Hand of Silence

The Hand of Silence rides alongside the armies of the Great Crusade, but his path is set by Menoth’s will. On his steed Alban, he thunders over the battlefield, directing the spirits of the faithful to their place in the City of Man. As a widely recognized member of the Reclaimant Order, he stands ready to scorch unbelievers or strike them down with his weapon, Usher. The Hand of Silence cares little for the fate of these misguided souls.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Assault
• Template:Cavalry
• Template:Ashen Veil
• Template:Direct Spirits
• Template:Reposition 3
• Template:Gatekeeper
  • Template:Grave Resonance
  • Template:Soul-Powered
  • Template:Strength of Death

Weapons

• Flame Thrower - 8" spray, POW 12 ranged attack
  • Template:Continuous Fire
  • Template:Fire Damage
• Usher - 2" reach, POW 7, P+S 14 melee attack.
  • Template:Continuous Fire
  • Template:Magical Damage
• Mount - 0.5" reach, POW 12 mount attack.

Theme Forces

• Protectorate
  • Template:Exemplar Interdiction
  • Template:Guardians of the Temple
  • Template:Si
  • Template:The Faithful Masses
  • Template:Warriors of the Old Faith. He gains Line Breaker in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can take this unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Feora is leading the army.
  • Khador players can take this unit in the Template:Warriors of the Old Faith theme. He gains Line Breaker in this theme.

Thoughts on Hand of Silence

Hand of Silence in a nutshell

Hand of Silence is a Reclaimer on a horse with a flamethrower. Guiding spirits to Menoth is the primary function of the Hand of Silence. He's a reasonable combat model while also fulfilling a powerful but niche support role through Direct Spirits, Grave Resonace, Soul-Powered, and Strength of Death. If you have a lot of cheap infantry, he can use them to power your warjacks; he's equally useful for managing multiple Soul Taker models.

Combos & Synergies

• Any form of infantry so he can harvest their souls when they die. That Faithful Masses theme force especially provides great levels of chaff for him. This goes double for Zealots; mini-feat to bring some back so you can collect their souls again.
• Focus starved casters will appreciate his ability to fuel their jacks for him with extra focus.
• If you bring multiple models with Soul Taker such as the Testament of Menoth and Sanctifier in overlapping collection ranges, Hand of Silence's Direct Spirits can enable you to get the souls where you want and need them.
• The Harbinger of Menoth always appreciates capable combat solos, and Hand can give out Focus to warjacks when she'd rather be using it to heal. Ashen Veil and Awe both stack, making Hand an impressive DEF 17 against living enemy models while they're in Harbinger's CMD.
• Hand of Judgement brings Fuel for The Flames, a damage buff for his spray. Since all of the Feora's are focus starved and centre around fire, they will appreciate everything the Hand does. After all, you need two hands to become the next hierarch.
• Similarly, Menite Archons also pack Fuel for the Flames.
• The Avatar of Menoth - It generates it own focus, but D3+1 focus can leave you in the dust sometimes, so distribute some focus from the Hand. Gaze can also line up enemy models for some excellent spray angles.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He's on a large base which means he might cause order of activation issues and also does not benefit from Tactician bonuses since he's not an Exemplar.
• He competes with other harvesting protectorate models like the Shrine of the Lawgiver or the Reclaimer Gatekeeper for souls.

Tricks & Tips

• Thanks to Ashen Veil, he effectively has a statline of 15/16 against both ranged, magic, and melee (vs living) attacks. Try to keep him out of melee with non-living models.
  • Concealment stacks with the attack roll debuff. It won't come up often but it does mean, for example, you get an effective +4 DEF vs living Gunfighters.
• He can spray over his own allies! Either they die and generate souls or they are fire immune altogether. Use this to your advantage.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Exemplar Interdiction expansion (2018.10)
• Nicknames: Mr Ed (the talking horse)
• There is a short story about him (and his horse) in an Insider article: Of Dust and Ash, by Matt Goetz 2018.11.