranged attack can potentially
hit several models. A spray uses the spray template and
will have a RNG of SP 6, SP 8, or SP 10. Effects that

60

Direct
of Att

ion
ack

Mechanithralls

modify RNG do not affect spray attacks. The spray template

appears on p.256.
When making a spray attack, center the spray template
laterally over an eligible target with the narrow end of the
template touching the nearest edge of the point of origins base.
The target itself need not be under the template. The targeting
rules apply when choosing the attacks primary target. Every
model with any part of its base covered by the appropriate
section of the spray template can be hit by the attack.
Make separate attack rolls against each model under
the template. Remember that each roll must be boosted
individually. Spray attacks ignore concealment, cover,
Stealth, and intervening models because the attack comes
over, around, or in some cases through its protection.
A spray ranged or magic attack roll against a model in melee
does not suffer a 4 penalty and a spray attack roll against
a model in melee that misses is not rerolled against another
model. It misses completely.
A model under the spray template cannot be hit by the
attack if the attacker s line of sight to it is completely
blocked by terrain.
Every model hit by a spray attack suffers a direct hit. Make
separate damage rolls against each model hit. A spray attack
is a simultaneous attack.

Special Combat
Situations

The chaos of a battlefield is constantly producing the

unexpected. Although situations can arise as a result of

Combat

Examples of Spray Attacks

Winter Guard

Bile Thrall

Deathrippers

Mechanithralls

Repenter

unique circumstances or a models special rules, the rules

in this section should enable a smooth resolution. Savvy
players will use these rules to their best advantage.

Attack-Generating Abilities

When a model is granted more attacks as a result of an

attack it made, it gains only one. If two or more abilities
would grant the model another attack as a result of making
an attack, its controlling player chooses which ability to
apply. The attack is then resolved using the rules for that
ability. These attacks can, in turn, earn more attacks of
their own.
For example, Terminus casts Ravager on a Slayer in his
battlegroup. The Slayer then destroys a model in a unit
affected by Epic Skarres Black Spot spell with a melee
attack. Both Ravager and Black Spot grant the Slayer an
additional attack, but the Slayer can gain only one of the
two. The Slayers controller chooses to make the attack
granted by Ravager and resolves the attack according to
Ravagers rules. If that granted attack destroys another
model in the same unit, the Slayers controller will again
choose which ability will grant another attack.

A Bile Thrall makes a spray attack against

a group of Winter Guard. The Cryx player
centers the SP 8 spray template laterally
over an eligible target, choosing the
centermost Winter Guard. Targeting that
trooper also lets the player cover the
greatest number of Winter Guard without
covering his own nearby Deathrippers. He
makes a ranged attack roll against each
of the four Winter Guard in the spray. If
an attack roll against the Winter Guard in
melee with the Deathrippers misses, it will
not hit one of the Deathrippers.

A pair of Mechanithralls has advanced to

within range of a Repenters Flame Thrower.
The Cryx player has been careful to place
them far enough apart so a spray attack
targeted against either one of them will
not catch the other under the template.
Unfortunately he has not taken the
Deathripper behind them into account. The
Repenter has line of sight to the Deathripper
Deathripper and therefore can target it with its Flame
Thrower even though it is out of range.
Doing this will cover both Mechanithralls
with the spray template.

Attacks That Hit or Miss

Automatically

Some special rules cause attacks to hit automatically or

miss automatically. If a special rule causes an attack to hit
automatically, you do not have to make an attack roll. If
you do make a roll (because you want to try for a critical hit,
for example), the attack no longer hits automatically. If the
attack roll fails, the attack misses.
If a special rule will cause an attack to miss automatically,
do not make an attack roll. The attack just misses.
If one rule causes an attack to hit automatically and one
causes it to miss automatically, the automatic hit takes
precedence over the automatic miss. For instance, an effect
that allows attacks to hit automatically would override
special rules such as Stealth that would otherwise cause an
attack to miss automatically.

Back Strikes

A back strike grants a +2 bonus to the attack roll of any

melee, ranged, or magic attack made against a model from
its back arc. For a model to receive the back strike bonus,
the point of origin of the attack must have been in the

61

Combat

Making A Back Strike

Cannot Make a Back Strike

capable of multiple melee attacks can divide them among

eligible targets and participate in multiple combined melee
attacks. Units with Combined Melee Attack ignore the rule
that one troopers combat action cannot begin until the
previous models combat action ends.
Example: Four members of a Protectorate Temple Flameguard
unit make a combined melee attack against a Cygnar Defender.
One model is chosen to make the melee attack for the group,
adding +4 to his attack and damage rolls since there are four
models participating in the attack. Two other troopers in the
same Flameguard unit make a combined melee attack against a
nearby Sentinel. The trooper declared as the primary attacker
makes one melee attack and adds +2 to his attack and damage
rolls.

Can Make a Back Strike

Combined Ranged Attacks

Back Arc

Front Arc

targets back arc for the attackers entire activation up to the

moment of the attack. If the attacks point of origin was in the
targets front arc at any time during the attacking models
activation, the attacker does not receive this bonus. A model
receives a back strike bonus only during its activation.

Combined Melee Attacks

During their units activation, two or more troopers with

this ability with the same target in their melee range can
combine their melee attacks against that target. In order to
participate in a combined melee attack, a trooper must be
able to declare a melee attack against the intended target.
Choose one model in the attacking group to be the primary
attacker and make one melee attack roll for the group.
Add +1 to the attack and damage rolls for each model
participating in the attack, including the primary attacker.
All other bonuses and penalties to the attack and damage
rolls, such as the bonus for intervening terrain, are based on
the primary attacker.
Each model in a combined melee attack =
+1 to the attack and damage rolls
In a combined melee attack, only the primary attacker
actually makes an attack. The other participants lose their
attacks, contributing them to create the combined attack.
A model that charged during its activation can participate
in a combined melee attack, but the combined attack
cannot be a charge attack unless all contributed attacks are
charge attacks. If any non-charge attack is contributed, the
combined attack is not a charge attack.
A units melee attacks can be grouped in any manner,
including multiple combined melee attacks. Troopers

62

During their units activation, two or more troopers with

this ability can combine their ranged attacks against the
same target. In order to participate in a combined ranged
attack, a trooper must be able to declare a ranged attack
against the intended target and be in formation. Choose
one model in the attacking group to be the primary attacker
and make one ranged attack roll for the group. Add +1 to
the attack and damage rolls for each model participating in
the attack, including the primary attacker. All bonuses and
penalties for the attack are based on the primary attacker.
Each model in a combined ranged attack =
+1 to the attack and damage rolls
Combined ranged attacks cannot target a model in melee.
In a combined ranged attack, only the primary attacker
actually makes an attack. The other participants lose their
attacks, contributing them to create the combined attack.
After declaring all participants, check each one to see if a
ranged attack made on its own would have automatically
missed due to lack of range or a special rule. Models that
would have automatically missed do not contribute to the
attack and damage roll bonus but still forfeit their attacks.
If the primary attacker would have automatically missed,
the combined attack automatically misses. For example,
models found to be more than 5 away from a target with
the Stealth ability do not contribute to the combined attack,
and the entire combined attack automatically misses if the
primary attacker is more than 5 away from the target.
A units ranged attacks can be grouped in any manner,
including as multiple combined ranged attacks. Troopers
capable of multiple ranged attacks can divide them among
eligible targets and participate in multiple combined ranged
attacks. Units with Combined Ranged Attack ignore the
rule that one troopers combat action cannot begin until the
previous models combat action ends.
Example: Four members of a Cygnar Long Gunner unit that
are in formation declare a combined ranged attack against a

Combat
Khador Juggernaut. When measuring
range, the player discovers one trooper is
out of range. That models participation
in the attack will not add to the attack
or damage roll, though it still forfeits
its attack. The model chosen to make the
ranged attack for the group gains only +3
to its attack and damage rolls since only
three of the four models participating in
the attack contribute to it.

Gunfighter

A model with the Gunfighter advantage

has a melee range of 0.5 and can make
ranged attacks targeting models in
its melee range. This model does not
get an aiming bonus when targeting a
model in its melee range but can forfeit
its movement to use other special
abilities. A ranged attack roll does not
suffer the target in melee attack roll
penalty when the attacker is in melee
with the target. However, if such an
attack misses and there are multiple
models in the combat, the attack can
still hit another random model in the
combat, excluding the attacker and the
original target. Resolve these situations
following the rules in Targeting a
Model in Melee on p.58.
A model with the Gunfighter advantage can make charges.
If it makes a charge, the model can make its initial attacks
with its ranged weapons; if its first attack is made with a
ranged weapon, however, that attack is not a charge attack.
A model with Gunfighter can make free strikes with its
ranged weapons.
Remember that Gunfighter does not allow this model to
make melee and ranged attacks during the same activation.

Model Destruction
and Tokens

Special rules cause some models to gain certain types

of tokens when a model is destroyed. A model generates
only one of each type of token when destroyed. If multiple
models are eligible to gain a specific token, the nearest
eligible model gets the token. If a model has a limit on how
many of a specific token it can have and is at that limit, it is
not considered an eligible model.

Falling

A model that is slammed, thrown, pushed, or that

otherwise moves off of an elevated surface to another
surface at least 1 full inch lower falls. A falling model is
knocked down and suffers a damage roll. A fall of up to 3

causes a POW 10 damage roll. Add an additional die to the

damage roll for every additional increment of 3 the model
falls, rounded up.
Fall Damage Roll = 2d6+10 + d6 for every 3
of the fall after the first
Example: A model falling 3 suffers a damage roll of 2d6+10.
One falling 5 suffers a damage roll of 3d6+10, and one
falling 7 suffers a damage roll of 4d6+10!
If a falling model lands on top of another model, follow
the rule of least disturbance (p. 64) to move the non-falling
model into a legal position.
If a falling model contacts a model with an equal or
smaller-sized base, the contacted model is knocked down
and suffers the same damage roll as the falling model. A
contacted model with a larger base than the falling model,
however, does not suffer damage and is not knocked down.
All damage resulting from the fall is simultaneous.

Knockdown

Some attacks and special rules cause a model to be knocked

down. While knocked down a model cannot advance
make actions, make attacks, cast spells, use animi, use
feats, be used to channel a spell, or give orders and does
not have a melee range. A knocked down model does not
engage other models and cannot be engaged by them. As
a consequence, a model is never in melee with a knocked
down model. A melee attack roll against a knocked down

63

Combat
model automatically hits. A knocked down model has a
base DEF of 5. A knocked down model does not block line of
sight and is never an intervening model. A knocked down
model cannot be locked or moved by a slam.
A knocked down model can stand up at the start of its
next activation unless it was knocked down during its
controllers turn; in that case it cannot stand up until its
controllers next turn even if it has not yet activated this
turn. A model cannot become knocked down while it is
knocked down. For example, if a model is knocked down
during your opponents turn and before it gets a chance to
stand up is affected by an effect that would ordinarily cause
it to be knocked down on your turn, it is not affected by
the second instance of knockdown and can still stand up
on your turn.
To stand up, a model must forfeit either its movement or its
action for that activation. A model that forfeits its movement
to stand can make an action, but it cannot make attacks
involving movement such as a slam. A model that forfeits its
action to stand can use its normal movement to make a full
advance but not to run or charge. When a model stands, it
ceases to be knocked down. Some special rules allow a model
to stand up. In that case, the model may stand up even if it
was knocked down during the current player's turn

Beyond the Play Area

If an effect would cause a model to move or be placed

beyond the table edge (such as being thrown or slammed),
the model stops at the table edge and remains in play. The
table edge does not count as an obstacle; models do not take
additional damage for stopping there.

Point of Origin

The point of origin of an effect or attack is the location or

model from which the attack or effect originates. Typically
this is the model causing the effect or making the attack,
but not always. For example, when a warcaster channels
a spell through an arc node, the arc node is the point of
origin of the spell even though the warcaster is the model
casting the spell. For attacks or effects that require line
of sight to the target model, both line of sight and any
attack roll modifiers that depend on line of sight (such
as concealment) are checked from the point of origin of
the attack. Range is also checked from the point of origin,
including the placement of spray templates. Ignore the
target in melee attack roll penalty when the point of origin
of the magic attack is in melee with the model against
which the attack roll is being made.
For most attacks, the origin of damage will be the same as
the point of origin of the attack. The origin of damage for a
direct hit with an AOE attack is the attacks point of origin,
but the origin of damage for any other damage caused by an

64

AOE attack is the point of impact.

Finally, some non-AOE attacks, such as Ashes to Ashes
and Chain Lightning, have special rules that allow them
to damage models besides the attacks target. The origin of
damage in those cases is the model or point from which you
measure the range to other affected models. For example,
the origin of damage for the target of Ashes to Ashes is
the spells origin, but the origin of damage for the other
models affected by the spell is the target model. Similarly,
when the lightning generated by Chain Lightning arcs to
another model, the immediately previous model struck by
the lightning is the origin of that damage.

Replacing Models

When replacing one model with another, place the new

model so the area covered by the smaller of their bases is
completely within the area covered by the larger. If the two
bases are the same size, place the new model in the same
location as the one being replaced. There must be room for
the models base in the location the model is placed. The
player choosing the placed models new location chooses
its facing.

Entering

A model enters an area when its position in play changes

such that its previous position was not within the area and
its new position is within the area, or when it is put into
play in the area. A model can suffer the effects of entering
any particular area only once each time it advances.

Stationary Models
A stationary model cannot activate. A stationary model does
not have a melee range. A stationary model does not engage
other models nor can other models engage a stationary
model. A model is never in melee with a stationary model.
A stationary model cannot advance, make actions, make
attacks, cast spells, use animi, use feats, or give orders.
A melee attack against a stationary model automatically
hits. A stationary model has a base DEF of 5.

Least Disturbance

Some rules can cause moving models to overlap the bases

of other models temporarily, such as when a model is
thrown or slammed. Once the model has stopped moving,
models must be repositioned so that there are no longer any
overlapping bases. The model that was moving stays in its
final position; other models are moved out of the way to
make room.
To determine which models to move and where to move
them, first identify the fewest models that would need to
be moved to make room. Then find the locations to move

Combat
them that create the least total distance moved. If there are
multiple options that yield the least distanceif one model
is centered over another, for examplerandomly determine
the option to use. A models facing does not change if it
moved as a result of this rule.

Forfeiting

Some rules require a model to forfeit its activation,

movement, or action, or allow it to do so voluntarily for
some benefit.
A model cannot voluntarily forfeit something if it is also
required to forfeit it. A model cannot forfeit the same thing
to multiple effects. For example, a model that is knocked
down cannot forfeit its movement to stand up and also gain
an aiming bonus for forfeiting that movement.
A model can forfeit its activation only before it activates in a
turn. If it does so, resolve the effect to which the activation
is being forfeited, then the model ends its activation,
triggering any relevant effects. A model cannot forfeit its
activation if it cannot activate. A model cannot forfeit its
activation unless it is required to do so or has a rule that
allows it to do so. Forfeiting a models activation does not
trigger effects that take place at the end of movement and
those that take place at the end of an action.
A model can forfeit its movement anytime before it moves.
When a model forfeits its movement, resolve the effect to
which the movement is being forfeited, then the model
ends its movement, triggering any relevant effects. A model
cannot forfeit its movement if it cannot move or does not
have a movement available.
A model can forfeit its action anytime before it takes an
action. When a model forfeits its action, resolve the effect
to which the action is being forfeited, then the model ends
its action, triggering any relevant effects. A model cannot
forfeit its action if it cannot take an action or does not have
an action.

Rerolls

Some models have special abilities that enable them to

reroll attack or damage rolls or that cause another model to
reroll its attack or damage rolls. These rerolls occur before
applying effects that are triggered by hitting/missing for
attack rolls or by damaging/not damaging for damage
rolls. The results of a reroll completely replace the results of
the roll that was rerolled. For example, if a reroll causes a hit
model to be missed, it is missed. If a reroll causes a missed
model to be hit, it is hit. Multiple reroll effects can come into
play on the same roll. Resolve them all before resolving any
other effects dependent on hitting/missing or damaging/
not damaging.

Switching Targets

Some models have the ability to cause another model

to be directly hit by an attack in their place. Others can
cause themselves to be directly hit by an attack in place
of another model. Switching targets occurs immediately
after a hit or a miss has been determined, including the
resolution of all rerolls.

Damage

Warcasters, warjacks, and some other models can take a

tremendous amount of damage before they fall in combat.
What might be an incapacitating or mortal wound to a
regular trooper will just dent a warjacks hull or be deflected
by a warcasters arcane protections.

Damage Rolls

Determine how much damage is dealt to a model by

making a damage roll. In the case of ranged, magic, and
most other damaging effects roll 2d6 and add the Power
(POW) of the attack. In the case of melee attacks, roll 2d6
and add the POW+Strength (STR), or P+S, of the attack.
A boosted damage roll adds an additional die to this roll.
Special rules for certain circumstances might modify the
damage roll as well.
Damage Roll = 2d6 + POW (+ STR if melee)
Compare this total against the Armor (ARM) of the model
suffering the damage. That model takes 1 damage point for
every point that the damage roll exceeds its ARM.
A weapon or attack with POW does not cause damage.
Attacks that generate multiple attack and/or damage rolls
do so simultaneously. See Simultaneous and Sequential
(p.244) for details on simultaneous damage.

Recording Damage

A models army list entry gives the total amount of damage

it can suffer before being disabled (p. 66). For models
without damage boxes, this is 1 damage point. A model
resilient enough to take more than 1 point of damage will
have a row of damage boxes on its stat card for tracking
damage it receives. Record its damage left to right by
marking one damage box for each damage point taken. A
model is disabled once all its damage boxes are marked.
Unmarked damage boxes are sometimes called wounds.
Some models, such as warjacks, have damage grids
consisting of six columns of damage boxes labeled with
the numbers 1 through 6. Different damage grids might be
slightly different in shape and number of damage boxes,
but they function the same way. When a model with a
damage grid suffers damage, roll a d6 to determine which
column takes the damage. Starting with the uppermost
unmarked box in that column and working down, mark one

65

Combat
damage box per damage point taken. Once a column is full,
continue recording damage in the next column to the right
that contains an unmarked damage box. If all the damage
boxes in column 6 are marked, continue recording damage
in column 1 or the next column that contains an unmarked
damage box. Continue filling columns as required until
every damage point taken has been recorded.
When a rule specifically states a model suffers damage to
the first box of a given type, find the lowest numbered
column on the models card that has an unmarked damage
box of that type. Within that column, mark the topmost
unmarked damage box of that type.
Force Fields

Some warjacks, notably Retribution myrmidons, have two

damage tracks: a set of boxes representing their force fields
and another representing their damage grids. Mark the field
boxes before marking the damage grids.
Example: When damage is dealt to column 2, mark damage
first in the force field boxes and then in column 2 if the force
field is filled (even if the column was chosen by the attacker as a
result of a special rule such as Eiryss Death Bolt).
When damage must be dealt simultaneously to each
column, mark damage to the force field boxes first (damage
from the first column, damage from the second column, and
so on). If all of the fields boxes are filled, mark remaining
damage to the last columns.
Example: Gorton Grundback hits a warjack with a force field
with his Molten Metal spell. That spell deals 1 point of damage
to each column on the warjacks damage grid; the damage
grid has six columns, so the spell deals 6 damage points. If the
warjack has three unmarked force field boxes remaining, the
damage points that would otherwise be marked in the first three
columns are marked in the force field instead. The remaining 3
damage points are assigned to columns 4, 5, and 6.

Warjack Damage Key

On a warjacks damage grid, the following letters represent
the warjacks systems:
C: Cortex

M: Movement

L: Left Arm weapon system

A: Arc Node

R: Right Arm weapon system

G: Field Generator

H: Head weapon system

Damage to a specific system is marked in that system; in

this case, the force field is ignored.
Example: If a warjack with a force field is hit by a Lancers

66

Shock Shield attack, the warjack hit suffers 1 damage point to

its first available Cortex system box. This damage is applied
to an unmarked Cortex system box, not to the warjacks force
field.

Crippling Systems

When a model with systems suffers damage, individual

systems critical to its combat performance can be damaged
and crippled. Blank damage boxes represent a warjacks
hull. The hull is not a system. Beneath the hull are the
models vital systems, represented by system boxes. Each
of these boxes is labeled with a letter designating the
system it supports. System boxes are still damage boxes;
when recording damage, mark both blank boxes and those
containing system labels to record the correct amount of
damage. While all its system boxes are marked, a system is
crippled. Mark the appropriate system status box below the
damage boxes to show this. The effects of crippled systems
are as follows:
Crippled Arc Node: The model loses the Arc Node
advantage.
Crippled Cortex: The model loses any focus points on
it and cannot be allocated focus points. It cannot spend
focus points for any reason.
Crippled Movement: The model has its base DEF
changed to 7. It cannot run or charge. A model that
has its Movement system crippled while advancing as
part of a charge, slam, or trample immediately stops
advancing, and its activation ends.
Crippled Arm or Head Weapon System: The model
rolls one fewer die on the attack and damage rolls
with weapons in the crippled location. Additionally,
a model cannot use weapons in a crippled location to
make special attacks, including power attacks. A model
cannot make a chain attack or combo special attack,
such as Combo Smite or Combo Strike, while either
of the weapon systems with the ability is crippled. If
a weapon in the crippled location has the Buckler or
Shield weapon quality, the model loses the ARM bonus
for that quality while the location is crippled.
Crippled Field Generator: A model with a crippled
field generator cannot spend focus to remove damage
from its field damage track.
If 1 or more damage points are removed from a crippled
system, the system is no longer crippled.

Disabled and Destroyed

A model is disabled when all of its damage boxes are

marked, or when it suffers 1 damage point if it does not
have damage boxes. When a model is disabled, immediately

Combat

resolve any effects triggered by being disabled. A model

cannot suffer more damage than it has damage boxes. If 1 or
more damage points are healed or removed from a model, it
is no longer disabled.
After resolving any effects triggered by being disabled, if it
is still disabled it is considered to be boxed. When a model is
boxed, after resolving any effects triggered by being boxed
it is destroyed, triggering any relevant effects. Remove the
destroyed model from the table.

Destroyed Warjack

When a destroyed warjack is removed from the table,

replace it with a wreck marker corresponding to its base
size. A wreck marker is not a model and cannot be repaired.
A wreck marker is rough terrain and provides cover to
models within 1 whose bases are partially obscured from
the attacker by the wreck. Models at least partially within
the area of the wreck also gain cover. Any effects on a
warjack expire when it is destroyed.

If an effect causes a model to leave play or cease being

disabled, such as when damage is removed on a successful
Tough roll, do not resolve any more effects triggered by the
model being disabled. The model does not become boxed
or destroyed, thus effects triggered by the model becoming
boxed or destroyed do not occur.

Removed from the Table

and Removed from Play

Likewise, if an effect causes a boxed model to leave play or

no longer be boxed, do not resolve any additional effects
triggered by the model being boxed. For example, if an
effect causes a boxed model to be removed from play, no
additional effects triggered by the model being boxed take
place, and the model is not destroyed. In this case, the
removed model does not provide a soul token because it
was not destroyed.

Destroyed models can be returned to the table by many

means, but other effects that remove a model from the table
list specific rules on how and when it can return to play.

In most cases, a model simply takes damage and is

destroyed. Some abilities and effects can interrupt or
modify the process of taking damage, though, and thats
when these steps come into play.

Some rules cause a model to be removed from the table,

such as when it is destroyed or does something like
burrowing into the ground. The model is removed from the
playing field and set aside.

Some rules cause a model to be removed from play;

sometimes this is instead of being destroyed, and at other
times it is in addition to being destroyed. A model removed
from play is removed from the table and set aside for the
rest of the game; it cannot return to the table for any reason.

Warcaster Destruction

Should a warcaster be unfortunate enough to fall in

combat, his entire army suffers from the harsh blow. When
a warcaster is destroyed or removed from the table, all

67

Combat
upkeep spells cast by the warcaster immediately expire.
Every warjack in the warcasters battlegroup immediately
becomes inert. While it is inert, a warjack is stationary, has
no facing, loses all special abilities, and does not gain an
ARM bonus for shields or bucklers.
In many cases, the loss of a warcaster heralds the end of the
battle. If the game does not end with the warcasters loss,
though, other warcasters or jack marshals can reactivate
the inert warjacks.
Reactivating Warjacks

An inert warjack can be reactivated by a friendly Faction

model with the Battlegroup Commander special ability,
such as a warcaster, or by a friendly Faction jack marshal
that ends its movement in base-to-base contact with it. To
reactivate the warjack, the model must forfeit its action this
turn but can still cast spells, use its feat, and use special
abilities. The reactivated warjack is no longer inert, but it
must forfeit its activation and cannot be used to channel
spells the turn it is reactivated. If the model reactivating a
warjack has the Battlegroup Commander rule, the warjack
becomes a part of its battlegroup.

Healing, Repairs, and

Removing Damage

Some abilities, spells, and other effects remove damage

points from a model. When a model with a damage grid
is healed, repaired, or has damage removed, remove the
damage points from anywhere on the models damage grid.
Remember, if a model heals damage while disabled, it is no
longer disabled.

Return to Play

Some special rules can cause a model to return to play after

it is removed from the table. Unless otherwise specified, a
model that is returned to play can activate that same turn
and has all damage removed. Returned models cause their
units to lose benefits or effects received from the original
destruction of the models returned. Models removed from
play cannot be returned to play.
If a model has an ability it can use once per game that it has
already used this game, it cannot use that ability again even
if it returns to play.

Damage Types

Some weapons inflict a specific damage type that might

affect some models differently than others. When a damage
type is referenced in text, it is described as an X damage
roll. For example, a damage roll that causes electrical
damage is described as an electrical damage roll.
A model with immunity to a certain damage type does not
take damage of that type. A single attack can inflict damage

68

Cold

Corrosion

Electricity

Fire

Immunity:
Cold

Immunity:
Corrosion

Immunity:
Electricity

Immunity:
Fire

of several types. If a model is immune to any of those types,

it does not suffer damage from the attack. A model that
is immune to damage from an attack can still suffer other
effects from the attack.
Example: The Stormclad is a warjack with Immunity:
Electricity . If it were hit by an attack that caused electrical
damage and Disruption, the warjack would not suffer a damage
roll from the attack but would still suffer Disruption.
Some damage types are identified by their attack type.
For example, damage caused by a ranged attack might be
referred to as ranged attack damage.
Damage types and immunity to those types include:

Magical Weapons
A magical weapon can damage and affect models with
ability. Attacks made with magical
the Incorporeal
weapons are not magic attacks. Magical ranged weapons
make ranged attacks. Magical melee weapons make
melee attacks.

Special Effects

Many attacks cause special effects in addition to causing

damage. Each special effect is unique in its application.
There are three categories of special effects: automatic
effects, critical effects, and continuous effects. A special
effect can belong to more than one category, and its category
can change depending on the weapon. For instance, one
weapon might cause the Fire continuous effect automatically
on a successful hit, but another might require a critical hit to
cause the Fire continuous effect.
Pay close attention to the exact wording for each models
special effects. Even if the effect is the same for different
models with the same weapon or ability, it might require
different conditions to function. Some models special
effects function if the target is hit, and others require the
target to take damage. Critical effects require a critical hit
on the attack roll.

Automatic Effects

Apply an automatic effect every time it meets the conditions

required to function.

Combat
Example: The Repenters Flame Thrower has the Continuous
Effect: Fire
weapon quality. Any model hit by the
Flamethrower automatically suffers the Fire continuous effect.

Critical Effects

Apply a critical effect if any two dice in the attack roll show
the same number and the attack hits; this is a critical hit.
The target model suffers the special effect even if it takes
no damage from the damage roll. An AOE attacks critical
effect functions only with a direct hit, but every model
under the template suffers the critical effect.

Continuous Effects

Continuous effects remain on a model and have the potential

to damage or affect it some other way on subsequent turns.
A model can have multiple continuous effects on it at once,
but it can have only one of each continuous effect type on
it at a time.
Resolve continuous effects on models you control during
your Maintenance Phase. First roll a d6 for each continuous
effect; if the result is a 1 or 2 the continuous effect
immediately expires without further effect. On a 3, 4, 5,
or 6 the continuous effect remains in play. After rolling for
expiration for all continuous effects, apply the effects of all
continuous effects that remain in play simultaneously.

Critical Corrosion On a critical hit, the model hit

suffers the Corrosion continuous effect.
Critical Fire On a critical hit, the model hit suffers the
Fire continuous effect.

Cloud Effects

A cloud effect produces an area of dense smoke, magical

darkness, thick mists, or the like that remains in play for
a specified length of time. Use an AOE template of the
appropriate diameter to represent the cloud. Every model
with any part of its base covered by the clouds template is
within the cloud and susceptible to its effects.
In addition to being affected by a clouds special rules, a
model inside a cloud effect gains concealment (see p. 57).
The cloud effect does not block line of sight from models
within it to those outside of it, but it completely obstructs
line of sight from models outside of it to anything beyond
it. Thus, a model can see into or out of a cloud effect but
not through one. A cloud effect provides no protection from
melee attacks.

Example of a Cloud Effect

Continuous effects do not require focus points for upkeep

and cannot be removed voluntarily. Remove a continuous
effect only when it expires, a special situation causes it to
end, or the affected model is removed from the table.
Example: A Crusader attacks a Defender with its Inferno Mace
and rolls a critical hit. The Inferno Mace has Critical Fire ,
so the Defender now suffers the Fire continuous effect. It takes
no damage from the fire at this point. During its controllers
next Maintenance Phase, the Defenders controller rolls a d6.
The result is a 5, so the Defender suffers a POW 12 damage
roll from the fire. The Crusader attacks it again on its turn
and rolls another critical hit, but since the Defender is already
on fire, there is no further effect from the critical hit. When
the Defenders controllers Maintenance Phase comes around
again, he rolls another d6 for the fire. This time the result is a
1, so the fire goes out without causing the Defender to suffer
another damage roll.
Some common continuous effects are represented on a
weapons stat bar as weapon qualities.
Corrosion A model hit by this attack suffers the
Corrosion continuous effect, which slowly erodes its target.
Corrosion does 1 damage point each turn to the affected
model during its controllers Maintenance Phase until it
(p.34) never
expires. Models with Immunity: Corrosion
suffer this continuous effect.
Fire A model hit by this attack suffers the Fire continuous
effect, which sets it on fire. A model on fire suffers a POW 12
damage roll each turn during its controllers Maintenance
Phase until the continuous effect expires. Models with
(p.34) never suffer this continuous effect.
Immunity: Fire

Winter Guard
B
A

C
Charger

The Charger has line of sight to Winter Guard A and C,

but they both gain +2 DEF from concealment against any
ranged or magic attacks from the Charger for being in
the cloud effect. The Chargers line of sight to Winter
Guard C crosses a solid terrain feature that's within 1
of Winter Guard C, so Winter Guard C gains +4 DEF from
cover against the Chargers attacks instead of gaining
concealment (since concealment and cover are not
cumulative). The Charger and Winter Guard B do not
have line of sight to each other since the cloud effect is
between them.
Winter Guard A and C can make ranged or magic attacks
against the Charger at no penalty.

69

Anatomy of a Unit

Components, Formation, and Movement

An armys soldiers and support personnel are organized
into units. Every member of a unit is similarly equipped and
trained to fill a certain battlefield role. Some units specialize
in melee combat, others excel with ranged weapons, and
some provide critical or highly specialized capabilities.

Officers

Unit Components

Some units contain models that are not Leaders or Grunts.

These models might have different stats and weapons than
the other models in the unit.

Most units are made up of a single Leader model and one or

more Grunts that all share the same stat profile. Some units
are led by an Officer with a different stat profile than the
models it leads. All models in a unit are troopers in addition
to their types explained below.

Grunts

Grunts are the basic troopers in a unit. The number of

Grunts in a unit is noted on the units card.

Leader

In most units, the Leader is the unit commander.

When the Leader model in a unit is destroyed or removed
from play, immediately promote a Grunt model in the unit
to become the new Leader by replacing the Grunt with the
Leader model. See Field Promotion (p.72) for details on
this. The new Leader cannot make an attack during the turn
it was promoted.

70

An Officer is a special type of unit commander. Unlike with

a Leader, if an Officer is destroyed or removed from play, do
not promote a Grunt in the unit to be the new Officer.

Other Trooper Models

Standard Bearer

While the standard bearer is in formation, models in its unit

that are also in formation can reroll failed command checks.
Additionally, the unit can reroll failed unit-wide command
checks while the standard bearer is in formation. Each
failed roll can be rerolled once as a result of the presence of
a standard bearer.
When the standard bearer is destroyed or removed from
play, you can choose a Grunt in its unit that is within 1
of it to take its place and become the new standard bearer.
If you choose to replace the standard bearer, replace the
Grunt model with the standard bearer model. Effects on the
destroyed or removed standard bearer expire. Effects on the
replaced Grunt are applied to the new standard bearer. The
new standard bearer has the same number of unmarked

Units
damage boxes remaining as the Grunt it replaced. The new
standard bearer cannot make an attack during the turn it
replaced the Grunt.

Unit Commander

The unit commander is the focal point of a unit. In most

cases, the unit commander is the Leader of the unit. If a unit
is led by an Officer , the Officer is the unit commander. If
a unit has neither an Officer or a Leader, designate another
model in the unit to be the unit commander. That model
remains the unit commander as long as it is part of the unit.
A troopers proximity to its unit commander determines
whether it is in unit formation. The unit commander issues
orders to its unit and can attempt to rally its unit when the
unit flees.

Attachments

Attachments are made up of one or more models that can

be added to a unit of the same type as the attachment.
They can be fielded only as part of a unit, not as individual
models. Attachments cannot be added to weapon crews.
There are two different types of attachments: unit
attachments and weapon attachments. A unit can have
only one of each type of attachment added to it. Models in
an attachment are not Grunts.
Each attachments rules list the unit types to which it can
be added.
can be added to a unit with a normal unit
An Officer
Leader as part of a unit attachment. If the unit contains both
an Officer and a normal unit Leader, the Officer is the unit
commander. Models in a unit gain the benefits of Granted
abilities only while the model on whose card the rule
appears is in formation.

Unit Formation

Regardless of a units role on the battlefield, one thing is

certain: a unit is most effective when all its members are in
formation. The unit commander is always in formation. A
model is in formation if it is within its unit commanders
command range. A units controller can measure the
distance between the unit commander and a model in its
unit anytime during that units activation.
All models in a unit must begin the game in formation.

Out of Formation

While out of formation, a trooper cannot make actions,

advance outside of its normal movement, receive orders,
cast spells, or make attacks, including attacks that do not
take place during the models or units activation, such as a
free strike. The trooper also suffers 2 CMD.
At the beginning of a units activation, determine if any
troopers are out of formation. Those who are will not
receive any order given to their unit. A trooper that is out
of formation at the start of its units activation must use
its normal movement to make a full advance toward or
run directly toward its unit commander. If it makes a full
advance, it must forfeit its action.
At the end of a units activation, every out-of-formation
trooper must pass a command check or flee. Unlike most

In and out of Formation

A

Tactics

Tactics are abilities granted to units by some unit

attachments. The unit retains these abilities even if the
model that granted them is destroyed or removed from play.

Unit
Commander

Weapon Crews

Weapon crews are small units that operate light artillery.

Weapon crews cannot have attachments.
The unit Leader is on the same base as the light artillery
and is treated as having the same base size as the Grunts
in its unit.
Unlike with other units, if the Leader of a weapon crew
leaves play it replaces a Grunt in the unit only if the Grunt
is within 1. Otherwise the Leader model leaves play and
the player controlling the weapon crew chooses another
model in the unit to become the unit commander. See Field
Promotion on p.72.

E
D
C

Mechanithralls B, D, and E are in formation since they

are within the command range of the unit commander.
Mechanithralls A and C are out of formation since they are
not within the command range of the unit commander.

71

Units
other command checks made by troopers, an out-offormation trooper makes this command check individually.
If he fails the check, he does not cause the entire unit to
flee. See Command (p.84) for detailed rules on command
checks and fleeing.

Moving Units

When a unit makes its normal movement, troopers can move

in any order. Remember, a trooper that is out of formation
at the start of its units activation must advance toward or
run directly toward its unit commander. If it makes a full
advance, it must forfeit its action.
A unit required to make a command check as a result of its
proximity to a terrifying entity during its normal movement
does not do so until after every trooper in the unit has
completed its movement.

Issuing Orders

Orders let models make specialized combat maneuvers

during their activation. Unlike other warrior models,
troopers cannot automatically choose to run or charge
during their normal movement; they must receive an order
to do so. Similarly, a cavalry trooper must receive an order
to make a ride-by attack (see Cavalry, p.81). A unit can
receive an order from its unit commander at the beginning
of its activation. The unit commander is the only model in a
unit that can issue its unit orders.
Some units have orders described in their special rules
that can be issued by their unit commanders, such as the
Trencher Infantrys Assault order. A unit commander can
issue any order to its unit that is specified in the units
special rules.
can
Orders that appear in the special rules of an Officer
be issued only by that Officer. If the Officer leaves play,
those orders cannot be issued by the new unit commander.
A unit can receive only one order per activation. Every
trooper in formation receives the order and is affected
by it. Out-of-formation troopers are not affected by
orders received by their units. Models in a unit that do
not receive an order can make a full advance and make
their actions normally. Orders do not carry over from one
activation to another.

Field Promotion

When a units Leader is destroyed, removed from play, or

otherwise no longer part of its unit, choose a Grunt in that
models unit to take its place and become the new Leader.
Replace the Grunt model with the Leader model. Effects on
the destroyed Leader expire. Effects on the replaced Grunt
are applied to the new Leader. The new Leader has the same

72

number of unmarked damage boxes remaining as the Grunt

it replaced. Leader models are replaced even if there is an
Officer model in the unit. The new Leader cannot make an
attack during a turn it was promoted.
If the Officer leading a unit leaves play and there is a
Leader model in its unit, the Leader model becomes the unit
commander.
If the units Leader is the unit commander and it leaves
play and there is no Grunt to replace it, or if an Officer is
destroyed and there is not a Leader model in the unit, choose
another model in the unit to become the unit commander.
That model remains the unit commander as long as it is part
of the unit. If that unit commander is destroyed, choose
another model to become the unit commander. If an effect
allows your opponent to immediately take control of the
Officer or Leader of a unit to make an attack or to make
a full advance and an attack, that model remains the unit
commander and is not replaced despite your opponents
temporary control.
Example: The Kapitan of a Man-O-War unit is destroyed. The
units controlling player decides to make a Grunt with four
unmarked damage boxes remaining the new unit commander.
He replaces the Grunt model with the Kapitan model. The
new Kapitan model has the same number of unmarked damage
boxes remaining as the Grunt it replaced. If the Grunt was also
suffering from the Fire continuous effect when it was replaced,
the new Kapitan would continue to suffer from the continuous
effect.
Example: The Officer in charge of a Temple Flameguard unit
is destroyed. Instead of replacing a Grunt in the unit with the
Officer model, the Officer leaves play and the Leader of the unit
becomes the new unit commander.
Example: Because he is an Officer and not a Leader, if
Boomhowler is destroyed during play he does not replace
another model in his unit. Instead, the player controlling
Boomhowlers unit chooses a Grunt in the unit to become the
new unit commander.
Example: If a Trencher Infantry unit currently consists of a
Leader, a Sniper, a Grenade Porter, and a Grunt, and an AOE
attack destroys both the Leader and the Grunt, the controlling
player must make the Sniper or the Grenade Porter the unit
commander. In either case, the model is not replaced by the
Leader because neither is a Grunt.

Spells and Effects

Some special rules and spells affect entire units. Those

special rules and spells are noted in their descriptions. If a
special rule or spell specifies target unit, it must target a
trooper in a unit but will affect all models in the unit. Effects
that specify target model/unit can target any model,
including non-troopers, but if the target model is a trooper
the effect will apply to the entire unit.

WarjacksMachines of War

Special Rules, Spending Focus Points, and Power Attacks

Warjacks represent the pinnacle of military technology
in the Iron Kingdoms and are the greatest assets in a
warcasters arsenal. They are equipped with a broad variety
of melee and ranged weaponry and embody the strengths
of their respective factions. A single warjack can annihilate
dozens of men, and side by side, several warjacks together
comprise a threat no enemy can ignore.

Warjack
Special Rules

All warjacks have the following special rules in common.

Damage Grid

Warjacks have damage grids. A warjack is not destroyed

until all the boxes in its damage grid are marked. See
Destroyed Warjack (p.67) for details.

Construct

Although the icon does not appear on their stat lines, all
warjacks have the Construct advantage (see p.34).

Focus: Additional Attack

This model can spend focus to make additional melee or

ranged attacks as part of its combat action (see "Combat
Actions," p.48). It can make one additional attack for each
focus point spent.

Focus: Boost

This model can spend 1 focus point to boost any of its attack
rolls or damage rolls during its activation. Add an extra die
to the boosted roll. Boosting must be declared before rolling
any dice for the roll.

Remember, a single roll can be boosted only once, but a

warjack can boost as many different rolls as you can afford.

Focus: Shake Effect

During your Control Phase after allocating focus, if this model

is knocked down it can spend 1 focus point to stand up.
During your Control Phase after allocating focus, if this
model is stationary it can spend 1 focus point to cause the
stationary status to expire.

Warjack Melee Range

Warjacks always have at least a 0.5 melee range.

Warjack Power Attacks

This model can make power attacks. To choose the power

attack option for its combat action, it must spend 1 focus
point. All warjacks can make the slam, head-butt, and push
power attacks. Heavy warjacks can make the trample power
attack. Warjacks with at least one non-crippled weapon
with the Open Fist weapon quality can make headlock/
weapon lock and throw power attacks. Warjacks with two
non-crippled weapons with the Open Fist weapon quality
can make double-hand throw power attacks.

Cortex

This model can be allocated focus. This model can have no

more than 3 focus points at any time as a result of allocation.
This limit does not apply to focus gained by means other
than allocation.
Unless otherwise stated, this model can spend focus only
during its activation.

73

Warcasters and FocusTrue Power

Special Rules, Managing Focus Points, and Casting Spells

Warcasters are the most powerful models in
WARMACHINE. They are highly trained combat wizards
as effective in martial combat as when wielding arcane
forces. A warcaster s greatest function on the battlefield,
however, is controlling his warjacks, whether hes
ordering them to attack or defend, head for an objective,
or channel a spell.
Battles can be won or lost purely by how well a player
manages his warcasters focus, the magical energy that lets
him control warjacks and cast spells. Often a player must
decide between casting a spell and allocating focus to the
warjacks in its battlegroupand that choice can easily
make the difference between victory and defeat.

Warcaster
Special Rules

All warcasters have the following special rules in common.

Battlegroup Commander

This model can control a group of warjacks. This model

and its assigned jacks are collectively referred to as a
battlegroup. This model can allocate focus points to
warjacks in its battlegroup and can channel spells through
advantage.
warjacks in its battlegroup with the Arc Node
Since warcasters and warjacks are independent models,
each model in a battlegroup can move freely about the
battlefield separate from the rest of the group. Although
warjacks usually benefit from remaining within their
warcasters control area, they are not required to do so.
Only friendly models can be part of a battlegroup. If a rule
causes a jack to become an enemy model, it is not part of its
original battlegroup while that rule is in effect.
If an effect causes a battlegroup commander to fall under
your opponents control, while he is controlled by your
opponent the warjacks in his battlegroup remain under
your control and become autonomous. If you regain control
of the battlegroup commander, he resumes control of the
warjacks in his battlegroup unless some other model has
already taken control of them.
Allocating Focus Points

A battlegroup commander can keep his focus points

himself or allocate them to as many of his warjacks as
desired during your Control Phase as long as they meet the
following criteria. The warjack must be in the battlegroup
commanders own battlegroup and in his control area
(see Control Area, next page), though it need not be in
his line of sight. Take care to remember which warjacks

74

belong to which battlegroup; a battlegroup commander

cannot allocate focus points to warjacks in another models
battlegroup even if they are both part of the same army. A
warjack can be allocated up to 3 focus points but can have
no more than 3 focus points at any given time as a result of
allocation. It can gain focus by means other than allocation
without this limit, however.

Commander

Though the icon does not appear on their stat lines, all
warcasters have the Commander advantage (see p.33).

Fearless

Though the icon does not appear on their stat lines, all
warcasters have the Fearless advantage (see p.34).

Feat

Each warcaster has a unique feat that can turn the tide of
battle if used at the right time. A warcaster can use his feat
at any time during his activation. A warcaster cannot use
his feat if he runs and cannot interrupt his movement or
attack to use it. He can use his feat before moving, after
moving, before an attack, or after an attack, but not while
moving or attacking.
A warcaster can use his feat only once per game.

Focus Manipulation

This model has a Focus (FOCUS) stat. During your Control

Phase, this model replenishes its focus points, receiving a
number of them equal to its current FOCUS. This model
begins the game with a number of focus points equal to
its FOCUS. Unless otherwise stated, this model can spend
focus points only during its activation.

Power Field

Warcaster armor is perhaps the most sophisticated blend

of magic and mechanics to be found anywhere. Besides its
seemingly impossible strength, this armor creates a magical
field to surround and protect the warcaster from damage
that would rend a normal man to pieces.
This models damage capacity is largely a result of its
power fields protection. At any time during its activation,
this model can spend focus points to heal damage it has
suffered. For each focus point spent this way, this model
heals 1 damage point.
This models unspent focus points overboost its power field
and give it increased protection. This model gains +1 ARM
for each focus point remaining on it.

Warcasters
Spellcaster

This model can cast spells at any time during its activation
by paying the COST of the spell. This model cannot cast
spells during an activation it runs. (See Casting a Spell on
p.77 for details.)

The Point of Focus

Players should use coins, colored beads, or tokens to represent
focus points. During a players control phase, place a number
of tokens equal to the warcasters current FOC next to the
model. These tokens can be allocated to eligible warjacks in
that warcasters battlegroup by moving them next to those
models. Remove focus point tokens from the table as they are
used. Each of a warcasters unspent focus points next to the
warcaster gives him a +1 ARM bonus.

Control Area

This model has a control area, a circular area centered on

this model with a radius that extends out from the edge
of its base a number of inches equal to twice its current
FOCUS. A model is always considered to be in its own
control area. When a special rule changes a models
FOCUS, its control area changes accordingly. Some spells
and feats use the control area, noted as CTRL, as their
range or area of effect.

For the Mathematically Inclined

Some effects use terminology like increases control area by
2. Inches are a unit of length, not area, and so the phrase
may seem a bit odd. Likewise, some effects double the
control area. The correct interpretation is that the length
of the line extending out from the models base is the value
being modified, not the area enclosed by sweeping that line
around the model.

Focus: Boost

This model can spend 1 focus to boost any of its attack rolls
or damage rolls during its activation. Add an extra die to
the boosted roll. Boosting must be declared before rolling
any dice for the roll.
Remember, a single roll can be boosted only once, but a
warcaster can boost as many different rolls as you can afford.

Focus: Shake Effect

During your Control Phase after allocating focus, if this

model is knocked down it can spend 1 focus point to
stand up.
During your Control Phase after allocating focus, if this
model is stationary it can spend 1 focus point to cause the
stationary status to expire.

A warjack must be in its warcasters control area to receive

focus points from the warcaster or to channel spells.
Measuring Control Areas

You can measure the control area of your models at any

time for any reason. Specifically, you can measure the
distance from a model to any point within its control area
at any time.
For control area effects against opposing models, you do
not have to measure the control area until after the enemy
model commits to its movement or action.
Example: A warcaster casts a spell that turns his control area
into rough terrain. That warcasters controller does not have
to measure his control area prior to an enemy model entering
it. The opposing player will have to adjust his models position
after completing its movement if it entered the warcasters
control area and had its movement reduced by the spells effect.

Focus: Additional Attack

This model can spend focus to make additional melee or

ranged attacks as part of its combat action (see "Combat
Actions," p.48). It can make one additional attack for each
focus point it spends.

Performance Power
Remember that a warjack must spend focus to run, charge, or
make a power attack. Warcasters can also spend their focus
points to cast spells or heal damage.

Spells

Some models have the ability to cast spells during their

activations. Models with the FOCUS stat, like warcasters,
cast spells by paying the spells COST in focus points. A
model can cast any number of spells during its activation
for which it can pay the COST. A spell can be cast multiple
times per activation if the COST can be paid.
When a model casts a spell, resolve the spells effects
immediately.
A spells point of origin is the model casting the spell or
the model through which the spell is channeled (see

75

Warcasters

Channeling, p. 79). Unless noted otherwise, spells that

target a model other than the casting model or the model
channeling the spell require line of sight to their targets.
Unlike ranged attacks, being in melee does not prevent a
model from casting a spell.
A model can cast spells at any time during its activation but
cannot interrupt its movement or attack to cast a spell. It can
cast a spell before moving, after moving, before an attack, or
after an attack, but not while moving or attacking. A model
cannot cast spells during an activation it ran.
Example: A warcaster could cast a spell, move, use his combat
action to make a melee attack, cast two more spells, and then
spend another focus point to make an additional melee attack.

Spell Statistics

A spell is defined by the following six statistics:

COST The number of focus points that must be spent to
cast the spell.
RNG, Range The maximum distance in inches from the
spells point of origin to its target. Measure range from
the edge of the point of origins base to the target up to
the maximum range of the spell. If the nearest edge of the
target models base is within the maximum range of the
spell, the target is in range. A RNG of SELF indicates
the spell can be cast only on the model casting it. A RNG
of CTRL indicates the spell uses the spellcasters control
area as its range.
POW, Power The base amount of damage a spell inflicts.
The POW forms the basis of the spells damage roll. A spell
with POW does not cause damage.
AOE, Area of Effect The diameter in inches of the template

76

Warcasters
an AOE spell uses for damage effects. When casting an
AOE spell, center the template on the determined point of
impact. A model with any part of its base covered by the
template potentially suffer the spells effects. See pp.5860
for details on AOE attacks. Templates for AOEs appear on
p. 255. A spell with an AOE of CTRL is centered on the
warcaster and affects models in his control area.
UP, Upkeep (Yes/No) Whether the spell can be upkept.
An upkeep spell remains in play if the model that cast it
spends 1 focus point to maintain it during its controllers
Control Phase.
OFF, Offensive (Yes/No) Whether the spell is offensive.
An offensive spell requires a successful magic attack roll
in order to take effect. If the attack roll fails, the attack
misses and the spell has no effect. A failed attack roll for an
offensive spell with an area of effect deviates.
If a stat is listed as * the spell does not use the stat in
a normal way and contains special rules relating to that
aspect of the spell.
Example: A spell that has an AOE but does not use one of the
standard 3, 4, or 5 templates would have * as its AOE
stat and include rules explaining how its AOE is measured.

Offensive Spells and

Magic Attacks

the model from being targeted by the attack.

Measuring Range

After declaring the target, measure to see if the target is

within the Range (RNG) of the spell. Measure range from
the edge of the point of origins base to the target up to
the maximum range of the spell. If the nearest edge of the
target models base is within the maximum range of the
spell, the target is in range. If the target is in range and the
spell is non-offensive, apply the spells effects. If the target
is in range and the spell is offensive, make a magic attack
roll to see if it hits. If the target is beyond maximum range,
a non-offensive spell does not take effect and an offensive
spell automatically misses. If a magic attack has an area
of effect (AOE) and the attacks target is out of range, it
automatically misses, and its point of impact will deviate
from the point on the line to its declared target at a distance
equal to its RNG. See Area-of-Effect (AOE) Attacks on
pp.5860 for details on these attacks and deviation.

Magic Attack Rolls

Determine a magic attacks success by making a magic attack

roll. Roll 2d6 and add the attacking models current FOCUS.
Roll an additional die if the roll is boosted. Special rules and
certain circumstances might modify the attack roll as well.
Magic Attack Roll = 2d6 + FOCUS

An offensive spell is a magic attack that requires that the

model casting the spell succeed in a magic attack roll to put
its effects in play. Magic attacks are similar to ranged attacks
and follow most of the same rules but are not affected by a
rule that affects only ranged attacks.

A target is directly hit if the attack roll equals or exceeds the

targets DEF. If the attack roll is less than the targets DEF, it
misses. A roll of all 1s on the dice causes an automatic miss.
A roll of all 6s is a direct hit unless you are rolling only one
die, regardless of the attackers FOCUS or its targets DEF.

An offensive spell cannot target its point of origin.

Sometimes a special rule causes an attack to hit automatically.

Such automatic hits are also direct hits.

Some spells have * in the OFF column rather than

YES or NO. Treat these spells as non-offensive when
targeting friendly models and offensive when targeting
enemy models.

Casting a Spell

To cast a spell, a model must first pay its COST. If the spell
is an upkeep spell, any other copies of that spell cast by the
spellcaster immediately expire. Next, declare the target.
A spell can target any model in the casters line of sight
(see Line of Sight, p. 43) subject to the targeting rules.
Non-offensive spells with a numeric RNG can also target
the point of origin of the spell. A spell cannot target open
ground or a permanent terrain feature.
Certain rules and effects create situations that specifically
prevent a model from being targeted. A model that cannot
be targeted by an attack still suffers its effects if inside the
attacks AOE. Other rules and effects, such as Stealth, only
cause an attack to miss automatically. They do not prevent

A magic attack roll does not suffer the target in melee attack
roll penalty when the point of origin is in melee with the
target. If such an attack misses and there are multiple models
in the combat, however, the attack can still hit another
random model in the combat, excluding the attacker and
the original target. Resolve these situations following the
rules in Targeting a Model in Melee on p.58 and Spell
Targeting on the next page. An AOE spell that misses in
this situation will deviate normally.
Magic Attack Roll Modifiers

The most common modifiers affecting a models magic

attack roll are summarized here for easy reference. Where
necessary, additional detail can be found on the pages listed.
Back Strike (p.61): A back strike gains +2 bonus to the
attack roll.
Cloud Effect (p.69): A model inside a cloud effect gains

77

Warcasters
concealment.
Concealment (p. 57): A model with concealment in
relation to its attacker gains +2 DEF against ranged and
magic attacks.
Cover (pp.5758): A model with cover in relation to its
attacker gains +4 DEF against ranged and magic attacks.
Elevated Attacker: If the attacker is on terrain at least 1
higher than the target, it is an elevated attacker. When
drawing line of sight from an elevated attacker, ignore
intervening models on terrain at least 1 lower than
the attacker unless they are within 1 of the target.
Additionally, ignore intervening models within 1 of
the target that are on terrain at least 1 lower than the
attacker and have equal or smaller-sized bases than
the attacker.
Elevated Target: If the target is on terrain at least 1 higher
than the attacker, it is an elevated target. When drawing
line of sight to an elevated target, ignore intervening
models on terrain at least 1 lower than the target. An
elevated target gains +2 DEF against ranged and magic
attack rolls.
Knocked Down Target (p. 63): While knocked down, a
model has its base DEF reduced to 5.
Stationary Target (p. 64): While stationary, a model has
its base DEF reduced to 5.
Target in Melee (p. 58): A ranged or magic attack roll
against a target in melee suffers a 4 penalty. Remember
that a model making a magic attack while in melee
with its target does not suffer this penalty. If the attack
misses, it will deviate and might hit a nearby model
instead.

Spell Targeting

Many spells can be cast only on certain types of models,

such as warjacks or enemy troopers. Such restrictions are
noted in a spells description. To abbreviate these targeting
restrictions, when a spells description mentions an effect
against a target something, the spell can be cast only on
that type of model.
Example: The Witch Coven of Garlghasts spell Infernal
Machine states target warjack in this models battlegroup
gains +2 MAT, +2 SPD, and Terror . Therefore when
a witch casts this spell it can target only a warjack in the
Covens battlegroup.
When using an offensive spell to attack a structure, ignore
its targeting restrictions.
When an offensive spell targeting a model in melee misses,
ignore its targeting restrictions when determining which
model in the combat might be hit instead. If the new target

78

is an invalid one for the spell, the spell has no further effect.
(See Targeting a Model in Melee on p.58 and Offensive
Spells and Magic Attacks above for details on resolving a
magic attack against a model in melee.) An AOE spell that
misses will deviate normally instead.
Example: Warwitch Deneghra attempts to cast Crippling
Grasp on a Protectorate Temple Flameguard trooper in melee
with one of her Deathrippers, which is itself in melee with
two other Flameguard troopers. Thus, there are four models in
the combat. If she misses, determine which of the other three
models might be hit by the spell instead as usual.

Upkeep Spells

Upkeep spells can be maintained for more than one round.

During your Control Phase, your models can spend focus
to keep their upkeep spells in play. Each upkeep spell
requires 1 focus point for its upkeep every time. A model
can maintain an upkeep spell even if the spells effects are
outside that models control area. If focus is not spent to
maintain one of your upkeep spells during your Control
Phase, the spell immediately expires.
A model can have only one instance of each specific upkeep
spell in play at a time, but it can maintain any number of
different upkeep spells simultaneously if it spends enough
focus points to do so. A model or unit can have only one
friendly and one enemy upkeep spell in play on it at a
time. If another upkeep spell is cast on a model or unit that
already has one from the same sidefriendly or enemy
the older upkeep spell expires and is replaced by the
newly cast one when the affected model is hit by the spell.
The older upkeep spell expires even if only a single model
in the unit is affected by the new upkeep spell. Likewise,
an upkeep spell on one model expires if its unit is affected
by a new upkeep spell from the same side.
A model can recast any of its upkeep spells already in play.
If this happens, the spells previous casting immediately
expires when the COST of the new casting is paid.
If an upkeep spell affecting a unit expires on one model in
the unit, it expires on all models in the unit.
Example: A unit of Khador Iron Fang Pikemen currently has
the Iron Flesh spell in play on it. The Khador player decides it
would be more beneficial to have the Fury spell cast on the unit
instead and casts it, which immediately removes the Iron Flesh
spell when he pays Furys COST. During the Cryx players
turn, Deneghra casts Crippling Grasp on the unit. This does
not remove the Fury spell because an enemy upkeep spell does
not replace a friendly one.
Pay particular attention to this restriction when casting
upkeep spells with a target of SELF. If Severius has Eye of
Menoth active, casting Vision on himself would cause Eye
of Menoth to expire.

Multiple Spell Effects

Warcasters
Although it is not possible to have more than one friendly
upkeep spell and one enemy upkeep spell on a model or
unit at a time, it is possible for a model or unit to be affected
by more than one spell or animus at a time. As long as
a model or unit is under the effects of no more than one
friendly and one enemy upkeep spell, it can be affected by
any number of non-upkeep spells and up to one friendly
animus effect at the same time.
Example: Haley casts Deadeye on a unit of Arcane Tempest
Gun Mages already under the effects of Arcane Shield. Arcane
Shield does not expire when Deadeye is cast because Deadeye is
not an upkeep spell.

Control Area and Channeling

Deathripper B

Revenger

Channeling

Models with the Arc Node

advantage, known as
channelers, are equipped with devices called arc nodes
that act as passive relays for spells and extend their
effective range. A spellcaster can cast spells through any
channeler in its battlegroup that is also within its control
area. The spellcaster is still the attacker and the model
casting the spell, but the channeler becomes the spells
point of origin. This means that eligible targets and the
spells range are measured from the channeling warjack
and that the channeling warjack must have line of sight
to the spells target. Channeling a spell does not require
the spellcaster to have line of sight to either the channeler
or the spells target. There is no additional focus cost for
channeling a spell.
A channeler engaged by an enemy model cannot channel
spells. A stationary channeler can channel spells, but one
that is knocked down cannot. A channeler can be the target
of a non-offensive spell it channels, but a spell with a RNG
of SELF cannot be channeled. A channeler cannot be the
target of an offensive spell channeled through it.
Make a magic attack for a channeled offensive spell
normally. The warcaster can spend focus to boost die rolls
or otherwise enhance the spell normally.
Remember, the channeler is just a relay. Being used to
channel a spell is a passive effect that occurs during
a spellcasters activation and has no impact on the
channelers own activation. Focus points allocated to a
channeler cannot be used to pay the spells COST or boost
its rolls, for example.

Kreoss
Deathripper A

High Exemplar Kreoss has FOCUS 7, so his control area

(represented by the shaded area) measures 14 from his
base. Kreoss can channel spells through his Revenger
warjack as long as the Revenger is within his control area.
A warjack must have line of sight to a target in order
to be used to channel spells at it. Therefore Kreoss can
use the Revenger to channel spells at Deathripper B, but
he cannot use it to channel spells at Deathripper A even
though Kreoss himself has line of sight to it.

Channeling 101
Channeling a spell does not require the spellcaster to have
line of sight to either the channeler or the spells target. The
channeler must have line of sight to the spells target, though.
A warcaster can channel a spell through only a single channeler
at a time. Spells cannot be relayed from one channeler to
another.
The warcaster casts the spell, but the channeler is the spells
point of origin. A warjack cannot be the target of an offensive
spell channeled through it.

79

Additional Rules

Marshaling, Cavalry, Epic, and More

Jack Marshals

Warcasters are elite military leaders representing a

combination of mage and warrior rare in the Iron
Kingdoms. Supporting their armies are capable soldiers
specially trained to command warjacks without the benefit
of magical skills. These specialists, called jack marshals,
can control warjacks using both gestures and commands
shouted across the battlefield. Though not as efficient as
using focus, the jack marshals skills can guide a warjack
to perform maneuvers it normally would not be able to
manage on its own.
Although they are not warcasters, jack marshals can begin
the game controlling warjacks. These warjacks are not part
of any warcasters battlegroup. A jack marshal can control
up to two Faction warjacks. Mercenary jack marshals can
control only mercenary warjacks.
Once during each of its activations while in its controllers
command range, a warjack controlled by a jack marshal can
gain one of the following benefits:
The warjack can use its normal movement to run or
charge.
The warjack can make one additional attack during its
combat action.
The warjack can boost one attack or damage roll.
A warjack cannot gain one of these benefits while its
controlling jack marshal is fleeing, knocked down, or
stationary.
If a jack marshal is removed from the table, his warjacks
become autonomous but do not become inert. Autonomous
warjacks remain active but do not have a controller. An
autonomous warjack acts normally but cannot be marshaled
or have focus allocated to it, though it can receive focus
from other sources. A warjack must have a controller at the
start of the game. It cannot begin the game autonomous.
A jack marshal can reactivate one inert friendly Faction
warjack per turn in the same manner as a warcaster (p.68).
The reactivated warjack comes under the jack marshals
control unless he already controls two warjacks; in that
case, the reactivated warjack becomes autonomous.
If an effect causes your jack marshal to fall under your
opponents control, while your jack marshal is controlled
by your opponent, the warjacks under its control remain
under your control and become autonomous. If you regain
control of your jack marshal, the jack marshal resumes
control of the warjacks unless some other model has already
taken control of them.

80

A warcaster, or a jack marshal who does not already control

his limit of warjacks, can take control of an autonomous
friendly Faction warjack. To do this, he must end his
movement in base-to-base contact with the autonomous
warjack and forfeit his action, though he can still cast spells,
use his feat, and use special abilities. The warjack must
forfeit its activation and cannot channel spells on the turn it
becomes controlled. Beginning with the next turn, it can be
marshaled or allocated focus.
Units

If a unit has the Jack Marshal advantage, the unit

commander of the unit is the jack marshal.
If the unit commander leaves play, the new unit
commander of that unit gains the Jack Marshal advantage
and automatically becomes the controller of any warjacks
previously controlled by the unit commander that left play.
Example: The Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer unit
attachment has the Jack Marshal advantage. If the Officer
leaves play, the Leader of the Arcane Tempest Gun Mage unit
becomes the new unit commander and gains the Jack Marshal
advantage.
Drives

Drives are special commands that some jack marshals can

issue to the warjacks they control. A jack marshal's drives
are described in its special rules. A jack marshal can attempt
to drive each warjack under its control that is in its command
range once during its activation. A jack marshal can attempt
to drive a warjack at any time during its activation. When
the jack marshal attempts to drive a warjack, he must make
a command check. If the jack marshal passes the check, the
warjack is affected by the drive. If the jack marshal fails the
check, the warjack cannot benefit from Jack Marshal for the
rest of the turn.

can
Drives that appear in the special rules on an Officer
be used only by that Officer. If the Officer leaves play, its
drives cannot be used by the new unit commander.

Allies

Allies are Faction models that will work for mercenary

contracts that specify they can include models that will
work for the allys faction. Allies are Mercenary models
when included in a Mercenary army. (Rules for fielding
contract armies can be found in Forces of WARMACHINE:
Mercenaries.)
Example: The Highborn Covenant mercenary contract
says it can include mercenaries that will work for Cygnar,
so Precursor Knights (Cygnar allies) can be included in a
Highborn Covenant contract army.

Additional Rules
Cavalry

Mounted forces are renowned for their terrifying charges,

which couple tremendous speed with great weight. Even
troops who can avoid being cut down by lances and sabers
are still vulnerable to being crushed underfoot. It is little
wonder the cavalry charge has remained a valid military
tactic since its inception thousands of years before the
arrival of the Orgoth.

Cavalry Charge Example

Exemplar A

Certain WARMACHINE models and units are designated

as cavalry. In addition to all the standard rules for models
of their types, cavalry models have the following additional
rules in common.
Tall in the Saddle

Cavalry models ignore intervening models with bases

smaller than their own when making melee attacks.

Exemplar B
Exemplar C

Ride-by Attack

A cavalry model can combine its normal movement and

action in a ride-by attack. Declare that the model is doing so
at the beginning of its normal movement. The model makes
a full advance and can halt its movement at any point to
make its combat action. Do not resolve abilities that trigger
when the model ends its normal movement at this time. After
it ends its combat action, the model resumes its movement.
Therefore, a model making a ride-by attack triggers endof-action effects before end-of-normal-movement effects. A
cavalry trooper making a ride-by attack must complete both
its movement and its combat action before the next model
begins its normal movement.
Models in a cavalry unit must receive an order to make a
ride-by attack. A cavalry model that received a ride-by
attack order can make its attacks that activation even while
out of formation.

Storm Lance

Mount

A cavalry models Mount not only provides transportation

but also is a weapon in its own right. Mounts are indicated
by a horseshoe icon in their stat bars. A Mount weapon has
a 0.5 melee range. Attacks made with a Mount are melee
attacks and are resolved normally except that the damage
roll is only 2d6 plus the POW of the Mount. Do not add the
cavalry models STR to Mount damage rolls. Mount attack
and damage rolls cannot be boosted.
Mount Melee Attack Damage Roll = 2d6 + POW of Mount
Normally a model can use its Mount only to make impact
attacks (see Cavalry Charge, next).
Cavalry Charge

A charge made by a cavalry model differs in several ways

from a standard charge. When declaring a charge target,
cavalry models ignore intervening models with bases
smaller than their own.

The Storm Lance declares a charge targeting Exemplar A.

The Storm Lance then moves in a straight line toward his
target. After moving 4, he stops short when he moves
into base-to-base contact with Exemplar B. He then makes
impact attacks targeting Exemplars B and C since both
models are in his Mounts melee range.
After hitting and destroying Exemplars B and C, the Storm
Lance continues his charge movement to Exemplar A.
If Exemplar C had not been destroyed, the Storm Lance
could have continued the charge anyway, although he
would have suffered a free strike. If Exemplar B had not
been destroyed, the Storm Lances charge would have been
unable to continue, and the charge would have failed.

81

Additional Rules
If a charging cavalry model contacts another model during
its movement and has moved at least 3, it can stop and
make impact attacks with its Mount (see Mount,
previous) against all models in the Mounts melee range.
The model makes these attacks even if it is out of formation.
Impact attacks are simultaneous. After resolving the impact
attacks, the charging model resumes its charge movement.
It cannot make further impact attacks during this charge. If
the charging cavalry model did not move at least 3 before
contacting the other model, it does not make any impact
attacks and must stop its movement at that point. If the
cavalry models target is not in melee at the end of the
charge movement, the charge fails. If the charge target is
the first model contacted by the charging cavalry model, the
charging model can still make an impact attack against it.
A cavalry model gains +2 to charge attack rolls. Impact
attacks do not receive this bonus.
Dragoons

Dragoons are cavalry models that begin the game

mounted but can become dismounted during play. For
some dragoons the ability to be dismounted is optional.
Adding this ability to the dragoon increases its point cost
and total damage capacity.
While mounted, a dragoon is subject to all the normal
cavalry rules. Once the dragoon has become dismounted,
it is no longer a cavalry model and loses all cavalry
abilities, including its Mount weapon. A models Dragoon
rule might list abilities and weapons that the model loses
when it becomes dismounted. Dragoons have stats with
two different base values. Use the first value while the
dragoon is mounted and the second once the dragoon has
become dismounted.
When a mounted dragoon suffers damage, apply the
damage to its mounted dragoon damage boxes. When all
these damage boxes are marked, the dragoon becomes
disabled unless it has the ability to become dismounted. If
the dragoon does have that ability, it becomes dismounted
instead. Damage points in excess of the mounted dragoons
remaining unmarked damage boxes are not applied to
its dismounted damage boxes. If this occurs while the
dragoon is advancing, it cannot continue to advance; if it
occurs during the dragoons activation, the activation ends
immediately. Remove the mounted dragoon and replace
it with the dismounted dragoon model (see Replacing
Models, p. 64). Apply effects that were on the mounted
dragoon to the dismounted dragoon. Once this replacement
is complete, any further damage the dragoon suffers will
be applied to its dismounted dragoon damage boxes. The
model is disabled when all its dismounted dragoon damage
boxes have been marked.

82

Light Cavalry

Some cavalry models are designated as light cavalry. They

follow all the normal cavalry rules with the following
alterations.
After an independent light cavalry model completes its
action, the model can advance up to 5. After all the models
in a light cavalry unit have completed their actions, each
can advance up to 5. A light cavalry model cannot make
ride-by attacks or impact attacks. A light cavalry model
can make initial attacks with its Mount. When making
additional attacks, a light cavalry model can use its Mount.

Character Warjacks

Character warjacks represent the pinnacle of each factions

mechanikal development. Due to their experimental or
unpredictable nature, character warjacks cannot typically
bond unless a special rule specifically allows them to do
so. (For details see Appendix B: Warjack Bonding on p.246
and Affinities, below.) In addition, character warjacks
cannot begin a game under the control of a jack marshal. If
a jack marshal reactivates a character warjack, the warjack
becomes autonomous instead of coming under the jack
marshals control.
Affinities

Affinities are special abilities conveyed to some character

warjacks when the warjack is part of a specific warcasters
battlegroup. The warjack gains the affinity when controlled
by any version of the warcaster listed in the name of the
ability. A character warjack with an affinity can be bonded
to that warcaster (see Appendix B: Warjack Bonding, p.246).
The warcaster referenced in the text of an affinity always
refers to the warjacks controller.
Imprints

Some character warjacks have imprints representing a

partial awakening of the warjacks cortex. A warjack with
an imprint can use the imprint at any time during its
activation by spending 1 focus point but cannot interrupt its
movement or attack to use an imprint. It can use its imprint
before moving, after moving, before an attack, or after an
attack, but not while moving or attacking.

Elite Cadres

Some models confer abilities to other models of a certain

type in an army. Models that gain abilities from an Elite
Cadre rule retain them even if the model that granted those
abilities is destroyed or removed from play.

Epic Models

Constant exposure to the carnage of the battlefield and the

tumultuous nature of combat takes its toll. The warriors
of western Immoren are locked in world-shaping conflict

Additional Rules
and must continually push themselves to the limits of their
capabilities. The rigors of war affect the most stalwart
men, and not even the mightiest of warcasters can weather
them unchanged.
Epic models are variations of character models with fresh
abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Epic models are not
more powerful versions of the original characters but
instead reflect character growth and changes described
in major story arcs. If these models were simply
improvements on older versions, the older models would
quickly become obsolete. Epic models do not replace the
original models on which they are based but instead offer
players the opportunity to play whichever version they
prefer. There may be several epic versions of a model from
which to choose.
In story terms, these characters have not lost their original
abilities but have instead adapted to the demands of war by
adopting new tactics, equipment, and spells as necessary.
Because all versions of a model are considered the same
character, an army or team can include only one of those
versions. Just as a player cannot field two Reinholdt,
Gobber Speculator models in the same army, he cannot field
both Commander Coleman Stryker and epic warcaster Lord
Commander Stryker at the same time.
Epic Warcaster Bonding

Some epic warcasters have the Warjack Bond ability,

representing an exceptionally powerful connection between
the warcaster and some of his warjacks. This ability allows
the epic warcaster to start a game bonded to a warjack
in his battlegroup. These bonds follow the rules given in
Appendix B: Warjack Bonding (p.246) except as noted here.
Do not roll on the bond effect tables for these bonds. Their
effects are described in the epic warcasters special rules.
Designate which warjack is bonded to the epic warcaster
before the start of the game.
Campaign Play

In campaign play, the warcaster need not bond with the

same warjacks from battle to battle. These bonds are in
addition to any other bonds the warcaster forms during
play (see Appendix B: Warjack Bonding, p.246). A warjack
can be bonded to only one warcaster at any time, however.
If an epic warcasters Warjack Bond ability is applied to a
warjack that is already bonded to a warcaster, including
himself, the previous bond is broken and its effects are lost.
After the battle, do not make a bonding check for a warjack
affected by the Warjack Bond ability; it is already bonded to
the warcaster.

Magic Ability

Some models have the ability to cast spells as a special action

or attack without spending focus. The spells a model can
cast are listed in its entry under its Magic Ability special
rules. Magic Ability special attacks are magic attacks but are
resolved using the models Magic Ability score instead of
the FOCUS stat. A models Magic Ability score appears in
brackets next to Magic Ability; for example, a Greylord
Ternion model has Magic Ability [7].
Determine a Magic Ability attacks success by making a
magic attack roll. Roll 2d6 and add the attacking models
Magic Ability score.
Magic Ability Attack Roll = 2d6 + Magic Ability Score
Casting a Magic Ability spell does not require a skill check.

Mercenary Warcasters
and Warjacks

A mercenary warcaster counts toward the maximum

number of warcasters allowed in an army. Field allowance
is not faction-specific. If an army includes both faction and
mercenary warcasters, count all the warcasters in the army
when determining field allowance limits for both faction
and mercenary models and units. If the only warcasters in
an army are mercenaries, only mercenary models can be
included in that army.
Mercenary warjacks can be controlled and reactivated only
by mercenary warcasters and jack marshals. By the same
token, a mercenary warcaster or jack marshal can control
and reactivate only mercenary warjacks.

Theme Forces

Theme Forces are themed armies for specific warcasters. A

Theme Force can include only the warcaster named in its
title. If you are playing a game with two or more warcasters
in each army, you cannot use these rules.
Theme Forces are broken into tiers. Each tier has a set of
requirements that restricts your army composition. If your
army meets the requirements of a tier and the tiers before it,
you gain the benefits listed. These benefits are cumulative:
you gain the benefits of every tier for which your army
meets the requirements.
If a Theme Force can include a given unit, you can add any
attachments to the unit that are available to it.
Theme Forces and their requirements and benefits can be
found in each factions Forces of WARMACHINE book.

83

CommandOf Mice and Men

Command Checks, Fleeing, and Rallying
Regardless of a soldiers skill at arms, his real worth to
an army is measured by his will to fight. Warriors might
break and flee after suffering massive casualties or when
confronted by terrifying entities, while manipulative spells
can warp the minds of the weak-willed and cause them
to attack their allies. The inspiring presence of a nearby
warcaster or unit commander can steel the nerves of warriors
faced with these mental assaults and even rally them before
their panic becomes a full-blown rout. Command checks
determine the outcome of these game situations that test a
combatants discipline or mental resolve.

Command Range

Every model has a command range equal to its CMD in

inches. A model is always in its own command range.
Models in a unit that are in their unit commanders
command range are in formation. A unit commander
can rally and give orders to models in its unit that are in
formation. A trooper that is out of formation cannot rally
and will not receive orders (see p. 72). A trooper making an
individual command check can use its unit commanders
CMD if it is in formation.
advantage, which
Some models have the Commander
allows friendly Faction models or units in the models
command range to use its current CMD in place of their
own when making a command check if they prefer. When
making a command check for a unit, only one model in
the unit must be in the command range of the model
with the Commander advantage in order for the unit to
use that models CMD for the command check. A model
with the Commander advantage can rally any friendly
Faction model or unit that is in its command range (see
Rallying, next page).

Command Checks

Several different circumstances require a model or unit

to make a command check: massive casualties, terrifying
entities, and a spell or other attacks special rules.
When a model or unit is required to make a command check,
roll 2d6. If the result is equal to or less than its Command
(CMD) stat, it passes the check.
Passed Command Check: 2d6 CMD
Failed Command Check: 2d6 > CMD
In most cases, this means the model or unit continues to
function normally or rallies if it was fleeing. If the roll is
greater than the CMD, the check fails and the model or unit
suffers the consequences. When a unit fails a command

84

check, every trooper in that unit suffers the effects, including

out-of-formation troopers.
Example: A Khadoran Manhunter has a CMD of 9. The
Manhunter passes a command check on a 2d6 roll of 9 or less.
An independent model makes a command check on an
individual basis using its own CMD. It can use the CMD of a
advantage
friendly Faction model with the Commander
instead of its own if it is in that models command range,
but it is not required to do so.
In most cases, troopers make command checks at the unit
level. Some exceptions include troopers that end their
activations out of formation and spells that specifically
target single models. When you make unit-level command
checks, use the unit commanders CMD, and apply its
results to every trooper in that unit unless stated otherwise.
Just as with an individual model, a unit making a command
check within command range of a friendly Faction model
with the Commander advantage can use that models
CMD instead. Only one model in a unit must be in the
commanders command range for a unit-level check to be
able to use the commanders CMD.
A trooper making an individual command check can
use its unit commanders CMD if it is in formation.
Alternatively, it can use the CMD of a friendly Faction
model with the Commander advantage if it is within that
models command range, but it is not required to do so.

Massive Casualties

A unit suffers massive casualties when it loses 50% or more

of the models that were in it at the beginning of the current
turn. The unit must immediately pass a command check or
flee. A unit makes only one command check per turn due to
massive casualties. After you make a massive casualty roll
during a turn, pass or fail, you will not make another one
for that unit that turn for any reason. If you pass, the unit
will not flee as a result of massive casualties that turn.

Terrifying Entity

A terrifying entity is one with the Abomination

advantage.
Terror

or

A model or unit within 3 of a model with Abomination

friendly or enemymust pass a command check or flee.
A model or unit in melee range of an enemy model with
Terror, or a model or unit with an enemy model with Terror
in its melee range, must pass a command check or flee.
Make command checks due to proximity with terrifying
entities during a models or units normal movement when
the model or unit ends its normal movement. If a model

Command
immediately ends. Fleeing
does not cause the model to
move until its next activation;
a model that is already fleeing
cannot flee again and does not
make command checks against
fleeing.
Example: If the terrifying entity
the Butcher of Khardov moves
within melee range of a fleeing
model, the fleeing model does not
make a command check against
fleeing.

or unit encounters a terrifying entity at some other time,

such as when an enemy model gains the Terror ability or a
terrifying entity is placed near the model or unit, make the
command check immediately after resolving the attack or
effect that caused the encounter.
Example: If Iron Lich Asphyxious moves into melee with
a Temple Flameguard, the Flameguards unit makes a
command check as soon as Asphyxious ends his movement. If
a Flameguard moves into melee with Asphyxious, however,
make a command check for his unit after all the troopers in
the unit finish moving. In either case, make the command
check before any model makes an action. If Asphyxious
used Teleport to place himself into the melee range of a
Flameguard, make the command check after the placement is
resolved.
A single terrifying entity can cause a model or unit to
make only one command check per turn due to proximity.
Additionally, a model or unit that passes a command
check caused by its proximity to a terrifying entity does
not make further command checks as a result of proximity
to the entity if it remains inside the range that triggered
the effect. If these models become separated and encounter
each other during a later turn, another command check
will be required.
A unit that consists of terrifying entities counts as a
single terrifying entity for the purpose of these rules. A
model or unit need only make a single command check
for encountering the unit regardless of how many of its
troopers it actually encounters.

A fleeing model must run

during its activation. It is
not required to move the full
distance of its run, however,
and it can even run 0 if desired.
If a fleeing model cannot run, it
makes a full advance and must forfeit its action. A fleeing
model cannot advance toward any enemy models. While
fleeing, a model cannot make actions, advance outside of its
normal movement, give orders, cast spells, or make attacks,
including attacks that do not take place during the models
or units activation, such as a free strike.
At the end of its activation, a fleeing model or unit might
have an opportunity to rally.

Rallying

A fleeing model or unit can make a command check to rally

at the end of its activation. If a trooper is fleeing but its
unit is not, it can make a command check to rally only if
it is in formation with its unit commander or if it is within
the command range of a friendly Faction model with the
Commander advantage. If a fleeing unit makes a command
check to rally, every trooper in the unit is affected by the
result regardless of its formation status.
If the model or unit passes the command check, it rallies.
When a model or unit rallies, it is no longer fleeing. If the
fleeing model or unit fails the command check, it is still
fleeing.

Fearless Models

A model with the Fearless

advantage never flees and
automatically passes command checks against fleeing.
It still makes other command checks as normal. Fleeing
models that become Fearless immediately rally.

Fleeing

A model or unit that fails a command check against fleeing

flees. Some special rules can even cause a model to flee
without making a command check at all. If this occurs
during the models or units activation, the activation

85

TerrainYour Best Friend

The Battlefield, Hazards, and Structures
The lay of the land has a tremendous impact on an armys
ability to maneuver. The most cunning commanders use
terrain conditions to their best advantage. These terrain
rules provide guidelines for establishing the effects and
restrictions a battlefields objects and environment can have
on a game. Covering the rules for every possible terrain
type would be an endless task, so players themselves must
determine the exact nature of each terrain feature on the
battlefield before the game begins.

Before Play

Players must discuss the terrain setup and agree on

the characteristics for different terrain features prior to
deploying their armies. Decide which terrain features
grant cover or concealment, which provide elevation and
at what level, which are impassable, and so on. It is vital to
understand the rules for all terrain features in play before
the start of the game; developing the habit of discussing
terrain before the game will help you avoid unnecessary
disagreements and misunderstandings during play.

Setting Terrain Details

When discussing the specifics of terrain features, it may be
handy to keep the following questions in mind:
Does it provide cover or concealment?
Is it rough terrain? Impassable?
Does it provide elevation? If so, does it have a gradual
or sloped surface? Are some parts of the elevated terrain
feature gradual while others are sheer?
Does it have any special rules? Is it forest, shallow water,
a trench, a structure, or so on?
What characteristics of terrain are likely to become
important during the game due to the abilities and spells
of the models in my army?

Battlefield Setup

When placing terrain, strive for a visually appealing and

tactically challenging battlefield. These qualities provide the
most exciting and memorable games. Battlefield setup and
terrain placement is not a competitive portion of the game
players should not strategically place terrain features in
a manner that unfairly aids or penalizes a specific army.
However, a scenario might dictate doing so to represent an
overmatched force defending a village or mountain pass,

86

for example. In such a scenario, giving the defending army

a strong defensive position would be one way to make up
for being outclassed by its opponent.
Use the amount of terrain that suits the type of game you
wish to play. A table with few terrain features favors ranged
attacks and swift movement, while using more terrain
features shifts the emphasis toward melee combat.
Consider model base sizes when placing terrain features
close together, since a model can move between obstructions
or impassable terrain only if its base will fit between them.
With careful placement, you can create narrow passages
that can be accessed only by models with smaller bases.

Terrain Types

A models movement can be affected by the type of ground

it covers. In WARMACHINE, terrain falls into one of three
categories: open, rough, and impassable.

Open Terrain

Open terrain is mostly smooth, even ground. A model

in open terrain moves 1 for every 1 of its movement.
Examples include grassy plains, barren fields, flat rooftops,
dirt roads, sloped hillsides, elevated walkways, and paved
surfaces.

Rough Terrain

Rough terrain can be traversed but at a significantly slower

pace than open terrain. As long as any part of its base is
in rough terrain, a model suffers a movement penalty that
causes it to move only 0.5 for every 1 of its movement.
Examples include thick brush, rocky areas, murky bogs,
shallow water, and deep snow.

Impassable Terrain

Impassable terrain is terrain that completely prohibits

movement. Examples include cliff faces, oceans, and
lava. A model cannot move across or be placed within
impassable terrain.

Terrain Features

Natural and man-made objects on the battlefield are terrain

features. Each terrain feature is unique, so you must decide
its specific qualities before staring the game. Terrain features
are virtually limitless in their variety, but you can quantify
each by how it affects movement, the type of protection it
affords, and any adverse effects it causes.
In addition to hindering movement, terrain features can
also provide protection against attacks. A terrain feature
such as a hedge grants a model concealment by making

Terrain

it more difficult to be seen even though the feature is not

dense enough to block the attack itself. A terrain feature
such as a stone wall or a building grants a model cover by
being solid enough to block an attack physically.

Obstacles

An obstacle is any terrain feature less than 1 tall. These

affect a models movement, provide protection from attacks,
and serve as intervening terrain during melee combat.
A model with any portion of its volume obscured from
its attacker by an obstacle gains +2 DEF against melee
attack rolls.
Moving over Obstacles

Obstacles are low enough that they can be climbed upon or,
in some cases, easily crossed. An obstacle must be at least 1
thick, such as a raised platform or the sides of a ziggurat, in
order for a model to climb atop and stand on it.
An advancing model suffers a movement penalty when it
climbs atop an obstacle. Once the model has contacted the
obstacle, it needs to spend 2 of its movement to climb up.
A model cannot climb an obstacle if it does not have at least
2 of movement remaining. Place a model that climbs an
obstacle atop it with the front of the models base making
only 1 of forward progress. Once atop an obstacle, the
model can continue with the remainder of its movement.
Remember that a charging model cannot pay this movement
penalty, cannot climb an obstacle and ends its movement
upon contact.
A medium- or large-based model might have trouble
balancing atop an obstacle if it does not continue moving
after initially climbing it. With only 1 of forward progress,
the back of the models base will overhang the back of the

obstacle. This is finejust prop up the model with some extra

dice or replace it with an empty base until it can move again.
A moving model can descend an obstacle without penalty.
Linear Obstacles

An obstacle up to 1 tall but less than 1 thick, such as a wall

or hedge, is a linear obstacle. A non-charging advancing
model can cross a linear obstacle at no penalty as long as the
model can move completely past it. Otherwise the model
must stop short of the linear obstacle. A model cannot
partially cross, climb atop, or stand atop a linear obstacle.

Obstructions

An obstruction is a terrain feature 1 tall or greater, such

as a high wall or a gigantic boulder. A model cannot
move through or climb an obstruction. Like an obstacle,
obstructions provide protection from attacks and serve as
intervening terrain during melee combat. A model with
any portion of its volume obscured from its attacker by an
obstruction gains +2 DEF against melee attack rolls.

Variably Sized Terrain

Features

Terrain features can have some parts that are greater than 1
tall and some parts that are less, such as a crumbling wall.
In such cases players should decide before the start of the
game whether they are treating the terrain feature as an
obstacle, an obstruction, or both. If they are treating it as
both, the portions less than 1 tall are obstacles and the parts
over 1 tall are obstructions.

Forests

A typical forest has many trees and dense underbrush,

but any terrain feature that hinders movement and makes

87

Terrain
a model inside it difficult to see can also be designated a
forest. A forest is rough terrain and provides concealment to
a model with any part of its base inside its perimeter.
When drawing line of sight to or from a point within a
forest, the line of sight can pass through up to 3 of forest
without being blocked, but anything more blocks it. When
a model outside of a forest attempts to draw line of sight
to another point outside of a forest, the forest blocks line of
sight to anything beyond it. Thus, a model can see 3 into
or out of a forest but not completely through one regardless
of how thick it is.

Hills

A hill is a terrain feature with a gentle rise or drop in

elevation. Since many terrain pieces use stepped sides
instead of gradual slopes to represent a hills elevations,
be sure to declare whether the terrain feature is a hill or
an obstacle.
A hill might be open or rough terrain depending on the
grounds nature. Unlike obstacles, hills do not impose any
additional movement penalties, nor do they provide cover
or concealment. They simply provide elevation to models
on them. A model can charge up or down a hill in open
terrain at no penalty.

Even if a warcaster other than its controller restarts it, the

warjack remains part of its original battlegroup. When a
warjacks furnace is restarted, the warjack automatically
stands up.

Trenches

Trenches are earthwork fortifications represented by 3 5

templates (included on p. 256). Trench templates are
designed to be placed in contact with each other to create
networks of trenches on the table.
A model completely within the area of one or more trench
templates has cover from attacks made by models not
touching at least one of the trench templates the model is
in. Models completely within the area of a trench template
do not suffer blast damage unless the origin of damage is in
a trench template they are touching. When drawing line of
sight to a model not completely within one or more trench
templates, ignore models completely within one or more
trench templates.

Trenches

Water

Depending on its nature, water can be hazardous to both

warriors and warjacks. When placing a water terrain
feature, declare whether it is deep or shallow.
Deep Water

A warjack in deep water is removed from play.

A model cannot begin a charge or run while in deep water.
As long as any part of its base is in deep water a model
moves only 0.5 for every 1 of its movement and cannot
make actions, cast spells, use feats, or give orders. A model
in deep water cannot engage other models or make attacks.
A warcaster in deep water can still allocate focus points and
use them to maintain upkeep spells.
A model in deep water has base DEF 7. A warrior model
ending its activation in deep water automatically suffers 1
damage point.
Shallow Water

Shallow water is rough terrain.

A warjack that is knocked down in shallow water has its
furnace extinguished and is stationary until its furnace is
restarted. A friendly warrior model in base-to-base contact
with the warjack can restart it by forfeiting its action. The
warjack must forfeit its activation and cannot channel spells
the turn it is restarted, but it functions normally next turn.

88

A
D

Assault Kommandos A, B, and C are completely within the

area of one or more trench templates, so they have cover
and do not suffer blast damage unless the origin of the
damage is in a trench template they are touching.
Assault Kommandos D and E are not completely within the
area of one or more trench templates, so they do not gain
the benefits of being within the trench.

Structures

Structures present unique opportunities for terrain

arrangement and tactical play. A structure is any terrain
feature that can be damaged and destroyed. The most
common structures are buildings, but you can use
these guidelines for fortress walls, bridges, and similar
constructions as well. Keep in mind that these rules are
guidelines and might need to be adapted to the actual
terrain pieces you are using.
Example: A burned-out building that has only its exterior
walls remaining might be large enough that models deep within

Terrain

Capacity
Structure Material ARM Damage
(points per inch)
12
5
Wood
14
5
Reinforced Wood
16
10
Brick
18
10
Stone
20
20
Iron
22
20
Steel
its interior are far enough away from those walls not to suffer
damage when the structure collapses.
Example: A house might have attached fences and field walls.
Those walls and fences are best treated as separate structures
from the house itself even though they are part of the single
terrain piece. After all, shooting at a fence should not cause the
house to collapse!
Before the start of the game, players must agree which, if
any, terrain features can be damaged during play.
Damaging and Destroying Structures

An attack against a structure must target a section of

the structure. An attack against a structure in range
automatically hits. A structure is also automatically hit by a
spray attack if any part of the structure is within the spray
template. Not all weapons are effective against structures,
however, so a model must have a weapon that will do the
job if it intends to punch through. Ranged weapons such as
handguns, rifles, and crossbows are all but useless. A ranged
attack must have a POW of at least 14 to damage a structure.
Melee attacks, magic attacks, and AOE attacks do full
damage against structures, as do ranged attacks that cause
fire or corrosion damage. Structures suffer blast damage
and collateral damage. A magic attack does only its normal
damage to a structure; except for its stats and damage type,
ignore a spells rules when it targets a structure. A structure
cannot be charged or slammed.
A structure can suffer only so much damage before being
destroyed. Every structure has an Armor (ARM) stat and
damage capacity corresponding to its composition, size,
and nature. Before the start of the game, the players must
agree on each damageable structures ARM and damage
capacity. A structures damage capacity is determined by
its composition and size. A wooden structure typically
has a capacity of 5 damage points per inch of perimeter.
The damage capacity of stone structures is typically 10 per
inch. A reinforced stone or metal structure has a capacity
of 20 or more damage points per inch. See the table below
for typical ARM and damage capacity values. For mixedcomposition structures, ARM values might vary from
location to location. Assign damage capacity of mixedcomposition structures proportionally.

Example: A 1-wide or so wooden door in an otherwise stone

building would contribute only 5 points to the structures
damage capacity. The door has ARM 12 while the surrounding
stone has ARM 18.
Undamaged portions of walls or other freestanding
structures remain intact as the structure suffers damage, so
the total damage capacity of such structures is determined
by their total perimeter (or length, for linear structures such
as walls or small structures such as obelisks). Complex
structures such as buildings and bridges, however, rely
on the support of all portions to remain standing. Such
a structures damage capacity is only half the value
determined by its composition and perimeter or length.
Example: A 3-wide stone wall is destroyed once it suffers a
total of 30 damage points (3 length 10 points per inch), but
a 3 6 stone building collapses when it suffers 90 points of
damage (18 perimeter 10 points per inch 2).
When a structure is destroyed it collapses. Remove the
collapsed structure from the table and replace it with an
equal-sized ruin. A ruin is rough terrain and provides cover to
a model with any part of its base inside the ruins perimeter.
In addition, the destroyed structure can damage models that
are inside it when it collapses.
A model inside the structure when it collapses suffers a
damage roll with Power (POW) equal to the structures
ARM times the number of levels in the structure, after
which the model is knocked down.
Example: A warjack inside a three-story brick building when
it collapses suffers a POW 48 (brick structure ARM 16 3
levels) damage roll. Whatever is left of the warjack is then
knocked down.

Entryways

Some terrain features such as buildings and walls have

entryways that allow models to pass through or enter them.
A model cannot enter a terrain feature if the interior is not
physically accessible to the players.
Example: A model can enter a ruined building that is missing
its roof or one that has a removable roof. It cannot enter a
building with a fixed roof that cannot be opened in some other
way to allow access to the models inside of it.
Before the start of the game, players must agree on which
terrain features can be entered and the locations of any
entryways into those terrain features. Player should also
determine which base sizes those entryways accommodate.
Example: Players might decide that a heavy warjack is unable
to pass through a doorway much smaller than its base size or
that warrior models of any size can move through ground floor
windows.

89

ScenariosWhy We Cant All Be Friends

Variations of Gameplay

There are as many reasons for war as there are wars

themselves. Sides seldom clash with only the intent
to eliminate one another. It could be a skirmish over
boundaries, a fight over resources, or an attempt to hold
important strategic ground. Conceiving a reason for your
conflicts can greatly enhance your WARMACHINE gaming
experiences.
Here you will find six scenarios ready to play. Each
occurs on a balanced playing field conveying no specific
advantage to any one army. You can agree with your
opponent on which scenario to play or roll a d6 prior to
building your army and play the scenario indicated on the
table included here.
Each scenario provides special rules that describe how to
handle the unique circumstances of the scenario. Certain
scenarios will also have restrictions on army composition
as well as how the game table should be set up. Most
scenarios can be played at any encounter level you choose.
Experiment with different combinations, and feel free to
create variations or unique scenarios of your own!
Unless otherwise noted in the rules of a scenario, all
scenarios are intended to be played on a 4 4 table with a
fair amount of terrain. Players decide how much terrain to
use and then take turns placing terrain.
Determine deployment and turn order with a standard
starting roll (detailed on p.40). Players are allowed to place
their forces completely within 10 of the table edge.

Objective Markers

Some scenarios use objective markers to denote key

strategic points on the table. Objective markers are circular
areas 50mm in diameter placed as directed by the scenario.
A player holds an objective marker when the only models
with bases overlapping the marker are his. Inert warjacks,
cannot hold
wild warbeasts, and incorporeal models
an objective.

Random Scenario Determination

If both players agree, instead of choosing a scenario for
battle, you can roll a d6 and consult this table to determine
the scenario you will play.

Roll

Result

Break the Line

Killing Field

Mangled Metal

Mosh Pit

No Mans Land

Throw Down

Basic Battle
A mortal man is never so close to divinity as when
he commands an army in battle. The tides of war
rise and fall by the will of generals.
Kommandant Gurvaldt Irusk
Description

The loss of a warcaster will deal a crippling blow to any

force and may shatter the morale of an entire army. In this
battle, two armies clash with the goal of destroying the
opposing commander.

Special Rules

There are no special rules for this scenario.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster(s) in play.

Multiplayer Game

In a multiplayer Basic Game scenario, all players should

have the same size deployment zones, equidistant from
each other.

90

Scenarios

Break the Line

Killing Field

There is a method to exploiting the chaos of war.

If your orchestration of battle deafens them with
its cacophony, so much the better.
Grand Scrutator Severius

Victory can be measured in terms of both ground

gained and casualties inflicted.
Major Markus Siege Brisbane

Description

Bold advances are required on this battlefield as each army

drives forward to break the enemy line and claim enemy
territories without losing regions under its own control.

Killing Field is a desperate struggle between two armies

to seize control of the battlefield either by entrenching
themselves on the centerline or by inflicting crippling losses
on the opposition.

Special Rules

Special Rules

Divide the table between the deployment zones into six

14 16 territories.
A player controls a territory if he has one or more models
completely within it and his opponent does not. For a
unit to control a territory, all models in the unit still in
play must be completely within it. A warrior model must
have a CMD greater than 1 to control a territory. Ignore
inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and fleeing models when
checking for control.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster(s) in play. Starting at the end of the first players
third turn, a player will also win if he holds two territories
on his half of the table and one territory on his opponents
half of the table at the end of his opponents turn.

Description

Before the start of the game, place three objective markers in

the middle of the table, one at the center and one 8 from each
side of the table. Any terrain features preventing a model
from standing on one of these markers should be moved.
A player scores control points by holding objective markers
at the end of his turn. A player scores 1 control point for
each marker held. Control points cannot be scored during
the first round of the game.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster in play or when he has scored 7 or more
control points.

Multiplayer Game

Killing Field is not suited to multiplayer play.

Multiplayer Game

Break the Line is not suited to multiplayer play.

10

Deployment Zone

10

Deployment Zone

14
16

Objective Markers

10

Deployment Zone

Territories

10

Deployment Zone

91

Scenarios

Mangled Metal

Mosh Pit

Theres nothing like the glorious clamor of

warjacks crashing together, hulls ringing and
furnaces spewing ash with gouts of sparks and
flame, and the deafening screech of metal as one
rends the other apart.
Casner Feist, leader of the Daggermoor Rovers

Their sacrifice is meaningless. With each death we

gain ground.
Lich Lord Terminus

Description

Mangled Metal is a brutal clash between warjacks in which

the only goal is survival. Such a battle proves a warcaster
and his jacks are the equal of an entire army.

Special Rules

Each player is allowed only a single warcaster. Besides its

one warcaster, each army can include only warjacks; units
and solos have no place in Mangled Metal.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster in play or when all his opponents warjacks have
been wrecked or removed from play.

Multiplayer Game

In multiplayer Mangled Metal, all players should have

equal deployment zones, equidistant from each other.

Description

The rhythm of warfare often leads to decisive moments

as enemy lines are crossed or territories lost. Mosh Pit is a
bitter, disorganized brawl in the center of the battlefield in
which the only rule is to seize the initiative and never back
down.

Special Rules

Mark a 16-diameter circle centered on the table. This is the

mosh pit.
A player controls the mosh pit if he has one or more models
completely within the mosh pit and his opponent does not.
For a unit to control the mosh pit, all models in the unit in
play must be completely within it. A warrior model must
have a CMD greater than 1 to control the mosh pit. Ignore
wrecked or inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and fleeing
models when checking for control.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster(s) in play. Starting on the first players third turn,
a player will also win if he ends his turn in control of the
mosh pit.

Multiplayer Game

In multiplayer Mosh Pit, all players should have equal

deployment zones, equidistant from each other.

10

Deployment Zone

10

Deployment Zone

16

Mosh Pit

10

92

Deployment Zone

10

Deployment Zone

Scenarios

No Mans Land

Throw Down

In Menoths name, we shall consecrate this land

with the blood of their fallen!
Grand Scrutator Severius

Striking the killing blow is meaningless if you

open yourself to a fatal retaliation. This is as true
for an army as when fighting blade to blade.
Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion

Description

With battle lines drawn, two great armies converge on the

no mans land between them.

Special Rules

Mark an 8-wide area, running east to west, centered on the

centerline of the table. This is the no mans land.
A player controls the no mans land if he has one or more
models completely within it and his opponent does not. For
a unit to control the no mans land, all models in the unit
still in play must be completely within it. A warrior model
must have a CMD greater than 1 to control the no mans
land. Ignore wrecked or inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and
fleeing models when checking for control.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster(s) in play. Starting on the first players third turn,
a player wins when he ends his turn in control of the no
mans land.

Multiplayer Game

No Mans Land is not suited to multiplayer play.

Description

Armies desperately clash across the muddy, blood-drenched

field to secure two points of vital strategic importance. Each
side strives to gain supremacy while trying to manage their
divided forces.

Special Rules

Mark two points on the centerline of the table, one 8 from

the left table edge and one 8 from the right table edge.
Each control zone is a 10-diameter circle centered on one
of the points.
A player controls a control zone if he has one or more
models completely within it and his opponent does not. For
a unit to control a control zone, all models in the unit still
in play must be completely within it. A warrior model must
have a CMD greater than 1 to control a control zone. Ignore
wrecked or inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and fleeing
models when checking for control.

Victory Conditions

A player wins the game when he has the only remaining

warcaster(s) in play. Starting on the first players third turn,
a player will also win if he ends his turn controlling both
control zones.

Multiplayer Game

Throw Down is not suited to multiplayer play.

Section ends.
10

Deployment Zone

Deployment Zone

10

4
4

10

10

10

Control Zone

Control Zone

No Man's Land

Deployment Zone

10

Deployment Zone

93

The Factions of WARMACHINE

Immoren is a continent fraught with danger and adventure.
It is a land steeped in a history of brutal struggles between
proud peoples, and the current era has been swept up by
the turmoil of war. Whether clashing over land, religion, or
more nefarious agendas, each of the peoples of the region is
convinced its faction deserves ultimate supremacy.
The warcasters, warjacks, and soldiers depicted in Prime
serve merely as an introduction to the forces each faction
can bring to bear on its enemies. Full rules for many more
models for each WARMACHINE faction can be found in its
corresponding Forces of WARMACHINE book.

Cygnar
|SIG-nahr|
Cygnar is the crown jewel of the Iron
Kingdoms, rich in both resources and
manpower. This great nation originally
developed warjack technology and
is the most technologically advanced
of the human factions. Cygnar prides
itself on waging war for honorable
reasonsthough its enemies may
dispute that claim.
Cygnars greatest strength in battle is its ability to deliver
unsurpassed damage at a distance with its plentiful
supply of cannons, rifles, and pistols. It is well suited to a
combined-arms approach to the battlefield and has many
abilities that augment ranged attacks. This army contains a
strong electrical storm theme.

The Protectorate
of Menoth
|MEN-awth|
The devoted masses of the Protectorate
of Menoth march forth from the
gates of their cathedral fortresses to
enlighten the surrounding heathen
nations for Menoths greater glory.
They worship the Creator of Man
fervently and believe all others should
follow suit. What they lack in technological sophistication
they more than make up for with devotion and strength of
numbers. Virtually the entire population of the Protectorate
can be called to war in times of need.
The Protectorate thrives on protective spells and abilities that
use its enemys actions to make its own forces stronger. Its
army contains a strong theme of magic nullification and fire.

94

Khador
|KAY-dohr|
Khador is home to a proud tradition
of strength and endurance. Building
on this, its empress seeks to expand
her empire to reclaim ancient glories
and spread the influence of her
winter-hardened people. Though
Cygnar may have invented the warjack, Khador invented
the first steam engine, and its engineers pride themselves
on the rugged reliability of their battle-tested machines.
This nation has modernized its military in the last few
decades to create a crushingly effective and varied force.
Khador foregoes speed and mobility for sheer brute force
and armor. Its warjacks are among the toughest in the game
and are supported by powerful artillery. Khador carries a
strong theme of ice and wind.

Cryx
|kriks|
The Nightmare Empire of Cryx is a
terrifying legion of undying creatures.
These worshipers of the Dragonlord
Toruk are led into battle by horrible
necromantic warcasters who seek
to spread his blight of malevolence
and life-devouring savagery over the
land. The forces of Cryx specialize
in speed and exploiting weaknesses, however small. They
have no problem sacrificing their soldiers to set up the
perfect assassination strike.
Cryx can field large numbers of troops to overwhelm the
enemy and can sometimes create additional troops even
in the middle of battle. They also excel at weakening the
enemy, giving even their less powerful models a chance
to inflict heavy damage. Cryx maintains a strong theme of
corrosion and corruption.

Other nations of
the Iron Kingdoms

The four main kingdoms are central to the conflict in the Iron
Kingdoms, but there are other nations and factions as well.

Ios and the Retribution

of Scyrah
|EYE-ohss| and |SIGH-rah|
The elven nation of Ios has long secluded itself from the
kingdoms of man, but recent turmoil among the Iosans
has seen the once-outlawed Retribution of Scyrah sect rise
to power. The Retribution believes it can save their dying
god Scyrah by eliminating the spread of mankinds magic.
They are emerging from the shadows with their mighty
myrmidons and an army bent on victory at all costs.
Retribution warjacks, called myrmidons, have regenerating
force fields that protect them from harm. Within the
Retribution exists a duality between the professional
soldiers of the Dawnguard and the shadowy assassins of
the Mage Hunters. Together these elements join to create
forces that can combine speed and stealth with resilience.

Rhul
|rule|
The dwarven nation of Rhul lies in the cold mountains of
the north, where they generally keep themselves from the
wars of men. Their skilled clansmen and powerful warjacks
can often be hired as mercenary support, and though
they do not seek to dominate other nations their warriors
are among the fiercest fighters in the Iron Kingdoms. The
dwarves of Rhul live closely alongside the towering and
heavily muscled ogrun, oath-bound warriors who gladly
fight as bodyguards for their smaller neighbors.
Rhuls slow-moving but incredibly powerful machines were
originally built for industrial use but serve well in warfare.
Rhulic soldiers are disciplined and benefit from heavy
armor. Explosives and firearms are both aspects of war the
Rhulfolk have embraced with undeniable enthusiasm.

Ord
|ohrd|
Squeezed between the rival nations of Cygnar and Khador,
Ord struggles to maintain a level of neutrality. Ords potent
navy guards its bustling port cities as its king continually
positions himself as a potential trade partner to both larger
nations. The Ordic people are known to be brave and
stubborn, and their tenacious army has long stood firm
against incursions by their northern neighbors. Not all its
sailors and fighters serve the crown, however; Ord has
become a haven for mercenaries and privateers.

Llael
|layl|
Once an ally and trading partner to Cygnar, Llael has been
a victim of the ongoing wars and a prize in the battles
between other nations. Most of Llael has been occupied by
Khador and is counted part of the northern nations empire
while the Protectorate of Menoth managed to seize one of
its major cities in the east. The Llaelese people do not know
what the future brings, but some among them fight for their
freedom, calling on whatever allies they can muster.
Llael was once famous for its skilled alchemists, some of
whom have submitted to serve Khador while others have
taken their skills abroad. A number of mercenaries have
also arisen from this war-torn land, whether driven by
patriotism or by the simple lure of coin.

Mercenaries

As the nations of the Iron Kingdoms war on each other,

there are great profits to be made by those willing to
risk life and limb in pursuit of coin. The mercenaries of
Immoren are as diverse in appearance and approach to
combat as they are in motivation. Many of them operate
almost as businesses and utilize official charters detailing
their conduct and under what circumstances they will sell
their bloody services. Other sell-swords have more dubious
reputations as bandits, assassins, traitors, and pirates.
All find their services in demand by the commanders of
Immoren. Not every mercenary is solely motivated by
wealth or adventure; some sell their services to fund their
own private agendas or personal wars.
Although mercenary forces are not as well supplied as
the standing armies of the Iron Kingdoms, their inherent
diversity is their strength. Groups of highly trained
specialists form armies of incredible flexibility.

Beyond the
Iron Kingdoms

Lurking in the shadows of the wilderness are still more

threats to the kingdoms of man. The displaced kriels of
trollkind maintain a presence in the forests between Cygnar
and Khador. An enigmatic organization of druids known
as the Circle Orboros inhabit the forests and patiently
monitor the machinations of Immorens dragons. In the east
a massive army of warrior tyrants from the Skorne Empire
establishes a foothold and prepares for another invasion.
Meanwhile, the disembodied dragon Everblight gathers his
army of blighted minions to stage his return and eventual
challenge to Lord Toruk himself. Explore these factions in
greater detail in HORDES, the fully compatible game to
WARMACHINE.

95

96

The Heavy Crown

An Overview of Cygnars History

The history of Cygnar is as rich as its diverse citizenry. May no mortal

man forget the heroic sacrifices of those who have brought us here today.
King Leto Raelthorne speaking at the expansion of the Royal Cygnaran University

The following is a transcription of a lecture by Professor

Gertrude Wickens, professor of Cygnaran history at Corvis
University, delivered at the end of the year in 607AR.

the old Khardic Empire. Even during the rebellion period

against the Orgoth, the generals of the north and the south
were distrustful of one another and frequently at odds.

The history of the people of these lands stretches back

much further beyond our founding as a single nation. We
are the inheritors of ancient and mighty kingdoms whose
peoples settled this region long before the landing of the
Orgoth invaders.

Since the founding of Cygnar our kings have oft been

both warriors and sages, and one of the most notable to
occupy the throne was the legendary King Woldred the
Diligent. Woldred was Cygnar s fourth king and came
to power at a time when the royal bloodline had yet to
be firmly established and remained bitterly contested.
He was our first great king, a man who laid a solid
foundation for his successors.

Our capital Caspia, the City of Walls, was once Calacia and
stood thousands of years ago as the center of civilization
against the Molgur barbarians. The Midlunds, from whom
we here in Corvis trace our roots, brought stability and
commerce to a region otherwise fractured by constant
warfare and bloodshed. The western Thurians reached
intellectual heights and created architectural wonders in an
age otherwise dominated by barbarism and fear. Cygnar is a
bastion of higher thought, reason, morality, and civilization.
This is as true now that we stand united under the Cygnus
as when our separate peoples first tamed these lands. We
must hold fast to these values even in the face of enemies
who would tear down everything our ancestors have built.

King Woldred was immediately hurled into the chaos of

war upon the death of his father, King BenewicII, in the
Colossal War. The Colossal War was a truly horrific clash
that presaged the nature of modern war. The same colossals
by which we had overthrown the Orgoth were now our
most formidable weapons.

In 202AR the Corvis Treaties brought with them a brief

pause in hostilities and ushered in a short golden era.
These treaties established our borders and gave birth to the
kingdom of Cygnar stretching from the Thornwood and
the Dragons Tongue River in the north to the Broken Coast
and the Gulf of Caspia in the south. This new kingdom
encompassed an expansive territory boasting fertile
farmlands in the northwest and east but also hundreds
of miles of trackless wilderness, including the Wyrmwall
Mountains, the Gnarls, and the Thornwood Forest. Cygnar
is known for its wealth, but those riches have been gained
only through the determination and back-breaking toil of
its people.

Woldred set the tone for his reign when, during the first
year of his rule, he led a coalition including Ord and Llael
to crush Khadors thirst for conquest. Khador was so
soundly defeated in the war that its sovereign was forced
to accept the harsh terms of the Disarmament Conferences
of 257AR, which included the dismantling of the norths
mighty constructs and the establishment of the Colossal
Guard. This significantly hindered Khadors capabilities to
wage war and allowed for four decades of peace. In 286AR
Woldred would voluntarily give up Cygnars colossals as
well. A series of bloody skirmishes with unruly trollkin
populations in the interior demonstrated the inherent
vulnerabilities of these hulking machines. With the extreme
costs of maintaining the great machines, the Colossal
Guard proved unsustainable. This gave rise to the modern
warjacks, smaller yet equally formidable constructs that
could better negotiate the hazards of the battlefield.

The brief respite following the Corvis Treaties was not to

last, as old grudges and ancient feuds were not forgotten.
While Khador and Cygnar were new nations after the
Corvis Treaties, the peoples of these regions had been bitter
enemies since the long-gone days of the expansion wars of

Woldreds last act was the establishment of Woldreds

Covenant, by which he reformed Cygnars laws of
succession. This stated that each king could abdicate the
throne on his own terms and choose his successor, thereby
avoiding kin of bad quality. Primogeniture would apply

97

only if other terms were not provided. The Temple of

Menothwhich had clung tenaciously to its standing as
the state religion despite dwindling numberssupported
the contract only under the condition that their priesthood
retained the exclusive right to witness and notarize each
kings terms. Though the Morrowan faith was already
dominant among the wider population, Menites remained
a political, spiritual, and moral force in Cygnars capital.
When Woldred died unexpectedly in 289AR, his terms
of succession could not be found, though Menite priests
insisted they had been drafted. Within a fortnight his
nephew Malagant the Grim seized the palace with a force of
five hundred soldiers and claimed the throne. The Temple
of Menoth refuted Malagants right to rule and called him
a usurper. As a result of this interference, Malagant ordered
over two hundred Menite priests arrested and hung over
the next several years.

Previous clashes were

nothing compared to the rift
that would tear Caspia in
half starting in 483AR.

In 293AR Malagant proclaimed the Church of Morrow as

Cygnars official religion and dissolved all Menite authority
within the government. Public sentiment was strongly
in favor of this declaration of a change in state religion;
remember, the Morrowan faith had suffered considerable
oppression in earlier eras when the Menites had dominated
the halls of power. Malagant was seen as a beloved
champion of the faith. The Menite minority seethed and
protested, prompting some to fear civil war.
The growing strife had consequences abroad. Like a wolf on
a blood-scent, Khadors Queen Cherize initiated a border
war with Cygnar in 293AR that lasted until 295, when
Queen Cherize suddenly disappeared. King Malagant
died shortly thereafter. Ill omens and superstitious rumors
surrounded the loss of both sovereigns. They suggested
Queen Cherize had relied on dubious allies, such as barbaric
cultists twisted into the service of dark and forbidden gods.
While Queen Cherizes hostilities were cut short, Khador
had not seen its thirst for conquest diminished.
Queen Ayn VanarV, a mere girl of five winters, was crowned
in Khador. Because she was too young to rule, she was
represented by Lord Regent Velibor. This charismatic noble
exploited his position to initiate an aggressive campaign to
expand Khadors borders. Lord Velibor was a warmonger,
it is true, but he was also a cunning and shrewd governor.

98

He proved his ingenuity by turning what could have been a

troublesome internal conflict to his benefit.
Just as the trollkin inside Cygnar undermined Woldreds
peace, Khador struggled with its own tribal peoples,
remnants of a forgotten age. A large number of barbarian
tribes persisted on the periphery of that nation, particularly
dwelling in its frozen northern mountains and forests and
its untamed eastern hills. The last great alliance of these
tribes assembled during Velibors rule, intent on pillaging
the fertile farmlands of Khadors interior. Velibor met with
tribal leaders and convinced this horde that greater gain
could be found to the south. He enticed them with promises
of the riches they could garner off the soft southerners,
starting with those dwelling in Ord. He intended to dispatch
his own forces to follow in the wake of the barbarians and
fall upon the weakened armies that stood against them,
after which he could conquer new lands. Velibor hoped such
tactics would allow him to reclaim territories once held by
the Khardic Empire, including swaths of northern Cygnar.
This plan might have succeeded if not for the Siege of Midfast
at Ords northern border in 305AR. Captain Markus Graza,
an Ordic champion of Morrow, single-handedly turned
the tide and humbled the northern barbarian chieftains.
Ordic reinforcements arrived and swept the barbarians
from the field. The cost in blood fell most heavily on the
savage tribes, which never again recovered. The Khadoran
Army was left unscathed and pursued their border wars
for another decade. As a result, Khador seized lands from
both Ord and Llael, including the Ordic city once known as
Radahvo that is now Port Vladovar. In time this city would
become vital to the Khadoran Navy, perfectly situated as
it was to harbor mighty war vessels and stage assaults on
southern shipping.
Unfortunately nations can be proud, and even these losses
did not serve to unite the enemies of Khador. While a formal
alliance was sealed between Llael and Cygnar after the
border wars, Ord remained neutral and aloof. It is likely
they believed Khador had seized enough to satisfy. History
has proven the gluttony of that nation knows no bounds.
Other troubles festered. For the next hundred and fifty
years, Cygnar simmered with an ever-rising tide of
religious animosity. The Menites sowed constant unrest.
They vilified the Church of Morrow and denounced
its adherents as heretics against the True Law, despite
Morrowan attempts to appease them. Many innocents on
both sides lost their lives.
Previous clashes were nothing compared to the rift that
would tear Caspia in half starting in 483AR. The eastern
citythat portion across the Black Riverhad always been
a haven for the Menite minority. Their charismatic and
vocal leader, Visgoth Sulon, called for a pilgrimage of all

Cygnaran Menites to rally to him.

Word spread quickly, and tens of
thousands of Menites made the
trek, coming from all corners of the
kingdom. As the masses gathered,
Sulon proclaimed himself hierarch
of the faith and seized control of
Caspia east of the river, pushing
out any non-Menites who lingered.
Thinking a riot was looming but
unaware of the organized and
incensed nature of the Menite
throngs, the Caspian city watch
tried to disperse the crowds. The
Menite leaders had violence on
their minds, though: thousands of
pilgrims rose against the Cygnaran
militia and slew over three hundred
guards in a frenzied revolt.
This incident ignited the Cygnaran
Civil War, which raged from 482
484AR. Zealous Menites nearly
razed the river districts on the west
bank of the City of Walls in the
extensive fighting that followed.
Fueled by a clash of faiths and
opportunistic looting, the battles
were so fierce and disruptive of
the general peace that even the
normally restrained priests and
defenders of the Church of Morrow
joined the fight.
The fate of our capital might have
been sealed but for the timely fall
of Sulon. His death in battle dealt a
great blow to the morale of the Menites and opened the door
for peace. High Prelate Shevann, head of the Morrowan
Church treasury and a woman of spotless reputation
and honesty, stepped forward. Serving as spokeswoman
for King Bolton GreyV, she entreated Sulons successor,
Visgoth Ozeall, for an end to the violence. After protracted
discussions that elicited concessions on both sides, the
Protectorate of Menoth was created in the hopes of ending
the religious strife. For a time this succeeded.
The Menites were ceded an expanse of land east of the
Black River and the entirety of eastern Caspia, which they
immediately named Sul in honor of Hierarch Sulon. The
Protectorate had leave to govern their people as they saw
fit without interference by the Cygnaran throne. It was
understood that the Protectorate was nominally part of
Cygnar and subject to disarmament and taxation.

Crowned in 589AR, five years after the end of the civil war,
King Grigor Malfast led the nation into an era of growth
not seen since the days of Woldred the Diligent. Steamjacks
became more common, and the once-depleted Cygnaran
coffers filled with coin. At Malfasts side was his most
trusted vassal, Archduke Vinter RaelthorneII. Raelthorne
was instrumental in transforming King Malfasts grand
schemes into pragmatic reality. The Raelthorne bloodline
was already inextricably woven into the fabric of the
Cygnaran courts, the first Vinter Raelthorne having been a
king decades before and their blood claims tracing back to
ancient kings of Caspia and Calacia. Without VinterII to
manage the details of the kingdom, King Malfast would
have wasted much of his treasury and this era may have
been remembered quite differently.
The Khadoran king of the day, Ruslan Vygor, was a
misanthrope with a dark heart, and Cygnars prosperity

99

A few short years later, King Malfast fell ill. He drafted

terms from his deathbed according to Woldreds Covenant
and handed his crown to then-titled Archduke Vinter
RaelthorneII, who accepted the burden. In 515AR, Vinter
RaelthorneII was crowned king, and Cygnar entered the
Raelthorne Era.

s t a n d s i m VinterII ruled with the same prudent

l
he
had
adopted
e
p approach
w
e managing Malfasts kingdom,
e
r priding the utilitarian over

mitable
o
t
d
I

leagai
n
st
ab
over matters of state,
he was called the StoneFaced King. He survived
two assassination attempts
and developed a reputation as
both an opponent of unregulated
sorcery and a man suspicious of leaders who
relied on religious sentiment over common sense.

andda
r
kn
ny

The Battle of the Tongue, in early 511AR, remains one of the

bloodiest clashes in Cygnaran history. It took all our superior
training and leadership to hold the river. The confrontation
saw the loss of more warjacks in a single battle than any in
the history of western Immoren, only recently exceeded at
the Fall of Northguard. It took decades to replace and repair
the warjacks destroyed in the comparatively short four-

If not for the work of scouts from Fellig

who discovered this secondary force, Cygnar would
have felt the full brunt of an unexpected Khadoran army
deep behind its borders. Hastily gathered soldiers from
Corvis, Point Bourne, and Rivercleft met the Khadorans
at the Dragons Tongue even as the main army previously
rushing to aid Llael turned back in a desperate forced
march to intercept the Khadoran advance.

through
the
Thornwood itself,
razing a path two
hundred miles long that
later came to be called the
Warjack Road.

100

the frivolous. Typically

found deep in thought

month Thornwood War, which ended with Vygors demise

on the blade of Vinter RaelthorneII.

stoked his jealous rage. He gathered the largest war host

yet seen in the north and executed a wild scheme. In late
510AR, he sent a portion of this force, including the bulk of
the renowned Khadoran cavalry, to the borders of Llael. He
knew this would force Malfast to respond. Cygnars king
sent warjacks and riflemen led by Vinter II north to beat
back the impending invasion. No one suspected this was
only a ruse. Vygor personally led an even larger force of
warjacks and the full might of Khadors
heavy infantry straight into the
forest hoping to drive south
and take key Cygnaran
territories
all
but
unopposed.
They
chopped straight

In 539AR the crown passed to his son, Vinter RaelthorneIII.

VinterIII filled the kingdoms coffers through burdensome
taxes in order to bolster the navy and fund privateers to
secure the western sea-lanes rife with pirate vessels.
Many people hated him for his rigid demands despite his
successes against raiders along the Broken Coast. He earned
a name that played off his fathers: the Stoneheart.
The Stoneheart was stern and brooked no nonsense. He
claimed to be surrounded by self-interested bureaucrats
and sycophants and concluded he could trust no one. He
had no use for priests, be they Menite or Morrowan. He
dismissed his courtly advisors and looked to the counsel
of his own mind for making the kingdoms decisions. He

may not have been widely praised, but VinterIII moved

Cygnar toward greatness. His taxes were harsh, but he was
a pragmatist, and his collected monies went to strengthen
the kingdom. He did not allow debtors to waste away in
prison; citizens who could not pay were instead put on
board ships or into quarries to work off what they owed.
Many died, but by their toil the kingdom prospered.
VinterIII had two sons: his heir, also named Vinter, and
Leto, our good king. When VinterIII died suddenlysome
say suspiciouslyin 576AR, the kingdom fell to his eldest
son VinterIV, as no other instructions were found. If the
Stoneheart was stern, it is fair to call VinterIV both paranoid
and tyrannical. He was a king of dark demeanor and a violent
temper. His father and grandfather had been suspicious of
religion, but VinterIV nursed a hatred of the benevolent
Church of Morrow that defied all reason. Woe for us that the
Stoneheart had taken no time for Woldreds Covenant.
VinterIV suspected enemies everywhere. Perceived rivals
and dissidents were silenced or forced into obedience. His
paranoia gave rise to the Inquisition, when he transformed
his fathers discreet network of spies into a merciless
system of judges and executioners. With their assistance
Vinter ruled by terror and murder. Those who opposed
him disappeared in the night never to be seen or heard
from again.
It was a dark time, and the people grew increasingly eager
for reassurance that the government was protecting them
from dangers both known and unknown. The targets of the
Inquisition were alleged witches and sorcerers, those accused
of practicing fell magic and consorting with dark powers.
Most people did not realize how often those targeted and
invariably convicted were innocent of any crime.
Adding to this fear of supernatural horrors was the sudden
rise of Cryxian activity in the midst of Vinters reign as
Cygnar was battered by a series of coastal assaults known
as the Scharde Invasions. From 584588AR, blackships
emerged from the mists and rain to send rapacious raiders
into unsuspecting villages and towns, bent on slaughter,
arson, and pillage. Graves were despoiled and slain soldiers
were dragged away to feed the industries of the Nightmare
Empire. Counterstrikes against the Scharde Islands resulted
in the loss of a great number of ships and their crews.
For years after these battles, survivors related the tales
of the merciless but uncompromising King Vinterthe
Elder RaelthorneIV and his willingness to personally
lead Cygnaran forces in battle, while his younger brother
Leto the Younger was praised for his own valor along
the coast. Both the royal brothers led armies in this war,
and eventually the Cryxians were driven from our shores.
Such heroics made the people far more ready to accept the
extreme measures by which King Vinter enforced the peace

on the mainland, at least for a time. Over the years of brutal

treatment and harsh taxation, otherwise loyal citizens
who had once sung Vinters praise fell silent. As rumors
of torture and barbarity at the hands of the Inquisition
persisted, many began to doubt their kings sanity.
Prince Leto watched his brother, appalled at what had
become of Cygnaran law and justice. He served his kingdom
as best he could, attempting to mitigate the kings tyranny
by good works. Unlike his father and brother, Leto had long
been a pious Morrowan. Primarch Arius, the current leader
of the Church of Morrow, stood as his mentor and spiritual
advisor, and in his youth Leto had nearly entered the clergy.
Certainly his convictions played a role in the eventual
Lions Coup, a revolt led by Leto in the winter of 594AR,
a decade after the brothers joined together to battle Cryx.

Vinter ruled by terror

and murder. Those who
opposed him disappeared in
the night never to be seen
or heard from again.

After the Scharde Invasions, Vinter named Leto his

Warmaster General. Such a decision proved prophetic, as
Leto fostered the most pious officers along with nobles
close to his own thinking and weary of their tyrant. These
officers would be instrumental in his coup, which was led
by prominent officers and royal guard who could no longer
endure their sovereigns profane orders. These included:
the Magus Arland Calster now head of Caspias Fraternal
Order; Kielon EbonhartIV, heir to the Northern Midlunds;
Alain Runewood, heir to the Eastern Midlunds; and the
Scharde Invasion war hero Commander Adept Sebastian
Nemo; among others.
This force waged battle through Castle Raelthorne,
consuming the east wing of the palace. Whatever his
failings as a king, Vinter was a man with no equal with
the blade. His blood thirst and practiced skill made him
practically invincible. All reports of the battle confirm that
Vinter himself cut down scores of Letos men. Bearing his
grandfathers sword Kingslayer, he waded through plate
and flesh like an armored galleon cutting through a sea of
Cygnaran blood. In the end he stood alone, his own allies
defeated, surrounded by the corpses of those who had come
against him. He refused all entreaties to surrender. Leto was
a veteran of battle and an accomplished bladesman, but he
could not match the peerless skill of his older brother. After
a short and brutal duel, Vinter dealt Leto what seemed to be
a fatal wound.

101

One moment Leto seemed defeated, but in the next the

elder brother was disarmed and laid low and the younger
brothers own injury miraculously vanished. Most who have
examined the events agree they show signs of Morrows
intervention, likely through Primarch Arius. If anyone short
of Morrow could conjure such a miracle, it would be that
wise and resolute priest.

city by the inhuman skorne. These cruel invaders from

across the Bloodstone Marches were a new threat that
caught us entirely by surprise. Witnesses identified Vinter
RaelthorneIV leading them. It became clear that the tyrant
had done the impossible: he had led an army across the
desert to strike at Cygnar. He planned to use our city as a
stronghold and from here move south to attack Caspia.

Leto declared himself king and cast Vinter into the royal
dungeons. Sadly the Elder had many secret allies, who
moved immediately. Operatives of the Inquisition took
hostage Lady Danae Cresswell, Letos beloved wife and
now queen, and demanded Vinters release. Leto felt he had
little choice and gave the command. It was a ruse; the queen
was never seen again. Vinter escaped in an experimental
airship at the top of the palace. He rose out of reach of
his pursuers but fell mercy to the whims of the wind and
drifted east over the arid and desolate Bloodstone Marches.

Fortunately the resolve of the city was more than he had

expected. Those were strange days filled with inexplicable
events, and some say Morrow had a hand in our
preservation, sending the spirits of soldiers slain in the time
of King Malagant to our aid. By force of arms and the help
of these unexpected allies, Corvis was rescued and Vinter
and the skorne withdrew back across the desert dunes for
a time. We should count our blessings; the skorne have a
predilection for slavery that nearly matches the Orgoths.

The grief-stricken King Leto Raelthorne was crowned

in a solemn ceremony while noblemen still whispered of
the grim circumstances leading to his coronation. The
Royal Assembly conducted a trial for the Elder in absentia
whereby they stripped him of all Cygnaran rights for his
proven crimes and dark alliances. He was convicted of high
treason, and his life was declared forfeit.

We are living in difficult

times. Our way of life is
threatened.

Leto Raelthorne proved true to his word in the years after

the coup by abolishing the Inquisition and restoring our
nation. We experienced a decade of unprecedented growth,
mechanikal inventions and advancements, flourishing
trade, and the harmony and efficiency that is the hallmark
of a fair and just government.
Still, enemies began to stir around our great kingdom
while we remained entranced by our good fortune. Cryx
demonstrated it had recovered from what losses it had
suffered during the Scharde Invasions, with new strikes
along Cygnaran shores. Skirmishes with Protectorate of
Menoth zealots along our eastern border began to escalate
into organized assaults backed by formidable weaponry as
well as blind faith. This gave rise to considerable religious
tension in eastern Cygnar as Morrowans became wary of
all Menites, even their neighbors. To the north our great
ancient enemy, Khador, renewed its dreams of empire.
The first foreshadowing of the state of war in which we
now find ourselves began in 603 AR with an attack from
an unexpected direction. This was the assault on this very

102

It is easy to second-guess those entrusted to shoulder the

crushing weight of responsibility. Recent accounts suggest
King Leto considered a preemptive strike against one of
our many enemies as early as 604AR, not long after the
liberation of Corvis. His military advisors analyzed the
merits of a costly attack on Cryx or a punitive campaign
against the Protectorate of Menoth for its countless treaty
violations. Both plans anticipated very high casualty rates
for Cygnar and could not guarantee success. I side with
those who believe these hypothetical campaigns would
have emboldened whichever enemies we ignored and cost
too much for too little gain. Striking in one direction would
have weakened our defenses in another.
Yet even as King Letos war council debated their options,
Khador hatched new plans of conquest. With little warning
they massed their full might against the small nation of
Llael. Likely they hoped Cygnar would be too preoccupied
to aid its longtime ally. Llaels own prime minister may
have collaborated in its betrayal, which would explain why
the countrys defenses folded rapidly under the merciless
Khadoran assault. The western border was penetrated in
mere days during the winter season, and later attempts to
shore up interior garrisons proved futile.
Cygnar rushed to its allys defense and was quickly caught
up in a series of increasingly desperate battles. Our soldiers
bolstered the garrisons at Redwall Fortress and died by the
hundreds when it fell. More of our men and machines rushed
to the defense of the Llaelese capital, Merywyn, when it
was besieged. The Cygnaran Army fought on every front to
preserve their freedom, but Khador had strong momentum.
Swift and merciless, their invasion swept through Llael like
a flood. Khador proved their lack of human decency with
the slaughter of the citizens of Riversmet. They razed the
entire city to the ground. The entire war lasted less than
six months before Llaels corrupt nobles surrendered and

capitulated. The fighting fell entirely to Cygnar as our

armies withdrew to protect our own borders.
The timing of this invasion could not have been worse.
While many of our soldiers were diverted away to die on
foreign soil, to the east the Protectorate of Menoth rose up
in full defiance. They openly brought siege engines against
the very gates of Caspia and infiltrated our land with
saboteurs who destroyed our train lines and burned our
fields. Hierarch Garrick Voyle called for a crusade against
our people and sent his forces abroad, striking wherever
we were most vulnerable. So too did Cryx reveal they had
been burrowing into the mainland to prey on the living. The
Thornwoodour greatest natural barrier against Khador
became riddled with the walking dead and foul necrotiteburning machines led by the tireless lords of the Nightmare
Empire. Cryxian forces kept our army and navy occupied
by assaulting Highgate, sending ships to intercept trade
from Mercir to Ceryl, and otherwise continually harassing
our coastal defenses.
The events of recent months within Sul and Caspia are
particularly chilling, as we can see in them echoes of the
old Cygnaran Civil War. After numerous acts of Menite
sabotage, the authorities felt compelled to isolate Cygnaran
citizens of that faith lest they commit treachery. These fears
were justified by the recent rise of a holy figure called the
Harbinger, a young woman they say speaks Menoths will.
She has united their faith as never before. Allegedly the
mere glimpse of this woman can turn a rational Cygnaran
Menite into a zealot for the Protectorate cause. I do not know
if such tales are exaggerated, but events of recent years have
proven the truth of many supernatural wonders and horrors
previously thought to be mere superstition or rumor.
In response to the Protectorates failed siege on Caspia, the
army launched its own invasion of Sul, an unprecedented
and historical feat. Cygnaran warjack cannons breached
the supposedly invulnerable walls of Sul and allowed the
army to sweep into what was once eastern Caspia, there
to disabuse its people of their intended violence. Religious
fervor gave the enemy desperate strength and led to an
exhausting year of bitter street-to-street fighting. With
Cygnars army unable to seize a quick victory, the Menites
regrouped and repelled our forces.

destruction through the ancient capital, annihilating every

gate and defender that stood before his fearsome wrath. It
will be long before Caspia recovers from this campaign.
This has been the darkest year in Cygnars history. Despite
the slim victory in Caspia, our shores have been raided and
our navy occupied battling an endless supply of Cryxian
vessels. After years of fighting trench-to-trench along the
northern border, Khador managed to reverse the course
of the first Thornwood War by toppling Northguard, a
previously impregnable bastion. Despite brave deeds and
sacrifice, Khador consumed the Thornwood and pushed
their soldiers to the Dragons Tongue River, to the very
gates of Corvis. Even as I deliver this lecture, we stand not
far from those who would seize this city. Nor is this the
end of our troubles. The Skorne Empire returned to test
our eastern border, and trollkin tribes in our interior have
risen up from the wilderness to harass our trains and beset
our roadways.
Here in the streets of Corvis we have seen the army arrive
in great strength to preserve the city. I have no doubts
regarding the courage of these soldiers, yet there is no one
in Cygnar who does not fear for the future of our nation.
For a short while the cannons have been silent. After the
death of Hierarch Voyle, the Protectorate pulled back to
tend its wounds. Khador has slowed its advance, perhaps
sated for the time being. History has proven, though,
that the only way to convince them to return to their cold
northern soil is to break the resolve of their leaders. Our
defenses must hold.
We are living in difficult times. Our way of life is
threatened. Kingdoms come and go; there is no longer any
Morrdh, Tordor, Thuria, Umbrea, or Ryn. One day Cygnar
also could be relegated to a historical footnote like these
vanished nations.
Our future lies in the hands of our military and the young,
men and women such as you who listen to me today. It may
be that some of you will decide to put aside the quill and
book and take up the rifle instead. Some professors would
scoff at this choice, but not I. Morrow preserve us all in
these troubling times, and in particular may he shield those
who stand watch and protect us from the wolves at the gate.

Caspia itself was invaded as Hierarch Voyle led a massive

crusade to annihilate our capital. Our good and brave king
marched forth with sword in hand to confront the enemy
directly, rallying the defenders, but was grievously injured.
It was not until the Menites were nearly at the gates of
Castle Raelthorne that the tide turned at last. Like Sulon in
the Civil War, Hierarch Voyle was struck down and killed by
the righteous defenders of the City of Walls. But this victory
arrived only after Voyle had carved a tremendous path of

103

Lieutenant Allister Caine

Cygnar Warcaster

Some men do not wear the uniform comfortably yet are such prodigious killers a nation must put
them to use or risk them turned against it.

Warmaster General Olson Turpin

Feat: Maelstrom

CAINE
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 5

4 8 17 13 8

Spellstorm Pistol
RNG ROF AOE POW

12 2 12

Sword

POW P+S

Focus 6
Damage 15
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Small Base

In an awesome display of
speed and skill, Allister Caine
launches himself into the air
and spins about, firing his
brace of Spellstorm pistols in
rapid succession to rain death
upon his enemies.

Caine makes a normal

Spellstorm Pistol attack
against every enemy model
currently in his control area,
ignoring intervening models.
Caine cannot use Maelstrom
while he is in melee. When
resolving Maelstrom, Caine
has no back arc and his front
arc extends to 360.

CAINE

Range Amplifier When this model casts a spell and is the

point of origin for the spell, the spell gains +5 RNG.

Spellstorm Pistol
Magical Weapon

The Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest requires a great

degree of control over its students, for each is expected to
graduate as an elite soldier. When it inducted an intense and
troubled former hoodlum by the name of Allister Caine, the
order had no idea what it had on its hands. He would soon
become a warcaster who would single-handedly pioneer
gunplay into an art of war.
Caines warcaster capability was revealed by accident during
his gun mage training. His Arcane Tempest instructors were
relieved, for the discovery allowed them to speed the brash
and defiant young man through their regimen and pass
him to other hands. Even after being urged to enlist as a
warcaster by King Letobased on a demonstration of his
impressive talentsCaine chafed under instruction and
thirsted to put his skills to use in battle.
Shortly after Caine graduated from the Tempest Academy,
he made an unfortunate visit back to his hometown of
Bainsmarket. There he was incarcerated for the murder of a
gangster of no small status. The brash new officer made no
attempt to deny his guilt. Rumors suggest invisible hands
were involved in extricating the up-and-coming warcaster
and officer from his legal troubles. This started his career
with a black mark that has never entirely faded.
Despite his significant skill, Caines ego and irreverent
attitude made him a difficult man to befriend. He quickly
gained a reputation as a loner, drifter, and scoundrel. He

104

Spells
Blur

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

2
6

Yes No

Target friendly model/unit gains +3 DEF against ranged and magic attack
rolls.

Deadeye

No No

Snipe

Yes No

Teleport

2 Self

No No

Thunder Strike

14

Target friendly model/unit gains an additional die on each models first

ranged attack roll this turn.
Target friendly models/units ranged weapons gain +4 RNG.

Place this model anywhere completely within 8 of its current location,

then its activation ends.

No Yes

Instead of suffering a normal damage roll, a non-incorporeal model hit

by Thunder Strike is slammed d6 directly away from the spells point
of origin regardless of its base size and suffers a POW 14 damage roll.
Collateral damage from this slam is POW 14.

Tactical Tips

Maelstrom Remember, if Caine forfeited his movement to gain

an aiming bonus this activation, he gains +2 on all Maelstrom
attack rolls. These attacks are simultaneous.
Range Amplifier Channeled spells do not benefit from Range
Amplifier.
Teleport This model cannot be placed in an obstruction or in
impassable terrain as a result of this spell.
Thunder Strike Incorporeal models are not slammed; they just
suffer a damage roll.

frequented seedy dives along the borders of Cygnar and

Ord. He enjoyed slumming in the guise of a common drunk
to show off his unmatched skills for a handful of crowns.
He spent many nights sleeping in jail cells. His drinking,
improprieties with countless women, unrelenting swagger,
and insubordination all precluded him from advancement.
In fact he is the only warcaster in recent memory to lose
his captains rank just weeks after his initial promotion for
conduct not befitting an officer.
Despite his reputation, those who have fought alongside
Caine view him differently. For any who have seen the
determination in his eyes when he is outnumbered by
an enemy before he unleashes a blazing storm through
his pistols, there is no question why he has kept his
commission and the right to lead men to war. Observant
soldiers who have survived these bloody engagements note
Caines uncanny knack for finding trouble. The frequency
with which threats to Cygnar have been neutralized in
the ensuing chaos of these supposedly chance encounters
suggests some more deliberate providence.

105

Captain Victoria Haley

Cygnar Warcaster

Burn the dead, consecrate the bones, and render them to ashes lest they return to haunt us.

Captain Haley, after a decisive victory over a Cryxian invasion force

Feat: Blitz

HALEY
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 5

6 5 16 14 8

Hand Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

12 1 12

Vortex Spear

POW P+S

6 11

Focus 7
Damage 15
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+5
Small Base

HALEY

Though she generally prefers

a regimented and conservative
approach to battle, Captain
Haley is capable of launching
a massive unified assault with
a single command. Carefully
managing the energy and
resources of her forces, Haley
will trigger a deadly offense at
precisely the right moment.
Friendly Faction models
beginning their activations
in Haleys control area can
make one additional attack
during their activations
this turn regardless of a
weapons ROF.

Arcane Vortex This model can immediately negate any spell

that targets it or a model within 3 of it by spending 1 focus
point before the RNG of the spell is measured. The negated spell
does not take effect, but its COST remains spent.

Vortex Spear
Magical Weapon
Reach
Set Defense A model in this models front arc suffers 2 on
charge, slam power attack, and impact attack rolls against
this model.

A strong-willed woman capable of both grim resolve and

singular heroism, Victoria Haley has risen from meager
origins to become one of the greatest assets of the Cygnaran
Army. She was born in Ingrane, a small but once-thriving
fishing village on the western coast of Cygnar, north of
Frogs Bight. Her parents were humble folk who endured
a hard existence to provide for Victoria and her twin sister.
Their lives were simple but happy, and it would have
stayed that way were it not for the horrifying intervention
of Cryxian raiders.
The girls were just five summers old in late spring of
584AR when raiders from the Scharde Islands landed on
the wooden docks. They charged into the peaceful village
and met little resistance. Their mother barely had enough
time to push Victoria and her sister Gloria through the
cellar trapdoor before the Cryxian forces battered their way
inside. Through cracks in the floorboards, Victoria watched
in horror as her mother was murdered. She sat frozen in
the dark corner as the trapdoor was wrenched open from
above, but Gloria was spotted and dragged whimpering
from the cellar. Victoria never saw her sister again.

106

Spells
Arcane Bolt

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

2
12

11 No Yes

Magical bolts of energy streak toward the target model.

Arcane Shield

Yes No

Chain Lightning

10

10

No Yes

Deadeye

No No

Scramble

10

No Yes

No No

Target friendly model/unit gains +3 ARM.

A model hit by Chain Lightning suffers a POW 10 electrical damage

roll , and lightning arcs from that model to d6 consecutive additional
models. The lightning arcs to the nearest model it has not already arced to
within 4 of the last model it arced to, ignoring this model. Each model the
lightning arcs to suffers a POW 10 electrical damage roll .
Target friendly model/unit gains an additional die on each models first
ranged attack roll this turn.

Target enemy warjack immediately advances its current SPD in inches in

a direction determined by the deviation template. During this movement,
it moves through models with smaller bases if it has enough movement
to move completely past their bases. Models it moves through are
knocked down. The warjack is knocked down if it contacts an obstacle,
an obstruction, or a model with a base equal to or larger than its own. A
warjack can be affected by Scramble only once per turn.

Temporal Barrier 4 Self Ctrl

While in this models control area, enemy models suffer 2 DEF. Enemy
models beginning their activation in this models control area cannot run
or charge. Temporal Barrier lasts for one round.

Tactical Tips

Blitz You do not have to spend focus for the additional attacks.
Chain Lightning The lightning can arc to models with
Immunity: Electricity; it just cannot damage them. Damage from
Chain Lightning strikes is magic damage and is not considered to
have been caused by a hit.
Scramble Position the deviation template normally, with 1
pointing directly away from the origin of the attack.
Temporal Barrier If a model cannot charge, it cannot make a
slam or trample power attack either.

Nothing but dark memories and restless spirits dwell in

the ruins of Ingrane. Now the village is a place of shadowy
things, and icy winds howl down from the high bluffs to
scrape across the necks of travelers and sailors who venture
too near. The few survivors of that night gathered what they
could of their old lives and made the voyage through moors
and woods to the larger nearby town of Ramarck.
Victoria Haley was fostered at a nearby Morrowan abbey.
There she was not treated unkindly, but the sisters of the
order tried to curb her budding arcane power, believing
it was unhealthy. At thirteen summers Victoria fled the
school, made her way to New Larkholm, and found employ
as a fishmongers assistant. It was while in the proximity of
a laboring steamjack on the docks that her warcaster talents
manifested and she caught the eye of military recruiters. In

the army her latent power was ultimately fostered and unleashed, like water
rushing through a broken dam. Two years later in 599AR at the age of 20, she
finished her arcane training and joined the ranks of the Cygnaran Army as a
powerful warrior and a determined warcaster.
Captain Victoria Haley has a furious loathing for anything Cryxian. Where
the armies of the Nightmare Empire assemble she is soon found throwing
everything she can muster toward the undead hordes. She has attracted the
attention of a particular warwitch, and the two seem hell-bent on mutual
destruction. Where Haley moves, Deneghra maneuvers to counter, and more
than once their forces have collided in bloody conflict. Captain Haleys motive
is clear: there will never be enough bloodshed to balance what the minions of
Lord Toruk took from her on the bluffs of Ingrane years ago.

107

Commander Coleman Stryker

Cygnar Warcaster
Coleman in a word? Patriot.

Feat: Invincibility

STRYKER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 6

7 6 16 15 9

Disruptor Pistol
RNG ROF AOE POW

10 1 10

Quicksilver

POW P+S

7 13

Focus 6
Damage 17
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Small Base

Commander Stryker is
renowned for his strategic
prowess and his protective
regard for the soldiers under
his command. With powerful
arcane energies he shields those
around him in a warding that
deflects powerful explosions
and disperses torrents of
incoming fire.

While in Strykers control

area, friendly Faction models
gain +5 ARM for one round.

Disruptor Pistol
Magical Weapon

Disruption A warjack hit loses its focus points and cannot be

allocated focus or channel spells for one round.

Quicksilver

Magical Weapon

Disruption A warjack hit loses its focus points and cannot be

allocated focus or channel spells for one round.

Coleman Stryker was only nineteen years old when King

Leto took the throne in 594AR. He fought during the Lions
Coup palace revolt, and though he started the day on the
side of Vinters loyalists, in the end he was instrumental in
Letos successforever changing the course of history as
well as his own destiny.
Born with sorcerous ability, Stryker was a hotheaded youth
who wanted nothing more than to become a celebrated
hero. Time and experience would temper his passion,
and eventually a senior warcaster named Sebastian Nemo
would forge him into a great leader.
Under the direct tutelage of Commander Adept Nemo,
Stryker mastered the art of martial spellcraft and honed
his natural abilities to control the Cygnaran warjacks. They
obeyed him with uncanny precision, and he demonstrated
none of the usual fumbling and uncertainties of other fresh
warcasters. One notable early demonstration of this talent
was his ability to tame and control a particularly ornery
Ironclad, a battle-seasoned jack nicknamed Ol Rowdy that
continues to fight alongside him today.
It was with no small measure of pride that Stryker accepted
his mentors pronouncement that he was ready to hold his
own as a full warcaster. He had come a long way, inducted
into military life by a less-than-scrupulous benefactor who
had set the naive youth on an initially darker path. Had

108

Captain Victoria Haley

Spells
Arcane Blast

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

3
10
3
13 No Yes

A magical energy blast radiates from a single point to strike all models in
the AOE.

Arcane Bolt

12

11

No Yes

Arcane Shield

Yes No

Blur

Yes No

Earthquake

10

Snipe

Yes No

Magical bolts of energy streak toward the target model.

Target friendly model/unit gains +3 ARM.

Target friendly model/unit gains +3 DEF against ranged and magic

attack rolls.
Models hit by Earthquake are knocked down.

No Yes

Target friendly models/units ranged weapons gain +4 RNG.

Tactical Tips

Earthquake This means every model in the AOE is knocked

down, friendly and enemy alike.

things gone differently during the Lions Coup, Coleman

Stryker would surely be a different man. But under the often
heavy-handed guidance of Nemo, Strykers course was
realigned, and he stalwartly pursued his role as a champion
of Cygnar even before earning his first commission.
Not content to idly await the call to battle, Stryker committed
to proactive patrols along the border regions, spending time
in every significant post where hostile enemies threatened
Cygnaran soil. He has had to kill many enemy soldiers and
seen close friends die ugly deaths, and at times their faces
haunt his thoughts. Still, he knows sacrifice is necessary to
preserve the nation he loves.
His dedication to Cygnars defense allowed him to advance
rapidly through the ranks to the coveted position of
commandera distinction he achieved at a remarkably
young age. King Leto himself was present for Strykers
promotion ceremony, publicly affirming that this warcaster
was the nations finest young battlefield leader.
Though Commander Stryker sees himself as just another
soldier fighting for the crown and his young age may
deceive some into believing he has not earned his rank
compared to the aged generals leading the kings army,
battlefield experience has made him wise beyond his years.
He goes to great lengths to preserve the lives of his men.
A fine leader, a better soldier, and one of the most
accomplished warcasters in the Iron Kingdoms, Coleman
Stryker was born to be a hero of Cygnar and expects to die
defending her.

109

Charger

Cygnar Light Warjack

If the first shot doesnt get them, the second one will.

Dual Cannon

CHARGER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 8

6 6 13 16

Dual Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

L 12 2 12

Battle Hammer

POW P+S

4 12

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C
Field Allowance U
Point Cost
4
Medium Base

110

Powerful Attack When

attacking with this
weapon, this model
can spend 1 focus point
to boost all attack and
damage rolls for the attack.

More Chargers have

rolled
off
Cygnaran
factory assembly lines
and been hammered
together in far-flung
steamjack shops than
any other light warjack
in history. Commanders
continue to rely on
the Charger to bring
versatility to the modern
battlefield. This mainstay

Commander Coleman Stryker

Height/Weight: 87 / 2.6 tons

Armament: Dual Cannon (left arm), Battle Hammer (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 297 lbs / 6.5 hrs general, 75 min combat
Initial Service Date: 567 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Fraternal Order of Wizardry
Orig. Chassis Design: Cygnaran Armory

remains a dependable element stationed at nearly every

forward post of the army.
The combination of a powerful and reasonably accurate light
dual cannon and a heavy battle hammer allows this jack to
operate with equal ease at range or in close melee. Many
journeyman warcasters have cut their teeth with Chargers,
sending them forward to blast shells into oncoming infantry
and support the advance of heavier warjacks.
The Charger is an improvement on the old reliable Talon, its
immediate predecessor. The newer jack retains the Talons
powerful pistons and compact steam engine capable of
driving it forward at surprising speeds. In addition, a
number of subtle upgrades to the leg and hip components
afford the Charger greater articulation, which enables
it to react more quickly to threats in combat. Its cannon
utilizes the reloading assembly originally developed for the
Defenders heavy barrel but adds a recoil-based mechanism
that helps reload the second cannon barrel for another shot.

Lancer

Cygnar Light Warjack

The Lancer is the most perfect tool of war at our disposal. Give me half a dozen,
and keep the factories cranking.

Captain Victoria Haley

Height/Weight: 91 / 3.15 tons

Armament: War Spear (right arm), Shock Shield (left arm), Arc Node
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 363 lbs / 7 hrs general, 70 min combat
Initial Service Date: 601 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Cygnaran Armory
Orig. Chassis Design: Cygnaran Mechaniks Coalition at the Royal Cygnaran University

The development of the arc node and its precursor, the

arcantrik relay, is among the most significant advances in
modern warfare. A device of unquestionable utility, the arc
node allows a warcaster to extend his arcane reach across
the battlefield.
For years before the creation of the Lancer, Cygnaran
warcasters complained about lacking a proper chassis
to support this arcane relay. Cygnaran mechaniks had
pioneered the field with such jack designs as the Javelin
used in the Thornwood War and the Arcane of later years,
but neither of these predecessors performed adequately.
After several decisive Cryxian victories along Cygnars
western coast, King Leto pressured Warmaster General
Turpin to heed the warcasters assessment and challenged
the Royal Cygnaran University to provide a better platform
for the costly arc node.
Adapted from the reliable Charger
chassis, the Lancer is a rugged yet
agile masterpiece. The Lancer was

LANCER

Arc Node

Shock Shield
Shield

LANCER

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 8

Cortex Damage When

a warjack is hit by this
weapon, it suffers 1 damage
point to its first available
Cortex system box.
Shock Field If a warjack
in this models front arc
hits it with a melee attack,
immediately after the attack
is resolved the attacker
suffers 1 damage point to its
first available Cortex system
box. This model loses Shock
Field while this weapon
system is crippled or locked.

War Spear
Reach

Set Defense A model in

this models front arc suffers
2 on charge, slam power
attack, and impact attack
rolls against this model.

6 6 13 16

Shock Shield
L

POW P+S

War Spear

POW P+S

R 4 12

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

A A R

L M C R

M M C C

Field Allowance U
Point Cost
6
Medium Base

Tactical Tips

Cortex Damage Because this damage is caused by the effect

when the model is hit, mark it before making the damage roll.

developed with an emphasis on defense and survivability.

The machines main weapon is a heavy spear designed to
keep adversaries at bay, and its sturdy shield generates
a shock field capable of burning out a warjack cortex
on contact. These innovations are the basis for
arguably the most valued light warjack in the
Cygnaran arsenal.

111

Sentinel

Cygnar Light Warjack

Id give my left jewel for a pair of those.

Sentinel

SENTINEL
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 8

6 6 13 16

Chain Gun
RNG ROF AOE POW

R 10 1 10

Assault Shield

POW P+S

2 10

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C
Field Allowance U
Point Cost
4
Medium Base

Assault Shield
Shield

112

Shield Guard - Once per

round, when a friendly
model is directly hit by a
ranged attack during your
opponents turn while
within 2 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 if
it is incorporeal, knocked
down, or stationary.

Chain Gun

Strafe [d6] (HAttack)

Make d6 ranged attacks
targeting a primary
target and any number of
secondary targets within
2 of the first target. Ignore
intervening models when
declaring secondary targets.
A secondary target cannot be
targeted by more attacks than
the primary target. Strafe
counts as one attack for ROF.

Lieutenant Allister Caine

Height/Weight: 86 / 3.25 tons

Armament: Assault Shield (left arm), Chain Gun (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 300 lbs / 6 hrs general, 65 min combat
Initial Service Date: 573 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Cygnaran Armory
Orig. Chassis Design: Albere Gungria, arcane mechanik at Royal Cygnaran University

Tactical Tips

Strafe These attacks are simultaneous. Attacks against

targets beyond this weapons range will automatically miss.

The first Cygnaran warjack outfitted with the infantryshredding chain gun, the Sentinel fills an essential role on
the battlefield. Its rapid-fire weapon enables it to cut down
swathes of infantry, making it invaluable against charging
platoons of Winter Guard, tides of Menite zealots, or waves
of Cryxian mechanithralls.
Closing with the Sentinel costs enemies dearly. Once within
striking range of the machine, they encounter the crushing
power of its assault shield. The warjack has few rivals when
deployed in the hands of cunning warcasters who know
how to exploit its firepower.

Cyclone

Cygnar Heavy Warjack

A single Metal Storm cannon can rotate through its barrels nearly once per second, giving it a
maximum fire rate in excess of two hundred rounds per minute. The Cyclone has two of them.

Senior Crew Chief Davlin Rodgers

Height/Weight: 123 / 6.5 tons

Armament: Dual Cyclone Chain Guns
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 638 lbs / 5 hrs general, 50 minutes combat
Initial Service Date: 599 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Fraternal Order of Wizardry/Cygnaran Armory
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East

Tactical Tips

Rapid Fire Roll for each Metal Storm.

The Cygnaran Armory prides itself on its innovation and

technological superiority. This tradition of excellence
has been maintained with the recent introduction of the
Cyclone, a singularly deadly warjack capable of terrifying
displays of rapid firepower.
The Cyclones chain guns are a refined evolution of their
older counterparts on the smaller Sentinel, with smoother
cycling of ammunition and a reduced likelihood of jamming
after protracted fire. With two sets of spinning barrels at
its disposal, this hulking jack is a nightmare to Cygnars
enemies. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves
caught in its field of fire are literally ripped apart in a hail
of smoke and lead.

Metal Storm

Dual Covering Fire

(HAction) Place two 3
AOEs anywhere completely
within this weapons RNG,
centered on points in this
models LOS, ignoring
intervening models. Place
one less AOE for each
crippled arm system on this
model. A model entering
or ending its activation in
the AOEs suffers a damage
roll with POW equal to the
POW of this weapon. The
AOEs remain in play for
one round. If this model is
destroyed or removed from
play, immediately remove
the AOEs from play.
Rapid Fire [d3] When
you decide to make initial
attacks with this weapon
at the beginning of this
models combat action, roll
a d3. The total rolled is the
number of initial attacks this
model can make with this
weapon during the combat
action, ignoring ROF.

Open Fists
Open Fist

CYCLONE

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 11 7 6 12 18

Metal Storm
RNG ROF AOE POW

10 1 12

Metal Storm
RNG ROF AOE POW

R 10

1 12

Open Fist

POW P+S

3 14

Open Fist

POW P+S

R 3 14

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C

Field Allowance U
Point Cost
9
Large Base

Thanks to the warjacks furious suppressive fire, in the

Cyclone Cygnaran commanders have a tool capable of
supporting sweeping advances across the battlefield,
affording them greater ability to engage the enemy where
and when they choose.

113

Defender

Cygnar Heavy Warjack

Today we have revolutionized warfare. With the Defender there is no need to wait to see the whites of
their eyes. We will engage the enemy before he realizes the battle has begun.

Lord General Everett Cathmore upon observing field trials, 563 AR

Shock Hammer

DEFENDER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 11 7 6 12 18

Heavy Barrel
RNG ROF AOE POW

L 16 1 15

Shock Hammer

POW P+S

5 16

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C
Field Allowance U
Point Cost
9
Large Base

114

Cortex Damage When

a warjack is hit by this
weapon, it suffers 1 damage
point to its first available
Cortex system box.

The Defender is a stout

heavy warjack boasting
unprecedented
longrange and accurate
firepower without sacrificing
effectiveness
in melee. It is a deadly
machine no enemy can
ignore, as dangerous at
a distance as when it
closes.
The primary weapon
of this impressive warjack is the enormous
heavy barrel, a dec-

Height/Weight: 122 / 6.5 tons

Armament: Heavy Barrel (left arm), Shock Hammer (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 655 lbs / 5 hrs general, 45 min combat
Initial Service Date: 564 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Fraternal Order of Wizardry
Orig. Chassis Design: Cygnaran Armory

Tactical Tips

Cortex Damage Because this damage is caused by the effect

when the model is hit, mark it before making the damage roll.

eptively simple-looking cannon. In addition to a rapid

reloading mechanism, the cannon has mechanikal stability
enhancements that provide accurate fire at tremendous
ranges, aided by custom-designed targeting protocols in
the machines advanced cortex. The armory also provided
the jack with a shock hammer whose electrical jolt causes
immediate damage to an enemy cortex.
The design of the Defender marks a significant evolution
in Cygnaran military tactics. After bloody clashes with
Khador along the northern border during the reign of
Vinter III, Cygnaran generals demanded more accurate
and longer-ranged firepower. The Cygnaran armory
delivered by modifying the chassis of the Ironclad to create
a uniquely powerful warjack that has yet to be surpassed in
its performance on the battlefield.

Ironclad

Cygnar Heavy Warjack

Six tons of tempered iron and a hammer that can split the earth to knock a jack on its exhaust pipes?
Pure perfection.

Gamack Redhammer, Engines East, Corvis

Height/Weight: 123 / 6 tons

Armament: Quake Hammer (left arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 582 lbs / 5.5 hrs general, 60 min combat
Initial Service Date: 556 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Fraternal Order of Wizardry/Cygnaran Armory
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East

The Ironclad is a walking behemoth of metal twice the

height of a man. Gigantic smokestacks blow sooty breath
from its heartfires furnace, and the bright orange glow
emitting from its mechanikal eyes gives it a fearsome
demeanor. Armed with a powerful quake hammer, the
Ironclad effortlessly smashes lesser combatants to scrap.
When it came time to upgrade Cygnars frontline heavy
warjack in the 550s, the contract went to Engines East
in Corvis. This independent shop had earned its fame a
century earlier creating several mainstays of the Cygnaran
Army. As good as those predecessors were, they were
designed on old principles evolved from mundane

Quake Hammer

Critical Knockdown On a
critical hit, the model hit is
knocked down.
Tremor (HAttack) Tremor
affects every model within
2 of this model and does
not require a target. Make
one melee attack roll. If
the roll equals or exceeds
the DEF of an affected
model, it is knocked down.
This attack roll cannot be
rerolled. This model can
make a Tremor special
attack if it charges.

Open Fist
Open Fist

IRONCLAD

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 11 7 6 12 18

Quake Hammer

POW P+S

7 18

Open Fist

POW P+S

R 3 14

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C

Field Allowance U
Point Cost
7
Large Base

laborjacks. The Ironclad, by

contrast, was built from the
ground up to be nothing but
a weapon of war.
The two most notable
advances in this design
are the use of a more
sophisticated cortex, allowing
considerably better performance in
combat, and the addition of its signature
quake hammer. Even when completely
surrounded, the Ironclad can seize victory
by smashing the earth with its hammer to
send surrounding enemies tumbling to the
ground. If an Ironclad cannot break something,
it is safe to say that thing cannot be broken.

Tactical Tips

Tremor This attack roll is boostable.

115

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

Cygnar Unit

Deliver the thunder and fire of your pistols to smite the enemies of our nation.

Warmaster General Laddermore at the founding of the Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest

LEADER & GRUNTS

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 4

5 7 15 11 8

Magelock Pistol
RNG ROF AOE POW

10 1 10

Sword

POW P+S

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Small Base

2
6

Arcane Inferno (Order)

Models that received this
order can participate in a
combined ranged attack
this activation. The unit
commander must be the
primary attacker. When
resolving this attack,
the AOE of the unit
commanders ranged
weapon is 3. Do not choose
an attack type for this
attack. A unit can make only
one Arcane Inferno attack
per activation.

Attack Type Each time this model makes a normal ranged

attack, choose one of the following abilities:
Critical Brutal Damage On a critical hit, gain an additional
die on this weapons damage roll against the model directly hit.
Snipe This attack gains +4 RNG.
Thunderbolt Enemy models hit are pushed d3 directly
away from the attacking model. On a critical hit, the enemy
model is knocked down after being pushed.

Magelock Pistol
Magical Weapon

Gun mages represent an elite caste of gun

fighters within the Cygnaran military. For over
two decades the Militant Order of the Arcane
Tempest has trained pistol-attuned sorcerers to harness their
unique powers. Tempest members focus arcane energy into
ammunition for their magelock pistols, which are crafted
from an expensive steel alloy noted to be particularly
responsive to arcane forces. In the hands of members of the
Arcane Tempest these pistols unleash a torrent of deadly
energies to enhance their firepower with tactical versatility.
When gun mages of the Arcane Tempest march to join
their comrades on the front line, the Tempest uniforms
inspire immediate confidence. The mages pistols portend
pyrotechnics to come when these elite gunslingers spring
into action. Working as a smoothly oiled machine, they
unleash a hail of rune-carved bullets enchanted by their
unique sorcery.
Since the invention of the firearm, only a select few have
been born with the talent to become gun mages. Such
sorcerers feel an instant affinity with pistols and an urge to

116

extend their power through the guns barrel. Only recently

organized by the Cygnaran military, this once secret and
exclusive fellowship of duelists has been absorbed into the
ranks as gun mages. Arcane Tempest instructors temper
talent with discipline and instill each gun mage with
unwavering patriotism and utter loyalty to the crown.
Gun mages must earn the right to wield the magelock
pistol and wear the uniform of their order. Gun mages
are deployed as precision teams to take down adversaries
by attacking with coordinated strikes that can knock back
enemy warjacks or tear entire ranks of soldiers to shreds
with an inferno of concentrated arcane fire.

Field Mechaniks
Cygnar Unit

Theres nothing heavier, more expensive, or more useless than

a disabled warjack a hundred miles from home.

Commander Coleman Stryker

Armor gets mangled. Firearms misfire. Warjacks break

down.
Any of these things could spell doom to a battlefield
commander if it were not for the mechaniks who brave the
combat zone. These staunch soldiers dive into the midst
of battle wearing little in the way of armor. They shun
anything that would impede their ability to move into
position and make necessary repairs quickly. Their fixes can
be miraculous, and many battles have been turned at the
point of defeat by the reappearance of a warjack thought to
have been destroyed just moments earlier.

Tactical Tips

Repair A wreck marker cannot be repaired.

Crew Chief Note that as the unit commander, this model is a
jack marshal. Because the Crew Chief is an Officer, it is the unit
jack marshal while it is in play. When it is destroyed it does not
replace a Gobber Bodger model. Instead a Gobber Bodger in the
unit becomes the new unit commander and jack marshal.

CREW CHIEF
Jack Marshal

CREW CHIEF

Officer

5 4

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

Iron Sentinel While B2B

with a friendly Faction
warjack, this model gains
+2 DEF and ARM and
cannot be knocked down.
Repair [9] (HAction) This
model can attempt repairs
on any damaged friendly
Faction warjack. To attempt
repairs, this model must
be B2B with the damaged
warjack and make a skill
check. If successful, remove
d6 damage points from the
warjacks damage grid.

GOBBER GRUNTS

3 4 12 11 7

Rivet Gun
RNG ROF AOE POW

4 1 10

Monkey Wrench

POW P+S

GOBBER GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 4

2 2 14 9

Monkey Wrench

POW P+S

Field Allowance
3
Crew Chief & 3 Grunts 2
Crew Chief & 5 Grunts 3
Small Base

Assist Repair (HAction)

This model can make this
special action only when B2B with a friendly Faction warjack.
When this model makes an Assist Repair special action, choose
another model in this unit with the Repair ability also B2B with
that warjack. The chosen model gains a cumulative +1 to its
Repair skill on its next Repair skill check to repair that warjack
this activation. If it passes the Repair check, remove 1 additional
damage point from the warjack for each model that used Assist
Repair on the chosen model.
Repair [6] (HAction) This model can attempt repairs on any
damaged friendly Faction warjack. To attempt repairs, this
model must be B2B with the damaged warjack and make a
skill check. If successful, remove d6 damage points from the
warjacks damage grid.

A mechaniks pockets, pouches, and satchels overflow

with extra parts and tools. Any self-respecting field
mechanik can never have enough gear, as not having
a single specific piece might mean disaster for
hundreds of soldiers. This is why they keep
company with the ever-present and everwilling gobber bodgers.
Gobbers love to tinkerno matter what,
where, or how. They earn a pittance for
the dangers they endure to carry extra
parts and tools for their crew chiefs, but
to them the adventure and excitement
of the work is at least half its reward.
Nevertheless, the buggers are known for
tossing equipment and diving for cover
until danger has passed.

117

Long Gunner Infantry

Cygnar Unit

I heard they were going to start taking missed shots out of our wages.
Well, I reckon we dont miss, then.

Two long gunners conversing at the Falling Star tavern

LEADER & GRUNTS

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 4

4 5 13 12 8

Repeating Long Gun

RNG ROF AOE POW

14 2 10

Sword

POW P+S

Combined Ranged Attack

Dual Shot When this

model forfeits its movement
to gain the aiming bonus
it can also make one
additional ranged attack this
activation.

Since the advent of the

long gun, Cygnar has
assembled skilled riflemen
to support its vast armies.
Originally the guns were
muzzleloaders, and gunners had to line up in pairs with
one gunner shooting while the other
reloaded each ball down the barrel
by hand. The introduction of
the breechloader eliminated the
need for firing in pairs and vastly
improved the rate of fire. Current
long guns employ the ammo wheel,
with which single gunners can cycle
up to six shots by cranking a lever
atop the gun. Preloaded replacement
wheels are easy to substitute even in
the heat of combat, allowing ranks
of long gunners to deliver a constant
hailstorm of crippling fire.
Field Allowance
2
Leader & 5 Grunts 6
Leader & 9 Grunts 10
Small Base

Long gunners make up the majority

of Cygnars rank-and-file soldiers and
represent Cygnars relatively modern
focus on outfitting its army with the
best weapons for war. Rifle soldiers
were once seen only in small squads
providing support fire to the main

118

Tactical Tips

Dual Shot This is how the model gets to take the second shot
allowed by the ROF 2 of its weapon.

line, but now Cygnar relies on them to man its garrisons

and defend its borders. Working together with squads of
hardened trenchers, the long gunners are the face of the
contemporary Cygnaran soldier. They are well trained in
concentrating their fire and release barrages of withering
shots that tear through even thickly armored enemies and
warjacks. Fresh recruits who have just learned to handle
their weapons fight alongside seasoned veterans who have
earned widespread fame and notoriety for their skill.

Stormblade Infantry

Cygnar Storm Knight Unit

Gods use lightning to wage war. Now Leto can, too!

Chief Mechanik Garrison Grohl immediately after firing the first storm glaive

Stormblades are ready to face insurmountable odds and

wield the most advanced mechanika Cygnar has to offer.
Part of an initiative begun by Warmaster General Leto
Raelthorne in the years before he seized the crown from
his brother, these heavily armored soldiers were each
handpicked to become knights of storm. They have become
the finest fighting men serving the king, supplementing
ancient martial tradition with state-of-the-art weaponry.
Upon selection for the Stormblades, each soldier
begins intensive training in the use of the storm
glaive. This ingenious weapon builds on the
Caspian enthusiasm for sword warfare with
powerful mechanikal storm technology.
The blade itself, forged to exacting
specifications, contains a lattice of
conductive materials to direct
and regulate the flow of powerful
electrical energies from its storm
chamber. In properly trained

LEADER & Grunts

Combined Melee Attack

Leader & GRUNTS

Immunity: Electricity

5 6

Electrical Arc The Leader

and models in this unit
within 5 of it gain +2 RNG
to ranged attacks and +2
to melee and ranged attack
damage rolls.

Storm Glaive Blast

Damage Type: Electricity

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 5 12 15 9

Storm Glaive Blast

RNG ROF AOE POW

4 1 12

Storm Glaive

POW P+S

7 13

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Small Base

2
5

hands, a storm glaive can even send lightning forth to blast

enemies at a distance.
Each Stormblade sergeant carries a modified storm glaive
specifically designed to work in synergy with the glaives
of his unit and capable of conducting massive electrical
surges. In wielding this weapon, the sergeant becomes
the heart of an electrical storm that feeds on the
energy of each glaive
and amplifies each
weapons electrical
charge.
A Stormblades armor
insulates him against the
currents of his weapon and is
designed to withstand the deadly
fingers of energy that arc from each
member to the next. In combat Stormblades
are surrounded by a nimbus of flashing
lightning, a sight that represents a fearsome
presage of the future of Cygnaran warfare.

119

Trencher Infantry
Cygnar Unit

They endure a life hunkered down in hip-deep mud as explosions rattle the landscape. Armed against
wars horrors with only a rifle and courage, it is by their sacrifice our borders stay safe.

King Leto Raelthorne

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 6

6 5 13 13 9

LEADER & GRUNTS

Advance Deployment

Combined Ranged Attack

Assault (Order) Affected

models must charge or
10 1 11
run. As part of a charge,
after moving but before
Bayonet
making its charge attack,

POW P+S
an affected model can
3 9
make one ranged attack
targeting the model
Field Allowance
2
charged unless they were
Leader & 5 Grunts 6
in melee with each other
Leader & 9 Grunts 10
at the start of the affected
Small Base
models activation. Models
that received this order
cannot make combined ranged attacks this activation. When
resolving an Assault ranged attack, the attacking model does
not suffer the target in melee penalty. If the target is not in
melee range after moving, the affected model must still make
the ranged attack before its activation ends.

Military Rifle

RNG ROF AOE POW

Dig In (HAction) This model gains cover, does not suffer

blast damage, and does not block LOS. The model remains dug
in until it moves, is placed, or is engaged. The model cannot
dig into solid rock or man-made constructions. This model can
begin the game dug in.
Smoke Bombs (HAction) Place a 3 AOE cloud effect in play.
Its center point must be within 1 of this model. This AOE
remains in play for one round.

The trenchers have earned a reputation as being

men of grit who can be found at the forefront of
every battlefield. Sometimes informally called
gravediggers, they are the first onto the field and
often the last to leave. It is the trenchers duty to
precede the van and prepare the battlefield.
Across trench lines and hastily dug
emplacements, they seize ground

Tactical Tips

Assault (Order) The assaulting model ignores the target in

melee penalty even if is not in melee range of its charge target after
moving.

120

and hold it, enduring the concussive blasts of cannon and

warjack fire to buy time for the rest of the army to advance.
These steadfast soldiers embody the courage of young
Cygnaran patriots, and each is aware that every day he or
his friends may be returning home in a box. Trenchers are
armed with heavy rifles ready to be set with trench knife
bayonets, and they carry hazer smoke grenades that emit
thick, gray clouds of smoke to obscure their position from
the enemy. When the time is right, trenchers charge forth
from their ditches to decimate the enemy with bayonets
flashing and rifles roaring.
Trenchers began as an experiment by Cygnaran generals to
see if hard training could shape surly or even insubordinate
youths into skillful warriors. Every trencher endures a harsh
regimen to be forged into a soldier capable of enduring wars
horrors. Over the years many retired veterans have eagerly
answered the call back to duty to train the next generation
for war, teaching recruits their first lesson: Once a trencher,
always a trencher.

Journeyman Warcaster
Cygnar Solo

When you can caress a flower with the same hand you use to render stone to dust,
only then are you ready.

Ideal given to apprentice warcasters by their mentors

Spells
Arcane Bolt

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

2
12

11 No Yes

Magical bolts of energy streak toward the target model.

Arcane Shield

Target friendly model/unit gains +3 ARM.

Yes No

The tales of warcaster accomplishments have brought many

hopefuls to the Strategic Academy to see if they have the
spark. It is difficult to predict who will manifest the ability
to meld his mind with a warjack cortex. Those who prove
promising begin training with veterans of the warcaster
discipline in the hopes of unlocking their potential. Finding
new warcasters is one of the kingdoms highest priorities.
Becoming a warcaster requires a soldier to reinvent himself.
Many fresh warcasters have already served for years before
realizing their ability to sense cortexes and must work hard

JOURNEYMAN
WARCASTER
Fearless

Journeyman Warcaster
This model is not a
warcaster but has the
following warcaster
special rules: Battlegroup
Commander, Control Area,
Focus Manipulation, Power
Field, and Spellcaster.

Mechanika Blade
Magical Weapon

JOURNEYMAN WARCASTER

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 5

5 4 14 14 7

Hand Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

12 1 12

Mechanika Blade

POW P+S

5 10

Focus 3
Damage 5
Field Allowance
1
Point Cost
3
Small Base

to master these new skills. Beginning as apprentices, they

control labor-exclusive steamjacks. Soon they move
to disarmed warjacks and eventually earn the right
to command a warjackalbeit typically an old
or battered onewhen reaching journeyman
rank.
As part of a tradition as old as the
Strategic Academy, each journeyman
spends a tour of duty under the tutelage
of a veteran warcaster before graduating
to the title of magus. In a time of war, this
means journeymen must learn vital lessons
while evading death, and some will not
survive the tour. New warcasters are juicy
targets of opportunity, and enemies seek to kill
them before they can mature into greater threats.
As they develop they become great assets, fighting
alongside their mentors and learning to become
leaders of men and machines. Some mentors
wince at allowing a rookie to command a six-ton
powerhouse with lives on the line, but most know it
is a crucial step in their development. Only the heat
of battle burns hot enough to forge even the strongest
talents into accomplished warcasters.

Tactical Tips

Journeyman Warcaster This model is a non-warcaster model

and is not affected by special rules that specifically affect
warcasters. Models with the Attached rule cannot be attached to
this model.

121

122

Trials
of
Faith
A History of the Protectorate of Menoth
We are justified by faith, and faith is the heart of our salvation.
The road to salvation, however, is long and narrow, and it must
be paved with the skulls of heretics. Those of you with faith are the
builders of this roadour roadto salvation!
Hierarch Sulon, welcoming pilgrims to Caspia, 481AR
The following were the words of Grand Scrutator Severius
on the topic of the Protectorates history, recorded in
604AR for posterity.
As long as man could speak the words of prayer, he has
worshipped Menoth. Mankind arose from the froth when
the shadow of the Creator fell on the still-forming waters
of the world. Since that creation, we have been His. Never
forget that our flesh, our souls, all our works are His, and
He may reclaim us whenever it suits His needs. In the dawn
of our creation the Creator did not coddle us because He
knew our strength must rise from travail.
Humanity gathered into tribes in the difficult and wild
lands where every shadow hid a threat and every nightfall
presented the uncertainty of waking. Great beasts stalked
us, and we learned to hunt them in turn. Our tribes
wandered for millennia, enduring the elements and toiling
to survive. We became stronger and more worthy. In our
ignorance we did not know, even then, that we fought the
Creators ancient foe, the Devourer Wurm. We were being
forged into weapons by His hand.
We know not the extent of the tribes of ancient man, but we
gathered on the fertile land by riverbanks and the coasts
of the ocean seeking to learn our place in the world. In the
beginning man was a trivial thing to his Shaper, but our
resilience did not go unnoticed. Man ascended above the
beasts. To those deemed worthy Menoth gave the gifts of
fire, stonework, and agriculture. The first and greatest of
these men we know of was Cinot, to whom Menoth revealed
the True Law transcribed in stone as the Canon at Icthier.
We made structures to glorify Menoth and walls to shield
our people from the wilderness.
By the favor of Menoth the first priest-kings rose up as a
caste above all lesser citizens, and each man knew his place
in the order of things. Menoths covenants ensured we
led our lives in obedience to His priests, who themselves
remained obedient to the True Law. We offered prayers
in recognition of our Creator so that He would never

be forgotten, lest we lose all and surrender our rightful

dominance over beast and wilderness. This was the birth
of the Temple and the Sacred Flame, an imperishable fire
that would burn in every temple, uniting them as one
and symbolizing our promises. Villages arose; some few
survived and still stand as cities today.
Heed my attention to these ancient times. You must feel in
your bones and sinew that we are part of a sacred covenant
with our Creator from the dawn of mankind. The ills of this
world arise from those who have forgotten or shamelessly
abandoned this first and most important promise. Menoth
is our Creator and Lawgiver, and He gave us everything
we required to foster civilization and thrive. When He
turned away to manage divine affairs He left His priests
in His place.
Men are akin to childrenso easily do they go astray. Even
a priest may lose his path if we scrutators do not remain
firm and willing to provide discipline. After millennia the
first tribes broke apart, and many forgot their place. Man
fell to worshipping false idols and revering his ancestors
rather than the Lawgiver. Some wayward tribes entered a
deeper betrayal by offering worship to the Devourer Wurm,
the Beast of All Shapes, enemy of the Creator. Lesser gods
arose, allowed to exist only by the sufferance of benevolent
Menoth, while those they led astray forgot to praise Him
without whom they would be only dust.
Time is as nothing to Menoth and at long last He turned
back to survey his creation. When He saw how many had
forgotten the True Law, He was much displeased, and His
wrath was awakened. In spite of His anger, Menoth did not
yet wish to destroy His creation. Rather, He sent a peril to
test us: in 600BR, the Orgoth arrived on our shores. Their
invasion would be a lesson of what might come to us if
humanity neglected its faith.
Without Menoths favor, our bones would lie moldering in
the earth, or we would be adrift in a void of lawlessness.
Mankind experienced absolute despair under the grip of

123

the Orgoth and were thereby humbled. Menoth allowed

the Rebellion to succeed to afford us a second chance to
rectify our follies.
After the Orgoth quit our lands, the priesthood rebuilt our
temples and walls and erected monuments to His glory. We
helped the peoples of Immoren recover while spreading His
word. Some listened, but others chose to abide by heretical
teachings, once more turning their backs on the Creator.
Our missionaries walked among them to teach the lesser
faiths their place, particularly those calling themselves
Morrowansmembers of a dangerous faith increasing in
popularity. Those who followed the creed of their deceitful
god and his even more wretched sister were seduced by
easy and slothful tenets and showed a devotion requiring
no discipline or adherence to ancient laws. We tolerated
this unworthy rabble only as long as they acknowledged
Menoth as supreme. Perhaps we were too indulgent.

That the populace tolerated

such unforgivable actions
was a sign of how many had
fallen from grace.

Man is lazy and weak, so the lesser faiths spread over time,
especially among the uneducated and lowborn. Those
descended from the ancient priest-kings understood better
that each man must know his place, both those born to
govern and those born to be governed. During the rule of
Woldred the Diligent in the 280s, our right to oversee the
proper passing of the Cygnaran crown was formalized
in law. Woldred understood the priesthood should be
entrusted to recognize and authorize a worthy king, yet
those who would undermine our faith were busy seeking to
overthrow divine law. When Woldred became ill and died
suddenly, our priests ushered his soul back to the Creator,
but heretics calling themselves Morrowans unleashed their
plot. The usurper Malagant toppled the rightful order
by removing our priesthood from the halls of power and
replacing them with those more amenable to his designs.
Malagant went so far as to order the murder of hundreds of
our priesthood. His blasphemy went unchecked.
That the populace tolerated such unforgivable actions was
a sign of how many had fallen from grace. Our priests
could not be faulted for their efforts, except to say they
sought too hard to preserve the peace when it had already
been broken. They fought in the Cygnaran courts for

124

generations attempting to reconcile ancient Menite law

with the increasingly corrupted revisions created through
the influence of false prophets. They did not realize those
very courts had lost all legitimacy and that violence would
be required to restore the divine order.
Menoth watched and was displeased with the Cygnaran
kings. His wrath stirred. The Cygnarans had turned away
from Him in great numbers. They were like sheep scared
away from their shepherd by a howling wolf intent on
devouring them, and that wolf was their heretic king.
Things could not have been bleaker for the faithful when
the Creator sent us Sulon. A visionary, he proved to be
the greatest mortal leader since the ancient priest-kings
Khardovic and Golivant. Sulon was granted the holy sight,
and he quickly rose to the station of visgoth of Caspia.
Soon his words were known in every corner of Cygnar. He
announced a great pilgrimage by which all servants of the
Creator should join him in Caspia. In eastern Caspia, Visgoth
Sulon organized those who flocked to him, initiated more
scrutators, and trained the faithful as warriors, knights, and
war priests. Knights Exemplar and others willing to bear
arms were called from their posts and temples throughout
the kingdom to join the visgoth at the new eras birthplace.
A vast number journeyed to the site of our new beginning,
the City of Walls. This was the city that had once been
Calacia, the birthplace of Priest-King Golivant. It was holy
ground long before the heresy of the Twins and the building
of their indolent Sancteum.
By 482AR Visgoth Sulon stood atop the ancient Great
Temple of the Creator. His vision had become reality.
From the summit of this temples elevated altar platform
he looked out over a sea of tents and wagons filling the
open spaces with faithful men and women involved in the
industry of arming and preparing for what must come.
Eastern Caspia had become the largest temple to Menoth
in the world. Hundreds of thousands of our brothers and
sisters joined in prayer. On the holy day we now call the
Birth of Sulon, Sulon donned new vestments and became
the first to adopt the title of hierarch since before the time
of the Orgoth. Those amassed wept, overcome by rapture.
Though the overly proud Khadoran visgoths refused to
acknowledge Sulons claim, among those gathered he was
embraced as the uncontested leader of all the Faithful.
That same year, the hierarch banished any unbelievers
lingering in eastern Caspia to west of the bridge, seeking
to make room for the faithful in the crowded streets of the
district. We were overly indulgent in those times, for we
allowed them to depart in peace and take what possessions
they could carry. Those same people to whom we offered
mercy would soon take up arms against us.

The jealous heretic puppets in the

Cygnaran court and their primarch
master sent armed soldiers to the
bridges in preparation to disrupt
our holy gathering. Their excuse
that they sought to enforce order
was a transparent ploy for what
was clearly an assassination
attempt. Hierarch Sulon, knowing
this would come to pass, implored
the Menites to Send them to
Urcaen! With that, the faithful fell
on the Cygnarans with righteous
fury and overcame them. Hierarch
Sulon gave the order, and our
forces flooded across the Black
River into western Caspia, igniting
the fires in which a new kingdom
would soon be forged. Amid the
battles the bridges fell, and soon
all roads joining the two halves of
the city were barricaded on either
side. Caspia was a city besieged
from within.
For two years we fought. It was
a tremendous test of our faith.
On the first full moon of 484 AR,
reinforcements from the north
entered Caspia, and Sulon fell in
battle against the infidels under the
shadow of the Sancteum. Sulon had
done enough, and it was Menoths
will His hierarch should join Him
in Urcaen. It became clear to those
who fought that this would not be
the day the Menites would claim
Caspia. Their times of trial and testing were not over, and a
different path would be required. To commemorate his valor
and clarity of vision, every year on the first full moonon
Sulonspharour tongues remain still and our hands stay
idle for the entire day.
Shortly after the hierarchs defeat, King Bolton GreyV
agreed to send an emissary to meet with Visgoth Ozeall,
Sulons most trusted subordinate, and the conflict
was soon declared over. A long stretch of land on the
southeastern corner of Cygnar became ours to rule as we
would. The crown feigned agreement that the Cygnarans
would not impose their political will upon us. We were
ceded eastern Caspia, for they knew they could never root
us out from this sacred land. No longer wishing to be tied
to the Cygnaran title, we declared this a new city named

Sul in honor of the first hierarch of the new age. We were

Caspians no longer; through our faith we became Sulese.
We knew the land so close to the Bloodstone Marches was
bitter and hot, but as Hierarch Sulon once said, Hardship is
the coin of Urcaen. Menoth would be proud of His children
should they survive in such a place. Within the borders of
this new protectorate, we could mold the vision for which
Sulon had sacrificed himself: a Sulese theocracy living life by
the True Law and utterly dedicated to Menoth the Creator!
So pure a theocracy had not been seen in western Immoren
since ancient times. Unhindered by secular distractions we
were able to recreate the proper castes of our faith and a
society driven solely by worship of the Lawgiver.
There were, of course, terms. This new protectorate would
remain part of Cygnar in title and taxes, if not in law or
religion. A percentage of coin, Ozeall stated, was a small

125

cost to pay for control over our own destiny. Another term
disallowed us from maintaining a standing army, but
Ozealls foresight ensured we would be allowed to raise
what defenders were required to preserve our borders from
the hostile tribes to the east and to defend our temples. This
became the seed from which the true military of our new
nation would grow by slow but inexorable
measures. A stream of humanity
ventured out from the walls
of Sul to claim farmland
from the difficult soils
east of the Black
River. It was the
new land of the
Protectorate
of Menoth,

L a w a
u e
s
r
s

howling Idrian tribes descended upon us time and again.

Sulese and Idrian blood watered the desert from repeated
raids, but we remained unwavering. Emboldened by our
visgoths and scrutators, we retaliated in kind, putting them
to the sword wherever we could find them. If they did not
know the name of our Creator or could not accept our holy
mandate, they would perish into the earth.

r v e o n l
e
y
s
t
e

o
b y M e n
w n
o

shaking the ground

in a tremendous
earthquake that sent
the Idrians prostrate but
left the faithful standing.
This was His sign that the
slaughter would not serve us nearly
as well as converting the savages to His
faith. The Idrians had been ignorant, but they were
not easily seduced by false gods. They recognized the hand
of the divine. Immediately the majority of those tribes,
particularly the masses native to Imer, converted to the True
Faith and joined us.

t o r o f
e a
M
a

Something far better than unearthed relics also presented

itselfthe Idrian people. At first they seemed a curse rather
than a blessing. While we erected our temples amidst
brambles and dust and worked to carve our homes from the
red sandstone from which the Marches takes its name, the

The land was not easily

worked, but increasingly
the people realized the fruits
of providence. Here had once stood
Icthier, one of the most ancient cities of
mankind where Cinot had discovered the True Law. Other
holy and forgotten temples of those ancient and primal
days of our faith awaited our discovery. They would
be well worth the looming dangers of the Bloodstone
Marches. It is an environment reflective of Menoth and
His ancient battles with His first foe. The early years were
difficult, and thousands perished trying to civilize these
forgotten regions.

126

land won by
the blood of the
faithful.

The greatest clash came in 504AR well

to the east of Sul as we moved
on the collection of crude
huts and hovels of their
largest city, called Imer.
Suddenly the hand of
Menoth struck the
earth as a sign,

Our battles against the Idrians did not end on that day.
It would take decades of strife and bloodshed to bring
the southern tribes into our faith, but this was the great
beginning of the unity of our people. The Idrians brought
much-needed numbers to our young nation and showed
themselves to be capable warriors and zealous citizens.
Imer experienced the fruit of our knowledge and became
a modern city with true walls and temples. The converted

Idrians soon proved their loyalty and usefulness to the

Temple and later the armies of the Faith.
It was the Idrians who led us to the diamonds beneath the
Marches. We have no lust for wealth, but the heretics of
the west crave such jewels, and trade was necessary for us
to prosper. Harvested gems trickled into the hands of the
Cygnaran tax collectors to blind them to our activities and
to allow us to retain our more important resources. As long
as the shining stones fell into their pockets, they paid no
attention as the hierarchs who followed after Sulon began
to build the strength of our nation.
Idrians also aided in discovering the pure and blessed
oil abundant under the cracked soil, first refined into the
weapon known as Menoths Fury under the rule of Hierarch
Turgis. The unrefined fluid is useful to fuel forge fires and
keep hearths blazing in temples, but through refinement
it becomes truly potent. The oil becomes so volatile it
can ignite the instant it is exposed to air, roaring like the
manifest wrath of Menoth. Praise Him for revealing this
weapon to us, and let its fire consume the heretics who seek
to defy His word.
Fifty years after the foundation of the Protectorate, King
Vinter RaelthorneIII was crowned in Cygnar. He was
a man who would tax and harass us mercilessly. The
stonehearted reprobate drained our coffers even with
the bounty of our diamonds. Tensions rose as our people
starved. VinterIII died in 576AR, and the crown passed
to his eldest son. VinterIV embodied Cygnars corrupt
ways in his treatment of his subjects. He found solace in
darkness and put much of his efforts into strangling the
life from his people. He was a richly deserved plague
on them for having given themselves over to false faiths.
The paranoia through which he saw his own followers
was a boon to us, for we were able to gather our strength
without interference. By Menoths will, Cygnar was further
distracted as horrors from the western islands beset their
coasts. As they bled, our strength grew.
We are a people who thrive on strong leadership. Sadly
not all leaders of the faith have the same uncompromising
strength of character. Hierarch is a title that must be earned
and is not given. The founding of the Protectorate saw this
from the earliest days when Visgoth Ozeall refused to take
the title. He knew his limits and recognized he was not the
same caliber of man as Hierarch Sulon. The death of each
hierarch has brought a time of turmoil and transition as
the Temple adjusted to a new voice, a new manifestation of
Menoths will in the form of man.
Sometimes there is contention among the visgoths; this
strife is natural, since we must ensure Menoths will above
petty aspirations. After the death of Hierarch Luctine it
was thirteen years before the ascension of Hierarch Turgis,

during which the Synod of Visgoths underwent many

changes. It was nineteen years after the death of Turgis
before Hierarch Ravonal took the mantle. We were relatively
blessed that Ravonals death presaged only eight years of
uncertainty among the ruling Synod. A number of visgoths
and senior scrutators sought to elevate themselves at this
time, and from the records it seems many forgot their first
duty was to Menoth. Visgoth Garrick Voyle rose from this
storm of bickering voices, silenced all opposition, and took
absolute control over our destinies. Here at last was a man
worthy of Ravonals legacy who would carry us forward
into a new age.
It was in 588AR, at the height of Vinter RaelthorneIVs rule,
when Voyle seized power and proclaimed himself hierarch.
The divided visgoths and their followers were forced
either to recognize his claim or oppose him. Most realized
his invincibility and chose the wise course, but for some it
would require an abject lesson and punishment. Aside from
those few malcontents who soon received their discipline
at Tower Judgment, the Temple bowed to him. His strong
voice was just what the faithful needed to stand united and
more powerful than ever before.

Praise Him for revealing this

weapon to us, and let its fire
consume the heretics who
seek to defy His word.

The hierarchy of Garrick Voyle was also accompanied by a

miraculous manifestation. He stood before the subjugated
visgoths and showed where the True Law had emerged of
its own accord upon his skin. Every word of the holy text
was divinely scribed on his flesh as the sign of a new dawn.
Here was a leader who would fulfill the dream spoken by
Hierarch Ravonal, to sever all ties with Cygnar and see our
rise as a truly independent nation.
Hierarch Voyle brought our nation to its greatest height since
its inception. It was he who relocated the capital from Sul to
Imer. It was he who made arrangements with our brothers
and sisters across Immoren to ensure warjack cortexes
could be crafted in number within our borders rather than
relying on the spoils of war or the charity of the faithful
in other nations. The Vassals of Menoth were instituted at
his insistence. They captured and subdued foreign arcanists
and bent their unholy skills to a sacred purpose with our
powers of persuasion and torment. The Creator has allowed
us to adapt to the challenges of the battles ahead without
losing sight of our divine purpose.

127

Our gaze has turned to Cygnar again. The perfidy of their

monarchy has been made clear even to their citizens. In
594AR Cygnars prince overthrew the king and gave us
King Leto, a man of false faith who could not even heed the
laws of his own nation, having usurped the throne from his
brother. Cygnar is surrounded by enemies, and we will be
the righteous flame that engulfs their capital and returns it
to the True Faith. Tempers flare on other borders, and the
corruption of the west is about to erupt in a war that will
decide the fate of humanity.

We shall finish what

Hierarch Sulon began so
many generations before. We
will convert or conquer the
lesser faiths, beginning with
that of Morrow the Betrayer.

In the last year we received the greatest sign that our rise to
triumph is imminentthe emergence of a prophetess and
oracle long presaged in our holy texts. She is the Harbinger
of Menoth, a miraculous young woman whose sacred flesh
refuses to touch the unclean soil. She is the embodiment of
Menoths will and speaks with His voice, arriving unto our
capital of Imer for the Synod of the Visgoths to receive her
and witness her affirmation of the hierarchs crusade. The
great labors our people have endured in the last few years
to create hidden factories, stockpile caches of arms and
supplies, and build weapons enough to arm every citizen
young or oldwill soon come to fruition.
We shall finish what Hierarch Sulon began so many
generations before. We will convert or conquer the lesser
faiths, beginning with that of Morrow the Betrayer. Every
one of our faithful, and even some of our estranged brothers
in Khador, will answer the call and recognize the miracle
of the Harbinger. Never before have we come together so
quickly and with such great purpose.
The following was appended to the preceding historical
account by Visgoth Juviah Rhoven of Sul and was widely
distributed among the faithful by 607 AR.
It is my honor to record the continuing history of our
righteous people. We stand in a time of transformation,
and I am struck by Grand Scrutator Severius foresight.
He understood that the sound of our actions today would
echo down the ages for eternity. Nothing great is gained
without sacrifice.

128

Shortly after penning the preceding history, Grand

Scrutator Severius embarked on his greatest campaign,
leading an army that would in time become the Northern
Crusade. The impetus for this campaign was a vision
delivered by Menoth directly to the Harbinger. She revealed
to Hierarch Voyle an imminent threat arising in Cygnars
Thornwood Forest that required her personal intervention.
As this was the first time the Harbinger had gone to war,
Hierarch Voyle entrusted the leadership of her army to the
grand scrutator and decreed that many of our greatest and
most holy warriors should accompany them. In addition
to confronting the enemies of the Harbingers vision, the
crusade would fight to establish a new bastion of the faith
in the north, one that could reach out to the countless
wayward Menites living in Khador and elsewhere.
Deep within the vile and corrupted Thornwoodlong
a haven of those who cleave to the Devourer Wurmthe
Harbinger and her holy soldiers clashed with darkness
incarnate. I am forbidden to reveal the exact details of this
battle to those not of the cloth, but consider that the clash
took place on the defiled remains of an Orgoth temple that
had been the site of countless atrocities.
During this battle the Harbinger made the ultimate
sacrifice to save the souls of thousands of Menites. In
giving up her life she thwarted a plan that threatened the
integrity of the afterlife itself. Her holy stewards risked
terrors and countless threats to return her to Imer for
burial. Menoth demonstrated she still had work left to
do here on Caen when he graced Hierarch Voyle with
the awesome power to restore her to life. Hundreds of
thousands of the faithful witnessed her draw breath
again and arise to inspire us anew.
While these miracles transpired, the Northern Crusade
marched on. Even the temporary loss of the Harbinger was
not enough to deter Severius in the tasks set before him. His
victories in the north were beyond counting, including the
razing of the faithless town of Fisherbrook, the obliteration
of a heretical Morrowan monastery outside Fellig, and
countless battles against those who would stand in the way
of Menoths glory as he advanced his army into occupied
Llael. Accomplished while cut off from reinforcements or
support and far from our holy lands, each of these victories
was its own miracle and reaffirmed Hierarch Voyles
confidence in Severius. This campaign eventually resulted
in the seizure of the fortified city of Leryn, which has been
sanctified as the northern bastion from which the crusade
could be carried forth indefinitely.
Here in the south other trials of faith awaited us. Our
enemies are many, and they are cunning and dangerous.
Victory is never a foregone conclusion. I learned this painful
lesson in 606AR.

At that time here in the great and holy city of Sul, we

prepared for a massive attack on Caspia while our Cygnaran
enemies were distracted by wars abroad. Our battles had
become increasingly bitter in recent years as the heretics
focused malignant hatred on the destruction of our faith.
They went so far as to root out faithful among their own
citizens and strip them of lands and liberty, preparing to
send them to a squalid island prison for no crime other than
paying respect to the Creator. Even as these prison barges
steamed down the Black River toward the Gulf of Cygnar,
we readied our forces.
To our surprise the Cygnarans succeeded in what we
believed was impossible. For weeks they had committed
to the apparently futile bombardment of Suls walls,
blessed structures that had never succumbed to force. We
underestimated the enemy and paid a great price as those
walls were breached and invaders poured forth to defile
our sacred streets. The Knights Exemplar and Temple
Flameguard gathered to face them resolutely, but the attack
was fierce and proved even the faithless can inflict grievous
wounds when led by those skilled in battle.
Never has my heart fallen so low as when I beheld the
wound in Suls walls, and yet never have I been so proud of
our people as when they rallied to the citys defense. As we
fought in the shadow of Sulons tomb it seemed the souls of
warriors from throughout the ages lent us their strength in
Menoths name. Sul was invaded, but it would not fall. We
protected the Great Temple of the Creator. We proved that
the sacrifices of the faithful could form a wall stronger than
any built of stone.
This interminable battle was carried from street to street in
Sul for over a year, a grinding stalemate that earned both
sides little besides blood and grief. After several reversals
we began to gain ground. Upon the fall of one of their most
clever, if treacherous, commanders, we pushed Cygnar out
of Sul. Our soldiers surged into Caspia, but progress soon
stalled and the stalemate resumed.

The Harbinger warned Hierarch Voyle that this would not be

the time for our ultimate triumph, but he was not deterred.
Garrick Voyle had always been a man of uncompromising
principle and inviolable resolve. It was not in his nature to
turn aside from an enemy once committed. He accepted the
risk of death to strike a significant blow against the heart of
our enemy.
After securing a long chain of divinely inspired victories
through the streets of Caspia, Voyle eventually reached
his limit. Like Sulon over a century before, he fell in battle.
Menoth reclaimed him in his hour of glory, while his might
lay undiminished. This was a reminder to us that we should
be humble and remember that our wars are as nothing
compared to the War of Souls in Urcaen.
Our army withdrew in grief from Caspia, and yet we had
reclaimed our holy city and demonstrated the strength of
our faith. Cygnar witnessed the power of the Creator and
countless of their citizens have crossed to join our ranks.
In his history of our nation, Grand Scrutator Severius spoke
of how we as a people are at our best when led by a strong
leader. How prophetic those words seem. He described the
long years of confusion that typically follow a hierarchs
passing before another rises to take the reins. For the first
time in our history, after Voyles death we were immediately
granted divine omens that made plain the will of Menoth.
It was decreed that none other than Severius could assume
the governance of our people.
The crusade continues without interruption, and we must
focus on the battles at hand. The need to wage war upon
the faithless is more crucial now than ever. Whether we do
battle here in the lands of our ancestors or abroad with the
crusades to bring new faithful to the fold, we must never
shrink from the trials that Menoth sets before us.

While we had broken through the outer walls of Caspia, we

lacked the strength to push aside its desperate defenders
entirely. Hierarch Garrick Voyle paid close attention to
the reports of these battles from the heart of his temple in
Imer, where he eventually tired of this stalemate. Knowing
there could be no victory without his personal invocation of
Menoths powers, Hierarch Voyle marched for Sul with the
armies of Imer at his command.
I feel blessed indeed that my eyes have witnessed the wrath
of a hierarch incited to battle backed by Menoths own hand.
With Hierarch Voyle leading the way, we charged into the
midst of the Cygnarans and left them shattered and destroyed.
Everything changed in that hour as we marched through the
winding streets of Caspia and won victory after victory.

129

The High Reclaimer

Protectorate Warcaster

He is nameless and without identity or mercy. He is the High Reclaimer. Heretics flee his approach in terror, but
no soul can escape his grasp.

High Exemplar Mikael Kreoss

HIGH RECLAIMER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 7

6 4 14 15 8

Cremator

POW P+S

7 14

Focus 5
Damage 18
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Small Base

Feat: Resurrection
Though the High Reclaimers
primary purpose is to usher
souls into the next existence,
he has been given the authority
to return them from death in
order to carry out Menoths
will. This is among the greatest
of miracles granted by the
Creator of Man, only bestowed
on those who will fight to
preserve the faith.

Return d3 + 3 friendly
destroyed Faction troopers
to play. Place those models in formation in their original units
completely in the High Reclaimers control area.

HIGH RECLAIMER
Terror

Oath of Silence This model does not have the Commander

advantage.
Reclaim This model gains one soul token for each friendly
living Faction warrior model destroyed by a continuous effect,
an enemy attack, or collateral damage from an enemy attack
in its control area. During your Control Phase, after this model
replenishes its focus but before it allocates focus, replace each
soul token with 1 focus point.
Soulstorm While this model has one or more soul tokens,
enemy models entering or ending their activations within 2 of
it immediately suffer 1 damage point.

Cremator

Continuous Effect: Fire

Magical Weapon
Reach

Menoth creates, and He destroys. It is the job of the

Reclaimant Order to assist in the latter. They are an extension
of Menoths will, and they return souls to the Shaper of Man
to add strength to his wars in Urcaen.
Even other religious orders of the Protectorate balk at the
unbending standards and principles to which reclaimers
adhere. Their severe masks of iron are bolted shut anytime
their wearers walk from the unadorned cells in which they
live and eat in solitude. Their last spoken words are their
oath to the order before their masks are sealed, and forever
after no words escape their lips. Even their prayers are silent.
One man who took the Oath of the Reclaimers Last Breath
has risen above his peers. Through this man the divine
power of Menoth flows without effort as he sends forth
clouds of burning ash and causes the unworthy to burst
into flame, consumed with brutal agony before their lives
are snuffed out and their souls sent to Urcaen. Hierarch

130

Spells Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

Ashes to Ashes
4
8
* 10 No Yes
If target model is hit, it and the d6 nearest enemy models within 5 of it
suffer a POW 10 fire damage roll .

Burning Ash

1 Ctrl

No No

Immolation

12 No Yes

Sacrificial Lamb

1 Ctrl

No No

Place a 3 cloud effect anywhere completely within this models control

area. While in the AOE, living enemy models suffer 2 to attack rolls. The
AOE remains in play for one round.
Immolation causes fire damage
the Fire continuous effect .

. On a critical hit, the model hit suffers

Remove one friendly living Faction model in this models control area
from play to allocate 1 focus point to each warjack in this models
battlegroup that is currently in its control area. Sacrificial Lamb can be cast
only once per turn.

Tactical Tips

Resurrection You cannot return models to a unit that has been

completely destroyed. Remove all damage from returned models.
They can activate normally this activation.
Sacrificial Lamb A warjack cannot exceed normal focus
allocation limits as a result of Sacrificial Lamb.

Voyle publicly recognized him as the High Reclaimer, a title

denoting absolute unity with the will of the Lawgiver. Never
before had a man of this order demonstrated the warcaster
talent, and it was immediately obvious that he would bring
tremendous strength to the upcoming crusades.
The High Reclaimers sole weapon is a ceremonial torch
called Cremator. It is kept aflame by a continuous supply of
concentrated Menoths Fury. One crushing blow from the
High Reclaimers great weapon smashes limbs and collapses
torsos, rends warjack armor like mortified flesh, and ignites
anything it does not immediately demolish.
Those soldiers who have marched at his side in battle attest
that they know his will without being told. To prepare for
each upcoming conflict, the High Reclaimer spends countless
hours in meditation and tests his limits with a rigorous
regimen of exercises and fasting that tempers his body into
corded muscle and sinew akin to iron.
No one is safe from reclamation. It is said Menoth whispers
to the High Reclaimer during his prayers, naming those
who are to be returned to Him. Enemies, allies, even socalled innocent bystanders are oft reclaimed with no more
foreknowledge than the sudden pressure of a crusaders grip
or Cremators hiss as it delivers a killing blow. Even lesser
reclaimers know they must not be deficient in their duties,
for failure means their own reclamation, perhaps by the High
Reclaimer himself.

131

High Exemplar Kreoss

Protectorate Warcaster

If you didnt believe in the Creator before, you will today.

Long Gunner Sergeant Terschel Bannock to a fresh recruit sent into battle against the Knights Exemplar

KREOSS
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 6

7 4 14 15 8

Spellbreaker

POW P+S

8 14

Focus 7
Damage 18
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+5
Small Base

Feat: Menoths
Wrath

High Exemplar Kreoss

stands in perfect harmony
with the Old God. With but
a few chanted words from
an ancient litany, Kreoss
unleashes the anger of mans
creator to smite all who
oppose him to their knees.
Enemy models currently
in Kreoss control area are
knocked down.

Spellbreaker
Magical Weapon
Reach
Chain Weapon This attack ignores the Buckler and Shield
weapon qualities and Shield Wall.
Dispel When this weapon hits a model/unit, upkeep spells on
the model/unit hit immediately expire.

Though few are blessed enough to know Menoths will

directly, the gods mandates are set in stone and passed
from one generation to the next by orders devoted to
divine service. These have perfected the means to prepare
the Lawgivers chosen followers for the wars of Caen.
Mikael Kreoss, a high exemplar of the Knights Exemplar, is
a prime example of Menoths worldly influence embodied
by mortal man.
Kreoss was born into a community of the Old Faith in the
rugged north of Khador. Bereft of his mother from birth, the
young Mikael aspired to become a paladin of the Order of
the Wall to serve as a guardian of the people after debtors
conscripted his father into forced labor. The elder Kreoss
was overwhelmed with the unrelenting work to reduce his
debt while trying to raise his son alone. At last, in hopes
of giving his child a better life, he entrusted Mikael to the
care of a group of visiting Protectorate pilgrims who took
him south to the Protectorate to provide him a proper
upbringing surrounded by the faithful.
Mikael channeled the pain of separation from his family
into a quest for perfection. So strong was his conviction
that he sought to enter the priesthood. As an acolyte, he
encountered a band of heathens robbing a sacred crypt.
Enraged, Mikael assailed them with no more than his
fists and his faith, cracking bones with his bare hands.
Towering over his quaking foes, the Khadoran-born Menite
seemed a wrathful, unstoppable giant. After crushing
these desecrators, he prayed to Menoth for direction at the
adjoining temple. While in vigil, Mikael Kreoss realized

132

Spells Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

Cleansing Fire
3
8
3
14 No Yes
Cleansing Fire causes fire damage
the Fire continuous effect .

. On a critical hit, models hit suffer

Defenders Ward

Immolation

12 No Yes

Lamentation

3 Self Ctrl Yes No

Purification

3 Self Ctrl No No

Target friendly Faction model/unit gains +2 DEF and ARM.

Immolation causes fire damage
the Fire continuous effect .

Yes No

. On a critical hit, the model hit suffers

Enemy models pay double the focus or fury point cost to cast or upkeep
spells while in this models control area.

Continuous effects, animi, and upkeep spells in this models control area
immediately expire.

Tactical Tips

Dispel Because they expire immediately, upkeep spells that had

an effect when the model was hit or damaged will have no effect.

his destiny rested with neither the clergy nor the paladins
he had admired as a youth. A visiting member of the
Knights Exemplar overheard the acolyte at prayer and was
impressed enough to invite Kreoss to join their brotherhood.
Exemplars say their initiation is their true birth, when old
lives and family are put aside. Kreoss left his past behind to
pursue his true calling.
Mikael Kreoss quickly rose in Menoths grace and in the
opinion of the ruling visgoths. His efforts were effective
in stamping out heretics and blasphemers wherever
they were rooted. Even before the Protectorate initiated
its larger crusades, Kreoss dedicated himself to going
where the wayward masses spurned Menoths laws.
Kreoss believes every man and woman lives as a gift of
the Creator, and those who take Menoth for granted are
unworthy of their flesh. He has sent many a dissenting
soul to Urcaen for judgment.
High Exemplar Kreoss concentration is unmatched as he
directs interdictions of thousands of zealous soldiers and
warjacks to key points in a battle. So strong is his faith
that a mere touch from his blessed weapon can revoke
the unwholesome sorcery granted by lesser gods to their
wayward followers.
Among the people of the Protectorate, Kreoss has become
a living legend. When the decision was made to renew war
with the Cygnarans, thousands gathered to listen to him stir
the faithful in preparation for battle. His flowing robes and
thick rune-inlaid armor enhance his impressive physique,
while his unwavering faith makes him a leader upon whom
the scrutators can rely with absolute confidence.

133

Grand Scrutator Severius

Protectorate Warcaster

This man embodies my voice on the battlefield. None shall question his authority, lest they incur my wrath.

Hierarch Garrick Voyle to the assembled Synod of the Nine Visgoths

SEVERIUS
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 5

4 5 14 14 9

Staff of Judgment

POW P+S

8 13

Focus 8
Damage 16
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Small Base

Feat: Divine
Might

Endowed with the authority

to pass judgment on his fellow
man, Grand Scrutator Severius
may invoke the prohibitions
of Menoth to deny the use of
profane magics in his presence.

For one round, enemy

models cannot cast spells
and lose the Arc Node
advantage while in Severius
control area. While in
Severius control area,
enemy models with the Focus Manipulation ability do not
replenish focus points during their controllers next turn.

SEVERIUS

Convert (HAction) RNG CMD. Target living enemy noncharacter trooper model. If the model is in range, it must pass
a command check or it becomes a friendly Faction solo under
your control for the rest of the game. The converted model
cannot activate this turn.
Sacred Ward This model cannot be targeted by enemy spells.

Staff of Judgment
Magical Weapon
Reach

Scrutators require a singular strength of presence; they

belong to the inner circle of priests responsible for
policing the clergy itself, who in turn control the entire
Protectorate of Menoth. They must be able to snap the
minds of the faithless and overwhelm them with feelings
of piety, servitude, and fear of a divine reckoning.
Scrutators cannot show the slightest weakness or doubt.
Grand Scrutator Severius is the stoutest pillar holding up
the grand Temple of Menoth. Severius answered only to
the hierarch and was given command over the entirety of
the Protectorates military.
Severius has single-handedly converted thousands of
heathens and infidels to the True Law. In past decades
he marched far afield into other nations as an unofficial
ambassador of the faithone too powerful to ignore and too
dangerous to confront. After a particularly fruitful trip to
Khador in the 570s, he was banned from that nation for the
thousands who abandoned the Motherland and answered
his call to join the Protectorate. Since the Protectorate has
mounted increasingly militant and aggressive crusades,
Severius has ceased these missions to focus on leading
Menite forces in battle. Conversion remains a priority, but
he conducts it now on subjugated villages and towns whose
defenders have been slaughtered or driven away.

134

Spells Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

Ashes to Ashes
4
8
* 10 No Yes
If target model is hit, it and the d6 nearest enemy models within 5 of it
suffer a POW 10 fire damage roll .

Death Sentence

Yes Yes

Defenders Ward

Yes No

Eye of Menoth

3 Self Ctrl

Yes No

Immolation

Vision

When a friendly Faction model misses target enemy model/unit with an

attack, it can reroll the attack roll. Each attack roll can be rerolled only once
as a result of Death Sentence.
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains +2 DEF and ARM.

While in this models control area, friendly Faction models gain +1 to

attack and damage rolls.
Immolation causes fire damage
the Fire continuous effect .

12 No Yes

Yes No

. On a critical hit, the model hit suffers

The next time target friendly Faction model is directly hit by an attack, it
suffers no damage roll from the attack, then Vision expires.

In a parallel to Menoths ancient war with the Devourer,

Severius lives to battle the enemies of his faith. He has a
powerful thirst for the blood of blasphemers and brings
a commanding presence and undeniable genius to the
battlefield. His warjacks come alive with the same fervor
as his converts. His plans are laid well in advance, for he
has a brilliant grasp of both strategy and tactics. Indeed,
Severius has a plan in motion that will not come to fruition
until far past his lifetime. While he is a visionary, he is also
deeply traditional and strives to return the world to a state
ordained by Menoth at the dawn of civilization.
Age may have withered the warcaster and stolen his former
strength, but what he lacks in bodily prowess he makes up
for with divine power. As the blaze of Menoths wrath, he is
able to breach the minds of non-believers with a single word.
So potent is his righteousness, he wades through otherwise
deadly arcane attacks as if they were no more than illusion.
Severius is the eye of the hurricane and a center of focused
spiritual control willing to annihilate anything around him
that threatens his faith.
Severius divine nature is so strong that if he so chooses, he
can thunder the Litany of Menoth declaring the Creators
glory. With a great boom, this divine rite reverberates
to all enemy warcasters within earshot, rending their
blasphemous connection to their impure mechanika. The
litany proves that all things are Menoths and neither
pagan sorcery nor heathen witchcraft can stand against
Him. Through Grand Scrutator Severius, Menoths glory is
unmistakable, and His voice shall be heard.

135

Redeemer

Protectorate Light Warjack

Never again shall you fear being outnumbered by heretics. Under a hail of blessed fire their numbers will wither
to nothing, scattered by Menoths hand.

Senior Scrutator Vorn

REDEEMER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 9

6 5 12 17

Skyhammer

Skyhammer

Inaccurate This model

suffers 4 to attack rolls
with this weapon.

RNG ROF AOE POW

Armed with devastating

long-range
rockets,
Battle Mace

POW P+S
the
Redeemer
was
4 13
designed
to
deliver
R
judgment from afar.

DAMAGE
This warjack carries an

1 2 3 4 5 6
ample supply of Menite
manufactured explosives

and a mechanikal rig to
launch them. Borrowing

technology developed for
L R
the Repenters ignition
L L M C R R
system, the Redeemer
uses vented heartfire to
M M C C
light the propellants.
Field Allowance U
The simple rockets are
Point Cost
6
launched
recklessly
Medium Base
into enemy ranks to
explode in a cascade
of deadly debris that leaves enemy infantry with
horrible lacerations and extensive burns
that are notoriously difficult
to heal. The Redeemer
can deliver devastating
salvos of rocket fire,
though the inaccuracy
of its weapon usually
spreads the projectiles
across a wide area, and
it wields a brutal mace for
close fighting.
L 16 3 3 12

In the earliest decades after

its production, the Redeemer
was instrumental in expanding
the borders of the Protectorate to the
east and south. It was often employed
against rugged and determined bands of

136

Height/Weight: 910 / 4.85 tons

Armament: Skyhammer Rocket Pod (left arm), Battle Mace (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 154 lbs / 5.5 hrs general, 1.2 hrs combat
Initial Service Date: 545 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Vassals of Menoth
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East/Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly (modified by the
Sul-Menite Artificers)

Idrian holdouts who refused to convert. Since that time

the warjack has been more actively turned against Cygnar
and other enemies of the Protectorate, deploying to
support both border defenses and active assaults abroad.
Many Cygnarans still wait hopefully for long-lost kin, not
knowing their bodies lie unrecognizable in the battlefields,
torn apart by Redeemer fire.

Repenter

Protectorate Light Warjack

Our enemies rightly fear its fire, as the cleansing flame inflicts unimaginable pain.
Such excruciation forces repentance before death claims them.

Grand Scrutator Severius

Height/Weight: 910 / 4.25 tons

Armament: Flame Thrower (left arm), War Flail (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 165 lbs / 6 hrs general, 1.5 hrs combat
Initial Service Date: 533 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Vassals of Menoth
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East/Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly (modified by the
Sul-Menite Artificers)

The Protectorate of Menoth uses the volatile oil known as

Menoths Fury in great abundance, a fiery reminder of
the faiths burning wrath. Older warjacks like the Repenter
are outfitted with the crudest and least refined supply
of Menoths Fury, as it is readily available in quantity.
The Repenter was first used to police the borders of the
Protectorate, and it brought these scourging flames to bear
against any who dared to trespass.

Flame Thrower

Continuous Effect: Fire

REPENTER

Damage Type: Fire

5 9

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

War Flail

Chain Weapon This attack

ignores the Buckler and
Shield weapon qualities and
Shield Wall.

6 5 12 17

Flame Thrower
RNG ROF AOE POW

SP 8 1

12

War Flail

POW P+S

R 4 13

When they designed the

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6
Repenter decades ago,
the Sul-Menite artificers

armed the light warjack

with
a
great
three
headed flail. Into its
other arm they integrated
L R
a
rudimentary
flame
L L M C R R
thrower. That first model
M M C C
was little more than a pipe
and an ignition system
Field Allowance U
attached to a reservoir
Point Cost
4
with a simple pump, but
Medium Base
newer versions utilize
fanning spray nozzles
and refined mechanikal systems to propel the blazing
fluid a considerable distance. The latest weapon foregoes
an external igniter and instead vents superheated heartfire
directly into the fuel.
Arguably as important as the damage wrought by this fire
is the impact of a Repenters blaze on enemy morale. Those
of weak faith who face the Protectorate in battle have no
stomach or fortitude for seeing their friends burned alive,
screaming in terror while allies try desperately to extinguish
the hungry flames. The Repenter is a favored vehicle for
delivering Menoths wrath to any enemies who defy his will.

137

Revenger

Protectorate Light Warjack

We carry the words of the Lawgiver to the living, enact his will on Caen, and strike with his fist.

Hierarch Caltor Turgis to his scrutators

Revenger
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 9

6 5 12 17

Repulsor Shield

POW P+S

1 10

Halberd

POW P+S

4 13

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

A A R

L M C R

M M C C
Field Allowance U
Point Cost
6
Medium Base

Revenger

Height/Weight: 98 / 4.45 tons

Repulsor
Shield

Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 165 lbs / 5.5 hrs general, 1.2 hrs combat

Arc Node

Shield

Repel When this model

hits an enmy model with
this weapon during its
activation, the model hit
is pushed 1 directly away
from this model. When this
model is hit with a melee
attack made by a model in
its front arc, after the attack
is resolved the attacking
model is pushed 1 directly
away from this model. This
model loses Repel while
this weapon system is
crippled or locked.

Halberd
Reach

Powerful Charge This

model gains +2 to charge
attack rolls with this
weapon.

The prayers of Protectorate warcasters have long been

among the greatest weapons of the nation, and finding a
means to extend the reach of these holy warriors has always
been a top priority. The capture of several Cygnaran Javelin
warjacks and their arcantrik relays aided that research. In
a fit of spiritual inspiration, Menite mechaniks reverseengineered the devices and laid the groundwork for
the creation of the Revenger.
Though the creation of these warjacks is
celebrated openly today, their origin was
plagued with controversy about the wisdom
of using anything derived from Cygnaran
mechanika. Employing the same procedures
used to sanctify warjacks, mechaniks disassembled
the arcantrik relay while the supervising priests
purified the mechanism with prayerrebuilding
this new divinity node with refinements allowing
it to channel divine power properly. This remarkable
achievement once again confirmed to the visgoths the
divine endorsement of these weapons of war.

138

Armament: Repulsor Shield (left arm), Halberd (right arm), Arc Node
Initial Service Date: 546 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Vassals of Menoth
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East/Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly (modified by the
Sul-Menite Artificers)

Menite artificers crafted the powerful repulsor shield to

protect this vital weapon in battle. Aided by priests, the
artificers inlaid runes of protection on the warjacks shield.
If the powerful runes come into contact with an enemy, the
foe is immediately rebuked and hurled away. This has given
the Revenger the ability to distance itself from superior
combatants like heavier jacks so that it may retaliate from
a safe distance.

Crusader

Protectorate Heavy Warjack

Behold! We have sanctified this weapon, made by the hands of man, to march and fight at our side. By our
combined strength we will wrest a nation loyal to the Creator from these forsaken sands!

Hierarch Gerard Luctine, at the unveiling of the Crusader

Height/Weight: 12 / 8 tons
Armament: Inferno Mace (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 253 lbs / 6 hrs general, 1 hr combat
Initial Service Date: 513 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Vassals of Menoth
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East/Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly (modified by the
Sul-Menite Artificers)

In its peace terms after the Civil War, Cygnar decreed the
Protectorate could not keep a standing army. Visgoth Ozeall
acquiesced but secretly commanded engineers to build
warjacks using cortexes smuggled from Khador down the
Black River and Cygnaran parts salvaged from fields of
battle. Those early jacks were designed with open hands
to pass as laborjacks in casual inspection. Meanwhile,
artificers worked to forge weapons for these warjacks to
wield as Menoth willed.
The greatest of the new Protectorate designs was the Crusader,
a massive warjack boasting heavy armor and capable of
crushing attacks. The chassis originated during the reign
of Hierarch Luctine, who devoted himself to subjugating
outlying Idrian tribes. Even after most converted after the
earthquake of 504 AR, many tribes resisted and continued
to harass the young nation. The Crusader was unleashed
to provide an unstoppable force in the battles to come. It
also proved its strength against Cygnar when friction
between the two nations prompted clashes along
the Black River.

Open Fist
Open Fist

Inferno Mace
Critical Fire

CRUSADER

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 11 6 5 10 19

Open Fist

Already possessed of
an immensely durable
armored
frame
and
powerful laborjack arms,
after the development
of Menoths Fury the
Crusader was enhanced
by the inferno mace. This
weapon, inspired by the
flaming maces of the
Reclaimers, can easily rend
most armor into flaming
scrap. When the call to
arms sounds, Crusaders
assemble at the front line
ready to hammer and burn
the foes of Menoth to dust
and ash.

POW P+S

3 14

Inferno Mace

POW P+S

R 7 18

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C

Field Allowance U
Point Cost
6
Large Base

139

Templar

Protectorate Heavy Warjack

Like the Wall with which Menoth blessed us, so is the Templar unassailable. With the judgment of the
righteous the Templar strikes down our enemies. These are essential virtues of war.

Hierarch Caltor Turgis

Shield

TEMPLAR
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 11 6 5 10 19

Shield

POW P+S

1 12

Flail

POW P+S

6 17

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

Shield

Flail

Reach

Beat Back Immediately

after a normal attack with
this weapon is resolved
during this models
combat action, the enemy
model hit can be pushed
1 directly away from the
attacking model. After the
enemy model is pushed,
the attacking model can
advance up to 1.
Chain Weapon This
attack ignores the Buckler
and Shield weapon
qualities and Shield Wall.

The Templar embodies

the Protectorates simple
Field Allowance U
philosophy
of
war:
Point Cost
8
smash
enemies
with
Large Base
overwhelming
force
from an unassailable
position. The strength with which this warjack
wields its iron flail is such that its adversaries are
hurled back, their shields smashed from their hands
and their armor crushed. Even as the Templar beats
down enemies of the Faith, it advances further into
their midst with unstoppable wrath. Those lucky
few who survive its initial onslaught are doomed
to fall beneath its inexorable enforcement of the
Lawgivers will.

M M C C

When former Hierarch Caltor Turgis

reunited the Temple in 535 AR, he
broadened the Protectorates borders
and ordered the construction of
Tower Judgment, with the first
Templars created to guard
this edifice. The isolation
of the Tower was such
that the Temple dispensed
with the usual practice
of convincing the Cygnaran

140

Height/Weight: 122 / 8.4 tons

Armament: Shield (left arm), Flail (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 253 lbs / 4 hrs general, 50 min combat
Initial Service Date: 539 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Vassals of Menoth (currently)
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East/Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly (modified by the
Sul-Menite Artificers)

Tactical Tips

Beat Back The attacking model can advance even if the enemy
model is destroyed by the attack.

authorities that the warjacks were actually laborjacks. Freed

from this pretense, the Protectorates artificers armed the
Templars with simple but impressive weaponryforever
associating the warjack with defending the Protectorates
most important fortifications. Now Templars have become
a common sight marching among the crusading ranks of
the faithful.

Vanquisher

Protectorate Heavy Warjack

The Canon of the True Law states that his children will walk as giants among men.
Perhaps this Vanquisher is the means to a Great Truth.

High Exemplar Mikael Kreoss

Height/Weight: 12 / 9.75 tons

Armament: Flame Belcher (left arm), Blazing Star Flail (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 275 lbs / 5 hrs general, 1 hr combat
Initial Service Date: 598 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Vassals of Menoth
Orig. Chassis Design: Engines East/Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly (modified by the
Sul-Menite Artificers)

The Vanquisher is one of the more recently designed

warjacks in the Protectorates arsenal. Originally assembled
in secret in the late 590s from imported parts and armed
with distinctive Menite weaponry, this heavy warjack is as
subtle as the faith it servesin other words, not at all. Some
say the Vanquisher was the first sign of the full crusade that
would later come.
The Vanquisher is a towering behemoth, its great flail a
whirling harbinger of death. One arm wields a length of
chain nearly as long as a man is tall, its end capped with
the blazing stara viciously spiked sphere. It visits swift
justice upon infidels, crunching limbs, heads, and torsos in
one devastating movement.

Flame Belcher

Continuous Effect: Fire

VANQUISHER

Damage Type: Fire

4 11 6 5 10 19

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

Blazing Star

Flame Belcher
RNG ROF AOE POW

Chain Weapon This attack

ignores the Buckler and
Shield weapon qualities and
Shield Wall.
Thresher (HAttack) This
model makes one melee
attack with this weapon
against each model in its
LOS and this weapons
melee range.

10 1 4 14

Blazing Star

POW P+S

R 5 16

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

In
addition
to
the
L R
perilous blazing star, the
Vanquisher also wields
L L M C R R
a flame belcher to send
M M C C
destruction from afar.
The flame belcher uses a
Field Allowance U
more recently refined form
Point Cost
8
of Menoths Fury that
Large Base
requires only exposure to
air to ignite. Compressed
into a heavy cannonball, these shells burst on impact,
spreading an oily blaze hot enough to melt metal before
consuming itself.

Tactical Tips

Thresher The melee attacks are all simultaneous.

141

Choir of Menoth

Protectorate Unit

Let the True Law be delivered by word as well as deed. Speak Menoths holy mandates as a shield against those
who oppose us. Voiced by the faithful in our righteous cause, these words will become miracles made manifest.

Hierarch Sulon during the Cygnaran Civil War

LEADER & GRUNTS

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 4

4 4 12 12 8

Battle Staff

POW P+S

Field Allowance
Leader & 3 Grunts
Leader & 5 Grunts
Small Base

3
2
3

Hymn RNG 3. Target

friendly Faction warjack.
When a model in this unit
performs a Hymn special
action, choose a hymn. Each
activation, all models in this
unit performing a hymn
must perform the same one.
If the target warjack is in
range, it is affected by the
hymn. While affected by a
hymn, a warjack cannot be
affected by another hymn.

Battle (HAction) The warjack gains +2 to attack and damage

rolls for one turn.
Passage (HAction) The warjack cannot be targeted by nonmagical ranged attacks. Passage lasts for one round.
Shielding (HAction) The warjack cannot be targeted
by enemy spells. Shielding lasts for one round.

Battle Staff
Reach

The Protectorate has long had an uncomfortable

relationship with the mechanikal tools upon
which its military relies. Since shortly after the
Cygnaran Civil War, the Menites have seen the
need to use the laborjacks and warjacks they had
collected and cobbled together, armored, and
modified for battle. By the strict interpretation
of the tenets of their faith, however, such
fabrications are inherently blasphemous.
Hierarch Luctine first derived the means to
sanctify the use of these arcane machines
of war, purifying profane artifices with
fervent prayer and blessings. Successive
accomplishments in battle are taken as a sign
of Menoths favor, for it seems the Creator smiles
on their efforts. Often choirs of Menoth march
alongside the iron-and-steel giants to further
empower them with holy chants and prayers.

142

Sacred scrolls in hand, devout warpriests lead the choirs

onto the field of battle. These valiant faithful are chosen
from among those deemed most likely to demonstrate
the rare gift of connecting to and controlling warjacks in
battle. The warpriest directs a powerful, ancient canticle
reinforcing the existing bonds between warjacks and their
warcaster masters. The choirs prayers turn aside incoming
projectiles, unravel enemy spells before they can reach
their targets, and divinely guide warjack weapons to smite
unbelievers. Requiring unassailable concentration and
great effort to achieve, these perfect, meditative chants are
the choirs sole purpose on the battlefield.

Deliverers

Protectorate Unit

I choose to stand with the faithful and deliver Menoths judgment upon the faithless as long as I am able.

Arms Master Krill Mayven

Whistling through the air in long and deadly arcs, the

Skyhammer rockets of deliverers rain down across the
battlefield to bring the wrath of the Lawgiver in fiery,
thundering explosions. Few enemies are brave or hardy
enough to face a withering barrage of Deliverer fire
long enough to close, knowing entire formations can be
consumed in roaring blossoms of flame.
Expanding the Deliverers from a niche auxiliary unit
into a mainstay of the Protectorate was one of several
achievements made during Hierarch Garrick Voyles push
to reform the Protectorate military. After assessing the
effective Redeemer, Voyle realized the essential role longrange explosives would have on the modern battlefield.
Unlike expensive warjacks, the faithful could be easily
replaced and thus could be deployed in far greater numbers.
Early deliverers launched the dangerous, self-propelled
explosives by hand, holding a length of wood aloft until
the fuse burned down and the rocket spiraled into the

LEADER & GRUNTS

Inaccurate This model
suffers 4 to attack rolls
with this weapon.

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 4

4 5 12 11 7

Skyhammer

Rocket Volley Instead

RNG ROF AOE POW
of making ranged attacks
16 1 3 12
separately, two or more
Sword
models in this unit can

POW P+S
make a combined ranged
3
7
attack. Do not add a damage
bonus for the number of
Field Allowance
1
models participating in the
Leader & 5 Grunts 5
combined ranged attack. If
Leader & 9 Grunts 8
35 models participate in
Small Base
the attack, it has base AOE
4 and base POW 14. If 6 or
more models participate in the attack, it has base AOE 5 and
base POW 16.

air. Most of the time the rockets landed within the enemy
lines before exploding in a shower of fiery shrapnel.
Sometimes, however, they detonated immediately or fell to
the ground woefully short of the foe. Ranking arms masters
developed reinforced cylindrical tubes that could be aimed
at the enemy and provided more control. Even with these
improvements, only the most devoted become deliverers:
walking into battle loaded down with explosives requires
deep and abiding faith and courage.

143

Holy Zealots

Protectorate Unit

Conviction is more lethal than any blade, truth stronger than any shield. No one can withstand the force of so
many so eager to die to preserve their faith.

Hierarch Sulon to the faithful

LEADER

Leader & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 4

4 4 12 12 8

Fire Bomb
RNG ROF AOE POW

5 1 3 12

Mace

POW P+S

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Leader & 9 Grunts
Small Base

3
4
6

Prayers The Leader of this

unit can recite one of the
following prayers each turn
anytime during its units
activation. Each model in
this unit gains the benefits
listed.
Fervor Affected
models gain +2 to attack
and damage rolls this
activation.
Warding Affected models
cannot be targeted by
enemy spells for one round.

Fire Bomb

Damage Type: Fire

Critical Fire

One of its concessions in the treaties with Cygnar was that

the Protectorate was not permitted to retain a standing
army. Even as Visgoth Ozeall penned his name to those
papers, he knew that should any leader of the
Protectorate put forth the call to arms,
he would not lack for enthusiastic
volunteers. Many regular citizens
feel the stirrings of their religion
so strongly they would gladly give
their lives to confront the enemies
of the faith. They are willing to
employ any weapon, even bare
hands if need be, to serve that cause.
The Menite clergy prepared their citizens,
secretly training them for combat and
creating massive stockpiles of weapons with
which to arm them at a moments notice.
When the zealots heard the call, they knew

144

to rush to one of these weapon caches and prepare to hurl

themselves into the chaos of battle. Even after the need
for secrecy had passed, this effective system was retained.
Protectorate citizens are given the liberty to go about their
normal lives, be it farming or other industry, so long as they
are ready to fight when called.
To bolster the faith of their peopleand to remind them of
the just torments of a cowards deathMenite priests walk
among the zealots in combat, sermonizing and leading
them in prayer. Should a priest fall in battle, one among
the zealots will invariably take up his prayers and lead
the faithful. If one fanatic is a dangerous foe, a hundred
thousand promise to be utterly apocalyptic.

Knights Exemplar
Protectorate Unit

May Menoth guide us to strike quickly at the hearts of his foes.

High Exemplar Kreoss

Many scholars compare the various aspects of the

Protectorate to Menoth himself: the faithful serve as the
body of Menoth on Caen; the hierarch represents his
head; the scrutators his mouth; the masses of the laboring
faithful his bones; and the battle-ready zealots his blood.
In this analogy, the Knights Exemplar are undoubtedly the
weapons in his hands.
Heavily armored in blessed plate engraved with rites
and wards of protection, these fanatical warriors stand
undaunted as blows glance off their armor with tones akin
to a hammer striking an anvil. The mere unsheathing of
their relic blades in war is considered a sacrament. Though
formidable in their own right, the Knights are made nearly
unstoppable by the divine gifts they receive from the Creator.
They will not be deterred from their cause; even seeing their
brethren fall in battle and pass into Menoths hands makes
them stronger, fueling their faith and righteous anger.
The first time exemplars raised arms as a large force was
within the City of Walls during the Cygnaran Civil War. At
that time only a few hundred of the holy warriors served
the clergy. Now their numbers surge with thousands of the
faithful who feel the calling to take up the sword.

LEADER & GRUNTS

Fearless

Bond of Brotherhood
Models in this unit gain
+1 STR and ARM for each
model in this unit that has
been destroyed or removed
from play. The bonuses for
a model are lost if it returns
to play.

Relic Blade

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 6

7 4 12 15 9

Relic Blade

POW P+S

5 11

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Small Base

3
5

Magical Weapon
Weapon Master

Tactical Tips

Bond of Brotherhood Do not apply these bonuses until after

the attack and its damage resolve. If several Knights are affected
by a simultaneous attack, such as Strafe or an AOE attack, the
bonus does not increase until after damage has been dealt to all
the models.

145

Temple Flameguard
Protectorate Unit

They have proven their dedication watching over our sacred walls and holy temples.
Now let them prove their faith in battle.

LEADER & GRUNTS

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 5

6 4 13 13 8

Flame Spear

POW P+S

5 10

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Leader & 9 Grunts
Small Base

3
4
6

Combined Melee Attack

Shield Wall (Order) For

one round, each affected
model gains a +4 ARM
bonus while B2B with
another affected model in
its unit. This bonus does not
apply to damage originating
in the models back arc.
Models in this unit can
begin the game affected by
Shield Wall.

Flame Spear
Reach

Set Defense A model in this models front arc suffers 2 on

charge, slam power attack, and impact attack rolls against
this model.

Outside the temples of Menoth, the Flameguard

stand ever vigilant. The great Hierarch Sulon created
the order as it is presently known by conscripting
able-bodied Menites in the days leading up to the
Cygnaran Civil War. Though the temples had long
gathered armed guardians from among the faithful,
this Flameguard was something new, unified in
instruction and discipline to become true soldiers
of the faith.
Garbed in heavy, flowing white tabards and
gleaming helms and trained to use spear
and shield, the Flameguard protect
temples and holy sites and preserve
the sacred flame burning in each.
In return for making themselves
useful to Menoth, they are granted
indulgences by order of Sulon and
earn favored status and comfort
for their families.

146

Hierarch Garrick Voyle

The Flameguard train ceaselessly with their seven-foot steel

spears, the hafts of which are filled with reservoirs of the
fiery Menoths Fury developed under Hierarch Turgis. The
liquid is piped to surface vents in the barbed tip and ignited
by a mechanism triggered from the base of the spear. In
battle, the spears drip oily fire and are capable of inflicting
excruciating wounds.
Since the time of Sulon, the stated purpose of the
Flameguard has increasingly been a justification for creating
a well-trained, well-armed military. Over time, these pious
soldiers have become elite infantry prized as both the first
and last line of defense in battle, where they become a living
wall protecting the clergy from harm.

Paladin of the Wall

Protectorate Solo

Among Menoths first gifts to man was the Wall, by which we protect our people.
Atop the first wall at civilizations dawn, a paladin stood vigil.

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon

With members who embody ideals at odds with the harsh

dictates of the ruling scrutators, the Order of the Wall has
experienced a turbulent past. Its enrollment has periodically
dwindled to near extinction, only to surge back again in
periods of turmoil to reassure the population that Menoth
offers protection and not only wrath. Paladins of this order
have served mankind since the first words of the Canon
of the True Law, acting as bastions of stability when the
wilderness threatened to overthrow civilization. The wall
of their namesake stands for every barrier erected to shelter
a community from external threats.
Paladins prioritize mercy and protection of the innocent,
which can force them to disobey orders given by the
scrutators. Priests take this as a sign that paladins lack the

PALADIN

PALADIN

Fearless

Stone-and-Mortar Stance
During its activation, this
model can forfeit its normal
movement or action to
gain +5 ARM. The affected
model cannot be knocked
down. Stone-and-Mortar
Stance lasts for one round.

Firebrand

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 7

8 4 13 16 9

Firebrand

POW P+S

7 14

Damage 5
Field Allowance
2
Point Cost
2
Small Base

Critical Fire

Magical Weapon
Weapon Master

obedience that is the hallmark of the Knights Exemplar.

Paladins prefer to protect the members of Menoths flock
rather than drown them in rivers of blood, and they
believe even the wayward can be guided back to the path
of the Creatora philosophy for which they are beloved
by the people.
Encased in the protection of tempered steel and trained to
hold against any enemy, each paladin is akin to an
unbreakable fortress. When a paladin strikes
with his Firebrand sword, it erupts in holy
fire like a sliver of the sun. Those who
witness a paladin in combat cannot doubt
Menoths power flows through him.
For every soul saved by a paladins
actions, two are lost to the wracks
and thumbscrews of the scrutators.
Paladins cannot be deterred in
their sacred obligation to protect
the faithful, believing that each
martial order has its function in
Menoths temple. If theirs is to be
one of endless sacrifice, so be it.

147

148

Legacy
of
Strength
A Brief History of Khador

No other people have as rich a history of breeding strength and courage.

Our soldiers fight boldly to uphold that legacy. Never again will we
suffer compromises and appeasements or give up what we have earned
in blood.
Queen Ayn VanarXI while conducting a visit to the officers of the First Army, 604AR
The following is a transcript from Kommandant Grezko
Antonovichs A Concise History of the Khadoran Empire
and a Call to Action, printed winter 607AR.
We must remember that our current greatness rests on
the shoulders of countless generations stretching back
to the Khardic Empire. A nation cannot endure without
weapons wielded by strong hands, and our ancestors
forged their strength in war. They united the Kossites of
the Scarsfell Forest, the Skirov of the northern mountains,
and the Umbreans of the eastern plains under one Khardic
emperor. At the height of our glory, our hand stretched east
to conquer the weak-willed Ryn and south to throttle the
petty northern fiefdoms of Tordor. These once-proud men
bowed to us and swore eternal fealty to the horselords of
the north. Our civilization stood poised on the cusp of total
dominion before the arrival of the damnable Orgoth. Our
battles today serve to restore the path of our proper destiny.
Remember this when you hear the weeping indignation
of those who fear us. Our cause is just. Those lands others
squat upon as scavengers, scrabbling for our leavings, are
ours still by right of oaths sworn in blood. I leave it to
you to remind them with axe and cannon of what they
have forgotten.
The Orgoth defeated us, but there was no shame in this.
They unleashed accursed sorceries and weapons against
which we had no defense. We fought them for every inch
and took many of them with us into Urcaen. We forced
them to send more ships to our shores and to overwhelm
us by sheer numbers. If the southerners had been as strong
as we, the Orgoth would be nothing but a forgotten speck
in history. The soft underbelly of the south is where they
took hold first, but here we halted their campaigns. We
sank them in a quagmire of their own blood spilled by
Khadoran blades.
The Orgoth ruled for generations and defaced our great
and ancient cities with their grotesque fortresses, strange
temples, and twisted monuments. Our forebears suffered

greatest under Orgoth oppression as punishment for the

ferocity with which we fought them. Your kin of times
past were forced to feed the Orgoth by working the soil,
enrich them by mining the earth for gems, and please them
with blood sport. They offered a simple but painful choice:
submit or die. They could kill our people but could never
subdue our spirit, and we endured.
Each nation has taken credit for victory over the Orgoth. It
is true that the first rebellion occurred in Cygnar, but their
Iron Fellowship failed utterly and was quashed almost
before it began. The Tordorans and Thurians put up a brave
but futile fight called the Battle of the Hundred Wizards.
Again the Orgoth returned in force and obliterated those
who defied them. So too with the Army of Thunder our
Llaelese subjects describe with misty eyes. That was their
single valiant moment in an otherwise forgettable history.
Khadoran horselords won the first true victory against
the invaders in 147AR. An enormous gathering of strong
northmen surrounded and engulfed the first Orgoth city.
They razed it, leaving only a jagged scar upon the earth,
and deliberately excised its name. They then wrested the
great city of Korsk from the Orgoth grasp.
The Orgoth regrouped and beset the city. They sent infernal
evils such as men made of metal and flesh and fiery engines
of destruction against her walls, but the city stood strong
as strong as she does to this very day. Korsk never shook
and never again allowed hostile forces entry beyond her
beloved walls. This was our turning point. Inspired by our
success, a ragtag group of infant nations came together as
the Iron Alliance in 160AR and soon declared all-out war.
The alliance organized the combined efforts that would
give rise to the colossals.
Other nations do not speak much of this period and pretend
that unity reigned among the Council of Ten. The Caspians
revealed the depths of their treachery even in this dark hour
when we fought against a common foe. The southerners
feared our strength and spoke poison words in the halls of
the Rhulfolk, convincing them to assist in the creation of the

149

colossals. They isolated us from their debates and selected

Caspia as the sole site of construction. The Rhulfolk agreed
to this plan, for they had long feared our warriors.
When we learned of their schemes, we duplicated the
colossal plans without their knowledge as a means of
safeguarding our people. It was a small deception made
necessary to safeguard the success of the alliance. Our
secret factories in Korsk began their work.
Always they underestimate us. Cygnarans forgot it was
we who invented the first steam engine. Our engineers are
as innovative and capable as any in other landsbetter!
for they have strength of heart and loyalty bred into their
bones. They proved that their hatred exceeded all sense
when in 188AR the southerners or the Rhulfolkwe know
not whichbetrayed us to the Orgoth. Against all bonds
of alliance they pretended to hold sacred, they used spies
to learn the location of our factories and revealed them to
our shared enemy. Though the Orgoth had been fighting on
every front, they now turned their wrath completely against
our people. They brought an immense army of inhuman
warriors against our ancestors.

Always they underestimate

us. Cygnarans forgot it
was we who invented
the first steam engine.

The Motherland itself has ever been our greatest ally. She
awoke, having had enough of the pestering fleas biting
her skin, and conjured a winter to meet the armies of the
great enemy. Razor-sharp winds and tower-deep snows
immobilized the armies. Trapped in the valleys and the
plains, the Orgoth were beset by a vicious cold that stole the
very breath from their lungs. Khador herself had saved us.
While the Orgoth could not obliterate us as they had hoped,
they managed to destroy the factories we had erected.
Who knows how many lives would have been saved had
this not come to pass? We would have emerged from the
rebellion against the Orgoth stronger than ever before.
Instead our strength was for the moment exhausted, and
our leaders were forced to be prudent. The obliteration of
the Orgoth was too important, so our leaders cooperated
with the other members of the Council of Ten despite their
treachery. If one must sleep beside a foe to guard against a
greater one, so be it.
Caspian colossals emerged and attacked the Orgoth in
191AR. Our great generals and warriors fought alongside
southerners as we pushed back the invaders. In 198AR after

150

many smaller gains, we combined northern and southern

strength for an enormous push and risked all to seize final
victory. The Orgoth turned back like a swarm of locusts,
slaying innocents, ruining cities, and burning fields in a
swath of destruction called the Scourge. The day came
when the last of them boarded their black ships and fled,
sailing across the Meredius back to whatever infernal land
had spawned them. Immoren was once again ours. Never
forget what our ancestors endured for our freedom!
The time came for rebuilding. In 202 AR the Council of
Ten convened in Corvis, the sinking city, to establish a new
age. For weeks the Council debated, outlined, and scribed
plans only to burn the parchment and begin again. The
Cygnarans and their Ordic pawns asserted it was easiest to
maintain the lines drawn by our former captors for their
provinces. They insisted the claims of the Khardic Empire
and its old borders were no longer valid. Blinded by greed,
ambition, or fear, the council agreed to this preposterous
idea! What had become of our heritage? The southerners
took advantage of our armies tremendous losses and the
fact that we had no colossals to back our demands. Subtle
threats made it clear our cities might see the same fate as the
Orgoth fortresses if we did not comply.
The final maps greatly reduced our territories to make
room for the upstart kingdoms of Ord and Llael, built
on the tattered remains of old Tordor and Ryn. Though
the Tordorans had earned our respect as a tough people
standing bravely in battle, the claims of the Ryn were
galling. They had never been more than a tiny fiefdom at
the base of the mountains. Their squabbling people were
unworthy of a place in the company of their betters.
The southerners still cling to the travesties of the Corvis
Treaties. We had earned what was ours by right of conquest,
yet at that moment, with our strength diminished, they set
upon us like jackals. The northern reaches of our land are
impassable mountains so rugged and difficult they are
nearly worthless to modern industry. Our mines, few and in
difficult elevations, require twice the effort and investment
of those in Cygnar. We are proud of our heritage, but only
our southern reaches support the farmland needed to feed
our people. Our empire stretched forth its mailed gauntlet
because we had need of resources, and in the time of the
Thousand Cities we had bled to win them. We had accepted
oaths from those who surrendered to our benevolent rule.
Southerners find it convenient to ignore promises when it
suits them.
It became clear after the Corvis Treaties how cleverly Cygnar
had manipulated border negotiations to avoid confronting
us. Cygnar backed the claims of Ord and Llael to create
a barrier between their soldiers and our axes. Leaders of
those two nations were their puppets. The so-called kings

frequently met in Caspia and

fawned for favor.
Much blame has been heaped on
our representatives who agreed to
those treaties, but those of us who
understand history know they
were placed in a difficultand
perhaps impossiblesituation. It
was not yet the time to reclaim our
birthright. We had first to rebuild
our strength.
Yet after decades had passed,
learned men in Korsk brought
to light an interesting fact. The
families of those first councilors
had, for whatever reason, no
surviving heirs. Clearly this was
a blessing from the gods. Perhaps
it was a sign of Menoths approval
of our respect for the written law,
for by the wording of the Corvis
Treaties, the old agreements no
longer had any hold. None who had
agreed to those tenets lived, nor
did their descendants hold power
in the halls of our sovereigns. The
lands refused us by those deceitful
papers could be ours again without
any inherent dishonor.
In 242AR King Lavash Tzepesci
sent forth the call for all loyal
Khadorans outside our borders
to return home. Our kinsmen had
scattered to earn wages and learn
skills during the reconstruction but
had not forgotten their loyalty. These far-flung and welleducated Khadorans gave up lives abroad and returned to
the embrace of the Motherland. Most important were those
who had learned the arcane mysteries of the Fraternal Order
of Wizardry. The returning arcanists severed ties to that
corrupt and foreign fellowship. In 243AR the Greylords
founded their Covenant.
These men carried magic and occult lore back to our cities
in a great tide of power and brought modern arcane and
mechanikal weapons with them. This included knowledge
of the construction of cortexes, which at long last allowed
us to build our own colossals. No longer subject to the
intimidation of the Caspians, all our nations industry
bent to the task of readying our people for war. By 250AR
we had put together an army mighty enough to stand
against Llael, Cygnar, and Ord together. For seven years

the massive constructs wreaked havoc upon their lands

and people. These glorious battles proved to the world
that Khador could not be dismissed. It required all three of
these nations to defeat us, like dusty farmers struggling to
restrain a mighty ox. Although in the end our colossals were
dismantled, we had proven the strength of our people.
In 293 AR our new sovereign, Queen Cherize, renewed
the struggle against our enemies. Queen Cherize was a
strong but enigmatic leader. She brought unusual allies to
fight the southerners, including tribes of savages from the
Thornwood called Tharn. These tribes hurled themselves
against Cygnar but proved insufficient to the fight, tainted
as they were by association of their bestial god.
Queen Cherize disappeared under mysterious circumstances
in 295AR. The battle continued at the urging of Lord Regent
Velibor, who ably represented the throne while the child

151

Queen Ayn VanarV grew into her maturity. These so-called

Border Wars were fought with steel and cannon, but, more
significantly, they saw the rise of the earliest true warjacks,
nimbler constructs that had replaced the formally retired
colossals a decade earlier. These warjacks now played an
important part in our armies, particularly in the battles at
Ravensgard and then the Ironfields in 299 and 300AR. In
the years to come we pushed Llael and Ord back
and reclaimed our rightful borders.

ledgefe
p
a
lt
sI
s

Tothe
em

These fourteen barbarian tribes with 50,000 savages, so they

say, laid siege to Midfast. There seemed little hope of the city
surviving such a horde, but clearly divine will stood against
Velibors victory. Some took it as a sign that only
a true king of Khador could accomplish
such a deed. I do not pretend to
understand the will of the gods.

In early 305AR a great alliance

of barbarian tribes from the
mountains and plains of
Khador
assembled.
These were the last

tide of savages might succeed where more organized forces

had failed. He sent our army to follow in their wake and
exploit any vulnerabilities opened by their hordes. The plan
nearly succeeded.

la

nd

pilledbl
ys
o

shtheM
o
ri
t

152

Whatever the case, the

Ordfolk fought well. They
lack the stomach to meet us
on the open field or to march
forth from their border holds, but
they remain resolute when cornered.

Though most southerners are cowardly and weak, the men

of Midfast in Ord had proven their ability to withstand
siege time and time again. They had even endured an attack
by our colossals in 250AR without falling. While we had
claimed a sizable piece of the lands north of Midfast and its
line of rugged hills, the Ordic Army had proven tenacious
when pressed against this natural wall. Velibor sent the
barbarian tribes against this fortress city to see if an endless

remnants of heathen
tribes that had never
properly joined our
nation. Some were primitive
and savage. Others were crude
but noble, a legacy of the once-great
line of horselords stretching back before
Priest-King Khardovic. These men came to plunder the
wealth of our civilization. Drawing on the example of Queen
Cherize, Lord Velibor saw that these warriors could be
turned from the Motherland to her enemies. He convinced
the tribal leaders of the enormous spoils awaiting them in the
fat southern lands of Ord.

We recognize the rare occasions a great warrior arises

on foreign soils. On this day a Tordoran officer named
Markusperhaps descended of Khadoran bloodstood to
rally the defenders of Midfast in their hour of desperation.
He endured this siege beyond all hope. He went sleepless
for a week and remained an inspiration to his soldiers. To
buy reinforcements time, he went out alone and challenged
the chieftains of every one of the barbarian tribes to personal
combat. I wish I had been alive to see those battles, two a
day for an entire week. He suffered grievous wounds in the
confrontations but ignored them and fought on. It was only
after defeating the final champion that he succumbed to his
grave injuries and death took him. Ordic reinforcements
reached the field of battle just as Markus ascended to join

Morrow. I have read the account of a Khadoran officer who

witnessed the event, and I believe it was a true miracle. It
was not destined that those lands would be ours that day.
This was a small defeat that did not cost the army of
Khador anything but pride. Had we taken our gains and
bided our time it may have served us better, but one cannot
fault Lord Velibor for his ambition. Perhaps it was his lack
of royal blood that prevented his success. When Queen
Ayn VanarV came of age and took the throne, she decided
we had accomplished enough for a time. She was a softhearted queen and called for peace in 313AR to allow our
soldiers rest. We had won Port Vladovar and many fine
and fertile lands north of Midfast. Port Vladovar became
one of our greatest port cities and the heart of our naval
shipyards. Its capture is worth a dozen dry and barren
fortress-holes like Midfast.
We suffered further indignities in the peace negotiations,
including the loss of lands we had taken from Llael on our
eastern border. At the time we considered these lands of
little consequence despite their historical significance. The
region had been heavily despoiled during the wars with
the Orgoth, noted primarily for their littered ruins and
battlefields that served now as vast graveyards. While some
nobles protested we must reclaim Old Korska, once the
eastern capital of the Khardic Empire, most were content to
leave such ruins to the Llaelese.
It is from this time that our troubles with the Umbreans
began, a topic worthy of some attention. Once the Umbreans
were part of the old Khardic Empire, like the conquered
peoples of Kos and Skirov. They too had been horselords in
ancient times and had ridden the plains as fighters knowing
few equals. We made a tactical mistake in our settlements
after the Border Wars, for we let the Umbreans become
a divided people. While the region claimed by Llael was
strategically unimportant, it included the ancestral homes
of thousands of proud Umbreans, a people as rooted in their
lands as any tree in the Gallowswood.
In letting them go we gave to the otherwise meek and
cowardly Ryn stalwart allies, Umbreans of real mettle and
warrior spirit. Llaelese merchants may be weak of arm and
reluctant to fight, but they are shrewd and can estimate
worth. They took in the Umbreans and rebuilt their homes,
restoring Old Korska to create a new city they named Laedry.
This and other projects funded in part by Cygnaran gold
won the hearts and minds of the easternmost Umbreans,
confusing their loyalties. While a goodly number of
Umbreans remained loyal to the Motherland, almost as
many began calling themselves Llaelese. These in turn
joined the Llaelese Army and rose to positions of influence,
as is to be expected of our distant kinsmen. It would be
centuries before we could rectify our error.

Some call the time after the Border Wars peace, but even
without a declaration of war there is never rest for our
soldiers. Then came the Cygnaran Civil War. In Khador,
though the two religions devoted to Menoth and Morrow
have their occasional tensions, they still exist side by side.
The rise of the Harbinger of Menoth in the lands of the
Protectorate has challenged our national resolve, but even
today most of our citizens strand strong as Khadorans first,
despite any religious calling. Cygnar failed to accomplish
what we take for granted. The state heavily favored one
religion over the other, which resulted in division and
much bloodshed. By contrast, we have always given proper
respect and loyalty to the Creator even while acknowledging
the wisdom of Morrow and his benevolent ascendants.

The Cygnaran cowards

refused to face the strength
of our army directly.
Hate them, but do not
underestimate their cunning.

Our King Ruslan Vygor was a devoted Menite who learned

from an early age to loathe Cygnar. Whether mad or inspired
by genuine visions, King Vygor claimed to be Priest-King
Khardovic reborn. When he took the crown, he decreed he
would use whatever force was required to ensure a new
and more prosperous future for our people. He saw the
Cygnaran Civil War as an opportunity to do this and in
511AR gathered the combined might of Khador. Vygors
forces carved the path through the perilous Thornwood
that we now know as the Warjack Road hoping to reach
the site of Cygnars first transgression at the city of Corvis.
They reached the Dragons Tongue River before Cygnars
armies met them.
The Cygnaran cowards refused to face the strength of
our army directly. Hate them, but do not underestimate
their cunning. Their tactics are slippery and elusive like
the twisting of a snakea lesson Vygor learned too late
to avoid death. Cygnars forces evaded his, and they
bombarded our army from across the river. Thousands of
soldiers died, and scores of warjacks obliterated each other
in a series of fierce battles.
What sealed our fate was the betrayal of our mercenaries,
the Ironbears. One can never fully trust those who fight for
coin, and never was that more clear than at the Battle of the
Tongue. As the vice closed on our army from both sides, the
Ironbears abandoned the flank they were assigned to protect
and turned on our soldiers. His forces thrown into panic
and disarray, King Vygor fought on bravely but finally fell

153

in battle against the man who would be Cygnars next king.

His surviving men endured a long and difficult retreat.
Even in defeat we were not cowed, and many of our people
refused to give up the fight. The valiant Fifth Border Legion
swore revenge against Cygnar. For those stalwart men and
women on the southern border, the Thornwood War never
truly ended; they continued to sap the resources of our
enemy even in times of apparent peace. We must be thankful
for their constant vigilance. Their experiences in myriad
battles provided invaluable training and intelligence.
Unbeknownst to those who witnessed the event, the
crowning of Queen Ayn VanarXI would mark the coming
of a new and glorious era for our people. Helping usher
in this era was the peerless stewardship of her mentor and
predecessor, Lord Regent Simonyev Blaustavyatoday
Great Vizier Blaustavya. This giant of a man did much
to strengthen our nation during the long years that Ayn
Vanar grew to adulthood before receiving the crown that
formalized her authority. It was Lord Regent Blaustavya
who pioneered the rail lines that would connect our cities
like vital arteries stretching across the long miles between.
Industry flourished under his capable hands as factories
and ironworks proliferated, adding sinews of steel to the
Khadoran military. All that Blaustavya achieved was done
to lay a solid foundation for the rule of the woman who
was like a granddaughter to him and who would become a
sovereign of fierce spirit and iron will.

The love of the people for

our queen developed into
absolute faith and devotion

We cannot fault the people for being uncertain when in

587AR, at the tender age of 18, Queen Ayn Vanar took the
throne. The people were so accustomed to the wisdom of
Blaustavya that it took time to trust their young queen.
The nobles quickly came to understand her merits and to
appreciate that in this womans veins flowed the blood
of kings and Khardic emperors. This was not a sovereign
content to stay the course and meekly accept historical
injustice. She chose instead the far harder path of restoring
our ancient birthrights.
Like Lord Regent Blaustavya, Queen Ayn spent her early
years in power strengthening the nation and overhauling
the military to eliminate excesses and hone our strengths.
She saw many corrupt and self-indulgent nobles, kayazy,
and officers of the High Kommand purged and replaced by
more faithful servants of the Motherland.

154

The love of the people for our queen developed into

absolute faith and devotion, particularly as she bridged the
divide between Morrowan and Menite. She had been raised
as a pious Morrowan but nonetheless convinced the Menite
visgoths of her respect and deep reverence for the Creator.
She afforded the clergy of both faiths a voice in her councils.
Meanwhile weapons and ammunition were produced at a
prodigious rate, with a steady line of warjacks emerging
from our factories. Young men and women eagerly rushed
to fill the ranks of the military. The queen urged us not
to take our mastery of warfare for granted but instead to
prepare our sons and daughters properly for battles ahead.
All of this Queen Ayn fostered to ensure that her entire
nation stood at her side as she initiated a bold plan of
conquest. When we launched a massive assault on Llaels
western border in the winter of 604AR, its defenders were
caught entirely off guard. The crushing power of this assault
was the proof not only of our strength in matters of war but
also of the genius of our military commanders. There is no
better example of what our nation can accomplish when our
nobles, our military, and our society are of one mind. Llaels
western defenses crumbled under a simultaneous threepronged assault against northern Laedry, Redwall Fortress,
and the southern city of Elsinberg.
Many ignorant observers may try to cheapen this victory
by suggesting the Llaelese Army was no worthy foe. Such
a force could not hope to stand before Khadoran troops,
true, but do not undervalue the valor of our soldiers or the
accomplishment of conquering this nation in a handful of
months. No one thought it could be done so quickly. The
misguided Umbreans who bolstered the Llaelese defenders
fought hard and well against us, their former kinsmen.
Cygnar rushed countless thousands of soldiers and
hundreds of warjacks armed with sophisticated weapons
to intercept our advance. Such a battle could have ground
on for years, but in just a few months we surrounded
Merywyn, Llaels capital, and forced the capitulation of its
Prime Minister. Those refusing to bow were executed.
Some few armed malcontents and the last remnants of
defiant rebels clung to the impossible dream of recovering
their nation. They fled into the eastern corners of what
was once Llael and have occasionally stirred like buzzing
hornets, but this is a minor inconvenience. After the fall of
the capital we began the difficult process of bringing our
Umbrean kinsmen back to their rightful place at our side.
This process will not be quickly completed, as centuries of
mistrust and Llaelese lies have infected these people, but
in time they will realize how much better their fortunes
stand with us. Even the Ryn will see that life in the empire
is far superior to what passed for culture in corrupt and
degraded Llael.

This great victory brought tremendous wealth and resources

to Khador as well as proving to our enemies they had little
chance of opposing our might. After our forces were in firm
control of Llael, Queen Ayn made her most historic move:
she announced that we existed as a kingdom no more but
as an empire reborn, and she proclaimed herself Empress
Ayn Vanar of the new Khadoran Empire. Yet this was not by
any means a declaration that the battles had ended, as there
remained far more to accomplish before we could claim to
have met or exceeded the glories of our ancestors.
Even as this pronouncement was made, Cygnar was pushed
back. Our army chased them from Llael and made them fear
for their own borders. We beset their entrenched defenders
at Fellig, Deepwood Tower, and the massive fortress of
Northguard. There is nothing sweeter than the resumption
of battles against old and worthy adversaries.
Made tenacious by fear, for a time Cygnar held fast against
our strength. No army can resist a superior foe forever, and
we bled them unrelentingly. After years of harsh warfare,
their great border fortress fell to our victorious forces.
The once-proud castle had been battered by the merciless
onslaught of our cannons, the defending network of trenches
slowly emptied as entire ranks of their soldiers were slain.
Still, they clung to the belief that they could best us, and the
fighting was grim for a time. Eventually we washed over
them as an inexorable red tide.
That ancient forest, the Thornwood, has been a barb in our
side for centuries and stood in the way of a clash on proper
ground against our southern rival. Now it belongs to us.
Our borders have expanded once again, and now our lands
stretch from the northern Shard Spires all the way to the
Dragons Tongue River. Across those waters, defenders of
the Cygnaran cities of Corvis and Point Bourne quake as
they witness our might and think of the inevitable day we
will besiege their walls.

throughout Khador and other kingdoms began to flock

south to view this miraculous manifestation, abandoning
their loyalties and common sense. Even now a sizable force
of the Sul-Menites from the Protectorate battle with our
soldiers in eastern Llael, where they seek to contest our
supremacy and turn our people against one another.
Our loving empress has been forced to resort to harsh
measures to curtail treason, making an example of any who
would forsake their vows in favor of a foreign sovereign.
For make no mistake: the hierarch of the Protectorate of
Menoth is a foreign sovereign, not simply the head of the
southern branch of the Menite faith. Swearing fealty to him
while asserting loyalty to Empress Ayn is a contradiction.
Fortunately, while the existence of the Harbinger has
increased religious tensions at home and abroad, the
majority of Khadors Menites remain steadfast and loyal,
looking to their local priests and not to foreign-born, selfappointed prophets or potentates for guidance.
It is the responsibility and honor of those of us in uniform
to risk our lives in battle to ensure our empire prospers and
grows. The work of the farmer, the laborer, the merchant
none are possible without the sacrifice of the soldier. I say
this to all who hear my call: Do not falter! Take up the axe
and rifle! You are Khadors children! The Motherland that
defended you and kept you safe now calls upon you. It is
your strength that will overcome our enemies in the battles
ahead. War is our oldest and finest tradition. Trust your
strength, and accept nothing less than total victory!

Despite recent defeats, our southern enemy remains strong.

They hope to drive us back and reclaim the Thornwood.
There are many great battles ahead of us. Other enemies
beset us at every turn, seeking to weary our resolve or
distract us from our destiny. Rebels still persist in our
occupied lands, and new threats have arisen, including
strange terrors from the frozen mountains or the wilderness.
Inexplicable horrors plague our western coast and seek to
despoil our wealth.
We have in recent years clashed with the fanatical Sul-Menite
sect begotten during Cygnars civil war. The Protectorate of
Menoth has proven it has grandiose ambitions and seeks
to undermine the sovereign rule of all nations. During the
war in Llael word spread of a Harbinger speaking Menoths
will in the south. Far be it for me to dispute or legitimize
such an unlikely claim, but I can report its impact: Menites

155

Orsus
Zoktavir, The Butcher of Khardov
Khador Warcaster

Zoktavir is a force of nature as wild as Khador itself. Some say his manners and methods are crude and shortsighted,
but I ask you, would you deny that he is the personification of victory at any cost? Has he ever failed us?

Queen Ayn Vanar XI

Feat: Blood Frenzy

BUTCHER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 8

9 5 14 18 7

Blunderbuss
RNG ROF AOE POW

8 1 12

Lola

POW P+S

8 16

Focus 6
Damage 20
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Medium Base

The Butchers rage runs deep.

It is the well from which he
draws his power and the drive
to lead his forces into battle.
When the Butcher relinquishes
what little control he has over
this infectious fury, all who
march by his sideman and
machine alikesuccumb to its
bloodlust.

While in the Butchers

control area, friendly Faction
models gain an additional
die on attack damage rolls
this turn.

BUTCHER
Terror

Lola

Magical Weapon
Reach
Weapon Master

The varied cultures of Khadors vast lands are proud of

their fighting spirit, and Orsus Zoktavir embodies elements
of each of these proud lines. Although his parentage is
uncertain, each of the peoples of Khador have at times
claimed him as their own. Seven and a half feet tall and over
half as wide, he is a massive man who manifested natural
arcane skills early in life.
Orsus past is wrapped in mystery; none seem to know of
his life before he appeared in Korsk with two old warjacks
in tow, demanding to be enlisted in the army. He was sent to
the Orgoth fortress turned industrial city named Khardov,
which would become his only home. Before long he was
given his first command and dispatched to patrol the
southern border alongside the 5th Border Legion.
He gained notoriety during these patrols in 587AR when
a village just north of Boarsgate Keep announced its
withdrawal from Khador to join with Ord. Orsus took it
upon himself to crush the traitorous rebellion. When
a waiting contingent of militiamen tried to parley, Orsus
howled and charged. What followed was carnage. Halfway
through the slaughter the militiamen surrendered, but
Orsus kept cutting them down. His accompanying soldiers
tried to restrain him, but in a wild rage he turned on his
own men and with his massive axe rent every living man
to pieces. His fury was boundless. Moments later, a total

156

Spells
Fury

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

2
6

Yes No

Target friendly model/unit gains +3 to melee damage rolls but suffers

1 DEF.

Iron Flesh

Yes No

Full Throttle

3 Self Ctrl

No No

Obliteration

15 No Yes

Target friendly warrior model/unit gains +3 DEF but suffers 1 SPD.

Warjacks in this models battlegroup beginning their activations in its

control area can run, charge, or make slam or trample power attacks
without spending focus that activation. While in this models control area,
models in its battlegroup gain boosted melee attack rolls. Full Throttle
lasts for one turn.

10

The force of this attack blasts apart the earth itself.

of eighty-eight warriors were simply dismembered parts

strewn about the village square. Those who witnessed the
aftermath told of blood so thick in the muddy streets that
rats leapt from one body to the next to avoid drowning. The
event became known as the Boarsgate Massacre.
Word spread quickly, earning Orsus the title Butcher of
Khardov. The news ultimately reached the ears of the
newly crowned Queen Ayn Vanar. The pragmatic young
queen absolved the warrior of blame, openly condoning
his behavior as the reaction of any true patriot. Most of her
kommanders guessed at the queens true intent. In parading
a new weapon against internal dissent, she instilled fear that
to speak or act against her could result in a visit from the
Butcher. Her maneuver had the desired effect and instantly
stifled all speculation of whether the young queen would be
a strong monarch.
The Butcher remains both an embodiment of Ayn Vanars
strength and a potent symbol of the consequence of
treachery. Younger warcasters view him with disdain and
do not comprehend the leniency he has been afforded by the
High Kommand. More traditional warcasters like Vladimir
Tzepesci see him as nothing more than a weapon.
Orsus Zoktavir wields his axe Lolarumored to be named
after a love whose loss fuels his ragewith singular fury.
He wears a modified suit of steam-powered armor that
was shaped from the hull of a warjack to suit his frame by
loyal battle mechaniks once in his service. In its protective
casing, the Butcher is a force of destruction, a one-man
wrecking crew. Soldiers across western Immoren cannot
forget the vision of the axe-wielding giant from their
nightmares, a man become a living personification of
warfare and bloodshed.

157

Kommander
Sorscha
Khador Warcaster

She is a perfect example of what a woman should be: pale as the ice that blankets us, beautiful but
distant as the starry sky, yet deadly as a winter storm.

Lieutenant Yurik Belavdon of the 12th Iron Fang Uhlan Kompany

Feat: Icy Gaze

SORSCHA
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 6

6 5 16 14 9

Hand Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

12 1 12

FrostFang

POW P+S

7 13

Focus 6
Damage 17
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+5
Small Base

Wherever Kommander Sorscha

treads, winter follows. The
celebrated Khadoran warcaster
manipulates extreme cold
through sorcery, storing up
her power to unleash a massive
blanket of ice that freezes her
enemies in their tracks.
Enemy models without
Immunity: Cold
currently in Sorschas
control area and LOS
become stationary for one
round.

SORSCHA

Immunity: Cold

FrostFang

Magical Weapon
Reach

Critical Freeze On a critical hit, the model hit becomes

stationary for one round unless it has Immunity: Cold
.

When a teary-eyed Sorscha Kratikoff looked into her

fathers face at the age of thirteen winters and asked to
be a soldier like him, he just smiled, patted the black hair
on her head, and strode out the door to join his unit. Later
that month her mother received word of the massacre at
Boarsgate. Sorschas father lay among the dead, killed by
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov. Two years later,
Sorscha lied about her age and joined the Winter Guard. She
fought against all odds and excelled as a soldier, surviving
the rigors and mayhem of war fueled by the image of her
fathers bloody end.
Sorscha served in three consecutive tours of duty with the
prestigious border garrisons at Ravensgard and participated
in frequent bloody conflicts with Llaelese mercenaries and
her Cygnaran counterparts. She demonstrated considerable
natural tactical prowess and was chosen for officer training
at the Druzhina in Korsk before returning to her men as
a lieutenant. She advanced quickly through the ranks to
kapitan and kovnik. A warcaster named Torisevich valued
her opinion above his other officers and picked her to serve
as an aide. Perhaps some part of her felt an affinity with
armored machines even before she demonstrated her gift
for warcasting. Sorscha had already shown hints of inborn
sorcery but had kept them to herself, for she had been
raised in a rural border area where such powers prompted
superstition and dread.

158

Spells
Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF
Boundless Charge 2
6

No No

During its activation, target friendly model can charge without spending
when it
focus or being forced and gains +2 movement and Pathfinder
charges. Boundless Charge lasts for one turn.

Fog of War

3 Self Ctrl

Yes No

Freezing Grip

No Yes

Razor Wind

10

12 No Yes

Tempest

12 No Yes

Wind Rush

2 Self

No No

Models gain concealment while in this models control area.

Target model/unit without Immunity: Cold
round.

becomes stationary for one

A blade of wind slices through the target model.

Models hit by Tempest are knocked down and suffer a POW 12 damage roll.
This model can immediately make a full advance and gains +2 DEF for
one round. Wind Rush can be cast only once per turn.

Tactical Tips

Tempest This means every model in the AOE is knocked down,

friendly and enemy alike.

Her true potential surfaced during a conflict near the

Ordic border when Torisevich was slain in an ambush and
his jacks suddenly fell dormant. In desperation, Sorscha
charged unescorted into the combat. She cut men down
like stalks of grain, but her troops were demolished and she
found herself far outnumbered. One foe sliced her thigh and
she fell. Suddenly, the world froze. Everything around her,
including her enemies, stood encased in a layer of ice and
frost. Leaning against one of the nearby Juggernauts, she
found herself able to reach within its mind. She reactivated
its cortex by mimicking the arcane sequence her untrained
vision had perceived from her kommander. Sent forth at her
bidding, this warjack charged into the nearby enemies.
Days later Sorscha Kratikoff stood before her queen in
Korsk. Her new talents were quickly put to the test, and she
began to learn to control her sorcery and warcaster ability
from the enigmatic and gifted Umbrean prince, Vladimir
Tzepesci. In her year of study with the nobleman, she fell
in love. She saw in him ancient nobility, a sense of profound
duty, and devotion to the memory of his ancestors. They
had a brief romance before duty called her away to service
at the height of their passion. Since their parting she seems
to have become more embittered and pours her strength
into the tasks at hand. Those who see her now would never
suspect any ardor lingering beneath her iron discipline and
unfaltering dedication to Khador.

Only the infrequent presence of Dark Prince Vladimir

can thaw her soul, if but for a moment. Fiery rage and
icy hatred! she was once heard to say. These things a
good soldier makes, not warmth and comfort. Despite
these words, there are those who believe her fate is tied to
Tzepesci by a cord that will not be easily broken.

159

Vladimir
Tzepesci, The Dark Prince
Khador Warcaster

Not long will any Tzepesci sit upon the throne, yet their blood nourishes the soil of the land. When the
last perishes, so too shall a darkness descend without dawn, and a winter come where ash falls like snow.

The Tzepesci Prophecy, spoken to King Vladin Tzepesci in 210 AR

VLADimir
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 6

7 5 15 16 9

Skirmisher

POW P+S

7 13

Ruin

POW P+S

4 10

Focus 7
Damage 18
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+5
Small Base

Feat: Forced
March

The strategic and tactical

prowess of the Dark Prince
of Umbrey is legendary
throughout the Motherland
as well as any land he has
touched. Vladimir carefully
conserves the power of his
warjacks to expend it in one
great battlefield maneuver.
Warjacks in Vladimirs
battlegroup beginning their
activations in his control area
double their base SPD and
can run or charge without
spending focus. Forced
March lasts for one turn.

VLADimir

Parry This model cannot be targeted by free strikes.

Skirmisher

Magical Weapon

Blood Boon Once per activation, immediately after resolving

an attack in which it destroyed a living enemy model with this
weapon, this model can cast a spell with COST 3 or less without
spending focus.

Ruin

Magical Weapon

Even in times of old before the Iron Kingdoms, when certain

lands in Khador were the provinces of barbaric tribes, among
those who rode to battle were some possessed of rugged
honor who united their people with a clarity of vision.
Chieftains ruled these hordes, and horselords ruled the
chieftains. Of noble stock, horselords ruled for generations
with oppressive strength, calculated cruelty, and a will to
organize the chaos of the world. The Tzepesci, one of the
strongest families to rule the provinces of Old Umbrey, are
among the last of the great families. Indeed, a millennia ago
the Tzepesci were the governors of Old Korska before it fell
into ruin, and they even controlled the throne of Khador for
a time. Though reduced in influence, the Tzepesci name still
resonates with Khadors eastern people.
Vladimir Tzepesci is the Great Prince of Korskovny
Volozkya, one of the eighteen great houses that govern
Khador, yet he represents much more. The ruling families
of Umbresk and southern Gorzytska owe his family fealty
from old oaths set in bone and blood. The influence he
wields in this region is enough to stir uneasy rumors in the
capital. He is a living relic of past glories and bloody deeds,

160

Spells
Blood of Kings

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

4 Self
No No

Vladimir gains +3 SPD, STR, MAT, DEF, and ARM for one round.

Boundless Charge 2

No No

Razor Wind

10

12 No Yes

Signs & Portents

4 Self Ctrl

No No

Wind Wall

3 Self

No No

During its activation, target friendly model can charge without spending
when it
focus or being forced and gains +2 movement and Pathfinder
charges. Boundless Charge lasts for one turn.
A blade of wind slices through the target model.

While in this models control area, friendly Faction models gain an

additional die on attack and damage rolls. Discard the lowest die in each
roll. Signs & Portents lasts for one turn.

This model cannot make ranged attacks, and non-magical ranged attacks
targeting it automatically miss. While completely within 3 of this model,
models cannot make ranged attacks and non-magical ranged attacks
targeting them automatically miss. Wind Wall lasts for one round.

and his noble bearing is testimony of an ancient lineage. A

prophecy delivered to the Tzepesci kings of old tells of a
great doom to befall Khador when the Tzepesci line comes
to an end. Those who know of this legend call Vladimir
Tzepesci the Dark Prince. So powerful is the blood in his
veins that men shy from his gaze. He is a man of few words,
accustomed to being heard when he speaks.
As some are born to capture strength and beauty with
paints or to write great works of poetry, Vladimir was
born to make war. He has waged many campaigns in the
service of his nation as a brilliant tactician as well as a
potent warcaster. A swordsman with few equals, he brings
swift death to all who dare cross blades with him. Worthy
opponents are treated to longer duels, but most enemies are
dispatched with little consideration.
Vladimir takes great pride in wearing the ancient plate of
his forefathers. Although it has seen some sorcerous repair
over the centuries, it is the same suit of crimson mail his
ancestor, Prince Buruvan Tzepesci, wore in battle against
the Orgoth.
Vladimir has trained other warcasters, and it is no great
secret that he became intimately acquainted with the
promising young Sorscha Kratikoff during her mentoring.
Little is known of the affair other than it ended quite
abruptly and left Sorscha distinctively changed. There is
some speculation that she was rebuffed due to her lowly
heritage, but those who know Vladimir cannot credit such
a motive and believe the situation may have been more
complicated than it appeared. Whatever the case, he seems
determined to stay true to the legacy of his forefathers, who
were always strong and faithful in their duties even at the

expense of their own happiness. There are those who call

such notionsand his adherence to ancient tradition
exercises in vanity, but for Vladimir Tzepesci it is part of a
code that defines him and connects him to his past.
Though Vladimir is respected for his great accomplishments,
not all who meet him love him. It is whispered in secret

among the courts that the time of the Tzepesci has passed,
and Vladimir is but an unpleasant reminder of a vanished
era. These conspirators anticipate the day when the Dark
Prince falls and the vast treasures of the Tzepesci family are
annexed into the vaults of the Khadoran Treasury.

161

Berserker
Khador Heavy Warjack

Respectfully, Kommandant, I must submit that even Zoktavir has questioned the Berserkers stability.
Need there be more evidence they are too dangerous to remain in service?

Excerpt from a report to Kommandant Gurvaldt Irusk

BERSERKER

BERSERKER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 11 5 3 11 18

War Axe

POW P+S

5 16

War Axe

POW P+S

5 16

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C
Field Allowance U
Point Cost
6
Large Base

Aggressive This model

can run or charge without
spending focus or being
forced.
Unstable At the end of
any activation in which
this model spent 1 or more
focus points, roll a d6. If
the roll is equal to or less
than the number of focus
points spent, this model
explodes and models
within 3 of it suffer an
unboostable POW 14 blast
damage roll. Remove this
model from play.

War Axe

Chain Attack: Brutality

If this model hits the same
model with both its initial
attacks with this weapon,
after resolving the attacks
it can immediately make
one head-butt power
attack against that model.

There is something uniquely terrifying about the

Berserker. The oldest of Khadoran warjacks
still in service, it is also among the oldest
relied upon by any modern nation.
Some proudly view this fact as proof
of both the genius of Khadoran
engineering and the timelessness
of their weapons of war.
Berserker cortexes have become
unstable in the years since their first
manufacture well over a century ago,
and the jacks are prone to charge
without orders when near the frenzy
of combat. The bloodthirsty manner with
which they slaughter enemy infantry has long
been legendary. Worse yet, their cortex alloys and
the alchemical mixtures in which their cortexes bathe
have become critically compromised by decay and are
prone to massive concussive overload if stimulated with
too much arcane energy.
Those who know their merits make excellent use of these
brutal machines. Armed with a pair of immense axes,
Berserkers are ruthless in close combat, and their volatile
cortexes and propensity for violence become assets when

162

Height/Weight: 1011 / 8.4 tons

Armament: Twin War Axes (left and right arms)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 715 lbs / 5 hrs general, 55 min combat
Initial Service Date: 430 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Greylords Covenant
Orig. Chassis Design: Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly

Tactical Tips

Aggressive Yes, this rule is HORDES friendly.

Unstable Do not replace this model with a wreck marker.
Chain Attack: Brutality A model with a crippled weapon
system cannot use it to make chain attacks or special attacks,
including power attacks.
Cortex System Due to extreme age and cortex decay, a Berserker
has only two boxes in its Cortex system.

facing their iron and steel counterparts from other nations.

A Khadoran general with one in his army views it as a
rampaging force of destruction to be unleashed at the right
moment and expended in battle.

Decimator

Khador Heavy Warjack

Subtlety is a word for strategy; brutality, for tactics. Even the most complex battle plans eventually
require the application of brute force. This is where the Decimator excels.

Kommandant Gurvaldt Irusk

Height/Weight: 117 / 9.8 tons

Armament: Dozer (left arm), Rip Saw (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 783 lbs / 4 hrs general, 45 min combat
Initial Service Date: 587 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Greylords Covenant
Orig. Chassis Design: Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly

Tactical Tips

Beat Back The attacking model can advance even if the enemy
model is destroyed by the attack.

As the Khadoran Empire has expanded its borders and

come up against the toughest defenses of its enemies, it
has needed increasingly powerful tools to sow destruction.
Enter the Decimator, which Khador engineered to annihilate
well-armored targets with powerful direct fire. The jacks
thunderous cannon smashes its victims to the ground
before it closes and tears them to unrecognizable scrap with
its mighty saw.
The heart of the Decimators dozer
repeating cannon is a revolving
chamber housing the weapons

Dozer

Beat Back Immediately

after a normal attack with
this weapon is resolved
during this models
combat action, the enemy
model hit can be pushed
1 directly away from the
attacking model. After the
enemy model is pushed,
the attacking model can
advance up to 1.

Decimator

Rip Saw

1 2 3 4 5 6

Sustained Attack During

this models activation,
when it makes an attack
with this weapon against
the last model hit by the
weapon this activation, the
attack automatically hits.

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 12 6 4 10 20

Dozer
RNG ROF AOE POW

10 2 15

Rip Saw

POW P+S

R 6 18

DAMAGE

L R
L M C R

M M C C
oversized
ammunition.
The impact of one of these
Field Allowance U
massive slugs smashes
Point Cost
9
its unfortunate target
Large Base
backwardif
not
annihilating
it
outrightand punches a hole in the enemy line. In
close combat, the Decimator relies on its massive
rip saw, a wicked weapon capable of shredding
anything in its path. The jack has been used
extensively in recent years to assault the most
impregnable fortifications of Khadors enemies,
where it deals staggering punishment to their
heaviest defenders.

163

Destroyer
Khador Heavy Warjack

Let the Cygnaran dogs hide in their trenches. Our Destroyers will flush them out like frightened hares
and chop them into stew meat!

Harisc Vokmir, Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly

Bombard

Destroyer
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 12 6 4 10 20

Bombard
RNG ROF AOE POW

L 14 1 3 14

Executioner Axe

POW P+S

5 17

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

Arcing Fire When

attacking with this
weapon, this model can
ignore intervening models
except those within 1 of
the target.

Executioner Axe
Critical Amputation On
a critical hit, warjack head
and arm systems that
suffer damage from this
attack are crippled.

Compared to that of other

nations,
technological
advancement of warjacks
L R
in Khador has been
L L M C R R
slowmostly
because
the
countrys
mechaniks
M M C C
build their warjacks to
Field Allowance
U
last. A prime example
9
Point Cost
is the Destroyer, which
Large Base
has served in various
iterations as the premier
Khadoran siege-assault warjack for almost a hundred
years, gaining particular fame in the First Thornwood War.
The whistling of its shells arcing overhead is a prelude to
destruction, heralding the thunderous blasts that tear apart
everything in the target vicinity.

The Destroyers current design has not changed in nearly 70

years, but the series goes back as far as 480 AR. Even with
antiquated armament, those impressive early
jacks shelled Cygnaran fortifications
from across the Dragons Tongue
River. Improvements to the
bombard cannon in 537 AR
cemented the Destroyer as the
centerpiece of Khadoran
war engineering.
Though most famous
for its role in delivering a
punishing bombardment, the
Destroyer is no less formidable when
engaged in close combat. Its designers did not
skimp on armor: its iron-plated chassis is as heavy
as the Juggernauts and provides formidable protection.
One mighty stroke from a Destroyer can shear entire
limbs from an enemy warjack.

164

Height/Weight: 117 / 9.5 tons

Armament: Bombard (left arm), Executioner Axe (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 815 lbs / 4 hrs general, 50 min combat
Initial Service Date: 537 AR (Original chassis 480 AR)
Cortex Manufacturer: Greylords Covenant
Orig. Chassis Design: Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly

Tactical Tips

Critical Amputation On a critical hit, warjack head and arm

systems that suffer damage from this attack are crippled.

Juggernaut

Khador Heavy Warjack

You cant ignore a Juggernaut. It just keeps coming, shrugging off everything you throw at it. The only
way to deal with one is heavy and unrelenting concentrated fire.

Major Markus Siege Brisbane

Height/Weight: 117 / 9 tons

Armament: Ice Axe (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 798 lbs / 4.5 hrs general, 50 min combat
Initial Service Date: 516 AR (Original chassis 465 AR)
Cortex Manufacturer: Greylords Covenant
Orig. Chassis Design: Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly

Bigger is usually better in Khador, and the countrys

mechaniks employ this principle with each successive
warjack they design. As brutally efficient in modern
warfare as when it was first conceived, the Juggernaut
is a mammoth of plated armor regarded as the
embodiment of Khadoran temperament and an example
of the supremacy of the Khadoran martial warjack. Fewer
Juggernauts come off the assembly lines today than in
past decades, but they can endure brutal punishment
and be rebuilt and repaired countless times before being
scrapped. Some Juggernauts serving on the front lines
have persisted for more than a hundred years.

Open Fist
Open Fist

Ice Axe

Critical Freeze On a
critical hit, the model hit
becomes stationary for
one round unless it has
Immunity: Cold
.

Juggernaut

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 12 6 4 10 20

Open Fist

POW P+S

3 15

Ice Axe

POW P+S

R 7 19

The current Juggernauts

armament and chassis date
to 516 AR, but its original
chassis is older, having
been designed in 465 AR to
replace the aging Berserker
model. In fact, this chassis
design is the basis for those
in the majority of todays
Khadoran warjacks. The
Juggernaut combines the
most
powerful
steam
engines her mechaniks can
design with as much armor
as its chassis can carry.

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C

Field Allowance U
Point Cost
7
Large Base

Inspired by Greylords Covenant mechanikal techniques, the

Mechaniks Assembly created the ice axe for the Juggernaut
in 517 AR. This weapon encases its target in a layer of ice,
causing it to seize up. Even glancing blows can freeze
enemy warjacks in their tracks and cause their engines to
screech protest against their frozen limbs.
Khadorans respect power, and there is not a soul in the
Motherland who does not admire the storied Juggernaut
and its endless list of accomplishments in battle.

165

Marauder
Khador Heavy Warjack

Praise to the Creator, who has sheltered our cities and delivered unto us such a weapon to shatter the
fortifications of our enemies!

Visgoth Ruskin Borga of the Old Faith blessing a Marauder being sent to battle

Ram Pistons

Marauder
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 12 6 4 10 20

Ram Piston

POW P+S

4 16

Ram Piston

POW P+S

4 16

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

Combo Smite (HAttack)

Make a melee attack. On
a hit, instead of making
a normal damage roll the
target model is slammed
d6 directly away from
this model and suffers a
damage roll with POW
equal to the STR of this
model plus twice the POW
of this weapon. The POW
of collateral damage is
equal to this models STR.

Designed to pulverize
buildings and armored
warjacks with equal
L R
ease, the Marauder is
L L M C R R
armed with a pair of
M M C C
pneumatically
driven
battering rams. Though
Field Allowance U
originally
developed
Point Cost
7
to
aid
in
siege
warfare,
Large Base
these crushing rams
are even more useful
for obliterating or displacing enemy warjacks, and they
provide unsurpassed tactical control to their commanding
warcasters. The Marauder can hurl ten tons of enemy
warjack to the side with no more difficulty than a rampaging
bear knocking aside a man.

An industrial mechanik named Targh Fedro was inspired

to try this design after observing stonemasons in a
quarry. After replacing an old laborjacks broken
arms with battering rams, he tested it against the
quarry walls and nearly brought down the entire
face with a single blow. Excited at the military
potential, he took the design to the Mechaniks
Assembly to build a prototype using the ubiquitous
Juggernaut chassis. Those who witnessed trials
against similarly heavy Khadoran jacks were
astonished at the power wielded by the pistondriven rams.

166

Height/Weight: 117 / 10.25 tons

Armament: Twin Rams (left and right arms)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 860 lbs / 4 hrs general, 45 min combat
Initial Service Date: 522 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: Greylords Covenant
Orig. Chassis Design: Targh Fedro (credited), Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly

Tactical Tips

Combo Smite This ability cannot be used while either of this

models arm systems is locked. A model with a crippled weapon
system cannot use it to make chain attacks or special attacks,
including power attacks.

Though any warjack can knock away an adversary if it

has sufficient distance for a full charge, the Marauder can
achieve similar results standing still. With the devastating
power of its ram pistons, a Marauder can send lesser
machines flying through stone walls to become mere wrecks
of torn metal and shattered pistons.

Battle Mechaniks
Khador Unit

Get ready to have burns on your burns and calluses on your calluses. Youll be covered in oil and grime
with nothing but a wrench and your wits to get the job done.

Battle Mechanik Chief Usten Magrechev to trainees

No matter how heavily armored the great Khadoran

warjacks are, even they are eventually worn down and
sometimes wrecked in the crush of battle. Battle mechaniks
are the skilled and brave individuals who dodge bullets
and evade explosions to get the huge battle machines
back into the fight. These loyal brothers of the Khadoran
Mechaniks Assembly are patriots equal to any fighting
soldier and often must withstand even heavier fire in the
execution of their duties. Steadfast at the sight of spilled
blood or oil, they are willing to put themselves in harms
way to conduct repairs.
Before proving their knack with a wrench and being
redeployed as battle mechaniks, many of these skilled
workers served their expected time in the Winter Guard,
so they are often older and more seasoned than the freshly
recruited youths bearing blunderbusses next to them.
Few enemies are foolish enough to underestimate battle

LEADER & GRUNTS

Jack Marshal

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

Assist Repair (HAction)

5 6 5 4 13 12 8
This model can make this
Monkey Wrench
special action only when

POW P+S
B2B with a friendly Faction
2 8
warjack. When this model
makes an Assist Repair
Field Allowance
3
special action, choose
Leader & 3 Grunts 2
another model in this unit
Leader & 5 Grunts 3
with the Repair ability also
Small Base
B2B with that warjack.
The chosen model gains a
cumulative +1 to its Repair skill on its next Repair skill check
to repair that warjack this activation. If it passes the Repair
check, remove 1 additional damage point from the warjack
for each model that used Assist Repair on the chosen model.
Iron Sentinel While B2B with a friendly Faction warjack, this
model gains +2 DEF and ARM and cannot be knocked down.
Repair [7] (HAction) This model can attempt repairs on any
damaged friendly Faction warjack. To attempt repairs, this
model must be B2B with the damaged warjack and make a
skill check. If successful, remove d6 damage points from the
warjacks damage grid.

mechaniks bearing wrenchesimplements as capable

of crushing skulls as they are of loosening oversized and
stubborn warjack bolts.
Chiefs are the hearts of battle mechanik teams. Sometimes
the old vets get injured on the battlefield, but a Khadoran
does not let a simple thing like a shorn-off limb get him
down! Injured mechaniks repair their own broken
bodies with cleverly improvised mechanikal limbs,
often salvaging finer gears and mechanisms from
the detritus of the battlefield. This indomitable
ingenuity shows the same spirit and optimism as the
battle mechaniks apply to the jacks they tend, finding
ways in the most challenging circumstances to engineer
machinery that can outlast any one battle and stand ready
for the next.

Tactical Tips

Repair A wreck marker cannot be repaired.

167

Doom
Reavers
Khador Unit

I am not sure of the wisdom of employing such madmen. Our control over them seems tenuous at best.

Great Prince Vladimir Tzepesci

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 7

LEADER & GRUNTS

Abomination

7 4 13 14 7

Advance Deployment

Fellblade

Fearless

POW P+S

Berserk When this model

destroys one or more
models with a melee attack
Field Allowance
2
during its combat action,
Leader & 5 Grunts 6
immediately after the attack
Small Base
is resolved it must make
one additional melee attack
against another model in its melee range.
6 13

Spell Ward This model cannot be targeted by spells.

Fellblade

Magical Weapon
Reach
Weapon Master

Khador is dotted with ancient ruins from the Orgoth era,

and many of the black stone temples, fortresses, and hidden
catacombs are now buried below ground. Occult scholars
have picked through several of these sites, such as the ones
below the great city of Khardov. It was there the Greylords
Covenant unearthed a large cache of the infamous
fellblades, swords adorned with howling faces
that shift eerily at the fringes of vision and
are painful to the sight. Saturated with
tainted magic, the dark blades seem to
come alive when wielded.
Swordsmen unfortunate enough to pick up
these powerful weapons descended into savage
and homicidal madness as they experienced
incomprehensible whispers in their minds. Even
in their sleep the swordsmen heard foreign babbling
stoking them to acts of bloodshed. These men lashed
out with berserk abandon and doubled strength, killing
anything that crossed their paths.
To assist in the war effort, the crown decided to bind the
blades to wayward prisoners, particularly soldiers who
had been found guilty of gross insubordination or other
military crimes. The Greylords turned these men into
doom reavers chained to their fellblades and directed in

168

Tactical Tips

Spell Ward This model is shielded from friendly and enemy

spells alike.
Berserk Spread them out if you do not want them killing each
other.

battle by their urges. The maddened swordsmen can be

only nominally controlled in conflict, though the Khadoran
wizards have done what they can to restrain them. Doom
reavers undermine the morale of even the stoutest veterans,
but despite this they have earned their share of bloody
victories. So long as they persevere they will continue to
be employed despite the argument that fellblades are too
dangerous and should never have been unleashed in the
first place.

Iron Fang
Pikemen
Khador Unit

We have been wielding our long spears to bring down the fiercest creatures of the mountains for a
thousand years. Iron Fangs do not quail in the face of the enemyeven if it is six tons of iron and steel.

Dhurgo Bolaine, decorated Iron Fang Kapitan

The Iron Fangs are proud examples of the Khadoran

fighting spirit. They stand toe-to-toe against six-ton, steampowered machines that can crush the life out of them in a
single blow. These hardened soldiers are part of an ancient
tradition of spearmen who once fought the northern bear
and later evolved into pikemen deployed by settled Khards
to stand against the roving horse lords who dominated the
southern plains and eastern hills of their empire. Just as
they stood firm against the seemingly unstoppable tide of
warlords on muscled horses, they now form up behind their
shields and bring weapons to bear against the warjacks that
dominate the modern battlefield. Their pikes tipped with
powerful explosive charges, Iron Fangs can blast through
infantry and heavy warjack armor with equal success.

LEADER & GRUNTS

Combined Melee Attack

Shield Wall (Order) For

one round, each affected
model gains a +4 ARM
bonus while B2B with
another affected model in
its unit. This bonus does not
apply to damage originating
in the models back arc.
Models in this unit can
begin the game affected by
Shield Wall.

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 6

6 4 13 14 9

Blasting Pike

POW P+S

7 13

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Leader & 9 Grunts
Small Base

2
5
8

Blasting Pike
Reach

Critical Knockdown On a critical hit, the model hit is knocked

down.

Behind their tower shields, Iron Fangs are notoriously

difficult to kill; even coordinated rifle fire sometimes bounces
off their armored frames as they continue their implacable
advance. They have trained to regard their heavy armor as
a second skin, able to ignore its weight and even sleep
comfortably in it. In battle they move with
military precision, interlocking their shields
to form a nearly impenetrable mobile wall.
After centuries of service, the Iron Fangs have
become a heralded tradition of the Khadoran
Army, their fraternal bond legendary. Upon
acceptance into the legion of Iron Fangs, a
soldier swears a blood oath, casts off the
life he lived before, and dedicates himself
to his fellow soldiers, his country, and the
art of war.

169

Man-O-War
Shocktroopers
Khador Unit

Soldiers who retire from battle become no more than old, sad men. They shrivel away to nothing and huddle
by their hearths to await deaths release. I will not fade like that. When the time comes, I will die in steam!

Deidric Harkinos, veteran man-o-war shocktrooper

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 9

7 5 11 17 9

Shield Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

6 1 14

Annihilator Blade

POW P+S

5 14

Damage 8 ea
Field Allowance
3
Leader & 2 Grunts 6
Leader & 4 Grunts 9
Medium Base

LEADER & GRUNTS

Combined Melee Attack

Fearless

Shield Wall (Order) For

one round, each affected
model gains a +4 ARM
bonus while B2B with
another affected model in
its unit. This bonus does not
apply to damage originating
in the models back arc.
Models in this unit can
begin the game affected by
Shield Wall.

Annihilator Blade
Reach

Because fabricating warjack cortexes

in Khador requires rare materials
in short supply, the Khadoran
Mechaniks Assembly had long
sought a viable supplement
to these expensive and
precious
weapons.
In 470 AR Jachemir
Venianminov
came
upon a solution that
was
simplicity
itself:
transforming
men
into
steam-powered
wrecking
crews called men-o-war.
The suit of armor worn by a mano-war is a miraculous creation
imbuing the soldier with almost
the same strength, durability, and
protection against the elements as
a warjack. There are drawbacks to
wearing heavy battle armor powered by
a steam boiler, however. Men-o-war are
susceptible to heat stroke, exhaustion, and
the occasional steam leak that can cook them
alive in minutes. Despite these possibilities,
one will never hear a man-o-war complaining
or asking for comfort, for they are proud of their
tradition and willingly embrace the risks in the
service of the military.

170

Man-o-war shocktroopers wield powerful annihilator

blades, one stroke of which can split the armor of a light
warjack or wholly eviscerate a mere man. As with more
traditionally armored heavy infantry, they can file into
ranks and lock their shields in formation, but each shield
also boasts a powerful short-range cannon. Though the
shocktroopers prefer to rely on their blades, the cannon blast
gives them added reach and versatility on the battlefield.
Only the most steadfast soldiers earn the right to join the
men-o-war, though many jump at the opportunity. After all,
it is not every day that one can experience the world from a
warjacks perspective.

Widowmakers
Khador Unit

With every bullet you carry death.

Widowmaker Kapitan Govoyen Krinevich

Widowmakers are the elite scout-sniper division of the

Khadoran military, which has embraced and elevated them
to the status of national heroes. The standards to join the
Widowmakers are among the most exacting of all Khadors
specialist forces, and only those riflemen who demonstrate
peerless skill with the rifle are accepted. Because the
Widowmakers are first and foremost a merit-based corps,
membership is open to any who aspires to bring death from
afar, whether peasant-born, rural hunter, or of noble blood.
Widowmakers wield their long-barreled hunting rifles with
skill that cannot be overstated, able to take apart incoming
warjacks piece by piece with well-placed shots. Killing a
man is as automatic as drawing breath.

LEADER & GRUNTS

Advance Deployment

LEADER & GRUNTS

Pathfinder

6 5

Camouflage This model

gains an additional +2
DEF when benefiting from
concealment or cover.

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 7 14 11 8

Hunting Rifle
RNG ROF AOE POW

14 1 10

Sword

POW P+S
Sniper When damaging a
3
8
warjack or warbeast with a
ranged attack, choose which
Field Allowance
1
column or branch suffers
Leader & 3 Grunts 4
damage. Instead of rolling
Small Base
damage on a ranged attack,
this model can inflict 1
damage point. A model that participates in a combined ranged
attack loses Sniper until the attack is resolved.

A Widowmakers primary role is to neutralize officers

to facilitate chaos among the enemy. They frequently
advance ahead of the main battlegroup, their arrival
indicated by enemy officers abruptly falling dead before
the report of rifle fire can be identified. They also support
strategic withdrawals by ensuring their own wounded do
not become prisoners. If a downed officer
cannot be retrieved, Widowmakers make
sure he does not fall into the wrong hands
for interrogation. A true patriot knows it is
better to die by a comrades bullet than to be
placed in irons on an enemys torture rack.
Widowmakers know that inspiring fear and hatred come
with the territory. Officially, Widowmakers are not used in
domestic conflicts, but it is rumored that their talents have
been used to pick off dissenters, rabble-rousers, or corrupt
kayazy suspected of disloyalty to the crown. Widowmakers
expect little charity from their enemies if captured; indeed,
Cygnarans often hang them without trial.

Tactical Tips

Camouflage If a model ignores concealment or cover, it also

ignores concealment or covers Camouflage bonus.

171

Winter
Guard Infantry
Khador Unit

It is the joy of every son and daughter of the Motherland to take up arms and defend her to the death. He
who would avoid this service does not deserve to breathe the same air as the patriot who stands next to him.

Lord Regent Velibor

LEADER & GRUNTS

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 5

LEADER & GRUNTS

Combined Ranged Attack

5 5 12 13 8

When a Khadoran male

reaches seventeen winters,
8 1 12
he is conscripted into the
Axe
Winter Guard. Women

POW P+S
are also accepted into
3 8
the ranks, though they
Field Allowance
3
are discouraged from
Leader & 5 Grunts 4
volunteering if they have
Leader & 9 Grunts 6
children in their care. Some
Small Base
conscripts are assigned
to police forces that patrol the towns and cities of Khador,
while others are sent to the front lines. As the war escalates
and unexpected threats manifest even within Khadors
borders, the people
increasingly look to
the Winter Guard for
protection.
Blunderbuss

RNG ROF AOE POW

Winter Guard
equipment has changed
only slightly since their inception.
Their battle axes are stout and well suited for
mundane tasks in the fieldas well as for hacking
into the enemy should they close. Most infantry, however,
rely on the blunderbuss, a powerful if somewhat inaccurate
weapon that uses a hefty blast of powder to fire a heavy slug
capable of penetrating the armor of a warjack. Though
southern riflemen disdain the short range of these squat
weapons, there is no doubt they pack a powerful
punch, particularly when Winter Guard concentrate
fire. Relatively cheap to manufacture and using
ammunition that can be produced in bulk, these
guns place little strain on the Khadoran treasury.

172

The Winter Guard make up the majority of the Khadoran

military and are found at the core of every garrison and
substantial combat force. Their training is designed to get
the young soldiers immediately into battle. Empress Ayn
Vanar has been able to maintain constant reinforcements
and field a formidable army at an affordable cost by running
many Winter Guard training camps across Khador, from the
largest complexes at Volningrad to the rural outposts near
Uldenfrost. Through their training, members of the Winter
Guard learn what it means to be truly Khadoran: to love
their nation by risking death in battle.

Manhunter
Khador Solo

Blood is the coin of this realm now, and he is the paymaster.

Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff

Fishing and hunting are significant sources of food for many

rural areas of Khador. Khadoran hunters tend to be held in
higher regard than those of other kingdoms, particularly
in the cold and rugged northern mountains and forests.
Experts at tracking and killing dangerous game, some have
moved on to the most cunning prey of all: man.
First and foremost, manhunters are trackers skilled at
traversing the hostile wilderness. Lowland brush, forests,
and snow are all as well-paved roads to a manhunter. Long
years of harsh life in the Khadoran wilds have hardened their
bodies, darkened their skin, and refined their skills. Masters
of camouflage and hiding in plain sight, manhunters are
scouts, and sometimes assassins, for the right price.
Manhunters often accompany reconnaissance groups of
Widowmakers and their Kossite peers to strike at the enemy
from unexpected directions, usually operating behind
enemy lines. Whether stalking prey in silence or swinging

MANHUNTER

Advance Deployment

MANHUNTER

Fearless

6 8

Pathfinder
Stealth
Camouflage This model
gains an additional +2
DEF when benefiting from
concealment or cover.

Axes

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

8 4 14 14 9

Axe

POW P+S

3 11

Damage 5
Field Allowance
2
Point Cost
2
Small Base

Weapon Master

Tactical Tips

Camouflage If a model ignores concealment or cover, it also

ignores concealment or covers Camouflage bonus.

their twin hand axes with blinding efficiency, they are

frightful killers. The hiring of such men by the Khadoran
Army is an old tradition, and their value on the fringes has
been exploited in many wars. In exchange for their services,
they are well provided for by the armies that hire them.
There are dark whispers of manhunters who enjoy the
hunt too much and give in to their animal urges and the
euphoria of the kill. These hunters often possess track
records good enough to offset the dark rumors,
howeverand there are none better at chasing
an enemy to ground.

173

174

Death Denied

History of the Nightmare Empire

Your claim to power is meaningless. There is only servitude or

annihilation. Make your choice.
Emissary of Lord Toruk to the fourteen pirate kings of the Scharde Isles

The following is a treatise on the Cryxian mission written

by Darragh Wrathe, winter 607AR.
I will endeavor to chronicle Cryxs origins with special
attention to the crucial events of recent years as we enter
what might be the final stages of Lord Toruks great
plans. In the coming days we must act swiftly if we are to
capitalize upon opportunities that have arisen even as we
acknowledge that the vision of our most revered Dragon
God is everlasting and patient and can penetrate the future
beyond mortal reckoning.
The task set before us is neither simple nor easy, but the
outcome is nevertheless inevitable. This world will fall
to the Dragonfather, Lord Toruk. Our true strength has
remained shrouded for a millennium, lest mankind unite
against us and delay his everlasting dominion. Better
to seem a remote nightmare, a threat to the shoreline
hamlets and nothing more. Our enemies naively think
themselves safe in the heartland; far from the oceans, they
feel secure among the trappings of civility. Only when
our innumerable legions set upon them and consign their
fragile nations to ruin will they see the truth.
With every gunshot, sword stroke, and rending claw, our
numbers grow. Death strengthens us even as it saps our
enemies. Hiding will not avail them, nor resistance, nor
any effort put forth by their weak and distant gods. We
shall unleash oceans of blood, and our ships shall go forth
on the tide with a plague wind filling our sails. Lord Toruk
will not be denied, and all will have to choose: slavery in
life or servitude in death. Every village that falls brings
us another legion. Every city slaughtered becomes another
fortress. There is no army in all of Caen more loyal. Our
enemies would be made even more fearful were they
to realize that their subjugation is not our true goal but
simply an expedience.
We do not wage war for the sake of conquest. We care little
for the land or resources that consume the petty politics of
the kingdoms of men. We know nothing of true or lasting
defeat. The loss of countless minions means nothing if it
furthers our masters designs. Every ship, every army,

every soul at our disposal is a weapon to be expended

in his name. This is our strength. We will commit every
resource toward total victory.
Serve well and the rewards may surpass your lifes
extinction. Betrayal is not an option, for our master sees
and knows all. If there is strength in you, prove it. Your
mortal flesh is but untested clay, and it will fail. When
at last you are drowning in your own blood, you will be
judged according to your capabilities. Should you be found
worthy, you will be transformed into an eternal being so
as to bear witness to his ultimate triumph. More likely
you will pass ignominiously and your flesh will be torn
from your bones and rendered in our necrofactoriums. If
you have displeased Lord Toruk or our lich lord masters,
death will not grant an escape from punishment. Your
soul will be submitted to agonies beyond description as
our masters consume the scant energies of your pitiful
immortal essence.
To evade such a fate you must use whatever wit, talents,
and power you possess to deliver death to those who
would resist us. Set the machines created by our ceaseless
industries loose upon our enemies. Let them receive no
respite and no mercy.

Look to the ancient origins of our empire, and you

will begin to understand the immortal glory that is the
Dragonfather. The origins of Lord Toruk himself are
beyond comprehension. We mortals only need know
he is everlasting and beyond the strength of even the
mightiest armies.
Nonetheless there are those who seek to oppose him.
The only creatures worthy of our lords attention are his
progeny, who alone possess the power to hinder our god
and master. In a time forgotten by all that live, Lord Toruk
was alone in strength and might and therefore sought to
duplicate his perfection by creating a brood that would

175

serve him. He divided his essencehis heart-stone, the

primal athancand from these slivers of living crystal
the dragons were born. Each was a shadow of his might, a
reflection of his power, wrath, and ambition. The essence
of these wyrms was too pure, however, for the lesser
dragons were not capable of humbling themselves, even
before their creator. Each considered itself a god in turn
and refused to bow to the glory of the Dragonfather.
Instead they turned on him who had made them. Lord
Toruk realized his first and only mistake too late and was
beset by the fury of fang and claw.

For sixteen centuries Cryx

has evolved while Lord
Toruk shaped every
aspect of life and death.

Thus began the War of the Dragons, a relentless battle of

wills and wits that has persisted for thousands of years.
Over the centuries the Dragonfather has slowly annihilated
his children, with each kill restoring a fraction of his athanc.
We know not the names of all the fallen, for we are not privy
to every detail of our masters hunts. We know of the death
of Shazkz over the island that became Satyx and of the
perishing of Gaulvang, but there have been many others.
Each was a great and mighty serpent that perished beneath
Lord Toruks claws, leaving trails of searing blood that
mark the land and serve to remind the others of their folly.
Those dragons that remained realized the inevitability of
their destruction. Even the mightiest of them could not
stand against our lord alone. Sixteen centuries ago the
survivors put aside their sibling hatred to create a tenuous
alliance. Acting with one will, they struck, and the skies
burned with their fires. Our master is imperishable, but
against so many he could gain no advantage. While they
could not defeat him, neither could he vanquish them.
At last he conceded and withdrew. He descended on the
Scharde Islands, and there he built an empire.
For sixteen centuries Cryx has evolved while Lord Toruk
shaped every aspect of life and death. Our nation has
been forged into a weapon to conclude a war between
immortal powers.
Lord Toruk is not alone in his timeless vision, for there
exist among us his greatest servants who have been
witness to the entirety of our history. No other nation can
boast such perspective. A mortal lifetime offers no parallel
to the experience of our immortal host.

176

As the duties of rule are beneath the Dragonfather, he has

left the governance of Cryx to his twelve lich lords. They
are exalted above all others. Though chosen to oversee his
domain and carry forth his works, they are as far removed
from their master as we their servants are from them.
Long ago, fourteen pirate kings held sway over the
Scharde Islands. When first Lord Toruk made his presence
known, these mortal fools could not recognize his true
power. Each considered himself a master of a great fleet,
and together they had yet to meet a threat they could not
vanquish. They lived with ties to nothing except greed
and excess and were not prepared to bow, each proud as a
mighty king with his own army, court, and vassals, bloodbathed and battle-tested.
Lord Toruk could have simply annihilated them but
knew the seeds of empire must be planted somewhere.
He sent an emissary to reveal his demands. Ignorant of
the tremendous honor and opportunity offered them, the
pirate kings slew the messenger rather than answer. The
mightiest of these doomed kings was Threnodax, and it
was he who roused the others to defiance and convinced
them to muster their armies and prepare to battle our god.
Among the pirate fleets one ship stood mightier than the
rest. The Atramentous was a dirgenmast ship once of the
nation of Tordor stolen by Threnodax for his flagship.
Even in those ancient days it had earned a reputation as a
terror on the seas, feared by all coastal dwellers for when
its merciless crew would sail forth to pillage. Proving his
capacity for bitter irony and measured vengeance, Lord
Toruk chose to seize that vessel and turn its crew against
their arrogant king.
The Dragonfather came to the Atramentous and obliterated
its crew and captain in a breath of consuming fire. He
extinguished their lives, collected their souls, and gave
them new birth in death. They became revenants, dead
spirits bound to their ship so tightly it could retain them
even past the destruction of their flesh.
This was Lord Toruks lesson regarding the futility of
resistance. The ghost ship Atramentous came upon the
pirate kings who had gathered at Threnodaxs fortress in
Darkmoor in the shadow of a long-dormant volcano. The
unliving crew poured forth across the piers to light the
ships of the harbor ablaze and sweep through the mortal
crews like a culling wind. Each fresh corpse added to
their number.
Thirteen of the kings gathered in a fortress tower and
watched in horror as all they had built burned. Only King
Moorcraig absented himself. Perhaps some oracle had
warned him to seek hiding, but his time would come.
The Dragon God descended upon the fortress, crumbling

it to ruin beneath his terrible

weight, and the once-proud kings
prostrated themselves in the
surviving tower. Stubborn to the
end, King Threnodax kept his feet,
continuing to speak defiance. Lord
Toruk annihilated all thirteen in a
single breath, but the twelve who
had bowed were reborn. Their
souls were enslaved and they
would become the first lich lords,
chosen by him as vassals to rule
over a new empire. Threnodax
he consumed for special torment,
and perhaps that disgraced former
king still dances in endless agony.
King Moorcraig hid within his
castle and hoped his collection of
ancient relics would protect him.
His doom came on black wings. The
Dragonfather flew over the castle
and unleashed unquenchable
fire. All of Moorcraigs plans and
schemes burned and were buried
in rubble.
The lich lords wasted no time or
effort in founding Lord Toruks
empire and were privy to secrets
and powers known previously
only to the Dragonfather. Their
tireless efforts gave rise to a nation
and an army like none otherone
worthy of our master and capable
of bringing to heel the progeny
that had betrayed him. Few of the
original lich lords remain today, yet Lord Toruk has ever
kept them twelve in number. The Dragonfather allows his
servants to rise and fall by their virtues and ambitions,
with the weak culled by the strong, who are elevated to
replace them.
In those early centuries the lich lords divided the
governance of Cryx among themselves, each finding his
role in the construction of the empire. They gathered
and united their servants and demonstrated their freshly
awakened powers. They brought each scattered village
and pirate hold to heel and made brutal examples of those
who resisted, teaching the importance of obedience by
blood and lash. They crushed whatever petty faiths the
people clung to and gave them the choice of servitude in
life or in death unending. Lord Toruk became the sole god
and master of these islands.

The systematic organization and instruction of occult lore

began in this era and grew into a tradition passed down
through the centuries. We are the recent inheritors of secrets
known only to the Dragonfather and translated for lesser
minds by puissant undead masters such as Daeamortus,
Asphyxious, Tenebrus, Fulmenus, Venethrax, Morbus,
Corripio, and others. We have mastered the industry of
reanimation and soul extraction that would become the
wellspring of our strength. The powerful energies pouring
forth from our lord himself have shaped the very land and
its people. What some call the blight seeps inevitably
into all things. This is the shadow of the Dragon God and
his brand upon all in his domain.
Additional servants were selected for their knowledge,
potential, and martial ingenuity. Among them were
those chosen to aid the lich lords in building armies
and initiating campaigns of conquest and exploration.

177

One of the first sent to the mainland was the iron lich
Asphyxious, who demonstrated an unusual aptitude in
the manipulation of death-born power. He was not one
of the original pirate kings, but his origins stretch back
to that same era and Lord Toruk saw his potential as a
peerless weapon. By compact with the Dragonfather,
Asphyxious was granted a form like that of the lich lords
to lend strength to his mission.

destruction. For over two centuries rebellions flared and

failed: one futile attack after another, time and time again.
Slowly the people rose against the Orgoth in ever-greater
numbers, and our lords learned much from observing these
battles. The mortals spent their blood without reservation
to win victories inch by inch, inadvertently providing us
insight into their tactics and potential use.
Inevitably, out of struggle and strife arises
advancement and invention. Even

m a s t e r
e r
o
h
f
t
u
a

t
ll

o u s D r a g
i
r
o

Even as the moment arrived

when Cryxian armies were
ready to crush the petty
kingdoms across the
waters and thereby

lo

o r m e n t e
t
e
though the lich lords of
Cryx had created an entire
occult science and applied its
mechanisms to perfect our industries
of war, they were not so arrogant as to refuse
to acknowledge useful innovations or to seize them.
It has long been our philosophy to turn the tools of our
enemies against their makers. Where the great, hulking
colossals fell against the Orgoth, Cryxian agents arrived
to salvage debris and reclaim the corpses of those who had
worked to maintain and control them in battle. By such
measures we learned all that was necessary to construct
our own engines of war.

ld

t h d e n
e a
i
e
d

178

The Orgoth were worthy adversaries, and our agents sent

to observe their progress learned why the Dragonfather
acted with patience rather than attempting their immediate

raze the path to Lord

Toruks
progeny,
the
arrival of the Orgoth made
the lich lords pause. Our masters
decided to bide their time and observe,
consolidating our nations strength while the Orgoth broke
the will of the people of the Thousand Cities. The raiders
ships came once to our shores, but our master disabused
them of their ambitions. With his fiery breath he sent their
ships twisting into the deep, still blazing as the ocean
tried and failed to quench his flames. The Dragons plans
are adaptable, and he instructed his minions that they
should deal with the Orgoth at a time of his choosing. The
invaders were allowed to occupy the northern island of
Garlghast, but any ship that dared Windwatchers Passage
was destroyed.

We have since fueled our industries with every

advancement made by the short-lived mechaniks of the
mainland. When one of their great minds takes his last
breath, our agents are there to unearth his grave, recover
his remains, and plumb his soul for its secrets. Through
the application of necromechanikal principles we have

constructed vast numbers of helljacks, bonejacks, and

thralls. To fuel our industries we mine necrotite from those
places that have seen mass torture and death and where
life energy bleeds into mud and ash to saturate the stones
beneath the soil. It is a great resource, but we have another
even more powerful one in the souls of the living. We who
master the arts of necromancy can feed upon these souls
and use them as fuel for the marshalling of our power.
When they were finally driven from their fortresses, the
Orgoth retreated to their first and mightiest stronghold
in our lands, the castle known as Drer Drakkerung
on Garlghast Island. Lord Toruk was ready, having
anticipated this eventuality. For years the necrotechs of
Skell, Dreggsmouth, and Blackwater had slaved to craft
weapons the equal of those possessed by the Orgoth. The
invaders had an impressive mastery of the arcane, and
their corpses had proven resistant to initial attempts to
unravel their secrets. Raw force, not subtlety, would be
required to crush them.
The Dragonfather gave his approval to commence the great
attack, and the lich lords sent forth armies such as few
have seen even in their most terrifying nightmares. The
mainlanders ignorantly believe their rebellion had sent
the Orgoth vessels fleeing across the Meredius, but theirs
was merely the first blow. The ultimate victory belonged to
Cryx. Our forces sailed against Garlghast led by five lich
lords, each a master of warfare, boasting armies tens of
thousands strong. It was a battle beyond imagining, with
invoked powers that shook the surface of Caen, brought
blood raining down, and boiled the ocean to froth.
Bitter in their disappointment, the Orgoth were determined
to leave only ruin in their wake so that none would profit
from the spoils of their defeat. When they saw Cryx
would be triumphant, their warwitches invoked a final
conflagration to obliterate both themselves and our army
in a show of reckless, self-destructive power. They blasted
the great city of Drer Drakkerung to ruin in an eruption
of fire and ash. Three lich lords were in an instant erased
from the face of Caen. The two who survived were forever
changed. Forced into somnolent recovery after the near
disintegration of their physical forms, their minds were
thereafter unsuited to the chaos of war. They serve the
Dragonfather still but do so from within Skell, where their
minds, untethered from the distractions of the corporeal
world, contemplate deeper mysteries.
Our master deemed the price fair. Even the loss of an army
as great as this proved inconsequential next to ultimate
victory. In the wake of the tremendous battle, Cryxs war
industry required time to recover its strengthyet time
is meaningless to us. An age to mortals is as the blink of
an eye to the deathless. The staggering losses amount to

nothing compared to the bounty reaped in the wake of the

fall of the Orgoth. Their knowledge fell into the hands of
the lich lords in the form of handful of living prisoners and
countless blackened corpses.
Through the application of necromantic arts, many slain
Orgoth finally spoke from beyond death to reveal their
secrets. My master, the lich lord Terminus, personally
extracted the methods of constructing their blackships,
lore that revolutionized shipbuilding at Dreggsmouth
and gave birth to the Black Fleet. Even now the transient
nations remain ignorant of the full strength of our naval
power. The ragtag pirate vessels that threaten their coasts
have confused their assessment of our true capabilities. In
time we will attack in such numbers they will think the sea
boiling with the walking dead as we rise from the deeps
to assail them.

time is meaningless to us. An

age to mortals is as the blink
of an eye to the deathless.

After the fall of Drer Drakkerung, Lord Toruk gave his

leave for additional forces to emerge from the inner island
and extend our tendrils deeper into the continent. He
needed generals to replace those destroyed on Garlghast,
and for this task he chose Daeamortus and Terminus. Lich
Lord Daeamortus had been responsible for necromantic
research in Skell for centuries immemorial. Under the
supervision of these two great lords, Cryxian influence and
power were extended. In the aftermath of the destruction
of the Orgoth, our armies were able to take the first great
steps to locate the Dragons children. Even as his minions
were distracted by duty and lesser concerns, our masters
mind remained fixed upon this objective, the ultimate
purpose toward which all our strength is set.

Our agents have penetrated the cities of man. Our fleets

have probed the mainland to find the easiest routes to
the dragons lairs. Even apparent defeats at Highgate,
Ceryl, and Westwatch were part of his design. Lord Toruk
indifferently discards one army as a feint to deliver another.
Through such measures, the world bends to his schemes.
Lord Toruks brood is arrogant yet shrewd and cautious.
They dare not reveal themselves openly. They hide among
the nations of mankind while lashing out against any who
venture close. Cowards they may be, but each holds a

179

sliver of our masters power, and their disregard for the

passage of time gives them inhuman perspective. Do not
underestimate them. Even the least dragon is the equal of
legionsyet legions we have in ample supply.
We have identified the general locations of several of our
masters progeny, although their power and paranoia has
made gathering details a challenge. Blighterghast is the
nearest of these great enemies, a brazen foe that taunts our
lord with its proximity. This dragon haunts the southern
Wyrmwall, Cygnars long chain of towering mountains.
From the highest peaks, it keeps its eyes forever fixed on
the movements of our nation. It was Blighterghast that first
organized the lesser spawn into their alliance against the
Dragonfather; even now the creature maintains a constant
vigil for any sign that the great lord stirs so it can put forth
the call to summon the others to battle.

Even the least dragon is the

equal of legionsyet legions
we have in ample supply.

Although we know the mountains Blighterghast calls

home, we have had only limited success finding its myriad
lairs, and it slyly uses the movements of Cygnars navy
and coastal army forces for protection. Blighterghast
knows the forces of Cygnar are inclined to destroy our
minions whenever they are sighted, and thus the dragon
has not interfered with that nation. Before we can expect
to make progress toward Blighterghasts destruction, we
must obliterate Cygnars strongest fleets and their outlying
coastal fortresses.
Our agents have made recent forays deep into the
Wyrmwall Mountains and seeded them with unliving
thralls that wait in deathless torpor to be mobilized by our
masters. These forces are yet inadequate for our needs and
must be reinforced considerably before we can expect to
make substantial progress in rooting out Blighterghast.
Despite its nearness, that foe may not be the best initial
target of our wrath.
Lord Toruks other spawn hide much farther away, as if
distance were a barrier to the Dragonfather. These include
Scaefang and Halfaug, which roam far to the frozen north
of the nations of Khador and Rhul. Others dwell on the
remote side of the Abyss. While such expanses of land
and mortal armies between them are just annoyances to
our lord, they are formidable obstacles for our legions.
Diversionary attacks along Khadors coasts have allowed
furtive movements inside the interior that will ultimately

180

bring these enemies within reach. The last several years

have tremendously magnified the scope of our operations
on the mainland, and one of the primary reasons for this
is to improve our intelligence gathering and access to
dragons such as the pair hiding in the distant north.
Another such diversion was a string of raids Cygnar
remembers as the Scharde Invasions. These operations
were orchestrated solely to lay the foundation for our
future conquest of Immoren. From 584 to 588 AR Lich
Lords Terminus and Daeamortus directed a campaign
of escalating attacks along the Cygnaran coast for the
purpose of diverting their forces from our true objective,
the establishment of permanent bases on the continent. We
confounded them by striking minor villages while leaving
major cities untouched and passing by one town to strike
another. Once our forces had landed and our supply lines
were established or no longer necessary, the raids ceased.
Cygnar counted themselves the victors of the Scharde
Invasions and believed their reprisal strikes on the fringes
of our outer islands were the cause of our defeat. Finding
no pattern in our assaults, the mainlanders were duped into
underestimating both our strength and our organization, a
critical mistake they have only just begun to realize.
For many decades our agents deeper inland had been
forced to rely on sporadic support delivered from Skell,
Blackwater, and Dreggsmouth. Such supply lines were
too distant to react to the chaos of war and too vulnerable
to disruption. Under the cover of the Scharde Invasions,
Asphyxious was tasked to initiate an ambitious plan to
provide a self-sustaining infrastructure on the mainland, a
reliable support network that could operate autonomously.
At his behest in the years that followed, our agents
scouted necrotite harvesting sites, began scavenging
corpses from mortal battlefields deeper inland, and
constructed extensive underground networks housing
secret necrofactoriums. By these underground tunnels
our freshly created machines and soldiers could move
undetected throughout the lands of men, and we began to
accumulate undying armies beneath the soil to await the
call to battle.
The Scharde Invasions ended, and our larger operations
became hidden for a time. We awaited a properly large
diversion, a time of conflict between the mortal armies
when they would become too caught up in their own
squabbles to notice our legions at their gates.
We did not have long to wait. Our opportunity arrived at
the end of 604AR with Khador s invasion of the Kingdom
of Llael. Cygnar responded predictably by sending a large
number of soldiers to bolster the Llaelese defenses. Given
the speed and success of Khador s campaign, Cygnaran

intervention could only forestall the inevitable. Our

agents were there to pick clean the battlefields of their
dead and dying.
Asphyxious army gathered in subterranean strongholds
below the Cygnaran Thornwood Forest, an intractable
wilderness ideally suited for such purposes. Under his
guidance they penetrated the forest and swept into the
heart of the conflict. Corpses and hardware scavenged
from these battles provided raw materials for industrious
expansion. Our fortunes grew when forces from the
Protectorate of Menoth became embroiled in the expanding
war in western Immoren, unexpectedly aiding our plans
by adding their own corpses to the fertile harvest.
The Menites represented a unique obstacle to our masters
plans, however. Cryx requires unlimited access not only
to the unsanctified dead but also to the tortured souls of
the slain, and those who serve mankinds Creator would
interfere with our operations through the intervention of
their god. Lest the efforts of the Menites interfere with our
vital industries, the lich lords have taken measures to dull
their holy might.
Accordingly, we have waged a number of clandestine
operations against the Menite faith, including the
desecration of tombs, the pilfering of sacred relics, and
the assassination of key elements of their leadership. One
audacious plan focused on the corruption of the spiritual
entity known as the Harbinger of Menoth. The Protectorate
draws much strength from this supernatural emissary of
their wrathful god, and her emergence prompted the lich
lords to initiate several attempts to divert or undermine
her power to our own ends. She has thus far evaded these
attempts, which underscores the difficulty of reaching
those shielded by divine providence. It is clear we need to
erase this emissary and those who obey her.

Recent years have brought intelligence regarding the

puzzling movements of one of Lord Toruks lesser progeny.
The unusual behavior of this single dragon has suggested
that the subtle war between the Dragonfather and his
spawn may soon enter into open and violent conflict. This
is a reminder that we must never underestimate even the
least of our lords brood.

another of its siblings, the dragon Gaulvang, which was

consumed in Everblights place.
Little was heard of this dragon again until it emerged from
hiding in 390AR to obliterate the Iosan city of Issyrah.
The creature was subsequently defeated by the massed
military might of Ios. Despite Everblights apparent
destruction, in their ignorance the Iosans failed to
achieve lasting victory. Every dragon holds a piece of the
imperishable Lord Toruk, and therefore only a dragon can
eliminate another. They will arise from any mortal injury,
even complete destruction of the flesh. It was inevitable
Everblight would return despite its apparent annihilation.
Our understanding of its recent actions is woefully
incomplete, as the dragon has become doubly elusive and
unpredictable. That it exists and is gathering its might is
certain, for its minions have begun to proliferate and in
doing so have drawn the attention of the mortal nations.
Everblight took no part in the alliance of lesser dragons.
It has instead gone so far as to prove itself their enemy
by attacking and consuming one of its siblings, the
convalescing dragon Pyromalfic that once dwelled beneath
the Castle of the Keys. To further complicate matters, it
seems Everblight has raised its own army, though it is a
crude and pathetic force compared to those at our masters
disposal. While no doubt Everblight was strengthened by
its victory over Pyromalfic, this act made it an enemy of
Lord Toruks other progeny and may well lure them to
retaliate. They cannot do so without turning away from
their constant vigil, and our lord may gain the opportunity
he needs to destroy them all.
Our patience must be eternal and unwavering. Though
our legions appear ready to conquer all who would stand
against the will of our master, his plans move with immortal
precision. Ultimate victory could come tomorrow or be
postponed for hundreds of years. For my part, I hope to
witness the shadow of Lord Toruk sweep across this world
to his illimitable glory.
While our enemies must succeed in defending against us
on every occasion, our forces need only a single success to
lay waste to their temporal kingdoms. Yet even the deaths
of nations are but stepping-stones along our true path
toward his eternal dominion.

For some time our masters have known of the dragon

named Everblight, recorded as one of the least powerful of
the Dragonfathers spawn. Those who maintain the annals
of our lords accomplishments from before the founding
of our nation relate that he nearly devoured Everblight
almost four centuries before Cryx came to exist. The
cowardly creature escaped by fleeing toward the lair of

181

Iron Lich Asphyxious

Cryx Warcaster

I grant you new flesh, a form worthy to serve a god.

Asphyxious
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 7

6 3 15 16 7

Soulsplitter

POW P+S

8 15

Focus 7
Damage 18
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Medium Base

Feat: Consuming
Blight
Constant death follows in the
wake of the iron lich as flotsam
behind a raging leviathan,
and it is on this death that
Asphyxious feeds. In a horrific
demonstration of necromancy,
this terrible undead warcaster
may leech the life from the
earth itself as well as all those
upon it.

Living enemy models

currently in Asphyxious
control area suffer an unboostable POW 5 damage roll.
Asphyxious gains up to 7 focus points. He cannot have
more focus points than his current FOCUS as a result of
Consuming Blight.

Asphyxious
Terror

Undead
Cull Soul This model gains one soul token for each living
enemy model destroyed within 2 of it. When this model
replenishes its focus during your next Control Phase, replace
each soul token on it with 1 focus point.

Soulsplitter
Magical Weapon
Reach
Sustained Attack During this models activation, when it
makes an attack with this weapon against the last model hit by
the weapon this activation, the attack automatically hits.

Asphyxious has become the Dragonfathers chosen

instrument on the mainland and the unholy general of the
rapacious unliving army of Cryx. His campaigns have
carved out a bastion for Cryxian forces in the depths of the
Thornwood, where he excavates pits of evil and despair in
old, deserted battlefields in order to spawn countless horrors.
The iron lich has almost forgotten the time he was alive; it
was the blink of an eye compared to the sixteen centuries he
has spent in his greater form. Yet once he was a powerful
member of the enigmatic Circle Orboros, tasked to watch
over the Scharde Islands. When he saw Lord Toruk flying
across the ocean to seize the islands for himself, Asphyxious
realized the true shape of ultimate power.
The mortal druid spent his days witnessing the seminal
acts by which the Cryxian Empire was born. He saw the
dread ship Atramentous sail into Darkmoor Harbor to
greet the gathered pirate kings, exulted in the following
slaughter, and watched with jealous hunger as the Dragon

182

Attributed to Lord Toruk

Spells
Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF
Breath of Corruption 3
8
3 12 No Yes

Models hit suffer a POW 12 corrosion damage roll . The AOE is a cloud
effect that remains in play for one round. Models entering or ending their
activation in the AOE suffer 1 point of corrosion damage .

Hellfire

10

14 No Yes

Parasite

Yes Yes

Scything Touch

Yes No

Teleport

2 Self

A model/unit hit by Hellfire must pass a command check or flee.

Target model/unit suffers 3 ARM and this model gains +1 ARM.

Target friendly model/unit gains +2 to melee attack damage rolls. Affected

on their normal melee attacks.
models gain Critical Corrosion

No No

Place this model anywhere completely within 8 of its current location,

then its activation ends.

Tactical Tips

Cull Soul A model can have more focus points than its FOCUS
as a result of Cull Soul.
Breath of Corruption Affected models do not also suffer blast
damage.
Teleport This model cannot be placed in an obstruction or in
impassable terrain as a result of this spell.

obliterated the twelve pirate kings and remade them into

undying lich lords.
Renouncing his ancient vows, Asphyxious went to Lord
Toruk at the site that would become known as Dragons
Roost, in the shadow of a great volcano. The druid
prostrated himself and offered his service in exchange for
even a fraction of the Dragons power. Toruk made no
promises but challenged the mortal to prove his willingness
to sacrifice everything.
Asphyxious did not flinch. He climbed atop the lip of
the volcano and jumped into its depths. His horrific
screams were swallowed by the magma as it stripped his
flesh. Toruk scooped his bones from the caldera with one
massive talon and blew a spark of unlife into them. The
druids dark soul lingered, agitated from torment, and
was placed into a metal vessel of power so as to evade
the greedy clutches of Urcaen. On that day, Asphyxious
entered the Dragons employ.
After the forges of Skell were completed and the industry of
Toruks new empire began to belch smoke and assemble the
first weapons for his new army, the Dragon called forth the
liches. To Asphyxious and the lich lords he gave the gift of
steel, as brittle bones were wrapped in frames of dark metal
and imbued with the strength and durability of alloyed
iron. Among the first of these iron liches, Asphyxious was

sent forth to do Toruks bidding and to master the great

powers of necromancy.
For sixteen centuries he has gathered lore, mastered war
and the arcane arts, and become as formidable a creature

as has ever walked the face of Caen. He looks to orchestrate

the will of Toruk, see the Dragons empire encompass the
mainland, drown its cities in blood, and release a neverending tide of souls from which he can drink and draw
power. Asphyxious leaves behind ashen fields of lifeless
grasses and withered trees. Blackened corpses and bubbling
pools of gore are all that remain of his victims. The demands
of his iron body create a ravenous thirst for fresh souls. The
powerful iron carapace grants great physical strength, and
his iron talons wield the ensorcelled Soulsplittera twinpronged spear bathed in raw entropy.
Asphyxious is a terrible foe crafty beyond measure and
capable of any act in Toruks name. A prime source of the
cancer feeding upon western Immoren, he gleefully spreads
the shadow of the Dragonlords wings. It is a shadow that
will one day, by his efforts, extend across all Caen.

183

Warwitch Deneghra
Cryx Warcaster

She is proof of the malleability of young flesh and minds, as well as its infinite potential. Asphyxious
shaped what was once frail and gentle into a cruelly sublime weapon.

Skarre Ravenmane

DENEGHRA
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 5

5 4 16 14 8

Sliver

POW P+S

7 12

Focus 7
Damage 16
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+5
Small Base

Feat: The
Withering

Darkness and death obey the

beck and call of the warwitch.
With mere spoken words and
an arcane gesture, Deneghra
blankets an area with a web of
debilitating despair.

Enemy models currently

in Deneghras control area
suffer 2 to their SPD, STR,
MAT, RAT, DEF, ARM, and
FOCUS and cannot run or
make special attacks. The Withering lasts for one round.

DENEGHRA
Stealth

Cull Soul This model gains one soul token for each living
enemy model destroyed within 2 of it. When this model
replenishes its focus during your next Control Phase, replace
each soul token on it with 1 focus point.
Parry This model cannot be targeted by free strikes.

Sliver

Magical Weapon
Reach

Shadow Bind A model hit by this weapon suffers 3 DEF

and when it advances it cannot move except to change facing.
Shadow Bind expires after one round.

Wherever she travels, Deneghra leaves a scorched path

of devastation. On the battlefield she is a beautiful terror
single-mindedly stalking each victim. Perversely angelic in
her wicked beauty, Deneghra drifts like a phantom through
trees and walls whenever she wills it. She need but whisper
and men claw at their skulls in vain attempts to silence the
voice inside their minds. Those wretches who fall to her
spell would slit a familiar throatcomrade, brother, or
beloved wifeat her command.

184

Spells
Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF
Crippling Grasp
3
8

Yes Yes

Target model/unit suffers 2 SPD, STR, DEF, and ARM and cannot run or
make special attacks.

Ghost Walk

No No

Influence

10

No Yes

Parasite

Yes Yes

Scourge

13 No Yes

Venom

2 SP 8

10 No Yes

Target friendly model/unit gains Ghostly for one turn. (A model with
Ghostly can advance through terrain and obstacles without penalty and
can advance through obstructions if it has enough movement to move
completely past them. An affected model cannot be targeted by free
strikes.)

Take control of target enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock warrior model.

The model immediately makes one normal melee attack, then Influence
expires.
Target model/unit suffers 3 ARM and this model gains +1 ARM.
Models hit by Scourge are knocked down.
Venom causes corrosion damage
continuous effect .

. Models hit suffer the Corrosion

Tactical Tips

The Withering Because The Withering affects SPD, affected

models cannot charge. Power attacks are special attacks.
Cull Soul A model can have more focus points than its FOCUS
as a result of Cull Soul.
Crippling Grasp Because Crippling Grasp affects SPD, affected
models cannot charge. Power attacks are special attacks.
Scourge This means every model in the AOE is knocked down,
friendly and enemy alike.

been so warped by Toruks influence that some suspect they

have been drained of all humanity.

The few who succeed in staving off her seductions become

her reluctant prey. She twirls, leaps, and laughs while enemy
soldiers weep and blades slash air or strike harmlessly off
her bladed armor. Then she ends the game with a single
sweep of her mechanikal spear Sliver. In Deneghras
hand the weapon turns her foes shadow against him by
entwining him in a writhing mass of umbral coils. Rather
than being a release, death traps her victims soul in the
cages dangling at her side.

None who knew Deneghra as a youth could have

anticipated she would become a merciless killer. She and
her twin began life in a fishing village on the western coast
of Cygnar. Occult portents unveiled by Skarre Ravenmane
indicated a mortal birth of a sorceress with unbridled
potential. After informing her master Asphyxious of this
presaged birth, the pirate queen was dispatched to ensure
the procurement of this precious asset personally. Skarre
returned with her captive, believing herself successful. The
auguries had been vague, however, and she was unaware
the power foretold was manifest in a pair of twins, not in
a single birth. Asphyxious discovered the nature of these
misread signs later, too late to rectify the situation easily.

The Cryxian warwitches are cruel beyond comparison and

willing to commit any act, no matter how depraved, in
their lords name. Adept at necromancy and blade, they are
cunning, adaptable, and unpredictable. The witches have

Deneghra proved an apt pupil. Asphyxious took her

personally under his wing and twisted the young woman
into a phantasmal temptressbody, mind, and soul. She
excelled at the arcane arts, and even the terrifying helljacks

bowed to her will. When the iron lich judged her ready,
he unveiled the darkest secret: she had a twin sister who
possessed the other half of her soul. Asphyxious spoke
of a Cygnaran sorceress who had stolen her essence
while sharing a womb, preventing her from reaching her
potential. In a murderous rage Deneghra petitioned to join
the incursion of the mainland in order to find this twin and

reclaim the stolen power. Pleased with his machinations, the

iron lich sent forth his protg as a lieutenant in his army.
Some scream in horror at her approach and others beg her
for salvation, but Deneghra yearns for one sound alone
the throttled gurgle of her sisters death rattle. That alone
would be the sweet music of victory to her black soul.

185

Pirate Queen Skarre

Cryx Satyxis Warcaster

Shes the drowning tide, the black wave that sends all hands to the deep.

Feat: Blood Magic

Skarre
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 6

7 4 16 15 9

Takkaryx

POW P+S

7 13

Bloodwyrm

POW P+S

Great Rack

POW P+S

4 10

Focus 6
Damage 16
Field Allowance C
Warjack Points
+6
Small Base

As the dark queen of the Broken

Coast, Skarre Ravenmane
wields her natural powers of
the ancient, island-born black
magic with ease. She hesitates
at nothing, even sacrificing
her own blood to imbue her
followers with dark power to
enhance their abilities.

Skarre suffers up to 5
damage points. While in her
control area, friendly Faction
models gain +1 STR and
ARM for each damage point
she suffers as a result of
Blood Magic. Blood Magic
lasts for one round.

Skarre

Sacrificial Strike (HAction)

RNG CMD. Target a model in this models LOS. If that model
is in range, remove one friendly Faction trooper model
within 1 of this model from play. The target model suffers a
magical damage roll with POW equal to the base ARM of the
removed model.

Takkaryx

Magical Weapon

Life Trader When an attack with this weapon hits, this model
can suffer 1 damage point to gain an additional die on the
damage roll against the model hit. Life Trader can be used once
per attack.

Bloodwyrm

Magical Weapon

Life Drinker When it destroys a living enemy model with

this weapon, immediately after the attack is resolved this model
heals d3 damage points.

Great Rack

Knockdown When a model is hit by an attack with this

weapon, it is knocked down.

Skarre Ravenmane, called the Pirate Queen, is the

bloodthirsty ruler of the Satyxis, the warrior women of the
island of Satyx blighted by ancient dragon blood to become
something more than human. Her ship, the Widower, strikes
along the western coast frequently and without apparent
rhyme or reason. Following the guidance of mystical omens
revealed to her through rites of slaughter and bloodletting,
she braves the storm and lands ashore to deliver panic and
grief. For decades anxious mainland admirals and captains
entrusted to guard the coastline have tried and failed to
predict her movements. Any foolish enough to confront her
directly have been destroyed to fuel her legend.

186

Spells
Backlash

Satyxis raider on the Widower

Cost RNG AOE POW UP OFF

3
8

Yes Yes

When target enemy warjack that is part of a battlegroup is damaged, its

controller suffers 1 damage point.

Blood Rain

Dark Guidance

4 Self Ctrl

No No

Hellfire

10

14 No Yes

Ritual Sacrifice

No No

Blood Rain causes corrosion damage

continuous effect .

12 No Yes

. Models hit suffer the Corrosion

While in this models control area, friendly Faction models gain an

additional die on their melee attack rolls this turn.
A model/unit hit by Hellfire must pass a command check or flee.

Remove target friendly warrior model from play. Skarre gains d6

additional focus points during your next Control Phase. Ritual Sacrifice
can be cast only once per turn.

Tactical Tips

Sacrificial Strike This special action is not an attack. The

damage roll is boostable.

Without warning she disgorges undead forces and helljacks

from the black hull of her vessel to obliterate any resistance.
She withdraws with equal speed and leaves ruin and chaos
as her legacy. Even the Orgoth feared the Satyxis reaver
witches. Few know better than she the power of shed blood,
for she is able to invoke acidic rains and project gouts of
hellfire from her fingertips.
Sacrifice is vital to Skarres dark magic. She carries with
her a millennia-old ritual dagger she uses to drain the
energies binding her comrades togetherliving or dead,
willing or captiveto fuel its enchantments. Alive with
stolen essence, the blade can unleash a powerful curse
upon Skarres foes. She is swift to employ her dagger to
wrack her victims with gut-wrenching pain that leaves
behind twisted, broken corpses.
Skarre seized dominion over the Satyxis through strength
and cunning. Her bloodline is famed among them, as her
mother ruled before her, but for the Satyxis the right to
lead is proven in battle and not inherited. Even as a youth
she took to the waves and dominated her kind through the
power of her magic and the strength of her will. She has the
power to see patterns in the spray of freshly spilled blood,
visions granted by sacrifice and pain.
She has made a point of destroying any who would dare
plot against her. Cryxian intrigues have occasionally caught
her in the subtle and dangerous games of the lich lords,
who view her as an effective weapon and a living pawn.
Her true loyalty has always been to the Dragonfather, not to
any single lich lord.

Skarre reads portents and auguries in every kill and claims

Lord Toruk speaks to her through the entrails of her victims.
Through these signs she steers the Widower to private ports
of call to trade blood, steal coin, and sell depravity. Children
cling tightly to their mothers when the fog thickens along
the Broken Coast, for the dreaded pirate queen may be
hiding within.

187

Deathripper
Cryx Bonejack

Something primal in us fears the skulls and jaws of untamed beasts. It is singularly frightening to be
confronted by a fiend with bones stripped of flesh, fangs bared, and empty eye sockets staring into your soul.

Professor Viktor Pendrake, Corvis University

Deathripper
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 7

6 5 15 14

Mandible

POW P+S

6 13

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

Deathripper

Height/Weight: 64 / 2.5 tons

Mandible

Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 44 lbs necrotite, 88 lbs coal / 18 hrs general, 3 hrs combat

Arc Node

Sustained Attack During

this models activation,
when it makes an attack
with this weapon against
the last model hit by the
weapon this activation, the
attack automatically hits.

The Deathripper, the

quintessential
Cryxian
bonejack, is a terrifying

weapon of surprising
H H C A A M
speed
and
bestial
ferocity
that
charges
H C C M M M
forward to tear apart its
Field Allowance U
enemies while serving
Point Cost
4
as a magical conduit for
Medium Base
the horrifying spells of
its master. These jacks
skitter across the battlefield pouring forth poisonous smoke
and steam from wickedly efficient, necrotite-fueled engines.
The high-pitched keen of the Deathripper venting steam
has been written about for decades in fevered war journals.
It is a sound rarely forgotten.

The Deathripper is built of blackened iron and steel fused

with the skulls and fangs of fearsome, blighted beasts.
Powered by steam engines driven by necrotite
coal laced with death energya Deathrippers
jaws leverage enough power to sever
limbs and shear through armored

188

Armament: Mandible (head), Arc Node

Initial Service Date: UNKNOWN, first reported in 502 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
Orig. Chassis Design: UNKNOWN

plates. In a blur of billowing smoke, wailing metal, and

bleeding hydraulics, just a few Deathrippers can strip a
light warjack down to its components within minutes.
Arc node technology was the pride of Cygnar when initially
developed, but before long Cryx had unraveled the puzzle
in their particular, twisted way: defiling the tombs of
innovative engineers and pulling forth their secrets through
necromantic rituals, necrotechs soon learned how to create
arc nodes of their own. They improved upon the foreign
process by using profane materials and unholy techniques
to cheapen and accelerate manufacturing. Now Cryxian
warcasters enter the field with a small swarm of arc node
equipped bonejacks, each a conduit for the devastating
arcane power wielded by its controlling warcaster.

Defiler

Cryx Bonejack

Tis a shame they are so effective. They leave so little for us to salvage.

Warwitch Deneghra

Height/Weight: 64 / 2.6 tons

Armament: Sludge Cannon (head), Arc Node
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 44 lbs necrotite, 88 lbs coal / 17 hrs general, 2.75 hrs combat
Initial Service Date: UNKNOWN, first reported in 512 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
Orig. Chassis Design: UNKNOWN

No two bonejacks are exactly the same, with variations

in form and weaponry commonly noted. Mainlanders
often wonder how the Nightmare Empire can produce
such a swarming profusion of fast and deadly constructs.
Whereas other nations allocate each precious warjack cortex
carefully, fabrication in Cryx proceeds unhindered by any
limits. The chief architects of the Cryxian engines of war are
necrotechsmad, unliving geniuses capable of seemingly
endless innovation even as they hoard secrets and compete
with one another for the favor of their unforgiving masters.
Running day and night, their factories produce a nearendless supply of nightmarish fabrications.

Defiler

Arc Node

Sludge Cannon

Continuous Effect: Corrosion

Defiler

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 7

RNG ROF AOE POW

Damage Type: Corrosion

The Defiler has proved

its worth as a light
assault bonejack. Fast
and mobile, it can lope
across the battlefield in a
few long strides and fix
an enemy warcaster in
its sights before the fight
has scarcely begun. Its arc
node remains ever ready
to deliver arcane death.

6 5 15 14

Sludge Cannon
H SP 8 1

12

Bash

POW P+S

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6




H H C A A M

H C C M M M
Unlike the Deathripper,
the Defiler avoids close
Field Allowance U
combat. Instead it fires
Point Cost
5
Medium Base
on the enemy from a
distance with its sludge
cannon, which spews a
concentrated, caustic poison that consumes metal and stone
more easily than flame eats wood. Faced with the potential
of its arc node and the horrendous wounds caused by
its sludge cannon, enemies often desperately
try to close and deal with this bonejack
before their allies are torn apart.

189

Nightwretch
Cryx Bonejack

I wish I could say Im happy to see them using something that doesnt burn us, dissolve us, or chew us
to bitsbut Im not.

Captain Aleksandr Radu, Skrovenberg militia

Nightwretch
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 7

6 5 15 14

Doomspitter
RNG ROF AOE POW

H 6 1 14

Bash

POW P+S

Nightwretch

Height/Weight: 64 / 2.75 tons

Doomspitter

Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 44 lbs necrotite, 88 lbs coal / 17 hrs general, 2.5 hrs combat

Arc Node

Blaster When this model

makes an attack with this
weapon, before the attack
roll it can spend 1 focus
point to give the attack a
3 AOE.

For centuries Cygnar has

had the dubious privilege
of being the testing

ground
for
Cryxian

innovation. The Third

Army out of Highgate
and Westwatch has had

to face the unveiling of
H H C A A M
weapons too dreadful to
H C C M M M
be imagined. None who
serve along this stretch of
Field Allowance U
open coastline consider
Point Cost
4
Medium Base
the undead lacking in
cunning.
They
have
witnessed an endless variety of nightmares, of which the
Nightwretch is one example.

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

When a dispatch arrived from New Larkholm saying that a

Cryxian landing party had been sighted two leagues south
of the city, the nearby coastal fort of Westwatch immediately
sent out a company of long gunners, each eager to put a
few bullets in Cryxian raiders. Unaware that they faced
a new weapon, they stood shoulder to shoulder as
they had been trained. Their disciplined shots
dropped several of the incoming bonejacks
but not enough.

190

Armament: Doomspitter (head), Arc Node

Initial Service Date: UNKNOWN, first reported in 590 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
Orig. Chassis Design: UNKNOWN

These men had only a moment to consider the unfamiliar

look of the new Nightwretch bonejacks before small
cannons set into the head of each fired in their direction.
Carrying a particularly volatile mixture of lead shot and
alchemical waste by-products, the projectiles exploded with
a concussive blast that could be heard for miles. No one
escaped to tell of the Cygnaran failure: in seconds the entire
company was reduced to a smoldering heap of flesh flayed
from bone. The jacks turned and followed their master
back to the landing skiff on the rocky beach, their testing
mission a success. Necrotechs soon began mass production.

Corruptor
Cryx Helljack

To kill is simple, but to turn the enemys flesh against him is divine.

Necrosurgeon Fylis

Height/Weight: 12 / 6.7 tons

Armament: Necrosludge Cannon (left arm), Necrojector (right arm)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 91 lbs necrotite, 203 lbs coal / 9.8 hrs general, 1.2 hrs combat
Initial Service Date: UNKNOWN, first reported in 606 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
Orig. Chassis Design: UNKNOWN

Corruptor

Immunity: Corrosion

Attack Type Each time

this model makes a normal
melee or ranged attack,
choose one of the following
abilities:

Longstanding pioneers in the development of caustic

compounds and necrotic poisons, enterprising necrotechs
have reaped a great harvest of alchemical knowledge from
the escalating warfare on the mainland. The Corruptor is
the culmination of this dark knowledge, a helljack armed
with venomous weapons designed to consume both body
and soul.

Burster When this

attack boxes a living
model, center a 3 AOE
on that model, then
remove the model from
play. Models in the AOE
are hit and suffer an
unboostable POW 10
corrosion damage roll
.

The fiendish warjack was created specifically to deliver

these venomous distillates. Both its necrosludge cannon
and insidious necrojector drip with toxic alchemical sludge.
These horrific poisons can cause the human body to explode
in a torrent of acidic filth and strip a victims soul, restoring
vitality to the Corruptors warcaster or increasing the bond
through which his dark powers can manifest.

Distillation When a
living enemy model is
destroyed by this attack
while this model is in
its warcasters control
area, immediately after
the attack is resolved
the warcaster heals d3
damage points.

Corruptor

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 10 7 5 13 17

Necrosludge Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

12 1 14

Necrojector

POW P+S

R 5 15

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C

Field Allowance U
Point Cost
8
Large Base

Psycho Venom When

a living enemy model is
boxed by this attack, it heals 1 damage point. For the rest
of the turn, this models controlling warcaster can channel
spells through the enemy model as if it were a model in his
battlegroup with the Arc Node ability. At the end of the turn,
the enemy model is destroyed.

Necrojector
Open Fist

Tactical Tips

Burster Because the boxed model is removed from play before

being destroyed, it does not provide a soul or corpse token.

191

Reaper

Cryx Helljack

When that thing reeled in a six-ton Ironclad like a dragonfish on a line, all bets were off.

Commander Coleman Stryker

Harpoon

Reaper
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 10 7 5 13 17

Harpoon
RNG ROF AOE POW

L 8 1 12

Helldriver

POW P+S

6 16

Tusks

POW P+S

2 12

DAMAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6

L R
L M C R

M M C C
Field Allowance U
Point Cost
7
Large Base

Drag If this weapon

damages an enemy model
with an equal or smaller
base, immediately after
the attack is resolved
the damaged model can
be pushed any distance
directly toward this model.
After the damaged model
is moved, this model
can make one normal
melee attack against the
model pushed. After
resolving this melee attack,
this model can make
additional melee attacks
during its combat action.

Helldriver
Reach

Sustained Attack During

this models activation,
when it makes an attack
with this weapon against
the last model hit by the
weapon this activation, the
attack automatically hits.

Cryxian helljacks are

disturbingly similar to
living creatures, perverse amalgams of enormous insects
fused with the implements of industrialized slaughter. A
hulking creature of bone and steel with blackened armor
plating that houses a cortex thirsting for death, the
Reaper helljack is one of the most terrible inventions to
emerge from the necrofactoriums of Cryx.
The Reaper stalks the battlefield with the
single-minded determination of a vicious
hunter. With a thunderous report and
the grinding peel of rapidly uncoiling
chain, the horrific jack fires its
harpoon to sink deep into flesh

192

Height/Weight: 1110 / 6.5 tons

Armament: Harpoon (left arm), Helldriver (right arm), Tusks (head)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 88 lbs necrotite, 196 lbs coal / 10 hrs general, 1.5 hrs. combat
Initial Service Date: UNKNOWN, first reported in 557 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
Orig. Chassis Design: UNKNOWN

or steel. With frightening speed, it reels its victim to within

striking range of its helldrivera vicious mechanikal spike
of tempered steel driven by a wickedly powerful piston.
Capable of punching through iron plate, the helldriver
generates enough force to pierce boiler casings, rend gears,
and reduce enemy warjacks to scrap.

Slayer

Cryx Helljack

I do not credit that thing is a machine. It was as if I stared into the face of death itself.

Unnamed survivor of an attack on Southshield

Height/Weight: 1110 / 6.25 tons

Armament: Twin Death Claws (right and left arms), Tusks (head)
Fuel Load/Burn Usage: 100 lbs necrotite, 200 lbs coal / 12 hrs general, 2 hrs combat
Initial Service Date: UNKNOWN, first reported in 531 AR
Cortex Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
Orig. Chassis Design: UNKNOWN

The Slayer is a swift, hulking beast of bone and black iron

that seeks to murder anything in its path. Its soulfire furnace
blazes with a savage intensity that pushes the helljack to
ever-greater feats of destruction. The Slayer exists to sow
destruction, cleave through bodies with its great claws, and
soak the earth with the spent vitality of its broken victims.
An eerie green glow pulsates from the Slayers furnace, a
frightful light illuminating even its eye sockets, suggesting
some greater intelligence. After decades of Cryxian terror
along the coasts, any greenish lightslike those found
floating in the bogs and fens of Immorenare often called
Cryxlight by superstitious travelers.

Death Claw
Open Fist

Combo Strike (HAttack)

Make a melee attack.
Instead of making a normal
damage roll, the POW of the
damage roll is equal to this
models STR plus twice the
POW of this weapon.

Slayer

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 10 7 5 13 17

Death Claw

POW P+S

6 16

Death Claw

POW P+S

R 6 16

Tusks
The Slayers tempered

POW P+S
H 2 12
metal claws are powerful
enough to rend metal and

DAMAGE
powder bone on impact.

1 2 3 4 5 6
It is further armed with

cruelly
curved
tusks

amputated from great
beasts and bolted crudely

onto its armored skull for
L R
use in vicious charges.
L L M C R R
The helljacks furnace is
powered by the remnants
M M C C
of life trapped within its
Field Allowance U
necrotite fuel. Those who
Point Cost
6
tend to these murderous
Large Base
machines insist they
run best on necrotite
scavenged directly
from the field of slaughter.

Tactical Tips

Combo Strike This ability cannot be used while either of this

models arm systems is locked. A model with a crippled weapon
system cannot use it to make chain attacks or special attacks,
including power attacks.

193

Bane Thralls
Cryx Unit

Our scouts torch and lantern went black, and we heard him scream. A moment later a horrible chill
washed over us. We could feel them before we could see them.

Swift Sergeant Tyrell Forlaine, Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service

Leader & Grunts

Leader & Grunts

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 7

6 4 12 15 8
POW P+S

4 11

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Leader & 9 Grunts
Small Base

Undead
Dark Shroud While in this
models melee range, enemy
models suffer 2 ARM.

War Axe

Stealth

3
5
8

War Axe

Weapon Master

Bane
thrallscunning
undead warriors inscribed
with countless runes and sigils of their dark rebirth
are versatile and deadly soldiers among more mindless
undead. Wickedly proficient at killing, they host a darkness
that both permeates their being and seeps into the world
of the living. Few know the means by which these potent
creatures are created, and only the most depraved masters
of necromancy can begin to understand the nature of the
malignant power from whence they arise.
Bane thralls are enshrouded in a cold, preternatural darkness
that siphons the very light from the air and is utterly
inimical to living flesh. It obscures their forms even in
bright daylight and makes fighting them difficult, as
tendrils of this darkness reach out hungrily to choke
the living. In addition to this gloom, bane thralls
display a malevolent glimmer in their eyes that
reveals a hateful intelligence. The foul creatures
delight in slaughter and seek any opportunity to

194

charge into battle and sow death. Sometimes they can even
be heard whispering to each other in ancient tongues, as if
coordinating a plan of attack. They march into battle with
the discipline and inexorable confidence that only soldiers
with no fear of death can possess.
Bane thralls are a profane clue that Cryxian necromancers
have unlocked dimly understood horrors, as if connected
to some force beyond Caen that thrives on extermination.
Some darkness never goes away, no matter what the stories
might say, and the bane thrall is a testament to ancient
blasphemies.

Bile Thralls

Cryx Unit

Dead flesh is more versatile than machinery alone. With the proper application of our art,
even the wreckage of battle can rise to serve us once more.

Master Necrotech Mortenebra

Disgorged from the hellish workshops of Cryx, bile thralls are

noted for their bloated and distended bodies and the gurgling
noises heard as pumps and siphons perform unspeakable
mockeries of biological processes within them. Bile thralls
store volumes of corrosive digestive and decomposition
agents, with hoses and tubes leading from their distended
mouths and fabricated orifices to crude firing mechanisms.
With a lurching spasm, each bile thrall can force a startling
volume of caustic fluid out of the nozzle over a wide area to
dissolve flesh and devour tempered metal.
In the midst of enemy troops, a bile thrall can force itself
to perform a particularly powerful explosive discharge.
It compresses its overpressurized intestines in a massive
purge that creates a grisly shower of fluid, flesh, and metal.
Anything caught in the foul blast quickly corrodes beneath
the potent dissolving agents. Metal melts into slag
while skin and organs painfully liquefy into a
bloody, unrecognizable mess.

Leader & Grunts

Undead

Bile Cannon

Continuous Effect: Corrosion

Damage Type: Corrosion

Leader & Grunts

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 4

2 3 10 13 7

Bile Cannon
RNG ROF AOE POW

SP 8 1

12
Purge (HAttack) Each
Field Allowance
3
model within 6 of this
Leader & 5 Grunts 5
model that is in its front
Leader & 9 Grunts 8
arc is automatically hit
unless this models LOS
Small Base
to it is blocked by terrain.
Models hit suffer a POW 12
corrosion damage roll
and the Corrosion continuous effect
. After this attack is resolved, remove this model from play.
Purge is a ranged attack.

Cryxian commanders unleash dozens

of bile thralls at a time. Powered
by their sloshing and throbbing
internal mechanisms, they waddle
sluggishly across the battlefield
until just the right moment to
disgorge their innards. Bile
thralls serve as much to obliterate
an enemys morale as to destroy
its soldiers. Those who have seen
the creatures in action have been
known to go days without eating,
and most who have risked going
toe-to-toe with them cannot forget
the putrid stench.

195

Mechanithralls
Cryx Unit

The Dragon feeds on our wars. Every dead soldier is another weapon in the hands of our enemy.
While we weaken, Cryx grows stronger.

King Leto Raelthorne

Leader & Grunts

Leader & Grunts

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 7

5 4 12 12 6

Steamfist

POW P+S

4 11

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Leader & 9 Grunts
Small Base

3
3
5

Undead

Steamfist

Combo Strike (HAttack)

Make a melee attack. Instead
of making a normal damage
roll, the POW of the damage
roll is equal to this models
STR plus twice the POW of
this weapon.

Favored tools of dark warcasters only too eager to set

packs of the creatures upon their foes, mechanithralls
were among the first horrors Cryx unleashed on the
mainland. Their powerful fists crush the skulls of coastal
defenders and innocent villagers with equal disregard,
and there is no end to their reserves. The Nightmare
Empire rebuilds their ranks from the corpses of the slain
soldiers who survive an engagement may well experience
the horror of seeing their fallen friends among the next
wave of attackers. The lifeless eyes of their former
companions stare from behind rotting flesh,
while steam-powered pistons promise an
impending and brutal death.
Necrotechs and stitch thralls pick
through ravaged battlefields even
as battle rages, scavenging for
friendly and enemy corpses alike
as well as for salvageable pipes
and steam engines to integrate
into them. Inscribed with basic
runes and animated by dark

196

energies, the remade bodies become fresh reinforcements

for the Cryxian army. Mechanithralls are further augmented
with two heavy gauntlets powered by dark energies and
steam pressure coursing through the conduits and pipes
that weave throughout their cadaverous bodies. These
gauntlets greatly enhance their unliving strength; indeed,
a mechanithralls strike is nearly as powerful as the impact
from a steamjack.
Mechanithralls charge heedlessly into destruction, climbing
over bodies with as little concern as over any other terrain
to strike at the enemy. They follow orders blindly and
have been seen using cover and lying in ambushperhaps
tactical habits from their former lives reappearing in endless
echoes, much like the vile creatures themselves.

Satyxis Raiders
Cryx Unit

Like the poisonous Morovan tiger vine, Satyxis look fair from a distance but bring
nothing but agony and swift death. Steer well clear, lads.

Captain Halford Bray of the Palaxis

The waters of the Meredius can be terrifying, with names

reflecting a legacy of shattered hulls and sunken vessels.
The Sea of a Thousand Souls, the Windless Waste, the
Wailing Sea, the Dying Strands, Sailors Lamentthese
are the waters sailed with impunity by the Satyxis raiders.
Even in a region known for its terrifying pirates, the Satyxis
stand above the rest. Belonging to an ancient tradition in
which sailing is as natural as breathing, these fierce warrior
women believe nothing in life to be sweeter than plunder
and slaughter.
Even in the days they were still human, by mainlander
standards the Satyxis were always brutal, known for blood
magic and the inventive cruelty of their wickedly barbed
weapons. In 1640 BR, the Satyxis were changed forever
when the white dragon Shazkz clashed with Toruk in the
skies above their island, spilling blighted blood like rain.
That blight withered their men into husks
but transformed the women into something
other than human as horns grew from their
skulls and their cruelty magnified.

Leader & Grunts

Advance Deployment

Leader & Grunts

Combined Melee Attack

7 5

Lacerator
Reach

Chain Weapon This attack

ignores the Buckler and
Shield weapon qualities and
Shield Wall.
Critical Knockdown On a
critical hit, the model hit is
knocked down.
Feedback If this weapon
damages a warjack that is
part of a battlegroup, its
controller suffers 1 damage point.

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 4 14 12 8

Lacerator

POW P+S

Horns

POW P+S

Field Allowance
Leader & 5 Grunts
Leader & 9 Grunts
Small Base

2
5
8

Over the next 600 years, the island slipped into mainland
legend. When Toruk arrived to claim the island as part of
his empire, the Satyxis queen bowed to the Dragonfather,
having foreseen his coming. She offered a regular tithe in
soldiers to serve at the whims of the lich lords who rule
in his name.
Foremost among these soldiers are the raiders born
to ride the waves, versed in barbed whips and other
weapons crafted to elicit pain and flay flesh from
bone. Mainlanders have come to know the Satyxis
by the acts of these raiders and to dread the terrible
sound of their war horns as they land ashore to
deliver Toruks wrath.

Tactical Tips

Feedback Combined attacks cause only 1 point of feedback damage.

197

necrotech & scrap thralls

Cryx Solos

They are mad, secretive, and dangerous, but they are industrious. They spawn our every helljack,
bonejack, and thrall, sculpting steel and bone into the death that walks.

Lich Lord Thalassina

Necrotech
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 6

6 3 12 13 7

Necrotech
Undead

Create Scrap Thrall [8]

(HAction) To use this
Vise Claw

POW P+S
special action, this model
4 10
must be in base contact with
a wreck marker. Make a skill
Damage 5
check. If it passes, d3 Scrap
Field Allowance
3
Thralls are created from a
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall 1
light wreck marker or d6
Medium Base
from a heavy or colossal
wreck marker. Remove the
wreck marker from play and place the Scrap Thralls within 3 of
this model. Placed Scrap Thralls cannot activate this turn.
Repair [8] (HAction) This model can attempt repairs on any
damaged friendly Faction warjack. To attempt repairs, this
model must be B2B with the damaged warjack and make a
skill check. If successful, remove d6 damage points from the
warjacks damage grid.
Steady This model cannot be knocked down.

Vise Claw
Reach

Scrap Thrall
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

5 4

5 3 11 12 1

MechanoClaw

POW P+S

Field Allowance
3 Scrap Thralls
Small Base

3
1

Scrap Thrall
Undead

Thrall Bomb When this

model is disabled, center
a 4 AOE on it and then
remove this model from
play. Models in the AOE are
hit and suffer a POW 8 blast
damage roll.

Mechano-Claw

Death Burst(HAttack) This model makes a melee attack. If

that attack hits, instead of dealing damage normally, center a 4
AOE on the model hit and remove this model from play. The
model hit suffers a POW 16 damage roll. If the attack misses,
center the AOE on this model and remove this model from
play. Models in the AOE other than the model directly
hit are hit and suffer a POW 8 blast damage roll. Blast
damage from this attack is not considered to have been
caused by a melee attack. Death Burst damage is
unboostable.

Part necromancer and part evil geniusspiced

with a dash of deranged lunaticLord Toruks
necrotechs blend talent and terror. Tasked with the
details of constructing the undead soldiers and
machines of the Cryxian army, they deliver
steady reinforcements to the lines and
do not hesitate to use their own dead
flesh to test ingenious attachments
and necromechanikal augmentations.

198

Tactical Tips

Create Scrap Thrall [8] The number of Scrap Thralls that can be
created is not limited by FA.
Repair A wreck marker cannot be repaired.
Death Burst(HAttack) This model can make a Death Burst
special attack even if it charges.

When not designing the next wave of horrors, necrotechs

skitter into battle with their pretty little children. They
are quickly able to repair their infernal constructs using
whatever materials fate and carnage provide.
Necrotechs improvise scrap thralls from heaps of bone
and metal taken from corpses and destroyed jacks. Once
animated, these thralls shamble forth as delivery vehicles
for necrotite-enhanced bombs. Likely to explode when
struck by shrapnel or a wayward bullet, each ramshackle
undead seeks to grab and hold an enemy in its unrelenting
clutch until the bomb detonates in a shower of metal-andbone destruction. These hastily contrived creatures suggest
the hideous potential a necrotech can unleash with enough
time, the necessary materials, and a proper workshop.

Skarlock Thrall
Cryx Solo

As thou art an extension of my will and power, so wilt this thrall become an extension of thine.

Iron Lich Asphyxious instructing young Deneghra

The skarlock thralls are insidious creatures of blackest

sorcery. Linked to their warcasters by bonds so powerful
they can act in their masters stead, skarlocks move against
enemies with confidence born of a hateful intelligence that
shines from their eye sockets.
Unique beings, skarlock thralls can possess extensive
personalities and agendas. More than any other constructed
thrall, skarlocks retain the memories and lore they gained
during life in addition to knowledge absorbed during
the inscription of their animating runes. From its very
fabrication, each skarlock is inextricably bound to its
master and is incapable of disloyalty. A dense inlay of dark
sigils blackens their bones and desiccated flesh, instilling
tremendous necromantic power and sorcerous potential
into their physical forms.

Skarlock Thrall
Undead

Attached Before the start

of the game, attach this
model to a friendly Faction
warcaster for the rest of
the game. Each warcaster
can have only one model
attached to it.

Skarlock Thrall

SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 4

3 3 14 12 6

Claw

POW P+S

Damage 5
Field Allowance
1
Point Cost
2
Small Base

Soul Taker This model

gains one soul token when
a living enemy model
is destroyed within 2
of it. This model can have up to three soul tokens at a time.
During its activation, this model can spend soul tokens to gain
additional attacks or to boost attack or damage rolls at one
token per attack or boost.

Spell Slave (HAction) This model must be in its warcasters

control area to make the Spell Slave special action. When it
does, it casts one of its warcasters spells with a COST of 3 or
less. The warcaster is considered to have cast that spell but this
model is its point of origin. When making a magic attack roll,
this model uses its warcasters FOCUS. This model cannot cast
spells with a RNG of SELF or CTRL.

As part of the bonding process,

skarlocks become conduits for
the unique arcane abilities of their
warcasters, who often send them
forth to unleash this power from a
distance. Lesser minions make every
effort to appease the creatures, knowing
that each represents the eyes and ears of a
malevolent and powerful master.

Tactical Tips

Attached This model cannot be reassigned if its warcaster is

destroyed or removed from play.
Spell Slave This model cannot cast spells if its warcaster is
destroyed or removed from play. The Skarlock cannot channel
spells because it does not control warjacks.

199

200

Glory and Coin

Mercenaries of the Iron Kingdoms

My favorite two colors are blood and gold, and on a good day I see
a lot of both.

Herne Stoneground

The following is from an anecdotal conversation between

Greygore Boomhowler and a new recruit.
Aye, I met many an army sod what turns his nose up at
mercs. As if their own coin spends better. They got fancy
uniforms tbe sure, but what else they got tbe so proud
about? Most never seen battle afore. A bunch o milk-drinkin
lads barely to manhood cannae tell one end of a rifle from
the other. Sneeze too loud and them baby-faced recruits soil
their britches and drop their weapons.
Take yer average merc. We been in scraps every chance we
could just to get by. Need coin for payin the boys, coin for
supplies and ammo, coin for drinkin. If we cannae hold
our own in a fight we dinnae get paid. Its honest work, na
mistake. Its a hard livin, with ever day the risk o bein put
down for good. Only thingll keep you alive is skill with
blade or gun. Neer know where a jobll take you. Might be
up to the frozen north where spitll freeze afore it leaves yer
mouth or down in the Marches sloggin through dust storms
and eatin sand. Bein a merc is tough. If you want to kick up
yer heels and get paid yer better off takin a job in town. Ever
day with my company ye best be ready to hunker down
while bullets are flyin overhead and split some skulls with
that axe at yer belt.
What ye most gotta understand is we got rules we follow.
Tis my name on the company and my name on our charter,
and yer actions in battlell come back to me. Make me regret
hirin you and Ill tear yer arm off and cram yer own fist
down yer gullet. Bein a proper merc aint like bein a bandit.
We live by the Charter set up in ancient days like any good
company. When we hire on we see the course. It dinnae
matter if the fightin gets rough, we stick in there. Theres
na turnin about and sellin ourselves to the other side cause
they offered a few more coins. There are criminals and
bandits what work like that and its a quick way to get

strung up on the gallows. We dinnae put up with that. My

name is known from Caspia to Blackwater cause my word is
good and I give what service I promise. When Boomhowler
signs his mark on the page, he puts his gun and his axe
where they tell him. If ye dinnae like it, hire on to a pirate
ship and leave me be.
Im the boss, so dinnae worry about anyone else here. In
the regular army yed have to watch all the officers up the
ranks from ye, know which ones to salute and which ones
yer na supposed to look at, and hope na to run into em
what with too many mugs under yer belt. We got freedom.
We spend our money how we want and we have a good
time when were na in battle. This company plays as hard
as we fight. What good is clink squirreled away if ye
cannae spend and enjoy it?
There are lots o mercs and we compete with em all. Each
has his own bag o tricks, and its good to know what to
expect. Somell pretend tbe yer best friend so keep yer wits.
We all earn our pay the same way, but every companys got
their own contracts. Each of em would as soon see ye in a
ditch bleedin fer takin a job they want. We work alongside
some companies when the contract calls fer it, but dinnae
trust em beyond that. Some mercs just want coin. Others got
their own axe to grind. Maybe theyre holdin some past job
we took against us and are lookin fer a scrap. Some pretend
tbe proper mercs but dinnae even wear the company ink.
They got na scruples and are just assassins. Watch yer back
and keep yer axe at the ready.
Ye seem to have a good head on yer shoulders. Follow my
lead and duck when I say and well all be rollin in gold afore
ye know it.

201

Greygore Boomhowler & Co.

Mercenary Minion Trollkin Character Unit

That sound! Like a lion riding a church bell in the middle of a landslide. I covered me ears in time, but
not all me mates were fast enough. Some of em aint heard a sound since.

Reid Markus, Cygnaran long gunner

BOOMHOWLER
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 7

7 5 12 16 9

Blunderbuss
RNG ROF AOE POW

8 1 12

Minions These models

will work for Trollbloods.

BOOMHOWLER

Great Axe

Combined Melee Attack

Officer

POW P+S

5 12

GRUNT
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 7

Mercenaries These models

will work for Cryx, Cygnar,
and Khador.

6 4 12 16 8

Blunderbuss
RNG ROF AOE POW

8 1 12

Great Axe

POW P+S

5 12

Boomhowlers Damage 8
Field Allowance C
Boomhowler & 5 Grunts 6
Boomhowler & 9 Grunts 9
Medium Base

Tough
Fell Howl This model can
make one of the following
fell calls anytime during its
units activation. A friendly
Faction model/unit can be
affected by only one fell call
each turn.
Call of Defiance When
a model in this unit that
is in formation makes a
Tough roll of 4, 5, or 6,
it heals 1 damage point
and is knocked down.
Call of Defiance lasts for
one round.

Call to Action Knocked down models in this unit in

formation immediately stand up.
Rage Howler Enemy models/units currently in this models
command range must pass a command check or flee. Warjacks
and warbeasts currently in this models command range
suffer 2 to attack rolls for one round.

GRUNT

Combined Melee Attack

Tough

202

Tactical Tips

Boomhowler Because Boomhowler is an Officer, when he is

destroyed he does not replace a Trollkin in his unit. Instead a
Trollkin in the unit becomes the new unit commander.

double fees to stop singing and cavorting at all hours of the

day and night. When Boomhowler is not singing, drinking,
or fighting, he is involved in Braggs favorite activity:
procreation. The trollkins legendary voice has entranced
females of all races throughout the Kingdoms. Indeed, he is
quite the handful off the battlefield, but his antics are well
worth it once the battle has been joined.
Boomhowler is proficient with both blunderbuss and axe,
but his rumbling voice is his most powerful weapon. A
single bellow sends forth a heavens-shaking crya rolling
reverberation that rises above the clash of swordplay
and the crack of gunfire. Felt as much as heard, this sonic
tsunami shatters glass, splinters wood, and rips gashes in
the metal hides of warjacks. The sensitive inner workings of
the mechanikal giants are susceptible to this swell of sound,
which rattles loose cogs and unbalances essential fluids.
Truth be told, Boomhowlers wail taxes him a great deal,
and he cannot sustain it for extended amounts of time.
Some soldiers claim Greygores voice was key in winning
battles even before the first drop of blood was spilled. His
mere presence has more than once caused entire hordes to
flee, while at other times his stirring chants have kept his
comrades fighting despite their most grievous wounds.
Among those who appreciate his unique talents is the
outlaw warcaster Asheth Magnus, and the two seem to
have come to an equitable arrangement.

The legendary trollkin fell caller Bragg was quite virile

and supposedly irresistible in his day, spreading progeny
bestowed with his peculiar talents across Immoren. These
special folk, known as fell callers, command a power of
voice that staggers the imagination. One of the more notable
examples is Greygore Boomhowler, a crass axe-for-hire with
a great command of the Gift of Bragg. Those who have heard
his vocal prowess are generally divided on whether the
experience was positive or negative, but without exception
they recount it with strong emotion.

Boomhowlers company of trollkin fights with a combination

of axe and blunderbuss, though some traditional trollkin
dislike the fell callers influence over the many young
who have given up their tribal ways to join him abroad.
Greygore is without question more comfortable in the
cities than in the wilds, but he occasionally forays into
the ancestral homes of his people to recruit for his unique
mercenary company. The number of these volunteers waxes
and wanes, but Boomhowler is never found without at least
a few loyal followers.

Boomhowler proclaims himself the reincarnation of Bragg.

An admitted outcast among the wild trollkin tribes, he
chooses to wear garish strips of colorful cloth in a style of
his own design not related to any true quitari tartan patterns
of his people. He also refuses to be quiet, even in ambush.
Indeed, some commanders have paid him and his mercs

Whether Greygore Boomhowler is truly the reincarnation

of the legendary Bragg or just a self-important merc with
a bloated ego matters little to his employers. He and his
trollkin company are an impressive addition to any army,
and between bouts of drunken revelry he has a wealth of
talent and experience to spread among his troops.

203

Herne & Jonne

Mercenary Rhulic Character Unit

Eighteen degrees left! Seven degrees skyward! Three degrees for wind!
This ones going to kick them in the shorts.

Herne Stoneground to Arquebus Jonne in battle

HERNE
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

4 6

6 6 12 13 9

Pistol
RNG ROF AOE POW

8 1 10

Axe

POW P+S

JONNE
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

6 8

6 4 12 15 9

Barrage Arquebus
RNG ROF AOE POW

12 1 3 14

Great Axe

POW P+S

5 13

Hernes Damage
5
Jonnes Damage
8
Field Allowance C
Point Cost
3
Herne Small Base
Jonne Medium Base

Mercenaries These
models will work for
Cygnar, Khador, and the
Protectorate.

HERNE

Officer

Barrage Arquebus
Range Finder While B2B
with Herne, Jonne gains
+2 to attack rolls with this
weapon.

Scattershot (HAttack) To
make a Scattershot special
attack, Herne and Jonne
must be B2B. Make a normal
attack with this weapon.
After determining point of
impact for that attack, roll
deviation for two additional
3 AOEs centered on that
point. Models in an AOE are
hit and suffer a POW 7 blast
damage roll.

Tactical Tips

Scatter Shot - The additional shots deviate the full d6 regardless

of range. A model in more than one AOE suffers a damage roll for
each of them.
Herne - Because Herne is an Officer, when he is destroyed he
does not replace Jonne. Instead Jonne becomes the new unit
commander.

Herne Stoneground spent his younger days as a traveling

alchemists assistant. As he roamed from stronghold
to stronghold learning his mentors trade, he became
increasingly curious about the sciences involved in
gunsmithing, cannoneering, and demolition. By his second
decade he had already mastered the manufacture of
double-barreled firearms, and his creations earned him a
reputation among traders and military merchants alike. The
Stoneground mark is hailed in some parts as a sign of the
highest quality in firearms.
Mistrustful of messengers, Herne has always insisted on
delivering his wares personally. A Stoneground original can
fetch a thousand Cygnaran crowns on the open market
and a select few sell at a much higher price behind closed
doorsso Herne typically kept several bodyguards in
his employ. That changed when he encountered a wellrespected ogrun named Jonne.

204

Jonne was born and raised in Rhul, where for centuries most
of his conclave have served as guards and smith hands for
the Rhulfolk. Growing up quickly on the trade-rich border of
Llael, Jonne became used to the flash and pomp of Llaelese
merchants. It did not take long for the adolescent ogrun to
make a name for himself on the Black River loading docks,
where merchants came to ask for him by name. This slight
taste of fame went right to Jonnes head, and he soon signed
on with a Rhulic mercenary group called the Emberhold.
While in the company he practiced his martial skills and
worked as a sword-for-hire for any who might be in need
of his muscle.
One day during the delivery of a pair of Stoneground
originals to one such employer, Jonne met Herne
Stoneground himself. A pair of ill-fated brigands picked
that time to interrupt the sale. Moving instinctively, Jonne
snatched up the two bandits and restrained them until the
watch arrived. So fast was his reaction and effective his
skill, the surrounding folk broke into applause as the ogrun
handed over the brigands. Herne offered Jonne a lucrative
contract on the spot, and from that day forth the two were
fated to become one of the most famous mercenary teams in
all the Iron Kingdoms.
Though that was nearly fourteen years ago, Jonne remains
bound to Herne in friendship built through many shared
adventures. The ogrun has gone far beyond the call of duty
for his charge by saving Herne time and again, and the
dwarf feels safe under Jonnes watchful eye. Though some
less scrupulous employers might allow their hired muscle
to perish in order to save their own skin, Herne would not
think of it, leaping to aid his ogrun friend without thinking
of his own safety.
Some years ago, after months of Jonnes grumbling, the duo
agreed that small arms manufacturing was not the lucrative
business it once had been and that true wealth lay in large
ordnance. Herne put his mind and gunwerks skills to the
task and soon unveiled the Stoneground barrage arquebus.
In an effort to market the new creation, Herne and Jonne took
to the road, hiring themselves out to potential customers in
order to demonstrate the guns effectiveness firsthand.
The arquebus, a triple-barreled contraption that launches
three cannonballs at once, is a beautifully crafted weapon
so massive that only the bulging muscles of Jonneor
Arquebus Jonne, as he has come to be calledcan
possibly hold it aloft. For his part, Herne uses his shrewd
judgment and mathematical skill to help refine the weapons
trajectories. With its weight and kick, the barrage arquebus

is difficult to aim, but this shortcoming is balanced by its

fragmenting ammunition. The arquebus is devastating at
a respectable range, and Jonne is just as deadly in close
combat with his mighty axe. Foes who survive the shelling
long enough to close also risk facing Hernes axe and
pistolneither of which he is reluctant to employ.

Herne Stoneground and Arquebus Jonne have argued

payment options with Khadoran kommandants, joined
Cygnaran officers in after-battle victory toasts, and
witnessed the prebattle prayers of Menite priests. They
have earned a reputation as consummate professionals, and
their fees are considered entirely reasonable for those in
need of the kingdoms premier walking artillery platform.

205

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Mercenary Character Solo

Its a shame theres not more mercenaries like her. What Eiryss hunts, dies.
Shes as reliable as the setting sun.

Cygnaran Captain Morris Beaumayne

EIRYSS
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 4

6 9 16 12 9

Crossbow
RNG ROF AOE POW

Mercenary This model

will work for Cygnar,
Khador, the Protectorate,
and the Retribution.

EIRYSS

12 1 10

Advance Deployment

Bayonet

Fearless

Pathfinder

POW P+S

Saber

POW P+S

Damage 5
Field Allowance C
Point Cost
3
Small Base

Stealth
Attack Type Each time
this model makes a normal
ranged attack, choose one
of the following abilities:

Death Bolt Instead of

rolling damage, a model
hit suffers 3 damage
points. When damaging
a warjack or warbeast, choose which column or branch
suffers the damage.

Disruptor Bolt A model hit loses all focus points. A

model hit with the Focus Manipulation special rule does
not replenish focus points next turn. A warjack hit suffers
Disruption for one round. (A warjack suffering Disruption
loses its focus points and cannot be allocated focus or
channel spells for one round.)
Phantom Seeker This model ignores LOS when making
ranged attacks. This model ignores concealment and cover
when resolving ranged attacks.
Camouflage This model gains an additional +2 DEF when
benefiting from concealment or cover.
Retribution Partisan When included in a Retribution
army, this model is a Retribution model instead of a
Mercenary model.
Technological Intolerance When this model ends its
normal movement within 5 of a friendly non-myrmidon
warjack, its activation ends immediately.

Iosans have long been mysteriousdoubly so since their

nation isolated itself from outside contact in 581 AR. Any
who have ventured uninvited into that territory have
vanished. Neither humans nor Rhulfolk comprehend the
power of the elves, nor do they understand Iosan technology
and magic, but one Iosan hunter has risen to leave her mark
on the wars of man: Eiryss has earned a reputation as one
of the most reliable and formidable of lone mercenary
operatives, a peerless hunter and shooter.
Despite several decades of offering her skills for hire and
earning her reputation through word of mouth, Eiryss is
still largely a mystery among the mercenary community, as
enigmatic as her Iosan people. The mercenary tradition is
deeply ingrained in western Immoren, a part of the fabric
of both the human nations and Rhul. Carefully observed

206

Tactical Tips

Disruptor Bolt Just as with Disruption, Disruptor Bolt does not

prevent a model from gaining focus in other ways. A warcaster can
still gain focus from soul tokens, for example.
Phantom Seeker Keep in mind that Phantom Seeker does not
ignore Stealth.
Camouflage If a model ignores concealment or cover, it also
ignores concealment or covers Camouflage bonus.

mercenary rules of procedure date back to the ancient days

of the Thousand Cities Era, when every township was
inclined to hire sell-swords to fight their wars. Yet Ios has
stood aloof from this trade, making Eiryss an aberration
among her own kind.
This aura of mystery combined with her reputation as a
ruthless and efficient killer has led to cool relations between
Eiryss and others in the trade. A variety of suspicious rumors
circulate among the various smoky halls, but most people
dismiss them as a natural consequence of her successes.
Without question there are other skilled bounty hunters and
assassins who feel Eiryss has stolen work from them.
To those employing such soldiers, among a bewildering
array of disreputable murderers-for-hire, Eiryss reputation
is golden and her services always in demand. Despite this,
she is not one to haggle like a fishmonger over her rates;
some captains privately admit the very modest fees she
sets are far below her worth. They speculate that perhaps
human currency means less to her kindbut whatever her
reasons, they are happy enough to leave their coin in their
pouches and their curiosity unsatisfied.
Eiryss is prompt and professional, often arriving to a
prospective battlefield before the rising sun to learn the lay
of the land; thus, she often knows the ground better than
the commanders themselves. She interacts with all officers,
from the lowest to the highest ranks, with the same polite
respect and quiet deference, often so unobtrusively that her
employers nearly forget she is present during deliberations
of plans and tactics. Even from the shadows, her ears
and eyes miss nothing; she can memorize a plan of battle
in an instant and later perfectly recall the disposition of
allied squads and officers. Once battle is joined she needs
no instruction, vanishing into the undergrowth with her
crossbow in hand to await the opportunity to kill.
The one group that finds Eiryss skill unnervingregardless
of the glowing reports of hiring bursarsis military
arcanists. Hunting and slaying sorcerers and warcasters
is a peculiar specialty, and the Iosan offers her services in
this area as well as for less arcane targets. She has never

explained her skill as a hunter of spell-slingers but clearly

has much experience.
Given the relative importance of wizards and warcasters
in every western Immoren army, Eiryss ability to strike
decisive blows against enemy arcanists multiplies her
worth. Cygnaran officers task her to slay members of

Khadors Greylords Covenant, and Khadoran officers are

eager to see her assassinate Cygnaran gun mages. Being
in the rare position to exterminate a ranking warcaster can
completely change the fortunes of battle. Given that she has
no particular loyalty to one side or the other, her talent in
this regard is seen by members of these hunted professions
as a matter of no small concern.

207

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Mercenary Character Solo

What dye mean ye don know who I am? Im famous, I am! Bloody famous!

Reinholdt, self-proclaimed world traveler

REINHOLDT
SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM CMD

7 2

2 2 16 9

Field Allowance C
Point Cost
1
Small Base

Mercenary This model

will work for Cygnar and
Khador.

REINHOLDT

Warcaster Benefits While

this model is B2B with a
friendly warcaster, this
model can use one of the
following special abilities:

Lucky Charm (HAction) During his activation this turn, the

warcaster can gain an additional die on an attack or damage
roll. Discard the lowest die.
Reload (HAction) During his activation this turn, the
warcaster can make one additional ranged attack ignoring
ROF.
Spyglass (HAction) Measure the distance between two
models within the warcasters LOS.

Few men can claim they have ventured from one end of
the Iron Kingdoms to the other and back, and even fewer
gobbers can make such a bold statement. One of these
diminutive creatures does more than just suggest, however;
he downright insists he has been everywhere at least twice
and seen it all at least once.
Reinbaggerinzenholdt, or Reinholdt for short, claims to
have seen many wondrous sights, from the throne room
of Stasikov Palace to the glowing walls of Shyrr. He sports
strange trinkets and baubles from all over Immoren, and his
accent is nearly indistinguishable from that of the natives
of wherever he happens to be at the time. Whatever the
cause or source, Reinholdt is an endless font of esoteric facts
and sometimes useful advice. Not an expert at anything in
particular, he seems at least partially versed in whatever
comes up at the moment.
Even with the veracity of his claims in question, a number of
warcasters and other military officers throughout western
Immoren are willing to indulge him and periodically hire
his services. Although he claims to have once worked as
a bodger, Reinholdt has demonstrated little aptitude or
interest in fixing things. In some cases it seems likely he
is allowed to accompany those who hire him more for his
conversational oddities than for any practical purpose. All
the same he has proven his worth at unexpected times and
places and has demonstrated a skill at several tasks that
recommend him to his employers.

208

Among the gobbers skills is a knack for speedily reloading

firearms. In fact, Reinholdt is entirely at ease manipulating
volatile ammunition cartridges packed with explosive
powder. Those officers who count themselves as riflemen
or pistoleers have found this ability alone enough to make
hiring him worthwhile.
Reinholdt carries a host of trinkets and artifacts and makes
great use of these tools. His brass Ordic spyglass with
its fine lenseswhich he says he received for helping beat
back a Cryxian pirate invasion near Berckis one of his
favorites. The glass allows him to spot potential dangers
from afar and estimate just how long it will take for those
perils to cause him personal harm. Though it might take
an employer a while to adjust to this seconds-to-impact
method, Reinholdt is rarely off by muchand even then it
is usually on the conservative side. Some claim Reinholdts
mere presence has brought them luck, though proving such
claims is difficult.
Whatever luck he brings to others, Reinholdt seems to
have led a charmed life. Despite his presence at countless
battlefields across Immoren, he has never suffered a serious
injury. He once sneezed himself out of a moving carriage into
a patch of thornbriar bushes just before the carriage burst into
flames upon hitting a powder trap set by brigands. Another
time a blunderbuss shot deflected harmlessly off of a silver
soup spoon in his pocket that he had acquired earlier
that same day. Most often his survival has been the result of
anticipating a threat and heading in the opposite direction.
Reinholdt is not what one would call a hero. He is far more
likely to run and hide than stick around if a situation gets
too hairy. Indeed, he has been known to vanish from sight
in typical gobber fashion when an enemy comes too close.
If left with little choice, the resourceful chap searches his
pockets and pouches for anything that might aid his escape.
Few have the heart to hold these habits against him. Those
who have become fond of his eccentricities often welcome
him back to the table the next campaigning season.

209

CYGNAR MODEL GALLERY

210

commander
coleman strykeR

commander
coleman stryker Variant

Warcaster

Warcaster

Captain
Victoria Haley

captain victoria
Haley Variant

Warcaster

Warcaster

lieutenant
allister caine

journeyman
warcaster

journeyman
warcaster variant

Warcaster

Solo

Solo

Ironclad

FIELD MECHANIKs

Heavy Warjack

Unit

ARCANE TEMPEST GUN MAGES

Unit

Stormblade Infantry
Unit

211

CYCLONE

Defender

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

Long gunner Infantry

Unit

Lancer
Light Warjack

212

Charger
Light Warjack

Sentinel
Light Warjack

TRENCHER Infantry
Unit

Classic commander
coleman stryker

classic lieutenant
allister caine

Warcaster

Warcaster

classic Ironclad

classic Defender

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

213

CYGNAR AT WAR

214

215

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH MODEL GALLERY

High Exemplar
Kreoss

High Exemplar
Kreoss Variant

Warcaster

Warcaster

The High
Reclaimer

Grand Scrutator
Severius

Warcaster

Warcaster

Paladin of the Order

of the Wall
Solo

216

Crusader
Heavy Warjack

Paladin of the Order

of the Wall Variant
Solo

Knights Exemplar
Unit

Temple Flameguard
Unit

Choir of Menoth
Unit

217

TEMPLAR

Vanquisher

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

Holy Zealots
Unit

Deliverers
Unit

218

Revenger

Redeemer

Repenter

Light Warjack

Light Warjack

Light Warjack

classic High Exemplar

Kreoss
Warcaster

classic Vanquisher

classic Crusader

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

219

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH AT WAR

220

221

khador MODEL GALLERY

Kommander
Sorscha

Kommander
Sorscha Variant

Warcaster

Warcaster

Vladimir, Dark Prince

of Umbrey

Vladimir, Dark Prince

of Umbrey Variant

Orsus Zoktavir,
The Butcher of Khardov

Warcaster

Warcaster

Warcaster

Iron Fang Pikemen

Unit

222

DECIMATOR

Juggernaut

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

Man-O-War Shocktroopers
Unit

Manhunter

Manhunter VARIANT

Destroyer

Solo

Solo

Heavy Warjack

223

BERSERKER

Battle Mechaniks

Heavy Warjack

Unit

Doom Reavers
Unit

224

Marauder

Widowmakers

Heavy Warjack

Unit

Winter Guard Infantry

Unit

Classic Kommander
Sorscha
Warcaster

Extreme
Juggernaut
Heavy Warjack

CLASSIC Destroyer

Classic Marauder

CLASSIC Juggernaut

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

Heavy Warjack

225

KHADOR AT WAR

226

227

CRYX MODEL GALLERY

Warwitch
Deneghra

Warwitch
Deneghra Variant

Warcaster

Warcaster

Pirate Queen Skarre

Warcaster

Iron Lich
Asphyxious
Warcaster

228

Corrupter

Skarlock
Thrall

Helljack

Solo

Reaper

Slayer

Helljack

Helljack

Bane Thralls
Unit

Mechanithralls
Unit

229

Nightwretch

Deathripper

Defiler

Bonejack

Bonejack

Bonejack

Necrotech and Scrap Thralls

Solos

Satyxis Raiders
Unit

230

Bile Thralls
Unit

classic Warwitch
Deneghra
Warcaster

classic Slayer

classic Reaper

Helljack

Helljack

231

CRYX AT WAR

232

233

MERCENARY MODEL GALLERY

Reinholdt,
Gobber Speculator

Eiryss,
Mage Hunter of Ios

Solo

Solo

Herne Stoneground
& Arquebus Jonne
Unit

Greygore Boomhowler & Co.

Unit

234

HOBBY and PAINTING GUIDE

Preparing models and terrain for play
The goal on the battlefield is to crush your enemy, and doing
it with a painted army gives you both a banner of pride to
carry and a way to inspire fear in your opponent. Fielding
a well-painted army shows you mean business. This guide
will introduce the simplest and fastest way to paint your
miniatures to a level that will make you proud. We will
describe tools and techniques you can use from the moment
you open the model package through the stages of painting
and on to decorating the base for the finished piece. This
guide will teach you how to get your army painted and onto
the field in a way that is as satisfying as it is quick and easy.
Painting miniatures is very rewarding, from the day you
start into years later. Like many skills, the more you do it the
better and faster you will become. The time you spend doing
it, or brush time, will be your greatest teacher. With a little
guidance and brush time, before long you will knocking out
models left and rightjust like on the field.

Formula P3 Hobby Tool and Paint Racks

There are a couple of points to keep in mind when working.

First, some of these models are huge! When painting a big
machine, just think of it in smaller parts. Isolate the areas
as you paint, dividing and conquering, and its the same
as painting a smaller model. Second, the fine details are
important; make them work to your advantage. Soon you
will know the tricks to painting these details fast while
keeping them looking good.
Lets get started!

Formula P3 Paints
Formula P3 Super Glue

Formula P3 Paint Brushes

Worth a Thousand Words

To learn more about painting and using tools and to pick up a multitude of
tricks and techniques, check out the Formula P3 hobby DVD Modeling &
Painting, Vol. 1: Core Techniques. It provides a solid visual databank of
useful information for both new and experienced hobbyists.

235

Hobby & Painting Guide

Prepping Your Model

Using the right tools will make it much easier to achieve
your goal. Take a moment to look over the list of tools and
supplies and the picture of the tool and supply layout on the
facing page. The majority of these tools made by Privateer
Press you can get at your local hobby store; the others you
can find at any general store if you dont already have them.
Start with your work area. Besides a table and chair, you
will need a good light source; a swing-arm lamp that
clamps onto the side of your table will work fine. Also
have a self-healing mat or a piece of masonite available to
protect the table surface when you are cutting.
When you first open your box set or blister pack, take some
time to get to know your miniature. Locate all the parts
and determine what they are and what they will be doing
in the final model. It may help to dry fit them, which is
holding each piece in place as you expect it will appear in
the final assembly. Using files, a hobby knife, and clippers,
begin to clean the miniature. Carefully remove the mold
line with a file and the hobby knife. This is the fine line
wrapping around the miniature that is created when the
two halves of the mold come together when the miniature
is cast. Clean off any slivers and small chunks of metal
with the clippers, a little at a time. When youre confident
the model is clean, fix the parts together using super glue,
then glue the model to its base. Dont use too much, and
dont glue your fingers together!
After the miniature is cleaned and assembled, its time to
prime it for painting. This step may not seem as exciting
as applying color, but its necessary: the primer provides a
surface coat for the acrylic Formula P3 paint to adhere to.
This is a simple process; just secure the model to the outside
of a box with masking tape and go outside or to a wellventilated area to spray it with primer. Be sure to follow the
directions on the primer can. Spray from several angles so
that the primer covers the entire model, but be sure to spray
lightly so that the model details are preserved. You have the
choice of black or white primer. In general, if the miniature
is going to be dark overall with a lot metal, its best to prime
it in black. If the miniature is going to be painted in brighter
colors, prime it in white.

1. Clipping extra pieces from the models body.

2. Using a hobby knife to scrape mold lines off the shield.

3. Filing mold lines off the cape.

4. Gluing the shield together.

Allow the primer to dry for a couple of hours. You can

speed this up a bit with a hair dryer if you want to, but be
careful when doing this with plastic models so that they do
not bend or warp. When the primer is dry, its time to paint.

5. Priming the model (black) that is mounted on the box.

236

The Tools for Painting

The most important tools you need before beginning to
paint are the brushes. A couple of brushes in different sizes
will work just fine at first; you can add to your collection as
you paint more and more models and want more specialized
brushes. Privateer Press makes a range of Formula P3
Brushes that will cover all your needs. In addition, you
need two pots of water. Use one for cleaning your bushes
and another for thinning your paintsbe sure to keep this
water clean! Lastly, you need paper towels for general use
and some type of palette to mix your paints on; this can be
a sheet of plastic card, a piece of porcelain, or some glossy
card stock.

Basic Painting Order and Tricks

Now that you have all the tools you need to get started,
lets talk a bit about the way and order in which to paint.
To make the paints easier to work with, try thinning them
just a touch on the palette; 8 parts paint to 1 part water
is enough. This will allow them to brush on significantly
smoother and cleaner. You will need to apply a couple
of coats to completely cover a surfacethis is entirely
naturalbut with slightly thinned paint the end result
will be even, not chunky.
A large part of painting a miniature is defining the shadows
and highlights. You are also giving it color, of course, but
the real impact comes from representing the way light hits
its surfaces. This gives the eye information not only about
the shape of the model but also about the material of the
surface: whether it is flesh or metal, smooth or textured,
polished or dull. In a sense, you are exaggerating what you
would see in real life. This will make the miniature look
downright cool on a table, simple as that.
The steps for model painting are pretty straightforward:
First you will lay down the basecoat. This takes the
most time and is a very important stage.
Next you will apply any washes and shading you
want.
After this, you will highlight the miniature.
Lastly, you will give it the final touches and details.
When laying down the basecoat start with the area that will
be the messiest and then move on to the areas that will be
easier, considering the shape, size, and location of each.
How difficult will it be to paint without messing up other
areas? With a little brush time, you will be able to make this
assessment almost automatically.

Tools of the Trade

Work Area
Chair Light source Table

Assembly Tools
Cutting mat Masking tape
Formula P3 Clippers
Formula P3 File Set
Formula P3 Hobby Knife and blades
Formula P3 Spray Primer
Formula P3 Super Glue

Painting Tools
Formula P3 Brushes
Palette Paper towels
Water cups

Basing Tools
Flock or static grass
Hobby sand White glue

Each faction has its own identifying colors; you can see
them in the artwork throughout this book as well as on the
painted miniatures in the gallery. This will give you an idea
of what colors you will want. The sections on painting each
faction include lists of the paints used. And you can always
decide on a palette of colors thats all your own!

237

Hobby & Painting Guide

Painting Tutorial
Lets paint a Protectorate of Menoth Paladin of the Order of the Wall from start to finish.
Primer

The extensive metal

on the model will look
best over dark primer,
so prime him in black.
The Protectorate colors
will cover the black on
the non-metal areas
without a problem.

Basecoat

Use Cold Steel for the

metal
areas,
Rhulic
Gold for the gold areas,
Sanguine Base for the
burgundy areas, and
Menoth White Base for
the cream areas. Use
Skorne Red for the gems
and Thamar Black for the
sword grip.

Washing and
Shading

A good, simple, and fast

way to paint is to wash
the metals for shading,
then highlight everything
else. For this model, mix
some Umbral Umber and
Bloodstone with Armor
Wash and wash the gold
with the mixture.

The First
Highlights

Highlight in two stages

for more impact. First,
highlight the gold with
Solid Gold, the metal
with Quick Silver, the
cream with Menoth
White Highlight, the
burgundy with Sanguine
Highlight, the gems with
Khador Red Base, and the black with a bit of Coal Black. Leave
some of the basecoat showing for depth.

238

The Second
Highlights

Use colors of brighter

values in this step
its good to exaggerate
on a model. Highlight
the edges of the cream
with Morrow White
and the burgundy with
a mix of Menoth White
Highlight and Sanguine
Highlight. Leave some of the first highlight color showing.
Finish the gem by painting a bit of Khador Red Highlight
under it and adding a dot of Morrow White to the top and
bottom. Finish the sword handle with a mix of Menoth
White Highlight and Coal Black. Finally, paint Midlund
Flesh on the paladins face.

Finished

Ready
for
battle!
The entire fast and
simple process took
just a couple of hours.
Nothing fancyjust
a basecoat, a wash
on the metals, and a
couple of highlights
but hes looking great.
Notice how his base
is finished. See Basing Your Model on p. 241 for how
to do this.

Painting the Factions

Each faction has a unique palette of team colors. Color
choices can convey the tone or alignment of a miniature
and lend a particular feel to the model and its army. To see
how this works, take a look at the WARMACHINE factions:
Cygnar displays the collegiate and militaristic colors of
bright blue, white, and gold. The Protectorate features the
traditional religious and royal colors of burgundy and linen
along with fiery metallics. Khadors combination of red,

steel, and gold is both strong and aggressive. Finally, Cryx

carries a dark aura with blighted green-grey, gold, and the
eerie glow of necrotite. This section will give you a basic
approach to painting these colors for the four factions.
We painted these models using exactly the colors and
techniques described, and you can, too!

Painting Terminology
BASECOAT
The initial coat of paint on which everything else will be built.
It is important that the basecoat is very clean and every color is
where it should be. Your shades and highlights will coordinate
with the basecoat and main color choices.
DRYBRUSHING
The quick way to highlight a textured surface. Use a lighter
color, but remove most of the paint from your brush by
stroking the bristles on a paper towel until the paint is almost
gone. Then carefully and quickly move the brush back and
forth across the surface of the miniature.
HIGHLIGHTING
A lighter color applied to the basecoat in the raised areas of a
miniature to create the look of light hitting the surface. When

highlighting in multiple steps, keep a little bit of the underlying

color showing, overlapping them like the shingles on a roof.
SHADING
A darker color applied to the basecoat in the recessed areas
of a miniature to create shadows. Exaggerating the shade and
highlight colors will add to the visual appeal of a model.
WASH
A tinted mix liberally applied to the basecoat to create detailed
shading. The wash will run into the smallest crevasses on a
model and dry as a shadow, so it needs to be a darker color
than the basecoat. The wash mix works well as 4 parts Mixing
Medium, 1 part paint/ink, and 3 parts water.

Cygnar
Cygnar Blue Base

Use Cygnar Blue Base, Rhulic Gold,

Cold Steel, and Thamar Black for the
basecoat. Remember to make sure
these basecoats are neat and in the
correct areas. You will need to apply a
couple of coats for solid coverage.

Rhulic Gold

Cold Steel

For shading, start by making a wash

of Armor Wash mixed with a touch
of Bloodstone and Umbral Umber.
Apply this to the gold areas. Apply
pure Armor Wash to the steel areas.
Once the shading is done, highlight the
edges of the blue armor with a layer of
Cygnar Blue Highlight.

Thamar Black

Paint Solid Gold on the raised edges

of the gold areas and Quick Silver
on the edges of the steel areas. Mix a
little Morrow White with Cygnar Blue
Highlight as a final highlight color
and as apply it in a thin line on the
uppermost edges of the blue armor.
Finish by painting the eyes Khador
Red Base.
239

Hobby & Painting Guide

KHADOR
Khador Red Base

The basecoat for the Khador faction is

Khador Red Base, Rhulic Gold, and Pig
Iron. You will need to apply a few coats of
the Khador Red Base to cover the area fully.

Thinning Paints
Try thinning down paint with ink
instead of water to achieve a thin
consistency without diluting the
color. A little Red Ink added to
Khador Red Base will yield a nice,
red, thinner paint. You can even
mix up the ink and paint colors for
custom shades just as you can with
multiple paint colors.

Rhulic Gold

Pig Iron

Its a good idea to paint an area black

before you apply any metal colors to
it, so blacken the rivets with Thamar
Black to get them ready for the metal
paint. Make a shading color by mixing
Umbral Umber and Exile Blue with
Khador Red Base. Paint this mix in the
recesses and shadows of the red areas.
Apply a little Armor Wash in between
the red and metal areas.

Highlight the rivets with Cold Steel,

the gold with a little Solid Gold, and
the edges of the red areas with Khador
Red Highlight.

Thin Black Line

When two colors sit next to each
other on a model, separating them
with a thin dark line (either black
or a very dark version of one of
the adjacent colors) emphasizes
them individually and helps the eye
interpret the image more easily. In
other words, it looks good!

CRYX
Cryx Bane Base

For the Cryx basecoat, use Cryx

Bane Base for the hull, Blighted
Gold and Cold Steel for the metals,
Gnarls Green for the glowing areas,
and Jack Bone for the tusks.

240

Blighted Gold

Cold Steel

Wash the tusks with Battlefield Brown.

Highlight the hull with a mix of Cryx
Bane Base and Cryx Bane Highlight.
Highlight the glows with Iosan Green.

Gnarls Green

Jack Bone

The final highlights are Cryx Bane

Highlight on the hull, Menoth White
Base on the tusks, Necrotite Green on
the glows, Quick Silver on the steel
edges, and Cold Steel on the gold edges.

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH
Menoth White Base

For the basecoat, use Menoth White

Base for the cream area, Sanguine Base
for the burgundy area, Rhulic Gold
and Cold Steel for the metals, and
Thamar Black for the Menofix.

Sanguine Base

Rhulic Gold

Begin by shading the metals with a

wash of Armor Wash, then add some
Bloodstone and Umbral Umber to
the Armor Wash to make a shadow
wash for the Rhulic Gold. Highlight
the burgundy area with Sanguine
Highlight and the cream area with
Menoth White Highlight. Paint a thin
line of Coal Black on the Menofix.

Cold Steel

Thamar Black

For the final highlight stage, use

Solid Gold on the gold areas, a mix of
Menoth White Highlight and Sanguine
Highlight on the burgundy area, and
Quick Silver on the metals. Apply a
thin line of Morrow White on the cream
area. Lastly, mix Coal Black and Menoth
White Highlight together and apply a
thinner line of this on the Menofix.

Basing Your Model

Decorating a miniatures base takes the model to a whole new level of realism and can significantly increase its wow factor.
It doesnt need to be elaborate, though; the step-by-step process described here is simple and quick. Other uncomplicated
options include painting the sand a different color, using more (or no) static grass, and even using baking soda for snow.
With a little practice and imagination, you will be able to create works of natural battlefield beauty on any base.

Begin by applying some white glue

thinned with a little water. You can
use a good brush for thisjust make
sure you use water-soluble glue and
wash your brush thoroughly.

Swirl the base in a container of hobby

sand until you have the coverage you
want. Let dry.

Create a stain of water, Brown Ink,

and Umbral Umber and paint the mix
into the sand. Let this dry.

Drybrush the sand with Rucksack

Tan. Drybrushing can be messy; be
careful not to get Rucksack Tan on the
feet of the miniature.

Using white glue, glue some static

grass or flock onto the base and let dry.

Give the base and grass a final

drybrushing of Jack Bone. Clean up
any mess on the edge of the base, and
you have a finished piece.

241

Hobby & Painting Guide

Building Terrain
In addition to painted miniatures, nicely modeled
terrain adds a great deal of character to your games of
WARMACHINE.
A basic game board is simple enough to make. A 4 x 4
piece of plywood provides an ideal battlefield after being
textured with sand, painted, and flocked. A sheet of green
felt laid over some books to simulate hilly terrain can also
be effective in a pinch.
Modular elements placed onto the game board make
your battlefield tactically challenging and keep the terrain
varied from game to game. In addition to focusing on their
aesthetics, remember to consider the functionality of terrain
elements during construction so they can comfortably
accommodate models during play.

Woods

Whether they take the form of a sprawling forest or a small

copse of trees, woods are an integral part of any terrain
library. They add tactical elements like concealment and
difficult terrain to the battlefield. The necessity to define an
area for the woods while simultaneously making the trees
passable for large units of models makes the construction
of an appropriately dense forest quite a challenge. The
following method allows you to create realistic forests with
movable trees to accommodate models.
Rather than place each tree on its own base within the forest
template, place three or four trees on a large stand. Three
of these tree stands will fit onto a larger flat template that
defines the area of woods. Building forests this way means
fewer components and makes game setup and cleanup
much quicker. Most importantly, the woods will look like
woods rather than a template with two or three trees on it.

For lush woods, affix some foliage clusters to the tree armatures.
There are a variety of spray adhesives and tacky glues that are
specifically designed for foliage. If your trees will be handled a lot,
super glue can provide a more durable bond.

242

Tree Stands

First, cut the tree stands

out of foam core board,
and bevel the edges.
Next, use Formula P3
Super Glue to attach the
plastic tree armatures
(available from a variety
of manufacturers and
found at most hobby
stores) onto to the stand. For burned woods, be sure to
attach a few broken and knocked down trees.
Next, use construction
adhesive to fill in the
seams where the plastic
trees attach to their
stands. Doing this allows
you to apply the sand
and flock more evenly.
After
you
complete
the tree stands, cut
the woods templates
out of foam core. Ensure you cut them large enough to
accommodate three of the tree stands. Bevel the edges as you
did for the smaller stands.
Finishing the Woods

Cover the bases with wood glue and add some sand. When
that is dry, spray the piece with Formula P3 Black Primer.
Drybrush the sand with three colors: Battlefield Brown first,
then Moldy Ochre, and finally Jack Bone. Drybrush the trees
with Battlefield Brown mixed with a little Bastion Grey. Apply
some flock to the base. At this point you need to decide if your
woods will be alive and lush or burned and blackened.

For burned woods, affix small foliage clusters at the top or side of
one or two of the tree armatures, but leave the rest bare. In short
bursts, spray the tree trunks with black primer. Spray the edges of the
foliage, the center of the stands, and the larger tree template as well.
Drybrush some patches of Bastion Grey over the blackened areas for a
charred, ashen look.

Linear Obstacles

No soldier wants to go into battle without solid cover, so

it is fitting that walls and barricades are the staple terrain
element for many tabletop battlefields. Structures of the
Iron Kingdoms utilize a variety of building materials. Walls
commonly consist of fieldstones with metal framing. The
following techniques will allow you to build fantasticlooking linear obstacles for your battlefield.
Wall
Construction

From a sheet of 1
insulation foam, cut a
strip about 0.25 thick.
Then cut the strip into
6 lengths. Each wall
section should be 0.25
thick, 6 long, and 1
high. Take the strips
and press both sides on the sidewalk outside, a cinderblock,
or anything that will give them a rough texture.
Draw horizontal lines
along the length of the
wall with a standard
wooden
pencil.
(A
mechanical pencil will
tear the foam, and
pen ink sometimes
repels glue or paint.)
Then draw the vertical
separations of each
brick. Vary the size and spacing of each block since Iron
Kingdoms stonework does not use machine-made bricks
and should not resemble a modern-day brick wall. The
texture you pressed on the wall earlier will make the drawnon stones look like textured rock. Cover the entire piece with
a thin 60/40 wash of wood glue and water and let it dry.
For the metal retainers,
cut strips of cardboard
1 long by 0.25 wide.
Superglue three of these
strips vertically on each
side of the wall. Then
cut a strip 6 long by 0.5
wide and superglue it
along the top of the wall.

Cut a small piece of

foam core into roughly
an oval shape. Bevel the
edges and cut a groove
in the center. Cut all the
way down to, but not
through, the bottom
layer of card. Make the
groove 0.25 wide to
allow the foam wall to
sit snugly inside.
Place
a
bead
of
construction adhesive
along the groove, and
press the wall into it.
Use the excess adhesive
that squishes out to fill
any gaps and smooth
the join. Now the wall
has a base that prevents
it from tipping over.
To avoid the floating
wall effect, try to get the pink foam to sit flush with the
bottom of the foam core base. To allow the wall sections
to be positioned at 90-degree angles, make sure the base is
centered and cut notches out of the corners of the top piece
of card. As a final touch, add some rivets on the card strips.
Finishing the Wall

Glue some sand to the foam core base, and spray the wall
with Formula P3 Black Primer. Drybrush and flock the base
just as you did with the woods. Drybrush the stone with
Ironhull Grey, then Trollblood Highlight, and finally with
a 50/50 mix of Trollblood Highlight and Morrow White.
(Make sure to keep the drybrushing very dry to avoid filling
in the recesses between each stone.)
To give the wall a dirty and somewhat mossy appearance,
apply a very thin wash of Umbral Umber to the bottom
half; when this dries, drybrush the bottom third with
Traitor Green. Basecoat the metal retaining strips with Pig
Iron. Wash this with a very thin mix of Bloodstone and
Khador Red Highlight to make the
metal appear rusted.

Conclusion

You can add other terrain elements like hills, buildings,

rivers, and lakes to create any battlefield you can imagine.
Dont be afraid to experiment, and above all, have fun!

243

Appendix A: Timing

Step by Step through Attacks, Damage, and Activations

Every ability or effect that is not always on has conditions
dictating when it begins and ends. Situations where multiple
effects resolve at the same time are not uncommon, and it
is important to be able to sort out the order effects resolve.

Example: When a model is slammed, the slam damage is

simultaneous with the collateral damage, so first resolve the
damage roll on every affected model. Then resolve effects
triggered by a damage roll being sufficient or insufficient to
damage them. Finally, apply damage to every affected model.

The rules on timing of abilities use the terms active player

and inactive player. If a model is making an attack, its
controller is the active player. If no model is making an
attack, the active player is the player whose turn it is. In
both cases, the other player is the inactive player. When
resolving effects that occur after the attack is resolved, the
active and inactive players remain the same as during the
attack until all effects triggered by the attack are resolved.
At any time two or more abilities are triggered at the same
time, such as attack hit or end activation, the active
player chooses the order in which abilities on his models
resolve, then the inactive player chooses the order in which
abilities on his models resolve.

Example: A Repenter makes a Flame Thrower spray attack

against some Scrap Thralls. The attack generates several
damage rolls that all resolve simultaneously. Scrap Thralls
destroyed by the attack do not explode due to their Thrall
Bomb ability until after all the attack and damage rolls
generated by the spray attack are resolved.

Some effects cause certain conditions of an attack, such as

whether it hit or what models it boxed, to change during
resolution. When resolving triggered effects, recheck trigger
conditions as you resolve each ability. If a condition is no longer
met, the effect does not resolve. Similarly, if an effect on one
model causes a condition to change on another, effects triggered
by that condition will resolve for each of those models.
Example: A Bloat Thrall has the Death Blast ability, which
causes it to explode when disabled. If it is also affected by
Terminus Shadow of Death, which grants Tough to undead
models, when an enemy model disables it, both Tough and
Death Blast need to resolve as inactive player effects. If you
resolve Death Blast first, the Bloat Thrall will explode and be
removed from play. Tough then does not resolve. If you resolve
Tough first and pass the check, the Bloat Thrall regains one
wound and so is no longer disabled. Death Blast then will not
resolve, as its condition is no longer met. If you fail the Tough
check, Bloat Thrall will remain disabled; the condition of a
disabled model will still be met, and Death Blast will resolve.
There are many times during an attack when abilities can
resolve. The structure of an attack is outlined below. In most
cases the exact sequence shown here does not need to be
followed step by step, but this description will help you
resolve complex interactions if they occur.

Simultaneous and Sequential

When an effect causes multiple attacks or damage against

multiple models, the attacks and damage can be either
simultaneous or sequential. These labels denote whether
various effects can resolve before all the attacks or damage are
resolved or if the effects can intercede, possibly changing the
outcome of the original effect. When resolving simultaneous
effects, completely resolve all attack and damage rolls before
applying any of the targets special rules triggered by suffering
damage, being destroyed, or being removed from play.

244

Example: Captain Haley targets a member of a unit of Knights

Exemplar with Chain Lightning and hits three additional
Knights. Resolve the damage rolls for the four Knights
Exemplar hit by the spell before any of the Knights Exemplar
gain the benefits of their Bond of Brotherhood ability.

At Any Time During This

Models Activation

Many effects and rules state they resolve or can be used at

any time during this models activation. This is not literally
true. The resolution or opportunity for use does occur at any
time during the models activationexcept when it or another
model is resolving a movement, attack, or any other effect.
E xample : Warcasters can cast spells at any time during
their activation. This means Goreshade the Bastard can
cast a spell before and after moving, before and after an
attack, before using his feat, and after placing all models
from his feat. He cannot, however, cast a spell while he is
moving, making an attack, or using his feat to place Bane
Thralls into play.

Activation Timing

1. Resolve effects that occur before activating.

2. Resolve effects that occur at the beginning of

activation.

3. Resolve all required forfeiture of movement and

action.

4. If activating a unit, the unit commander can issue an

order.
5. Resolve effects that occur before moving.
6. The model makes its normal movement.

7. Resolve effects that occur at end of normal

movement.

8. If activating a unit, repeat steps 6 and 7 for all

troopers, then resolve effects that occur at end of
units movement.
9. The model makes its action.

10. Resolve effects that occur at end of action and at end

of combat action.
11. If activating a unit, repeat steps 9 and 10 for all
troopers, then resolve effects that occur at end of
units actions.

Attack Main Sequence

1. Determine what the attacker can target.

2. Resolve effects that occur before attacking.

3. Declare the attack and its target.

4. If the attack is a ranged or magic attack, check the

range to the target. If the target is out of range,
the attack automatically misses; do not make any
attack rolls, and go to step 7.

5. Resolve effects that occur when a model is

targeted by an attack, such as effects that cause an
attack to hit or miss automatically.
6. Make all attack rolls as dictated by the type of
attack and its special rules. For example, a spray
attack would go through the attack roll sequence
for each model in the template before proceeding
to step 7.

Attack Roll

1. Resolve effects that change the number

of dice rolled, such as boosting the roll.
2. Roll the dice.

3. Resolve effects that allow a player to

choose or remove dice from the roll.

4. Determine if the model would be hit or

missed by the attack roll against it.

5. Resolve effects that cause the attack roll

to be rerolled, returning to step 2.

6. The attack roll is complete. Return to the

main sequence.
7. Resolve effects that cause the attack to hit a model
other than the target automatically.
8. Resolve AOE hit or deviation. All models within
the AOE at its final position are now hit by it.
Remember that only the target of the AOE attack
is directly hit, and then only if the attack roll
against it succeeds. All other models are hit but
not directly hit.
9. Resolve all other effects that are triggered by
hitting or missing.

10. Roll all damage rolls against models that have

been hit, or as specified by special rules.

4. Determine if the roll would damage the

model.
5. Resolve effects that cause the damage
roll to be rerolled, returning to step 2.

6. Resolve effects triggered by a damage

roll being sufficient or insufficient to
damage a model.

7. The damage roll is complete. Return to

the main sequence.
11. Apply all damage.

Damage Application
1. Mark damage on the appropriate stat
card.
2. Resolve effects triggered by a model
suffering damage.

3. If the damage applied in step 2 fills

the last damage box for a model, that
model becomes disabled. Resolve
effects triggered by the model becoming
disabled.
4. If the model is still disabled, it becomes
boxed. Resolve effects triggered by a
model becoming boxed.

5. If the model is still boxed, it is destroyed.

Resolved effects triggered by a model
being destroyed.
6. Remove the destroyed model from the
table, then return to the main sequence.

12. The attack is now resolved. After the attack is

resolved:

a. Resolve effects that automatically damage,

destroy, or remove models from play.
b. Resolve active player effects that do not
involve making an attack.
c. Resolve inactive player effects.

d. Resolve active player effects that involve

making an attack.

Damage Roll

1. Resolve effects that change the number

of dice rolled, such as boosting the roll.
2. Roll the dice.

3. Resolve effects that allow a player to

choose or remove dice from the roll.

245

Appendix B: Warjack Bonding

Making a Bond, Breaking a Bond, and Bond Effects
The potent connection shared between a warcaster and
his warjacks can evolve into a powerful bond over time.
Bonding awakens a warjacks cortex, opens it more fully
to its controlling warcaster, and infects it with limited selfawareness. As this connection grows stronger, the warjack
begins to develop a rudimentary personality based on the
characteristics of its warcaster. In essence, the personality of
the warcaster is imprinted on the warjacks cortex.
Since this imprinting tends to take place in moments of
extreme emotional duress such as in the heat of battle, the
effects of bonding are unpredictable. While one bonded
warjack might become protective of its warcaster or act like
a faithful hound, another might take on darker aspects of
its controlling warcasters personality such as relishing the
suffering of others.
Through continuous contact a warcaster learns the subtle
intricacies of the warjacks unique cortex, allowing him to
enhance his control over the machine. An open conduit, the
bonded warjack is in turn able to receive greater amounts of
focus from its controlling warcaster.
Bonding is an optional rule best suited to campaign or
league play, as bonds require time to establish. If all players
agree, however, each can begin a game with one or more
bonded warjacks.

Forging a Bond

After a player completes a campaign or league game, he can

roll to determine if a bond forms between each warcaster
he fielded who survived and each of the remaining
warjacks in that warcasters battlegroup. Warcasters who
were destroyed or removed from play during the game
cannot make bonding checks, but their existing bonds are
unaffected.
The longer a particular warjack has served in a warcasters
battlegroup, the greater the chance a bond will be
established after each game. During league or campaign
play, players should track the number of consecutive battles
in which an unbonded warjack has fought as part of the
same warcasters battlegroup without being destroyed or
removed from play.

When determining if a bond is formed, roll a d6 and add 1

to the roll for each consecutive battle, including the one just
completed, in which the warjack served in that warcasters
battlegroup. A bond is formed on a total roll of 7 or greater.
Established Bond = d6 + 1 for each qualifying battle 7
Failed Bond = d6 + 1 for each qualifying battle < 7
Example: After finishing a campaign battle, Mike rolls to see
if The High Reclaimers unbonded Crusader bonds to him.
Since this was its third game under his control without being
destroyed or removed from play, the bond forms on a roll of 4
or higher.
A warcaster can bond more than one warjack, but
each warjack can bond to only a single warcaster at a
time. Furthermore, once a warjack becomes bonded
to a warcaster, it remains bonded to him until being
destroyed or removed from play; bonded warjacks do
not participate in bonding checks. A bonded warjack
not under the control of its bonding warcaster loses the
benefits of its bond until coming under his control again,
but the bond itself is not broken.

Breaking a Bond

If a bonded warjack ends a game destroyed or removed from

play, its bond is broken. A player can also choose to remove
a bond from a warjack before any game: the warjacks
controlling warcaster has had its cortex reinitialized. Its
bond is broken, and the current game is counted as the first
consecutive game for the warjacks bonding roll bonus.

Effects of Bonding

A bonded warjack can be allocated up to 4 focus points.

Bonding affects each warjack in a unique way as its
personality develops. When a bond is established, roll 2d6
plus the warcasters CMD and consult the corresponding
faction table to determine the effects of the bonding. The
player can modify his die roll by 1 (adding or subtracting)
if he wishes.
Remember that a bonded warjack loses all benefits from its
bond while not under the control of the warcaster to whom
it is bonded.
Bond Effect = 2d6 + CMD (+/1 if desired)

246

Cygnar Bonds
2d6 +
CMD Result
10 or less Craven This warjack gains +2 DEF and can run
without spending focus. It can advance into an
enemy models melee range only if that model is
in the control range of this warjacks controlling
warcaster.

11

Dominator When this warjack makes an attack

against an enemy warjack or warbeast in the control
area of this warjacks controlling warcaster, this
warjack gains +2 to attack and damage rolls against
the enemy model.

12

Invigorated When its controlling warcaster

channels a spell through it, after the spell is cast this
warjack can make a full advance.

13

Combat Positioning At the end of any activation

in which this warjack made at least one attack, it can
advance up to 3 toward its controlling warcaster.

14

Marksman While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack can reroll missed ranged
attack rolls.

15

Heightened Awareness If this warjack begins its

activation in its controlling warcasters control area,
it gains Eyeless Sight
for one round.

Khador Bonds
2d6 +
CMD Result
10 or less Bloodthirsty While in its controlling warcasters
control area, this warjack gains Berserk and cannot
make Chain Attacks. (When a model with Berserk
destroys one or more models with a melee attack
during its combat action, immediately after the
attack is resolved it must make one additional melee
attack against another model in its melee range.
During an activation that this model charges, it
cannot gain additional attacks from Berserk until its
charge attack is resolved.)

11

Appetite for Destruction If this warjack begins its

activation in its controlling warcasters control area,
this activation it can make power attacks without
spending focus and this warjacks first melee attack
each activation must be a power attack. If this
warjack cannot make a power attack, it must make
initial melee attacks for its combat action instead.

12

Irresistible Force Models slammed by this model

are moved +2. While in its controlling warcasters
control area, this warjack can power attack slam
without spending focus.

13

Indomitable If this warjack begins a charge or

a power attack slam or trample in its controlling
warcasters control area, it gains Pathfinder
during its activation. While in its controlling
warcasters control area, this warjack gains +2 on
trample attack rolls.

14

Demolisher While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack can reroll missed charge
and power attack rolls.

2d6 +
CMD Result

16

Anchor While this warjack is in its controlling

warcasters control area, this warjack and friendly
warrior models B2B with it cannot be knocked
down.

17

Protective While B2B with this warjack, its

controlling warcaster gains +2 DEF against melee
attack rolls and cannot be knocked down. While B2B
with its controlling warcaster, this warjack does not
move when slammed.

18

Psychically Attuned This warjacks controlling

warcaster can upkeep spells cast on it without
spending focus and ignores LOS when targeting it
with spells.

19

Nexus This warjacks controlling warcaster can

allocate focus points to it during his activation.
Additionally, during that warcasters activation,
you can remove any number of focus points from
this warjack and place them on him. The warcaster
cannot exceed his current FOCUS in focus points as
a result of this bond.

20+

Extended Control This warjack gains Extended

Control Range. (When checking to see if a model
with Extended Control Range is in its controllers
control area, double the area.)

2d6 +
CMD Result

15

Dominator When this warjack makes an attack

against an enemy warjack or warbeast in the control
area of this warjacks controlling warcaster, this
warjack gains +2 to attack and damage rolls against
the enemy model.

16

All Terrain If it begins its activation in its

controlling warcasters control area, this warjack
gains Pathfinder
this activation.

17

Rassler While in its controlling warcasters control

area, this warjack can make headlock/weapon lock,
head-butt, throw, and double-hand throw power
attacks without spending focus and cannot be
knocked down or moved by a push or slam power
attack made by a model with a smaller base.

18

Unstoppable While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack cannot be knocked down
or made stationary. If it begins its activation in its
controlling warcasters control area, this activation
this warjack can run or charge even if its Movement
system is crippled.

19

Rain Shadow While this warjack is in its

controlling warcasters control area, friendly warrior
models B2B with it do not suffer blast damage.

20+

Corrective Firing When AOE ranged attacks made

by this warjack deviate while it is in its controlling
warcasters control area, it can reroll the direction
and/or distance of deviation.

247

Appendix B: Warjack Bonding

Protectorate Bonds
2d6 +
CMD Result
10 or less Extended Control This warjack gains Extended
Control Range. (When checking to see if a model
with Extended Control Range is in its controllers
control area, double the area.)

11

Demolisher While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack can reroll missed charge
and power attack rolls.

12

Corrective Firing When AOE ranged attacks made

by this warjack deviate while it is in its controlling
warcasters control area, it can reroll the direction
and/or distance of deviation.

13

Wrathful When a model in its battlegroup is

targeted by an enemy attack, this warjack gains +2 to
attack and damage rolls for one round.

14

Dominator When this warjack makes an attack

against an enemy warjack or warbeast in the control
area of this warjacks controlling warcaster, this
warjack gains +2 to attack and damage rolls against
the enemy model.

15

Rain Shadow While this warjack is in its

controlling warcasters control area, friendly warrior
models B2B with it do not suffer blast damage.

Cryx Bonds
2d6 +
CMD Result
10 or less Bloodthirsty While in its controlling warcasters
control area, this warjack gains Berserk and cannot
make Chain Attacks. (When a model with Berserk
destroys one or more models with a melee attack
during its combat action, immediately after the
attack is resolved it must make one additional melee
attack against another model in its melee range.
During an activation that this model charges, it
cannot gain additional attacks from Berserk until its
charge attack is resolved.)

248

11

Man Killer While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack can reroll missed attack
rolls against living enemy models.

12

Blood Hunter When this warjack destroys one or

more living enemy models with a melee attack while
in its controlling warcasters control area, after the
attack is resolved this warjack can advance up to 1.

13

Craven This warjack gains +2 DEF and can run

without spending focus. It can advance into an
enemy models melee range only if that model is
in the control range of this warjacks controlling
warcaster.

14

All Terrain If it begins its activation in its

controlling warcasters control area, this warjack
gains Pathfinder
this activation.

15

Hound When this warjacks controlling warcaster

destroys one or more enemy models with melee or
ranged attacks during its activation, at the end of its
activation this warjack can immediately advance up to 3.

2d6 +
CMD Result

16

Protective While B2B with this warjack, its

controlling warcaster gains +2 DEF against melee
attack rolls and cannot be knocked down. While B2B
with its controlling warcaster, this warjack does not
move when slammed.

17

Arcane Defenses If it is in its controlling

warcasters control range during your Maintenance
Phase, continuous effects and enemy upkeep spells
on this warjack automatically expire.

18

Anchor While this warjack is in its controlling

warcasters control area, this warjack and friendly
warrior models B2B with it cannot be knocked down.

19

Defensive This model gains Shield Guard. (Once

per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by
a ranged attack during your opponents turn and
this model is within 2 of the friendly model hit,
this model can become the target of the attack and
be automatically hit instead. This model cannot use
, knocked down,
Shield Guard if it is incorporeal
or stationary.)

20+

Psychically Attuned This warjacks controlling

warcaster can upkeep spells cast on it without
spending focus and ignores LOS when targeting it
with spells.

2d6 +
CMD Result

16

Invigorated When its controlling warcaster

channels a spell through it, after the spell is cast this
warjack can make a full advance.

17

Nexus This warjacks controlling warcaster can

allocate focus points to it during his activation.
Additionally, during that warcasters activation,
you can remove any number of focus points from
this warjack and place them on him. The warcaster
cannot exceed his current FOCUS in focus points as
a result of this bond.

18

Predator If it begins its activation in its controlling

warcasters control area, this activation this warjack
can charge, power attack slam, and power attack
trample without spending focus. If it charges,
power attack slams a living model, or power attack
tramples during its activation it gains +2 SPD this
activation.

19

Prowler If this warjack begins its activation in its

controlling warcasters control area, it gains Prowl
for one round. (While within a terrain feature that
provides concealment, the AOE of a spell that
provides concealment, or the AOE of a cloud effect, a
model with Prowl gains Stealth
.)

20+

Heightened Awareness If this warjack begins its

activation in its controlling warcasters control area,
it gains Eyeless Sight
for one round.

Retribution Bonds
2d6 +
CMD Result
10 or less Wrathful When a model in its battlegroup is
targeted by an enemy attack, this warjack gains +2 to
attack and damage rolls for one round.

2d6 +
CMD Result

16

Extended Control This warjack gains Extended

Control Range. (When checking to see if a model
with Extended Control Range is in its controllers
control area, double the area.)

11

Demolisher While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack can reroll missed charge
and power attack rolls.

17

12

Anchor While this warjack is in its controlling

warcasters control area, this warjack and friendly
warrior models B2B with it cannot be knocked down.

Heightened Awareness If this warjack begins its

activation in its controlling warcasters control area,
it gains Eyeless Sight
for one round.

18

13

All Terrain If it begins its activation in its

controlling warcasters control area, this warjack
gains Pathfinder
this activation.

Arcane Defenses If it is in its controlling

warcasters control range during your Maintenance
Phase, continuous effects and enemy upkeep spells
on this warjack automatically expire.

19

Psychically Attuned This warjacks controlling

warcaster can upkeep spells cast on it without
spending focus and ignores LOS when targeting it
with spells.

20+

14

15

Protective While B2B with this warjack, its

controlling warcaster gains +2 DEF against melee
attack rolls and cannot be knocked down. While B2B
with its controlling warcaster, this warjack does not
move when slammed.
Mage Killer While in its controlling warcasters
control area, this warjack can reroll attack and
damage rolls against enemy spellcasters and models
with enemy upkeep spells on them. Each roll can be
rerolled only once as a result of this bond.

Mercenary Bonds
2d6 +
CMD Result
10 or less Bloodthirsty While in its controlling warcasters
control area, this warjack gains Berserk and cannot
make Chain Attacks. (When a model with Berserk
destroys one or more models with a melee attack
during its combat action, immediately after the
attack is resolved it must make one additional melee
attack against another model in its melee range.
During an activation that this model charges, it
cannot gain additional attacks from Berserk until its
charge attack is resolved.)

11

12

Appetite for Destruction If this warjack begins its

activation in its controlling warcasters control area,
this activation it can make power attacks without
spending focus and this warjacks first melee attack
each activation must be a power attack. If this
warjack cannot make a power attack, it must make
initial melee attacks for its combat action instead.
Craven This warjack gains +2 DEF and can run
without spending focus. It can advance into an
enemy models melee range only if that model is
in the control range of this warjacks controlling
warcaster.

13

Hound When this warjacks controlling warcaster

destroys one or more enemy models with melee or
ranged attacks during its activation, at the end of its
activation this warjack can immediately advance up
to 3.

14

Dominator When this warjack makes an attack

against an enemy warjack or warbeast in the control

Field Booster When this warjack spends focus to

remove a damage point from its field damage track
while in its controlling warcasters control area, the
warcaster heals 1 damage point. When its controlling
warcaster spends focus to heal a damage point
while this warjack is in his control area, this warjack
removes 1 damage point from its field damage track
unless its field generator is currently disabled.

2d6 +
CMD Result
area of this warjacks controlling warcaster, this
warjack gains +2 to attack and damage rolls against
the enemy model.

15

Demolisher While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this warjack can reroll missed charge
and power attack rolls.

16

All Terrain If it begins its activation in its

controlling warcasters control area, this warjack
gains Pathfinder
this activation.

17

Combat Positioning At the end of any activation

in which this warjack made at least one attack, it can
advance up to 3 toward its controlling warcaster.

18

Corrective Firing When AOE ranged attacks made

by this warjack deviate while it is in its controlling
warcasters control area, it can reroll the direction
and/or distance of deviation.

19

Playin Possum While in its controlling warcasters

control area, this model gains Feign Death. (A model
with Feign Death cannot be targeted by ranged or
magic attacks while knocked down.)

20

Prowler If this warjack begins its activation in its

controlling warcasters control area, it gains Prowl
for one round. (While within a terrain feature that
provides concealment, the AOE of a spell that
provides concealment, or the AOE of a cloud effect, a
model with Prowl gains Stealth
.)

249

Rules Index
abilities, 36
attack-generating, 6061
range of (RNG), 35
Abomination advantage, 33, 84
actions, 4849
and fleeing, 85
forfeiting, 65
out of formation, 71
and knocked down models, 6364
and stationary models, 64
Activation Phase, 42
and channeling, 79
forfeiting, 65
timing, 244
active/inactive player, 244
additional attacks, 49
spending focus for, 49, 73, 75
additional dice, 28
advancing, 4647: charge, full advance, run
and entering an area, 64
and fleeing, 85
out of formation, 71
and stationary models, 64
Advance Deployment advantage, 33
advantages, 3334: Abomination, Advance
Deployment, Arc Node, Combined
Melee Attack, Combined Ranged Attack,
Commander, Construct, Eyeless Sight,
Fearless, Gunfighter, Incorporeal, Jack
Marshal, Officer, Pathfinder, Standard Bearer,
Stealth, Terror, Tough, Undead
affinities, 82
aiming bonus, 57, 63
allies, 80
allocate, 7475
animi, animus, 63, 64

Animi are the spell-like abilities

utilized by warbeasts in HORDES.

army list entry, 32

army points, 38
attachments, 32, 71
attack rolls
additional dice on, 28
for AOE attacks, 59
automatic hit/miss, 61
and back strike, 61
boosting, 73, 75
for charges, 47, 82
for combined attacks, 62
for critical effects, 6869
vs. damage roll, 50
and Gunfighter, 63
and Incorporeal, 34
for magic attacks, 7778, 83
for melee attacks, 33, 51
for Mounts, 81
for ranged attacks, 5658
for spray attacks, 60
rerolling, 65
timing, 245
attacks
additional, 49, 73, 75
AOE, 5860
combined melee or ranged, 62
and fleeing, 85
out of formation, 71
impact, 82
and knocked down models, 63
magic, 7579
melee, 5056, 8182
normal, 4849
power, 5156
ranged, 5660
ride-by, 81
sequence of, 244
special, 36, 49, 61
spray, 58, 60, 256
timing, 245
types, 5060: magic, melee, ranged
automatic
effects, 68
hit/miss, 61
autonomous warjacks, 80

apocalypse encounter level, 38

arc nodes, see also channeling
Arc Node advantage, 33
and battlegroup commanders, 74
crippled, 66
arcs, front and back, 37
area of effect (AOE), 35
of spells, 77

B2B, 46
back arcs, 37
back strikes, 61, 77
base stats, 33
of knocked down models, 63

area-of-effect (AOE) attack, 5860

blast damage roll for, 59
damage point of origin, 64
deviation, 5960
direct hit, 59
templates, 255256

bases
base-to-base, B2B, 46
contact, 46
overlapping, 64
and replacing models, 64
sizes, 37
and volume, 43

arm locks. see weapon locks

battlefield, 40, 86

arm systems, and crippled, 66

battlegroups, 39

Armor (ARM), 33

battlegroup commanders, 74
reactivating inert warjacks, 68

armies
building, 38
versions of models in, 83

250

away from vs. directly away from, 48

battle royale encounter level, 38

beyond the play area, 64

blast damage
roll, 59
and structures, 89
template, 255
and trenches, 88
bonds, 82, 246
epic, 83
bonejacks, 31
bonuses
aiming, 57, 63
back strike, 61
Buckler, 35
cavalry charge, 82
for combined attacks, 62
concealment, 57
cover, 58
and crippled system, 66
and current stats, 63
free strike, 51
and inert warjack, 67
overboosting power field, 74
Shield, 36
warjack points, 38
boosting rolls, 28, 73,75
boxed, disabled, and destroyed, 6668
Buckler, 35, 66
buildings, 89
can, cannot, must, 29
cavalry, 8182
charging with, 8182
dragoons, 82
light cavalry, 82
Mount weapon, 81
special rules, 81: ride-by attack, Tall in the
Saddle
channeling, 79, see also arc nodes
and control area, 75
and knocked down models, 63
characters, 39
epic, 83
units, 39
warjacks, 82
charging, 46
outside activation, 47
attacks, 47
with cavalry, 8182
successful/failed, 47
checks
command, 71, 84
skill, 49
warjack bonding, 246
cloud effects, 69. 78
combat
actions, 48
and cloud effects, 69
damage, 65
melee, 51
overview, 51
ranged, 56
special effects, 68
special situations, 60
combined melee attacks, 62
advantage, 33
damage roll for, 62
primary attacker, 62

combined ranged attacks, 62

advantage, 33
damage roll for, 62
primary attacker, 62
Command (CMD), 33
command checks, 84
out of formation, 71
Commander advantage, 33, 74, 84
command range, 84
concealment, 57
and cloud effects, 69
and magic rolls, 78
conflicting rules, 29
Construct advantage, 33, 73
contact, 46
continuous effects, 69
immunities to, 3435
control
and affinities, 82
and battlegroup commanders, 74
of friendly and enemy models, 28
and jack marshals, 80
of mercenary warjacks, 83
and weapon crews, 71
control areas, 75
and AOE, 77
and channeling, 79
and focus point allocation, 74
and RNG, 76
and upkeep spells, 78
Control Phase, 42
Corrosion/Critical Corrosion, 69
Cortex and crippled Cortex, 66
and focus allocation, 73
COST, 76
cover, 5758
and magic attack rolls, 78
and wreck markers, 67

comparing to ARM, 65
with crippled weapons systems, 66
and critical effects, 68
direct hit on, 59, 60
multiple, 244
rerolling, 65
resolving with simultaneous effects, 244
simultaneous, marking, 66
damage rolls, in specific cases
for AOE attacks, 59
blast, 59
for collapsed structures, 89
for collateral damage, slam, 53
for collateral damage, throw, 55
for combined melee attacks, 62
for combined ranged attacks, 62
for direct damage, 65
for falling, 63
for Fire continuous effect, 69
for head-butts, 52
and knocked down models, 63
for magic attacks, 65, 77
for melee, 65
of a Mount, 81
for pushes, 52
for ranged weapons, 56, 65
for slams, 53
for spray attacks, 60
for throws, 54
for tramples, 56
Defense (DEF), 33
deployment, deployment zones, 4041
destroyed
boxed, disabled, and, 6668
and removed from play/the table, 67
and returning to play, 68
warcaster, 67
warjacks and wreck markers, 67
deviation
of AOE attacks, 5960
template, 255

continuous, 69
critical, 68
targeting units, 72
shaking, 73, 75
elevation
elevated attacker, 78
elevated target, 78
and falling, 63
hills, 88
and line of sight (LOS), 43, 44
and melee range, 51
elite cadre, 82
encounter levels, 38: apocalypse, battle royale,
duel, grand melee, skirmish, war
enemy vs. friendly, 28
engaged, engaging, 51
channelers, 79
and knocked down models, 63
and stationary models, 64
entering an area, 64
entryways, 89
epic models, 8283
epic warcaster bonding, 83, 246
excuses, 5
Eyeless Sight advantage, 34
facing
and directly facing, 37
with rule of least disturbance, 64
Faction, 29
falling, 63
damage roll, 63
and overlapping bases, 64
Fearless advantage, 34, 85
feats, 36
and knocked down models, 63
and stationary models, 64
field allowance (FA), 3940

crippled/non-crippled systems, 66: Arc Node,

Cortex, Field Generator, Movement, Weapon,
no longer crippled

dice, 28
additional, 28
d3 and d6, 28
reroll, 65
shorthand, 28

critical effects, critical hits, 68

direct hits, 51, 64, 77

first player, 40

current
controller, 28
stats, 33

directly
away from and directly toward, 48
facing, 37

fleeing, 85
out of formation, 71

d3, d6, 28

disabled, boxed, and destroyed, 66

healing while, 68
and leaving play, 67
no longer disabled, 66

focus points
allocating, 73, 74
and autonomous warjacks, 80
and bonded warjacks, 246
and channeler, 79
in teh Control Phase, 42
and COST, 76
and crippled Cortex, 66
and crippled Field Generator, 66
FOCUS stat, 33, 74
how to represent, 75
in the Maintenance Phase, 42
manipulation, 74
removing, 42
replenishing, 42, 74
spending, 73, 75, 82
unspent, 74

damage
capacity, 36
healing/removing/repairing, 68
marking, 65
point of origin of AOE, 59
timing, 245
types of, 68: cold, corrosion, electrical, fire
damage grid, 3637, 65, 73
damage boxes, 3637, 65
marking, 65
system boxes, 3637, 66
unmarked, 66
first X box on, 66
force fields, 66
wounds, 36, 65
damage rolls
additional die with, 53, 54, 63, 65
boosted, 65

dismounted, 82
disputes, resolving, 30
double-hand throw, 55
being thrown, 54
damage, 54
and deviation, 55
dragoons, 82
drive, 80
duel encounter level, 38
duration, 29, 42
effects
automatic, 68

Field Generator system, and crippled, 66

field promotion, 72
Fire/Critical Fire, 69

Focus Manipulation, 42

force fields, 66
Forces of WARMACHINE books, 80, 83

251

Rules Index
forfeiting, 6465, 71
for one round, 42
forests, 8788
formation
and activating units, 4243
and cavalry attacks, 8182
and combined attacks, 62
and command check, 84
in/out formation, 7172
rand placement, 48
and rallying, 85
receiving orders, 72
and standard bearer, 70
free-for-all games, 40
free strikes, 51
and Gunfighter, 63
resolving against trampler, 56
friendly vs. enemy, 28
front arc, 37
full advance, 46
gaining dice, 28
game rounds, 42
grand melee encounter level, 38
granted, 28
Grunts, 70
field promotion, 72
Gunfighter advantage, 34, 63

intervening terrain, 45, 51

obstructions, obstacles, 87
Iron Kingdoms, 27, 9495
jacks, see warjacks
Jack Marshal advantage, 34, 80
and mercenary warjacks, 83
reactivating inert warjacks, 68
knocked down, 63
channeler, 79
standing up, 64
target, 78
Leader, 70
field promotion, 72
and unit commander, 71
least disturbance, rule of, 64
leave play, 6768
light cavalry, 82
linear obstacles, 87
line of sight (LOS), 4345
and channeling spells, 79
and cloud effects, 69
and focus point allocation, 74
and knocked down models, 63
and point of origin, 64

half (of a stat), 28

living models, 31
non-living (Construct, Undead), 34

hazards, 52, 88

location (L/R/H/), 35

Head system, and crippled, 66

Magic Abilities, 83

head-butt, 52

magic attacks, 7579

headlock, 5152
and knocked down models, 63
and Open Fist, 73
helljacks, 31

magic attack rolls, 77

for Magic Ability special attacks, 83
modifiers, 7778: back strike, cloud effect,
concealment, cover, elevated target, elevated
attacker, knocked down target, stationary
target, target in melee

hills, 88

magic damage, 65, 77

hit

Magical Weapon, 36
and Incorporeal, 68

healing, 68

automatic, 61
direct, 64, 77

Maintenance Phase, 42

HORDES, 27, 31, 95

markers, 67, 90

hulls, 66

massive casualties, 84

immunities, 3435, 68: Cold, Corrosion,

Electricity, Fire, continuous effects

materials needed for play, 27

impact attacks, 8182

impassable terrain, 86
imprints, 82
Incorporeal advantage, 34
and magical weapons, 68
independent models, 31, 74: solos, warcasters,
warjacks
inert warjacks, 6768, 80
initial attacks
and Gunfighter, 63
with light cavalry, 82
and locked weapons, 52
with melee weapons, 48, 50
with ranged weapons, 49, 56

252

intervening models, 43
and cavalry charge, 81
and knocked down models, 63

maximum range, 30
measuring
command range, 84
control area, 75
deviation, 5960
distance, 30
melee range, 50
movement, 46
for ranged attack, 56
spell range, 76, 77
a throw, 54
tools, 27
within vs. completely within, 30
melee
additional attacks, 50
attack modifiers, 51
attack rolls, 51, 63
and cavalry, 81

and cloud effects, 69

damage rolls, 50
and elevation, 51
engaged, 51
free strikes, 51
and knocked down models, 63
Melee Attack (MAT), 32
power attacks, 5156
range, 5051
and stationary models, 64
targeting a model in, 58, 78
mercenaries
and allies, 80
contracts, 38
and field allowance (FA), 40
warcasters, warjacks, 83
miss
AOE attack, 59
automatic, 34, 61, 77
combined attack, 62
melee attack, 51, 58
and range, 35, 5657
rerolls, 65
spells, 7778
spray attack, 60
models
activating, 42
entries, 32
field allowance (FA), 3940
independent, 31
intervening, 4344
living, 31
point cost, 39
stationary, 64
types, 31: solos, troopers, warcasters,
warjacks
volume, 43
warrior, 31
model statistics (stats), 3233: ARM, Armor;
CMD, Command; DEF, Defense; FOCUS,
Focus; MAT, Melee Attack; RAT, Ranged
Attack; SPD, Speed; STR, Strength
Mounts, 81
movement
advancing, 46
beyond the play area, 64
and facing, 46
forfeiting, 65
and knocked down models, 63
measuring, 46
modifiers to, 46
Movement system, and crippled, 66
normal, 46
penalties, 48
restrictions, 48
unit movement, 72
multiplayer games
formats, 40: free-for-all, team
scenarios:
Basic Battle, 90
Mangled Metal, Mosh Pit, 92
multiple spell effects, 79
must, 29
myrmidons, 31
names, 2829, 82, 83
objective markers, 90
obstacles, 8789
obstructions, 8789

offensive spells, 77

record sharing, 30

Officer advantage, 34
and drives, 80
and field promotion, 72
issuing orders, 72

reference objects for LOS, 43

Open Fist, 36
and locks, 51, 73
and power attacks, 51, 73
open terrain, 86
orders, 36
issuing orders, 72
and fleeing, 85
out of formation, 71
and knocked down models, 63
and ride-by attacks, 81
and stationary models, 64
origin of damage, see point of origin
overboosting a power field, 74
Pathfinder advantage, 34
penalties
and charging, 46
movement, 48
for obstacles, 87
for rough terrain, 86
with spray attacks, 60
for targeting a model in melee, 58
phases of the turn, 42
placing, 48
beyond the play area, 64
play materials, 27
point cost, 3839
point of impact
of AOE magic attacks, 77
and deviation, 5960
of a throw, 54

removed from play, 67

and returning to play, 68
removed from the table, 67
and returned to play, 68
repairing warjacks, 68
and wreck marker, 67
replacing models, 64

Speed (SPD), 32
modifiers to, 46

rerolls, 65

spellcasters, 75

resolving attack, 245

spells, 7579
Arc Node advantage, 79
attacking a structure with, 77
casting, 77
casting while out of formation, 71
channeling, 79
and fleeing, 85
magic attack, 77
multiple effects, 79
point of origin of channeled, 79
point of origin of normal, 75
range, measuring for, 77
and stationary models, 64
stats, 7677: *, Area of Effect, COST,
Offensive, Power, Range, Upkeep
targeting, 78
targeting a model in melee, 58, 78
targeting restrictions, 77, 78
targeting units, 72
upkeep, 78

return to play, 68
ride-by attacks, 81
rough terrain, 86
rounds, 42
rounding, 28: distances, numbers
rule priority, 29
rule of least disturbance, 64
rules issues, resolving, 30
running, 46
scenarios, 40, 9093
multiplayer, 90, 92
objective markers, 90
random determination of, 90
specific
Basic Battle, 90
Break the Line, 91
Killing Field, 91
Mangled Metal, 92
Mosh Pit, 92
No Mans Land, 93
Throw Down, 93
shake effects, 73, 75

Power (POW), 35, 76

Shield, 36
and crippled system, 66
on inert warjacks, 67

power fields, 74
Power plus Strength (P+S), 35
primary attacker of combined attacks, 62
priority, 29
push, being pushed, 52
rallying, 85
range
measuring, 56
and point of origin, 64
Range (RNG) stat, 35, 36, 76
ranged attacks
and concealment and cover, 57
declaring target, 56
maximum number in an activation (ROF), 56
modifying ranged attack rolls, 57
Ranged Attack (RAT), 33
ranged attack rolls, 5657
targeting a model in melee, 78
ranged weapons, 56
rate of fire (ROF), 35, 56
Reach, 36, 50
reactivating warjacks, 68, 80, 82

special rules
precedence, 29
of warcasters, 7475
of warjacks, 7374

replenishing focus points, 42, 74

point of origin
of AOE damage, 59
of attack or effect, 64
power attacks, 5156. 73

special effects
automatic, 68
continuous, 69: resolving, and upkeep,
Corrosion, Fire
critical, 6869: and AOE attack, Critical
Corrosion, Critical Fire, critical hit

sharing information, 30

simultaneous, 244
AOE attacks, 59
continuous effects, 69
damage to force fields, 66
damage with slam, 53
damage with throw, 5455
fall damage, 63
multiple attacks/damage rolls, 65
spray attack, 60
trample attacks, 56

sportsmanship, 5, 30
spray attacks, 60
boosting, 60
that miss, 58
and terrain, 60
template, 256
Stall, 33
Standard Bearer advantage, 34
standing up, 64
starting roll, 40
stats
bars, 3233
base vs. current, 33
cards, 32
continuous effects, 69
model, 3233
modifying, 33
weapon, 35

skill check, 49

stationary, 64
channeler, 79
targets, 78

skill value, 49

steamjacks, 31, see also warjacks

skirmish encounter level, 38

Stealth advantage, 34

slam
attack, 52
being slammed, 53
damage, 53
damage, collateral, 53
and knocked down models, 63
and overlapping bases, 64
successful, 52

Strength (STR), 32

solos, 31
special actions (Haction), 36, 49

structures, 8889
systems and crippled systems, 66: Arc Node,
Cortex, Field Generator, Head, Left Arm,
Movement, Right Arm
system boxes, 3637
table, 40
beyond the table edge, 64
tactics, 71

special attacks (Hattack), 36

253

Rules Index
Tall in the Saddle, 81
targets
elevated, 78
stationary, 64, 78
switching, 65
unit vs. model/unit, 72
targeting a model in melee, 58
and point of origin, 64
team games, 40
templates, 255256
terrain, 8689
details to discuss, 86
elevated, attacker/target on, 78
as spell target, 77
types, 86: impassable, open, rough
wreck markers, 67
terrain features, 8689
elevation, 4344
entryways, 89
forest, 8788
hills, 88
linear obstacles, 87
obstacles, obstructions, 87
structures, 8889
trenches, 88
variably sized, 87
water (deep, and shallow), 88
terrifying entities, 8485
Terror advantage, 34, 8485
theme forces, 83
throw
attack, 5354
being thrown, 54
damage, 5455
and overlapping bases, 64
timing, 244245
tokens
for model destruction, 63
soul, 67
Tough advantage, 34
toward vs. directly toward, 48
trample, 5556
trenches, 88
troopers, 3132
activating, 42
cavalry, 8182
charging, 47
combined attacks, 62
command check, 84
damage capacity, 36
fleeing, 85
in/out of formation, 7272, 84
making a ride-by attack, 81
models, 7071
movement, 72
orders, 72
placed, 48
rallying, 85
running, 46
turn order, 40
two-player games, 40
scenarios, 9093
Undead advantage, 34
unit attachments, 32, 71
tactics, 71

254

unit components, 3132, 70

attachments, 32: unit attachments, weapon
attachments
Grunts, 32, 70
Leaders, 32, 70
Officers, 32, 70
standard bearers, 70
troopers, 31, 70
unit commanders, 32, 70
weapon crews, 71
units
activating, 31, 42
in an army list, 3840
cavalry, 81
character, 39
charging, 72
combined melee and ranged attacks, 62
command checks, 84
control, 28
deployment, 40
as effect/spell targets, 72
FA, field allowance, 3940
fleeing, 85
in and out of formation, 32, 7172, 84
and Jack Marshal, 80
leader or unit commander replacement, 70
massive casualties, 84
moving, 72
multiple spells or animi, 79
orders, 72
point cost of, 32, 39
profile, 32
rallying, 85
returning models to play, 68
ride-by attack, 81
tactics, 71
targeting, 72
and terrifying entities, 84
in theme forces, 83
and upkeep spells, 78
upkeep spells, 67, 78
victory conditions, 41
volume, 43
warcaster special rules,
affinities, 82
allocating focus points, 74
Battlegroup Commander, 74
casting spells, 77
Commander, 33, 74
control area, 75
destruction, 67
epic, 83
Fearless, 34, 74
feats, 36, 74
and focus, 74
FOCUS stat, 33, 74, 75,
mercenary, 83
power field overboost, 74
special rules, 7475
Spellcaster, 75
spending focus, 75
theme forces, 83
Warjack Bond, 83
war encounter level, 38
warjack bonds, 83, 246
Cryx, 248
Cygnar, 247
Khador, 247
Mercenary, 249
Protectorate, 248
Retribution, 249

warjacks, 73
autonomous, 80
base size, 31
bonding, 83, 246
channeling, 79
character, 82: affinities, bonding, imprints
Construct advantage, 73
damage grid, 3637, 6566
destruction, 67
force fields, 66
jack marshals, 80
inert, 67
mercenary, 83
points, 38
reactivating inert, 68
repairing, 68
restarting, 88
special rules, 65, 73
systems, 66
and trample, 5556, 73
types, 31: bonejacks, heavy, helljacks, light,
myrmidons
volume, 43
in water, 88
warlocks, 31
warriors, 31
base size, 37
in deep water, 88
restarting warjacks, 88
volume, 43
water (deep/shallow), 88
weapon attachments, 71
weapon crews, 71
weapon locations, 35, 66
weapon locks, 5152
and knocked down models, 63
and Open Fist, 73
Weapon Master, 36,
weapon qualities, 3536: Buckler, Continuous
Effect: Corrosion, Continuous Effect: Fire,
Critical Fire, Damage Type: Cold, Damage
Type: Corrosion, Damage Type: Electricity,
Damage Type: Fire, Magical Weapon, Open
Fist, Reach, Shield, Weapon Master
weapon statistics, 35
AOE, Area of Effect, 35
L/R/H/, Location, 35
P+S, Power plus Strength, 35
POW, Power, 35
RNG, Range, 35
ROF, Rate of Fire, 35
weapon systems, 66
and Buckler, 35
crippled, 66
locked, 52
and Shield, 36
whining, 5
within vs. completely within, 30
wounds, 36, 65
wreck markers, 67
x2, 35
you and yours, 28

TEMPLATES

DIRECTION
OF ATTACK

3 B
LAST
4 BLAST
5 BLAST

BLAST

WRECK MARKERS
Photocopy these templates for your personal use.
255

TEMPLATES

SPRAY

TRENCH
6 SPRAY

8 SPRAY

WALL

Photocopy these templates for your personal use.

256

10 SPRAY

SPINE