Theme - Winter Guard Kommand
This mk3 Theme Force will get a similar Legacy Army in mk4, but it hasn't been released yet (as of 2023.04). |
The ranks of the Winter Guard are the patriotic backbone of the Khadoran Army. Hardened by a rigorous training regimen and driven by their love for the Motherland, these soldiers march against the enemies of the empire. They make every effort to see the will of the empress done, whether pushing deep into hostile territory under the cover of withering artillery fire or giving their lives to defend Khador from those who would threaten its sovereignty.
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made use the Winter Guard Kommand theme force can include only the following Khador models:
- Khador warcasters
- Non-character warjacks
- Beast-09
- Torch
- Template:Assault Kommando models/units
- Template:Winter Guard models/units
- Template:Widowmaker models/units
- Battle Mechaniks units
- Greylord Adjunct solos
- Kovnik Andrei Malakov
- War Dog solos
- This army can also include one Mercenary solo and one Mercenary unit that will work for Khador.
- These models/units can be included even if they have the Partisan [Khador] rule.
- Mercenary units can have non-Ranking Officer attachments.
Full model list
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point on either:
- One Winter Guard weapon crew unit
- One Khador CA
- Two Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan solos.
- One other Small- or medium-based Khador solo with a point cost of 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Warcasters gain Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper].
- Template:Sacrificial Pawn-alt
- Tip: Solos are not trooper models.
Thoughts on Winter Guard Kommand
WGK in a Nutshell
This Khador theme force is used, as the name would indicate, to play the Winter Guard.
The Winter Guard theme is ranged-focused and versatile due to the wide variety of Winter Guard models available. It is quite easy to build a list from masses of cheap infantry, or to form the core of your army around a few Warjacks with fire support provided by a few small units and weapon crews. The Winter Guard Gun Carriage can also be a powerful piece when supported by the right buffs. Finally, this can be a useful theme for aggressive casters that like to play forward, like Butcher3, because the theme benefit helps keep them safe.
Theme weaknesses
- Outside of the Battle Engine and certain Warjacks, the lack of pathfinder can make this army difficult to deploy and move around. The Old Witch of Khador & Scrapjack can help with Weald Secrets and Zerkova1 with Ghost Walk.
- Lack of Tactician can make moving so many bodies around difficult, Irusk2 provides a large Tactician bubble.
- The theme is starved for magic weapons which deal with incorporeal models and the Protectorate Choir's Hymn of Passage. You can use a Greylord Adjunct to fix this on one model, but since you rely on a volume of attacks, you'll still be very limited.
List-Building Tips
- WGK lists usually go one of two routes: One is the Infamous "Stalingrad" or "Death Star" type list, usually consisting of a full unit of infantry and two supplemental Rifle Corps units, all with maximum attachments. The reasoning for this is A: to bring more bodies than the enemy could ever possible kill and grind your way to victory and B: to max out on WG Rocketeers, who, thanks to their brutal damage rockets, take damage buffs of any kind extremely kindly. The other way to build a WGK list is to bring one or even two Gun Carriages and only some supplemental units.
- You can take two Winter Guard Artillery Captains as one requisition choice, providing all-important hit buffs in Veteran Leader And Artillerist. Always take at least two. Sorscha0 provides great buffs in Fog of War and No Sleeping on the Job for your troops, as well as Boundless Charge for your Fun Carriages and jacks, she is your second requisition option. The last option is a wash, because all eligible choices are 3 points. Kovink Joe should be in any list with Winter Guard units, so it's probably going to be him.
- Both of these types of lists tend to go well with casters that offer damage buffs that benefit more than one unit, that is Vladimir1 for Signs and Portents and Butcher1 with for his feat (technically Sorscha2 also falls in this category), which makes the WG's shooting extremely dangerous.
- As for mercs, either Alexia1 or Alexia2 are excellent as they can leverage the high number of bodies and turn them into weapon master solos for ARM cracking and contesting. If they are too expensive for your liking, which is understandable, the Hermit of Hengehold can advance up behind the red patriots and apply his ARM debuff bubble to amp up the shooting.
Starting a 25 point list (Brawlmachine)
In 2020.10 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.
- Ol' Grim: [6 pts]
- Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich: [Free] Template:Grey
- Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan: [3 pts]
- Winter Guard Infantry (Min unit): [6 pts]
- 3x Weapon Attachments: [6 pts]
- Kayazy Eliminators: [4 pts]
Casters of Note
He offers damage multiplication in the form of his feat and Fury. Iron Flesh is also really nice for keeping squishy WG alive, especially when stacked with Tough from Joe and Fog of War and No Sleeping on the Job from Sorscha0. Lastly, access to Ruin means an extra magic weapon.
He buffs the hell out of the little red patriots! Tactician prevents you from jamming yourself up, Total Obedience gives them Tough, Battle Lust increases their damage, Solid Ground keeps them on their feet, Fire for Effect is great on anything ranged, and his feat hands out Pathfinder and lets your shooty WGs ignore clouds.
He is an easy-to-use battlebox caster with a number of infantry buffs.
He has some decent buffs for infantry as well, namely Tactical Supremacy, Veil of Mists, and his battle plans. He also has a number of synergies with Sorscha0 namely that his sneak battle plan is especially good with Sorsha0's Fog of War and Boundless Charge stacks nicely with Escort. He will also have many and more targets for Sucker in this theme.
In terms of damage manipulation, he offers the combo of Discombobulate and Throat Cutter, letting one unit of WGK Backstab any target he hit with the spell that turn. The rest of his army is on its own.
She deserves mention for Iron Flesh and Weald Secrets. The latter is one of the rare instances of Khadoran Warcasters handing out Pathfinder to troops. She and Scrapjack also have Prowl, so they like the presence of Sorscha0's Fog of War.
Curse of Shadows addresses damage, Windstorm helps against gunlines.
Iron Flesh again and Desperate Pace ups their threat ranges. Her feat also helps with damage.
Signs and Portents is another damage buff that can be stacked with Joe's, who can be protected by Wind Wall.
Other
Trivia
Released 2016.12