Black Ivan

Black Ivan is the prized companion of Kommander Harkevich, a warcaster renowned for his ingenuity on the battlefield. Armed with a bombard and an industrial wrecking claw, Black Ivan is an unparalleled instrument of war that excels at both long-range bombardment and the brutal press of melee.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Bond
• Template:Bulldoze
• Template:Dual Attack

Weapons

Bombard
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		14			1			4			14			Left
Template:Arcing Fire
Bear Claw
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		1				4				16				Right
Template:Open Fist Template:Critical Brutal Damage

Theme Forces

• When taken by Harkevich
  • Template:Armored Korps
  • Template:Si
  • Template:Jaws of the Wolf. Black Ivan gains Pathfinder in this theme.
  • Template:Legion of Steel
  • Template:Si
  • Template:WG Kommand
  • Template:Wolves of Winter

• When taken by anyone else
  • Template:Jaws of the Wolf. Black Ivan gains Pathfinder in this theme.

Thoughts on Black Ivan

File:Harkevich1.jpg

Harkevich1

Black Ivan in a nutshell

Black Ivan is a boosted version of the Destroyer, and improves on it in most ways. It has improved RAT and with Harkevich all his shots get boosted attack rolls. It's also no slouch in melee, with an open fist, Bulldozing, and Dual Attack, Black Ivan has significantly more flexibility than its non-character counterpart. Still, it's no melee beatstick, and will likely fall into the role of ranged support/scenario piece. During the early game, use the Bombard to snipe out key solos and support pieces. During the mid game, bring it up to Bulldoze or Throw enemy models out of zones and away from objectives. During the late game, use its melee power to finish off things damaged by other models.

An important note about Dual Attack is that one can make ranged attacks after a Power Attack, including a Trample. Trample doesn't require a target, so as long as you move in a straight line and are willing to spend the focus, Black Ivan has an impressive 21" ranged threat (23" if under Harkevich's Mobility). Along with arcing fire, this makes it difficult for your opponent to keep their valuable but squishy models safe.

The Destroyer has one definite edge over Ivan, and that is when fighting a Gargantuan. On a critical hit, the whole branch of a Gargantuan gets filled. Against other targets, Amputation gives an average of 2.5 extra damage against beasts and jacks, while Brutal Damage delivers an average of 3.5 extra damage against anything.

Combos & Synergies

Traditional support for ranged Khador jacks like the Destroyer or Demolisher revolves around knocking down or freezing targets, so the jacks can actually hit something. But with Black Ivan, what you're paying for is the extra accuracy, so if you were going to reduce enemies to DEF 5, you're better off taking one of the cheaper non-character options. Instead, take models that help complement Ivan's flexibility, range, and already decent RAT:

• Harkevich - obviously. An auto-boosted RAT 5 on the Bombard even on Broadside attacks will enable Black Ivan to hit things that might care about POW 14, which is pretty huge in Khador where jacks have notoriously low RAT. His Mobility spell will also help you get the most out of Black Ivan's scenario/melee game.
• Irusk2: Fire For Effect is great on Black Ivan. It can use its Power Up focus to Trample, then the attack roll and all of the damage rolls on the Bombard attack are boosted from the spell. Energizer also helps it adjust to a clear Trample lane, increase its range, or fall back after shooting.
• Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan: While only available in Winter Guard Kommand (and thus only if you're running him under Harkevich), the Artillery Kapitan can target Ivan with the Artillerist action, upping its RAT to 7 (auto-boosted from Harkevich) and giving you rerolls on the deviation if you miss anyway. This is a great way to make sure you don't waste activations on badly missed shots.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Black Ivan is flexible, but largely doesn't fill in any hole in a Khador army that another jack couldn't fill out cheaper.
• Only marginally better at range than a Destroyer (unless paired with Harkevich) while costing 3 points more.
• You need to manually boost the bear claw attacks if you want to fish for criticals, because the bond only applies to ranged attacks.

Tricks & Tips

• Got an enemy model in a zone that you don't like, but don't feel like killing them this turn? Bulldoze them out, and if that doesn't work pick them up and throw them the rest of the way.
• Due to Arcing Fire only a huge-based model can screen a target from your Bombard Cannon - in every other situation you'll clip it, either with the blast damage, or with a direct hit via arcing fire (a medium AoE has a 50,8 mm radius, 0,4 mm larger than a large base's radius plus the max 1" distance where arcing fire won't trigger). Don't forget that other targeting restrictions still apply.

Other

Trivia

Released in Warmachine: Wrath expansion (2011)