Theme - Strange Bedfellows

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File:Convergence Logo.jpg File:Mercenary Logo.jpg	Template:FH2 Template:FH3 Template:Index Convergence themes Template:Index Mercenary themes

File:Mk4 icon.png Template:Red This mk3 Theme Force has no equivalent in mk4. You can't even build something similar using the Unlimited rules.

Directrix reveals to Aurora that her father is Nemo, and she reunites with him as he lies on his deathbed. She takes him to a Convergence base and transfers his consciousness into a giant metal orb built by Locke, who had built it "just cause I could". With the Infernal invasion looming, Directrix is trying to complete the "Great Work" which is a portal which will bring Cyriss to Caen. Nemo decides that they need to reverse the Great Work, and send the people of Caen to Cyriss. Aurora and Nemo start a civil war to gain control of the Great Work. Meanwhile Asphyxious realizes that if all the mortals are slaughtered, then there will be no fresh meat for the Nightmare Empire, so he decides to "save" the empire of Man. Using constructs and undead against Infernal forces turns out to be effective, as the lack of fresh souls starves the Infernal armies. Asphyxious gets a big head from his success, and decides to go one-vs-one vs an Infernal Master, Omodamos. Asphyxious gets shattered into pieces. Deneghra picks up Asphxyious' phylactery and carries it to Aurora's forces. His consciousness is transferred into a clockwork body, and he joins the civil war. - Thus creates the Strange Bedfellows

Theme Rules

For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.

Theme Restrictions

An army made use the Strange Bedfellows theme force can include only the following models:

• Aurora warcasters
• Mortenebra warcasters
• Non-character Mercenary warjacks
• Non-character Convergence warjacks
• Mortenebra warcasters can also include non-character Cryx warjacks in their battlegroups
• Convergence Template:Angel models/units
• Convergence Optifex Directive units
• Cryx Template:Thrall models/units
• Cygnar Template:Stormsmith solos and units
• Mercenary models/units that will work for the Convergence
• Convergence solos
• Convergence battle engines

Requisition Points

File:CWL CC Bug.jpg

Conflict Chamber will tell you this is a valid list, but it isn't. Strange Bedfellows has a similar problem.

You can spend each Requisition Point on either:

• One warjack with a point cost of 5 or less
• One small- or medium-based solo with a points cost of 5 or less

Theme Bonuses

1. All models in this army are considered to be Convergence and Mercenary models.

   Mercenary players get access to Mortenebra and Aurora.

   Convergence players get access to Mortenebra.

   Cryx and Cygnar players cannot use this theme.

2. Non-Servitor solos in this army gain Swift Vengeance.

   Template:Swift Vengeance

3. When a model in this army is affected by the Repair special rule, remove 1 additional damage point.

Thoughts on Strange Bedfellows

Strange Bedfellows in a Nutshell

This theme represents the alliance between Aurora and Asphyxoius in response to the infernal invasion. It allows only Aurora and Mortenebra casters, but can be played in Convergence or Mercenaries with either.

It allows a mix of Angels and undead thralls, as well as Asphyxious4, Nemo4, Void Archons, Transfinite Emergence Projectors (the TEP), and warjacks from Cryx, Convergence, and Mercenaries.

It is considered both a Mercenary and Convergence theme for tournament purposes. It is not a Cryx theme.

It is most notable for being blisteringly fast and hard-hitting, but it is also fragile.

Vectors & Warjacks & Bears, oh my

So what happens if you put Mercenary warjacks on Aurora, and/or Convergence vectors on Mortenebra? (and/or Nemo4 & Asphyxious4)

• If you put warjacks in your battlegroup, then they keep their Cortex regardless of their controller.
  • They will gain focus via Power Up.
  • They cannot receive focus via Induction, and they cannot pass on focus via Induction.

• If you put vectors in your battlegroup, then they keep their Induction Node regardless of their controller.
  • They don't get focus via Power Up.
  • They still use their controller's MAT/RAT.
  • They can receive/pass on focus with their Induction node.

Note that when it comes to "Junior Warcasters" and the Induction node, Vectors can only receive/pass on focus from other vectors in the same battlegroup. This means Induction can be inefficient on a small battlegroup, so it's advised to put non-Vectors on the Junior - especially since Juniors can't take the Corollary to help with focus efficiency. That said the Diffuser can be a solid choice for a Junior.

Requisition Options

Requisition options are harder to work out in Strange Bedfellows than most normal factions because there is so much on offer. The "default" choices for flexible lists are mostly chosen from the six-point options:

• The Corollary is an auto-include if you are planning on playing a Convergence battlegroup (generally with Aurora2 or Mortenbra2); the ability to store 3 focus from round to round is just incredible.
• Diffusers might not have Power Up but the Beacon shot is so good it's often worth including one even without any other Vectors.
• A Galvanizer is decent as a repair/melee vector
• Mortenbra can bring a Shrike or a Deathripper
• The Hermit of Henge Hold is only five points but is extremely versatile, a superb scenario piece, and makes almost every part of your army work better. There's a reason he's seen in so many lists throughout the game.
• Eilish Garrity, the Occultist is a decent upkeep counter with a boosted zap
• J.A.I.M.s is a melee hunter with Prey
• Prefect Hypatia leads the angels

Theme weaknesses

There is little to nothing the army can do about cloud walls.

Casters with strong defensive feats blunt the alpha strike

Good early purchases

Start with Asphyxious the Sanctified and 1 or 2 Void Archons. Then pick either Aurora as your caster. Aurora1 wants Soul Hunters and Angels besides Voids and Asphyxious. Aurora2 wants flying jacks (Tesselators, Negators, and Scavengers on Asphyxious) and 1 non-flying heavy with good DEF and good dual attack potential for her upkeep spells like a Swabber or a Vanguard.

Caster Thoughts

Aurora1

Aurora 1 is an infantry caster whose party piece is to give all the warrior models +2 Speed and flight, and can also have warrior models boost off her focus. Strange Bedfellows gives her access to the SPD 9 cavalry Soulhunters (and flying SPD 11 cavalry is no joke) or cheap swarm infantry in the form of Mechanithralls.

Dark Shroud is widely available to the theme so Soul Hunters will be blazing fast and hit quite hard.

She's also not a jack-caster in the slightest, and her Admonition spell can work really well on a counter-charging Toro, so she gets on well with mercenary warjacks she doesn't have to spend 5 points for a Corollary to run well. Having little focus to spare, you could do worse than run a pair of Mariners to sit back and shoot all game, or grab either Manglers or a Diffuser for the free charge. Or just grab a Blockader and write off Apparition. It's unlikely that you ever want to buy jacks with Aurora that aren't either requisition options or are at least partially paid for by her jack points.

Finally, Mechanithralls really appreciate Flare from Attunement Servitors or the Cipher so they can actually hit things. With Necrosurgeons, Enigma Foundrys and Nemo4 the list can be built for recursion (just keep in mind the foundries only support Angels, the surgeons only support Thralls, while Nemo can support both).

Aurora2

Aurora 2 is an air superiority caster who gets along really well with models that can already fly - a list that of course starts with Clockwork Angels and Negation Angels and includes the Void Archon, Carrion Thralls, and Widget. As a jack-caster she has MAT 7, RAT 5, and Spirit Door, and can make one (but only one at a time) of her jacks fly so she can play an effective hit and run game. You might want some Tesselators and Negators in her battlegroup as well since they fly and she has a couple of ways of boosting ranged damage. There seems little doubt that this theme was made for her.

Mortenebra1

Master Necrotech Mortenebra & Deryliss is a battlegroup-focussed caster and she has a few reasons to go in Strange Bedfellows:

• Her Sacrificial Lamb spell can stack with Vector's Induction rule giving her warjacks a crazy level of focus to play with each turn.
• Everything in the theme becomes friendly Faction and so will benefit from her feat. Specifically, Void Archons, TEPs, or even a Blockader will get re-rollable sprays.
• Mercenary warjacks are good.
• The combination of Overrun and Beacon from a Diffuser lets a heavy move ridiculously far and charge for free, fully loaded with focus. Spectral Steel adds pathfinder and free strike immunity; a Toro threats 17" and will be ARM 22 with Spectral Steel.

The problem is that, aside from her feat, she does nothing to support the non-warjack parts of her army. So you need to use "self-sufficient" models (which the Void Archon and TEP are - although both like protection).

Also when it comes to Vectors she has a few more minor drawbacks: having Deryliss she can't take the Corollary, her MAT/RAT are nothing to write home about, and she doesn't have a Field Marshal ability. Also, an overrun slingshot can easily send them out of induction range.

Overall, Mortenebra1 in Strange Bedfellows is unlikely to be a meta-defining powerhouse list but there's enough there that she can be interesting.

Other:

• Deryliss' Tune-Up combines extremely well with auxiliary attacks from Widget1.
• Speaking of Tune Up, using it on the Galleon or Blockader can be very powerful. Spectral Steel is also a very good buff for either of them.
• If you do take colossals remember that Mortenebra's main trick, Overrun, does not let colossals move.

Mortenebra2

Mortenbra2 in Cryx is normally crippled by a lack of focus; she has a very good toolkit including Spellpiercer and an effective feat, as well as an ARM debuff. Unfortunately, she has no abilities for focus efficiency so can't run a big battlegroup - and doesn't really do anything for models outside her battlegroup. However between Induction and the Corollary Convergence battlegroups can be extremely focus-efficient. She might want a bonejack to arc through (and to set up a flank on feat turn) although the ADO is more normal.

However, she lacks a delivery mechanism for her army and might get shot off the board. Brute Thralls can go some way to alleviate this, however. Also note that a Negator only gets to flank once at most even under her feat.

Primer - Warjacks

This primer is intended as a very very brief overview of the models available in this theme, so you know whether they're likely to fit in with your existing collection and/or what new tools you might gain.

Cryx Warjacks

• Arc Nodes: Deathripper, Nightwretch, Ripjaw, and Defiler.

  The Deathripper and Nightwretch are most popular; the Deathripper is cheapest, while the Nightwretch's POW 14 gun means it can do some work and be arced through at the same time for only one point more.

• Combat Lights: Helldiver, Scavenger, Shrike, Stalker.

  The Stalker is the most popular, especially with Asphyxious4. The Scavenger and Shrike are situationally useful. The Helldiver has seen some resurgence after the Burrow change.

• Melee Heavies: Inflictor, Seether, Slayer

  The Slayer is a cheap beatstick, the Inflictor is a Shield Guard, and the Seether has countercharge

• Ranged Heavies, Slayer-chassis: Corruptor, Reaper. Crabjack chassis: Desecrator, Harrower, Leviathan

  Crabjacks are slower than the Slayer chassis, but are steady, pathfinder, and have a tiny bit more durability.

  The Corruptor is a utility piece, especially good against living infantry. The Reaper is good against heavies (but not colossals).

  The Desecrator has a stay-in-play AOE that does damage. The Leviathan has a random ROF with Burst Fire. The Harrower is very much a combined-arms jack, and it is slightly over-costed.

• Colossals
  • Both Cryx colossals are infamous for their "noodle arms": melee weapons with Chain Strike and Chain Weapon. They like to sit behind your troops, reach over with their 4" melee range, and tickle the enemy to death.
  • Kraken is a combined-arms colossal. It has a long-range powerful gun, which it can fire after making melee attacks if it triggers Kill Shot. It has a piddly little second gun. The more living troops it kills in melee, the more powerful it becomes at both melee and ranged.
  • Sepulcher is a support colossal. It has 3 medium-ranged medium-power guns. The main one has a Paralysis AOE, and the two side ones have random ROF with Burst Fire. It synergizes with Mechanithralls.

Convergence Warjacks

• Support Lights: Corollary, Diffuser

  The Corollary increases your control range and makes vectors more efficient; it is considered an auto-include with every Convergence caster that uses Vectors. The Diffuser fires an accurate Beacon shot that provides free charges and +2" of charge distance.

• Combat Lights, Walkers: Galvanizer, Mitigator, Floaters: Negator, Tesselator

  The Galvanizer may repair but its main thing is that it's a 5 point warjack so it is very spammable. The Mitigator has a knockdown AOE gun that does auto-damage. However, it is the least popular vector because it struggles to be useful and fit in an induction chain. The Negator is a flying flank jack that wants to be run in multiples. And the Tesselator has some very nice and effective guns and can easily be part of an induction chain.

• Heavies, Walkers: Cipher, Inverter, Monitor, Floaters: Assimilator, Conservator, Modulator

  The floating ones are slightly faster and have Pathfinder, but weaker and less durable.

  Walkers: The Cipher has a mortar with 3 Attack Types, blast damage, create rough terrain, or Flare. The Inverter is a beatstick with natural POW comparable to most Colossals. The Monitor has a very long-range ricochet gun, and is 1 point cheaper than the Inverter.

  Floaters: The Assimilator has an AOE gun with Ground Pounder. The Conservator is a beatstick heavy with Hand of Vengeance and Shield Guard. The Modulator shoots lightning and is the cheapest heavy vector.

• Colossals
  • Prime Axiom - Convergence's prime (heh) Colossal, with a pair of tow cables with drag and two very powerful fists. It can also spawn any type of Servitor, making it tactically flexible. The Axiom is Convergence's preferred choice of Colossal, mainly due to its flexibility & ease of use.
  • Prime Conflux - A giant lightning generator that hits as hard as the Prime Axiom in melee and supports other Lightning-damage models in its army.

Mercenary Warjacks

• Melee Lights: Talon

  A 6 point warjack with a spear and shield.

• Ranged Lights: Buccaneer, Swashbuckler, Vanguard

  The Buccaneer is cheap and has a knockdown net. The Swashbuckler is an overcosted all-rounder, and the Vanguard is expensive for a light but has a shield, shield guard, a very good halberd, and a gun.

• Melee Heavies: Freebooter, Mangler, Nomad, Toro

  The Freebooter is better described as a 9 point "light on steroids", the Nomad is a no-frills beater for 11 points, as is the Toro but it has counter charge, and the Mangler is an aggressive jack with a thresher.

• Ranged Heavies: Mariner, Mule, Rover, Swabber

  The Mariner does everything pretty well, the Mule is a crit-fisher, the Rover is a brawler with a shield and shield cannon, and the Swabber is a heavy with a shield and two guns, one of which drags heavies.

• Colossals

  Blockader - A powerful melee colossal with 4" rocket fists

  Galleon - A harpoon gun, some support guns, and a power lifter to help someone else move.

Primer - Units & Solos

This primer is intended as a very very brief overview of the models available in this theme, so you know whether they're likely to fit in with your existing collection and/or what new tools you might gain.

Cryx Troops

Asphyxious4 is known as a "Super Junior" and comes with lots of Dark Shroud to debuff armour, the capability to form a cloud wall and personally contribute the way a similarly costed heavy can.

Thrall units are mostly very cheap reanimated corpses with stats to show why they are so cheap/

• Bile Thralls have a low RAT spray and can blow themselves up to hit automatically. Carrion Thralls are very cheap flyers. Mechanithralls are some of the cheapest combat models in the game and can bring cheap shield guards. Soulhunters are fast soul collecting cavalry. The Necrosurgeon makes small-based thralls, adding recursion to all this chaff.

Thrall Solos are stitched together from corpses.

• Bloat Thrall is a solo that works as light artillery. Bloat Thrall Overseer Mobius is the character version, considered by some to be necessary when running Bloats. Scrap Thrall is a dirt-cheap walking bomb. Skarlock Thrall the Cryx Soul Slave attachment only gets zap spells here. Soul Trapper collects souls within 10" and then can give them to other soul collectors.

Convergence Troops

Angels are SPD 7 flying advance deploying skirmishers, used in units of three

• Clockwork Angels have a POW 10 RNG 10 CRA gun, and Reposition. Negation Angels are slightly more expensive with an 8" range gun - but when using Gang can be POW 14. Prefect Hypatia is the character Angel and hands the rest of them Apparition

Servitors are very cheap solos that you buy in blocks of three. The Prime Axiom can spawn any of the four generic types, while the Prime Conflux & TEP each have their own unique breed.

• Accretion Servitors are 3 for 2 points, repair, and mostly block charge lanes. Attunement Servitors fire AoE flare guns. Elimination Servitors carry puncture-guns. Reflex Servitors are counter-charging floating naval mines.

Optifex are still-living priests of the Convergence

• The Optifex Directive is a unit that can repair, hand out Pathfinder, or hand out magical weapon to friendly constructs. The Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex is a solo the caster can channel through.

Other Solos

• Destructotron 3000 carries a couple of electrical guns and makes electrical attacks near it more accurate. The Enigma Foundry is a soul collector that returns convergence warriors to play, mostly used with the medium-base troops. The Frustrum Locus provides anti-magic tech and has a good gun. The Steelsoul Protector is a 4 point support shield guard.

Cygnar Troops

Nemo4 is a battle engine, a troop recursor with electrical guns, and a junior warcaster. His jacks of choice are probably the Firefly, the Charger, the Hunter, and at the expensive end of the spectrum Dynamo.

Stormsmiths throw around lightning and can combine with the Destructotron 3000, the Prime Conflux, and the rest of the electrical charge brigade (including the Modulator) for an electrical-themed list with electrical damage bonuses:

• The Stormsmith Storm Tower is light artillery, POW 14, and zaps infantry. Stormsmith Stormcallers are range 10 POW 10 zappers who can occasionally get a whole lot of shooting. Stormsmith Grenadiers are a short-ranged blast and shooting-resistant toolbox. All of them die easily in melee or to auto-damage.

Mercenaries

There are some mercenary solos in the list - most of whom provide utility and toolboxes of effects.

• Eilish1 brings Puppet Master, a magical and boostable zap, and upkeep removal.
• Hermit of Henge Hold provides an ARM debuff, Ancient shroud, Telemetry, and is very difficult to remove.
• J.A.I.M.s is the only non-toolbox model, a roving ball of prey and melee sushi-making seen in many Convergence lists.
• Void Archon costs 9 pts but comes with boostable sprays, teleportation, and a Dark Shroud ARM debuff.
• Widget, Tinker Extraordinaire is a 3 point mechanic with Ancillary Attack that can be used on any warjack or vector in the theme.
• Widget, Mathlete Archeologist is a flying model with a hand cannon that drops Servitor solos into play.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2021.02 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this Convergence 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.

Aurora2: [+27 WJP] (Convergence)

• Cipher: [13 pts]
• Conservator: [11 pts]
• Corollary: [5 pts]

Void Archon: [9 pts]

Prefect Hypatia: [Free] Template:Grey

Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex: [2 pts]

Stormsmith Stormcaller: [1 pt]

Negation Angels: [6 pts]

Stormsmith Grenadiers: [5 pts]

In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this Mercenaries 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.

Aurora1: [+29 WJP] (Mercenaries)

• Toro: [13 pts]
• Conservator: [11 pts]
• Corollary: [5 pts]

Void Archon: [9 pts]

Prefect Hypatia: [Free] Template:Grey

J.A.I.M.s: [5 pts]

Widget1: [3 pts]

Scrap Thralls: [2 pts]

Negation Angels: [6 pts]

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

Released 2020.02

Other Faction models/themes

• Category: Strange Bedfellows