Retaliator

A variant chassis of the esteemed Llaelese Vanguard built by the Order of the Golden Crucible, the Retaliator has been outfitted with an advanced alchemical weapon system. This enthalpic distillator can fire a spray of one of several compounds. The effects vary from a violent blast capable of knocking adversaries off their feet to an incendiary accelerant or a caustically corrosive agent.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Alchemically Treated

Weapons

• Enthalpic Distilator - 8" spray, POW 10 ranged weapon.
  • Template:Attack Type
    • Template:Aetheric Blast
    • Template:Black Humor
    • Template:Accelerant

• Axe - 1" reach, P+S 13 melee weapon.

Theme Forces

• Crucible Guard
  • Template:Magnum Opus
  • Template:Primae Materia. This model gains Cutting Edge in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Lukas is leading the army.

Thoughts on Retaliator

Retaliator in a nutshell

The Retaliator is a support light warjack based on the Vanguard chassis. It's also the cheapest warjack in faction.

It brings a support based spray weapon with diverse attack types that allows you to take care of various issues you may run into. Although its threat range is modest, the utility it can provide is remarkable, if situational. Playing into Tough heavy armies Black Humor will mess up your opponent's day. Aetheric Blast is mainly there to clear out cloud walls, as you can clear multiple cloud markers with a single spray. The critical knockdown are mere extras. Oil is your go-to against units with defensive minifeats or mid tier armour. But all 3 attacks do often require other models to finish up the job it is after all not that powerful versus armour and will need average dice consistently to mop up high def infantry.

If it comes to it the Retaliator can enter melee power 13 and Mat 6 isn't awful, but it's not where he wants to be.

Many factions have a spray-focused light Warjack or Warbeast and anything that can be said of the Defiler or Repenter can be said of the Retaliator. The key difference is the versatility and the above average defensive profile, versus a bit of raw power on the attack.

Combos & Synergies

• Prospero. What's not to love about Guided Fire for boosted attack rolls on ALL the bad guys hit by its spray (also brings Crit: KD to some usefulness) AND Veteran Leader to boot? It’s also the cheapest way to include Prospero in a list. Additionally, Prospero himself brings a fire ranged attack which will be boosted by Alchemical Accelerant.
• Captain Eira Mackay provides boosted Fire Damage rolls and gives it extra threat range.
• Marshal General Baldwin Gearhart & Mr. Clogg grants it Hot-Shot to melt multiwound units and hurt lights. Prey also amps its game up.
• Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke loves the combination of Grievous Wounds spray and Field Marshal: Precision Strike.
• Crucible Guard Infantry oil makes them basically ranged Weaponmasters. Under Baldwin with Feat and Rust/Withering Humour one unit can make 22 shots RAT 9 POW 15 boosted.
• Similary, Thorn Gun Mages, if taken as your merc option, will benefit from Oil with their incendiary shots. If you want an attached Mosby to stay back (e.g. to heal Lukas) they can be a worthwhile inclusion.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• It is more situational than the Suppressor, as two out of his three attack types only tackle two issues that not every army actually has (cloud walls, Tough spam). For 6 points more you get a heavy warjack with double the sprays and Ice Cage which is a more generic ability. Of course 6 points more and 1 RAT less is a big difference.
• It hits like a wet noodle and only has 1" on its axe.
• It lacks the usual Vanguard-chassis Shield to augment its survivability.
• Both light warjack alternatives to the Retaliator sport a shield and 2" melee range for only 1 point more.
• The Retaliator's ranged game is arguably the weakest in the faction, applying buffs or debuffs but not able to benefit from them itself (compared to the Suppressor or Vulcan for example). Retaliator is a great support light 'jack but has abysmal personal output.

Tricks & Tips

• Angled sprays are always good.
• You have two very good attack types. One for dealing with infantry and one damage buff against heavies.
• Your third attack type is just a counter - but cloud walls can be really really annoying. So it's nice to have.
• Don't get it confused with any Protectorate warjacks beginning with the letter R (Revenger, Repenter, Redeemer).

Other

Trivia

Released with the Faction release (2018.06)