Initiate Tristan Durant

Template:Protbox This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Initiate Tristan Durant is quite young and far from mastery, his face still bare of the mask of authority worn by full priests and his warcaster armor an unfamiliar burden. Yet Tristan stands ready to lead his battlegroup in defense against any who threaten the faithful of Menoth. He is gifted with the ability to see beyond the physical and intends to relentlessly pursue those deemed heretics or blasphemers. Once this warrior of the creator locates his quarry, he will not hesitate to cleanse the battlefield of them with the might of his blessed warjacks and holy fire.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Battlegroup Controller
• Template:True Sight

Weapons

• Battle Staff - 2" reach, P+S 11 melee weapon.
  • Template:Magical Damage
  • Template:Blessed

Spells

{{Category: Template:FortifyTemplate:Immolation }}[[Category: Template:FortifyTemplate:Immolation ]]

Theme Forces

• Protectorate
  • Template:The Creator's Might. He gains Reposition [3] in this theme. He can also begin the game with Fortify in play (but still needs to pay its cost turn 1)
  • Template:The Faithful Masses

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Feora is leading the army.

Thoughts on Durant1

Durant1 in a nutshell

Initiate Tristan Durant is basically a 2 point upgrade to any one jack you want him to run. You give up Battlegroup bonuses for +2 ARM and less focus strain on your caster, so he will want often want to run a heavy, potentially one with a gun that needs a focus investment.

In the late game throwing him in to use his spear (especially if his Jack is dead) is probably the best use for him, his zap isn't much to write home about.

Combos & Synergies

Durant runs one to two jacks, always supported by the Choir of Menoth.

• Vigilant - Because no one likes facing this guy with an ARM-buff.
• Crusader - Cheap heavy to load with Focus.
• Redeemer - Durant can afford to give it the focus it wants.
• Templar - Durant and a Templar under Fortify can happily sit on a zone at ARM 23 and Immovable forcing your opponent to deal with them directly.
• Indictor - With its native Sacred Ward, you don't need the Choir to put Shielding on it, and it becomes more difficult to remove Fortify from it.
• Devout - armour on a shield guard is handy, as is spell immunity if you plan to stay in base contact anyway.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Big target with little defensive tech. And if you lose him, his warjacks go inert.
• With the changes in mk3 making it much easier for warcasters to run large battlegroups, models that take warjacks outside of the caster's battlegroup need to bring something really nifty (to offset the points cost, the loss of battlegroup buff spells from the main warcaster, and the risk of the controller dying and leaving jacks autonomonous/inert). Tristan does not have anything particularly nifty.
• His offensive spell is really poor value for the amount you spend when you need dice +4 to hit anything.

Tricks & Tips

• It can be tempting to B2B your fortified warjack for the ARM bonus, but be careful that doesn't lead you to being splattered by AOEs and or Electro-Leaps that target the warjack.

Other

Trivia

File:Durant1-ks.jpg

Kickstarter Exclusive sculpt

• Durant is one of the journeyman warcasters released as part of the WARMACHINE: Tactics videogame Kickstarter (2014)
• His rules were published in Warmachine: Vengeance expansion (2014)
• He has some backstory in the ebook anthology Rites of Passage, 2014.04, alongside the other Journeymen released in the Tactics game.
• There was a limited edition sculpt available for Kickstarter backers. There is now a non-limited sculpt for general purchase.
• He is of Llaelese origin.