Isaiah, Dread Harvester

Among the dread rots of the grymkin, there is one dark soul spoken of in hushed tales meant to terrify misbehaving children. His name is Isaiah, and they call him the Dread Harvester. Myths claim that dread rots visit the wicked and exploitative mortals living in rural areas, claiming them as their own, but the folklore surrounding Isaiah is far more brutal. It is believed that Isaiah punishes not just the wicked individual but the entire community for allowing such sins to take place without retribution or justice. The stories say entire villages will vanish on those cursed nights when Isaiah and his legion of dread rots come to pay a visit.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Dragoon

• Mounted
  • Template:Si
  • Template:Cavalry
  • Template:Si
  • Template:Bone Picker
  • Template:Elite Cadre (Template:Gang)
  • Template:Reposition 3
  • Template:Sacrificial Pawn
  • Template:Spectral Onslaught
  • Template:Victuals you can neither raise nor buy

• Dismounted
  • Template:Assault
  • Template:Si
  • Template:Tough
  • Bone Picker
  • Elite Cadre [Dread Rot]
  • Template:Si
  • Sacrificial Pawn [Dread Rot]
  • Spectral Onslaught
  • Victuals You Can Neither Raise nor Buy

Weapons

Mounted	Template:Si Wicked Scythe File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  2 5 13 Template:Weapon Master Template:Doom Driver Template:Thresher Mount File:Mount icon.jpg  RNG   POW  0.5 12
Dismounted	Thrown Head File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  8 1 Template:- 13 Template:Repurpose Wicked Scythe File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  2 5 12 Note that it has 1 less P+S while dismounted Weapon Master Doom Driver Thresher Template:Si

Theme Forces

• Template:Bump in the Night. In this theme, this model gains Rise.
• Template:Dark Menagerie. In this theme, this model gains +1 corpse token at the start of the game.

Thoughts on Isaiah, Dread Harvester

Isaiah, Dread Harvester in a nutshell

Grymkin has a Dragoon! Isiah is a hard hitting, if not especially difficult to remove, cavalry version of a Dread Rot. Isiah buffs his fellow Dread Rots tremendously, giving them access to Gang & Ghostly on the charge while also offering a limited revival option once dismounted. He hits quite hard, unsurprising for Grymkin, and is almost as efficient at generating corpses as Grymkin heavies. If you take Dread Rots you will probably want Isiah.

It can be easy to make rules mistakes with Isiah as his kit changes quite a bit between mounted and dismounted. He is only tough and has a gun on foot, his weapon is also weirdly 1 pow less. Likewise he can only Reposition and be cavalry when on his frightmare.

Combos & Synergies

• Dread Rots will almost always be taken with Isiah. He buffs them a ton, and benefits in return with Sacrificial Pawn. The relationship is slightly one way; there are good arguments to take Isiah without Dread Rots, but no real arguments to take Dread Rots without Isiah.
• The Death Knell can support Isiah with additional corpses, and provide him with at least a modicum of protection (13/18 is still not enough to be remotely difficult to remove for a large base).
• Grave Ghouls are almost essential with Isiah, primarily to provide him with some much needed defensive assistance via Dig In and Knowledge of the Damned rerolls. They also synergize especially well while Isiah is still a horseman, as Thresher can often produce several extra attacks that can in turn be buffed by the Ghouls or used to provide corpses.
• The Wanderer provides Isiah with Star Crossed, pushing his effective DEF to 15. Plus the Grave Ghoul debuff, that makes Isiah much, much harder to remove into normal (MAT 6-8) attackers.
• Zevanna Agha protects Isiah & his Dread Rots with Windstorm, buffs them in melee with Curse of Shadows, and can bring back several Dreads a turn with Hellhole. Boundless Charge is also a potentially fantastic spell for Isiah, giving him an absolutely nutty 15" threat on the charge (the Pathfinder is wasted because Isiah already has Ghostly on the charge).

Drawbacks & Downsides

• If you are not bringing Dread Rots 8 points is a lot for a combat solo. Doubly so when Lord Longfellow can be taken for a requisition slot and does the job of hunting enemy solos much better.
• Isiah is DEF/ARM 13/16 with 15 boxes, and he does not have any defensive rules. This puts him very much on the soft side for a model that cost 8 points.
  • Because Elite Cadre is not lost when a model dies Isiah doesn’t need to babysit the Dread Rots. However they do help keep him alive so don’t outpace them too much before reaching the front lines. This limits him as a fast cavalry model.
  • Alternatively you can use two squads and have Isiah move between them.
• Isiah has a lot of rules, and slightly frustratingly has different stats between his mounted & unmounted forms. Even for experienced players, it’s worth checking your cards to make sure you’re giving your opponent the right information.

Tricks & Tips

• Elite Cadre bonuses persist even after the model dies.
• Note that he only has a gun and tough while dismounted.
• Repurpose on his head is exactly the same as Death Toll, except it triggers at any time during his activation. So it stacks with Assault.
  • Additionally Repurpose "adds" a Grunt to a Dread Rot unit, meaning it can be used with a currently full strength unit.
• Victuals doesn't trigger during Isiah's activation, but rather the activation of other friendly Grymkin models. A Grave Ghoul could activate first, take Isiah's corpses, use those corpses to help Isiah during his activation, then a second Grave Ghoul could activate and take the fresh corpses Isiah just generated (that's recycling!).
• Although he technically grants himself Gang, Isiah is not part of a unit and does not gain the bonus from other Dread Rots.

Other

Trivia

• Released 2021.01