Aeternae

The Aeternae myrmidon was manufactured by House Vyre at the behest of House Ellowuyr as compensation for an unknown agreement. Aeternae myrmidons feature some of the latest Vyre innovations in warjack weaponry. They wield a pair of Distortion Voulges, massive bladed weapons that cause their enemies to reverberate with arcane energy and be repelled with each successful blow.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• When this model begins its activation within 3 inches of one or more Ellowuyr models, this model gains 1 focus point.

Weapons

Shatter Cannon
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		14			1			Template:-			8			Right
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Armor Piercing
Light Distortion Voulge
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		2				4				15				Right
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Beat Back
Heavy Distortion Voulge
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		2				6				17				Left
Damage Type: Magical Beat Back

Theme Forces

• Template:Defenders of Ios
• Template:Forges of War. In this theme this model gains Shield Guard.
• Template:Legions of Dawn. (1) In this theme this model can ignore friendly Dawnguard models when determining LOS, and it can advance through friendly Dawnguard models if it has enough movement to move completely past them. (2) If someone 'Jack Marshals this model in this theme, it gains Flank [Dawnguard].
• Template:Shadows of the Retribution

Thoughts on Aeternae

Aeternae in a nutshell

Aeternae warjacks are heavy-hitting Vyre-style warjacks with a powerful armor-piercing ranged attack. They work well with any warcaster in the Faction but in particular have good synergy with warcasters that can amplify the power of their Shatter Cannon, such as Lord Arcanist Ossyan.

It obviously loves working with its brethren in house Ellowuyr because of Accumulator but with Arcanists in faction it’s not an essential pairing and it does still have game outside of Defenders of Ios.

The are excellent jacks who will almost always justify their steep price tag, thanks to their excellent damage output at range and in melee. With a bit of protection they trade favourably into most other heavies, are also able to clear some infantry thanks to two 2" reach initials and Beat Back and its gun blows even tough solos like archons off the table, meaning, no matter the enemy list construction, it will always have preferred targets to go after. They are also a huge threat to casters and warlocks if they ever get in gun range.

Combos & Synergies

• Anything Ellowuyr - This pushes it towards the Defenders of Ios theme force. But Thyron and Falcir can carry the tag to other themes as well.
• Thyron1 in particular loves a 2" reach heavy jack for Field Marshal Side Step and it accumulates off him.
• Falcir - Her whole kit is designed to polish up her army, and the Aeternae is no exception; Full Throttle in particular makes it supremely focus efficient, combined with Accumulator and Execute and Prey Upon are excellent with both the Voulges and Railguns alike.
• Kaelyssa - Phantom Hunter makes them a big problem for the opponent, because they can no longer screen their heavies from the Aeternae's Armor Piercing shots. Add in Dispel shots to strip ARM buffs messing with AP damage calculation, the feat and Refuge to stop them from getting engaged, and Blurred Ellowuyr Swordsmen to screen them and Accumulate from and she can comfortably run up to four Aeternae.
• Ossyan polishes ranged models second to none. On feat turn the gun can be very devastating.
• Goreshade4 and Issyria have ways to mitigate Stealth. Issyria also makes it faster, gives it another shot with Ancilliary attack and her feat gives it super-S&P on all of it's attacks.
• Elara1 - Ghostly and Speed of Death hare great on pretty much any jack. It's an expensive package though.
• Elara2 - Stealth Mitigation and hit fixing, a Speed buff and Scything Touch for extra melee oomph. Oh and 2" reach with Retaliatory Strike is just gravy on top.
• Ravyn - Aeternae appreciate Open Fire and her feat, and she needs a high damage jack to do the heavy lifting for her.
• Arcanist Mechaniks have a damage buff and extra focus for it. If you have three of them you can even top of an Aeaternae completely and still give it the damage buff thanks to Accumulator.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• It’s premium price tag
• Shield guards can seriously mess up a single powerful shot.
• It's main claims to fame are 2" reach on both melee weapons, Accumulator and having a devastating long range gun. If It's melee prowess you want, you are better served with a Manticore for higher P+S and utility or a Phoenix for 2" reach and a way to quickly unjam. The Banshee also has a devastating gun and better melee effects. As you see, it has lots of competition, but none of them outclass it completely thanks to the Aeternaes superior ranged output, and vice versa (sans the Banshee, there is almost never a reason to want a Banshee over an Aeternae), so you cannot go wrong with any of them.

Tricks & Tips

• Beat back triggers after the hit is resolved be careful of your order of effects or you may miss out on things like Thyron’s side step.
• The box art (shown above in the statblock) has the weapons in the wrong arms. The sculpt inside the box is correct though. But please don't mess up your model trying to get it to match the art!

Other

Trivia

• Released 2021.02
• Sculpted by Doug Hamilton
• The Aeternae were a race of legendary creatures described in the travels of Alexander the Great, while passing the northern Indian plains. The Aeternae were described as killing and wounding enemies with "bony, saw-toothed protuberances sprouting from their heads."
• The Aeternae kit comes with all the pieces to make any non-character Vyre chassis Myrmidon, not just the Aeternae itself. Great for magnetising if you are buying into the faction and moderately annoying if you are a veteran and already have as man Vyre jacks as you want.