No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).
Changes and Updates
Lore
Trivia
Battle Reports
Videos
LEGACY **********
I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much in the days to come.
Once a respected nautical warcaster for the Mercarian League, Captain Phinneus Shae has turned to piracy aboard the Talion. Shae is wanted but refuses to allow the bounty on his head to get in the way of earning a profit as a sword for hire. His powers over wind and storm serve as well on land as at sea, and few can stand against him blade to blade.
Friendly Faction models currently in Shae's Template:CTRL range immediately advance up to 3". During this movement, affected models cannot be targeted by free strikes and gain Pathfinder.
Shae is the only privateer warcaster designed to work well exclusively with privateers. As such, his role in a privateer army is to aid in their delivery with his spells and feat. The support solos take care of the other parts of the equation like improving chances to hit and do damage. If you like privateers, Shae is the caster you start with.
Shae is the most dangerous assassin in Mercenaries, able to strike at the opposing caster from very far off with his army.
Feat thoughts
Usually it's used to move the army into position to charge but there are other potential applications, such as backing up a ranged unit after it has already shot.
Spell thoughts
Blow the Man Down is rarely ever cast because Shae has no arc node. Also, you can knock down targets by using a Buccaneer that can assault 19" with a boosted net for free if he casts Coup.
Coup de Main is Shae's most powerful spell. If three warjacks get to charge free, it pays for itself and it speeds up the rest of the privateers in range to boot.
Flashing Blade and Synergistic Magic are supposed to encourage you to get Shae mixed up, get some tokens and Sprint away. Usually though, Shae wants to stay away from melee let alone melee with multiple enemies.
Phantasm is a somewhat effective way of protecting his army from shooting.
Theoretically it goes on the lead unit of Sea Dog Pirates so they don't die to shooting before they make their big charge. In practice, the opposing army targets the stuff behind them with blasts.
Storm Rager is best used on a Death Archon or Asphyxious4, who are the most powerful beneficiaries of the spell.
Veil of Mists is both a defensive cloud spell and the last piece in the puzzle of delivering a melee army.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Shae takes time to learn due to the interactions of the support solos making lousy pirates good. He is also a pure alpha strike caster and will be stymied by feats thst steal the alpha, like Fiona's.
Further downsides are:
Cloud walls and defensive feats give him trouble.
Cracking high ARM isn't something the models he's designed to play with do very well. It compells a Blockader.
He has nowhere near enough focus to cast Coup, upkeep spells and power warjacks. So he's often on a low camp, though he is hard to hit.
Tricks & Tips
A 5" increase in charge range combined with advance deploying Press Gangers and the Sea Dog Crew unit lead by Mr Walls offer massive scenario play.
Look for pirate synergies to maximize his abilities. For example: Shae casts Coup and his Buccaneer charges for free, boosting its net, which knocks down the target for the Freebooter to take out. The Commodore or the Buccaneer knock down a heavy from range for the Galleon to drag in, etc...
Pirate warjacks have low ARM and die fast. Sea Dogs die staggeringly fast unless you are great at making tough checks and keeping Grogspar alive. You cannot win an attrition fight against most armies so try to play for the assassination with all the tricks at your disposal. Knock down their caster and shoot them to death.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Coup de Main makes privateers go fast every turn. His feat moves his army 3" forward, and he has a spell that creates an bubble of Incorporeal for his army. It's pretty much spelled out for you that he is designed to deliver privateers quickly and out threat the other guy.
He wants a crippling alpha strike, followed by a jam with tons of pirate bodies. He is also a very capable assassin, able to knock down the enemy caster with the Commodore Cannon's slam or a Buccaneer and then send in a ton of pirates.
Pirates struggle into a lot of high ARM targets unless they are warrior models, in which case Hawk and Rockbottom ensure the pirates wreck the world. You can fix this by bringing a Blockader and Aiyana and Holt.
Theme Thoughts
Contrary to what you'd expect from him being the Captain of the Talion, Shae works much better in the Irregulars than he does anywhere else. This is mostly due to the release of Asphyxious the Sanctified plus the fact that the theme bonus powers up marshaled jacks and offers lots of great value pieces that help Shae's game plan.
This isn't to say that Shae won't work in The Talion Charter, far from it, he will enjoy ludicrous threat ranges on his troops, but will struggle to meaningfully crack ARM. The Death Archon may change this though.
Asphyxious4 - He is an excellent Storm Rager target and will be able to do lots of work with the spell. His servitors apply Dark Shroud where needed, making Freebooters that Flanks off of them extremely dangerous. He gets epecially dangerous with the feat move; if combined with Vanish, this extends his threat range to 17"if you factor in his melee range. Furthermore with Veil of Mist and Caustic Mist the two of them can form a cloud wall.
Gaspy can bring some privateer jacks with him who can benefit from the Coup the Main threat extension, but a simple Stalker can threaten very far with just the jump and the feat move, too, and brings Blessed and Grievous Wounds weapons.
Boss MacHorn - A great combatant in her own right, who can set up knock downs with Combo Smite. She will appreciate Storm Rager or Phantasm. Most importantly she can marshal a Freebooter or Mariner and drive it to Dismantle, making her marshaled jacks the most powerful you can field if you regularly see constructs in your meta.
Widget1 is able to squeeze some extra attacks out of Shae's Blockader or the marshaled jacks.
Balthazar Bamfist - A very important piece because he hand out free focus to Shae's jacks or, more importantly, the marshaled ones
Harlowe and Scythe, can help set up his assassination and alpha strike by clearing charge ranges with their high quality shooting.
Kayazy Eliminators- No particular synergies, they're just generally good for their points cost. They are mobile enough to enable the Flank bonus and soften targets up for the big finish with a charging crushing freebooter.
Alexia2 - The feat move sets her up to spawn Thrall Warriors deep behind the enemy lines where they can get inconvenient (for your opponent) charge lanes.
All the models suggested under the Talion heading are equally valid here, if they are available.
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt: A damage buff and a source for magical weapon. Also they are in fact privateers. This means they are probably the most essential models for him to take,
Dirty Meg runs a Freebooter for him and has an awesome drive. Theoretically strong in The Irregulars, though not exactly great. In Talion, she can jack marshall Scallywag, who will enable it to charge for free. She can give it Crush and Powder Monkeys can hand it focus to make it super effective for a light, though that is a lot of investment into a fragile package.
The Commodore Cannon & Crew is a great control piece and slamms things over to assassinate. It can also actually move and shoot under the feat!
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaille - He's hard to squeeze in, but he makes your cannon, riflemen and galleon shoot farther and pushes the ranged assassination threat that much further.
Bella1 is the absolute best recipient for Storm Rager other than Gaspy4. With Coup de Main and sac pawn, she will force opposing units to give her a wide berth. She also helps the ARM cracking problem. She, Hawk, Bradigan and your battlegroup dish out the big hits against the targets pirates cannot.
Bloody Bradigan is the privateer that is actually able to do some damage.
Death Archon - Stom Rager makes for very, very scary Blood reaper attacks and the feat makes them threaten decently far. They also collect corpses off of your many warm bodies to make themselves stronger and the effective +2 ARM is very relevant for the privateer jack statlines.
Powder Monkey - this little two point solo is in practical terms a theme benefit. Empower and Anciliary Attack for just two points kicks jacks, and especially ranged jacks like the Mariner up to the next level.
Scharde Dirge Seers - three models for six points. Guidance is amazing when you need it (especially on a ranged jack or the Commodore Cannon) - and if you don't want to use Guidance they are still a pretty decent choice.
Scharde Pirates - 13" charge with a 6" assault sprays and gang charge attacks can create a very nasty mess of enemy infantry. Under Money Shot they are effective and dangerous enough to find a place in many Shae armies.
Sea Dog Deck Gun - free is the best cost for them. Probably still not worth it as Shae likes to get things towards melee.
Press Gangers: They threaten quite far with Coup, feat and Advance Deploy and are tough, so you can use them to jam and set up your flankers. Shae runs them better than most since they have no native threat extension and need it.
Sea Dog Pirates - very cheap cannon fodder. Two melee attacks mean they can get benefit from Overtake (from Payday). Bring Mr. Walls for No Quarter. The threat extension is invaluable. They go a mile and can take out low ARM heavies or lights on the charge.
Shae does little for non-Privateer warjacks, although there's nothing wrong with them being on him. You just won't get as much out of Coup de Main. That said the Talion Charter support for Privateer jacks is excellent and means that you get work out of them even with the only support he provides being free charges.
The Freebooter is normally marshalled; even without flank Crush and free charges make a nice combination. And marshalling these with Flank is most of the point of taking him in The Irregulars.
A Buccaneer can be ok if you want another source of knock down - which works especially well with Freebooters. If he casts Coup de Main, it can charge free and boost its net on the Assault shot.
Mariners can be sped up with his feat and Coup de Main and can shoot. One or two of them are an excellent choice in The Talion Charter; Powder Monkeys giving them an extra shot is just good for the shooting phase, and Scharde Dirge Seers like ranged jacks almost as much to give guidance to on early turns. It's a great all-rounder.
Scallywag - his personal jack is a nasty assassin, especially when his troops can give it Gang Fighter. Three MAT 9 POW 14 attacks, plus two spare focus even after it jumps is threatening and it doesn't cost that much.
Swabber doesn't do much to fix his pillow fisted problems - but it does have a harpoon to single out enemy heavies and bring it in for killing, and it is tough. Its main selling point is Girded, which is invaluable for the likes of Hawk, Killingsworth and Aiyana.
Galleon and Blockader colossals can help solve Shae's troubles with high ARM. With Phantasm, he can keep them safe from shooting. Coup de Main allows them to charge free with a full bag of focus from Powder Monkeys, and they threat a very long way. Either is worthy of consideration, though the Blockader is probably the better choice in his case given its abilities.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Despite carrying the Privateer tag, he is not in the service of any nation and is technically a pirate.
Shae and his crew have presently been captured by Cygnar, for whom he is trying to track down some stolen cargo in order to parlay for his crew's freedom. However, they stopped publishing books so we may never know what became of the Talion and her scrappy crew.
