Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

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

A necrosurgeon accompanies each band of mechanikally enhanced necromantic soldiers that march from one killing field to the next; this specialist among necrotechs was created to maintain thralls and craft replacements as they are destroyed.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Stitch Thrall Grunts
  • Template:Undead

• Necrosurgeon
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Undead
  • Body Snatcher

• • Template:Necrosurgery
  • Template:Ressurectionist
  • Template:Sacrificial Pawn

Weapons

• Stitch Thrall Grunts
  • Template:Unarmed

• Necrosurgeon
  • Gut Splitter - 0.5" reach, Template:Small, P+S 9 melee weapon

Theme Forces

• Cryx
  • Template:Black Industries

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model/unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Mortenebra is leading the army.
  • Mercenary and Convergence players can use this unit in the Template:Strange Bedfellows theme.

Thoughts on Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls in a nutshell

You take the Necrosurgeon if you're fielding Thralls, and she greatly increases their resilience.

She also has some use as a healer.

Combos & Synergies

• Terminus loves undead infantry spam, as his 'Shadow of Death' ability makes all the Thralls Tough, and the Necrosurgeon will add insult to injury (spam to spam).
• Fielding Mechanithralls, the Necrosurgeon, and a Sepulcher can make your recursion mechanic extremely hard to stop.
• Goreshade3 can use Mockery of Life to return a Grunt to play after you've collected its corpse, once again giving you two undead bodies for the price of one.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• If the entire Thrall unit is wiped out, you can't use Ressurectionist.
• The Thralls can't do anything useful on the turn they enter play (except advance and jam, which is their best thing, anyway).
• If you position the Necrosurgeon badly, she could be killed easily. For instance an AOE weapon that scatters onto her can kill her quite easily, and she can't trigger Sacrificial Pawn against it because it's not a direct hit.
• The Stitch Thralls have no melee weapons, which means they can't charge nor engage enemies nor make free strikes. The best they can do (other than collect corpses) is block enemy charge lanes.
• Sometimes you run into activation order dilemmas:
  • You want the Stitch Thralls in place to collect the enemy corpses. So you need to activate the Necrosurgeon unit first and run into position. But position them badly, and the Stitch Thralls can block the combat Thralls charges.
  • You want to run the Stitch Thralls forward to collect as many corpses as possible. But you can't use the Necrosurgeon's action and run the Stitch Thralls on the same turn. So if you're moving slowly and using your Action, you risk the Stitch Thralls not being in position to collect.
  • You want the Necrosurgeon safely hidden at the back of the Thrall swarm, but you want the Stitch Thralls out front to collect corpses when the Combat Thralls kill the enemy. This can mean the Combat Thralls block the Necrosurgeon unit moving forwards.
• You can get around a lot of these issues by having more than one Necrosurgeon and/or more than one Thrall unit.

Tricks & Tips

• Keep one Grunt towards the back of the table, that way your opponent can never completely wipe out the unit and can always use Necrosurgery. This is called the "insurance model".
• If the Necrosurgeon dies, the stitch thralls can still control/contest scenario objectives or block charge lanes.
• Be smart about where you move before using Necrosurgery - with clever positioning your newly-created Thralls can engage enemies, bypass free strikes, or even get placed on the far side of walls!
• In a pinch, one surgeon can collect from two units of Thralls by carefully spreading out your stitch thralls.
• The Necrosurgeon can create more Stitch Thrall Grunts in her own unit, extending her own collection area.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004)
• Sculptor: Grègory Clavilier