Theme - Soldiers of Fortune
Template:Mercenary Theme Force
This mk3 Theme Force is somewhat similar to the mk4 Legacy Army. If you're planning on starting a mk4 Soldiers of Fortune army you may get some use out of this article, espcially the In a Nutshell, the Theme Weaknesses, and maybe even the List-Building Tips sections. |
If war is good for business, then business has been very good to the Steelhead mercenary company. Already one of the largest groups of sell-swords in western Immoren before the fall of Llael, subsequent years of warfare have seen them reach peak profitability. Steelheads can be found in nearly every major engagement from Skirov to Imer, bringing victory—or anonymous defeat—at reasonable prices. The company’s regular presence on the battlefield often sees them work alongside many notable freelancers and experts. The old adage holds true: “Either as allies or enemies, the Steelheads are gonna cost you.”
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made using the Soldiers of Fortune theme force can include only the following Mercenary models:
- Mercenary warcasters
- Non-character Mercenary warjacks
- Rocinante
- Alexia models/units
- Template:Steelhead models/units
- Dannon Blythe & Bull
- Herne & Jonne
- Alten Ashley
- Anastasia di Bray
- Boomhowler, Solo Artist
- Death Archon solos
- Dez solos
- Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios
- Gorman models
- Ogrun Bokur solos
- Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
- Rutger Shaw, Professional Adventurer
- Saxon Orrik
- Taryn di la Rovissi, Llaelese Gun Mage
- Mercenary solos with the Attached rule
Full Model List
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point on either:
- One Steelhead weapon crew
- Two Steelhead Gunner solos
- One other Small- or medium-based Mercenary solo with a point cost of 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Solos in this army gain Mark Target.
- Steelhead cavalry models in this army gain Bulldoze.
- If Ace is included in this army it is a Mercenary warjack instead of a Cygnar warjack.
- Note: Only Caine3 can take Ace
Thoughts on Soldiers of Fortune
Soldiers of Fortune in a nutshell
The Soldiers of Fortune theme force allows you to construct an army composed almost entirely of Steelhead models plus a smattering of non-Steelheads (and of course, warjacks). Lists constructed in this theme generally revolve very heavily around either version of Alexia1 or 2, perhaps intentionally. This is because Sergeant Verendrye brings back D3 Steelhead grunts every turn, so your casualties come back both as undead and as new Steelheads.
It also places a heavy emphasis on making the artillery pieces compelling choices. For example, a RAT 5 Volley Gun shooting at a large base model that aims, has Mark the Target, Veteran Leader from the Gunner and Money Shot from Damiano is RAT 12, POW 16 once you stack all the buffs.
Mark Target works on every ranged attack as well so it's good for warjacks and Steelhead Riflemen or whatever else has a gun.
Bulldoze on cavalry provides some serious gotcha potential and threat extension. It's far stronger than it sounds.
This theme is the only place you can field Rocinante without Damiano, and Rocinante is fantastic.
Theme's weaknesses
The main thing the Steelhead theme lacks is the merc ARM fixers other than Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist with rust bombs, and Alexia's Thrall Warriors are only POW 10. Nevertheless, this theme might possibly have trouble with extremely high ARM skews unless you bring Damiano or Fiona, though such armies are fairly rare because skewing ARM does not work that well as a strategy.
(Author's note: I have personally defeated Rasheth, Stryker1, and Khador jack spam with Soldiers of Fortune and do not consider this an actual weakness of the theme.)
The infantry-based lists main game plan relies on two expensive Cavalry solos, eating 12 of your points.
List Building Tips
There are essentially three ways to build a Soldiers of Fortune force.
The first is to spam as many Steelhead Halberdiers as you can, bring Alexia1, Stannis, Verendrye, Rhupert, and an Arcanist, and play a scenario-based recursive jam game with Magnus the Warlord (Magnus2) or Gorten Grundback where your Steelheads come back both as skeletons and new Steelheads.
The second is to play a balanced mix of Cavalry, Halberdiers, and artillery backed up by Alexia2, Verendrye, Stannis, the Arcanist, Ironhead, and Gunner. Verendrye brings back Steelhead models which allows you to double down on recursion from Alexia2. The Verendrye/Alexia2 interaction is the core of what the list does. Alexia's thralls provide ARM cracking, scenario presence without having to give anything up, and they are also handy Mark the Target bots.
The casters that run this type of army fairly well are Captain Damiano, Lieutenant Crosse, Resistance Fighter Captain Rahera, Fiona the Black and Durgen Madhammer. Damiano provides Money Shot and if you bring Rhupert and Verendrye, will have a Tough, no Knockdown, DEF 15 unit of Halberdiers that come back. Crosse2 loves Halberdiers or even Riflemen that come back because of his Lifebound spell, and his feat delivers the army combined with the Girded Ironheads to stop blasts. Durgen likes the cheap bodies for Primed and there is plenty of artillery to provide blasts for his feat turn.
The third list type is to play Jack-heavy in this theme and take advantage of the Arcanist and Ironheads plus Mark the Target to make your Jacks more accurate. Ossrum and Magnus2 would play this style better than the others.
Casters Thoughts
As discussed above, the best casters in this theme are Damiano, Magnus2, Crosse2, Ossrum, Durgen, and Gorten. While it has something to offer the likes of Ashlynn, Macbain, Shae, Blaize, Bart, Rahera, and Fiona, they have better options in other themes. Caine3 and Magnus1 are pretty bad wherever you take them, but this is probably their best theme option for what it's worth.
Sample Lists
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about its playstyle and expanded it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
- Alexia2 [6 pts]
- Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4 pts]
- Steelhead Arcanist [3 pts]
- Steelhead Halberdiers (Max unit) [11 pts]
- Steelhead Cannon Crew [Free] Template:Grey
Other
Trivia
- Released 2019.03
Other Mercenary Models
Rules Clarifications
Template:RC Mark Target Template:RC Bulldoze Template:RC Theme