Captain Eira Mackay

Seeing a need for those with her warcaster abilities, Eira Mackay joined the Crucible Guard as soon as she was able, eager to assist in the war effort against those she saw as cruel oppressors. Life on the front lines was too dangerous for her father to bear, so he turned his talents into creating a bulwark to shield his daughter from harm: the Railless Interceptor, a unique weapons platform akin to the war wagons and gun carriages of the past, cross-bred with a locomotive and blended with alchemical and technical innovations. Traditional Crucible Guard commanders view the weapon as a novelty, but Captain Mackay works to prove their assumptions wrong, and she seems born for the task.

Basic Info

• ===Warcaster abilities: ===
• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

• Template:Battle Engine

Feat : Overwhelming Force

1. Friendly Faction models currently in Mackay's Template:CTRL range gain Run and Gun and their weapons gain Damage Type: Magical.

   Template:Run & Gun-alt

2. Additionally, when a friendly Faction construct model makes a damage roll against an enemy model that is in Mackay's Template:CTRL range, the damage roll is boosted.

Overwhelming Force lasts for one turn.

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Bulldoze
• Template:Dual Attack
• Template:Exhaust Fumes
• Template:Reposition 3

Weapons

Alchemical Mortar
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		14			1			4			15			Template:-
Template:Attack Type Template:Psychomorphic Destabilizer Template:Pyro Blossom Template:Scather
Antiminator (×2)
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		SP 10			1			Template:-			14			1 Each Side
Template:Cold damage
Flame Thrower
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		SP 8			1			Template:-			12			Template:-
Template:Fire damage Template:Continuous Fire
Bash
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		0.5				0				15				Template:-
Template:Ram

Spells

{{Category: Template:Fail-SafeTemplate:JumpstartTemplate:Mobility

}}[[Category:

]]

[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	1	6	-	-	Rnd	No
When target friendly Faction model is targeted by an enemy ranged attack, after the attack is resolved the affected model can make one basic melee or ranged attack, then Return fire expires.
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])
[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	1	6	-	-	Rnd	No
When target friendly Faction model is targeted by an enemy ranged attack, after the attack is resolved the affected model can make one basic melee or ranged attack, then Return fire expires.
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])

Theme Forces

• Template:Magnum Opus
• Template:Prima Materia

Thoughts on Captain Eira Mackay

Captain Eira Mackay in a nutshell

MacKay is an elite Railless Interceptor with a spell list - and possibly the caster with the best heavy guns in the game. She also supports a shooting battlegroup to shoot up enemies.

MacKay needs to do a lot of work herself to win, because outside of a devastating feat turn she can’t really support a big battlegroup easily, sure she makes models fast and provides ARM to a single target. But it’s easy to lose the attrition game if she isn’t firing everything she has got. Outside of her immense offensive footprint, she essentially only has two spells worth casing; Mobility and Fail Safe, which is a blessing in disguise, because she wants all her focus to buy or boost. She runs an excellent four huge bases list with a Vulcan and two Railess Interceptors and some support to taste.

Maximising her feat and spells

Feat Possibly the most important part of her feat is the part after 'additionally'; the ability to boost damage rolls from battle engines and other hard hitting ranged shooters (including MacKay herself) is huge. Run & Gun is also good for preventing counter-charges, and magical weapons can be nice.

Spells - MacKay has uses for her Focus that include shooting and boosting.

• Fail Safe is an excellent upkeep buff on a warjack. Not much more to be said.
• Return Fire should be cast every turn on MacKay - just to prevent enemies shooting her up unless they want another mortar shot because that's a good gun. It also goes well on shooting heavies and railless interceptors,
• Jumpstart is situational. If it's worth casting it's really worth casting - but it normally isn't.
• Mobility is extremely situational and risky on a 6 focus ranged caster, but it can offer you the alpha strike. Or let some of your shorter ranged Warjacks see action sooner.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Keeping her alive is anything but easy:
  • Quite possibly the lowest DEF on a warcaster in the entire game - making her an excellent target for spells with secondary damage (Chain Lightning, Eruption of Spines, etc) and de-buffs
  • She is on huge base - making her screening nigh-impossible, and even so, Shadow Fire or Arcing Fire can cause a lot of problem.
  • 36 damage boxes equal the Behemoth - things that bring it down, can bring down Mackay too.
• 6 Focus with four good guns, an upkeep spell, and two battlegroup spells means she's focus-starved.

Tricks & Tips

• She does serious work herself. Especially if she saves her focus to boost.
• Hit and run works well.
• Flares help everyone else hit.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Her main method of winning is not dying - she's a battle engine that can boost and blow up the enemy and if the enemy don't kill her she will kill them.

Theme thoughts

• Theme - Prime Materia is the obvious choice for a caster with two battlegroup spells and who helps artillery and railless interceptors.
• Theme - Magnum Opus might give her a gunline and is less focus intensive.

Army

Things you take in her army to help her with this strategy is

• Railless Interceptor - costs no Focus to run and has a lot of shooting. Bulldoze helps with threat ranges and scenario.
• Prospero (normally with a Suppressor) - again she is Focus strapped and Prospero has his own focus pool and works well with shooting.
• Combat Mechanik - she will get shot.
• Vanguard - a shield guard with a gun in her battle group. Because of the stipulation of “targeted” you cannot use return fire on a shield guard shot. However having a model that can shield guard twice near such a big debuffable caster is still worth it.
• Dragon's Breath Rocket - Pow 14, ARM debuff, can be boosted by her feat.
• Vulkan - It strips elemental immunities and has enough fire power to make use of the feat and enough ARM and boxes to make use of Fail Safe.
• Death Archon - Mortal Fear makes Mackay's huge bases beefier in melee and they don't need much in put from her.
• Ascendant Mentalist - Another ARM buff, this time against shooting though.
• Princess Delores Graciela - Veteran Leader for her which is great for a caster that wants to do a lot by herself. The princess in turn loves Flare, Rust and Withering Humor.

First Seven Purchases

A few veteran players have put their heads together and tried to figure out the seven best things to buy for this specific caster. This is not designed to add up to a nice round points limit, nor be balanced vs other "First Seven" lists you find on this website. It is simply going to give you some of the essentials this caster needs most of the time.

1. Warjack: Vanguard
2. Warjack: Liberator
3. Battle Engine: Railless Interceptor
4. Solo: Aurum Ominus Alyce Marc
5. Solos: Trancer (x2)
6. Unit: Dragon's Breath Rocket
7. Unit: Combat Alchemists

Other

Trivia

• Released 2018.06
• The Tank she rides around in was built by her father.

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.04 Arcane Assist, vs Zaadesh2
• Template:VBR